Dahiric

by sunnypack

First published 9th of October, 2014

Fear claws at her heart as a dragoness scribes a pattern on the concrete floor of her bunker. A pattern that could spell the end of her. A pattern she has no choice but to complete if she wants to escape. A pattern that will take her to a new world.

The world had burst into flames around her. A dragoness fights despair and loss as she scribes a pattern onto the concrete floor of her bunker. A pattern that can take her to another world. A pattern that could be the end of her. But she has no choice. She has to complete it. So she can escape. So she can go to a new world.

Meanwhile, Spike is lost within a forest. He finds a surly, but grudgingly kind dragoness. She needs to get back to her world, though everything is lost.

Rated teen for violence and a little bit of blood and some hardcore philosophising.

Crossover from Hasai the Steel Dragon, an excellent story made by M. H. Glenn who will write better than I ever will. Knowledge of this crossover story is recommended. I'll endeavour to make the references minimal and fairly explanatory as with an original story, but sorry, I can't guarantee that you won't be lost.

Tags will be added when they become relevant. There's bleeding which I don't qualify as gore. The Teen tag should more than cover this. This has a bit of guns and edginess, if that's not your cup of tea, please know what you're in for if you read.

1 - An Old, Old Age

My father was a bit of a draconian when it came to politics. No, I don’t mean his physical form. I meant they way he handled things. He always used to say, ‘the velvet glove always has its uses, but only when it contains a steel fist’. I used to laugh at that. Not anymore.

I felt the corrosive copper taste of anxiety melt through my mouth. All around me were screams of anguish, the metallic screech of failing steel crossbeams and the vicious snarls of defiance that were brought to silence by the grim pitter-patter of gunfire. My claws danced furiously among the keypad and I spared a glance behind me when the last three digits were punched in.

I wish I hadn’t.

The old warehouse was a wreckage, strewn around were piles of garbage, worn wooden crates, some burning with the lingering fuel of the improvised incendiary cocktails we had so desperately thrown together. One of the few in my clan left standing looked at me, he met my eyes with a force of determination and courage that left me breathless for a moment. The black-scaled monstrosity gave me a humorous tilt of his head and then whipped his skull back to meet the oncoming rush of the grimly competent assassins that were scattered among the looming darkness of the gathering evening.

Actinic light burned my vision as he roared his pride and defiance at the oncoming mercenaries, flinging a talon bathed in the crimson red of his spell craft. A roaring inferno swept onwards to the surprised combatants engulfing the nearest in its hellish haze of infernal power. Shocked gasps and urgent shouting gave me a glimmer of hope as I heard the servomotors grind to life behind me, hailing us to escape the killing field. I opened my mouth to scream, to tell my clansmen that the gates to our temporary salvation were opening.

TONK.

A cold claw clutched my heart when I heard that deadly sound. A fifty millimetre high explosive round caught the massive Elder in the face and blossomed into a fiery reaper. The Elder whiplashed and landed on his back. I didn’t need to look again to see that he was already dead. Dead like so many others. I sent a quick prayer to the Ancestors to guide his ancient soul. Tears leaked from my eyes, blurring my vision, but I angrily dashed them away and firmed my resolve. I yelled at my remaining compatriots to move, move, MOVE!

The door had barely opened a fraction of the way before I shouldered past it in desperation. The cold steel felt dull against my own scales and I hissed in shock as I realised that the shot from earlier had pinched a nerve, causing the numbness. My clan members backed away slowly, flinging spells and blasting out bursts of fire to cover themselves as they made their way to the door. As the blast door reached halfway, I slammed my fist into the control for closing the bunker. The door groaned as the inertia of the heavy metal resisted the churning motors.

They will make, I thought feverishly. They have to make it.

My eyes wide with dread, I saw my fellow clan member make it halfway before an almighty crack pierced through the air and I saw her fall with a muffled squeal. I closed my eyes and whimpered. Snipers. There was no hope for the last clan member. His form was of a darker steel-grey than my quicksilver scales and his metal spines clashed as he gave me a gentle shake of his head. From the sound of the shot he knew instantly he was pinned under his meagre cover.

A lopsided smirk crept up the side of his features. I knew that look and protests caught in my throat. I wanted to scream, I wanted to shout at him. Stop. Don’t do it. I could only look on helplessly as I saw him draw from the actinic void. In his claws he held a small, round, dark olive steel ball. My eyes widened in shock.

“No," I whispered as he grinned toothily, yanking the pin out with his good forelimb.

The gap was getting smaller and smaller as the blast doors slid closer and closer to sealing me in.

A small growl, hiss and click was all he said before the bunker sealed shut.

I slumped against the side of the wall, clutching my wound that had decided to reopen. I pulled a short bandage from a small satchel around my midsection, my brain on autopilot as I bound my upper forelimb with the bandage. My mouth curled into a grimace as I tightened the bandage but I used the pain to focus. My ears were twitching among the weak cacophony of gunshots and explosions that continued to wrack the outside battlefield. The sound barely reached this place but I strained nevertheless. I strained to hear what was important to me. I strained to hear the inevitable.

Then I heard it.

It sounded oddly dull but close. A short boom and the cries of wounded men reverberated in short proximity.

I closed my eyes and replayed the last words of my brother out loud.

“Be seeing you soon," I repeated as my eyes burned.

“Ashadh," I moaned softly, the tears cold as they clung to my scales, chilled in the frosty bunker I resided in.

“My friends…” I whispered hoarsely. “My family…”

I wanted to lie here for a while.

I wanted to lie here forever.

For a moment I even contemplated on doing so and giving up.

I had lost so much…

But my father wouldn’t have it, I had to press on.

I tapped a claw on an etched scale. Luckily it hadn’t been damaged in the conflict. I sighed gratefully as the small room lit up with a cold blue ethereal light. The area was empty save for a few provisional crates. If I knew the combatants, they will eventually reach inside and finish the job. I shuddered. They may even decide to have some fun before they finish me.

I shook my head doggedly, trying to focus on the problem and not on the disturbing thoughts that were gathering in my fractured mind. I lumbered forward, recalling the patterns that my father had drilled into my mind.

I quickly brought a steel talon down, furrowing the concrete with harsh screeches that set my teeth on edge. I ignored the unpleasant feeling and concentrated on piecing together the power nodes and the auxiliary dimensional configurations. I wasn’t a fully fledged magus but I was pretty close. I paused. Perhaps I was the only worker of Power now. A shudder went through my frame and my steely mane let out an inappropriately melodious tinkle.

I almost laughed then.

The last part of the workings were almost complete but I hesitated.

My father had told me the majority of worlds were barren or simply uninhabitable. If I took this, then I may die anyway. I snorted. Better to die like this on an alien world than at the mercy of my oppressors. I etched in the last strokes to the pattern and poured in Power. The pattern glowed a dull scarlet but quickly worked its way up the spectrum until it was eye-piercing violet.

Suddenly, the space in front of me tore with a snap and a rectangular window popped into view. I ran a draconian tongue over my reptilian lips.

Oh to heck with it.

I held my breath, plunging forward into the rectangular abyss.

Author's Notes:

Not much to say here.

Next Chapter: Physics is suspended. The whole of Canterlot is in an uproar as miscellaneous floating objects fly around haphazardly.

As always, my salient readers, thanks for reading.

2 - Hello There

I stumbled out of the portal as it imploded quietly, no longer fed the prerequisite Power it required to remain stable. I collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut, breathing in the safe air gratefully. I was in a daze, it had been only a few hours since I began my travels but world after world had been all kinds of inhospitable. I learned my lesson quickly when I was propelled almost into rumbling torrent of flowing lava and I quickly etched several variants of the transversal pattern on my scales making sure to create a bubble pocket of air and a thermal buffer that could last me long enough to escape from the multitude of barren, hostile landscapes I traversed. Lava couldn’t kill a dragon immediately, in a few moments the heat would make its way through the scales to the vulnerable flesh underneath. If the heat didn’t kill a dragon, being sealing in impermeable stone would.

This was the first world I had seen green, let alone filled with sweet, sweet breathable air. I luxuriated in the warmth of a gentle sun, feeling alive. This short moment felt like it was lost in the furrows of time but I cared not, letting my thoughts drift incoherently in the palatable waves of relief flowing through my slender frame. A quick shiver among my quicksilver scales carried the phantom pain of being the last of my Line.

I am Shen Lung…

I gave my head a savage shake to clear my thoughts. Brief as my respite had been, I had no idea what awaited in the dense thickets and shrubbery that surrounded the clearing I had arrived in. I glanced at the blades of grass trampled beneath my claws. I recognised it as grass and I was pleasantly surprised. The… other places didn’t have grass. I felt my lips curl up into a giddy smile. Finally, life!

No doubt my pursuers were already reconstructing my circle, in all probability pouring all their effort into feeding Power to my pattern. I felt the edges of my draconian lips curl into a predatory smile. A nice surprise would await them, may they burn in that molten rock world slowly.

I snapped out of my fanciful daze. It wouldn’t do to sit here daydreaming, what would Father say? I studied my surroundings more intently. I wasn’t an expert on plants and animals but none of these were native to my world, allaying a sudden spike of fear that I had somehow fallen back to the home world. I growled softly to myself, none of that, you have to remain level-headed.

I scanned my surroundings once again. Trees that were dense but not too dense to navigate around, shrubbery that was thin, and–

I cocked my head one of my ears picking up a faint sound.

Running water.

With an excited pounce, I leaped towards the source of water in a laughing fit of purrs.

Instead of hitting water, I crashed into something solid instead.

“Oww!” it cried, my brain dimly registering that it sounded vaguely male, if a bit young.

Woozy from the unexpected impact, I swayed to my claws, my armoured skull weaving from side to side as I tried to train my eyes on the creature or thing I had crashed into.

My eyes widened as my vision cleared.

He was a purple scaled dragon with green tipped spines. He placed a clawed hand on his head as he registered me as well. Curiously he stood up on his hind legs, like a bipedal human, using his tail to balance. He looked rather young for a dragon, barely a hatchling. It sounded like he was capable of speech though, perhaps he was stunted?

When he finally was able to focus on me, he back pedalled wildly, letting loose a yelp as he comically fell head over heels in an attempt to escape from me. I watched in bemusement as he settled for diving into the bushes, as if that could stop me from harming him.

Perhaps he hadn’t had the best experience of dragons?

Doesn’t he know I have excellent eyesight?

Or that I could smell his fear from a mile away?

I chortled, although I realised after a moment that it would come out sounding like more of a choking growl than laughter. I stopped and looked at the bushes pointedly.

I admit I was intrigued. He didn’t seem outwardly hostile, unlike those vicious leeches from the swamp-like planet. I shuddered.

I continued to stare at the bushes giving an annoyed flick of my tail to let him know that I was getting impatient with his antics.

Come on out, I thought, exasperated. If I wanted to hurt you I would have done it already.

The other dragon seemed to sense my outward impatience or perhaps he thought I wasn’t going to eat him or something because he cautiously raised his head from the bushes.

“You’re not going to hurt me, are you?” he called out to me, nervously. I almost laughed at the crack in his speech. Then again it was kind of sad how a dragon could be so spineless. Get some backbone! My brother and I hunted for my first prey when we were barely old enough to talk. Predators will respect other predators, be more confident!

I slowly shook my head in amusement. What was I doing? Just because he looked like a dragon didn’t mean he was like me.

The little dragon let go a sigh of relief. I cocked my head in confusion.

Oh he must have taken my head shake as an answer.

“Hello there," he continued in a warmer tone. I rolled my eyes.

And what? Just like that? Isn’t he at least a little paranoid? Maybe he really is a kid.

“My name is Spike, what’s yours?” he asked innocently.

I merely growled in response as I resisted the urge to make a human expression. You know, the one when they put their hand on their faces.

Spike. What a stupid name.

I turned my back and started trudging towards the river.

“Hey wait!” I heard Spike cry from behind me.

I groaned inwardly.

I preferred being alone.

Author's Notes:

Well that was a bit crazy but I'm not sure if I want to continue this. I'm experimenting with a slightly modified approach with the way I write things.

Next Chapter: These next chapter messages are actually future chapter messages sent to the past. Please, if you're reading this, you mu- befor- to- late- --END TRANSMISSION--

As always, my perky readers, thanks for reading!

3 - Malleable

I dipped my head down to the flowing stream to take a nice long draw of water. The cool, clear liquid felt heavenly down my throat as I gulped it down greedily. I felt more alert and refreshed with every sip. The purple dragon was silent as he studied me drinking but I ignored him and kept to myself. It wasn’t any maliciousness on my part, I just didn’t want to take care of him when I should be planning a method of attack for my return.

At the very least, I needed to get back to my father’s corpse and retrieve the sphere of Lung.

I paused slightly, as a ripple of anxiety and melancholy was made intimate with me. I took a moment to compose myself before padding towards the nearest tree and curling up to take a nap.

The small purple dragon decided to make himself a nuisance just as I was falling asleep.

“Hey,” he called out to me, snapping me out of a pleasant fog of drowsiness. I growled slightly but he didn’t seem to take the hint.

“So, uhm, I’ve told you my name. Why don’t you tell me yours?” he pushed as one of my armoured claws gouged the ground in annoyance. I eyed him stonily as he sheepishly placed one of his clawed hands behind his head.

“It’s okay, I guess, you don’t have to tell your name,” he said quickly as I let loose another particularly menacing growl at his persistence.

I was frustrated to find him sitting down beside me. My tail lashed once before I could still it. Spike looked at my tail warily but seeing as I didn’t dismember him on the spot, which I was tempted to do, he gradually relaxed.

“You know,” he continued as I sent a prayer to the Ancestors listening to leave me alone.

“I’m actually lost,” he admitted as I let loose a grunt.

Figures the little thing would get lost so easily. I hear a soft crack at the edges of my hearing, I perk up casting my hearing around us as I tried to pinpoint the noise. Could be nothing, could be something. The forest was silent. I frowned. It was too silent.

The inane dragon started talking again.

“That’s kind of why I wanted to tag along you seem friendly– urk–” he stopped when I pinched his mouth closed with a taloned hand and gazed into his eyes intensely.

I very slowly and deliberately released his snout and then pointed to the last known location of the soft snap I had heard earlier. The small dragon seemed to finally understand and I let loose a quiet breath of relief as he kept quiet and stared at the bushes.

Suddenly a piercing roar echoed through the woods.

For a moment my heart froze as the spine-chilling roar filled my ears but I knew predators only gave voice to their discontentment when challenging intruders. It didn’t want to eat us at least, but it was still dangerous. From the sound of its voice it was also quite large so the best course of action would be to retreat slowly. Hopefully, I could cast an illusion of empty air if I had time.

Thinking this, I retreated slowly but groaned as the purple dragon stayed rooted to the spot, still staring at the bushes.

With a snarled draconic oath, I swept the dragon up onto my back, hoping he would be smart enough to grab my neck and not my spines as I flattened them. I felt him grip me desperately. I bounded out to the side just as a large object smashed into the tree we were just under a moment ago, a thunderous crash echoing behind us.

I didn’t bother to look back but a gasp from my passenger told me that the monstrosity chasing us was not far behind. My left foreleg was burning with pain and I hissed as the pressure tore at the wound. I don’t think I could last long in this chase. I scanned around for something, anything that could help. I cursed myself for not scribing any combat spells onto my scales, a few strokes and I could have dealt with whatever it is, or given us enough time to escape. As it were, luck was on our side and I spotted a rickety bridge.

Instead of pounding across the bridge, which looked liable to fail anyway, I headed away from it, moving to the edge of the wide gulf that the bridge spanned. I ignored the dissenting reply from the dragon on my back as I leapt into the ravine. A furious roar behind us confirmed the beast’s frustration as I avoided narrow crags and rocky outcroppings in free fall.

The dragon’s grip tightened on my sides painfully but I admired that he didn’t make a sound. With a dramatic unfurling, my wings snapped out to whip us back from fall to ascent. I chortled mirthfully as a surprised yelp from the diminutive dragon made its way to my ears.

I glided, looking for a stable ledge to rest on within the ravine. Judging by the delighted giggle on my back it seems this dragon enjoyed flying almost as much as I did. I banked to the side, catching an updraft, as my instincts informed me, and we drifted along with myself giving a scrutinising gaze at the scenery underneath.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t appreciate the beauty of the landscape. I took a moment to admire the sweeping angles of the cliffs, the rushing water below and the sapphire-blue sky above. Flying always made me happy, a sentiment I shared with my father. He says it stemmed from my Shen Lung side, or storm-dragon aspect, which craved the ride of storms and the sizzling hiss of lightning that accompanied one of nature’s wildest phenomenons.

I liked to think that flying was something most, if not all, creatures could appreciate. Some in more relative comfort of planes or balloons, others in more direct gliding apparatus. If one had wings, one would never stop flying, never stop craving the soothing caress of the winds, the playful glow of the sun, the rush of speed, the ragged pulsing heartbeat of death and defiance within our graceful dance of currents and pealing majesty that were the skies around us. That we were the skies.

Forgive me. I get a little poetic about my passions.

It was not too long before I spotted a suitable ledge in the ravine and the little dragon hopped off my back, babbling about how ‘cool’ it was and how he really wanted to try again. Usually I would be annoyed at the little thing, but right now I was in a forgiving mood. I understood any creature’s, let alone a dragon’s passion to fly. Noticing with a little surprise, my gaze was then drawn to his back, and I noticed sadly that he had no wings. Whether they were yet to grow in or he would never have them, it still made me feel a measure of pity for him.

My father once told me that the Shen Lung didn’t have wings, for what need had one for wings when the very winds around them were an extension of themselves? Perhaps he was like that, a dragon that could fly without wings. I was a crossbreed between Western dragons and the Eastern dragons, a life shaped from Power. A relic from a war we were so desperately losing. I still held onto the hope that our kind would persevere, but I knew that even if my kind recovered, I was the last of my Line. There would be no redemption for this. If there were any to be had anyway.

I heard a scratching to the side of me and I hissed in shock when the foolish dragon had decided to peer inquisitively off the side of the ledge. The drop was a lot shorter than the initial height of the ravine but for a wingless drake like him, the fall would almost certainly mean death. I darted forward quickly and pushed him back with a claw, giving him a glare that could melt steel. The dragon looked a little miffed but he stepped back and kept away from the edge. A nauseating mix of emotions swirled within me, why was I so protective of such a foolish little dragon?

The winds blowing through the gorge jangled my mane of steel ribbons giving rise to a soft tinkling sound. The noise reminded me of a time when my family had visited a small, picturesque meadow, where we sat on the vivid green grass and let the soft wind blow through our manes giving rise to a unique, melodious song. I clamped down on a sudden bout of loathing. How dare they take that away from me? How–

I gritted my teeth as my vision blurred. I blinked them away quickly. Smouldering anger gave way to ashes that left a bitter taste in my mouth. Glancing sideways, I realised I had an attentive audience member and I chided myself on being so weak.

The drake padded up to me with pitying, pitying eyes.

He gave me a gentle pat on my shoulder. For a moment I gave in slightly, but then I remembered myself and shied away, angry at myself for desiring pity. What would father say?

I gnashed my teeth, frustrated.

Don’t think of that now, I thought to myself angrily. Just focus on survival.

I knew my best bet was to have this dragon direct me to his home, but I didn’t feel like asking him. Besides, with my foreleg I couldn’t make a climb to save my life and with his additional weight I wouldn’t be able to climb to a safe altitude. We were going to have to camp here tonight, on this ledge. The dragon kept looking nervously at the setting sun, I think there could be possible problems to staying in this ravine at night.

I tried to communicate to him that we would be safe here, I mean, what could be in the ravine? He seemed to calm down after I pointed to myself and gestured with a thumbs up. He apparently knew what that meant because he gave one back to me. I was pleasantly surprised that it had worked. I was glad, because the next thing I was going to try was a pat on his head and I really didn’t want to do that.

The ledge had a very small overhang that we could seek shelter under, which was a good thing because I didn’t want to scout any further for other ledges. I used an old trick my father had taught me and expelled some of the burning in the back of my throat as an azure flame on the rock around us. Very soon the rock began to glow a warm red and we were both huddled around the toasty warmth of dragon-heated stone.

Several times in the intervening silence, the light purple drake would try and strike up a conversation with me. Though I hadn’t given him an indication I could, he seemed convinced I could talk without a translator. I didn’t want to give him a glimpse of my proficiency in Power because father had told me to never reveal to full extent of my skill set to anyone. Unless they were someone I trusted with my life and sorry, but this dragon named Spike was not currently on my list.

Even though I hadn’t replied or since acknowledged his attempts to communicate with me, Spike decided to keep talking anyway and after a while I realised that he was telling me a story.

Intrigued, I listened in.

“ –Twilight and I went to the Crystal Empire, you wouldn’t believe it but the whole place was made of crystals!” he narrated and chuckled at my incredulous expression. “I know right?” he continued, his claws waving excitedly. “The whole place was almost too bright to even keep my eyes on and everything was HUGE!”

I coiled up, listening to his enthusiastic retelling of the Crystal Empire and how he was able to save it from complete destruction.

I take it back. Maybe this dragon had a bit of a spine to him after all.

My mind started to wander as he moved onto another tale where he was helping out at some sporting event. It seemed like his friends were part of a pretty advanced race…

I yawned.

He had nice emerald eyes…

Author's Notes:

I actually have nothing to say. Man I need some more creativity juices.

4 - Winds of Change

That night, I dreamt of an inferno.

It was not a fast, flaming death of a quick volcanic death.

It was not a rapid immolation, fuelled by hunger and passion.

It was a slow, implacable monolith that ground all in its path into ashes and dust.

It was a strange flame, it didn’t burn more than it consumed.

I remember only fractures of the dream and I was glad. The concepts were indistinct and for lack of a better word, frightening.

Dithra once told my father that a dragon feared nothing more than dishonour. Dragons were… are a proud race. After an altercation that my father refused to talk about, though I pressured him quite insistently, Dithra had told my father that a dragon feared something more than dishonour.

A dragon feared nothing more than being casually swatted out of existence, like so much an insignificant insect. For a dragon, the epitome of their struggles, experiences, wisdom, knowledge, thought and power to be wiped clean without a second thought was a thought too terrible to contemplate.

In the war with the humans, a war my father had tried so desperately to prevent, dragons had fell with not a shred of casual resistance. Oh, they had fought hard and sacrificed much, but while dragons had patience and tenacity, humans excelled at violence and conflict. The horror of their inventions, their superiority of their tools and weaponry had quickly overwhelmed us. My father had been able to keep us alive long enough to escape the initial cleansing, but it had only been a matter of time.

I had hoped that the humans could accept us, that there was hope for co-existence within a race devoted to war and intolerance. Indeed in recent generations, there had been a marked change in their outlook. For some of the Elder dragons, they had seemed surprised at the humans. They were growing and in a positive direction.

Unfortunately, it was often that humans with the least wisdom retained the greatest power.

In an unspeakable tragedy and a landslide of misunderstanding that quickly spiralled out of control, the dragons had triggered a conflagration that consumed our entire race, dooming our existence with one fell swoop.

It only took a life. As it often does. One life to affect so many.

——

My sleep was fitful as always and I woke with a start. The horizon had a bruised purple glow to it and I realised that it was twilight, the breaking of a new dawn. My first one on this strange world. Whenever it had become cold I would stoke the rock-heater with my fiery breath. The stubby dragon beside me had slept through the oscillating changes in the temperature and he seemed to be content with sleeping through almost anything.

In spite of myself, I smiled. I’d say it was down to the refreshing experience of meeting a new dragon that didn’t want to kill me, use me, or wile their way through the ranks through me. I guess you could say it was a novel experience, even though I couldn’t be sure that this dragon was anywhere near the same sort of biology than the dragon I was or the dragons I was used to.

I did my morning stretches, as my father’s ever-present shadow would always remind me perform.

Relax, Stefan would tell me. A dragon must be flexible to meet all manner of resistance.

Did you learn that in the Russian training camps? I shot back snidely, but I instantly regretted it.

Stefan studied me, expressionless for a moment before his gaze turned sad. No, he had replied wearily. I learned that just living my life.

My musings were brought to an abrupt halt as the young drake beside me grumbled and mumbled, before joining me in the waking world.

“Good morning,” he greeted me, yawning. I inclined my head, giving my wings a final stretch before settling down.

“So, where are we going?

I scanned the surrounding region, favouring my right side. There wasn’t much I could do without the assistance of power. I pursed my lips, deep in thought.

Spike came around to my left side, looking at the blood-soaked bandage on my left foreleg.

“Oh,” he said sheepishly. “I didn’t know you were hurt that badly.” He leaned in closer. “I think it’s time for me to fess up and get some help.”

I examined the purple drake curiously as he seemingly fished out a quill and a piece of paper… or was that parchment? I shook my head, he seemed to have a small pouch wrapped around his midsection. I blinked in surprise. I probably didn’t notice it because I was too busy saving both our lives.

I looked on, wondering how the small dragon would get help with just the parchment, quill and ink. Was he going to make a paper aeroplane out of it. I almost smiled at that. I tilted my head as he quickly scribbled on the parchment, rolled it up and to my amazement breathed fire over it.

What the heck?! I thought, completely taken aback. Did he just burn the parchment for no reason?!

My misgivings were eventually proven unfounded when the smoke from the flame coalesced into green smoke that wafted daintily on the breeze, quickly dispersing out of sight. I gaped at the dragon. What was that?! I didn’t even see any workings of Power around him. How was that even possible?!

Spike chuckled weakly at my expression.

“I sent a letter for some help. I think I know roughly where we are, but it’ll take them some time to find us.” He idly kicked a stone, his claws behind his back. He looked decidedly sheepish. “Sorry, I think I should have done this sooner.” He paused. “It’s just that it’s been a while since I’ve seen another dragon.” He smiled. “One that’s nice,” he added, though I snorted. If I was nice, I was also a Nigerian Princess.

He giggled softly at my reaction.

“You act mean,” he continued, reaching out with a clawed hand. I shied away again, giving him a glare. “But you saved me from the hydra and you kept me company overnight. I think you’re a nice pony on the inside.”

I grimly accepted that with a nod, but then a niggling thought snatched at the edges of my mind.

Wait a minute. I thought. Did he just say ‘pony’?

Author's Notes:

You'll notice the earlier chapters have been edited and updated to be consistent mainly with the new grammar and spelling I've adopted. If you've been following this before. Thanks for keeping up, but I'm afraid that the updates will still be just as infrequent. You'll also notice that in my recent fics I've gotten a lot more honest with my next chapter previews. Well... sometimes.

I'd like to personally thank you all for taking the time to read this. I'm chuffed that there are readers out there that enjoy my stories. I appreciate that, no matter where you are or who you are.

Thanks again.

Next Chapter: Twilight is not going to be happy to find out that Spike had gallivanted off without permission.

As always, my aesthetically pleasing and positioned readers, thanks for reading!

5 - Flight

My father used to tell me that the most attractive force in the universe wasn’t love, it was power. He was a cynical old man, but in the cutthroat world of politics I was embroiled in, he was mainly right. The fairytale world of love and tolerance, peace and happiness and all the technicoloured ideology young drakes would spew, were swept aside with practicality and pragmatism. If you didn’t need it, it wouldn’t keep you alive. My father was not a man easily beguiled by the finer things that poets and dreamers often sung about. He knew the darker side of the world, a world embroiled in war and struggles of power.

He always used to say that his generation was where the buck had stopped. Where privilege met responsibility, the delicate scales for which philosophy, politics and legacy all warred against each other for the fate of a race.

My people were a people of tradition and custom. Dragons were a race where age empowered rather than enfeebled, where wisdom and age were revered but where ideas and concepts remained aged and stagnant. One ideal was ironically the victor in all this, one law that prevailed through the hill and valleys of time. I reflected wryly that our higher cognitive thoughts were just a veil for our base primal motives. Of all the primal motives there were, none was more powerful than survival.

So viciously we fought, for the future of our race. My father had tried to be reasonable, he tried to talk the other Elders into seeing reason. He urged them that a war with the humans would certainly end in extinction. Some dragons believed him and were noble. Dragons like Dithra and Stefan, loyal to their very core. They stood for the principles of reason and sought coexistence, the only possible way in which we could ever survive…

But it was all for naught. The voice of peace and tolerance and our overtures of friendship were soured under a vicious attack of folly on the opposing counsel, the faction of dragons that ached for war and to conquer the humans. The humans retreated back into their cold masks of emotionless apathy and with a quick and methodical flick of the wrist, a signature from the highest authority bore down arms and armament on our piteous hiding places, where we skulked for the last of our days.

My father was one of the first to know. He let everyone in our political circumference know that the humans were coming. In a last-ditch effort, he bought us the time to hole up near a bunker, deep within the territory of the Lung. My father always had a backup plan, he had men waiting for us, men he trusted with his life and more. They waited for us briefly, got us situated and left to help my father. I could only watch as they disappeared into the tree line, never to be seen again.

A couple days later, I was grimly informed that my father had fallen in battle. He died with the sphere of the Lung hanging loosely in his jaws. I don’t know what became of the sphere but I hoped the humans hadn’t gotten their hands on it. It was a power that even my father was hesitant to play with, even though it was an ancestral legacy left for our line.

We were kept safe for a relatively long while. Then we were betrayed. One of our informants, a human, eventually figured out that we were dragons and defected. I don’t know how the information leaked out, but it didn’t matter. We received next to no warning of the subsequent attack. Snipers, heavy machine-gun fire, rained hell on our little camp. A few of us managed to escape, lifting to the skies and narrowly escaping the helicopters that bore down on us. We made it to the bunker, but it was too little, too late.

The rest is history and I’m now the last of my Line.

–––––

After the dragon had summoned help through workings of Power I was unfamiliar with, I stoked the fire-stone with my azure breath to prevent us from freezing over. Though the sun would provide enough light and heat later on, I still preferred the radiative heat of the stone. It was comfortable, much more so than sun-baking. Ashadh was normally the one that appreciated sunlight, I couldn’t tolerate it to a great degree. I preferred my fires naked and close, not distant and cold like the stars above.

The little drake had taken to staring nervously around him and at the sky, as if expecting at any moment for something to pop out. I chuckled to myself and curled up on the stone to rest. The wound on my leg still throbbed, but it wasn’t causing any more undue trouble. It needed to be treated soon though, I certainly didn’t want to deal with an infection.

After a while, I drifted off into sleep again, exhausted from my fractured sleep. The dragon looked at more curiously for a moment, then returned his gaze to the skies.

–––––

“Spike!”

I woke to the shrill screech of some female’s voice. Adrenaline shot through my system, getting to my paws, but I stumbled awkwardly growling in pain. I stood more slowly and unsteadily and then took stock of my surroundings. To my left was the small dragon, who was still looking up at the sky. He seemed surprised, relieved and alarmed at the same time. Hi expression reminded me of something you’d normally see as an expression on a kid that has done something very wrong but was still glad to be reunited with their parents.

I finally turned my gaze upwards and my jaw dropped. There was an insultingly colourful purple-coated winged unicorn that circled above before diving down to land somewhat awkwardly next to Spike.

“Spike!” I recognised the voice belonging to the winged unicorn was the same voice that had woken me from my slumber. So this was the ‘help’ that the dragon had called for. I frowned skeptically, examining the form of the creature in front of me.

Hard hooves, feathery wings that reminded me of the feral quetzalcoatls of the South American persuasion. No fangs, no claws, maybe powerful muscles in her legs, but overall the equine-like creature didn’t seem much of a threat. I stood down and sank back on my haunches. Once this creature took away Spike I could lift myself out of this place and do some rest and recuperation without having to worry about that dragon’s hide.

The equine was smothering the little dragon, which I found vaguely amusing to watch.

“Oh Spike, I was so worried!” the diminutive creature pined as she crushed the whelp in a sort of improvised hug. I guess a four-legged creature could hug. Dragon preferred to just touch snouts at best, twining necks like that with our spines could poke out an eye. We’re practical like that.

Spike hugged her back, for a moment looking blissful. I wouldn’t say I envied the little bugger, but I certainly felt something of a sad longing. I crushed it under some quickly generated apathy. It helped that I looked away.

“Thanks for coming, Twi’.” I turned back to them as they broke apart and started conversing. The winged unicorn threw an inquisitive glance at my direction, as if trying to assess whether or not I would be a threat. From the way she stiffened a little, but didn’t back down, the little creature probably thought I was dangerous, but she could take me. I chortled silently. I almost wanted to see her try.

For a few tense moments we stared at each other. I looked at her blankly, not really knowing what to expect, but she looked at me with suspicion as if I was going to eat her on the spot if I wanted to. No, I don’t eat horses, I prefer cow.

Finally ’Twi’ gave me an awkward nod and finally introduced herself.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle. I believe you met Spike, my personal assistant.”

Huh, a personal assistant, well there were more than one way to hunt your prey, so to speak.

“Twilight, this dragoness saved my life. She’s injured so I think we should help her. By the way, you came pretty quick, I thought we might have to wait all day.”

Instantly Twilight’s demeanour changed. No longer was there the surly disposition as the Twilight bounded forward with worry etched on her face.

“Oh, you’re injured!” she cooed and sidled up to me, examining my wounded forelimb. “I see you’ve treated it,” she muttered with approval and then circled around me. “I’m not the best with dragon anatomy and I think there’s a Xenostician at the hospital, you should get it examined. Can you fly?”

Xenostician? What the heck was that? A hospital would be nice… but would I be able to pass as a local dragon here? I shook my head, I couldn’t risk it.

The winged-unicorn firmed her stance. “You should go to hospital,” she spoke more firmly. She must be used to getting her way. I shook my head and growled at her slightly.

Spike intervened before the situation could devolve into a confrontation.

“Twilight! Hold on, hold on, maybe she doesn’t like to go to hospitals, how about we decide on the way there?”

Twilight glanced at my forelimb, she sat on her haunches as she gave the idea a thought. I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t as if she could force me to go to the hospital. My claws clicked ominously against the stone cliff as Twilight gave it serious thought.

“Okay,” she finally said. She brightened considerably after making the decision. “How about you fly with us to Ponyville?” I gave a curt nod at that. What kind of name was that? “I still need to thank you for saving Spike,” she continued. “Afterwards, we can have a little chat as to how he got there in the first place–” she gave Spike a withering look that made him shrink back a bit “–and why he would keep me up all night worrying about him!”

Spike kicked a pebble off the cliff with his hands behind his back. He didn’t make eye-contact with Twilight. Dragon! Where is your spine? You told me you saved the Crystal Empire for Ancestor’s sake! I vented a soft snort. Oh well, I’m more interested in resting up and gathering some intelligence. Father always used to say, information is power and you can never have too much power. Trust an electrical engineer to say that.

Twilight flexed her wings.

“Okay, just follow me. Spike, climb aboard.”

I hope they didn’t see me grin because it was funny seeing a dragon ride a talking horse. Not that the horse was big enough to be a full blown horse, more like a pony, but I was impressed that the pony would fly encumbered with the little dragon. He wasn’t heavy but he wasn’t light either. Without a wing-span like mine I would be impressed if she could do more than glide.

Twilight seemed quite confident so I subsided, stretching out my wings in preparation to save both of their lives if it came to that. She must have mistaken the gesture as a signal that I was ready because the winged unicorn leaped off the ledge and plummeted down.

I gave a surprised squawk (if you tell anyone I will rend you with my claws) and I scrambled to the edge just in time to see the equine and her companion flapping awkwardly but powerfully, slowly climbing back up to the ledge. Twilight saw my piercing look and smiled somewhat sheepishly.

“Sorry,” she mumbled as she hovered in front of me. “I’m not really used to flying.”

I frowned at that. What? You’re born with wings aren’t you? How can you not be used to flying? How could anyone not want to fly every moment of their lives if they had wings? I would have, if it weren’t for the necessity of keeping low and not attracting human attention. I’m a certified land-dweller now. Flying was like riding a bicycle, you never forget.

I beat my wings, taking to the skies. I hovered in place, my wings producing air currents that brushed past Twilight’s face and fluttered her mane. I turned my face away so they wouldn’t see me smile from the giddy joy of flight. I rose in altitude and tailed back behind Twilight as she lead the way.

I hope they had some meat. I was getting a little hungry.

Author's Notes:

Finally updated this. I don't when I last did it but it was a long time ago. I'm pinballing around my fics right now so there's not going to be consistent updates. If you liked this one, thanks!

Next Chapter: To Ponyville! It's alright, it'll be short. Maybe.

As always, my reticulated readers, thanks for reading!

6 - Straight As An Arrow

If someone had asked me ten years ago what I expected the future would be like, I would gaze starry-eyed to the questioner and tell them of the wonders of dragons and humans getting along with the world working together. The slow heartbeat of two fairly ancient races synchronising together. I would have told them that I’d be there with my family—in the future—we’d be here a long time.

My father had once asked Stefan how long dragons lived.

According to my father, Stefan was surprised. It was hard to imagine a look of surprise on the steely cold agent of my father’s. He replied, ‘how long do you wish to live, my lord?’

That was food for thought. Barring disease, injury and existential meltdown, a dragon could live forever. My lips curled in amusement as we kept that morsel of knowledge away from the humans. Their medical scientists would have given their right arm to study us. Perhaps, in their avarice to see us extinct for popular opinion polls and a nice target to focus all their xenophobia without repercussions, the humans gave up their one chance to cast away the shackles of their mortality and live with us.

Perhaps one day—when both sides taste the ashes of regret—they might find me, alone all alone in the empty shack of what I once called home, and beg for my forgiveness.

But all I could give them in return would be a torn heart and silent tears.

For anger will have all but died away…

–––––

As we flew I felt the wind currents and air flows around me. According to my father I was part Shen Lung. These ancient dragons were the keepers of our dear planet Earth before the dragons with wings, the six limbed kind, stumbled their way through the dimensions and arrived on their planet. The Shen Lung were a very accepting race, but a shy one filled with caution and wisdom. They kept away from the petty politics and incessant bickering that the ‘Western’ dragons were keen on living for.

The Shen Lung are no more. The last vestiges of their kind was wiped away by a combination of the incited war in the West by the Western dragons and a failed attempt to foster a wise society in the East. With too few to maintain power they were exterminated when Mao rose to power.

My father had to struggle with the death of his Ancestry, often he would visit their watery grave. A place flooded constantly by the rising water table. He would use the sphere of the Lung to clear the area and revealed to him would be the markings on the wall following a spiral pattern outwards from the central column. The markings told those who could read it (so it would only be those with the blood of the Lung as the sphere could only help translate it) of the history of the Lung.

One night, I was taken there with my father. I was always interested in any workings of Power, but I felt oddly disconnected from the writings on the wall. He gave me the sphere silently and I read the contents on the columns. Hours passed me by in a flash as I saw images and impressions from thousands of dragons that made up my bloodline, my history.

It began simply, with the scratchings on the wall celebrating the birth of their kind, the Shen Lung. They loved the land and the land loved them back. The world was beautiful and bountiful. It was paradise. Soon though, they had to share, as others came from the ground. It seemed that as they blinked, a new creature would wander into the world. One kind intrigued them, they were tenacious and strong willed and they walked on two stubby legs. The writings conveyed cautious optimism. A little guidance and these bipedal creatures could live in peace and they would work together to bring the world into a new age of prosperity.

The writing also talked of the dragons of the West. How they had arrived through a portal, ragtag and exhausted. The Shen Lung took pity on them but they mainly ignored them. Some of the Shen Lung’s civilisation were eager to make contact with their curious winged brethren though and they flew off to entreaty with them. After that, there was a feeling that the scratching paused. A feeling that they were truncated, though the markings flowed one after the other.

As I approached the end, the mood of the history got darker. Their glorious civilisation had suffered losses, the war between the Western dragons and the humans had taken the highest toll on the Shen Lung, only a few remained. They toppled with one last effort to make peace with the humans, but they were too few, which you now know is our history. My father told me sadly that it was not much of a history. It was an epitaph.

–––––

“Are you alright? You’ve been silent for a while.”

I shook myself out of my mustiness, concentrating on the winged unicorn that had pulled up beside me. She flapped wastefully, she was adept, but not a creature that preferred to fly.

I nodded emphatically.

She eyed Spike. “She doesn’t say much, does she?”

Spike shook his head in reply. “Huh, no,” he said, glancing back at me. “I haven’t heard her say a word.”

They both looked at me as we glided on a thermal. I did my best impression of a dragon’s shrug. It wouldn’t translate well, but I knew they knew about shrugs, and whiplashing my tail the dragon way would seriously unbalance my flight.

Twilight looked like she wanted to say more but instead she just shrugged like I did—awkwardly—and we continued towards our destination. I was hoping it wouldn’t be the hospital. I mean, sure these creatures appeared friendly, but I wouldn’t extend that courtesy to their government, whatever it was.

Which reminded me… My scales needed a thorough cleaning. I still reeked of oil, gas and gunpowder. The river that I had run by back in that forest was starting to look more and more tempting. I could deal with freezing water if that meant I could feel clean again.

“Oh! We’re here!”

I saw Twilight bank sharply to the left and ahead I could a village of sorts. There were houses made of stone and wood, but I couldn’t see any architecture composed of iron or steel. Perhaps I had stumbled onto some sort of rural community? There were train track leading into the small town and away. So there must be some knowledge of steel or metalworking. I got hopeful. Maybe this place wouldn’t be so bad after all. I could recuperate here and then find out how I would retrieve the sphere of the Lung.

The sphere had a special connection with my father. With a single thought, the sphere would quietly snap into existence at my father’s side. It was an interesting phenomenon and I had thought to try it before, but it didn’t click for me. When I asked my father about it, he merely shrugged and told me that the sphere probably didn’t recognise me as the heiress yet. I asked him how long I’d have to wait. He grinned at me back then, replying, ‘probably until I died’. I snorted back then. I thought it would take forever, I’d never be in charge of the sphere…

We arrived at the edge of the town with Spike climbing off Twilight’s back.

“Would you mind staying here?” she asked me, her tone somewhere between commanding and pleading. It was a strange mix. I nodded in response and that seemed to satisfy Twilight.

“Right. I’ll be back in a few minutes. I just need to let the mayor know that you’re staying here for a while.”

With a cheery wave, Twilight took off and left me alone with Spike again.

Spike glanced sidelong at me.

“So,” he said. “What’s up?”

I tried not to sigh.

Author's Notes:

There's a bit of backgrounding involved with the main character. Like I said, it's a crossover, but I want to make it so people don't actually have to read the source material to understand what's going on.

Weeeee! I'm tired. Enough work. Time to relax.

Next Chapter: A little of this, a little of that. Mainly dragon-talk and a demonstration of magic.

As always, my committed readers, thanks for reading!

7 - Beneath The Waters

Ever wondered how the world worked? Not as a philosopher might conjecture in his armchair while pondering the essences of reality, but how it really worked, cogs and screws and all.

My father used to tell me that the world was a network of energy. Energy exchange happened here and there in a very precise and ordered manner. I asked him, back then, what that meant. He demonstrated the principle but utilising a strange Power diagram. It started with the sketches of a circle. This, he had said, represents everything in the universe. Everything was bounded by this. At the time, I was a very impressed dragonet. How could the world, let alone the universe, be contained in such a simple drawing?

The trick is, he explained. Was that the circle underpinned everything. It was elegant, it was maximal, it was for lack of a better description, beautiful.

The sandbox always started with a circle, he said. Put anything in a square and the corners would weaken the structure. Put anything in squiggles and the variables quickly get out of hand. One niggling thought had wiggled around in the back of my mind.

But isn’t drawing a circle impossible? At least, a perfect one? I had asked. My father waggled a clawed finger in front of me.

Life isn’t perfect, he had replied. And your circle reflects that.

I had a lot to think about that night.

–––––

Spike shuffled his feet beside me. After I had elected to stay silent with only growls, nods and the occasional tail-thump, he gave up trying to have a two-way conversation and lapsed into silence. Perhaps I was too distrustful of this world? It seemed idyllic with fanciful creatures as small dragons, winged unicorns and the such. But I knew that everything had a darker side to it.

There was the monster in that forest, there was a hospital here, and therefore there were the sick and dying. I don’t think there would be world I could walk in, a Utopia so to speak, that would be free from the darker sides bound to our organic souls. I don’t think that would be possible. We can’t escape ourselves.

As I sat on my haunches musing about this Spike started talking about his… problems?

“You saw the look on Twilight’s face, right? She’s not mad at me, is she?”

I looked at him without much comprehension. I thought he was her assistant. Is he dependent on her in some way? S parent/child sort of relationship? I shrugged, which was the best I could do without actually invoking Power to speak.

“I mean,” he continued, clearly emboldened by my attention. “I went out there all alone, which I wasn’t supposed to and I really should have told her about it…”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Well no wonder, little dragon, you didn’t tell your elders you were off romping around. I’m not sure about these equine-like creatures, but humans seem to have a tendency to protect their young until they were well past the age they could fend for themselves. I frowned. My father told me we were exceptions because dragons were a dying race, clutches were just so rare that the offspring were fawned over. Was I spoiled? I just thought it was a lot of care and attention to learn to survive. The greatest gift my parents could pass on to me.

Spike seemed to take my frown as my answer to his question.

“Yeah, I thought so. I should really apologise to her. Thanks, uhm… I don’t know your name. Well anyway, thank you, you’re really not like the other dragons I’ve met.”

I’ll bet, I thought snidely, then stifled my brief bout of whimsy.

Spike looked at the clouds scattered in the skies, then back at me. He let loose a despondent sigh.

“I wish I could fly,” he muttered, his voice was tinged with the deep tone of longing. “I wish I could just reach out with my claw and touch the sky.”

I softened at that. Don’t tell anyone because I swear on my Ancestors that I will find you and end you if you ever tell anyone else. I’m a sucker for flightless creatures that dream of flying. It just strikes a chord in me that they can’t share in that free experience. I could understand. One day, when I have broken my wing in flight training, I was rooted to the ground for a good month as the delicate bones re-healed. My father had doted on me then, I think I had made Ashadh slightly jealous, but that week I had sunken into a black funk, not being able to even flap my wings on the first week.

I pointed a claw up to the sky and nodded at the young drake. Distracted he followed my claw but only saw sky and clouds.

“What? Oh you mean you would help me fly?”

I’d take you for a ride every now and again, just don’t tell a soul.

“Thank you. I mean flying on Twilight is just not the same, you know? She’s kinda…” He looked around. “Clumsy.”

“Clumsy am I?” We both glanced up to see Twilight land with silent wings. Ah my leathery wings would never be so quiet.

I nodded at her as my estimation of her flying rose up a few notches. Good execution, couldn’t have done better.

Twilight gave me a broad smile, her hooves rattling out a staccato rhythm as she practically danced with joy.

“The mayor was concerned for a while but I assured her you were friendly and you weren't too big as a dragon, so it’s all fine.”

I kept my expression carefully neutral. Those with the blood of the Shen Lung could change sizes of course, nothing major mind you, we can reach the size of a small glider to the small dimensions of a wren. Anything beyond those two points would get painful very fast. The legends tended to exaggerate things a little, grain of rice to mythical mountains was just simply impossible. Also, being bigger also meant bigger wounds. I should really shift to my human form and bandage it up, but since it wasn’t life-threatening it was better to just stay in my draconic form. Besides, dragons heal a bit faster than humans.

“Still,” Twilight continued, heedless of my inner ramblings, “I think you should get your leg checked. It’s not good to trot around with a wound of your leg. Did you get that helping Spike?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t tell them I got shot. Would they even understand? Did they have the same sort of technology that my world had?

Twilight’s eyebrows drew together. Her mouth twisted in what looked like a mild form of exasperation. “Okay,” she finally stated. “But at least allow me to look at it. If you’re worried about going to the hospital, then we can go to my home and get it looked at there. I have a few supplies.”

I nodded my acquiescence. I would be following this person and even if the locals wanted to take me I could always cast an illusion of empty air and just flutter off as a draconic bird. I’d be gone in seconds.

She smiled at me and beckoned me to follow as she spread her wings.

They were awfully nice, though…

Author's Notes:

Though this isn't one of my more popular stories, I actually like to write for this one more than the others. Popular stories gets people talking and people like/hate on plot choices and my writing. With something like this I can cut loose a little and just write what I like. I don't like to be popular, I just want to write something good and put my imaginations on paper. I want people to enjoy my stories more than anything as well.

Bloggy AN is bloggy.

Next Chapter: Crystal castles oh my!

As always, my entrusted readers, thanks for reading!

8 - Familiar Faces

One of the first songs I had grown to like was one by Gary Jules. Mad World seemed alarmingly accurate to me. Throughout the time I’d been listening to the song, I learned to see the creases and lines that made up the faces around me. Draconic expressions were a little different to human expressions, but we all shared the same emotions. Fear. Jealousy. Loathing. Pain. On occasion, hope.

When I was first learning about manipulating Power from my father, a magus had approached me from one of the camp’s followers, of the Sstahn clan, had offered to mentor me in the workings of Power. At the time I’d been naïve. I didn’t notice that the magus had waited until Stefan and my father had taken their leave. I have foolishly believed that the every dragon from the Sstahn clan could be trusted.

Only after being dragged hundreds of miles, bound by spells and physical restraints, waiting in an abandoned warehouse until my father almost tore the building and surrounds apart looking for me that I realised I had had my first real introduction to the game.

The game was something everyone played. It was different depending on who you were and what you did. Some people didn’t even know they were playing the game, but I knew that this game was something I was forced to become very much aware of. The game was betting the future of not only my life but the future of dragons themselves.

Though it was through no fault of my own, I can’t help but feeling I had failed the game and in doing so, failed my father’s legacy. Being the last of your race was a terrible burden to shoulder.

If my father had taught me anything, it was to never give up. There were too many things more important than moping around feeling sorry for yourself.

Get up, he would say. Get up and scream in defiance as your adversary closes for your throat. Fight for life.

–––––

I tailed Twilight, heading towards her… castle? It was a whimsical design and I couldn’t tell whether it was made of crystal or stone or some sort of advanced material. They mentioned a lot of technology that made me wary. I was lucky that I took the form of something familiar within their world, or else they may have been more guarded and treated me with hostility. They seemed to be accepting creatures though, which surprised me more than anything.

Spike had decided to ride me. I didn’t mind the burden, it was negligible, but the adoring looks Twilight sent back at me sparked an urge to drop the drake like a sack of bricks. He’d probably fall like a brick without learning to use Power like the Shen Lung did. My wings almost skipped a beat when a sudden thought occurred to me.

Did Power work here?

The thought and implications that it wouldn’t hadn’t occurred to me. I mean I had seen the workings of Power, or at least something similar to it by the flight of the unusual winged unicorn. Twilight’s wingspan was too small to carry her weight like a traditional bird or winged creature relying on physical principles to fly. Twilight was using some sort of assistance. Secondly, Spike had a sort of magic too, his flames looked weak but they seemed to have additional usages.

If I couldn’t use Power here, that was a severe disadvantage. I was a magus, or close enough to one anyway, I was never formally acknowledged. My father had rolled his eyes at that sort of traditionalism and told me that such thinking was why college graduates were being hired instead of engineers like himself with over twenty years of military and electronics engineering experience. He couldn’t understand that at all.

If I couldn’t use Power here I’d have to learn the native version here. I was reasonably sure it would work. I wasn’t an expert at inter-dimensional Power metaphysics but I was reasonably sure that Power was able to bridge the two worlds, meaning there should be a source for the Power on this world somewhere.

Regardless there wasn’t much I could do except gather more information. From where we were headed I suppose Twilight was someone important. I might be able to find out more about this place from her.

When we landed in front of the double doors to her abode, there was a stir of commotion. Various equines approached all of a wide range of colour palettes. Many had wide, curious eyes and sported either horns or wings or neither. I noticed that no other had wings and horns that Twilight had and I filed that away. Could be significant.

“Nothing to see here!” Twilight exclaimed, making ‘shooing’ motions with her hoof. “I’m just escorting a guest who will be staying at the castle for a bit. There’s no danger, no need to worry.”

With a murmur the crowd dispersed and I raised an eyebrow at the level of trust the other ponies had in Twilight. Was she some sort of community leader of this town or something? No, she mentioned that there was a mayor… I shook my head, slightly confused.

Then the most incredible thing happened. Twilight’s horn glowed and the door briefly flashed the same magenta colour before opening. Violet and magenta were on the opposite sides of the spectrum in terms of Power, but I’d never seen a Power glow and sparkle. Thoughts raced around my head as I scanned around for patterns etched on the door or was visible on her horn.

What the heck was going on?

Twilight seemed to notice my expression.

“You look like you’ve never seen magic before,” she commented with a chuckle.

I gave her a blank look.

“No,” she said. “R-Really?”

Spike decided to jump in then. “Serious?” he said.

My mouth curled downwards into a frown. Twilight seemed to remember herself and stopped gawking.

“Oh,” she said. “Uhm, that’s unique. I guess I’ll be careful not to use too much magic around you. I’ve never met a dragon that didn’t know what magic was. Most dragons have innate magic after all. She beckoned me as she trotted inside.

Shaking my head I followed.

This world was getting more and more fantastical the longer I stayed. What next? Monsters and Princesses?

Author's Notes:

All around me are familiar faces...
Worn out places, worn out faces...

Next Chapter: Magic and Power don't mix.

As always, my superlative readers, thanks for reading!

9 - Power

I’ve told you the first introduction to Power was from my father and the second was from a magus that betrayed us, however brief that encounter was. My third introduction to Power was from the most unusual source, one of the last I had ever expected. I was still a hatchling back then, awkward on my paws and I must admit, condescending and arrogant. My father must have seen the superiority complex that grew within me, but I was oblivious to his growing discontent.

I think a little part of him was exasperated with my acting out and he merely rolled his eyes every time I pushed my own draconic prejudices. I didn’t know the world, but I also didn’t know any better. He couldn’t be the best parent, he was always darting around trying desperately to keep the fraying edges of the draconian political landscape from falling apart, but he knew what would be the best solution for me.

He sent me to visit Mary.

It didn’t take him much time, merely using the sphere of the Lung to ‘snap’ me to Haiti, a lonely island in the middle of the Caribbean.

We sat at an abandoned air strip while my tail lashed impatiently. My father regarded me with a measure of amusement and wry exasperation. He was a tough dragon, but a fair one and truth be told I was somewhat in awe of him. Though he dotes on us, his patience neared the end when heard about my slacking attitude. Though reluctant I saw in his eyes that he was determined to fix that. I wasn’t to know, of course, so I’d only been told that we’d meet an old friend of his.

Across the rise limped an old woman with a shiny aluminium walking cane. I’d been trained to see the pale skein on Power around simulacrum weaves, but this elderly lady—which I assumed was Mary—had no such signature. That left only two possibilities, both of which sent a tinge of unease shuddering through my frame.

I turned to my father.

“Who is she?” I asked.

“An old friend,” my father repeated, and then with a wry smile, “She’s not like us.” I knew I wouldn’t get more out of him about that, but it was enough for me to deduce the identity of this woman.

She was human.

My curiosity piqued when the woman stood there facing us in our natural forms, casually leaning against her cane and regarding us with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. I noted that it was the exact same emotions that ran across my father’s features. It struck me that they were alike in so many ways. From the sardonic tilt of their lips to their guarded posture, as if they were poised to strike out. She looked like the female form of my father come to life.

Mary glanced at me briefly, making eye contact for a moment before turning to my father.

“She’s too young and strong-willed,” she said and I felt the cutting remark lash out at me. Had I the cheeks to do so, they would have flamed in indignation. I was young, for a dragon, but I was certainly old enough to be treated with some respect. My mouth flapped open to shoot something back but my father issued a low growl and my eyes instinctively widened and I shut my trap accordingly.

There was an undercurrent of deep trust, and possibly affection, for this foreign woman that I couldn’t comprehend. Even around other humans, friends that my father trusted with his life, my father was more comradely and genial. There was a sort of muted respect, almost deference, that my father emanated around Mary. What had she done to gain so much of my father’s trust?

My father gathered himself and tilted his head to Mary.

“Please.” It was a simple word but laden within it were desperate emotions that I couldn’t decipher. Mary seemed shocked for she took a step back, apparently involuntarily, and the grip on her cane tightened.

“Hasai,” she said quietly. “Do you know what you are asking of me?”

My father had a sad look in his eyes.

“I didn’t want it to come to this, but I fear that despite my efforts, the world will come crashing down around us. I fear that my kind will be swallowed by a cleansing fire that none can put out. I fear—”

Then Mary did something I thought I’d never see in my entire life.

She smacked my father with her cane.

Due to the structure of a dragon’s scales and the way we are armoured, I wouldn’t imagine it hurting much, if at all. What it did do was stun my father into silence.

After a moment he collected himself.

“Why?” was all he said.

Mary scowled at him and let her cane drift back to the ground.

“You’re talking like a whelp, Hasai. Responsibility and tragedy may follow us, but we must continue if there is something left to fight for. Fear this, fear that, fear not! I did not stand watch over you for three days to see you pass away within a couple of decades!” Her raspy voice was strained with emotion. Though she seemed aged and frail, I saw that the strength of her iron will to live on was her drive to cling onto this world. She didn’t look tired, but rather carried a presence around her that spoke of the immense reserves of energy that gave her character beyond the stereotypes I unwittingly judged her with on first appearance.

My father inclined his head in acknowledgement.

“You are one of the few I can speak to,” Hasai commented with a chuckle, but Mary waved her cane dismissively, cutting him off.

“Let me be the doddering old woman with one foot in her grave, being all maudlin,” she growled and when I glanced back at him I saw a flicker of something in his eyes. He smiled with a predator’s grin that made me shiver but for some reason made Mary nod appreciatively.

“I’ll do this for you Hasai, but whether she learns will be entirely up to her,” she ended and smirked at my father. “Farewell, Hasai.”

I looked back to see my father had already grasped the sphere of Lung in his jaws. He gave me a lazy wink and disappeared from sight. When I turned back I saw Mary had already crested the slope and was tapping her foot.

Mary gestured with her cane impatiently. “What are you waiting for? Come. There is much to do and little time to do it.”

I followed along hesitantly, unsure of what the future held.

—————

Inside, I stopped to gawk at the crystal castle. I expected the inside to be made of tiny crystal blocks but instead the walls and the floors seemed to be made of solid crystal. I tapped the floor experimentally, listening to the sound of my talon echo around the chamber.

“Are you okay?” Spike asked, his voice was underscored by concern. I realised then how I must have looked, gaping at the castle like a young dragonet. I shook my head doggedly, regretting my lapse in posture. I stiffened and sat back on my haunches, bowing my head.

I caught Twilight staring at me with bemusement sparkling in her eyes. She had a hoof pressed against her muzzle.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “Many ponies have been where you were.”

I rolled my eyes, a low growl issuing from deep within my throat. But what may have given Twilight reason to pause earlier on, merely made her smile grow wider.

“Come on,” Twilight beckoned, moving towards the inner sanctums of the castle. “I still have to look at your foreleg. You’re not going anywhere until I at least make sure that you’re okay.” She trotted off, leaving me with no doubt that her orders were not to be disobeyed. I glanced at Spike who just shrugged and mouthed ‘bossy’. I smirked, but followed anyway. I trusted them. Not enough to reveal anything, but enough to see that they didn’t mean any harm. I scanned each area and padded along placidly, this time coolly cataloguing the main features and various nooks and crannies within the fortress. Maybe I was being too cautious?

We moved quickly through the castle bypassing what looked like a chamber with a ‘round table’ arrangement. I took it in stoically. The longer I stayed in this world, the more I was convinced I was in some sort of weird mixture between a ‘feudal-era Europe’ and modern America. Twilight and Spike had mentioned hospitals and certain concepts that you would only expect from modern society, then it turns around and there are castles and crystals and strange uses of Power. I still had to gather more intelligence, but it was getting harder when so many things were familiar, but so alien at the same time.

Twilight moved with confidence around the castle. If this was anything like Earth, then the castle was more historical than functional. Twilight or Spike were probably the caretakers of the building. Perhaps Twilight worked here? My mouth twitched as I saw Spike trundling along with us. She did have an ‘assistant’ so she must work in some sort of professional capacity, right?

“What do you think?”

The wayward question startled me and I shook my head. I had blanked out there for just a few moments. Craning my neck, I turned to watch two overly-concerned eyes studying me. I gave them a very human smile, instinctively, then instantly regretted it when I realised what it would look like on a draconic face like mine. The pair took a step back involuntarily.

Like my father would say, insufficient data, fake it for now.

I shrugged, gesturing with my paws in a way that I hoped would indicate confusion and dismissal at the same time.

“Oh, haha, y-you had me worried for a second there. I’m not used to a dragon’s smile,” Twilight stuttered.

An impish thought drifted in.

I affected a hurt expression.

“N-Not that we didn’t find your smile n-nice or anything,” Twilight added quickly. She threw Spike a ‘help me’ look but Spike’s eyes widened in response and his body tensed as if to say to Twilight ‘don’t get me involved with this!’ I waited a few moment then I chuckled, a low rumbling issuing from my throat as I did so. To others it would sound like a brick dragging across concrete and it made them both nervous before they realised I was laughing.

“Hehe, was that a joke?” Twilight murmured, more surprised than anything.

I cocked my head. Of course it was a joke, I’m hilarious.

I gave Spike a look.

“Hey, I stick to sarcasm,” he said quickly and I smiled at that. He took a step back.

“L-Let’s get a move on, Twilight,” he stuttered and I watched on amused as Twilight hesitated, then decided that it was probably a good idea to move on. With a jerk she clip clopped out of the room, not giving me a chance to smile once more. Inwardly, I chuckled.

Perhaps I should take it easy for a few days, staying around here might not be a bad idea at all.

––––––

As we made our way through the twisting interior of the castle, I was struck by how strange the architecture was. Whoever designed the building made little use of curves, opting instead to place a number of crystals fused into the room. The result was impressive, as if the crystals had been grown out of the ground or the rooms and furnishings hewn directly from one crystal block. I knew there had to be some sort of interlocking layers but even with my draconic eyes I couldn’t discern any gap or pattern to the crystal arrangements.

Twilight must have deduced what I was thinking for she turned around and gave me a light smile.

“The inside of the castle looks like one big crystal block doesn’t it?” she said.

I nodded.

“That’s because it is. The castle is actually grown from one crystal block but there is some magic infused into the layers to prevent it from collapsing.”

Power? I hadn’t expected the structure to draw Power into itself and sustain itself. How did she get it to draw so consistently? It doesn’t look like she’s actively maintaining it. I couldn’t see any of the telltale actinic glows that usually accompanied the activation of patterns. Was I taking too many things for granted in this strange world? Perhaps they found some sort of advanced form of Power?

I blinked at Twilight, unsure of what to make of her explanation. Some of my caution returned. These creatures were obviously more advanced in the workings of Power than we were. I had to keep my wits about me. The more I learned about these creatures, the more capable they seemed to be. Who knew?

After following a twist in one of the side corridors and ascending a couple of flights of stairs, we came to a small room. Twilight opened to simple wooden door and beckoned me to come in.

Hesitating for a brief moment, I walked in.

I guess I was expecting maybe an 80’s style hospital, complete with dreary beds and solemn equipment. Instead, what I found were very comfy looking beds, an examination table, various charts and posters depicting anatomy of various equines, notably winged and horned ones, which I found was interesting. Also, the familiar beep of an EKG, which startled me the most.

“What’s the matter?” Twilight asked, spotting my confusion. “You look like you’ve never seen a hospital before.”

I shrugged a little self-consciously. This was modern-looking. I was expecting Doctor Clarke to pop out and give me a check-up. Fortunately, he didn’t show up, though it would have been nice to see a familiar face.

“I don’t have a medical license but I am trained in First Aid. Luckily, we had this infirmary built, in case something happened to Ponyville General. I never thought we needed it, but given the rate of world-ending incidences happening around the place, I don’t really blame the push for it,” Twilight explained, though I felt more confused than enlightened.

“Anyway,” she continued. “Let’s take a look at your leg.”

Reaching out with a hoof, I instinctively shied back, a low growl issuing from my throat. Twilight paused, then pursed her lips.

“Come on,” she said. “You’ve come this far, it’s not going to be that bad.”

I was having doubts but I sniffed slightly and complied, placing my fore paw in her hooves. Twilight slowly unwrapped the bandages covering the wound with her weird telekinetic field. I waited patiently, trying not to flinch as she touched particularly sensitive areas. For some reason she seemed inordinately happy and she hummed to herself, applying an ointment before I could stop her and reapplying a fresh bandage. I didn’t know if the medicines would even be compatible with me, but the cooling feeling it had on my wound was blissful and I decided it probably wasn’t too bad. Afterwards Twilight continue to examine my fore paw, paying close attention to the structure of my claws. After a few minutes, it was evident that she was more engrossed with my biological makeup rather than my wound as she stared at my scales and smiled giddily. With a jerk, I pulled my fore paw back and gave her a level stare.

Done? I grumbled to myself as she went a shade of scarlet.

“Gees Twilight, do you need to study everything new?” Spike said testily. He rolled her eyes as Twilight hung her head in shame.

“Sorry,” he continued, shaking his head. “Twi’ sometimes gets caught up int he moment. She’s kind of a bookworm.”

From the way I saw Twilight start, open her mouth, and close it sheepishly, confirmed the truth of Spike’s assertions. I shook my head.

Next time, just ask, I fumed, but I didn’t voice it out loud.

Twilight cocked her head.

“Do you have a place to stay tonight?” she suddenly asked. I paused, struggling to think of a way to explain to them that I didn’t really have a place to stay because I came through an inter-dimensional portal of my own construction and I was a hunted fugitive back on Earth. I didn’t have much of a place to go. I simply shrugged.

“Twi’…” Spike prompted, but Twilight nodded eagerly.

“You can stay here!” she exclaimed, surprising me. “Don’t worry, we have lots of space.”

Well it wasn’t the space that I was worried about but just being uncomfortable around these strange creatures.

A grumbling noise made me start, my eyes flying over to Twilight who blushed under my scrutiny.

“Looks like it’s time for lunch. Care to join us?”

I shrugged. Okay, I hope they had something suitable for dragons.

“Don’t worry,” Twilight inferred from my expression. “We have food for dragons.”

I relaxed. Okay, lunch. I hope they have some beef.

Author's Notes:

Sorry I've been on and off with fiction writing. I actually don't much time to do much of anything any more. Please forgive me!

Next Chapter: Dietary requirements are a pain in the flank.

As always, my entrusted readers, thanks for reading!

10 - Time

I stared at the dish for a long time.

Did they expect me to eat this?

On the plate were pieces of rocks that were most definitely precious stones. I saw the brilliant blue hue of sapphires, the deep crimson of rubies and the serene emerald of… well… emeralds.

Over the table, Spike was enjoying his platter of food, which consisted of a purely vegetarian meal. On closer inspection it was mostly made up of a salad, with sprinkles of what looked like jewels scattered over his meal. I spent the first part of the meal just gaping at him as he crushed those stones like they were made of sugar. Wait, maybe they were sugar?

I licked them. No that’s definitely not sugar. They tasted like… nothing. They tasted like I had licked solid plastic. I considered giving one a bite, but hearing the crunching sounds from Spike sent aches through my teeth before I even thought about trying. Though my stomach protested, I didn’t want to risk finding out if the gems were really stones, or just candy… that looked like gems.

The middle of the table had pancakes, but they were laced with something that looked suspiciously like grass.

Only Twilight ate something that looked remotely normal. It appeared to be some sort of tomato soup, cooked with herbs and laced with vegetables. The table’s offerings were all devoid of meat. It looked like Twilight’s… uhh… species was vegetarian. I frowned in thought, for once thinking a bit ahead. If her species were vegetarian, then eating meat might be some form of taboo here. I could be wrong of course, but the dragons here seem to eat rocks, and I didn’t have evidence to the contrary. It was probably best to play it safe. Still, listening to the crunching sounds was killing my appetite.

Spike was really demolishing those rocks.

I still couldn’t get over that. How did he extract nutrition out of stones?

Twilight finally noticed that I hadn’t eaten anything.

“Are you okay?” she asked, gesturing to my pile of gems. “You haven’t touched your food. If I’m not mistaken, you sounded hungry?” She left the question hanging in the air between us.

I sat back on my haunches and used a talon to push around the ‘food’.

“You don’t want it?”

Spike seemed to perk up at that. “If you don’t want them, then can I—”

“Spike!” Twilight shot back.

“Heh, sorry.” He turned to me. “Maybe I can whip you up something different? I know raw gemstones are a bit plain, so I think we can find you something else.” He shrugged. “First time I’ve seen a dragon refuse to eat precious gems.” he paused a bit. “Though I haven’t seen many dragons. Maybe we don’t all like eating gems? You sure you don’t want to eat that?”

I shook my head.

Spike gave me a toothy grin. “More for me. Do you want something else?”

I shook my head again, then pushed the stones towards Spike. I pointed to Twilight’s bowl and mimicked spooning it into my mouth.

“You want what Twilight’s having?”

I nodded.

“Okay, no problem!” he declared, hopping off his stool and dashing off into the kitchen. He was a excitable fellow, eager to help out. I could see why he easily lived among these creatures.

When Spike left, Twilight finished the last of her soup and wiped her lips with a napkin. I glanced around the kitchen, a little bored, but trying to see if I could spot any actinic glows that may betray a pattern that was undoubtedly holding this building up. It was fascinating seeing the way another world operated. We haven’t used the portals that much, mainly because the chance of finding a habitable world was close to nothing, whilst the chance of dying along the way made the risk not worth pursuing. The portal was a last resort. The only way back was home.

A few moments in silence, then Twilight spoke.

“Hey, uhm…” Twilight trailed off. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

Here’s the thing about being a dragon. It’s hard to enunciate words. Our vocal chords were well-suited to barks, snaps, and growls. If we wanted to speak in this form, it could only be with the aid of Power, using a translational spell my father had developed. He also developed something that allowed him to speak in dragon-tongue.

Of course, I could speak a little of my native tongue. Dithra, another one of my father’s many associates, was keen to teach us. Between learning about Power from Mary, Culture, Language and Etiquette from Dithra, and Basic Training from Stefan, I’ve had a structured life from the very beginning. I’d also get into trouble with sneaking off, or convincing someone to take me along in a trip somewhere. Often, Dithra would get frustrated with my propensity to wander off. My father would be somewhat stern, but forgiving. Stefan would just shake his head in quiet disappointment.

I guess… I never felt the sense of urgency that they had. Even though my father was the only tenuous strand stitching the rabble of clans together, it felt like it was more his fight than mine. My job was to assist from time to time, but mainly observe. Ashadh had it much harder than me. My father had pinned all hopes on him succeeding him, and Ashadh soaked it all in.

I was redundant, and more of a political target in relation to my father than a figure worth dealing with. It stung a little to realise this, but it became painfully clear when covetous letters were sent to me. I trusted blindly a few times, then it stopped when they all abandoned me as soon as they got close enough to my father or Ashadh. I saw the true colour of intentions. Dragons often toted their superiority over humans, but for once I agreed with Stefan when he told me sadly that the duality of nature existed as much in dragons as humans. For a devout dragon like Stefan, I knew the words pained him, but he had to say them. At the time, I was more than a little frightened by his icy demeanour, he looked like he wanted to snuff the light of the sun with just his penetrating stare.

We were… less different than we thought.

I didn’t like that.

“Umm… hello?”

I shook my head from my thoughts. Not good, drifted off there. I was getting too relaxed around here. Twilight still stared at me expectantly. Going back to dragon speech, it’s a series of clicks, snarls and growls. Not much go on if you’re not trained to speak it. I have heard tell that it’s also incredibly difficult to learn, unless you have the prerequisite biology for it. Doctor Clarke once tried and he floored me with his mispronunciations.

I told Twilight my name in our native language.

Dahiric.

She just blinked at me.

“What?” she said, leaning back.

I repeated my name with a grin.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Okay, if you didn’t want to tell me, you don’t have to.”

Well I did, it was just in my language.

“I’m back!” Spike announced, waddling in with a bowl of that soup. He glanced between Twilight and I. “Everything alright?”

I shrugged, and tapped the table. Spike didn’t seem to mind my presumptive gesture, eagerly placing the bowl in front of me and stepping back. He looked like a proud chef at his restaurant. For a dragon—or anybody—he was really overly friendly.

I turned my attention back to the soup. I sipped on it, not because it was hot, it’s really just for the taste. It’s not that dragons are heat-proof, or even moderately fireproof. We do have a sense of heat, it just stops at pleasantly warm. I wager that ‘too hot’ would get uncomfortable really fast, but only something crazy like thermite or molten rock would be powerful enough to singe a dragon. Despite my tastes in dragon form, the soup was filling. I was betting on the fact that if I drank only a little, it wouldn’t upset me too much. Eventually though, I’d have to find meat to satisfy this form.

If not, I’d have to shift back into human form. I didn’t like the implications of staying human for any period of time. I liked flying too much. Besides, not having a constant suit of armour makes me paranoid. I don’t know how my father does it.

As I finished the last of the coup I felt myself feeling better. The tomato soup was pretty good. Hearty and flavoursome, Spike obviously put some effort into cooking it. He beamed when I nodded at him in appreciation.

These were good people, I thought instinctively. I paused and examined the thought. And that’s why I have to return as soon as possible.

—————

At the end of the meal, I decided that I would do something for my hosts. After getting something to eat and noticing that the throbbing in my leg was significantly lessened, I realised my attitude had been pretty rotten, all things considered. Even though I hadn’t really asked for it, they had given me food, shelter and tended to my wounds. That was a hard ask for anybody on Earth.

When I finished the soup, Twilight made a move to drag me somewhere, but I held up a clawed paw. Twilight stopped, her expression growing curious as I motioned for her to stay in her seat. With her in the seat and Spike settling down in his own, I reached down to one of my scales that was almost shedding.

I grabbed the metallic plating and yanked hard, wincing from the little prick of pain.

Twilight and Spike both gasped.

“Why did you do that?!” she cried in exasperation. “Oh! Where’s the first aid kit?”

Impatiently, I waved at her, giving her a shake of my head. Twilight looked ready to bolt back to the infirmary and treat my wounds, but I simply took the scale and placed it on the table. I paused, thinking.

Spike looked at curiously. “Uhh no offence, but we don’t need your scale.” He winced as Twilight whacked him on the shoulder with her hoof. “I mean we appreciate the gesture, but you didn’t have to pull out a whole scale.”

Twilight nodded vigorously. “Yes, you’re our guest, we can’t have you hurting yourself over— what are you doing?”

I looked up from the scratches I was making on my scale. I smiled at Twilight, remembering just in time to curb the expression and not show that many teeth. She paled a little, but I continued with my work.

In the background, I heard Spike talk to Twilight.

“You know, now that I look closer, there are small carvings on her scales all over the front of her body.”

There was a pause, for which I surmised that Twilight was bending in to have a closer look.

“You’re right,” she said in surprise, confirming my suspicions. “They’re all over the front of her body. Do you think she’s doing a carving for us?”

I scratched the last of the pattern on the scale. I examined the ‘handiwork’ with a witch-trained eye. It looked good.

Carefully aligning my talons on the prerequisite parts of the pattern, I slowly fed it power, the scale glowing softly as I poured my own energy into it. The scale shined with a few muted colours, then went inert as I drew away my talon. Twilight and Spike watched me curiously as I drew away from it. They stared at me, as if expecting me to do something else. In response, I simply gestured for them to take the scale.

Spike reached out with his claw and gently touched the scale. It glowed again, going from purple to golden-amber and quickly shifting to a bright sparkling orange.

“Wow!” he exclaimed. “That’s pretty!”

Twilight skirted the table and came over to the right side of Spike, reaching out with a hoof. Obligingly, Spike handed over the scale and Twilight took it her hooves, watching it go deep purple, then sky-blue and then emerald.

She quickly surmised the function of the pattern.

“It shows your emotions!” she murmured, eyes fixed on the scale. “How? Enchanting objects is notoriously difficult! How do you embed the structure of the spell? How is this working? Where is the energy coming from?”

The questions all seemed to tumbled out of Twilight’s mouth as she chattered about the scale. I nodded in response and shook my head. Simple yes and no. I was glad they liked it, it had been a personal project of mine. One of the first things I had originally created with Power. It was simple, but I took pride in it.

Twilight clambered around the table... and unexpectedly gave me a hug.

I almost reared back in surprise. Also, do people just hug strangers like that here?! Spike joined in. I tried to pull away, but gave up when they just clung on tighter.

“Thanks,” Twilight said brightly, pulling away. “This opens a whole new set of possibilities! I never thought I’d be able to pull something together for my thesis, but I guess I’m lucky.”

Spike chortled. “Does that mean I’m off the hook?” he asked sheepishly. He was probably referring to his wandering around in the forest.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “This time,” she said. “But don’t go about making it a habit.”

Spike nodded. “I won’t,” he replied firmly. Then he turned to me. “Hey, how did you do that?” His eyes were drawn enviously to the scale. “Can you teach me?”

I made it clear with a sad shake that I couldn’t teach him that. I would be leaving soon, and I don’t think I should be teaching anyone Mary’s techniques. I don’t think my father would approve of me showing everyone how to draw patterns like that, let alone teach somebody.. Besides, I didn’t know if he would be able to learn Power, they both looked blind to the glowing filigree of Power that wrapped around the scale.

They just saw the discharge of light that I used to make it clear to the mortal plane. It was a small trick that I had been working with Deebs for a while, though I never had much contact with the rough and overly-amicable man. My thoughts drifted back to Earth. Much as I was tempted to stay here longer, I had to get back and retrieve my father’s sphere.

“Oh,” Spike mumbled, interrupting me from my thoughts. I noted that his shoulders were sagging and a stricken look of disappointment was plastered all over his young face. For some reason, I felt uneasy when I saw him grow that disheartened.

Was I getting attached to these strange creatures?

Never mind, I had to make it clear that I had to leave.

With an awkward incline of my armoured skull, I bid them a farewell.

Twilight placed the scale on the table.

“Thank you,” she repeated. “It’s very nice.”

Well it wasn’t a present of equivalence, as honour dictated, but I was glad that they liked it. If they ever dropped by Earth, as unlikely as that was, I’d give them food and shelter and tend to their wounds. It would be the least I could do.

Getting up, I carefully stretched, making sure not to put any undue strain on my left foreleg. With another incline of my head, I turned around, making for the door.

“Hey!” Twilight called out. “Where are you going?”

I turned back, and gestured to the door.

“You’re leaving now? You’re still hurt!” Spike added.

I shook my head, gesturing urgency. I couldn’t stick around too long.

“Hey wait—”

Before they could stop me, I trundled to the door, opened it and left.

Author's Notes:

Wow, I haven't updated this in a long time. Like really long. I didn't want to cancel this or put it on hiatus, so I just left it. Then I got the urge to just write for it.

Next Chapter: Back to base.

As always, my serpentine readers, thanks for reading!

11 - Backtrack

These creatures were too friendly. I couldn't understand how they could be so nonchalant about having a stranger around. Even going so far as to provide accommodation and food to one such as I. By the Ancestors, I was all fangs, teeth and claws, and they were all smiles and hugs. Especially hugs. I’ve only been here a couple of days, but I wanted to go back. I decided that I’d leave them with a nice gesture, something they could appreciate, and then I’d make my way back to Earth. I would recover the Sphere and begin to set right what my father had started.

——————

Twilight led me to a small chamber that housed a bed and a small lampshade. The room was sparse except for a bookshelf that was devoid of books and a study desk bare of any documents and parchment. It looked like a room that had been recently furnished.

“I was going to make this the guest room, in case there were any visitors to the castle, but I didn’t think we’d need it so soon. Sorry it’s so bare, if you want I can bring you some books to read,” Twilight told me as she stepped into the room. She looked back at me expectantly, until I realised that she was trying to gauge my response.

Seriously, these creatures were too nice. Did I happen upon the only two individuals on this world that would be willing to do what Twilight and Spike had done, or was I extremely lucky?

Twilight cleared her throat, waiting for a response.

Instinctively, I raised the tip of my claw to a pattern. I paused, the tip hovering there. Slowly it sank away. I nodded my thanks instead.

Twilight smiled at me, she didn’t seem to mind that I was being, frankly, rude and a little condescending. I guess the shock of everyone trying to kill you, to friends or family you couldn’t trust, to being on the run between worlds and finally meeting the polar opposite… was really taking its toll. I was a bad person, and I didn’t belong here, and I certainly didn’t deserve their kindness. I wasn’t a part of their world, a world which seemed so much happier and innocent.

I admit it made me a little envious.

Twilight and Spike hung around the door hesitating in that way when someone didn’t know if they should leave. I glanced outside, it would be sundown in a handful of hours. I knew what they were thinking, they were deciding whether or not it would be too late to step outside and do something in the meantime.

I gently shook my head and mimed a yawn, making the decision for them.

“Oh,” Twilight mumbled. "You want to sleep?” She surprised herself with a yawn. “Now that you mention it, I am quite tired.”

Spike shook his head. “What, now you're sleeping before nine?” He chuckled. “That'd be a first.”

Twilight looked slightly mollified at the prospect. “Well I did have some reading to do, and some documentations to verify. I suppose I could also cross-check—”

“Twi’?” Spike raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t serious.”

Twilight glanced back at me while letting out a nervous titter. "Ha ha! Yes! I knew that! In any case it is a little too early for me to go to sleep, so if you need anything in the meantime, don't hesitate to ask us!" Twilight grinned at me, and Spike gave a somewhat magnanimous bow.

The door closed, and I was left alone in the room. Sighing, I thought it would be wise to get some sleep, because I would be sneaking out at night anyway. Curling into a coil on the surprisingly soft mattress, I etched a faint pattern based on the oscillator my father had created, and set it to wake me up in around seven hours. They would probably be asleep that time, and I could sneak out and use the dimensional portal to get back to Earth.

—————

A faint, high pitched sound whined in my ears, forcing my eyes open. I gestured curtly to cut off the alarm and blinked furiously, but blearily, at my surroundings. My vision steadily adjusted itself to resolve various shapes in the darkness. I recognised the bookshelf, the lampshade and the twisted covers of my bedding. Looks like I tossed around while I slept as usual.

Getting up from the bed, I stopped to make sure the sheets were laid out nicely. I wasn’t going to be a slob, I’ve been enough of a burden on these welcoming creatures. Through the small crystal window, I saw the gaze of a moon that was just beginning to wane. The room was lit up sufficiently with its light, casting the room in a pale silver glow. I paused to admire the architecture. It really was beautifully alien, nothing on Earth would match this, although a couple of things might come close in austerity.

Nothing could match how ethereal the scene looked at this moment.

With a wry smile I padded over to the door and eased it open quietly. Glancing down the hallway to make sure no one was around, I made my way through the twists and turns leading to the entrance. Several times I turned a corner and met a dead end, which made me a little exasperated, but eventually I found my way to the door.

In front of the door I lifted a claw to push them open… but I froze at the massive handle. Something inside of me felt bad for leaving them abruptly in the middle of the night. I didn’t want to do that, but at the same time, did I want to explain exactly who I was? Would they understand? Would I want to put these friendly creatures in danger simply because I wanted to be polite?

I took one more look at the fantastical castle, committing it to memory. I smiled sadly.

No, I couldn’t justify it. I was alone, a little lonely, and even pausing here was showing my weakness. There was a hole in my heart, but I didn’t want it to be filled with the kindness they showed me. In fact, I don’t think it deserved to be filled at all. Again I felt the little shift of displacement, the minute prickling sensation that I wasn’t a part of this. I didn’t belong to this world.

I almost chuckled then. Of course this wasn’t my world. Of course I didn’t belong here. Why entertain the notion at all? With a despondent sigh I pushed the door open, and took a step into the night.

——————

Twilight looked on from their little perch above the reception room. The alcove hid them fairly well, but Spike had been uncomfortable. Twilight had assured him that the spell would also keep them hidden, but she knew that really wasn’t what he was concerned about at all.

“I don’t think we should be doing this, Twi’,” he murmured, not for the first time.

Twilight suppressed the urge to sigh, and instead tried one more time.

“It’s not that I don’t trust her,” she muttered back. “I just think that we should…”

“Just spy on her and make sure she’s not up to any good?” Spike shot back. “I’ve told you that she saved my life. I don’t think you can get much more trustworthy than that.”

“There are other motives to saving sompony’s life,” Twilight replied cryptically. “Besides, there’s so much about her that we don’t know about, and dragons haven’t been the best of friends with us.”

Spike gritted his teeth together. “Hey Twi’, if anything, I should be more suspicious of the dragon company I keep, but do you remember my honour code?”

Twilight groaned. “How could I forget?”

Spike ignored her impertinent look. “While I’m not going to go all overboard for her like I did with Applejack, I do think we can give her the benefit of the doubt.”

Twilight pursed her lips, considering his statement. “You don’t find her a little… odd?”

Spike cocked his head. “Odd? Odd for what?”

“Odd for a dragon?”

Spike folded his arms. “I’m odd for a dragon, and I’m okay, right?”

Twilight shook her head, her eyebrows coming together as she tried to communicate what was bothering her. “I mean, odd. Off. She’s different to other dragons, Spike, and she’s different to us. I feel like she’s still keeping us at arm’s length. Like she has something to hide.”

“Doesn’t everypony have their own little secret?” Spike raised an eyebrow, relaxing only slightly. “Is this because she can’t speak for some reason?”

“Well we don’t know if she can or can’t.” Twilight waggled a hoof. “That’s beside the point. The point is there’s more to this dragoness. I know there is.”

Evidently, that didn’t have the appeasing effect she thought it did, because Spike just harrumphed and folded his arms again. So far, nothing had happened in the past few hours, and Spike had grown bored sitting around and doing nothing in the alcove of their own residence. Twilight had brought some work with her so she could be just as productive in their little corner, but Spike didn’t seem impressed with the rapid conjuration and dismissal that Twilight performed to keep their little pretence up.

Twilight yawned. “Well it is getting late…”

Spike nodded. “Finally!”

“And we haven’t seen anything…”

“That’s right!” Spike nodded emphatically.

“So I guess…”

Spike leaned forward.

“I knew it!” Twilight whispered urgently. “I was right!” She quickly clamped a hoof over her mouth and shrank back into the alcove. The dragoness paused at the entrance, as if she heard something. She cocked her head, her paw frozen at the door.

Twilight held her breath, trying to erase her presence.

The dragoness swept the room, her eyes taking everything in. Though Twilight knew she couldn’t possibly see them, the brief moment that they locked eyes sent a shiver down her spine. The look was haunting, it had a depressive quality to it, a hidden pain. But what stopped Twilight’s heart for a moment was the raw emotion of desperate unfettered longing.

When the dragoness left, Twilight started breathing again, and she noted that Spike had gripped the alcove so tightly that his claws had gouged small furrows in the crystal. He twitched, noticing her look, and cringed, expecting a rebuke. Instead, Twilight simply gathered her assistant in her wings.

“We need to go after her,” Spike said in a small voice.

Twilight nodded, fearing to test her voice.

The dragoness was hiding something for sure, but more importantly, Twilight wanted to reach out and comfort that lost soul. From the way Spike was gritting his teeth, his eyes filled with compassion, Twilight knew that he was thinking the same thing she did too.

“She needs a friend,” Twilight whispered.

——————

I made my way past the small houses and homely cottages that this picturesque village was fond of. The light of Power could only be seen by mages back on Earth, with mortals being mostly blind to its workings. I was surprised that Twilight and Spike were able to see the glow of Power, but I guess in a fantasy world like this, a lot of things were possible. Still, that meant I had to move far enough away so my workings wouldn’t be detected.

After moving far enough so that the lights were but a dim twinkle comparable to the stars above, I started inscribing the first grooves for the pattern. The night was all around me, usually, I would be wary, for predators liked to stalk the night. Dragons may be an apex predator, but dragons could hunt other dragons. On Earth, humans with merely a few tools were almost—if not just as—dangerous.

Still, the night here warranted a bit of calm, and I was unused to relaxing so deeply, especially in an alien environment. I took the opportunity to scribe the lines carefully. A mistake could be fatal, especially if I got some of the coordinates wrong. I could end up in a vacuum, or trapped in rock.

I reached out and tapped a worn pattern on my throat. With a barely visible flash, a ring of violet settled around my neck, the torque of Power crafted specifically for speech. I looked back at the small village.

“I’m sorry,” I said solemnly, “you’ve been so kind to me, but I have to go.”

I blinked away a couple of tears and marvelled at how much trust could extend in the span of barely one day. My paw descended to the pattern and touched the focal points for Power.

“Go where?”

I froze and my gaze shot up. My eyes searched above until they found a small shape shadowed by the moon. Hovering above was Twilight and Spike, with a swoop they descended, their faces eerily lit by the moonlight.

And both looked ready to chew steel and spit nails.

Author's Notes:

Special thanks to DocFlareon, who reminded me that I had to update this.

Next Chapter: A choice, between worlds, but not for our protagonist.

As always, my honeyed readers, thanks for reading!

12 - Earth-bound

My mind jittered as I scrambled to comprehend how these two found me. I swear I didn't see them, and I left while they were sleeping. How did they track me?

I gritted my teeth angrily. The how wasn't important. They couldn't come along. Mostly I was angry that my moment of sentimentality revealed a secret I hadn't intended on sharing with them.

“So,” Twilight began with a glare that could shear a steel beam in half. “You can talk.” I could practically see the acidic sarcasm dripping from her muzzle.

“Never mind,” I said. “You should just go back. This doesn’t concern you.”

Spike, initially as furious-looking as Twilight, took a deep breath. He gave me a sincere look of concern. That look wouldn’t be less effective than if they aimed a rifle to my head.

I turned away, unwilling to look at his earnest face. “Don’t,” I forced through clenched teeth. “It’s dangerous.”

There was silence for a claw-full of heartbeats.

“I don’t know if you know this,” Spike said as he rounded around me and faced me. Twilight, still looking more intensely frustrated than livid, looked like she wanted to jump between us. A motherly gesture?

“Dragons have an honour code. You’ve saved my life, I want to help you.”

“Spike…” Twilight warned.

“Twilight, we can’t just leave her, she saved my life.”

“Spike, we talked about this,” Twilight retorted with clear frustration underscoring her words. “A dragon’s honour doesn’t have to extend—”

“I know Twilight,” he shot back. “But all the same, I want to help.” He turned to me. “You have to let us help you.”

“You can’t.” They had to stay here. It was where they belonged.

“Why not?” Spike pressed. “What kind of danger are you in?”

“Nothing that concerns you,” I snapped, then I lowered my voice, regretting my tone. “Trust me, it’s not something you ever want to get involved with. You guys have your own world, and I have mine. You should stay here.”

Spike crept a little closer. “I can’t leave you alone.”

The trickle of annoyance I felt was starting to mount in frustration as I tried to dissuade him from following. “You have no obligation to help me. I helped you in the forest, then you helped me with my wounds in your castle. We’re even.”

This time Twilight interjected. “That’s not how it works.”

I swung around to meet her. “And how would you know how it works?”

Twilight pursed her lips. “I can safely say that I have quite the experience in the area.” She studied me critically. “Even though I don’t think Spike should be doing it on his honour, he should do it because we’re friends.”

“Friends?” I spluttered. “You don’t even know me.”

“Then you’ll have to tell us more about yourself.”

“You don’t understand.” I gave a savage shake of my head. “You have to stay.”

“Why do you keep telling us to stay here?” Spike asked.

Twilight circled around me and stood next to Spike. Her eyes were locked on mine as she addressed me seriously. “What’s the big secret?”

How could I tell them and make them understand? How could I distill centuries, no, millennia’s worth of conflict. Byzantine wouldn’t even begin to describe the depth of politics involved. A sudden thought occurred to me. I could just… not tell them.

I pretended to break eye-contact, as if I was suddenly feeling guilty. “You know, you’re right…” I edged towards the inscribed pattern and laid my paw on the ground casually, tapping the points of Power and feeding it my own.

Instantly, the pattern flared and a geometrically precise rectangle formed a slotted hole in the air between us. Without hesitation, I leapt through the portal, twisting around hastily. I could see their startled faces looking back at me.

“I do have a secret!” I yelled back through the portal. “And as long as you don’t know it, you’re safe!”

With that, I cut off the connection to my Power and the portal collapsed instantly, leaving nothing but the slightly humid air of the Haitian tropics. With a relieved sigh, I sagged to the sand, listening sullenly to the waves crashing down on the beach. Though our parting words had been less than ideal, at least it wasn’t a complete disaster.

I could feel the part of me that was Shen-Lung, my Storm-Dragon aspect, telling me that there would be rough weather in a few days. I felt the slight pull that my Ancestors had felt, to ride the storm and call it my own. I grimaced and shook my head. This alcove was devoid of life, basically inaccessible to life, human or otherwise. I would be safe enough on the sand.

Suddenly feeling like I’d been in combat, I slowly unwound my self, letting my muscles slowly unknot themselves from the tense exchange. I didn’t want it to end like that, but they were better off where they were. This was not a war they wanted to be caught in.

——————

“I can’t believe she just disappeared like that!” Twilight fumed.

Spike stared back at the space where the portal had been. “Did she just go to another world?” he muttered, but Twilight wasn’t listening.

“I mean she just ups and leaves without saying goodbye and then has the nerve to tell us to forget about all that?”

Spike wrung his hands, feeling conflicted about it. “She needs help,” he mumbled, “but I don’t know how we can now.”

Twilight stamped her hoof. “That arrogant little…” She trailed off when she noted Spike staring morosely at the strange symbols on the ground. She repressed the surge of curiosity irritably. No, she was still mad, but Spike needed her right now. Were all dragons jerks?

“Oh Spike,” she murmured with a gentle sweep of her wing around him. “I know you really wanted to be friends with her, but you can’t help it if she’s…”

“In trouble,” Spike said.

Twilight hesitated. Perhaps it was best if they dropped it? They’d tried to convince her, but she was as stubborn as a mule. No offence to mules, of course.

Spike must have seen the hesitation in her eyes because he narrowed his own in reaction. “Twilight, you of all ponies know that you shouldn’t give up on a friend.”

“She had a point, Spike,” Twilight said gently. “We don’t know much about her.”

“And you said we should just get to know each other,” Spike muttered. He crossed his arms in a familiar gesture of stubbornness. “You’re getting ahead of yourself. She’s just scared.”

“Scared?” Twilight snorted. “She’s the most confident thing since I’ve met Rainbow Dash.”

Spike shook his head, his expression as hard as stone. “You might not have noticed, but when she first spotted us when we found her, she looked really surprised… then terrified. She really didn’t want to be found. She never expected us to come.”

“She’s just guilty she was caught—”

“Twilight,” Spike said in a rare show of defiance. “Really think about what you’re saying.”

Twilight’s first reaction was indignation, but that slowly faded when she reflected on what she was going to say. Now that the sting of deception had faded a little, she could see what Spike was saying. Was she mistaken? Was there a reason?

Suddenly Spike’s stubby arms were around her neck. “I know this might be me being silly,” he mumbled into her mane. “It might be a little selfish, but I want to help her because I’ve never met a dragon like her. I want to see what her deal is.”

“Is there another reason?” Twilight asked softly.

“I feel like she’s different.” He chuckled. “Maybe because she’s from another world. I want to see what other dragons like her are like.”

Twilight pulled away slightly and met his hopeful gaze with worried eyes.

“Are you sure, Spike? You might be disappointed again,” she whispered.

Spike hesitated, then nodded firmly. “I have to do this,” he affirmed. “Are you coming with me?”

Twilight smiled. “Of course,” she replied. “We’ve always been together since the beginning. We’ll be together wherever life leads us.”

Spike grinned. “Oh Twilight, that was kind of cheesy.”

She patted him on the head. “You bring it out of me, Spike.” Then she turned her attention to the complex pattern.

“You think you can do something about that?” Spike asked tentatively.

“Oh how little faith you have in me. I’m the Princess of Magic.”

“I thought you were the Princess of Friendship.”

“Same thing, Spike.”

——————

A thump so close to me out of nowhere placed me on alert. My brain rapidly went through a breakdown of its significance. A thump meant they were most likely airborne and hadn’t been approaching on foot. That it was so close meant that they had deliberately landed at my position. That they hadn’t tripped any of my inscribed wards meant that they had either disabled my wards, or worse were immune to Power. The only creatures I knew that were immune to Power were humans.

I didn’t move from my position, cracking only one eyelid to scope the situation and keep the element of surprise on my side. No need to let them know that they had woken me up. I remembered just in time to keep breathing deeply and evenly.

When I saw purple, pink and green I almost choked on my own spit. Getting to my paws I practically charged at them. I opened my mouth and let loose a torrent of clicks and snaps in my native dragon tongue. Twilight flared her wings and took a step back until she recognised me while Spike stared at me with wide eyes. I shook my head angrily and touched a pattern at my throat.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” I demanded roughly. “Just— how the hell did you even follow me back to Earth?!”

Twilight blinked at me and ignored my rising ire. She blinked and looked around as a tourist would. “So that’s what this place is called, Earth? It looks similar to Equestria, but a little bit warm and damp.”

I spluttered trying to think of a logical explanation for how they could follow me. Then I remembered, I left the pattern back on their world. I should have thought to destroy it as I left. My tail lashed in frustration. How could I have been so stupid?

“Now we’re here,” Twilight said resolutely. “And we’re going to help you whether you like it or not.”

“Not if I have anything to do about it,” I growled inscribing a complex pattern on the sand again. Twilight ran a hoof right through the middle of it. I felt the small sting of magical backlash and flinched.

“Are you crazy? You could have killed me!” I snapped. “Don’t disrupt a magus during inscription!”

Twilight stared at me with an unimpressed look, not the slightest bit fazed at my tone. Spike glanced between us, but he his jaw was set in flagrantly displayed determination.

I threw up my claws in frustration. “Fine!” I shouted. “You want to be a part of this? You want to know what’s my big secret?”

Twilight nodded obstinately. Spike shared the same sentiment although he merely waited for me.

“Everyone except me in my family’s dead,” I revealed. “Or missing, which is pretty much the same thing in my world.”

Even their shocked silence left me feeling bitter instead of gratified. I plunged on, pushing my feelings roughly to the side.

“My species is locked in war with each other and creatures on this planet. There are two or three factions depending on what view you hold.” I plonked myself down on the sand, resting my suddenly weary head on my paws. “The ‘traditionalists’ believe that the dragons rightfully inherit this planet. They believe that dragons are superior beings and they wish to make war with the humans. My clan and most of the other dragons, are the ‘progressives’, they hold the view that dragons can coexist with the humans. Most of them followed due to the strength of my father holding the individual strands of our clans together in a unified direction.”

I picked out a handful of sand and sent it trickling between my paws. “When there’s a power vacuum, like when my father is struck down or ill, the clans always move in like vultures around a fresh carcass. They’ll challenge my father for the right to the throne. Sometimes my father would rip out their throats to discourage direct challenges. It’s a deterrent that keeps away all but the most foolhardy.” I sighed. “But some just don’t give up…”

Both Twilight and Spike looked equally perturbed at my graphical description. I sighed once again and decided to tone it back down a bit. I wanted to convince them to go back, but I shouldn’t have do it using cheap shock tactics. I decided to try a different tactic.

“This whole world is at war. To the humans, not much was known about us until recently. We’ve mostly kept to ourselves, until we decided to slowly reintroduce ourselves and make it known that we exist.”

I took a moment to let that sink in. “Yes,” I said. “You cannot imagine what it’s like to suddenly find out about a whole new species that’s been living in secret among you for God knows how long.”

Surprisingly, Twilight gave me a weak smile. “Oh I think we can sympathise.”

I gaped at them for a few seconds before shaking my head savagely and moving on. “Something went wrong. I don’t know how it happened but someone hired a bunch of mercs to hit us. My father was able to fend off most of them but he was severely injured. He used the last of his strength to take us to a safe house…”

“But they were waiting for us there too,” I whispered. I snapped my gaze back to them. “My father left a great tool of power at the site of his battle. It is almost on the other-side of the world from here.”

Twilight and Spike looked like she was having trouble keeping up with all the history I was dumping on them. I groaned and got up.

“See? This is way beyond you both. You need to get back to your world as soon as possible. The majority of humans on this planet would be downright afraid, envious, or outright hostile to you two. You have to head back for your own good.”

“N-No,” Twilight said. “We told you we’d help you, and we will.”

Spike nodded. “It’s really complicated, but nopony should go through something like that.” He regarded me with sympathetic eyes. “I know what it’s like to suddenly realise when you’ve got no family.” He gave me a wobbly smile. “I learned that family is who you love more than where you come from.” He audibly swallowed. “Even though you’re not family yet, you’re a friend, and what I learned is friends help each other. Let us help you.”

“Don’t you get it?” I told them. “This is not your fight! I don’t want to drag you into this. It’s too dangerous, you could be killed!”

“That’s why we want to help you,” Twilight cut in. “Deep inside I know you’re a good pony—” she shook her head “—dragon. Besides who says we aren’t helpful? We can take care of ourselves.”

“I don’t need your help,” I said stubbornly. I winced, wishing I could take that flimsy retort back.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Really? So you have it all in your hoof then? Who else is helping you.”

“Anyone I can find,” I growled.

Twilight continued to look at me skeptically. “What if you find nopony else? By your own admission you’re alone, and you can’t approach these… what did you call them? Humans?”

I wanted to punch a tree, but I settled for lashing my tail instead. “I’ll find a way to manage.”

“By yourself?” Twilight shot back. “Admit it, you need any help you can get.”

“I don’t want you involved,” I pressed stubbornly.

Spike spoke up in the silence as Twilight and I glared at each other. “Is the sphere important to you? As in more important than it being powerful?”

I hesitated, then nodded. “It was my father’s. A keepsake of our Ancestors passed down the line. It’s incredibly powerful and dangerous unless you are Sheng Lung.”

Spike padded closer. “Twilight’s right. Don’t you want as much help as you can get to get it back? Besides, how were you planning to go halfway across the world?”

“By flying,” I mumbled.

“I don’t know much about flying, but that’s a little too far than I think you can fly.”

“I can—” I stopped myself. I couldn’t take the plane, I would be exposed in a matter of seconds. They probably think I’m still dead after getting to that molten world. “Just…” I trailed off, my eyebrows creased in concentration as I tried to come up with something to… to… Hang on, why was I the one on trial?

“Anyway, you should both head back,” I said, somewhat lamely.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I happen to be an expert in magic. I can probably figure out a way to get to where you’re going without having to fly there.”

“I doubt it,” I said with derisive snort.

Spike waved his claws. “Hey, hey!”

We both looked at him.

“What if we use this?” he said, gesturing to my shattered world-traversing pattern.

What the hell, this dragon actually thought that we could—

Hold on. That might actually work.

Author's Notes:

Whew, finally an update. Things are finally starting to move.

Plot~

Next Chapters: Crossing the North Atlantic without a plane.

As always, my referential readers, thanks for reading!

13 - Limbo

Grudgingly, I had to admit she had a point.

“Yeah, okay,” I finally said, raking my eyes over the softly glowing pattern.

“I knew it!” Twilight smiled triumphantly. “This’ll work.”

She was a fast learner, I had to give her that. I never had to repeat myself, she deconstructed my teachings with an ease that left me perturbed… and a little envious. Mary often had to tell me a few times, but this pony never seemed to make a mistake.

Sullenly, I drew in the last of Twilight’s ‘corrections’ into the pattern and checked it again. “Here,” I mumbled, watching the power shift a few more shades to the familiar ultraviolet sheen my father’s castings often had. Another reminder of him. I couldn’t help my thoughts returning to him. Though he was undoubtedly a lone wolf, he always adored us. Family was one of the most precious values he held close. Unexpectedly, a lump formed in my throat as I hastily blinked back a few tears.

There wasn’t any time to feel sorry for myself. I had a duty to protect my father’s legacy.

“Whatever the cost,” I whispered in echo of Ksstha’s maxim.

I glanced over at Twilight who poured over the pattern, wings raised in excitement. The way she casually redesigned what was likely centuries’ worth of work, frightened me. My father was an expert magus, but even he had taken an appreciable time to learn all the relationships between each pattern’s fragment. He was also a talented engineer, so it both irked me and perturbed me that some overly-friendly alien happened to pick it up so easily.

Twilight might not have noticed my disquiet, but Spike did. The little dragon gave me a sympathetic look as he lifted an eyebrow. Seems like I wasn’t the only one that found Twilight’s unending enthusiasm for the scholarly arts disturbing.

“Is she…” I gestured to Twilight. “Always like this?”

Spike watched Twilight for a few moments before breaking into a hapless grin.

“Yeah,” he replied warmly, “but this is special.”

I turned back to Spike in surprise. “What do you mean?”

He gave me a stare as if to say I was the daft one.

“Isn’t that obvious?” he said. “It’s because you’re a friend.”

I didn’t really have an answer to that. I mean who had an answer to something so crazy?

———————

“Last chance,” I said. “You can go back right now.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and Spike even snorted.

“You think after coming all this way we’ll just turn tail and go back?” Twilight shot back.

“Yeah, we’re coming with you,” Spike said.

I grimaced, but resolved to prepare a little something to shift them back to their world. No matter what, no matter how desperate I was, I didn’t want to get innocent creatures get caught up in our conflict. That was what the other side wanted. That we had boundaries was what defined us. Still, I couldn’t force them to leave yet, but I was working on it.

“Okay,” I said reluctantly. “I’m going to go first.”

“Why?” Spike asked.

“Because,” I snapped back, “if we actually end up where we’re supposed to go, then I don’t want friendlies shooting us full of bullets.”

“Bullets?” Spike continued with a frown.

“It’s an old thing from the past,” Twilight explained. “They were once used as effective weapons between Earth ponies, but when the tribes came together and saw that unicorns could block the bullets fairly easily, they went out of favour.” She shrugged. “Such barbaric practices haven’t been around for at least a few millennia.”

“I’m glad you know what we’re talking about,” I said. “Do you think you can block these bullets?”

Twilight laughed. “Of course, after all, they—”

“So two hundred or three hundred a second are not a problem?”

Twilight blinked. “I’m sorry, two hundred to three hundred…?”

I nodded. “You can’t block that many?”

“T-Two hundred to three hundred a second?” she repeated.

“Yes,” I growled, wiping my face with a claw. “You may have stopped developing that technology in your world, but here they’ve been at it for a very long time. Each can shoot at least ten rounds per second and there will be at least twenty or so soldiers there, fully equipped.” I sighed. “But with any luck, there won’t be anyone there after…”

I turned away, staring at the horizon briefly.

“It’s best if I go first,” I continued softly, “there’s less chance of a conflict, and I know my way around there.”

Twilight drew back slightly. “Okay,” she said quietly, “I see what you mean, but if you don’t come back in ten minutes, we’re coming straight after you.”

“Noted,” I commented wryly, then turned to the pattern.

I touched the focal points with the tips of my claws and felt the surge of power shoot through them as the steely ribbons of my mane clashed with the same deep purple spectrum of my casting. Closing my eyes, I felt the sudden shift in perception that jolted through my mind, as if a lightning bolt had etched its way through my neurones.

Feeling like I’d been a towel wrung out in both directions at the same time, I felt a sudden jerk and a twisting in my gut that made me almost loose the contents of my stomach on the hard concrete floor beneath my paws.

Despite the unexpected queasiness that assailed me, I fought my way to a guarded stance and swept around, trying to brace myself for an attack.

Nothing came.

Swaying slightly, I stumbled over to a sink that looked like it’d been there since the turn of the century and upchucked into it. The water didn’t run from the tap, but I figured that was better than on the ground, where anyone could step in it. Immediately I felt better, but I had a sudden appreciation for the Ancestors and their attempt at crafting the Sphere of the Lung.

Whenever I travelled with my father, it felt similar to this, but the nauseating feeling was minor compared to the sledgehammer-like blow to my gut using my own pattern cobbled together with Twilight. It occurred to me that our knowledge of patterns and working with Power might be primitive compared to what the Lung could achieve, but it also made me wonder how it was so easy for them to succumb to the ravages of time and the humans, who had no dealings with Power. Maybe the fact that the humans were immune had given them their edge, but I somehow doubted it. With working like this on the cosmic scale, how could they have been so easily overcome?

That wasn’t important. Time was of the essence, I had to secure the perimeter. Already I was making rookie mistakes. I should have made sure that there wasn’t anyone around first before—

My ears twitched. I thought I heard something.

Scritch. Scrape.

There it was! Someone was around here. I assumed that since the alarms hadn’t gone off, that there wasn’t anyone around. I tensed, scanning my surroundings to try and find an exit plan, or somewhere to hide, or a tool to help me fend off an assailant. I touched one of the non-lethal patterns on my foreleg as I took in the discarded crates, the strewn garbage and the cracked and grimy windows. Nothing afforded suitable cover in a firefight, but at least I had the edge of the door.

Carefully, I padded across the room towards the left side of the door, where the door would open first. Dragon or human, they would have to crack the doorknob if they wanted to come in stealthily.

The doorknob twitched. I tensed.

It cracked open slowly. The first thing I saw was a black garment that covered the arm of a human, but what caught my full attention was the questing muzzle of a Glock. That was enough. I jerked the arm forward and brought my knee to their abdomen. I heard the surprised ‘whoosh’ of their breath leaving their body and I slammed the door shut to buy me some time. Twisting around, I grappled the man that was doubled over and put him in a half-nelson, twisting the gun out of his grip.

The sight of a dragon grappling a human was probably frightening to onlookers, but I made sure that the man beneath me knew the dimension of danger as I gripped him tightly, the pin pricks of my claws digging into the soft flesh of his neck. One move and I could rip out his throat, if I wanted to.

“Who are you?” I demanded in a rough growl. “Who sent you? How many are with you?”

The man coughed a bit, but I didn’t ease up on the grip, instead listening keenly for any other sounds outside that may indicate that the man had accomplices. It was dead silent, save for the panting and groaning of the man beneath me.

“Dahiric?”

I realised who that voice belonged to. With a gasp, I loosened my grip and let go.

“Doctor Clarke?!”

The ageing doctor struggled to his feet, swaying a little as he placed a hand on his back and winced. “If I were twenty years younger you might not have had an easy time of it,” he commented wryly. He eyed me warily. “Though good to know you’ve been advancing in your father’s masterclasses.”

Relief spilled through my frame. “You don’t know how glad I am to see a familiar face.” I offered the firearm back to him. “Here.”

“Thank you, young lady.” Clarke gave me a gentle smile. “I must admit, you caught me by surprise. I thought…” he trailed off, the unmistakable trace of sadness lacing his words clear as day to my draconic hearing.

I swallowed, squashing my depressive thoughts to the corner of my mind. “It’s been a troubled few days.” I smiled in unbound joy. “But you made it out!”

Clarke snorted. “It wasn’t difficult. I wasn’t really a major figure in the community, and I was less of a threat what with Stefan and Dithra a bigger obstacle than a tired old Vietnam combat medic turned veterinarian turned dragon doctor.” He shrugged. “But your father was very careful, he made sure I knew of the number of safe houses he entrusted to Stefan.”

“Why?” I asked in surprise. I thought these houses were a carefully guarded secret. Not even Dithra knew. I felt bad for pressing, but I had to know. “Why would he trust you so much?”

Clarke sighed, pulling tight the black gloves on his hands that looked a little too worn and a little too large for a man his size. “We’re two sides of the same coin,” he continued quietly. “Hasai knew I wanted the killing to stop, because we’d both seen madness on the other side of the spectrum.” He paused and took a deep breath, his gaze becoming pensive. “And yes, our side, too. Maybe that’s why it had come to this?”

My claws were making small furrows in the concrete below. Since he’d been around, maybe he had some information about how everything had come crashing down around us.

“What happened?” I asked, my voice croaking with barely restrained passion. “Clarke, what do you know?”

Clarke gave me a look of sympathy so total that it banked the simmering rage in my heart. “Dahiric, I don’t know anything. All I know is that someone betrayed your father, and now everything we’ve done is turning to ash.”

I swallowed, but nodded. I was afraid to find out, but I hated not knowing. I almost laughed at myself. You can’t have it both ways you hypocritical lizard.

Clarke took in my grim amusement, but didn’t comment on it. Instead he frowned. “You’re here, but how?”

“I used a world-traversal pattern,” I replied thickly. “Ashadh gave his life to buy me some time.”

Clarke closed his eyes briefly as his lips trembled slightly. “I’m so sorry, Dahiric. I’m so, so, sorry.”

The bricks of willpower I had stacked neatly to contain my grief trembled, and a shuddering gasp with a few tears escaped my control. I couldn’t cry now, I couldn’t mourn his death right now. There was work to be done.

“Thank you,” I croaked back, hating how weak I sounded at the moment.

Clarke didn’t offer me any number of empty platitudes, instead, he drew me into a hug.

“What’s important is that we find our way out of this mess.”

I mumbled my thanks. I had the feeling I was forgetting something, but the quiet snap made me almost groan.

Doctor Clarke gaped at the sudden appearance of a winged unicorn and dragon appearing out of thin air, like creatures stepping right out of a fairytale. Twilight stood regally for a few seconds, before succumbing to her stomach. Spike followed quickly as they emptied the contents of their stomach in the well-used sink.

“Wh-What?”

“Doctor Clarke,” I announced by way of introduction. “May I present Twilight Sparkle the alicorn Princess of Equestria, and Spike the dragon. Friends I picked up from another world.”

Doctor Clarke caught my unamused tone and glanced at his Glock.

“Should I—?”

“No.”

“Right.”

Author's Notes:

Thank Doc-Flareon for reminding me that I had to write an update!

Next Chapter: When three worlds collide.

As always, my statistically skewed readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. Please point out my grammatical mistakes as usual. I'm still self-editing everything.