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!