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!