~THIRD PERSON POV~

Later on in the day, Luna woke up with a yawn. She opened her eyes and shook her head for a bit as she tried to figure out what the leathery feeling on her back was. She crawled out from underneath it and further onto her bed. After a bit, when she managed to wake up fully, she realised that the leathery feeling was Draigo’s wing.

“‘Twas a pleasant sleep.” Luna whispered to herself as her cheeks coloured. Draigo felt around with his wing a bit after Luna got out from under it. The wing folded against his body after finding nothing beneath it. Luna tilted her head at Draigo curiously as she watched his wing fold up.

“He looks peaceful.” Luna murmured after a bit. Draigo stirred a bit before muttering some words in a language Luna didn’t understand before settling back down. She flicked her ears at the language and wasn’t sure if she was familiar with it. “That language is odd,” she murmured before reaching out to shake him for a bit.

After a bit of shaking, Draigo’s eyes opened up and he let out a big yawn. He proceeded to stand and stretch his entire body to rid it of any kinks. Looking around, Draigo noticed Luna looking at him.

“Good morning, Luna. I hope thou slept well.” Draigo said after he was done stretching.

“Good morning, Draigo. I didst sleep well after thee draped thy wing over me.” Luna replied, smiling brightly at him.

“Tis good to know I can bring comfort to others.” Draigo told her. “Shouldst we go check on our emotional skeleton of a friend?”

“We shouldst, lest her emotions run rampant again.” Luna agreed, hopping off the bed and over to her door.

“Tis a worrisome affair, but one that she must go through,” Draigo said as he stepped off the bed and joined Luna.

“When thou was sleeping, an odd language thee spoke. Not sure what if it was familiar or not.” Luna said, quickly leading towards the room they left Skye in.

“Hmm, my dream was about the Asian dragons I recently visited so it was probably one of their languages.” Draigo told her as he matched her pace.

“A group of dragons thou hath created?” Luna asked with interest.

“Yes, they are almost complete opposites of me appearance-wise. They have no wings. Long, slender bodies, like unto a snake, and hair on their heads and ends of tails.” Draigo told her as they continued their journey to Skye’s room.

“Thou created opposite-dragons?” Luna asked him as she kept up the pace and soon rounded a corner into the hallway that Skye’s room was in.

“Yep, I also created dragons that look like me. Though, I truly only created the first pair of each race.” Draigo explained.

“What happened with those pairs? They went off and did their own thing?” Luna asked.

“Basically. The only thing the two races have in common is a sort-of religion that somehow got started by their descendants. The religion worships me as their god.” Draigo told her.

“Thy … descendants? worship thou as a god?” Luna asked in confusion.

“They do. Even though I have never once claimed to be a god.” Draigo said.

“Ah.” Luna said simply and opened the door to Skye’s room with her magic. The both of them walked in and found Skye rocking back and forth slightly in a corner of the room.

“Okay, what happened?” Draigo asked in a concerned voice.

“Just … old ... memories.” Skye said slowly as she moved her head about from corner to corner, not really seeing the dragon and princess in the room.

“I know what you mean. They tend to come up just when we don’t want them to.” Draigo said to the fledgling reaper.

“No … I just need my pills. I usually have them every few days to keep some monsters out of view. Monsters only I can see for some strange reason.” Skye tried to explain as she lowered her hood over her face in an attempt to block out her vision.

“Seems like they are spiritual monsters if only you can see them.” Draigo said.

“Worst part about this is that I can’t take pills anymore because I don’t have a functioning body to process them, not to mention they’re back home on Earth so we can forget about that.” Skye explained further while her rocking got a bit faster.

“Hmm, that is a problem. What do they look like?” Draigo asked.

“They’re little red pills I got prescribed to since I was ten years old. Ever since getting them, I’ve seen monsters but they’ve also kept them at bay. It’s a drug meant to help with my mind.” Skye answered as she measured the size with her forefinger and thumb.

“Interesting, but I meant the monsters. Anyway, do you know the ingredients in the pills?” Draigo asked.

“They just look like shadow creatures. Nothing more. One has a mask and he seems very nice but I haven’t really spoken to him. The only ingredient I remember in the pill was something called ‘ektoplomatin’. Apparently it’s an ingredient only found in South America.” Skye replied.

“Hmm, perhaps the Everfree has a similar plant. You don’t happen to know what it looks like, do you?” Draigo wondered.

“Nope. Never saw it in its plant form.” Skye answered as she kept her head down and looked to the floor.

“Well, is there anything you’d like us to do?” Draigo asked as he tried to think of something he could do.

“Which being prescribed thou to take these? Tis that human thou wast speaking with in thy dreams?” Luna asked. Skye nodded at her, too sunken into her memories to question how the princess could go into others’ dreams.

“Hmm, you sure he was actually a doctor? Sounds like the drug made the monsters appear in the first place.” Draigo said after thinking about what Skye had told them some more.

“I guess I could always see them but just never noticed?” Skye said uncertainly, terrifyingly unsure of what was real or not. “I don’t really know if I’ve gone into withdrawal yet or not.”

“How long has it been since your last pill?” Draigo asked.

“Four days, I believe. No, scratch that. Five. I took a pill the day before I got Displaced.” Skye responded.

“Well, that’s long enough for withdrawal symptoms to appear. Any idea how to get the ekto stuff besides going to South America? That seems to be the only solution.” Draigo said.

“That’s a hard no.” Skye said forcefully, curling up into a ball while shaking violently.

“Is she withdrawing into herself?” Luna asked.

“She’s gone into a fetal position. So, yes and no. You’re going to have to endure it until we can figure something out I’m afraid.” Draigo told the rocking skeleton.

“That … is not .. going to go down well.” Skye squeaked uncharacteristically.

“No, it definitely won’t. I might be able to do something after I claim this area for my hoard, but until then all I can do is help you get through this.” Draigo told her. Skye couldn’t respond as clacking bones sounded out from how violently she was shaking. Draigo reached out with his magic and dampened the vibrations until they were gone.

“Skye, hang in there. I can claim this area in minutes. I just need to get outside.” Draigo said.

Luna frowned at Skye and directed Draigo the quickest way to fly out of the castle. She promised him that she would keep watch over Skye and let him know if her condition worsened.

Draigo quickly flew up above the castle and spread his arms out to the side as he grew into his full size and hovered in a vertical position. His body began to glow and particles of magic began to descend into the entire area.

“I, Draigo the Primordial dragon, due hereby claim this castle, its surrounding area and all who reside therein as part of my hoard. Let all those who hear this know that I will defend this place and its residents with my life. Only those who have been authorized by myself or my representatives may enter here.” Draigo intoned as his magic embedded in everything in the affected area. After his magic permeated the entire area he glided back down to see how Skye and Luna were doing.

“Greetings, Draigo. She hath not rested throughout the night.” Luna said and pointed to the bed. Its sheets were unwrinkled and it looked like it hadn’t been slept in in ages. “‘Tis something that hath bothered me since thou left.”

“I don’t think she needs to sleep anymore, but I could be wrong. I’ve claimed the area for my hoard. Has she gotten any better or worse?” Draigo asked.

“She hath hiccupped and given a few shakes.” Luna replied as she continued to observe Skye in concern.

“Okay, so monsters can’t attack this place anymore. That lets me go into the forest and search for the plant, if it grows here, without worrying about monsters coming to get you guys.” Draigo told her. “Problem is, we’ve got no idea what it looks like.”

“I doth not know what this plant looks like either.” Luna said sadly, watching Skye shake rapidly a bit, then calm down slightly.

“Skye’s the only one who has even a chance of knowing what it looks like and she already said she doesn’t know.” Draigo said as he tried to think of a solution.

“Maybe I couldst go into her dreams and locate the plant?” Luna asked uncertainly. “This shalt be a last resort if we canst think of nothing else to find the plant.”

“Do you have a book with pictures of the plants that grow in the Everfree?” Draigo asked.

“Starswirl and Clover shouldst know which book we have need of.” Luna answered.

“Where would they be right now?” Draigo said.

“With the new capture of these monsters, then they wouldst be in the dungeons.” Luna said.

“Got it.” Draigo said as he rushed out of the room. He moved past Luna and Skye as fast as he could and made his way toward the dungeons. Once he found Starswirl and Clover he dug his claws into the floor and ground to a halt just short of running into them.

Clover and Starswirl whirled around at the sudden intrusion, a fearful look in their eyes before recognising who it was.

“Draigo, what art thou doing here?” Clover asked, surprise evident on her face.

“I need a book that has pictures of every plant that grows in the Everfree.” Draigo said as he breathed heavily.

“Why wouldst thou need a book on botany?” Clover asked as she quirked a brow underneath her brown tweed hood.

“I need to find a plant that contains ekto...ekto...ekto something. Skye needs it for medicine.” Draigo said as he struggled to remember the ingredient’s entire name.

“Ekto ... “ Clover repeated and tried to think if she remembered the rest of the word.

“Skye needs this ‘Ekto’ plant for medicinal purposes?” Starswirl asked.

“Yes, she’s already exhibiting withdrawal symptoms so we need to find it as quickly as possible.” Draigo explained to the unicorns.

“Clover, wouldst thou be able to show this dragon the book on Everfree Plants?” Starswirl asked his assistant once he realised how desperate Draigo sounded.

“Sure. It shouldst be in Our study chambers.” Clover replied and inclined her head to Starswirl.

“Alright, lead the way.” Draigo told her.

Clover complied and began to run towards her study chambers after sensing how desperate Draigo was to find this plant. Draigo kept pace with Clover as they wove through the castle to reach her study chambers.

“How quickly doth Skye need this plant?” Clover panted.

“Yester-day.” Draigo said between deep breaths. “It’s been … five days since ... she last … took her medication.”

Clover blinked at this and managed to run faster, getting to her study chambers in record time. She wrenched open the door and began rifling through the many books littered about to try and find the right one. Draigo stood in the doorway knowing that he’d only get in her way as she searched for the book they needed.

Getting increasingly desperate, Clover used her magic and levitated multiple books around her and rotated them around her head to find the book that way. “No, no, no, no …” she repeated this over and over, growing frustrated at not being able to find it. “Oh come on! This should be a lot easier to find!” Clover shouted to herself as she ran into the back of the room to look for it there.

“How many books do you have in here? The whole library?” Draigo asked as the sheer amount of books in the room finally hit him. A triumphant shout echoed from within the room as a book sailed out towards Draigo.

“Whoa!” Draigo exclaimed as he clapped his claws together to catch the flying book.

“Not the whole library, just half of it.” Clover admitted sheepishly, trotting out of the room and inspecting the book. “Is that the book thou wanted?”

Draigo opened the book and leafed through it to see that each entry had a picture of its described plant.

“Yeah. Now we just need to discover which is the plant that contains the ekto stuff then find it in the forest.” Draigo said as he began scanning each entry for that ekto word. Once he reached the middle of the ‘E’ section, he found a moss-covered tree with spotted bark as the picture and the title above it said ‘Ektoplomatin’.

“Okay, so it’s a moss covered tree. Now I just have to find a specific tree in a forest.” Draigo said in an exasperated tone.

“This tree hath spotted bark. It shouldst be easy … no it wouldst not.” Clover backtracked as she realised just where the castle was.

“Any ideas on how to quicken our search?” Draigo asked hopefully.

“No, sorry.” Clover said and flattened her ears in way of apology.

“Is this tree any bigger or smaller than the rest?” Draigo asked as he searched its entry for anything helpful.

“It details the height, colouration and the general area of where it grows.” Clover responded as she searched the entry with Draigo. “The general area is ... Everfree. That didst nothing for Us.” Clover said with a slight puff of anger.

“Is there a way for you to communicate with me if I were to leave to begin searching the Everfree for this tree? I ask because that could cut down on the time needed to find it and bring it back.” Draigo said as they continued to search the entry for helpful information.

“I hath no idea on such communication.” Clover said with an apologetic tone as she flattened her ears against her head again.

“Alright, don’t get down on me. I’m just thinking of things and asking about them as they come to me. Does this thing have any distinguishing features besides spotted bark? Cause that might not be the easiest thing to spot from the air.” Draigo wondered.

“Down here,” Clover pointed to a part of the description they overlooked. “It says that this tree usually hath red leaves throughout most of the year. The only time it doth not, is when Summer rolls around.” Clover read out loud.

“It’s not summer right now, right? Please tell me it’s not summer.” Draigo said as he began to leave the room.

“No … tis nearly summer though.” Clover said uneasily.

“Thank goodness. Where’s the closest spot to fly out of?” Draigo asked, relief evident in his voice.

“Out the library.” Clover said automatically and pointed to the double doors at one end of the corridor. “Through those double doors at the end.”

“Thanks, Clover. I owe you one.” Draigo said as he bolted for the double doors. Once there he threw them wide and took off through the nearest window. He was soon above the Everfree forest and searching for any sign of those red leaves.

After about twenty minutes of searching, Draigo finally spotted some red in the massive sea of green below him. He flew towards it and found a clearing to land in that was nearby his intended target. Upon landing, he saw that the tree indeed had red leaves and spotted bark. It wasn’t until he got to the tree that he realised one crucial thing he forgot to find out. What part of the tree was needed for the medicine?

Once he thought about his new conundrum for a moment he came up with an idea. If he didn’t know what part he needed then he’d just bring the entire tree. He grew to his full size and yanked the now small tree from the ground and took off back towards the castle.

Upon arrival at the castle, Draigo looked around for a place to put his cargo. He found a courtyard without a roof after a little searching and set the tree down in it as he shrunk down. He then flew back through the library to find Clover. Hoping the book would tell them which part to use for medicine.

“Clover! Can you hear me, Clover!?” Draigo shouted as soon as he got into the library.

“Doth not shout at me!” Clover shouted back, ears ringing as she walked out of one of the aisles. “Didst thou find the correct tree?”

“Sorry, and yes I did. I forgot to find out which part to use for medicine, though. So, I brought back the entire tree.” Draigo told her with embarrassment tinging his voice.

“Thou brought the entire tree here?” Clover asked in shock. She recovered quickly though and magicked the book out in front of her. “I hath tried to discern which part thou needs since thee left but this book doth not specify. So I came in here to find some more information.”

“Yeah, I put it in a nearby courtyard. Find anything before I shouted for you?” Draigo asked.

“I believe to hath found the correct tree in this book.” Clover said helpfully, magicking another book from the shelf behind her. She went through the pages quickly and went back to the page she was on before. It showed the same tree as before, except it contained more information than the other book.

“Hopefully we can make it into a paste or something to rub onto Skye. She doesn’t exactly have anything besides bones for a body.” Draigo said as he thought about the types of medicine he knew about.

Clover hummed and quickly scanned the page. “Either the moss … or the bark … or both. Mix them together with some red leaves to make it into a paste which thou can then apply to the affected area.” Clover recited from the book. “Doth that help?”

“Yes, it does. Thank you, Clover!” Draigo said excitedly and gave Clover a peck on the cheek. Not really thinking after everything that had happened this morning.

“Um.” Clover mumbled, her cheeks colouring at the kiss. “I art glad to hath helped thee,” she managed to say.

Draigo flew through the window he came in through, ignoring Clover’s blush, and landed in the courtyard next to the tree. He took a clawful of both the bark and moss then a clawful of the red leaves. Conjuring up some water, he ground the ingredients together with his bare claws as he added water to make the paste. After he was satisfied with the paste’s consistency he flew off toward the guest area of the castle.

Upon arrival at the guest area he saw Luna in the doorway of Skye’s room.

“How is she?” Draigo asked as he walked on only his hind legs.

“Her condition ... hath worsened considerably.” Luna said tiredly, noticeable lines around her eyes. “She hath started to … ‘suck the life out of the air’,” she said uneasily, giving off a large yawn and leaning against the doorframe for support.

Draigo gasped when Luna told him the extent of Skye’s condition. He then laid his tail across her withers and poured some Aether from himself into her to counteract any life she’d lost to Skye’s ability.

“I have the medicine.” Draigo told her as he held out both of his claws that were covered in the paste he’d made.

“That’s … good.” Luna replied, not really feeling the effects of Draigo’s Aether spell. Behind her, Skye hadn’t moved from her curled up position in the corner. Black magic pooled beneath her with one noticeable tendril hovering near Luna with another one slowly stretching out towards Draigo.

“Suck all the life from me that you want. I’ve got more than enough.” Draigo said as he reached down and started to rub the medicine onto Skye’s skull. He increased the amount of Aether that he was pouring into Luna after seeing the tendrils of black magic stretching towards them both.

The medicine reacted with Skye’s magic. As Draigo continued to rub it in, Skye’s magic slowly quietened down, the pool of blackness slowly disappearing with the tendrils of magic retreating as well. The one near Luna stayed close by her a lot longer than it should have before finally pulling back into Skye.

“Skye, can you hear me? If you can, nod your head.” Draigo said after Skye’s magic was under control.

“AH!” Skye screamed as she sat up, looking around quickly to see if there were any shadow creatures about. “What … what happened?” she asked quickly, barely noticing the occupants in the room.

“Well, I left to find that plant you needed for medicine. So, I’m unsure what all happened after you had curled up into a fetal position and forgot how to talk.” Draigo admitted.

“You left the room?” Skye asked confusedly. “You were in my room?”

“I’m in your room right now. So, yeah. Luna’s here as well. She stayed with you while I found and created your medicine.” Draigo told her.

“She was? I don’t need any medicine … who told you I did?” Skye asked, standing up and looking at both Luna and Draigo.

“You did, numbskull. You said that it made the shadow creatures go away and that the last pill you’d taken was five days ago.” Draigo explained.

“Before I got … Displaced.” Skye sighed and rubbed her face with her hand. “It’s coming back to me now. It’s rare but I experienced this a few times over the last fifteen years. I temporarily lose memory of what happened in the day up until I take it. Then it takes a few minutes to regain my memory along with a few questions,” she explained to the both of them.

“Well, I just gave you that medicine.” Draigo said as he showed her his claws that had leftover paste on them still. “You were sucking the life out of us at your worst.”

“That’s not Duotine. Duotine are pills. That’s just some paste.” Skye said immediately upon observing the paste. “I don’t remember sucking the life out of anything, though.”

“This paste contains that ekto ingredient that Duotine has in it.” Draigo told her. “Just look at Luna if you don’t believe me about the life sucking.” He gestured towards Luna. Skye raised a finger in objection, then looked towards Luna, focusing especially around her eyes where there were still noticeable lines.

“Oh.” Skye whispered as she took Luna’s new appearance in. “I didn’t think Ektoplomatin existed in Equestria.”

“It does, thankfully. There’s a tree in a courtyard that contains it in its bark, moss, and leaves. I guess that’s the entire tree then.” Draigo said.

Skye heard Draigo but kept her attention on Luna. She crouched so they were seeing eye to eye.

“I’m … sorry I did this to you.” Skye apologised.

“‘Tis quite alright. Draigo arrived just before I collapsed from thy withdrawal. I wouldst readily help mine friend again, if need be.” Luna said graciously, giving Skye a friendly smile.

“I hope this proves just how much you can trust us. If you still can’t open up to me then work with Luna. She can visit you even in your dreams.” Draigo said as he washed the remaining paste off his claws with more conjured water.

“She can? That’s an invasion of privacy.” Skye said as she stood back up, ignoring what he said about trusting them. “In a world full of mythical monsters and magical ponies, why can’t a pony visiting dreams at night be real too?” she said sarcastically.

“She only goes into dreams that need help. Nightmares, night terrors, and the like. It’s not like she just goes into dreams to spy on ponies. Helping is all she wants to do.” Draigo said, knowing it was a bit redundant.

“Uh huh, sure.” Skye muttered, not entirely trusting the two. “I didn’t want the both of you to see me like that. I honestly thought this would have happened sooner.” Skye said softly as she crossed her arms over her torso.

“Believe what you want. It’s the truth, though. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to go replenish my magic reserves after claiming this entire area and having my life sucked out of me.” Draigo said as he walked toward the nearest spot to fly away from.

“See you later then. We can train after you get back.” Skye replied, feeling a tinge of regret at something she knew she had no control over.

“Thou hast to recharge? I thought thy reserves were unlimited.” Luna followed with a questioning look on her face as Skye lagged behind them.

“I have a massive reserve, but I put too much magic into claiming the area. Right now if you were to test any molecule in the area for magic you’d see that they are filled to the brim. Add to that the amount of magic I used to keep you from dying and you’ve got one drained dragon.” Draigo explained. Luna nodded in understanding.

“How wouldst thou recharge? I doth not think there art any places to replenish thy reserves here.” Luna said.

“There’s multiple spots that keep moving around out in the Everfree that offer the highest amount of replenishment.” Draigo told her.

“Multiple spots around the Everfree?” Skye asked confusedly, seemingly trusting them up to the point of asking questions again.

“Yep, they keep moving and are almost never in the same spot. Any guesses as to what they are?” Draigo asked as he prepped for flight.

“Never heard of them before now so no.” Skye replied. “I’m going to see if Celestia has reverted back to her old self or not,” she added, giving Draigo a small wave before trying not to get lost in the castle.

“I hath not heard of them neither.” Luna echoed.

“Both of you have, actually. It’s called Magical Beasts. I hunt them and eat them and I get my energy back.” Draigo told her with a predatory smile. “Normally, I wouldn’t have to do this, but I still need to train with Skye.”

“Good luck hunting those Magical Beasts then!” Skye called out before she rounded the corner at the end of the hall. Luna backed up a bit from Draigo’s smile, not liking how it made her feel scared.

“Magical Beasts giveth thou thy energy back?” Luna asked uneasily.

“Yes. Resting and becoming one with the elements does as well, but this also lets me get some frustrations out at the same time. I can’t exactly tell Skye not to bottle things up if I bottle them up, now can I?” Draigo explained as he let his predatory smile fade away.

“That wouldst be hippocritical of thou?” Luna asked and sat on her haunches.

“Yes and I really don’t want to be a hippo.” Draigo said as he made a horrible pun.

“How quickly doth thou replenish?” Luna asked, not knowing he had made a pun.

“I’ll need a manticore or an entire Timberwolf pack at bare minimum. So, an hour or two? They aren’t the easiest things to find after all.” Draigo said.

“Alright. We shalt see thou later on in the day then.” Luna smiled, not really liking the fact he had to consume animals but knew that she had no say in the matter.

“That thou shall, Luna.” Draigo agreed as he took off to hunt for his prey.