Chapter VIII

Arcs of electricity strike my opened palm, I point my claws on my other hand back at Luna and the lightning shoots back out at her. She catches the lightning on one of her wingtips and shoots it at the ground with the other.

“Thou art getting better at redirecting the current.” She says, building up another charge in her wings.

“And you’re getting faster at generating it.” I respond back at her, standing upright to get ready for another bolt.

“Your observations about how it feels when it travels from thee’s core through thee’s limbs are most helpful. Tis helping us to search for the same feelings within our self as we generate the energy.” Luna says before launching another bolt at me. I catch it, and send it back at her again. We play catch with the lightning for a couple rounds before she sends the electricity into the ground again.

“Do you feel tired at all? I remember draining myself dry of energy when I first launched a bolt of lightning. It’s a really powerful element that takes a lot for me to use.” I ask in concern.

Luna shakes her head. “No. We feel fine. The lightning does not require so much energy as it does concentration for us. Tis almost like the air around us creates the energy while we only need bring it together and direct it.” Luna answers.

“It could just be your unfair levels of magic as an alicorn though.” I quip.

Luna rolls her eyes. “Tis not unfair if we have to use most of it to raise and lower the moon every night. Thou hath no excuse for losing to us so often.” She retorts with an amused smile.

“And yet, you’re still flinging lightning around like it’s nothing.” I say.

Luna sighs. “We still do not understand why thou speaks in that strange dialect. Thou hath been around us long enough to imitate how we speak.” Luna says.

I shrug. “It’s how we talked back on my world, and I’m pretty sure it’s how ponies will talk a thousand or so years from now. Ye Olde speak happened during the dark ages of our history after all.” I tell her.

“We still do not believe thee over that issue. Why canst thou simply tell us from whence thou came?” Luna asks me.

I sigh. “Luna, it’s the truth. I am telling the truth. I don’t know how to prove it to you or Celestia, but I’m not going to come up with a lie to appease your sense of curiosity. Besides, it doesn’t really matter either way. I can’t go back, things are too complicated in the world for things back home. If I went back today, I would essentially be popping back into existence after five years. All the things I was engaged in, college, my job, my family. It would cause turmoil with all of those things because; I’ve pretty much lost five years of my life for nothing. It’s better for everyone if I just stay gone after so long.” I say somberly. Then I perk up a bit. “Not to mention that this body is awesome. Not only can I fly, but I can run faster and longer than I could ever possibly do as a human.”

“Do not forget the, how thou put it, flaming, destructive death burps.” Luna quips, quoting me.

“Hah, yeah. Can’t forget those.” I say with a laugh. We then continue with our game of ‘catch the lightning.’

I open my eyes groggily. I give a yawn from just waking up, then move to get up off of Twilight’s couch.

My leg muscles ache and cause me to groan from the soreness in them. ‘Damn, guess I overdid it with the Earth element yesterday.’ I think with a wince.

Using the energy from the ground is almost three times as strenuous than the other elements because it rushes through my limbs more often. Once from my core into the ground, then back into my core, and then back through my limbs to be used.

I stretch myself out to relieve some of the soreness. I look around the library to figure out what to do now that I’m awake for the day.

‘…’

‘…Maybe I could go out and practice a bit?’ I think to myself.

I shrug to myself. “Might as well.” I say to no one. I then walk out of the library.

I decide to head over to the same lake that Rainbow brought me to yesterday. I walk back towards it with a relaxed stride.

Ponyville doesn’t seem to be all that awake yet, with the only ponies that seem to be out and about during the early morning being the mailmare (Derpy/Ditzy) making her rounds, and a few other ponies that look surprisingly chipper at this time of day.

‘Morning people. Hard to imagine I’m one of them now. I used to hate getting up in the morning. Hell, I even slept past noon most of the time back on Earth. And now it’s like 8 AM is the latest I’m capable of sleeping in.’ I idly note as I walk through the town.

At some point, I think I started to just go into autopilot while walking, because I’m back at the lake in what seems like no time at all.

I take a closer look at the surrounding area, since I didn’t really do it yesterday. The surface of the lake is calm, with only the smallest of waves moving across its surface from the wind. Reeds and other plant life cover sections of the shore, with dragonflies and other insects flying around. The grass around the lake is a bit long, but not by much.

I take a deep, calming breath through my nose, and then exhale through my mouth. ‘It’s peaceful out here. Calm… Perfect.’ I think with a smile. Then I look around for an open area with some kind of noticeable landmark.

Over to my right is a pretty open space with a split maple tree maybe a dozen yards from the edge of the shore. I move over near the tree, etch the position and angle of the tree into my memory, and then stand facing the lake.

My front and back legs are slightly spread and straight, but not hyper-extended. My tail is relaxed, but straight behind me, with only a slight upward curve. My wings are at my sides, but relaxed enough to hang just a bit, with the claw on each slightly flexed. My eyes stare straight ahead, with my neck held straight, and my head still.

I focus on my breathing, the calm intake and release of the air from my lungs. The one difference between this breathing, and the breathing I was doing before, being that now I am not releasing more than half of what is in my lungs at any point. Always having extra for any breath attacks I may need.

For the next five minutes, the sounds of the morning and my breathing are the only things I hear.

‘First Four Legged Form.’ I think to myself.

And then I move.

I step left and make an upward strike with my left wing, the membrane folded, and the claw extended. That strike flows into a tail swipe, followed by stepping into a reverse claw strike with my right foreleg, and another tail swipe and then a straight whipping strike with my tail again. Then I turn to the right from where I started and repeat the actions again on that side.

Wing strike, to tail sweep, to front slash, to back kick, and back to another wing strike. On I go, my strikes flowing into each other more cohesively, and becoming sharper and quicker as I get back into the long neglected practice with each step into the strikes around the open grass. Until finally, I return to the same spot that I began in, in the same position, focusing on my breathing.

I push myself up onto my two back legs, my held above the ground, and my wings unfurl slightly behind me. My stance widens a little and my feet turn outwards a bit.

‘First Two Legged Form.’

And then I launch myself into another sequence of strikes and blocks. Once I finish I stay upright on two legs.

Before I can start on the next form though, I feel a tiny thump on my left leg. I look down and am slightly surprised to see a scowling white bunny glaring up at me. We stare at each other for a moment before he hops off behind me. I follow his progress and I see that he’s hopping over to Fluttershy, who’s staring at me a couple yards behind me.

“Eep.” She squeaks in fear when I notice her.

I blink. “Um…”

“I’msorryIdidn’tmeantostareI’lljustbegoingnow!” She rambles off rapidly before taking off running away from me, Angel in tow.

‘I… didn’t even manage to get a word in.’ I think, a little sad that she ran off.

I know I should have expected this kind of reaction from Fluttershy, what with being a dragon and all. But it still hurts to see somepony as sweet as her being afraid of just the sight of me. I try to shake my sadness off.

‘This is nothing compared to the worst you’ve felt. Get over it.’ I tell myself.

I turn back to the lake and focus on my breathing again to resume my practice.

Fluttershy gallops as quickly as her legs allow her. She doesn’t stop until she reaches the nearby park at the outside edge of Ponyville. She gasps for breath after her flight reaches its end.

‘Oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness.’ Fluttershy’s heart beats frantically as she struggles to calm down.

She had been on her way to the park for a walk with Angel bunny when she saw the dragon from the Summer Sun Celebration doing something by the lake.

Fluttershy normally isn’t one to pry into somepony else’s business, but his movements were just so strange that she couldn’t help herself. So she just stood off to the side and watched.

And then the unthinkable happened.

He caught her staring.

Fluttershy had never been more embarrassed in her life… well maybe failing the obstacle course in flight school had been embarrassing as well… and the time when she was flying slow on the racetrack… and probably the time she accidentally bumped into Roseluck one the way to Sugarcube Corner for one of Pinkie’s parties- the point is, she was embarrassed, so she ran away, and now he’ll probably think that she’s weird, or awkward, or rude!

Fluttershy looks down in shame from her revelation. ‘Oh, I’m such a horrible pony. How could I just run away from him like that?’ Then Fluttershy notices Angel looking at her strangely. His brow is raised and his mouth slightly open. When he sees her looking at him he shakes his head slightly and raises his front paws upwards questioningly.

‘Oh, even Angel is confused with what I just did. He must be wondering what’s wrong.’ Fluttershy concludes with a wince.

Angel’s POV

“Damn it yellow b#$%^ what the hell was that?!?!? I went to the trouble of getting scale-ass’s attention for you and you don’t even talk to him!!! What the F#$%?!?!?!”

“Hi Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy squeaks in terror and falls on her back in surprise. Fluttershy looks up at Pinkie Pie as the pink earth pony mare grins down at her, her nose almost touching Fluttershy’s.

“Oh, um, hi Pinkie.” Fluttershy murmurs, her heart hammering in her chest again.

“Whatcha doin’?” Pinkie asks her with a grin.

“Um, I wasn’t… really doing anything until you said hi. I suppose I’m lying in the grass right now though.” Fluttershy quietly answers.

“Does it feel nice?” Pinkie asks.

Fluttershy blinks. “… Maybe, a little?” She says hesitantly, hoping it’s the right answer.

“Can I do it too?” Pinkie asks.

“Um, if that’s what you want to do…”

“Woohoo!!!” Pinkie shouts and leaps up, backflips, and the flops onto the ground right next to Fluttershy. “This is gonna be great!” She says looking over to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy blinks at Pinkie, unsure how to react to her friend’s enthusiasm.

The two ponies lie in the grass for a few minutes before Fluttershy hears quiet snores coming from Pinkie.

Fluttershy fidgets in place. ‘I… suppose I can leave now. She’s fallen asleep. But what if she expects me to keep doing this with her till she wakes up? I don’t want to disappoint her. But my I still need to do some chores around the house.’ As Fluttershy tries to come up with an idea of what to do, she’s broken out of her thoughts by a shadow covering her.

Fluttershy moves her head slightly on the ground to look for what’s blocking the sun.

“Is that… smoke?” Fluttershy wonders with growing fear at the implications.

I run back towards the Golden Oaks Library at a moderate pace. As soon as I saw the large cloud of black smoke filling the sky, I knew what was going on. It’s time for Dragonshy.

Right as I reach the door, it opens and I collide with something purple.

“Ugh… Bael? There you are! I was wondering where you went.” Says the pony that is purple and on top of me. How did she manage to knock me over? I’m almost twice her size.

“Enough napping. We’ve got work to do. C’mon!” She says while leaping off me and lifting me up to carry me in her magic. She starts galloping to the park with me in her grasp and Spike (whom I now notice) riding on her back.

Now, I’ll admit that being carried in a unicorn’s magical aura is a little bit unnerving for me. It mostly stems from a very bad experience with being held by… somepony specific during a… very bad time in my life on Equis (I’m pretty sure anyone can guess who, and where). However, my current discomfort with being held doesn’t lie with being held.

It lies with rolling uncontrollably in the air as I’m held. Twilight is not putting enough focus to keeping me stable in the air.

Frankly, I’m getting a bit dizzy. Oh wait, is Twilight saying something?

“-It’s coming from a dragon.” Twilight says to a crowd of ponies that I catch a glimpse of before rolling end over end again.

“Pinkie Pie, I need you to go get the girls and meet us back at the library. Fluttershy, come on, let’s go wait for the others.” Twilight says before grabbing Fluttershy in her magical grasp as well and taking off running again. Man, Twilight is really grabby today. Is it considered rude for a unicorn to pick another individual up in their magic without their input? I think it should be considered rude. Someone needs to put that into the book of rude things to do-and I am apparently very aimless with my thoughts when I’m dizzy.

Before I can delve further into the wondrous thought process of a dizzinessian (accept the spiral as your lord and savior!), I’m let go from Twilight’s magic field.

Unfortunately, I am upside-down when this happens.

*Bonk* “Ow!” I cry out after falling headfirst on the ground.

“Bael? Are you alright? What happened?” Twilight asks in concern, finally turning around.

“Ugh. I’m fine, just a small bump. Did you have to drop me on my head though?” I ask her, not really annoyed so much as disoriented.

“What do you mean? Weren’t you right-side up? Why didn’t you just land on your feet?” She asks.

I stare at her for a moment. “…You know what, I guess I’m just that clumsy.” I answer. Spike snickers while Twilight just nods, not acknowledging the sarcasm.

The other five, yes five, Trixie included, girls enter the library at that moment.

“Twilight, what’s this ah hear about a dragon causin’ all that smoke? What’s a full-grown dragon doin’ here in Equestria?” Applejack asks Twilight when they all gather around.

I shoot her a bemused look. “I crash landed here.” I say. When everyone looks at me strange, I quirk a brow. “What? I’m standing right next to her and she’s talking as if I’m not a full-grown dragon.” I say to the confused ponies.

“You know what ah mean.” She says with a face-hoof. I chuckle.

“According to Princess Celestia. He’s sleeping… the dragon up on the mountain, not Bael.” Twilight clarifies. “His snoring is what’s causing all the smoke in the air. And if we don’t convince him to take his nap somewhere else, Equestria will be covered in smoke for the next one hundred years.” She finishes.

“Whoofe, talk about getting your beauty sleep.” Rarity says.

“Wait wait wait. What do you mean, if we don’t convince him?” Trixie asks Twilight.

“Just as I said, Princess Celestia has tasked us with this duty. We must not fail, or all of Equestira could suffer.” Twilight says determinedly.

“… So Princess Celestia is asking… a baker, a farmer, a showmare, a woodsmare, a seamstress, a weatherpony, and a librarian… to move a fully grown dragon?” Trixie asks incredulously. Twilight nods.

“… Trixie finds this plan extremely risky and impractical.” Trixie says.

“I think I’m supposed to be included in that mix, but I doubt that would reassure you.” I say with a chuckle.

“Hardly. You’re barely bigger than a full-grown pony. You’d be at just as much risk as any of us.” Trixie says dryly.

I shrug. “Maybe.” I reply. I think I’m going to like her. She understands sarcasm.

“Well, if everyone understands what we need to do, then it’s time to gather supplies, it’s going to be a long journey. Let’s meet back here in less than an hour.” Twilight says to everyone.

“Alright girls, you heard her!” Rainbow Dash says to everyone.

“I’m a guy.” I state flatly.

“The fate of Equestria is in our hooves!” Dash continues, ignoring me.

“I also don’t have hooves, I’m a dragon.”

“Do we have what it takes?” Rainbow challenges the group.

“YEAH!” Rarity, Pinkie and Applejack exclaim. They all cheer and head out of the library to gather their things.

Trixie groans. “We’re all going to die.”

“At least we’ll all have each other in the end.” I say in the sappiest and cutesiest voice I can manage. Trixie face hoofs and I cackle from her annoyance.

“Why is Trixie going through with this?” Trixie says in exasperation she walks out the door.

I chuckle again before settling on Twilight’s couch to wait for the others to get their stuff for the trip. ‘It’s not like I need anything that I don’t already have within me.’ I think with a smirk, feeling the pulse from my chest as my core thrums with its elemental power stored inside.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 7 complete.

"But the episode isn't done yeeeeeeeeet!"

No, it isn't. Which is why I'm continuing it next chapter. I figured the readers have been waiting for an update for long enough, and the chapter was looking to be considerably longer than this, so I'm splitting Dragonshy into a two-parter. This is hopefully not going to be a trend with every episode being two parts.

"Will there be bloodshed in it?"

Not necessarily...

"THEN THERE'S NO POINT!!!"

*SHIN-crackle*

"Huh... why'd you go with ice this time?"

"Because I have a migraine and I don't want him to hear him until I'm ready, not whenever he regains consciousness. Which is becoming sooner and sooner every time."

"I know what might help with that..."

"What? Did you say something Pink-GAH!!!"

"HUG ATTACK!!!!"

"*GASP!!!* Hug attack?! I want to help too!!! WEEEEEEE!!!!"

"Oof!"

"Hnrrrgghh!" *thud*

... You okay Ictus?

"Soooo... cute... too.. much..."

*Chuckle*

"Do you feel better yet Aevey?"

"... Actually, yeah. Thanks for that Letum, you too Pinkie."

"Yay! Letum away!!!!"

"Heh."

It always amazes me how far my imagination takes me when I come up with these AN sections. I didn't even realize I would try to make something cute for this.

The newly made sculpture of ice encasing the dark former-king of the Crystal Empire vibrates and shakes with a rattle on the floor. Almost as if the pony inside is screaming in frustrated rage.