Chapter 9

Adamas allowed himself to glide as the countryside rolled past, the birds moved out of his way as he flew. Dave held a spike with one arm and held Nox in the other, the baby alicorn cheering as the wind rushed by

“So how has everything been since I left?” Dave yelled towards the dragon’s head. He coughed slightly as a bug flew into his mouth

“At first the ponies were very upset, they mourned your passing but eventually had to face the fact that you were gone” Adamas tilted his wings slightly so that his flight would slow down “I moved on as death is a natural thing that happens to us all”

“Aww, I missed you too” Dave chuckled as he patted the dragon’s back with his foot. Adamas finally came to a hover as he looked down at Ponyville below

“Where would you like to set down?” Adamas asked as he looked at the pony-filled streets, “I take it that you don’t want to make a sudden appearance”

“Yeah it may be weird dropping in like nothing happened” Dave dared to release Adamas as he scratched his chin “Maybe we could land near my house and we decide from there” Dave grabbed hold of the diamond spike again as Adamas nodded

The dragon tucked his wings in and went into a sharp dive, the speed caused Dave’s feet to lose their grip and move into the air. Dave held onto the dragon with his free hand whilst Nox happily giggled at his father’s nerves

Finally, Adamas opened his wings and came to a slow stop, Dave happily released the dragon and fell the few final feet to the ground. He used a hand to steady himself as he stood up, Nox wriggled free from his grasp and flew around Adamas’ head

“Well it is good to see that your offspring has the same enthusiasm you do” Adamas chuckled as he playfully chased the alicorn with his head. His jaws gently snapped around Nox but nowhere near close to actually biting him

Nox did a spiral around Adamas before bucking him in the chest, the dragon played along and played dead as the baby cheered at his victory. The grey colt landed on the dragon and tapped him curiously, his eyes full of wonder at the large beast

“Boo!” Adamas sprung back to life, causing the alicorn to scream as he rushed behind Dave and buried his face into Dave’s back for protection

“It’s alright Nox, he was only playing” Dave said reassuringly as he prised the colt off his back “Now what should we do?” He asked Adamas as he held his son in his arms

Adamas pointed to the two-story house behind Dave “Well I would imagine that you would want to get comfortable before heading out” his suggestion was accepted as Dave gladly walked over to his house

The house was made of light brown wood and the roof was perfectly thatched. A small stone chimney poked out of the roof and a large balcony was attached to the side. Dave moved to the front door as a golden aura appeared around the handle

“Magical lock?” Dave looked at Adamas for reassurance before holding Nox with one hand and reaching out with the other. His hand made contact and the aura resisted and shook before finally fading away

Adamas moved around the side of the house and rested his head near the balcony as Dave stepped inside. The dragon heard excited cheers from Nox and Dave as they quickly explored the home. The bedroom door burst open and Dave jumped onto the bed and hugged the pillows

“Oh I am never leaving you ever again” Dave sighed happily as Nox flew in and joined him “Alright Nox, important life lesson” Dave wrapped an arm around his son whilst his other kept his pillow close “Pillows are everyponies friend, they don’t deceive or make fun of you”

Nox nodded as he hugged his pillow and yawned. Dave smiled as he gently climbed off the bed and tucked his son in, planting a gentle kiss on his head before sneaking out onto the balcony

“You are both very lucky to have each other” Adamas smiled as he watched Dave look back at his son “It has been a big day for him but I imagine that he won’t rest long”

Dave sighed, “Being an alicorn I assume that he has tons of energy like the others” he yawned himself but quickly shook it off “so where should we go after this?”

“I am afraid that I left almost immediately after your demise” Adamas shrugged “I am afraid that none of the elements of harmony know what I look like now”

Dave rolled his eyes “Nothing is ever simple is it?” The human ran his hand through his hair as a breeze rolled past “Brrr, actually we can go to Rarity’s boutique first and get me some pants” Dave walked back into his house and pulled open a draw, the gold refection greeted him as he looked down at the heap of coins “Money is still here… that’s a bonus”

Nox yawned again as he sat up, rubbing his eyes “Bwa?” He managed to groan as he looked for his father. Dave walked over and picked him up, allowing Nox to rest his head on his shoulder as the colt’s grey hooves held around his neck

“Alright, I have some money just in case” Dave said quietly as he walked back outside, closing the door behind him “Carousel Boutique should be on the edge of town but I would rather we wait until later because we may get spotted at this time of the day”

Adamas chuckled as he lowered himself onto all fours and allowed his wings to cover his body “I learnt this trick a little while back” his body quivered, starting from his head. As the shake travelled along his body, his scales flowed before disappearing

“You can bend light around you?” Dave gawped “That is amazing” He gasped as Adamas’ head appeared from nowhere and tossed him onto his neck “Are you sure you can be stealthy?”

Adamas chuckled as he withdrew his head into his invisible cover “Have some faith Dave” He smiled as he moved swiftly without making a single noise “I have practiced a lot when I needed some time alone”

Dave nodded as the edge of Ponyville seemed to slide past them, Ponies that were almost next to the invisible dragon did not notice a thing. Adamas dared to slip between some buildings in an attempt to get to the boutique as quickly as he could

Dave stroked Nox’s mane in an attempt to keep him quiet until they reached the boutique. The dragon did a small manoeuvre around the building to get a quick look inside before stopping near the back door

“It appears that nopony is inside” Adamas whispered “I can unlock the back door for you and allow you to sneak inside” He waited for Dave to nod before moving his spiky tail to the door, one spike slid in before the door lock made a faint click

“You picked the lock?” Dave gasped, “You are sneakier than I remember,” he hummed before swiftly moving from the shelter of Adamas’ invisible cloak and into Rarity’s kitchen “Alright Nox, we be quiet calm and try not to surprise her”

Nox seemed to nod as Dave crept into the main shop area, Nox hopped down and acted like a prowling cat. Dave crouched as he moved to the door, switching the sign from open to closed before closing the curtains

“Alright, we should be ok from anypony peeking in” Dave moved over to an order sheet and picked up the quill “If I leave some cash and a note that will help ease the blow then…” Dave froze as he heard hoovesteps coming from the stairs, he darted into the dressing room and peeked out from the top

Sweetie Belle walked down the stairs with her eyes on the floor, she held a bored expression as she walked across the room towards a set of crayons and paper. Dave’s eyes shot open as he saw she was on a collision course with Nox, who was staring at all the different dresses on display

Sweetie Belle raised her head just as Nox turned his to look elsewhere. Dave placed his hand in his mouth as they bumped heads and staggered away from each other, his gasp almost took all the air out of his body as the colt and filly stared at each other

The white unicorn smiled as Nox sat in silence “Hello, what’s your name?” her smile made the colt blush as he brought his wings around his body and played with them nervously “Y-you’re an alicorn?” Sweetie Belle gasped as she noticed the horn-wing combo

Nox merely stood up and looked at his body, his size was slightly bigger than Sweetie Belle and would definitely be larger than anypony in her class at school. As he inspected his body, Sweetie Belle noticed his plain grey flank

“You’re a blank flank?” She smiled happily “I never knew alicorns had to earn their cutie marks too!” She held out a hoof to Nox “My name is Sweetie Belle, I have two other friends that are blank flanks”

Nox quickly scanned the room for Dave before looking back at the filly he was stuck with. His eyes met hers and he looked away with another blush. Dave was surprised at the shades of red his son was turning

“Are you shy?” Sweetie Belle sat down with a curious face, wondering how she could make her guest welcome “W-would you like to do some drawing with me? I was just about to before I met you”

Nox slowly nodded, he followed Sweetie Belle over to a white table before sitting opposite her, his eyes still avoiding looking at her for too long. Sweetie Belle passed Nox a sheet of blue paper and placed some crayons in the middle

Sweetie Belle picked up an orange before drawing on her sheet of pink paper. Nox watched her for a moment before picking up a white crayon and began drawing as well. His head moved faster and with greater fluency than Sweetie Belle, changing crayons every few seconds

Dave sighed in his small prison and watched the pair have fun drawing. His relaxed posture froze again as Sweetie Belle spoke up

“Do you like what I have drawn?” She held up a simple picture of four children playing, the orange Pegasus was obviously Scootaloo, the yellow one was Applebloom, the white was Sweetie Belle but she also drew Nox as well. All four were laughing in the picture

Nox nodded, as he looked down at his he placed a wing over it and his smile faded. Sweetie Belle placed her drawing down as she noticed her new friend’s behaviour

“What’s wrong?” She asked, she noticed Nox attempt to move his drawing away from her “I’m sure your drawing is great” She smiled. Nox hesitantly moved his wing and held up a extremely detailed picture of him and Sweetie Belle playing in the gardens of Canterlot

“That is going on the fridge,” Dave whispered proudly to himself as he saw the drawing that could have been easily mistaken for a photograph

“That’s amazing!” Sweetie Belle gasped as she looked at the drawing “Why don’t you have a cutie mark in painting?” she smiled as she looked at the picture with greater care

Nox only blushed as Sweetie Belle commented on how beautiful she had drawn her and how the scene looked lifelike. He placed his hooves nervously together as Sweetie Belle continued to admire his work

Dave smiled as his son finally spotted him and gave him a grin. The happy mood shattered as another pair of hoovesteps came from the stairs

“Sweetie Belle? Would you like to come and help your sister with… oh” The white unicorn named Rarity stopped at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes fixed on the alicorn “Well this is certainly a surprise” She looked around the shop but didn’t see anypony else

“Rarity, this is… I don’t know” Sweetie Belle confessed “But he is really nice and he is really good at drawing!” She held up the picture that Nox had drew

Rarity walked over “Yes I see that it is… marvellous!” She gasped, obviously she assumed it would have been like every other drawing she had seen a child draw “This is simply outstanding! Well whoever you little friend is, he certainly is a good little artist”

Nox nervously shuffled as the purple maned unicorn moved near him and grabbed his cheeks, pushing them together

“And look how cute he is!” Rarity smiled as she put Nox down “where did you come from?” Her eyes scanned the room once more for anypony else but fell upon the bag of coins near her order book

Rarity walked over and read the small note on her book “Need some clothes, hope you still have old measurements, will be extremely grateful if you don’t scream” Rarity reread the note to herself before humming “Now why would I scream? A lady never screams” as she finished her sentence she felt a tap on her shoulder, she turned to see Dave standing with a smile

“Hi” Dave said quietly

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” Rarity screamed, causing everypony to cover their ears. Dave rushed forwards and placed a hand over Rarity’s mouth

“I thought you said that ladies don’t scream!” Dave groaned as he heard the echoes of Rarity’s shriek in his head

Rarity pulled her head away, angry at being silenced “Screaming? I was calling out in distress!” Rarity glared “This is screaming!” She inhaled deeply before letting out a high-pitched scream that Dave winced at

“SHUT UP!” Dave yelled over Rarity’s scream, causing her to go silent

Rarity was about to verbally attack the human but she finally realized the person holding her “D-Dave? I-is that? H-how are you?” her eyes went in a spin before she passed out in Dave’s arms

Dave sighed as he laid Rarity on the sofa at the side of the room and returned to sit with the children. Sweetie Belle smiled as she gave Dave a huge hug

“Dave! You’re back from your vacation!” She smiled happily, “Rarity said that you weren't going to come back!” She pouted at the unconscious body of her sister

Dave rolled his eyes “So she didn’t tell you the truth… ah well” Dave picked Nox up and gave him a reassuring hug “Sweetie Belle, this is my son Noxporta or Nox for short”

Sweetie Belle’s eyes shot open “Y-your son? B-but he is an alicorn, I know you and Princess Celestia were going to…to...” the fillies eyes opened wider before she passed out as well

Dave shrugged at Nox before taking Sweetie Belle and placing her in a chair “Well at least the introductions have started” Dave chuckled “Welcome to my life, the girls are crazy and all the plans go wrong”