//------------------------------// // Meeting. // Story: The Princess and The Dragon // by PeculiarGuy //------------------------------// The dark blue dragon rose, his eyes heavy from just waking up. Groaning, he slipped out of his stone bed, which was actually just a large carved rock, and stretched his aching muscles. He had been asleep for a few years, and is muscles were sore from the lack of movement. His spiny scales began to shift, having finally been readjusted after so many years of being still. After his long wake up routine he began to move, his steps slow, and clumsy. His claw-like feet scratched at the hard floor as he practically dragged himself towards a dim fire. Kneeling beside it, he took a breath and slowly began to exhale, a brilliant green flame dancing from his mouth and feeding the fire, making it considerably larger. He craned his neck, and, feeling satisfied with the amount of green luminescent light filling his cave home, he rose once more. The large beast moved back to his bed, his pace quicker and without the awkward clumsiness he had before. Reaching his cold stone bed, he began inspecting it, tapping it occasionally with one of his claws’ talon. The dragon then lifted it, with an incredible amount of ease. Though he had been sleeping for so long, he seemed to have the same amount of strength as he did before his long hibernation. He was a dragon after all; it wasn’t uncommon for dragons to sleep for very long periods of time. Looking down there was a bright glistening coming from beneath him. Looking down you could see the jewels glistening in his ice blue eyes. The dragon grabbed two, one green emerald, the other a blue sapphire. Setting the stone down again on top his pile of priceless gems he took a bite out of the sapphire. Yet, it wasn’t as satisfying as it should have been. In fact, the dragon did not like it. He hated them all, all of the jewels. He only ate them because he needed to survive. He hated a lot of things. He hated his jewels, he hated waking up, but what he especially hated the most of all was his soul crushing lonesomeness. He despised the fact he had been alone for so long. But his hate would soon turn into sadness. He missed waking up with another, he missed talking, and he missed- “Hello, Haaven.” And he hated her. “Haaven, please, let me speak.” He grumbled, a black smoke shooting from his nostrils, as he lied down again. “I just want to talk, please.” The soft voice grew closer. She was stubborn, he knew that. But he was too, and he wanted nothing to do with her. It was her fault anyway, for everything. He reminded himself that. That it was all her fault. “Haaven, you know I did nothing. I did not persuade you, it was your choice.” He huffed, what she was said was true, and it crushed him even further. He felt a deadweight drop inside him, dragging his emotions with it. Taking a breath he cleared his head, reminding himself to not lose control. “Haaven, you need to stop this… You’re only making it worse for yourself.” He ignored the gentle voice, and began eating the emerald, but stopped. It was too much, all of it, the jewels, her, the lingering silence in the air. A tear began forming in his eye and slid down his hard, scaled face. He missed it all so much, being able to talk to someone, waking up with someone. He felt the feathers of what seemed like an angel sent to deliver him from his horrible life. In reality, it was only the voice, wiping his tear away. The dragon took a breath and sat up, turning to the voice. “Celestia… Why, why would you want to come see me?” Haaven looked down to see she had smiled, and wrapped her wings around the dragon’s snout. His lips shook as a hesitant smile appeared on his face. It had been so long since he felt the gentle touch of another being. More tears began to form and he wiped them away, moving his head from her. “I know you’ve felt so alone, and I would not just abandon an old friend.” He shook his head, knowing that was not the only reason, and frowned. “Why are you actually here?” “I suppose there is another reason,” she replied, slowly summoning her magic, making a makeshift screen in the air. On it he could see Equestria, more specifically a small town. Silently, Celestia began zooming in on the quaint town, and then a certain purple pony. “What are you showing me?” She did not reply, save for beckoning him to continue watching the screen. Again Haaven stared at the screen, at the purple alicorn. She was trotting merrily towards a large tree. The tree seemed to have been hollowed out and lived in. Once the alicorn opened the door it was apparent the tree served as the town’s library. The alicorn began to speak, though Haaven could not hear what she spoke. Almost immediately after her mouth moved another figure appeared. “Celestia, I-“ She shushed him, and nodded to the screen. He huffed and watched. The new figure seemed to have accidently fallen into a pile of books. The purple alicorn began sifting through the piles of books when suddenly the figure reappeared. It was a baby dragon, purple, with green spikes. Haaven stared silently in disbelief for a few seconds at the child, until Celestia’s magic disappeared. Tears again, formed in the beast’s eyes. He had not expected to see a dragon with another pony. In fact, he wasn’t expecting a dragon at all. “Was that?” Celestia nodded; a smile on her face. “I knew you’d like to see what he looked like, which is why I came.” Haaven stayed still for a moment, an odd feeling of suspense hanging between to princess and the dragon. “Will I get to see him?” Haaven asked, still staring at where the screen once was. “Soon, but the two are not ready. When you next wake, I will send them to meet you.” Haaven nodded, and lied back down. Celestia began heading out the cave entrance, her wings expanded, and the sun reflecting brilliantly off her white coat. “Celestia?” She turned her head to face Haaven one last time before she took off. Haaven smiled at her, handing her a piece of metal with a sentence inscribed on it. She smiled and nodded, taking off. Once she was in the air she looked at the piece of yellow and onyx trimmed metal, the inscription read: ‘Son, I will wait here, for years, through all seasons, waiting. Waiting for you to return. Love, Haaven’