//------------------------------// // Introductions at Hoof // Story: Fear from the Heart // by Dragon Heart //------------------------------// Due to Hammerheart's need to find his missing tail end, and the fight with the giant timber wolf, bringing them deeper into the forest, it was about a two to three hour walk back to Ponyville. But Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were not going into town with a Dragon of all things following them. They had managed to get to Fluttershy's cottage without catching anyone's attention. Hammerheart was a complete train wreck, all over again. He was covered in cuts, scrapes, bruises, bites, and claw marks from his battle against the giant timber wolf. His right wing was bitten and damaged so badly, it dragged all the way. On positive notes, he was no longer trapped and could breathe fire again, but that was pretty much it. And he was still grounded. "Okay, you wait in the backyard, I'll go get the medical kit." Fluttershy said before going into her house. Hammerheart sat in the backyard with Rainbow Dash standing next to him. It was taking quite a while to find the first aid. Rainbow Dash coughed and decided to try and start a conversation. "So..." She started, "my name's Rainbow Dash. Friends call me Rainbow. What's yours?" Hammerheart still could not speak. His voice box was still damaged from the spear, so all that came out was reptilian grunts and groans. Rainbow Dash raised an eye to him not talking, when she could have sworn that all Dragons could talk. "I'm guessing you speak a different language or something?" She said. Hammerheart sighed through his nostril and just kept staring forward. Rainbow Dash simply started tapping her hoof on the dirt, until Fluttershy finally came back with the medical kit. "Sorry that took so long." She said. "Somehow, it got misplaced, and I had to look everywhere for it." She opened the kit and got to work patching up Hammerheart. She sprayed antibiotics on his open wounds and apply healing lotion to his bruises. With almost half a mile of gauze strips, she covered his damaged wing, and they turned from white to blood red upon contact with his skin. When she finished, she put everything away in the kit. "All better?" Fluttershy asked. Hammerheart slightly moved his wing, and then stretched his whole body so hard, every vertebra piece in his back made a crack as loud as a breaking stick. He was clearly feeling relief from all the tension pent up in him. "Wow!" said Rainbow Dash, "You sound like you have some back issues." Fluttershy brought a hoof to her chin. "Well, he did always land on his back every time he tried to climb out of that pit." She reflected. "You know what, you definitely need a back massage to lighten you up." She flew up and landed gently onto his back, and started to rapidly tip-hoof on his hide. It seemed to be working as Hammerheart started to slowly drift into slumber. Fluttershy just hoped he was not a snorer. After about a minute of massaging, Fluttershy felt she was done. She hopped off and walked up to Rainbow Dash. "I still can't believe you're actually doing this." said Rainbow. "I thought you were scared of Dragons." "Oh, I still am," Fluttershy admitted, "but something about this one made me feel different. I mean, I was scared when I first met him, but then I just felt sorry for him. Then I felt I had to do something to help." "Gotta say, Flutters, never knew you had it in ya." Rainbow Dash said, giving her a light nudge on the shoulder. Fluttershy rubbed the spot where Rainbow touched her and blushed a little. "Well, I'd better get going." said Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash, wait!" Fluttershy called. "What? What is it?" Rainbow asked. "Don't tell the others about him yet, okay? I'll ask them myself when I get the chance." "Okay, Fluttershy, I won't say a word." And Rainbow Dash took to the sky and flew to town. Fluttershy heard a grumble coming from behind. She turned to see the Dragon lift his head up and look at her. He then looked to his stomach. "You're hungry, aren't you?" said Fluttershy, "Well, I had a bag of fish for you, but where did I..." She facehoofed when she remembered she left it back at the pit. "I'll be back soon. Stay here and don't make any loud noises, please." She trotted back to the forest to retrieve her bag. Hammerheart just laid on the ground. It was nice to finally be out of that dank hole in the ground and free to roam anywhere he wanted, but he would have to wait until his membranes regenerated, which could take for as long as a few days to a month or two. Nevertheless, he would just have to be patient, even though patience was not one of his strongest traits. After all that, he swore to himself to never pull jokes around like that ever again. As Hammerheart rested, he could hear something small approaching him. He peeked through a barely noticeable opening in his eye to see a white rabbit boldly approach him. It stopped and stood a foot away from him, arms crossed with a frown on its face. It then got closer and poked his snout. Then it hopped onto his snout and began thumping its foot on him. Hammerheart lifted his head up, and the rabbit fell off. He looked upon the rodent and gave a deadpanned expression to it. The rabbit got up and stared at him while shaking a fist. Hammerheart took in a deep breath, blew smoke out of both his nostrils, and sent the rabbit rolling into the trunk of the cottage. He settled his head back down and resumed his rest. But he could hear the rabbit coming back. Hammerheart opened his eyes to see the rabbit come up and start punching and kicking his snout. When the rabbit turned his back to him for a split second, Hammerheart puffed a tiny ember onto the rabbit's tail. He did not notice until the smell of burning hair caught his attention. The rabbit saw his tail was on fire and quickly ran to the nearest source of water to put out the flame. Hammerheart resumed his rest again, but again, the rabbit could be heard coming back. He opened his eyes to see him really throwing a temper-tantrum. Hammerheart had enough. In a quick move, he non-lethally caught the rabbit in his mouth, swished him around like mouthwash, and then spat him out. The rabbit flew through the house's back window and landed on the living room floor. He got up and was covered in saliva. He stuck his tongue out in disgust as he shook off the spit. After that little episode, he decided to not try anything else. For all he knew, next time he could actually get eaten. Having gotten rid of the pestering rodent, Hammerheart resumed his rest, but the smell of fish brought him up to see Fluttershy had finally returned, with her saddlebag on her back still full of the fish she meant to give to Hammerheart. "I'm back." She said as she went up to Hammerheart and set the bag on the ground. "Here's your lunch. Eat up." She opened the bag and backed up to give him room to eat. Hammerheart just began to take big bites of fish, chew them a little, and swallow them whole. While he was eating, Fluttershy went into her home and was greeted by both hungry animals, and the smell of rotting meat. That was when she noticed first the hole in her window, then the puddle of saliva on her floor. "My goodness. What happened here?" She asked herself. She felt something wet poke her leg, and she looked down to see Angel soaking wet and wearing what looked like a tiny towel. "Angel? Why are you all wet?" Fluttershy asked. Angel pointed to the broken window and at Hammerheart, who let out a low belch from eating a lot. "What did he do?" She asked. Angel then took off the towel, turned around, and showed her what was left of his burnt tail. Fluttershy gasped, then solemness came over her, and she went back outside. Having eaten all the fish, and still needing a good rest, Hammerheart was still trying to fall to sleep. He heard hoofsteps approaching him, and he looked to see Fluttershy walking towards him, with a solemn look on her face, like a mother who was about to lecture her child. "Mister Dragon," said Fluttershy, "I'm letting you stay here for the time being until you're fully healed, but do not pick on or bully my animal friends, understand?" Hammerheart gave a raised eye of confusion to her, but just gave a reptilian groan in response. "Good." Fluttershy turned and started walking away, but something came to her mind that came too little too late. "Oh, we never had a proper introduction. My name's Fluttershy. What's yours?" Hammerheart tried to speak, but his voice box was still badly damaged. All he could do was grunt and groan. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow to the Dragon's noise making. "Um, don't you have a name?" She asked. Hammerheart nodded. "Can't you talk like other Dragons?" Hammerheart shook his head diagonally, trying to imply both a yes and a no, but Fluttershy did not catch it. "Well, maybe you could tell me your name through a little game of charades?" Fluttershy suggested. Hammerheart shrugged to the idea, and Fluttershy took it as a yes. "Alright, then. You can start whenever you wish." Hammerheart's first act was making a fist out of his talon and pretending to hit something on the ground. "Uh... hit? No! Strike! Or, uh... slam?" Fluttershy kept saying incorrect words, and Hammerheart just rested his head on his good wing hand and sighed. "Um... h-hammer?" Hammerheart pointed at her and nodded. "Okay." Hammerheart then put his talon fist to his chest and made a two paced thumping sound. "Heart?" said Fluttershy, and Hammerheart nodded. "So, your name is Hammerheart?" He nodded again. "Well, belated nice to meet you, Hammerheart. Do make yourself at home for now." She turned and went back around her house and inside, where the animals were still waiting for a feeding, and she got to work. It was now three o' clock in the afternoon, and Fluttershy was taking a walk through town, mostly for some fresh air. She also wanted to see if Twilight had made any progress on that potion yet. Why she always had to check, she did not know, but it gave her reasons just to visit Twilight on a semi-regular basis. She came up to the library door and knocked. The door magically opened and Fluttershy walked in to see Twilight still examining the potion. "Hello, Twilight." said Fluttershy. "Good afternoon, Fluttershy." Twilight said, turning her attention to her friend. "What brings you here?" "Oh, I was just checking and seeing if you made any progress, yet." Fluttershy said. Twilight sighed, facehoofed, and dragged it down her face. "No. Nothing yet, and I don't think there will be for quite some time." She levitated the potion into a container and sealed it shut. "I think I'm gonna wrap that up for later. So, how have you been, lately?" Fluttershy rubbed her leg and looked down. "Uh, nothing much, just the usual stuff." She pondered a little, and then decided now was the time. "Actually, I wanted to ask you something." "What might that be?" Twilight asked. Fluttershy looked up with her mane covering an eye. "Um, I need you and the others to come to my house today. There's someone I feel I should introduce you all to." Twilight raised an eyebrow, but just nodded. "Okay. I'll gather the others and meet you there." She said. "Thanks." Fluttershy turned around and headed out the door, but stopped halfway out and turned back around. "Oh, and Twilight?" "Yes?" "Promise me you and the others won't freak out when you meet him, please?" Twilight gave raised both eyebrows in confusion. "Uh, sure, I guess. Why do you ask?" "Just because." was all Fluttershy said before leaving and shutting the door. Two hours later, all of Fluttershy's friends had arrived. Rainbow Dash had her front legs crossed, for she already knew what was going to happen. Pinkie bounced in place, excited to meet this new friend of Fluttershy's. Rarity, always wanting to make a perfectly good first impression, was wearing a very beautiful sky blue outfit covered in a streamline pattern of pearls and amethysts to match her fur and mane. Applejack simply tapped her hoof on the dirt. And Twilight waited patiently along with them all. Fluttershy came out of her house and approached her friends. "You're all here. Wonderful." "So, where's this new friend of yours, Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked, still bouncing with excitement. "Oh, he's in the backyard, resting." said Fluttershy. "Well, then, we can't just interrupt his sleep." Rarity said. Fluttershy waved a hoof. "No, don't worry. He won't mind if he wakes up and meets you all." She said. "So, who is this new friend o' yers, Flutters?" Applejack asked. "Yeah, what is he? A bird or mammal of some kind?" said Twilight. "Nope, much different." said Rainbow Dash. Everyone looked to her. "You know what it is, Rainbow?" said Twilight. "Yup, now let's just go see him." Rainbow Dash said. "Of course. This way." Fluttershy said as she walked off with the others following after. They walked around the house to the backyard, and spotted the new friend lying on the ground. When Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie got closer, they stopped dead in their tracks and gasped in realization that it was a Dragon. Hammerheart heard the four gasps and woke up from his sleep. He lifted his head up and looked to see all five of Fluttershy's friends standing ten feet from him. He recognized Rainbow Dash, but not the other four. Fluttershy went up to him. "Hammerheart, these are my other friends: Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie." Three of the mares mentioned were dumbfounded and speechless that a large Dragon was in Fluttershy's backyard, until Twilight spoke first. "Um, hello." She said, "Hammerheart, was it? I'm Twilight Sparkle." "N-name's Applejack." "I am... Rarity." Their tones were of shock. "And I'm Pinkie Pie." Pinkie said as she seemingly hovered up to Hammerheart with an extended hoof, not hesitant at all. Hammerheart raised an eye to the perky Earth Pony, but then just grabbed her hoof with his wing hand and shook it gently. Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity could not comprehend that a Dragon of all things laid before them, but Rainbow Dash landed and tried to get them to relax. "Don't be scared." She said. "He's friendly, once you get to know him." The three mares approached Hammerheart and just smiled. "So, uh, where are you from?" Twilight asked, but all she got was reptilian grunts and groans from Hammerheart. "Okay..." Rarity examined Hammerheart's figure, noticing the injuries on his body, tattered wings, and gauze on his right wing. "I must ask, what happened to you, you look like you've been through a windstorm." Hammerheart tried to speak again, this time he made a distinct gravelly "Hack!" that surprised even him. "Oh, are you trying to speak?" Fluttershy asked. Hammerheart tried to make words, but they were still coming out as gravelly "hacks". Twilight noticed the scar on the bottom of his throat. "What happened there?" She asked. Hammerheart tried explaining through gestures. He flapped his good wing to imply he was flying, then he rapidly jabbed his longest wing finger to imply the harpoons that attacked him, then he made a point out of his wing hand and poked the scar to imply the spear that got him. Of course, none of them knew jack-squat as to what he was trying to say or do. As Twilight examined the scar, and took note about the Dragon's impaired speech, a realization struck her. "I think his voice box might be damaged." She said. "What makes ya say that?" Applejack asked. "Well, he's clearly trying to speak, but can't. If I can fix his voice box, then he should be able to talk again." Hammerheart saw Twilight's horn begin to glow purple as she prepared a spell, and he backed away and growled defensively. Twilight stopped and gave a confused look to him. "What's wrong? I'm trying to help you." She said. Hammerheart huffed and jolted his head, stating he does not want any help. Fluttershy went up to Twilight's ear. "Don't say you want to help him." She whispered. "Say you want to heal him." "Uh, okay." said Twilight. She slowly approached Hammerheart, who bared his teeth and growled again. "I'm trying to heal you, Hammerheart." Hammerheart stopped growling, and went up to Twilight. He sniffed her scent, gave an oblique look to her, and just sighed. If this was a friend of Fluttershy's, then she could probably have the same stubbornness as her, for all he knew. He sighed and sat on his tail base. Twilight closed her eyes and focused on the spell, again. The scar on Hammerheart's throat began to glow, and he felt his neck warm up and something moving under his skin. After fifteen seconds, Twilight's magic died down, and she was done. "Alright, now try saying something." She said. "What do you want me ta say?" Hammerheart asked before covering his mouth with his wing hand. The ponies gasped upon hearing him speak, and Hammerheart smiled. His deep, gravelly, and thick Trottish voice was back. "What did you do?" Fluttershy asked. "A little healing spell I learned about a month ago." Twilight said with a hint of pride. "In case anyone of us got seriously hurt and were too far from the hospital." Hammerheart looked at the bottom of his throat. The scar was still there, but that did not matter. Just to finally speak again was sweet relief on multiple levels. "You restored me voice. I thank ya." said Hammerheart. Twilight giggled and blushed. "You're welcome." "But I'm still not acceptin' any help from anyone! Don't think cause I allowed ya ta bring me voice back means you get special privileges." "Oh, I did more than just heal your voice box." said Twilight. "Why don't you stretch your wings?" Hammerheart cocked his head and raised an eye. He looked at his right wing and found out the gauze strips were gone, and his hide exposed, but it was no longer in bad condition. Another thing caught his eye. He stretched both wings out, like Twilight asked, and the membranes were fully regenerated. Hammerheart laughed with jollity and then took to the sky with one powerful flap of his wings. The ponies closed their eye from the dust and their manes blew in the wind. Hammerheart could fly again. He flew higher and higher, then allowed himself to glide in the air. He scanned the area, and could see nearly everything from up here. He felt like really getting in some aerial exercise after being grounded for two days. He started spiraling, and the clouds that surrounded him were caught on his wings, making a small twister that hid him in the sky. He suddenly made a stop and flexed his wings wide open, dispersing the clouds away. Next, he took in a deep breath, and released an inferno while spinning in midair. The fire mixed with the surrounding clouds to become rainbow colored. In town, ponies outside saw the rainbow clouds above and beheld the beautiful sight. Even the six mares at the cottage could not help but gaze at the amazing aerial display of colors. Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped as she could not help but feel a little jealous of that trick. If only she could breathe fire like him. Having gotten that out of his system, Hammerheart turned and headed back to the house. He landed back in the yard where the mares were, who were cheering. "That was amazing!" said Twilight. "I didn't know you could make rainbows out of fire and clouds like that!" "Yeehaw! Now that was a rodeo!" Applejack said as she threw her hat in the air and it landed perfectly back on her head. "Truly a marvelous show you had put on." Rarity complimented. "DO IT AGAIN! DO IT AGAIN!" Pinkie shouted while bouncing up and down even higher, really wanting an encore. Hammerheart chuckled. "Thanks." He looked at Pinkie. "Maybe some other time." He looked at his tail, and the tip had grown back, but the club was still forever lost to him. "Wait, what about me tail club?" He asked. "Huh?" Twilight said, confused. Hammerheart brought his tail over his shoulder to show her. "Oh, sorry. So far I can only heal damages done to flesh and organs, but not bones, yet." Hammerheart sighed in disappointment, then felt something poke at his leg, and he looked to see Fluttershy smiling at him. "Thanks for trusting us and accepting our friendship." She said. Hammerheart raised an eye to the "friendship" part, but just grinned. "Oh, and do you think you could tell us what happened with you in the forest?" Fluttershy asked. The others walked up and took a seat on the ground. Apparently they wanted to know how Hammerheart got trapped in that pit in the first place. Hammerheart sighed. "Well... it started about two days ago..."