//------------------------------// // Royal Visit // Story: Technicalities // by BionicBrony //------------------------------//         “Come on, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash grunted while pulling on the aforementioned pegasus by the tail across the floor of her own home.         Taking advantage of a slip in Rainbow’s grip, Fluttershy jerked her tail free and bolted further into her cottage. “No! I don’t want to!”         Rainbow Dash chased after her and began pushing her back towards the front door. “Don’t you remember what Twilight said? The dragon migration only happens once in a generation or something!”         “I don’t care!” cried Fluttershy, bracing her hooves against the door frame. “Dragons are scary! And scaly! And fire breathing!”         Rainbow released a frustrated groan. “Look, Fluttershy! I had to watch that boring butterfly migration with you! Now it’s your turn to watch the dragon migration with us!” Dash gave Fluttershy an extra ounce of strength in her push, although the pegasus refused to budge. “And what about your dragon?!”         Fluttershy huffed, refusing to even consider the thought. “I. Said. NO!”         In a surprising feat of agility, Fluttershy released her rear hooves from the door frame and bucked Rainbow Dash in the gut, sending her sprawling to the ground. Spinning in place, Fluttershy leapt over her friend, galloping towards the nearest window. However, her hooves ground to a halt just in front of the object sitting in her path.         Rainbow Dash groaned and held a hoof to her stomach. Thankfully, Fluttershy hadn’t hit her too hard, but boy could she buck to save her skin! Dash’s mind ignored the pain when Fluttershy cried out  in a pleading tone to something behind her. “Please, Garry, no. I don’t want to go!”         Dash flipped herself back to her hooves and eyed what had stopped her fearful friend. Garry simply sat on the floor in front of Fluttershy, his expression ever unchanging.         “Garry, please, you don’t understand!” pleaded Fluttershy. “These dragons are big and mean and fire breathing and scary and - and...”         Garry tilted his head to the right.         Fluttershy’s breathing quickened. Garry wanted her to go. She knew he wanted her to go. But she couldn’t. It wasn’t safe. Dragons are ferocious creatures. They’re giant, breath fire, and eat ponies for breakfast! But Garry’s eyes were so full of light, even wonder and hope. He looked so… so…         No.         Fluttershy clenched her eyes shut. It was all a ruse. She had to do it. She hated doing it - sapping a creature’s free will - but it had to be done. It was the only way. She may not have been able to convince her friends that it was a bad idea, but this was her last chance to avoid throwing herself in harm’s way.         Fluttershy’s eyes snapped open and she glared at him. Her face wrinkled into the most powerful frown she could muster. None could resist the influence of the stare.         …         …         …         Garry tilted his head to the left.         Sweat beaded underneath Fluttershy’s mane and her eyelid twitched. After a solid minute, the burning in her eyes forced Fluttershy to blink. Garry continued to stare back at her, blinking at regular intervals. It wasn’t working! The stare wasn’t working! But how?! The stare always worked! It was always the perfect fallback for Fluttershy to express her disappointment in an animal and get them to behave, even if she wasn’t disappointed with them to begin with. Why wasn’t it working now when she needed it the most?!         Garry tilted his head back to the right         Fluttershy’s pouting lip quivered as a small whine squeaked out of her throat. Before much longer, her body gave up, and her neck allowed her head to droop low to the floor. Fluttershy sighed, and against her better judgement, she surrendered. “I’ll go…”         Garry’s head immediately righted itself and his wings shot upward. With a single flap of his newly webbed wings, Garry launched himself into the air and circled around the room. Fluttershy instinctively looked up at him, just to be sure he didn’t damage anything accidentally. However, despite his impressive wingspan, Garry navigated the room deftly.   Finishing a third lap, he swooped in and latched onto Fluttershy’s withers, eliciting a faint squeak from her. Fluttershy tensed her body as Garry climbed around her back, underneath her neck and back up again. Finally settled atop her neck, Garry plopped his head down on top of Fluttershy’s own and wrapped his wings around her, giving the impression that she was wearing some sort of strange red and black scarf.         Fluttershy giggled meekly and brought a hoof up to stroke one of Garry’s wings. “You’re too cute sometimes…”         Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was busy picking her jaw up off the floor.         Pinkie Pie lifted up a pair of camouflaged headgear to get a better look at them, one in each hoof. One was a helmet with twigs and leaves attached to it, while the other was a cap that also had twigs and leaves attached to it. Humming thoughtfully, Pinkie weighed her options. On one hoof, the helmet looked really cool and army-like! The cap looked cool too, but it would also help keep the sun out of her eyes so she could see the dragons better!         Before Pinkie could make a choice, somepony else chose for her when a purple aura surrounded the helmet and lifted it off her hoof. Pinkie followed the floating helmet until it landed squarely on Twilight Sparkle’s head, who had just climbed into the large trench Pinkie and Applejack had dug only minutes before. Spike followed close behind, dragging a trolley with two trays filled with pastries and tea.         “Oh hey, Twilight! Hey Spike!” chirped Pinkie. “Where’s Alex? Didn’t he want to come?”         Twilight trotted over to the bag filled with camouflaged jackets and sifted through it. “He wasn’t home! Rose said he went to Canterlot for some kind of business related thing.”         Applejack flipped a camouflaged hood over her head. “Didn’t somepony tell him the dragon migration was today?”         “I told him about it weeks ago,” Twilight explained as she tried on one of the jackets. “I was even there when he asked Rose to mark it down in his calendar. There’s no way this was an accident. Honestly, I have no idea why he’d miss out on this.”         “What about Rose? Didn’t she want to come?” asked Pinkie.         “Nah,” said Spike as he tied a tiny pink apron around his waist. “She said she didn’t care.”         Applejack rolled her eyes. “Sounds like Rose, alright.”         “Hey, everypony! Look who came!”         All of their ears perked. That sounded like Rainbow Dash! The three ponies and baby dragon in the trench poked their heads out and looked in the direction of Rainbow Dash’s voice, only to gawk in disbelief at what was following behind her.         “Fluttershy!?” they all shouted.         Fluttershy immediately made an attempt to hide her face behind her mane, but Garry’s wings held her hair back, making the task impossible. “Hello…” she whispered.         Pinkie Pie’s shocked expression morphed into a gigantic smile. “You came to watch the dragon migration with us!”         “Ah never would’ve guessed!” exclaimed Applejack.         “It looks like Garry actually did help you overcome your fear!” Twilight cheered.         Fluttershy eased herself down into the trench. She watched as Garry released her from his wing-hug and skittered over towards Spike. “Oh, I… um… didn’t really want to come, but… um… Garry made a very convincing argument…”         Applejack trotted over and wrapped a hoof around Fluttershy. “Glad you could come, Sugarcube! Don’t you worry none, you’ll be perfectly fine. Just help yerself to some camouflage an’ you’ll be all set.”         While Fluttershy happily helped herself to a gratuitous amounts of camouflage, Spike busied himself with getting the snacks ready. After all, who knew how long the great dragon migration would last? Everypony was sure to get hungry sooner or later. Sure, it was passing by just a few kilometers outside Ponyville, but once the migration started, leaving the safety of the trench would a really bad idea.         As Spike placed the cupcakes on the lower tray, a pair of bright yellow eyes attached to red scales and horns appeared in front of him from the other side of the trolley. “Oh!” Spike flinched, trying not to spill the pastries. “Hey, Garry. Haven’t seen you in a while. What’s up?”         Garry tilted his head to the side.         “Huh…” Spike muttered with a quirked brow. “You don’t talk much, do you?” Despite being the only other dragon-like thing in Ponyville, Spike and Garry had yet to spent much time together. Naturally, Garry would spend virtually all of his time around Fluttershy, but his unnatural silence managed to unnerve even  the most understanding pegasus in town. Fluttershy had taken Garry back to Alex for maintenance. However, a quick examination revealed that Garry was perfectly fine. While he was capable of voicing his own sounds, the Liandri dragon, for whatever reason, simply chose not to. Even Rose was confused over the matter. But as far as Spike was concerned, Garry was just being creepy. “Oookay… I’m just going to get back to-” “Yoohoo!” That voice! It could only be… Spike scrambled to stick his head out of the trench. It was! Strolling towards the trench, rolling out a red carpet as she went along, was Rarity, wearing a classic dress made from purple, yellow, and pink fabrics. And a matching hat, too! It was just enough to make Spike’s fire-proof heart melt. The end of the carpet unrolled to the edge of the trench and released a large cloud of confetti that exploded up into the air. Striking a pose, Rarity beamed, “Well? What do you think? Am I the toast of the trench, or what?” Reactions were mixed, at best. Twilight’s face contorted in wide-mouthed horror, though Applejack gave it the appropriate voice. “You’ll be toast alright; when the dragons see you paradin’ around in that getup.” Twilight lit up her horn and gave her best awkward smile. “You look very nice, Rarity, but could you maybe look nice down here in the trench with us?” The carpet and cloud of confetti disappeared with a purple flash. Stepping down into the trench with the others, Rarity said, “Nice is an understatement! I look fabulous! Who says camouflage has to be drab?” Rarity’s eyes trailed down towards Garry, who had run over to her and began looking over her dress with rapid movements. “Oh! Hello there, Garry! It’s nice to see you too! And might I add that your wings look spectacular today!” Rarity couldn’t help but smile. And why shouldn’t she? Garry’s wings were a direct result of the inspiration she had given Alex and Rose, after all! While she wasn’t entirely familiar with the specifics of nanofibre, Rarity had experimented significantly more with the textile than either of the engineers, and with Garry making more frequent appearances around carousel boutique with Fluttershy, she couldn’t help but come up with a few ideas. Unfortunately, while nanofibre was extremely soft, comfortable, and relatively flexible, it didn’t stretch - at all, which turned out to be something of a necessity for Garry to fly. After putting in a few collaborative work hours, the engineers and fashion designer managed to create a slightly stretchier version of nanofibre. One that, through simulations, allowed Garry to fly within his own parameters. Only a week later, a physical version of the new fabric was ready for Garry to try, and the simulations were proven correct. While Garry sat in front of Rarity receiving a rub under the chin, Spike could only stare at them with his pink apron and trolley of pastries, feeling more than a little jealous at all the attention his crush wasn’t giving him. “Ahoy, ladies!” Pinkie Pie suddenly announced pointing towards the sky. “Dragons ho!” It started with only a trickle, but after a few minutes, they were everywhere. Dragons of all shapes, sizes, and colors soared above the trench. Not too low so as to easily spot the ponies, but not too high so that their grandeur couldn’t be appreciated. Everypony lined up against the edge of the trench (except Fluttershy, who cowered underneath a pile of all the remaining camouflage gear) and gazed upwards with their binoculars. “Ooohs” and “Aaahs” escaped their mouths as they observed the migration of Equestria’s apex predators. Even Spike’s worries fell to the wayside at the sight these dragons, the thought that he and these creatures were a part of the same species danced through his mind.. However, there was one problem. All the ponies and Spike were intentionally gathered on the side of the trench covered with bushes. With all the dragons flying in a single direction, the bushes concealed the ponies from the flight of dragons. Only Garry watched from the other side of the trench, leaving a bright red spot over exposed dirt. Unfortunately, everypony was too busy dragon watching to notice the glaring weakness in their hiding spot. That is, until the ground shook as a massive body slammed into it. Each of their hearts jumped in surprise at the shock and confusion. However, unbridled terror soon gripped each of them as a large, scaly head slowly swept over the trench. Everypony instantly shoved themselves against the trench wall in an attempt to become invisible. Rarity let out a gasp, but was quickly silenced by Twilight shoving a hoof in her mouth. Their hearts pounded in their chests as their eyes all locked on the dragon’s head above them, the air itself vibrating from the low growl perpetually echoing from the giant’s throat. Despite Spike’s own fear, his senses didn’t abandoned him. It may have been a dragon he had never seen before, but something about it looked oddly familiar. The red sheen of its scales, the position of the horns and spikes around its head, the shape of its narrow jaw… Spikes’s eyes widened as all the clues fell into place. It looked just like Garry. They were all cowering in the shadow of the Royal Red. The Royal’s golden, narrow pupiled eyes stared directly down at Garry over the trench, completely towering over the Liandri replica. Garry simply stared back, a miniature clone - a joke compared to the awesome might of this reptilian titan. To no one’s surprise, Garry responded to the Royal’s looming presence by tilting his head to the right. The Royal’s head jerked to a stop, and even coiled back a tiny bit. Like Garry, the Royal’s expression remained just as blank, leaving no indication as to what it could have been thinking. Rearing his head up, the Royal splayed his colossal red wings to their full length, casting the trench into a shadow as dark as night. The ponies couldn’t stop themselves from gasping at the display, beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Whatever admiration they had was shattered back to fear as the dragon roared directly into the sky. The ground shook from the force of the Royal Red’s mighty lungs, shaking loose dirt from the trench that dirtied their coats, though nopony in the moment cared—not even Rarity. As the Royal’s bellows died off, silence reigned in the trench for a few agonizing heart beats. Only to to be shattered as the rest of the dragons in the migration responded with their own roars. Everypony gazed skyward as the entire flying train of dragons veered… away from Ponyville? Roars trailed up and down the line, dragons signaling to each other to change course, all in a way so as to give Ponyville a much greater girth. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Twilight knew it wasn’t Ponyville they were avoiding, but the dragon that had just claimed it as its property. With a single flap of its wings, the Royal Red launched itself into the air, spraying more dirt and debris on the hidden ponies, and flew to rejoin the migration. As everypony’s heads popped up above the trench to see where it was going, it became apparent just how impressive the Royal Red was in comparison to the other dragons. Even being much larger than the others, it had no difficulty catching up. Applejack dropped to her haunches, the rest of her body shook with adrenaline. “Whoa nelly…” Rainbow Dash followed her example, though covered her chest with a hoof. “That was way too close…” “Is everypony alright?” called Twilight. They all nodded their heads. “Good…” Twilight gave herself a moment to steady her breath. Looking skywards one more time, it had become painfully obvious that their trench would no longer provide them a decent view of the dragon migration, as there was now a significant distance between the flight of dragons and them. They still seemed to be going in the same direction, though. Her own heart finally steady, Twilight asked, “Did anypony notice something weird about that dragon?” Everypony simply shared glances, expecting each other to somehow now the answer to her question. Spike, however, took several steps towards Garry, his eyes never leaving the Liandri. “I noticed it.” “Noticed what, Spike?” said Rarity, her dress speckled with dirt, that she surprisingly still didn’t seem to care about. Spike pointed to Garry. “They looked the same! That dragon was just a bigger version of him!” Everypony sat quietly for a moment, allowing the knowledge to settle, before Applejack asked, “Hey, Twi, didn’t you mention somethin’ about a dragon during Hearth’s Warming Eve?” Twilight nodded. “Yeah, the dragon Princess Celestia told me about; the Royal Red. That was definitely him alright. But why would it just come down and then leave like that?” “Who cares!” cried Rainbow Dash. “I’m just glad that thing is gone!” “Do you think it knew that Garry isn’t a real dragon?” asked Pinkie Pie, who was now caressing the shivering pile of camouflage clothing. “I have no idea, Pinkie…” said Twilight. Hers and everypony else’s eyes locking on the mute dragon among them. “I have no idea…” Garry simply stared back at Twilight and tilted his head.