Chapter 3: Arrangements.
Spike stood burnt and aching as he tried desperately to summon his ‘dragon magic’. He was starting to think she was pulling his chain about dragon magic, but when he blew fire at her she wasn’t hurt one bit. Maybe he didn’t have it? Or he just didn’t have usual magic?
She stopped blowing fire, her throat was starting to get a bit sore. “Ok.” She growled. “Have you even used magic before, or even relied on your natural abilities?”
He hesitated. “Well, um. I can blow fire and I am resistant to lava and other fire. I don’t even have my wings though, maybe my magic will come with my wings?”
“How old are you?”
That was sudden. “15.”
She let out a tiny chuckle. “You won’t be getting your wings until you are about 20, and even then, they will only start to grow.”
He stared at her, dumbfounded. “What, why?” He demanded.
She let out another lofty laugh. “Silly me, I forget. You are a pony at heart, and wasn’t raised like a true dragon, therefore you do not have our knowledge. Though it is fairly sad you don’t know why type of dragon you are.”
Types? Now he was really lost. “Sorry, what do you mean, type of dragon?”
“You are a ground dragon Spike.” She said, now serious. “Magic shouldn’t come harder to you, but flying will. Speaking of magic, back on track. Haven’t you noticed anything you might be able to do that is dragon related?”
“I can burp letters to princess Celestia, and she can send letters through my magical burps…” He muttered. “Is that magical?”
“Sorta gassy, but yes, that is magic. When you do it, what steps do you go through?” She pushed.
He thought about it, something he hadn’t done in a long time when it came to letter sending. It simply happened nowadays. He concentrated though, he wanted to use this dragon magic, and get closer to Blazer. “I… Reach for my flame. That is the only way I can describe it. I reach for my flame and I put my will behind it, I will it to send letters to a certain pony or place.”
“Yes! Now you must reach for your flame again, but instead of burping it out, let it cover your body. The flame of a dragon is important, never forget that.” With that, she breathed fire at him.
It was happening quickly, but he already knew how to reach for his flame. He pulled at it, resisted the urge to pass gas, and let it seep through his body so it might protect him. It was a struggle, his flame, as he called it, wanted to go this way and that. Only with harsh mental jerks was he able to control it and have it protect him. And protect him it did, though barely, for his flame seemed to resent this.
As the blue fire cleared, he found himself unharmed, and tried to yip with glee, but only managed a croak.
Blazer smirked when he saw the state of using strange magic left him in. “Not too easy, is it?”
Hh managed a wheeze. “You knew it would be that hard?”
“That I did, but there was a second lesson behind it.” Her smirk turned into her favorite face, a sneer. “The moment a dragon lets his flame be tamed by another is the second he sells himself into slavery.”
With those kind words said, the door banged opened. “Blazer,” Princess Twilight Sparkle announced, “We have discussed your… crime and have agreed to what could be called a lenient sentence. Considering you did attack three royal members.”
She sneered. Again. “You will never keep me here.”
Celestia grimaced. “We have never had a female dragon in our presence for so long, so we have decided that if you let scientists study you, and you have my word that they will not harm you, we will take time off your sentence.”
Luna spoke up next. “You also will have time off your sentence for not knowing our laws. A third way to get time shaved off is to teach Spike how to use his dragon powers. With good behavior, you could be out of here in three years.”
Her face dropped and her spines went completely flat against her head. Three years if she did all of that, AND didn’t try to kill ponies? Well, that is what she assumed they meant by good behaviour. Noooo. Nononononono. No.
Blazer was a dragon of 13 years, this was a very important time in her life! She was learning all the basics to survive without an adult, and, she was earning respect from her peers. Respect and honor were incredibly valuable things to a dragon, that and their hoards.
“Nope. Sorry ladies, but I must be released now. I need to gain respect, build my starter hoard, and learn the rest of my survival skills.” Blazer laughed nervously, her cocky attitude gone. “Now, I promise no damage will come to ponies as I make my exit.” She ran towards the window.
Incredibly strong magic grabbed her and froze her before she could move a step. It was a dark blue flash, and suddenly she couldn’t move.
“We are sorry,” Luna spoke, “but thou did break Equestria laws. Had it been any other pony, they would be away for life. Dragons live very very very long lives, Blazer. Be thankful we are being so kind to you, though part of it is because we did provoke you.”
She managed to move her jaws as she let out a desperate cry. “Why though, why are you all so desperate to keep me here and study me?”
“Because Blazer, many dragons have killed ponies.” Celestia spoke quickly. “We will not hold it against you, but we want to study your ways so we can avoid death, and dragons are incredibly strong creatures. Incredible fliers, physically strong, and magically able and resistant. If we could study you, it would help us with leaps and bounds in the name of not only science, but magic!”
“Why not use Spike then? That little freak is attached to you after all.” She glared.
Spike spoke up now, his voice soft. “They have studied me, but I am just one dragon. A dragon who has grown up with ponies. I don’t know anything about being a wild dragon, well except for the part that male teenagers are super mean.” He continued. “However Blazer, you have grown up with them, you know their social structure, their habits, and what offends them. You know their preferred prey and… Well, we know nothing except the anatomy of a male teenager dragon.”
Blazer closed her eyes and breathed. “Spike, you aren’t a teenager.” She would give this piece of knowledge without insult, just this once. “You. Are. A. Baby.”
“Hey, that’s mean!” He protested.
“I am not insulting you, for once. ...Idiot.” She really wished he would get in her field of vision. “I am a baby, you are a baby. You will be considered a kid when your prey friends become adults.” Her voice was dead serious. “This is also why I need to go.” She tried to hold back her tears, as she tried not to beg. “I am just a baby. I must learn how to survive.”
Finally, Twilight spoke. “We really wished we could let you go, now that we know you are a baby dragon, but we can’t. You still broke the law.” She sighed and facehoofed. She really tried not to blame Blazer now, but none of this would have happened if Blazer never attacked them. None of it would have happened if Twilight never made plan B.
“Three years, just serve three years as a juvenile.” Murmured Celestia. “Than you can fly free.”
The easily emotional Blazer screeched in anger. “Didn’t you just hear me, you deaf swine!” Her voice rose to irritating levels. “I need to leave, or are you just going to keep a baby imprisoned? Huh, is this the wise and fair Celestia I hear about?” She knew she hit low, but young dragons weren’t known for being stable, or nice. “You aren’t fair, and you definitely aren’t wise!” She took a breath to go on, but while the sun princess looked down, the moon one refused to stand for the insults being thrown.
She stepped forward, wings flared and eyes glowing white as she used the royal voice. “BLAZER OF THE DRAGONS. THOU WILL NEVER USE SUCH WORDS WITH OUR SISTER AGAIN. YOU WILL HOLD THINE TONGUE AND SERVE OUT YOUR MORE THAN JUST SENTENCE, OR YOU WILL ROT IN THE COLDEST OF DUNGEONS FOR ETERNITY.” If there was ever a way to shut up a dragoness throwing a tantrum, it was that.
Blazer stopped talking and let silent tears of rage slid down her cheeks.
Luna took a deep breath to continue in a kinder voice as those around her were also subdued by the outbreak. “We will happily let you wait one week while making the decision, though I think your path is clear. At that time we will find you a place to stay and go over every piece of knowledge on how to make sure you thrive in your environment. I assume gems will suffice, considering Spike eats them all the time and gets along nicely.
Remember, you are a juvenile, and will be treated as such by the law. If you lash or act out in any way that will physically harm somepony or yourself, you will be restrained and your sentence will become longer.” She turned to Celestia. “Are we ready to go?” She asked kindly.
Celestia had regained herself. “Yes, lets go Luna. Twilight, can you control her while we search for a place for her?”
“Of course, Princesses.” She bowed. “I can keep her in the library. I have a sub-basement for my experiments, but I can keep her there.”
Blazer would have shivered if she were not still frozen. Experiments? Great, she was stuck with the seemingly innocent one, who would later turn out to be a psychopath who experimented on poor little bunnies.
All this time Spike did not speak. He seemed to be thinking about something, and from the looks of it, he was thinking deeply. Twilight noticed this and made a mental note to ask him how he was later. AT the moment though, a certain dragoness needed her attention more.
“Princess Luna, please undo your freeze spell.”
The lunar princess obliged and Blazer had free movement once more, but she was exhausted and nearly collapsed the second she could move.
Twilight tutted. “You must have been fighting that spell beyond eyeball and jaw movement. Would you like me to carry you in my magic?”
She might not have her freedom, but she had her pride. “No.” Her voice came out harsher than usual, if that was possible. “I will walk on my own.”
“If everything is settled, my sister and I will be leaving now.” Celestia nodded and left, Luna quickly following.
The walk home was relatively short, but for Spike, it took hours as he mentally thought out everything.
After all, he was still just a baby dragon? He wouldn’t even get his wings until he was a ‘kid’, which would be in five more years. Oh yeah, and the fact was, he was still a baby compared to other dragons kinda stumped him, considering he was so used to a ponies growth spurt. In a ponys eyes, he was a teenager.
Then there was the fact that he had given himself a strong reminder that he didn’t know anything about dragon society. He didn’t even have the skills a normal hatchling would have, let alone the basic survival ones! Even now, he was barely the size of an adult pony.
Holding back a forlorn sigh, he noticed that they were already at the castle/library. Only the first floor was public, as it held the library itself, but other than that, most of the crystal tree was off limits.
“Spike, why don’t you go get some gems for our guest?”
“I am not your guest, I am your prisoner.” Growled Blazer in response. “Call me nothing else but the truth.”
“You are under juvenile arrest.” Responded Twilight, like it made a difference.
Before it could get into an argument, Spike spoke up. “Oh, my favorite gems are the green ones, I bet you will like them too!” He walked off quickly, trying to seem perky and happy.
As he walked forward, he did find himself shaking off the gloom he had during his walk home. Being able to help that beautiful creature, even if she technically a prisoner, also put a smile on his green face.
He reached the kitchen and opened a crystalline cupboard. All these years later, and he was still unused to the fact that he lived inside a giant crystal tree. For some reason, when it was wood, it felt more homey. All this crystal made him hungry at best (it looked an awful lot like blue gems), and noisy or uncomfortable at worst. You try getting a midnight snack and walk across crystal floors without your claws clicking on the ground!
He pulled out a box of gems and filled two bowls of it. Next he grabbed her a cup of water, placing all three items on a large plate. After years of serving Twilight and her friends, he was an expert at this. Standing up on his hind claws, he walked to the sub-basement.
It was roomy at least, well, now it was. Before that, Twilight had all her junk out taking up nearly the whole space. Blazer had bared her teeth every time a piece of ‘scientific equipment’ zoomed past her head, in the sturdy grip of Twilight's magic. Finally, all the stuff had been removed and an awkward looking Twilight stood there, alone with Blazer.
Her ears flopped down as her face took on a look that suggested deep thinking. The more she appeared to concentrate on her thought, the guiltier she looked. Blazer swore she saw regret flash through those lavender eyes many times.
Finally, Twilight spoke. “Blazer… I believe I owe you an apology.”
The dragoness tilted her head, still grumpy after that days treatment. “No, really? You duped me into getting arrested so you might study me.”
A flash of anger zapped across her eyes before disappearing with a look of small understanding. “It isn’t just that.” She bit her lip, ears still folded back. “It was how I treated you. You didn’t like my little brother Spike from the sounds of it, and I am afraid I was too quick to judge you. When I heard you insult him, I got a flashback from the time he ran off to join the great dragon migration…”
Blazer tilted her head, little pony Spike joining the ADULT and TEENAGED dragons? Now this purple princess was yanking her scales, no way could Spike have done that and survived unless he did something super impressive, besides pass magical gas.
“Doesn't that idiot know that latest migration was for adults and teens only? If babies or kids REALLY had to come along, they rode on their moms back. From what I can gather, Spike doesn’t have a mom.” Blazer said, only slightly amazed.
Twilight tapped her chin. “That would explain the lack of young dragons we saw when observing it from the trench. Well, when I infiltrated the dragons he did a belly flop into the lava pool from over a hundred foot drop.”
Blazer let out a whistle. That took tough skin, even by dragon standards. “Colored me impressed, the pony dragon did something dragon-like. Guess their are some scales underneath that hide after all, but what I don’t get is how you managed to infiltrate the dragons, as you so put it.”
“A story for another time, but lets just say my friend makes a mean costume.” Twilight gave a low chuckle.
Blazer suddenly scrunched her non existent eyebrows together. That pony was chuckling and they were having a friendly conversation. How did that purple pony get her to relax so easily?
She said sorry, and admitted she was in the wrong. The thought appeared in her mind. Was that all it took to appease a dragons pride and ego? For someone else to say sorry? She didn’t even think Twilight weaker for it because Twilight had appeared to dislike her from the start.
As she thought this over, the door opened, and familiar rocky smell hit her nose.
“Gems.” She practically purred. “Meat is sweet, but only a fool turns down jewels.” She recited the well known saying.
A smiling Spike appeared, carrying the bowl full of gems. “I also got you some water.” He announced. “You did a lot of fire-breathing today.”
She nodded. “Amazing.” She walked over and grabbed the cup from his plate along with a bowl full of gems.
With ease of practice, she tilted back her head and poured many of the dragon-edible gems into her mouth and crunched them. Seconds later, she downed it with water.
Twilight tilted her head as she waited for Blazer to say something, yet the dragoness didn’t know what the purple pony wanted her to say so she stayed silent.
Finally she spoke as Spike began on his gems. “Won’t you say thankyou?”
“What for? You have to feed me if you want information.”
“Yeah, but it is polite.”
“Maybe in pony society.” She retorted, “But we don’t say thankyou to small things. It makes our thanks less meaningful. Now, if I were say, starving, and he gave me the gems, then I would say thankyou.”
Spike took on a dreamy look in his eyes. “Fascinating.” He breathed.
“Common dragon knowledge!” Blazer snapped.
Twilight interrupted. “Well, Blazer I suggest you finish up your gems so I can get your bed down here. Can’t have you sleeping on the hard ground, eh? These crystal floors seem to such the heat right out of you. Come on Spike, lets go.” Twilight jerked her head.
Spike gave one last goofy grin at Blazer. “See you soon!” He waved and shut the door.
The second the door shut, purple encased it and disappeared, leaving Blazer alone in an empty room. What could go wrong?