//------------------------------// // Eyes that Betray // Story: Of Claws and Hooves // by Cloud_Surfer //------------------------------// Of Claws and Hooves Chapter 2: Eyes That Betray Drake had just finished digging a row of dirt up with his claws as one of the newest farm ponies approached him. “Thank ya so much Drake for helping getting the ground ready to plant our apple trees,” he said, “It would’ve taken us days to get all this ground tilled.” Drake rolled his large shoulders. “It was no problem. Waning Crescent didn’t have any work for me to do today, and I always enjoy lending a helping claw out.” Glancing behind him, he could see little Greeny Smith running up to him and her father with a jar of rainbow colored jam on her back. “Hiya Drake! I got the last of the Zap Apple Jam all put away, and figured you’d like a jar,” Greeny Smith chimed. She was hopping around the juvenile dragon excitedly as usual. “I just know you’re going to love it!” Drake laughed as he picked up the little filly into a hug. “Of course I will silly filly,” Drake chuckled. He enjoyed his days off from working with his master more so than he once did since the Apple family moved in. He often grew bored since leaving Canterlot with Waning Crescent, but now with this new family around, he had more friends. They even let him watch little Greeny Smith as a foalsitter on occasion. He cherished those times the most of all. He wished they could last forever… ------------- Drake had to shake his head of memories again as he and Granny Smith started to land. They were on a hill deep in Sweet Apple Acres that over looked most of the property. Here stood the oldest and largest of the apple trees in the entire orchard, taller than even the dragon before them. “These here trees were the first apple trees planted on Sweet Apple Acres. Even my grandkids can’t buck the apples off of these branches I attribute that to the farm help we had while planting them. Haveta be as stubborn as a dragon to get these apples,” Granny Smith joked. With a gentle nudge from his old friend, Drake reared back and struck at the trunk of the giant trees. Soon, dozens of apples fell off the branches, and into the claws of the dragon below. Shoving a clawful into his mouth, he set down the others in front of the elderly mare next to him. Drake grinned as he ate the juicy fruit. The sweetness was greater than any gem he had eaten since he awoke and memories of dinners with the Apple family and his old master flashed before his eyes. Granny Smith looked up to see the emotional storm raging behind the dragon’s red eyes, and a wave of sorrow swept over the old mare. She had experienced more loss in her life than most ponies ever would; she had seen some of the blackest parts of this world, but looking at Drake, she could only imagine what he left like. He lost not only his friends and family, but was thrust into a world he no longer understood. “I’m so sorry Drake, I can only imagine what it must be like for you right now,” she said, placing a hoof on the leg of the black dragon before her. “But just you remember; you aren’t alone anymore.” Drake blinked a few times before bringing his head to look the mare in the eye. “Thank you Greeny, but I don’t have time to focus on the past. At least not yet,” Drake murmured the latter only to himself. Just then he heard a rushing of air coming towards him and Granny Smith. Before he could so much as turn his head, a cyan pegasus slammed into the side of his head, knocking him off balance. In the corner of his eyes, he could see that if he stumbled and stayed standing, he may hurt the mare next to him, so he took a dive and landed safely away from his friend. “And stay down, if you know what’s good for you!” the new comer shouted down at him. Drake’s gaze flew up and glared at this annoyance. The streamlined pegasus had a rainbow colored mane and tail, with a cutie mark in the shape of a lightning bolt of red, blue, and yellow shooting out of a white cloud. “Now what do you want with our Princess?” Drake could feel his blood boiling at this point, but quickly regained his calm demeanor. If he lost his temper now, half of Sweet Apple Acres would be flattened. Taking on the most civil tone he could, he started to try and explain himself. Or he would if a blast of purple magic didn’t blast him in the chest. He roared in discomfort as he was pushed further from the hill by the sheer force of the magic. “Rainbow, why did you fly off without us? But good job on getting him away from Granny Smith,” a purple unicorn yelled. Drake saw surrounding her were four other mares. He recognized two of them, the orange and white one, but then a pink earth pony with a cotton candy mane and cream colored pegasus with light pink mane, were also with them. “Twilight, that’s the same dragon that Spike and I discovered in the cave!” Rarity yelled. She hid from the Drake’s view, fearful that the dragon would remember her rudeness earlier. “Now Applejack, what in tarnation are you doing?” Granny Smith yelled at her granddaughter. Granny positioned herself in between Drake and the newcomers, but Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack quickly went to move her. “Don’t worry Granny, once I saw you get taken by this big old dragon, I ran and got Twilight Sparkle and all my friends to save you. Now get behind us,” Applejack said, as she started to push her grandmother out of harm’s way. It took both all three of the mares to move the old mare. Only Fluttershy, who never took her eyes off the dragon’s bright red eyes noticed the pain that flashed behind them at the mention of Twilight’s name. Before she could even fathom why the name would hurt the dragon, he closed his eyes and shook his head violently. Fluttershy screamed as the dragon stood back up and shifted his gaze to the ponies below. “Um… Girls, I think we made him angry,” Fluttershy managed to stutter out. “Well then, I will say this just once then, Mister Dragon. You leave Ponyville and our Princess alone,” Twilight shouted at the looming black beast before her. “I shall leave this town for the time being, but I shall return soon enough. My work here is not yet done,” Drake spoke, his voice shaking the ground beneath the ponies. Snaking his head past them, he touched Granny Smith on her head and said “Farwell old friend, I will return sooner than later.” The great black dragon then spread his wings and took off, leaving a bunch of open mouth mares staring at their elder. “Granny Smith, did you know that dragon?” Rarity managed to ask. “Why yes, I do know him. He was a good friend of mine when I first came to Ponyville, and you best all start getting ready to apologize to him when he gets back. In the mean time though, you are going to help clean up around here for attacking that poor creature,” Granny Smith scowled at the youngsters before her. She was also worried about Drake as he continued to fly towards Canterlot. "Now follow me so I can put you to work." ------------- Spike was pacing back and forth upstairs in the library. He hadn’t heard any news from Twilight since she left, but he had heard a mighty roar coming from over by Sweet Apple Acres. The couple of ponies that were inside the library looked up in shock hearing such a frightening sound. “Nothing to worry about everypony; I just stubbed my toe is all,” Spike shouted down from his vantage point. Looking next to him, she saw the three letters he had burped up since this morning, One from Princess Celestia, and two from Princess Luna. The first of Luna’s simply thanked Spike for letting her know about the situation. The second of the letters though described who the dragon was, and why he was here. That letter brought forth old doubts and fears Spike had from a year ago. Back then, he joined the Great Dragon Migration but learned nothing of his origins. He had accepted this fact, and moved on with his life, but now this red eyed black dragon was going to answer everything. Spike sighed, ‘Am I ready to learn all of that? I thought I was over all of “who am I” stuff already, but why is it now all I’m thinking about again?’ Peewee, his young phoenix friend flew over and rested his head on Spike’s shoulder. “Thanks little guy,” Spike sighed, petting the phoenix. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for any of this, but at least he wouldn’t be doing it alone. ------------- Drake rubbed his sore chest as he flew, suppressing painful memories of his previous life as he flew. ‘That unicorn’s name was Twilight Sparkle? And her magic was stronger than anything Waning Crescent could conjure up. I wonder if they are related,’ the dragon thought. Shaking his head clear of such thoughts, he tried to regain his focus. ‘I have to find Princess Celestia and let her know I’m awake. She’ll tell me everything else I need to know.’ Drake was determined to not to fail his duty. Flying higher than most pegasus would dare, Drake finally entered Canterlotian air space. This set off a variety of early warning systems that had been put in place since the attempted changeling invasion, and an immediate response team took off. Drake was zoning out when he felt something scratch his scales. Looking down, he saw dozens of war chariots being pulled by the royal guard, with a unicorn sitting in the back of each one. “You are flying in restricted airspace dragon, leave the area at once or we will attack,” one unicorn shouted. The chariots surrounded Drake, giving him very little room to do much, including leave. “You have ten seconds to comply.” Drake sighed inwardly. He truly did not want to fight anypony, but he had to see the Princess. If these guards wished to get in the way, he’d just avoid them until Celestia showed up. ‘That shouldn’t take too long,’ thought Drake, ‘I wonder if how well these pegasi can fly with those chariots?’ With that, Drake tucked his wings into his body and plummeted down towards the earth, quickly followed by the royal guard. ------------- Spike heard Twilight enter the library after a few hours. He instant rushed down to make sure she was alright, but stopped at the top of the stairs when he saw her. She was covered in mud and sweat, her mane was in a complete wreck, and he could smell her from the stairs. Spike did the only rational thing he could think of at that moment in time, and doubled over in a fit of laughter. “Oh laugh it up Spike,” Twilight grumbled, “you didn’t have to spend the last 2 hours working Sweet Apple Acres without magic. Granny Smith wouldn’t even let Rainbow Dash fly as we worked. I just feel bad for what Applejack had to do.” “What happened to her?” Spike barely got out in between laughing. “Granny Smith is making her baby sit the Cutie Mark Crusaders for the next month,” Twilight stated, slowly giggling to herself at her friend’s misfortune. “So any word from the Princess?” Spike hesitated with his answer. Part of him really wanted to tell Twilight what he had learned about the dragon, but then he remembered how Princess Celestia had told him not to let Twilight know, and Luna had made it clear that she agreed with her sister on this matter. So Spike answered the best he could, “She said not to worry about it.” Twilight looked at her number one assistant, knowing that he was hiding something. His emerald green eyes showed plain as day he was, but Twilight unsure how to coax it out of him or if she should. Last time he acted like this, it was right before he went on the Great Dragon Migration to discover his true self. Twilight thought back to all the other times Spike had been there for her. She walked over to her lifelong companion, and gave him a tight hug. “Ok Spike, I trust you.” Nothing Twilight Sparkle could have said would make Spike feel any worse than he did as he hugged her back. He had just lied to his best friend and mother figure, how could he forgive himself for that? ‘It’s what the Princesses wanted me to do, I just have to keep reminding myself of that,’ Spike determined. Breaking the hug he looked at the purple unicorn in front of him. “Why don’t you go get cleaned up, and I’ll make some dinner,” Spike suggested. Twilight giggled, “I guess I do kind of need one. Okay, I’ll make it a quick shower.” Spike waited another half an hour before he started cooking; knowing that Twilight’s definition of a quick shower was about 2 hours. Spike just hummed to himself as he started up the oven, wondering what the black dragon was doing at this point in time. ------------- To anypony on the ground, the spectacle happening above them would be awe inspiring. A great black dragon was flying with the grace of a Wonderbolt, as the royal guard chariot division attacked it with all of their might. While the dragon was able to dodge a majority of the spears thrown at him, his sheer size prevented him from avoiding them all. Drake scanned the sky, noticing how a few of the chariots were hot on his tail. Quickly rotating his wings in their sockets, he started a loop that allowed him to fly over top, but quickly readjusted the angle to allow him to climb vertically away from the guards. A few more spears flew towards him, thrown by chariots attempting to catch the speeding beast. Drake tucked his wings close to his body, doing a couple barrel rolls to avoid the points, and spread his out again. ‘This is getting me nowhere but every time I try and open my mouth to explain, they start blasting me with spells,’ Drake thought, ducking his head from a stray blast of magic. He reached out with his claw and knocked off a few of the spears that were imbedded in his thick scales before back flipping away from a few more chariots that were quickly approaching. Suddenly, Drake felt a sharp pain coming from one of his wings. He allowed himself a quick glance to see a small hole in one of his wing membranes. This did not worry him to terribly much, since dragon wings healed rather quickly, but if the guards kept poking holes he’d be forced to land. ‘I can’t let this keep going, perhaps I can scare them off,’ Drake decided. Lashing out with his tail, Drake shattered the harness to one of the chariots, sending the unicorn in the back seat falling to his death. Drake’s eyes shrank with fear for the pony that fell towards his demise. Drake quickly dove down, extending his claw to catch the unicorn. He managed to grab the unicorn and pull out of the dive with just enough room to feel the tips of the trees tickle his stomach. The unicorn had passed out on his way down, apparently accepting his fate, so Drake placed him safely down before leaping back into the sky. While Drake had saved their falling comrade, the rest of the chariot division had lined up and all prepared to hit the dragon with everything they had all at once. The captain figured that if that didn’t stop the dragon, then nothing but one of the Princesses could. He held his hoof up to signal the attack. Once the dragon was about level, the captain threw his hoof forward and screamed, “NOW!! OPEN FIRE!!” Drake glanced up in time to see a cloud of spears and magic blasts of energy flying towards him. The pain he felt was immense; and he could feel his blood boiling in rage as the ponies continued to pelt him. Trying with all of might to contain his building fury, Drake let out a bellowing roar; shaking the earth so many miles below him. After the assault ended, Drake simply glared at the royal guard before him, with their jaws dropped in disbelief that anything could survive that attack. Drake no longer cared about his mission, his past, or the safety of the ponies before him. All he felt was rage aimed at those that hurt him. “You should all run now,” Drake growled menacingly, black flames flickering behind his razor sharp teeth, “I like it more when my prey runs.” With that said, Drake sped towards the closest chariot. ------------- Princess Luna had been in the middle of dealing with her “nephew's”, Prince Blueblood, complaints of being treated like a common workpony when a mighty roar shook the entire castle. Prince Blueblood instantly collapsed into a fit of crying, Luna’s personal guard jumped into action to ensure their liege’s safety, but Luna was already rushing out of the hall, towards the military barracks. It was only a short sprint away from the main hall, and reaching the building Luna knew something was wrong. Heading over towards Shining Armor, the captain of Canterlot security, Luna demanded to know what was happening. “A large dragon entered Canterlot airspace about an hour ago. The Chariot Division was sent to intercept and an engagement broke out. They just used all of their fire power in a single shot, but that only made the dragon angry, and now he’s ripping through their ranks like a fat filly through hay fires,” Shining Armor explained. His men stared at him in his briskness with Princess Luna, but being married to a princess himself gave him a slight allowance when dealing with Luna and Celestia. “This dragon, is he black with red eyes?” Luna inquired, worrying about what she may have to do if she could not calm the dragon down. “It is indeed, your Highness. I can’t send any more of my men out there, it’s too dangerous,” Shining Armor stated. “I’m calling for a full retreat, and I’ll erect the force field to protect the city, but that’s about all the Royal Guard will be able to do.” Luna simply nodded at this. “So be it, I shall go deal with this dragon myself. Signal the retreat,” the Midnight Princess declared. “And no pony is to interfere in the coming exchange, do I make myself clear?” The blue alicorn did not need to look back to know everypony nodding their agreement. Spreading her wings, the Goddess of the Moon took flight towards the rampaging friend of her dear sister, prepared to put a stop to him with any means necessary.