Of Claws and Hooves

by Cloud_Surfer

Behind Red Eyes

For the few ponies on the road towards Canterlot, only one thought was crossing their minds at this moment. Discord would be proud.

The air above was in absolute chaos. A large black dragon was destroying countless chariots, sending members of the Royal Guard dropping out of the air towards the ground, only for them to use a quick spell or spread their wings to avoid any severe injuries. Many were knocked unconscious when they hit the ground, with broken bones occasionally jutting out of the guards’ skin. Those ponies that were traveling on the road quickly dragged the members on the ground underneath trees to avoid the falling wood.

Up in the air, the situation was worse. Random bolts of magic shoot from the few chariots left intact whizzed by the assaulting dragon, almost hitting the pegasi that were zipping around the beast as a distraction. “We need to get as many ponies out of the area! If we don’t somepony could ge...AHHH!” one of the pegasi attempted to shout before getting struck by the dragon’s tail. One of his friends quickly dove to catch his falling comrade, just in time to lessen the impact with the ground.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let any of you die yet. I was just going to roast you all after I claimed the sky,” Drake growled, his black fire flaring behind his teeth. With a quick swing of his claws, he smashed the last chariot out of the sky, watching its occupants plummet to the ground. ‘Now that just leaves these annoying pegasi. I’ll just show them why dragons rule the skies.’

Spreading his wings out as far as he could, Drake dashed up in the air higher than a pegasus can get and started buffeting the air. The strength of his great wings created a gale strong enough to send the pegasi left in the air spiraling down towards the ground. ‘Oops, looks like I may have over down it. They’re going to crash hard,’ Drake grimly thought. ‘I hate it when my food gets flattened though.’ Drake puffed out a cloud of smoke from his nostrils and started to descend to start cooking his meal.

But, the ponies didn’t crash on the ground like he thought they would. A sudden deep blue aura caught them and gently placed them on the ground. Before Drake could even figure what caused that, all of the ponies blinked out of existence in a flash of blinding light. The angry dragon roared in frustration and started scanning the ground for the unicorn that stole his prey. Then he heard a shout which dwarfed even his roars in volume.

“DO NOT BOTHER SEARCHING THE GROUND FOR THE PONIES. I WOULD NEVER ALLOW MY SUBJECTS TO BE MORSELS FOR SUCH A BEAST AS YOU HAVE BECOME!” the voice called out. A quick scan of the sky, Drake found a navy blue alicorn hovering almost a mile above him. Her mane and tailed appeared to be made of the night sky, and her flank was black with the silver moon as her cutie mark. The mysterious being again spoke up, “I DO NOT WISH TO QUARREL WITH YOU THOUGH, SO PLEASE LAND AND LET US SPEAK LIKE CIVILIZED CREATURES. I IMPLORE YOU”

Drake was ignoring all the words this new arrival had launched towards him, flying with all his might to meet this new challenge. As he approached he opened his maw and released a torrent of black flames, almost 300 feet in length towards the Mistress of Midnight. Luna quickly enveloped herself in a shield and was pushed back by the force of the flames. Teleporting out of the inferno, Luna reappeared on the back of the dragon and focused intently on a spell. After she hit her target, Drake visibly eased and saw the tension and angry dissipate from his body.

“There, doesn’t that feel better?” Luna asked the slowly descending dragon, still sitting on his back. “Now how about we have a little conversation?” The dragon grunted in reply as he landed, watching the alicorn hop off his back. She promptly spun about and flashed him a grin.

Now that he had calmed down and stopped viewing everypony as a target, he noticed she was wearing a black crown. Drake decided it was best to vocalize his confusion, “Who are you, and why do you have a crown? How’d you calm me down? Also, where is Princess Celestia she’s the one I need to talk to.” Laying his head down so he was closer to eye level with this new arrival, Drake noted that she was not as tall as Celestia, but still had an air of royalty around her.

“Yes, well I am Princess Luna, younger sister of Celestia. So that answers the first part of your question. The method I used to calm you down was a spell of my own invention that I use on nobles that request a court audience with me. I find it easier to deal with people when they aren’t yelling all the time, though Celestia has forbidden me from using it since my return. And as for my dear sister, Tia is currently in Fillydelphia, where she has to help prevent a riot since their hoofball team won the championship. She plans to stop by Ponyville on her way here to meet us,” Luna answered happily. “So Drake and yes I know your real name, why did you decide to attempt to munch on some of the best of the Royal Guard?” Luna asked never losing her smile, but having her voice become much more serious.

“I was completely bombarded by spells and spears, and I just lost control. Dragons are pretty emotion driven creatures, and once one takes over, very little matters. I’m really sorry about it all, and glad no pony got seriously hurt, but there wasn’t anything I could do at that point,” Drake answered sadly. He hated that part of him, the monster that appeared if he didn’t control himself. “Thank you for stopping me. I don’t know how long it would’ve taken me to calm down myself.”

“Do not mention it. Tia informed me that you were a friend, it was the least I could do,” Luna replied. Just then a scroll appeared in a flash of purple magic. Taking the letter, Luna looked over the contents before continuing, “It seems that no pony was harmed worse than broken bones and a few concussions. That and the need for some therapy, it’s not every day that you face an angry dragon. So no harm no foul.” Luna stared back at Drake for a while, trying to figure out what he was thinking. She too had a demon inside her not to long ago, so she somewhat shared in his pain. She just couldn’t tell what was going on behind those red eyes though. “Is there anything else you would like to know?”

“Could you tell me what’s been going on in the past hundred years? I wasn’t expecting a town by the old tree lab, and where’s Ponyville?” Drake requested. He mind was still trying to understand everything that was going on. “Oh and when did Canterlot Airspace become something?”

Luna gleefully smiled at that request, having spent most of the last two years reading up on history to catch up on the missed thousand years. “Oh, I know exactly what you are going through there, now where shall we begin,” the Midnight Princess exclaimed, lying down on the grass in front of the black dragon to begin her long tale.

Twilight had just got out of the shower and headed down to the delightful aroma of dinner. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Twilight saw Spike just putting the plates down on the table, complete with mugs of Applejack’s cider. “You are by far the best number one assistant out there Spike!” Twilight exclaimed as she sat down, readily digging into her meal.

“So Spike, what did the Princess say about the dragon?” Twilight asked. She just recalled how Spike never did tell her what Celestia advised to do, and her being the greatest teacher ever, she always had advice. She glanced over at Spike and saw him avoiding her gaze, and squirming about like she caught him taking a ruby out of the gem jar. “Spike?”

“Well Twilight, the thing is-” a knocking at the door cut Spike off from having to lie. Thanking Celestia, Spike had found his excuse. “I’ll just go get that!” the purple dragon happily exclaimed. Bounding over towards the door, Spike yanked the handle and was shocked to see Fluttershy standing in front of him. “Hey Fluttershy, what’s up?”

“Hello Spike, is Twilight here?” she asked with a rather assertive voice.

“Fluttershy? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked concerned. Fluttershy was never this assertive unless something really horrible or serious happened. “Is everypony ok?”

“Well, it’s not about anypony, but a dragon,” Fluttershy stated as she came inside. Twilight instantly looked towards Spike, clearly worried about him before Fluttershy continued, “Oh, not Spike. I mean that other dragon from this afternoon. Didn’t you notice how sad it got when Applejack mentioned your name? The poor thing could barely keep from crying.”

“No, I’m sorry I didn’t notice it getting sad, since I was busy making sure it didn’t eat anypony,” Twilight retorted somewhat more harshly than she wanted. Seeing Fluttershy’s demeanor lessen at the comment, she quickly apologized, but now her brain was spinning. Why would a dragon ever care about her name? “Spike, is there something you’re not telling me?” Twilight asked the young dragon as he was attempting to sneak upstairs. Using a quick levitation spell, Spike was flown right in front of the two ponies.

“Well Princess Celestia told me not to tell you. But the dragon is an old friend of the Princess’s and just apparently woke up from his 100 year sleep. But that’s all I’m allowed to say,” Spike said as quickly as possible. The look he got from Twilight didn’t bolster his confidence much.

“There’s more to it than that?” Twilight asked inquisitively. Spike squirmed against the magic that held him in place, but to no avail. “Just what else is there to know?”

“I’m not allowed to tell you Twilight, it’s not my job to do that. That’s what Princess Luna told me to say if you bugged me. Now can I go to bed?” the baby dragon inquired with a yawn. He had been sending and burping out letters all day, and it had taken a toll on him. He assumed the answer was a yes when Twilight levitated him all the way up to his bed. “Thanks Twilight, good-night!” and with that, Spike was off to sleep.

Twilight and Fluttershy stayed downstairs and spoke for another couple of hours before Fluttershy noticed the time and departed. As Twilight ascended to the top of the stairs, she could hear Spike letting out a little burp in his sleep, and just caught the glow of the green flame. Entering the room, Twilight discovered a letter addressed to her from the Princess. Quickly unrolling it, she read the brief message.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I will be heading back to Canterlot in two days’ time. I intend to stop by Ponyville to pick up you and Spike, for he is needed in the city, and I feel you should be there as well. Hope all is well, and see you soon.

Sincerely,
Princess Celestia.

After Twilight had finished having a small panic attack from the unexpected visit by her mentor, she quickly calmed down and realized she could worry about it all day tomorrow. ‘Plus, Spike will be awake and able to help then too,’ Twilight rationalized. With her head now empty, she crawled into bed and drifted off into sleep.

Drake and Luna had been talking for over 12 hours, the dragon attempting to grasp everything that has happened in the last hundred years as Luna relished in the company of someone who didn’t want any immediate favors. Taking only a small break to allow Luna to raise the moon, they got right back into the history he missed out on during his century of slumber.

About three hours after the moon was raised, Princess Luna received a letter from her sister informing them that Celestia planned to arrive in about 2 days, with Spike and his master. “Excellent, for we have only just finished covering the first ten years after your slumber. At this rate, we’ll finish up just in time for my dear sister to arrive!” Luna exclaimed happily.

“That sure is an interesting account of how that Ponyville popped out of the ground thanks to the Apple’s zap apple jam,” Drake wondered aloud. “When I was around, the timber wolves just stayed the hay away from the farm. I lit a few of them up like a match for growling at lil Greeny Smith one time.” Drake smiled at knowing how far that little filly had come.

“Yes, Granny Smith is quite the mare. While Applejack may be the farm’s heart, and her brother Big Macintosh the strength; Granny Smith has always been the spirit,” Luna chimed in. “At least that’s how Tia described it to me.” She giggled at this, almost forgetting her own inexperience with the still strange world. “At least you don’t speak in the older dialect with the Royal Canterlot Voice like I did when I first came back.”

The black dragon laughed at this, rumbling the ground underneath him, as he could only imagine the looks on ponies faces if Luna was yelling at them. “Most have been quite a site to see Princess,” Drake said in between chuckles. “Shall we continue my history lesson?” he inquired to the once again enthusiastic Maiden of the Moon.

The next two days flew by extremely quickly, as Luna listed off and explained in vivid detail most of the major events in the last hundred years. If Drake were to be honest, most of it seemed rather boring; mostly being about new cities popping up and advancements in medicine and peace talks. But the last three years were incredibly action packed. Luna described her return as Nightmare Moon and her own defeat by the Elements of Harmony, the same group of ponies also stopping the evil Discord, and the stopping of a changeling invasion of Canterlot at a wedding.

Just as it was approaching mid-afternoon, Drake and Luna peered across the horizon and caught a glimpse of the Goddess of the Sun’s chariot approaching the two of them. A mix of nervousness, dread, excitement, and hope rushed through Drake as he graciously awaited the arrival of the Princess.

Twilight awoke the next morning yawning and stretching out her legs. Hopping off her bed, she noticed that Spike was still fast asleep, curled up in his little basket that made up his bed. She decided against waking him as she headed downstairs to make them both breakfast. After about an hour and a few kitchen fires, which reminded Twilight why she didn’t cook, breakfast was ready.

“Spike! Breakfast is ready!” Twilight yelled up to the baby dragon. After sitting back down and eating her breakfast, Twilight was starting to grow slightly concerned with why the purple dragon hadn’t made an appearance. Finishing her food, Twilight went back upstairs to see the ball of scales still in his basket. “Spike, come on, your breakfast will get cold,” Twilight informed him.

After a few minutes of no response, Twilight went over and started shoving him a bit to get him to move. After that failed, panic started to settle in Twilight’s chest. She quickly checked all of his vitals, and after ensuring they were stable, yelled as loud as she could in his face. The baby dragon didn’t even flinch. “Oh no, oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no,” was all Twilight could mutter to herself as her panic went from settling in her chest to erupting out of it. Twilight instantly ran down into her library and magically lifted every book about dragons off the shelves she could. A total of three books appeared in front of her that she ordered from Canterlot after the incident during the Great Dragon Migration.

Twilight had barely gotten through one of books when a knock at the door made her jump slightly. Not even bothering diverting her attention, Twilight magically opened the door to hear a squeal from the notoriously energetic Pinkie Pie. “Hey Twilight! So remember how we were planning a birthday party for Spike in two weeks? I just thought of the most super-duper amazingly great idea for the party!!” the party pony rambled out. “Wanna know what it is?”

“Not now Pinkie. I can’t get Spike to wake up and I’m trying to find out why,” Twilight explained curtly. She loved her friend dearly, but right now she just can’t deal with all of her crazy antics with this problem on her hooves.

“Oh no!” Pinkie exclaimed. Running up stairs, she tried to wake him up in a large variety of manners, including a few that defied physics, but to no avail. Seemingly appearing next to Twilight without her noticing, Pinkie had a great idea. “Why don’t we tie him to Rainbow Dash and have her do a Sonic Rainboom, or get Rarity to kiss him since true loves kiss is supposed to wake ponies up,” she enthusiastically explained, bouncing circles around the stressed purple unicorn.

“Ok, fine. We may as well try since those books don’t say anything more than ‘Dragons are dangerous in the wild,’” Twilight sighed in defeat. “Can you help me get him?”

After countless hours of attempting to wake Spike up, Twilight and all of her friends had arrived back in her library with a still sleeping baby dragon. They had tried almost everything they could think of, from a Sonic Rainboom, to a kiss (much to Rarity’s displeasure), a Cutie Mark Crusaders attempt at a dragon waking mark, and even being bucked by Applejack. Fluttershy didn’t even know how to wake the sleeping dragon.

Looking outside, Twilight noticed the moon starting to rise and turned to address her friends. “Thanks for trying girls. Princess Celestia is coming to pick us up tomorrow, and if she doesn’t know how to wake Spike up, I don’t know who would,” the purple unicorn sighed. She levitated Spike back into his basket and bid her friends farewell. After a restless night, Twilight peered out her window to see the rising sun, and a brilliant flash of light accompanied by a knock at the door allowed her to know her teacher was here.

“Good morning Twilight Sparkle,” the ever graceful princess said as Twilight opened the door. Allowing herself in, Celestia noticed the worried look on her student’s face. “What’s the matter Twilight? Not happy to see me?”

“Spike wouldn’t wake up yesterday, but all of his vitals were fine. We tried everything we could think of, but nothing worked. Do you think you would be able to check on him?” Twilight pleaded, tears slowly forming in her eyes.

Celestia looked at Twilight and sighed. “Spike turns twenty in a week correct?” Celestia asked, memories over a century old flooding back into her mind. Seeing Twilight give a small nod, Princess Celestia continued, “ This is a normal occurrence in dragons. He should be up by now. SPIKE! I require your assistance!”

A sudden yawn sounded from the bedroom. “I hear ya, I hear ya. Can’t a dragon get any sleep around here now a days,” Spike grumbled as he shuffled over to the stairs, his eyes still mostly closed. Glancing down the stairs, he saw Twilight and Princess Celestia standing there, but his mind was a little slow to catch up that morning. “So what can I do for you?”

Celestia had to hold back from giggling at her scaly friend’s brashness when dealing with her. Glancing over, she saw Twilight run right into Spike and crushing him into a tight hug. Celestia gave them a moment to themselves before speaking up again. “Now Spike, are you ready to go? Twilight you are coming as well, so you may want to hurry and brush your mane,” Celestia said openly giggling at this point. The two quickly got ready and followed Celestia towards the Sun Goddess’s chariot.

It was mid-afternoon by the time they were approaching their destination. Twilight turned towards the alicorn and dragon beside her and asked the question that was bugging her since they had left. “Princess, how did you know Spike was going to wake up today, but not yesterday? What’s going on?”

“Twilight, I am not at liberty to tell you those things, even if I am a princess. You don’t tell others secrets without their permission,” Celestia answered. “But you may get the answers you seek in a moment, we are just about to land.” Looking out the window, Twilight saw a hulking black dragon with blood red eyes staring back at her, with its lips curved revealing a threatening row teeth.