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// 3- Unwanted Attention 
// Story: Bound by Scales 
// by FrostTheWolf 
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Bound by Scales- Unwanted Attention





Point of View: Celestia (The day before)




        It was another lovely afternoon as I was overlooking the city of Canterlot. My sister, Luna and I, were meeting with the Ambassador of Caneighda and talking about trade negotiations and also the prices of goods such as flour, maple syrup, wood and water. Most of the conversation itself though was something I could not remember because midway through it, I heard a heaven piercing roar that almost knocked the three of us to the ground and sent dishes flying everywhere.

        I’ve heard a roar like that once before, but something like that seemed… impossible! How-!? …… I needed to get the elements and fast.




Point of View: Ken (Present)




        The next morning, I woke up to having to put my clothes back on and wiping the sweat off of my face as I look at myself in the bathroom mirror. The marks from Zinnia the day before were still there and when I tried to touch them, the fire like glow from the holes would appear. Looks like I’m going to need to get that check out while I’m touring the town today.

        Walking back into the room, I see Zinnia snoring playfully, acting like a cat and purring on the bed. “Zi?” I spoke, lightly nudging her shoulder.

        “Hmm…” she groaned, rolling over in her sleep, the blanket the only covering she had.

        “Get dressed, Zi-Zi.” I told her, messing her hair a little. “We’re going to get a check up, remember?” I yelped when she reached out suddenly, grabbing me and pulling me onto the bed to snuggle, pressing herself against me.

        “Still sleepy…” Zinnia muttered, smiling sweetly with her eyes closed. “Stay here for a while… the doctor can wait…”

        “I could… but then again, this relates to both you and me.” I told her, “Plus, I think there’s an entire wardrobe of clothes for you to choose from.”

        “Hmm… fine,” she grumbled, standing and strutting proudly over to the wardrobe, not even bothering to cover herself. “But there better be something good in here!” The doors to the closet were literally a walk in closet, so it was easy for the Draconid to enter the room. Finding something that she would like and actually fitted her though was something else. During that moment, a couple of knocks were heard on the door and I turned around. “Who is it?”

        The door opened and I saw Whiplash, Maple, and Mystic walk into the room, leaving the door slightly ajar. “Good morning ladies. How are you?”

        “Sore,” Whiplash complained, though her smirk put it off slightly. “But in all the right ways. Where’s Zinnia?”

        “Getting dressed.” I told them, pointing to the doors of the walk in closet. “That reminds me though… Maple, does the community have a doctor?”

        “Yes we do. Why, are you hurt?”

        “No, I just wanted to get a checkup with them. Zinnia and I of course,” I told them, showing the teeth marks. “There was a small… accident yesterday and I just wanted to get this checked on. Nothing serious.”

        Zinnia chose that moment to step back into the room, now wearing an emerald green spaghetti strap tube top that exposed her midriff and a matching skirt with yellow circular markings. Emerald green wristbands sat on her arms, the same yellow markings on them, and green boots were segmented and winged. “Yeah, just instinct,” she shrugged, sauntering up to them. “No biggie.”

        “Wow. That’s a nice outfit you have there, Zi.” I complimented, noticing the Jaws of both Maple and Mystic almost dropping downward.

        “Well they seem eager,” the Draconid joked. “Close’em before we use’em, girls!” Both Maple and Mystic soon snapped back out of it as they shook their heads. 

        “S-sorry about that… You said that you needed to visit the doctor?” Maple asked as we followed her out of the temple. “Well, we know just the pony to meet. His name is Dr. Cross and he is a professional at what he does and has helped us with many situations. A brief check up shouldn’t be that hard to take care of.”

        “That’s good,” Zinnia nodded. “I mean, I can almost guarantee that you’re fine, since I’ve done it to someone before, but…”

        “You’ve done a medical checkup before?” I interjected, surprised by the response she had said just now. “When?”

        “No, the biting thing,” she said. “I’m not a doctor, nor will I ever be.” She sighed, pushing past the others and out of the room. “Can we just go see the damn doctor please? I don’t wanna talk about this.”

        “Okay.” I told her, walking inside the medical clinic. We were both called up rather fast by the stallion and he brought us into his office. After having his assistant ask me a few questions about my medical facts, we were then brought into his room. 

        “Hello. What seems to be the reason you’re here today Mr… Ah… Krin?

        “Please,” I gestured. “Ken is fine.” The Doctor nodded his head and then turned towards Zinnia. 

        “And your name, Miss?”

        “I go by many names,” she answered mysteriously. “I have been known as Zeta, as the Delta Guardian, as ‘Sweet Celestia Don’t Stop’-” I couldn’t help but snicker a little at her, causing her to smirk. “But you can call me Zinnia.”

        “O… kay. Zi… nn… ia.” He spelled out, writing the name down on a nearby clipboard. “So, What brings you two here today?”

        “Ken’s connected to a massive dragon in both body and soul, and I bit the dragon while we screwed, which also bit Ken, and we’re here to make sure that hasn’t done anything to him that’d kill him or anything,” Zinnia said bluntly, her face suddenly impassive.

        “I see…… May I please have a look at the bite?” The Doctor asked. I nodded, taking off the jacket and shirt I had on so the doctor could inspect it. He soon began to look at it from all angles while Zinnia held me around my waist. The reason why? I’m not entirely sure. His eyes widened though when he saw the fire form from the bite marks and then looked at us. “Oh boy… this… is quite… rare.”

        Zinnia growled - growled - at him then. “What’s rare?”

        I tried to use one of my free hands to ease her a little as I looked back at Doctor Cross. “Could you be a little more specific, Doctor?”

        “Yes. You see, this bite of yours only happens when a female dragon claims a male as her own. It entitles that no other females can have him as his mate and that he now belongs to her.” The Doctor explained. “It’s like a wedding band for a married couple. Just something to show that you two are linked… But that also brings me to something else… Ken?”

        “Yes?”

        “Do you remember when my assistant asked for you to give her a sample of your bloodwork and a sample of your… self?” I nodded. That was one of the first things I did during the medical procedures and god, it hurt like a b*tch. Well, one did, anyway... “Well, the results from the lab came in and there’s something that you may need to know… Now, do I need to give you two the long definition or the short one?”

        “If you’re going to tell him he has some sexual disease, and imply that I gave it to him…” Zinnia growled out again, her hand erupting into a claw made of pure shadows. “Then I suggest you run.”

        “Calm down, Zi!” I told her, holding my arm across her and trying to have her kill anyone “Doc, what are you saying?”

        “What I’m saying is that if you are planning to have children, only dragons, humans or a mix of the two can carry them because they have the right genetic structure to handle it… In other words, unless you are with a dragon pony… Your pony sterile. And no, it isn’t a disease. It’s because of the rare genes in your body that would be seen as bacteria by most living things.”

        Zinnia relaxed then, genuinely smiling as she rested her head on my shoulders. “Oh thank Arceus…” she breathed. “I hate doctors…” She paused, pointing at the doctor in front of us. “You’re alright though. I like you.”

        “Um… Thank you… Hope you two enjoy the rest of your day.” With that, the two of us walked out of the office. But it was then that I realized something.

        “Ah crap…”

        “What is it?” Zinnia asked, leaning on my draconic arm. She hasn’t let go of me since we entered the doc’s office - I wonder why?

        “I just realized that we needed to break the news to a few people.”

        “What news?” She asked again. “That you can only knock me up?” She froze, seemingly remembering what I had. “Oh no… Maple…”

        “Not just her either… Whiplash.” I told her, remembering them from yesterday’s… activities. “My god, Maple is going to be sad when we break the news to her.”

        “Whiplash is human no-” the Draconid started, freezing again. “Dammit! Whiplash is human now!”

        “Good grief, this is just getting more complicated.” I replied. Only before seeing Mystic rush towards us.

        “Ken! Zinnia!! Thank Celestia you’re here!” The Unicorn gasped. “W-we need y-your help.”

        “Mystic, what’s wrong?!” Zinnia asked, moving to hold the mare’s shoulders.

        “D-dragons!! At the Gate!!! They’re demanding to enter the city!” I looked back at Zinnia before walking forward. Now was the time to put Revaan’s combat training to good use. Not just that… but now we have to defend what we were working so hard to try and build. The Kazoku Hoard now had someone trying to break down everything we have worked for.

        Now we were going to teach them a lesson.

        Zinnia stepped up beside me, fists clenched and wings flared. “We’re gonna tear them to shreds, right?” she asked.

        “Let’s see what we’re dealing with first.” I told her as we approached the gate. Looking down, I found a massive group of dragons that were mostly standing on two legs and looked angry, cocky and furious. Except for one white one with pink scales that looked like he was forced to be here. Three of them stepped forth as I leaped off of the wall and approached them. “So let me guess… Cocky one… Stupid one… one with weird powers.”

        Their reaction to that was… not exactly the one I had in mind as I looked back at them. The red one (Cocky) thought that he was the one with the powers, the azure one (Stupid) thought that he was cocky and lastly, the weird powered guy just growled at me. Face-pawing myself again, I sighed. “Okay, I take it back. You’re all stupid.”

        “I could’ve told you that from the look of them,” Zinnia chuckled, flying down to my side. “But I gotta say, they do look pretty damn ugly up close too. That’s a face even I wouldn’t kiss.” 

        “Watch your mouth, woman!!” The Red one snarled. “I do not like your attitude!”

        “Garble, can’t we just kill them?” One of the others said. “These two look like a couple of pipsqueaks.”

        Zinnia and I glanced to each other for a brief second, smirking, before Zinnia turned back to them. “Aw hell nah!” she shouted, her hands once again erupting into claws, though these were made of flickering blue flames. “You’d better take that back before I knock you from here to the moon and back again!”

        “Boss?” One of them said, turning to the one called “Garble”. It was then though that Garble noticed my dragon arm as I was grabbing my sword. I left my other one in the temple since I didn’t think I would need it. Seeing my arm now, he smirked.

        “The lot of you deal with the woman. This one is mine…” He ordered. All the dragons, except for the white and pink one I saw before, all began to charge at Zinnia while Garble started swinging his claws out at me. I was having to dodge and weave out of the way of him attacks, while listening to Gunmetal Black by Varien. It was only a few seconds in though that I heard a roar that caught my attention.

        Zinnia had grown in height, now reaching an impressive eight feet at least, with dark purple and black scales sprouting on her arms and legs. Black, bone-like claws covered her nails, and heels of the same black bone-like material appeared from the underside of her feet. Her clothes were torn apart by her sudden size change, though they were quickly replaced as a flash of purple light placed a black leotard emblazoned with a burning wisp pattern on the chest appeared, hugging her curves. She even gained a long, purple-and-black scaled tail that thrashed about behind her, smashing a random boulder.

        As for me though, I didn’t have a lot of time to watch her toss around the other dragons like Ragdolls. Because the moment I took my eyes off of Garble was when he tried to attack me. His claws were only a few inches away from my face when I parried them with my sword, using my dragon arm to punch him in the face. As he flew backwards though, I felt him breathing out a plume of fire as it singed my clothes. The flames were the least of my worries though as Garble kept trying to smash into me head on. I only had enough time to block his onslaught of attacks instead of counter them.

        Still though, I tried my best to keep up, but it was no use. I needed to pull off some sort of miracle and quickly… Then, a memory came back to me. Something Revaan had previously told me about the other day.




“There’s also your dragon armor form”





        Yeah, that’s right. My Dragon Armor. Problem is, I don’t know how to activate something like that. Was it by willpower? Rage? Energy? What could trigger that form? I personally thought it was the third one of the three thoughts that were in my head. But where do I get the energy from?

        At that moment, a large brown shape barrelled into Garble, throwing the crimson drake to the ground and effectively stopping his onslaught. I turned around to notice that Zinnia had used her tail to send one of her opponents flying in my direction. I watched as she raised both fists into the air, her hands glowing an orangey-brown as she slammed them into the ground, causing the earth to shake beneath our feet and open up. A large red crystal shot up from the ground like a spire, and without even looking Zinnia spun her tail round to carve it, creating a marquise gemstone that looked like a burning flame was held within. She reached out and grabbed it, holding it to her eye, her gaze softening for but a second as she blue a tiny puff of purple flame over it before turning and throwing it to me.

        As I caught it, I felt the energy from the gem flow into my arm and it felt amazing. Now it felt like I can take on Garble with ease. With the energy I needed, trying to figure out my Armor could activate was the next step. So, I did what I thought was the best option. Let it flow around me and focus on pulling it off. My arm began to pulse and the scales began to expand around his body, slowly taking form.

        Everyone else, including Zinnia, noticed the transformation. The Draconid dropped the dragon she was holding by the neck and turned towards me, eyes wide as she licked her lips. I turned back around to notice the light blue claws that were with my arm had changed to purple. Maybe it was because of Zinnia, but right now, I’m not so sure. What I am sure about is that I now had caught Garble’s attention.

        “W-what are you-!?” He demanded. He couldn’t see my face, but right now, I was smirking at him. 

        “I’m the Scalebound that’s about to kick your ass.” I told him. His only response was trying to charge at me head on… A fool’s decision. With precision, I swung my blade as it slashed across his chest and scarred his left shoulder. The dragon screamed in pain as he got back up and tried to attack again. Only for me to be kicking him right where it hurt the most.

        A deep, guttural roar of a laugh rang out, clearly Zinnia, and I turned to see her leaning on a large rock face with only the white and pink dragon left standing, who was also laughing. Both wiped a tear from their eye.

        “You little punk!!” Garble roared, getting back up on his feet. Only for me to quickly prevent him from moving any further. I pointed my sword at him, making him get back down on one knee. 

        “This is no place for you,” I told him. “This temple is already home to the Kazoku family. And if you don’t leave now… Things are going to get ugly.”

        The dragon snarled a little as he gazed at me. “Oh yeah? How-!?”

        “Well first…” I told him, pointing my blade elsewhere that wasn’t at his head or neck. “We can strip you of your pride.” It didn’t take long for him to think about what to do next as he was soon yelling at his companions to leave in retreat. However, the white and pink dragon that was originally with him refused to return. Saying that he had the freedom to make his own choices… and that he chose to be with us now.

        As I returned to normal, I looked at Zinnia before looking at the other dragon. “So… Who’s our new friend, Zi?”

        Zinnia quickly shrank down, her scales clattering to the ground. For the first time I noticed the metallic vambrace on her arm, engraved with two women touching foreheads in a flaming heart. “Fizzle,” she said, holding her arms out. “Meet Ken. Ken, Fizzle.”

        “It’s nice to meet you Fizzle,” I smiled, shaking his outstretched claw. “It’s nice to see another dragon around here for a change.”

        “Why thank y-. Wait… another dragon?” He asked, looking at Zinnia and I in confusion.

        “Oh yeah… that’s right… I guess we need to introduce you to Revaan.” I sighed, walking back to the gate, making sure that the guards don’t see Fizzle as an enemy and letting him in through the main gate. We guided him towards the temple, where Revaan was waiting there with Maple and Whiplash. When Fizzle saw Revaan, his jaw dropped.

        “O-oh my…” Yep, he must’ve been shocked at seeing one of the last Onyx dragons in the world.

        “Who is this?” Revaan asked, looking at Zinnia first before me.

        Zinnia chuckled. “Looking to to the wife first, eh? Smart dragon,” she tittered. “This is Fizzle. He’s cool, I guess. Didn’t try to kill us.”

        “And I am honored to be standing in front of an Onyx dragon.” He added on, bowing a little before Revaan. Revaan himself smiled, amused by the behavior of our newfound companion.

        “Anyways…” Maple interjected. “How did the visit with Dr. Cross go?” I then looked at Zinnia and she looked back at me. Now was when we had to break the news to them… and I’m not sure if they were going to like it.

        “It went… alright… But there are two things we found out that all of you need to know.” I sighed deeply, looking at the Draconid. Being polite, I let her speak first.

        “Maple, you’re not gonna have his kids,” Zinnia said bluntly. “Whiplash, you might.”

        “W-what-!?”

        “It’s not like I don’t care for you Maple,” I told her, trying to be sympathetic. “But Doctor Cross told us that only humans, dragons or a mix of the two like Zinnia can bear my kids. To put it in simple terms, he said I’m “pony sterile”.” Looking back at Whiplash, I saw that she was sweating profusely, eyes wide as she breathed heavily.

        “Someone get me a Celestia-damned pregnancy test spell now!” the Floranid shrieked, fanning herself. Surprisingly though, the closest pony that actually knew that spell was Maple. It was ironic, but I didn’t care right now. The Changeling cast the spell, concentrating for a good two to three minutes before the magic from her horn died down. She looked at Whiplash and I, a relieved look on her face.

        “It’s not positive. You’re safe, Whip.”

        “Oh thank Celestia…” Whiplash breathed, dropping to her knees. “I was not ready to be a mom…”

        “It’s okay, Whip.” I told her to calm her down. “But you two might want to know the other thing we have to say… and it’s about the bite on my shoulder.”

        “Oh?” Whiplash chimed, calming down. “What’s up with the bite?”

        “It means that Zinnia has claimed me and Revaan as her own.” The response got even Revaan to look back at me with a surprised look. But soon, he smirked a little as he moved over to Zinnia.

        “I’m fine with that,” he replied, nuzzling against Zinnia. “I like her anyways. But I do have one other question…” He stated, looking at Fizzle and the Draconid. “Is Fizzle here joining the hoard?”

        Zinnia shrugged. “Dunno,” she said, turning back to the drake. “Do you wanna be in?”

        “Hell yeah I do,” He replied eagerly. “I hated being with Garble. Getting away from him was the best decision of my life.” He then looked back at Revaan, scratching his chin before saying something else. “You know… you remind me of a young drake I saw on the Dragon Migration a couple of years back… Little short guy with purple and green scales…” That right away immediately caught Revaan’s attention as he looked back at Fizzle with determined eyes.

        “Y-you saw him? You saw my son!?”

        “Woah there,” Fizzle reacted, surprised. “One, I didn’t know that he was your son. Two, I only saw him two years ago… But if I can take a guess… He’s probably living with Celestia’s student back in Ponyville. The one known as the Princess of Friendship, I think?”

        “Well there’s something for you to look forward to, Revaan,” Zinnia smiled, patting his leg. “You know where your son is.”

        “Y-yes… Thank you, Fizzle… You don’t know how much this means to me.” Revaan told him as he slowly rose, walking through the huge doors to his personal chamber. Now, only Fizzle, Zinnia, Whiplash, Maple and I were left in the room. Maple herself decided to go back to her home in town, leaving only the four of us left.

        “Well… I believe this calls for a celebration,” I suggested. “For Fizzle, the newest member of the Kazoku family. Welcome to the hoard, my friend.” He smiled, happy to be with us as we walked into the next room, which happened to be the dining hall. We used the chance to eat as much as we could, clue Fizzle in on how this worked, and then told him that he was going to be in the same “wing” of the Hoard as Revaan and I. For someone that had been through a lot of crap in their life, Fizzle looked very damn happy to be with us.

        To be with his newfound family.




End Chapter 3