Metalic paint for Dragons: Gold
A Suitable Punishment:
Metalic paint for Dragons
Gold
Xia carefully trotted on her numb limbs across a vast open field. She had to be very careful, she had fallin over at least a dozen times since she had arrived in this reality, partially due to the numbing spell she had placed on herself to quell the pain of the transfer between reality and partially due the fact that she no longer had any digits. You'd be surprised how much a dragon relied on their toes and tail to keep balance with their massive bodies. The lack of which was sorely missed, she had a tail, no longer scaly, but long and flowing like her new mane.
Xia's new body had, how you say it, 'issues' the dragon was not prepared to deal with.
One, the hormones this body produced were massive, she had spent an hour after her arrival sobbing, followed by uncontrollable giddiness. She highly suspected that this body was going through puberty, and that filled her with dread. Dragon puberty was a nightmare, and going through that in a body that is flooded in worse hormones was going to be horrific.
Two, the new white mane on her head was ridiculously long, constantly getting in the way of her vision. The recent rainstorm made it worse, forcing her to dry it off. The current condition of her head could best be described as an enormous moth ball.
The last problem also came from the rainstorm, she was shivering still from the cold, a sneeze escaped her muzzle. This body was so fragile, a little water, and now she miserably shaking in her steps.
On her golden fur was a bag, strapped on to her body. The bag and it's contents thankfully made it through the violent transfer with minimal damage, one of the small miracles the Ancient Gold Dragon was allowed.
Her newly acquired horn glowed a shimmering pearl colored aura as she adjusted the bag that was made for a different shaped creature. The last thing Xia was thankful that she still had was magic.
She had arrived in this world as an unicorn. Magic was still available to her. She lost her wings, her strength, her armored body, her glistening beauty, and even her great age. But she still had magic, and she still had her wits.
Xia reached the top of a hill, another sneeze escaped her lips as she surveyed the area, relief washed through her.
In front of her was rolling fields full of apple trees, apple trees with fences around its borders, apple trees in rows that were most certainly not a natural formation.
She had a farmed field.
She galloped down hill, throwing her caution aside. The field meant farmers. Farmers were people, people who could direct her toward the her destination. Civilization.
Xia's numbed chilled legs buckled beneath her, sending her into a tumble down the hill. Grass and mud flew behind her as she traveled faster and faster down the hill beyond her control. Her body slammed into a post, bringing her to a complete stop.
Xia laid still for a good while, her head spinning considerably, her body covered in mud and grass. The numbing spell was still in effect so she did not feel the full force, just the shock of the event held her down.
A bright red head of a horse popped up in her view, the owner of said head standing over the jostled dragon turned mare. The horse had a short main that was colored similar to straw and had a blade of grass in it's mouth.
It spoke in deep voice, which was distinctly male. "You O.K. Miss?"
Xia was surprised. He spoke Common? Xia was prepared to cast a spell to understand tongues, the ability to communicate would be an invaluable skill, but she was not expecting to be able to understand what the people of this reality said, what were the chances they had developed a language similar what was in her reality, never mind an exact copy.
The Red stallion had a look of concern, Xia's failure to respond was taken as a sign that she was not 'O' 'K'. What ever that meant.
He lifted his head and shouted, "AJ!"
More abbreviations.
After about a minute, a new head appeared above her, this one wearing a hat and was orange. Judging by their similar freckles, Xia had a hunch they might be siblings. "Woah Mac, what in tarnation happened here? Are ya ok, young lady?"
Young lady? I'm 893 years old.
What came out of Xia's mouth was more like a "Guyaaaah." Apparently she hit her head much harder then she thought.
The orange one was swift to react. "Mac! We need ta get her some medical help! Movin' her might do more harm than good, I need ya to watch her while I go and fetch a doctor."
"Eeyup." Was the big one's only response. The orange one hurried off.
Xia stared at the big red stallion and a thought crossed her mind that instantly confused her. She found this creature... attractive?
'Dammed hormones!' Her head screamed in rebuke.
'I'm going to beat Ehinera, I'm being turned into an overly emotional adolescence in heat!'
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@Eragon5055...
1. An interesting story-premise, but it does raise questions for this old D&D'er...
- a. Are you drawing upon a particular edition of Dungeons & Dragons for your draconic protagonists? Or just going with a general guideline across editions? [I assume you are NOT drawing from a specific campaign-world, thus giving you greater creative leeway for writing rather than boxing yourself in.]
- b. And are you only using the "standard" 5 chromatic evils vs. 5 metallic goods?
- c. Or will you also include the (later editions) 5 gemstone neutrals as well?
From a literary standpoint, I would advise keeping your draconic cast to a minimum since you also have to take into account the pony cast as well. Too many role-involved characters can fatally dilute your reader-audience's interest.
.
2. While your story-premise in interesting, I am less certain about transforming the draconic cast into kirins (dragon-ponies for the less D&D/mythic fluent reading this). Might it have been better to simply leave them as dragons, but their strength & power altered, bound, diminished, & flustered, by the "rules" of the MLP:FiM-verse rather than the D&D-verse?
3. As a creative suggestion, from your cover picture... If you are including a dracolich (depicted in your cover picture) among the draconic cast, I would suggest counter-balancing with a mithral dragon. Where-as draconliches are undead despoilers, mithral dragons are living immortals. A good pony-conversion would be a alicorn stallion (silver-grey coat, polished-chrome mane) [And even giving an immortal-peer, & possible romantic angle, for Princess Celestia &/or Princess Luna...].
4. A good sequel-series for this would be Princess Celestia (or perhaps even Princess Twilight) "returning the favor" and dumping Equestria's villains, into the D&D-verse. The twist would be that while the Equestrian villains may not be triumphant in the D&D-verse (it is D&D after all, Good generally wins there too), they would thrive &/or prosper there far better than they had in the MLP:FiM-verse.
3545741
Ok, let see if I can satisfy your questions without giving away to much.
1. a. You are correct, I'm not drawing from any specific guidline or tradition.
b. I'm using the traditional 5 by 5, for the exact reason you mentioned, keeping characters more minimum.
c. That is a 'will see, but probably not'
2. Well, it's less kirin's (Dragon/pony hybrids) and more turned completely into ponies. Red keeping his eyes is more of a fluke. I decided on that for a couple of reasons, one being a little bit of bodily humor, like Gold getting turned into the pony equivilant of a teenage girl.
The other reason would be a little bit expo. of the wizard not wanting to half ass'ing it (and wanting to be the absolute biggest bastard to the dragons he could be). The purpose of this is a little more than just dumping unwanted dragons on somebody else.
3. No dracolich planned, I didn't think the cover art depicted one, and now you mention it, I can kinda see it, but I think it just supposed to be a group of dragons. Maybe I'm missing context of the pic, I don't know the artist otherwise I'd give him/her credit.
4. That would be a delicious and utterly appropriate thing for Celestia to do, sadly, I don't think I would be able to do a good job at that.
3546073...
5. Concerning the dracolich in the cover picture... The exposed spinal cord, hanging jaw-tendons, and empty eye-sockets with the undead-lit "pupils" were a bit of a giveaway
. As for specific artist, I do not know either. But it obviously must be a D&D artist since the dragons depicted are clearly of the D&D-verse chromatic variety (red, white, blue dracolich).
6. I would suggest keeping some minor-to-moderate dragon features to the draconic protagonists, be it the eyes, tail, draconic wings (for those converted to pegasus), damage & magic resistances, &/or breath weapon, etc.
7. Conversely to the physical dragon traits retained, you definitely want to keep with the mental aspects. Remember, what makes the older age-category dragons doubly dangerous is not just their physical power, but often their vorpal-sharp intelligence, vast knowledge (arcane & informational), and ages-spanning life experience.
8. Also keep in mind that, (mostly) across the editions, two of the chromatic types are not "as evil" as might be.
Blues are haughty and avaricious as befitting the draconic stature, but are also often surprisingly reasonable with others and pragmatic in their world-view. Blues have been known to tolerate and even work with (very loosely speaking!) the lesser races, assuming said lesser races tread carefully in their dealings (even a misinterpreted off-hand comment or act can get you electrocuted or eaten, or both). This trait helps them prosper far better than the other chromatic species, and in some rare cases even better than metallics ("better the devil you know...").
Whites are generally the most bestial and least intelligent among the chromatics [unless you are going for a twist with a whip-smart White, which actually might make for an interesting/entertaining angle], but they also do not engage in terrorizing for sheer pleasure, social manipulations/intimidations, or wanton slaughter (unless called for). Whites take what they need/want and nothing more, and never in excess, owing to learning to live frugally in the scarce resources of arctic climates (the gorging of today often results in the starvation for the next month, if not worse). So a White is not going to go on a rampage in The Crystal Empire, scooping up armfuls of gems & crystal-ponies to take back to her/his lair.
Hope these insights help when writing for those two.
.
9. As for a reverse-role sequel-series, make that self-judgement after you have run this fan-fiction series out
.
3546331
Blues are my favorite, so I no problem on writing one, just deciding on a drop-point.
I am not as well versed on whites on the other hand, and am pondering the food supply thing now, considering the editions and things I have read on D&D dragons, they can eat and live off of pretty much anything, including rocks and dirt. It's just they have particular favorite foods, whites being anything that moves, then freeze it.
Thank you for your insight. :)
3546530...
(boy, you are really making me wear my Dungeon Master hat for this...
)
10. My advice would be to save your favorite(s) for last introductions then. Assuming you are alternating between a chromatic and its opposing metallic, this means Blue and Silver. If any chromatic dragon would be suited to drop off in Ponyville, &/or be found by Twilight Sparkle and Spike, it would be a Blue.
11. If you want to get into the deeper D&D lore... ALL dragons can, technically, survive by eating almost anything due to their elemental-based integrated nature. Dragons are living elemental conduits, so their internal elemental essence can break down almost any matter consumed. However...eating rocks &/or plant-matter provide little nutrition, so a dragon would have to eat a larger amount of such just to survive.
There is also the palette aspect as well as nutrition. Eating a...
a- tree
b- cow
c- young maiden
Would be akin to a...
a- single stick of raw celery
b- McDonald's Big Mac hamburger
c- filet mignon (steak)
There is an exception to the eating (quantity) vs. nutrition rule... Magic Items. Consuming a magic item efficiently sustains a dragon nutritionally (the scale between which is dependent upon the age/size of the dragon and how powerful the magic item is). There are two notable drawbacks to this option, however...
First, consuming a magic item means reducing the size of a dragon's hoard (or being unable to add to it), something most dragons would recoil at doing, even when feeing great hunger. A dragon would have to be bordering upon starvation before they reach into their hoard and consume a Battle Axe +3 and wash it down with a Potion of Cure Critical Wounds.
Second, consuming a magic item is the equivalent of eating an high-calorie/-protein energy bar, while it will effectively sustain the dragon nutritionally, it is far from fine (or palatable) dining. Ask yourself: How many energy/nutrition/protein bars could you eat, every day for every meal, before you broke down and went out for a 4-course steak dinner...?
And yes, dragons prefer "cook" their meals accordingly to their respective elemental nature.
- Blacks like theirs "pickled" by acid, or served like a ceviche
- Blues like theirs lightly toasted or seared (think seared ahi tuna, thin charred crust sealing in the juices, but warm rare-cooked inside)
- Greens like theirs "lightly dusted", surface-flavored with corrosive poison, warm inside
- Reds like theirs charbroiled (big surprise, right?)
- Whites like theirs crunchy-chilled
And you are correct, Whites will freeze-preserve any extras for later eating; again, taking into account the overall scarcity of palatable food in arctic climates.
It is important to remember: White dragons at their creative inspirational core, are simply fantasy versions of arctic predators. And even the most savage arctic predator must be continually and distinctly aware of the delicate balance of the harsh environment they live in, or they perish. So best to keep that in mind when writing for the White.
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
12. Assuming you intend to drop off the White in Frozen North &/or The Crystal Empire, here are a few creative suggestions...
- a. The White is bestial and feral...and not a pony. Instead, the White is transformed into an enormous half-dragon polar bear. With no counter-metallic equivalent existing in the arctic climate, can Shining Armor find a way to combat the destructive menace? Or even more challenging, tame and befriend the bestial-minded White?
- b. The White is (as the suggested twist) an rarity among its kind, an Ancient-category White dragon of great intelligence & cunning; and it stalks the icy wastes of the Frozen North as a powerful unicorn with lean predatory purpose. For the White is almost beside itself with avaricious joy at the potential bounty offered by such a large civilized settlement as The Crystal Empire (one does not generally find a metropolis in harsh arctic climates). Can Princess Cadence and Shining Armor stand against an enemy that may be even more powerful and cunning than King Sombra? One who can control the very snows and ice surrounding their kingdom?
- c. Princess Cadence senses a powerful essence out in the deep wastes of The Frozen North, crying out in unfocused rage, but also terrible loneliness . Investigating, she finds what appears to be an abandoned colt (or filly) pegasus barely past foalhood infancy, with a winter-white coat, icy-blue mane, & translucent bat-wings, apparently immune to the lethal cold of The Frozen North. What almost seems like a simple case of adoption by Princess Cadence and Shining Armor turns complicated when the two parent-hopefuls find the child happily crunching down on various gemstones, freezing unfortunate guards &/or servants when sneezing, and spitting out armor-piercing ice shards &/or messy slush when being burped...
.
Hope this (continues to) helps.
3547832
10. No real order, just whenever I finally got a solid idea on what I want to happen, then I get to writing.
11. Pretty much, I just making an observation on White being surrounded by food, so they don't exactly have to act anywhere near like a typical artic animal and conserve food, but you could chalk it to intelligence, better to let them breed so the tasty stuff be more plentiful.
12. I do like your last suggestion for the White, but here's my dilemma. I Have got a clear idea for Silver, Copper, and Green, with a good general idea for blue, but was going to wait to and see if a better one popped up.
Bronze, Brass, and White I'm having the hardest time on. I really like the last one, having White as a foal, but I was thinking about doing that to Black, sicking the most dreaded babysitter you could imagine on such a creature, Pinkamena Diane Pie
(keep for getting to click reply and having to remake the comment. Silly me.)
3549198...
13. Well despite no pre-planned order of introductions, my advice still stands on saving your favorite(s) for last. That way you have the time to come up with a better concept yourself, or for the fickle muse of Lady Inspiration to come kiss you, Gibbs-slap you, or boot you up the ass with an idea.
14. Black dragons are generally the "Kill-You-Just-Because" Villains of the D&D-verse, so converting him/her into a foal is counter-productive character-wise and it wastes a perfectly viable & reader-clear villain spot in your Dark-tagged fan-fiction. As the ironic twist, you can have Pinkamena Diane Pie rising to the challenge on the side of the Good (very loosely speaking) as an anti-hero (a la Vin Diesel's Riddick) when confronting The Black.
example scene...
See what I did there..?
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
15. Some creative ideas for The Brass' beginnings...
- a. A new fashion model hits the Canterlot media scene, in the form of a seductively lithe pegasus mare with a brass-colored coat and mane that seems to glitter with a metallic sheen. The new model is a big hit with her cheerful social butterfly attitude, taking to the crowds like a dolphin in the open seas, and leaving drooling stallions (& even mares) in her adulation-wake. Yet...no one seems to know where this media darling has come from until she first walked out upon the lights of the fashion runways...
- b. The Cutie Mark Crusaders meet a new fellow "blank-flank" at school, a brightly colored pegasus filly with a polished-chrome reflective mane. The new student proves to be very popular at school despite none knowing where she came from, charming Miss Cheerilee with her enthusiastic inquisitiveness, and making many friends among the other children through her bright attitude and social gregariousness. Even more ingratiating to the schoolchildren and the CMC's as a whole, the mysterious filly is not only is utterly UN-intimidated by Diamond Tiara's & Silver Spoon's bullying, but manages to fluster the spoiled duo and even counter-intimidates them (in truth, The Brass uses her innate draconic fear aura to terrify the two bullies). Despite adding a new member to their ranks, at least one (if not two) of the Cutie Mark Crusaders cannot shake the feeling that there is something..."off"...about their new comrade...
- c. Rarity finds a semi-conscious and disoriented pegasus stallion [I just cannot picture The Brass being another pony sub-race.] while out gathering gems. Captivated by his flowing brass-chrome mane and toned physique, Rarity "generously" takes him in
. As a result of his gratitude, Rarity finds herself swept up in a proverbial romance novel with the mysterious & handsome stallion. The stallion finds curious but enthusiastic wonder in even simple things in pony life, sharing that uplifting feeling with her. Rarity's guest also proves to be socially adept in myriad settings...from a simple romantic dinner and flight (Rarity on his back) into the clear starry skies, to easily making new friends/allies among the Canterlot noble elite at their soirees, and even expertly navigating The Grand Galloping Gala.
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
16. Some creative ideas The Bronze's beginnings...
- a. An unusual applicant comes to join the Royal Guard: an tall-statured Thestral (bat pony) the size and muscular build of a draft horse (see: Big McIntosh), with a bronze-colored coat, a metallic-sheen mane, and enormous bat-wings seemingly made of living metal (yet he flies quite adroitly). The mysterious stallion exhibits incredible combat skills & endurance, shows a sharp mind for military strategy & tactics, and has a natural charisma among other Royal Guards (evil & good dragons have a fear aura, but good dragons additionally have an inspiring aura for allies). But the real drama & comedy begins when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both competitively (& perhaps aggressively) vie for having the applicant in their respective guard corps, because both princesses have more than just his martial competence on their minds for him...
- b. A mysterious Amazonian pegasus mare in Cloudsdale starts stirring up the martial-oriented history of the pegasi, calling others to take up arms and fight for military causes under the aegis of the "greater good" and "protecting Equestria." When Rainbow Dash starts to be swept up in the zeal, can Fluttershy show both her best & closest friend and the militia-leader (The Bronze, obviously) that protectorship does not necessarily mean having to take up sword & spear, but rather simply a shield and an open hand of Kindness..?
- c. Princess Twilight Sparkle comes across an severely injured earth pony stallion, near death from an ambush or surprise attack by either a horde of creatures, or several big fearsome ones. After Twilight saves his life and nurses him back to health, he learns of Twilight's royal rank and alicorn nature. The earth pony stallion then shows his gratitude on bended-knee, swearing an oath of fealty and guardianship to the blushingly flustered scholar-princess for a minimum period of one hundred years (something that subtly clues in Twilight to his true draconic nature). With a stalwart & honor-bound protector that is physically powerful, astoundingly damage resilient, and highly magic resistant, The Bronze is Twilight's almost-perfect compliment. How will Princess Twilight deal with her Knight in Bronze Armor?
3545741
Send Discord to Sigil and tell him all the Lady of Pain needs is a hug.
In every way this will end badly.
3549960
Brass and Bronze have been delegated to earth ponies. Making Red one was obvious to me, but somepony else has to get the short end of the stick.
As for Black, have you ever read the book, the Black Dragon Codex by R. D. Henham? I particularly love the black dragon in there, who is not the villain, he is the deuterprotagonist with another character. He is not a good guy, he is still a Black Dragon, but the author he acts and learns to actual care about a human, as much as a black dragon can. The tagline I believe is "Black Dragons can't be pleaded to, but can be bargained with" (Though I probably just butchered it)
The idea for this actually came from that book, the dragon in question was forced to be completely human for most of the story. No access to any of its abilities. I highly recommend it, I still need to read the other codex's as well, they got one for most every of the classic D&D dragons (except Blue, Copper, and White. He stopped writing the series right before my favorite dragons, of course.)
3549962
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnMzDyIJT2g
3551033...
17. The pony race is less of an issue. Nor does it negate the basic formats of my creative suggestions (just have to adapt them towards said races), which hopefully helps with your having a hard time writing for The Brass, The Bronze, and The Black. I am simply offering ideas towards where you might be stuck.
18. As for dragon personas, my creative suggestions are based upon the traditional/standard formats of each dragon. Thus why The Brass is curious & social, and The Bronze is honor- & martially-inclined, throughout each creative idea provided. And I already mentioned that Blacks are generally Kill-You-Just-Because Villains. If you wish to deviate from the standard persona format, that is your prerogative as the Author, of course. However, with ten (10) OC protagonists to write for, and trying to keep source-accurate between D&D and MLP:FiM, it would likely be adding an extra double-helping of literary burdens that you do not really need.
3551509
I do appreciate the suggestions, they help get the juices flowing in my head. I believe a good friendly discussion is healthy, though I won't use all your suggestions, I really like the white one being a foal/filly, I think that be the only one I'm going to steal/politely ask for, going ta tweak it a little. As for Brass and Bronze the descriptions helped a good deal, got an idea for them now. Thanks man
3551707...
(mmm... flowing healthy brain juices... /mindflayer Eragon5055)
19. Any creative ideas/suggestions I post are freely offered for use &/or adaptation
.
20. Likewise, I did not (do not) expect you to use all my creative suggestions, especially considering many of them were "multiple choice" off-the-cuff ideas for the individual characters. I would be very flattered, and very confused, if you did
.
21. I look forward to seeing what my creative assistance has inspired. And you are welcome to tap me any further draconological advice/clarifications &/or creative idea/suggestions.