Of Claws and Hooves

by Cloud_Surfer

Eye of the Beholder

Of Claws and Hooves
Chapter 1: The Eye of the Beholder

Rarity had not even noticed that her tiny companion had continued to venture throughout the cave. She was too busy examining these strange tubes, and wondering why a letter from the Princess would be in a locked off cave. ‘I should bring one of these to Twilight, she’d know what they are,’ Rarity thought to herself, lowering one of the strange devices into her saddle bag. Then she heard Spike call something out from deeper into the cavern.

“What was that Spike?” Rarity shouted back, as she followed the sound of the baby dragon’s voice. She couldn’t help but feel slightly spooked by the darkness that surrounded her, even with her horn producing a soft blue glow. Then she heard a scream that sent chills through her body. Galloping as fast as she could towards the sound, she found another exposed staircase, and started to rapidly descend into the darkness below.

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Drake held the baby dragon is his claw. It had quickly fainted as soon as he had reached out to grab it. ‘Strange that one so young would be far from his mother,’ Drake thought to himself. That idea left him rather worried, for he was in no shape to fight an angry dragoness at after having just woken from his hundred year slumber. Drake quickly made up his mind to leave the purple child her, and use the secret pathway towards the tree lab to avoid a confrontation.

Gently placing the baby down, Drake shoved as many gems into his gullet as he could before he made his leave when he heard someone running down the stairs, screaming “Spike?!?!” Glancing towards the stairs, he could make out a soft blue glow. Then appeared a marvelous white unicorn, with a royal looking mane and tail of deep purple, staring at him with a look of fear and as she saw Drake’s hulking figure hovering over the baby dragon unconscious before him.

“What did you do to him?” Rarity yelled at the massive dragon before her. He was not quite as large as the one Princess Celestia had asked her and her friends to ask to move, but he was easily twice as tall as the Princess at his shoulder, and was about three times longer than he was tall. His slender neck stretched out and sniffed first Spike, and then turned towards Rarity.

“Is this one yours?” Drake asked his voice a low rumble that he was not used to. His lessons with Drago prepared him for this change, but knowing something and experiencing it are vastly different. “Answer me, for the longer you delay, the longer I’m delayed from seeing Celestia.”

“Spike is my very good friend, if that’s what you mean to ask,” Rarity answered in a rather defensive voice. ‘What does this dragon want to do with the Princess? I need to let Twilight know about this as fast as I can,’ Rarity thought in the back of her mind. It took all of her willpower to stand her ground right before such a terrifying dragon. “If this has anything to do with Spike eating your gems, I promise I’ll replace any that he may’ve eaten.” Rarity hoped her generosity would be enough to sedate the dragon before her.

Drake took a deep breath, realizing that this pony was not the one he had hoped, but this little ball of purple and green scales was whom his destiny would be intertwined with. “Fair enough. I do not require recompense for the gem he ate, for it’ll come around in due time. Take him a leave; there is much I must do,” Drake said as soothingly as his draconic voice would allow. He watched as the unicorn levitated Spike across the room towards herself, bringing a memory of when he was young and Waxing Crescent carried him in the same way. The dragon felt water begin to collect in his eyes at the thought of his adoptive father, but quickly cleared his mind for the task at hand.

Once Rarity had Spike on her back, she turned to run back up the stairs before the dragon at her back called to her once more. “What is your name pony?” the beast rumbled, his deep voice shaking the cave.

“I am Lady Rarity, and now if you excuse me, I really wish to get going,” Rarity answered briskly before running the rest of the way out of the cave. ‘What was I thinking answering a dragon like that? He could’ve roasted me,’ Rarity thought to herself as she prepared her teleportation spell. With a flash of light, she and Spike appeared right outside of Twilight’s library.

Drake had to laugh to himself about the unicorn’s retort. Never before had he seen a pony be so rude to a dragon his size before. He admired her tenacity. Drake found the lever behind his pile of gems, and pulled it down, revealing the passageway heading towards his old home. ‘I wonder how much it changed? And I wonder if Sweet Apple Acres is still around, what I wouldn’t give for a nice juicy apple after that long sleep,’ Drake thought to himself as he started his hour long trek underground towards his former home.

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Spike awoke an hour later in his basket next to Twilight’s bed. The last thing he could remember was a massive dragon reaching out and grabbing him while he was looking for gems with… “Rarity!” Spike yelled as him jumped out from the covers. He had to get Twilight so they could go save Rarity. As Spike turned the corner, he crashed into Twilight Sparkle.

“Spike! Thank goodness you’re ok,” Twilight said as she hugged the little dragon. “Rarity brought you here as fast as she could, and we weren’t sure if the dragon did anything to you.” Twilight pushed her number one assistant away from her by his shoulders and looked over him. “You are ok right?”

“Yea Twi, just worried that Rar…” Spike didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as a huge earthquake just decided to strike. He and Twilight Sparkle dove underneath a table, waiting for the ground to stop shaking, but it only intensified. Twilight and Spike could hear a scrapping coming from outside of their home, and then bursting from the ground, a pillar of black flame shot up twenty feet into the sky.

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It had taken Drake over an hour to reach the door to the tree lab, but then he noticed a problem he did not think about earlier. The door to the basement of the tree house he one lived in was big enough for him a hundred years ago, but now that his size has doubled it would be a pain to get more than his neck inside. Scanning about, Drake realized he could either turn around, or dig his way out. Deciding it’d be good to exercise his sleepy limbs, the dragon started scraping his way up through the earth. It felt good for Drake to exert his muscles, forcing the hard dirt out of his way with claws and flames.

Digging for about a half an hour, he breathed his black flames and finally saw the earth finally give way. Dragging the rest of his body out from the ground, the great black dragon stretched out and glanced around the area that had been his home, and was shocked at what he saw. Surrounding his once lonely tree were countless houses and businesses. He could see ponies of every type running about in a panic at having a dragon erupt from the ground. ‘Thank goodness I wasn’t under somepony’s house as I was digging my way out. I could’ve really hurt somepony,’ Drake thought to himself relieved. Glancing at his old home, a feeling of sadness crept over him again as his fond memories flashed behind his eyes. If anypony took a moment to look, they would see tears forming in those brilliant red eyes before he shut them tight.

‘I can mourn for my pass life later, first I must see Celestia. She’ll know where I am to go from here,’ Drake reaffirmed in his mind. ‘But I can treat myself to a couple dozen apples on my way, if that orchard is still open that is.’ With that final thought, Drake spread his mighty black wings, blotting out the sun of all those under him before taking off in a gust of wind. Once air borne, he could make out the worn sign of the orchard he was flying towards.

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Spike could’ve sworn he saw tears in those red eyes before the dragon turned and flew off, but why would it be crying for looking at the library. He didn’t have much time to dwell on this, for Twilight was already barking at him to send a report to Princess Celestia immediately, as she galloped out of her house to find her friends. Spike had just sent the letter, and was heading outside to check the damage that the dragon had caused when he burped up the Princess’s response.

Dear Spike,

Please don’t show this letter to Twilight. It will only cause her panic, and that is the last thing I wish to cause anypony. I am currently away on a political matter of the utmost importance, and will be unable to do anything. Rest assured though, that dragon means no pony harm, as long as no one aggravates him. He is an old friend, and will probably head to Canterlot soon. Please write to Princess Luna and tell her to go into the bottom draw of my study’s table and read the letter there. It should help her with his arrival. Just try and keep everypony in Ponyville calm until then.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia.

Spike’s bewildered look as he read through the letter a couple times was quite priceless. Following the Princess’s orders though, we quickly wrote to Princess Luna and sent the letter on its merry way. Afterwards, he finally got outside to hear Rose crying out in anguish. Rushing to her side, Spike questioned her. “Rose are you okay? What happened?” Spike asked full of concern.

“My garden!! That dragon destroyed my garden!!” Rose half yelled half sobbed. Spike could see how distraught she was, and was compelled to help her out. Running back inside, Spike grabbed his coin purse and took Rose to Sugarcube Corner to get her mind off of things. When the two of them arrived, Spike noticed Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and a cowering Fluttershy.

“Has anypony seen Applejack?” Twilight asked the gathered friends. “She’s the only one we are missing, and the only one that hasn’t been filled in as to what is going on yet.” As if on cue, Applejack came bursting into the store.

“Girls I need ya help big time,” Applejack managed to get out in between her heavy breathing. “A big ol’ black dragon just showed up at the farm, and grabbed Granny Smith and flew off.” Applejack was barely holding together, worried sick about her grandmother. “What are we going to do?”

“We go save her! Come on girls,” Twilight announced. With that, all the ponies ran out of the building, dragging Fluttershy with them by her tail. Spike stared wondering why a supposedly “friendly” dragon would kidnap such a frail old pony.

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Drake flew quickly over the rows of apple trees. This was the first time he was happy since he had woken up earlier that day. He always liked the Apple family, and helped them till the earth when they first arrived. Their hospitality was unmatched as well, which would cheer the saddened dragon up immensely to converse with a pony.

As his shadow swept over the orchards, he noticed two ponies working by the trees stare up at him in utter fear. One was a large red stallion, with a blond mane and tail, and a green apple as a cutie mark. The other was an orange mare, with the same blond hair as the stallion. On her flank were three bright red apples. She appeared to be slightly more muscled than the unicorn he saw earlier, but he reasoned it was the hard labor that did so. Deciding to land by the farmstead, so to properly introduce himself, he noticed a small filly with no cutie mark and an elderly green mare with her back to him.

“Now, who darn turned the wind up? Blasted pegasus ponies messing with the weather,” the old mare complained. “Apple Bloom, be a dear and get me a blanket.” The young filly, which Drake assumed was this Apple Bloom, sat deathly still, staring at Drake whom had just landed.

“I am sorry for having stirred up the wind on my landing. The last thing I would wish to do is cause discomfort to anypony,” Drake’s thunderous voice explained. “It has just been a long time since I had eaten any apples, and memories of this farm prompted me to return and feast while here.” Drake watched as the old pony turned to face him. Surprised shone in Drake’s eyes as the old mare’s face lit up.

“Sweet Celestia above, Drake is that you?” the old mare asked. “It’s me, Green Smith, though now I’m Granny Smith. You helped my family out when we were first planting trees in these here orchards. You’ve grown to be quite a sight now.”

It took Drake a moment, but he soon recognized the old mare standing before him. Over a hundred years ago, when Sweet Apple Acres first was being built, the Apple family did have a little green filly named Green Smith that he babysat a couple times. Drake flashed a toothy grin as he reached down and hoisted the elderly mare into a soft embrace, tears dancing under his eyes. “I thought everypony I knew would be long gone by the time I awoke. Never did I imagine a friend would still be alive,” Drake roared happily.

“I’m happy to see you too Drake,” Granny Smith laughed, graciously returning the hug. “Now how about we find you some good apples to munch on. Get your hide into the sky, and we’ll find you some ripe ones.” With her encouragement, Drake lifted into the air still cradling the elder pony in his claws. Seconds later Applejack and her big brother had gotten to the barn to see their grandmother flying away in the dragon’s claws.

“That monster just kidnapped Granny Smith! Big Mac, stay here with Apple Bloom, I’ll go get my friends to save
Granny,” Applejack barked, as she was already galloping away to her friends for help. She only hoped they’d be able to.

Comments

[THAT_1GUY89]

and the misunderstanding begins.

[Roach of Wrath]

Spike looks at letter "its gonna be a long day"

[UltiXevoz]

Ah yes the joys of misunderstanding

[Hobbestc]

Here we go. Ha! But we get Luna, YAAY!!

[Cloud_Surfer]

Oh yea, I plan on giving Luna a good amount of time. Her final line in the season finale has inspired me. Thanks for all the encouragement, never thought people would like it that much.

[Pleaseworkforonce]

YOU DO NOT HAVE MY MARK OF APPROVAL!!! i only give storys i dont like that