Scales of Time

by The Psychopath

Royalty Incarnate

Sparkles rushed back to her clinic with the corpse on a roller, clearing at least some of the mess made by the fight. Meanwhile, Twilight was still peeling off the scales of the dragon and had finally finished with its right side, letting her continue on the back. Preferring to meditate on the subject, Celestia decided to let a few night shift guards take care of watching her, and went off to her bed for a good night's sleep and some thinking of her own. After about four hours of hard work, Twilight had managed to get all the scales off of her 'trophy' and started hacking away at what would soon be leather. The sight was something of interest to two of the guards who were as close to the dragon body as they thought they could get.

"Why is she doing that?" the first asked aloud.

"She's obviously cutting it up."

"I said 'why', not 'what'."

"Oh. Uh, maybe she's going to make us dragon armor?" the mare smiled sheepishly. Her colleague didn't have the same sense of humor and stared at her, obviously irritated. "What?"

"Yes. I'm sure us getting dragon armor would be a priority of some pony who just MURDERS casually!"

"I don't murder casually," Twilight shouted in response. The two guards sucked in their mouth with an 'eep' after hearing what Twilight just said. "Don't think that I'm deaf just because you're all the way over there and I'm working at night." The lavender unicorn spat on the floor. "I can last far longer than you when it comes to spending weeks without sleeping."

"WEEKS?!" the two guards shouted in unison.

Twilight jumped off the dragon with a large slice of skin twice as big as she was and looked at the guards. "Yes?" She tilted her head in confusion.

"You're seriously acting like you don't understand." Twilight's eyebrows scrunched up further and the guard facehoofed. "We can't do stuff like that. What kind of aberration are you?"

"What do you mean? It's natural for ponies to be able to stay awake for days on end."

"No it isn't!" the other guard bellowed.

Twilight waved her hoof down at them. "Pffff. Then you aren't doing something right. Everypony where I come from can last two weeks without fully sleeping. We just need, like, an hour of rest, at best."

"So...what, you have 'tales' to tell us?" the pony mocked.

Twilight raised her eye brow and turn her head slightly. "Only if you want to hear them," she taunted.

As soon as she was awake, Celestia rushed into the yard using the stairs, forgetting she had a shortcut called 'wings' on her back. She was expecting some sort of disaster while she slept, but sighed in relief and felt her heart nearly stop as her whole body relaxed. She still felt a little sick to her stomach, however. A large contingent of guards, both of the night and day shifts, were gathered around the dragon either on the floor or the completed wall segments, and listened to Twilight's tales. At least, they had gathered around what was left. Twilight had, quite literally, stripped it of almost everything except its bones. There were still a few organs inside the diaphragm , but she was busy scooping them out as she talked, preparing to chop them up or dry them or whatever it was she did to them. Celestia could see a tremendous pile of scales and stretched out leather on the floor accompanied by several dozen jars full of dried organs or some put in various liquids.

"How did she dry them out at night?" Celestia wondered.

As Celestia moved forward, she saw Twilight lift a tan-colored pouch of sorts and point it at an organ on a platform made from bone shards. With the help of what appeared to be a black stone shaped like a tiny, hoof-frog sized dodecahedron, and a stomp, firing came out of the sac, heating the air under and around the organ.

"Huh. That's very strange. Twilight, I would like a word with you," Celestia said.

"Not happening, imposter."

Celestia's left eye twitched. She was getting very tired of being called an imposter. "I just wanted you to go into the city below and experience what are," She cleared her throat, " 'time' has to offer."

The lavender unicorn stopped her actions briefly and tapped her chin while she exaggerated a pensive expression. "Why should I? Is this another ploy to get me to turn my back and let you stab me in it?"

"What?!" Celestia screamed. "No! Of course not!" The mare's body twisted in rage. "SPARKLES!" she shouted. The little mare rushed right next to Celestia. "What is it, Princess?"

"Take Twilight and a small contingent of guards to the city below. Let her SIGHT see."

Sparkles slowly reeled back and started squishing herself into the ground. "Watch your...ehm...blood pressure."

Celestia was twitching all over as she attempted to control her rage, which was failing miserably. In response, Sparkles flew towards Twilight and three guards and pushed them away from the dragon and the giant skeleton and boosted away from the castle. The guards had removed their armor, rather stupidly, to be more comfortable when listening to Twilight's tales, making them 'naked' as they were rushed to the city. Several hours later, Celestia drank some tea in front of her yet-to-be flower garden and sighed in relief. She did love her tea and found it extremely relaxing.

She inhaled the floral aroma of the brew and a wide smile gradually gained ground upon her face. "I love linden tea. So soothing and sweet. It's my absolute favorite tea."

Her moment of relishing in flavors was interrupted by a loud slam behind her. It was a gigantic green and blue dragon who kept its right arm held up by its left and grinned at Celestia. "Hello, Princess Celestia."

"A dragon that can talk?!"

The dragoness chuckled and gradually shrank herself into the unicorn giant she had become known as by her new subjects of the past. "Why yes. Many dragons can talk."

Celestia stood up and didn't remove her eyes from the mare in front of her. "Who are you?"

Sitting in front of Celestia, the mare slouched over and fanned her face with a hoof. "It was awfully difficult flying over here. Could I have something to drink, first?"

"Certainly," Celestia complied when she sat back down. She grabbed another cup and poured the linden tea into it. "I've never seen a dragon that could transform before," she commented as she slid the cup to her 'guest'.

"I'm not a changeling, if that's what you're worried about."

"Changeling?"

The dragoness did not respond to what she deemed a bizarre comment and took a deep inhale of the tea's aroma before letting the liquid swirl over her taste buds over and over. "Mmmmm. Linden tea. It's my absolute favorite!" She looked at Celestia with a rather cute and innocent smile that nearly reached her ears. "Say, how do you get your mane and tail all mystical and floaty like that?" She grabbed her green mana and passed her hooves through it. "My mane is as long as yours and I can't do that."

"Who. Are. You," Celestia insisted once more.

"Oh, I thought she came here and told you about me."

"Who is 'she'?" Celestia asked.

The dragoness frowned. "Don't play coy. We both know she's here."

"Twilight Sparkle?"

"The very same!" the 'kirin' cheered.

"And you know her how?"

"Why, she must have told you about me and my great deeds."

Celestia came to a sudden realization. "Oooooh. you're the self-proclaimed 'dragon queen'."

"I am NOT self-proclaimed!" she raged.

"Considering everything I've been told, I have a better reason to believe Twilight Sparkle than you." Celestia pointed at her guest.

"Hmph. Be that as it may, you'll certainly change your tone in a few months."

"A few months? Why a few months?"

"Well, I have nothing to share to somepony who isn't willing to listen to me and would rather listen to a murderer."

"She might be a murderer but she doesn't corrupt ponies and send dragons to kill whatever they see."

"Oh please," the dragoness waved her hoof and rolled her eyes. "That juvenile couldn't kill a thing. I subdued it. Trust me, I kn--" The kirin keeled over and grabbed her side.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I was just cut by an ejge."

"You need medical attention!"

"I've had worse. Trust me when I say that it will happen sooner than it is supposed to. The ejge have become active much earlier than they were supposed to." The dragoness chuckled and looked into the distance. "Oh, Celestia. You were always the more 'loving' kind of pony."

Comments

[Chrome Masquerade]

"I can last far longer than you when it comes to spending weeks without sleeping."

"WEEKS?!" the two guards shouted in unison.

Twilight jumped off the dragon with a large slice of skin twice as big as she was and looked at the guards. "Yes?" She tilted her head in confusion.

"You're seriously acting like you don't understand." Twilight's eyebrows scrunched up further and the guard facehoofed. "We can't do stuff like that. What kind of aberration are you?"

"What do you mean? It's natural for ponies to be able to stay awake for days on end."

To be fair, the Twilight that we know does that sometimes, but not for nearly that long.

[Chrome Masquerade]

"What?!" Celestia screamed. "No! Of course not!" The mare's body twisted in rage. "SPARKLES!" she shouted. The little mare rushed right next to Celestia. "What is it, Princess?"

"Take Celestia and a small contingent of guards to the city below. Let her SIGHT see."

I sense a mistake here

[Brass Cogs]

"I can last far longer than you when it comes to spending weeks without sleeping."
"WEEKS?!" the two guards shouted in unison.

What? Spending weeks without sleeping isn't normal?

[The Psychopath]

7506153 What do you mean? Wouldn't Celestia tell Celestia to take Celestia out for a walk?

[Chrome Masquerade]

7506196 (mostly joking) and now i know why you're called The Psychopath.

[The Psychopath]

7506295

[Edguy0009]

7506321
And I find the entire exchange funny.