The Dragon Within

by Silent Storm

IV-Nightmares and Nightly Messages

Silent Storm sat there in the forest from which he originated until the sun was lowered beyond the horizon. He thought of what had just happened, and of what was to come. I'll never see Luna again, he thought somberly, and surely Celestia will find me and have me thrown in some long-forgotten dungeon until I rot away. Nopony will find me, and nopony will care. He let his mind lapse into the thoughts of a helpless, scared foal. Once the moon had journeyed a quarter of the way across the sky, he could keep his eyes open no longer and drifted into a fitful rest. He dreamt of a towering and slender Celestia with a wicked toothy grin plastered across her face, her eyes open wide and her pupils small. She stared down at Storm like one would an insect they had the opportunity to squash after it had been bothering them incessantly. She ordered several faceless stallions garbed in royally crested armor to take him from her sight, and as they hauled his helpless physique off she cackled in a highly pitched wail. Silent Storm wriggled and writhed trying to free himself from his captors' steely grip, but it was to no avail. Before his fear-stricken eyes, Celestia's form twisted and contorted to form a long alabaster snake that slithered over to him, wrapped around his hooves and midsection, weaving herself impossibly tightly throughout his limbs and slowly started to squeeze. He heard ribs crack and an intense pain was all that filled his petrified mind. He yelled out in anguish, calling for the end of this torment.

Just as the pain seemed to become unbearable, Silent Storm snapped awake from the disturbing nightmare. He sat up and whipped his head around, searching for any sign of the serpentine ruler of Equestria or her featureless minions, but his eyes met only vegetation and darkness. He quickly examined himself, but there was no mark of any kind of injury on his body that he could see. Silent Storm looked to the ground and saw moonflowers scattered about him, not in any kind of pattern, but definitely focused around him. Luna? he thought, recalling the Ruler of the Eventide's fondness for the blossoms. He turned his head to the deep azure sky hoping that she would be there, hidden among the stars. No such mare showed her head, and he slumped back to the ground.

The forest was so quiet compared to the bustling castle Silent Storm had grown accustomed to. Other than the hushed whisper of rustling leaves and hiss of the wind, the night was soundless. The silence combined with the feeling of abandonment he felt from Celestia's words triggered something inside of him. It felt like something else inside of him was stirring, as if from a deep sleep. The bushes next to Silent Storm shook softly and a small woodland rabbit removed itself from the foliage. It hopped in front of him, its small feet traipsing across the grass.

"KILL IT"

Silent Storm screamed in shock from the sudden piecing sound. The rabbit scurried away as he shook violently and twisted his head around to find the source of the raspy, menacing voice.

"A pity, it would've made a nice juicy snack."

"W-where are y-you?! I'm n-not a-afraid!" Silent Storm shouted into the forest, still quivering intensely.

"Oh, you're not are you?" the voice chuckled devilishly, "I doubt that m-m-mister st-st-st-stutter.

"I-I always t-talk like th-this!" Storm retorted. "Who a-are you?!"

"You don't remember me?" The voice feigned an insulted tone, "Why, that's just rude."

"Remember y-you from w-what? W-WHO IN THE N-NAME OF CELESTIA A-ARE YOU?!!!" Storm yelled, sensing his anger well up inside of him, a feeling that was quite foreign to him.

"What do you hear?"

"W-what?!"

"I said, what do you hear?"

Silent Storm perked up his ears and listened intently to what was around him. "Nothing. Just the forest," Storm said, annoyed with the voice's deflection of his question. His eyes widened quickly, realizing that the voice wasn't in his ears, but in his head.

"Aaaah... so now our little Stormy has finally found a piece of the puzzle."

"But... H-how... what are you?"

"I think it's time for you to go to sleep." the voice said, still in a grating, cruel vocalization. Storm began to grow weary and wobbled on his legs, his body seeming to become heavier and heavier. "Yes sleep, but do not fear for your life. You shall reawaken soon... this time."

Silent Storm dropped to his stomach and felt his eyelids close as he fell into yet another dream-filled slumber. Everything was dark, like he'd stepped into a cellar without a torch, and the ground beneath his hooves was as cold as ice and just as smooth. He turned around in circles, seeing nothing but blackness and hearing nothing but his steady heartbeat and frightened, irregular breaths. A soft white light suddenly poured onto his back and Storm whirled around to face it. It was the moon, large and round in the air, and the silhouette of a tall pony stood upon its bright face. The pony spread wings that had been hidden by its sides and flew down from the moon toward him, its dark form getting closer and closer. Fearing the motives of the creature, Storm turned around to flee and began galloping away from the shadowy equine, but seemed to get no farther away from it. He pushed his legs to go faster and faster until they were nothing but a gray-green blur beneath his body. He spread his still underdeveloped draconic wings wide and launched off of the ground with all his might. He caught the air in their membranous sails for a moment, and the thought that he could escape from the dark pony briefly crossing his mind, but the thought disappeared as his weak wings could no longer support his weight and he dived back down toward the ground and fell, sprawled on the ground's cold, smooth surface.

Storm heard the tall, winged pony's hooves click against the ground as it alighted on the ground. He quivered with fear of what it would do to him. He curled into a ball, covering his face with a wing and awaited his fate, his eyes brimming with worried tears that threatened to spill over. He flinched and squeezed his eyes tightly as a foreign hoof touched the edge of the wing covering his face, pulling it away and revealing the colt's muzzle.

"Oh, child, what has been done to you?" the pony spoke in a voice that was comfortingly familiar to his ears.

"L-Luna?" Storm said and opened his clenched eyes. There, standing before him, was the only friend he'd ever known. "Luna!" he shouted and leapt at her, grasping hold of her neck and hugging it firmly. The tears that had welled in his eyes broke free and they streamed down his face, soaking his snout.

Princess Luna's face bore a surprised expression and she was knocked onto her back as the young pegasus tackled her with his embrace. She lightly hugged him back, gently stroking his mane as a mother would her terrified child.

"Stormy, I appreciate the gesture, but could you please get off of me for a moment? I think you're choking me." Luna said, giggling slightly at the colt.

Silent Storm hastily stopped clutching her and took a few steps back, a sheepish smile on his face.

"I have something important to tell you, and I need you to listen carefully," the princess said, her face turning mildly forlorn, "The castle isn't safe any more. My sister has sent out members of her personal guard to find you. You're going to have to find somewhere to lay low for a while until everything has been sorted out. Be brave, you may be small, but you have the heart of a lion, or rather the heart of a dragon. You can take on anything that Celly can throw at you, no matter how tough it may seem."

"But, w-why is she looking for me? And what's i-incarceration order two and five?" Storm asked. many unanswered questions floating through his head.

Luna sighed, then spoke, "If you want to know why, I'm going to have to tell you exactly what you are and how you came to be, or at least as much of it as we know ourselves. Are you sure you want that?"

Silent Storm thought carefully for an instant, then quickly nodded.

"Alright then," she said and took a deep breath before continuing, "You are one of three ponies in Equestria, a unicorn, an earth pony, and you, that exhibit physical draconic traits and have been known to show some emotional draconic tendencies, and in the scientific community are known as equus draco. As for how you came to be, we have only the account of a certain unicorn that was part of a group of conjurors and spell casters that were plotting a takeover of Equestria. He and a small band of other unicorns formed a rebel group that called themselves the Angues Timor, or the Snakes of Fear. Their idea was to plunge the whole of Equestria into such a state of panic, using weapons that struck terror into the hearts of even the bravest warriors, that the government would simply collapse and they would take over the land by controlling the weapons and thus the fear and fearful ponies."

Luna paused and looked into her Stormy's downcast eyes. They emanated bewilderment and just a touch of confusion. She briefly considered lying to spare him reality, but knew that would only complicate the matter, then continued.

"You are one of these weapons, as are the other two like you. You three were supposed to be raised in the group and trained to obey any of its members, even if it meant your life would be at stake, but there were complications when they were in a vital enchanting process, mainly a pair of royal guards finding their hideout mid-spell weaving. This is why my sister is scouring Equestria for you. She thinks that you're going to do exactly as you were intended and start attacking villages and causing chaos throughout the world, and that she can stop you by imprisoning you. That's what incarceration order two and five are; two is an order to have you captured and brought to her, and order five is and order to have you imprisoned immediately, without hearing nor jury."

"The member of Angues Timor that we caught was quite helpful in explaining exactly what they'd done to you. They took each of you from an orphanage in Canterlot after you'd only just been born and brought you to their laboratory of sorts. Each of you was given a transfusion of dragon's blood, hence the moniker Dragon-Blood that Celly used. After about a week of constant transfusions, the physical attributes of each individual foal changed in favor of a dragon's. The unicorn's horn split into two and moved to either side of her forehead, the earth pony's front right hoof fully changed into a dragon claw, and your wings went from feathers to what they are now. In addition to these changes, all three pony's manes went from natural fiber to flowing as a fire, though they remained mane-like in general shape."

Storm thought deeply. I have a brother and a sister? he wondered, So I'm not the alone. The colt was clearly excited about his newfound family, even if they weren't actual relatives, but somehow they seemed like the closest thing he had to family.

Luna sat up a bit straighter as she continued, "The group then did something a bit more... unusual. This is where the process gets sketchy and unclear. through a complex series of spells and alchemic potions, they summoned three dragon souls and somehow bound them to each of you, then subdued them, keeping them dormant until they would be needed."

"This is when everything went wrong. The two guards burst in when the souls had not yet been repressed and, quite literally, all hell broke loose. The dragon souls took control of the foals, including you, and destroyed everything. Each of the dragon-bloods' eyes glowed and had a visible aura surrounding their bodies, each in the shape of the dragon who's soul had been bound to it and the color its scales had been, but you didn't behave the same way as the other two. You just stood and stared as your counterparts destroyed the building and as its inhabitants fled, almost as if awaiting something or someone to get you. After being given a description of what your aura looked like, a certain ancient scholar identified it as Gretylon, a dragon that is actually quite infamous throughout both history and legend."

"Gretylon is famous for being one of the few "noble" dragons of the world, and did a great deal to help in the effort of protecting Equestria from invaders. Though he may have been a great benefit to society, he was ultimately exiled by his dragon pack and then similarly outlawed from any community of ponies because of the simple fact that he was a dragon. He was driven mad and feral by isolation and completely decimated several towns, then he flew into the Everfree forest so nopony could catch him. He stayed hidden there until the day he died. Have you heard a voice or felt anything odd since you left the castle?"

"Y-yes, in th-the forest there was a v-voice, but it didn't s-seem noble at all," Silent Storm answered, still trying to take everything in.

"If you can reason with Gretylon and even pull him from the madness in which he descended, he could be a powerful ally and even a friend if you allow him to be," Luna said and was about to go on when she saw that she'd been smothering the little colt with information. She softened her tone and gestured for Stormy to come sit next to her.

He plodded over and seated himself beside the midnight blue alicorn and tentatively asked, "Can you help me along the way?"

She looked sadly upon him and replied, "I'm sorry, but I can't. This is something that must be done with friends that you make on your journey, but I can point you in the right direction. Look for a zebra that lives in the forest, she may be able to get you on your way. In fact, she might already be nearby."

Silent Storm leaned his head on Luna's side and the two of them sat together, enjoying the simple feeling not being alone.

Comments

[SpikeDark]

there is one they fear he is dragon born, silent storm