The cracking of rocks and other things filled Valissa’s ears as she walked through the blackness. She could hear the black giant walking closely behind her, but she wanted him closer, and their location might just do the trick.
Ahead of her, Valissa could see the faintest of light’s and she knew they had arrived. Especially because the sound beneath her claws became one that reminisced walking on metal and glass. She could feel herself sink in the contents of their location, and the feeling brought forth sweet memories of her youth. The air also changed around her, becoming lighter and fresher. Behind her, Neltharion entered the new cave as well and she heard him stop for a moment, probably to examine what he was walking on exactly.
Flames came from Valissa’s nose so she could get a good look at her location. She was exactly where she thought she’d be. Looking up, Valissa let a stream of flames exit her mouth and onto the ceiling. Rocks started to fall down, clinking as they hit the contents of the cave and letting in the sharp evening sun.
For a moment, her sight was completely blinded by the vast arrays of different light that suddenly lit up the cave, then her sight adjusted, and her heart grew warm at the sight.
She was standing upon tens of thousands of gems, all in different colors and sizes. It was like a small ocean inside the massive cave that was revealed to be at least as big as the inside of the dragon capital itself. She walked to one side of the cave where a giant boulder was covering the entrance and pushed it away with her head, letting even more sunlight inside.
Valissa grew a smirk when she turned and noticed the utter surprise on Neltharion’s face. His jaw had even managed to drop open at the sight. That reaction was worth dragging him to Draconia alone.
This was her treasury.
A giggle escaped the queen that echoed through the cave and out through the many holes in the ceiling. “Are you okay, Neltharion? You seem a bit baffled.” Her mirth only increased as the black giant composed himself and snorted.
“Pretty.”
“Talking about me or the gems?”
Neltharion responded to that with a flat face, which wasn’t technically an answer. Valissa responded with a giggle.
“Your treasury I assume?”
“Indeed, Neltharion. My kind has amassed this treasure for millennia in case of a food crisis.” Valissa picked a chunk of gems in her claw, which seemed like pebbles compared to her. “Another good quality of gems, other than being a food source is that they are exceptionally pretty. Here in Draconia, their beauty is without equal, especially to other countries. The amount of times my sentries have caught ponies and griffins…” Valissa sighed and shook her head.
“Is this your reasoning for keeping all other races out?”
“Among other things,” Valissa frowned for a moment, before her smile back. “But enough of that. Why don’t you try some gems? They are quite delicious if I should say so myself.”
She could see Neltharion was about to decline, but something, perhaps curiosity, had kept his mouth shut.
Watching with inner excitement, Valissa’s eyes fixed on the great dragon as he leaned down and took some gems into his maw. There was no doubt in her mind he would love the gems. All dragons did.
Neltharion chewed and sank the gems down his throat and into his stomach.
“I might as well have been chewing rocks.”
Valissa was unsure what to make of that answer. It didn’t sound like a good thing, but then again, she hadn’t seen Neltharion being impressed with anything other than the cave itself. “So, do you like it?”
A deadpan appeared on Neltharion’s face.
“No.”
Awkward moments were rare for Valissa, but this one definitely took the cake. Questions rose in her head on why and how. For a moment, she even got offended and even angry, but those thoughts quickly evaporated. Getting angry might not be the best idea considering what she was trying to do. And although it might not seem like it, she might be getting through to him. This thought was reinforced when she saw the inkling of a smile on Neltharion’s face, probably because of her own shifting expression. Eventually she settled on a smile, thinking she was getting closer.
“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Spike asked, watching his pseudo big sister groaning into a pillow.
“Everything,” Twilight groaned in response.
“That really cleared things up,” Spike rolled his eyes. Approaching, Spike jumped up onto her bed. “What’s wrong?”
“Have you ever felt useless?”
“Pretty much every time we and the girls go on a adventure,” Spike answered with a smile.
Twilight lifted her head and looked back at him. “Sorry.”
“Nah, it’s okay Twilight. I’m just meant to be a sidekick, and strangely, I’m okay with that now. Tell me what’s wrong.”
“Okay,” Twilight replied, sitting up on her bed. “Since Neltharion’s ‘incident’ in the hall, I’ve secretly tried to uncover why he has pony magic.”
“Wait, why have you kept that a secret?”
“Because I’m pretty sure Neltharion would rather swann dive into a volcano than let me do more experiments on him.”
Spike laughed. “Can’t say I blame him.”
Twilight frowned.
“What?” Spike asked. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember when you did the same thing to me.”
“I was just a filly back then.”
“That didn’t stop you from electrocuting me.”
“You’re never gonna let that go, are you?”
Spike shook his head, “nope.”
Twilight shook her head, smiling, in response.
“But now that I’m here anyway, let’s see if your number one assistant can help.” Spike jumped down from Twilight’s bed, went over to her worktable, grabbed a scroll and quill, and stood ready in front of Twilight.
Twilight merely laughed at the dragon’s posture, he looked so proud.
“You begin talking and I’ll write it down. So what data have you gathered?”
A sigh escaped Twilight. “None.”
Spike rose an eyebrow. “Okay? Do you have any theories?”
“No…”
“Do you have a plan to get either?”
“No…” Twilight buried her head in the pillow again.
“Okaaay,” Spike blinked. “How about we start with some base questions then?”
“Spike I’ve already done all of this, but I still don’t have any ideas.”
“Yeah, but back then you didn’t have me here, so just answer the question.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Fine. We know he's a very big disfigured magic using dragon.”
Spike wrote it down. “Good, good. Any special properties of his magic?”
“I don’t know, Spike. He’s a magic using dragon. That in itself is unheard of in Equestria.”
“Well what does his magic do?”
“It controls the earth and elements.”
Spike looked up from the scroll with a questioning look. “Really?”
“Yes,” Twilight nodded. A question rose in her mind. “Wait, what did you think his magic did?”
Spike shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe control fire? It seems very dragon-magicky.”
“Well fire is one of the elements, the earth and he also has access to some...other magic”
“What do you mean by ‘other?’”
“Well he kinda sorta all of a sudden spoke to me inside my head.”
“Cool!” Spike gleamed. “You think he can teach me to do that?”
“...”
“Oh, right…” Spike seemed to deflate like a balloon at that. He coughed to break the tension. “Okay, what about in his pony form, did his magic change then?”
Twilight took a hoof to her chin. “Not that I can think of. He still had full access to his magic in his pony form.
“Can you think of any connection between his dragon magic and pony magic?”
“No not real…” Twilight went silent as a stray thought hit her.
“Twilight?” Spike rose a brow.
Twilight’s eyes widened, “I might have a theory.”
Standing in the mountains of gems, Neltharion felt weird as Valissa looked at him. She was smiling, but not a cocky smile or a playful smile, but a genially warm smile. Something within him tingled for a moment, and it felt strangely nice. Somehow it also awoke genuine interest in Neltharion. About her, about her duty as a ruler. But also an actual question as to why he was here would be nice. He had his own suspicions on why he was there, but he wanted her to say it.
“You never answered why you wanted me to come to Draconia.”
A soft giggle escaped Valissa. “And it isn’t something I should have to answer. You know why.”
“No, I don’t.”
An eyebrow rose on Valissa’s face and her smile disappeared. “Very well. You and I are alike, Neltharion.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“And I don’t need to,” she answered. “I can see it in your eyes, like I can see in a mirror of my own. Loneliness.”
“Our situations are hardly comparable. You have an entire kingdom. Why should you be lonely?”
“The same reason why you are despite being around princess Twilight and other ponies.” Valissa turned away from Neltharion, but her voice sounded clear because of the cave echoing. “No one understands true loneliness until they have an entire world that admires and fears them, but no one to be with. No friends to laugh with. No partners to share their life and love with. No family to care for or to embrace.”
That last part stung inside Neltharion.
“And nothing good comes out of those things anyway.”
He meant every word, but despite it, there was a bit of doubt within him.
“You’re wrong,” Valissa said. “And I should know because I’ve felt like you have,” she looked back at Neltharion, but her expression was heartbreakingly sad. “At first, I felt like you, but time went by. Hundreds of years, thousands of years seeing parents and children find each other and be a family. Then I started to realise that I would never have that for myself, and that thought was devastating.”
“You speak of these things as if life itself has no meaning without them. You only want those things because you’ve never felt the pain of losing any of those things.”
The words left Neltharion’s mouth with a growl. He could feel his blood run hot at the thought of everything that had led him to where he was now, and practically nothing of it was good.
“But you have,” a smile appeared on Valissa’s face. “I have also lost things, despite what you might believe, Neltharion.
The smile threw Neltharion off. Again it was a soft smile, a warm and welcoming smile. Again a tingle in his chest.
Suddenly, her smile faded as she looked over the more grotesquely parts of him. His jaw, the metal pieces and the constant running of blood. “Does it hurt?”
Neltharion was taken aback by her question, but the answer was easy. He lifted his left claw and flexed it a few times, each time a sharp pain shot through his claw, but he ignored it. It was something he was used to.
“Always.”
That word lingered in the air for what felt like minutes to the both of them.
Suddenly all of Neltharion’s past feelings were gone and instead he was focused on the constant pain that ran through his body. It felt as if his scales were boiling and his blood was acid. In the moment, only the pain mattered. With it came anger, rage and memories.
Seemingly understanding the sudden change of mood in Neltharion, Valissa changed topic. “You know I have to ask,” she said with her more usual smile. “What is it that compels you to stay with the ponies, and not here?”
“They have been kind to me, and so I shall return the favor.”
“But isn’t it cruel to stay with them?”
“What do you mean?”
“I saw how mere words from you made them shy away. I saw their looks, and the fear in their eyes. Your presence scares them. Their very nature tell them to run when they see you. Wouldn’t it be kinder to leave them?”
Her words resounded in Neltharion’s head. She was right, it would be kinder to leave them, in theory. He could already imagine the rumors of his leave. The mass panic, and perhaps even riots. Despite what Valissa might think, it would be kinder to let the ponies have their eyes on him, more for their sake than his own.
“No.”
He never saw it coming. Why should he? It shouldn’t have happened. The very thought of it happening would have been preposterous five minutes ago. But suddenly, he was lying on his back, Valissa on top of him with a sly smile. He heard her laugh, and for a moment, he wanted to join her. He wanted to have fun, to laugh, and to at least try and genuinely smile. All of those thoughts disappeared as quickly as they had appeared though, sucked back down into the void inside of him, and was replaced with memories. These images gnawed at his mind and psyche. Neltharion’s eyes went wide as his mind was filled images of a known dragon’s face. Sinestra. Scars. So many scars. Everything he did to her to bring Onyxia and Nefarian into the world. It was too much.
With a roar, Neltharion slammed his tail into Valissa’s, knocking her off of him, and stood up with anger in his eyes.
Valissa was sent through the thousands of gems and looked up at Neltharion with genuine fear in her eyes.
“I am not yours to be toyed with Valissa!”
His voice rumbled the cave, and Valissa’s eyes widened.
“Your sweet words and faulty promises will not sway me. I would rather burn this entire kingdom than join it!”
At that Neltharion spread his wings, sending gems flying everywhere as he burst through the holed cave ceiling. He looked down at Valissa, and not once did regret touch him. If there was any, it had been drowned in his primal rage.
Despite it all he heard angry voices from the cave beneath and almost felt the eyes of the dragon queen watching him as he disappeared into the sky.
His wings were blazing, literally. And he felt free, but also empty inside. There was nothing but anger and rage. So little happiness or sadness. Just anger.
Why did everything have to be so difficult? Why couldn’t he be happy. He was in a paradise with a choice of having a fresh start, but there was nothing but emptiness, anger and regret.
He passed over deserts, jungles and forests. Time seemed to have disappeared in his thoughts. Nothing mattered but the rage. Why was he so angry.
Clamping his jaw shut, Neltharion could feel the bolts hurting jaw bones. He could feel the elementium grinding against his teeth, but it all only frustrated him more and fueled his anger.
Behind him, the fire from his wings grew hotter as he flew over the landscape below, the glow from the fires like a small sun as his blood began to boil hotter and hotter.
Muscles tensing, Neltharion noticed the fiery blood dripping down his legs. His entire body hurt. It always did, but this time it hurt especially.
Why did he hurt so much?
As if awoken from a trance, Neltharion shook his head as he recognised the landscape beneath. He was almost back. Almost ‘home.’ The word made him grimace.
This wasn’t home. This would never be home.
Nevertheless he channeled his magic and as in a second, his dragon form turned to smoke and his dark pony image emerged.
He landed in the quiet village. First now did he notice the moon had risen. How long had he been gone? Couldn’t have been more than a day, at most.
As he made his way towards the crystal castle, he noticed something strange. Eyes were following him from the windows of the houses around him. Everytime he looked up towards them, the onlookers apparently hid. They must have heard him coming. Not really surprising. The ponies could probably hear him from miles away when he was flying. But their reaction was a little overkill. At the moment though, he didn’t care, not even as his hooves burned through the grass beneath him and left a scorched mark on the ground every time he took a step. All he wanted to do was sleep and wake up sometime next century. Fate, and the ponies surely wouldn’t let him though. He was so tired.
Finally he had made it to the castle, and sure enough, a guard was waiting for him. Neltharion cursed beneath his breath. He only got moodier when he recognised the pony that was waiting for him. Flash Sentry. But something was off about him.
Flash Sentry looked completely focused on Neltharion, his gaze never wavering, but there was no fear in his eyes. Only hatred.
Another odd thing was his peculiar lack of injuries. He shouldn’t have been able to recover from Neltharion’s flicking so quickly. Something was definitely wrong. This thought was reinforced when he started to charge at Neltharion, screaming as he did, but it wasn’t Flash Sentry’s voice.
As he jumped and braced himself to crash into Neltharion, Flash Sentry erupted in green fire, and suddenly queen Chrysalis was in Sentry’s place.
Neltharion did nothing to prevent Chrysalis from hitting him. Quite the contrary, Neltharion jumped to meet her.
As they approached each other, the rage in Chrysalis’ eyes faded and turned into fear, yet she kept going with gritted teeth. Neltharion’s expression never changed. Not even as he barely avoided Chrysalis’ horn from going through his eye. After that, they clashed and rolled onto the ground, Chrysalis hitting and biting him whenever she got the chance, but Neltharion never hit her back. Eventually they ended up with Chrysalis standing on top of him, her breath heaving and teeth clenched. Her body was covered in burns from having come into contact with Neltharion’s searing hot skin.
“Fight back!” She hissed.
“No,” Neltharion merely answered.
“Why not? You take everything from me, and you won’t even do me the satisfaction of an honorable death?!” Chrysalis screamed as she continued to pummel him with her hooves, she let one final cry escape her before falling over due to her injuries.
Neltharion stood up and glared down at her, his form radiating with heat. “You don’t deserve such a thing. I should end you, laying there on the ground, writhing in your own misery, but I won’t.” The searing heat completely disappeared from Neltharion's body and he walked over to her. “Come on.” He gestured towards the castle as he suddenly picked Chrysalis up and threw her over his shoulder. She didn’t protest. Instead only weeping could be heard through the dark halls of the castle.