Ch2: Arrival
The trip to Ponyville was taking longer than Rarity expected, especially when her new companion ran off. It wouldn’t have been that bad, she would have returned to Ponyville by herself, but the creature had her gems with it, so she decided to run after it, but stopped outside of some thick brush when she heard some bones snapping. The bushes rustled another time, and the dragon-like creature started to stand back up.
“Ugh, don’t come out until you clean up, from what I heard coming from behind that bush, you must be filthy.” Seeing the creature soaked in blood was something she would rather not see.
“I do not see a stream nearby, and since I’m not a cat, I can’t lick the blood off. Looks like we’ll have to wait until we find a stream, or a suitable bathing area.” With that, he exited his little dining area and stood before rarity. There was still blood caked to his armor, but it was cleaner than she thought.
“Fine, just don’t get any of it on me.”
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She may not be showing it, but Lance could tell she was even more spooked out by his appearance. Not many people are comfortable standing around someone who has blood and bits of fur from another creature on their armor. Soon enough, they were out of the forest, and heading towards some sort of town, it looked way to colorful for him to really admire, and it was giving him a headache.
Next thing he knew, “EEEP! MONSTER!” a yellow blur shot straight past him, towards some sort of hollowed out tree.
“Well, that was unexpected. Do you think it’s because I still have a bit of pork stuck in my teeth.” Lance proceeded to lick between his sharp teeth with his forked tongue.
“No, I think it’s the fact that Fluttershy is scared of dragons and you just happen to look like one. Plus it doesn’t help that you have blood on your scales. I’ll go talk to her, meet me at my boutique at the center of town, and get cleaned up while I’m gone, oh, and do try to avoid being seen, I’m not sure how others will react to the sight of you.”
“Sounds like a plan, I like traveling unseen, so this shouldn’t be a problem, but should I take the gems with me, or are you going to bring them with you?”
“I’ll take them with me, I don’t want you running off with them again. I’ll see you at the shop in a few minutes.” With that, she walked towards a house that looked like a tree, not too different than what he saw some wood elves living in.
“Well, let’s see what wonders await me here.” Lance then casted his invisibility and muffle spells, and made his way towards his master’s shop in town.
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A few minutes into the town, and Lance got an uneasy feeling, like he was being followed. He glanced back, but only saw a bale of hay, so he shrugged the feeling off and continued sneaking.
A few minutes later, and he snuck another glance back, and that bale of hay was still behind him, but with an odd set of glasses, nose and mustache disguise. “What in Mara’s name?” he moved forward, and so did the hay. He found an alleyway, and quickly duck into it, soon after the hay followed. He jumped from his cover onto the hay to try and find his follower, only to find it empty. “What trickery is this?”
He managed to stand up, and… “HI THERE!”
The sudden noise startled Lance, and made him jump in the air, and land flat on his back. “What in oblivion was that!” he cupped his hands over his mouth when he realized he yelled. He quickly reactivated his spells, just in time too. A beige pony with a grey mane looked into the alleyway.
“Pinkie, what are you doing?”
“Oh nothing mayor, just saying hi to a new friend.” She proceeded to put a hoof around his shoulder.
“Okay then.” She shrugged and left.
“Hey, how come she didn’t see you?” she then proceeded to poke him to get an answer.
“How is it you can see me, I’m using an invisibility spell.” He then smacked the hoof away. “Listen, I would love to stay and chat, but I have somewhere I need to be.”
“Oh oh oh, is there some kind of secret party you are going to, if it is than can I come, I just love love love parties.” She was right in his face when she said this.
“Sort of, I need to meet someone in town.” He pushed her away slightly to get some breathing room.
“Is it Rarity?” she gave him an inquisitive eye.
“Who?”
“One of my bestest best friends silly. She has a white coat, and a purple mane and tail.”
“Yes, it is, but how did you know?”
The pink pony pulled out a stack of paper. “I read the script of course. Oh, and by the way, my name is Pinkie Pie, what’s yours?”
“What is a script, no matter. My name is Fire-Lance, it was nice to meet you, but I must get going.” He then jumped onto a roof, deciding it was the best way to get around the colorful town.
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“He seemed pretty grumpy, maybe a surprise party will cheer him up!” pinkie proceeded to bounce away, this would be the first time she planned a party for a dragon.
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Lance made it to the town center, and saw his master, Rarity, walk into a white building with what looked like mannequins in clothing decorating the windows. “Did it really take me that long to get here?” He muttered to himself something about tardiness, and then proceeded to make his way into the shop from the top floor.
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Rainbow Dash was cruising through the sky above Ponyville, practicing for the Wonderbolts like she normally does, but then noticed something at the Carrousel Boutique. When she looked closer, she saw Rarity’s top floor window open, then close with no assistance from magic. She then flew down to investigate, entering through the same window.
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Lance just entered the shop, and was heading down the stairs. He let his cloak slip, seeing that it was almost empty of life here, except for him and Rarity of course. He was at the stairs, and then something tackled him. He proceeded to roll down the staircase and land on his face at the bottom, and he also felt something holding his arms behind his back.
“Hold it right there ugly, just what do you think you’re doing in Rarity’s house?”
“I was invited.” This one was starting to get on Lance’s nerves, so he kicked her off and tossed a paralysis spell at her, which quickly made her stiffen up, and fall over.
“What did you just do to me, why can’t I move!” her attempts to struggle made him laugh.
Just as this happened, Rarity busted the door open, “Just what is going on in here! Oh, hi Rainbow, hi... uh, sorry, I didn’t get your name back when we were getting the gems.”
“I am Fire-Lance, and don’t worry, I didn’t kill her, just used a paralyzing spell.”
“Well, let her out of it, I’m sure she has questions for you as well.as well as an apology, don’t you Rainbow.” She then sent a glare at the blue pony with a rainbow mane and…wings.
“Sure, yea, sorry.” She stated indignantly. Lance sent a purple haze towards her, which seems to have cured her paralysis. “Mind if I ask the first question.”
“Go ahead, just let me clean up first.” Lance left for a minute to clean off his scales and scale armor. He returned to find the mini horses drinking what appeared to be tea. “Okay, fire away.”
“Just what kind of dragon are you?”
Lance just glared at her before answering. “I am not a dragon, I am an Argonian, a sentient race of reptilian people from Blackmarsh, I should really take it as a compliment, but it seems to bother me more than when the imperials threaten to turn me into a pair of boots.”
Rarity was appalled by this. “That is just horrible!”
“Thank you for your-“
“I mean, who would want to turn you into boots, your scales aren’t really the color to match any clothing other than dark funeral attire!” Lance deadpanned at her, which made her blush and shrink back a little. “Oh, um, sorry.”
“The thing that sucks is that I can’t really be mad at you, being the one with the most power over me and all.” this caught the rainbow ones attention.
“Really, how so?”
“Yes, I’m quite interested in that too, I remember you saying something about a heart stone, so start there.” Lance opted to tell a short description about the stones power, but the look on Rarity’s face told him that they needed the whole story behind the stone.
He took a deep breath. “The heart stone is a chunk of onyx used by the blackheart clan, where I am from, to resurrect warriors or young Argonians who have fallen, prematurely to death. The stone only works on those who are part of the tribe, which is good, some necromancers have tried using it to bring themselves back, but it didn’t work. The stone actually traps the soul of the unlucky sod that died in limbo, forcing them to roam a type of spirit realm until the stone is activated. Any magic can activate the stone, even a child can activate it if they are in the vicinity of each other. The one who activates the stone has absolute power over the soul that was trapped. To make it even better, the stone even replaces the heart of the one resurrected, making one giant flaw in its design.”
Rainbow had fallen asleep during the lesson, but Rarity was giving her rapt attention, clearly interested. “What is the flaw?”
“The gem can fracture and break if there is too much strain on it. Sometimes a few good smacks with a hammer is the quickest way to destroy it, and the person it revived. The other quick way to kill someone who has been resurrected is to kill their master, thus, severing the stones tie to the living world, and sending the soul back into limbo.”
“Well, that is interesting, but it doesn’t really seem right, then again, necromancy is never right.” At this point rainbow woke up, and decided to take her leave. It was now Rarity and Lance in the room. Lance was about to say something when something burst from his pack.
“HI RARITY! I just wanted to invite you to a surprise party for someone I just met in Ponyville today, he seemed like a grouch, but I know a good party is all he needs to cheer him up, but don’t tell him, it’s a secret.” She then disappeared back into the pack, the only evidence that she was even there, was a blue envelope slowly floating to the floor. Rarity looked around the room for Lance, and noticed him hanging from the ceiling by the spikes on his head; the sight of this sent her into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
“Yes yes, very funny. If you could be so kind as to help me down, we could get going with what needs to be done.” Rarity recomposed herself, and helped Lance down from the ceiling.
“Well, first order of business is to make you some new garments. Since I don’t have a mannequin for Argonians, you are going to have to model for me.”
“Well, as long as I don’t look ridiculous in it, it is okay.”
“Don’t worry about it darling, you are going to look fabulous. “ her statement sent a shiver up his spine, last time he checked, Argonians were never made to look fabulous, only the smooth skin races could pull that off. He reluctantly followed her into a room with a stage and various pieces of fabrics that littered the floor. He took one look at the six mannequins that lined the right side wall.
“By the nine, this is going to take a while.”