//------------------------------// // Chapter 32. A Small Reward // Story: Tales Of An Outcast // by PrismStrike //------------------------------// As consciousness swells into me I open my eyes to find myself somewhere new, somewhere I've never been before. I can only describe it as being a paradise, a forest of such majesty and beauty that words would fail to describe it properly. The trees I find myself among are tall, thick and look ancient beyond compare their trunks towering up into the sky where their tops actually become obscured by clouds. As I look around this splendor I hear a voice calling out from the forest. "Come, come to me my little one" The voice that calls out sounds so familiar to me and brings with it such feelings of longing that I find myself compelled to go towards it. It takes me sometime to find my way through the dense forest though the voice guides me ever forwards until finally I reach the edge of it to find a towering golden city surrounded by an immense plain of grass. The sky above me is a perfect shade of powder blue and though the sun sits high in a cloudless sky its rays only seem to give enough heat to pleasantly warm me. "Come, come your almost there" The voice says in its soft and sweet tone beckoning me towards the city and so I follow it. This time though without the trees surrounding me I go to spread my wings only to feel something different then the metal i had started to become accustomed to feeling, I feel the soft brush of actual feathers along the scales of my back, and I actually turn my head to look behind me as my flesh and blood wings spread out to their fullest. With shock and surprise written upon my face I give each and experimental flex, feeling the muscles and feathers respond the way they should. With a hearty grin I take to the sky soaring up towards the clouds before leveling off and just hovering. "YAHOOOO!" I bellow out into the empty sky surrounding me before I turn and face myself towards the city pushing my wings as hard as I can simply to feel the muscles strain. With several mighty flaps i take off like a bullet. I cut through the sky eating up the distance between the forest and the city as I keep pushing my body harder and harder relishing in the feeling of just flying. Sadly it doesn't take me long to reach the great city and I land just a few yards from the main gate. As I land I notice something odd, guarding the massive golden gate is both a unicorn and a dragon As I approach the gate slowly having folded my wings up on my back upon landing, both the unicorn and dragon seem to regard me for a moment before stepping aside, the dragon opening the gate as it speaks to me. "You are expected, you will go to the castle all will be explained for you there. I nod and give a quick" Thanks" to the dragon before stepping in past the gate. What greets me is a city made of gold, each of the double story buildings litteraly crafted from what seems like solid chunks of the mineral. I marvel at the intricate work and carvings upon some of the buildings as I move through the street while also noticing some of the residents. The majority of which are ponies of all three races and dragons of every conceivable color, size and type, but every now and then as i walk I see something that makes me do a double take. Members of my own kind walking around smiling and happily interacting with both pony and dragon. After seeing a few examples of my own kind walking about freely I decide I must know what this place is and I speed up my pace as much as i think would be polite though I am all but jogging towards the castle. It takes me only a short while longer to reach the massive golden structure. At the front gate to the castle I am greeted by two of my own kind though both are obviously half unicorn judging by the Alicorn sized horns coming from their foreheads. Both are midnight black, with bright red eyes and fiery manes and tails. Both are obviously female judging by their physical appearance and voices when both begin to speak in complete union. "Ahh finally you arrive Prism Strike, you are expected by our Lord. He will answer the questions you no doubt have. The throne room is not hard to find just follow the main hallway and you should reach it in no time." Both then step aside igniting their horns in a deep red aura which then surrounds the gate opening it for me. I bow to both before quickly making my way inside. As the two had said it does not take me long to find the main throne room another pair of midnight black, female dragon unicorns are guarding a massive golden door, with intricate carvings of ponies, dragons and all the types of my kind. Both look at me and without saying a word step aside using the same red aura as the two outside to open the doors. As with the other two these ones as well both speak in unison as they announce my presence. "The dragon pegasus Prism Strike has finally arrived Lord." I am then quickly ushered into the room where I find myself before two dragons and a pegasus who seems so familiar to me. "Welcome Prism Strike to my kingdom. I am Xadaxadril Master of this realm and lord of those who seek to protect all life no matter the personal cost. But enough of that I know you must have questions so please ask them" A large bipedal white dragon sitting upon a throne made of gold says while smiling down to me his body practically glowing with a white light. "Wh..what is this place?" Is the first question that I am able to get out after several moments of stunned silence. "This is my realm. It does not have a name but many here call it paradise. i created this place to honor those of your kind who rose above their demon and fought to protect rather than to kill, along with those who had sired such wonderful beings. You can think of this as the final reward for those of your kind who fight for life rather than death." Xadaxadril's reply leaves me speechless for several moments until something he said clicks into my head. "Wait you said final reward... as in after their death..does this mean that I.." I stammer out the words not really wanting an answer to that though before I can finish the sentance Xadaxadril cuts me off. "No your not dead Prism. Your very much alive back in Equestria though currently unconscious. I brought your mind here to give you a small glimpse of what you have to look forward to should you remain on your current path and also to give you a small reward for getting under my brothers skin so thoroughly." with one clawed hand he then motions to the pegasus and the other dragon standing near the base of his throne. "The two having finally been acknowledge look at me and smile, and I note that the dragon has his arm around the pegasus. I start off by looking over the dragon who is a bipedal variant like Xadaxadril though he seems to only bee about 8 feet tall. His scales are a rather dark almost black shade of blue, his ruby red eyes though sharp seem kind when looking at me. his most striking feature though has to be what looks like a rainbow mane coming from his head, though upon focusing abit more I can see that what looked like hair at first is actually a multitude of thin spines protruding from the top of his head. I then look down at the mare and my mind simply freezes as a memory comes up. 'A small pegasus looks down at me with soft, loving magenta eyes, a lock of her fire red mane comes tumbling over her azure blue face. I reach out placing my tiny scaled hands upon her cheeks as I babble and coo. She fixes her mane before leaning in to gently blow on my scaled belly' as the memory ends and my eyes focus i dart forwards scooping up the pegasus in my arms and hugging her tightly. "Mo..Momm..is..is that really you" I stammer out tears already flowing down my face. "Yes my special little boy, its me" those few words from her as she strokes me mane is enough to break me down and I fall to my knees hugging her against my chest crying into her mane. "I..I nev..never thought I wou..would see you again" I manage to say between deep and heavy sobs of both joy and from the immense feeling of loss that has been bottled up since her death. "Shhhhh. Its ok my little Prism. I want you to know that I am so proud of you.you have been such a good boy and getting recognized by Princess Celestia herself, thats not something any other Citizen here can claim. You have made me so soo proud of you my little Prism." She speaks to me softly, stroking my mane as she does for the next five minutes she just lets me sit there crying into her mane while she just repeats how proud of me she is until I finally manage to get myself under control. When i finally have she gets me to look at her before smiling again. "Do you feel better now." She asks me lovingly her Bright magenta eyes and soft, warm smile greeting me as I look at her. I nod slowly before nuzzling my cheek against hers. She returns it then motions my attention towards the other dragon who has simply stood by and waited for us to finish. "Prism I would like to introduce you to your Father" My eyes go wide as i look upon the dragon with the rainbow spine mane. "Hello son, I am so glad to finally get to meet you. I want you to know that just like your mother I am so proud of what you have ebcome. I honestly could not be happier with how you have turned out. Your strong and fierce yet kind and compassionate enough to want to protect those that cannot do so for themselves And i know that with every day that passes, you are only going to make me prouder of you." He smiles at me the entire time he talks I reach out pulling him into the embrace with my mother hugging both of them tightly before I look over at Xadaxadril. "Thank you..thank you so much for this, this means more to me than I can ever put into words." I then look to my parents giving them both another big hug. "And I won't disappoint either of you. I am going to make sure that both of you have an endless amount of reasons to be proud " "well then I guess it is time for you to return home then. there is much you still need to do and precious little time to do it." Xadaxadril says from his throne getting my attention. "It is time to wake up Prism. Go, train yourself for the fight ahead and know that we will all be watching and rooting for you." I nod to Xadaxadril, give my parents another tight loving hug, then I close my eyes and wake up.