Neocros: The Water Dragon

by Samuel-Neocros


Above the Clouds

It was another day in Ponyville. Neocros was hiding next to a tree. The reason is he never liked the many stares everypony gave him while walking. It was a feeling that made his core uncomfortable, so he chose to not be seen often. He liked the breeze that was flowing over his scales, but it was starting to get kind of chilly for him.

Neocros normally liked the cold, but for some reason his scales weren't in the mood today. Still, he stood there, back pressing into the bark, his dorsal fins would fold down whenever something was about to press on his back. To this day, Fluttershy still routinely tries to check how his biology worked. The feeling of unwanted touch would unnerve him though, so he always pushed the golden pony away. He didn't mean ill will, just didn't want unwanted hooves on him.

His mind started to think back to that incident back at the Wonderbolts show, where that filly's father went missing. That mysterious stallion was creepy, as if plucked from another world.

As he was thinking to himself, he suddenly heard a familiar voice nearby. He glanced behind the tree, and saw Rainbow Dash. She was talking to a pony, who seemed to be one of her fans. Neocros waited patiently for them to finish talking, but he couldn't help but feel a little jealous, and he didn't know why, which made him feel a little off. As the pony walked away, Rainbow noticed Neocros standing there staring at her.

"Hey Neo!" She smiled, walking over to him as he approached her carefully. She saw him staring at the dirt, having a look of deep thought before he spoke.

"So.. your place?" He asked, rather timidly.

"Oh yeah! Got the walking on clouds potion?" She asked. Neocros had a small bag that Spike gave him. He pulled the potion out to show her he had it, which made her grin. "Cool! Let's go!"

...

When they arrived, Neocros was taken aback by how huge the place was. The magnificent architecture combined with the rainbows made for a beautiful and breath-taking sight. Though he had seen a few pictures of it, it really was a different feeling when he was actually in front of it. When Spike left with the hot air balloon, Rainbow Dash led Neocros to the front doors, landing there before Neocros could catch up, but she did wait for him.

Upon entering, the first thing that came to him wasn't the huge statue of a Wonderbolt flying, but was the scent, not that it was bad or anything, far from it actually, it was a pleasant smell. Clouds is something that he thought of when trying to describe it, similar to Rainbow's scent. There was a staircase that led to a higher level, which impressed Neocros, as he liked stairs, but only when he goes up them, going down can be oddly scary.

"Uh, yeah...welcome!" Dash said. Neocros glanced around, and felt comfy with the nice shades of blue, purple, and white, and some other colors here and there as well. She noticed he had gone silent while glancing around. "Yeah, I know, it's pretty awesome."

He shrugged, a small smile on his face. "It's nice."

Neocros glanced over at what appeared to be the living room over to the left. He slowly approached as Dash followed. The room had a sofa made of clouds, as well as a chair, along with a glass table in the center, and a large window with purple curtains that had lightning bolts on them. Neocros walked over and sat down on the sofa as Rainbow floated over.

"So what's up?" She asked. Neocros glanced at the table, as his mind had nothing to say, or comment on. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"I did not think this far." He commented. "I don't know what is up..."

Rainbow chuckled. "Why not I show you around?"

He nodded, before she and him explored the house, with her showing off a lot of her collection of Wonderbolt posters and some of her trophies.

"Impressive." Neo said, nodding.

She even showed him her Wonderbolt suit, which was next to her Gala dress. He found himself looking at the colors of the home, loving the nice shades of blues and whites, combined with accent colors like purple.

Finally, they returned to the front entrance, where Rainbow flew up to the top of the stairs. "Let's check out my room!"

Neocros walked up the stairway, and entered into the room Dash entered. Inside, the bedroom was quite big, bigger than his room at Twilight's, exposed windows were on both walls on either side of the bed, and a larger window with curtains were next to the door. What drew his attention the most was the bed. It looked very soft, and the clouds gave him a welcoming feeling inside, as if the bed was inviting him to lay down, but he feared doing so.

"The bed looks.. cozy." Neocros sheepishly said. Rainbow Dash agreed, but didn't think much of his words. As they hung out, she asked him how he's been doing.

"I'm... okay, I guess." He replied, after going silent for a moment. Rainbow figured that Neocros had to think hard with that one, but was it really that tall of an order? She thought. He wasn't too talkative, but he did say a few things of interest, to her at least. "... Sam taught me how to make board games."

"Really?" She replied.

"Yeah... and I began making my own game pieces.. using clay." He said. His fingers helped with this skill, but it's a skill he rarely shows off. They continued talking for a few minutes, with Neocros asking if he could sit on the bed. When Dash agreed, he carefully sat down. He was taken aback at how comfy the bed was. "This bed is... better than the one I lay in at night."

...

After a while, they went outside, where the sun was high in the sky. Neocros felt the wind on his scales. It gave him cold chills, but it was a good kind of cold. He saw various mountains off in the distance, before he glanced over to Rainbow Dash, who was staring at the trees below.

"Uhm... Rainbow?" He began. Rainbow Dash looked at him, as she landed on the soft cloud. "I'm.. sorry--I mean.. I'm sad I didn't speak much."

"Ah c'mon, it's cool spending time with you." She replied, "I like how chill you are."

Neo looked down, his eyes close to locking with hers, yet were just shy. He asked if she meant it, which she replied she had no reason not to be. He glanced down at the grass far below them, and a small smile came to his lips.

"...thank you." He said. Deep down, he felt an odd connection to Rainbow. He wasn't entirely sure of it, but somehow he felt compelled to know her more. He rolled his eyes, looking around his surroundings, until he finally rested his gaze on the sky blue pegasus next to him. Somehow, even if he doesn't know, he could see her mane looked pretty to look at, along with her tail, and even her cutie mark. He tried not to stare, and so he looked at her eyes. The amethyst color, it was close to his own sapphire colored ones. Before he lost his train of thought, he asked her. "... Dashie?"

Rainbow glanced up at him again.

"Uhm... I don't know why... but I..." He wanted to ask her if he could get to know her more, but somehow his body locked up, preventing him from saying it. It was in his throat, but it wouldn't pass. Rainbow could see the visible worry on his face. "... I think I need to... take a rest..."

Rainbow Dash was initially confused, but he told her he didn't know why this was the case. Dash eventually nodded. After what felt like a while, Spike returned with the balloon.

Neocros felt really bad for not saying what he wanted to say, but deep down, he felt that maybe it wasn't time to say it...yet.