//------------------------------// // A Dragon's Place // Story: Flash Sentry, Defender of the Peace S7 // by Banshee531 //------------------------------// It began with three certain ponies on the outskirts of Ponyville. The trio were Maud Pie, Starlight Glimmer and Rogue the thestral. Rogue had been asked by Maud to show her to the cave he had once called home, Rogue then telling her that the cave had collapsed, but she was fine with it and Starlight decided to tag along. "Alright..." Rogue pointed at the entrance to the canyon, "The cave into the tunnels is through here." "That looks like a tight squeeze," Starlight pointed out. "Iron was able to squeeze through it," Rogue countered, "Just suck in your gut." Starlight rolled her eyes at this while Maud stared at the flowers surrounding the rocky canyon. She then walked up to a nearby wall, moving over to wipe her hoof on it. "Maud?" Starlight asked, "You find something?" Maud replied by turning to her while showing her hoof was now covered in some kind of shiny slime. "Oil?" "These rocks are made of tar shale," Maud replied, "When exposed to an extreme temperature, they excrete an oil known as synthetic crude." She pointed to the wall, "This whole wall has been super heated recently." "That's strange," Starlight added before seeing more oil on the wall further down. "There sure is a lot of it." The three followed the oil at this, Maud telling them the sun wasn't enough to cause this. And after a few minutes, they arrived at an area filled with more flowers, the walls having more oil covering them. Rogue then pointed at the wall, "Check that out." They now saw a cave in the face of the wall, Maud walking up to the side before the oil made her slip, her back hitting the ground. "Ow," she deadpanned, not even flinching as she said that. "I'll go take a look." Rogue began to hover at this, taking off his glasses as he went to the back of the cave...only to see a bipedal figure standing in the darkness. "Who are you?" He asked, only for the figure to let out a low growl before taking a deep breath. Outside the cave, the mares were staring at the cave, only for a loud roar to ring out before a large blast of fire that exploded out of the cave. "GYAH!" Rogue screamed as he was sent flying out of the cave, Starlight barely managing to catch him with her magic. "Are you okay?" She asked, now seeing the soot covered thestral spit out a bunch of smoke before she looked back at the cave. Teleporting over to it next, she yelled, "Hey! Who's there?!" The figure appeared at this, letting out a growl again, "Whoever you are, you better be careful. I'm not against blasting you." But then the growling increased, only for another blast of fire came for her, the unicorn gasping as her horn began to spark. Meanwhile... Within the Castle of Friendship's map room, Flash, Springer, Heart, Soul, Ace, Mira, Scootaloo and Pinkie were all rummaging through a bunch of boxes in the room, the only one not doing so being Springer. Instead, the jakhowl was standing at a typewriter surrounded by a bunch of old documents. In that moment, Twilight and Fluttershy walked in, both carrying more boxes. "Thanks for helping out," the princess told Fluttershy and Pinkie. "It was about time we gave this place a good spring cleaning." "No kidding," they all turned to see Pinkie polishing a large spring. "Some of these things are super filthy." The others all laughed as Heart opened another box. "What a bunch of junk," he commented as he pulled out an old Halloween wolf-mask. "Where'd you get all this stuff anyway?" Twilight shrugged, "Ponies just automatically accumulate things overtime. And if you don't get on top of it every now and again, it'll overtake your entire life." "And who knows," Soul added, "We might find something that somepony else might like to have instead." "Like what?" Heart asked, only for a beeping sound to ring out, making him turn and see Ace holding a metal detector. The jakhowl laughed as he swung it around, only to see the others staring at him. "What?" He put the device down and moved over to another box, only to pull out a toy. "Hey, check it out!" He yanked the ripcord and a helicopter-like disk shot off the end before landing on one of Springer's piles. "Hey!" He yelped as the papers went flying, the older jakhowl barely managing to catch them all. "Watch it." Ace apologized as Springer put the papers down, Fluttershy moving over to him. "What are you working on?" She asked, picking up one of the papers and seeing an image of a jakhowl's two forms. "If you must know, I've decided to write a chronicle detailing the history of the jakhowl race." He turned to the others, "You remember how hard it was to find anything on us when I first showed up. I don't want that to happen again, so I'm compiling everything. Even if our race disappears, we'll never be forgotten again." "Really?" Flash added as he walked up, "How much you written?" He looked onto the typewriter and chuckled, "One letter?" He and Heart let out a slight laugh as Springer glared at him, "It's a start." He then turned back to the single letter before leaning over and whispering to Flash, "You got any tippex?" Flash rolled his eyes as he walked away, Twilight then asking, "Did anypony find anything you might think be worth keeping?" "Not really," Scootaloo replied as she jumped into one of the boxes. "All I've found is a bunch of old junk." "Don't be fooled," Pinkie chimed in, "One of these boxes might hold some ancient family heirlooms." Her head popped out of a box, showing a bunch of combs in her mane, "Or maybe some family hair brushes." She giggled as Flash opened another box, the defender then going wide-eyed. "Wow!" he exclaimed as he pulled out a black coat, "You'll never guess what I just found!" "The secrets to eternal stupidity?" Springer asked, not looking up from his typewriter. "No," Flash responded as he held up the coat. "It's my old magic outfit," He put it to his side, now seeing he had greatly outgrown the small outfit, "And here I thought I'd lost it..." "And I thought I'd hidden it," Twilight whispered to Soul and Scootaloo, the three giggling as Flash looked back inside the box. "HA! Trixie isn't the only one who knows how to pull off a trick or two. It's all here." He reached in and pulled out the items. "Wand. Cards. Han...handker...chief..." Everypony raised an eyebrow as he took out a green and very damp rag, which he dropped back in. "I seem to have lost my rabbit." "Have you tried looking in your hat?" Twilight asked, Flash rolling his eyes. "Now why didn't I think of that?" He pulled out a top hat, then waved his hoof above it. "This should be good," Heart joked as Flash reached inside...only for Flash to pull out a white baby rabbit. Their eyes went wide at this while Fluttershy looked like she was gonna explode. "Oh...my...GOODNESS!" She flew over and picked it up, hugging him tightly and rubbing her face into its. "Isn't he sweet?" "Very," Ace licked his lips, "Especially slowly cooked, with dipping sauce on the side." Fluttershy turned to shoot him the stare, making the joking jakhowl recoil, "Sorry. That was tasty...I mean tasteless." Flash turned to Fluttershy, "Maybe you should take him in. I'm sure you could find a nice home for him." Fluttershy nodded and continued to pet the rabbit while the others focused on sorting through the boxes and placing everything into one single box. "Why isn't Spike helping with this?" Mira asked as she and Soul placed an old painting on the floor away from the throw-out pile. "Isn't this kind of thing usually his expertise?" "Spike's a little busy right now," Twilight replied as she picked up a box. "Doing what?" "Well..." Within his room, Spike was staring at a table with a gemstone on it. "Alright..." he told himself, "I'm gonna do it this time." He pointed at the gem, "You will be in my belly!" With that, he took a deep breath and thought about everything Twilight told him before breathing onto his claws. In doing so, he shot out some fire that wrapped around his claws, the drake feeling the magic energy flowing through the flames. He thrust his arms out and tried to mentally visualize the image of the gem lifting off the table...only for nothing to happen. "Augh!" He yelled after a minute or so, dropping his arms and falling to his butt. "Why can't I do this?!" He let out a long sigh before laying back on the floor, "Couldn't dad have left me with all of his magical knowledge?! I don't wanna just sit around trying to figure out this junk out..." "Just leave him be," Twilight told the others, "He's frustrated about not being able to figure out his magic." "I can sure understand that," Soul sighed as she used her magic to lift the items out of another box. Ever since she had discovered her true magic, controlling it had felt an awful lot easier. It was like she had been reading a manual written in another language, only to now have one she was able to read. Flash nodded, "I guess it's hard to figure something out about yourself when there's literally nopony around to tell you about your kind and little to nothing written down. Same with my Sacred Light..." "Tch. I know that more than anyone," Springer added, "That's why I'm writing this chronicle." And what he had yet to say was that another reason he was doing it was so is that if another jakhowl one day appeared in Equestria, they wouldn't have to live in the dark about who they were. "Now, if you don't mind, no more distractions. I need to-" "TWILIGHT!" Starlight's voice echoed through the air, making Springer groan. "Oh, I give up." He slammed his head down on the typewriter. A moment later, the doors flew open to reveal Starlight, Rogue and Maud, the first two covered in soot and smoking. "What's wrong?" Twilight asked her student as she now saw what her and Rogue looked like. "There's some kind of creature located in a cave just outside of Ponyville," Starlight replied, "And by the looks of things, it's not very friendly." "Yeah," Rogue nodded, "It blasted fire at us before we could try and get close. If Starlight hadn't teleported us out of there, we'd be barbecued right now." "You got any idea what it is?" Flash asked, Springer hopping off his chair. "Not really," Starlight responded, "All I know is that it breathes fire and stands on two legs." This made the ponies all exchange a glance, Springer asking, "It didn't have wings, did it?" The ponies shrugged in response, "Huh. Think it might be a dragon?" "Only one way to find out," Flash replied as he took out his Celestic Gear. "Let's round up the defenders and go meet our new neighbor." An hour or so later... The defenders, Twilight and Spike were now walking up to the area Starlight had mentioned, Heart also there as he stated that him being fireproof made him the best choice to talk to this creature...and Flash agreed if he promised to follow their directions. "I really hope this isn't a dragon," Iron groaned as they headed into the canyon. "Ponyville's suffered enough dragon related issues recently." Grand nodded, "Well if it is a dragon, we can handle it." "And I can send a message to Ember if we need to," Spike finished as they arrived at the cave. "So...who's gonna go in there?" "Heart and I'll go," Flash told them. "You all stay here and be ready in case this thing flies out of the cave and decides to go desolation of Sluarg on Ponyville." They flew in as Iron turned to Twilight, "Desolation of Sluarg?" "It's from a book," she replied as the pair went inside. "Hello?" Flash called out, "Is any-creature here?" They then noticed movement at the back of the cave, "We just wanna talk...." "Yeah," Heart added, "So if you could keep from trying to roast us...at least for a little while." But as he said that, the creature began to let out several growls before taking a deep breath. "Uh-oh!" A mighty roar filled the cave as the creature unleashed a burst of fire. Heart leapt in front of Flash, the flames hitting him but doing no damage. As he did this, Flash pulled out his sword. "Alright," he said as the flames died down, "I didn't wanna do this, but you leave me no choice." He ignited the blade and the light filled the cave, chasing away the darkness...only for Flash and Heart's eyes to go wide. "You?" At the same time, the rest stared at the cave's entrance, only for the pegasi to fly out. "Are you okay?" Twilight asked, "We heard a roar." "We're fine," Flash replied, "And we found out who the dragon is." He turned back to the cave. "You can come out now." They all stared at the cave as the dragon slowly came out, Spike gasping, "Flicker?!" The drake ran up to the dragon, "What are you doing here?!" "Err..." the intellectual dragon scratched the back of his head. "It's...complicated." "And why did you attack Starlight and the others?" Grand asked next. "I didn't attack them," he responded before rubbing his nose. "I've just been..." He stopped and started letting out a bunch of growls, the expression on his face making them see he was preparing to sneeze. He let out a roar at this, Twilight creating a shield to block the flames. "Ugh..." he wiped his nose, "Sorry. Ever since I got here, I've been sneezing non-stop." Twilight raised an eyebrow before taking one of the plants currently sprinkled around the place. She held it up to Flicker, the dragon taking a quick whiff, only to sneeze and unleash another fire blast. "I think you might be allergic to these things," she dropped the burnt flower. "Why don't we return to the castle and you can explain why you're here." Flicker sighed and nodded. Twilight quickly teleported the group back to Ponyville, all arriving outside of the castle. They found Starlight and the others waiting inside, Flicker apologizing for what happened earlier before they gathered in the throne-room. "Alright Flicker," Spike said as he sat down on his throne. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be back in the dragon lands, researching something or other?" Flicker let out a sigh, "I'm afraid my days living in the dragon lands are over." This made everypony raise an eyebrow, "As punishment for what I did to my kind, I am to never step foot on dragon held soil." "Wait....they banished you?" Flash replied, only for Flicker to remain silent, "No way. I can't believe it." "Why would Ember do this?" Soul asked, but Flicker shook his head. "No, Ember didn't banish me. My punishment is that of self-exile." "You banished yourself?" Flicker nodded back. "Why?" Flicker chuckled, "You ask why? Why else? I almost doomed my people and Equestria to destruction. I unleashed a great evil that almost destroyed everything, attacked Equestria, turned many of you into mindless slaves and almost cost Spike his life." "But that wasn't your fault!" Spike chimed in, "Malafear was controlling you." "But I was the one that found the book and released him." He closed his eyes and sighed. "Growing up, I was always interested in history and the world around me. The other dragons always thought I was a fool, telling me that nothing good can happen by digging up the past. And they were right. If I hadn't been so curious about the mural, I never would have discovered the book and Malafear would never have been freed." He turned to the others. "I know you've all forgiven me, but I just can't forgive myself. And my fellow dragons shouldn't forgive me either. That's why I decided to never step foot in the Dragon Lands again." "Flicker..." Twilight tried to say, only to see Flicker glance away. She knew they weren't gonna talk Flicker out of this. "Alright..." she crossed her hooves at this, "I can see you're serious about this. If that's the case, you can stay here in Ponyville. I'm sure there's something here you can do." The others nodded, Flicker glancing back at the others, "Are you sure? I wouldn't wanna get in the way." "We're sure," Spike replied, "You're staying here until you figure out what you wanna do with your life." Flicker smiled at this, nodding at the young dragon. "Thank you...but how do I find out what I wanna do?" The others all smirked at one another, Twilight giggling, "I'm sure we can help with that." The next day... "Alright Flicker!" Pinkie cheered as she and Flicker stood side by side in Sugarcube Corner's kitchen, "Today we're going to be making a whole batch of cupcakes. Are you ready to get baking?" "I guess?" Flicker replied, "But uh...I've never baked anything before." "Oh, don't worry about that. I'll be here to coach you through it. Alright," she took out a mixing bowl, "First we need flour, baking powder and salt." "Got it," Flicker responded before moving over to a cupboard, taking out a bag of flour that he put on the counter. He then turned to grab the baking powder, only for his tail to flick around and hit the flour, knocking it off the counter. "Oops." He put the baking powder down and turned to clean the flour up, only for his tail to hit the baking powder, knocking it over, "Augh!" He picked the flour bag up, putting the sack back on the counter, only to knock it off again when he turned to pick the baking powder up. "OH, COME ON!" A small clean up later... Flicker now had his tail duct-taped to his back, he and Pinkie at the oven as the pink pony finished mixing the ingredients, "Alright, now all we need to do is put them into some baking cups and pop them into the oven." She turned to Flicker, "Can you preheat the oven? I need it at three hundred and fifty degrees." Flicker saluted and leaned down at the oven, only to raise an eyebrow. Having lived in the Dragon Lands his whole life, using a machine wasn't something he knew. He pressed one of the buttons, only for nothing to happen. "Hmm..." He turned one of the nobs and pressed the button again, causing the flames within to come to life. "Aha!" He turned to Pinkie as she finished putting the mixture into the cups, walking over with the tray of treats in mouth. He opened the door and she slotted the tray before he shut it, the earth pony thanking him. "Now for clean up." Flicker nodded and the pair started washing up...only to smell a burning scent several minutes later. "You did put it at three-fifty...right?" "Err...I think so." Pinkie ran over to the oven, only for her eyes to literally extend out of her sockets when she saw that Flicker had turned to nob all the way to maximum. She opened the door at this, only for smoke to fly out. They both started coughing as Pinkie removed the now charcoal cupcakes, Flicker using his wings to blow the smoke away. And as the smoke cleared out, Flicker now saw the burnt treats in the tray. "Uh...maybe baking isn't for me." A little later... Now in the sky above Ponyville, Flicker was hovering beside Rainbow. "Alright, get ready Flicker. It's time to learn how to cloud bust." Flicker nodded back. Clouds weren't really a thing in the Dragon Lands, the closest one got being when volcanoes spew enough smoke to fill the sky, but he was curious how this works. "So what do we do first?" "First," Rainbow pointed to a bunch of clouds, "Start by gathering those clouds together into one large cloud." Flicker nodded and flew over to grab them, only for his claws to go right through the vapor, "Huh?" "Oh..." Rainbow chimed in, her ears flopping down as she saw the flaw in this plan. "Right. You can't touch clouds, can you? Maybe we should try something else." Flicker swung his claw through the cloud again, only to hum, "Hmm...wait a minute." He began to beat his wings, unleashing a strong enough gust to blow the cloud into another, forming a bigger cloud. Rainbow nodded, impressed at his ingenuity as he kept blowing all the clouds together until they formed a single giant cloud. "Not bad. You ready to move onto step two?" "Just...give me...a minute...hoo!" Flicker gasped as he bent over in midair with his claws on his knees. "Yeah..." Rainbow added, "I don't think this is your thing bud. If you can't touch the clouds, how you gonna bust 'em?" Flicker stared at the cloud before snapping a claw, "Hang on. I got an idea." He took a deep breath before unleashing a burst of fire, evaporating the cloud...only for the vapor to spread over the whole town. And as soon as the evaporated water cooled, it began to rain down on the ponies below. Not being warned of a shower, many ponies caught outside were now soaked, running a day of picnics in the park below. Rainbow then glared at Flicker, the dragon shrugging with a big frown. Even more time later... "Alright partner," Applejack stated as she, Rogue and Flicker made their way through the farm. "We got a bunch of chores that anypony could do. Just stick ta dah instructions and ya'll be makin dah perfect crops in no time." "Nice. So what do you want me to do first?" "How about ya'lll...gather dah eggs." Applejack handed him a basket and some feed, Flicker nodding as he took them and headed over to the chicken coop. "Here chicky chicky chicky," he said as he flew over the fence and poured some seed onto the ground. The chickens looked out and saw him, Flicker smiling as he waved at the chickens. But when he did this, the animals all saw his big teeth and giant claws, making them all hide back into the coop. "Maybe we should try something else," Rogue whispered, Applejack shaking her head. "Ah like the guy, but ah'm not exactly comfortable letting a fire breather that's proven to have hay-fever near the trees and crops." They then saw him walk up to the chicken coop, only for the birds inside to huddle themselves even further in as he tried to make them come out. The sight made Applejack sigh, "Time for a meeting with the girls..." When the council of friendship convened, the eight discussed the best possible action to take regarding Flicker. "There has to be something we can do to help him," Spike told the ponies. "I mean, I'm able to live in a pony town without issue." "Maybe," Twilight sighed, "But you've lived in Equestria since the day you hatched. You understand what needs to be done to properly integrate into pony society." She turned to Spike, "It's nothing against dragons, but he grew up in an environment that's completely different to this one." "Yeah," Flash nodded. "In the dragon lands, no one cares how clumsy or rogue you are. The only thing they have there are rocks and gems. It's like asking somepony who played buckball the normal way for years to start playing using equipment made out of paper." "Plus he can't read," Pinkie pointed out. "Correction," Twilight chimed in, "He can read ancient draconic. But he doesn't know how to read our language." "Well then maybe that's where we should start," Fluttershy added, "If he was able to read, I'm sure he'd find fitting in much easier." "I guess," Twilight hummed, "But who should teach him?" The pony's eyes shifted from one pony to another until they all stared at a certain dragon in the room. Spike's eyes went wide at this, "Me?" "You are the best one qualified to teach him," Twilight replied, "He'd probably find it easier to learn from a fellow dragon. Besides, maybe he can teach you a thing or two about dragons as well." "Huh. Okay." Spike stood up at this, "Alright, I'll teach him how to read and write. Shouldn't be too hard. He is pretty smart and will probably be overjoyed to learn something like this." He then glanced around, "But uh...where is Flicker?" Flicker had chosen to wander around the castle, fighting every urge he had take a bite out of one of the walls. As he kept moving, he thought back to everything that had happened today, "Maybe it would be better if I go find somewhere else to live? Pony life for a dragon just isn't something that can be learned automatically." But as he said that, he heard a loud clicking noise fill the air at an un-regular rate. Following the sound, he arrived at a door, opening it to find a large library full of books. "Wow..." he whispered as he walked inside. His brain was screaming at him to grab the first book and crack it open, only to be stopped when he realized he couldn't read any of the words. That is, till he turned to the clicking sound and saw a certain canine sitting at a typewriter. "Oh," the canine looked up at those words, "Sorry. Didn't meant to interrupt." "It's fine," Springer replied, "I don't think we've really talked to one another, have we?" "No," Flicker shook his head, "Though you might have talked to me when I was...having issues." "Yeah," Springer nodded. "Well, it's nice to meet you. Springer's the name." "Flicker," he replied before looking at the machine, "What are you working on?" "I'm writing a chronicle of my people," Springer responded, "My wards and I are the last jakhowls known in Equestria, but there might still be more that need to learn about us. And even if there aren't, I wanna leave something behind to make sure Equestria never forgets us." "I can understand that," Flicker nodded as he sat down opposite of him. "If the dragon race ever went extinct, I'm sure we'd want some way for others to remember us." He sighed, "That's why I started researching our people's history in the first place. For all the good it did me." Springer looked up at him as he added, "Let me guess, you're gonna say I shouldn't blame myself for what happened." "No, it is your fault that Malafear returned." Flicker sighed again, "But not just yours." He raised an eyebrow at this as Springer continued, "I mean, you only found that book because you were interested in that mural. One I'm guessing Starswirl or the other dragons made as a warning." Flicker nodded. "So it's also their fault. I mean, would it have killed them to write a warning instead of a pretty picture? Magic book holding an evil dragon spirit behind this wall. Do not break. That probably would have kept you away, right?" Flicker laughed at this, "See? So it wasn't just your fault." "I guess..." "Eh, I think having your body stolen and used by an evil dragon spirit is enough. But honestly, you wouldn't be the first one to release an ancient evil and not get punished." "Really?" "Oh yeah. Spike once gave Rarity an ancient tome that made her go insane with creation magic. Pinkie also unleashed a horde of clones that nearly wiped out the town and don't even get me started on the double rainboom." Springer let out a long groan at this, "Heck, Flash accidently unleashed the last of my race's mortal enemy, who's tried to kill me and the others a bunch of times...and you don't see Flash or those others going into self exile." "Maybe," Flicker sat back, "But I'm betting none of you caused as much trouble as I caused with my mistake." "Eh, you're being too hard on yourself. I understand you feel responsible for what happened, but moping ain't gonna help. Instead, why don't you trying doing something to make up for it." "How?" "I don't know," Springer replied, "That's for you to decide. How do you think you can make up for what you did?" "I...I don't think I can," Flicker whispered. "Then find something to do that'll make up for part of what you did. And when that's done, find something else to do." Springer tapped a few keys on the typewriter, "You know, Flash told me he had to do odd jobs back in Canterlot cuz he used to be a thief and had to make up for everything he did." He glanced back up at the dragon, "Keep doing stuff to make up for what you did and you'll get there." Flicker hummed at this, "Maybe you're right...but what can I do that'll make up for it? I want to help others, but if today is any indication then I'm gonna have difficulty being of any use." "There you are," the pair turned to see Spike standing at the door. He walked up and grabbed Flicker's claw, "Come on. We've got a lot of work today." "What are we doing?" Flicker asked as Spike pulled him to the door. "I'm gonna teach you to read and write pony," Spike replied as they left the library. And once they were gone, Springer turned back to the typewriter. "Well now that that's out of the way, I can get back to writing my chronicle in peace." With that, he hit one of the buttons...only for his eyes to twitch as he saw the letter he had made. "More tippex please!" Spike and Flicker were now in the training room, which had been transformed into a classroom with Flicker in a chair specially made to fit his form and tail. "Alright," Spike whacked a pointing stick on the desk he was standing on. "Today we're gonna be learning some basic A B Cs." He glanced back at Flicker, who was holding a quill and paper-pad, but he was glaring at the pad, "Problem?" "This paper's a little flimsy," he replied as he flicked one page over. "You don't have any made from Dragon-hide trees, do you?" "Dragon-hide trees?" "Oh...Its a special kind of tree that grows in the Dragon Lands, which is completely fireproof. Makes very good paper." "Well...we don't have any of that, so...don't breathe any fire." "Understood," Flicker nodded as Spike leapt up and grabbed a rolled up sheet, pulling it down to reveal the alphabet. "Now, let's start with the alphabet." With that, the two dragons began to go other the pony alphabet, Flicker's studious nature letting him quickly memorize the letters. He was also able to write any letter perfectly after only looking at the images for just a few moments. Once that was done, they moved onto actual words, Flicker easily adjusting to doing this style of reading. "The dog ran over the hill," he read with Spike giving him a thumbs up. "The bird flew through the...sk...y-eye?" "Sky." Spike replied. "Y can sound like an I in that context. Like Fluttershy's name isn't spelled with an I on the end." "Ah," Flicker nodded, "Understood. The bird flew through the sky." A few hours later... Flicker's reading skill quickly improved, the end of the day now having him move to simple children's books as Spike had invited the others into the room. "And the great beast roared an earth shattering roar to the heavens!" The young ponies and jakhowl all clapped, as Flicker continued aloud. At the back of the room, the older occupants of the castle chuckled, "I gotta admit Spike," Starlight turned to the little dragon. "You did a great job teaching him." "Yeah," Flash nodded, "It took you just a few hours to get him to read as well as I can. And I can barely read." "Flash....I taught you to read, remember?" Twilight chimed in, "Are you saying I didn't teach you well?!" Flash shined a grin while turning to Twilight, "Well, Spike didn't make Flicker read giant tomes in the first week." "I did not make you read giant tomes! They were small!" Starlight and Spike shook their heads at the two, only for Twilight to turn to Spike, "Well...despite Flash's comments, you did a really good job Spike." "Thanks Twilight," Spike responded, "Now let's hope we can find something to put those new reading skills to good use." The others nodded, though it would need to wait until tomorrow due to the moon now ascending to the sky. That night... Flicker had been resting peacefully in the guest room, only to jerk up out of the bed, soon leaving for the bathroom. He was able to locate it while half asleep and in the dark, but on his way back, he noticed a light creeping into the hallway. Following this, he found it was Spike's room. He opened it up, now seeing Spike on his bed, growling as held his hands up while fire burned around them. He thrust his hands out, pointing at a table on the other side of the room with a gemstone...only for nothing to happen. "Spike?" The little dragon gasped as he turned to Flicker as he opened the door, the flames around his claws vanishing. "What are you doing?" "Oh," Spike blushed, "I'm um...trying to uh....get my magic to work." Flicker raised an eyebrow at this, moving over as Spike brought his legs up to his chest. "My dad Silverbolt said my magic should start growing stronger after what happened...but it's been months since then and I still can't get it to work like how we saw Silverbolt use it." "Maybe you just need more time," Flicker replied while sitting down, "I doubt something like this will happen over night." "But....what if Mystic Dragon magic is supposed to be usable at the start? I mean, I've been able to send dragon mail for as long as I can remember!" "How did you figure out you could do that dragon mail thing?" "I accidently sneezed when I was younger and sent a rattle I had to Twilight. Celestia realized that happened, figuring out that I was thinking of her when it happened...and figured out how I could send dragon mail to anyone I wanted after that." "So it was an accident," Spike nodded back, "Then doesn't it make sense that the rest of your magic could start to manifest by accident?" "But I don't wanna blunder through my magical training! I just...I just wish I had someone or something that could guide me through this." Flicker sighed at this, only to scratch the back on his head, "I'm sorry Spike. I don't know what to say. I can't really help ya since...I'm just a regular fire dragon." "It's okay," Spike told him. "I know you wanna help. It's not your fault dragons hate keeping anything other than verbal knowledge." "Yeah," Flicker nodded. "After everything Malafear did, he could have had the common decency to at least leave behind a copy of all his magical knowledge when he left my body." Spike laughed at this before letting out a yawn. "Maybe you should try and get some rest. You never know. A good night's sleep might be all you need to figure it out." "Maybe," Spike nodded before laying down. Flicker got up at this, carefully walking out as small snores could soon be heard. "Mystic Dragon magic..." Flicker hummed as he returned to his room before snapping his claw, "That might work." The next morning... "You wanna go to the Canterlot Archives?!" Twilight yelped, Flicker nodding his head as they, Flash and Springer met up in the throne room. "Why?!" "Spike really wants to master his magic, but he can't without some form of instruction. That's why I wanna try and help him find a book that might help him. But since dragons don't like to keep records, the only place I can think of that'll have some information would be in your kingdom's biggest library, and Spike told me that's the Canterlot Archives." "Huh. I guess that makes sense," Twilight replied, "And Starswirl was the one who had Spike's egg after Silverbolt. Myabe there would be a book there that could help Spike learn to use his magic." "But wouldn't Celestia and Luna have known about it and already given it to us?" Flash chimed in. "But what if they don't know?" Flicker countered, "Don't forget, any words written about Mystic Dragons would be in ancient draconic." "You've got a point," Twilight nodded. "Alright, I guess we're taking a trip to Canterlot." With that, Twilight lead them all through the castle to another room, Flicker asking, "I thought we were going to Canterlot? Shouldn't we fly there?" "Not quite." Twilight replied, "If we wanna get there fast, we need to take the direct route." She pointed at the ground, Flicker now seeing something he had seen once before: The Rune Gate. "Ready?" Twilight asked as she fired a spell at the gate, a pillar of light shooting into the roof and creating a portal that linked it to the one in Canterlot. "Ready," Flicker nodded before he and Twilight headed inside, Flash and Springer staying behind since it was their day to do patrolling. A few seconds later, the dragon and alicorn found themselves travelling through the veil of light and reappearing at Canterlot's Rune Gate. There they saw a bunch of guards standing to attention, only to see Twilight and lower their weapons...only to stare at Flicker, "Don't worry, he's with me." They nodded and the pair walked out of the room, now going for the archives as the staff all bowed at the alicorn. And just as they reached the entrance, Princess Celestia stepped around the corner and smiled at her. "Twilight," she trotted over, "It's so good to see you." The pair hugged before they pulled away, "I wasn't expecting to see you here." "It was a bit of a last minute decision," Twilight responded before gesturing to Flicker. "Greetings," Flicker waved, Celestia nodding before they explained why they had come. "I see," Celestia replied, "Yes, I understand. Honestly, I should have thought about it myself. There are several tomes in the archives that have spent a millennia untouched due to being written in a language that nopony has been able to decipher. But if you can read ancient draconic, they just might be readable." "Do you have an idea where we should start looking?" Twilight asked, Celestia gesturing them to follow in response. They headed into the room, passing the giant hourglass and beyond the area of the archives that once held the time travel spell Twilight and Starlight had both used at one time. They then got to a series of bookshelves, full of different books and scrolls, most yet to be translated, all of which were acquired by Starswirl and moved here from the castle of the two sisters. "If what you're searching for exists, it'll be here." "Great. Then let's get searching." The pair went to investigating while Celestia returned to her royal duties. They started by pulling the scrolls and books down one at a time, Flicker looking them all over before putting them in two piles. Any he could understand went to one while the other was what he couldn't understand...which was a much bigger pile. By the time they got through the whole section, the pile Flicker could read equalled two books and a scroll. "That's it," Flicker threw the last book onto the giant tower. "That's everything." Twilight picked the three pieces of literature up, "So these are all in ancient draconic?" "It appears so," Flicker nodded. "Now the only question is, what do they actually say." He grabbed the scroll first, unravelling it before frowning at the sight, "Ah." "What is it?" Twilight asked as Flicker put it down. "It's a letter to Starswirl...from Silverbolt." Twilight eyes went wide, "Apparently, it's an invitation to come check out the dragon breeding season. I'm guessing he sent this to Starswirl right before the whole Malafear debacle started." "Does it not say anything else?" Flicker glanced it over again, "Just talking about how Silverbolt and Fira had their own egg and Silverbolt wants him to come see it. Other then that...nothing." "Well...I'm sure Spike would like to see something his father wrote." She took the scroll and rolled it up, "What about the books?" Flicker grabbed the first one, flipping through it, "This is a dragon travel guide. It's just a list of different places in the dragon lands any travelling dragon should check out." He put it down and grabbed the final book, only to sigh, "And this...is a cook book." "Dragons have cook books?" Twilight asked as Flicker flipped through the pages. "Well it's more of a who's who book on what gemstones go well together. Though I wouldn't personally put these matches together." Twilight sighed, "So there's nothing that could help Spike master his magic?" "I'm afraid so," Flicker stated before picking up the scroll. "At least we've still got this." Twilight nodded as the pair got up and began to head out of the archives, heading to tell Celestia what they had found. As they did this, Twilight turned to Flicker, "I know you really wanted to help Spike, but I'm sure he'll understand." "Doesn't make me feel any better," Flicker replied, "I owe Spike so much for what he's done for me, and I thought maybe this could be my way of making it up for him. If I found a spellbook and taught Spike how to read it, then at least I would have helped one dragon that cared about me...but I still can't do anything." Twilight used her wing to pat him on the shoulder. "Just being his friend will help him. And even if you can't teach Spike to control his magic, there's so many other things you can help him with. Honestly, we ponies don't know much about dragons. Heck, Spike's the first dragon I've seen without wings." "Oh, he'll get wings." Twilight's eyes went wide again, "I was born without wings before I molted." "Molted?" Twilight asked, but Flicker didn't get the chance to reply as they reached the throne room. They told Celestia what they had found, Celestia sad about not finding anything to help Spike, but thanked Flicker for finally deciphering the books and agreed to let them keep the scroll. Once that was done, the pair returned to the rune gate and teleported back to Ponyville. When they arrived, they found the castle was empty, Twilight teleporting them outside, only to still not find any sign of their friends. But when they reached Sugarcube Corner, they heard Spike's voice and looked in to see him and the rest of their friends all enjoying milkshakes and talking. As Spike slurped up his drink, he turned and gasped, "Hey, you're back! Where the heck did you go?" "Sorry Spike," Twilight sighed. "We went to Canterlot to try and find something that might help you control your magic." "It was my idea," Flicker added, "I thought maybe I could help you read anything we found that was in ancient draconic...but we couldn't find anything of use." He then held up his claw with the scroll, "All I could find was this. It's a letter your dad sent Starswirl." Spike took the scroll and held it in his claws, opening it up...only to not understand a word. But despite this, he felt something within him at the sight of it. His father, and possibly mother, had held this piece of paper and written upon it. This made him feel like tearing up, the dragon holding it close to his chest as he looked up at Flicker. "Thank you." Flicker shrugged, "I didn't do that much." "This means more than you can believe," Spike told him. "And thank you for trying to help me. Even though you couldn't find anything, the fact you tried to help means a lot." Flicker smiled at this, "Still, I wish I could have helped. I have all this knowledge and it's completely useless. I just wish there was something out there that I could do that could help others." "I think I can help with that." They all turned to a new voice, all going wide-eyed as they saw Dragon Lord Ember standing at the store's doors, "It's about time I found you," she said as she walked up to Flicker and poked him in the chest. "Do you have any idea how long I've been searching for you?! Any longer and I was just gonna call you to come to me!" Flicker looked down, then raised an eyebrow. "But...how did you find me?" "Spike sent me a message," Ember replied, Flicker turning to him and seeing Spike shrug, "He told me you've been having some issues since the...incident." "Yes," Flicker nodded, "I have." But before he could say anything else, Ember got right up into his face, "What makes you think you get to decide what punishment is suitable for what you did?! Last I checked, punishments were handed out by the Dragon Lord!" "I know...but you didn't give me any punishment." "Well, what was I supposed to do?! You ran off before I could even talk to you about what happened!" Flicker glanced away at this, only to look back at a glaring Ember, "But now that I've found you, it's time we talk about what happened before. What happened can't be ignored!" "I understand," Flicker nodded as the others glanced between the two. "Can't we do something?" Spike asked Twilight, the alicorn shaking her head. "This is dragon law. We can't interfere." Spike turned back to them, only to see Ember fully glaring at Flicker with smoke coming out of her nostrils. "Flicker. I want you...to be the first Dragon Lands Chronicler." This statement caused all eyes to go wide, the group statement of 'wha' filling the air. "Chronicler?" Flicker looked back at her, "What are you talking about?" Ember rubbed the back of her head. "Let's face it, dragons don't usually care for history. And that's our biggest problem. If you had known about Malafear, you wouldn't have released him. But because no dragon bothered to remember him, our entire race was almost wiped out. That's why we need somedragon to start chronicling everything of importance that happens in the Dragon Lands. And I can't think of anydragon better suited for it...than you." Flicker's eyes were fully wide at this, "You...you're giving me a job?" "I'm giving you an assignment. One you'll do for the rest of your life. It'll be your job to learn as much about the Dragon Lands and write it down for future generations of dragons. That way, they'll know what to do when something like Malafear shows up again. So what do you say? Don't make me order you to do this." Flicker stared at her for a second before turning back to the others. They all nodded back, only for to glance back at the dragon, "Alright. I accept." Everypony cheered at this while Ember smiled, "Then by the power vested in me as Dragon Lord, I hereby dub thee Flicker the Chronicler." Another round of cheers filled the air as Flicker's friends ran over to congratulate him. "Thank you," Flicker replied, "All of you. I know helping me like this couldn't have been easy, so you have my thanks." Everypony smiled at this, "I just wish I knew how best to start this assignment..." "I've already got that covered," Ember chuckled as she spread her wings. "There's someplace I wanna show you." Dragon Lands... Ember and Flicker were flying above the blazing wasteland that was the perfect place for dragons, Spike sitting on Flicker's back. "Where are we going again?" Spike asked Ember, who just smiled before tapping her nose. And as they continued to fly, Spike couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity with the place. "We're almost there," Ember pointed ahead, "There it is." The pair looked up and saw nearby cave in the side of a large rock wall. "We've been here before..." Flicker commented, Spike nodding as they both remembered this from the Silverbolt's memories. "You have?" Ember asked as they landed, "When?" "Well," Flicker whispered, "We haven't actually...been here. But we've seen it before." Spike hopped off of his back, "When we were trapped in Malafear's book, we were shown a bunch of my dad's memories." Flicker nodded as Spike moved up to the cave. "In them, we saw my mom and dad living in this cave." He placed a claw on the rock, "This is where I was laid." Ember's eyes went wide at hearing this before turning to Flicker, "Well...this cave is now yours." Flicker raised an eyebrow at this, "I've already given the announcement to all the dragons. None of them are allowed in here unless they have your permission or mine. You can do with it as you wish. Fill it with as much history as possible so that nothing like Malafear can ever happen again." "Thank you," Flicker nodded before turning back to the cave. "Although, it probably won't be long before this place gets filled up." He looked around, examining the cave's interior design. The curvature of the walls would make putting up book shelves difficult. "I'm sure I can make it work...I hope." At the same time, Spike continued to walk inside, thinking back to when he had saw the past. Had Malafear not shown up, this might have been where he hatched. The thought made him sigh before a feeling began to wash over him. "Spike?" Flicker asked, catching his attention. "You okay?" "I don't know," Spike told him. "Being here...feels weird. Like...there's something here trying to talk to me." "What's trying to talk to you?" Ember asked, but Spike didn't answer. He closed his eyes and tried to tap into the feeling, making him walk without thinking. And slowly, his claw moved up and reached out until it came in contact with the back wall. He opened his eyes and stared at this section of the wall, then looked straight up and saw a rock sticking out of the wall that was almost as big as him. "Do you two think you can turn that rock or something?" He pointed at it and both Flicker and Ember raised an eyebrow before flying over and put their claws on the rock. They tried to turn it, but found it wasn't budging...only for it to slowly shift counter clockwise. The older dragons' eyes went wide at this as they kept pushing and eventually managing to get it to spin around one eighty. When it did that, something happened. The section of the wall began to move. slowly pulling back into the rest of the wall. The three dragons stared at it, all watching as the section disappeared several inches into the rock before splitting in half and pulling apart. Once this was done, what was left was an archway leading into yet another cave. "No way," Ember whispered. "Has this always been here?" The three walked in, only for it suddenly light up. Crystals that lined the walls illuminated, allowing to see a giant library, filled with bookshelf after bookshelf that was packed to the brim with leather bound books. The three stared at the sight, walking around the room as their eyes darted from one shelf to another. Flicker reached up and grabbed one of the books, pulling it out and seeing it was a book on different herbal plants. "Incredible..." he whispered before seeing the paper was made from a dragon-hide tree. "To think this has been here, all this time." "My dad must have been collecting these books for a while," Spike added, "I'm betting Starswirl gave him a good few of them." "This is great," Ember responded as she took one of the books off the shelf, only to see it was completely blank. "Some of these are completely empty. You can chronicle anything you want here." "Indeed," Flicker chuckled, "It's perfect." Spike nodded at this, only to feel something nag him. Closing his eyes again, he tried to pick up what he had sensed before, only to turn to the back of the library. He continued through the construct and reached the very back, only to find a new large book. It was almost as thick as he was tall, the little dragon drawn to it like a moth to the flame. It was sitting on a stone pedestal, Spike needing to jump up and pull himself onto the three foot tall rock. As he did this, Ember and Flicker both noticed what he was doing. "What's this?" Ember asked as Spike looked over the book. "I'm not sure," he told her before using his claw to wipe away the dust that had collected on the cover. When he did, it revealed a bunch of words in a writing that he didn't recognize. "That's ancient draconic," Flicker chimed in as Spike placed his claw on the cover, which caused something to happen. Before he knew what was happening, his claw began to glow green before the light was sucked into the book and it glowed. He pulled his claw back as the three stared at the book, the words on the cover beginning to change to ones that Spike actually understood. It read: Draconic Magic "Magic?!" Spike gasped as he opened the cover and found it was an instruction book...on Mystic Dragon magic, "No way." He flipped to the first spell and found it was one on levitating something. It showed the depiction of a dragon unleashing a stream of magic that formed a hand at the end. "Wow." "A spellbook for Mystic Dragons," Flicker added, "I wonder if this is how your father learned to control his magic?" "I don't know," Spike replied as he continued to flip through the book, now seeing all the spells inside, "No way...with this, I can finally grow into a real Mystic Dragon!" He turned back to Flicker, "Is it alright if I take this back to Ponyville with me?!" "Of course," Flicker instantly responded, "The fact is, anything in this library technically belongs to you since it was your father's." "Well I know you'll make better use of it then me," Spike replied as he shut the book before holding out a claw. "Good luck...chronicler." Flicker smiled and shook his claw, the pair grinning as they had found the answers they had been seeking. Off to the side, Ember smiled at the pair. It was true that the Dragon Lands were entering a new stage of existence. And hopefully, it would be a prosperous one for them all. Several days later... In the middle of the night, Spike was now in his room of the castle. He was reading through the instructions of the first spell before staring at the gem currently sitting on the nearby table. He took a deep breath before blowing onto his hand, the flames staying in place before he pointed it at the gem. The flames extended and morphed into a hand, which reached down and grabbed the gemstone before balling up around it. The Mystic Flame Dragon smiled as he tried the next step, recalling the flame and pulling the gem toward him. And as he did this, the gemstone came into his reach, the little dragon cutting the flames, allowing the gem to fall into his claw. "Yes!" he cheered before biting into the gemstone. And as he did this, he went wide-eyed as he noticed that despite being surrounded by fire, the gem wasn't even warm. Once the snack was complete, Spike looked down at his book before closing it. He then tried his new spell to lift it off the bed, through it took a lot more effort to lift the heavy tome, but placed it on the ground and pushed it under his bed. Cutting power to the flames, he smiled before laying back. Pulling the covers over him, he knew a whole new world of possibilities had been revealed to him. And no matter what, he was gonna master every single spell within the book and grow into a Mystic Dragon that would make his parents proud. That was a promise he made as he closed his eyes, drifting off as he wondered what he might learn tomorrow.