//------------------------------// // 5: Play until you lose your head // Story: A three headed family // by valexto //------------------------------// In the next three days, Fluttershy came to understand a bit more the small dragon. Even if Skaly had a bit of a more direct and harsh temperament, he was always doing it in the best interest of all three of them, more agressive to defend more efficiently. She tried to calmed him a bit but since he was born with this personality, it was likely a trait he would always have. Then there was Rex, the gentle one and always prone to defend anypony else, even against Skaly, calmer but also very emotional. Every time one of Fluttershy's friend showed up, he would always be the happiest one, eager to see them and waiting for every opportunity to play. Sage on the other hoof was... pretty normal. He acted like the others as he was a newborn, a child who wanted to play and stay close to his mom, but he was also a little mix of the two other heads. Kind but angry when needed, or also sad. One thing Fluttershy was proud of was that she stopped him to use his commanding tone too much with his brothers, it felt like her stare but only for his brothers so she was very careful to make sure he understood how wrong and dangerous it could be if used too easily. With all her love and the patience of the animals of her cottage, Unified managed to find his place in the house. His cushion was moved next to the chimney on the ground to allow him to try walking, which he was very eager to try and took every opportunity to try walking, running and it took a long time for Fluttershy to make them understand that their wings were too small to fly. But it didn't discourage any of them, mostly Sage since he was the one in charge of the body, and each day they tried to walk with more or less ease. Twilight came a few times already to question and examine the little dragon, drawing sketchs of his body and already starting to make assumptions on his future size and capabilities. She noted everything she could from the size of the wings, the claws and teeth to the softness of the scales, not without difficulty as the little dragon seemed to find all of this quite amusing, playing with Twilight only making her studies harder. On the other side, she got a few answers from the dragon but overall she was disappointed. Unified didn't know much beside his name, that he was a dragon and that Fluttershy was his mom. Her mind was going crazy, trying to figure out how he was able to speak so soon, both in Equish and with animals, how he seemed to have a limited pool of knowledge before he was even born. Even after reading all of her books on the matter, not resting a lot in those few days, she couldn't find a single clue leading to an explanation of Unified capabilities. Another point she tried to figure out was why he had three heads. She couldn't imagine a dragon and an hydra conceiving a egg, they were far too different and from what she read, dragons would probably be far too proud to go for an hydra. The fourth day after Unified hatched, he was slowly waking up on his cushion and each head let out a little yawn before Sage started to move the body. He was getting used to it but he was now capable to walk perfectly well and was still trying to learn how to run properly. With one small jump to the ground, Sage started to walk toward the kitchen with his four sets of claws on the ground. Twilight asked if he could stand on his two hind legs, which he could, but he wasn't able to walk like that and always ended up back on his four legs. "What do we do today?" Asked Rex. "I don't know. I just want to stay away from Angel, this little pretentious bunny is getting on my nerves." Grumbled Skaly who couldn't forget the many suspicious looks that the bunny glanced toward them and he felt that many were for him specifically. "You tried to eat him twice!" Reminded him Sage. "That's his fault, he tried to make me eat a carrot. " Was the only excuse Skaly could come up with. "So we go see mom?" Suggested Rex. "Of course!" Replied the two other heads vehemently. Sage took them toward the kitchen where they could already hear Fluttershy bet to work to feed her animals. They quickly understood that she would most likely be wake up before them and that she would either be in the kitchen or feeding the birds outside. His little claws scratching gently the wooden floor, he arrived in the kitchen where Fluttershy was indeed occupied to cut some vegetables to place them into bowls while others recipient were already full of grains and waiting to be delivered on the small table. Unified walked toward her and saw the large blade of a knife hanging in the air, placed on the short table a bit loose. "Mom!" Called Rex. "Oh hello Unified, did you all sleep well?" Asked Fluttershy addressing them a warm little smile. "Yes." "Thank you for putting the cover back on." Added Sage. "It wouldn't happen if you weren't moving that much in your sleep." Complained Skaly. "It's alright, I don't mind." Assured Fluttershy before returning to her cooking. "Are you hungry?" "Yes!" Sage and Rex replied. "Can we have meat?" Asked Skaly. "Meat? Oh...hum it's... Don't you want gems?" Fluttershy replied sheepishly. She understood very well that all carnivores needed meat but she was a bit hesitant to feed him actual meat or fish. Twilight told her that it was a possibility that Unified would come to ask for meat but she told her that even Spike never ate the flesh of another being. Fluttershy was quite reluctant to the idea as she didn't wanted for him to develop a taste for meat. "Well it's not that gems are not good, they are really good!" Skaly answered with an enthusiasm that he rarely had. "But it's just that I know that meat tastes good." Fluttershy froze instantly and looked to him with a bit of a harsher stare which made all three heads almost lowered to the ground in a futile attempt to calm her, covering before what was coming. "Skaly, please don't tell me that you ate meat." She asked almost coldly. "No I swear! Right guys?" He said panicked and looking at his brothers. "Yes, yes! We never ate meat!" Replied Rex who didn't like to see his mom angry. "Mom, we didn't but I agree with Skaly, we know that meat tastes good. It's just like how we can speak, we don't know why but we know." Sage answered with a bit more confidence than his brothers. Fluttershy's stare immediately disappeared to be replaced with her usual soft and kind love along with a sigh of relief before she smiled at them. All three brothers immediately relaxed, raising their heads with an ever bigger relief than Fluttershy. They didn't know what would Fluttershy do if angered but they would rather avoid it. "I understand, thank you for being honest. I know you would like to try meat but it's not possible. Maybe if it's alright with you, we could try to go see Spike and ask him what else he likes to eat." Offered Fluttershy. "Thank you!" Accepted all three heads, eager to try something else and not wishing to disappoint Fluttershy. "We can go see him later if it's okay with Twilight. I'll just finish preparing Angel's breakfast and I'll give you your gems. Do you mind playing a little while I prepare everything?" "Yes mom." They replied. Unified went back to the living room and looked around to find a playing partner, all three heads could play together but there wasn't that much they could do as they all shared the same knowledge and only Sage could control their movements. Thankfully Brightwing, the little sparrow with red wings, quickly noticed him looking around. She quickly became one of his favorite playmate as she was very caring toward the young dragon and always had good games to offer while making sure that he wouldn't do anything dangerous. Some other animals would also play with him but they were much more reserved and preferred to keep some distance with the dragon, especially Skaly. Flapping her wings, she dived from her birdhouse to the ground and landed right in front of Unified and immediately got her his attention. "Good morning Brightwing." All three heads greeted in perfect unison. "Good morning to you too Unified, is there something I can do for you?" Brightwing asked with a cheerful chirp. "Mom says that we can play a bit before eating." Answered Sage. "Can we play at truth or dare?" Asked Rex. "What? No! We already did that yesterday and even the day before. Plus we don't know enough to play anymore, we almost only did dare yesterday." Objected Skaly. "So a new game perhaps?" Understood Brightwing. "Yeah!" "Yes please." Asked Sage a bit more politely. "Hum... why not a staring contest?" Suggested the sparrow. "Are you sure? There is three of us so... two...four...six eyes against only two, it's not very fair." Rex said a bit concerned. "I'm sure we can have a bit more company, wait a second." She flew up back to a birdhouse next to hers and stopped at the entrance before exchanging with the bird inside. However she quickly went to another and even a third one before a small robin joined her and she went to a little nest with a squirrel inside that climbed down to the ground. The three of them flew and ran to stop in front of Unified. "Now it's fair. I'll go against Skaly, you can choose your opponent." Said Brightwing, choosing Skaly to ease her friends fears. "I'll go with mister Squirrel!" Choose Sage. "Then I'll go with mister Robin." Accepted Rex. "Okay so take position." Readied herself Brightwing, stopping in front of Skaly who had a large grin on his face that could probably have scared any other animal. "Ready? Start!" The tension between the six of them quickly rose up, especially with Brightwing and Skaly. He wouldn't let himself be beaten by a bird and was determined to win. Rex and Sage were far more relaxed, not taking it as a hard battle to win but for a proper game and were having fun to keep their eyes in there opponents ones. Only half a minute passed before all of them started to have their eyelids twitching, trying their hardest to not loose. Skaly and Brightwing were okay, Sage and the squirrel too even if the dragon was slowly loosing his concentration and Rex was having a hard time, his eyes already at their limit and twitching like crazy. "Ahhh!" Finally gave up Rex after a few more seconds, blinking his eyes a few times and shaking a bit his head. "That was good." Congratulate him the winning robin, happy to blink his eyes too. Now eliminated, the two of them watched the two other pairs and it was obvious that Sage and the squirrel were at their limits too, each doing their best not to close their eyes. It didn't took much longer for the next winner to be revealed. "That's too much!" Gave up Sage quickly retreating his head and blinking nervously. "I was about to stop too." Confessed the squirrel, rubbing his eyes with his tiny paws. All eyes turned toward the last pair, Skaly and Brightwing. None of them looked like they were about to give up despise their eyes pleading to have their eyelids hydrating them and they were not phased by the results of their other playmates. Skaly wouldn't loose against Brightwing, he was already convinced before starting but now that his brothers had failed he felt like it was his duty to not be the third to loose so he did his hardest to not step down. Brightwing on the other hand didn't shared the same will as Skaly. She did wished to win at her hardest but she couldn't go as far as him and she sincerely didn't wanted for him or her to get hurt in a simple game. Making it looks like she had enough, which was true, she finally closed her eyes after a few more seconds. "Yes! I won!" Rejoiced Skaly blinking his eyes as much as Brightwing. "Indeed, you're a strong opponent Skaly." Congratulate him the sparrow. "Well done Skaly!" Cheered Rex. "Indeed." Added Sage. "I had to make it up for you. I swear you two gave up way too early." Proudly said the winning head. "It's a nice game but it hurts a bit." Complained Rex. "You're right, we'll have to find another game." Agreed Brightwing who also wished for something else. Just then, as they were about to discuss about their next potential game, Fluttershy's voice came from the kitchen, with just a bit more volume than her usual voice but just enough to be heard. "Unified, your breakfast is ready!" "Coming mom!" All three heads immediately replied. Unified started before anything else could be said. He ran off as fast as possible, his tiny claws scratching the wood of the floor as he crossed the whole room in a few seconds, the three brothers overexcited and focused on the entrance of the kitchen. Racing inside, he noticed the small table far too late and tried to dig his claws in the floor. It was again too late and not only his claws didn't helped him slow down, he also never had to do that before as he never ran that fast and he smashed himself in one of the foot of the table in a 'whack'. Sage and Rex were a bit dizzy but even Skaly didn't manage to see the danger. The knife placed on the edge of the table jumped with the shock and fell right on Unified with it's sharp blade going straight for Unified. In a single clean cut, the knife separate Rex's head from his neck. The severed head fell on the ground and started to bleed profusely. Sage and Skaly looked speechless as Fluttershy let out a little yelp at the sound before coming over. "Unified? Is everything alr-" She never finished. When she saw the head on the ground in a little pool of blood, she lost all her colors and could almost have been called the white mare. Fluttershy couldn't even react to the horror before her eyes and fell on her side without saying anything else, losing consciousness. Sage and Skaly looked at each other for a second before the former asked a very simple question. "Do heads grow back?" "I don't know. Maybe. I don't feel any pain so maybe it's normal." Replied Skaly trying to sound brave, even if inside he was sweating bullets. "Huh." They looked at Rex's neck for a few seconds before something happened. Under their very excited yet worried eyes, Rex's head grew back in a few seconds and it ended with him taking a big gasp of air, shaking his head. "Rex? Are you okay?" Asked Sage worried and a bit disturbed by what he saw. "Yeah, it scratches a lot and it's really, really uncomfortable but I'm okay." Replied Rex with more annoyance in his voice than usual. "I guess heads do grow back." Added Skaly. "That's so cool! Are we immortals?" Sage excitedly wondered. "I wouldn't bet on it. I mean, I just don't want to try and see if we are or not." Said Rex. "Huh me too actually." "Is mom alright?" Asked Skaly looking at the mare on the ground. "Mom?" Called her Rex. Unified walked right next to Rex's previous head without even noticing it and stopped in front of the mare's face. She was still unresponsive and completely immobile if not for the small breathing and her belly going up and down. They looked at each other before looking at her again. "Mom?" Asked again Rex. "You need to wake up." Said Sage. Skaly didn't said anything and licked her face, trying to wake her up. Soon it was all three heads licking her fur and thankfully not too long after, Fluttershy's big eyes stared to appear with her eyelids opening. She was a bit confused before her gaze focused on Unified, passing a hoof on her face to straighten all the licked fur. "Mom!" Cheered Rex. "Oh my goodness, I thought that you lost your head!" She relaxed before grabbing Unified in her fore-hooves in a big hug. "I did." Fluttershy froze again and looked at him very seriously. "It's really not nice to make bad jokes like that." She warned. "Look!" Called her Skaly and pointing at the severed head. She looked but didn't react. Her eyes went from the head to Rex a good ten times before she stopped on him with big teary eyes and crushed the little dragon even tighter in a bear hug, tears falling on his faces. "I thought that you died! What happened? Are you okay?" She asked quickly, shacking like a leaf. "Not sure if I died but I did lose my head, I feel perfectly fine!" Joyfully replied Rex. "His head grew back almost right after it was cut off." Explained Sage suffocating. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left the knife on the table." Blamed herself Fluttershy not stopping her hug. She didn't need to open her eyes to see the severed head in her mind, it was like if it has been printed and couldn't remove it and of course she saw the knife right next to it. "It's not your fault, we were a bit too excited and we hit the table." "What should we do with my head?" Asked Rex. All of them looked at the head, Fluttershy with more disgust than the dragon who felt more curious than anything else. "Should we eat it?" Skaly suggested. "No!" Categorically refused Fluttershy, horrified that he even suggested something like this. "Sorry mom." He quickly apologized. "I think we should go see Twilight, she will know what to do." She thought before gently dropping the little dragon on the floor. In a very short moment, Fluttershy took a little bag with an extreme feeling of sadness mixed with a bit of disgust. She already saw dead animals before but that was a step too far. She picked up the severed head to place it inside. She then put the bag in her saddlebags and turn to pick up the little dragon. "Are we going outside?" Sage asked. "Well yes, it's the only way to go see Twilight." Answered Fluttershy. "You hear that? We're going outside!" Rejoiced Sage. "That's the first time! But are you sure it's safe?" Wondered a bit Rex. "Don't be a chicken, we've spent I don't know how long to look by the windows. There's nothing dangerous out there. And even if there is then we'll bit them." Reassured him Skaly, impatient to go outside too. "You'll need to hold on. Are you going to be okay?" Asked Fluttershy as she placed the dragon on her back, right between her wings that acted like a crib. "Sure!" She open the door and quickly closed it behind her before heading to the small path leading to Ponyville. Trotting fairly quickly for the shy mare that she was, it wasn't really to the taste of the head of Unified. "We're not going to fly?" Eagerly asked Skaly. "I'm sorry but I'm not really good at flying." Apologized Fluttershy. "It's not a problem, we can see so much from here!" Said Sage. And indeed they could. Unified was a bit restrained inside the cottage and even if it hadn't been a long time they already got the time to explore most of the house and watching from inside wasn't really exalting. Now that they were outside, there was so much of everything. Their ears were filled with the songs of the birds, the almost silent sound of a very light breeze, the clip-clop of Fluttershy's hooves on the ground. Their eyes were absorbing everything as what was before them was a world of wonders and colours. Everything seemed so much more alive outside the cottage, they could see so far away and see many things they never saw before, flowers and plants of all shapes and colours, a few new animals all around them minding their own business, the perfectly blue sky and even the dirt was interesting. Dozens of smells reached their nostrils, stimulating their minds even more as each head was looking in different directions. "That's beautiful." Simply stated Rex looking at a small stream of water with animals and plants all around. "And it looks tasty too." Added Skaly looking at a small brown mouse who gulped under the stare of the dragon. They kept looking at everything until they arrived at Ponyville and their eyes shinned with wonder again. The many colourful buildings were everywhere and each head of Unified was looking in a different directing, trying to see everything from a very large tree to a very pink building apparently make out of gingerbread. "That's Ponyville?" Asked Sage. "Yes and we're going to the library, that's where Twilight lives." Answered Fluttershy. They quickly arrived in town and the dragon kept looking everywhere even if Skaly was not relaxed anymore. Instead he was eyeing with suspicion any pony passing nearby as many ponies that were also looking at the strange dragon on Fluttershy's back. They all knew of her shyness and how easy it was to scare her so seeing her with a dragon was a quite unexpected surprise. Skaly was darting from pony to pony until a creme colored pony with blue mane passed a bit too close to them. He hissed at her and the poor mare, surprised, ran away leaving only a small cloud behind her. "Stop harassing everypony else." Asked Sage. "They are too close and they might be dangerous. I won't let anybody come closer." He refused. "Hum... it's anypony." Corrected Fluttershy meekly. "Okay." Skaly simply agreed but still eyeing all the ponies around. For once the inhabitants of Ponyville did their best to avoid the pegasus, and it wasn't because of her shyness. They continued until Fluttershy stopped in front of the large tree and to Unified greatest surprise, saw that it had a door and a few windows as well as a balcony on one of the largest branches. All three heads kept looking around as Fluttershy knocked on the door. "Coming!" Replied a voice that the recognized from the inside. The door soon opened to reveal Spike who immediately got a smile on his face when he saw Fluttershy and the three heads of Unified coming from her back. "Fluttershy! And Unified! What can the number one assistant of Ponyville do for you?" He asked happily. "Hum... is Twilight here? It's a bit urgent but it can wait if she's occupied." Almost whispered Fluttershy. "Sure. Come in, I'll wake her up." He let them pass and once again Unified was shocked. This time it was by the numerous books displayed on the many shelves of the Golden Oak Library. He could hardly believe that a tree could be use at a house in the first place but all those books made it even less believable. "So many books." Said Rex. Fluttershy brought Unified on a cushion as Spike went to shake Twilight's shoulder, almost looking like a statue as she was immobile and reading a big book on a little pedestal, taking her out of her thoughts. "What it is Spike?" She asked, barely raising her head. "Fluttershy and Unified are here for you." "Oh!" Twilight exclaimed looking around as her eyes fell on the little dragon and her friend. She got up immediately and came closer to them with a smile on her face. "Hi Fluttershy, it's nice to see you. And you too of course Unified." "Hi Twilight. You see, I was at home with Unified, preparing his breakfast as well as for all my critters. When I called him, he ran a bit too fast and slammed in the table." Fluttershy started already getting emotional "Oh is he alright?" Twilight asked looking at the little dragon still looking at the books under Spike's eye. "Well that's why we came. After he hit the table, a knife that I had left there fell and... and... it cut off Rex's neck!" She said before exploding in tears. "Huh are you sure? I mean, he seems perfectly fine to me." Doubted Spike with a weird look, checking Rex's neck that was scarless. "I have to agree with Spike." Said Twilight. "I know but... when I saw that I fainted and when I woke up, his head grew back." Continued Fluttershy starting to go through her saddlebags. "She's right." Supported her Rex. Fluttershy finally got the small bag which contained the severed head, her foreleg shacking as she handed the bag to Twilight. The purple unicorn immediately noticed the small red stain at the bottom of the bag and a frown appeared on her face, she grabbed it carefully and took a look inside. Her head shot up immediately and she stared at Unified with wide eyes, incapable to understand what she was seeing. She looked again at the bag and at the small red dragon before her face took a very serious look, a purple glow appeared on her horn as a quill and a sheet of parchment flew in front of her. "Tell me everything." She commanded Unified. "Should I start?" Asked Rex. "Yeah, it's your head that got cut off." Replied Skaly. "Okay. So huh... we were running very, very fast and we hit the table which made the knife fall on my neck. I remember seeing the knife cutting my neck and after that I woke up. It was very itchy for a bit but after that was fine." He explained "I see. That's clearly something unique, did you two have anything else to say?" Twilight asked turning to Sage and Skaly. "We didn't felt anything but we saw his head fell on the ground, mom came to see a few seconds after and she fainted." Started Sage. "After a few seconds, Rex's head grew back and he just felt a bit itchy. As he said." Completed Skaly. "Well I don't really know any creatures that can do that. I mean, grow back an entire head! Just like an hydra but for a dragon!" Exulted Twilight. "Don't heads grow back?" Asked Rex. Fluttershy, Twilight and Spike shared a look before looking at Unified, not certain if he was joking or not. "Rex, if you were not... you, I'm certain your head wouldn't have grow back. Nopony can do that, you should be dead by normal standards." Bluntly said Twilight. "That's a bit scary." Confessed Rex. "Not really, we know that our heads can grow back so it's not scary for us." Skaly reassured him. "He is right. Maybe we are immortal!" Added Sage. "I wouldn't recommend to even try this. We still have no idea if it's a one time thing, if only your heads can grow back or anything else, you shouldn't be too confident with that and I strictly recommend the highest caution for all three of you." Twilight warned them. "Okay." All three heads replied, not really disturbed by what she said. "It's still a bit weird to hear all three reply at the same time." Noted Spike with a little shiver. "Hum, Twilight?" Fluttershy called. "Yes?" "Do you want to keep the head? I was thinking to bury it otherwise, that is if you don't mind." "Well I actually do mind, I would like to study it a little to determine if it's normal for him or not. You don't have to worry about it, I'll bury it somewhere after." Replied Twilight, not disgusted by her own words only thanks to her thirst of knowledge taking over her. "Oh okay." "Mom?" Unified asked jumping from his cushion. "Yes?" "Can we have breakfast?" "Oh my! I'm so sorry, I completely forgot! And I don't have any gems here. And I haven't distributed their breakfast to all my animals!" Fluttershy realized with horror, her eyes widening and she looked through her saddlebags for any food for the little dragon. "I'm sure Spike can spare three gems. It should be enough until you get back home." Offered Twilight. "Are you sure? I don't want to you to force yourselves." "Don't worry, if Twilight said that you can it means that it's okay. And I really don't mind." Said Spike as he went to the kitchen and came back with two blue gems and a green one. Sage was the one to get the emerald while the two other heads got the sapphires. It took a few seconds for their teeth to crack the tough gems but they eventually managed to and eagerly ate them. Rex and Skaly were looking at Sage, waiting for his opinion of the green gem as they enjoyed the sweet taste of their sapphires. "It's not bad, different and a bit stronger but it's okay." Judged the middle head. "It's good. Can you return on my back? I really need to feed Angel or he is going to stay mad at me again." Asked Fluttershy. "Sure!" Agreed Unified as he jumped on her fur, climbing quickly without causing any pain to his mom. "Thank you very much Twilight, I just didn't really know what to do with the head." "It's okay, I admit that I'm quite surprise myself. I'll make sure to take a good look at it today and I'll come see you if I find anything interesting about it." Assured Twilight. "Thank you." "Bye-bye!" Said Unified. Fluttershy went back to the door and opened it, waving at her friends as Unified was trying to do the same but almost fell and just looked at them with a smile as they started their way back to the cottage. They again got all sorts of weird looks but they managed to get back home and Fluttershy was finally able to give their breakfast to all of her proteges. Including Angel that requested an extra of carrots on his salad.