//------------------------------// // Dangle and Kitty // Story: The Dragon And The Pony Side Stories: A New Family // by Schattendrache //------------------------------// This date was not turning out as well as Never had been hoping. He and Holly had been going out for several months now, becoming coltfriend and marefriend in the process, but he still hadn’t gotten a sense of what he was supposed to do on dates, let alone how to be a good coltfriend. When they had started dating, the two of them had agreed that they would take turns deciding what to do on each of their dates, and even though Holly had been the one to propose this one, taking some pressure off of him, they were doing something more his speed. It had been a little over two months since Never had gone to his parent’s house to see his sister and catch back up with her after she mailed their parents about wanting to drop by. He had been surprised to find out that she had done this to introduce them to who she had gotten together with. It was even more shocking when he found out that the individual she was together with was a dragon, and on top of that, had gotten her pregnant. During their visit, Danger and her dragon friend had given him some advice on how to be a good coltfriend, or more precisely, Danger had given him advice, while her dragonfriend just told him to cuddle with her and be more than a little affectionate. He had been trying to follow his sister’s advice, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling of wrongness that came with not trying to prove to Holly he was everything a stallion should be. As such, he had started to cut back on the number of dates where they went on hikes or something similar, and instead proposed smaller things like going swimming at a public pool, mini-golfing, or simply attending one of the weekly farmer’s markets in Seaddle. And his efforts didn’t seem to be in vain, he could tell that Holly was happier with him not trying to make it so each of his dates outdoes the last.  These changes also had the added effect of getting Holly to start proposing less low-key activities. Never wasn’t really sure how to feel about this though, since every time she would lay next to him and lean into his shoulder during the dates she would usually have them do, he would be reminded of what Danger’s dragon friend had told him, and he wasn’t quite ready for his relationship with Holly to escalate to that point just yet. The biggest downside to this change however was a date like this. It had been Holly’s turn to propose what they were going to be doing today, and she had chosen a hike through the sandstone ravines around Dead Griffin’s Gorge.  The problem was, going on a hike for a date had always been one of the activities Never defaulted to when coming up with ideas. Because of that, even though he had decided to follow his sister’s advice, he couldn’t help looking around for something he could do to possibly impress Holly. Suddenly, Never felt something bump into his left side. “I can see you looking around like a paranoid squirrel. I chose this hike specifically because of the tight walls, so no flying off like a bowerbird.” “What? What are you… A bowerbird?” Never turned to look at Holly in utter confusion, but only received a content smile with the slightest degree of smugness tugging at its corners. Holly pushed past him slightly, forcing Never to pick up his pace a little to keep up with her. “Every time we go on a hike, you feel like you need to fly off to collect some rare plant or seed I show an interest in. And even though you have been getting better at not flying off to get them as of late,” Holly lifted her left forehoof off the ground and began to drag it along the side of the ravine wall. “I took that into account as well. The sandstone is too smooth to get enough traction to climb. You’re stuck down here with me, fly-boy. As such, I’m going to be forcing you to enjoy being with me on this date.” Holly then removed her hoof from the wall and leaned against her coltfriend. Never released a defeated sigh and leaned into Holly in return. “You didn’t have to go so far to get me to stay around you, I love being with you! But, am I really that predictable?” “More than you know. But, I will give you credit, after your visit with your family, you’re not as bad as you were when we first started to date.” “You can thank my sister for that. She was rather insistent that I quit it with trying to move the sun and moon for you.” “I’m glad you took her advice, it’s far more enjoyable to go on a date with you when you aren’t spazzing out the entire time. I’ll have to thank her personally one of these days.” “Yeah… I don’t think you need to do that. I’m sure she would be fine with you just sending a letter.” “Her colfriend couldn’t have been that bad. Honestly, I’m positive you’re just being overly protective. There’s no reason that you need to be with me when I meet your sister and him. I know you said he had anger issues, but I doubt he would have any reason to attack me.” “He tried to kill me! Twice! In front of the entire family! The only reason he didn’t was because my sister was able to hold him back. And it only worked since we’re family, so I would rather not risk it by having you meet him without me there to at least get in his way.” “I’m still unconvinced that you aren’t being histrionic, but if you don’t want me to meet with them without you, I’ll respect that.” Holly then pulled away and gave Never a kiss on the cheek. “But I expect you to take me to meet them soon, no stalling in hopes that I forget.” Never gave her a kiss back with a smile. “I make no promises, but we’ll see how things progress.” “You are so bad.” “I know. So, was there any other reason you decided to have us have a hike here other than preventing me from flying?” “It looks nice.” “...” “What?” “It looks nice. I thought you loved plants, not claustrophobic chasms of dirt.” Holly snorted good-naturedly and hit Never in the shoulder. “My life doesn’t revolve around my job. And it’s not just dirt. Look around, it’s layers upon layers of deep reds and browns. It’s closer to art than anything. You can’t find something like this by digging any old hole in the ground.” “I stand corrected. So, what is so interesting about taking a hike through ‘artistic’ dirt?” Holly just rolled her eyes at Never’s quip. “It’s not something you can see all that often. Only this area and maybe somewhere in the Badlands have the right conditions to even form something like this. Too much rainfall and plants can grow to mitigate the erosion, or the rain could simply just widen the stream and turn this tight ravine into a gorge like what formed Dead Griffin’s. And that’s not even mentioning the soil and rock composition. You can’t have any rocks or tougher stones mixed in or else you won’t get smooth narrow walls like this.” “Ah, so you like novelty. I’ll have to remember that for our next date.” “Yeah, that’s why the first few dates we had that I planned involved us just sitting together at my house and reading.” “Well, you could have just been resorting to familiar habits in order to cope with a drastic change in your life and taken a little while to reveal your preferences.” Holly snorted as she tried not to laugh at what Never had just said. “Ok, that’s cute.” “What? What’s so funny?” “How you are trying to read me since you know I know how to do that.” Never began to blush and slow his pace at hearing this. “You said try, I’m guessing you said it that way because I wasn’t successful.” “No, No you were not. The coping strategy you are likely referring to describes why ponies fall back on unhealthy habits when experiencing stress that exceeds what they can usually tolerate, and revealed preferences is an economic thing from what I remember.” After she finished her response, Holly looked over to Never and saw that his ears were laid back and his head was hung slightly. Leaning back up against him, Holly continued speaking with a more comforting tone. “Hey, I still appreciate the effort to learn a little bit about what I know. If you really want to learn how to read ponies, I’d be happy to teach you, just fair warning, once you know how to do it, you can’t turn it off.” Never released a heavy sigh and used his wing to lovingly pull Holly closer. “Yeah, I think I’ll take you up on that one of these days.” “Stop being so glum. We’re out here on a date so we can enjoy each other’s company. How many times do I need to tell you, we’re already dating, there’s no point in doing things to try and impress me. Just stick around me and don't go galloping off out of nowhere, that’s all you need to do.” “I know I don’t have to impress you, especially after hearing what my sister told me, but it’s just something I feel I should be doing. I want to prove to you that you didn’t make the wrong choice when you decided we should date.” “I understand. It’s why I told you that if you want to get something for me while we’re out, you can’t use your wings to cheat. If you’re really so driven to get me whatever it is that you see that you think I’ll be interested in, you have to really go out of your way to get it. That way, you have the satisfaction of doing something to impress me, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that it was something you had to work for and not just a trivial show of affection. More than likely, you also find having to work harder to get something for me more fulfilling than just flying over and getting it that way.” Never cocked an eyebrow and looked towards his marefriend. “Seriously, are you sure your special talent isn’t something to do psychology? If I didn’t know you better, I would swear that you’ve been manipulating me every time we get together.” Holly smiled back at him before planting a kiss on his lips. “Not every time, just when I feel like it. And as I said, once you learn how ponies think, it’s not something you can turn off.” And with that, she sped up a bit. The next hour or so was spent mostly in silence, with the two walking side by side and enjoying the calm stroll through the slot canyon and the sound of the wind blowing through. Eventually, they arrived at a section of the ravine that opened up significantly, becoming about three times as wide and allowing a fair bit more sunlight to pour in. At the other end of this section, rather than contracting again and mirroring where they’d just come from, the canyon forked, becoming two different ravines. “I’m pretty sure we head left here. There should be a place where we can stop to take a break in about a quarter of an hour, but....“ Holly’s face scrunched up slightly as she reached into her saddlebag and started to rummage around. “You alright? What are you doing?” “Looking for the map I have showing all of the canyons around here. Don’t tell me… horseapples! I forgot to pack it. I thought I would’ve remembered that.” Never smirked slightly before walking over to Holly and bumping her on the shoulder with his own. “Maybe you were a bit too distracted trying to assure I wouldn’t be able to leave your side.” “Oh haha. I’ll be sure to remember this next time you pick the date. Let’s hope you don’t forget anything, or else that comment won’t be aging too well.” Holly smirked back at him before giving him a kiss. “Now, why don’t you be a good coltfriend and fly up to see where each of these goes?” “And leave you?”Never’s smirk became even more self satisfied. “Wasn’t the whole point of having our date here to prevent me from going off alone? And besides,” Never began to nuzzle and rub his face against hers, “it was your idea to make me promise not to fly when we went out on hiking dates.” “As I seem to remember, my suddenly rules abiding coltfriend, that promise specified that you couldn’t fly off to grab seeds or a plant for me. So if you are so concerned with splitting hairs, I never made you promise to not fly on a hike, just to never do it to get a plant or seed.” Never pulled back from his marefriend before booping her nose with a hoof. “I’ll make sure to remember you said that on our next trek, kitten.” Never then flared out his wings and took to the air. “And remember, you’re the one who told me I could do this.” Holly sighed and shook her head before smiling up at him. “Just look for a section of the canyon that’s far wider than the rest of the canyons around here and looks like a horseshoe.” Never then took off from inside the canyon and several hundred feet into the air. As he was looking around, he caught sight of a section of canyon that sort of looked like what Holly was describing; he had been expecting a tighter curve, but it still made sense she would describe it like she did. As Never was making his way back down, he caught sight of something in the roots of a long-dead tree at the top of the fork in the canyon. He could make out some kind of light coming from behind the tangle of this cadaverous, sun-bleached, and wind-scared tree’s mass of exposed roots, and was about to write it off until he realized that something about this light didn’t sit right with him.  He‘d initially thought that it was just the light from the sun coming in through a hole that had opened up near the tree, but the light almost looked to have a subtle bluish tint. He began to fly over to examine just what was causing this. “Excuse me!” Holly shouted from the bottom of the canyon. “One, did you find where we need to go, and two, why are you looking at that tree?” “Yeah, we head to the left like you said. And I’m just trying to find out what I’m seeing right now. There’s this light coming from behind the roots here and I want to know what that is.” Holly squinted up at where Never was looking, and after a few seconds, responded. “I think it’s coming from a plant, a species of cave flower to be precise. I’ve seen things like it a few times when I’ve surveyed a few locations around Equestria.” “Ok, but how can you tell it’s a cave flower and not something else. From where I’m hovering, it just looks like slightly blue sunlight.” “Fair enough. Hey, when we finish our hike, how fast do you think you can fly to Shires Bay? I want you to pick something up before the store closes.” Never looked down at Holly with a raised eyebrow from how random that question seemed, but looked up at the sky a few seconds later before turning back to Holly. “Probably about ten minutes, seven if I stay low to the ground.” “Weren’t you able to fly from there to here in like five this morning?” “Yeah, but I had a tailwind then. Going back, I’m going to have a headwind, and from the looks of it, it’s gotten a little stronger since this morning.” Holly gave Never a smug smirk. “And that’s how I know it’s the light of a cave flower.” “What?” “The same way you are able to tell how long a trip will take is the same way I’m able to differentiate between light sources.” “I’m still lost.” “Ok, so, how much of a headwind is there and how can you tell?” “Well, based on how the clouds are moving, it’s about twenty-five knots two-hundred meters up.” “So, because you have experience flying, you can use small visual cues to tell the direction of the wind and how fast it’s going. It’s the same sort of thing with me. I’ve studied and dealt with enough plants over the years that I can tell the difference between natural and biological light signatures.” “I’m still a little lost, but I’ll take your word for it. So, how many cave flowers have you come across?” “Just one.” Never’s eyes nearly bugged out of his sockets. “Only one? How are you able to tell that that’s the light of a cave flower when you’ve only seen the one? Shouldn’t you be guessing that it was something else giving off the light? And didn’t you say you’ve seen something like this a couple of times?” “As I said, it’s the light signature. Mushrooms don’t produce enough lumens to be seen in the day, animals that produce light tend to have a pulsing or other such variation in theirs, and bacteria has more of a blue or a green tint. Cave flowers are the only ones that give off a strong, continuous, white light. And I probably could have been a little more clear. I’ve only seen a cave flower with my own eyes once, every other time has been like this. They grow in the hardest to reach places, they’re practically impossible to find and see with your own eyes.” Hearing this, several gears in Never’s head began to turn. “Do they look nice?” “Oh, like you would not believe. They’re extremely varied from what I’ve heard, but the one I saw had the structure of a lotus, but the color patterns of an orchid.” At hearing this, the parts of Never’s mind that were still adamant he prove his worth to Holly went into overdrive. Then, a devious little idea came to mind. Before Holly could register what he was doing, Never flew into the mess of roots and began twisting and pulling himself through them in an attempt to make it to the flower. “Wha… Never! What are you doing?” Never didn’t respond though, as he was too preoccupied with his current task to pay any mind to anything else. He had made it most of the way into the tangle of petrified wood, with only his hips and legs remaining outside of the root system, and could now see the flower Holly had been talking about.  It was a very strange sight, but based on what Holly had said, it was something he should have expected. The ‘flower’ in front of him looked more like a stem that was covered in long, light-blue, almost hair-like structures. Never was more than a little confused at what he was seeing, and was questioning if Holly had made a mistake in identifying what this was, but given that she was the plant expert, he was willing to just accept that this was just a type of cave flower and wait for her to give him an explanation as to why it looked so odd. However, as he tried to push forward, extending his foreleg in an attempt to reach for the strange flower, he realized that he wasn’t moving. He had managed to work himself into a position that allowed the hardened roots around him to squeeze onto him like a vice and hold him in place,  He pulled and twisted and did everything he could to dislodge himself from their hold of him, but despite everything, he remained restrained. After about a minute of this, Never released a defeated sigh and quietly mumbled something just loud enough for Holly to pick it up. “Are you done quite yet? And were you trying to tell me something just now?” Another barely audible noise that Holly could only just make out was Never’s response. “You’re going to have to speak up, Never. If you are trying to tell me something, I’m not catching any of it.” After a few seconds of silence, Holly finally heard Never meekly ask, “I got stuck. Would you mind helping me out of here?” Holly blinked a few times in disbelief at what she was hearing. “What?” “I thought I could push my way through the roots and get at the flower, but now I’m stuck. Can I please get your help getting out? I broke a few roots and now they’re stabbing my barrel.” “Why do I have a feeling this was you trying to be cute?” Holly mumbled under her breath. She sighed and began looking over the walls around her for anything she could use as hoof-holds. She eventually caught sight of a few sections of wall to her right that weren’t as smooth as the rest of the canyon, and, after assuring that she could make out decent imperfection going all the way to the top of the canyon, she put her saddlebags on the ground beside her and began to climb. “Never, I hope it was worth it to see that flower. I was only partially joking about not wanting you to try climbing the walls around here. I never figured I was going to need to scale them to help you.” Holly didn’t hear a response from Never, and when she looked over, she simply saw his lower half hanging limply from out of the roots.  After a difficult few minutes of climbing, Holly finally made it to the top of the canyon and began to make her way over to the tree that she knew was currently holding onto her coltfriend. When she made it to the edge, she began to look over the edge and down at the surrounding roots and canyon walls for anything that looked like it would help with climbing down. Seeing an opportunity, Holly figured that she might use this situation to mess with Never a little to hopefully lighten the mood. “How are you holding up, Dangle?” “Really? Dangle? That’s the pet name you’re choosing for me? Kitty is at least cute and normal sounding.” Holly’s statement obviously got Never’s attention, as he sounded quite miffed. He had even kicked out his hind legs slightly in indignation. “Well, I think it’s cute. And I’m sure when I explain why that’s your pet name, ponies will think it’s cute too.” Holly had found a fairly safe route down to Never’s position and began scaling down the cliffside. “Maybe your friends, but if Danger or my parents ever hears you call me that, I’ll never hear the end or it. Please, I’m begging you, pick another pet name, please.” “Alright, I’ll pick a new name for you, since I’m such a nice mare friend.” Never breathed a sigh of relief and completely relaxed himself. “Thank you. You have no idea how much that means.” As Never said this, Holly finally reached him. “That being said though,” Holly gave Never a naughty slap on his hind-quarters, causing him to suddenly tense up. “The name is rather cute, like you, so I’ll just make sure your family doesn’t hear me call you it.” “Hey! You promised to pick a new name!” “I did, but I never said you wouldn’t still be Dangle to me.” Never released another defeated sigh. “I guess it’s no use fighting you over it. Fine, I guess Dangle is a little cute. Now can we get back to setting me free? It feels like these roots are trying to stab into my ribs.” “Alright, if you insist,” Holly said after releasing a mild chuckle. “I’m going to move into the roots underneath you and try to force them open a little to give you some room to wiggle your way back out. Sound good?” “Yeah, that sounds like it will work. Just tell me when I should start going.” “Alright.” Holly then began to make her way slowly and carefully down and along the edge of the roots. While they were currently holding Never’s weight, there was no guarantee that every root was like that, so Holly wanted to be careful and not do anything too risky until she had to. When she had made it to the section of roots beneath Never, Holly looked up to examine which roots she was going to need to push in what direction and couldn’t help but release a giggle at seeing Never with his hind legs pressed together and tucked slightly into his barrel. “While I appreciate the thought, Never, It’s not like I haven’t seen it before. We have been together for quite some time after all.” “Can we please get this over with? This is already embarrassing enough as it is.” Without further delay, Holly wedged herself into the tangle of roots and pushed her way up until she felt she was close enough to Never that when she pushed apart the roots, he would be able to work his way back out. So, with her back against one section of roots and her hooves against another, Holly put all of her strength into straightening out her legs. Due to the density and thickness of the roots, she wasn’t able to pry them too far apart, but it was still enough for the compressive force keeping Never restrained to lessen, allowing him to throw his body side to side and back, until he was finally able to fall out of the roots and take flight. When he was sure that he was able to at least hover without issue, Never began to make his way back over to Holly. While doing so, seeing that she was still pressing on the roots, and given her last comment, he figured she wouldn’t be opposed to him checking her out as well. When Holly looked to her side and over at Never when she heard his wind beats, catching him looking her up and down, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “You know, while I appreciate your attention, I would much rather be getting it from you when we’re both on the ground, not when I’m hanging an unsafe distance above it.” Taking one last second to appreciate his marefriends form, Never responded. “Ok. if you can make your way out of there, I can fly up to you and bring you to the ground.” “Alright, but make sure you’ll also be ready to catch me if these roots break. The last thing we need to do after all the fun we just had is to take a trip to the hospital.” And with that, Holly began to carefully work her way to the outermost section of the roots so that Never could grab a hold of her.  When she was mostly freed from the roots, Never hovered over to Holly, and with some effort so as not to hurt her while pulling her out or knock his wings against the sharp ends of the petrified tangle, extracted her and began to descend while holding her upside down in his forelegs. When he looked down at his marefriend, he couldn’t help but give her a sheepish smile. “So, uh, thanks for the help. I guess I’m going to be owing you for this.” “I think we can work something out.” Holly then closed her eyes and began to cuddle into her coltfriend. “I think that you flying me back to Shires Bay in your hooves like this after we finish this hike would go a long way in paying off that debt.” “Well, we’ll need to finish this hike then.” Never had finished descending and was now hovering only a few inches above the ground. “That is, unless you’re a little too comfortable lying there now and would prefer that we call it now.” Holly opened her eyes and shifted her weight to indicate that she wanted Never to let her down. When she was back on her hooves, she walked over to the saddlebags she had put down before climbing. “No, we planned this hike and I want us to finish it. And besides...” As Holly walked past Never towards the left canyon after having put her bags back on, she flicked her tail over so that it smacked him lightly in the face. “You still owe me some cuddling time since you decided you just had to leave me alone this morning.” Never blinked once before shaking his head and quickly trotting to catch up with Holly. “I told you, I was going out to get us some breakfast. Besides, how was I supposed to know that spending like an hour on the couch with you pressed up against me reading was some sacred activity?”