//------------------------------// // Differences // Story: Legends Never Die: The Return of the King // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// If the Changeling Kingdom was sweltering hot and humid, the Dragon Lands were sweltering hot and dry. Sunny wasn’t sure which was worse. Imara obviously had opinions. “This is awful,” she would moan every five minutes. “Like, I didn’t even know something this horrible could exist, and I lived with Aunt Cercus.” After the disaster at the changeling hive, Sunny and Imara had decided to find a dragon alone who looked like they would listen to what Sunny had to say and possibly carry the message back to the other dragons. This was easier said than done. While many dragons did go off on their own, none of them looked very diplomatic - in fact, most of them looked like they would rather pound a pony’s head in than listen to them. “How long have we been here?” Imara moaned, sprawling out on the floor of the cave that they had found shelter in, the entrance facing away from the rest of the Dragon Lands. Luckily, it was safe from the smokey air that hung around the place - mostly. “Three days,” Sunny said, standing at the mouth of the cave and looking out onto the red-hot landscape. “We’ve barely been here three days.” “It feels like forever,” the changeling whined, standing up, walking in a circle, and flopping on a rock. “How long does it take to find a dragon who’ll listen to us?” “As long as it takes.” Sunny pulled out her father’s journal and flipped to the back, where she was putting important information that she discovered on her adventure so far. She had to be careful to only put the absolute most important things she saw - there were only about three blank pages left in the back, and she didn’t want to waste them. Imara huffed. “I’ve heard that dragons aren’t very diplomatic,” she mumbled into the rock. “I bet they won’t understand a word we’re saying because they communicate using roars and other meaningless sounds.” Sunny winced, the description sounding all too similar to what the pegasi and unicorns thought of earth ponies. “We don’t know that,” she insisted. “I mean, you thought that ponies were your worst enemies and wanted you all gone - but here I am, and I don’t want that. Believe me, I’ve heard my fair share of stereotypes and rumors about other tribes, and none of them were true.” “Maybe you’re right,” the changeling admitted, lifting her head, her eyes going wide. “Look out!” With a shriek, Sunny dove to the side and covered her father’s journal protectively as something barreled into the cave and crashed into the back, where it curled up into a ball and began… sobbing? Sunny cautiously lifted her head and slipped her father’s notebook into her bag, studying the creature. Small and gray-blue, not much taller than a fully grown pony. The reddish-orangish light from all the fire and lava reflected off of… scales? As her eyes adjusted, Sunny made out a pair of wings wrapped around the creature, and a pair of pale white horns poking up from the creature’s head. It was a dragon. “Excuse me?” Sunny said quietly, standing up and trying to look non-threatening. The dragon gave a start at the sound of someone else in the cave, and when the creature lifted its head, Sunny saw that it was a girl, her eyes red and puffy, with a single pale white scale at the corner of each eye, like a tear. She wiped her eyes and curled up into a tighter ball, though Sunny could see her eyes peeking out between her wings. “Who are you?” “My name’s Sunny,” the pony said, looking around for her friend. “My friend’s here too, and her name’s Imara.” A column of light appeared in the center of the room, and one of the rocks was replaced by a changeling, who eyed the dragon with apprehension and mistrust. The dragon gave a yelp as a whole nother creature appeared out of seemingly nowhere and covered her mouth with her talons. “What’s your name?” Sunny asked politely. “Ash,” the dragon whispered so softly that Sunny had to strain to hear. “It’s nice to meet you, Ash,” Sunny told her, slowly walking over to the dragon. “What are you doing in here?” The dragon sniffled. “Hiding.” “Hiding?” Imara demanded, taking a step forward and glaring at the creature. “Hiding from what?” “Not a what,” Ash said, slowly relaxing her wings so that Sunny could see her better. “A who.” She took a deep breath. “I’m hiding from my father.” “Why?” Sunny asked as Imara sniffed disbelievingly. “I just had my molt,” Ash sniffed. “It’s a dragon thing,” she explained to Sunny and Imara’s confused expressions. “It’s when we get our wings, and it usually shows that we can go off on our own as big dragons now, so my father - m-my father kicked me out.” The revelation made Ash’s eyes well up with tears, which splashed on the ground as she wailed and sobbed. The emotional display was enough to make Imara hesitate. “I… I’m so sorry,” Sunny whispered, not knowing what to say. Her wings and horn appeared, and she put her golden wing around the shuddering creature. “If there’s anything I can do to help, I will, so don’t hesitate to ask-” “Thanks,” the dragon warbled, “but I don’t think there is. E-every dragon gets thrown out eventually - it’s p-part of our c-culture. I-I just need to f-find a place to g-go now that he doesn’t want me a-anymore…” “Can’t say I blame him,” Imara said conversationally, studying the weeping ball of scales in front of her. “I mean, aren’t dragons supposed to be tough?” Ash’s tears increased tenfold, her wings shaking. Sunny glared at the changeling. “What?” Imara said innocently, sitting down and studying the dragon with great interest. “I’m just being honest.” “Honesty is not based off of rumors,” Sunny forced out through gritted teeth. “Ash, I hope it’s not too much to ask, but do you think you could give the other dragons? You see, we believe that the dragons have been told lies to-” “Oh, I know all about that,” Ash sniffled, grateful that the conversation was taking a turn away from her. “I heard the whole thing. The ponies want to exterminate us all because they hate us, and they’re led by a super-scary pony named Sunny Starscout who united the pony tribes just to bring us down.” She looked at Sunny. “I think you’re her, and I don’t believe that for a second. I don’t believe anything that pegasus told us.” “Wait, how did you hear about that?” Imara demanded, narrowing her eyes at the quivering dragon. Ash winced, as if hoping it wouldn’t have had to come to this. “M-my father’s the dragon lord.” She took a deep breath, knowing that this next part was even harder for her to talk about. “A-and I can’t take a message back to the other dragons - I’ve been disgraced in f-front of the wh-whole tribe. M-my father t-told me that h-he was s-super disappointed i-in me, a-and that I would b-be lucky to find another h-home that would accept s-such a s-sniveling disappointment s-such as m-myself.” “I’m sure he didn’t mean that,” Sunny stammered, but Ash shook her head. “H-he did. Those were his exact words.” “Well, I think differently,” Sunny said boldly. “I think you’re a wonderful dragon, and the other dragons should wish they were more like you. Being tough and scary isn’t the only way to live in this world.” Ash dried the tears leaking out of her eyes and smiled at Sunny. “Th-thanks.” “As a matter of fact,” Sunny went on, an idea coming to her, “we may be able to help you. You see, the pegasus filly who spoke to your father - her name is Cozy Glow, and everything she said was lies. But if our experience with the changelings is any indication, the dragons aren’t going to easily accept that, for whatever reason. And I’m not all too eager to repeat what happened there,” she added, with an empathetic nod from Imara. “So perhaps you could come with us.” “R-really?” Ash sat up, looking intrigued. “Y-you mean it?” “Yes,” Sunny said at the same time Imara shouted, “No!” “We can’t bring her along!” the changeling protested as Sunny glared at her. “Just look at her! This lizard can’t even handle being thrown out of her own home - if we’re putting together a world-saving team, we need a different dragon - a fierce dragon. One who understands that the world is cruel sometimes and you gotta live with it. Hey, pipsqueak, I never had a home. I never knew my parents, and do you see me curled up in a cave, crying? No!” “And that’s exactly what we need,” Sunny said in a quiet but sturdy voice. “Somepony who’s different - who’s caring and likes to see the best in ponies - and creatures. You were different from the other changelings because you wanted to change the world for the better so that no one would have to go through what you did. Look at her - she’s different from other dragons because she likes to believe in the best in others, putting her faith and trust in them to make the right choice! With you around, we need somepony like that!” Imara opened and closed her mouth, at a loss for words. She finally glared at Ash, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and forced a cheerful smile. “You’re right. Of course you’re right! You should definitely come, Ash! The more the merrier!” Sunny offered the dragon her hoof and hauled her to her feet. “Come on. You’re one of us now.” Ash wiped her eyes. “Where are you - we - going now? Please tell me it’s as far away from here as possible - I’m ready to leave this place behind for good.” Pulling out her map, Sunny set it on a rock, and the other two creatures gathered around her. “Well, Mount Aris is southwest of us,” Sunny saw, tracing a path from the Dragon Lands to the mountain island. “Perhaps we should go there next and befriend some hippogriffs.” “Hippogriffs?” Ash asked, pulling her wings in tighter, unable to disguise a slight tremor in her voice. “What are those?” Imara laughed, light and airy, though Sunny felt the malice behind it. “Boy, you really don’t get out much, do you?” the changeling giggled lightheartedly, making Ash blush and wrap her arms around herself. “Hippogriffs are half pony, half eagle. We learned all about them in class.” “And what did you learn about them?” Sunny asked, partially because she was curious, partially to defend her new friend. The changeling thought for a while. “Not much,” she admitted, grinning. “Just what they are and how to turn into one. We learn about all kinds of creatures that way.” “You can turn into one?” Ash asked, her eyes wide. “Woah.” Imara was surrounded by a column of light, and when it cleared, there were two dragons in the cave. “You can turn into one?” Imara mimicked in a purposefully awful representation of Ash’s voice. “I can turn into anything, obviously. That’s what a changeling is.” “Oh.” Ash frowned and averted her gaze to the ground. “Sorry. I didn’t know.” “You don’t seem to know a lot of things,” Imara agreed in a scathing voice, turning back into herself. “All right, every creature, enough!” Sunny snapped, leaping between the two and glaring at Imara. “I said enough, Imara, and I mean it. You leave Ash alone. She’s different from you, and if you can’t learn to respect others’ differences, then you can turn back around and go right back to your precious changeling kingdom if you’d like.” The two held the glare for a while until Imara finally dropped her gaze. “You’re right. I’m sorry,” she said in a voice that told Sunny she meant it - at least for now. The changeling stole a glance at Ash. “I’ll try harder… next time.” “You’d better,” Sunny growled. “Now, come on. We’re going to Mount Aris, and if either of you gets into another fight, you’ll end up in the ocean, and I will not feel bad about it.”