Alright, so I needed to make some preparations over the course of the next few days that came after in order to help Ash out. It was abundantly clear that Ash needed a creative outlet for his talents, but needed to feel comfortable while doing it. So what better way to do that than to allow Smolder to see what he was capable of?
And maybe a few other dragons as well.
“Are you sure about this, Cozy?” Ash muttered, “I love art, I really do. But will this actually help improve the image of the dragons?”
“Absolutely,” I encouraged him with a gentle pat on the head, “Show them your stuff with how well you can draw. You did super well in Discord’s class--which shocks me to say honestly.”
Ash giggled at the thought. “Yes, I was just as surprised as you were. But it turns out the God of Chaos is actually quite the artisan. He even taught me tips and strokes that I never would’ve thought of myself.”
Ash was sitting out in the field and painting up a storm on multiple canvases. His creative energy was flowing at a crazy fast rate as his claw swiped across the paper to create innovative piece after innovative piece.
All according to plan. The idea was to show off his work at an outdoor gallery to showcase how dragons could be creative. I just needed the next few stages of my plan to fall into place.
“Hey, Cozy,” Smolder said as she landed on the ground next to me. “You said you wanted to see me and a few of my friends, yeah?”
I nodded and turned to face her. “Yup. I think I finally figured out what was eating away at Ash’s mind. He liked to be creative but doesn’t know how to express himself very well,” I explained with an excited flap of my wings, “So what better way to do it than by letting him show you guys what’s what?”
I looked around and didn’t notice any other dragons with her.
“Now--wait, where’s your friends?”
Smolder grabbed the bridge of her snout and groaned. “Probably gawking and pony fashion. We don’t normally wear clothes like you guys do, so they’re falling a bit behind--”
Soon enough, I watched as several dragons of multiple colors landed nearby. A few guys and gals who were out of breath.
“Sorry, Lord Smolder,” one of the girl dragons apologized--a black and green one, “We kinda got caught up looking at--” But then she stopped dead in her tracks to look at one of Ash’s paintings. “Oh my--what’s that?!”
The painting she was looking at was a realistic interpretation of Smolder’s entire body. The orange dragoness was captured perfectly in a pose where she stood blowing a small ring of fire.
“Well now…” Smolder commented on the visage that Ash made of her. “You got my good side, that’s for damn sure. And my curves are anatomically correct.”
“Hey check this one out,” one of the male dragons pointed out another one of his pieces. This one was a beautiful mountainside with lots of dragons perched on the rocks.
Soon enough, everyone was walking over to look at his art. I could’ve sworn that I heard a few of them say that he should open up a museum.
To his surprise, everyone was rather supportive.
“...wait, you like my art?” he asked them with a curious tone.
“It’s awesome!” another girl dragon called out, “I wish I could draw half as good as this.”
“Where’d you learn to draw this well?” one of the dragon guys asked.
Ash was so overwhelmed at first that he couldn’t help but blush as he took in all of the praise. All he could do was quietly wave at me as he started to speak to them.
“Knew it’d work out,” I muttered confidently, and looked at Smolder. “You’ve done a great job of keeping them all in line, huh?”
But she was still busy admiring her portrait. “...Oh! Uh…well, let’s just say that the dragons are much more complaint once I managed to figure out how to tame them and get them to listen.”
I leaned forward with an interested expression. “Oh? What didja do to ‘em?”
“Trade secret. It involved a lot of jewels though,” she said with a little giggle. “But you did a great job helping Ash come into himself. All he needed was a little confidence boost and you gave it to him, Cozy.”
I kinda downplayed myself. Didn’t wanna look self-righteous or anything. It was just my job after all. “Me, what? Pffft…I just got him to grow into his scales or what have you. I can’t take all the credit.”
“Well you better accept it,” Smolder shot back with a teasing smile, “I’m citing you as the reason why draco-equine relations are getting better. So deal with it~”
“M-me?”
I nearly passed out from the praised. That was so thoughtful that I couldn’t even process how it felt to hear. I was just glad that my move on the board worked out just as I intended.
And you wanna know something?
On that day, he gave me another painting. It was of me…as a dragon! Standing on two legs with pink scales and blue wings. I looked so damn cool in it! That’s why I keep it framed above my desk so that I’ll never forget it.
Ash had finally found his place in the world.