//------------------------------// // Short chapter: How to Mother a Dragon // Story: Path to Peace // by Flamewarrior02 //------------------------------// 20 days after Zipp’s breakdown “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us, Zipp?” Sunny asked as she and her friends stood by the doors to the Brighthouse. Each were dressed up for another late night party they were invited to. Everypony except for Zipp. She was invited, but chose instead to remain at the Brighthouse for the night. Zipp nodded. “I’m just feeling really tired right now and would rather rest here than go out tonight.” She explained. “That makes sense.” Pipp admitted before asking. “But do you think you can handle being alone for a few hours?” The others nodded at this question. Zipp rarely, actually almost never, was by herself nowadays. Having a friend nearby seemed to help ease her worries about herself. Still, Zipp seemed sure in her decision. “You ponies have been looking forward to tonight. It wouldn’t be fair for you to miss out because of me.” She told them. “Besides.” She gestured to Sparky, who she was holding in her forehooves. “I got Sparky here to keep me company, and vice versa.” “And are you sure you want to be the one who dragonsits him?” Hitch asked. “Because you already know how much of a hoofful he can be.” “I’m sure, babe.” Zipp answered. Her friends, or at least three of them, still looked unsure about this. That is until Izzy spoke up. “I mean, it’s not like she’s going to use his dragon fire to make herself into an all powerful tyrant that’ll destroy us all and take over the world. If she tried, Sparky would just burn her alive.” She said rather casually regarding the subject material. “Izzy!” Pipp, Hitch, and Sunny all scolded her. “What?” Izzy said in her defense. “We were all thinking that she was thinking she was going to be thinking that at some point tonight, so I decided just to get rid of all that tension now.” She explained. Despite the annoyed looks she was still reviving, Zipp couldn’t help but chuckle at the unicorn’s antics. “Thanks for that, Iz. I’ll have a much easier time sleeping knowing that can never happen.” She joked. “You’re welcome!” Izzy cheerfully replied. Seeing that the rest of her friends didn't seem all that convinced, Zipp decided to take a more physical approach at reasoning with them and literally started pushing her friends to the door. "Look, you ponies have been working hard all week. Take some time off and enjoy yourselves.” “But, Zipp-“ Pipp tried to retort but was stopped by her sister. “If anything goes wrong I’ll call you. I promise.” Zipp assured her and the rest of her friends. Seeing that Zipp wasn’t going to budge, the rest of the ponies decided that there was no use arguing anymore. Hitch walked over to his marefriend and gave her a hug and quick kiss. “Both of you be good now.” He said to both Zipp and Sparky. “Yes, Sheriff Hitch. We’ll behave ourselves.” Zipp replied teasingly before Sparky made his own inaudible reply and joined in on the hug. “Okay.” Sunny said once Hitch broke the hug. “We’ll be back in a few hours. Call if you need anything. Take care!” Sunny said as she and the rest of the party goers departed, leaving only Zipp and Sparky in the Brighthouse. With nopony else around, Zipp placed Sparky on the floor and looked at the baby dragon. “Well, kiddo, looks like it’s just the two of us now.” She said with a smile as she knew what was coming. “Do your worst.” Sparky gave her a look that said he was ready to do just that. “Wheee!” Sparky cried happily as he flew around. “Whoohooo!” Well, he felt like he was flying. But in actuality he was being balanced on Zipp’s hoof while she laid on the floor. “Hehe. And up we go!” She said before she gently bounced him up into the air before catching him with the same hoof, much to the dragon's delight. After much running around, it was nice to find a game they could play that didn't involve much movement on Zipp's end. And she could tell that Sparky was really enjoying it. This was probably the closest he's ever been to flying himself, not counting the times he's ridden in the Maresteam as that's a vehicle. Seeing the little guy enjoying the fake flying made Zipp briefly look at her own wings, and the feathers still growing back. In a few more weeks, they would be at the point she could use them for flight again. She would be flying again. Something she hadn't done since she clipped her wings twenty days ago, unless she counted the few times her sister carried her. And while she was grateful for Pipp's support, it wasn't the same as when she was flying with her own wings. By herself, she had no limitations on how fast she could go, or what tricks she could perform. She had freedom to do whatever she wished. Freedom to do whatever she wished. Sparky noticed that Zipp's hoof wasn't moving as much as it originally was. Looking down, he saw the pegasus looking sad. He didn't know why, or really at all any of what was going on with her lately, but he knew that he couldn't leave her like this. With a determined look on his face, he jumped off Zipp's hoof and began his plan. Zipp was too distracted by her thoughts to notice Sparky jumping off. It was only when she unconsciously moved her hoof and heard no noise coming from the dragon did she notice he was gone. When she did, she sprang to her hooves and looked around frantically. "Sparky? Sparky, where are you!?" She called out for him. Thankfully, she didn't have to worry long as she suddenly felt something land of her head and snuggle into her mane. All her worries evaporated away as she knew immediately the identity of the culprit and softly laughed. "Ha, ha! You little sneak." She playfully scolded the young dragon as he grabbed him off her head. Sparky cooed in reply, and Zipp seemed to understand what he was saying. "Yeah, I'm feeling better now. Thank you, Sparky." She said with a smile as she nuzzled his nose. A few hours later, and all was calm in the Brighthouse. Both Zipp and Sparky had exhausted themselves and now were sleeping on the couch, the pegasus having a wing draped around the baby dragon. From outside, a pony's head appeared in the window. It was Misty. Obviously having been sent by Opaline to get Sparky's dragon fire, she was expecting to find him at the party with the others. Realizing she wasn't there, she decided to check the Brighthouse next. Sure enough, she was both lucky and unlucky at the same time, finding both Sparky and Zipp there. As the unicorn was pondering just how she could acquire the dragon without waking up Zipp, she heard the pegasus groaning and mumbling. Thinking she was waking up, Misty quickly dove back into the bushes and waited for what would happen next. But Zipp wasn't waking up. Instead it seemed she was suffering from another nightmare. But before she could start flailing, Sparky unconsciously, or perhaps consciously, started to hug and snuggle the pegasus like a large stuffed animal. It wasn't much, but Sparky's comfort seemed to work as Zipp stopped shaking and was sleeping in peace again, a smile forming on her face as she brought Sparky in closer with her wing. Having watched the whole thing, Misty was experiencing two emotions simultaneously. One was the unnamable feeling of seeing something cute. After that display of kindness and love, Misty knew she couldn't break that up. But that was also competing with the feeling of fear she felt at the idea of grabbing Sparky. She felt that if she so much as laid a hoof on that dragon that what ever Zipp would do to her would make what Opaline would do to her for her failure pale in comparison. With a mixture of guilt and terror, Misty decided to try again some other day and retreated, leaving the step mother and son to continue sleeping in peace until their friends came back from the party. And when they did, you can bet Pipp took many pictures of the scene in front of her.