//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Louder Than Words // by Niaeruzu //------------------------------// The center of Ponyville was filled with what was probably the loudest ruckus possible. Seemingly every single inhabitant of the small village was gathered in front of the town hall, most of them stuck in a heated argument over the latest threat to the town. One of the ponies there was Cirrus Cloud, a cyan-coated, white-maned pegasus. Her long, wispy hair closely resembled her namesake, and her cutie mark was a white silhouette of a pegasus. She timidly looked around, unsure what everypony was talking about. She’d only just gotten there, and couldn’t make out a single word through all of the noise. Too shy to ask around, she simply opted to wait until somepony made an announcement. A few moments later, a voice tried to reach over the crowd. “Fillies and gentlecolts, may I have your attention, please?” said the brown pony with a grey mane and tail standing in front of the town hall, aptly named Mayor Mare. The crowd mostly died down, but some ponies still whispered to each other. Mayor Mare cleared her throat and continued. “As you all might have heard, a large dragon has appeared, and taken up residence on the field just outside Whitetail Woods.” “A...a dragon?” Cirrus Cloud whispered to herself. She wasn’t the only one, as the whole crowd started murmuring to itself. “There is no reason to be alarmed, everypony,” the mayor continued, “the dragon isn’t taking his thousand-year nap like the last one, and while it isn’t exactly...” the mayor paused for a long moment, trying to find the right word, “talkative, it doesn’t look like it means us ill will.” While the mayor continued her speech, Cirrus’ thoughts wandered off. A dragon, just outside Whitetail Woods? The last time Ponyville had to deal with a fully-grown dragon, it was a complete and total mess. Then again, it was some kind of weird temporary transformation the local librarian’s assistant, Spike, had gone through. And before that, there was that dragon who had taken up residence in the mountains and threatened to cover the entire area in smoke. Regardless, Cirrus Cloud was interested, for some reason. Dragons might be dangerous and scary, but ponies could rarely see an adult dragon. The great dragon migration was possibly the only time of the year you could even see them, and even then, they were far away, up in the sky. Cirrus paused for a moment. Why would a dragon come this close to Ponyville? And alone, for that matter. She didn’t know a lot about dragons, but she was pretty sure that a dragon wouldn’t come to a pony village alone for no reason. As the crowd started dispersing, Cirrus was pulled out of her thoughts. The mayor had finished her talk, and every pony present was going back to their daily routine, most of them chatting amongst each other about the dragon. Cirrus sighed. She didn’t have any friends, herself; while she often met ponies through her work, she didn’t feel like there was anypony she could confide in. She was just too shy to ever get close to other ponies, even though everypony was very friendly towards her. “Omigosh, a dragon, in Ponyville!” A pink pony had suddenly appeared next to Cirrus Cloud, excitedly chatting with the blue pegasus. “Isn’t that exciting? Do you think he’ll need a welcome party? Yeah, I think he needs a welcome party. But how do you plan a welcome party for a dragon?” Cirrus stared at the other pony, not at all bothered by her sudden appearance. For some reason, she almost never got surprised by anything. Even when the pony next to her, Pinkie Pie, had thrown a surprise party for her when she started living in Ponyville, she wasn’t surprised. “What do you think, C.C.? Can I call you C.C.?” Pinkie asked. “I mean, it’s not every day a dragon needs a surprise party! Wait, how do you surprise a big, huge, enormous dragon anyway?” “Oh, I, um...” Cirrus didn’t know what to say. Pinkie Pie was friendly, but she could be a tad overwhelming. Why would she ask Cirrus, of all ponies, how to surprise a dragon? “I don’t know, Miss Pie. Um... maybe somepony can ask him?” She idly toyed with her mane. “And C.C. is okay, I guess.” Pinkie Pie gasped. “That’s a great idea! Oh, but I don’t have much time, could you ask him? Please?” With a smile, she added, “You can just call me Pinkie, by the way. All my friends do!” “M-Me?!” Cirrus exclaimed. “You want me to ask a dragon how to throw a welcome party for it?” “Pretty please?” Pinkie Pie asked, giving Cirrus a pleading look. For extra effect, she added in some big puppy eyes. Well, even though Cirrus barely knew Pinkie, she wasn’t one for declining a request. That would just be rude! “Okay,” she said with a sigh. “Yay, thank you!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “But I really have to go now, there’s hungry customers at Sugarcube Corner!” She started hopping away from the confused Cirrus, but stopped with a pensive look on her face. “Oh, could you ask him what his favourite colour is? And his favourite cupcake flavour?” Cirrus Cloud nodded meekly, unsure of what she had gotten herself into now. “Okay then, see you later!” Pinkie Pie said as she left for work. Cirrus let out a deep sigh. Go to a dragon, ask it how to throw a welcome party for dragons, and ask it about its favourite things. No biggie, right? She cast a glance in the direction of Whitetail Wood. Incredibly dark, almost black clouds floated right over the forest. Cirrus sighed again. If she didn’t want to get wet, she’d have to do it quickly. The dragon wasn’t really hard to find. The grassy fields around the forest were usually empty, only being used for things like friendly competitions and the like, but now, there was hulking mass of grey scales and bright red spines. A few ponies were standing around it at a fair distance, softly talking to each other. Some of them were already leaving, wanting to be home before the rain. The dragon, however, wasn’t doing anything. It was laying down, curled up, not paying attention to the ponies around it. Its chest was softly going up and down, and small wisps of smoke curled from its nostrils. Cirrus Cloud stood a bit farther away than most ponies, staring at the dragon’s back. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea... However, Pinkie Pie had asked her, and she didn’t want to return with no information. She stood around for a while, mulling over her options. How exactly does one approach a dragon, anyway? After every other pony had left, Cirrus managed to muster up enough courage to approach the dragon. Slowly, she walked closer. “Um, hello?” No reaction. “Mister dragon?” the scared pegasus tried. The dragon shrugged and repositioned itself a little. Cirrus took a deep breath and walked around the dragon, stopping when she stood in front of its head. She could almost hear her legs wobbling out of fright. “Um, mister dragon, I wanted to ask you something, well, actually, somepony else wanted to ask you something, but she asked me to ask you because she didn’t have much time...” she rambled, too scared to stop. What would the dragon do if she stopped talking? She wasn’t exactly eager to find out. “...and I don’t know if dragons even like cupcakes, but maybe with gemsto—” Cirrus suddenly stopped as the dragon opened one massive eye. The eye was as red as the dragon’s spines, and was staring at Cirrus with a mildly annoyed look. “Oh, I’m sorry!” Cirrus said, “I started rambling, I think I do that when I get scared...” She hung her head as it started raining. And not even all that softly, either; within moments, her wet mane stuck to her face. “But, um, if you could just tell me your answer, then I can leave you alone again, I mean, not that I know if you want to be left alone, but...” she trailed off, not knowing what to say next. The dragon didn’t say anything, but continued to stare. “You could also say no, if you don’t want to answer,” Cirrus timidly added. The dragon shook its head ‘no’. “Oh...” Cirrus said, feeling disappointed. “I’m sorry, I’ll just... leave, then.” The dragon shook its head again, raising its head up. Even though it was still laying down, it already looked more enormous than it already was. It pointed a claw at its throat. Cirrus tilted her head sideways. “Do you have something stuck in your throat?” The black clouds above started rumbling ominously. Were there pegasi playing on top of them? The dragon shook its head once more. This time, it opened its mouth, pointed at it, and shook its head again. “Um... I don’t think I understand. Can’t you just say it?” Cirrus asked. She glanced upward and saw little bolts of lightning dancing among the clouds. She really had to get home before the weather got even worse. The dragon cast its head down, looking rather sad. It scratched at the ground with a claw for a bit, then pointed at the ground. Curiously, Cirrus looked over. She could make out text, although it was really big. After looking at it for a few moments, she realized what it said. ‘MUTE’. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” Cirrus exclaimed, “I had no idea!” She felt really awkward now. Then again, she couldn’t really have guessed it. “I-I didn’t mean it,” she said, hastily stepping back. She really hoped she hadn’t made the dragon angry, because who knows what it might do then! As she backpedaled, she suddenly slipped. All of the rain had made a particularly dirty patch of ground even dirtier, making it more like a muddy pool. “Ow,” Cirrus said as she stood up. When she tried to move, however, she found that she couldn’t. With all her might, she attempted to lift her hooves, but they were stuck in the mud. “Oh no,” was all Cirrus could say to that. The dragon, meanwhile, eyed her curiously. It wasn’t doing much to reassure Cirrus, though. In a futile effort, Cirrus flapped her wings, but she couldn’t get loose. After a lot of useless flapping, she had to pause to catch her breath. Suddenly, an ear-splitting crack pierced the air, accompanied by a flash of lightning. Cirrus smelled the air. Something was burning. She looked at the dragon. “Um, that wasn’t you, was it, mister dragon?” she asked, still scared. The dragon merely looked behind the little pegasus. Cirrus turned her head to see the edge of the forest. A big tree with a charred and smoking bottom stood there, a bolt of lightning having struck it, dealing hefty damage. With a loud groan, it started falling over. What was even worse, it started falling over in Cirrus’ direction. With a scream, she huddled close to the ground and closed her eyes. This was it, she had gone to the dragon, and she’d met her end. Not at the claws of the dragon, but through something else entirely. But... it was taking quite a long time. Carefully, Cirrus opened her eyes. She only saw the dragon in front of her, but when she looked up, she could see the tree floating above her, surrounded by the grey dragon’s tail. Apparently, the dragon had caught the tree in midair with its tail, just before it could squish the terrified pony. With a massive claw, the dragon carefully pulled Cirrus out of the mud, setting her down beside the dirty pool. The blue pegasus stood stock still for a while. The dragon... had just saved her. It took Cirrus a while to process what just happened, but when she did, she could only say one thing. “Thank you!” she exclaimed with an exasperated gasp, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She didn’t know if her eyes were tearing up because of her quite recent experience, or the rain was simply getting into them. The dragon, meanwhile, was looking at her inquisitively, like it wanted to know if she was okay. With a sigh, Cirrus sat down to catch her breath. It was still raining, she was still wet and dirty, but she didn’t really care. She was just happy that tree didn’t fall on her. The dragon scratched something in the ground again. Slowly, Cirrus stood up and went over to read it. ‘OK?’ Cirrus Cloud looked up at the dragon. “Yes, I’m fine, thanks to you. Oh, sweet Celestia, I almost bit the dust there. If it weren’t for you...” She stood around awkwardly for a moment. “My name is Cirrus Cloud, by the way. What’s your name?” The dragon scratched in the ground once more. ‘SLATESCALE’. Cirrus looked up at the massive dragon. “It’s been nice to meet you, Slatescale,” she said. “But I’m wet and dirty, and I don’t want to get a cold, so I have to go home.” Slatescale gave an understanding nod. As Cirrus headed in the direction of Ponyville, she looked back at the lonely dragon again. She waved and said, “I can... come back tomorrow, if that’s okay with you.” She didn’t know why she said it, but she did. Slatescale gave a wave back, and nodded. Cirrus continued towards her home with a strange smile on her face. Even though her day had been incredibly weird, she was oddly content. But also, kind of scared. Why in Equestria did she promise a dragon to come visit?