1st Person: Discord
My next memory was waking in a soft bed, not that dissimilar from my own. I opened my right eye, the left covered in bandages. I felt bruises all over my body and my ability to talk was limited. The curtains of the bed were lighter, more daytime themed. I felt somepony breathing beside me. I could feel covers resting over me. When I looked to my right, I saw Celestia curled up beside me, asleep. She had my blood on her hoofs, which suggested she’d bandaged me up herself. I noticed that she’d leaned against me with the covers between us. She’d taken my condition regarding tactility a little too far. I smiled, shifting my arm from under the covers to brush a lock of her mane out from her face. When I’d done that, I replaced my arm back beneath the sheets and went to return to my slumber. I heard the door open slightly and fearing it was Night Eyes, feigned slumber. The lighter clopping of hooves suggested that it was a fully grown Mare. I pretended to wake up and saw Celestia’s mother, the ever so much more understanding Queen Mareia. She looked at me and smiled gently. With the bandages around my face, it was difficult to speak, but she seemed to understand me well enough.
“How long have I been in this predicament?” I asked. Mareia looked at the clock above the door.
“Several hours. Night Eyes is in a bit of trouble with Celestia here. He’s been banished from her room until further notice. So he can’t come in and finish the job with you.” she replied. My eye widened as I shot my gaze around.
“This is Celestia’s room? I’m in her bed?” I asked nervously. Mareia nodded.
“Yes, but don’t worry, I’m not likely to beat you out of here. You’re important to Celestia and I can’t keep you from her in good conscience. Night Eyes may not see it but I do. Your opinion matters to her and I know that your morals are well aligned. She and her sister will one day succeed their father and me. When they do, Celestia will appoint you her advisor.” Mareia placed a damp cloth over my head, the cool feeling nice against the bruised surface.
“Am I that important to her?” I asked, looking at the sleeping princess. Mareia nodded, patting my shoulder.
“Before she met you, Celestia always said she wanted a brother to play with her and Luna. She stopped as soon as you entered her life. You’re the brother she always wanted.” she commented. I sighed as this information became clear to me.
“Your Highness… I don’t want Celestia’s opinion of me to cloud her judgement regarding what I am. I am her servant, and being anything more to her would confuse me. I like knowing my place, I will never strive to be more than what I know I am. When somepony, even this Pony places me in the higher category, I feel… lost.” I said. Mareia seemed confused.
“What are you saying, Draco?” she asked. I took one last look at Celestia.
“I don’t want to be her brother, I don’t want to be her advisor, I just want to be her servant. I will forever be loyal to her, but I cannot be everything she wants me to be. She’ll build me up and grow overconfident with me and that’s when I’ll collapse. I’ll fall to the very bottom and she’ll fall with me. My opinion cannot matter, because as a Draconequus, I do not matter.” I replied. Mareia chuckled gently and patted my shoulder just as so.
“The war was a regrettable incident, Draco. Draconequus are magnificent creatures, and even Night Eyes agrees that they were formidable opponents for him. Despite the order of things, every living creature matters. Magic demands that all species, Pony or otherwise, be allowed to exist in a symbiotic relationship. Just as Ponies needed Draconequus despite the war, also would Draconequus have needed us were they to win. It’s a balance of scales, if you will.”
“Your Highness, I don’t understand the philosophical the way you Ponies do.” I interrupted. Mareia smiled sweetly and removed the damp cloth from my head, replacing it with a fresher cloth.
“All I’m trying to say is this: It’d be a lonely world if every other species was killed off and all that’s left is you and your kind. The mysteries of life would no longer exist because you’d know all about your own species.” she replied. I understood then what she meant. I was important because I wasn’t just another pony. I sighed, looking back to Celestia.
“But what about her? I understand my importance as another being, but I’m still subject to the lower class of slavery. Why am I so important, when there are many servants like me that are as dissimilar to ponies that would enjoy being loved like I am?” Once again, Mareia smiled and added a chuckle.
“Because you would be the only one to ask that question, Draco. Even among servants, you are unique. No other Draconequus would think the way you do. And no other servant would have such a symbiotic personality with my daughters. The proof is in the pudding, if you will. Tia told me about Flutterbye, and how you both went to stop your little prank when you discovered her unborn foal. You’ve the body of a draconequus, but the spirit of a stallion.” her words dug in deep. I felt as though I should have felt guilty, but being praised and called one of them in spirit brought a sense of pride to my heart.
“Your majesty… After hearing your words, I feel as though I want to be what you predict Celestia will make me… But I’m conflicted now. I can’t just act upon my desires like an animal, but if you were to order me to become whatever she wants me to be, then I will gladly follow that order.” Mareia smiled again and nodded, whispering into my ear.
“Then I order you to make her happy, as you have done since you went into her service.” I smiled this time, closing my eye.
“Yes, my queen.” I let out a sigh afterwards and fell back to sleep.
The following day, I was up and about. My left arm was in a sling, but I was still good to work. With Lynch’s aid, we’d managed to get the dishes done, handed out the weather reports to Canterlot’s newly formed Wonderbolts. Proudheart, the father of Flutterbye’s unborn foal had been given the position of Captain, which made him even more attractive to the Mares. He’d told me that he had settled down with Flutterbye and planned on being a family pony. This made me happy as Flutterbye was a good friend. We pulled pranks on her from time to time, but never anything too cruel. She found it to be jolly fun and never took our jokes to heart. Lynch and I had also managed to trim the princesses’ manes. Queen Mareia asked for a similar trim, which both surprised and frightened us. More frightening was Night Eyes’ sudden appearance during the middle of the trim. Fortunately, Mareia came to our rescue and explained her request to her husband. We were allowed to finish our task and Lynch offered her a mirror to inspect our work. She seemed quite satisfied with the results, and we then noticed that the shorter mane revealed more of her neck.
I noticed Lynch beginning to stare and I bumped his elbow to snap him out of it. Our presence couldn’t be stood much longer and Night Eyes quickly dismissed us. We bowed to them both before leaving, closing the doors behind us.
“That Night Eyes is scarier than anything else in Equestria.” Lynch said. I chuckled and shook my head.
“I don’t know. The piercing eyes of a Gryphon can be pretty scary. I think that without the cross expression on our Lord’s face, he’d look kinda goofy.” Lynch laughed, the sound echoing through the hallway.
“What, like your eyes? You look like one of those goofy drawings the fillies and colts draw.” he mused. With a scoff I turned to him.
“Oh yeah? You wanna join me in the silly world of cartoons?” I pretended to poke his eye, going just above his brow.
“Okay, you can stop now!” he said, laughing. I did as he said and continued to walk on in silence for about a minute.
“It feels like forever since we had any fun. I wanna pull a prank on somepony.” he said. With a sigh, I turned to him again.
“The last prank was two days ago.” I said.
“Yeah, but that was the ordeal with Flutterbye and you took the brunt of the oil. The result was not fun for either of us. Flutterbye’s incident doesn’t count.”
“I was thinking just the same thing, Lynch.” The familiar voice of the mischievous Luna floated above us, followed by Celestia who landed delicately beside me.
“Let’s go after one of the Wonderbolts.” Lynch suggested. The idea of embarrassing the latest popularity made my skin and scales crawl with delight.
“Ooh, that would be delightful!” I said, holding in a giddy giggle. The princesses laughed together, agreeing with my diagnosis.
“Which one though?” Luna asked. There was silence for a moment as we all thought about which one would be best to prank. A cruel smile came to my lips and I began to chuckle evilly. The three of them looked at me with curiosity glued to their faces.
“Let’s get all of them at once.” I suggested. I could have sworn the room darkened as all of us grinned with mild malevolence.
We’d set up the trap in the middle of the town’s square, drawing the curious eyes of all the ponies around. Some of them even muttered neutral comments about another prank taking place. Several crates of fireworks were set up all bunched together, all connected to a single fuse.
“Wait, what if a firework hits one of them?” Luna asked.
“Leave that to me.” I said, snapping my fingers. A thick layer of glass appeared in the air a good distance from the ground. It stayed there and vanished, invisible to all.
“That glass won’t break under any circumstances. So the fireworks will go off beneath the wonderbolts just enough to frighten them. Nopony will be harmed. I raised my hand to Lynch who smacked it with his own. Celestia grinned and watched as the first signs of the Wonderbolts emerged.
“Here they come, everypony. Get ready!” she called out. I snapped my fingers again and a cloak appeared over us, making us invisible to all around us. As the Wonderbolts approached at a cruising speed, Celestia ignited the fireworks. The fuse made short work of itself and the fireworks exploded upward, shooting towards the flying team. The first one exploded just beneath Proudheart, causing him to lock up and fall onto the glass. More fireworks exploded beneath the Wonderbolts and each one fell onto the glass, petrified. When the last one went off, all Wonderbolts flinched, relaxing themselves afterward. I removed the cloak we hid under and lowered the glass down to the ground. The princesses, Lynch and I burst out laughing, causing the team to look dumbfounded.
“Oh, that was an awesome idea to go after all of the Wonderbolts instead of just one, Draco.” Lynch spoke up, having a heart attack like event as he struggled to breathe.
“Well you know their new motto. If one fails, they all fail. If one is pranked, they they’re all pranked.” I replied as I stopped laughing. I settled down much quicker than the others. Proudheart rose to his hooves and smiled at us.
“Okay… boys, get the draconequuses.” he said. With a light chuckle, I turned and grabbed Lynch, dragging him away from the now large crowd of flying ponies intent on getting revenge. Lynch continued to laugh as he found his footing and ran beside me.
“I suppose they’ll be known as the malicious Wonderbolts now.How do we outrun them?” he asked. I smiled at him and picked up the pace.
“I don’t need to outrun them, I just need to outrun you.” With that said, I snapped my fingers and disappeared, leaving Lynch to scream his head off as a herd of Pegusi chased after him. When they turned the corner, I snapped my fingers again and appeared where I had vanished from.
“I love invisibility.” I said to myself as I walked off toward Canterlot Castle, snapping an apple into existence in my hand.