//------------------------------// // four // Story: Jump of the Iron Dragon // by tosety //------------------------------// My son’s cry pierced the haze of my anger. “Tallic? Tallic! Please stop! Please don’t leave me!” No, not my son, Steelskin was the one calling. His woeful voice was cutting me to the heart. “Tallic... please come back... Tallic...” Steelskin whimpered. I should just leave him to be found by his own kind. Let him forget about me. I would only bring pain into both of our lives if I let him into my heart. Yes, abandoning him would be the kindest action. “Tallic...” The little colt sobbed. Who am I kidding? I let him in the moment I started singing to him. and made it official when I failed to send him back to his own kind last night. I should have scared him away like I have done to so many before. Now, he may as well be my mate’s egg. I believe I will regret this most severely. I turned around and headed back to where he was huddled on the ground, sobbing. The rainbow maned pegasus was doing her best to comfort him, but he was doing a pretty good job of ignoring her. The pegasus felt my arrival and stepped back a few paces to let me near. Apparently Steel noticed her departure and looked up. Rainbow Dash caught up with me pretty quickly. I think she was just waiting for me to exhaust myself. I sat crying, calling out for Tallic, and ignoring Rainbow Dash’s attempts to comfort me. Finally, a gust of wind caused her to back off and leave me to my misery. Wait, a gust of wind? I ran over to Tallic and hugged his foreleg. “Please don’t leave me, I don’t wanna be alone again.” I sobbed. “Be strong, little one, your kind is a very good race, full of compassion. You would do well to stay with Miss Sweetheart until she can find you a full family rather than just a dragon that cannot even provide for your basic needs.” “But you’re strong, and you care about me, and... and you can do lots of things to help.” I started hiccuping from all the crying. “and you won’t get killed in a train wreck.” I whispered “Do you really think they will give me permission to raise you? Have you ever heard of a dragon adopting a pony?” “B-but Alex adopted Scootaloo...” My heart dropped as I realized that what he was saying was probably true. At least Alex could live in a regular house. Tallic could barely walk down the streets of ponyville he was so big. No! Alex could do it, so Tallic has to be able to as well. I refuse to give up! I sighed inwardly, fighting both my own heart and the pitiful cries from the colt. I just knew it would not work and it was better to dash his hopes now while he was already upset from my precipitous departure. I tried to tell him as much, but he was being quite stubborn and his pleading was tearing me up inside. “Look, Scootaloo was adopted by both Alex and Rainbow Dash. Single parents have a much harder time raising a... pony to be a well adjusted and productive member of society. Besides, I know precious little about your society. I will not be able to instruct you on the finer points of being the pony you should be.” I noticed Miss Sweetheart and Applejack come into the clearing and could tell by her uncomfortable expression that she had heard us. Well, time to get her back for her comments. “How about you ask her why it would not work. If you can convince her to let me, then I shall reconsider.” He struggled to his hooves and stumbled over to where his guardian was approaching with Alex and Applejack. Apparently Twilight decided to stay behind. “Miss... Sweetheart,” he choked out. The combination of mental and physical weariness showing in his voice. “Tallic cares about me, please let me stay with him... I... I...” I wished I could cut this short. He could barely stand, and the desperation in his voice was tearing me up. Despite that, I was taking a perverse joy in the expression on Miss Sweetheart’s face as those eyes pleaded with her to let him stay with a ‘monster’. Miss Sweetheart stood there, trying to keep from crying as she was forced to listen to his pleas. “I... you...” Miss Sweetheart stammered. “Steely,” Rainbow Dash knelt down, looking into Steelskin’s eyes “These things take time, squirt. I mean, Alex knew Scootaloo for almost a year and I knew her for almost four. How about you first become friends with him. Spend time with him after school, see if he can help you with your homework, and give Miss Sweetheart time to get to know him. He’s really cool, but he’s also big and scary, and a lot of ponies need time to be sure he’s not going to gobble them up.” Her voice dropped down to a whisper “Some ponies still think Alex might decide to eat them, and he’s just a weak little human.” She ended this with a wink. “Yes” Miss Sweetheart finally found her voice. “How about we let... Tallic... be your big brother like Rainbow Dash was for Scootaloo.” I could see her discomfort, but I was glad she was willing to make at least this concession. She deftly passed Steelskin off to Dash and approached me apprehensively. “I am sorry about my outburst earlier.” She gave a heavy sigh. I could tell that she had not yet changed her opinion of me, but she was at least trying to be civil. “Please forgive me. We can start filling out the paperwork for the big brother program whenever you like.” “Ponies” I said with a shake of my head “You creatures are more open and accepting than any I have yet encountered.” Alex grinned "You're right. These ponies are better than most humans, especially me." Dash hoofed him in the shoulder with a smile, "Shut up, you big lug." “I did not expect to see violence from one of these ponies.” I commented with a chuckle. “Although, you did deserve it.” Well, I gotta go back to the orphanage, but at least I got a promise from Tallic and Miss Sweetheart that he’d be my big brother like some of the other kids have. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing everypony again, but at least Rocky was okay with me. The adults finished their conversation and decided we needed to go back to the meadow. I was so glad when Tallic scooped me up in his claw and carried me back. I don’t think I even had the strength to stand on his back, much less walk back to ponyville. I think I even fell asleep during the flight back. We flew back to the meadow, with the rainbow pegasus following (I use that term loosely as she was flitting all over the place, like an excited dragonling). The field was now occupied by a single dark green unicorn. I could see fear and curiosity warring against each other in the unicorn’s posture as I landed. “Twilight told me to let you know that she took the kids to Sugarcube Corner.” The unicorn informed us. “My name is Emerald and I’m a doctor of natural sciences and xenobiology.” he replied with barely restrained excitement. He also smelled different, more so than a male normally would differ from a female. “Greetings, unicorn, you may call me Tallic.” “I’m glad to meet you, Tallic.” He trotted over to the supplies “Twilight also mentioned that you haven’t yet eaten, do you mind if I ask you some questions about your species over breakfast?” I moved over to the tables they had set up earlier and took a bite out of one of the iron bars Alex had procured. It was a little too pure for my tastes, lacking the depth of flavor found in less refined metals. Not that it was as refined as more advanced civilizations, but better than most low tech worlds. I happen to be more of an ore dragon, myself, but this would be a good source of energy in a pinch and the promised pallets would become the core of my hoard. “May I ask your actual name? I can try to speak it in dragonese if you please. Though I’m a bit rusty” “No” I replied, “Names are powerful and not to be known by any but family.” “Very well, I understand. Where do you hail from in relation to this location?” “Far away, Emerald, not only am I not from this reality, but I have been... Twilight Sparkle called it ‘jumping’, for some decades.” “Fascinating! So you’re a jumper like Alex and Matthew? Please tell me more about your home reality and your race.” Emerald asked, completely forgetting about the grass-based patty that he had put on his plate. With an inward sigh, I explained about Fiore, dragons, and even a little about the dragon civil war. Every time I took a breath, he had more questions to clarify what I said. He was fully polite, and there was nothing at all annoying about him, but the constant talking was wearing on me. The rainbow pegasus seemed to be quite bored and offered to take Steel to meet his friends at Sugarcube Corner. Tallic and Emerald started talking and even though I wanted to know more about my new big brother, adult talk can be really boring. Luckily, Rainbow Dash also thinks that stuff is boring, so she took me to find Rocky and Scootaloo. When we got to sugarcube corner, Rocky, Scootaloo, and Miss Twilight were drinking milkshakes at one of the booths. Scootaloo was in the middle of telling them about something when she noticed me come in and ran over. “You okay? Did the dragon come back?” Rainbow Dash saw me almost trip over my hooves and cut her off. “Hey squirt, go help him sit down while I get him something.” I stumbled over and Rocky made room for me. “How are you doing? Did Tallic come back?” Miss Twilight asked with concern. “Yeah” I said, a smile of relief forcing itself to my face despite how tired I was. “Hey, squirt, slide this over to Steely.” Rainbow Dash said, coming back to the table. “Mrs. Cake’s not too happy with us giving them milkshakes before noon.” She said with a smirk towards Miss Twilight. She sat down next to Scootaloo and gave her daughter an affectionate noogie while sipping one of those adult drinks with the really complicated names. I choked back a sob, remembering how mom’s hoof felt on my head. “So, what happened?” Rocky asked. My head drooped as I remembered Tallic yelling and flying off. I took a deep breath, getting my nerve up. “You should’ve seen him!” Dash cut in. “When Steel here went running after Tallic, I was the only one who could keep up with him. He went tearing off after him and convinced him to come back and talk. Then, when Miss Sweetheart got there, he convinced her to let Tallic be his big brother!” She reached over and hoofed me in the arm. “Can’t believe you got someone like her to let a dragon watch you. She’s even scared of gryphons.” Remind me never to trust a story told by Rainbow Dash ever again. “Whoa! That’s awesome!” both of them yelled at once. “Uhm...” I didn’t know what to say, so I just drank my milkshake, refusing to look any of them in the eyes. “STEELSKIN! I NEED YOUR HELP!” I spilled my Milkshake all over Twilight Sparkle. After getting my heart started back up after Pinkie’s terror inducing materialization, I apologized to Twilight and started cleaning up the mess I made. “I gotta go, the weather team needs me back to supervise this evening’s thunderstorm.” Rainbow Dash took off almost like she was scared of Pinkie Pie. “Steelskin! This is urgent! I need to make some cupcakes for Metalicana and I don’t know what he likes!” “Metalicana?” I asked, momentarily distracted from my cleanup efforts. “Your dragon friend, silly! I know he eats metal, but I don’t know which kind he likes best. I mean, does he like ores or refined steel or silver or is rust tasty and are gems sweet or sour? I’ve seen so much of his backstory, but it’s been so hard to keep track of him after he started jumping, And it never told what he liked to eat! “His name is Tallic.” I was getting a little nervous. I’d heard stories of ponies who talked too much with The Pinkie, and I was starting to believe that she could actually drive somepony to live in a hollowed out log wearing a daffodil cloak and talking to haystacks. “So, you want me to ask about how metals taste?” I asked, hoping against hope, she’d give me a single word answer. “Yes, that’s exactly what I want, there’s so much planning and logistical considerations. Really, how am I supposed to get my party cannon all the way up that mountain along with the...” I looked at Twilight Sparkle, silently pleading with her to rescue me from pink insanity. “We’ll see what we can do, Pinkie,” Miss Twilight interrupted “but I really need to get these three back to Alex and Miss Sweetheart.” Pinkie Pie stopped for a moment, her eyes glazing over. Popping back to life, she let out her usual expression “Okee dokee Loki.” and trotted off happily. The four of us walked dazedly out and towards the meadow. “Does he really eat metal?” Rocky whispered “Yup, in fact Alex got him a few iron bars and said he’s ordered pallets of the stuff for him.” “My dad told me he wanted to make him feel at home, and wanted to be friendly, so he got him the metal bars. Dad was actually excited to make friends with a dragon that wasn't bothered by his ferry-mons, whatever those are.” Scootaloo informed me “Can you ask him to let us ride him too?” “Sure, I bet he’d love to.” I said, hoping I was right. I was quite relieved when the rest of the ponies came into sight. “Do we have enough food for them?” When I mentioned food, Emerald looked down at his now cold patty. “And while I have the chance, please tell me about the intelligent creatures of this world. I would hate to accidentally eat somebody.” This last bit caused him to chuckle. “Well, we ponies are the dominant creatures in this area, divided into three tribes. The unicorns like me can use magic and can levitate things. The Pegasi can fly and are in charge of the weather, and the Earth ponies are able to grow pretty much anything and are quite strong and durable. Cows and donkeys prefer to live here in Equestria, we are on friendly terms with the Griffons, and there are also changelings...” He seemed uncomfortable with saying that name, but it wasn’t the normal fear of an enemy race. “Who are the rulers of this land?” “OH! I’m sorry, Equestria is ruled by Princesses Celestia and Luna. For the record, Luna went insane and tried to usurp her older sister. She was banished to the moon for a thousand years and was released only a few years back, being restored by the Elements of Harmony.” I was confused by this. The way he said Luna’s name showed that he held her in even more reverence than Celestia, yet he so blithely mentioned her going insane. “And has appointed me as her first Paladin of Redemption, to pass on the healing that we both received.” Alex said as he joined us, giving Emerald a slightly annoyed look. “Shortly after Nightmare Moon’s defeat, Princess Cadance was kidnapped by Chrysalis, Queen of the changelings, who took her place and almost took over Canterlot. Princess Cadance is married to Twilight’s brother, Shining Armor” Miss Sweetheart continued. “Princess Luna reclaimed her position as Princess of the Night after her redemption, and returned to her duty of raising the moon each night.” Emerald continued, annoyed by the interruption to his lecture. “So, I assume that cows and donkeys are intelligent, and therefore off my menu. Do I need to worry about chickens and fish?” Miss Sweetheart looked nauseous, the other ponies looked slightly uncomfortable, but Alex just looked annoyed. Alex raised his hand, as if he was asking permission to speak. I nodded in his direction. “There’s also pork. They export it from most farms around here.” Emerald added, not noticing the silence that had fallen. “Fish are completely okay, but let’s talk about the others when we’re with ponies of stern stomachs. Eating meat is not the most comfortable subject for herbivores.” Alex cautioned. “I can temporarily help you with your diet, sir.” Emerald stated. “We can go to Garbo’s Griffon Grub and order some food for you while I compile a list of local beasts you can consume in the frontiers outside of town. And don’t worry about pay, we can cover you.” “Stop. I am only interested in supplementing my diet of iron, I do not need to eat much in the way of proteins.” “Aaaaah, I see. You eat metals. That explains the teeth.” Emerald scratched his chin. “Easily done. You prefer ore or ingots? Freshly smelted or tempered?” “I prefer the taste of ores, but the refined metals are a greater source of energy. Alex has promised me a tribute of iron to be delivered in the near future.” “Well then. I won’t burden you with further questions, but if you want some income, could Twilight and I borrow you for another inquiry and a medical screening? We’ll pay you for your time.” Emerald offered. “Plus my assistant would love to talk with you.” Twilight smiled as she escorted the children back into the meadow. Steelskin came running over and whispered to me “Can you give Rocky and Scootaloo a ride? I told ‘em how awesome it was to fly with you.” “I’m not quite ready for that, Steely.” Alex interjected. “Besides, Miss Sweetheart would die of fright if she saw you three above the treetops on the back of a dragon, especially after our recent conversation.” Too many people. I need to find some sanctuary. “Steelskin, I think you should spend a little time with your friends. I will return this evening.” With that, I made a hasty retreat for the mountain pointed out to me earlier. When we got back to the meadow, everypony was talking to Tallic, I ran up and asked him about letting my friends ride, but Alex shot us down. Then Tallic told me to spend more time with my friends and few off. At least he promised to come back this afternoon.