//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Dragonbrave // by superpony55 //------------------------------// Smoke. That was the first thing he saw, besides inside his shell, of course. It was simply smoke. The only thing he saw. And it was everywhere. For him, it took a while to get used to. He was the youngest of his siblings, the smallest, the weakest. The unwanted one. At first, he didn't notice. He was just happy to be with his mother, and he didn't worry about a thing. Then he got hungry. It couldn't be right. Dragons never got hungry. But each day, he would see a single sapphire in front of him. He knew he shouldn't be hungry, he shouldn't complain, but it wasn't enough. And it seemed as if everyone knew. As if nobody cared. Nobody but him. And the other dragons got more. It didn't take long for him to fall behind. Words couldn't describe his pain. No grunts, no growls, just whimpers. The whipers of a dragon. The whimpers of a runt. The whimpers of a nobody. He was stronger now, or at least he thought he was. After all these years, these- these centuries, he thought he was stronger, but the little Pegasus made him doubt that. Maybe he was the same inside, and no amount of time could change that. But did he want to change? She had made him see things in a new light. Was that good? Not necessarily. But that didn't mean it was bad. It just was... well, it just was. And now, with the little Pegasus, with tears in his eyes, it was time to remember. Darkness. Darkness everywhere. Subconsciously, he felt his way to the edge. Light! More! More! He needed more! His tooth reached the edge. He was almost there! He was almost- Free! He was free! He felt something droop over his eyes. the little dragon shook his head. And again. And again. And again. The eggshell covered his eyes. He grinned a goofy grin and turned over to lay on his back. The shell fell off. He was free again! Light, it was back! "Achoo!!!" the little dragon sneezed. Darkness! It was back! It filled his nose, it filled his eyes- "Achoo!!!" he sneezed again. The room was full of it! The little dragon crawled over to his sleeping mother. "What is it Mama?" he asked, before letting out another sneeze. His mother just snored, and a burst of the thick gray substance blew out of her nostrils. "Mama what is it?" he cried, climbing on her head. "Ma-ma!" One of his siblings snickered. His mother did not move. "It's smoke, little one," she said, and fell back asleep. "Smoke?" the little dragon asked cautiously. Then he smiled. "Smokesmokesmokesmokesmokesmoke- achoo!" The green mother dragon laughed, woken up by her son's laughter, and cried, "We shall call you Smokey!" The red runt giggled. "SMOKEY!" he called, testing out his new name. His father came running in. When he saw his son, he laughed. "It's a boy!" his father grunted. He looked at the little red dragon again, and he stopped smiling. He ran over to his wife. "Have you seen your son?" he asked urgently. "Isn't he wonderful?" Mama asked dreamily, then fell back to lay on her side. Smokey laughed, and copied her. "We should have called you Giggley!" Daddy teased. Smokey laughed again. His father turned away, and muttered something to Mama. She sat up straight. "A runt?" she asked loudly. "Who's a runt?" The kids all looked at each other nervously. All except Smokey, who couldn't care less. "Smokey," his father hissed. And Smokey just wandered off, not knowing how much impact his size would have on his life, much, much later. "Daddy? I'm hungry," Skywings complained. "Here you go," Daddy said, swooping down to put a clawful of rubies in front of her. "Yay! Thank you!" Skywings said happily, greedily eating her gems. "More please!" Another clawful. "Mommy? Daddy? I'm hungry, too," Smokey called. Mommy grabbed a small sapphire and gave it to her son. "More please?" Smokey asked. Daddy shook his head. "We need to save our gems." His daughter looked up at him. "I'm still hungry," she said. "Diamonds, your favorite," Mommy said to her. Smokey sadly left the room. "Skywings!" Magenta picked. Skywings walked over and claw-fived her. "Mudclaw," Fireye called. Magenta sighed. "I guess that leaves us with Smokey. Since you got to choose teams first, we get the Skyball first!" "Nuh-uh!" Fireye glared at her. "We won the coin-toss, fair and square!" Smokey walked away sadly and kicked the Skyball. It flew up into the air. "It's not fair!" he cried. "Just because I can't fly, breath fire, and- and- and I'm a runt doesn't mean-" he started crying. "Dragons don't cry," he sniffed, wiping his tears. "But then again, I'm no noble, fierce, greedy dragon. I'm just a runt!" "If only I had some sort of purpose," he continued. "Then I'd show them! I'd show them all! I'd be he most noble, fierce and especially greedy dragon the world has ever seen!" Smokey ran into his room and packed up all his belongings. "I'm running away!" A few minutes later, Smokey was standing in front of his cave. "Goodbye everyone, and everything, that doesn't like me! I'm running away!" He looked around. "Uh, where do I begin?" The big dragon sniffed at the memory. If only he'd stayed home! His famil may not admit it, but they had cared for him! He knew that now. But it was too late. They were gone, he'd never see them again, and how had he not cared before? How had he let this happen? He knew now it was all his fault. The little pony may not know it, but she was telling him more than to sleep somewhere else- she was reminding him of all his mistakes. All the ones he'd never be able to fix. And they were all his fault.