//------------------------------//
// Diffficult Task 
// Story: My Son, My Soldier, My Hero 
// by That_Random_Pony 
//------------------------------//


"GRAAAH!" 

Draco swung at the king again, but he simply ducked, put the boy's arm behind his back, and used his weight to pin him on the stone. As usual, his anger only persisted for so long. With a sigh, Draco relaxed his body, and the king got off of him.

"A year of this and I'm still drawing?" Draco growled. 

King Draco slapped the back of his head with his tail. "Yes. Now keep going," he ordered.

As usual, Draco drew drawings of whatever he wanted. King Draco pulled his hair, put a bit of magma-like spit on his claw and poked the boy's side, then set the paper on fire. Nowadays, it wasn't true anger, just overdone annoyance that got him there. A whole year he'd spent trying to figure out ways to draw out that rage without hurting him, but it was apparent he'd need to do something soon. 

Even as he thought, he bothered Draco by smacking his tail against him, or pushing his hand to ruin the picture. With a growl, Draco crumbled up the paper and tossed it away. He went on to draw again, but the paper burned before he started. He was ready to lose it before the king put a hand on his chest.

"Come with me," he ordered. Draco grumbled and followed the king into a different room. 

The platform room was devised of several steam-powered pistons that pushed the blocks of stone from the floor, testing a fighter's ability to adapt. However, for young carrier-dragons there was also the dead weight in the ceiling. King Draco guided the young boy over to the center and had him stay there. He walked to the control levers and pulled several. 

Five pillars of stone fell all around him, putting him on alert. "What are you doing?!" he shouted, a bit scared.

Please let this work

Pulling the largest lever halfway, a massive slab of stone came crashing down from the ceiling. Draco instinctively raised his hands to try and catch it, despite it's massive size. King Draco raised the lever just enough to make the block weigh him down, but not crush him. Draco grunted as his arms strained to keep him from being crushed. 

"It's… too heavy!" Draco yelled, fearful of his life. "Stop it! Pull it back up!"

He did the exact opposite and pushed the lever down. The weight increased on Draco, forcing him to bend his knees. King Draco put on more weight, making the prince kneel and lean back with his arms parallel with his chest. He grunted in pain as his arms began to tire, and the thoughts of being crushed entered his mind.

A challenge?

That same voice. 

This pebble will crush you boy? Disgraceful.

Draco's arms flexed with renewed vigor, and he curled his face up into a snarl. King Draco was just about to pull it back up, but his eyes widened when he saw the hundred ton weight going up. Draco yelled as he stood firmly on his own two feet, holding the stone above his head. With another deafening roar he threw it up. The lever pushed into it's original position, and King Draco turned to the boy. 

His eyes were completely black, and his arms were spread out in a feral position. The boy's teeth showed, sharpened and threatening for blood. Roaring demonically, Draco sprinted on all fours towards the dragon king. Pushing off with his strong legs, King Draco leaped just above the raging boy, making him stumble and roll on his side. He ran over before Draco could get up, and put him in a masterlock. 

But it wasn't enough to keep him down. Draco growled as he pulled his arms forward, making the king pull harder. Even with his added strength, Draco got his legs under him and started to stand. 

"Draco! Calm down!" he shouted. "I never meant to harm you! I promised your mother I wouldn't, so calm down! Self-control!" King Draco reminded him. "Deep breaths, clear your mind! Deep breaths, clear your mind!"

Draco stopped struggling slowly, curling his legs and getting on his knees. His growls died down and his arms softened their protest. 

"Deep breaths, clear your mind," he whispered. "Deep breaths, clear your mind."

Draco's silence broke into a sniffle. The king let go and let the boy cry alone, holding himself and thinking back to his mother. "I can't do it," he whispered. 

"Draco-"

"I can't do it!" he screamed, turning to the king with teary eyes. "I'm just a monster! You can't control a monster!"

The king pulled him closer, sternly locking gazes with him. "It's only been a year," he growled. "You've made more progress than you think. It's taken me hours to get a fit out of you, and now I know what it is that can make you do this."

"I don't care!" he sobbed. "I just wanna go home! I'm tired of feeling this thing make me want to hurt everyone and everypony I see!"

"And what happens if you go back, and gods above forbid, you go into another rampage?" he asked loudly. "What if you kill more guards? What if you kill your cousins? What if you kill your mother?"

Draco gasped silently, processing his consequences at last. "I don't-"

"I know, Draco," the king said. "You don't ever want to hurt them. If so, then you have to keep going. No matter what you feel, no matter how many times you change, remember why you're doing this."

King Draco let go and stood back up. Draco wiped the tears from his eyes and stood up as well.

"Go on, I've kept you here long enough," he said softly. Draco went to the door and stepped out into the hall.

It's not just anger. Something's protecting him but using his rage to blind him. Why?

Draco went to his room, throwing himself onto his bed and laying face down in his pillow. The stone door slid open, and the creaking of springs - aside from her scent - told that Ember had come into the room. 

"Are you alright?" she asked. Over the past year they'd done everything together. Played some dragon training games, like chasing each other and wrestling. 

There were many other dragon children and teens, but he preferred to stay with Ember. "Not really," he sighed. He sat up and looked directly at her. "I can't go through with this Ember. I hate feeling… so angry. I wanted to kill your father. Then I wanted to get out and… and…"

He shook his head and buried his face into his hands. "And what?" she asked softly.

A small shudder rocked him as his previous thoughts returned. "I wanted to hurt you," he said as his voice cracked. "I wanted to kill you, then go to my mother and kill her, then Blueblood, then Cadence, then Twilight, then Rainbow, then-"

Ember put a claw on his lips, shaking her head. "Did you want to hurt them?" 

"No," he sighed. "I love my family, and my friends, and you. I'd never want to hurt any of you. But that… thing keeps making me think like that and… I don't want to feel that again."

Ember's cheeks tinted redder than usual. "You… love me?" 

Draco nodded. "You're really tough, and you're real nice, and my only friend here," he said softly. "Just like Rainbow Dash. I love all my friends."

Her cheeks returned to their green, and her tail stopped nervously swaying. She thought she was stupid for thinking he understood that kind of love. He was still a child, and right now he was facing something neither of them knew about. Still, he was her friend, and she was there to comfort him.

"It'll be fine, Draco," she assured him. A low ringing coming from her quarters reached her ears. "Please, just be strong. This will help you. Just have faith in my father. He'd never hurt you intentionally."

Draco nodded, then watched as she slipped out of the room before giving him one last smile. He sighed and laid back on his bed, remembering his old races with his colorful filly-friend. Ember was a much better wrestler, since her limbs were just like his. And she was really strong too, so there was always that unpredictable chance of winning or losing. 

"Prince Draco." He sat back up, smiling with excitement when he saw the messenger, Flicker, lower a box carefully and hold out a scroll. "From your mother."

"Thank you," he nodded. He opened the scroll and quickly read over it.

Dear Draco,

I'm sorry I couldn't be there for your ninth birthday. Twilight is doing better than ever with her studies. She's very skilled with hooves-on magic learning. She reminds me of you when you'd stay in the library and flip through each book. 

I wanted to send you a gift, even though I can't see you open it. I hope everything is going along just fine in the dragon kingdom. We miss you, and we love you.

                                                                  --Love, Mommy

Draco smiled and went to his package, opening it carefully so as to not ruin the present. He gasped softly as he pulled out a high-powered telescope he'd seen in the observatory near the Canterlot library. And that wasn't all. Underneath the box carrying it, was a trinket from Blueblood and a wrist band made of gold and diamond from Cadence. A small note on it caught his eye.

Don't lose them! -Blueblood and Cadence

He chuckled and put on the two gifts. He recognized Blueblood's old neck trinket. It was a silver chain with a diamond-shaped sapphire gem with gold outlining it. The telescope was a T-14, with sensitive lenses and a zoom feature to get close-ups of stars and planets. Maybe Ember or King Draco could take him to one of the cliffs so he could stargaze for some time. 

He put the box on top of his gem-carved dresser and then ran to his desk. Scribbling his thanks and a bit about his current situation with his "discipline training," though he left out the details. 

Handing it to the messenger and watching him run off, Draco went back to bed. Maybe he'd finish here before the next year. He'd miss Ember, but maybe he could ask King Draco to let her go back to school with him. Then he could see Twilight, his Mama, Cadence, and Blueblood again. 

                                                                                   



"WHAT?!" 

The griffon warriors cringed as the griffon king threw the messenger down the steps, breaking most of his hollow bones. Two of the armored griffons dragged the messenger off to the cellar while the griffon king fumed atop his throne. 

"Sir, the dragons have pushed us towards the Grainz farms," one of his officers reported. "They can't hold out against an entire regime of dragon fighters."

"I don't care about those worthless feather brains!" he retorted. "The one chance to have Celestia at my talons and that damn scaled bastard takes him?!"

He rammed his fist into the arm rest of the throne, bending the golden piece. "We've had a few infiltration units cross dragon territory. A few of our spotters have seen him around the capital mountain."

Emperor Grypho rested his chin on his talon, thrumming his other on the opposite arm rest. As he murmured in thought, a small smirk crossed his beak. He stood up and gestured for one of his personal guards to come forward.

"Order each regime to focus on the Grainz mills," he said. "They'll try taking out our main food supply, so the bulk of their forces will be there. I want our entire army there, understand?"

The guard stared shocked at his emperor, but didn't want to anger him. "Yes, sir," he forcefully saluted. 

The griffon guard flew out the room, and Grypho turned to his other guard. "Assemble the Black Beak battalion. I want an army over that dragon border," he hissed. "Go!"