//------------------------------//
// Helping… Paws 
// Story: My Son, My Soldier, My Hero 
// by That_Random_Pony 
//------------------------------//


"Sire." 

"What is it?" King Draco asked. 

"We've received word from the mountains you sent the children to," his top officer said. "They haven't reached it."

King Draco stood up quickly. "What do you mean?!" he exclaimed. 

"Their chariot never arrived, sire. And the Black Beaks haven't set talon near the mountain," he reported. King Draco's blood boiled over.

"Thos bastards!" he roared, smashing the arm rest of his throne. "They planned for this! Send every dragon not guarding the border to search the land between here and the northeast!"

"Sire, that could take months, even with all of our fighters," his officer warned. "The fighters have burned the griffon mills. I can have a platoon scan from the skies but a ground search will have to wait."

King Draco paced around angrily, growling lowly as he thought about sending the entire nation. His officer was right, there was a gap the size of Equestria to search. And since most of it was re-grown forest, it'd be even longer. If he pulled out the armies to help, he would draw attention from Celestia. Gods above knew he didn't want to tell her she had lost her son. With a growl, he sat down in his throne.

"Have a single platoon scan from above," he ordered. "Send three more to aid those in the Empire's borders."

"Yes, sire," the fighter nodded. 

                                                                                     



With Ember's body thrashed, Draco helped her limp at a snails' pace through the lightly wooded area. She needed to rest every few minutes or so, since she was still hurting from the day before. Her scales were looking dull and she only coughed up flickers of her true flame. Whether or not her wounds were infected was his main concern. He couldn't help that, and if they didn't find dragon mountains soon she would… she'd…

…They just had to hurry.

"Draco, slow down," Ember grunted. He set her down against a tree, letting her clutch her chest in pain. "I'm… sorry."

"Don't be," he said with a half-smile. "Just rest for a bit. We'll leave later."

He gathered more twigs and fallen branches to make another fire. They were running out of the griffon rations he looted, so he saved a portion for Ember. Cooking the dry, flavorful pieces of meat on a rock, he watched her laying with her eyes closed. Her chest rose and fell unevenly, some coughs coming out forcefully. She still couldn't use her own claws to eat, and now it seemed like she didn't want to eat. The more and more ill she looked, the more worried he was. 

He wouldn't lose her. No way, no how. He'd lost Rainbow, but he wasn't going to let her die. After an hour of waiting for her to wake up, he kicked some dirt on the fire and helped her up. She winced after each step her left leg took. He made a mental note to bandage the leg whenever they got the chance. 

The smell of wolves nearby made him bare his teeth and glance around. The pack wasn't too subtle with their movements, but they weren't too agressive. He made sure to keep any eye on them as he walked with Ember. They made several more stops for her rest, and the wolves still didn't attack.

What are they waiting for?

Cautious as ever, he got Ember back up and kept on down the path. Now that a few hours had gone by, Ember broke the silence. "Do you even know where you're going?"

Draco stopped, sighing lowly, then groaning loudly. "No," he grumbled. "Can you tell?"

"We should be between the northeast and central mountains," she said. "But the woods are too light. I think the carrier-dragon took us farther west."

He sighed with annoyance. "So we have no way of knowing?"

"Just about ri-AGH!" she screamed, clutching her sides. Draco quickly put her down and looked to see if an arrow or spear hit her.

She was fine on the outside, but she was still writhing painfully. "What's wrong?!" he shouted panickedly. 

Ember panted hoarsely, the pain subsiding temporarily. "My… my legs… won't move," she grunted. "Draco… just leave me."

"Let me take a look." He uncovered the bandages from her back and gasped.

The scales were devoid of all color, and the flesh looked pale-yellow. Almost like it was rotting. The colorless sclaes were the same for her arm and wing. She was sick. Gravely sick. 

The night was descending upon them, and he assumed the wolves would attack. He reattached the bandages and picked her up, making her groan in pain. He did his best to keep her comfortable, putting her head on his arm so it was supported. She wrinkled her snout and grunted a few times, making him lose more and more hope. She was in no condition to travel, even if he did carry her. 

As the sun vanished over the horizon, Draco looked around for some sort of shelter. He spotted a cave under a cliff just off the path. Deeming it the only available cover, he carried her inside. It was quite humid and dark, but Draco could see enough to know where he was going. It wasn't deep, which was perfect for a day's rest. 

"Just stay here, Ember. I'll be right back," he said to her, trying to get a response.

"Where else will I… go?" she chuckled weakly, lying unconscious again.

Draco sighed and leaned closer. "Just hang on," he whispered.

He went to go find more wood as fast as he could. The odors of various wolves reached his nostrils, and he looked around for any of them. They hid behind the brush, but he could spot all six of them. He was in a clear opening, surrounded and outnumbered. So why wouldn't they attack? Even they had to think they had a sort of advantage. 

Carefully pulling a few low lying branches from their trunks, Draco carried the pile in one arm, just in case the wolves finally did attack. He made his way back to the cave, raising a brow when a scent different than the wolves and Ember reached him. The new scent made him speed into the cave, dropping the wood as soon as he saw it.

A large wolf… he thought. It had paws like one, ears like one, a snout and tail like one, but it was about as big as a normal pony. This one was too close to Ember for his liking, and it's bared fangs were showing it's readiness for a fight.

Draco stomped his foot forward and roared, although not as demonically as his previous ones. The wolf-pony hybrid snarled as it charged him, and Draco dashed forward as well. Instead of a well-placed snap of it's jaw, the hybrid spun around and kicked him. Draco stumbled back, then fell when it tackled him to the ground. He grabbed it's throat, putting his other arm under it and tossing it towards the mouth of the cave. 

Before it could fully recover, Draco picked it up mid-charge and slammed it into a tree. The hybrid gave off a yelp, but used its hind-leg claws to stab his sides. Screaming, he headbutted the creature and tossed it above the entrance. It landed in a heap on the floor, a few large rocks falling beside it. Sidestepping a particularly large one, it pounced towards him with great speed. Draco grunted as his opponent knocked the wind out of him. He tumbled back, hitting the tree from before and stopping. 

The hybrid growled lowly at him, glancing towards the cave. Draco stood up, jumped in front of the cave, and roared again. The two collided again, it's jaws snapping while Draco held it's front legs so it couldn't claw at him. He fell back, rocked on his back, and pistoned his legs out to send the wolf crashing into a rock that had fallen. It spat some blood off to the side, Draco doing the same and wincing as his breathing stretched the claw marks slightly. They opened some from the griffon fight, but he was depending on the thing to heal him. 

"Just get out of here!" Draco snarled. The hybrid reared it's head back in shock, and Draco realized the action.

"You can talk?" it asked. The voice was definitely male, and intelligent.

"You can talk, too?" Draco asked. 

"Of course," he growled. "Now get out of here."

"I was going to say the same thing," Draco growled back. "You stay away from her and me, you hear?"

"Wait… you're with the dragon?" he asked.

"Yeah. Now go before I have second-thoughts!" Draco yelled.

The hybrid sighed, getting out of its alert stance and into a more calm one. "I wasn't going to hurt her," he said. "She was injured, and I wanted to help until you came roaring."

"Well if you saw some weird-wolf next to your friend, wouldn't you assume the situation?" Draco sneered. 

The creature calmly walked towards Draco, who lowered his arms and glared at the animal. He raised his paw up, offering a paw-to-hand shake. "Midnight Moon."

Draco looked at the paw suspiciously, but eventually took it with his hand. "Draco," he sighed. 

"Just Draco?" Moon asked. Draco nodded. "Strange."

"You said you could help her," Draco said, much less aggressively than before. "Please, she's very sick and I don't know what to do."

Moon nodded, walking past the fallen rock with Draco close behind. Ember was still unconscious, but her breathing was steady for now. Moon used a single claw to carefully pull the bandages off of her back. He examined the infected area, then her wing joint and the sling. His eyes traveled over her swollen leg, meaning she needed bandaging.

"I did the best I could," Draco whispered. "Her leg might need some wrap, but I can't help with her infection."

Moon nodded, then howled loudly. The pack that had been following Draco came inside, eyeing him cautiously. Moon only barked and whimpered, but his pack understood and rushed outside. When they came back, they had brought different types of herb leaves and some flowers. 

"Here," Moon said as he pushed a wood bucket towards Draco. "Fill this with water and bring it back. There's a stream just west of here."

"Got it." He ran to the small water supply, leaving the bucket to block the path and fill up a bit. 

Before going back, he wiped the blood from his face and washed it out of his hair. His clothes were another issue, and since he lost his shoes during the fight, he was going around barefoot. It didn't bother, for some reason, but he preferred not wearing them. He ran back to the cave without another second to spare. Moon had set up the fire and a very thing rock pot. The flame seemed to be darker than the ones he made. 

"Dump it in there," Moon instructed. The water soon boiled and Moon dropped the herbs and petals into it. 

The perfume-like scent made his nose wrinkle and sting some. Moon's nose did the same, but he kept his under control as he dipped the bandages in them. Wrapping them and attaching them back onto Ember, Moon kicked dirt onto the fire and put the stone pot somewhere in the back. 

"The infection's spread a bit, but she'll be fine in a few days," Moon said. "What are you, anyways?"

Draco sighed as he sat down next to the dragoness, happy to see she wasn't wincing anymore. "I don't know," Draco shrugged. "My Mother is a pony, but I've always been different. What are you?"

Moon laid down and crossed his front legs to rest his head. "I'm not completely sure… but my mother would tell me I am a wolf-pony," he said. "Half pony, half wolf."

"Then where's your cutie mark?" Moon shuffled his hind end to the side to show his cresent moon with a dark cloud in front. "Oh."

"Would the blood on you before explain her condition?" Moon asked. Draco sighed, hoping to not remember the feeling.

"She's the dragon princess," Draco told him. "There was a group of griffons called the Black Beaks. Her dad, King Draco, sent us both to the northeast mountains."

"I'm guessing you had a detour?" Draco nodded.

"I took a nap, and when I woke up our guards were gone, the carrier-dragon was badly hurt, then another storm of arrows killed it and knocked us out of the sky." Draco shuddered as he remembered the feeling of falling from that height. "My body was broken, but I made sure Ember wasn't hurt too bad."

"Wait, you broke bones?" Moon asked.

Draco nodded, ignoring his initial question. "There had to be a hundred griffons," Draco whispered. "They were going to kill her, then take me to Gryphos. I… I killed them."

Moon raised his head from shock and interest. "You killed them?"

"All of them," he growled. "Those bastards wanted to hurt Ember and I made them all gutesk inafig lokut!"

He did his best to calm down, crossing his arms and trying to forget. "And how long have you been traveling with her in this condition. More importantly, how are you still standing?" Moon questioned.

Draco looked away, doing his best to formulate an answer. "My bones heal really fast," he lied. "Just cuts and stuff don't heal too fast. And we've been traveling for a day."

"It's a miracle the infection didn't spread," Moon chuckled. "Your friend could have died."

"I know," Draco sighed. "I just didn't know what to do."

Moon shook his head softly. "I didn't mean it thay way," he assured him. "It's just good fortune you found me."

Draco nodded, then turned back to the black furred hybrid. "So how did you end up in dragon territory?" Draco asked, wrapping his arms around his legs.

The wolf-pony looked off to the side for a while, unsure of what to really say. "I was… I was um… I used to live in Canterlot."

Draco raised a brow. "Really? When?"

The question bothered Moon even more. "A thousand years ago," he finally answered. 

Draco's jaw dropped. "B-But how? No pony besides my mother and Cadence can live that long," Draco stammered.

The hybrid simply shrugged. "Who's your mother?" 

"Everypony calls her Princess Celestia," he said. "Cadence is my cousin. But how have you lived so long?"

Grtting over his original shock, Moon answered, "I don't know. I've lived thise long but I don't know if my time will come."

The sentence made Draco think back to some of the scary books Blueblood had showed him. "Like a curse?"

"Excuse me?"

"Y'know, a curse," Draco said. "Did somepony curse you? Did you do something really bad?"

"Of course not," Moon chuckled. "I've just stayed here for a thousand years. The wolves treat me as their alpha, so they're reliable when I can't do everything myself."

Draco nodded, then winced as he felt more blood trickle out of his side. "Ngh."

Moon looked closer and recognized the spots where he had stabbed Draco. "Sorry, again," he said as he went towards the back of the cave. He had herbal bandages, sewn from the various medicinal herbs and flowers and some leaves. Dipping them into the mixture, he wrapped it firmly around Draco's body. "It'll stop the bleeding, and it'll kill any bacteria that might've gotten in."

The boy nodded painfully, making Moon chuckle. "Shut up. You're lucky you have claws," he strained. "I still won."

Moon shook his head. "As if. I wasn't fighting at my fullest," he said with a smirk.

"Neither was I," he said half-serious, half-darkly. Moon looked at him with a rivaling fire in his eyes.

"Maybe once we get you back home, you and I can settle this," Moon smirked.

"You mean, you'll help us?" 

"I'd do anything for a friend," Moon nodded resolutely. "We'll leave in the morning. With luck, we'll be at the main mountain region within a month."

A month seemed longer than he would've hoped, but if it meant getting back to the mountains, it would have to be done. Nodding softly, Draco nestled against Ember, shivering as her scales gave off more heat than before. She was doing fine, thanks to Moon. And as a bonus, he made a new friend. 

They would be seeing King Draco sooner than they thought. And now, Draco had somepony else to wrestle with.