I was examining the cloud I had procured from above the Everfree in between keeping tabs on my prey. I found it remarkable how clouds behaved in this reality, though I had to be careful as my claws punctured it like it was an airship. The first one deflated before I could get it halfway to town.
I stalked him as he left the schoolyard. He was walking with the rest of the hatchlings he called friends, but they quickly started peeling off as their routes diverged from his.
I thought back to two days ago.
~~~
“I’m sorry, he seems okay, but I’m not able to speak decisively on mind control spells. I suggest you consult Doctor Emerald or Twilight Sparkle.” Miss Introspective had just finished talking with Steelskin after I brought him to the hospital and was now giving her expert opinion on Steelskin’s health.
“Emerald already assured me that it was completely removed, but I cannot trust a creature that hides its true form and speaks so blithely of enthralling other sentients.” My voice was quiet and restrained. She stared at me nervously.
“...Very well, I shall go and talk with Twilight.”
Steelskin said his goodbyes to Miss Introspective and we flew over to the library. It did not take long for Miss Twilight and Mister Reinhart to take a look at him and give me the same reassurances that there were no lingering effects.
“I cannot believe that you would allow a creature like that to pretend to be one of you. Do you not fear that an unsuspecting visitor may be preyed upon?” I knew I was stepping over a line, but I just could not let it rest.
Twilight’s voice took on a little bit of an edge. “He has been vouched for by Princess Luna herself. Furthermore, he’s allowed to take the appearance of a pony because there is still quite a bit of fear of changelings among ponies. Even I find it disturbing to talk to him in his true form. Any visitor who saw a changeling in Ponyville would run away and call the Royal Guard.”
“Besides,” She looked pointedly at me before continuing. “If we were going to refuse somepony just because of how dangerous their species is, do you think we’d let a dragon live near us?”
I saw the argument, and, while I could not argue her point, I still could not fully abide a creature like that living near Steelskin.
It is probably good that I have no say in the matter.
I also noticed Spike looking more nervous than I would expect at that question.
~~~
He had finally broken away from his friends and now I only had to wait for him to reach an area open enough for me to attack. He was acting skittish, looking around and trying to find the attack he knew was coming.
Left turn, heading towards the field outside of town.
Three houses left until he reaches the clearing.
Two.
One.
One yard into the field.
Two.
Three yards in.
Finally I had the space I needed.
I popped the cloud with all four claws and swooped down at him, roaring a challenge. He turned his head and froze as I fell from the sky straight towards him. Just before my jaws reached him, he sprang into the air and lashed out with his back hooves. I was prepared for this and swung my head to the side, narrowly missing the blades formed from his hooves. He noticed my claw coming up at him and shifted his legs to use it as a platform to leap again at my head. All four hoof blades sank into my claw as he leapt. He was aiming for my neck and I rolled to the right so that he soared harmlessly past me. I swung my tail up and around to swat him out of the sky.
He landed hard but managed to roll onto his hooves. I launched a spear at him and he leapt sideways, trying to spear me with a rod from his foreleg. I grabbed it and swung him around to slam into the ground on the other side of me. Suddenly, a handful of daggers sank into my shoulder, thrown from his tail. I recovered from the surprise hit in time to pin him with my other claw as I released his elongated leg.
“Well done, little one, you have lasted twice as long as most human fighters would have,” I complimented as I released Steelskin.
“That tail flick was a nice touch, but just remember, if you’re fighting someone twice your size or smaller, you should not be using bladed weapons. You don’t want to kill anyone.” Matt was obviously smiling, despite having his visor opaque. “And Tallic, make sure Miss Sweetheart doesn’t see this. I knew what was coming and was still worried you were going to try to kill and eat him.”
I sat there, smiling at Steelskin. The little training sessions with Miss Butterscotch and myself over the past week were yielding progress I could not hope to expect.
“Yes, little one, please use nonlethal attacks when fighting unless your life is on the line. I suggest even using them on me just so you do not get into the habit of using lethal force. Something like this,” I held up my claw where his hoof spikes had pierced my scales and accelerated their healing. “Is no problem for me, but would probably get you in a bit of trouble if I were a pony.”
By the time I had put my claw down, the cuts had healed completely. The daggers had quickly been pushed out and healed over.
Tallic had been helping me with my homework all week. He was really smart with everything except Equestrian History. I couldn’t really blame him for not knowing that and, besides, it was kinda fun to teach him. It was cool seeing his reaction to the founding of Equestria.
He also told me some stuff to practice each evening when I went back to the orphanage. It was mostly about shaping my hooves or stretching my legs, but sometimes it was about trying to extend my senses like trying to recognize everypony’s unique smell or think about what different types of magic smelled like.
I personally think magic is something you taste.
It was Friday, and Tallic had told me yesterday that somepony was going to attack me sometime between when I left school and when I got to the clearing. As I walked with my friends, I was only half paying attention to them as I sniffed the air and looked around. Scootaloo’s smell was the musky, earthy smell of pony, with a hint of cloud, but slightly sweeter. Other than Scoodaloo and the smell of apples from Apple Bloom, none of the others smelled different.
“So, Steelskin, I hear Miss Butterscotch is teaching you Obsidian Hoof. Have you gotten to spar with Silver Spoon yet?” Apple Bloom was looking at me, hoping I’d tell her about how I put that bully in her place. I had only found her a little snobby, but then I can’t really see her and Diamond Tiara trying to pick on colts.
“Well, we did do a little, but we’re just too different. I couldn’t hit her once, or even block a single attack she threw, but I also couldn’t even feel her hits. Miss Butterscotch gave up when she got angry, bucked me in the face and hurt her hoof.” I rubbed my jaw, remembering the strange sensation of a hoof being stopped dead in its tracks by my face. Everypony else started giggling.
~~~
I sat there, throwing attack after attack at Silver Spoon. She kept dodging and tagging me before I could block her counters.
“I don’t know why Miss Butterscotch is still trying to train you, you still can’t come even close to hitting me.” She was sitting there looking down her nose at me.
“Yeah, well, it’s not like you could actually hurt me. Part of my problem is I can’t even feel most of your attacks. I bet you can’t even knock me down.” I knew I shouldn’t be taking her bait, but I was sick of listening to the little brat.
“I’ll have you down before you even see me move.”
“That is not how I trained you to-” Miss Butterscotch was cut off by Tallic putting a claw up.
“If your only fear is for Steelskin, let them do it. Experiencing pain is a strong teacher for a dragon slayer.” After Miss Butterscotch frowned and grumbled out an ‘okay’, Tallic turned his attention back to us with a smile that said ‘show this little brat she’s not as good as she thinks.’
I smirked. “Whenever you’re ready.”
She dashed to my side, almost as fast as her bragging and slammed her hoof right behind my knee to buckle it as she jumped over my back and buked my side with all her strength. I had a good idea what she was planning and didn’t even bother trying to avoid either of the attacks. Her hoof bounced off the back of my knee, but before she could realize how badly it failed, she was already committed to the jump and buck. Her buck sent her flying while I only needed to shift my hooves.
I smirked at her, driving her into a rage. She charged at my hind legs, narrowly avoiding my left hind hoof as I tried to stop her charge. She slammed both rear hooves into my right hind leg with enough force to break a normal pony’s and that irritated me. My anger made me stupidly mean.
“So, when are you going to try to knock me down?” I tried to imitate her bratty tone.
She screamed at me, jumping forward and connecting both back hooves with my lower jaw.
”Silver Spoon!”
Miss Butterscotch dashed over and was glaring at Silver Spoon like she wanted to trample her student into the ground. Silver Spoon shrank back and started stuttering out an apology.
Remembering that I had just gotten bucked in the teeth, she came over to me and started examining my mouth to see how badly I was hurt.
“I barely felt a thing,” I said, smirking at Silver Spoon. I noticed Tallic’s frown and quickly adjusted my attitude. “I-I mean I’m okay. Everything feels fine.”
I glanced over and felt bad as I saw Silver Spoon crying quietly and walking to the side with a little bit of a limp.
~~~
“Now I’m fighting Miss Butterscotch herself... well, actually, I’m fighting her, Alex, Matt, Trace, Twilight Sparkle, or Rainbow Dash, depending on what Tallic thinks I need to know.” I thought back over the previous week. “That first day back on Saturday was rough... Twilight Sparkle spent an hour levitating me in all sorts of different ways and half the time she didn’t even have an idea how I could fight it... and don’t get me started on Rainbow Dash dive bombing me.”
“Hey,” Scootaloo replied with indignation.
“Hey yourself. I didn’t mean she did anything wrong, I just meant it was a really tough day... hey, where’s Sapphire? I haven’t seen her all week.” I got a little nervous after the trouble she got herself in last time I saw her and hoped it didn’t get her sent away or something.
I seem to be getting a lot of ponies into trouble.
“Don’t you remember? Her dad said they were going off to get her some training in her magic now that it’s come in,” Sweetie Belle chimed in.
“Yeah,” Fei said, “Emerald told mom they’d be gone for two weeks.”
“Wonder if Luna would let me help your training with my mallow cannon,” ‘Spect volunteered.
I looked at her with interest, but everypony else looked nervous. Before I could figure out an answer, she said she was hungry and ran off towards the Everfree, licking her lips. Over the next few minutes, everypony else broke off towards their own houses.
I approached the edge of town, sniffing the air and listening intently. I could still see, hear, and smell nothing.
This is it.
I stepped out past the last two houses, forcing myself to breathe slowly. I still saw nothing, smelled nothing, and heard nothing.
My first and only warning was the roar from behind me. My head snapped around and I saw Tallic swooping down to swallow me whole.
Don’t do what they expect. A pony off the street will respond by backing up, a guardspony with good training will move to the side, but a true master will watch their opponent’s eyes and flow where they do not expect..
With Miss Butterscotch’s words in my head, I tried to figure out which way he was expecting me to dodge. I couldn’t quite figure it out, so I jumped up and aimed a buck at his nose, hoping it would be as sensitive as a pony’s. He dodged and the rest was a blur. I vaguely remembered jumping off his foreleg and extending my own foreleg before getting slammed into the ground.
“Well done, little one, you have lasted twice as long as most human fighters would have,” Tallic complimented me as he took his claw off me.
I sat there, catching my breath as they critiqued my style.
“You should not be using bladed weapons,” Matt criticized.
I sat there, trying to remember what I had done for a little bit. Meanwhile, Tallic showed me some cuts I must’ve made on his claw, making me feel a little bad.
Finally, I spoke up. “Sorry, I was just too caught up in the fight. Tallic swooping down scared the Discord out of me. I don’t even remember most of the fight.”
After our little training session, we settled down to Steelskin’s homework. He had a pretty good handle on math and writing and I found the history of Princess Platinum to be intriguing.
Soon, it was time to send him home. We said our goodbyes and I made my way to the pub on the edge of town.
“Hey, Tallic.” Trace was sitting at our usual table along with Matt, Alex, Mac, and Elusive.
It was nearing winter and the temperature was dropping, but my size did not allow for any indoor accommodations. We had started these meetings after the incident with mind controlling children.
“Greetings all.” I settled myself in my usual hollow as they all greeted me. I picked up the modified keg of mead and took a sip. As had been done for the past week, it was already sprinkled with ether ore.
I was careful to watch my intake as to avoid the humiliation of that first party.
For the most part, I sat and listened as they talked amongst themselves, though Alex made a point to pull me into the conversation regularly. Sadly, there was little common ground to keep me involved. Being a jumper barely helped as I slept through most of my jumps. Furthermore, Trace and the ponies were not jumpers.
As the night wore on, they excused themselves one after another until it was just Big Mac and I.
“There is something that I have wished to bring up,” I began.
Mac nodded at me, patiently waiting for me to continue.
“Steelskin has been helped so much by this town... I wish to repay all of you, but repayment for... gifts can be... problematic.”
“Did ya have anything in mind?” Mac sat back with his unusual patience and waited for me as I chose my words carefully.
“Is there a saying in your culture that is similar to the dragon motto of punish it forward?”
Oté sat and watched the newcomers setting up a base deep in the Everfree forest. There was something disconcerting about them... something un-ponylike. Not even the chaos cultists seemed as odd as these. He followed them, temporarily abandoning his study of the target.
“Trust me, Strong Wing,” A unicorn was saying to one of his companions, “Keen Eyes reports that there is a decently large number of orphans in this town. Soon, we will free more recruits for our village,” A unicorn was saying to one of his companions.
Recognizing potential in this new development, Oté settled down to study this addition of chaos.