//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty-Seven: Hesitations and Complications // Story: The Lion and the Lamb // by CrazyChickenLady //------------------------------// Chapter Twenty-Seven: Hesitations and Complications Though Smokey didn’t mind the cold much, he was glad he had a set of winter clothes to wear. His silvery breath drifted skyward as he exhaled on a content sigh before following Fluttershy towards their destination. “How many ponies usually show up for Winter Wrap Up?” “Oh, pretty much the entire town gets involved,” she replied nonchalantly, hugging Chenoa tighter as the baby pressed her body into the pegasus’ torso. “We split the ponies up into three groups - plant, animal, and weather. Only pegusi are on the weather team, and they’re responsible for moving the clouds to warm everything up and melt the snow and ice. The plant team gathers up the snow, clearing the fields, and planting the seeds. Finally, we, the animal team, wake up the animals from hibernation, clean out their homes, and provide new nests for the birds migrating back from the south. “It’s a long and complicated task, but with the guidance of Twilight, our all team manager, we’ll get everything done in a neat and orderly fashion. The first time she helped us, we barely got things done on time. Before, we were ALWAYS behind schedule.” The dragon nodded as the information was relayed to him, before the realization hit him and he stopped in his tracks, overwhelmed by an apprehensive nervousness. The entire town got involved? And a third would be on the same team as him? He could handle one-on-one interactions and small and large groups, such as Fluttershy’s friends and the audiences he performed his magic shows for, but that many ponies? Around him? How would they react? Would they all panic like many individuals normally did on his few visits into town? Would that panic throw everyone off schedule for good and delay Winter Wrap Up? Right now, he was thinking maybe showing himself in front of that many ponies wasn’t such a good idea… Fluttershy flapped along for about a foot before she noticed her scaly friend had stopped, and whirled around to face him with concerned confusion. “Smokey? Is something wrong?” she asked, realization dawning a second later. “Oh! I almost forgot… This is your first time meeting this many ponies, isn’t it? You wouldn’t want to cause a panic, would you…?” It was really more of a statement than an actual question. She bit her lip, mind reeling for a solution until an idea sprung up. “Would you like for me to make an announcement to everypony and introduce you before we actually do so?” It was particularly well known that she had an outstanding fear of dragons - and outside that one instance where she stood up to that one in the mountains for her friends’ sake, she would much rather run and hide from them. To proclaim to her team that she was not afraid of one would probably coax others to accept him. At least, that was what she was banking on. A good deal of other ponies didn’t seem to be fond of that Cerebus, she remembered. Even though it was just a really big, cute, and playful puppy. The large reptile nodded once to signify his answer. He was tempted to just hang back and do what ever he could without being seen by many equines, but… he didn’t want to let Fluttershy down… What would she think of him then? He didn’t wish to take a risk straining his relationship with her. So, he said nothing and followed her. The dragon’s hesitation was obvious to the mare, and she rethought her position. Perhaps it would be better if they introduced him to Ponyville pony by pony instead of a third of the population right away? He didn’t seem willing to go through with it, and she didn’t want to be seen as putting the town in danger by knowingly bringing him along. Though… She didn’t have to worry, right? Her other friends would support her. And if the five could be convinced Smokey was harmless, so could more individuals. “But… um… whatever you think is best would be… fine,” she recanted. Ultimately, she wasn’t going to force Smokey to go through something he didn’t want to. He weighed his options carefully in hopes of coming to a decision where he wouldn’t send too many ponies running amok and throw everything off balance and still help with Winter Wrap Up. “Maybe… I should… stay here and… you can return and give me an assignment?” he suggestive tentatively. She thought this over. It seemed like their best option, but she had already told her team that she would be bringing over a friend from out of town assisting them this year. “Well… I already mentioned you,” she admitted. “That is, I mean, I never told them your name, just… you were a friend from out of town…” The mare gave pause. “Maybe that would be a good idea. And to tell everypony if they see a red dragon, not to be worried? That you’re a friend?” Smokey’s entire frame perked up at the proposal. Nodding, his mouth stretched into an approving smile. “Yes, I believe that would be best… At least, for now.” “Alright.” The mare felt relieved they came to a solution, yet upset the reptilian wouldn’t be coming with her personally. As much as she didn’t care for what they had to do, she figured this would be the best course of action. Shifting Chenoa into one foreleg, she fluttered up to her scaly companion to furl the other around his neck in a hug. “I’ll be back once everything is assigned.” The red-scaled beast nodded with a small frown, guilt pressing down on him. Disappointing her was the last thing he wanted to do, but… a third of the town’s population was just to many ponies. Administering a nuzzle to the mare’s cheek and a kiss on top of the baby griffon’s downy cranium, he watched them depart. *** Town Square was alive with hundreds of conversations blended together into one strident summation. Ponies of countless varieties were collected and split up into their teams, forming a circle around the very center of the area where Twilight Sparkle, wearing her all team coordinator vest, was standing next to Mayor Mare. On her back was Spike, a thick roll of parchment clenched in his claws. The mares allowed this to carry on for a few more moments until they raised their voices to quiet everyone down - though it took a while to do this considering how many were there. The alicorn scanned the ponies encompassing her to spot out her friends. Smiling, she found Rarity near the middle of the front row of the animal team, nesting materials suspended in a cloud of the unicorn’s light blue magic. Nearby, was Pinkie Pie in her blue vest, ice skates dangling from her neck by the laces. Located in the air, above the bulk of the weather team was Rainbow Dash, and stationed in the front of the plant team was Applejack. Once Fluttershy flew into view and touched to the ground with Chenoa held firmly in one foreleg, the lavender mare opened her mouth to speak. “And Fluttershy is here. Great! Alright, everypony! Head to your team leader and they’ll delegate their tasks to you!” Before the teams were split up into even more groups to take on the duties they were responsible for, the team leaders took a head count to see if anyone was missing. It turned out, a few ponies were missing - for example, a mare commonly referred by the name Derpy Hooves. Sometimes, she was called Ditzy Doo, but the aforementioned aliases seemed to be the more popular. “Um…” Fluttershy meekly spoke up. “Has anypony seen Derpy?” As if on cue, a grey-coated blonde pegasus zoomed in from behind a cluster of clouds in the southeast direction and crashed into a freshly made snowpony. A wave of powder was thrown up on impact, blinding everyone in proximity. Miraculously, as the snow settled, there was no evidence of a violently destroyed snowpony. In fact, the snowpony appeared in pristine form… except… The pegasus was now fitted inside of it, her tail poking out of the backside, her wings out the sides, and her own yellow crossed eyes replacing the pair of coals that had served as eyes before her sudden arrival. “Well… that answers that question,” Fluttershy sighed, stepping forward to accost the mare with a soft smile. “Excuse me, Derpy? We need you on the ground this year. I think somepony with your… unique skills would be better suited to waking up animals. Would you be so kind as to help out with that?” “Okie-dokey, Fluttershy!” the bubbly pony chimed. As the yellow-pelted pony turned to the group at large, a nervousness rattled inside of her as she prepared to make her announcement. She was inwardly hoping that her fellow equines would take the fact that there was now a dragon living near town well. “Oh… before I forget. I want to warn you all about something.” There was a brief pause. “Well… not so much as warn… as… to let you know. If you see a… red dragon near the edge of the forest… please d-don’t be alarmed.” At the words “red dragon”, the snowpony collapsed around Derpy Hooves’ hooves as if in reaction. The frost-coated equine’s single lazy eye straightened as both bright yellow orbs went wide in shock. The ponies around them who noticed appeared quite stunned at their observation, but it was Fluttershy’s revelation that stood out predominately. “R-red d-dragon?” a light brown stallion quivered. “Y-yes.” Fluttershy almost regretted saying anything. “But he’s a very nice dragon! He’s not very large. He’s only about…” Lifting herself off the ground, she extended her hoof to Smokey’s head level. “… yea tall?” The other ponies didn’t seem to be very mollified, so Rarity decided to step forward and speak up. “He really is a sweetheart. I’ve met him. So has Twilight, Pinkie, and Applejack.” A smile tugged at Fluttershy’s face as she landed on three hooves, thankful that her friend was coming to defend her claim. “H-how long h-have you known him?” the same stallion asked, his knees trembling beneath him. “How do you know he’s not attempting to trick you into thinking he won’t hurt us?” “Oh? Uh, I don’t… really remember. A couple.” The rosy-maned pegasus had to admit she hadn’t kept track. Spending time with Chenoa and Smokey caused her not to even think about the amount of time that had been spent between them. “At least two,” Rarity answered and gestured at the chick in Fluttershy’s hold. “Look at Fluttershy’s foreleg. Specifically, the baby she’s holding. That dragon is helping to raise that chick with her. Now, honestly, ask yourself this - would a creature that’s good at heart REALLY endanger a defenseless baby? For two weeks? If he was planning something nefarious, he would have done it by now.” “To fatten her up and eat her!” a mare promptly butted in. “He could be using you to earn our trust so he could get easy meals!” another exclaimed. Fluttershy gasped, holding Chenoa tighter. “No! He wouldn’t! Not at all!” “Do you know where he came from? Who he is?” the first mare questioned. “He’s an orphan,” she replied, without any hesitation. With a soft sigh, she lowered her head to the griffon’s head to nuzzle her. “Much like Chenoa. He never had anyone but his animals to be there for him.” “How do you know? Where you there?” the other mare challenged with a scowl morphing upon her features. “He could be lying to you!” “Because nopony can say something like that about their past the way he did and not mean it,” Fluttershy stated with a little more force in her voice than she had intended, turning her Stare on the defiant pony. Smokey hadn’t told her his entire story, but she knew enough. The pony had been about to make another retortion when Fluttershy unleashed the dreaded Stare upon her. Ears dropping, her head sunk inward, and her frame drooped as she took a few uneasy steps back. “H-he… might be a good actor?” a unicorn colt offered hesitantly. “Have any of you met him?” Fluttershy inquired. “Er, well, no,” one of the stallions spoke up. “Fluttershy…” Rarity gently pressed as she sidled up to her friend. “Have you spoken with him?” she queried to another individual. “No.” “Fluttershy…” Rarity said again in a second attempt to grasp her attention. “Then how can you judge him?” “Fluttershy!” “What?!” she snapped, whirling to face Rarity. “You’re doing it again,” the alabaster unicorn informed, completely unfazed. “I… what?” The pink-haired pegasus blinked in confusion, taking a couple of seconds for her to realize that she had gotten more assertive than she wanted to, her meek disposition quickly returning. “Oh. I’m sorry…” “Uh… have you ever heard of another friendly dragon besides Spike?” a pony queried, arching a brow. “To be perfectly honest…” the unicorn began as she shifted her attention to the new voice. “Up until two weeks ago? No. I haven’t. But how can you be so sure this dragon of Fluttershy’s ISN’T like Spike?” “He… well… he’s a dragon!” one of the stallions from the crowd called out. “And Spike’s a dragon,” she pointed out. “And he gets exception because…?” “He’s been raised by ponies!” one of the mares countered. “And so was he,” Fluttershy said. “You don’t know that!” “She’s been with him for two weeks.” Now Rarity was really beginning to get irritated. What was it going to take to convince these ponies? “How long do you NEED to be with someone to get a basic understanding of them?” “A lot longer than that!” a stallion who had spoken earlier piped up. “Long enough to trust them!” Rarity, however, smiled, seeing an opportunity present itself. “You trust us, right?” Fluttershy asked, having seen the same thread of hope. “I… what?” “Have we ever lied to you? Why would we? You know perfectly well that we’re fairly good judges of character.” The white equine’s mind briefly phased back to a certain zebra. “I’d like to think we are, anyway. Remember how we used to treat Zecora?” “Because he could be lying to you!” the first mare snorted, digging a hoof into the snow. “There’s a reason why ponies just don’t go waltzing right up to any random dragon they see!” Fluttershy opened her mouth for a rebuttal, but was cut off by Rarity. “I don’t think this is going to work,” she whispered, a frown gracing her face. “But--” “Look at them, I don’t think we’re going to convince them.” The pegasus stared at the doubtful expressions on the ponies before her. Feeling a creeping sense of sadness that she couldn’t convince the citizens that Smokey was harmless, her lips pursed flat and sniffled once. Eyes watering, she sighed heavily and hung her head.