//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: I, Dragon // by Psychomaniac //------------------------------// Chapter 6 I have spent the last few days at my lake. My friends stopped by to visit every day. I surfaced for each of them, always with a smile. I am glad to see them. I just feel like I have to limit my interaction with the rest of the town for a while. This self imposed exile has helped me to get my emotions under control. On the third day, I get a surprise visit. The pony herself isn’t a surprise. She has been to see me several times. It’s the way Rarity decided to visit that was a pleasant shock. There she is, floating in the water in front of me. She is breathing normally underwater, her pendant around her neck. I smile at her, and she leads me back to shore. There I see Twilight waiting for us. “Hello, Sparky,” Twilight says. I nod and smile in greeting. “I hope things are going well for you here.” “Some time to think has really helped, Twilight. How about you?” “Well, I received a visitor today. A very angry Filthy Rich demanding I find and drive away the dragon who threatened his daughter and her friend. I told him that wherever this dragon was, I was very sure he was sorry. Of course, he still has his demands. I do know your side of the story, Sparky, so I am not mad at you.” “I…” I start. I shake my head and lower it. I take up my pegasus form and lie down in the sand. Twilight lies next to me and spreads her wing over me. Rarity is on my other side. This has been a common position for us the last few days. Sometimes it’s Fluttershy and Applejack, others its a combination of any of the 5 adults and 3 fillies. Rainbow Dash stopped by once, but didn’t say anything. She just wore a look of disappointment. She flew off leaving me and Fluttershy alone after a few minutes. That was the hardest time. I suppose a part of me wants to earn her approval. “You have all become my hoard,” I state. “You think of us as objects to be protected and sequestered away?” asks Rarity. “Gods, no!” I answer, shaking my head. “To a dragon, there is nothing more precious than the relationships we build with those around us. It’s easier for us metallics due to our familial bonds. For the chromatics, however…” At this, I reach into myself and bring out my blue pebble. Such an ordinary stone, and it means so much to me. The two mares look at it, then at me. I cannot tell them about her, not yet. I tuck my stone and memory away for the time being. “I saw them being brought low by those two fillies. I became enraged by a simple schoolyard fight. I never wanted to hurt the two fillies. Even at the peak of my rage, I never would have allowed any harm to befall them. I just…” “We know, Darling. I suppose that brings us to the reason for today’s visit,” Rarity states, nodding at Twilight. Twilight is levitating out a scroll. I open it and read. Your presence is requested in Canterlot Castle at your earliest convenience. We would very much like to hear of the tales of your visit thus far. We will be looking forward to seeing you. With highest regards, Princesses Celestia and Luna Carpe Diem et Noctum. Short and to the point. I doubt any warrant has ever been so clear and concise in history. I look to Twilight. She says, “I will be accompanying you, should you decide to go. It’s always nice to see my mentor and her sister.” “Well, in that case, I accept. Could you have Spike pass along my acceptance? I’m afraid I cannot send it myself without having met her first.” “Of course, Sparky.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Twilight? We’re almost there.” I nudge her side. I’m surprised she fell asleep. The train ride to canterlot is only a few hours. She stirs next to me, blinking open her eyes. She lets out a soft yawn and looks out the window. The Canterlot skyline is truly a sight to behold. The spires of the castle alone make the trip worth taking to anypony. The train arrives at the station and we walk into the city. I take in the sights as we make our way to the castle. Twilight acts the part of the tour guide. We must look a strange pair. A princess escorting a young pegasus colt. I could drop my cloak and make it stranger, but I don’t know how they will react to having an adult dragon among them. We pass various landmarks around the city. Twilight’s favorite donut shop, the playhouse where she and her friends performed the hearths warming pageant, and the street leading to her parent’s home. “I would like to meet them sometime,” I say. “Well, I was planning to go there myself tonight, but I would love to have some company.” She gets a mischievous gleam in her eye. “I actually have an idea for that. I will tell you later.” We arrive at the castle itself and are let in by the gate guards. “Shall we find the princesses?” I ask. “We shall. They said they would be eating lunch in their private dining room. It’s large enough that you should be able to be yourself if you like.” “I have no problem with my normal state if the princesses don’t.” We make our way to the stairs leading to the more private areas of the castle. Ahead lie the living quarters for the princesses and a few rooms for visiting dignitaries. Twilight herself has a room at the top of one of the spires. She shows me to a wide door and opens it. As I walk through, I feel a tingle and my original form asserts itself around me. I pause at the entrance, taken slightly aback. I suppose an anti magic field would be emplaced anywhere the princesses frequent. I doubt there is much that can actually harm them, but an anti disguise spell would definitely be useful to them. I see them sitting at the table, quietly chatting to each other. I approach and the both stand and turn to me. “Welcome, Ambassador, to our home. Please, have a seat if you like,” requests Celestia. “Thank you princesses, it’s an honor to be here. And Sparky is fine.” I state. I alter the request and lie down instead. A unicorn sets a place for me and Twilight at the table. I see a selection of pastries and desserts on a cart, and more standard foods on a table. The unicorn notices my interest in the fish and brings me a few large pieces. I grin at him as he sets it in front of me. “Sparky, then. Well met. We are informal within these walls. We prefer not to stand on titles here, especially with visitors of a foreign land,” states Luna. “Thank you, Celestia, Luna, for having me both in your land and in your home. With hospitality like this, you might be hard pressed to get me to leave either!” I say, laughing. Luna laughs with me, clearly enjoying the company. Celestia and Twilight soon follow suit. I start in on my meal. Ocean caught salmon. I glance back over to the table, and notice fresh seaweed salads and some shellfish. I have no idea how they keep it all fresh when it’s so far away from the ocean, but I refuse to question it. I take some small bites for my size, but it’s gone far too quickly. “How has your time among our ponies been so far, Sparky?” asks Celestia. I now have the attention of the whole room. “Well, I am sure Twilight has been keeping you informed of my activities thus far,” I begin. “I have found myself at a loss on some occasions, and have completely triumphed in others. I do have my regrets, though.” “I suppose you are talking about how you handled a couple of bullies at school?” asks Luna. I simply nod and drop my head. “It’s not that long ago that I would have done things no differently than you did. Please, do not be hard on yourself. We do understand your feelings on the matter.” “I thank you for your understanding, Luna, but it will take some time to get over it. I secluded myself for a time in my lake to think things over. I think I may be ready to integrate myself into the town again, but I think it’s time for me to stop hiding my true identity from them. For better or worse, I have started to think of Ponyville as my home.” Everypony freezes. Celestia is the first to speak, “Are you sure this is the correct decision to make? I do not like hiding things from my ponies, but sometimes it is a necessity.” “What are your plans for telling them?” asks Luna. “Well, I was planning to go the town square, revert my polymorph, and let them figure it out for themselves.” Silence. Laughter. Ah, I needed that. Laughter fills the room. Even our unicorn attendants cannot help but voice their mirth. After we settle down, I begin. “The way I see it, I have a few option on how we go about this. We could call a general town meeting and announce my presence to them. We could pass out individual bulletins to everypony. There’s my aforementioned idea of just showing instead of telling, or any combination of these ideas. But this all might be a moot point anyway.” “And why is that?” asks Luna. “Because I doubt very much one of the most influential stallions in town is going to take kindly to having a dragon around who threatened his daughter.” “You will have the protection of the crown, Sparky,” advises Celestia. “While I do thank you for that protection, I have come to realise that, like it or not, there will be some ponies who simply cannot trust me. What do I have to offer, other than my word, that I will not cause them any harm?” “My word,” answers Twilight. “And mine,” Adds Celestia. “Mine as well, Sparky,” Luna states, making it unanimous. “You can count on me, too!” states Discord. I was kinda wondering when he would show up. I distinctly recall invoking his name about a week ago. Celestia doesn’t look amused. Luna looks kinda bored. Twilight is smiling, and lightly grinding her teeth. “Hello, Sparky, was it? You have been doing a tremendous job so far. I simply love your work.” I simply nod and smile. Discord is my kinda god. Always up for a laugh and never takes himself seriously. “Discord,” starts Celestia. “Celestia?” finishes Discord. “What brings you here?” “Why, I simply go where I’m needed. Up till now, I was not needed here. Sparky here has been causing so much delightful chaos and commotion without even revealing his true nature. I simply must be there when he ‘comes out’ to everypony, as it were.” “Well, we have one in favor of me just showing everypony outright. Any others?” I ask. Silence. That was pretty much expected. “Who votes for calling an assembly?” I offer. Twilight raises her hoof, followed by Celestia. I look to my right, and there’s my own forearm going up. Luna makes it official. “Well, can’t say you didn’t try, Discord,” I tell him. “No hard feelings, right? “Oh, no. None at all. I have never had so much fun participating in a vote. The fact you even had that option on the table was simply delicious.” He bows low to me, removing his top hat that wasn’t there before. He puts on his bowler hat, picks up his cane, wiggles his toothbrush mustache, and walks out of the room like he owns the place. “It’s great you are keeping him free. He is such a pleasure to have around,” I laugh. The others look slightly bemused. Discord is clearly playing for a different audience than us. “This has been a wonderful meal, Celestia, Luna, but we must be going soon. I was going to go visit my parents, and Sparky wanted to meet them too. I promise to keep writing,” says Twilight. It must be nice to be able to bend the ears of the rulers of your country. I nod in agreement, then make my way over to them. “I’ll be sending a few messages myself.” “I look forward to getting them, Sparky. Please let me know if either of you need anything,” Celestia responds, closing the gap between us. We embrace, then I do the same for Luna. What a pair of lovely goddesses. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “So, you know the plan, Sparky?” Twilight asks me. I nod to her, then she disappears inside the house in front of us. I wait patiently outside the front door. I have altered my facial features slightly for this visit. If I could, I would have made myself purple, but I cannot choose the coloration of the forms I take. I am bad enough without having the ability to look like just anypony I encounter. A short moment passes by, and the front door opens. A pair of ponies looks out at me. Twilight’s parents. I just grin at them. “Mrs. Mom! Mr. Dad! It’s been so long!” Their eyes go wide. “Spike?!” asks Night Light. He seems to be trying to wrap his mind around what to him was the nicest little purple dragon. Now standing before him is a pegasus that has the face of a dragon. My different coloration aside, I’m sure I’m pulling off a very convincing Spike. “What happened to you?” asks Twilight Velvet. She is also trying to process the story Twilight Sparkle and I agreed upon. According to what they’ve been informed, Spike and some pegasus were merged into one body. I see Twilight inside, a hoof over her mouth. She is having trouble restraining her laughter. I feel your pain, sister. “The spell was going perfectly, until this pegasus crashed into our home! Now I can hear him in the back of my mind. Be quiet! I don’t care if this is your body! No, gems are good for you! Yes, I’m going to keep eating them! Mr. Dad, can you make him be quiet?” Twilight looks like she’s going to throw a fit. Her ability to hold herself together is reaching critical mass! “BWHA HA ha ha!” and there she blows. I join in. Night Light and Twilight Velvet just look confused. I bring my features under control and take pity on them. Twilight has regained some of her composure. From upstairs, I hear a voice. Twilight looks up in shock. “Twiley!” “Shiney?!” she asks. A white unicorn stallion descends the stairs and runs up to Twilight. He is followed by a pink alicorn. “How long have you been here?” “We just got here today! It’s great to see you, sis!” I sit back and watch the reunion. They will get to me in due time. Of course, somepony still has to explain to the parents about me. It’s been fun, but it’s time to give them a break. “Sorry about earlier,” I start, “but Twilight was wanting to have a little fun. Spike is still very much himself back in Ponyville. My name is Sparky.” “That was a very convincing disguise you had on, son,” states Night Light. “Oh, that wasn’t a mask. I never said I wasn’t a dragon. I just said I wasn’t Spike.” I turn back to him, smiling. “I see. Well, Mr. dragon…” “Sparky.” “Ah, yes. So, is this the part where you keep laughing at us?” “No, I already had my fun. I’ll tell you what, though. Twilight used her magic to check my weight once. I estimated I was 200 times her weight. Turns out I was pretty close. Would you care to give it a go?” Night Light looks me over. A blue field envelopes me. I see the stallion straining. “Dad, why are you trying to lift that dragon?” Shiney asks. It seems someone is in the know. The field evaporates. I stand there, unmoved. Night Light looks at his son, then back to me, eyes wide. I seem to get that expression a lot. Twilight quickly steps in. “Sparky is a guest here. You could call him the ambassador of his kind. He has been staying in Ponyville to help develop a relationship across our species.” I just nod. Night Light looks over at his son. “How could you tell, Shining Armor?” “He is polymorphing. It gives off a very subtle magical signature. He must be at least an adult. His signature is almost nonexistent. Only a select few of us could pick it up.” My turn for a set of wide eyes. Shining Armor here was able to detect my true nature. This is made all the more amazing by the fact that he wasn’t actively looking for a dragon at the time. He must scan magical fields constantly just out of habit. I can only think of one profession where that is necessary. Given his abilities demonstrated so far, I have little doubt he is a high ranking officer in the Royal Guard. This is backed by his clear marriage to the princess of love. “I am taking a guess here, so forgive me if I get it wrong. I am not trying to insult you. Would you be the Captain of the Royal Guard?” “Former. No insult perceived. I gave up my commission when I became the Prince Consort to the ruler of the Crystal Empire. That would be my lovely wife, Princess Cadence.” “I’m delighted to meet you. My husband and I would love for you to visit us up north sometime.” “Please, call me Sparky. An empire made of crystals, you say? Thank you for the offer. I was feeling a bit peckish!” I am wearing my usual grin. Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor have an amused look on their face. I suppose they are familiar with a dragon’s antics, given their exposure to Spike. Ah, well, a visit to the frozen north may very well be in my future. “Mom, Dad, we will have to be leaving soon. Shiney, Cadence, please visit soon. I never get to see you ever since this Princess of Friendship thing landed on me. I keep getting requests for us to ‘Rainbow Up’ and visit different cities. I miss being just me sometimes.” “Don’t worry, Twiley. We will visit soon. Love you, sis.” “You too, BBBFF.” “One last thing, Shining Armor?” I ask. He turns to me. “What was my tell? “A faint glimmer next to your heart. It reads like an old injury, but it’s too smooth. The only reason I even saw it was because it reacted just a bit when my father attempted to lift you. Other then that, your technique is flawless. Please behave around my little sister?” “She has been a great friend to me since my arrival. Our friendship,” I emphasize the word, “is something I cherish, and would never change.” Shining Armor smiles at me and nods. Twilight and I make our way out, and home.