//------------------------------// // On The Shoulders of Giants // Story: Technicalities // by BionicBrony //------------------------------//         “I still can’t believe they’re stupid enough to try this.”         “I can.”         “Well yes, but you expect this sort of thing. I would’ve given them a little more credit than this; especially Twilight.”         “I would argue that Spike is more to blame in this case. It was his idea, after all.”         “Maybe. Did you know that Garry followed him?”         “He did?”         “He did.”         “Interesting. I was aware he disappeared, although I wasn’t able to find him, myself. Fluttershy made quite the scene.”         “Doesn’t surprise me. Anyway, now you know where he went. If you see Fluttershy, tell her not to worry. I’m keeping a close eye on them.”         Even if it wasn’t doing anything, Twilight couldn’t help but glance cautiously at the Royal Red every so often. There were certainly plenty of other dragons that were just as dangerous around the crater, and sure, a lot of them were curious as to what the teenagers were getting up to, but something about the Royal kept her on pins. Maybe it was the fact that the Royal was watching them as much as she was watching him?         Despite it all, Rarity’s costume seemed to work - for the most part. With Garry keeping Spike company, the ponies were happy to sit by the wayside and simply observe what was going on.         The teenagers who, for lack of a better word, adopted Spike had him engage in a variety of activities. Activities that, as Rarity put it, only beasts and adolescent males would ever partake in. They all ranged from flaming belching contests, to tail wrestling, to king of the hoard, and even lava cannonball. Unsurprisingly, Garry opted out of the belching contest, tail wrestling, and lava cannonball, but gladly joined in on the king of the hoard. Spike however, took part in everything, with… limited success.         Compared to the other dragons, Spike’s belching was pitiful, even magically coughing up a letter with Princess Celestia’s royal seal on it in the process - which Garble picked up and read. After a few seconds of silence, he scoffed and chucked the paper into the nearest lava pool, something which infuriated Twilight. Only one pony could have written that letter, and for all Twilight knew, it could have been urgent. Tail wrestling hadn’t gone much better either. Despite Spike’s enthusiasm, his small size and underdeveloped strength did him few favors. Although it did award him an “I told you so” stare from Garry when he ended up flying a few dozen feet from where the competition was taking place. King of the hoard, however, had been a resounding success for both of them. It was all just a matter of reaching the top of the mountain of gems stashed in the crater and remaining there. Garble started at the top first, and had little difficulty throwing the other dragons back down the pile. While most of the them climbed as quickly as they could to the top to try and throw Garble off, Spike and Garry approached it differently. More or less, anyway. Spike originally went it alone, carefully climbing up the pile with some vain hope of success. However, one of the other dragons that was thrown off by Garble caught up to him and attempted to throw Spike back down on his way up. The attempt was thwarted when Garry swooped in and latched onto the dragon’s head and neck from behind, planting his face into the pile of gems. Covering the dragon’s eyes with his claws and flapping as hard as his wings were able to, Garry jockeyed the older dragon off of Spike and forced him to tumble back down the pile. Feeling an odd thumping against his head, the dragon Garry had latched onto cried out, “Argh! Is he humping me?!” Garry, kicked off the dragon’s neck just in time to glide back around to Spike, who ushered a quick thanks. When nearing the top of the pile, Garble had been too preoccupied with wrestling another one of the teenagers to notice Spike and Garry climbing up behind him. In an impressive display of teamwork, Spike picked up Garry, who had tucked himself into a ball, and threw him towards Garble’s back. Garry immediately flared all of his limbs out on contact and surprised the older dragon, causing him to lurch forward and send himself, and the dragon he was wrestling with, tumbling down the pile. Garry then extended his wing towards Spike to help him up, whereupon the two of them stood victorious over the others who had exhausted themselves trying to overtake Garble. Even observing from the sidelines, Twilight’s heart swelled with pride at the sight. Given Spike’s attitude before he left the library, Twilight assumed he harbored some sort of grudge against Garry. Seeing those two work together while all the others remained solitary gave Twilight hope that Spike at least hadn’t forgotten who he was. And finally, came lava cannonball, where all the dragons lined up along a drop overlooking a pool of lava and jumped into it in an attempt to create the biggest splash. Naturally, Garry opted out. Although Spike, still high from his victory during king of the hoard, gladly jumped at the chance to partake. Literally. However, Spike’s enthusiasm rewarded him with little. All of the teenaged dragons were easily ten times his size, at least in weight, and had no difficulty causing splashes in the free-flowing lava pool. Spike, on the other hand, carried almost no momentum with him. While his splash had been negligible, the cracking sound of his belly flop echoed throughout the crater. His limp form remained stuck to the surface for a few brief moments before he slowly sank into the swirling lava. Virtually every dragon in and around the crater was watching Spike as he jumped, and each and every single one flinched in pain as he landed. Even Garry covered his head with a wing. But, despite his immense failure, the teenagers praised Spike for his “belly flop of legends,” and quickly followed up with a celebration best described as a gem eating binge. In a single sitting, Spike had been offered more gems to eat than he normally would have been able to in an entire week. Garry had been given his fair share of bejeweled food as well, though would only gnaw on a gem for a minute or two before giving it to Spike while no one was looking. At the end of it all, everyone had calmed down substantially, and the young dragons had begun imitating their older counterparts by laying down and resting for a bit. Spike gave his now full belly a pat. “That was an awesome party. Right, Garry?” Spike looked to his right at Garry, who had been lying on his back and examining a shimmering emerald. Taking a break from watching how light refracted within the gem, Garry looked back at him and nodded. “Pfft, yeah, maybe by Ponyville standards,” Garble interrupted from Spike’s left. He gave the younger dragon a nudge on the shoulder. “Just stick with us, Spike. We’ve got plenty more to teach you about being a dragon.” Spike sighed and placed his claws behind his head. “Hey, I’m not going anywhere. The way I feel right now, I could hang out with you guys forever.” Garry tilted his head at him. What did Spike mean by that? He had to go home at some point, right? Garry had to. Fluttershy needed him. Did the purple pony not need Spike anymore? Wondering what was going on with the ponies, Garry uncoiled his neck along the ground to look straight at the ponies’ costume, which was still keeping its distance. Despite his upside down vision, Garry had no problem seeing the three blobs of heat coalesce. They must have been talking with each other. Garry focused his microphones to shamelessly eavesdrop. “I should have stopped him when I had the chance!” said the voice of the rainbow pony. “No, Rainbow Dash, this is my fault!” the purple pony voiced next. “I’m the one who encouraged him!” “Well we have to do something!” said Rarity. “We can’t just let him stay with these awful dragons! Who knows what sort of monstrosity they’ll turn him into!” Monstrosity? Rarity doesn’t like the other dragons. But why? They seemed nice and friendly. Garble stood up from his resting spot with a small grunt of effort, catching Garry’s attention. “Alright, Spike. There’s one more thing I need to teach you and Garry about being dragons.” Spike propped himself up on his elbows and looked up at him. “What’s that?” “That stunt you pulled during king of the hoard? We let that slide just because you guys are small. But if you wanna be real dragons, like us, you’re gonna have to learn to be strong on your own! You see, Spike, as dragons, we don’t take guff from anyone. We’re bigger, and we’re stronger than everyone else, especially those ponies you used to live with. And we gotta show it! That’s why we gotta stomp on the little guys to show them who’s boss!” Oh… That’s why. Garble continued. “And that’s why I’m taking you two on a dragon raid!” Garry glanced at Spike, whose face was already etched with excitement, despite the fact that he was just as clueless as to what a dragon raid was. A couple of the other teenagers were already on their feet and cheering. Whatever this raid was, it seemed to be a big deal to them.         Garble hoisted Spike to his feet. “There’s this nest full of phoenix eggs nearby, and we’re gonna swipe ‘em!”         Spike’s expression instantly changed from pure excitement to shock. Phoenix eggs? They wanted to steal phoenix eggs from their parents?         “What’s the matter, Spike?” said one of the other teenagers, who gave Spike a hard enough shoved to knock him off his feet. “Aren’t you totally psyched to go on this raid?”         “Uhh… Yeah! Totally!” Spike said with barely constrained nervousness. He looked over at Garry, though the Liandri’s ever unchanging expression did little to help ease him. Spike could only hope that Garry was just as uneasy about it all as he was.         Before anything further could be said, Garble picked up Spike in his arms and extended his own wings. “Alright then! Let’s fly!”         Garry flared out his wings in alarm as Garble and two of the other teenagers took flight and made their way out of the crater. His head zipped back and forth between the distancing dragons and the ponies’ costume, where the blobs of heat on the inside appeared to be fidgeting. Fluttershy would never approve of this! But the purple pony wanted him to keep Spike company. Stuck between two conflicting directives, Garry ignored the former and launched himself into the air with a powerful downward stroke of his wings. Priorities needed to be kept: such were the words of the program’s memories. Spike needed the help, so the ponies would just have to catch up on their own.         Despite his small size, Garry’s wings were more than enough to allow him to catch up to the others, who were just entering the forest’s airspace. With Garry gliding alongside them, Garble chuckled, “There you are! I was starting to think you chickened out!” Naturally, Garry left the comment unacknowledged, and continued to fly next to him until they finally landed in a small, dirt clearing. The sun had long since set, and the dragons didn’t have their lava-induced light to help them see, but the moon overhead provided enough illumination to light their way. However, instead of leading the group towards the supposed phoenix nest he mentioned earlier, Garble gave a quick signal to stop. Leaning down next to something in the dirt, he gently laid a claw over it. “Take a look at this… What do you guys think made these tracks…?” The two other teenagers approached him to take a look, but each voiced their confusion in turn. “Spike, Garry, you got any ideas?” asked Garble. The two smaller dragons approached to get a look for themselves, though confusion was only momentary. For Spike, only one thing could have made tracks like those. Although what a Hellbender would have been doing way out here, he hadn’t the faintest idea. Whatever it was, Alex and Rose probably had their reasons. But hey, it’s not like these dragons would know what a Hellbender was anyway. Best not to complicate things. “No idea,” Spike lied with a shake of his head. Garry followed his lead and shrugged with his wings. Garble hummed in thought. “Better keep an eye open, then. Come on, the nest is this way…” Taking their group out of the clearing, Garble led the young dragons through the underbrush. There was barely enough moon light to guide their way, and the other teenagers complained that they should have just flown to the nest directly. But, as Garble ended up having to explain to them in a tone that made it perfectly clear they should shut up, they had to sneak up on the phoenixes for everything to go according to plan. While the teenagers lead the way, bickering amongst each other for some small thing or another, Spike and Garry silently followed from behind. Spike nudged Garry’s wing to get his attention. “Hey, you’re not looking forward to stealing phoenix eggs, are you?” he asked, keeping his voice low to make sure the others didn’t hear him. Garry kept his gaze straight and continued to march forward, though solidly shook his head. Spike breathed a small sigh of relief. “Good… Me neither…” “Alright, boys we’re here!” Garble called out with a harsh whisper. The group gathered around him behind a large bush, where he carefully parted the leaves to reveal the phoenix nest in question, just further down what looked like a road in the forest. Garry’s optics zoomed in as he poked his head out to get a better look. He had never seen a phoenix before, but Fluttershy once spoke very highly of them. Although what was so special about them, beyond the fact that they were rare birds, Garry was clueless. Now that he was looking at a pair of phoenixes, a male and female if he had to guess, he could understand why Fluttershy admired them so much. They were much bigger than any other birds Garry had seen, with wings as large as his own. Their vibrant red and orange plumage glowed with an inner light, making them stark against the backdrop of night. Garble released the bush to turn his full attention to the dragons, and kept his voice to a minimum. “Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do. Spike, Garry, since you two are our newbies, you guys get to lure the parents away from the nest. While you’re doing that, we’re gonna fly up there, and take the eggs. Got it?” “Great,” Spike chuckled nervously. “Lucky us…” With a sweep of his arm, Garble pushed the two of them into plain sight. “Well go on then!” Now sitting in the middle of the road and staring up at the phoenix nest, Spike continued his nervous laughter and nudged Garry with an elbow. “Heheh, this should be a piece of cake, right? We just have to get them out of their nest. No reason to be nervous. I’m not nervous. You’re not nervous either, right, Garry?” Silence. “Garry?” Spike looked to where Garry was sitting, but found an empty space instead. Trailing his eyes upward, Spike caught sight of him already halfway up the trunk of a nearby tree. “Oh! Good idea! I’ll just, um… Wait down here?” Garry ignored him. Since he was also given the task of luring the parents away, Garry took it upon himself to do it with Spike having as little involvement as possible. One of them had to distract the parents, and Spike certainly didn’t want to. Do the difficult tasks. Take the initiative. Weigh the outcomes. Leave as little to chance as possible. So said the program’s memories. Garry crawled halfway along the underneath of a branch overlooking the nest before hoisting himself up into an upright sitting position. From his new vantage point, Garry held a clear view of the phoenix nest. Aside from the two larger heat signatures of the parents, Garry found several others that were much smaller. Zooming in with his optics, Garry found their source. Hatchlings. Bits of their flame-patterned shells still remained inside the nest, too. Fluttershy would be furious. Ignoring the directives installed by Fluttershy, Garry opened his mouth and aimed between the two parents. In an instant, the inside of his mouth flashed a bright green and fired a single bolt of plasma. The superheated projectile zoomed through the air directly between the two phoenixes and connected with the trunk of a tree just behind them, creating a small, burning dent in it that glowed green and orange with a mixture of residual plasma and embers. Both phoenixes instantly flared their wings in surprise, first looking at where the shot went, then at where it came from. With their fiery gazes now locked on him, Garry snapped his mouth closed and perked up. A screech and a pair of flapping wings later, Garry instantly spun and kicked off the branch. Garry forced his wing power to the max as he shot along the forest road, his sensors confirming that both parents were, in fact, chasing after him. And quickly. Angling his wings just right, Garry rotated himself sideways and banked hard around a set of trees. his sensors worked overtime, scanning ahead for every possible obstacle in his flight path, all while the flaming birds continued screeching after him. Tree trunks, branches, bushes… All of them were a factor, and each one needed to be considered. Garry weaved between trees, threaded through leafy canopies, and constantly changed his vectors. Whenever it called for it, he would give a single hard flap and tuck in his wings to fling himself through smaller gaps between branches, stretching them back out again once the obstacle was cleared. Just to keep the parents’ attention on him, Garry would swing his head underneath himself and fire a bolt of plasma in their direction, though would deliberately miss. A distraction didn’t call for harm. It didn’t take very long (38 seconds, by Garry’s count) before several high pitched screeches pierced the usual sound of the forest. Garry initially ignored the sounds, but took notice when the parents suddenly veered away from him and towards their source. The hatchlings! Garry banked around the next tree and made a beeline for the nest. If any harm came to the hatchlings and Fluttershy found out, she would never forgive him. Coming up on the nest itself, Garry located Spike’s heat signature near the base of the tree, though the heat signatures of everything else, including the hatchlings and other dragons, were nowhere to be seen. Spike, for whatever reason, paced back and forth, mumbling to himself. When Garry came in for a landing, Spike immediately looked over at him, a mixture of relief and panic sprawled over his entire figure. “There were hatchlings in the nest, Garry!” Spike almost shouted, a shiver continually running up and down his entire body. Spike’s legs gave out from underneath him and he sat with his knees clutched in his arms. “The others tried to take the hatchlings! W-why would they do that?” Garry slowly walked up to the traumatized dragon and sat next to him, spreading a wing over to clutch Spike closer to himself. “I could hear everything they said…” Spike continued. “The eggs already hatched, and Garble just told them to take the hatchlings instead and… and… They were defenseless, Garry! Alone with nopony to protect them!” Garry raised his head and rested it on top of Spike’s, while stretching his other wing over to surround him in a hug. This isn’t what Fluttershy would have wanted. The program’s memories always demanded the prediction of every outcome. He failed to predict this one. He failed the program. He failed Fluttershy.  Spike allowed the pressure of Garry’s embrace to grant some modicome of comfort. He let out a breath and slowly shook his head. “The hatchlings managed to get away, though… I think… I don’t know, they chased after them… I just hope they can get away and…” He paused. “Wait, what’s this?” Spike stood up and Garry released him from his hold in response. He moved over to an open spot in the road and beckoned Garry over to take a look. At first, the Liandri confused it for a large round stone, but a quick thermal scan identified it for what it was. An egg. A yellow and orange egg with fire seemingly drawn on its surface, and so large that it was easily half the size of Spike’s own head. “Whoa…” breathed Spike, picking it up and cradling it in his arms. “It must have fallen out of the nest… What should we do with it?” Garry shrugged with his wings. Fluttershy would know what to do with it, but she wasn’t here. Their thoughts were interrupted by an abrupt swirling of wind behind them as Garble and his friends dropped down from the sky. Spike and Garry swung around to face them. Still clutching the egg close to himself, Spike quickly asked, “What happened?” “They got away!” Garble replied with a snarl, though he paused upon seeing what Spike held in his claws. He bent down to get a better look, his eyes wide and smiling almost as much as his mouth. “You stole an egg?” Spike looked down at his charge for a moment before muttering, “Uh… Yes?” “Ha ha!” Garble exclaimed, standing tall with a prideful smile. “I guess the raid wasn’t a total waste after all! Good job, Spike.” With that, the other two teenagers cheered, and for the moment, Spike’s worries about them vanished. They were proud of him! He managed to do something that they didn’t, and they were proud! “Now there’s only one thing left to do,” Garble continued, giving Spike a pat on the back that almost caused him to drop the egg. “What’s that?” Spike asked, his own face lit up with pride. Garble flashed him a toothy grin. “Smash it!” Spike’s brow creased in worry. “S-s-smash the egg…?” he stuttered. “Yeah!” one of the teenagers bellowed. “Smash it on the ground as hard as you can!” At those words, the three of them joined in in a chorus, chanting the words “Smash it!” over and over again. Spike clutched the egg to his chest. He thought back to Garble’s words before they left, about how dragons needed to show their dominance over others. Was that really what it meant to be a dragon? To be bigger and badder than everyone else? To smash poor defenseless eggs on the ground, and deny the helpless thing inside its chance to live its life? Spike’s heart pounded, looking between each of the teenagers as they continued their chant. A sparkle of red next to him drew his eyes towards who was quite possibly his only real friend in the moment. Garry’s expression remained as unchanging as ever as he stared at him, and his eyes almost seemed bigger, but most importantly, he was slowly shaking his head no. No… Garry didn’t want him to do it. Spike looked down at the egg in his claws. Garry was right. Of course Garry was right. He may have been a really fancy machine, and not a dragon, but on some level, he had a heart. If being a dragon meant being heartless, having less of a heart than a machine did, then Spike wanted no part in it. Twisting his torso away from the teenagers, Spike frowned up at them and firmly proclaimed, “No.” The three other dragons instantly stopped their chant. Garble narrowed his eyes at Spike. “What did you just say?” Spike narrowed his own eyes in return. “I said: No.” Instead of some sort of aggressive response like Spike had expected, Garble simply smiled. A smile infused with sarcasm, but a smile none the less. “Spike… You remember what I told you before we left, right? About what it means to be a dragon? We’ve gotta show who’s the strongest around here. We gotta show them who’s the boss. And we dragons do that by stomping all over them. Now either you smash that egg right now…” Garble’s smile vanished. “Or I smash you.” Garble and his friends took a menacing step forward while Spike took the appropriate steps back. Meanwhile, Garry wasted no time leaping in front of Spike, flashing his wings and metallic teeth out in a silent snarl. The teenagers all stopped, one of them saying, “Dude, I don’t want to have to deal with Tyrannus if we mess with his hatchling. Let’s just let it go.” Seeing an opportunity to taunt them, Spike grinned. “Yeah! Just leave us alone! Garry and I are going to take this egg back to Ponyville, and we’re gonna make sure it gets all the proper care it deserves!” Garble blinked. “Wait a second, you both live in Ponyville?” Garry’s mouth instantly shut itself and his head perked up, but before he could act, the words were already out of Spike’s mouth. “That’s right! And we’re taking this egg with us!” The two dragons behind Garble shared a look, saying to each other, “Then that means…” “He isn’t Tyrannus’ hatchling!” Garble finished, cracking his knuckles. Spike’s face blanked as the teenagers began their advances anew. This time, Garry made no attempt at intimidation and carefully backed up with Spike, and even flinched when Garble gave them his own vicious snarl. When Spike and Garry bumped into something behind them, they both looked to see what it was. It was another dragon! With eight legs, derpy eyes, and a pink ribbon around its neck! Garble and his friends stared at the newcomer in confusion. They had been too focused on Spike and Garry to notice this other dragon coming out of the bushes, and considering its unbelievably odd appearance, that was a feat. While Garry was elated to see it, Spike’s heart pounded with added fear for a brief moment. That is, until the dragon’s skin practically flew off its skeleton to reveal none other than Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, each of whom adopted a fighting stance behind the two smaller dragons. “Nopony’s gonna lay a claw on them!” shouted Dash, who hovered in the air with her forelegs up and ready to swing. “That’s right!” Twilight yelled next, holding her legs apart with her horn glowing. “Fighting’s not really my thing, I’m more into fashion…” Rarity admitted while bouncing her hair with a hoof, through quickly amended by stomping said hoof and growling, “But I’ll rip you to pieces if you touch one scale on their cute little heads!” The teenagers stared at the ponies for exactly two heart beats before they all burst into uncontrollable laughter. Seeing their reaction, the ponies fighting stances slackened and they all shared looks of uncertainty. Of all the reactions they were expecting, this definitely wasn’t one of them… Coming down from his laugh, Garble wiggled his claws in mock fright. “Oooo, scary! Hey, Spike! Are these pathetic little ponies your owners?” Spike grit his teeth, but proudly declared, “They’re not my owners, they’re my friends! And they’re way better friends than you could ever be!” He pointed a finger at them. “Now if you don’t back off, you’ll see what us ponies do when confronted by a huge group of jerky dragons!” “Oh yeah?” Garble bent down and snarled through his nose, puffing a cloud of black smoke in Spike’s face. “What’s that?” Spike opened his mouth to snap back at Garble, but his words were lost as the world around him shook. The ground tremored beneath the two groups, collapsing dragons and ponies alike. The sound of thunder toppled over those who had withstood the shaking. Even Rainbow Dash’s wings faltered and sent her tumbling to the ground. For the adolescent dragons, it was a completely new feeling, but for the Ponyville natives, it was all too familiar. One by one, each of the ponies, including Spike and Garry, looked over their shoulder at the titanic figure that now obstructed the road behind them. Its painfully familiar red horns and scales gleamed in the moonlight, and its yellow eyes glowed with pure fury. Each passing second felt like an eternity as the monstrous dragon reared up on its hind legs, its fiery gaze burning into each of them, including Garble and his gang. Twilight’s heart practically stopped. Before, she and her friends had the trench and bushes to keep themselves away from the Royal Red’s eyes. Now they were out in the open, with nothing to protect them. Garble, however, chuckled. “Heheh, you ponies are in for it now!” The Royal’s maw gaped open, revealing an increasingly bright red glow within that almost seemed to hum with ancient power. “Guys, we gotta go!” shouted Rainbow Dash, though her hooves remained firmly planted where they were. Before any of them had a chance to react, Garry leapt up and flew directly towards the Royal. “Garry! Where are you going!?” Twilight yelled after him. The tiny dragon ignored her, landing safely on the Royal’s hind foot and urgently waving them over with a wing. Twilight’s muscles pulled her lips back in panic and she looked back up at the Royal’s head. The glow in its throat grew brighter by the second, drawing its power from some ancient well of fire deep within its belly. Even the newly opened vents in its neck spitting columns of steam did nothing to… Wait… Vents in its neck!? Twilight’s jaw snapped open and her pupils grew to the size of dinner plates. ~~~~~ “What is that?” Alex crossed his arms and shrugged. “It’s a big ass thermal laser is what it is.” … “Do you have an idea about what you want to use this for, or is it just going to stay something you made for the fun of it?” “Oh, I have an idea…” Alex pocketed his glasses and winked at her. “But for now, I think I’ll just keep that to myself.” ~~~~~ Twilight finally sucked in a breath with a massive gasp before blatantly yelling, “IT’S A LIANDRI! QUICK!” Without wasting a second, Twilight bolted towards Garry. The others only shared a look for a split second before leaping after her in turn, with Spike and his phoenix egg hitching a ride on Rarity’s back. Garble’s sadistic grin quickly morphed into a deer in headlights expression. The ponies had all taken cover behind the Royal’s leg, but the dragon itself was still bearing down on him. Before his friends knew what was happening, Garble turned tail and shouted, “RUN!” Just like what happened when Twilight visited Alex, instead of breathing fire, the Royal spat the very sun itself. A torrent of blinding light and deafening thunder assaulted their senses endlessly, scaring everything for miles around into running for the hills. Some nearby woodland animals even believed the sun was somehow rising early in the middle of a lightning storm, despite the fact that the moon remained high in the sky on a cloudless night. After a few seconds, the light disappeared and the thunder throttled down, granting the cowering ponies and small dragons a chance to regain their senses. Twilight, however, already aware of what the experience would be like, had prepared herself by looking away, shutting her eyes tightly, and pinning her ears against her head with her hooves. As such, she was the first to look up and survey the carnage before her. The spot on the ground they were all standing on just moments ago was now clear, though whether or not those other dragons managed to get away in time, Twilight had no idea. The ground itself glowed an unbelievably bright shade of yellow, having been instantly turned into glass. Surprisingly, almost no trees had caught fire, though the ones that were close enough for it had been completely vaporized. Rainbow Dash was next to recover, carefully making her way next to Twilight while blinking away her blindness. Just like Twilight, a slack jaw was her only reaction to the sight before her. Rarity, Spike, and Garry followed suit, each with equally shocked looks. The Royal’s upper body finally toppled forward, landing on his front claws with a mighty crash. It wasn’t until then that they remembered they were standing underneath the Royal Red. Twilight was the first to take steps away from the sanctuary of his… its hind legs and around its left side. The Royal’s head swung to meet her, bearing down on her with its large yellow eye. Being this close to it, Twilight had no doubt that the eye staring at her was, in fact, an artificial oculus. It didn’t even look reptilian. How they didn’t notice that detail before, she had no idea. “This…” Twilight breathed. “Just… Unbelievable…” The others walked up behind her, each with their own look of excitement from the receding adrenaline. “Whoa-ho-ho! This is intense!” Rainbow Dash beamed, looking over the massive red figure that encapsulated them. “I dare say, I have to agree with you!” said Rarity in turn, lightly placing a hoof on the dragon’s jaw to feel the residual heat. “Alex must have been working on this for months!” As if in response to her words, the first finger of the Royal’s wing swooped in, hooked around Rarity’s body, and lifted her up, causing her to shriek in panic. However, the appendage quickly deposited her on the dragon’s back. The finger came in to pick up Rainbow Dash next, though the pegasus lept out of the way, saying, “No thanks, I can get up there myself.” Seeing the Royal’s intentions, Twilight levitated Spike onto her back and allowed herself to be picked up. Garry, of course, had no difficulty following them. Just as the wing let Twilight down onto the Royal’s back, she grinned madly to her friends. “Can you believe this? We’re on the back of a giant mechanical dragon!” She rubbed a hoof along the simulated scales and musculature. “I never would have thought something like this could be possible!” Rarity latched on to of the dragon’s back spines and yelped involuntarily as the Royal started to walk down the trail, shaking the ground with each step. Through the patch of glassed ground, no less, but thankfully away from the mountains. She grinned sheepishly. “I never would have thought it possible either, but here we are, it seems.” Spike, still holding the phoenix egg with one arm, sat next to Rarity and held onto the same spine with his other arm. “Tell me about it… Hey, not that I’m complaining about it, but what are you guys doing out here, anyway?” Twilight secured herself to an adjacent spine, noting that it was definitely made of some sort of metal. “We just wanted to make sure you were alright.” Garry hopped to the spot in between them and looked up at Twilight, who giggled at the action. “Hehe, Garry actually found us while we were on our way there. I asked him to keep you company since he’d blend in better than we would have.” “I thought you said Twilight didn’t ask you to keep an eye on me,” Spike narrowed his eyes at Garry, who responded by simply shrugged his wings and slapped his tail against their ride. Rainbow Dash, fully content without a back spine to keep herself steady, lied down on her back beside them with her forehooves behind her head for support. “I’d just like to point out that having Garry help was totally my idea!” Twilight rolled her eyes, thought smiled regardless. “Yeah yeah, Rainbow, it was your idea.” “You know it!” Dash said with a grin. She then sat up with a small gasp of excitement. “Hey, you think we’re gonna start flying?” As if on cue, the Royal’s massive wings sprung out with a loud whoosh, and its thundering footsteps increased in tempo. Suddenly afraid of getting shaken off, Rainbow Dash scrambled to wrap her hooves around one of the spines just as the Royal Red broke out into a run. Twilight, for her part, held onto her metallic spine like her life depended on it. The trees that whipped past them, while not tall enough to block her view, still seemed to hinder the Royal’s wings, as he had kept them up almost the entire time. But when the tree line started to recede, the Royal kicked off ground hard, and gave an equally powerful flap of its wings to further throw it away from the ground. The sudden leap into the air almost shook Twilight’s grip loose, though she held on strong. As the Royal continued to flap its wings and gain altitude, Twilight looked back towards the tail, but more specifically, at the ground they were all leaving behind. Panic spiked her heart. Flying in a hot air balloon to Cloudsdale was one thing, but flying on the back of a dragon that was going who knows how fast didn’t sit well with her at all. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, had the complete opposite reaction. Instead of holding on for dear life, Dash jumped straight off the Royal’s back and extended her own wings, allowing the familiar and welcoming feeling of the wind in her mane to melt away her worries. Despite letting go completely, Dash had almost no difficulty keeping up with the dragon, giving the others the illusion that she was simply hovering in place relative to them. Although for every flap of the Royal’s wings, hers made a dozen. Twilight gave herself a moment to think; to simply feel what was happening around her in that moment. The Royal’s ascent eventually came to a stop and its flight leveled out into a glide, only flapping its wings every so often for extra lift. From her seat on its back, Twilight couldn’t see much of the ground far beneath them, but as the wind swept through her mane on their high flying mode of transport, she did the only thing she could think to do at the time. She let go. At first, Twilight had expected herself to fly away; to be blown off by the sheer power of the wind itself, but instead, her footing held firm. The wind continued blasting against her, to be sure, but not enough to send her sprawling to the ground below. Placing one hoof in front of the other, Twilight forced herself forward, blinking at the air rushing into her face. Pausing for a moment, she willed a simple bit of magic into being: a tiny shield of magic just inches from her face to take the wind out of her eyes. Reaching the Royal’s shoulder, the mere sight of what lay before her stole Twilight’s breath. Entire forests, rolling hills, and rocky mountains alike breezed by underneath them. Even at night their features left nothing to the imagination. Twilight’s heart swelled with a sense of euphoria. Was this what it was like to be a dragon? Or even a pegasus? This must have been why Rainbow Dash loved flying as much as she did. The view alone was to die for, but to see the landscape sweep by like this, the feeling of the wind in her mane… The Royal, seemingly aware of Twilight’s presence on its shoulder, carefully banked around a large, steep mountain. Lights seemed to be coming from the other side, but it wasn’t until they had gone completely around that Twilight could see their source. Canterlot. Twilight gawked at the breathtaking sight of Equestria’s capital city. It always looked amazing during the day, but she had never seen Canterlot from this perspective before. Sparkling lights from the streets, homes, and royal palace made the city look as alive as ever, even in the dead of night. To live there was one thing, but to see it like this was an entirely new experience in and of itself. Almost as quickly as it appeared, Canterlot grew further and further away. Looking ahead at where the Royal was flying, another light appeared in the distance. It was a large, bright white light that stood out in the darkness, among dozens of other white specks. Slowly but surely, the Royal Red descended towards this bright light, which Twilight reasoned to be the roof of Alex’s home.         Eventually, the Royal slowed so much that Twilight was surprised it somehow managed to remain airborne. Upon closer inspection, the bright light Twilight had spotted in the distance turned out to not be coming from the roof of Alex’s home, but from inside it. Evidently, the hangar’s aperture-like roof had completely opened up for their arrival, and the Royal simply hovered over it. Its wings folded up at its sides, bringing Twilight to notice a loud hum coming from within the dragon’s body that hadn’t been there moments before.         Light overwhelmed Twilight’s senses as the dragon hovered down into the hangar, blinding her and her friends for a brief moment. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the transition from outside to inside felt as if she had crossed some portal between worlds, but into one that felt much more familiar and safe, despite its alien nature to her. Considering she and her friends had just been plucked from dragon infested mountains, the sentiment wasn’t entirely untrue.         Just as the hangar’s roof spun closed, Rainbow Dash, who had set herself back down onto the dragon’s back while Twilight wasn’t looking, asked, “What is this place…?”         Knowing it full well, Twilight answered, “It’s the hangar… This is where Alex keeps all of his flying machines.” As the dragon floated further down, Twilight spotted the walkways that she had set hoof on not terribly long ago. Although this time, the airship was gone, leaving a massive void for them to descend. Further down still, Twilight managed to take a peek into the large holes inside the hangar walls. Most of them were empty, though one was stuffed with several Raptors, while another seemed to have something much larger still under construction. After an inordinate amount of time, the Royal finally touched ground against the bottom of the hangar and the loud hum that had built up quickly died away. The dragon’s wings remained curled up, though its head and tail extended completely and rested against the ground. With all of the dragon’s activity ceased, Rarity, who had only just let go of her safety spine, remarked, “I believe this is the end of the line.” “Looks like it,” said Twilight, who made her way to the tail, and slid down the aforementioned body part. Before even beginning her descent, Twilight spotted Rose in her usual body already waiting for them with her hands tucked behind your back. A pair of Blues and a Domestic with a single glass and pitcher of water waited beside her. “I trust none of you are injured?” asked Rose as the group’s non-flyers slid down the tail one after another. “Thank you very much for the concern, Rose, but we’re fine,” said Rarity as her hooves met the cold floor. Rainbow Dash, upon spotting the water in the domestic’s grip, grinned madly. “Oh hey, drinks! I’m parched!” Rose’s hand shot out to block the pegasus. “It’s not for you.” Dash blinked. “Well then who’s it for?” The answer to her question came in the form of a loud hissing noise coming from the dragon behind them. They all looked to see its abdomen opening up along the middle, but the thing that tumbled out and crumpled in a heap on the ground was the last thing they expected. “Alex!?” everypony yelled in unison. “HURRAAARRRRRGLAB!!” Alex answered by spilling his insides all over the floor, causing everypony to gasp in a mixture of shock and worry. The Blues wasted no time rushing over to him and pulling him by the shoulders out of his own mess. Alex was shirtless and completely covered in sweat. With every breath, he continued to wheeze the words “water… water… water…” Granting him his request, the blues set him down and the Domestic handed over its glass of water, the contents of which vanished down his throat in an instant. He reached for the pitcher next, gulping it down recklessly. At the rate he was trying to drink it all, most of it ended up spilling down his neck and chest, though he hardly seemed to care at the moment. Finishing the pitcher, Alex tossed it back at the Domestic haphazardly and flopped onto his back, muttering, “Cold… cold… good, cold…” “Oh my goodness, what happened?” Rarity asked with a hoof to her mouth as the Blues heaved Alex up to carry him out over their shoulders. His entire body hung limp and his feet dragged against the ground. Rose glanced after Alex’s exhausted form while he was hauled out. “The Draco’s cooling system failed at some point after using the thermal laser. Unfortunately, it would seem that quite a bit of the its core’s excess heat vented into the pilot compartment.” “Is he gonna be okay…?” asked Rainbow Dash, ruffling her feathers uncomfortably. “He’ll live,” Rose remarked flatly. “He just needs to cool down, that’s all. Although knowing him, he’ll want to discuss a few things with you before you all leave.” She turned back to them. “That might take some time, though.” “Shit, sorry about the wait, everyone,” Alex apologized while walking into the Prototype Lab, still buttoning up a shirt. Everypony had been waiting for him inside the Lab for over half an hour, much to Rose’s insistence. Garry, on the other hand, had already been sent home to Fluttershy. “I wish I could’ve been here quicker, but you know… cold showers…” Twilight waved a hoof at him. “It’s okay, we understand.” “Thanks.” Alex dumped himself in a chair. “Now then, I’m sure you all have a ton of questions. I do too.” He grinned. “Let’s compare notes, shall we? I’ll start.” “Now Rose gave me a brief rundown earlier, but I want to hear it straight from you guys.” Sitting up straight, Alex pressed his fingers against the side of his head. “What in the high merciful fuck were you doing out there?!” Rainbow Dash frowned at him. “Us?! What about you! Rose said you were in Canterlot or something!” “I lied,” Rose omnipresent voice pointed out flatly. Alex pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look, Dash, I'm tired right now; I'm frustrated, I'm exhausted... Just answer the question…” Spike stepped forward before anypony had a chance to answer. “It was my fault. I was the one who decided to go out there alone, and that was a mistake.” Alex released an exhausted sigh and rested his elbows on his knees. “Why? Just why? What made a little guy like you think that walking into a volcano filled with wild dragons was a good idea?” Twilight felt a sudden urge to speak up for her assistant and defend him. Spike went on a quest of self discovery! Even if it was extremely dangerous, it was important to him, and that was all that mattered. Despite the nagging feeling, Twilight refrained from saying anything. Alex usually had a small nugget of wisdom to share at times like this. Although that nugget tended to be “it doesn’t matter.” Although whether or not that was what Spike needed at the moment was up for debate. Spike looked away, wilting under Alex’s scolding. “I… I just wanted to know what it meant to be a dragon…” After staring at the young dragon in disbelief for several seconds, Alex shook his head. “What…? No… Dude, that… ugh…” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “No… That... that was dumb move, man.” “Huh? Why?” Spike protested. “I’m a dragon! How else was a going to find out?” “By not asking the question in the first place?” Alex proposed, slapping his hands against his thighs while leaning back in his chair with a confused expression. “Geez, man, you damn near got yourself killed. And over what? Figuring out what you are? Are you really going to define yourself by what you look like? What about what you think?” He tapped the side of his head. “You know—all that jazz up there? The important stuff? That’s what I do and that seems to work for me just fine.” Spike blinked at him before glancing down at his phoenix egg. “Wait... So… What you’re saying is what I am is not the same as who I am…?” “Pretty much, yeah,” Alex drawled with a hesitant nod. “Huh…” Spike gave himself a brief moment to reflect on those words, both Alex’s and his own. After a few moments, he looked back to the human with a gentle smile. “Thanks. That actually makes a lot of sense.” Alex clicked his tongue. “Yeah, you're welcome... I guess.” “Alright, now it’s our turn to ask questions,” Rainbow Dash cut in. “What were you doing out there?” “Reconnaissance!” Alex answered immediately, tapping his fingers together. The ponies looked between each other for a moment before eyeing him skeptically, expecting a more detailed answer. Chuckling at their reaction, Alex heaved himself from his chair and activated a nearby holographic terminal, which displayed an image of a certain red dragon that was becoming painfully familiar. “I was looking for this: a Royal Red. Or rather, the Royal Red.” Alex leaned back against the terminal and crossed his arms, all sense of amusement gone from his expression. “We’ve been thinking about it since December. Why didn’t it smash the bot that examined it? That was the point of me building the Draco—that full scale dragon I flew you all here with. I wanted to see if I could find it and hopefully talk to it.” Her imagination already flowing, Twilight eagerly asked, “Did you?” Alex shook his head. “You’d think he’d have come on the migration of all things, but nope; Not a fucking trace. But from what I was able to find out from the other dragons, there’s only one Royal Red. Hell, pretty much every single dragon I spoke to confused me for him. You would not believe how surprised they were when I told them I was someone else.” “He sounds quite important,” Rarity commented. “Important doesn’t even begin to describe this guy,” Alex huffed. “He’s got more titles than I can remember. He’s been called the first dragon, the grandfather of dragons, the king of dragons, the guardian of time… Hell, a few even straight up called him God. His actual name is Tyrannus, and from what I could find out, he doesn’t take shit from anyone. Lived longer than the rest of them, too.” “Just how old is he…?” Twilight asked, although based on what Alex had divulged already, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. “Okay, well, for comparison, dragons seem to have an average lifespan that goes up to a little over a millenium. But Tyrannus…” Alex inhaled sharply through his teeth. “Well… most of what I heard was just rumors and speculation, but depending on who you talk to… Some say he’s as old as the universe; ageless, timeless, that sort of shit. Realistically speaking he seems to be somewhere in the ballpark of ten... maybe even twenty thousand years old, give or take.” Air evacuated Twilight lungs so quickly she began coughing, Rainbow Dash’s jaw hit the floor, and Rarity’s eyes bugged out. Twenty thousand years?! All of recorded pony history doesn’t even reach a quarter of that! “Dude, that’s insane!” croaked Spike. Alex nodded. “Yeah, he’s been around the block a few times. Just keep in mind that that’s largely just speculation on the dragons’ part. Even they’re not sure. All they know is that Tyrannus was already old when the oldest ones were still Spike's age. I’d have asked him myself, but like I said, he just plain wasn’t there. And if he was, he’s damn good at not getting found. You have no idea how hard I looked before you guys showed up.” “Wow…” Twilight breathed. She looked away, mulling over her thoughts, when suddenly a realization struck her. “Wait a minute… If the Royal Red—er… Tyrannus, didn’t go on the migration, then that must have been you outside of our trench!” Alex curled a brow. “Come again?” “Hey, yeah, you’re right!” Dash lit up, pointing a hoof first at Twilight, then at Alex. “You’re the one that landed right next to our trench and scared us all half to death while we were watching the dragon migration!” “Why yes, it all makes sense now!” Rarity agreed. “Alex, that was hardly appropriate for you to do, even as a joke.” “Whoa, hold the phone!” Alex held his hands out to stop them. “What the hell are you guys talking about?” Twilight tilted her head at him in confusion. “Don’t you remember? You landed outside of our trench while we were watching the dragon migration!” She paused, allowing Alex to answer, though none came. Instead, he looked up at Rose, whose giant blue eye stared back, an entire conversation passing by in complete silence. “R-right…?” Alex slowly turned back towards her. “Twilight… I left from here and never landed until I got to the craters…” The ponies all paused, the blood in their veins freezing over as they all slowly looked to each other. The vivid memory of the titanic Royal Red looming over them played in their minds, the thunderous roar and trembling earth just as fresh as ever. Somewhere out in the mountains, an ancient figure spied on Ponyville, watching as a fake drifted into a bright light to hide itself from existence. “So Celestia was right… A new age has begun…” Despite being late at night, the constant tapping of nervous hooves never left Futtershy’s cottage. She had been pacing constantly for the past hour. Maybe two, she wasn’t quite sure. He could have gotten hurt! Trapped in a hole, stuck under a tree, eaten by ferocious firebreathing dragons!? Worry about Garry continued to plague her, so much so that even the other animals who stayed with her at home began picking it up. Anxiety and concern for Garry’s safety seemed to be the only thing that mattered at all at the moment. The only one who seemed to be immune to Fluttershy’s aura of stress was, of course, Angel bunny, who hardly cared what happened to the metal monster and was instead doing his best to get some sleep. Good riddance! Fluttershy had been so lost in thought in her pacing that she failed to notice the faint tapping on the window, the sound blending in with the clopping of her hooves against the wooden floor. It wasn’t until the second set of tapping that Fluttershy instantly froze to the spot, staring straight ahead with her ears pointed out. More tapping. Her head snapped towards the window and her eyes grew wide. “G… Garry…?” The little red dragon waved at her with a claw from the other side of the window, waiting patiently. He didn’t have to wait very long as Fluttershy dashed towards the window, opening it wide. Nothing but silence passed between the two of them for several long moments. Fluttershy wasn’t quite sure if what she was seeing was real or not. “Is… Is it really you…?” she quavered. Garry answered by hopping off the window sill and onto her neck, wrapping both his claws and wings around it. Tears welled up in Fluttershy’s eyes and her legs gave out, dropping her onto her haunches. Without any concern for whether she would hurt him or not, Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around Garry as tightly as she could muster, quietly weeping. “I was s-s-so w-worried…” she whimpered between sobs. “I-I-I thought I l-lost y-you…! I missed you s-so much…” “I missed you too.” Fluttershy’s mind snapped to attention. It took a few seconds to register, but when it did, she pushed Garry out and held him at a foreleg’s length, staring straight into his amber eyes. Did… Did he just…? Garry tilted his head to the right.