Mockin couldn't believe what he was staring at. His cutie mark! He was speechless, he couldn't think about anything else. His cutie mark was a black, gray, sleeping, dragon. But what was just as interesting was the mark on the dragons flank, it was a spitting image of himself! He had a cutie mark with himself in it, this was unheard of. Finnaly Mockin regained control of his body and jumped in the air whooping his delight for the whole world to hear, completely ignoring the pain in his head.
"I AM COMPLETE!!!!"
Jewel winced at the noise that Mockin made even though dragons were used to loud noises this was a little too loud.
"I don't understand. Why are you so happy? Uh oh...you just woke everybody up."
Mockin was baffled at what jewel said about how she doesn't understand why he is so happy. He completely missed what Jewel said about the other dragons.
"What? You don't have cutie marks? Hmm that makes my cutie mark even weirder, then how do yo..."
"WHO'S MAKING ALL THAT NOISE!!"
Mockin flinched and clutched his head as the pain from his headache kicked in and the dragon's roar pounded through his skull. After covering his ears for a couple seconds he took his hooves away and slowly shifted himself so he was facing the scourge of the roar. Before him stood the leader of the dragons whose name he still didn't know, he looked annoyed but not angry, thank Celestia.
"You could have woken up the little ones! Are all ponies this rude?"
"No, i'm sorry I was just happy that I got my cutie mark, I didn't want to wake anypon...dragon up."
"Hmph...Jewel get the others, we have something to discuss."
"Yes Granite."
"Follow me pony, I will show you your new home."
Mockin followed Granite out into the clearing in the mountains and was greeted with something he didn't expect. The clearing had no snow on the ground and there were dragons taking naps outside of caves. As Mockin looked closer he saw a name scratched above each cave mouth. A family name? Mockin was so intrigued by his surroundings that he didn't notice Crash and Arrow walk up next to him. Arrow was leaning on Crash's shoulder and limping.
"Yo Mockin, yoo-hoo! Wake up dude!"
"Huh! Oh sorry it's good to see you guys. Are you two ok?"
Both ponies were staring at Mockin's flank with wide eyes. Mockin got his cutie mark!
"Dude! You got your cutie mark! Do you know what its for?"
"No, not really, but I think It's got something to do with dragons."
Mockin then jumped as he realized something that Granite had said to him as they walked out of the cave. His new home! He couldn't stay here! He had plans back in Canterlot!
"Granite? What did you mean when you said 'my new home'?"
"You are a part of the tribe now, so there for you are going to live with us. Isn't that one of the reasons you came here?"
"We-Well...you see...oh no."
"What is the reason you came to see us if it is not to live with us and learn our ways?"
"we came to persuade you to not attack our kind and destroy Canterlot."
Mockin and Arrow stared at Crash in dismay as he straight up told this 20 foot dragon that they came here for political reasons and not because they wanted to be one of them.
"What? We have had troubles with your kind before but not enough to go to war. Why would we do that?"
"We received a warning that you were going to burn down Canterlot. Are you not going to war?"
"No! We are a peaceful race! Whatever you might have been told or taught about dragons I encourage you to forget it now, before you judge us!"
Granite had gotten mad by the accusation that these ponies had made against the dragons, he was considering eating them (not really, he was still mad though). The trio of ponies realized their mistake and were glad that they weren't banished or worse.
"You are right, we shouldn't have come into a culture that we know little about and think we knew everything. That's how wars get started."
The realization hit them that this conversation could have gone a lot differently if they said something ruder then what they had, or if somepony else was sent.
"Hmm interesting. I can see that you have come here with good intentions, but to have the full effect you will need to learn our ways. And for that to happen you will need to live with us so we both benefit from this exchange."
"Ok...I will stay but Crash and Arrow came here to protect me so do not force them to stay against their will for only doing what they were told."
"Wouldn't dream of it, they can leave if they would like."
"Uh we wouldn't like to, you see we got this far saving Mockin's arse so it would be just plain rude if we left right after."
"Fine we will all stay then, but how will Celestia find out? We can't leave, and we can't have a dragon go back so how will we notify them?"
Arrow grinned and looked at Granite.
"I have an idea."
12 hours later, in Canterlot
Twilight Sparkle was walking down the streets of Canterlot towards the castle. It had been a while since she had walked down the streets of Canterlot without somepony following her to keep her safe. However, now she had a mob following her to meet her and talk to her about getting her to appear on this or that. She didn't want this attention just because she was the newest princess, she wanted it for who she was. But she didn't get to choose how society thought of her. Twilight was only in Canterlot because Celestia had requested her presence, and told her to enjoy the city before coming to see her. Now Twilight wished she wore a cloak to hide herself. With a sigh she walked up to the doors to Canterlot Castle and the guards opened them for her. As soon as the doors closed behind her she sprinted into the court room and found Celestia sitting on her throne.
"Princess! It's so good to see you!"
Twilight ran up to her and hugged Celestia's neck.
"It's good to see you too Twilight, but do you remember when I told you about Mockin? The pony I sent to talk to the Dragons? Well I want you to get your friends with the elements to make sure that there won't be an attack on Canterlot of he fails."
"Oh, yes Princess I can do that."
"If you are wondering why I didn't ask your friends to come it is because I just wanted you to know. They will find out when the time is right."
A guard burst through the doors panting and gasping for breath.
"Princesses! Dragons...dragons are approaching...must be thirty..."
And with that the guard passed out leaving Celestia and Twilight stunned and confused.
"No! It is too early! How is this possible!"
"Celestia I will teleport to Ponyville and back right away."
And with that Twilight disappeared just as Luna burst through a pair of side doors.
"Celestia! We must get the city evacuated! Now! You warn the citizens and I will organize the guards."
"Alright Luna, we have only minutes to spare though."
Approaching dragons
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Positive! The guard couldn't even hurt one scale on a Dragons back!"
Mockin was still concerned because Celestia could get the Elements of Harmony. Although the Elements wouldn't work would they, the Dragons weren't going to threaten anyponies life so the Elements would have no effect on them. The plan was that the Dragons would surround the Castle but only Granite would land, dropping Mockin, Crash, and Arrow off his back as he did so. The trio of ponies were wearing their animal coats to protect themselves from the icy wind as the Dragons were much faster then any Pegasus. The trio figured as soon as the crowd saw ponies on the Dragons back they would calm down, made sense right? Oh boy. As the dragons approached the trio could see the royal guard panicking and running around trying to get organized. Also what looked like Princess Luna rallying her lunar pegasi to take on the dragons if needed.
Canterlot Castle
All Celestia could do was hope that Twilight got back from Ponyville very soon or else the guard would break formation and run. They weren't trained to go up against dragons, just the odd pony who wanted trouble. Celestia heard a sparkle and zap and turned around to see Twilight and the other Elements running towards the incoming dragons.
"Quickly Twilight! You need to stop these dragons immediately!"
Twilight and the Elements got in there usual positions and charged the Elements, the dragons just kept on coming. Then Twilight opened her eyes to reveal them as pure white, ready to strike the dragons with the Elements of harmony. But nothing happened. Twilight slowly blinked away the white eyes and looked at the dragons with fear in her now normal eyes.
"I-It didn't work! The dragons have resisted it somehow!"
The surrounding guards all looked at the dragons that had now circled Canterlot Castle with fear in their eyes instead of panic. Then a very large dragon descended and landed in front of Luna and Celestia who were staring defiantly at the dragon, but then three figures jumped off the back of the dragon. One bear, one Cougar, one wolf, but they all had bodies of ponies. The one with the Cougar pelt stepped forward and let out a cackling laugh.
Trio POV
"Cough! Cough!"
"Hey Arrow are you ok?"
"Yeah i'm good, its just been a while since I've laughed, Cough!"
"Why is everypony still staring at us?"
Crash who was completely against this idea snorted.
"Oh I don't know, maybe because you scared the crap out of an entire city with a hoard of dragons and then expect three ponies dressed in animal skins jumping off the back of the largest dragon to calm them down!"
Crash's voice got steadily louder and didn't stop to take a breath with his explanation, he was pissed to say the least.
"Oh...right, maybe we should've done this differently."
"W-W-Who are you and what do you mean by threatening our entire city with this offense?!"
Mockin looked at Luna with confusion, couldn't she tell it was him?
"Luna...its us...here let me take this off."
Everypony stared at the figure in horror as it peeled it's skin off to reveal...a pony? That's not right, and it looked just like Mockin...wait a minute.
"YOU CAME HERE ON THE BACK OF A DRAGON TO TELL US THAT YOU MADE IT?!!! I'm impressed, didn't think you would be the show off type."
Even Granite stared at Celestia as she shouted then went to a calm and collected voice in an instant. She wasn't mad? Or even worried in the slightest? That's kind of an insult to a dragon's ego. However, everypony else who didn't know who Mockin was just thought he was a very powerful sorcerer that had tamed a dragon hoard. Also, when Mockin took off his coat it revealed the cuts and scratches from his trial which only worsened someponies fears.
"Well, we made it..."
"You should have warned US at least."
"How?"
Celestia and Luna just looked at each other and couldn't come up with an answer. Arrow and Crash both took off their cloaks and stood next to Mockin as Luna came up to Granite to introduce herself and make amends. The trio wasn't out of the spot light yet though, they had made thousands of ponies run from their homes and traumatized many ponies. Twilight walked up to Mockin and looked him up and down trying to avoid his wounds.
"Hey Celestia? You told me he didn't have a cutie mark, why does he have one then?"
"He doesn't...sweet (Celestia?)! How did you get yourself as part of your cutie mark? Is it because your full of yourself?"
"Um, no. Although I can see why you would think that. I got it when I was talking to the dragons in the tribe I have been adopted into. I think it means that I am a good relation to them and I can connect with them."
"Mockin? Mockin is that you?"
Mockin turned towards the source of the noise and saw a VERY familiar pony in the crowd approaching the trio slowly.
"Mom? Mom!"
Mockin ran towards her and jumped towards her to hug her, she didn't move away. She caught her son in a very passionate hug which made her tear up a bit. When the crowd saw what had taken place they all relaxed a little and started to tentatively approach Granite and the other dragons who had gotten bored and were just as curious in the opposite species as the ponies were to the dragons. One very young colt who was bolder then the others ran up to Granite, who was laying down, and climbed up onto his neck with a, whoop! Granite who was a father himself snorted and just payed attention to the ponies who were looking at Granite as if he was going to eat the colt. The species were going to have a Long and hard time getting used to each other.