//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11 
// Story: Ambassador 
// by THOSEideas 
//------------------------------//

Mockin and Juniper eventually stopped laughing and stared at Celestia as she tried to control her fits of giggles.

"That was -snort- very immature Mockin. I am -he he- disappointed in you. Who is this?"

"This little filly woke me up, and her name is Juniper."

"Well hello my little pony, how is your day so far?"

"Awesome! I got to fly on a dragon's back, I got to see Canterlot Castle. I even got to see one of the Princesses! Best day ever!"

"My! You have had a busy day so far, why don't you head on home now though in case somepony gets worried about you."

"Ppphhh! No one is worried about me, why would they be? I'm just a little orphan who has nopony to be looked after by."

"I see...perhaps Mockin would allow you to stay with him for a little while? But only for a little while, ok?"

"Yeah!"

Mockin walked with Juniper on his back after Celestia's retreating figure as she led them to the dinning hall to have some breakfast. Juniper jumped off of Mockin's back and ran to one of the cushions next to the table so she could get the food first. Growing up in an orphanage where there wasn't enough food to give everypony a full stomach she learned that she had to protect what was hers. She didn't take more than she needed but she fought for what she got. As Mockin layed down next to Juniper he looked at all the food in front of him: lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, daisies, lilies and even grass. He licked his chops with anticipation and leaned forward to get some lettuce, but as soon as he took a bite of it he immediately spat it out and looked at it with confusion and disgust. 

"Uh oh, I hoped this wouldn't happen but it looks like it has. Mockin your body has changed...which include your taste buds and your digestive system, so you are now a carnivore."

Mockin's gray scales turned white at the thought of eating another creature. How could he do such a thing? It was just wrong. His stomach growled and he grumbled himself, at least he would give it a try.

"Follow me, Juniper you can come too. Yes the food will still be here."

"What is Mockin going to do?"

"You may not want to see what takes place, he is going to eat meat."

"Ewww...what kind of meat?"

Mockin let out a nervous laugh at the foal's foal-ish manners, it cheered him up a little.

"Lets start with fish."

Juniper jumped up onto Mockin's back and they flew off towards the nearest body of water, which happened to be a pond with some fish in it.

"Ok, you will need to dive down into the water and swim towards the fish and try to catch one. I don't know how because I've never done it."

Mockin reached behind him and picked up Juniper off his back. But before he put her down he had another idea, he gently tossed her in the pond without warning.

"Whhhhaaa!!"

Mockin then had the terrible thought that she may not know how to swim, he looked at where Juniper had disappeared under the water and held his breath. With a small splash Juniper resurfaced and squirted water out of her mouth and glared at Mockin.

"That was unfair...but fun."

"I wish I was a foal again..."

Mockin looked at Celestia then with a devilish grin he picked her up with two arms and full on tossed her into the middle of the pond.

"Wha-hey! Waaaaa!"

Mockin couldn't stop laughing at Celestia's expression as her head went under the water with the rest of her body quick to follow. Mockin was laughing so hard he didn't notice that he was surrounded by a gold aura, he did notice when the ground vanished from beneath him and he was suddenly falling. He looked down to see the pond fast approaching.

"Cannon Ball!!"

With a gigantic splash Mockin hit the surface of the pond and sent a massive wave crashing on the two ponies treading water at what they thought was a safe distance away. As Mockin was underwater he saw fish cowering in the depths of the pond trying to escape the intruders of their home. Mockin swished his tail and pulled himself forward with his claws to get speed so that he could grab one of the fish before it got away. The twenty or so fish saw him approaching and immediately swam in different directions, Mockin focused on one and managed to sink his claws into the delicate body. He swam back up to the surface to see Celestia and Juniper glaring at him.

"What?"

"You got my mane wet!"

"Yeah, Do you know how long it takes to dry?"

"Well I can imagine Juniper's dries normally but you're right I don't know how long yours takes. You did wish to be a foal again though so I granted it."

"Bwaahaaa! My mane is already dry Mockin, did you actually think I was mad? That was great! Though I don't want anypony to know that...so if this gets in the papers I am going to hold you personally responsible."

"Ok, ok I won't tell anyPONY."

"Good...oh no you won't! You won't tell a single soul, you hear?"

"Fine...oh yeah I caught a fish, see?"

"Did you taste it yet?"

Mockin looked at the still twitching fish and felt really guilty for killing it and taking it away from it's home. He leaned forward and sank his teeth into the slimy body, it tasted weird but good! He closed his jaws, pinching off the chunk from the rest of the body. He slowly chewed and swallowed then took another bite. 

"So is good?"

"Yephh, I mean yes its good, but now I want more."

"Well then get some more, we will just be swimming and minding our own business."

Mockin took a deep breath and was amazed at how much air he could hold. He dove down and started searching in the dark depths of the pond, he thought it would have been darker but he could be wrong. He was searching for ten minutes and he still hadn't taken another breath or found a fish. He decided to swim up a bit and search more carefully, when he saw a very big fish swimming towards him. It was maybe four feet long and had razor sharp teeth, as it swam towards him it gained speed and bit his leg. Breaking all its teeth in the process. Mockin had no pity when he killed and ate this fish, it must have been desperate or stupid to attack a 10 foot being, dragon or not. Mockin was now full so he swam up to the surface to get some air, when he surfaced he heard Juniper talking to Celestia.

"Sooo how do you know if a stallion likes you?"

Mockin dove back under the water and tried to forget what he had heard. After another ten minutes just swimming around and having fun in the water he got bored and wanted to see how fast he could go when he propelled out of the water. Mockin went to the very bottom of the pond which was about twenty feet down and faced the surface. He kicked off the muddy ground and used any means to get himself up to his top speed, right before the surface he snapped open his wings and launched out of the water. 

"Wooohooo!!"

Celestia and Juniper both jumped up from their sitting positions at the edge of the water and stared at Mockin as he grew smaller and smaller in the sky. He had launched out of the water and got about ten feet of air, however he used the momentum to carry himself higher and higher into the sky. Soon Mockin had gone higher then he had ever gone, but it grew too cold so he turned around and dive bombed towards the ground. Mockin was having so much fun being able to fly and soar through the air, but as he got closer to the ground he snapped open his wings to stop his descent and regretted it instantly. He was going to fast to stop his fall that way, so his wings snapped straight up and he could feel the pain in his joints as the muscles pulled. He couldn't stop his fall that way, and he wasn't over the pond so he was going to crash land...and it was going to hurt, a lot. Or not, Mockin stopped feet away from the ground as Celestia grabbed him with her magic to prevent him from transforming into a pancake.

"You need to be more careful Mockin. What if I wasn't here? You would have probably been dead."

"Yeah sorry, it won't happen again."

"Now I think it is a good time to get back to the Castle don't you think?"

"Yeah! I'm hungry!"

"I can't fly right now so I'll walk while you go on ahead."

"Nonsense we will walk together, its been a while sense I was last on a walk."

Mockin was bombarded with questions from Juniper as she wanted to know everything about dragons. Juniper grew a little tired and took a nap on his back which gave him time to ask Celestia about an idea that came to his head.

"Hey Celestia? Would it be ok if I took Juniper to the clearing with me? To live with the dragons? If there was a legal issue involved I could adopt her to make it easier.

"I think you should ask her if she wants to be adopted by a dragon first, but I like the idea."

Mockin and Celestia walked back to the Castle in silence until Mockin remembered something.

"Did you figure out how to help my condition?"

"Mockin, do not get your hopes up ok? This may take month's to figure out so you should get used to your body as soon as you can."

"Who can I tell about this?"

"Whomever you would like to. Its your secret, just be careful in whom you trust with it."

"What about Juniper? If I am going to adopt her she should know before hoof so its not a surprise."

"I agree, shes going to wake up soon and start demanding food again. Lets hurry back."

Mockin and Celestia walked through the streets of Canterlot drawing a lot of attention from a lot of ponies. Some even came up to Celestia with a notepad in thier grasp while asking stupid questions and just pestering her for information. Mockin himself got tired of the questions so he growled and stared at the ponies to warm them to go away. They took the hint.

"Your useful, thank you by the way."

"Don't mention it."

Juniper woke up with a yawn and looked around, she was confused why she was in front of Canterlot Castle and on a dragon's back.

"I'm hungry...when can we eat?"

Mockin and Celestia chuckled together at the little filly. Celestia excused herself from Mockin and Juniper after dropping them off at the dinning room. Juniper immediately dove into the food and started to eat anything that was in front of her. Mockin watched in amusement as she ate everything without savoring the taste. Now was as good of a time as any to ask her.

"Hey Juniper? How would you like to be adopted by me? It would mean that you would have to live with the other dragons in the north bu--"

"Are you serious?"

"Of course. Why would I joke about that?"

"Then yes I would love to be adopted! When do we go?"

"Hang on Juniper there is something you should know first, I am not really a dragon...well I am, it's just that due to a spell cast on me I turned into a dragon. Originally I was an earth pony."

"That's so cool! Why was I supposed to hear that before you adopted me? That makes you even more awesome!"

Mockin smiled faintly at the foal's energetic attitude. Now the hard part was getting an orphanage to let a dragon adopt a pony. This was going to be fun.