Mockin was standing on all fours staring at the building in front of him. It was an old building, had some shingles missing, some cobblestone tiles loose, but it didn't look bad. The problem wasn't how the building looked or it's residents, it was Mockin. Taking one glance at the doors into the building Mockin knew that he wasn't going to fit. So how was he going to get inside? It was rather important that he did because this was the orphanage, and he didn't want to scare ANYpony inside so he couldn't shout or roar. He will just have to wait. He waited for about fifteen minutes before a pony opened the door slowly, and then poked it's head out to look around. Odd. Then the pony looked straight at Mockin and went pale with fear but before it could duck back inside it was shoved out the door which shut with a slam. The pony squeaked with fear and started to hoof the door begging to get back in. It was actually kind of amusing. Mockin, who had layed down because of the wait, got up and approached the pony who was now cowering at the foot of the door. Mockin stopped a couple of feet away from the cowering pony and sat down. The pony slowly stopped shivering with fear and turned his head to look at Mockin who was looking at him with concerned eyes.
"W-What do y-y-you want?" The pony was shacking again
"I want to adopt a pony, why else would I be hear? I mean think about it, if I wanted to eat a pony I wouldn't go to a building that was closed off and just wait outside. I would be flying above the city looking for a pony who was in an excluded area." Mockin regretted saying that last part, because the pony stared in horror at him and fainted.
Darn, now what was he going to do? Mockin leaned over the fainted pony and knocked on the door as softly as he could. Which turned out pretty bad because he almost knocked the door off (puns!!) it's hinges. When the door swung open he saw three ponies standing in front of him shacking with fear and carrying forks. Mockin stared at them for a little bit then bent down and scooped the fainted pony up and into the building. The ponies inside the building flinched as Mockin moved but calmed down visibly as they saw the unharmed body of the pony.
"You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, you forced a pony out of the building to confront a dragon you didn't know and then didn't let him back in after he begged." Mockin felt slightly disgusted at the actions of the staff at the orphanage.
"W-Well we had to protect the foals, we had to communicate with you some how." One of the ponies responded while looking at the floor, ashamed.
"You could have shouted at me from a window! Anyway i'm not here to eat anypony, in fact i'm here to adopt one."
The three ponies stared at Mockin with disbelief, a dragon?! Adopting a pony?! Unheard of.
"Umm...ok well then why don't you follow me. And what is your name?" One of the staff members started to walk down the hall of the orphanage and looked back at Mockin.
"My name is Mockin Sage, and I won't be able to fit inside. However, I know which pony I want to adopt, her name is Sweet Juniper." The staff member just nodded and started to walk down the hall again.
Mockin layed down in the door way with half of his body sticking inside the orphanage. The other two staff members looked a little scared but were quickly relaxing. One of them eventually got curious.
"I didn't know dragons had cutie marks. And is that a pony?" The staff member pointed at Mockin's side where his cutie mark was.
"Yes that is a pony." Mockin didn't really have an answer of how he got it so he just left it at that.
The staff member looked a little disappointed but let it go. The last staff member was studying Mockin a little too closely, then she leaned to the curious staff member and whispered something to him. He looked at her with a disbelieving stare.
"Oh you are on." The last staff member just smiled and turned to Mockin.
"Um Mockin Sage? Could you do me a favor? I have always seen a pony stick their head inside a lions mouth at the circus but I have never seen one do it to a dragon, could I be the first?"
Mockin was completely taken back by the question and had to think about it for a couple of seconds.
"Um, I guess. Sure." Mockin opened his mouth as wide as it would go, revealing his, hundred or so, razor sharp teeth. She hesitated, but then mentally shrugged and walked forward. When she got in front of Mockin's open jaws she noticed his forked tongue and his lack of nostrils. She may not know much about dragons but she hadn't heard of a dragon with a snakes tongue and no nostrils. Again she mentally shrugged and leaned forward, sticking her head in Mockin's mouth. She shouted with joy and pulled her head back and looked at the male staff member who sighed in defeat and handed over ten bits. Was he really the source of a bet? He wasn't really sure how he felt about that. Thankfully he didn't have to think about it for very long because the first staff member came back with Juniper literally jumping for joy behind her. As soon as Juniper saw Mockin she ran up to him and jumped onto his face, hugging his snout as if to never let him go.
"There is a problem, we can't allow this adoption to occur without consent from the crown. You will need to have a writ of approval." The staff member still looked uncomfortable with the situation but relaxed at the site that Juniper was happy.
"Oh don't worry about that, Juniper can you reach into my saddle bag and get the scroll?" The saddle bag was actually around Mockin's neck and strapped around his upper chest, he only needed one because of the size of it.
Juniper let go of Mockin's face and slid down to the floor, where she reached up and took a scroll out of Mockin's saddle bag and handed it to the staff member. The staff member looked it over and made sure everything was correct, then nodded and handed the scroll to the male staff member. Juniper jumped back onto Mockin's face, obstructing his view.
"Um, Juniper? You are going to have to let go or go on my back, I can't see." Juniper let go of his face and crawled up his head and down his neck.
The staff members watched in amusement at the scene and felt like the adoption was going to work out well. But just as Mockin was going to leave he was stopped by a stampede of foals as they jumped all over him and hugged him. What Mockin was expecting was that they were going to beg him to adopt them, but what he didn't expect was what actually happened. They all thanked him for adopting one of them and started congratulating Juniper on being adopted. What Mockin didn't know was that Juniper was the oldest of them all and the least likely to be adopted, until now. Mockin and Juniper left the orphanage happily and walked down the streets of Canterlot without a care in the world. The citizens of Canterlot witnessed two species draw closer with a giant leap. Mockin was walking with a bounce in his four stepped pace and Juniper was beaming with joy, sitting on top of Mockin's head now. She had a father! She may be only twelve years younger than Mockin but she was his. Mockin was slightly giddy, he had a daughter! He was as happy as he could ever be. As Mockin and juniper approached the castle he thought more about Juniper as a pony, she had a deep rich red coat with a white mane and tail. She also had green eyes which kinda reminded Mockin of Emeralds, at least she was old enough to understand that she was adopted.
"Hey Juniper? Are you sure you won't mind living with dragons? They can be harsh or straight forward sometimes and you may feel lonely or left out." Mockin was still concerned that she would be happy with beings that were much larger then her.
"I have thought about it and I have decided I will be happier here ever you are, so lets leave this place as soon as possible!"
Mockin grinned "hold on." He then jumped into the air and spread his wings, propelling him forward and up. After A minute of flapping he was high in the sky and going very fast towards the north. Mockin then remembered that Juniper couldn't with stand the same temperatures as he could. So he reached inside his saddle bag and pulled out his wolf coat and reached back, draping Juniper in it's weight and warmth.
"Thanks!" Her yell was barely heard over the wind rushing in Mockin's ears. As they flew Mockin was observing the ground below him and he saw a very familiar hut in the distance. Mockin decided that he would give Juniper a break so she could stretch her legs, meanwhile he would see if watching Fangs was around. Mockin landed and helped Juniper down on the ground who instantly went to explore the clearing. Mockin decided that knocking would be a bad idea so he made his presence known with a much more subtle approach then knocking the door down (puns!!).
"FANGS!!" Did I say subtle? Oops.
Fangs ran out of the cabin with a knife and looked up at Mockin with wide eyes. Mockin just smiled down at the Lunar Pegasus, he had managed to scare the lunar Pegasus! Fangs dropped his knife and continued to look up Mockin with surprise and uncertainty.
"Its me, Mockin, long story but seriously stop staring at me."
Fangs shook his head and looked at Mockin more closely, he noticed his cutie mark, his color scheme and his eyes. The cutie mark was new but everything else matched, besides the body.
"Prove it."
Mockin sighed and retrieved his wolf coat which he had put back in his saddle bag when Juniper didn't need it. Once Fangs saw the coat he sighed with relief and kicked his knife to the side of the door way so nopony would step on it. Mockin heard a scuffle and a yawn from in the hut and saw Fangs blush as he quickly tried to close the door. Mockin just stuck out his hand and stopped the door from slamming shut to see another lunar Pegasus mare walking up to Fangs and giving him a quick peck on the cheek and completely ignored Fangs' attempts to hide his ever growing blush. She just looked at Mockin for a second then grunted and shuffled to the kitchen. Mockin was trying really hard not to laugh at his friends sake, he could only imagine what Fangs would do to him if he was smaller.
"Humhm, um...well I kinda gave all the bits that you gave me and took a certain mare out on a date..." Mockin raised an eyebrow and continued to watch the massive lunar Pegasus squirm under his gaze.
"I'm sorry alright! But it went really well and we kinda started to go out and...we eve-hmph-what I mean is you caught me at a really bad time." The lunar Pegasus stopped his rambling and sat in the door way looking guilty but happy.
Mockin was enjoying the moment a lot but enjoyed even more when the lunar Pegasus came back up to Fangs and leaned on him with a cup of something in her wing. She then looked at Mockin and smiled, revealing her fangs in greater detail.
"Thank you by the way, by the way Fangs talks to you you must be the friend of his that gave him some bits. Without it we probably wouldn't have gone out on that wonderful date." She stopped at the memory of the time they had. After a couple seconds she snapped back out of her trance.
"Anyways, like he said, you woke us up after a long night." Mockin took a minute to get the thought of them doing something else and remembered that the lunar pegasi were nocturnal and when they said night, it was the equivalent to his day.
The lunar Pegasus smiled at the dragon in front of her and poked fangs in the ribs. Fangs who had fallen asleep woke up and looked around, then, remembering where he was, looked at Mockin.
"So what did you stop by for?" Mockin just smiled
"Hey Juniper! Come here! I want you to meet somepony."
Juniper dashed around the hut and slid to a stop next to Mockin.
"Juniper, this is a special friend of mine and his marefriend." Fangs glared at Mockin at that last remark but the mare just giggled.
"Nice to meet you Juniper, I'm Nebula."
Juniper ran forward and shook Nebula's hoof with enthusiasm, this was her first time meeting a lunar Pegasus and she was excited. Fangs just smiled down at the foal in front of him.
"Sorry for disturbing you two, and I'm sorry we can't stay longer but we have to get back to the mountains so we can settle again." The two lunar pegasi waved a farewell to the departing figures. Nebula then started to shuffle back to the room they shared.
"Cute foal, I want one just like her." Fangs just shivered at the thought