//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17 
// Story: Ambassador 
// by THOSEideas 
//------------------------------//

There was a reason behind Dragons being in the courier business, it was because of their speed. Sure ponie that pulled carriages were quick and comfortable but if you needed to get somewhere fast then you got a dragon. The dragon that Watching Fangs, Inquiring Inquisition and Juniper rode on had some experience with carrying ponies around. He knew that you needed to start off slow so that the ponies could adjust and then you sped up gradually. If you didn't then bad things could happen and he really didn't want to deal with that.

The dragon slowed down when Fangs shouted over the wind that the house in the middle of the forest was his. The dragon stopped flapping his wings and instead just glided the rest of the way, slowing down ever so gradually. The dragon had to admit that the house looked very inviting and comfy, not too big, not too small. The windows on the front wall of the house were spilling a soft, warm, orange glow over the freshly fallen snow that covered the ground. The dragon flapped his wings once to slow himself down and landed with a slight jolt that sent the soft powdery snow flying in all directions.

Watching Fangs slipped off the dragons back and reached up to help Inq with Juniper. Once Fangs had Juniper on his back he walked towards his house, happy that he was home again. Inq jumped off the dragons back and started getting the saddle bags down while thanking the dragon himself.

"Thank you, might I ask your name?"

"You may, its Tornado, and I will be staying for a little while to rest and make sure you are alright." Inq smiled up at the dragon and carried the two saddle bags over to the cottage. 

Fangs had wrapped Juniper in the coat and placed her on the swinging bench that hung from the porch ceiling. Fangs was amazed that Juniper could have slept through all that, but then again he could understand why she might have. Fangs looked to the door into the cottage and smiled as he raised a hoof to knock.

Right before he could knock however, the door openned to reveal his first born standing there looking up at him with her adorable teal eyes.

"Daddy's home!" Night Frost jumped up and wrapped her little forelegs around his neck and let herself hang.

Fangs grunted when she hit him but smiled anyway, he was indeed home. Fangs struggled to look down at the fillie but managed to see her smiling face beaming up at him. Night had a blue mane that went well with her midnight blue pelt, he could also see her undeveloped wings fluttering as she struggled to hang on his neck.

"Hello Night, I missed you. Where's mommy?"

"She's over by the fire with Thunder and Skipped Beat." 

Fangs helped Night down from his neck and placed her on the ground, she immediately ran towards the Tornado and pounced on him. Fangs really hoped that the dragon was in a good mood. Fangs returned his attention back to the cottage and walked inside, at first he didn't see anypony but after looking around he saw his wife was indeed in front of the fire. 

Nebula lay on her left side with her back to the fire and her head facing the door. Laying down next to her head was Skipped Beat, a very special foal to Fangs. Not only was Beat, Fangs' first son but he was an albino with no wings as a Lunar Pony. Beat had blood red eyes and a shockingly white pelt and mane with a matching tail. Skipped Beat had never shown any signs of growing wings so they had assumed that he wasn't ever going to. They had also figured out that sunlight seriously disturbed the foal, when he had first felt the touch of sunlight his skin had turned red almost immediately and he began burning up. So now the poor foal could only go outside when he was fully covered.

Thunder struck on the other hand, had nothing unusual about him. Except maybe that his mane stuck out in almost every direction imaginable no matter how much they tried to slick it down. Thunder Struck was currently two months old where as his siblings were two and four years old. Thunder had a surprising appearance, his tail and mane were darker at the roots then at the tips where they were much lighter. And his charcoal black pelt amplified the effect.

Nebula was staring at Watching Fangs with a half-lidded smile.

"You made it back, good, now you can take Beat outside because he has been bugging me all night."

Skipped Beat perked up his ears at the sound of his name and openned his eyes to look up at Watching Fangs. As soon as he had registered who it was, he got up and trotted over to Fangs.

"Hey Daddy! Can you take me outside? Pleaaaassse!"

"Hey kiddo, yes I will take you outside, lets go start a snow ball fight with your sister."

Beat jumped with joy and ran out the cottage door, only to crash into Inq as she started walking inside.

"Oooof! Hey! Oh, um hi there...uhhh." Inq looked up at Fangs for some help with a name, but before Fangs could answer her he was interrupted by Beat himself.

"My name is Skipped Beat! But you can call me Beat. Whats yours?"

"My name is...Inq. Just Inq."

Skipped Beat looked up at Inq and studied her before running out of the house to go play in the snow. Inq looked at Fangs and he motioned towards Nebula at the fire. Fangs walked out of the house to find that the yard had been mostly cleared of snow and what was left was two forts on either side. Each fort was manned and defended by a single ferocious foal, brother vs. sister. You may think that Night had an advantage over Beat because she was older but you have to remember that snow was white, and so was Beat. Beat was very smart for his age, he had realised that he wasn't going to win by just throwing snow balls, he had to get up close. 

Tornado snorted with amusement as he watched the foals play in the forts he had made them. He was happy to see foals that weren't scared of him, he was used to foals crying at the sight of him, but these ones were using him as a referee. Beat was even using him as cover as he crept unseen from his fort and silently crawled through the snow towards Night. Night was throwing snkw balls aimlessly at where she thought Beat was, but was completely taken by surprise when a snow ball hit her at point blank range from behind.

"OWW!" Night whipped around to find nothing there. Night looked more carefuly and still couldn't find anything, then what had hit her? Another snow ball hit her in the back of the head. Night groweled and turned around to once again not find anypony, who was throwing them then? Night heard a slight shuffle of snow behind her and knew who had done it.

Night scooped up a ready made snow ball and turned around, throwing her snow ball through the air. The snow ball landed squarely between Beat's eyes and exploded in a puff. Beat looked dazed for a second before he got tackled by Night and they started play fighting. They carried on for about two minutes before they got exhausted and cold, so they ran up to Fangs who had sat down next to the sleeping Juniper and watched the scene play out.

"Thank you Tornado for everything, you can go if you wish."

"Thank you sir, I have rested long enough, give my regards to your mother and wish her well for me."

"I will."

Inq, who had come outside again to help take Juniper in, paused when she heard the dragon wish Fangs' mother well. Why were all these ponies giving respect to his mother? It couldn't be just to be polite because they were guards, they didn't care. So why were they so concerned about his mother? She decided that she was going to ask him sometime soon.

"Where should me and Juniper sleep Fangs?"

Give me a sec and I will take her in. Alright Night and Beat, you twogo inside and help your mother with cleaning up, you made most of the mess anyways."

The two foals ran inside the house and disapeared as Fangs picked up Juniper and carried her inside the warm house, closing the door behind himself. Fangs walked across the living room and into the guest room where he layed Juniper down and pulled the thick blankets over her. Out of all things, this woke her up.

"...mmmhh. Thank you Fangs. Thanks for everything."

"Don't mention it, now go back to sleep."

Fangs walked out of the room and closed the door softly behind him. He then walked over to the couch and crashed on it, man he was tired. Fangs observed his family bustle around the house and watched his foals attempt at cleaning up the mess they made. Fangs then switched his gaze from his family back to Inq who was on another couch and was trying to stay awake, and failing. 

"Inq, I'm so sorry, there is another bed in the room that Juniper is in, you can sleep there."

Inq barely managed to nod her head and dragged her hooves over to the door and stumbled in not even bothering to close the door. A minute later the whole house filled with the sounds of her snoring.

"Wow Beat, she snores louder then you do." Beat glared at his sister and decided it wasn't worth it to argue. 

Fangs let out a sigh and let his left hoof hang over the edge of the couch and his eye-lids slowly drifted close. Time for some well deserved sleep.