//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 Cozy and Sparks // Story: The Dragon King's Rebirth // by Sipioc //------------------------------// Chapter 3 Cozy and Sparks You both touched down at the Pegasus entrance of a large office building. Couriers and workers filed past you and your winged parent. Their own wings fluttering in the open air as they took off, a few stray feathers littering the ground in a multi-hued collection of airy down. The two of you stepped inside and made your way to a large desk that had the logo "Stable Realty." Behind it sat a young mare unicorn who was at the time filing,...her hooves, as a large stack of papers currently occupied the majority of her desk. She was chewing, what you hoped was gum, in a rather obnoxious manner, her smacking and popping being the only sound for a solid minute, before your "father" finally made your presence known. "Hello?" The mare peered over the stack of file folders and greeted him with a warm smile. Her youthful features were belied by the amount of make-up she wore, which reminded you of the Zebrakan tribal warriors you had read about in school. "Oh, hello Sparks." She said shooting him a grin, her tone having becoming, oddly breathy, as she said his name. "Hey... there... Ms.Violet. My son... Our son! Mine and my wife I mean, of course." He said stumbling through the words, his usual confident heir strangely abandoned. "F-Flint and I are here to see Cozy, my wife! Who I love!" He said, noticeably shifting uncomfortably on his forelegs and needlessly pushing you forward. "What's wrong with you?" You whispered up to him, giving an annoyed look at the stallion who was now inexplicably sweating. The purple maned unicorn's expression fell a little, then looked at you. She gave you a gaze of what was either contempt or disgust. You could share that sentiment towards her. "Hey, little guy here to see your Momma?" She said, awkwardly trying to sound sweet but just coming off condescending. "Go buck yourself." Is what you wanted to say. Instead you settled for remaining quiet giving a equally condescending smile that could be mistaken for eagerness...if you were stupid,... or her, apparently, as she smiled a little wider turning her head sideways in a way that made you want to—again, you held back. Long ago you had been told to curb your spite towards others; and by others that included: your parents, their colleagues, bosses, and friends, your teachers, school officials, classmates, neighbors, public officials, the royalty (that was open as far as you were concerned.), military personnel, celebrities, random ponies on the street, and the crazy mare who lived in an old fridge box and claimed she was the third Celestial sister. 'It's not like they could do anything to me that I would consider punishment; the diarchy had that part covered in this life.' You concluded that merely 'playing along' afforded you less pointless lecturing and attempts at altering your behavior and more time to yourself, (to brood, mostly.) Your eyes just about popped from their sockets when a purple aura proceeded to tug your cheek. "Aren't you sweet!" She said as if she were talking to a dog, her horn's glow ceased and she patted you on the head to complete the feeling. Your expression was blank, yet you were seeing red as you began to calmly scan the clutter of her desk for a letter opener or something else nice and sharp. When you didn't respond, and merely looked at her nail file with... 'unusual glee', she merely sat back down, and blew a large bubble while mindlessly messing with her long violet mane while looking at the nervous looking pegasus behind you. "-Pop- She is in a meeting right now, you can wait here if you like." "NO!!" He said very abruptly, shrilly even, catching both her and you off guard; but also providing a good distraction from what you just did. He then righted himself, "I mean. Naw that's ok, we will just wait in her office till she is done, can't be too long." He said nonchalantly trying to regain some reticence from his weird behavior up to now. "-smack- -smack- You can, but it won't be her office for long, if what I heard is true." She replied snidely "What?" Sparks question, speaking your mind as well. "Nothin', go on ahead." She waved you two up the stairs. The purple maned mare was set on returning to her hoof care, only to find the file was gone. Violet stood and began to walk to the other side of the desk, frantic to find the....SSSHHHLLICKT! The sound of hair being severed caused her to freeze. She looked back in horror to see what 'she' had done. Her once beautiful tail locks now lay amputated inches away from her cushion, a nail file embedded vertically in the floor had initially cut the hair and her movement to the left had finished it. She felt like she could faint, and faint she did. ----------------- The sound of a body lightly thumping to the floor behind you gave you cause to grin. 'Centuries of stalking big dumb animals, is not so easily forgotten.' You thought to yourself permitting your grin to widen. It also helped they you were small and unassuming, but right now you were feeling too good to let your size bring you down. It was a small victory, with little to no lasting reward, but in that moment, you were king again. "I wonder if she is really that lazy or just that dumb when she was given those mess of papers."You said nonchalantly, more as a ruse to cover your now beaming smile. When no answer came you looked to your right. 'There is no way he saw me do it.' You looked over at Sparks, expecting to see him give you a stern disapproving look that was intended to cow you into feeling remorse. Instead you noticed right away that your parent was noticeably still tense about the ordeal, you thought you knew why, so you chose to draw it out into the open. "What do you..." "Nothing happened!" He interrupted you abruptly. You looked at him, slightly off put by the outburst. At first, he refused to meet your gaze, his face beat red. "What?" You responded confused. "From the back she looked like your mother!" He rambled frantically. At first you remained confused, but then after reviewing how he was acting and what he just said you were able to get the gist. "Ok I can guess where this is heading and..." You attempted to cut him off, only to be cut yourself. "I only noticed my mistake after I had given her a little smack on the flank, you know? Like I do at home? I think Violet got the wrong idea, even though I explained it was an accident." In response you crinkled your nose and stuck out your tongue in a wretch, your treacherous brain automatically bringing every witnessed instance of Cozy and Sparks administering playful nibbles to one another that lead to whispered conversations, giggling, followed by awkward glances as your entered the room, embraces that lasted a little too long, and ....kissing. This chain of thoughts caused you to physically shudder and let out a 'gaging' nose. The idea of such sentiment had always made you cringe. Some could chalk that up to you being a pre-adolescent colt, while you knew that was merely a happenstance of the truth. 'Never had a female of my own, never wanted one. Still don't.' You thought, squirming. You looked the still beat red stallion up and down. 'I will never understand ponies' need for physical intimacy,'. You had seen the film strip in school that tried to explain it, as a result you didn't sleep for three days. Dragons, you recalled, had similar traditions, but they lacked the documentation to make it truly scarring. You physically had to shake those images from your mind. You further steeled yourself and looked back at the poor pegasus to your right who seemed to be waiting for you to respond; apparently, your input on the matter was important to him. "Look, I don't really care about... that." You said, blocking the thoughts that threatened to 'dry heave' back to forefront of your mind. "But, I can assure you she doesn't look the same now." You added, a chuckle slipping past your teeth. As Sparks narrowed his eyes in confusion you swiftly changed the subject back to your initial conclusion. "I was actually gonna ask you what do you think she meant by 'that won't be her office for long'?" You said to him plainly, his expression changed and his eyes grew clearer as he too pondered those cryptic words. Ultimately he merely straightened himself up, coughed into his hoof (for some reason), and looked away from you. "Oh...uh...don't know. Your mom was handling a big account for her boss so maybe it has something to do with that." By the end of the speculation his complexion and tone had returned to normal. "Okay." You said rounding the hall toward a modest office with the name 'Cozy Homes, Assistant Manager". You again looked at the stallion to your side. He met your gaze. After a moment you let out a exasperated breath and looked away from him. "Heh heh. Got an earful on that one? Yeah, sorry about that." He chuckled, blushing only slightly now as you made your way into your "mother's" office. ------------------ You sat in the office cushion at the desk, everything was neat and tidy, a few loose papers sat on the left side of the desk, but a cursory glance let you know it was nothing confidential or even remotely interesting. Nearest to the seat were several family photos of which you were apart of. Much like your reflection all you saw was the dragon you once were, which made them all the more ridiculous. A picture of you as a foal, sitting upright on the living room rug had a different view to you; as the monster lizard sat on its haunches glaring at the camera, a bright blue pacifier held tight in pencil long teeth. Another picture showed the three of you at the beach, your parents standing on either side of the large firedrake who wore tiny water wings around its massive arms with a copious layer of un-rubbed in sun screen on its scales. You admitted that your relationship with these two was...complicated. On the one hand they were a constant reminder of your current purgatory, yet despite your restlessness you couldn't bring yourself to hate them. All they had ever done was try to be there for you, feed you when your body was too feeble to do so yourself, comfort you when you were in pain or discomfort, even though you never asked them too. Considering your dragon parents were not at all apart of your original life, you were new to the whole nurturing of one's progeny. 'They are...tolerable.' you admitted to yourself as you regarded the pegasus before you, happily chewing on some candy he had taken from the dish on the desk while reading an electronics magazine Cozy had around the office to occupy her clientele when she was otherwise occupied. The relationship you had with Sparks Fly was that of mutual understanding. For all he knew, you were what he thought; his son, and you had no real reason to argue that. After all, biologically, that was more or less true, you two shared the same eyes and mane color, even facial structure seemed to be a similar facsimile. For obvious reasons your personalities were different. He was bubbly and confident, loved to work with his hooves and tinker. He was an electrician by trade, being able to wire up almost anything from small devices to houses. The use of electricity was something that you did come to admire about ponies, since you had been gone they had learned to harness the power of their benefactor's star, and use it to make there own lives easier. Sparks seemed to have just a knack for such things, as expressed by his cutie mark a bluish lightening bolt with a wrench and screwdriver. Your thoughts briefly drifted to what your cutie mark might be, looking at your back leg and wondering what could go there. You had been told that everyone gets there's eventually, but as to what would go there, if anything, you hadn't a clue. The door to the office opened and in stepped the pony whose name was written on it. "Oh!" She said with a start, noticing you both, but regained her composure quickly. "Hello boys!" She came into the office fully and allowed the door to close behind her. Sparks came up to her and gave her a nuzzle which she reciprocated, and you tried to find something more interesting out the window. These days she wore her vibrant purple mane short in what you were told was a pixie cut. 'I wondered if the confession Sparks force fed me about "secretary short-flanks" had prompted that change.' You pondered to yourself; recalling the over exuberance of Sparks' praise the day she came home with 90% of her mane chopped off, and the daggers she stared at him for, what you thought at the time had been insincerity. She was an earth pony, like you, and her coat was the same as yours if not a little brighter due to her gender. A cutie mark of a simple house with a heart at it's center adorned he flank. "I've got some great news!" She said beaming, as her gaze fell on you. "I just got..." Her voice trailed off, and her expression changed as she looked at you with horror. "FLINT!" She exclaimed as she looked at the bandaid on your face. The swelling had gone down thanks to the nurse, but for your 'mother' it was as if half your face had been ripped off. "Baby, what happened to you!?" In a few steps she was on you, having you constricted in her forelegs, holding you close to her, looking down at the offending football covered blemish. You were not at all fond of this, "It's alright Cozy, he just got into a little scuffle at school with a bigger kid." Sparks interjected trying not to laugh, knowing full well your dislike of being held. "Mommy's-little-colt is gonna be fine." 'Found a reason to hate you.' You glared at the stallion, who now unsuccessfully stifling full blown laugh. She held you tighter, she also knew you hated this, but apparently maternal instinct was more powerful then self preservation. "Aww, my poor little Flinty." She then proceeded to groom your mane, to "sooth you". 'Hate you, hate you both.' You flared in barely hidden rage. Which, went ignored. After what seemed interminably long, you managed, between licks, to string together a sentence without any obscenities. "Wasn't...there.... something... you wanted... to tell us?" Cozy ceased her "soothing", and her smile returned. "Oh yes! And it seems to have come at the best time." She loosened her grip on you which you used to wiggle free. Your fur was matted and still wet with spittle as you attempted to regain a modicum of your dignity. "The Shores' Account I landed the firm greatly impressed Mr.Stable and the Board of Directors." Cozy said proudly looking from her bristling son to her husband. "So much so that they have offered me a managerial position at a new office!" She practically squeed. Sparks regarded her with excitement while you were still busy trying to wipe off the remaining traces of another disgusting attribute to pony child rearing. "The office just opened, and it's in a small town, but lately that area has been booming!" She continued 'Why do they lick their young? Why?' "The area is a hot bed for trouble it seems, but the ponies there are friendly and welcoming." 'Kissing is bad enough, but then put the tongue into it and it's unbelievably worse.' "The schools are good, and there is much more wide open space to move around in" '-Sniff- -sniff- carrots, she had carrots for lunch. -sniff- Oh fantastic, yogurt too!' "There are plenty of opportunities for you as an electrician, Sparks, and lots of other fillies and colts for Flint to play with, maybe even make friends with!" 'Next time, just regurgitate on my face, why the buck not? All the vileness of the act, no imagination necessary. "I'm so excited! Are you excited Flint?" "What?!" You practically roared. Cozy and Sparks were staring at you, smiles on their faces, regarding you with the love only parents do. "We're moving to Ponyville, son!"