Cauma helps Metuo walk to the channel of water on the edge of the training courtyard to wash his blood off of them, the ponies following close behind. After that, Niteo began leading the group inside the… not so much a castle… it seems too fortified for that, at least to Twilight. She would have to say it’s more of a fortress.
While they were walking, Twilight tried to work up the nerve to ask Metuo about something. She walks up to next to him, “Um… excuse me, Metuo?” She finally gets out.
“Hm? What?” The black dragon says, coming out of his own thoughts.
“I’m a little curious about something, can I ask you a question?” Twilight asks, still somewhat tentative because of what happened earlier.
“Uh, sure. Go ahead.” Metuo says with a small smile.
“How… are you alive? Not that I want you dead or anything!” Twilight adds quickly, “It’s just that… there was so much blood, how did you live through that?” Twilight asks tentatively.
Metuo cocks his head slightly. “My element healed me.” He says.
“Huh? What do you mean ‘your element’?” Twilight asks, regaining some of her natural inquisitiveness.
“Well, all Caelans are born with their own element that they can use. Mine just has the unique perk of healing severe injuries.” Metuo explains.
“Caylen? What’s a Caylen?” Twilight asks.
“We’re Caelans. It’s what we’re called.” Aetas says.
“Oh… sorry, I thought you guys were something else. You all look very similar to beings from our world called dragons. I guess I should have guessed you’d have a different name for yourselves.” Twilight apologizes.
“We are dragons. Caelan is just the race of dragons we are.” Cauma tells Twilight irritably.
“Cauma, calm down.” Metuo tells the orange dragoness, “There are six dragon races on this world. Caelans are one, and another one you’ll definitely see here in this city are a slightly smaller race called Lupae. They walk on four legs like us, but don’t have wings, and they have fur on their heads, and ears instead of horns like us.” Metuo explains to Twilight, glancing up at his own horns, which are just extended parts of his skull with skin and scales covering them.
“Caelans and Lupaeins. What are the other races? And are they here in this city too? What are they like?” Twilight asks, getting bolder.
“Slow down, we’ve got plenty of time to talk, it’s not like the world is going to end anytime soon. Going in order, the other four races are called Fortis, Serpens, Terrae, and Avis. No, they’re not here in this city, they’re kind of all rival nations to the Lupae. As for what they’re like, they’re… different and diverse, like all dragons I guess. I don’t like to generalize them all into one description.” Metuo answers with a shrug of his shoulder that’s not pressed against Cauma.
Twilight smiles at learning more, and tries to ask more about the races of dragons, but she’s interrupted by someone calling out, “Niteo!”
Everyone looks to the source of the voice to see a lithe gold and silver Caelan padding fairly quickly towards them with a black Caelan following her.
“There’s a huge bloody spot in the training courtyard. Do you have any clue what happened down there?” The gold female Caelan asks Niteo.
“Welllllll… there was a small accident involving Metuo down there…” Niteo says, trying to find the right way of explaining what happened.
“What kind of accident Niteo?” The female asks with a serious expression.
“You see these ponies standing behind us?” Aetas asks suddenly.
“What?” Anan asks, “yes I see them. I was going to ask about them next.”
“Aetas, maybe we should…” Niteo starts.
“To make a long story short, these ponies tried traveling from one world to another via some magic portal. They succeeded, the portal just accidentally came out of Metuo’s chest. Metuo bleed out for a little bit with everyone getting frantic but he eventually healed himself. Then he forgave them, and now we’re taking them to see your father.” Aetas explains. “Was that so difficult to explain Frosty?” She says to Niteo.
“Yes, was that so hard to explain?” Anan says pointedly to Niteo.
Niteo gives them a half-lidded frown.
“Frosty? Is that a nickname or something?” Rainbow Dash asks, hovering next to Aetas.
“I’m an Ice dragon, they came up with that name to annoy me despite it not being creative at all.” Niteo tells cyan pegasus.
“We only use it so much because it annoys you how uncreative it is. If you want us to stop, just stop getting annoyed.” Ictus says with a smirk.
“I’ll be sure to do that.” Niteo rolls his eyes.
"That'll be the day." Anan remarks cheekily. She turns to look at Twilight and her friends next. "Anyway, you've all obviously met my three cousins and their friends, so I'll just introduce Falx and I. *Erehehm*" Anan clears her throat. "Hello, my name is Anancites and this is one of my squad mates, Falx. It's a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to our humble city of Animusix." Anan introduces herself politely.
"Such a perfect little lady." Ictus says in a mocking sing-song voice.
"Well I highly doubt you gave them a formal welcome." Anan says with a glare at the green dragon.
Twilight watches the Caelans banter with each other, a smile forming.
‘They’re… really close. Maybe we’re all not as different as I first thought. If dragons can become such great friends with each other, why couldn’t they do it with us? I just hope they can forgive me for what happened earlier.’ Twilight thinks.
“It sure is a heartening sight to see how close they are, isn’t it?” A voice says from next to Twilight.
Twilight looks to her left to see the head of a black Caelan… sticking out of the wall.
“AAHH!!!” Twilight screams in surprise while jumping away from the disembodied head attached to the wall.
Everyone else looks to see Twilight leap away from the Caelan head protruding from the wall. The other members of the main six all let out their own startled cries once they see the head, Luna shifts into a wider stance, expecting a fight, and the Caelans faceclaw.
“Well that was a little rude. Do you always scream every time you see a new face?” The head says to Twilight with a small frown.
“WHY IS THERE A TALKING HEAD STICKING OUT OF THE WALL?!” Twilight shouts.
“Talking hea-Oh, wait, eh heh heh. Sorry about that.” The head says sheepishly.
The head moves away from the wall further to reveal a somewhat larger Caelan body stepping out of the wall.
“I spend so much time shadow travelling most of the day that I sometimes forget to come all the way out on a few occasions. I’m sorry for that. Sad to say that me scaring new arrivals to the building happens a little more often than I would like.” The black Caelan says.
“Sentinel Nox, it’s good to see that you’re being as socially awkward as usual.” Anan says dryly.
“Oh don’t you start lecturing me too Anan, I already have your parents telling me I need to get out and meet someone. I don’t need my niece getting on my case as well.” Sentinel Nox says to Anan.
“Well that’s a nice way to talk to your supposed niece.” Anan says playfully.
“Well last time I checked, I was your superior. Sentinel outclasses Knight, I’m afraid.” Nox cheekily replies back.
“Well I’m eventually going to become your superior.” Anan counters.
“Well ‘eventually’ isn’t ‘currently’, so I’m afraid you’re stuck being my underling for the foreseeable future.” Nox counters back.
The two Caelans glare at each other for a few seconds before chuckling at the serious faces they’re making at each other.
“Heh heh heh heh… So was there something you needed?” Anan asks the larger Caelan.
“Actually, I was alerted to some newly shaped shadows entering the building and I decided to watch and observe these ‘ponies’ and see what their intentions were. After a few minutes of watching how they interacted with Niteo and the others, I decided they weren’t malicious in their intentions, and just enjoyed watching them chat away with my family. And then eventually revealed myself, as you all… demonstrated.” Nox finishes while looking pointedly at the ponies in amusement. Twilight blushes in embarrassment at this.
“Sorry about that, I’m not usually so jumpy, but today has been kind of…” Twilight trails off.
“Shocking?”
“Scary?”
“Gory?”
“Painful for all involved?”
Everyone gives Ictus an odd look at his input. "What? You think I enjoy seeing my cousin bleeding out on the ground? I'll have you know, I do not." He says seriously.
Twilight finally just nods at the input of her friends plus one dragon. “Yeah, that.” Twilight acknowledges. “And seeing a random head sticking out of the wall kind of made my mind jump to a more gruesome conclusion.” Twilight finishes.
Nox raises his brow while smirking in amusement. “Don’t worry about it, jumping away in fear just means your reflexes are working properly.” He says to Twilight.
“Not trying to derail whatever bonding is going on right now, but shouldn’t we get around to introducing these girls to Sentinel Heros?” Aetas says.
“Straight to the point as usual, huh Aetas.” Ictus says.
“Would you expect any less from me?” Aetas asks Ictus.
“Nope.”
“I agree with Aetas’s plan. Heros should hear about the events that have occurred as soon as possible.” The dark grey Caelan next to Anan says.
Ictus leaps forward to stand on the dark Caelan’s other side, putting his foreleg around his neck. “Falx, how have you been buddy? I usually try to give you your space whenever you seem to be in the mood to be silent, but you’re clearly not today so…”
“Niteo.” Falx says.
“On it.” Niteo replies. He lifts his right foreleg and flicks his claw upwards in the direction of Ictus. A shell of ice encases Ictus’s head completely. He pulls his foreleg away from Falx as he stumbles around with a block of ice covering his head.
“Thank you.” Falx replies with the same impassive face as before.
“You never have to thank me for doing that.” Niteo replies with a grin as he watches his brother frantically try to keep his balance.
“I feel like everyone should always thank you for doing that.” Cauma says with a cruel smile in Ictus’s direction.
The ponies look at Ictus’s struggling form with varying levels of concern.
“Is… he alright?” Luna asks, worried about the Caelan suffocating, but also perplexed by the other Caelan’s lack of concern.
“He’ll be fine, Niteo does that to him all the time. It’s just how those two interact with each other. Ictus gets on everyone’s nerves with his nonstop talking, and Niteo freezes his head to shut him up for a while. Ictus almost always manages to get out of it in time. And when it looks like he isn’t going to be able to, Niteo unfreezes him.” Nox explains to the lunar princess.
*Smash!* “Hah! Suck it Niteo, new record!” Ictus cries out while pointing at his brother.
“See, it’s just brothers being brothers.” Nox says with a smile, waving his claw in their direction to show the proof of his claim. “Now, I think you said something about finding Heros. He’s in the dining hall with Glacia, waiting for you and the other Knights to gather for dinner. I think that would be the best place to go meet him. It’ll let you introduce the ponies to both him and anyone else that needs to see them.” Nox says to Anan.
“Thanks uncle Nox.” Anan says to the black Caelan with a smile.
“Anytime, I’ll probably be seeing you all later.” Nox says to the group before his shadow gets darker under him and he sinks into the floor. The shadow shoots across the floor and down the hallway, away from the group of ponies and Caelans.
Anancites turns around to follow the shadow. “C’mon, let’s go introduce you girls to my father.” She calls out behind her at Twilight and the others.