//------------------------------// // Wish upon a dragon // Story: How Lily got her "creepy" super strength // by Hyper44 //------------------------------// Lily hadn’t even thought about what she was doing when she saved him. She simply saw him fall as rocks were rolling down towards him. The next thing she knew she was beside him and grabbing him by a wing with the only thing that she could hold on to something with while running. Her mouth. It was mostly a blur as she was half running and half tumbling down the hill while taking the dragon with her. Somehow he had the presence of mind to run at an angle instead of straight down. The dragon was surprisingly light despite him being a little more than twice her size. He was made for flying though. Once at the bottom she didn't know what to do with him except hide him from passing predators and then get back to Prickles. She hoped dearly that he would stay passed out until she could get her pet out from under the boulder. If she could ever get him out from under it. Getting back through the berry patch wasn’t hard since the other monsters had heard the manticore's roar and just as the dragon had said they had all fled. She was glad that she didn't have to deal with that thing. The timber wolves and chimera was bad enough. Upon reaching the boulder Lily sat down and sighed. She sat there a few minutes, staring dismally at the hug rock. Then she took a deep breath and went back to work. The only thing that she could think to do was dig. The ground was still just as hard and now it was getting rocky. It wasn’t long before her hoofs were sore and she had made no real progress. She tried encouraging him. She tried looking for a downed branch to use as a leaver even though she knew that there was no budging it. She tried everything that she could think of but in the end she just went back to digging again. Suddenly she heard the beat of a leathery set of wings. She laid her head in her hoofs and groaned, "Why can't you just leave me alone. Just let me get my hedgehog and I'll be gone from here." "Don't worry. I'm not here for any more games," The dragon replied. "I...you saved my life. I'm....ua….look I can help you with getting your hedgehog. You see, I...you did something that I never would have done for anyone who treated me the way that I treated you. I want to give you something in return. You see, we mini dragons have the power to grant wishes." Lily tipped her head sideways and looked at him with one eye. She wasn’t sure if she should believe him or be expecting a trick. He sounded sincere but after all of his behavior before she didn't think that it would be wise to trust him so quickly. Especially when what he was saying sounded a little farfetched. There was a lot of magic in the world but granting wishes was considered to be proven to only be an element of wishful tales, no pun intended. She sighed and put her head back in her hoofs as she thought. "Really!" The dragon insisted. "I'll help you get your hedgehog out but first let me grant you a wish." With her head in her hoofs Lily didn't notice that the little red dragon had begun to glow slightly. "Just tell me what to you want? I mean it does have limits and I can grant only one since every time we grant a wish our magic is cut in half for a few days but just tell me. What do you wish for the most? If I can, I'll give it to you." Lily sat up and yelled, "I wish that I could just pick up this rock and toss it aside so I could get my pet and leave this forest! I wish I could do that whenever he got trapped under something so I wouldn't have to worry about this anymore!" "Oh, that so easy!" The little dragon declared. "I can help you with your pet and grant a wish all at once!" Lily turned her head to see the glowing dragon raise his claws in the air as rays of light flashed from them. She flinched but the only thing she felt was a sensation as if someone had sprinkled water on her. Water that oddly was not wet. She opened her eyes to see the dragon standing there with a happy grin on his face. "There," He said. "You will have no problem lifting that boulder and anything else that he crawls under. I really don't know just big an object that you can lift since the wishing side of our magic has a bit of a life of its own but that boulder will be no problem." With that he vanished leaving Lily staring at an empty space. Was it true, she wondered. No it had to be a trick. She glanced around at the trees certain that he was watching her. What was he up too? Or was it true? Whatever it was she was sure that he was watching from somewhere. She definitely didn't want to get tricked but she also wanted to get her hedgehog and leave pretty badly. "You mean that I can just reach out," She slid her hoofs under the boulder using the shallow hole that she had dug as she spoke, "And pick it up like-eeep!" She squealed as the boulder lifted easily above her head. Lily stood there a moment not believing what she was seeing. Neither could Prickles who was crouched on the ground and staring at her with bulging eyes. "Is this happening?" Lily asked as she held the boulder that felt as light as a playground ball. "Maybe it's just an Everfree Forest trick." She tossed the boulder aside. The was a loud wooden crack as it collided with a tree snapping the trunk and proving it’s weight. Lily stared down at her hoofs still not sure how to react. Prickles came creeping up and she knew how to react there. She picked him up with one hoof and shook the other in his face. "Prickles Pricklbutt don't you ever sneak off like this again and don't you ever go near this forest again! Do you understand!?" Prickles nodded his head rapidly. * * * Since the monsters had retreated from the berry patch Lily decided to stop and eat some for when would she ever get a chance to again? Humming to herself she walked out into the patch only to find herself staring down a huge manticore. After being woken up and unable to go back to sleep the creature had decided to return to the berry patch. He was already mean and was now in a pretty bad mood. With a snarl he jumped in front of her and stoop up on his hind legs giving out a ferocious roar that nearly knocked her over. Lily froze on the spot for a moment as the manticore stood snarling over her but then an idea entered her head. She quickly reached out and slid a hoof under both of his foot paw. She lifted him up as easily as she would pick up her hedgehog and set him aside out her way. The manticore stared in confusion at her. Lily held up a hoof to indicate him to wait a moment and hurried back into the trees. She came back carrying a boulder with one hoof. She held it not quite as if to throw it but pretty close. The manticore looked at her then up at the rock. He scratched his head and then quietly sidled off to the other side of the patch where he left her alone to eat all the berries that she wanted. * * * A little more than an hour later she approached the edge of the forest with Prickles riding on her back. She spotted the same fallen tree that had tripped over her on the way in. She walked up to it and easily picked it up. "This awesome." Lily said while carrying the huge trunk as if it was a twig. "I can't wait to tell my fr-" She paused in thought. "We'll maybe not," She said tossing the log aside. "They might think it's creepy or scary and be afraid of me. We'll just make this out little secret ok?" Prickles nodded back. What they didn't notice was a certain classmate that was on walking on an overlooking hill while on her way to pick up posters for her class president campaign. Her mouth was hanging open as she stared down at Lily. "What!? Is that Lily!? The pony with the stupid hedgehog cutie mark," She cried. "How did she...I didn't know she had a secret like that!" Slowly though the expression of astonishment became a grin. An awful, terrible grin. "Another secret that will ensure that somepony votes for me," She said pulling out a notebook and quill. (And you know the rest of the story. Unless of course, by rare chance you haven't seen The Crusaders Of The Lost mark episode which I would recommend. It's awesome and if you don't sooner or later someone is going to spoil it for you.)