//------------------------------// // Flames And Tears // Story: Family Secrets: The Reveal // by Schrodinger's Pony //------------------------------// “So what’s his favorite food?” Twilight sighed. For the last few hours, Rainbow Dash had been peppering her with ‘subtle’ questions, because she wanted to ‘make up for the years of Spike’s childhood she missed’. When she put her mind to it, that girl could be more annoying then Pinkie Pie. “Sapphires.” “Huh. Hey, how would that work, him being a pony and all?” “The cakes us sapphires for their sprinkles all the time. They taste delicious, although nopony can chew then. Spike can, because he has dragon’s teeth, so he can eat gems larger than sprinkles, or the ground up stuff Fluttershy used to eat. It has no nutritional value to him though.” “Oh. So… what’s his favorite pony food?” “Pancakes.” “Um…” “I’m sure Applejack knows how to make them.” “Oh yeah! Thanks Twilight!” She dashed off, leaving Twilight alone in the lawn chair she’d set up on the foredeck. The eight of them were on a Royal Brigantine, being shipped to the dragon lands by Canterlot’s finest crew. Rarity showed a surprising knowledge of sailing, and was basking in the adoration of the most strapping and handsome sailors. Pinkie Pie had found an eye-patch somewhere, and was playing pirate. Applejack was at war with herself; part of her wanted to throw up profusely, another part of her would rather die than admit she was having trouble. Rainbow Dash found this hilarious, which made both sides fight harder. Fluttershy was making friends with the local sea birds. Twilight averted her gaze from the sea of white birds perched around her. Why didn’t Fluttershy tell her? Why didn’t Fluttershy tell any of them? Hadn’t they lived together, fought together, been friends together? Hadn’t they supported each other through their dark times? Was she scared they’d think of her differently if they knew she was royalty? Of course not! All of her friends knew from the start the Twilight was Princess Celestia’s personal student, and they never acted awkward around her. At least, not after that event with the Gala tickets. And now, Twilight was technically a princess-in-law and none of them had started getting wierd about it. Was she afraid that they’d be scared of her parents? Of course not! They’d faced dragons before. Even more frightening, they’d faced an angry and desperate Fluttershy before. They’d face mythical nightmares and the god of discord himself, so she couldn’t possibly think she’d scare them. Why? Why why why why? “And there goes Luna.” Twilight almost jumped from her seat as Princess Celestia walked around from behind her. She always had the uncanny ability to be where Twilight least expected. “Um… sorry Princess?” Celestia pointed, and Twilight saw the streak of starlight against the evening sun. “My sister. She sneaks off every day to meet some mystery suitor. She thinks I don’t know, isn’t that adorable?” “And you let her?” Twilight asked. “You don’t worry about her getting into trouble if you don’t know what she’s up to?” “Oh, I know what she’s doing.” Princess Celestia said. “Simply not ‘who’. I trust her judgment on that. Are you ready to perform the Watercrawl spell?” Twilight got up, and readied her magic. She could hear the rumbling of the Megafall coming up. She appreciated that Princess Celestia was letting her help cast the spell, instead of casting it herself like she could have. The ship was enveloped in glowing pink energy. Twilight strained, and even though she felt Celestia’s magic guiding hers,she soon collapsed with exhaustion.” “Well done my student.” Princess Celestia beamed. “I only taught you this spell yesterday, and you managed to cover an entire half of the ship.” “Pardon me Princess?” Applejack staggered up to the foredeck and risked opening her mouth to ask a question. “Is it jus’ me, or are we headed straight to a giant waterfall?” “That’s the Megafall.” Princess Celestia informed Applejack. “The dragons live in the Darklands on the other side of the world. We’ll have to sail off the edge to reach them.” “Oh.” Applejack grinned sheepishly. “Is that all? Okay then.” “Applejack… I have a cure for seasickness.” Twilight mentioned. “Nopony said nothing about me being seasick.” Applejack growled. “I did.” Rainbow Dash flew down at her and beamed. “You’re greener then Granny Smith.” “Hang onto yer tailfeathers landlubbers, we’re going offworld!” The Captain yelled over the roar of the falling water. The sea of white birds surrounding Fluttershy took off into the sky, as the ship tilted precariously on the edge of the world, and then finally fell off. Surprisingly, Applejack kept her brunch in her stomach. ~0o0~ The ship anchored itself in the bay of Jormungandr. As the eight of them launched out in a dingy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike gasped in shock and alarm, as several sea dragons rose up from the water and escorted their dingy to shore. “Greetings.” A large green sea dragon rose up on the bow. He spoke in an upper crust Trottingham accent, that was surprisingly quiet. “Ah, hullo Fluttershy.” “Hello Lord Riptide!” Fluttershy called. Twilight stared at her. She wasn’t speaking like she normally was; she was yelling! “Smaug has ordered an escort around your party.” Lord Riptide said. “We’ll escort you to shore, and the Knights In Smaug’s Service will escort you from there.” They could see the knights before they even got to shore. There were twelve of them, each representing one of the twelve types of dragons. They were each probably born with different colors, but they’d been painted over with fierce white and black war paint, and they wore black armor with spikes on them. “Thank you Lord Riptide!” Fluttershy yelled. The eight of them got off the boat and onto shore. The ground was warm to the touch, like walking on a heated blanket, and small geysers occasionally erupted from the ground. As the K.I.S.S. escorted them along the road, Pinkie Pie put a popcorn popper over one of the geysers . “What’s the big idea Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asked, rubbing her ears. “When did you get so loud?” “Oh, sorry.” Fluttershy blushed, her voice soft again. “But that’s how dominant dragons talk.” “Dominant dragons?” Twilight asked. Fluttershy nodded. “Like I said, dragons can’t comprehend the concept of being equals. We’re either dominant, or submissive, and we talk to each other accordingly.” Twilight’s brain put two and two together. Fluttershy acts submissive all the time around us… does that mean she doesn’t see us as equals? She doesn’t think we’re friends! Fluttershy… Fluttershy doesn’t think we’re friends. Twilight shed a tear that instantly vaporized on the charcoal road they were walking on. “There are twelve different tribes of dragons.” Princess Celestia was telling Twilight, who made an effort to focus on her. “Each one is responsible for a different task, instead of being assigned cutie marks. Some dragons look after the other dragons, hunting and cooking for them. Some dragons sleep for thousands of years to provide the heat for volcanoes, on our side of the world. Their constant smoke is the reason this side of the world is called the Darklands; when I lower the sun down here every night, it doesn’t get through the layer of smoke these dragons produce. They rely on luminescent dragons to fly low in the sky during the day, to give them light to see and bask in. Other dragons are responsible for fertilizing the earth down here, so that up there the earth produces lots of diamonds, and fertile soil for pony plant and rock farms.” Normally Twilight would have been engrossed in this. But today, she just wasn’t in the learning spirit. As they walked through the Darklands, they would sometimes see a young dragon peek out at them, only to be pulled back by an older dragon’s massive claw. Only a few dragons walked on the road, and they smiled at the ponies but avoided the Knights. Eventually, the Knights In Smaug’s Service stopped at a great volcano. It was as large as the mountain that Canterlot was built upon, and a great majority of the smoke in the sky seemed to be coming from inside of it. Built into the side of the volcano was an enormous Citadel, with a cavernous entrance wide enough for five dragons to pass through side by side. It seemed to be made from iron, and had a gate to match it’s entrance. Pinkie Pie had stars in her eyes. “That… is the biggest… oven… ever…” “It’s not an oven.” One of the Knights said. “That is the epitome of beautiful draconian architecture.” Pinkie Pie raised a hoof toward it and, as if in a trance, gently traced the figure in the air with her hooves. “Yes… for Fluttershy’s birthday wedding… it shall be the biggest cake ever!” Rainbow Dash and Rarity shot a slightly unnerved look at Pinkie Pie and took a step away from either side of her. “Pinkie, ya might want to tone it down a bit.” Applejack said. “Are you kidding?” Rainbow Dash asked. “That’s awesome! The icing alone could fill a swimming pool!” “Swimming in icing…” Pinkie Pie took a few steps forward, blocked by a dragon’s halberd. “How dare you compare Smaug’s royal palace to an oven!” The dragon roared. Fluttershy flew up to him. “Listen, she didn’t mean any harm by it! Princess Celestia’s Palace looks like a blender!” “What?” Princess Celestia had a large hoof in the castle’s design. She was slightly offended. “It’s not like she’s actually going to bake a cake!” That snapped Pinkie out of her trance. “What do you mean I’m not going to bake a cake?” She gasped. “Have I come down with some sort of rare dragony no-cake disease?” “Oh… um… no…” “Then I will! Bake! A! CAKE! “Pinkie Pie?” Applejack asked, trying to diffuse the situation “How would you feel if somepony mistook sugarcube corner for a toater, and stuffed two giant bread slices into the baby’s rooms?” Pinkie gasped. “How dare they?” “Now see… take what your feelin’ and imagine how Smaug might feel if you –” “Sugarcube corner looks more like a waffle-iron then a toaster!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Mmmmmm… waffles…” “Pinkie Pie.” Princess Celestia stepped forward. “Would you do me a royal favor and not use another kingdom’s palace as an oven?” “Okie Dokie Lokie!” Pinkie Pie saluted. “See, she’s all right, honest!” Fluttershy yelled. The Knights snarled a bit, but led them into the volcano. “They’re a little on edge.” Fluttershy told the group. “This is the first time since the Great War that any pony has been in the Darklands.” They were escorted into the palace. The atrium was much more stylish then an oven, although Pinkie Pie noted that there were slots along the walls where wire racks could be inserted. There was a pool of lava to their left, and on the right an open doorway to a waiting area, filling with adult dragons resting, and young dragons playing among the hoard. In front of them was an enormous double door. The Knights escorted them to the waiting room. “Please wait here, while your presence is announced.” The Knight with the halberd said, and he and all but two other dragons left. “Why… It’s all so immense!” Rarity beamed. “Yeah, immensely awesome!” Rainbow Dash shared a squeal of delight with her. “Why, I have a hundred new fashion ideas already.” Rarity beamed. “I shall call it, Rarity’s Summer Dragon Collection!” “I can’t believe I’m hanging with dragons!” Rainbow Dash flew up next to one of the knights. “I mean real, huge, scary, fire breathing dragons! No offense Fluttershy.” “None taken.” Spike looked around. The other adult dragons were looking at them warily, some shuffling around. “I still don’t think they’re being very hospitable.” “Oh no, this is very hospitable for dragons.” Fluttershy looked around beaming. “I mean, they’re a little scared of you, but otherwise this is very hospitable.” Suddenly she gasped. “What is it Fluttershy?” Applejack asked. “They’re about to start a game of King Of The Hoard.” Fluttershy took off. “I’m going to go down and play if that’s alright with you.” She fluttered down to where the other dragons were playing. Most of them had seen Fluttershy before, so they let her join in their game. And that was the last straw for Twilight. The bell rang for the game to begin, and Fluttershy immediately flew to the top of a pile of gems. “Queen of the hoard!” Fluttershy roared. The dragons cheered, and ran forward… only to be stopped by a pink force field. “… what just happened?” One of the dragons asked. “Excuse me, coming through!” The dragon stared at the purple unicorn who casually walked through the forcefield and toward Fluttershy. “Queen of the hoard, coming through.” Applejack’s eyes widened. Out of all of her friends, there was none who knew her better then Applejack. She quickly rushed over to the Princess. “Ah, Princess, ah think you might want ta intervene here afore it gets too ugly...” “No way!” Pinkie Pie sat down and started munching on her popcorn. “This is gonna be good!” Twilight reached the top of the mountain of gems, where Fluttershy, once a pillar of confidence, was shuddering. “T-twilight? W-what are you doing here?” “I’m playing King of the Hoard.” Twilight snapped. “What does it look like I’m doing?” “Um… why?” “Because.” Twilight leveled a glare at Fluttershy, that would have sent anypony save the self proclaimed ‘stare master’ running back to wherever they came from. “Apparently, dragons don’t have room in their vocabulary for ‘friendship’. So, I thought since you considered me your ‘pack leader’ I’d earn that title.” Her horn started to glow with a pink light, and all the onlookers cringed. “Twilight… please stop.” Fluttershy reached over with her hoof, and tapped Twilight on the horn, blocking her magic. The dragons gasped, and looked to Twilight to make the next move. “To be honest Applejack, I am very apprehensive of interfering with the current situation.” Princess Celestia said. “They’re good friends, I’m sure they’ll be able to sort things out.” “If you’re my friend, then why didn’t you tell me about your parents!?” Twilight asked, trying again to fire up her horn. Fluttershy tapped it away. “I was scared Twilight. I’m always so scared…” “But you didn’t trust us?” “Oh, I trust you as much as anypony.” “If you trusted us you wouldn’t be scared of us!” Twilight said. “You would have felt comfortable being the real you, instead of faking shyness all the time!” “That was the real me.” Fluttershy whimpered, as she lightly tapped Twilight’s glowing horn again. “I’m not divided into two ponies. I am a dragon, and that means that I express myself as shy or aggressive depending on who I’m talking to. But I’m still Fluttershy. Whether I’m passive or dominant, I’m still scared of shadows, I still care about my friends and my pack, I still love animals, and I still don’t like strangers looking at me.” Twilight’s horn started to glow again, but then it seemed to flicker out as she saw tears well up n Fluttershy’s eyes. Somewhere below them, Pinkie Pie dropped her popcorn. “It’s been hard Twilight… to learn how to be somehow stand up for myself, and not scare ponies away. It’s hard to realize… that right now there’s more choices than just sitting here and taking it, or yelling at you to stop until you cry. I… I made Rarity and Pinkie Pie cry once. But I think… I thought that I was getting better at it, the more I was friends with you.” She sniffed. “But… if you really want to be my pack leader…” She reached out, and swung a hoof at Twilight’s jaw. It looked impressive, but she barely felt it, like a whisper of the wind. Fluttershy recoiled, her face contorting into an image of terrible pain, and she grasped her forehoof. With a cry, she tumbled off of the mountain of gems, and landed at the bottom of the pile. “She’s queen of the hoard.” Fluttershy whispered to the dragons, hiding her eyes with her mane as she held her hoof in mock pain. The dragons all stared at Twilight in shock, and stepped back from her, even though she still had a shield up. Then the bell rang through the valley, and they all ran. The game was over. Twilight felt a churning in the pit of her stomach as Rarity rushed to Fluttershy’s side. Princess Celestia flew up to the top of the hoard and straight through Twilight’s force field. “I feel like you might want to apologize to Fluttershy.” Princess Celestia said. “I-I think I should… yeah.” Twilight mumbled, and she slowly lowered herself down the mountain of gemstones. Applejack and Pinkie Pie met her at the bottom. “Boy Twilight, that looked super- duper-duper-duper-triple-chocolate-topped-not-fun.” Pinkie Pie growled. “I mean, it started out pretty cool, but then at the end Fluttershy cried. I thought you were supposed to have an epic magic vs. dragon kung-fu fight, and then be closer friends than ever, not yell at each other alot!” “Gosh Twilight, I ain’t seen you this riled up since Shining Armor couldn’t spare the time to tell you he was gettin’ married.” Applejack sighed. “Sugarcube, you know what ya have to do now, right?” Twilight nodded. “Yes. I have to apologize to Fluttershy for being so insensitive, and then right a friendship report on it.” “And then throw a ‘yay nopony’s upset at each other’ party!” Pinkie Pie said. “Am I right? Am I right?” “Yes Pinkie.” Twilight said. “At least, I hope she’ll forgive me so she will.” “Aw shoot, you know Fluttershy’ll forgive ya.” Applejack said. “But Twilight… ya better not blow up at her again.” “I couldn’t help it!” Twilight cried. “I was just so mad, that I had to lecture her. Don’t you feel that way Applejack? You’re the element of honesty after all?” Applejack put a hoof to her chin in thought. “Twi… what’s ma favorite color?” Twilight blinked. “Um… red?” “Not even close.” “Ooh, ooh, I know! Ask me!” Pinkie Pie raised her hoof. “Now what’s Rarity’s favorite color?” “Royal Violet, except on weekends where she prefers marshmallow white, or baby-eye blue.” “Now, ya know Rarity’s favorite color, but ya don’t know mine.” Applejack said. “Does that mean ah hid my favorite color from you? No! It just means that you never asked, and ah never volunteered that particular fact. Yer never gonna know everything about a pony Twi. And ya don’t have to. ‘Cause the feelin’ of warmth, and kindness, and unstoppable optimism ya get when Fluttershy’s around ain’t no lie.” Twilight looked at Applejack like she’d sprouted another head. “Applejack, you know I think you’re the smartest pony I know besides Celestia, right? But there’s a huge difference between knowing somepony’s favorite color, and knowing if they were raised by the king of dragons, or knowing that they’re going to be married.” “I know!” Pinkie Pie still had her hoof raised. “I know Applejack’s favorite color!” “Uh, Twilight.” Twilight stopped as Spike pointed something out. There was a wall of teenage dragons between Twilight, and where Fluttershy was being consoled by Rarity and Rainbow Dash. “You’re not aloud to see Fluttershy.” One of the dragons said. “What do you mean I’m not aloud to see her?” Twilight asked, affronted. “We’re not scared of you.” The dragon continued. “Well, much. You may be a monster, but Fluttershy’s a monster too, and she’s always been a tenderclaw to us. But you almost made her cry, and it’s illegal to let tears fall in the Great Volcano, even for a princess! We’re not going to let you pass.” Twilight blinked. “What? No, you’re not going to keep me from seeing my friend!” “Smaug will see you now.” Twilight looked up. And up. And up. One of the Knights was looming over them. “It’s time to go my little pony.” Celestia flew down and put a wing over Twilight. “You can apologize to her later.” "Her favorite color!" Pinkie Pie whispered. "It's..." "Pinkie, hush." Applejack hissed. "Ah don't think Twilight's in the mood to know mah favorite color right now." ~0o0~ Fluttershy didn’t cry. Tears had somehow found their ways to her eyes, but she wiped them off with her mane. Letting a tear touch the floor of the Great Volcano was illegal. But she felt like crying. Twilight had always been such a good friend… and she’d let her down. She couldn’t believe how badly she’d let down Twilight. She could eat herself! (A dragon saying, with the same meaning as ‘I could kick myself’.) But she couldn't dwell on that. Soon, she would see her father again. He was always so smart… he’d know how to fix this. She smiled at the thought of seeing her father again. As the Knights opened the double doors, her heart bounded, and she flew onto the Atrium. “O Smaug!” She yelled. “May you live… for… ever…” The dragon on her throne wasn’t her father. It was Lord Smooze, the large black mountain dragon who was previously the leader of the Ironhide Pack. He was larger than any dragon in the room, with scales as black as pitch. He wore an eyepatch, that didn’t fully conceal claw marks that looked… that looked about the size of her father’s claws. He hadn’t worn an eyepatch when she saw him and her father during the migration. “Finish it, Daughter.” Smaug said. “A… a humble member of your pack… kneels before you…” Fluttershy kneeled and looked around the room. Lord Krastos was smiling wickedly at her. And her mother Babbage… she looked so sad. Tears threatened on Fluttershy’s eyes. She couldn’t help it. Her mother noticed and shook her head quickly, giving Fluttershy a pleading look. It was illegal to let tears fall on the Great Volcano. But Fluttershy knew she wouldn’t be able to stop from crying. “Smaug… F-f-father…” She hated having to address this Smaug as father, but she had to. It was the law. “May I please… have your permission… to leave?” Smaug leaned forward, and smiled. “No.” Fluttershy couldn’t help herself. She burst into tears. Her father was dead. Long live Smaug.