Draconic Awakening

by saber1994

Hotcakes in the Morning

Soon a rumble emanating from Elliot’s stomach signaled that he was ready for some breakfast. He gave one last stretch before leaving the comforting warmth of the bed. Glancing around the room he saw that there was nothing else he needed and decided to leave. As Elliot was making his way up the steps he heard a voice mumbling on occasion. Once he emerged from the basement he saw that Twilight was sitting at a desk that was littered with crumpled up pieces of paper.

Upon feeling the presence of another being in the room Twilight looked up from the parchment that she had been writing on. “Oh good morning Elliot, I hope that you slept well. Is there anything you need?” she asked.

Trying to keep his suspicions hidden Elliot patted his belly. “I slept fine, but I sure worked up an appetite. So got any breakfast?”

“Sure, I can try to make us some pancakes if you would like.” Twilight stood up from her desk and walked into the kitchen with Elliot following close behind.

“That sounds great,” Elliot replied as they entered the kitchen. He saw a table that was obviously used for dining and various things throughout the room that belonged in a typical kitchen. Sitting down Elliot watched as Twilight began to use her magic to find various things needed to make the pancakes. Elliot saw that while Twilight was mixing ingredients, she didn’t give off the feeling of a pony that was dishonest. This allowed Elliot some relaxation which let him think about other things. As he was thinking, memories of past breakfasts returned to him. He specifically noticed memories of a delicious strip of pork.

“Wish I had some bacon,” Elliot mumbled absentmindedly.

“What’s that” Twilight asked wearing a curious expression as she glanced over to Elliot.

Elliot excitedly exclaimed, “Oh it’s a scrumptious slice of pi… You know what never mind.” He ended abruptly. Elliot became worried about explaining what pork happened to be. He didn’t need to scare the ponies any more than they were already scared of him by letting them know that he enjoyed eating meat. Keeping his gaze averted from Twilight’s, Elliot forced himself to cope with her stare as she awaited his reply.

“Okay then,” Twilight said as she gave up on his response. She then returned to watching over the pancakes that were now cooking.

After a short moment Elliot sniffed the air and exclaimed “Those smell delicious.”

“Really? I hardly ever cook for anyone other than Spike, so I don’t receive many compliments.” She replied trying to hide the slight blush that had appeared on her face.

“I’m sure they will taste just as good if not better,” Elliot smiled as he reclined in his chair. Elliot began to doubt some of what the strange creature had said. He began to feel that maybe it was just him being nervous after having been thrust into a strange new world. However he also remembered that since he was with her she could just be putting on an act.

Once the pancakes were finally done cooking Twilight levitated a trio of plates onto the table. She set an equal amount of pancakes on two of the plates and a smaller amount on the leftover one. She then gathered a few utensils that Spike used when he ate and gave some to Elliot and set some next to the other plate.

“Spike! Breakfast is ready!” she called after she set some syrup on the table. Not long after a small purple and green dragon walked into the kitchen. Rubbing his eyes and yawning he looked at Elliot.

“Is this that human thing that you said would be staying with us?” Spike asked tiredness still evident in his voice.

Slightly miffed at being called a thing Elliot tried to keep himself calm. “Yeah that’s me. My name’s Elliot.”

“I’m Spike…” he mumbled as he climbed into the chair that had been set up for him.

Noting that Spike clearly was not a morning person Elliot decided to not bother him too much until later. Directing his attention to the food in front of him Elliot took in a large whiff of the heavenly aroma coming from the fluffy mounds of deliciousness. He picked up the utensils that resembled some that he remembered eating with before. He recognized that they were similar to a knife and a fork.

Throwing his distractions to the wind Elliot poured some of the syrup on his stack and made sure to get some in every nook and cranny. Deciding it was covered enough Elliot cut off a chunk and put it in his mouth. Elliot’s eyes lit up as the flavor spread across his palate and filled his brain with endorphins. Realizing that they could get soggy soon Elliot dove in to his pancakes and devoured them in a flurry of motions.

Twilight looked up from her meal that had barely been touched to see Elliot’s plate was completely clear of food. Trying to keep from staring in awe she looked back at her plate blushing again. “Were they really that good?” she asked nervously.

“Oh they were absolutely delicious Twilight. Thank you so much for them,” he stood up and picked Twilight up, giving her a hug. This caused Twilight to give off a small squeal as she started to squirm frantically for a moment. When she finally realized that she wasn’t being attacked she calmed down and blushed even more.

After a moment Elliot understood that he was making Twilight uncomfortable. He quickly set her back down and returned to his seat. He cleared his throat trying to shake off his blush of embarrassment. “Sorry about that,” he told her.

“It’s okay,” she mumbled trying to gather her senses. After she calmed herself down she remembered that Elliot was supposed to retrieve the journal today. “We should probably discuss how you should go about getting Celestia’s father’s journal.”

“Right. First off you will need to get me to the castle,” Elliot said as he leaned back in his chair to gaze up at the ceiling to help him think.

“Yes. However after I show you the way I will have to come back to Ponyville. I have things that need doing,” she raised a hoof to her chin in thought.

“How will I get to the throne room then?” he asked hoping she could give good enough directions.

“Well once you get past the front doors it’s a straight shot down a few corridors to get there. You probably won’t even have to turn once,” she said allowing Elliot some relief.

Elliot felt good knowing that it should be an easy trip that wouldn’t take him long. Noticing that Twilight and Spike had both finished their meals, Elliot stood up an gathered the dishes so that he could clean them.

“Oh don’t worry about that Elliot I can clean up,” Twilight tried to protest.

“Nonsense, I get to stay here rent free the least I can do is clean up a little bit,” he continued scrubbing the plates
clean. He heard Spike mumble something about going to Rarity’s and soon after heard the front door open and shut.

Twilight perked up at hearing Rarity’s name. “That reminds me. Rarity brought an experimental set of clothes over for you. She said that after you wear it you should tell her whether it suits you or not.”

Elliot grinned broadly. He had just finished with the dishes and was excited to be able to wear a perfectly clean set of clothes for once in a long while. “I guess I should try them on real quickly,” he responded to Twilight.

Nodding, Twilight walked back into the main room of the library and lead Elliot to wear a set of clothing was neatly laid out. Elliot looked over them and saw that they looked almost exactly like the ones he had been wearing. It was a simple white t-shirt and a pair of denim blue jeans. Rarity had even made a pair of shoes that contained beautiful swirls of blue and white that matched the simple outfit perfectly. Elliot was amazed at the white unicorn’s ability to make such clothing in less than a day.

Deciding to try them on sooner rather than later Elliot quickly stripped down and then put on the new articles of clothing. He was amazed at the detail that had been put into such a simple outfit. Rarity’s measurements had been so accurate that the clothes felt almost as a second layer of skin.

“Wow,” was the only word to come from Elliot for a long while. Finally coming back to reality, Elliot looked to Twilight “These clothes are awesome. I didn’t know that someone could be so talented as to make strange clothes this well on the very first try!”

Twilight giggled at Elliot’s enthusiasm. “She really is an amazing designer. You should thank her when you get back.”

“I will certainly do that,” he replied as he continued to examine himself.

Twilight decided that it was time to get back to business. She grabbed a saddle bag and brought it over to Elliot. She then proceeded to put a fairly long length of rope and a few apples into it. “The rope could easily come in handy and the apples are for a snack if you get hungry. Can you think of anything else you might need?” she asked him while trying to think of some more on her own.

Elliot thought hard for a moment before finally coming to the conclusion that he should be fine with what he already had. “I think that should be just fine,” Elliot said as he picked the bag up and slung it over his shoulder. “Guess we should head out.”

With that the pair exited the library and began to walk towards the Everfree forest. On the way to the edge of town Twilight was pointing out various landmarks to remind Elliot of where everything in town was located. Once the left the town itself they began to walk towards the opening of the forest.

Once they got there Elliot noted that they turned down a different path than the one that led to Zecora’s hut. Remembering that he would be returning on his own, Elliot made sure to take note of any turns or specific landmarks that they passed. He created as detailed a mental map as he could manage.

As they got deeper into the forest a ferocious roar sounded from deep within the woods. Elliot at first thought that it could be another manticore but soon dismissed that idea. Elliot knew deep inside that whatever made that roar must easily dwarf a manitcore and make it seem no more dangerous than a common house cat. Feeling somewhat disheartened Elliot began to walk slower and fear going deeper into the forest.

Elliot could still remember the pain of his previous experience with this forests creatures and he was not eager to meet anything more dangerous. Twilight could sense the uneasiness that had begun to afflict Elliot. Trying to calm his fears a little, she walked closer to him and made sure that she made contact with his side. This caused Elliot to look down at her and see her giving him a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry; I’m sure that whatever that was will be far from the castle. The sound even came from a different direction,” she told him mustering up the most at ease and cheerful voice she could muster. Even though she was trying to cheer him up she felt uneasy herself.

However destiny didn’t wish to give them time to worry about what beings might be lurking within the surrounding trees. Not far down the path Twilight spotted a familiar rope bridge. As they made their way to it Twilight reminisced on the day that her friends fought against Nightmare Moon. She remembered all the trials that they were put through that helped her to realize that they were the Elements of Harmony themselves. The nostalgia helped to bring a truly serene smile on to her face.

Seeing Twilight becoming calm helped Elliot to cope with the situation better. Once they got to the beginning of the bridge Twilight turned to Elliot. “This is as far as I should go. The castle is right after you cross the bridge. Please be careful,” she looked at Elliot with genuine care in her eyes. This helped Elliot to relax even further.

“I’ll be fine Twilight. I promise,” he replied as he looked ahead noticing the slight silhouettes of parapets in the distance.

“If you don’t come back by sundown, I’m coming to look for you okay.” She told him giving him a determined look before she turned and began to head back out of the forest. “Good luck!” she called back.

Elliot waved goodbye to her. He then returned his attention to the old rickety bridge ahead of him. Feeling a sense of dread at being forced to cross this unstable walkway he slowly began to traverse the canyon. As he was crossing, a wind began to cause the bridge to sway back and forth. Feeling extra unsteady, Elliot held on to the rope railing even tighter than he had previously been doing. His grip had become so fierce that his knuckles began to turn white.

The constant swaying of the bridge had Elliot walking across the bridge slower than he wished. Trying to walk faster not only worsened the swaying but helped the fear and nausea that was building within him. After what felt like an eternity Elliot finally came to solid ground of the other side of the bridge.

Elliot almost squealed in glee at being off of the dreadful bridge. He stooped down and kissed the ground at his feet and then jumped up clapping his hands. Quickly berating himself for acting so silly Elliot returned to a serious mood. He walked down the path and watched as the castle grew larger and came into a clearer view.

Gulping at the intimidating size of the castle Elliot reminded himself that all he had to do was walk straight through the castle and go into the throne room. With the castle directly in front of him, Elliot could finally gauge the true age of the structure. Vines covered almost every inch of the building. The castle seemed to emit an aura of ancient power. He could easily see that it had not been occupied in an extremely long time. Remembering that Princess Celestia had said her father lived here brought doubts to the front of his thoughts.

The castle was obviously hundreds of years abandoned. If her father had lived here then the Princess would have to be extremely old. Having never heard of a creature that could live that long Elliot began to feel that maybe the mission he was sent on was different than what the Princess had wanted him to believe. However Elliot reminded himself that the Princess was also a magical alicorn that ruled over a kingdom of talking ponies. Chuckling a little Elliot allowed himself to believe that alicorns could just have the ability to live for extra-long lives.

Finally working up the nerve to try and enter the castle Elliot pushed against the heavy wooden door. After a while of trying and the door not budging Elliot stopped pushing against it. He investigated the hinges and saw through the small gaps that the room behind the door had caved in and large stones were blocking the door from being pushed open.

Elliot muttered a few curse words under his breath as he began to look around for another way into the castle. Noticing a large window about twenty feet up Elliot decided to try and climb the wall and crawl through the window to get inside. He walked over to the wall and found a few footholds around the area and he began his ascent.

The climb was taking him a long while because the wall was obviously not designed to be climbed up. Finding foot and hand holds was taking longer than Elliot wanted. Being forced to hang from the wall as he looked for a way up sapped the energy from Elliot’s arms. Feeling the aching building up within his muscles Elliot began to frantically search for the next large crack to climb up.

As he was reaching up for the next part another roar, much closer this time, sounded. This caused Elliot to cry out and lose his grip. Elliot began to fall down the side of the wall frantically reaching out for something to grab onto. His fingers quickly found the small ledge that he had just been resting on and saved him from a possibly disastrous fall. Elliot then began to climb up the wall with renewed vigor hoping to get inside before the creature got to close for comfort.

With his quickened pace Elliot reached the window much faster than he had previously thought that he would. Pulling himself through Elliot felt his hopes sink a good amount. As he looked around, he knew that he was absolutely nowhere near the main hall. Deciding to push forward anyway he began to search through the castle regardless of not knowing what room he was in.

Elliot sighed as he looked around the room that he had climbed into. He noted that it appeared to be a guest bedroom of sorts. He then exited the room and came into a hallway lined with doors. After he poked his head into a few of the rooms he seemed to be on a hallway that held many bedrooms. He guessed that the guest rooms of the castle would be on a different side than the king and queen’s bedroom.

Using this knowledge and the fact that he climbed in on the left side of the main door he made a mental note that he should head down the hallway to the right. As he walked on Elliot felt the temperature in the air beginning to rise. Soon the heat got to the point that caused Elliot to begin sweating.

Trying to ignore the heat, Elliot finally found what he had been looking for. Looking ahead a few feet Elliot saw the floor that had collapsed and blocked the front entrance. He also saw that he could climb down the fallen stones and make his way into the passage way that led to the throne room. Being careful not to slip, Elliot made it down to the ground in a short time. Once his feet reached the floor of the main hallway Elliot looked around in awe.

The hall was about twenty feet tall and seemed to stretch for hundreds of feet forward and was about one hundred feet wide. Walking towards the opposite end Elliot took in the sheer massiveness of the room that he was in. Knowing that the throne room would only be more magnificent, he couldn’t help but feel excited about reaching the end of the hall. Elliot began to try and force his way forward as the heat began to increase the further he went. About halfway through Elliot began to sweat profusely.

Deciding that he didn’t have time to get mad at himself for not packing a water bottle Elliot did his best to walk faster. Once the heat reached a bizarrely high point Elliot had finally reached the end of the hallway. Sighing with relief that he was almost there he opened the door to the throne room. Elliot allowed a happy grin to spread across his face as he knew that he was almost done with this ridiculous quest and he could be heading back soon.

However once he entered the throne room his smile evaporated from his face as quickly as the heat evaporated his sweat. Lying between him and the thrones was a very large and ferocious looking dragon.

AN: It's about fucking time I got off of my lazy ass and posted a chapter. Now that I'm done telling myself off I would like to apologize to everyone who was waiting for me to do this. I know some of you would probably like and explanation as to why it took me so long to write it. Well here it is- there is none. I really have no idea why it took me forever to finally start writing, but like I said in the update I WILL continue posting no matter what, and I WILL be finishing this story no matter how long it takes. I have now set new goals and set up a new schedule and relearned the joy of finishing a chapter. I seriously felt elated once I finished the it.
P.S. As I type I feel like I repeat myself a lot. Do I?

Comments

[Firedon]

Once the left the town itself they began to walk towards the opening of the forest.

Once they got there Elliot noted that they turned down a
The first the should be a they. And yes, sometimes you repeat yourself, an example would be the copied sentence above, but that isn't really bad, so it's ok in my book.
Lastly, I can understand you excuse if procrastination is part of your motives, I suffer under that demon too.

[Jorofrarie]

871075 Almost everyone has that problem, myself included. Just never let it be the only reason that you write a chapter, otherwise it may turn out a bit... stale...

-Jorofrarie

[iSmartMan]

Yes, you do repeat yourself when writing. It makes it really tempting to skim the story instead of read it.

Also, the tone of the writing seems rather bland and unemotional. Try using the characters' emotions and thoughts to express things and let the audience come up with their own unique vision that matches those emotions. For example, take this section: "The hall was about twenty feet tall and seemed to stretch for hundreds of feet forward and was about one hundred feet wide. Walking towards the opposite end Elliot took in the sheer massiveness of the room that he was in. Knowing that the throne room would only be more magnificent, he couldn’t help but feel excited about reaching the end of the hall."
What was in the hall? Was it completely empty, or did something other than the size impress Elliot? Could you use something other than precise measurements to convey how large and impressive the hall was? If it were me, I would have just called it massive and included stained-glass windows and a vaulted ceiling (possibly with a mural) to justify the awe and add emotion to the description. When people say "show, don't tell", it means to let the reader create their own vision of the story using the emotional undertones provided by the writer, and to not describe every little detail exactly as it is.

[saber1994]

873437
Thank you for pointing that out. Now that I have read it again, I feel almost ashamed for writing something so bland. I've heard that saying numerous times, and I try to follow it. Hopefully I can catch myself in the future and avoid a sentence that boring. I appreciate you taking the time to point that out and write your paragraph of a comment. Also I'm going to try and increase the variety of words and not repeat as much. It's just somewhat difficult for me to not do it though.

[iSmartMan]

874861 You know what you need? A prereader. And guess who would be happy to help?

[saber1994]

874877
Thanks for the offer. I would be glad to accept your help

[iSmartMan]

874886 Always glad to help. Fair warning, though, I don't pull punches when doing prereading. I will be brutally honest, because that's the only way to make sure the story is the best it can be.

[saber1994]

874910
I wouldn't like it any other way

[Firedon]

I have a question, how far are you with the current chapter? I know that you take your time with the updates, but I got curious.

[saber1994]

1063714
Sadly not nearly as far as I would like. My guess is that with me getting back in school soon I should be able to post faster. Over the summer I've just had TOO much free time, thus I got distracted way too easily. With a more structured schedule I can probably plan more time to write, so hopefully I'll write more.

[Firedon]

1086416 I can understand your problems a bit. The same has been happening to me. Nearly everytime I wanted to get up and do something, it just turned to a "maybe sometime soon"

[robotic]

and we wait for a chapthr that will probebly never comb but hoprfully there will be more

[rikithemonk]

This is obviously an early work by a new writer. While not bad it does suffer from "Elliot" syndrome. To be fair, this is an extremely common mistake new writers make. They feel like they must state the characters name as often as physically possible. Other than that, this story really isn't that bad. I really hope this writer continued to write. He has potential.

Monk