Of Dragons and Ponies

by Mystic_Knightwolf

Cutie Mark Crusaders Adventurers

"Greetings Spike, Zecora. I trust these are your friends?" Grigori asked, gesturing to the Mane 6. Smiling, Spike walked up to the elder drake, leaning against his forelimb.

"Hey Grigori. Yeah, these are my friends; Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, you know Rarity, and Fluttershy." Spike listed, motioning to each of them respectively. Zecora and Rarity were the only ones to greet him, and the others remained on guard, save for Fluttershy, who trembled behind Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Grigori frowned at that.

"I mean no harm, I assure. A pity, considering the enemies you all braved and defeated, compared to a simple drake such as myself." Grigori said, turning tail, beginning to pace, but the calling of his name was what stopped him. He looked back to see Twilight taking a small step forward. It deftly struck Grigori that she was an alicorn, but not either of the royal sisters he's been informed of...

"Yes?" the crimson drake responded, his orange gaze shifting over to her.

"We're... we're sorry about our... negative introduction. We just thought that you were..." Twilight began, but her sentence died as she failed to come up with a description before Pinkie Pie filled in the blank for her.

"One of those giant, meanie monster dragons!" Pinkie finished for Twilight, making the alicorn wince visibly at the description.

"Understandable, I suppose. Some dragons do not take kindly to certain species. But then again, certain species do not take kindly to dragons." now it was Applejack's turn to feel bad. The farmpony rubbed the back of her neck before she spoke.

"Look uh... Grigori. We're real sorry fur the comment. Ah didn't mean it ta threaten." Applejack assured.

"Forgiven. Besides..." he said as he began pacing again "... my intent upon coming to Equestria is to make friends. What better place to begin than where friendship is magic? Or so I've heard." he said, muttering the last part.

"If you want to make friends, why not throw a party?!" Pinkie popped up, balanced atop Grigori's head, craning her neck downward to look at him from an inverted position.

"I cannot." came his reply, not as surprised as much as he felt he should at her current placement.

"Awwww, why not?" Pinkie pouted, hopping down from his head.

"At the current moment, I cannot allow anyone other than yourselves to know of my existence, else there'd be mass panic. I will not roam any farther than the Everfree Forest, that much I assume Spike has told you." he explained.

"So how do you plan on making friends in Equestria if you just stay all cooped up in this old forest?" Pinkie asked, Rising to her forehooves, balancing on them.

"Until there is a way I can introduce myself without causing mass panic, there is naught I can do." Grigori said.

"Aw, don't sweat it, Grigori, ah'm sur somethin'll come up in time." Applejack said in an assuring tone. Grigori simple shrugged his shoulders.

"Perhaps. If there is aught important enough that you require my aid in, I will honor your request. But remember that my boundaries are the confines of the Everfree." Grigori said before heading towards the mouth of the cave "And you can keep the gems I left for you, Rarity." and with that, he took off into the afternoon sky. After he was out of sight, Spike turned to Twilight.

"So Twilight, does this mean I can go visit Grigori?" Twilight just face-hoofed at that.

XXXXX

The next day, life in Ponyville went as usual.

The Mane 6 and Spike kept quiet about Grigori, and since business in the Everfree was not a common occurrence, they haven't talked to Grigori since they greeted him. Rarity finished her fashion line for Sapphire Shores and gave one very grateful Spike two kartloads of gems. Spike himself visited Grigori in his free time, with Twilight ungrounding him, and he spends much of it telling Grigori about his friends, and in exchange, Grigori proudly shared common knowledge about dragonkind.

Other than that, the day was rather uneventful.

That is, until this afternoon when school for the colts and fillies let out.

"So whaddya think we should do next to earn our Cutie Marks?" Scootaloo asked her fellow Crusaders as she, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and now Babs Seed walked out of the building.

"Hmmm, ah don't know. Ah can't pull nothin' off the top o' mah head. Anythin'?" Applebloom asked, looking to the others.

"Well come to think of it, we already did just about everything possible in Ponyville." Sweetie Belle said, rubbing her chin with her hoof.

"Well how 'bout outside of Ponyville? I bet there's a whole lotta stuff ta do out in the Everfree." Babs suggested. The others grew iffy and unsure looks, making Babs frown.

"Uh, ah don't know, Babs. Applejack would get pretty mad if she found out we were out in the Everfree without askin' first." Applebloom reasoned.

"Yeah, same here with Rarity." Sweetie Belle added. Scootaloo simply nodded in agreement.

"Oh c'mon, girls! We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders! What's stopped is in the past? It's the four of us together, and it's not like we'll be on our own out there. I'm sure Zecora's got our backs. So how 'bout it?" Babs asked, the others growing pondering looks. Scootaloo was the first to be swayed.

"Don't see why not. What the hay?" at that, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged looks before shrugging and nodding their heads in agreement, swayed as well.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, in the Everfree itself, Zecora was gathering some more ingredients, accompanied by Grigori and Spike, who was perched upon his back.

"You know, aside from us meeting, these past few days has been.. kinda bland." Spike commented, pulling an apple from the basket on Grigori's back, inspecting it before taking a large bite.

"Fear not, Spike. I am sure that something of interest will draw our ire in due time. Have patience." Grigori assured, ducking his head as he walked under a low-hanging branch.

"I know." Spike sighed, slouching against the base of one of Grigori's wings. "I just wish for something exciting to happen, ya know?"

"I understand. I've shared the same feelings when I was of your age as we-" Grigori began, but cut cut himself off as he stopped in his tracks, his ears raised, looking around, having heard something. Zecora stopped as well, looking back to the elder drake in concern.

"Grigori, are you okay? You suddenly cut off what you were going to say." Zecora pointed out, looking around herself.

"I heard something off into the distance. It sounds of wolves followed by... screaming!" Grigori refused to waste another second before he grabbed Spike and the basket with his tail and set them on the ground before shifting his gaze upwards, lowering his body. His wings spread as much as they could, given their size and the crowded confines of the trees, but he still deemed his goal as doable. In one swift motion, he jumped as high as he could, the aid of the wings combined with the momentum aided by his shear weight proved enough to breach the canopy of the overhanging branches, leveling out and taking flight in the direction of the disturbance before gravity allowed him to descend.

Wasting no time, Spike grabbed the basket next to him and hopped onto Zecora's back as she followed at a gallop, confident that whatever trouble it was, Grigori was more than able to take care of it on his own.

XXXXX

(Moments Ago)

"C'mon, Babs, let's head back. Ah'm not sure if it's that safe anymore." Applebloom said, cautiously looking around.

"I-I agree, Babs. M-maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Sweetie Bells added, staying close to Applebloom as they continued walking. Scootaloo remained silent. If she was as afraid as her fellow Crusaders, she didn't want to show it. Babs simply huffed.

"Oh c'mon, you fillies! Stop bein' a buncha little foals and... what was that?" Babs cut herself off as she jerked her head up to look around as rustling was heard. The original Crusaders shrieked at the sound and clung together, visibly shaking. Rather than being afraid, Babs looked in the direction of the approaching noise with a raised eyebrow, expecting it to be a rabbit or a fox, essentially, not a threat. However, Babs was to be sorely mistaken as a fowl odor hit the nostrils of the Crusaders.

"Uh-oh..." sounded Applebloom, now more afraid than before.

"Uh-oh what?" Babs asked, looking back towards her cousin, her fearless bravado quickly faltering as her voice began shaking. Applebloom had ill time to answer as forms appearing to be entirely made of vines and branches burst forth from the cover of the bushes. The forms were that of large timberwolves, each of them easily several times the size of each of the fillies. Their bright yellow eyes glowed with the need to eat and the intent to hunt. Deep, menacing growls filled the area, paralyzing the fillies, Babs included, with fear.

"Applebloom, y-you didn't tell me that there were timberwolves out here!" Babs exclaimed as the four of them began backing up from the pack of hunters.

"Ah didn't think I'd need to! Ya shoulda knew the Everfree was dangerous!" Applebloom shot back as they quickly found themselves cornered with danger closing in. With their meal backed against the wall and having no where to go, the timberwolf at the front of the pack threw his head up howl in victory, the others following suite before reaffirming their attention back onto their prey. With their backs against the wall and with nowhere to turn, they did the next best thing.

They screamed.

XXXXX

Grigori, with the gift of flight, was able to reach them within moments.

He, Spike, and Zecora were not far from her hut when they were gathering essentials, and the Crusaders were roaming a part of the forest not too deep so they wouldn't get lost.

Pulling his wings in, Grigori dove for the source of the howls and screams, his several thousand pound body breaching the canopy again with ease, his dragon hide not receiving so much as a single scratch as he effortlessly snapped branches and leaves that were unlucky enough to be in the way of his descent. He hit the ground with a crash of splintering wood, having landed on one very unfortunate timberwolf. He did not give himself a moment to professionally stick the landing as he turned to the rest of the pack, who were just snapping out of their shock. They lowered their bodies defensively, backing up, growling at the larger predator. Grigori assumed a defensive stance in front of the Crusaders, who were stricken on the spot, and waved his tail threateningly, followed by predatory growls and snarls of his own. To finish off the act, smoke and flames erupted out of his nostrils, small enough to not cause a forest fire, but enough to get the point across.

If there was one thing a timberwolf knew in life, it was to stay away from fire at all costs, and seeing this bigger, stronger creature generate it from its snout, they turned tail and fled as quickly as they came, tripping over each other in their rush to get away.

'It seems they are smart enough to know what fire is.' Grigori thought before standing back up straight and shifting his gaze over to the Crusaders, who, rather than scared now, looked at him in curiosity. Grigori tilted his head in thought, thinking back to the ponies Spike has told him about. A quick glance at their blank flanks told him exactly who they were.

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders, correct?" Grigori figured, the specific pony title not exactly feeling comfortable as it rolled off of his draconic tongue. Almost immediately, their expressions perked up as they figured out who he was.

"You're Grigori?" Applebloom asked as she and her comrades were about to assault him with questions, but before the first interrogative was uttered, Spike and Zecora had arrived. Hopping off of Zecora's back, Spike walked up to the Crusaders, keeping them silent under his scrutinizing gaze.

"You remember what I said, right?" he asked, looking over them.

"Yeah yeah, don't tell anypony. We get it." Scootaloo sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Not a soul." Grigori reaffirmed, walking up next to them. "But getting back to more pressing matters, what possessed you four to venture out into the Everfree without a guardian?" the drake asked, lowering his head to their level, emphasizing the seriousness o the subject. Upon being asked that, the Crusaders all lowered their ears in shame, but then grew glares, all aimed at Babs.

"Alright, alright, I get it! I dropped the ball on this one! I messed up, okay?" the city filly snapped defensively. Satisfied that credit was taken where credit was due, they looked around, trying to avoid the disappointed gazes of Spike and Zecora. They looked back to Grigori, who rose back to his height, now looking more imposing than moments ago.

"Come now, the four of you. Ponyville awaits." Grigori said, before motioning down the trail for them. With hung heads, the four began their walk back to the safety of Ponyville, Spike, Zecora, and Grigori following closely behind.

XXXXX

Featherweight is known for many things around Ponyville.

He's nice, quiet, and is distinctively skinny for his age, but one thing that truly stands out is his naivety, being that it led to the turmoil that ensued when the Crusaders worked for the Foal Free Press. He never had bad intentions, but it was still safe to say he still had some fault in it.

He was currently walking about the outskirts of Ponyville, camera draped around his neck, looking for new, juicy material for this week's paper. The day for him, as well as for most of the ponies in Ponyville, was slow and uneventful, and today was his last day to get something interesting onto the paper before they were printed. But lady luck would be in his favor today as something caught his ire.

From the direction of the Everfree, the Crusaders emerged from the thick vegetation, accompanied by Spike, uh... Zecora, was it? And a dragon. Wait...

A dragon?!

Featherweight dove behind some bushes SWAT style, camera at the ready. He zoomed in to get the group in the frame along with the background of the Everfree forest. But following the flash, Spike looked in his direction, and he ducked back in the bushes just in time. He was a safe distance of about fifty yards, so he wager he wasn't heard, but h waited a few moments after he had heard the Crusaders say their goodbyes in unison before very slowly and carefully looking back out to see them and Spike heading off back towards Ponyville. With the coast clear, Featherweight emerged from the bushes, hoof-pumping in victory at his new headline for the Foal Free Press before scampering off into the town.

Author's Note:

And Chapter Six for all of you to either love or hate. The next chapter is guaranteed to pick up the plot, so stay frosty. I hope you all enjoyed, and as always:

Have a nice day.

Comments

[theRedBrony]

gesturing to the Mane 6.
The Mane 6 and Spike

AAAAHHHH!!! Never call them the Mane 6 inside a narrative!

"Yur Grigori!"

Was that really necessary?