CCC-To Find Her Place

by Fresnor

Dragon Along

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

I sometimes wonder who I made angry to have all these things happen to me. When it’s not gryphon nobles trying to get revenge on me for some imagined slight it’s a horde of undead monstrosities that have been buried for centuries. Add that to the fact that I’m still recovering from a broken limb and you can imagine a bit of what I’ve been going through lately. All I need now is to be trapped in a dragon’s lair and things will be just perfect. As it is things have just been going way off track lately and I’m hoping to get back to my original plans once again.

The issues with the gryphon will hopefully be forgotten eventually but even so I don’t plan on heading back to the gryphon capital any time soon. I was able to lose any pursuit easily enough but things turned out a bit badly so I had to take refuge with one of the diamond dog packs in the area so that my leg could heal up. I’m still not used to how they always treat me when I go to one of these groups and it always feels so embarrassing with how they always act around me. I try to do what I can for them so that I deserve the praise and loyalty the shower me with but it doesn’t feel like enough sometimes. This groups at least had some level of education that others I’ve found hadn’t had but I later found it was because things had been spreading from the few packs I already visited so there wasn’t much for me to do in that way. Luckily, or unluckily in some ways, there was an important task that they requested of me. I agreed ahead of time to do it but I partially regretted it when I found out that they had problems with an old abandoned mine. The mine was sealed for centuries as a plague went through the place turning all the workers into undead abominations.

Clearing out the mine was easy enough but I ran into an even worse problem when I found the source of the problems there. Someone at one point built a portal into Tartarus within an underground laboratory and the miners accidentally broke into it. I managed to drive the demons back into the portal before destroying it but the resulting explosion left me trapped inside the lab with the mine sealed. There looks to be nothing of any worth in this place and I decided to take a moment to rest before finding the way out. I’m not overly concerned about escaping the place since there seems to be fresh air coming from somewhere. At least things are rather quiet down here so that I can rest without anything coming after me.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I yawn as I look at the empty halls around me and wonder if there is somewhere nearby that will allow me to clean myself up at. I still had some things dripping off of me that I didn’t want to think about from dealing with the creatures in the mine. “It’s just too bad there isn’t anything left down here to make this little adventure profitable in some way. Granted with how demons and undead were involved I probably wouldn’t have been able to use any of it anyways if there was something left.”

Picking myself up off the ground I move on over to the exit of the room and try to search for the exit to the surface. It was obvious that this place hadn’t been in use for a while as the rooms I passed were completely bare of anything except mold and mildew. Not even furniture or the remains of them were around which seemed rather odd considering the portal that I had found here. It struck me as strange as well since the demons must have been here for a while and would have likely brought things of their own.

I pondered the oddities of the place I as began to ascend a staircase that had the scent of fresh air flowing down it. There was the scent of something else on the air as well but I filed that away for later as the other mysteries seemed more important. As I was nearing the top of the stairway I noticed that the walls started looking more natural as if it was part of a cave when something came to me. “Wait, if the path and fresh air is so obvious then why haven’t the demons been rampaging across the countryside? They wouldn’t be sitting around the portal unless something was blocking the way out or…”

I exit from the stairway into a cavernous room to find the reason for them being trapped. “…Or else something powerful is guarding the exit.” I sigh and slam my head into the wall as I remember what I wrote earlier as I look at the giant dragon atop a pile of treasure. Looking at the dragon I was guessing it was rather old considering its size as well as some of the scars on its body. I’m really starting to think that something is spying on me and making everything I say come true in a way to annoy me. If I get out of this I’m going to make sure I stop saying things that’ll get me into situations like this.

I was so busy slamming my head into the wall that I wasn’t paying attention to anything else when I hear a feminine voice call out. “As fun as it is watching you bang your head into the wall would you mind telling me how you got passed me to those stairs?” I don’t even realize who was speaking as I answer. “Oh I got in through the mines the broke into a room with a portal to Tartarus and had to come this way when the mine tunnel collapsed.” It was only then that I realized that I was being spoken to and I looked up to see that the dragon was awake and staring at me.

I just sit there staring in fear at the large being as she just stares down at me in curiosity. While I could see her form clearly it was still too dim to see much of her coloration, at least until she lights the torches around the room revealing her large lavender form. Seeing the look on my face the dragoness raises a claw and waves it at me. “Oh settle down there, I was only curious and it’s not like you’re one of those demons that always come up through there.” She pauses for a second and takes a closer look at me. “Though it certainly has been a while since I’ve seen a kitsune wander through here, a couple centuries in fact.”

She looks thoughtful for a moment before squinting at me as if looking for something and taking a deep breath. “In fact you do kind of smell like her and I seem to recall that she had a small bundle with her as well.” This information shocks me as there was only one possible thing that comes to mind from this. “Could it be that you actually met my mother when I was too young to remember?”

The dragoness blinks at my owlishly before letting out a little chuckle. “Well, well; it really is a small world then. How has she been doing lately? We had some interesting conversations back then and I’m sure she’d have some more interesting stories after all this time.” I look down at my paws before replying sadly. “She was murdered about a decade after that by a necromancer. I had been taking care of myself since then until I found a place to stay for the next century to recover and prepare to find where I came from.”

The dragoness looks shocked as well as saddened by this news. “That’s actually disheartening to hear. The long lived races are rare enough without others killing them off even if it is difficult to do so. Granted the fact that she was under a curse would have prevented her from using her full strength to defend herself.” I look at her oddly when she says this. “What do you mean by a curse? I’ve never heard anything about this before.”

The dragoness lowers herself back onto her piled treasure while I take my seat a respectable distance away. “She didn’t mention much about it as there were things preventing her from doing so. All she mentioned was that it prevented her from finding a home and was targeting her through her name. It has made me wary about giving my own out to others until I know how such magic works.” I hadn’t heard of magic like this before and I wondered how powerful it could be if it made a dragon wary of it. It further proved the strength my mother had which I was only now being able to copy to an extent.

“She never told me about that before, in fact she told me very little about her past beyond passing along some of the skills she had picked up. I don’t even know how long I can live and the only hint that I have of being longer lived than most others is by outliving most of the friends I had made.” She looks at me in sympathy over my words.

“That is the curse of having a long lifespan. Outliving those that you would call a friend is always painful but you should never regret it as their memories will live on through you. I’ve found that it helps to find others that have similar lifespans so you at least have others that you can turn to for companionship. I actually enjoyed the time your mother spent with me and really did hope that we could meet again.” I start getting a bit depressed at the current topic though thinking back to the princesses helps a little.

“I may have to look into that type of magic myself so that I can at least defend myself from it. I’ve found that learning how to perform the spells of a specific branch let you find ways to best counter them as well. Knowing the worst parts of necromancy has let me counteract the effects of it and interestingly enough it’s even helped handle demons to some extent as well. Most of them dislike the same sort of positive magic and it works to overload portals to their home as well.” The dragoness looks at me oddly once again.

“That’s the second time you mentioned a portal? Does that have something to do with those annoying creatures that occasionally come up through there and try to attack me? They have been getting rather annoying and aren’t even slightly edible even.” I was about to ask how she didn’t know about what was down there but looking at her size it’s pretty obvious that she couldn’t look down there. “Yes, there was a portal connected to Tartarus down there with a few demon guards. A nearby mine accidentally broke into the room some time ago which resulted in the miners being turned into undead by something. A nearby diamond dog pack asked me to clear the place out though they didn’t know the cause at the time.”

The dragoness looks thoughtful for a moment before replying. “While I don’t quite like diamond dogs, since they tend to try stealing from me, nothing deserves to have that happen to them. Though what were you doing with them in the first place?” I sigh in exasperation. “Well there seems to be some kind of connection between my kind and them in such a way that they practically worship us. It’s actually kind of embarrassing how much they try to do for me. I have to practically bully them into letting me help them out to repay them.”

She looks at me strangely for a moment before responding. “You know most beings would jump at the chance to be in your position yet you just want to throw it all away.” I just shake my head at her. “I’ve seen what happens to those that are put in charge of others like that. They either become corrupted by the power that they hold or they lose almost all freedom as they slave away for others. While I’m willing to help out if asked I prefer to keep my freedom.” This causes the dragoness to laugh in response to my reaction at being thrust into a leadership role.

“Well it’s good to know that if you ever were in that kind of position you wouldn’t be out to hurt others. But I guess considering how the diamond dogs act, there’s a good reason to not want to be in charge of them.” I contemplate glaring at her for the comment but I know she is right, at least until they improve under the education system I was spreading. “Well I have been working on bringing up the standards they live by especially on the intelligence front. The thing is there is supposed to be something even higher than me that they are waiting on to return. I don’t know if who they are waiting for is real or not but I’ll find out once I find my own origins. Though… I think that I have an idea to help you out with the thievery since just asking them would be only a temporary fix for the problem.”

The dragoness looks on in interest as I dig out some chalk and a gemstone from my bags. While I don’t need to use a magic circle anymore for my enchanting work it still makes it easier and allows me to pour more power into it. Having had so many years of practice it only takes me moments to draw out the appropriate diagram with the gem in the center. Taking a moment to look around I spy one of the torches that are nearby and pull a bit of the magical essence floating around it still. Taking the energy I combine it with the source of the enchantment to tie its energies with the dragoness.

It doesn’t take me long at all to finish the enchanting process and I toss the gem to her as she watches in interest. “This should help stop all but the strongest beings from getting at your hoard. Just set the gem somewhere nearby and tap it a couple times.” She follows my instructions with interest and a lavender barrier erupts from the gems to surround her and her treasure. She tries to poke at the shield and gets a confused look on her face when her claw just passes right through it. “While this is rather pretty how is it supposed to stop thieves?”

In response I just toss a rock at the barrier to watch it bounce off instead of passing through. “I tied the spell to your magical signature making it so that only you can pass through the shield. It would take someone remarkably strong to break through it with brute force or to even copy your signature to pass through. The only thing you might have to worry about are dragons that are closely related to you as they may have magic that is similar enough to fool the spell.” She looks rather impressed with my work.

“That is rather impressive. I’ve heard of enchantments that can do things like this but there aren’t many that can pull them off with this much skill. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that last bit though, any of my relatives are a long ways away and don’t know where I live.” I feel a bit embarrassed with the praise though I believe I may actually be getting close to what my mother could do. “There is something else I should warn you about. I’m not sure how long the enchantment will actually last as I haven’t had a chance to test how long they will last. The ones I’ve done in the past were still going strong when I last checked so expect it to at least last a few centuries. If it isn’t strained to badly it could even last for a millennia or two I’d think considering my earliest works are nothing compared to what I can do now.”

Her eyes widen at this is surprise. “Well now this really is a fine gift then. I’ll be sure to always treasure it.” We talk for a while longer before it starts getting rather late in the day. Seeing as it has gotten late she allows me to stay in her cave for the night where we talk for a good deal longer. When I leave the next morning I feel good about myself having potentially made a good friend and I hope that I can meet her again in the future. Having some time to relax and examine my feelings after hearing from someone else who knew my mother it made me realize something strange.

Ever since I had that episode with the feral diamond dogs I had been feeling something rather odd with myself. It was only recently that I realized that it felt as if I was being pulled somewhere that was in the direction of where I heard my people had gone in the past. I had no idea what it was but the closer I came to the location it was pulling me to the harder it was to ignore it. I only hoped that whatever was at the other end wasn’t a threat.

Author's Note:

As usual please leave comments and typos found below. Not much else to say but things are starting to come to a point where some things start to be revealed. Expect a few bad jokes in the next chapter though just as a warning.

Comments

[spikefan23]

I'm starting to enjoy this one more than the first story

[Fresnor]

5108398 Well the first one was a bit more limited by the script while ii have a bit more freedom with this one. It also helps that I can now start to slowly reveal my plans which brings in a bit more originality than the first one as well. I'm also slowly improving my own writing skills a bit as well as I test out things here and there. I hope to be able to get decent length conversations going that don't seem rushed or forced.

[Zapper Frost]

So that's why Flarenza's mother never told her her name

[Asolem2]

All I need now is to be trapped in a dragon’s lair and things will be just perfect.

...*looks up at the title of the chapter* when will you learn

I exit from the stairway into a cavernous room to find the reason for them being trapped. “…Or else something powerful is guarding the exit.” I sigh and slam my head into the wall as I remember what I wrote earlier as I look at the giant dragon atop a pile of treasure.

I'm not the least bit surprised by this development