My red eyed Friend

by Freelancer

Chapter 7: Meeting of Worlds

Chapter 7: Meeting of Worlds

It was then that Thane and Ash peered around the deserted street with a little embarrassment, realizing that despite his good intentions, Thane’s roar had indeed sent everypony galloping for the cover of the nearest building. As Titan followed their gazes he noted a large amount of colourful eyes watching them all, usually from various windows or doorways, they quickly however disappeared into the shadows when his own red eyes fell on them.

“It seems I might have scared them a little,” Thane said with a grin, taking a nervous step back when both Titan and Ash snarled angrily at him. “Ok so a scared them a lot… my bad,”

“Yes Thane, your bad which we now need to fix,” Ash snapped, shaking his head and rubbing his forehead with his claw. “Uh… I swear it was a mistake bringing you.”

“Look, can you please give him a break!” Rainbow Dash said angrily as she flew strait up to Ash’s face, and glared at him. “I asked him to roar, so how about you lay off about it?”

Even Titan was surprised by the venom in Dash’s voice, he knew that she and Thane were friends of a sort now, but he didn’t understand why she was standing up for him so much. It was then something in his mind clicked and he remembered the ponies mentioning their elements; Dash’s was loyalty, which made things a little clearer, but he was a little more focused on Applejack, she was honesty, and if Titan was thinking right that could help.

“Applejack do the ponies here know you are the element of honesty?”

His words caused everyone’s eyes to fall on him, including the former glaring pair of Ash and Rainbow Dash; all of them were looking a little confused though.

“Course they do,” Applejack said bluntly like she felt insulted. “We aint referred to as the elements of harmony for nothing… why do ya ask?”

“Because perhaps you can speak on our behalf,” Titan grinned, his red eyes once again looking around the various buildings which lined the quiet and deserted street. “Think about it… if you say we mean no harm than the other ponies will know that it is true, if we say it though they will think we are lying.”

Applejack looked between Titan, Ash and Thane with a questioning expression before turning to her friends, and after a short whispered conversation, which Titan didn’t manage to hear, they all nodded. Feeling a little confused the three dragons shrugged between each other, and sat back on their scaled rumps, content to let the ponies and Spike handle the situation in their own way while they watched and flicked their tails.

Abruptly the small group disbanded and headed in various directions down the street; confusing Titan for a moment, before he saw each go up and knock on a different door, whispering to the shadow concealed inhabitants, before stepping back and letting them nervously emerge into the daylight and the dragons’ visions.

It took a few minutes, but eventually Titan guessed most of the residents of Ponyville had decided to trust Applejack and her friends’ words, they still however watched him, Ash and Thane uneasily, like they expected one of the three to abruptly try and eat somepony. Titan could hear whispers through the crowd, which didn’t help his nerves or his temper, he was no monster but he had pet hates, and being whispered about was one of them; eventually however Twilight came and stood in the space between the three dragons and the multi-coloured pony crowd, and silence followed a moment later.

“Ok everypony… I know you’re all a little nervous and all, but I want you to listen. I would like you all to meet Titan, Ash and Thane, they're friends of ours, and I promise you all they’re not here to hurt anypony, so you don’t need to fear them.”

It was then a smiling Twilight turned around to Titan, and his throat tensed up, it seemed she had just indicated that it was his turn to speak to the crowd of ponies standing before them. For a moment Titan’s mind collapsed as he tried to figure out what to say in the moment he had, all fear vanished however when he felt the soft touch of Fluttershy’s hoof on his red scaled claw.

“Thank you, Twilight” He smiled, casting his red eyes over her before turning to the crowd gathered in front of him. “Now judging by your reactions to Thane’s little outburst…”

“What?” Titan heard Thane growl quietly from behind him, a moment later however Ash snarled, and Thane grudgingly fell silent.

“…You all seem to fear us quite a lot,” Titan went on, ignoring Thane and instead smiling and running his red eyes over each pony in the crowd. “But I say this to you all in honesty from the depths of my heart; we have no intention of harming any of you whatsoever, and we never will. You may not believe this but for two years I secretly lived unnoticed among you all… and in that time I will admit I developed a liking of your race, and it seems my friends now years later have done the same. So I guess to put things as simply as I can, I am offering to you all my own and my friends claws and hearts in a show of friendship, and all I ask is that you might accept my offer.”

Once Titan finished speaking silence took over, the only sounds the rustling of a couple of trees in the wind and the breathing; every so often a pony would murmur something to a neighbour, but otherwise everything was quiet. Then, all of a sudden a tiny purple-blue filly pushed and shoved her way out from the nervous crowd, and casually trotted up the massive black scaled form of Ash, her tiny body just bigger than one of his blade like talons. Titan watched curiously as his black scaled friend gently lowered his head to her level so they were eye to eye, his gaze running over her tiny form for a moment before speaking in a deep but gentle voice with his fangs in a smile.

“And who may I ask are you little one?” He smiled, his breath ruffling the filly’s light yellow mane as he spoke.

“I’m Dinky Doo,” The tiny filly replied happily, Titan, Thane and the entire crowd watching the two of them with a strange sense of silent uncertainty and awe. “And you’re Ash right?”

“I am little Dinky, not the most amazing dragon name I know, but it suits me,” He chuckled, his black scaled tail flicking from side to side as he spoke. “I must say, I am impressed at your bravery for somepony so young… would you like to be my friend?”

“Sure!” the filly squeaked excitedly, before holding out her right hoof in what Titan guessed was a friendly gesture “Bro-hoof?”

Ash gave a face that told Titan he was confused, his dark eyes flicking between the filly’s outstretched hoof and his own black claw.

“Uh… what is this bro-hoof exactly?” Ash said, tilting his massive head in apparent confusion as he tried to mimic the gesture with his clenched claw. “I fear I am a little untrained in the ways of your kind.”

The filly simply giggled, and after a moment of explaining Ash got the gist and returned the gesture, the light collision of his scales on her hoof signifying their liking of each other. It seemed the kindness the two had shown each other was enough to break down any former barriers; soon Titan and Thane found themselves swamped with curious ponies, asking all sorts of questions from where they came from, to how they could breathe fire, and after repeated requests eventually the three dragons each raised their heads and let out simultaneous tongues of flame. For a moment the crowds cheered with awe at the majestic show of heat and light, their cheers were abruptly drowned out however by a bang that brought sudden silence, and startled even the three dragons.

“Oh no,” Fluttershy whispered from where she was hovering beside Titan, face hoofing herself as she spoke while Titan searched for the source of the noise “Pinkie…”

“What is it Fluttershy?” Titan said worriedly, flicking his gaze from her to the surrounding street “what’s going o…”

“OK EVERYPONY, IT’S TIME FOR A PARTY!”

It was then Titan noticed a very excited looking pink blur, that was Pinkie Pie, standing in the middle of the crowd, beside her a long pink barrel looking thing that smoked, and made Titan feel uneasy about being near. Next second there was a massive cheer from the pony crowd and Titan swore he only blinked for a moment, when he opened his eyes again however the entire town around him, to his utter amazement, was covered in a mass of decorations and decked out with countless tables delicious of food. Everywhere he looked the former fairly normal brown and pink buildings were now covered in streamers, balloons and ribbons, not to mention there was now a huge banner that read ‘welcome to Ponyville’ hung across the gravel street.

“Uh… but… wait…” He murmured, his eyes trying to accept exactly what he was seeing, before turning back to Fluttershy, who was still hovering beside him. “How exactly did that happen?”

“When it comes to Pinkie Pie and parties,” She shrugged. “You’re better off not asking questions.”

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If there had ever been a better party in history, then Titan had never heard of it; the entire town had suddenly become one big celebration of the new friendship between dragons and ponies, with apparently no expenses spared by the eccentric host Pinkie Pie. All feelings of unease or distrust between the two races disappeared as the day went on, and eventually became evening, the dusk light truly bringing out the party animal in everypony, including Titan.

Despite promising to Fluttershy he would behave, Titan found himself continually dragged into strange but otherwise enjoyable situations, including smashing open piñatas with his tail for the school colts and fillies, and having a massive cake eating contest with Ash; naturally being larger Titan won that challenge.

Thane though being a joker and a challenge accepter, as Titan guessed, got the brunt of the unusual games the ponies played, at one stage deciding to try his claw in a game of truth or dare, which resulted in him being forced to somehow kiss Rainbow Dash at the hooves of Applejack. To say the least both of them were extremely embarrassed at being giggled and wolf-whistled at while they went through with it, although despite the unusual size pairing Titan swore Thane un-admittedly enjoyed it.

“I am so gonna prank you for that!” Titan heard Dash hiss in Applejack’s ear once it was over, the amber pony simply smiling and laughing in reply as Dash hovered angrily beside her.

“Well serves ya right for asking him to roar Dash,” Applejack chuckled as she walked away and left Dash to mutter things under her breath. "And no offense Rainbow, but ya can't lie to me and say ya didn't like it."

Despite her annoyance and embarrassment, Dash couldn’t stay angry for long, and soon found herself summoned to a challenge race with Thane, the two of them sprint flying across Ponyville over and over while the crowds watched and tried to determine who was faster; a task which eventually proved impossible. While the two of them raced Titan found himself in his own strange challenge, seeing how many ponies could sit on his back while he did push ups beside Applejack, the final number was around seventy three before he collapsed in a sweaty heap.

“I think I need a drink,” He grinned as he shook the sweat from his red scales, a moment later grabbing an entire wooden barrel of apple cider in his jaws, and downing the contents in a single gulp, much to the amusement of everypony.

“Just don’t go drinking too much,” Fluttershy smiled as she came over to congratulate him on his efforts. “Remember what happen last time…”

“Wait… what last time, he’s never had my…” Applejack started, her emerald eyes suddenly widening as she glared at Titan. “So you’re the darn varmint who broke into my cellar all those years ago.”

“Well…yeah,” He grinned, feeling his cheeks sting as he played with his claws in embarrassment. “Sorry about that, one of many bad decisions made in my youth… if it’s any consolation, I broke two of my talons in a drunken argument with a tree because of it.”

A smile spread across Applejacks face as she laughed, and soon the issue was all but forgotten, although Titan did feel a little guilty none the less. Eventually he left Fluttershy and Applejack to enjoy themselves with the evening events, and went to find Ash, who as he discovered was lying in the quiet of the park and telling stories to a combination of youngsters and young adults, of which Twilight, Spike and Rarity were three of. Titan simply smiled and listened as Ash retold the stories of his and Titan’s younger years with affection to the crowd, the words bringing back happy memories of days spent flying, play fighting or just exploring the world together. Once Ash had finished a story about a day when the two of them, along with Thane, Saran and Blizzard had fought off a band of diamond dogs, Titan noticed a filly raise her hoof in question, the same filly Titan noted that had approached the black dragon earlier.

“Ash… how come your other friends didn’t come here to Ponyville with you?”

“Mainly because they had no reason to,” Ash smiled warmly in the low light, his dark eyes flicking up at Titan in acknowledgement before returning to the tiny filly. “Thane and I wanted to help Titan with something he had to do, and there was no reason for the others to come with us.”

“Although I think they would have enjoyed the party just as much as we have,” Titan chuckled, causing the crowd to turn around and look at him, and realize at last that he had been sitting there the entire time. “So do not think they dislike you in any way… I only wish they could have been here for you all to meet.”

Everything was silent for a moment before Ash opened his jaws to speak, but before any words came out, his head snapped around and his jaws shut in a snarl. His black eyes widened and a hiss escaped his throat as he stood, and looked out at the darkening sky while everypony else watched him in confusion.

“You may not need to wish much longer Titan… it seems we may have some unexpected company.”

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“Do you actually have any idea where you’re flying?” Blizzard snapped angrily as he came up beside Saran from the darkness, his ice blue scales a complete contrast to Saran’s own dark purple ones. “We’ve been flying for an age Saran, and I’m yet to spot any sign of them.”

“Thane told me nothing other than they were going north,” Saran snarled in reply, returning his amethyst purple eyes to skyline that was now rapidly darkening as the night set in. “And if you want to be angry Blizzard, be so with yourself, if you had of kept your jaws shut we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Blizzard growled but said no more, most likely in Saran’s mind because he knew the words were true in every regard. There were five of them flying together through the night; Blizzard, Lunis, Raldin, Sunset and himself, but it was the actions of Blizzard alone that had required them, to rather frantically, blaze across the night sky in search of Titan.

The day spent around the cave had gone decently well, despite the original absence of Titan, and then Thane and Ash, but that was only up until Titan’s older brother Storm had showed up, apparently looking for his younger sibling.

None of them liked Storm whatsoever; he was a pain to be around and had a bad temper as well, so when he had asked where Titan was, they had all told him they didn’t know, or that had been the plan anyway. Then, all of a sudden, Blizzard had for some reason decided to try and twist an emotional stone into Storm’s side, winking and cheekily telling the white dragon his little brother was ‘off seeing a northern female he knew’, and that was when Storm had lost it completely. It seemed Storm knew more about this female then the rest of them, and without another word had flown off in a violent rage, most likely, as Saran had guessed, to get some of his own older friends to help him deal with his little brother’s ignorance.

“I just hope we are not to late,” Saran thought worriedly, his mind creating twisted visions of what Storm could do when he was angry, and he knew the white dragon was far gone from angry. “For Titan’s sake especially.”

For a moment he flicked his gaze back over his shoulder at Lunis and Raldin through the darkness, just to make sure they weren’t being followed, neither the marble white, nor the topaz orange dragon that were flying at the back however, gave Saran any indication they were in harm’s way. Saran simply nodded in reply to the two of them before returning his eyes to sky in front of him; it was now filled with a beautiful display of stars, but he couldn’t bring himself to admire them, not with the current situation, and the thought of Titan’s expected reaction to the news running through his mind.

Below him the dark forest abruptly ended and Saran’s nostrils we’re filled with a curious scent, a strange smell that seemed to be a combination of sweet foods, and an immense amount of fur. Hoping by his ancestors that he could trust his instincts he followed the scent over a grassy plain, and his heart skipped a beat when he not only saw the clustered lights of an Equestrian town, but the unmistakable massive forms of Titan and Ash. Around them Saran noticed were huge crowds of multi-coloured ponies, apparently in the middle of a celebration which Titan and Ash were seemingly a part off.

“Is that… Titan?” Saran heard Sunset ask curiously from behind him, Saran however took no notice of the gold dragon’s confusion, and instead flew strait for the park his two friends we’re resting in.

The initial meeting of old friends was a little more tense then Saran would have hoped, mainly because as soon as he landed, Titan and Ash locked their fangs in snarls while the countless ponies took protective cover behind the two of them. Saran knew there were four other adult dragons at his side, but facing two angry dragons like Titan and Ash in a fight was not something he hoped to do, they were after all for their ages two of the largest and strongest dragons around.

“What are you five doing here?” Ash said calmly as he scraped the earth with his talons, his death toned voiced however still sending a nervous shiver up Saran’s spine despite the lack of anger. “It is the middle of the night, and you are scaring everypony.”

“Coming to warn you,” Saran said as bluntly as he could, his eyes flicking once between the gathering crowd of ponies and Titan. “Storm knows you’re here Titan… and trust me when I say he isn’t happy. He told us he plans to ‘teach you a lesson’… and I’m guessing since he hasn’t been here yet he’ll probably be here early tomorrow morning, so I suggest unless you want both your horns broken you get out of here right now.”

“YOU TOLD HIM!” Ash roared, the sudden rage in his voice causing everyone to whimper, as all matter of fire began to flare from his nostrils. “DO YOU STONE BRAINED IMBICILES HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HE’LL DO WHEN HE GETS HERE? THIS IS STORM WE’RE TALKING ABOUT! HE’LL BURN THIS ENTIRE TOWN, AND EVERYPONY IN IT TO THE GROUND WITHOUT A SECOND THOUGHT! EVEN IF TITAN ISN’T HERE!”

“We didn’t intent to tell him Ash,” Blizzard said weakly as he stepped back in response to Ash’s anger, every set of dragon eyes falling on him with hatred burning in their depths. “It was a mista…”

“IT DOESN'T MATTER BLIZZARD IF YOU MEANT TO OR NOT!” Ash snarled, taking a menacing step forward and baring his fangs at his ice blue counterpart, now knowing exactly where his rage was directed. “THE FACT OF THE MATTER, IS THAT YOU HAVE NOW PUT EVERYPONY HERE IN DANGER!”

“ENOUGH ASH!”

That was when everyone looked up in surprise at Titan, the red dragon standing, with his thick tail acting as a barrier between the still fuming Ash and the cowering form of Blizzard. Slowly he looked between the two of them, and then his other friends, and at last the crowd of ponies who were now looking very scared at what they had just heard; Titan knew they had every reason to be, his older brother was brutal in every way imaginable. But strangely in the depths of his heart Titan wasn’t scared, not anymore; he had lived his entire life kneeling at his brothers claws and now he was over it, he decided then and there that if Storm wanted to show his face in Ponyville, then he best be ready for the biggest fight of his self-focused life, and if he wanted to hurt Fluttershy in any way he’d need to go through Titan first.

As his mind and his body re-engaged with each other, Titan found Ash still looking at him, anger still in his eyes but his rage now at least seemingly under control.

“Save your anger old friend… save it for Storm,” Titan said gently as he lowered his tail, turning to his five other friends as well as Thane who had just landed nearby. “You are a stupid fool for telling my brother Blizzard, and I want you to know that… but tomorrow I will let you redeem yourself. As you all know I have spent my whole life running from him and his temper, and it almost cost me someone dear to me, as you all now know…”

He looked down at Fluttershy who was now standing at his side, the brave smile on her face giving him the strength he needed to go on, and decide what he would do next.

“…but I am done with running now,” He went on, turning not only to his friends, but to the huge crowd of ponies who had gathered in the park as well. “Tomorrow, when my brother decides to show up, I will be waiting… and I want you all to be waiting with us as well. My brother believes our kind… dragons… are stronger than any possible number of ponies; I want to show him otherwise. All his life he has gotten away with being cruel to everyone around him, but now he has gone too far… you are all my friends, and I will not stand by and let him hurt you… but I cannot fight him as well as his friends on my own. So I am asking you all, to please stand by me tomorrow… and if you do I swear I will make sure my brother never troubles any of you ever again.”

For a moment there was complete and utter quiet from the pony crowd, but then just as Titan had expected, a pony shouted out and broke the reign of silence, and sure enough it was Rainbow Dash.

“I’m with you the entire way big guy!” She said proudly as she flew forward, kicking out at imaginary opponents in the air around her. “Let’s show him!”

“And if Dash is brave enough so am I!” Applejack put in, walking out from the crowd and removing her hat in a sort of salute. “Time I put my roping skills to some good use.”

“HE WILL FEAR MY PARTY CANNON!” Pinkie roared from the middle of the crowd, the pure volume of the excited pink blur’s voice seeming to startle even Ash and the other dragons, which made Titan grin. “HOW DARE THAT MEANIE TRY AND RUIN MY SUPER AWESOME PARTY!”

In a few moments the entire town was up and about in support, the crowd rapidly dispersing across Ponyville in preparation for the defence of what was to happen the next morning. To Titan’s amazement even Fluttershy wanted to help out, flying off with Dash and the other pegasi to help gather storm clouds from the nearby hills. It was then as everything went quiet around him the red dragon sighed and turned to Ash, who was for some reason grinning like an excited fox while his tail thrashed wildly.

“Why are you so excited?” Titan asked oddly, heading back into the middle of Ponyville with the black dragon, Thane and his other friends at his side beside him. “We’re facing the fight of our lives tomorrow.”

“I was just thinking about that old saying,” Ash chuckled to himself as he turned to Titan. “You know… the lull before the storm.”

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Notes:

Sorry about the Dash/Thane thing…after reading the comments I just couldn’t resist (so relax they're only friends). Anyway I hope you enjoyed that and Chapter 8: Day of Flames will be ready around next Friday(ish).

Comments

[MyLittleBurger]

I would think they are only friends.... cause how would any relationship more than that work out?

[Shadow Scryer]

Outcome of everyone vs Storm interesting. Everyone we know of's gonna fight against him, but we don't know if he's bringing any backup or not, plus the fact that the dragons seem considerably nervous around him and, well, they're dragons.

How big is Storm anyway? May be a huge factor.

Enough of my rambling. I admit I had some doubts at the beginning of the story, glad to see they were 100% wrong. Good work mate.

[Edragon]

"I broke two of my talons in a drunken argument with a tree because of it"...pffft-bahahahahaha oh that was funny. Really liking where this is going. Also darn...I was kind of liking the awkward Thane/Dash thing.

[Blue Streak]

Drunk dragon vs. tree, tree wins
8 dragons vs. storm and how many dragons, must play the waiting game to find out... CURSE YOU WAITING GAME!!!!

[Timber the wood pony]

It's OK if their only friends .... ..... Friends who Share Their saliva

[Nikent63]

feel my moustache powers

[Dragon death king]

I for one completely insulted by this dragon pride thing I mean dragon's pride maybe a very big thing but dragons aren't prideful to the point that they think all other races whether humanoid or intelligent talking pony or inferior and if they do then where the f*** did this happen because I want to erase that entire breed