Ambassador

by THOSEideas

Chapter 7

Mockin woke up on a pile of soft, warm squishy stuff. He didn't care what it was he was just happy that he was in a proper bed for once. Or was he? Mockin opened his eyes and immediately closed them because the light blinded him and he tried to get the after image out of his vision. Mockin slowly cracked one eye open and got used to the blinding light, but as he looked around he saw that he was in the mouth of a cave next to a roaring fire and sleeping lumps of leather. Mockin tried to remember what happened but couldn't because he had the worst headache of his life. Instead he tried to get up and look more closely at the sleeping lumps but as soon as he tried to get up he almost blacked out again from his headache flaring. He felt like this is what a hangover was like, however, he never touched any alcohol in his life. That's when he remembered that they had reached the mountains and...did something....what was it? Speaking of which, Mockin looked around but didn't see either of his two friends. As Mockin tried to get up the second time he was forced back down by a force that was behind him. Mockin looked up (he was on his back) and saw the weirdest thing ever, it looked like a reptile of some sort, but it had eyes on the bottom of it's head and its mouth was at the top.

"Your finally conscious, that's good, but you still have a lot of blood missing from before. I'm surprised you woke up as fast as you did because you had at least a sixth of your blood missing."

Mockin just stared at this strange creature with an upside down face and pondered what it told him. He was wounded? When? Why was he here in this cave and not in a hospital? Something was very wrong.

"Where am I?"

"Oh...that's not good, It seems that because you lost a lot of blood it will be a while before you remember everything that happened. Tell me, what do you think of dragons?"

"Dragons? Why would you want to know?"

"Just curious."

"Well I think that they are misunderstood and little is know about them."

"Hmm interesting, what would you do if you came face to face with one?"

"I would probably run and scream for my life. Or maybe I would ask it how its day was. By the way what are you? I haven't seen your species before, i'm sorry if that offends you."

"Oh you have met my species before, you may not like us for it when you remember but hopefully you will understand."

Mockin was totally confused now, the creature said he had met its kind before and that he had memory loss.

"By the way where are my friends?"

"They are in good cl-hoofs. So don't worry about them."

Mockin's brain started running properly when his body created more blood that slowly filled his brain back to full. However, with it came an even worse headache and the pain that his body was in. He also remembered the trial yesterday and the creatures species type: Dragon.

"How long was I out?"

"Almost a day."

"SWEET CELESTIA!! Ooowww...."

Mockin sat bolt upright as he heard how much time had passed and regretted it instantly as his headache flared again.

"Look, your going to kill yourself if you keep worrying about another pony when you should be worried about yourself. I'll go look at your friends and tell you how they are, OK? Stay put."

Mockin sat their looking at the bodies that he now realized were Dragon bodies and all of them were still asleep. Mockin couldn't judge what time it was because he couldn't see the sun, but he guessed it was around afternoon. Which got him more anxious because the trio was running out of time as the Dragon siege was approaching. Come to think of it, why was he being cares for when the Dragons hated ponies? This made no sense at all. Soon the Dragon came back and informed him that his friends were faring better then he was. A slightly releaved Mockin felt like he could be more open about himself now.

"My name is Mockin, what is yours?"

"My name is Jewel, and yes I am female before you ask, I know it can be hard for others to tell Dragon genders apart but I am a girl."

"Why are you taking care of me?"

"Because our races don't understand each other very well and we would like to learn more about you."

"Funny you should mention that, the whole point of us getting here was so that I could learn more about you guys."

One of the Dragons that was sleeping stirred and got up after stretching like a dog or cat. The dragon walked over to Jewel and brushed its side against her as it walked past. Jewel didn't seem to notice.

"Why did that Dragon do that."

"Do what?"

"He brushed past you like he was annoyed with you."

"Oh! That's our way of saying hello or good morning to each other. You don't do the same?"

"No...we just say hello or good morning."

Both creatures looked at each other as if the other was crazy, they had already found out something new about the differing cultures.

"So how do you say goodbye?"

"We rub our cheek against theirs as we walk away. If you do both at the same time then that means you want to talk in private."

"Huh, that kinda makes sense I guess, we talk with words not actions. Do you have an action for saying thank you or your welcome?"

"Yup, thank you is clawing the ground in front of you and your welcome is scratching the ground with your tail."

"Isn't this hard to remember? Cause I mean couldn't you misinterpret something and get the wrong idea?"

"So your saying you never misinterpreted something another pony said?"

"Well...no bu-"

"So then I don't see why that would matter much if every language does it."

Mockin shut his mouth at that last remark, there wasn't a single language that hadn't had a misinterpretation in it to his knowledge.

Mockin and jewel continued to talk about their differing cultures. After Mockin had asked most of his questions he let Jewel ask her's. As they continued to talk, more and more Dragons woke up, some noticing Mockin and others not so much. One even brushed up against his side as he went past, that was a start at least.

"Who dominates in a family?"

The question was so out of place it caught Mockin off guard and he drew a blank.

"Sorry?"

"When two ponies get married who dominates the family? Who's on top?"

"Oh...well that depends really, because the married couple usually share all the responsibilities of being the head of the family."

"There isn't a clear ruler?! Wow! How do you make decisions then? Here, the females dominate and only if the female is killed or exiled will the male become in charge of the family."

Mockin couldn't believe his ears, the female ruled the family indefinitely? Unless of an extreme case? How did the coupe with that? Mockin wasn't sexist he just couldn't believe that there was a designated leader in a family.

"Um...how...oh boy, how often do you breed?"

"..."

"You don't have to tell me! I was just wanted to know more about Dragons in general!"

"Its fine...obviously in your culture that is a less personal question, because here it is a question that you only ask your mate when you want to...um..."

Mockin's face went red with embarrassment as he realized how awkward that must have been for her.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know!"

"Thats fine, one of the reasons why it is only asked between couples is because it varies between dragon, for instance a female dragon could mate every year but only have 2-3 eggs where as another dragon could only mate every two years would have 6-7 eggs."

"I see...so how does that work? Do you mate for life?"

"Yes, although things can happen and the two will split up."

"That's just like us! We mate for life but sometimes the marriage could be compromised. So to speak."

Mockin and Jewel were both happy that they found something in common between they're cultures. A dragon walked into the cave and stopped by Jewel to lick the side of her face before staring at Mockin intently.

"And who is this? What is your name?"

The dragon had a brief and gruff voice but he didn't seem upset about Mockin's presence.

"I'm Mockin..."

Mockin was still confused why the dragon had licked Jewel, but decided to hold his question until later.

"This very rude and handsome dragon is my mate, Razor."

Razor just stared at me and didn't blink, he was sizing him up and wondering why he was so important all of a sudden.

"Well fir, I am going to out hunting see around OK?"

"Yeah sure whatever, have a good time!"

Jewel looked back at Mockin and guessed he had more questions.

"When he licked me that was a more closer way of saying hello, only used for family and mates. Also, fir is short for 'Fire in my Heart' which is another way of addressing a mate."

"Oooooh, we say, honey or babe, or something like that. And instead of licking we kiss each other.

"What's a kiss?"

Mockin stared at the dragon in front of her and wondered how she hadn't heard of a kiss.

"A kiss is when two ponies lock their lips to each others, more intimate ones are when you stick your tongue in the other ponies mouth. You only do the second part to a mate.

"Hmmm, interesting, very interesting."

Mockin was thinking the same and was about to voice his thoughts when he felt a tingle and pulse on his flank. He turned his body to get a better look and found what his whole life had led up to. His Cutie Mark.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay but I have a life to attend to.

I hope there wasn't any errors but if you find some point them out to me