Techorse Short Stories

by Spirals95

#46 - A Date with Disaster

Author's Note:

In this story:

Pyre the dragon returns to Ponyville, eager to show off her new partner to her pony friends in hopes he will also learn to appreciate Equestrian society. But he has plans of his own for Ponyville...

A Date With Disaster

Techorse Series: #46

By Spirals95

Countertop was a timid but well meaning earth pony mare who dreamed of owning her own kitchen table business ever since she laid her eyes on that first block of polished granite as a foal. Of course, it took money and an apprenticeship with a master counter maker before she could get anywhere with her life goal, so until one of her many application letters to kitchen builders around Equestria got noticed, she was stuck in Ponyville making and delivering hot pizzas for Ponyville's one in town restaurant. Although a bit pudgy around her middle, she had learned how to get around quickly with the pizza boxes strapped to her back to protect the 30 minute guarantee her restaurant offered. Sometimes, the mare with the goldenrod colored coat made the delivery so quickly she was rewarded by a nice tip, and she had carefully set aside her tip money to save up for her education for when she finally got accepted as an apprentice.

This time however, a mysterious note had appeared at the pizza parlor's door requesting a large cheese pie be delivered to address “4th Mountain Cave on the right, Eastern Mountain Range.” Her employer had shrugged at the strangeness of the note, suggesting some cave spelunkers or hikers had probably ordered the pizza as an after-workout meal, and sent the reluctant Countertop out with the food strapped to her as usual, despite her protests that it was probably just a prank. Now she was climbing the dirty trail of the eastern mountain range behind Techorse's castle home, the rocks on the dusty road threatening to dig in under her hooves.

“Kinda wish it wasn't so hot out,” she muttered as she blew a puff of air to push a piece of her blue and white striped hair out of the way.

The pizza on her back had started to leak hot mozzarella grease into the white and green cardboard of the box, making it uncomfortably hot and burning on the mare's back and soaking her coat with the fat. She grumbled something about needing to take a shower when she got back, and reached a clearing where a few caves clearly stood out amongst black rock. Countertop looked around, and saw the fourth cave on the left, as the instructions stated.

“Time to find out nopony's there and tell Mr. Doughtoss this was all just a stupid joke,” she sighed, shaking her head.

The fourth cave on the left seemed ordinary enough, but once she had approached it, there was clearly something wrong. A small sign made of crudely cut wood and vines had been stuck into the ground on the left of the cave opening, which was nearly 12 feet tall and half of that across. A cool draft came out from the cave, drying some of the sweat coming off of the delivery mare's face.

“Hello!” she called out, raising a hoof,” Anypony here, I've got a large cheese pizza someone's gotta pay for.”

A few moments passed, and Countertop turned around to walk away, “Heh, I knew it. This was just a cheap prank...”

A loud footstep came down behind her, startling the mare, who slowly turned around to face who had showed up at the cave's entrance. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized she was looking at a pair of young adult dragons, both of them nearly 7 feet tall, with massive wings tucked behind them. The first was a dark pink dragoness with wide hips, jade green eyes, and orange head scales draped over the side of her head like hair. Her lighter tan belly scales reflected some of the outside sun, and her long pink tail was barbed with axe-like bone spikes. The other dragon was an equally large and intimidating male, with dark gray scales, yellow piercing eyes that tracked Countertop's movements, gold colored head scales that were short and stuck up until the very front, which curved back slightly, and a tail dominated with 3 backward facing spikes.

Countertop nearly screamed, but all that came out of her throat was a terrified choking sound.

“Celestia save me!” she shrieked in her mind, “I'm never gonna be seen again!”

Shaking in fear, the dragons continued to stare for a bit until the dragoness finally rolled her eyes and puffed a sarcastic dollop of smoke from her nostrils.

“Huh, well, I guess you did make the thirty minutes after all,” she teased, “fine, I'll pay.”

She reached under her left wing and tossed a small sack of golden bits to Countertop, who stared at the payment for a few moments before picking it up and tucking it in her saddlebags under the pizza. The pie was taken from her by the reptile, who seemed to be enjoying the pony's mortal terror.

“You.. you're letting me go?” whimpered Countertop.

“Yeah, but I don't really have a tip for you, except maybe this,” she answered, digging back in her wing.

She pulled out a blue gem in the shape of a star, a few inches across, and brought it down to the pony, placing it in front of her. Coutnertop did not want to be rude, and accepted the present, putting it in her bag as well.

“Hey, thanks!” she said, backing away slowly, “You enjoy now!”

“Yeah, get out of here,” answered the dragon gruffly in return, “you've got work to do.”

Countertop ran as fast as her legs could carry her away from the dragons. She couldn't believe her fortune that they legitimately wanted to buy the pizza and had not set this up as a trap to catch her. As soon as she got back, she would warn Ponyville about the presence of the reptiles.

---

Once the mare was plain out of sight, the male dragon groaned and finally showed up.

“Pyre, what the heck was that?” he grunted, crossing his arms and shaking his head.

“I was clearly cheating the delivery mare out of a tip, Smokey. Star Sapphires taste like tinfoil,” she answered, raising a reptilian eyebrow, “totally worthless.”

“We could have dragged her in and eaten her with the pizza, costing us nothing,” replied her partner, “are you seriously working with these guys?”

“Those guys kept our clan from starving to death by making it illegal for their own kind to mine gems near our home area,” growled Pyre in response, “I'm coming back here to introduce you to them in hopes you'll stop making jokes about eating them. They're actually pretty afraid of that stuff.”

“Well we could have just plain taken it while she was scared,” he continued to argue as they walked into their cave home, “don't even have to use brute force that way. That's what makes us Firehearts better than those Bloodstones!”

“I guess...” sighed Pyre, still not approving of the idea.

Recently, Pyre had decided to attack the Everfree Forest as a means of getting revenge for Equestria mining gems near her dragon clan's home to the point of them starving. But after being stopped, the ponies had outlawed any Equestrian mining in the area to ensure enough gemstones reached their hungry population. It had changed her mind about the Equestrians being just greedy herbivores for the looting.

The two dragons entered the more open area of the cave where they made their home. Pyre had insisted on two separate treasure piles for them to sleep on at night, and the two hordes of gold ore and gems sat in opposite corners on the cave, with a crude table in the middle where they would enjoy their pizza after they topped it with some rubies they had dug out of the walls. After setting the still steaming food on the table, she was approached from behind by her companion. Pyre was unhappy with his attitude, and looked down at the floor sadly with her arms crossed.

Smokey took advantage of this, and with a slick look on his face, walked up behind Pyre and grabbed the back of her tail.

“Hey, I love you babe,” he said soothingly, “you think your way, I'll think mine.”

Pyre was pretty sure he was just trying to get “some sugar”, but she enjoyed the strong arm on her tail, and answered, “Yeah, I love you too. I just, you know, gotta admit we really got the better end of the mining deal. I wanted to introduce you to the ponies to try and get more of our clan to accept them.”

“We going into town after lunch miss hottie?” he asked to ignore her question, letting go of her appendage.

“Uh huh, just promise me no more jokes? They really hate it,” she said.

“Whatever. They ought to just lighten up,” he grunted, opening the box in front of him.

Pyre shook her head, “Maybe, I don't know.”

She wondered as she watched her boyfriend struggle to remove a slice of pizza if there really was any hope of him behaving himself. A quick glance to an empty, rounded spot in the cave lined with soft gold coins and gems, and she sighed, knowing why she was bothering.

---

“I'm telling you guys the truth!” panted Countertop furiously in front of Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Rarity, “There's two big dragons living in one of the caves in the mountains opposite of Tech's house! I barely escaped!”

“What do you mean you barely escaped?” scoffed Spike as he pointed at the gemstone poking out of the delivery mare's saddlebags, “You got a sapphire star as a tip from one of them, that thing's worth like a hundred bits!”

Countertop was surprised at the smaller dragon's statement, and she removed the beautiful five pointed gem from her bag.

“It... it is?”

“Why yes darling!” marveled Rarity, stepping forward and grabbing the gem with a blue glow of magic.

After looking over the gem and spinning it in the air, she appraised the piece, “Now, most ordinary gems are not worth very much money, but those with a special form like a sapphire star are very much so! This is one of the rarer specimens of gem that can be found around Ponyville!”

“Would you like to buy it then?” asked Countertop.

“I wish I had a project to use it in, sadly,” sighed the dressmaker as she returned the gemstone to Countertop, “it is such a shame I have to pass up such a great centerpiece candidate, but I can't afford to purchase such gems on speculation.”

“Huh?”

Twilight explained, “Rarity doesn't have a customer buying a dress that would need that kind of stone.”

The mare turned to Spike, who seemed indifferent to the gem, “So no luck with you either?”

“Are you teasing me? Sapphire stars taste like tinfoil,” he said, scrunching his face in disgust.

“Well, thanks for the advice guys, looks like I'm stuck with this paperweight for a while,” she sighed, placing the gemstone back in the bag.

“You could always try the jeweler, he might be interested!” suggested Twilight, “But hey, even if he's not, you've got a really neat rare gemstone there, and better yet, it was a gift from some dragons nice enough to share with you!”

“Yeah, I'm curious,” said Spike, “most dragons aren't as nice as I am, who were they?”

“Well they're both about like, twice our height,” explained the waitress, lifting up a hoof and tilting her head to estimate height, “and one of them was a pinkish color with green eyes, and orange head scales, a lady. Didn't get too good of a look at her partner, some scary guy.”

“Hey, that sounds like Pyre!” said Twilight, her ears snapping to attention and a smile forming on her face, “Did she have an axe-like tail?”

Countertop nodded, “Now that you mention it, I guess she did.”

“Oh how wonderful!” said Rarity, “Perhaps she intends to visit today! We should consider heading into town to greet them, it sounds like she has a new friend.”

“You do that, I'm going to go see if I can get some dough for this rock,” said Countertop, walking past them, “have a good one, guys.”

“You too, Countertop!” answered Twilight.

“Isn't this splendid?” sighed Rarity happily, “Oh we get to see how Pyre's life has changed since our treaty with the Fireheart dragons!”

“Yeah, I know! We've learned so much about dragon clans since the mining rezoning last year,” agreed Twilight, eyes twinkling, “I can't wait to catch up with her on more things that her dragon clan does!”

“Me too!” said Spike, “But, how will they know where to find us?”

“Heh, funny story,” admitted Twilight, smiling nervously “I sort of exchanged letters with Pyre for the past few months, she knows about my favorite restaurant. Chances are that's where she'll go once they finish that pizza Countertop gave her.”

“I bet Tech will want to see her again too, let's hit his place and circle back!” suggested Spike, pointing to the square fortress in the distance.

“Absolutely,” agreed the unicorn, “let's see if he's in!”

---

As was expected, Techorse was in his home that day, playing a board game with Applejack and Rainbow Dash to enjoy a relaxing afternoon. But an invitation to see Pyre was too good to pass up, and the three ponies quickly abandoned their match to follow their friends to the cafe Techorse and Twilight had spent so much time at. They took a seat at one of the larger outdoor tables, and ordered a large pitcher of lemonade to split amongst the six of them. But eventually, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had passed along and were interested in seeing Pyre again too, joining their friends at the table and bringing the total to eight. The gang was back together to welcome their dragon friend, even if she had recently tried to burn down the forest.

“Oh wowie!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie to her friends, “I can't believe Pyre's back in town and has a brand new friend! I thought dragons had trouble making friends.”

Twilight smiled, “They do, which is why we're here, to show some support!”

“I'm just glad Pyre has changed so much this year,” added Fluttershy, rubbing the condensation collecting on the outside of her glass with her wing, “I hope her life has been better. It was so awful, hearing that her dragon clan was starving like that.”

“But thanks to the treaty everyone's better off!” said Techorse.

“Look, here they come now!” said Pinkie Pie, “This is gonna be great!”

The ponies all looked in the direction Pinkie Pie was eagerly pointing, as the two dragons approached them from the east side of town. They were holding hands, with Smokey smirking at all the ponies who gave him scared looks.

“Oh, there they are!” said Pyre, pointing with her claw, “You're going to like them, Smokey, promise.”

“Look at how scared these freakish little herbivores are,” he snickered as he pointed at Berry Punch, who was trying to climb inside a nearby barrel to hide from the reptiles, “I think you're right, I am gonna like these guys! Their reactions are rich!”

They walked up to the table, where Techorse and Twilight got up to greet them. The first thing the circle of friends noticed was that Pyre's scales looked far healthier than they did the first time they had seen her. Her dark pink skin had been peeling due to a lack of gemstones in her diet needed to maintain the armored coating, but now that there was an adequate supply, they had regrown in full, and a smile was finally on her face.

“Welcome back to Ponyville Pyre!” greeted Spike, walking around from behind the table.

Smokey seemed surprised there was another dragon, and chuckled while crossing his arms and looking at the ponies in front of him. To him, Equestrians looked ridiculous, all colored like crayons and their crazy obsessive focus on their special talents. He watched as his girlfriend met Spike in an embrace.

“Heeeey, squirt!” teased Pyre, kneeling down and giving Spike a hug, “Good to see you again!”

“So, who's the new guy?” he asked as she stood back up.

Pyre turned to him and stretched out a scaled hand, “This is my boyfriend, Smokey! He's got this...”

Smokey interrupted her rudely and pushed past her, leaning against the table with conceit on his face, “That's all right babe, I'll do the talking.”

“Babe?” snorted Rarity, her head recoiling in disgust.

“Yeah, name's Smokey Poisonback, Don Poisonback's son,” he said, reaching for the pitcher of lemonade.

He grabbed the entire container of lemon drink and proceeded to start drinking directly from the pitcher. Pinkie Pie hadn't gotten the chance to pour herself a glass, and she frowned over the fact that she wouldn't get any.

Rainbow Dash recognized that name, and her wings shivered with fear, “Don Poisonback?! That's that creep that tried to eat me!”

“Ahhh no, don't tell me you're Rainbow Dash,” laughed Smokey, burying his face into his right hand, “Please no!”

“Yeah, that's me! You've got some nerve being here,” she growled, flapping her wings and hovering above the dragon.

“Pfffft, calm down Rainbow Dash, pop's plan was stupid! I'm much smarter than my dad, trust me,” he said, shaking his head.

“Oh, well, you're smarter than your father, that's very good for you!” said Rarity in a supportive way, still wishing that Smokey who smelled heavily of bad cologne would step back from the table.

“So anyways, dad found me a hot lady here in Pyre, and got us together!” he said, standing up, “So that's how me met. Now she wants me here in your town meeting her little plant nibblers.”

“Plant nibblers?” giggled Pinkie Pie, “That's a silly name for ponies!”

Techorse didn't like Smokey's jokes and felt like he was being patronizing, so he said, “So, I guess he introduced you to Pyre. Probably because you're both smart?”

Smokey drained the rest of the pitcher of lemonade and placed it back down on the table, “Eh maybe, but you know something, Pyre's greatest asset is that sweet tail of hers. Can't get enough.”

Twilight and Rarity's mouths fell open at the same time, and Applejack tipped her hat angrily while Fluttershy nearly choked on her sip of lemonade. Even Spike could not believe what was coming out of the other dragon's mouth.

Pyre noticed how shocked her friends were and stepped forward awkwardly, “Well, my tail is quite pretty!”

“Pyre!” complained Twilight, frowning at her friend in expectation she'd say something.

“No, really Twilight, being told you have a pretty tail is a very high dragon compliment! Remember from all the letters I sent you?”

Twilight Sparkle accepted the answer and tried to forget about what Smokey had said.

Applejack finally spoke up, “So, how long ya gonna be here for, Smokey?”

He answered, “For a while. I've got some plans with my girl here. We're living up in the cave on the eastern mountain range.”

The thought of them living there made Rarity faint, and she collapsed along with her chair, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie diving to their rescue. Techorse felt a twinge of anger building up inside of him, he knew how Smokey treated Pyre and mooched off of her home was wrong, but there wasn't much he was going to be able to do about it. After all, Smokey had no seeming intent to cause physical violence like some other dragons might, he was just behaving poorly.

“So yeah, we've been in the same cave, been cool. Can't wait to move in for good,” he said, snickering and walking away from the table, “anyways Pyre, I'm going to go check out this place, your friends are pretty good for ponies!”

“Leaving?” asked Fluttershy, still trying to prop Rarity with her hoof, “But... we haven't even told you our names or anything yet. Don't you want to stay and talk?”

“Yeah, in a bit,” he answered, shrugging, “Just wanna check out your town, looks great!”

“Smokey, you should really stay and get to know these guys, it's why I brought you here for the week,” urged the dragoness.

He snapped at her, “Don't tell me what to do, ok? I'll be happy to talk more once I've seen Ponyville for myself, got it?”

“Fine!” answered Pyre, retreating with some fear in her voice, “We'll still be here.”

He smiled, having won the short fight, and walked off, his tail dragging behind him on the cobblestone ground. Pyre looked back at her friends, who all seemed to have very concerned and looking at her with their big, colorful eyes.

“So... what do you guys think of my new boyfriend?” she asked, smiling.

“Well, you see...” began Rarity, her voice wavering.

“He's... interesting!” said Twilight, clenching her teeth and grinning nervously.

Pinkie Pie couldn't take the lies anymore and stood up on the table, drawing a huge breath of air.

“WE THINK HE'S A BIG MEAN JERKYFACE!” she blurted out, screaming at the top of her lungs and waving her front limbs over her head.

Her friends all looked at her, stunned but approving of the sentence.

She sat back down, giggled slowly and said, “Oops! Sorry!”

“It's ok Pinkie Pie, and yes, Smokey is a jerk!” said Applejack, “Pyre, that guy ain't right.”

“Well come on Applejack, he's Don's son and a dragon with less experience with ponies. Of course he's going to be a bit rough,” she said, crossing her arms and frowning.

“Pyre, we're not so concerned with how he treats us as how he treats you!” said Twilight, “He clearly just likes your tail and doesn't care about your feelings.”

“Yeah, he wouldn't even let you talk!” complained Rainbow Dash.

Pyre eventually conceded and uncrossed her arms before looking at the ground sadly, “Look, I know... but...”

“Oh, don't tell us you can CHANGE HIM,” groaned Spike.

“Probably not,” admitted the dragoness, “but that doesn't mean he's hopeless.”

“Yeah it does,” scoffed Rainbow Dash, who was immediately given a nasty look by her friends.

“What? Too far?”

“I think maybe he does this because he doesn't get to see how you guys live,” explained Pyre, “I can't get him to change, but maybe seeing how great pony life is might help, it worked for Spike after all.”

“Hey, that's right!” agreed Spike, snapping his fingers, “Maybe he is a jerk, but we can at least try to be nice. I'm going to go see if I can talk to him.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” whimpered Fluttershy.

“Smokey doesn't seem hostile, just a bit arrogant. Let's let Spike give it a try,” said Techorse, nodding once.

“In the meantime, I... I kinda want to see what you ponies like to do for fun, too!” admitted Pyre, almost blushing, “It might be fun!”

Rarity seemed to immediately cover from her fainting and sweating, and stood up tall, cheer in her voice, “The spa! We should go to the spa!”

“What's a spa?” she asked.

“Oh, we're going to have a great day!” trilled the unicorn mare at the top of her voice, “Follow me Pyre, and I'll show you, I'm sure you'll find it absolutely refreshing.”

Twilight watched as Spike disappeared from view around a building to go find Smokey, and worried a bit about him as her friends stood up to take Pyre to the spa. She hoped he would be able to convince Smokey that pony life was worth trying, and maybe would start to make some improvements.

The unicorn leaned over to her coltfriend and whispered to him, “Tech, could you go and keep an eye on Spike please? Just make sure he doesn't run into any trouble with Smokey.”

“All right, I'll catch up with you after you're done with the spa,” he agreed, turning around and galloping away to catch up to Spike.

“Something's definitely wrong with that Smokey, and not just how he treats Pyre,” sighed the mare, before headed for the spa to meet with her friends.

---

Smokey ignored the terrified looks the ponyfolk of the town were giving him as he walked confidently to his destination. He weaved along the alleyways between the thatch-rooftop houses until he came to a slightly more open area, and found the building he was looking for.

The Ponyville Bank was made with the traditional roof of the other Ponyville buildings, but its walls were made out of hardened white bricks of concrete instead of the traditional wood and plaster of the other homes. A large sign with the Equestrian Bit symbol hung in front of the establishment, and the door had several iron bars dug into its sides that would be closed overnight. There wasn't actually much of any chance of a robbery in Ponyville, so the passive defenses were plenty to avoid tempting would-be thieves or overly curious creatures that might appear from the Everfree Forest, attracted by the money and valuables inside the bank's safe deposit boxes.

Smokey stopped and put his arms at his side, eyeballing the building, his tail dragging on the ground behind him.

“So this is it huh?” he said to himself.

The dragon walked around to the back of the building, and placed his head up against the wall, listening for a moment to what was going on inside. He then reached under his wing and pulled out a pad of paper and a crude pencil made from a twig turned to charcoal by his own fire breath, and began to take notes on the building, noting its height, length, and thickness of the walls. Spike caught up to the older dragon, and noticed him scribbling on his pad.

“Oh, hey!” he called out, “Another dragon that can write like me!”

Smokey fumbled with the pencil, surprised he had been followed, and quickly stopped, making eye contact with Spike as the pencil dropped to the ground.

“Whoops, lemme get that for you,” the young dragon said, reaching down and picking up the writing utensil before handing it back to Smokey.

“Thanks, and yes, I can write,” he answered, rolling his eyes, “what, you think I'm stupid or something?”

Spike put his front fingers together, “No, it's just most dragons I've met are pretty mean and don't care about stuff like writing, reading, or doing anything nice.”

“Like who, small fry?” he asked, smirking and crossing his arms.

“Well, like Garble and his gang,” answered Spike, “don't know if you've met him before.”

“Of course I've met that idiot,” responded Smokey, “he's a clan Bloodstone member and like all of them, dumb as a rock. Us Fireheart dragons are superior in mind and use that to get our way. Fists and firebreath aren't the only weapon a dragon has, kid!”

Spike knew he was a member of the Bloodstone clan based on his personal experience and feelings around those dragons, and felt like Smokey was making a blanket statement.

“What difference does it make if you beat others up or trick them out of stuff?” he responded, “Why can't you be nice to get things you want?”

“I think that's what my girlfriend is trying to teach me, and it's quite honestly pretty sappy,” he answered, “look, I'm trying to learn how to appreciate pony stuff, I am. But it's weird you guys think all this friendship stuff matters, since when has our kind needed friends to succeed?”

Techorse peered around the corner of a nearby building, his head just sticking out from behind the wall as he watched Spike confront Smokey. He considered his options if the older dragon got hostile towards his friend, and thought about taking out his laser cannons ahead of time.

Spike could tell he wasn't getting anywhere, so he complained, “If you don't need any friends, how are you supposed to be friends with Pyre? How can you love her without being her friend?”

“I do love her...” muttered Smokey.

Spike pointed a purple finger and hunched over in anger, “Yeah, for her tail. How about the rest of her?”

Smokey grinned, Spike having provided an escape for him, and said, “I guess you're right.”

“Wait, what?” choked Spike, straightening his back and looking confused.

“Oh yeah, I definitely am not doing anything right,” he answered sadly, closing his eyes and nodding, “I can't help being so bad, I've got nothing, while you... you've gotten the best of both worlds! You can stand up to others like me like a true dragon, and you're still able to hang around these four legged softies every day!”

Techorse didn't know why Smokey was trying to swing the topic, until Spike started to take on a more positive tone.

“Well, I don't like to brag,” he answered, smiling, “but I'm pretty good around ponies, yeah.”

Smokey looked back at the wall behind him with a scheming look on his face, a plan forming in his mind.

“And the ponies trust you completely even though you're a dragon?” asked the young adult, scratching his scaly chin with the nails on his left claw.

“Absolutely,” laughed Spike, running a claw through his green head scales, “I'm their guy!”

“Well, do you think maybe... you could show me around and help me see what's good about pony life? I'd be more comfortable taking lessons from another dragon,” he said as he bent at the knees to bring himself down to Spike's height, “I really want to learn the things Pyre wants me to know.”

“So, you'll give this a chance?” asked Spike, hopeful.

“Yup, as long as you're the one teaching. I'm just not going to take instructions from the ponies,” he said, “not really feeling that.”

The inventor behind the building sunk back behind and questioned Smokey's motives. Why would he want Spike's support?

“Hey, fair enough!” continued Spike, “Let's start by talking to some of the ponies, they don't see too many other dragons, and they might think you're cool.”

“How about we start by going in this bank?” he asked, pointing behind himself, “It's right here and I bet there's a ton of ponies.”

“Sure!” answered Spike, “Then after, Sugarcube Corner for some cookies or something!”

“Lead the way, Spike, lead the way!” he said, stepping to the side and smiling.

Spike gleefully ran past the dragon around the corner to grab the door to the bank, and Smokey chuckled at his own cleverness.

“This'll work out just fine, Pyre will be happy, and I'll be one step closer...”

“Hey, come on, I'm holding the door!” called Spike.

Smokey shook his head and snorted before running around the building to enter the bank. Techorse stood back for a second, having watched the scene, and thought about what he had just heard.

“I wonder why Smokey was so eager to have Spike help him?” he asked himself, “I'd better tell Twilight.”

The green stallion's battle saddle doors opened up, and his turbofans extended from the side, two disks with propeller blades. The gadgets activated, and the helicopter blades whirred inside their cases, granting Techorse flight as he lifted off to find his friends.

---

Pyre couldn't believe how nice the ponies' spa treatment felt on her reptilian body. Aloe and Lotus had finally managed to remove the knot in her back that had bugged her from months on sleeping in a poor position. She looked at her hand, each of her nails were painted ruby red with bright nail polish, and her scales has been scrubbed down with pumice to make them nice and smooth.

“I never thought getting cleaned up would feel so nice,” she said to Aloe, who was finishing adding the same polish to her toenails.

She answered, “We're glad you enjoy it, we don't see any other dragons besides Spike here, but we do our best to please all our customers!”

“The way you guys treat your guests, customers, and friends is amazing,” sighed Pyre, “just wish I could convince my boyfriend of that too. Or any of the other dragons in the Fireheart clan.”

“Pyre, I'm going to be blunt here,” said Applejack, who was getting her mane trimmed a bit, “ya need to do your own thing and not worry about what he thinks.”

“Yeah, ditch the loser!” encouraged Rainbow Dash.

“That's not a very nice thing to say,” said Fluttershy softly, frowning.

“It's just... I hate being alone,” muttered Pyre, “and Smokey's dad came up to me and...”

“Made you an offer you couldn't refuse?” asked Twilight.

“Yeah, kinda. He said his son was checking me out and I should start going out with him. I guess I decided to go with it because I hated sitting by myself in my cave. I thought it'd be better to try and be with someone who at least thought I was interesting.”

“It's not right if he doesn't treat you well,” said Twilight, frowning, “I hope we can be a good influence on him, but I would hate to see you get hurt Pyre.”

“I'm not going to get hurt,” she said, faking confidence, “besides, what would I do otherwise?”

Pyre went silent on her pony friends for a while, before Rarity decided to change the subject.

“Perhaps you should take up a career of some kind!” she said spontaneously, “It might help if you apply yourself a bit!”

“Like a job?” muttered the dragoness.

Rarity shook her head, “Why no silly, a career is an application of your talents, not just something to pass the time! I understand dragons don't have cutie marks, but surely you have something you're good at!”

“Well, we have a lot of dragon history scrolls in our clan's caves, and I've read them all and helped some of the others understand them,” she said, thinking it over, “but it's just a hobby, don't know how that helps.”

“It helps a lot!” gasped Twilight, “Pyre, not all the other dragons are going to want to read those scrolls. You should think about becoming a teacher!”

“A schoolteacher?” laughed the dragon, “You want me to teach hatchlings how to read, write, and about dragon history?”

“Isn't that something you'd like to do?” asked Pinkie Pie, “I think you'd make a really fun teacher!”

“I guess I could try,” she answered, standing up from her treatment, “now that I look all nice, thanks to your friends here.”

Aloe and Lotus smiled, feeling appreciated, and retreated into the back of their spa to prepare to serve their next customer.

“So, what should I do first as a teacher?”

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but was intercepted by Rarity, who stepped out of her bath, “First I need to make you a schoolteacher's dress! For free, of course.”

“Yeah, come on! Let's go get Pyre all dressed up!” giggled Pinkie Pie.

The friends started to walk for the door of the spa, and Twilight held the door open for them with her magic as they exited. Once they were all outside, she closed the door behind herself, to find Techorse walking up to her.

“Hey!” she said, “We're just about to leave to have Rarity make a dress for Pyre. She's going to try being a teacher, I'm so excited for her!”

“Pyre's going to teach? I didn't know she liked to do that kind of thing,” answered Techorse, “I need to see this!”

“Sure! But first, how's Spike doing?” she asked.

He answered positively, “Spike is showing Smokey around Ponyville, I guess he just was a bit mistrusting of us ponies.”

Twilight could sense something odd and asked, “That seems like a quick turnaround. Are you sure?”

“Yeah, he was excited to see some of the things we have here in town, just as long as he doesn't have to put up with us,” he answered, then proceeding to frown slightly at the thought of what he just said.

He shook it off, “I guess he just needs time to grow! Now what's this about an outfit for Pyre?”

Twilight smiled, and pointed a hoof down the road in front of them, “Come on, we need to get to Rarity's place and help with that dress!”

---

Spike had shown Smokey all his favorite places in town, Sugarcube Corner, the bowling alley, the bank, and even the comic book shop. The older dragon hadn't seemed to pay too much attention to the ponies running their businesses, but he had taken a lot of notes on the pad of paper he had brought with him. Many of the residents were a bit startled at the pair of reptiles hanging out, but Spike had tried to introduce Smokey to them, with mixed results. Now they were headed for Steiner's place, The Froth Shop, to enjoy a delicious mug of root beer.

“So, how's Ponyville so far for you?” asked Spike, confident he was making progress.

“Oh it's a great town kid,” answered Smokey, whistling, “you've got so much stuff here. Never knew how productive those ponies were. Kinda nuts if you ask me.”

“Well we got one more place to go, Steiner's soda shop!” chuckled the young dragon, “He's gonna be thrilled to see another dragon.”

“Sure, I wanna see all the shops!” snickered the older dragon, cracking his knuckles together, “I love em!”

The two entered the soda shop's glass front doors, ringing the copper bell hanging above, and walked up to the stainless steel counter over the checkered floor. Steiner appeared from behind the counter, and welcomed them, serving them each a cold mug of root beer. Spike's drink was almost as big as he was, but he was able to tip the cold, sugary drink into his mouth anyways.

“Ahhh, so good!” he said, before setting his glass down and letting out a happy belch.

Smokey took note of an area behind the counter and began to scribble some more in his notepad, which Spike ignored in favor of dropping a few more bits on the counter to grab another root beer from Steiner. Once they had their fill of soda, the dragons left the shop, the late afternoon sun not feeling so hot anymore after so many cold drinks.

“Well Smokey, that was every place in Ponyville I know of!” said Spike, smacking the rest of the root beer flavor from his lips, “We should get back to Twilight now.”

“Where do you guys live anyways?” he asked.

“Oh that's easy, we live in the library,” answered Spike, “I'll take you there!”

Smokey and Spike started the walk back for the library, with the younger one confident he had shown Smokey just how awesome life in Ponyville could be. The elder simply smirked, thinking of something completely different, when he stumbled slightly on a loose stone in the pavement. His foot caught under the rock, tripping him up, and the notepad fell from beneath his wings, landing in the street. While he was recovering, Spike went back to pick up the notepad, and out of curiosity, began to read it.

Spike's eyes grew wide as he saw what Smokey had done, he had taken notes on the locations of all the safes, cash registers, and security systems in Ponyville, including a floor plan of the bank. Steps were included to rob all of the shops of Ponyville, and Spike gasped as he looked over the blueprints.

Smokey saw Spike's mortified expression while looking over the notes, and looked around quickly to make sure there were no ponies before spreading his wings fully, casting a dark shadow over Spike. The purple dragon looked up slowly, and saw Smokey's eyes glowing yellow with hatred, yet a wicked smile was on his face.

“Soooo, I can see you've found out my little plans there, Spike!” he laughed.

“Now I know why you wanted to see Ponyville, so you could rob it!” yelled Spike, pointing at the dragon and confirming the obvious, “I thought you were going to be cool and learn this for your girlfriend, but you don't care about Pyre at all!”

“Pffft, yeah I do! As a nice trophy wife for when I pull of the sneakiest heist that robs Ponyville blind! I'll be the most popular and respected dragon in the Fireheart clan, just like pops, and Pyre will pretty much have to stay with me or be kicked out!” he laughed, crossing his harms and shooting jets of yellow flame out of the sides of his mouth.

Spike's heart skipped a beat when he heard, “Of course, now that you know my plans, I can't have you running off and warning those stupid plant munchers!”

Thinking quickly, Spike breathed fire on the notepad as Smokey lunged for him, incinerating the plans in a puff of green flame and black smoke. The gray hand of the older dragon wrapped around his throat, and Spike found himself being lifted up.

“Ha! You little runt, I've memorized that thing. Now all I have to do is take care of you!” he snickered as Spike started to choke and claw at his hand for air.

Looking around, Smokey spotted an old-fashioned well left uncovered and exposed to the elements, and walked over to it, looking down to make sure it was a good fall. He then moved Spike over the opening, and dropped the young dragon in, his yell heard echoing off the sides followed by a loud splash of water.

“Now that he's outta the way, I ought to get my baby home so I can sack Ponyville tonight without her knowing!”

The dragon spread his massive wings, and flew into the sky, off to the library to locate Pyre and her pony friends. But in the depths of the well, Spike surfaced, and crawled onto a loose stone on the edge, looking up a good twenty feet to see the light of day above him.

He tried shouting for help, but when no one came for twenty minutes, he buried his face in his arms and started to cry softly, tears rolling down his cheeks.

“I thought what I was doing was going to help. Now Smokey's going to ruin Ponyville and it's all my fault...”

---

When Smokey returned to the ponies, they had gathered around the front door of the library, admiring Pyre's new schoolteacher's dress. The dress had mostly been blue themed, a large light blue blouse restrained by a brown leather belt across her middle, a long skirt covered in flowers, and a new pair of black high heels that somehow fit her large feet. She truly looked like an elementary schoolteacher, and she couldn't help but smile and feel good inside about her new dream.

“Woah,” exclaimed Smokey, “Pyre, what's with the new threads?”

“Smokey,” she exclaimed, “Twilight Sparkle and her friends have suggested I start a career and teach hatchlings back home! They even made me this dress, what do you think?”

To him, it looked like the stupidest thing he had ever seen. What kind of a dragon would try to become a teacher? But seeing as how strongly his girlfriend's pony friends were supporting her decision, and were distracted from the fact that Spike had not returned with him, he played along.

“Well, I gotta say, I've never heard of a dragon teacher before, but I'd like to see you give it a chance!” he laughed.

“Yeah, you did a good job giving Ponyville a chance today too, Smokey!” said Pinkie Pie, smiling.

Twilight finally caught on to Spike's disappearance and asked, “Hey, speaking of that, where's Spike? Wasn't he coming back with you?”

Smokey stuttered for a bit, “He uh... well, he sort of wanted to hang back at... that root beer guy's place, he loves the drinks there!”

“Oh, he's at Steiners',” said Twilight, “good, we'll go get him later. Hope he's not too tired out after dragging you all over town.”

“I'm sure he's doing well!” snorted the dragon.

Pyre took notice of the sun beginning to set, and said, “It's starting to get dark. Maybe we should think about heading for the cave? We've got all weekend here.”

He stepped up and wrapped his arm around her side, “Sure, that sounds great! Thanks for keeping my girl busy, ponies.”

“You're welcome, have a good night you two!” answered Twilight as they began to walk away.

---

Twilight spent the remainder of the evening getting progressively more worried as Spike failed to return. Darkness fell, and only some moonlight and the streetlights of Ponyville remained outside for visibility.

“Oh, where is he? Steiner's place closed over an hour ago!” she wailed in her mind, “What if something's happened?”

She went and got a lantern from inside her home, and lit it up with a spark of magic, carrying it along with levitation as she stepped outside.

“I've got to get the others, we've got to make sure he's ok!”

---

Pyre had removed her dress and folded it in a neat pile in the corner of her treasure pile.

“Do you think maybe they've build us some beds if we bribed them?” she asked.

“Maybe,” responded her boyfriend, looking out of the cave entrance into the moonlight, “hey listen, I gotta go for a walk. I'll be back, ok?”

“A walk? Can I come with you?”

“No, you'll just make a scene,” he answered, shaking his head, “I've got stuff to do, so just stay here. Love you babe!”

Smokey disappeared into the night, leaving the dragoness alone. She stared at the clothing in the corner, then at the empty nesting space in the corner, and sighed heavily.

“Love you babe,” she muttered to herself, “does he really?”

She looked at the pile of clothing on her nesting bed, and thought about how much better Twilight Sparkle and Rarity had treated her in comparison to Smokey. They had done so many nice things for her despite her burning down a part of their forest, and had even helped her decide on something to try to do with her life. What had he done for her besides grab her tail and tell her she was pretty a lot?

As she thought about it, a thought occurred to her, “Hey, wait a minute. Make a scene? We would just be going for a walk...”

Pyre left the cave herself, and spread her wings, lifting into the air to go find him. There was a reason he didn't want her to follow him, and she was going to figure it out.

---

“Spike!” cried Twilight, lifting a hoof to her mouth.

Twilight had gathered her friends again to try and locate the missing dragon. They had traced their steps back to Steiner's place, like Smokey had said, but Spike could not be found nearby. Rainbow Dash flew around overhead, looking for him from above, while Techorse scanned the darkest areas of Ponyville with a pair of headlights extended from his battle saddle.

“Twilight, I found him!” said Fluttershy in the loudest voice she possibly could.

Twilight and her friends ran to Fluttershy, who was peering down the well Spike had been tossed down. The young dragon was curled into a ball, sleeping at the bottom on the rock above the water line, apparently having given up on everything.

The unicorn's horn glowed, and in a flash of purple light, Spike was teleported out of the well, and onto the street in front of it. He woke up suddenly, his eyes crusted with dried tears.

“Wha?? Twilight!” he said, overjoyed, “You found me! I thought I was going to be down there forever.”

“We'd never allow that,” said Rarity, “we couldn't bear to lose you!”

“Spike we were worried sick, what happened to you!?” demanded Techorse.

“It was Smokey, he threw me down the well!” answered the young dragon as he scraped the eye crust off.

“See, that guy's no good, just like his father!” grumbled a hovering Rainbow Dash.

“Let me finish!” pleaded Spike, “Smokey tossed me down there because I was gonna squeal on him, he's planning on robbing the Ponyville bank after taking everyone's money from their shops!”

“Now I understand,” groaned Techorse, “he was planning a heist to keep with his family's 'business'.”

“We've got to get to the bank, if we try to intercept him at every shop we'll never catch him,” said Twilight sternly as she scraped a hoof on the ground, “come on everypony, let's go!”

---

Smokey dragged a massive burlap sack behind him, jingling with bits, rare gems, and other valuables he had stolen from every shop in Ponyville. He found the back of the bank, and checked quickly to make sure no one was watching, before he lit up his fire breath into a narrow stream, and began to cut through the thick stone. Soon a circle about two feet wide was cut into the bank, the molten rock dripping from the edges, and the dragon span around, slashing across the cut with his tail. The stone fell through, leaving him a large hole to enter the bank vault and steal the cash within.

As we was about to enter the bank, a pair of bright lights shone in his eyes, blinding him.

“That's far enough, Smokey!” shouted Twilight Sparkle.

The dragon shielded his eyes and stood up from his robbery in progress, trying to keep the light from Techorse's saddle away from him. The ponies had all surrounded him, and Rainbow Dash hovered overhead, the look on her face angry as ever.

“Messing with my plans, huh?” he said, “Well, think I've gotten enough without the bank! I'll just leave with what I have.”

“No you won't!” shouted Pyre from above.

The ponies and Spike watched as Pyre dropped down from above, smashing her fist into the pavement below, cracking it. She stood up bravely in front of her boyfriend, who quickly realized from all the angry looks he was getting that he was heavily outnumbered.

“Pyre, babe, I don't understand!” he said, laughing nervously as he looked at her, arms crossed and fire in her eyes, “Don't you want to help me pull this off? Think of how cool the other dragons will think you are once you help me clean out this bank! We can take these grass eaters and that little pest Spike and haul off the loot!”

“Smokey, I'm breaking up with you,” she declared, “Twilight Sparkle and her friends were right. All you care about is how pretty I am, you never valued my mind, or my friends in this pony town. You're just a slimy reptile like your father!”

The other dragon roared and shoved Pyre, making her stumble back, “Trying to leave me? Like you have any say! You're mine, Pyre, I was given you as a gift and you're staying with me!”

Pyre stood up straight, and moved back in front of Smokey, taking a deep breath and looking at the ground in shame.

“Pyre...” warned Fluttershy.

With no warning, Pyre pulled her left fist back, and swung with full force at Smokey's face. He did not expect the attack, and the punch connected with his snout, knocking him backwards and smashing his jaws together loudly, chipping one of his teeth and causing his nose to crumple immediately. Down he fell onto the pavement, slamming hard on his back. Twilight and her friends winced at the ferocious blow, and even Spike rubbed his snout in pity pain.

“I belong to no one,”snarled Pyre, before letting out a proud roar, “I don't need you, Smokey. I need someone more like my friends who will treat me well. Leave!”

The ponies just stood there for a moment, mouths agape, trying to process what had just happened.

Smokey slowly stood up, his eyes watering from the pain, and held his bloody nose, “I... fine! This isn't over you stupid cud chewers!”

The dragon turned and started to run away, abandoning his loot in favor of escape. But he didn't make it more than fifteen yards before twelve bars of white energy shot up from the ground, forming a cage over him. He released his leaking nose and started to punch away at the solid energy, but he couldn't get out, and rattled on the cage with his hands.

Princess Celestia and Luna walked around from the back of the bank building, soon followed by Captain Arbiter, Jools and Joops, and an assortment of other guards. Celestia's horn stopped glowing, but the magic cage remained, keeping Smokey trapped.

“Smokey Poisonback!” declared Princess Celestia, “You are under arrest for robbing Ponyville's citizens of their money.”

“Princess Celestia!” gasped Twilight Sparkle, walking forward, “How did you know to come here?”

The princess explained, “I was having my late afternoon cup of tea when I saw a message from Spike appear in my writing room. It turned out to be a small notepad containing plans to rob Ponyville's stores and bank. Since the writing didn't match Spike's style, I knew it had to be trouble, so Luna and I decided to lay a trap for the thief.”

“Yes, it worked!” laughed Spike, glad his plan had turned out.

“But then how did you know my name?” growled Smokey.

“Pyre has been communicating with Twilight Sparkle and ourselves,” explained Luna, her hair flowing in the night breeze, “we knew all about you and your visit here to Ponyville. Seeing as you are the son of the dragon who's gang raided Canterlot to steal the world's largest diamond, we figured you were the owner of the notepad and came here to stop you.”

“That's right!” laughed Rainbow Dash, “Now you're going to get yours, just like your dad!

Smokey refused to let up, and asked sarcastically, “So what are you going to do to me, send me to the moon?”

Rarity covered her mouth, knowing that would certainly hurt Princess Celestia's feelings, and sure enough her ears seemed to sink back with a little guilt. Princess Luna stepped forward to say something nasty in return, but Captain Arbiter had other ideas.

“Well,” chuckled the Captain, “The Canterlot medical school could always use a dissection subject!”

Princess Celestia dropped her personal issues and gave him a disapproving glance, to which he laughed and responded, “It was merely a suggestion, my lady.”

“You need time to learn that a life of thievery is a dark path to go down,” she said, stepping forward, “I see you're hurt. That's a start.”

“Yeah, you have my lousy ex to thank for that,” he grumbled.

“Is this true Pyre, did you strike him?” asked Princess Celestia.

The dragoness answered honestly, “Yeah, I did. He treated me like garbage and threatened to rob Ponyville. I know that's no excuse, but that's why I did it, and honestly it felt good.”

Smokey was still trying to stop his nose from bleeding, holding it in hopes it would stop.

“If I just send you to prison, you will get out and try to continue your life of theft like your father. You need to learn that it's no way to live, and I partly blame his bad influence and your lack of a mother in your life on what you've done,” said Celestia sternly, “I will take you to Canterlot's courts, where the judge can decide on some kind of service for you so you can learn how to give back.”

“But he tried to get rid of Spike by throwing him down a well!” cried Rarity, “It was simply horrible!”

“Perhaps an additional penalty is in order?” said Arbiter, hopeful.

Spike approached Rarity and rubbed her hoof, “There there, Rarity. Smokey already got his nose smashed in, we can let it go. Besides, I knew you'd find me eventually!”

“Did you have to excuse him?” groaned Arbiter, rolling his eye.

“We'll take things from here then,” confirmed Princess Celestia, “Smokey will be under our custody until we figure out where to put him. I will leave Arbiter and my guards in your charge to return the stolen money to Ponyville's residents.”

“We'll have it done by mornin'!” answered Applejack.

“I'm going to be back out eventually,” warned Smokey as he pointed at Pyre, “and when I do...”

“You'll be a nicer dragon,” warned Princess Luna, “unless you want to take an alternate punishment.”

Smokey got a chill down his spine, and laughed nervously, “Um... so what kind of service did you royalty ponies have in mind again?

---

The following morning, with the loot returned and the residents of Ponyville thankful to Pyre for stopping her ex, the dragoness had prepared to leave her cave to go and teach the hatchlings of her clan. She was dressed in her teacher's outfit again, where she felt right at home, and was eager to use her mind to improve dragon society. She stood on the bridge leading out of Ponyville for the mountain range, and wanted to say goodbye to her seven pony friends and their tiny dragon.

“Thank you so much for helping me see I needed to ditch Smokey,” she said to Twilight.

“Honestly, you did it all by yourself,” responded the unicorn mare, “we just let you know what you needed to do!”

“Please come visit again!” said Rarity, “I want to know what the dragons think of my work.”

“Yeah! We love having you here,” said Spike.

“Don't worry, I'll be back, squirt!” laughed Pyre, “I'll catch you guys later then!”

“Wait! Wait up Pyre!” called a voice.

The ponies turned around to see Countertop, short on breath, running up to the dragoness.

“Oh hey, it's you!” she said, “What's up?”

Countertop caught her breath and answered, “You saved my boss's life savings, the whole place was cleaned out last night. So he wanted to buy you a present, and well... this is gonna be silly, but...”

The pizza delivery mare opened up her saddlebags, and removed the Star Sapphire she had been given earlier, only this time with a brass pin attached to the back.

“He paid me for the Star Sapphire and had me turn it into a pin for you!” she said, tossing it to the dragon.

Pyre fastened the gemstone to her dress, a beautiful corsage that completed the look of the outfit.

“No dress of mine is truly complete without a gemstone, and you've found the perfect one!” said Rarity softly.

Countertop winked, “Oh, and, he says to come back anytime for a free slice!”

Pyre smiled genuinely, “Might have to take you up on that! Tell him the pizza is really good.”

She stepped back and spread her wings to fly away, “Thanks again you guys!”

The dragoness flew off, waving back at the ponies below, happy she was going to start a life using her talents for the good of her people, and being free from the abusive relationship she was in. She had found something to do with herself, and had left the small town she was visiting feeling refreshed and happy.

Ponyville tends to have that effect on its guests.

Comments

[Wolven5]

I loved it, and I just love the continuations in your work!