Requiem of Darkness

by ChaosDragoon

Chapter 6

1500 Years ago

Celestia peered into the small crack before she turned to her parents and beamed with excitement. Her sister got a phoenix for her birthday last year, and this year she was ecstatic when they gave her this egg. She had cared for it for the last three months and today was the day the creature in the egg would break free. She thought it would be another phoenix, like her sisters. She peered into the crack again.

"Come on, you can do it. Push," Celestia said softly as to not scare the creature. The egg wiggled before it shattered. She moved the egg shells to expose the creature inside the egg. However, she found no phoenix or even any type of beast among the eggshells. That's when she noticed a large part of the egg was moving slowly. She carefully and slowly removed the eggshell and gasped as she dropped it. Curled up in a ball was a very small baby dragon. His scales were white with what looked like gold embedded in them, black spear-like spines starting from the back of its head to the tip of its tail. It opened its amethyst eyes and stared at Celestia before it yawned. The baby dragon stretched and extended its wings. The dragon suddenly hiccuped and a plume of white flames puffed from its mouth. The sudden flame scared the dragon and it bolted. It suddenly came to a sudden stop at the edge of the table. It paced back and forth trying to figure out how to get down.

"How did you get a dragon's egg?" Celestia asked her parents. Her parents looked as confused as Celestia.

"It was supposed to be a phoenix. We had found a phoenix nest in the forest and took one, but we could never have guessed it was a dragon's nest," Celestia's father said.

"Maybe it's a parasite egg," Luna said before she explained, "Some species of birds place their egg in another nest so that when it hatches, the baby kills off the other eggs." Luna's parents were perplexed by the idea, but Celestia wasn't paying any attention. She was nose to nose with the baby dragon.

At first, when she walked over to the dragon, it curled up and hissed at her. It's spear-like spines rattling. As Celestia slowly moved her hoof towards the dragon, it would slowly back away. Instead, she placed her head on the table and waited. The dragon hissed a few more times before it stopped and stared at Celestia. It soon became curious and slowly crawled towards Celestia. It was nose to nose with Celestia before its tongue flickered out and tickled her nose. Celestia lifted her head up and scrunched her nose before she sneezed. The dragon jumped and quickly curled up into a defensive ball again. After a few seconds, the dragon looked up at Celestia and slowly walked to the edge towards her. Celestia lowered her hoof and the dragon sniffed it before it suddenly scurried up her leg and into her pink mane. It popped out of her main before it went back into her mane and popped out again before submerging back into her mane.

"I know it wasn't what you wanted, but can we still keep it?" Celestia asked her parents. Her mother and father looked at each other. They were worried that a dragon in the kingdom would cause problems since dragons had been invading and swiping their gems, farm animals, and even taking ponies. Celestia saw their worries and added, "Please, I'll take care of it, feed it, do everything. Pleeeeeeeeeese?" Celestia did her best puppy dog face to get her parents to trust her. However, it wasn't a matter of trusting Celestia, but trusting the dragon when it got older.

"Alright, you can keep him," her father submitted. The dragon popped out of Celestia's mane and stared at him, before submerging back.

"So, what are you going to call him," Luna asked before she added, "Even if it is a he?" Celestia thought for a second before the dragon popped out of her mane yet again, but this time jumped from the top of her head onto the table. It slid before it came to a stop and turned to stare at her.

"Drake, I'll call him Drake," Celestia said. The dragon hiccuped again and a plume of flames shot out again. "What do you think? Drake?" This time, the dragon chirped at her before it yawned and curled up into a ball and fell asleep.

After that moment Drake and Celestia were inseparable. Wherever Celestia went, Drake was not far behind. Scuttling after her or he was safely tucked in her mane and would only pop out to look around before submerging. Unlike other baby dragons, Drake was the size of a baby alligator. Celestia was perplexed by his size since she read baby dragons usually weren't that small. However, it didn't take long for Drake to start growing, after ten years; he was as tall as Celestia. As he grew, Celestia taught him how to speak and behave around other ponies, but also how to act as a dragon as well. Even though her parents feared Drake's instincts would kick in overtime, their fears subsided as they watched their eldest daughter take care of the dragon.

There was a small incident where Drake got a hold of some gems and started hoarding them and other items. However, instead of going monstrous and attacking anyone who got near. He would simply pick up his horde and move it. When Celestia made him give back the items, Drake threw a hissy fit and stomped his claws and whined, but never hurt anypony. In the end, he gave back the items and apologized for his wrongdoing.

After the one incident, it seemed everything went back to normal. Wherever Celestia went, Drake would follow. Celestia treated Drake more like a son than a normal pet. However, Celestia would soon learn: all happiness comes to an end.