Welcome the Unknown

by Equestria Buck Yeah

Chapter 4

It circled around a few times as it got closer to the ground. The flapping of its large leathery wings almost mimicked the sound and rhythm of a beating heart. It finally landed with a pair of thunderous booms as its heavy hind legs and lower body hit the ground followed by its front claws. A large cloud of dust kicked up, causing the group to cough violently and shield their eyes. Once the dust finally settled, they got a better look at the surprise guest. It folded its wings back into its body and it glared at the girls.

Matt was the first to react. "Whoa." His eyes lit up with a mixture of disbelief and awe. A small, subtle grin crept onto his face as he let out a brief, almost unintelligible giggle. There was a real, fully grown, red-scaled dragon and several rather large pink spines sprouting from its neck sitting five feet in front of him. Matt's looked over every inch of the dragon's form repeatedly. The others didn't share his amazement. Spike ducked behind Twilight and shook like a leaf. Fluttershy turned around and ducked her head under her hooves, leaving her backside clearly visible anyway. Shock was all over the faces of the rest.

"I thought it was you," it snarled to the ponies. "Miss me?"

"You know him?" Matt asked.

"He was sleeping in a cave up in the mountains over there some time ago," Twilight said and pointed to the northwest. Even though it was still a distance away, the hole in the side of the mountain could clearly be seen. "His snores were causing a lot of smoke to spill out and cover Ponyville. We were able to convince him... well, Fluttershy was... to leave so the town wouldn't be blacked out." The yellow pegasus shook even harder at the mention of her name.

"I've learned to control that, and now I can sleep wherever I want. And what I want is to sleep in my old cave," he leaned in and squinted hard at them. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"N-n-n-no," a quivering Fluttershy squeaked from under the blanket.

The dragon turned and looked at Matt inquisitively. "And what is this tasty looking little thing? You don't seem to be afraid of me." He grinned widely at the human and exposed his fangs a foot from his face. Matt had seen enough dragons in Skyrim, World of Warcraft, and other video games back home, so seeing an actual one, while still a touch unnerving, wasn't horrifying to him. Matt looked up from its claws and received a blast of air from the dragon's nostrils for his trouble, knocking him to the ground. The phone fell from his hand and onto the blanket. The dragon noticed the phone from the corner of his eye when it hit the ground and stared at its strange form.

"What is that?" his curiosity having been piqued.

Matt picked up the cell and stood back up. He saw the dragon staring at it rather intently, as if he wanted to get his claws on it. "This? Oh...this is...it was a gift. From...Princess Celestia. She oversees Equestria here."

If I get through this, I deserve a Goddamn Oscar, he thought to himself.

"I arrived a few days ago as an ambassador to my people. We were looking to open some new trade routes and my leaders asked me to search for new societies who we could speak with," Matt lied through his teeth.

"No, you're not, silly! You crashed through the roof of m-RMFF!" Pinkie started to blab before Rainbow stuffed a hoof in her mouth and told her to be quiet with her eyes. She let the pink pony go after it was clear that she got the hint.

"You dress strangely for an ambassador," the dragon retaliated.

"Even an ambassador can enjoy a day off from time to time," Matt said with a grin. "Anyway, I met with the Princess, and things went very well. As a sign of good faith in me and my people, she gave me this. It'sss...oh, how did she put it?" He paused to think of a good line. "'One of their rarest and most treasured historical relics'. It belonged to...Swirlstar, was it?"

"Starswirl the Bearded," Twilight corrected. The unicorn had talked a lot about him while Matt was stuck in the library, and his name came up often when he read about magic.

"That's it, thanks. Starswirl the Bearded. Celestia told me how this device was used a long, long time ago by this pony to help him create many of the spells he did. After he died, the knowledge of how this worked died with him." He laid it on thicker as he went while looking as sincere as possible. The dragon seemed to be convinced so far and fortunately was no less intrigued.

Matt continued, smiling sheepishly as he went, hoping the dragon would buy the ridiculous story. "As an ambassador, it's my job to negotiate with others. Even though this was a royal gift, it's now mine to do with what I want. I'd like for you to have it as a gesture of good faith. In return, I ask that you not harm any of us here or their home of Ponyville. Considering how unique this relic is, I'm hoping you see it as a reasonable trade?"

The lizard angrily stared him down. "What's to stop me from just killing you all and taking it anyway?"

Matt frowned disappointingly at the large reptile. "Listen friend," he calmly said, laying a hand on one of the dragon's massive claws, "if what these ponies here said was true – that they were able to convince a strong drake like yourself to find a better place to stay – to me, that says you're reasonable and thus intelligent. You were able to see their point and agreed to help them out." The dragon perked up suspiciously at his flattery. "I honestly don't know a lot about dragon culture. There's not much about it in the libraries where I come from. Do you have, say, a supreme leader? An oldest and wisest dragon that you all answer to, something like that?"

"No."

"Well, here's the thing. After our arrangement, Celestia put a spell on me that would alert her if there was something happened to me. While I'm here, I'm under her royal protection and all that. Part of being an ambassador, I've heard it a thousand times." Matt's earnest appearance changed to a look of concern and he continued his magnificent tale. "Celestia showed me their training grounds as part of the tour of the castle. I've seen her armies. They're...surprisingly strong, and pretty numerous. You are a lot bigger than them, but they were really well organized."

The dragon growled at Matt. "Is that a threat?"

"No, not at all. All I'm suggesting is that, if things were to go that way, I'm not entirely sure it could end well for you any way you look at it. Let's say there's a big fight and you beat them. If that got around to other dragons, they may see you as weak for defeating 'just a bunch of ponies', and I can imagine how important looking strong and tough is to you. I don't think I need to explain how they'd see you if you lost."

The drake listened closely to Matt's notions. He thought about what happened the last time he encountered the girls and looked at the still-cowering yellow one. He considered himself lucky as can be that no other dragons were around to see him break down crying last time.

"There's something else you need to know, dragon," Matt said. "It'd be a certainty that Celestia would send word to my people what happened to me. Attacking an ambassador, according to their standards, is an act of war. Our most powerful weapon? It can completely destroy a city with millions of people...ponies, whatever...in a matter of minutes." It was the first true thing he said and he hoped that the dragon would believe it. It was still buying everything that was said, after all. "I saw them test a few of them in some empty areas to see what would happen. The size of the area that was damaged or destroyed was...pretty astounding." He looked at the ground with a strangely guilty look.

"That's ridiculous. There's no weapon that's that powerful," the dragon growled.

"I know it sounds crazy, but it's completely true. My people are...innovative, to say the least."

"Why would anyone make something like that?"

Matt shrugged and said bluntly, "To defend ourselves." There had been a hint of honesty in the last few things he said to the dragon, and the ponies could hear it in their friend's voice and see it on his face. The expression he made almost suggested a familiarity with this weapon he mentioned. After being told of some of the amazing and seemingly impossible things that his world had when he first arrived in Equestria, was it that much of a stretch to believe that they really did have a weapon that could destroy a whole city? They shared concerned looks between each other, hoping this outlandish tale was enough to make the dragon go away.

"But, back to my original question, dragon. Would you accept this royal gift I received from the Princess if you agreed to what I said earlier?" Matt humbly asked.

It thought deeply for a moment as it looked at the morsel and back at the phone. "On two conditions."

"What are they?"

"First, I won't harm you, your friends or their precious town if you agree to leave me alone."

"Agreed. And the second condition?"

"I want that as well as your relic," he said as he pointed to the sapphire on Rarity's hat.

She raised her voice at the dragon, "Now, see here! My possessions are not to be made into bargaining chips and if you think–"

"Done."

Rarity nearly spat her disapproval. "But, this is one of my most beautiful creations ever! It'll ru-RRM!" The other four not still hiding under a picnic blanket jammed their hooves into her mouth. Rarity could do nothing more than growl at them as her face turned red.

Matt walked up to her and looked apologetically in her blue eyes. Her friends continued to keep her silent, but when Matt took the hat off her head to remove the sapphire as part of the agreement, her anger turned to sadness and she began to tear up. He separated the gem from its setting and dusted off any leftover residue before replacing the hat. He turned back to the dragon, who had his claw waiting for the two newest additions to his hoard. It closed its claw once Matt placed the phone and sapphire in it.

"There you are. It looks as if our business is finished, dragon. I wish you well," Matt said, bowing like a real dignitary, still playing the role for the beast. The dragon nodded back and opened his wings. With a single flap, he took to the sky and headed back to his cave. Another cloud of dust flew up from the ground as it did when he first showed up, and within a few minutes, he could be seen to return to his domicile.

-----

They waited until the dragon had disappeared into his home completely before they released Rarity. She removed her hat and gazed at the now-empty socket where her amazing sapphire had been just a few minutes ago. Her lips quivered and tears started to run down her cheeks. She turned on the waterworks and magically dragged a couch out of seemingly nowhere for her to collapse on dramatically.

"I-i-i-is he gone?" Fluttershy stammered.

"Yeah, he's gone," Rainbow assured her. She came out of hiding relieved that the coast was clear. "Dude! That was amazing! One of the most incredible things I've ever seen!" she yelled as she flew around Matt overjoyed. Aside from Rarity, who was still in grief over her hat, and Fluttershy, who hadn't witnessed what happened, the rest of the girls and Spike lavished their praise on him as well.

Matt hadn't stopped staring at the cave since the drake vanished completely from sight. He laid his hand onto the outside of his pocket and tried to grab a phone that was no longer there. He clenched his fist so tightly that his fingernails dug into his skin and caused them to bleed a little. He grit his teeth so hard, it almost felt like he was going to break them. He lowered his gaze and a look of unbridled rage slowly twitched its way onto his face. He turned bright red and his head shook in response to his rising anger, slightly at first but it quickly intensified.

The congratulatory words were cut short when they saw what he was doing. Twilight asked nervously, "Uh...Matt? Are you okay?"

'It couldn't be any different here, could it?', he thought to himself.

Rarity finally stopped bawling long enough to snap at Matt. "Couldn't you have found something else to give him? You didn't even try and discuss it with me! You just...took it!"

Just one day.

Applejack lashed out at the unicorn. "Now hold on there, Missy. He just made sure Ponyville ain't never gonna be hurt by that big lizard. Are ya really so concerned about some confangled rock that you'd be willin' to put the whole town at risk?"

Is that too much to ask?!

"Girls! Relax!" Twilight shouted.

One. Fucking. DAY.

"I'm not saying I'm not appreciative of that, Applejack!" Rarity retorted. "It's just that I worked so hard on this beautiful piece that for it to be ruined after less than a day makes it feel like an utter waste!"

"Nnngh, shut! UP!" They all shot a flabbergasted look towards Matt. He stomped over to Rarity with a fire in his eyes and hunched over nose to nose with her. "Will you stop it? You'll find another Goddamn gem! It's what you're good at, right?" he screamed at her and poked her cutie mark. "Are you gonna find a new phone for me too?"

"Um, please stop yelling," Fluttershy mumbled.

"What are you worrying about the phone for?" Rainbow asked. "You couldn't use it here anyway."

He stood up and continued to scream. "I came here with three things: the clothes on my back, my wallet, and my phone. It doesn't matter that it wasn't going to work here. It was still mine! Those things are all I had left of my home, which I'll probably never get back to, and now one of those things is gone!"

Twilight tried to relax him. "But what about your memories, Matt? You'll always have those."

"It's not the same." He had gotten most of the anger out by now, but his scowl still lingered. He sighed heavily and took a few steps back towards Ponyville. "Sorry. Just...just stay here and finish up your picnic. Somebody here should have a decent day. At least it will be once I'm not around. I'm going back to the library."

"Matt, wait!"

"I can't be seen. I know, I know..."

Applejack put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Let him go, sugarcube. He needs to blow off some steam. He can handle himself. He's a big boy."

"What was that all about?" Pinkie asked. Unfortunately, nopony had an answer.

-----

Matt had gotten back to the library at around 4:15. He didn't make any effort to duck behind trees or hide in the bushes. His gaze rarely left the ground in front of him as he went back home. Nopony had seen him on the way. His resentment was still evident by the sneer on his face, and the only things that went through his mind were having his phone back and knocking the dragon's giant teeth down his throat if he had fists large enough.

He hunched over as he walked in the door and slammed it behind him. He headed towards the basement staircase and punched a bookshelf with the side of his fist. It didn't quite land on the meaty party of his hand and his little finger took the brunt of it. The sudden unwanted pain aggravated him further, but he took a deep breath, rubbed his hand and refrained from losing control again.

He stomped his way downstairs and tossed his shoes off. He flopped onto the bed and stared at the roof of the basement. Maybe five minutes passed, maybe five hours. It didn't matter at the time. He rolled onto his side and tried to relax. He eventually drifted off to sleep.

-----

The girls had started packing up the picnic not more than ten minutes after Matt stormed off. They took their time getting back the town as they didn't want to inadvertently catch up with him and potentially bother him. Not much was said on the way back. What could be? Their friend had suddenly flown way off the handle over what sounded like an insignificant reason to them. They couldn't figure how a piece of metal and plastic could mean that much to him when he had been enjoying a beautiful day laughing and playing ten minutes earlier.

Twilight didn't believe that his phone was really the reason behind his outburst, but she couldn't really place what it could be. It bothered her the entire walk back to the library. Why did he think that if he wasn't around, they'd be better off? She wanted to ask him when she saw him next but knew he'd never tell her what he meant.

They arrived at the library about a half hour after Matt did. Twilight apologized for what happened, but they assured her it wasn't hers or anybody else's fault. Rainbow Dash blamed the dragon for showing his ugly head. Things were great until then! They said their farewells for the day and headed back to their respective homes. Twilight suddenly got an idea before she went inside.

"Spike, head on in. I'll be there shortly. If you see Matt, give him some space unless he says otherwise, okay?" He agreed and went inside to lay in his bed. "Applejack!"

The farm pony hadn't gone far and turned back to see what Twilight wanted. "What's goin' on, Twilight?"

"Listen.. I don't know if this is a good idea, but hear me out."

"What's up?"

"Well.. we all agreed that Matt get outside, stretch his legs, all that. Did he seem okay to you before...y'know?"

"He seemed fine to me, hon. Though, Ah gotta say Ah know what ya meant now when ya said he could be kinda scary."

"I was wondering...would you be averse to having another set of hooves...err, hands, whatever...helping around the farm a couple times a week?" Twilight proposed. "He'd be getting some fresh air and Sweet Apple Acres is so big that no one would see him. He may feel better with some more hooves-on work too. I kinda suspect it's gotten dull around here for him. It's just that he looked so thrilled to be outdoors before everything went nuts, I was hoping maybe you'd be alright with having Matt at your place during the day some days. And no, I'm not looking to throw him out of here or anything."

Applejack put a hoof to her chin and considered the idea. "Well...we could always use the help on the farm, and Ah could introduce 'im to the family. Would give 'im some more ponies to talk to. Tell ya what, Ah'll pass the idea along and let ya know what they say tomorrow. But Ah'll warn ya now. Ah know he's our friend, and Ah can handle it, but if he does what he did earlier to any o' mah kin, Ah'll buck his head clean off." She hadn't been more honest with anything in a while with that sentiment.

"I understand, A.J, and thanks. I'll go ask him if he's interested. I'll let you know what he says when I see you tomorrow. I don't want to just throw him into a new situation without his permission," Twilight said. "However, even if both parties are okay with the idea, I think Matt could use a few days to get whatever it is out of his system." Applejack nodded in agreement.

"Ah best get goin', Twilight. I'll see ya tomorrow."

"Later, A.J."

-----

Twilight headed in for the day and went straight for the basement. She knew Matt would be down there, probably laying in bed. When things were quiet in the library and no chores needed to be done, if he wasn't sitting in a corner somewhere, she'd find him downstairs.

He hadn't been laying there long. His back faced towards the center of the room, so he didn't see Twilight coming. The clopping of hooves down the staircase, however, gave her away. He had next to no energy after his screaming session earlier and felt like he could sleep for a week. Getting up and turning around seemed more of a chore right now than anything he did when he was filing books.

He opened his eyes and cocked his head a little. "Hey."

She sat down beside his bed looking morose. "Hey. How are you doing?" He simply shrugged. "Listen...I don't know what happened earlier today. I'm not going to try and force you to tell me what's wrong. But, I want you to know you have friends here, and we'll always be here for you," Twilight said as she placed a hoof on his shoulder. Matt didn't stop staring at the wall. "I talked to Applejack before I came in. She's going to ask her family if they'd be alright with you doing some work on the farm a few days a week."

"Kicking me out, huh?"

The idea stung her. "No, Matt. I saw how happy you were at the picnic before the dragon showed up. I was thinking that maybe working at Sweet Apple Acres could be good for you. You'd get to be outdoors all day, working with your hoov...uh, hands...I can imagine you've gotten pretty bored around here. You don't have to make a decision right now. Applejack's going to let me know what they say tomorrow at some point."

She removed her hoof and started heading back up the stairs. "I'll leave you be tonight. If we don't see you later this evening, then sleep well, okay?" She turned out the light and closed the door behind her.

Matt returned to staring at the wall despite the darkness. He gave thought to Twilight's idea for a few minutes before he went back to sleep.

Comments

[EpslionBear]

I think I am first

The counter says 0 views

Anyway

Nice chapter

[Talking Tails]

good story so far I am interested in where the story is heading.

[Heatseeker]

Compared to most HiE fic's. This isn't bad
Keep up the good work bro

[The Pony Express]

Eeyup.

[damnaion]

hummmm

[kotor511]

Haven't seen a reaction like that before, although he was reacting still pretty reasonable, compared to some other reactions I've seen in other HiE fics. What I mean is he didn't hurt them to much, even held back on his swearing, just screamed a bit. I can see why he would get pissed, I mean he sacrificed his phone, one of his few belongings, and raritys gem to save everyone, and all Rarity could think about was complaining about her small loss.
Compared to her gems, that she can easily get back as he pointed out, his phone was unique and the ponies not understanding that loss shows, how naive they actually are.
Also that comment of Applejack really aggrevates me "kick his head off, if he does that", well what did he do? He just screamed at them against raritys unnecessary ramble, Id'e probably do that too, besides he was also pissed about something else. At least he didn't bitch slap Rarity, instad he even proposed to let them alone, showing that he did care about their well being.

[The Danish Adonis]

They couldn't figure how a piece of metal and plastic could mean that much to him when he had been enjoying a beautiful day laughing and playing ten minutes earlier.

This isn't just ignorance, you're making them seem plain stupid. Especially since he JUST told them that it was one of the only things he had left of his home.

[Theresa]

5172431
When you only have a few reminders of home each one becomes very important to you. Memories can fade with time. But the memories attached to objects stay longer.