Üā Sūt Cktüis (How to be Dragon)

by Rammy

Chapter 23 Acktcerīzs Sētas (Contemplative Sorrow)

No creature feels like a dragon does. ~ Unknown

---

Guardian slowly let out a breath as he leaned against a light pole cross the street from the statue of Spike. Much to his chagrin the statue had become a memorial of sorts, a place of mourning. He had just witnessed yet another crystal pony leaving another crystal flower before joining the small herd of mourners was huddled nearby. The amount of grief he had been witnessing since news broke out about Spike's death was making him increasing very uncomfortable. Not only because of his mixed feelings about Spike, but because he knew that the amount of negative emotion in the air could not be good for the small changeling hive, much less the Crystal Heart. And with it being the depths winter...

"Guardian Dragon of the Crystal Ponies."

Guardian paused his musing and turned to greet the dragoness but found himself at a loss for words. Her purple scales were now a rich near midnight black while her light blue scales had deepened into a lovely royal blue, and everywhere the light from the street lamp above or Amulet of Winds on her chest touched her scales they sparkled. And then to cap it all, was her horns. Her gorgeous white horns seemed to shimmer like a crown of freshly fallen snow. All in all, it gave her dark a ethereal beauty that made his heart race and stole away his breath. All he wanted to do was to take her right then and there. To ravish every part of her beauty to make her his and him her, to become one.

"Greetings...Windigo Azure." Guardian finally mumbled out, glad that Azure could not see the blush he knew was on his face. Now he just needed to find something to talk about, and fast, before he said something really stupid. Luckily. he had something, he could not see her two bodyguards. (At least he assumed they were her bodyguards) "Where are your two shadows?"

"Slush means well but he tends to forget that even though I can't see with the Amulet of the Winds I am far from helpless." Azure crossing her arms as she sighed. "As for Nova Blaze, he is probably still entranced by that pony playing... what did they call it? A crystal flugelhorn?"

Azure smirked as she tilted her head towards him. "He has a thing for music..."

Guardian had to suppress a snort as he pictured the white and blue dragon rising out of an impossibly small basket while wearing a very skimpy belly dancer's outfit as a pony played a flugelhorn in the background. But before he could make any comment, he once again he found his breath frozen in his chest as Azure looked up at him eye to eye.

"Guardian..." Azure's soft voice quaked, "I still remember some of the stories my sire and dam told me... There are tales told among my people of this place, tales of deceiving monsters that can push back the storm and paint the ice red. That would spell doom to any foolish dragon that approached. One could dismiss them as merely tales to keep misbehaving hatchlings in line... but then... Auroras started to appear from the very place we were warned about and tragedy upon tragedy soon stuck... Culminating with the death of every adult dragon in the Frozen North ten years ago..."

Guardian shivered as Azure spoke of the loss of the adults but before he could tell of what he knew she continued.

"So, you must understand our fear two days ago the aurora appeared at the same as the Amulet of the Winds pulled. I know better to than not listen when the Amulet pulls... But to pull us here? Was our final doom upon us? What I wasn't expecting was for you to step forwards and greet us warmly..."

"Do you know what happens when a dragon is about to freeze to death?" Azure asked, raising her hand to stall any response Guardian could give. (Not that Guardian's could respond as his mouth had dried up.) He gulped as her eyes never wavered from his. He had no idea how to answer and a part of him wasn't even sure he wanted to know the answer.

"They warm up... But it's a false warmth that fools them into thinking they are safe when they are actually about to become one with the eternal ice..." Azure's voice faded into a sniff. "I knew to know for the sake of what is left of my people that the kindness that has been shown to us is not a false kindness... I need to know that I-we can trust you."

Guardian now found himself going from fear to burning with fury. Not at her, but at the situation she was in. Not only was it clear by the way she spoke that she had witnessed someone, someone that was precious to her, a parent or sibling perhaps, freeze to death, but she was as the Windigo leading an equally traumatized group of young ice dragons. How could he untarnish this shimmering beauty when he couldn't even help in his own hoard's grief?!

And then there were her concerns... He was sure of his ponies (and changelings) that they meant the ice dragons no harm but he himself knew very little of the history of the Crystal Empire. Mostly fragments from Spike's memories but that was it. Šihzra had not told him anything about the Empire that would be concerning, if anything he seemed pleased when he examined the map in Ponyville. He didn't think the longma would have encouraged him to follow his pull if it could led to possible death and destruction. But what of Šihzra's later ravings?

'The only thing needed was ponies abused... and oppressed by the worst tyrant this side of the cataclysm... to be saved by a dragon that despised what he thought he was... with a simple letuscktüis artifact!'

Letuscktüis was one of the few Ancient Draconian words that Guardian knew the meaning of. So why did the Crystal Ponies have a Ice Dragon artifact? And why did Šihzra seem okay with the Crystal Ponies until the reveal of Spike's role in the liberation of the Crystal Empire from King Sombra? He glanced at the slowly spinning Crystal Heart before bringing his full attention back to Azure.

"I wish I could fully allay your fears Azure, but I cannot." He paused as took a slow breath trying to quell the raging inferno in his heart. "If anydragon could it would be Šihzra Vairozs, the DragonWyrm, who was the one who called for you."

"Dragon...wyrm?" Azure slowly repeated.

Guardian apprehensively chewed on his lips. Šihzra had taught him only fragments of the ancient ways, how was he going to explain something as big as the DragonWyrm when he himself only had a partial understanding of it? It was in the midst that struggle that he caught a dark shape in the corner of his eye rising into the air near the top of Crystal Spire.

"Do you speak of the one that sang that song?" Azure questioned, not knowing that Guardian's attention had been drawn away. "The one that caused you to panic and screaming for a healer?"

"Yeah..." Guardian answered, rubbing the back of his head, thankful that Azure figured out who he was referring to. Speaking of... His frown deepened as he watched the dark shape disappear over the top of the Spire.

"Then, with your permission, I request to be amongst your hoard for a while longer..."

"Yes!" Guardian yelled happily then coughed, trying to hide his enthusiasm, before adding in a more normal voice. "I mean... I don't think the crystal ponies would mind at all."

Guardian found himself nearly groaning in embarrassment as Azure put her arms on her hips while smirking. Damn it... Why did he say yes like that?! Was he trying to scare her off?! He let out a sigh and made to look anywhere else and ended catching the sight of Slush walking towards them, dragging a protesting Nova Blaze behind him. "Uh..."

"Ear or arm?"

Azure giggled when a second, smaller uhh escaped Guardian, making him blush in turn. He had no idea how she knew. He even waved a hand in front of her just to be sure that she was fully blind, but shrugged when she didn't react. Either she was ignoring him or this it was a common enough of an occurrence that she reasonable could have guessed.

---

Harlothisüa held back a huff of irritation as he touched down at the top of the Spire. It was as he had figured, the dark shape he had seen earlier had indeed been Šihzra. Why and how was he here? The longma had been on the verge of death only a few hours before, he should not have the strength to get out of his hospital bed much less fly so high up in the freezing cold.

But before could voice his irritation Harlothisüa found his mouth opening for a completely different reason than to berate Šihzra. The longma had shakily reached out with a paw towards the moon before moving it one way then another. Harlothisüa would have thought nothing of it except the moon had shifted south then north following the same movement.

He so stunned by what he had witnessed that he almost didn't catch when the longma whispered. "Do you hear that?"

Harlothisüa opened his mouth only to slam it shut. What kind of a question was that? It sounded like (and given this was Šihzra that was a guarantee) a trick question. One that should not be answered less one wanted to suffer from the daddy of all migraines. It was moments like this that reminded him how much he sometimes hated Šihzra. But then again, now that they were friends and not mentor and protégé he was so going to give him shit every moment he could... whenever Šihzra wasn't around and or not acting like this, preferably both and in either order.

"It's strange to not hear him anymore... it's strange after so long to not be in pain... a small part of me misses it and him, and yet..." Šihzra slowly looked back behind him his red eyes rising up to seemingly bore straight through Harlothisüa. "He is me and I him..."

Harlothisüa blinked once then twice and then finally a third time before his mind finally snapped awake. "What the fuck are you doing up and how are you even awake!?"

"Bah!" Šihzra spat, waving away the drake's concern. "They may mean well but those medics are far more likely to kill me then heal a paper cut on my left-most claw."

"Šihzra Vairozs..." Harlothisüa growled, crossing his arms. His patience for Šihzra's typical brusqueness was already very thin and to insult those under his protection like that?

Šihzra flinched at the drake's glare, sighing as he explained, "That wasn't the first time that I nearly killed myself through extreme mana exhaustion, far from it... This actually makes it the third time in less then a decade..."

Third time!? Decade!?! Harlothisüa gaped at now nonchalant Šihzra was about nearly dying. He didn't take the longma as a masochist, sadist sure, but masochist?

"The Reliquary of the Ancients is the largest library in the world containing knowledge that goes back to the dawn of history. Do you not think I wouldn't learn a few tricks from it on how to hold back the consequences of mana exhaustion?"

Harlothisüa rolled his eyes. And there it is... The expected smug superiority. Not that it wasn't completely unjustified as he had seen the libraries of the Crystal Empire and of Traxti, among others, and they all paled in in size and scope to the Reliquary of the Ancients... It was just sometimes...

"Harlothisüa Lruthithieüs," The use of his full name caught Harlothisüa's attention and when he looked over to Šihzra he saw the same look upon the face of the longma that he had been seeing on face after face. Soul crushing grief. 'A small part of me misses it and him...' He hadn't really been paying attention before as his irritation had been too great. But thinking back, there was a very small pause before the word 'and.' A pause that could easily be dismissed but he knew Šihzra. With a flash of a memory, of a garden with four statues, he realized that Šihzra would never be able to stop grieving the loss of Vorac. "I really don't want to be around ponies any longer then necessary, and if I am to recover I need to be anywhere but here."

Harlothisüa pinched his brow as he nodded his understanding. After all there was a reason for the first half of his well-known moniker of the Hermit Sage. But it still didn't dull his irritation at the earlier insult. And to think that Šihzra was the main driving force of the original free trade agreement that grew into the the modern day Traxti Free Trade Federation. How could one be so diplomatic and callously abrasive? He was beginning to think that the more he got to know his friend the less he would truly know...

But as the silence grew after Šihzra's confession Harlothisüa found himself needing to say something, anything to get rid of the uncomfortable silence. But before he could Šihzra broke the silence for him. "The past few days will not go unanswered Harlothisüa Lruthithieüs..."

"Well maybe next time don't jump into summoning the Windigo followed by, 'Fuck it!' Let's also mess with the fucking moon for no 'raisin!'" Harlothisüa ranted, sitting down, hard, his legs dangling off the edge. He thought that things would get better, easier, when he finally answered the pull but it had only gotten more complex. "A mess of which I will now have to deal with..."

Šihzra sighed heavily, his claws rhythmically tapping the spire. "Maybe I should have told you more of the history of Equestria and its surrounding lands before we came... But I didn't want to overly negatively color your opinions..."

Harlothisüa rolled his eyes as he mentally added: You mean more then you already did with your clear distaste for ponies in general.

If Šihzra saw Harlothisüa's reaction he gave no indication as he began to explain. "It is difficult for any dragon baring a tzircktstelescktüis to form their mana into spells or enchantments. It's why most, including dragons, think they are incapable of magic outside of flight and flame. The Crystal Heart is a Letuscktüis artifact from the time of the ancients, when that wasn't the case. Its purpose was to protect young letuscktüi who could not yet handle the extremes of the polar regions that they called home. Most mated letuscktüi would construct one when the dam became gravid. But then Cataclysm occurred and the art was lost leaving only the Heart...

"And because of that, it made rearing hatchlings to adulthood nearly impossible. To combat this, under the leadership of a previous Windigo, a common nesting ground was set aside. It was that very nest grounds that the ancestors of what would become the Crystal Ponies stumbled upon when they were driven north in a desperate attempt to flee from conflict and famine... If I recall correctly, there had been a severe drought followed by a long harsh winter.

"The letuscktüi took pity on the starving and battered refugees, seeing them as hatchlings that needed protection, and in a small way they were... So, they were brought under the protection of the Crystal Heart. But the land was a cold and desolate and not much could grow here. They yearned to return to the warmth and greenery of the land they had fled. If only they had the power of the Crystal Heart they would have power to take back their land, to crush all who would threaten them...

"But the Windigo and the Letuscktüi would not allow the Heart to leave its sanctuary and the ponies could not just take it as the might of the Windigo was too great. But the Crystal Heart has a fatal flaw, one that had gone unnoticed and the cunning Crystal Ponies unknowing exploited it. The Heart could protect against external threats with ease but not from those who were under its protection. And so ponies stole it away by smashing very egg and massacring every hatchling, whelp and guardian that sheltered under its magic leaving only them under its protection."

Harlothisüa fidgeted as Šihzra relayed the origins of the Crystal Ponies, finding all of it a bit unnerving. Not the story pre say (which was all sorts of disturbing in of itself), but the way Šihzra was speaking. For one, he was never this forthcoming with anything and for another he was actually explaining. In a detailed and coherent manner! WHAT?! This was not the Šihzra he got to know the past five years.

"The Windigo and the surviving Letuscktüi were of course furious. Who wouldn't cry out for justice and vengeance after having all of their children slaughtered!? But even with might of the Amulet of the Winds behind them, they could not overcome the power of the Crystal Heart. With their vengeance denied the Windigo instead brought the fury of the Frozen North down around the Crystal Ponies. The ponies may have been safe within the barrier afforded to them by the Heart, but they also became completely cut off from the rest the world by an endless blizzard.

"Soon generations passed, many for the ponies, few for the Letuscktüi, and, in time, even the twisted tales spoken by both faded beyond myth and legend to be nearly forgotten..."

As Šihzra 's tale faded away Harlothisüa found himself without words. This time as silence fell over the pair Harlothisüa found himself welcoming it. Thanks to what Šihzra revealed he had a lot to think about...

While it was true that the Crystal Ponies had in the past done horrific deeds, he also saw the poetic justice that was not only the blizzard but of the reign of King Sombra. And with King Sombra, he had destroyed the future of the Crystal Ponies much in same way that the Crystal Ponies' ancestors had destroyed the Ice Dragons. In the end, both people had been shaped by tragedies by vile, cruel beings. But that was also in the past, so much so that, neither the Ice Dragons or Crystal Ponies had any real remembrance. This meant that they both now had a chance, a chance for one to rectify the evils of their past and for the other to heal, to start afresh and to move on...

"Knowing what you know now," Šihzra slowly asked, his eyes just as slowing rising to meet Harlothisüa's, "do you regret Claiming the Crystal Empire and its people as yours?"

Without hesitation Harlothisüa vowed, "Thē."

"Good." The longma nodded, turning away, his gaze distant, "Very good... In many ways you are in a far better position than your namesake. You do not have a culture that celebrated its blind, nearly universal hatred, nor a genocidal war lasting thousands of years to fight against. You also have far more allies then he ever did. And finally, you have his experiences recorded in his journals. Much of what you will face, he has faced, but in the reverse."

Why was he telling me this? Harlothisüa leered over at Šihzra. He had a niggling of a tickling that the longma was about to say something or do something he was not going to like. He could bet his entire supply of Zap Apple Jam on it.

"Which you have to begin to do without me... and without Hive Leader Thorax."

"What?!" Harlothisüa yelled. He figured he would be on his own but to have Šihzra run off with Thorax was something he was not going to accept lightly.

"Even among changelings Chrysalis was particularly paranoid and egomaniacal, there is no way that Thorax had any training on what it means to and how to truly lead a hive... I doubt that any changeling of hers did."

Harlothisüa thought on that for a moment. He had faith in Thorax's ability to lead his changelings, but he also recalled what befell Thorax's hive. If what Šihzra said about Chrysalis was even remotely true, then... "Lord Spinster?"

"Maybe..." Šihzra trailed off before starting to hum.

All of my regrets
Will wash away somehow
But I will not forget
The way I feel right now...

Harlothisüa turned to look fully at Šihzra and shivered from something other the biting cold. The drake didn't think it possible, but an openly mischievous Šihzra was somehow more terrifying then a Šihzra finding something 'interesting.'

I spent so much time searchin'
Lookin' forever more
Wailin' in despair
With every empty find

Harlothisüa raised an eyebrow at the song that Šihzra was singing. This is a different song then the first... What are you up to now Šihzra Vairozs? He wondered as the atmosphere around them shifted in a similar way to the moments right after he Claimed the Crystal Empire and its people as his.

But when you stand too close
Yeah, the picture's never clear
And when you look too far away
It all but disappears

And it was right (right) there in front of me (Oh-oh, ah-oh-oh)
Just too close for me to see (Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh)
Sometimes the things you need
Are not where you first think
'Cause it was right there in front of me

The chorus faded out as Šihzra raised a foreleg up and out in clear invitation. 'Though Harlothisüa was still not sure what the longma was exactly up to he shrugged a why not, after all he had already joined during the chorus.

There was a time before
I didn't know where I belonged
I thought I needed more
And that I wouldn't get along

But who I am
Was all I ever needed
And when I faced that test
I finally succeeded

And it was right (right) there in front of me (Oh-oh, ah-oh-oh)
Just too close for me to see (Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh)
Sometimes the things you need
Are not where you first think
'Cause it was right there in front of me

Oh, whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh

And it's all I'll ever need

Oh, whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh

'Cause it was right there in front of me

Oh, whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh

And it's all I'll ever need

Oh, whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh

'Cause it was right there in front of me

Oh oh oh
All this time
It was in front of me

Šihzra chuckled and winked at Harlothisüa as the song faded away before suddenly disappearing in a cloud of black sparks.

Damn it Šihzra! Harlothisüa facepalmed while shaking his head. Of course, he must have used the song to teleport away just like he did with Harmonious Knight's journals. And to add insult to injury, he just knew that as much as Šihzra leaving would ease the tension with the Equestrians in particular, it was just as likely (and if he was honest the chances were one hundred percent) going to come back and bite future him in the tail.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Evermore sizrah is making to be the nightmare subsuming mortals to lead them to destruction for it own power and laughs.

More destructive than Discord, far less kind and generous than Grogar.

No wonder he hates Harmony.

[Rammy]

11796763 Omg Harlothisüa would be so pissed at your description of Šihzra only to silently make a note to use it in a O&O campaign...