Üā Sūt Cktüis (How to be Dragon)

by Rammy

Chapter 24 Šüērsojot Traxti Cktilsēta (Traversing Traxti City)

Endless grief awaits the dragon whose hoard is lost. ~ Unknown

---

Šizra tighten his hold of Thorax as more and more of the leyonic mana shined through the shell of his mana. The shell should hold but it was going to be close... Suddenly to his shock, and concern, Thorax started to squirm. He had hoped that his sleeping spell upon the changeling would have lasted until their arrival in Traxti City.

<Do not speak!> Šizra warned into the hivemind, calculating that the extra mana expenditure would not put them at any needless risk. However, to his chagrin, this only caused Thorax to thrash with building distress. For a moment he could even see the changeling's mouth move as if he was going to voice said distress, but then, it seemed that the changeling took his warning to heart and closed him mouth. Good. It would not got well if the changeling attempted to speak out loud in a pure, raw mana environment.

Šizra gritted his teeth exasperation though when Thorax looked up only to start to actually fight to get out of his grip. <Šizra!>

Šizra wished he could speak Ancient Draconian into the hivemind to force Thorax to calm down but limitations in the spellwork that allowed him entry into the hivemind prevented that. But if he did not get the changeling to calm down and fast...

<We are traversing through the ley lines, rivers of raw mana that crisscross the world.> Šizra growled as Thorax managed to get in a painful hit to his back left shin. <Only my magic is keeping you from the mana of a hundred alicorns which would instantly tear you asunder before scattering you to the ends of the planet.>

To his mild relief that seemed to calm the changeling down but it didn't stop Thorax from shouting into the hivemind. <Why have you bugnapped me?!>

<Bugnapped?> Šizra raised an eyebrow. Did I somehow over and under do the sleeping spell? <You agreed to come with me.>

<What!? I would nev... that was you!?> Thorax exclaimed as realization struck, shock and horror painfully assaulting Šizra's mind. <If I had known...>

<Any royal changeling worth their gel would have known that I was a non-changeling the moment I spoke within the hivemind.> Šizra countered, irked at the changeling's attitude.

But the changeling's mood only fell further, from a mix fear and anger deep down into despair and hopelessness. And as much as Šizra was glad that Thorax was no longer fighting him, the change to those emotions only made him more irritated. That displeasure turned into a simmering anger when he heard the changeling sulky muttered a particular word.

<Weak!?> Šizra scoffed, barely holding back his anger from the hivemind. <You wrestled control from Chrysalis did you not?>

<But...>

<But nothing.> Šizra snapped, cutting off Thorax. <It was Chrysalis in her hubris crippled your hive in her idiotic pursuit of control and power. She chose to ignore that the might of a hive always comes from the hive itself, as a whole, and never from the leader alone. A royal changeling serves and give directions to the hive at the behest of the hive and not the other way around.>

<...>

<Your hive is on the verge of collapse, Thorax!> Šizra growled his patience for the bemoaning changeling gone. <I will not stay idle while that which my friend has claimed...>

<Claimed?!> Thorax roared, the despair and hopelessness gone with the rush of fury so great that it nearly managed to make Šizra lose focus on the mana shell. <I did not show my hive a better way and thus rescuing them from Chrysalis tyranny to be claimed as slaves by another!>

<Of course not!> Šizra grumbled, looking away from Thorax to check his mana shell, which, thankfully, for the moment, seemed stable. <Just like when I asked if your friendship with Spike was like a pony, a dragon, or a changeling so too do you not yet know what it means to be claimed by a dragon. To a dragon, claiming not about subjugation, slavery, it's about protecting what or who they value more than anything else. Never mind no dragon will tolerate their hoard being anything but the best and a soul chained is a tarnished and diminished soul...>

<You will see young changeling...> Šizra added, now staring down at the changeling. <When you finally step out like a young fledging and fly under your own power you will see your dragon's joy blazing brighter than the sun.>

Šizra sighed in relief when any further discussion was cut off as the bright, swirling kaleidoscope of the ley mana, along with his dark mana, faded away to reveal a stone circle. Looking up and over he saw trees and further still the last light of the sun upon the tops of skyscrapers. They had arrived in Traxti City.

Šizra felt a small bit of pity for Thorax as the changeling stumbled away from him and threw up. But he quickly shallowed that pity as he did not want to add to the changeling's suffering. He looked around and thankfully found that, so far, no one had noticed their arrival, but that could change at any moment. It would not do good for the suffering changeling if word got out that there was a changeling that look like a pony in Traxti. It would lead to not only emotional attention that would only increase the strain the changeling was under but questions. Questions that would lead to answers. Answers of which he knew would likely lead to an outcome that he had been subtly trying to lead the Federation away from for the past ten years.

"Quick! Disguise yourself as a young dragon and whatever you do not revert to either a pony or your base form." Šizra huffed, quickly summoning Leafcutter when Thorax hesitated.

The longma raised a single brow as Thorax disguised himself as a teenaged dragon with the same colorization as his base form. Without knowing it Thorax had picked the paradoxically the worst and best disguise possible. He would draw attention to himself being a dragon in Traxti City. (Rare to begin with but now almost never since the loss of the entire adult dragon population.) That kind of attention could overload the already strained changeling. But, then again, they would also see a young dragon in the presence of the Hermit Sage, the only adult dragon (technically a hybrid dragon) alive and would thereby likely leave them alone assuming that he was mentoring another young dragon like he did Harlothisüa Lruthithieüs.

"Ugh..." Thorax groaned out as he wiped away the bile from his mouth. "I feel worse than that one-time Twilight tested some of Mandible's 'special stash' during one of her 'research' binges and started manically teleporting him and I all over the hive while spouting questions nonstop. So much teleporting... So. Many. Questions..."

"That is not teleportation sickness you’re feeling." Šizra explained as he peered around again, seeing still that no creature had noticed them. "You are being bombarded by the emotions of about five million creatures right now. Luckily, all that emotional energy is unfocused, but if all five million were to be directed towards you... That would be analogous to the power that the Crystal Heart is capable unleashing."

"Five million!? That's... that's..." Thorax tried to get more than one word out but words seemed to have failed him. "Where..."

"Traxti City, west south west of the Crystal Empire across the 'Northern Luna' Ocean." Šizra explained as he observed Thorax closely. If he had more time to prepare, he could have enchanted an amulet to help dampen the emotional barrage, but, then again, if the royal changeling couldn't find a way to handle this what hope could he have against the might of the Crystal Heart?

Šizra continued to watch Thorax patiently as the changeling tried to reconcile that he was surrounded by more creatures than the entirety of Equestria. As much as he would like for them to get a move on, it would be better for the young royal changeling to get all the shock out of system now where they had a bit of privacy as to not set off any instinctual changeling flight and hide behaviors in front of witnesses. After a few moments it seemed like Thorax had calmed down only to almost immediately fall hard onto to his butt, mouth agape. Šizra followed his gaze and sighed. Of course...

Thorax's hive may have taken shelter under the Crystal Spire, the tallest structure in all of Equestria (unless Manehatten had built one larger since the last time he sent spies into Equestria some thirty years ago...), but Traxti had at least couple dozen that were several times taller, several of which could be easily seen from where they stood. And, of course, the one that had gotten Thorax's attention was not only nearly four times higher than the Crystal Spire, it also was the tallest building in Traxti. And yet, it still had nothing on the crystal tree that was the backbone of the Reliquary.

Šizra let a little smirk slip. Maybe, if they had time, they could make a layover at the Glittering Isles. It had been far too long since he had seen an initial reaction to his hoard. Those were always amusing to see. A pity Ilcktulsivitātes Hzathtola was unable due to the wards... His mood quickly soured though he recalled that Vorac found those reactions to be just as hilarious.

Vorac...

"Bugnapped... five million creatures... impossibly tall buildings... When will this Luna forsaken dream end?" Thorax suddenly cried out, gesturing wildly with his dragon claws.

Šizra snorted. He always found the reverential praise of the two sisters to be extremely stupid, among other things. Luna, in this case, was not the be-all and end-all when it came to dreams, she was just a particularly strong dream walker. "Come, Traxti City is not safe after nightfall..."

As he silently lead Thorax east through the rapidly darkening streets he could feel the adrenaline that had gotten him thus far started to slip away bringing him back to the bone exhaustion he had felt as he laid upon the Crystal Spire. Not helping was the boost that the heartsong had given his mana had also faded. He was thankful that even though Thorax was still clearly very curious he kept quiet. He didn't think he could answer his questions and walk at the same time.

It was to his relief when only a short time later they arrived at the Traxti Harbor without any issues. Now they had to just had to, hopefully, find the Belching Kraken, which usually wintered in the harbor... amongst all the other ships doing the same. This could take a while, possibly too long, and he would rather not, with how weak he felt, resort to plan B.

That turned out to be a very accurate prediction as Šizra was about to give up just as the moon reached its peak when he finally spotted the Belching Kraken. To his surprise and relief, he could see the scarred shell of an old Kappa leaning against the railing near the gangplank, his face highlighted by the dim light of a lit pipe. If he was not mistake that had to be Captain Klippfisk. Given how late it was he had half expected to have to either talk to a crewmember or make his way onto the ship to knock on the door to the captain's quarters.

"Hail Captain Klippfisk of the Belching Kraken!" Šizra happily called out only to blink in confusion when the kappa hardly reacted, only looking around a moment before going back to his gazing. Odd... He was sure that the old grizzled kappa was Captain Klippfisk. Maybe he wasn't loud enough. "Hail Captain Klippfisk of the Belching Kraken!"

That time the kappa seemed to have heard, looking about in the darkness before pulling out a lantern that had been hidden behind a crate. Šizra hissed, tilting his head away as the painful light hit him square in the face. Thankfully the kappa was quick to move the lantern so that Šizra could see without wincing in pain.

"Who goes there?"

"Captain Klippfisk, it is I, the Hermit Sage. I would like to request a room to stay the night for myself and my companion." Šizra frowned as he barely caught the kappa muttering a few choice curses in response all while fiddling with a compass that was chained around his neck.

What is going on? He understood why, given that he was cloaked like he normally was when he traveled, Captain Klippfisk did not recognize him on sight, but from what he was catching it sounded as if the kappa could not understand him. Further increasing his confusion was that Thorax also seemed a bit lost as to what he was saying. That made no sense as he made sure to speak modern Equestrian so that Thorax could understand him and with Captain Klippfisk's compass doubling as a translation amulet...

"Captain... Klippfisk?" Šizra questioned, but the moment those words left his mouth he realized what was going on. In his exhaustion he had must had slipped into his native tongue which the translation charm would not be able to translate, it was just too old and obscure.

With a tired sigh Šizra reached up and pull down the hood of his cloak and immediately the kappa's eyes lit up in recognition. "Well Ay'd be a fucking son of a gun if it be Hermit Sage! Ye look like a scurvied bonefish!"

But Šizra barely heard the captain excited exclamation as he fell on to his haunches, his strength suddenly utterly spent, his vision swirling about as darkness quickly enveloped him. The last thing he was aware of was a pair of hands and a voice speaking. "Well don' just stan' there like a wee guppy, help me..."

---

Live
Wake up, wake up
And let the cloak of life cling to your fire
Cling to your fire
Wake up, wake up

Wake up CktüisLežothīzs...

Šizra shot up, awaking with a gasp. He tensely looked around not knowing where he was. He couldn't see much in the dark room but from the smell of salt on the air and a slight rocking motion led him to the conclusion that he was on a boat. But why was he on a boat? As he tried to recall he noticed on a crate next to him was a plate piled high with salted pork, a large piece of hardtack, and, to his surprise, a chuck of quartz. He eyed it for a moment before the rumbling of his stomach overruled his caution. He quickly wolfed down the food as if he had not eaten in months.

Šizra closed his eyes and let out a long satisfying breath as the last of the food went down esophagus. His now full stomach seemed to reinvigorate him, if only a bit. He still did not know for sure where he was as every time he tried to recall his memories of the night before would slip away before he could grasp anything more than impressions. It was only when he climbed up out from below deck that he finally remembered. He had led Thorax to the Belching Kraken and called out for Captain Klippfisk then nothing. He must have pass out and was carried to an empty crew quarter.

Speaking of the two, he saw Captain Klippfisk smoking a pipe with Thorax, still disguised as a teenaged dragon, leaning over the rail next to him. Both were staring eastward at the sun rising. For a moment Šizra was transported back twenty thousand years and many leagues south to a sunrise just like this one.

Mother... Father...

"Aye don' suppose ye migh' tell me ye showed up las' night like a wee lad after too many pints of grog?" Klippfisk asked, pulling Šizra from his memories, the captain's eyes staring down at him.

Šizra closed his eyes and breathed out slowly as a fresh wave of loss and grief nearly overwhelmed him. Vorac... He knew that Vorac was merely an artificial soul not a living one and would have ceased to exist when he died anyway but Vorac had been a part of him for so long. And now... he would never hear his growls or grumbles again. He was now alone... so very alone...

"Forget Aye said nothin'. Aye can see the grief upon ye face. " The kappa spoke, turning to fully face Šizra before lightly clasping his shoulder and lumbering past.

"Captain..." Šizra softly spoke, causing the captain to stop, "A barrel of Zap Apple Brandy will be in the supply cache along with the usual as my thanks."

Klippfisk grunted before he entered into the captain's quarters, closing the door behind him. Šizra sighed as he turned his gaze towards the now fully risen sun, the raw grief slowly fading to a dull ache. It would never go away. It was the price of having a dragon's soul.

"Šizra?"

"It's time to go Hive Leader Thorax." Šizra said, ignoring the implied 'are you okay' that the changeling left unspoken. This was not the time for grief, there was work to be done.

But as they walked down the gangplank Šizra paused for a moment as he suddenly debated on how to proceed to the Sanctum. Even though he had rest and food, which had helped, his strength both physically and magically was going to be erratic and stunted for some time. It was going to be a tricky balance to maintain the two so as to not leave them vulnerable. After quickly thinking over his options, he felt it would be better to conserve mana as he knew that he was about to metaphorically kick the hornet's nest. So instead of teleporting them directly they were going they would have to take a much more circuitous and very long route to the Sanctum.

With that decided, Šizra led Thorax back into Traxti and down into the nearest underground train station. From there he guided the changeling through a maze of tunnels and passages sometimes backing up and taking a different route when it seemed that he went the wrong way and led them to a dead end. At one point, they even stepped back up onto the surface before walking into a hotel lobby and taking the stairs down into the basement and back into the tunnels.

As time went on Šizra didn't need to peek into the hive mind to sense that Thorax was becoming increasingly confused and tense. Especially as the longma made it look like he was struggling to remember where he needed to go. Of course, what he kept to himself was that every move he made was deliberate. He was subtly activating the changeling glyphs that were hidden throughout the Traxti underground that would let them open the door of the Sanctum.

---

"Here." Šizra handed Thorax a bag of honey roasted chestnuts when they stopped for a rest.

Thorax eyed the contents of the bag for a moment before reaching in and trying one.

3...

2...

1...

Šizra chuckled in amusement, as at the exact second, he had predicated, Thorax's eyes widen in shock before the changeling greedily stuffed his face into the bag nosily inhaling the chestnuts as fast as he could. The chestnuts that he had given the changeling were not covered in just any old honey but changeling honey.

"I was not lying when I told you before that there are dozens of hives all over Cktasaule." Šizra whispered as he went about munching on his own bag of roasted chestnuts (without the honey). "I am taking you to a place called the Sanctum. A well-hidden neutral place of refuge and relaxation, as well as a meeting place for hives that call the land east of the Razor's Spine home. My hope is that one the hives will be willing to teach you what Chrysalis failed to do..."

---

After eating their snack Šizra once again led Thorax through the underground until finally they reached a tunnel that had a large metal door at the end. A kappa dressed in a guard uniform was sitting on a folding metal chair to the side of it, seemingly asleep, though Šizra knew otherwise. As they approach he took a deep breath. Now was the moment of truth. If he had done it correctly the door should open up, otherwise he would have no choice but to resort to teleporting them in.

"Welcome to the Sanctum," Šizra said, sighing in relief as the handle turned and the door opened, subtly nodding to the kappa guard who was staring at them with his eyes and mouth wide open, no longer pretending to be asleep.

"However," He warned as they entered and walked down a series of tunnels and chambers lined with changeling resin and lowly lit by a scattering of small yellowish green changeling crystals. "While you are in no direct danger, keep your guard high, as none here are friends or allies."

With that they made their way deeper passing by more and more changelings most out of disguise. The chittering and buzzing all the while increasing. Šizra did his best to ignore it all, but it was slowing battering his already tired psyche.

"Wait here." Šizra suddenly ordered Thorax before walking towards a large circle encircled by many crystals of various sizes that hung down from the ceiling. It was there that he would have audience with with the hive leaders through their changeling 'speakers.'

The longma breathed deep as he sat down in the middle of the crystals and waited though his wait was not long as ten changelings all disguised as him stepped out of the darkness. He had to fight to not roll his eyes, of all the disguises the changelings’ speakers could use why did they go with him? Did they think that being him would intimidate him or throw him off somehow?

"What is the meaning of this sacrilege Stormcrow?" The Šizra changeling on the far left hissed. "'Tis bad enough that you have trespassed into our Sanctum but to also sully it by bringing a Banished here? We should cut both him and you down where you stand."

The moment the changeling said that chaos erupted amongst the Šizra changelings with several of them hissing in anger at the first and at least one even looking like it was about to attack the offending changeling. It took several shouts from the center Šizra before the chattering died down. Once it did, the same changeling nodded for Šizra to answer the accusation.

"I am fully aware of why her and her spawn were banished." Šizra replied, being careful to keep his own emotions calm. The posturing and pointed question he was expecting, the insulting title less so. And thanks to the changeling speakers taking a single form he had no idea which hive was the one on the left (Which was technically the point of being addressed by identical changelings) and thus he had no way to ascertain why that hive felt it needed to utilize such language.

"While the threat of violence was uncalled for..." The first changeling hissed again but stopped when the center Šizra glared at it. "The question still stands, Hermit Sage. Why have you brought a banished one here?"

Šizra looked at each changeling in turn as he gathered his thoughts on how to present his petition before speaking to the changeling that asked the question. "Thorax has overthrown Chrysalis but in doing so his hive have become known to the Equestrians..."

"So?" The Šizra on the far right spoke. "What business do we have if a hive has decided to end their masquerade?"

"Because they been viciously attacked by a radical faction within it..."

"Again, that is the Banished Hive's business. We will not risk our masquerades for their folly." The same Šizra countered.

"Hermit Sage," The Center Šizra spoke again, "This is clearly something that is not worthy for us to get involved in. Let the Banished Hive and the Equestrians hash it out on their own."

"I am not an idiot." Šizra resisted the urge to growl in annoyance. He was fully aware that they would bring up all of their objections. He would not have even tried if the only problems facing Thorax's Hive was just those. "The issue is what remains of his hive has taken shelter under the protection the Crystal Heart and the Crystal Ponies..."

Now as soon as those words came out of Šizra's mouth the low-level buzz that had surrounded him since shortly after he stepped into the Sanctum rose to a fever pitch and he was bombarded with not only many overlapping shouted questions but an overwhelming amount of powerful and conflicting emotions that flooded in from all directions. Unfortunately, with his deepening exhaustion it was quickly too much for him to handle and he let out a earth shattering, enraged roar.

"Oh, how I love nearly killing myself over and over and meddling in the affairs of a bunch of greedy, whining, self-righteous sanctimonious, self-destructive, knowing-know-it-all children!" Šizra shouted as his emotional control completely collapsed sending out waves of rage, frustration, sorrow and grief and causing many of the gathered changelings to scramble away trying to flee the intense and poisonous emotions. "You want to be self-destructive? Fine. I don't care! I'd rather... I'd rather..."

Vorac...

Šizra sobbed once, unable to speak another word, the Sanctum going completely silent except for the sounds of his heavy panting. Oh how he wish he could just run off and be like the first half of his most well known moniker. Vorac... But right now he could not, he had a duty and a responsibility to fulfill. He slowed his breathing take time to breathe in and out deeply to help get his emotions back under wraps.

When he felt he got his emotions back in check, he slowly began to speak again, "It is only a matter of matter of time before Traxti and Equestria will... meet. Now, you can swallow your pride and act like adults and take the first step of conciliation and help Thorax's hive. Or you can be a child and throw a tantrum and get smacked by the adults' consequences which will most likely be war, death and destruction. I should not need to remind you how tense the Federation is over Equestria."

With that Šizra spun around and walked away. He made his way a short distance to one of the pillars of harden changeling gel that served as support and light for the Sanctum and laid down. Ignoring cacophony that had erupted with his departure, he quickly fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

---

Hermit Sage?

"Hermit Sage?"

"Hmm?" Šizra murmured as he opened his sleepy eyes, looking up to see, looming over him, one of the changelings still disguised as him, clearly one of the speakers.

"You are to escort the Royal Changeling known as Thorax to Lord Spinster." The changeling spoke before sharply turning and walking away. Šizra sighed in relief and he slowly got up onto his paws. It was as he and Harlothisüa Lruthithieüs had assumed and what he had hoped. The changeling suddenly paused and looked over his shoulder back to Šizra, his eyes glowing bright. "Oh, and Stormcrow? Please do not darken the Sanctum again."

Šizra shook his head as he barely resisted the urge to growl in irritation. It wasn't like he wanted to darken the Sanctum this time. With a sigh he went to look for Thorax who he quickly found curled up and shivering in fear within one of the many sleeping alcoves that dotted the walls. Several changelings were gathered around the young royal changeling who at one point had dropped his disguise. The longma coughed to get the gathered changelings' attention, who upon seeing him quickly parted. Šizra slowly reached down pulsing comfort, love, and understanding as he did and waited for Thorax to visibly calm down a bit before speaking.

"Come. Disguise yourself as you did before. It's time, once again, for us to leave."

Author's Note:

Gah this chapter just kept getting bigger and bigger and ended up as the longest chapter for Üā Sūt Cktüis (How to be Dragon) yet

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Massive tech advanced non pony civilisation on one side.

Celestia on the other.

This all powerful dragon with absolutely no parenting skills between?

Yup. Hes the catalyst. The harder he tries, wrongly, the bigger the boom.

[Rammy]

11828263 Well to be fair Sizra ain't in a good frame of mind... not that he ever is in the best frames of mind to begin with his temper

[RandomCommentor]

Live Wake up, wake up And let the cloak of life cling to your fire Cling to your fire Wake up, wake up

Ah yes… Rings of Akhaten.
Such a good song.

I like how you changed “bones” to “fire”

It fits.

[Rammy]

11828688 The funny thing is bones would have fit if this was a skyrim fanfic lol

[RandomCommentor]

11828722
Im just glad you didn't change it to something cringe like “scales” or “heart”

[Rammy]

11828773
Oh gah, no! Neither one of those make sense! Maybe if this was the Keeper Triology... no... not even there...