Twilight Dragonkle

by TheAmazingMe

The Importance of Being Burnished

Twilight sat in the shaded comfort of the common area of the acid spitter village. Her dragon tribe before seemed very small. Then again, she’d only met three of them. Aconite’s speech about the rarity of passing down the spitter genetic traits belied a bustling and even diverse group of dragons living together as a community. To Twilight’s knowledge aside from special occasions, large groups of dragons didn’t often live together. Yet here they were. Most females in the village were acid spitters. Many males were spitters, but at a rate almost half that of the female population. The young dragons were a mix of the earth, fire and spitter types, with a set of water dragons that looked exactly alike. Twilight examined them from afar, intent on finding any differences when a twinge of pain shot through her head.

Twilight was just about to see if Aconite had some sort of cure for what promised to be a killer headache when the potioneer appeared by her side.

“The water twins are fully recognized. Their mother accidentally spewed on both of them when she was sick. Neither of them showed any ill effects. They behaved quite a bit better after that, though.” Aconite passed her a pony-sized cup of something bitter smelling and green.

“I thought you had to go through the pool,” Twilight said, taking the cup in both hooves and looking into it.

Aconite grinned. “Fully grown female acid spitter. It was...a lot of vomit.”

Twilight brought the cup to her lips but caught a stronger whiff of the stuff. She glanced at Aconite sideways. Aconite caught the expression and sighed. “It’s for headaches. It shouldn’t turn you strange colors but if for whatever reason it does, we will eventually get you back to your natural purple.”

Twilight flapped her multi-colored wings and giggled. “Thank you. But how did you know?”

Aconite shrugged. “It happens every so often that those exposed to the pond catch a little something. Call it what you will, it usually passes in a few days.”

Twilight wondered idly if she’d ever get the hang of telling Aconite’s mood. Certain tells were obvious, Spike did had similar body language especially with his wings. Then again, Twilight figured, Aconite would probably be exceptional even for an acid spitting dragon.

Sniffing the cup again, Twilight tried to keep her expression neutral. At this point she was sure she had Aconite’s grudging respect so she wasn’t altogether worried about the cup’s contents. Twilight sighed and took a drink. It was as bitter as it smelled. “You have a knack for holding back on information.”

Aconite laughed, a sound more like a blast than a chuckle. “No creature ever shares everything they know. And I know enough to forget more than some ever learn.”

Aconite sat next to her and watched the dragons playing in the late morning sun. Twilight took a longer drink and gritted her teeth afterwards. Aconite idly played with a small piece of wood in her claws. The silence that fell between them was amicable. As the wooden bit slipped between green claws, Twilight thought about how different Aconite acted now. She still had a bite to her words every once in a while, but there was something, grandmotherly to her.

“Are you and Arrhenius...together?” Twilight asked.

The wooden bit clattered to the rock they used as a table. Quickly, Aconite grabbed it, but not before Twilight could see the flower carved into it. Aconite’s face took on a darker green hue. “Arrhenius and I do have a history.”

Twilight chided herself silently for making the atmosphere awkward. “I suppose even dragons have complicated relationships.” She finished the cup of headache remedy and passed it back to Aconite. “Thank you.”

Aconite took the cup firmly in both sets of front claws and sighed. “Arrhenius has always been secretive. There’s a part of himself that he hides away. I thought when we became a couple that I could ease into his deepest confidences.”

“So he wasn’t always so...” Twilight drifted off, suddenly unsure how to word the question. She picked her quill up and fiddled with it nervously.

Aconite flapped her wings. “Lazy? I did peek at your notes. If you do write about us please keep in mind Arrhenius is an exception. Dragons have enough of a reputation for hoarding and sitting around in caves. Arrhenius has an atypical personal schedule,” Aconite said charitably.

“He’s my one big question mark. But the stories he’s telling aren’t personal ones.” Twilight set her quill down.

“We had children and yet, well. I guess I can see part of what he was hiding now.” She turned her gaze to Twilight, who nodded and tried her best sympathetic smile. “And I probably wouldn’t have been as open as I thought I was.”

“You wouldn’t have approved of him...consorting with ponies?” Twilight asked.

“Not at that time, no. I wouldn’t have understood. I still, frankly, don’t. Not fully. Let me know if the headache returns.” With that, Aconite stood to leave. Before she did, she turned back. “If you want to see Arrhenius at his best. Three hours before dawn on that ridge.” She pointed to the top of a nearby peak.

Before Twilight could respond, Aconite turned and left. She stood and called after Aconite, whose tail just vanished. “Wait! You have kids?”

Salts ambled up, stretched his wings and nudged Twilight with one. “C’mon, cousin. Let’s go for a walk.”

Obliging, Twilight set her writing implements in her bag she borrowed from Shining and followed the dark emerald dragon. They followed the sandy path that encircled the ring of caves. The acid pool in the middle of the village was as still and green as bottle-glass. The sun beamed down, the direct heat keeping most of the older dragons near their caves. In spite of that, the path they were on seemed mostly shaded by the cliffs.

“Where are we going?” Twilight asked.

“I want you to meet some of my friends. Hopefully Scytodes is asleep.”

Author's Note:

Yeah it’s short. Yeah. It’s been a year. Yeah, I’m surprised too. It literally took getting teeth pulled to give me enough time to put this together and tbh I’m in this to finish it. Do I know when that’ll be? No. But I’ll get there. Thanks for waiting 🤟🏾❣️ Also Black Lives Matter and Happy Pride. Byeeeee

Comments

[Edguy0009]

10275879
Guess what? There's an update.

[Greenhorn]

Color me surprise. An update! I thought this story finished for good. Now I am looking forward to seeing Twilight friends' reaction on her hidden heritage.

[Cyrus Colter]

This... Has my interest.....
I especially like that it isn't Twilight SPARKLE that is the first generation of acid spewer hybridization.... And that Velvet admits to having hoarded quills

[Viper Pit]

Curious cousins

[Jest]

See you all next year!

[Vaguely Demented]

I get a real laugh out of imagining the water twins.

[A.P.O.N.I.]

Aconite day next to her and watched the dragons playing in the late morning sun.

Something wrong there.

[Damaged]

10279110 s/day/lay

[ChakatRedstripe]

Good story, I'm enjoying it

[Draco Dei]

Extraneous line break in the last sentence.

[Cyrus Colter]

10480399
At the current point of the story she is confirmed to be an Acid Spewer dragon. As in the type of dragon is literally called Acid Spewer.

[IsaacTheHungry]

Marked canceled???

But I am really enjoying this story

[Winter Willow]

I actually like this as the end of the story.