Fire and Steel

by shirotora

Chapter 20: Discovering Ponyville

Author's Note:

Not much of a crossover, honestly. It'll only be two and a half chapters of mostly just some simple chatting and catching up... and a little something else

Most Ponyville residents were used to the strange and bizarre. After all, not only did they live near the Everfree Forest, they were also host to a pack of randomly transforming fox things and the Cutiemark Crusaders.

Still, a pair of dragons being led through town by Spike, who many had just realized they hadn't seen in a week, and Fluttershy of all ponies was enough to stop and gawk at.

"Are ponies always so... stare-y?" Smolder asked.

Spike waved a claw, dismissively, "Nah, they just aren't used to seeing dragons, other than me. The last one that was around just smogged up the sky until Fluttershy here sent it packing."

"Wait..." Ember said, thinking. "Was this dragon a big red one, snores like a volcano erupting?"

"Um... I guess?" Fluttershy said.

Ember and Smolder burst out in laughter.

"You," Smolder tried to speak through her mirth, "You're the terrifying beast from the depths of Tartarus?"

Ember added, "The one he was locked in mortal combat with for a week straight?"

Several ponies within earshot snickered at that. The thought of Fluttershy battling a massive fire breathing dragon was just far too ridiculous a thought.

"Oh, I am so blackmailing him when we get back" Ember said, wiping a tear from her eye.

Fluttershy didn't really like the idea, but she figured it must have been another dragon thing.

"Why don't we just get to the library," Fluttershy said, leading their guests.

Word had spread much faster than they walked, apparently, as before the library even came into view, a purple pony popped into being before them.

"Spike!" Twilight cried as she practically threw herself at him, glomping him. "I missed you, so much! How was it? Did you find the answers you were looking for?"

Spike smiled, returning the hug. "Yeah, I think I did."

---

I sat there, having moved outside the Daycare, thinking on what I had been told. Apparently, Leo had been having dreams about a claw, much like the one I saw, and let's just say they were a bit on the apocalyptic side.

This had me worried, to say the least. Whatever this claw was... I had to wonder.

I asked, "In the show, were there ever any creatures that could possess animals? Like a monster made of shadow?"

Leo gave me a confused look. "Not that was in the show. Why?"

"Because the monster that took Smolder's brother..." I said, considering my words carefully. "Ember used a spell to show us what actually happened. The monster opened some kind of portal to escape, which was strange because Star never mentioned that dingoneks could use magic.

"Anyway, Ember paused the scene, and I got a good look at its face. In the moment before it opened the portal, it looked like it was wearing a mask made of smoke."

"What did the mask look like? A pony?" Yomega asked.

I thought for a second. "Maybe? I thought it looked like a dragon, but I suppose it could have been a pony. It was pretty featureless. Hell, it could have been a dog."

Leo shook her head. "I don't know what else to say, other than maybe it was a changeling. Maybe what you saw was it's true form shining through because of Ember's spell?"

"Maybe," I agreed, "but then why would they take Garble? And does that mean he really is alive?"

"Hey," a voice called. "Fluttershy said Twilight wants to see your friend."

I turned around, looking for the speaker. All I saw was a squirrel.

“Hello?” I asked, broadcasting my query.

"Woah, that's freaky," the squirrel said...

The squirrel...

I leapt back, thoroughly freaked out. "Holy Monkey Jesus, that squirrel just talked!"

"We got a genius, here, don't we?" the squirrel said.

"Don't they talk in the dragon lands?" Leo asked.

"Hell no, they don't talk!" I said. "You think I would be able to eat them if they did?"

"Oh, you're from beyond pony lands?" the squirrel once again did the thing it shouldn't be able to do. "Yeah, those guys out there are dumb as bricks. I think it's something about ponies that makes us smart."

"Y-yeah... we'll go with that..." I said, still rather freaked. "Pony magic... yeah..."

I really, really hoped I didn't eat anything that could talk.

"Whatever, Twilight wants to talk to you," he said again. "Message delivered. I'm going to get me a snack."

And then he scampered off. Like a normal squirrel should.

"Were all your kills clean?" Yomega asked.

"N-no, of course not," I replied. "At first, I never made a clean kill."

"So they survived your initial attack?" He clarified. "If ponies make them smart and you never made a clean kill when you were closest to ponies but none of them spoke or begged for their life, I think it's safe to assume none of the ones you killed could speak."

That was true. In fact, having calmed down, I could sense that the animals auras were brighter here than elsewhere.

My freakout subsided and I took a deep breath.

"You okay, now?" Yomega asked. I gave a nod. "Great, now let's go see what Twilight wants. You coming, Leo? Conner'll watch the eggs. I just asked."

Leo gave him a dirty look. "Damn psychics," she mumbled, not quite quiet enough to escape my keen ears. "Sure. I'm kind of curious about what Twilight wants, anyway."

As we headed into town, I felt the need to mention something. "So, I almost let slip where we're from to Spike. Don't worry, I covered it. I told him we're from far away and were magically teleported here."

"That's... actually good," Yomega said. "It's not a lie, and it tests the waters just enough to gauge what they will do."

As we walked on, I told them about what all we did with Spike. Soon enough, we were at the library.

"This is amazing Spike," Twilight's voice reached us as we entered. "If this is true, and I have a feeling it is, it would answer so many questions."

She was looking through the sketches Spike made of the murals Star showed him.

Meanwhile, Ember was standing to one side with her arms spread while Rarity took her measurements.

Smolder, was sitting nearby, giving sidelong glances to a fashion magazine on a nearby table.

Was she interested in fashion? That seemed... actually, no, that made sense.

“If you're interested in fashion, just look at it,” I said.

Smolder flinched in surprise. "Wh-what? I'm not interested in that! I'm just-"

“You know I can sense when you're lying.”

"You... but... I'm not..." Smolder stammered around for a response before signing. "Fine, I think it's kinda cool, but if ever so much as think of telling anydrake, I'll..."

I grinned, "You'll what?"

Smolder growled, but didn't respond, instead, she just grabbed one of the magazines and turned away to read.

Yomega smirked at me. <<"That sounded like a lover's spat. You getting twice the dragon tail?">>

<<"What? No. I'm still with Ember,">> I replied.

Leo said, <<"So does that mean dragons are monogamous, or just you?">>

<<"Yeah. They approach it a little differently, but they are monogamous,">> I explained.

"Luke, darling," Rarity called. "Could come here so I can take your measurements?"

“Do we have time for me to get an outfit, too?” I asked.

"The train doesn't come until late tonight," Ember informed. "So, we have time."

Twilight, apparently done with Spike's sketches for the time being, came over. "So, Luke, when we last spoke you said something about the eevees' 'potential evolutions'."

I shot a glance at Yomega and his cocky little smirk.

“Well, there's not much I could tell you about that, other than it's unknown how many forms they can evolve into,” I explained.

"What about the 'known evolutions' you mentioned?" She asked.

“Other than the ones you've seen, there's glaceon, an ice type, and sylveon, a fairy type.”

"Fairy type?" Twilight asked, confused by the term.

"It's hard to describe," I said. Sending a quick plea for help to Yomega, he psychically fed me the information I needed. "It's a type of creature that, for lack of a better term, is more in tune with nature and its magic. Think the Everfree Forest if it were friendly."

"A friendly Everfree..." Twilight pondered. "That actually sounds amazing.

"You wouldn't happen to know what triggers these transformations, would you?"

“Several factors are believed to cause it. For flareon, jolteon, and vaporeon, it's gems charged with elemental energy. Umbreon come from eevee that are mostly nocturnal. Lefeon and glaceon have to do with their environments. Sylveon comes from forming a strong bond with another. Espeon, I'm not too sure but it could have to do with magic. That one's just a guess, though.”

Yomega gave me a smirk. <<"I didn't tell you anything about how eevees evolve.">>

<<"I may not know much about pokemon as a whole, but I know plenty about eevees. They were my favorite,">> I replied.

<<"Really?">> he asked.

I chuckled. <<"Hell yeah. They're such little potential badasses and adorable as hell. You can keep your pikachus and charizards, I'd take an eevee anyday.">>

And once again, Leo's mind went into the gutter, if what I felt was any indication.

We were going to need to have a talk.

---

I shouldn't have been surprised.

Even though I had barely gotten into season two, it was enough to know Twilight's character enough.

“Wouldn't it be better to do this in Canterlot?” I asked. “Surely they have better equipment.”

"Hey, I take offense to that," Twilight said, though I could sense she didn't.

Rarity had gone to her boutique to make our clothes, Spike took the dragonesses to Sugarcube Corner, and Yomega said all the 'voices' were giving him a headache.

That left me, Twilight, and Leo - who was enjoying this far more than she should have - in the library's dungeon with me strapped to the torture device.

"This will give me a baseline that I can send to Moondancer," Twilight explained. "This, along with the blood samples should be enough to get her started. Now just relax. When I tell you, focus your aura into your right paw."

Thankfully, the tests were few and brief. Still, I was glad to get out of there.

As Leo and I stepped outside, I took a moment to stretch, basking in the warm sun and cool breeze of autumn.

"So," I began. "Wanna race?"

Leo quirked an eyebrow. "That was rather sudden."

I chuckled. "Nah, I've been wanting to race you since the Gathering."

Leo laughed, "You really haven't changed."

I smiled. "You have. You're a lot more confident. It's a good look for you." That got a blush out of her. "So, how about to that hill?"

Leo looked where I was pointing. It was a nice, tall hill a bit outside of town, about two miles.

"Sounds good," Leo replied.

I pointed to a bird eating from a bird feeder. "When that bird flies away."

We readied ourselves, watching the bird.

The moment its feet left the perch, we turned into brown, white, black, and blue blurs.

The world around us seemed to slow as our perception sped up to match our speed.

Even at that speed, I was already impressed with Leo. Her legs may not have had as long of a stride as me, but she easily took three for each of mine.

We tore down the road, dodging ponies, animals, and even an apple cart, me hopping over while Leo went under.

We were neck and neck, neither of us giving more than an inch before taking it back.

A hundred yards away, Leo looked over at me with a smirk.

And then she exploded.

Or, she might as well have. The crazy little furball broke the sound barrier, the shockwave sending me tumbling in the grass.

"Holy crap, are you okay?!" Leo said, rushing to my side where I came to a painful halt, lying on my back on the side of the hill. "I'm so sorry."

"Are you kidding?!" I said with a laugh. "That was amazing! That's gotta be a land-speed record!"

Leo seemed to relax, seeing I wasn't really hurt. After a moment, she laid down beside me, a short distance away.

"That was fun," she said. "I haven't had to go all out in a while."

We laid there in comfortable silence for several minutes, watching the sky and occasional pegasus before I asked something I hadn't really intended to, but had been thinking.

"Leo... do you ever feel that you're losing what's left of your humanity?"

Leo gave me a surprised look. "Uh... I don't know. I don't really think about it."

"I do... and it scares me," I admitted. "I may have decided to stay here, but that doesn't mean I want to forget who I was or where I came from."

I lifted my arms and stared at my...

I sighed. "I even refuse to call these paws. I still call them hands, as if that actually matters. I just feel that if I call them paws, I'll just lose one more bit of my humanity."

I dropped my arms and scoffed at myself. "Am I just fighting the inevitable?"

"Well," Leo dragged the word out, "like I said, I never really thought about it. But, there was a moment where I had those same worries. I was having a bad day, and lashed out at Thunderlane.

"And I bit him. Using the move. And I felt horrible afterwards, but not about the bite itself." Leo slashed a paw at me. "That I felt completely justified in." Leo sighed. "Without bogging you down with the details, I came to the same worries you're having."

"What did you do?" I asked.

Leo snorted. "They quickly became buried under something else. But I did get a promise from the others that they would stop me from going too far. And, besides." Leo paused to scratch behind an ear. Using a back paw. "I was always a little fluid. Most of why it took me a while to get used to this was that I had no choice in my changes.

"But, I've become comfortable with myself now. And I also think we have it easier adjusting to our new forms because of how different they are to our human forms.

"We were forced to change how we did things without hands, learn how to move around on four legs. Everything was bigger for us.

"But for you..." Leo led.

"I still have the luxury of deluding myself," I finished, flexing my hand... paw.

"You mind me asking; what brought this on?" Leo asked. "You're usually not this... unsure."

I took a breath, sighing. "First, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"These feelings you have for me," I began, immediately getting a blush from Leo. "Are they romantic or is it just a physical attraction?"

"S-sorry," Leo said, squirming a bit. "It's just hormones. I'm not going to try to steal you from Ember."

"So, just physical, then?" I asked, to clarify. Leo nodded. "Good. I ask because... remember how I said dragons are monogamous?" Leo nodded again. "Well, that's true, however, they don't associate sex with romance. It's still considered intimate, but not romantically intimate, as long as actual breeding isn't involved. It's common for two dragons that are just close friends to have sex just to blow off steam.

"I'm probably going to sleep with Smolder in Canterlot," I said, "and... a part of me wants to sleep with you."

Leo shot up in shock. "Wh-what? You... you really want to? Is..." She looked around, as if finally noticing her surroundings. "Is that why we're out here?"

My eyes widened. "No! No, ah, damnit. I just wanted a private conversation. Honestly, I'm pretty sure I'd hurt you if I did. I only brought it up because it's part of why I'm having this little existential crisis."

Leo giggled. "Seriously? This all because you and Ember might be having an open relationship? Do you realize how common that is?"

I chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it is a thing on Earth."

Leo blushed again. "So... you really do want to try, you know... sex?"

I looked at her and smiled. "Maybe when you evolve. Seriously, women talk about how 'bigger is better' but this would be like a virgin getting mounted by a horse."

Leo flinched at the thought. "Oh... yeah, that doesn't sound as nice as Rainbow Dash made it out to be."

"Although..." I sat up, giving Leo an eyebrow wiggle. "We could do other stuff."

Leo's eyes widened. "Oh... yeah, I guess we could."

I got to my feet. "You wanna go somewhere a bit less... visible?"

Leo nodded dumbly and followed me into the nearby woods and found a nice tree to lay beneath.

Comments

[creative_Procrastinator]

Alrighty then

[Symphonicdysonince]

You've got a chunk near the beginning that's all italicized.

[Black--Soul]

YES! TIME FOR SNU-SNU!!!

[shardfff]

smells like somber to me, time will tell

[Knightwolf1875]

We've got to take time for a meeting with Athena. Mainly to explain the clothes at least. I do love the chapter. ^^

[PhycoKrusk]

It really isn't helping me at all, the way that when Luke asked about finding somewhere less visible, iTunes started playing the Imperial March.

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

I got thrown in the second half, because you stopped italicizing Luke's speech.

[Greenhorn]

There are already names for Eevees' advanced forms? I need to update my report. And Spike! I need some of your gems to see if they can evolve the Eevees!
<grumble> There goes my lunch...

[Gizmo Gear]

Lood

[gerandakis]

Well ... not exactly where I was expecting this to go ... but go on ...

Alright then, let's see here:

The thought of Fluttershy battling a massive fire breathing dragon being far too ridiculous a thought.

'The thought of Fluttershy battling a massive, fire breathing dragon was far too ridiculous a thought.'

Fluttershy didn't really like the idea, but she figured it must be another dragon thing.

You are narrating in past tense. The word 'must' is present tense only. For any other tense a form of 'have to', 'had to' in this case, is needed.

"Why don't we just get to the library," Fluttershy said

When followed by narration like this, the punctuation at the end of a sentence is only replaced with a comma if it would normally be a period. If it would be a question or exclamation mark otherwise, it still is.

"Not that was in the show. Why?"

Uhh ... what? I don't think that's what you meant to write ...

You a lot more confident.

'You're a lot more confident.'

Her legs may not have had as long of a stride as me, but she easily took three for each of mine.

That needs to be 'mine', and to avoid repetition, replace the 'of mine' you already have with 'I did'.

And that should be it ... maybe ... no guarantee ...

[unknowncape7377]

10026251
I used the stones to destroy the stones

[The Richmaster]

I do like the idea of Fluttershy boxing out a giant dragon.

And the way you handle communication is done really well

[RazorWing_GB]

10018019
Your avatar fits that comment so well.

[Alondro]

So the animals in pony lands can talk... but the story established AJ provides pork and chicken meat...

Looks like we've got "Animal Farm"-level darkness goin' on here!

[shirotora]

10091343
Nah, there's more to it than that.

[Master king]

This was another awesome and sweet chapter.

[TRUSTeT34M]

10091343
:O, I get that reference

[Herald of Opera]

10018240
Italics show he's doing the Aura thing that lets him communicate with non-Pokémon. Once it's just him and Leo he can and does just talk normally.

[shirotora]

11354733

Ok ... FOR SILVEON While Technically to be more in tune with Nature that is more of Leafeon

Not true. Plants are only one part of natural environments, as is water, fire, electricity, etc. 'Nature', as he's explaining it here, is more esoteric. He's referring to the concept of nature as a whole. Not the forest, but the Everfree, specifically. It's a force, not an element.