The Dragon And The Pony Side Stories: A New Family

by Schattendrache

Familial differences

“Mom, can you tell Dusk to stop practicing his magic around us! He keeps hurting me!”

“Soundy, you know your brother isn’t trying to be rude. Just be a little considerate, he’s still trying to learn.” Holly did her best to make sure her tone was diplomatic. Soundy had been getting a little more bipolar when it came to her brothers as of late. Sometimes she would be doting on them like a second mother, others, she sounded like she considered them no different than overgrown flees.

Soundy, putting on the most offended face she could muster, turned to her father. “Dad! Tell Mom I’m trying to play with Fiery and Dusk is being stupid!

“Soundy! I will not have you calling your brother stupid.” Never’s tone was hard, a far cry from how he usually sounded. Well, so long as you didn’t live with him. Never had become a lot more serious since Dusk Light and Wandering Cairn came along, not least because raising three kids was not the least bit easy.

Soundy shrunk under her father’s gaze, and the way he had yelled at her had made her subconsciously take a step back. “But I-”

“No buts. Just because your brother’s having some trouble controlling his magic, that doesn’t give you an excuse to use that kind of language. If he’s really bothering you that much, there’s an entire lair around you where you won’t have to worry about what he’s doing.”

Soundy just looked between Holly and Never, trying to come to terms with being yelled at while simultaneously feeling like she was being treated unfairly. Fiery, seeing that staying there may not be in her or Soundy’s best interest, chimed in.

“I know, why don’t we go see what Grünchen and Blue are doing? I’m sure they’re doing something funny like they always do.”

With that, Soundy followed Fiery as she dashed north, deeper into the outer lair in search of their ‘pets’. As soon as they left, Holly got up to reassure Dusk, who had curled up slightly next to the tree he’d been practicing near, feeling slightly ashamed that he’d caused his sister to get yelled at.

Never, for his part, dropped his head onto the table where he, Holly, Black Death, and his sister were sitting. “Have I ever told you how much I envy slash hate you two?”

“Oh, don’t give us that, we know you love us. And I think you handled that rather well,” Danger said before sipping her tea.

“Well, you’re not the one with… ok, bad example, better one, all your kids are part dragon, so you don’t exactly have to deal with all of them taking forever and a half to grow up. I remember when we saw Fiery at the Peaks of Peril, she was running around and behaving a good deal older than I would have expected of her. Soundy wasn’t that mature till she was three. And based on what you two said about Night Flame, he took even less time to get there.”

“You do remember we have three kids as well? Kindling hasn’t exactly been racing to adolescence.”

Said foal’s head suddenly popped up from under the table. “Yes?”

With a smile, Holly placed her hoof on top of his head and began stroking his mane. “No, we weren’t calling you, just talking about all you foals.

“Oh. Ok.” Kindling looked around for a second at all the adults before moving to lay back down and get back to organising the ‘hoard’ he was building, only to pop back up. “Oh, Uncle Never. Do you want to play a game together? I haven’t gotten to play with you yet, and I thought it might be super fun.”

“Uh, sure, what kind of game were you thinking about?”

“I don’t know, let me see what I have.” With that, Kindling took off into the inner lair, beating his wings as he galloped in an effort to give himself some sort of boost to his speed.

Danger chuckled at her son’s antics. “You better remember he’s still a foal, Never, so none of your competitive shenanigans.”

“I’m a father too, if the last few minutes haven’t made that clear. Or do you think I would honestly go all out against them?”

“I’m just giving you a fair warning. Remember, there are two dragons here that wouldn’t ask what happened if Kindling got hurt, and if he comes running in here after you thoroughly beat him at something, then you’ll have me to deal with.”

“Again, father.” Never exasperatedly replied while rolling his eyes.

As this little back and forth was going on, The Black Death was leaning down to examine what his son had been doing. When he came back up, he had a slight scowl across his muzzle and was releasing a growl that was barely above a whisper.

Seeing and hearing this, Danger began to stroke his side with a wing and look up at him. “What’s the matter?”

“Kindling looks like he’s trying to make a hoard like his brother. If he wants to do that, I’m going to have to teach him what a hoard is supposed to look like.”

Looking rather confused, Holly leaned down and looked under the table at what Black Death was talking about. What she saw appeared to be a random collection of items from around the lair. A few toys, some sticks and leaves, a river stone or two, there were even a few pieces of cutlery that looked to be buried in there as well.

“It doesn’t look too bad to me. A little unfocused, but if it’s his first attempt at a hoard, I don’t see the problem.”

Black Death snorted derisively. “Composition is everything. When making a hoard, the most important thing is what you put into it. It’s a display of your most valuable things, a sign of who you are. You can't just put a few sticks and stones from around your lair into a pile and call it a hoard. At the very least he’s copying his brother and has a few spoons and forks in there.”

“No, I’m already competing with Night Flame for possession of everything in the utensils drawer. The last thing I need is YOU teaching our other son that he needs to be hoarding everything else his brother isn’t stealing,” Danger piped in.

Holly smiled at the idea of Danger and Black Death’s kids stealing everything in the lair. “In that case, you two will have to send me and Never a list of everything your sons are putting into their hoards so we can try to help prevent everything not nailed down in here from getting added to their collections.”

“That would be helpful. Unfortunately, I doubt my utensils drawer is going to stop getting raided that easily,” Danger replied.

“Anyways, as we were saying, indeed, dragons most definitely have an advantage over ponies when it comes to growing up.” Everyone watched as The Black Death sat up slightly and puffed out his wings to look bigger. “I just wish Kindling would have inherited that. I still can’t stand the fact you ponies need diapers.

“Funny, I remember a few items of mine that were turned to ash because some tiny dragon had a ticklish nose. Or are you going to tell me that flammable sneezes are an advantage that dragons have?” Holly stated with a cocked eyebrow.

“It’s not my fault you ponies can’t spit fire. I can’t imagine not being able to, it’s such a great ability to have.”

“Before we get too lost in the weeds regarding the wonderment that is diapers and children spitting fire, the point I was trying to get across was that you two have it easy as far as I’m concerned.”

“You’re just being histrionic, Never.”

That elicited quite the raised eyebrow from Never.

“What?”

“Histrionic?”

“Yes, your being very dramatic.”

“Where in the world did you learn histrionic? I’ve never even heard of that word.”

“Believe it or not, Big Softy isn’t keeping me locked in here, and strange as it might sound, I enjoy reading books.” As she said this, Danger began to rub herself against Black Death’s side.

“Indeed, I can show you the dozen or so books we have laying around that attest to that.” Black Death’s voice was even, but the mild irritation and sarcasm laced in his statement weren’t too hard to make out, earning him a slap in the side from Danger’s wing.

“As I was saying! Just because Soundy, Dusk, and Cairny are taking a while to grow up, that doesn’t mean me and Big Softy here have it easy.”

“I will remind you that Dusk is a unicorn, and as you may have noticed -” Never reached a hoof up and tapped his forehead “- neither me nor Holly have a horn.”

“You told us last time we saw each other that Holly’s siblings are unicorns and they’re teaching him how to use his magic,” Danger replied. “In that sense, you have it better than me. I only have Big Softy here to help deal with problems I don’t know how to handle.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s not exactly like we can call them up at any hour of the day and say ‘Hey, we need some help with teaching Dusk magic, and while your here, how about you answer these other ten questions.’ They have jobs as well.”

“Oh boho, all that means is you have one colt that’s just a little harder to raise. Look at me and Big Softy, we couldn’t be happier raising our kids.”

“And you forgot to account for our third child. He…” Never’s head immediately launched off of the table and began to frantically whip around. “Horseapples! Holly, Cairny wandered off again. I’ll go look for him, you can comfort Dusk.” And with that, Never was off and running in search of his and Holly’s youngest son.

“Make sure you check the tunnel leading outside. The last thing we need is him getting outside,” Holly called out after him before going back to stroking Dusk’s back and reassuring him that he was just learning how to use his magic, so he was going to make a few mistakes and that that was alright.

After Never was out of sight, Danger turned to Holly with a look of confusion. “Me and Big Softy can look after Dusk so you can go search for Cairny. I know you said he does this fairly often, but you almost seem a little too calm. I know I would be an emotional wreck if something like that happened with one of our kids growing up.”

“I am a little panicked, who wouldn’t be scared having one of their foals wander off like he does? It’s just that he does this just often enough that it’s become less scary. He never goes too far, and we almost always find him just playing somewhere out of our sight. Still though, while I’m confident your home doesn’t have a million and one dangers that could seriously put him at risk, there’re just enough unsafe things in here that I want me and Never to keep him in our sights.”

Danger brought back one side of her mouth in an expression of both concern and uncertainty. “Ehh… I think I’ll go help Never find Cairny. I don’t feel right just sitting here when one of your foals is wandering around in here alone.” With that, Danger moved to get up, getting somewhat stopped at first as The Black Death’s wing was holding her down slightly, but a quick look of mild annoyance followed by some quick cuddles removed that hindrance.

“Alright, I’ll keep your dragonfriend company while you go looking,” Holly replied

Danger shot a half-serious glace at The Black Death. “Just because I’m leaving and she’s saying she’ll keep you company doesn’t mean you have carte blanche to be cuddling with her, Softy.”

Black Death smirked before leaning forward and rubbing the end of his muzzle against hers. “You know you’re the only pony for me. The thought never even crossed my mind.”

With a roll of her eyes, Danger set off after Never. It didn’t take long for her to catch up, finding him pushing open some bushes after only about half a minute of looking.

“Never, hold on, I’m gonna help you look for Cairny too.”

“Thanks. You have any ideas where he might have been interested in going? Couldn’t have gotten too far. Remember seeing him playing with the doll Soft’s dad made of himself when we were talking about our kids.”

Danger looked up and to the left in thought while cocking her head. “If I had to guess, either in the section of the garden with the sunning stones or somewhere around the stream and pond.”

Never bit his inner cheek as he gave a close-mouthed grimace of worry at hearing that. “Not good. He shouldn’t be around the stream or pond unsupervised. You go check the pond, I’m going to fly up and make sure he didn’t start ascending the path to the tunnel just in case.”

With a sudden explosion of his wings, Never took to the air before Danger even had a chance to respond. Not wanting to just stand there doing nothing, Danger picked up her pace towards the pond.

Weaving through the trees in the southern section of the garden, it didn’t take her long to finally reach the pond at the center of the outer lair. However, looking left and right, as well as in the pond itself, Danger couldn’t see Cairny or anything that would suggest that he was around. Even after taking to the air slightly to get a better view of the sunning stones, she just couldn’t see any signs of her brother’s youngest foal.

What she was able to see though was Fiery and Soundy over by where the stream, that bisected the outer lair, entered a little hole in the wall. Hopeful that they might be able to assist, Danger glided over to them as fast as she could in an effort to get over there quickly, but not scare them by suddenly landing next to them and worrying them with questions about Cairny’s whereabouts.

“No, I’m telling you, I saw Grünchen fly over here. Blue’s probably by the waterfall.” As she was getting closer, Fiery’s voice was the first to reach her ears.

“What are you two talking about?” Danger said as she landed and began trotting the rest of the way over to her daughter and niece.

The sound of her voice caused both of the fillies to immediately tense up. When they turned around to face her, they both had nervous smiles plastered on their muzzles.

Soundy was the first to respond, shuffling on her hooves uneasily as she did so. “Oh, nothing, just, uh… playing… uh-”

“Hide and seek,” Fiery blurted out, likely more forcefully than she had ment. “We convinced Blue and Grünchen to fly off and hide and now we’re trying to find them.”

“Is that so?” Danger narrowed her eyes slightly. She very much wanted to call her daughter out on that, but right now, she had more pressing issues. “Well, I’m trying to find your baby brother, Soundy. He wandered off after you two left to start playing with Grünchen and Blue. Is he also playing hide and seek with you two?”

Soundy looked over to Fiery, and after an exchange of looks and a shake of heads, Soundy turned back towards her aunt. “No, we haven’t seen him. Do you want us to help look for him?”

“No, I have a feeling the two of you will need to finish your game of hide-and-seek before your mom decides she has to join too.”

The look on both fillies faces as she said this was all Danger needed to see. Turning around and flaring her wings to fly back into the air, Danger began going over every possibility of where Wandering Cairn could have gone in her head. Additionally, she was also cursing her brother and sister-in-law for naming one of their foals the way they did. She didn’t believe in numerology or sacrunomenology, but her nephew Wandering Cairn was making a very strong case for it being true.

Going over every location in the outer lair in her head, the only two that made sense would be near the lair wall in the northern garden, or by the waterfall. She and the rest of the parents had been sitting in the clearing just outside of the inner lair, so both locations were out of sight from there, and based on what Never and Holly had told her about him, the most logical option would be by the waterfall.

Hurriedly flying over to the waterfall, Danger kept her eyes trained on the pathway that lead from the outer lair to the tunnel, praying that she would see her brother leading a small colt back down. Unfortunately, no such scene manifested before she reached her goal.

Worse still, Cairny seemed to have the special talent of either hiding like a snake or somehow turning invisible without being a unicorn. No matter where she looked around the waterfall, no matter how many ‘hiding spots’ she knew of around the area, there just wasn’t a single sign of Cairny anywhere.

Right about now, Danger was halfway tempted to call up Fortuna to see if she could sort some things out. With how abysmal her brother’s luck was, Danger was starting to feel like Fortuna specifically had it out for him. Even with Fortuna giving her some of her favor, her brother's lack of luck still seemed to be rubbing off on her whenever he was around. The next time Fortuna was around, she was going to have to remember to ask if she reduced her brother’s luck a bit because she and Daring already had so much.

Seeing as Cairny didn’t seem to be here, The next place to look would be the northern garden. Turning to the right, Danger immediately set off at a rapid trot, calling out to Cairny.

Yet again though, not a single sign of the young colt. The only things around here were trees, the sunning stones Softy and Night like to use, and the sounds of rustling leaves from the slight air current that was created from air traveling through the entrance tunnel and out through the holes in the ceiling.

As she looked over to the sunning stones, Danger couldn’t help but let the beginnings of a frown start to form on her face. “Why, of all the days, couldn’t Night have been here?”

Cairny had taken a shining to her draconic son, and the two were starting to be seen together more often than not around the lair since Never and his family arrived. If Night would have been sunning himself on the stones here, or relaxing by the waterfall as he tended to do, she was sure Cairny would only be a yard or two way, if not right up against him.

Wait.

That was it!

Danger face-hoofed with how obvius the solution to finding Cairny was. All she needed to do was find her son! And, knowing him, if he wasn’t in the outer lair enjoying himself, he had to be relaxing somewhere in the inner lair.

Rearing around, Danger immediately set off at a gallop towards the inner lair. Weaving in and around the trees, Danger was like a camazotz out of Tartarus.

As she entered the clearing where her mate and Holly were sitting, both of them scrunched up their faces in confusion, with The Black Death looking slightly worried as well. She would have loved to explain what was going on, but currently, finding Cairny was more important, so talking to them would have to wait.

Passing through the entrance to the inner lair, Danger instantly began to whip her eyes back and forth in search of either Night Flame or little Cairny. After a second of this, Danger’s ears picked up the sound of classical music coming from the gramophone in the living room.

Proceeding at a brisk trot, Danger made her way into the living room, and was greeted to the sight of Cairny laying down and against Night Flame while drawing in a little sketchbook as Night simply listened to the music with closed eyes.

Releasing a deep sigh, Danger felt as practically every muscle in her body went slack. While Cairny wasn’t her foal, having him disappear like that, not knowing where he had gone, had practically sent her into a panic attack. As far as she could remember, neither Fiery nor her brothers had never done something like this growing up. The worst that had happened was one or more of them walking out of her sight and towards their father. Granted, the hundreds of times someone in the family set something or someone on fire was also up there, seeing as Kindling hadn’t developed or inherited a resistance to it. Which had been especially problematic when Night had tried to dry his twin like Softy tended to do with him.

She would have to remember to do something for Holly and her brother for the next Hearth’s Warming. If this is what they were having to deal with when it came to Cairny, they definitely needed some recognition.

“Hi Auntie Damegjur.” The sound of Wandering Cairn’s squeaky voice brought Danger out of her thoughts.

Looking up, Danger was greeted by the little colt doing tiny little waves in her direction with the end of a crayon sticking out of his lips, which were currently pulled back almost imperceptibly from their normal position into a reserved grin.

“Hey. I was just looking for you. You shouldn’t go walking off on your own like that, you scared me and your father.”

“I wasn’t alone, I was with Night Flame.”

“I can see that. However, when you want to go be with Night, but you’re with your parents or me and Softy, you need to tell us so we don’t get worried that you wandered off without us.”

“Ok,” Cairny replied before going back to drawing.

Danger very much wished that she could believe Cairny when he said this, but judging by what Never and Holly had said, she figured that he had been told something along those lines more times than Softy had lost his fangs, so she wasn’t about to hold her breath.

“It seems like you two are getting along quite well, Night. It’s nice that you’re becoming friends with your cousin.”

Danger got a nod in response. “I like him. He’s not fluffy like Kindling, but he’s still a little soft, so he’s good for cuddling.”

Danger couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at her son’s response. He was so much like his father, obsessed with everything small, soft, and fluffy. It was a small consolation that neither Cairny nor his brother had fur that was as downy as her’s, otherwise she had a feeling he would try to claim them as a part of the hoard he was currently building, and that would be just one more thing she would have to reclaim from him.

So, after fully calming down and bringing her heartbeat back to something that resembled what it would be normally, Danger began to make her way back to her mate and sister-in-law.

She would go out to find her brother to tell him that she’d found him, but the tunnel leading down here was rather long, so finding him, especially if he’d gone outside, was going to take just as long as finding Cairny had. Ok, that wasn’t entirely true, she was confident Never hadn’t gone more than a minute’s flight into the tunnel, she just wasn’t in the mood after the last search. She was sure though that having Softy roar out would get Never’s attention and cause him to come back.

As soon as Danger walked out of the inner lair, both Holly and Softy turned towards her, with looks of confusion and concern still plastered across their faces. When she reached her mate, Softy immediately grabbed onto her and pulled her in close, embracing her somewhat tightly as he began to purr and rub his head against her.

Holly, looking like she did not fully grasp what was going on, was the first to speak up. “You seem to have calmed down. Did you find Cairny?”

After a few more seconds of cuddling Black Death back, Danger pushed him away so she could properly respond. “Yes, I did. Fortunately, Cairny’s more interested in Night Flames company than going off to explore the outer lair by himself. He’s in the living room right now, laying against Night Flame and drawing in that sketch book he has.”

Holly visually relaxed at hearing that. “Thank Celestia.” After a long sigh, Holly seemed to perk up, and her voice took on a more jovial tone. “Seems one has to be careful in your lair these days, snuggle dragons are lurking around every corner.”

“Indeed. You ponies are so soft, how could we resist?” Softy replied before launching back into rubbing his head against Danger.

Rolling her eyes while smiling, Holly giggled at the display. “You know, it always surprises me seeing you two interact. With how affectionate and doting you are with her, the fact you and Never took so long to get along seems like a lie.”

“He interrupted our private time.” Black Death said with a growl, having stopped rubbing against Danger. “Interrupting such an important event is inexcusable!” These statements earned him a wing slap and a little smile from his mate.

“I know, I know, Never told me all about it. Still, if somepony told me you and him were brothers, like Kindling and Night Flame, I’d be tempted to believe them. Your obsession with displaying your affection is like a carbon-copy of his.”

Before Black Death could respond, Danger spoke up. “Big Softy, if you wouldn’t mind, could you roar out for Never? Since I found Cairny, it would probably be best if we informed him so he’s not panicking for longer than he has to.”

Straightening his neck, Black Death released a powerful roar that caused Holly to flinch back from where she was sitting and cover their ears from the unexpectedly loud bellow. Danger, on the other hoof, smiled and pressed an ear against her mate’s chest. She had grown a fondness for the way he vibrated when he roared like this.

When Black Death finished his roar, he curled his neck back around to get back to cuddling his mate. Holly straightened back up, looking mildly ill-at-ease from hearing Black Death call out like that.

“Oh, uh, that was a little… surprising.” Holly was holding a hoof to her chest as she said this.

“It’s not too bad. It scared me a little too the first few times he did that, but it’s grown on me.”

Holly looked towards her sister-in-law with a good deal of incredulity. “Yeah, I think I’ll pass on coming to respect your mate’s bellows. Sweet Luna that was loud. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a dragon roar like that before.”

“Were you calling us?”

“Yeah, is something going on?”

Everyone turned to face Night Flame and Kindling as they quickly came walking out of the inner lair, asking their respective questions. Wandering Cairn followed soon after, but didn’t appear nearly as concerned as his cousins.

“No, Dad was simply calling your uncle. Now that we know Cairny is just hanging out with you, Night Flame, we thought it would be best for him to stop searching and come back.”

“Oh.”

Night was the first to turn back around, with Wandering Cairn quick to follow, but after a gentle purr from Black Death, he reversed his course and headed straight for his father. Kindling remained still for a few seconds, a look of confusion affixed on his muzzle before he shook his head and trotted forward to his dad as well.

To Holly, the scene that unfolded before her was more than a little humorous. While The Black Death wasn’t what she would describe as a small dragon, the fact he was actively trying to cuddle both his wife and two sons lead to a good deal of him getting concealed by a mixture of fur, feathers, and scales that were of an ever so lighter shade of black.

Even more entertaining was the constant purring that was emanating from the amalgamation of dragons and pegasi. This combined with the way that The Black Death and Night Flame rubbed against everyone on the pile, Holly couldn’t help but think of the two as pixiu rather than dragons. Despite knowing Black Death and Night for a while now, she still hadn’t getten used to the sight of dragons being so clingy and cuddly.

Perhaps feeling a bit left out, Wandering Cairn trotted over to his mother and began to snuggle up next to her. Smiling, Holly leaned against her son and began to stroke his mane with her hoof in the way she knew he enjoyed the most.

After a good minute of this, both Night Flame and Kindling, the latter of which staying for a few seconds longer due to having been slightly crowded out by his brother during the cuddle session, left to return to the inner lair. Wandering Cairn, seeing this, quickly wiggled free of his mother and set off after Night to get back to what they had been doing.

“That was certainly interesting. Does that always happen when you roar? Seems like it might cause some problems when you're only trying to call one of them to you,” Holly stated after turning back around from watching her son wander off with his cousin.

“No, I have a special roar for each of them, including my mate.” Black Death redoubled his cuddling as he said the last part, earning him some purrs of agreement. “However, since I don’t have one for Never, I just used my general roar for calling someone.”

“Ah, ok. Well, we’ll just have to see who shows up first then, Fiery and Soundy, or Never.”

“I would put my bits on Never,” Danger replied between cuddles. “Our daughters seem to be up to something they would rather us not know about.”

“Is that what you saw when you went out looking for Cairny?”

“Mhhm. They told me they were playing ‘hide and seek’ with Blue and Grünchen. But, given how they were acting, I have a feeling they weren’t exactly being honest.”

Sighing, Holly leaned back from where she was sitting. “Hopefully, Blue is at least keeping an eye on Soundy, whatever she’s doing, and making sure they both don’t do something too dangerous.”

After a stint of silence, the sight of Never rushing back out of the tunnel came into everyone’s view, followed not long after by the hurried sound of wingbeats as he drew closer.

When he landed, he immediately jumped into asking questions. “What was the roar about? Did something happen? Should Holly and I be worried?”

“No, everything is fine, I just asked Softy here to roar out for you. I found Cairny, he was relaxing with Night in the living room.”

Just like with Holly, Never’s posture immediately went into one of relief. “Oh thank Celestia.”

After a few deep breaths to fully calm down, Never went over to his wife and cuddled up next to her, draping a wing over her and pulling her into his side. “When we get back home, remind me to ask your brother to cast a spell that will let us know exactly where Cairny is at all times.”

“Unfortunately, I have my doubts that that’s a spell, else he would have offered to cast it the last time he was over.”

“I can dream. But if it was, given how fast he found him, do you really think he would offer to cast it?”

“He’s not that cruel. His special talent is just perception, so finding Cairny isn’t such a big deal for him.”

“Speaking of,” Danger managed as she pushed The Black Death away so she could properly join the conversation. “I’ve only heard-”

“Uh… did you… were you calling us?” The voice of Fiery could only barely be made out. It was uncharacteristically meek and submissive.

Turning in the direction her voice had come from, all four adults were treated to the sight of both Fiery and Soundy shuffling out of the garden with their tails tucked between their legs, their ears laid flat against their skulls, and their heads lowered.

Raising an eyebrow, Danger decided to press her daughter for why she was acting the way she was. “Fiery, what’s the problem?”

Instead of answering, both Fiery and Soundy simply looked down and seemed to lower themselves to the ground.

“Fiery, Soundy, what happened? I‘m not going to be angry. If something happened, I want to know what it was so I can figure out how to fix it.”

A blanket of silence fell over the garden as Fiery and Soundy’s parents watched the two fillies uncomfortably shift on their hooves and claws. Finally though, Soundy spoke up, but not loud enough for anyone to make out what she had said.

“You’re going to have to speak up, Little Sparrow, we couldn’t hear what you said,” Holly gently stated, trying to assuage her daughter’s guilt. In the meantime, The Black Death got up and moved over to his daughter to do something similar, albeit with a great deal more cuddling and calming purring.

“We lost Blue and Grünchen.” Fiery finally said, loud enough that everyone could hear.

“Lost? How?” Danger stated

“We wanted to play with them, but when we found them, Blue was perched on a tree branch, and Grünchen was playing with some sticks on the ground. I asked Grünchen to go see if Blue wanted to come down and play with us, but when he flew up there and pecked at him, Blue poofed up and burst into flames. Then, both of them flew off in different directions.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Holly said while nodding her head. “Blue was probably sleeping, so when Grünchen pecked at him, it probably scared him and caused him to get a little defensive. Knowing those two, Blue probably found somewhere dark to hide until he calms down, and Grünchen… does he have any nests in the garden that you know of? Ventalas tend to have quite a few crevices and huecos they like to hide in.”

“I…” Fiery scrunched up her face and cocked her head to the side. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him go into one.”

“Don’t worry about it, Ventalas tend to make dozens of false nests, and are very careful about not leading anyone to them unless you’re their mate. If you want, I think Never will be able to help with finding him, seeing as I’m not as vertically inclined as you two.” Holly lifted up one of Never’s wings as she said the last part.

“No, he can’t help, he promised he was going to play with me.” Kindling’s voice cut in.

A few meters in front of the opening to the inner lair, Kindling was standing there with an irate expression and a hoofball between his forelegs.

Never glanced back and forth uneasily between Fiery and Kindling before looking towards his wife.

“Don’t worry about it, go play with Kindling. I’m sure the girls, your sister and Black Death over there can handle finding Grünchen. I’m going to look for where Blue skulked off to.”

“Alright then.” Never gave Holly a quick kiss before turning towards Kindling with a smile. “So, hoofball. Do you have a game in mind to play?”

As Never walked over to his nephew, Holly turned towards everyone else. “Ok, as I told Never, I’m going to go find Blue with Dusk while you four get to have fun searching for a ventalas. I would start by checking near the top of the cavern and working your way down. Ventalas try to nest in the hardest to reach spots they can find, so the top of your lair would be the prime location.”

Black Death shifted his wings and straightened his posture in a show of confidence. “Ha, this should be quick, with my nose, finding Grünchen should be trivial.”

“Weren’t you the one who informed me that vetalas are usually lair pests?”

“Indeed.”

“And that a dragon discovers that they might have one poaching their gems when they start noticing said gems going missing or a feather in their hoard?”

“Yes. What is your point?”

“What does Grünchen smell like?”

“A lot like Fiery, but mixed with several different types of gems.”

“So, he smells like your daughter, who he’s constantly around, and what he eats.”

“Yes, why does…” Black Death’s confident demeanor began to slip, being replaced by one of confusion, until finally a look of realisation washed over him. “Oh.”

“Yeah, if I’m right, you’re going to be able to find his nests, but finding him will be a separate issue.” As she said this, Holly watched as her daughter seemed to deflate somewhat. Not wanting to see her daughter so down, Holly walked over and cuddled up next to her. “Hey, don’t look so down. Think of it like hide-and-seek. I’m sure you four are going to find him if you all just work together.”

Soundy seemed to perk up at this, looking a good deal less disheartened and more like her jovial self. “Alright. I’ll go help find Grünchen.”

“That’s my girl.”

“We could also try calling out for him as we’re searching,” Danger suggested. “If he just got a little spooked, he might be willing to come out of his nest and fly down to us.”

Holly knocked a hoof against the stone beneath her, causing a click. “Dang. It seems like you stole my idea for finding Blue And here I was hoping I was going to get back here first.”

“Well then, let’s go find Grünchen, Fiery.”

Upon releasing his daughter from his cuddling, Fiery was quick to rush over to Soundy, and after some quiet chater, they set off into the air, calling for the little green bird. After watching the two set off, The Black Death started to flare out his wings in preparation to follow them, when suddenly, he felt something jump onto his tail and start running up it.

When he turned his head around to see what was running up his spine, he watched as Kindling finished ascending his back and proceeded to hug him between the wings. “Aw, but Dad, I wanted you to come play with me too. Can’t you play with me and uncle Never first and then go looking for Grünchen?”

Purring, Black Death reached back with his head and began to nuzzle his son. “No, not right now, I need to help your sister find Grünchen. When we get done with that, then I’ll come play with you.” He then turned to Never. “If your uncle would be willing to join, we can probably find him a lot faster, and we can get to playing sooner.”

Kindling then hopped up from his dad and dashed back to his uncle. Once there, he ran behind him and began to push him forward, or at least tried to. “Come on, uncle Never, I want to play with you and Dad, so we need to find Grünchen.”

After staring at his nephew with some confusion, Never turned to his wife. “Well then, looks like I’m being dragged into another search mission today. Anything else we should know about ventalas before we set out?”

“Not really, just look in every natural alcove you can and you should find him soon enough.”

“Got it.” Never began to trot forward, causing Kindling to rush around him and take to the air, only to stop a few seconds later. “I have an idea.” Turning around, Never called back to the inner lair for Cairny and Night Flame.

“What is it?” Once again, Night was the first to exit the inner lair, followed closely by Cairny.

“Hey, the rest of the family is going searching for Grünchen, why don’t you come join us?”

“No.” Night didn’t even hesitate. Instead turning around to head back to the living room.

Taking a moment to think about it, Holly smiled to herself before she rushed forward infront of Night to get between him and the inner lair. “Come on, Night. I know you care about your sister, so helping your father and uncle find Grünchen should be a no-brainer.”

Night released an incensed growl and tried to make his way around Holly.

“It’ll be fun,” Holly added while moving into his way again, doing her best to sound convincing while making an attempt to nudge him towards the outer lair.

Pulling back one side of his snout in a snarl, Night lurched towards Holly while flaring out his wings and hissing. Surprised and significantly scared, Holly fell back on her haunches and tried to, unsuccessfully, scoot back.

“Hey! Don’t you dare-”

Never’s shout and subsequent attempt to run towards his wife and nephew were cut short by The Black Death pouncing on him, driving him to the floor with one claw, all the while releasing his own threatening growl.

“Holly!” Danger yelled in an accusing tone as she ran over. “What do you think you are doing? We aren’t at your place!” She stopped for a moment to look down at her son and caress his head with a wing before nudging him towards the inner lair. “Unless Softy or I told you otherwise, you can’t order him around! He is a dragon, and you are not the lady of the lair here!”

“But…” Holly started while getting back on her hooves, but Fluffy just ignored her.

“And you!” Danger turned around, trotting quickly over to her brother. “You are lucky that Softy is going so easy on you! Running towards a bornling like that would’ve resulted in any other dragon attacking you for real! And…” she raised her voice in order to drown out the response her brother was about to give, “if you feel so bold that you think you can try that again, you better hope Softy reaches you before I do!”

Said dragon growled agreeingly.

“You can let him go now, Big Softy,” Danger added while starting to push him up with her shoulder, purring and cuddling him all the while. “The same goes for Fiery, you two,” she added while turning her head towards her brother and sister-in-law. “She will not respond kindly if you act like you have any authority over her when we didn't tell you to watch over her.”

“It was just a friendly request,” Holly said, still confused about what happened. “I didn’t mean to order him around.”

“Mom,” Kindling piped up from his fathers back, “if you are done with scolding uncle Never, can we go search for Grünchen now? Dad said he would play with us as soon as we found him.”

“Of course you can, Kindling,” Fluffy said.

With a happy squee, Kindling drummed his hooves on his fathers back. “Come on, Dad, let’s find Grünchen!”

Both Holly and Never looked on with no small amount of bewilderment after Danger’s beratement of their actions. Even Cairny had an uncharacteristically unsure expression adorning his muzzle, looking between his parents, his aunt and uncle, and the retreating form of Night. After several seconds of this, he began to slink back towards the inner lair, doing his best not to draw anyone’s attention.

Shaking his head, Never scowled and began to trot after his sister as she and Black Death walked away, miffed with how she’d just handled what had just happened. “Wait. You can’t be serious. Your son threatened Holly, his aunt, just because he didn’t like what she was doing. You also said that your daughter wouldn’t have reacted any different. How in Celestia’s name can you be alright with that?”

“Night is a dragon, and Fiery is a kirin. If you haven’t been paying attention at all to anything me or mom and dad have told you about Softy’s parents, may I remind you of the importance of a dragon’s lair and how much influence that has on how everyone inside is supposed to behave.”

“Indeed.” Black Death added.

Never squinted back at his sister in anger with his mouth hanging open, trying to come up with a response but failing to find the adequate words. “Well… fine, that’s all good and dandy, but that doesn’t make it any less rude by, you know, pony standards, which you are by the way if you haven’t noticed lately. It would have also been nice for me and Holly to have received some advanced notice that acting like we normally would around foals would not be acceptable.”

“Dangle,” Holly interjected, stoking Dusk’s mane in an attempt to calm him down as he had run up to her crying after witnessing his cousin and uncle go after his parents and embraced her in a tight bear hug. “There’s no need to-”

Danger sighed and turned back around to face her brother. “We told you a hundred times that dragons place more emphasis on who’s in the dominant position than we ponies do. Night did warn you, he growled when Holly stepped in his way the first time, and by doing so again, she challenged him. What did you think he was going to do?” She shook her head. “Listen, Night and Fiery will not tolerate being challenged or ordered around by anyone unless we tell them otherwise. As Never was opening his mouth to respond, Danger raised a hoof and continued. “However, when we are at your place, in your ‘lair’, they’ll understand that we’re guests in your territory.”

“I… that’s…” Like his sister, Never released a deep sigh. He then closed his eyes, and let his head drop. “Alright, if that’s how you’re raising your foals and that’s what makes sense to you, so be it for me to tell you otherwise. Just… just promise me you’ll remember that Kindling is a pegasus. Even if you’re raising him like one right now, him being so calm about what just happened is going to cause him to have a hard time integrating with other ponies.”

“Never, you’re-”

“No, I’m not. I can understand if he’s more understanding of how dragons act, but if you are raising him as a pony, I hope you are reinforcing the very clear differences in how pony culture views and does things.”

“Me and Softy are raising him like a pony, and we are taking into account how ponies interact with one another, especially seeing as we are taking him to interact with other ponies when we get the opportunity. You shouldn’t forget though that he also has relatives from Softy’s side and need to know how to act around them too.”

With one last, quick exhalation of breath, Never responded. “I can’t wait for Kindling to grow up some more, then I can say for certain if your plan for raising him actually results in the outcome you’re looking for.”

Danger smirked back at her brother and turned around to get back to following Softy, speaking over her shoulder. “I can’t wait as well. On that day, I’ll get to laugh in your face for being right.”

Not wanting to push the issue, Never wandered back to Holly, who was just getting finished with comforting Dusk. When he arrived, he wrapped them both in a firm embrace with both his wings and forelegs. “Going forward, we’re going to have to start inviting them to our house more often. I don’t think I’m prepared to learn about any more aspects of dragon ‘etiquette’ from my sister.”

“As much as I would like to say otherwise, I have to agree with you on that.” Holly then kissed her husband on the cheek and began to gently push him away with a hoof. “Anyways, you have a ventalas to find and me and Dusk her need to go look for Blue.”

“Are you sure we have to find him? He seems like he enjoys it here, I’m sure Danger would be willing to let him stay here.”

“No, I know you love him too.”

“That’s debatable.”

“Don't pretend I haven’t seen you feeding him and-” Holly released a gasp and held a hoof to her muzzle in an exaggerated manner “- daring to go into a room alone with him.”

“You know as well as I do that I’m trying to get him to stop looking at me as a ‘threat’ to his relationship with you.”

“Still, doesn’t make it any less cute. As I said, it’s only a matter of time before you two warm up to each other.”

“Doesn’t make it any less irritating that he’s been mad at me longer than Black Death, and he tried to kill me, twice.”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

11112092
Why? Aren't you the one who wrote The Dragon And The Pony?

[Schattendrache]

11134694
No, I just edit the main story, Azure writes it. And if it wasn't clear, me and Tardy were goofing by being sarcastic with each other.

[redmar]

Never does have a point about Kindling and I do get the impression that Danger isn't being entirely fair. Never and Holly don't visit the lair so often they understand dragon behaviour as easily as Danger or her and Never's parents.