The Drake Six

by JNKing

Episode Eight: Of Dragons and Ponies

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Spike?”

Spike gave Night Fire a surprised look as he and his fellow dragons stood at the entrance to Ponyville. For that matter, most of the others were looking at Night Fire as if she had started speaking in another language.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Spike asked. “We’re Element Bearers now. I thought it’d be kinda nice for you guys to meet your pony counterparts.”

“Yeah,” Jackknife noted. “I thought you’d have a lot in common with the ponies. Considering both o’ ya like spreading peace ‘n harmony.”

“Not all ponies are eager to be nice,” Night Fire said. “Unfortunately, I can confirm that with first-hand experience.”

Spike grimaced, already thinking about those two fillies that bullied Applejack and Rarity’s sisters. Who knew what other kinds of ponies Night Fire had likely met?

But he forced himself not to think about them. “Trust me, I know these ponies. They can be a bit eccentric at times, but they ultimately mean well.”

At that moment, Pinkie Pie zipped up to the dragons with an eager look in her bright blue eyes. Swift yelped and jumped behind Jackknife, but the pink mare meant no harm.

“Hi again,” she greeted cheerfully. “I’m Pinkie Pie. I’m pretty sure we met in Canterlot, but I just wanted to say it again. Are you guys coming to visit Ponyville? I really hope you are! We’ve got so many great things to share with you guys! Should I welcome you to Ponyville? I did already welcome you to Canterlot, but this isn’t Canterlot! Alright, I’m gonna welcome you to Ponyville! PREPARE TO BE WELCOMED!”

She shot away, and the others only got a chance to glance at Spike again before Pinkie returned, this time with the strangest wagon they had ever seen. Without giving time for questions, Pinkie launched into song:

Welcome welcome welcome

A fine welcome to you

Welcome welcome welcome

I say how do you do?

Welcome welcome welcome

I say hip hip hurray

Welcome welcome welcome

To Ponyville today

With a final drum roll, her wagon suddenly exploded with confetti, before producing a cake, which she offered to the group with a grin. The cake even had ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ scrawled on it in frosting.

Spike grinned at the flabbergasted looks of his friends. “Well, meet Pinkie Pie. The Element of Laughter.”

Jackknife chuckled, glancing at Night. “Well, Night. It was nice knowing you.”

Night tried to grin, though it looked more like a wolf baring its teeth in self-defense. “Joy…” she mumbled.

Pinkie instantly zipped up to Night. “You’re the Element of Laughter too, right? I remember Twilight saying that you embodied laughter during the fight with the changelings! Do you remember the fight with the changelings? That was so awesome, the way you just shot down and just…”

As Pinkie started re-enacting the battle, Diamondback sighed and turned to Spike. “You know what? I’m up for this; where’s Generosity located?”

“You mean Rarity, right? I can show you,” Spike offered, only for Night Fire to grip his legs.

“Please don’t leave me with her!” Night pleaded, glancing back at Pinkie Pie, who was making funny faces at a rock.

Jackknife pulled her up. “C’mon, Night, it’s just a pony,” Jackknife noted, glancing over as Pinkie mimed using what appeared to be a minigun to blast at imaginary changelings. “A very… eccentric one.”

“I promise,” Spike said. “Pinkie means no harm. She just wants to be your friend.” He gave Night a pleading expression. “Give her a chance. For my sake.”

Night sighed. “I can’t resist those eyes,” she admitted before smiling. “Alright, Spike. I’ll see what I can do.”

Though Swift didn’t help matters by darting around Pinkie like a nervous cat with a dog before zipping into Ponyville. Swift sighed and headed after him to set them up with their counterparts.

“Please let this turn out okay,” Spike found himself praying.

##

Spike managed to get the other dragons set up with their counterparts before everything went wrong with Night Fire.

Even then, Spike had been on edge; while Phoenix had a nice enough meeting with the Apple family, Rarity had looked utterly horrified at the horde of dogs Diamondback had brought with her, Fluttershy and Swift had been left staring in utter fear at each other, and Jackknife and Rainbow Dash were watching each other with the air of two brawlers about to duke it out.

Spike was going to need help to make sure that the meeting of the dragon and pony elements didn’t destroy Ponyville. And to that end, he sought out the smartest pony he knew.

He didn’t even have to knock before Twilight showed up at the door, a notepad and quill floating alongside her. “Everyone set up for now?”

“Yep,” Spike replied.

“What are the odds they’re going to hit it off and become friends?” Twilight asked.

Spike grimaced. “I’d say we’ve got about an 83% chance of things crashing and burning,” Spike replied, glancing over as Pinkie meandered nervously over to them. “Emphasis on the ‘burning.’”

Twilight tilted her head, before spotting Pinkie. Indeed, the party mare’s face was covered in soot. “Oh, no! Pinkie!” She darted over. “Are you okay?”

Pinkie shook off the soot, and revealed a grin. “Don’t worry, she just produces fire when she takes off.”

Spike ran over as well. “But… what happened?”

Pinkie grimaced. “Quick question,” she said. “Did she ever talk about Princess Luna?”

Spike paused. “Um… no.”

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“Because I couldn’t help but think,” Pinkie noted. “During the party at Canterlot, Princess Luna kept looking at Night. Almost like she knew her.” Pinkie paced before them. “I kept going over every possible outcome: could they be family? Old friends? Secret lovers?” She turned back to them. “The mystery was too good to pass up. So I asked, and Night got REALLY cagey.” Pinkie glanced around before adding in a conspiratorial whisper, “She and Princess Luna know each other. I’m sure of it.”

Spike and Twilight winced. “Pinkie,” Twilight said gently. “Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to pry into her personal life.”

Pinkie rubbed some more soot out of her mane. “Call me crazy, but I think she gave that impression when she took off and left fire in her wake,” Pinkie noted. “It took most of the walk over here to get all the soot out of my fur.”

Spike gasped. “She didn’t try to burn you, did she?”

“Of course not, silly,” Pinkie assured. “She’s cagey, but she’s not mean. She just flew away. And…” Pinkie’s smile faded. “I don’t want to make the same mistakes I made with Cranky. I really want to be Night’s friend. And delving into her past was…” she grimaced. “Not the best way to do that.”

Twilight smiled. “You’re growing up, Pinkie,” she noted happily.

Pinkie swatted at her playfully. “Don’t tell anyone,” she warned. “I got a reputation to keep up.”

Spike laughed. “C’mon,” he said. “Let’s talk to her.” Before he led Pinkie away, he pointed at her. But before he could speak, she saluted.

“And no bringing up her dark past,” Pinkie noted, before giggling. “Dark… and she’s got black scales.” She tittered, before shaking it off. “Okay-okay, I’m good.”

As the two headed off to find Night Fire, Twilight glanced back at a green candle burning with Spike’s dragon fire. In Spike’s absence, she had been using said candle to communicate with Princess Celestia. Curious, Twilight began writing on her notepad.

“Dear Princess Celestia…”

##

Pinkie and Spike found Night Fire with - of all ponies - DJ Pon 3, dancing to her wub music as the sunglasses wearing pony jammed away to her own music. Glancing at each other with twin grins, Pinkie and Spike danced to the beat, heading up alongside Night.

Night jumped at the sight of Pinkie, but Pinkie didn’t start bombarding her with questions. Instead, she just enjoyed the dance. “Great place for dancing, right?” Pinkie noted.

Night grinned hesitantly. “Yeah. She really knows her beats.” She paused. “Granted, your welcome song was also pretty fun.”

Pinkie laughed. “That’s just one genre of music. There’s all kinds of ways to have fun with songs and dances.” She grinned. “Want me to show you?”

This time, Night’s grin was brighter. “Sure!”

And as the two danced together, Spike slowly let himself back away, letting the two girls bond over a shared love of dancing.

##

Much later, Spike saw the two exit DJ Pon 3’s dance club, laughing and joking together like old friends.

“And ever since then,” Night was saying, “I can’t help but call it a ‘horizontal tango.’”

“That’s awesome,” Pinkie said in glee. “Almost like the time I managed to turn the Gordonian knot into a… a…” Her eyes widened.

Tilting her head, Night turned… and her own eyes widened at the sight of Princess Luna.

Luna smiled softly. “Hello,” she said shyly.

Night turned to Pinkie, who backed up, starting to blubber. “N-No,” she whimpered. “I-I left that mystery alone. That was your business, I didn’t…”

“Calm,” Luna said gently. “I’m not here on Pinkie Pie’s behalf.”

Night Fire still gave Luna a cautious look. “Then why are you here?”

Luna glanced at Pinkie again. “That is a matter we should discuss in private.” She motioned to an empty alleyway nearby. Pinkie - understanding - bowed backward.

Night Fire watched her go, but after a look at Princess Luna’s shy but determined face, Night Fire sighed. “I guess it was only a matter of time,” she admitted.

She followed Luna into the alleyway. Pinkie winced and grimaced, looking like she wanted to eavesdrop, but also didn’t want to disturb her new friend. Spike, however, walked up next to her and nodded assuringly, before peeking over into the alleyway.

Intrigued, Pinkie perched her head over Spike’s to watch.

And both of them had to resist gasping as Night Fire’s body was engulfed in green, changeling like flames.

But what emerged from the flames wasn’t a changeling. She still had Night Fire’s black and white color scheme. But her dragon form had been replaced by a more pony form. One with black, thestral wings.

And an alicorn horn.

Tears dripped from Luna’s eyes. “My beloved Star Wing.” She pulled Night Fire - or Star Wing? - into an embrace, and the alicorn leaned her head into the elder alicorn’s shoulder.

“Mother…”

Pinkie couldn’t hold back her gasp, but when Star Wing looked over, she sighed, and motioned for them to join her.

Hesitantly, Pinkie walked in, followed by a sheepish Spike. Star stood before them with a small grin.

“Well,” Star said. “You guys figured it out.”

“I’m sorry,” Pinkie whispered. “I didn’t… it was just…”

Star raised a hoof for silence. “It’s okay,” she promised, before assuming her Night Fire form. “I just feel more comfortable like this.”

Luna nodded. “She was born shortly before I became…” Luna left the ‘Nightmare Moon’ part unspoken.

Night nodded. “Even before she became Nightmare Moon, people saw her and me as evil. So when she finally succumbed, I knew I had to leave as well.” She gazed at her talons. “As a dragoness, I got to live a life free of discrimination. Free of being hated for what I was.” She paused. “Well, I did get some flak for being a girl, but… I would’ve taken that any day over being seen as some freak child of an ‘evil’ alicorn.”

Pinkie gently touched Night’s talons. “You’re not the daughter of any kind of evil,” Pinkie said gently. “And it doesn’t matter what you look like.” She smiled. “Whether you want to be Night Fire or Star Wing, you’ll always be my friend.”

Night’s eyes shined at that statement, and she pulled Pinkie into a hug. “Thanks, Pinkie,” she said happily.

Spike touched her shoulder. “And if you want,” Spike assured. “We can keep this secret. No one needs to know who you are.”

“No one except us,” Luna added with a smile.

Night Fire smiled at all of them and gave them a bear hug. “You guys are true friends,” she said happily.

And Spike was happy to hold her, for as long as she needed.

##

To Twilight and Princess Celestia,

Whether it’s in joy or laughter, friendship is best spread through positive feelings. Pinkie Pie and Night Fire discovered this through their interactions with each other. For while Pinkie may delight in making others laugh, and Night Fire prefers to bring joy in ways that are less straightforward than humor, both of them find true happiness when they succeed in making others happy as well.

After all, we all love having friends because they make us feel good about ourselves. That was what got me to befriend Night Fire and my other dragon friends. That’s what got you and the Mane Six together as well, right Twilight?

I’m so happy I got to meet these guys, and I look forward to many more adventures with them.

Until then,

Your faithful dragon friend,

Spike

Comments

[Comickook]

Excellent work on this latest chapter. Definitely appreciated the work that went into the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Definitely appreciated how Spike's dragon friends showed some initial reluctance to do some bonding with their pony counterparts, but still went through with the idea. And, after some initial hiccups, Pinkie and Night HAVE started getting along a lot better. And Night Fire was actually Luna's daughter? Intriguing. Though I'm glad Night and Luna got that chance to talk.

Definitely looking forward to seeing the other four of Spike's dragon friends with their pony counterparts, learning more about both their differences and their similarities. This would actually be a big help to Fluttershy in learning how to better deal with her phobia of adult dragons. And then, after the groups do some bonding for the next four chapters after this, we then get to the fight with Sombra and the two groups teaming up. And then, after that, we get back to the Drake Six having their own adventures for a while travelling the world and positively inspiring a few of the other cultures during MOST of the events of Seasons 3 and 4 in the days BEFORE the discovery of the Friendship Castle Map - including an early analogue to "the Lost Treasure of Griffonstone" - though the two groups would still probably work together against the Plunder Vines and Tirek.

Anyway, REALLY looking forward to more of the story at any rate.

[JNKing]

11532924
Thank you for sharing.

I am curious if the fact that Night's secretly an alicorn should come into play when it's time for Twilight to become an alicorn, but that's not for a while.

For now, like you mentioned, we're going to get some more adventures between the dragon and pony Element Bearers, leading up to what I'm hoping will be an intense battle with Sombra, and then followed by the Drake Six having adventures as usual.

Looking forward to sharing all that and more in the months to come.

Until then.
👋

[AstralFlare42]

This was a great chapter.

[JNKing]

11532997
Thank you.

[AstralFlare42]

11533002
You're welcome

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

Wow. I was not expecting that at all.

But all-in-all, I do hope we get more chapters of the other dragons interacting with their respective counterpart.

[JNKing]

11533093
Absolutely. I'm already working on the next chapter, which will focus on Jackknife and Rainbow Dash.

I'm still gonna take a week to edit it and run it by some friends to make sure it's good, but I'm definitely looking forward to showing how those two interact with each other.

Small note: Considering we got names like Zephyr and creatures like Cerberus in MLP, do you think the pegasi at the very least know about the Greek Gods like Zeus and Poseidon. I'm planning on a small in-joke that Jackknife and Rainbow will make that name-drops those two gods, and I'm hoping that it won't feel too out of place.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

11533123
I don't see why they wouldn't reference real Greek gods. I could see them doing so.

[JNKing]

11533517
Thanks. Same. 👍