6. A Difficult Choice
The guards slowly closed the doors behind Nightwatch, as he left the palace. He walked out from underneath the dragon-shaped entrance into the light. The temperature felt much warmer and the light was more intense after having been inside for so long. He squinted his eyes, but they adjusted over time. He started his journey down the winding staircase that lead into the town. As he reached the first square center before the final flight of stairs, he reached into his satchel and took out his instant print camera. He almost forgot about the last picture he had taken with it. The film had already faded in and looked very nice. He put it in front of the same spot the picture was taken at the exact same angle. He, Buttercream and all their new dragon friends were smiling warmly with the town in the backdrop. As he moved the picture and saw that spot now unoccupied, he felt a sense of loneliness pour over him. Not having Buttercream there with him made him feel even worse, especially after his discovery in the archives.
“What am I going to do now?” he asked himself. “She’s been so curious about her kind; I’d hate to just keep this all secret from her, but they could find her and take her from me. If that happens, I’ll never see her again. I don’t want to do this but…I… can’t let her know. I just can’t.”
Nightwatch put the camera and picture back in his satchel. He trudged down the stairs with his head held low and began singing.
I can’t afford to lose you
I need you here by my side
If I lost you, if you left me
Don’t know what I’d do
I can’t afford to lose you
You mean so much more to me
Than you will ever know
I couldn’t live at all
If I lost you
“Sorry, Butter.”
He made his way down the stairs and wandered the streets of the marketplace, watching the longs interact with their friends and families. With Buttercream still on his mind, he continued singing as he went.
You’re always there when I am down
I smile when you look my way
We’ve laughed and played and broken rules
With you my days are never grey
I’m so afraid to lose you
If I woke up and you weren’t there
I could never forgive myself
If it’s the last thing I do
I won’t lose you
Nightwatch followed signs leading to the temple gardens that Aster and Lily mentioned. It was a rather peaceful area. Some longs were in meditation while others were quietly gardening and watering plants. He looked around to find Buttercream and his friends, but they were nowhere to be seen. A sense of dread came over him, not having his sister around. He saw small statues of dragons in one corner. Some of them were of different species outside of the longs and one of them resembled King Rubble.
I wanted you to see
The land that you came from
But that dreaded king might see you
And take you away
As sure as the stars do shine
I will not let it happen
Nightwatch trembled at the thought of Rubble finding Buttercream. He grew apprehensive, and his singing grew foreboding and intense. He was determined more than anything to not let any of the Northern Drakes find out about his adoptive dragon sister. He imagined having to defend Buttercream if anyone threatened to take her away. After leaving the gardens, tears ran down his cheeks as he went back in time to the day he lost his biological sister, Twinkle Star.
I was to have a sister
Her time came before she was born
We couldn’t save her from the grave
My heart was so torn
But then one day I found you
Hatched that egg and there you were
Oh Buttercream, please forgive me
Wish I could tell you the truth
But I can’t afford to lose you
As Nightwatch finished singing, he had made his way out of the town and back to Tigrinum and Azalea’s house. The sun was a few minutes away from setting and he had had a long day, but he did his best to get everything off his mind. He dried his tears and noticed Aster, Lily and Pansy floating over to him.
“Hey, Nighty!” called Lilly.
“Hey guys,” he said, as he let Pansy nuzzle his leg.
“How were things in the archives?” Aster asked him.
“Eh, I did okay, I guess. I sadly didn’t really find what I was looking for.”
“Really? Well that’s a bummer,” said Lily. “There should be something about Northern Drakes in there. The archives have pretty much everything. There’s probably even stuff about Equestria.”
“Yeah, it’s disappointing too cuz I promised Butter we would figure things out about her breed.”
“I’m sure she won’t mind,” Aster added. “Antirrhinum would be happy to let you guys visit the archives again. In any case, I’ve got those documents if you wanna look at ‘em. It’s not much; just goes over the process to get agreements started and scheduling for ambassadors, which I’ll be overseeing.”
“Okay. How’s Butter?”
“Oh she’s fine. She’s sleeping in a room Mom and Dad made for the two of you,”
“Yeah, except, well…the gifts,” Lily said, sharing a nervous glance with her brother.
“The gifts? What do you mean?” Nightwatch asked.
“Well she couldn’t stop wanting more things as we went through town,” Aster continued. “We never actually made it to the temple gardens like we said we were gonna do. She didn’t wanna go.”
“She’s doing that again? You guys didn’t give her anything, did you?”
“We only got her one of those fruits she was eyeing earlier. She never even ate it; she just carried it around. Of course everyone here’s all giddy about a baby Northern in town, so they got a bit too generous with her. What really gets me though was the trash she kept picking off the ground. Got me thinking she just signed up for some volunteer litter-control, but no, she actually took that stuff like she wanted it.”
“Trash? She’s taking trash now?”
“Somehow yes. We couldn’t stop her either. She was pretty grabby.”
“Yeah, we had to keep her back a few times. She kinda made a few of the shop owners nervous,” Lily added.
“She was…UGH! Buttercream!”
Nightwatch grumbled and rolled his eyes. He quickly rushed inside the house with Aster and Lily following him. After he got past the front door, they directed him to the right, where he walked down a short corridor and opened a sliding door. There were two beds on both sides of the bedroom, but Buttercream was not using either one. She was instead curled up on the ground with a dozen or so random objects all around her. She wore a ball cap hat with a dragon emblem on the front and a shirt that said “I Love Ester Dracos”. She had the fruit from earlier along with some other little trinkets like flower bouquets, tiny ceramic vases, dragon figurines, stuffed animals, and snacks, but that wasn’t all. Nightwatch also noticed some very unusual things like pebbles, grass, wilted flowers, candy wrappers, empty cups, and assorted garbage that Buttercream would never want for herself. She was fast asleep and had a smile on her face. Nightwatch would normally be pleased at the sight of her sleeping so soundly and looking so cute, but instead he was concerned. He was already on edge after learning about King Rubble; now he had more to worry about with his sister.
“I just don’t get it. Why would she want those things?” Nightwatch whispered.
“We thought maybe you could tell us,” Aster said.
“I honestly don’t know. She’s never been like this before. Every time we celebrate Hearth’s Warming Day, she’s thankful for all the gifts she gets even if it’s not a whole lot. Mom and Dad have taught both of us to not be greedy and want too much. This just isn’t right.”
“Nightwatch, how were the archives?” Azalea asked, walking in next to them.
“Oh, Azalea. I, um…I didn’t find what I was searching for, but look, I’m sorry about Butter. Did she try to take anything from in your house?”
“Yeah, a couple times. We were wondering about that ourselves.”
“We had to remind her she already had her own things and she seemed to listen, but she insisted on sleeping with all of them,” Tigrinum added, arriving in next to Azalea. “I’ve never seen a dragon do that before. Perhaps it’s a thing for Northerns.”
Nightwatch put his hooves over his face for a moment and shook his head back and forth.
“Alright, tomorrow we’re going to make sure she doesn’t do it anymore,” Nightwatch told everyone firmly. “If she asks for stuff, don’t give her anything. I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but we best keep her away from things she can get. We’ll be leaving tomorrow afternoon anyway, so hopefully she’ll be over this when she wakes up.”
“She’ll be alright, Nighty,” Lily said. “Butter’s such a sweet little dragon; I’m sure she’ll listen to us if we tell her enough is enough.”
“We’ll keep our eyes on her, kid,” Aster said, patting Nightwatch on the back. “She could just have a case of the gimmies so she can take ‘em home for memories. After all, tourists never leave Ester Dracos without a souvenir.”
“Yeah, but she wouldn’t just take trash and stones off the ground,” Nightwatch said, looking back at Buttercream as she yawned and curled back up in her hoard of goods.
“Well before it gets late, you wanna go over the documents? Might help ya take your mind off her.”
“Yeah, I suppose now’s the time. Sorry if I’m getting a little worked up right now. Butter means a lot to me, and I’m kinda worried about what she’s doing. I’ll just have a talk with her tomorrow. Hopefully she listens.”
Nightwatch slowly closed the door behind him. Aster hovered over to a table with the scroll tube. He popped the lid off and removed the parchment with his magic. Nightwatch sat in a chair next to him while Lily and her parents went over to a table near the kitchen to finish some noodles they had cooked earlier. There was a plate saved for Nightwatch for when he was ready to eat.
“Alright. These first two paragraphs are just the thesis for why this agreement is being made. We don’t need to go over that. Then down here is where it discusses the different products and resources that Equestria and Ester Dracos are looking to exchange. Now a thousand years have passed really quickly for Luna, so some of this might be a little confusing…um, Nightwatch?”
Aster looked to the side to see Nightwatch still looking back at the bedroom. Nightwatch flinched and turned around nervously. Everyone else had noticed him.
“Er, sorry.”
“You alright?”
“I’m fine, I just…I don’t know. Butter’s just been a little weird today.”
“Is there anything else troubling you?” Azalea asked.
“I…no, not really. It’s just Butter. It’s okay. She’ll probably be fine tomorrow. Anyway, let’s see what more there is to this document.”
Aster continued speaking as Nightwatch straightened himself up and paid attention. They both went through the rest of the paper, and Nightwatch understood it. After they were done, he tried some of Azalea’s noodles and found it to be delicious, but was disappointed to learn Buttercream did not have any yet as she wasn’t hungry.
When it was time for bed, Nightwatch quietly crept into his bedroom and began throwing some of Buttercream’s trash away. He would let her know the next morning why she didn’t need it, but he would let her keep the more proper gifts she had received. Before he turned his light off, he took one more look at her. She was holding the orange and several other goods close to her like they were the most precious things she had ever seen.
“Come on, Nightwatch,” he told himself. “She’s gonna be just fine. She’s just having a hard time getting used to this new place and probably just really loves all the things she’s seen. She’s still young after all. It could just be a phase. It’ll all be over tomorrow morning. Sleep tight, Buttercream.”
He shut the light off and closed his eyes. Little did Nightwatch know; his sister was undergoing a deadly transformation.
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A very sweet yet sad melody, especially since we all know that what Nighty's doing (even he knows it himself
) is very very wrong! Heck by withholding information right now he just missed a big clue about Butter's condition at the moment, which by the looks of it will explode come morning! 
Expecting quite a trainwreck on the next chapter Alex, keep up the great work!
Today's chapter is six, not seven.
What happened to chapter 6?!
11857770
Sorry. I corrected it. It's the right chapter, I just named it 7 by accident.
11857774
Sorry. I corrected it. It's the right chapter, I just named it 7 by accident.
11857753
Yeah, he's gonna regret not having looked in that book earlier, though if he did at the time he had gotten it, it would have already been too late.
Yup! The chaos begins tomorrow morning! (in the story that is, not real life) XD
Poor Nightwatch. I can already imagine the feeling of betrayal Buttercream might experience when she finds out her big brother kept all of this from her, even if he had a strong reason to do so. He's already lost one sister. He can't lose another...That song he sang may have been one of the saddest we've had in this series yet.
But it's a shame Nightwatch didn't find out anything about Buttercream's unexpected behavior. We know, of course, and I'm already dreading what a greed-induced Buttercream'll be like...
11857783
That's why it's hard to know what side to take. What Nighty is doing is wrong, but you can't help but pity him for what happened with his biological sister and why he wants to keep Butter. I'd feel the same way too, but eventually she will find out, and it won't be pretty.
Yeah, he definitely should have looked at that book before, but by then, it would have still been too late.
I'm not crying, it's just liquid pride...
Anytime Twinkle Star is mentioned it fils me with sadness. The thought of losing a baby before they can even live their life is tragic, especially for the family.
Twinkle’s tragic fate just makes Nighty even more protective of his new sister, even if he knows what he is doing now is wrong. Plus her going through greed-induced growth phase right now isn’t helping things. All Hell is going to break loose soon.
11857929
He is definitely not ready, and he really should have consulted the book first, but even then, it was already too late for her.
Quick quest: about how old is Aster in this story? Is he in his teens, or is he more like in his 20s or older? I also wanted to know cuz I wanted a good idea of how big an 'adult' long is.
11861267
He's probably in his 20s I'd imagine, maybe early 30s. It's hard to say what exactly makes them adult aged, but I like to consider them one around the age of 18 like with humans. Lily is about Butter's age, but a bit older.