My Little Dragon

by Metal Pony Fan

Head Bangya!!

A white claw wrapped around the darkened silver of a necklace, sharp pink nails clicking against the crescent moon shaped pendant.

"Tell your master..." The short dragon pulled it free from its owner's neck, snapping the chain. With a smirk, she turned to face the last, and smallest, of the group. "This is my turf."

She waited a moment for a reaction.

"Hmph." She climbed up on the dragon whose necklace she just stole. The tree broken over his head slid off as she climbed, making her duck as an errant branch whipped past. Perching herself on his back, and stretching up as far as she could on her hind legs, she ended up almost, but not quite, eye to eye with her last opponent. She brushed pine needles from her pink crest, and scratched a spot of pitch from her arms. After all, when kicking tail, one must keep themselves looking sharp. "Your bodyguards weren't all that tough," she muttered, "I would think about firing them."

The other dragon quivered in his boots, the only article of clothing he wore. The weapons in his claws shook as he held them at the ready- a pair of stone clubs much to large for him. Blade-like, and elegantly carved of a faintly glowing, midnight colored obsidian, their metal handles were gripped by claws that were losing color at the knuckles.

"Y-you're mistaken," he stammered. He was alone now, and doing his best to put up a brave front. His two companions had already fallen to this monster. The first one to a surprise attack with an uprooted tree, and the other to a single blow to the face by this monster. She was barely over two meters tall, young and skinny like a hatchling barely out of puberty! How was she so strong? "They aren't my bodyguards."

"Oh?" The small dragin tilted her head. "Then?"

"I'm theirs!" With a roar, the dragon stepped forward, twisting his body as he swung his clubs in a figure eight pattern. A few rapid steps, and the swriling stone clubs built up a brighter glow. His upper body twisted with each swing and step, as the dragon compressed his movements into rotation, storing force like a gyroscope. Before reaching his oponent, he launched himself in the air, bringing one of the stone clubs around in a wide arc that started behind him and ended with a loud crack where the short dragon's head was.

She sighed as she looked at her reflection in the polished stone. She held the blunt edge in her raised left claw, though the claw was barely large enough to span the width of the blunted edge. "Then you should really be fired, cause you just dislocated your buddy's shoulder."

Eyes wide, the armed dragon jumped back, letting go of his club, which fell despite the small dragin's attempt to catch it. His comrade's shoulder, underneath the small monster, was distinctly lower than where it had been previously, and sitting at quite the odd angle. "Oh, crap." The drake dropped his other club and ran up to his fallen companion, hunched over, holding out his claws to help, yet stopping short out of fear of actually touching the injured shoulder. "Crap, crap, crap! Greyscale's gonna kill me!"

"Hey," the little dragin called from her perch atop said shoulder, "crapface." She shrugged when he fixed her with a glare. "That's your name now, don't question it. Is Greyscale the name of your boss or somethin'?"

He grabbed the nearest of his clubs and pointed it menacingly at her, handle first. He realized his mistake, and switched it around quickly. "Greyscale will expose the darkness in the light, and bring forth the light in the darkness."

She scratched her head. "Look, I'm just a simple girl that lives in the wilderness and beats the tar out of wimpy-ass traveler's like yourselves. You'll have to use smaller words and fewer metaphors."

"A hermit?" He lowered his club slightly. "What do you know of the political structure of this nation?"

She raised an eyebrow in confusion. "We gotta princess, I know that much. Then like a council or some shit. I thought I was the one asking the questions?"

"We had a princess," the drake spat. "The council has been lied to. Celestia uses them to keep others from raising questions."

The little dragon sat down. "You seem sad," she said simply.

He slammed the club into the ground, raising a cloud of dust as he lodged it there. He looked down at the weapon. "My grandfather gave me these. He trained me to use them before he died. They belonged to the true princess of Draconica, the one who reigned a thousand years ago."

"True princess?" She looked down at the necklace in her right claw before holding it up. "Is that why your compatriot carries the emblem of Princess Luna?"

The drake looked up in surprise. "You know of her?"

"No. I do not know of her." She hopped to the ground and walked over to the upright club. "I know her. And I recognize the dreamscythes." She rested her claw against the edge once more. "These were a gift to her, almost two thousand years ago. I crafted them from nightstone obsidian found in the volcano where we first met, and forged the handles from meteoric iron with my own breath." She looked up at him. "They are not bladed as a symbol of the peace she and I worked for. What would you do with them?"

The drake clasped his claw in front of his heart. "I will honor my grandfather, and fight Celestia to return Princess Luna's glory to its rightful place." He reached his claw towards her. "You were her friend, Join us. Greyscale would welcome an ally as strong as you."

She raised her claw and pushed his slowly aside. "I'll have to decline." Shaking her head, she let out another sigh. "I do not believe you know this Greyscale as well as you think, and he does not know the Luna he claims to fight for."

"None do." The drake sat down, bringing him closer to the small dragon. "No mention of her exists in the public records, and the few dragons that remember her are either old, dead, or in hibernation. That is why we must fight Celestia."

She pointed up at him. "I know Celestia as well, and you should not raise your claws against her. You would not stand a chance against her in battle, and Luna would surely be saddened by that outcome."

He grabbed the handle of his club. "I know exactly how powerful she is. She could crush me underfoot like the bug I am, call the very power of the sun to scorch me to the bone, or tear me apart with her magic. What else am I supposed to do?"

"Realize that you may be right, yet wrong at the same time." She placed her claws on either side of the clubs blunted bladed, and held it in place when he tried to pull it away. "Celestia would be saddened as well, if she were to fight you. As such, I will be keeping these. Return to your master, tell him you were ambushed by a stronger foe, send help for your fallen friends. After that, live a simple life. Make friends, be happy, raise a family if you so desire, but leave this fight to those destined for it."

He let go of that club, and reached for the other. "You would choose Celestia over Luna, the rightful Princess?"

She didn't move as he grabbed the other club and swung it at her. As the cloud of dust raised by the impact cleared, she stood there, looking up at him, with the edge of the Dreamscythe resting on her shoulder. "There is no choice to be made. The dreamscythe cannot hurt anyone the wielder does not believe to be evil. You are upset, but you do not believe me evil. There is a chance you will come to believe me." She offered a smile. "Go, and be careful."

His mouth moved to reply, to tell her she was wrong, but no words came out of it. The conviction he had before was shattered by his own blow. He dropped the club and ran off, leaving the small dragin behind without a second glance.

She waited until he was out of sight to let out a sigh and rub her shoulder.

"Well done." The sound of clapping made her turn around. Up in the tree behind her, hanging upside down with his legs around a branch, was a greyish-blue dragon even shorter than herself. "Though, I am unaware of any such restrictions on the Dreamscythes."

"Shut up, Ice Heart," she snapped at him, "you know damn well that hurt like hell."

"Yes I do." He disappeared from the branch and reappeared sitting cross-legged on top of the standing club. He gave the butt of the handle a soft tap with the back of a claw. "I never thought I'd see these again."

The little dragin tilted the other dreamscythe up beside its twin and Ice heart gave it a solid smack, seating it in the ground enough for her to climb up to the top. "Luna gave them to you as a wedding gift, didn't she?"

He nodded thoughtfully. "Hard to be mad at a regift when it's a priceless artifact of untold value." With a smirk, he added, "remember when I could actually lift these?"

"Yes," she answered with a laugh. "Remember when you tried to fight me with them?"

"Ugh, yes," he conceded. "Celestia, wouldn't it have been easier to tell that drake the truth? Maybe hiding Luna's existence was the wrong choice. And Typhon knows hiding yours will be near impossible."

She scratched her neck. "You've been at my side a long time, but my sister and I have been doing this for far longer than you've been alive. The first time we had to switch places, there were dragons that didn't accept her. There was a terrible war because dragons were loyal to me, and couldn't accept her even though I told them to."

Ice Heart nodded slowly. "Luna told me of this, shortly after our wedding. The war led to the creation of the council, the military as it is currently structured, and the worst loss of life and culture since the Great Darkness."

"The war only ended when I returned. The next time we switched places, I secluded myself for a hundred years before, interacting with no one beyond trusted council members, leaving them with plans, instructions, and my trust. Luna was accepted without incident, and most dragons weren't even aware that anything changed. You met her a few centuries after that." She hung her head low. "She repeated the process flawlessly, and I took over without a hitch. Well, except for this Greyscale nonsense. If he truly wishes Luna to reclaim the throne, he only needed to wait a few years. He would have gotten what he wanted without having to lift a finger."

"But," Ice Heart pointed out, "he has no way of knowing that."

"True," she conceded, "but, I somehow doubt his intentions are as noble as he tricks others into thinking." She smirked. "I bet he wants to set himself up as some grand hero, so when Luna does return, he can claim the credit. Too bad I already chose Spike to fill that role. And it helps that you managed to not kick the bucket all these years. I never expected you to last this long."

"Funny. But, about Spike," Ice heart interrupted, "I assume you are here because you heard what happened to him?"

She nodded. "The earthmate sent me a letter. Guess who intercepted it."

Ice Heart gestured to the two unconscious dragons behind Celestia. "That explains present company. But, what kind of sick bastard reads another dragon's mail?" That drew out a chuckle, and Ice Heart allowed himself a brief smile. The smile faded quickly, and he knew hers would too. "It's too bad my brother is involved in this somehow."

She straightened up immediately, laughter dying on the breeze. She stared at Ice Heart for a moment, hoping that she had misheard. "Stone Heart?"

He shrugged, staring at the ground. "He's going by the name Stahl these days."

"He's using Kykren, the old language?" She shook her head. "This bodes worse than Greyscale's involvement. I assume he isn't the one who injured Spike."

"Spike's injured, not dead, remember?" With a groan, Ice Heart stretched his back. "He got stepped on by the, um, what was it, brother of a friend of the earthmate. It just so happened this brother of a friend, yadda-yadda, was charging headfirst into battle with a drake that was attacking the town. It also happens that my brother decided to kill that drake after he was captured."

Celestia stood up. "I should probably hurry then. Any idea what his goal was?"

He shook his head. "Who knows with him anymore. I have my top Centurion, after Spike, of course, looking into it. I also placed a spell on Spike and all his friends. Should any of them encounter my brother, they will be teleported directly to me. It took a good deal of magic, but a little insurance can never hurt."

"What would I do without you?" Celestia hopped down from her perch and turned to face the forest. "See that those return to my sister." She glanced over her shoulder. "I need to go request an audience with the Earth King Terris."

Ice Heart gave her a smirk before disappearing with the Dreamscythes. "Tell the brat I said hi."

Author's Note:

Chapter Title - Head Bangya!! by Babymetal

Comments

[Nova Blaze]

You know, this raises a lot of possibilities for Equestria in my mind. Pony Celestia's magic is just as strong as dragon Celestia's. Also, Celestia's one badass dragon. I can only imagine what Luna would be capable of, since she's usually shown as the warrior of the two.

[River Road]

I like this. I like this very much.

Really glad to see this story continue again.

[Foxfax]

NIce to see you having fun with both your stories. Long may it continue!

[redmar]

Maybe the fact that Spike is Terris means that the threat that the sisters have sealed away will finally be stopped. I assume this creature is also the reason that Discord behaves because anything that is so powerfull that the full power of Celestia or Luna is required to merely seal it would scare even him.

[Narrative Style]

Celestia is awesome. Tiny Celestia is concentrated awesome.

"It's too bad my brother is involved in this somehow."

Oh, snap.

[Violet Sky]

Tinylestia...