Spike walked stiffly back to the library. It was the middle of the night and his shoulders were sore from helping Rarity. The main component of Rinjin’s armor was metal plates, but not just any metal, a special mithril-zanac alloy that cancelled out any weak magic directed against it. Unfortunately, that included telekinesis, meaning Spike had to hammer out the new plates by hoof. On top of that, opalescence tried to take his head off the moment he walked through the boutique’s door. Thank goodness he still had the protection spell on from when he took the hash-browns out of the oven. Spike looked ahead of him.
In the pale moonlight, he could see Rarity walking ahead of him. She was walking much faster than he was despite being nearly exhausted from magical exertion and carrying a sleeping Twilight on her back. The little hatchling had finished her book within the first hour and had tried to help by carting materials back and forth, but ended up playing with opal most of the time. Unfortunately that meant that the tiger got her claws on some of the fabric. Rarity ended up having to buy a sofa and rip all the cloth from it.
Spike let out a happy sigh. Despite all the problems, Rarity really seemed to enjoy her work. When she really got into it, she even broke into song. He was sure he would be humming that tune for the next few days. He found himself wondering if she would be singing again tomorrow, since they still had a lot of work to do on the armor.
When they reached the library, Rarity went in with Twilight. Spike didn’t follow. He walked around the side of the library, checking to make sure that Pinkie, the local military liaison, took custody of Fire Flash and the other dragon. As he rounded the corner, he noticed that Fire Flash was gone, no doubt shipped off to face whatever punishment his superiors deemed necessary. As he continued around the tree, he noticed something else, a familiar smell. Something smelled like Sugarcube Corner.
It wasn’t long before a table full of cupcakes came into view. It was placed a short distance away from the library, right in front of the dragon that was glued to the trunk. A sign that said, “free cupcakes,” hung from the table. A smaller table was placed in front of the tan and brown dragon. It was tall enough that the dragon could reach the dishes on its surface, but it held no cupcakes. All the small table held was a loaf of bread and a bowl of water.
The dragon appeared to be asleep, so Spike turned around and walked back to the library’s door. He entered the library quietly so he wouldn’t wake Twilight. He expected Rarity to be in the main room, but when he looked around, he didn’t see any sign of either dragin. Assuming she went home, he headed for the bookshelves and started looking for the craft section. There was a lot of leather work to do tomorrow, and he would be able to help better if he read up on tooling and stitching techniques. He knew the basics; stitching wheel, sewing awl, stamps, and such, but knowing the patterns and advanced techniques, even in theory, would be useful.
When he found what he was looking for, he reached a hoof for it without thinking. Pain shot through his shoulder as he stretched muscles worked stiff by repeated use of the mallet. He hissed in pain as he drew his hoof back. He moved slowly as to not cause any more stress to his pained physique. He rubbed his other hoof against the one he had overexerted and looked back at the book. He always preferred to hold the books he read, something about the feeling the paper against his hooves just felt right, but it looked like that wasn’t practical at the moment. He grabbed the book in his magic and pulled it from the shelf. He flipped through a few pages to make sure he had the right one and turned around to set it on the table. He looked back at the bookshelf and picked out three more books, setting them on the table beside the first. Satisfied that he had enough reading material, he lit one of the candles that sat near the table’s center.
He used a spell, of course, but it was one that he was quite proud of. It was a combination of a simple spark, an illusion, and the light-bringing spell, and made it look like he was breathing fire. It couldn’t do much more than light a candle, and the illusionary flames were about as menacing as gently flowing water, but he was still proud of it and it brought a smile to his face every time he used it. It was the first spell he came up with on his own, and he could even change the color of the “flame.”
Halfway up the staircase, unnoticed by the preoccupied pony, an uneasy Dragoness watched as two more wisps of flame were called forth, each lighting another candle. The first puff was sky blue in color, and the second was a pleasant purple hue. Until she saw the shift in color, she hadn’t realized that the flame was an illusion. He really was alone, isn’t he? He told her that he knew nothing of his kind, but seeing him putting effort into making his spell seem dragon-like really drove it home for her. He was alone, in a land of strangers, and trying to fit in. That was why he was making such an effort to be nice, to be accepted, even to the point of causing himself pain.
Rarity watched as Spike lifted the three lit candles and placed them a little closer to where he was reading. She couldn’t make out the words on the book’s covers, but once he opened the first book, she could make out the pictures of various leatherworking tools. Even now, he was thinking about what else he could do to make himself useful, to make himself seem wanted. Rarity sat down quietly on the steps, watching as he read. He was so focused on his reading that she doubted he would even notice if she walked past him and out the door, but she just sat there and watched, being quiet so she wouldn’t break his concentration.
Spike finished the book about leather tooling rather quickly. That didn’t surprise Rarity; it was mostly pictures after all. The next book Spike opened was on stonecutting and jewelry. Given his level of concentration when he was reading the other book, it surprised the dragoness when he suddenly jumped up and headed for the kitchen. She let her gaze linger on the candle-lit table, on the books that lay spread out on its surface, on the books he was reading for her benefit.
She started down the stairs.
Spike was in the kitchen pouring some sugar onto a small plate when the door opened. He looked up to see Rarity slowly walk in. She shut the door carefully, reinforcing Spike’s assumption that Twilight was asleep. But what is she doing here? Shouldn’t be headed home to try and get some rest for tomorrow? Spike stopped pouring the sugar and folded up the bag. He took some wooden skewers out of a drawer and wet them down in the sink. After that, he took one and rolled it in the sugar. He looked over and noticed that Rarity was watching and offered her half of the skewers. She tried to take them with her magic, but the purple glow that formed around the wooden sticks merely sputtered and flickered before dying out. She really overdid it today.
Spike motioned her over with a hoof. She walked over and sat beside him. He lifted her claw and gave her all but one of the skewers. Then he took that one skewer and rolled it in the sugar. He held it up so the dragoness could see it and set it on the counter. He then left Rarity to finish coating the skewers and started searching for something. He found a pan and started filling it with water. After that, he used his magic to dig out a piece of cheese cloth and several jars of various dried herbs. He set the pan on the stove and turned the heat up, then he started looking through the various herbs, picking out the ones he needed and returning the others to their place in the cabinet.
By the time Rarity finished sugarcoating the skewers, Spike had finished blending the herbs and wrapped them in the cheesecloth. The scent of mint, chamomile, and a dozen other herbs filled the kitchen as soon as he started steeping the herbs in the hot water. He looked over at her and saw that she had finished with the skewers, so he lifted them in his magic and floated them over to the top of the refrigerator and set them in the various jars of sugar water he prepared earlier. He then returned his attention to the pot on the stove. He lifted the bag of sugar and started to open it, but stopped and set it down. He took a jar of honey out of a nearby cabinet instead and poured some into the pan. Rarity took two cups out of a cabinet as he lifted the pan from the stove, stirring it constantly. Spike walked over and poured the tea into the two cups and set the pan on the counter. He offered her a smile as he took one of the cups, and she offered one of her own as she took other.
Rarity looked down at the amber liquid, contemplating a decision she had to make. She took a sip, letting the smooth, warming, tea wash away her indecision. She came to a realization and a decision at that moment. “So what if he’s not a dragon.”
List of songs and artists(For anyone interested)
Return to the Tribe - Edguy
Paid in Full - Sonata Arctica
Power Within(Album) - Dragonforce
Hunting High and Low - Statovarius, Freedom Call, and others
Stand My Ground - Within Temptation
Through the Fire and the Flames Dragonforce
Peacemaker - Sonata Arctica
Shy - Sonata Arctica
Mirror, Mirror - Blind Guardian
Oceans of Regret - Cain's Offering
Poet and the Pendulum - Nightwish
Last of the Wild - Nightwish
This is so syrupy-sweet, my teeth are falling out from reading it. It's so nice to see the power of alternate-universe-ness being used for good, rather than evil.
Eagerly awaiting more. Getting rather ahead of the story, I foresee a hilarious 'Celestia playing protective mother for a terrified Rarity' scene in the distant future.
Really nice, I enjoyed this a lot. As I said before, I cannot wait to see more, especially the introduction of the other characters and, more importantly, if we'll be having a Nightmare Moon event.
allow me again: Dun dun dun
Yay
May your muse always keep on with these ideas. You've hooked me.
more i like this
So, fans of My Little Dragon are... Brogons? Bragons?
Definitely looks good, though I wouldn't be taking a chance on this if it weren't for all the positive feedback. This is because it's "Everfree Forest", and seeing something like that in the description generally does not bode well. Might want to fix that.
1824882 Draguys.
1824896 Good idea.
1824925Yes.
1824882
Welcome to the Hoard?
1824928
Then you, dear sir, have now become more awesome. Rune Factory is a great game.
This is nice, definitly gona track and read more of it.
This is all going so well and sweetly, and, as a friend of mien often says, that means something terrible is just around the corner.
WOOO NIGHTWISH!! also good chapter. now what's going to go wrong?
Dragons don't have a copyright. They're in public domain.
Anyway. looks like a nice original and interesting idea.
"So what" indeed, Rarity. "So what" indeed. We finally start to get to the meat of the romance tag 1824635 is right though, this chapter, moreso than any of the others, is straight-up diabetic with how sweet it is. Which means that they're either going to make a meaningful move on each other, or be just about to when something bad happens.
farm7.staticflickr.com/6032/6341207163_f04e7472f4_z.jpg (googled "Mlp dragons")
Brogons, Welcome to the Hoard
Interesting... most interesting.
Well I liked the outside look into Spike's emotional and mental state. I've found that a lot of authors don't usually give their reads that much about what their character is going through which can sometimes make certain things they do very " hu?" and often times their reasoning for it is because they don't want the reader to know exactly what's going through that character. However, you've shown a wonderful way around that problem. Simply look in from another character's perspective. That not only gives us, the reader, a sense that we know what's going on you also make it so you can hold a couple of surprises for us and because it was from an outside perspective it prevents the " But I thought he was feeling this way?"
Also normally I'm not a fan of the Spike/Rarity pairings... usually because the characters are pretty close to how they were in the show and the depth of their relationship between the two of them are from the show. Which in my opinion is a terrible romantic relationship. However, I've found myself pleasantly surprised by how you've been working the relationship. Which just goes to show... every idea can be a brilliant story... if done correctly!
Wonderful work! Please keep it up! Looking forward to the next updates!
Oh wow, I just stumbled onto the story, and the idea is so original and... I love it!! I wonder if this dragon world has an equivalent to Nightmare Moon or something? I don't know. I'm just getting that vibe.
Plus, it's Sparity. I Sparity...
Premise looks nice, gonna give this a read.
1826687
But I already did Derpy Scales. I'm not changing the names of any of the mane six.
1825697
Oh, wow, did I just create a subset to the fandom?
So how do you figure out your different kinds of dragons? Do you look them up, are you using a certain series as a base, please share!
1826727 If this gets popular enough...
Yes, yes good sir you have.
I like this. One of the best AU's I've seen in a while now. Are we going to see a Nightwyrm Moon?
1826756
I have an interest in mythology and nature, so I draw from that. The antler like horns on the magic dragons and Rarity's "faintly rabbit-like ears" are based off of oriental dragons, as is Celestia in general. Grumble's description(minus the wings, of course) is based of a bearded dragon, which is sitting across the room and staring at me right now. I have been vague about his coloring because I haven't decided whether or not I will be painting him at some point and I want to keep my options open. His insecurities about looking like a female stem from the fact that he is dull and camoflaged rather than bright and bold, mirroring the standard sexual dimorphism of birds. So, in other words, Pinkie looks like a male to most dragons. Rainbow Dash will not since she is blue and spends most of her time in the sky.
I made three main types of dragon
Magic dragon(Unicorn)- antler like horns, ability to use telekinesis and spells
Flying dragon(Pegasus)-wings, normal horns if any, ability to fly
Earth dragon(Earth Pony)-no wings, normal horns if any, can't fly, can't use spells
Aside from these general rules, the dragons can vary drastically in color, shape, posture(biped, or quadriped) and have special abilities(Grumble's Stick-Spit) as well. Fire breathing is not a trait specific to a type of dragon, but rather an ability one may or may not have. Pinkie can breath fire(While breathing in, no less), Rarity can not. Fire Flash is a flying dragon who cannot breath flame(in a stream like Spike does in the show), but rather creates flammable or explosive oils within his body.
I could go on for a long time, but I would recommend reading the dragonart books, a field guide to dragons and unicorns(written as a joke by a couple who write serious field guides for a living), and every piece of mythology you can get your hands on.
1826844
Sorry, it has already been done.
Interesting story, adding to my read later list, as I've got a lot to read currently!
This story makes my heart feel light with not a care in the world. Very much different to the heavy slightly darker stories I usually read. A good change of scenery if you ask me.
1824882 Draguys. Welcome to the Hoard!
Seriously, this is bloody brilliant! I'm loving this! Thank you for making this Chocobo happy!
On a completely random note, I find it interesting that a detail-oriented Dragon like Miss Rarity wouldn't have commented or thought about his eyes, since they are quite clearly non-draconic. (aka 'normal'.) Just something to think about, if you ever go back to edit anything, or want to add something later. :3
1825697 Hey, how come the image didn't show up when I posted it further up?
1827653
I'm glad I've spawned a discussion that brought out so many punny things!
Just beware of clawers, they masturbate to pictures of Dragons!
1827811 Hey! Don't be hating on Dragons! I wrote original stories about dragons before MLP came along! *Huffs*
Missed caps, another in the next paragraph
1827719 How so? I think I'll wait for author confirmation on this one
This is a wonderful concept, and you put a lot more effort into unique world-building than any other similar fic I've come across thus far. I can only see great things happening for this story
ROCK CANDY!!!!!!
Head Canon acquired.
1828967 I made it the really tricky way once. Where you tie a string around a single sugar crystal and hang it in a jar of saturated suger water. It's very hard to tie a string around a sugar crystal the size of a sand grain.
1827613
4.bp.blogspot.com/-ucLssz7vuus/T9AX-fOXhEI/AAAAAAAABDw/fyEhFiFEXPk/s1600/spoiler_alert_original.jpg
And here I already excused myself for making such a coment.
1827662 Good point... Why Didn't I think of that?
PS:
Everyone loves Magical Trevor
'Cause the tricks that he does are ever so clever
Look at him now, disappearin' the cow
Where is the cow heading right now?
Taking a bow, it's Magical Trevor
Everybody seen that the trick is clever
Look at him there with his leathery, leathery whip!
It's made of magic, and with a little flip
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the cow is back
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the cow is back
Back, back, back from his magical journey
Yeah!
What did he see in the parallel dimension?
He saw beans, lots of beans, lots of beans, lots of beans. Oh, beans lots of beans lots of beans lots of beans.
Yeah, yeah!
1828109Consider it confirmed.
Dragin is a female dragon. Dragoness is an adult female. Drake is a male dragon. Really young dragons, male or female, are called hatchlings.
1829152 I considered it, but I am not exactly following the mlp show canon guidelines for the dragons. As such, the structure of the eyes will be inconsistent among dragons. Fire Flash has slit pupils(not mentioned yet), Twilight and Rarity have round pupils(see the cover image I made), and **spoiler alert** has **content hidden**.
1829068There is a list somewhere in the comments, but yes.
1827811 Would dragon even need to look sexy? They're reptiles that lay eggs, so really their eggs are what need to be sexy.
mithril huh?
LORD OF THE RINGS FOR THE WIN!
Okay, now I just have to ask. Are you from Finland by any chance?
I first started wondering that when I saw you had named one of the chapters after Nightwish's song "The poet and the pendulum" but then I thought it was just a coincidence. But hey whaddaya know? More Nightwish-references and even some Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius!
Of course it could be that you just happen to like those particular bands, but I simply have to know
In any case have a brohoof from Finland /)
Found a mistake.
There should be a she between Shouldn't and be.