> Fall of Deathwing
>  by Demeristraz
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Falling Hard
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


In a small clearing, in a small forest, in a small mountain range in Northern Equestria, a small dragon stirred in his sleep. A long thin black tail, pointed like a Phillips head screwdriver at the end, and barbed along its dorsal length, swished back and forth in the grass. A thicker, tubular body, with larger dorsal spikes, was connected to four stubby legs, with sharp claws that would occasionally flex. Large wings lay folded at his side, running the length of his torso. A serpentine neck extended outwards from the body, ending in an angular head. His head was rather triangular, flaring backwards over the neck slightly, and tapering down into a narrowed nose, that occasionally snorted puffs of smoke as he dreamed.

The dragon dreamed of many things. He dreamed of his early days, spent alongside his two brothers and two sisters. He dreamt of starting his own family, of seeing them grow into their roles. He dreamt of protecting the land, of communing with the elements, and of teaching his children to do the same. He dreamt of madness that overcame him, of foolish plans to gain power, of his own betrayal, and of his loyal children following in his footsteps. He dreamt of becoming a prisoner within his own mind, of watching through his own eyes as he devastated the land he was sworn to protect. He dreamt of enslaving the elements that once acted as good friends.

He dreamt of his brothers and sisters standing united against him, of the monster he became, of the pain of being torn apart. He watched as his true family tore away at him, with the power he once foolishly created, removing every scrap of corrupted essence in his body. He dreamt of them finding a small fragment of his essence, less than a fraction of a percent of the great dragon he once was, and with a vow of silence banishing it, that both the world and their wayward brother could recover without the other present.

In the small clearing, in the small forest, in the small mountain range in Northern Equestria, the little dragon ceased dreaming of Deathwing's final moments, and Neltharion opened his eyes.

He blinked rapidly against the bright sunlight that drifted down between the tallest grass he'd ever seen. With a start he sat upright, realizing the grass was merely overgrown, and he himself had shrunk. It was disconcerting to the dragon, who had not been this size in tens of thousands of years, to suddenly feel so insignificant. He worried a moment if some massive predator would swoop down upon him, and spirit him away as food, a fitting end for one who'd caused similar death to thousands. 

Pushing painful thoughts of his past aside he inspected his body, it was eerily familiar, as if seeing himself as a whelp once more, which he supposed he was in a way. It seemed to be in order, his legs all worked, his tail swished without much coordination but he could work on that. His wings while large wouldn't be able to support him for long journeys, but everything seemed to point to him being a normal dragon.

No elementium plates were grafted to his body, no molten blood oozed form scars that would never quite heal, no constant threat of exploding in a blaze of glory. He winced at more painful memories, of the things he had done to desperately hold on to his power. How clearly he could see it now, without the caress of the old gods clouding his judgment, had it really not been obvious to him he was under their spell?

He would need help finding a place to call home for a while, wandering the mountain range at random was no good for a whelp. In this state even an errant adventurer would put him down for his scales, if not imprison him as a pet. Concentration he felt for his magic, and was left in shock to discover how little of it remained. No doubt it would replenish as he grew, but even as a whelp he held more power than this. Truly it was as in his dreams, the title of Earthwarder and all of its powers and responsibilities had been stripped from him.

He felt for what he did have, and let out a pulse of magic. It was a spell he had used frequently his entire life, a call to the elements themselves, like shouting 'hello' into a system of caves. At the moment he could not reach far with it, only elementals in the immediate vicinity would hear, and without the mantle of Earthwarder, the elements were free to ignore him.

Seconds ticked by and Neltharion waited in silence. It was awkward, like ringing a doorbell and being forced to wait outside, fighting the urge to peer through a window and see what's taking them so long to answer. To his surprise two elementals appeared at once, one with a rumble of earth and another in a shower of flame.

"Hello!" Said the earth elemental, peering around into the grass.

"He-whoa! Bad bad baaaad!" the fire elemental began, before catching the field on fire. It began flailing, trying to stop the spread of the flames on the dry grass. The earth elemental rumbled over and stamped out the flames, leaving the two in a small scorched circle.

Neltharion stepped forward, letting the two see who had summoned them. To his surprise he was met with blank looks. "Hello." He began, seeing them both nod with understanding. "I summoned you." He said, attempting to prompt some sort of response.

"Yep! You summoned us, we answered." the earth responded.

"We really didn't have anything else to do. We haven't been summoned in..." The fire elemental trailed off.	

"Ever!" The earth elemental finished.

"Ah... I'm Neltharion." the dragon said, hoping his name would at least prompt a response. Two elementals who hadn't ever been called upon was truly bizarre. 

"I'm Flint, he's Tinder." The earth elemental introduced with a bow, the fire elemental gave a small wave.

They didn't recognize him, not even the name, how was that even possible. He'd half expected when he called on them for there to be yelling and violence after what he'd put some of the elementals through. "Right, well, first things first... Where are we?" The dragon asked.

"We're in the Drakenridge mountains, plenty of dragons around here, but none have ever spoken to us before." Flint supplied, turning to the fire elemental. "You ever hear of an elemental talking to a dragon?"

"I've never heard of an elemental talking to anyone, even those magical ponies, with the antlers." Tinder said, gesturing vaguely.

"Horns, Tinder, they're called Unicorns and they have horns." Flint said.

"What color of dragons live here?" Asked Neltharion warily.

"Oh all sorts of colors, bronze, silver, gold, copper, platinum." Flint listed off.

"You're just naming the metal colored ones, there's plenty of others too, like red and yellow and orange and black." Tinder said, rambling away.

"Wait wait, there are that many colors of dragons?" Neltharion interrupted, getting odd looks from the two elementals. "Where exactly am I?"

"We told you, Drakenridge mountains, Equestria." Flint said.

"Equestria..." Neltharion repeated, the term 'banishment' floating around in his head. He figured he'd been flung through time by Nozdormu, a thousand years or so into the future, to a time when his deeds were lost to history among mortals. It was highly unlikely however, that Azeroth had renamed a land Equestria, or had suddenly gained magical Unicorns, and such a wide variety in dragon flights.

He was in a whole new world, it dawned on him how lucky he was that there were elementals for him to call, or magic in the world in the first place. He was also lucky the elementals were bored enough to answer, and seemed to enjoy his company. "I need to find a cave, to live in."

"Most of the dragons live to the northwest of here." Tinder supplied. "They have natural lava pools and everything."

"I'll start looking southeast then, I don't get along well with others." Neltharion sighed, he remembered even when he was sane how he had disliked crowds. Even Malygos had called him both cynical and antisocial, and he spent most days locked in a tower doing research.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts he began walking in the direction, indicated by the earth elemental, as being southeast. The two kept pace behind him, yammering away among themselves.

"Are we supposed to follow him?" Tinder asked.

"Would you rather go back to doing what you were before?" Flint said.

"I wasn't doing anything before, just waiting for some source of fire to play with, like the last time campers came through, or the lightning strike before that." Tinder shrugged.

"Exactly. Hanging out with the boss seems like it'll be a nice change of pace doesn't it?" Flint said.

"Boss?" Tinder asked.

"What else would he be?" They both paused a moment to think, and then shrugged.

"Hey boss, Dragon Mountain is up ahead, there's an awesome cave up at the top that's empty. " Flint called, rushing to catch up with the dragon.

"Why would an awesome cave be empty?" Neltharion asked.

"The dragon who used it before snored, and he was so big it created a massive smoke cloud. Then some ponies came and beat him up, and sent him away crying because of it." Tinder said.

"That's not what happened!" Flint argued.

"Yeah huh, Waft said he saw the whole thing, this yellow pegasus knocked the dragon silly all by herself and made him cry." Tinder said.

"Waft wasn't there, he told me himself he hated the smoke and wouldn't go near the place. Either way the cave is empty, I'm not sure if any of the treasure is still there though." Flint said.

"I'll need gems, I need to regain some of my strength." Neltharion commented.

"There's plenty in the ground all over, I can gather some for you once we get there Boss." Flint said. Tinder grumbled something about suck ups, and the two began arguing again.

It was a long trip, and the sun had nearly set by the time the trio reached the cave on Dragon Mountain. As Flint had said, there was no longer a dragon living there, but any trace of treasure was long gone as well. Sighing Neltharion crawled to a darkened corner and curled up, he'd have to redecorate in the morning, but spending all day walking had sapped his strength. Within minutes he'd fallen asleep.

Morning came far too quickly for Neltharion's tastes, he had tossed and turned all night with more nightmares. He awoke to an interesting sight, however, piled at the center of the cave were gems. The pile was as large as he was, each gem was cut and polished, sparkling appetizingly in the sunlight. "Flint? Tinder?" He called, causing both elementals to rush into the cave.

"Yes boss!" Both gave a sloppy attempt at a salute.

"Where did you get these?" the black dragon asked, waving a tail in the gem's direction, and wincing as it went wide, knocking a few gems across the cave floor.

"The ground around here is full of them boss, I just dug these ones up." Flint replied.

Neltharion was skeptical. What kind of strange world had precut polished gems in the ground? Still, regardless of how he got them, they certainly looked delicious. Resisting the urge to start gobbling them up, he went over the pile, sorting it into several categories, first by color, then by purity, and finally by cut.

The ones with obvious flaws were placed back into a central heap, a dragon must have a hoard after all. A dragon's diet was mainly Aluminum, gained through gems such as rubies, sapphires, topaz and turquoise. The lightweight metal was integral to the growth of a dragon, with other minerals playing supporting roles. Eating gems with impurities resulted in impurities in things like teeth, claws, bones, and scales. Places where impurities meant exploitable weaknesses. The rest of a dragon's nutrients came from the magic that naturally collected in gemstones over time, and a healthy variety of gem cuts promoted the growth of the three M's, Muscles, Mind and Magic.

He'd given the lecture to his whelps, tens of thousands of years ago, when he took an active role in their developments. Different gems held different flavors, and often dragons avoided ones they didn't take, much as mortal children avoided vegetables. Some of the tastiest gems were almost entirely silicone, and were as bad as eating ice-cream for every meal.

So, like a child sorting through candy after Hallow's End, he selected those that would be food, put together an assortment that would fill his needs, and ate a very satisfying breakfast. He absently noted the lack of turquoise, which obviously didn't form naturally within the mountains, but pushed aside that craving as being petulant. He had what he needed, it was now just a matter of getting the cave up to his standards.

Flint and Tinder were outside of the cave, playing guard or harassing the local wildlife no doubt, if what they'd said about never being summoned before was true. He moved to one corner of the cave, clearing his mind as he felt out his magic. It was an exercise used among black dragon children, to teach them how to better channel their natural magic, they would use their senses to locate a vein of lava, and then manipulate the earth to create a vent. 

It didn't take long for Neltharion to locate the lava beneath the cave, the mountain had all the properties of a dormant volcano. With a deep breath he rattled the rock beneath him, opening small cracks that connected the surface to the flowing heat beneath. A sudden updraft of hot air told him he'd accomplished the task, but it left him drained. He settled on only having one heat source for now, and left the cave to explore the area.

The view from the cave entrance really was spectacular, he hadn't stopped to appreciate it the day before. The land opened up into a valley below, sporting a rather rural village, and a farm. The village was bordered by a forest, that ran up to Dragon Mountain and circled around it, vanishing out of his view to his left. In the distance he could make out a massive cloud formation, that hung too low to the ground to be natural. Likely a city, like Dalaran, enchanted to float above the ungifted that toiled below.

He snorted at that, letting a small puff of smoke drift away on the wind. This world was likely the same as his last, so full of senseless conflict, so uncaring of the world around it. Looking back at all that mortals had wrought upon the history of Azeroth, was it any wonder he succumbed to the madness? He did regret his actions, he had abdicated his duty for his own selfish reasons, there was no 'greater good' in what he did. Still it had felt good, at the time, to remind the squabbling masses, the Alliance and Horde of their place in the pecking order. It felt good to remind them as they bickered over territory, that the territory could fight for its freedom.

What he wanted now, most of all was his isolation, to dwell on his past and his mistakes. As much as the memories pained him, he felt he could better deal with the situation if he sorted them all out, as he had the gems. Separate the good from the bad, the idle from the important, the grand from the megalomania.

His musings were interrupted by the sound of rhythmic flapping of wings, with a sigh he returned to the cave. "Flint, Tinder, guard the entrance, I do not want to be disturbed. Be as rough as you need to be." He said casually, returning to rest on his hoard of gems.

From outside he heard the sound of three things landing, followed by several voices. "See Ardon, it's like I said, some new dragon moved in here."

"Are you sure this is a good idea Sterling? I mean, won't the dragon be mad if we take its treasure?" the one named Ardon replied.

"Are you part lion or part mouse? Honestly, from what I saw it's just a baby, this'll be easy." came another voice, this one likely female.

"Whoa, that rock just moved, on its own. This place is freaking me out." Whined Ardon.

"Hi there!" Came the voice of Flint, met with three sets of shrieks, making Neltharion grin. "Sorry, but the boss doesn't want to be disturbed at the moment, you'll have to come back some other time." His grin faded, he'd have to have a discussion with Flint regarding his policy on dealing with unexpected guests.

"You think some talking pile of rocks is going to stop us? We're professional treasure hunters, and we're here for what's in that cave." the female of the group growled.

"Uh, if the treasure already belongs to boss, doesn't that just make you thieves, not treasure hunters." Came the response of Timber, also eliciting a trio of surprised squacks.

"You insulting our griffon honor? Ardon, Sterling, show these mooks how we conduct our treasure hunting business." The air was quickly filled with the sounds of a scuffle and several shouts, it was quite obvious his chosen bodyguards had never really fought before, outside of perhaps wrestling other elementals. They seemed to rely more on banter and boasting than raw physical strength, and it wasn't working out for them.

Within minutes Neltharion found his cave graced by the unwelcome presence of a trio of griffons. He'd always hated griffons, from back when mortals would ride them, to compete with dragons over the right to rules the skies. It was often a constant battle to remind them of what the food chain was. Here before him stood an interesting sight, however, in that the griffons appeared to be fully sentient and intelligent, and indeed capable of speech.

"I suppose you're here for my gems, thieves? You thought robbing the lair of a whelp would make you a hero, that they'll sing songs about how you bested a dragon half your size and took a paltry sack of low quality gems home to spend on griffon wenches?" Neltharion reverted to his instinctive condescending nature, despite all rational thought urging him to surrender. He still had his pride, as a dragon, and as an ex-aspect.

"You have a big mouth, for such a small dragon, shouldn't you be back in your nest with mommy?" The leader, the female spoke, for some reason feeling the need to taunt him.

"Yes, we've established that I am small and young and weak, and that you are big and strong and here to steal from me. Truly the nation of griffons is full of honor, if that makes you worthy of heroic fame." the black dragon snarked, still not raising his head from his gem pile.

"I think he just insulted us, boys." The leader said, looking to her cohorts for support.

"I think you're right Ora." agreed the one on the left.

"I think the lot of you are dense, having only figured that out just now, for what my opinion is worth. I take heart in knowing I'll likely outlive your entire species, if you three are a measure of the average intelligence."Neltharion replied, standing up and stretching out to his full size. It wasn't intimidating by a long shot, he was roughly half the size of the smallest griffon present, but it would be necessary for what he was about to do.

"I don't think you'll be outliving anything dragon." Sneered the leader, taking an intimidating step forward in response. Neltharion focused inwards, feeling out the lava flows far beneath the cave. It was an amateur trick, meant to provide heat to a dragon's lair, but a warm breeze to a dragon was far more than that to normal mammals.

With a rumble and crack a vent opened beneath Ora, the leader of the griffon gang, the searing wind and flecks of glowing embers immediately igniting the delicate down of her face and wings, causing her to scream and roll on the floor, her flunkies leaping to her aid. Feeling drained from that simple spell he settled on doing the only rational thing. Taking the blow to his pride as a dragon, and an ex-aspect, he ran.

He had reached the edge of the cliff outside the cave by the time the griffons got up and began pursuit. He noticed the elementals were beginning to pull themselves together, far more difficult and time consuming than simply returning to their own plane of existence, but perhaps they really were that determined to stay. Regardless they'd be no help against the now angry enemies, and so Neltharion spread his black wings wide, and leapt.

As expected, he could barely maintain a rough glide, the wings slowing him only enough to ensure he'd survive the landing, but likely not unharmed. He heard a roar of anger behind him, the griffons had given up chasing him, likely so they could loot his cache of gems instead. It wouldn't be safe to return there, not when the same trio would likely return every time he did, to steal from him again. It stung to know how weak he was, but he knew in time he'd return to his original strength, he just needed to give it a few thousand years.

His thoughts were interrupted as he hit the tree line of the forest below. The landing was rougher than expected, and he wound up cracking several scales and bruising much of his forelegs and torso. Cursing the weakened state he was left in, he began hauling himself forward, resolving not to rest in the middle of some unknown forest. As he crawled he considered how far he had fallen, not just physically in that last flight attempt. With the dragon soul in his possession he had risen to the very peak of power a dragon could hope to achieve, and in the past few days that had all been stripped away, leaving him here crawling through the underbrush of an admittedly spooky forest.

He must have hit his head, when he fell, as the world began to seem foggy. He imagined he was crawling towards Deepholm, pursued by dozens of would be heroes, and his siblings. He felt that terror well up in him once more, urging him to quicken his pace as he crawled forward. He felt the sun at his back, and imagined it was the dragon soul, charged and ready to end him. A bird flew overhead and he imagined it was that infernal airship, circling overhead, racing him towards his destination.

He broke from the tree's in a maddened frenzy, desperately searching for the safety of the portal that would take him home. Instead he recoiled in horror, as something leaped onto his back. The sensation nearly stopped his heart, remembering the feeling of heroes scrambling about, cutting and tearing the grafted plates of elementium from his skin. He tried to shake it off, pulling every maneuver he could think of in his fear addled state, thrashing about wildly with his head and tail and claws. Another blow to the head, likely caused by himself in his seizing, and he grew still as the world grew fuzzier.

From ahead in the clearing, he could make out the chirping of birds, and a soft voice drifting towards him on the wind. "Angel! Angel bunny you get off of him right now!"

A bunny... How the mighty have fallen, that Deathwing the destroyer was brought down by a bunny rabbit. Then his world went black.

> Picking Up the Pieces
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Neltharion awoke to a far from pleasant morning. His body ached as he drew upon the memories of yesterday. He remembered griffons and leaping from a cliff, and then being chased by an airship full of... bunnies? Shaking his head proved to make his headache only worse, so he instead concentrated on his surroundings. The bed beneath him was far too soft, the blankets around him were far too itchy, the birds were signing far too loudly, and the sun was shining far too brightly, this was not going to be a good day.

Flaring his wings he managed to disentangle himself from the covers, and with shaky steps he hopped down onto the floor. Wood, he noted, not blessed solid rock but at least solid, he lay his head down on a cool patch, trying to sooth the throbbing sensation. A few moments passed, and he considered ways of ridding himself of avian noise pollution, as a sure sign of concussion he considered political sabotage, forcing the birds into war with the bunnies to solve two problems at once.

Over their infernal cacophony he barely noticed when someone entered the room, until a soft voice brought him out of his musings. "Oh, you're awake, I was um... I was beginning to worry." Curiosity getting the best of him, the black dragon opened one eye, squinting against the light, and beheld an odd sight. A miniature yellow horse with wings, and pink hair, stood shyly in the doorway. There was a term for them, he scanned his memory for it, but in its addled state all he could come up with was 'hippogryph' which was far from accurate. This was no crossbreed of horse and bird, it was quite literally a horse with wings. Pony with wings, actually, given the size.

"I'm um... Fluttershy." Came a rather fitting 'squeak' from the pony.

"Neltharion." the dragon grumbled, still irritated by light and sound.

"You were in um... quite the state when I found you..." The pony continued, giving him a kind smile but wide berth, as if he were a wounded but dangerous animal. Probably a wise decision, given everything. "Angel bunny is sorry for attacking you... He just thought you were trying to attack the cottage."

"I was being chased..." Neltharion began, 'by bunnies in airships' didn't seem like a good way to start things off. He tried again, "My home was attacked by griffons, I was hurt running... Making a tactical retreat."

"Oh dear, griffons can be quite mean, did they hurt you? I noticed a few cracked scales." The Pegasus stepped forward, concern suddenly outweighing her fear.

"I managed to conflagrate one of them, and escape, but likely my hoard of gems is gone." The black dragon admitted, eyeing the now closer pony warily.

"Conflagrate?" She paused, the look on her face saying she wasn't familiar with the word.

Neltharion snorted, most who didn't use fire regularly never grasped the delicate differences in using it to destroy. "I distracted the griffons, but I'm not a strong flier yet, so leaping off a mountain... Regardless I should return to my cave, and start rebuilding my hoard."

"But... But what if they're still there? Or they come back?" She asked, now looking terrified on his behalf. It was an odd experience having someone worry for his well being, even when he had goblins fixing his elementium plates, they were more worried for their own survival. Still griffons seemed to scare the pony, perhaps they were two species at war, like orcs and humans.

"They are likely gone with my treasure by now, but you are right, they'll likely make raiding me a weekly occurrence, now that they know it can easily be done." Neltharion grimaced. "Perhaps I can make the cave more confusing, and higher some stronger guards..."

"You can stay here... In Ponyville I mean." Came a near whisper in response.

"The locals would be okay with a dragon around?" Neltharion raised an eyebrow.

"Well Twilight, the librarian, has a dragon assistant, Spike. He's just a baby, younger than you..." Fluttershy began.

"I'd imagine most dragons are..." Neltharion muttered.

"But he's become a regular part of the town now, like any other pony."

"... Do you have a basement? Or a cellar?"


O~O~O~O~O


"I'm telling you I don't think boss would come this far."

"Did you see how far he was gliding? No? That's right, you were too busy looking for your head. He came this far, he'll be in the village somewhere."

Ponyville that morning was treated to the rather odd sight of a living pile of stones and a pillar of animated fire wandering through town. Much of the population rushed indoors, peering out at the strange creatures that intruded on their average morning.

"... So then I tell him that these Elements of Harmony were used to seal him, and Eddy says 'How do you beat the spirit of Discord with a large aquatic mammal?' " Tinder burst out laughing, with Flint joining in shortly after, the two were wandering the streets seemingly careless of the stares they were getting.

"Boss! Hey boss! C'mon out we're here to rescue you!" Flint shouted.

"Really? I'm not sure the boss needs rescuing, there should be a better word for what we're doing." Tinder pondered.

"But what if he ran into that one pegasus from here, the 'dragon slayer'."

"I thought you said she just made the dragon cry?"

"Isn't that bad enough? We have to save him." 	

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASP~!"

"Huh?" was the eloquent response of both lackeys.

"Ohmigosh Rocky! Is that you?" A pink earth pony had leapt out of nowhere and landed before the two bickering elementals.

Tinder immediately burst into laughter again. "I told you all earth elementals look the same!"

Flint paused a moment, choosing to ignore his friend. "I'm sorry miss, my name is Flint, I've never met a Rocky."

"Oh, of course I see it now that I'm up close. You're made mostly out of scoria aren't you? Which means you're probably from the mountains." Pinkie said, giving him a close look.

"Really? I would have taken him for... Granite." Tinder said with a snort of laughter.

"Ignore him, we're looking for the boss, he's a small black dragon that was chased away from us by some griffons." Flint said.

"Oh no! Those big mean meanie heads, I'll help you find your dragon, don't worry your pretty little polished head." The pink pony said, hopping away in a seemingly random direction.


O~O~O~O~O


Neltharion sat at a table, looking down at what was presumably to be his breakfast. A bowl of soggy oats. He contemplated asking if the pony had any gemstones, but seeing how accommodating she was being, he didn't want to push. It was bad enough seeing the 'killer rabbit' making increasingly ridiculous demands.

"Okay Angel, here's your salad." She said, pushing a bowl of green things towards the mammal. He picked up one of them, took a single bite, and then threw it at his host's head, pushing away the bowl. "Oh do you not like it? Can I get you something else?"

"Leave him, if he's hungry he'll eat it." Neltharion grumbled, seeing the bunny give him a glare. "Right now he's just being rude."

"What about you? Are you going to eat your oatmeal?" She asked timidly.

'So this stuff has a name?' he thought, looking down at the steaming pile in front of him. "I'll go looking for some gems later, dragons don't get a lot of energy from... pony food."

"That explains why Spike is always eating." She said with a nervous laugh. "I should go feed the rest of the animals." She made to rise but Neltharion beat her to it, seeing a way to repay her current kindness.

"I'll take care of it. " He said, ignoring her rather quiet protests. He went out the back door and quickly found a bag of animal feed, and located a feeder nearby. Stepping out into the clearing the sounds of animals completely stopped, they had all turned to look at him in wary silence.

Neltharion extended a sharpened claw, hearing an audible gulp from his audience, and neatly cut a hole in the top of the bag. Fixing the animals all with a look, he poured the food into the trough unceremoniously, stepping back when the bag was empty. None of the animals dared move forward. "Eat." He growled. The animals all rushed to the trough, careful to give him a wide berth, and nervously began picking up food pellets. "Quickly." He added, and in a flurry of movement the animals were back in their places, mouths and paws stuffed with as much food as they could carry.

Neltharion made his way back inside, smug grin on his face and tail waving happily, humming a tune about burning villages. In the doorway stood Angel, frown on his little bunny face, and stomach rumbling. The black dragon dropped a few food pellets in front of the bunny, and gave him a very toothy grin. It was time he checked out that cellar Fluttershy mentioned, he was certainly not sleeping on that bed again.

'Thwack' a pellet bounced off the back of Neltharion's head. He turned to give the tiny mammal his most fearsome glare, and the bunny threw another. The black dragon spat a gout of fire, incinerating the projectile mid flight, and pounced at the fluffy adversary. Predictably it bolted, and the two began an epic chase around the yard, little bunny legs pumping frantically to flee from sharp fangs and claws, and the occasional blast of scorching heat.

The chase abruptly ended at the front door to the cottage, when Fluttershy came out to check on them. "Just a game of tag." The black dragon grunted, Angel nodding along. The bunny darted inside, and left the pegasus and dragon to inspect the cellar.

It was dark and confined, which were both pluses in Neltharion's book, but also rather cold and damp which was problematic.  The cellar was little more than a burrow dug into the dirt beneath her house, held up by support beams. As he inspected the cellar the two began talking.

"I know it's not much, I usually use it to store food during the winter. I know the Apple family has something similar, maybe Twilight's library has a better basement, or Rarity's boutique?" She said, seeing him rather dissatisfied with the 'cave'.
He winced at the idea of even going into the village, let alone living there. "This will do." He said, halting her list of other solutions. "I can gather some clay from a nearby river, and heat it into ceramic or something. Coat the walls and floor so that it's more solid and less damp."


O~O~O~O~O


The two emerged from the cellar to the sound of "Fluttershy~!" Five ponies were approaching the cottage. The pink one lead the pack, hopping right up to the yellow pony.

"Heya Flutters', we're looking for a dragon, but not Spike, this one's black and a little bigger than him. We figured we'd come to you last, since if you found a dragon you'd tell all of us because you're so afraid of them!" She managed to gasp out in one breath.

Neltharion raised an eyebrow about the yellow pegasus being afraid of dragons, it was an entirely reasonable thing to be afraid of wasn't it? But perhaps she wasn't usually as timid around creatures that weren't dragons.

"Oh um, I did find one actually, a dragon I mean, he's going to be staying with me for a while, I mean in my cellar, because he likes it down there, or he will once we, I mean he renovates it." She said meekly to the group.

"Boss!" Came a shout from behind the crowd, an animated pile of stones rumbled forward, past a shocked Fluttershy and up to the dragon, who stood in the entryway to the cellar. "We found you at last! We were worried we'd have to go home!"

"Yeah Boss, we got to meet some really interesting ponies though, while looking for you." Tinder said, joining his companion.

"I noticed you brought them with you." Neltharion deadpanned. "Regardless, Flint, do you think you could find me some gems? I haven't eaten all day and my cracked scales are irritating me."

"Sure thing Boss." The Earth elemental rumbled, heading off into the woods.

He noticed the other ponies giving him odd looks, and turned to address them. It was the white one, with a horn on her head that spoke first. "You look just like an adult dragon, only smaller." She remarked.

"Am I not supposed to?" He replied, with a raised eyebrow.

"No no dear it's just... unusual."

"What she means is, Spike, my assistant is a baby dragon, and looks quite different from you. From what I've read dragons come in all shapes and sizes though, so..." The purple one, also horned, added.

"I heard you had a run in with some griffons." A cyan pegasus with polychromatic hair said, "Heard you had to run away."

Neltharion bristled a little, "I suppose you'd send a child to fight three fully grown griffons and expect it to win then? If they live long enough to see me as even an adolescent, they will find their actions not worth the small pile of gems they stole."

There was an uneasy silence at that statement, from the tension in the group they appeared to have mixed feelings regarding griffons, so likely there wasn't some war going on with them, likely just a few bad experiences. He was spared from elaborating further by Flint's timely arrival with an armful of gems.

He immediately began sorting the pile, meticulously inspecting each gem before placing it in the appropriate place. The white pony stepped forward and began to help, a fact that irritated him at first, but he resisted the urge to snatch the gems away. It turned out she had quite the talent at recognizing gem quality, and mentioned as they worked her 'special talent' was finding gems.

Finally done sorting he scooped up those he would eat, three rubies, two sapphires and an emerald, and pushed the others into a pile. "Picky eater?" The orange pony asked.

"Would you eat rotten apples?" He replied, popping the first ruby into his mouth, feeling his inner fire burn it away, and the aches slowly begin to fade. "Eating gems lets me absorb their magic quickly, and gives me my essential nutrients. Eating flawed ones would give me 'Dragon Rickets'."

"'Dragon rickets'?" The purple unicorn, Twilight, the one with the dragon assistant asked.

"It's an illness that affects whelps. Our bones, claws, scales and teeth are mainly made of Aluminum based compounds, which we get from eating gems. Without a steady intake of gems our growth slows down, but if we eat impurities, those impurities end up in our bodies." He demonstrated by holding up a seemingly good emerald, placing it down on the ground he gave it a firm tap with one of his claws, and it split down the middle. "Strong gems, strong dragon."

"That isn't in any books I read, dragons aren't really big on living among ponies, that's what makes raising Spike so hard sometimes." Twilight seemed distraught, likely worried about her assistant's diet.

"Well, if Neltharion is going to be living here, I'm sure you can come ask him questions, he seems to know a lot for a dragon so young." Fluttershy suggested.

"Oh! What if, he's actually a really old dragon who was hit by a shrinking spell?" Pinkie gasped, getting only groans from her friends.

"Flint, did you happen to find any clay while you were searching for these?" Neltharion asked, trying to change the subject, something about that pink pony bothered him immensely.

"Oh! Yes, there's a lot of kaolinite in one of the ravines over that way!" The earth elemental rumbled.

"That will do nicely. We'll need several barrels of it." The black dragon said, prompting all of the ponies present to volunteer to help out. It took much of the remainder of the day, with Flint and Applejack hauling barrels of the clay to Fluttershy's cottage, while the rest used it to pave over the dirt floor of the cellar. The wooden support beams were coated to look like stalactites, further improving the cave's ambiance, at Rarity's suggestion. Once the coating was done, Tinder heated the clay to harden it, leaving the cellar finally looking and feeling like a proper dragon's cave.

Neltharion spent a few more hours, after everypony left, sorting through more gems that Flint brought while they worked. The flawed gems would become his hoard, which he slept on. While eating gems was the quickest way to draw out the magic, dragons naturally leached magic from their environment, meaning sleeping on their hoards was a good source of energy. He had mentioned this to Twilight, who agreed to let Spike keep a 'Rock collection' in his bed, but not for eating.

Fluttershy approached the entrance to what was once her cellar, noting its now spooky appearance. She dared not go down, both for wishing to give her new dragon friend his space, and because the cooling clay had left the cave quite hot. "Nel?" She quietly called into the dark.

The dragon paused in his work, his family had called him that. Not his flight but his brothers and sisters. If anypony else referred to him as that he would be irritated, but he decided to let it slide. "Yes?" he called up at her from the darkness.

"Twilight was hoping we could swing by the library this evening." She said, her tone of voice indicating it was his choice if they went, much like everything else she suggested.

The dragon weighed his options, it was already getting dark, the crowds wouldn't be a problem, it was just a visit with one of the pegasus' friends. One he found tolerable after spending the day working beside. The unicorn was rather antisocial, and reminded him much of his brother Malygos. Settling on an answer he climbed the incline to the surface, giving a simple "Fine." to Fluttershy as she lead the way.

They were both silent as they walked the path into town. The yellow pony seemed to still be nervous in his company, and he felt no need for small talk. It did seem strange to him, that such a timid pony would volunteer to house a dragon in her basement. He felt he should make some attempt at getting her comfortable with his presence, but at the same time it seemed that was just who she was, and she would likely open up in time.

"How quaintly elven." Neltharion muttered as the library came into view. The library appeared to be carved out of a still living tree, and stood out among the other buildings of Ponyville. They approached the door, and Fluttershy seemed to be getting increasingly nervous. With a soft tap on the door they waited, and after a moment the door flung open with a deafening "SURPRISE!"


O~O~O~O~O


Neltharion disliked parties. He did not like being social, he did not like being crowded, he did not like cake, and most of all he did NOT like noise.

The library was packed with ponies, likely the entire village was in attendance, and each of them would come forward occasionally to greet the newest resident of the village. After the first few he began including a very toothy false grin with his introductions, which cut most conversations short.

He met Spike, a very interesting purple dragon with green spikes and rather humanoid proportions. As expected a discussion revealed there were no Aspects here, and certainly no standardized color flights, but Twilight confirmed that the whelp hatched from a purple egg as a result of some uncontrolled magic on the unicorn's part. Neltharion wanted to launch into a discussion on magically altered dragons, but felt the timing was inappropriate. Regardless after witnessing Spike's ability to teleport objects via his flame, he felt the unicorn had inadvertently done some tampering when Spike was hatched.

Infuriatingly the noise of the party only seemed to grow as the time ticked by, and within only an hour it was driving the dragon mad. The air was getting too stuffy, the crowds were getting to crowded, and the cursed racket would not let him think. With a muttered "I need to go" he slipped out of the doorway into the night, unnoticed by all except one pony, who slipped out after him.

Fluttershy caught up with him about a block away, as he walked with deliberate pace towards her cottage. "I need to go back to my cave." He said, between deep gulps of air.

"You're having a panic attack." She said softly, landing next to him.

"I shouldn't have come here." He said, eyes showing he was still panicking. Fluttershy didn't know if he meant the party, or Ponyville in general.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you it was a party, but Pinkie said it would ruin the surprise."

"It was too crowded, and too noisy, how can anyone stand that much noise?"

"It happens to me too." She said trying to comfort the flighty dragon. "I used to hate crowded places like that, but I've slowly been building up a tolerance over time. I know what it feels like to have an anxiety attack like you are having, but no matter what it feels like, you aren't going to die. Just stop and take a deep breath, there's no one else around, its quiet now." She urged.

The dragon did so, standing in the middle of the street he closed his eyes and tried to relax. He tried to push down the instinct to run away, and the much more dangerous instinct to fight, to lash out at the ponies that dared close in on him. He focused on the silence around him, hearing Fluttershy breathing steadily nearby. He concentrated on matching her breathing pace, and eventually calmed down.

"I'm still going back to my cave." He muttered, and the pegasus nodded comfortingly.

"That's alright, just as long as you are in control, and not your panic." She said.

The two once again were walking in companionable silence, he noticed now that the sun had long since gone down, and a massive field of stars stretched out overhead. It was comforting, after dealing with the crowds of ponies to feel that much space around him. Soon enough they had reached the cottage. "I'm sorry I took you away from the party." He said, recognizing she was still with him.

"It was your party, there's not much point being there if you aren't" She said, looking down so her hair covered her face.

"I'm going to bed, it's been a long day." He grumbled, turning toward the converted cellar.

"Good night Nel." Came an almost whispered response from behind him.

> Starting Anew
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Neltharion awoke with a start, having had another nightmare during his rest. It was a painful one this time, feeling from a disembodied state the full force of the dragon soul tearing off the bottom half of his body. It was really only the fact that the madness of the old gods was using his body as a puppet that allowed the severed front to continue fighting. Any mortal being would die from shock alone.

'A mortal being like me now.' he mused, feeling woozy merely from dreaming about it. He still internally chastised himself for losing his cool at the party, but deep down he was an isolationist, he oversaw the development of his flight from a distance, worked his duty as Earthwarder from behind the scenes. Dragon's didn't have parties where he was from, they rarely interacted with other flights, let alone mortals. Still all of these excuses did nothing to diminish the blow to his pride at being forced to flee.

There was another reason he avoided dragons instinctively after arriving here. He was thankful dragons here appeared to come in no standardized form. For at the moment while he inhabited the body of an adolescent drake, he was reduced to a mere fraction of the size of a normal dragon, let alone an Aspect. Given his appearance when he stopped to look himself over, he was developed to the point where originally he would be the size of the cottage above him, where now he stood barely the height of a small pony.

Crunching down a few choice gems he arose to face another day living alongside the ponies. They were curious creatures, but he had never had much interest in living things, those were more Alextraza and Ysera's domains. He'd always been more fascinated by the earth, all of the interesting interactions of minerals and tectonics, how delicate balances of conditions could shape a beautiful landscape, and later on in his life how gentle 'nudges' could reshape the continents.

Even now the ground called out to him. There was a fault line nearby, that could cause a catastrophic earthquake for the town. It also ran close enough that it could open up into a fissure, the earth swallowing the town whole. There was a dam nearby that could break, sending gallons of water down upon the farmlands. And of course 'dragon mountain' was a dormant volcano.

Still such idle thoughts wouldn't do, he was trying to turn over a new leaf here in Equestria. He gathered that was what his siblings had hoped for, sending him here. Surely it wasn't for punishment, unless they meant for the bizarre and twisted sort. While the world was far too bright and cheery for his taste, he found it to be more agreeable than some possible alternatives. From the way the ponies lived it appeared the world didn't have much in the way of violence.

Griffons aside of course, although they intended to steal from him, he did not know if they meant to kill him then and there. He didn't have to find out of course, having lit their leader on fire. He'd seen before what coals that hot did to feathery down, she'd likely have scars for the rest of her life. Fitting punishment for stealing only a meager pile of his gems. After all, she did get to live.

Rising out of the basement, once again the animals in the yard went silent, eyeing him with a certain wariness. Neltharion eyed them all, slowly turning his head to view the entire yard. A simple 'Boo!' sent them all scurrying, much to his delight. Even if it was simple critters, terrorizing something made him feel a little better about his little 'incident' the night before. At least his host was understanding, she seemed to share at least a few of his habits, given her quiet nature and choice of residence.

Although both were quiet individuals she struck Neltharion as the 'butterfly' sort of quiet, only flapping hard enough to stay aloft. Neltharion liked to think of himself, outside of malicious influence of ancient evils, as the 'crocodile' sort of quiet, allowing prey to willingly walk to their demise. Her words danced around subjects, leaving the target to interpret her response as if deciphering poetry, where he attempted to cut straight to an inescapably clear point with as few as possible.

He turned to head for Fluttershy's front door, finding it ajar from a pony just now leaving. The cyan pegasus swooped over to greet him. "Hey, missed you at the party. Heard you ran away from that too." She said smugly.

"Ah, you're one of Fluttershy's friends yes? The flappy one." He recalled her of course, and knew she was prone to drawing attention to herself. "Were you at the party? I didn't see you."

She fumed, as he expected she would at being both forgotten and overlooked. "Its Rainbow Dash, we were introduced, and you probably didn't see me because you left so quickly."

"Parties really aren't my sort of thing. I prefer peace and quiet to obnoxiously loud things." He grunted, moving past the floating pony.

She seemed to take unintended meaning from his words, as a large grin appeared on her face. "Well I'll get out of your way then, your 'peace and quiet' is in the kitchen." She said with an exaggerated wink, and flew off into Ponyville. The dragon was left wondering which part of the conversation he had overlooked, as he knocked on the door.

It opened moments later, Fluttershy poking her pink maned head through the doorway. "Oh, Nel, you don't have to knock you know, you practically live here." She said, backing out of the doorway to let him in.

"I thought it appropriate, I know I don't enjoy others intruding upon my space." He said simply, moving inside.

"I was just making breakfast, I can make you some as  well, if you want me to I mean." She said softly, heading back over to the stove.

"No need I've already eaten. I can feed the animals again today if you like." Neltharion said, moving to take a seat at the table.

"That would be a big help, it's a spa day for me and Rarity." Fluttershy admitted, spooning herself out some oatmeal.

"Spa day?" The dragon asked.

"Yes, once a week we get together and go to the Ponyville spa for a hot bath and massage. Occasionally we get a hoof-a-cure or our hair done as well." Fluttershy admitted. "It's delightful, and it makes it worth overcoming my anxiety to go out and get it done. I almost wish I could go more often, but it's a bit expensive to go as often as I do."

"Ah well, you go and enjoy your day at the spa, I've come up with a project to occupy my time." Neltharion said, moving to the back door to feed the animals.

Feeding the critters took next to no time, just like yesterday, and Neltharion moved off to the edge of the woods to call his lackeys. "Flint, Tinder!"

"Yes boss!" Came dual responses as the elementals manifested.

"We have a project to do. Follow me." He ordered, moving off into the woods. Less than a hundred meters in he found a suitable location and called the group to a stop. "Alright you two, here's the plan."


O~O~O~O~O


Around noon Neltharion took a walk over to Sweet Apple Acres. He figured a farm would have tools he could use, especially one operated by ponies. Despite the hammer-like properties of Flint's fists, they still required nails. A Rainbow colored blur shot past him as he approached the farm, but he paid it no mind.

"Well hey there partner, Apple Bloom just ran by shoutin' about a dragon on tha farm an' I figured it'd be you." Applejack's voice sounded as she marched out of the apple orchard. "What can I do for ya?"

"I need tools for a project I'm working on. Nails specifically." He said, desperately hoping this wouldn't turn into a daylong excursion of performing one menial task after another. He never understood how adventurers could do it.

"Nails huh? What are you building?" The orange mare asked.

"It's a surprise." Neltharion said, holding a poker face.

"Building something for your 'peace and quiet' then?" She asked, giving a slight smirk.

Neltharion figured he was missing some meaning behind the phrase, but passed it off as some bizarre cultural thing. "Something like that. I just need nails really, Flint can do the hammering."

"Alright, I'll go grab a bucket full from tha barn, be back in a jiffy." She said, hustling away.

Neltharion passed the time by fondly remembering a rant by Nozdromu regarding the meaning of the term 'jiffy'. Apparently the term was an actual measurement of time, but varied greatly depending on the context. Nothing irritated the guardian of the timeline more than someone tossing around the term as merely an unspecified length of time.

"Alrighty, here's your bucket of nails." Applejack said, handing over an old bucket with a wooden bar on the handle to make holding it in your teeth easier. He was glad that, clumsy as they were, Flint and Tinder had hands, otherwise making use of these nails would be an exercise in frustration. "If you can do me a favor though..."

'Quest chain here I come.' the dragon thought, inwardly grimacing.

"I need to bring this book back to Twilight's library, but I've got a lot of work to do." She said, looking away suspiciously.

"Why didn't you bring it last night, at the party?" Neltharion asked.

"I didn't finish reading it until last night, after the party." She said, still not making eye contact. With a toss she unceremoniously dumped the small paperback into the bucket, rushing off to the orchard before the dragon could object further. "Thanks, that'll pay me back for the nails!"

With a sigh Neltharion left the farm, dropped the nails off at their impromptu construction sight, and headed into Ponyville, book in mouth. He kept his head low, and make a direct route to the Library, it wouldn't do to get sidetracked and somehow forced to spend extra time in the village. The occasional look he received was bad enough.

Giving a quick knock on the door to the great library-in-a-tree, he wasn't at all surprised when the door opened to reveal the purple unicorn. "Oh, come in, come in, I was just doing some research." She said, moving over to a table covered in books.

He placed the book down on a nearby table, explaining it was from Applejack, and made to leave, but was too late. "While you're here, I was doing a bit more research on dragon behavior, but like I said, this sort of thing is heavily undocumented. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

'At least it isn't some inane task like fetching her books from across the room.' Neltharion thought before nodding.

"Is it unusual, for a dragon to like a pony?" Twilight asked seemingly at random.

"Not insofar as two sentient creatures can get along." the dragon replied, confused as to the nature of the question.

"I mean in the romantic sense." Twilight said.

"Ah..." Neltharion paused to consider it. In Azaeroth there were stories of course, of adult dragons assuming the forms of 'humanoids' and having affairs. While it was rare for a humanoid creature to attract a dragon's attention, but dragons tended to focus more on a person's nonphysical qualities, and treated race as merely an obstacle. He honestly wasn't sure how things worked in Equestria, likely dragons didn't have the magic to shape shift, but with dominant species being sentient quadrupeds...

"I'm not entirely certain how common it is for a dragon to fall for a member of another species. I suppose it's more of a cultural thing." He admitted to the unicorn.

"Ponies tend to be open minded. Unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies are all able to interbreed. Same sex relationships don't have the same cultural taboos as they do in some cultures. There's even the occasional romance between different races, like griffons and ponies. But there has never been a recorded romance between a dragon and a pony. That's not to say it's never happened though." Twilight said, she had begun pacing during her rant.

"Is this about your apprentice?" Neltharion asked, seeing the unicorn flinch. "Are you and he..."

"No! No, no, I see him as a little brother. But... well I shouldn't be telling you this but I could use your advice, he seems to have a crush on Rarity." Twilight said.

"Ah well, he is just a whelp at the moment, and he will be for many years, dragons age slowly. Dragons are creatures of Greed, not Lust, Twilight, you have nothing to worry about. Dragons of all ages covet beautiful things, it comes from our instincts, hoarding precious gems makes us stronger. He likely sees you, as a unicorn, as something of great value, and Rarity as the 'most beautiful unicorn', as that and more. He isn't at the age where the attraction would get into 'romance' and he likely won't reach that age any time soon." Neltharion said, and Twilight gave a slight sigh of relief.

"What about you then?" She asked, before catching herself and covering her mouth.

"What about me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh..." She stalled, thinking of an answer. "If Spike is a whelp, what are you?"

"I'm a drake, an adolescent dragon. I'm actually quite small though, a normal dragon would be much, much bigger." He admitted.

"So if you were... attracted to a pony, it would be a romantic attraction?" Twilight ventured.

"I suppose it would?" He replied, once more lost in the conversation.

"Don't worry Neltharion, I've gotten better at keeping secrets lately." She said with a smile and wink, leaving the dragon wondering what part of that conversation he needed kept secret.

He left the library, and the incredibly cryptic librarian behind, and headed back to the forest where his minions were hard at work. 


O~O~O~O~O


Fluttershy sat soaking in a large pool of steaming water with her dear friend Rarity. "So tell me, how are things with your new house guest?" The unicorn probed.

"Nel is nice enough, he's been helping feed the animals in the morning, while I have breakfast." Fluttershy replied.

"It's good to see you're getting over your fear of dragons."

"Oh well um... He doesn't bother me much, since he's still small, not as small as Spike of course but.. There are times, like when I see his teeth that I feel faint." Fluttershy admitted.

"He does look a bit scary doesn't he? He seems a little... what's the word... abrasive. Like even speaking to him wears on his patience. Still he does know quite a bit about dragons, and gems. He seems to prefer yours and Twilight's company most of all of us." The unicorn commented.

"I kind of admire the way he says exactly what he means." Fluttershy whispered. "I think the personality comes from isolation actually, he has a bad reaction to crowds."

"Ah the party incident, I didn't see you two leave, what happened?" Rarity asked.

"He had an anxiety attack."

"Oh dear, you used to get those all the time."

"I still do sometimes. I don't think he's used to getting them, so he's probably lived alone his whole life, which for a dragon can be a very long time." The pegasus sighed.

"Psst Rarity! Over here!" Came a not so quiet whisper from an open window. The unicorn rolled her eyes and excused herself to go speak with a certain cyan pegasus for a moment. She returned minutes later looking scandalized.

"What did Rainbow Dash want?" Fluttershy asked. "I mean if you don't mind telling me."

"Oh just a bit of gossip, I know how you dislike that sort of thing." Rarity waved it off. "I think we've soaked long enough, why don't we go back to your place for tea?"

"Oh yes, I just purchased a lovely blend."


O~O~O~O~O


Neltharion loved having minions, adored it really. One more reason he refused to believe he was in Equestria as punishment was the fact that he had minions, bumbling as they were. They hadn't gotten much done, left unsupervised, but that was to be expected of minions.

He didn't want to hire a capable taskmaster for merely the two of them, so he played supervisor himself for the rest of the day, helping out where his expertise was needed. They actually completed the project sooner than Neltharion had planned, leaving him time to spruce it up, with several torches and a stone walkway. Leaving the two minions with instructions to put the finishing touches on it and then make themselves scarce, the dragon headed towards the cottage to collect a certain pegasus.

It was dusk when he arrived, knocking at the door to the cottage. A soft 'come in' was heard and the followed it to the kitchen where Rarity and Fluttershy sat drinking tea. 

"Oh, Nel, how was your day?" Fluttershy said.

"I've spent it making a surprise for you." he responded bluntly.

"Oh a surprise? May I join you two?" Rarity asked, rising from the table and giving Neltharion an odd look.

"I don't see why not." the dragon grunted, turning to lead the way.

"He does seem rather abrasive, but I think you're right, he just doesn't use unnecessary words." Rarity whispered to her friend as they followed along.

Soon they had reached the edge of Fluttershy's back yard, and the two ponies noticed a new stone walkway lined with lit torches. The path continued for about 100 meters until it ended at a rather large wooden wall. The entryway was a gap in the wall, with a short wall behind it, blocking the view of what was behind it, but leaving no actual door.

Leading the pair through the entry way he stopped to wait for their reactions. Behind the wall was a rather large pool of water, with steam rising from the surface. It had a natural feel, with plants growing along the edges, and a small stairway leading into the water from the entryway.

"A hot spring?" Rarity gaped. The dragon had somehow built a hot spring. Here. Just outside of Ponyville. In a single day!

"Naturally heated. You won't have to go into Ponyville for spa days now." The dragon said proudly.

"I enjoy my trips into Ponyville Nel, but thank you all the same, I love it. It will be good to be able to relax without spending money on the Ponyville spa all the time." Fluttershy said, as Rarity dipped a hoof into the water.

"The temperature is lovely, however did you find a natural hot spring though?" The unicorn asked.

"I located a thermal vent a few hundred feet below this area, and connected it to about thirty feet below us, enough to heat the ground but not boil the water." the dragon said simply, getting a blank stare from Rarity in response.

"Dragons can do that?" She asked.	

"I can." Neltharion shrugged.

"Well, you should invite your friends over tomorrow for a dip Fluttershy, no doubt they'll all appreciate Neltharion's work as well. In the mean time, I must be off. Ta ta for now." She said, and exited the newly made structure.

"Not that I don't appreciate it Nel, but why did you build this for me?" Fluttershy asked quietly, dipping a hoof into the water.

"You said going into Ponyville makes you anxious, but you do it anyways to go to the spa." He said. The yellow pony nodded. "I thought if you had your own hot springs, you wouldn't have to deal with the anxiety."

She turned and gave him a small smile. "Thank you Nel, but we can't always run from what makes us uncomfortable, or we miss out on some of the more enjoyable parts of life. My friends have been teaching me that, working to get me out of my shell."

"There's nothing wrong with being in a shell, it's safe there." Neltharion muttered.

To his shock he received a gentle nuzzle in response. "By taking tiny steps outside of your comfort zone, bit by bit we make it bigger, and the bigger our comfort zones, the more we enjoy life." She said, her voice quiet but clear in the night air.

"Still, this was a very thoughtful gift."

"I owe you for letting my live in your cellar." He mumbled. "I don't like being in debt."

"You don't really have to pay me back you know." She said, as the two began walking back to her cottage.

"Then I'll stop trying." He growled.

"You also don't need a reason to be kind." She added.

"I'm not a kind dragon."

"You seem kind enough."

Neltharion remained silent, thinking back over all he had done with his life. 'Kind enough' didn't really describe the horrors he had inflicted on Azaeroth. "I'm going to bed." He said, feigning sleepiness. The pony at his side gave him a nod.

"Sweet dreams Nel." She said softly.

"And you as well, Fluttershy." He said with a low rumble.

> Laying Foundations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Neltharion found himself once again lost in the throes of nightmares as he slept that evening. This time he watched from behind the foggy veil in his mind, as his body assumed the form of a human noble. Now from this removed perspective he could see the delicate strings that made him dance to some sickening tune, flattering the nobles of Lordaeron and slowly consolidating power. It was a chain, he realized, as the old gods manipulated him, into manipulating others, never was anyone more than a simple tool to be used.

It rebelled against every instinct to see himself cavort about at parties, taking to the delicacy of royal and political intrigue like a bird to the air. The humans found him attractive, friendly, even humorous. The mask he wore in those days had long since burned away, and he felt no loss at the death of the persona. The personality of the human was as foreign to him as the face it wore.

"I am Lord Daval Prestor." The human turned, to look down upon him. "I am Neltharion." 

"You are not me, and never were. You were merely a construct, a shape I was twisted into, to play a role in some crooked scheme." The dragon growled back.

"But oh how they loved me. The popularity, the respect, the prestige I gained simply because I did not run from it. You know the kind of social creature we can be, you could have the ponies bending to your every will, not by threat of destruction but by love and adoration." The handsome man grinned.

"And even still they will be merely tools, to be used when they are useful, and cast aside when they are not. You are a symptom of my illness Prestor, and I will suffer neither your presence nor advice." Neltharion rumbled, snorting smoke in his anger.

He awoke then, finding himself once more within the comforting hollow of a cave beneath a cottage. He stretched out, and began his routine of picking gems from his steadily growing pile to eat for breakfast. Absently he wondered what he would do today. He had worked hard the day before, perhaps he should relax. It wasn't like he felt his gift was very well appreciated.

He shook himself from those thoughts. He had made an effort to pay her back, she said the debt was nonexistent, he was done. There was no need to give her anything else. "Nelly!" Came a shout from the mouth of the cave, which echoed horribly. "Are you awake in there?"

With a growl he pulled himself up the incline to the surface, blinking against the light as he came face to face with the pink pony from the other day. "What?" He growled, doing his best to intimidate the source of his auditory discomfort. Predictably it failed.

"I just wanted to see if you were awake silly, it's hard to tell since the cave is so dark, and Flutters said you don't like ponies going in there." She said rapidly, still talking far too loudly for his tastes.

"Must you be so noisy about it?" He grumbled, moving past her into the open air.

"Oh don't be so grumpy-wumpy, you remind me of Cranky Doodle. He was really well... Cranky too, it took me ages to get him to be my friend." She yammered on, following him as he walked around the house. "I tried absolutely everything, but nothing worked, he just got more and more upset with me."

"I can only imagine why." The dragon growled in irritation.

"Oh but then I found him a mare-friend, or a donkey-friend, what is the word for that?" she paused.

"Mate? Consort? I don't know." Neltharion supplied, wincing at the fact that he inadvertently encouraged her.

"Right well, anyways, I found his old lover, and reunited them, and they are both so not cranky anymore." Pinkie said smiling.

"That's wonderful." The dragon said, obviously not impressed by the story.

"Oh but listen to me getting side tracked, I'm here to invite you to a picnic!" She said, suddenly in his face once again.

"I dislike parties." He replied evenly.

"It's not a party silly, it's a picnic." Pinkie said, getting only a blink in response. "See a picnic is when a bunch of friends get together outside and set up a blanket to lay on, and have lunch and snacks and play games and just enjoy the great outdoors."

"That sounds like a party." Neltharion said, pushing past her again.

"Fluttershy will be there." Pinkie said grinning.

"You say that as if it will somehow change my mind." he called over his shoulder. "I dislike social events of all sorts, I prefer to keep to myself, or at the very most, one or two others."

"Well what about six? Or seven since Spike is coming. Seven isn't that much right?" Pinkie pleaded.

Neltharion paused, considering his options. The nightmare still hung fresh in his mind, a reminder of how twisted he was before, even when he wasn't overcome with megalomania. The very idea that some part of him was still corrupt terrified him. He feared he would one day he would wake up and hear those voices again, and he'd end up manipulating those around him or worse. 

The 'run away' approach wasn't merely because of his sudden lack of power. He feared himself more than anything in this entire peaceful world. Running from the party was more from an effort of avoiding incinerating ponies left and right for invading his personal space. After all it's better to be known as a coward, than to be known as a mass murdering psychopath.

Still, the fact that he was aware of the problem was a boon, he could monitor all of his actions and reactions, trying to ensure he didn't cross a line along the way. A single minor party didn't seem dangerous, and if it were outdoors, there would be plenty of space, and likely plenty of quiet. He wondered a moment if they had chosen a picnic knowing his bad reaction to the previous surprise party.

"Alright, fine." He relented, seeing a massive grin appear on Pinkie's face. "Lead the way."

She did so, quickly pulling him along the path towards town. The deviated before they hit the main streets, skirting around the edge of town and winding towards a hill near Sweet Apple Acres, where the others who would be attending were already setting up blankets and food.

The group gave him kind greetings as he approached, and Pinkie Pie rushed ahead to help set up. Not knowing what to do he moved off to one side and watched the proceedings. Spike was chasing after Rarity, a common occurrence judging by the many eye-rolls it brought about. 

Eventually Twilight broke from the crowd and approached him, giving a gentle smile as she did. "Glad you could make it, I know Pinkie can be a little overwhelming."

He gave a small snort in response, a single trail of smoke letting the pony know her statement was understated.

"So uh, I heard about the hot spring you built for Fluttershy." she began. "Rarity told me." She added seeing his inquiring look.

"I felt she'd be more comfortable if she didn't have to go into town to visit the spa." He admitted.

"Ah, that certainly is more convenient, and less expensive. Still, she does enjoy going into town to visit her friends." The unicorn said.

"As she has informed me. I don't particularly understand it myself, she seems only marginally more comfortable with crowds than I do, this way her friends can visit her if she wants to see them." He grumbled, turning to look over the orchards.

"It does worlds of good to sometimes step outside of your comfort zone, like you are doing today." Twilight added. "I was quite the recluse when I still lived in Canterlot, I didn't have any friends at all and I was content with it. Now I wouldn't trade them for the world."

"Still, if you want Fluttershy to like you, merely spending time with her is enough. I hear you help with her animals, that's a good start." She smiled at the dragon.

"I don't care if I'm ever anything more than Neutral with her, she merely owns the land I'm staying on, I wanted to... pay rent." He said dismissively, as the unicorn moved back towards the others.

Applejack came over next, casually walking over to sit next to the dragon as he stared over the fields. "A real thing of beauty ain't they?" She asked.

He gave a small snort in response. "Your southern orchard has less than optimal levels of nitrogen."

The orange mare was caught off guard for a moment. "Well we were having rather low harvests from that field for a while. I guess I'll get Big Mac to help me mulch it this weekend, thanks."

"It was just a casual observation." He replied.

"You're not one for conversation are you?" She asked.

"I enjoy peace and quiet." He said simply.

"So I've heard, rumor has it you built quite the extravagant gift for Fluttershy." She probed.

The dragon gave a low growl in response, not willing to repeat the conversation.

"Well we're all planning on putting it to good use this evening." She continued.

"I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I even abstained from adding sulfur to the water source, despite the health benefits." He said, missing the point once again.

"You aren't upset that we might be the first to enjoy it, rather than Fluttershy?" She asked.

"I built it for her to use as she sees fit, including sharing it with her friends. Why would this be a problem?" He countered.

The earth pony merely shrugged and returned to the festivities.

Eventually he was dragged forward, and forced to join in with some of their games. He failed miserably at charades, getting some odd looks when he guessed Pinkie was pretending to be a 'Murloc'. He didn't quite understand the purpose of flying a kite, nor did he really appreciate Rainbow Dash's stunt flying. Although hearing her claim to be '20% faster' than some other fliers lead to her forever becoming known as 'the Paladin' in his mind.

He spent a short amount of time teaching Spike how to better distinguish between gems for eating, and gems for hoarding, and the two got onto the subject of gold.

"Dragons are naturally lured by beautiful shiny things." Neltharion said, getting Spike's full attention. "We tend to go after anything we decide we covet with all of our rather potent amount of force, which can get us into trouble."

"I know better than to steal, I got carried away with that once, and nearly wrecked the village because of my greed." Spike replied.

"It's a good thing you snapped out of it. Adult dragons usually break the whelps of this habit young, as whelps usually have many siblings that they fight with. Regardless, gold is something of a vice for dragons. Where gems are a food source, stacks of gold are how you generally boast to others about how big and mean you are." He said, noticing he had drawn the attention of a few ponies as well.

"Why is that though? Why is gold such a status symbol among dragons?" Rarity asked, quite interested.

"Most species covet gold, yes?" Seeing nods of agreement from Rarity and Twilight. "Unlike gems that lose their magic as a dragon sleeps on them, gold doesn't get worn away. When you steal from a dragon, most of the profit comes from its gold. A dragon generally gets to keep only what gold it's strong and smart enough to hold on to. If they acquire more than they can keep, it's stolen, either by adventurers or other dragons. So having a big hoard of gold is like saying 'Come at me, I can take you.'"

"That seems rather... competitive..." Fluttershy commented, getting appreciative nods from her friends.

"So if you don't have any gold, does that mean you aren't very mean?" Rainbow Dash joked.

"I suppose I could take gold from Ponyville, but I'm trying to be nice." He sneered at the cyan pony.

"You aren't doing a good job of it." The chromatic pegasus muttered.

"Rainbow!" Twilight scolded her friend.


O~O~O~O~O


Eventually the picnic ended, and those present split up after agreeing to meet at Fluttershy's cottage for a dip in her new hot spring.

The yellow pegasus found herself wandering the marketplace of Ponyville, looking for fresh produce for dinner. Her mind wandered to her guest. Angel bunny didn't seem to like him, although they had a rough start, and Angel wasn't the nicest of animals.

Her friends seemed more understanding, Twilight was the most patient with him, likely understanding his predicament. It seemed obvious to everypony that the dragon was used to isolation, much like the unicorn once was. That and he appeared to be a wellspring of information on dragon behavior, which even Fluttershy had to admit to finding fascinating.

Rarity seemed to enjoy discussion on gems and minerals with him, although she could tell he bothered the pony with his lack of cultural knowledge.

Applejacks seemed neutral, as did Pinkie, who never let attitude stop her from making friends.

Rainbow Dash appeared to be the only one who refused to look past the rough exterior of the black dragon, but Fluttershy had to admit she found the cyan pegasus rather abrasive at times herself.

He would likely be the topic of conversation that night, in the hot springs among the mares, so Fluttershy felt she needed to prepare a response. But what was her opinion on the new dragon in Ponyville.

A part of him terrified her, like a full grown adult dragon would, especially seeing his teeth and claws. Looking at him, despite his size, she felt he was positively ancient. He likely was old, Twilight said he was a 'drake' and reaching that stage physically took hundreds of years. That fact made her heart go out to him though, fearing he had lived alone for all of those hundreds of years. She wondered where he had come from, he had said he was chased out of 'dragon mountain', but where did he live before that?

Despite the heartless exterior he wore, she was certain there existed kindness within him, almost as if her element called to her from within a very thick shell. It shone through with his sweet, albeit misguided, gesture of giving her a gift.

She came out of her musings before a rather unusual stall in the market, selling antique odds and ends. As she passed the afternoon sunlight gleamed off of an object and made her stop to investigate. It was perfect, she thought, as a gift for the displaced dragon. She cringed when she noticed the price tag, it would take up a lot of her budget for this evening's meal, but one night of hay and what remained in her pantry wouldn't hurt.

Smiling she made her purchase, hoping the gesture would help kindle whatever kindness existed in the dragon.


O~O~O~O~O


It was dark by the time the six friends had all gathered at Fluttershy's cottage, chatting excitedly as they walked the stone path to the hot spring. Fluttershy had gone ahead earlier and lit the torches, which now attracted fireflies and added to the ambiance. Crickets chirped happily as the six mares each entered the warm water with a sigh, agreeing that this was by far the best gift any of them had received in a while.

"I can't believe he built you this so you'd stop going into town, what a jerk." Dash remarked, floating about on her back.

"He knew going into town made me anxious, he was trying to help." Fluttershy defended.

"So he's not a jerk, just a coward, that thinks you fix problems by avoiding them." Dash amended.

"He really doesn't get social convention does he?" Rarity pondered out loud. "But given what he told us of dragon culture, it's rather expected he be... beastly."

"Ah c'mon girls, you know males in general can be rather dense, I wouldn't pin this on him just being a dragon." Pinkie laughed, getting chuckles of agreement from the others.

"Could you imagine Big Mac trying to come up with a gift for a mare?" Applejack added, causing the giggles to grow in volume.

"Where do you suppose he came from? Before dragon mountain I mean." Twilight asked the group.

"Oh! What if he's from a whole other world!" Pinkie suggested, getting eye rolls from the others.

"I don't know, but I can easily imagine him moving around a lot." Fluttershy said.

"Because he's always running away." Dash added.

The conversation eventually branched into other topics, and soon enough the evening drew to a close, with six very relaxed mares returning home.

Fluttershy found herself in her kitchen, looking at the gift she had gotten for Nel. He hadn't returned from wherever he was, and she didn't want to leave it outside of his cave. She pondered waiting for tomorrow to give it to him, but on a whim she decided to venture into his cave, and leave it near his hoard. Rising from the table she left through the back door and went over to her former cellar.

A soft "Nel?" got no response from the pitch black cave before her. She listened closely but heard no gentle snoring either. Taking a deep breath, and stealing herself, she ventured inside, down into the depths of the hardened clay cavern. It really did feel like a cave, from the inside, and she could almost imagine the sound of steady 'drip drip drip's in the background.

Finally she reached the now rather sizable pile of gems at the back of the cave which he used as a bed. She gave a small smile and placed her gift in front of it, and turned to leave. She had to bite back a shriek as she came face to face with two glowing red eyes in the darkness.

"What are you doing in my cave?" Came a rather frightening rumble that echoed through the darkness.

"I-I was j-just-" She stuttered, unable to find her resolve.

"I don't like having intruders in my cave!" He raised his voice, causing her to tremble even more.

"I-I..." She broke off, unable to even speak.

"Get... Out..." He growled, and the yellow pegasus took off at a gallop, leaving the dragon alone in the dark.

Neltharion collapsed on his gem pile and breathed deep. Exhaling he let a gout of fire wash upon the clay floor before him. It had taken every scrap of willpower to remain in control, when he found an intruder within his cave. Every instinct, every muscle, even his very magic had screamed at him to attack immediately. Having waited to see who the culprit was, he was glad for his decision not to.

Still, he had likely traumatized the pony, who had in all fairness been foolish enough to wander into his cave. They would need to have a talk... in the morning, when things had calmed down. He made to fall asleep when a small glint in front of his hoard caught his eye in the dying firelight. A small metal pony, made out of gold.

She had been bringing him a gift.

They would need to have a talk... in the morning.

> Mending Fences
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Neltharon, once again, did not have sweet dreams that night. He dreamt of Stormwind, great city of what remained of the Human's once glorious empire. He dreamt of burning it to the ground.

In his dream he flew above the city, a leviathan of the sky, the size of their grand keep. He dreamt of raining fire down upon the town, as humans, civilians, women and children ran for shelter. He remembered the feel of watchtowers melting beneath his molten grasp. He remembered the deafening crack, as a segment of the city broke from the rest, sliding down in a massive quake into the unforgiving depths of the ocean. He remembered being the living incarnation of death for those who sought a peaceful life in Stormwind.

He remembered enjoying it.

He woke slowly that day, to the sounds of shouting outside. The voice wasn't as loud as the pink pony's, and he was thankful for it stirring him from his less than peaceful dreams. Glancing around he found his prepared pile of gems for his morning meal, and as he gulped them down he contemplated the little gold statue.

It was a mystery really. He had never seen the statue before, which meant it belonged to Fluttershy, had she really gotten it as a gift for him? It was a beautiful thing really, it being made of gold aside, a small and delicate pony of gold. He felt bad for startling her the night before, especially considering the nature of her visit, but he was in no state to explain his actions at the time. Today he would have to speak to her.

He rose from his cave to find the source of the racket, a certain cyan pegasus was pacing about ranting to  Applejack. "Ah, it's you, the flappy one." He grumbled, moving to merely walk past the pair. The look he got from the winged pony told him it was a bad time to piss her off.

"What the hay is your problem?" She demanded, getting in the dragon's face. "Fluttershy is nice enough to let you live under her house, and in return you scare the daylight's out of her?"

Neltharion let out a long stream of smoke from his nose. "I dislike having intruders in my personal space. Fluttershy was lucky to get away with just being frightened."

"Is that a threat?" Applejack warned, stepping forward as well.

"Merely a statement of fact. I'll speak with her today and clear things up. I do regret that she was so disturbed by my actions." The dragon said dismissively, turning towards the cottage. "Is she not here?"

"She wasn't going to stay in a cottage right above your cave now was she?" Rainbow Dash said, still quite angry at the dragon.

"Well, where is she now?" He asked, growing impatient with the attitude of the two mares. Seeing neither willing to answer the question he huffed dismissively and went into town. Despite the mare's anxiety around crowds, her friends all lived in Ponyville, aside from Applejack and Dash, who were both here. He doubted they'd leave their friend unattended, which meant either Rarity's shop, Twilight's library, or... wherever the pink one lived.

The library first, he figured. Similarities to Malygos aside, the library was really the only building he could find easily. The trip was short, most ponies still stayed out of his way, thankfully. He couldn't imagine the frustration it would cause if every pony in Ponyville stopped to greet him every time he walked through town.

The library was quiet when he arrived, thankfully. If Pinkie was throwing a cheer up party he'd have to put off the discussion until later. A short knock on the door revealed a rather irritated Librarian. "No Spike to answer doors today?"

"He's at Rarity's, Fluttershy can't stand being around any type of dragon right now." She said, giving him a stern look.

"I'm here to talk to her about that actually." Neltharion said.

"Talk? Not apologize for traumatizing the poor dear?" Twilight asked, not letting him through the doorway.

"It is regrettable she had such a strong reaction, however I was fighting a very strong instinctive reaction to attack her." The dragon replied.

"Well then, you need to work on your temper, she was already afraid of dragons to begin with." Twilight said, moving out of the doorway and allowing him inside. The black dragon snorted hard in amusement, he had watched entire continents rearrange himself, dooming the lives of thousands, and a little purple unicorn tells him he has a temper problem.

"You can go talk to her, but be... delicate. Don't approach her, don't startle her, and for Celestia's sake watch your teeth and claws, they scare her." Twilight warned, gesturing to the stairs.

"I'll try not to smile." Neltharion said as he climbed them.

The room was exactly as he'd expect Twilight's room to be. Ever the studious one her desk and book collection took up more space than the bed. At the far end of the room, near the wall sat Fluttershy, looking at him in sheer terror. He stopped moving forward.

"Fluttershy." He began, knowing he had her attention already. "I came to discuss what happened last night with you. I am sorry I scared you, but I was quite angry that there was someone in my cave when I found you. I know I may have appeared frightening to you but..." he trailed off, seeing the mare still trembling in the corner, looking at him in wide eyed horror.

Realizing he wasn't getting through to her at the moment he searched his mind for ideas. She was familiar with animals, granted they were usually the soft and fluffy type, but she must recognize the standard cues that animals used to communicate. Snorting in frustration he settled himself down on the floor.

He lay his head down, between his forelimbs, wings folded up to his back tightly. His tail wrapped around him protectively, and he focused on slowing his breathing, exhaling rhythmic breaths of white smoke. Everything about his body language he made as submissive as possible, portraying the idea of 'you're in control here.'

He lay there, staring at the mare, puffs of smoke going by at even intervals, for what seemed like hours. It was embarrassing, and if any creature alive were there to see him, Neltharion, formerly known as Deathwing the Destroyer, the living cataclysm, submitting to a little pony for scaring her, he'd likely never live it down. Still he could see the effects, as her breathing steadily stabilized, and her eyes gradually seemed to grow clearer. Eventually, she took a tentative step from the wall, and lay down, matching his gaze and breathing.

"Fluttershy." He said very slowly, taking time to enunciate each syllable, seeing the little pony nod once in understanding. "I'm sorry for scaring you."

"I was upset that somepony was in my cave, my instinct was to hurt you. I stopped myself, because I don't want to hurt you, but stopping myself left me short tempered." He explained, seeing her nod along.

She made a small noise, like she was trying to talk. He waited patiently, as her voice cracked and she eventually spoke in a whisper. "I-I was j-just trying to g-give you a g-gift."

"I know. I saw it, it is lovely." He said, pausing a moment. "Thank you. You look tired, get some sleep, know that I won't hurt you. I'm going to get up now, and leave the room." Seeing a nod he stood slowly, and making no sudden movements he left the room. Only to find a rather irritated Twilight listening to a rather rapidly speaking Pinkie Pie.

"You've been in there for hours." Twilight said, turning away from her friend to level a cold gaze at the dragon. "Pinkie has been informing me of every possible thing you could be doing in there."

"I have corrected the misunderstanding, and repaired our relationship." The dragon said rather smugly, moving towards the door.

"Oh no no no no no!" The pink pony shouted running after him. "You can't just fix something like that with a quick... whatever you did in there."

Twilight seemed to blush at whatever thoughts her mind jumped to, Neltharion merely raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you the relationship expert?" He snorted.

"Well, if you are in a relationship with Fluttershy, you should have brought flowers!" Pinkie chirped, hopping around the dragon.

"Flowers?" he asked.

"Super-special-I'm-sorry-I-lost-my-temper Flowers." The pink pony nodded enthusiastically.

"Fluttershy did say she would normally be going to pick Blue Moon Blossoms this evening." Twilight added.

The dragon looked between the two, wondering what kind of odd society had such bizarre rules. He hadn't really wronged the mare, aside from giving her quite the fright, but he had explained why, and ensured they were now on proper terms. Why were friends required to bring flowers, perhaps as an offering of food? Dragons would sometimes bring gems as gifts. "What's so special about these flowers?"

"Well as the name suggests they bloom only on blue moons, and they remain in bloom if they are picked during that one particular night, such as tonight." Twilight said, as if reading from a book.

"Yeah! And Fluttershy was all excited to go flower picking tonight, but right now I just think she needs to hang out with the girls and eat ice-cream." Pinkie added.

"So these flowers don't have any special properties?" Neltharion asked, getting twin head shakes from the mares. "But I'm supposed to fetch them anyways, merely because I upset a friend?"

"A special friend." Pinkie added.

"Where are these flowers located?" Neltharion asked with a sigh, knowing already that they would be up some far off  treacherous mountain. Sadly he was right. The two mares pointed towards a cliff face on the other side of the Everfree forest, and the dragon stepped out of the library, ironically enough, on a quest.

"Flint, Tinder!" He barked, and the two elementals appeared.

"Yes Boss!" "Yea Boss?" came the two simultaneous voices.

"We're going on a little trip." The dragon said, grudgingly admitting that despite the annoyance they'd no doubt pose, he'd likely need their assistance. If he left now, and made good time, it would still be dusk by the time he arrived.


O~O~O~O~O



At Twilight's library Fluttershy finally felt able to fall asleep. She had spent all night there awake and terrified. Each time she tried to go to sleep she saw those eyes, and those teeth, and heard that awful growl. When Neltharion had entered the room she thought she might die of fright, but instead he simply lay down on the floor, looking as pathetic as a pony sized dragon possibly could.

He just lay there, looking at her, as if waiting for something, not moving or saying anything, just breathing, slow rhythmic breaths, in such a hypnotic way that she felt herself compelled to follow along. With her breathing under control the rest of her followed, and she eventually stopped cowering by the wall. It was then when he began to talk, in a slow and deep voice, keeping her calm and helping her to understand.

She did understand, now, what had happened the previous night. He wasn't angry at her, he didn't hate her, he didn't want to hurt her. These things comforted her, in a way that her friends couldn't during that sleepless night. They had said such unkind things about the dragon, when they learned how he had scared her. Even through the terror she had wanted to speak out in his defense, she had seen enough injured animals in her lifetime to spot the metaphorical scars the dragon carried.

She was a coward, she'd be the first to admit it, and much like the dragon she would much rather run from problems. She was afraid of fighting, but for different reasons than Neltharion. She had seen it in the way he put aside his pride to ensure she was okay, he had harmed someone in the past, and had not been forgiven. 

The dragon was haunted.


O~O~O~O~O


It had only been a few hours, but Neltharion was already sick of the forest around him. It wasn't much like the forests of Azaeroth, or else he'd be chased every few seconds by one sort of beastly critter or another. No killer spiders lurked under the trees, no ferocious wolves prowled the underbrush. Instead there were rather mundane horrors, creaky branches, bubbling mud pits, and trees that appeared to have faces.

Flint and Tinder took it upon themselves to spot the spookiest visage among the tree trunks, each one arguing adamantly over each and every quality on their tree, before dropping it and finding another.

In an effort to drown out the ambient chatter, his mind drifted to why exactly he was going on such a journey. Flowers to apologize, for harming, mentally at least, a 'special friend'. What was the pink one getting at? Was Fluttershy special? In what way?

He supposed he enjoyed her company more than the other equines. Twilight was interesting to talk to, like his brother was on occasion, Spike he could see taking under his wing, but Fluttershy... The yellow pony was quiet and unobtrusive, staying out of his way when he needed her to. More than that though, she seemed 'understand'. Not that she possibly could, the very fact that the guilt of his actions didn't crush him utterly was possibly the most disturbing part of his past.

Still, she seemed to be the only one to recognize that he was hurting, far from home, far from his family, and trying to repent for what he had done.

"So we're doing this to get flowers for the boss's marefriend?" Tinder asked his companion.

"That's the story, the boss must really want to impress her. She's a real sweet pony too, didn't even get angry when you singed her house." Flint replied.

'Mare-friend', there were these odd words again. Why did one need to reference gender or species when referring to a companion? He didn't expect the ponies he met to refer to him as their dragon-friend, and the idea of them doing so seemed silly, as if warning others 'be careful, my friend is a big scary dragon.'

There were days when he relished being a big scary dragon, even before his little madness induced meltdown. Now he figures if he were even average size for a dragon he would give Fluttershy a heart attack, and her friends would come at him with torches and pitchforks. Not that it matters, he'll only grow a few feet in every direction in his new friend's lifetime. Even Spike, who is a whelp and thus will develop quickly, will only become a drake near the end of Twilight's lifetime.

That's why his chasing Rarity was harmless he supposed, as nothing romantic could ever really come out of it. She would be old and grey before the whelp ever understood the urge to take a consort.

There was that word again, triggering all sorts of horrifying memories. He'd had consorts in the past, companions, partners, lovers, every Aspect had three or four. What had happened to his was truly horrifying, after the madness had taken him, only one had survived being killed by his own doing. She now lay dead at the hands of her own twisted creation.

He felt no urge to find another consort. He didn't feel he deserved one, knowing what had happened to the last ones. They had been his closest confidants, and they had died at the hands of his mutilated body. Besides, with his body the way it was now, as tiny as he was, no dragon would find him attractive.

What was it Twilight had asked? Could he find romance with a pony? What a strangely odd question to ask of him at that moment. Mortal culture was truly odd, and he took back what he had ever said about dragons who wasted their time studying it. Were he living among dragons he wouldn't even be on this journey, his terrorizing of Fluttershy would stand on its own, no explanation needed.

A part of him realized just then what a cruel species he belonged to.


O~O~O~O~O


Twilight sat in the kitchen of the library, her pink earth pony friend sitting across from her, they had been deep in serious debate for quite some time now.

"It's obvious to anypony that Nelly is sweet on Flutters. He's a big softy on the inside." Pinkie said.

"I don't think he'd appreciate being called Nelly." Twilight said, she was still trying to puzzle out what was going on here, rather than jumping to conclusions. She had a hunch a lot of this was Neltharion's lack of understanding nonpony culture.

"He lets Fluttershy call him Nel." Pinkie said. "And he said they have a relationship."

"You know his way of talking, relationship can just mean the interaction between two individuals." Twilight argued, they'd been having this discussion for hours now.

"He said she was his special friend!" Pinkie maintained.

"You said she was his special friend, he just didn't correct you, probably because he was confused." Twilight corrected.

"If he didn't like her, why is he out getting her flowers?" Pinkie asked.

"Because you told him he should, and he was foalish enough to take your word for what is the social norm in this situation." Twilight sighed.

"So why'd you go along with it?" Pinkie asked.

"Because Fluttershy deserves it." Twilight said simply, going back to drinking her tea. Movement on the stairs signaled Fluttershy's descent from the bedroom. "Good afternoon! I'm glad you finally got some sleep." She called to the pegasus.

"I'm sorry if I kept you up last night." The yellow pony said, slowly walking over to the table.

"It must have been a real doozie of a fright." Pinkie noted, seeing how tired the mare still looked. Twilight rose to get her some tea and a salad.

"My fear of dragons made it worse, but we talked about it, it was for my own good." She said, smiling at Twilight as the unicorn levitated over a cup of herbal tea. "Like Zecora and the poison joke, her warning scared us, but she was trying to protect us from something dangerous."

"Aww, see I told you he's a big softy on the inside!" Pinkie chirped.

"What was so dangerous in his cave that he had to scare you away?" Twilight asked, she was distracted before she could get an answer by a knock on the door, the other mares had arrived, bearing ice-cream of course.

With everyone distracted they didn't hear Fluttershy's whispered response.

"Himself."


O~O~O~O~O


Neltharion finally arrived at the cliff about an hour after sunset, dirty, tired, and rather annoyed at his companions. He gave Tinder orders to stay back, lest he burn the entire field of flowers down, and he and Flint entered the clearing.

Dragons appreciated beauty, so it was perhaps he alone that could really understand why he had walked several hours to reach this clearing in time. It was a breathtaking sight, the entire clearing was filled with flowers in full bloom under a brilliant night sky. They each glowed a pale blue in the moonlight, casting the clearing into an ethereal ambiance, and causing the dragon to walk with reverence towards the first group.

"Welcome dragon, black as night. Have you too come to see this sight?" Came a voice from the other side of the clearing, another pony but striped. She appeared to be a Zhevra, only without a horn.

"I've come to collect some for a pony that couldn't be here tonight." He said, returning to staring at the flowers. His instincts told him to hoard them all to himself, even if they would not endure like gold or gems.

"To reach this place you've journeyed long. Your love for her must be quite strong." The pony said, placing several flowers into her saddle bags.

Neltharion paused, considering the words. Flowers were a sign of affection then? Surely Twilight would know before sending him, or perhaps it was just these flowers that signified that sort of thing. Mating rituals of every culture were complex, and he knew better than to even attempt to apply his knowledge of draconic culture to this sort of thing. "She is... special to me." He admitted. It was true, out of all of the ponies he knew she meant the most. He did not have a lot to compare that level of meaning against, but with his isolationist tendencies he likely never would.

"When on the path to home you wander, perhaps your feelings you should ponder?" Came the advice of the striped pony, as she turned to exit the clearing.

"How many should I take?" He asked, seeing her nearly out of sight.

"If into romance you wish to delve, then you should give the lucky mare twelve." Came the voice echoing out of the woods.

He turned to look at the collection of flowers in front of him. "We're taking as many as we can." He said, as Flint dropped the empty bags he carried.


O~O~O~O~O


"Twilight isn't convinced that he likes her, like likes her likes her." Pinkie said, getting odd looks from Rarity and Applejack. The three were off to one side of the library, away from Fluttershy and the others. "And Rainbow Dash doesn't seem to like him at all! So you two are my only hope on this."

"Ah'm not too sure 'bout playin' matchmaker on this Pinkie." Applejack said, looking over at their timid pegasus friend. She was doing a lot better than she had earlier. Neltharion didn't seem like he was one to apologize, but whatever he had said had sorted things out.

"Well you know what Twilight got out of him, he is at the eligible stage in his life, and he doesn't object to the idea of ponies and dragons dating." Rarity added, getting an enthusiastic series of nods from Pinkie.

"Well, Ah reckon he does show a soft spot for Fluttershy, but she's our friend, we can't go setting her up with someone she don't like." Applejack objected.

"I'm certain she likes him dear, she always sticks up for him whenever any of us say something mean about him. She just needs time to get used to him, like she did all of us." Rarity said.

"Yeah! She was overwhelmed by me at first, but now she even attends some of my parties!" Pinkie said, causing the other two mares to quiet her down.

"Well we need to take this really slow, so the two can get used to each other." Applejack said.

"We can set them up on a date, give Fluttershy two tickets to free dinner at Horsey on Main, and then make sure everypony she could possibly invite is busy, except Neltharion." Rarity said.

"Good, 'cept Neltharion only eats gems. He won't even sit down ta eat breakfast with Fluttershy in tha mornings. He goes out and feeds the animals instead." Applejack replied.

"OhohI know!" Pinkie said.

"It can't be a party, both of them hate crowds, nightclubs and bars are out as well." Applejack interrupted, derailing whatever scheme Pinkie likely came up with.

"There's a fireworks display tomorrow night remember?" Pinkie said. "We were all going to go together, we just have to make sure Fluttershy winds up going alone with Neltharion."

"Brilliant, we can all make excuses to not go, and then monitor the date from a distance. Twilight will agree once we tell he it's for science. But what about Rainbow Dash?" Rarity said, causing all three to glance over at the cyan pegasus.

"This could be a challenge." Applejack muttered.


O~O~O~O~O


Neltharion had done a lot of thinking on the way home that evening. Through every train of thought the final phrase he stumbled upon time and again was merely 'she is special to me'. It was frustrating, to an extent, as he was completely lost in dealing with this sort of thing. She was a friend, that much was certain, and she deserved the flowers he had worked so hard to retrieve.

He arrived back at the cottage a few hours before dawn, and, by virtue of being a total hypocrite, snuck into the building. To his dismay he couldn't find a single vase or jar for the flowers anywhere, despite his excellent night vision. So he did the next best thing.

Several pounds of clay, a very messy Flint, some quick applications of dragon breath, and much sneaking later Fluttershy's cottage was decorated with every flower Neltharion had picked for her. He went to bed that morning curled contently on his hoard, clutching the gold pony like a teddy bear.

When Fluttershy awoke a few hours later she was shocked to find her home filled with Blue Moon Blossoms. Whether through coincidence or subliminal action, her home contained twelve hand crafted vases, each holding twelve flowers.

> Fire Flowers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy awoke to chirping birds, warm sunlight, and a most wonderful smell. She paused a moment, lifting her head and breathing deep, trying to discover where she had smelled the particular scent before. She went through her morning routine of getting ready to face the day with a bright smile on her face, until she left her room. To her surprise someone had decorated her entire home with bouquets of pale Blue Moon Blossoms. Dozens of the flowers covered every available surface, filling her home with a delicately sweet scent.

Her smile returned tenfold, as she moved about her house preparing breakfast for her and Angel. The little bunny sat at the table, tapping his foot and frowning. "Is something wrong?" She asked, as she placed a small salad before the bunny. It merely covered its nose and scowled. "I suppose there are a lot of them..." She said, glancing about at the numerous blossoms. "But they do look so pretty."

Absently she wondered who had given her such a gift, although she had been a model for a time she never found herself swarmed with suitors. She was seen as too shy to be approachable, those that did try and strike up a conversation with her were often met with an insurmountable wall of silence. She had never received flowers, let alone this many of such a rare species. 

"Good morning, Fluttershy." Came the rather deep rumbling of her new housemate as he entered the kitchen. He appeared exhausted, and Fluttershy was quick to guess the cause.

"Good morning Nel, was it you who brought the flowers?" She asked, sitting down for her morning cereal.

"Of course, your friends suggested I do so, as an apology gift. I'm glad to see they aren't for eating, it was quite the long trip." He said, sitting down on the floor next to the table.

Fluttershy didn't know how to feel. He had only given her the flowers because of her friends suggesting it. On the other hoof he had gone to great lengths to fetch her this gift, even if there was no romantic under text. She honestly didn't know how she'd feel if there was romantic intentions, part of her was still terrified of the dragon.

"It's a very sweet gesture." She said meekly, looking away in case she caught a glimpse of those terrifying teeth. "What are your plans for the day?"

"I'm just up to feed the animals, it's become something of a habit really. I'll probably go back to sleep afterwards, I wasn't home until early this morning." He grumbled, rising to do just that.

"Oh, well um... There is this rather large fireworks display going on tonight. My friends and I have plans to go, and um... you should come along as well... If you want to I mean... If you're busy or too tired I'll understand." She said, looking down so that her hair covered her face. She continued speaking but anything past that point was inaudible.

"Fireworks huh?" The dragon pondered. "I suppose that is acceptable. I'll likely be in my cave, come fetch me when it is time to go." He said, moving out the door to the backyard.


O~O~O~O~O


Some time later Twilight knocked on the door of Fluttershy's cottage, Pinkie bouncing merrily along beside her. She felt rather bad about fooling their shy friend, but this was for science, or so she convinced herself. The door opened moments later, to reveal a rather grumpy looking Angel Bunny. "Is Fluttershy home?" Twilight asked, getting a nod and a point in response. Smiling at the cross looking critter the two ponies stepped inside.

"Wowie! Look at all the flowers!" Pinkie said, darting about the house to count them all.

"He certainly took his 'quest' seriously." Twilight said, stopping to smell one of the blossoms herself.

"He must really really like her, there's one hundred and forty four of them!" Pinkie called.

"Twelve sets of twelve? Could it be a coincidence?" Twilight asked.

"It must be destiny! Like your cutie mark having forty two points." Pinkie said.

"I've told you before Pinkie, forty two isn't a meaningful number." The unicorn grumbled.

"Oh um... Hello Twilight, Pinkie." Came a soft voice from the kitchen.

"Fluttershy! Good morning, I love what you've done with the place." Twilight said with a knowing smile.

"Nel brought them for me." The pegasus admitted with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Aw I knew old Nelly was a big softy on the inside. Is he going to the firework festival?" Pinkie asked.

"Well um... I invited him, and he said he'd go..." Fluttershy said.

"Great! The rest of us can't make it, and we were worried you wouldn't have anypony to go with." Pinkie said.

"The rest of you can't go? Any of you?" Fluttershy asked, suddenly a little put off going to the festival.

"A whole bunch of really important stuff came up." Twilight said. "We were on our way to tell you, but you can still go with Neltharion right? I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

They got a slight nod in response, the little yellow pegasus looked down and whispered, "He still kind of scares me though. I know he can be very sweet, but when I see him, I picture a much bigger dragon."

"Well, this is your chance to get to know him better then. I'm certain the more you get to know him, the easier it will be to look past the scary parts." The unicorn reassured.


O~O~O~O~O


The day passed surprisingly quickly, and Fluttershy soon found herself outside of Neltharion's cave beneath her house. It was odd really, if anypony had told her a few years ago that someday she'd have a dragon living under her house she'd have fainted from even imagining it. 

Sill when she had first met the dragon something about him helped her look past the fear. He wasn't like Spike, that was certain, more like a miniature adult dragon than a baby. The thought of him smiling made her heart race, in a way that was entirely unromantic. When she had first spoken to him though, he had seemed so broken that she couldn't help but offer up her cellar to him.

In front of that very cellar she now stood, waiting patiently for the small dragon to come out. "Good afternoon, Fluttershy." He grumbled amiably, stepping out of the darkness of the cave and into the orange light of the setting sun. "Is it just the two of us?" He asked, eyes peering around for more of the bright colored ponies.

"The others all canceled, saying something had come up. If you don't want to go..." She said, seeing the dragon snort a small grey cloud of smoke. She took the gesture as a dismissal and turned to lead the two towards the hillside where ponies would gather to watch the fireworks. The two walked onwards in companionable silence. "Have you seen fireworks before?"

"I have," he nodded, remembering his days shortly before the madness took him, watching over goblins as they worked. "There were goblins, in my homeland, who would often compete with their creations. Making fireworks was a hobby of theirs, and once a year they would compete to see which engineer could make the most beautiful explosions. Mostly it was to prevent them from blowing each other up. They live underground you see. The Kaldorei would come and watch sometimes, they called them 'fire flowers' in their language, a fitting name don't you think?" 

"Kaldorei?" Fluttershy asked, having never heard the term before.

"One of the races of sentient beings from my homeland. The word means 'children of the stars', you would fit in well with them I believe." The dragon said, giving a small smile at the mare, and seeing her look away quickly.

"How so?" She asked quietly.

"They're a nature loving race, much like you. They exist in harmony with the plants and animals around them, and live among massive trees. Some of them can even turn into animals." He said, catching her wide-eyed look of wonder. "They are a nocturnal race, and worship the moon goddess Elune."

"Is that like Princess Luna?" She asked, seeing the curious look from the dragon.

"I'm not certain, the Kaldorei call her Elune, and the Tauren call her Mu'Sha. She's said to have watched over the world in its infancy, bringing peace and protection wherever there was conflict, to ensure that life continued." Seeing his companion smiling along at the story he continued, telling him what he could of their culture and history. It wasn't much, he believed, as he had never paid much mind to the dealings of the mortal races, but they seemed to entertain the mare.

Soon enough they had reached the hillsides and the sun had set. They found a secluded spot to sit and watch as the sky lit up with gentle popping noises. "If you don't mind me asking. Why do you live on the ground? Sensible as it is to do so, most pegasi do not, do they?" Neltharion asked, causing the yellow mare to look down in embarrassment.

"I grew up in cloudsdale, the city of clouds, where many pegasi live." She began.

"That floating city up there? Like Dalaran?" The dragon interjected, gesturing in the direction of the far off city.

"Dalaran?" She asked.

"A flying city filled with... magic users, like the unicorns." Neltharion said, remembering the shock he had felt, even through the haze of madness, at seeing the city in all of its radiant glory, floating above the crystal forest. He could tell her of the city some other time, likely Twilight would appreciate the tale as well. Instead he nodded for her to continue.

"Well I was never a strong flier, even as a little filly, and I hated getting too close to the edges of the clouds. Despite this, my parents signed me up for flight school, thinking it'd help me get over my fears. I... was teased a lot." She said, letting out a sigh as she watched the explosions of color far above.

"I would never stand up for myself, and I'd struggle through even the simplest of flying maneuvers.  I didn't have a lot of friends, and one day, during a race at school between Rainbow Dash and some other pegasi, I fell." She admitted.

"Fell?" Neltharion said, that city had seemed an awful long way up.

"I was caught though, by a swarm of butterflies." She said.

"Butterflies?" The dragon said, trying to even comprehend how that would happen.

"It was my first time being to the ground. The flight school was so full of horror stories about the things down here but... The moment I touched down upon the ground I fell in love, with all the plants and animals around me. It was the happiest day of my life, and I earned my cutie mark for my love of all the little critters. When my parents came down to find me I was heartbroken. From then on I'd sneak away to the land below at every opportunity. When I became old enough I moved down to Ponyville, into that little cottage. My parents don't understand my choice, but they respect it now at least." She said, looking out over the field of ponies around them with a small smile.

"This is my gift: compassion for all things. A drive to protect and nurture them. And the ability to heal that which others cannot, and love even the unlovable-- who surely need such grace more than any other souls." Neltharion said in a low whisper. Seeing the confused look from his companion he elaborated. "Alexstrasza, my sister. That was her blessing from her... 'father'. Each of my siblings received one, and we strove to live our lives by them. She would find in you a kindred spirit, I am certain." He smiled, and for once the fear of those teeth did not overtake her.

"What about you? If you don't mind me asking I mean." The pegasus whispered.

The dragon was silent for a few long minutes, causing Fluttershy to worry she had asked the wrong thing. "Neither me or my siblings truly knew our parents. We were left at a very young age with only words to live by. Still, we were close, and for a long time we existed alongside each other in peace." The dragon finally spoke, his tone low and somber. "And then... then I did something unforgivable, and they banished me."

"That's horrible, they were your family." Fluttershy began, trying to comfort the dragon.

"I should be dead." The dragon snorted, "I deserve to be dead." He said in a whisper.

The two sat in silence, in the distant skies fireworks burst into multicolored streams of sparks. "I was given a chance to start over, to live a life as a normal dragon. It's far more than I deserve." He said quietly, the mare next to him nodding with understanding.

"I won't pry. If you want to talk about it though..." Fluttershy said softly.

"I think, given half an opportunity, I'd spend millennia with the burden of this memory mine alone to bear." The dragon said, though he appreciated the gesture. As he watched the night sky decorated with colored fire, he caught a glimpse of the pink haired pegasus shivering. "Are you cold?"

"It's not that bad, though I wish I had brought a blanket." She said, still gazing skyward. WIthout a word one of Neltharions wings draped over her, cutting off the gentle wind and letting her feel the heat that radiated from him. "You're warm!" She remarked, Spike had never given off this kind of heat.

"Most older dragons can control their body temperature... so long as they are in the right state of mind." Thoughts of his maddened state filled his mind unbidden, images of molten rivers of blood that flowed from between his mangled scales. With a shudder of his own he pushed the thoughts away, as the pegasus leaned into him.

"Tell me more about your homeland?" She asked, eyes still locked on the skies above, so the dragon spoke, of anything that came to mind. He spoke of Thousand Needles, a massive chasm where pillars of stone reached towards the heavens. He spoke of Ungoro Crater, where life first bloomed into existance, and dinosaurs still walked the earth. He told her of Stranglethorn Vale and its tropical beaches, of Dun Morogh and its snowy mountaintops.

They spoke for hours on the subject of creatures big and small, as he described moonkin and furbolgs, gnolls and quillboar. He told her more stories about the Kaldorei and Trolls, and what he knew of the more modern races. Finally the last of the fireworks blazed a trail across the sky and he looked down to see Fluttershy laying against him, struggling to keep her eyes open. "Come along then, time to go home." He said, voice hoarse from so much speaking.

With some effort they rose to their feet, and walked back to the cottage by the forest. Neltharion kept his wing over the mare the entire way. They walked slowly, and in silence, taking in the sounds of the night around them. At long last they reached the doorway to the cottage, and Fluttershy seemed to hesitate. "I had a wonderful time tonight Nel, thank you for coming with me." She said, turning to face the dragon, hair hiding her features.

"It was a shame your friends couldn't make it, but I enjoyed accompanying you... I enjoy your company." The dragon said, unsure of what to do.

The pegaus raised her head, giving the dragon her biggest smile, which Neltharion returned as well. The lurch in her heart returned once more, but with it a feeling of confusion, rather than fear. "Good night Nel."

"Good night to you as well, Fluttershy." He said, turning towards the cellar.

That night he dreamt of standing in a burning art gallery, looking at all of the paintings of places he had described to Fluttershy, and knowing deep down that he had started the fire.