Prologue

View Online

As the sun disappears below the horizon, the moon slowly rises to take its place. Crickets begin to chirp at a more rapid and audible pace across the desert night. The last gleaming light of the sun fading away, being completely out shun by the towering moon over the barren desert. As the temperature begins to quickly fall, nocturnal animals begin to slowly come out of their dens, cracks, or holes to either feast on their nocturnal prey, or to simply enjoy being out and about, without the ruthlessness of the sun making them uncomfortable.

The crickets continued to chirp, and coyotes began to howl and yip across the desert, only to suddenly be either drowned out or silenced by a roaring-like sound, splitting throughout the calm, cold desert.

Down a makeshift dirt road, a green and white SUV with beaming headlights blazed through, almost hitting a frightened coyote, who quickly began to run the other direction.

You slow down a little bit as you drive down the dirt road, taking a quick bite of a half eaten chocolate energy bar before setting it down beside your phone, which was connected to the radio via aux cord, playing a familiar song your grandparents played almost daily when you were a child.

"Four days." You think to yourself, letting out a soft sigh, "Four days and I'll have worked here for two years. Then I'll get a shot at joining BORSTAR." You think to yourself, a smile forming on your face a little bit.

Joining the Border Patrol was never really the goal you put yourself for back when you were in college. But after spending one full year at your hometown's police department, you decided that you wanted something... more impactful. More interesting.

Or something along those lines.

You decided to give the Border Patrol a shot, and haven't looked back since.

Nothing is more impactful than patrolling the outskirts of Nogales in the middle of the night, all alone, with just you and your radio to keep you company.

You chuckle at yourself, shaking your head. At least the pay was good.

Well, as good as it got for patrolling one of the most heavily narco-trafficking areas in the world.

Your partner would usually be here, cracking shitty racist jokes or playing some overtly obnoxious music over the radio (kinda like what you're doing right now), ignoring check-ins by other colleagues, but he (fortunately) called in sick this week and wouldn't be back for a few days.

So driving alone through the calm, cool desert alone, without any sort of annoyance whatsoever, was quite relaxing. Almost a bit too relaxing, since your eyelids suddenly feel quite heavy.

You yawn softly and take another bite of your energy bar, taking off the wrapper and finishing the final piece. You take a turn to a different path. As you slowly drive, you pass a makeshift memorial on the side of the road, covered in burnt out candles and wreaths of flowers.

Your relaxed mood fades as you mind thinks back to the event that unfolded a couple months ago. An agent and his partner were ambushed by a couple of illegal immigrants. One of them was beaten to death, while the other barely managed to escape the bastards. God knows how.

The immigrants were able to get back into their truck and disappear back over the border before backup could arrive. Everyone and their mother wanted to cross over and hunt them down, but none of us could do a damn thing about that for obvious reasons.

After the events of that night, you took some time to think about whether you still wanted this job. Although the doubts kept on rearing its ugly head, you mustered up the courage to not let this get into your head. You used this tragedy to fuel you further, to make sure nothing like this happens again. Not while you're still here anyway.

You calm down quickly, saying a silent prayer in your mind for the fallen colleague. Although you didn't know him personally, he was still a brother. Like every other guy here.

Shaking away the memory and letting yourself relax a little once more, you turn up the volume of the radio and drive a little bit faster, thinking about how much better your life will be once you qualify for your future position in the Border Patrol. Finally achieve something greater than thi-

"Bra-... co-...-in...over?"

The music and static blurred out most of whoever was talking on the radio, so you quickly shut off the music and fixate the frequency and audio.

"This is Bravo 47, say again, over?"

You fixate the frequency a bit more and the message comes through loud and clear.

"...avo 47, do you copy, over?" The female voice from HQ spoke, sounding quite impatient.

"47 copies, send it Delta."

"Bravo 47, one of our drones have spotted a pickup truck crossing the border just now. We're sending you the feed directly onto your computer, over."

"Understood, checking now..." You quickly flip open the computer beside you, quickly getting access to the drone's feed. You can clearly see what looks to be a worn out pickup truck, with the back of it draped over, but still flapping a bit due to the truck's speed.

You look closer at the truck again, thinking as to why it looks so familiar.

Then it hits you.

It's the same truck from the incident several months ago.

Or... at least it looks like it?

Whatever, whether it is or not, you have to stop that truck from heading further into the desert before they disappeared.

"Alright Delta, what's the gameplan here?"

"You're the only agent close enough to stop them before they go any further. We'll have a chopper up in the skies in a few minutes. Keep trailing the truck and stop them if you can. Backup will be with you shortly."

"Understood, 47 out."

With that, you rev the tires hard as they pick up dust, before you begin to quickly speed off into the direction the truck is heading. Your mind flows with the events that happened months ago, and the thought of bringing justice to your colleague and his family only makes you more eager to catch up with them.

The road becomes more bumpy but you don't dare slow down. Especially not when you see a trail of dust blazing past you a couple yards away.

You take one look at the computer, the drone still on the truck. The drone camera then turns to a different direction, looking directly at your SUV.

With that confirmation, you quickly turn on the sirens and drive faster towards the truck, going off the path for a few seconds to catch up to them quicker. Although it made the ride significantly more bumpy, this SUV was made for this kind of terrain, and you couldn't care less about comfort right now.

The flashing lights and high beams were the only thing brightening up the area around you, since the driver of the truck was smart enough to not keep any sort of lights on. As you approached the truck, the headlights began having trouble penetrating through the extremely heavy dust cloud.

"God damn it..." You curse silently, then call in on your radio, "I'm on their tail, I say again, I'm right behind them!"

"Copy that Bravo 47, the chopper is almost there, just stay on them a little longer."

Before you could respond, you hear several loud snaps and cracks, instinctively ducking down as you barely see the flap of the truck being pushed out of the way and revealing two guys holding AK rifles and shooting directly at you. Although the bullets don't hit you, they do go through the windshield and hit the back of the SUV.

"FUCK!" You shout, gritting your teeth and raising your head a little. Despite you being shot at sporadically, you were not going to lose them anytime soon.

"Bravo 47, what's going on? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! They're shooting at me with AK's, but I'm fine!" You respond back, loudly and angrily.

"Hold on tight 47, the chopper's almost there. You should be able to hear it now."

Beyond the sound of sirens, dirt and pebble hitting metal, roaring engines and occasional gunfire, you do hear the sound of helicopter rotors for a split second. You decide to end this once and for all and begin to drive even faster.

The front bumper of your van hits the side of the truck and you smile, having just performed a textbook pit maneuver. Though your smile fades instantly when you are suddenly hit in the shoulder by a bullet, making you yell out in both surprise and pain. You instantly clutch your shoulder with your hand, keeping your weakened and pained arm on the steering wheel.

"D-Delta, I'm hit! I'm hit!"

"Bravo 47 repeat your last, were you hit?"

Before you could respond, you look up and see the truck swerve to the right, before flipping over and falling down onto a cliff.

As you and your SUV quickly follow suit, driving right off the edge and beginning to plunge head first to the ground below.

Your eyes are as wide as dinnerplates, your heart raising up and daring to pump out of your chest, adrenaline filling your body to the point where all you can feel in your shoulder is a dull numb and nothing more.

You swear time seems to be going by so incredibly slow as you and your SUV fall, to the point where you're thinking that it'll just pause outright.

Hell, maybe reverse itself so you could do it all over again and avoid this mistake.

And then it all happens in a split second.

Right before the SUV collides head on with the ground, you pass out.

For better or worse.

Author's Notes:

I really hope you enjoyed this prologue. If you see any errors or see any way to help me improve, by all means, tell me in the comments.

Notes:
BORSTAR: The Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue Unit (BORSTAR) is a specialized unit of the United States Border Patrol trained in emergency search and rescue. BORSTAR is composed of volunteer agents from the U.S. Border Patrol. After serving two years, agents may apply to attend the five-week training course. BORSTAR members learn rescue techniques, land navigation, communications, teamwork, tactical medicine, swiftwater rescue, and air operations. They also obtain their basic-level certification as an Emergency Medical Technician. Some members receive additional specialized training which may include watercraft rescue, boat operations, cold weather operations, paramedic training, and SCUBA diving.

Chapter 1

View Online

You suddenly wake up with a loud gasp, your eyes darting around quickly, before quickly regaining your composure once you realize where you are. Taking in a deep breath and exhaling softly, you feel something poke at your arm.

"Hey, you alright there Anon? Seems like you had a hell of a dream. Again." Your partner, Sentinel Pines, asked, clearly worried for you.

You nod, your breathing slowly going back to normal as you take a moment to stretch, trying to shake it off, "Yeah man... I'm uh... I'm good."

"Nah, I'm not buying that." He deadpans, "the last thing I need for you to do is to lose your composure once you see your first dragon over at the Badlands."

"It was just another weird dream is all. Nothing to lose myself over."

Sentinel shakes his head and continues to stare at you with a soft glare, "You know I ain't that stupid."

You look back at Sentinel, knowing damn well that he wouldn't drop it until he knew what was really going on.

"...was it about Thunderlane?" He asks, his tone growing softer.

Although you do feel a slight pained tug at your heart, you shake your head, refusing to think more about that day, "No, no it's not that. I've been over it for months now."

"What is about how you got here?"

"Mmhmm. Still all a bit surreal for me, you know?"

Sentinel simply shrugs, "I can't say I relate. I've never been suddenly transported to a completely different world/universe before."

"Though if I'm being honest, I doubt I would have handled it better than you have."

"Pfft, you wouldn't have passed out after taking a couple of steps."

Sentinel raises his eyebrow at you, "You passed out after only a couple of steps? I've always figured you were walking through the swamps for days, from how you looked when I found you."

"I didn't walk through it for days on end, but I think I might've been knocked out there for several days. Plus it didn't help that I had a hell of an infection." You look at your shoulder, your gunshot wound now nothing but a gnarly permanent scar. "Still, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't even be here."

Sentinel just chuckles and shakes his head, "It's no problem. You say it to me almost every damn week it seems. Don't act like you haven't saved my flank a couple times either."

"Well yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't be grateful and humble at the same time." You reach down for your pack and bring it up to your lap, taking out rations to reorganize, as well as some other essentials, like toothbrushes and matches.

"How long are we staying here again?"

"For about a week. Why, you already getting scared of dragons?"

You roll your eyes, "No, I'm just making sure I didn't under-pack or anything. You double checked your shit too?"

"Yeah, right before we boarded." Sentinel then looks around, raising an eyebrow at you, "Uhh... you didn't forget your... what's it called... 'shat-gun', did you?"

You shake your head, reaching under the seats and pulling out your 870 shotgun. You double check the safety and brush it off a little bit, gently set it back down, under the seats. Sentinel and his group were only able to recover so much from the wreckage, but you're more than grateful that they managed to snag your shotgun that was still inside the SUV.

Although you were permitted by Shining Armor himself to carry the weapon on you, he pressured you to use non-lethal shells made by the blacksmiths of the Royal Guards. Although these rounds still packed a powerful, painful punch, it was specifically designed to stun and incapacitate, not create any lethal or permanent damage.

Which was fine by you, but you still kept a couple normal buckshot shells in your pack in case things really go awry. Especially since you were in the most hostile border in Equestria.

Thankfully, they haven't been used. And you hope it stays that way.

You and Sentinel are suddenly pushed forward a little, then pushed back onto the seats, feeling the train come to a stop, the steam engines hissing outside as the train stops in front of a Royal Guard station. The conductor then steps out and slides open all the doors for the passengers.

"Final stop for all the Guards, final stop for all the Royal Guards!"

With a groan, you and Sentinel stand up off the seats and stretch a bit, before collecting your gear and beginning to walk down the cab of the train. As the both of you pass the smiling conductor, he looks at you both and nods.

"Good luck out here, gentlecolts."

You both nod in return and smile, walking out of the train and onto the wooden floor of the station. You turn around and look further down the station, watching all the other guards walk out, as well as their company leader. All in all, there were around thirty or so guards, who would all be in groups of either two or three.

Continuing to walk towards where all the other guards are, you look up and take a moment to admire the massive mountains and volcanic structures that border and overlap the normal, dense forests and valleys behind you and the train.

"Kinda overwhelming, huh?" Sentinel asks, nudging your leg a bit. You continue to stare in awe and slight nervousness for a bit longer, before snapping out of it and looking down at Sentinel, simply shrugging as you both continue towards the company commander.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire, it seems."

You receive a punch from Sentinel, giving him a chuckle as you both walk up to the company leader, who's giving out orders, assigning ponies to their groups and sections of the border they're supposed to patrol. The leader then looks over at Anon and Sentinel.

"You two will be in charge of patrolling Omega section for the week."

"Fuck..." Sentinel says under his breath, not loud enough for the company leader to hear, but loud enough that Anon could pick up what he said. And he couldn't blame him one bit.

Before they boarded the train back in Canterlot, he told Anon that he hoped with all his being that they wouldn't be assigned to the Omega section of the Dragon Badlands. After asking why, he soon felt the exact same way deep down.

The volcanoes and mountains in the Omega section overlapped severely over the Equestrian border, and not only did they overlap, they are considered by many dragons to be the one of the best locations to search for the more rare and delectable gems, especially 'smokey gems'. All you really knew about those were that they were incredibly rare and sought out for by both nations, and would virtually make someone rich for the rest of their life.

Not too long ago, Equestria claimed that since most of the volcanoes, caves and mountains in this sector passed over to the Equestrian border, that it would become an official part of their territory for prospectors and their mining operations.

The dragons of course, didn't take well to this. Although no war or anything came of it, dragons have been crossing the border more often than usual. Since then, it has been a very heavily contested area for both sides, to the point where some skirmishes not too long ago resulted in the first deaths of the Royal Border Guards since its founding.

"Yes sir!" You both say at the same time, before walking the other direction. As you walk down the steps off the station, you both are handed a bottle with an orange tint by a Unicorn.

"This will last you the entire week out there. No need to worry about getting burned in case something happens." He says, handing them out to the rest of the guard who pass by.

You pop open the bottle and quickly chug it down, finishing it quickly and scrunching your face up, groaning and shuddering, "This tastes like fermented cat piss."

Sentinel laughs and drinks his with ease, although he does shudder a little when he finishes his, "Yeah, no kidding, but I'd rather drink this than get burnt to a crisp."

You both continue to walk down a pathway into the mountainous forest for a couple hours, discussing about what you were both going to do after the week was up. As Sentinel tells you his plans, you begin wandering off in your mind as to how you ended up in the Guards.

During the first couple of months in your time in Canterlot, you talked to Twilight Sparkle a lot during one of her many visits, specifically about what you were before you came here, as well as the events that unfolded just before you randomly appeared in this world.

After you explained your former job and what you specialize in and left Twilight to drool over her research notes, you came across Shining Armor, who after introducing himself and asking a couple more questions about your current financial and social position, offered you a chance to join the Royal Border Guards, one of the more recent subdivisions of the Royal Guards, as you soon learned.

It's a small universe after all.

Although you were slightly reluctant at first, once Shining told you the salary you'd make working for them, any doubts in your mind were instantly vaporized.

Now that you look back at that day, you probably didn't put the best example, but he saw the obvious potential in you, and you're pretty content with your job. Albeit a bit more relaxed than how it was back home, (which you honestly didn't mind at all) it still brought you some spice to your life. An incredible improvement over just sitting in your house doing mundane and boring things.

And you've made some damn good friends here too.

"-course, that's all my opinion, but her newest album just doesn't have the same spice as her older... hey, you even listening Anon?"

You come out of your train of thoughts and look down at Sentinel, giving him a sheepish smile, "Uh... yes?"

Sentinel stares at you with a deadpanned look, before rolling his eyes and sighing, "Alright, alright. Let me tell you something more relevant then."

You nod as you both cross over some broken logs, this time intent on paying full attention to the Earth pony.

"You know how this isn't my first time here right?" He asks. You nod, "right, well, on my first patrol here, there was a massive thunderstorm that ravaged the area on our fourth day. The weather ponies wouldn't arrive until the morning, so I was trying to find a cave to try and sleep inside for the night. No way I could pitch a tent out in the woods like that."

"Some lightning hit a tree in front of me and some pretty heavy branches collapsed right on top of me before I could get out of the way. I was knocked out cold before I could even try to escape."

"But I woke up the next day... inside a cave. There were bandages made out of leaves and sap around my waist and a splint made out of wood on my leg. When I began to get out of the cave, I swear I saw a pretty big looking dragon fly away. I tried to call out to it, but it either didn't hear me or just ignored me."

"He was probably just fixing you up as a quick snack." You smirk, while Sentinel willfully ignores you and continues on.

"When I got back to the main camp with all the others, I asked around if anyone was messing with me and fixed me up last night. Nobody confessed. I had to be sure in case I was losing my mind."

"And for the record, why would a dragon even go through the trouble of fixing me up if it really did want me as a snack?" He retorts, looking up at you with an eyebrow raised, "If the dragon really wanted to eat me, he would've done so on the spot."

"Point taken."

"Anyway, since that day... I guess you could say I had a slight change of heart about dragons. I've only really seen 'em as ruthless, stupid brutes who don't know any better than gems and barbarism, but... I'm not as ignorant as I was before, you know?"

"Yeah, I can relate to that. Though the only dragon I know that isn't brutal or heartless is Spike. But then again, he's the only dragon I know in general. But I tend to keep an open mind when it comes to individuals for the most part."

Sentinel smiles and hops up onto a mossy boulder, "That's good. I mean, I don't really think all dragons are as polite or kind as that one... but it's good to know not all of them are fitting a barbaric stereotype."

You nod, walking through a small, very shallow creek. You look up and take note at the color of the sky, knowing that in less than an hour, it'll turn dark.

"Let's hope that any dragons we come across are more like the one that saved you."

"Indeed." Sentinel says, keeping up with you as you both reach a relatively open and smooth patch off the forest floor, and just beyond a few trees is a decent sized cave. Sentinel looks up and nods, "Let's set up camp here. It's already getting darker."

You set your pack down and open it, quickly and neatly taking out your rations and other items, as Sentinel begins to prepare the tent as well as unfolding the sleeping bags.

As you organize and double check everything, you stand up and head to the edge of the treeline to collect some stones and firewood. You then look up, beyond Sentinel and at the entrance to the cave. You smirk at a sudden scenario popping into your head and turn to your partner.

"Hey, Sentinel!"

"Yeah?"

"What would you do if you found one of those 'smokey gems' in that cave there?"

"I'd go up to the Dragon Lord, show him the gem, dethrone him, and rule the entire Dominion, easy peezy!" You both laugh at the thought of Sentinel sitting on the throne. A pony ruling over dragons.

"What about you, Anon? What would you do if you were lucky enough?"

You stop collecting firewood and stones to think for a moment. What would you do if you suddenly became one of the richest beings on the continent?

"...Honestly dude? I think I'd just quit. Settle down. Not work another day in my life and focus on hobbies and shit. Live a good life, you know? No money problems."

Sentinel raises an eyebrow, smiling, "Oh, so it's like that huh?"

"You know what I mean."

"More money, more problems, Anon."

"Bite me."

Sentinel laughs and stays quiet, finishing fixing and nailing down the tent before he speaks up again, "Seriously though, that's not a bad idea. I'd probably do the same. But at your age though?"

"Yeah, why not? Though I'd probably still work, just not these kind of jobs. Something more calm and non-nerve wracking. But those are just hopes, I doubt we wouldn't be lucky enough to even see one."

"Hey you never know. I could walk into that cave right now and get a smokey gem."

"Only in our dreams, Sentinel. Make sure you tell Luna about that if you really want it so bad." You smirk at Sentinel, who chuckles and shakes his head.

You finally gather enough firewood and stones, placing them all together neatly as you strike a match and light up the wood, all while Sentinel watches and holds both of your food rations.

He then places both of the rations over the fire, while you look up at the clear night sky, your shotgun now resting on your lap.

"...You know, any star up here could be the one belonging to my Solar System..."

"Listen Anon, I'm not here to get my brain melted by your knowledge of the universe. I'm just here to eat." He pleads, daring not to look up at the sky and be lost in a train of thought as well.

Sentinel then grabs the rations off of the plate hung over the fire, opening them up and handing Anon his ration. "Yo, Anon."

"Anon."

"A-non."

"Monkey butt."

Sentinel then whistles loudly and you look down, seeing an unamused Earth pony handing you a packet of warm, processed food.

"Oh. Thanks."

You rip open the packet a bit more, revealing the contents inside, consisting of a combination of rice, beans, carrots and some sort of chicken substitute.

"One of these days, I'll get off this vegan diet. I can guarantee you that." You mumble, using your spoon and mixing it around for a bit to let it cool faster.

As you begin to eat, you look down at your shotgun and think back to what you were told back before you were deployed.

You were informed how dragon scales were, for the most part, incredibly resilient to any sort of melee and projectile weapon (as you found out when you tested your shotgun against a shield made of dragon scales) and were also fireproof by any means.

However, the main weakness of a dragon was its underside, where the body was very soft and very vulnerable. This also proved more useful when you found out that a majority of dragons were bipeds, though this is mostly by choice.

"...I wonder if a dragon would enjoy belly rubs." You randomly ask to no one in particular.

Sentinel looks up at you, completely taken off guard, and smiling in both confusion and at the sheer randomness. "Wh... what?"

"You know how ponies like belly rubs? Don't even bother denying it." You add in, earning a slight blush from Sentinel, but you ignore it and continue, "well, since they have a soft underside, you think they'd be just as sensitive to such a thing?"

Sentinel can't help but chuckle, shaking his head, "Heck if I knew, dude. I've never thought of going up to a dragon and saying 'hey, want me to rub your tummy?'

"It's just a hypothetical question!"

"Yeah, next thing I know, you're gonna 'hypothetically' ask how big a dragon's cock is."

Now it's your turn to blush, "Fuck off."

Sentinel's eyes widen with a smile, but before he can laugh, you both freeze up when you hear the sound of flapping wings, and multiple people talking.

"That sound like any other guards you know?" You whisper to him. He shakes his head.

You both then get the same idea and set your food down, gathering your weapons, and quickly but quietly rushing over to hide just under a tree's canopy.

As you both wait, the wings beat louder, while the voices come closer and closer, and become audible.

Chapter 2

View Online

"I think we should just destroy the train rails and the station whenever we get the chance. We do that, that'll stop the Guards from coming here for a while. Just long enough for us to look for those smoky gems at least." Garble spoke as he flew with two other members of his pack. Well, one to be precise, the other was a liability.

"Why go through all that trouble?" His pack member, Fume, questioned, before a devilish smirk formed on his face, "why not just burn the train outright? Now that will make things interesting!"

Garble and Fume both begin to laugh loudly at the mostly ludicrous suggestion. Mostly, because Garble was actually considering that as a valid suggestion, though as a last resort however.

As their laughter slowly died down, the third dragon behind them, Fizzle, speaks up, much to the surprise of the two other dragons. Though Garble mentally rolls his eyes, hearing the white and pink dragon speak in a soft and frail voice as usual.

"I...I-I don't think that would be the b-best of ideas... we should... uhm..." He gulps as he continues, avoiding eye contact with the irritated dragons, "g-go to the other side of the Badlands? Th-the Griffons there don't mind as much a-as the ponies do..."

Garble snorts and laughs, as they both hover a bit lower. He shakes his head and sighs, before slapping Fizzle's back. He flinches hard as Garble speaks. "Because the Griffons already tore down the best volcanoes and mountains for some stupid village expansions." He groans.

"Besides, your faggy ass is supposed to know the way around these forests, right?"

"Yeah," Fume speaks up, raising an eyebrow at Fizzle as he gets closer to him. Fizzle's form shrinks a little as Fume continues, "now that you mention it, you're the only one in the pack who even bothers to go into the forests and valleys. And not even for gems!"

Fizzle rubs his arm and looks to the side, his frown growing as he sighs, "I-it's... just... I like the peace and quiet. It's more... Well, i-it's better than just laying around, surrounded by dull colored rocks, mountains and magma. The only real colors there are the gems I have... and y-you guys rarely even sha-"

Garble shoves Fizzle, cutting him off before he can continue even longer. He glares the fragile dragon in the eye and shakes his head, "Ugh, honestly Fizz, you're starting to turn into more of a pony than a dragon every single day."

Before Fizzle can even respond, Fume shoves Fizzle as well, this time almost making him lose his balance in the air, "Act more like a dragon, Fizzle. Or at least give the rest of the pack some... stress relief~"

Instantly, Fizzle's face turns redder than the scales Garble has on his back. He also covers his face with his arms, his entire body shaking. Whether out of sheer embarassment or disgust was unknown to them. Garble raised an eyebrow at Fume, confused at what he just said.

"...What? You serious, dude?"

Fizzle then quietly whispers, his white muzzle peeking out between his arms, "W...w-wouldn't t-that be...g-gay?..."

"It's never gay if it's a favor."

After a couple of seconds, both Garble and Fume begin to laugh and shove Fizzle around, trying to shake him out of his embarrassment.

"Maybe you'll find a gem big enough to sit on and treat you right!" Garble teases, making Fume laugh harder. Fizzle simply whimpers quietly in return.

Before the teasing could become worse, all three dragons hear a sudden, loud whistle below them. They all freeze up in confusion and look down, noticing a small camp below the trees. They also see what looks to be a Royal Guard, as well a some kind of skinny monkey-like biped that none of them have never seen before.

"Do you three know exactly where you are?" The monkey-like thing asked in quite an authoritative tone, that kind of intrigued Garble. Regardless, he chuckled and retorts.

"I don't know monkey. Do you know exactly who you're talking to?"

The pony steps forward and waves a hoof down, "Why don't you all come down here. Let's have a chat, yeah?"

Garble and Fume both groan, while Fizzle looks away in shame. Fume also gives him hard shove downwards, shaking his head. They both then land a couple feet away from the two Guards, while Fizzle lands rather clumsy and hides behind the other two.

After you and Sentinel listened in on the conversation the dragons were having, you decided that enough was enough. You especially felt bad for whoever was the one the other two dragons were fucking around with.

So you stepped out, whistled up at them, and now here you were. Face to face with your first dragons. Well, aside from Spike of course. Regardless, this definitely made for one of the more unique, and increasingly tense moments of your life. You see a red dragon in the middle, who has a yellow underbelly and an odd set of spikes on his head that end as a sort of webbing, and is slightly taller than the second one. From the look and sound of him, he seems like a skater cunt.

The second one has a more purple color to it, as well as blonde... hair? And two horns. Kinda reminds you of an emo kid.

The third one you can't seem to see well enough, since he's well hidden behind the other two. Although you do catch a slight glimpse of his eyes, he instantly pulls away the millisecond you make eye contact.

Odd, but okay...

"So, what are you three doing here? I hope you realize you're illegally crossing into Equestrian territory." You then step closer to the red dragon, in an effort to intimidate him and establish some sort of authority. "Emphasis on, 'illegally'."

The red dragon scoffs and rolls his eyes, checking his nails and clenching them into a fist, smirking, "We're just here to get some sweet gems for our horde. Maybe that cave over there has what we want." He explains, looking over curiously at the caves.

Sentinel squints his eyes at the red dragon, then shakes his head, "Well if you really want some 'sweet gems', you'd better go back to your side of the border. You and your group don't belong here."

"This is our side of the border! Until you ponies made a really stupid claim on it!" The red dragon steps closer, mere inches away from Sentinel's face.

You quickly shove the dragon back, holding your shotgun tightly and pumping it once. You stare directly into the dragon's eyes, "Listen kid. I don't want this to end badly for any of us. Just do what we say and go back. All of you."

As you and the red dragon before you stare at each other, both unflinching, you suddenly catch a glimpse of the third dragon, who peeks over slightly at Anon with a mixture of shock, curiosity and fear.

"...Kid? I'm a dragon, not a goat you weird monkey... thing." The red dragon retorts, catching your attention again. You sigh and shake your head.

"I'm not gonna ask you again, kid." You mock, raising your shotgun directly at the red dragon's chest. He looks at you, then down at your shotgun, a look of confusion on his face, then a hint of fear shows through his eyes for a quick second. The purple dragon steps back a little, looking at the red dragon with slight concern.

You mentally smile, knowing that you've asserted a degree of dominance and authority over the red dragon, whose mind seemed to be working overtime to try to find a way to save face and avoid further humiliation.

To your surprise, the dragon quickly turns around, gets behind the third dragon who was hiding behind him, and suddenly pushes him forward, right in front of you and your shotgun. The dragon looks at you, its pupils dilated.

"...*s-squeak*"

As soon as the dragon gets shoved towards you, you lower your shotgun, not wanting to accidentally shoot anyone and become the aggressor, despite the situation. You do finally get a clear look at the third dragon. You notice how... different it looks compared to the other two dragons.

For starters, you honestly were a bit confused as to whether it was either a male or female dragon. But you weren't gonna ask anytime soon, so you just guessed that this dragon was a male. Assuming you were right, he definitely had a more effeminate look to him. His scales were a light pink, as well as his underbelly and eyes. His pupils were also a much darker shade of pink, and most of his overall body was solid white. Maybe an albino, for all you knew, but he was quite easy on the eyes, that was for certain. He was also just slightly shorter than you, by about half an inch at most.

His body figure was also clearly different from the other two dragons, from his incredibly timid behavior, to his slim body and surprisingly soft looking scal-

...

Nah. Focus on your job. Now wasn't the time to be checking a dragon out.

Your glare slowly softens however, as you look at the terrified, shaking albino dragon. You begin to feel pity for this poor guy, now that you think about it. Was he the one that the other two were messing around with? Damn...

You slowly feel yourself begin to smile, and you get an urge to comfort the dragon somehow, but just as your smile begins to form, you instantly frown and your glare returns, except it's now redirected towards the red dragon.

"Hey don't blame us! It was this faggot's idea to come here in the first pace! Hell, he even crosses the border daily! We don't even do that!" He explains, trying his best to throw the albino dragon under the bus, so to speak.

The albino dragon shakes more and he backs away a little, trying desperately to form some sort of reply or plead, "I-I...d-d-don't... n-no y-... h-h-he..."

You try to form out what the albino dragon is trying to say, but you can clearly see that he's on the verge of breaking down and crying.

Starting to feel more sorry for the albino dragon than before, your glare towards the red dragon grows darker, as you step forward and away from the albino dragon.

"I don't know how stupid you think we are, but you are severely underestimating me and my partner here." You say simply, shaking your head as Sentinel speaks up from behind you.

"I think you and your other friends here should come with us." He suggested, though it was more of an order, "We'll take you back to our main camp for questioning."

Garble let out a snort that was more of a laugh, "W-what? Are you serious?"

"The current Dragon Lord will be informed about this regardless." He added, "make it easier on yourself and follow us."

You quickly notice the look of panic on the red dragon's face as soon as Sentinel mentions the part about the Dragon Lord. He darts around, in shock at seeing the blonde haired dragon with his held down in shame. The look of panic on his face suddenly turns to anger, then he turns and looks directly at you and Sentinel.

Suddenly, the red dragon roughly pushes the albino dragon out of the way, making him yelp and fall to the ground hard. Before you can even move to help pick him up, you see the red dragon suck in air, before it lets out a massive, powerful breath of bright orange flames.

You yell and cover your face with your arms in vain. Even through your closed eyes, you can still see the brightness of the flames and feel the incredible warmth engulf your entire front body.

Before you can come to your senses about how you're temporarily immune to fire due to what you drank earlier, you hear a loud, sudden scream next to you as soon as the flames engulf you.

Until the flames suddenly cease.

When you and Sentinel look back, you don't see the red dragon in front of you, but instead you see the purple blond dragon, looking down beside you, a look of pure shock on his face. When you both turn to look at what he's looking at, you both get similar looks.

The red dragon is on the ground, just barely sitting up, a look of pure shock on his face as he cups his cheek and looks up at the albino dragon, who's formerly curled up claw is now uncurled, shaking, along with the rest of his body. He also has the same look on his face that the red dragon has, though it is quickly morphed into one of pure fear.

"G...G-G-Garble...I-I...d-d-d-didn-"

The poor albino dragon is suddenly cut off by an incredibly loud roar, as the red dragon, who you now know is named Garble, stands up and grabs the albino dragon by the throat, then throws him over his shoulder, slamming him very, very hard into the ground.

Garble then climbs on top of the albino dragon, delivering a hard punch of his own.

"G-GAH! P-P-PLEASE D-DON'T I D-DIDN'T M-M-MEAN-"

The albino dragon screams and cries, begging for Garble to stop, but his pleas are muffled by Garble roaring furiously at him, then he prepares to deliver another incredibly powerful punch.

Your blood is boiling at this point. This Garble dragon has done enough harm, you say to yourself, and you quickly stand up the second you get your bearings straight. Before Garble could bring more harm to the albino dragon, you put your arms under the armpits of Garble and lift him up with all your might.

Despite how heavy he is, you manage to throw him off of the albino dragon and over your shoulder, letting him fall back onto the ground on his back, knocking the wind out of him.

You quickly turn around and unsling your shotgun, aiming the barrel point blank at Garble's face, but you suddenly feel a claw on your chest, then you feel yourself being thrown onto the ground and pinned hard, knocking the wind out of you and blurring your eyesight. When you look up clearly, you see that the purple blond dragon has you pinned, looking down at you. He growls loudly and opens his mouth, and you brace for what might come.

But it never does. Thanks to Sentinel, who is now on the back of the purple dragon, delivering swift and painful hoof punches onto the purple dragon's face, who yells loudly and angrily, using his claws to try and get rid of the pony piggybacking him.

You quickly stand up and grab your shotgun, aiming it at the purple dragon at first, then looking over at Garble, who's slowly getting up, his back towards you.

Without a second thought, you fire off a single shot at Garble's back, causing the red dragon to be knocked back down once more, completely stunned and in pain, but leaving no permanent or fatal damage whatsoever. Though at this point you were seriously wishing you had loaded in the regular buckshot rounds the second you heard the dragons.

You then hear your partner yell in pain. You swiftly turn around, seeing your partner on the ground, crawling backwards as he clutches the left side of his face with a hoof, as blood seeps out from under it.

You set your eyes and sights on the purple dragon again, seeing him trying to help Garble back up. As soon as he does, he's knocked down by another shot from your shotgun. You then aim at Garble, who's now up and quite literally fuming in anger. He then lets out another, huge breath of flames your way, though only to blind you if anything.

As soon as you see this, you throw your shotgun over towards where Sentinel is to avoid it getting damaged beyond repair. You growl angrily, but the flames suddenly cease.

When they do, you see that Garble has helped up the purple dragon, and they both begin to quickly take off into the night sky. As they begin to do so, you quickly run towards where you threw your shotgun and aim it upwards towards the two dragons.

Only to see that they have completely disappeared over the treeline, though you are able to hear the rapid flapping of their wings get fainter and fainter.

"Rrrgh... fuck!" You growl angrily, breathing heavily as you keep staring up at the night sky, for any chance that their heads could pop out at any second.

As you do, your adrenaline fizzles out of your system and your breathing becomes more controlled, the anger fading a little. Once you feel more calm, you quickly turn around over to where the albino dragon was.

Only to see that he is nowhere to be found.

Looking down at the ground, then at your shotgun, you quickly rush over to your wounded partner to assist him, cursing yourself at every step you take.

Chapter 3

View Online

You quickly unzip your backpack, pulling out a medium sized first aid kit as well as a bottle of water. You close it back up and rush over to Sentinel, crouching next to him as you open up the first aid kit.

Where the hell did the albino dragon go? He just... left. You wonder, taking a quick look over your shoulder to where the albino dragon was the last time you saw him, Poor guy must've been terrified after everything that happened.

"Alright man, let me take a look at your eye."

Sentinel slowly uncovers his hoof from the side of his bleeding face, blinking rapidly as more blood begins to blind his wounded eye, making him hiss and almost try to cover it back up. You stop him from doing so and quickly get to work, pulling out a small bottle of sterile saline and using a small gauze pad to douse the saline with.

Should have shot the blond dragon first... fuck.

"This is gonna sting a little, but it'll help." You reassure Sentinel, who just nods and braces, doing his best to keep his wounded eye open. You quickly but carefully begin to tend to his wound, flushing the eye and the cut with the saline. Sentinel hisses loudly but keeps still nonetheless.

"You know- rrrgh, fuck... you know, I think I'm beginning to regret what I said about dragons." He mutters, chuckling a little as you begin to prepare another patch of gauze, "Not exactly the best first impression for you, I'm guessing?"

"Could've been worse, honestly. " You say, tending to the large gash on his face with antiseptic wipes, being extra careful to avoid his eye. As you do this, you take a closer look at the eye itself, feeling a bit relieved that it actually wasn't as bad as you expected, "You're actually kinda lucky too. Only the white part of your eye was clawed, and it doesn't look that deep. Still, you need to get to a hospital, ASAP. I doubt the infirmary at base camp can treat wounds like this."

"Damn it... should've worn my helmet." Sentinel mutters to himself, berating himself for packing light armor and no helmet due to the heat near the Badlands.

You finish wrapping up a bandage around his head, creating an eyepatch of sorts over his wound, "That should serve you well. At least 'till we get to base camp."

"You're quite the jack of all trades, aren't you?" He smiles and you shrug. He attempts to stand up, but you stop him from doing so and instead hand him the bottle of water you took from your pack.

"Don't even try. You need all the rest you can get. Last thing I need is for you to get more fucked up than what you already are." You explain as your partner sighs and reluctantly takes the bottle of water.

"Okay, dad. Whatever you say." He rolls his eyes as he opens the bottle, drinking a decent amount in a couple of seconds. You stand up and store your first aid kit back into your pack, then walk towards the tent you and Sentinel set up. As you begin to undo the tent and take out the sleeping bags from inside, you look over your shoulder towards your partner.

"Hey, did you see where the albino dragon went? Y'know, before those two assholes bailed."

He nods and closes the water bottle, setting it beside him, "Yeah, I did. I saw him run into the forest after the blonde dragon fucker was preparing to take a chunk out of you."

"He kept staring at you after you threw that Garble dude off of him. His eyes were wide as all heck, and teary. But damn, I've never seen a bruise that bad on anypony, or anyone after they were punched. Garble was ready to go off on the poor dragon."

"I actually felt kinda bad for him." He looked down at the ground, shaking his head, before groaning and trying his best not to touch his patched up eye, "ugh, this still hurts like a motherfucker. I'm really gonna have to miss this deployment because of a cut?"

"Better safe than sorry. If you get an infection, gods forbid, you can say goodbye to your eyesight." You say sternly, while Sentinel just sighs and nods.

"Yeah... guess you're right."

You pick up on the heavy tone of disappointment in your friend's voice, making you feel a bit guilty, "Hey, c'mon. At least you'll have a hell of a scar. With a pretty damn good story to tell too." You smile, trying to look at the brighter side of the situation.

"...You know what? You're right." He smiles genuinely at you, very lightly touching his patch, "Besides, bitches love scars, right?"

You chuckle a little and nod as you roll up the sleeping bags, "Heheh, exactly man."

Though I doubt your marefriend will. You think to yourself with a small smirk.

As you begin to undo the tent, you take another last look at where you saw the albino dragon, sighing softly, "...Honestly, I kinda hoped he'd stick around. Wish I could've at least thanked him before he flew off."

"What for? You weren't gonna die either way because of the flames. Remember the potion?" Sentinel reminds you and you nod.

"Yes, but that dragon actually risked his safety to help me regardless. I highly doubt he knew about the potion we drank, but he still went out of his way to do something that risky. I mean, that was probably the most extreme case of insubordination I've ever seen in my life, but... there's something about what he did that really touches me, you know?"

"Plus, I'm sure the dragon knew the risk of hitting that Garble dragon to a degree. Since he looked like the leader of the trio."

"I guess I can understand why," He continued, "I mean, you're still not over me saving you the first time you got here." He smirks a little, standing up as he takes his saddlebags and pack, though it's much lighter than how it was before, since you're the only one doing the heavy lifting this time.

"Honestly Anon, I think your gratitude is your biggest flaw." He finishes, standing beside you as you put out the campfire. You roll your eyes and sigh.

"Maybe so, but the point is, if there's anyone worthy of my respect right now, it's him. Just wish he was here so I could at least thank him."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say dude. I saw the way you looked at him when Garble pushed him towards you. I'm not that blind." Sentinel teased, a huge shit-eating grin on his face. Fortunately for you, he didn't notice your reddening face thanks to you snuffing out the campfire before he finished.

"Wh-whatever you say dude... let's get your pirate looking ass back to base camp." You retort, both of you walking back towards the path you took to get here. Sentinel snickers quietly and follows along at the same pace.

"I'm gonna have to change your patch every half hour or so, by the way. Tell me if you need more water or anything."

Sentinel nods, double checking the bandages that keep his eyepatch together, taking note than one of them is already beginning to loosen just a little bit.

"...How the heck were you even able to suplex a dragon like that?" He asks suddenly as the two of you continue down the path, caving in at his attempt to start a conversation.

A soft, quiet sniffle comes from the bushes and trees just a bit out on the edge of the camp. Fizzle coughs softly and rubs his incredibly sore and painful bruise, wincing and whimpering quietly when he presses into it even the slightest bit.

Fizzle's breathing has calmed down slightly, no longer rapid and shallow, but he was still shaking... his wings were wrapped around his body tightly, but he was still in a slight state of shock, still not having come to terms with what just happened.

With what he just did.

He was lost in his thoughts, as they went a mile a second through his head. He just couldn't help but blame himself for everything that happened. From when Garble started to burn that... tall guard guy... to when Garble and Fume were hit by the weapon he had...

Fizzle began to cry softly again, biting his lip hard as to not make any noise, save for a tiny whimper that escaped his lips now and then. He didn't mean for anything bad to happen at all. It all just blew apart. He didn't even want to come here in the first place...

But after Garble and Fume threatened to steal what little he had left of his horde, he didn't really have any choice unless he wanted to starve...

He would have explained it all to the two guards... but he just couldn't speak up. Even more so when Garble shoved him in front of the tall guard...

...I've never seen anything, or anyone like him. I've been out in these forests a bunch of times... more than I'd like to admit, and I've seen my fair share of odd, unique creatures. Both beautiful and horrifying...

Yet I've never seen anything like him before. He did look quite scary at first... with how he didn't even flinch at Garble's attempt to assert dominance, but then I saw the mean, hard look on his face soften when he looked at me more... it... i-it even seemed like the tall guard was checking me out...

A small voice in the back of his mind tells him that he did look kinda cute, despite the tough demeanor he was putting on.

...A-as gay as that seemed...

Fizzle shook his head a little. N-now's not the time... He mentally scolded himself, ignoring his burning cheeks. He then peeked very slightly out of the bushes that were hiding him, seeing the tall guardsman tend to his wounded friend. Seeing this only made him feel even more guilty and he looked down at the ground, his mind clouded in guilt.

He looked down at the ground. Despite what he did, he didn't necessarily regret what he did to Garble... even though he possibly would if he saw Garble again... but he did regret how out of hand it all got. It could have all been avoided.

Fizzle knew why Garble did it though... with how hard he's been trying to climb up the dragon hierarchy all these years, if the Dragon Lord was told about this, it would really hurt his chances of becoming anything more than a small pack leader. Or even worse, he could be exiled. Like what happened to a couple of dragons after they had a deadly skirmish with some Guards... back when he was a hatchling...

But that didn't excuse what Garble had tried to do. He hated seeing anyone get hurt... and felt even worse seeing Garble hurt someone. Even fellow dragons... and the fact that he tried to... k...k-kill...

He swallowed hard, his eyes watering as he tried not to vomit at the thought of Garble willing to do something so gruesome and out of line... he knew that most other dragons weren't the nicest... and that Garble wasn't always the nicest dragon by any means... but... this would forever change his perspective on him.

It just... shocked him. Right to the core. He didn't even know any guardsponies, let alone the tall one. But it was just... it... wasn't right.

It. Wasn't. Right. He kept telling himself, trying further to justify what he did.

C-c'mon Fizzle, you idiot... y-you know you did the right th-thing... Or at least he tried to tell himself that...

...

Now that he thinks about it more... the tall guardsman doesn't even looked like he's injured. At all. From the burns anyway.

...but how though? Did it have magic? Like, some sort of fire proof spell?

I thought only Unicorn ponies were capable of magic to any degree... He thought, completely confused, before the memory of him being stunned and looking at the guardsman after the fire attack from Garble all came back to him much more clearly.

...So...

Does that mean what he did... didn't even matter in the end? Did the guard even appreciate what he did?

"Did I really just... e-end up making things worse...?" Fizzle mutters meeply to himself. Tears begin to form out of the corners of his eyes.

...

As usual. Garble would say if he were here...

He quickly hides further into the bushes as the tall guardsman comes a bit closer to the bushes. As you see that they've finished packing up their equipment at a rather quick pace, you can now hear them better.

"-wish I could have at least thanked him."

"What for? You weren't gonna die either way because of the flames. Remember the potion?"

"Honestly Anon, I think your gratitude is your biggest flaw."

"Maybe so, but the point is, if there's anyone worthy of my respect right now, it's him. Just wish he was here so I could at least thank him."

Fizzle sits there his mind trying to comprehend what the guardsman just said. If it were really what he just heard. His mouth was open in shock as he looked down, his eyes wide.

S...so the guardsman was grateful... r-really grateful, from the s-sound of that...

...He didn't necessarily know how to feel, but his chest did feel a bit tighter...and his eyes felt a bit watery, though not because of pain this time.

Fizzle had never been 'respected' per se. He'd always been an outcast of sorts, even within the small pack he was part of. Always the one of least importance. The Omega as it was officially called. Or other... things...

He'd always tried to aim to please... but it always backfired on him. Always. Whether it was him trying his best to get a really rare gem out of a cave, only to have it stolen, or sharing what little he had of his horde, it never brought him anything but insults about his weakness. His submission to other dragons, even when he was just tried to be nice.

Even to the point where Garble referred to Fizzle as more of a pony than a dragon... he didn't know how to take that... but it still hurt him.

So, to say that this kind of praise... gratitude... whatever it was called, was almost unknown to him, would be a bit of an understatement.

Fizzle also began to remember how the tall guardsman lifted Garble off of him... as if he weighed almost nothing... although he didn't exactly know if he did it to either save Fizzle from more harm, or due to sheer anger... he assumed from the looks that the guardsman gave him when he first saw him that it was probably more towards the first reason.

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say dude. I saw the way you looked at him when Garble pushed him towards you. I'm not that blind."

Fizzle's thoughts are suddenly cut off when his ears pick up on what the guardspony just said. He looks back at the two, his eyes wide and his curiosity at its peak.

"Wh-whatever you say, dude... let's get your pirate looking ass back to base camp."

He immediately feels his face burn, his cheeks more red than the magma he bathes in. Though instead of being in pure shock like always, he actually feels a bit... warm. Warm as in... comforting. Almost unnatural. Definitely not unpleasant. But confusing...

Nonetheless, he slowly pressed his claws against his chest, and he actually felt a small genuine smile form on his face. His stomach felt odd and his chest was tight, as if he was about to cry, but... not cry out of pain or sadness. But before he could ponder on these odd feelings more, he looked up again and back to the two Guards.

Only to see that they weren't anywhere to be seen.

Fizzle gasped a little when he saw that they weren't there anymore. All that was left was a burnt out pile of firewood and footsteps.

He began to look around, slightly panicked. He then saw a makeshift trail near him, as well as foot and hoofsteps walking towards it. After a couple seconds of hesitation, he slowly and quietly crawled out of the bushes, looking around, before cautiously making his own way down the trail, sticking close to the bushes and trees, fully intent on following the two guardsmen.

Chapter 4

View Online

You pant heavily as you run out of the forest and begin to approach the main camp just a couple of yards ahead. You're currently carrying Sentinel in your arms, as well as all of the camping equipment and gear on your back. If you weren't exhausted before, you sure as hell were now.

But your needs were the absolute least of your concerns, especially when the life of your best friend was on the line. Despite your best efforts with what you had, Sentinel’s wound was infected. And it kicked in really quickly.

Poor bastard could barely walk after the first hour of rapidly hiking through the forest. Before then, you insisted on just carrying him all the way to camp, but he refused, saying that he could do it. You know how incredibly stubborn he can be, but you should have at least pressured him a bit more.

Well, you probably would have, if he wasn't teasing you about the albino dragon you encountered earlier. Cunt.

As you and Sentinel quickly approach the entrance of the camp, two Guards immediately rush towards you both. One of them pauses and gasps when he looks at Sentinel, while the other one looks up and stops you.

“What the fuck happened out there, Anon?!” The Guard then looks at Sentinel, “Holy fuck… Sentinel, you still awake?...”

“Long story short… we had a skirmish with a pair of dragons. I'm fine, but they got him pretty good…” You quickly run into the camp, the other two Guards quickly in tow. One of them quickly rushes towards the Infirmary as you look back towards the forest, quickly scanning the bushes and treeline in case the dragons decided to follow you.

Not that you could do much right now if they did.

“I did what I could, but he needs to get to a hospital ASAP. I don't know how, but the infection formed really quickly. Even when I cleaned the wound and everything.”

The Guard nods, whistling over the Guards coming out of the Infirmary with a stretcher, “I...is he half blind now?”

You shake your head, “No, the dragon mostly cut the white part of his eye, but he'll lose his sight if he doesn't get out of here now.”

Sentinel shakes his head and looks up at you with tired eyes, struggling against your grasp, “I don't need surgery or a-anything like that, Anon… I just… need a bit of rest and some medicine.”

You press your hand gently against his forehead and shake your head, “You're developing a fever, dude. I know you don't like the thought of being put under, but it's necessary.”

“Besides, you couldn't even walk after the second hour.”

Sentinel groans a little, visually groggy, “H...heh...ugh… I suppose that's karma for teasing you…”

“...if this doesn't kill me, my marefriend sure will…”

You smirk a little at that and look up, seeing the two Guardsponies from earlier arrive with a stretcher and an IV bag, “She’ll be more relieved than anything dude…” You reassure, gently setting him down onto the stretcher.

“Stay safe out here, Anon… and h-have fun with your new dragon toy…~” He chuckles and begins to cough. You resist the urge to retort, and instead watch as they quickly carry him away to the Infirmary tent.

You watch until you hear someone whistle behind you. When you turn around, you see the company leader, Strikewing, motion you over to his tent. You sigh and turn back to Sentinel, who is already inside the Infirmary tent, before you make your way to the xommand tent.

Pushing aside the tent flaps, you walk inside and look over at the desk Strikewing is sat on the other side of. A huge map of the Equestrian/Badlands Border covers the entire table as well as other miscellaneous items, such as pens, compasses, and paper.

He motions you to sit down and you do so after you set your pack beside the entrance of the tent, sighing a bit and getting comfortable, “It's been quite a first night, sir.”

Strikewing nods, grabbing a paper and pen, then he looks up at you, “I definitely don't doubt it, Anonymous. I'll fill out the report, you just give me a quick rundown on what happened, alright?”

You nod and begin to explain what happened to you and Sentinel in the past several hours. From when you eavesdropped on the dragons for a little bit, to when the red dragon, Garble, got provoked by what Sentinel said about informing the Dragon Lord. You also explain how the third dragon, a pink and white one, “saved” you from Garble by punching him and pushing him to the ground.

Strikewing pauses for a second and raises his eyebrow a little, “Hmm… So, you're saying that a supposed Omega dragon of a pack, turned aggressive against the Alpha of the pack… to save you from being burned?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“...damn.” He says, looking quite surprised, “It's rare enough to hear a dragon help a Guard around these parts, but to risk that degree of insubordination to save a Guard? That's a first in our history.”

“Even neutral behavior is uncommon. Were you able to get this dragon’s name?”

You shake your head and sigh, “I didn't, unfortunately. As soon as the fighting stopped, the dragon disappeared. No idea where he is now.”

“A shame too... I would have liked to at least thank him for what he did. Even though I wish it would have all ended differently…”

Strikewing finishes writing and he looks at you, studying your facial expression before speaking up, his tone less authoritative and more casual, “...you holding up alright, Anon?”

You shrug a little, “I… I don't exactly know how to feel at the moment.” Strikewing leans in a little as you continue, “Like… part of me feels so furious and saddened about what happened to Sentinel, you know? Seeing him put out of commission all because of a stupid dragon.”

“The other half of me… feels tired. Exhausted.”

“...doubtful.”

“Go on, Anon.” Strikewing nods, taking a more relaxed posture.

You stay quiet for a moment, thinking of how you should word out what you're about to say. After a couple seconds of silence, you groan and just speak your mind, “I just… ugh, I feel like I need a change in my life. I'm having second thoughts on the choices I've made.”

Strikewing nods understandingly, but lets you continue with interrupting.

“I… look, I love how much I've contributed to the Guards. To Equestria. I love the connections and friendships I've made with the countless ponies here. But... but I just can't see myself doing this for the majority of my life.”

“The Guards are the reason why I was able to get back up on my feet and continue what I loved doing back home. Yet at the same time, I don't want this job to be the one that…” You pause for a moment, hesitant, but there's no backing out now.

“...the one that holds me back from other things I want to do. Or worse, knocks me back down.”

You exhale a bit heavily, looking at Strikewing. He stays silent for several seconds, looking down blankly at the table as he takes in all that you just said.

He then smiles gently and looks up at you, “I know exactly what you mean, Anonymous. I've been in a similar position before myself.”

“I understand if you want to leave the Guards right now, bu-”

“No no no no, I don't want to leave this instant, sir.” You quickly interject, “My mind isn't quite made up as of right now. I definitely do not want to leave during the middle of a patrol either.”

“I wish to at least finish this deployment before I finalize anything else. And maybe bring Sentinel some much-needed justice. One way or another.” You say sternly, the sheer thought of the two dragons making your blood boil.

“I still have unfinished business here, sir. And I intend on at least trying to finish it.”

Strike Wing smirks at your words and nods, “That is exactly what I like to hear.”

You nod, then point out on the map where you and Sentinel were attacked, “I didn't exactly see where they flew after they disappeared beyond the tree tops, but I'm assuming that they're still in the Equestrian side of the border, since if they were gonna head back to the Badlands, they would have gone this direction for a faster route.”

Strike Wing looks at this and quickly makes some notes before he looks up at you, “Are you certain you want to redeploy to the Omega Sector? I understand what you said before, but I won't blame you if y-”

“Yes.”

Strikewing nods, his smile returning as he looks over your shoulder and at your relatively empty and messy pack, “Well, if you do plan on redeploying, then I think you should restock your equipment.”

“Take some extra from the supply depot as well, since you'll be on your own out there.” He also notices the completely empty first aid kit as well as the lack of water and cleaning supplies from your pack.

You stand up from your seat and quickly salute, grabbing your pack and beginning to walk out, until you hear Strikewing call out to you from behind.

“Before you go, Anon… I just want to say this. Although I am proud that you did not use lethal force and avoided a political disaster, you still have every right to defend yourself from anything and anyone that threatens your life out here.”

“I understand your selflessness and all, but please keep that in mind.”

You nod understandingly and walk out of the command tent, sighing as you watch a Royal Guard chariot fly in from the night sky and land directly in front of the Infirmary tent.

You smile a little when you see some of the guards quickly carry Sentinel into the chariot. You then continue towards the supply depot, passing by the main supply pony, who looks over at you as he puts down a box of rations for sorting.

“Hey Stockade.” You nod over to him as you make your way beyond the many unorganized crates.

“Sup Anon,” He greets you with a smile and sets down his pen and clipboard, “I heard about what happened out there with the dragons. How you holding up?”

“How'd you already know?” You look over your shoulder at him.

Stockade rolls his eyes and smirks, “I mean, despite the fact that you ran in here holding Sentinel in your arms? Well, you should know how much of a talker Sentinel is,” He says, handing you a couple of canned rations, “even when he's borderline delusional from morphine.”

You shake your head, smiling a little as you restock your first aid kit, “Yeah, he can talk for days on end. But I think I'll hold up. I still got a job to do, and I intend on doing it.”

“You're quite noble.” He comments, before smirking a little, “For a gay hairless ape.”

You both chuckle a little as you finish up restocking your equipment. You make sure to double check everything, including your pepper spray canister, as well as sharpening your survival knife once more. You finish off by changing the batteries on your flashlight.

“Good luck out there, Anon. Stay safe alright?” Stockade says as you pass by him. You nod and give him a quick hoof-bump, making your way towards the exit of the main camp, going back the way you came.

You pass the two guards at the exit, nodding at them both as they open the gates for you. Quickly adjusting your vest and armor underneath, you walk beyond the gates and make your way back into the dense forest.

Fizzle waits quietly in the dense bushes of the forest, watching worriedly as the tall guardsman, who he now knows is named Anon, carries his partner, Sentinel, into the main base camp with what seemed to be medical ponies and the two guards at the gate.

...Anon…

...You still can't get over how... cute that name sounds… it almost brings a smile to your face.

Almost. It wouldn't be quite fitting, considering the situation that's currently developing between the guards.

You've been stalki- f-following the two guards ever since they left the camp site and you've been... listening to their conversations.

You really didn't get a lot of information regarding Anon, which still left your curiosity unsatisfied for the most part, but at least you knew his name.

They couldn't really talk casually though, since his friend, Sentinel, was getting worse and worse, which led to Anon stopping constantly to help his friend out, to the point where he carried him for a majority of the trip. Whenever you saw Sentinel stop to rest, or saw Anon change the bandages on his friend's wound, it only increased the guilt in you more and more.

...It was kind of impressive though... to see Anon carrying a pony, as well as every single other thing they had with them, including gods-know-what inside the packs.

...He looks incredibly strong for a biped... n-no wonder he was able to throw Garble off of you with such ease... despite him being a fully grown teenaged dragon…

A sudden image flashes in Fizzle's mind... he imagines Anon's strong arms wrapped around him instead... holding him… ...protecting hi-

…

...Why?

Why are you so suddenly falling for this Guard? Let alone someone who isn't even a dragon?

...Were you really this desperate?

...it's not like nobody else has even shown you that much respect in a long, long time…

...or selflessness.

...You were so, so confused... but so happy at the same time.

If anything, this all ended up as the perfect excuse to stay away from the Badlands... if even temporarily...

You really, really didn't enjoy it there…

...You hated it there. Yes, you were born there... but it just... didn't feel like home.

You wanted out.

You wanted to be yourself.

If even temporarily. Which is why you went into the forests so often.

But where would you even go? Equestria wasn't too keen on having dragons into their lands anytime soon as far as you knew… and you wouldn't really last long out here... but you wouldn't last much longer back in the Badlands either, with how little is being thrown your way, and especially now that Garble will have all but put a bounty on your head…

Before Fizzle's thoughts could go any further, he sees that Anon has begun to walk out of the camp, making him hide further into the bushes as he watches him.

Anon looks up at the starry night sky and then back at the path in front of him, sighing as he continues back to where he was.

Fizzle slowly and quietly follows alongside Anon, the bushes covering him well from the handsome guard's eyes. The ambient sounds of the forest night also covering most of his sounds. For a dragon, he was quite light and short, therefore walking quietly wasn't too much of a challenge for him.

Anon was currently having some doubts.

Strong doubts.

You absolutely love what you've done for Equestria, and all the benefits and opportunities this job has given you... just like how it was back on Earth.

But with what happened to Sentinel a couple hours ago... you hate to admit it, but well... it really shook you up. Of course, not all the borders were incredibly dangerous, but... to think that you'd be doing things like this for the majority of your life?

You couldn't see that. Especially if you planned to settle down at some point.

You sigh heavily and rub one of your eyes, frustrated as to why you're feeling this way. You've been in skirmishes before. Hell, a border skirmish was the reason you were even brought to this planet in the first place. Despite it all, you never quit or backed out of a patrol deployment. Not here. Nor on Earth.

But you guessed that it all really started to wear you out. You didn't really crave action or anything like that anymore.

You've become more... separated from it all.

Beginning to realize just how dangerous and incredibly intense your patrol deployments were.

You know that not all your patrol deployments were in a dangerous location, but due to your prior experience, you were always sent to the more dangerous borders more often than not.

And with how horribly you handled trying to help Sentinel... and that you almost started a political disaster for two countries…

Fuck me... You think to yourself, recollecting all of your previous experiences as you walked through the forest.

As much as you hated to admit it…

You were simply burnt out.

You want something more... peaceful.

But you don't know what.

And in terms of pay, you didn't really know any job that paid quite as well as this one.

…

You stop walking and look around, your entire body finally beginning to succumb to exhaustion after walking for so many hours, realizing just how sore you really were.

You notice a relatively small patch of flat forest ground and decide that you'll make a small camp here and decide that you'll make a small camp here and rest up until morning.

After a small stretch, you crouch down and yawn softly, setting down your pack and taking out the main components of the tent, as well as setting aside your comfortable sleeping bag.

If you were any more tired, you would have just unrolled the sleeping bag and slept on the spot. But you weren't looking to find spiders or centipedes or whatever other demonic creatures that lurked the forest floor would make their way onto your body. Fuck that.

As you set up your tent and gear, your thoughts begin to mellow a little bit. Regardless if you leave the Guards or not, you would at least have Sentinel to help you out. He'd have your back either way.

And you'd definitely receive some sort of pension... and employment support, on whatever you decide to do after this.

You stretch and groan softly, tying down the edges of the tent. As you do, you begin to whistle a soft, relatively cheerful tune of a song you've heard endless times back on Earth.

Don't worry about a thing... You reassure yourself.

Fizzle continues to study Anon's face, despite how dark it is. You can clearly tell that he's struggling with something. Seeming upset... or sad even.

Although every fiber of your being wanted to just come out in front of him and try to help, you know that it would only cause more harm than good... if the first encounter earlier tonight was proof of anything…

...You know for a fact now that Anon is having some sort of internal conflict with himself. You should know, since you've had more than your fair share of those things…

But you wonder what exactly is Anon thinking about?

...Was it about you?

D-don't be stupid, Fizzle... y-you're not even on anyone's mind... why would an i-i-idiot like y-you ever be relevant to a-anyone...let alone a Royal Guard...

Before you could delve deeper into your pit of self loathing and belittling, you notice that Anon has suddenly stopped and is looking around, his eyes scanning the area in which you're currently hiding.

You manage to suppress a sudden gasp and make yourself smaller, pressing your body into the ground and against the bushes behind you. A surge of fear and nervousness quickly taking you over.

You manage to calm down a bit when you're certain that Anon doesn't see you. You watch as he walks over to the patch of flat forest floor and kneels down, unloading his backpack in front of him and pausing to let out a soft, gentle yawn.

Your wings twitch a little and you struggle to keep your tail from swishing. You begin to feel that odd tight feeling in your chest and throat again.

...C...cute...~

You begin to slowly relax and ease up a little, watching as Anon begins to prepare his tent and sleeping bag. Your ears perk up when you hear a soft, cheerful and mellow whistle coming from Anon.

You stare at him blankly for a moment as your mind begins to comprehend the whistle. Soon enough, you find yourself slowly swaying left and right, closing your eyes and quietly whistling the same melody that Anon is repeating. You actually feel a gentle tug on your lips as your feel yourself smiling.

Anon’s whistling gets slightly more out of tone as his exhaustion takes him over, but you couldn't care less. The cheerful, mellow tone still there. You actually feel somewhat relaxed. Happy. Free of any worry.

So much so that you almost completely ignore the feeling of multiple legs crawling up your leg~

…

...Wait...wh-what?...

You pause, open your eyes and slowly look down at your leg.

And you scream.

Very, very loudly.

aaaaaAAAA NONONONOPE

Quickly jumping out of the bushes, you rapidly brush your legs and entire body, completely oblivious of the tiny spider that was able to jump off your leg and back into the bushes, unscathed.

You pant heavily, quickly checking your entire body and hair in a panic, slowly calming down as you realize that whatever was on your leg is no longer there.

As you begin to calm down, you suddenly freeze up, unsure why at first.

...Then you begin to feel the horrible sense of dread drape over your entire body as you come to the realization that you're not hidden anymore.

As well as the feeling of being watched from your side.

Fizzle very slowly turns around, before his hot pink eyes instantly lock onto the eyes of a certain Guardsman.

Who is currently in an awkward defensive position.

Trying his best to hold a skillet in the most intimidating way possible.

…

...H... h-hi…?

Chapter 5

View Online

"...H... h-hi…?"

You stand as still as possible, finally coming face to face with the albino dragon that your mind was so stuck on the entire night. Although you were somewhat pleasantly surprised, you wondered as to how you were so close to him this entire time.

You had absolutely no idea that the albino dragon was so close by.

As well as to what made the poor guy scream like that. But since the dragon was hiding inside some pretty dense bushes, you could take a guess and assume that it was probably some sort of big fuck-off spider or something, if him jumping out of the bushes and brushing his entire body was anything to go by.

Though you definitely couldn't blame him. You would have done the exact same thing.

Still, his scream startled the hell out of you and definitely woke you up. Who knew you could jump back so many feet from laying down? Your reaction time was incredibly quick too, but as for your wits...

Of course, you had fully intended to reach for your shotgun, but a skillet could be just as deadly in the right hands!

...Right?

Not like it really mattered anymore. Hurting this poor dragon was definitely not on your mind, but you could only imagine how ridiculous you look right now.

Despite the fact that all you were holding was a skillet, the albino dragon seemed infinitely more scared of you than the other way around, which felt quite odd, since you knew for a fact dragons could breathe fire that could melt through a truck engine with ease.

The albino dragon was shaking in place, and was staring at you like a deer in headlights. Realizing this, you slowly begin to take a much more relaxed, casual stance and lower the skillet in your hand, sighing softly and smiling a little at the albino dragon.

"You seem... familiar." You ask rhetorically, which causes him to relax just a tiny bit, but he still refuses to make any sort of eye contact with you, instead just looking down at the ground and fiddling with his claws.

You hear him begin to mumble something, but you can't even make out a single word he said, "I didn't catch that. What did you say?" You ask politely, not wanting to hurt the nervous wreck of a dragon.

He rubs his arm and lets out a quiet whimper, before he speaks a bit louder, just enough for you to barely hear him.

"I-I'm sorry..." He says in a very quiet, guiltful tone.

"Sorry? Sorry for what?"

"I... I'm sorry f-for how my friends a-acted the way th-they did back th-there..." He sniffles a little before continuing, "...I-I didn't mean for anyone t-to get... h...hurt..."

You raise an eyebrow, which causes him to grow more nervous, but you quickly continue before he can feel worse, "First of all... why do you refer to those assholes as friends? Especially after what the red one did to you."

He looks down at the ground, staying quiet and rubbing his arm, mentally trying to find the words to say.

"...I don't know..."

You take a couple steps towards him, and this causes him to visibly shrink down, as if he's expecting to get hit or yelled at or something... Or both.

Fuck... how much has this poor drake been through?

You softly smile at the albino dragon and crouch down to make yourself smaller and less intimidating, "Look, what happened back there wasn't your fault. I don't blame you for it... and neither does my friend. It was all because a power-nervous dragon tried to mess with a couple Royal Guards."

"...and just between you and me... what you did to help me was nothing short of incredibly brave in my books."

The albino dragon's ears perk up when you speak, but he doesn't make eye contact, until you personally say that what he did was brave. He then slowly looks up at you with gleaming eyes, finally meeting yours as his mouth opens a little bit.

"Y... you really m-mean tha-"

"Oh fuck..."

The albino dragon suddenly grows anxious and looks at you with a very worried look, "W-w-what's wrong?..."

It finally hits you that the albino dragon's eye was actually swollen and black. And although it didn't look too bad at first, it still must've hurt like a bitch.

You quickly rush over to your backpack and open it, quickly pulling out your now restocked first aid kit, "I just barely noticed how messed up your eye is. I got some supplies that can help you heal that black eye of yours though. Just give me a quick sec."

The albino dragon's head sinks down a little as the memory comes back into his mind. How scared he was, and how incredibly painful it felt, "Y-you don't have to use y-your medical stuff on me i-if you don't want t-to... especially if you're low on supplies or something... I-I'll be okay"

He then gently touches his swollen eye, and quickly jerks his hand back, "...it... it still h-hurts a little though..."

"All the more reason to help you then, silly." You finish grabbing the necessary equipment and rush back to the albino dragon, holding a half-unwrapped cold gel pack as well as a tiny flashlight, "Alright, answer these questions honestly. Have you've had any sort of double-vision, trouble breathing, or any sort of bleeding from your eye or nose?"

He slowly shakes his head no, still a bit nervous as to what you plan on doing. Sensing his nervousness, you begin to explain what you're going to do, "I'm gonna use this flashlight here to quickly inspect your eye and then I'm gonna give you this ice gel pack to put over your eye. It won't hurt or anything."

With your reassurance, he nods and tries his best to keep still as you examine his eye and the area surrounding it. After you do, you fully unwrap the cold gel pack and raise it up to his eye.

The albino dragon looks up at you, visibly worried. You smile a little, "This won't hurt you. I promise. This cold pack will help reduce the swelling and make it heal faster over time." He eases up a little bit and doesn't pull back when you very gently press the cold pack against his black eye. Although he does jump a little at the sudden cold feeling, he lets out a soft sigh and he brings his own hand up to keep it over the pack.

You smile and stand up, "See? I told you it wouldn't hurt. Now, you need to hold the pack for 10 minutes every 1-2 hours, and the pack itself should last about two days, even in areas as hot as the Badlands. You can thank magic for that one."

The albino dragon looks up at you and smiles a little, a small blush forming on his cheeks, "Th...thanks"

Your smile grows wider and you offer your hand towards the albino dragon, "My name's Anonymous by the way. Or Anon. Whichever you prefer."

The albino dragon looks at your hand, then back up at you, smiling and shyly taking it, "F...Fizzle. I'm Fizzle..."

You carefully help him back on his feet, taking note of how surprisingly soft and warm his claw is.

...Fizzle...

Oddly fitting to be honest.

...and cute.

You're a bit confused as to why that suddenly popped into your mind, but you quickly brush it off. You finish helping him up, then lead him over to your small camp. As you do, you decide to finally address the manticore in the room.

"So... what exactly are you still doing out here, Fizzle? Don't you live in the Badlands?"

...Or was he stalking you?

He definitely doesn't seem like the stalking type... but he is shy as all fuck, so maybe that could be a minor red flag, Not like he's really done anything bad though, so...

Fizzle rubs his arm and looks down awkwardly, nodding as he takes off the ice gel pack, a sad look forming on his face.

Noticing the look on his face, you think for a moment and put two and two together.

"...I'm guessing you don't want to go back because of the other two. Right?" You say what's on his mind, earning a nod from Fizzle. He then looks up at you, his eyes have an almost... pleading look to them.

...

You know exactly what he wants to ask of you.

You look down at the ground and sigh, taking a quick moment to think about this.

You weren't supposed to do things like this. At all. It all went against pretty much everything you were trained and told to do. You were looking to leave, sure. But not get fired.

...but you just couldn't see yourself sending him on his way back to the Badlands. Back to those two other dragons. There was no doubt in your mind that they would finish what they started with Fizzle.

No.

Fuck that.

Looking back at Fizzle with a serious, stern look, you begin to explain your idea, "Listen, Fizzle. You and I both know that, while I don't think you're a bad dragon by any means, you don't legally belong here."

You see Fizzle's eyes water a little bit, but he closes his eyes and looks down, nodding understandingly. He then lets out what sounded to be a quiet, choked sob, then you see his wings begin to unfold, but you quickly continue.

"No no, wait a second! Let me explain..."

Fizzle once again looks at you, seeing a very faint glimmer of hope in his watery eyes.

You sigh and continue, "...but I can compromise with you. I don't know how long it'll take for that black eye to heal, since I don't know much about dragons and such. But... I'll let you stay with me until it gets a bit better at least."

Fizzle's eyes widen in surprise, but then he begins to grow nervous, "F...f-for how long?"

"Like I said, I don't know how long it takes for dragons to heal their wounds, but... four days. No more. No less."

Fizzle's mouth opens and he begins to try and say something, but all that comes out is a barely audible whimper as he looks over his shoulder and sniffles.

"I don't... want to become some sort of a burden to you or anything, A-Anon... I c-can't imagine how busy you are with your Guard duties and all."

"...I c-can fend for myself out here... I'm not that w-weak... I can just... m-make some herbal medicine and use that t-to make my eye better when this pack doesn't work anymore! Th-then when it gets better... I c-can go ba... back ho-"

Before he can finish, you cut him off with a stern "No.", which surprises Fizzle. You then walk up to him, shaking your head, "That's not gonna happen."

You then smile, "Besides... after what you did to help me earlier, it's the least you deserve."

He stares at you for a couple seconds, before his wings fold back onto him and he reaches out suddenly towards you, giving you a surprisingly tight hug and taking you off guard. His head resting on your shoulder and gently nuzzling your cheek.

"Thank you, Anon...~" He whispers, still clearly listening to what he said despite your current state of shock. Fizzle then realizes what he's doing and immediately lets go of you, slinking back to where he was before and has both his arms behind his back, shyly going back to avoiding eye contact, his cheeks beet red.

You take a second to compose yourself, clearing your throat and trying to ignore the incredibly bright blush on your face. You look at Fizzle and smile, "O-of course, Fizzle. Just uh... let me set up the tent a bit to accomodate you."

Fizzle quickly raises his hands and shakes them, "Th-that it's not necessary if y-you don't have enough r-room... I can sleep out here if you'd l-like me to... I know how much others v-value their s-space and...stuff..."

You chuckle and shake your head, "That's not happening. You jumped out of those bushes for a reason and believe me, I don't blame you."

Fizzle rubs the back of his head and laughs a bit nervously, which only makes your smile grow as you grab your sleeping bag.

It was only big enough to fit you, but you could spare some blankets for your new dragon friend to at least lay down in. You could also let him use your pillow as well, your backpack was a comfortable makeshift pillow on its own anyway.

You look over your shoulder for a quick second to reach for your hammer and notice Fizzle staring intently at you, until he suddenly looks the other way, making circles with his leg.

...Was... was he checking you out?

Before you can think about it more, Fizzle awkwardly begins to ask you a question, "H-hey Anon..."

"A... are you from around Equestria? Because I-I've been around these forests and stuff for a long time... but I've never seen anything quite l-like you..."

"Uh... more or less. I do come from Equestria, but I'm not from there, per se. I guess you could even say I'm not from this planet."

Fizzle looks at you with a confused expression, but then his eyes widen as he puts two and two together.

"S...so... you're an... a-alien...?"

You smile and shrug, "Pretty much, to put it simply. I come from a planet where my kind are the only sapient species, as well as where things like griffons, manticores and dragons are all things of pure myth and fantasy."

You can see the expression on Fizzle's face quickly go from nervousness to curiosity, "Wow... r...really...? What's the name of your species?"

"Yup. I'd be more than willing to talk about it all more later, but the name of my kind is human. Or... I suppose the scientific term, 'homo-sapien'~"

The second Fizzle hears this, his blush instantly returns with a vengeance, making him look away from you as he fiddles with his claws. You smile and laugh a little, thinking to yourself that you're really beginning to like how easily flustered he can become.

You then stretch a little and let out a low yawn, which catches the attention of the slim albino dragon once more, making his ears perk up. "I don't have another sleeping bag for you, but I did what I could out of the blankets I had, as well as letting you use my pillow. Hope it'll be comfortable enough."

Fizzle shyly looks inside of the tent and is surprised by how roomy it actually looks. And considering that he usually slept on a bed made of dry grass and a single flat boulder, this was a definite improvement.

"I... I d-don't know what t-"

You gently pat his shoulder and shake your head, letting out another yawn as you get into your sleeping bag, "D...don't mention it, Fizzle..." You begin to make yourself comfortable, and watch with heavy eyes as Fizzle gets inside of the tent and makes his way to the makeshift bed. You see him cover himself up with the blankets and smile as he lets out a soft sigh and holds the blankets tightly against himself.

"Th-thank you again, A-Anon... this... feels nice...~"

"I'm... mmmh... glad I could provide... Goodnight, Fizzy."

Fizzle's eyes widen and he looks at you, shocked, "F...F-Fizzy...?"

You nod and smile lazily as sleep begins to quickly overcome you, "Y-yeah... I know it's... mmmh... not your actual name and all but it fits you because..." You close your eyes and are barely able to whisper out the end of your sentence.

"...it sounds cuter...~"

Chapter 6

View Online

Fizzle is sitting still beside Anon, who is currently fast asleep. His face is bright red, the words that Anon just said still swimming around his head as he holds the pillow close to his chest, his wings wrapped around his body tightly as he tried his best to keep his swishing tail still.

D... did h-he just call me c... cute?

No one's ever called me cute before...

He looks down at the sleeping guardsman beside him, out like a light. He moves just a tad bit closer to him to get a better look at Anon.

...H-he must've been so tired after today... I wonder how heavy of a sleeper he is...

Fizzle takes a closer look at Anon, taking note of his facial features. Although he was definitely a masculine guard, there was just something so... cute about him.

...Not to mention how peaceful he looked right now.

S-stop it, Fizzle! Th-that's creepy... I shouldn't be staring him while he's sleeping... even if he does look cute...

...a-and kinda hot...

...

Fizzle begins to shiver a little, holding himself tighter. Although the forests around this area were literally bordering the Badlands, one of the more hotter places around, they did manage to get quite cool during the night time.

But tonight, it was oddly more colder than what Fizzle had expected. And with him being cold-blooded, he was definitely not used to the cold. Usually, he'd use his fire to warm himself up, but that was definitely out of the question for obvious reasons.

Fizzle quickly laid back down, wrapping the blankets that Anon gave him around his body. His head gently rests against the pillow and he shivers again, this time out of a mixture of both cold and comfort. Although he was still cold, he definitely felt more comfy and warm.

As he made himself comfortable, he started to sense something... unique. He closes his eyes and begins to sniff a little all around, until he sniffs the pillow that Anon gave him.

...It smells nice.

...really, really nice.

Is this how Anon smelled like all the time?

'C-cause if so...

M-maybe it's just some sort of cologne or something... He probably washed them before he went back into the forest.

He opens his eyes and saw that he was holding the pillow very tightly against his chest. He blushes a little and places it back, resorting to holding his own tail close to him instead. He then slowly lays back down on the makeshift bed, facing the back of Anon's head as he tries to give as much space in between him and Anon as possible.

"...G...goodnight, Anon..." He very softly whispers, slowly closing his eyes.

Until a sudden, strong and cold breeze blew across Fizzle's entire body, making him whimper and shiver even more.

He whines quietly and lazily raised his head up towards the direction of the breeze, not daring to let the blanket wrapped around him fall.

Fizzle then sees that the tent flap is unzipped, making him groan.

C'mon... just when I'm all comfy...

Another gust of cold wind hits him straight in the face, making him instantly flinch away and sigh, almost instinctively sighing out a small gust of fire instead, but catching himself at the last second.

My fault... again. Should have made sure the tent was closed instead of losing myself over some silly l-little nickn- a-ah?!

Before Fizzle could even sit up, he suddenly felt two strong appendages wrap around his body, making him let out a squeak of surprise. He then felt himself being quickly, but gently tugged towards Anon.

When Fizzle finally regained himself a little bit, he was now face to face with Anon, to the point where his muzzle almost touched his rather cute little nose. He could feel Anon slowly breathing, still peacefully sleeping as if nothing had happened.

H-h-...huh?...

"...A-A-Anon?..." Fizzle quietly stuttered, as he stared at Anon, expecting a response that never came. Fizzle was now fully pressed up against Anon. Anon's arms were completely wrapped around Fizzle, in a tight, but gentle embrace. Like hugging a teddy bear.

Fizzle was quite shocked, to say the least. He didn't know what to do at all, Sh-should I w-wake him up...? N-n-no, it'll m-make things worse... h-he could get mad... o-o-or kick me out or...

...

...hmm...

The albino drake began to sniff a little again, suddenly giving Anon's muscular arm a very faint nuzzle. He stared blankly as his mind spoke for him.

...So he does smell like that...

Fizzle looks up at Anon, who is very quietly snoring and murmuring some inaudible things. He lets out a tiny little gasp when he feels his arms give him a gentle squeeze.

It is now that Fizzle notices that he actually feels... quite warm now.

...very warm.

Not only does Anon smell nice... but he also feels nice too... and he's surprisingly warm...

And his embrace felt... theraputic. Like, all of his worries just seemingly melted away. A complete contrast as to how he was handled earlier...

"...I...I-I can explain wh-when I wake up..."

I-I'm sorry Anon but you just... mmh...~

Fizzle's eyes begin to flutter close, instinctively wrapping his tail around one of Anon's legs and nuzzling his head just under his chin, soon falling into a very deep sleep.

You feel yourself begin to wake up, letting out a quiet groan as you're unfortunately pulled out of your dreams and into reality.

But for some reason... you actually feel relaxed and well rested.

You could even say that you feel... invigorated somehow.

Something you haven't felt from waking up in quite a long time. Never in the amount of times you've camped in your life.

You slowly open your eyes, letting them adjust so that the blurriness fades.

Only to be met by the color of pink.

Nothing but hot pink.

Wh-what the...?

You quickly try to get rid of your blurriness and pull your head back, and you are completely stunned at what you see.

So much so, that you wonder if you're still dreaming.

Secretly hoping that if you were, that you would never, ever wake up.

You are currently laying in your tent, with an pink haired albino dragon cuddled up to your side, his arms wrapped around your waist, while one of your arms is also wrapped around his body, snoring quietly as he gives you a little nuzzle.

Well... that's one way to wake up in the morning.

Fizzle also seems to still be asleep...

...who knew that a dragon could be so adorable like this? You think to yourself, finding yourself smiling softly as you give Fizzle a gentle squeeze.

Fizzle whines quietly and whispers something that you can't hear, but it makes him hug you tighter, so you assume that it was something good.

Awww.

You chuckle quietly, but this causes Fizzle to slowly wake up, looking quite oblivious and happy at first. He looks up at you with the cutest bedroom eyes, and lets out a small, cute yawn. He smacks his lips a little and goes back to nuzzling your chest, closing his eyes.

Until his eyes suddenly open, his pupils the size of pinpricks as he finall realizes what he's doing.

He then lets out a huge feminine gasp and jerks off of you, instantly moving towards the back of the tent before your could even blink, "I-I-I'm so sorry A-Anon! I-I didn't mean t-to do anything like this Iswearohmygodwhy-"

Fizzle is on the verge of tears as he tries to explain as fast as he can, but you quickly cut him off by raising your hand and shaking your head, laughing a little.

"Fizzle, relax! Just take a deep breath and listen to me... It's okay. I'm not mad."

"In fact... it was quite a... nice way to wake up... for once."

Fizzle clicks his claws together and looks up at Anon, looking surprised, "D... d-do you really mean that?"

You smile and nod, moving over to Fizzle and kneeling down in front of him, giving his muzzle a boop with your index finger, "Of course I do. You don't see me being upset about it, do you?"

Fizzle lets out a small squeak and goes cross-eyed, blushing hard, "I...g-guess not... h-hehe..."

You stand up and begin to walk out of the tent with him, "It was quite a surprise... definitely a pleasant one."

Fizzle's blush intensifies as he rubs his arm and smiles, "It... i-it felt good to c-cuddle with you too...h-heh..."

"...y-you uhm... a-also felt w-warm too..."

You chuckle a little and ignore the slight blush on your face, beginning to stretch a bit, trying to get rid of the tiredness in you.

...And maybe show a bit off towards Fizzle, which proves to be successful, since he begins to stare at your clothed, toned body when he thinks you're not looking

You notice that Fizzle's eye is looking just a tad bit better than how it was last night, but that his ice pack is nowhere to be seen, "Hey, where's your ice pack by the way? Did you lose it?"

He gasps, looking around for it, "O-oh crap, uh... I-I think I dropped it somewhere inside the tent!" He then gets down on his hands and knees and crawls a bit into the tent, moving over the blankets for it, making a bit of a mess. Although right now, you couldn't care less.

Since you're getting... quite the view.

His tail is semi-raised, but just enough to leave a bit to the imagination. Nevertheless, the roundness of his ass was very apparent. As well as how seemingly soft it looked.

...fuck, no stallion or mare you know has an ass that nice. You think to yourself, feeling your pants grow tighter the longer you stare.

But you manage pry your eyes away before Fizzle could notice, with herculean strength of course. Your face is relatively flushed, but Fizzle doesn't necessarily seemed to know.

"Whew... I-I found it! It must've slipped off when I was asleep a-and stuff... h-hehe... heh..."

You smile and nod, walking over to where your backpack was, grabbing it and opening it a little bit to pull out a medium sized bag of trail mix. You close it back up and sling it over your back.

You turn to face Fizzle and he looks at the bag, tilting his head a bit out of curiosity, "What's in the bag, Anon?"

"It's trail mix. Just a simple mix of nuts, fruit and candy." You explain. His eyes beam when you mention candy, making you smile as you store the bag in your pocket for later.

"We'll eat some in a bit, but first, here's what I have to do. I'm here to patrol this entire area for the next week or so. I've decided that I'm gonna start with this section instead for... obvious reasons. I'll be moving the camp site every other morning to patrol all of the sectors here."

He listens intently to everything you say and nods, "S-so, are you gonna start to hike now?"

You nod, "You can tag along if you'd like to, but if you just wanna chill here, that's fine too. It's up to you.

He quickly shakes his head and begins to follow you back onto the trail, "No way. If I wanted to be alone, I-I would have just gone back to the Badlands..."

As you both begin to walk away from the small camp you set up, your curiosity begins to grow. You know the basics about dragons and the Badlands, but very few know how exactly it's all like there. With your curiosity peaking, you begin to ask Fizzle the main question on your mind, "So... how exactly is it like in the Badlands? In terms of being in packs and the overall conditions over there right now."

"You don't have to answer if you feel uncomfortable by the way. I'm just genuinely curious is all." You add, not wanting to pressure Fizzle too much.

"Th-thanks..." He says shyly, appreciating that you gave him a way out just in case. Regardless, he continues on to answer your question as best he can.

"...The... The Badlands have honestly been in a slightly more... chaotic state recently. More than usual, 'cause of the amount of dragons not happy with how the Dragon Lord and Lordess are handling things, both domestically and internationally."

"It's all really taking a toll on everyone there... I-I'm always, always trying to ignore the whole political thing... I just don't like hearing dragons argue so much and stuff... it's why I head out into the forests more often than I used to... I've just been trying to d-distance myself from it all... l-like an escape...

"..but the rest of my pack is definitely not sitting idly and letting something like this slide..."

"Garble has really been trying to prove himself worthy of being higher up in the dragon hierarchy by being more than just a pack leader, but the thing is, that to even prove that he would be worthy of a higher position in the Badlands, he would have to prove to be an effective leader of his own pack. And that to do, he has to make sure that all of the other dragons in his pack 'stay in line', so to speak."

"But the hard part about that is, he's been incredibly hard on everyone, demanding a lot more from our hordes, pushing us to do incredibly dangerous tasks and stuff, and being significantly more physically abusive, even by tough dragon standards..."

You listen on intently, giving Fizzle your full attention, He has a lot to let out... poor guy...

"...A-and since I'm the l-lowest ranking among our pack... and the least h-hard working... the others have been taking their anger and frustrations out on me..."

...

"L... like in a... sexua-"

"N-n-no!" He stutters, shaking his head and hands, "N-not like that... just..."

"L-let's just say that isn't the first time I've been hurt like that..."

"Ah..." You respond simply, looking down at the ground as you and Fizzle walk at a slower pace. He sniffles a little and continues on, a bit quieter.

"...S-since I'm always trying to sneak out of the Badlands and relax here in the forests i-instead of gathering gems like Garble wants me to do... I'm..."

"...I-I'm..."

Fizzle stays quiet and looks down at the ground, having all but stopped walking. He sniffles again and rubs his eye a little. Your heartstrings are absolutely torn and you feel a resurgence of anger towards the other dragons, but you don't let it faze you.

Instead, you stand in front of Fizzle, who looks up at you, a look of sadness and confusion on his face. You open the bag of trail mix and motion him to cup his hands together. He wipes the tears off his eyes and does so, pouring a generous amount of trail mix into his hands.

He cups it all into one hand and looks at it curiously, before picking out one piece of everything from the small pile. He then brings his hand up to his mouth and begins to chew for a couple moments.

You both begin to walk at a slow pace as you close the bag, awaiting his response. It was just trail mix of course, nothing special, but you hoped that it would at least cheer him u-

"C-can I have m-more?"

wot

You quickly look at Fizzle's hands, now completely empty. And his mouth looked completely stuffed.

He chewed rapidly and swallowed, blushing as he looks at you with cute, pleading eyes, the sadness from earlier completely gone and replaced with a look of hope and happiness.

Okay, Jeez, no need for lethal levels of cuteness Fizz. I doubt I could find it in me to even say no anyway. You think to yourself, smiling and opening the bag of trail mix again.

Fizzle squees and cups his hands together, watching as you fill his palms with double the amount of trail mix this time, "Who knew dragons would be so into trail mix?" You say to yourself, smiling as Fizzle eagerly digs in,

"I mean, it's no gem or anything, but I'm happy you like it."

Fizzle blushes and swallows, "I-I've never had this before... but it tastes really good~"

Oh my.

"You're more than welcome to have more then. I have plenty." You smile. You both continue to walk in a peaceful silence, before Fizzle begins to shyly asks some questions about you,

"S-so... where exactly are you from. Y-you said you were like... an alien of some kind or something... a-and you said you'd explain more today too."

"Well...I suppose it's only fair that you knew more about me. I did say that I'd tell you more last night anyways."

As you both begin to walk towards a different path, you begin to answer all of Fizzle's little questions as you both began to walk for a couple of hours, more than happy to answer them and see the reactions he has. From where exactly you came from, to how old you were and how long you've stayed here, to how exactly you arrived here and how many of your kind existed.

"S-seven billion? Th-that's... there's no way!"

You smile and laugh, "That's the reaction everyone has whenever they ask that. It might be a bit hard to believe, but yeah, that was about the rough estimate. And it'll only keep growing too."

"W...wow... a-and out of those seven billion... you're the only one here?"

You nod, your facial expression growing a bit solemn. Fizzle notices this and quickly begins to apologize, "O-oh, s-sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"Don't worry. It's honestly no big deal... especially since I've been here for about a year, I've made peace with stuff like that during the first few months. Besides... I do like it here."

"Th...that's good. Really good. I don't know how I'd handle s-something like that... I couldn't even imagine it..."

"...d-do you have any more trail mix, Anon?"

You laugh and shake your head, "You still want more? You've already finished the two bags I brought!"

Fizzle blushes deeply and looks away, "H-heheh, s-sorry... I just really liked it a-and stuff..."

"Heh, I could tell... but if you're still that hungry, I suppose we could stop and take a small break to rest up and eat."

Fizzle nods happily, "I-I'd like that. My feet are getting a little bit sore..."

"All the more reason to rest up then. Let's just find a place to... uh... Fizz?"

Before you both could continue on a little bit further, you see that Fizzle's ears are perked up and that he's standing still, slowly looking around You get a little bit concerned and look around as well,

"Is something wrong...?"

He doesn't answer, simply looking around before suddenly gasping quietly. He then looks back at you, an excited look in his eyes.

"I-I know the perfect place to relax!"

"Uh..." You tilt your head a little and decide to let Fizzle lead the way this time, "You know what, lead the way then." Your curiosity gets the best of you since you haven't seen Fizzle quite this excited up until now.

He reaches over and softly grabs your hand, tugging you along through a couple of slightly dense bushes and vegetation. You smile at the fact that Fizzle did something as bold as to take your hand and lead, admiring him a little for it.

As you both get closer you begin to hear what feels like heavy, rushing water in the distance. Fizzle moves you both a bit faster until he begins to slow down, pushing away some tree branches from both of you until you and him finally walk out of the edge of the forest and onto a flower covered bank, bordering along the edge of a wide river, with a huge waterfall a bit further down in the distance. Just close enough so that you can hear it clearly, but definitely not deafening.

The whole view leaves you completely stunned.

W... woah... This is something straight out of Planet Earth...

"I-it looks beautiful, doesn't it?..." He asks as he looks around along with you, "Th-this is one of my favorite spots to go to... I love the view and the way the sun hits just below the trees... it's so comfy to nap here...~"

"Wow... I really, really do not know this place like you do."

Fizzle giggles a little bit and you both stand there, admiring the view. You then suddenly feel something very soft gently squeeze your hand. You look down and notice that Fizzle is still holding your hand.

You feel yourself blushing, then you smirk a little bit. You squeeze Fizzle's soft, warm hand in return and he does the same thing you did, only he lets out a gasp and lets go faster than you could blink.

"S-s-sorry! I-I wasn't thinking... h-hehe... heh..."

You just smile and shake your head, walking a bit lower down near the edge of the river with Fizzle before sitting down, "It was your thinking that lead us to this beautiful place, silly."

He rubs the back of his neck and looks down, blushing and smiling. You then unstrap your pack and put it beside you, pulling out the empty bags of trail mix, as well as two canned food rations and two water bottles.

"Wh-what's in the cans?"

"Just some simple, shitty ration food. I doubt you'll like it, but it is pretty filling if you ask me." Fizzle nods and takes your word for it, watching as you set the cans down and open them.

"Just uh... let me find some firewood and ready a matc- huh?"

You notice that Fizzle is smirking at you. You watch as he reaches for both of the cans and holds them in his hands, before breathing out a controlled, brilliantly light blue flame that engulfs both the cans for a couple seconds. The color of his flame leaving you a bit awestruck for a second after he finishes.

"...O-oh, right. Dragons breathe fire. Should've known that before I came here."

Fizzle giggles happily and sets the cans down in between you both, letting them cool down as you pull out a plastic spoon for the both of you. As you do, you notice that there's a couple pieces of candy left inside one of the trail mix bags.

You reach into the bag and pull out the pieces of candy, handing it to Fizzle, "For being so clever~"

Fizzle blushes and thanks you for it, taking the piece of candy and putting it in his mouth, chewing much slower than usual, savoring it. You smile and begin to stir both of the rations together.

As you do, you notice out of the corner of your eye that Fizzle's tail is sneakily trying to wrap around where you're currently sitting, a cute subtle attempt to be closer to you.

You pretend that you didn't see it, but you smile anyways.

This is gonna be a good week...~

Chapter 7

View Online

After you and Fizzle stopped for a lunch break at the bottom of a beautifully massive waterfall in the forest, you finish up your ration and begin to clean up the mess left over. It wasn't a huge mess of course, but you were never one to litter. Especially in a beautiful place like this.

Unlike Sentinel, but he was always the lazy one out of you two.

You stand up and begin to store all the trash in a couple of plastic trash bags you brought, with Fizzle helping you out as well. After a couple of minutes, you and him finish up and begin to pack up, before walking back the way you came, with the albino dragon beside you.

"Thanks again for showing me that spot, Fizzle. I'm definitely gonna make a note to come back to that place sometime. That waterfall was an incredible sight on its own."

"I-it's no problem! H-hehe... I'm glad you... I'm glad you liked it as much as I do." He rubs his arm and, although he doesn't look at you directly, a genuine smile forms as he blushes a little bit.

"Th-that food you gave me wasn't half as bad as you said it was, by the way..." He added, yawning and stretching a little bit as you both continue back onto the path.

You chuckle and shrug, "Then you must have not really eaten much in your life aside from gems and water."

Fizzle lets out a small nervous chuckle and shrugs a little bit, still smiling like a goofball, "I-I actually have eaten a couple different kinds of fruit before, after Garble and some others from the pack did a raid on a huge caravan near the border."

"So it was them who did that... I'm not surprised in the slightest." You mutter, which is picked up by Fizzle, who begins to grow a bit more nervous as he fidgets around with his claws.

"I-I swear I wasn't involved in that r-raid though Anon! Y-you believe me... r-right?"

You laugh and nod, "Of course I do. But now I'm curious... what kind of fruit did you eat?"

"W-well... I really, really liked this one kind of fruit that nobody else wanted...I don't know why, it was sooo good! I don't know what it's called, but it was yellowish red and so, so sweet... mmm~"

"Uhh... heheh, did it have a soft, fuzzy exterior? Cause if it did, it's called a mango." You ask. He shrugs a little, blushing at how slightly over the top he got for just speaking about it.

"I-I can't exactly remember... I ate them so fast... h-haha"

"Tell you what, if I ever get the chance, I'll get you some choice fruits for you to try them all out, that sound good?"

"O-okay, Anon... th-thank you..." He blushes and fidgets a little with his claws, smiling at the sheer thought.

In terms of sheer cuteness, he easily ranked as 'hyper-lethal'.

As you both continue to walk the forest in relative silence, you notice that Fizzle has move slightly closer to you now. You pretend not to notice, but you do think to yourself as to how hard Fizzle seems to have fallen for you in such a short period of time.

...And you begin to ask yourself if you're actually starting to fall for him.

Or if you were really getting this lonely, this quickly.

...It has been quite a while since you've held someone like how you did last night.

Longer than you'd like to remember.

...Maybe this was some really bad case of 'puppy love'. For the both of you.

Yeah... yeah, that's it.

Then, as soon as your deployment is over, you'll both move on with your normal lives and this'll all just be nothing but a memory for you two. A memory for you to think over from time to time.

Maybe think about the things that could have happened... but never did.

Because it was never meant to be.

...

You feel your breathing beginning to shorten at the sheer thought, as well as noticing that you're walking a bit slower than usual.

...No. Now wasn't the time to get all down in the dumps. Especially when Fizzle's around.

C'mon, Anon... suck it up.

...ugh. If anything... it at least makes Fizzle happy. That's what should matter here.

Besides, from what you know so far, he's been through a hell of a lot. This is probably the first time someone has even shown any sort of kindness to him in a while.

He should enjoy it while it lasts.

Maybe you should too. It's been way, way too long...

You involuntarily let out a soft sigh, which makes Fizzle's ears perk up as he looks at you directly, his eyes previously directed at your person in general.

"I-is everything okay, Anon...?"

"Yeah... I'm alright. Why?" You ask, looking back at Fizzle. You notice that he already has a slightly worried look on his face, walking a bit slower than you as he opens his mouth to try and answer, but he mentally gives up and looks down at the ground.

"N... nothing. I was just curious is all..."

Curious huh...

"Curious? How so?"

-You notice that Fizzle looks a bit more uncomfortable now as he clicks his claws together, thinking of what to ask.

"...are you...a-ah...w...w-well.."

"...am I the only dragon you know, Anon?"

You feel as if that is not the question Fizzle really wanted to ask, but you go along with it anyway, "Yeah... yeah, you are. The only one I've ever actually seen in person, let alone tried to get to know. The only other one is this small drake named Spike. Dunno if you've heard of him."

"I have. I've only seen him once, and it was quite a while ago... I always see him with Garble and other ponies though... and h-he always says mean things about him... really... mean things..."

"I've heard him talk about some red dragon asshole before, but I didn't think much of it. Small world, I suppose."

"Y-yeah..."

"...I kinda envy him though..."

"Why?"

"He gets to live in Equestria... a place where he can be whatever he likes to be... express himself and s-stuff... b-but uh... well, y-you know... h-heh..."

"Yeah, I can see why one would be jealous of that... I'm guessing the Badlands aren't too... uhm... accepting? Or too controlling?"

Fizzle nods a little bit, "I-it's relatively lawless... but it's not a p-place where you can be who you wanna be and... y-yeah..."

"...well... if it counts as anything, I'm glad that I met you, Fizzy."

Fizzle looks up at you, a look of surprise on his face and a blush quickly forming due to the cute pet name,"R...r-really?"

"Yeah, I am. I might've not gotten the best first impressions, but you're at least a shining example that not all dragons are like that."

"I...I..."
"Plus, at least I know that not all dragons look ugly as sin."

"...y-you don't think I'm... ugly?"

You chuckle and shake your head, refusing to go any further than that. Although from the looks of it, it seems like Fizzle is in a state of delightful bliss, if his derpy little smile and distant look is anything to go by.

After following the trail and patrolling with Fizzle for most of the day, it was time to head back to camp. You estimated that there was about fifteen minutes or so of daylight left and you never did really like patrolling out in the dark. Makes for easy ambushes and stuff.

You both were relatively silent for the most part, mainly just enjoying each other's company. You honestly like it when you have someone around, especially during patrols. You weren't a social butterfly by any means, but it still felt nice to have someone to talk to.

Plus, it was kinda cute to see Fizzle try his hardest to help you out, as ironic as it was. He was your so called 'eye in the sky' for a majority of the patrol, doing his absolute best to keep and eye out for other dragons or Guard patrols

Even if his attention was focused on you more often than not, he still meant well. And that made you smile.

Now, Fizzle looked quite tired, but still kept close to you and listened out for anything odd. Though you hoped to whatever gods exist that nothing comes out and spooks the poor dragon, the last thing you both need is an uncontrollable forest fire.

"Nnnnh... h-how close are we to camp, Anon?"

"Just a few more minutes. It should be just up ahead, don't worry." You reassure him. He stretches his wings a little bit and yawns quite cutely. You smile at him when he yawns, then you look up at the sky and realize that it's gotten pretty damn cloudy. You couldn't exactly tell if it was smoke blowing in from the Badlands, storm clouds or both.

"Hey Fizzle, do you think those look like smoke clouds? Or just normal rain clouds?"

Before Fizzle could answer, you see him noticably flinch at something, before he goes cross-eyed and looks at his nose. You then feel a couple droplets of water begin to fall on you, confirming your previous thoughts.

You silently curse and walk at a faster pace with Fizzle following close behind, using his own wings as a way to shield himself from getting wet.

"God damn it... I wasn't expecting rain here at all. Damn Pegasi squadrons were supposed to keep the skies clear all week long. Guess they got lazy, or weather intel was fucked like always."

Fizzle nods as he quickly follows beside you, "I-it rarely ever rains here in these parts of the forests... I usually avoid coming here whenever it does actually rain, cause of how wet and c-cold it gets..."

As you both begin to arrive at the camp, you hear a loud crack not too far off in the distance, as well as a very loud squeak that came from behind you.

When you turn around, you see that Fizzle is standing in place, his wings wrapped around his body protectively as he shivers, refusing to move.

Awww... Poor Fizzy must be afraid of lightning...

You quickly rush over to him and gently push away one of his wings, grabbing his claw and forcefully pulling him towards you, making him follow you all the way to the camp.

You and Fizzle are now at camp, and although the tree tops above stopped most of the rain, the firewood was already way too moist to reheat, and Fizzle didn't seem to be in a mood to do something like that anytime soon.

"You okay, Fizzy?..." You quickly ask him and he nods, rapidly, still shaking.

"S-s-sorry A-Anon... I'm j-just... I... I-I don't like thunder o-or lightning..."

"...i-it's why I avoid the forests during storms like this... it's t-too... s-scary..." He whimpers softly, still holding himself very tightly. As for you, you are almost completely soaked at this point.

"It's fine, Fizzle. I won't judge you for it, let's just get inside the tent for now, okay?" He nods and you quickly zip down the tent, throwing your wet pack to the corner of the tent, crawling in and turning around to help Fizzle inside.

As he crawls in with you, another lightning bolt cracks through the sky, making Fizzle squeak louder this time as he scurries into the tent, tail tucked in between his legs as he goes to his makeshift bed, still holding himself tighter than before. Once he's inside, you make sure to actually close the tent flap this time.

You realize that Fizzle is actually more soaked than you are... his wings only did so much to help. You quickly take off your jacket and move closer to him, before you drape your semi-dry jacket around him

He's shaking a lot... jesus... You think to yourself as you also begin to wrap one of the blankets around him, helping him warm up a little bit better.

"Th-th-th-thank you A-Anon..." Fizzle stammers through chattering teeth. Despite how cold he is, it looks like his face is definitely heating up, if his blush was indication of anything.

"Don't mention it. Tomorrow we're gonna relocate to the the camp area where we met. That place has a better location to set up a camp."

He nods and holds the jacket closer, noticing that his shivering has decreased significantly, but his muzzle is still buried in your jacket and you see his ear twitch a little.

Stupid adorable dragons, I swear.

"...it's... i-it's still k-kind of cold..." He says softly to himself, looking at you now and then with a glimmer of hope in his eyes, until he yelps and jumps a little when more distant thunder begins to occur, indirectly moving himself closer to you in the process.

You look at Fizzle for a while, running several scenarios a second, before finally making up your mind and letting out a sigh.

...

You reach over to Fizzle, who looks at you with a nervously curious look. He then proceeds to make a muffled squee sound when you pull him close to you, his head resting just under your chin.

He looks like he's about to faint, but you don't care. You and him are both cold right now and this is the best way to generate heat.

...besides, he's soft to the touch.

"A-a-a-anon...?!" He stutters hopelessly as he tries to look up at you, but you simply shut him up with a simple 'hush' and give him a squeeze.

Fizzle tries to stutter out a more coherent response, but you simply squeeze him harder, which makes him squeal quietly and blush a lot harder than he's ever blushed before.

For a while, you both simply sit there, with you holding the soft albino dragon tightly in your arms, your head resting over his, and soon enough, you both fall asleep.

You've never really been one with the cold, so you're really just happy to be warm again.

...and happy to have someone to hold onto for once.

...

And they say dragons are the greediest.

Fizzle is stuck in a hurricane of so many emotions, that he can barely keep track of them all. They all race through his head at a million miles a second. Never before has he felt this way. It almost feels like it's too much for his mind to handle.

Shock, nervousness, fear, excitement, worry...

...and hope.

...if there was one emotion that overcame all the others right now, it was definitely hope.

Hope for what exactly? Fizzle mentally asks himself, a voice in the back of his head speaking the things he never wanted to hear, Hope that you can finally leave that gods-forsaken place you call home once and for all?

W-w-what...?

Don't fool yourself, Fizz. You and I both know you're only using him as a means to another end. As soon as you get the chance, you'd leave this hairless ape because he'd outlive his usefulness to you.

Wh-wh... no...no! I wouldn't do that!

...w...w-would I...?

Don't you dare try to convince yourself that you 'hope' Anon likes you. You know damn well that's not why. Shit, Garble and the others were always right about you all along.

...I...

-...I l like him though... why w-would I hu-

You should have been left to take the beating.

Always useless, always fucking up. Never good enough. Can't wait to see how you'll fuck this one up for yourself. Bet Garble and the others are gonna have a hell of a laugh because of this.

And you call Garble an opportunist.

Fizzle lets out a choked whimper, before his eyes suddenly flutter open, his vision blurred due to the tears that formed while he slept. He looks around and notices that he is now laying down beside you, who is now holding him like a teddy bear this time. One of his wings is now also slightly draped across his body.

...and your jacket is still wrapped around his body comfortably.

Fizzle looks at Anon's face, admiring the peaceful look on his face for a couple of seconds, before he looks down at the jacket and nuzzles into it, sniffing it a little all while pressing his entire body closer into yours. His ears perk up when you begin to mumble something incoherent, but he does pick up his name in there somewhere, which is enough to make him blush and wiggle a little bit out of sheer embarrassment.

He sniffs your jacket again.

...Anon smells really good...

...I wonder how long he'll let me wear his jacket for...

Chapter 8

View Online

After a mostly silent, uneventful hours-long hike, you and Fizzle have finally arrived at your old camp, where you had encountered Fizzle himself as well as the other three dragons. Aside from the now-damp campfire and some loose leaves covering the ground, it didn't look any different as when you left.

"It's been too long since I've been here. Almost felt homesick because of how long I was gone for." You sarcastically mutter to yourself, earning a quiet, nervous chuckle from Fizzle, but nothing more. He watches you as you go over to where the campfire was, semi-mindlessly kicking the ashy remains and sighing.

"We're only gonna stay here for one night and one night only. Then we'll go to the final camp area for a couple of days." You explain. He nods and shyly clicks his claws together, looking as if he wants to say something, but not having a single bit of courage to say it.

You do your best to ignore it and begin to unpack your stuff. Ever since you woke up this morning (totally not cuddling him again of course), you've noticed that Fizzle has been significantly more quiet than what you've been used to. He hasn't even made direct contact with you at all. Not like he did much to begin with, but he did so now and then whenever you said something nice or interesting.

...maybe it's all because of something I said? Or did...? You begin to wonder. Of course, you've never intentionally tried to come off on him in a negative way, but you can't help but feel that this has something to do with you, in one way or another.

You look back at Fizzle, who's also trying to keep himself occupied by looking for firewood to use for later tonight. You smile a little, appreciating his helpfulness despite it all.

He's also still wearing your jacket around his body. As a matter of fact, you haven't really noticed that he's still wearing it until now. Not that you really mind, it's not too cold now that it's midday.

Plus, he did look kinda cute wearing your jacket like that. You knew it was quite comfortable, but it looks like you're gonna have to buy a new one once you go back to Canterlot. You doubt that Fizzle will want to give that up, you think to yourself with a smile.

"Hey Fizzy! Do you think you have enough firewood for tonight?" You call out to him. You see him jump a little when he hears you, snapping him out of whatever train of thought he had. He looks down over his shoulder and nods, looking quite flustered.

White scales aren't exactly the best in terms of wanting to hide a blush, but hey, you weren't complaining.

...But you sure were curious.

Figuring you'd give the poor little dragon an anxiety attack if you asked him about what's wrong, you continue to set up the tent. As you do, you notice that the footprints of the dragons from several nights ago are still here, looking relatively fresh despite the rain from last night.

When Fizzle isn't looking, you slowly pull out your folded shotgun and take a second to examine it, making sure that it doesn't have any sort of dirt or other things that could harm the inner mechanisms. After you do, you begin to rack the shotgun several times, ejecting the non-lethal shells one by one, then beginning to insert the regular 12-gauge shells.

You take another look at the footprints and finish loading the shells in.

...Just in case.

You fold up your shotgun, double check the safety and store it back inside of your pack. You then continue to set up the tent and finish up after a few minutes. You stand up, stretching your arms out a little bit as you admire your handywork.

You then turn around, seeing Fizzle adjust the firewood and place some new stones around it, in order to keep the fire more controlled. You sigh to yourself quietly and walk over to him.

I'll find out... tonight.

After you two conducted another short patrol around the perimeter of their camp, (mostly because you were somewhat paranoid that the other dragons would somehow be stalking you). you both finally begin to relax for the night. Fizzle blows his fire breath onto the firewood, as the light blue flames begin to expand.

You stare at the fire for a moment, finding the unique light blue flames quite relaxing to look at, before snapping out of it and preparing the food rations. You hand Fizzle both of them as he blows onto them, quickly setting your can beside you and letting his cool down as well.

The night comes relatively quickly as you both begin to eat in relative silence, the only sounds being the crackling of the firewood and crickets chirping now and then.

You look up at Fizzle, noticing that he still looks quite unsure and very nervous. More so than usual. He's barely taking small bites out of the food. You sigh and look at him for a moment with a worried, unsure look. He's still avoiding your eyes, but he definitely notices.

"...Alright Fizzle. Tell me... what's wrong?"

Fizzle's eyes dart around nervously when you ask him this, he also begins to sweat a little bit, "H-huh? Nothing! N-n-nothing's wrong, Anon! I'm j-just... uh... tired! Y-yeah," He lets out a fake yawn to try and convince you, "C-cause of all the hiking we did... a-and the organizing and fire...wood... collecting... yeah... heh..."

You raise an eyebrow and cross your arms.

"Y-y-you know how tired dragons can get! W-we always like to sleep in a lot, a-and we fly a lot and stuff b-because we get sore feet easily a-and... uh... imnotconvincingyouamI"

You smile a little and shake your head, taking a more serious look now, "Nope. Not buying it at all. I've really noticed that you've been acting more shy and evasive than usual today, Fizz..."

Fizzle looks down guiltfully, frowning at himself. You reach over, very carefully placing your hand over Fizzle's soft claw. He jumps a little at this, but doesn't pull away, looking up at you indirectly.

"Listen, Fizzle... I don't know what happened, but if it was something that I did, I want to know. I really don't mean to hurt you or anything. I just want to know what I may have done so I can try and help fix it."

Fizzle looks at you as if you just backhanded him, before he shakes his head rapidly, blushing as he tries to stutter out a response.

"N-n-n-no! Y-you didn't do anything wrong, Anon! I-I don't see why you w-would..."

You sigh in relief, but you're still left wondering, Then what's making Fizzle feel this... upset?

"I-it's just... I... y-you..."

Fizzle looks at you directly, his mouth opening as he tries to form a coherent response. You feel him shake a little as you both stare at each other for what seems to be an eternity, but in the end Fizzle just lets out a small whimper and his claw slowly slips from your hand, as he looks down blankly and sadly, looking as if he's on the verge of crying.

You just look down at the disheartened, saddened dragon before you, then back at the campfire. After a couple of moments of just thinking about what to do, you softly smile and proceed to put out the campfire with your water bottle.

Fizzle hears the fire being put out and turns around to face you again, confused and nervous as to what you're planning on doing. You tell him to wait there, the soft smile still planted on your face as you walk towards the tent. Fizzle rubs his wet eyes and sniffles a little as he watches curiously. He sees that you're pulling out your sleeping bag, as well as Fizzle's own makeshift bed, with the blankets and pillows as well.

You begin to gently lay them down onto the flat forest ground, making sure they look as comfy as can be. You then look over at Fizzle and motion him to come over, which he does so with a bit of hesitation.

When Fizzle comes over and sits on his makeshift bed, you stretch your arms a little and gently lay down on your back, looking up at the incredibly detailed night sky, with no trees obstructing the main view, but forming a loose circle around the edges of your peripheral vision.

Fizzle looks down at you, a bit confused, before looking up as well and letting out a very tiny gasp. Your smile grows wider when you see Fizzle instinctively smiling a little bit as he also begins to lay down, taking the full view of the clear night sky.

After a few moments of silence as you both stare in awe, you break the silence and begins to speak quietly to Fizzle, while still looking up at the night sky, "...You know, I used to do this kind of stuff all the time back in my home world. When I was a kid, I'd always climb the roof of my house and just lay there for most of the night, every chance that I got. Just staring and getting lost in the stars, and with my own imagination."

"It was actually one of the main reasons why I became a Border Patrol officer back then. Since I could patrol the desert, which meant less light pollution, therefore made the night sky so much more... beautiful. Like how it is right now."

You begin to chuckle a little, "Although, I did get in trouble for just sitting around and gawking at the night sky on the job more often than not."

Fizzle smiles and giggles a little at the thought, feeling himself relax, his having been perked up the entire time as he listens to every single thing you say.

"It's also why I took the job here as well, so I could look at the stars as much as I wanted, and from different locations with little distractions. I mean, don't get me wrong, Canterlot is a very nice place, but it's quite noisy more often than not."

"...Hey, Fizzy?"

"Mmhmm...?"

"How many stars do you think are up there?"

He puts some thought into the question before answering, rubbing his chin a little with his claw, "Hmm... Maybe uh... A couple hundred thousand?"

You chuckle a little, making Fizzle blush a little as he tries to laugh it off, "Pretty good guess, but believe it or not, there's actually hundreds of millions of stars out here, in this small part of the night sky alone."

"A...are you serious?" Fizzle asks, curious as he looks over at you for a second, genuinely surprised.

You nod, "Yup. Although, we humans can really only see about two to five thousand of those stars, 'cause of moonlight and all. I don't know how good dragon eyesight is... but honestly? It seems like a lot more than that out here..."

"Yeah... It's just so... So... Shocking..."

"...Back in my world, there was an old, famous saying, which was, 'that there are more stars in the universe, than there are grains of sand in the beaches of the world."

Fizzle clearly has a hard time trying to grasp how such a thing could even be true, but he still looks quite astounded.

As a couple of silent moments pass by before Fizzle asks you a question for a change, "...How big do you think it is up there, Anon?"

You think for a minute before shrugging a little, "I dunno. Even my kind doesn't truly know how bit the universe is. Although the most widely accepted theory is that the universe is infinite and always expanding, if that makes any sense."

Fizzle stays quiet for a few minutes, taking it all in before asking another question, "...So, somewhere... Up there... Is your home world?"

"Mmhmm. For all I know, I could be staring directly at my home planet."

"Wow..." He softly as they stargaze in silence, with Fizzle moving ever so slightly closer to you, which doesn't go unnoticed, but you don't bring it up. Fizzle tries to hide the noises of his movement by yawning, stretching, or making other cute dragon sounds.

"...H-hey, Anon?"

"Yeah, Fizz?"

"...If...If you had the option... w-would you return back to your world?"

You take a moment or so to respond to this sudden, personal question, before finally shaking your head once, "...Nah. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still do miss it sometimes..."

"...But I feel... At home here. Happy, even."

"...I wouldn't trade where I am right now for anything in the world... heh, or universe..." You add quietly, letting out a soft sigh and looking at Fizzle with a smile.

Fizzle quietly hums to himself as some of his tail wraps around your leg. He looks back at you with a much more calmed, relaxed and... content look, as he smiles back at you.

"...neither would I."

"..."

It's only when Fizzle realized what he said that his face turns into one of the brightest shades of red you have ever seen in your life. His wings begin to flutter open and his pupils are beginning to dilate, looking as if he's on the absolute verge of a panic attack.

You roll your eyes and laugh a little, quickly reaching over and pulling Fizzle close to you, so that you're now both pressed comfortably against each other.

"I-I-I-I- a-ah! W-w-wh... Wha..." Fizzle begins to stutter and squeak, completely lost and afraid as to what he should do and why he said what he did. He then feels a finger press against his lips, hearing a soft, 'shhh' from beside him. He looks up at you, not expecting to see you peacefully smiling down at him... that perfect, adorable smile of yours that just sets all of his worries and nervousness aside.

Fizzle looks back down at himself and you, taking a moment to realize that you're really holding him, before he lets out a choked, happy whimper and immediately wrapping his arms around Anon's torso and letting his tail wrap around Anon's leg completely.

Your smile grows wider as you protectively hold Fizzle with one arm, while making sure he's all covered up and warm by his blanket and your jacket.

Fizzle begins to nuzzle softly into your chest and neck, one of his wings fluttering rapidly for a split second when he feels you kiss his forehead.

Chapter 9 (NSFW Warning)

View Online

You and Fizzle lay on your sleeping bag quietly, your arm wrapped tightly around Fizzle's body, while Fizzle gives your chest a soft little nuzzle.

You look down at Fizzle and softly stroke his soft, pink hair (technically scales, but you couldn't care less, it suited him perfectly~) and gave him the occasional squeeze, which made him shiver every time. In return, his tail squeezes your leg tighter and he nuzzles deeper into you, wanting to be as close to you as physically possible.

Your mind slowly begins to wander a little bit, thinking briefly about how exactly you went from patrolling the most dangerous border in the world, to holding the very creature you were supposed to make sure never got beyond the Badlands.

You chuckle a little at this, shaking your head as Fizzle looks up at you with an innocent, confused look, "Wh-what's so funny, Anon?"

You just shake your head, a smile still on your face, "It's nothing, Fizzy."

He blushes when you call him that and he looks down, a soft goofy smile on his face. God, he's so easy to embarrass and you love it.

...speaking of which, that actually reminds you of something.

You loosen your grip on Fizzle just a little bit, slowly moving your hand downwards, feeling his soft, warm chest as you do. Fizzle's blush is now much more intense, his body shaking a little bit.

"Wh-wh-what are y-you doing, A-Anon...?" He asks shyly and nervously, but doesn't show any sign of resistance so far.

You just nuzzle Fizzle's cheek and softly shush him, to which he obeys without muttering another word, except for the occasional tiny whine.

Your hand moves lower...

-Fizzle closes one of his eyes, in nervous anticipation...

...and lower...

...Until it stops.

Right on Fizzle's soft tummy,

You then begin to rub his belly in a slow, clockwise motion.

Fizzle's eyes open wide, looking down at himself and to where your hand is.

He then lets out a soft, pleasured groan, shaking a little as he leans in against you completely, his tail unwrapping from your leg and beginning to softly thump against the ground a little bit. You laugh when you see this, smiling as you continue to rub his belly

"A-A-Anon...! I...wh-wh... gh...gaaah...~

HA! I was right! You think to yourself, watching as Fizzle experiences his first hands-on belly rub. His leg kicks a little bit and his tongue hangs out a little bit.

"I never knew dragons would actually be into something like this... but I'm glad you are~" You smile and nuzzle his cheek. Fizzle is definitely happy with this. He whines and squirms a little bit, his cheeks glowing red as he tries to vainfully resist.

...Is this really how I should be going about all this? I mean, it's clear as day that we've fallen for each other hard... or... or at least it seems that way. You try and convince yourself.

...But what if this was all some really, really bad case of puppy love? A doubt in the back of your mind speaks up faintly, making you feel a little sick to your stomach.

Only time has the answer I guess...

You look down at Fizzle a little, who's still in a state of bliss. Poor Fizzle must've had it badly back home... if he could even call it home.

For all I know, this could all just be a temporary escape for him.

...Maybe he has the answer already.

...No.

This is Fizzle you're thinking about. He's definitely not like the other dragons...

...If he was, you wouldn't even be living right now.

"...-non?"

Huh?

"Anon...?" You're then suddenly snapped out of your train of thoughts when Fizzle calls out your name, looking up at you with a slightly worried look. You look down at him and notice that you've completely stopped rubbing his belly.

"Oh, uh, sorry Fizzle." You quickly apologize and begin to start again, but Fizzle shakes his head and reluctantly stops you by placing his claw over your hand.

"...What's wrong, Anon? I feel like something's on your mind... something heavy..." He asks, in a... very, very concerned tone.

"It's nothing Fizzy, really... just... just thinking about stuff is all..."

"Like what...?"

You take a moment to respond, before sighing and looking at Fizzle, "...What exactly do you see in me?"

Fizzle is a bit taken aback and confused by this question, before the realization slowly dawns on him. He stays quiet for a minute or two, trying his best to think of what to say without sounding like a total screw-up in front of you. Fortunately for him, you wait quietly and patiently for his answer.

...And thankfully keeping your feeling of dread under wraps.

Fizzle sits up in front of you, looking into your eyes, before he begins to answer your question to the best of his ability, "...I...J-just... You... You not like anyone else I've met before, Anon... n-not because you're an alien o-or anything like that... It's... more than that..."

"....You're one of... I-if not, the only individual who's even shown me the slightest bit of kindness... G-genuine kindness... and care. D-definitely the only one who has ever even been selflessness to me... Just... During this short time, y...you made me feel important... Made me feel as if I was actually worth a damn...

"...After...After the fight back here... I hid in the bushes and I... u-uh... listened to what you said about me deserving your respect and all... and that made me feel respected... useful... wanted even!"

"...So you were stalking me then..." You ask in a neutral tone. Fizzle nods shamefully, but he notices that you don't look mad... more... curious if anything.

"Y-yeah... But... You've shown me... No... given me what nobody else has... Happiness... Respect...Care...

"...L... Love..."
...
...
...

After several moments of silence between the two of you, Fizzle lets out a shaky sigh and sniffles, rubbing his eye with his forearm, wiping away the tears that threaten to drip down his burning red face.

"...Y...you probably see me as some manipulative, good-for-nothing omega dragon that's really no different from the others except for being weak and cowardly... and I don't blame you for th-thinking th-that..." He chokes a little on his words and sniffles again before continuing.

"but I just hoped that I at least got my point across that I actually really, really do like you... as both a friend... a leader... and...m... more...and that I don't see you as just a scapegoat from a horrible li-"

Just before Fizzle can finish, you plant a soft, loving, tender kiss on Fizzle's own lips, making him squeak loudly and look at you in pure shock. Your arms wrap around the slender, soft albino dragon's body very, very tightly.

As Fizzle comes to the realization, he kisses back, slowly hugging Anon back with his arms, though still trying his absolute hardest to hold back his tears.

You feel just how nervous and terrified Fizzle is as you kiss him, shaking quite a lot in your arms. You begin to slowly and gently rub his smooth back in an effort to help him relax. You do so successfully, making Fizzle relax into the kiss and ease his shaking.

As you do this, you unintentionally rub a very sensitive spot that makes Fizzle gasp and his wings expand. You mentally chuckle and make a note for that later.

You then slowly and reluctantly break the kiss after almost a minute, gazing right into Fizzle's soft pink eyes. You smile and laugh a little, to Fizzle's slight confusion and worry."S... Silly Fizzy... I knew since day one that you were unlike the other dragons..."

"For starters... you risked everything you had just to help someone you've never even known..."

Fizzle blushes and looks to the side, clicking his claws together. You keep your arms wrapped around Fizzle and slowly pull him closer, until Fizzle's muzzle is just barely touching your nose.

"...and when compared to the other dragons I've seen... you're quite beautiful...~"

"A-Anon..."

You softly brush Fizzle's cheek with your thumb, gazing into his soft pink eyes. Fizzle lets out a very tiny choked whine, letting his tears flow freely from his eyes. You just smile softly and brush them away.

You then slowly go in for another, more passionate kiss, not breaking eye contact. A soft, cute moan escapes Fizzle's mouth as he kisses you back, this time more confidently, but still letting you lead the kiss. You give the soft albino dragon a squeeze, making him squeak and open his mouth, accidentally causing his tongue to flick against yours.

You return the favor, only going as far as a soft, quick flick as to not make him too uncomfortable. When you feel Fizzle's tongue shyly rub against yours, you take it as an invitation and slowly begin exploring and dominating his very warm mouth. His tongue, while much longer, completely submits to yours, moaning quietly as you do so.

Although you both held the kiss for longer this time, you finally break it to catch your breath. You and Fizzle pant softly, still looking at each other with a burning passion. You were blushing, but nowhere near as much as Fizzy.

"Ah... hah... th-th-that was... mmm...~"

You chuckle and kiss his muzzle, hugging him tightly and closely to you. Fizzle nuzzles the side of your face happily, his tail wagging at a fast pace. You notice this and smile, knowing that you're making him quite the happy dragon.

As you prepare to go in for yet another kiss, you suddenly feel something warm, wet and hard poke against your gut.

When you look down, you can't help but stare.

Poking against you, is Fizzle's member, half way exposed from his sheath. His cock is pressed against you at a certain angle to where the tip is pointed upwards. A small streak of pre stains your shirt, but you seriously couldn't care less about that right now.

Fizzle also looks down, his face now completely flushed as he gasps and tries his best to stammer out a response, "Wh...oh... o-oh! U-uhh...?! A-A-Anon I s-swear I d-didn'-"

You quickly shut him up by reaching down and giving his length a squeeze, then tracing the length up and down with your thumb, getting some pre on it.

Fizzle gasps and moans softly, arching his back a little as he looks at you, a look of nervousness, fear and... lust.

Your pants suddenly feel a lot tighter than before.

With a small, mischiveous smirk, you move your head and rest it on Fizzle's shoulder, then gently bite down on his ear.

He lets out a very loud, feminine gasp and instinctively thrusts against you, grinding his now completely erect cock against you in an almost desperate manner.

Not wanting to leave him hanging, you quickly slide off your pants, then letting Fizzle do the honors of taking off your shirt.

...Well, ripping it off would be a more accurate term, since he isn't necessarily used to clothing, but again, you don't care.

All that matters right now is this cute effeminate dragon in front of you that you've been crushing on for the past week.

It's about time you showed him how much you really love him.

As Fizzle takes a brief moment to admire your physique, your painfully hard member begins to brush up against Fizzle's own. Fizzle squeaks cutely when he feels your cock against his, making you smile. Although yours is bigger, it's definitely not a major difference by any means.

He definitely doesn't seem to mind.

"Mmmhn...~ Th-this is... s-so... ahhh~"

You slowly begin to grind your hard, wet length against his own, wrapping your arms around his slim, soft, warm body once more. Your hands gently rest themselves upon Fizzle's soft, warm rear and you give his cheeks a firm squeeze.

And another squeeze.

And another.

...

Your hands can't get enough of it.

"A-aah!~" Fizzle lets out a loud, surprised squeal when you squeeze and knead his butt, followed by a tiny squeak every time you squeeze them afterwards.

As if they have a mind of their own, they do everything they can and want to that smooth, squishy, soft dragon butt. One of your hands spreads one cheek, while the other rubs and prods Fizzle's cute tight hole in a teasing manner, until one finger very slowly and carefully slips in.

Fizzle gasps and suddenly hugs you very tightly, shaking a little. "Shh... I promise I won't hurt you... if you ever want me to stop... just say so, okay?" You whisper, trying to reassure your dragon. Fizzle nods nervously and you give him a quick kiss on his neck, relaxing him a little more. You then begin to slowly and gently finger his tight, warm hole.

Your other hand then softly gropes and squeezes his supple cheeks, making Fizzle press into you more and whimper.

"A-Anon... M-my... n-nh... nnngh~!"

You feel as if you're mesmerized by just how incredible his rear feels, his cute noises only making you harder and lustful. Regardless, you make sure to be extra careful when you slide in a second finger for your cute dragon to take in.

Surprisingly, he takes it quite well, lifting up his tail more and squeezing you even tighter to the point where you're having just a little bit of trouble breathing.

"Mmm... are you doing okay, Fizzy?~" You ask him softly. He nods and moans softly into your ear, wiggling his butt a little for you.

So cute~

You're quickly beginning to think that his butt is going to be your next favorite thing. Of course, you've caught the occasional glance at Fizzle's cute rear before, but to actually feel it for yourself was a whole other thing entirely.

"Mmmmh...~ M...m-more... p-please~"

Fuck, Thunderlane never had anything on this dragon~

With Fizzle's approval, you go in for a third and final finger into his hole. Although he lets out a couple of grunts and whines, he quickly gets adjusted to it, if the large amount of pre smearing across your own member and stomach was proof of anything.

Hmm... quite quick to adjust... I wonder what he's been practicing on?~

After a few minutes of fingering and comforting Fizzle, you pull your fingers out and keep your hands on his cheeks, still wanting to play with more of that amazing plush rear.

You then both slowly lower yourselves down and sit on your knees, though still not keeping your hands off of his amazing rear until you realize just how hard you both are now. Reluctantly, you move one hand away from his dragon butt and wrap it around both of your cocks, beginning to stroke and rub them at the same time. Fizzle looks down shyly and continues to moan, not daring to stop you.

Your forehead presses against his, both of you sharing a series short, passionate kisses as you stroke each other's cocks faster, clearly noticing that Fizzle is quickly growing more restless.

"Hnnngh... A-Anon..." He whimpers softly and whispers, grinding against your hand, "...I want you...I...I really, really want you..."

You just smile and slowly begin to lay down on your back, pulling Fizzle down with you as his cock presses harder against yours. Your hands slowly and teasingly slide up and down the sides of his smooth, soft body, his scales feeling absolutely incredible.

Fizzle grinds against you harder as your hands grip his hips tightly and with a little bit of effort from Fizzle, you turn him around, so that his dragon bits are now just over your head. You smirk and lean up just a little bit, giving the tip a little kiss.

"A-ah!~"

As soon as you do this, you hear Fizzle gasp and shiver a little bit. As you place your hands on his cheeks to lower his cock into your mouth, Fizzle begins to return the favor, although much more carefully and shyly. Starting off by very gently nuzzling your length, then he begins to gently lick and kiss the tip, which inadvertently drives you wild, thinking that Fizzle is teasing the absolute hell out of you.

You groan softly and thrust your hips upwards a little bit, causing your member to boop Fizzle's muzzle, making him squeak and go cross-eyed for a moment. He then closes his eyes and slowly lowers his mouth right onto your length, beginning to suck on it gently.

Although seemingly inexperienced, you're grateful that he's being mindful of his teeth at least. Nevertheless, you try your absolute best to keep yourself still, moaning as he begins to take in more of your cock, his very warm mouth and long, slender tongue already driving you mad with pleasure.

You begin to suck off his own member in return, doing your best to return the favor and give him the same amount of pleasure he's giving you right now. Your tongue gets a generous amount of pre and you savor it for a few moments before swallowing it.

The taste of his pre is... not what you expected. Definitely not bad by any means. You can't exactly describe what it tastes like... but you know you want more.

You double your efforts on his cock, making Fizzle whine loudly as he thrusts a little bit into your mouth, trying his best to control his own movements, while he continues to please you, bobbing his head up and down your cock much faster now and feeling his tongue wrap around your length and squeezing it, while also sliding it up and down, his mouth. He moans as he sucks you for all you're worth, only adding to the indescribable amount of pleasure you're feeling right now.

You move your hands from his hips to his butt once more, groping them very tightly in an attempt to keep yourself from cumming. Although you succeed, Fizzle seems like he's on the verge of breaking, if the amount of pre in your mouth was anything to go by.

-Fizzle whimpers and opens his eyes, his mouth sliding off of your cock as he gasps cutely and moans out your name, "Aaahn! A-Anon... I-I'm gonna...~"

Before he can finish what he's about to say, he feels you push his rump downwards, taking in as much of his length as you can as he cums, filling your mouth with his dragon seed.

You nearly gag at the sheer amount of cum, but you don't dare let any of it go to waste. You swallow it all, after savoring the taste for a little bit of course. After you do, you slide your mouth off of Fizzle's cock and pant softly, resting your head against the ground. You lean up again and give the tip of his member a small kiss, smiling as Fizzle quivers and tries his best not to fall over.

He whines softly and pants, looking over his shoulder at you, trying his best to speak and compliment you to no end. He then looks down at your own cock and gasps, immediately getting a look of absolute guilt on his face, "A-Anon... y...you didn't cum?... W-was it because of me...? I-I'm so sorry... I d-didn't focus eno-"

You smile and laugh a little, interrupting him, "No, it wasn't your fault, Fizzy... It was intentional, don't worry... Besides, I have... Other plans of getting off...~" You growl, then give his cheeks a firm squeeze for emphasis, causing him to blush immensely as he slowly climbs off you, sitting up on his knees as he looks at you shyly, clicking his claws together.

You sit up as well and put your hands on his hips, giving him a soft squeeze as you gaze into his eyes, "...If you don't want to do this... I won't force you to." You reassure, giving his hips another squeeze. Fizzle looks up at you and in a surprising move, gives you a soft, gentle kiss. Your eyes widen a little bit, but you quickly return the kiss, your arms wrapping around his body as your tongues rub against each other for a moment.

Fizzle breaks the kiss and gazes into your eyes, whispering softly with a lustful look "I want you, Anon... make me yours... make me your dragon...~"

With that, Fizzle slowly slips out of your hold and lays down on his back, his wings folding against him and his tail covering his dragon bits in between his legs. As you sit in front of him, he looks at you with a nervous, but loving smile as he lifts up his legs and spreads them apart in front of you, his tail slowly revealing his cock, which now looks harder than it was before, and his tight, small, pink hole. The tip of his tail brushes gently around his hole.

You feel as if you're about to bust just from looking, but you steel yourself and move yourself closer to Fizzle, putting your hand on one of his legs as you position your eager, throbbing cock with the other.

Fizzle is breathing heavily in anticipation, moving his tail away from his cute little hole as the tip of your cock finally presses against his winking entrance.

You look down at Fizzle, who whines softly and looks up at you, spreading his legs a little bit more, despite his nervous look.

"...please...~" He whispers softly. You lift his legs up a bit more and hold them tightly as you press your cock against his hole. You decide to tease him a little by giving him little pokes and prods, which makes him whimper and look up at you with a small pout. Beginning to feel a little bit guilty, you just smile and begin to slowly press in more and more against his entrance, until you begin to slide in with relative ease.

"N-nnnh~! O-oh my... I... more... m-more...~ Nnnhm~!"

Holy fuck...~ You think to yourself. If you thought his mouth was warm...

Not to mention how incredibly tight he still feels.

You've never experienced anything as incredible as this.

"Gh-ghhh...~"

Most of your length is now buried deep inside of Fizzle, as far as it can go at this point. One of his claws grip the ground tightly, biting his lip as he lets out whines and moans that only serve to turn you on further.

You look at Fizzle and smile a little, reaching down and stroking his cock for a little to help him relax as he adjusts to your length. He opens one eye and looks back up at you, a furious blush on his face as he keeps one of his claws on his chest and smiles.

You begin to slowly slide your cock outwards after a minute or so, of just gazing into his eyes and helping him ease up. When you do this, you feel his hole squeeze your length hard, as if to try and stop you from pulling out. He whines and arches his back upwards, one of his legs twitching a little.

You slide out more than halfway before thrusting back into his warm depths at a moderate pace, making the dragon gasp and whimper out your name in pleasure. You repeat the motion, this time a little bit faster, earning a much more intense reaction.

Fizzle lets out a small gust of brilliant blue fire from out of his nose as you thrust perfectly against his sweet spot. The hot flames brush against your bare chest and stomach, causing no damage whatsoever, but making you feel warmer than before.

You can't take it anymore.

Holding up both of his legs tightly, you begin to pound him relentlessly at a much faster pace, getting quite the reaction from the cute little dragon.

"A-aaah~!! A-Anon pl- mmmh~!"

Fizzle lets out all sorts of cute little noises as you passionately fuck him. You let go of his legs and place them on top of your shoulders. You then grab his claws with your hands, holding them tightly as you continue to rut him and make him your own.

You keep thrusting against his soft, plushy cheeks at a more rapid pace. Grunting and moaning as you fuck him for all you're worth. His head moves left and right, on the verge of screaming out of sheer pleasure due to how perfectly you're hitting his sweet spot every time. He squeezes your hands very tightly, keeping you more stable.

As your thrusts become more ragged and uncoordinated, you wrap your arms around his soft, slim body as he does the same, his claws digging into your back in a slightly painful manner as you give him one more powerful thrust and lodge your cock deeper inside of him, holding him in place so that he takes it all.

"Anon...! A-Anon!! F-fill meee~!"

You do exactly what he asks, filling him to the absolute brim, Fizzle crying out your name until he's interrupted by your sudden, aggressive kiss. He moans into the kiss and tries his best to return it with an equal amount of ferocity. He then cums right after you kiss him, releasing his second load of the night all over his body. His legs twitch a little and his moans and whines get softer and quieter every time you release a load.

After giving him a couple more weak, ragged thrusts, you lay still on top of Fizzle, panting heavily after breaking the kiss, your cock still deep inside of him. He pants cutely against your ear and nuzzles you. You do your best to return the favor in your dazed state, barely being able to keep your arms wrapped around him, let alone squeeze him.

You gently nom his cute little ear, earning a small squeak from the cuddly albino dragon. You feel him nuzzle into the crane of your neck, licking you softly.

"I... I love you, Fizzle..." You softly whisper into his ear, giving him a weak squeeze as you close your eyes.

Although you can't see it, Fizzle is blushing more than he ever has before, looking quite shocked... before a large, content smile forms on his face and he wraps his soft wings around your body.

Right before you fall asleep, you hear Fizzle respond to you in a choked, happy voice.

"I... I-I... I love you too, Anon...~"

Chapter 10

View Online

The next morning...

"Have you found anything good yet, Fizzle?" You ask, popping a flare stick as you drop it and continue your work, shoving away some very loose rocks with your hands, hoping to find some gems, but only to be met with disappointment. You look back at the adorable pink dragon, who's also looking around, but with no luck either.

"N-no... I swear, they're supposed to be more common around here! A-at least from what I heard Garble say a while back..."

You sigh and shake your head, "Maybe the other dragons got to it first. That, or Garble's just a complete retard."

"Most likely the latter, if you ask me." You say with a smirk, which makes Fizzle giggle, pleasantly surprising you.

He's been a lot more open and talkative ever since last night. You expected the complete opposite though, after what you two did last night. Still stutters and blushes a lot of course, but that's a given. Not like you minded anyway.

You and Fizzle were inside the cave that was just a couple yards away from your camp, looking for some gems. Although Fizz enjoyed the food you were sharing with him, he still craved gems, and explained earlier in the morning that dragons need to eat at least one gem every couple of days in order to keep their fire-breathing abilities in top shape.

Of course, doing something like this was technically illegal and could land you a court martial, but at this point, where you're on the verge of leaving the Guards and have an effeminate dragon as your boyfriend, you really couldn't care less.

Plus, it didn't help that Fizzle's pouting face made it verbally and mentally impossible to say no, but that's beside the point.

So here you were, looking for gems in an unknown cave with little climbing gear. At least Fizzle's here to watch your back.

You slowly climb down a small ledge as you point your flashlight at the cave wall, finding nothing worthwhile as you sigh and begin to climb back up.

"Ugh... I don't know Fizzy, there doesn't seem to be any gems whatsoever here. Maybe it was already picked clean? We can try somewhere else if you'd li-"

"I-I found one!"

You look over and see Fizzle's tail poking out of an indent in the cave, wagging excitedly as you walk over to him.

"Wow, seriously? I didn't know they were that hidden. Sorry about that, Fizz. Guess I'm not really cut out for gem mining." You chuckles, taking a glance or two at the albino dragon's tail and rear.

"I-it's okay, Anon! I'm just happy that you were willing to help me and all~"

"C-could you... uhm... pull me out of here, please? I-I can't pull out the gem by myself..."

You shake your head with a smile and comply, getting behind Fizzle and placing your hands on his hips. He freezes up a little and his tail straightens upwards. You feel his rear press against you comfortably, but you try your best to ignore that for now.

"One... Two... Three!" You say, beginning to pull Fizzle back with all if your strength. You hear him let out a squeak as you grunt and begin to hear the gem crack.

After a couple more pulls, the gem finally breaks free from the rock, launching you and Fizzle back. You land on your back and Fizzle lands on your body, knocking the wind out of you. As small as Fizzle was compared to a normal dragon, he was heavier than he let on.

Fizzle gasps and smiles as he stares at his newly acquired gem, saying how pretty and sleek it looks. You cough and take some deep, ragged breaths, "U-ugh... hah... I'm happy that I helped you Fizzy... b-but could you get off me please?"

He gasps and quickly scatters off of you, "O-oh gods! S-sorry Anon! A-a-are you okay...?" He asks as he looks at you up and down with worry. You chuckle a bit weakly and nod your head.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Wind was knocked out of me is all, don't worry." You try to reassure the dragon, sitting up and groaning a little bit.

Fizzle looks to the side with a guiltful look on his face. You sit up and reach over to your adorable little dragon, pulling him close and nuzzling his cheek before giving him a reassuring kiss.

The guiltful look on his face is almost immediately replaced by a shy, happy smile and a fierce blush. He wraps a wing around you and leans his head against your shoulder.

"Y... you make me so happy...~" Fizzle softly whispers, giving you a nuzzle.

You smile and rest your head above his, "I'll do anything to make my best dragon happy."

You feel his ears twitch and his head move out from under you as he looks up at you. You look down at him, your smile never fading as he softly and lovingly kisses you, whimpering happily as he does. You return the kiss with equal love and gentleness.

After breaking the kiss, you both sit there and cuddle together in peaceful silence for a while, until you ask your Fizz a question.

"Mind if I see the gem you were able to get?"

He nods and happily hands it to you to see up close. You inspect it and squint your eyes a little bit, "Hmm... kind of looks like Vibranium."

"Wh... what's Vi...branium?" He asks, looking up at you and tilting his head to the side.

You chuckle a little bit and shake your head, "It's nothing important, all that matters is that you got the gem and get to enjoy it."

You hand him the gem back and he giggles, taking it back and going back to nuzzling you. You wrap your arms around his waist and stomach, giving him a squeeze.

After a few minutes of further silence, Fizzle softly speaks up, "S... so Anon... I... uh... W-when are you going back to Canterlot...?" He asks with a hint of worry.

You think for a moment, before your eyes widen and you mentally curse yourself. You glance at your watch and it confirms the worst. Have you really lost track of time that fast? You softly sigh and answer his question.

"Today."

"W-w-what?!"

You nod and look down as Fizzle looks at you in shock. He slowly looks down as well as a look of sadness forms on his face. He then nuzzles into your shoulder, remaining silent for quite a while, until you feel the spot that Fizzle's nuzzling become wet. You then hear a small sniffle that makes you look down at your dragon.

Although most of his face is hidden, you can still easily tell that he's silently crying to himself, letting out a very faint whimper on occasion. You feel absolutely pained by looking at Fizzle like this, feeling a part of you die when you see him like this.

You gently put your hand under his chin and slowly lift up his face, forcing him to look up at you. He does so, his eyes watery and more red than usual, a look of terrible sadness on his face as he whimpers a bit louder.

"I-I don't w-w-want you to g-go..." He softly whimpers, sniffling a bit, "I... I d-don't want to be a-a-alone...I won't be a-able to d-defend for m-myself... n-now that I can't g-go back to the B-Badlands... I won't h-have anywhere to g-go if you... leave..."

You suddenly feel yourself smiling, before you begin to chuckle softly, much to Fizzle's horrored look, then confusion.

"Wh...wh-why a-are you laughing... A-Anon..." He very timidly asks, feeling quite hurt.

Quickly composing yourself, you softly brush away some of the tears on his cheeks with your thumb, smiling lovingly at the albino dragon before you as you begin to explain yourself, "Hah... I-I'm laughing because you actually think that I'm gonna leave you behind, Fizzle." You whisper softly. He still looks somewhat confused, although a glimmer of hope does shine in his eyes as you continue.

"I can't stay and live the rest of my life here of course... but neither can you, Fizzy. I have absolutely no intentions of leaving you behind to fend for yourself. Especially after everything we've been through this past week."

"You're coming back with me, one way or another."

Fizzle slowly smiles, until he grins happily and lets out a choked sob, hugging you so tightly with his wings and arms, that you feel yourself suffocating a bit in his hold. You smile and hug him back as hard as you can as well, being careful with his wings and softly nuzzling him as Fizzle begins to let out sobs of relief and sounds of happiness.

"I-I-I'm so sorry A-Anon! I-I should've k-known b-better than t-to think y-you'd leave m-me behind... I was j-j-just so- mmmhf~?!"

You quickly plant your lips on Fizzle's and deeply kiss him, shutting him up much to his surprise as he slowly returns the kiss.

After almost a minute, you break the kiss and shake your head, nuzzling your nose against Fizzle's, "You worry too much, silly~" You whisper.

"S-sorry...~" Fizzle blushes deeply, but you just hold him close and begin to softly make out with him.

As both of your tongues begin to touch and playfully wrestle for dominance, you both suddenly hear the sound of flapping wings and muffled talking.

Fizzle breaks the kiss very quickly and gasps, looking at where the muffled voices are coming from. Although you can't make out what's being said, Fizzle has much better hearing than you, and informs you on who it is inside the cave.

"I-it's G-G-Garble... a-and two others..!" He stutters as quietly as he can, despite his fear. You nod and quickly stand up, making sure to be quiet. You put Fizzle's gem inside of your pack and hide behind some large, serrated rocks, which cuts a bit of your arm as you hop over, hissing in pain as you watch Fizzle hide behind some boulders further down.

You put a finger to your mouth to motion him to stay quiet. Although visibly shaking, he nods and his ears fold down. You hear the voices get louder and more clearer.

"-amp site. They've gotta be around here somewhere!"

"Then shut your mouth, retard! If you really think they're in here, then don't let them know! Ugh, you guys are almost as useless as Fizz sometimes, I swear."

You slowly slide your shotgun out of the holster on your back and quietly fold the stock, as well as taking off the safety.

"Speaking of which..." Garble begins to sniff around the place as he gets closer to both of you. He squints his eyes as he looks around the cave.

"He's been here before. I can tell." He then turns around two the other dragons, "Look through every fucking crack and crevice for any clues."

You see through the corner of your eye that Fizzle is curled up in a ball, shaking more than before. You bare your teeth at the sight of Garble and the other dragons, trying to move a little bit closer to Fizzle.

"When I find that faggot, maybe the Wyverns will leave us alone for a while."

"What about that weird looking monkey thing?" Asked the obese looking dragon.

"Even better. Wyverns have... uh... damn, what's that word?"

"Weird?"

"Unique?"

"No, no! Similar, but... oh! Ex-quizit tastes."

"Uh... I don't think-"

"Shut up! Point is, he'll be dead and that's that. Have you idiots found anything?"

"Not yet... how long are we gonna stay here?"

"Until the train at the Royal Guards station leaves for the evening. That'll be the perfect time to sabotage the station."

"Sabotage the station...?" You think to yourself as you hear them continue.

"How much time do you think it'll give us? Once the ponies leave and stuff?"

Garble kicks over a few rocks and looks over them, "More than enough time to do what the Dragon Lord will never do." He chuckles darkly and looks down at the ground, smirking.

"See these prints? Looks like Fizz and the monkey were here before..."

"I don't see any hooves... Heh. I guess Vex did some good damage on that pony Guard."

"Remind me to reward him for that..." Garble mutters, walking closer and closer to where Fizzle is. He's looking at you, pleading for you to do something.

Gripping your shotgun, you nod and quietly exhale. Garble and the other two are closing in on Fizzle's hiding spot.
-But just before you could do anything, a very loud crack echoes through the cave, followed by a thud.

"The fuck was that?!" Garble yells, covering one ear and baring his teeth.

"I-I don't know!" Yelled the obese dragon.

"Maybe it was Fizz and the other thing!"

"Then what are you waiting for! MOVE!"

The dragons quickly scurry out of the cave, followed by the sound of rapidly flapping wings. You sigh heavily and quickly but quietly move over to Fizzle, who quickly sits up and hugs you, sniffing and on the verge of tears.

"A-A-Anon... I-I was so... sc-scared..." He whimpers into your chest and nuzzles, his wings wrapping around you tightly. You softly shush him and kiss his head, rubbing his back and hair.

"Shhh... it's gonna be alright, Fizzle... Just take a few deep breaths, okay?" You say softly, comforting him greatly.

You both stay there quietly for about five minutes, just in case. You were ready to pull out your shotgun the moment you hear their voices again.

"Wh-what was the noise outside...?"

"I have no idea." You shake your head, "a tree most likely. But whatever it was, it gave us the best opportunity to leave once and for all. Hopefully head back to base camp before sundown if we go now."

Fizzle looks quite nervous when you say this, "W-won't they lock me up or something...?"

You shake your head, "I can't let those three fucks get away with whatever they plan on doing no matter what. I'll make up some sort of excuse to the Commander about you."

You kiss Fizzle and softly reassure him, "I promise I won't let any harm come to you. Okay?"

He nods, having complete faith in your words as you both begin to rush out of the cave. As you both approach the exit of the cave, you begin to reload some of your 12 gauge shells into your shotgun, not wanting to take any chances during the hike back.

As you both exit the cave, you see that your campsite is in complete shambles. Either torched or scratched up to bits. Fortunately, most of your important stuff was inside the pack you took into the cave.

Fizzle gasps and points out to the ruined campsite, "A-Anon... the... the camp..."

You acknowledge this, but continue on beyond the camp, ignoring whatever remains, "I know, but it's not important right now. We have to get back to base camp before it gets late."

You look up at the sky and mutter, "Let's go before they come back."

Chapter 11

View Online

The sun slowly began to set behind the massive volcanic mountains that indicated the border between Equestria and the Dragon Badlands, the climate becoming increasingly more colder by the minute. As the winds that blew softly across the forests below began to dissipate, a sudden gust of wind brushed over the dense treetops, immediately followed by a flash of pink and white.

"S-slow down, Fizz! We don't wanna- WOAH!"

You just barely manage to dodge a couple of loose treebranches containing a nest of Phoenix birds. They duck their heads and look on as you and Fizzle speed off.

"We don't wanna fly straight into the camp!" You yell, clinging onto the albino dragon for dear life.

Your words finally get into his head and he looks visibly worried while trying to find a suitable place to land. Once he does, he slows down significantly, diving down at a much careful speed.

Once he lands, you unwrap your arms around him and slowly get off, taking a moment to regain yourself and fixing up your hair.

"Sorry A-Anon..." Fizzle says shyly and guiltfully, hugging you softly as he gently nuzzles you, "I just didn't want us to arrive before anything happened..."

You sigh and hug him back, still feeling a bit woozy, "I know Fizzy. I just... didn't expect you to be that fast."

Fizzle visibly blushes and smiles, looking to the side and clicking his claws together. You can't help but smile more at his cute display. After realizing that hiking back nonstop would still take a day or two at best, you decided to ask Fizzle if he could fly you both to base camp as fast as possible.

And for how small, fragile and nimble he was, he sure was fast.

Well, fast is a probable understatement. Any faster and you probably would've passed out, honestly.

Regardless, you were both just a couple yards away from the entrance to base camp. From where you entered with Sentinel in your arms, and left with renewed vigor and a thirst for justice.

And now you're returning with nothing but the clothes on your back and a pink effeminate dragon that you've called your own.

Not that bad for your first tour in the most dangerous border in Equestria.

"So... how... how are you gonna convince them that I'm not just another brutish dragon...?" Fizzle asks you nervously, taking glances towards the guarded entrance of base camp, then back towards you.

You think for a moment before sighing and looking up at Fizzle with an honest, stern look on your face.

"...I guess I'll just convince them one way or another."

With that, you and a slightly confused Fizzle begin to walk down the makeshift dirt path, the nervousness between both of you evident, but you're able to hide it much better than he can. As you both continue on down the path, you both become more visible to the guards at the gate. One of them immediately notices you both and aims his crossbow, quickly followed by the second guard.

"-cause I don't think she'll offer anypony more firewatch towe... what the... hey! Halt! By the order of The Royal Sis..."

The first guard's sentence dies before he can finish as the two come into clear view of the two guards.

"Uh... Anon? Is that you...?" The second guard asks nervously, but still keeping his crossbow aimed at Fizzle, who looks as if he would fly away at the first sign of trouble.

"Yeah, it's me and yes, I'm with a dragon."

"Look, I can explain it all if you can get Strikewing over here. I got some top priority information for him that'll either make or break this entire operation."

The second guard lowered his crossbow slightly and looked over at the first guard, unsure of what to really do.

"...Well? Go get Strikewing over here!" The first guard demanded.

"Uh... y-yes sir!" The second guard quickly saluted, took one quick nervous glance at Fizzle, then ran off towards the command tent.

The first guard then turned back to you and Fizzle, still dumbfounded as to why you'd bring a dragon to the base camp of the Royal Guards.

"Y... you haven't turned traitor or anything... have you, Anon?" He asks nervously. You quickly shake your head.

"Wh- no! I just... look, just let me explain to Strikewing and you'll know, alright?"

The guard simply stayed quiet as he took glances at the dragon meekly hiding behind you, avoiding his glances. He notices that you're whispering something to the dragon, which visibly calms him down just a little bit, only for the fear to come back when he sets his eyes on Strikewing and to your surprise, Shining Armor, escorted by eight other Royal Guards.

"If Strikewing won't be understanding... then I'm sure Shining will."

"Hopefully."

As he makes eye contact with you, you notice a couple of Pegasi guards having covertly taken position on top of some clouds several yards above you and Fizzle, their scoped crossbows at the ready.

Strikewing raises his wing, the escort stopping as Shining Armor begins to speak to you, "Anonymous... I will let you explain yourself as to why you brought a dragon here of all things."

"I really hope your explanation is good one, Anon." Strikewing adds, his face stoic but his eyes show clear worry.

You nod and exhale softly, beginning to speak to the guards before you, "Before anything else happens... I just want you all to know that this is the dragon that saved me. His name is Fizzle. Usually, Sentinel would be here to back me up, but... my word is probably the best you'll get."

"...You did give a vague description of the dragon during our debriefing. Pink and white, correct?" Strikewing asks. You nod and step aside a little for the guards to look at Fizzle, even though he tries to stay right behind you, where he feels safe.

"Okay then, Anonymous... but why exactly did you bring him here? I want a better explanation than that."

"Because... look, long story short, we eavesdropped on a trio of dragons earlier today. In fact, two of those three were the dragons that attacked me and Sentinel. As they were looking for us in a cave, they talked about sabotaging the train station and the railway."

"The reason I brought Fizzle here is because I don't want to leave him alone out in the forest with those two dragons... especially with them around."

Strikewing sighs and walks forward to you and Fizzle. The other guards begin to follow, but Shining stops them.

He continues until he comes face to face with the two of you, looking up at you, then at Fizzle, who, although still hiding behind you, waves and smiles very timidly at Strikewing.

After a full minute or so, he looks up and speaks to you, "Anon... in any other circumstance, I'd have you and your friend here apprehended the moment you appeared in the front gates."

"...but you haven't given me a reason to doubt you yet. Hence why I'm still standing and not being ambushed."

You nod, both of you still staring at each other until he speaks up again, "Do you know where these dragons are?"

"Kind of, sir. They shouldn't even be a mile away from where the station is by now, if they actually are planning on going with their plans."

Strikewing nods, then turns around and faces the other guards, "You heard the man! I want a squadron of Pegasi patrolling the western and northern railways now!"

"The rest of you will follow me. We're going to be patrolling the forests just outside the station. Have all Unicorns enhance your bolts to incapacitate! We're out here looking for dragons, not a war."

Strikewing then turns to you, "You're coming with us, since you have a, albeit rough, idea of where they'll be."

"Yes sir. But uh... what about Fizzle?"

"He'll stay here, in a secured area until we return."

"Don't worry, Commander. Me and my guards will see to that." Shining says, walking up to the three of you.

Fizzle looks at you with worry, his arms tightening around your waist. You turn around and smile softly, gazing into his eyes.

"Don't worry. Nothing bad will happen to you. I promise I'll be back as soon as we're done, okay?"

Your reassurance seems to do the trick, as he slowly unwraps his arms from around you and leans in for a much needed kiss. You happily do so, holding it for longer than usual before you both break the kiss and smile.

You hear someone clear their throat and you both turn around. You see the looks of pure shock on most guards. Others are blushing madly, like Shining Armor, while others are trying their best to hold in their laughter. Strikewing however, still looks as stoic as ever.

"R-right... Follow me if you will dra- uh, Fizzle." Shining orders, composing himself as Fizzle follows, covering his blushing face with his wings as some guards stare.

Strikewing however, is seemingly unfazed, "Well? Let's get a move on!" He orders, snapping the others back from wherever their minds were. You and your small contigent of Guards begin to follow you and Strikewing to the dragons' possible location.

Three Pegasi fly over you and Strikewing as they provide your patrol air support, the flashlights on their vests beaming down on the forest floor and through the bushes. You and Strikewing have been silent as you've searched all around in a grid pattern.

You've since then reloaddd your shotgun back to your normal non lethal stun shells, at the request of Strikewing. He himself was armed with a crossbow with shock bolts, vigorously searching for any traces of the dragons, before moving on to the next sector. As he does, he finally breaks the silence between the two of you.

"So... You've got the hots for that dragon back there? The one that saved you?"

You nod, brushing away some very loose branches with your shotgun barrel, "Yea- yes sir. I knowhow ironic it is and all... but I don't know. Guess we just clicked, or whatever."

Strikewing chuckles a little bit, "I've heard of stranger love stories. But you do realize that he cannot come to Equestria... right?"

"I know that, sir."

"Not only that, but you're still pending for a dishonorable discharge of worse."

"I know."

You both continue to search for a few minutes in awkward silence, before Strikewing sighs and looks up at you.

"I hope that you know that I don't take any pleasure in saying that. If it were up to me, I wouldn't care beyond the citizenship thing. But it isn't up to me. You know what you signed up for. And what you're supposed to do."

You stay silent for a moment, before nodding and moving forward, "I realize all that, and I appreciate that your mindset is in line with mine, sir. But... surely there's got to be something that can be done? Anything?"

Strikewing thinks to himself as he moves closer to you, then speaks in a more quieter tone, "The most I can do for you Anon, is to convince Shining Armor to let you hear your side of this story. If your dragon lover hasn't already."

"I'm not guaranteeing anything, but I'm sure he'd be willing to listen to you. At the very least."

You smile at this, and think of Fizzle possible talking to Shining and maybe giving a better perspective on all of this.

If he isn't dying of nervousness due to talking to someone of such high authority, that is.

"...Thanks for the assurance at least, sir."

Strikewing just smiles and nods, as you both begin to move closer to regroup with the nearest group of Guards.

As you both do, you hear a Pegasi yell suddenly a couple yards away.

"What the... hey... h-hey! I found them! I think I found the- AAAH!"

As you and the others look at the direction the Pegasi is at, you're almost blinded by the brightness of the bright orange flames coming from the tree branches.

"Everyone move! Don't let those damn dragons escape!"

You quickly run towards the dragon's location, seeing the dragon you know as Garble dropping down from the tree branches and onto the ground, next to the knocked out pegasus that found him. Two other dragons follow suit.

Garble notices you running towards him and his eyes widen, before he growls loudly and prepares to charge at you.

"Now!" Strikewing yells, as three Unicorns come up from beside him and fire magical bolts at the dragon trio.

Two of the bolts directly hit the two other dragons, causing them to spasm and quickly collapse to the floor with unintelligible yells. Garble looks left and right as his two pack members collapse beside him.

The final bolt impacts his leg, causing him to roar loudly and stumble, clutching it in pain. You take this opportunity to quickly rush over to him.

As the distance between the two of you closes, you adjust your shotgun and hold it by the barrel and stock, before slamming it right onto the side of Garble's face, smacking his head with massive blunt force as his head snaps to the side and he collapses to the floor, unconscious.

You quickly reach to your side for a pair of zip ties to use as temporary restraints. As you do this, several other guards go over to you and quickly begin doing the same to the other dragons.

As you finish up tying Garble's legs and claws together, you look behind you and see Strikewing looking at you, then back down at the three dragons.

"Guess we have a lot to discuss when we get back."

After a relatively short hike back to base, you finally set the unconscious dragon down on a wooden platform, stretching and rolling your shoulders as you as you sigh.

The guards at the entrance of the base mutter to each other as they stare at the unconscious dragons, then back at you. You can just barely make out what they're saying.

"Shit... I guess he wasn't lying after all."

"I don't know if I'm comfortable with the idea of three dragons in our base..."

"I'm just glad Anon didn't turn out to be a traitor or something."

"Do you think we should've known better...?"

"Fuck if I know."

You stop eavesdropping on their conversation when you see Strikewing motioning you over to him, Shining Armor and Fizzle, who looks no worse for wear, to your immense relief.

Fizzle looks over your shoulder towards Garble and the two other dragons, making him look uneasy, but once he sets his eyes back to you, he visibly relaxes and smiles at you.

You do the same, but to your surprise, he winks at you before looking down at both Shining and Strikewing.

"Well, Anon. You've proven yourself here once more. And while you are in a... unique legal position right now, you've more than earned the opportunity to give your si-"

Before Strikewing can continue, Shining raises his hoof to pause him, "No need, Strikewing. I've heard quite enough from both sides."

He then looks up at you, staring right into your eyes with a neutral look as he continues, "We will discuss this further inside the command tent. But before we do, what is the biggest question on your mind right now?"

You sigh and look over at Fizzle, who smiles softly at you, then you look back down at Shining.

"What are the requirements for Equestrian citizenship for dragons?"

Shining continues to stare at you with a neutral look, as the tension and nervousness in your body grows, but you don't dare show it.

After what seemed like an eternity, you see Shining slowly form a small smile.

"Fizzle, Anon, follow me if you will."

Epilogue

View Online

Two years later...

A very bright light shines through the deep, dark caverns of a cave system, moving swiftly as the person the light is attached to looks all around, followed by the sound of zipping rope and clinging metallic parts that echo throughout the caverns.

You grunt as your legs hit hard against the rock wall, double checking your safety restraints as you finish rappelling for the moment. Thanks to the intense training from your new job, you've proven to be quite capable at rappelling, though only just.

As you look around with expected disappointment, you begin to reminisce about everything that's passed throughout the past two years.

During your return to Equestria, you were fortunate to bring Fizzle along for the ride at least. It was quite adorable seeing him get into his first train ride and experiencing all that came with it. Although the passengers aboard weren't exactly as keen on having a dragon aboard at first, they slowly warmed up to him for the most part.

Even though you were still really unsure about what would truly happen, long story short was that Shining Armor was able to convince the Royal Migration and Ethics department to give Fizzle permanent citizenship status, even though the process did take longer than what you expected. If he wasn't the Captain for the guards, he'd make a hell of a consultant.

After being honorably discharged by Shining and some other higher ups in the Guards, you were fortunate enough to come across Sentinel not too long after that. He was able to show you the path towards another new, just as impactful job.

A firefighter.

...slightly ironic, but it did come in handy. Fizzle was by no means a pyromaniac, but he is a dragon that still does dragon things now and then.

Good thing your house is mostly made out of bricks and stone.

Overall, life has treated you well through these years. More than you could've asked for, that's for certain. Even more so now that Fizzle has found his own footing in Canterlot. You've put in the good word to that one tall unicorn that worked in a brand new bouquet not too far from your home, and since it was just reopened, she was more than eager to hire new employees if they met their requirements.

With the massive amounts of gems used on clothing here in Equestria, a dragon like Fizzle came quite handy in terms of inspecting and collecting legitimate gems. Even more so when Fizzle told her that his hoarding tendencies were oddly much less so than that of a normal dragon.

Needless to say, he nailed the interview and now works happily, but always makes time for you, just as you do for him. Sometimes, you both just call in for a day and laze around in bed, in each other's arms as you show him a couple pony or human movies.

You slowly rappel deeper into the cave, seeing a glistening gem on some loose jagged rocks to your side. With your magically enhanced drill in one hand and the rope on the other, you move towards the gem, squinting a bit due to your flashlight gleaming against it. As you carefully maneuver through the jagged edges, you finally get a good look at the gem and sigh in frustration. You then put the drill back onto the hilt on your toolbelt and pull out a book from your pack, with the words 'Dragon Courtship' on the front cover in gold, along with two serpent-like dragons forming a heart around the words.

After flipping through a few pages, you close the book quickly and shake your head, continuing downwards.

Your mind wanders as to what happened to the three dragons that tried to sabotage the Royal Border Guards' only lifeline to the outer world. From what you were told, the dragons were reported to by one of the Princesses themselves after they were informed of what happened.

Nothing much is really confirmed after that, but the rumors going around is that they're possibly on the verge of complete exile by the current Dragon Lord. As long as neither of you see them again for as long as you both live, you could honestly care less.

You quickly look around the cavern, ignoring a majority of the gems around you. You feel the air become more damp and cool, then you hear the sound of soft rushing water and a couple droplets. As you try to get a better footing, you suddenly slip over a wet boulder and after struggling to gain a grip, the rope gives way and you begin to fall.

"Oh SHI-"

You land with a loud splash, falling into the underground lake halfway from the bottom of it. Opening your eyes, you quickly struggle to swim back up to the surface, detaching some of the less vital equipment to make it easier to swim. After a couple of seconds, you quickly rise up to the surface and gasp, shaking your head and coughing heavily to get rid of the excess water.

"Fuck's sake... Please gods, tell me the rope is still connected to the top..." You mutter to yourself after gaining your composure. You grab the wet rope still attached to you and yank at it softly. After nothing happening, you tug on it harder and harder, with nothing happening still.

Sighing in relief, you hear a very faint glowing sound to your side. Looking over, you see something of a decent size glowing on the shoreline of the lake. You begin to swim towards it, eyes locked onto it as your face glows brighter the closer you get.

Your mouth opens wider as you finally reach the shore, climbing out of the lake and standing up, walking towards the gem. Finally having a clear look at it, you crouch in front of a large, glowing gem, glistening as smoky lines flow throughout the inside of the gem.

You pull out your book once more and fumble around a little bit due to how wet it is, carefully flipping through the soggy pages as to not damage them further, until you reach the page you were looking for.

You then look up at the gem, with the biggest smile on your face.

"Perfect."

Author's Notes:

Ok, this is the last official chapter, I swear! I just wanted to include this because I'm that sappy.

So, although the main part of the story is now officially over, I will be adding the occasional clop/romance chapter, as well as some behind the scenes chapters that detail things I didn't think about back when I was writing the main story. I don't know how many,
or when, it'll just appear when it appears.

I hope I'll make more Fizzle-based focus stories in the future, but only time will tell. Aside from that, I hope you've enjoyed what I had to offer overall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdXsLt0o_9g

(If you can't get enough of Fizzle like me, then let me refer you to this Pastebin that I made which has a ton of Fizzle-related content. Enjoy it as much as I have!)

Hidden Gem

by TLP

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9 (NSFW Warning)

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Epilogue