Nightwatch and Buttercream encounter a young eastern dragon named Lily, leading them on an adventure to the land of Ester Dracos. While Buttercream has some fun, Nightwatch does some important research with the help of Emperor Antirrhinum.
Nightwatch and Buttercream come across a lost little dragon named Lily who claims to be from the land of Ester Dracos, where the serpentine Eastern Drakes live. They embark on an adventure to return Lily to her homeland and end up coming face to face with the powerful Emperor Antirrhinum, who may have knowledge about Buttercream's species. While Nightwatch does some research, Buttercream ends up in a huge predicament that could endanger Ester Dracos and all the new friends she's made!
This arc takes place not long after Nightmare Moon's return and the rest of the story runs alongside the events of the official show. It will eventually cross over with the plot of Flurry Heart's Story. Click here to start reading Flurry Heart's Story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/465425/flurry-hearts-story-elements-assemble
Thunder rumbled in the distance, as the clouds grew darker and blocked out the sun. Buttercream leaned on the rail of the deck and watched eagerly. Nightwatch joined her, while Aurora Shine and Midnight Hue sat on a swinging chair by the front door. Buttercream and Nightwatch had always enjoyed watching thunderstorms in the summer, and there was a big one passing through Daleshire tonight.
“Nighty, see the rain in the distance?” the little dragoness said, pointing to the misty water falling down onto a mountain in the distance.
“I see it. This storm is gonna be the best of the summer!” Nightwatch responded.
Just then a bolt of lightning flashed.
“OOOOH!” they all said simultaneously.
“EEEH! I love watching thunderstorms!” Buttercream squealed.
“You kids might want to move in once the rain comes down. Also be careful of the lightning,” Aurora told them.
“Ah, they’ll be fine, Honey,” Midnight teased his wife. “Just don’t come crying to us when you two get soaked.”
“Jokes on you, Dad! I love getting wet!” Buttercream said, bouncing up and down as more lightning flashed.
“Whoa! That was a good one!” Nightwatch said.
The wind began to blow and the trees swayed from its might, as leaves fell off. The thunder rumbled louder, causing the window panes to vibrate. Nightwatch and Buttercream felt water falling down on them. They put their tongues out to catch more droplets in their mouths. The rain grew louder and faster and soon joined the sound of the wind. In just a few seconds, the darkest clouds had hovered right over their cabin and dumped millions of droplets. The lightning continued to flash and the thunder kept roaring every few seconds. The entire outdoors were covered in a thick mist of rain falling down. Nightwatch was already soaked and decided to move back in. They both dried themselves off with a towel that Aurora retrieved from inside.
“Alright, Butter. We’d better stay away from the outside while the lightning is still flashing,” he told his little dragon sister.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t wanna get hit by a bolt,” Buttercream replied. “Still, this is so fun to watch! This is why I love summer so much!” “When we get these storms, they’re like…huh? What was that?”
“What was what, honey?” Aurora asked.
“That sound. Was that a cat or something? Oh, it actually it sounds like someone calling for help!”
“Shhh! I hear it too!” Nightwatch said, motioning for everyone to be silent.
“HELP ME!” shouted the faint voice of a female child somewhere in the vicinity.
“There it is again!” Butter exclaimed.
“Oh my goodness! Who is that?” Aurora asked.
“Guys, look! There’s someone up there!” Nightwatch said, squinting his eyes to get a better view of the sky.
Several hundred yards away in the sky was a small object being hurled about by the wind. Lightning flashed and Nightwatch was just barely able to make out a little creature. It appeared to be a young pony from this distance but did not have any wings. The crying grew louder and the creature began to wave its arms.
“HEEEEELP! I CAN’T FLY IN THIS!” shouted the creature.
“She’s in trouble! Nighty, what do we do?!” Buttercream asked her brother, frantically.
“I don’t know if we can do anything with all this lightning!” Aurora said.
“Well I’m not waiting to find out!” Nightwatch replied as he boldly dashed out into the rain.
“NIGHTY!” Buttercream shouted, as Midnight and Aurora held her back.
Nightwatch ran through the front yard, crossed the dirt road and made his way to the field on the other side. His horn glowed and he casted a shield spell that would protect against the lightning. The creature was getting closer to the ground and finally landed and rolled around uncontrollably.
“WHOA! OW! UGH!” she said, tumbling into some tall grass.
“HANG IN THERE! I’VE GOT YOU!” Nightwatch said.
He used his magic to pick up the creature and set her on his back. He rushed back to the house and made it to the front porch, just as there was a final lightning flash followed by a loud crack of thunder. Nightwatch was soaked again but was only concerned with helping their unexpected visitor. He brought the creature down onto the mat in front of the door. Midnight used his magic to turn the front lights on so they could see what she was. Nightwatch thought she would be a pony, but sure enough, this creature was something else entirely.
Instead of hooves, she had digits at the end of her limbs like Buttercream. Her body was serpentine and her face was doglike. Nightwatch was suddenly reminded of Steven Magnet, the large water-dwelling dragon that he and Buttercream met a few weeks ago during their trip to see Princess Luna’s return. This one was different though. While she had scales visible on her yellow underbelly and nose bridge, the rest of her was covered in bright, spring-green fur. Instead of spikes, she had a mane of darker green hair going down her head and body and a small tuft of light green fur at the tip of her tail. Unlike Steven, who had fishlike fins on the side of his head, she had mammalian ears and a set of small brown antlers. She also had four limbs instead of just two.
“Is she alright?” Aurora asked.
“I think so,” Nightwatch responded, as he tried to wake up the creature.
“Nighty? Is that what I think it is?” Buttercream asked.
“Yeah, I think it’s one of those eastern dragons.”
“Didn’t you guys say you met one on your trip?” Midnight asked.
“Yeah, but Steven was a full-grown sea serpent. I’m not sure what kind this one is. Hey, Miss? You awake?”
Nightwatch continued to nudge the little furry dragon until she woke up. She lifted her head and rubbed her eyes with her fists. She opened her eyelids to reveal red irises. She looked up at the unicorn stallion that had just rescued her.
“Hey…tha…thanks for helping me,” she said, faintly.
“Are you okay?” Nightwatch asked.
“I am. Sorry about that. I’m not the greatest at flying when the weather is bad like this. Now you guys are…wait…you guys are unicorns…but is that a Northern Drake I see?”
The mysterious dragon stood up and made eye contact with Buttercream who was already excited to be meeting another fellow dragon.
“Is that my species or something? Cuz I still don’t’ know,” Buttercream giggled.
The dragon stood up and began to levitate around Buttercream, while examining her.
“Well of course it is! You have no horns, but you’ve got a very prominent set of dorsal spikes going down your head and back, which definitely makes you a Northern!
“EEEEEH! Guys, she knows about my kind!” Buttercream squealed as the dragon continued.
“You’ve got a good length for your claws, your spikes are nicely aligned, your scales are even, and you should be growing your wings in a few years give or take!”
“Wings? My kind grows wings?!”
“Not only that, but some Northerns grow to be quite rotund as they eat more healthy gems, so judging by your physique, that little belly of yours is soon going to be a lot bigger. That’s a perfectly normal thing for Northerns though and will keep you insulated in colder weather. I hear you guys are really cuddly but also really strong. You’re gonna be super cute when you get older!”
“Nighty, did you hear that? I’m gonna get wings and be a big, cuddly, fat dragon someday! I’ll be the best hugger around!”
Buttercream hugged her brother’s leg. Nightwatch was already very happy to be hearing someone talk a lot about her species as he had been wondering about it for a while.
“Gosh, you know quite a lot about other dragons! But you’re an eastern one, correct?” Aurora asked.
“Yup! I’m an Eastern Drake from Ester Dracos! My species is called the ‘wind longs.’ We have snake-like bodies, fur, antlers, and we can breathe fire and use magic!”
“Is that how you’re able to fly without wings?” asked Midnight?
“Most of our magic comes from our antlers, but when we levitate, you might not see them glow cuz it’s more like a mind power we have. It’s a little hard to explain. Oh and where are my manners? Sorry. My name is Lily.”
“Great to meet you, Lily!” Aurora told her. “I’m Aurora Shine. This is my husband Midnight Hue, my son Nightwatch, and our little adoptive dragon daughter over there is Buttercream.”
“Daw, you guys adopted her! That’s so sweet! I had no idea some dragons would allow ponies to adopt their young.”
“Well technically we found her,” Nightwatch told Lily.
“My egg was out in the woods, so Nighty hatched me and took me home. They’re the greatest family ever!”
“Still sweet that he took you under his wing…well, not wings, but you get my meaning.”
Midnight had opened the door and let everyone in where it was a bit warmer and dry. Aurora grabbed another towel and put it around Lily, while speaking to her.
“So, Lily, what were you doing in Equestria? And in a storm of all things?” Aurora asked.
“Well my brother Aster and I were abroad for some important business and I got caught up in this storm. Like I said earlier: I’m not the greatest at flying in heavy wind. My brother’s more the professional when it comes to levitation and magic, but I’m getting there.”
“You seem pretty well educated,” Midnight remarked.
“Oh, I just pay attention in school. Sadly that’s all I know about Northern Drakes. So Buttercream, do you know who your parents are?”
“Well they’re standing right next to ya, but I don’t know who my real dragon mom and dad are,” Buttercream replied.
“We’ve been wondering about Butter’s kind for a while, but we never found her parents. That’s okay. She’s been the greatest blessing this family has ever had.” Nightwatch added as he put his arm around his little sister.
“Aw! You guys are the sweetest ponies I’ve ever met! Of course you’re the first ponies I’ve ever met, but I’m sure you compete quite well!”
Everyone led Lily into the living room. She sat down on the couch with the towel still on and Nightwatch and Buttercream joined her. Aurora brewed some warm tea for their visitor while Midnight kept talking with Lily.
“So you and your brother were here on important business you say?” he asked. “What were you guys doing here?”
“Well, see, we just heard that Princess Luna returned from a thousand-year slumber, and according to our leader, Emperor Antirrhinum, that means it’s time for Ester Dracos to reunite with Equestria. Our family has a close friendship with Antirrhinum, so we volunteered to go into Equestria to find the princess and bring her to talk things over.”
“You guys are looking for Princes Luna?!” Buttercream exclaimed.
“Sure are. Is she around?”
“Well she’s not close, but we know her!”
“You know the princess!?”
“We sorta met her a few weeks ago after the whole Nightmare Moon thing happened,” Nightwatch explained. “We actually encountered her not long after the stars freed her. Thankfully some other ponies found the Elements after we left and dealt with her. We met Princess Luna later and became fast friends with her.”
“And she was so impressed with our Nightwatch, she actually asked for him to be her protégé!” Aurora said, rubbing Nightwatch’s cheek with her hoof as he blushed.
“Wow, I can’t believe it! Good thing I fell near your house and got your attention! I just wish Aster was here.”
“Well hey, you’re welcome to stay with us for now. Tomorrow we’ll see if we can find your brother,” Midnight told her.
“In the meantime, have some tea, dear,” said Aurora, handing her a tea cup.
“Ooooh, chamomile! My favorite!” Lily said, sipping the tea. “I really do appreciate your guys’ hospitality! When I find Aster, it would be nice if you could just point us in the right direction to Canterlot. I think we missed a turn and that’s how I got caught up in that storm.”
“Uh…actually, Lily, I’m not sure we should have Princess Luna go with you guys to your homeland. At least not right now,” Nightwatch warned.
“Why is that?”
“Well, it’s just…she hasn’t been doing so great ever since she came back. She did just get imprisoned in the moon for a thousand years after all. It hasn’t been easy for her to get with the times.”
“Eh…yeah, you do make a valid point there.”
“And we saw how bad it was with the Nightmare Moon possession. It’s left her feeling pretty depressed since then. I think she perked up a bit after meeting us that night, but all these new changes have not been easy.”
“I see. Well when I find Aster, we’ll see what we can do about it.”
“Tell you what. I’ll send a letter right now to Princess Luna and see if she responds soon. She just sent me these magic stamps that Celestia made that can be instantly transported to Canterlot so we might get a response real soon. Celestia can probably help out in her sister’s place.”
“Nighty, I have an even better idea!” Buttercream exclaimed. “Why don’t you and I travel over to Ester Dracos and talk with their Emperor! We can be ambassadors!”
“Uh…well, I guess that could work. Mom, Dad, what do you guys think?”
“Go to Ester Dracos? Well I’m not sure. We’ve never been there ourselves. Lily, is it safe for ponies to go?” Aurora asked.
“Sure it’s safe!” Lily chimed. “The Easterns aren’t used to ponies being around, but there’s no sentiment against them there. After Nightmare Moon happened a thousand years ago, it created this divide between dragons and ponies, but most of the longs have forgotten about it and the older ones have grown past it. To be honest, a lot of them are really interested in Equestrian culture and would probably love to see a unicorn there with a little Northern Drake!”
“They’ll be fine, Aury,” said Midnight. “Won’t be nearly as crazy as their last trip.”
“That’s true, dear,” Aurora replied.
“EEEEH! ANOTHER TRIP!” Buttercream squealed.
“Well we should probably wait till we get a response from the princess,” said Nightwatch. “I’ll send that letter tonight and see if she’ll get back soon.”
“In the meantime, Lily, we have a guest room upstairs if you’d like to stay in it,” said Aurora.
“Thank you so much!” Lily said. “I could really use a nice warm bed right now! That storm was pretty scary, but I’m glad this guy saved me!”
Lily cuddled up to Nightwatch as he put his arm around her.
“It’s what I do,” he said, bashfully.
“My brother’s a real hero,” Buttercream told Lily. “When you wake up tomorrow, we’ll tell you how he helped take down a big killer robot sheep!”
The storm continued into the night. There was still the occasional pitter-patter of rain against the windows and lightning would strike every so often, but everyone slept through it. Lily slept comfortably in the guest room as her new friends all used their usual bedrooms.
Aurora slept peacefully until she heard something moving in the hallway. She sat upright in bed and listened harder. She heard sniffing followed by the sound of something being dragged slowly over the ground, almost like it was slithering. She looked over to her door to see a shadow creep by the light coming in from the bottom. She grew tense and her heart started beating faster. There was no way this could be Nightwatch or Buttercream getting up to go to the restroom since there would be footsteps, and Lily would probably just hover. Aurora reached over and shook Midnight to wake him up.
“Midnight! Get up!” she whispered frantically.
“Uh…honey, what is it?” he mumbled.
“There’s something out there!”
“It’s probably one of the kids. Just go back to bed.”
“No, it wasn’t the kids. Something is out there sniffing and it sounded like it was slithering over the ground. Do you hear it?”
Midnight sat still and heard the noises his wife was describing. He got up and walked slowly to the door. They both opened it and peered out into the hallway. They looked towards the steps leading to the living room and saw nothing. They looked back to the other end where the guest room door was. Sure enough, there was a large dark object moving around in front of the door, sniffing and trying to poke its nose underneath. It appeared to be a thick snake that could have been about three or more feet in length if it were stretched out. The creature kept sniffing until it became alert and lifted its head. It quickly spun around and stared at Aurora and Midnight. It had huge green eyes with slit pupils. Aurora and Midnight trembled and their hearts dropped. The creature quickly zoomed past them through the hallway and down the steps. They were both so frightened; they stumbled backwards and landed with a thud on the floor of their bedroom, causing some belongings on their dresser to fall over.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!” shouted Aurora.
“The world’s biggest snake, that’s what!” Midnight replied as he started digging through his closet and came out with a large net and flashlight.
“Dad?!” said Nightwatch across the hallway.
“What happened? Are you guys okay?” Buttercream asked.
“SHHHH!” Aurora said. “We saw a huge spikey snake slithering around out here! It almost got into Lily’s room!”
“I’m going down now. Stay behind me,” Midnight said, carrying the net with his magic.
They all stepped quietly towards the top of the steps and looked down into the living room. Aurora used the flashlight and pointed it into the whole front area of the house with the kitchen and living room. She pointed it around in the kitchen, thinking the creature would go for food first. She then heard sounds to her right and pointed it towards the living room. She didn’t see the creature, but a paper had fallen off of a table and floated down to the ground. Midnight slowly walked down the steps, trying not to cause it to creek. Everyone followed closely behind, keeping their eyes on the living room. In a few moments, Midnight had reached the bottom of the steps with everyone else behind him. They continued to survey the living room but could not see the creature. Midnight tried to turn on a wall-mounted light switch, but the power had gone out from the storm.
“Great. No power,” Midnight grumbled.
“What color was it?” Nightwatch asked.
“We didn’t get to see it good enough to tell, but it had glowing green eyes,” Aurora replied.
Midnight walked over to a junk drawer in the kitchen and pulled out another flashlight for Aurora, while Nightwatch cast a spell with his horn to light the way.
“Kids, you look in the dining room and laundry,” he told them. “I think I left the cellar door open, so I’m gonna check down there after I try the back porch. Aury, you keep checking the living room and kitchen.”
Everyone split up and went their separate ways. Buttercream was scared and stuck with Nightwatch.
“It’ll be okay, Butter,” Nightwatch told the little dragon.
“Nighty, what do you think a giant snake is doing in our house? Is it like a boa-constrictor?”
“Nah, those things aren’t native to this part of Equestria. I’m sure Mom and Dad just saw some weird looking rodent or some other animal from the forest.”
“Yeah, but the slithering part and the eyes?”
“They were half asleep when they saw it. It’s probably just their imagination.”
“Okay, well we’d better get it quick before Lily wakes up and wonders what we’re up to.”
“Shhh! Butter, look…”
They both stopped as Nightwatch pointed to something in the dining room. There were droplets of what appeared to be dog slobber on the ground, leading over to the corner of the room. Nightwatch used his magic to move a chair in the corner but there was nothing there. He then felt Butter tapping his shoulder frantically.
“N-n-n-ni-nighty…”
Nightwatch looked to see her pointing up to the ceiling. He looked up and saw the creature. It was just as Aurora had described it. The eyes appeared green, though it was squinting its eyes in the light. He could now make out its colors. It was maroon with pink spikes and underbelly. It had a beak-like snout and almost resembled a dragon in the old book about dragons he had as a kid. Nightwatch did not see anything quite like this in his book, but he was more put off by how the creature was hovering just below the ceiling like Lily’s kind, but it didn’t appear to be an Eastern Drake. It appeared very confused and frightened. Buttercream screamed as Nightwatch called out.
“MOM, DAD, WE FOUND IT!” they shouted.
Their shouting startled the creature. It wriggled around the ceiling, trying to get out of the room without getting too close to them. It made strange nasally sounds with its mouth and almost sounded like it was barking.
“OOH! AAAAAAUF! AUF-AUF-AUF!”
The creature finally found the entrance between the living and dining room and flew back into the living room. Aurora shone her flashlight at it and it squinted its eyes from the bright light.
“AAUF!”
“MIDNIGHT! IT’S UP HERE! QUICK! IT CAN FLY!” shouted Aurora.
The creature hovered around the ceiling until it backed itself into another corner. Midnight arrived and used his magic to put the net closer to it.
“Careful not to make it mad, Dad!” Nightwatch warned.
“Don’t worry! Your old man’s got this!” Midnight replied.
The creature appeared more scared the closer the net got. Finally, it descended to the living room and started zooming all over the place, knocking things over. Everyone scattered and tried to grab it with something. Aurora used a deep pan to capture the creature with, while Nightwatch tried to use his magic to wrangle it. Buttercream just stood near the kitchen and watched them, but started to look concerned for the creature.
“Careful guys,” she told them.
Everyone kept trying to chase after the creature until they lost it. Buttercream then heard something behind her. She looked back to see the creature hiding behind her legs. It looked lost and helpless. Buttercream nearly jumped at the sight of it, but she quickly realized the creature meant no harm and was more frightened than they were. She reached down to pet it. It shrank away from her at first but did not scamper off.
“It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you, little flying snake thingy,” she crooned.
The creature had its face covered with its tail, but slowly lifted it and sniffed Buttercream’s hand. It stuck out a forked tongue to lick her hand, until everyone shone their flashlights onto it.
“Good job, Butter!” said Midnight, readying his net.
“DAD, NO!” she shouted, standing in front of the creature. “Can’t you see? It’s scared!”
“Sweetie, that thing doesn’t belong in this house! We don’t know where it’s been! It could be dangerous!” Aurora said.
“No really, look! It’s not as bad as it seems!”
Buttercream reached down and pet the creature. It smiled and wagged its tail like an excited puppy.
“See, it likes me!”
“Aww. Midnight, maybe this thing isn’t so bad.”
“I dunno, honey. We still don’t know how it got into our house…or why.
“SHHH! Guys, listen!” said Nightwatch.
Everyone then heard a muffled voice outside of the front door. They could not make out what the mysterious voice said, but the creature perked up the instant it heard. It began barking at the door. The doorknob turned back and forth but was locked from the outside.
“Pansy, that you?” said the voice. “Oh, whadaya know. Door’s locked.”
There was a flash of light outside of the door. Not even one full second later, there was an even brighter flash of light behind everyone in the living room. Another larger creature had teleported inside. They all turned to see a tall, thin creature standing next to the couch. It had two antlers on its head and started putting its arms out. Before they could turn their flashlights, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled just as it stood tall and peered down on them. This caused it to look very intimidating and almost evil. Everyone started screaming right away, causing Aurora and Midnight to drop their flashlights. The tall monster freaked out in response, shouting in an over-exaggerated fashion, almost like he found it funny.
“WHOOOOA, EASY THERE, PONIES!”
His antlers lit up and sent a surge throughout the house. The power went back on and the lights lit up just as the tall creature tripped over something. He stumbled and fell onto the couch with his legs and tail sticking up.
“WhOOOA! OOF! OH NO! Medic, hurry! Get a defib and some smelling salts! We’ve got a dragon down! Oh don’t worry. Not even a scratch. Hehe, least I landed on something soft. Oh don’t mind me, folks. Lovely couch you’ve got here.”
Everyone slowly walked over to the other side of the couch to see a tall, green, serpentine dragon similar to Lily. He had a yellow underbelly and magenta hair. His antlers were longer than Lily’s and he even had a curly purple mustache similar to Steven Magnet’s. He appeared very friendly and had a big smile on his face.
“AUF AUF!” barked the creature as it flew into the dragon’s arms.
“That’ll do, Pansy,” he said, petting the creature. “Sorry about my wyrm, folks. She can’t help herself sometimes.”
“Wait a second…” said Buttercream, walking closer to the dragon. “Is your name Aster by any chance?”
“Ah, I see my reputation precedes me. That’s me, little lady.”
“Everyone, what’s happening down there?” asked Lily as she hovered out to the top of the steps, rubbing her eyes. Once she stopped, her eyes widened when she saw Aster and Pansy.
“Ast…Aster? Is that you?!”
“AUF!” barked Pansy as she flew in to meet Lily.
“PANSY, YOU FOUND ME!” Lily shouted joyfully as Pansy licked her.
“LILY! There you are, ya lost little long!” Aster said, hovering up to Lily.
He lifted his little sister up in his arms. She wrapped herself around him, as Pansy flew around them both, barking as she went.
“I thought I’d never see you again after I lost you in that storm. Next time we set sail, we’re bringin lifelines, got it?” Aster said.
“Hehe, sorry. I should’ve held on a little better with my magic.”
Aster and Lily both hovered back down to the living room floor to speak with their new friends.
“Thanks for letting my sister stay here, folks,” Aster told them. “I owe ya for taking care of her.”
“Lily, that’s your brother?” asked Aurora.
“Sure is!” Lily called back. “Everyone, this is my brother Aster and our pet wyrm, Pansy! Aster, Pansy, this is Midnight Hue, Aurora Shine, Nightwatch and Buttercream! Nightwatch is the one that saved me from the storm last night! I fell down near their house and he came out while there was still lightning and brought me over here! He was so brave!”
“Ah! Then that’s two I owe ya, brother!” Aster told Nightwatch in a silly voice. “C’mon, gimme some horseshoe! YEAH! WHOO!”
Aster put his hand down for Nightwatch to tap with his hoof in response. Aster then flipped his hand with his claw facing forward and Nightwatch did the same with his hoof and made contact again.
“Thanks. It’s just what I do,” Nightwatch said bashfully.
“Wait, that’s a worm? Had no idea they grew that big or could fly,” said Midnight.
“Oh nonono, wyrm as in W-Y-R-M,” explained Lily as she pet Pansy. “They’re tiny legless dragons that don’t speak, but they make great pets. Aster got me Pansy for my birthday a few years ago.”
“And she caught Lily’s scent in your house. Crazy gal’s as devoted to Lily as a momma bear is to its cubs,” added Aster.
“Well Aster, we’re glad you showed up,” said Nightwatch. “Sorry about all the confusion there. We thought Pansy was a wild animal at first, but now we know why she was sniffing over by the door to the room Lily was staying in.”
“We were planning on going out to find you tomorrow, but looks like Pansy found us first,” added Buttercream.
“I’m guessing she got in through one of the windows in the cellar, cuz I saw one open down there,” said Midnight. “I always forget to lock those things.”
“Yeah, I sorta neglected to tell you guys about her, but it’s all good now. Oh and Aster, look! They have a baby Northern Drake!” Lily said, pointing to Buttercream.
Aster stretched his head down to Buttercream’s level. She giggled as he moved about in a comical manner.
“I see that. My goodness, what a specimen! She’s even got heart-shaped fins! So, how long have you been here little lady?”
“All my life. He found me when I was an egg,” Buttercream replied, hugging Nightwatch.
“And our son took her in as his sister right away,” added Aurora.
“Daw. Brother and sister just like us. Well Lily, although we had a bit of a rocky start here, I think we’ve already seen enough of Equestria to tell that ponies really are as good as we thought.”
For the next few hours, Midnight and Aurora allowed Aster, Lily and Pansy to sleep in the guest room, while the rest of them finished sleeping until the morning came. When they all woke up, Aurora cooked a special breakfast and they began to discuss Ester Dracos.
“Now I’m guessing Lily’s already told you all about our mission we’re currently on?” Aster asked.
“She has. So you guys are acting as ambassadors for Emperor…what’s his name?” asked Midnight.
“Antirrhinum. He’s a great long that has been leading for over a thousand years. I’m sure you know about Nightmare Moon, right?”
“OOH! Aster, they don’t only know about all that; Nightwatch is Princess Luna’s protégé!” Lily exclaimed.
“It’s true,” Nightwatch said, bashfully. “I never thought it would actually happen, but this weird robot thing attacked us right after we met her and I helped stop it. She was impressed with my use of magic and wants to train me.”
“Yeah! Can you believe it, Aster? That storm blew me to the perfect house!”
“Whoa! Boy did we hit the jackpot today!” Aster said. “Well congratulations on getting noticed by the princess! Lily and I were on a little mission to invite her to Ester Dracos where we can-”
“Oh, but Aster, Princess Luna’s a little unavailable.”
“Er…yeah, sadly I don’t think she can make it,” Nightwatch said. “It’s only because she’s just had a rough time since she came back. Sorry Aster.”
“Oh. Darn. Guess I hadn’t considered that. Well…mission failed, folks. We’ll try again next time.”
Aster’s ears drooped and Pansy huddled up to him for comfort. Buttercream took this chance to recommend her plan.
“Hold on. Nighty, did you get a response yet from Princess Luna?” she asked.
“Oh, the letter! Hold on, I’ll go check the mailbox,” Nightwatch said, rushing out the front door to check for his letter.
“Oh, that’ right! Aster, Buttercream suggested she and Nightwatch come in place of Princess Luna,” Lily told her brother. “If the princess can’t make it, they could come with us since they know her. I’m sure Antirrhinum would understand, plus he’d still be talking to at least one pony. I mean he’s probably eager to talk to any pony at this rate! We both know he feels pretty bad about the Rift.”
“Valid point there, Lil,” Aster said, perking up.
“Nighty sent a letter to Luna to ask if she’d be okay with it,” Butter added. “I’m really hoping she says yes!”
“Okay, guys, here’s her response…” Nightwatch said as he entered through the front door and began to read aloud.
“My Dearest Nightwatch,
I am pleased to hear the Eastern Drakes are ready to mend their ties to Equestria. I was shocked to hear about what happened with them after I fell victim to my demons. Unfortunately, my sister and I had plans for today and I am not sure I’m ready to leave Equestria just yet, but you have my permission to act in my place as ambassadors to the Emperor. Celestia and I will make the effort to reach out soon, but I have no doubt you and Buttercream will get along well with the longs. Tell Antirrhinum I am doing all right; it has just been difficult adjusting to this new life. I look forward to hearing from him soon.
Best regards,
Princess Luna”
“Ah, well in that case, I don’t see any harm in these two coming along with us,” said Aster. “Are the parents okay with it?”
“I think they’ll be alright,” said Aurora next to Midnight.
“So we’re okay to go?” asked Buttercream.
“Go on another adventure, you two,” Midnight replied.
“YEEEES!”
Buttercream leapt out of her chair and onto the kitchen floor. She began to hum the tune of the We’re Going on an Adventure song she and Nightwatch sang before they met Luna a few weeks ago. Nightwatch smiled and rubbed her head with his hoof.
“Alright, Butter. I’ll go get a couple things around and then we’ll be off,” he said, as he walked upstairs to fetch his satchel and a camera.
“Buttercream, you’re going to love Ester Dracos!” Lily said, floating around the little yellow dragon. “There’s a whole marketplace full of amazing goods! There’s food, gift shops, street performers…you name it! They’ve got delicious steamed noodles with veggies and mushrooms if you’re hungry and there’s a beautiful flower shop that my mom’s friends run! Oh and if you’re a fan of video games, you’ve got to meet Mr. Myosoti!”
Buttercream’s eyes widened as she heard about the amazing sights of Ester Dracos. Lily herself already sounded quite excited to welcome a Northern Drake into her homeland. Aster had to reach in and pat her on the head to calm her down.
“AY! Easy there with the sped-up vacation commercial,” he laughed. “Let’s not overwhelm our guest, Lil. We want her to come back to her parents after all.”
“I know, I just can’t wait to show her around town! She and Nightwatch are gonna have so much fun!”
“I can’t wait to go!” Buttercream squealed. “The Eastern Drakes sound so wonderful and you guys sound like you have so many cool shops with some things to bring back for memories!”
“Yes, but remember what we told you about wanting too many things, dear,” Aurora reminded Buttercream.
“That’s right, Butter-Ball. Hearth’s Warming Day is coming.”
“I won’t take too many things, Dad. I promise,” Butter told Midnight as she came over to hug her adoptive parents. “Nighty and I will make a lot of memories and we’ll bring back plenty of pictures too!”
Nightwatch arrived with his satchel and Buttercream stood next to him proudly.
Nightwatch and Buttercream rode on Aster’s back with Buttercream in front. Aster meandered through the sky with Lily and Pansy by his side. They had already passed the shores of the western bank of Equestria and were now over the South Luna Ocean, where they would eventually find the continent of Ester Dracos. They listened as Nightwatch finished telling his new friends the story of his last adventure with Buttercream.
“So then she left with Noctura for Canterlot. Butter and I got home the next day, we were really tired, and we just went straight to bed and told Mom and Dad the whole thing later…and yeah. That’s how we met Princess Luna.”
“Wow! You weren’t kidding when you said you guys took on a giant robot ram!” Lily beamed.
“Robots in Equestria. That’s something else. Sounds like you two really lived the biggest action film experience of a lifetime,” Aster jested.
“You bet we did!” Buttercream chimed in. “And now we’re about to experience our first trip outside of Equestria!”
“I’m glad Luna let us do this,” Nightwatch added. “It’s a good chance to get out, meet new friends and also help her out with some of her own work. Now that I’m her protégé, I should do this more often.”
“And you guys are gonna love the Emperor,” Lily continued. “He’s a very wise and kind dragon. He’ll totally understand if Luna couldn’t make it, but he’d love to speak with both of you. Right, Pansy?”
“Auf!” Pansy yapped as Lily brought her in to rub her belly.
Aster then cupped his hands over his mouth and spoke through his fingers to make his voice sound like it was going through an intercom system.
“Attention passengers. This is your captain speaking. We are approaching our destination and will be arriving shortly. Turbulence is low, so we should have a safe landing.”
Buttercream’s eyes widened. She climbed up on top of Aster’s head and held onto his antlers. The clouds parted and they all saw the land before them. Ester Dracos was very mountainous with luscious, green trees everywhere. The architecture comprised of imperial pagodas, dojos and old stone temples. There was one enormous pagoda on top of a tall mountain, looming over the capital city. This was undoubtedly where the Emperor resided. Nightwatch and Buttercream noticed tons of other longs flying above the towns, but there were several larger ones flying slowly amongst the clouds. Some of them were so long; they could have been over a half a mile in length. There were also some water-dwelling longs in the ocean and rivers cutting into the land. Some of them even sat on top of large rocks at sea. Nightwatch had brought along a camera and began to take pictures to show his parents.
“WHOOOOA! Nighty, look at those guys!” Buttercream exclaimed, as she put her hand over her forehead to get a good view of the huge longs in the sky.
“They’re bigger than I was expecting!” Nightwatch added.
“Those are the guardians,” Lily explained. “They have vast magical powers and use them to control the weather and prevent natural disasters. If a tidal wave comes in, Mizu the Water Guardian can stop it with her powers! There’s also Hono the Fire Guardian, who puts out fires; Shokubutsu the Tree Guardian, the keeper of all plant life; Jishin the Earth Guardian, who prevents earthquakes; Inazuma the Thunder Guardian, who protects against lightning; Tsundora the Ice Guardian who regulates the flow of snow in the winter; Kaze the Wind Guardian who keeps the air fresh and prevents cyclones; and plenty more all over the continent! They’re all ancient beings of power and have been doing this for millennia!”
“Is Antirrhinum one of them?” asked Nightwatch.
“He’s not quite as old as them, but he’s a ‘great long’ too. He’s been leading for just over a thousand years and he meets with them every so often to talk politics and figure out weather schedules.”
“So they control the weather over here. Most provinces in Equestria do that too. We even have a cloud factory in Cloudsdale.”
“Nighty, this is so cool!” Buttercream interrupted, not able to control her enthusiasm.
“Alright, Butter, let’s not get in over our heads. Though I will admit, this place really is beautiful. I’m enjoying myself already!”
They flew down to a nearby hill outside of the city and made their way to a small pagoda house surrounded by gardens. Aster continued to speak in his airline pilot voice.
“And with that, we’ve reached our destination. Please remain seated until the flight comes to a complete stop. Welcome to Ester Dracos! Thank you for flying with us and enjoy your stay!”
Aster descended and landed daintily on the dirt path in front of the property. Nighty and Butter hopped down as Lily and Pansy landed next to them. A bright green female long with wavy magenta hair poked her head out of the front door.
“Mom, Dad, we’re back!” shouted Lily.
The mother dragon crawled the rest of the way out of the door and stood on two legs like Aster and Lily. She had a very happy and welcoming look on her face and started to speak in a kind, motherly tone.
“Aster, Lily! You’ve brought visitors from Equestria?” asked the mother dragon.
“Sure did! This is Nightwatch and Buttercream! Guys, this is my mother, Azalea!” Lily said, pointing to her friends as they bowed politely.
“A unicorn and a dragon? My goodness! Equestria already has started opening up to the dragons!”
“Well, not quite, Mom. She’s the only dragon we’ve encountered in there so far,” said Aster, “Little Buttercream here was adopted by a pony family.”
“Yeah, I found her egg years ago,” Nightwatch added.
“This is my first time outside of Equestria, but I’m so happy to be meeting other dragons!” Buttercream said, putting herself under one of Nightwatch’s front legs.
“Oh, how nice of you ponies! Well she’s a Northern Drake I see. You know, I have some friends with some Northern in them. They’d be really happy to see her!”
“Tigrinum, my love, come quickly! We have guests!”
Azalea waved in the direction Lily was pointing at. They all glanced at a nearby sakura tree. On one of its branches was a longer, pine green dragon. This was Lily and Aster’s father, Tigrinum. He had a bright green underbelly, orange hair and a mustache under his snout. Next to his mustache were two long, bright orange whiskers on both sides of his upper lip that waved about in the wind. One thing that made him stand out where the visible bright green scales on his fore arms and legs. Trailing behind his arms and legs was hair the same color as the hair on his head and going down his back. He stood proudly in the tree and smiled to his family. Leaping off the branch, he gracefully flew through the air and landed right next to Azalea. He was so long; he decided to stand on all fours so his guests would not have to look too high to speak with him.
“Welcome to our abode,” Tigrinum said in a deep masculine voice. “So this is a Northern Drake adopted into a unicorn family, eh?”
“That’s right, sir,” said Nightwatch. “We’re honored to be here.”
“Ester Dracos is so beautiful!” Buttercream added.
“It is a lovely place to live. The longs of Ester Dracos will welcome a pony and Northern Drake into the land just fine. The Emperor is ready to open up to Equestria again. Speaking of which, Lily, Aster, were you able to make contact with the princess?”
“Oh, sorry Dad,” Aster said. “Princess Luna’s a bit busy over in Equestria with her sister. She might make a little visit later, but she said we could bring these two along in her place. They both know the princess and Nightwatch is her student believe it or not.”
“Interesting. So Nightwatch, my lad, how fares the princess?”
“She’s alright,” Nightwatch replied. “It’s been rough for her ever since Nightmare Moon was exorcised from her soul. She’s taking some time to settle in, but I think she’s feeling a lot better.”
“That’s good to hear. The Emperor has been very concerned for the royal sisters, but he would happy to speak with you in Luna’s place. I work for the Emperor as a messenger and I can take him to you once he makes time in his schedule later.”
“For now, would you two like to take a tour of the capital city market? It’s a lovely place!” said Azalea.
“Absolutely!” said Buttercream.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have a look around. I am curious to know more about the longs,” Nightwatch said.
“Azalea, would you be willing to show them around with the kids while I go alert Antirrhinum?” asked Tigrinum.
“Of course, dear,” Azalea replied, giving him a kiss.
Tigrinum took off flying toward the city to meet the Emperor. Azalea turned back to talk to her guests.
“Well everyone, if you’re ready, the marketplace awaits!”
“Lead the way, Mom!” Lily said, excitedly.
“Auf auf!” barked Pansy.
“Nighty, can we buy a few little things in the marketplace?” asked Buttercream.
“I’ll let you get a few trinkets, but let’s not overspend,” said Nightwatch. “Remember, we’re here to talk with the Emperor, but we’ll keep ourselves busy in the meantime.”
As they all walked through the marketplace, various longs the size of Azalea and Tigrinum passed by, saying hello to Azalea and her children and staring in amazement at Nightwatch and Buttercream.
“Is that a baby Northern?!” asked one long.
“It is! And she’s with an Equestrian unicorn!” said another.
“Mommy, is that really a unicorn?” asked a young long.
“I believe so, dear!” his mother answered.
Buttercream waved happily to everyone, as Nightwatch did the same. It was a bit overwhelming being the center of attention, but he was glad the longs were so welcoming. He managed to take plenty of pictures of the marketplace, but was running out of film, so he saved the last for pictures of him with Buttercream and all his friends before getting it developed. A few dragons had already started tossing little flowers to Buttercream and giving her snacks for free. Nightwatch had to keep some of her new gifts in a bag. Azalea stopped at a nearby flower shop and took a moment to introduce them to her friends inside.
“Nightwatch, Buttercream, this is where my friends work!” she said. “Hosta, Amaryllis, Daisy, I have some visitors you need to see!”
A green female eastern dragon walked out from behind a decorative column of flowers. She had light green hair with white stripes. She seemed like an Eastern Drake, but her body was shaped differently. While her neck and tail were long and slender, her body was curvy. She almost had the appearance voluptuous mare standing on two legs. Most of the female dragons Nightwatch saw in his book looked like this. The only other parts of her that weren’t eastern were the fins on the side of her head. They closely resembled Buttercream’s, though they had four rounded points instead of just two. She still had dark brown antlers like the others. Next to her stood a taller bright green dragon with a pink underbelly. This one had a serpentine body and mammalian ears, but the rest of her looked more like a horned dragon Nightwatch had seen in his book. She had a small white horn coming out of her beaked snout and two curvy horns pointing upwards. Instead of hair, she had red dorsal spikes going down her head and back and a spade-shaped point at the end of her tail. She was the only one with bat-like wings. The shortest one was bright blue with a white underbelly. She had brown antlers, yellow curly hair, a doggish snout and floppy ears. Unlike her sisters she was fat and round, though her tail was still quite long and had a tuft of fur at the end. Nightwatch could already tell which ones had the right names based on their appearances. Hosta’s hair actually resembled the leaves of a hosta, while Amaryllis was tall and had prominent red at the top just like the plant of the same name, and Daisy’s poofy hairdo made her resemble the flower she was clearly named after. All three of them walked in and spoke to Azalea first.
“Azalea! Great to see you, girl!” said Hosta.
“HEY! So nice of you stop by with the kids!” said Amaryllis, giving her a big hug.
“So what brings you to…oh my goodness! Hosta, Ammy, look! It’s a baby Northern Drake!” Daisy said, staring at Buttercream.
Buttercream rushed up to the stand and looked up at them as they peered over the counter dotted with flowers. They all put their hands to their cheeks and fawned over the adorable baby dragon before them. As Amaryllis spoke, she flapped her wings and flew outside of the stand, while her sisters hovered like regular longs and joined her in examining their visitor.
“OH. MY. GOSH! I can’t believe we’re seeing a Northern here!” said Amaryllis.
“Aw, Daisy, she looks a lot like you did as a kid!” Hosta added.
“She kinda does!” Daisy replied. “She’s got my body, Ammy’s spikes, and your fins! She’s so cute! What’s your name, little lady?”
“I’m Buttercream! It’s great to meet you all!” she told them.
“I’m Hosta! These are my younger sisters, Amaryllis and Daisy. We run this flower shop. I work with the shrubs and perennials, Daisy does bouquets, and Ammy specializes in potted plants. As you can see, we’re mixed breeds. Our mother was a pure-bread Eastern while our dad was part Southern and part Northern.”
“We had no idea we’d get a visitor from Nordo Dracos!” Amaryllis chimed in.
“Nordo Dracos? Is that where my kind comes from?” Butter asked.
“Oh…you’re not from Nordo Dracos?”
“Well I don’t know if I am.”
“I’m her adoptive brother,” Nightwatch said. “I found her as an egg and we’ve raised her in Equestria ever since. We still don’t know where she came from, but we tend to not worry about it.”
“Awww, how sweet!” said Daisy. “A unicorn and a dragon is something we never thought imaginable! Gosh, I really wish we had gone to Nordo Dracos ourselves. We might not be purebred Northerns, but we’re most certainly happy to see one!”
“Yeah, we’ve never seen a unicorn, or a pony for that matter!” said Amaryllis.
“Have either of you kids ever been to Nordo Dracos?” asked Hosta.
“Not yet,” answered Nightwatch. “Equestrians don’t really know much about dragons sadly.”
“You guys should’ve seen Nighty last night!” said Lily, hugging Nightwatch. “I got caught up in a storm while Aster and I were in Equestria, and he rescued me and brought me into his parents house!”
“Well what a swell little unicorn he is for rescuing our little Lily!” Amaryllis said, rubbing Lily’s head.
“And we weren’t able to bring Princess Luna back, but they’re good friends of hers and they’re gonna go talk with Antirrhinum right now,” Aster said.
“Not bad, Aster! Everyone’s getting ready for the Emperor to open up trade with Equestria again,” said Hosta. “Might take some time to really get the relations between dragons and ponies up and running. I don’t know if ponies take kindly to dragons in Equestria nowadays, but here in Ester Dracos, we’ve all pretty much put aside our differences and can’t wait to do it.”
“And we were so lucky to have come across Nightwatch and Buttercream!” said Azalea. “Not only do they know the princess, they’re proof that dragons and ponies can coexist!”
Azalea put her arms around her kids and wrapped her tail around Nightwatch and Buttercream. The three sisters looked tenderly at the heartwarming image of all of them together.
“Well girls, I think it’s only fair we send this adorable little dragon home with some fresh flowers from our stand!” Daisy said, bringing in a crown made of freshly-picked flowers to put on Buttercream’s head.
Amaryllis gave her a small pot of mums while Hosta gave her a pack of assorted perennials to plant back at home. Buttercream hugged the mums with a big smile on her face.
“Thank you so much, everyone!” she said, joyfully.
“Any time, sweetheart!” Daisy replied.
“You’re welcome to come by our stand any time you’re visiting Ester Dracos,” Amaryllis added.
“Alright ladies,” Hosta told her sisters, returning to the stand. “We’ve got a bit of a line forming. Take care, Azalea, and Nightwatch and Buttercream, you two have an excellent time in Ester Dracos!”
“Thanks, ladies!” Nightwatch said.
“Bye!” called Buttercream.
Buttercream gave Nightwatch the mums so he could carry them for her and he put the pack of perennials in his satchel.
“Oooh! Butter! Remember when I told you about Mr. Myosoti?” Lily asked.
“Yeah?”
“This is his stand!”
Buttercream turned to see a vendor stand on the other side of the street. Behind the stand was a large sign that said “Tendonin” in red letters and a red circle around it. There were video game controllers, game cartridges and monitors sprawled out over the table. Several dragons stood behind the stand to tend to customers, but the one that stood out the most was Myosoti himself. He was purple with navy blue hair and a bright blue underbelly. On the side his face were sideburns, a beard and two long whiskers like most of the males had. He wore glasses and a green shirt with a joystick controller. He spoke in an accent that reminded Nightwatch and Buttercream of the martial arts masters from some of the cartoons they watched. He sounded very wise and steadfast. As his friends arrived to greet him, he put his hands together and bowed his head respectfully.
“Nighty! This is the guy that makes video games!” the eager little dragon said, pulling her brother’s leg.
“Hey, Mr. Myosoti!” Lily said.
“Aster-san! Lily-san! Good day to you, children!” he said.
“We have some new friends of ours we’d like you to meet,” said Aster. “This is Nightwatch and Buttercream. She’s his little adoptive dragon sister. You could say fate brought us all together and they’re here right now to do a little ambassador work in place of Princess Luna.”
“Ah, I see! A young dragon of the northlands and a unicorn. It is an honor to meet you both.”
“You’re Myosoti? Lily’s told us you do video games!” Buttercream said, staring in amazement at all the cartridges.
“Butter and I have played video games for years,” Nightwatch said. “We’ve never met an actual game developer though. Now I’m not familiar with these types of cartridges. Are they compatible with the MEGA Exodus by any chance?”
“Oh no. These are for the Tendonin Entertainment Console, or the TEC. They are not available in Equestria right now due to the trade embargo with the ponies, but I hear that Emperor Antirrhinum is preparing to lift that embargo soon. Equestria will be able to enjoy Tendonin games.”
“Nighty, I want this game!” said Buttercream, picking up a random cartridge.
“Well Butter, we can’t play that game until the TEC comes to Equestria.”
“I know, but we’ll be able to play it when we get one eventually! I just…I dunno, I just like these little things! I wish I could have them all!”
Buttercream stared at all of the cartridges in wonder. She felt a strange desire to collect them all. She didn’t even think about the content on the cartridges. She just wanted them. She was staring so much; she didn’t realize she had started taking a few more in her hands, until Nightwatch spoke up.
“Um…Butter, remember we gotta pay for those.”
“Huh? Oh, sorry about that. I’ll just take the first one then. It’s called Dragon Warriors. What do you do in this game, Mr. Myosoti?”
“I’m glad you asked,” said Myosoti, as his antlers glowed and several art pages floated around him. “This is a game I have wanted to make for such a long time and it is finally in production. Dragon Warriors is a fighting game where you can play as historical dragons like Smelt the Warrior or Sizzle the Inventor.”
As he spoke, he brought forward some of his pages. The first one showed Smelt, a green dragon with a bright orange underbelly, orange spikes and two curvy horns. He carried a crystal sword and was equipped with a bow and arrows. The one next to it showed Sizzle, a young orange dragon with a yellow underbelly, smaller horns and red spikes. He wore goggles over his eyes, had a belt with some vials full of chemicals, and was carrying an over-the-shoulder launcher with a sharp crystal loaded inside.
“I think Buttercream will be interested in this one. This is Grumblebog. He was a dragon that is said to have befriended Princess Celestia and Princess Luna over a thousand years ago.”
Myosoti then held up another page of a massive, fat dragon. He was red with a pink underbelly, green spikes and yellow eyes. He had no horns but there were bright green fins on the side of his head that looked a bit like Buttercream’s but were sharp and webbed. Underneath his chin were fins that resembled a goatee. His arms were muscular and he was clearly a brawler character, while the other two were weapon-wielding types.
“That guy’s pretty big!” Nightwatch remarked. “And he’s a Northern Drake like Butter, I take it?”
“That is right. Grumblebog was a Northern and there are other dragons like him in this game.”
“They look so awesome! I wonder if Grumblebog’s my dad!” said Buttercream.
“Well I’m sure he’s either too old or long gone by now, Butter,” Nightwatch said.
“Aw. Well maybe an ancestor or something. Still, this game looks so fun! Are they all dragons?”
“Not all of them,” Myosoti continued. “Here is one of the enemy characters. This is Emperor Grogar.”
Myosoti pulled up a page of a blue ram with red eyes and large curly horns. He wore a red collar around his neck with a silver bell hanging in front. The collar resembled the ones Bellow and Bleat wore. Nightwatch felt a sense of dread looking at this picture and recognized the name right away.
“Grogar? Like, the same sorcerer that took over Equestria?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Myosoti. “A dark and horrible ram that has faded into legend. His forces attacked Ester Dracos during his invasion.”
“Wow. This ram has made a name for himself, hasn’t he, Butter?”
“Yeah, we met some weird guys back in Equestria that worship him and think they can bring him back or something,” added Buttercream.
“Interesting. Well there are many other playable characters and I plan on making more. I am not the founder of Tendonin, nor did I develop all these games, but they hired me after I pitched my designs. The company is growing and we look forward to sending our products to Equestria over the next few years. I hope to bring many societies together with this game and teach them dragon history. I am already drafting plans for its sequel: Super Dragon Warriors.”
Nightwatch looked down to his sister. She was holding the cartridge close to her, hugging it like it was a small pet animal. She looked up to him with big cute eyes. He smiled and started to reach for the wallet in his satchel.
“So do you take Equestrian bits by any chance?” Nightwatch asked Myosoti.
“Oh, you can have that one for free. Take good care of it and let your friends know it is a game that all Equestrians will be able to purchase and enjoy one day.”
“EEEE! Thank you so much, Mr. Myosoti!!” Buttercream squealed.
“It was a privilege to meet you both,” Myosoti said, bowing again. “May our paths cross again.”
Buttercream and Nightwatch walked over to join Lily, Aster, Pansy and Azalea. They all waved to Myosoti and continued on down the street.
“Wow, Mr. Myosoti made such an awesome game, Nighty! I’m so glad I got this cartridge! Can I get more things?”
“Butter, remember what Mom and Dad said about wanting too many things,” Nightwatch reminded her.
“Okay, but like… just a few more things?”
Suddenly, Tigrinum flew in to meet them all and Buttercream and Nightwatch directed their attention to him.
“Everyone, I have good news,” he began. ”Antirrhinum can see Nightwatch and Buttercream right now. He was expecting Luna, but he is happy to meet with her protégé and see a fellow dragon from lands afar.”
“That’s great news! Thanks, Tigrinum,” said Nightwatch. “And that’s his castle up there?”
“That’s it. We can take you there now.”
“Alright, lets go Butter…uh…Butter?”
“Oh, young lady, don’t forget you have to pay for those,” said a female voice in the vicinity.
Nightwatch followed the voice and looked over to see Buttercream in front of a stand, taking several fruits out of a basket.
“Buttercream!” Nightwatch said, raising his voice a little.
Buttercream reared her head in shock and dropped some of the fruits. Nightwatch used his magic to put all the fruits back. The lady dragon at the stand was professional and smiled as Nightwatch apologized to her.
“Sorry about my sister, ma’am. This is her first time in Ester Dracos and she really loves all the sights. Butter, what do you say to her?”
“Sorry. I don’t know why, but I just really love all the stuff around here,” she said, bashfully.
“That’s alright, dear,” said the dragon. “I’m pleased to see we’re getting a visit from a Northern Drake and a unicorn!”
“Thanks. Maybe if we have time later we’ll stop by to pick some up,” said Nightwatch.
The two smiled and then walked away. Buttercream felt sorry for what she had done.
“I’m sorry Nighty. I don’t know what got into me. I’m not even that hungry right now.”
“It’s okay, just try to keep your claws to yourself, alright?”
“I promise.”
They hugged and all was forgiven. They looked over to see the family of longs they had befriended waiting patiently for them. Continuing down the market street, they made their way toward Antirrhinum’s palace to meet the powerful Emperor.
Everyone made their way up a winding path of stairs to the main entrance of the imperial palace. The longs would normally fly to the palace, but the stairs were there for any visitors that could not fly. They took their time going up the stairs to not rush things and to get a good view. The further up they went, the more they could see the city and the landscape outside. At each corner of the stairs was a square floor with plants and stone statues that looked like a cross between a dragon and a lion. At the last corner, Nightwatch decided to get a picture with everyone and the city in view. He used his magic to keep the camera far enough out to get all of them in the shot.
“Alright, this is the last fleet of stairs, Butter. You ready?” Nightwatch asked.
“Sure am!” Buttercream replied. “Boy are there a lot of stairs into this place, but I just know it’s gonna look awesome when we get in!”
“You know, Aster, it really feels different just taking our time going up these steps. Every time we go in, we just fly right in,” Lily said.
“Makes you appreciate the little things in life, sis,” Aster replied. “Even a long has to get on his feet or slowly hover around every so often to take in his surroundings.”
As they got past the final step, Nightwatch and Buttercream stared in awe at the entrance. It was a giant wooden carving of an Eastern Drake head with the enormous doors in its mouth. Even he sides of the stone path entrance were adorned with giant teeth to make it look like the dragon’s lower jaw. The rest of the building was a pagoda like most of the other buildings in the town below, but this one was far wider and grander in appearance. The doors opened up automatically and here was a long hall with two very large dragons guarding the entrance. They knew Tigrinum and his family and bowed politely to let him in.
“Tigrinum, we’ve been expecting you,” said one guard.
“The emperor will meet you in the throne room,” said the other.
“Thank you, Rhododendron. Thank you, Hibiscus,” Tigrinum said, bowing his head in response.
“Wow! Look at this place! It’s huge!” Buttercream said, eying the interior of the hall.
“It has to be for the great longs to get through,” Tigrinum explained to the little dragon. “The path to the throne room is straight ahead, so it is easy for the guardians to go meet with the Emperor. Once we get to that well lit area, there’s another set of stairs that goes straight up to the throne room.”
Nightwatch and Buttercream gazed at the statues in the hall. Some of them resembled the lions from before. Others were stylized sculptures of famous long warriors and politicians of old. The iconography of the longs never showed up in Nightwatch’s book and he wondered why. One thing that really caught his attention was a portrait of a large ram and a unicorn with a curved horn and hair waving in the wind.
“I’m guessing that’s Grogar. Myosoti said he gave Ester Dracos trouble back when he invaded Equestria, but who’s this unicorn mare in front of him?” he asked Lily.
“I think that’s Gusty the Great. She was the one who stood up to him and took his bell.”
“Oh, that’s right. Gusty was the one who hid it in some unknown location, allowing the ponies to capture him and send him to Tartarus. And I just noticed this guy behind Grogar. I think that’s a donkey. What’s his name?”
“I never learned about the donkey. I’m not sure he even has a name. Probably just some old lackey. Grogar had many minions.”
Nightwatch looked curiously at the donkey and remembered learning from Noctura that the Brotherhood of Grogar’s leader, Bray, was a donkey. He was sure it couldn’t be the same donkey though as that was nearly two thousand years ago. Perhaps Grogar used donkeys as his pawns in the early days and Bray was a descendant. Not thinking too much of it, Nightwatch turned to continue down the hall. He suddenly noticed Buttercream, reaching up for one of the torches in the wall that lit the way.
“Butter, what are you doing?” he asked.
“Huh?” she said, looking back to him.
“Are you trying to get that torch?”
“Torch? Oh…uh, no, I uh…what was I doing?”
“Butter, you’ve been awfully grabby today. You know that?”
“Grabby? Me?”
“Yeah, the game cartridges, the fruits, that torch. You just wanna touch everything in sight.”
“I…it’s just…I dunno, Nighty. Everything just looks so cool.”
“Alright, well remember, keep your claws to yourself. This is a palace and everything in here belongs here or we’ll get in trouble.”
“Got it.”
Nightwatch looked worryingly at Buttercream as she dashed ahead to keep up with the others. He wasn’t sure why she just wanted everything to herself. She was pretty good about not being greedy in the past and had no problem sharing. Perhaps this was just the effect of being in a new place and wanting heirlooms for memories. It didn’t make sense why she wanted a torch though. He decided to not worry himself over it. She would probably forget about it after they met with Antirrhinum.
He still wondered if Antirrhinum might have some information on Buttercream’s species. With a building this huge, there must be something in the archives, but first came the ambassadorial work. The Emperor needed to know about Princess Luna and discuss reopening trade with Equestria. Nightwatch was nervous about this meeting, but based on what he had heard about Antirrhinum, he was certain the Emperor would listen.
They finally got to the stairs and ascended till they saw another huge set of doors. Two more guards opened the doors for them and Tigrinum led them all into the throne room. Light shone in from windows above before the ceiling. There were tons of pillars on the side and more statues, portraits and other decorations. In the center was the area for Antirrhinum to sit and rest, but it did not resemble a typical throne for a king. There was a serene pond surrounded by a gate and more stone statues of the lion-dragon hybrids from before. Inside the pond were water fountains, lily-pads, and koi fish. Even butterflies and other exotic insects flew around the pond. A large, curvy stone peninsula was in the center, connected to a bridge that spanned between the path and the stairs leading up to the pond. Most of the floor in this throne room was made of large stone slabs and had tons of potted plants and bonsai trees on display. It felt more like the outdoors than what one would expect of the interior of a royal chamber. It was meant to evoke a peaceful atmosphere, making the throne room feel more welcoming and natural.
Buttercream stared in amazement at everything around her. Nightwatch was about to ask where the Emperor was until he heard something moving above. He looked up to see the ceiling start to fold away. Tons of complex, decorative objects above began to unlatch, and the ceiling split into segments to reveal the sky. They all heard a booming bray coming from the clouds. A colossal, red long emerged from one cloud and slowly made his way down into the throne room. He had used his own magic to open the ceiling and make his entrance. He descended and landed gracefully on his throne. He kept his head held high and looked down at his visitors.
Emperor Antirrhinum was just like the other great longs, only this time they got to see one up close. He was so huge; he could have been over a half a mile in length. His fur was red and he had long, turquoise hair. The hair went all the way down his body to his tail where there was a large tuft at the tip. He had the typical whiskers that male Eastern Drakes had, only far lengthier due to his size. His underbelly had huge golden plates of scales one after another going down his whole body. He had the same scales on his nose bridge, forearms and forelegs and visible white claws at the tips of his digits. His eyes were turquoise and his antlers had nine points with blue jewels spread out on them. On his head he wore a large golden crest with two structures branching out and curling while the other set on top resembled a pair of small antlers. In the center of the crest was a round piece with a purple emblem. The emblem was shaped like an Eastern Drake and had a green gem where the eye would be. The gargantuan dragon looked solemn but smiled as he made eye contact with Nightwatch and Buttercream. They both bowed politely, as he spoke in a sagely voice.
“Welcome Nightwatch and Buttercream of Equestria,” he said. “Tigrinum has told me a great deal about you both.”
“Emp...Emperor Antirrhinum,” Nightwatch said, nervously. “We’re honored to be here. First of all, I’m sorry Princess Luna couldn’t make it, but she should be able to come in time. She and her sister are a bit busy at the moment.”
“No apologies needed, young Nightwatch. I understand things have been rough for Luna. Celestia will also be busy having to deal with these changes now that she does not lead alone. I am glad to have you here. So tell me, how is it you came across this little one?”
“Well, your majesty, I was walking around one day on my birthday when I was a kid and I found an egg in the forest that turned out to be her. We still don’t know where it came from, but we raised her ourselves. She’s grown to be the perfect little sister.”
“And he’s the perfect big brother,” Buttercream said, hugging him.
Emperor Antirrhinum’s smile grew even bigger at the sight of them. He lay down on the throne and crossed his arms like a large cat resting on the ground.
“It is good to see dragons and ponies already making contact. This is a good start for our societies. Now, before we get onto business, would you care to hear a history lesson about Equestria and Ester Dracos?”
“Oh yes, if you don’t mind. I am curious to know how it all started and how dragons and ponies became divided after Nightmare Moon. Is it true that the birth of Nightmare Moon had a say in that?”
“It is true…or rather, her imprisonment did.”
Antirrhinum’s antlers glowed brightly. Everyone looked up as the ceiling right above him came to life. All of the workings that unlatched earlier began to move out of the way. The ceiling itself did not part to show the sky this time. Instead, characters appeared on the ceiling like paintings. It was as if the ceiling was now a giant canvas with animated pictures. Antirrhinum began to narrate as they move.
“In the ancient times, most dragons stayed out of Equestrian affairs. Most ponies were fearful of dragons and even considered us to be evil beasts that would devour them and plunder the land. Some dragons have been confrontational, but my people were mostly peaceful. Equestria wanted to open up to the dragons, and the fact that the royal family had dragons in the castle was proof that both societies could work together. I was crowned not long after Celestia and Luna were born. I befriended them when we began meeting for discussions on trade. Equestria was moving into another golden age, but everything changed when Nightmare Moon appeared.”
As Antirrhinum started talking about Nightmare Moon, his smile dropped and he became somber. The characters on the wall that resembled Luna, Celestia and Antirrhinum kept moving, but it focused on Luna, who looked angry.
“The sisters started to change. They began to quarrel more than normal. Luna grew resentful of how the ponies seemed to favor Celestia’s day over her night. Celestia and Luna both had their own versions of the story, blaming each other for their problems. At first, I took Celestia’s side because I saw Luna had grown so bitter. After Luna transformed, I felt I had trusted Celestia too much. One day, I saw the moon rise faster than normal and eclipse the sun. Eternal night engulfed the entire planet. The guardian longs could not even stop it. Celestia had no choice but to imprison Luna in the moon, despite my protests. The Elements were still attached to both sisters, but since only one of them was present, their full power could not be used. They could not exorcise Nightmare Moon from Luna’s soul, and Celestia refused to send her to the underground prison of Tartarus, so banishment was the only other option.”
The image of Luna transformed into Nightmare Moon as he spoke. With tears in her eyes, Celestia used the power of the Elements and banished her into the moon. Next, Antirrhinum came in to speak with Celestia. He did not appear happy.
“I was angered with Celestia for what she did. I felt she could have let the guardians handle Nightmare Moon, but Celestia was afraid of the casualties that could result in a full-scale battle with her corrupt sister. It was not enough to convince me. Luna’s banishment drove a wedge between the dragons and ponies. This quarrel between the two sisters made everyone else think that ponies represented hatred and disunion. This event became known to some as the Great Division. Celestia lost trust in so many other kingdoms, and I ordered that all trade with Equestria be halted and forbidden. Her leadership came into question even for some of her own people. She was hated for what she did to her sister. I blamed her for what happened and this culminated into a very rough start for Celestia’s leadership.”
The wall returned to normal as Antirrhinum bowed his head. He closed his eyes and thought of everything he had just told his visitors. It was a time in his life he wished to forget. Even though the relations with Equestria and Ester Dracos were being mended, his past still haunted him.
“I admit now that I was wrong. Celestia’s choice was a difficult one, but I should have understood. She did it out of love for her sister, not hatred as some will say. Centuries later, my dear wife was slain by another dragon, and I fell into despair. I thought about everything I had done as a leader and I came to see the error of my ways. We both believed strongly that once Nightmare Moon returns, new wielders would find the Elements of Harmony and free Luna from her demons. The backup plan would be to allow the guardians to take on Nightmare Moon, but thankfully, several ponies had already found them sooner than I expected. We agreed that trade between the longs and ponies would reopen once Luna returned. This entire ordeal has been very rough on Luna and that is fine that she could not attend today. I am still pleased to have you here in her place, Nightwatch.”
“Thank you, your highness,” Nightwatch said politely.
“Is it true that she has made you her student?”
“Yeah. We haven’t really gotten to do much with that yet, but it happened a few weeks ago. Butter and I both went out to the Everfree region to get a good look at the moon when the stars would align. It’s a long story, but we actually came face to face with Nightmare Moon. We didn’t see her defeated, but she came back to us later as Luna to apologize. After she saw me use my magic to help fight back an adversary, she decided I’m gifted with magic and took me under her wing. Aster knows the full story. I’m sure he could tell it better than I could.”
“Hehe. Aster has a way with words. It’s why I decided to enlist him and Lily to act as junior ambassadors.”
Nightwatch and Buttercream looked back to see Lily hover up to Aster and hug him. They turned back as Antirrhinum continued.
“That being said, I am indeed ready to work again with the royal sisters and have already started making preparations. Celestia and I have finished writing paperwork to finalize these agreements; we just need Princess Luna’s signature.”
“But it’s still okay that I’m here?”
“As long as there is a witness of this, I see no problem with you being here. I have waited for Luna out of respect for Celestia’s wishes. If this is to be done, it must be done the right way: with both sisters in agreement.”
Antirrhinum’s antlers glowed and a red tube adorned with golden dragons appeared next to him. Both ends of the tube had round lids to cover it. He removed one lid off the tube and pulled out a scroll. The scroll contained a statement written by Antirrhinum with his signature at the bottom. Celestia had already signed it as well.
“I see,” Nightwatch said, carefully examining the scroll.
“After this is signed by Luna, Ester Dracos will begin all trade with Equestria. Shipments are ready and I have set aside funds to send in aid. According to what Celestia has told me, most of Equestria has forgotten about dragons due to the Great Division. This is the reason why you say their knowledge about us is limited.”
“So after this is signed, will dragons and ponies all be friends again?” asked Buttercream.
“That may take some time, young dragoness. Right now, our governments need to be in contact to prepare for negotiations and begin shipment deals. I know there are plenty of companies started in Ester Dracos that would love to sell to Equestria.”
“Yeah, we saw a dragon in the town selling video games. I know a lot of ponies would love to play those games, and they probably wouldn’t mind if it comes from a land of dragons. Everyone at the school in Daleshire is totally fine with me being there.”
Antirrhinum giggled and lowered his head to their level.
“I am happy to hear that. I strongly believe that you and your brother are proof that our societies can reunite. Aster, you did a fine job with these two. We were blessed to have come across them.”
“My pleasure, sire,” Aster said, bowing down.
“Now, Nightwatch, I do think it would be necessary to give you these. This is documentation that describes everything that needs to be done. Celestia has already gone over them and Aster can help you understand some of this. When you return to your homeland, Luna should read them as well.”
Antirrhinum took another large tube and used his magic to shrink it down to a size that would make it easier for Nightwatch and Aster to read. Nightwatch held the tube in his hoof while talking.
“Thank you, Emperor Antirrhinum,” he said, proudly. “I honestly had no idea any of this happened. I knew dragons and ponies did have relations back in the day and Nightmare Moon’s appearance made things worse, I just didn’t know it was this bad.”
“I blame myself for much of it, but it is a start to bring the longs and the ponies together again. I will take care of the rest and we will have an easy transition. While I am not in control of the other dragon tribes, I will do my best to convince them to reach out to Celestia too.”
“Oh, speaking of which, before I go, would it be alright if we checked your library for any information about other dragons? We heard you have an archive and we’ve been curious about Buttercream’s species for a while now.”
“You are absolutely welcome. The archives are actually over here to my right. I can help you in there if you want.”
“That would be great. First I’ll…uh…where did that scroll go?”
Nightwatch looked at his hoof and noticed the scroll was gone. He then saw that Buttercream had taken it and was holding it in her claws, staring in amazement at it. Nightwatch was about to scold her again, but he didn’t want to make a scene in front of the Emperor, so he just let her have it. Aster then bent down and held his hand out in front of her.
“I’ll take that, little lady,” he said.
“Huh? Oh…okay, here you go,” Butter said, slowly handing it to Aster.
“So Butter, you wanna go in and check the archives?”
“The archives?”
“Yeah, so we can find some information about Northern Drakes?”
“Oh. Well can I go back into town with everyone else?”
“Um…you don’t want to find out about your kind?”
“I do, I just really like walking around in Ester Dracos.”
“Don’t worry, kid,” said Aster, putting his arm on Buttercream’s head. “We’ll look after her. When you get back, we’ll go over that paperwork and I’ll explain all the political mumbo-jumbo to ya.”
“She’ll be safe with us, dear,” Azalea told Nightwatch.
“All right. I guess it’s okay with me. Just keep an eye on her,” Nightwatch said.
“You bet we will, Nighty,” Lily responded, cheerfully.
“And Sire, I will report if and when the Princesses do arrive,” said Tigrinum. “Is there anything more you need?”
“That will be all for today, Tigrinum. Thank you all for bringing them to me.”
The family of longs all bowed respectfully and Nightwatch and Buttercream did the same. They all walked off with Buttercream as Nightwatch waved to her. She waved back and then rushed to catch up with the others.
“So guys, can we go by more shops?” she asked them.
“Oh but you’ve got to see the temple gardens in the center of town, Butter!” said Lily.
“Yeah, you’ll love it down there, Butter. Peace and tranquility. Like a flower petal on a pond. The perfect way to align with your chakra,” said Aster, imitating the voice of an elderly yoga master.
Nightwatch watched them leave. He felt a little worried about Buttercream not being with him, but he knew he could trust the others. He still wondered why Buttercream didn’t want to stay to help do research on her own kind. For some reason, he felt like this would be the last time he would see her.
“Bye, Butter,” he said, faintly as the doors closed.
“Chrysanthemum, please lead our guest into the archives,” ordered Emperor Antirrhinum.
“Yes, sire,” said one of the guards as he opened a smaller set of doors to the right side of the entrance.
Nightwatch walked back through the throne room and turned to his right, bowing as he passed the guard. Antirrhinum got up from his throne and crawled into a space in the wall that opened up. Nightwatch first entered a short hallway connecting the throne room to the archives. The guard then used his magic to open a second set of doors. Nightwatch walked in and his jaw dropped at the sight of numerous shelves full of books. Most of the books were very large, but he figured the Emperor would use his magic to downsize them like he did with the scroll. He spent so much time staring at the books, he almost forgot about Antirrhinum. The Emperor had already made his way into the library through his own personal entrance. He slowly hovered between the shelves toward Nightwatch and then turned to his right.
“Follow me. The section on other dragons is right ahead,” he said.
Nightwatch waited till Antirrhinum’s entire body had slithered through and then followed after. The colossal dragon finally stopped in an area with a dome window at the top where light shone down. In the center was a large cushioned seat. He got on all fours and walked over to the seat, curling himself around in it like a snake. In front of Antirrhinum sat a large table with several books and giant quills, indicating that this was his study. As he began shuffling through some books with his magic, Nightwatch saw that this area had statues and beautiful architecture everywhere. He couldn’t help but gaze in awe. This library was so huge; it was more like a castle hall with books in the walls. It had to be big enough for Antirrhinum and other great longs to get through.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” asked Antirrhinum.
“It is,” said Nightwatch, “Sorry for staring. I’ve just never been in a building this big. Before I graduated from high school, I went to Canterlot for my senior trip, and even the biggest halls of the palace are nothing compared to this!”
“Many dragons come in here each day to do research. The archives are open to the public at all times.”
“Amazing. So there are books about Northern Drakes in here?”
“It has been a long time since I picked one up, but this book has information on all four dragon tribes. It tells plenty about Northerns.”
A huge book floated in next to Antirrhinum and shrank down to a size appropriate for a pony to read. The front side read The Four Tribes of Dracos: An Abridged History of Dragonkind. On the back were several paragraphs of smaller text and a few pictures of dragons.
“Man, that’s quite a spell. The book says Abridged so it’ll probably be a quicker read than the full history book I’m sure.”
“There is still a lot to go through. Would you like me to summarize some of the history for you and show you some visuals of these dragons before you leave?”
“That would help. I don’t want to be away from Butter too long.”
“So be it.”
Antirrhinum used his magic to bring in a large portrait with four dragons on it, lined up with the Cardinal directions and flying around in a circle. The one on the left was birdlike and had a very long neck, two legs, two immense wings with claws, two long horns and spines around its head and jawline. The one on the right had a serpentine body, antlers, four legs, no wings, and hair in place of spikes. The one on the bottom had a more simian build with two curly horns, four legs, and two wings. The one at the top was round and plump, had four beefy legs, two wings, and large dorsal spikes going down its head and back. Nightwatch listened as Antirrhinum told him about these dragons.
“It is said that in the ancient times, one primordial species of dragon existed. We do not have any recorded history of what they looked like. All we know is there was one ancestral species which eventually branched out into many breeds, most of which kept the same common genes. This explains why most of the different dragons are able to crossbreed to produce young. When records began, four primary types of purebred dragons existed. First there are the wyverns: bestial titans of the volcanic west; the longs: serpentine magic-wielding drakes of the tropical east where we are now; the ceros: tough horned drakes of the arid south and expert craftsman; and lastly, the behemoths: large brawlers that dwell in the cool north and have rarely been known to have magic fire.”
“I see. That last one is where Butter comes from, right?”
“Correct. These are commonly referred to as the Western, Eastern, Southern and Northern Drakes respectively.”
“So why does the book I have back at home talk about other types of dragons like amphitheres, lindworms, wyrms, quetzacoatyls and leviathans? I’ve heard of things like wyverns and wyrms in my book, but do those other ones not actually exist?”
“No, they exist. Most of those are related to Eastern and Western dragons and some lesser species like wyrms are not as intelligent nor can they intermingle with us. Northerns and Southerns are close in relation, but purebred Northerns do not grow horns while Southerns do. Northerns are characterized by the large, dorsal pikes on their heads and some have a rotund physique to help insulate from the cold. The family tree of dragon breeds is a bit confusing, but you’ll find more information about them in that book I gave you.”
“Is the book I’ve been reading back at home inaccurate?”
“If it was written by a pony, it could be. Some Equestrian libraries may have omitted literature about us due to paranoia and prejudice. Any information they have on us could be anecdotal.”
“So why exactly do they go by North, South, East and West?”
“The dragon world started off as a single continent, but it cracked during a cataclysmic event and drifted away into four separate continents over the years that each of the tribes claimed. Some believe their modern physiologies grew in correlation to the regions they live in. Those tribes still rule the continents to this day.”
Antirrhinum’s antlers glowed. Several bookshelves to his right moved aside, revealing a wall with four portraits of different dragons and statues depicting the breeds. He turned his head to the wall, while Nightwatch walked around to the other side of the table to get a closer look.
“These portraits on the wall show the current leaders of those continents. In the West is Lord Ignis; in the East is me, Emperor Antirrhinum; in the South is King Cudgel; and in the North is King Rubble.”
The rays from the sunlight in the dome window made it difficult for Nightwatch to see, so he stepped out of the light and walked toward the portraits. Antirrhinum’s portrait showed him as he appeared now, while the others were new to Nightwatch. Lord Ignis’s portrait showed a huge, black wyvern with yellow glowing eyes. He had two long S-shaped horns growing out of the top of his head. There were spiny barbs all over his jawline and going down his back and tail. Like all wyverns, his wings were just his upper arms. They were long and powerful with huge gangly talons, wrapping around stalagmites. His legs were not visible, but his tail was long enough to wrap around the mountain he was standing on. He appeared to be emerging from a volcano and had fire in the backdrop, giving him the appearance of a frightening silhouette. King Cudgel was a muscular, blue dragon with a yellow underbelly. The spikes on his head were just small nubs that were the same color as the rest of his body, but he had two large horns that curved upwards like a bull’s, and one smaller horn growing out of his beaked snout. He wore a crown adorned with jewels and carried a massive axe made of blue crystals. Next to him was a brown dragoness that also wore a crown. She had red dorsal spikes and an orange underbelly. Her figure was voluptuous much like Hosta’s. Her horns were shaped more like unicorn horns and pointed upward at an angle in the back of her skull. She also had fins on the side of her head, so Nightwatch assumed she could be part Northern. As Cudgel proudly lifted the axe, she stood next to the king, wrapping her arms around him lovingly. She was undoubtedly Cudgel’s bride.
Lastly was the one that concerned Nightwatch the most. King Rubble had a wide-chested, muscular build and wore a silver crown with red crystals on it. He was a muted shade of blue with a green underbelly and had maroon dorsal spikes. He sported a slight scowl on his face and had his arms crossed. In contrast, the dragoness to his left appeared very friendly and approachable. She was a brownish shade of yellow with a brighter yellow underbelly and aqua green spikes. She was chubby and round like Daisy was. Down at the bottom of the portrait was something else that caught Nightwatch’s eye: a tiny baby dragon standing on top of a rock in front of them. He looked just like Buttercream, only his spikes were longer and he was purple with a yellow underbelly, green dorsal spikes, and yellow eyes. The little dragon appeared as happy as his mother. He looked back proudly at his father, crossing his arms like him. In the background was a large mountain that appeared to have a face.
“So…that’s the king of Butter’s tribe?” Nightwatch asked, nervously.
“That’s him.”
“Is he…all right?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s that look on his face. He doesn’t look too friendly.”
“He tends to have a rather stoic demeanor, but Northerns are quite docile. Rubble is a good leader from what I’ve heard, though I should warn you, he sadly isn’t fond of ponies.”
“Oh dear. And these other two…I’m guessing that’s his wife and son?”
“Yes: Queen Pebble and Prince Smite. Behind them is the living mountain known as His Elevated Eminence.”
Nightwatch thought heavily about the image in front of him. He grew scared just seeing it. He noticed how similar Buttercream appeared to some of them.
“Is there something wrong, Nightwatch?”
“I’m…I’m sorry, it’s just…you say the king of this tribe hates ponies, but I think…I think Buttercream might be related to these dragons.”
“She does bear a resemblance to Queen Pebble.”
“Yeah, and Prince Smite too. If that’s Smite’s mother, I wonder if maybe Smite and Butter are siblings and they’ve been looking for her egg all these years.”
“I doubt Buttercream is his sister. This portrait was painted decades ago. Smite is probably as old as Rubble is in this portrait right now.”
“So she could be Smite’s daughter then. Either way, Rubble is the king and if she’s related to them, imagine what’s going to happen when he finds out his granddaughter is in Equestria being raised by ponies…”
Nightwatch hung his head and sat down. Antirrhinum turned his head to the young unicorn.
“You’re worried they will take her from you,” Antirrhinum said.
“I have a bad feeling that’s what’s going to happen, even if she isn’t related to the royal family. I thought we’d be able to visit Nordo Dracos someday and befriend dragons like her, but I don’t even want her near that place. I’m actually hard-pressed to tell her anything about Nordo Dracos…not after what I now know about their king. Emperor Antirrhinum, I hate to say this, but I can’t let Buttercream find out.”
Nightwatch looked back to Antirrhinum. He looked very worried, while the emperor didn’t change his expression at all. Nightwatch could tell he was sympathetic, but maybe still confused.
“Look, I know it’s wrong to keep this from her, but you don’t understand: before I found Buttercream, I was going to have a unicorn sister of my own, but we lost her at birth. It was the saddest day of my life. Every day after that, I kept wishing for a new sister and I finally got one when I found that egg in the forest. Since that day, I’ve been so happy to have Butter as a sister. I love her, your highness. I care for her like she was my own flesh and blood and so do my parents. I can’t lose her if those dragons come and find out we’ve had her all these years. I just can’t. I’m sorry.”
Nightwatch tried to speak calmly but progressively grew more frantic until he reached the end and slowed down. His voice sounded grating and his eyes were misty. He brought his head back down and paused. Finally he spoke again.
“I don’t want to ask you to do this for me, but…”
“Your secret is safe with me, young Nightwatch. I understand why you don’t want her to know. I hear Nordo Dracos has had trouble with rocs in the past. Those are giant birds of prey that go after dragon eggs and younger dragons, sometimes traveling hundreds of miles just to find some for their young. She could have been taken by one and dropped in Equestria. If she were related, Rubble would certainly come for her if he found out. I haven’t met Rubble yet, but if it is true how he feels about ponies, you are right. I will not say a word.”
“Thank you.”
“Tread with caution though. Your sister will find out about this one day, and you must confront her when she does. It cannot stay secret forever. It is up to you to know when to tell her the truth.”
“I understand.”
“Do you still wish to take the book with you?”
“I’m a little scared to, but maybe just in case. It’s small enough to fit in my bag and I don’t think she’ll notice.”
Nightwatch put the book in his satchel. They both turned away from the portraits, and the shelves moved back into place. Antirrhinum spoke to Nightwatch as they left the archives.
“I apologize if this didn’t work out as you expected,” Antirrhinum told him.
“It’s okay. If there’s anything more I need to know about dragons, maybe I’ll come back to visit someday.”
“Better yet, take this.”
Antirrhinum handed Nightwatch a tiny tube with a scroll inside. It looked like the one with the paperwork for him earlier; only it was a royal shade of blue and had different dragon designs.
“Write on the scroll and then place it back in the tube, and it will be sent to me instantly by magic. We can use it for back and forth correspondence and I can send you more parchment when we run out of space on the page.”
“Thanks. Well I think we still made progress today with the talk about opening trade. I’m sure Princess Luna will be happy to see you.”
“You’ve done admirably in her place. Once she has signed the agreement, our differences shall be cast aside and we can start anew.”
“Just sorry I had to go through all that back there in the archives. I guess now’s not the time to really worry about Butter’s origins. I’ll tell her someday, but when I’m ready.”
“Like I said earlier, you and your sister serve as a symbol of our union, and I would hate to break that.”
Nightwatch smiled and walked out of the door, while Antirrhinum stayed behind to return to his study. He looked back to the dragon emperor once more to bid him farewell.
The guards slowly closed the doors behind Nightwatch, as he left the palace. He walked out from underneath the dragon-shaped entrance into the light. The temperature felt much warmer and the light was more intense after having been inside for so long. He squinted his eyes, but they adjusted over time. He started his journey down the winding staircase that lead into the town. As he reached the first square center before the final flight of stairs, he reached into his satchel and took out his instant print camera. He almost forgot about the last picture he had taken with it. The film had already faded in and looked very nice. He put it in front of the same spot the picture was taken at the exact same angle. He, Buttercream and all their new dragon friends were smiling warmly with the town in the backdrop. As he moved the picture and saw that spot now unoccupied, he felt a sense of loneliness pour over him. Not having Buttercream there with him made him feel even worse, especially after his discovery in the archives.
“What am I going to do now?” he asked himself. “She’s been so curious about her kind; I’d hate to just keep this all secret from her, but they could find her and take her from me. If that happens, I’ll never see her again. I don’t want to do this but…I… can’t let her know. I just can’t.”
Nightwatch put the camera and picture back in his satchel. He trudged down the stairs with his head held low and began singing.
I can’t afford to lose you
I need you here by my side
If I lost you, if you left me
Don’t know what I’d do
I can’t afford to lose you
You mean so much more to me
Than you will ever know
I couldn’t live at all
If I lost you
“Sorry, Butter.”
He made his way down the stairs and wandered the streets of the marketplace, watching the longs interact with their friends and families. With Buttercream still on his mind, he continued singing as he went.
You’re always there when I am down
I smile when you look my way
We’ve laughed and played and broken rules
With you my days are never grey
I’m so afraid to lose you
If I woke up and you weren’t there
I could never forgive myself
If it’s the last thing I do
I won’t lose you
Nightwatch followed signs leading to the temple gardens that Aster and Lily mentioned. It was a rather peaceful area. Some longs were in meditation while others were quietly gardening and watering plants. He looked around to find Buttercream and his friends, but they were nowhere to be seen. A sense of dread came over him, not having his sister around. He saw small statues of dragons in one corner. Some of them were of different species outside of the longs and one of them resembled King Rubble.
I wanted you to see
The land that you came from
But that dreaded king might see you
And take you away
As sure as the stars do shine
I will not let it happen
Nightwatch trembled at the thought of Rubble finding Buttercream. He grew apprehensive, and his singing grew foreboding and intense. He was determined more than anything to not let any of the Northern Drakes find out about his adoptive dragon sister. He imagined having to defend Buttercream if anyone threatened to take her away. After leaving the gardens, tears ran down his cheeks as he went back in time to the day he lost his biological sister, Twinkle Star.
I was to have a sister
Her time came before she was born
We couldn’t save her from the grave
My heart was so torn
But then one day I found you
Hatched that egg and there you were
Oh Buttercream, please forgive me
Wish I could tell you the truth
But I can’t afford to lose you
As Nightwatch finished singing, he had made his way out of the town and back to Tigrinum and Azalea’s house. The sun was a few minutes away from setting and he had had a long day, but he did his best to get everything off his mind. He dried his tears and noticed Aster, Lily and Pansy floating over to him.
“Hey, Nighty!” called Lilly.
“Hey guys,” he said, as he let Pansy nuzzle his leg.
“How were things in the archives?” Aster asked him.
“Eh, I did okay, I guess. I sadly didn’t really find what I was looking for.”
“Really? Well that’s a bummer,” said Lily. “There should be something about Northern Drakes in there. The archives have pretty much everything. There’s probably even stuff about Equestria.”
“Yeah, it’s disappointing too cuz I promised Butter we would figure things out about her breed.”
“I’m sure she won’t mind,” Aster added. “Antirrhinum would be happy to let you guys visit the archives again. In any case, I’ve got those documents if you wanna look at ‘em. It’s not much; just goes over the process to get agreements started and scheduling for ambassadors, which I’ll be overseeing.”
“Okay. How’s Butter?”
“Oh she’s fine. She’s sleeping in a room Mom and Dad made for the two of you,”
“Yeah, except, well…the gifts,” Lily said, sharing a nervous glance with her brother.
“The gifts? What do you mean?” Nightwatch asked.
“Well she couldn’t stop wanting more things as we went through town,” Aster continued. “We never actually made it to the temple gardens like we said we were gonna do. She didn’t wanna go.”
“She’s doing that again? You guys didn’t give her anything, did you?”
“We only got her one of those fruits she was eyeing earlier. She never even ate it; she just carried it around. Of course everyone here’s all giddy about a baby Northern in town, so they got a bit too generous with her. What really gets me though was the trash she kept picking off the ground. Got me thinking she just signed up for some volunteer litter-control, but no, she actually took that stuff like she wanted it.”
“Trash? She’s taking trash now?”
“Somehow yes. We couldn’t stop her either. She was pretty grabby.”
“Yeah, we had to keep her back a few times. She kinda made a few of the shop owners nervous,” Lily added.
“She was…UGH! Buttercream!”
Nightwatch grumbled and rolled his eyes. He quickly rushed inside the house with Aster and Lily following him. After he got past the front door, they directed him to the right, where he walked down a short corridor and opened a sliding door. There were two beds on both sides of the bedroom, but Buttercream was not using either one. She was instead curled up on the ground with a dozen or so random objects all around her. She wore a ball cap hat with a dragon emblem on the front and a shirt that said “I Love Ester Dracos”. She had the fruit from earlier along with some other little trinkets like flower bouquets, tiny ceramic vases, dragon figurines, stuffed animals, and snacks, but that wasn’t all. Nightwatch also noticed some very unusual things like pebbles, grass, wilted flowers, candy wrappers, empty cups, and assorted garbage that Buttercream would never want for herself. She was fast asleep and had a smile on her face. Nightwatch would normally be pleased at the sight of her sleeping so soundly and looking so cute, but instead he was concerned. He was already on edge after learning about King Rubble; now he had more to worry about with his sister.
“I just don’t get it. Why would she want those things?” Nightwatch whispered.
“We thought maybe you could tell us,” Aster said.
“I honestly don’t know. She’s never been like this before. Every time we celebrate Hearth’s Warming Day, she’s thankful for all the gifts she gets even if it’s not a whole lot. Mom and Dad have taught both of us to not be greedy and want too much. This just isn’t right.”
“Nightwatch, how were the archives?” Azalea asked, walking in next to them.
“Oh, Azalea. I, um…I didn’t find what I was searching for, but look, I’m sorry about Butter. Did she try to take anything from in your house?”
“Yeah, a couple times. We were wondering about that ourselves.”
“We had to remind her she already had her own things and she seemed to listen, but she insisted on sleeping with all of them,” Tigrinum added, arriving in next to Azalea. “I’ve never seen a dragon do that before. Perhaps it’s a thing for Northerns.”
Nightwatch put his hooves over his face for a moment and shook his head back and forth.
“Alright, tomorrow we’re going to make sure she doesn’t do it anymore,” Nightwatch told everyone firmly. “If she asks for stuff, don’t give her anything. I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but we best keep her away from things she can get. We’ll be leaving tomorrow afternoon anyway, so hopefully she’ll be over this when she wakes up.”
“She’ll be alright, Nighty,” Lily said. “Butter’s such a sweet little dragon; I’m sure she’ll listen to us if we tell her enough is enough.”
“We’ll keep our eyes on her, kid,” Aster said, patting Nightwatch on the back. “She could just have a case of the gimmies so she can take ‘em home for memories. After all, tourists never leave Ester Dracos without a souvenir.”
“Yeah, but she wouldn’t just take trash and stones off the ground,” Nightwatch said, looking back at Buttercream as she yawned and curled back up in her hoard of goods.
“Well before it gets late, you wanna go over the documents? Might help ya take your mind off her.”
“Yeah, I suppose now’s the time. Sorry if I’m getting a little worked up right now. Butter means a lot to me, and I’m kinda worried about what she’s doing. I’ll just have a talk with her tomorrow. Hopefully she listens.”
Nightwatch slowly closed the door behind him. Aster hovered over to a table with the scroll tube. He popped the lid off and removed the parchment with his magic. Nightwatch sat in a chair next to him while Lily and her parents went over to a table near the kitchen to finish some noodles they had cooked earlier. There was a plate saved for Nightwatch for when he was ready to eat.
“Alright. These first two paragraphs are just the thesis for why this agreement is being made. We don’t need to go over that. Then down here is where it discusses the different products and resources that Equestria and Ester Dracos are looking to exchange. Now a thousand years have passed really quickly for Luna, so some of this might be a little confusing…um, Nightwatch?”
Aster looked to the side to see Nightwatch still looking back at the bedroom. Nightwatch flinched and turned around nervously. Everyone else had noticed him.
“Er, sorry.”
“You alright?”
“I’m fine, I just…I don’t know. Butter’s just been a little weird today.”
“Is there anything else troubling you?” Azalea asked.
“I…no, not really. It’s just Butter. It’s okay. She’ll probably be fine tomorrow. Anyway, let’s see what more there is to this document.”
Aster continued speaking as Nightwatch straightened himself up and paid attention. They both went through the rest of the paper, and Nightwatch understood it. After they were done, he tried some of Azalea’s noodles and found it to be delicious, but was disappointed to learn Buttercream did not have any yet as she wasn’t hungry.
When it was time for bed, Nightwatch quietly crept into his bedroom and began throwing some of Buttercream’s trash away. He would let her know the next morning why she didn’t need it, but he would let her keep the more proper gifts she had received. Before he turned his light off, he took one more look at her. She was holding the orange and several other goods close to her like they were the most precious things she had ever seen.
“Come on, Nightwatch,” he told himself. “She’s gonna be just fine. She’s just having a hard time getting used to this new place and probably just really loves all the things she’s seen. She’s still young after all. It could just be a phase. It’ll all be over tomorrow morning. Sleep tight, Buttercream.”
He shut the light off and closed his eyes. Little did Nightwatch know; his sister was undergoing a deadly transformation.
Nightwatch sat in the front lawn of his parents’ house, with his telescope next to him. It was sunset and he was waiting for the night to arrive, so he could study the stars. Suddenly, he saw Buttercream running over the hill across the road. She was skipping along playfully and humming a happy tune. Nightwatch looked at her and smiled. She noticed him and then started running towards him.
“Nighty! Hey!” she shouted, joyfully.
He dropped everything he was doing and ran across the road to meet her. They both laughed joyfully as they ran. She tripped as she was running but got back up without a problem. They both stopped as they heard loud footsteps rumbling in the distance. The sky grew dark rather fast and Nightwatch noticed a fiery glow on the other side of the hill Buttercream had just run over. Suddenly, a huge hulking object emerged from the flames behind her. It was none other than King Rubble. He threw his head back and roared.
“N-N-Nighty, what is that?!”
“BUTTER, RUN!!”
Buttercream ran as fast as she could to her brother, but Rubble tried to grab her with his giant claws. She dodged his claws and finally made it to Nightwatch. He could not run away fast enough, so he covered Buttercream with his arms and cast a protection spell. As Rubble reached for them, he closed his eyes. A few seconds passed and nothing happened. He opened his eyes again but saw that Buttercream was no longer with him.
“Bu…Butter?! Buttercream, where are you?!” he yelped, as he frantically looked around.
“What’s the matter Nighty?”
He then heard a voice behind him. It sounded like Buttercream’s voice, but it was echoing as if she were bigger. He turned around and saw a giant 300-foot tall version of her in Rubble’s place. She laughed maniacally. The fire behind her flared up and began to surround Nightwatch and burn all the grass and trees.
“Afraid you might lose me? Afraid they might come and TAKE ME AWAY?! AHAHAHA!!”
Her voice was now deeper and monstrous. At this point, she was just a darkened silhouette, but he noticed her face and body were now morphing to look more like a grown Northern Drake, but not a friendly one. She looked scarier than Rubble. Nightwatch’s heart raced and felt as though it would leap out of his chest. Suddenly, he woke up.
“AAAGGGHHH!”
He saw the wallpaper in front of him and was turned away from where Buttercream was sleeping on the ground. His heart was still pounding very fast and he was hyperventilating, but he grew calmer as he realized it was just a nightmare. Before he could turn around, the confirmation already came that Buttercream was in there with him, safe and sound.
“Nighty?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
“Butter? Yeah…yeah, I’m okay. It was just a really bad dream,” Nightwatch said, still turned away from her.
“Oh. It sure sounded bad.”
“Yeah, but don’t worry, I’m okay now, I’m okaAAAAAAY!”
Nightwatch turned around as he spoke and immediately lost control of his voice, upon seeing the sea of objects in the bedroom. It was covering the entire floor and some of it had even started spilling over onto his bed. The trash basket that he had thrown some of these things away was now in the pile with more objects in it. Tons of random decorations, lamps, plates, bowls, vases and heirlooms from around the house were in the pile. It looked like he was in a house that belonged to a hoarder. Unfortunately, Buttercream’s greed issue had not gotten better over night, but worse. Nightwatch threw off his cover and stood up on his bed. He could barely see the hat Buttercream was wearing in the pile. Most of her face was obscured, but she moved and some of the things fell down to show her.
“Hey. What’s the matter?” she asked.
“BU…BUTTER, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?!”
“What do you mean? I feel great!”
“Great? GREAT?! Look at all this stuff! First you go for the game cartridges, then that fruit, then the torch, then Aster and Lily tell me you kept begging for gifts and picking up trash while I was gone yesterday, and now…AND NOW THIS?!”
Nightwatch used his magic to push some of the things away and clear a path for him to get through. He recognized the lamp, tissue box, and alarm clock that belonged on the desk next to him and put them back where they belonged.
“Nighty, what are you doing?”
“Those things don’t belong to you, Butter! None of this does! Now get out of there while I-”
As Nightwatch spoke, he pulled Buttercream out of the pile with his magic. To his horror, his little sister was not like he remembered. Her arms and legs were longer and lanky. She was thinner and almost more snake-like with an extra long tail. He hadn’t noticed it before due to being distracted by the mess, but even her face had changed a little. Her snout had a more beak-like shape and her head had grown larger. He pulled the hat off and noticed her spikes had grown a bit longer and pointier as well. Even though Lily said that she would be getting her wings in a few years, she somehow still had no wings, and her body shape was not chubby and round like he was expecting her to be. Somehow she had grown up into an adolescent form, but this was happening way too quickly. He was so scared over what was happening to his sister, his heart started pounding again.
“Nighty what are you…huh? What?! Why am I bigger?!” she screamed. “Nighty, what happened? All I did was go to sleep!”
“Well that’s obviously not all you did! Butter, don’t you understand!? Somehow being greedy is making you grow too fast!”
“Oh. You think so?”
“Hello?” asked Lily on the other side of the door.
Nightwatch looked over to the door to see it start to slide open, but there was too much garbage in front of it.
“Wait! LILY, NO!” he called, but it was too late.
The door slid open and Lily was instantly buried in junk. Aster was in the corridor with her, but he was tall enough that it only covered his legs. Pansy was with them but was thankfully hovering in the air and hid right behind Aster’s back.
“WHOA!! Clean up on aisle five!” Aster shouted as he pulled Lily out of the pile.
Lily had a cup hanging from one of her antlers and a vase stuck on her snout. She pulled the vase off with her hands and feet and looked back to see Buttercream. Both she and Aster nearly fainted at the site of Buttercream being as big as she was.
“Guys, I’m sorry, I didn’t think she’d do this over night! I don’t know how she got this big!”
“Well we’d better clean this all up before Mom and Dad see it!” said Lily. “That’s Grandma Tulip’s vase!”
“And I recognize some of these books from Dad’s study. Buttercream, care to explain all this?”
“I don’t know, guys. I just…I just like this stuff.”
“Come on, let’s get her out of here and clean up this mess.”
Aster reached in and pulled Buttercream out of her hoard. She was so confused over her newfound height, she briefly forgot about the pile. As Aster moved her out into the living room, she was distracted by all the other things in the house she had not yet taken.
“There must be something wrong with her,” Lily said, frantically. “Nighty, are you sure you didn’t find any books or something about Northern Drakes in the archives?”
“I…uh…”
Nightwatch looked nervous and began to sweat. In his mind, he now realized he should have consulted the book he got from Antirrhinum, but he couldn’t even locate it in the pile. He was about to confess, until Buttercream distracted him. She was climbing up a pillar in the living room to fetch a painting hanging from the wall.
“Butter, stop!” he screamed.
“Whoa there, not-so-little lady!” said Aster, pulling her back down.
“But…but I want it!” Buttercream pouted.
“That’s an old family heirloom from several generations ago. Can’t letcha have that. Maybe it’s time you just take a break.”
Aster put her back down on the ground to get her to sit still. He tried giving her a belly rub, which thankfully got her to roll over on the ground in submission. While Aster and Lily were discussing things, Nightwatch went back into his bedroom to find his book.
“Hark, I have tamed the beast!” Aster said heroically.
“There you go, Aster!” Lily said.
“Who’s a good girl! Who’s a good girl!”
As Aster spoke to Buttercream in a cute voice like she was a puppy, Nightwatch continued to search for his book. He finally found the satchel, quickly pulled it out of the pile and placed it on his bed. He opened the book and looked around in a section about Northern Drakes. He found a page that showed images of baby Northerns and their anatomy and other facts about them. He turned the pages until he saw a picture of a huge adult Northern that had a very long neck and tail with sharp spikes, but no wings. He figured this might have something to do with Buttercream’s growth, so he looked elsewhere on the page to see several other dragons descending in height and one of them resembled Buttercream’s current look. He read some of the text on the page above and put his hoof up to his chin in shock.
“Oh no…” he said.
“Aster, can I get up now?” asked Buttercream.
“Only if you promise us you won’t take anymore things,” Lily said.
“I…uh…all right, fine. I guess I’ve had enough.”
Aster stopped rubbing her and Buttercream sat still, looking somewhat disappointed.
“Now that means sitting here and not touching a thing until we can figure out what’s wrong with you. Capeesh?” Aster continued.
“That’s right. You wouldn’t want to keep growing bigger and bigger, would you?” Lily asked.
“No,” Buttercream said, crossly.
“Guys! Come quickly!” Nightwatch called.
Aster and Lily flew into the room to see Nightwatch with the book.
“What did you find?” Lily asked.
“Well…uh, is Butter here?”
“No, we told her to sit still. Looks like she’s behaving now.”
“Alright good. Now I think I’ve figured out what’s wrong with her. She’s in a form of greed-induced accelerated growth that all Northerns go through at a prepubescent age. They call it ‘rage mode’ in Nordo Dracos.”
“Whoa, pump the breaks. So you did find a book.” Aster said.
Nightwatch glanced back at Buttercream to see if she could hear them. She appeared to be distracted by tons of objects around her, but at least she would not hear what he was about to say. He whispered to them as he made his confession.
“Yeah, well…look, I actually did find out some things about Butter’s kind and Antirrhinum did let me have this book, but here’s the thing: I don’t want Butter knowing anything about her kind right now.”
“Why not?” asked Lily.
“Because apparently the king of Nordo Dracos hates ponies. And I have this sinking feeling she might be related to the royal family, so I can’t let her get anywhere near that place or they could find out about her and take her away. And I’m afraid if I let her see this book, she’s gonna beg to go there. I just can’t let her know right now.”
“Oooh. That does sound a little rough,” said Aster.
“Please don’t tell anyone. I don’t wanna lose her.”
“You have our word, Nighty,” Lily said, saluting. “But you know she’s gonna find out eventually.”
“I’ll tell her some other day, but right now we really need to figure out how to stop this. Here it says she’s going to get bigger, but any Northern can be brought back down to size if they’re ‘wrangled’ by an adult dragon or two. Thank goodness! I was worried she’d be like this forever!”
“Wrangled? What does that mean?”
“Judging by these pictures, I guess they’re wrestled or something. But do we have any adult Northern Drakes around here that know how to do that?”
“I don’t know of any,” Aster said. “I believe there are a few ‘great bog’ Northerns living retired lifestyles in the mountains, but they’re a little old and the chances that they’re even awake at this time of the year are slim.”
“Yeah, they really like to sleep. A lot,” Lily added.
“Well then we’re going to have to find a way to wrangle her before she gets bigger,” Nightwatch said.
“ASTER! LILY!!” called Azalea from a room above.
Everyone turned around to see Buttercream was no longer in the spot she had been sitting in earlier. She had gotten up and started taking things from upstairs. They all went out in to the living room they left her in and looked up to see Buttercream had climbed the pillars into the upper floors of their pagoda house. She took a few things from their bedroom and slid down the pillar using one claw, which left scratch marks. As she landed, Tigrinum and Azalea flew down and stood in front of her on all fours. Tigrinum stared firmly at her and used his magic to take everything out of her arms.
“NO! I want those! Buttercream want!” Buttercream yelped as she jumped up and down to grab everything.
“Nightwatch, I hate to say this, but we best get Buttercream to Antirrhinum. He might know how to deal with this,” Tigrinum said.
“We already figured it out, Dad,” said Lily.
“She’s growing fast from her greed and entering something Northern Drakes go through called ‘rage mode’,” Nightwatch explained.
“And we have to wrangle her to calm her down before she gets bigger!”
“Wrangle her? Just how are we going to do that?” asked Azalea.
Everyone looked to see Aster cracking his knuckles. He mimicked the sound of an audience at a sporting event. Buttercream had already managed to pick up a rug from the ground and saw Aster challenging her. She got down in a stance like the one he was in, knowing he would try to take her treasure. Tigrinum and Azalea moved some furniture to accommodate space for them. Their living room had just turned into a training dojo.
“All right folks, stand back! I’ve got this!” Aster said before switching his voice over to a sports announcer.
“Are you ready for the match of the century, ladies and gentlelongs? In one corner, at one-eighty pounds we’ve got the Dragon of Dare, the Purveyor of Potency: ASTER! And in the other corner at one hundred pounds is the terrifying, the deadly, the adorable BUTTERCREAM! Can Aster overcome the beast! Wait and find out! LLLLETS GET READY TO RUMB-”
Before Aster could make his first move, Buttercream had already pounced on him. His snakelike body enabled him to wrap himself around her, so he quickly gained the high ground and had her incapacitated. He continued to humor everyone by adding commentary to the fight.
“WHOA! LOOK AT ‘EM GO! Look at how he does that chokehold! The vigor! The tenacity! I tell ya, I haven’t seen anything like this in my life! That Aster is gonna be through with her before the day is done!”
“GO ASTER, GO!” shouted Lily, as she pumped her fist.
“GAH! Let me go! Buttercream want!!” Buttercream growled.
“You got it, Aster! Now just be careful to…oh dear…” Nightwatch said, looking down at his book.
“What’s the matter, Nighty?” Lily asked.
“I said…Buttercream…WAAAAANT!!!”
Buttercream’s voice grew deeper and she suddenly grew larger in a matter of seconds, while roaring. Aster couldn’t hold her any longer. She was too strong. She used her claws to push his arms off of her. Reaching back with ease, she threw him into a large sofa nearby.
“ASTER!” shouted Lily and Azalea.
“Alright, this has gone far enough!” said Tigrinum, as he flew around Buttercream in a circle with his antlers glowing.
Buttercream roared and tried clawing at Tigrinum as he flew, but she started floating in the air with his magic. He tried casting a spell that would normally put her to sleep and weaken her, but it did no good. She only grew angrier, so he resorted to getting physical like his son did. He was long enough to wrap himself around her and nearly won, until he heard what Nightwatch was saying.
“TIGRINUM, STOP! IT WON’T WORK UNTIL SHE’S REACHED HER LARGEST STAGE OF GROWTH! DOING IT NOW JUST MAKES IT WORSE!” he screamed.
Before Tigrinum could remove himself, Buttercream pulled him off and threw him to the ground, while she came plummeting down next to him. She got up quickly, rushed over to the shoji windows at the other end of the dining room and ripped right through them.
“Tigrinum, my love! Are you all right?” Azalea cried, tending to her husband.
“I’ve felt better,” he replied, weakly.
“Dad, now what?! If we can’t wrangle her till she’s big enough, she’s just gonna wreck the entire town!” Lily said.
“I’m going to inform Antirrhinum. We might be able to lure her into a safer zone and call in the Guardians.”
“Be careful, dear,” Azalea said, giving her husband a quick kiss.
Tigrinum picked himself up and went out the front door to fly off to the palace to warn the Emperor.
“Well we’ve already lost her,” Aster said, looking out of the giant dragon-shaped hole in the lattice structure. “I don’t see her anywhere out there. She probably ran off into the forest. Gosh, that girl really packs a punch.”
“This is all my fault,” Nightwatch said, miserably. “I should’ve consulted this book before all of this started happening.”
“It’s okay, Nighty,” Lily told him. “We were probably too late for that anyway. At least we know there’s a way we can stop this.”
“Wait, Nightwatch, you had a book about this all along?” Azalea asked.
“I don’t have time to explain,” said Nightwatch. “Come on. Let’s go out there and see if we can find her and corral her into another place where she can’t do as much damage. We should probably go warn everyone in town first so they can close up their shops. If she’s this greedy, she’ll go for the marketplace first.”
“He’s right,” said Aster. “That area is going to be a total smorgasbord for her if we don’t act fast!”
Everyone ran out of the front door to head for the marketplace and alert all the other longs. Unfortunately, Buttercream was already on her way there.
In the town, longs continued about their normal lives, buying and socializing. Hosta, Daisy and Amaryllis worked at their flower stand as they always would.
“Hey, Ammy, how many geraniums did we sell so far?” Hosta asked her sister.
“About fourteen in the first hour. They’re really in this season!” Amaryllis replied.
“Uh, guys, what’s that?” asked Daisy as she pointed at a large yellow Northern Drake with pink spikes, tearing through the streets and picking up random goods from stands.
“HEY! Are you gonna pay for those?!” asked a random shop-worker before she roared in his face.
Buttercream then turned and saw the flower stall. The sisters had not yet figured out who she was, and she already had her eyes on the flowers. She quickly rushed over and scooped up tons of them and put them in her arms.
“Hey, just what do you think you’re…wait, Buttercream, is that you?” asked Hosta.
Buttercream roared in Hosta’s face and then turned to steal more things at another shop. Hosta’s hair was all messy from the wind in her face, but she was not interested in any makeovers right now. She looked to see Buttercream running off and flew outside of the stall with her sisters.
“That was Buttercream?” asked Daisy.
“But how can that be Buttercream, unless…” Amaryllis started saying before pausing.
“SHE’S ENTERING RAGE MODE!” they all shouted at the same time.
“Of course! How could we forget Granddad went through this too?” Daisy said.
“That’s only for purebreds though, so Dad didn’t experience it and neither did any of us!” Hosta added.
“How did Granddad say they took care of him again?” asked Amaryllis.
“She has to be wrangled!” called Nightwatch, as he arrived in next to the sisters. “But we can’t do it until she reaches the final stage of growth.”
“Nightwatch! How long has this been happening?” Hosta asked.
“I think it all started yesterday when we went through here and some of the villagers started giving her things,” Azalea told her.
“Oh shoot! WE contributed to that! How could we be so foolish!?” Amaryllis said, smacking herself in the face.
“Nightwatch, we’re so sorry,” said Daisy “We should’ve known she was entering the stage of a Northern Drake’s life where they can grow from greed. It’s a little hard to pinpoint exactly when it will happen, but it’s usually a couple years before they get their wings.”
“Yeah, it only happens with purebreds though, so none of us have experienced this,” Hosta added.
“It’s okay, ladies,” Nightwatch replied. “I know you meant well. We need to find a way to get her wrangled.”
“Some of the larger longs are trying to stop her,” Azalea said. “Aster, let’s go and warn them to not let her near too many of the buildings, or there will be a lot of property damage. Lily, you stay with Nightwatch.”
“Be careful, Mom,” Lily said, watching her mother and brother take off.
“Now Nightwatch, you say it can only be dealt with when she’s big enough?” Amaryllis asked. “I forgot about that part. That explains why we have a picture of Granddad being wrestled by his parents when he was bigger than them.”
“Plus the Northerns always have these things planned out too,” Daisy explained. “I remember Granddad saying when a young one reaches a certain age, he or she is placed in a deep crater they can’t escape and are fed gems and other random things until their greed increases and they grow. If they’re large enough the next day, the parents jump in to wrangle them. If they escape the crater, it can be pretty bad, but that’s why Northern Drakes induce the growth before a baby dragon gets its wings.”
“And depending on the dragon, it can take almost an entire hour to pin them into submission. Other dragons might even need to get involved,” Hosta added. “Once they’re calm, they quickly shrink back into their baby size. After that, everyone celebrates, marking it as a rite of passage.”
“I still don’t get it. Why does this even happen to Northerns?” Nightwatch asked as he witnessed his sister stealing more things from stands.
“Nobody knows. It didn’t always used to be that way. About a thousand years ago, baby Northerns just started having this issue, but they quickly found a way to deal with it.”
“And is wrangling the only option?” Lily asked.
“So we’ve been told,” said Daisy, “Wrangling is a huge part of Nordo Dracos culture. They like to wrestle for fun and to prepare for wrangling when they’re old enough.”
“Are there any Eastern Drakes that can do it?” asked Nightwatch.
“Probably not. Easterns might have snake-like bodies, but they don’t exactly have the strength of a purebred Northern. There’s a very specific process to how it’s done. I hope the Guardians are capable of stopping her.”
“We could just call in someone from Nordo Dracos,” Amaryllis suggested.
“NO!” shouted Nightwatch as everyone stared at him. “Sorry, but we can’t do that!”
“Uh…why not?”
“Well…I…”
Some longs then flew by everyone as Buttercream came stomping back through to take things from the other side of the street they were on. Her features were starting to look far more bestial. She was now about five times bigger than before. She would have stood about 100 feet tall if she were standing on two legs, but she was now walking in a quadruped fashion and using her tail to carry things. In her tail was a giant marble bowl she stole from some larger longs to keep her hoard in. A few of them started using their magic to try and stop her, but they were not strong enough, and it was too risky to fight in such a condensed area. Alarms were already sounding and longs had begun to evacuate. Azalea and Aster’s plan clearly didn’t work, so they returned to help everyone fall back.
“It’s not working! She won’t leave the town!” Azalea cried.
“I’m tempted to make a Longzilla joke, but I should probably save that for later,” said Aster.
“Well if we’re gonna get a wrangler dragon, we need to do it fast!” said Amaryllis.
Everyone started backing up except Nightwatch who could not help but stand still and stare in horror at the giant dragon. He felt so responsible for all of this damage, but even worse: he started to worry that he truly had lost his sister.
“Butter…I’m so sorry I let this happen to you,” he cried.
The younger longs of Ester Dracos hovered around outside of the town, watching the colossal yellow dragon rampage. It was too dangerous to be around Buttercream, so some of them had already evacuated and took some of their belongings and children. Even the older, larger ones didn’t dare fight her for fear it would destroy the town in the process. They could do nothing but watch her scour their beloved home. Buttercream still found things to steal and place in the marble bowl, which only caused her to grow bigger and far more dangerous.
At this point, she had reached the final stage of growth for a Northern Drake, going through rage mode. Her neck was much longer and she had a more muscular build, but a very ferocious face. Her beak was now more prominent and her fangs were longer and sharper. The spikes on her head now had a wavy shape with a bladed tip at the end. Her tail was still very long and she was able to keep it wrapped around the bowl, as she grabbed anything in sight to put inside.
Buttercream had completely lost herself now. She had no memory of who she was before or anyone she knew. All she had on her mind was to steal anything and keep it hoarded. Although she stormed around and roared loudly, no one was standing up to her at the moment, except for Myosoti who used his magic to create illusions that appeared to be characters from his video games in a pixelated form. She thought they were real, and continuously tried to grab them to no avail. As he continued to tease her and try to direct her away from the town, she became increasingly frustrated until she saw him off to the side. Although she was a monster now, she was still smart enough to figure out what he was up to and quickly abandoned chasing after his illusions.
No one else could stop Buttercream, but the Guardians were on their way. They had been waiting since she could not be stopped until she reached her final form. Several of the ancient elemental longs swooped in and flew around her. She swiped at them with her claws as they got close, but they were quick and dodged it. Since she was in the town, they could not use their powers and risk the property damage. Their goal right now was to lure her into an area where she couldn’t hurt anyone or destroy any buildings. She finally decided it was time to find a cave and hoard her treasure. She saw an island out at sea with a cave at the top. It was the perfect place to be away from everyone else and keep her goods. She began walking towards the island, ignoring the Guardians in the process.
Lily, Aster and Pansy all watched as the battle unfolded. Pansy hid behind Aster as Lily watched fearfully. They had faith one of the Guardians would be able to wrangle her, but they were still worried.
“I knew it was bad, but I didn’t think it was gonna get this bad,” said Aster.
“Even Mr. Myosoti couldn’t stop her,” Lily added. “Poor Buttercream. The worst thing is: she’s acting like she doesn’t remember anything, not even our friendship.”
They held each other close and Pansy went in to lick Lily’s cheek. They heard something landing to the side and turned to see Antirrhinum with several of his guards. Tigrinum flew out to meet his children.
“Dad!” cried Lily, as her father embraced her.
“I see it’s gotten worse. Have the Guardians made any progress?” Tigrinum asked.
“Well we haven’t exactly gotten to the fighting yet,” Aster explained. “Any minute now, we’re gonna see some action. Hopefully they calm her down.”
“I’m so sorry this happened,” said Antirrhinum. “I should have known Buttercream was susceptible to greed that overtakes a Northern Drake at this stage. That book tells of the rage form, but it’s difficult to tell if they are the right age for it to happen and it appears we were already too late.”
“She was already getting greedy before we even entered the palace, your highness, but none of us knew this would happen,” Lily said. “With everything I learned about Northerns in school, I wish we’d have covered rage mode. Then I might have been able to stop her from getting too many gifts in town. And if it still did happen, we could’ve at least moved her out into the mountains or a faraway island in advance.”
Antirrhinum looked out at the town and observed the damage. He was more concerned with Buttercream though. The Guardians were already starting to make their moves as she cleared the beach and traversed the surf. Kaze and Jishin swooped in and began head-butting her to knock her into the water. Mizu used her powers to pull Buttercream down in the water, but Buttercream was too strong and ripped right through the current to retrieve her goods.
“The town can be easily repaired, but she has to be wrangled in at least three days,” Antirrhinum explained. “That is the only way to stop rage mode…unless…”
“Unless what?” asked Tigrinum.
“Where is Nightwatch?”
“He went back to our house,” said Aster. “He couldn’t bare the sight of his sister like this.”
“I’ll be back. I must speak with him.”
Back at Tigrinum and Azalea’s house, Nightwatch sat in the living room where Buttercream last was before she ran off. Part of the broken lattice structure had already fallen down and was letting some light in from the sun. It was still mid morning and the weather was beautiful, which contrasted heavily with the current situation. He heard the sound of Buttercream roaring every so often. Each sound she made hit him hard and put a painful lump in his throat. He had tears in his eyes and could do nothing but reminisce. In front of him on the ground were all the pictures he had taken with his instant film camera, including a few he carried with him from years ago. His favorite picture was of him and Buttercream posing in front of his telescope. He was a teenager then, while Buttercream was a few years old and already in school. He flipped through a couple others and couldn’t help but smile, while wiping his tears.
“What am I going to tell Mom and Dad?” he asked.
“Nightwatch?” Azalea said, walking in.
“Hey,”
“Still can’t get your mind off her?”
“No. That’s just not possible right now. I’m too worried. What if they can’t wrangle her properly?”
“I’m sure the Guardians can do it. They’ve protected the beaches against wild quetzacoatls and amphitheres before.”
“Yeah, but the book shows pictures of Northerns doing the wrangling. Maybe we could let one of them take her down, but here’s the thing: I can’t let the other Northerns see her. Their king hates ponies and he might take Butter away from me if he finds out about her.”
“I see. Is that why you didn’t want anyone knowing about the book at first?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t keep it secret from you guys any longer. I just wish I’d have known ahead of time. We’d have been prepared then if I wasn’t so scared to consult this book last night. I still don’t want her knowing though.”
“Well Nightwatch, I know you care about your sister, but secrets have consequences. If the Guardians can’t handle her, our only other option is to contact someone from Nordo Dracos. We might be able to get their help without going directly to King Rubble.”
“I guess. I just hope they don’t start demanding answers as to why a lost Northern Drake is in the care of a pony.”
“There may be another way,” said a voice outside.
Nightwatch and Azalea looked out of the opening to see Antirrhinum, standing in their back lawn with his guards flanking him.
“Your highness, is everything alright?” asked Azalea.
“Emperor Antirrhinum…wait, what did you say?” asked Nightwatch.
“Another way to stop Buttercream should the wrangling fail.”
“Another way? Why does the book say wrangling is the only way?”
“The book would not have told you about it. Not many know of it. You see, Nightwatch, this all started almost a thousand years ago, under the leadership of King Solder, the first of the lineage of the Nordo Dracos royal family. After his crowning, rage mode started to afflict young purebred Northern Drakes at a prepubescent stage. Solder could not stop his oldest son, Prince Thrash, in time because they did not know yet how to deal with it. Thrash had to be sent to Oster Dracos and was never seen again. As time went on, the Northerns began wrestling their young when they went through rage mode. They noticed it could stop the transformation and bring them back down to size. The serendipity was astounding. From that day forward, all young Northerns were put through the wrangling ritual, but the king did not wish to be violent with his own children, so he tried a different method. When his younger son, Prince Surge, grew from his greed, Solder and his wife calmly spoke to him and sang a familiar lullaby. It took some time, but Surge somehow managed to remember everything he went through as a child. He remembered his father’s voice and his face. In an instant, he transformed back into a child, as if he was wrangled like the others. A few of Solder’s closest friends tried similar methods with more visual help in the form of portraits and statues. Solder saw how the Northerns had formed a close-knit culture around wrangling and did not wish to outlaw it, so this method was barely used and faded into legend. It is probably not known to the younger generations of Nordo Dracos.”
“I…I see. So King Solder sang to his son and it brought him back. I never really sang a lullaby to her, but Mom and Dad would sing to her. What about these? Will these work?”
Nightwatch used his magic to bring in all his photos and showed them to Antirrhinum. The powerful long looked closely at the photos and nodded his head up and down.
“These are good. If you can get close and show these to her, I think it could work.”
“How can I calm her down though?”
“She might recognize you if you sing or even if she looks at you long enough. If these legends are true, I’m sure she will recognize her brother quickly since she hasn’t been in this form very long. We will wait and see if the Guardians take her down first. If they fail, this is our only other option.”
Nightwatch looked down at his photos and then packed them away into a folder in his satchel.
“Alright. I’ll take these pictures with me and try them on her.”
“Do you want me to fly you in close?”
“No. That might agitate her if she sees another big dragon, so I’ll have to go on my own. I can teleport if I have to.”
“Be careful out there, Nightwatch. She’s gotten far bigger from what I’ve heard,” said Azalea.
“I’ll be alright,” Nightwatch said before exiting the pagoda with his satchel. “Hang on, Butter. I’m coming.”
As the Guardians brayed fiercely, Buttercream roared and spewed pink fire from her mouth, directing it at them. The Guardians could cast shield spells to protect from the fire, but they still had to be careful since their fur could be burnt, unlike most other dragons that had no fur. She tried to burn Jishin first, but quickly noticed her fire wasn’t working anymore. Hono had used his powers to snuff out the flames as soon as they exited her throat. Not realizing how her fire wasn’t working, she instead resorted to more physical attacks. Tsundora flew towards Buttercream and blew an icy breath to freeze her in place. The ice covered her upper body, arms and tail, but he avoided covering her head since it could seal her jaws shut and cause her to suffocate. The mighty Jishin then stepped in. He pounded his claws on the ground and used his powers to cause the earth to shake under her, knocking her over on her back. He took the opportunity to wrangle the fierce Northern, but he was hesitant at first.
“Brethren, we have never wrangled a Northern Drake,” he told the others. “Do we dare tussle with this little one?”
“You are the strongest of us all, Jishin” said Inazuma. “If any dragon is to do it, it must be you.”
“Go forth, Jishin. My ice cannot hold her forever,” said Tsundora as she blew more ice to keep Buttercream from breaking free.
Jishin slowly coiled himself around Buttercream like a boa constrictor. Buttercream tried to snap at him, but he quickly wrapped the front of his body around her neck, while the rest covered everything below. He pulled tightly to keep her from moving her legs. She was now completely covered with only her head and tail being visible. The ice on Buttercream’s arms was starting to melt from the heat coming from her body and Jishin’s. Tsundora could not use her powers anymore with Jishin in the way, which gave Buttercream an advantage. As the ice rapidly melted, she became slippery. Buttercream pulled her head in under Jishin’s coils and slid right through him. Jishin tried to pull her back out, but she was too strong. She quickly managed to push the coils apart, revealing that she had already shed most of the ice off. Jishin fought to take her back down, but she swung her fist forward with ice still on it and incapacitate him with one punch. Shokubutsu used his powers to cause vines to grow out of the ocean surf and wrap around Buttercream. Tsundora used her powers to freeze her again, but Buttercream’s rage was only growing stronger as a result. She roared so loudly; it caused all the Guardians to wince. Both Tsundora and Shokubutsu flinched from the deafening noise. They briefly lost control of their powers, from having their concentration interrupted. This allowed Buttercream to break through both the ice and vines. She immediately lunged for Tsundora and knocked her back into the ocean, using some of the ice as a blunt weapon. Shokubutsu came to Tsundora’s help, but he too met the same fate. As Jishin flew back in to stop Buttercream, she ducked right down as he flew over her and punched him square in the stomach. This caused him to roar in pain and tumble into the ocean. She then got on top of him and punched him repeatedly in the head until he was knocked out.
“JISHIN!” shouted Mizu.
Buttercream looked over to see Mizu standing behind her in the water. Mizu used her powers to animate the water against Buttercream, but that was the most she could do. Mizu was he youngest and smallest of all the Guardians, and she was not as physically strong as them, but her water powers were very capable. She did the best she could to stop Buttercream by smacking her with small tidal waves. Sadly, Buttercream was too resilient, so Mizu resorted to spraying her very hard with it. This annoyed Buttercream, but it still did no good. Finally, Buttercream roared and bum-rushed the Water Guardian. Mizu leapt in the air just in time and avoided the wrath of the raging Northern Drake.
While Jishin, Shokubutsu and Tsundora recuperated with the help of the others, Buttercream had her chance to return to her loot. She found the bowl of her goods unbothered and wrapped her tail around it to take it to the tall island before her. She climbed the cliff and then started up some stairs that lead to old temple ruins. The ruins had no roof and would be an ideal place to guard her hoard. She walked over and dumped the bowl into the ruins. The goods spilled out, leaving some room for her. Buttercream was ready to climb in and guard her treasure, until she noticed the weather around her had instantly changed.
She looked up to see Kaze and Inazuma flying around in a circle. They were using their powers to create a thunderstorm in the area to intimidate her with. Buttercream was not able to reach either of them. She tried to blow fire, but remembered that one of them was stopping her fire breath. Seeing how there were three Guardians weakened, one was tending to them, and the two above her had no control of fire, the seventh long had to be the one doing it. She looked to see Hono on top of a neighboring mountain across the water. She saw his horns glowing and figured out it was him who was disabling her fire breath. She decided to go out and stop him instead. Leaving her treasure behind, she made her way to the edge of the cliff, only to be stopped by something tiny at her feet. She looked down and saw Nightwatch standing in front of her. He had just managed to teleport out to the island from the beach.
“BUTTERCREAM!” he shouted. “I know you’re in there! Please, just listen to me for a moment!”
Buttercream roared and attempted to step on Nightwatch as he tried to take the photos out of his satchel. He was about to cast a teleportation spell until he felt something zoom right in and pick him up. Buttercream’s foot pounded into the stone path. She lifted it and found nothing underneath. Not thinking much of it, she directed her attention once again to the seventh Guardian.
Nightwatch felt someone carrying him by his arms and looked up to see Aster.
“Bad idea, kid. I think we best let the professionals handle this cage match,” Aster told him.
“Aster wait! You’ve gotta take me back to her!”
“Back to Butterzilla? Are you crazy?”
“Look, Emperor Antirrhinum told me I might be able to get her to remember who she is and shrink back down if I show her some of these photos. He said the old king of Nordo Dracos did something like this centuries ago and it worked. Please Aster. She means so much to me.”
Aster stopped in midair and let Nightwatch use his magic to show him the pictures. He wasn’t sure if this was a good idea, but seeing yesterday’s photo of all of them back at the palace brought tears to his eyes. In his mind, he put himself in a similar situation if he had to save his own sister from such a fate.
“Oh the things I do for family,” he said, sniffling.
Fighting back all his fear, he lifted Nightwatch onto his back and flipped his ears forward on his head to resemble a helmet.
“Alright, flyboy, secure the precious cargo and strap in! We’re goin’ to war! HOO-AH!!”
“Yes! That’s the spirit, Aster!”
Aster turned himself around and flew back to Buttercream. She had already started crossing the water and was close to the mountain Hono was on, but was quickly distracted by Aster and Nightwatch. Aster continued with his voices as he circled her in an erratic fashion.
“Alright, gentlemen! Bogie at twelve o’clock! I’m goin in! Man, look at the size of that thing! Stay on target! Watch my six, boys! Watch my six! Whoa! Pull up! I can’t shake her! BUTAJIRA, BUTAJIRA!!”
“Aster, the claws! Watch the claws!” Nightwatch called as one of Buttercream’s arms swung by and nearly hit them.
“Yikes! Good call, kid!”
Aster dodged each swipe of her powerful arms, doing his best to tire her out.
Out on the shore, Azalea and Tigrinum had just noticed Aster had Nightwatch and was flying around the giant raging dragon.
“Oh my goodness! Is that Aster?!” Azalea exclaimed, putting her claws against her face.
“What is he doing?!” asked Tigrinum, frantically. “Hang on! I’m going in!”
“Dear, be careful!”
Tigrinum took off to help his son as Azalea watched. Lily flew in next to her with Pansy by her side.
“Mom, why is Nightwatch out there?” Lily asked.
“Emperor Antirrhinum told us that some Northern Drakes have been able to snap a dragon youngling out of rage mode by singing to them or showing them a visual of familiar times. Nightwatch has all those photographs with him, so I think he’s going to try and use them on Buttercream.”
“I hope he knows what he’s doing. Aster too.”
As they spoke, Aster and Nightwatch continued to circle around Buttercream.
“Aster, try to get close to her head so I can show the photos!” Nightwatch called.
“You got it, kid! Lock and load!” Aster called back.
As Buttercream looked forward, she noticed Aster and Nightwatch in front of them. Nightwatch tried again to get her to listen.
“BUTTERCREAM! Look! If I show you those photos, maybe this will convince you!”
Buttercream stopped just as he called her name, but then roared at both of them just before Nightwatch could take out the photos. They were temporarily dizzy from all the wind in their faces, and she turned around to swing her tail at them. Aster tried to dodge as best he could.
“OH NO! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! Take evasive action! We need…more…power! Ay, Captain! I’m givin’ her all she’s got!”
“ASTER, LOOK OUT!!”
Buttercream was tired of missing them, so she pounded her tail in the surf to take them out with a tidal wave once they got close enough to the water. Nightwatch lost his satchel and fell off of Aster in all the commotion. Aster went out of control and skidded overtop the water before he finally plunged into it.
“AW, WIPEOUT! TOTALLY GNARLY WAVES, DUDE!”
Aster looked around for Nightwatch but couldn’t find him anywhere.
“Oh no. Nightwatch? Nightwatch?! Come on, kid, talk to me!”
“Aster, I think that’s enough impressions for today!” shouted Tigrinum as he came in to help his son out of the water.
“Sorry, dad. I think I lost Nightwatch.”
“Nightwatch is fine.”
Tigrinum nodded his head to the side. Aster looked to see Mizu helping Nighwatch out of the water, while Lily carried the satchel. Nightwatch shook off the water and looked around frantically in the ocean.
“The satchel…where’s my satchel! I need those photos!” Nightwatch called.
“I’ve got them, Nighty!” cried Lily.
“Oh, thank goodness! Miss, I need you to put me back on the island she’s keeping the treasure on! I’m her brother and I need to help her out!”
“I understand your concern, young unicorn, but we need everyone to evacuate this area,” Mizu responded.
“He’ll be alright, Mizu,” said Antirrhinum, flying in next to her. “Nightwatch knows what he’s doing.”
“If you say so, Your Excellency.”
Mizu swam over to the far side of the island so Buttercream would not see her and try to stop her. She used her powers to create a solid platform of water from the ocean and lift Nightwatch onto the island. Lily handed Nightwatch his satchel. Nightwatch quickly looked inside to see none of his belongings had fallen out and the photos were not wet. He held his hoof to his chest and let out a sigh of relief.
“Thanks, Lily. I appreciate it,” he said, hugging the little long.
“Nighty, are you sure you can stop her with those pictures?”
“I have to try. If the Guardians can’t wrangle her, this is the only way.”
Buttercream began to climb the rock that Hono was standing on top of. He had been watching her the entire time and realized she figured out he was hindering her fire breath. Hono was one of the younger Guardians. He was somewhat bigheaded, but still very experienced and knew when to take a situation seriously. He saw how Inazuma’s lightning bolts had no effect on Buttercream, so he knew he would have to try and wrangle her like Jishin.
“I didn’t expect you Northerns to be so cunning when you enter the rage form,” he said. “Listen, young dragoness, I am arguably the best of the Guardians when it comes to fighting. I would not make any attempts to challenge me.”
Buttercream roared in response and continued scaling the mountain. Hono crouched and readied himself as she got closer. By the time she was almost at his level, he leapt and grabbed onto her, causing them both to plummet into the surf. He tried to take off, but Buttercream quickly regained her composure and clamped onto his tail with her powerful jaws, causing him to bellow in pain. Hono turned his head back and blew fire at her until she let go. While fire would do no damage to dragon scales, it distracted her long enough for him to fly around her in a circle and tighten up, trapping her inside. Hono was quicker than Jishin and incapacitated her in just a few seconds. Tsundora was not there to freeze her into place this time. That would do no good since the heat coming form Hono’s body would melt the ice even faster, so he had to rely only on himself. He tried a different approach from Jishin’s: rather than allowing her head and tail to move freely, he covered her entire body, leaving everything around her totally dark like a caterpillar in its cocoon. Hono went airborne and held her as still as he could, thinking this would produce the same results as when a Northern Drake would do the wrangling. Little did he know, he was doing it wrong.
When performing a wrangling ritual during rage mode, the Northern Drake fathers would usually grab their young from behind and wrap one arm around its neck or both arms underneath its armpits. If it were to try and stretch its neck back to bite or use the second arm to claw at the father, the mother dragon would keep it still. Sometimes a third and fourth dragon would be needed to keep the legs and tail steady, but it was usually better to allow some of its limbs to move freely and not be totally swaddled. This would let it know it is not being completely disabled from movement. A dragon in rage mode must also be allowed to see or it would get confused and grow angrier. What Hono was doing had the opposite affect of wrangling.
Buttercream’s rage only grew and she pressed against the scaly walls around her. Hono tried to squeeze harder, but this only made things worse. She finally pushed his coils apart and quickly crawled out like a rodent escaping a trap. Hono tried to unravel, but she immediately lunged for his head and wrapped her arms around his neck, causing him to lose his balance and fall back into the water. He tried to get back up but felt something pound against his head. Buttercream had punched him hard enough to break his concentration. She then reached for his tail and pulled with all her might. Hono felt himself being yanked backward and swung around in a circle. He was already too weakened to fly out of her hands and his head hit a nearby rock, disorienting him. Buttercream spun him around three times and then threw him back at the island he had been standing on earlier. He hit the side of it and grunted in pain. Rocks came down and buried him in the surf. She exhaled and noticed pink fire spewing from her mouth. Now that Hono was knocked out, he had no control over his elemental powers, and she had her ability to breathe fire again. She returned to the island she left her treasure on and climbed up to take care of Inazuma and Kaze. Inazuma noticed she had beaten Hono. He tried hitting her with more lightning, while Kaze flew faster to make the cyclone above more powerful. Buttercream noticed her treasure could be blown away, so she quickly returned to the ruins and covered the top of it with her arms. She then blew a continuous stream of fire upwards, causing it to spread out in the cyclone. Inazuma finally gave up and flew away.
“Kaze, it’s no use! Terminate the storm now!” he called to his fellow Guardian.
“But Inazuma, how else will we stop her?” she asked.
“First we must tend to Hono. The Emperor will seek help from the North.”
Buttercream watched as the last of the Guardians left in defeat. She snorted out of her nostrils and made one final roar of victory. All the longs of the capital city watched in horror as their brave Guardians could do nothing to stop the rampaging Northern. Anyone that lost belongings would never get them back at this point, but they were at least thankful no one was hurt in the process. Most of the Guardians had already gotten back up. None of them had grave injuries, but they were defeated and could go no further.
“We are beaten. Now what?” asked Jishin.
“It is a wasted effort. That little one will never concede to us,” Tsundora added.
“Now, my brethren. Hope is not lost,” Shokubutsu said, putting his claw on Tsundora’s shoulder. “We still have King Rubble of Nordo Dracos. He will know what to do with her.”
“We will not be needing King Rubble, my friends,” said Antirrhinum behind them. “Remember the legend of Prince Surge. There is another way.”
“Are you sure, Your Excellency?” asked Mizu. “There may be a reason why that is dismissed as a legend.”
“I never saw it myself, but I was around when I heard of this different approach to calming a raging Northern. I have faith it can work. Nightwatch knows his little sister better than any of us. He’s got this.”
Back on the island, Buttercream took one final chance to survey her surroundings and make sure none of the Guardians would come back to her. They were standing in the surf, recovering from the fight, so she thought this was the end of her troubles. She turned back to her hoard to begin her slumber, only to find one more thing standing in her way. She looked down on the pile to see Nightwach standing before her once again. Buttercream grimaced at the sight of him and started to growl.
“Butter, please remember me,”
Buttercream roared in his face, but he put a shield up with his magic to avoid being blown back by the wind. She stopped and looked to see he was still there. Nightwatch continued talking to her.
“Look, this isn’t you. The real Buttercream would never just hoard away all these things. She loved a good present, but she also knew it’s better to give than to receive. Do you remember what it was like before?”
Just as Nightwatch tried to open his satchel to use the photos, she reached down and grabbed him with her powerful claw before he could teleport. She brought him up close to her snout and snarled at him. Nightwatch was scared, but he had a feeling she would not hurt him. He just continued staring at her and used his magic to bring the satchel up next to him. He quickly took out the photos and lined them all up above his head. Buttercream saw them and immediately thought they were valuables for her to collect, so she grabbed one between her two long nails. Nightwatch didn’t want the photo to rip, so he quickly undid his magic around that photo. She looked at the photo for a moment but then turned back to him.
“Butter, wait, look at the picture again. Can you make it out?”
Buttercream squinted her eyes at the picture but gave up trying. Her greedy mind only saw it as a gift for her to have; she didn’t care what it looked like. She then noticed all the other pictures glowed in a brighter aura. They grew in size so she could make them out. Even the one in her claw was bigger. Nightwatch looked up to the sky to see Antirrhinum using his magic to enlarge the photos. Buttercream looked again at the picture she had and could now see it better. She saw an image of a small yellow and pink dragon like her standing next to a navy-blue unicorn stallion. They were standing in front of a telescope. At first she was too busy eyeing out all the details of the pictures. She thought she could grab the items in each image, but she noticed they all had one thing in common: the little dragon and unicorn were visible in all the photos, and some of them even had two other unicorns visible. She didn’t understand what she was looking at, but she slowly started to recognize these characters. She felt like she knew them at one point or even longer. Various memories of her life started to flash before her eyes. She saw herself playing with toys inside a log cabin. Next she was cooking delicious food with the bright blue female unicorn. She then saw the dark purple stallion hugging her as she rushed to greet him after coming home from work. Finally, she saw several moments with the younger navy blue unicorn. They were playing with toys and video games together. She then started to remember more recent events like meeting Noctura and Luna, battling the Ram Golem, and traveling to Ester Dracos. She stopped looking at the photos and turned her eyes to the unicorn in her hand. It finally dawned on her that she was holding that same navy-blue unicorn in the pictures. She knew who he was. She remembered his face and started to remember his name: Nightwatch.
The look on her face grew sympathetic and emotional. She let go of the picture in her hand. It floated down to the ground. Nightwatch could already tell it had worked and she remembered everything.
“Do you remember now?” he asked with tears in his eyes.
Buttercream opened her mouth and started to mumble in a deep monstrous voice.
“Ni…….Nighty?”
“It’s me, Butter.”
Buttercream’s body began making strange sounds. Her face appeared dizzy like she was in a trance. Suddenly, her body started wiggling as if she was having a seizure. In a split second, she morphed back into her tiny self again. Nightwatch was so surprised by how fast it happened. He was expecting her to shrink slowly and didn’t have time to think, so they both fell to the ground before he could use his magic to catch both of them. They plummeted to the ground, only to land on a giant red claw with padding on its palm. Antirrhinum had swooped in just in time and caught them both. Nightwatch landed on his belly. He had the wind knocked out of him a little, but he quickly regained his composure. He dashed for his little sister, lifting her in his arms.
“BUTTER, YOU’RE BACK!” he cried.
As this happened, the clouds parted as Kaze used her magic to dissipate the storm. Tons of longs had been watching from behind some of the other islands in the surf. They began cheering after Buttercream shrank. The Guardians had climbed onto some of the rocks or taken to the skies and roared triumphantly. Tigrinum, Azalea, Aster, Lily and Pansy were off to the side, joining everyone else in celebration. Antirrhinum used his magic to levitate them both back onto the ground in the ruins. Nightwatch continued to cry as he embraced Buttercream.
“I thought I’d lost you…Butter?”
“Nighty…”
Nightwatch stopped hugging her and noticed she was in shock over everything. She pointed to all of the things he had taken and started sniffling.
“Did I really just steal all of those things? And hurt the Guardians when they tried to stop me? That wasn’t just a bad dream?”
“No, that really happened, but it’s okay, it was just-”
“Why? Why would I do that? I didn’t mean to, I promise!”
Buttercream sobbed and buried her face in Nightwatch’s chest as he returned to hugging her.
“No, sh-sh-sh! Butter, it’s okay. I know you didn’t mean to do all that. Look, I just learned that Northern Drakes all go through this sort of thing around your age. They call it rage mode. Baby Northerns get greedy one day and start growing really big like you did and they take everything in sight.”
“They do?”
“Mhmm. They have it set up so they can induce rage mode and get it over with, so it doesn’t happen during a bad time. They wrangle their young until they calm down and shrink back, but you can also find another way to get them to remember their past the way I just did.”
“With those pictures?”
“Yeah. I used some pretty good ones, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Buttercream dried her tears and they both giggled. She sighed and looked down at the ground as Nightwatch put his hoof on her shoulder. He looked to see Antirrhinum and other longs surrounding them on the walls of the ruins.
“It’s okay, Butter. We forgive you,” Lily said.
“Yeah, kid. It’s no biggie,” said Aster. “We get kaiju fights around here every so often with the Guardians. You should’ve seen the last Quetzacoatl attack just a few miles south of here.”
“Hehe. Thanks, guys,” Buttercream giggled. “Still, I told Mom and Dad I wouldn’t get greedy on this trip. You think they’ll understand?”
“They’ll understand just fine,” Nightwatch said.
“But what about all this stuff? How will I ever return all of this?”
Buttercream walked over to the hoard and noticed a cracked pot with dirt and a large flower spilling out. It must have belonged to Hosta, Amaryllis and Daisy. Hosta floated in and landed next to her. She knelt down and put her claw on Buttercream’s head.
“Don’t worry about all this, Buttercream. We can all fly in here and find our things,” she said.
As Hosta spoke, Amaryllis picked up the flower by its dirt and carefully placed it in another pot Daisy was holding that came from their stall. The flower had lost a few petals, but it was still salvageable.
“See? Nothin’ to it!” Amaryllis said, brushing off her claws.
“They’re just objects after all,” Daisy added. “We’ll get past this, and we still have our families.”
“That’s true,” Buttercream said, smiling, as other longs nodded their heads in agreement.
“Me and my brethren can help repair most of the damage in the town. Our elemental powers will allow us to do it,” said Shokubutsu, as he and the other Guardians took flight and hovered around the ruins.
“Thank you, sir. And I’m sorry if I hit you guys too hard back there.”
“All I forgiven,” said Kaze.
“To be fair, we’ve had far more painful fights than that,” said Hono, rubbing his head.
“And we were holding ourselves back anyway. We were well aware that you were a young Northern in rage all along,” Tsundora added.
“I know I didn’t do it on purpose, but I should still help clean up a little. If anyone needs something done, like just a little cleaning, I’d be happy to come into the town to help out,” Buttercream said.
“And we would be happy to welcome you back in, Buttercream-san,” said Myosoti, putting his hand on her back.
“Thanks.”
The longs all began moving in to collect their belongings. Myosoti helped lift some things and find their owners while digging around for some of his belongings. Hosta, Amaryllis and Daisy recovered a few of their flowers and other belongings. Everything Buttercream had taken from Tigrinum and Azalea’s house was left back there, so they decided to help everyone else and tend to their own belongings later. Nightwatch began picking up the photos as Antirrhinum shrank them down back to their original size.
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Nightwatch said, bowing down to the Emperor.
“You are welcome, young Nightwatch,” he replied.
Nightwatch put all the photos back in his satchel and turned around to see Buttercream standing before him. She wiped away another tear and smiled before hugging him.
“Thanks for coming back for me, Nightwatch. Love ya,” she said.
