A/N: Hello! Welcome for reading this little story/one shot. I don't have much confidence in writing full stories, but I do like whatever criticism I could take if i do one day decide to write. If you would be so kind, leave a review on what you think. Any is appreciated.
=In a very early point in the dawn of history...=
It crawled upon the incomplete earth, holding on to it tightly as it did with its own life (?) a being not of this world or time line that wailed and moaned in pain. It had escaped it, the great battle of the gods, demons, and titans… it survived the war won only by one.
=In a faraway land.=
Hello young one. Listen closely to our land's ancient tale: of a being so old, they say he was born before the beginning of time.
The tale of the Dragon's Fall.
A long time ago, the great Elder Dragon gave birth to seven of his children to govern and gift over the primal and senseless dragons of old in the ancient lands of Loterenzar.
One to symbolize the burning passion of dragons, the great Fire Dragon, Solara.
One to encompass the great bounty and serenity of the dragons, the Water Dragon, Oceanus.
One to show endurance and strength of the dragons to rival mountains, the Earth Dragon, Gaigo.
One to represent the freedom and potential of dragons, the Air Dragon, Zephis.
One to teach dragons of their beauty, their morality, the Light Dragon, Auroka.
One to inspire dragons to survive through any means and reveal powerful cunning, the Dark Dragon, Umbren.
And the final dragon, the seventh son, the mysterious and enigmatic Hope Dragon, Concord.
These dragons ruled under the lesser dragons of their kind, teaching them in their ways and giving dragons the gifts of the planet.
However, one day... Concord, and his small band of Hope Dragons disappeared off the face of the world.
Only the Elder Dragon seemed to know where he went, but refused to say anything. Or more like, he couldn't if he tried, the Elder Dragon wept for many moons and suns, unaware of his children's plot...
With the loss of Concord, imbalance came to the Kingdom of Dragons.
Auroka, the Light Dragon, sought this opportunity to rid the kingdom of dragons off all their lesser inhabitant beings, seeing them as impure and unsightly to be in the presence of the dragon race. She en massed her kind to purge the lands of all non-dragonic beings for a massacre.
None of her siblings dared stop her, none but Umbren, the Dark Dragon.
Umbren was not as strong as his sister, nor was his clan capable of standing fang to fang with that of his sister's. However, Umbren had one advantage that his sister did not, and he had learned this secret from his brother Concord.
Alas, no one truly knows how Umbren was able to ward off his sister. The remaining four Great Dragons themselves did not know how Umbren held her off.
However, they knew that whatever Umbren did, he had saved the lesser beings of their land... but not without cost.
From the intense battle, Umbren and Auroka, along with their entire brood, had died in the epic battle.
The loss was so great, The Elder Dragon finally came and wept at how he was unable to stop them, so deep in mourning the loss of one son, that he lost two more.
As he wept once more for the loss of his sons, the other four took notice of their weakening father...
Instead of sorrow, they all became blinded with ambition...
=Time Passes=
Deep within a forest of blue trees, where the flowers were green, and the water still blue, fire burned. A powerful and once majestic race burned down the curious and silent forest with their flames. They were searching, searching for something… and the thief that took it.
A voice come from within the giant smoke, a loud almost hissing like voice that spoke a language un heard of. "Ta ga narzalda!? Sha ma-valt!( Where is his location!? He must have flown in that direction!) "
Another powerful voice spoke, but this one almost howled with each syllable. "Yamanar! Selikerak Nailie! (Brethren! We must stop him at all costs!)"
A moment of silence appeared in the burning woods until the smoke was blown away to reveal that it was only several creatures that had devastated the odd forest: Dragons. Dragons that no one has ever seen before, their bodies varied greatly from each other. One green dragon never touched the ground, but had eight wings and three horns at his head. The second was a long snake like dragon with large whiskers and blue scaly skin, but he had no wings despite floating in the air. The last one stood on two legs and wore something like armor; his two massive wings were larger than his red, two story-tall body.
They all then flew away into their sky leaving the desolation in their wake.
From the dying smoke, a smaller, sleeker dragon came out, a black teenaged dragon. (Estimated to be around three hundred years old) The black dragon had a very slim appearance, but his right claw was colored gold along with his left eye like it was painted there despite being all black elsewhere. He looked at the direction of where the other dragons flew off and then he flew off low in the opposite direction.
"Yeshimere Nah… Equestria… Maganemnar sur baleko. (Soon, I shall arrive in… Equestria… please, Grandfather, give me the strength to forward on.)" The adolescent dragon clutched a blue amulet to his chest.
As he flew away at amazing speeds, the shadows all around him started moving after him.
=2 months later…=
In the dead of night, a little purple dragon was dreaming, dreaming of a nightmare.
He was dreaming of a majestic and powerful golden figure dying. From the being's corpse came something unspeakable. He dreamt of a black and gold figure running away from a legion of arms trying to grab him as he held something shining in his chest. Lastly he dreamt of something… new… ancient… borrowed… taken… and… blue?
The young, purple dragon, Spike, slowly woke up in the middle of the night. He groaned as he wiped his eyes and looked to see an open window. "Waahh… hmph… yeesh. No wonder it's so cold. Maybe that dream was cause of the cold air… or maybe the cupcakes I ate before going asleep." The young one dismissed as he went toward to the window and closed it. "… Wait a sec, I locked everything here since Twilight and the others were in Canterlot to represent the Elements of Harmony on Princess Celestia's behalf. They'll be out for two days, so if I'm the only one here… then how did the window open if it was locked?" He realized.
As if on cue, a soft scratching noise was heard near the living room of the library house. The young dragon slowly made his way down stairs in the dead of night. As he descended into the darkness of his own home, he heard whispers, whispers that sent chills down his very being.
"Ilk…porli…mavak…"
It didn't sound like anything he had heard of his entire life, granted he was young, but he had seen many things despite his short life span. The voice sounded tired, yet it spoke with some odd dialect as if it was not some random gibberish, but a completely different language. However, something within those whispers felt somehow familiar to Spike, like a long forgotten memory.
"Who's there?!" The young dragon called out as he lighted up the entire room. He was shocked at what the lights revealed.
A black teenage dragon with a golden right claw and a gold marked left eye. Spike had met other teenage dragons before, but the one in front of him had a far sleeker look than most of the ones he saw, and unlike all of the dragons he has seen, this one had powerful and majestic air around him.
This teenage dragon seemed surprised, and suddenly spoke much faster with panic in his voice. "Yarnar deil! Su mah nack ali crux!?"
"What!? Wh-who are you!? What are you doing in our home! If you try anything…" The young dragon tried to warn the trespasser, but he soon realized that without his friends, he had no real way to push such a fierce looking dragon out of here.
Suddenly the teenage dragon looked in a random direction as if he could see beyond the walls of the tree. Then he raised his left arm to the lights. Shadows, as if somehow obeying the dragon, suffocated the sources of light and brought darkness to the room once more.
"H-How'd you do—" The young dragon whelped in surprise, but then he was grabbed and taken away from his house at a fast speed. The young dragon felt like he was a blur, and he suddenly heard several familiar sounds of opening windows during that moment. He opened his eyes again to find himself wrapped in a dragon arm and flying high over Ponyvile in an insane speed.
"AAAAHHHH!" The young dragon screamed.
"Scarlietnm!" The black dragon screamed as he quickly flew towards the Everfree Forest.
"HEY! Don't fly there!" The dragon yelled as he recognized where the older dragon was taking him and he quickly panicked, and bit the arm of the dragon carrying him.
Fear and panic obviously caused the young one to forget that the older dragon was carrying him high in the sky at remarkable speeds just a few moments before, and he freefell in the night sky when the teenage dragon let go of him.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The young dragon screamed once more as gravity pulled him down with all its natural force. He saw flashes of his life before him, and then panicked as grew closer to hitting the ground. He closed his eyes and prepared for the inevitable.
Boom!
The young dragon slowly picked himself up. But he was surprised that he was fine after falling from such a drop and felt it wasn't as painful as he expected it to be, until he looked down and saw a crater that he—no, the black dragon beneath him created.
"What!? Hey! Wake up!" The young dragon immediately regretted doing such a thing, and may have accidently ended another's life.
"Yar…tenuga…" The dragon muttered before fainting. Spike sighed in relief to see he was still alive, but the older dragon need to be care for. As he got off from the older dragon, he noticed something off with him. His scales were thicker, and despite falling and catching him, the same onyx colored scales still seemed intact. He shortly looked at his talons and his fangs which both looked so sharp that it could probably cut through flesh in a single swipe without that much effort. Lastly, he wore something around his neck, it was a blue amulet, but it didn't have any unique pattern to it. In short, this dragon seemed far more dangerous, and enigmatic than even the adult dragons he had seen.
"Wow, he looks pretty scary… and what the heck was he blathering on about?" The purple child scratched his head in confusion as the odd situation.
Then he heard a sound. Not just a sound, but rather a bunch of collective voices. Then he heard it echoing—no it was growing louder, closer, and it was plural. By no means was it a single sound, but several dozen voices or sounds melding into some kind of loud humming.
"Be…"
Spike looked back to the black dragon slowly trying to get back up. "Be… No, I hath tried to flee from them…" He gasped.
"You can talk?!" The young dragon asked in surprised.
"Dear drago, I merely spoke in my native tongue. I hat-have forgotten that no one here speaks Draconian." The dragon got up, clutched his stomach in pain, and then fell to his knee.
"Whoa, be careful dude. I didn't even know you could get back up from a fall like that!"
"To be fair, young drago, I was not flying high nor was I in full strength even during my arrival in this land. But I digress, we must flee!" The dragon quickly forced himself back up. "Does thou know any area we may shelter ourselves that is not so heavily populated?"
"Why?"
The two dragons suddenly heard a stop in the sounds. They both looked beyond to the trees, and out came a dozen hooded creatures. Their faces were hidden, but their legs and bodies were seen. This group consisted of a variety of creatures because some of the legs looked like they belonged to timber wolves, some to dogs, and others ponies, and the last few consisted of dragons around the same size of the black one.
The group walked at the two at a straight and organized line. They all started humming some strange tune.
The black dragon quickly grabbed the purple dragon again, (Spike: WHOA!) and ran deeper into the forest.
"Young Drago, please inform me of an area, if thou does know of one!" The black dragon asked as he ran and jumped off the trees.
"My name is Spike! And what the heck were those guys back there!? I want some answers, now!" Spike screamed. He looked behind him and saw the other hooded groups madly chasing after them.
"I am known as Frey… but I cannot answer the other questions for those monsters are still pursuing us!" The dragon known as Frey quickly said as he jumped from tree branch to tree branch like a snake.
"Then fly or something!" Spike complained.
"I injured my wing after breaking your fall." Frey explained as he showed Spike one of his bent wings to Spike.
"Sorry!" Spike apologized, but as he kept moving, he realized this part of the Everfree Forest looked familiar. "Hey! I know this area! Take a left here!"
Frey nodded then followed Spike's directions.
The hooded beings behind him pursued the two draconian until they found the two of them perched high on a twisted tree above exotic flowers.
"Ha! Let's see how they like Poison Joke!" Spike whispered to Frey.
The hooded figures started walking through the flowers as Spike anticipated. However, as the pursuers started to walk on the grass, nothing seemed to happen to them.
"I-it's probably taking a while…" Spike said.
"I cannot risk that," Frey glanced over his surroundings. "Do thou still know of this area?"
Spike looked around. "Yeah! There is one more area near here! Go, but don't touch the flowers!" Spike pointed to a different direction behind them. Frey nodded and quickly made his way out of the flower field.
Frey fled across the trees and ground as if he had been doing this his entire life. Spike continued to wonder what in Celestia's name was going on here. However, he was distracted as he heard a familiar roar. "Frey, Manticore!" he quickly warned.
Frey looked above him and saw the fierce beast pouncing on him. Frey snarled, but quickly slid on the ground to avoid the swipe of the monster that aimed for his head. The monster continued flying past the two dragons and saw the pursuers. It then swiped for them.
Frey quickly saw this and slid to a stop. "NO!" He yelled to the Manticore.
"What, why!?" Spike asked confused under his arm.
The creature swiped one of the taller creature's hood and it tore off.
Spike's eyes, along with the Manticore's, widened in sheer shock. Frey growled fiercely.
The tall dragon figure had no head!
Spike pointed to the thing. "W-w-what's going on!? Th-that d-dragon—"
"Is headless, yes…" Frey states. Suddenly, all hooded figures pounce on the manticore. Frey quickly ran away and started telling Spike what that all was about. "All those that attack those robed creatures lose their heads, and their bodies become twisted like puppets to some darker and more sinister magic."
"Y-you're kidding right?" Spike asked. "Cutting off their heads and making their bodies move like puppets? You've got to be—"
"GRAAH!" The manticore wailed in the distance before a slick, loud swiping sound was heard, silencing the wail.
"Oh, Celestia! T-this is so kind of bad dream, yeah, I'm just having a nightmare from all those muffins I ate before going to sleep…" Spike said in denial.
Frey glanced over to Spike, "… Yes this is a nightmare; it has been my nightmare for many suns and moons… and I have dragged innocent souls in my attempt to break this cycle, for that, I am truly, truly sorry." Frey sates almost wearily as he continues running in the direction he pointed.
Spike looked to Frey, but Frey assures him, "It's alright young one, I promise on my Draonis Pride that no harm befalls you on this night, so do I swear to the shadows… is that the area you spoke off?" Frey points off to some odd ruined castle.
"Y-yeah that was the place where the Girls first found the Elements of Harmony… wait, but there's a chasm—" Frey suddenly leaps, "AAAMM!" then lands and continues on as if nothing happened, "Never mind then…"
"I'm curious, Spike, what are these… Elements of Harmony?"
"How could you not know what they are?"
"I come from a faraway land. I have never heard of these… elements of harmony in my span of sentience."
Frey stopped as he entered into the old ruins. There, he placed Spike down and surveyed the area around him.
The two stayed hidden in the shadows for a while, listening for the sounds of humming in the distance. For several seconds Spike's heart was beating fast, the thought of losing his head was scaring him greatly, but Frey seemed silent, contemplative, and ready. The smaller dragon couldn't help but compare how… different Frey was with those jerks he met with some time ago.
What felt like hours, in reality two minutes passed before Frey and Spike stood back out, signaling the cost was clear.
Since they were free, Frey seemed to glance curiously around this old abandoned temple, as if he was in a trance.
Spike recalled that this dragon was in a land farther away than Equistria—farfetched as that sounds. And the way he was looking at this temple, almost felt like a small child lost in wonder at a museum.
"Hey…" The small purple dragon told the dark dragon. "Wanna see something cool?"
Spike walked up to the same looking statue/platform where the elements of harmony were first found and introduced it to Frey. It kind of excited him to actual have a real dragon friend, one that wasn't some kind of jerk. Maybe this was his chance to finally learn about his species!
"You can kinda see from here…" Spike showed him and then regaled how his friends first came across the elements and the lore behind them.
"That is an amazing tale… I would very much be honored to have audience with them." Frey said after letting the story sink in.
Spike rubbed his head as he thought of the fact that some members of his friends aren't too keen on the idea of meeting another teenage dragon. Still, Frey seemed way more likeable than those jerks he met before.
Spike's thought were interrupted when he saw Frey snarl loudly at the shadows behind them.
The smaller dragon quickly went behind Frey. "W-what's going on?"
"They have surrounded us… I was foolish to believe that a ruin such as this would have been the wisest place to hide among the forest."
A loud humming chorus was heard. Out of the shadows of the ruins and into the moon shined lightened areas, the robed beings came out closing in on the two draconian.
"What do they want?!" Spike asked in panic as he saw the body of a manticore without its head moving towards him. Fear and disgust shocked him from even moving anymore.
Frey saw that. He looked up to the skies and saw a large cloud about to go over and block the light of the moon.
Frey breathed deeply and held his necklace with his golden claw.
"Spike, do not move, close your eyes, and trust me…" Frey closed his eyes and seemed to be waiting for something.
The cloud slowly blocked the light of the moon, and as the darkness casted over Spike, he did what he was told and closed his eyes.
Then he heard Frey speaking again this time with a voice that sounded different… powerful even…
"O shadows that have been abandoned by light and darkness, I summon thy forgotten powers to subdue my enemies! Let the unwanted, failed child of the two opposing forces share all its unending agony! Sea'lak Torundaga!"
Spike heard a noise, a stirring before the humming of the headless beings stopped.
Seconds went by in silence, which felt like long hours to the young one as he cautiously opened his eyes.
To his timing, the clouds had also finished passing through the view of the moon, allowing Spike to clearly see what happened.
The Spell that Frey chanted, which he noted was definitely different from pony magic, had ensnared all beings in tentacle shadows that came from the darkness around them.
"Whoa…" Spike cooed in awe as he had never seen a dragon perform magic before. "I-I didn't know we could use magic as well." He looked around before his eyes fell back on Frey. The black dragon's eyes were glowing pure black, if not for the laces of gold on his claw and eye, he probably would have been completely lost in the shadows.
But Spike wasn't afraid; rather, he almost sensed a familiar presence from the shadows.
Frey raised his golden claw up in front of him then clenched his fist in a crushing motion causing the shadows to continue their vice like grips and the sounds of bones cracking were getting louder and echoing throughout the ruins.
"Whoa! Whoa! What are you doing!?" Spike cried out.
"Preventing them from following us!" Frey yelled in strange voice then he threw his fist downward and caused the tangled enemies to be 'absorbed' by the shadows.
With all of them gone, Frey's eyes stopped glowing and returned to normal, but he started gasping for breath and then collapsed. "No… why… now?" He muttered before falling into unconsciousness.
Spike looked around, he didn't see any sign of the robed, headless nightmares, so he ran towards Frey.
-The Never Dragon-
Are we defined by our mistakes?
The wrong we have done, the people we have caused suffering, and the scale of the sins committed, are we doomed to have them forever shackle us and never be rid of them?
Yes.
But they claim that there is always salvation, to repent and live your life in kindness and humility.
However… my sin… is my life.
Being born, existing, breathing, sentience. I was born in a land of the dead, found by Grandfather... Those are my sins and a cold and cruel death is my only repentance…
Yet, even so… I find one small solace. A glimmer of gold within the cold unyielding shadows…
Someone brilliant in light, someone whose compassion was infinite as his wisdom, asked me with words filled with kindness…
"Jelly baby?"
-The Never Dragon-
Frey slowly woke up. A multitude of smells hit his sharp nose.
"And so the sleeping dragon awakes. Eyes wide open than that of snakes."
He tilted his head to see a zebra and Spike waving nervously at him. The younger dragon then turned to the mystic shaman. "Zecora, is he going to be fine?"
The zebra walked closer to the lying dragon, at a look into his eyes, she saw a unique tiredness but trust. "A broken wing and fatigue will soon be fixed. You need not worry; his injuries will not be missed."
The teenage dragon started to regain his senses. "I… thou are a zerbra… perchance did you heal me?"
"I nursed your wounds. Young Spike here brought you here quite soon." Zecora mentioned to the dragon.
Zecora, in her own rhyming words of mysticism, was able to convince Frey to stay in her humble abode while his wing was being healed. Also, since it was very late, Zecora offered Spike to sleep over in her hut for the night.
Spike was thankful for the offer, and yawned, considering that he was originally asleep in the first place. In no time at all, the smallest dragon was quickly asleep.
Frey was quite surprised that the small child could so easily sleep in seconds, though he too was feeling very weak for running for so long…
"A rare sight it is to bear in mind… to witness a dragon of a supposedly extinct kind."
Frey's Weary eyes snapped open as he looked to Zecora who seemed quite curious of him. "… I did not choose to be born like this." The black dragon spoke somberly.
"Legends talk of time witnessed by ancient eyes, but I cannot feel you to be capable of lies. But be wary my new friend, your kind has known to have bitter ends."
"I was aware of that from the beginning. … I just hope I shall not bring down anyone with me into oblivion."
"You are so far from your home, but those this quest mean you must be alone?"
"You just pointed out about the history of my kin of dragons. It is best if I leave as soon as I am healed and I repay your hospitality."
"Be wary then oh noble one, lest you be killed by the Dragon's Sons."
With that, Zecora left Frey to sleep. Even with that conversation, the shadow dragon was glad to finally have his peace.
A/N: And that ends this small what if story. I have reservations about posting a real story since, I doubt I can fully commit. But in return, I will try to answer some things-if you are curious-about Frey. I will say not everything, but some basic lore and background. I wanted to put it more story like, but I didn't really want to unless I was going to put a real story. (maybe I'll re work it one day.)
Frey is basically a Shadow Dragon. Not quite Darkness, but something similar. So he isn't a darkness Dragon. I don't really want to explain everything, but I'll at least say that just like every other OC out there, he's special. (in his story)
I know I seem half... you know, but i guess you could say I'm just testing the waters. Thank you for reading.