Feared Love Divided: Chapter XX/The Grey
The Earth Pony stood in place as the great beating of Dragon wings approached him, before landing in front of him. "Hello little one!" the Dragon bellowed, "I wish to acquire a Pony!" The stallion did not so much as move in reply. The Dragon's head dropped towards him, looking him in the eye. "Is this one defective?" she asked, and poked him with her claw, and the stallion barely moved. "Small one?" she asked him. "Are you... alright?.." Again, there was not an answer. "Are you in need of assistance?" she asked him.
"You're a DRAGON!" he exclaimed, and the Dragon looked at him curiously.
"Did I pretend otherwise?" the Dragon asked.
"What are you doing here?!" the stallion asked.
"I've... come to acquire a Pony?" the Dragon asked. "Are you interested?"
"In becoming your slave?" the stallion asked.
"Jewel." the Dragon stated, and laid down in front of him. "My name is Greycrag. Your prince has proven that the greatest of Dragon hoards is not complete without a Pony."
"You want to treat me like a jewel!" the stallion asked.
"The most precious jewel?" Greycrag asked, but the stallion just shook his head. "Why not?" Greycrag asked. "There must be some way I can convince you."
"Convince me?" the stallion asked, "How could you ask that?"
"How else could I convince you?" Greycrag asked.
"Do you even have anything I want?" the stallion asked.
"And what is it you want?" Greycrag asked, and the stallion paused for thought before shaking his head. "If you cannot be convinced, what could I do to convince other Ponies?"
"I don't know..." the stallion stated, "why would any Pony want to become a jewel?"
"I have prostrated myself before you." Greycrag stated, and he looked at her warily. "Could I at least get your name?"
"Greymane..." he voiced, and Greycrag looked at him with a wry grin. "Don't say it."
"I won't say anything." Greycrag smirked. "But could I come to visit?" Greymane paused, unable to speak. "I will see you when I return." Greycrag stated, and started to flap her enormous wings before flying off.
Greycrag landed outside a house in the middle of the woods, and Greymane came rushing out, only to pause as he recognized her. "I did say I would return..."
"It's been over a year!" Greymane shouted.
"I apologize..." Greycrag meekly voiced, and lowered herself to the ground, "I am having... difficulty... adapting to the Pony conception of time..."
"how... long?.." Greymane asked, "did you think it was?.."
"One period of sleep and wake..."
"A day?" Greymane asked.
"Is that how long Ponies sleep, once a day?" Greycrag asked.
"That's... definitely... something... you will have to get used to... You can't simple abandon a Pony for a year..."
"I abandoned you?" Greycrag asked, and batted her eyes.
"I..." Greymane said, but wasn't sure what he wanted to say.
"So, Ponies need time?.." Greycrag asked, "and appreciation? What else do you need?"
"Food, for one..." Greymane stated.
"How much?" Greycrag asked. "It's been centuries since I ate..."
"You could... join me..." Greymane stated.
Greycrag watched as Greymane came and went to cook his meal and drag the table outside. It seemed to involve coordinating a dozen tasks while controlling a petulant flame. Eventually Greymane brought out the meal and placed it on the table, before divvying it up.
"This meagre meal is what you eat every day?" Greycrag asked.
"Three times." Greymane stated.
"Three times?" Greycrag asked, "That would take an eight of your day in preparation?"
Greymane did not reply, and simply ate his fare, while Greycrag tried to eat as slowly as possible.
"Do you mind if I spend your night?" Greycrag asked.
"You can do whatever you want." Greymane said, and closed his door.
Greycrag was unsure of why she woke and went back to sleep.
Greycrag opened her eyes, to find Greymane's staring into her. "Were you planning to sleep all day?!" he asked her.
"Dragons often sleep for far longer..." she grumbled. "How could you accomplish anything on so little sleep and so little nourishment? Don't Ponies require both?"
Greymane stared at her as he thought something over, "Don't you?"
Greycrag yawned widely, "If Dragons get enough sleep... we don't need food..." and yawned once again, a yawn powerful enough to blow Greymane's mane.
"Is that how it works?" Greymane asked, and poked her with his pitchfork. "I don't suppose pitchforks do anything for Dragons, do they?"
"Can't you let me sleep?" Greycrag asked, and yawned once again.
Greymane poked her with his pitchfork once again, "Not if you are going to sleep on my stoop. I've got work to do."
Greycrag yawned audibly and mumbled. She eventually stood up and stretched, and he just looked at her with annoyance. "Aren't you afraid of me, little Pony?"
"Oh, quite a bit, but you haven't attacked me yet, and as I just said, I'VE GOT WORK TO DO! So, either eat me and I won't have to worry about it anymore, or get out of my way." Greycrag just stared at him. "What?" he asked.
"I just want you even more, now." Greycrag said to him.
"Does that mean you are going to help?" Greymane asked.
"Help with what?" Greycrag asked.
"Bailing." Greymane said.
"And what is bailing?" Greycrag asked.
"I've reaped and threshed the wheat." Greymane stated, "Now we have to bail the hay. I'll show you."
Greycrag tried tying the bail as she had seen Greymane do, but could not get it the same as he did. "Am I doing something wrong?" Greycrag asked.
"You just need more practice." Greymane stated. "A few years should do you."
"A few years?" the Dragon asked, "Don't Ponies only live for a few years?"
"Not quite, but we do spend most of our lives working."
"You work hard for how tiny you are." Greycrag stated, and Greymane just smiled at her.
The two sat around the table, once again on Greymane's front stoop, as they ate their meagre fare. "I apologize is this is inappropriate, but... where is your herd?"
"I lost them..." he uttered.
"But don't you Ponies need a herd?" she asked, and he chewed for a moment before replying.
"You ask that... and want to collect me?.." he asked.
"I viewed it like a challenge, like food." she stated. "Ponies need food... and herd... don't they?.."
"So, what?" Greymane asked, "You will be my herd?"
"I had not thought it through, but if I must..." Greycrag stated, and Greymane just stared at her.
"Will you... hold me at night?.." Greymane asked, "talk to me?.."
"If I must." Greycrag stated, "Do I?" she asked, and Greymane just chewed without saying anything.
Greycrag looked at the house in a torrential downpour. She looked in the window and saw water seeping inside. Pony houses don't normally do that, do they? She... gently nocked on his door, and he opened it to glare at her. "Your house seems to be leaking..."
"You don't say..." Greymane replied.
"Could I help?" Greycrag asked, and he stared at her for a moment.
"By doing what?" Greymane asked, "use your wings to block the rain." In reply Greycrag did just this, and he simply glared at her. He turned to return inside with a brief smile breaking on his face.
Greycrag heard a vibration and looked inside the window. It seemed to be coming from Greymane. Perhaps is was the snow swallowing the house. She knocked on his window and he, shivering, approached to open it. "Yes?" he grimly asked.
"You are shivering?" Greycrag asked, "Are you cold?"
In reply he simply closed the window.
Greycrag felt enough time had passed, so she once again knocked on the window, and once a good a glaring Greymane replied. "What?!" he shouted.
"I want to help..." Greycrag voiced.
"And how are you going to help?!" Greymane asked.
"If you are cold... Dragons... are hot..."
"Are you suggesting I what?.. hide underneath you?.." Greymane asked.
"But... you are shivering?.." Greycrag asked.
"I'm just cold!" Greymane shouted, "Winter tends to do that to you!"
"Don't Ponies normally use fire?" Greycrag asked.
"Winter... is unusually long this year... I did not collect enough firewood..."
"Then use me." Greycrag pleaded, and he looked at her quizzically.
"You'll stay with me?!" he asked, "until the first thaw?"
"A few months is hardly any time for a Dragon."
"You'll... be what, my house?" he asked.
"I suppose... you will be sheltering under me?" Greycrag asked.
"I'm sorry..." he quietly said, and closed the window. A minute passed until he stepped outside the house and took a step towards her.
"What... do I do?.." Greycrag asked.
"I don't know?," the stallion replied, "tent your wings... like you were part of the house?" Greycrag did so. "Uh... extend it to the ground... so the air does not escape."
"Like this?" Greycrag asked, and did so. In effect, Greycrag has become an extension of the house, and Greymane began to warm up.
"Remarkable..." Greymane stated.
"Are you feeling warmer?" Greycrag asked. She lifted her wing just enough to bring her head in underneath.
"Warmer." Greymane stated. "And you will do this until the Spring Thaw?"
"On my word as a Dragon."
"Dragons are big on oaths, aren't they."
"A Dragon is nothing without her oath." Greycrag warmly said to him, as warm as the air was becoming.
"And what do I do at night?" Greymane asked her.
"I honestly don't know..." Greycrag stated. "I've never lived as a Pony before."
"I suppose I should be counting my blessings."
Greymane slept in his bed, which he had dragged to the porch.
A drop of water fell under Greycrag's wing, and she simply stared at it. "The thaw." Greymane stated. "You've done what you promised."
"And now what?" Greycrag asked. "I have to leave?.."
"You don't have to..." Greymane stated. "I could... use the company..."
Greycrag laid on a hill as she watched Greymane working. "So tell me?" Graymane asked, "Why do you want a Pony so much?"
"I don't know..." Greycrag stated.
"But you are willing to do anything and everything to get one?" Greymane asked.
"At first it was a curiosity, but now... I am growing quite fond of you..."
"hm." he replied.
"What do you call this heat?" Greycrag asked.
"Summer?" Greymane replied.
"To think this happens every year..." she said whistfully. "What do you do in summer?"
"Aside from bask in Celestia's light?" Greymane asked, "I have to carefully manage my water. I don't want to end up with a drought."
"A crucial lack of water?.." Greycrag asked, "Agricultural requires significant water?"
"Water that evaporates in the summer."
"So?.." she asked, "you are... hurt... by this wonderful heat?"
"I'm... used to it..." Greymane stated.
"You Ponies are so tough. You struggle so much... Dragons have no equivalent..."
"It's what we have to do..." Greymane voiced.
"It's adorable..." Greycrag stated, "I find myself entranced in you."
"Ponies?" Greymane asked.
"No." Greycrag replied.
The leaves are so beautiful..." Greycrag stated, "What do you call it?"
"Fall?" Greymane stated, "Or Autumn as the Unicorns call it."
"Do you ever just sit and watch the leaves?" Greycrag asked.
"I... did..." Greymane stated. "I know... a place... tomorrow I could take you?"
"Tomorrow?" Greycrag asked.
"I would have to prepare a picnic." Greymane stated.
"Food rations?" Greycrag asked.
"We can't just flitter about like some sort of Pegasus filly." Greymane stated.
"I couild carry you?" Greycrag asked.
"I would still need food to enjoy myself." Greymane stated. "Aren't Dragons good at waiting?"
"Truthfully... no..." Greycrag stated. "Once we have our minds out something, we have a hard time not pursuing it. Oh, I feel so giddy..."
"You are prancing like a filly." Greymane stated, and she stopped. "I didn't tell you to stop. It's oddly adorable."
Greycrag slowly walked behind Greymane as he climbed the hill and reached the overlook. He then sat down and she sat down beside him. "It's beautiful..." Greycrag voiced.
"Remember the question you asked me a year ago?" Greymane asked, and she shook her head. "Ponies need five things, food, water, shelter, love, and purpose."
"Purpose?" Greycrag asked.
"What purpose would I have in your hoard?" Greymane asked, and Greycrag had no idea how to answer.
The sun peaked over the horizon, and Greycrag turned to walk away, but paused as the door flew open, "Where do you think you are going?" Greymane asked, and Greycrag just looked at him, "You enter my life for an entire year, and just want to walk away."
"You... you said?.."
"Ponies have to find their own purpose... you just have to let me..."
"What?" Greycrag asked.
"I'm not so good at doing things like this... but... if you promise to keep me well... I will be your little Pony..."