THIS ONE WAS A LONG ONE TO DO AND NOW A LONG ONE TO READ. SORRY IF YOU DON'T LIKE LONG CHAPTERS. THIS WILL BE THE LAST CHAPTER ABOUT DRAGONBOND'S LIFE IN THE LAND OF DRACO.
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A Dragon Age
Chapter 7
Several years passed as Dragonbond had gone through dragon combat training, dragon history, and dragon survival. Always making sure he stayed true to each lesson to make it a part of his life was his goal. Then after, he had trained himself to practice everything he learned from each of the different types of dragon clans and their forms of combat and way of living. He practiced with every combat skill and form until it became a second nature for him to execute a move without flaw. The only problem was that his strikes were not as strong as a dragon's. He had the endurance and durability to take hard hits and block strikes. He was only excelling in agility and nimble maneuvers, but as far as dealing actual damage, he needed to work on his leg and jaw strength to deal great damage against a dragon. That was something he was going to change from this day on. For this was the day for Dragonbond to begin his first day of the dragon trials.
Dragonbond was still not as strong a flyer like most dragons or as strong as the average dragon. However, this was what Scalefang was waiting for. The dragon trial was a three-month annual event for all dragons that reached the age of twelve. It was harsh training to build them up to reach the final test to be part of the clan. The main part of the whole trial was unity. By far, every dragon passed this trial because of working together. To have each other's back and to survive together. This would prove a challenge to Dragonbond since he was a Pegasus and not a dragon like the rest. He would be the weakest out of all of them and would have to push himself harder than any dragon there.
Dragonbond sighed as they flew in approaching the other young dragons. He became nervous about joining the group. He actually wasn't afraid of them because of how he might have looked to them and not fitting in because of what he was. Scalefang saw this look on him. "You need not be afraid of them Dragonbond."
Dragonbond sighed, "I'm not afraid of them. I just feel out of place a bit. They are all cool with scales, talons, and fire breath." He then looks to himself. "I just have fur, feathers, and hooves. Not to mention this thing on my shoulder." He said looking to his mark feeling embarrassed about it. This mark may not have had anymore magical properties, but it was still something that resembled the labeling of ponies in that land had. Dragons never needed to be labeled to know their purpose in life.
Scalefang landed on the ground as Dragonbond slid down the front of his snout, "That symbolizes your bond to dragons. Since the first time we bonded when we first met and the other dragons that you made a bond with on the first days of meeting them. It will never label you to one thing, but it will be a reminder that you were born to be one of us. This trial will prove that in the end. Wear it proudly and remember, to become dominant, you need to dominate the foes inside you that lead to doubt, fear, and disgrace."
"But what if I fail a test to be a dragon?" Dragonbond asked worriedly.
Scalefang shook his head, "You only fail if you fail and learn nothing from it. Failure is your greatest teacher to learn from. You have the spirit of a dragon in you" Scalefang said pounding his chest and then points a claw on Dragonbond's chest. "And you have a courageous heart of one as well. Don't fear letting it out because of what you look like. Take pride in what you have that the rest of your kind doesn't. That is what will make you better than both dragon and pony one day."
Dragonbond nodded and stood proudly, "Yes father. I will make you proud." Dragonbond ran up to hug Scalefang's snout knowing he was going to miss the warm tough scales of his dragon father.
Scalefang nudged Dragonbond off, "Go my son. Become a great dragon."
Dragonbond sadly walked towards the group of younglings as his dragon father flew off. This rite of passage was for all new dragons that came of age to learn to fight, hunt, and survive on their own. There were to be no distractions so the young dragons could focus more on the trials ahead. Luckily for Dragonbond, he learned most of what was expected in these trials already. His drive to be more like his dragon father helped him to focus more on every word in Scalefang's lessons. Dragonbond devoted every moment in his time to learn how to be a dragon as far as history, culture, and their code. But still, there was more he needed to work hard on to become a true dragon. He needed to keep up with every other dragon and even including learning to breathe fire. Scalefang had done as much as he could to toughen Dragonbond's inside for when the time came when he needed to learn how to breathe fire.
Dragonbond saw the young dragons gathering around an adult dragon, no doubt their instructor. With a deep breath, he trotted over to the rest of the young dragons and took a seat. The other dragons looked at him weird seeing he was the only Pegasus there. Dragonbond remained strong and focused to ignore the stares, but this was easier said than done. The other dragons began to become curious of him and scooted cautiously close. Dragonbond had to fight back the sweat from the stress of feeling all these eyes upon him.
One young Wyvern poked Dragonbond on the side with his small talon on his wing making Dragonbond jump a bit, "Are you made of grass?" he asked innocently.
Dragonbond just gave a nervous smile and responded, "Uh, n-no it's just the color of m-my fur." He chuckled nervously unsure of what else to say.
The young Wyvern pulled Dragonbond's tail up, "I'm made of scales, but I really think I am made of diamonds because I have tough skin."
A young drake moved in to speak, "Well my parents say that I am made of rock." saying so in a very proud thinking rock was stronger than diamonds.
A wrym slithered up to the group, "Well mine is made of stone." She said trying to brag about her skin.
The second wrym slithered up next to her. "It's the same thing stupid!"
"No, it's not fish face!" the she one spat.
Soon both wryms began wrestling, biting, and shooting small breaths of flames at each other. Dragonbond watched feeling awkward about how this started because of him. He also scooted away a bit so not to get burned by any wild shots.
Then a dragon nudged Dragonbond, "Don't worry about those two. Those siblings love to argue just to start a fight. I'm Claw." The young dragon said extending his hand. His scales were a dark shade of a golden color. All the claws and spikes on him were a white color. His eyes were an emerald green that seemed to change shades from light to dark depending on the volume of the light around him. His tail had small spikes on it that did not stick up but looked to stick out at a low angle. Most likely they would become like blades to slice through anything his tail would whip at. Claw then held out his hand to give Dragonbond a friendly shake.
Dragonbond didn't know how exactly to perform a handshake with a hoof, so he just placed it in the Claw's hand, "I'm Dragonbond." saying with a nervous smile for finally making friendly contact with another dragon.
Even for a young dragon, Claw's grip was amazingly strong and Dragonbond could almost feel his circulation being completely cut off from his hoof as he cringed and tried to hold his breath from screaming in pain, "That's a cool name. I wonder how you got that." He said letting go of Dragonbond's hoof.
Dragonbond shook his hoof trying to get back the circulation flowing into his hoof and smiled sheepishly trying to ride out the pain. "Uh, yeah. My dragon father said it was because of our bond when we first met when I was an infant." Dragonbond looked around at some of the other dragons. There seemed to be far more different types of dragons of shapes and sizes. Some were larger and some were very small since there were some dragons that would only grow to be the size of a bird while others could become taller than the hills themselves. All these dragons had come to the dragon trials.
When the dragon trials came every year, dragons of Draco came from all over the world to have their young participate. There were five instructors of each type of dragon to go through trials according to their type and capabilities. Each type would group up together and head off with their instructor to begin their three months of training before the final test started to part of the clan.
Dragonbond noticed a lot of these types of young dragons looked very mean and vicious. Claw patted Dragonbond on the back. "Don't worry about them, they just try to act tough so they can impress their instructors."
Dragonbond felt a bit relieved as he had hoped they weren't as mean as they looked. "So, it's a show of strength?" He asked
Claw nodded, "Why don't you give it a try?"
This time Dragonbond really felt uneasy about it, "Well I'm not really intimidating since I have no long teeth or claws like them." He looked back at his tail. "Not even a tail that can at least look scary instead of fluffy." He said as his tail was mostly hair like a big cushion.
"Oh, come on, this is a test as well for the instructor to test us on. He watches us every moment to see how continuous we are in acting ferocious towards each other." Claw said. Dragonbond was thinking about it. "You'll never succeed if you don't at least try. Try to at least make a roar."
Dragonbond remembered the words of Scalefang. He then looked around at the other young dragons making small roars and fire from their mouths. He then thought back to small lessons from his father dragon. Since he was younger and never went out for his own safety, Scalefang gave Dragonbond private lessons about certain things and the tips to a good roar. Draco knows that he had practiced day and night until he lost his voice. But no matter how many times that happened, he kept to those lessons. Now this was the time to show what he had. If not fire breath, then a loud roar.
Dragonbond stood up and placed his hooves firmly into position. He took in a deep breath and gave it all he got. But sadly, all that came out was a small neigh and also fell back onto his flank from the attempted roar. The other young dragons began to laugh and point as well as the instructor making a slight chuckle seeing the pathetic so-called roar. Dragonbond never felt such humiliation after all those years of trying to roar just for it to come out to this. He closed his eyes and covered his face with his wings wishing Scalefang was there. He wished Scalefang would give him words of wisdom to help him get over this humiliation. Remembering now, he promised to make him proud and that would not get done if he didn't get up and try it for real this time. He also remembered what he said about truly failing if he didn't continue to try. He had let fear and doubt get inside him. Even a bit of either is enough to make you fail once. He had to get tough now, he had to be a dragon.
Dragonbond got straight back up and began to use the taunting and laughs to fuel his inner rage. Perhaps that's what was keeping him back. He had tried to roar with no source for ferocity. With a look of anger, he took a deeper breath and let it go. It became more of a roar than his last one. Not quite the sound of a dragon. It sounded like a loud shrieking shout almost sounding like some demon. It struck fear into some of the other young dragons, who all now became silent and cringed from the unnatural roar. The roar lasted for a second or two before it stopped and Dragonbond was left panting from using every breath of air in his lung. This was mostly due to Dragonbond slowly adapting his body into more of a dragon than a pony. This caused his body to develop a lot stronger including his lung capacity to hold in more air and let it out even more powerful even for his age. With that, Dragonbond was able to have his very own roar that was unique from the other dragons.
The instructor came over to Dragonbond looking down at the exhausted Pegasus. Dragonbond steadily got back up slowly to face him with a look that showed no fear. "This is what a dragon is supposed to roar like. A dragon's roar sends fear to all lesser creatures to show them that we are the most dominant being on this world. Each of you will have a different sounding roar, but you have to make it loud and full of terror from the inner fury of your soul. If this fuzzy animal can do it then you should all be doing this by now." Dragonbond began to feel guilty for feeling he was trying to show off to them all, but then they gathered around him asking how to do what he did. Dragonbond looked back at the instructor as the adult dragon gave him a smirk of approval.
Dragonbond was sure this was his destiny, but also, he felt guilty that he still felt he was showing off the other young dragons and he didn't like it at all. He turned to the others to make a quick apology, "Sorry guys for showing off in front of the instructor." He apologized. Even if he wasn't trying to, he still felt as if he needed to apologize still.
The young dragons began to swarm around Dragonbond eagerly, "Sorry? That was so awesome! Can you teach me how to do that?" A green young dragon asked. This completely caught Dragonbond off guard.
A grey young wyvern asked Dragonbond, "Yeah, if you can do a roar then you must know an easy way to do it, right?"
A yellow young lindworm tugged Dragonbond's tail pleading, "Please tell us. We want to know how to roar loudly."
Dragonbond thought back to how he did it. He remembered everything his father had taught him. That is what helped him to use his rage as a fuel to bring out his roar. Remembering his dragon father's lessons, he told them what he had learned from Scalefang.
The instructor observed Dragonbond as he took charge of teaching the other young dragons to make a good roar. He also began to see how well and quick he bonded with them as if they already saw him as their kind. He even got a laugh from seeing Dragonbond teach one young dragons too well by him having roar too strongly and blew Dragonbond's mane back straight from the force of the roar and seeing the stunned look on Dragonbond's face. But the time for such small games were over for today. It was time for the dragon trails to begin.
"Gather around young ones." The dragon instructor called out as he spoke out in front of the other dragons. "You will now fall into your groups to begin your trials. Each group has the trials fit to their type's capabilities. Dragonbond will be joining the dragon group since his kind is more similar to a dragon. The rest of you fall into your instructor to begin the trials." He said.
As the other young dragons gathered to their instructors, Dragonbond joined with the dragon type. His instructor's name was Volcane, a pale brown dragon. There were spikes around his head to make it look like a lion's mane he also had some fins behind his jaw and a chin that grew out further than his snout. However, he was far different from most dragons as he had two pairs of wings. The spade on his tail was quite intimidating as it had serrated edges.
"Follow me to our training grounds." Volcane commanded. The other groups began to head in their own separate directions with their students.
With Volcane, the first trial was flying. As other dragons took off fast and strong, Dragonbond was still having trouble keeping up with their speed. Even by flapping as hard and as fast as he could. It only made him half as good as the rest of them. Dragonbond did his best despite his capabilities to keep up. The instructor would slow down but had Dragonbond catch up on his own. The other young dragons chose to fly around to fly with Dragonbond. They made him fly front so not to leave him behind. Volcane was pleased to see that the young dragons were starting off with unity.
Dragonbond new that he was setting the pace for them. He tried his best to fly faster to follow after Volcane as he led the way to where they would be training. Dragonbond pushed himself making his wings ache and feel the burn of his efforts. Scalefang always taught him that if he wasn't feeling his body ache or burn for activities, then he wasn't pushing his limits to become better. Even through the aches and burns, Dragonbond continued to push himself so to make every effort count.
When they landed, Volcane turned to them. "This is where we will train ourselves in order to be ready for the dragon trials. I will guide you to the activities to prepare you for the dragon trials at the end of the third month. For this first month, you will spend it building yourselves up. After that, I will give you classes of history to reiterate what being a dragon of Draco is about. True we don't do what we used to from millennia passed, but we remember it to help do what we have always done to guide the next generations. The final month will be training for what you will see in the trials. The trials will be looking at you own strength as well as the choices you make for yourself and your kin. Understood?" Volcane said to see if they understood what they were going to be facing.
"Yes, Instructor Volcane!" the they all replied in unison.
"Your training begins now. I shall watch you progress and will be here if any of you have questions." Volcane said before flying off to a high point of a mountain to overlook them all.
Claw rolled over a large rock over to Dragonbond. He also had some vines wrapped around his tail. Dragonbond looked in confusion. "What is all this for?" He asked as he circled around the large stone.
"You do not think I have noticed the way you flew back there? I think I may have something to help you fly better… well I mean faster to keep up with us." Claw said.
"Um, am I supposed to eat this rock or something?" Dragonbond asked knocking on the stone.
"Well no, but it is something to weigh you down when you fly. When you are ready to fly like us, you'll be able to fly with this rock still attached to you." Claw said getting the vines off his tail to start tying Dragonbond to the boulder.
"Can't we star with a smaller rock?" Dragonbond asked nervous about the idea.
"Well if you want to take the slow way." Claw pointed out.
Dragonbond knew he doesn't have much time even in a month. He had to tough it out to get through this. "Alright, I am ready. But let me try to see if I can carry it without the vines." Dragonbond said wanting to do this on his own.
Claw rolled his eyes. "Fine, let us see how long this plays out." He said as he took a seat on a log.
Dragonbond then held onto the rock and tried to fly off with it, but he found himself not able to even budge it. He then continued to flap harder and pull with all his might until he lost his grip and shot himself into a tree branch. His eyes were rolling as he hung in the branch upside down. His next attempts included pushing it from behind, pulling from the front, and from the sides. All ended in slipping over the rock. After he got irritated at the rock and began bucking, ramming, and stomping the rock leaving him exhausted in the end. Claw only shook his head seeing Dragonbond's failed attempt, but then came over to pat his back. Dragonbond finally surrendered to have himself tied to the boulder. Once again, he wasn't able to lift or even budge the stone. After trying to lift the rock, Claw moved him on to flying against strong wind currents. Claw had Dragonbond tied to an end of a vine as the other end was tide to himself. Claw would fly ahead as Dragonbond had to catch up to fly alongside Claw. This was supposed to test to see how much progress Dragonbond achieved if he was starting to fly better to catch up. Unfortunately, Dragonbond was dangling from the other end of the vine unable to steady himself from the speed Claw was tugging him with. The winds became too much and spun him wildly out of control bringing him and Claw down and tangled over each other after a crash landing.
The second game was fire breathing. Again, Dragonbond was at a loss to figure out how to pass this game. That is when the instructor and Claw came with some special flowers for Dragonbond. They told him that they were special and gave small dragons a small boost to help them learn to breathe fire. Dragonbond became over excited and ate a whole one before they could tell him to nibble one of its petals first and to take it slow. For a young dragon, it would give them a small flame, but since Dragonbond was not a dragon, it was like eating the most tongue burning spice he ever had and ran around with smoke coming out of his mouth. He stopped when he found a small pond to drink as much of the water as he could. It was thanks to his dragon father that gave him a diet to give his insides a bit of heat resistance. Otherwise, Dragonbond would have burned from the inside out.
The third game was fighting. Claw chose to be Dragonbond's permanent fighting partner. Sad to say Claw always came out on top without having to use much effort. Claw felt sorry for Dragonbond as he lost over and over again despite his best attempts and given opportunities to strike first. Dragonbond had tried holding Claw from the tail, head, feet, back, and wings all to have Claw pull him off and lie on top of him, grab him in a headlock, and hang him upside down by his tail with Dragonbond crossing his hooves in frustration. Claw sighed seeing how hopeless it seemed. Dragonbond was able to fight well, but it was his lack of strength that had him fail over and over again. This game of combat was supposed to show the raw strength of a dragon. Dragonbond had to show brutal strength when fighting instead of agility.
The last game was hunting for food and treasure. The first part was finding and catching prey. The choices were boars, birds, fish, and small rodents. Dragonbond felt eager and went after a boar which in the end ended up chasing him instead. Dragonbond had tried to bite the boar on the back of its neck. But his mouth was too small, and the boar's neck was too fat that it only annoyed the boar and chased after Dragonbond. Also, not to mention, that the boar was an overweight fully-grown adult. He then tried birds guessing they did not face up as a threat. He did not consider that he had no hard-scaled skin to protect him from the bird pecking down on his head chasing him away. The fish he knew were easy. No teeth, no beaks, no way to fight back. He would then dive in to catch the fish. But he tried to catch the biggest ones that only dragged him under giving him a tour underwater. Dragonbond would then begrudgingly catch the smaller ones. As for the rodents, Dragonbond became overwhelmed by swarms of them. He was only used to hunting tiny rodents or just turtles. He hadn't really hunted anything other than those two.
For treasure hunting, a gem was thrown in front of a bear and the young dragons had to go retrieve them from the bear. At first Dragonbond was going to try creeping up out of sight to sneak the gem away, but the bear quickly caught his sent and swatted him into a tree. Dragonbond got stuck in a hole where a squirrel stored its food. Dragonbond looked at the angry squirrel and grinned sheepishly. He was only rewarded with a nut thrown at his head.
Seeing Dragonbond's weaknesses, the other young dragons decided to help him with ways to improve his chances in the games. First off was making him start from the air and holding onto a large rock to try to hold it up for as long as he could. This was until he was able to carry it wherever he flew without trouble. That started off with Dragonbond falling straight down after they let the rock go for him to carry on his own. That gave them the idea to slightly lift the weight for him to hold up the rock without having him falling straight down for his next try.
For flying against the wind, they tied him to a tree, then they all flapped their wings at him to create a strong breeze for him to try and fly through. This would go on until he could fly passed the tree and not needing a vine to keep him from being blown back. What they didn't expect was a sudden burst of wind from their direction and blowing Dragonbond back and snapping the vine to send him crashing into a bush. His back end was sticking out with his hindlegs kicking. Claw face palmed himself feeling embarrassed for Dragonbond.
They moved on to fire breathing and having Dragonbond nibble a piece from the dragon breath flower. It still tasted spicy, but at least he was able to hold it in. After he completely swallowed the piece and then they told him to release all his breath. That only sent out a cloud of smoke followed by a small spark. They took it as an improvement and had Dragonbond continue to take small nibbles to grow his stomach durability to take in more of the flower. Dragonbond's eyes watered a lot from each nibble. Dragonbond once more thanks his dragon father for his fire-resistant diet.
Now they needed to improve his strength. They stuffed hollow logs with stones and wrapped those longs of stone on his legs. They had him start kicking and swinging his legs continuously to start building his limb muscles. They also added in simple exercises to strengthen the rest of his body while wearing the stone filled logs on his legs.
For hunting, it pretty much went as it did before like last time, but they also gave Dragonbond pointers on how to attack. When treasure hunting came, it was also the same old thing. Being swatted into a tree with the same food storage of a squirrel and a nut thrown at his head.
Dragonbond went day after day with going through the same routine of training. As much as he tried and failed, he refused to quit. This got him respect from each young dragon and had them put more effort into training him to make him pass the dragon trial.
Dragonbond was trying to lift the rock again when they let go for him to keep up in the air. Dragonbond put all his effort into it and this time he was able to keep it from falling. He noticed this and gave him the confidence to start slowly pulling it up higher. That was until a fish suddenly fell on his face making him fall with the rock. Dragonbond looked up to see Claw laughing with another fish in his claw. Dragonbond glared at first, but then laughed after. He knew he was starting to improve and knew that he would soon be able to carry the rock with ease.
Then they moved onto flying against strong wind currents. After practicing with the rock, Dragonbond had the confidence to fly without the vine and fly on his own. He was struggling to keep straight, but a crosswind blew him off. The young dragons sighed disappointedly until they saw Dragonbond fly back into place this time keeping a bit steadier against the wind current and soon able to fly against unexpected crosswinds and slowly was able to pass the tree with all the wind they blew at him.
From eating nothing but stone and the toughest of gems, Dragonbond's stomach grew much more durable after they had him eat both a mixture of stones and dragon breath flowers together to toughen up his insides from the burning taste of the flower. This time Dragonbond was able to hold down a whole flower without much trouble. He took a deep breath and let it all out bringing forth a small flame. It may have not been as big as the other dragons, but now he was able to breathe out small fire. Claw came up with to give him a good pat to his back. This accidentally made Dragonbond shoot out a bit more fire left in him in the face of another young dragon and blackening his face with soot. Claw and Dragonbond shrugged apologetically with a sheepish grin.
Dragonbond had kept to his conditioned exercises. He was now stronger where he once was weak. With that, he could now use his fighting techniques with more effectiveness and the past spars gave him more awareness to his opponent's attacks and a quicker wit to counter them. Plus, he found some extra techniques and tricks to take an advantage over his opponents. Such as light attacks across the face to stun or blind his opponent for a second or two to give himself a small window of opportunity to make his move. Dragonbond would then make a strong blow to the young dragon to show his raw strength.
As for hunting, Dragonbond learned to stun his larger prey first before attacking it. He tracked down the boar again as he wanted to settle the score between them. Dragonbond struck with an aerial swoop and landed strikes with his hooves and quickly flew up and away. He may not have caught his prey, but this time he was able to know the boar's blind spots that would be a tactical advantage. With the bear and the gem, Dragonbond found out that the bear was slow on turns and made strikes that where long range, but not too close to its own body. He also noticed that the bear could have trouble if one was able to come very close to it in a fight. He began swooping around the bear confusing it to which way Dragonbond was flying. Another flaw he found in his enemy to give him a chance to claim his treasure.
The months passed and in time Dragonbond was able to pass his side training with the other young dragons. He carried the large rock with ease, flew straight and steady against changing wind currents. With eating a combination of gems and special flowers for his daily diet, Dragonbond was now able to produce and shoot out his very own dragon breath. Using speed and swift movements, Dragonbond was able to use the young dragons' weight and strength against them by tripping, pulling, or pushing them to make them lose their balance and fall. That is when he would go for the power strike.
For hunting, Dragonbond was able to drop in from above to aim a well-placed stomp on his prey knocking them out for him to capture. That is how he caught the boar to settle the score. Dragonbond was able to land hard on its head for a heavy knockout. As for the bear, Dragonbond got the bear to chase him around until the bear got tired out and Dragonbond was able to retrieve the gem and walked over the bear and jumped on his head and bounced off to take to the skies, but not before pulling a nut from a tree and dropping it on the head of the squirrel that once threw nuts at Dragonbond's head.
Dragonbond rejoined the rest of the young dragons to celebrate knowing now Dragonbond had a chance to pass the final trials. He had overcome the small lessons of the trials and now he was ready for to become part of the clan when he passed. This was the moment Dragonbond was waiting for to finally be part of a great family of dragons. He just hoped the rest of the dragons accepted him despite him not being an actual dragon. But then again, as he looked around, he saw that the young dragons had already accepted him. There may be those that may still reject him, but as long as these young dragons were there to support him, Dragonbond knew he would always have others his age that would be there for him when others won't. More importantly, he would have his dragon father with him as well.
That night Dragonbond couldn't sleep for thinking about the final trials. He had confidence that he would pass, but the thought of having a great new family all at once was a little much for him. He spent most of his life with his dragon father, he never knew what it was like to have anyone else. Just them alone together in the same cave not seeing anyone else until he was old enough to join others. Now he would get to fly and spend time with many members of the clan. He had no idea what he would do next. There were so many things and places that were going to be open to him. Explore new lands, islands, and clans. He would continue playing games with other dragons. He could even work more on himself to be a better dragon like the others. But in the end, he knew in his heart he wanted to stay with his dragon father to learn everything he knew. Dragons lived over countless years and learn so much about life, Scalefang would sure to know many things.
Claw suddenly sat next to Dragonbond, "Can't sleep, huh? I don't blame you after everything you've been through." he said thinking back to all the training they practiced together. "It's strange how we dragons never look highly on other creatures. Now here you are with us about to be part of the clan. My parents talk about how ponies are weak and feeble creatures and could never be equal to us in strength or honor. But now you are the only one in the history of this land to get the chance to be our equal. Actually, you are the only one in the world."
Dragonbond sighed, "I know. If I was raised among other ponies, I might have never found my place even among them. Thank Draco that Scalefang found me and took me in." He looked upon the mark on his shoulder. "I still don't know what this thing on me is. I know my father said it is a mark saying how I was destined to be part of the clan. But I still don't know why it appeared on me in the first place if this pony magic said it was a special talent. Even though the magic is gone now."
"Well whatever it was, it doesn't matter, because now you get to be one of us instead of one of them. You don't need their magic to live and be who you are. We will fly here and beyond as brothers with nothing to stop us. We'll be the greatest duo of dragons in history." Claw said encouragingly. "No matter what comes we will stay together. The greatest power of dragons is there bond of being one family."
Dragonbond nodded, "Okay. It's a deal." They both spat a small flame into their own hand and hoof and shook. It may have burned Dragonbond a bit, but the bonding agreement was more important to him than a small pain. Dragonbond yawned. "Well I should get to sleep."
Claw got up and curled up in his spot, "Alright. Goodnight brother."
Dragonbond paused in his sleep. Hearing Claw already calling him his brother felt refreshing and made him feel not so alone among them anymore. "Goodnight brother, Claw." He responded as he slowly dozed off to sleep in the warm night.
Then came the day where each young dragon had to take the trial finals to become an honored member of the clan. Dragonbond and Claw stood by each other ready to take the final test to become a real dragon of Draco. Many of the other dragons did not believe Dragonbond would make the first part of the finals. But he and the other young dragons knew Dragonbond was more than ready to pass.
The instructors landed in front of the young dragons, "Today is the day you get your chance to become a real member of the clan! Being a part of this clan is not simply an invitation to be one of us, but a member of one whole family! To be part of the clan means you will gain brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and grandparents! We are united by the bond of family!" he then looked at Dragonbond. "No matter how different you may look! We may be brutal and fierce even to each other, we may hold our own treasures valuable, but what we hold above all else, is Family! Dragons! Fly proud and strong! Then after will you be a part of this great clan of dragons!" He then turned to take the lead flyer to lead the way through the final games.
Dragonbond looked to Claw, "Thanks for helping me for the chance to be your brother."
Claw gave a smug smile, "I just want a brother I can easily pick on." he said nudging Dragonbond in the shoulder.
Dragonbond rolled his eyes, "Yeah well who knows, I may be the one picking on you." Both laughed.
Claw placed a hand on Dragon bond's shoulder. "I'm glad you were brought in to live with us."
Dragonbond smiled, "Me too."
"Dragons, prepare for the final trials!" Shouted the teacher. All young dragons got into position waiting for the games to start. The Instructors roared as they took off towards the courses made for their type. Volcane led the dragon types and he kept a distance from the others to have them work their way to catch up to him. The young dragons flew all out at once flying after the lead dragon. Claw and Dragonbond started in the back. They both looked at each other and nodded before taking off through the skies at high speeds. Dragonbond had shown higher potential of flying faster but wished to stay back with Claw.
Claw saw his potential and nudged him to gain his attention, "You need to show your stuff to show all those dragons you are one of us. Go on and show them."
Dragonbond smirked, "With pleasure."
Dragonbond then set his pace and used his own technique that he had learned from what the amphipteres taught him. By pulling his legs back and against his body to become more aerodynamic and cut through the wind. His wing movement moved like swimming through water. He flapped his wings into the wind and pulled them back up close along his body to flap over again in a rhythmic motion. Dragonbond quickly cut through the sky through cross winds and strong currents until he caught up to the instructor dragon Volcane. Even he was surprised to see Dragonbond's progress. Now he wanted to see what Dragonbond could really do. The instructor dragons roared out for another to take the lead for the others. He planned more of a challenge for the Pegasus.
Now he flew out at full strength passing Dragonbond. The force of the flapping wings sent Dragonbond off balance trying to regain his steady flight again. Seeing this, Dragonbond tried to catch back up to him. The instructor dragon saw Dragonbond catch up even against the wind his wings beat back at him.
The instructor dragon then took Dragonbond for a ride, "Let us see how well you fly!"
He rolled to the side and waited for Dragonbond. Dragonbond now knew the instructor dragon was testing him harder from the others to see if he was really worthy to be part of the clan. Dragonbond made a roll to the side to follow behind the instructor dragon to start this new challenge. The instructor dragon started performing somersaults, U-turns, sudden dives, and spins. He looked back at Dragonbond seeing he was doing well to keep up with him. They flew high over a lake and then the instructor dragon dived down straight with Dragonbond following behind then pulled up just to fly right above the waters. He dipped his wing into the water as he flew and looked back at Dragonbond. Gulping down hard since he never tried this before Dragonbond started to slowly dip his wing into the water. It started to rock him as he tried to keep from being pulling into the water. It strained him, but he kept his hold to stay in the air before pulling out. The lead dragon was impressed not because he did it, but the look of determination to finish it.
He then instructed Dragonbond onto the land where some tall trees were a bit spread apart from each other but well enough to act as an obstacle course for Dragonbond. Watching the instructor dragon, he saw him gracefully maneuver through the trees not even breaking a branch while twirling, flying sideways, and spinning passed each one. He even locked in his wings to fit through a hole gap between some trees. Dragonbond started his own run through the trees. He was shaky as he did his best to maneuver through the spread-out forest and even made some spins, twirls, and sideways flying. But what the instructor dragon didn't expect was when he did a somersault up over a high branch and back down underneath a lower branch and even locked up his wings to fit through a hole in one tree big enough for him to fit through.
The instructor dragon was more than impressed. Now he wanted to see how Dragonbond would do for something few young dragons dared to do. He then flew up into the air flying straight up as fast as he could. This shocked Dragonbond seeing the steep climb into the sky but followed him never-the-less. At first Dragonbond thought they were just getting enough altitude to continue the final games, but then got worried as he saw they both climbed higher and higher through the clouds and above. Dragonbond had never dreamed of ever being this high and the height started to make him feel dizzy from looking down. He tore his sight away from the earth and focused looking to the sky. But he began to look around at the clouds and their bizarre designs and shapes. It calmed him as he was filled with awe to see the cloud kingdom of nature. A white land of fantasy one could only see in dreams. The way clouds puffed out or swirled and even some that seemed to get caught in wind currents making a long trail dancing through the sky. Dragonbond regretted never making the choice to ever fly this high before. Something he would be doing from now on. Soon, they broke through the top of the clouds where the ground below vanished completely from the vast ocean of clouds.
The instructor dragon called out, "See if you can stomach this, Pegasus."
The instructor dragon closed his wings to his body and began to free fall back to the earth. Dragonbond began to hyperventilate from the idea of freefalling at this height. He hesitated at the thought that the instructor dragon wanted him to do this and feared how far he wanted him to drop at this speed before opening his wings again. There was no turning back now. This was his greatest test yet and he must do it for himself. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he locked in his wings and began to freefall back towards the earth. Dragonbond had to squint as he fell at top speed and the moisture from the clouds hitting his face. He was spinning and twirling in his fall unable to fall straight. He began to panic knowing if he couldn't steady himself, he might not make it to recover from falling. He was very tempted to use his wings knowing the instructor dragon couldn't see him but doing such an act felt dishonorable. He had to clear his mind from the fear that fought to enter his heart and mind and pull through with a way to regain himself. He then stretched out his legs and found that he was making some sort of change in his fall. He began to experiment with his arms seeing how they determined the direction his free fall movement. With a bit of time he began to slowly face down just in time as he cleared the clouds and saw the ground rushing up to him. Now was not the time to let fear take hold. He focused steadying himself to fall straight down without wobbling all over the place. Now was the time to open his wings and fight gravity to climb back into the air. But his fall was too strong and was not going to pull up in time to avoid the trees of the forest he was falling towards. Knowing he couldn't flap hard enough to stop his fall, he had only one option. Dragonbond tilted his wings to start a glide that would take him through the trees saving him from falling straight into the ground. He tightened his senses and instincts to start navigating through the condensed forest. There were many close calls and he had to crash through smaller branches getting scratched on the way through. He then saw his escape in a fallen hollow tree trunk. The tree was leaning against a boulder at an angled position. Dragonbond flew into the bottom and closed his wings and slid on his hooves while avoiding holes and pieces of wood sticking out. What he didn't expect was how unstable the trunk was as he felt it begin to shake and shift its weight as if the trunk was beginning to tilt in the direction he was heading. He saw the end of the tunnel and focused on it. Having to many hooves sliding on the ground made it even more difficult as more holes, cracks, and pieces of the trunk got in his path. This is where training with wyverns and lindworms came into play. Standing on two hooves was not something a pony could keep up with. That is why Dragonbond was able to learn from them how to do it. Dragonbond started to slide on just his hind legs as he crouched down low enough for to avoid hitting the top of the trunk. Soon, he shot out of the tree and headed back into the air above the forest. In the excitement he forgot about the instructor dragon and wondered where he was the whole time.
"Well done youngling!" a voice boomed out. Dragonbond saw the instructor dragon who seemed to be flying in place as if he had been there the whole time watching. "Come! We have to get you back to complete the rest of the trials!"
Dragonbond was a bit furious that the instructor dragon had been there the whole time and may have opened his wings far before he broke through the clouds on the way down. Then again, he figured it was to see how Dragonbond would do if he thought no one was watching. Shrugging it off, he followed after the instructor dragon to continue the games by fighting an opponent.
This time they fought against young dragon members of the clan before making it to the next part of the trials. Dragonbond had no trouble taking down his opponent by allowing the young dragon to grab his tail and then spun while wrapping his leg around his tail to swing his leg back and pull with his tail. This added to the force to yank the dragon that still held onto Dragonbond's tail towards Dragonbond. Dragonbond then leaped over the young dragon and whipped him off his tail to throw him across the ground. Dragonbond started to apply everything he learned from the drake; Basher had taught him. His tail was the one part he was using the most to help him maneuver around and grapple with. He also used it to leap higher than the young dragon expected. He also knew how to slip and slither around like a wrym. They were known for getting through tight spaces and stealth. That also worked to Dragonbond's advantage.
This time for hunting they had to catch and carry one of the prey they had hunted before. The bigger the prey the more the praise they got. Dragonbond made good time by finding a wild boar by landing on its head with his back hooves and grabbing it with his tail by wrapping it around the boar's back leg to carry it off to the instructor dragon. Holding that large rock in order to fly paid off for him to carry that wild boar.
In the last part of the trials, they had to use their fire and steal the gem from individual bears. Dragonbond found out a simpler way to finish this quickly. He dived towards the bear and in his mouth, he was building up a flame that grew bigger and bigger. Before flying into the bear, he spat out the flame turning into a fireball and flew out of the way as the fireball shot the bear straight in the eyes burning them out and blinding the bear. Dragonbond swooped in from behind and grabbed the gem and flew off to catch up with the instructor dragon.
Not being a race, they waited until the last dragon got his gem and flew back to the volcano to finish the final trial. Safe to say, that every young dragon and Dragonbond succeeded. There was no waiting welcoming group of dragons, each young dragon would just return to their home and that would be it. Before they left, the instructor would part with them with one last thing to say. "You have all done well in becoming part of this clan. You all now must look to each other as a brother or sister. United as a family so we remain stronger than we do alone. This is our code as dragons, but you still have much to learn and can learn to become greater than you already are. Danger and threats creep around every corner of this world and the corruption of magic is ever attempting to temp you to be consumed by it. Magic is not strength; it is only a power that can easily be taken away. Stay strong to the ways of Draco and you shall never be consumed by magic's lies of power. For our strength is raw and unmatched by any in this world. Live like a true dragon and with honor."
The young dragons bowed to the instructor before taking off. Dragonbond just started to take off until the instructor stopped him with his wing blocking his path. Dragonbond turned around confused and curious to why he stopped him. Dragon bond landed back down waiting for an explanation.
The instructor dragon then spoke his reason. "I wanted to talk to you apart from the others. I was once resentful that Draco had allowed you to stay in this clan despite of what you are. You should not have been able to pass this trial, but now I see that Draco has indeed have an important plan for you if he deemed you worthy to grow as strong as the rest of your peers. I want to personally welcome you into our clan not as a pony, but a dragon." He said placing a closed fist to his chest and bowing respectfully.
Dragonbond did the same thing, placing a hoof to his own chest and bowing showing the same respect the instructor dragon showed. But then he quickly flew up to hug the instructor dragon at the base of his neck. "Thank you, sir. I promise to keep learning to be stronger." He said happy and full of pride.
The instructor dragon smirked feeling a bit of pride for Dragonbond knowing he would keep his word on that. "Fly on home to your father, you must now meet your whole clan and family with him." He said nudging Dragonbond from him. "I must report to the Elder Dragon about the trials."
"Thanks for everything!" Dragonbond said as he flew off once again climbing high into the sky above the clouds like before. His new favorite place to be where he would always feel free and unleashed. He never really bothered to fly fast even though he had the potential to do so, he just wished to absorb every bit of the scenery of every angle and point of view that he could.
The rest of the day went on with Dragonbond bonding with his dragon clan after telling his dragon father of his success. Scalefang never really had any doubts that his son would pass. Later, he was then able to bond with the other clan members quite instantly through a gift of a talent unknown to him. Dragonbond felt complete knowing his place in the world. He knew he could only become stronger to bring more pride to this clan protect them with his life along with his new close brother Claw. Together they will continue to uphold the name of dragons in the adventures to come.
As Dragonbond sat near his dragon father, he looked around at the other young dragons that passed the trials. He saw them talking and spending time with their parents. Some he did notice had only single parents or adopted parents. He figured that their missing parents were killed in battle. No dragon ever left their spouse and dishonor themselves. Dragonbond assumed his dragon father didn't take a mate yet and wondered when he would. After years of knowing his dragon father, he knew that he wasn't the social or affectionate type towards others, except for his son of course. Dragonbond still wondered why he didn't search for a mate to give him a dragon mother.
"Father?" Dragonbond said to gain his attention. "Why don't I have a dragon mother?" he asked not knowing how else to ask such a question.
Scalefang's expression turned serious and stern. Dragonbond believed he may have said something wrong and wished to take it back. "Come with me son." He said leading over to a secluded area. Dragonbond grew nervous about what was going to happen or what would be said. This was a new side of Scalefang that Dragonbond never seen before. Serious, stern, and a bit of sorrow. Scalefang created a small bon fire in the ground. He had dug a hole with his talons and oozed out slime from his mouth that soon engulfed into a pool of fire. "I have never spoke of this after it happened many years ago far before you were born. I was close to having a mate of my own, until one day…"
In a flashback, as Scalefang stared telling his story, he and a female dragon flew into a dense forest. They were both young adult dragons and had become close both in their personal lives and in battle. They had done everything together. Adventures, raids, battles, scouting, and spars, anything that a dragon would do. They had planned to become mates in a foreign isolated area where they had gone on many trips before. Sort of a personal place they wanted to make for themselves. As they were making their vows they heard and soon caught the scent of something else there. There was a sudden change of wind that came their way and they were then able to smell the scent of some equine, multiple equine. There were a large group of them hiding in the trees and bushes. When they saw they had been found out, they all attacked and shown themselves to be monster hunters, but they refer themselves to be protectors of their lands.
Young and overconfident in themselves, they defend each other against the monster hunters. They would receive a small cut here and there from the hunters, but nothing that would be serious. Scalefang was quite agitated about their plans of being mates interrupted by these foolish creatures, he went on a rage to quickly rid of these equine nuisances. He became so focused on them that he failed to notice a hidden javelin launcher in the brush of the forest far from the fight. The female dragon caught sight of it after hearing it lock into place ready to fire. She saw it aimed at Scalefang as he was too busy in his rage to notice. Shouting at him wouldn't work in time as he wouldn't be able to hear her. The huge javelin was shot from its launcher and she leaped into action. It was a moment of instinct that she jumped in the way. Even if she tried to push him, she still would have taken his place instead.
Scalefang was snapped out of his rage to find his soon to be mate, lying on top of him with the huge javelin in her side. She only had a moment to smile at him before passing away. Through the shock and horror of losing the closest and cherished thing to him, he could hear the cheering of the hunters celebrating in their success of killing a dragon. They felt the tide of the hunt was in their favor. Scalefang would soon show them how wrong they were soon enough. Instead of going into a rage like before, Scalefang now entered a berserker's blood lust. No longer caring for the forest environment, Scalefang unleashed the gates of a dragon's hell fire storm. He had trapped every hunter in the burning forest to be burned alive if he didn't get to them first either eating them alive, crushing them, or cutting them in multiple pieces. When the last of them were dead and the forest still on fire, Scalefang held his dead mate in his arms mourning her death. He sat there hoping the fires would take him too, but dragon's skin was resilient to normal burning fire. He just sat there holding the female dragon in his claws until the fires died out.
When nothing was left but scorched fallen trees and ash, Scalefang took the body of the female dragon and flew to a high mountain and waited there until nightfall. Once night came, he placed her on a flat surface of stone and with some oil fat he gathered from boars, he set the corpse on fire using his fire breath. A dragon tradition to send fallen worthy dragons to the stars of Draco, the afterlife of dragons. When the entire resting spot of the fallen dragon was covered in flames, a spiritual fire rose out of the fire and flew up in the ghostly image of the female dragon rising to the stars. Scalefang watched until the soul of fire merged into the stars of Draco.
Scalefang finished the story there. "From then on, I always looked down on the equine specie. They are all as simple and ignorant as they are weak without their magic." Dragonbond felt ashamed for his own reason. "But that was until I found you. You give me a reason to try again to look on them with some hope of redemption. As for a mate, I can never look on another and see what I had with the one I lost. I may go on in life without a mate, but I can suffer through it with a son like you."
Dragonbond still felt sympathy for Scalefang's loss and fate to remain a single dragon parent, but he felt relieved to know that his dragon father saw him as a sign of hope. But this story about equines started to build a distrust for them if they didn't deserve it. He promised himself not to trust another one of his kind until they could show the honor that was worthy of a dragon's trust. For he was now a dragon pony.
"Because I am willing to give them a second chance, I am going to prepare you for a great journey ahead for you. You are going to become an envoy from our clan to other civilizations. With your influence on them, we may start to do as we did in times long ago. But for now, I will teach you as much as I can before then." Scalefang said. He would let him start the next morning for the task ahead in the future. Dragonbond felt a great sense of pride and honor for this task at the same time a great weight. His destiny would only grow from here on.
"You seemed to have improved my son." Scalefang said confusing Dragonbond. "Draco has indeed found you worthy after finishing the dragon trials." He picked up Dragonbond's wing to show that once was his feathers have now grown into scales that looked like feathers. He also noticed that there were wing fingers under his wings with small claws and the ends of every tip. Right where the wing fingers joined together on the front of the wing, there started to show a small bone being exposed.
"Am I changing into a dragon?!" Dragonbond asked excitedly.
"You are evolving into something special. I assume this is part of what you are growing into as a dragon pony. You are no hybrid, you are the first and last of a new creature. One that can be seen as an equal to dragons. But that is up to you to show the world that." Scalefang said.
Dragonbond promised himself to do just that and stand proud for what he was becoming.
The world will now see that a Pegasus had joined a species of dragons to be a part of their own kin. A pony that could breathe fire and roar like one of them. A Pegasus that no longer sees himself as a pony, but as… "A dragon!" Princess Celestia said waking up sweating from her vision of seeing a silhouette of a pony living among dragons. She only assumed it was a wild crazy dream and brushed it off as one. Little did she know how many times she would have this dream, time and again, as many warnings.
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