Chapter 27 Üā Siltithāt Laulātais (How to Court a Mate)·

A siren's call ain't got nothin' on a dragon singin' "I want more..." ~ Unknown

Guardian growled in frustration. He could still hear the faint sounds of sobbing through the closed door over his pacing. Why did he have to get his liking of coffee strong enough to melt a metal spoon from Spike? Blast his dragon biology that was causing him to 'forget' all of Spike's memories. How many more grief triggering land mines was he going to step on with this pony? By the Voice, he had only just finally got her to stop calling him Spike!

'She is going to blame herself... that she failed me somehow... she never did... I don't envy future you, but please help her understand... I know I am asking a lot, but she... She needs to know...' Easier said than done Spike...

"Good sunrise Guardian Dragon of the Crystal Ponies." Guardian nearly jumped out of his scales at Azure's greeting. He had been so inwardly focused that he hadn't noticed her approach nor her two 'escorts.' He still wasn't sure what exactly those two roles were in relation to Azure. They seemed like guards but also like friends or family, although that last one he doubted as there was almost no resemblance between the three.

"Windigo Azure! I... uh..." He murmured, blushing and rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. Why was is so hard to talk to her without being an idiot?! "Um, good... sunrise to you too..."

"You seem troubled." She said after a moment.

Well, that is the understatement of the century. That was what Guardian wanted to respond with but he dared not voice it, not to her. Also, how did she know he was troubled? It wasn't like she could see his expression... Maybe he had muttered his troubles without realizing. He looked to Slush and Nova Blaze for help but outside of a shrug from Nova Blaze neither said anything.

"I was wondering, now that light has returned, if you could... show me around your hoard?"

How would... Guardian blinked in confusion before he shook it away realizing that just because Azure couldn't see the sun with her eye's didn't mean she couldn't feel its warmth. That left him to ponder the Windigo's offer for a moment. Part of him didn't want to leave as it was his fault that Twilight was... But, then again, maybe it would better if he gave Twilight a bit of space so to not trigger another outburst of grief. It wasn't like he could do anything more with Twilight, at least for the moment anyway.

His hands shook slightly as he reached out to gently grasp Azure's hand. "It would be my pleasure, my lady." Azure giggled as she shook her head, but to Guardian's joy she stepped closer to him to allow him to better lead her. He was so focused on her that he almost didn't catch Slush punching a now snickering Nova Blaze in the shoulder.

Guardian's heart felt bright and his steps light as he led Azure through the Spire and down to the streets below. It was only as he stepped out from under the shadow of the Spire that he realized that in his eagerness he had forgotten that he didn't know much about the Empire. Like at all. Spike surely did, but not him. It nearly paralyzed him until he remembered that with Azure's blindness that she wasn't able to see anything anyway. She just wanted to go for a walk with him! With that renewed knowledge he was about to continue as if nothing was wrong until his gaze fell upon the statue of Spike.

The sight of the crowd of mourners still encircling it brought everything crashing back down. His legs suddenly felt like lead as his heart twisted at the sight of the grieving Crystal Ponies. He was so sure when he made the Claim but now he wondered if that was really a mistake. That he was, in the end, only going to cause them more pain. After all, it was his fault in the end that their hero was no more... Not helping, was that he really hated the statue of Spike. Not that he hated Spike or his deeds but that ego stoking a dragon with something like a oversized statue could change an honorable dragon into something... wrong... Guardian shivered as he shook away a bad memory he was not proud of.

If only there was a way to memorialize Spike in a way that didn't risk... He let his eyes wander toward the southwest where Traxti City laid. If anyone would know how it would be Šihzra. However the thought of Šihzra brought to mind the promise Guardian had made to Azure from the night before and to his chagrin he had completely forgotten it.

"Guardian?"

"Sorry... I..." Guardian apologized, before forcing his legs to move. This walk was about Azure not him, he shouldn't let his misgivings and worries interfere with that.

Thankfully, they ended up wondering for a while without any further hiccups until they stumbled upon a small park some distance from the Spire. A group of foals were playing in the freshly fallen snow, making snowcreatures and throwing snow balls. The laughter was a welcome change from the crying and low whimpers. Seizing the opportunity Guardian gently swept away snow from a nearby bench before guiding Azure to sit down on it with him.

As they sat there listening and watching the foals have fun Guardian could feel the tension that had gripped his body the past few weeks leave him. Unfortunately, there was one thing that was preventing him from fully relaxing, and he knew that it would do him no good to hide from Azure what he had learned.

"Azure, I... uh..." Guardian tried to start only to find he just didn't know how to start. How could he tell her what his ponies had done. Sure, it was far in the past, and there was no one still alive that could answer for it. Still...

He sighed hard as he collected himself before slowly confessing to Azure everything that Šihzra had revealed to him the night before. The origins and purpose of the Crystal Heart, the pity of letuscktüi upon the pony refugees, and the eventual betrayal by those same ponies. He swallowed hard as he finished the tale watching Azure as she kept her gaze straight even as she trembled, gripping of the Amulet of the Winds hard enough that he feared that she might tear it to pieces.

'...tragedy soon stuck... Culminating with the death of every adult dragon in the Frozen North ten years ago...'

Guardian had always suspected that Šihzra knew the source of the 'Great Mana Famine' that had swept the globe some ten years back. The longma had this way of knowing anything and everything and there was that barely constrained mix of fury, grief, and regret the few times the subject came up. If only he had remembered to get Šihzra to speak with her maybe he would still be here. He really would use his wisdom.

"Thank you."

"Tha- Why are you thanking me?" Guardian sputtered in disbelief. There was no way she should be thanking him! Not after what he had just confessed to! "I just told you all the horrible things the Crystal Ponies have done! They are very well capable of doing the very thing you were worried about!"

Azure shook her head as she gently put two claws on his lips, saying. "I know what I said Guardian Dragon of the Crystal Ponies."

"I... uh..." Guardian mumbled, at a lost on how to respond but feeling he needed to at least try and say something.

"I am Windigo..." Azure said, touching the Amulet of the Winds with one hand while giving a reassuring squeeze to the hand closest to her with the other. "I know it means to be a guardian."

To that Guardian clenched his free hand in a sudden burning fury. Here he was feeling sorry for himself when what she had to go through was far worse. And then to come out the other side with such loving kindness and understanding! How dare he act so foolish to one so beautiful!

Without warning his internal pity party was interrupted by something cold and wet hitting the side of his head. Reaching up he found a chunk of snow quickly melting in his warm hand.

"Sorry..." One of the foals called out when he looked around to see where the errant snowball could have come from.

Guardian debated for a moment on how to respond before letting an evil smile form on his face. He reached down to get some snow to throw back at the foal only to find himself tumbling off the bench and into the snow face first. He laid in the snow grumbling for a moment as the sounds of laughter echoing in his ears. He spat out some snow that got into his mouth and gazed upward at Azure who was 'looking away' 'trying' to hide her amusement. So that's how you want to play? He smirked as pushed himself onto his feet grabbing a chuck of snow as he did.

What the!? Guardian's jaw dropped when Azure easily evaded his retaliatory snowball. A glint followed by brightening glow gave away the culprit. Stupid cheating amulet! And then to add insult to injury she started giggling.

He had barely moved an inch in retaliation before she took off in flight, now fully laughing.

"Hey! Get back here!" Guardian half yelled, half laughed, taking off after her.

Much to his shock for a blind dragon, even with the help of a cheating magical artifact, he found her to be not only excellent at flying but avoiding his grasp at the last second. It was both infuriating and exhilarating at the same time. But he resolved to not give up; he was so going to catch her, and then... well...

It was nearly sunset before Guardian, somehow, was finally able to get a hand around one of Azure ankles. She let out a yelp as he used that leverage to pull her into what could called a bear hug before forcing her down out of the sky. He only let go once they touched down onto a small snowdrift. Both couldn't help but laugh as they then collapsed, breathing hard from their exertion. A small part of him (one that he was quick to squash) suspected that the only reason he finally caught her when he did was because she wanted to caught.

Guardian gulped hard as he sat up only to pulled over by Azure. As he stared down at Azure the feelings he had when he saw her under the street lamp surged back. He wish he had a tie to tug against as Azure merely laid there looking towards him with a small smile upon her face. He closed his eyes and rumbled in delight as she slowly and gently stoked his head spines. In that moment, all the worries and stress fell away from him and the chill from rolling around in cold snow was forgotten as for the first time since his arrival Guardian felt fully warm.

He leaned down and began to nuzzle Azure. He wanted to be as close as he could to her. His eyes flew open in surprise when she took his head with both hands and kissed him on the lips. He had not expected that and his mind momentarily swam over what it could mean. But he only hesitated for a moment before he pushed in to deepen the kiss. She tasted like the finest aged fire ruby.

Suddenly Guardian had to puled back as the urge to cough overcame him. Oddly, a bit of blue flame mixed with crackling magic spilled out of his mouth. He had no time to wonder over the strangeness of his flame before Azure pulled him down for another kiss. As they kissed again Harlothisüa felt a stirring down in his loins. An inviting touch from her was all the permission he needed. So with a gentle push, his entire body burned like molten lava as they joined together. For a moment he could nor longer distinguish between himself and her.

Slowly, and yet too fast, he came back to himself. He looked down at his mate, his other half, and nuzzled each side of her head whispering, "Oh, Vatošā Zaista... my guiding light..."

A sudden flash of color in the corner of his eye caused Harlothisüa to freeze. He slowly turned to look, hoping with everything he had that it was just a figment of his imagination and that it wasn't a pony that he say. That would be so embarrassing being caught, especially if it was a foal. To his relief, and mild confusion, there was no one in sight, however that confusion only climbed as he then saw, high in the sky above, an aurora shooting out in all directions.

What now? He wondered. Why was there an aurora? This aurora wasn't like when Šihzra roared, for instead of being dark and foreboding, the light bursting out from atop the Spire was bright and vibrant in a full kaleidoscope of colors.

"What is it?"

"I... don't... know..." Harlothisüa admitted as helped his mate to her feet, his gaze fixed upon the Spire in the distance. As much as he would like a bit more time to get to know his mate it looked like his hoard might be needing him. "Let's find out."

His mild confusion fell to full blown bafflement as they cautiously made their way back into the city. He had a nagging feeling of déjà vu as he bore witness to everything and everyone looking sparkly and gemlike. What...? The expressions on the ponies, especially the adults, had him reeling. The depressed emotions that had been characteristic of the adults since word spread of Spike's 'death' was gone, replaced with genuine happiness and excitement. Double what? To him it didn't seem like sudden emotional turn around was normal for ponies (well crystal ponies to be more precise).

Guardian was tempted to stop and question one of them but held back, worried that it could cause a relapse into grief. He just wish he knew more about his Crystal Ponies... or felt more comfortable in approaching them. Maybe if he found a changeling. Given their emotivoric nature they would have a better understanding of what might be causing this and how best to respond to it. However, his hive was under masquerade, and unlike Šihzra he didn't know how to find a disguised changeling, yet. Unfortunately, of the two he knew of for sure, Thorax and Pharynx, the former was currently on the other side of the world with Šihzra while the later, who, as a guard, could be anywhere in the Crystal Empire right now. He suppose he could ask if anyone knew where Captain Lancer could be...

As they they made their way closer to the Heart, the streets started to get crowded. From the gazes and mutterings it seemed to Guardian that he was not the only one curious over why the Heart had activated. Carefully he led his mate through the crowd until they managed to break through near the base of the Spire. A circle of guards were standing just under the spire holding back the crowd from moving closer. Closer to the Heart was a smaller gathering consisting of Princess Candace, Prince Shining Armor, Twilight, Captain 'Lancer,' and an orange and red stallion unicorn that he did not recognize.

The two rulers seemed to merely be calmingly standing and watching the chaos only a few steps from them. Twilight and the unknown unicorn were sitting right next to the Heart, a scattering of books and scrolls, a few of them floating in the air, surrounding them. Captain Lancer attention kept going from the two unicorns to the Heart and back. Interestingly, he was the first to notice the two dragons suddenly looking up and turning to face them, beckoning them with a subtle head tilt.

"What is going on?" Guardian questioned as soon as he and his mate joined them. This got a sigh from the two rulers and a gruff snort from the disguised changeling. Twilight and the orange and red unicorn, however, seemed to be too absorbed in the books (and the Heart) to notice him or his mate.

However, before anyone could give an actual answer to his question, a commotion drew their gaze back to the crowd. Suddenly the crowd parted and Nova Blaze and Slush stumbled through. They paused only for a moment before their eyes locked onto to Guardian and the Windigo and they immediately bounded over much to the clear annoyance of the guards.

Slush looked ready to tear Guardian a new one from the way he glaring at him, gritting his teeth, and clenching his fists. Nova Blaze, in contrast, had a strange smirk on his face. Guardian was not sure which one to be more concerned about.

"I knew it! Slush you owe me ten pieces of seal jerky!" Guardian blinked as Slush grumbled before swiping at the now jubilant whelp. Clearly there had been some sort of bet between the two and given his mate reaction(facepalm) she clearly knew about or suspected. Interestingly, Princess Cadance seemed to also be in the know given that she was trying and failing to hide her smile behind a hoof during the whole exchange. At least, going by confused faces of Shining Armor and Lancer, it seemed that no one else knew what Nova Blaze was talking about. Whether or not that was a good thing depended on how embarrassing the subject of the bet turned out to be.

"What is going on?" Guardian questioned again, deciding it was best to steer the conversation away from whatever bet Nova Blaze and Slush had before things got to the point that he would need to flee in a terrified panic.

"Less then twenty minutes ago the Crystal Heart activated..." Captain Lancer gruffly growled before returning his attention back to Twilight and the unknown unicorn.

"And we don't know why..." Shining Armor sighed as he finished answering for Captain Lancer.

"I think I know why..." Princess Cadance said a hoof still covering her mouth as she shook with what Guardian was now suspected to be suppressed giggles.

"You do?" Shining Armor questioned.

"And I don't think we need to worry anymore..."

For some reason that was what got Twilight's attention. Her head stiffly titled a full ninety degrees as a few of the hairs in her mane suddenly sprung loose from the rest, her right eye twitching rapidly. "No need to worry?" She echoed.

Okay, it's getting really close to time to flee in terrified panic... Guardian gulped at how crazed Twilight looked. He didn't think it was possible but Twilight was starting to give Šihzra a run for his money when it came scariness from a single look.

Twilight head snapped back upright before she shrieked loud enough to cause a shockwave to blast out from the volume of her voice, "NO NEED TO WORRY!? THIS IS THE PERFECT TIME TO WORRY!"

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" Princess Cadance roared back, before softly adding, "Remember the breathing exercise."

Twilight grumbled out a sigh before bringing a hoof to her chest while taking a deep breath. She held the breath for a moment before slowly exhaling while stretching out her leg. Guardian frowned grumbling internally as he watched Twilight repeat the exercise two more times before looking completely calm. Really? REALLY?! That is all it takes to get crazed Twilight to clam down?! Where the fuck were you earlier!?

"Have you forgotten what happened the last time the Heart activated?"

"I have not forgotten Twilight, but it activated just like it does for Empire wide celebrations. Celebrations such as the Crystal Faire, Crystallings, and..." Princess Cadance paused, looking at Guardian and his mate in turn. Her smile brighten as Nova Blaze's smile got even smuggier. "Weddings."

There was a moment of complete silence as Twilight's scrunched in confusion before following Cadance's gaze. She looked between Guardian and his mate and the princess several times before exploding, screeching at Guardian, her hooves gesturing wildly. "WHAT!? You barely know her!"

Guardian and his mate looked at each other than to Twilight. "So?"

"Actually, it's surprising that they didn't..." Guardian had to bite his lips to not laugh at Nova Blaze whose voice faded out as he shrunk back from the combined glare of his mate, Slush, and Twilight.

"Look, I know that it may be hard to tell," Guardian snarked, leaning back a bit and crossing his arms, "but the scales, sharp fangs, and fire breathing kind of give it away that I'm not exactly pony."

"Yes, but..."

Guardian groaned as he ran both paws down his muzzle. Why me?! Was this how Šihzra felt with Spike? "Oh knower of all things dragon, please enlighten me."

He rolled his eyes as Twilight opened her mouth, probably to rebuff, only to close it without speaking a word. "Okay then. Who is the Voice?"

But unlike before he didn't let Twilight do anything but slightly opened her mouth before he raised a hand and asked another question. "What is the Call?"

This time Twilight remained stock still. Seeing that he had her on the back foot he decided to rapidly asked three more questions. "What about the Pull? Or how do dragons Choose? Oh, here's a one I know you should know! When does a dragon typically molt?"

Guardian watched as each question made Twilight's ears flatten further and further that by the end it looked like Twilight would give anything for her ears to bore into her skull. He didn't particularly like causing this much discomfort but given the way she had been with his name he needed to drive her to a point that she no longer had any purchase for denial so that she could actually listen and learn. Of course, with his luck, this would all backfire and make it worse.

"I believe I had lived through one hundred thirty-seven endless nights when I molted..." Guardian blinked in surprise when his mate spoke. He had no idea how much of the knowledge on dragons that Šihzra passed on to him was specific to him alone, nor how much of it was still commonly known among the dragons. He probably was going to need to sit down with his mate and the other two to find out.

"One sixty."

"Two hundred and thirteen." Guardian raised an eyebrow at Slush. He would have thought that Nova Blaze would be the late bloomer of the three, but, then again, from what he could see Slush did seem to be the most mature...

"Wait. 'Endless nights?'" Twilight echoed, her curiously seemingly overriding her tendency for impertinence. The way she seemed to flip from headstrong know-it-all-ism to genuine curiousness with a thirst for knowledge was astounding. Guardian was beginning wonder if Spike had undersold just how 'completely neurotic' she could get. Also, he did not like the size of that scroll that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh right, you don't reckon time like we do." Nova Blaze began to answer, either not noticing or ignoring the sudden frantic gesturing from both Shining Armor and Lancer. "The sun remains so low in the sky where we live that that for most of the year it is either day or night..."

"Fascinating..." Twilight nodded, still furiously writing on her scroll before muttering. "So if a year is reckoned as a endless night that means Spike would have been fifteen endless nights when he molted..."

Guardian sighed as he saw the shock and disbelief upon the dragons faces over how old Spike was when he molted. Yes, he was aware of how young he truly was, but his youth had never seemed to concern Šihzra any so he felt there wasn't any reason to question it further. That and he hadn't felt like going through the usual headache that was trying to ring out a coherent answer before complete loss of head spines. He reserved that for more pressing matters... like for what he learned later to be called 'The Pull.' The Molt was done and over with and during a time he wasn't really aware so there was nothing that could be done.

"Fif-fifteen endless nights!?" Guardian's mate finally managed to spurted out, "Are you sure you don't mean one hundred fifteen?"'

"No, fifteen years, thirty-six days, and eight hours, give or take an hour..." Twilight answered, blushing in embarrassment. "I wish I could be more precise but..."

Guardian's mate now turned to him. "You weren't even a hundred when you molted!?"

Guardian responded with a noncommittal grunt and shrug only to fight to keep the smirk off his face at the groaning in response.