creative chapter name

//So I wanted to explain why I'm so late with the chapter.

The biggest reason is that my emergency phone has a tendency of tapping the screen randomly if you so much a breath on it XD as for my old phone, well...suffice to say that it doesn't want to cooperate XD. Now let's add to it that I have a cold and I'm working and you might understand a bit of my situation XD

I'm actually writing this chapter squashed between people on a tour train in the style of Japanese metro while the screen shows a rare bout of cooperation Haha! //

Inside the 'secret Lab under construction' in one of the finished chambers, a white coated unicorn with black mane adorned with a golden streak was currently examining a puff of black smoke contained inside of a large crystal sphere.

"Interesting... While it retains the properties of a natural smoke, it's draconic and magical origin gives it a much more resistant nature and makes the smoke much harder to disperse. It's somehow similar to the weather of the frozen north, albeit it's far from reaching the level of similar self sustainability and embodimentation...Well...you never know with ancient magic, but seeing as there is so many dragon's in the world I don't think that such a thing has any chance of happening just from a single dragon...Even a big one..." Starfall muttered as he tried to translate the magic intertwined with the smoke that was currently held in the container.

"I guess there must be some other factor when it comes to the cursed weather of the North... My bet would on the Windigos...If they aren't just the embodiment of the curse. As far as I can tell they can be either the cause or the outcome of the cursed weather...or are unrelated altogether... That topic needs further studies..." He took a note in his journal before shaking his head.

"I went of topic... Let's just-"

The door of the study shot open as a purple Unicorn shot Into the room in a hurry.

"Starfall! There's a giant cloud of smoke in the sky! I got a letter from the Princes and she says that it's from-"

"A Dragon." Finished Starfall without turning toward his marefriend.

She momentarily stumbled on her words.

"Ah? Uhh...Yeah how did you know?" She asked surprised that her Starfall already knew about the smoke and even about its cause.

Starfall smirked and turned his head to her with a wink.

"It's pretty obvious, isn't it?" He indicated with his head at the container filled with black smoke that Twilight saw only now.

"And It's not even from studying this little sample here as I already knew about this cloud since over a weak ago. I'm pretty sure I told you about it already..." He quirked his eyebrow and Twilight blushed in embarrassment. Now that she thought about it, he indeed mentioned something like that

during the Trixie and Ursa Minor debacle, but it completely slipped her mind afterwards...

"Ahh...Yeah umm..." For a second wasn't sure what to say, so Starfall just snorted.

"It's ok Twily. I assume that the Princes is asking us to take care of the problem? I'll get my stuff then. Are the girls going with us?" He asked and Twilight nodded.

"Yeah, They are all waiting upstairs. We just happened to be together when the letter from Princess Celestia came." Her eyes lingered on the container for a few moments.

"Actually when did you bring that thing here? I'm pretty sure you didn't have it with you after you went to examine the smoke cloud..." She asked curiously.

Starfall just shrugged.

"I made a detour before meeting you at Trixie's performance. Seeing as you have the full access to this lab, I'd think that you would have seen it sooner..." He mused and Twilight blushed.

"Well I...I was a bit busy..." She tried to excuse herself and Starfall snorted.

"I'm sure. The Ponyvile Spa certainly appreciates the regular donations." He joked and Twilight turned crimson In embarrassment.

"W-well, the last few weeks were a little stressful..." She defended herself, and Starfall actually had to admit that she wasn't wrong there...

He smiled at her.

"It's alright Twilight. We all need some time to relax every now and then. It only so happens that doing research is what really makes me at peace...Of course I wouldn't refuse enjoying your pretty flanks either." He winked and she giggled.

"I'll be up in a few minutes so you can

wait for me with the others." He finally said and the two ponies parted from eachother.

He glanced at the dark smoke for a few more seconds before pushing the crystal container back into the wall beside another smaller container filled with dark blue mist...

"Now that I think about it, it's funny how so many magic manifestations take form of a gaseous substance... I should probably look more into it later." He mused while scribbling another note in his journal.

With that last thought out of the way Starfall turned around and left the room...

__________

The Journey towards the nearby mountain where the dragon was nested took the group over three hours. Starfall wanted to complain that he could have easily teleported them there in a few dozen jumps but it seems like neither of the girls liked the idea for a few reasons, such as the dizziness associated with teleportation and the fact that they would have to split and risk getting attacked while Starfall was teleporting the Ponies one by one. He was still unable to take more than one or two Ponies with him during teleportation and that's just under a heavy strain.

And while he still had another option of magical travel, it was still an untested magic and he wasn't going to propose it before he was certain that it wouldn't hurt the girls.

"D-Do you really think I am needed?" Asked a scared Fluttershy. She was really afraid of dragons of the large kind...

"Of course Darling! You are our precious friend and your experience with animals is an indispensable advantage! Even if our enemy is a Dragon..." Said Rarity but her words didn't really reassured the Yellow Pegasus.

"Ha! Just you wait guys! I'm going to kick that lizard's ass if it tried anything funny!" Proclaimed Rainbow Dash making Applejack snicker.

"Yeah, sure. I want to see that." Said The Farm Pony.

Pinkie Pie hopped to the side of Starfall.

"Hia Cutebuns! Do you have any plan or are you going to leave it to Fluttershy?" She asked with a grin and Starfall couldn't help but look at the Mare with his mage sight after hearing her words.

"Probably leave it to Fluttershy. She needs a bit more self-confidence after all" He said.

He could see her magic moving through her body in a funny manner. Her mane was the one mostly saturated with magic, albeit he could see that some wisps of magic reached towards her mind.

Disregarding the little bit of the magic of friendship moving through her body, he suspected that the pink mare was actually a naturally born prophet. It was probably some kind of ability similar to his mage sight though so he didn't know whether it was possible to learn it, and seeing how her mind looks inside according to the Legend of Everfree movie, he wasn't sure that he wanted to anyway...

"Although If worse comes to worse I'm going to make sure that everyone are alright." He finished and Pinkie nodded happily before snuggling to his side surprising him.

"I'm very happy to have met you Starfall..." She whispered without her usual jumpiness. Starfall was a bit surprised with her honest words but he just smiled at her and they continued to walk side by side In a pleasant atmosphere. It seems like she had something on her mind but he didn't pry. He knew that she would speak when she was ready to.

Finally the quietness was broken by her soft voice.

"Did you know that I was born on a rock farm?...I have three sisters, each of them a different shade of gray just like my parents and the rocks that they are so fond of pushing around..." She whispered silently as Starfall listened to her story. He already knew about her backstory from the show, but he listened to her story anyway, because this was the real life and who knew how it all affected her...

"...I always felt different...The only Pony in the Family with a bright pink coated body and Mane. No talent in farming Rocks, nor any interest in the topic overall...I could almost feel the disappointment every time my dad looked at me." She shuddered and for a second her bushy pink mane straightened slightly before going back to its former shape.

In the distance the five other mares seemed to be engrossed in a deep conversation about some mysterious mare stuff incomprehensible for any normal Stallion.

"I remember that day clearly... Everyday, the only colours I would ever see would be the grays and blacks of the rocks around the farm but then there it was. A bright explosion of rainbow coloured light spread from the horizon. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. That day...It was the first time I had ever smiled in my entire life." She reminisced with a barely visible smile.

Her eyes locked with Starfall's.

"Since then, I wanted to share this smile with everyone around. And I found that I was really good at it. That's the history of my cutie mark." She smiled as her eyes fell on the three balloons clearly visible on her pink flanks.

Starfall didn't understand why she was telling him all this, but he suspected that there was more to her story.

But the most worrying part about this conversation was that for a moment he felt as if he was talking to a different pony...Somewhere deep inside this cheerful pony there was still that little filly who never experienced a real smile or a word of encouragement from anyone.

Regretfully, he didn't know how to help her for now so he decided to just continue walking in silence close to her side. It seemed like it was the right choice though as he could feel her body relaxing slightly.

He needed to have a face to face conversation with her one of those days...