Crime and Punishment :: How Stormwing Learned to Love the Little Ponies

Stormwing plodded through the empty corridor, her footsteps ringing through the empty cavern halls, and she wondered just how late she could be to her meeting with the elder dragon without seeming rude. She decided he'd take offense no matter what, and she walked a little bit faster. As she made her way to the council room, Stormwing practiced her facial expressions, making sure her eyes would open wide enough to feign innocence. Maybe she could convince the elder dragon that it hadn't been her who had set fire to the lower dormitories . . .

"Who be it that enters here?" called out the elder dragon in the traditional fashion. All meetings were conducted in the same way they had been conducted 2 thousand years ago. Another reason she hated her meetings with the elder dragon.

"It is I, Stormwing, fourth daughter of Flame Eye and Ironclaw, who humbly asks your permission to enter here," she replied in a monotone. She had this part memorized.

"State your business here, Stormwing, fourth daughter of Flame Eye and Ironclaw," the elder dragon called out in a foreboding voice. Lightening flashed behind him and a clap of thunder shook the cavern.

Same old same old, Stormwing thought to herself. Didn't he know that lightening and thunder underground was just a teensy bit unbelievable? The pathetic show of magic really wasn't necessary.

"I have been summoned here to speak with you, oh great and mighty elder dragon, saver of the dragon people, destroyer of evil, and punisher of the guilty," she said, rolling her eyes. He was such a pompous old dragon. Stormwing counted the seconds in her head. One . . .two . . . three -- BAM! A terrific roll of thunder sounded, right on schedule. He really ought to change the timing on this stuff, she thought.

"Stormwing!" he shouted in the aftermath of the thunder. "You know the crime you have been accused of! Do you plead innocent, or guilty?" Stormwing mouthed the words along with him.

"Innocent," she replied smoothly, looking up at him with widened eyes, hoping he'd fall for it.

The elder dragon peered down at her, saying, "So you deny the witness who saw you perform this heinous deed?" More lightening crashed, lighting up his face.

"Uh," she faltered. She hadn't known anyone had seen her. Better own up to the fires before she got a worse punishment. "Oh mighty elder! Your awesome power provokes fear in Stormwing, your humble servant. I have seen the error of my ways and ask your forgiveness!"

The elder dragon suddenly waved his hand and the thunder and lightening stopped. Florescent lights snapped on and he climbed down from his outcropping. "So, you'll admit to it after all, eh Stormwing?" She hung her head in what she hoped was a humble gesture and nodded. "Well then," he said, rubbing his hands together and grinning. "This makes things much easier. Thirty hours of community service, Stormwing."

"Huh? Community service?" she asked in disbelief.

"Thirty hours," he said, turning to leave the chamber.

"But, but, aren't you going to punish me?" she asked. This had never happened before -- she had never gotten off this easily for her mischief. Something was wrong here.

He grinned wickedly at her. "This is your punishment, Stormwing. Now, if you don't mind, I'm running late for my poker game. Ta ta!"

"Well, hey, wait a minute! What exactly is my community service?" she asked hurriedly.

"Take that up with Hamilton. He's in charge of that sort of thing," the elder replied over his shoulder as he disappeared into the darkness outside the cavern.

Hamilton, ugh. That cross-eyed, dingy, skinny little excuse for a dragon. Stormwing stalked angrily down the hall in search of him.

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"Let's see now, community service," Hamilton said in a high voice as he leafed through a large and dusty volume. Stormwing sneezed as a cloud of dust formed around her face. "Bless you," Hamilton said absently. "Here we go. Community Service." Hamilton pushed his thick glasses further up his nose and squinted at the pages in front of him.

What a dork, thought Stormwing. Who had ever heard of a dragon needing glasses?

"Hmmm, you are to go above ground to a place called, um," said Hamilton in his nasal voice, "Dream Valley."

"Dream Valley?" she asked in disbelief. "Where the heck is that?"

"Above ground," he said, smirking at her.

Oooh! Great Dragons! He thought he was soooooo funny, didn't he! Stormwing growled and resisted the urgeto strangle him. "Listen here, you twisted little wood ear . . . "

Hamilton didn't seem to hear her, and continued reading. "You are to travel to Dream Valley, and there you will find the Queen of the land, Queen Majesty, I believe, and tell her that you are there to watch after the baby ponies."

"WHAT?!" roared Stormwing. "I'm baby-sitting a bunch of baby ponies?!"

Hamilton nodded.

Stormwing fumed.

"If the elder dragon thinks for one minute that I'm going to spend thirty hours baby-sitting, he's got another thing coming!" Stormwing shouted at Hamilton. The dragon cringed back and whimpered.

"Don't get mad at me," he whined. "You're the one who set fire to the dormitories!"

"Well, those stupid freshmen were asking for it!" She hated those idiots. They thought they knew everything, and they had such little attitude problems! Besides, they were on the bottom of the food chain at the academy, and they had better be thankful she hadn't done anything worse. With these sweet little thoughts coursing through her mind, Stormwing stomped out of the archives room and slammed the door behind her. She hoped it'd knock a few of Hamilton's precious books off the shelves.

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Stormwing pulled out her map and traced a path with her finger while she flew. "Hmmm, follow the river until you get to the rainbow, then, fly over the rainbow to Dream Valley," she said to herself. Dream Valley. What a awful name. The very mention of it inspired feelings of warmth and coziness. Ugh, that was something no dragon should have to go through.

Stormwing looked up and saw something shimmering in the distance. "Must be that rainbow I'm supposed to fly over." She slowed down. No need to get there any sooner than she absolutely had to.

Unfortunately, she reached it in a few minutes anyway. She shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and prepared to fly over it, hoping it wouldn't cause any permanent damage. She felt a tingle run through her as she passed over the rainbow, and despite herself, she opened her eyes. The air was filled with giggling butterflies who tickled her wings as she flew through them.

"Aah! Don't touch me! Get away!" she cried. The butterflies, who had never encountered this problem before, flew around in confusion, wondering what to do. Stormwing flapped her wings hard, helping them reach a decision. The butterflies were blown away in a flurry of rainbow wings, and Stormwing continued on her way. In the distance she could see a very large, very pink castle.

"This is not a good sign," she muttered. She made it rule never to go near anything large and pink, for, in her experience, it was usually something very annoying. Rainbows were another thing she stayed away from, and so were butterflies. But, since she had already encountered those last two things and survived them, she decided she could handle a pink castle. What she was not prepared for were the ponies . . .

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"Queen Majesty! Queen Majesty!" shouted Fizzy excitedly as she raced to the throne room.

"Yes, what is it, Fizzy?" asked Majesty.

"There's a giant DRAGON in the courtyard!" Fizzy shouted breathlessly. "She wants to talk to you!"

"Don't be silly Fizzy! The only dragon here is Spike, and he's only a baby --" but Majesty was cut off by North Star who flew in through a window shouting, "Dragon! Dragon! There's a DRAGON outside! Aaaaaaaah!"

"North Star! How many times have I told you not to fly through the window!" Majesty said calmly. These two certainly had great imaginations. . .

Both Fizzy and North Star grabbed Majesty and pulled her outside. The queen adjusted her crown, frowning at the two ponies, and was about to give them a piece of her mind when she saw Stormwing.

"Yo," said Stormwing, grinning. She loved causing a scene.

"Oh my," said Majesty. "Oh my!"

"Told you!" said Fizzy and North Star in unison.

"You're Majesty, right?" asked Stormwing. Majesty nodded, her mouth trying to form words but not succeeding.

"I'm Stormwing, and I'm here to carry out my sentence," the dragon said ominously.

"S-sentence?" Majesty stammered. No one had ever been sent to Dream Valley as a punishment before.

"Yeah," said Stormwing, setting down her suitcase, "I've got thirty hours of community service, and I'd like to get started."

"Oh, yes, of course Stormwing," said Majesty, regaining her composure. "What type of service will you be doing? Or do I need to decide on something?"

Stormwing made a face as she answered. "I'm supposed to baby-sit the baby ponies . . ."

Fizzy, North Star, and Majesty exchanged worried looks. This was a very large dragon, and very large dragons usually have very large appetites.Majesty stepped up to Stormwing. "Do you mind if I ask you a few, uh, questions?" she asked.

"Fire away," Stormwing said sweetly.

"Why have you been sent here?"

"I told you, for community service."

"And why are you doing community service?"

"Because I set fire to the freshman dormitories at the academy," Stormwing said casually. Fizzy and North Star looked at each other and gulped.

Majesty continued speaking. "I expect you to behave yourself while you are here, Stormwing," she said firmly.

"Sure, whatever."

"I mean it, Stormwing!" Stormwing was amused that this blue and white unicorn thought she had the power to control 700 pounds of dragon. Majesty narrowed her eyes at the dragon and suddenly Stormwing was afraid. Very afraid. Maybe this unicorn had hidden powers. Maybe she could turn dragons into scrawny little newts. Maybe that had been what had happened to Hamilton. It certainly would explain why he was such a wimp. In any case, she decided not to test the theory.

"All right, I'll behave," the dragon said sullenly.

"Good," said Majesty, smiling up at her. "I hope you will enjoy your time here in Dream Valley. Fizzy, will you please show Stormwing to the nursery?" Fizzy nodded, her eyes wide at the thought of being alone with the dragon, and motioned for her to follow.

She led Stormwing to the nursery and knocked on the door. Blossom opened the door, looking very frazzled.

"Hi Fizzy," she said, breathing hard. Stormwing looked behind her into the nursery and the dragon's mouth dropped open. There must have been at least thirty baby ponies rampaging inside the building. Some were drawing on the walls, others were raiding the kitchen and the rest were shouting and crying loudly.

"Uh huh, nooooo way am I watching those ponies!" Stormwing told Fizzy. Blossom caught on to the fact that this dragon was here to take her place, laughed gleefully, congratulated her, packed her bags and told Fizzy she was going on vacation. It took her less than a minute to leave.

"Have fun, Stormwing!" Fizzy said, waving good-bye to the dragon. Stormwing tried desperately to make her stay, but Fizzy simply winked out, leaving Stormwing alone outside the nursery. Stormwing felt herself being watched and she turned around slowly.

The baby ponies, having noticed her, were lined up outside the nursery, watching her silently. Stormwing gulped and clutched her suitcase nervously. As the baby ponies rushed towards her screaming excitedly, she vowed she'd get back at the elder dragon -- if she survived.

to be continued . . .