Here be Dragons Part 1 by Thesaltt
In the woods, far away from the prying eyes of humans, there was a cave dug out of the side of a small hill covered in grass and vegetation. This opening was not carved out by time and erosion, but by claw and horn. Deep inside the cave slept a creature the size of an English Bulldog, or about double the size of the average adult male Fluffy. It curled its muscular body around to the point where it rested its head on its hip, the nostrils of the beast flared open with each breath it took in its calm slumber.
It slept on a bed made of shiny rocks, reflective candy wrappers, and coins it had collected on its many trips out into the open. It had not dared stray too close to humans, for even though its claws were long and sharp, and its teeth were many, humans had tools designed to take down and capture his kind. Just like the things he collected in his home, he too was a rare and sought after commodity that the humans wanted to take for themselves.
His eyelids slowly opened to reveal yellow orbs with two large black pools that slowly shrank to elongated slits which made his eyes look like they were bisected by black elliptical pupils. Long fleshy barbels drooped down from his chin and on either side of his snouth, much like a catfish. They waggled limply when he opened his mouth to yawn which revealed his several rows of pointed teeth. A long, thick tongue slithered it’s way out and extended itself well beyond the creature’s chin, then curled at the tip where it had forked. After the yawn was finished, the tongue rolled back into its home surrounded by its pearly bodyguards.
His large, frilled ears flicked one after the other, as if trying to shoo away any fly or other flying pest that might try to land on them. They looked almost like broken cones, where the base was round and enclosed, but the further out you went, the more flayed his frilled ears became which split on one side to reveal the inside of the ear. Above his ears curled two large horns that started at just above his brow. The twin protrusions hugged close to his skull and still curved as if to continue to hug an invisible skull’s curvature once they extended past his head. He craned his long neck to use them to reach an itch he was too lazy to use his back claws for.
The tip of his left horn dragged across thick silver scales called scutes, the same as what crocodiles have on their backs to to withstand the heat of the sun and prevent water loss when sunbathing. These scales, along with the rest of the thinner, smaller silver scales across his body, were covered in a thick layer of velvety blue fuzz which transitioned to a soft beige on his underside and the bottom side of his large, leathery wings.
He slowly rose from where he laid and arched his back while he stretched his front legs forward. His claws spread as far as they could go while he let out another large yawn, the serpent-like tongue had made another brief appearance before going back to its spiky home. His flat tail lazily flicked this way and that almost a full body length behind him. After his short stretch, he folded his wings against his back and slowly sauntered his way to the entrance of his self made home.
He surveyed his territory, a nice green wooded place, home to many things, but not humans. Humans had created his kind in a lab much like Fluffies. They were supposed to be dragons made by Hasbio’s rival company Mattel Bio Industries, commissioned by Wizards of the Coast for a Forgotten Realms line of biomechanical animals. After the first generation of dragons had been created, a combined effort of Hasbio, the American Government, and PETA had the project completely shut down. Thankfully the dragons were able to escape or were even possibly set free before any could be terminated.
This specimen had been born in the wild, a third generation of Fuzzy Dragon. Unlike Fluffies, the Fuzzy Dragon’s parents don’t stick around, and the newly hatched creature is left to fend for itself. While Fuzzy Dragon’s aren’t the most durable of creatures, they aren’t as fragile as their broken by all inspiration. Obviously this Dragon had lived and had claimed himself a secluded territory in a wooded area and luckily enough for him, he shared this territory with several feral herds of Fluffy Ponies.
His thoughts were on his stomach which had woken him from his slumber by its demand of sustenance, which in turn brought his thoughts to the herds that made their home on his land. He glanced up at the sky between the trees. The sun had been up for a bit now, and would only take a couple of hours to reach its highest point in the sky. That would mean at least one of the herd would have sent their gatherers out to bring food for the rest of them. Fluffy’s tended to be the easiest and most bountiful prey, not to mention their flesh was one of his favorite flavors, as programmed by his creators.
It was time to go on the hunt. The Dragon walked out of the safety of his home and ventured off in the woods. He used the shadows and vegetation to hide his presence from any curious eyes that might try to spot him. He walked slowly so as to not make too much noise as he approached a foraging spot one of the several herds favored. It wasn’t long before his eyes landed on his next meal: a green earthy with a brown mane. The Fluffy hummed to itself as he ripped out chunks of grass and stuffed it into his fluff.
The Dragon slinked into a nearby bush and watched the Fluffy continue to gather more grass, flowers, and other things that might look tasty to an artificially created pony creature. The green Fluffy had no idea it had been spied on, completely oblivious to the immense danger it was in. The Dragon opened its mouth and spoke to the Fluffy from the bush.
“Hewwo Fwiend!” It called out in a friendly, high pitched voice, perfectly mimicking a previously eaten prey’s voice. “Can you come hewe fow huggies and wuv?”
At first, the Fluffy jumped and voided its bowels. The poor creature had not expected any other Fluffy to be out here, as he was one of the only few gathers left. More and more foragers seemed to go missing but no one from the herd knew why.
“H-hewwo!” The nervous Fluffy responded, still a bit jumpy, but relieved that it was only another Fluffy. He didn’t recognize the Fluffy’s voice. Maybe he could help his new friend join his herd! “Whewe am Fwuffy? Twee hewp get Fwuffy to hewd! Hewd haff wots of huggies and wuv!”
“Pwease fwiend, come to dah bush!” While the tone and pitch was perfect, the imitation of the actual Fluffy speech itself seemed to be lacking. However, the Dragon hadn’t failed in tricking a Fluffy yet. “Fwuffy is vewy wonwey and needs wots of huggies and wuv befow fwuffy can fowwow.”
“Nyu fwiend tawk funny…” The green adn brown fluffy muttered to himself as he started to walk towards the bush. “Otay nyu fwiend. Onwy haff time fow smaww hu–AGH!”
Once the Fluffy was in range, the Dragon’s claw reached out and grasped the Fluffy’s front forehoof. The tiny man made pony screamed in terror as nightmare became reality right in front of him. That wasn’t a Fluffy friend! It was a monster! The synapses in his brain made connections not thought possible to the poor, stupid creature and he suddenly realized why the others had gone missing.
“Nu! Wet go of weggy!” The Fluffy pleaded desperately as the monster slowly emerged from the bush, revealing its massive, terrifying form. “NU! AGH! Wet go! No huwt Twee!”
Long, sharp claws bit into the flesh of the Fluffy’s right front leg. Blood started to trickle down on the Dragon’s claw, wetting the Dragon’s weapons in crimson. A low hiss escaped the Dragon’s lips as he dragged the Fluffy closer to himself. Strings of saliva connected several top teeth to bottom teeth as the Dragon moved in slow motion. It was easy to overpower the frail Fluffy’s, and for some reason, the fear of their mortal string running short added an exquisite flavor to the meat that the Dragon couldn’t explain.
Ever so slowly, the Dragon brought the Fluffy down on its back. The poor thing struggled as hard as it could, its marshmallow hooves connected against the Dragon’s body several times to little effect. The screeches and screams of the tiny Fluffy would go unheard by the rest of his herd, as he was much too far away from them. The best nummies always seemed to be so far away from his friends and family. A painful tension built up in the Fluffy’s leg. He could hear his own fragile bones begin to crack under the pressure the Dragon was putting on it.
“NU! Pwease wet Twee go!” More desperate pleas of mercy fell on deaf ears. “Nu takie weggy! Nu huwt Twee! Pwease!”
Finally the force had proven too much for the unfortunate soul’s bones, and a sickening SNAP! followed by an ear piercing “SCREE!” from the Fluffy signaled the bone’s fracture. The claw finally let go of the broken limb and moved onto another one. One claw pressed firmly on the Fluffy’s mid section, while the other tried grabbing another limb to break, which proved only the slightest bit difficult due to the blood that had lubed up Dragon’s flanges. With a small bit of effort, another leg was in his clutches.
“Nu…Haff…Pwease…” The Fluffy began to pant in pain. Tears streamed from his brown eyes which matted the Fluffy below them. “Fwuffy sowwy! Nu knu wut do, but Twee sowwy!”
The process of crippling all of the Fluffy’s limbs took about ten minutes. Each time the dragon took its time to feel the small microfractures begin to form on each bone before they grew larger and larger. The cracks and snaps were music to the sadistic Dragon’s ears. With all of the Fluffy’s legs broken, there was no risk of escape. While the Dragon could easily catch up to a runaway Fluffy, burning excess energy was inefficient, plus he enjoyed the process.
A razor sharp claw dragged itself along the fluffy’s underside to shave away all of the fluff to reveal the pale flesh underneath. The fluff was discarded to the side like trash, for as far as the Dragon was concerned, that’s what it was.
“Nu take…Haff…Pwetty fwuff…” The weak protests continued from the pain addled Fluffy. The Dragon was impressed with the Fluffy’s fortitude. Usually at this point, other Fluffy’s had been reduced to chirping messes. This one was still able to plead and talk. Interesting.
The Dragon was careful in preparing his meal. All the fluff had to go. While he was programmed to love the taste of Fluffy flesh, the fluff that the ponies had been named after wasn’t digestible to his kind, which usually resulted in puking up the massive amount of fluff at a later time. The Dragon was uninterested in that part of the process, and opted to properly take care of it before it became an issue. Another ten to fifteen minutes went by as the Dragon divorced the Fluffy from all of its fluff.
“Huu…Weggies hewt…” The Fluffy whined. His head had rolled to the side to watch the growing pile of what was in his opinion, the prettiest fluff of the herd which had once belonged to him. “Biggest…Heawt huwties…”
It was finally time. The Fluffy was naked, its legs were broken, as was its spirit. It was finally time to eat! A single claw dug itself right below the Fluffy’s sternum, piercing the skin and bit of muscle that separated organs from the fresh air. The Dragon pulled down on the flesh and ripped open the belly of the Fluffy like someone would unzip a jacket, revealing the Fluff’s delicious and nutritious organs.
“SCREEEEE!” The Fluffy screamed louder than it had ever screamed before, the pain it felt was unimaginable. Any critical thought processes of how unfortunate it was, or how it was going to escape, or if it was ever going to feel huggies and love again left him, and was replaced by the most basic of animal instincts. That was when it was reduced to chirps and cheaps with the occasional Fluffy “scree.” What little intelligence it had been blessed with was now gone, and it had been reduced to just an animal at that point.
The Dragon devoured liver, kidneys, stomach, and other unnecessary organs the Fluffy owned, leaving the heart and lungs last. It ripped apart and ate the muscles and flesh around all of the Fluffy’s legs, all the while the poor victim still wheezed and gurgled for breath, silently screaming in pain, his voice gone oh so long ago. Finally, when the Fluffy was only made of the essentials to let it live, that was when the Dragon decided to rip out and swallow the poor creature’s heart, which finally gave mercy to the former forager.
The meal had taken about an hour or so to eat altogether. Once there was only bone and undesirable flesh left, the Dragon sat and began to lick itself clean much like a cat. Dirty Dragons do not stay healthy, and this one planned to live a very long and well fed life.