Creating A Hive

The Check-In

Lilac thought she was actually doing really well.

She was doing better with her weapons training. Guns and knives were an uphill climb, Lilac just couldn't get the hang of them. Hand-to-Hand was mire her forte. Her mom and aunt write this off as Lilac's dragon instinct, as her claws of course were more natural to use. But she wouldn't be a dragon everywhere, so Lilac had to learn other weapons.

Aunt Killjoy was excited to see Lilac gaining skill in knives. Once Lilac worked with smaller forms of knives, she was getting skilled at it. Lilac was bursting with pride to hear the praise. All her work to getting this training was paying off. Killjoy kept telling jokes about 'passing the torch'. Lilac was half convinced the phrase was fake. Her aunt was the type for that, and her mom would encourage any sort of pun.

Though whether it was a pun or not, it felt good to be included in the family business. Lilac had been included in some of her mother's travels before: How To Train Your Dragon (at Lilac's request), Rise of the Guardians, a few trips that were mainly because Lilac couldn't be left home alone with Tracy, and a quick jaunt in Doctor Who. After that trip, her mom had benched Lilac.

Even though any danger Lilac had been in was from forces nobody had predicted. She had been useful! She wanted to be useful again. Lilac remembered that despite the dangers, there had been fun. Lilac had remembered how happy being there made her mom. Everything there was so stressful and panicked, but her mom had made it all fun. Lilac wanted to be more included in that. She wanted to see other times where her mom could smile, especially with her aunt and dad around.

If that meant Lilac had to learn hand-to-hand combat and knives, then she would learn it.

Manehatten was different from the rough human cities. Sure it was dangerous to live there alone, but it was easier. Cushy. Lilac remembered being taunted by other dragons, ten years ago. They had laughed at her for living the cushy life of a pony. Now Lilac was sitting in a tree, trying to live like a human.

She had gotten a pet bird out of it. The experience was worth it.

(Her mom kept making grandma jokes. Lilac hadn't known that adopting a pet bird didn't actually make her a mother, she was four!)

(Yes she kept Peewee's birdhouse stocked with treats. What of it?)

Lilac was using the knife to slice skin off an apple. She was supposed to make a picture of something using the knife. Her aunt encouraged the knife as a brush. It was supposed to give Lilac practice on force.

'Use enough force to cut, not to slice. Sometimes you gotta hold a knife against somebody until you take him down, or one of us comes to save you.'

Lilac didn't like thinking about holding a knife to someone's throat. She understood the necessity. She had watched her mom do it a few times. Once or twice, Lilac had a knife to her own throat. She wouldn't want to make any mistakes with anybody.

And if Lilac couldn't complete this assignment, her aunt would kick her ass in training. She was still sore from last time. Those dragons from a decade ago had tried/failed to make Lilac 'tough' like a dragon, Aunt Killjoy would make those dragons fun screaming back to their mamas. Pity that Lilac's mama was always on Killjoy's side.

Lilac twitched at the wrong moment. She sliced off a chunk of apple, ruining the picture. Damn it! Lilac angrily threw the apple aside. It fell from the tree, bouncing on the ground.

Double damn. Lilac would have to clean it before eating it. Had dirt gotten on the skinned part? That would use up some of her water.

She didn't get the chance to use up said water. A figure came out from a bush, grabbing the apple from the ground. Lilac sat up, watching the pony shake off the dirt with their hoodie.