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Dream Factory: A Kobold Story

Episode One: Need to Experiment

Princess Twinkle Scale, or Twinkle for short, was one of the younger dragon lords. A princess in her parents' homeland of Draconia the land of Dragons, and an immortal goddess in her own right, she was usually happy and content with life. Except for when it came to her siblings, especially her clutch twin, Princess Sparkle Scale. But, the less said about that skank the better as far as Twinkle was concerned.

Like all dragon lords, she had various forms she could take, usually preferring her humanoid form which let her stand easily at six foot tall, with a pair of brilliant pink wings, her yellow scales were accented by pink on her underbelly and freckles of it on her cheeks. The gem on her forehead was a pink diamond, one she was born with and granted her exceptional magical powers. Of course, there was a problem, an incredible, drastic, huge problem that was on the verge of disaster.

Looking in her hand mirror she realized her pink freckles didn't stand out as pretty as they usually did. Oh, she wailed and cried for her less pretty appearance today. It was one thing for her father to send her out to this dragon-forsaken hamlet, but to also lose some of her reflective shiny scaliness, now that was a crime. Well it probably wasn't but it should be.

She wailed and moaned as she hung upside down off the second-floor railing by her legs and looking into the mirror. "Woe is me, woe I say!"

A woman's voice from below her on the first floor replied. "Don't worry, Princess. You're still the most beautiful princess in the whole wide world."

Twinkle looked down to the first floor where her apprentice and right-hand woman was, standing at the average height of most kobolds at just over three feet tall. The young mage with lavender scales and a red ruby on her forehead, wearing matching red robes trimmed with yellow. The kobold apprentice was currently reading some complex book about alchemy and potions, she flipped the page, frowned, and then shook her head. "Oh tarnation, why is this so hard? Woe is me, I say."

Given to her at a young age to train, Twinkle had done her best to raise the young mage, Pascalee Scale. yet, it was clear from an early age that Pascalee was a lot more intelligent than she was, not only that she was gifted. As one of the Starborn Kobolds, she had access to magic and was really good with it. Yet even so she was a bit clumsy sometimes. Judging by the massive hole in the first-floor castle wall outlined by a massive black scorch mark. She was pretty confident clumsy didn't come close.

"What's wrong, Brighty?"

Pascale looked up at her. "Oh Princess, it's terrible, just terrible I swear. I am trying to perform this spell but I need someone to help me with it."

Twinkle rolled her eyes and looked back into the mirror. She had a better idea for something, or someone Pascale could do. "Why don't you go find a partner, and take care of your frustrations in another way then."

Pascale's eyes lit up and she jumped for joy. "Oh, Princess! You truly are the best, smartest princess of them all! A partner is exactly what I need. All my frustrations will be eased and my needs scratched with one. I shall go right away and ask the others if one would help me fulfill these desires."

Twinkle blinked as she watched Pascale skip away. "Did... did she actually understand what I was suggesting for once? Hmm, well at least she probably won't end up pregnant." She looked back to her mirror and summoned forth some eyeliner with a snap of her fingers. It floated next to her face in a pink aura. "Oh well, I've got more pressing concerns."

***

Pascale knew that she needed help with this spell. Mostly she needed someone to take care of the potion work while cast her magic over it, when she tried doing both parts herself she only ended up in creating explosions and destroying parts of the castle. Something that Twinkle had yet to notice, or care about. Then again, Twinkle didn't care for most parts of the castle, too gray and drab in her words. Pascale knew this must be true, and honestly, she agreed, she preferred the wooden cozy nature of her own library and home. Yet seeing as how she spent most of her life in the same household as Twinkle she just couldn't pull away from her for too long.

After all she was the best princess. At least as far as she was concerned. Any other fan clubs for other princesses were just wrong. She could prove this as well with a pie chart and graph, but she'd only had to do that once. Which was good because the kobold she showed her proof too, had taken her graph and lit it on fire. Such a crude thing to do.

For now she was near the side exit of the castle and looking for her broom. She was going to need it if she wanted to move around the hamlet fast. Looking around she found it in the broom closet, again. That maid Snowflake, just kept putting it in with the other brooms, this was starting to get a little annoying, it was only the thirtieth time after all. She was counting. Still she found her broom, the old wood lovingly smooth with a soft cushion near the middle for its saddle, and leather handle purple runes across it glowed softly in the darkness of the closet. She had to admit this thing still gave her a little anxiety from time to time but she found it easier than normal transit. After all, who wanted to ride a giant snail?

She went outside and was hit by the fresh air and the smell of flowers all around her. From on top of the cliff edge, she could see the miles of green all around her. From the dense forests to the rolling hills. Flowers grew in abundance around the castle itself in a rainbow of colors that always made her feel chipper to look at. The Captial was rarely so beautiful.

Nearby there was a river that ran down over the side of the cliff going into the large lake down below. The hamlet itself was built in part along the side of the cliff and then around the edge of the lake and river leaving it. Plenty of fishing to be done here, as well as farming. It was a peaceful place, as for why it was called Pleasent Falls, well it was pretty obvious in retrospect.

Getting on her broom, she was about to take off when she heard a high-pitched clucking noise. She had just enough time to turn around and watch as a white fluffy chicken leaped from the top of the doorway, flying straight into her face. she went rolling backward grabbing at the chicken as it scratched at her face. Finally, she managed to pry the chicken off and held it out by its wings. she glared at it. "Ziggy! What is wrong with you!"

Ziggy the chicken glared at her before speaking. "You are not going anywhere without me!"

"Why did you attack me then, I can hardly fly if you're on my face!"

"Because you always leave me, and I am sick and tired of the castle. Please, it's so dreadful here, and when I try to talk to that princess of yours, she wants to do makeovers. I need to breathe! I need to socialize!"

Pascalee let out a sigh of defeat. This was her familiar. It was not at all by her choice either. Part of the initiation ritual that got her the apprenticeship to Princess Twinkle involved getting him. Still, he made a great emergency meal if she ever needed it. "Fine, you can come."

She opened the top of her robe and let Ziggy climb inside. Once situated she had a chicken head sticking out of the top of her robe. At least he was fluffy and warm. "Okay, time to go."

She got back on her broomstick and took off in a running start before jumping and letting the broom fly her up into the air. They flew off the side of the cliff, the magical runes glowing purple along the side of the broom as it flew her around. She circled slowly in the air as she examined the hamlet. From the walkways carved into the stone cliff face, including the farms there. Or the fishing kobolds down below, or the like, only three children running amok in the fields, she was content up here.

Ziggy asked. "What are we doing?"

"We're looking for a partner for me."

"Oh about time you found one. we thought you'd just be frustrated and scratching that itch by yourself forever. That or you'd turn out to be gay."

She growled. "I am gay."

"Oh good for you. I'm a chicken."

"And who is this 'we' you speak of?"

"Me and the princess talk all the time. Especially when she's doing my nails... um talons. I hate it. she just won't shut up."

"Please be more respectful toward my princess, please. She is perfect and you should be honored she deems you good enough to talk to in the first place."

"Not like she has much choice. There's like four of us in the castle, and I'm the most sophisticated out of you lot."

She looked down at him. "How hot do I have to cook the oil to make chicken tenders?"

"Don't know but I'm hungry now. Can we stop off for some fast food on the way home?"

"Fast, food? We live in a hamlet, there's not a McDragon's anywhere around here."

Something gray and red flashed by here so fast it created a gust of wind making the broom spin around in a full circle as she struggled to control it. Once she steadied herself she heard a voice say from behind her. "Who said fast now?"

Pascalee grabbed her arm by the elbow, pumped it full of aether energy and as rings of purple light grew out from her arm and hovered around it she spun around to face the voice. The speaker was gone. Another voice spoke from behind her. "What's up, chicken butt."

She spun around and fired an energy beam from her hand. It flew through the empty air and sailed forward into a cloud and then beyond it until she couldn't see the blast of energy any longer. Ziggy spoke. "Hey, what was that saying about objects flying through space?"

She ignored him as she looked over her shoulder one more time and saw a gray skyborn kobold was hovering just in front of them, her wings were highlighted with red and red spines stood up on her head and down the length of her neck. She wore red shorts and a red tanktop. The gray kobold "You weren't going to try hitting me with that slowpoke of a beam now were you?"

Pascale growled. "You scared me! Don't snake up on me like that. I could hurt you."

"Yeah, maybe if I was drunk you'd hit me... nah, never mind. Even drunk I'm faster than you." She puffed out her chest as her wings flapped holding her steady in the air.

Pascale lowered her arm and stuck her snout up. "I have decided you don't get to be my partner, Gray."

Gray blinked. "Um... partner?"

Ziggy explained. "She's finally looking for a partner. She's gonna get laid."

Gray laughed. "And what, you thought I'd be your partner. Get a life girl, I have better things, or people to do."

Pascale grumbled. "One; I am not planning to lay down anywhere. Maybe after I'm done with my partner I will. Two; that's mean. I thought we were friends."

Gray snickered. "Tell you what, if you beg me, I might, just might consider it."

Pascale looked away. "I'm sure someone else will be my partner and be nicer about it too. Know what, I'll just ask Blue. She's always nice."

Gray flashed a wicked grin. "Oh yeah, tell you what. I'll go with you and help you ask. You know, because she might misunderstand you."

It was true that Pascale often times had trouble with getting a direct line of communication to Blue. For some reason, the girl was as shy and scared as a, well a chicken. Well, at least she might have some help finding Blue. "Where is she at anyway?"

Gray answered. "Down at the cliff farm, you know doing her thing."

Right, she was the one usually given that responsibility. She was the project leader over the various farms here. Even if she was terrible at actually selling any of the crops, she was fantastic at raising crops and caring for the farm animals. For a moment Pascale considered trying to lose Gray, but the problem with that was that Gray was really, really fast. She was also pretty strong, and when pissed off tended to throw fists first, ask questions later. Pascale would rather avoid another throw down, the last one destroyed a house, damaged three others, and resulted in both she and Gray being stuck in the same sick room until their broken bones healed. Nothing said friendship quite like, waking up with a broken leg, tail, arm, and a hangover next to the person who did it to you, even if you did break both their wings in return.

The flight down the cliffside farms was a short one and finding Blue was easy. she was the blue scaled kobold currently watering the carrot patch and wearing the green dress. Blue had a red flannel jacket tied around her waist and a few green scrunchies on her tail. A few small spines on the back Blue's head, as well as purple stripes and freckles on the top of her head gave Blue a very soft appearance. Pulling up to a stop behind her, Pascale gave it a moment to think on. Was she really the best choice for this task? Probably not, but she could count on her to at least do some minimal tasks right?

Before Pascale could say anything. Gray put her clawed hands to either side of her mouth and screamed, "HEY BLUE!"

Blue gave a high-pitched shriek, jumped up into the air, and then vanished a moment later. It took a second for Pascale to figure it out but she could see a bit of Blue's green dress sticking out from the top of a nearby barrel. Pascale glared at Gray who was too busy laughing to see her.

Pascale flew over to the barrel. "Hey, Blue, it's me Pascale, and Gray of course."

Blue's head poked up from the top of the barrel. "O-oh, hi."

"You okay? I'm sorry about that. Gray's a real jerk sometimes."

She shook her head shakily. "It's f-f-f-fine."

"Do you need help getting out of the barrel?"

"I um, I m-might stay in here a little while longer. It's empty in here."

Well if she wanted to play barrel girl then no one was going to stop her. So in the interest of saving some time, Pascale decided to just ask and get it out of the way. "Would you be my partner? Gray here declined and said I wasn't good enough for her."

Gray stuck her hands on her hips. "That is not what I said, I totally just don't roll that way. Well, I mean I guess I do, but I'm still not that fast."

Blue's eyes widened and her pupils shrunk to pinpricks. "Y-y-you mean like th-that kind of p-p-partner?"

That was an odd way to phrase the question. What other kind of partner would there be? "Yes, I do. You are always so nice and always willing to help when I need it. I have desires but they need someone to help me fulfill. Would you be willing to help me fulfill those desires? Maybe with some experimentation?"

Blue began hyperventilating. Okay, that was about as good as she expected anything to go today. Unfortunately, she was pretty sure what the answer would be. Pascale lowered her head and drifted back a bit on her broom. "I, see. I'll just leave you alone. I'm sorry I bothered you."

Blue replied. "N-n-no w-w-wait. P-p-please. Um, d-d-don't misunderstand I um, I um... well... I um... have you asked Jade yet?"

Pascale shook her head. Jade was the last person she wanted to ask. Not that she didn't trust Jade to help out correctly, but that Jade was a bit of an odd sort. She didn't belong in this hamlet, her nor her little sister Opal, but for some reason, they were here and Jade was determined to continue acting like she was some kind of high society starborn. At least Blue was earthborn which meant she was much more down to earth, no pun intended.

Blue was quiet for a minute. "If... if you um, ask her... and she um... says no, I-I-I will. B-but I have um... limits."

"Of course, I would never ask you to do anything that would make you uncomfortable or put you in harm's way." Pascale offered as genuine a smile she could. "You're one of my best friends."

Blue lowered her head a bit and the lid closed. "I-I'll just um, st-tay in my barrel for n-now."

Pascale turned her broom toward the hamlet. "Thank you, Blue. I promise you, I won't bother you unless I really need the help."

She looked at Gray. Gray shook her head. "No, way. I'm not going with you. Jade freaks me out. I'll chill with her at the diner or whatever, but her spa is freaky-deaky, so you're on your own girl."

Pascale grumbled a not so polite phrase in Gray's direction before kicking off and flying away from the cliffside farms. She flew over the lake, watching as the rainbow fish and the goldfish both shine in the midday sun as it reflected off their colorful scales below her. The spa was just ahead. Jade's spa was a delightful, large building. One section of it a personal home for her and her little sister, the other half was the actual spa. Which included a hot spring. How in the world she found or created, a hot spring near the forest edge was beyond her understanding but it was impressive.

Lucky for her it would seem that Jade was outside today and watering the flowers. Jade was of course a green kobold, one with a bright green gem on her forehead. She looked up just in time to see Pascale come in for a landing. Pascale slowed to a drift and then stopped altogether just a few feet in front of Jade.

Jade smiled at her. "Darling! You came to visit my spa. You did bring gold with you, right?"

Pascale rolled her eyes. "No, do I look like I have my purse on me?"

Jade's smile faded a bit. "It's... it's okay. You can pay me later. I'll just be happy to have the company."

She shook her head. "I'm not here for the spa visit. Thank you for the offer though."

"Oh, is there something else I can help with in that case darling?"

Pascale looked back toward the castle that sat above the cliff. It seemed a lot smaller this far away. "Yeah, I need a partner to experiment with."

The look that Jade gave her was at first one of shock and horror, but it swiftly mutated into a growl and glare. A glare so piercing that Pascale actually fell off of her broom and had to scramble her way back pulling the broom with her. Jade pointed a claw at her. "YOU! I don't know where you heard that nasty rumor from, but I am not some harlot that will just do anything you want because you ask. Even if you are my friend I am not some toy you can use. I run a professional and respectful business here I'll have you know."

Pascale was already shaking her head as fast as she could. "N-no, I didn't mean, I just thought."

"Oh and what did you think? Huh!"

Pascale was shaking in her, well she didn't wear boots, but if she did she would be shaking them something feirce. "I thought you might help me since your my friend. that's all. I didn't mean to offend you. I'm so sorry. Please don't hate me. I'm not a monster. I promise I'm not a monster."

Jade glared at her in silence for a few long seconds. At length, she forced out a sigh, closed her eyes, and seemingly forced herself to relax. Once she opened them again they were softer. "I'm sorry, darling. It's just I've had people ask me similiar questions in the past. I fear some of these bumpkins think that because I run a spa that I also do... other things. I do not in fact offer happy endings."

Pascale frowned. what was wrong with wanting a happy ending? Weren't all good stories supposed to end happily? Sad stories were just no fun. She wasn't going to contest this at the moment, she was still shaking from the sudden anger. "I'm sorry. Blue told me I needed to ask you if I wanted help with that. At least she said you'd be better at it than she would be. I thought about it for a moment and I realized maybe that's true, your so good at a lot of stuff."

Jade's frown lifted slightly. "I see. Well if Blue was the one to suggest it, then I know you don't have any ill intent. I will tell you what darling, to make up for my sudden outburst, I will think on this. This isn't a yes, but it's not a no wither. I just need to get ready for such... activities. Did you have anything in particular in mind? I know it's likely your first time."

Pascale nodded. "I've never had a partner before. I'm not actually sure how it'll work, but I think I just need you to hold some things for me and move when I give the order."

Jade rolled her eyes. "Darling, being with a partner isn't like some kind of construction work, it's more... fluid than that. Oh bother, I have to make sure Opal is okay first. Please come back to me later and I'll help you out with all your needs. Tonight perhaps?"

Pascale swallowed. "I'll um, I'll think about it. I think the laundry is calling me and the princess is ready to be taken out. Bye." Pascale hopped back on her broom and zoomed off so fast that she left a dust trail which caused Jade to curse her.

Pascale didn't even bother to back to Blue. She just went home to the castle. This was traumatizing enough as is. Why did Jade have to be so angry and so scary? Couldn't she be more friendly and understanding of Pascale's request? This wasn't fair. Once she was at the castle she lowered herself to the entrance, let Ziggy out of her robe, and watched him flutter away.

He stopped only long enough to look back at her. "Man, you have rotten luck. Maybe you should get your friends drunk first."

"If they're drunk they can't hold themselves steady, they'd be useless to me."

Ziggy shrugged, at least as best a chicken could, and then scampered off into the field of flowers.

This left Pascale all alone with her thoughts for a moment. She felt defeated. She just wanted help with a spell she was trying out. Why wouldn't anyone help be her magic partner? Was that really so much to ask for? She'd even pay them if they asked for it.

She shuffled herself inside and set her broom up against the wall. The servant kobold, Snowflake walked past, grabbed her broom, and put it back into the closet with the others. Pascale didn't even bother to tell her off for it. The broom was in the dirty old closet all alone, just like she deserved to be.

Once inside she took a seat on the stone steps going up to the second floor. Princess Twinkle was still in the same place as before doing her mascara. She looked over and frowned. "Brighty, whatever is wrong?"

Pascale sniffled. "None of my friends want to be my partner and help me experiment. Is something so wrong with me that nobody wants me?"

Twinkle threw her mascara away and it vanished in thin air. She flipped herself backward and landed on the first floor without a hitch. As she walked over to Pascale she cooed. "Oh, my poor baby. I'll be your partner. If they don't want to be so, then they clearly don't understand how wonderful and amazing you are. But I, I understand."

Pascale looked up at her with watery eyes. "You, you will?"

Twinkle gave her a wink. "Oh and it'll be the best thing too."

Pascale jumped for joy, ran over and hugged Princess Twinkle who returned the hug. "Your the best princess in the whole world. I never would have imagined my first time with a partner would be with you!"

Twinkle swallowed. "First... time... oh my, well that's fine. I'll just be gentle."

"Please do, your so strong, you could break things if your not."

Twinkle giggled and it was music to her ears. "I'll be extra gentle, just for you."

Not more than ten minutes later, Pascale was back to casting her laser beams at a pot of boiling red liquid. Twinkle was flying above it and just as the laser beam hit the pot of liquid, she poured out the potion into the liquid and the red color changed into a glowing pink and bubbling fluid for a moment before settling on a darker pink tone. Pascale walked up to it, put her finger in the goop and pulled it out giving her finger a lick. It tasted just like cotton candy.

Twinkle let out a sigh. "If you just wanted someone to pour a potion into a pot, you could have just said so."

Pascale looked up at her. "What did you think I meant by wanting a partner?"

Twinkle lowered her head. "I have been utterly defeated by your innocence. Well, I'm still glad I could help you. What does this thing do again?"

Pascale grinned. "It makes a potion of energy that tastes just like cotton candy."

"Does it have a lot of calories?"

"That's the best part!" Pascale grinned wider still. "Zero-calorie potion!"

Twinkle landed on her feet. "My little Brighty, you are the most amazing and talented wizard of all time! I'm so proud of you."