Carmino

"I'm looking for a place called Ponyville," said Pea.

"Where can Pea find Ponyville?" asked Oza, he had been around a lot of places...but he never heard of that town.

Pea kept looking at the horizon,"I-I just need to find it Oza...I..." she then burst into tears. Oza didn't really know how to react to this. They had known each other for a long time. Even when faced with death, Pea still had a fire of courage. But right here, right now, she seemed weak...broken. Oza lifted the whimpering pony on his back, she nestled between the large supply packs and slowly fell asleep.

Oza walked further down the empty road, he racked his brain to come up with a solution of why his friend acted like that. The once mid afternoon sky turned dark with clouds, a storm was coming...

Oza knew it wasn't an ordinary storm...

As the rain began to pile down, Oza put a tarp over his back to keep Pea dry. The dirt road now grew soft and muddy and the dragon's feet sank as he trudged forward. He had to keep going...his mind spiked with pain. He knew something was going on, but couldn't place what it was.

Further down the road Oza could see a figure, tall , long and thin. He could see her electric green eyes shine through the rain. Her voice called out to him,

"Oza...what are you doing out here, Master has been worried about you," as these words were said, he had a natural instinct to follow.

Oza shook his head, "No! Oza don't know you, go away!" He continued down the road, closer to her.

She was a long blue dragon, her intense eyes were fixed on Oza. Her smooth scales had scattered scars running up and down her neck. She had earrings and gems stuck in her long, pointy ears. The fin on her spine became jagged and ugly and it reached her shoulders from her missing wings. She  was from the same pack as Sidzo and his cronies from the desert. The orange and white dragon's mind felt as if it was trying to remember something...something ugly.

The venomous eyes of the stranger still glared,"Oza...you have quite a stash on you back...where did you get it?"

Oza stopped only a few steps from her. He rose his neck up to look at her eye level. He kept his face rigid.

"Oza not tell Jenja!" The blue dragon smiled, showing her needle teeth as she slinked up to Oza. Pea's friend didn't even know how, or why he said that name. He had never seen this dragon before, or had he?

"So...you remember me?" Jenja giggled, "You know Oza, you've become quite a fetching dragon..." Jenja's acidic tone became sweeter than honey.

She moved in closer, inches from Oza's face. As she licked the side of his cheek, his ridged expression became soft. He knew she was using some kind of spell to throw off his guard, but his body didn't care. The rain that surrounded them became warm like a tropical monsoon,  and Oza returned the favor. Jenja's talon caressed Oza's chin and the rain piled down.

Jenja's cheeks turned purple with resentment. Oza's breath was hot and his head swam...it was one hell of a spell she cast on him. Jenja slid her smooth rain soaked body up to Oza's. Her eyes became seductively alluring, making Pea's friend forget what he was doing, where he was and just...forget.

Oza felt a kiss. His legs turned into jelly, his eyes closed and a surge of uncertainty plowed through him. After what felt like forever, his nirvana was stopped dead in its tracks. He felt a sudden stabbing pain in his neck. Oza's eyes shot open and he saw Janja looking deeply into his panicked eyes as her long, sharp claws dug into Oza's neck. His body couldn't move, all he could do was stand and have Janja drag the claws down his neck. Deep, nasty gashes seeped cobalt blood as the claws sank into his flesh.

Janja stopped, smirking wickedly as she pulled her bloodied fingers from the wounds,"Such a shame...you were so handsome too..." she licked her fingers with a forked tongue.

Oza's vision went blurry. She had poisoned him and a chilly, depressing feeling swept over him as he sank to the muddy road. He could make out what looked like Janja leaving. The Orange-White dragon grabbed the tarp on his back and Pea. He nestled her still sleeping body next to his chest and covered her so she didn't get wet. Oza couldn't tell if he was cold, or the rain was...it didn't matter much to him. Pea would be safe from the elements. That was enough for him...

How could he have been so stupid? "Oza...can't...abandoned...Pea..." The rain had finally stopped, but he couldn't feel it. The sun had been down for hours and Pea awoke groggily.

"Oza, where are we?...I can still see that Beam place!" Pea felt safe under friends strong arm, and snuggled closer to him,"If you're that tired, we can stay here..." then she felt warm...and wet...It wasn't raining...she saw a pool of cobalt mix with the mud under her.

"Oza, hey buddy?....Oza?!" She stood up only to see the massive gash wounds on his neck. She immediately looked though her pack to see if she could find something to help...anything...she found nothing. Pea went into a state of panic, what should she do? What could she do? She heard Oza make some sort of noise.

He sputtered blood,"Pea...you awake?" Pea Gravel tried to smile...but she couldn't.

"Oza! What happened?" Pea finally said, tears in her eyes.

Oza closed his eyes," Deja vu, right pony?" then he stopped breathing.

Pea's eyes widened, She shook her head in disbelief, she tried to shake Oza awake but as she touched his neck something burned her hooves when they were near the gashes. she pulled her hooves away...

She heard a laugh, not an evil one, but one that sounded like it just told a good joke. Pea spun her head around...nothing but grassy, water logged fields and Beamville in the distance. She looked at Oza. Oza looked back at her.

"Oza got you!" he giggled. Pea was furious and overjoyed at the same time. It took her a moment to recover.

"Oza! You're alright," she punched his shoulder,"What the hell got into you!? You scared me to death, Oza!"

Oza pulled his neck up with difficulty,"What? Did me scare Pea too much?" He winced when he laughed.

"Damn right it was too much!" her stern expression changed," Oh god, you're hurt pretty bad huh?"

"Oza hurt, but not beat! It take more than that to kill this dragon!" Oza said as he puffed his chest slightly.

Pea swelled with pride, her best friend was such a bad ass! The damaged dragon got up and blood slowly trickled out of the long gashes in his neck as he trudged. Oza began walking down the road, Pea had to go rather fast to keep up with his fast pace. The mare was a little confused.

"If you need healing, shouldn't we go back to town?"

"What Oza need is not behind us. We need to go far...really far."

Pea became concerned,"Okay Oza...do you know how to get there?" Oza suddenly stopped. He looked at the horizon like a lost puppy.

"....not from here...." Pea couldn't help but facehoof. Oza looked dazed and craned his neck in random directions.

"Tell you what, can you hang out here? I'll go back into town and buy the biggest map I can find okay?" she turned to leave, than quickly turned her head to Oza," You'll be fine while I'm gone right?"

Oza sat down with a toothy grin,"Oza be fine!"

Pea Gravel ran as fast as she could back to town, she didn't want to waste a second. Oza was tough, but she didn't know how long he would hold out. She entered the town, the loud drone of the steel mills blared. Ponies and mules alike covered the street, Pea shoved her way through the crowd and got shoved back. One pony in particular passed who by recognized Pea's vest.

"Hello, miss!" the stranger said. Pea turned to her and the mare continued,"I see you got the present your friend bought. It fits you lovely, say...where is he anyway?"

Pea saw her chance,"Oza, you know him?"

The tailor smirked,"Know him? Not really, but I haven't forgotten him..." She saw desperation in Pea's eyes,"Is Oza alright?"

"N-not for long, something came up last night and attacked him. He said he knew where a cure to the poison in his blood was, but we need a big map to find it."

The tailor's dignified demeanor became focused and alert. She took a bag of money she had at her side and tossed it over the crowd. As soon as the massive CLANK was heard, Ponies from all directions swarmed to the spot.

"Follow me!" the tailor yelled over the din of the city.

They ran easily through the now dispersed crowd until they came to an alleyway. The tailor looked over her shoulders making sure nopony was near. She pushed aside some large crates from a spot in the alley. Under the crates was a cellar door. On the alley wall were some kind of propaganda posters, but Pea couldn't read them.

The tailor looked Pea in the eye," Promise you won't tell anypony about this place?" Pea nodded.

Pea followed the mare down, She saw all kinds of odd trinkets and papers on the walls and floor. They walked deeper into the hidden place and the air became more dank and cold. Pea wasn't really sure about what was going on, but she had to find a way to heal Oza. The air suddenly became warm, and dry. The two mares passed a corner and saw who lived down here. The room was lined with shelves and each shelf had books, scrolls and snack boxes. Pea blinked in confusion. She was expecting some sort of old sage that knew many things and was a great magician, not what she now saw...

"Cosmo, you have a visitor..." The tailor said.

The oddest unicorn Pea had ever seen zipped across the room, "What does the Earth Pony want, servant of mine?" he said in a mock maniacal tone. Pea stepped forward, ready to explain, but he didn't seem to even notice. He was crazy that was for sure, his ears flicked.

"You're in possession of an enchanted suit, aren't you?"

"Y-yes, sir..." murmured Pea.

Cosmo bounced in front of her, "I'm a mind reader! The ponies who are setting up a rebellion against The Roxites-"

As Pea hear that her face turned white, she slumped down shivering. The tailor shot a glare at Cosmo, " Cosmo you idiot! You can't go telling ponies I bring down here what were doing!"

She looked down at Pea and motioned Cosmo for something. He scampered to the  edge of the dank room and pulled out a map from a shelf, a big one, exactly like Pea wanted. He handed it to her and she took it reluctantly. A wry smile grew on Cosmo's face.

"I'm a mind reader!" The green stranger said casually," I knew what you wanted, oh and shh!"  The tailor scowled. Pea slowly rose up with a cold sweat. She looked at the strangers in disbelief.

"Are you all high? How can ponies beat Roxites? I've...seen them...met them..." Pea remembered Sidzo...and her Uncle. She also remembered something from her distant past...someone that made her skin crawl. She looked back at Cosmo," You ponies can't be serious!"

Cosmo waved a hoof in the air dismissing Pea's plea. He motioned to the map while he grabbed a bag of crackers. He passed some over to the tailor and they munched quietly as the mare opened the dusty brown scroll.

She didn't even think of how big it's scale would be! The desert she had called home could fit under an eyelash. There were Islands all over it, she expected this is what an 'Atlas' looked like. The edges of the map still had land, but they were not the same. The center of the map said 'Unknown'. Pea thought this was odd, a world map with a blank spot?

As she strained her eyes to the islands, most of them had many borders, like different pieces of a land puzzle. The island her desert was on seemed tiny on the mid part of the Atlas. It was called Preon and was fairly close to an island called Equestria.

"Excuse me, C-Cosmo?" his unsettling presence made Pea feel...odd," There are still places not covered by the map, they just go off the edge...how will I know my way around if the map doesn't cover it?"

The unicorn chuckled," Oh Earth Pony, I doubt if your great grand-children would even get close to that map's edges."

Pea's eyes widened, this had to be the map she was looking for, Oza couldn't possibly need something that was on the edge of this map...right? Pea thanked the two strange ponies and headed back outside. As she left a few tough ponies walked back into the alley behind her. They passed dirty looks before she left.

Her mind was ablaze about the map she put in her pack. The crowd that had been such an annoyance before now had dissipated, everypony who worked at the steel mill was now in their respective place. The streets felt empty now and the shops that lined the street beckoned anypony that trekked the practically empty street. Pea went through the rural outskirts of the town and crossed the Beamville bridge. She now made it out of the town, "Hopefully for the last time",she thought.

She finally made it to where Oza was resting. She could tell his wounds got worse, they look like they had been cauterized. So Oza did know a thing or two about that 'medical' stuff...

"Oza? Hey bud, you alright?" Pea called.

"Oza fine, how did map hunting go?" the dragon asked.

Pea trotted up to Oza, excited to show him the map. She opened it before him and his eyes widened. It was if he could see more on it then she could and the dragon smiled. He pointed to a spot on the map close to the desert.

"We need to go there," he said flatly.

His wound was beginning to act up as they headed in the selected location. Oza held onto the map, trusting the odd scroll as a guide. By now they could barely see Beamville, the massive quarry next to it was only a lump on the horizon and the smoke stacks made their own little cloud trails.

Oza told Pea where they were heading,  past a farming area of sorts. There was a large town next to it called Neighxville. He needed to get to the desert, but chose this route to avoid trouble with the Roxites.  Pea thought that name was pretty silly but...she'd do anything and go anywhere for Oza. They chatted about the map and what could possibly be at the edges or even at the center.

Could there be some strange treasure or a utopian city in the center? Does the world have edges or was there more the map didn't show? Oza was quite entertained doing this, he never really looked at maps before and Pea did her best to show him what she knew of maps. The Atlas (as they now called it) didn't have a North-South orientation, instead it had a grid system starting from the Atlas' illusive center. Whatever was there was pretty important.

They were so engrossed in studying the mysterious map that they didn't even hear the faint 'raid sirens coming from the distant Beamville...

Inside the city’s chaotic streets ponies ran all directions from the onslaught. Flightless dragons rampaged as they saw fit; tearing down buildings or terrorizing the small defenseless citizens. Amongst the flames and ruined buildings two dragons stood far from the action atop a ledge of ruble. One was long and blue and the other was a massive, restless yellow beast.

“¿hola, el Jenja… hermoso no es él?

The blue dragon looked at Sidzo with disgust,“Speak normally Sidzo, I have no time for your games!”

“Jeez, calm down! Su bueno...so what are you here for, your majesty,” Sidzo spat.

Jenja turned her head to the yellow wall of a dragon,” I came here to tell you important information,” she looked back out at the city,”...Oza is still alive…”

Sidzo spun around and almost knocked her over. Jenja pulled back in surprise and Sidzo’s chest heaved with angry breath. His one beady orange eye glared at the snake-like dragoness.

“I already told the Boss he went missing,” he looked almost panicked,”...where did you see that slippery cavrone?”

Jenja regained her composure and waved Sidzo to keep his distance,” He is off ‘exploring’...with some pony,” She looked Sidzo straight in his one eye,” He would die for her, I don’t think he’s the same dragon I knew…”

Sidzo lumbered off the ledge slowly swishing his hook ended tail violently against random bits of rubble. He didn’t seem to care about the information about Oza, or simply didn’t show it. He went off to wreck havoc on what was left of the city and Jenja slunk away, back to her master.

To Be Continued...