Carmino

The crew of travelers were miles upon miles away from Neighxville. Pea and Oza lead the way over the progressively rocky country as Dew trudged behind. The Crew had crossed some regional borders and covered quiet a bit of land. Over the few days it took them, Dew slowly opened up to the idea of friends but kept to herself and rarely spoke, a 'thanks for the food' was most of it. She especially enjoyed it when they covered so much ground. This was partly because Oza had a tendency to sleep walk, so when the girls were tired, he hoisted them on his back with the supplies and simply kept going. This system did have a few errors though, he tripped sometimes, wakening all of them up. Other times he would go off course or even walk into rocks and cactus.

Once they entered the scrub desert Oza and Pea became more cautious of their campfires and their method of travel. They were deep in Roxite territory and they all knew it. Small skull shrines were scattered about along with charred earth. Dew was growing paranoid, she accepted Oza's assistance but didn't trust him. She as well as Pea had trouble with dragons in the past and didn't really want to be in the home territory of an extremely violent and organized pack of flightless dragons. The violent ones were always a problem...but the Roxites who had an adept magic ability are the ones to avoid. The Crew arrived at a worn down rock formation, that at one point was a cliff.

Oza began to rummage about the foliage in the area, looking for a blue cactus flower. Pea wanted to help but Oza told her to keep a watch for danger. Pea climbed to the highest point she could and Dew slowly followed her. Pea was on top of the worn down mesa and could see a good half-mile around them. Dew called down to Oza;

"Are you sure this is the only place that blue flower grows?"

"Oza is sure....how about ponies look up there?" the dragon called back.

Pea kept a vigil watch on the area, while Dew looked at the dry scrubby plants. None of them looked like they were alive. She leaned over to Pea, "So...why did you two save me? It's kinda funny, I tried to kill one of you, yet you almost get shot when you save me..." she giggled nervously,"T-thanks....Pea Gravel..."

Pea kept her eye to the horizon," Don't mention it Dew, Oza and I saw something wrong...didn't like it and...helped" Pea turned to the red pony,"Dew, what were you doing that got you tied up and beat?...You're not some criminal are you?"

Dew chuckled," N-no...I...I was Black's slave...he gave me the 'Berry' name after his. You know he wasn't so bad when he first bought me...he wasn't wonderful...but he wasn't bad..." Dew trailed off, her hoof was making little lines in the sand.

"Oh God, what happened," Pea blurted," When I saw him...hang on, he got real mean after he started JADE?"

Dew cocked her head to the side,"Whats that?"

"Its short for Jade Cactus Fruit. I saw him smoking some the night we got...freed you."

Dew's eyes swelled with tears," That's right...I'm...free now, aren't I?"

Pea put a hoof on her shoulder,"Yes, yes you are. But you need to answer my question..." Dew nodded.

"Yeah, I didn't know it at first, he always did it away from everypony...then once he found some others who did it, he got more and smoked it all the time...."

Dew tilted her ears back," I know this may sound kinda silly, but what does that stuff do? I know it makes ya angry or it can make you lazy...you seem to know a lot about it."

Pea took a deep breath," Well, you see...you start just smelling the dried fruits, when that isn't enough anymore ponies grind it to a flaky powder and smoke it, like Black is doing. But by that point you body becomes so addicted, it usually rejects everything else, and you want to eat it...one of two things will happen; either you die from the shit that's in the fruit...or you body will only want to eat it and you'll die of starvation 'cuz it doesn't fill your belly."

Dew had a blank face, she was processing everything that Pea had told her. Oza soon called up to them which surprised them both.

"Hey Ponies! Oza found flower!" Oza ate as the two came down from the hill.

Dew noticed something before they reached the foot of the cliff. She pointed to it, some sort of glare in the sun. The crew was curious and headed over to see, now feeling a little safer with Oza fully recovered. as they drew closer, Oza saw two large figures among several smaller ones. His eyes narrowed into slits.

"Pea...Roxites ahead...."

Dew and Pea stopped, unsure to go forward or run off. They heard screaming and guttural laughter form the site. Oza tread toward them, the mares following at a safe distance. They could fully see what was going on, There were two Roxite dragons and about a dozen ponies. The dragons weren't much older than Oza and seemed rather childish as they played with their food. Oza popped his knuckles.

He was about to jump in when he heard Pea whisper,"Oza...please don't kill them...you won't will you?"  Oza  grimly nodded.

The two dragons by now had seen Oza. The smaller, green one was already stretching up for a fight. The bigger one however,she still toyed with her captives as Oza came closer. The green one had his beak-like mouth cemented with an evil grin. The bigger one was maroon and bulky. Her horns were starting to grow out like a bull's. The green one stepped in circles around Oza.

"Well, well...lookie here Vox, we got that one dragon....Oza right?" his voice sounded crude and sly.

The maroon dragon finally put her 'food' down. She lifted herself on her back legs, now two heads taller than Oza. Her beady eyes glared at Oza as she went back to all-fours. Even at shoulder height she was practically his size. She came close to Oza and sniffed. She eyed him hungrily.

"You smell like food..." she craned her neck past Oza to see Dew and Pea. She licked her lips. Oza's arm snapped to Vox's horn and pulled her face to his. Her beady eyes shot wide open as she saw Oza's. The look in his eyes would cause weaker foes to turn on their heels and flee.

"They are not your problem," Oza spat," Oza is your problem now..."

Vox's tried to push Oza away, but in vain. He finally let go and she rose up to her full height again ready to smash him. Oza however, couched and jumped up. Vox didn't realize it until it was to late, Oza shot his powerful legs into what looked like a Roundhouse Kick straight into Vox's stomach. She wobbled clutching the now bruised spot and she tried to regain her footing. Oza kicked at her legs and her lumbering weight toppled onto the sandy ground. Oza's relentless assault was far from over. He pounded his fists at her ribs, even as she sprawed on the gound trying to block his attacks.

The green dragon saw Oza's friends as an advantage over him, and raced toward them. Dew screamed and Pea stood firm staring down the green dragon. He grabbed the two ponies and lifted them into the air, a triumphant grin on his crooked face. Dew shivered in fear be held by a dragon like this. Pea chuckled.

Dew spun her head," What the hell is wrong with you...he wants us dead...THIS DOESN'T SCARE YOU!?" The green dragon also wondered this.

Pea pointed at Oza," Nope, that dose though..."

Every one looked at Oza, Pea, Dew, Vox, the green dragon, and the ponies that may have been eaten. He stopped punching Vox and reared his head toward the green dragon. All of them saw the look in the Coral Dragon's eyes that was directed at his target. It was a look that would make even the most experienced warriors think twice about fighting. Oza's eyebrow twitched as he tried to speak but only gnarly, vicious sounds came out of his set of sharp teeth. Pea smirked as she looked up at the green dragon.

"Hey man, if you don't want to see what the color of your insides are....you might wanna put us down."

The Green dragon was petrified, so much so that Vox lumbered over (  who was still winded from Oza's kick ) to her companion. She gingerly placed Dew and Pea on the ground and dragged her companion away as fast as her legs could go. Oza's face slowly turned back to normal as Pea and Dew helped the ponies back on their feet. They were part of a caravan that got lost and went off course. The Roxites had busted their cart and injured a few, but no causalities.

Pea told them Oza would fix their cart and help them heal  once he calmed down. Some of the Settler ponies cringed as they say Oza sitting a few yards away with steam rolling out of his mouth. Lilac drool oozed out between his bared teeth and sizzled as it hit the dirt. He looked only slightly less on edge than moments ago.

The Settler Ponies' leader walked over to Pea," Yall came just in time, Ah was afraid sum of us would've meet the good Lord today...ah guess not eh?" He chuckled then leaned closer to Pea so the others couldn't hear," I'm sure as hell glad that feller over there is on 'ah side, not theirs...yall was bluffin' 'bout tha whole insidez 'ting...right?"

Pea smiled sweetly," Oh, Oza never kids around with that kinda stuff, I told that fella what would happen if Oza went easy on him."

The Settler tipped his hat as a 'thank-you' nervously and was about to leave. Oza was already placing runes on their cart to fortify it. It simply reassembled itself and Oza want on to healing the few injured ponies. He walked over to the ringleader who looked up at him timidly.

"Oza fixed cart and your friends," said Oza as he clapped the dust off his hands,"You can go now." He pointed to the fixed cart.

The settlers smiled nervously as they began their search for their caravan. Oza turned to Pea when they were out of earshot. He pulled out the Atlas and rolled it out on a nearby flat rock. Oza scratched his chin as he looked at it. He tilted his head.

"So Pea...You remember why Ponyville so important to you?"

Pea put a hoof to her temple as she racked her brain. She tried to remember why...

"Were you supposed to find somepony?" Dew asked and Pea's eyes shot open.

"I remember now! I'm supposed to look in Ponyville for somepony named Carmino!"

Oza and Dew seemed confused. Neither of them had heard of Ponyville or somepony named Carmino. They looked at each other, Pea knew they wanted answers but couldn't find the right way to say them. She passed back and forth, she shook her as she thought. Dew's eyes followed the grey mare and didn't really know what to do, so she sat down in Oza's shadow. After a minuet or two she looked back at her comrades. She tensed her muscles as she prepared to speak.

"Okay...when I was a kid, my Padre told me that if..." she sniffled,"...that if I ever lost him or m-mom...I needed to find the town of Ponyville...that's where Carmino lives." A few tears rolled down her soft face as she sat in Oza's shadow. The dragon twiddled his thumbs and Dew was the one who spoke up.

"I d-don't mean to pry, but...how did you lose your dad?" Dew could tell Pea was growing more and more upset. Oza snorted loudly, breaking the silence. Dew spun her head to Oza, his face was pretty close to how it was earlier....the red pony's skin began to crawl.

"Oza knows how..." he exhaled deeply, even in the uncomfortable heat of the desert, small waves of hotter air flowed out of the dragon's mouth. He closed his eyes, "...the dragon named Borox. He did it."

Dew's eyes shot open, how could she get mixed up with somepony who Borox was after?! She had heard stories about that monster from Black's smoking buddies. They only spoke in hushed whispers about that thing. Borox was know through out the land and had many titles; The Red Terror, The Crimson Bastard, Devil of the Desert,  and Master to all of the Roxites. Dew scrambled to her feet and looked at her new friends or maybe they weren't...

"Now hang on...you're telling me that Borox is after YOU?" Pea nodded her heads firmly. Dew scooted back shocked by her situation. She didn't really know how to take the fact that they were being hunted by the biggest and strongest Roxite. She dug her hooves into the loose dirt, she thought long and hard about what to do.

She could stay with these two, but they were nothing but trouble. If Dew left them and went on her own, she might end up as a slave again. She didn't even know where she would go. Her thoughts trailed back to were she was from...Dew didn't want to be alone anymore. She walked between Pea and Oza who were sulking. The red pony reached both of her companions in toward her. Pea smiled weakly and Oza sniffled. Dew giggled as she nestled in the center of the group hug.

"Alright you two, looks like I'm gonna stay with you...but you two need to be less reckless!" Dew chirped. Oza reached his scaled arms around the two mares and hugged them a little tightly.

"So...Dew trusts Oza and Pea now?" Oza's eyes were bright," Are we friends now?"

Dew was about to answer but looked at Pea with a loving expression. Pea smirked and wriggled out of the group hug. She went over to the map and rolled it up, she spoke with her back turned," Yeah...I guess we are huh?"

Dew and Oza sighed with relief. The crew turned back to the low mesa they had been at earlier to set up camp. The sun had begun to set when they arrived. Oza made the fire as usual, Pea studied the map some more and Dew rummaged through the food stock. Even though the three looked busy, each were lost in a mist of uncomfortable memories...Dew glanced up and walked over to Pea. She saw something on the map that looked familiar...

Dew pointed to a spot on the map," Hey Pea, back home my mom told me about a  massive library. It was part of some big castle for an Alicorn...that spot on the map looks like the area that she described." Pea looked at the spot. It was mountainous and fairly far south...it was actually near the coast. Pea looked up at Dew. Dew smiled sheepishly.

"Whats at the library, bud?" Pea asked.

"W-well...you need to find a town that isn't on our map...that library is ancient ,Pea. The kingdom its a part of...I don't remember the name but it had relations with countries far across the ocean. It probably knew about lots of things...we should check it out. From what she told me, it fell a hundred years ago or something, there probably isn't much there besides the Library."

Pea was delighted at how helpful Dew had become, she looked to the dragon. Oza rolled his eyes.

"More walking?" he groaned.

TO BE CONTINUED