Shadow Wing—named Mistress of the Night Skies by the Great Eyrie of the griffons for her black scales, The Wings of Ruin by the settler ponies of the northern plains for devouring their crops year after year, and High Terror of the Seas for her carrying off entire merchant ships to build her hoard—focused her eye on the old earth stallion standing under her. “You want what?”
He pointed off to the side, where the arrangement of stones circled around to follow the ledge she had built her nest on. “I’d like that there boulder, if you’d be so kind, Your Grand Scaliness.”
That’s a new one. “And who are you again?”
The stallion pulled his raggedy hat off his graying mane and held it to his chest. “Name’s Holder, ma’am. Got my family working a rock farm down the range, and I reckon your boulder would make a fine piece to our homestead.”
She sniffed, catching the scent of dust and rubble about the pony rather than the smell of polished metal of weapons and armor, nor did she detect the sweaty, musky aroma of more ponies outside her cave. “You came here alone? Unarmed?”
“Got some pick-axes down on the farm, but my boys needed them to do the mining. Would they have helped?”
Shadow Wing lowered her head next to the pony—barely standing as tall as her nostrils. She huffed, and the hot air from her lungs blasted into the stallion’s face.
“Guess not,” he said, whipping his hat back and forth to dispel the smell.
“Go back to your home, foolish pony. There is nothing for you here.”
“‘Course there is. You got that handsome boulder.”
She huffed again, this time blowing a thick cloud of black smoke. “Go back, I said! I’ve devoured ponies for less an insult that demanding something of my hoard!”
Holder’s coughs backed away until the cloud dissipated, and he removed the hat from over his muzzle. “Do you actually keep your hoard up there? Settlers in the valley said you were just hatching your young’uns.”
Shadow Wing slammed a fist to the cavern floor.
“A-apologies ma’am. Not helping.” His hat returned to his chest. “Honest to Goodness, all I want is the boulder. Don’t care about your gold or jewels, ‘cause we’ll find plenty, I’m sure.” He offered a smile. “Nothing wrong doing things to right way, huh?”
She raised a claw. “Choose your words carefully.”
“What? I’m just saying we’ll do things the honest way. Ain’t gotta resort to dirty play by stealing something when you can dig it out of the ground yourself. Nobody likes a thief.”
“A thief, am I? You climb my mountain, come into my cave, and have the nerve to offer insults at the very foot of my nest?” Shadow Wing narrowed her eyes to slits, sure that he could see the fire in them that she felt building inside herself. “All so you could demand I give you something I gathered together with my own claws, and call me the thief! You have sorely misjudged your place, pony!”
He paled, if that was even possible under that disgusting layer of hair.
She smiled, and black smoke billowed through her teeth. “Run, pony! Give me some sport!”
“H-how ‘bout I give you a diamond?” He tore off the bags hanging over his back, and an enormous jewel rolled out of one. “Diamond for a boulder! Even trade! Don’t kill me!”
The fire in her belly faded at the sight. She looked back to him, then the diamond again. “A bargain? You might have opened with that instead.”
A nervous chuckle escaped him. “Coulda, woulda, shoulda. There’s my offer, all the same. What do you say?”
She lowered her head to sniff at the jewel. “It’s raw.”
“Straight outta the ground last week! Never touched or cut or even seen by anypony but me and the family! And you now, I suppose.”
“And you think that’s a good thing?” She picked up the jewel and studied it. “It’s real. I can tell that, but it’s not like I can send it off to get prettied up by your jewelers.”
He shuffled his hooves. “Um... we could—”
She rapped a claw on the cavern floor. A diamond was a diamond, but there was something more to this pony. The second bag did not escape her notice. “I accept your offer. A diamond for your life.”
“Wait, what? That wasn’t—”
“‘Don’t kill me,’ you said.” She reached into her nest and put the diamond next to her eggs. “I accept your offering as an apology for your insults. I won’t kill you, but the boulder stays here.”
He scratched his chin, a glint in his eye. “Well, how about a second deal? A sapphire for the boulder.”
“I don’t see a sapphire. Don’t offer what you don’t have, little one.”
He grinned and tipped over the other bag. A brilliant blue stone, even bigger than the diamond, rolled out. “How ‘bout now?”
She stretched out a claw, but he rolled the stone back with his hoof. Quick learner. “Do you honestly expect me to accept a deal without checking out your side of it?”
He smirked. “Do you think you can’t burn my farm to the ground if I cheat you?”
“Bold, little pony.”
“It’s Holder, ma’am.”
Shadow Wing bared her fangs in a grin. “Holder. It was the egg-shaped one you wanted, yes?” He nodded, and she took hold of the stone, plopping it down next to him. “I don’t suppose you have another jewel to pay for delivery? This thing’s about ten of you.”
“No thank you, ma’am. I’m good.” He rolled the sapphire over, and put the bags back on his back. With a great huff, he set his forehooves on his prize, and rolled it towards the cavern entrance.
Her jaw dropped for a heartbeat until she caught herself. “Are you sure you’re a pony?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Holder trotted after it, shoving it two more times until it was clear of the cave. He stopped in his tracks before he slipped out of her sight, and turned back, bowing deeply. “Congratulations on your new family.”
Shadow Wing watched him go. Fool. One of the smarter fools, but a fool all the same. She put the sapphire in her nest, and blew a stream of air over her eggs to warm them up. “I hope you were paying attention in there. That’s how you use leverage to get something for nothing.”
Outside, Holder laughed to himself as he chased his new boulder down the trail. “Got dozens of those things back on the farm! Ain’t got one rock this size ‘till now! Not one! Ol’ Holder, you rooked her!”
