Luna’s cold gaze could have broken a dragon’s will just by looking straight at the mare’s eyes, but the cold gaze did not work on a certain griffon who was the mayor of a town, and friend of the Hunter. She knew that the mayor of this town was in on this plan that Cazador had. However, she cannot prove it other than believe he was part of the plan.

Crow stared back at the princess, not afraid of her gaze and her presence as she was not much of a threat to him on these lands. Cazador had told him that the princess would not be happy or pleased knowing that she was just a ride for the batpony family, she would be enraged from discovering that. Although being in the presence of the being who could move the moon, Crow carelessly and spoke without fear or shudder in his voice.

“Princess Luna, what reason would you have to be here? I was not told of your arrival or else I would have this place more “royalty” for you.” He gestured the room around them is a bit of a mess thanks to his nieces playing in his office, but it didn’t matter to him if his office had some toys in a corner or around the room. “You wouldn’t have to worry about stepping on a toy that could cause you some harm.”

“The condition of this room does not matter to me nor does it bother me, you do not have to worry about cleaning this room for me or have it readied to be special. I did not come here for a meeting and long talk with you, Mayor. I came here to guide my subjects to see the Hunter.” Luna could tell that the old griffon did not care for her reasons as he knew the true reason why she was here. She knew that the Hunter was not here, but she did not tell Twilight and the others that. If the group learned about Cazador participating in a war between ponies and canines then Twilight would want to go there, she cannot let that happen.

“Hmm, so you are just a caretaker for the seven ponies outside this office. To place yourself in that role must show how much your subjects have started to be less dependant on themselves and more dependant on others. I guess the old days of when ponies were worried about attacks and had trained soldiers ready for a fight are gone since you and your sister are now baby sisters for millions of ponies in Equestria.” Saying this to royalty would have offended the people of that ruler and enraged them, but Crow knows that he can say that as he was not in Equestria, and he was trying to get under the princess’ skin like a tick.

Luna looked unpleased and sighed, he was right about them placing themselves in that role of being a babysitter for her subject who did not have to rely much on the sisters. The old days was something that she missed and wished that some of the traditions were still present on these days. Her subjects were barely much of what they were and now rely on something that would embarrass their great ancestors. If only she could bring a few of the old traditions back to the presents, but the nobles would shoot it down.

“I would like to request an escort through the forest to the Hunter’s home. My sister’s and mine subjects are here to help take care of the dragoness at his home, she has a terrible fever if I remember what my sister had written down on the scroll correctly.” She wanted to get this conversation done and over with so she would not have to deal with more of the griffon’s talk.

“Sadly I cannot give you a group of hunters to escort you and your subjects through the forest right now. My hunters are all busy with a contest of the biggest catch by a river nearby this town, and those who are not participating are either hunting, on patrol, or spending time with their family. I would prefer not to force anygriff away from their loved ones or their duty. You and the other would have to wait until tomorrow when some of my hunters get back from the contest, I hope you would understand about why I do not want to pull anyone from their own personal activities.” Crow rest his head on talon and gave Luna a “serious” look, but Luna knew that he was doing this on purpose and that he can have her, the main six, and Sketch Note escorted to Cazador’s home. She could not force the griffon to give them an escort or have a talk with the king as it would take more hours to do so. All she can really do was wait for a whole day then ask again.

In one of the mansion’s guest bedrooms, Pinkie Pie bounced happily around the room and onto beds (that were not occupied by somepony) as everypony in the room were minding their own business and talking among themselves. Luna had told them that they would have to wait for a day until a group of griffons is available to escort them, so they had a whole day to explore the town or rest. The mayor was kind enough to give them shelter and an unoccupied room for them all to stay in, so they did not have to worry about finding a motel to stay at.

While everypony was talking among themselves, Sketch Note walked out of the room to the mansion’s entrance room. He didn’t want to be in the room full of mares as it felt kind of awkward for the only male in there, so he thought having a walk around the town would help make the time go faster. A silly thought to have but exploring the town is better than being in that room, and he also wants to explore this town to see what kind of things he could see.

The young stallion walked through the streets of Griff Glade, seeing it a bit busy with griffons and rare few other species from other lands he felt like he could lose somebody in these crowds. Luckily he was alone so he did not have to worry about losing someone among these crowds. Walking among the crowd he spotted a store that sold various paintings, they caught the stallion’s attention and drawn him closer to them. Some of the paintings showed many types of prey being in battles with their predators, the others were various landscapes or unique environments that would look like they were real.

Before the Sketch Note could go in the shop, a tall figure wearing black stepped out of a building near the painting shop. He couldn’t believe what he has seen, his eyes must have been deceiving him but when he shook his head the tall clothed figure was there. The Hunter was next to him, standing at the doorway of a boutique wearing new clothes that were different from Sketch’s drawing. The young stallion’s heart was racing as this was the first ever chance he had to see a creature hated by many, but was a hero to some. Sketch took in every detail the Hunter was wearing before he noticed something different about him. He had wings and a tail, not feather wings but leather and scaly wings as well his tail! Shaking his head and blinking a few times too, Sketch’s eyes were not deceiving him again. How could the Hunter have wings and tail?

For a few seconds, Sketch walked to the “Hunter” and tapped the side of his leg, gaining his attention. However, when he turned around to face Sketch, the young stallion was surprised to see that who he had guessed was the Hunter was not actually him. In front of him was a dragoness staring down at him with a raised scaley eyebrow, confused as to why Sketch tapped her leg. Embarrassed and surprised, Sketch shyly smiles and rub the back of his head with a hoof.

“S-sorry, I thought you were someone that I know of. I didn’t mean to disturb you from what you were doing.” Walking away and entering the building, to avoid an awkward conversation from confusing her as the Hunter.

Sketch should have known that the Hunter didn’t have wings because he drew a drawing of what he looks like, meaning he has seen what Equestria’s hero completely looks like, yet he believed that the dragoness outside was him. A dumb mistake on appearance, and it was obvious too, he made. Luckily no one around him knew what he was thinking and believed what he thought was the Hunter wasn’t him. He didn’t have to worry about that embarrassing moment since no one can bring it up.

Sighing to himself in relief, Sketch went looking around the room. The paintings in this room were amazing as they had very fine details of the environment or creature drawn on the canvases. Whoever was the artist of these paintings did well in making sure that each painting was unique in their own ways that would draw in the attention of those who look at them. When Sketch’s eyes landed on a particular painting colored in black and white of two different creatures, his first guess at seeing a dragon and wolf chasing each other tails was that they were in a constant cycle of attacking each other. However, when he looked closely next to the tails there, he saw that by the wolf’s tail was the sun and by the dragon’s tail was the moon. The second guessed I had was that they were chasing the moon and sun working together because of their advantages on this chase. Seeing the dragon go after the sun made Sketch guess some more on useless information about what the painting means: its scales were resistant to the extreme heat, its body was able to handle the harsh environment like a desert and still live through it, its own breath could be any type of element, the wings it has could help with its chase after the sun.

Sketch looked at the moon and the wolf, the list of the wolf’s advantage and how it could get the moon. Its gift of being a carnivore and predator gave it the advantage of being a pack hunter, but this wolf seemed to be a pack with the dragon. The experience of past hunts gives it the chance to catch the moon, hunting in a pack or hunting alone for survival. Its eyes could have the chance of finding it in complete darkness or its nose could sniff it out. The fangs it has are sharp and dangerous, but the agile body it has could help it get the chance for biting the throat.

As the young stallion continued to stare at the painting with interest, he did not notice that the owner of the art shop was next to him staring as well. When the old griffon cleared his throat, Sketch jumped in surprised and looked at the griffon.

“O-oh, sorry sir if I was loitering here,” He said worrying that the griffon may have enough of him being in his shop. That was not the case though, the griffon shook his head and looked at the drawing.

“Kid, do you have any guesses what this painting represents, and why it was painted?” The griffon asked, not even sparing a glance at Sketch. He knew that the young stallion did not know what the painting meant, but he wanted to hear what guesses he had.

“Hmm, from the two guesses I had earlier before you arrived, one of them was about the wolf and dragon chasing after each other like they were on a constant hunt to take one another life as a cruel rivalry between siblings.” Sketch took in a breath and breathed out before continuing. “But when I saw the sun and moon I rethought about my first guess, they are both after the sun and moon behind each other. The wolf is hunting the moon that follows the dragon’s tail as the dragon is doing the same thing for the wolf, but it’s the sun than the moon. Both seemed to be after what they have an advantage against. As for example, the dragon’s scales and cold blood can help them survive harsh heat, better than the wolf’s fur, giving them the perfect chance to withstand the sun’s heat. Its body size is intimidating when you have seen an actual dragon and know what they look like, the size of their teeth, claws, and even their fire breath. All of these are what makes them intimidating. The wolf on the other claw is completely different with its own advantage against the moon. Its eyes can adjust to the dark, sense of smell is stronger than most of their descendants of canines, they are excellent hunters whether they are in a pack or alone, and they were once the main breed in the Diamond Dogs Ancestors. I don’t know much about wolves other than what I have guessed.”

The old griffon slightly smirked and pointed at the wolf. He told Sketch that he was correct on how they were chasing the sun and moon, but he also told him how their appearance and advantages they had over the two things they are chasing. However, it was interesting to hear that the dragon was chasing down a star and the wolf chasing the moon. He began to tell the young stallion a story, a story that was forgotten and replaced by the two princesses of Equestria.

The story involved two separate species that lived far apart from each other. In the far south on a frozen wasteland was a female wolf name Shatil, and in the scorching heat and land of fire far north and in the far east of Equestria was the land of dragons where Haith a male dragon who was in line to become the next Dragon Emperor. Both did not know one another existence, but it was a chance that brought both of them together.

Haith was an ordinary golden scaled dragon with a red crest and under scales, being a size of a two-story house when standing up on his hind paws. He was considered the fourth strongest dragon in their history that could face a dragon Emperor by himself. However, he was the son of the Dragon Emperor at the time and he held no interest in calling his father Emperor nor dad. Instead, he called his father by his name.

Around the time their neighbors of minotaurs, Lizardmen, and Cat people were growing restless of the dragon’s presence and wanted them gone. Of course, the dragons knew that they were not welcome to their neighboring lands of many different types of tribes who said that the dragon kind was nothing but savages and war hungry scaled fire breathing beasts. Many dragons wanted to show their strength and frighten their neighbors if they decided to attack them then they should know what they were dealing with.

For a few years, some dragons would fly off and raid towns and castles, but a rare number of those few were slain. Everyone in the old days knew that if you slay a dragon you are declaring yourself to be challenged by any type of dragon around your area. Only the mightest and bravest creatures dared to slay a dragon and call themselves a challenger to the huge beasts.

Haith did not like how some of those creatures mocked his kind of how easy they were to kill or how they were not smart. When he had heard that his friend was slain by another dragonslayer, he could not handle the death of another dragon anymore. He sought out this dragonslayer, who was responsible for killing his friend, to challenge them, but he did not expect to himself to be facing someone unknown from his land.

Haith had announced his challenge to avenge his friend’s death and face the slayer who stained their weapons with the blood of his friend, his announcement was in the swamps where the Lizardmen lives and where the slayer resided at. Everyone in that region had heard the dragon’s announcement, some had come to his call and called him out that they were the ones who killed his friend, but they could not fool him as he smelled no blood on their weapons or on their clothes. He refused their words of challenging him and waited for the one who stained their weapon in the blood of his friend. With confused and angered dragonslayers, Haith began to think that the one who killed his friend would not show up, but a slender and hooded figure walked towards Haith.

Everyone’s eyes were on this approaching, some of the slayers were whispering on who was the creature that approaches the dragon and was they the one who had slain his friend, but others did not care of this slayer as they believed that they were not the ones who killed this dragon’s friend. However, when the dragon took a sniff in the air, he could smell his friend’s blood on the creature approaching. The snarl he made caused every slayer around to jump and look at him before looking at the hooded creature. Who was this creature that accepted the dragon’s challenge, do they honor his challenge or do they plan on letting the other slayers help them take down this best? Soon the hooded creature stood in front of Haith.

“You arrived here and dared to accept my challenge slayer!?” He roared at the figure and glared down at them, the size difference could easily be seen as Haith was obviously taller than the creature who only reached up to his stomach. Without saying anything the creature reached in their cloaked and pulled out a sheathed blade, its bone-white colors made a rare few slayers around to be disturb from what the hooded being was holding.

“Yes, but I always arrived here to honor your friend’s wish, Haith.” She said her voice was soft and smooth as she pulled off her hood with one hand to reveal her face. She was a wolf bigger than an average male wolf height, her white fur showed no other color and her eyes were a soft blue. Everyone around was no surprise that a female had defeated a dragon, but some of them were sweating from an eerie aura radiating off of her that others could not see.

“Honor,” Haith said in a confused tone as he looked down at the weapon in the wolf’s hand to see a named carved into, the name of his friend. Haith clenched his fists and struck the ground between them, creating a small crater and cracks around it. “If you showed honor then you would fight me and not present me a gift of my friend’s remains!”

“I cannot fight you as you have done nothing wrong to give me a reason to fight against you. Your friend gave me a reason to find him and defeat him as he threatens a village that he would burn it down if they do not move to another part of the land. What gave him the reason to threaten a village whose generations of the family originated in that village? Do all dragons wish to be greedy and commit a sin that would consume their souls?” The wolf asked, there was a hint of anger and sadness in her voice as she stared down at Haith’s paws. The other slayers slightly mocked her and laughed, but a rare few stayed silent.

Haith stared down at the wolf with hate in his eyes, but he was not deaf to hear her voice. He began to think about what to do at this moment. Should he take this moment to avenge his fallen friend from this slayer and refuse her apology or should he accept her apology and take the weapon that was crafted out of his friend’s bones and scales? Before he had the chance to say anything of his decision, one of the slayers broke out from the small crowd and yelled at the wolf.

“Lady you are pretty dumb and pathetic to just arrive here and ask for forgiveness to a dragon who’s a friend you killed. If you think that thing would just accept your forgiveness then you are wrong. You won’t leave without having a scar to remind you of it.” Haith looked at the dragonslayer who dared speak out without any reason before looking back at the wolf. He could see it in her eyes that she was not pleased to hear the slayer say that, but he could also see something more than that.

With a sigh, Haith knelt down in front of the wolf and held out his claws. Avenging his fallen friend may be something that other dragons would want him to do, but if it was some other dragon in his place they would be consumed by rage. The wolf looked up at him and handed him the weaponed, however, before the sheath even touches his claws she spoke to him.

“I would like to be your servant, so I could forgive myself of slaying your friend.” Everyone around, including Haith, were all stumped to hear such a sudden request. The dragon himself could not find a way to answer that as his mind was suddenly all foggy with confusion and...fantasies?

“No, I must not think like that!” Shaking his head and looking down at the wolf, he took in her appearance to see that she was only equipped with a bow, quiver, few arrows, and a dagger. She was equipped with a weapon that could kill a dragon, but the dagger would not do much unless she aims for the eyes or softer parts of a dragon’s body. Her slim figure could be seen under a hooded cloak, hidden under her leather armor was a body that could make a male go crazy over as she was a perfect figure of a female, her armor showed how big her breasts were and wide her hips are, but her claws would scare away those if they saw her as their predator.

It was easy for the dragon to be distracted by the wolf’s body, but he managed to keep his mind focus on the matter. Why would a wolf like her ask for such a humiliating thing that only a maid would to someone who’s rich and able to take care of them? Yet this wolf just asked him to be his servant, so she could forgive herself of killing his friend. How would this wolf forgive herself if she knows that the dragon she killed could never come back alive, she could have just said nothing and let Haith take his friend’s remain and left but she asked to be his servant nonetheless?

“Very well,” Those words that left Haith’s mouth caused him to panic inside and question himself on why he did that! The wolf smiled at him and started to walk closer to him, but before she could be by his side one of the dragonslayers stepped out of the crowd. This creature that stepped out from the crowd was a cat-morpth equipped well equip with his kin’s weaponry and armor.

“A servant!? You wanted to be a servant for a race that is nothing but monsters that burned down towns and cities, slaughtered hundreds of innocents!? What kind of Dragonslayer are you!?” Every slayer around roared in agreement and demanded questions of what kind of slayer was the wolf. Haith did not like the sight of everyone demanding a single being of their reasons, even though she said already said her reason of why she wanted to be his servant. Before Haith could roar at the crowd, an arrow pierced the skull of the cat-morph and caused his lifeless corpse to fall on its back.

“I said my reasons loud and clear, for those who did not hear or bothered to ignore what I said I will repeat it again. I would like to be the dragon’s servant, so I could forgive myself for killing his friend! Get those words through all your thick skulls and let it sink in your memories!” The wolf roared at the crowd as she turned around. Haith was both amazed and surprised at the wolf’s voice and her courage to just kill the cat without any warnings.

When the wolf stood by Haith’s side, the dragon hesitated at first to try something, but he managed to build up his courage and pick up the wolf in his arm. He made sure that he was careful not to crush her ribs in his arm before taking flight.

“And then uhh...I forgot the rest.” The old griffon said as he looked at Sketch to see him staring at the painting.

“The story sounds like it was back before Equestria even was formed, when all three tribes of ponies still dislike each other. Before the alicorns helped unite all of them.” Sighing Sketch looked at the griffon and reached in his pouch, pulling out three bits. “Thank you for your time and your story sir.”

Author's Note

Sorry that this took me so long. The school has been a pain in the butt and I have been focusing on my work of drawing in my class and my school work. However, I will try making this up to you guys when I get a large amount of free time. However, I would have to see that this week I won't be writing because of school. Until I get time I will be focusing on myself for now. If you want to see what I am up to then I'll have a link to my deviant art on my profile as I post my drawings on there and haven't made a journal, but I will for updates.