Author's Note
THIS IS YOUR LAST SPOILER WARNING. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE SIXTH WINGS OF FIRE BOOK, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. That is all. Enjoy :)
Chapter 1
Sleep was a long time coming for Starflight.
With almost the entire Jade Winglet's disappearance, and the attempt at his life and those of his friends from Icicle only a few days prior, his mind was heavy. He spent hours before he drifted off into sleep thinking about the future of their school, about the safety of his friends (especially Sunny and Fatespeaker), and of the only remaining member of the Jade Winglet, Prince Turtle. When he had helped assign the winglets, he thought about how similar those dragons were to his friends, aside from Carnelian and Kinkajou. He couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before Turtle disappeared too, off to join his friends on whatever adventure they had left for.
Despite all of these thoughts, he eventually found sleep. Since being blinded, his other senses had been honed so finely he recognized the changes in his breathing and the relaxation of his muscles just as he drifted off. He had also become a very conscious dreamer, as it was the only time he could find peace from all of the stress he was under.
As soon as he realized he was dreaming, Starflight found himself in an odd place. He hadn't quite forgotten how to see in his dreams, so he glanced around, taking in all the colors and shapes of his surroundings.
He was laying down on a thick carpet in a massive, circular room. The walls and floor appeared to be made of some kind of blue and pink crystal, though Starflight didn't recognize it. There was a flat, medium-sized, perfectly smooth, blue table in the middle of the room with six chairs too small to sit in, and one chair FAR too small to sit in. Windows lined the room, and large double-doors stood on one side. Bright light was cast down on the room by a giant light fixture that looked like the roots of an old tree, covered all over in small gems of various colors.
Things looked... different, however. Since Starflight had been blind, his dreams had slowly but surely lost their touch of reality. Colors weren't always right, shapes didn't always form, and things didn't look how he remembered. Casual objects seemed to change in his dreams after not seeing them for so long.
But all of this? It all looked real. Like he was really seeing again. His heart grew warm with joy as the realization struck him, only to immediately go cold again as he realized he must still be dreaming; that this was only his imagination, and his eyes were still just as damaged.
Starflight sighed and stood up, stretching his wings and legs liberally and popping his neck a few times. That's strange, he thought. I don't remember having tense muscles in my dreams. He shook off the oddity and decided to explore.
He opened the doors in the room and stepped out into a long hallway full of other doors. He ignored them, however, hoping to find a way out of wherever he was. The air felt stuffy and thick, and his lungs yearned for fresh air.
A few more hallways and offshoot rooms later, and he stumbled upon another set of double-doors. He pushed them open, causing a loud creek to echo through the halls. His jaw dropped when he saw what was on the other side.
Starflight seemed to have found his way into a library. Shelves and shelves of books filled the room and covered the walls, and scrolls of all sizes spilled out of slots in the walls. Starflight was sure his heart had stopped, and he pounded his chest forcefully to make sure he was still alive. He took a few slow steps into the room, slowly absorbing the smell of old pages and the sight of leather-bound tomes.
He also smelled something else. Something alive. He heard a voice from somewhere past the aisles and aisles of books as well. "Hello? Is someone there?" The voice sounded female. A bookish sort, by the sounds of it. Someone I can relate to, thought Starflight as he sighed happily.
"My name is Starflight," he said as he started walking by the books, looking for the source of the voice. "I hope I'm not intruding. This library is amazing."
Starflight heard shuffling from around one of the corners, and then the sound of hooves striking the floor. That's strange. I could've sworn I heard another dragon. He picked up the pace as his curiosity grew, and he hurried to the end of the shelves. When he passed around to the other side, he found a small table surrounded by a bunch of cushions. Sitting at the table was what appeared to be a purple horse with wings and a horn, staring at him curiously.
"Excuse me?" she asked. It took Starflight a moment to register she was talking and that he could understand her. "What are you doing in the castle?"
"This is a castle?" asked Starflight. He took an unconscious step back into the safety of the shelves.
"Yeeeees," said the horse slowly. "What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night."
Starflight felt pressured to think up an excuse. Even though he was dreaming, something compelled him to act rationally. "I don't know. I was just..." His sentence escaped him when he saw a small, blue crystal hovering in the air next to the horse, surrounded by some kind of purple aura.
A dream visitor.
"T-the, the-" stammered Starflight.
The horse seemed to realize what he was staring at, and she said, "Why are you staring at it? Do you know what this is?"
"That's a dream visitor," said Starflight, dropping all pretenses and taking a few steps toward her. "But how could a horse be visiting me? I didn't think they were smart enough." The horse gave an indignant huff. "And I've never seen you before. Clearly, you must have seen me at some point, but I can't imagine anything like you," he added, gesturing toward her with a wing as he sat across from her at the table.
"For your information, I am not a horse. I am a pony," she said, an irritated look on her face. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, actually. And did you say dream visitor? I've been reading up on magical crystals all night, but I can't find any information on something like this. It looks like any old enchanted gemstone."
Starflight jumped up in alarm. He bowed immediately and said, "My apologies, your majesty."
He heard the princess try to suppress a chuckle and she said, "It's alright. At ease."
He dared to look up and found the pony smiling at him. "Well, I think it's a dream visitor," said Starflight as he relaxed back into place. "It looks exactly like the one I found in the Nightwing kingdom, but then there's that weird purple glow to it. The one I had didn't do that."
The pony named Twilight Sparkle eyed the crystal and it swayed around her as she examined it. Animus magic? thought Starflight. No, that's silly.
"You must mean my magic," said the pony, eyeballing the dream visitor as it floated near the table.
Okay, maybe she does have some magic. Is there such a thing as an animus pony?" thought Starflight.
"Did you say Nightwing kingdom? I've never heard of a place like that. Come to think of it, I've never seen a dragon that looks quite like you either," said Princess Twilight.
"Never heard of it?" asked Starflight. "But it's legendary! Every dragon knows about the hidden kingdom of the Nightwings." Starflight realized what he'd just said a moment too late.
"I'm clearly not a dragon," said Princess Twilight. "I don't exactly have leathery wings and fire breath. And if everyone knows about it, it must not be very well hidden."
The pony's comment about their racial disparities seemed to remind him of the situation. "Hold on," said Starflight. "This doesn't make any sense. How can a pony talk? Why do you have wings and a horn? Why do you have magic? And how do you have a dream visitor? Sunny has one, and I know Queen Scarlet has the other, but the third one must have been lost on the island when the volcano erupted." He wasn't aware of himself, but Starflight was speaking as if this Princess Twilight should know what happened.
"Volcano erupting?!" asked Princess Twilight, alarmed. She stopped and added, "Slow down. Why don't you get some sleep and we'll talk more in the morning, okay? This castle has plenty of rooms. I'm sure I've got one set up as a guest room already."
The prospect of a deeper sleep sounded good to Starflight, and he said, "That would be wonderful. I haven't slept straight in days." He didn't care that he was already technically asleep. The deeper he could go, the better he was sure he would feel when he truly woke up. At least, he hoped that was the case.
Princess Twilight stood up and led him back through the library toward the door he had come in. He felt clumsy as exhaustion clung to his scales, and he tipped a couple piles of books over with his tail as he walked by. He had considered apologizing, but Princess Twilight either hadn't noticed or didn't seem to care.
They left the library and began walking down the winding halls of the castle. Starflight got the impression that the castle must have been huge with how the halls seemed to be laid out, though he couldn't be sure thanks to how tired he was. Before long, Princess Twilight stopped in front of a door just large enough for Starflight to squeeze through. She led him in and he found himself in a basic guest room with a shelf of books against one wall, a desk with an ink well and rolls of paper against another, and a bed just large enough for him to sleep comfortably in.
"I'm sorry it's not much," said Princess Twilight, "but hopefully you'll sleep okay. Feel free to read the books on the shelves if you'd like. I'll come see you in the morning, okay?" she finished.
"Yes, your majesty," said Starflight with a respectful dip of his head. That earned another chuckle from Princess Twilight, and she departed with a wave.
As soon as she was gone, Starflight sighed. He grabbed a book off of the shelf against the wall and got into bed, throwing the blankets over himself as best as he could and trying to relax.
Reading before bed used to be his favorite pastime when he lived with his friends under Jade Mountain. He'd be curled up in his part of the cave, rereading time and time again his favorite scrolls until he had them memorized. Webs would try to get him something new every now and again, but Starflight could never be sure when the next one would come, or when he would upset Kestrel enough in battle training to warrant her burning one of them out of frustration.
He was surprised to open up the book he had chosen and find the writing legible. He hadn't expected to be able to understand what any of the words said, but the book seemed to be written in the same language as his scrolls in the waking world. Convenient, he thought. The book seemed to be some kind of adventure story about a heroic pony who ventured off into the badlands and slayed an evil dragon. The death scene made Starflight cringe as he remembered the gruesome deaths he'd witnessed both in Scarlet's arena and during his journey as a whole. The writer clearly meant for it to be a triumphant moment, but reading it still made Starflight's chest ache, as if the spear the pony wielded was buried in his heart.
Just as he finished reading the last page, he nodded off, expecting to slip into a deeper sleep. Instead, he heard the voice of Fatespeaker and a talon nudging his shoulder. "Time to wake up, Starflight," she said. Starflight opened his eyes to darkness. It was different from having his eyes closed in a dream. He knew he was blind once more.
Starflight sighed and tried to stand up. He felt Fatespeaker's touch fade, and he inwardly winced. It took him a moment to steady his talons on the bedding he was on, but he got a grip and stepped off of it. "What time is it?" he asked.
"A little past sunrise," said Fatespeaker. "Remember? You have a morning class today?"
Panic struck Starflight. "Uh-oh," he said as he stumbled through his cave. He let his tail find one of the walls and he followed it to the door. "Are the students waiting?" he asked as he stepped through into a hallway.
"Not yet," said Fatespeaker as she stepped up beside him, wrapping her tail around his and guiding him. "Most of the them are at breakfast, but they're bound to finish soon." Starflight briefly flicked his tongue out. He could smell fresh meat and fruit coming from the mess hall, even from a ways off. He could also make out a few voices in the tunnel ahead, and they warmed his heart.
"Come on, Clay," begged Tsunami from the tunnel ahead of them. "These dragonets need SOME kind of combat training. Not all of them were old enough to be soldiers for the war. What if Scarlet attacks us head on?"
"We can't," said Clay warmly but firmly. "This school is about peace, not training to fight. We'll fix this world through knowledge. Isn't that right, Starflight?"
Clay must have noticed the two nightwings, and Starflight responded, "Exactly." He thought he heard Tsunami mutter something under her breath, but it was too quiet even for him to hear.
"Morning, Starflight. Fatespeaker," said Clay. Starflight felt the mudwing's wing brush his as they walked by. "Don't be late to your class!" he added as Tsunami and his footsteps faded behind Starflight.
"Come on," said Fatespeaker, guiding him forward. The two dragons found their way to the history room. Webs usually covered history, but he was out that morning gathering up fish for lunch from the nearby lake, so it fell to Starflight to teach.
The day proceeded like any other before. Prince Turtle was the only one of the Jade Winglet who showed up to class. The rest hadn't returned, and if his assumptions about them were right, Starflight didn't expect them back to Jade Academy for weeks.
That night, after sorting scrolls in the library with Fatespeaker, they fell asleep together. Starflight was more surprised than he knew he should have been when he "woke up" back in Princess Twilight's guest room.
"This again," he muttered as he glanced around. Everything was as it had been when he drifted off, but sunlight was drifting in through an open window, the curtain swaying lightly in the breeze that blew in. He stood up groggily, surprised to be pulled back down instantly by an iron grip he recognized very well.
"Fatespeaker?" he asked as he looked to his side. The dragonet was sleeping in the bed next to him, her wing half draped, half gripping his body as she often did when they slept together. His attempt to sit up seemed to stir her awake.
"Starflight?" she mumbled as she rubbed sleep from her eyes with a talon. "What are you..." She stared deep into his eyes for a moment, and as Starflight gazed at her, doing his best to examine and remember all of her beautiful features before he had to wake up, she said, "Your eyes!"
Fatespeaker leaped on him and tackled him back to the bed, forcing a surprised "Eep!" out of him. She pressed her thumbs to the sides of his eyes and stretched them out. "What happened? They aren't cloudy anymore! Can you see? What's going on?"
"Slow down!" he protested as he gripped her shoulders and managed to lift her up. She backed off and Starflight got off the bed. He took another look around and said, "Fatespeaker, does this feel weird to you?"
"Am I dreaming?" she asked. "I can't tell. I feel awake, but I know we just fell asleep in your room. And you can see! That's wonderful. But..."
"If this were real, I'd still be blind," he said. "Which means Princess Twilight must be using the dream visitor again."
"Princess Twilight? Dream visitor?" asked Fatespeaker with a tilt of her head. "Wait. Someone found the third one?"
Starflight proceeded to explain the events of the past night; how he woke up in a crystal castle and had met Princess Twilight Sparkle, a bizarre sentient pony with wings, a horn, and a dream visitor.
"Wow," said Fatespeaker after he finished explaining. "It's weird enough that you're having this same dream again. It's like our real life is the dream!"
"You're missing the point," said Starflight, unsure of his own theories on the situation. "We're sharing a dream right now. At least, I think we are."
"Only way to know is if we both wake up and remember the same thing," said Fatespeaker. "But come on, YOU GOT YOUR EYES BACK!" She pounced on him one more time, and they rolled around playfully on the floor for a few minutes.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Starflight and Fatespeaker poked their heads out from the other side of the bed to find what appeared to be a short, purple lizard standing on his back legs with one hand on the door. "Um, should I come back later?" he said.
A deep blush quickly spread across both Starflight's and Fatespeaker's faces, and they scrambled to their feet. "No, no," said Starflight hurriedly. "It's fine. Can we help you?"
"Twilight asked me to come up and get you, but she didn't mention you had a friend," said the lizard. "Or that either of you were dragons too."
"I thought Twilight was a pony," said Starflight.
The lizard gave him an indignant look. "Oh ha ha," he said slowly. "Very funny. I'm just not old enough for wings yet, okay? Jeez."
"Wait. You're a dragon?" asked Fatespeaker, seeming to catch his meaning.
"Um, duh," he said. "What did you think I was?"
Starflight decided not to answer that, and when he glanced at Fatespeaker, she seemed to agree. Thankfully, they were saved from the dragon's(?) glare with a voice shouting from down the hall.
"Spike?" called Princess Twilight. "Is he awake?"
"Yeah, and he has a friend," said the dragon called Spike.
"A friend?" the princess' voice had gotten closer, and she stepped around the door and into the room past Spike. "Oh!" she said when she saw Fatespeaker. "There really are two of you."
"Excuse me, Princess, but did you use the dream visitor again?" asked Starflight.
"Yes," she said simply. "I was just eating breakfast, and I got this urge to take another look at it. Once you told me what it was, I had a few ideas about how to use it. Are you saying that's why you've got another dragon with you?"
"I don't know," said Starflight. That struck him as odd. He always knew. When it came to history, artifacts, you name it, he knew it. Working in the Jade Academy library only furthered that knowledge. He felt like he should know this. "Let's find a better place to talk, and I'll tell you more about it."
"Let's," said Princess Twilight. She and Spike led Starflight and Fatespeaker down the hall. Before they knew it, the dragons were led into a cozy looking dining room. The floors were carpeted, and a long, rectangular table sat in the middle, low to the ground and surrounded by colorful cushions made for ponies. On the table sat a plethora of jewels in many bowls of different shapes and sizes. Rubies, sapphires, and emeralds were all sorted into different bowls, with opals, jade, garnet, and every other kind of gem you could imagine surrounding those.
"I wasn't sure which kind you might like, so I made sure to gather whatever I could from around town," said Twilight as she sat down at a place that had a plate full of various leafy greens and fruits. What appeared to be hay was also stuffed between two pieces of bread and sitting on a second plate nearby. She made a conscious effort to sit anywhere BUT the head of the table, and Starflight took a mental note of that.
"Well, she sure is a princess," said Fatespeaker in awe.
"More like a queen," said Starflight. "This must have been what Queen Oasis' horde looked like before it was stolen."
Spike walked forward, wide eyed as if this was his first time seeing all of the gems. "This is some spread," he said as his eyes darted left and right, scanning everything at once. Starflight watched him walk up to the jewels and take a few of each. He struggled to carry them all in his arms, but he eventually sat down next to the princess. Then he did something Starflight had never imagined.
He ate a sapphire whole.
Starflight's and Fatespeaker's eyes went wide as the baby dragon crunched down on the blue stone. Starflight could swear he heard teeth cracking, but when Spike simply smiled contentedly, Starflight had to believe it was the sapphire.
"Did you just..." muttered Fatespeaker, rubbing her eyes and staring at Spike.
The baby dragon raised an eye and said, "What?"
"Is something wrong?" asked Princess Twilight. She seemed nervous for some reason. "Did I pick the wrong jewels? I'm sure I can ask Rarity for different ones if you want."
"He just- but how could he- Starflight, what was that?" asked Fatespeaker.
"I don't know!" he said. "That shouldn't be possible! Sapphires aren't edible!"
"You've never eaten a sapphire?" asked Spike. It was his turn to drop his jaw. "How have you lived?!"
"You two don't eat jewels?" asked the princess, confused. "That's... different."
"Sorry, no," said Starflight. His stomach growled loudly. "We actually keep jewels as treasure."
"Like diamond dogs?" asked Spike.
"What's that?" asked Fatespeaker.
"Okay, that's enough," said Princess Twilight. "It's okay. I can find something else, I'm sure. What do you eat?"
"Meat, usually," said Starflight.
"I could really go for a cow right about now," said Fatespeaker, her stomach growling as well. The baby dragon and princess seemed taken aback by that statement. "What's wrong?"
"Um," began the princess. "It's just that livestock are more like pets here. Only predators eat them, and we have to worry about creatures from the forest attacking them."
When Princess Twilight said predators, Starflight and Fatespeaker examined their talons, and Fatespeaker gave a toothy grin. Starflight watched the realization strike the princess. "It's alright," he said. "We'll be okay. Let's just get to the talk."
"Good idea," said Princess Twilight. She looked like she might be sick. Fatespeaker and Starflight took a seat across from the princess. It was weird sitting on such small cushions, but it was better than the floor.
"So--Starflight, was it?--can you tell me how a dream visitor works?" asked Princess Twilight.
"Yes, your majesty," he said. "A dream visitor is an animus-touched object that was created years ago to let dragons enter each other's dreams and communicate with them." Starflight saw the question forming in the princess' head and he quickly added, "Animus-touched means an animus dragon, a dragon with magic, has enchanted it. There are all kinds of animus-touched objects, ranging from spears to rocks to jewels to chains. Just about anything you can imagine can be enchanted by an animus. Even plants, from some of the legends."
"Could an animus dragon enchant a pony, or another dragon?" asked Princess Twilight.
"I guess it's possible, but I can't think of any dragon who's done something like that in the past," said Starflight as he wracked his brain for answers. A stray thought suddenly crossed his mind. What if Scarlet gets her hands on an animus? How much danger are my friends and I really in right now? Does Peril know anything about Scarlet's allies? Is Peril her only one?
Starflight suddenly felt a talon brush his, and he looked over to see Fatespeaker smiling at him. He could tell there was underlying worry in her expression, like she knew what he was thinking, or at least THAT he was thinking. That snapped Starflight out of it, and they both turned back to the princess.
"Anyway," continued Starflight, "To use a dream visitor, you press the stone to your forehead and imagine the dragon you're trying to contact. You have to know, at the very least, what they look like, but it won't always work unless you know the dragon's name as well. They also have to be asleep. If you manage to connect to them, you'll enter their dream and be able to communicate."
"So does that mean you and Fatespeaker were asleep somewhere else before you woke up here?" asked Princess Twilight.
"Exactly," said Fatespeaker.
"Wow," said Spike. "That made my head hurt."
Fatespeaker chuckled lightly, and it took Starflight some effort not to do the same. "But," began Twilight, "I didn't hold it to my forehead and think about either of you. Last night, when you came in, I was reading a book on dragons, but that's it."
"And come to think of it, this hardly feels like a dream," said Starflight. He wrapped a wing around Fatespeaker, and the warmth he felt was so real.
Fatespeaker leaned into him and let out a deep breath. "I think so too," she said. "This is definitely real."
Starflight noticed the princess giving them a smile, and she said, "Well, believe it or not, this isn't the first time we've had... dimensional mixups."
"Dimensional?" asked Starflight.
"Yes. Instances of strange creatures crossing barriers between worlds or alternate timelines, and coming here. Sometimes, they're monsters we have to deal with and send back. Other times, they're more like wayward travelers, lost from their worlds," said Princess Twilight.
"Do you think that could have happened to us?" asked Fatespeaker. Starflight could feel her shaking slightly, as if this was something she had been considering and was just hearing her fears vocalized.
"I suppose it's possible," said the princess. "I've traveled to one particular dimension a couple of times. I'm sure if that's what's happened to you, we can get you back."
"When I fell asleep here last night, I woke up back in my world," said Starflight. "I don't know what's bringing us here, but I was able to get back yesterday."
"Okay," said Princess Twilight. "Then let's run an experiment. Go to sleep tonight, and then see what happens. If you wake up back in your world, I suppose everything is fine. If you stay here, then there are more problems to deal with."
"More than you know," said Fatespeaker. When Twilight tilted her head, Fatespeaker added, "Starflight and I teach together at a school called Jade Mountain Academy. We can't be gone during the day."
"You're both teachers?" asked the princess excitedly. Her eyes lit up and she stood up from her seat. "Why didn't you just say so?!" She rushed around the table and up to Fatespeaker.
"Uh-oh," said Spike. Starflight glanced at him as Princess Twilight took Fatespeaker's talons in her hooves. "You pressed the "learning button." You shouldn'ta did that."
"What are you-" began Starflight, only to have Princess Twilight interrupt him.
"You've got to tell me EVERYTHING. If you both are teachers, you must know everything about your world! You've got to share it with me!"
"Whoa, back off!" said Fatespeaker, taking a few steps back and bumping into Starflight. The princess seemed a little upset, so Fatespeaker added, "Look. We'll be happy to tell you more eventually. Just let us get our bearings first, okay?"
Princess Twilight blushed and backed up. "Yes. Yes, of course." An awkward silence filled the room for a few seconds.
Finally, Spike sighed and said, "Come on, guys. I'll give you a tour of the town."
"Good idea, Spike," said Princess Twilight, regaining her composure. "I need to get to work here."
"Come on," said Spike. He got up and made for the door to the dining room. Starflight and Fatespeaker wordlessly followed.
Once they were all out in the hall, Spike said, "Sorry about that. She gets a little too excited over learning."
"Just a little, yeah," said Fatespeaker, winking at Starflight.
"What?" he asked, and she just turned away and giggled.
A few minutes later, the three dragons left the castle. The heat of the sun warmed Starflight's scales, and he spread his wings and relaxed. It felt like he was stepping out of the cave he was raised in, minus a troop of Skywing soldiers hauling him off to a prison and killing his guardians.
"Nice day," said Spike. The sky was almost cloudless, with ponies flying and walking by, waving hellos to Spike and the unfamiliar dragons in their town. Starflight saw a group of ponies of various colors talking in front of a store, and another small group standing in front of an apple cart. The buildings were all rustic, most of them with roofs made of hay and wooden frames. Some of the windows in the buildings had flowers in them, and other houses had wreathes on their doors.
"It's so cute!" said Fatespeaker with wide eyes. A few ponies turned her way and raised their eyebrows, causing Starflight to chuckle.
"Come on," said Spike. "Follow me." He waved them forward and led them all into town. The rest of the town looked a lot like the first glimpse Starflight had gotten. Much of it was rustic, but full of life. There were always ponies in the streets going somewhere and doing something. Fatespeaker loved the schoolhouse, and Starflight enjoyed what he saw of the town hall. As the sun climbed higher, Spike finished his tour.
"Phew," he said. "I was afraid we were going to run into Pinkie Pie, but it looks like we got through okay."
"Pinkie Pie?" asked Fatespeaker.
"She's a party pony with an obsession with making new friends," said Spike. "Believe me, she would overwhelm you in seconds. I'm sure she already knows there are new dragons in town, and she'll be dying to meet you."
"How could she know that?" asked Starflight. "Does she have magic too?"
"Something like that," said Spike. Starflight and Fatespeaker raised an eyebrow at each other, then turned their attention back to Spike. "Anyway, we can probably head back to the castle now."
"Wait," said Fatespeaker as Spike started to walk off. "Where are the rest of the dragons? I haven't seen any in--Ponyville, right?--other than you."
"That's because I'm the only one who lives here," said Spike. "South of Canterlot, there's practically a whole other country full of just dragons. Occasionally, Dragonlord Ember shows up and we hang out, but other than that, I'm all that's here."
"Dragonlord Ember?" asked Starflight.
"Oh yeah. She's the dragon that rules all the other dragons."
"Like a queen?" asked Fatespeaker.
"Close enough," said Spike with a shrug. "If she needs us, she can call us anytime, and we've got to go to the Badlands and meet with every other dragon."
"Sounds like quite the journey," said Starflight.
"Not when you have an alicorn who can teleport across Equestria with her mind," said Spike with a smile. "I can visit her just about any time I want."
"Do you think we could visit the... Dragonlord?" asked Fatespeaker.
"Yes. It'd be good to learn how dragons live and behave here in Equestria," added Starflight. He saw Spike cringe a little.
"Um, I guess so," said Spike. "Just don't get your hopes up," he added hastily.
"What do you mean?" asked Fatespeaker.
"Well, she's really nice," began Spike. "But, she also has to be intimidating to every other dragon so they don't think they can take the throne from her."
"Sounds a lot like a few queens we know," said Starflight solemnly to Fatespeaker.
"Anyway, why don't we go talk to Twilight, and you can meet the dragonlord?" asked Spike.
"Let's do it," said Fatespeaker quickly. Starflight wanted to forget about the other queens for a while.
"Okay. Back to the castle," said Spike.
As Spike started to walk, Starflight felt a weird sensation. His whole body suddenly felt numb and fuzzy, and he found it hard to stand. His vision went blurry, and he groaned as he collapsed to his knees.
"Starflight? Fatespeaker? What's going on?" asked Spike worriedly. Starflight tried glancing over and found Fatespeaker in a similar situation. Her eyes struggled to stay open, and her tail and wings drooped around her.
"I don't know," said Starflight. "I feel dizzy all of a sudden."
"Me too..." mumbled Fatespeaker. Her eyes fluttered a few more times then shut, and she collapsed completely.
"Fate!" cried Starflight, just as an extra wave of exhaustion and dizziness hit him as well. It was too much for him to bear. The last thing he heard was someone calling his name, but it wasn't Fatespeaker, and it certainly wasn't spike.
"Starflight?! Starflight, wake up! Please!"
It took a second for Starflight to realize who was speaking to him. It was the voice of Sunny, full of worry and confusion. Starflight opened his eyes, and with a start realized he couldn't see. "Am I awake?" he asked, though the words came out jumbled.
"Oh thank the moons," said Sunny. Starflight felt her warm wings embrace him, and she settled into his shoulder. "When you and Fatespeaker didn't wake up, I got so scared. I thought something was wrong. I thought you were in a coma! I thought-"
"Shh," said Starflight as he woke up. "It's alright. I'm okay." He hugged her tight, letting her warmth flow over him. "What's wrong?"
"You!" she said. "You didn't show up to your classes, and we couldn't find you in the library. No one had seen Fatespeaker either. We were worried something happened to you both."
"We?" asked Starflight.
"I told you they'd be okay," came the voice of Tsunami. "They just slept in."
"That was a little heavy to be sleeping in," said Clay sternly, a tone he hardly ever used. Starflight felt a wingtip brush him, and recognized the smooth scales of his best friend. "I'm glad you're okay," he added warmly.
"Starflight's tougher than you give him credit for," came a voice Starflight hadn't heard in months. He recognized her right away.
"Glory?" he asked. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the rainforest?"
"I left Grandeur in charge," she said. "I would have left behind Deathbringer, but-"
"But I'm not letting her out of my sight," came the voice of the Nightwing assassin.
"I swear you are the clingiest dragon I've ever met, and I was raised with Sunny," said Glory.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" asked Sunny, breaking away from Starflight to face Glory. Her absence made Starflight cringe.
"Everyone, Starflight and I have something important to tell you," said Fatespeaker. Starflight hadn't noticed her standing next to him, and her sudden speech gave him a start. The room suddenly went quiet.
"Here we go," muttered Tsunami.
"Starflight and I think we're sharing dreams WITHOUT a dream visitor," said Fatespeaker. Starflight couldn't see their faces, but he did feel a rise in tension in the room.
"Excuse me?" asked Glory. "For a moment there, I could have sworn you said you've been dreaming together without a dream visitor."
"She did," said Starflight. He extended a wing, hoping to find Fatespeaker. He instead found Clay again, and recoiled before extending the opposite wing to find her. "And you'll never believe what they've been about."
Deathbringer strode confidently down the halls of the castle. The instructions were as simple as left turn, right turn, third door on the right, and finally, a large set of double-doors that led into a large, circular room with a round table in the middle. The princess was waiting on a throne at the opposite side of the table. She was looking at Deathbringer seriously, and her gaze was a little bit unsettling.
"Deathbringer," said Princess Twilight. "Are you ready?"
"Yes, your majesty," said Deathbringer. He approached the table and sat on the opposite side. "May I ask for more detail regarding the disappearance of the Dragonlord?"
"Yes," said Princess Twilight. Her horn started glowing, and suddenly, the table in front of them lit up like a fire. Deathbringer stepped back as the light slowly began to form mountains, hills, rivers, streams, and towns all over the table. "This is a map of Equestria," she said. "Here are the Badlands." Her horn glowed again, and the map grew and grew until it filled up the room. It moved around until it centered on an arid wasteland close to Deathbringer.
"So this is where my mission is?" asked Deathbringer.
"Close," said Princess Twilight. Again her horn flashed, and a small pink orb of light began glowing over a mountain on the edge of the Badlands and what Deathbringer guessed was Equestria. "I'll be teleporting you here. From there, you need to move to the southern border here." A line of light suddenly appeared from the dot and drew its way around the edge of the Badlands and down to the southern border, where a new light appeared next to a deep valley labeled "Forbidden."
"One theory," said Princess Twilight, "is that she was attacked near this point. The Princess' sources didn't find any signs of a struggle, so it's still possible that she has simply gone missing and no one is at fault. But as you've probably guessed, with Garble's sudden rise to political power, it's unlikely he had zero involvement."
Deathbringer was listening to all of this, but while he was taking in the information, he was also analyzing the Princess. The tone she used and the way she spoke was unnatural. It felt as if she had never had to give orders like this before.
"Your mission is to investigate that area and find any sign of Dragonlord Ember. But no matter what, you can't be seen, and you can't kill anyone."
That last one suddenly put a huge handicap on Deathbringer. "No one?" he asked.
"Not a single dragon," she said. "If they find a dead dragon, those in the Badlands will rage and attack without question. Like I said earlier, most dragons hate ponies, and Garble will jump at the chance to start a war if he can. You have to avoid contact with any other dragon, and if you are discovered, Equestria will deny any involvement and you will be executed by the dragons."
Deathbringer had heard a lecture similar to this almost every morning until he was four. His mother drilled those political machinations into his head, so he always thought about them before every order and every kill. He was always prepared to face those consequences. Lately, however, he wasn't so sure.
"I understand," said Deathbringer.
"Good. I'll teleport myself to your drop point in three days. I'll wait for five minutes, and if you aren't there, I'll be forced to... to leave you behind," she finished with a pained sigh.
"I'm ready," said Deathbringer.
"Then we'll begin," said the princess. Her horn flashed and the map disappeared. The table suddenly lowered itself into the floor, and the chairs were moved back by some invisible force as well. "Stand back," she said.
Deathbringer obeyed and backed up to the wall. Princess Twilight moved to the opposite one, and her horn lit up once more. Suddenly, a giant pink circle filled with runes, geometric shapes, and light filled the center of the room much like the map had. Wind began to whip up in the room, and Deathbringer felt his spines waving and his wings threatening to open with the wind.
"This is a teleportation circle!" shouted the princess. "For a long range teleport, I need to use this spell. When you're ready to leave, step inside! You'll be transported to the Badlands, and your mission will begin."
"Right!" shouted Deathbringer. He glanced around him and took in his surroundings briefly. She'll be fine. She'll be waiting right here for me when I get back. I know it. Deathbringer stepped toward the circle. As soon as he entered, he felt the same sinking feeling he got when he used the tunnels Stonemover had made.
As he stood in the center, he heard Princess Twilight shout, "Remember! Three days! If you aren't back, I'll have to leave you there!"
"I understand!" shouted Deathbringer. Just like that, he felt a colossal force tug on his body, and he was gone.
Deathbringer woke up to the feeling of snow beneath his Talons. The world around him was cloaked in a thick fog, and a blizzard seemed to be swirling around him. Wind assailed his wings, trying to force them open and topple him over, but he held fast and maintained his position.
The wind bit at his ears, his wing tips, his tail, and his talons. He quickly started a technique he had learned called Deep Fire-breathing. It involved a dragon breathing fire into their mouths and holding it, letting the warmth spread throughout their body. As long as they didn't let it get too hot, they were safe from their fire. It was a technique Deathbringer had to learn quickly once he was assigned missions on the borders of the Ice Kingdom, but even this blizzard was stronger than any he had experienced in Pyrrhia.
"Deathbringer? Is that you?" shouted a small voice over the storm. Deathbringer whipped his head around and saw a round, purple head with green spines sticking out of the snow.
"Spike?!" he asked. "What in the three moons are you doing here?" He could see Spike shivering, clutching his shoulders and rubbing them in an attempt to stay warm. Deathbringer quickly rushed over to him and slowly opened his wings to wrap them around the baby dragon. "How did you get here?" asked Deathbringer as Spike shivered into him.
"I-I j-jumped into th-the ring after y-you," stuttered Spike.
"What?!" shouted Deathbringer. "Are you insane?! You know where we are, don't you?"
"Y-yeah," said Spike. "On the b-border of the B-badlands in the mountains. I was l-l-listening to you and T-twilight."
Deathbringer pulled him closer and strengthened the flames of his inner breathing. It started to burn, but he maintained it to try and keep Spike warm. Slowly, the dragon's shivering began to slow. "We need to get down from this mountain now," said Deathbringer. Without waiting for a response, he took a few steps around to find the slope of the hill. As soon as he found it, he held Spike close and started walking.
It would be easy for most dragons to lose track of time in a blizzard, but Deathbringer had gotten used to counting the minutes and hours. It took a couple of hours to descend the mountain and escape the fierce blizzard, but when they did, the terrain immediately turned rocky as they came to a cliff.
Deathbringer let Spike go, and the baby dragon said, "Thanks, Deathbringer."
"Don't thank me yet, you little twerp," said Deathbringer harshly. The shocked look on Spike's face made Deathbringer cringe, but he continued. "You are in monstrous amounts of danger here with me, do you understand? You could have just jeopardized the whole mission to find the Dragonlord."
"Oh no," said Spike, twiddling his talons. "So what do we do?"
"YOU are going to stay right here," said Deathbringer, "and I'M going to go complete my mission." He wanted to say, "I can't afford to put you in danger," but instead, he said, "You'd just slow me down, so don't even think about trying to follow me. You stay right here until I get back."
"For three days?" asked Spike. "But I'll starve!"
"Then go hunting," said Deathbringer. "I'm sure you can find some meat, even in this wasteland."
"I don't eat meat," said Spike. "I eat gems."
"What?"
"Oh. That's right. I had to tell Starflight and Fatespeaker the same thing." Spike proceeded to explain his diet.
"So you've never eaten a cow or a goat?" asked Deathbringer.
"No!" shouted Spike. "They're our friends!"
Deathbringer just shook his head in confusion and looked away. "You're kidding, right?" Spike just folded his arms and glared. "Whatever. You'll be fine. Just dig up some emeralds or something. I'm sure you'll be okay."
"But what if the other dragons find me? What will they do?"
"Oh, them?" asked Deathbringer. "They'll probably kill you on the spot."
"What?!"
"Better get good at hiding," said Deathbringer. He turned around to see a crushing look of sadness and despair on Spike's face. His heart melted immediately. "Crap," he muttered. "Okay, fine. You're coming with me." He saw Spike's face light up, so he immediately added, "But you stay completely quiet and you do exactly as I say when I say it. No arguing, and no deliberating. Do you understand? From now on, every choice we make could be life or death."
"Okay," said Spike determinedly. "Whatever you say, boss."
"Don't call me boss. Ever," said Deathbringer quickly.
"Oh, um... okay, Deathbringer."
"That's better," said the nightwing. "Now follow me. We need to get to the border in a day so we'll have the time we'll need to search. Here. Get on." Deathbringer knelt down and extended a wing for Spike to climb onto.
"On your back?" asked Spike.
"Yes, on my back," echoed Deathbringer. "Hurry up." Spike did a short hop and ran over, quickly climbing up Deathbringer's wing and up onto his shoulder. "Now, have you ever flown before?"
"With Twilight a couple of times," said Spike.
"Good. But this will be faster." Deathbringer suddenly winged to the sky, taking off at lightning speed and flying high up into the clouds. He felt Spike's small talons gripping his neck, the only sign the baby dragon hadn't fallen off. When they got up high enough, Deathbringer leveled out and started gliding.
As an assassin, he hadn't had much of a chance to fly openly aside from the Sand Kingdom and the Sea Kingdom, where the land and water stretched on for miles and miles in every direction. With the clouds as thick as they were, they would provide enough cover from watchful eyes below for Deathbringer to glide as lazily as he liked. "Three moons, I miss this," he said as his wing caught the tip of a cloud and sliced it in two.
"Yeah, me too," said Spike. "I don't fly with Twilight very much any more. Really, I've only been able to fly recently with Ember. Granted, she has to carry me, but we still have fun."
"Ember? That's the name of the Dragonlord, right?" asked Deathbringer.
"Yeah," said Spike. "You know, I'm actually the one who helped her become Dragonlord."
"Ha ha, very funny," said Deathbringer sarcastically.
"No, really!" protested Spike. "We won the scepter together, and she became the new Dragonlord."
"When was this?" asked Deathbringer.
"About a year ago," said Spike. "But to think someone would already try to hurt her like this..."
"A year is nothing," said Deathbringer. "Try assassination attempts on day four."
"Day four?"
"That's right. Queen Glory had only just become queen when she had to rescue Starflight from the island of the nightwings. I helped, and when we got back to the rainforest and the nightwings had lost their home, Queen Glory offered them sanctuary if they swore their allegiance to her. Most of them agreed out of desperation, but there were enough who decided they wouldn't serve a rainwing. They tried to kill her, Spike. As much as I wanted to rip out their throats, Glory held me back and the dragons who had tried to kill her were imprisoned instead."
"Yeesh," said Spike. "Sounds rough."
"It still is," said Deathbringer. "Every time we're apart, I get worried. Even now, in this unfamiliar world, she could be in danger at the castle, and I'm out here chasing down your Dragonlord instead of protecting her."
"But she's like your princess, right?" asked Spike. "Can't she protect herself?"
"That's not the point," said Deathbringer, trying not to get upset at Spike's ignorance. The more he spoke with the dragon, the greater the differences seemed to be between their cultures. "Let me tell you a story, Spike. And remember it well."
"Okay," said Spike.
"I grew up on a volcanic island. I hardly saw members of other tribes except for prisoners when I was ordered to execute them. All I had seen of Pyrrhia was a single map hanging on a wall in the palace. When I went out for my first real mission at the age of four, my mother had an accident while we were flying, and she was knocked out of the sky. She was out cold when I landed with her, and for all I know, she could have been in a coma. I tried to hide her on the beach so I could complete our mission."
"But shouldn't your mom come before your mission?" asked Spike.
"I had that thought, but then I considered the gravity of the choice to save her instead of destabilize the three-way alliance we were sent to stop. She would have told me the mission came first. That was what was always most important to her. So, I did as I thought she would say, and I carried out our mission. Unfortunately, I didn't hide her well enough. She was discovered, and Blister ordered her killed. If I had broken my cover to save her, the nightwing plot to break up the alliance would have been discovered, and we would have both been killed anyway. I couldn't afford to save my mother because the mission was too important. So from that day forward, I promised that if I ever found another dragon I cared about that much, that I loved, then I would do whatever it took, even jeopardize my mission, to save them."
"Glory, right?" asked Spike.
"That's Queen Glory to you," said Deathbringer lightly. "She's got this belief that she can do anything alone. She doesn't realize how much danger she's really in. She thinks she's invincible thanks to her venom, but I've seen plenty of rainwings die relying solely on that weapon."
Spike didn't respond, so Deathbringer echoed his silence, letting his declaration drift in the wind around them. It took far less time to reach their objective with a straight flight rather than a walk. So little time, in fact, that the sun still hung high in the sky. Deathbringer landed in a small clearing in the mountains, scattering rocks and pebbles all over the place as he slid on the unexpectedly smooth stone. He steadied himself and knelt down to give Spike a chance to jump off. The baby dragon slid down Deathbringer's large black wing, and Spike suddenly started sniffing the air.
"Do you smell that?" he asked with a sour expression.
Deathbringer lifted his nose. He inhaled deeply, and he could smell it too. The familiarity was chilling. "You may want to hold your breath," said Deathbringer as he started walking forward.
"What? Why?" asked Spike as he followed.
"Because if my hunch is correct, the smell is about to get a whole lot worse." Deathbringer simply began following his nose. He moved around boulders and divots in the hills, searching every crack and crevice as he went. He kept following his nose, and eventually, it led him exactly where he expected.
As he rounded a hill, he immediately flung his wings open to block Spike's view of what lay ahead.
"Hey," protested Spike. "What are you doing?"
"Back up right now," said Deathbringer seriously.
"What do you mean?"
"You have to turn back. Go back and wait for me where we landed. Don't move, and don't make a sound."
"But I want to see what's there!"
"Spike, I said-"
Deathbringer felt a fold in his wing, and Spike rolled past and up in front of him. Deathbringer held his breath and immediately regretted it thanks to the smell.
Spike opened his eyes and gasped. In the small dip in the hill ahead of them, laying in a messy, rotting pile of bile and gore, being picked to pieces by buzzards, were the corpses of dragons.
A pile of scaly bodies at least three times the size of Deathbringer was stacked just out of sight. Most of them were falling apart as if they had been there for weeks on end. The color in their scales was faded to a sick green, and a couple of limbs were strewn about around the pile. Deathbringer glanced down at Spike. The baby dragon backed into his wing and Deathbringer steadied him. The nightwing took a step so he was inbetween the horrific scene and Spike.
"Spike, listen to me," he said. "You must go back to the area we landed at and stay there while I investigate. This is not safe for you. Do you understand?"
Spike didn't nod. He hardly appeared to be breathing, he was so shocked. Deathbringer sighed and scooped him up in his arms. He walked Spike back a little ways and deposited him between two divots in the rocks. "Stay," commanded Deathbringer. Spike still didn't move, so Deathbringer turned away and returned to the pile. With a reluctant sigh, he set to work.
Deathbringer approached the pile and dragged the body of the dragon on top off. As it fell to the ground next to him, Deathbringer examined it briefly. The dragon was big, with a body shape Deathbringer couldn't recognize. It seemed to have a bulbous and inflated stomach, and the nightwing assassin hoped it wouldn't pop like a balloon. Its small wings barely looked like they could support flight at all.
The dragon seemed to have been carrying a satchel of some kind, and Deathbringer quickly searched it. Inside, he found a scroll with a set of instructions on it. It appeared to be a map with labels showing various settlements and villages in the badlands. He noticed a few of them seemed to line up with his flight path, and he thanked the moons the clouds had been so thick.
The instructions written on the piece of paper referenced a few of the towns and seemed to be a list of places to look for the Dragonlord. Several of them were crossed off, and only two remained; one appeared to be very nearby, and the other was even further south in the valley Deathbringer remembered as being labeled "Forbidden" on Princess Twilight's map. Whoever had killed this dragon had not been thorough in disposing of its belongings.
Deathbringer folded up the paper and stashed it in the pouch around his neck, and he glanced around the clearing some more just to make sure the coast was still clear. As soon as he was sure, Deathbringer did another quick search of the bodies still on the pile. One other dragon had a satchel like the first, and he opened it to find a belt with a dagger in a scabbard on it. He withdrew the belt and fit it around his waist. It stretched to the last ring, but it fit him. The dagger was just the right size, and Deathbringer suddenly had the thought that this was a small sword meant for a small dragon somewhere.
"Well, he certainly won't be using it," muttered Deathbringer. As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a voice.
"Hello?" it gasped dryly. "Is someone there? Help me!"
Deathbringer leaped back and around the dip of the hill. He stayed perfectly still and silent, and the voice returned. "Please, you've got to help me. It hurts so much. Why? Why does it hurt so much?" it groaned. Deathbringer slowly poked his head around the corner and eyed the pile.
He could see a wing moving, and as he followed it down, it was connected (barely) to the back of one of the dragons in the middle. One of the dragon's eyes was black and shriveled, and a long clawmark was drawn across it. Another mark was traced along the dragon's neck as well. A failed execution, he thought.
Deathbringer stepped completely out of cover and approached the pile again. "You," rasped the dragon painfully. "You don't look right."
"You're no prize yourself," said Deathbringer. The dragon winced in pain.
"Can you help me? I have to find the Dragonlord. She's in danger," it said. Deathbringer suddenly realized the dragon must have gone crazy. It knew it was in pain, but couldn't understand why.
"You're searching for her as well?" asked Deathbringer.
"Are you one of Garble's brutes?" it asked. The dragon coughed painfully and spat up a mess of blood, but didn't seemed to care.
"Hardly. But I do need to find her. I heard she went missing around here."
"She did. I was with her group."
"What?" asked Deathbringer. He took another step toward the pile.
"Yes," said the dragon. "I was part of her guard. We didn't expect any trouble, but when we found the bodies, we were attacked. I can't move. The Dragonlord got away, but I... I... oh god!" The dragon started to scream, and Deathbringer quickly whipped his head around to make sure they were still alone. He dashed forward and wrapped his talons roughly around the screaming dragon.
"Shut up!" he commanded in a harsh whisper. After about a minute of trying to scream, the dragon seemed to realize what was happening to it.
"Please," it begged painfully. "Just put an end to me."
Deathbringer paused and said, "As you wish. But first, you have to tell me everything you know about the Dragonlord and where she went. I need to find her and bring her back."
The dragon seemed reluctant at first, but eventually it gave in. "A few weeks ago, we were searching the border of the Badlands for missing dragons. They've been disappearing for months now, and we got a hint that the source of the disappearances was around here somewhere. We were ambushed when we arrived, and all of us were killed. I saw Dragonlord Ember escape to the south, but then everything went dark. I just... I just want to die..."
Deathbringer pulled out one of his blades. "Thank you," he said. He briefly considered his agreement not to kill, then he quickly swung the blade across the dragon's neck. It immediately fell limply back into the pile, and the clearing was quiet once more. I couldn't leave it like that, he thought. It was already dead.
Deathbringer wiped the blood off on one of the bodies, then turned back around. He needed to retrieve Spike, and they had to move fast. The fact there were so many bodies was proof that they were frequently dumped there, and if his suspicions about the disappearing dragons were correct, the divot in the hill could be a dumping ground for the victims as well as any other dragons searching for Ember.
Deathbringer wove around the hill until he came to the spot he had left Spike. The baby dragon still had the empty look on his face. He wondered if Spike would be able to follow him, but as he said, "Come on, Spike. We have to move," the little dragon stood up and stood by Deathbringer's side.
The nightwing sighed, angry at himself for letting Spike slip by him. He knew it was a terrible sight, but it couldn't be helped. "Follow me," he said. Deathbringer started walking, and Spike followed without a sound. As they passed the pile of bodies, Deathbringer tried to hide the sight again with his wings, but Spike hardly seemed to notice them anyway.
As they walked, Deathbringer studied the ground closely. He quickly found claw marks of various sizes gouged into the dirt. Every now and again, he would come across a pile of dried blood, and sometimes, one of the trails of claw marks would end abruptly with no trace of where they went. Only one track of small footprints seemed to persist past the others. The tracks were long, and they kept going for almost an hour.
By the time Deathbringer and Spike stopped walking, they had approached the area marked Forbidden on the map. Deathbringer and Spike found themselves standing at the entrance to a giant ravine, of which they were in the bottom. Very little light managed to enter the crack, and the tracks led in. However, they seemed to pace back and forth in front of the entrance.
"So whoever went in there was deliberating for a while," muttered Deathbringer.
"We should leave," said Spike all of a sudden. "We should leave right now, and never come back."
"What's gotten into you?" asked Deathbringer. Could it be the bodies? he wondered. Is the shock finally catching up?
"In there," said Spike, pointing a talon into the ravine. "There's something really bad in there."
"I don't understand," said Deathbringer. "What is it?"
"I don't know!" Spike half-shouted. "It just feels really, really wrong, okay?!"
"Calm down, Spike. You've got to relax." The baby dragon was almost hyperventilating. "Here. Why don't you stay back, and I'll go investigate, okay?"
"No!" shouted Spike. "You can't go in there. You'll die!"
"What aren't you telling me?" asked Deathbringer. He was getting tired of hearing the same thing over and over.
"I don't know what's in there, but it's a terrible feeling I've got," said Spike. "I think I get why this place is forbidden. It feels terrible!"
"I'm going in," said Deathbringer definitively, almost as if he had to tell himself as well, though he wasn't sure why. "Stay out here and hide. I'll be out shortly. Hopefully."
He heard Spike gulp, but he didn't even glance at the baby dragon before he started walking. This could be it, he thought. Those footprints must be the Dragonlord's. If she's still alive, then this is the best lead I've got. Without looking back, Deathbringer strode into the ravine.
As soon as he passed the threshold of light, a deep chill suddenly overtook him. It felt magical, like the feeling he got with the tunnels and with Princess Twilight's magic circle. So there's a source of magic in here. Wait. This is different though. It felt like whatever magic was acting on him was trying to make him fearful. He had long learned to suppress the negativity he felt with magic, but this was different. "Is this what a spell is like?" he asked worriedly to no one.
"Some of them," came a response from further in the cave. The voice made Deathbringer jump, and he smoothly drew out three blades in between the talons on one hand, ready to throw them at the first sign of danger.
"Who's there?" he demanded.
"Strange. I thought the scepter affected every dragon, but it seems not." The voice sounded young. Far too young, in fact, to be the Dragonlord.
"Who's there?" repeated Deathbringer. "Show yourself!"
"Who sent you? Are you one of Garble's dragons?" asked the voice. It seemed to spit the name Garble.
Deathbringer considered whether or not to reveal his mission. This was clearly a dragon who disliked Garble, but he couldn't be sure whether or not they supported Dragonlord Ember. In the end, he determined he had no choice. He needed information. But, he thought, that doesn't mean I have to tell the whole truth. "I was sent by Queen Glory of the Rainwings to investigate Dragonlord Ember's disappearance," said Deathbringer. "She ordered me to search this area, which from our sources suggested this was where she disappeared."
"I don't remember a queen named Glory," said the voice. "Sounds made up, to be honest."
"If you have any information on the Dragonlord, please tell me. It is imperative I find her."
"You already have," said the voice. Suddenly, from behind a large stone, stepped a small, blue dragon only twice as tall as Spike. She stood on her hind legs, her slender tail keeping her balance behind her. Her white horns curved downward like a ram's, and she had a regal look on her face. Unfortunately, Deathbringer was more preoccupied with how many cuts and bruises she had across her body. She had one black eye, and her underbelly had deep gashes that seemed to be oozing more than blood. One arm hung limply at her side, and both wings were bent in an unnatural way.
"Here I am," she coughed. "Though I'll warn you, if you're here to kill me, good luck. I've fought off more attackers and assassins in the last week than you've got scales." She crouched slightly and held one of her claws out to the side, menacingly twisting them so they caught the light from behind Deathbringer.
Deathbringer relaxed. He stashed his blades and sighed. This dragon couldn't fight her way out of bed, much less best me with only one functioning arm, he thought. "Forgive me," said Deathbringer. "I'm here to rescue you. Princess Twilight was the one who ordered me to search for you."
"Princess Twilight?" asked the Dragonlord. She suddenly relaxed as well, and she said, "Does that mean Spike is with you?"
"Yes, he... accompanied me," said Deathbringer. The Dragonlord gave him a confused look and he added, "Don't ask. He's waiting outside for me."
Without another word, the Dragonlord rushed passed Deathbringer, wincing slightly as she ran, and straight out of the cave. "Ember? Is that you?" heard Deathbringer from outside.
"Spike?" she asked.
"You're okay!" said Spike again. "I was so worried when I heard you were gone!"
Deathbringer let out a sigh of relief. He had succeeded. Now all he had to do was get the Dragonlord back to his drop point safely. He had to wonder how, though.
Deathbringer walked proudly out of the cave and saw Spike gently hugging Ember, trying his best not to put a hand on one of her bruises or cuts. The gesture warmed his heart as it reminded him of how he'd often held Glory, afraid to hold her as tight as he wished for fear of breaking her. He approached the couple and said, "Are you ready to go?"
The Dragonlord broke away and looked up to face Deathbringer. "Yes. Though, to be honest, I could really use some medical attention. Kind of bleeding to death here." Despite her words, she appeared to be standing strong.
"Well, it will be a day's flight back to the recovery point," said Deathbringer. "Princess Twilight said she would recover us from up in the mountains to the north of the Badlands. We need to meet her there two days from now." Deathbringer looked out toward the horizon and saw the sun beginning to sink behind the hills.
"Well, I can't exactly fly with dislocated and-or broken wings," she said as she tenderly brushed her working claw against a wing, wincing at the contact.
"Deathbringer can fly us there," offered Spike. "He carried me the whole way."
"One baby dragon is one thing," said Deathbringer. "Two, and an injured one at that, is a lot more difficult."
"So we're stuck?" asked Spike.
"Hey, I said difficult, not impossible," replied Deathbringer with a warm smile. Spike beamed back at him. "We need to sleep for the night," he said. "How's this ravine you've been squatting in?"
"It's roomy, at least," said the Dragonlord. "Hardly comfortable, but we can probably stay one more night."
"Good," said Deathbringer. "I'll go hide our tracks. You both settle in, and I'll be back soon."
"Gotcha," said Spike. He and the Dragonlord walked off into the ravine, and Deathbringer turned to the path that brought them here.
He started by using his tail to wipe away all the tracks leading into the cave. He made a few gusts of wind to add a natural look to it before he started on the rest of his path. He back tracked all the way to where the second to last set of footprints ended, and he walked back to the ravine from there, sweeping his tail behind him and clearing Ember's tracks as well as his own. Just as the sun finished setting and the sky lit up with stars, Deathbringer arrived back at the ravine.
He found Spike asleep next to the Dragonlord, who seemed to be awake and watching the entrance for him. As Deathbringer approached, she said, "Let's talk."
"What about?" he asked.
"You. You don't make sense, you know that?"
"Excuse me?" asked Deathbringer.
Ember gently pulled away from Spike and stood up. She tried to hide a wince through gritted teeth, but it still came out loud enough for Deathbringer to notice. "You're a dragon, yet the warding spell on this place hardly seemed to affect you. You came straight in and were ready to fight me if I attacked. You're also far larger than most dragons, and your wingspan is massive, even for your size. The scepter's spell doesn't seem to ward this place from you at all. How?"
"Scepter? Spell? And what about my size? I hope you're not calling me fat. That would be quite offensive," added Deathbringer with a playful smirk.
Ember seemed to pick up on his sarcasm and she chuckled painfully. She gripped her ribs with her good arm and took a deep, pained breath. "Who are you? Really? You can't be a dragon. I've never heard of a Queen Glory. I rule every dragon in Equestria absolutely, and yet the scepter's magic doesn't affect you. It's also odd that Princess Twilight would let a complete stranger come out here to find me, let alone risk a war with Garble's forces in such a way AND send Spike along with you. I'm also willing to bet she went behind the other Princess' backs by ordering you out here. So tell me who you are."
"My name is Deathbringer." He felt he owed her answers for some reason, though he couldn't quite understand why. "I am a nightwing, one of seven tribes of dragons in the land of Pyrrhia, and Queen Glory of the rainwings is my liege. Spike followed me through a magic circle and was dragged along against my will. I'm sorry, Dragonlord, but I owe no allegiance to you. My orders were to bring you back to Equestria alive and safe, so here I am."
"So Spike followed you?" she asked, seeming to skip over the rest of what he said. She turned away and chuckled lightly. "That's just like him, isn't it..."
"Ember?" asked Deathbringer.
"Forget it," she said sharply all of a sudden. "What's our plan to get past Garble's forces on our way back?"
"We didn't see any on the way here. Just a pile of bodies a ways back."
"Wait," said Ember, suddenly fearful. "Bodies? What bodies?"
"About an hour back, Spike and I came across a pile of corpses. Dragon corpses. I searched the area and found a barely living dragon in the pile. It gave me general directions to find you. Or at least, the area it believed you had escaped to."
Ember suddenly rushed to the entrance and hid just around the corner. "And you're positive you weren't followed?" she asked as she stared out.
"Sure of it," said Deathbringer as he stood next to her. "I made sure to cover our tracks thoroughly as well. If someone already knew where you were, they would have attacked you and Spike while I was gone."
"I'm not so sure," she said as she glared down the path. "Let's take turns on watch tonight. I'll take the first shift, and you take the second."
"What about Spike?" asked Deathbringer.
"He'll fall asleep two minutes in," said Ember with a chuckle. "It's up to you and I."
"Got it," said Deathbringer. He obeyed the Dragonlord and walked over to where Spike was sleeping. He knelt down and wrapped his wing round the baby dragon. It felt good having someone so small to protect. This must be what having a dragonet feels like, he thought warmly. He closed his eyes, and let sleep take him.
Author's Note
This chapter was divided in half, both to meet the release deadline I set for myself, and to break it up a little bit so it'd be easier to read. The second half will be coming soon.
