"Excuse me, I couldn't help but notice your fire, it's freezing out here, would you two mind if I warmed up a bit?"

Ember's eyes focus on the creature, now standing in the firelight. With each word the creature 'mouthed' the white link around its neck spoke for it, shaking her to the bone. It was like nothing Ember had ever heard before, almost like someone talking underwater but still being able to understand them.

Ember kept her left claw behind her back, clutching at a dagger she used for skinning game.

"Of course, strange one. The night is cold and there is enough fire for us all. Come, sit with us, we were just sharing traveler's tales, perhaps you would like to tell your own?"

Ember's voice didn't come out as shaky as she imagined it would, in fact, it was calm and orderly. The lie coming as quickly as it left her beak. She would only break her honor for tactical reasons, the lie was necessary.

King's blood runs through my veins, I can do this. Stay calm and keep out of its striking range

She sized up the creature as she stepped into the light herself, it presumably did the same. It was hairless, from what she could tell as it wore clothing similar to her own, with the exception of its head where it was much like a pony's mane. Black hair, short, messy, and dry from the desert. It had a small dusting of what seemed to be black fur on its muzzle, but not enough to fully obscure its pale skin. It had small beady eyes and a protrusion in the middle of its muzzle, she imagined it was its nose. It was about 6 feet tall, a fair bit taller than Ember, its exposed arms had strange marks on them, scars dotted them, accompanied by what seemed to be tattoos on the other side of its arm, she couldn't make out what they were in the low light.

The thing enclosed around its neck was unusual, to say the least. It was white as snow and, remarkably, untouched by the crimson sand. Grizzly scars surround the device etched into its skin. From what she could see it didn't look akin to any magic she had ever seen nor any contraption. It made her feel cold.

"I'm talking with a giant winged lizard, can't say you're the strangest thing I've seen so far but you definitely make the list."

Every word the creature 'spoke' nearly made her reevaluate the dishonor of desertion, it took a peek at the armor sitting behind her before reaffirming its eye contact with her. She forced a smile.

"and I am speaking with a big hairless ape, perspective is everything isn't it? In my culture, it is impolite to ask an introduction before you've given one yourself. My name is Ember and this is Rev"

She gestures with her right claw, still keeping her other on the dagger, at her Diamond Dog companion currently cowering behind his seat.

Just like a dog to tuck tail, stay down there mutt; you'll only get in the way.

It suddenly made a step towards her, but she kept her courage and stood her ground. It held out one of its claws, they were smooth, and unlike the talons of a predator, contrary to what she had expected.

"It's Heath, but call me Stone."

That accent... Trottingham? No, it speaks too... smoothly.

She froze, staring at its claws for a moment, not taking her own claw off the handle of her blade. She extends her right arm to meet 'Stone's' in something akin to a pony's hoofshake. Its claws were much more delicate than her scales and she feared to grip them too forcefully as she assumed it would cause 'Stone' harm. It lets go after a few seconds and steps back to sit on a rock adjacent to the flame, rubbing its claws together for warmth.

Ember backs up, still facing 'Stone' and sits with her armor and spear within arms reach. Not breaking eye contact with 'Stone'.

"Thank you, Ember, I usually don't get this warm a welcome when I'm new somewhere. Most people either scream and run when they see something new, or worse, try to fight me off. Not like this thing makes it easier." 'Stone' pulls on the tube enclosed around its neck lightly, it doesn't give in the slightest as if it was part of Stone's skin itself. It coughs, a dry wheezing, audible from both mouth and the tube. It runs its tongue along its cracked lips, taking a breath.

It speaks Equestrian as if it was born to it, how?

"You wouldn't happen to have any water, would you?"

Why would it hunt without supplies to last... did it get lost somehow... and where are its armaments I can only see a belt suitable for the scabbard of a small knife...

Ember nods, taking her claw away from the dagger's hilt, 'Stone' seemingly preoccupied with how cold he was to pay attention to her.

It is a he, isn't it? The voice is clearly male... Alright, my guest, time for a test.

She nods and turns her back to him, reaching into her pack to find her canteen. Her spear mere inches away from her claw as it was situated behind the boulder she had been sitting at. She took her time, giving 'Stone' more than enough time to make what she assumed was going to be an attempt on her life. It never came. Turning back toward 'Stone' she hoofs him the canteen. He takes it from her gently, uncorking it and drinking deep, only stopping for air once it seemed he had gotten his thirst under control.

"Thank you again, if you two hadn't have had this fire going I don't think I would have lasted much longer."

"Not the way I imagined dying..."

He looks over at where Rev had been sitting before returning, both to his drink and the eye contact with Ember. He had the same eyes as her father did, aged beyond his years, not unlike a soldier coming home after a war, or one of the elders of her clan. They were filled with regret. Her claws found their way back to her side as she leaned closer to the fire.

"I would pay you for this, but it seems I've left my purse at home" He had the kind of look you'd find on a hatchling who got caught sneaking away from the nest at night. Embarrassed, how can he be so nonchalant?

I don't think he's as dangerous as I initially thought... maybe...

A few hours pass in silence before it finally gets to Ember and she breaks it with a question.

"What are you." Her impromptu polite exterior fell away as she all but demanded her answer. A subtle smirk made its way across Stone's face.

"I'm human, most of me at least," He said with a chuckle "Don't think on that too much, I assume I'm unique around these parts?"

"What do you mean most of you?" Ember squints, still staring at Stone, now searching his form for what he meant by the comment.

"Well, for starters, this," He points to the device clamped around his neck "It isn't normal to have one of these amongst my species, in fact, I'd go as far to say I'm unique on that front as well." He then takes one of his claws and draws a small circle with it on his torso. "Your species has a heart, does it not?"

Ember nods again, "Of course we have hearts, what kind of question is that?"

"You must be a very attentive species then... I seem to have misplaced mine," He pushes his claw against his shirt allowing a dim white light to shine through the cloth. "Don't know what I'd do if I ever found it though..." For a moment he seems lost in thought, his playful smirk subsiding as he stares into the fire.

"Why does your voice come out of that... thing?" She points to the tube around his neck.

"I'd tell you more if there was anything to tell, I'm afraid I know just about as much as you do. It won't come off either," He runs his soft-claws along a jagged scar on the left side of his neck "I've tried."

"Who are you, then, and not just your name, what do you do for a living," Ember keeps her authoritarian tone as she speaks. "Where did you come from?" Her fear had nearly left her as her curiosity became genuine, no longer impeded by her sense of danger.

"I used to work in the medical field, healed the sick, mostly their minds though, never was a good surgeon... my hands were too shaky... nowadays I mostly just tinker and sell whatever the end product is," Stone continues to stare into the fire, his tone falling flat. "as for what kind of person I am, such a thing is learned through experience, not exposition, and you've never heard of where I'm from, don't worry I'll be out of your scales by sunup," Stone turns his head back toward Ember, smiling warmly as he does. "but enough about me, what about you?"

A healer...

Ember sighs lightly, "Ask, but I won't guarantee answers, human."

" Let's start off simple, where are we now?"

What in Tartarus... He doesn't know?

"South-eastern Equestria, Dragon territory"

"Ok, where is Equestria?"

"In the land of The Twins"

"Twins?" He looks back up at her, "Which ones?"

"The Twin pony sisters, Celestia and Luna... You really aren't from here, are you?"

"That's putting it mildly, Ember... but thank you. I've never gotten a concrete answer on that one." Stone scrunches up his face in thought "What species are you then? I've never seen anything like you."

"I'm a Dragon."

Stone smiles "No, you aren't."

Is he slow or something?

"Yes, I am, I think I know what species I am, human!"

"Nah, I've seen dragons, you don't fit the bill." He points a single claw at her before gesturing up and down at her "Dragons are, at least, ten times bigger than you are, they also don't stand upright."

"That's because I'm nineteen, you idiot!"

Stone's smug expression switches to confusion.

"What?" He looks genuinely puzzled now, "Dragons haven't stopped bickering long enough to breed in..." He gets suddenly serious, as he stands up. "Ember, I'm going to ask you a stupid question"

"Humph, implying the previous three weren't dumb as rocks?" Ember doesn't relinquish her dumb smirk to the sudden sincerity, "What's the question?"

"What year is this?"

"You're right, that was a dumb question" She, poorly, attempts to disguise her laughter as a cough.

"Ember, please, I know how it sounds but just stay with me here."

Her smirk fades away,"Year three of Luna's Return, what, did you lose your watch in the desert or something?"

He nearly falls backward onto his rock, his eyes wide and mouth agape. "Twenty minutes I promised her... I promised..." His voice drifts off as he puts his face in his claws.

"Is something wrong with the date?"

He regains a bit of his composure, staring back into the fire once more. "How many years has it been since 983, Celestia's Reign?"

Ember stops for a moment, counting on her claws. "a bit more than twenty, I think"

He chuckles softly, before breaking into full laughter, all of this still audible from the white circle "I was off by one word..." His eyes glistened off the light of the fire.

The rest of the night passed in relative silence as Stone wasn't willing to answer any more questions outside of an occasional 'yeah' or 'uh-huh'. The sun once again rose and with it, the temperature. The red dunes now fully visible and the fire extinguished.

"So... it seems I've lost a traveling companion," She points to a large hole where her friend 'Rev' was hiding, "Odd, I thought I'd hear him leave."

A hole... I'd bet my bits Rev's a Diamond Dog.

"I never asked, where is it you're going?" He makes a full 360 waving his arms about as he does, "There ain't nothing out here but sand, shrubs, and bones!"

"Rev and I were heading to a festival, it's about another day's journey that way." She picks up the bronze breastplate and a short spear from behind the rock she was sitting at, pointing towards the rising sun.

That's why she lingered, to see if I'd make a move? Bitch was gonna gut me... I guess I can't really blame her...

"I mean, you could come, if you wanted to"

I need to go home, get out of this fucking desert and go home. He starts scanning the horizon for any sign of the desert's end, he had to find his way back to Canterlot, somehow.

Stone is ripped out of his trance, looking back at Ember, "Sorry, what?"

"I said you could come with me to the festival, you dunce!" Her eyes squinted as she glared at Stone.

"I don't know, Ember, people usually aren't as open minded as you are about new creatures." He rubs the back of his head with a hand, "I can't count how many times I've had a blade pulled on me."

"This is a different kind of festival, it's hosted by my clan every ten years or so, always in a different place so you have to be in the know to find it," She takes a step forward, "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, Stone."

"I... I guess I don't have anywhere else to go, sure."

"Alright then, get your things... are you ready now?" She looks around at where he had been sitting the previous night, "We should get going as soon as possible, the heat is bad but dusk is unbearable."

"Yeah, let's go.

The pair walked for hours upon hours, the heat making waves in the air wherever Stone looked. Simply put, he was sweating his ass off. As he continued walking he cast a glance at Ember, she was wearing the bronze breastplate on top of her shirt.

"How," pant, "can you," pant,"wear that thing?" He exhales a breathy wheeze after each word.

"It is my duty, human, I can't expect you to understand," She seemed mostly unaffected by the heat. Perhaps her draconic blood helped, or maybe she was just a very good liar, maybe both.

"It's," pant, "a thing of principle then?" He stops to catch his breath, grasping his thighs and looking down, breathing deeply. Ember comes to a stop a few steps ahead of him.

"What I'm saying is, I'd rather roast out here than disobey tradition."

Stone takes another bemused look at her before standing upright, "Good thing I don't have any traditions to break then!" He strips out of his shirt before wrapping it around his head, "I don't know about you, but I want to make it to nightfall without heatstroke!"

Ember begins to stare at Stone's exposed chest, at the various scars dotting his abdomen, and at the circular device where his heart should be. Then at his now fully exposed arms, they both sported a tattoo. On his left arm was something written in a language she didn't recognize, encased in a fading heart. His right, a series of chains that led off his arm and wrapped themselves around his body.He turned his back to her, continuing on.

"So, your people defile their skin as often as ponies do?" She keeps pace with him, "Or is that just you?"

"Most people don't get tattoos, no, but there's a story for each one I have."

"Then entertain me, Stone, what's the story behind those chains on your right?"

"Aah, everybody always goes for the chains first," He sighs, "They're a form of initiation. When you join a certain group, they give you your stake." He points to what seems to be a large nail inked onto his skin, "You add the links afterward."

"How do you get the links, then?"

"Maybe I'll tell you, one day." He looks back at her with a small smile.

"The one on your left, then."

"A memory, I'd planned to get it removed..."

"Hmm, the one on your neck then, that is the strangest one on you." She gestures to the series of vertical lines and spaces, varying in size and distance, conformed into a small rectangle on the nape of his neck.

"Aah... that one's story is unknown, even to me."

"You mean you were drunk when you got it" She lets out a laugh, smirking as she does.

"Something like that."

"What's it even supposed to be?" She squints her eyes at the pattern.

A barcode, it's a means of identifying a product

"No idea, I was hoping you could tell me!" He grins back at her once more, "Speaking of what you could tell me: do you know the way to Canterlot once we reach this festival?"

"If you're lucky they're'll be ponies there to tell you themselves," She narrows her eyes and looks away from him, "Unfortunately we're not allowed to ban them from showing up."

"What's wrong with ponies?" He starts, Ember gives him a deadpan stare, "Well, I mean, aside from the obvious?"

"What isn't wrong with ponies, they're a species of spoiled rotten kids, the only ponies I've ever gotten along with are the ones I've cut open."

"I've only ever gotten along with two, and I didn't need to meet them on a battlefield."

"Who said anything about a battlefield?"

Author's Note

The second chapter is finally here, sorry for the wait, procrastination is a bitch.