Hidden Gem

"I think we should just destroy the train rails and the station whenever we get the chance. We do that, that'll stop the Guards from coming here for a while. Just long enough for us to look for those smoky gems at least." Garble spoke as he flew with two other members of his pack. Well, one to be precise, the other was a liability.

"Why go through all that trouble?" His pack member, Fume, questioned, before a devilish smirk formed on his face, "why not just burn the train outright? Now that will make things interesting!"

Garble and Fume both begin to laugh loudly at the mostly ludicrous suggestion. Mostly, because Garble was actually considering that as a valid suggestion, though as a last resort however.

As their laughter slowly died down, the third dragon behind them, Fizzle, speaks up, much to the surprise of the two other dragons. Though Garble mentally rolls his eyes, hearing the white and pink dragon speak in a soft and frail voice as usual.

"I...I-I don't think that would be the b-best of ideas... we should... uhm..." He gulps as he continues, avoiding eye contact with the irritated dragons, "g-go to the other side of the Badlands? Th-the Griffons there don't mind as much a-as the ponies do..."

Garble snorts and laughs, as they both hover a bit lower. He shakes his head and sighs, before slapping Fizzle's back. He flinches hard as Garble speaks. "Because the Griffons already tore down the best volcanoes and mountains for some stupid village expansions." He groans.

"Besides, your faggy ass is supposed to know the way around these forests, right?"

"Yeah," Fume speaks up, raising an eyebrow at Fizzle as he gets closer to him. Fizzle's form shrinks a little as Fume continues, "now that you mention it, you're the only one in the pack who even bothers to go into the forests and valleys. And not even for gems!"

Fizzle rubs his arm and looks to the side, his frown growing as he sighs, "I-it's... just... I like the peace and quiet. It's more... Well, i-it's better than just laying around, surrounded by dull colored rocks, mountains and magma. The only real colors there are the gems I have... and y-you guys rarely even sha-"

Garble shoves Fizzle, cutting him off before he can continue even longer. He glares the fragile dragon in the eye and shakes his head, "Ugh, honestly Fizz, you're starting to turn into more of a pony than a dragon every single day."

Before Fizzle can even respond, Fume shoves Fizzle as well, this time almost making him lose his balance in the air, "Act more like a dragon, Fizzle. Or at least give the rest of the pack some... stress relief~"

Instantly, Fizzle's face turns redder than the scales Garble has on his back. He also covers his face with his arms, his entire body shaking. Whether out of sheer embarassment or disgust was unknown to them. Garble raised an eyebrow at Fume, confused at what he just said.

"...What? You serious, dude?"

Fizzle then quietly whispers, his white muzzle peeking out between his arms, "W...w-wouldn't t-that be...g-gay?..."

"It's never gay if it's a favor."

After a couple of seconds, both Garble and Fume begin to laugh and shove Fizzle around, trying to shake him out of his embarrassment.

"Maybe you'll find a gem big enough to sit on and treat you right!" Garble teases, making Fume laugh harder. Fizzle simply whimpers quietly in return.

Before the teasing could become worse, all three dragons hear a sudden, loud whistle below them. They all freeze up in confusion and look down, noticing a small camp below the trees. They also see what looks to be a Royal Guard, as well a some kind of skinny monkey-like biped that none of them have never seen before.

"Do you three know exactly where you are?" The monkey-like thing asked in quite an authoritative tone, that kind of intrigued Garble. Regardless, he chuckled and retorts.

"I don't know monkey. Do you know exactly who you're talking to?"

The pony steps forward and waves a hoof down, "Why don't you all come down here. Let's have a chat, yeah?"

Garble and Fume both groan, while Fizzle looks away in shame. Fume also gives him hard shove downwards, shaking his head. They both then land a couple feet away from the two Guards, while Fizzle lands rather clumsy and hides behind the other two.

After you and Sentinel listened in on the conversation the dragons were having, you decided that enough was enough. You especially felt bad for whoever was the one the other two dragons were fucking around with.

So you stepped out, whistled up at them, and now here you were. Face to face with your first dragons. Well, aside from Spike of course. Regardless, this definitely made for one of the more unique, and increasingly tense moments of your life. You see a red dragon in the middle, who has a yellow underbelly and an odd set of spikes on his head that end as a sort of webbing, and is slightly taller than the second one. From the look and sound of him, he seems like a skater cunt.

The second one has a more purple color to it, as well as blonde... hair? And two horns. Kinda reminds you of an emo kid.

The third one you can't seem to see well enough, since he's well hidden behind the other two. Although you do catch a slight glimpse of his eyes, he instantly pulls away the millisecond you make eye contact.

Odd, but okay...

"So, what are you three doing here? I hope you realize you're illegally crossing into Equestrian territory." You then step closer to the red dragon, in an effort to intimidate him and establish some sort of authority. "Emphasis on, 'illegally'."

The red dragon scoffs and rolls his eyes, checking his nails and clenching them into a fist, smirking, "We're just here to get some sweet gems for our horde. Maybe that cave over there has what we want." He explains, looking over curiously at the caves.

Sentinel squints his eyes at the red dragon, then shakes his head, "Well if you really want some 'sweet gems', you'd better go back to your side of the border. You and your group don't belong here."

"This is our side of the border! Until you ponies made a really stupid claim on it!" The red dragon steps closer, mere inches away from Sentinel's face.

You quickly shove the dragon back, holding your shotgun tightly and pumping it once. You stare directly into the dragon's eyes, "Listen kid. I don't want this to end badly for any of us. Just do what we say and go back. All of you."

As you and the red dragon before you stare at each other, both unflinching, you suddenly catch a glimpse of the third dragon, who peeks over slightly at Anon with a mixture of shock, curiosity and fear.

"...Kid? I'm a dragon, not a goat you weird monkey... thing." The red dragon retorts, catching your attention again. You sigh and shake your head.

"I'm not gonna ask you again, kid." You mock, raising your shotgun directly at the red dragon's chest. He looks at you, then down at your shotgun, a look of confusion on his face, then a hint of fear shows through his eyes for a quick second. The purple dragon steps back a little, looking at the red dragon with slight concern.

You mentally smile, knowing that you've asserted a degree of dominance and authority over the red dragon, whose mind seemed to be working overtime to try to find a way to save face and avoid further humiliation.

To your surprise, the dragon quickly turns around, gets behind the third dragon who was hiding behind him, and suddenly pushes him forward, right in front of you and your shotgun. The dragon looks at you, its pupils dilated.

"...*s-squeak*"

As soon as the dragon gets shoved towards you, you lower your shotgun, not wanting to accidentally shoot anyone and become the aggressor, despite the situation. You do finally get a clear look at the third dragon. You notice how... different it looks compared to the other two dragons.

For starters, you honestly were a bit confused as to whether it was either a male or female dragon. But you weren't gonna ask anytime soon, so you just guessed that this dragon was a male. Assuming you were right, he definitely had a more effeminate look to him. His scales were a light pink, as well as his underbelly and eyes. His pupils were also a much darker shade of pink, and most of his overall body was solid white. Maybe an albino, for all you knew, but he was quite easy on the eyes, that was for certain. He was also just slightly shorter than you, by about half an inch at most.

His body figure was also clearly different from the other two dragons, from his incredibly timid behavior, to his slim body and surprisingly soft looking scal-

...

Nah. Focus on your job. Now wasn't the time to be checking a dragon out.

Your glare slowly softens however, as you look at the terrified, shaking albino dragon. You begin to feel pity for this poor guy, now that you think about it. Was he the one that the other two were messing around with? Damn...

You slowly feel yourself begin to smile, and you get an urge to comfort the dragon somehow, but just as your smile begins to form, you instantly frown and your glare returns, except it's now redirected towards the red dragon.

"Hey don't blame us! It was this faggot's idea to come here in the first pace! Hell, he even crosses the border daily! We don't even do that!" He explains, trying his best to throw the albino dragon under the bus, so to speak.

The albino dragon shakes more and he backs away a little, trying desperately to form some sort of reply or plead, "I-I...d-d-don't... n-no y-... h-h-he..."

You try to form out what the albino dragon is trying to say, but you can clearly see that he's on the verge of breaking down and crying.

Starting to feel more sorry for the albino dragon than before, your glare towards the red dragon grows darker, as you step forward and away from the albino dragon.

"I don't know how stupid you think we are, but you are severely underestimating me and my partner here." You say simply, shaking your head as Sentinel speaks up from behind you.

"I think you and your other friends here should come with us." He suggested, though it was more of an order, "We'll take you back to our main camp for questioning."

Garble let out a snort that was more of a laugh, "W-what? Are you serious?"

"The current Dragon Lord will be informed about this regardless." He added, "make it easier on yourself and follow us."

You quickly notice the look of panic on the red dragon's face as soon as Sentinel mentions the part about the Dragon Lord. He darts around, in shock at seeing the blonde haired dragon with his held down in shame. The look of panic on his face suddenly turns to anger, then he turns and looks directly at you and Sentinel.

Suddenly, the red dragon roughly pushes the albino dragon out of the way, making him yelp and fall to the ground hard. Before you can even move to help pick him up, you see the red dragon suck in air, before it lets out a massive, powerful breath of bright orange flames.

You yell and cover your face with your arms in vain. Even through your closed eyes, you can still see the brightness of the flames and feel the incredible warmth engulf your entire front body.

Before you can come to your senses about how you're temporarily immune to fire due to what you drank earlier, you hear a loud, sudden scream next to you as soon as the flames engulf you.

Until the flames suddenly cease.

When you and Sentinel look back, you don't see the red dragon in front of you, but instead you see the purple blond dragon, looking down beside you, a look of pure shock on his face. When you both turn to look at what he's looking at, you both get similar looks.

The red dragon is on the ground, just barely sitting up, a look of pure shock on his face as he cups his cheek and looks up at the albino dragon, who's formerly curled up claw is now uncurled, shaking, along with the rest of his body. He also has the same look on his face that the red dragon has, though it is quickly morphed into one of pure fear.

"G...G-G-Garble...I-I...d-d-d-didn-"

The poor albino dragon is suddenly cut off by an incredibly loud roar, as the red dragon, who you now know is named Garble, stands up and grabs the albino dragon by the throat, then throws him over his shoulder, slamming him very, very hard into the ground.

Garble then climbs on top of the albino dragon, delivering a hard punch of his own.

"G-GAH! P-P-PLEASE D-DON'T I D-DIDN'T M-M-MEAN-"

The albino dragon screams and cries, begging for Garble to stop, but his pleas are muffled by Garble roaring furiously at him, then he prepares to deliver another incredibly powerful punch.

Your blood is boiling at this point. This Garble dragon has done enough harm, you say to yourself, and you quickly stand up the second you get your bearings straight. Before Garble could bring more harm to the albino dragon, you put your arms under the armpits of Garble and lift him up with all your might.

Despite how heavy he is, you manage to throw him off of the albino dragon and over your shoulder, letting him fall back onto the ground on his back, knocking the wind out of him.

You quickly turn around and unsling your shotgun, aiming the barrel point blank at Garble's face, but you suddenly feel a claw on your chest, then you feel yourself being thrown onto the ground and pinned hard, knocking the wind out of you and blurring your eyesight. When you look up clearly, you see that the purple blond dragon has you pinned, looking down at you. He growls loudly and opens his mouth, and you brace for what might come.

But it never does. Thanks to Sentinel, who is now on the back of the purple dragon, delivering swift and painful hoof punches onto the purple dragon's face, who yells loudly and angrily, using his claws to try and get rid of the pony piggybacking him.

You quickly stand up and grab your shotgun, aiming it at the purple dragon at first, then looking over at Garble, who's slowly getting up, his back towards you.

Without a second thought, you fire off a single shot at Garble's back, causing the red dragon to be knocked back down once more, completely stunned and in pain, but leaving no permanent or fatal damage whatsoever. Though at this point you were seriously wishing you had loaded in the regular buckshot rounds the second you heard the dragons.

You then hear your partner yell in pain. You swiftly turn around, seeing your partner on the ground, crawling backwards as he clutches the left side of his face with a hoof, as blood seeps out from under it.

You set your eyes and sights on the purple dragon again, seeing him trying to help Garble back up. As soon as he does, he's knocked down by another shot from your shotgun. You then aim at Garble, who's now up and quite literally fuming in anger. He then lets out another, huge breath of flames your way, though only to blind you if anything.

As soon as you see this, you throw your shotgun over towards where Sentinel is to avoid it getting damaged beyond repair. You growl angrily, but the flames suddenly cease.

When they do, you see that Garble has helped up the purple dragon, and they both begin to quickly take off into the night sky. As they begin to do so, you quickly run towards where you threw your shotgun and aim it upwards towards the two dragons.

Only to see that they have completely disappeared over the treeline, though you are able to hear the rapid flapping of their wings get fainter and fainter.

"Rrrgh... fuck!" You growl angrily, breathing heavily as you keep staring up at the night sky, for any chance that their heads could pop out at any second.

As you do, your adrenaline fizzles out of your system and your breathing becomes more controlled, the anger fading a little. Once you feel more calm, you quickly turn around over to where the albino dragon was.

Only to see that he is nowhere to be found.

Looking down at the ground, then at your shotgun, you quickly rush over to your wounded partner to assist him, cursing yourself at every step you take.