It’s been several days since both you and Fizzle set off from the Everfree forest. Fizzle had suggested that you both walk along the train tracks so you both won’t get lost when trying to find a town called Dodge City. Apparently Fizzle had come across this town when he left the badlands which were just south of this town. He said that the ponies there were scared of him at first but eventually let him stay there for a little bit before he began to travel again. In the time that you two had been traveling from the Everfree, Fizzle has told you about where he used to live. He said that the dragon lands were where all of dragon kind lived. You were quite surprised to here that dragons even bathed in lava. Dragons back where you’re from couldn’t do that, unless they were a fire drake of some sort, otherwise they would just die in it like anyone else.

Fizzle even mentioned that the island was where phoenixes also lived. Legendary birds who could die and be reborn anew, you had those back in your world too. Fizzle explained that dragons also liked the taste of phoenix eggs and that him and some of the dragons he used to be friends with would go and raid nests for their eggs sometimes. Fizzle also told you about a creature that you had never heard of before, slingtails. Apparently these creatures would hurl boulders at anything that they saw. After they killed their prey they would then extract the carcass and devour it. You shiver at the thought of such a creature. The only thing that even comes remotely close to it would have to be the frost trolls of Gregore Peak. Those nasty monsters would hurl boulders at people trying to scale the mountain, as well as any wild life that came near it. Just like the slingtails they too would then eat the dead body of whatever they killed.

Fizzle was also interested in your world as well as you. You told him how ever since you were just a little child you had trained with the sword. You were originally a squire to some pompous knight before the dragon slayers took interest in you. You remember that day like it was yesterday. The knight you were squiring had gotten himself killed by a rather dangerous beast. A thing called a Quillbear, these beasties were bears who had dangerous spikes all around their back. They had the ability to roll their bodies, making them dangerous foes up close. After the knight was impaled on one of the large spikes. You quickly unsheathed your sword and charged the beast. It had rolled at you while you swiftly stepped aside and swung your sword, cutting its jugular open. After you had defeated the creature, you were surprised to see the leader of all the dragon slayers himself ride up to you. Brumer had offered you a place amongst their ranks and you had accepted the offer without a second thought.

It was a hard life after that. Every single day you were training hours on end, never getting a break until the sun went down. Brumer himself had personally trained you, he seemed to see that you had some kind of potiential. Even know you don’t know what he was thinking, sure you were good at fighting, but you don’t think you were amazing at it. After you had finally proven yourself, Brumer had tasked you with killing an ice drake that was located at Gregore Peak. That’s where you had first seen the frost trolls. Your life was almost ended by them as their boulders had almost taken your head countless times. You had finally made it to the cave where the ice drake lived. After a few swings of the blade you had brought it down and swiftly ended its life. After that you had become a full fledged dragon slayer.

Even though you were talking about slaying dragons, Fizzle didn’t seem to mind. He just listened to you talk about your past as he oohed and aahed at certain moments. Fizzle had also told you that his favorite gems to eat were rubies, you asked him why and he told you that they tasted just like cherries. At one point during your journey, a thing that Fizzle calls a train went right by you both. You thought it was a monster and Fizzle had to stop you from throwing one of your fire flasks at it.

Right now you and Fizzle were still walking next to the tracks, the sun beating down on both of you as you do. While you were grateful to be free from the confines of the forest, the hot sun was proving to be its own problem. “Hold on Fizzle, I need a break.” You say as you fall on your ass.

“A-Alright,” Fizzle says as he sits across from you, staring at the ground.

Even though you both have been traveling for quite awhile, he still avoids eye contact. You sigh as you open up the backpack Zecora gave you and take out a water pouch for both you and Fizzle. You toss one over to him and he catches it and starts drinking as you do the same. You then take out some of the food Zecora had supplied you with, it was mostly a bunch of salads. While you didn’t mind eating veggies, you were starting to crave meat. As you both ate in silence, you heard the rumbling of a train coming. You still weren’t used to the things, as it started to roar past you. You could see the various ponies on board as the train went by you. Fizzle was covering his ears from the noise while you just stared at the metal monstrosity. Soon it passed both of you and started to grow smaller in the distance as it chugged along to its next destination.

Before you could continue eating however, you saw a spear being pointed at your throat. You look up to see what appears to be an upright dog wearing iron armor, its fur a sandy yellow. Surprised, you try to go for your sword but when you do, you feel the spear tip poke your throat. “Don’t move, or we kill yes.” Says the doglike creature with a sickening smile.

You narrow your eyes as you jump back from the spear and unsheathe your sword. “A-A-Anon!” You hear Fizzle yell as you turn to him.

Fizzle is surrounded by more of the doglike creatures as they all point their spears at him. “You make funny move, we kill funny looking dragon.” One of them says.

You curse under your breath as you look around you. Many more of them are coming up from the ground. It reminded you of the zombies that roamed the Placade Plains. They would also claw their way up to the surface. You wonder how you could have missed so many of these things, when you realize how you curse under your breath. They must have come when the train was going by you so they could mask the noise they’d make. You sheathe your sword as many more of the creatures circle around you with their spears pointed at you. You raise your hands up as they poke and prod you with the spears. “Funny looking creature. Will be good to work in mine.” One of them says as you raise an eyebrow at them.

So they plan to take you both as slaves. You sigh as they begin to poke you so you’ll follow them. They surround both you and Fizzle as they start to lead you somewhere, where that is you don’t know. You look over to Fizzle and see him on the verge of tears. Your heart sank as you saw him. You put your hand on his shoulder “Don’t worry Fizzle, we’ll find a way out of this somehow.” You whisper to the sad dragon.

He seems to appreciate your words as he starts to smile. “Thanks A-Anon.” Fizzle says appreciatively.

You soon come to a big hole in the ground as the guards poke and prod you towards it. “Get down in hole now!” Yells one of the guards behind you as he pokes you again.

“Whoa watch it with that thing.” You say as he pokes you again.

You’re right on the edge as you try to keep yourself steady, but with another poke of a spear, you fall down the hole. You scream as you fall, it’s not a long fall, and soon the hole slopes into a slide as you ride it all the way down. Your sliding on your back when you finally hit the bottom. You stay on your back to catch your breath when you hear Fizzle screaming as well before he collides right into your stomach, knocking the wind out of you. As you cough and try to catch your breath, Fizzle quickly gets onto his feet. “I’m s-so s-sorry Anon, I d-didn’t mean t-to.” Fizzle apologizes as you slowly get up.

“Its fine Fizzle, just need to catch my breath is all.” You say as you see all the other dog guards slide down and join you.

“Keep moving, you go to jail cell now!” Orders one of the guards as they continue to lead you deeper into the caverns.

The caverns are lit by numerous torches on the walls. Gems seem to glitter all around, making Fizzle’s eye wander to them. Fizzle licks his lips as he sees all the gems embedded into the walls. You chuckle softly as Fizzle blushes in embarrassment. You finally come to a room that has many jail cells in it, You can actually see a pony trapped here as well. These dogs must capture unlucky travelers when their guard is down, then bring them down here and make them slaves. As you think this, the dog behind points his spear at you. “You take stuff off now!” The dog ordered as you blush slightly.

“Uhh... do I have to?” You ask as the dog points his spear at you.

“Alright, alright.” You say as you start to take off your armor.

As you do, you see Fizzle look away with a blush on his face. After you finally take off all your equipment and hand it to the dog, he pushes you and Fizzle into the same jail cell. You fall to the ground landing on Fizzle as the guard closes the gate. “Slaves stay here till diamond dogs know where to put you.” Said the guard as he walked away.

So, their species were diamond dogs and they liked to live underground. Kinda reminded you of kobolds. Nasty little beasties those were. While they weren’t big or remarkably strong, they were still a big threat in large numbers. They could overtake a whole knight squad if there was enough of them. They also lived underground, and spent most of their days mining ores. Miners hated them, and would often post up jobs to rid a mine of a kobold clan that had moved in. if these diamond dogs were similar to kobolds, then they probably mined too. That was probably why they kept slaves, so they could do the work for them and they wouldn’t have to break a sweat. “U-Umm... Anon?” Fizzle says as he is pinned down underneath you, looking away from you as he blushes.

You quickly get up off of him, “Sorry bout that Fizzle.” You say apologetically with a blush as Fizzle doesn’t get up.

“I-Its o-o-ok... I’ll j-just s-stay down h-here.” He says as he stays laying down.

You look down at your bare body, feeling very vulnerable. All you had on was your underwear, the diamond dogs had taken everything from you. But it was fine, when you found a way out of here you would find where they were keeping your stuff, then you and Fizzle would make your great getaway. You sigh as you sit down on the floor. As you do, a diamond dog comes up to your cell with two plates in its paws. It throws them both inside as they fall to the floor. “Here’s your gruel.” The diamond dog says as it goes to turn around.

As he does, both you and Fizzle see the huge ring of keys on his side. You and Fizzle both look at each other and nod. You quickly get up and go to the bars. “Hey hold on a sec.” You say as the diamond dog turns around.

“Huh, you talking to me?” The diamond dog asks as you nod your head.

“Uh, yeah, so what are diamond dogs anyway, I mean I know you’re dogs but is there anything else?” You ask as Fizzle gets into position out of the dog’s line of sight.

“We are strong, strongest there is. Nothing better than diamond dog.” The dog says as he flexes.

“I see, what else?” You ask with fake intrigue as Fizzle starts to extend his hand out of the bars and towards the key ring.

“We mine gems, make slaves mine gems. Capture dumb ponies and make them mine gems.” The diamond dog says as you nod.

“I see, and do you have a leader of some sort?” You ask as Fizzle slowly takes the key ring off and puts his hand behind the bars again.

“Yes we do, King Mongrel. He strongest and wisest diamond dog.” The diamond dog says as you nod.

“Ah, I see, well that’s all I wanted to ask.” You say as you go back to sitting down.

The diamond dog looks confused for a second but then shrugs and goes back to do his rounds. As soon as he’s out of earshot you turn to Fizzle with a huge smile. “Amazing work Fizzle.” You say as you ruffle his head scales.

Fizzle gets a blush as he scratches the back of his head nervously. “I-It was nothing. Just s-something I learned while living in the d-dragon lands...” Fizzle says as he looks down shyly.

“Well thanks to you we have our golden ticket out of here. We just gotta wait for the guards to go a bit lax before we can make a break for it.” You say as Fizzle nods in understanding.

After waiting for awhile, you notice that the guards are showing up less and less. You decide that now was a good time to make your move. You take the key ring and start testing out the different keys on it. Soon you hear a click as your cell door opens. You and Fizzle smile as you exit the cell. You quickly scan the surrounding area for any guards, but to your relief there is none. “Alright Fizzle, lets get going.” You say as you start to walk, but Fizzle grabs your wrist.

“A-Anon, we can’t j-just leave that poor p-pony here.” Fizzle says with a frown.

You sigh as you look at him, he’s giving you those puppy dog eyes. You sigh again in defeat as you nod to Fizzle. “Sure, lets get them out of that cell.” You say as Fizzle smiles.

“Thanks A-Anon, I knew I could count on y-you.” Fizzle says as you wave at him dismissively.

“Yeah, yeah.” You say with a smile as you go to the cell that contains a pony.

The pony seems to have disheveled red hair and her butt seemed to have a mark on it that was a cherry. The pony looks up at you and starts to back away into a corner as you unlock the door. You wave your hands inward in a gesture for her to come closer. “Come on, I’m not gonna hurt you.” You say as the pony looks at you with doubt in her eyes.

Eventually she decides that its better than staying in this cell and comes towards you and exits the cell. “Thank you for um, saving me?” She says with confusion in her voice.

You ignore her as you turn around. “Alright, you two follow close behind me, we’re gonna have to sneak around here if we don’t want to get caught again.” You say as both Fizzle and the pony nod.

“Wait, before we get a move on, I’d like to introduce myself, the names Cherry Jubilee boss of Cherry Hill Ranch in Dodge Junction, and who might you gentlecolts be?” Cherry says as she finishes introducing herself to you both.

“M-My names Fizzle...” Fizzle says shyly.

“And I’m anon, a dragon slayer.” You say simply as Cherry’s eyes light up with intrigue.

“A dragon slayer you say. And what in tarnation is a dragon slayer doing with a dragon?” Cherry asks as you rub the back of your head.

“It’s a long story, lets just say me and Fizzle are traveling companions that got caught by the diamond dogs when our guard was down.” You say as Cherry nods in understanding.

“I see, I got caught while transporting some of my cherry products to Ponyville, dang diamond dogs snuck up on me while I was trying to fix a wheel on my wagon, and before I knew it they locked me in here.” Cherry explains

“Well we plan on getting out of here, if your in then just stay behind me alright, I’ll do all the uh, talking.” You say as you begin to lead them both deeper into the caverns.

As you three are hugging the walls as close as possible, you hear a sudden noise ahead of you. Putting your finger to your lips, you give both of them a signal to be quiet as you wait for the person who made the noise to appear. Soon enough, a diamond dog appears walking in your direction, completely oblivious to the three escapees that were before him. When the diamond dog gets close enough you pounce on him and put him into a headlock. The diamond dog tries to escape but its no use as he just uselessly flails around, trying to hit you to let him go. “Where do you take all the stuff you get from the prisoners?” You ask him as you tighten your grip around his throat.

The diamond dog whines a bit before complying “All stuff goto King Mongrel, he always gets the stuff.” The diamond dog says as he continues to whine.

“Where is your king?”

“He deep in caves, lives in biggest home.”

“Tell me how to get there.” You say as the diamond dog points in the direction of one of the connecting tunnels.

“Down that way, keep going and eventually you will see diamond dog city, find big house, that where he is,” The diamond dog says.

“Thanks,” You say as you start to choke him out until he slumps down onto the floor, unconscious.

“Hmm, now that we know where that King Mongrel fella is, how do you suppose we get to him, there’s gonna be guards everywhere?” Cherry asks as you think for a moment.

You snap your fingers with a smile as you start to take off the armor on the diamond dog. You put the gear on and notice that it’s a bit big for you, but it will do for now. You pick up the spear as well as you turn to Fizzle and Cherry. “Alright, here’s the plan, I’ll pretend to be one of the guards and you guys will be my prisoners.” You say as Fizzle nods, while Cherry gives you a dubious look.

“Are you sure this will work?” Cherry asks as you give her a shrug.

“It’s worth a shot.” You say as Cherry sighs.

She doesn’t look very confident in the plan, but she decides to go along with it anyway as you point your spear at both of them and you all start to walk deeper into the cavern. As you walk along you can’t help but stare at Fizzle. You notice his cute little ears twitching at every noise, how he’s looking around nervously, you even hear him clacking his claws together. You smile as you stare at him, Cherry seems to notice this as she looks at you with a sly smile. “I see someones smitten with a certain dragon.” Cherry whispers to you out of ear shot of Fizzle.

You get a deep blush as you look away. “W-What are you talking about, I was just uh, checking the area in front for any diamond dogs.” You say as Cherry giggles.

“Uh huh, you can’t fool me, I know when someone is making the googly eyes at someone else.” Cherry says with a knowing smile as your blush deepens.

“U-Uh is everything o-okay?” Fizzle asks as he stares at both of you.

“Yeah everything’s okay Fizzle.” You say, trying to hide your blush.

Fizzle just raises an eyebrow at you but doesn’t question it as you continue moving along. Soon you arrive in a huge underground chamber filled with what appears to be a stone town. You can see diamond dogs moving around within the town as well. You were amazed, not even kobolds were capable of such a feat. To think that the diamond dogs had an actual underground civilization, even though they sounded dumber than a sack of rocks. As you get to the town entrance, you are stopped by a couple of armed guards. “Halt, state business!” One of the guards barks as you adjust your helmet a bit.

You clear your throat a bit before speaking in your best simpleton voice. “These are prisoners, go to King Mongrel because king want these prisoners.” You say as both of the guards look at each other then back at you.

You can tell they are thinking deeply as they both scratch their chins in thought. One of them finally speaks up. “Hmmm, ok, you go through now. But keep slaves in check.”

The guards open the door as you all make your way past them. “Wow, that sure was easier than I thought.” Cherry exclaims once you’re out of earshot of the guards.

You just shrug your shoulders as Fizzle smiles. “I-I knew we would be f-fine, because I t-trust Anon.” Fizzle says as you give a small blush and a smile.

As you walk through the town you see many of the diamond dogs staring at you, but they quickly go back to what they were doing shortly after. You’re thankful that these beasties aren’t that bright. You look to your right and see one of them selling gems, as well as many more stalls selling gems. It seems like these dogs were rather fond of the shiny stone as you saw many of them purchasing them, with other gems... Before you can think about how the diamond dog economy works you are interrupted by a guard. “I need break, you guard palace while I gone.” Says the guard as you raise an eyebrow at him.

“Uh palace?”

“Yes palace.” He says as he points behind him.

You look up and see a huge stone structure, it was probably the biggest building in the entire town. The place had gems embedded all over it as well as banners showing off what you believe to be the Mongrel crest. The crest showed a diamond dog on a huge piles of gems. You look back to the guard who is staring at you impatiently. “Uh, yes, me stand guard, you take break.” You say as the dog smiles and happily runs away to enjoy his break.

“Well, uh, lets go inside.” You say as you shake your head at the stupidity of these diamond dogs.

You weren’t even that hairy and they still believed you were one of them. You all head inside the palace and make it to the first room. The inside of the palace is lavishly decorated. Many crude paintings line the walls as well as more gems embedded everywhere. “These dogs sure do love their gems.” You say jokingly as you see Fizzle eyeing all the gems hungrily.

“Y-Yeah, I don’t blame them, gems are delicious.” Fizzle says as he goes over to a wall.

“Um. I’m pretty sure diamond dogs don’t eat gems.” Cherry says as Fizzle digs out a ruby from the wall.

“Did you just claw your way through a stone wall to get to a gem?” You ask as Fizzle blushes.

“I have v-very strong claws.” Fizzle says as you just nod.

Fizzle’s claws must be pretty durable if he was able to claw through stone, then again your sure they have to claw their way through stone on a regular basis to get to their precious gems. Though for some reason you believed that they probably used a pickaxe or something. As you think this you see Fizzle eat the whole ruby in one bite and give out a content sigh. You look away from Fizzle and shake your head, now was not the time to get distracted by a cute dragon eating a gem, right now you had to get your gear back and the person with your stuff lived in this very palace. You gesture for the others to follow you as you begin to climb the stairs to this huge place. “The sooner we get my gear the better. I’m starting to get tired of these dark and dank caves, especially since it smells like wet dog everywhere.” You say as Fizzle nods in agreement.

“While I d-do like dark caves, t-the smell is a bit overbearing.” Fizzle says as you get to the top of the stairs and enter into a hallway.

This hallway had even more crude paintings. Some depicting who you presume to be King Mongrel in them. One of them had him on a giant pile of gems fighting off dragons, while another had him sitting in a lavish stone throne with a goblet in hand. Whoever this king was he seemed to be full of himself. As you all continue down the hallway you hear something coming from one of the rooms. You signal for the others to be quiet as you stalk towards the door and put your ear against it. You hear a lot of rustling inside, like someone was rummaging around, then you hear a voice. “This armor is very good, very sturdy, with this I could beat anyone,”

You look at Fizzle and nod towards the door. Fizzle nods back and gets ready as you ready your spear. Cherry seems confused by this. “Wait, what are you fellas planning on do-” Before she has a chance to finish her sentence both you and Fizzle barge into the room.

Inside the room there are gems embedded into all the walls, including the ceiling, as well as a giant throne with even more gems on it. Sitting in the throne is a big diamond dog with what appeared to be an eye patch on his right eye, his coat is the same color as all the other diamond dogs, he was also around the same height as you, wearing your armor and wielding your sword. He looked taken aback as you barge into his throne room. But he quickly recovers from his initial shock and smiles. “So, you the weird creature thing my boys were telling me about. What do you think you’re doing out of your cell?” King Mongrel says as he gets up and raises your sword.

You creep forward as you ready your spear. This was quite the tricky situation. You knew for a fact that this dinky little spear would not be able to pierce your armor. You were gonna have to stab your spear in one of the weak points of the armor. You were also gonna have to watch out for your sword, one swing of that would probably end your life. Not to mention that if you tried to block that sword, it would probably destroy the spear you were wielding. As you’re thinking of ways to deal with this threat, Fizzle steps forward. “What do you think you’re doing Fizzle, step back I’ll handle this.” You say as Fizzle shakes his head.

“N-no, I’m gonna f-fight alongside you.” Fizzle says as you look at him to see if he’s serious.

You actually make eye contact with him and you can see the determination burning in his eyes. With a small smile you nod to him. You know you can’t stop him so you might as well let him do what he wants. “Doesn’t matter how many of you come at me, with this equipment I’m unstoppable!” King Mongrel says as he gets into an offensive stance.

That’s when King Mongrel charges, aiming for you as he swings his sword. You barely have enough time to dodge before he winds up for another swing, but before he can act Fizzle spews flames at him. King Mongrel back steps while covering his face. He looks down at his body and sees that the flames had no effect on him. “Haha, this armor is amazing, not even flames can hurt me!” King Mongrel shouts as he starts lunges towards Fizzle.

“Shit.” You say as you run towards Fizzle who is cowering.

Before King Mongrel can reach Fizzle, you tackle him to the ground. You both roll around on the ground before standing up and locking your hands with one another. He was stronger, incredibly strong, but you held your own as you struggled against him. “Is this all you can muster?” He says with a smirk before he stops locking hands with you and grabs you by the waist.

He throws you into the throne. You hit it hard, your back exploding in pain. But you get back up, after all, you’ve had worse than this. “Hmm, to think that you could stand up after that, you are strong aren’t you. I can see it in your stance. You’re a natural born fighter aren’t ya.” King Mongrel says as he smiles at you.

As he’s talking, you see Cherry sneaking her up behind King Mongrel with a vase. You know what she intends to do so you ready your spear and charge at King Mongrel when she gets ready to smash him with the vase. King Mongrel readies himself for your blow when he feels a sharp pain in the back of his head. “What the hell?” He yells as he turns around and backhands Cherry, she yelps as she falls to the ground unconscious.

you curse under your breath as you aim your spear. Before he has time to react you thrust your weapon. You aim for his exposed face as your spear tip stabs into his left eye. He roars out in pain and rips the spear out of your hands as he struggles to get it out of his eye. Eventually he succeeds as he tears the spear out of his eye, along with his eye. His left eye is now closed as he sniffs around. “Ha, so you think that if you take out my one good eye that you’ll have an advantage in this battle. Well let me tell you, I don’t need sight to take you down!” King Mongrel roars as his snout locks onto you.

“There you are!” He yells as he charges you swinging wildly.

You frantically dodge his random slashes as he changes it up and stabs his sword right at you. “There you are!”

You get ready to dodge when Fizzle tackles into the diamond dog, making him lose balance. “L-Leave Anon alone!” Fizzle shouts with bravery you’ve never seen before from the meek dragon.

“Nice tackle Fizzle.” You compliment him as he blushes.

King Mongrel is back on his feet as he gives off a malicious grin. “You think you’ve won haven’t you, well I know whats in this little pack right here.” He says as he pats your pack containing all of your supplies.

He rummages around inside before pulling out a potion. “I don’t know what these potions do, but I’m sure they’ll give me the upper paw in his fight.” King Mongrel says as he uncorks the potion.

“Wait don’t drink that!” You yell out as he gives you a smirk.

“Really now, and why would I listen to you?”

“Just trust me, don’t do it.” You say as he puts a claw on his chin like he’s in deep thought.

“Nah, I’m gonna drink it.” He says as he downs the whole potion in one gulp.

He licks his lips and gives out a satisfied sigh. After a few moments his face twists into a pained expression. “W-What the, what is this?” King Mongrel asks in pain.

“Fire flask, in a few seconds you should become a walking bonfire.” You say as his expression darkens.

“Then I’ll take you with me!” He shouts as he charges at you.

Both you and Fizzle sprint away from him as he continues to chase after you. King Mongrel gives off a pained yelp as his entire body starts to combust. “Help me, someone anyone!” He screams out for help as he starts to burn alive.

You and Fizzle stay clear of him as he falls onto the ground and starts to roll around in a vain attempt to put out the fire. It proves futile as his entire body burns away, including his skeleton. With that the king of diamond dogs is nothing more than a pile of ashes. You sigh as you go over to your stuff and start to put your armor on. As you get all of your equipment you hear a startled scream. “K-King Mongrels dead.” Says a diamond dog in the doorway as he points to your group.

“You killed him. I need backup pro-” Before the diamond dog can speak anymore you quickly cut him down.

The diamond dog slumps to the floor as you turn back to Fizzle. “We need to get out of here and quick, this place is probably gonna be swarming with guards very soon.”

“R-Right, but what about C-Cherry, shes out cold?” Fizzle asks as you walk over to the unconscious pony and pick her up.

“I’ll carry her, now lets go!” You say as Fizzle nods and follows you out of the room.

You both run outside and are immediately surrounded by guards. “Hold it right there. You go nowhere.” Says one of the guards.

You look at Fizzle. “Hey Fizzle, mind heating things up?” You ask as Fizzle takes a deep breath.

He shoots out flames that engulf most of the guards. While it wasn’t enough to kill them, its gonna leave a pretty nasty burn later. You both quickly run past the distracted guards as you head for the exit that leads out of this stone town. “Stop them!” You hear someone yell as you look behind you.

There’s a whole platoon of guards on your tail, with spears at the ready. “Shit, this isn’t looking good.” You say as you both run down the tunnel.

“Think you can carry both of us?” You ask Fizzle who looks unsure of himself for a moment.

“I’ll try, I-I’ve never had to c-carry others while flying before.” Fizzle says as you near the place where you fell down.

You look up and can barely see the light from the entrance of the hole. Fizzle starts to flap his wings as he picks both you and Cherry up in his arms. You can tell Fizzle is struggling from the strain visible on his face, but the dragon toughs it out as you start to fly higher and higher. “Good work Fizzle, keep it up.” You praise him as you hear shouts from down below, followed by a spear that whizzes by your head.

You look down to see the guards picking up their spears and lobbing them at you. You quickly pull out your crossbow and take aim. You fire a bolt straight into the neck of one of the guards that was about to throw a spear. The diamond dog starts to convulse heavily from the electrocution as it falls to the ground. You start reloading your crossbow when a spear whizzes by and nicks Fizzle in his thigh. Fizzle yelps out in pain as you lose a little bit of altitude. “Are you alright Fizzle.” You call out worriedly as he seems to recover and continues to fly.

“Y-Yeah, just a scratch. I-I can keep going.” You can tell that Fizzle is scared right now, but he puts up a brave front as he continues to fly you to the surface.

The diamond dogs seem to have run out of spears as they angrily wave their fists at you. “You can run but not hide, diamond dogs will pay you back for king!” One of the diamond dogs yell up to you as you finally fly out of the hole and are back on the surface.

You all fall onto the ground as Fizzle breathes heavily, obviously exhausted from having to carry two people while flying. As you get up you notice Cherry stirring awake. She gets up to and looks around, obviously surprised to see the surface again. “Where in tarnation are we?” She asks, perplexed that she isn’t underground anymore.

“We escaped.” You simply say as Cherry still has a surprised look on her face.

Fizzle finally recovers and gets back up. “W-We should get going, the d-diamond dogs might give chase.” Fizzle suggests as you nod to him.

“Right we can’t let our guards down now.” You say as you look around, you have no clue where you even are.

“But there’s a new problem, where are we.”

“Why, we’re about two miles west of Dodge Junction.” Cherry says matte-of-factly as you look at her.

“How do you know that?” You ask as she gives you a smug grin.

“Why, I go this way when delivering my cherries of course.”

“Right, well lead the way then. The farther we’re away from those diamond dogs the better.” You say as both of them nod in agreement.

As you all start to walk you notice Fizzle has a slight limp. You immediately take out one of your health potions and attempt to give it to Fizzle, who refuses. “P-Please Anon, I’m fine honest.” Fizzle says as you shake your head.

“Fizzle you’re limping, please take the potion.” You plead with him but he shakes his head again.

“I-It’s just a scratch Anon, Please don’t waste another potion on m-me.” Fizzle says.

You look at Fizzle for a moment. “Are you sure?” You ask as Fizzle nods.

You sigh, you know the timid dragon isn’t gonna budge. You reluctantly put away the potion as Fizzle smiles. “Fine, you don’t have to take the potion but at least let me carry you.” You say as Fizzle blushes.

“W-W-What...” Fizzle says, obviously embarrassed at the prospect of being carried by you.

“You’re wounded, I won’t have you walking on that leg all the way to town.” You say as Fizzle looks down at the ground and clacks his claws together.

Fizzle silently nods as you smile before putting him on your back. All the while you can hear Cherry silently giggling to herself. “Welp, lets get going.” You say as you start to follow Cherry.

As you’re walking, you can feel Fizzle hugging your neck tightly. He lays his head down on your left shoulder, putting his face right next to yours. He sighs softly as he snuggles into your back, his scaly cheek touching yours as you blush. You can see Cherry trying hard not to laugh as you glare at her.

You all make it to town as the sun was setting. The sky an orange glow as you take in your surroundings. The town is made of mostly wooden buildings. You can see ponies coming and going, probably closing up shops and getting ready for the night. As you enter the town Cherry speaks up “Since you saved me from those diamond dogs, you and your dragon friend can sleep at my house for the night.”

“Thanks Cherry.” You say as Cherry waves her hoof nonchalantly.

“It’s the least I can do for you saving my hide back there.” Cherry says with a smile, you smile back at her as you continue walking.

You follow Cherry to her house, lugging a sleeping Fizzle on your back as you try to not pay attention to all the stares you’re getting. You finally make it to Cherry’s house as she opens the door for you. You walk in and notice all the cherry paraphernalia littering her living room. “Wow, you must really love um. Cherries.” You say awkwardly as Cherry closes the door behind you both.

“Of course. Now the room you’ll be staying in is the first one on the right upstairs.” Cherry says as she goes into her kitchen.

“Right, thanks again.” You say as you go up the stairs.

You open the door to the room and notice that all the furnishing in this room has cherries on them as well. You just shake your head as you go over to one of the two beds in the room and gently place Fizzle on it. You tuck him in as Fizzle lets out a happy sigh. You take off your armor next to Fizzle’s bed before you start to head for your bed. A hand grabs your wrist and stops you from moving forward. “P-Please don’t go A-Anon.” Fizzle mumbles in his sleep.

You decide not to leave the poor dragon alone tonight as you crawl into bed with him. He immediately cuddles up to you with a smile on his face. You smile as well as you fall asleep in the arms of a timid dragon.

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long for this one to come out, was busy with irl stuff, anyway I hope you enjoy :)