Several nights have passed, the sun and moon swept across the sky in tune to the ever flowing movement of time, just as my relationship with Wallace had grown significantly.

We did a lot together as his injuries
healed, one of which would be exploring some of the tamer spots of the land I called home. I would carry him around in a small carriage that I came across at one point. It was quite fun to see him gawk at the thing, and to see his surprised expression, as he probably didn't think I'd go this far just so he can go and see the outside world again, even if from a limited view.

It may have taken a bit of tweaking, but we were able to make it work for us. Id bring him low enough to the tress so he could get a good look from above, and he had a better set of eyes than I did, and a more simplistic way of expressing his views. He told me he saw "cute little flowers" in the bushes below, which I usually though were berries. He also described the leaves of the trees as having differing shapes, some rounded and wide, others narrow and pointed. I don't think he knew what trees they were (neither did I really), I just think he enjoyed looking at them. It felt nice to imagine the world from a different perspective.

Maybe I enjoyed it because it felt good to talk to someone other than myself. And the more we talked to each other, the more I began to see his tough, military exterior melt away to show a different person underneath. He'd help around the cave by stacking up books I knocked over with my tail or sweep up the ashes from books I burned by accident(I still feel bad about ruining so much written knowledge).

One of my favorite things to do with him, though, was sitting down and talking to each other. One of the more memorable conversations we had was when I talked about my mother.

She was rather nice as far as dragons go, breaking up a fight if it started getting too out of hand, showing us how to dig up gemstones for ourselves, and she even fought off a roc that had caught wind of us when we were getting ready to leave the nest.

I think he enjoyed that story, because soon after he started talking about his cousin. They apparently lived under the same roof, even sharing a room together. As far as personality goes, he wasn't much different from Wallace, having a friendly attitude and being nice to people he trusted.

As we talked to each other day by day, time passed rather quickly, and eventually he had recovered completely. I was overcome with joy to see him standing on all four hooves. I wanted to tell him how happy I was that he could stand up again, to show him every part of the forest and find a spot outside the cave to enjoy ourselves.

When he looked at me, I thought he would smile, and he did, but not for long. His expression changed to a frown as he turned to me. How could I have forgotten he had a home of his own to return to? He trotted over and told me how grateful he was for everything I did for him. As he began to head out, he told me about how much fun he had as he recalled the sights we’ve seen, and the time we shared together.

I walked with him all the way to the edge of the forest, saying my piece as well. And as much as I wanted to go with him to his home, to see the people he grew up with, I knew it wouldn’t happen anytime soon. No settlement in Equestria would open its doors to a dragon like me, and a town at arms against an invasive force allied with an armored dragon certainly wouldn’t be any better.

We stopped a ways past the spot we first met, and he turned to face me once more before smiling and raising a hoof to say goodbye. I returned the gesture before watching him disappear into the woods.

It was hard to get any sleep that night, as my mind was fixated on the alicorn that was a guest in my home, remembering the color and intrigue he brought into my life. So instead of trying to rest, I got up to watch the night sky, gazing at the set-in-stone image on the moon of an alicorn’s head, a symbol of the one who ruled over the night.

I lost all sense of time, looking ever onward as thoughts of that one night from so long ago swarmed my mind. It was almost morning when the silence was broken by loud pops following colored sparks in the sky. They were erupting in the distance, past the hills of stone bordering a section of the forest.

Curious (and with nothing else to do), I flew in their direction, finding the source soon after. A stone fort, adorned with banners on all sides, was opening its gates to let out a creature piloting a highly unusual contraption.

As I landed nearby, he looked at me with a startled expression on his face, shifting to a nervous smile as he asked if I needed anything. I asked about what he was and what those lights in the sky were. He introduced himself as Sebastian, a traveling showman who comes from a faraway land.

Sebastian was a very interesting fellow, an Abyssinian with a taste for the unusual. He enjoyed seeing anything that was out of the norm, and he loved to put on a show displaying all sorts of strange yet fascinating items he came across, as well as tell a wide array of stories about his adventures. The fireworks, as he called them, were for a fun visual appeal, tucked away in a special compartment aboard the machine (The ODD-ysey, as he called it). He wanted to take it with him all around the world, which was a tall order to be sure, but he seemed far too determined to be swayed from the path.

It was rather amusing to see him speaking in an energetic tone as he paced around rather quickly, almost at a running pace, interacting with the environment as if he were performing on a stage. Once he finished, he opted to ask me about myself. Seeing no harm in it, I told him my story, hearing him interrupt me at one point to say Celestia herself might blush if she heard my description of her, to which I gave a dismissive chuckle before continuing.

As my story came to a close, he gave me a look I couldn’t quite make out at the time, but thinking back, it was likely a look of sympathy. He walked over to me and patted my claw as if to console me. He expressed how tragic it must be for two friends to be separated by war, mentioning a few other things about the idea of it that had me grow a bit wearisome (especially a rather darker story I’d rather not speak of openly)

Afterwards he looked at the sky before walking back into The ODD-ysey and flashing me a smile, waving goodbye before heading off.

As he vanished from view, thoughts of Wallace returned to me. Thoughts of the alicorn I knew leading a battalion of ponies to the heavy stone gates of the fortress, charging inside to do battle. And then I remembered the dragon he spoke about, a battle-hardened beast clad in metal spewing flames onto the earth below. This dragon, the very thing that turned the battle in favor of the minotaurs, was the deciding factor in which side would win. Even though I wasn’t the strongest of my ilk, I certainly wouldn’t just stand by and hope for some sort of miracle.

So on that night, I set out to find the stronghold to see for myself if these tales were true.

Author's Note

This took me a while to finish. I’m glad I was able to overcome my laziness and get it done though. I’m quite satisfied with the result. I hope you all enjoy!