Author's Note
And chapter two is done. Hope you all enjoy. :)
Chapter 2
"This looks like a good spot. Let's land here, guys," a young, energetic voice commanded as a group of five teenage dragons appeared from the sky and landed on the sandy shores of an average-sized island housing a dormant volcano.
When they landed, each dragon took a moment to take a breather as their trip from the dragon lands to this specific island was still quite an exercise for all of them. With how much time and energy they used to get here from time to time, they'd expect to get used to it by now. But, the exercise was still good.
"Phew….Never gonna get used to these trips here," a lavender dragoness by the name of Maar said as she folded her wings before she heard one of her friends chuckle amusingly.
A mud-brown, tubby dragon chuckled as he said in a joking manner, hoping to get a reaction out of Maar, "Oh, what? Already exhausted? Guess you need more exercise than--"
A quick, solid punch to the face got him to shut up real fast as he fell flat on his back with his face caved-in; he couldn't even finish his sentence, she punched him so fast. He got a reaction out of her; it just wasn't the reaction he was expecting.
The rest of the group laughed out loud as Maar pouted in annoyance and pulled her fist back, glaring death daggers at him, "Crack another joke like that, again, Clump and I won't hold back another one, ya jerk!" she was way skinnier than Clump and the rest of their friends – if a race was involved, she would win, claws down!
Clump's face popped back into place like spring. If he didn't have armor, that punch would've down some serious damage. Then again, that still hurt! "Geez, Maar. Learn to take a joke!" He got back up and rubbed his snout carefully while Maar rolled her eyes, arms crossed.
"It was still funny," another voice pitched in, sounding tougher with a bit of arrogance. Seeing roughhousing like that always amused the leader of the group and he wouldn't mind watching it all day.
"Hey, Garble?" the slight alluring feminine voice of a magenta dragoness chimed in, wanting to ask him something as she stood next to him, fluttering her eyes at him.
Garble blushed faintly and stepped back a bit, feeling a tad awkward towards his friend, but he replied to the flirty dragoness anyway, "What do you want, Sunder?"
Sunder chuckled at Garble's timidness and just loved toying with him, but she was so happy to be included in this group and play with her friends, but there was one thing she had to know, but also mess around in her own way, "Now that we're here, what are you going to do about that 'little package'?"
Garble's faint blush evolved into a bright pink as Maar and the other dragons laughed at Sunder's innuendo. Garble glared fiery eyes at them and burned his gaze, ordering them to shut up but it went by deaf ears. Clump went down on one knee while Fizzle and Maar held themselves by their knees, trying so hard to catch their breaths from laughing so hard. Sunder got a good chuckle out of what she did. Despite having a crush on Garble, and more than likely he shared the same thing to her, it didn't hurt to poke at it from time to time.
Garble turned to his friends and barked at them defensively, "Will you guys shut up already! She didn't mean it like that!" He groaned to himself and looked to Sunder," We'll deal with this when we get to the molten rock field." He motioned ahead as he walked to the spot they needed to go. Sunder followed while the other dragons caught their breaths and rushed after them. If it wasn't them being the butt of every joke, it was sure funny when it happened to their leader.
Once the dragons disappeared, it seemed like seconds or minutes passed as the quiet peaceful time on the island resumed. Until a pink blur dropped from the sky and crashed onto the sand like an anvil causing an audible bonk upon crashing. Sand kicked up for a moment before it quickly faded as an alicorn mare was flattened like a pancake sprawled on the sandy terrain. Exhaustion hit her like a steroid Minotaur and she could barely move some parts of her body.
"Note to self: should've exercised with my uncle and aunt... instead of helping mother with chores," Sakari mumbled with her face full of sand. Determination was key, but it did not hold back for anyone – and she was no exception. She managed to move a twitchy arm and used it to pop her head out from the sand to take a breath of air. Her body felt like mush but she was still kicking, miraculously. As she dragged herself out of her sand bed, she noticed her wings were unfolded and hanging from her sides. She tried to move her wings so she could get them to fold, but a few bone pops and muscle twitches meant that they were out of commission. Sakari huffed an irritated sigh before shaking her body like a dog to get all the sand off her body.
"Great, guess flying is out of the question," she brushed a piece of her scruffy mane away from her eyes and looked around to see where she was at. She felt warm sand between her hooves, which was a good indicator of where she was. "Okay, so I'm on an island?" she talked to herself. "But what kind of island, I don't even know. I don't remember this being on my map." She turned to look at nothing but open water. No other islands in sight.
"Guess this means this island must be unexplored," she looked down at the sand again and thought to herself that this place could almost be used for summer vacations or something. The air blew across her and it felt nice, gentle and warm. A bit of rocks here and there and occasional seashells and cone-shells, but it was still nice. A light smile contorted as she felt excited about herself for finding this island. She would be giddy, but then she recalled why she was here.
"Oh yeah, those dragons," the last time she saw them was heading here.
Having remembered that, she quickly turned to see what the island provided and it was unlike anything she'd seen before. Swamps, mountain, deserts, she'd seen a variety of them growing up, but this island seemed a little... different. Grass that reached up to her neck covered a lot of the ground. She looked left and right and saw that the grass went on – and judging this, it looked like it circled the entire island -- almost like tufted fur covering a neck. That wasn't the only thing strange, too. Tall palm tree-like trees roused from spots within the sea of grass; sprouting in some kind of pattern. Sakari looked at the foliage confusedly and wondered why it was like this, but it seemed vast and goes on to the center of the island. Come to think it, the tall grass itself almost seemed impossible to see; it was so thick, any creature could hide in there for either an ambush, surprise attack or just play hide and seek; it was a perfect place to sneak around. Good for her, but it was also kind of nerve-wracking, too. She recalled something before on her mom's TV about creatures that hid in a tall grass field. The way they moved around so quick to catch their prey like some reptilian ninja was not-lying-about-it terrifying. But she couldn't, for the life of her, remember if it was a movie or a nature documentary.
It didn't make things any better when she noticed a dead Volcano up ahead.
Either way, recalling that moment might've been a bad idea. There was tall grass, but the wildlife was unknown to her and she didn't know if said creatures from that program were here. But she had one goal she needed to accomplish and hope to any god above that's higher than Celestia that's listening that they're still here. But, her answer was quickly given when she realized the sand below her can leave imprints from any creature who stepped on it. She gasped happily and looked down to find that was just the case. Footprints of many different kinds from as big as hers to a little trail of footsteps – even footsteps the size of a kitten; cute! She giggled to herself and figured these were the teenage dragons she was looking for. She wasn't sure about the tinier set of footprints but it's a start. And with their trail leading to the tall grass, that just complicated things for her.
She looked weary at the tall grass and conflicted herself; one side telling her to drop it, but the other telling her to press on.
She shook her head out of her trance and stamped a hoof on the sand, "No, if those dragons can get through that field, then so can I!" she said with eager confidence. Like a soldier, she followed the trail that leads into the grass field and melted into the grass itself.
"This seems easy, too easy," she said as she pressed on, being cautious about her surroundings – but she was excited, too. She's never interacted with teenage dragons before and the last time she interacted with something reptilian was with a snake near her home; she was unaware it was a copperhead, but she was fortunate it didn't bite her. It struck at her, so her father had to take care of it, but from then on she had to be cautious with new approaches. She ventured further into the tall grass, but it proved to be quite difficult to see what was in front of her. Every time she pushed grass away, more grass appeared; it was like she was swimming in water. She looked down to see if she was still hot on their trail, but even that was proving difficult. She almost felt lost, but she powered through it like a champ. Just then, she heard rustling next to her and forced her to stop with a squeak in her voice.
She didn't think twice and leaned her head toward where the rustling came from... only to hear low, eerie hissing exhaust from a creature's mouth...
… The exact hissing she heard from that – "And it just occurred to me that I was watching a nature documentary. Oh..." Sakari winced, but the creature that stood behind the tall grass immediately attacked with fangs exposed. Sakari screamed as the grass waved and bounced like they're on an extreme sugar rush. Screams, cackles, hissing, punching, it all happened at once and Sakari tried running like a bat out of hell just to get away from the savage creature after her. As she ran, she stumbled upon a bush wall and accidentally rammed right into it. She rushed in, thorns poking at her body, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, that's doesn't tickle, Ow-ha-haow!" try as she might to get through the large thorn bush wall, she succeeded and jumped out, landing back into the tall grass and dropped to the ground with a splat.
"How? Why?" she shakily pushed herself back up and sat on her haunches. "Note to self, learn some magic." She rubbed her head and groaned slightly, plucking a few thorns out of her butt. "Eep!" she sighed in relief, glad to know the worst was over. "Least it can't get any worse, ri--" she looked down, muzzled scrunched, eyes dilated and spine chilled at what she found. The sounds of numerous rattles vibrated the pregnant air. Obviously, it can.
Rattlesnakes… Of all the situations or creatures to run into on her trip today, it had to be rattlesnakes.
She tried to not move an inch but it was too late, the number of rattlesnakes around her saw her and rose up, ready to strike. "Oh, come on!"
The snakes lashed out with hisses and fangs bared, causing her to run once more. She desperately tried to avoid their nipping kiss as they tried to take a bite into her legs – only for her to dodge them. It took but a couple of minutes to get out of that snake-infested grass hell, but it felt like an eternity before she finally managed to get out of the tall grass and plop back on her belly, again. All of that felt like an obstacle course for psychopaths. Was life trying to tell her to shove it or something? This island was a madhouse!
Sakari lifted a shaky hoof and lifted herself back up before she heard the sound of roughhousing a couple of miles away – she was close. "Oh, thank Celestia."
She got up and trailed down a much softer grass field where she can see much clearer, aside from the same trees as before. There was no path for her to take, so she had to walk around many trees as she could before stumbling upon a field of burnt gravel and three-rows of rocks that eerily share the same pattern as shark's teeth. She could hear the dragon's roughhousing get a little louder the more she got closer to them. But as she did, she dove behind a large rock so she wouldn't be seen; the dragons were right around the corner and her heart started to race with excitement; they were in the center of whatever this area was. Finally, she found them, but how many she didn't know.
Part of her didn't want to get caught and another part just wanted to see them play; why not both? She looked at the rocks around her and they were tall enough to hide her frame. 'Huh, convenient,' she thought as she quietly peeked around to see the commotion, only for a small oncoming fireball to fly over and nearly take her eye out. "Whoa!" she reeled back and planted her back firmly against the large rock, eyes nearly popped out from the shock. She placed a hoof on her chest and felt her heart race a mile a minute. That was nuts! She tried to calm herself down as best she could; a few deep, quiet breaths and she was functioning, but this large rock was probably not the best way to see the dragons in action.
With the rocks being large enough, she could sneak around, easily. Like a panther stalking its prey, she took the opportunity and crawled behind the rocks, all while listening to the teenage dragons talk and hearing more fireballs being thrown, 'I would say this is my lucky day, but I ain't gonna shoehorn it.'
A hiss in her direction broke her out of her thoughts. Sakari looked to her right and saw one of the rattlesnakes that tried to bite her from before and it hissed a threat at her, just daring her to come back to their territory as it seemed to be shaking his tail at her like how someone would shake a fist in frustration.
Sakari gave the little snake a frustrated glare and used her wing to shoot the rattlesnake a middle feather, 'Yeah, up yours too, pal.' She crawled away as the rattlesnake motioned his rattle to his eyes, then to her before slithering away back into the tall grass.
Sakari overheard the dragons talk and sneakily pop her head over a medium-sized rock and watched in awe. The five dragons were wrestling and having fun. The white dragon clashed with the tubby brown dragon in a tug-a-war display; one was about to go down and Sakari already had a guess on who would win. Sure enough, she witnessed the brown dragon pin the white dragon with ease.
"Oh, that had to smart," Sakari whispered to herself before she noticed the other three. She studied them and indicated that there were two females and three males. Her eyes sparkled and never took them off her sights. 'Fascinating. Are they fighting to win over the hearts of those females?' Sakari hypothesized, but after a mad dash from the lavender dragoness to the brown tubby dragon, that call immediately changed.
Maar slammed her bulk onto Clump and held him down while Fizzle walked away to lick his wounds. Maar was determined to put Clump in his place; this little wrestling match proved she could do it, and it was a ton of fun beating the ever-loving snot out of him; she also wanted to wrestle Fizzle, too. But since he lost, she can also take her frustration out of Clump.
"Had enough, Clump?" Maar said, pulling a Boston Crab on him and keeping him pinned. "Or should I say: Chump?" She mocked him for the heck of it.
Clump growled furiously and glared daggers at Maar, "Not even close, ya newt!" Clump swung his tail around Maar's waist and pulled her off with ease, planting her on the ground. This gave Clump enough time to get up and launch himself back and elbow dropped Maar in the back. All while having a revenge smile on his face. "What are ya gonna do now, huh?"
Though that elbow hurt, she was not gonna go down that easily. She was easily more flexible than Clump and with a swing of her back leg, she slammed her foot against Clump's face for a surprise attack. Clump never saw it coming and he got up just for Maar to escape.
Clump held his snout and rubbed it. He growled at Maar, but the speedy dragoness shoulder rushed his gut and caused him to bend over. It didn't knock the wind out of him, but it still hurt as he clenched his midsection in a bit of pain.
Taking this opportunity, Maar wrapped her right arm around Clump's neck and fell back with Clump's head. A good DDT later and Clump was back on the ground in a dazed state. Maar stood over his body and posed victoriously, receiving applause from the other dragons.
"That's how it's done, Chump," Maar hopped off of a groggy Clump before he got back up himself and walked away in defeat.
Sakari leaned her head back in absolutely what-the-effery and paused to process what she just saw. 'Okay, maybe not fight for females. Fighting for the sake of just screwing with each other. Gotcha!' Though, she had to commend the dragoness for taking the victory. It almost made her want to join them.
Then she noticed the red dragon perched on the side of the wall with the other dragoness snuggling up to him. "That must be their leader?" Sakari whispered to herself and examined them as best she could. They were next to a small bubbling lava pit just minding their own business. "Are they mates?" she wondered. If that's the case, then good for her. She gasped softly and forgot to write this stuff down. She reached to her side but froze dead in her tracks when she felt only bare skin...
… Her bag was gone.
"M-My bag! My ba--" Gasping, she quickly covered her mouth before hearing one of the dragons say 'hey, did you hear something?'
Panic enveloped Sakari. Her eyes were filled with fear and anxiety. She didn't want to look over, she didn't want to move, and she didn't want to breathe. All she wanted was to fix the mistake she caused.
'Eh, must've been nothing' the dragon went back to mind his own business, prompting Sakari to relax and ease aware that terrible tension.
"That was a close one," she thought her heart was gonna jump out of her body from getting caught, but luck was on her side today, mostly. Her notepad was in her bag and she had no idea where it could be. 'Did I leave back on the beach, this island's beach, somewhere on the island?' that latter better not be true. The last thing she needed was to go back through that Tartarus, again. 'Oh, buck me dead!' she thought to herself and mentally smacked herself before she turned to peep at the dragons playing.
From the looks of it, it seems they were going for another round with each other. But the red dragon looked eager to get the next round. Not that she would blame the reptile – from the looks of it, fighting in such a roughhousing way was in their blood as teenagers.
A tiny orange claw reached up and grabbed Sakari's left wing tip and gave it a little tug.
Once again, Sakari froze in place. Had her luck now just ran out? Tartarus be her home! She didn't want to look back, but she had to. But, whoever was behind her, she hoped it would give her a quick and painless death.
"Um, excuse me?" a tiny, almost squeaky voice called out.
Sakari blinked a few times in confusion at that type of voice. Wait, wouldn't an attacker have a more ... intimidating voice to it? She calmly looked back and looked down to find a sight so adorable, she nearly wanted to squee.
Standing before her was, to her surprise, a sixth dragon, and a young one at that. A little dragoness so tiny she reached up to her knee. Orange scales surrounded her body, but a light layer of dirty-yellow trail from her lower jaw to under her tail. Tiny curved horns protruded out from the sides of her head -- almost like a little bull. She sported purple fin-like protrusions across her head and on her tail tip. And her eyes were turquoise and shiny like diamonds. The only thing lacking was her wings. The baby dragoness held a finger up to her chin and innocently looked up at her with eyes so curious, it matched her own curiosity about dragons.
Sakari felt her heart soar from looking at this little one; she was so cute. She fully turned around and paid attention to her instead of the dragons rough-housing down yonder.
"Hello, little one," Sakari said in a gentle tone, being nice as she could to the little dragon. "Oh, aren't you adorable."
That got a little blush out of the dragoness and made her puff her cheeks a little, "I'm not cute, I'm scary!" the little dragoness flailed her arms in a grumpy manner, but Sakari found it adorable.
"Yes, you're scary, indeed," playing along, that got the little dragoness to stop and cross her arms, feeling proud. "What's your name, little one? My name is Sakari."
"Smolder!" Smolder replied, but tilted her head in confusion while trying to pronounce her name, "S-Sa-sa..narny?" Close but no dice.
Sakari mentally chuckled and waved a hoof, "Uh, call me Si, if you like." this little dragoness seemed like a smart one, but she still had a long way to go to learn names and other vocabularies.
Smolder smiled adorably and nodded to Sakari, loving that instead of using her other name, "Okay, Si. Si!" she pointed at Sakari and repeated her name, "Si. Si!" She smiled again. She's never heard of a name like that before and it seemed better to say than her friend's names.
"And Smolder is a cool name," Sakari complimented and gave Smolder a bit of an ego trip and she chuckled smugly.
"Darn tootin'!" Smolder said. She smiled up at Sakari and actually liked talking to her. But, then a few things occurred to her. "Oh, um…" she reached around and pulled a strap off her neck before taking it off and dragging a familiar bag to her, "this yours?" She asked.
Sakari's eyes bug out and she almost wanted to jump for joy and hug Smolder for finding her bag. She smiled excitedly, "Yes, yes, that's mine. Thank you, Smolder. Thank you." Smolder smiled happily as Sakari grabbed the bag from her, holding it close to her chest.
"Where did you find it?" she asked.
Smolder pointed back to a trail that lead to the far right side of this unusual spot, "I found it lying on the beach. My brother and his friends were playing so much, I head back to the beach and founded it."
That last part surprised her, "You walked away without being – wait, trail?" she looked to the spot Smolder pointed and noticed a trail that lead to an opening to the dragon's play area down to the beach where the sand, dirt, and soot overlap one another. She blinked numerous times to make sure she wasn't seeing things and made sure she wasn't going crazy. There was a path here the whole time and she didn't see it? There was a path here the whole time and she didn't take it?! Sakari's left eye twitch out.
Smolder noticed Sakari's unusual behavior and tilted her head in confusion, "You okay?"
She didn't know what to think at this point. She wasn't frustrated at this place for how it was made. She was just frustrated and annoyed at herself for not finding it from the beginning; her excitement got the better of her and it led her to this point. She trekked through Tartarus, only to find out there was an easier way the whole time. 'Why do I get the feeling this is a metaphor for something?' she looked down at Smolder and chuckled, waving an assuring hoof, "I'm fine, just thinking to myself, is all."
Smolder just looked at her oddly, but shrugged. The face she made got her to giggle, though. This mare was goofy, but in a good way, "You're funny. My brother is gonna love seeing you."
Sakari paused in shock and frantically waved her hooves and shook her head in denial, "No, no, no, your friends can't know I'm here," that got Smolder to tilt her head in confusion, again. Going to explain this to her would be a tad difficult because she was a child, but she'd try her best. "I don't want them knowing I'm here because I don't want them to hurt me. I think they'd burn me if they saw me."
Smolder crossed her arms and gave Sakari one of those looks that said 'what are you talking about?' and thought she was being either silly or weird. "No, they won't," she pointed overhead. "My brother and his friends only hurt themselves." she sighed disappointingly and kicked a pebble, "But they won't let me play because I'm too little." She pouted in frustration and sat down with her arms crossed.
She felt a little bad but understood the big brother's perspective. If Smolder were to get hurt, he'd be the one responsible. But, in this situation, she was a stranger and Smolder's parents probably told her not to talk to strangers. A dark cloud floated over her; this could be bad. All she wanted was to study dragons and now she was caught by Smolder. It's a good thing she hasn't told her older brother, yet. But, she also felt bad no one was able to play with her. 'Eh, screw it,' she told herself to drop the paranoia stuff and play with the little dragoness; or just talk with her.
"Well, I can talk with you, at least," Sakari reached into her bag to find her notepad and pen, confusing Smolder but made her curious to know what else is in that bag.
She smiled when she found her notepad and pen. Using her magic, she lifted them out and opened her notepad, "Okay, what would you like to talk about first?"
"What's in the bag?"
"Pardon?"
Smolder pointed at the bag and looked a little eager, "I wanna know what's in the bag!"
An odd request, but she complied, "Okay. Sure, Smolder," she opened her back and looked inside and showed her what she had. Course she showed her the pen, notebooks, and snacks she brought, but Smolder looked at them unamused and found them boring. Sakari noticed and chuckled before she brought out a few gemstones she found. A ruby and sapphire gemstone. "I found these two a few weeks ago with my father," she smiled proudly at her find. Never before had she been so proud to find them, she considered them to be her good luck charms. "They're not much but – huh?" Sakari noticed something off with Smolder before she realized what was going on and tried so hard not to smile and squee.
Of all the cute things she's seen, Smolder was ranking high right now. The little dragoness beamed her sparkling eyes on the gems and Sakari could've sworn she saw the gems reflecting off her pupils. Smolder had both claws on her cheeks and, if she even knew what she was doing, wagging her tail like a puppy just waiting to get its treat. She looked so excited and eager to see such a pair of gems, that the tiny dragoness was starting to drool a teeny bit – something that Sakari didn't notice just yet.
'Okay, that is the most adorable thing I've ever seen,' Sakari thought as she studied Smolder's behavior toward the gems. She had no idea she loved gems that much. "Oh, you love gems?" Sakari asked.
Smolder nearly bounced with glee as she smiled, "Yes, so much." the little dragoness looked like she wanted to hold them real bad, until her stomach started to growl, causing her to pause and blush bright red, smiling sheepishly up at the pony in embarrassment from her stomach noises. Sakari acknowledged that and smiled a little, "Looks like someone's hungry." She had no idea what dragons ate, but it was worth a shot to learn just what they eat. She looked into her bag and found some snacks she brought.
"Here, hold these for a moment," Sakari passed her gems over to Smolder and Smolder held them close until a joyful smile appeared on her face as she gazed upon the two beautiful gems. Sakari noticed and thought it was adorable before going back to her bag and started digging through it, "I have a couple of sweets you can eat, or maybe some hay--"
Crunch
"--cakes?" Sakari lifted her head to find where that random crunch sound came from and to her astonishment, bewilderment, and shock; she found Smolder mouth full of the gems she had her hold. She couldn't find the words she wanted to say; her words were so far back down her throat that they almost seemed permanently stuck. Not to mention, the reality of the situation she was in.
One chew after another and Smolder gulped her meal down. The little dragoness smiled happily and cutely patted her little belly, "Yum, those were so good." Smolder giggled before letting out a smoke-covered burp.
And yet with what just happened, Sakari still sat there flabbergasted by what she saw. She didn't know what to think or how to feel about this. On one hoof, her lucky gems were just eaten by a baby dragoness, but on the other hoof, she just learned something bizarre about dragons and their dietary needs. She looked back in her bag and quickly noticed an egg-shaped emerald before she looked back to Smolder and slowly closed it before the tiny dragon could see it. She was at a loss, but she did know this trip dragged her into a bizarre journey.
Smolder noticed the look Sakari gave her, and she looked nervous from it, "Uh, are you okay? That look is scaring me."
Sakari snapped out of her trance and waved her hooves frantically, she spoke in a reassuring tone that she'd hope would get Smolder to calm down, "Oh, don't worry about me, Smolder. I'm fine." She smiled awkwardly and giggled embarrassingly. "It's just... I didn't know dragons ate gems, is all."
Smolder tilted her head confusedly, "You didn't? Dragons eat gems all the time." How could she not know dragons ate gems? It was common knowledge. This pony was weird indeed.
Sakari took a deep breath and explained to Smolder, just a little, about what she wanted to do now that she was out on her own, "Well, ponies don't really know dragons as well as you may think. We know very little and..." – how was she gonna say this without making it feel awkward – "...ponies are too scared to even come up and talk to one." she smiled a bit awkwardly and thought Smolder would just think it's weird in general.
Smolder, indeed, thought it was very weird, but the little dragoness casually shrugged it off and smiled a little with a little giggle, "You're weird--" speaking her mind right there "-- but you seem fun to talk, too. And I like you." This pony was strange and weird, but she sure was good at making her laugh.
Having that said, Sakari wondered if Smolder was willing to comply and answer questions regarding her species, but how she said it got her to smile and Smolder's cuteness really made the tone shift a lot. "I can be!" she said silly-like. "You up for answering some questions?"
Smolder eagerly nodded and smiled up at her, "You bet I am!" She may not be playing with her, but she was enjoying this pony's company. She was so excited, that she neglected to mention Sakari was sitting on hot rocks made from the lava pool ahead of the teenage dragons play area.
A couple of questions and note-taking later, Sakari and Smolder were enjoying their company. The mental conflict Sakari had slowly subsided and in return, she gained friendship from Smolder. The little dragoness had never had a friend, one who was so different, that she was happy and thrilled. Both of them were having the time of their lives. Until Sakari overheard a voice near the play area and froze her in place, making her flinch in shock.
"Hey, Smolder where are you?" Garble's voice rang out, worriedly.
It didn't take a moment for Sakari's body to go cold when Smolder instinctively responded to him, "Over here, big brother!" And immediately heard wing flaps heading in her direction.
Garble was coming this way!
She tried to look for a place to hide, but it was too late – much to Smolder's confusion.
Smolder backed up a couple of steps to make space as a large red, scaly body landed between her and Sakari; the landing caused Sakari to flinch hard and plant her back on the rock she used to hide herself from the dragons, bracing herself against it as she pulled back as far as she could go. She gazed up to find Garble's back was turned; a relief for Sakari, but that did not stop her from turning ghost-white at the sight of him; her eyes bulged out in terror and amazement, but it was mostly terror. Afar, he seemed like a normal teenager, but up close, he actually seemed very intimidating.
She kept her gaze on him and mentally prayed to any god above that listened that he wouldn't turn around and spot her. He wasn't gigantic like the adult dragons, but he still looked like he was lethal enough to cause some serious damage – those claws aren't for show and neither was that spike on the tip of his tail. Her brain flipped so many alarms that it was near impossible to pick which one to go for. Survival was at its max right now and she needed to find a way to get out of there before she could be seen.
She looked around hastily for a way out, but Garble was too close for her to just sneak away. Her wings were back in full capacity, but the space she's in between the rocks prevented her from taking flight. She felt her heart race a little while she noticed Smolder distracting him; she seemed to pay more attention to him now than her, but she looked like she wanted to tell him about her. Paranoia chimed in and now her body froze like as if it just got turned to stone by a cockatrice. Moving a muscle was out of the question and forget about making noise! She had to fight herself not to doing anything to warrant his attention; she can breathe, but she had to keep that quiet, too. However, sneezing was gonna be an issue because Garble's tail-tip was just mere inches from her muzzle.
'Don't move, don't move, don't twitch, don't sneeze, don't fart!' is all Sakari could think as she watched the dragon siblings talk.
"Hi, Garble," Smolder greeted casually with a little smile but flinched when Garble pointed at her.
"Don't you "hi, Garble" me, Smolder. Why are you over here?" Garble sternly asked. "You know you can't leave my sight. Remember what mom said?" he was lucky one of his friends pointed out to him that his little sister disappeared on him.
Smolder crossed her arms and pouted up at her older brother. She hated it when he started to nag like this – their mother does enough of that already. "Yeah, I do. But I didn't go far. I was talking to a friend. And--"
Smolder only got that much out when Garble placed his claw over her snout and forced her to stop, frustrating the little dragoness further; she really hated it when he did that. Garble crouched down and released Smolder's snout, despite giving him an annoyed look, "Smolder, I know you like to explore, but please, can you do that around where I can see you? The last thing I need is to get in trouble with mom and dad." He looked at her with genuine, caring eyes. "What if you got hurt?"
Smolder tried to retaliate that and said in an annoyed tone, "But I'm not gonna get hurt because no one messes with dragons."
Garble scowled at that and shook his head at her, "No one messes with older dragons, Smolder! They'll see you as an easy target," he countered that and got Smolder to stop her soon-to-be tantrum, "Diamond Dogs, Minotaurs and even ponies would see baby dragons like you as an easy target. If any creatures like them, or others, were to find you, who knows what could happen?"
Smolder to a second to soak that info in before she looked back for a split second to look at Sakari, but Sakari quietly shook her head in denial. She'd never hurt anyone in her life!
But Sakari listened and tilted her head slightly. That cold feeling warmed up from Garble's words. He seemed to really care about Smolder and would not hesitate to protect her if he saw something as a threat; the fact he brought ponies up was alarming. Yes, ponies can get violent, but they're really friendly folks. She didn't know much about Minotaurs and Diamond Dogs, though, so she was at a lost there. Then she felt a little insulted, too, as the way he said 'ponies' like it was venom made it sound like he was going into racist territory here.
She's never hurt anyone in her entire life – not on purpose, but at the same time she'd hurt those who tried to hurt her or her family; if only these dragons knew what she was capable of and knew who she really was.
But she will give him credit for being a good older brother to Smolder; she wouldn't know because she never had siblings. Guess that was one thing she was missing in her life.
"But, Garble, my new friend wouldn't hurt me. She's really nice," Smolder said as she pointed to Sakari, but Garble shook his head again in disbelief, keeping his attention on only his little sister and never actually acknowledging a pony right behind him.
"Smolder, imaginary friends wouldn't hurt any of us anyway," Garble said as he grabbed Smolder and held her in his left arm. "Now you are coming back with me." He stood right up but ultimately gave Sakari a horrifying shock when his tail slightly brushed against her hind leg.
Sakari cringed and widened her eyes, again. Anxiety and nervousness rang hard as she thought he figured out she was there and she was finally caught; she even assumed she was dead, too. But, much to her luck that still shined upon her, Garble didn't look back. She was safe, for now.
Smolder struggled to get out of Garble's hold, but he was far stronger than her and he wasn't going to release her just yet. She pointed back at Sakari and told him, again, "But he's right there; your tail just touched her." But Garble was having none of it.
"Yeah, yeah, I don't care," Garble needed to head back to his friends and have Smolder be in one spot so he can keep an eye on her. He wasn't gonna buy this whole imaginary friend nonsense. "If she was real, she would've moved by now." Garble spread his wings and flapped them to gain momentum.
Sakari covered her face with her wings and arms as Garble took flight with Smolder and headed back to the other dragons, the power of the wind from his mighty wings blew her mane back some and rustled her feathers a bit – one thing's for sure, this dragon was not only very intimidating up close, but judging by that takeoff, he was also a strong flyer.
She heard Smolder say "Wait," before disappearing. Sakari remained still on impulse for a bit. Her body stiffened and her mind still alarmed by what just happened. That was a scary ordeal and she was so glad Garble didn't spot her. After a second, she peeked between her feathers and saw he wasn't there. She uncurled her arms and wings and relaxed for a moment, sighing in relief while taking it easy on herself...
….. FFFFFFUUUUUURRRRRPPPPPPP.......
"Ew! Clump! You did not just do that," Maar exclaimed, standing near the rocks Sakari hid behind with Clump as Clump looked at her confused.
"What are you talking about? That wasn't me!" Clump retaliated, but only received another punch to the face from Marr.
"That's disgusting!"
Clump held his cheek, "Says the dragoness who likes to burp!"
Both of them were about to go at it, but Garble flew over to a rock wall ledge and placed Smolder on it, much to the tiny dragoness's disapproval. It was enough for Smolder to see Sakari's horn poke out from behind the rocks. Shame her brother couldn't see it.
"Stay here and don't leave this spot, alright?" Garble ordered and received a nod from Smolder in return. Garble flew away and landed next to Maar and Clump, "Alright you two, quit your flirting." Maar scoffed lightly with a faint blush at such a notion while Clump rolled his eyes "It's time we play a game we all know and love."
His friends knew what he meant and gave him excited grins. Well, except Sunder. Sunder stepped back and shook her head, wanting out of this.
"Oh, that's okay, Garble. I'll just stand aside and cheer for you," Sunder said with a bit of flirt in her voice. Everyone was expecting that from her. Smolder rolled her eyes without Sunder noticing and Garble just shrugged carefree while the others just nonchalantly dismissed it; Sunder wasn't much of an active dragon. Garble knew this, but really wished she'd knock it off with the flirting.
Sakari peeked her head over and overheard Sunder and thought this was a different trope for them. Guess she wasn't like that lavender dragoness, at all.
Now that she got her wits under control, she can watch the young dragons play sports. But in the corner of her eye, she saw Smolder looking down at her and waved. Sakari smiled wholeheartedly and waved back.
"All right, listen up!" Garble announced with determination in mind. "Ya'll know the rules about Dodge-rock: Get hit, you're out. Whoever's left wins."
"I'm gonna win this time, Garble," Maar said, prompting to challenge Garble, but that didn't deter him. He was deadset on winning.
"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Clump said to agitate Maar, and it worked when she gave him a wicked death glare but he only returned it with a battle-ready smirk.
Fizzle just gathered all the rocks he could and lined them up. He wasn't much of a talker, but he got straight to the point with action.
Sunder just cheers on, mostly to Garble. They all knew she had a crush on him, but Garble was in no mood – nor was even interested in a relationship. But, her cheering wasn't bad, so he won't complain.
"Alright, two team. Maar, you're with me. Fizzle and Clump, you two are together," Garble ordered. Maar was more than happy to be on Garble's team. Beating these two would be a cinch.
Fizzle and Clump were none too thrilled about being paired up, but they were ready nonetheless. Garble and Maar was quicker than them, but they were not gonna let that get to them.
Sakari quickly ducked down as Clump and Fizzle got far enough to where they can have range to fly after the rocks; Maar and Garble did the same. Only for them, they stopped at the edge of the lava pool. All four hunkered down and prepared to lunge after the rocks. All they needed was for Garble to say...
"GO!!!"
And like that, all four dragons rushed after the rocks. All four got their fair amount and rushed back before finally beginning the game.
Sakari and Smolder watched on as Maar threw the first rock at Fizzle, but Fizzle dodged it as Clump threw one at Maar. Maar dodged in time for Garble to step in and throw a curveball at Clump. Clump dodged by an inch.
"Ha! Ya missed!" He smirked at Garble after just barely dodging that curve rock.
"Yeah, well, don't get used to it, Clump," Garble snarked back with a smirk while getting another rock. "Because I don't plan to miss again."
Fizzle blew a raspberry at Maar after managing to dodge her thrown rock, smirking at her while she growled, "Hold still, twinkle-claws!" She tossed one more only for Fizzle to duck and Clump to just barely dodge it by leaping over it. She smirked and teaseed the brown dragon, "Ooo, so chubby-wubby Chumpy thinks he's athletic now. Now I have officially seen everything." She smirked at Garble when she gazed over at him, keeping up her teasing, "Now if he would cut back on taking extra gems from the horde pile back at the Dragonlands – then I'd be surprised."
Garble laughed at that kind of tease while Clump looked very angry, growling under his breath, his cheeks turning a bright mixed shade of pink and red; pink from embarrassment that Maar was going so far as to tease him by his weight, and red from anger as he was really starting to get tired of her insults towards him.
Sakari widened her eyes at the skills these dragons shared. The tenacity, determination, the strength, the gameplay displayed by them was enjoyable to watch and it almost made her want to join – it almost got her blood pumping and adrenaline going. She looked up at the ledge to see Smolder just bored out of her skull. She didn't know what the young dragoness was thinking, but she had a feeling she wanted to play with her or join her brother. She sighed to herself and felt bad about not being with her to play with her. Have another pair of eyes watch Smolder while Garble did his thing; that would've been a good idea, but she had to lay low. She almost sulked until she heard one of the dragons let out an aggressive roar. She flinched and took a look at what was going on.
Clump, already in the zone and wanting to put Maar in her place, was so into the game that he blindly started throwing rocks at her and Garble that got to the point he threw them aimlessly and almost hit Garble and Maar... and Fizzle and Sunder and Smolder and Sakari, on occasion.
"Geez, Clump, your aim sucks. Look where you're throwing!" Maar said as Clump growled at her in a fit of annoyance and anger.
"Shut up, Maar!" he threw another rock that went sailing at Smolder.
Smolder flinched and yelped before she ducked down as the rock smashed just above her head.
Sunder lifted a leg as a larger rock sped by her. "Whoa! Clump, ya moron! You're getting too into this game!" She was worried because from the looks of it, their fellow teenager looked like he's been pushed over the edge.
Sakari squeaked and ducked as several rocks flew just above her.
Garble noticed another rock being thrown and nearly hit Smolder, again. He growled in frustration and glared anger-filled daggers at Clump, "Hey! Watch it! You almost hit my little sister!" But it went by deaf ears as Clump started throwing more rocks at them.
'That one has gone insane!' Sakari thought as she lifted her back up to find the brown dragon was glaring at the lavender one before he walked over to the right side of the field and picked up a boulder far larger than the ones they were supposed to play with, much to their shock and worry.
It got to a point that even the other dragons were thinking this might be too much for them to handle and it was gonna escalate into something different. Clump was at a point he was done with how Maar's been treating him.
"I've had enough of you, Maar. I'm tired of you always insulting me and pushing me around!" Clump roared and lifted the boulder over his head, not even thinking about the game anymore. He glared down at her as he prepared to toss.
Maar lifted her claws and backed away, shocked by this turn of events, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Clump, s-settle down. Buddy, settle down…" She sheepishly chuckled a bit, "You know I was only messing with you." Truth be told, she had always liked Clump. Sure, he was immature sometimes, and a bit of a glutton, but there's something about his attitude and how he always tried to joke with her that interested her. Yes, she was constantly picking on him – but that was her way of showing a bit of affection – but she also wanted to keep a tough image.
She saw the rage in his eyes. Heck, Garble and Fizzle saw it, too. Yes, they all loved to mess with each other, but when one was a target too many, it can get a little ugly; Clump was showing that right now. Sunder stepped away while Smolder shook in fear a little. She was not used to seeing other dragons get so full of rage like that; it really did scary.
Garble had to pitch in. He was their leader after all and he needed to take charge and settle the group down, even if it's one member having a rage moment, "Clump, take it easy! We're just having fun here." He didn't really know what to say to him to calm him down. Normally, Clump would take hits from Maar and them, but he didn't think it would get to him this much. "I know we're all dragons, but if you keep this up you'll hurt one of us."
And that was the truth, too. Dragons had hard scales, but enough damage could lead to something fatal...
...But Clump was too angry to see reason. Maar had pushed him over the edge and he was gonna bring her down one way or another.
With no other logical way to solve this, Clump threw the boulder with ease, not caring if it missed Maar or not. Everyone widened their eyes and scattered, dodging the oncoming boulder – all except one.
Sakari held her mouth and gasped as she figured out the trajectory of where the boulder was going and she was terrified.
Garble turned in time to see where the boulder was going, too. But he wasn't gonna have enough time to take action. He looked on in shock and fear.
Clump immediately saw where he threw the boulder and his blinding rage shifted to immediate shock and horror.
Smolder was scared out of her mind. The boulder was coming right after her! She tried to hop off the ledge, but quickly saw that wasn't going to do anything as she was too high and the fall would hurt her really bad. Without wings, she couldn't fly; she was a sitting duck!
Her wings snapped to life and Sakari flapped as hard as she could and flew into the air as fast as a bullet.
Smolder gasped in fear as she backed up a bit, scrambling to get out of the way, and she screamed in horror as the boulder shadowed over her. Before anyone knew it, the boulder crashed into the wall, causing an explosion of dirt and dust to come forth as it slid down, landing on the ground with a hard thud.
"Smolder!" Garble called out in shock, horror, and fear. No response, only silence.
That silence remained for some time as the dragons processed what just happened. Fizzle and Maar were stone-still while Sunder shook in her own claws. Why did Clump do that? Did he do what they hoped he didn't do?
Clump was more in shock than the others. Not because of what he tried to do, but because of what he didn't intend to do. He kept his gaze on the dirt trail before he felt a sickening presence loom after him. He looked in the corner of his eye and saw a rage-induced Garble heading right for him; one hand balled into a fist and the other claws bared, fangs grinding in rage. Clump felt the fear and guilt overtake him, but Fizzle stopped Garble and Clump when he spoke out...
"Look! Up there," Fizzle pointed as Sunder and Maar looked up. Garble turned and looked up to where Fizzle was pointing at; Clump looked up but he was shaken to his core.
Suddenly, the scared, but alive, cries of Smolder could be heard. As the dirt cleared, they saw Smolder crying in the arms of a newcomer they never expected to see on this island. They all gazed up at her in shock, awe, and confusion, but she gazed back at them in anger and disappointment.
Sakari saved Smolder just in the nick of time, but she was caught and seen by the other dragons...
...But she didn't care anymore. Not in the least bit.
