Part 1- A Predicament of Pebbles
Out of all the things that Smolder had expected today, being called into the office of one of the Professors at the School of Friendship was not one of them. Originally, the dragon had hoped to spend her day planning out what to do for Summer Vacation with her friends now they didn’t have to worry about the exams they had studied for. However, before they could even get started, Spike had told her that one of the staff members wanted to see her. Not Headmare Twilight or Counselor Starlight, but one of the teachers.
To make matters even more confusing, and a little bit embarrassing, it was Professor Fluttershy that wanted to see her. The pegasus that was the teacher of their class involving kindness. Not only that, but she had no idea why she was being called to her office in the first place. Yet, Smolder had a feeling that she was going to be told that real soon as she approached the door to Fluttershy’s classroom and knocked.
“H-hello? Who is it?”
At the sound of the pegasi’s voice, Smolder opened up the door partially and looked inside. Professor Fluttershy was standing near the front of the room by her desk and looking towards the door as the dragon let out a small breath. “You wanted to see me, professor?”
“O-Oh, yes! Hello Smolder, come on in.”
At Fluttershy’s insistence, the dragon stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Even though the pegasus was friendly and welcoming, Smolder couldn’t shake the feeling that something seemed off. “Is everything alright, professor? Am I in trouble or something?”
At first, the pegasus didn’t say anything. But as she turned behind her desk and sat down, Fluttershy looked back at the dragon with a concerned expression. “N-no, you’re not in trouble,” she told her, “H-however, there is something that’s concerning.”
“What is it then?”
“It’s about the exam you took,” As Fluttershy spoke, Smolder felt a small shiver down her spine as the pegasus pulled out a piece of paper from a manila folder on her desk, “Your results came back and… compared to everyone else in the class, y-your score was rather low. While you didn’t fail it, the r-results here could affect your overall grade and f-fail the class.”
At first, the dragon couldn’t believe what she was being told. Fail a kindness class? The thought of it was outright absurd! Surely, something like this was no big deal, right? “That’s… not good, right?”
She watched as her teacher nodded, before Fluttershy began to speak, “Smolder, H-headmare Twilight told me that i-if you fail this class, y-you would have to retake it all over again and it would mean that you c-can’t graduate with the rest of the c-creatures in your class. I k-know that your friends m-mean a lot to you, so I called you in so we can find a solution for this.”
That was a little difficult for her to think about. On one claw, it meant that she would probably have to hold off on planning things out for summer vacation. Though, on the other claw, that was a small price to pay if the alternative was that the dragon wouldn’t be able to graduate alongside her friends. So, if the professor was offering her a way to fix this, she would be a fool to not hear her out. “Okay, uh sure. Did you have something in mind?”
“W-Well, Twilight said that one possibility was summer school. But I don’t really think that would work well here,” As she spoke, the pegasus went into a drawer of her desk and with one of her wings, she pulled out what looked to be a journal of some kind, “Instead, I thought of something different and what you might see as less… ‘boring’, if that the right way to put it.”
Smolder couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and fold her arms as her gaze shifted to the journal, before she looked back at Fluttershy. “What were you thinking, professor?”
“Think of it l-like a… personal project o-of sorts,” the professor of kindness explained, “I-I want you to t-take what I’ve been teaching you and apply it outside of the class, while using this journal to write down everything. I-If you can get it to me as soon as possible, then I can look it over and c-count it as extra credit. The m-more that’s in here, the higher the credit that will be added to your grade.”
That sounded simple enough. Yet, there was one other question that she needed to ask. “Okay, but how soon do you want it? It’s near the end of the school year, so I’m guessing I don’t have a lot of time?”
“Spike told me that Twilight was going to finalize every student’s grades by the end of the week. So, you have until then,” Fluttershy told her, “If you have any questions-”
“No, I think I understand,” the dragon replied before she picked up the journal, “Just do what you taught us in class and write it down afterwards? Sounds simple enough.”
“How can something like this be so DIFFICULT!?!”
It had only been a short amount of time after her meeting with Professor Fluttershy and right now, Smolder was a bit irritated. The dragon thought that by going into Ponyville and lending a claw to those who needed help, it was an easy way to practice what she learned in class. Even though her teacher didn’t tell her any specifics, in Smolder’s mind, just being kind and friendly to others was probably not going to be enough if she wanted to pass.
However, even if there was someone that needed assistance, somebody else ended up beating her to it. The first couple of times, it didn’t bother her. Yet, with each moment that passed, the dragon’s irritation began to grow more and more.
“Come on! There has to be some creature I can help at least. Otherwise, I can kiss my plans for the summer goodbye,” Smolder said to herself, before she lazily kicked a rock that was at her feet into a nearby alley.
However, one thing that the dragon did not expect was for the rock to hit something… and to hear a squeak come from the alley. From a distance, it sounded like a squeaky toy that belonged to someone’s pet. At first, Smolder wanted to ignore it. Though, as the dragon turned to leave, a thought came to mind. If it was a toy and it belonged to somebody, then if she could return it back to its owner, it could be a step in the right direction.
When she went into the alley though, she did not find a toy. Instead, it was a creature. It was one that she had never seen before and it was floundering around on the ground like a fish out of water. Even stranger was the fact that they wore a bell around their neck, had the whiskers of a cat and had a strange red cloth over the front of their body.
“Okay, this just got weird,” Smolder thought to herself as she slowly looked back towards the direction that she came. Yet, before the dragon could even think of leaving and acting like she didn’t see anything, things took a strange turn.
“Y-you there! Y-you the one who woke me just now, yes yes?”
As Smolder slowly turned back around, the dragon’s eyes widened at what was in front of her. The creature that was on the ground a moment ago was standing back up, but hazily trying to keep their balance. She could also see a bump that was on the back of their head and the pupils of their eyes returning back to the front of their head. “D-don’t leave, please! I-i’m not dead! I-in fact, I’m getting better now, yes yes!”
“U-Uh,” Smolder blinked, unsure of what exactly was happening in that moment as she just stared at the… creature in front of her. As she tried to process what was going on, a particular question left her lips, “Do you… need help-?”
Immediately, the fish-like creature straightened themselves up and looked directly at the young dragon, “Why, in fact I do, yes yes! For you see, it was FATE that guided me all the way to these unfamiliar lands!”
“Oh, here we go,” the dragon groaned, thinking that this was going to drag into a long and convoluted story much like that of the tales that Rockhoof would share.
“Yet, the longer that I traveled, the more I began to lose my way… and became parched in doing so! But that can wait,” it insisted, “You offered to help us, so please, come with me! Quickly now-!”
At that point, Smolder felt that this conversation was going a bit too fast. Especially if this creature was going to try and drag her out to who knows where, “Okay, hold on a minute,” she interjected, “Before we go anywhere, I have some questions. Mainly, who or what exactly are you?”
For a moment, it tilted his head and looked at her in confusion, “You haven’t seen a Namazu before? I thought an abode with so many creatures such as this would surely have known about us, yes yes. Oh, but where are my manners? My name is Gyoza, and no, despite my name, I am not tasty.”
“Just what exactly would make him think of something like that!? Ugh, I swear, if it’s some stupid story about dragons eating creatures,” the dragon groaned, before shaking her head to try and dismiss the thought. She couldn’t let herself, “Well, Gyoza, my name is Smolder.”
“Smolder, you say? Sounds like a name filled with fiery passion. Either that or the effects of my parched throat are worse than I thought, yes yes,” Gyoza replied, scratching a fin against their chin, “Oh, my apologies. Just idle musings. Was there something else you wanted to ask, ask?”
At that point, there was only one other question that came to mind, “Why was it that you came all the way here? Was there something you were looking for or-?”
“No, no!! What I need help with is-” the Namazu proclaimed. Yet, before they could continue, Gyoza began to sway a little as a realization hit them, “O-Oh… dear.” Soon afterwards, the Namazu collapsed on the ground as it began to flounder in place once again.
“Oh come on, seriously? How am I supposed to help you if you can’t even remain conscious for two minutes!?” Smolder thought as she facepalmed herself with one of her claws. The dragon tried to look around and see if there was anything that could be done to somehow help the Namazu. However, It was unlikely that hitting them with a pebble was going to work this time around.
Yet, that was when a realization hit her. Gyoza’s predicament was not just because of exhaustion, but also dehydration. If the Namazu was going to help her, then she needed to fix that. Though, she didn’t have any bits on her to go buy anything and the only source of water that was in this alley was a bucket of run off rain water from the gutters of a nearby building. While not the most ideal of solutions, Smolder wasn’t exactly one to wait around for a problem to solve itself.
“Well, here goes nothing.”
Without giving it a second thought, the dragon grabbed the bucket of water and splashed it onto Gyoza’s face. Needless to say, the effects were somewhat immediate as the Namazu jumped back up onto its feet seconds later. It kind of reminded Smolder of what happened when Professor Pinkie was given a brownie after unknowingly drinking decaf coffee with sugar free creamer during the School of Friendship’s open house. However, this was slightly more tame in comparison.
“Gah!! Another blessing from the big one? Who-” the namazu asked, before Gyoza turned and realized that Smolder was still nearby, “Ah, my apologies. It appears the lack of water has taken a bigger toll on me than I thought, yes yes.”
“You don’t say,” the dragon sarcastically replied.
“Yes yes, I’m sure. Now, where were we?”
“… You were going to tell me what exactly you needed my help with.”
“Oh yes, that’s right!” the namazu beamed, “How about I tell you on the way? The rest of my tribe would be thrilled to learn that you want to help us in our hour of need, yes yes!! Plus, we can find a stream or something for me to drink some more of the one river’s bounty!”
At that, Smolder sighed. If listening to this little talking catfish was somehow going to help , “Sure, I guess. Now, what sort of task do you need help with? Finding more water or something-?”
“No no, nothing like that at all!” Gyoza was quick to retort. However, what the Namazu told her next was something that the dragon was not prepared for… and had her wonder what exactly she was getting into, “We need your help to make sure that the Namazu don’t go extinct!”
When Smolder originally decided to help Gyoza, she originally thought that the ‘tribe’ that Gyoza lived in a place where things weren’t quite so dire as the namazu proclaimed. Somewhere where they had a lot of water and a place where they could live comfortably.
However, when the dragon got there… and a particularly tired Namazu was on her back despite her objections, she found herself in what looked to be an abandoned ruins that was rather close to the badlands. The riverbed was not in the best of shapes and the ruins itself had seen better days. Yet, what caught her attention was how many Namazu were here. She had assumed that it was just a small group.
Instead, there were hundreds or so that lived here… and they were looking to her to help them. “Oh, what did I get myself into?”
Author's Note
How Smolder found Gyoza:
So yeah... I had a lot of ideas with this one and some of them fell flat. Originally, this was meant to be a random one shot story, but due to the potential shenanigans that this might cause, I decided to try and have this be done in multiple parts. Hope you guys enjoy it and tell me what you think!
Also, here's something to listen:
Until next time
-Frost
Part 2- A Prophecy of Revelry
Author's Note
The ambitious plans of the Namazu to defy their fate have been set in motion... but not without a few bumps along the way. And some stress to Smolder's sanity.
Also, I made some grammar corrections to part one to accurately reflect on a few things I did here. Just minor changes, nothing more.
-Frost
Part 2- A Prophecy of Revelry
By the time that Smolder had reached the remnants of what looked to be an old and broken down manor, she was sore out of her mind. For the last couple of hours, she had to haul Gyoza, who the dragon had only met recently by chance, through the Everfree Forest and into the Badlands where the namazu’s home supposedly was. To make matters even more complicated, the namazu she was carrying would drift in and out of consciousness because of the lack of any suitable water for it to drink while on their trek. So for most of the journey, the dragon had no idea if what Gyoza was telling her was true… or if they were just full of it.
Though, when she finally walked inside, only one particular namazu seemed to be paying attention to her. “You there! What brings you to the manor, yes yes? Do you have business with us, us?”
“ … Well, I had been carrying one of you guys for who knows how long, so… yeah,” At that, Smolder just dropped Gyoza onto the ground as their body gave off an audible squeak. Yet, despite the fact that they looked like they were going to pass out again, the namazu was still able to speak out a few words.
“I’m … back, everyone.”
“G-Gyoza!? Where have you been?!” the other namazu gasped in shock.
“I found them passed out in an alleyway not far from where I’m living at the moment,” the dragon did his best to try and explain, “Only thing they could tell me was that their throat was as dry as a desert.”
“Dear heavens! Stay right there, I’ll fetch some water right away!”
When the namazu ran off to get some water, Smolder thought that they were going to get a glass or a pitcher of some kind. Instead, she watched as the namazu brought out a cart of pots that were as big as they were. Before they could even roll out one of them and have Gyoza drink it, the namazu that was on the ground sprang upward and proceeded to drink each and every pot that was on the cart in a matter of seconds. By the time they were done, there were eight empty pots rolling around on the ground and Gyoza was back up.
“Aahh!! Water from the one river, just what I needed to quench my dying thirst, yes yes!!” Gyoza proclaimed, “Just another few more and I’ll be completely restored I say!”
“Another few mo-?! You just drank through eight times the amount of water that I would normally have in one sitting!!” Smolder shouted internally, baffled by what was happening right now.
“Oh no you don’t,” The other namazu cut him off before Gyoza could waddle away, “First, you better explain where you have been over the last few days!! You ran off without telling anyone where you were going?” Then, their gaze shifted over to Smolder, “And what about this kind wanderer? Do you have anything to say to them for helping you when you needed it most? Such an ill-mannered namazu I’ve ever seen!”
It was at this moment that Gyoza turned back around and looked back at Smolder, “Oh yes, that’s right! After having such a life saving bounty just now, the thought slipped my mind,” the namazu apologized, before looking to the one that was next to him, “Gyosei, this is Smolder. She is the one that came to me in my hour of need to save me, and she agreed to help save us all!”
“Well, there’s no need to be so dramatic about it,” the dragon said, before she looked at Gyoza, “While on that subject though, I didn’t quite really get what you were telling me. All I got was that you were thirsty and how you wanted me to prevent your people from… well-”
As she was speaking, the dragon looked over at Gyosei and noticed a look of recognition on their face. As if they somehow knew what was going to be said. But before they could even pitch in, Gyoza interrupted them. “Yes, that’s right!! But before we do that, I should first explain why I went on that perilous journey in the first place, yes yes! I’m sure Gyosei is dying to know the answer.”
Gyosei could only narrow their eyes and fold their fins at the proclamation, “Oh, yes. Do go on.”
“As most Namazu are aware, I’m an artisan by trade. My skills and dedication to my craft and the creations that I make are second to none. Despite this, many assume me to be a cook because of my name… something I wish to prove otherwise.”
“Yes yes, and you would be well honed in your skills if you weren’t so hasty with your work,” the other namazu remarked, “Why, the last time you were here, you were so quick on your flippers that you ran into the path of a statue that was being taken down and it left you knocked out cold on the floor. There were even signs for you to not wander off there, but did you listen? No no, you didn’t!”
Smolder watched as Gyoza let out a groan, now noticing what looked to be a scar of sorts on his head… and just inches away from where the more recent injuries came when she kicked that pebble that hit him in the head. “Yes yes, I remember you nagging at me for that while I had to handle the excruciating pain. Though, even after I’ve fully recovered from that tiny setback… something else started happening.”
“Uh,” Smolder looked over at Gyosei with an expression of confusion, before looking back at Gyoza, “What do you mean by that?”
“I started to have unusual dreams, yes yes!!”
“ … Isn’t that supposed to be Luna’s kind of thing?”
“I do not know of who you speak of, but I assure you, this is important to why I left, yes yes!” Gyoza proclaimed, shaking their fins in anticipation, “The dreams showed my ancestor standing before my very eyes! Yet, they were in the form of the Big One themselves! Before I had the chance to say anything, I was told of a task that needed to be done, post haste!”
Every Seven Hundred and Seventy Years, it is the duty of our tribe to hold a festival of revelry to commemorate the birth of our people. That duty now falls upon you, Gyoza. The celebration must go on and last for seven years, as per tradition. If the Namazu fail to do this, then the one river’s waters will run dry and our species will cease to exist on this beautiful star that we call home.
“And because of that, you immediately decided to run off north to find the base of the one river? Without even sparing a moment to consider bringing supplies or even telling anyone where you went?” Gyosei retorted, “Besides, how would you even know if such proclamations are true? It’s bad enough that Gyodo left a horrible impression on the natives of that mountain tower about us.”
“Who’s Gyodo?” Smolder asked, confused by the new name.
“Gah, where do I even begin?” the namazu grumbled, “Gyodo’s one of our brothers that left home in order to do what he called ‘business pursuits’ with a pair of pony brothers he met, yes yes. However, we soon learned that the brothers in question he was working with were scam artists and his involvement left a rather poor impression on all the Namazu because of it.”
Then, Gyosei turned back towards Gyoza and let out a sigh, “My point is that dreams are dreams, yes yes? You shouldn’t get yourself fixated on them-”
However, before Smolder had the chance to add anything on to the conversation, things began to take a rather unexpected turn. “Don’t be so hasteful to judge, for truth may reveal itself in the visions of the night!!”
“Uh, who just said that?”
“No idea,” Gyoza quickly added as he looked around the courtyard they stood in. However, a few seconds later, all three of them looked up to a nearby rooftop to see that there was another namazu standing up there.
“Who the-? How did they even get up there!?” the dragon thought. From the short amount of time that she had spent with Gyoza, she honestly thought that there was no way they could possibly climb up there or reach that high. They didn’t have wings and with how much they talk about rivers and water, she thought that the Namazu were an aquatic species like sea ponies.
Then, the namazu on the roof leaped down to the ground, landed like a hero in one of the comic books Spike would read and made a boisterous declaration, “WHY IT IS NONE OTHER THAN I!! SUIGETSU, THE ALL KNOWING!!! RENOWNED MEMBER OF THE LITERATI!!”
Smolder was a bit baffled by what was happening right now. Though, when she looked back at Gyoza and Gyosei, it didn’t look like either of them were buying the show that the third namazu was putting on for them. “Oh hey, isn’t that Gyorai? The one who always has his face buried in any books we acquire?”
“Yeah, the walking tome with whiskers. That’s is Gyorai for sure-”
Suigetsu… or Gyorai for that matter, didn’t really take that well. For after he fell backwards, the namazu was directly in the face of the other two that were just feet away from where Smolder was standing, “H-how dare you speak of such sacrilege, no no!! That name was cast away and forgotten long ago! I have searched for new meaning and knowledge since then and have found it!! How many times must I tell you fools!?”
“So this guy is just Headmare Twilight, but a lot more dramatic? Makes sense, I guess.”
“Yes yes, you have a lot to say on that,” Gyosei rolled his eyes, “Is there something you need? Because right now, we have our fins full at the minute.”
The remarks only added to Suigetsu’s irritation as he let out a low groan and shook his head, “This… this is why I despise idiots that bother me. Yet, we have a more important matter to deal with than petty annoyances. We have a more important matter to discuss.”
“You mean the festival that Gyoza mentioned?” the dragon now spoke up. Much to her surprise, it seemed that the namazu that had just arrived was startled by her appearance.
“A-A dragon!? What is a dragon doing in our abode?”
“She is Smolder, yes yes! She was the one that saved Gyoza’s life and brought him back here,” Gyosei interjected, “And despite her intimidating appearance, if Gyoza’s words are to be believed, she has shown great kindness in traveling so far to bring him back here.”
“Wait, seriously? Do I really look that intimidating to other creatures?”
“Huh, I see. Apologies, but based on the stories of dragons I’ve read, I expected you to be… taller, yes yes.”
“Okay, did this guy just insult me-!?”
“But you are correct! The festival is the most important thing to talk about, yes yes!” the ‘all knowing’ namazu began to speak, before proceeding to go into an extensive monologue, “In one of the manuscripts I’ve read, the author of it mentioned witnessing an ‘unforgettable spectacle’ that took place along the base of the one river, the body of water that our tribe see’s as sacred! Because of it, our people prospered and they were able to grow and thrive because of it. Surely, you must see the significance of such an important tradition?”
“And you are sure that the dreams he speaks of are true?” Smolder asked.
“Even though I suspect that what Gyoza witnessed was the result of sustaining too many injuries to the head, the idea of reviving such ancient traditions should be perfect! If we band together, we can overcome the troubles that our tribe has had to face! Our cultural renaissance is nigh I say! Nigh nigh!!”
At that, Smolder just looked over to Gyoza as the namazu tilted its head. A look of clear confusion was on their face, but it seemed to be enough, “ … I was a bit lost on your explanation, Gyorai-”
“Suigetsu.”
“-But if you want to help, I would be a fool to refuse your aid.”
“If that is the case, then any attempts to stop you would be futile it seems,” Gyosei sighed, “I will come with you two. But due to the fact that both of you have a horrible sense of direction and are rather impulsive, I insist that we have one more creature accompany us. Someone who would be familiar with where we are headed, perhaps?”
At this point, Smolder heard three sets of squeaks as all three of them stared directly at her. An uncomfortable feeling set in as the dragon let out a sigh. “Okay… I did say I would help-”
“Thanks in advance-!”
“BUT,” the dragon immediately interjected, “All of you keep mentioning this ‘one river’ like I know what it is. However, I don’t. So, could you at the very least tell me more about where I would be taking you three? Because if I at least don’t know that, there would be three of us in this group that have a horrible sense of direction.”
“The one river is the most sacred body of water to the Namazu! A river that courses through the borders of two barren planes. One being a kingdom where the base of the river rests, the other a wasteland where we reside now,” Suigetsu tried to explain, “Yet, when I last traveled along it to the peninsula where the base of the river was, I saw the strangest thing on the other side. A kingdom that was once an empty waste now had life restored… and its denizens were no longer black like ichor, but colorful. Some even had wings of a butterfly.”
“Oh dear… please don’t tell me they’re talking about what I think they are talking about-”
It took another couple of hours to reach their intended destination, but by the time they reached it and the three namazu were beginning to get things set up, what Smolder was worried about turned out to be true.
The ‘base’ of the river that the namazu considered sacred… was in the Changeling Kingdom of all places. And moments after they arrived, they were swarmed by some unexpected visitors. One of which happened to recognize her.
“Smolder? What are you doing here?”
“O-Ocellus?”
