COLD

Chapters

Episode 2: Recovery Part 2
Episode 3: One for the Road
Episode 4: An Infamous Night
Episode 6: A Journey Continued
Episode 7: Love and War
Episode 8: A Daring Feat
Episode 9: A Rare Pair
Episode 10: Treasure Hunt
Episode 12: Generously Stealing the Show
Episode 13: Hospital Heist
Episode 1: Recovery Part 1
Episode 5: Journey of a Jester
Episode 11: The Luck of the Ponish

Episode 2: Recovery Part 2

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Episode 3: One for the Road

Episode 3: One For The Road

“Now what Jewell learned?” Droll asked, staring down at the cyan-colored non-pony.

The reptilian-creature said nothing. Even though he could not speak yet, he was still at the age of understanding. The dragon pointed to the cup of water that was set on the table right beside him.

“Yes,” Droll said, nodding his head in approval.

The baby dragon inched a lone claw closer to the cup, causing Droll’s face to lose his smile.

“No,” Droll gently said.

Jewell smirked at him, before pushing his claw forward and knocking the cup over, spilling its contents on the floor.

Instead of anger, Droll just lifted up his cloven-hoof so he could rest his forehead in it. The yak could only hear the soft giggling of the dragon that was on the table in front of him, causing the brown non-pony to be incapable of anger.

“Dragon and yak will work on it,” Droll said as a sympathetic smile approached his face.

He walked away from the table and approached the features of his kitchen, looking for something to clean up the small mess made by the mischievous dragon. After locating a rag, he used only a partial amount of it to soak up the mess, making sure to leave a perfectly sanitary section on the other side in case of future messes. It was when he passed the cupboard that the thought materialized in his head.

He turned back to the little dragon who was still staring at him, observing and imitating Droll’s every move. “Jewell hungry?”

Droll hovered his cloven-hoof away from his mouth and began chomping his mouth down softly on the air, causing a high-pitched uproar from the cyan non-pony. Droll softly chuckled at the little creature’s answer, and he went to the opposite side of the room to begin preparing something edible by dragon standards. Although he was hungry too, he was never going to feed himself before others.

He quickly returned with a small, homemade jar and a spoon. Inside the jar was a mix of colorful liquid in it, all mixing and unmixing at the same time as Droll brought it over.

The cyan dragon gave Droll a confused look, but Droll nodded in approval.

“This what dragon eats.” The yak smiled at the creature, but Jewell was still not trusting it. “Ugh, dragon do this every time. Yak eat some to prove it safe.”

Droll took out a spoonful and brought it closer to his mouth, trying his best not to gag. Instead, he turned his face to his left as he brought the spoon against his left cheek, just out of sight of the baby dragon. “Mmm, liquid gems.”

After a couple of seconds of suspicious looks, the baby finally agreed and opened his mouth to intake the food.

Droll sighed at his accomplishment. “Yak still not know how dragons eat this.”

As if he understood, the dragon looked up in confusion, but Droll nervously smiled back at him with his eyes widened.

“Nothing. Eat up.”

After Jewell was finished with the food, he belched loudly, causing Droll to dart his eyes around the room in extreme caution.

“Shhh,” Droll hushed quietly.

The dragon mimicked the noise back to the yak in a clumsy manner, sounding more like a hissy exhale than a shush.

Droll snorted in amusement, forgetting his concern for a moment. “Jewell must stay quiet. Community no know about dragon.”

Droll used the clean side of the rag to clean up the dragon’s face of the leftover food. When he was done, he gave Jewell a bright smile. “All better.”

The dragon beamed at Droll before putting on a look of concern. Within a moment, he was pointing up to the left side of Droll’s face.

“What?” the yak asked in curiosity. “Droll have thing on face?”

The brown non-pony wiped off from his left cheek some remaining residue of the liquid gems from earlier. “Perfect.”

He lifted the baby dragon off of the table to take him to the separate part of the house, bringing him to his own room before he began to tuck him into a small bed that matched his size. The room was big enough for a fully-grown stallion, but the yak was considerate in giving all of this to such a tiny creature. Jewell’s comfort was way more important to Droll than his own.

“Droll build this room long ago,” the older non-pony stated. “When yak got here, yak no have shelter. Leader no care about yak.”

Droll continued tucking in the cyan dragon as he tried continuing his story. “Leader unfair to yak, but leader still gave enough freedom for yak to do most things. Droll still get supplies to build this. Poor other creatures no have as much skills as yak to make their home. Yaks best at building.”

He finished wrapping the dragon in the sheets completely. “Leader not here anymore. Unicorn no longer hurt no one. Only good thing that came of pegasus . . .”

The brown non-pony looked away in sadness as a memory assimilated into his mind, causing an audible sigh. “Droll miss friend. Yak sorry dragon never got to meet her. Pony was amazing.”

Droll sat back at the edge of the bed to watch and see if his little friend was comfortable. He would’ve sat there until the cyan non-pony was fully asleep had it not been for the knock at his door.

Instantly, Droll was on edge. He could not let the dragon be seen. Frantically, but as quietly as he could manage, he traveled out of the room, making sure to close the door and turn off the lights before he left.

He stumbled throughout his residence, trying to get to his door quickly so as to not cause anyone to be suspicious of him. Droll felt bad that he had to leave his friend on such short notice, but in the long-run, it would be beneficial since his continued secrecy would guarantee that Droll could continue to protect him.

The loud knocking sounded again, arriving in triples before Droll opened the door mid-cycle. Immediately, the last knock finished on Droll’s sharp horn, causing a slicing sound to appear.

“Ow!” a feminine yelp cried out.

Droll gasped as he looked out at the dark figure that was dressed in a dark red hood outside his door, holding her right hoof. “Yak so sorry!”

He reached his cloven hooves out to the pony’s hooves, gently grabbing them and pulling them closer to inspect them. Through the dark of the night and from the maroon color of the hoof, Droll found it difficult to locate exactly where the blood was coming from, but he eventually found the source and applied pressure as if he were a hospital pony.

The yak chuckled as he remembered something. “Droll had friend who was nurse.” He was trying to lighten the mood when he began feeling a slight sting in his jaw again, causing him to lose his smile. “Droll-Droll think he know what to do.”

Finally, the brown non-pony looked up at the maroon face of the pony in front of him. Even though it was in the dark of night, he was still able to make out an expression that slowly began to get more and more impatient.

“Yak sorry,” Droll said again as he tried to hold her hoof to stop the bleeding.

“It’s okay,” the maroon pony said back in the gentlest of voices, causing Droll to blush uncomfortably.

Droll felt the blood flow decrease, causing him to let go of the pony’s hoof. “Um, keep pressure. Stop blood.”

The maroon pony chuckled. “My savior.”

Droll froze uncomfortably at the tender sound of the pony’s voice. “Um, what pony doing here?”

“Bleeding, thank you very much,” she launched back at him in a playful tone.

Droll smiled awkwardly as the mare continued.

“But before that, I was coming to report something.”

A faint magical aura sounded as a teal membrane began to wrap around the pony’s injured hoof that was still stretched out. Eventually, the bleeding came to a complete stop.

“I came to report that-,” she stopped herself as she stared at Droll before regarding him in concern. “Um, you got a little something on your cheek there.”

“What?” Droll rubbed his cheek to find more of the liquid gems still there, causing the yak to growl in anger.

“What even is that?” the pony asked.

“Nothing!” Droll immediately launched back. “It - yak just hungry.” Droll wiped his cheek again.

“It's still -, you know, never mind. Not what I came here for. That griffon that saved the community earlier today: you know him, right?”

Droll was stunned. “What Candid do now?”

“Which time? Because I just saw him sneaking into the community tavern about ten minutes ago.”

The yak reached up his cloven-hoof to his face to cover it in embarrassment for his friend. “Okay, thank you.”

“You better hurry. I have a feeling it’s important that nothing bad happens to him.”

Droll was about to leave before he stopped himself, looking back at the pony who aided him out of the blue. “Why pony say that?”

The pony smiled slightly, looking away as if trying to think of a way to talk. “Well, because the two of us have a history . . . or rather a future.”

Droll narrowed his eyes in confusion. He had never seen this pony before, and he knew as a fact that his friend hadn’t either.

“I . . . I don’t think I can tell anymore,” she continued. “He was under strict orders not to change anything.”

Droll’s confused expression was too obvious to the pony, causing her to smile uncomfortably.

“You know what? I think I’m going to stop talking now.” The maroon equine gave a respectful nod before trotting away towards the rest of the neighborhood.

Droll didn’t know what to make of that, but he instead decided not to waste his time trying to think about it. He had to make sure his stubborn friend didn’t get himself into trouble.

The yak began traveling down the sidewalk carefully, passing by houses everywhere. It was passed dark, and he had been used to the curfew set out by the original leader, calling for the absence of all non-ponies after the night. But if the risk he was making meant making sure his friend didn’t get in trouble, then there was no question that he would go through with it. Besides, he was optimistic that with the new change in leadership, the new ponies in charge would be lenient with the non-ponies now.

As Droll traveled, he finally felt the dripping of blood fall on the top of his head. He was shocked at first before reaching up to feel the sharp horn that had caused the incision to the stranger’s hoof. While feeling around the horn, his cloven-hoof slid across some form of bump, confusing the yak to explore more. He felt it over and over again, trying to figure out the purpose for the inconsistency in this blade-like horn. After a couple more rubs on the left horn, he finally applied enough force to push the bump in, hearing a CLICK as he did it. Stunned at the unexpected sound, he pulled his cloven-hoof away, but immediately as his arm left the horn, the weighted object fell from his cranium onto the ground.

Instantly, Droll felt the familiar weight of his right horn pulling his head down to the right side, but he was quick to compensate for the new change with his neck muscles. He began breathing heavier as he looked down on the ground where the sharp horn had fallen. Carefully, the yak picked up the pale object at the bottom where it wasn’t as sharp, using the base as its own handle. He turned it over in his cloven-hooves, trying to figure out what had happened until he located the miniature silver button. Fascinated, he pressed it down to where it was leveled with the rest of the horn, and as he pressed the button, he noticed the moving gears turning on the inside of the hollowed-out horn. It was nothing but metal at the opening of the base, which he assumed was the reason for its weight, but he couldn’t tell what it was for.

Curiosity overtook him as he lifted the dangerous horn closer to his head, clenching the base where it wasn’t sharp. Slowly, he tried to fit the horn back on the severed piece of the original horn. After failing the first time, he turned it around where it finally clicked back into place, and instantly everything was back to the way it was.

“. . . Cool,” Droll said to no one in particular before continuing his walk to the community tavern.

It wasn’t much longer before he arrived at the tavern, its features appearing almost abandoned in the dark of the night. It seemed as though the presence of creatures would be as absent as the warm feeling Droll wasn’t getting from the sight, but he knew that this would be something Candid would do. With a breath and a brief look around, he went to work.

The obvious solution inside was denied to him when he tried opening the front door. Instantly the sound of rattling chains caught his gaze, and he noticed the lock that kept the door secure. Droll looked at it hopelessly before he got a solution.

He didn’t expect the tool to come in handy so quickly, but he was already reaching up to his horn to click the button again. He was careful to grab the part that wasn’t sharp, but when he heard the clicking sound again, his head went sideways. The brown non-pony really didn’t appreciate having to remove his horn again, but he knew that it wasn’t going to be for too long. Carefully, he placed the pointed section of the horn into the lock, twisting and turning it to see if it would work.

It didn’t. He tried again, but he still got the same result. Instead of working, it only created a grinding noise that made the yak shudder. Droll persisted though, getting more and more frustrated with having to hear the scraping noise. After several failed attempts, he pressed the horn inside the lock with great force, causing the blade to slip through his cloven-hoof and cut him.

The pain seared through Droll and he couldn’t hold his tongue.

“FLOCK!” he bellowed.

Before he could even register what he did, he took the horn out and slashed at the chains in fury, not caring for a solution anymore. Immediately afterwards though, the chains fell down to the ground, cut through the middle by the sharpened tool.

The yak looked around at no one before smiling and putting the horn back in its place. He then gazed down at the location of the cut on his cloven-hoof, realizing that it was only surface-level. Nothing compared to the accidental cut to the pony earlier that night.

The door opened with relative ease as Droll stepped through the entrance. It only took one glance around the illuminated room for Droll to recognize it as the tavern that the two had gone to earlier that day, and it was even faster for the yak to realize what his friend would be doing here.

“Candid,” Droll began in an annoyed manner, “What griffon up to now?”

“Getting a drink,” a voice sounded back from above.

Droll jumped through the air at the realization that he wasn’t the only one in the room. After a look above his head, he saw the dark-orange griffon emerging from the shadows on the ceiling, perfectly blending in with the darkness. His movements were the only thing giving him away.

“What in Contume’s Community are you doing here?” Candid asked with no hint of cordiality in his voice.

The yak opened his mouth to explain but stopped himself cold in confusion. He looked back at the door that he massively struggled to get through before looking back at the griffon who was already inside.

“How griffon get in?” Droll asked. “Chain was on door still.”

“A key isn’t the only thing strong enough to break a window,” he said.

Droll lowered his eyebrows closer to his eyes in horrified glare before he looked around the room to find light peeking in through a broken-in window. He hit his forehead with his cloven hoof as his jaw dropped. “Yak gonna have to fix it now . . .”

“Come on. You fix things all the time. The ponies aren’t paying you to just look for places that might need fixing.”

Droll regarded Candid in unamusement, letting his eyes do the talking.

“Ugh, don’t blame me for destroying something. You just broke those chains outside.”

Droll raised his cloven-hoof as if to make an objection but froze, realizing he had nothing to defend himself from that.

Candid gave a condescending smirk before it shifted into confusion. “Uh, Droll, you got a little something on your cheek.”

Droll widened his eyes, seething in rage before he furiously rubbed his left cheek, trying so desperately to remove the liquid gems from the side of his face.

Candid just exhaled and shook his head before he turned around to walk behind the counter. He gazed up at the drinks on the shelf before turning back to face his friend. “Did you want anything here, Droll?”

“What Droll want is griffon to leave. Candid no have to get in trouble.”

Instantly, the faint shuffling of armor mixed with the clops of hooves sounded from outside, getting louder and louder as it came closer to the closed doors

“Yes, I heard the sound from right here,” a voice from outside said.

Candid widened his eye in annoyance. “It seems a bit too late for not getting in trouble now, doesn’t it?”

Instantly, Candid dropped down behind the counter, and Droll rushed around as well, ducking behind it with his friend to hide himself as well.

A different voice sounded from directly outside. “The chains have been destroyed. What kind of blade could be strong enough to do this?”

“Probably the same kind of material the lock is made from,” the first voice assumed.

“Ponies check here,” Droll panicked.

“Yeah, no duh,” Candid whispered back.

Droll looked around to find a doorway that stood right beside the shelves of cider, its presence almost completely hidden in the dark.

“Right there,” Droll said in between gasps.

The yak began to quietly crawl through the opening, but Candid didn’t follow, immediately causing the brown non-pony to look back at him. Instead, Candid reached up one talon to grab a bottle of cider off the shelf to which Droll instantly slapped his arm as if scolding him.

“Hey!” he quietly snapped.

Droll blushed uncomfortably. He had been too used to resorting to that whenever someone misbehaved. Rather than saying anything, he just turned back to continue crawling through the darkness of the room, listening to the barely audible sounds of Candid following him from behind.

“Griffon know where to go?”

“I don’t know. It’s not like I can see in the dark.”

Droll kept on shuffling on the floor into the darkness, but his slowness was apparent to Candid, causing the griffon to huff impatiently and speed around Droll. The burst of wind did nothing to increase Droll’s speed, and the yak was left at his slow pace. The brown non-pony continued to try and not make a noise, but he was too big to go slowly. After a couple of seconds, the familiar sounds of wing flutters came back to him.

“There is an empty room back here where we can wait,” Candid said. “Just stay in your own personal place away from me, and we can wait out the guards.”

Droll invisibly nodded in the dark as he followed the sound of wings slicing through the air. He kept at his slow pace of walking until he heard the sounds of quiet echoes bounce back to him. Instantly, Droll knew he was in the room that Candid had mentioned, allowing for him to feel comfortable enough to lean against a wall and sit down quietly.

From the entrance of the room, Candid shut the door in order to help the two of them remain as quiet as possible. Finally, after a couple of seconds, the griffon sighed. “What were you thinking coming here, Droll?”

The yak regarded the griffon in the dark with even more unamusement than before. He turned to the direction where he heard the door close. “Yak make sure Candid no get in trouble.”

“Droll, don't be stupid,” Candid said from a different corner of the room apart from where Droll was looking. “I would be fine with or without you coming here.”

The yak turned to the new direction of the sound. “Droll know Candid. Candid no think through things.”

“You don’t know this Candid,” the griffon said from another new location.

Droll growled in annoyance at the changes in Candid’s location. “Quit that.”

“I mean it, Droll,” Candid said confidently. “Say goodbye to the old Candid.”

Droll stared into the darkness wherever his friend was. “No more insults too?”

“Don’t be an idiot. That’s not what I meant.”

The sounds of wings soared throughout the room until it ended right beside Droll.

“All these moments of that tyrant grabbing us by the throats . . . Every single time it happened, I wanted to do something about it. Feeling as helpless as I had when the community’s leader was bullying me? It’s affected me horribly. Then when he went away, I thought maybe things would be different. That I would get a chance to be in control of my life. But then even after that unicorn was no more, back in that same throneroom, there was someone else who was there to subdue me entirely.”

Droll heard the gruesome CRUNCH in his mind again, and he shook his head rapidly to lose the memory as quickly as he could. He wasn’t alone in his trauma since he felt Candid shivering from right beside him as well.

“But nevertheless, she was -.” Candid stopped himself, unable to finish that thought. “It still isn’t the end of feeling helpless. Radiance had to put restrictions on us immediately after we felt safe again. It didn’t feel as though it would be too much by the new leaders, but I got here and was still rejected again.”

“Griffon’s request against rules,” Droll said.

“It doesn’t matter if it was,” Candid immediately launched back. “All I wanted was to be able to do something for myself again after feeling as though I didn’t have anything in control. And that stallion had the audacity to tell me no. I don’t even think I got my water.”

“Griffon got yak’s cup of water though,” Droll chuckled.

Droll could feel Candid’s glare in the dark, telling him to shutup. Immediately, the yak was silent and the only thing heard was the sound of the guards searching the tavern through the walls. Finally Candid continued.

“I just feel that there is nothing that I can do to even have a say in anything anymore.” Candid paused. “No, I felt as though there wasn’t anything to be done. Not anymore. I’m not going to feel helpless anymore. I won’t be life’s pawn.”

Droll gritted his teeth. “No . . . no say pawn, please.”

The griffon sighed. “Something big just ended in my life. A new change has happened, as if it’s entering another chapter. It’s the perfect time for me to make a difference now. I refuse to feel this way. I’m stronger than that.”

Droll blindly tried to place a cloven-hoof on Candid affectionately; he was lucky to get his shoulder. “Candid right. Griffon no should want to feel that way. But griffon still strong. Candid strongest creature Droll ever met. Griffon stronger than all yaks Droll ever knew. Candid has choice in what happens.”

Droll paused for a moment to figure out what his next words should be. “But griffon wrong for doing this.”

“What?!” Candid snapped, backing away off Droll’s touch.

From the other side of the walls, one of the guards spoke up. “Hey! I heard something.”

Droll clenched his teeth nervously as he and Candid froze in silence, completely stationary in the darkness.

“I don’t hear anything,” another voice finally spoke up.

Within a few seconds, more noises were heard through the walls as the sounds of searching continued, causing Droll to sigh quietly in relief.

The yak decided to treat his next words even more carefully, but he still wanted to get his point across. “Griffon right for wanting to be stronger. Candid wrong for not thinking. There ways to do this. What Candid doing will end bad. Candid better than this. Griffon no need to prove anything.”

Candid breathed harder, trying to fight off his frustration. “How would I even know that I’m actually not as helpless as I’m being treated then?”

Droll smiled. “Candid no be afraid of where griffon is going. Candid been through way worse and come out on top. Candid more than capable of anything thrown at griffon.”

The brown non-pony decided to leave it off on that note for the words to sink in. He knew that it might take a while for Candid to fully realize what he said, so for a few minutes, nothing was spoken. The only thing that was heard were the guards from the other room who luckily hadn’t noticed the doorway that would end up leading to the hiding place of the two non-ponies.

After some time of silence, Droll decided to scooch closer to his friend. If Candid was going to conquer the fear he had, there was no way it would be better for him if he went through it alone. It was obvious to Droll that loneliness would cause a poor creature to submit to the darkness. No creature in Equestria deserved such a fate.

Right when Droll opened his mouth to speak, a familiar voice sounded through the walls, catching the two non-ponies off guard.

“What are you ponies doing?” the sweet-sounding voice asked. “The fugitives have already long escaped! Just look at that hole in the wall right there. They’ve sneaked out while you all were searching here for non-ponies. You need to pursue them before you lose track of them altogether.”

“Well, we heard a noise arise from this location, Miss,” one voice said.

“Well it was probably that window breaking, creating the escape route. I’m sure if you hurry, you can still catch them. The longer you wait, the further they'll get.”

“Guards, move out!” the other voice ordered.

Droll and Candid waited as they listened to the sounds of ponies exiting through the tavern, the hoof-steps getting quieter and quieter as the guards left. The yak was speechless, but Candid freely sounded his thoughts.

“Radiance just wants to nail me for anything I do.”

Immediately, Droll shot up to rush out of the room, using the light from the doorframe to guide his path. The yak traveled through the tavern to get to the doors to the exit where he watched the guards that were trotting away, each of which had armor on except for one small mare in the back of the squad.

Droll attempted to get closer to identify the mysterious mare, but upon first step, he rattled the chain on the ground that he had broken earlier. Instantly, Droll could see the mare’s ear twitch, causing for the pony to turn her head back to face Droll and allow for the yak to get a steady look.

Within the short distance away was a maroon pony that stood within the light of a street lamp post. From the top of her head, Droll could see the blue and red hair that flickered like fire. It would’ve been beautiful had it not been for the horn that stuck out in the center of her forehead just below her hair.

For a moment, Droll was uncomfortable at the sight of a unicorn, but a quick beam of the mare followed by a wink made Droll swoon to the ground, sighing affectionately as he blushed. After a couple of seconds, he looked back up to see the mare return to following the guards, and his last view of her for the night was her cutiemark: a clear vial filled with some potion-like liquid.

The yak would’ve kept staring until she was completely out of sight down the street had it not been for the crash from inside the tavern. Immediately, Droll was on guard, and he turned to look inside the building again to see Candid climbing the shelves, reaching out his talon to get to a bottle.

“What griffon doing now?” Droll scolded.

“Getting a drink,” Candid said back without hesitation, grunting with his arm outstretched.

“Griffon have wings.”

Candid froze, looked up, and then looked at his back in confusion to see his folded wings, causing Droll to rest his face in his cloven-hoof.

“I knew that,” Candid said. “I just didn’t think about it.”

“Griffon learn nothing from what yak said?”

Candid grabbed a bottle in his talons before looking at it apprehensively.

Drolled drooped his eyes. “Griffon no need prove anything.”

The orange non-pony regarded the bottle in hesitance before sighing and taking it further from the shelf. Droll opened his mouth to speak in frustration but was cut off by Candid throwing the bottle on the ground, shattering its contents all over the floor and letting the liquid cover more ground with each passing second. Droll was speechless, leaving Candid to speak instead.

“You’re right. If I’m going to be strong, it’ll be because of the bravery I do and not because of the rules I break.” Candid flew down from his elevated surface to meet Droll on the ground. “Now can we get out of here before the guards return?”

Droll smiled at his friend before leading the way back to civilization.

Cold

Episode 4: An Infamous Night

The first thing Opul did when she woke up was widen her eyes to immediately become fully coherent in the day. A dragon who wasn't alert in the morning was a dead one.

She turned to look around the trashed room to find the rotting calendar that was still hanging up. “How long has it been with me away from him?”

The dragon continued counting the days, starting from her arrival in the community and continuing to the current day. She inevitably stopped at a day just passed day 750 where the marked off days seemed to stop. The white non-pony was confused for a moment before she noticed her single wing peeking out from beside her. Within a flash, she was fully reminded of what had happened, her failed mission.

Her vision became blurry with tears from the reminder, and she walked over to the other side of her room to where her straw basket was. Ever since day one at the community, she had been planning for her bunny’s return, making sure that whenever she got him back, that he would absolutely adore being reunited with her despite the harsh conditions the two were still under.

But that's not how life works, as she had come to be so acquainted with. The words spoken to her in that throneroom burned like a scar in her memory. She heard it right from that pegasus's mouth, how the previous leader, Emperor Contume had put an end to Opul's journey to find her little friend. The filly wasn't trustworthy, but the dragon knew deep down that she was right.

It was probably the only thing she could've been told to clear her mind up from whatever that unicorn was doing to her. Opul didn't even know what she was gearing up to do in the moment that she and her friends were being riled up against the salmon-colored pony. It was as if she were in a trance, subject to the unicorn's violent hypnosis. The hearing of her friend's death was barely enough for her to regain control.

Throughout the white non-pony's entire life, she devoted everything to making sure he stayed alive. She was successful throughout every problem the two were put in except for the last one where he was brutally robbed from her. It was unfair.

Opul collapsed on the base of the basket, picking up the straw basket to hug it to her chest as the water droplets fell on it. “I'm sorry I couldn't save you.”

She nuzzled her snout onto the basket, pretending as though it was her friend still with her. “I just want you back.”

Opul’s grief was interrupted by a knock on the door. Instinctively, the dragon dropped the basket before wiping her eyes to erase any bit of evidence of her emotions. After hearing another set of knocks, she carefully traveled to where the ladder was, slowly climbing down it with no feeling to hurry.

She opened the door to see a creature with the exact opposite expression as she had: a smiling brown yak with varying horn colors.

“Good morning, Opul,” the brown non-pony said brightly.

“What do you want, Droll?” Opul asked, trying not to let her voice crack.

Droll put on an unamused face for a second before resuming his smile to his friend. “Yak want more liquid gems.”

“Yeah, whatever.” The dragon traveled to the outskirts of the dump she called a home to pick up one of the numerous jars of liquid gems that she had managed to scavenge from the community. She then returned with a single jar to a disappointed yak.

“What?” Opul snapped.

Droll hesitated. “Yak need more.”

Opul slouched her shoulders. “Why? You never tell me anything.”

Droll regressed back a bit, appearing to be nervous of the situation. After a couple seconds, he spoke quietly. “ . . . Please?”

Opul sighed before going back to the same side of the abandoned building again, picking up an arm-full of liquid gem jars to transport back over to her friend.

Droll beamed at the sight as he struggled through his position to hold the multiple jars and maintain his balance.

“Thank you.”

“Tell me what you're up to.”

Droll widened his eyes and stuttered for a moment. “Uh, yesterday, Candid got drink from tavern and no pay. Then strange pony spoke of future and-.”

“Wait,” Opul interrupted. Although it seemed Droll was grasping at straws, something caught Opul off guard. “Candid stole a drink from the community?”

“Be fair. Only water.”

“He knows how unforgiving this place is of creatures like us. Did he not hear what Radiance said about breaking the rules?” Opul paused for a moment. “I really want to say I'm surprised, but at this point, it's impossible.”

Droll seemed uncomfortable holding the jars, but he managed to speak. “What dragon do?”

“I am gonna go over there and make sure that neither you or Candid get into trouble.” The white non-pony traveled to another section of the garbage dump she called home to retrieve a random gem off the ground. She was using her food source to solve the issue.

It was when Opul went through the doorway that she looked at Droll who was still struggling to maintain all the jars in his grasp. She clenched her teeth in partial guilt. “Um, maybe I can get you a box.”

Droll grunted. “Yes, please.”

Opul traveled through the streets, letting the sun reflect off her scales to illuminate the ground around her in a beautiful display of colors. She strutted with a purpose, not letting anything distract her from where she was going. To her knowledge, her idiot friend had decided to rob the community tavern of drinks, and she knew that it was up to her to keep him out of trouble. Deep down, she knew one thing she was good at was keeping the ones she cared for safe; at least, she thought this was the case up until a few days prior.

She didn’t need to ask Droll for directions before she left; she knew where she was going. The community tavern was a popular place among the citizens, but she only sneaked in there once to get her claws on the liquid gems that had been used as a failure of a drink-idea. She was so thankful for the numerous batches made before all the customers disowned them, and she knew it was okay to safely claim the jars without concern of anyone missing them.

Within a couple of minutes, her trek to the tavern had been completed, and she stared at the gray building that appeared abandoned even in the light of day. The first thing she noticed at the entrance was the new, low-budget board next to the door that acted as the new lock, making Opul wonder what had happened to the chains on it. Regardless, she traveled through the doorway to find herself out of place within the dark bar.

The first thing she noticed was the back side to a red pony that was organizing glass behind a counter, causing the dragon to look away uncomfortably. “Excuse me.”

The pony froze in place before turning to see the dragon. He regarded her inquisitively with a young face that appeared to be just as old as the friend whom she was trying to help in the first place. “Hey, what do you need?”

“My friends were here yesterday, and they might have ordered a drink and didn't pay for it.”

The red pony narrowed his eyes. “The yak and griffon?”

“Did they leave that much of an impression here?”

The equine regarded Opul in deep thought, looking her up and down before his face calmed down.

Opul continued. “It's my job to keep them out of trouble, so I’m here to pay for whatever they may have taken yesterday.”

“Generous of you, isn't it?” He asked with an unnecessary amount of emphasis on the first word.

“I do what I can.” Opul lifted up her claw to present the gem to the pony, to which the stallion raised his hoof in rejection.

“Don't worry. It's already paid for.”

The white non-pony narrowed her eyes in confusion. “What? Since when?”

“Oh, about thirty seconds ago.” The pony winked at the dragon, causing her cheeks to glow as bright as the equine’s coat. “What's your name?”

Opul gulped reluctantly. “O-Opul.”

“Nice name. The name’s Vitri.”

“Why would you pay for my friends, Vitri?”

He smirked. “Maybe I'll tell you that if you meet me for dinner tonight.”

Opul’s smile faded fast as she hesitated. The sudden offer made her mind think of the one she was trying to help in the first place, but she quickly and forcefully dropped that thought out of her mind. “Um, yeah. Yes, I'd love to.”

Vitri beamed at the dragon. “Perfect. Try to freshen up a bit too, will you? Those markings on your torso aren't a good look."

Opul shrank back. "I-."

"Then you can meet me at 7 tonight at Chez Poneesse.”

The red pony turned back to his glass-work away from the white non-pony, telling Opul that it was time to leave. As the dragon turned towards the door, her gaze was brought back to the pony after she heard the sound glass breaking against the floor.

Vitri gritted his teeth at the broken cup against the floor, trembling for a moment before he immediately grabbed another bottle off the shelf and launched it at the wall with all his might. It exploded in a flattened mushroom as the liquid went everywhere.

Opul was just watching, her mouth left ajar before Vitri noticed she was still in the tavern.

"Uh," Vitri began, "remember, 7 tonight."

The dragon nodded as she turned back towards the door, shaking her head of any intrusive thoughts from what she just witnessed. For some reason, she felt a ping of guilt at accepting the equine’s offer, but she immediately disregarded it. She had to prepare for a night she was definitely going to remember.

Opul had no idea what she was doing. She had been home for over an hour and was still completely lost in her task. According to the time, she only had about five hours before she was due to meet Vitri at the restaurant, but no progress had been made at all in her preparations.

“Do I show up like this? Do I bring flowers? Do ponies even like flowers?” Opul continued to pace back and forth through the dump she called a home. “What if I smell? What if I blow my only chance at this? I haven't even been around other creatures for most of my life. What makes me think I can do this?”

Opul continued to pace in distress until she managed to kick her leg against a glass substance. When she looked down, she noticed a jar of liquid gems that she still had, and instantly, she had a solution. She knew she couldn't do this herself, but if she had help . . .

The dragon wasn't even finished with thinking through her plan when she bolted out of the door. She ran at top speed to the location where she anticipated her aid to be. According to the community, the walls were now under construction from the catastrophe that had happened the day prior. It was obvious that this was where she would find him.

Opul got to the broken walls and scanned them for her friend. She had been so devastated the day before from losing a pillar of her survival that she took her anger out on the poor yak by saying he lost nothing. Deep down, she knew it was out of place because he must've been feeling the same way she felt after losing her little friend as well, just on a grander scale. Although she had apologized, she still couldn't forgive herself for her reaction.

Droll had to know at least something about how to solve Opul's current predicament, and to her, he was her only hope. After a couple moments of searching, she found the brown yak scaling the wall that was already half way built. From the ground, a dozen ponies who were supposed to be working were sitting on their plots, staring at the yak who appeared to be doing all the work.

Opul narrowed her eyes and tilted her head before walking up to the base of the wall to call up to her friend. “Droll!”

“Hey, no interfering, dragon!” a stallion scolded from behind. “We got bets as to how long this yak lasts before he hurts himself.”

Opul flinched. “None of you are going to help him?”

“He's supposed to get hurt on his own. We’re not allowed to help with that.”

Another pony spoke up. “He's been doing fine so far. He should have this done pretty soon. In the meantime, I'm thirsty. Do you mind getting us some drinks, dragon?”

Opul gritted her teeth in frustration, crossed at the decisions of the ponies in front of her. She was indeterminant of her next move when she heard the familiar sound from above.

“Opul! Hey!”

“Back to work, yak!” the lead pony said while still sitting down.

“Hey, don't talk to him like that!” Opul demanded.

The lead pony instantly stared Opul down before getting up from his recline, traveling over to the dragon menacingly before whispering to her. “Know your place.”

Opul inhaled sharply before looking him into his eyes in slight fear. “I need Droll for a bit, please.”

“Not until this wall gets done.”

“Well, maybe you all could help him.”

“Oh, buck no!” a pony from behind declined. “We still are waiting to see if he gets hurt or not. Nothing’s happening until we figure this out for sure.”

Opul glanced up at Droll who was still fixing the wall before looking back at the ponies who were still watching without helping. Opul needed her friend's help, but she wasn't going to get it until his job was done. This wouldn't happen fast enough without the help of the ponies. She was also concerned at the thought of her friend getting hurt. Construction accidents could be serious, and it scared her to think that the ponies were waiting for something like that to happen without even trying to prevent it, or even hoping for it to be prevented either.

Opul looked away as a thought appeared in her head. “You all really aren't going to help until this contest of whether or not Droll gets hurt comes to an end?”

“Buck yeah,” the lead pony sounded. “I've got 20 bits riding on him getting hurt. Once this is done, we’ll commence working.”

Opul smirked before walking up to the base of the walls. “Droll, come down here for a moment.”

“Uh, yak busy.”

“Now!”

Immediately, Droll lowered himself down to the same level as his friend and marched over to her. “What would Opul want?”

The dragon said nothing. Instead, she grabbed a chunk of Droll’s fur and yanked it out.

Immediately, Droll yelped in pain and breathed heavily before uttering one word. “Why?”

Instead of answering, Opul turned to the ponies behind her to see their jaws wide open.

The lead pony shot up from his seat to turn to his group. “Now pay me!”

He wasn't the only one demanding money. All throughout the group of workers was a mix of ponies giving bits and ponies collecting it.

“Why dragon do that?” Droll asked as his eyes watered.

“Sorry about that, Droll. But you should have help now.” With that note, Opul sat back to watch the numerous construction workers join Droll in fixing the wall, it's production coming along much faster now.

The construction was nearing its completion. Opul had initially started watching and waiting for the job to come to a close, but from the long time it was taking, the dragon decided to chip in with her work and help out the wall whichever way she could, which wasn’t much. Everytime Opul would do some work on the wall, Droll would accompany her and get it done completely by doing the entire section over again.

Opul smiled awkwardly. “I’m not the best at building.”

“It thought that counts.”

Opul looked around at the multiple bricks still left to be packed in, a thought coming to her mind. “Maybe I can give you some bricks to help.”

“Dragon no need to-.”

“I insist,” she smiled.

Droll tilted his head in curiosity as he nodded his head to signal Opul to get the bricks as he began putting the finishing touches on the wall. “Dragon sad today. Now dragon happy?”

“It’s a long story,” Opul said.

Droll looked around the wall and then back at Opul with a look that told her that they had time.

“Well,” she began, “I met someone!”

Droll’s smiled faded. “What?”

“I know,” she beamed. “When I went to go pay for your drinks, the pony behind the counter already paid for them and then asked me to meet him later tonight.”

Droll gritted his teeth in concern as he was about to finish the last part of the wall. “Dragon be careful?”

“Of course. What is there to worry about?”

“Opul no even know pony at all. Pony may be dangerous.”

“I've been in danger all my life. I think I'll be fine, but I was kind of hoping for your help.”

Droll put the last brick into place. “Opul want Droll’s help?”

“Yeah, Opul does. I lived my whole life without really interacting with others for long periods of time, so I don’t really know how to go about this. And you actually had a family at one point so I was really hoping you’d be able to help me.”

Droll glanced away emotionally before he nodded in agreement. Immediately though, he walked down the stairs back to the ground, prompting Opul to follow closely behind.

“Yak try,” the brown non-pony said hopefully.

Opul looked at the stairs and noticed that they were darker than usual. She narrowed her eyes in confusion before they widened in shock. “How long have we been out here for?”

“Community work take long time,” Droll said. “Should be around six. When dragon meet pony?”

Opul froze in fear before answering. “Seven.”

Droll blinked hard and then smiled in amusement. “Better work fast.”

Instantly, Droll started cantering and Opul was quick to follow. The two began making their way through the streets, passing by all sorts of different stores and businesses. The white non-pony was debating whether or not to ask Droll where the two were going but ultimately decided to trust her friend.

Finally, the two creatures stopped in front of a building, and Droll looked up at it pridefully.

“What’s this?” Opul asked, looking around.

“Place to help.”

Droll marched inside as Opul followed behind. Eventually, the two began heading closer to a counter where an older, yellow dragon stood twice the size of Opul, causing the white non-pony to shudder at the species. Immediately, Droll took notice of Opul’s reaction and stopped their movements altogether.

“What wrong, Opul,” Droll asked. “Why no smile?”

Opul’s eyes moved from her focus on the yak to the oversized creature in the distance behind him. “Dragons make me uncomfortable.”

Droll narrowed his eyes in confusion before Opul continued.

“The earliest memory I have is being thrown out by dragons. They’re selfish creatures.”

“But Opul dragon too.”

“I wish I wasn’t.”

Droll looked away in sadness before looking back at the counter for a moment. When his eyes returned to Opul, he spoke in lenience. “Dragon no have to be here. Yak sure dragon get help from griffon-.”

“Please don’t tell Candid about this,” Opul immediately said back before a long pause. “We can do this. Let’s just get this over with.”

Droll decided not to question it, and he traveled over to the counter where the big dragon was. “Dragon need makeover for date. Dragon in hurry.”

“Say no more,” the dragon said, pulling out a chair and gesturing for her to come over, to which she reluctantly did.

Droll brought out a picture of a dragon with a beautifully-styled hair design. “Dragon put hair this way.”

“What?” Opul said, backtracking away. “No. Dragons don’t do stuff like this.”

Droll tilted his head as if he knew more than her in the moment. “How dragon know?”

Opul was stopped cold before she managed an answer. “I can just feel it.”

“Dragon do it anyway. Pony may like it.”

Opul huffed before subjecting herself to the seat of torment. She sat down in a recline and closed her eyes. “Please make this quick. I don’t even know what time it is.”

“Oh, it’s 6:45,” the yellow dragon said.

Opul’s eyes broke open in shock, but she remained motionless in the chair. “I need to be somewhere at seven.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” the other dragon said. “I know what I’m doing when it comes to dragons. I’ll make you beautiful in no time.”

Opul subtly shifted. She felt as though the bigger dragon was implying she didn't look beautiful.

The white dragon’s eyes wandered down to the multiple marks on her chest and stomach, realizing that perhaps there was merit to the thought.

The yellow dragon went wild over Opul’s hair, spraying and styling all over. Opul clenched her eyes shut throughout the entire experience. She had never done something like this before. She was nervous to make herself so vulnerable, but she trusted Droll enough to believe that she would be perfectly safe. She could feel the coldness of the spray touching her head and cement her hair a different shape, and her new concern was of looking stupid. But she went along with it.

“Keep your eyes closed for this next section,” the stylist said.

Opul obeyed, and she could feel the pressure go against her eyelids. She squirmed for a bit but controlled herself, forcing herself to sit still.

“Just got to add the finishing touches and we - are - done!” The yellow dragon abruptly walked away and Droll followed her, speaking inaudibly for a moment. Soon enough, the dragon returned with a mirror.

When Opul sat up, she was panting, but she got to get a good look at what the stylist had done. Through the mirror, she could see the sight of a beautiful, pale dragon staring back at her with her turquoise hair in elegant curls. Opul blinked and for a moment, she could see the light-green eyeliner placed on her eyelids.

“Good color choice for the eyeliner, Droll,” the yellow dragon said. “Where did that idea come from?”

Droll’s smile faded slightly as he shifted uncomfortably. “Just . . . random.”

Opul got up and looked at the time to see she only had five minutes left to get to her place. “I need to go right now. Thank you both for the help. What do I owe you?”

“For a fellow dragon? No charge. Just be happy.”

Opul narrowed her eyes skeptically before continuing out the door at full speed, causing Droll to sigh behind her and pull out a few bits to which the yellow dragon stuck out her claws demandingly.

“You look beautiful,” Vitri said from across the table.

Opul smiled. “Thank you.”

She said no more for a bit. Instead, Opul looked below the table at the big diamond in her claws that she was planning on using to pay for the meal. It only took ten minutes to go back to her domicile to claim it, but she was willing to be late if it meant that her date didn’t have to pay anything for her. She regarded the diamond happily before she put it down to look at her date.

“So you never told me,” Opul continued.

Vitri appeared minorly stunned at the sudden topic. “Tell you of what?”

“The reason. You said-."

"Hey!" Vitri said to a waitress passing by. "My glass has been empty for two full minutes and none of you have come by to fill it up."

The waitress smiled nervously. "Terribly sorry-."

"Do something nice for me so you can earn something nice from me, will you?"

Opul raised an eyebrow before Vitri turned to look back at her.

"Some creatures, am I right?" He sighed. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

The dragon was still astonished before she slightly shook her head to get her mind back on track. "This-this morning. You said that you’d tell me why you helped out my friends.”

The pony dropped his food onto the plate in realization. “Oh right. Well, the thing is, I live to be generous.”

Opul beamed brightly at the statement. “Yes, it’s good to do something nice for someone else without expecting much in return.”

“Without expecting much?” Vitri repeated. “Isn’t that the whole reason to be generous?”

Opul was stunned, but before she could speak, Vitri continued.

“The whole goal for doing something nice for someone is so that you can get something nice done for you in the future.”

“Well-.”

“And after you give something up like that,” Vitri swallowed his food, “everypony looks around and sees the good thing you did, and you become some sort of icon.”

Opul lowered her eyebrows in disbelief at what she was hearing. “You’re not supposed to be generous so someone can do something nice for you in the future. That kind of defeats the purpose.”

“It's basic common sense. Why would you willingly do something nice if you weren’t ever going to get anything out of it?”

Opul sighed and looked Vitri in the eyes. “We do get something out of it. It’s the feeling that you’ve helped someone else out, and it makes us happy. It’s not right to only do good things in the hopes that they’ll do something for you.”

Opul’s eye caught on a male waiter who was making their way over to her table with what she hoped was the bill. She quickly smirked to herself, believing this to be a perfect opportunity to show him what she meant.

“Are we thinking of any dessert?” the well-dressed waiter asked.

“No, thank you,” Opul said, reaching for the bill from the pony’s hooves.

Immediately as her claws touched the paper, Vitri’s hooves grabbed a hold as well. Opul was shocked before she quickly turned her casual grab into a firm grip, holding her half in her grasp.

The waiter widened his eyes before speaking quickly. “Okay, goodluck.” With that note, he marched away to avoid the incoming conflict.

“Come on, Vitri,” Opul began. “Let me show you what I’m talking about.”

“No, you only want to do that so you can take all the credit for paying the bill.”

“I’m only trying to show you my take on giving.”

“I only invited you here to show you how generous I can be,” Vitri admitted. “More generous than you, I guarantee. Now give me the check.”

Opul took a deep breath while still holding on. “Vitri, I worry for you and what might happen if you keep thinking like this. Please, hear me out and let me do this.”

Vitri blinked in thought, taking the dragon’s words into consideration. With a deep breath, he let go of the bill, letting the check come into full control of Opul.

The white non-pony smiled. “Good, now I can pay for both of us.”

Immediately when she said this, chattering outbroke among the entirety of the tables around her, each with ponies eyeing Opul after she made her decision. Opul could only manage to hear a few words as she looked around at the numerous citizens.

“Can you believe it?” one voice spoke.

“Did you just see that?” another said from a different location.

“Did a dragon just willingly pay for someone else?” said yet another voice.

Opul blushed uncomfortably at the unwanted attention before her gaze returned to the rageful eyes, seething in betrayal. Immediately, the white non-pony widened her eyes and stuttered, but Vitri was quick to make his thoughts known.

“I knew it,” he began. “You just wanted to get everyone’s attention. You just wanted to show that you were more generous than me.”

Finally, the waitress came by with the water jug. "Here's that water I-."

"Not now!" Vitri yelled, slapping the water jug out of her hooves.

By now, the dragon was noticeably shaking.

“Is that all this was?” he yelled. “To show that you were better than me?”

“No, I promise-,” she stuttered again.

"I thought this was going to be easy. Out-"generous" a dragon. Are you trying to make me look like a fool?"

The white non-pony opened her mouth but was too speechless to make any noise come out.

“You’re the worst kind of creature, Opul,” he finally said, which sent shivers down her spine.

Opul blinked back tears, trying to figure out what her next move was. Instinctively, she put on a brave, angered face. With a shaky breath, she spoke. “You need to leave.”

“Me, leave?” he repeated. “I’m the pony here. You're the one who has to go.”

Opul glared at him more, her anger becoming more real. “I’m serious. Go.”

The pony responded again. “Know your place, dragon.”

“Don’t talk to me like that!” she cried out.

“Oh yeah, what are you going to do about it?” Vitri said.

Opul gritted her teeth, ready to wipe that smug look off his face. She could feel the anger rising inside her, blowing through her ears like a tea kettle. She was about to lose it before she stopped herself, taking a deep breath to calm herself down.

She looked back up at Vitri with a modest look. “I’m okay.”

“You’re doing it again!” Vitri jumped up from his seat, launching himself over the table into Opul, knocking her out of the seat and onto the floor.

Immediately, the sound of screaming from the ponies in the surrounding tables overtook the room. Through Opul’s dazed head, she could hear the diamond she was going to pay with slide underneath the table out of her reach. When she opened her eyes to look for it, she could only find Vitri getting up off the ground to come at her again. Immediately, Opul rolled away to gain distance so she could have enough time to get up. She was just barely able to get to a stance by the time Vitri made it to her, swinging his hooves at her face, to which Opul dodged out of the way, backing up to avoid the swipes. Immediately, Vitri tried again, but Opul blocked with her arms, having the pony’s hooves stop right there.

“What are you doing??” Opul scolded.

“Showing you who’s better!”

Vitri kicked Opul away, causing the dragon to fall on the ground as if she were sitting. When she looked up from her impact, the sight of the red pony stampeding towards her made her stick her legs in the air to block the attack. Immediately when this happened though, Vitri reached out his hooves to grab Opul by the legs and throw her across the room.

She landed next to some poor ponies who were only wanting to get food that night. From the doors, multiple bangs were heard as the sound of security tried to get in, but with the amount of ponies at the walls, the doors were blocked. Opul huffed at the realization that there wouldn’t be any Calvary any time soon.

Vitri wasn’t losing any steam as he ran across the room to Opul, the murderous look still on his face. Instinctively, Opul picked up a nearby chair to throw at Vitri, but it barely managed to do anything to him. The dragon tried again, instead, picking up a chair to use as a shield. Worried at it not helping much either, Opul held it out in front of her, rushing into Vitri at full speed to try and knock him over and do at least something to help her in this situation. Instead of hitting him head-on, Vitri moved aside at the last moment, putting his leg out to trip Opul and have her go crashing onto the chair she was holding.

"Come on, use your claws," Vitri taunted. "You're not generous enough to spare me the scars."

With the wind knocked out of her, Opul had landed on the floor next to her original table and saw the glint of the diamond still resting motionless below. She began to reach out her claw to it when Vitri picked her up, only to slam her down onto the table forcefully. Immediately after the impact though, Opul knew what she needed to save her, and she rolled off the table with still no oxygen left in her system. She used whatever strength she had left to reach underneath the table and wrap her claws around the heavy diamond.

She could barely get a grip on it when she felt the hooves wrap around her legs with great force and pull her back. Opul clenched the diamond for dear life as Vitri stood her up and wrapped his arms around her neck from behind to squeeze down hard, strangling any bit of oxygen she was able to recuperate from when she had the wind knocked from her.

The dragon coughed. "Are you - trying to kill me??"

"Oh, of course not," Vitri said back, panting. "You'll use your claws before that and prove me right."

Opul focused on lifting her arms, but it was exceedingly difficult to do so without oxygen. She could feel her arms grow numb from the asphyxiation, but she still held on tight to the diamond. She knew it was now or never. She concentrated every bit of her remaining effort, any bit of energy she had left into raising the diamond up, storing it with power from her claw. Finally, in her final use of her arms, she let the stored-up power go, letting her arm with the diamond go at full speed into Vitri’s temple.

A loud club was heard, but soon after, Opul’s neck was released, and she fell to the ground gasping for air. She continued to rub her neck over and over as she coughed and gasped dry breaths, trying to fill her system with oxygen again.

She steadily got to a stance and turned to look down at Vitri’s unconscious body in terror. She was absolutely horrified at what just happened, still in disbelief of it all. It was at a time like this that she was thankful for her survival mindset as well as her experience of fighting for her life.

"Is he . . . dead?" one voice said.

"No, but he's down," another voice answered.

Opul coughed again as she turned to look around the room at the poor ponies who didn’t want to be present at all to see what just happened. From the multiple doors in the room, several of them were now banging loudly with the sounds of older ponies trying to come in to solve the situation. Quickly, the dragon located a door that was quiet and she made her way over to it while still trying to get her breath back.

She looked at the group of ponies one last time before speaking in a raspy voice. “Sorry for that.” She then turned to the ponies who were in front of the door, and they made a path for her to exit.

Opul limped outside of the restaurant, completely in shock at the realization of what just happened to her. She was still panting and she could feel herself bleeding from the attacks, but they weren’t too much.

Droll was right. When she had spoken to him about her plans, he was concerned for her. She should've listened to him and thought twice about who she was being with. Next time, she would be more careful like she had always been used to. She inevitably decided to call it a night as she marched down the streets with the moon overhead.

Cold

Episode 6: A Journey Continued

Droll finally stormed out of the mountainous location, abruptly finding himself in a desert-like place, but he kept persisting forward, unwilling to believe in his safety until he was confident that the dragon egg would be safe too. Throughout the constant stampeding, he was beginning to lose his breath, and he briefly considered stopping until he caught sight of the tall walls in the distance, lighting up his mood and reassuring him that there was a goal in mind. Instantly, he knew it meant civilization, and he was desperate for safe creatures at the moment, especially since he had lost his only home just the day before.

Droll arrived at the walls, eyeing it carefully. If there were creatures there, he had to be careful since he had no idea what their reactions would be to a dragon egg, and he was not going to risk finding out. Instead, he glanced around at his surroundings, scanning for solutions, but there was nothing to see, just black walls that stood high and went down until they hit the solid sand of the desert. Droll was hit with the only logical outcome to keep the egg safe which was to hide it. Out of the lack of features outside of the walled civilization, it wasn’t difficult to find the only location for it to be hidden. With his mind racing with doubts of the hiding spot, he began to dig a hole that was just big enough to fit the egg inside, but before he placed it in its designated spot, he pondered his choices for a moment. He could have either gone along with his initial plan to place the dragon egg in place before scoping out the civilization, or he could take his chances out in the world, but through quick cynicism of his own capabilities, he decided that this was the egg’s best chance for survival. After hugging it close, he placed the filled shell inside the hole, hoping that it would be safe there. He would’ve covered it completely with the rest of the sand, but he knew that sunshine was necessary for it to survive, so he angled the opening of the hole towards the sun to make sure it was warm. Finally, he stepped away to find the front of the walls and see if he could start his new life.

He traveled along the walls, concerned with every step of the way what fate the dragon egg would be met with. Before he could make it more than twenty seconds away from the hiding place, his eyes caught on a tall, teal building that barely peeked out over the walls. It towered over the area where he had hid his dragon egg, and he was even more worried about what would happen if anyone found it. He eventually decided to let his fears go as he came to an apparent opening in the walls that was far too slim for him to fit between.

The yak stopped just outside, indecisive of whether or not to take the first step in trying to enter. After a couple moments of silence and motionless thinking, he took the family picture down from between his horns, looking back at the fake smiles of his family that haunted him to his core. He regarded it in great guilt as he recognized the fakeness was a direct result from him.

“Droll hope yak no hurt no one no more,” he said in reflection.

“Hey, who’s out there?” an adult voice launched back from the other side of the walls.

Immediately, Droll froze in fear at the unexpected company that came too soon. He gripped the family picture tightly in his cloven-hooves as a golden stallion came to block the view from the tiny opening within the doorway. The stallion glared into the yak's soul as if Droll had killed someone he loved. Finally, the pony continued.

“What do you want?”

At first, Droll stuttered before gathering his bearings. “Droll looking for safety.”

The pony flinched at the brown non-pony, shifting impatiently. “What? Who’s Droll?”

“Uh - yak Droll.” He gestured toward himself.

“Ever heard of grammar, Droll? Speak ponish for crying out loud.”

Droll cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Droll speak this way-.”

“Come on, it’s easy! Just use articles and helping verbs. Is that too hard for you?”

Before the golden stallion could scold the non-pony any further, a soft voice came from behind him.

“Daddy?” the voice began.

Immediately, the pony tensed up and turned around towards the source of the sound. From within the walled civilization stood a small, light-green earth pony. When she saw that Droll had seen her, she shied away slightly.

The golden equine sighed. “What is it?”

The pony looked up at her apparent parent before looking down at the ground again. “Well, um, there’s not much reason to be rude. You barely know him.”

“You don’t understand what’s happening here,” he harshly replied back. “Don’t butt into my business.”

The small pony flinched. “. . . Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Y-yes, sir . . .”

The stallion raised his head higher. “Good. Think before you speak.”

The filly lowered her eyebrows softly before glancing at Droll. “I’m sorry . . .” She didn’t waste anymore time in obeying her father’s wishes as she uncomfortably marched off out of sight behind the wall.

The stallion returned his eyes to Droll’s in an annoyed fashion before sighing as if he were forced to do something. “Welcome to Contume’s Community,” he began in an unenthusiastic, angsty tone as if he were reading off a script. “A home welcomed to all creatures to keep them safe. Because Emperor Contume supplies a haven for you, you must supply something for him.”

Droll blinked in confusion. “What?”

“It means if you wanna be here, you’ve got to give him something!”

From behind the walls, Droll could hear a soft squeak of fear that sounded like the voice of the kind filly from earlier. He disregarded this though before pulling off the family picture he kept safe on his head. Droll regarded the memory in sadness before he began to put the frame back into place. Before he could get the picture halfway to his head, a yellow hoof reached out and snatched it at great speed.

“Hey!” Droll snapped.

The equine began to increase the small opening in the walls, prying it open with a grimy screech. “Sorry, as long as you gift something here, you’ll be safe. So without this thing, the leader will welcome you in.”

"Droll no want to give picture! It only thing yak has left!"

The golden stallion snorted. "If the picture is the only thing you have, then there really isn't anything else to gift to us, is there?"

The brown non-pony began to tremble. "Droll really need that back . . ."

"And maybe you will get it back if our leader doesn't find much use in this. But we'll have to wait for when it's presented to him."

The yak growled. “Why leader no come to yak?”

The stallion chuckled. “There’s no way he’s meeting with another non-pony. Not after what happened with that dragon. He needs some time to purify himself.”

Droll was speechless, but he entered in through the doorway to civilization, realizing that he probably wasn’t getting his picture back anytime soon. He looked back to the equine as he closed the opening behind him and noticed the filly was still there watching the whole transaction in guilt, as if she would do something if she could. The sad expression on her face made Droll feel just as guilty, but he felt that there was nothing he could do to make anything better in the moment.

Finally, the non-pony spoke. “Does yak get shelter?”

The stallion scoffed. “This is your shelter.”

“But no house?”

“You don’t get those here. If you want a place to rest, you’ve got to build it yourself.”

The filly beside the stallion averted her eyes, as if not wanting to be considered a part of the conversation whatsoever.

“I suggest you think of something,” the adult pony said. “Too-da-loo.”

Droll turned to walk away from the two ponies, and before his gaze fully left them, he caught sight of the filly waving goodbye to him, causing Droll to smile to himself. He hoped that he would meet other creatures who were just as nice as she was. Without any clue of his next step, he marched through the civilization, hoping his new way of life would be good.

Before he could get even a few blocks down, he was stopped by a blue-suited mare who wore a hat to show off her authority.

“Hey!” the mare said in a hostile voice. “I don’t recognize you around here. Where did you come from?”

Droll regarded the tan-coated mare in concern, worried about slipping up. “Uh, Droll was accepted by pony just now.”

“Likely story. State your business!”

Droll cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Yak just looking for safety. Droll been through much.”

“You non-ponies always want to play the victim. What your kind has done to us is way more than anything you’ve ever been through. If you want to pass, you’re going to have to pay.”

Droll narrowed his eyes in concern as he checked throughout everything he had, but he only found fur everywhere. He had absolutely nothing on him since everything had been taken from him.

The non-pony began to shift uncomfortably as the tan mare began to get more and more impatient. “Yak no have bits.”

“None of you ever have bits,” the equine said in disapproval. “Makes my job a whole lot easier. You’re coming with me.”

With no idea what was happening, Droll reluctantly agreed. He followed the pony as if she were escorting him to a place for newcomers. With no idea what to expect in this civilization, he chose to put his full trust in the pony.

The two creatures traveled through the streets, passing by all sorts of different-styled houses. Droll was admiring the beauty of everything until he looked in the distance to find the biggest one out of all them. Stood up three times as tall as any of the regular-sized houses was an opulent palace that glimmered in the sun, creating a cozy glow that reflected in Droll’s eyes. The yak gawked at the beautiful sight, momentarily thinking it was the grandest building around until the two creatures traveled up to a shorter but wider building, catching Droll’s eyes once again.

“What this?” Droll asked.

“Did I say you could talk?” the equine snapped back.

Droll flinched. Although he figured the best decision was to be respectful with the unknown pony, he couldn't deny his anger beginning to burn with the way the pony was treating him. He said nothing for a few seconds until the pony sighed and spoke.

“This is Town Hall. Our leader here has been able to direct in the creation of this massive project, and it has been constructed to last through anything. Nopony can breach it if they tried and especially nopony can escape it. We’ve full-proofed everything so don’t even try.”

Droll tilted his head. “Escape?”

The equine glared at him before opening the door for Droll to go through. “Watch your head.”

Droll cautiously entered through before the mare took the lead in front of him again, strutting down full speed before making a turn down a separate corridor. Every so often, she would look back at Droll with a menacing look to make sure he didn’t run off, but Droll didn't know enough of his situation to try that. Eventually, the two came to a wide open room that was filled with different barred cells, preventing everything except for vision to pass through.

The yak looked around with his jaw slowly going ajar. Non-ponies were locked up one after another as if like dominoes. He could barely even see the ending either to his left or his right, but the sound of metal clanging brought his attention back to the front of him, where he saw the mare opening up a cell door. He only had time to gasp before he felt a sudden force push him inside.

Immediately, Droll fell to the ground against the solid-hard surface, hitting his horn with great force against a bump that was more elevated than the rest of the floor. He was dazed for a moment, and when Droll was able to clear his mind, he got up and ran to the now-closed cell door.

“What?” Droll huffed. “What yak do?”

The equine just looked at him in disapproval before turning to a stallion in shades who was clapping the dust of his hooves. “Subject nine-nine-three is here, taken into custody after refusing to pay a fine. How is it coming along with subject eight-eight-six?”

The stallion sighed. “He’s not talking. He won’t even say a word that’s relevant to his charge.”

“He’ll never talk!” a voice beside Droll’s cell shouted out. “He didn’t do anything wrong!”

When Droll turned to his right, in a cell beside him stood a tall pale dragon with emerald green hair, with eyes that shot daggers at the two guards and followed them everywhere, waiting for them to let their guard down. Droll was scared in the moment, but he felt that this dragon knew what was happening.

“That’s enough out of you, eight-eight-five!” the stallion yelled back. “Keep that up and you’ll be punished.”

“You can’t do anything to me that’s worse than what I’ve already been through!”

“Well what happens if we instead do something to your little friend back there?”

The white dragon flinched subtly, but she quickly maintained her angered expression. “He’s way stronger than you can ever be. You can’t do anything to him.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” the mare said back before walking with the stallion to a secluded room.

After the two ponies were fully out of the room, Droll walked over to the furthest reach of his cell to get as close as he could to the white dragon. “Psst.”

The dragon didn’t react to Droll’s advances, so he repeated himself louder. After she didn’t respond a second time, Droll repeated himself once more.

“What?!” she snapped, causing Droll to back up.

The yak cleared his throat. “What going on here?”

The dragon narrowed her eyes at the fellow non-pony. “What always happens around here: bullying.”

Droll pondered the statement for a moment before he looked passed the dragon’s cell to see countless other cells, each with different non-ponies trapped there. Everyone looked miserable, and when Droll turned to his left side, he saw an even longer row of upset prisoners each in their own cells with similar expressions. The only cell that was empty was the one right beside Droll’s.

“Why everyone here?” Droll asked.

“Beats me,” the dragon said without even averting her eyes. She simply kept her focus on the door just out of reach.

Within the moment, the yak understand what was happening. Everyone in the cells was just like him: put there unfairly. The realization caused the yak instant sadness, but he tried his best to keep his spirits up.

Finally, Droll looked back up to the angry prisoner next to him. “What dragon name?”

“What’s it to you?” she responded without eye contact still.

“Yak just want to know.”

The dragon clenched her eyes shut before finally answering. “I’m Opul.”

Droll smiled at the new knowledge and began to get closer to his acquaintance’s cell, approaching her without paying attention to the floor beneath him. “Yak is-.”

Before he could finish, he tripped over an elevated surface on the ground, causing his head to come against the bars on Opul’s cell and create a TING sound that reverberated quietly.

“A buffoon?” the dragon finished.

“Close,” Droll answered, causing a subtle smile to come to the dragon’s face, a pleasant view that the brown non-pony didn’t get to see. “Yak is named Droll. Droll just arrived at place and Droll have mixed feelings.”

“That’s a way to describe it,” Opul answered back. “What was the excuse they gave to take you in?”

Droll shrugged. “Droll enter into town for first time and while walking, was taken down here.”

“Yeah, figures. That’s how most of us got here.”

“Same with dragon?”

Opul gritted her teeth. “Not quite. You see, my friend wanted to go retrieve something and I volunteered to help him, but we were caught. I guess I wasn’t quiet enough.”

“So dragon deserve this?”

Opul regarded Droll as if he was stupid. “No, what dragon deserve is to get what was rightfully mine back. My friend and I both need something that was taken from us and we won’t stop until we get those things back.”

“Dragon friend sound brave.”

“Well, yeah, I just hope he’s okay.”

As if on cue, the door partially across the jail opened up and the two ponies from earlier exited, carrying an orange griffon whose face was all bruised up. Droll clenched his teeth as he watched the orange non-pony, but he didn’t seem to be in any pain. Instead, the griffon's face put on an expression of pure anger as he was forced to comply with the ponies. The two equines brought the griffon over to the empty cell next to Droll and threw him in with no concern of how he would land.

“Candid!” Opul said in distress. “Are you okay?”

“Hey, no talking!” the stallion reprimanded.

“Bite me!”

The stallion looked confused for a moment before putting his shades back on and sitting down, pulling out a book to read as he supervised the unjustly jailed non-ponies.

“Griffon okay?” Droll asked.

The orange non-pony glanced at Droll out of the corner of his eye before looking around at whoever he might've been talking to. Finally, his eyes focused back on the stranger. “Um, who’s this?”

Before Opul could answer, Droll spoke up. “Yak name Droll. Droll just arrived and placed here wrongly.”

“Why do you talk so stupid?”

From behind, Opul spoke up. “Oh come on, Candid. Don’t say that.”

“Well, it’s true.”

Droll sighed as he began to walk away from Candid’s cell until his cloven-hoof caught on an uneven section of the floor again. Immediately, the yak felt the full weight of his body crashing down onto the solid ground and laying him flat, sprawled out on the floor. As soon as the sound of the collision settled, the only noise that could be heard was the subtle sound of giggling from behind him. Droll instantly snapped his head back to see the source of the sound and his sight was well worth it. From the cell beside him, he could see the orange griffon partially covering his beak with his head bobbing up and down with each moment of laughter.

Droll regarded it in fascination. He was surprised at how he felt in that moment. Normally a feeling of anger or defensiveness would settle in at being the laughing stock of an embarrassing blunder, but such a feeling was completely absent. Instead, he felt a moment of joy at what he was able to do, something that happened as a direct result of him. It was different than the regular wholesome smile he saw on the princess's face the day before. Droll felt like he was appreciated for getting such a positive aspect in a time so dark for everyone, and in that moment, he knew that he had to try for more.

When Candid stopped laughing and looked away in his natural scowl, Droll was instantly lost in an endless sea of possibilities within the comfort of his own mind. He wanted to put smiles back on his friends’ faces and he needed to do it soon, but he didn’t quite know the best way to make them happy in the moment. He thought that maybe a possible way to get them to like him was if he did something to make them joyful in the moment, but nothing was coming to mind until his eyes focused on the cells again. Instantly, he knew what he had to do.

“Guards, guards,” Droll called out as he went to the front of the cell.

“Would you quiet down?” the guard requested. “I’m trying to read here.”

“Yak wonder something-.”

Before Droll could finish, the mare entered through the room again with a clipboard.

“Okay, we need to record the inmates today. We’ve gotten over 50 of them today, but none of them are in the database yet. We need to fix that now.”

Droll persisted again. “Yak have question.”

“No talking,” the mare said back.

“How old this place?”

“I said no talking. Make this easier on us.”

“Yak just ask question.”

The mare rolled her eyes before meeting Droll’s in an impatient manner. “4 years old. Emperor Contume started this with his best friend Constellar until he wronged him and Contume had to finish leading this place on his own. Are you happy now?”

“What happened to Contume friend?”

“Ugh, you asked a question already. Just give it up.”

“But yak brand new here and want to kno-.”

Droll was interrupted by a series of his own coughing fits. The sudden coughs put both the stallion and the mare on edge, and the two ponies looked at each other with an absence of a solution. Droll collapsed on the floor, coughing more violently and gasping for air. Instantly, the two ponies jumped up from their seats, indecisive of their next approach. After a few seconds of the two guards frozen in place, Droll looked up at Opul with a glare and instantly, she knew what to do.

“You two!” she yelled. “Can’t you see what’s happening? Droll is the newest member here, and he wasn’t even checked for any diseases! He’s going to start an outbreak in this community unless he’s fixed right now!”

The stallion immediately panicked and rushed out the door while the mare just watched in fear.

“Wait,” Candid looked at Droll and Opul before gazing back at the mare, “you brought a sick yak in here? He’s going to kill us all!”

“Don’t just stand there!” Opul yelled. “Get him out of here before he gets the rest of us sick!”

Droll continued to cough aggressively on the floor when the mare took out a set of keys in a jittery fashion. She unlocked Droll’s cell before grabbing him by the horns to pull him out. Immediately when the yak was successfully out of the cell, he smirked before he jumped up and grabbed the keys, pushing the mare down on the floor with all his force.

With Droll now free, he immediately traveled to Opul’s cell to unlock her out of the cage. The only thing the pony did on the ground was yell for help, which alerted Droll that he needed to work fast. Within seconds, Droll had unhooked several keys from the key-ring to give to Opul, and the dragon took the opportunity to free as many creatures as she could, handing off several other keys to them for them to continue exponentially freeing prisoners. As she was doing this, Droll stampeded over to Candid’s cell to unlock him from his bars and give him his own key.

“Dear Celestia, Droll,” the griffon began. “You’re not as stupid as I thought you were.”

Droll gave an amused smile before he proceeded to unlock even more non-ponies from their cells, copying Opul’s ideas to free prisoners even faster. When the yak had unlocked several more creatures, guards flooded in through the doorway, but they were blocked by three times as many creatures stampeding out, putting both the non-ponies as well as the ponies at a standstill and giving Droll, Candid, and Opul, as well as the other limited creatures with a key, infinite time to continue unlocking everyone else out of their unfair treatment.

Droll reached the left end of the series of cells, unlocking every creature he could, and the first thing each creature did when they were free was make a break for the door. The ponies were not standing a chance against the non-ponies as they began to advance closer out of the exit. When Droll looked to the opposite side of the long hall, he saw Opul finish unlocking the last creature before turning to Droll and giving him a smirk.

Every creature was trying to exit through the door at once at this point and they outmatched the ponies 5 to 1, causing the equines to make a run for it through the exit. As if pursuing them, all the non-ponies bursted through the doorway as well, running as fast as their legs could carry them to freedom. Droll and Opul were about to follow before Candid stopped them.

“Wait, no. Not this way. The community guards are going to send everyone they can to track down the herd where they’re going. If they don’t have any of us in the database yet, then we can’t give them the chance to get us down.”

Instantly, Candid bolted through the air down a separate, lightless hallway as Opul followed close behind in the air. Droll followed as best as he could to keep up, but the two were surpassing him, leaving him in the darkness of the corridor. Droll kept running as fast as he could, but he began losing sight of Opul and Candid in front of him as they flew so fast to escape their prison. It was just under a minute before Droll lost where they were completely, causing him to slow down to a standstill in the long hallway, panting at the top of his lungs.

The yak sat down on the floor, alone in the shadows. He had no idea where to go. He needed someone to help lead him out of the darkness, but there was no one. He couldn’t do this on his own, and he wanted to give up. Tears were soon to enter his eyes as he realized that he might’ve been beyond hope. He blinked his eyes shut to give in and listen to the silence until he heard the familiar sounds of wing flaps come his way.

“Uh, you coming?” the familiar male voice asked.

Droll looked up in astonishment.

“Come on,” Opul said. “We’re not leaving you behind.”

Droll blinked tears out of his eyes as his touching smile spread across his face. As a team, the three took off into the darkness once more, making their way out of the prison together.

The three non-ponies continued making their way as far out from the Town Hall as possible. They didn’t stop for anything, and the thought of the community guards being on their tails preoccupied their minds to keep them invigorated in their flight to safety. If they were even so much as seen by any guards as they exited, they might’ve gotten their descriptions down, but with the thought that they were blending in with everyone else, they felt comfortable that they’d be able to make it out and stay out for good.

Finally, Candid slowed down, and Opul and Droll were soon to follow behind him. They were all breathing heavily except for Candid who appeared to be used to flying at high speeds for prolonged periods of time.

Finally Candid spoke. “Well, well, well. What gave you such a brilliant idea, Droll?”

The yak was still breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath. He lifted up a cloven-hoof to alert the griffon that he needed a moment. Eventually, he tried to speak. “Well, yak . . . Nevermind, one more moment.” Droll began breathing heavily again as Candid rolled his eyes until finally Droll took a deep breath to slow his heart rate down. “Droll just think that if yak so new, ponies don’t know much. Droll use that.”

Opul and Candid exchanged approving looks at their new friend, proud at what he did, before Candid spoke.

“You know what, Droll? I’m usually not one to really give creatures a chance, but you? You’re alright.”

Droll smiled to Candid and then looked at Opul. “Does this make yak and dragon and griffon . . . friends?”

Candid looked over at Opul with a look of pretend decisiveness, as if the two had the exact same thought in the moment. “Hmm, what do you think, Opul? Do you think he can?”

Opul looked back at Candid with the same humorous look. “Oh, I’d say he has to pass the initiation before he can be considered ‘okay’ with us.”

Candid nodded in agreement. “Right, initiation. Would you like to inform Droll on what that is?”

Opul looked at Candid in a look of deviousness that told the griffon that he was soon to be the brunt of the joke. “Well, Droll, for your initiation . . .”

Both Droll and Candid regarded the dragon in an unsettled look but patiently waited for her to continue. Finally, the long awaited requirement was spoken.

“You must hug Candid.”

Immediately, Candid stuttered in immediate refusal. “What? No! No one agreed to this.”

“Actually you did when you agreed with me that there should be an initiation 30 seconds ago.”

Candid widened his eyes before firmly speaking. “No.”

“Too late,” Opul grinned.

Candid regarded Droll apprehensively, and the yak got closer to him. The two slowly approached eachother uneasily before Candid finally spoke.

“No, I’m not doing this. Hug a pillow.”

Opul finally erupted into laughter, clapping her claws together in delight. “Okay, that’s good enough.”

“Griffon no like hug?” Droll asked, trying to egg him on all in good fun.

Candid crossed his arms. “Hugging is for emotional, insecure creatures.”

Droll’s smile faded slightly and Opul noticed, causing her to put on a feared look. As Droll opened his mouth to speak, Opul took the reins of the conversation.

“Well, today was great. So much fun, right? Met a new friend. Failed our missions. Caused a prison break of creatures that we didn’t know for sure were innocent. I see this as an absolute win. Why don’t we all celebrate by going to Hayburger, am I right? I’m buying.”

Candid and Droll both looked at Opul and their expressions began to lighten up. Candid gave an approving grin to Droll and the feeling was clear to Droll that he found the right group. He almost didn’t notice the teal building on the inside of the walls that marked the location where his dragon egg was. He quickly made a note to remind himself to retrieve the cyan shell at some point that day.

Finally Droll turned to Opul and nodded his head, agreeing with her proposal. With now all brightly-colored expressions, the three new friends began to walk off into the rest of the community to finally relax after their long day.

Cold

Episode 7: Love and War

Candid pushed aside the ponies he was marching passed, disregarding everyone in his way. He wasn’t in a rush, but he didn’t want to have to wait for anyone.

“Move,” he said as he shoved an elderly mare aside.

He resented his reliance on the ponies, but he knew that he needed them if he was going to survive. He specifically needed the medicine for his eye so he wouldn’t be killed by any infection, but he doubted that any bacteria he was fighting off would be any worse than the treatment he’d been facing already.

“Hey, watch it!” a stallion reprimanded as Candid pushed passed him.

Instantly, Candid snapped his neck back to face the pony before crinkling up his snout. “I’ll keep an eye out for you next time. How’s that?”

Without waiting for a response, the griffon marched onward, but before he could make it very far, the stallion spoke again from the distance.

“Yeah, you better run!”

Without a beat of hesitance, Candid turned back to face the stallion. “You want to run that by me again?”

“Yeah, you just run instead of facing confrontation. You can't expect to just call someone out and then run away as if you've won.”

“Oh yeah?” Candid reached up a talon to remove the eyepatch from his mutilated socket. “How’s that??”

“Oh, Celestia!” the stallion gagged. “What is that?!”

“Yeah, that’s right. Get an eyeful!”

Instead of following the orange non-pony’s wishes, the stallion took the opportunity to turn his tail and flee down the hallway at max speed.

“Who’s running now?!” Candid called back down before sliding his eyepatch back on. He then returned to his place down the corridor as if nothing had happened.

As the griffon marched, ponies were now clearing the way for him after seeing what had just happened. Candid turned a blind eye to them though, disregarding whatever anyone thought of him.

He was just coming to the main lobby when he noticed the short line of ponies waiting to be helped. As he was walking passed the equines to skip the line altogether, he was interrupted.

“Aren’t you that griffon that saved this place?” a stallion asked.

“I guess.”

“Cool,” he nodded with no expression. “Get in line.”

The orange non-pony scowled, but with the look of four other equines with inherent power, he saw the smarter choice in that moment was to comply. He waited quietly in the back of the line in frustration for his turn to come up. By the time he arrived at the front, he regained his frown to get back into his mindset.

“Hello,” a female nurse said with a forced smile. “How may I-.”

“Yeah, yeah, cut the fertilizer,” Candid interrupted. “I just need my weekly antibiotics.”

The nurse flinched before clearing her throat awkwardly and checking some papers. “And what will these antibiotics be used for?”

Candid slouched in disbelief before waving a clawless talon around his face where his empty eye socket was.

The nurse scowled. “I don’t like your attitude.”

“Well I don’t like you.”

“. . . You know I don’t have to help you-.”

“Yes, you do. It’s your job.

Before the nurse could respond, she was interrupted by a voice behind her.

“It’s okay, I’ve got this. I know what he’s on about.”

The nurse rolled her eyes before moving away, revealing a white-vested red earth pony stallion. From behind the counter, he stood tall with purpose, but also as if trying not to let emotion cloud his face at the sight of the griffon.

“Hello, Candid,” he said in a kind tone.

“What do you want, Degree?”

“That’s Dr. Degree.”

“Did I stutter?”

Degree recoiled, taking a couple seconds before answering. “Well, Candid. I’d like to help you. Isn’t that why you’re here?”

Candid scoffed. “I’m here to get my refill, okay? I’ve already been here far too long.”

“That’s understandable, Candid, and I just ask that you wait for a moment while we get that filled up. Can you do that for me, please?”

The griffon’s expression froze, the only movement being slight twitches here and there. Degree clenched his teeth before deciding to continue.

“It’ll be ready before you know it, Candid. I promise. Why don’t you just take a seat until it’s ready? We’ll call you when it’s done.”

The griffon sighed as he rolled his lone eye, but he did as the doctor requested. Without saying a word, he stormed off to the seats of the lobby, plopping himself down on a chair in hopes that the cushion would stop the speed of his fall. He thought wrong.

Although the seat sustained his level in the air, the hard landing caused his body to rock to the right, resulting in his right arm hitting into an unfortunate creature in the seat next to him.

“Owwie!” a gentle voice yelped.

Immediately when Candid heard that cry, the griffon felt something he had not felt all morning: guilt. Instinctively, he turned to whoever fell victim to his blunder.

“Whoops,” he gritted his teeth.

“It’s okay-.” The voice cut itself off abruptly.

Beside Candid was a maroon pony with a blue and orange mane that flickered like fire. She appeared normal except for the widened eyes and mouth that accompanied her beautiful face.

“It’s you . . . ,” she said in astonishment.

Candid narrowed his only eye. “Have we met or something?”

“Well yes, but actually no.”

The griffon blinked in confusion before the pony corrected herself nervously.

“I mean, it’s hard to explain. I just . . .” She began searching her mind for anything before her face lit up in an idea. “You were the one who saved us from that hydra last week.”

The griffon slouched. “Let me guess: you're going to discredit me too, huh?”

The pony shook her head innocently before speaking again in a sweet tone. “I think you’re a hero.”

Immediately, the griffon tensed at the title. He was speechless at the acknowledgement, but as he replayed the message in his head, Candid’s eye flickered in recognition. “Your voice sounds familiar.”

The equine giggled before she twirled her hoof to try and think of the best way to reply. “Well, I sort of got the guards away from you and that yak when you were at the community tavern.”

“Wait, that was you?” Candid bolted upright in his chair before his eye caught on a single feature on the pony. From the middle of her forehead stood a maroon horn that poked through her mane. For a split second, Candid was on guard, but the soothing sound of the unicorn was quick to calm him down.

“Well, I knew the guards here would never acknowledge what you did for all of us,” she said in subdued excitement. It was as if she couldn't even look at the griffon without smiling. “I had to repay the Community Hero somehow.”

The griffon’s eyebrows lowered emotionally as if he was getting something he had been without for quite some time. The maroon pony shrugged humbly as her eyes closed tightly in delight, causing the griffon to barely crack a smile at the sight.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

The unicorn was beaming as if all of her dreams were coming true. “My name is Thauma.”

The orange non-pony gestured to himself. “The name’s Candid.”

“I know.” Immediately, Thauma’s eyes widened. “I mean, I know now . . .”

The griffon tilted his head at the choice of words, causing the unicorn to put on yet another layer of scared expressions. She stumbled over her words before finally getting one coherent thought.

“I should go.” Immediately, she got up before putting a strap bag around her.

“Wait,” Candid called out, but Thauma was already leaving.

As the griffon got up to chase after her, he was interrupted by Degree grabbing his attention.

“Here are your antibiotics so you don’t get any infections from your eye, Candid.”

The griffon said nothing. He simply stared at the young equine that marched off awkwardly. “Who was that pony?”

“Um, I don’t know. Well, I do know but I can't say because that would be a breech of her privacy, and you know how we can't be saying-.”

"I get it," Candid scoffed. “But if you can't tell me then I'll need to find out for myself.”

As soon as the griffon dropped off the medicine at his own residence, he was right back to his own mini mission. He had to find out where that unicorn went. There was just something about her that he needed, something he was missing. It was as if he had unfinished business that he was desperate to regain control over.

As soon as he set off to find the mystery mare, Candid was soon to realize one thing: he had no idea where she would have gone to. With the immensity of the community, there was no place to start. Candid felt that she was familiar and that he had seen her for a fraction of a moment before today, but he did not remember the exact area that this moment was. It was becoming apparent to the griffon that he was not going to find her on his own. Lucky for him, company was soon to follow.

As Candid marched through the streets, a bizarre yet familiar sight overtook his attention. It was something that the griffon could not ignore, so he decided to get his curiosity over with and approach the creature that was piquing his interest. He came across the yak that was holding flowers in one cloven-hoof as he marched confidently through the streets with the other three, causing Candid to not contain his confusion any longer.

“Droll, what are you doing?”

The brown non-pony barely seemed to notice his friend as he marched through the streets, causing Candid to repeat his question even louder to snap the yak out of whatever spell he seemed to be under. Immediately, the yak looked around startled before his eyes focused back on his flowers again, causing him to blush.

“Droll!” Candid yelled one more time.

Droll blinked and focused on his friend. “What?”

“What are those?”

The yak focused on the petunias in his grasp before giggling innocently. “Just for somepony.”

The griffon was about to turn away when he got the idea to ask for his help. “Hey, have you seen a dark-colored unicorn that may or not may have come from the community hospital?”

Candid waited for an answer for a couple of seconds, but quickly noticed that Droll was mesmerized with the flowers in his grasp again, causing the griffon to growl to catch the yak’s attention once more.

“Oh, what?” Droll asked. “Oh, no . . . Not at all.”

“You’re hopeless.”

Droll didn’t even seem to register what his friend said when his eyes lit up at something in the distance. “There pony is.”

Without giving Candid a chance to speak, the yak stampeded off away from him, leaving the griffon in frustrated solitude.

Candid gaze didn't leave the empty spot where Droll had been standing. “Fine, I’ll do it myself.”

The orange non-pony just shook his head as he turned to face the opposite direction of Droll. He had no idea what could be so distracting that he couldn’t focus on a simple question. After a sigh, Candid turned around to look at where Droll had gone, and that’s when he saw the rough sight.

Just three buildings down from where Candid was standing, his eye caught on the maroon pony in the distance as the brown yak hopped giddily while talking to her. Immediately, he began to steam in rage as he realized what was happening, and within the moment, the griffon was flying at full speed to the scene of betrayal.

“Flowers for pony,” Droll said in a trance.

Thauma stuttered for a moment before speaking. “Thank you, but I don’t really like petunias.”

“That okay,” Droll answered. “Pony can just-.”

“Stop!” Candid interrupted as he rushed towards them.

Thauma turned her pale eyes to face Candid, where she put on a pleased expression. “Candid! It’s good to see you yet again.”

The griffon disregarded the pony as he spoke to Droll. “What do you think you’re doing?”

The brown non-pony cleared his throat awkwardly before answering. “Well, pony help yak and griffon out before. Droll met pony later and now yak want to talk more.”

Candid shook his head as he stared down at his friend. “This isn’t a good idea, Droll. You don’t really react too well with girls older than you.”

“Actually, I’m 14,” Thauma tried to correct.

“And he just turned 13. My statement still stands.”

Droll regarded his friend in worry as he realized what might have been happening. He was quick to speak up. “Well, yak believe this will work. Thauma, look. Flowers. Did griffon bring anything?”

Candid frowned, but Thauma was quick to speak up as well.

“Well, no one really has to bring anything. It’s not like anyone has to gift something in order to be accepted." Suddenly, the unicorn froze. "Well, I mean, not anymore . . .”

Both Droll and Candid tilted their heads at the pony as if to say “seriously?”

“What-I-mean-is,” Thauma spoke in quick succession, “nopony has to give me anything.”

Candid beamed at Droll as the yak’s face drooped, causing Thauma to be on edge.

“But these flowers are beautiful.” The pony’s horn glowed a dark blue as the flowers levitated out of Droll’s grasp, floating in the air just in front of her face. Thauma smelled the flowers apprehensively, but just as soon as she started sniffing, she began inhaling multiple times, each inhale lasting only a milli-second before, just a full second later, she sneezed to the side.

“Droll!” the griffon scolded. “She’s allergic!”

“No-no,” Thauma said in her gentle voice as her nose began to glow red. “I’m fine. They’re beauti-ACHOO!”

“It’s okay,” Candid said, getting closer to Thauma. “We can dispose of those flowers and forget all about how Droll ruined things.”

“No!” Droll firmly disagreed. “Yak can give more flowers.”

“Can’t you see that she doesn’t want flowers?”

“Yak just thought it seemed right to give petunias . . .”

“No, it’s fine,” Thauma said in a now-nasally voice that still appeared as gentle as can be. “I can just take these away and fix my allergies as is.”

Candid stepped forward. “Let me help you-.”

“No,” Thauma interrupted, scuffling away from the two non-ponies. “I’ll be okay. I will see you two around.”

Both non-ponies raised their arms to intervene, but in unison, they lowered them to the ground to watch in silence as the pony hurried away to safety.

“What were you thinking?” Candid asked Droll accusingly.

The brown non-pony immediately turned back to face his friend. “What yak thinking?”

“That’s what I said, isn’t it?”

“What griffon thinking for invading on yak? Griffon even know pony?”

“I know enough. What were you thinking on poisoning her with those petunias?”

“Yak thought pony like them . . .”

Candid put a clawless talon to his face. “Not every mare you’re interested in likes petunias, Droll.”

From in front of Candid, a steaming yak was seething with rage at the insensitivity, causing the orange non-pony to back up from the intimidating sight.

“Griffon no talk about her,” Droll said in a disturbingly serious tone.

Candid blinked twice in shock. “Jeez. Forget I said anything, okay?”

Droll shook his head as he turned to trot away.

“Hey, where are you going?” Candid called out.

“Yak go fix this mess,” Droll answered back without turning his head.

The orange non-pony scoffed. “Yeah goodluck finding her again. I’ve got my own business to attend to!”

Candid shifted uncomfortably, still thinking of his own comment, but he decided that the situation was over and done with to fix it. Regardless, he set out to find someone who maybe could understand Thauma more than he could.

Candid knocked on the door to the abode.

“Hey!” he called through the door. “Are you awake?”

“Candid, it’s 4 in the afternoon,” the female voice called back. “Why would I still be asleep?”

“Oh, right,” the griffon muttered as he waited outside the door while the sound of steps got closer.

Finally the door opened and the white dragon with red streaks on her stomach stood in the way. “Need something?”

“Yes.” Candid opened his mouth to continue but noticed the different colorful bits scattered over Opul’s face. “You . . . you got a little . . .”

Opul’s eyes widened as her mouth cupped into an O, and instantly, she turned away to wipe the gem bits off her face. When she returned her gaze, her cheeks were glowing almost as red as her scars, causing Candid to lightly smile at the pretty sight for a brief moment before he quickly hid his expression.

The dragon cleared her throat awkwardly. “What, um, was it that you needed?”

“Well-.”

“Did you want to come in?”

Candid raised his eyebrows. “Oh, well, not really-.”

The white non-pony slouched in disappointment, causing Candid to finish his statement in a fast paced manner.

“But I will.” Candid gave a forced smile as he walked passed Opul into the clutter of garbage that she called a home. He looked around for a place to sit before ultimately deciding against it to continue standing on his back paws.

From the other side of the room, Opul closed the door and turned back to her friend. “So what brings you to the Dragon Castle today?”

“Dragon Castle?”

“Just forget it. I’m sorry.”

Candid shifted. “Well, there’s this pony named Thauma that I just met and she apparently was the one who got Droll and me off the hook back at the tavern last week.”

“Wait, you met someone new?” Opul asked for clarification.

“Well, sort of. She’s got a sweet voice and there’s just something about her I like.”

“Oh . . .”

The griffon lifted his clawless talons up, trying to grasp at the right words. “I’m not saying I like her. Don’t get that impression. But when I went to find her again, Droll was there trying to kill her.”

Opul’s concerned eyes blinked for a moment, but she continued her silence to hear Candid out.

“When I tried to offer my help, she ran away from both of us and Droll told me he was going after her again.”

The dragon raised a claw up in thought. “So, are you asking me for relationship advice?”

“No,” Candid firmly said before thinking to make sure it was the truth. “No.”

“Good, because the last time I went out with someone, he tried to kill me.”

“Oh yeah, whatever happened to him anyway?”

Opul took a deep breath, trying to rid her frustrations. “Oh, you know, what always happens to ponies who do wrong stuff. Guards came over, told him not to do it again, and he's back at his tavern. Probably should watch out for this one you're talking about too.”

“I don't think this pony is in the same situation as yours was. She seems much different.”

“So you’re going to go to her and try to save her from Droll? Or are you hoping that she chooses you instead of him?”

Candid chose his words carefully, not wanting to tell Opul anything other than the truth. “At this point, Opul, I don’t know. But I think that one way to figure out for sure is to go to her.”

“So you are hoping she chooses you then." The dragon briefly looked at the ground, momentarily focusing at the trash surrounding her.

“Well, I don’t know," the griffon finally continued. "Maybe.”

Opul made inaudible stumbles.

“What was that?”

“Well, um,” Opul stuttered. “Maybe it’s good to keep your options open.”

Candid lowered his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you know, you barely know this creature. Who knows? She could be some sort of witch. I mean, maybe you should - I don’t know - choose someone you already know well . . .”

“Well, I barely know anyone here besides you.”

Opul hid her face slightly, but Candid continued in a more aggressive tone.

“Look, I came over here to see if you can help me figure out the best way to go about Thauma.”

“Th-? Oh, that’s the pony, isn’t it?” Opul shifted, unable to maintain eye contact. “Well, do you know anything about her?”

“Not much yet. She’s a maroon unicorn who-.”

“You like a unicorn?”

“Well, yeah, I know how you’ll react, but I can look passed that. There’s just something about her that reminds me of something I like.”

Opul cleared her mind before getting lost in thought to the solution. “Well, do you even know how old she is?”

“No,I-. Oh wait, yes. She told me she was fourteen years old, like you.”

Opul’s eyes widened. “Fourteen? Oh, that’s . . . that’s a good age.”

Candid couldn’t tell why Opul was smiling as if she was lucky enough to win the Community Lottery, but he inevitably decided to disregard it to get back to his own problem. “Do you have any advice?”

“Yeah, give up.”

Candid was taken aback. “What? How can you tell me to just give up?”

“Because, you don’t even know who she is and you’re already trying to date her.” Opul got closer to her friend in hopes that Candid would better understand. “I’m not saying that she is bad news, but without you knowing anything about her, she could be trouble. Maybe you can hang out with her or something, but don’t try to be trapped with her yet. It isn’t the right choice.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. When was the last time you’ve ever been in good company? You’ve barely known anyone your whole life.”

Immediately after the words left Candid’s mouth, he felt remorseful. The shocked expression on Opul’s face didn’t make him feel any better, and immediately, he tried to fix his mistake before it was too late like last time.

“Opul, I don't know why I said that. I just got too carried away.”

Opul sighed in sadness. “It’s okay. You were just being honest.”

Although it didn’t seem like Opul was angry at him, it didn’t stop Candid’s negative feeling. Finally, Opul spoke up again.

“But here’s something else to consider, Candid. Droll also likes this Thauma character. And he just lost someone that he was closer to than you or me.”

The griffon closed his eye and sighed in guilt before Opul continued.

“Are you sure you want to be fighting with your best friend over someone you’re not even sure is worth it?”

Candid pondered the thought for a moment. “Yeah, you’re right. I shouldn’t be doing this. I also offended Droll and I think he’s still angry at me. I’m going to go find him and make things right.”

Without saying another word, the orange non-pony marched out of the house, set out on a mission that he was obligated to complete.

Opul sighed alone. “That stubborn griffon is going to go after her again.”

The griffon scanned the streets of the community, looking for his friend. He had already hurt everyone who was close to him that day, and he could not stand to leave it like that. His insensitivity was to come to an end right there, and he just needed to fix the harm he already had done.

He turned a corner to see just a swamp of creatures all walking to and from places, not minding anyone. It was getting hopeless for Candid before he decided his best course of action was to get an aerial view. He spread his wings but stopped himself, looking around to see if his dragon friend was there. He had only flown once in front of her ever since the incident and that was because he was forced to do so, but if he could help it, he wouldn’t let her see something that she could never join in on again. After checking that the coast was clear, he finally pushed off the ground, zooming into the sky at full speed to get to his place in the air just above some of the tall buildings.

Candid’s eye searched the community, but he was not catching any sight of anyone. Just as he was about to call it quits, a firework of sorts zoomed right passed him, causing the griffon to flinch and burst out of the way just a bit of distance where he had almost been turned into a turkey. When his eye focused back at the ground, he saw where it had come from, and he flew down at a gradual speed to get closer to the two creatures who were laughing at him.

When the orange non-pony landed on the ground directly in front of his end goal, he frowned at his friend who had just made him the flank of a joke. “Droll! What were you thinking!”

Droll sighed as he gave Thauma a sort of contraption that she placed back into her strap-bag.

“Oh don’t worry,” the pony said, giggling. “Those are harmless. I made sure to pick only the visually appealing things of my inventory and, well, Droll saw you in the sky and thought it would be funny.”

Candid looked at his friend as if he were a traitor. “This was your idea? To scare the daylights out of me?”

Droll nodded as if trying to be confident in himself. “Yeah, but Thauma say no danger. Yak no turn Candid into rotisserie-griffon.”

Thauma giggled. “You are hilarious, Droll.”

The brown non-pony blushed at the kind words. “Yak try to be.”

Candid’s face was turning red in a mix of blushing and anger. “Thauma, you can’t be serious. With someone as immature as Droll, you can’t trust him with something like that.”

Droll frowned before chiming in. “Candid no know how to have fun.”

The smile that Droll gave to the unicorn was enough to make Candid desperate, so the griffon grabbed whatever was at his disposal to help him through the situation.

“Well, Droll has a sharp horn that might hurt you.”

The yak lowered his eyebrows as if trying to understand something. “How griffon know of that?”

“Droll, your horn is way too shiny for creatures not to notice. But, Thauma, I don’t have anything that can hurt you. If you look at my talons, I lost my claws long ago. You’ll be safe with me.”

Without even a second of silence, Droll gave his own thoughts. “Griffon has eyepatch. Pony grossed out. No choose him.”

“Even with one eye, I can see more than you!”

“Who’s that?” Thauma asked in a mesmerized tone, causing Droll and Candid to look behind them at a spectator.

Candid scoffed. “Opul, I thought you were going to let me handle this.”

“Yes, but I know you two can never seem to stay out of trouble.” The white non-pony crossed her arms. “Now look at you two. I knew this was a bad idea.”

Droll stepped forward. “Only bad idea is pony choosing Candid.”

“No, all the bad ideas happen when you open your mouth, Droll!”

“At least yak actually try do new things!”

“At least I can actually speak in full sentences!”

Without any more words spoken, Droll stampeded toward Candid, baring his original horn at him. As if Candid had prepared for this, he sidestepped the yak, trying to gain an advantage on him. Droll was still more coordinated, and he backed up as Candid tried to push him away with his entire force. With nothing to push against, the griffon’s lost balance made him flop on the ground, resulting in an easy target for Droll to lunge at. Before Droll could stomp over him, Candid rolled on the ground and tripped the yak, leaving the two to continue their scuffle on the dirt. As Droll tried to press his original horn against Candid’s shoulder, the griffon grabbed his real horn to keep his head away. The more Droll tried forcing his head closer, the more force that Candid was pushing back on, resulting in neither one of the two gaining any ground over the other. The two would’ve continued to fight had it not been for the sounds of hoofsteps marching right on by.

Immediately, both the yak and the griffon were torn from their fight due to their own curiosity regarding the pony they were fighting over. Without moving or making a noise, they watched as Thauma walked slowly over to Opul. The dragon shifted uncomfortably, looking around to see if she was approaching anyone else besides her. Finally, Thauma stopped right in front of the white non-pony, a smirk spreading across her face.

“Hey,” she said in a gentle, yet confident voice.

“Hey . . .” Opul said back.

“What might your name be?”

“Um, you want to know who I am?”

Thauma nodded in delight, causing the dragon to grit her teeth uncomfortably.

“Um, my name’s Opul . . .”

“Nice to meet you, Opul. My name is Thauma.”

“I’m aware.”

The maroon pony giggled before continuing in her own version of a trance. “How would you like to hang out with me one of these days?”

Opul’s eyes widened at what she thought the pony was asking. “What do you mean by ‘hang out’?

“Oh you know; like a date.”

By this time, Candid couldn’t tell whose mouth was wider: his, Droll’s, or Opul’s. Regardless, the expression on Candid face was that of someone losing two things when he should’ve only lost one. From in front of Thauma, Opul’s eyes snaked passed her to focus on Candid for a brief moment, but within a couple of seconds, she returned her full attention to the pony with a big smile.

“Yes, of course. I’d love to.”

“Yay. I’d like to know more about you, Opul.”

“Oh trust me, I’d like to know more too.”

“Like, where does the name ‘Opul’ come from?”

The two began walking away from the non-ponies who were still on the ground. Before the dragon and the pony were a far distance away, Opul turned one last time to see how Candid was reacting but then returned her attention back to Thauma before the two vanished into a crowd of ponies.

Both Droll and Candid sat up on the ground, staring at the crowd where the two creatures once were.

“What happen?” Droll asked.

Candid wasn’t even in the mood for putting anyone down anymore, but in a flash, his original intent for going to see his friend came back to him. “Droll, I came here not for Thauma but for you.”

Droll lowered his eyebrows in confusion before Candid continued.

“I honestly feel terrible about what I said to you before you stormed off. And to make things worse, we got carried away with someone who we didn’t have a chance to begin with.”

Droll’s expression began to soften. “Whole situation just stupid.”

“You got that right,” Candid chuckled before his expression became more emotional. “I’m sorry, Droll.”

“Yak sorry too. Droll try use soft horn. Yak no want to hurt friend.”

“I appreciate that. What do you say? Can we just forget about this pony?”

Droll was nodding his head slightly before his expression became darker. “Yak would like to.”

Candid got up off the ground before holding out his talon to help Droll up too.

“Now let’s go get cleaned up.”

Cold

Author's Note

Many apologies for the tardiness of this chapter. I'm sure it seemed like I dropped off the face of the planet, but I'll be back uploading each of the episodes until the 26-episode finale. Many thanks if you've checked this series out because it only gets better the more you read.

Episode 8: A Daring Feat

Candid marched down the streets, heading straight for town hall. He was traveling at a brisk pace, but Opul was soon to accompany him in a hurried manner while out of breath.

“Aren’t you-,” she huffed, “-going to the town hall meeting?”

The griffon just looked over at his friend nonchalantly, as if the stakes weren’t as high as they were. “Yeah, I’m heading over.”

The dragon gave a frustrated look of desperation as she tried to convey a series of messages only with her eyes. Instead of her being the one making sounds, the noises came from the yak who was just beginning to catch up behind them.

“Dragon and griffon hurry!” Droll yelled from down the street as he stampeded through the road. “Friends cannot be late!”

Candid crossed his arms. “If Radiance doesn’t want us going to any community events, why do we still have to go to these boring conferences?”

Opul’s breath had calmed down. “These are informative meetings. They’re different. It’s news for every creature here, and if we’re late or give Radiance any reason to not like us-.”

Before she could finish, Droll zoomed passed her, spinning her around several times as she struggled to keep her balance. From in front of the two non-ponies, Droll yelled back for them to hurry.

Candid sighed. “Fine, if it keeps his last-minute panic-attacks under control.”

The griffon reached a talon down to his friend to help her back up to a stance. Without making much eye contact, the two took off following their friend.

“So I bet you are all wondering what the community news is,” Radiance spoke up from the center of the room, Nightfall accompanying him on his right side. “Well, it is very important news that will be changing the way this small city functions.”

The three non-ponies were just entering through the doorway, appearing to be lost in a sea of creatures. As the griffon marched through, he couldn’t help but notice the long silence from the speaker, causing him to look back up at the stage to see what had happened. In glaring hazel eyes, Radiance scowled at the three from his place in the center of the oversized building. Although Candid and his friends were just three of countless other creatures, the golden stallion appeared to pick them out just easily from the crowd, regarding them as all of the evil in Equestria.

Finally, the new leader continued. “As you all have been used to, this community has been kept secret from the rest of Equestria since it was initially established six years ago. The belief of the past emperor was that this location would be kept safe from any lasting threats, but consequentially, this town was also restricted from being updated on the rest of Equestrian events. For example, with the emperor still in power, we never would have learned that Lord Tirek was no longer a threat and that we wouldn’t still have to live in fear. But it shouldn’t end there. Days ago, I sent out trustworthy guards to acquire nationwide Equestrian news as well as anything new that has been put out into Equestria. All of the libraries have been freshly updated with any form of literature to find, and we will continue updating everyone here with what’s happening in the outside world of Equestria.”

Nightfall stepped forward, speaking in a firm voice as if it didn’t matter who heard her anymore. “With that being said, we will still not be revealing ourselves to the rest of Equestria. Although the previous emperor’s methods were far from perfect, he was smart to keep us all hidden to protect us from any threats that Equestria might face.”

Candid was barely paying attention as he had his staring contest with Radiance from all the way across the town hall. The stallion just wouldn’t let up, but the griffon refused to back down, causing the orange non-pony to try his best to peer into the soul of his aggressor, using his eyes as the gateway.

The dark-colored mare regarded her spouse in a mix of judgmental confusion and disgusted frustration. Inevitably, she finished her portion of the news. “If Equestria comes under another pandemic, everyone will hear about it here, but nopony will know of our whereabouts or even our existence. News may come into the community but may not exit. Having said that, we hope you enjoy your new inventory of information.”

Radiance and Nightfall nodded to their audience as a lone navy-blue stallion hopped up and down from below the stage, trying to get their attention. By the time the leaders saw him, the lead stallion sighed before nodding his head, causing the pony on the main level to jump up in felicity before pulling a lever that stuck out from the stage. Immediately as the lever reached the end of its path, a jumbo sized poster fell down from the top of the town hall to hang in its straight white cloth. On the poster, a tannish orange pegasus with a gray and black mane covered by a hat stood proudly in front of a sunset, as if she had just outsmarted a couple of enemies and was victorious. On the top, in golden bright letters, the words “come buy the new book Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone” were sprawled out. From the floor, the navy-blue stallion was hopping excitedly, but Sunflower huffed in annoyance as Nightfall rolled her eyes.

Finally, Nightfall stepped forward. “That concludes the community news.”

The griffon was thankful that he didn’t have to spend another unnecessary amount of time after the community news finished like he did last time. As he exited the town hall, Opul caught up next to him.

“So what do you think about that new story?” she asked innocently.

“Who cares about it?” the griffon said.

“Well, it’s something new. It could be interesting. Want me to pick it up for you?”

“No, it looks boring. I doubt that book will sell anywhere around here.”

Opul slouched. “At least help the poor stallion out. He looked so excited to show off how he got access to it. Maybe you can go down to the bookstore and help him out.”

“No.”

“Please?”

“Why is this so important to you?”

The dragon hung her head down. “I thought it looked pretty interesting and wanted to know if you’d read it with me.”

Candid backed up in an uncomfortable manner, stuttering uncontrollably. “Ugh, don’t you have Thauma to read with you?”

The dragon shifted uncomfortably. “Well, she’s too busy with her spells and breweries. She’s an inventor, you know? She’s trying to make up new potions to add something to the world."

"Whatever," he grunted back. "She can do all she wants and it won't change a thing about this pathetic place."

The dragon huffed. "I wouldn't know about that. See for yourself if you're a non-believer. She’s got a cottage at the far end of the community, opposite side of the palace.”

“I don’t want to hear about her. If you want someone to read it with, you go to Thauma. You seemed very comfortable with her last time.”

Opul frowned before putting on a subtle smirk. “Yeah, you’re right. Thauma does seem like better company than you at the moment. Thanks for the advice.”

As soon the white non-pony began to march away, Candid wanted to stop her, but upon realizing that he wouldn’t have anything to justify his actions, he decided to stay quiet. Rather than make things worse for himself, he focused his attention on how to make it better, and he instantly came up with the solution of actually buying the book. Without wasting anymore time, he redirected his path to the community bookstore.

After only minutes of traveling, Candid walked through the front door to the building, hearing the sound of a jingle as he marched through. The first thing he noticed was the blue stallion’s face popping up from resting on the counter.

The pony beamed. “Hello! Are you here to pick up the new Daring Do book?”

Candid rolled his eye. “Yeah, I guess.”

The stallion shrugged his shoulders in excitement. “My first customer!”

The griffon backed up at the loudness before asking for clarification. “First?”

After receiving an excited nod from the bookstore owner, Candid asked his follow-up question. “How long have you been trying to sell this story? An hour?”

“Well no. I was one of the trustworthy ponies that Radiance sent out into Equestria a week and a half ago, and I came back a day later with the current Daring Do book collection to sell. I put it on sale immediately when I came back here the following day, and I was able to talk Radiance into getting it advertised at the meeting today.”

Candid’s gears in his brain clicked. “Wait, so I’m your first customer and you started trying to sell this book about ten days ago?”

The pony shifted uncomfortably as he tried to choose his words correctly. “Well, all good things start out slow. I’m sure this will take off when you become my first cus-.”

“Actually,” Candid interrupted. “On second thought, I don’t want the book.”

“But you don’t know how awesome Daring Do is.”

“Don’t need to. She sounds lame, and I’m uninterested.”

“But you’ll never know what you’re missing until you try it,” the pony called out to the receding griffon.

“Thanks for your time,” he said as he exited the store.

Candid walked down the community street, shaking his head from the thought that he almost got swindled. He couldn’t believe that the stallion thought creatures would purchase the books. Surprisingly, he wasn’t alone.

“Candid.”

The griffon jumped into the air from being startled by the voice until he turned to see the yak who had somehow gotten to him without him knowing.

“Ugh, Droll!” he scolded. “You’re not the sneaky one. I’m the sneaky one!”

The brown non-pony looked away with a mischievous smirk. “Maybe griffon lose his crown.”

The griffon crossed his arms, causing the yak to snicker before a thought appeared on his face.

“What griffon think of new book?”

Candid snarled. “It’s a waste of bits. I don’t think anyone’s going to go and buy it.”

The yak looked back at the direction his friend had come. "Droll did see pegasus go to bookstore. Possible purchase."

Candid tensed at the word Droll had said and couldn't help but mutter it. "Pegasus . . .

The brown non-pony looked down at his friend. "Griffon still worried about that?"

Candid grumbled. "What's it to you?"

"Pegasus memory scare yak too. Not as bad like unicorns but still bad. Droll worry if book violent, creatures copy it. Draw ideas.”

“No, that’s stupid.” Candid pretended to disregard the thought, but he secretly had the same suspicion. He knew just how dangerous a single creature could be, and it bothered him to think that a list of ideas could be published.

The griffon shook off the thought. “Relax. I’m sure nothing bad’s gonna-.”

Candid’s thoughts were cut off as a mare ran in between the two friends, screaming in fear. Instantly, both of the non-ponies turned to the direction the pony came from to see several more citizens running in fear.

“What hay?” Droll asked.

“I don’t know, but let’s go check it out.” Candid began running towards the direction of apparent danger, but Droll stood still.

“Griffon serious?”

“Oh come on, Droll. Nothing ever happens around here.”

“Candid stopped hydra attack.”

“That was like two weeks ago. Come on, I’m bored.”

The yak rolled his eyes before joining the griffon down the streets, following the path of havoc to lead them to their destination. It wasn’t long before the two came up on the scene: a store with a broken window, an alarm blaring, and a mare curled up in a fetal position.

“What the hay happened?” Candid asked as he walked up to the poor pony.

“It-it was so fast,” the pony stumbled. “I didn’t even see it come in, but it made its exit.”

“What it?” Droll asked.

“The creature that robbed my store. It looked like a pegasus, but I couldn’t be sure. It came out of the fitting room in some sort of green vest, and it looked like it was wearing some sort of hat.”

“What color creature?”

“Like, brown or light orange. I couldn’t tell; it all happened very fast. I did see some black hair or something.”

“You mean like that pegasus on that poster from the town hall meeting?” Candid asked carefully, not wanting to know the answer.

“Yes!” the mare’s eyes widened. “It looked exactly like her!”

Candid turned to his friend, his eyelids half shut. “So we’ve got the real deal causing trouble?”

The pony looked up from the floor. “Are you two going to get my stuff back?”

“Oh, Celestia no. We don’t work for the community and hopefully never will.”

“What?” the mare asked in frustration before her attention was diverted at a pile of armed ponies shuffling through the streets towards her. “Oh thank Celestia!”

“What’s the problem?” the lead pony asked.

“My place was robbed by some creature that looked like the one from the poster earlier today.”

“Okay, explain to me in detail exactly what happened.”

Candid nudged Droll. “Come on, let’s go.”

Before the two could walk off, another pony halted them. “Hold on, you two are witnesses. You cannot leave yet.”

“‘Can’t leave’ my tail,” the griffon began. “There’s nothing binding me here.”

“You’re one of the only creatures at the moment who has seen more than us. We need to hold you for questioning so we can get to the bottom of this.”

“Crime happens all the time , and I’ll be darned if I’m going to do your job for you.”

As the griffon turned to leave, a clicking sound rang in his ears as he felt something cold on one arm. When he dropped his head down to see what it was, he was just in time to see his second arm getting cuffed, restricting the movement of his talons to a couple of inches.

“Hey, what the hay!” he yelled.

“I’m sorry, griffon, but we need to hear all that you know. What about you, yak? You need to be persuaded too?”

“No-no-no-no-no-no-no,” Droll said in rapid succession. “Yak tell pony everything.”

The pony led the two to the side of the building where the mare was still being held for questioning. As the two non-ponies sat, Droll began telling the stallion everything he thought was suspicious.

The more the yak continued, the further the pony's eyes narrowed. Finally he turned to the griffon. “Can you translate?”

Candid sighed as he rolled his eye. “He saw a pegasus buy a book. There. You happy?”

“I will be once you’ve told me everything you know.”

“I don’t know anything! I just walked up here and saw that mare scared, okay?”

“Not talking, huh?” The stallion turned to Droll. “Yak, you’re free to go.”

The brown non-pony smiled before running off, not letting the pony get a second chance to change his mind. Candid watched as his friend marched off, his frown getting more and more prominent the further his friend got in the distance.

“Now,” the pony began. “You can go too once you’ve told me what I need to know.”

“I told you,” Candid stood up, holding his cuffed arms in front of him. “I don’t know anything!”

“Then you’ll stay here until this crime is solved.”

From the other side of the building, another pony called over. “Uh, sergeant. We're getting reports of another crime.”

“Send in another team.”

“It just got radioed in and it’s right next door. Nopony will make it in time. We’re the closest ones.”

The pony sighed before turning to Candid. “Fine, but you’re coming with us.”

Candid scoffed as he got up to follow the group of four ponies who began marching down the streets.

“Now what do you think the perp is doing at the Community Museum?” one of the ponies asked.

“Probably nothing good,” the sergeant answered. “I just notified General Radiance to drop what he is doing to come to the museum immediately. He needs to be here to enforce his authority.”

The five continued traveling through the streets, passing different occupations before arriving at a three-story building, its windows broken in.

The lead pony turned to his crew. “Okay, two of you come with me. The other, stay here and try to get some answers out of this non-pony.”

As if coordinated, three of the ponies marched into the building as one stayed outside to interrogate the griffon.

Candid sighed. “What's it going to take for you to let me go?”

“A confession. Now with you being quiet about this, we are all starting to believe that you are an accomplice through all of this.”

“Listen! I’m not a liar! I give everyone the truth whenever they ask me or not. Creatures who can just sit down and not give anyone the facts, they make me sick! Trust is something so delicate and it should never be risked. I just want to go home and if I actually knew something that pertained to this boring waste of time, believe me, I would tell you. But I don’t, so will you please just let me go?”

The pony huffed, seemingly considering it for a moment until he heard two sets of hoofsteps arriving onto the scene. As soon as he turned his head to the source of the sound, his face lit up before he turned back to the prisoner. “Tell it to the general.”

“What am I here for?” an older male voice asked.

“General Radiance, we believe the criminal is here right now, and we need you to help out with the case.”

“Well have you found the criminal?”

“No, sir, but we’re closing in on her.”

“There’s no sign of the perpetrator here!” a voice called from inside the building.

Radiance huffed. “Then there was no reason to call me over on such an urgent schedule! I had family matters to attend to.”

Candid regarded the leader in an absence of fear, but as soon as his eye focused on the red rose in the stallion’s hoof, he was curious. “What’s that for?”

The golden pony regarded the griffon in great disgust. Instead of giving him a snarky answer, he just pulled the rose closer to himself, as if the answer wasn’t for him.

Candid turned away and scoffed. It was most likely for Nightfall or something. He didn’t care either way about whoever that stupid rose was for. He was comforted in the conclusion that it was for the stallion’s spouse until the other pony showed up.

Nightfall walked right next to Radiance and eyed the rose, trying to keep a face of neutrality. “Are we going now?”

Radiance regarded the rose in great sadness, as if it were someone he once loved but still had strong feelings for. “Yes.”

As the two leaders walked away, Candid’s jaw dropped. He was angry at his insensitive thoughts, but there was nothing he could do to fix it. Before he could continue to feel guilty, the sound of the sergeant on the radio came out.

“We believe Criminal has left the premises. Squad is coming out where we shall transport Suspect to the station where he’ll spend the night if he has to.”

Candid groaned loudly at the situation, letting his head tilt up to the sky as he vented his frustration. While trying to focus on nothing in particular, his eye caught on two eyes that were staring back at him through a window on the upper floor. As the griffon strained, he could see a gray and black mane for a split-second before the face disappeared into the building.

“Hey, hey!” Candid yelled to the pony who was waiting. “Did you see that?”

“Settle down, griffon. I don’t want any of your tricks.”

“No tricks! The pony is up on the second floor!”

The pony pulled out a random item from his toolbelt to entertain him, causing the orange non-pony to grit his teeth so tightly that it became painful.

“I’m not spending the night at a station when this entire case can be finished right now!”

Without saying anymore words, Candid spread his orange wings into the air, launching himself off the ground as the feathers sliced through the wind and carried him to the second floor.

From the ground, the pony called up. “Hey! Get back here now!”

Without acknowledging any of the higher-up’s demands, Candid disappeared into the open window of the second floor, searching for anything he could use to make the case even shorter.

He traveled through the dark hallways, sneaking through as best he could. He wasn’t the best at espionage with only one eye, but somehow, he knew he could regain anything he lost simply by adapting to his new self. He strained his eye in the shadows, trying to see through the lightless hall, but it was too dark for him. With the inability for his eye to adapt to the darkness fast enough, he closed it to listen carefully. Besides the sounds of the three ponies rushing around to find the escaped prisoner, he could only hear silence, until he heard a fourth sound of shuffling hoofsteps on the same level he was.

Instantly, the griffon grasped onto the sound that was different from the rest, and he used his ears to guide him through the darkness, only stumbling over a small amount of objects in the hall. He turned a corner where the hoofsteps got louder until the sound of a dozen vials hit the floor, bouncing off and creating a loud enough noise to get an exact position.

Without wasting any time, Candid flew through the darkness of the hall, touching the wall with his talon to figure out when the next turn was. When he got to it, light began to illuminate his path again, and he saw a figure enter through a different room. Through Candid’s attempt to not lose the trace, he could feel his heart beginning to pick up in pace, but he pursued the criminal as efficiently as he could manage, entering through the doorway only a couple of seconds after the figure.

“Stop!” he yelled, and to his surprise, the silhouette he had seen was now in the light on the other end of the hallway.

In front of him was the sight of a tannish-brown pegasus with a golden vest and white hat that stood on top of a gray and black mane. Candid was speechless except for one question of clarification.

“Daring Do?”

The question caused the pony to smile, but before Candid could move, he could hear the sound of the four ponies rushing up the stairs to his room, causing the griffon to look to the source of the sound behind him. As he tried to think of his next move, the sound of a vial hitting the floor brought Candid’s attention back to the criminal, except the pony was not in sight. With a shaky breath, the griffon rushed over to the open window but saw no sign of the creature that caused Candid’s horrible day.

“Ah horse-apples. Where did he go?”

Before the orange non-pony could also make his escape, he noticed the empty vial on the ground. On the glass surface, he could see the logo of a potion that looked exactly like the cutiemark of that maroon pony he had met the week prior. Instantly, he remembered Opul’s words, talking about Thauma’s breweries and he remembered the cottage that was on the opposite side of the community.

“I know where he’s going.”

The ponies finally bursted into the room with their weapons drawn, but the griffon was already out of the window, heading to finish this case.

Thanks to the massive speed of the griffon, he was able to make it across the community in a flash. He scanned the buildings in a hurry, before he began following the walls. When Candid looked over at the grand palace that stood against one side of the walls, he scanned the section that was on the direct opposite, finding the small cottage that was pressed up in one of the corners. With his time limited, he rushed down to the door and knocked ferociously.

In a matter of seconds, the sweet sound of the unicorn rang from inside as the door opened up. “What can I-. Candid?”

“Thauma, listen. There’s not much time to explain, but you need to keep your belongings safe.”

“Why, what’s going on?”

“There’s a masked criminal that’s going to try and steal from you.”

“What?! My potions are extremely dangerous. They’re not to fall into the wrong hooves.”

That statement did not make Candid feel any safer. “Tell Opul to get to safety.”

“Oh, Opul’s not here. I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“I thought she was going to read with you.”

“No, but if she planned to, she hasn’t shown up yet.”

Despite the nerve-wrecking situation he was in, a great relief was put over the griffon when he heard this. He moved his arms, but they were still restricted by the cuffs. “Do you have something for this?”

Thauma nodded before retrieving a vial from the counter and dropping a bit on the chain that connected the cuffs, breaking the two apart instantly and freeing the griffon.

Candid rubbed his arms. Although the cuffs were still individually below his talons, he could move freely. “Thanks. Now we need to hurry. Everything will be okay if you just make sure that-.”

The sound of a window breaking from another room caused the griffon to tense up again. “Go to your belongings! Make sure nothing happens to them.”

“What will you do?”

Candid took a deep breath. ”I’m going to stop him.”

Without waiting for Thauma to go first, Candid rushed to the room where he heard the window break. He tried to listen out for movement, but the sound of his shaky breath filled his ears, causing him to be the one to have the disadvantage.

“Why are you here?” Candid asked. “Why would Daring Do need to do any of this?”

“Maybe if you read the book, you’d understand,” a voice whispered back.

From behind a sofa, the brown pegasus emerged, flying towards the doorway at full speed. Before the pony could make it, he was cut off short by the griffon tackling the equine out of the air.

Candid was shocked at how sturdy the body was, but he couldn’t let that stop him from his mission. The two were on the ground, and Candid was the first to get up, but before he could get any lucky hits on the pony, the pegasus jumped up in the air to swing at Candid, hitting him across the jaw with a powerful punch and knocking the griffon to the floor. As the pony got up to stomp on him, Candid rolled to the side, letting the hoof hit against the floor with a thud and allowing for Candid to roll his legs around and knock the pony on the floor. Candid took the opportunity to climb over the equine to subdue the aggressor, but as if Candid was a blanket, he was casually thrown off.

The Daring Do pony rushed onto Candid before pinning him down onto the floor. “Creatures like you are the problem with Equestria! Always judging books by their covers and never giving them a chance.”

The pony's voice sounded male, but Candid had no time to reflect on that observation as the creature slapped the griffon across the face, salivating slightly. With drool forming at the pony’s lips, a hoof went up to wipe the brown face, leaving behind a blue streak in the path the hoof was just at, shocking the griffon to his core.

The pony glared down at the griffon below him, putting an arm to his neck. “You never give Daring Do a chance!”

“But you’re not Daring Do!”

The pony huffed. “No, I’m not. And there’s no reason to hide this anymore.”

As the pony pinned down the griffon with one arm, the other arm was used to wipe the face of the attacker, wiping away all the brown makeup and leaving behind a purely navy-blue pigment.

“Surprise?” he asked.

Candid regarded the stallion in horror. “You’re that pony from the bookstore.”

“I have a name-.”

“I don’t care. All I'll know you by is criminal!”

The stallion tightened his grip on the griffon’s neck below him. “I’m just trying to raise interest in the new series. Ponies need to see how cool Daring Do can be. Then, they’ll want to read about her. I’ll be able to share the amazing works of A.K. Yearling throughout the community. She deserves to be appreciated here.” The stallion glared down at the griffon who knew his identity. “And I’m not going to sell my books from the community dungeon.”

The pony tightened his grip on the griffon’s throat, glaring into his lone eye before a baton flew through the air and hit the side of the stallion’s head. Instantly, Candid felt a release of his throat as he coughed for air. From the broken window, several ponies flooded in, gripping the dazed pony and putting cuffs on the hooves.

From outside the cottage, the sergeant stepped in. “We heard everything, griffon. You’re free to go.”

Candid was gasping for air, but he wasted no time in flying through the rooms, calling out for Thauma’s name.

“I’m in here,” the tender voice called from a room.

Candid rushed over, still coughing from his asphyxiation, but he managed to get to the room as the unicorn opened the door.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Some pony who thought he could sell more copies of books if creatures saw Daring Do in action.”

“You sound awful. Is your throat okay?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Who won that fight.”

“I . . . No, I lost. I’m terrible at fighting. I can’t defend myself, and I need to change that.”

Thauma chuckled. “Well it’s good to know that you’re fighting someone bad and not your best friend.”

Candid cringed at the memory and realized that the last time Thauma saw him, he came across as a total fool. “Thauma, I acted like an idiot last time you saw me.”

Thauma gave a soft smile. “It’s okay. We can still be friends. Just don't go on fighting me, you hear?”

Candid and Thauma smiled at eachother before Thauma continued.

“I hope Opul doesn’t think that we’ll be weird around eachother.”

Instantly, Candid’s eye widened. “Oh no. Opul. I offended her last time I saw her. I-I need to go.”

Thauma nodded. “Thank you for saving my inventory, Candid.”

The griffon didn’t reply as he made his way out, but he smiled to himself at the gratitude before finishing his final task.

The griffon knocked his clawless talons onto the door and waited patiently for his friend to open up. Within a couple seconds, the door opened to reveal an unamused dragon.

“What is it?” Opul asked.

Candid smiled softly. “Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to read the first installment of the Daring Do series.”

The griffon pulled out a fresh, brand new copy of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone, causing the dragon’s eyes to light up as well as a single wing to extend from behind her.

“You actually got it!” Opul exclaimed in astonishment.

Candid nodded. “I was lucky to get it too. There was now a longer line than earlier. There were tons of creatures all wanting to read it after what happened with the Daring Do cosplayer. He got a month in the community dungeon, but the bookstore was left with another employee to sell me the book.”

“So the bookstore owner was the one causing havoc everywhere? I didn’t even know his name.”

“I don’t think anyone cares to be honest.”

Opul chortled before putting on a look of deep thought. "The bookstore owner: he was the one we saw at the community meeting this morning."

"Yeah, it's crazy."

"But you didn't recognize him?"

For a moment, the griffon was stunned. "Well he was covered head to hoof in makeup."

"Still." Opul was looking at the wall as if trying to think. "It doesn't do that good of a job to cause someone to look as different as you saw. Are you sure it was makeup?"

The dark orange non-pony thought long and hard about it. "Well, he seemed to have been dealing with some of Thauma's breweries, but I honestly don't know."

"Whatever is was, I'm glad you're okay," she said smiling up at her friend. “So what are you going to do now?”

The griffon smiled softly. “Well, I was hoping to ask you if you maybe wanted to . . . read this book with me.” Immediately after the words left his mouth, he tried to justify himself. “I mean, I read the back and thought it was hilarious and I wanted to see your reaction to how this goes.”

Candid shifted uncomfortably, but Opul giggled in delight before taking the book from her friend’s talons and traveling across the room. Candid closed the door behind him before following his friend as she sat down in a corner and gestured for the orange non-pony to come sit with her. The griffon traveled over with an expressionless face, but he was loving every second of this.

“I’m sure this book isn’t going to be good at all,” Opul said in a playful voice.

“Only one way to find out,” Candid said with a smile.

In an excited manner, Opul opened up the book to start reading as Candid scooched in closer to her to get a good view of the book as well. Within moments, they were lost in the wonder of the story.

Cold

Episode 9: A Rare Pair

Opul’s eyes were opened at the sound of the large crash. It was still dark in her room and she was still expecting to need just a little bit more sleep, but through her curiosity, she rose to a stance.

She peeked through the white bars of her crib. They blocked her on all four sides like her own little prison, but she was determined to get out. She knew that if something dangerous was happening, she would have to do anything she could, but she didn’t have any experience at all with thinking for herself. She couldn’t blame anyone for that though; she wasn’t ready to do that yet.

Opul reached her claw through the tiny openings between the white beams that held her back. She was reaching for a miniature stick that she recognized as a tool typically used to discipline her on occasions when she was bad. Normally, she would recoil at the mere sight of the stick, but she was determined to use it to aid her in her escape by using it as a stepping stool. By the time she reached it, the slightest touch knocked it off the dresser it was resting on, eliminating that as an option.

The dragon sat back and huffed with her arms crossed. She was only slightly tired, but she believed herself to be awake enough to face the day.

Opul looked around in an attempt to find solutions. She once again tried to reach her claw again out of the wooden bars, but immediately when her arm slid against another portion of the beams, she was scraped with a splinter, causing her to immediately scratch her arm with her claw to relieve the pain as best she could. It only took a couple of scratches for her to come up with the answer.

She softly scratched her sharp claws against the other ends of her appendages, feeling the slight sting. The feeling was enough to notice but not enough to cause her any pain or to leave any lasting injury. After she was done with her test, she was ready to perform the real escape.

She bared her tiny claws at the wooden beams, scratching the sides of them delicately. She did the same to the opposite side of the wooden beam, creating tiny indents in the wooden column. It would take her all day to fully cut through one of the wooden beams so she decided to stick with her initial plan.

Once again, she heard a distressing noise, but that sound came to her in the form of a tone of voice rather than a bang. Her curiosity levels rose even greater as she worked faster, cutting the slight fractures in the wooden bar in front of her.

Finally, she was satisfied with the shallow depth of cut in the varying levels of the bar, and she lifted her leg to place her left foot in the indent, propping herself up further into the air. She reached her right leg up as well, placing it in the second cut she made in the wood to bring herself even higher. It was at that time she realized she was still barely not able to quite reach the top, causing her to propel herself from the second indent, grabbing onto the top ledge of the crib with one last grip.

She struggled only for a couple of seconds to lift her head higher than the above ledge, and for a moment, only her head was free. She took a couple of seconds to calm her breath before she swung her leg up and lost her balance on the bar, causing her to tumble over onto the ground.

Opul rested on the floor for a moment. She knew escaping would have been easier with wings, but she hadn’t reached that luxury of life yet. It was tempting to her to fall asleep again, and she briefly considered that option until the muffled sound of crying vibrated the air from under the doorway.

The dragon sighed at the newfound obstacle, but quickly became resourceful, retrieving the disciplinary stick from the floor to be able to reach the arched handle of the non-click door. A relieved smile came to her face when the stick did its job, pushing itself through the opening of the handle before following her force. The door opened slightly when she pulled the stick towards her, and she quickly stuck her claw in the way to prevent it from closing on her again.

Immediately after she emerged from her room, the door closed behind her, but she didn’t need anything from there anymore. All she needed to do was figure out where the mysterious noise was coming from, so she let her little legs carry her to the location.

By the time she could hear the voices clearly, she stopped herself, worried about what her parents would think if they noticed that she was awake already. She leaned in as close as she could outside of the room where she heard the familiar male and female voices.

“I don’t want to do this either,” the male voice whom she recognized as her father spoke up. “But it doesn’t seem like we’re given much of a choice.”

Opul quickly recognized her mother’s sobbing, causing the little dragon to become concerned. Was there something wrong with the baby? She had heard of other children being taken in the civilization she lived in, and she speculated that it was because of this that she was kept hidden for her entire life. But she didn’t know how it could have been possible to lose a little sibling that had not even arrived yet.

“You don’t even sound like you care!” Her mother snapped back.

“I do care,” Opul’s father said. “But if we let our emotions take control of us, we’ll never know peace again. We just need to get this over with. Maybe he won’t be albino. Maybe we’ll get lucky and be allowed to keep this child here.”

“I want to keep both of them,” the female voice sounded again. “Why do we have to choose?”

“It’s just the way things work here, honey. Pale dragons are a bad omen to the leader. I talked to him many times before, but I couldn’t be direct without giving away our daughter existence. I don’t know how we’re going to tell Opul this.”

Opul’s ears rang at the direct reference to her, and she finally revealed herself in the doorway. “Tell me what?”

Both of the adult dragons gasped in unison. They stared down at the little dragon who was not even a tenth of their size.

“Opul, you-you shouldn’t be up,” the father alerted.

The mother regarded her daughter emotionally. “You should enjoy your final sleep.”

Opul tilted her head and staring at the silver dragon egg behind the couple. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m not sure how much of this you can understand, sweetie,” the father cut in. “The dragon who is in charge of all of us? He’s a bad dragon, and he doesn’t like it when there are dragons that look like you. He thinks it's a curse. Your mother and I could only hide you for so long, but when your little brother or sister arrives, we cannot keep you protected. You can’t stay here anymore.”

Opul’s expression dropped to the floor. “What? Was I bad? I can be good.”

“No, no, it’s not that, honey, I swear,” the silver-colored mother was quick to add. “There’s-. There's . . . ."

Finally her mother growled before turning to her husband. 'We can't do this! We have to fight it."

The adult male dragon clenched his eyes shut. "That's been on my mind for longer than you can imagine. Every outcome results the same. We risk both Opul and our new dragon and they both go. This is the only chance both of them have at surviving."

"Soo-vive?" Opul repeated. "What's that mean?"

Her father clenched his eyes shut as a single tear collected on an eyelash, but he gave no response.

“What if I help take care of the new baby when he gets here?” Opul added. “I can do all the things you can do.”

“Opul, you’re only three years old,” the father softly cut in with his eyes still shut. “You don’t know the first thing about what’s right around here.”

The white dragon’s expression remained unchanged, but her chest tightened. All she wanted to do was stay, but that didn’t seem possible. She wouldn't allow herself to cry though.

“W-what do I do?” Opul asked firmly.

“I'm so sorry,” the father said while staring at the ground. “Ever since you were born, this question weighed on my mind. This is the only way.”

For a moment, nothing was said, until finally the gray-colored dragon reached out his claw to take Opul’s tiny claw. Together, they walked out of the room as Opul’s mother continued to break down at the table.

The father and daughter took a path out of the civilization that no one could spot them at. Opul looked up at the gray face of her father, seeing a damp streak finally become visible on his cheek, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she just focused on what she was always taught, which was not to question authority and to keep your mouth shut.

Finally, the pair of dragons arrived at the walls to their civilization. Opul looked around to notice the absence of any other dragon there. The white dragon just waited patiently for her father to open up a tiny opening in the walls, frequently hesitating throughout. It was unfortunate that Opul was so small because it didn’t take long at all to make the exit wide enough for her.

The gray dragon gulped. “It’s time.”

The adult dragon looked at the child expectantly, causing Opul to waddle her tiny legs through the walls.

Opul paused just outside before looking back. “Will I be alone?”

Opul’s father gave a shaky breath before taking her claws in his own. “You’ll be fine . . .”

The adult gave one last form of affection to Opul in the form of a kiss on her forehead. Finally, the dragon clenched his eyes shut as he closed the walls on his daughter.

“Daddy?” Opul called out at the closed wall, but only silence followed.

The baby dragon’s stomach growled as the heat hit against her. She had been spending hours just sitting at the walls, waiting for something to happen, but there was nothing.

She had only anticipated this to be temporary, but this was the longest she had ever been alone. She just wanted to walk back to her house and get her favorite food from her dad, but she didn’t see any way of getting back in. The walls were too sturdy and too high for her to climb. Her claws weren’t sharp enough to cut through them either.

Her stomach growled again, and for the first time in her life, she was actually worried about if she would actually get another meal. From her limited understanding of everything, it was apparent to her that maybe she had to get her meal herself.

She left the side of the walls for the first time in hours and went on the hunt. Around her was just pavement, but beyond her view was a forest that seemed to strike her as promising. Within seconds, she began to progress towards the woods.

She stopped just short of it, hearing mysterious noises arise from the numerous trees. She was terrified, not knowing what to expect. She was not ready to do something like this. If she was put in any trouble, then that was it. There would be no defending herself. Instead of getting lunch, she would end up being lunch.

By her third stomach growl, Opul finally fell to her knees in the tall grass, crying at her desperation. All she wanted was food, but she had no idea how to get it. The poor dragon didn’t even know what she was supposed to eat.

She stayed crying for a long while, expecting someone to come by and take her in and ask her what was wrong. She kept waiting for something to happen, for this cruel joke to be over, for everything to go back to how it should’ve been, but nothing changed. She was still in solitude, listening as the wind blew the grass from side to side, the only thing that filled the empty void.

Nothing changed except for how long her stomach growl lasted this time, prompting her to hit her fist into the ground hard, but she knew this wouldn't change anything. From this, she rose again, eyeing anything to satiate her hunger, but nothing looked edible. It was just grass, dirt, and tree bark. She was feeling a way she never felt before. A sense of abandonment from not only everyone she's ever known but also herself, thinking that her soul inside had left her back at the walls and that she was on borrowed time, expecting to leave life as she knew it at any moment.

She stared up from the ground, angry at her helplessness. She couldn’t stand the thought of not being able to get what she wanted. Normally, by just being polite and obedient, she would be able to get what she needed and also avoid any disciplinary results as well, but with no one to help her, she was lost on what to do.

The white dragon decided to scan the ground again, looking for one last possible solution. She may not have known exactly what she was supposed to eat, but she had been alive long enough to recognize some things as edible and other things that served a different purpose.

All she found on the ground were greens. She had trouble separating what was inedible plants and what was edible. She had to take her chances with anything though.

Opul kept waddling on the ground, scavenging for anything that could possibly help her reach the next day. She was beginning to lose hope when she managed to stumble across a plant that was green at the top and orange at the base. She gave a sigh of relief as a smile came to her little face, and she pulled the green head of the plant out of the ground.

"A carrot . . ." She said with widened eyes. "Just like mama's pretty fruit bowl."

She lifted the plant in her claws. The vegetable was about half the size of her, but she regarded it with bright eyes, adoring its orange features as if it was a saving grace.

She licked her lips as she heard her stomach growl more ferociously again, and with one big chomp, she bit into the carrot. Immediately, her mouth ignited into a fire, and she spit out the vegetable almost immediately.

Opul’s breath was getting shakier now as her one hope at solving her hunger was just taken away from her. Instantly, she knew what was wrong: dragons could only eat gems. Any other food would be rejected. Unless she could manage to stumble among the rarest things to find, she would starve to death and there was nothing she could do about it.

It was at that time that the baby dragon finally decided to give up hope. She collapsed back down to the ground and leaned up against a tree with the carrot still in her claws. She finally understood what her mother meant by “enjoy your final sleep.” She was only going to be sleeping one more time after today and this sleep would be permanent.

Slowly, her eyes began to close while she was sitting against the base of the tree. Opul had chosen the most vulnerable spot to rest, but she didn’t care anymore. She knew her fate was inevitable, and anything that would make it come sooner was welcomed.

The sound of scurrying in the tall grass launched her eyes opened again. Opul backed up closer against the bark of the tree, scratching up the scales on her back as she sought protection from whatever creature was almost upon her. She had just been welcoming death, but now that it felt imminent, she grew terrified. With a last ditch effort, she lifted up the small carrot stick out in front of her, holding it out as though it were a sword with the partially bitten-off end facing the tall weeds.

The grass directly in front of Opul began to part and the baby dragon watched in terror as a furry creature slowly reared its head. The white non-pony could not tell what it was, only that it had some form of Y-figure on its face that was twitching up and down, getting closer to the carrot.

It took Opul a while to realize that it was the creature’s nose that was getting closer to the carrot, and the animal that was a quarter of the size of the dragon stood in place without advancing. The racing heart of the dragon began to ease as Opul saw the small creature, and she was quick to put together that the furry animal wanted the carrot. The confusing part was that it wasn’t willingly stealing the vegetable. It instead was starting at it, as if waiting for permission to retrieve it.

“Carrots?” Opul finally offered.

The pale dragon brought the plant closer to the creature, permitting him to eat to his heart’s content, and the animal did just that, starting at the end of the carrot to work his way up.

“Eat up, little friend,” she continued. “I’m glad one of us gets to eat.”

The creature’s ears went up as he continued to eat, and finally Opul was able to recognize the species.

“You’re a cute little bunny, aren’t you, Carrots?” Opul said as she carefully stroked the soft fur of the creature.

Carrots finally finished the vegetable and grinded against Opul’s ankle in an appreciative manner.

“That tickles,” Opul giggled.

It was a breath of fresh air to actually be with another lifeform again. She didn’t feel nearly as alone as she had for the majority of the day. A wave of relief washed over the dragon as she was convinced everything was going to be okay.

The moment was immediately concluded when Opul’s stomach finally made another growl, sounding so loudly that Carrots jumped up and moved away slightly.

“No, no, it’s okay,” Opul said.

The white bunny only stopped for a moment before he turned away from the pale dragon to disappear back into the tall grass.

Opul’s concerned expression faded into emptiness as she watched her newest friend depart from her. She slammed her claw down into the dirt, lips quivering at the way life was treating her. The dirt just absorbed the blow, causing the dragon to tremble even further at not being able to blow off the steam. Instead, she continued to hit the soft dirt, too stubborn to realize that it was a lost cause. Throughout her efforts, she was getting more and more tired, and by the sixth hit to the ground, her panting finally filled her ears and she fell face-first into the dirt, passing out into a much-needed nap.

She awoke just a bit of time later to the feeling of something prodding against her arm. She immediately bolted upright, scaring Carrots away momentarily before the bunny stood up straight to face Opul.

Opul’s shocked panting quickly subsided as a smile returned to her face, but the smile grew even bigger when part of the furry creature’s paws started reflecting sunlight. Held by the albino bunny were a set of gemstones all varying in colors, causing Opul’s mouth to water.

Carrots scooched in closer to the dragon before placing the gems at her side. The mesmerizing sight was too much for Opul, and she broke down in happy tears, thankful at the thoughtfulness of the creature. She wasted no time in devouring the gemstone down, satiating her hunger all at once. Some were too hard for her teeth, but she kept on chewing as best as she could.

Finally, Opul decided to lean back against the tree again with her full stomach. Her arms extended out on the ground in front of her, both on either side of her legs. The dragon’s eyes were slowly shutting when she felt the fur slide in between her arm and her thigh. The baby dragon looked down to her right to see Carrots also laying down next to her, all cuddled up.

"We need to soo-vive," she began. "We both can . . . Only together . . .'

Finally, Opul's eyelids shut to some much-needed rest.

Opul awoke to the sound of thumping on the wooden raft. She was barely able to get to sleep with all the swaying motions of the jumbo river, but now that she was awake, she felt a little ornery.

“Carrots,” Opul blinked. “What is it?”

The bunny kept thumping his paw against the raft, getting louder and louder so that Opul would wake up. Eventually, when the white dragon curled herself up again, Carrots hopped to her friend, jumping on her leg to get her awake.

“Ugh, what?” Opul demanded, finally opening her eyes. “Why can’t you let me enjoy -?”

She cut herself off at the sight of land. For the past week, the two had been sailing aboard their makeshift raft, eating and drinking nothing but the stored food that they had been gathering like a squirrel getting ready for hibernation.

“I can’t believe it. Are we really here?”

Carrots hopped up and down as if trying to say something.

“You know I can’t understand you.”

The bunny pouted before the white dragon cackled.

“You want to go out,” Opul guessed. “Of course I know what you want.”

Opul got to the front of the raft and placed her claw in the water, paddling the raft closer to the shore. It took a bit of force to overpower the currents in the water, but with enough effort, the dragon was able to get close enough to land so the water wouldn’t be too deep.

Before Opul could manage to dismount off the raft with Carrots, the wind uplifted and blew the raft backwards. The dragon watched the land begin to shrink slowly as she was being pushed further and further back out to see. Panicked, Opul looked to her bunny who was barely clinging onto the raft as he shook like a sail.

“Carrots!” Opul yelled through the storm. “Hang on!”

The dragon stuck her full arm into the water this time to prevent the backtracking of her raft, but it did nothing compared to the amount of distance they were gaining with each passing second. Finally, Opul was hit with a solution.

“I have an idea,” she said. “But you’re not going to like it.”

Through the stormy rain, Opul managed to reach out her claws to safely grasp her friend. The raft was now swaying uncontrollably and Carrots was held close to Opul throughout every moment of the disaster.

“Don’t worry!” she yelled again. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

She tried to calm her breathing, but nothing could steady her breath after the sight behind her. Opul had been focusing on the brightly lit shore in the distance when a big shade was brought about the water. As the dragon finally turned to what was causing the darkness, she found herself witnessing the creation of a huge tidal wave, still growing in size and eating away at the leftover water from the ocean floor slope.

Opul began hyperventilating. “I need to, Carrots. I’m sorry.”

The wooden raft was nearly to the wave when Opul finally jumped off the raft, holding her friend in her grasp and protecting him with her life. She was about to hit the water with a splat when she finally extended her wings, taking off into the air through the horrible conditions set before her.

The tidal wave behind Opul was getting closer with each passing second as the dragon zoomed towards her saving grace in the distance. The horrific sound of the water crashing down onto the ground set off the white non-pony’s adrenaline, and she flew as fast as her wings could carry her. It wasn’t long before the water mist from the collision interrupted her flight, warning her that she didn’t have much distance left. With one last push of speed, she reached the shore, flying straight passed it, deep through the forest, not stopping until she knew she was in the clear.

She eventually stopped as she came across a few mountains. She landed on the ground and placed her friend down gently before folding her wings.

Opul took a deep breath before looking at Carrots for the first time since the disaster. He was hyperventilating with his mouth and eyes widened at near equal lengths.

“It’s okay,” Opul said with her claws slightly raised above him. “I know you hate flying, but it was the only way to survive that.”

The bunny leaned closer to the ground before hugging it close, shivering from what he was put through.

“I’m sorry,” Opul said. In her chest, she could feel her heart rate decreasing back down to normal levels. “I won’t fly anymore.

She placed the back of her right claw against the ground, gesturing for Carrots to hop back in her grasp. After he obeyed, the two set out to explore what new aspects awaited them through the mountains.

As the dragon emerged from the forest, there was still nothing in sight except for desert, so Opul filled the silence.

“I wish that stallion would have told us about the potential for a wave like that. In the eight years we’ve spent together, I never thought we’d be that close to losing eachother.”

The dragon continued to walk, passing a long row of mountains to her left that appeared to go on forever.

“It’s okay though; we made it.”

Carrots smiled as he rubbed his cheek against one of Opul’s digits, causing the pale dragon to achieve just a hint of red pigment to the scales on her face.

Opul cleared her throat as she stepped over some train tracks, entering into a new part of the yellow desert.

“We have new scenery now. New adventures await us. What did you want to do first?”

Carrots darted his eyes away for a split second before his stomach rumbled. He then placed a white paw near his mouth.

Opul giggled. “Of course we can get you some food. But we have to find a place that has that first.” Opul looked around at the yellow desert among her. “Maybe not here.”

The dragon continued looking around, only noticing the mountainous features to her left. She considered retreating briefly before she noticed a tiny spec in the distance.

“Please don’t be a mirage,” she hoped as she proceeded into the direction.

It took quite a bit of walking before she finally arrived close enough to the gated city. She peeked up from a distance to notice different equines on the top, causing the pale non-pony to hesitate and rethink her decision.

“We need to play this cool,” Opul whispered despite there not being a need to.

Carrots heard her loud and clear as he licked his paw to rearrange the fur on his head.

“No, not like that. We need to be smart.”

Opul kept her distance from the city to keep from getting noticed. Instead, she traveled around the never-ending walls to reach a section that didn’t have any equines on the lookout. When she finally arrived at the walls, she pressed up against them, trying to push them open but inevitably failing.

She was breathing hard by the time she gave up. “Any ideas?’

Her friend narrowed his eyes for a moment in thought before his face lit up. With confidence, Carrots bared his paws to begin scratching at the ground, creating a wide hole in a matter of seconds. Opul watched with fascination as the bunny went to work, crafting the makeshift entrance and angling it down to go underneath the walls. In a matter of minutes, the entrance was complete, and Opul gingerly traveled through the underground passage.

Her head poked up on the other side of the walls like a ground mole. It was a beautiful sight, one that she had never known before. She was at the very corner of the walls, looking around at a civilization with so many different types of creatures that she could not dare name them all.

“Do you think there are other dragons here?” Opul asked. “I hope not.”

Carrots frowned up at the other white non-pony causing Opul to get lost in thought.

“Yes, you’re right. If dragons are here, we could find some gems.” Opul studied her friend. “And, of course, some more carrots while we’re at it.”

The bunny’s expression reverted to its natural smile. His nose twitched momentarily as something caught his attention. Within the second, he was off, hopping close to the walls to stay hidden, and Opul followed suit without the hopping part.

As the dragon followed her friend’s lead, she checked the road that was in the distance to her left. She watched as she saw so many ponies smiling, as if having the time of their lives. But she couldn’t distract herself from the sight of so many creatures that were not ponies looking miserable as can be.

She was about to make a comment when she noticed that Carrots had stopped just outside of a building, staring intently at the wall with his nose still wiggling.

“You smell something?” Opul asked.

The dragon took her friend safely in her claws before boosting him up next to her head in view of a nearby window, peeking inside to see what they were about to get into. From within the room was a group of ponies at some form of buffet. They were all dressed in formal attire, and Opul saw her food source in the form of gemstones that were in the clothes of the ponies. Laid out on the tables were also several different rings with gems on each of them, vulnerable for an easy grab. In the buffet place was also a diverse collection of vegetables, a much better diet for Carrots than what he had been named for.

“Okay, we need a way to get in and a way to clear everyone out. What do you think?’

Carrots stared intently through the glass before looking down to the ground. His eyes lit up as he jumped from Opul’s grasp, landing on top of a set of wooden doors that led down to the basement.

“Good idea,” Opul smiled.

The white dragon wrapped her claws around the handles to the cellar door and opened it up quietly. She let her friend enter through the bottom first before she followed him down into the basement of the household, leaving the entrance opened behind her to provide light.

Opul looked ahead to see light shining in from a door that was just at the top of some stairs. “All we need to do is clear out everyone up there. Then we can feed you and scurry before anyone sees us.”

Opul looked around for solutions, but it was hard to see in the dark. The light coming from the opening was not enough to illuminate the full room, and the search for a solution would have been completely up to guess work if it weren’t for the quick thinking of Carrots.

The bunny put a paw to his mouth before extending it outwards.

“I know you’re hungry, but we need to find a way to clear out these ponies first.”

Carrots shook his head and waved his arms vigorously before pointing to Opul. She watched as her friend performed the same action of touching his mouth and then extending his paw outwards. It was when he shook his paw, imitating the pain of being burned, that Opul finally understood what he was going for.

The dragon smirked in understanding as she breathed fire, lighting the way in front of her to see the outer edges of the basement. She looked around, trying to find a solution as she heard the constant hum of chattering through the floor above her.

Opul turned her head to see another edge of the room but was running out of ideas. It was when she saw the metal fire sprinkler from above her head that she thought of the perfect plan. With just a tilt of her noggin, she aimed her breath up to blast a steady and focused stream of fire onto the flowery system, waiting until the water poured out of it as an alarm sounded throughout the household.

Through the floor, the dragon could hear the mass confusion before listening to the numerous sounds of hoofsteps all going into one direction. She waited until she heard nothing before rushing up the stairs to get into the room.

Opul took her friend over to the buffet table where carrots as well as a whole set of other greens were set out, only getting pelted with minimal water. “Okay, Carrots. You are what you eat. Now dig in.”

Opul watched in pleasure as her friend enjoyed his meal, eating both the healthy vegetables and the unhealthy carrots. She was so lost in the moment that it took a growl of her stomach to bring her back to reality.

She turned quickly to the table where the gemstones were still set out, causing the dragon to lick her lips at the sight. Within a few seconds, she was at the table, eyeing what she presumed to be her future meal. The gemstone reflected light into Opul’s eyes, driving her crazy to finally get some food, but as she brought the ring closer to her, she noticed an engraving listed on the inside of the accessory: Property of Harrow.

Immediately, the dragon was conflicted as the water from the sprinkler system finally died out. She froze for a few moments and the only movement inside the room came from the feasting bunny. Opul was about to eat the gem with no remorse, but the name on it spoke to her. This belonged to someone. Someone had to work hard to achieve this, and Opul was about to discredit everything that went into that gem by eating it.

Carrots finished his carrots and hopped down from the table. He traveled to the opening to the basement but stopped when his eyes focused on Opul’s frozen body position. Instinctively, he hopped over to her to place his paws against her leg, trying to get her attention.

Opul looked down at her friend, terrified. “I’m so hungry . . . but I can’t steal this.”

Another growl was heard from the dragon’s stomach and Opul reassessed her decision. She brought the gemstone closer to her mouth but couldn’t bring herself to finish the job.

Noises sounded from outside of the room, but before Opul could react, the doors erupted open in a swarm of ponies. Carrots hid behind the leg of Opul, but the dragon was still frozen in protest. The only thing she moved were her eyes when she saw the jaws drop from the formally-looking equines.

“Hey!” a violet stallion spoke up. “That’s not yours!”

Opul looked at the ring with the giant gemstone that she still had in her claws, causing her to flinch in realization.

“Guards!” the stallion continued. “Some non-pony is trying to rob us!”

Opul dropped the ring back on the table and tried to put her claws up in defense against the invading armed-ponies, but before she could get a chance to talk, they seized her, grabbing her little friend along with them before dragging her out of the room.

It was a long and uncomfortable trip to the throneroom, but Opul tried her best to keep up her spirits. She was terrified at what might have happened, but she was more worried about the well-being of her friend. The white non-pony began to slip from the guards’ grasp, and they jerked her around violently as a way to punish an escape. Dizzily, Opul remained still the rest of the way.

The guards grabbed both of her arms and threw her through the double-doors, causing them to open up as she fell face first into the throneroom.

“Well, well, well,” a voice sounded from the opposing end to the room. “Who thought it was a good time to visit?”

“We found her attempting to steal an expensive piece of jewelry, sir,” one of the guards spoke up.

From the opposing end of the room was a desk and a throne of an exaggerated size. The throne was facing away from Opul, but she saw, poking out from the side of it, a blue unicorn horn.

“What do we do with her, sir?” the stallion continued.

“Well, we welcome her in with open arms, of course,” the voice sounded again.

Finally, the throne began to rotate, revealing a dark blue unicorn dressed completely in purple. The stallion noticed the white non-pony and gave a sinister grin, causing Opul’s wings to extend defensively. The blue unicorn’s eyes widened at the sight.

“You may leave us now,” he spoke up without adjusting his gaze.

“Very well, Emperor Contume,” the lead guard said.

The guard behind Opul dropped the bunny on the ground at Opul’s legs before joining his comrades to march outside the room.

Opul’s breathing grew shallow. “Who are you?”

“Ugh, do you not listen at all?” the pony huffed. “He just said my name was Emperor Contume.”

“Contume?”

“Emperor Contume,” he snapped. “Address me properly.”

Opul flinched, causing the stallion to snicker. The dragon looked away and began to fold her wings back up, but instantly, Contume intervened.

“No no. Keep them up.”

The white non-pony regarded the leader in confusion. She shook her head in misunderstanding before Contume repeated himself.

“Keep them up. Your wings. Keep them extended.”

Opul shifted uncomfortably but obeyed, stretching her wings as fair as they would go in either direction.

Contume smirked. “Yes.”

The stallion approached closer to the dragon, eyeing the wings inquisitively. “How often do you fly, dragon?”

Opul had now reached a new level of discomfort, but she was too afraid to reject anything. “Uh, my friend doesn’t like it when I fly, so I don’t really do it that much.”

“Ah,” Contume said. “So what you’re saying is you don’t use your wings that much.”

Opul tensed up. “Why?”

Contume touched a hoof to Opul’s right wing, stroking slowly. “Because I could use them.”

The white dragon gasped, but before she could back away, the unicorn’s horn sparked yellow and Opul felt a tugging on her right side.

“No!” Opul screeched. “Stop it!”

“If you’re going to stay here,” Contume began, “you’ve got to give me something.”

Opul’s eyes began to water as she felt her wing about to come off. She tried to bring up her claw to stop him, but at Contume’s first sight of it, her arm also glowed yellow and was forced to stay in midair.

Before Contume could finish the job, a flash of white surrounded his vision. The unicorn was about to figure out what it was when Carrots came around to poke his fuzzy, white paws into his eye, causing the tyrant to bellow as he released his grip on Opul’s wing.

Opul fell to the ground in pain as she felt her right wing, happy to know that it was still intact. When she looked back up at the unicorn, she noticed Carrots scurrying all around Contume’s neck, barely managing to avoid the unicorn’s focus.

Contume screamed in frustration. “Stop moving so I can freeze you!”

Opul got up off the ground to help out her friend, but before she could get close enough, the doors opened as a rush of guards entered the room.

“We heard screaming, sir,” the first guard said.

Opul looked at the guards for a moment, but when her eyes returned to Contume, she saw Carrots being suspended in midair by a yellow aura. She gasped but couldn’t do anything.

“Have you finished your business with this citizen?” the guard continued.

Contume’s eyes hovered down to Opul’s still-attached wing with a glare. “Yes, I have.”

“What should we do with her, sir?”

“Send this non-pony into the community.”

“Did she pay?”

Contume eyed the helpless bunny in his grasp. “Oh, I think she’ll pay enough.”

Opul widened her eyes. “No. You’re not taking him.”

“Take this creature out of here,” Contume demanded.

“Give him back!” Opul screeched.

She lunged forward to try to reclaim her friend, but her claws came up short as the guards pulled her back. She continued to fight them, but she couldn’t free herself, and her last sight of her friend was his helpless stare in midair as the doors to the throneroom closed.

Opul was shivering as she was dragged out of the palace. She was about to accept anything that the guards would do to her, but they stopped just outside of the building and released their grip on her.

Opul didn’t know what else to do except cry. She lost her only friend that got her through life, and it was entirely her fault. She was surprised at the amount of hydration she had when the tears just wouldn’t stop. She tried to calm herself down but couldn’t, uproaring at the top of her lungs to express her devastation. She covered her eyes with her claws in efforts to prevent the flooding of tears, but they leaked through anyway. Her breathing grew heavier and heavier and she couldn’t stop the pain. Finally, she let loose another scream again at her situation, unable to yell loud enough to soothe herself.

“Would you shut up!” a nearby voice demanded.

Opul uncovered her eyes and blinked twice so she could see better. In front of her stood a tall, orange griffon with a coat that resembled a carrot. She glared at his ignorance before he continued.

“What is your problem?”

Cold

Episode 10: Treasure Hunt

Episode 10: Treasure hunt

“Shh, quiet,” Droll whispered to his backpack.

Jewell was still very young, but Droll knew that he could perfectly understand him. “Quiet” was the most common phrase he told the baby dragon. Even after the yak’s reprimands, Jewell continued to shuffle from within the small backpack. He never got used to traveling around, but Droll believed it was good for the dragon to get out every now and then instead of being kept hidden in his residence for his entire life.

“Yak and dragon nearly there,” Droll continued. “Dragon can get out then.”

Droll continued to march through the streets, coming close to a couple mares that were traveling opposite of him. When the shaking of the backpack began to wiggle more, the brown non-pony tapped the side of the bag, causing the motions to stop for just long enough for the mares to pass by him.

Droll sighed as he turned a corner to a familiar residence. As he marched to the backyard, the cyan head of the dragon peeked out of the top of the backpack, but since the two were out of any populated sections, the yak allowed it. The brown non-pony continued to pass by the outer exterior of the household, looking at the side entrances to see both the decorated sun and moon cutiemarks on the sides. Droll disregarded them though as he walked by so he could get to the main goal of the trip faster.

By the time he was fully in the backyard of the now-abandoned residence, he removed his backpack and set it down on the ground. From grass, he could see the small head of the dragon poke out, moving nothing except his neck, not even his own legs. Droll sighed at this, understanding that it must be that he couldn’t walk yet, so he reached his arms out to lift Jewell out of the bag before placing him down gently on the soft grass.

“Roll around,” Droll began, smiling down at Jewell’s motionless body before his eyes wandered over to the petunias sticking out of the backpack. “Yak must do something.”

After a brief breath, Droll leaned down to grab a hold of the aesthetic scenery, picking it up in great care as to keep it as perfect as the pony he was gifting it to. As a smile spread across his face, he traveled over to the flowerbed in the corner of the yard, gently placing the flowers just on the surface right beside the pink paddleball. It wasn’t long before a genuine smile spread across his face, despite the tragic display in front of him.

Droll took a deep breath to intake the moment. “Happy birthday, Lenia.”

He stopped for a moment to stare at the grave he had buried with his friends a month ago. He remained motionless, imagining what the look on the filly’s face would have been if she had ever gotten a chance to see her birthday gift. After a couple seconds, Droll could feel a teardrop land onto his cheek, but he kept his smile throughout every moment of his visit. This was the highlight of his day.

He wanted to stay there forever since this was the one place where he could still feel close to her, but reality was soon to enter back in his mind when he remembered his responsibilities for the day. After one last glance at the last thing he had of his friend, he turned back to his backpack that was on the ground.

“Time for home, Jewell,” Droll said.

He marched over to his pack that was hovering over the grass to notice the last thing he wanted to see that day: an empty case.

Instantly, Droll flinched, adjusting his stance to view his every surrounding almost all at once. Somehow Jewell had been removed from the case, but according to the yak, that was impossible. The cyan colored non-pony was not yet able to walk yet, at least that’s what Droll thought. Every time until now, Jewell had needed constant transportation everywhere.

The yak’s eyes darted every inch of his surroundings. He could feel his eyes beginning to dry out with all the strain. He stampeded across the backyard, checking in each of the little sections of the grass to make sure the little scamp wasn’t just closeby hiding from him. It was only until Droll heard the wagon from the front of the house slow down to a halt that he got an idea on where he might have gone to.

“Darnit!” a voice roared from the front, causing Droll to be on edge.

Without wasting a single second of time, the brown non-pony rushed at his max speed to the front of the property to get a grip on the full situation. His first sight was that of the chariot with a backload of boxes far ahead in the distance. In the middle of the street, Droll could see that a box had fallen out and tipped over onto the ground, and not far from the box whatsoever was the mischievous dragon crawling towards it. Without saying anything, Droll began rushing towards the opened box, but Jewell seemed to take delight in playing with the light blue materials that had dispensed from the wooden container.

As Droll was just about to reach it, an orange aura glowed around the box as well as every item on the ground near it, including Jewell. Panicked, Droll rushed for the crate as each of the items on the ground along with Jewell were levitated into the box before it closed up. As the box hovered upwards in its orange glow, Droll tackled it, grabbing onto it in midair to pull it towards him. Before he could open it, a huge jerk of force pulled it from his grasp.

“What do you think you’re doing, Yak?” a strict voice asked.

Droll turned his gaze to see the crate with the orange glow hovering just above a gray colored unicorn that was dressed in full armor. In a heartbeat, the brown non-pony recognized him as a community guard, and he quickly realized this would be especially difficult to talk himself out of.

In the heat of the moment, Droll just said the first thing that came to his mind. “Yak need crate.”

“Sure you do,” the unicorn snorted. “And I need a kidney transplant. General Radiance and Leader Nightfall want all of the imports and none can be missing, especially not to a homeless yak.”

The unicorn marched away in disgust as the crate in his magical grasp shook slightly. Droll just knew what Jewell might've been thinking, and he couldn’t just let him go, especially not with the story he had heard when Opul lost someone close to her on her first visit to the palace. Abandonment was not an option to choose for him, so he traveled close behind as the unicorn packed the crate in with the others on the wagon that was connected to a luxurious chariot. As soon as the unicorn got to the front, the chariot took off again with the wagon bound to it.

The yak continued to pursue the vehicle, blending in with whatever creatures he could as he walked down the streets. He was keeping a close eye on the chariot without making it obvious that this was what he was setting his sights on. Throughout every bit of the journey, Droll was completely attentive, waiting for the right moment to sneak in and get his dragon back, but he worried if there would ever be such a moment.

“Sit tight, Jewell,” Droll muttered. “Yak no let nothing bad happen.”

He continued to march behind the chariot, decreasing the distance with every passing second. When Droll looked ahead of the vehicle, he could see the community palace right ahead, alerting him that he didn’t have much time before it would be too late to reclaim his little friend. Fortunately for him, by the time the chariot got to the palace, it stopped in front of a grand door, big enough for three chariots. Soon after, the armed unicorns began talking to three ponies guarding the front of the palace. Droll took his opportunity to jump onto the small opening in the back of the wagon that the chariot pulled, looking at all the boxes that were being transported. The yak did not have any time to waste. Any second the ponies would be done.

He scanned all the crates with immense speed. He did not have enough time to check all of them so he had to choose which boxes to look through wisely. For a brief moment, he considered calling out to Jewell, but he knew this would alert the guards ahead of him and make him lose his position. He quietly picked up a single box, checking its weight to determine if this was the one he was looking after. He soon placed it down before continuing his search. After two crates, he began to see one of the boxes in the middle begin to rattle slightly, but before Droll could register it, he felt the enclosed wagon shift forward into motion again. He was out of time.

With a last ditch effort, he reached for the crate, scraping his cloven-hooves against it. As soon as he made contact though, he felt the two sets of strong hooves grip the side of him and yank him out of the wagon, throwing him on the ground on his back.

The sheathing sound of a spear sliced through the air, and all Droll could see was a freshly sharpened javelin hovering inches away from his snout.

“State your business!” a female voice demanded.

The brown non-pony was already trembling, but after a couple of seconds, he focused on the mare at the other end of the spear, seeing a purple pegasus in full body armor, giving the yak the most intimidating look he had ever seen. From behind the mare, to the left and right of the pony were two stallions, one red and one yellow, each with different degrees of skepticism at the non-pony.

“I said state your business!” the mare voice repeated, gripping the spear closer to Droll's chest.

Droll widened his eyes before stuttering. “Uh! Droll just needed something from wagon!”

From behind the mare, the yellow stallion's eyes flickered in recognition at the name before he spoke in nervous chuckles. “Woah woah, Mauve. We don’t want to do anything we can’t take back. He’s harmless. Let’s just let him go with a warning.”

“I say we take him out right now,” the red stallion suggested.

The purple mare snapped her neck back at the red pegasus. “Scarlet, as your superior, I’m ordering you to stand down.”

Scarlet sighed in disappointment before standing back and putting himself at ease. After a couple seconds of glares, Mauve returned her eyes to the yak.

“Tell us why you’re here.”

The brown non-pony carefully rose to a stance, nervously regarding the spear that was still outstretched towards his chest. “Belonging of Droll got mixed up in case.”

“Oh you’re not getting it back,” Mauve snorted. “Do you know how many times a day we get non-ponies like you trying to get their hooves on the palace items?”

The yellow pegasus stepped forward. “Well, I’m sure he’s telling the truth. I mean, we’ve never seen him come here before and ask for items, right?”

Mauve huffed. She rolled her eyes so far around her sockets that Droll could barely see them anymore. “What part of 'Job Promotion" do you not get? We aren't to take any chances without Radiance and Nightfall's supervision. We’re not disappointing them yet.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Scarlet stepped forward with a grin that spread far too much on his face. “Are we going to execute this creature now?”

The yellow pegasus tensed, but Mauve was quick to shut it down.

“Of course not. This isn’t a big enough violation for that.”

“Then how about the community dungeon, huh?”

The other stallion silently squealed from behind before speaking up. “This is his first offense, you two. The least we can do is let him off with a warning. Let’s just escort him away from the palace and forget about this.”

“We can’t leave our posts,” Mauve spoke up. “The second it's vacant, we'll be seeing dozens of stow-aways taking their revenge.”

“There’s three of us, boss. Surely one of us can leave temporarily while the other two hold down the fort.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

Scarlet scoffed. “Why not? We could use the peace and quiet, Mauve. We’ve earned it.”

Mauve rolled her eyes. “This is wasting more time than it’s saving. Fine, please escort our yak friend off the premises.”

The yellow pegasus smiled and nodded before putting a firm grip on Droll, pulling him roughly as Droll was forced to go in the direction of the pony. Throughout it, Droll was resisting. Normally he would be relieved to escape with his life intact, but he was still missing Jewell, and he meant everything to the brown non-pony. Through Droll’s efforts to be released from the stallion’s grasp, the pegasus kept pulling harder, getting more and more annoyed until the two finally passed a corner just out of both sight and audio range of the two other pegasus guards.

“Ugh!” the yellow pegasus groaned as he completely released his grip on the yak. “Why do you have to resist so much?”

Droll stood still, glaring at the yellow pegasus who was making his job a lot harder. “Yak without something important!”

“Yeah, I understand that,” the pegasus said as he massaged his arm that took a beating from the yak. “So you’re Droll?”

Instantly, the brown non-pony straightened himself in confusion. “Pony know yak?”

The stallion chuckled. “Yeah. Well, basically I do.”

Droll searched his mind for possibilities to this, but he could not think of anything. He had never seen this pony before, and he didn’t understand how he could know him until the pegasus spoke.

“Lenia always spoke of you. During the long and boring days when she came to the palace because Radiance and Nightfall were working, Radiance trusted me to stand guard over her and keep her company. Almost every time we spoke, she talked about you and how great of a friend you were. It’s cool to finally know who she was talking about.”

Droll felt a cloven-hoof to his heart. He wanted to break down right in front of the stallion and he didn’t care if he saw him or not, but deep down, he knew he had to maintain his calmness. His mind was completely focused on the friend he had lost long ago, but he then remembered of another friend he was going to lose if he waited any longer. Although the only thing he really wanted to do at the moment was remember Lenia, he was still on a mission to prevent someone else from ending up like her.

Droll’s mind went to work on how he was going to get his mission done when he thought of something that wasn’t full-proof. “What pony name?”

“You-you want to know my name?” the stallion asked.

Droll nodded. “Yak name Droll. What pony name?”

“Well, my name is Buff.”

The yak tilted his head at the words. “Buff? Like, muscles?”

“No . . . like the color. My parents weren’t really creative, I guess.”

Droll smiled to himself as he turned on the helplessness factor. “Buff, yak accidentally misplaced item in crate and crate was put inside palace. Droll really need item back, but ponies no help. Will stallion help?”

Buff slouched in front of Droll. “I don’t know. I’m not supposed to be sneaking anyone inside.”

Droll had a solution, but it made him feel guilty beyond belief. He just had to keep reminding himself of the tragic outcome that he still had the ability to change. “Yak sure Lenia would want Droll helped.”

As the words left his mouth, he flinched at using her as another bargaining chip, but he was aware that it was something he needed to do.

Buff’s eyebrows drooped in sadness. “Yeah . . . Okay. But just this once. Follow me, and I can help you get what’s yours back.”

As Buff led the way, Droll teared up. “Droll so sorry, Lenia . . .” After the yak wiped his eyes, he proceeded to follow the pegasus along the backside of the palace walls.

“There, you have your way in.” Buff glanced up to the second floor of the palace where a window was.

Droll’s eyes met the familiar level above. “Buff use this window?”

The pegasus nodded. “Yeah, I make sure to keep it open in the slight chance that I forget something inside when my shift is over. It’s incredible how nopony else knows about it.”

Droll gritted his teeth. “Yeah . . .”

When Buff turned to the yak and held out his hooves, the stallion's eyebrows immediately lowered in a narrowed gaze. “Okay, Droll. Please tell me you’re ready.”

The brown non-pony looked at him and then looked at the window above before glancing back at his helper in reluctance. After he nodded his head, Buff spread his wings to levitate himself above the yak, gripping the sides of him to lift him up. Immediately when he did so, he heaved with his chest puffed out, fighting through it to fly himself higher. Droll struggled to remain in the pony’s grasp, but after a couple of seconds, the two were at the second level. In a rush, Droll opened the window before crawling inside to get out of the painful grip of the pegasus.

The pony was panting as if he just ran a marathon. “You should lay off some weight there.”

Droll scoffed. “Droll was lifted by pegasus even younger than yak.”

With that memory refreshed, the yak immediately began focusing on the wall to blot out his thoughts. He had to keep his emotions at a standstill, and when he was successful, the yak finally looked around, listening to Buff join him to his right.

He recalled his previous time in this room and he listened for movements.

“What are you doing?” the pegasus asked from the other side of the room. “Let’s just go, and I can guide you to where the chariot and wagon are. If we can’t find it, we can just wait for Radiance to get back-.”

“No!” Droll firmly denied. “Radiance no like Droll. Yak need find crate before pony returns.”

“Okay, jeez. Let’s just go to the inventory room where the palace stores its resources. We can get back what’s yours, and then I can escort you out safely.”

Droll took a deep breath. “Thank you.”

The pegasus nodded before tilting his head in the direction of the door, gesturing for him to come along. After a deep breath Droll marched through, following close behind as the pony led the way to the destination. The yak was especially nervous after what happened the last time he was in that very hall, but he felt a bit more comfortable knowing that he had a guard to vouch for him in case things went wrong.

“I won’t vouch for you if things go wrong by the way.”

Droll widened his eyes. “What? Why?”

“I only agreed to sneak you in here and then escort you out when we’re done. But if my other guards see me with a yak, I’ll have to tell them I’m arresting you, and I’d have to put you in the community dungeon.”

Droll began to breathe heavily in fear before Buff continued.

“It’s okay. We just need to be careful. Now watch your step.”

The two began traveling down a staircase, going down to the first floor where Buff claimed the storage room was. By the time they reached the door that led outwards, they found themselves in another dark hallway.

“Don’t worry, Droll. The room is right here. There are guards at work here, but I can go through and get your item. What was it you needed?”

Droll opened his mouth to speak before he realized his dilemma. “Instead,” he began, “yak go for item while pony take guards’ attention. Good plan.”

The guard's head shrank back. "What? Why make this any harder than it already is? You just wait where you are and I'll go grab it. Simple as that."

Droll stood firmly. "Yak go get item."

"Even if it means you'll probably get caught?"

"Worth risk."

Buff rolled his eyes before marching inside the room on the close opposite side of the narrow hallway. As he marched in, Droll approached the window of the door, watching as the stallion gathered the attention of the single female guard who was standing out in front of the wagon that had been brought in earlier that day.

Droll steadied his breath, trying to hype himself up for what he was about to do. His plan was simple: sneak inside, quietly go to the storage unit, gather his friend by using the crate to hide him, and be out with Buff in time before Radiance returned to make his job impossible. Without wasting another second, he traveled through the doorway.

Droll tried his best at being quiet despite this apparently being the only things yaks weren’t best at. As he made his way over to the wagon in the center of the room, he could overhear Buff shooting the breeze with the guard who was apparently venting out all her frustrations.

“All of their break times are being spent on frivolous visits to the hospital,” the mare complained. “For high ranking members, they don’t seem to be here nearly enough.”

“Well you can’t fire them,” Buff said. “Not anymore.”

Droll traveled quietly while his friend was doing a great job with the mare, allowing him to fully climb inside the enclosed compartment that contained all the crates. The yak wasn’t so careful last time he looked through this very wagon, but now he had just a bit more time to spare. After calling out Jewell’s name quietly three times, he inspected more of the crates to make sure the dragon wasn’t dead. To his relief, there was no sign of it, but what he did see was a tipped over crate with half of its stuff gone.

Instantly, Droll knew what this meant, and he looked outside of the wagon at the opposite side of the room to see a trail of light blue objects leading outside. The brown non-pony instantly tensed up as his heart rate spiked, but at the last moment, he froze. The thought of Jewell being out on his own was the last thing he wanted but he knew that if he was going to help out the dragon in any way, he was going to have to make sure he himself wasn’t caught yet. With a steadied breath, the yak climbed out of the wagon.

“Wow,” Buff said with forced interest. “I never KNEW that . . .”

By this time, the pegasus was looking around before noticing Droll walking away, following the trace.

“Well,” the pegasus continued, “doesn’t this seem like a YAK of a conversation?”

Droll looked back at the stallion to notice him eying the brown non-pony. Instantly, Droll nodded in gratitude before flicking his cloven-hoof twice in a gesture that told him to go because he was done with his work. The pegasus exhaled before dismissing himself from the guard and getting out of the room. Although the stallion was not able to keep his promise of escorting the brown non-pony out of the palace, Droll was still thankful that he was yakking a boring conversation in order to buy him some time.

When Droll returned to the trail of discarded light blue items, he followed it with close attention, not letting anything be dismissed from his head. The dragon probably grabbed over ten tiny items and the trail only had about three items at the moment. And the fact that these items had not been seen yet informed Droll that the trail was fresh, but with not many items to drop, if he didn’t find his little friend fast enough, there wouldn’t be any items to follow anymore and he would lose the trail. If that happened, Jewell would be lost in the palace.

The trail led out of the storage room and into the hallway, but through the hallway, the trail seemed to falter. Surely Jewell would have grabbed more items than just the three that were scattered over the floor. He was a baby dragon after all, meaning he was going to take anything he could get his dull claws on. Droll received his next clue when he noticed the tiny hole in the broken window at the end of the hallway. With nopony in the hall, the yak stampeded down to the sight, staring out the window to see an additional blue item on the ground, causing Droll’s heart to sink when he realized that now Jewell would not be lost somewhere in the palace but rather in a random section of the entirety of the community.

Droll was not about to let this happen. With the trail still fresh, he knew there was a way he could still catch up to his little friend before he was gone for good, and Droll was going to save him no matter the costs, even if it meant having to break the window.

CRASH! Droll charged through the window, continuing to stampede before any guards could get to him. As long as nopony got a steady description on him, he was going to be alright, and since the sides of the palace had little to no guards on a daily basis, the yak believed he was fine. He didn’t stop. He continued running off the property of the palace, making sure that no one would be given enough time to recognize him.

Droll was puffing with his speed, but he continued to see the trail of light blue items leading him in the direction of his end goal. He stomped through the fortunately empty streets where the items lined up, but to Droll’s shock, they soon came to an end.

Instantly Droll stopped in his tracks. He glanced back at where his last trace had been and kept scanning everywhere for the next piece, but none could be found. There was not even a place that could hint at where Jewell had went. The trail was dead.

He fell to the ground and for a long while, he was immovable. Frozen in place, he could only find himself staring at the sky with nothing but the sound of his heart beats filling his ear. He had failed to do the one thing he knew he needed to succeed at. What was left for him?

"No," Droll said, focusing ahead of him. This could not happen. He couldn't afford for it to. He knew in this moment, he had to believe that it was all going to work out for him. Without knowing where he was heading for, he continued to follow the invisible path, assuming that Jewell had stayed going straight.

He was just starting to give up hope when he noticed a final light blue item in the side yard of a house. He felt the enormous weight of something getting lifted off of him, similar to when he was able to remove himself out from underneath the oversized throne from what felt like so long ago.

Droll slowly traveled through the side yard where the light blue item was, terrified of being proven wrong. As long as he didn’t know for sure if Jewell was there or not, he could still hope the cyan dragon was there. As Droll walked through the side yard, he turned his head to notice the sun and moon cutiemarks on the door, stinging the yak’s eyes in recognition. When Droll turned to face the backyard, he once again saw the flowerbed with the petunias on it, except there was a brightly colored dragon fiddling with the paddleball over the makeshift grave.

Droll gasped and ran over to Jewell with tears in his eyes, the greatest relief to know that he was okay and back with the yak again. Droll felt like he should be angry, but at the moment, he was way too happy that the dragon was safe. He couldn’t help himself when he picked up the dragon to hug him close against himself, causing Jewell to drop the undamaged paddle on the flowers again.

“Yak no want to lose another friend.”

As tears leaked down his face, Droll’s eyes landed back on the flowerbed where he pretended his other friend was also resting. At first, he was reluctant to make his next move, but after a moment, he determined it as only being right, and he turned Jewell to face the petunias.

“Look, Jewell,” Droll began, “Yak like dragon to meet someone. A bit of time ago, Droll met amazing pony who stopped at nothing to make yak and other friends feel welcome. Pony was shy, but she was deserving of all friendship, even though life no fair to her. Yak no treat her the way pony deserved either. Pony no ask for nothing. Droll asked too much in pony’s final moments. It’s yak’s fault . . . Droll just want her back. Yak miss Lenia.”

Jewell began stretching his mouth open before clumsily stumbling over sounds in a high pitched manner. “Lee. Knee. Uhh?”

Droll was surprised, but it wasn’t enough to divert his attention. He sniffled and wiped away the tear streaks on his cheeks before answering. “Yeah, Lenia. Yak only wish dragon got chance to see how amazing pony was.”

The two waited in silence, standing over Lenia’s flowerbed and honoring her in whatever way possible, but after a few minutes, Jewell began to fidget while in Droll’s grasp. When this was apparent to the yak, he turned to face the backpack that was still lying on the floor, walking over to it before tucking Jewell safely in and making sure he was comfortable.

“No worry, Jewell,” Droll reassured. “Yak never hurt dragon.”

After carefully putting the backpack on, he set out back for his house.

Cold

Episode 12: Generously Stealing the Show

"Why did you call me over here?" Opul crossed her arms before leaning against the walls.

Droll forced a smile. "Wait and see."

Opul shifted with a sigh. All she could do was trust whatever Droll had to show off was worth it, but trust hadn't been her strong suit for a majority of her life.

The yak cleared his throat as he made his way across his kitchen. "Droll always think 'why creatures no make life easier?' Why creatures need do more work than needed?"

Opul flinched. "That's why you called me over here? To advertise something?"

Droll's face twitched before repeating himself. "No . . . Just, why do creatures do more work than needed?"

The dragon shrugged. "I don't get it."

Droll looked away, as if things were deviating from his plan. Instead of answering, he took a jug of water from his countertop before pouring a tiny puddle over it.

The dragon stiffened. "What are you doing-?"

"Please wait." The brown non-pony met Opul's eyes with the same brokenness she had been used to seeing for months now. With one expression, she decided to dial down her impatience.

"Alright, alright, continue."

After another forced smile, Droll continued his presentation. “Why creatures do all work-” he cleaned up the puddle with a nearby rag, “- when creatures make objects do it.” With that, he tossed the rag with little force across the room, its path appearing to fall short of an open trash can that was tucked inside a mini cave-like opening in the counter. Before the rag could miss its target, a sudden jerk of force pushed the trash can in the way, letting the rag fall safely inside the garbage.

Opul flinched at the sudden movement. “What just happened?”

Droll’s expression began appear brighter. “Whatever dragon want to think happen.”

“But-but.” Opul tried her best to make sense of the situation but nothing was coming to mind. “There’s got to be some way you did that.”

Droll leaned in to whisper to his friend. “Droll secretly unicorn.”

Opul gave an amused look before Droll walked to the other side of the room again.

“Magnets are inseparable,” he said as he picked up one black magnet in his cloven-hooves. “As long as yak hold this magnet, other magnet will not be able to reach. But as soon as Droll let go of magnet . . .”

The brown non-pony gently placed the magnet on the floor. Immediately by the time the magnet touched the base, a rolling sound came from behind Opul. Before the dragon could turn back to see what it was, a magnet with great force rolled passed her legs, heading towards its other half. The yak awkwardly pushed the magnet in the path of the other magnet, and the two polar objects clasped together as if never wanting to be apart.

Droll looked up at Opul with a bright smile. “See? Magnets miss eachother. Not good to put them apart.”

Opul’s jaw fell slightly open. “There's no way attraction can happen from that distance. How did you-?”

“Magnets like eachother,” Droll said with a bright smile. “One cannot be without other.”

The dragon's expression softened from her former bewilderment. “Wow, Droll, it’s good to see you actually able to smile again. Especially after Lenia-.”

“Who?” Droll interrupted abruptly, trying to keep a straight face. “Droll no know how dragon means.”

Opul lowered her eyebrows before gritting her teeth. “Right . . .”

“Now!” he said with unnecessarily loudness, as if trying to force the two into a different topic. “For final act, Droll will make item fall.”

The brown non-pony turned to a small, tan-colored shelf that was on the other side of the room. Opul looked back and forth between the yak and the object, realizing that she was separating the two from eachother.

The white non-pony scoffed. “Let’s see if you can still do your magic with me blocking you.”

“Oh dragon of little faith,” Droll said, his voice sounding hopeful.

The yak focused on a single teacup that was on the small wooden bookshelf, raising his cloven-hooves upwards as if he were holding an invisible lasso. With a few deep breaths, he began to swing the fake-rope over his head. Opul didn't have the heart to tell him that his "lasso's" swinging path would have been interrupted by the wall behinds him, but eventually, the yak released his grip to. The two friends watched as nothing went through the air but soon after, Droll acted as though there were tension in the pretend-rope.

“Got it!” Droll said, causing Opul to chuckle. "And now! Droll will now move teacup with mind!"

The white non-pony watched carefully as her friend pretended that he had the teacup in his grasp, and as Droll began to slightly jerk his cloven-hooves, nothing happened.

“Uh,” he panicked before speaking in an unnecessary volume. “Yak said: Droll will now move teacup with mind!”

Still, nothing happened.

“With!” Droll began. “Mind!”

Finally, the brown shelves began to move slightly, rocking back and forth slowly before the swinging began to pick up speed. Droll began to strain harder as he pretended to pull the teacup with his invisible lasso, but instead of the teacup being dropped to the floor, the entire mini bookshelf fell to the ground, shattering the porcelain. Opul quickly backed up to avoid getting hit, but instead of fear or annoyance, she was just impressed.

Droll looked at the broken pieces scattered underneath the bookshelf, gritting his teeth at the sight. “Yak can fix that.”

Opul turned to Droll with her eyebrows raised before she put her claws together to give her friend some much-needed applause. The bright smile on the dragon’s face caused Droll’s face to light up twice as bright as his friend’s.

“Thank you, thankyou. Friend too kind.” Suddenly, Droll’s bright smile began to falter slightly at his own choice of words.

Immediately, Opul spoke up. “That was so impressive, Droll! You really do a great job with your magic act. Imagine how Candid would react.” She stopped herself. “We won’t need to imagine because I’m going to get him right now!”

Without hesitating or looking back, the white non-pony rushed out of the household, set out on revealing the amazing show to her other friend.

From behind the base of the bookshelf, Jewell crawled out before standing up in front of Droll. “Jewell do good?”

Droll smiled down at him. “Yes, Jewell do good.”

Opul rushed down the streets, hoping to catch any sight of her friend. Her first instinct was to check the community hospital to see if her friend had needed to check up on his maimed injury. Today, or at least sometime soon, would be a day in which he had to do that.

With the hospital barely in sight, she caught a glimpse of an army of ponies all lined up around it, standing guard while staring ahead of themselves at nothing.

“What’s going on around here?” she asked.

After predictably receiving no answer or even so much as an acknowledgement of her existence, she decided to move on down the line to see if she would find a pony who wasn’t stubborn. After minutes of searching, her quest was interrupted by the shouting of a guard on one side of the line of guards.

“Hey!” the voice said. “Stop flying here! You’re making everyone really nervous!”

“It’s not in your right to tell me not to fly!” the familiar voice shouted back. “As long as I don’t pass you guards, you can’t say anything about me!”

Opul looked up to the sky to see her idiot griffon friend in the sky, flying around in circles to boast to the guards that there was at least one thing they were powerless in. After rolling her eyes, the dragon decided to rush over to the guard who had been speaking.

“Hey,” she began, “doesn’t seem like you have much control to stop him.”

“Do you know this griffon?” the guard asked firmly.

“Maybe. But what if he needs to see Dr. Degree for a prescription? Could be important.”

The guard sighed. “General Radiance has called for maximized guards around and inside the Community Hospital for an exclusive special event. No admittance is allowed until tomorrow morning.”

“What about if creatures need to attend for medical emergencies during the night?”

“Who cares about them? Nopony in or out until tomorrow morning. Now, if you know this creature, take him away before we take action.”

The white non-pony slouched, knowing she wasn’t going to get anymore information out of the guard. Instead, she called up to the griffon who was still flying in circles near a couple of tall buildings. “Candid!”

Immediately as her voice entered the air, the griffon stopped before staring down at his friend. “Opul!” Without a hint of hesitation, he flew towards the roof of the nearest building before folding his wings back up.

“Candid, I have news!” she called up.

“I can’t hear you from up here!”

“Just fly down!” Opul yelled up to him.

“No!” Candid looked around, trying to find a fire escape that wasn’t there.

Opul huffed. “Would it be better if I closed my eyes?” Without waiting for an answer, Opul turned to look to the ground, hovering her claws in front of her face. After three seconds, she uncovered them to find an orange griffon directly in front of her.

Immediately, Opul flinched. “Where did you come from?!”

“Couldn’t hear me, huh?” Candid said with a smirk. “Best part of stealth is that when it’s not explained, it makes you question what is possible.”

Opul’s heart was still beating when she decided to tell her friend the original intent of her visit to him. “Candid, there’s something really cool that I think you’d like to see.”

“What is it?”

“Just come and see." Opul turned to lead the way down the streets. "I think you’ll be amazed.”

The orange non-pony snorted as he followed. "You can't just say something ominous like that and expect me not to question it."

"Come on, do you trust me or not?"

"That's not fair! There's plenty of things that benefit from questioning!"

Opul turned towards her friend as she walked backwards. "You're doing great, little griffon! Just keep on walking! We're almost there-."

Before she could finish, a loose stick intervened in her path. With no balance, she felt the weightlessness of herself tumbling towards the ground, but before any hard impact could be made, she felt the force of her friend already behind her, stopping her from going any further.

Instantly, her face turned red but shock took priority in her head. "How did you get here so quickly?"

"I'm still not as fast as I'd like to be."

Soon after she realized how close she was to him, and dragon cleared her throat. "It's, uh, just inside Droll's house here. I told him I'd go get you."

The griffon looked away. "Let's not keep him waiting."

Finally, Opul led the way inside, calling for her other friend to warn him of her arrival. She instantly noticed the change in design of the household layout, as if Droll had been preparing the place specifically for her and Candid. It was only after she continued to look around that her eyes caught on the yak who was smiling in anticipation in the corner of the room.

“Welcome,” he began, “to Droll’s Magicland.”

“That sounds stupid,” Candid said, prompting Opul’s lone wing to come up and headslap him.

The dragon cleared her throat. “Droll, do you have anything exciting for us this time?”

Without saying anything, the yak smirked before flicking his cloven-hoof. Instantly, the top of a counter beside Opul and Candid engulfed in flames that were all contained in a safety circle. Opul backed up behind Candid, startled at the sudden explosion, but Candid kept his ground as if not affected at all by what just happened. Droll gritted his teeth at the fire as if concerned for something, but after a couple of seconds, he stared at Opul and Candid expectantly.

“What, do you have a stove over something there?” Candid asked.

“No stove,” the yak reassured.

Candid rolled his eye, but Droll continued to stare at Opul expectantly, as if eying something directly above her head. The dragon was confused for a moment before Droll clapped his cloven hooves together.

“Poof!” he said in satisfaction. “The great Droll teleported bow to Opul.”

The dragon consciously blinked before Droll pulled out a small mirror, pointing it at Opul so that she could see what he was referring to. On the top of the dragon’s head was a small, white and pink bow that stood motionlessly on her emerald green hair. The white non-pony stared in astonishment as she admired the bow, not focusing on the stool that still stood behind her.

“Green base with white top,” Droll began. “Symbol of beauty.”

Opul’s smile contrasted Candid’s frown at the situation, but before the griffon could speak, Droll was off on another trick.

“Yak sometimes wonder how quick designs be done.” He proceeded to the counter that had the fire still going strong. After taking some water, he sprinkled a few drops over it, letting the sizzling sound fill the room with hisses. “Fire contain different colors. Just water has effect on all in this room. Candid’s tail had most effect.”

Instantly, the griffon tensed and he looked at his own tail to notice the top half was its natural orange and the bottom half was light green. He was speechless except for a few stutters of shock, prompting Opul to rush over to Droll with her bow bouncing on her head. In a friendly manner, she bumped the dull side of her claws against Droll’s cloven hoof.

“That’s - that’s not-.” Candid couldn’t finish his sentence over the sound of laughter.

The griffon huffed at the apparent derision of his friends. Being the brunt of a joke was one thing, but something felt far different when he noticed how overly satisfied Droll was at Opul’s giggling nature. Instantly, he went red, but he couldn't figure out if he was blushing or angry. Either way, he decided a different approach to the situation would be best.

“So you like true magic?” Candid said to Opul, trying to subdue his anger. “Well then you shouldn’t like Droll’s tricks. Afterall, he’s not even doing anything himself.”

Droll’s face drooped. “How griffon know?”

“You just used a furnace for your counter.”

“Wrong.”

“You had the bow ready to drop on Opul’s head.”

“Also wrong.”

“You had green paint fall on my tail when I wasn’t looking.”

“Getting closer,” Droll chuckled.

“And you don’t know how I got this.” Candid pulled out the white and pink bow out from behind him, holding it proudly in front of him.

Immediately, Opul reached her claw above her head to notice the absence of the bow.

Droll’s jaw dropped. “How-?”

Candid beamed. “A real magician needs to have no explanation for what he did.”

The yak frowned. “Candid no magician.”

“Then how do you explain this?”

“Magic yak’s thing!”

“Well it looks like it’s my thing now.”

Candid turned to smirk in Opul’s direction, but the dragon was not taking any joy in watching what seemed to be unfolding.

“What do you think, Opul?” he continued.

“I think maybe you shouldn’t do that.”

The griffon huffed. “Hey, if I’m better than him, then that’s not my fault.”

“Griffon no better than yak!”

“How did I do this then?”

“Yak no know! Just-.”

“Then I’m better than you.”

By now, Droll's breath was getting more and more shallow as his face twitched in a set of emotions. Finally, he spoke in a modest tone. “Get out.”

Candid blinked before backing his head up. Rather than showing any signs of remorse, he just scoffed. “Gladly.”

With no delay, Candid marched out the door, leaving Opul with her jaw partially ajar. She glanced back at Droll, but the yak just dropped his head to face the floor. It took the dragon a moment of time before she realized that she getting her friend to return was the only solution at the moment.

“I’m sorry, Droll,” she began. “I need to get Candid.”

“No one choose Droll anymore. Go.”

Opul froze, but she knew she couldn’t make a choice without upsetting someone, making her realize it didn't matter who she chose anyway. After a sigh of exasperation, she took off out the door, running to the still visible griffon in the distance.

“Candid!” she called out. “You’re making a big mistake!”

The griffon stopped to face the dragon. “Oh yeah? Well I don’t care. I should’ve chosen better friends who wouldn’t try to steal things from me.”

Opul’s eyes glistened in tears. “What happened to us?”

Candid glared down at her. “You should know.”

Without even giving Opul a chance to react, the griffon marched away, leaving the dragon in familiar solitude. She hated that feeling even though she knew she deserved it, yet she didn’t think either of her friends deserved a feeling so low. All she wanted to do was fix it, but she didn’t know how. The only way would be if they talked out the issue and gave eachother a chance again, but she had no knowledge on how to make that a reality.

"Opul! Hi!" A gentle voice said from the distance.

Opul looked up to see a maroon unicorn coming her way with a genuine smile for a change.

"Why are you looking so down?" the mare asked. "Did something happen since last time we talked?"

"Not exactly. This really has been more ongoing." The dragon sighed. "Candid and Droll are at it again. Only way to fix this is to get them to talk it out, I guess."

Thauma smirked. "Or I can use my breweries on them and brainwash them into interacting."

The dragon gritted her teeth but the unicorn just continued.

"Ha ha, I don't know how to do that on command. Hmm, maybe you leave them both a note, having them meet you at the same time."

“That’s a good idea . . ." She turned to face the direction where Candid had gone a while back before turning back to Thauma. "I've got to go. I think maybe I can still fix this."

The unicorn laughed. "When are you ever not fixing your friends' harmony?"

The dragon chuckled. "Well, believe it or not but it wasn't always me." The white non-pony's soft smile faded. "A while back, we had this other friend, Lenia, a light-green earth pony. She was the nicest filly you'd ever meet. She did a great job at helping each of us stay harmonious with each other. It's been really hard without her, but it's been far harder on Droll."

"He needs the extra company," the maroon pony nodded.

"It's the only thing I can do for him," Opul sighed. "Thank you, Thauma. We'll catch up some other time."

The unicorn smiled as she took off. "Good luck . . ."

“Would you care for a sandwich while you wait, dear?” a donkey waitress asked her.

“No, sorry,” Opul declined. “I can’t eat anything that’s not gems.”

“But dragons should be allowed to eat both.”

Opul sighed. “Yeah, they should be allowed. But I never got the chance to mix in normal food with my needed-gems diet when I was a kid. I never got used to eating anything else and now I can’t live off anything other than gems.”

“Well, is there anything I can do for you now?”

The white non-pony thought for a moment. “Could you play that song that goes ‘when they all see her come around, you know there’s something here to be found’?”

The donkey smiled before crossing the room to a jukebox where she changed the song to the familiar four-chord progression that Opul loved so much. She listened in peace as she waited, rocking herself back and forth with her eyes closed as she enjoyed the limited moment. It inevitably came to an end when she heard the sound of Candid arriving.

“Is this your writing?” He held up a note that contained the words that Opul used to recruit him.

She just gave a simple nod and a bright smile to him.

“Why does it look so ugly?” he followed up with.

Opul tossed her head. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I only had writing practice when I was three? I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a probable reason to me.”

Candid tried to shake his head, but Opul could tell he was amused, causing a subtle beam to slightly tug at her face.

Candid rearranged his position at the booth. “So what did you call me over here for?”

At the remembrance of her purpose, she straightened her posture. “Oh, I wanted you to meet with a friend of mine. I sure hope at the end of the day, you two can be friends too.”

Candid nodded his head before his eyebrows began to arch in suspicion. “Who is the friend-.”

“Sorry yak late!” Droll rushed in on the scene to Opul before he stopped abruptly at the mere sight of the griffon.

“Droll, please sit down,” Opul begged.

The yak slowly obeyed with his eyes still locked on the griffon, but as if trying to keep the weight balanced on the booth, Candid got up to leave.

“No, griffon, you stay!” Opul snapped in a playful, low-stake tone.

Candid groaned as Droll rolled his eyes, but Opul continued to try her best to resolve the situation.

“You two do this more often than I would like.” Opul looked directly into Candid’s eye. “You shouldn’t have to think you need to constantly be better than your friend. Just be happy that he has something. And speaking of being happy, Droll. What happened to you caring for whether or not your friends are happy?”

The brown non-pony shook his head. “Just not same.”

“I know things have been hard, Droll, but you need to acknowledge what you still have rather than what you’ve lost. I mean, I would’ve done anything to have friends like you two when I was growing up. You can’t take eachother for granted.”

Droll and Candid looked at eachother, their faces seeming to drain of their anger, prompting Opul to smile and try to finish resolving things.

“So what if one of you is better than the other? The important thing is-.”

“Wait, which one better?” Droll asked.

“Me,” the griffon said as if it were a given.

“No, dragon like yak’s tricks better!”

“Only because you were the only one she saw before she saw mine.”

Opul interrupted with a exasperated exhale. “I don’t care which one of you is better! That’s not something that’s important for me to figure out.”

Droll’s posture straightened. “So dragon no know?”

“Of course not. And frankly-.”

“Then we need to figure it out.” Candid glared at Droll, and the yak returned the expression without a hint of reluctance.

“Yak agree.”

Opul growled. “You two-!”

“Stay out of this, Opul,” Candid snapped without breaking eye contact.

The dragon widened her eyes before she backed up against the chair, realizing that she would be voiceless through the rest of this exchange. If she tried to intervene, she feared that more friends would be lost that day.

Candid’s lone eye shot daggers at Droll. “There's only one way to figure out for sure who is better.”

The brown non-pony nodded. “Competition in community theater.”

“Why theater?”

“Scared?”

“No!” Candid launched back. “Theater it is.”

Droll smirked. “Yak and griffon take turns doing tricks. First to have trick be caught loses.”

“And the loser needs to do a crime and confess to Radiance.”

Droll widened his eyes . Opul wanted to tell the two how stupid they were being, but she saw how well that worked out last time. After a couple moments of pondering, the yak finally nodded his head in agreement.

“So it will be 8:00 or so at the community theater?” Candid asked.

“Wouldn’t miss it.” Droll did not let his gaze avert from Candid’s face.

“If you’re late, you lose.”

“Better watch out then,” Droll said with a glare.

After returning the expression, Candid marched out of the restaurant, leaving Opul’s shock to decrease. When Droll got up to leave, Opul took her last opportunity to speak any sense.

“Droll, you can’t do this!” Opul begged. “If you tell Radiance you did a crime, he might put you in the community dungeon or worse!”

The yak gave a broken smile to his friend. “Droll have nothing else to live for. Either yak wins and have purpose or yak loses and no have to live like this.”

After a sigh, Droll left Opul alone at the booth, leaving her to realize that she just made matters worse and rather than losing a friend to strife, she’ll lose a friend permanently.

“Ideas, Opul!” she said to herself as she marched back and forth in her dumpster of a house. “How can you fix a problem that you’re not allowed to interfere in?”

She continued to pace with no solutions coming to mind, causing her eyes to tear up from the stress. Lives were at stake, and the pressure wasn’t making it any easier to think of a solution. She made two mistakes, but all of this could’ve been avoided if she just let Droll be happy showing her the magic tricks in peace.

“I know Candid wanted me to stay out of this,” Opul began, looking at the community theater just down the street from her house barely in view, “but that's never been my calling.”

Knowing she was pressed for time, she sprinted as fast as she could towards the closed theater. Upon arrival, she scanned the area for an opening to the locked place, but she didn’t find any entrances. She recalled that there were openings on the roof, but without a second wing, she couldn’t get to that level anymore.

She continued to search for options when she found a small opening in the base of the building that seemed to be cut through by something indescribably sharp. It made Opul nervous to think that such a blade would exist, but she took her opportunity to enter the building and fix an issue that might’ve already been too late.

As she traveled through the darkness of the auditorium, she heard the familiar sound of arguing voices echoing through the building. There must've not been a show today or else there would have been no way that her friends could be secretive.

Opul finally passed a corner to find the grand lit stage, seeing a yak and a griffon on separate sides in front of a partially creviced curtain. Each of the creatures were standing in front of their own series of items, exchanging different objects each time they had to come up with something new.

“You had that in your arms the whole time!” Candid yelled.

“No, yak no have it. Arms free throughout all until final.” Droll solemnly placed down an item before looking at Candid apprehensively to perform his trick.

Opul took the opportunity to sneak through the dark portion of the auditorium that was not lit. Despite her bright color, her friends were too distracted to look in her direction and notice anything.

Droll and Candid were still arguing over magic tricks when the dragon was able to slip behind the curtains and watch them through the slit in the middle. She began trying her best to figure out what to do when she saw different sets of magic materials behind the curtains. Instantly, she recognized these as the different supplies that either Droll or Candid was using to make their tricks work. After trying to study them to learn her next move, she looked up to the stage to see if her friends had caught on to her presence.

“This magic trick will reveal the truth of you,” Candid said.

The griffon raised up his talons before pushing the air in the direction of Droll. As if apprehensive, the yak backed up. Instantly when one of his back cloven hooves regressed, he was suddenly unstable, losing his pathing as if he wasn’t even standing on the floor anymore. He inevitably fell with a SPLUT, and when he got up, his whole back was covered in wet and brown dirt.

“Naturally brown, huh?” Candid said, scolding him arrogantly.

The yak said nothing. Instead, he stood proudly against the griffon and flicked his hoof. Instantly, Opul heard some sort of light scuffling on the wooden floor, going from one side of the curtain to the other. After a brief moment of that sound, the quiet sound of wires sounded, causing a few gallons of orange paint to fall directly on the griffon’s head.

Droll beamed at his friend, but before he could open his mouth, Candid snapped at him with an angered “not a word!”

Candid picked up an item from his pile and clicked a button. After a brief sound of fidgeting electronics from behind the curtain, Opul began thinking that the scuffling on the floor was just random machines placed there. The dragon began studying all of the materials she saw, trying to come up with a solution to what fate awaited the loser of this battle.

“Go ahead, Droll,” Candid said. “Make a fool of yourself. It’ll be the funniest thing you’ve done in a while.”

Droll took a deep breath before he took something from his pile and waved it around. He glared at Candid as if expecting him to see something happening, but nothing was taking place. From behind the curtain, Opul was no longer hearing the scuffling from earlier when Droll had performed his previous magic trick.

“Get on with it!” Candid roared.

Droll began to breathe loudly as he struggled to make something happen, but after nothing occurred for a brief set of moments, Candid continued his taunts.

“If you can’t make anything happen, I win.”

Opul tensed as she realized she was nearly out of time, alerting her that this was her last chance to do something. She went through all of the different materials before getting an idea.

“Griffon do something!” Droll yelled. “Yak will catch it.”

“Fine! You want to see an awestruck magic trick? I guarantee this will be better than anything you can possibly have planned!”

From in front of the curtains, Candid began to maneuver with his buttons at his resources, but instead of him being the only one, Droll began to dig through his resources as well, copying the griffon’s lead in trying to find the best resource. From in front of Opul, the sound of moving parts began to echo in her ears, causing the dragon to put forth her last ditch effort with no concern of what would happen next.

Without thinking of the consequences, Opul dug her claws into whatever machine she could find that was moving. When she had a good grip, she pulled it out, but immediately when it came loose, broken wires sparked violently in front of her. The wires she had pulled out were connected to the base of the stage, holding it up, but without it, there were no support beams.

As if on cue after her realization, the sound of wood began to break ahead of her. Without any time to think of it, Opul rushed out of the back of the stage as it collapsed behind her, leaving behind many cases of debris. When she turned back, she noticed the base of the stage collapsing all around as well as the lights from the ceiling falling down.

Opul saw no sign of her friends. She stared in horror, imagining that what she just caused made her lose both of her friends instead of just the one. Her breath grew shaky until the wooden planks began shuffling in two separate spots and the heads of a griffon and yak all covered in sawdust emerged from the top to look at eachother in shock.

Although the dragon was relieved to know that they were alright, a new fear settled in when she noticed the scowling expressions between the former friends, both appearing to have the desire to rid eachother of their disrespected lives. The white non-pony stared in fear, not knowing what would happen until Candid’s gaze appeared to size Droll up all over his torso and face. The longer the griffon’s eye moved back and forth to see Droll’s appearance, the more his face began to spread in a smile.

“You look-,” Candid began, “-absolutely ridiculous.”

Unable to contain his laughter, Candid began to snicker, which turned into boisterous laughter that filled the whole room. Rather than put on a look of fury, Droll’s scowl began to ease up into a light-hearted smile before he too began to giggle in the same pleasure that Candid was in. Opul watched in mesmerization as the two continued to laugh for many moments at the absurdity of the situation.

Finally, Droll’s laughing died down before he let his head drop in shame. “Opul right. Droll and Candid no take friendship for granted.”

The griffon sighed. “Yeah, she was right. This whole thing is just stupid.”

“Yak sorry for whole day. Droll sorry for acting like this.”

Candid pursed his lips. “And I - may have - had a 100% chance of acting like a total jerk today too.”

Droll’s eyes traveled up to Candid’s face emotionally. “Candid and Droll still friends?”

The orange non-pony frowned for a moment before he looked away in deep thought. “Well, if I don’t die after today from my injuries, then yeah, we’re friends.”

Immediately, Droll smiled and spread his arms for a hug to which Candid denied with a simple “no no.” Without leaving it at that, Candid held out his talon, allowing for Droll to shake it with his cloven-hoof.

Opul was watching in delight when Candid finally brought a serious note.

“But really though, we have been working with toxic magic tricks and maybe have lung problems or something from all this sawdust. I think we might be in trouble.”

Droll widened his eyes at the thought. “Maybe griffon and yak go to hospital.”

“The hospital is closed for tonight!” Opul called out from her position across the room.

Candid and Droll both snapped their gazes over to Opul, but the dragon simply just continued.

“Candid, when I found you there earlier today, the guards said that they were guarding the place for tonight and making sure that no one got in or not.”

Droll lowered his face in fear. “But griffon and yak could die. Droll and Candid need to go there.”

Candid smirked at both of his friends. “Well, then I guess we’ll just have to break in ourselves.”

Cold

Episode 13: Hospital Heist

Opul waited patiently near the building outside of the hospital. She was used to being dirty and after not being exposed harshly to the massacre now known as the Community Theater, she was allowed to skip straight to waiting outside of the hospital while her friends got perfectly ready for their mission.

As she waited, she couldn’t help but believe she was lying to herself. She kept trying to justify her importance on the mission. She told herself that pulling out the wires to the machine was good enough to put her at risk like her friends, but she had a hard time buying that excuse. For some reason, she just felt that she needed to be there for them. Of course, to keep them out of trouble.

She stared out at the starry night, watching Luna’s beautiful creation. She was in disbelief that this masterpiece would extend to every part of Equestria, even to an undiscovered place like the community. It always baffled her to think that if one of the princesses went into the dreams of many, no one would be exempt from their stealth, but with the thought that dreams didn’t have a trace, she realized that perhaps some creatures have struck the Princess of the Night with worry. Maybe it even caused her to grow mad with concern at her inability to help.

The dragon shook the thought from her mind and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of the night. She focused on any sound she could. She half-expected to hear the familiar buzzing sounds of insects in a forest, but there were no bugs in the desert, at least none she had ever seen in the community. The only thing allowed was the weather the community pegasi controlled.

She listened closer but didn’t hear anything, only the ringing phantom sounds that alerted her that nothing was happening. She was beginning to relax until she heard the whispering voice.

“Are we ready?”

Immediately, Opul broke her eyes open violently before something covered her mouth, muffling her scream. She fought as hard as she could against the mysterious force, believing in that moment she was prey.

“Calm down!” a voice loudly whispered. “It’s me!”

Opul was having a hard time shifting her mind back into a state of calmness, but she forced herself to listen. After paralyzing her body, she turned her eyes to see the concerned griffon staring at her. After a couple moments of awkward eye contact, she scraped his talon with her sharp claw, making him let go of her face.

Candid hissed back. “What was that for?”

“Why do you have to cover my mouth?”

“If you scream, our cover is blown. I wasn’t going to take any chances.”

Opul rolled her eyes. “Why is Droll not with you?”

“I don’t know. It’s not like we shower together.”

The dragon drooped both her eyes and mouth in disgust, causing the griffon to quickly think back his words.

“I-I don’t mean-.”

“Stop it. Don’t make it worse for yourself.” Opul turned the corner of the building she was hiding behind, focusing carefully on the hospital. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”

“Why do I always have to be the one with a plan?”

The white non-pony crossed her arms. “Well this was your idea.”

The griffon raised an arm up as if to object but instantly realized he was wrong. “Okay, we sneak in, see if we’re at risk for anything, then we sneak out.”

“That’s it?” Opul shook her head in disbelief, trying to imagine a scenario where this would be fully thought through. “What are you most concerned about?”

Candid took a deep breath. “Droll used a spray can on me for one of his magic tricks.”

As Candid spoke, Opul focused on a figure looming behind the griffon, causing the dragon to smile in a subtle manner before the griffon continued.

“It kind of stung a little and Droll admitted he sprayed some on himself to see if it was too much. He told me it had something to do with repelling these hedgehog-like creatures.”

Opul’s eyes looked passed Candid to focus on the shape getting bigger behind the griffon.

“And if it’s repellent to some creatures, it might be toxic to me and him. Droll might want to know if it’s dangerous rather than attempt to sneak up on me.”

Instantly the griffon turned around to the yak, giving him an unamused but playful look, but rather than a smile being on Droll’s face, it was just indifference.

Opul tried to put on a bright expression. “Scaring someone was already done today, Droll, so you’re too late.”

“Yak no try to scare anyone,” Droll spoke in a straight voice. “Droll just practicing stealth before mission.”

The dragon pursed her lips. “Well, before you got here, Candid-.”

“Can friends just go now?”

Candid and Opul exchanged nervous looks but reluctantly agreed, following behind Droll as he approached the hospital.

Candid cleared his throat. “What took you so long?”

The yak just sighed. “Droll just need to return something.”

Opul gritted her teeth. “Are you okay?”

“No matter.”

“Do you want to talk about-?”

“Where entrance?”

The dragon gave a concerned breath before looking around. “The front doors are obviously closed. Tonight, there are many guards, so we have to be extra careful.”

Droll looked to his friends in a lack of emotion. “Any plans?”

Candid scowled at the yak. “Droll, you’re going to have to knock that off.”

“Deal with it!” he spoke a little too loudly.

Candid was instantly shut up, but after looking around to make sure everything was still alright, he spoke. “Okay, okay. Fine.”

Droll’s breath grew shaky, and he regarded Candid in a flurry of emotions, but ultimately stayed silent. With neither one of them willing to take the charge, Opul decided to step up.

“Isn’t the second floor for creatures that aren’t ponies?” the white non-pony asked for clarification to which Candid nodded his head reluctantly.

Droll sighed. “Degree said ponies higher priority.”

“Well if ponies are a higher priority, wouldn’t that mean that the upper floor does not have as many guards as the first?”

The griffon tilted his head. “What are you saying?”

Opul put a claw to her chin in thought. “Perhaps if we can enter in through the second floor, we’ll have an easier time not getting caught by the massive amount of guards.”

“Um, Opul?” Candid began, gesturing to his wings in a subtle manner.

“Who said anything about flying?” The single-winged creature marched ahead of her friends around the hospital while the others joined in confusion. “Although not every building has a fire escape to it, this hospital sure does.”

Opul continued to march around the building, finding the metal staircase that led to the second floor. “It’s amazing. The second floor was always meant for non-ponies. How did something so helpful to them get introduced.”

Droll whimpered from behind. “. . . Lenia suggested it. Pony concerned for-.”

“Okay, let’s stop talking,” Candid interrupted. “Opul, lead the way.”

In a disturbed fashion, the dragon traveled up through the stairwell. Her friend was in anguish, but she had no idea how to help him. Usually it was his expertise to make her and Candid smile.

When she got to the top, she focused back to her friends to see a griffon already at the top and a yak slowly but surely making his way there. She slouched before turning her attention to the roof of the hospital, looking for any ways to get in.

The griffon pointed to a glass section in the middle of the roof. “I think I see something.”

After a smile, Opul traveled slowly towards the designated section, careful not to let any of her steps on the roof be heard. She focused down into the skylight, carefully watching for many moments to see if anyone would pass by, but after a long while of focus, she finally reached her claws down to pry open the window. She lifted it up cautiously before turning to Candid and giving him a bright smile.

“Really secure place they have here, huh?” Candid pointed out.

Opul sighed. “Well, this is the level for non-ponies. Safety really isn’t a high priority.”

She lifted the lid to the skylight higher. “Okay, Candid. You carry Droll safely down there and just slow his fall so he doesn’t make much noise like a yak would.”

She turned to smile at the already present yak, but he was still expressionless. Instead, he just climbed over the skylight opening to get ready for Candid to help descend him. The dragon kept opening it widely as Candid carried his friend safely to the floor, but when the two safely landed, Opul’s strength was beginning to give way. She struggled in her fight against gravity, but before she could call out for help, her claws slipped, causing her to slip through the opening and begin falling down.

Immediately, the feeling of two furry arms wrapped around her torso, cushioning her fall before she could scream. She had enough willpower to stay quiet though since much of her survival came from her hiding.

The dragon looked up before staring into the lone eye of her savior.

“Hey . . .” Candid said awkwardly.

Immediately, Opul jumped out of his grasp before brushing herself down from anywhere that came into contact with her friend. After she was finished, she straightened herself back up. “ . . . thanks.”

Droll was staring up at the now closed skylight, oblivious to the interactions between his friends. “Skylit slammed shut.”

Candid turned to Droll. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Before a second of silence could pass, the distant sound of voices were heard. “Did you hear that?”

“That,” Droll answered his friend.

“Guards are suspicious now,” Opul panicked. “What’s our next move?”

“We need to find Degree’s office,” Candid said, looking around panicked. “The moment we know where it is-.”

“Second floor,” Droll said, staring down the hallway. “Three rooms down.”

Opul and Candid exchanged worried looks, but Droll just traveled ahead at his normal pace.

“Droll,” Opul called out as she and Candid followed him. “Why are you being so calm about this?”

“What there to worry about anymore?” Droll continued to march down the hallway.

When Opul looked behind, she saw the circles of light flying around the walls near the skylight, alerting her that the guards were on the lookout with their flashlights. She sped up down the hall, but Droll was still walking at the same speed as if nothing was on his mind.

“Can we hurry it up, please?” the dragon begged.

“Right here,” the yak said as he stopped in front of a room.

“It’s got to be locked,” the orange non-pony pointed out. “There’s no way we can get in before-.”

Without giving his friend a chance to finish, Droll clicked off his horn and swiped at the lock on the door, cracking through it with one aggressive swipe. Immediately, the door loosely opened and rather than ask questions, Opul pulled it open to burst through before the guards could get any closer.

Immediately, Candid got to work, searching through any files he could sort through. Opul was about to help when she noticed Droll slouching in the middle of the room. Even though she had no idea how to help him, she still wanted to try.

“Um, Droll,” she began, confused as to where she was going. “How, um, how did you know where Dr. Degree’s room would be?”

The brown non-pony sighed. “Degree was convinced to move office to make it closer to non-ponies.”

Opul was about to continue by asking who convinced him, but she had a feeling she knew the answer. With no confidence that she could help the situation, she decided to not make it any worse.

The dragon turned to her friend who was now going through a cabinet. The container resided next to the opposite side of the room where another exit was. The griffon was focusing on different papers but getting overwhelmed with them all.

“Here, let me help you,” she said gently, visibly relieving stress from her friend.

The dragon continued to look through the papers. “Do you remember exactly what the can looked like?”

The griffon searched his mind. “It was a tall can and it looked black. It’s name was some sort of repellent. Droll, what do you know about it?”

The yak just sat down in the middle of the room, staring out the window. “Glass look cracked to friends too?”

“Come on, Droll. Nothing’s cracked. Are you going to help out?”

Candid waited for an answer, but Droll continued to stare through the window, unresponsive as if he didn’t hear anything.

Through their searching, the sound of guards grew louder in the hallway outside, alerting the two that they needed to continue faster. They sorted through as much paper as possible, only focusing on anything that resembled a can until they found their closest match. On the sheet of paper, a picture of a tall, black spray can stood visibly with a description underneath.

Candid read quietly. “It says here that this is pukwudgie spray. Harmful specifically to the vicious creatures, it has no lasting effect on ponies or any creatures similar.”

Opul sighed. “Let’s hope that means you too.”

“It has to,” Candid said in a hopeful tone.

The optimism caused a subtle smile to spread across the dragon’s face, but before she could offer her thoughts, the overwhelming sound of talking guards sounded from beyond the door.

“Dr. Degree’s room has been broken into,” one voice whispered.

Instantly, the dragon’s eyes widened further than they ever had before. “Droll, we need to go right now.”

Droll sighed. “Does it matter?”

“Yes,” Candid said firmly, but the yak was still not moving.

From outside the door, another voice spoke up. “Go get back up. We might have dangerous creatures that have escaped.”

Opul ran to the other door in the room, opening it widely. “Droll we need to go now.”

After another moment of Droll not responding, Candid and Opul had the exact same idea. As a team, the two grabbed a hold of Droll’s arms, sliding him across the floor through the door. Right when Opul shut the door behind herself, the front door to the office bursted open as guards piled through in hordes.

The two kept trying to pull him to safety, but Droll wasn’t even trying to help them, causing the two to barely even travel.

“Opul, they’re going to catch us if we don’t hurry out of here,” Candid speedily said.

Opul huffed. “Well, what do you want me to do?”

The griffon's breath grew more shallow. He glanced through the window of the door they came from, only to see flashlights everywhere along with the sound of unfiltered searching.

"Droll, listen. I know it's a sad time for you, but now's not the time to be deadweight, m'kay?" The orange non-pony lifted one of Droll's arm's over his head as he began to pull again. "You just got to-." He was interrupted by a cloven-hoof falling, hitting into his chin on the way down.

In shaky breaths, the griffon finally mustered a "f-f-f-f-fine!" And with that, he released his grip and fled down the dark hallway in front of him.

From the other side of Droll, Opul flinched. "C-Candid, wait!" And just as quickly, the dragon let go and ran down the hall after him.

Candid was sprinting as fast as he could. He could not believe what just happened, but everything in his mind told him to just continue.

"Candid!" Opul called from behind, still trying to keep her voice down. "What are we doing??"

The griffon scoffed. "If he doesn't want to be helped, we can't force him."

“But just leaving him like that? I mean, what kind of friends are we?”

Candid opened his mouth to reply but just as quickly, he closed it. There was nothing he could say in a situation like this.

The two non-ponies stumbled along the end of the corridor, recognizing the same circles of light from before. The griffon slowly traveled close to Opul, watching to see how far they could get without getting caught.

“What’s our plan now, smarty?” Opul asked.

Candid slowed his breathing down to talk normally. “Same as before. We find a safe way out of here without getting caught. Another skylight would be good to find. If only the guards weren't surrounding the ones we came in from. We need to find another route that they wouldn’t expect.”

Opul thought for a moment. “Like the front door?”

Candid wanted lift up a clawless talon and call the idea stupid, but he began to humor the idea for a moment. If the guards were expecting stowaways to sneak out, they would be covering every secret exit of the building, but they wouldn’t care as much about the front entrance.

Candid continued to think about the validity of the idea before he finally nodded his head. “We’ll check the front door.”

After receiving a smile from Opul, Candid proceeded to check the locations of the guards again. They were marching back and forth through the hallway, carefully checking every inch of everywhere to make sure nothing went over their heads.

“So how do we get passed this?” Opul asked.

The griffon narrowed his eye in thought before getting an idea. “Ever played hide and seek in the dark before?”

The dragon just glared at her friend before Candid realized his mistake.

“Oh right, you’ve never done anything before.” Candid cleared his throat awkwardly before continuing. “Well, we’re the hiders and they are the seekers. They can only see with their flashlights though, so as long as we stay out of the light, we will be safe. But if the light hits us, we lose.”

“So we’re just avoiding the beams? Sounds easy to understand.”

“It’s all about stealth. Going to be harder without depth perception, but just copy my lead.” Candid marched out into the corridor, seeing several guards shining lights at the walls and looking. He focused on them to study their movements and noticed none coming their way. When the griffon looked back at his friend, she found her straining her eyes to see the griffon, but he could tell that he was still barely visible.

The dark orange non-pony crept to the walls silently, getting closer to a guard who had his flashlight pointed to the wall. The light beam wasn’t moving very rapidly, so Candid took his opportunity to silently hop over the beam, using his wings to carefully guide him through the air and land quietly on the other side. He only noticed his mistake when he remembered Opul.

He looked back in the direction of his dragon friend to notice a darkish-white figure slowly making her way to the light beam before stopping. She was shaking nervously but was still able to manage to be quiet. From the other side of the light beam, Candid got down to the floor, staring at a thin section under the beam that the dragon could slip under. Slowly, he beckoned from the floor, allowing for his friend to get on the ground and begin crawling slowly. As Candid watched, he noticed her tail slowly rising up, causing the griffon to freeze in fear, but before the tail could reach the light beam, it dropped down to the floor, allowing Opul to crawl peacefully the rest of the way.

Opul got up in a panicked tone, but Candid just smiled in relief before beckoning for her to follow. They tiptoed through the hallway, watching out for other light beams that would block their path. Whenever a guard was a threat, the two would wait for the flashlight to angle away and provide a path for the two to get through. Throughout the moments, Candid was concerned his friend would fall behind, giving him the urge to grab her arm for security, but he quickly shot down this idea when he realized it wasn’t worth getting out of there alive if he had to deal with the embarrassment doing that.

After the two passed multiple guards in the hallway, they finally made it to the staircase.

“There’s a door here,” Opul whispered.

Candid turned to his friend slowly. “Yes . . . I can see that.”

The dragon scoffed. “No, I mean what if there are guards on the other side? We can’t see ahead of ourselves so we won’t know if we’re walking right into a trap.” Opul began to breathe heavier, worried about being so close to danger ever since what happened last time.

The orange non-pony regarded her friend in great emotion. “If I can help it, I’m not letting another friend get caught today. Believe me when I tell you this: I will be caught before you do.”

Opul took a deep breath. “I believe you. There’s never been a time where you didn’t tell me the truth.”

Candid smiled before turning to the door. After putting on talon on the handle, he froze, nervous at what was ahead, but after a few moments of deep breaths, he pushed it open to reveal the fortunately empty staircase.

“We’re almost there,” he beamed. “After you.”

Opul marched down the stairs first as Candid followed closely behind. When they reached the first floor, the painful thought settled in that there would be even more guards than on the first floor. After opening the main level door just a bit, it was apparent how much trouble they were in.

As if it were daytime, several light beams shown at once at a single location, shining all over and illuminating every spot.

“What do we do?” Opul asked.

Candid began to try and think of something but there was nothing. “Um . . . something will happen. Just like when we waited for the light beams to provide a path for us.”

Candid and Opul waited patiently, staring outside into the hallway, but nothing under their control was providing them with a solution. The two could only hope that there would be something that granted them safe passage.

From the hallway, a guard spoke up. “You’re sure there are stowaways here?”

“Yes,” a voice answered back. “I just heard them from the second level.”

From behind Candid, Opul whispered. “Were we that noisy?”

Before the griffon could reply, the sound of crashing sounded from the hallway on the opposite side of the front entrance. The orange non-pony watched as the ceiling caved in slightly and sawdust fell to the floor. Immediately, the multiple flashlights all focused on the location from where the sound came from, freeing up a zone in the hallway that led to the exit.

“This is our only chance, Opul.”

Candid pulled the door open and ran as quietly as he could down the hallway. Opul was quick to follow, and the two persisted, staring at the wide-open exit that continuously grew in visual size as the two non-ponies traveled to it. As Opul was gaining speed on the griffon, Candid stared back at the site where the two originally were, seeing the flashlights all diverting from their original spot to return to illuminating the rest of the hallway. By the time he returned his gaze back in front of him, he could see Opul having a head start, nearly at the exit. That was when the guards returned to their positioning and guarded the doors. Opul quickly stopped and hid against the white wall, using her best defense mechanism to give her limited protection.

Candid quickly flew to the ceiling, trying his best to hide as well. He placed both sets of clawless talons on the barrier above him as he continued flapping his wings, still careful not to cause a draft. The exist ahead of him was so close, yet it still seemed impossible to reach, but when he paid attention to his surroundings, he found a potential solution. To his left, against the wall, was a tray full of guard equipment. He focused on numerous guards about to return to their place right below him, but when he looked ahead to Opul, he saw that she was frozen in place, not able to move without being caught. And even if she didn’t move it was only a matter of time.

He looked back at the armor equipment, an idea forming in his mind. After he tried to think of another option, it was apparent to him that this was the only way to assure Opul’s safety. Without arguing with himself, he zoomed down to the equipment with great speed, hitting against it and knocking all of the metal on the floor.

Instantly, the guards at the front entrance focused on the sound, allowing Opul to burst out the doors into safety. Candid watched as she made her way out, but then saw the multiple flashlights pointing at him. Without letting himself go down that easy, he flew out of the beam with great speed, jumping up to the darkness of the ceiling and zooming down a separate hallway as fast as he could, racing to beat out the light beams.

Droll felt the painful tug of Opul’s grasp on his arm.

“Well what do you want me to do?” she asked.

The griffon's panic was obvious to Droll as his friend looked away. Finally, his attention was brought back to the yak. "Droll, listen. I know it's a sad time for you, but now's not the time to be deadweight, m'kay?"

From the ground, the brown non-pony felt his arm raised above the griffon's head, but he did nothing to sustain it in the air. The lack of balance soon became apparent, and while his friend was saying something, he felt his cloven-hoof slip, hitting against something before falling to the ground.

From beside him, Candid held his chin before eventually making out a mere "f-f-f-f-fine!" before finally leaving for good. And before he knew it, Opul too was quick to abandon him.

The yak wanted to be surprised, but he was having trouble feeling anything at the moment. He wanted to speak, but the only thing going through his mind was the sound of a dozen hoof steps making their way to his location. Why would he have to be surprised at those two leaving? They didn’t seem to care about abandoning their other friend either.

Suddenly, there was a louder thought in Droll’s mind than that of the hoofsteps that were already upon him. He knew that if Lenia was there, she would never approve of Droll giving himself up for this. Something so stupid was never an option Lenia would approve of, and there was no way that he was going to upset her.

"What yak do?" He asked himself, staring up in the darkness before the answer finally came to him. "Fight . . ."

Droll rose to a stance as the sound of guards came up behind him.

"Freeze!" One guard said as they shined a flashlight on him.

“Droll do this for you . . .” He said, still staring off into the darkness.

As soon as one guard placed a hoof on him, he took off stampeding down a separate hallway, valuing his life for the first time in what seemed like forever. He crossed multiple rooms in his sprint, but through all of his actions to escape, the noise he made caused the guards to study his exact location. His only goal was to escape down the nearby stairwell, but he knew that if he went there, the guards would just follow him and track him down to the main level. He had to make them think that he was still on the second level so he’d have a clear shot at escaping through the first level.

Droll continued running, pounding his cloven-hooves against the floorboards in order to increase his speed. He could hear the sounds of the guards in hot pursuit, pointing their flashlights across the hallway to try and see him. Quickly, he turned a corner and began running as quietly as he could to mask his location before he tried to duck into a random room to hide. As he went inside the indent just outside the door, he was met with a locked door, to which he removed his horn once more to cut through the lock. With the door now opened, he ducked inside to wait.

For many minutes he listened to the guards shuffle outside in search of him, but Droll continued his patience, knowing he couldn’t rush his freedom. The only thing he heard in his wait besides the constant marching of guards was the heart-rate monitor from some poor non-pony who wasn’t receiving any attention. Droll disregarded that though to focus on his end goal. His needed a clear path to the stairwell and lots of noise to keep the guards on the second floor.

He went over his plan in his head before he finally came across a moment of silence where he could only assume the coast was clear. Timidly, he poked his head outside to look both ways and see that no one was waiting for him on the other end. As he traveled quietly down the empty corridor, he looked behind him to see that the nearby staircase was behind him, but he knew that if he was going to make noise, then it couldn’t be next to his escape route.

He was nearly at the end of the corridor when he found a bookshelf loaded with so much material, it seemed like the floor was breaking below it. Droll knew this was the scapegoat he needed, and after sizing it up, he proceeded to kick out the base of it. It was when it started falling towards him that he realized it was probably time to go.

Droll immediately rushed out of its path as he made his way through the corridor. The sound of the bookshelf violently colliding against the floor was enough to make him jump, but he persisted in his efforts. He had to make it to the closer second stairwell on the opposite side from where his friends ran to. The noise behind him was so big that he figured it must’ve broken through the floor in the process, but it was just the noise he needed to make his escape.

The brown non-pony continued to rush through the hallway, masking his location with whatever stealth he could use. He listened as the guards gathered to the crash behind him and the yak knew that whatever time he bought himself wouldn’t be long. From traveling at such a fast pace, he was able to make it to the stairwell and get through the doors without a guard noticing him.

Droll rushed down the stairwell to the first floor, confident that all of the guards were now on the second floor and it would give him a clear shot at the exit. He dashed into the first floor with no guards as expected. He focused down the hallway at the corner where the exit was, and he knew how close he was. All he had to do was get there.

He continued his trek down the corridor at full speed, imagining that nothing could stop him until he heard the horrifically loud clatter of metal from down the hall next to the exit. Instantly, Droll saw flashlight circles cover the entirety of the hall in the distance, alerting the yak that he needed to find a place to stop.

He scanned the room numbers that were barely visible before his eyes caught on a room with the word Pawnee spread against the wall next to it, labeling the room. Instantly, Droll recognized it as Radiance's private hospital room, and he knew that the guards wouldn’t enter there, making it the perfect hideout until everything was normal. Without hesitating, Droll got to the indent in the hall where the room was, and he sliced the lock on the door, allowing for him to enter through.

From outside, he heard the loud marching of guards rushing down the hallway in pursuit of the stowaways, causing Droll to sink back deep inside the room. He held his breath. Aside from the marching sounds of the guards, he could only hear the consistent beating of a heart rate monitor.

Droll turned towards a window right beside a gurney, seeing latches on it that he could use to escape, but before he could mess with them, he heard the sound of the door behind him open and close. Before Droll could panic at being caught, he heard the familiar sound of his friend.

“Droll?” Candid asked. “Oh dear, Droll. You’re safe!”

“No talk to yak!” Droll snapped.

Candid drooped in guilt. “Droll, I’m sorry for leaving you back there. I didn’t know if there was another way. You weren’t moving, and I thought we all were going to die if we stayed for you.”

Droll nodded his head in understanding before his curiosity overtook him. “How Candid manage to pick same room as yak?”

The griffon smiled. “This was the only room with a broken lock, the only room I could get in.”

Candid spoke gently, as if happy to see his friend again, causing him to fly over to Droll right beside the gurney. They heard the sound of guards shuffling outside, prompting Droll to begin working on the latches on the window. Before he could get very far, he could hear the sound of the door behind him open up.

Instantly, Candid and Droll ducked between the gurney and the window, hiding their presence from any guards looking for them, but instead of hearing the sound of a guard leave the room to continue to search outside, the familiar sound of a stallion spoke up.

"That's strange," Radiance began. "Someone will fix this lock tomorrow."

Candid looked at Droll before whispering. "Why's he here? Is Nightfall sick or something?"

Droll shook his head. "No. Would've made community news . . ."

“I’m sorry,” Radiance continued as he made his way closer. “I wanted no threats today, but it seems like that got foiled.”

Droll listened to the stallion walk across the room and sit down on the gurney. “Do you remember what today is, honey? Today is the 5th anniversary of when we first arrived here. Can you believe time passed by so quickly?”

A few seconds of near-silence went by as the heart-rate monitor partially filled the empty void. That was until the silent sound of sobbing was heard from the community leader.

“I-I-,” he stuttered. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I know everyone wants me to spot putting you through this, but I won't. You're going to make a full recovery. I know it. I love you, sweetheart.”

After a few more seconds of silence, Radiance got up and sighed before marching out of the room.

Candid rose to a stance. “What was that all about?”

Droll barely heard his friend. He blinked back a tear as his breath grew heavy. “No . . .” He rose to a stance as well, slowly walking around the gurney. “No . . .”

Droll looked down at the gurney, seeing the light-green earth pony rest peacefully with a red rose in between her hooves.

Team COLD

Episode 1: Recovery Part 1

Author's Note

Recap (spoilers for Glow in the Dark): Glow in the Dark was the story of how Cozy Glow became the way she was.

Her parents were taken from her by a unicorn named Pent who tried to kidnap her and raise her as his own daughter. She escaped by stealing one of Pent's sharpened chess pieces, a rook. As she escaped, she fell unconscious before a pegasus named Troth helped her get to a community. When Cozy Glow woke up, her rook was missing from her. After Dr. Degree put Troth to look after Cozy, the salmon-filly's new goal became to find her rook.

Troth decided the first thing they would do would be to visit her best friend, Lenia, for lunch but to their shock, Lenia was there with her own friends, a griffon named Candid, a dragon named Opul, and a yak named Droll. During their uncomfortable introduction, Cozy learned that each of the non-ponies were missing an item just like her. Candid had his paddleball taken, Droll had his family picture confiscated, and Opul had her best friend, a pet rabbit, stolen from her when they each first arrived. With a forced partnership, Cozy decided that they all should sneak into the castle to steal back what's rightfully theirs.

After their failed mission which left one of Opul's wing and one of Droll's horns removed, Cozy got sent to the throneroom of the palace the next day to meet directly with the corrupt leader of the community, a unicorn who calls himself Emperor Contume. He was open with her about his treatment of his citizens, but it became apparent to Cozy on how much he mistreats the non-pony citizens. He even let slip that he ended the life of Opul's pet bunny shortly after taking him from her. After seeing how disturbed Cozy Glow was, Contume offered to let the filly take home a valuable from his oversized safe. It's there that she discovered her rook, but Contume denied her the weapon, letting her take Candid's paddleball instead before allowing her to leave. Afterwards, Cozy met with Troth and she showed Cozy Glow the library, Cozy discovered a research book on the magic of friendship, and she quickly learned on how she could utilize its power. From that point, she used Candid's item as leverage and decided that this very night, the six would break into the throneroom forcefully to stop Contume's rule and finally get all their items back

The six creatures sneaked through the palace but blocking the doorway were dozens of guards. Lenia was able to save them by declaring to the soldiers that her parents needed all the help they could get in the lower wing of the palace, and Cozy discovered that her parents were Radiance and Nightfall, the two second-in-commands of the community. With the way now clear, Cozy led the way into the throneroom where they had planned to stop Contume. With Contume winning the battle of manipulation, he turned the non-ponies against Cozy while her friends, Troth and Lenia, were lost in what their purpose was. With a last-ditch effort, Cozy revealed the fate of Opul's bunny, which allowed her to break free from Contume's mental grasp on her while Droll and Candid followed suit. Contume then used his magic to subdue the entire six before lifting Cozy up to try and crush her, but after thinking of the friendship she made with Troth and Lenia and how they helped her overcome her fear of unicorns, she was overcome with its power as Contume's magic no longer worked on her. She relieved Contume's magic from Lenia and Troth all while Candid, Opul, and Droll discovered how to use the magic in their own bubble. With the magic surrounding the two sets of friends, they unleashed a magical blast that could defeat the emperor.

With the moment of victory cut short, Cozy believed now that she was meant to be the ruler all along with how she could use the magic of friendship. The non-ponies said she's wrong and tried to stop her, but Cozy threw her rook at Candid to tip off a battle in the throneroom. Troth teamed up with Cozy to fight Opul when Candid and Droll find Lenia cowering at the edge of the throneroom. Lenia, unwilling to fight, threw herself through the window from the second-floor of the palace. The shattering of the glass alerted Troth who thought that Candid and Droll did that forcefully to the filly, and she attacked them, outmatching the two of them with her strength. After nearly getting killed, Candid hatched a last-ditch idea to trick Troth into going underneath the oversized safe, and with the help of Droll using the last of their energy, he was able to tip it over on her, crushing her to only let the top-half of her head see the light of day. This alone made Cozy stop fighting to rush to her deceased friend. With nothing more she could do for her, the salmon-filly picked up the remnants of her friend's skull. Cozy fled out of the window of the throneroom, leaving the three non-pony survivors at the mercy of the general's guards just outside the door. This is their story.

Episode 1: Recovery Part 1

Candid was still breathing heavily as he stared out the opened window with his lone right eye, not knowing if he was more angry or sad. He couldn’t tell if the blood on his left cheek was from the pale pegasus or from his bleeding socket. Just two days before, his life had been fine, but it only took one pony to turn everything upside down.

From behind the griffon, the sound of hoof steps outside the room grew more intense, filling the hallway with echoes from the marching guards. They were almost loud enough to cover the heavy breathing of the orange non-pony by the time Opul fell over.

Candid quickly turned to face his friends. Droll had hit the safe head on but fell unconscious safely to the side, and Opul was all scratched up with red gashes all over, her blood matching the color of the pool beneath the safe from which Candid rested over.

Candid rushed over to his friend who was barely clinging to consciousness. “It’s okay, Opul. I’ve got you.” He held the dragon in his arms, watching as her eyelids fell shut. To the griffon’s relief, she was still breathing.

Finally the door busted open, revealing practically an army of earth pony guards led by one tall, golden stallion with a red mane. Candid couldn’t quite tell what the lead pony’s cutiemark was with all of the armor covering him. The guards filled the room, evenly distributing the place in volume and investigating all over the throneroom.

The stallion stared down at the pool of blood that was still growing in size, its height over the floor still decreasing from its volume. The yellow pony stared at it in disgust before looking up from the horrific sight to see the bloody griffon with the unconscious body in his arms.

Candid raised his head slowly, glaring up at the pony. “She needs help.”

A dark blue mare was quick to accompany the stallion, her cutiemark that of musical notes in a dark atmosphere. “Where’s the Emperor?

Candid directed his head to the window that had been blasted through, and immediately a dozen guards were on the case.

One guard held up a flashlight to aim through the opening, and he scanned the ground briefly before stopping at a location. “There!”

The orange non-pony’s breathing grew heavier as his adrenaline died down, and he began to feel just as woozy as before. He kept trying to maintain his consciousness, only interested in making sure that Opul was properly cared for.

The bright-colored stallion walked around the pool of blood that was now reaching the center of the carpet where the outline of an earth pony was drawn. He approached Candid carefully, his face full of calmed concern. “Where’s Lenia?”

Candid stiffened before his eye pooled again, looking passed the stallion to the other side of the throneroom where the small, freshly broken window was.

“Where’s Lenia?” the stallion repeated, getting more agitated.

Candid’s breath became audible, and he opened his mouth to give an answer before the darkness surrounded his right eye, causing him to pass out in the middle of the crime scene.

Droll awoke with the biggest headache. Everything was still a haze to him, but he remembered the general idea of what had happened. The only thing his mind was doing was loops though.

The synchronized pattern of beeps from the machine beside him focused his mind into one steady pattern. Finally, the yak opened his eyes to view his surroundings.

“Finally awake?” a voice asked.

Droll turned his attention to the white-vested doctor, but immediately when he turned his neck, his head sprained again. He reached his cloven hooves to the site of the pain only to feel the location bandaged with the cloth wrapping around his cranium. The non-pony steadied himself before looking at Dr. Degree, his head abnormally feeling balanced for the first time in a couple of days.

“I’m not supposed to be caring for non-ponies, but it’s the least I could do.” The doctor walked around the hospital bed Droll was in, making his way to a chair that stood beside him. “What happened back there?”

Droll’s head cricked in pain; he was momentarily unable to speak. He tried to remember the last thing that happened before he had passed out. Then maybe he could figure out what happened after, but nothing was coming to mind. The only thing that felt consistent in his head was the pain his jaw was in.

“My assistant was with you,” Degree continued. “I know that much, but you three were the only ones taken from the throneroom.”

The yak’s head rang in a final crunching sound that echoed through his ears, the last thing he had heard before stumbling into darkness. He remembered being attacked by the wild pegasus and realized that there was only one result the gut-wrenching sound could’ve come from.

“ . . . Yak don’t think she made it,” Droll guessed reluctantly.

Degree shifted uncomfortably. “What? But - just - what could’ve happened to her?”

Droll shrunk back uncomfortably in the gurney before choking up. “Yak didn’t mean to. Yak didn’t want to.”

“You did this?” Degree asked for clarification. “But how? Why? She always spoke of you. She liked you. How could you have done this?”

“Pegasus tried to kill Droll.”

The earth-pony doctor regressed. “No, no she wouldn’t.” He searched his thoughts for a moment, trying to convince himself that the young nurse wouldn’t be capable of the actions suggested. “She wouldn’t go that far again. I took her under my wing. She only had a weird way of presenting her affection . . .”

The brown non-pony sighed in regret before remembering what the surgeon said. “Three taken from room . . . Where yak friends?”

Degree regarded the creature in sadness, but helped him off the bed to escort him through the hospital.

“Your friends are only allowed to go on the second floor.”

“Why guards go through trouble of putting yak and friends here?”

“Ponies are more of a priority to rush to the emergency rooms here, so they go on the first floor.” The stallion appeared conflicted before continuing. “If you ask me, all creatures here should be prioritized. A life-threatening wound is scary. No one should have to be worried if ponies will acknowledge them in time.”

“Maybe with new leader, things be different,” Droll suggested, trying to sound hopeful.

“New leader? What are you talking about?”

The yak’s smile faded into fear. He had no idea how to save himself from what he said, so instead, he put his cloven-hoof to his head, faking his pain. “Yak head still hurt. How much longer ‘til yak and pony get to room?”

Degree stared in suspicion before continuing his brisk trot, stopping after a few seconds at a door. “I think I’ll stay outside for this one.”

Droll stared in thought for a moment before entering the room. Laying in the hospital bed wrapped in a blue silk blanket was the creature whose color matched that of the deceased pegasus.

“Opul,” Droll began, rushing over to the bed.

The pale dragon slowly turned her gaze to the yak, and she put on a soft smile. “Droll.” Her eyes traveled above the yak’s head, and the beam left her face.

Droll tilted his head in confusion without losing his balance. “What?”

“Um, it’s nothing,” Opul shook her head. “I like your new horn.”

“New what?” Droll reached up to touch his right horn; it still felt the same. He then reached over to where he expected his other horn to still be gone but, instead, he felt something cold and sturdy, causing a light TING to be heard.

“It looks good,” Opul continued, forcing a smile. “You can barely tell it’s different.”

Droll rushed to find his reflection, his eyes stopping on a mirror that he enthusiastically approached, ignoring his throbbing head.

There, placed just over the pale bandages stood the new addition to his outer appearance. Standing up high at the exact same level of his other horn stood the curved, metal horn, its silver appearance glistening in the light.

Droll stared in disappointment. “This - this not right. This not part of yak.”

“No, no,” Opul declined, sitting up more in her bed, letting her covers fall from around her torso. “It looks good. You can now have something linking you to the past and something bringing you to the future.”

Droll pondered the thought for a moment. Perhaps it wasn’t a good thing for him to just disown something that looks different at first glance. He focused on the horn, realizing that it did look very similar to the real calcium one. They both weighed the exact same, so he could just continue on like normal. Slowly, a smile was brought to the yak’s face, but through the reflection of the mirror he saw the red and white dragon behind him.

“Opul . . .,” Droll said, noticing the marks on her torso.

The seated non-pony looked away in shame, covering herself again.

Droll couldn’t think of the right words to say, but eventually thought of one question. “Permanent?”

Opul’s eyes returned to Droll in a scowl. “I don’t know. Maybe some of them will heal as new, but others will just be a constant reminder of what happened.” Opul shuddered, feeling her wing stub where the previous leader had claimed his prize. That alone was enough to make her tear up.

“Hey,” Droll intervened. “Not all bad. Make dragon stronger. Each been through something.”

“Some worse than others,” Opul muttered.

The yak frowned. “Yak injury still just as permanent.”

“No,” Opul launched back. “Nothing happened to you. You barely got away with this, Droll. Candid lost an eye. I lost my ability to fly, something that made me who I was! You just lost a horn, and it came back. You have no room to talk about what happened. So don’t think for a moment that what happened to us was equal.”

Droll regressed, his chest burning from the words, causing Opul's aggressive expression to immediately soften into remorse.

'Droll, I'm sorry. It's just, my whole life, I've had to figure out a way to survive, and with the way things have been recently, I'm not so sure that's possible anymore." Opul's teary eyes met Droll's in a shameful glance. "I know you lost something too. Someone important to especially you."

Droll opened his mouth to speak but Opul continued.

"I guess I'm still not used to being around other creatures." She turn away from her friend to face the wall. "I still need some time to myself."

Without anything to say to cheer his friend up, Droll turned towards back towards the door. He exited just in time to see Dr. Degree returning back to him with a distraught look.

“Emperor Contume is . . . dead.” He focused his eyes inquisitively on the yak. “How did you know?”

Droll just drooped his chin disappointingly. “Yak want to see griffon.”

“He’s close,” the stallion said as he led the way before stopping a couple doors down. “Hurry up with him. General Radiance wants the entirety of this community to attend the funeral that they’re setting up. It’s almost done so when you’re done with him, then you can pay and attend.”

Droll clenched his eyes in realization. “Yak no have bits to pay.”

Degree just nodded in understanding. “It’s okay. I’ll cover you and your friends.”

Droll gave an appreciative smile. Finally, he opened up the door as Degree accompanied him inside, the stallion waiting against the frame.

Droll approached the griffon who was already sitting out at the foot of the hospital bed with only the right side of his face showing. “Candid?”

The griffon moved nothing except his right eye to see the yak. Droll was expecting a brighter expression to come from the other non-pony but instead, Candid just returned his attention to the wall in front of him.

“Candid,” Droll repeated, inching closer to him. “All done. No threat now.”

“You should know that’s a lie, Droll,” Candid finally said without turning his attention to him. “What happened was only part one. Part two is going to take up the rest of our lives.”

“Griffon no believe that. Griffon bounce back like always.”

Candid finally turned his face towards Droll to reveal the gushy empty eye socket to the left of his right eye, startling Droll into backing up

“Hey!” Degree called out. “You’re not wearing your eyepatch!”

“Thanks for pointing out the obvious, genius,” Candid badmouthed.

“You need to keep that on to prevent infections and so you don’t gross anyone out.”

The griffon jumped down from the hospital bed to get in Degree’s face, standing on his back paws. “I hope I do gross them out. Let them share in my mental state.”

Droll arrived between the two creatures but couldn’t stop the standoff. Finally, the yak backed away to let it play out, nervous at what would happen.

“Okay,” Degree backed down. “If you don’t want to wear that eyepatch now or when you leave, you don’t have to. But for the emperor’s funeral today, you need to wear that out of respect.”

“I don’t respect that tyrant,” Candid said. “Besides, I’m not wasting my time over there.”

“You have to,” Degree spoke as if involuntary. “It’s written in the will that Emperor Contume wrote 6 years ago when he started this place. It’s been unchanged since. It says that in the event of his untimely demise, that he wants everypony, creatures included, to come see him off. This unfortunately includes ponies and creatures in the hospital, regardless of whether or not they are in dire condition or not. And we have a whole lot of citizens that want to see that enforced.”

“I’ll take my chances.” Candid glared at the stallion shamelessly before retreating back to his hospital bed, sitting on the side. “I’m staying right here.”

Degree turned toward the sympathetic yak. “I understand why he does this, but I don’t want him to get in trouble, Droll. Do you have anything that can convince him?”

Droll thought for a moment, getting an idea in his mind that he quickly shot down. “No, yak know nothing.”

“Please,” Degree pleaded. “If he doesn’t attend, General Radiance will have him brutally punished or worse. This will be treated as an act of treason against the community. Surely, you know something.”

Droll knit his eyebrows in reluctance, the original thought coming back to his mind. With a shaky breath and hard gulp, he proceeded to speak, walking over to his friend but keeping a safe distance from the unstable griffon. “C-Candid. Please come to event. If not, griffon be punished and that not what . . .”

Candid’s head snapped back at Droll, his single eye putting on a look of anger. He tilted his head slightly to put on a look of intimidation, causing Droll to speak in even more reluctance.

“Please,” Droll begged. “Think about . . .” He stopped, not allowing himself to even say her name.

He didn’t have to in order to set the griffon off. “Are you serious, Droll? Are you that heartless to use her against me? It hasn’t even been a day!”

Droll shrunk back in shame, his eyes tearing up, causing Candid’s anger to lighten up just a bit.

Finally, Candid took a deep breath before turning to Degree. “Okay fine. I’ll be there.”

The stallion pursed his lips, nodding before he uncomfortably left the room.

Candid blinked his eye sockets hard. “She was taken from us,” Candid said in a mix of anger and sadness. “I was always so rude with her while you always had the right idea of being gentle with her like she was to everyone else. She never deserved the way I treated her.”

The orange non-pony’s breathing grew heavier with rage. “How could I have let any of this happen?! First her, then . . .”

The loud crunch rang in Droll’s ears, causing him to flinch. “Candid . . . Pegasus dead too, right?”

“Which one?” Candid asked. “Both of them should have went instead of just the one.”

Droll’s eyes blinked in understanding at what had happened after he went unconscious. “Yak and griffon murderers . . .”

Candid’s head snapped back to Droll. “No, I’m not a murderer! I mean, we’re not murderers! We did what we had to do. No one would have blamed us. Not even Lenia.”

Droll could tell that Candid wasn’t quite sure about that, but decided not to pressure it. Finally, the yak sat down next to his friend to comfort him with his presence.

Eventually, Candid’s breathing steadied. “Droll . . .”

The brown creature turned to face the dark orange non-pony, his face putting on a look of innocence and sympathy.

“Did-,” Candid began, “Did you tell me to shut up back there before the throneroom?”

Droll was caught off guard for a moment before smiling. “Uh oh, where doc? Griffon crazy. Give sedative.”

Candid gave an airy chuckle before his closed talons finally opened up, revealing the black eyepatch given to him. “I guess it’s time to go honor someone dishonorable.”

Droll and Candid were waiting at the front door to the hospital when Opul finally arrived.

Opul’s face lit up at seeing the griffon again. “Candid, you look good.”

“And you look . . . better than I last saw you,” he replied.

Opul’s smile shrank into a nervous, self-conscious expression.

“But I still like it,” Candid added.

Opul’s face tightened in an awkward smile as she looked to the floor, noticing her red scars across her stomach again. “I look hideous . . .”

“No,” Candid disagreed. “You want to see hideous?” He reached up to his eyepatch. “This is-.”

“Uh, keep on,” Droll interrupted.

Candid sighed before looking back at the dragon. “No, you don’t look hideous. You look opulent.”

The pale non-pony widened her eyes before giggling. “We-we should probably get out there.”

The three non-ponies marched outside the hospital, heading straight for the town hall. Although they were never told specifically where the funeral would be held, it was obvious that would be the place to host the celebration.

The walk over to the landmark was a silent trip. Droll considered starting a conversation as to why Candid was now walking on his back paws instead of on all four limbs as he usually had done in the past, but the yak decided against it out of fear for Opul still being angry with him. Instead, he just stayed in his own path as they reached the giant building.

“I wonder if Radiance is as good of a speaker as Contume was,” Opul said.

Droll and Candid glanced at Opul in a confused manner.

“What?” Opul asked, getting defensive. “Just because he was evil doesn’t mean I didn’t like his rallies.”

Candid reached his talons to open the door to the town hall at the exact same time Opul did, resulting in both non-ponies immediately recoiling their arms.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Opul began. “I just thought-.”

“No, no it’s fine,” Candid reassured. “It’s that someone had to, you know. And waiting wouldn’t . . .”

“I know what you mean, but if both of us waited, then you can see how-.”

Droll huffed in annoyance as he reached for the door to hold it open, gesturing for his friends to walk through to which they did in an awkward manner.

The non-ponies traveled through the dark hallway to emerge into the light where the multiple equines sat in silence. The three friends knew the drill, and they continued walking around the countless ponies for minutes on end to find the seats reserved for them in the back.

It was when they took their seats together that they noticed the purple coffin in the center of the room. On a stand stood a picture of the blue unicorn except he didn't have his purple robe on. Instead, the picture focused on his full stature, and revealed his cutiemark which was shown to be a queen piece in chess.

“No wonder he wanted to cover that up,” Candid whispered. “That's embarrassing.”

Opul didn't hear him over the fear brought back to her from the reminder. Just the sight of the unicorn was enough to make her begin trembling.

Radiance and his wife, Nightfall, stood on each side of the purple coffin wearing dark clothes. The sight of the couple without a third member caused Opul to glance away in sadness for a moment before returning her eyes to the center of the grand room. The two earth ponies waited for a couple of minutes before Radiance finally spoke.

“We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of our dearly beloved . . . Oh, screw this formal crap." Radiance adjusted his stance. "Ponies died yesterday. The most important casualty though was-,” the stallion stopped himself. “This community has lost its emperor. While this may be devastating, this community will not cease to function. Nightfall and I will make sure of that. We will be taking control as of today to ensure this city’s continued survival. As former second-in-command, Nightfall and I will have a co-leadership over this community, and this place will continue to have a leader.

“With that addressed, Emperor Contume was killed last night by a pegasus pony. Our most trusted guards and I were only able to get a quick glimpse of her before she flew off. Be on the lookout for a pink filly with blue hair. If she is still here in the community, we’ll find her.”

Somehow, Radiance was able to locate the three non-ponies from the crowd in a matter of seconds, causing him to glare. “That concludes the funeral service for today.”

Nightfall looked over at him in confusion as if expecting it to be longer, but eventually just rolled her eyes in an absence of concern. She called a set of the guards over to carry the coffin out of the throne room as well as other guards to take care of the picture of the deceased emperor.

The ocean of creatures in the crowd began flooding out of the room, but Radiance glared at the three non-ponies and held up his hoof to stall them. Droll stiffened, but Candid simply returned the glare right back at the new leader. Opul just seemed concerned at the situation.

After all the community members left, Nightfall watched as her husband approached the yak, griffon and dragon, causing Droll to begin noticeably shaking.

It was when Radiance stopped in front of them that Droll lost it. “Yak and friends did nothing!”

Candid stood up taller on his hind paws, trying to reach higher than Radiance. “What do you want?”

Radiance directed his attention straight to the griffon. “You better show me some more respect as your new leader.”

Candid opened his mouth to say something, but Opul tapped him on the back in disapproval. Finally the griffon silenced himself.

Radiance redirected his attention to all three of them before continuing. “What you three did was unforgivable. If it wasn't for the filly we saw performing the official act, I'd have you three executed before the sun went down. You’re lucky I’m not locking each of you in the community dungeon for association.”

Droll’s heart began beating out of his chest. “Yak and griffon sorry . . .”

“Sorry won’t cut it. I doubt you even mean it anyway. You three are monsters for what you did, and this funeral here will be the only community event you’ll get to go to. I don’t want you anywhere around the others.”

Droll looked at his friends in concern. He felt as though they were being left off easily.

Radiance straightened his posture. “Do I make myself clear?”

The three non-ponies subtly nodded their heads.

“I want to hear you say it.”

Candid gave an annoyed look, but eventually, the three friends agreed in unison.

“Good.” Radiance raised his chin. “Now leave for the burial.”

“Did you really have to spit on his grave?” Opul asked as she marched away from the graveyard with her two friends.

“No one was looking so why not?” Candid replied.

Droll sighed. “Yak just want to go home."

“We can’t do that,” Candid said. “We need to wait. If the tyrant’s funeral was important enough to do today, then I can assure you that the new leader’s own daughter will be just as prioritized.”

Droll emotionally lowered his eyebrows. “No be here. Radiance say no.”

“I don’t care what Radiance says,” Candid said. “Lenia was our friend, and we are going to make sure that we see her off to the end. I won’t be moved.”

As if Fate felt disrespected, the herd of marching guards arrived on the scene again, led by Radiance and Nightfall. Over the herd of ponies, the white new coffin was carried over the center of the group, an odd color choice for the daughter of the community leaders according to Droll.

At first glance, Radiance halted, signaling for a dozen guards on each side to begin marching in the directions of the non-ponies, causing the yak and the dragon to begin regressing.

“Candid, come on,” Opul said. “I know you want to stay, but we can’t be doing this.”

Candid growled in frustration before joining his friends, leaving behind the second funeral service.

“Yak and friends won’t end this way,” Droll spoke up as the three marched down the community streets.

“It seems pretty ‘ended’ to me,” Candid offered.

“No, yak mean that Droll, Candid, and Opul will see Lenia off.”

“How?” asked Opul. “The moment we’re seen, we will be rushed out of the cemetery.”

“Yak and friends form own funeral.”

Droll marched in front of them, taking the lead. He continued on to the abandoned house of their friend, knowing that no one would be there from the event currently happening.

“What are we doing here?” the white non-pony asked.

“Doing least possible,” the yak answered. “Search flowers.”

“Lenia did like petunias,” Candid said.

Droll nodded before going to the back of the house of the new leaders. He began his search for the flowers, specifically looking for petunias. Opul and Candid helped out with him, piling the located flowers in a group at the corner of the backyard. After some time, they had developed a make-shift grave about the size of their friend.

The griffon took off his eyepatch out of respect, keeping his left eyelid shut.

Opul looked around at her two friends. “Does anyone want to say anything?”

The dark-orange griffon stepped forward. “I’m sorry I never treated you the way I should have. You deserved so much better.”

“I took you for granted, Lenia,” Opul began. “I wish you didn’t have to go.”

Droll knelt down closer to the flower pile. “Earth pony closest to yak.” He stared in disbelief at the only way possible for him to be close to his friend once more. With a heavy arm, he gently placed his cloven-hoof over the petunias, blinking back his tears. “Droll miss you . . .”

Candid stared down in regret at the pile of flowers before he lifted up his head in an idea. “I’ll be right back.” The griffon retreated back to the nearby buildings, waiting until he was out of sight from Opul before he began flying away.

“We need to put something of hers over the grave,” Opul said.

“Dragon have item from Lenia?” Droll asked.

Opul stopped. “No . . .” She looked over at the building behind her. “We can’t just intrude on the house, but we also can’t just leave the flowerbed empty.”

“What about camera used by friend?”

“That’s in the throneroom still. I don’t think anyone took it out.”

“Yak and friends think of something.”

Just as quickly as he left, Candid returned, holding an item in his talons. He landed a bit of distance away from the makeshift grave before slowly walking the rest of the way, stopping at the foot of the grave.

“Here,” Candid said in a broken tone. He slowly set down his pink paddleball in the bed of flowers. “You were the only one who ever deserved to know.”

Droll slouched in sadness as Opul rested a claw on Candid’s back. The two friends had seen the item before but never wanted to say anything about it.

“Earth pony with pegasus now,” Droll lamented. “With own kind. Hope pony belongs now.”

The three non-ponies took a moment of silence that immediately became interrupted by a screeching siren in the distance.

“What the hay is that?” Candid asked in anger.

The three of them rushed back to the streets where a mob of ponies were rushing all around from place to place in disorganized chaos. Droll looked around, hoping to find answers, but the place was completely flooded as the siren increased in loudness every second.

Finally, Nightfall arrived on the scene. “Everypony, stay in doors! We will get to the bottom of what’s happening!”

“Everypony,” Candid repeated. “We’re fine then.”

The griffon marched through the wave of ponies as Droll and Opul rushed behind him. The three made their way through the grand city, trying to locate the source of the conflict. They finally did when they noticed the army of soldiers standing guard at the top of the community walls.

From the ground level, the golden leader galloped to the base of the walls. “What’s going on out there!”

“A giant creature is threatening to attack the community, sir!” A purple pony from above called back.

“Has Constellar returned so soon?”

“No, sir. Thankfully not yet. It’s a multi-headed beast making its way here quickly.”

Radiance rushed to the stairs, making his way up to the top of the walls in seconds. “Stand guard, everypony. Someone, gather the swords. We might need to go to battle again.”

“Emperor Radiance!” a pony announced from the bottom of the walls.

“Don’t call me that,” he called back down to the ground. “I don’t want to be labeled the same as he was.”

“I can help,” the young maroon pony called back up.

“No,” Radiance disagreed to the unicorn. “We won’t use your spells. Too dangerous. They can cause more harm than good.”

“If the creature is as big as it’s been described, then the harm done from my breweries will be the least damage to this place!”

“Let us handle this. That’s an order.”

The maroon unicorn groaned before turning to Candid and stopping in her tracks. For a moment she smiled in recognition before shaking her head from her trance and running out of the streets, getting lost in the crowd of ponies.

The ground began to lightly shake beneath as if an aftershock was in progress.

“What’s happening up there?” Opul asked.

“Do I look like I can see what’s going on?” Candid scolded.

Opul covered her mouth with her claw grotesquely before Candid realized his mistake, and he quickly put his eyepatch back on.

From above the walls, a group of ponies returned, carrying weapons and projectiles of all kinds, including a sword with an oversized blade to it.

The griffon grew impatient from waiting too long, causing him to spread his wings before freezing. He glanced at Opul for a moment before folding his wings back at his side, instead deciding to run up the stairs to the top of the community walls.

Candid stopped just a few steps away from the top, peeking over the side to see the multiple army ponies rushing around aimlessly. There were no unicorns among the stallions and mares, providing the realization that there would be no spells to aid the group in battle. The stairs began shaking even worse than the ground was. Finally, Candid emerged on top, standing on his paws to attempt to get a good view on what was happening.

“Hey, back off, Candid,” Radiance ordered. “Return to the main level at once.”

Candid shrugged off the authority without hesitating, looking passed the gold stallion to an unnerving sight. Standing twice as tall as the community walls was the brown, four-headed beast that was arriving to the community at a brisk pace.

The griffon’s jaw dropped. “Oh Celestia, it’s a hydra.”

COLD

Episode 5: Journey of a Jester

CLICK! The sound of the camera mixed with the flash of light was blinding to Droll, but he was determined to keep his eyes opened throughout the moment. He was not about to sit still for yet another picture. He was already starting to get frustrated with the amount of imperfect pictures being tossed out.

The adult yak put the camera down to look at the picture that exited out from its box. Immediately, Droll marched over to get a look at the sight. He saw four yaks all varying in ages, one adult female on the very left, another the complete opposite as a male baby right next to her, one more female that was about three years younger than Droll was on the very right of the picture, and finally, Droll in the middle right next to the baby. As Droll looked in closer to the picture, one shocking factor stuck out to him like a broken horn.

“Pipette,” he sighed. “Yak eyes closed? Need take another picture.”

“Sorry,” Pipette sincerely said. “Light blinding. Hard to open eyes.”

“This rate, family be here all night.”

Pipette flinched before lowering her head. She regarded Droll in partial sorrow, which made the him grit his teeth. He didn't like seeing her that way, but also had no idea how to fix it.

Instead, the yak awkwardly marched around back to the family circle, standing right next to his siblings and mother as his dad got ready to take another picture. Within a few seconds, another blinding ray of light came from the camera lens.

“Ow!” the baby yak yelped.

Droll widened his eyes. “Jewell, . . . just stay still."

The brown non-pony marched around his family again to take another look at the picture, realizing that the photo was blurry from moving the camera at the time the picture was taken. “Yak picture bad again.”

Droll’s dad huffed in annoyance. “Well, yak try best.”

“Yaks no need to try best. Yaks best at picture taking.”

“Droll . . .” his mother tried to chime in.

The young yak looked at his mother. "Yak should have perfect picture. Yak picture not perfect, yak try again."

By this time, Pipette’s face was filling with more annoyance at her brother’s actions. Her expression was apparent to Droll, causing his eyes to widen.

". . . Yak do something wrong?"

Pipette stared back. "Take guess."

Droll lowered his eyebrows. "Yak no mean to. Maybe Pipette be less sensitive."

Immediately, his sister's jaw dropped and her eyes appeared more watery, prompting the young yak to stutter and continue.

"Uh, no, yak no mean . . ." His mind raced but he couldn't think of anything to save himself from that comment. He always felt an empty feeling whenever he was the cause of that familiar expression on Pipette. Deep down, he felt he was ruining her life.

Before anymore words could be said, Droll's dad intervened in the bickering.

"Yaks just need one photo before Prince Rutherford announcement. Then family can go back to house to warm up by yak fire."

Pipette's shallow breathing was interrupted when she said "fire? Dad, yak have the canister this time?"

"Of course," he said. "Canister down in guest room waiting for yaks."

Droll turned to his father. "Yak take picture and then family finally be done?"

"Droll no rush things like this. Yak be happy to spend much time as possible with other yaks. Family more important than anything."

Droll softly smiled. "Yes, then yaks take another -."

Finally, he noticed his sister's absence. "Pipette! Yaks need perfect picture!"

Droll's father laughed. "Yaks actually have plenty pictures. Family use this one, but picture needs to be framed before it becomes not perfect."

Droll looked down at the picture that was already not perfect with Pipette closing her eyes, but she was still smiling in it and that was enough to make Droll see it as perfect.

"Fine, but one day, Droll will have new picture and will truly be perfect," the young yak said with a humorous smile.

Suddenly, the sound of a strong voice overtook the streets where Droll’s family had been at.

“Yaks!” the voice of Prince Rutherford began. “Gather in town for important announcement!”

Droll's father clenched his teeth before quickly giving Droll the family picture. "Yak hurry. Frames in yak's room. Meet family at announcement after."

Droll beamed. "Thank you, Dad. See yak soon."

The brown non-pony carried the picture carefully on his head in between his calcium horns as he made his way to his house. Throughout his walk, he kept thinking about what his father said. He absolutely agreed that family was the most important thing, but then he thought about Pipette. If it was so important to him, why did he continuously make her life worse? Every time he tried talking to her, it would always end with her saddened expression. Hopefully after today, things would change.

The yak finally arrived at his huge, two-story house, beautifully sculpted in pristine condition. Yaks were indeed best at building. He took a deep breath at the beautiful sight before entering in to accomplish the task at hoof.

Droll’s weird-sensors were going off the chart when he noticed a few things scattered on the floor as if someone had rushed through there. Droll’s first impression would have been that they were robbed, but stealing wasn’t like yaks. They weren’t dragons. He inevitably came to the conclusion that it was probably his father rushing to get the family photo out before Prince Rutherford's announcement. He would ask his dad the next time he talked to him.

As he walked through the house, the quiet sound of hoofsteps that weren’t his own snaked across the floor behind him. Droll turned immediately to find himself still alone. He was softly shaking in slow shock, but he decided to persist forward, thinking that there were just bugs going around the house.

As he traveled around the house to his father's room, his ears twitched at the near silent sounds of soft hoofsteps sneaking across the floor. Droll narrowed his eyes as he tried to identify the location until the sound of something heavy hit the ground in a room near him. Instantly, Droll was on his way to the source, and the sound of heavier hoofsteps left the room in a rush.

“Who there!” Droll yelled, but got no response.

The room he was in was empty except for the diamond ring on the floor that he quickly identified as Pipette’s. She must've lost it, and instinctively, Droll picked it up. Normally, he would just put it back in her room for her to find, but after today, he felt delivering it to her directly would help make up for how horrible he made her feel. At least, it would be a start.

As the young yak continued, he heard the soft sounds of hoofsteps one more time. The sound appeared to be getting closer to the exit, causing the brown non-pony to redirect his gaze to it, but his attention was quickly diverted by the sudden burning smell that appeared slightly distant. He rushed to his father’s room to look out a window in order to get a view of what might have been burning. Yaks weren’t much for barbecue, but Droll knew he’d be best at it if he tried.

Finally, Droll found the acclaimed picture frames and pulled the family picture from his head where it had been motionlessly resting the whole time. After putting the picture into place, he tucked the diamond-gold ring inside the frame so he wouldn’t lose it. Finally, he sighed at the sight of his family, all smiling in one place. He would try to make that more of a reality instead of the normal negative expressions he had been so good at giving.

The burning smell grew overwhelmingly strong and this time, it appeared that the smell came from within the house. Within the second, his fight-or-flight senses went off and he rushed out of the room to see what the danger was. Before him in the hallway outside the room was a sea of orange flames that kept approaching him with every passing second. It was covering all of the walls as well as the floor in front of him, blocking his path. Droll yelped and rushed down a different hallway to avoid the oncoming destruction.

He was huffing and puffing in fear as he held the picture frame close to him. His sole goal at the moment was survival, and he knew he could only do it by getting out the front door. He rushed through the house, worried that at any moment, his only safe routes through the house would be completely engulfed in flames. His fear was off the charts when he exited through another hallway, nearing the front door with every heart-beating second.

The door was closeby, but as he turned a corner, a wall of flames blocked his way. He figured that this was his only way to get to his front door, but with luck, perhaps he could pass through the flames and not give it enough time to hurt him.

He eyed the flames in determination as the smoke filled the room, making it difficult to breathe. If he waited any longer, the smoke would suffocate him and the flames would finish the job. It was now or never.

He backed up as far as he could to create as much room between the wall of flames and himself. He would’ve backed up further if it hadn’t been for the flames coming up behind him, making his safe space even smaller with every passing second. He didn’t have much time at all. If he waited any longer or even hesitated, the straight-away he made for himself would be too small to gain enough speed to burst through the flaming wall. Without much choice, he took off, stampeding at full speed into the danger in front of him, the heat getting unbearably hot as he got closer to it. He didn’t slow down though. He felt that this was his only chance at survival. Before his cloven hooves could run into the fire, he jumped with so much force against the ground, hovering over the flames as best as he could to make it to the other side. His stomach was singed and he could fear a stabbing pain all over, but he made it through without managing to catch on fire . . . almost.

Droll landed on the other side where he was beginning to cool off from his sudden heat, except his tail was still in massive pain. When he turned around to look at it, a single flame danced behind him, traveling up his tail closer to him. Instantly, he jumped and patted the flames out. Quickly, he took the picture frame down from between his horns, looking for any damage. To his frustration, he noticed the picture clouded with smoke, but that didn't make him give up on it. With several shallow breaths, he tucked the picture back between his horns before continuing through the house.

He turned a corner to locate his saving grace only to find even more of his deadly friend in the way. He panicked at the hopelessness but remembered that the exitway was supposed to be there. As Droll studied his surroundings, he noticed that the doorway had been completely engulfed in flames, but the damage at the doorway was way more severe than the area around it, causing Droll to realize that it was a starting place for the fire, as if someone had carefully designated that location to set ablaze first.

The fire in the doorway had spread all throughout the front lawn and this time, there was no hope to burst through it. His fur would’ve caught on fire completely, and there would’ve been no place to roll it out. He wasn’t prepared to experience the pain of catching on fire either, especially not if the burning feeling on his stomach was a sneak-peek.

In a desperate attempt to cling to life, Droll looked around him, finding the stares barely intact and a small pathway that wasn’t burning yet. His initial thoughts were that going upstairs would be counterproductive to escaping the house, but now, the second floor would be productive to staying alive. Without wasting anytime whatsoever, he bolted up the stairs, stumbling over himself from his speed, but he still made it up without many problems.

Although he was afraid, he looked back down the stairs to notice something off. The stairs were still not catching on fire despite the fire surrounding them. The only possible way for this would be if the stairs were coated in a fire-repellent material, as if someone wanted the stairs to be a pathway. Droll was confused as to why this would be the case until he got to the next room where a full gas canister stood in the middle of the room with fire building up around it, getting closer and closer to it with each passing second.

He was covered in ash and soot by the time he realized what his future would look like. He was panicked beyond belief and tears streamed down his face. If the fire reached the canister, there would be no possible way to avoid the fire. It would go everywhere.

The smoke began to overwhelm him, but fresh air entered in through a window behind him. He looked out at his backyard where bushes were lined up directly below him and considered calling for help, but his lungs were filling with smoke and he couldn’t talk. He looked back at the gas canister, wanting to throw it out the window, but the sea of flames was too big to cross. He shook violently in fear as he was trapped in the room with the full gas canister, knowing very well what would happen once the flames built up to it. It didn’t take long after for the flames to touch the object and cover it in the orange strings that tangled with eahother. With no other choice, Droll jumped through the window with the framed picture still lodged between his horns as the gas canister finally erupted into fire that ejected out the window as well, sailing over him as gravity pulled him to the ground.

He landed in the bushes, weak and burned with his ears ringing from the explosion. He coughed up soot from his lungs, trying to regain fresh air and muster the strength to stand, but he could only crawl. Set out before him was a field of tall grass that he began his way through, gripping the dirt in front of him to pull himself through the grass and advance to the streets where he could get help. He wanted to give up and let the burn marks and singed lungs get the best of him, but he knew that wasn’t an option. Deep down, he knew that he couldn’t lose hope. It was all he had that allowed him to cling to life.

Through the tall grass, he could see the light peeking from the streets, alerting him that salvation was right there. He coughed silently again before bringing himself closer, hearing the spraying sound of moving grass. When he peeked his head through, the only sight he saw was that of his sister, Pipette, staring at the burning house with widened eyes. Droll tried to speak but couldn’t, making him clear his throat silently. All he wanted to do was get help, but he couldn’t bring himself to make a sound, terrifying him that he wouldn’t be able to make himself known.

"Pipette!" a familiar voice yelled.

Her eyes didn't move from the wreckage, the reflection of the burning house appearing in her pooled eyes.

"Pipette, what happened?" her father said as he ran to her.

"Pipette did this . . ." she said while still looking at the disaster.

The adult yak flinched. "What?"

"Y-yak just went to get gas canister. It spilled and . . . Droll . . ."

"Oh Celestia," the father mustered.

Pipette watched in silence as the flames escaped upwards and disappeared into the sky. Finally, her father gently put a cloven-hoof against her.

"It okay," he began, "Pipette no mean to."

Her eyes finally broke contact from the flames, her tears becoming more apparent. "Yeah . . ."

Droll put a burnt hoof to his mouth, covering it in shock. He watched the exchange go down as the tears fell onto his arm. From the corner of his eye, he could see his mother rushing onto the scene, holding Jewell in her arms.

“What happen?!” she yelled, causing Jewell to cover his ears in fear.

Pipette began to hyperventilate. "House burning. Yak think Droll was in there."

Droll’s father clenched his eyes shut as he lowered his head, but the older female yak stared at the burning house in sadness, her eyes welling up in tears. Finally, Jewell uncovered his ears to look at his mother.

“What wrong, mommy?” he began. “Where big brother Droll?”

His mother wiped a tear from her eyes. “Droll in better place now.”

Droll wiped his eyes with an ashy cloven-hoof. He couldn't believe what was happening, but one glance back at his sister's saddened expression brought only one thought to his mind. This was the face he had been so acquainted with every time he interacted with her. Every time she had said something to him, Droll would unknowingly make a remark that would ruin her day. This expression he was witnessing now though was infinitely worse than anything he had scene from her before. He wanted to pop out of the grass and go to his family to tell them that he was there and still with them, but he knew that if he did that, there would still be more negativity around. His guilt was immeasurable in that moment, and all he truly wanted for them was to live out their days unhindered by him. He couldn't stop himself from making his family upset, but maybe this could be the last time he ever had to sadden them.

Droll looked one last time at his sister, ingraining her expression into his soul so he'd never forget it. With a deep breath, Droll snaked back through the opposite side of the fields, holding the framed picture still firmly in his grasp. He gained enough distance on the house to stand up fully without being seen. Finally, he weakly began walking outside the gates of Yak-Yakistan, following an icy road that led down to territory he had never been to before.

Droll was freezing on his long trek down the frosty, narrow road, but he didn’t complain at all about it. He knew this was what he deserved. He was still in disbelief of his own actions. He really must’ve been so much of a disease that a fire had to be the only way to eradicate him.

Droll felt the crushing of the snow beneath his cloven-hooves, and the satisfying sound concentrated his mind into a state of calmness. He was thankful for that feeling since he had already been through too much today. To his left was the giant wall of the mountain side, and to his right was the empty chasm that began once a curved cliff started. It was night and the drop was so far down that he couldn’t even see the bottom, so he took his mind off of it to go back to the straight path in front of him.

He looked down at the framed picture in his cloven-hooves, staring at the last thing he had to remember his family by. He eyed the fake smiles on each of his family members. Droll knew that in that moment, no one was actually happy, not even him, and it was entirely his fault. It was because of him that his family was in such turmoil, and the more he thought about it, the more guilt he experienced from realizing how unhappy he made everyone. He could practically see the distress on everyone’s face, and he knew deep down that he had to be better. He had to make sure that no one ever again would have to deal with who he was.

He was still walking while staring down at the photo, focused enough that he didn’t realize the road curved beneath him. He was so used to walking in a straight line that he assumed it would continue this way, but soon enough, he felt the lack of solid ground beneath his cloven-hooves. Instantly, Droll was on edge again, and he stumbled on the curved snow, staring down at the enormous drop beneath him. The yak sunk into the snow, trying to gain his stance back, but he was too far over the edge. When he looked up, the view of the beautiful kingdom close in the distance reflected in his eyes. He was so close to making it out, but he was even closer to tumbling down to his doom.

He looked up to where the ledge to the road was. His upper left hoof was keeping himself stabilized at the side of the snowy cliff, but his right hoof was focused on making sure the picture didn’t fall from his grasp. If he was able to use both hooves, he would be able to climb to safety, but he would have to release his grasp from his family picture. He wasn’t about to do that. He realized what it meant if he decided not to use both cloven-hooves to reach for safety, but he also knew that losing that picture meant losing his reminder to be better, and life wasn’t worth it to him if he wasn’t the best he could be.

He grasped the side of the cliff for dear life, trying to be able to save himself without having to let go of the picture. For a brief moment, he considered throwing the picture over the cliff to safety in order to free up both of his hooves, but he instantly shot that down. He didn’t trust his accuracy whatsoever, and he felt that the safest place for the picture was right in his grasp. His cloven-hoof was freezing in the snow, but he clamped down on the side of the mountain. He tried lifting his other hoof to see if he could get a grip on the mountain without letting go of the picture frame, but he quickly learned that he could only grip onto one thing. Through the frozen weather, his frustration was finally put into perspective, and he let out a loud yell, furious at his own stupidity for letting this happen to him.

Moments after the yell escaped his breath, a thunderous rumble sounded from the very top of the mountain, and it only grew louder from there. Droll looked up at what was happening when he noticed the oncoming avalanche proceeding towards him, causing the yak to scream at the hopelessness of the situation.

The snow hit him with great force and removed his grip from the side of the mountain, causing him to progress into freefall as he began sailing down the edge of the cliff. He couldn’t help but unleash a desperate cry for help as he was falling to his doom until a loud snap pulled him through space at the last moment.

He landed on a blanket of snow without much impact, and the first thought he had was that he was dead. He was in a sitting position, and his eyes were clenched tight in fear, but he could still feel the picture in his grasp that he was clenching against his stomach.

“Hey,” a gentle female voice said. “Are you okay?”

Droll didn’t open his eyes, but he was still breathing hard as if the danger was still happening. From the distance in front of him, he could still hear the crashing of snow fall down into the seemingly bottomless pit, but it was a lot quieter than he had just experienced. “Yak dead?”

“No, thankfully not,” the voice continued. “You’re lucky that I could still see you as you were falling. If I didn’t get an exact look at you, my magic wouldn’t have been able to work.”

Droll was still shivering with his eyes closed before the female voice spoke again.

“It’s okay. You can open your eyes now.”

The yak tried his best to steady his breath, but he obeyed the female’s wishes and opened his eyes slowly. Before him was a beautiful pink unicorn with a mane consisting of three colors each in their own stripes: one purple, one dark pink, and the last color a mixture of white and tan. She was standing directly in front of him, causing the view to her cutiemark to be obstructed by the angle.

Droll regarded her beauty, completely mesmerized before managing a simple question. “Who pony?”

She smiled kindly. “I’m Princess Cadence, leader of the Crystal Empire.”

Droll’s interest immediately turned to fear at the realization that he was talking to a princess, and immediately afterwards, Droll could see the wings partially extend from the side of his savior.

“You look like you’ve been through a lot,” Cadence continued. “I can help you out if you’d like me to.”

Droll looked up at the princess before lowering his eyebrows emotionally and taking a deep breath. “Yes, please.”

“We can’t go through the front door though. I may lose credibility as a princess if my ponies saw me helping a yak. Normally, if it were up to me, I would go out and make it public with no fear at what anypony thought, but if I did, nopony would listen anymore. My ponies need someone like me to be able to help them. If they simply disregard me, my kingdom may fall.”

Droll nodded in understanding. “So what pony do-?”

Before the yak could finish his statement, Cadence’s horn glowed a cyan color, causing a loud snap as well as a brief flash of light to illuminate every inch of Droll’s vision. When it cleared, the two were in a lit room that Droll presumed to be inside the kingdom. From the second time teleporting, he was starting to get a little dizzy, but his look of distress was nothing compared to the princess’s. His first sight was of her eyes rotating in circles around her sockets, trying to go back into focus.

“Princess okay?” Droll asked in a concerned manner.

“Yeah. Just kind of dizzy. Precise teleportation takes a lot of effort.”

Droll smiled softly. “Thank you.”

Princess Cadence met his smile with one of her own. “I don’t believe you’ve told me your name yet.”

The yak widened his eyes at the sudden request before clearing his throat awkwardly. “Oh, princess want to know yak name?” He hesitated for a moment before answering. “Yak name . . . Droll.”

Cadence nodded in understanding at the yak’s words. “Droll. That’s easy to remember.” The alicorn looked passed Droll’s face at the leftover fur that managed to survive the fire. “So what happened to you? You look like you’ve got quite the story to tell.”

Droll regarded Cadence sadly. “Droll annoy family. Yak went home, but home on fire. Droll barely escaped, but family no want Droll. Yak know.”

The alicorn’s eyes widened at the summarized story, but that was all she needed to hear.

“Oh my, that’s horrible! You’re homeless now, aren’t you?” Cadence shifted in guilt, crossed at the decision she couldn’t make. “I really wish I could help you, but my ponies can’t know about you. You don’t know how difficult of a task it is to hide someone who’s not a pony.” Cadence regarded Droll in sadness before putting on a studious look. “But I can still try my best to help you.”

The princess’s horn illuminated in its cyan glow again, and Droll could feel the tender touch of her magic on his fur. He could feel the burn sections of his coat return to normal and the singed smoke marks on his face begin to fade from existence. When Droll looked down at the photo that he refused to let out of his grasp, he noticed the magic aura around it as well, cleaning it of the smoke and erasing any evidence of its past.

When Cadence finished, she brought a mirror over to the yak, levitating it out in front of his face before lowering it just below his chin. “What do you think?”

Droll stared down into the reflection, seeing his face light up in front of his eyes.

“Good, stay that way,” Cadence continued. “Life is so much better when you can smile.”

Droll could see the yak’s eyes in the mirror begin to tear up, and he watched as one droplet from each side of the mirror fell to eachother before colliding into one at the mirror’s surface. He looked up at the kind pony who had already done so much for him. “Thank you.”

Cadence smiled affectionately at him, pleased at what she did. “Anything to get a smile."

That final word resonated with Droll as his ears perked up. He stared at the princess's bright beam of an expression and finally it felt like his life finally made sense. The warmest of feelings started inside him and he quickly associated it with Cadence's expression. It was the complete opposite of the expression he had been so used to, and instead of the normal empty feeling he always had, he felt insurmountable joy at what he was able to witness. He knew in that moment that's all he ever truly wanted to see.

Finally, Cadence continued. "I wish I could help you more, but this is all I can do.”

The brown non-pony nodded in appreciation, not knowing any possible way to repay her. He was speechless for a moment before he finally spoke again.

“What now?” Droll asked. He had no idea what was next for him.

“Well, I suppose I can safely guide you out of the Crystal Empire. The last thing I want to do is to just randomly teleport you across Equestria.”

“Yak appreciate it.”

“Well, let’s find you a place to sleep tonight and-.”

A sudden series of knocks sounded on the door, and an unknown male voice shined through.

“Cadence! Come quick!”

The princess widened her eyes in a rushed manner, turning her head back in unbelievable speed to face the door. “Uh, I’ll be right there, Shining!”

Cadence looked around frantically for a hiding place for Droll, but couldn’t find any location for the yak on such a short notice. The knocking sounded again, and Droll froze in fear, unaware of any possible actions he could take. Finally, the door knob illuminated in a purple glow, causing Cadence to panic. Droll looked Cadence in her widened purple eyes before he watched the cyan membrane illuminate around her horn for the last time, causing a loud spark to occur and teleport Droll to a random section of Equestria.

Cold

Episode 11: The Luck of the Ponish

(Warning: The following episode contains grimdark themes. Viewer discretion is advised.)

Candid’s ears were nearly bleeding at the shouts of the stallion across the streets.

“You, sir!” the equine yelled to ponies walking down the road, all of which were ignoring him. “Don’t miss your chance at the community news!”

Candid was holding his ears shut as he tried to walk down the street, but even with all the pressure he put on his own head, he couldn’t block out the continuous bellows from the apparent salespony.

“And don’t forget!” the stallion continued. “Today is the last chance to sign up for the community lottery!”

“Do you have to yell that loud!” Candid snapped as he passed by the stallion.

“Why yes I do!” the pony continued, yelling without any hint of anger. “If I don’t yell, nopony will hear me!”

“Well I’m not going to be able to hear you for much longer if you keep that up!”

The stallion lowered a paper in his hooves down before talking in a quieter, but still loud, tone. “Well, sorry for that, young sir.”

The griffon finally removed his clawless talons from his ears before glaring into the eyes of the stallion. “What’s this with news going on?”

“Well, the Princess of Friendship has just appointed a new student.”

“I’m talking about news around here.”

“Oh, well General Radiance is starting the first Community Lottery.”

Candid tilted his head in confusion. “What? He’s never done something like this before.”

“Well our leader hasn’t been the same for a while, so he’s trying something new, and he would like as many members to participate as possible.”

The orange non-pony sneered for a moment before he finally understood what was happening and why Radiance was doing this. After rolling his eye, he finally spoke. “Okay fine, where do I go?”

The stallion smiled before giving him a sheet of paper. “Just follow the directions on this, and when you get to the building, tell them Forte sent you.”

After receiving a questionable wink from the stallion, Candid turned to walk away awkwardly, holding the slip of paper in his talons. After a couple of steps away, he heard Forte speak loudly again, causing the griffon to fly away in speed to save himself more hearing loss.

The orange non-pony followed the directions on the paper closely, making sure not to make a wrong turn to end up at the edge of the walls. After some time of walking, he finally found the building, marked with the long line of creatures piling out like a caterpillar outside the main entrance. As he began making his way to the back of the line, the running sound of hoofsteps began making its way to the back of the line from the other side of the streets, where a pony was able to get in line before Candid found his place there.

From in front of the griffon, a yellow earth pony with dark green hair stood, huffing and puffing as if she had just run a marathon. Through all of the gasps, Candid grew concerned, sparking him to speak.

“Uh? You okay there?”

“Oh me?” the pony asked as she turned to face the griffon.

“No, my imaginary friend.”

The pony’s face drooped in confusion before the griffon spoke for clarity.

“Yes, I mean you.”

The pony blinked hard before answering. “Well, I just got word that something brand new is happening around here, and I want to be able to try my hoof at this.”

“You do realize that this is a lottery, right? You’d have to be lucky to win this.”

The equine smirked at the orange non-pony. “I’m a pretty lucky filly.” She immediately turned away to mutter to herself “does 16 count as a filly? I’m a pretty lucky mare, I guess?”

“Well, everyone’s luck runs out eventually.”

As the two spoke, the line began to move closer to the entrance.

“Not mine,” she giggled. “My name’s Clover. My parents named me after Clover the Clever because they wanted me to be smart, never letting me out of their grasp.”

“They didn’t teach you that lotteries aren’t a smart choice?”

Clover snorted. “This is different. I have a good chance at this. You haven’t told me your name though.”

He shrugged. “My name is Candid.”

“That’s a good name. It’s nice to meet you, Candid.” She lifted up a hoof to greet the griffon before pulling it away cautiously. “Oh, sorry! You probably don’t do that kind of stuff with claws.”

“Oh, no,” he immediately corrected. “I don’t have any claws. I lost them a while ago . . . They’re just safe talons.” The griffon lifted up his arms to show Clover the clawless talons that had been forcefully pulled out long ago.

“I’ll save you the trouble of an explanation . . .” the green-maned pony spoke reluctantly. “What brings you here?”

“Well I figured Sunflower could use the support even though he hates me. He’s trying everything to get a different feeling in his life. I can tell. What about you, Clover? What makes you think that you can do well here?”

Clover shivered nervously. “Well, I’ve never really been given the chance to do something like this before. A leader here has never given everypony the opportunity to all matter. But I’m hoping this would be different. This is my first time doing something on my own, and I would really like it to be perfect.”

“Well, what better view of 'perfect' is there than the humbling experience of losing?”

"Oh I wouldn't be too sure on that for me."

"What makes you say that?"

The pony smirked before turning around and pointing to her flank, immediately causing the griffon to avert his eye.

“Woah!” he yelled. “I don’t want to see that!”

She scoffed. “No, just look.”

Candid sighed before putting his eye back to the pony, seeing on her flank a 4-leaf clover. He raised an eyebrow before the pony spoke.

“It’s my special talent. I’m really lucky at things. I basically can get whatever I want in the moment. It’s come in handy so-o-o many times before, and I figured if I’m going to finally do something for myself and not have anyone else’s say in it, trying my chances at something like the lottery here is a great start. It’s like I’m guaranteed success.”

Candid glanced away in thought. “Doesn’t that seem a little unfa-.”

“Hey, watch it!” a voice from down the street interrupted.

Candid would have finished his thought had it not been for the rumbling of the ground as if a stampeding yak were making his way down to his location. Unfortunately, that was exactly what was happening.

“Droll sorry!” he roared as he made his way towards Candid.

The orange non-pony sighed as he crossed his arms. “What are you doing here?”

Candid and Clover stepped forward in line as the yak came to join in back of them, all three of them successfully making it into the store now.

He spoke in a guarded manner. “Yak want to sign up.”

The griffon’s face tightened in curiosity. “You never believed in luck before. What makes you think you can do this?”

“Droll just need bits for important thing . . .”

“But why . . . Nevermind, I don’t care.”

Clover turned to face Droll in a friendly manner. “Is this your friend?”

“Unfortunately,” Candid answered, a slight smirk tugging at his face.

Clover beamed before approaching the yak cordially. “And who might you be?”

The brown non-pony began to stutter, but he finally answered. “Yak Droll.”

"Oh! Your first name is 'Yak'?"

The griffon scoffed. "Why does no one here know what Yakkish is? In his culture, they don't have linking verbs. They just focus on the crucial words I guess. He means to say 'I (yak) am Droll'."

The brown non-pony sighed. "Full name Droll Bovine."

With a smile, Clover tried to speak. “That's a cool name! I’m -.”

“Next in line,” Candid finished. “I’m sure the pony behind the counter is getting impatient.”

“Right!” Clover said with a stiffened body. “Wish me luck.” After a wink, she rushed to the front of the store, leaving behind a gap in the line that was quickly filled up by the non-ponies.

From behind Candid, Droll shivered, his eyes never leaving advertised prize. “Yak really need winnings . . .”

The griffon frowned. “Why do you . . . Nevermind, I still don’t care.”

The two exchanged unamused looks before the sound of Clover’s decision making overtook them.

“What numbers do I want?” she asked herself while staring down at the paper of hundreds of digits.

Candid whispered to his friend. “She claims she is good at this. Let’s see how good.”

Clover studied the paper, as if indecisive of what she wanted to pick. Sweat began to leak down the side of her face as she began to tremble slightly. “I really don’t know . . .”

Before the pony could break down, Candid approached her. “Hey, hey. They’re just numbers. Focus on something that means something to you. Try picking your favorite six.”

Clover began to calm herself down, closing her eyes to breathe carefully. Finally she turned back to the counter, putting on a look of false confidence. “Okay, I think I know what I want.”

As Clover stared down, her eyes began to move quickly once more, but after flinching, she stopped herself in order to focus on the paper. After a couple seconds of absorbing everything on the page, the 4-leaf clover on her flank began to glow brightly, illuminating everything in her immediate surroundings in the golden glow of her cutiemark. Such a brilliant display of color froze Candid in place as he didn’t know what he was witnessing.

“I will pick 5, 4, 3, 9, 0, and 8, please.” She smiled up at the pony behind the counter, giving her best innocent expression as if she didn’t just waste 5 minutes of the worker’s time.

The stallion just nodded without smiling. “Yep. Here you go. Please leave now.”

Clover crookedly smirk with narrowed eyes before receiving the number stamps gingerly. After stepping away from the counter, she gave Candid a bright smile. “Here we go!” She then made her way out of the store without another word or even a double take.

“What friends just see?” Droll asked in the same shock Candid was still in.

“I don’t know, but that was amazing.”

The non-ponies were making their way to their destination at the town hall when Candid finally had enough of Droll’s fidgeting.

“Would you cut that out?” he snapped.

“Sorry, yak just nervous. This event important to Droll because-.”

“I still don’t care. I just want you to stop being such a scaredy-yak.”

Droll slouched in his movements, but he still carried himself at the same pace. “Why town hall used for everything?”

Candid rolled his eye. “Radiance has no better ideas, I guess. The paper given back there at the store was, in his words, 'directions to go to the town hall'.”

“Won’t leader be mad yak and griffon show up?”

Candid smirked as if this was his chance. “I’m not afraid of him.”

The two continued the rest of their walk in silence before arriving at the grand building, perfectly standing as if nothing bad had ever happened to it.

“How town hall look brand new after all years?”

“Don’t ask me. I don’t know. All I know is that there’s some sort of youth spell on it or something to make it indestructible. Go to the library. The library knows everything.”

Instead of the usual bright smile the yak would give, Droll just persisted forward into the town hall in an isolated manner. Candid was barely dismissing this.

As the two made their way down the dark hallway, they heard what sounded to be entertainment at their destination. After tilting his head, Candid proceeded to walk faster to the light at the end of the hall, inevitably finding himself in the wide open room with a speaker playing music.

Candid scoffed. “It looks like Sunflower really is desperate. I don’t know for sure what’s going on with him. He seems to be trying to fill some sort of hole in his life, but it looks like it’s changing his entire outlook.”

From beside the griffon, Droll regarded him apathetically before returning his eyes to the middle of the room in silence, causing the griffon to stare at him. “Aren’t you going to crack a joke or something?”

“What difference it make?”

The griffon's mouth fell ajar, but before he could answer, a firm voice interrupted him from behind.

“I thought I forbade you two from coming to the community events.”

The two friends turned around to see General Radiance alone, glaring down at them in their path. Immediately, the griffon’s shocked look converted into conceit.

“Oh hey, Radar,” Candid began. “Shouldn’t the leader be hiding behind his guards since he’s 'oh-so important' and can’t afford any threats like Droll and me?”

Instead of anger, Radiance just scoffed. “Oh, Candid, I’d be more threatened by a griffon who actually had claws.”

Instantly, Candid clenched his talons, ready to wind up for an attack, but he stopped himself, frozen in place. Instead of laughter, Radiance just returned his serious expression.

“I warned you that you’d be in trouble if you came to these, Candid.”

After a deep breath, the griffon spoke. “But you also make us come to the community meetings, right? Because we’re supposed to follow orders from you.”

“Well, obviously.”

“It was an order from you that whoever bought lottery tickets have to come to the town hall.”

“That’s just-.”

“So,” Candid interrupted, “Droll and I were just following your orders. We made no crime either since this follows in directly with your exceptions. We were just following orders from you, Your Majesty.”

Radiance rolled his eyes. “I don't have the patience to deal with this. Just find a seat.”

The griffon grunted before looking over at the group of ponies, seeing Clover sitting down, patiently waiting for the event to start. Candid's anger ceased as he began to make his way over before Radiance snapped.

“Not there!”

Without looking back, the orange non-pony closed his eye to calm his fury down before he proceeded to go to the appropriate section of the town hall.

As Candid tried to find his seat, the sight of a donkey reading a Daring Do book caught his eye. With no self-restraint, he leaned over next to him. “Spoiler alert: Daring Do is a bucking moron.” Without waiting for a reaction, he proceeded to look for his seat.

As Candid returned his attention for his search, he found Droll had already found his seat without him. Normally, the yak would be waiting in anticipation for his friend to join him, but Droll was just slouching in his seat, motionlessly staring at the stage. Without letting him face another second alone, Candid flew over to make it to his friend immediately.

“Okay, Droll,” he began. “This has gone on far enough. What’s your problem?”

The yak moved only his eyes to see the griffon before returning them away to the stage as he waited for probable bad news.

“Droll,” he continued, “I’ve never seen you like this before. Where’s that stupid smile you always put on?”

“Yak haven’t found reason to smile.”

The orange non-pony tilted his head. “You’ve always found a reason to smile. That’s just who you are.”

“It was.” Droll lazily blinked twice in his slouch. “Droll just hope lottery fix things.”

Candid wanted to speak, but he knew it would be far from the truth to tell Droll that he would have a chance at winning, especially after Clover’s cutiemark would ensure that she got all the bits.

Without speaking, Candid pulled out his six numbers: 0,3, 2,6, 1, and 9. After a deep breath, he spoke. “Well, if I win, you can have all my winnings. I only joined here because I thought Radiance needed it. So now we have double the chances at winning.”

Droll blinked again before looking down at his numbers: 0,1,2,5, 20, 4. Without even a shift in facial expressions, the yak put down his numbers before returning his face to the front.

Candid quickly searched for a solution. "Droll, is it how I treated you today? I hope you know that's all in good fun. It's nothing too deep."

No response was given by the yak, prompting the orange non-pony to continue.

"Is it the stress of this community? Is it Radiance's grief affecting you too? Is it something I don't know about?"

After still no response, Candid’s hopeful attitude fell into desperation. “Come on, Droll. Please smile. It’s not fun to see you like this.”

Trying his best, Droll turned his head to his friend and lifted his lips to reveal his teeth, but his expression didn’t change. After he sighed, the sound of a microphone overtook the room.

“Good afternoon, everpony,” Radiance spoke in the center of the room. “It’s good to have any members we can have participating in the first Community Lottery.”

Radiance spoke as though he were broken, as if he were trying his best to convince everyone that he was happy but ultimately failing at it. When Candid returned to check on his friend, Droll was staring just a bit more attentively, putting on an expression of understanding at the speaker.

“Before I reveal the numbers,” the stallion spoke up, “I just want to thank you all for participating. It’s been a rough couple of months, but I know that together, there’s nothing that-.”

“Get on with it!” a voice roared from a nearby seat, startling both the yak and griffon.

As Radiance gave an empty look towards the direction of the heckler, another non-pony spoke up, shouting similar demands. After the creature was done, a pony from the other side yelled in agreement, causing several others to begin yelling impatiently as well. Soon enough, an entire section of creatures were chanting for Radiance to continue reading, and the number of voices only increased.

Radiance fought to maintain his smile. “Please, settle down. We will get to-.”

“Tell us who won!” another voice yelled.

“I will, just-.”

“Stop wasting our time!”

“SHUTUP!” Sunflower snapped through the microphone, causing all the voices to come to an end abruptly. “I am in charge here and no one is going to talk over me! I’m trying to make it fun here, but if you all aren’t patient enough to wait for the results, I’ll just do away with this completely!”

For a moment, there was silence until a voice said “sure you will!”

Instantly, Radiance turned to the direction of the heckler. “Okay, you’re grounded!” Immediately, he froze on the stage, not moving. From beside Candid, Droll gave a silent squeal of sadness but stayed still.

Radiance blinked twice, regaining his composure, but his smile didn’t return. “Okay fine. I don’t have to waste my time here either.” The stallion looked down at the six numbers in his hooves before calling them out. “0, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9.”

Immediately, Candid widened his eye as he looked to the crowd of ponies to see Clover shoot up in astonishment.

“Whoever has these numbers, come on down. Whoever has four or more of these same numbers will have the winnings equally split among them.”

From the other side of the room, Clover froze, but Radiance's encouraging tone allowed her to march down to the stage reluctantly.

“What is your name?” Radiance asked into the microphone.

“Um . . .” the mare shifted shyly. “My name is C-Clover . . .”

“Well,” Radiance looked around. “Wait, was there nopony else who got at least four numbers? Really, how lucky does someone have to be for that to happen?”

Clover giggled softly as she looked away with innocent eyes. “I guess I’m the only one then.”

“Well, Clover. What are you going to do with the bits?”

The yellow earth pony raised her eyebrows in thought. “I’m not sure. I never thought I’d make it this far. I’ll have to ask my parents and make sure they can help me use it wisely.”

“Well, that all sounds good. You’ll be receiving your bits within the day.”

Clover smiled brightly up at Radiance before speaking in a quiet tone near the microphone. “Thank you.”

Radiance put on a bright smile before it faded as his eyes went out of focus.

Clover tilted her head before continuing. “What’s wrong, General?”

Radiance blinked before shaking his head. “Uh, nothing. You just reminded me of someone.”

“Oh cheer up, Droll,” Candid said as the two walked away from the letdown. “Stuff like that is rare, you know? You’d have an easier time trying to guess Constellar’s prison name.”

Droll slouched his shoulders while walking. “Yak still no know what that means.”

“It’s just a community saying. Don’t look too far into it.”

Droll huffed, staring at the ground as if he could not believe this was his reality. “Lottery was Droll’s only idea.”

“It’s possible to find something else in the future though.”

“Droll no want chances. Droll just want to know how to be happy.”

Candid tried to think of something, but his mind was drawing a blank. Finally, he had nothing else to say except how he felt. “I don’t like playing this role, Droll. I’m not good at it. You were always the one who kept our spirits high.”

“Yak no know what to-.”

“Guess whose talent just proved useful yet again!” a voice shouted from the distance.

Candid’s jaw dropped in concern as Clover stampeded over to them.

“Uh, Clover? Maybe now isn’t the best-.”

“Can you two believe I won? I can. I’m the best.” Clover giggled in delight before looking at the inverse expression of the yak ahead of her. “Oh, were you hoping to win?”

“Yak hoping for change.”

Candid stepped forward. “He’s a little upset about the whole thing, Clover.”

Clover pursed her lips. “Oh, well, maybe better luck next time . . . ?”

“Lottery yak's hope for some spark in life,” Droll said as tears entered his eyes. “What Droll do now?”

Clover opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get a statement across, Droll rushed away from the group, leaving the two in their concern.

Candid gritted his teeth. “Yeah, maybe I should-.”

“I can’t believe it,” Clover began. “Why couldn’t I have seen this before?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The way I won was unfair. I took the win away from someone else who might have gotten it. How selfish was it for me to enter into that event with the certainty that I would win? I won unfairly.”

“It wasn’t that unfair-.”

“I have an advantage over everyone else because of my cutiemark. I am lucky enough to get whatever I want in a moment while others have to rely on fate to determine if something good happens.”

“Clover-.”

“Oh my goodness. The science fair I won when I was 8? The race I barely practiced for that I got first place in when I was ten? The student pony president for my school that I barely put any marketing in for? All lies! I don’t deserve this win. I don’t deserve anything I’ve ever gotten!”

Before Candid could speak, Clover stampeded away in the opposite direction Droll went. Candid wanted to rush immediately after her but then remembered Droll the other way, someone closer to him that was just as much of an emotional wreck. The griffon turned to the direction Droll had gone, but he stopped, remembering Clover who was more recent and probably not very far.

The orange non-pony rapidly kept shifting his gaze in both directions, but he had to choose just one. Was it going to be his old friend who was stronger on the inside or his new friend that doesn't trust herself anymore? After many long seconds of moral decisions, Candid took off in full speed in the direction that the green-maned pony had run off to.

The griffon stared at the streets that had creatures periodically scattered through them, but he saw no sign of his friend. After many moments of terror, he stared at the ground where a string of green hair was. After studying it closely, he noticed another tiny strand of it a bit of distance away before seeing yet another one. Candid looked up to see the path following down the streets and into a secluded part.

“It’s her cutiemark,” Candid said in concern. “She secretly wants me to follow her.”

Pressed for time on the brink of disaster, Candid bolted at full speed, following the trace of hair that was kindly left by Fate. With a single eye, he darted it around the place, looking for Clover, but saw no sign of her. Without slowing down, he followed the hair before it ended at a place in which no one seemed to be around. With a look up into the distance, he saw the yellow equine slowly walking near sets of abandoned households.

“Clover!” he yelled as he flew towards her.

The pony immediately stopped next to one of the poor-conditioned houses, looking back at Candid with tears streaming down her face. “Please, just leave me alone. I don’t deserve anyone’s company at the moment.”

“You’re wrong! Clover, believe me when I say that you weren’t cheating. It’s just in your nature to win.”

“Don’t you get it?!” she said even louder. “As long as I’m around, I will be there to steal victories from everypony else and make their lives miserable!”

The mare began to backup toward the building behind her, and Candid caught notice of her cutiemark beginning to glow slightly.

“I can’t do that to anyone!” She continued.

She began making her way to the abandoned household as she continued to face Candid.

“Clover,” the griffon said. “Back away from there now!”

“I don’t deserve to be here! No one deserves to have me around!”

Immediately as the words left her mouth, her back hit the wall as her cutiemark went to its maximum brightness. As soon as the walls were illuminated in the golden aura, the sound of crumbling occurred and the pony stared up at the falling rocks, closing her eyes as they came down on her.

Immediately, Candid flashed his wings outwards to speed toward the mare, but before he could reach the location, the heavy rocks had already covered her completely, and the entire scene erupted into dust that floated overhead, hiding the display beneath a blanket of powder.

“Clover!” Candid yelled in desperation. “Are you okay?”

After waiting for the dust to subside, no answer was given. As quickly as he could, he removed as many rocks as possible, but what he saw made him wish he was blind in his other eye too.

Candid clenched the gates to the cemetery as he watched the funeral go down. He wished he was allowed to enter in to pay his respects, but according to Radiance's rules regarding them, they were not allowed in.

After watching for several minutes and trying to listen to the inaudible words at the gravesite, Candid finally turned around to collapse, leaning his back against the gate. To his right, Droll tried to comfort him.

“Candid be alright,” Droll said with actual emotion this time. “Losing pony is bad, but yak promise Candid be alright.”

The orange non-pony huffed, but no tears entered his eyes. Instead, he just glared straight ahead at nothing, thinking solely on his inadequacy.

Finally, Droll offered his thoughts. “Yak thought pony was lucky though. How this happen?”

Candid blinked hard before turning his attention to his friend. “Don’t you get it? Luck was her entire thing. She wanted this to happen. It was Fate following her wishes.”

The yak twitched his face in hopes of saying something, but nothing came to his mind. Instead, he just sat down next to his friend, hoping he would know that he was there.

"I told her that it wasn't cheating?" The griffon stared through he community streets, eying the corner he traveled to find his friend. "Was I wrong?"

"Yak no know."

"Did I . . . lie?"

Droll looked up at his best friend. "Did griffon believe words to pony?"

The orange non-pony took a deep breath. "I think I did."

The two sat in silence for a moment before Candid spoke. “I can’t believe everything.”

Droll tilted his head in thought as he listened, and Candid continued.

“I can’t believe I wasn’t able to save another friend.”

The brown non-pony opened his mouth to speak but then decided to merely close it and nod in silence, closing his eyes in the process.

Candid glared in anger across the street, focusing on nothing in particular. “I can save a community full of creatures that hate me but I can't seem to save someone who matters to me. No matter what I do it seems. I'll always be like this."

"Griffon no know that,' Droll added. "Now may be dark, but future what make it. Future can be very bright."

Candid stared at the ground in thought. " You're right, Droll. I can't let something like this happen again.”

“What griffon mean?”

“The next time something like this would happen, I’ll be ready for it. I won’t let someone else get hurt because I’m not good enough to help them. I thought I was fast, but my speed isn’t enough yet, but I will be faster. I will be stronger. I will be better.”

Droll blinked back a tear. “How?”

“I do some training and make myself better than who I was in the morning. Just recently, I was beaten up by an older stallion and there was absolutely no competition there. I couldn’t even defend myself. And even with you as a teammate, we can’t stand a chance against one opponent.”

Droll narrowed his eyes in anger at the memory. “Yak no want to feel helpless either. Yak with griffon. Droll help in any way he can.”

Candid stood up from his slouch of defeat before facing Droll with a look of determination. “You’re in the same situation as I am, Droll. Are you prepared to do what it takes so that the next time something happens to you, you won’t just take it? Instead, will you fight it and beat it? And when someone you care about is about to be taken, are you ready to not let that happen?”

Droll nodded with a look of determination before a tiny smile was able to return to his face. “Droll ready.”

Candid gave his best friend a smirk, aware that the two of them were going to do whatever it took together. “Let’s get started then.”

Cold