"Falkor," Garble said while lying on his back.

"Yeah?" I asked also on my back.

"Remind me to always make you make the type of food like you did earlier because that right there," He said pointing to the somewhat large pile of bones before dropping his arm.

"Was the best thing I've ever tasted." He stated

"I second that," Ember said also laying on her back with Smolder lying next to her Smolder let out a small burp before snuggling Into the side of Ember as she went to sleep.

"It's not that difficult just gotta find a Jasper and Quartz gem, crush them, make sure the crushed remains to cover the whole of whatever you plan on eating, then lightly use your dragon flame to make It crispy as the gem remains mix with the meat," I explain as they groan In response.

'Especially since Quartz tastes like a flower and Jasper tastes like hot sauce,' I thought to myself.

"I got a better idea how about instead of remembering all of that we just make you make food like that all of the time." Ember said

"I second that and besides how would you even think of that? Because I know I would've never thought of that," Garble said astounded.

"Heh, you don't think much of anything," Ember said sarcastically.

"I would say something back but right now I'm too full to think of anything," Garble admitted as Ember and I chuckled at him.

"Though besides Falkor's ability to make food better than It Is what should we do now that we've molted?" Garble asked

"First, we sleep off our feast, then tomorrow we make our way back to the Dragon Lands," I said holding up my right arm as I look at the ring attached to my finger.

"Not much else we can do anyways and It'd probably help to be back somewhere we're familiar with." I explained

"Sounds good to me," Ember said before curling around Smolder as she closed her eyes.

"Not like we got anything else to do," Garble said as he made himself comfortable before closing also his eyes.

"Alright then, have a nice nap I guess," I said closing my eyes as I start to fall asleep.

6 hours later
(Ember POV)

"H̸e̶l̵p̶ ̸t̵h̶e̷m̵," I strangely barely hear causing me to start to wake up.

"Wha-"

"H̸e̶l̵p̶ ̸t̵h̶e̷m̵?"something asked again causing me to fully wake up as I barely hear the weird voice again.

'Where did that voice come from?" I wondered before I heard It again.

"H̸e̶l̵p̶ ̸t̵h̶e̷m̵?" The weird voice asked again closer this time causing me to rush towards Falkor trying to shake him awake as to make him aware of the situation right now.

(Marson POV)

"Falkor, Falkor wake up!" I hear Ember say as I feel her shaking body back and forth.

"Mmh wa yu wan?" I asked coherently as I start to wake up.

"I heard some voices nearby!" She told me causing me to freeze as I take a second to process her words before looking back at her.

"Where?" I asked her causing her to look back toward some trees behind her.

"I don't know I-"

"H̸e̶l̵p̶ ̸t̵h̶e̷m̵?" I hear a staticky voice say In the distance interrupting Ember as we both stop to listen out for anything else only to hear silence for a couple of seconds.

"Get Garble up and ready to leave because we're not staying any longer," I said now fully awake starting to get up as she goes over to Garble.

"Aesthyr are you there!?" I asked urgently hoping to hear from her.
.
.
.
Nothing.

"Still recovering I guess," I said making my way towards Ember and a now awakened but somewhat grumpy Garble.

"Why did you feel the need to wake me up In the middle of the night?" Garble asked annoyed from being woken up.

"Cause Ember heard voices near here," I said as he looks at me confused.

"So?" He asked not understanding what was wrong.

"So If Ember heard noises near our little place where It's supposed to be a secret what do you think that means?" I questioned as I see him thinking about It until his eyes widen In understanding.

"Oh." He simply said

"Yeah, Oh, so let's go," I said picking up Smolder and making my way towards the entrance until I see something In the middle of the entrance making me freeze In place seeing what I can only describe as an abomination.

Upon looking at It closer I saw It had what looked to resemble a drake-like figure but instead of having colorful scales like other dragons, It had pale almost see-through scales with Its wings out and constantly spasming as If just the mere existence of their wings were causing them pain.

Even Its face wasn't normal as its eyesockets had nothing behind them except black voids that my gut was telling me not to look into.

"Y-you guys are s-seeing this too right!? Please tell me I'm not going crazy and that you can see this." Ember said perturbed

"D-dont worry I'm pretty sure we can all see It too," I said turning my head towards her trying not to freak out,"but as long as we don't provoke It I think we're fi-"

Before I could even finish my sentence I turned back towards the entrance only to find the thing standing a few inches In front of me as Its empty eyesockets focused down at Smolder sleeping In my arms causing Garble to step forward.

"Hey get aw-"

"Garble, Dont," I said as seriously as I can hoping he understands while doing my best to not take my eye off of It.

"But-"

"H̵e̴l̸p̷ ̸t̸h̸e̷m̶?" It asked as It took Its attention off of Smolder before looking at me as I tried to avoid looking directly Into Its eyes.

"H-Help them?" I asked confused, "I-I don't understa-"

"H̵̠̦̓e̵̩̰͆͛̍̈́͊l̷̎͜p̸͎̰̮̆̆͊̋͠ͅ ̷̨̬͍̽́̿͘t̸͙̒͌h̶̨͇͈̬̑̏ȅ̴̻̫̜m̸̢͎͙̥̈?" It asked a bit more forcefully cutting me off as pointed down towards Smolder causing my eyes to widen as I understood what It meant.

"Y-yes w-we're helping them," I said hoping that answer was satisfying enough as It looked at me for a few seconds before doing the same to Ember and Garble as the tense feeling started to increase before Its attention landed back on me nodding.

"D̴o̶n̵'̵t̶ ̸l̶e̶t̴ ̷t̴h̷e̴m̵ ̸s̶h̴a̷r̴e̴ ̶o̷u̴r̵ ̷f̴a̵t̶e̴," It said coherently for the first time before suddenly disappearing as we all stood In silence not sure how to process what happened.

"H-How about, we start making our way towards the Dragon Lands and leave this place behind immediately," I said hearing murmurs of agreement as we start making our way out of our little hideout for the last time.

A couple of minutes later we made our way past the trees and crossroads as we came back onto the path we had taken before only this time using It to make our back.

"So, does anydrake wanna talk about what we saw back there?" Ember asked unsure

"I'm not exactly sure what there Is to say Ember," I answered honestly looking down at Smolder still peacefully sleeping away not aware of what just happened a couple of minutes ago putting a small smile on my face.

"Well I know that but It just feels weird to not at least discuss what happened back there," Ember said taking a glance back down the path.

"All I know Is that while It looked like a dragon whatever that creature was It wasn't anything normal that's for sure, I mean did you see Its eyes!?" Garble questioned looking somewhat unsettled.

"There wasn't anything there at all and that's not even the craziest part because every time I got close to looking at wherever that thing's eyes were supposed to be I got this horrible feeling that-"

"If you looked directly Into It something horrible would happen to you?" Ember finished cutting Garble off though If he cared he wasn't showing any sign that he did.

"YES! Exactly that, I thought I was crazy for thinking that but you guys felt It too Right!?" Garble questioned

"Yeah, I did and I don't know what would've happened If I looked but I don't think I ever want to find out," I said remembering how It felt when I almost looked.

"I second that, though should we be out here?" Ember questioned.

"I mean don't get me wrong I don't want to go back after that thing was there but shouldn't we at least stop somewhere else?" Ember questioned

"Look I don't know about you but I'd rather make our way towards the Dragon Lands rather than sleep out here, especially with that thing out and about," Garble explained

"Besides Its night time I doubt tha-"

"Why couldn't we just do this tomorrow?" A voice In the distance complained almost being drowned out by the constant rumbling that was getting closer causing us to hide behind some trees as we waited until what sounded to be like a carriage moved past us until we could no longer hear It.

"You wanna finish what you were going to say Garble?" Ember asked sarcastically looking towards Garble as he looked away slightly annoyed.

"Not my fault something happened," He said slightly grumpy.

"What was that?" Ember questioned

"Nothing, you need to worry about," Garble said

"Uh huh, sure It isn't," Ember said sarcastically before sighing.

"What's wrong?" I asked slightly concerned.

"A bunch of stuff, but for right now? I honestly want to go back to sleep." Ember said

"Well like I said before I still don't want to sleep out here with the chance of whatever that was coming back," He said slightly still upset of the idea of sleeping out here.

"Oh, where's that 'Draconic Pride' you drakes are so famous for?" Ember questioned

"There's a difference between pride and stupidity and I am not stupid enough to try and risk anything with that thing." Garble retorted

"Look Garble as much as I would like to keep moving Ember does have a point, It's either we find somewhere out here suitable to sleep or we go and catch up to whoever those creatures-."

"Ponies." Garble corrected

"What?" I asked confused

"It was Ponies or at least whoever was pulling whatever that thing Is was a pony, saw them when I took a peek." Garble explained

"Well like I was saying It's either we sleep out here or ask the Ponies If they can give us a ride," I said sarcastically as Garble stays quiet with a slight frown on his face.

"Exactly, no-"

"Ok," Garble said causing me to pause and look at him In surprise as he started to sprint In the direction that the carriage went causing me and Ember to sprint after him.

"Wait, You would rather ask for Ponies to help us rather than sleep outside?" Ember asked just as shocked as I am.

"As much as I hate *pant* to admit It yes, In any other situation than no I'd *pant* rather deal with anything else but my draconic strength alone but I'm pretty sure that *pant* wouldn't make a difference to whatever that was back there," He said In between breaths.

"Huh, color me surprised," I said making sure to not drop Smolder as she somehow still stayed asleep with all the rocking she was going through right now.

"What?"
"What?" They both asked confused at my saying.

"Never mind," I said as we all go quiet for a couple of minutes until we see the carriage start to slowly appear.

"Ok, let me *pant* talk to them," I said slightly tired as I hear them barely agree.

"Garble hold *pant* Smolder for me," I said passing Smolder to him as I speed up trying to catch up to the carriage as I start banging on the side of It once I reach causing them to slow down to a stop.

"What In the Bu-" The Earth Pony pulling the carriage starts to say as he comes around to the side of the caravan only to cut himself off as his eyes widen at the sight of me.

"A Dragon?" He said before his eyes narrow, "Look, we don't want any trouble alright," He said slowly putting his hands up.

"Yeah me neither, besides I was going to ask If we could join you guys," I said trying to catch my breath.

"We?" He asks just as Ember and Garble appear with Smolder in his arms.

"Yeah we-" I said pointing towards them as the door in the side of the carriage suddenly slams open.

"SERGEANT DAWN WHY IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA HAVE W-"

"WWUUAAAAAAGGH!" Smolder cried out from having her sleep interrupted causing everyone to pause as Garble and Ember started to snarl at the offender whose eyes widened at the sight of us.

"That Lieutenant was why we stopped," He said looking slightly smug before the Unicorn looks back causing him to drop his smug look before he turns back to face us.

"So what's your business with us dragons? Cause just to let you know In advance If It's not Important then we need to get going." He said bluntly

"Look we're heading back Into the Dragon Lands and we're wondering If you would be willing to let us catch a ride with you guys," I explained honestly causing them to look at each other confused.

"What?" I asked slightly impatient.

"You dragons are asking us ponies for help?" The Earth Pony questioned.

"Yes?" I say not getting what they were trying to Insinuate.

"Huh, never thought I'd live to see the day," The Earth pony said looking genuinely surprised.

"Well, congratulations you lived to see the day now can we join you or not?" Garble asked out of patience trying to stop Smolder's crying.

"Well, I suppose there's no harm," He said with his eyes narrowed before they returned to normal.

"Besides we're heading to the Dragon Lands anyways, so I suppose It wouldn't hurt to let you four join us, as long as you all aren't lying and don't try anything," He ends with a serious tone.

"Right now I'm too tired to even think of anything related to 'trying' anything right now so how's that for an answer?" Garble asked sarcastically as he was starting to calm Smolder down before the Unicorn got out of the doorway and allowed us to enter allowing me to take a quick look inside.

I was kinda surprised to find the inside of the carriage looked normal with only a couple of fountain pens strewn about and wooden seats covered by a thin sheet of fabric going across the entirety of It with one window at the other end of the seats.

"Alright Sergeant back to work!" He calls out before closing the door as the carriage starts to move.

"You know I know you're a pony and everything but you're being surprisingly generous to us right now even though you're on a mission, why Is that?" Ember questioned

"Easy, because now me and Dawn out there get to have the right to say that a dragon asked us for help without having to lie about It." He said with a smug grin before dropping It.

"Also, like I said before If you four were honest about your situation then I'm sure Princess Celestia wouldn't mind bringing some dragons on the way while on the way towards the Dragon Lands." He explained

"Fair enough, I'd take the chance too," Garble said while somewhat cradling Smolder.

"Really? Just the chance to brag about something Is enough reason for you?" Ember asked astounded.

"I never said that was enough reason but If you had the chance to get to be able to brag about something and It wouldn't hurt anycreature would you pass up the chance?" Garble asked Ember as she opened her mouth before pausing as she took a second to think about.

"Fine, I guess you have a point, an IDIOTIC point but a point either way," She reluctantly agreed.

"Exactly, now I'm going to sleep now, and don't wake me up until we get up their pony or I will claw your eye out," Garble threatened causing the Unicorn to put his hands up.

"Trust me I wouldn't dream of It," He said causing Garble to nod as he shut his eyes preparing to go to sleep.

"You can go to sleep Ember I'm gonna stay awake for a few minutes," I said feeling exhausted.

"You sure? I tho-"

"Yep, I'm sure don't worry," I look her in the eye hoping she would at least understand my ass attempt at me not trying to show being tired.

Shrugging, she doesn't seem to think twice about It as she tries to find a somewhat comfortable position to go to sleep In as the unicorn and I are left In each other's company.

"So, what exactly what you four were doing out there In the first place?" He asked curiously

"We were out there trying to find something and had to take care of the little one while we did," I half lied trying not to give him any Information that didn't concern him.

"Oh alright, I guess that makes sense then," He said slightly amused.

'Feel like there's something I should question him on but I can't care enough to worry about It,' I think to myself.

"So exactly Is your guys mission out In the Dragon Lands?" I ask hoping to learn something.

"Well if I'm being honest usually I wouldn't share mission details with other creatures not included in said mission whether or not they could kill me but I guess It wouldn't hurt since we were told that all the dragons know already so why not," He said stretching out as much as he could before focusing back on me.

"We were sent here to pick up an egg from Dragon Lord Torch since we were told that the mother of the egg had died and the father disappeared and seeing as no other dragon would take It In as their own for some reason," The unicorn said looking confused and slightly upset.

"We were sent In to pick up the egg and deliver It back so that way the egg could be taken care of and even If the dragons don't exactly like the idea of giving their kind away." He said

"Now personally I think that they should've thought of that when they had the opportunity to take the egg In as their own but declined, noponies fault but their own," He said finishing his little rant while I was busy thinking about something he said.

'Could that be his egg? No way that'd be way too big of a coincidence, right?' I pondered to myself.

"Do you know who's going to take care of the egg?" I asked curious

"Can't tell you that one friend but don't worry the mare that's going to take care of her Is respected by everypony you could even say that she's one of a kind," He said as he winked at me.

"Never do that again," I said with a deadpanned face.

"Yeah I don't exactly know why I said that and I hate jokes like that too so I'm not exactly sure why I did that," He said looking ashamed leaving us In an awkward silence.

"Well I'm gonna go and help out the Sergeant since you know," He said as he exited the carriage without elaborating on what he meant by that.

Shrugging off that awkward moment I start to make myself comfortable closing my eyes as I start to fall asleep.

Author's Note

Now I know to some people that this chapter might come out of nowhere and might suck for alot of people but this kinda leads into what I hope I'll be able to take this story towards, if I'm good enough to pull it off.

But enough about my failures OHH BABYYYY 200 LIKES ON THIS STORY!!!! honestly I'm just as suprised as you are.

But seriously thanks to everyone who decided to waste a couple minutes of their day In order to check out this absolute dumpster fire of a story.

And like always If you hated everything about this chapter comment about and tell me with no filter so I can fox any and all failures that I forced you to read.

Though If you did enjoy It then also comment and tell me what you liked about the chapter It makes my day alot.

K see you later until next time!