To ocean and beyond

"CATCH IT!" I yelled. "I'm trying!" Nibble said desperately. He was chasing after a small dragon. a small dragon who had been spying on us all night from a tree top. A spy. He probably heard us talking about our plans to get to the city. Nibble wanted to catch him and cut out his tongue so that the dragon couldn't tell his master about our plans. It seemed like a gruesome idea to me but I guess Nibble was used to that kind of stuff. Apparently he had been dealing with the dragons his entire life. His mother was killed by the dragons as an offering one year. The whole idea didn't seem to make sense to me. A couple minutes later, Nibble came flying back to me. He had a trickling cut on his thin arm but it didn't look fatal. "Are you okay?" I ask him quietly. "yes." he says "I'm alright" He sighs deeply and then clenches his arm, attempting to rid of the blood. "Did you catch the dragon?" I ask. "heh" Nibble responds "The dragon was killed." I went cold. The dragon was dead? No... Nibble isn't a murderer... "You... killed it?" I asked him nervously. He chuckled in response "No. I didn't kill this dragon. I only kill when I absolutely have to. Ponies killed it." Then everything went silent. "Ponies?... What do you mean ponies? Ponies wouldn't even hurt a fly!" Nibble sighed and then began speaking once again "Ripple... the ponies here are a bit different. Rejects, criminals, and outcasts. All of them came here seeking a home. A pony named Golden Clove took them in to his home here on this island. Eventually the dragons discovered this little clan of 16 ponies living in an unusually large home on what they thought was their island. Golden clove took the rejects to the mountain and told them to mine away if they wanted to survive. Eventually a city was created, named after Golden Clove. It was 5 years ago when the first rock was chipped off of that mountain. I can't imagine how large that city is now..." I blinked. 5 years ago... 5 dreaded years ago. That was the same amount of time my parents had... gone away. "That makes a little sense I guess. What do you expect they want from the dragons? I don't remember you saying anything about dragons sacrificing ponies here...?" Nibble sighed "Again with the questions? Well anyways, if you really need to know I guess I'll tell you. It's all a turf war between them. The dragons like to say they got here first but the ponies think they're more civilized. I know, it's pretty dumb how they just can't share". I open my mouth to speak but suddenly Nibble perks up his ears and his pupils begin to grow rather small. "FOLLOW ME WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME!" He grabs my hoof and drags me off farther into the forest. As we run, I remember the cut that the large white dragon gave me the previous day and it starts to pulse with pain like crazy. I bite my lip and try my best not to whine about it. "Why exactly are we in such a hurry?" I ask Nibble as we run. "No time!" He says short of breath "I'll... tell you... later..." After a few more minutes of running Nibble stops and says "Wait!" I stop and look around at him. "Fly!" He says. I look at him with a confused glare and spread my wings, but I don't take off. "FLY I SAID, DANGIT! FLY!" I flap my wings a few times until I lift off of the ground and he jumps onto my tail, grasping for dear life. By the time I'm in mid-air, Nibble is on my back using my back-pack quite like one would use a saddle. "What direction?" I ask him "Head north" He says "Towards the mountains over there" I fly for a few more minutes until I reach an almost autumn looking forest. Most of the trees below us were colored red, orange and golden. "It isn't autumn here already, is it?" I ask. "actually" He responds "It's the type of tree. The red and orange ones are called burnt oaks but the golden ones are called golden oaks." I look down at the trees and get a warm feeling. I loved autumn when I was little. "By the way?" I ask Nibble "What were we running from?" Nibble sighs "Ponies of Golden Clove." I suddenly feel confused "I understand that the ponies are after the dragons but... they're after grucirens as well?" Nibble sighs. "yes... unfortunately. They treat us like vermin... and call us uncivilized creatures. If they catch any of us in their city we'll be beheaded publicly in town square." I go cold. I had a 'thing' for beheading... it creeped me out... a lot. "speaking of cities... What city are we headed to? Some kind of gruciren place?" I looked back at Nibble and see a sly smile creep across his face. "we're headed to Golden Clove."