Soaring above an open expanse of water in the sharp claws of a reticent griffon was not at all what Sombra expected when Starswirl told him they’d be traveling to the Dragonlands.
‘It could be worse,’ Sombra tried to convince himself, as he swallowed back the bile rising up from his stomach from watching the blur of water speeding past below them. ‘At least my griffon isn’t trying to talk to me.’
Up in front of them, Starswirl and the female Griffon named Gabby we’re chatting amiably, seemingly oblivious to the noise of the wind rushing past. How Starswirl could be calm enough to hold a conversation while dangling precariously from the razor-like talons of a strange creature who could at a moment’s whim drop him into the middle of the Celestial Sea was completely beyond Sombra.
They had met the two Griffons the prior evening at their hotel. The train has brought them into Griffonstone Station pretty late in the day and the walk to their place of lodging had left them both tired and hungry. Luckily, there was a place that served vegetarian fodder nearby. After checking in, they had made their way to grab a quick dinner before retiring.
The place had been pretty empty and the few griffons they encountered seemed surly at best. Sitting quietly at their table they had just begun to eat when Gilda and her compatriot appeared. She was unlike any other Griffin they’d met. Spotting the two ponies, she had hurried over to their table, plopped herself down and introduced herself as some kind of pony crusader.
Sombra still was unclear about that part. She spoke so fast though it was kind of hard to follow. Despite her attempts, when Sombra didn’t provide much in the way of conversation, she had quickly turned her efforts directly on Starswirl, who despite his fatigue seemed all too happy to oblige.
Eventually the conversation made its way to their intended destination. That’s when Gilda got the brilliant idea that they would carry the ponies across the sea and save them some time. Starswirl was more than pleased to accept and Sombra had been too tired to care one way or another.
Now he greatly wished he had interceded and suggested a different approach. Shutting his eyes against the wind, he instantly re-opened them. That had been a very bad idea. His stomach contents almost made themselves known.
Sombra gritted his teeth. He really hoped they would get there already.
—-
It felt like an eternity later, before they set their hooves down on the earth. Sombra had never been more grateful in his life to be on the ground. The thought lasted all of a moment though, before he promptly found himself a bush to regurgitate into. If there was a good point at all to his retching, it was that he missed most of the goodbyes with the griffons.
It took awhile before Sombra’s stomach settled enough for him to move. He slowly ambled along behind Starswirl as the unicorn began to climb up a steep slope. Watching his two hooves move in front of him, it wasn’t until they reached the top of their climb that Sombra had the chance to look around.
It did not look promising. The terrain was mountainous. Puffs of smoke and sprays of black and reddish liquid shot up into the air, while pools of the liquid lava flowed through gouged crevices in the valleys. Dark gray clouds hung heavy in the sky. A smell of ash, sulfur, and tar permeated everything. But worst of all, there was an oppressive heat weighing down on them.
“Do you see that green mountain over there?” Starswirl asked pointing with his hoof.
Sombra followed the direction the mage was pointing but all he saw were erupting volcanoes spewing molten lava and billowing plumes of smoke. Squinting he caught a glimpse of something greenish that resembled a distant mountain peak.
“That’s where we need to go.” Starswirl added.
“How do we get there?” Sombra wondered. ‘Hopefully not by griffon,’ he thought.
“We walk of course.”
“Walk!!!” Sombra asked incredulously. “Are you insane??!! There’s no way we can walk there. Look at all that lava! We’re not fireproof, unless there is something you forgot to mention.”
“Who would have thought,” Starswirl chuckled, “and here I thought the mighty King Sombra feared nothing.”
Sombra blushed, a bit cowed by the remark. Starswirl struck a nerve with the remark. But Sombra was … concerned. There was a big difference between tackling something like this in his normal body with all its powers than facing it in his current form. “It’s not fear if it’s rational. Ponies aren’t dragons. We will burn if we touch the lava.”
“Then we don’t touch the lava.” The unicorn replied smugly.
“Prey tell, how do we accomplish that task?”
“With trust, my dear Sombra.” Starswirl smirked at the flowering colt. After a moment, he decided to throw the colt a bone. Pointing again with his hoof, he identified their path through the uninviting terrain. “Do you see the ridge right through there?”
Sombra nodded.
“There is a path that breaks off and heads along the coast. The winds coming off the water keep it relatively cool. While it meanders some, it is fairly flat and has only the occasional lava pit.”
“None would be preferable.” Sombra muttered under his breath. Taking a deep breath intending to steady himself, instead he had a coughing fit from the ash and the smell. When he finally stopped, he wiped the tears from his eyes. “Let’s go; anywhere is better than here.”
Starswirl nodded, and led the way forward. A few minutes into the journey, the old unicorn just couldn’t resist baiting the king. “I didn’t mention the best part of the path.”
Groaning, the colt almost didn’t respond. “I bet I can’t wait to hear this.”
“There are hardly any dragons on the coast.”
—-
“They EAT ponies!!” Sombra declared emphatically as he jumped from the rock he’d been perched on to the ledge across from him, which protruded above a thin stream of lava.
“No, not anymore.” Starswirl shook his head in response, offering a hoof to Sombra, in order to help pull the colt up onto the ridge that would take them further along the path. “They are our allies now. They help ponies.”
“Help us into their stomachs you mean.” The colt quipped, rolling his eyes as he marched alongside the unicorn.
The argument had been going on for the better part of the journey. If nothing else it had been a distraction from the perilous walk down the mountain onto the crevice and across the ‘occasional lava pits.’ Their constant banter had them making good time.
“So,” Sombra changed his tactic, “you’re telling me that if a dragon were to land in front of us right now, you wouldn’t run?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” The unicorn nodded as he paused briefly to navigate along a particularly narrow ledge. “There is a treaty in place and excellent relations between the leader of the dragons and our own Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Ignoring the gagging noise from Sombra, he continued his explanation. “I have it on good authority that the princess’ right hand drake is good friends with the queen of the dragons.”
“Wait! You’re saying that a princess has a dragon for an assistant?” Sombra shook his head in disbelief as he trotted alongside the mage.
“Yes, they’re good friends in fact. She hatched him from an egg and raised him herself, if I’m not mistaken.”
“What has happened to Equestria?” Sombra wondered aloud, still shaking his head.
“Friendship.” Starswirl responded. “The power of friendship has truly changed our world for the better. Turning former adversaries into comrades. Changing Dragons from beings to be feared to friends we haven’t met yet.”
“You really believe, that out here in the heart of the Dragonlands, their natural hunting territory, with no other ponies around, that they would treat our presence as, what? A diplomatic mission?” Sombra scoffed. It was ridiculous.
“In a way, I suppose they might.” The unicorn lit his horn to teleport them over a particularly wide stretch of bubbling lava. “I do believe that they would honor the treaty and great us fairly. Need I remind you that we have already passed through much of their lands unaccosted?”
“We’ve been lucky, I suppose.” Sombra begrudgingly acknowledged. “We are at the edge of their lands, perhaps they don’t come out here much. As you suggested.”
“Er, well, yes I suppose I did say that.” Starswirl admitted. “But it’s not guaranteed we won’t see one at all, it’s just less likely. They enjoy the heat from the lava pits and there are just less of those out here.”
“Well, I certainly hope we never run into a dragon!” Sombra proclaimed as he stepped around a giant boulder that had been blocking the view ahead and immediately froze.
There on the path in front of them was an enormous sleeping dragon, puffs of smoke billowed from its nostrils as it snored loudly. It’s sharp claws and massive jaws were blocking their path forward.
Starswirl padded up beside the colt and assessed the situation. “Well, I suppose we will have to wake the fellow up and ask him to move.”
“Are you crazy???” Sombra whispered back. “We can’t wake him up, he’ll eat us!”
“I already told you, dragons don’t eat ponies…”
“Alright, whatever! It-it … it would be rude to wake him up.” Sombra gestured about while trying to come up with a plausible argument against upsetting the creature. “And we don’t want to cause a diplomatic incident, do we?”
“Mmmm.” Starswirl raises an eyebrow, not buying it.
“I certainly don’t want to anger the...poor fellow.” The final words were conveyed with far too little sincerity.
“Well, what would you suggest we do instead?” Starswirl eyed the colt.
“You could teleport us.” Sombra offered with hope.
“I can’t see what’s beyond him.” Starswirl dismissed the idea waving vaguely in the direction of the dragon.
Sombra gritted his teeth and looked back at the dragon blocking their way. The creature was so large there was no chance of going around it’s tail end as it was pressed firmly against the cliff side from whence they had just come. As they had no wings, there wasn’t any way to go over the beast without climbing on top of it and risking waking it up. They couldn’t go underneath it as it was sprawled flat out on the ground. Not that Sombra would have necessarily risked going under it if there had been an opening.
The only way forward appeared to be the small amount of walking space around the front of its massive maw. The opening was far too narrow for anything but a small set of legs.
Sombra swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. It was either sneak past the sleeping beast mere inches from those razor sharp teeth, or wake the dragon and face its wrath.
“I-I,” coughing to cover up the stammer, he began again. “I’ll have to inch around it there and once I’m on the other side I can signal to you somehow a safe spot to teleport.”
“Are you sure you don’t just want to ask him nicely to let us pass? I’m sure he’s a reasonable drake…”
“No! No. No, I can do this. We should really leave him be.” Sombra sounded far more sure than he felt.
“Well, alright. If you insist.” Lighting his horn, Starswirl drew something from his pack. It was a rectangular shaped device, with a glass front that lit up. “When you get to the other side, just tap the glass and I’ll be able to see what you do.”
“Oh-oh ok.” Sombra took the item gently in his teeth. He felt like his legs were shaking as he stood there and contemplated what he was about to do.
“Sombra, you can do it! I believe in you!” The mage said as he nudged the colt forward.
But Sombra wasn’t sure he agreed. Without his powers, without his true form, he couldn’t do this. There was no way.
Glancing back at the unicorn, he saw Starswirl was smiling at him encouragingly and nodding. On trembling hooves he started forward. Slowly he drew closer to the monstrosity until at last he found himself alongside it.
The heat emanating from the creature was intense and the smell was something awful, akin to charred hide, scorched earth, and copper. Sombra would have gagged had he not had the odd device in his mouth.
Gingerly he took the first step in front of the dragon’s mouth. A billow of smoke blew back his mane and made his eyes water. Not wanting to get accidentally roasted, his hooves moved of their own accord, picking their way delicately past the giant maw.
Only when he was a good two feet from the razor sharp teeth, did Sombra realize he had actually made it past the sleeping dragon. He had to shake himself a few times as he kept getting transfixed both by what he’d accomplished in this little body and also by how much smoke the dragon produced by snoring.
Spotting a large crevasse up ahead on the path, he slipped through it. The dragon no longer in sight, he collapsed to the ground and spit the rectangular object out of his mouth.
Shaking himself to dispel the residual nervous energy from the encounter, Sombra accidentally nudged the glass part of the object. It instantly began to glow and a beam of light arced out from the center of the glass and proceeded to scan the area. A second later, Starswirl appeared.
Tilting his head to the side, the unicorn smiled. “Well done.”
Sombra couldn’t help but smile back.
—-
They made it to the cave at the top of the green mountain just before sunset. Falling to the ground, Sombra could barely feel his legs, he was so tired.
Starswirl used his magic to pull food and water from his pack and to start a fire to keep them warm through the night. As they ate, they watched the sun set in silence.
It was surprisingly still and quiet in the Dragonlands at night. In the distance they could see the path they would take in the morning down from the mountain.
“So, that’s where we’re headed?” Sombra asked, less for confirmation and more for something the say.
“Yes,” Starswirl responded. “At the base of the mountain, we will gather our supplies. I’ve stored them there in anticipation of our arrival.”
“You’ve made this journey before.”
Though it wasn’t a question Starswirl still answered as though it were. “Yes, a lot of planning went into this journey of ours. I needed to be sure we could make it in time. My initial run involved boating down some rapids though. That was a complete failure.” The unicorn laughed.
“Why are you laughing? Do you find your failures funny?” Sombra asked confused.
“Sometimes. It was more the shared enjoyment of finding a way out of a scary situation. I was on the boat with a friend and I miscalculated both our abilities and the power of the current. At the last moment, I teleported us to land. We were fine, though we lost the boat.” Starswirl reminisced.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever understand how you think.” Sombra shook his head.
“It’s ok, you know.” Starswirl chuckled. “Not everyone appreciates humor. Perhaps you will understand one day why something is funny.”
“Not that again.” The colt groaned.
Silence settled between them again; long enough that he wondered if the unicorn had fallen asleep. Sombra was surprised at how at ease he felt, even with the darkness and the quiet. Perhaps that was what gave him the confidence to reopen the conversation.
“Starswirl?” He asked softly to check if the mage was in fact still awake.
“Yes, Sombra?”
“You mentioned a friend in your boat story and on the train you talked about your friends helping you decide to do this, to bring me back.” Sombra struggled to find the words to express himself despite his confusing feelings. “They seem to … matter a lot to you.”
“They do.” The mage confirmed, curious as to where the conversation was going.
“You rely on them?”
“I do.”
“And they depend on you?”
“Of course.”
Sombra breathed deeply, letting it out slowly. “Even though you’ve made mistakes?”
There was a long pause as understanding took hold. “Friends, true friends will stand by you even when you don’t believe you deserve it. They will forgive you even when you can’t seem to forgive yourself. And they will help bring you back to the light and find the good inside.”
Sombra thought about those words. Rolling over with his back to the unicorn as if to go to sleep, he wiped at his eyes. He took a few steadying breaths to keep from sobbing aloud. It was a few minutes before he could say anything.
“Thank you Starswirl.”
Three simple words. But the power behind them held a presence all its own.
Starswirl coughed to cover up the sob in his throat. He didn’t know how to respond to that declaration. Instead he used magic to pull a blanket from his pack and drape it over the prone colt.
“Goodnight Starswirl.” Sombra whispered.
“Goodnight Sombra.”