“I hope you realize that you do owe me for this,” said Rose to the ponies crammed into the Hellbender’s cabin with her.
Rarity hooked a hoof around her seatbelt. “I’ll be sure to make it up to both you and Alex, Rose.”
“I’m sure you will.” Rose went silent for a moment. Everypony braced themselves as best they could as the Hellbender veered around a particularly troublesome stretch of trees. “Just be glad that Alex is alright without radio communication for a few hours. I wouldn’t be driving this far away from the facility otherwise.”
Spike’s head start on the dragon migration had left Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash the misfortune of having to catch up to him. Worse, Rarity had needed time that she didn’t have to put together a passable dragon costume for the three of them to hide in. Dragging it all the way to the dragons’ nesting craters would’ve been hell all on its own, but doing that while keeping up with Spike to make sure he didn’t get hurt? That was almost impossible.
Not to mention the local emergency that just cropped up with Fluttershy. As if Spike following the dragon migration wasn’t bad enough, Garry had disappeared and was nowhere to be found.
At least there was one silver lining. Twilight proposed the idea of asking Rose to borrow a Hellbender to cut travel time. Naturally, the AI refused. Rose wasn’t about to let three unqualified equines drive a high tech motor vehicle designed for humanoids any time soon, but, after a few minutes of communication with Alex, Rose “offered” to drive them herself.
It wasn’t an altogether awful drive, although the Hellbender only had seating for a driver and passenger. Twilight and Rarity ended up sharing the spare seat, while Rainbow Dash happily lounged in the bed of the truck with the dragon costume.
The dragons’ nesting craters weren’t terribly far away, but they had taken hours to get going, and even the Hellbender’s endurance and speed did them little good. Its size forced them to frequently take the long way around things they could have walked over or through, and by the time they arrived, the sun was already setting.
Against the backdrop of dusk, the Hellbender crawled to a stop in the middle of a small clearing. Before they left Ponyville, Twilight had expected Rose to use her usual civilian chassis for the drive. Instead, she used a body nopony had ever seen before. Bronze in color, with a solid metal face, and lips that didn’t move when she spoke. In fact, while she still looked like a human female, her body was less human and more obviously mechanical as a whole. Five blade-like appendages angled out of what looked like a built-in headpiece that covered her ears, nose, and forehead, though leaving the rest of her head untouched. Similar blades were attached to her knees and elbows, but one of the most identifying features was a blue light source situated between her metallic breasts.
Rose stepped out of the vehicle and glanced back inside. “This is as far as I’m going to take you. I’m not going to chance getting any closer with those things flying around.” She pointed just over the tree-line towards a mountain range, where dragons of all sorts orbited the craters at the tops, looking for places to lay down and rest.
After letting Rarity hop out, Twilight closed the passenger side door. “You’ve already helped us a lot, Rose. I understand. Thank you so much for this.”
Rose walked around to the back of the Hellbender. “You’re welcome. Although I still think this endeavor of yours is insane.”
Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs and leaned back against the vehicle’s cabin. “Yeah, guys, I’m kinda with Rose on this one. I mean, it seemed like a good idea at first, but do you really think we’re gonna pass for a real dragon?”
Hopping up onto the bed of the truck, Rarity held her head up. “Nonsense! My costume is fabulous! Easily one of my finer creations!”
Rose crossed her arms and angled her mask-like face up. “Then let’s see it.”
Rarity and Rainbow Dash hauled the costume off the Hellbender and they all scrambled to put on the three-pony costume. With Rarity standing in the back end, Rainbow Dash in the middle with her wings sticking out, and Twilight sitting in the neck (and on top of Rainbow Dash, no less, however they achieved that), Rose managed to get herself a good look at the “finer creation” that Rarity put together earlier that day.
The costume was covered entirely with simulated green scales and encrusted with a variety of large jewels. Its simulated eyes angled off to its sides and its mouth hung permanently open, allowing Twilight to see through its throat. Eye holes were cut lower down, granting Rainbow Dash her own sight, and a pink ribbon tied neatly around its neck. Not to mention the fact that Rarity’s and Rainbow Dash’s legs were clearly visible beneath the costume…
Rose’s stone cold face simply stared at the display.
“Well?” came Rarity’s voice from the rear end of the costume. “What do you think?”
As calmly as ever, Rose replied. “I’m thinking a variety of things. None of which you would want to hear. Frankly, it’s a death trap.”
Rarity poked her head out from underneath the costume and glared at her. “You didn’t have to be so blunt about it.”
Rose shrugged and sauntered back to the driver side door. “Brutal honesty is the best honesty, I’m afraid. For your sake, I hope these dragons have incredibly poor vision and don’t see in infrared.” Rose looked back over to them. “Three distinct heat signatures in one body stands out more than you think. In any event, I’m going back to Ponyville. I wish you luck. You’ll need it.”
“Wait, you’re not going to help us get back?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Rose shook her head. “As much as I would like to waste my time sitting around and waiting for you, I have a series of PCE propulsion tests that I need to run. Besides, Spike supposedly got here on his own, didn’t he? I’m sure you can all make it back together just fine. Assuming, of course, that costume of yours doesn’t get you all killed. Again, good luck.”
With that, Rose hopped into the driver’s seat, restarted the Hellbender’s engine, made a U-turn, and carefully drove the vehicle back the way it came, leaving the ponies on their own.
Rainbow Dash released a long exhale. “Alright… I guess we better get walking, then. Spike isn’t going to just find himself.”
Of course, before the ponies could start their trek up the mountain, they had to actually get to it… and practice their walking in the process. It wasn’t the easiest task in the world, walking through the woods like they were, but Twilight managed to make it easier by using a spell she learned that made her body lighter, at least temporarily. Otherwise, Rainbow Dash might not have been able to support her weight. But even with the reduced load, her shoulders were already feeling sore.
Thankfully, the three of them came across a facsimile of a road in the forest that led straight to the dragons’ mountains. Grateful that they could finally stop traveling through rough terrain, they gladly followed the new path ahead of them in silence.
That is, until Twilight noticed rustling in the bushes off to the right side of the road.
“Wait, stop stop stop!” Twilight whispered while tapping Dash’s shoulder.
Dash jerked still, almost causing Rarity to bump into her. “What? What is it?”
Twilight squinted her eyes at the bush she had just seen moving. Twilight was almost about to call a false alarm when a branch on the tree to their left suddenly shook and her eyes automatically snapped to the new movement
Twilight silently gasped. “There’s something there.”
“What’s going on?” Rarity whispered, though was quickly shushed by Rainbow Dash.
The three of them stood stock still for several more seconds. Twilight’s eyes grew wide as leaves fluttered down from somewhere directly above them. Even Rainbow Dash’s heart sped up at the sight.
Without warning, the neck of the costume shuddered as something landed on top of the head. All three of the ponies heard and felt it, and all sucked in a breath in response.
“Something’s on top of us…” Twilight squeaked as quietly as she could, though it was more to herself than anything else, as the other two couldn’t hear her.
Faint, repetitive taps sounded from whatever was sitting on top of the costume’s head, each one causing Twilight’s heart to skip a beat. A few seconds later, the tapping stopped. Whether or not that was a good or bad thing, Twilight had absolutely no idea.
With a sudden lurch, a pair of faint yellow lights swung down and glared into Twilight’s face. She recoiled deeper into the costume before her brain registered what she was staring at.
Or rather, what was staring at her.
“GARRY!?” she shouted, which the other two repeated in response.
Rarity threw off her part of the costume and stepped to the side to get a better look at the red dragon perched on her costume’s head. It was definitely him alright. “Garry, what are you doing here?! Fluttershy is worried sick about you!”
Garry angled his head towards Rarity and parachuted to the ground in front of her. Almost immediately, Rarity scooped Garry up in a hug. “We were so worried! We knew where Spike was going, but we had no idea where you were!”
Twilight and Rainbow Dash escaped the confines of the costume, letting it fall to the ground as they sat next to Rarity.
“Garry, what are you doing here? Are you following the dragon migration too?” asked Twilight.
After being released from Rarity’s hug, Garry shook his head.
They all frowned in confusion. “Well if you’re not following the migration, then what are you doing out here?” Twilight asked again.
Garry pointed to Twilight with a wing.
“Me? I don’t understand… What do I have to do with you being here?”
Garry shook his head. He then stood up on his hind legs and waddled around in a circle before pointing back at Twilight, then up at the mountains ahead of them.
…
“What?” Dash said, her wings flaring as she looked from Twilight to the little red dragon. “Seriously, what the hay is that supposed to mean?”
After a moment of thought, Rarity said, “Is it Spike? Are you following Spike?”
Garry dropped back down to all fours and nodded.
Twilight bobbed her head in understanding. “Well I suppose that explains why nopony has seen you since yesterday…”
Rarity ran a hoof along Garry’s neck. “We appreciate your concern for Spike, Garry, but you really shouldn’t be here. Fluttershy is unbelievably distraught! You should go back home.”
“Whoa whoa whoa, hold up a sec,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Garry looks like a dragon! Even that big red one from yesterday didn’t touch him! He could help us!”
“Hmm… Rainbow Dash does have a point,” Twilight pitched in. “Having an extra set of eyes couldn’t hurt. Plus, he looks just like the Royal Red! Maybe the dragons will think he’s the Royal’s hatchling and give him special treatment; maybe Spike too if they’re seen together.”
Rarity bit her lip. “I… suppose that makes sense.”
“He’ll just have to be careful.” Twilight leaned down to be at eye level with dragon. “Garry, do you know where Spike is?”
Garry nodded his head vigorously and pointed towards the mountain with a wing.
Twilight stood back up and released a breath. “Then that’s where we’re going. Garry, I need you to catch up to him and make sure he doesn’t get himself into trouble. We’ll be right behind you. Oh, and don’t let him know we’re here!”
Garry gave Twilight a quick nod before running down the road and lifting off, flapping his wings as hard as they could go.
Twilight grinned to herself. “Excellent. We have a plan! Now come on, let’s go!”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “Wait, we didn’t have a plan before?”
It had taken all day, and the rest of the trip would probably take days more, but Spike had finally done it.
Spike caught up with the dragon migration.
The journey itself had certainly taken its toll on the young dragon. He left early in the morning after only getting a few hours of sleep, and only took a single lunch break from following the dragons to eat a sandwich. The only other rest breaks besides that were rides he had gotten from a friendly mountain goat and a donkey who brought him up the forest river on a raft. Now that he was approaching his final destination, his body demanded at least some form of rest.
But now wasn’t the time to sleep.
With a final grunt of effort, Spike hoisted himself up over the lip of the volcanic crater, whereupon he gawked in awe at the sight before him. With the sun barely poking over the horizon, the only major source of illumination turned out to be scattered pools of molten lava that cast off surprisingly bright orange glows. Dragons of all shapes, sizes, and colors were gathered around the crater, although many of them were really big and slept peacefully on their own. Probably best to leave them that way.
Spike carefully scanned the inside of the crater itself. There was another group of dragons down there, too. Only these were much smaller, and made a lot more noise than their older counterparts. Teenaged dragons! Or at least, they were analogous to teenagers. Definitely more his size!
Grinning to himself, Spike started to make his way down into the crater, though his feet quickly planted themselves and halted. Why was he really here? He wanted to find out what it meant to be a dragon, sure, but who should he ask? How? Out of all of these dragons, which one would be the best to answer that question for him? Spike took another minute to soak in his surroundings. Sure, getting to the nesting craters was a good start, but what should he do now? Sad to say, this stranger in a strange land hadn’t the faintest idea.
Eventually, Spike’s eyes landed on a familiar sight: Garry. He was sitting just along the side of the crater on his own platform, one claw resting on top of another with his red wings hovering just off his back. He was looking right back at Spike, too. For just the briefest of moments, Spike’s mind wandered over to thoughts of Ponyville. But then again, Garry was taking more of Rarity’s attention from him. No way Spike was going to let that slide. But what was he doing here, anyway? This was Spike’s quest, not his!
Wait a second…
Doesn’t Garry have black wings?
Spike’s heart leapt in his throat as his depth perception finally did its job. This dragon was way bigger than Garry! Spike’s limbs stiffened under the Royal Red’s piercing gaze, a look that bored into his very being. Out of all the things to look at in the crater, what made it single him out?! There’s no way the Royal remembered him from the trench - Spike didn’t even get spotted!
Before he could notice it, something slammed into Spike’s side, sending him and whatever it was that hit him tumbling down into the crater. While Spike was certainly still a baby dragon, his scales did more than enough to protect him from would be scrapes and bruises. And while the whole thing was little more than rolling down the hill, his momentum prevented him from stopping until he and his attacker reached the bottom.
With a groan, Spike stood back up and dusted himself off, taking a moment to see what exactly had hit him. Sitting just a few feet away lay Garry - the real one, black wings and all - who was just getting back to his feet and shaking the dirt off his body.
“Garry? What are you doing here?” Spike grumbled. While Spike felt reminded of home before, Garry’s actual presence wasn’t entirely welcome. He wasn’t a real dragon, he was a Liandri. As far as Spike was concerned, Garry was just a glorified house pet. He didn’t need to learn what it meant to be a dragon, so why was he here? And more importantly, why did Garry just ram into him?
However, Spike pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he continued to look at Garry, who seemed to be… choking? “Uh… Hey, you okay there?”
Garry stood on his hind legs and reared his head in every direction he could, slapping at his metallic throat with his claws, as if he were trying to get something dislodged. Had he been a cat, and had he actually been making choking noises, Spike might have believed Garry was throwing up a hairball or something.
Spike took a step to try to help Garry when a bright green ball of light shot out of the red dragon’s mouth, leaving a glowing patch of green on the ground between them that slowly faded into a black scorch mark. Spike blinked. He hadn’t seen anything like that since he accidentally shot Alex’s gun and set Twilight’s lamp on fire!
Simultaneously, the two dragons looked down at the scorch mark, then each other, then back down again.
“Whoa, since when were you able to do that?” Spike asked incredulously.
Garry simply shrugged his wings.
Spike shook his head to clear it. This was all beside the point. “Nevermind! What are you even doing here? This is supposed to be my quest of self discovery!” He paused. Unless… “Wait, did Twilight put you up to this? Did she ask you to keep an eye on me? Does she think you’re somehow more responsible than I am?!”
Garry shook his head and waved his claws defensively.
Spike growled. “Then what are you -”
“Well well well, what do we have here?”
Spike and Garry simultaneously froze and slowly looked up toward the speaker that had snuck up on them. It was one of the teenaged dragons, with the rest of them standing behind him. Compared to the two of them, he was much taller, probably a little taller than Alex, with light red scales and an orange fin that traveled down his head and neck.
“Looks like fresh meat to me,” said one of the dragons behind him.
The red dragon with the orange fin leaned down. “I haven’t seen you two pip-squeaks around here before. You just hatch, or what?”
Spike swallowed hard. “Um… Hi! M- my name’s Spike. This is, uh… Garry…”
Garry waved a claw hello, but otherwise stayed still.
“They look more like shrimp and nibblet to me,” said another one of the dragons, eliciting a chorus of laughs. While they were laughing, a dragon roared from somewhere up on the crater’s edge. It must have been extremely common, since the teenagers didn’t even notice it. Spike, on the other hand, did, and instinctively looked to where it came from.
It was the Royal Red.
And it was getting closer.
The teenager chuckled and glanced at Garry. “What’s up with you? You seem awful quiet.”
“He, uh… he doesn’t talk,” Spike answered.
The teenager leaned closer to Garry and narrowed his eyes. “What kind of dragon doesn’t even talk…?”
A sequence of hard thumps along the ground behind him answered his question. The teenager slowly lifted himself up and turned around to find the Royal Red looming over him and the rest of his posse. Even on all fours, the Royal towered over them all, his mere presence and eyes with large, round pupils enough to get a point across.
Spike’s breath caught in his throat. There’s no way the Royal Red didn’t recognize Garry. However, when Spike looked at Garry to gauge his reaction, there was something … off about him. He was looking at the Royal differently than he had the day before. Spike couldn’t quite place a claw on it. Garry almost seemed less cautious than he should have been. Did he see something that Spike couldn’t, or was Garry just being Garry?
Seemingly reading his mind, Garry extended his wings and launched into the air. Making a quick loop to line himself up, he landed square on top of the Royal Red’s head, who didn’t so much as flinch at the contact. Finding a satisfying perch, Garry sat up and tilted his head at the group below him.
Spike’s jaw dropped in response. What was going on? Was the Royal really going to just let Garry sit there on his head? Spike’s mind raced to try to come up with some sort of explanation for what he was seeing, but sadly, nothing about this made the slightest bit of sense to him.
“Whoa, sorry, I- I didn’t realize he was your hatchling!” the red teenager stammered. “We’ll play nice, we swear! Right guys?”
The other teenaged dragons hastily voiced their agreements. Seems the Royal Red did have a reputation.
Garry extended his wings to float back down, but paused at the sight of a familiar green-scaled, gem-encrusted dragon with three distinct head signatures climbing just over the crater’s edge. The Royal’s head moved up towards it as well, and even lingered for a few seconds. But after Garry hopped off his head and landed next to Spike, the Royal lost interest in the ponies’ costume, and gave the teenagers a final glare before lumbering back to his perch, allowing his massive tail to curve and slowly sweep over their heads as he turned around.
Spike breathed a sigh of relief and gave Garry a quick pat on the back. “I don’t know what you did, but it worked. Thanks.”
Garry gave Spike a nudge on the shoulder with a clenched claw.
The red teenager walked back up to them, scratching the back of his head with a claw. “Hey, sorry about that. My name is Garble. We, uh… We just… Well, hatchlings are just fun to mess with sometimes. We didn’t mean anything by it.” Keeping their group dynamic going, the other dragons behind him also voiced their apologies.
Spike waved a claw. “It’s alright, I guess. I actually didn’t just hatch, though. I live in Ponyville, and so does -” Garry’s wing flashed out and jabbed Spike in the side of the head. “Ow! Hey!”
Murmurs arose from the peanut gallery behind Garble as he raised a brow in curiosity. “Ponyville?” he spat. “How’d you end up living in Ponyville? What, do they keep you as a pet or something?”
Spike and Garry shared a look, the latter of whom vigorously shook his head. “Uhh… No, not really… Actually, I’m here because I wanted to learn what it means to be a dragon and whoa!”
Garble interrupted Spike’s sentence by picking him up and placing him on his shoulder. “Geez, no wonder you came all the way up here! Well don’t worry, Spike, you came to the right dragons. We’ll teach you everything you need to know!”
While Garble was carrying Spike off, Garry glanced back at the three costumed ponies who were making their way down the crater, though they were definitely close enough to have heard everything. Lifting off once more, Garry zipped around Spike and Garble to let them know he wasn’t following them and flew off to meet the ponies.
“Wait, Garry, where are you going?” Spike called out.
“You two are buddies, right?” asked Garble. “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure he can catch up. Besides, I’ve got some things to teach you about being a dragon!”
Meanwhile, Garry flew over to the ponies in their costume just as they reached the flat bottom of the crater, made a quick fly around to announce his presence, and landed on top of their head.
“Hey, Garry!” Twilight called up, just audible enough for dragon to hear it. “What happened? Is Spike okay?”
“You know you’re not going to get anything more complicated than a yes or no out of him, right?” Rainbow Dash said flatly.
“Oh right… Umm… How about one tap for no, two for yes, okay, Garry?”
Garry thumped his tail twice.
“Excellent! Now then, did Spike make it here okay?”
Two thumps.
“That’s good… Can you stay with him? I don’t want us to get much closer in case Rose was right…”
“I resent that accusation!” Rarity interrupted.
Ignoring Rarity’s comment, Garry thumped his tail twice and automatically lifted off again to fly towards Spike and the other dragons, who were busy spitting fire accompanied by loud belching noises. Twilight wasn’t done asking him questions, though, and attempted to stammer out something to get him to come back. Unfortunately, Garry didn’t hear it, and Twilight wasn’t about to go chasing after him.
“Darn it…” she muttered under her breath
“Uh oh…” Rainbow Dash whispered.
Twilight glanced down at her. “What? What is it?”
“Big dragon, two o’clock.”
Twilight looked in the direction Rainbow Dash pointed out and froze. It was the Royal Red, lying on a rocky platform just along the crater’s edge.
And it was staring right at them.