Onward to Adventure!
Sugar Cloud was created by Biscuit Mango. This story is distributed with her permission.
The intrepid adventurer makes her way up the sheer mountain face. Her hooves dig into the rock as she carefully pulls herself to a narrow ledge. As soon as she gets a hind leg on the ledge, she starts reaching for the next hoofhold. She looks up the cliff towards her goal, sighs and wishes her wings were stronger to help her fly higher. Sugar Cloud groans and keep climbing.
Most ponies know of the great adventurer Daring Do and her exploits. She ventures into the darkest forests, dankest dungeons and deepest delves in search of treasure, fame and fortune. Sugar Cloud, on the other hoof, is a different kind of adventurer. She is a coffee connoisseur. She travels the globe in search the best beans, richest roasts and greatest grounds. She will go to any length to try the best coffees the world has to offer.
Her current quest brings her to the Dragon Fangs, a vicious mountain range of tall spires reaching higher than a normal pegasus can fly. Sugar Cloud’s small body and proportionally small wings keep her from reaching the heights her tribe can normally reach. For each peak on her quest, she flies as high as she can and climbs the rest of the way. It is one week into her journey and she has scoured a dozen peaks.
What brew can be worth all of this trouble? None other than the legendary Dragon’s Breath. The beans are only found on the peaks of the Dragon Fangs. Only the most daring adventurers have ever gathered them, and only the wealthiest connoisseurs could afford to hire the ponies required to gather ingredients for this brew. Only rumors exist that describe the flavor as everything from robust to slightly bitter to transcendence. As the foremost coffee expert in Equestria, Sugar Cloud must taste this brew!
Sugar Cloud has made a small camp near the peak of the spire she is currently scaling. She shivers in her sleeping bag as she reaches out to try and start a fire. The flint sparks enough to light the kindling. She scoops some snow into a kettle to make some coffee. She might be on a quest for the rarest of coffees, but that does not mean she can make it without a boost.
A lukewarm breakfast later, Sugar Cloud packs her gear and surveys her climb. Just a few hundred more meters. The small pegasus gives a small groan, finds a hoofhold and starts climbing.
After hours of climbing, Sugar Cloud reaches the top of the mountain. It is a barren landscape covered in permafrost. An angry growl and some exploratory digging later the pegasus scans the horizon. There are no hints of where she should hunt next. She lets slip a mournful sigh and takes flight.
Using the higher starting point, the small pegasus glides at an altitude usually unavailable to her. The gradual pull of gravity brings her slowly closer to the earth. She quickly scans the mountainsides for any sign of vegetation. Nothing. She swings around a tall spire. Nothing. She weaves around several imposing cliffs. Nothing. She flies around... Nothing. She loops... Nothing. She... Nothing!
Sugar Cloud stops to hover and lets out a primal scream. The scream echoes across the mountain range, soon fading in the distance. The small pegasus floats, huffing, for several seconds before she hears a reply. A loud roar reverberates across the mountains, obviously generated by a dragon. The pegasus gives a small squeak as her wings snap to her sides and she drops like a stone. She tries her best to release her wings once more. With much concentration, she breaks her mental block and frees them. She spreads them wide and swoops, missing a jagged edge by mere centimeters. She soars back into the sky and finds the nearest ledge to catch her breath on.
The frazzled pegasus takes several deep breaths to calm her nerves. She has to suppress a sob caused by the terrifying experience. She sets down her pack and starts setting up a campsite. She needs a cup of coffee to calm her nerves.
As she sets up her camp, she stops to inhale deeply. Then it hits her. Her naturally acute sense of smell catches a whiff of something delectable. Her well-trained senses detect the distinct aroma of coffee berries. She sniffs and looks around for the source of smell. She spots a number of small bushes growing in the shade of a cave mouth. She squeals happily and goes to claim her prize.
The small pegasus starts filling her bag with the coffee berries. She hums a happy tune while she picks. She is so enraptured by her work that she fails to notice movement from the cave. A shadow slowly creeps over the working pegasus.
Sugar Cloud finishes her harvest with a smile. Her celebration is broken by a loud crash and a quake that knocks her the ground. The small pegasus tenses up and slowly looks back to see the grinning face of a gigantic red dragon.
‘Hello,’ the dragon greets, flashing a smile made up of fangs larger and filling a mouth longer than the shaking pegasus.
Sugar Cloud replies with a terrified squeak.
‘What brings you to my cave?’
‘C-c-coffee.’
The dragon laughs. ‘Ah. Another adventurer out to make a name for herself. Or are you the unwitting employee of some unruly royal in need of a cup of the legendary Dragon’s Breath.’
‘A-a-a-actually, i-i-i-it i-is...’
‘Spit it out girl! I haven’t got all day!’
Sugar Cloud winces and makes herself as small as possible. ‘It is for me, sir. I want to share it with my friends.’
The dragon nods. ‘Very admirable reason to risk your life on such a journey, but there are far better, far safer brews to be had.’
‘Wha-what?’
‘Do you know why the bean is called Dragon’s Breath, young filly?’
Sugar Cloud shakes her head.
‘Because that is what it gives you!’ the dragon laughs.
The laughter echoes inside the cave and off the surrounding mountains. The dragon’s behaviour is jovial enough for Sugar Cloud to give a small laugh of her own. The dragon eventually stops laughing and smiles down at the pegasus. It turns back into its cave and returns with arms full of roasted coffee beans.
‘Here. Empty your pack. These are ready for brewing.’ The dragon flashes a smile. ‘Fire breath makes proper roasting a snap.’ The pegasus and dragon laugh at the joke. ‘Take as much as you can carry.’
Sugar Cloud’s jaw drops. She empties every item she does not need from her pack and starts loading it with coffee beans. She even unrolls her sleeping bag and fills it as well. Once all of her belongings are bursting with coffee, she loads them to her back, her knees straining under the weight. She spreads her wings and prepares to take flight.
‘Thank you so much! You have been very generous!’ Sugar Cloud calls to her new friend.
‘Think nothing of it,’ the dragon replies. ‘If, for some reason, you actually enjoy the flavor come back any time.’
‘I will thank you.’
‘Oh, but before you go, can I get your name, miss? Miss? Miss?
‘Miss!’
Sugar Cloud wakes from her daydream. An angry looking unicorn glares at her from across the counter at the Ponybucks where she works. A number of other customers are glaring at the timid pegasus.
‘Sorry,’ the shy filly whispers.
‘May I finally make my order?’ the customer asks.
Sugar Cloud nods her head and starts taking the order. She sighs, her mind drifting back towards adventure and the legendary brews at the end of them.