Chapter Three: King of the Hoard
My unfortunate observation had the immediate effect of crushing my three acolyte’s cheer like a bug under a boot. There was no denying what we had stumbled upon, with the char and claw marks surrounding the lip of the opening above. We must have been incredibly lucky that we showed up when the dragon wasn’t around.
“But...but…” Moonbeam stuttered as he stared upwards, then violently tore off his pilfered crown and dashed it to the ground, “Goddesses damnit! Oh, just flip me over and rut me bloody!” he snarled at the heavens, shaking a hoof covered in golden bracelets.
Choc muttered something that sounded nasty as Rain looked at the gold with a forlorn pout.
“Why!? Why can’t I just get a bucking break for once in my life!” Moonbeam continued ranting, “Every single time I get close to something great, boom! Something or other comes along and just mucks it all up!” gold clattered as he fell atop the great pile, staring with a miserable look to the heavens, “Why?”
Before I had a chance to snarl for his silence, the heavens did it for me with a sky-splitting roar that made the bony spines atop my head stand on edge. All three ponies froze, staring up into the hole with varying expressions of terror as a shadow flashed overhead.
Time to go! I couldn’t agree more.
“Drop everything, move!” I snapped, hobbling quickly out the door. The ponies followed, Rain darting out first with Choc and Moonbeam soon to follow, “Lock it!”
“Mmm!” Moonbeam whimpered as the sound of pounding wings began to grow louder and louder as the dragon came in to land. With his jittery magic, Moonbeam yanked the door shut, silver aurora fumbling with the lock briefly before it gave a solid click, “Done!” he squeaked, and galloped after the others.
Watching the others flee, I looked down at my cast-bound leg, then back to the ponies as they rounded a corner up ahead, “Fornication!” I spat, limping after them as fast as I could. A rumble came from behind the closed door as the dragon landed.
At least we’re safe now, I thought, rounding a corner and hearing distant voices.
“Which way is back?!” Moonbeam’s voice echoed from the hallway ahead.
“What? I wasn’t following you! I came a different way, remember?” Rain replied.
“Choc?!” Moonbeam again.
“Nyet! Ya sledoval yashcheritsu!” Choc’s voice replied.
They’re making a lot of noise! my mind worried.
“Shush!” I called ahead, trying to keep my voice just loud enough for them to hear it.
“What was that!?” I barely heard Moonbeam squeak.
“What? Was it the dragon?”
“Nyet,” I heard Choc again, her head poking around a corner up ahead. She pointed at me, “Yashcheritsa.” The other two poked their heads around the corner, looking relieved.
“You know the way back, right?” Moonbeam asked.
“Be quiet!” I hissed back, limping up to them and rounding the corner, “and, yes, I do. But you’ll never get out of here if you keep making noise like this! A noisy assassin doesn’t live long.”
“Okay, okay, sorry! J-just get us out of here!” Moonbeam whimpered.
Nodding, I checked the room we were in. It was squarish and plain, with burnt out sconces and darkly-hued armor stands with lances standing dutifully by. As to exits, there were two other doors; I backtracked in my head which way we’d come, pointing to one of the doors, noting some of the scuff marks in the dust, “That w…”
A massive roar rolled through the castle like a fireball exploding in my face, drowning me and my acolytes out for a good few seconds. Dust trickled from the ceiling as I hobbled to the door.
“Wh-why’d it roar like that?” Moonbeam whimpered, legs shaking.
“It’s a dragon, dragons roar,” Rain replied, though she herself didn’t sound very certain.
Before it could be discussed further, we got a far more terrible answer.
“Meddling ponies!” a massive voice shook its way through the castle, “You think you can steal from me?! I can smell your treacherous, stinking hides! Your fear!”
Steal? I wondered, looking back over my shoulder, but I’d told the ponies to put everything back where they’d… and my eyes caught the silver necklaces around Moonbeam’s neck, Damned thieves!
“I told you to put everything back!” I hissed at the unicorn, rounding on him.
Caught red handed (or hooved in his case) his cheeks became flushed as he tugged off the silver and tucked it away somewhere, “S-s-sorry, I ju-just couldn’t h-help myself,” he quivered, giving a weak, guilty, smile.
From down the hallway, there was a sudden splintering sound as the door to the hoard-room was obliterated. The sound of stomping feet and scales scraping over stone heralded the sudden approach of our doom.
For the first time in a very, very long time I froze up as terror clogged my heart. I’d had to run from angry beasts, bandits, guards, and even a fifteen-foot giant once. Yet never had I ever had to flee from a dragon for the simple reason that I was never dumb enough to antagonize one.
But there was a first time for everything.
“Run away, little ponies!” the beast’s voice chased through the halls, “I will find you, and I will devour you all the same!”
It can’t be nearly as big as the dragons of Skyrim if it’s coming down the halls, my mind noted as its heavy footsteps echoed towards us.
All the same, we need to flee, I replied, then whispered, “Quiet now, we must take an alternate route,” the beast had said that it could smell us, that could certainly complicate trying to hide from it, “through the other door,” I pointed to the door we hadn’t come from, and the ponies followed anxiously on my heels.
“Where are you, you squishy, little morsels!?” the dragon snarled, sounding much closer now and sending my heartbeat through the roof. The door led to a T-junction corridor, we went left, tattered carpet muffling our steps, “You will not escape me! This is my home!”
Yet already the creature’s steps were growing farther away. Hopefully it had followed the wrong scent, and hopefully that would lead it out of the castle.
Isn’t that where we’re trying to go? my mind inquired, making me curse.
Then what are we supposed to do? Remain here running forever? I countered, thinking for a moment, It can’t watch every exit…
“Rain,” I kept my voice low, not sure how good the dragon’s hearing was, “You found other exits; where where they?”
“Um, well one to the North and one to the East were collapsed,” she whispered back, “As to the usable ones: one was a courtyard of sorts, the other looked like a servant’s entrance or something. There was also a break in the wall to the North, that’s how I got in here, but it was kinda high.”
“Could you lead us to it?”
Rain balked at the question, “You mean go back the way we came?! Past the dragon’s lair?! Are you crazy?!” she hissed.
“It’s either that or we stumble around here till it finds us or we come across one of those other two exits by chance,” I countered, still keeping my voice low, “And I doubt that we can take it on by ourselves.”
“It is maybe small dragon,” Choc whispered, “How say...Moonbeam?”
“An adolescent, or only a little older,” Moonbeam squeaked, “anything larger than an adolescent would smash this castle to bits.”
“So we can fight it?” I asked, reconsidering our course of action. Yet the look of terror I got from each pony shot the idea down quick.
“It’s still covered in thick scales, with razor sharp teeth and claws, plus the ability to toast a pony or three for a snack,” Moonbeam replied, gulping, “So...no, no thank you!”
“Fine, Rain?” I asked.
“But if it smells us…” she trailed off.
“Don’t worry about that,” I replied, undoing the strings of my satchel of alchemical goodies.
0 . o . 0 . o . 0
A short time later...
Fortunately for us, the dragon seemed to be following the route we’d taken into the castle. As well, it was fortunate that that route had taken many twists and turns before we’d reached the hoard. In other words, the dragon was nowhere near us.
Even if it was, with the help of a few pungent herbs our scents were now masked, taking away one of the dragon’s tracking abilities.
In no time at all, we were creeping back up the hallway that passed by the dragon’s hoard. clawmarks scratched their way down the hall, many of the stones to either side bearing marks from the dragon’s scales. As well, the door was now a shattered mass of splinters. There was nothing between us and the treasure.
“Wait, let’s grab more!” Moonbeam whispered as we passed by, turning quickly and cantering into the room, “We may never get a chance like this again!”
“What!? No!” Rain hissed back, rushing after him on silent feathers.
“Both of you, get back!” I snapped, Choc and I following.
“No! Lemme get more!” Moonbeam whinnied, held back by Rain as she firmly held his tail in her mouth, “Please, just let me have this!”
“No!” Rain bit back past the tail in her maw, “leff i’ go!”
Something tingled down my back as I eyed the two in the shadowed treasure room. Something wasn’t right here as again I felt all of my alarms going off in my head. I drew my knives, getting a look of terror from Moonbeam.
“Okay, okay! I’ll stop, I’ll stop, I’ll stop!” he cried, ceasing his attempts to get at the treasure.
“I’m not threatening you!” I growled, leaning back to eyeball the hallway for any signs of…the dragon.
Where was the dragon? Why had it stopped its stomping and taunting? And, most important, why was the room suddenly in shadow?
“Fornication!” I spat, looking up.
The dragon stared back down, maw snapping wide in an ear-shattering roar. So close, and with its mouth so wide, I could see all the way down to the creature’s stomach. And that was how I spotted the flames before it was too late.
“Run!” I yelled, flinging myself from the room. Choc, still in the hall, bit down on my bow and yanked me further as fire bathed the hoard room...and two of my acolytes. Rain tackled Moonbeam over the treasure pile a mere second before the fire struck down, but in the opposite direction of the door.
Then the flames consumed the room.
They were still in there! I came to realize as Choc let out a horrified gasp beside me. There was no way they could survive that, even pulled back from the doorway I felt the heat burning my scales.
For a few, heart-rending moments, I wondered what would happen now that I’d lost two of my acolytes. Would the creature of stone still honor his deal? Would Sithis? Could they simply send more or was I now doomed?
The dragon stopped its scorching, the room still ablaze and the treasure now looking less solid. And then two heads poked up above the flames.
“What in the unholy name of Sithis!?” I gasped.
Rain and Moonbeam, both only looking a little scorched, stared at me across the flames from where they sat, in a short hallway that connected the hoard-room to another. A pile of now-blackened splinters gave testament to an opposite hallway that had been barricaded and recently destroyed by the dragon. Rain’s tackle had taken them down this new passageway and out of danger.
Speaking of which…
There was an earth-rumbling slam as the dragon dropped from the hole in the ceiling, glaring fiery death first to me, then down the other hallway. Moonbeam and Rain immediately bolted out of sight, and before I could rise, Choc again bit down on my bow and was dragging me rapidly away from the trap.
“A pity you were able to escape my fire, ponies!” the dragon snarled from the flame-infested room. Its head poked out and glared at me, “And another dragon, I see! Wounded, ha!” again the jaws snapped open and fire blazed forth.
I’m not a dragon! I mentally spat back as the blaze scorched at my toes, Choc barely making it around a corner and out of the firestream.
“You, I’ll savor last, hatchling cripple!” I heard the dragon snarl and turn to chase after the other two, “In the meantime, your ponies shall make a tasty, little, snack!” The creature’s stomping faded as it loosed another massive roar.
“Polnyi pizdets!” Choc panted as I shoved myself upright, “How say? Very, very bad!”
0 . o . 0 . o . 0
Elsewhere in the castle...
Choc and I fled back the way we’d first come, backtracking the route we’d initially taken into the castle. The dragon’s dull stomping and taunting told us it was still somewhere else in our so-called sanctuary, and still chasing down Rain and Moonbeam.
Contemplating our options, I considered our opponent...
From the one good look I’d got of it I could tell that, on all fours, it was about my height at the shoulders. But it was about as wide as the hallway, and maybe as long as two or three rowboats resting bow to stern. While the creature was no doubt a child compared to the monsters of Skyrim, I had no doubt it would obliterate me with nothing short of ease.
Still, if I wanted to escape then going outside was a mad dash over open terrain before a rickety bridge and a cursed forest. The forest would certainly hamper the beast, but getting there was the problem. Not for the first time, I cursed my cast and broken leg.
Rain and Moonbeam might be able to distract the creature enough that Choc and I could escape to the forest. Yet if it turned on us and ignored them, there was no stopping it. I was wounded, and while she had muscle, Choc had neither wings nor horn. It would tear us to pieces.
Perhaps it’s a female, and you could seduce it with you masculine charm, my mind commented unhelpfully.
Now isn’t the time! I countered as we rounded the final bend and saw daylight through an open door. A distant roar and shout about roasting and devouring insolent ponies told us that the dragon was far away. If it was still occupied with Rain and Moonbeam, then this might just be our only chance of escape.
“If we run, maybe we can make it to the forest,” I told her.
“You cannot run,” Choc indicated my leg.
Peeking outside and scanning the skies just to be sure, we made our way carefully outside, remaining in the shadow of the doorway.
“Can you carry me?” I asked.
Choc gave me a rude look, but answered all the same, “To bridge, not over, too...large...too wide to carry on bridge,” she said, letting out an annoyed huff, “Not fast. Could...get help?”
“You? How long would that take?” I asked.
As if for emphasis, the dragon released another mighty roar. At the very least, its continued taunts probably meant that both ponies were still alive and running...but for how long?
“Maybe get lost, not fast,” Choc stomped, angry. She indicated my bow, “Can...can shoot dragon?”
“I could maybe get a couple shots, but my arm is still injured and its scales are probably too hard,” I replied, “If I had all my poisons, then maybe, but without them it’d need to be a perfect shot.”
Choc seemed to brighten at that, an idea forming, “How is perfect shot?”
“Where?” I asked, getting a shrug, “Down the gullet, through an eyeball or maybe the nose, and up the vent.”
“You are good shot?” Choc asked.
The question startled me, “Yes,” I replied, realizing where she was going and not quite liking it.
“If I distract, get good shot?” she continued, confirming my worries.
“Maybe,” I replied, “I’ve never had to kill a dragon before.”
“Now you do,” she said simply, poking me with a hoof, “say yes or no, no maybe. No risk for maybe.”
I took a breath, thinking for a moment. If I’d had my hood with its enchantments I’d have no doubt about the shot. Yet without it…
The enchantment only tells you when to release the string, you’re just as good with it as you are without it, my mind put in, basically…
Basically… I parroted.
“Yes,” I replied, “I can make the shot.”
“I will distract,” Choc nodded, “If Sithis is good, will not miss,” she gave my unwounded leg a soft punch, “We have saying in Stalliongrad,” she said suddenly, “Dvum smertyam ne byvat, odnoy ne minovat.”
“And what does that mean?” I asked.
“Will say after,” she replied, “Moonbeam good translate,” and with that she galloped out of the castle. Creeping out after her, trying to remain stealthy as I could, I drew my bow and scanned the skies. Ideally the dragon would notice her escape and give me the perfect shot. It had been chasing the other two for some time now, it had to have tired somewhat of that chase. Inside the castle it was no match for the ponies' greater agility, but if it happened to spy a target out in the open...
Choc had made it about halfway to the bridge when there was a rumble of stone, and I ducked behind a crumbled statue as the dragon poked its head up out of a shattered room. Without the fear of imminent death on my mind, I noted the creature was a soft, sapphire blue. I also noticed as its eyes narrowed at the sight of Choc fleeing.
Its eyes!
Quickly, I drew an arrow as the dragon made ready to pounce out of the room and chase down Choc. It was still not moving, but only for a second or so more. Ignoring my pain, I knocked the arrow, ignored the fire in my arm as I drew back, leaned past the statue, and loosed the arrow.
But the creature’s massive head snapped towards me at my sudden movement, the black arrow striking its face and bouncing off. The dragon gave a startled roar, distracted just long enough for me to hobble-jog to a new hiding position beside a crumbled wall. Safe, I dug around for one of the numbing roots and quickly applied it to my arm, the fire abating.
“You dare sling mere pebbles at me!” the dragon snarled, a rush of wind heralding a blast of fire that engulfed my previous firing position, “I will burn you to ash and bake your bones till the marrow bubbles and boils beneath your scales!”
Not if you can’t find me, I thought, rubbing my arm.
“And just where do you think you’re going my little pony snack!?” the dragon snarled, telling me it had set its eyes back on Choc. There was a great flapping of wings and a cracking of masonry as the dragon took flight once more.
Darting from my spot, I made sure to grab one of my remaining arrows poisoned from the goop of my ruined pack, knocking it as I eyed the fleeing dragon. Biting my lip to distract from the soreness in my arm, I drew again, sighting the beast’s vent and loosing the arrow.
This time the arrow flew true, the dragon’s straight trajectory easy to predict. The arrow met its target and the dragon gave a vicious roar, wheeling about in the air. Yet the sudden burst of blood quickly stopped, telling me that the arrow had likely been poisoned with more helpful than harmful potions.
“Fornication,” I spat, ducking down as the dragon burned its hellfire eyes back towards my position. I gave a silent prayer to Sithis that the beast hadn’t seen me.
“You dare to shoot me again!?” the dragon snarled, flapping wings telling me it held its hover “I will crush your bones beneath my claws and strip the flesh from your scales!”
Peeking up from my cover, I spotted the dragon dive down and swoop in towards my position. Yet I also saw something else zip forth from the hole the dragon had made in the castle. Rain, looking a little roughed up, flew straight up, high above the dragon.
Is she trying to escape? I thought, then noticed what she was carrying, a ghost of a smile crossing my lips.
As the dragon swooped forth, Rain changed course as she folded her wings and dove straight down on an intercept course. She began picking up speed in the dive, faster than she could’ve flown normally. Her speed was made faster by the weight of one of lances from the castle’s armor stands.
At the last second, she pulled up, tossing the lance like a javelin. So close, it was impossible to miss.
Another roar split the air as the lance drove through the dragon’s shoulder, punching deep into its scaly hide. Instantly, its priority target changed as it rolled in the air and spat fire at Rain’s fleeing form. She ducked beneath the scorching blaze, but my cheer faltered as the dragon’s tail snapped like a whip and struck home.
Rain plummeted to the ground.
“Annoying, little gnat!” the dragon snarled, hovering in midair again, “Now I shall squash you like a…” and then the beast gave a roar as it clawed at one of its eyes, the dark feathers of one of my arrows sticking from it.
Dumb dragon, ought to know never to sit still when there’s an archer about, my mind taunted. I merely knocked another goop-poisoned arrow, noting with a frown that the dragon refused to die after the shot.
I swear to Sithis, I’m going to make more poisons after this, I promised myself.
Yet that required me to survive, and I felt my chances drop as the dragon wheeled about midair and locked its remaining eye on me. It wasted no time with words this time, diving towards me once more.
“Fornication,” I spat, terror filling my heart as I moved as fast as I could away as its jaws snapped open and fire blazed within. There was little cover left as I hobbled as fast as I could away, the flapping of wings growing closer by the second. Briefly I glanced down, noting that my ring glowed as the arrow passed by.
Noting the gorge ahead, I wondered at my chances of survival if I jumped. There was water below…
True, but look at how that worked out when you went over the waterfall, my mind pointed out, right leg throbbing in its cast, that was nowhere near this height!
What other choice do I have!? I retorted, the gorge approaching to my front as the dragon swooped closer on my rear.
A shot down the gullet! my mind exclaimed, and upon looking back at the approaching dragon, I realized I had the perfect shot.
It took all my courage to spin on the spot and face my impending doom, and it took all my strength to pull back the string of my bow. Dull pain raced up my arm, hampered by the numbing root, filling my chest and nearly making me misfire, yet I grit my teeth and sighted down the shaft. Flames ready to consume me burned hot as Oblivion itself as I brought my aim right where I wanted it...and released.
Zipping forth, dragon and arrow met only about twenty yards in front of me, one disappearing into the other as the dragon’s jaws snapped closed too slow to block the projectile. The beast’s eyes bulged, neck cocking back as it faltered in the air, tumbling as it began to choke.
Tightening the muscles in my good leg, I made to leap out of the dragon’s path, but its outstretched wings were on a collision course to strike me no matter if I leapt left or right. Towards the falling beast would do me no good either, it would simply crush me where I landed.
So I did the only thing that I could, I leapt backwards…right over the edge of the gorge.
The dragon smashed through the lip of the cliff, sending a cascade of dirt and debris falling after it. Flailing, I felt a rush of air as the dragon’s writhing mass flew past me, contorting in the air like a headless snake.
Immediately, I regretted my decision as I spun through the air, falling to a most certain death. The river below was more of a stream, and far too shallow to save me from the fall. Throwing out my hands in a wild attempt to control my fall only sent me spinning faster as the air rushed through my ears and my guts dropped down towards the earth.
This is it, then, I thought morbidly...until a set of furry limbs grabbed me.
“I got you!” Rain called out, wings pumping hard as she grabbed on, “Oh, damn, you’re heavy! Ow!” she grimaced. Slower now, we continued to lose altitude.
“Rain!?” I called out, astonished and terrified all at the same time.
A loud crunch rocked the earth below as the dragon impacted, but it was the least of my worries now. Wind still rushed in my ears and we were still falling rather fast in spite of Rain’s rapid flapping.
“I’ve got you, just hold on!” Rain cried out, clearly understanding our perilous trajectory, “I can...barely hold us up!” again she made a painful face, nearly impacting a gnarled root sticking from the wall of the gorge, “It’ll be...rough,” she continued through clenched teeth, the ground closing faster than I liked as Rain zeroed us in on a thicker part of the stream, “but if I put us down in the water…”
Even with Rain’s wingpower, the breath was still knocked from my lungs as we crashed into the stream, Rain losing her grip on me as we splashed down. I tumbled in the water, the chill reminding me of the swim I’d taken escaping from my family in Skyrim.
Breathing through my gills, I just lay there for a moment, stunned. I had survived! I was alive! Yet before I had a chance to celebrate my victory further, there was a mad tugging at my tail. Yanking it away, I turned and stood from the water, finding a surprised Rain staring at me.
“Goddesses above, I thought you were going to drown!” Rain exclaimed, panting and wet as I stood in the water.
“I have gills,” I reassured her, indicating behind my ear holes, “I can breathe underwater.”
“Oh,” Rain stated, looking perplexed as she dripped.
We stood there staring for a few short seconds, the stream trickling around us before Rain’s lips twisted, eyes brightening as first she giggled, then began laughing with near-hysterical mirth. Looking at her with confusion, I felt an unfamiliar tug at my own lips as I found her laughter almost too contagious to contain.
“What...what’s so funny?” I asked, trying to stifle my own smile yet finding it impossible as a soft chuckle broke past my lips.
“Y-you,” she giggled, indicating me, “Me,” she pointed to herself, “We...we’re alive! We’re alive!” she started laughing again, almost forcing me to join her in full, before she winced and cringed, holding her sides, “Ow, ow, ow!” she hissed.
I, too, was starting to feel the pain of my wounds returning, casting a shadow over our inexplicable merriment. After another bout of soft chuckles, I too was holding my injured ribs.
“Let’s...let’s get back up, the others must be worried sick,” Rain said, sloshing out of the water with a limp in one foreleg.
“The dragon,” I stated simply, pointing. Rain wheeled about fearfully, but the creature lay a ways away, neck at an odd angle and breast still. Its one good eye stared listlessly to the ground, “Or, more importantly, my arrows.”
0 . o . 0 . o . 0
A while later...
Two of my arrows weren’t recoverable, the one down the gullet and vent impossible to get without gutting the fallen beast. While I was certain my daedric knives could handle the task, it was too much work for an utterly exhausted me.
All of my bandages were ruined again, and despite Fluttershy’s assurances, my cast felt a little waterlogged. Rain’s wings dragged on the ground as she staggered after me, wincing at every step. The crash had sprained her left foreleg, the strike from the dragon had either cracked or bruised some ribs, and a few close calls with fire had left her hindquarters and tail looking a little charred, but other than that she was okay.
Further up the gorge, we came across a set of steps leading up the side, and after a perilous trek up, we were soon atop the castle side of the gorge once more.
0 . o . 0
Choc ceased pacing through the grass and galloped up to meet us once we reached the top of the steps. Moonbeam’s white form lay in the grass near her, but he only lifted his head as she sped towards us.
“Are they...okay?” he called after her, panting.
“We’re...we’re good!” Rain called back as Choc approached.
“You are okay?” the larger mare asked, looking between the two of us. Rain nearly collapsed, so Choc provided her a shoulder to lean on, “How is dragon?”
“Dead,” I replied, the word feeling quite good now that I thought about it. I’d just helped to take down a dragon! Granted, it was only a small one, but it still felt good to say. It was something I was certain only a rare few in Skyrim could boast about.
“Your god is good, Aram Falíe,” Choc said with a nod as she guided Rain back to where Moonbeam lay.
“You...are you okay?” Rain panted as Choc let her flop down next to the unicorn.
“W-well…” Moonbeam panted, giving a coarse laugh, “My bladder’s empty, my butt’s been burned, and my lungs…” he took a moment to breathe, “Whew, my lungs are on fire from all that running!”
“He is okay,” Choc reassured with a small smile, “and is rich, now.”
“What!?” Moonbeam asked, lifting his head for a moment.
“Dragon’s dead,” Rain answered, her mirth from below returning as she bopped his nose, “That hoard of treasure? It’s ours now.”
“The brotherhood’s,” I said, feeling my cheer return. Yet it faded as I got looks from my three acolytes. An awkward silence fell for a time, “What?” I asked.
“Well...I mean,” Moonbeam licked his lips, speaking between breaths, “with all that treasure...do we really need...need a new job? I mean we...we could retire!”
“Moonbeam is not wrong...” Choc said, trailing off, “We...we discuss at length after fall.”
“But…” I began in the suddenly awkward silence, But Sithis promised me these acolytes! The creature of stone told me to train them, that I could train them! They can’t just leave me now!
But what if they do? my mind inquired, You weren’t as nice as you could’ve been to them, if they have more than what the creature of stone promised them…
“What!?” Rain exclaimed, startling me as she rolled over and tried to push herself to her hooves. After a moment, she just gave up and laid back down, “No!”
“No?” Moonbeam asked, lifting his head again and looking too tired to be as upset as he wanted to sound, “What do you mean, ‘no’?”
“Just what I mean: no!” Rain replied, “The dragon’s dead, we’ve cleared the sanctuary, it’s ours now, gold included!” she gestured to the ruins, “I mean, we gotta fix it up somehow!”
“Why not take gold for us?” Choc asked, though it sounded more like a suggestion as she continued, “Moonbeam says, we retire?”
“We retire, huh?” Rain countered, flopping a hoof in Choc’s general direction, “Choc, what is your special talent?”
Choc was caught off guard by the question, answering with caution, “I am strong, good at breaking things, I am fighter, I fight.”
“Okay, and Moonbeam?” she flopped a hoof towards him, “What’s yours?”
“Well, I’m good with modification magic, with locks, making magical contraptions,” he answered, confused as Choc, “But you already know…”
“Yes, I already know!” Rain cut in, “Niether of your talents are retiring, are they?” I continued to sit back and watch this play out, hoping for the best, “Choc? Why did a pony in the Chocolate family choose to become a fighter? Why did you run away from your family’s calling?”
“I do not want to become fat sow mare, popping out foals and doing wife work,” Choc replied with a hint of disgust, though the venom wasn’t aimed at Rain, “I run because I kill two pony, accident.”
“You ran because you didn’t want to conform to Stalliongradi standards,” Rain replied, then to Moonbeam, “And what about you, Moonbeam? Why are you here instead of making locks like your father? Or brewing drinks like your sister?”
“I...but, you know why…” Moonbeam replied, looking away.
“Because you want to break locks, go on adventures, make wondrous things with magic…” Rain answered for him.
“And get rich!” Moonbeam put in, though his argument seemed weak at best.
“Just like Choc, just like me, you don’t want to conform to somepony else’s standards either. You,” she indicated Choc, then Moonbeam, “and you might be happy in the short term with gold and a happy retirement, but we’re all young ponies! How long will you be satisfied with a nice house somewhere and nothing to do? Choc,” Rain turned to her, “isn’t that exactly why you ran away from Stalliongrad?”
“Da,” Choc sighed. She pondered upon what Rain had said for a moment, staring at the grass underhoof before returning Rain’s look, “You make argument good, Rain,” she turned to me, eyeing me over once, “You are still alive, dragon is not, Sithis is a good god, then.”
“Choc!?” Moonbeam exclaimed, looking startled, “But...Rain...but you...you…” he sighed, “You have a point.”
“It’s settled, then,” Rain said, turning to me with a grin, “We’re with the Dark Brotherhood!”