“Red, admit it you have no idea where we are.”
“No, I know exactly where we are,” I replied to my annoyed head. We had been wandering through the forest ever since we returned from that other world. Every time I tried teleporting out I always ended up back where I started, or I thought it was.
Stupid forest all looks the same.
“Ok, then enlighten me, where are we?” she asked.
“I thought you knew, I mean isn’t it obvious. We’re right here,” I told her, pointedly.
An hour had passed by and I was starting to grow tried of this blasted forest. I snorted and a jet of flames came out my nose, catching a nearby tree on fire. Then it hit me, a perfect idea to get out of the forest.
“Black, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“That the longer I listen to you the stupider I become?” she said.
“What, no, probably, but no. I was thinking that we could just burn the forest down then we’d be able to see a town or somewhere better to go.”
“You know we have wings right?” I stopped and looked over my shoulder, at the pair of wings on my back.
“Oh yeah, forgot about those,” I smiled spreading out the forgotten appendages, giving them a test flap, before launching myself into the air above the accursed forest.
As we flew over the world below us I saw the town I had gone to a few days ago. It looked much the same though I could see more activity there than last time. I could see a few more town in the distance though most of them seemed to be only a few cobbled together looking shacks. So, I took of towards the mountain city, I had awoken at, thinking if anything I could at least find a map there.
I flew high above the cloud to keep from being spotted below. If anything I should have probably disguised myself, the moment I left the castle, but now I doubt anyone wouldn’t notice a dragon with two heads.
“Hey Red, what are you thinking over there, you’ve been quiet since we took off?” Black said interrupting my thoughts.
“I was trying to decide which disguise to use,” I said smiling at her.
“How bout a pony, I don’t think we get much attention then.”
“No, who wants to be a pony that just seems so bland,” I vetoed her idea. “I was thinking more a minotaur or a griffon, you know something passably cool.”
“But then we couldn’t openly use magic,” she said, destroying that idea. “I’ve got it what if we split, then we both be what we want, and get the information we need twice as fast.”
“Sometimes you actually have good ideas,” I chuckled, making her fume a bit.
“Sometimes?” she raised a brow at me.
“Fine, most of the time, but I get to be the noble this time,” I said sticking my tongue out at her. I looked down seeing a small clearing in some trees by the road, after a quick flash we were standing there beside the road. It was mostly empty, but I did see a cart slowly making its way toward us.
After another flash and a bit of concentration, there was a second dragon standing in the clearing and I had one less head. She had black scales covering her and was just a bit shorter than me, at the end of her tail was a stinger identical to mine.
“So, do you want to be griffons or ponies?” I asked her, laughing a bit as she stumbled a bit, not being used to controlling our legs.
“I think we should be ponies,” she said before falling flat on her face, causing me to start laughing at her. She huffed, before disappearing in a puff of smoke, when it cleared in her place stood a pegasus, with black fur and a mess of black hair. Just above her hind leg her mark was a green draconic eye, half open.
“Looking good, Black. Now you just need a good name, how bout Abyss?”
“You just want to turn the townspeople against me don’t you, fine but I get to pick your name,” she smirked at me.
“Fine,” I said before transforming. I stood there after looking myself over. I was a unicorn with bright red fur, and a golden mane, my mark was a crimson dragon egg speckled with other colors wearing a slightly askew crown.
“Give it to me straight, I look ridiculous. Don’t I?” I asked looking over at her. She just stood there stunned.
“Wow, you look amazing, truly fitting of your godly title,” she said, still staring at me. “I think I have the perfect name for you, Royal Ruby.”
Just as she said that the carriage came close enough that we could see it more clearly. It was a brilliant white color, trimmed with gold. Pulling it were two earth ponies, and sitting in the driver seat was another earth pony wearing a suit. We stood there on the side of the road, waiting for them to get closer.
“Remember, I’m a noble and you’re my bodyguard,” I told Black, or Abyss as this form was now named.
“Understood, my lady,” she said already getting in character. Now, the carriage was practically in front of us. “Excuse me, good sir,” Abyss said, making the driver slow the carriage to a stop.
“What can I do for you fine mares?” he asked us, as the two pullers just stood there ready to go at a moment's notice.
“We just wished to inquire as to your destination,” she said as posh as possible, making me have to fight to keep from laughing.
“We are on our way to the city of Canterlot,” he replied with a smile.
“Then, might we be able to join you on?” Abyss asked flashing him a charming smile.
“Unfortunately, that is n-” as he answered, the door to the carriage slammed open, and a white unicorn pooped his head out.
“Why have we stopped, you fool? I must be in Canterlot this instant! I will not be stuck in the middle of nowh…” he started yelling till he turned his head over and saw the two of us standing there, staring at him. “What is this?”
“They were just asking if they could join us. They were on their way to Canterlot,” the driver answered not looking the unicorn in the eyes, mostly because said unicorn was still staring at us.
“Well, don’t just sit there let them in the carriage!” the unicorn shouted. The driver looked at the unicorn and back at us confused. After a few moments he got down and opened the door for us to step into the carriage.
I stepped into the carriage flashing a smile at the driver. The inside had two sets of benches facing each other with a small table in the middle, on one side the unicorn sat looking at me disappointedly when I sat on the other side than he was on. Abyss got on just behind me, and took a seat next to me. Before long the carriage started moving again, the unicorn still looking at me.
“So, what are two lovely young mares such as yourselves doing out here in the middle of nowhere,” he asked, with that creepy smile that people have when they expect something to go their way. Abyss looked at me for a second before turning to answer him.
“Her ladyship, Royal Ruby, and I were travelling to Canterlot to see the Royal Gardens, when a foolish band of brigands attacked our carriage. Unfortunately, they destroyed it before we dispatched them,” she said with anger, playing the part perfectly and almost making me believe the lie.
“How garish, but I must say I have never heard of you before miss Ruby, how is that?” he asked me, ignoring Abyss except for my name.
“Her ladyship, is from the land of-”
“Silence, servant!” he glared at her. “I was speaking to Miss Rose, not some lowly commoner. If you worked for me I’d have half a mind to make you walk the rest of the way.”
It’s a good thing Black likes acting or she’d probably eat this fool.
“Then I apologize, but her Ladyship does not speak to the common rabble, as it is beneath her,” she said snidely, grinning as he began to fume. Me silently chuckling at the impending argument.
“Do you have any idea who I am?” he asked angrily. “I am Prince Blueblood, nephew of Princess Celestia herself!” Abyss put her hoof to her chin, thinking.
“No, can’t say that rings a bell,” she said thoughtfully then looked over to me, to see if I knew. I shook my head. “No, neither of us have ever heard of you,” she smiled at him with false innocence.
“How can you not have heard of me?! I am the great Prince Blueblood, I have…” he started ranting not noticing that we were ignoring him. Abyss turned to see me barely containing myself.
“So, what is the plan when we arrive, ‘Ruby’?” she asked, getting my attention, somewhat.
“I think we’ll find a library or something, who cares as long as this idiot keeps me entertained,” I looked over at him still ranting. Another fit of laughter overtook me. Abyss sighed, shaking her head at me.
“...and I will not be ignored. Hey! Are you even listening?” he glared at us.
“Hmm, what was that?” I spoke to him for the first time.
“I will not be looked down upon by some petty no name noble whorse, I am a Prince, and-” he yelled, before being punched in the face by a pony that appeared next to him. It was a cobalt blue pegasus, with darker blue hair, and pair of dragon wings wrapped around a gem as a mark.
“That’ll teach you to talk to us that way,” she said kicking him while he lay on the floor of the carriage.
“Nice to see you’re finally awake, Blue,” Abyss said to the enraged pegasus still kicking what's-his-name.
“Oh, hey Black, hey Red. What’s going on, and why are you both ponies?” she asked us after giving the now unconscious unicorn another kick.
“Hey Blue, guess what?” I said to her.
“What?”
“You’re a pony too,” I said laugh as her face drained of color, as she looked down then back at us, before opening her mouth to scream. Only to be cut off by Abyss shoving her hoof in Blue’s mouth. “None of that.”
“Is everything alright in there?” I heard the driver ask from the front.
“Yes!” I shouted to him. Blueblood groaned at this, only to be kicked by Blue.
“That’s good we’ll be in the city in just a few moments,” he shouted to us again.
Blue spit Abyss's hoof out of her mouth, “So, why are we ponies?”
“Disguises,” I answered, quickly.
“Reason?” she said.
“Info.”
“About?”
“Dragons.”
“Okay.”
“Why couldn’t Green have woken up first?” I heard Black mutter.
“Reasons,” both Blue and me said at the same time.
“Oh god, I hate you both so much.”
A moment later, we felt the carriage slow to a stop. I heard the driver get down from the front, and walk around to the door on the side. Black got up to block him from seeing Blueblood, while I cast an invisibility spell on Blue, no point in explaining why there are three of us now. He pulled open the door, when I saw him, his face had an expression like he was ready to be yelled at, but he relaxed when nothing happened.
We all moved to leave the carriage, Blue whizzed past him, as Abyss and I stepped through the door. She closed it behind her so he wouldn’t see his master beaten on the floor. He tipped his head to us as walked away after thanking him.
“Have a nice visit to our fair capital ladies,” he said as he climbed back onto the driver seat. “And if there’s anything I can do for you just ask.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Abyss said waving to him as we continued to walk away. After we were out of sight from them, Blue landed next to us and shimmered back into sight.
“So, what’s the plan, are we gonna infiltrate the government, incite riots, plan a coup?” she asked at high speed. “Oh, or are we on some kind of secret mission, and you can’t tell me or we’ll all be killed?”
“Blue, first off we can’t die, and if it were a secret how would we keep it from you, we’re all basically one person,” Abyss said to her annoyed.
“So, then why are we here?”
“Because I want to know where the hell all the dragons are, and why they don’t rule the world,” I told her, angry that all my hard work was ruined in the last who knows how many years.
As we walked down the street, we got a few strange looks, mostly from males staring at us and then females glaring at us after they noticed their stallions staring. We made our way through the city keeping away from the more crowded areas, eventually stopping at a fountain in the middle of a street to figure out where to go.
“You have no idea where we’re going do you?” Blue asked us, sitting on a nearby fountain.
“I don’t know I was following Red,” Black shrugged.
“What I was following you,” I told her, making her sigh.
“So, I guess we’ll just have to ask someone,” she said looking around at the ponies passing by in the crowd, till she she stopped at a unicorn who was sitting by the fountain staring at a book. “Excuse me.” Nothing happened. “Excuse me,” she said again poking the unicorn this time, causing her to flinch and look up from the book. She was confused at first, till she saw Abyss and me looking at her.
“Umm, can I help you?” the unicorn said with an annoyed tone.
“Yes, we were looking a library or something,” I told her. She raised an eyebrow at me as she looked back at her book.
“Down the street, take the first left then the second right and head down that way, it’s on your left you can’t miss it,” she told us without looking up. I looked at Black seeing if she got that, she shook her head at me, I looked over to Blue. She was chasing a bird that had pooped on her head, or so thought from the white spot there.
“That’s way too many direction, can you just show us?” I asked. She slowly looked at me with a very annoyed look as she pushed up her glasses. I thought she was about to say no, so I used my ultimate attack, a weapon so feared that not even gods were immune, I gave her the puppy dog eyes.
Her eye twitched a bit as she let out a sigh. She closed her book and hopped off the fountain.
“Follow me,” she said as she started walking. I looked over at Blue, she was still chasing the bird.
“Blue, come on! We’re going,” I yelled to her just as she caught the bird. She glanced over at me, then back at the bird, before letting it go.
“You got lucky this time,” she told it as it flew away, doing what sounded like laughing. Blue turned over and began following us, as we caught up with the unicorn. “So, who’s this nerd?” she asked looking at the unicorn.
“I don’t know, hey what’s your name?” I asked her. She looked back at me with a frown.
“Moondancer.” she said as she looked away from me.
“Ooh, I like that, doesn’t fit you at all, but I like it. Sounds fierce, yet elegant,” I said to her.
“Uhh, thanks?” the mare said. We continued down the street. Blue was looking around at the stores. “And here we are.”
I looked up and saw a large building on the other side of the street that looked like a library.
“Great,” I said to her then looked over at Blue, “Blue stay outside and keep watch.” I started to walk inside, before looking back at Moondancer about to walk away. “I feel like I might have need of you,” I told her, and she stopped for a second glancing at me confused, only to be picked up in my magic and dragged inside.
“H-hey! Hold on!” she yelled but I didn’t listen, just humming happily as I walked into the library, Black walking right next to me. She glanced at the unicorn for a second with a concerned expression before shrugging and continued to follow me.
Inside it was a massive building filled to the brim with shelves and books, right next to the door was a table with a librarian behind it. She gave us a confused look as we made our way to a table. I plopped down Moondancer in one of the chairs, and sat myself down.
“And why did you drag me into the library, I thought you just wanted me to show you where it is?” she said in a quiet tone.
“Meh, you’ll help us find what we need,” I shrugged at her, and Black nodded. She looked at the two of us before grumbling a bit.
“There’s no need to be that way this’ll be fun,” I told her smiling.
“This sucks!” I said slamming my head into the table, piercing it with my horn. I heard a lot of ponies shushing me for my outburst.
“Red, why don’t we just leave there’s nothing useful here,” Black said to me, she had stopped calling me by my disguises name after the first ten minutes of reading. Moondancer was just sitting next to me reading her book.
“What are you two even looking for?” she asked us.
“I’m trying to find out what happened to Dragon’s Eyrie, there has to be a book here somewhere,” I told her, looking at the small pile of books I had found on dragons. Most of which was almost completely wrong. “All I’ve been able to find is this trash, and most of it is useless,” I said grabbing one of them and opening it. “I mean look here it says dragons eat just gems, who in their right mind would think dragons could survive on some shiny pebbles!”
Again another round of shushing from the others.
“What do you expect, these are the only books on dragon kind in Equestria.” Moondancer said. Both me and Black slowly looked at her.
“Is she kidding Red, please tell me that she’s kidding.” Black said. We both stared at her for a moment before I looked at Black.
“I think she’s serious, Black,” I told her, before looking back at Moondancer. “Why aren’t there more, there is an entire section on griffons and minotaurs, but only ten lousy book on dragons!”
Again, shushing.
“Oh, shove off!” I yelled at them, everyone else suddenly became very interested in what they were doing.
“What do you expect, dragons are big, mean and breath fire, anypony knows getting close to one of them is a death sentence, who in their right mind want to go study them?” She said crossing her forelegs. I huffed a bit as I angrily stood up and marched out of the place with Black and Moondancer in tow, the later floating in my magic forelegs still crossed. She didn’t start yelling so that was good.
I was about to walk past the librarian but I stopped and looked at her.
“Don’t even say it,” I said as I went back to walking. After finding Blue outside, who was busy flying around the building, we all headed into an alley as I started to make a ritual circle.
“Hey Red what are you doing?” Black asked me.
“I’m sick and tired of useless books, I’m just gonna summon someone who would know what I want,” I told her as I finished the circle.
“I thought Green was good at these things,” Black said. I glared at her as I poured my magic into the circle. After a few moments it sparked to life and smoke began to come off it. I saw a being appear in the smoke, it was about six feet tall and wore a business suit. He looked down at me with solid black eyes.
“Well, this is new,” the demon said. “Never thought I would be summoned by a horse.”
“Shut up, demon! I not in the mood for pleasantries,” I told it angrily.
“Hey! No need to be angry with me, I just got here,” it said. Black looked at the demon and at me.
“So… what? Do we have to asked it’s name or something?” she asked.
“Why in the Nine Hells would I do that? I’m not going to invite it to tea, I’m just asking it a question,” I snapped at her. Moondancer didn’t say anything since she was busy staring at the demon in front of her. The demon just sighed.
“Alright, normally I need you to do a few things but I have short time, so what do you want?” he asked crossing his arms.
“What happened to Dragon’s Eyrie?”
“Wow, haven’t heard that name in a while. Well, you see it’s gone,” he said simply. I stared at him for a moment.
“Err run that by us again?” Black said.
“It was there but now it’s gone,” he said.
“How can a nation that covered the entire world, just up and vanish without a trace,” I snapped at him. Everyone in the alley flinched a bit as my magic began to push against them.
“What that’s all I know, you summoned me. So, unless you’ve got another question can I go back now?” it said holding its hands up.
“Fine, then one more question. Where is Emberscale City?” I asked it, a bit less angry after realizing I was mad for no reason.
“Oh, that is a much easier question. It’s about twelve thousand miles, due southwest of here,” he told us. “I think they call it the Dragonlands now.”
“That’s original,” Blue laughed. “I wonder why they call it that?”
“Is that a question?” the demon asked.
“No, now leave,” I told him.
“You know normally this is where’d I’d ask for your soul, but I prefer to stay alive, so bye,” he said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
“So, Red what now?” Black asked.
“Now I guess we go to this ‘Dragonland’,” I said to her, leaving the alley, Black and Blue just behind me. I looked behind me and saw that Moondancer was following us. “Do you need something?” I asked her confused.
“I think she wants money for showing us around all day, lousy greedy ponies,” Blue said to me.
“That’s rich coming from you,” Black said.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Blue huffed at her.
“Shut up Blue,” I told her. “What do you need, we’re leaving we don’t need a guide anymore.”
“Oh I’m coming with you,” she said as she waved to the alleyway. “First you spent two hours in the library looking up dragons for something that doesn’t exist, summoned something in an alley that I have never heard of before, and are going to the Dragonlands, so I’m coming with you.”
“Didn’t you say only crazy ponies get up close to study dragons?” I asked her. She huffed a bit.
“Well call me crazy,” she said with a stomp of her hoof. “I’m going and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“Well, there’s a lot I could do, but I won’t,” I said and turned around to leave. A moment later, I turned around and saw her just standing there. “You coming or not?”