//------------------------------// // Chapter 29 // Story: Tale of Two Dragons // by Kind of Brony //------------------------------// Grey watched from the edge of the fire’s glow, one of many as the caravan settled down for the night. He had left his friend in the company of Citrus Spritz, confident that the mare would keep his young ward out of trouble while he was away. A ladle to the head for messing up her cooking was far more acceptable than the bird getting a chunk bitten out of him because he picked a fight. Besides having to stitch the kid up, a task made all the more daunting with hooves, Grey knew Zariba would use it as an excuse to give them the boot, and for the sake of those dragons, Grey Stone couldn’t afford to let that happen. The thought of that little drake had Grey narrowing his eyes at the group before him, the doctor seemingly discussing an old book with the little glasses-wearing diamond dog. Phantom drew more attention however as he fidgeted on the opposite side of the fire. “What’s the matter, Crispy? You look nervous,” Grey asked as he came into view, taking a small bit of satisfaction from how the pegasus jolted at his appearance. Once he realized who it was, Phantom glared. “That’s none of your business, Rocks-For-Brains, so why don’t you go back and foalsit Feather-For-Brains and the two of you can try and have an intelligent thought together. Gods know the world could use more miracles like that.” Grey actually smiled at the reply, though any mirth he felt quickly evaporated as Dr. Zariba opened his mouth. “Now Phantom, no need to be rude, we’re all friends here, or at least travel companions. Really, since you’re the one who brought Grey Stone, making him your responsibility, so perhaps avoid discord with him. I’d rather not have any fights break out because of you.” Phantom grumbled like a petulant foal, looking back at the fire before cringing and diverting his gaze to the ground instead. “Think your worries are a bit misplaced, Doc.” With a roll of his eyes, Zariba responded, “Why Phantom, I never realized you cared so much for those diamond dogs. Perhaps you should challenge Cujo for position of Alpha.” “I don’t see how you can joke about this,” snapped the pegasus. “Those two were meant to return this morning at the latest, and they’re still not back. Something happened.” “And I’m not denying that,” Zariba smoothly replied. “But to worry does little other than distract us from our goal. If Rocky and Buddy have not caught up to us by the time this is all over and done, then we will stop at Burrowton on our return trip, but until then, we can only speculate what has occurred and what it means for us while we continue on.” “It means those blasted dragons have probably crippled or killed our dogs.” “Yes, I concluded the same.” The zebracorn’s blasé remark was not a surprise to Grey, and only seemed to mildly shock Phantom, but the book the small diamond dog, Albert, held, fell to the ground. “Wha-? Oh, I’m so sorry, Doctor! I can’t believe I dropped such a valuable piece of history!” Albert apologized, nearly face-planting as he leaned over to retrieve the book. “We’ll break you of that habit yet,” Zariba said, an angry glint in his eye as grasped the journal in his magic. “Gotta say, that is pretty darn cold of you, Zariba,” Grey interrupted. “You think some of your employees are in danger, and you don’t even bat an eye.” “It’s only logical!” Albert protested, coming to his idol’s defense. “Like the doctor said, there’s nothing to be done about it now. To divert our course would allow Amethyst Thistle the lead on Bahamut’s Hoard, and for what? If they are hurt, they will be treated by the doctors of Burrowton and we will pick them up later. If they are… are dead, then, well, we can’t change that. I’m sure they would want us to continue so that their deaths would not be in vain.” “Exactly right,” Zariba responded, a more genuine smile on his face as he pat the dog on the head. “Everything we do should be to the benefit of our mission or any sacrifices will be for nothing. Very good, Albert.” While Albert beamed at the praise, Grey snorted. “Sounds like you’re fancying up betrayal to me. Those dogs trust you enough to work under you, seems you should put them above a little treasure.” “This is more than just ‘a little treasure,’ you illiterate lump!” Albert snapped. “The massive monetary value of Bahamut’s Hoard is only out-weighed by its historical importance! Imagine a dragon’s hoard eons in the making, all the ancient artifacts gathered in one place, taken from across the world. Why, there’s probably mementos from civilizations we don’t even have record of buried in those mountains of precious gems and metals!” Raising an eyebrow, Grey Stone stared for a moment before snorting. “Well, that does sound pretty impressive. Good to know, I guess,” he said with a smirk. “Honestly, I’ve been wondering exactly what it was you all were after; everyone’s been pretty tight lipped about the specifics whenever Gerard and me bring it up, so I figured I’d just come and ask the boss.” “Yes…” Zariba began, patting Albert’s a little harder this time and causing the dog to wince. “I figured there was no need for you to know as you probably wouldn’t be with us to the end. Once the dragons are dealt with, I suspect you and your friend would be returning home. It might sound greedy of me, but I didn’t want you to feel obligated for a cut you wouldn’t be receiving. After all, you aren’t one of us.” Grey nodded agreeably. “Well, you’re right about that, I’m not one of you, but I appreciate knowing all the same. Thanks, kid.” Directing this at Albert, who gave an unsure smile in return, the earth pony stallion turned away. “Guess that’s all. Better go make sure Gerard hasn’t burned a hole through one of Spritz’s pans or something.” He ignored the red eyes burning into the back of his head as he left, not wanting to risk a glare of his own at the striped bastard while he was so obviously agitated. It wouldn’t do to lecture Gerard about starting fights needlessly if he went and did the same. No, when he fought the doctor, it would be over much more than the two not being agreeable with each other. ~8~ The rabbit twitched its nose, taking in the delicious aroma of roasted nuts with a combination of desire and wariness. On the one paw, tasty, salty nuts were mouth-wateringly close somewhere, but on the other, only the bird-cats would be in possession of such a delicacy in these parts and every rabbit knew from oral history passed down through generations that you do not, EVER, leave your burrow, when there when there is even a chance of one of those dreaded predators being nearby. Maybe a cat-bird dropped its nuts while sky-swimming, the rabbit thought, trying to convince itself. I do not smell sky-bird, so there must not be one nearby, yes? Yes… Yes! That is right! I am a smart rabbit. Preening, the rabbit left the safety of its burrow, following its nose to its prize and finding it mere ticks later, no cat-birds in sight. Taking a moment to calm itself, the rabbit scanned the skies more thoroughly, even checking the ground for shadow wings. Yes, come to Bun, you tasty nuts. The nuts were piled neatly under a strange concave rock, at least ten of them, and the rabbit went about munching in the shade. It did not pay the stick any mind until it suddenly flew away, leaving the rock it had been supporting to fall and engulf the rabbit in absolute darkness. Panic set in soon after as the sound of rustling grass and heavy foot falls could be heard outside, the rabbit realizing its mistake. Great ancestors, please forgive this bun his hubris… Amy walked at a leisurely pace, not having to worry about their dinner escaping from beneath the hollowed out rock it was trapped under. An advantage to having dragon claws was that any sufficiently sized stone could easily be carved into useful shapes, such as the large bowl she had made here. It would as double as a nice cooking pot for the simple soup she had in mind. Reaching down, the dragoness readied one claw to flip over the stone while the other was poised like a viper. In a flash, the rock was gone and the prey was in her grasp before it moved a single step. “Sorry about this, fella, but you know how it goes,” Amy muttered, snapping the rabbit’s neck before its terrified gaze could shift to anything else. Going limp in her grip, Amy breathed a sigh and picked up her rock, putting it under an arm while she casually slit the critter’s throat to the spine and shifted her hold to its back legs, letting its cooling blood run out as she walked back to her brother. Searching for a burrow had taken her a fifteen minute walk away from their temporary camp and after waiting for the rabbit’s curiosity to get the better of it, she was somewhat anxious to return. She was confident her brother would stay out of sight on the off chance somebody passed over the area, but it was still a threat along with any wild predators happening by. In the case of the latter, however, she was confident in the instinctual fear most beasts had for dragons to keep him safe long enough for her to come running. Being some of the first apex predators, most hunters were ingrained with the knowledge to stay away from dragons. “Spike,” Amy called as she neared where she had left the little drake. “You still here?” “Where else would I be?” he answered, coming up from the alcove of tree roots she had chosen this spot for. It may not have been big enough for her, but it could serve as nice hovel for her little brother to spend the night in. With them reaching a more forested area a few nights ago, on top of the lessening chance of Zariba having lackeys patrolling the wilds, it was safe enough for them to shift their traveling to daytime, leaving the night for rest. “I was just looking at the tablets, is all,” he continued, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the stones in question. “It’s funny, I’ve been lugging the things around all this time and I barely know what they’re supposed to be.” “Huh, I guess I haven’t told you what they are, have I?” Amy muttered, moving over to the bundle of wood she had had Spike collect while she was away. It wasn’t enough to get them through the night, but it was enough for now. “Help me get cooking and I’ll tell you about it after, okay? It looks like some clouds are rolling in and I’d rather not try to cook in the rain if it starts.” Spike nodded and began arranging sticks into a teepee formation in the middle of the fire pit he dug out by himself, something he was quite proud of. The little drake had been learning a lot from his sister and was looking forward to talking his friends out on a camping trip when he finally returned home. While he did this, Amy hung her rabbit up to finish draining while she went to find some larger chunks of wood for the fire. While she did this, she noticed Spike shooting quick glances at the dead animal and asked, “You want me to move that somewhere else? I know you’ve gotten more used to eating meat, but I’d understand if seeing it in its… unprepared state made you uncomfortable.” “No,” he answered, twiddling his claws. “I mean, okay, maybe it’s a little weird, but I was actually wondering if you could maybe teach me how to, you know, prepare it…” Blinking a few times, Amy eventually smiled. “If you really want to, then sure, I wouldn’t mind at all.” The idea actually excited the dragoness and put a spring in her step. It felt so right to be teaching Spike the things her father had taught her when she was his age. An advantage her little brother had in this regard was that his teacher would actually be around the same size as him to show him firsthand how it’s done instead of merely being given a verbal rundown on what to do. It’s hard to teach another how to skin a rabbit when you’re the size of a house. With the lesson to look forward to, Amy and Spike finished quickly, the elder of the two gathering some wild herbs and mushrooms she had picked during their hike and placing them in her stone bowl. Luckily, there was a small creek not far away, meaning that they had water to spare for a broth as she added it to the bowl before setting the nearly-whole concoction practically into the fire. Dragon scales beat oven mitts by a significant margin. After that, there was only one final ingredient to prepare, and though nervous, Spike payed rapt attention as Amy went through the process. Skinning and breaking an animal was easier with a large knife, but claws and a little elbow grease got the job done well enough. There were few points where they had to stop while Spike dry heaved, the disemboweling being a big one, but the small drake persevered and even brought himself to touch the uncooked flesh, working to separate the left hind leg after Amy removed the right. Perhaps it was for the best that they only ate a light breakfast so many hours ago. Wasting food by vomiting was never ideal when on the road, after all. “I managed to get the hide off better than I thought I would,” Amy says to herself, turning the skin over in her claws. “Can’t scrape all the meat chunks off without a knife, but maybe if we reach a town soon enough, we’ll be able to sell it for a few bits, or drachmas as the case may be. What do you think, Spike?” The younger dragon looked up, halting his attempt to wipe the blood from his claws with a few leaves, and asks, “What do you mean? Why would anyone want to buy that, and what’re drachmas?” “Well, gryphons will buy the hide for clothes,” Amy explained. “And a drachma is basically gryphon currency, like Equestria’s bit.” “They make clothes out of that…? Ew.” “Waste not, want not,” Amy intoned. “To a lot of hunting cultures, it’s considered disrespectful not to use every part of the kill. After all, if the prey had to die, it’s best for their death not to be in vain, right?” “I guess…” “Hey, maybe we’ll pick you up something made out of animal hide while we’re in town,” she suggested. “It’ll be a good lesson on other cultures or something. Plus it’ll make a nice souvenir. You’d be amazed of the quality rabbit hide clothing is.” “That’s alright, I don’t need anything,” Spike responded, eyeing the bloody hide and the pink chunks still stuck to it. “Don’t worry, Spike, the finished product is a way less gross,” Amy assured, trying to fold up the fur without getting to much gore on the outside. “Lore Finder loved the hat I picked up for her. Says it’s the warmest thing she’s ever put on her head.” Recognizing the losing battle, Spike steered their attention back to the task at hand, gesturing to the simmering broth. After that, Amy proceeded to separate the meat from the bone before tossing it into the soup. “Well, all there is to do now is wait,” Amy said, standing up. “I’m going to go toss these entrails somewhere away from the camp before they start stinking up the place. Don’t want to risk attracting any animals looking for an easy meal. I’m also going to wash up a little while I’m at it and I’ll bring you some water so you can do the same.” “Thanks, I’ll stay here and stir the soup.” Despite the stomach-churning process of making it, the hodge-podge concoction was already getting his mouth watering from the smell alone. There was no doubt in the young drake’s mind that when he returned home, he’d have to put Amy’s lessons to work himself. There was no way he could resume life as a vegetarian after this. “All the wasted years,” bemoans the smaller dragon, sniffling as he takes another gulp of broth. “Why couldn’t ponies be meat-eaters?” “Well, they could be if they wanted, I think,” Amy commented over her own bowl, freshly carved by her talented claws. “I think it’s just as much cultural as it is biology since I’ve met ponies who like meat. Even Lore Finder enjoyed a couple bowls of meaty ramen with me before.” “Really?” Spike questioned before being distracted by a large piece of rabbit floating to the top of his bowl, just begging to be gobbled up. “Yep, I’ve never asked, but I don’t think it upsets their stomachs or anything. It’s probably more like ponies know their ancestors were at the bottom of the food chain way back when and don’t want to put other creatures in the same position. Probably think it’s dishonoring to the ponies who were unlucky enough to get eaten.” Spike’s bowl stopped an inch away from his mouth as he stared, eye ridge quirked. “… That’s messed up." “But possibly true,” Amy countered, pointing with one of the claws holding her own food before taking a swig, chewing some mushroom bits. “Okay, okay, enough talking about ponies being eaten,” demanded the little dragon. “I’m trying to enjoy my meal here.” “As well you should. I am a master chef, aren’t I?” preened the elder, getting an eye roll from her brother. “I haven’t tried a meat I haven’t liked yet. At this point, I don’t think even Twilight could mess up a meat dish, and she’s awful in the kitchen.” Amy huffed. “Are you implying this delicious and nutritious rabbit soup is not the result of my culinary expertise?” “Well, if the horseshoe fits…” Making a big show of being offended, the dragoness grabbed the stone pot from in between them and pulled it close. “Well then, I suppose I’ll just eat the rest myself, you ungrateful runt!” “H-hey, let’s not get crazy, it was just a joke!” Spike said, following the nervous statement with a brittle laugh as he reached for the pot. When Amy jerked it away, he panicked. “Stop, you’re gonna spill it!” Both dragons were still as statues, one glaring while the other pleaded with his eyes, until finally the former snorted. Like that, the stalemate was broken as they both burst into laughter. “You know I wouldn’t keep good food away from you, Spike. After living on a pony diet for so long, you’re growth's been stunted enough.” “Hey, it wasn’t just a pony diet, I ate plenty of gems growing up to get big and strong!” Spike defended, puffing out his chest and extending a bicep. “Feel this puppy! Hard as iron!” Reaching down, Amy gave the little bump of muscle a squeeze. “Wow, you got an exotic animal license for this python?” “Fluttershy’s already filed the forms. Just waiting for it in the mail.” It was only a second later that the two lost composure and laughed again. “Okay, okay, let’s hurry up and finish eating before the soup gets cold,” the big sister said, placing the pot down and scooping a bit more of its contents into her bowl. “I still have to give you that lesson on the tablets and the draconic written on it after all, and I don’t want to be up too late. If everything works out, we might actually make it to the town before tomorrow night if we set out early enough.” Spike perked up. “Really? About time. You said we were in the gryphon kingdom, like, forever ago, and I haven’t even seen a gryphon yet. After the not so great impression Gilda made, it’ll be kind of nice to actually meet some nice ones.” “Don’t hold your breath on that. Gryphons are notoriously prickly characters. Not saying they’re all bad or anything, but it takes a while for most of them to warm up to foreigners, and until then, you usually won’t be having a pleasant conversation.” Amy thought of all of her chimeric friends and how each and every one was a pain in her tail at some point. Shaking her head, she asked, “Who’s Gilda by the way? I don’t think you ever mentioned her.” “She was an old friend of Rainbow Dash I guess who visited Ponyville one time. And only the one time, after she yelled at all the ponies and stormed off…” Amy listened to her brother’s story, commenting how she actually felt a bit bad for the gryphon; getting humiliated at a party in front of a bunch of strangers is probably one of the more reasonable things to flip your lid over. Spike, after thinking about it, agreed with the logic and said he’d think about talking to Dash about it when he got home. If Gryphon’s were as wary of new people as Amy told him, maybe Gilda wasn’t actually a jerk and deserved a second chance. Soon after that, the food was finished just in time for the first few raindrops to start coming down and Spike climbed into his root-fortress, followed by the tablets and front half of Amethyst Thistle. She assured him she didn’t mind getting her tail wet while she began teaching Spike the basics of their kind’s ancient language. It was slow going, but the younger dragon did at least manage to learn all the letters present by name and could identify them as such during an impromptu quiz. Eventually, Amy moved on to reading the words out loud, the language rolling off of her tongue as if she never spoke anything else. She had practiced long and hard to please her parents, both before and after their passing, and it had left her a fluent speaker. Better perhaps than even some dragon elders. Even so, it was mostly gibberish to her without context, the tablets speaking of what could only be a hidden entrance and how only Bahamut’s breath could open the way. She’d figure it out when they finally made it to the mountain, she told Spike. She was always better at answering riddles when she was at the door rather than on the way there. The Moon was already a fair ways into the sky by the time the siblings finally decided to call it a night, Amy only partially complaining that it was still sprinkling out and how she’d not have to bathe below the waist for weeks. Spike’s only complaint was a bit of gas. “Hey, at least it’s only burping and not the other thing,” he said after blowing soup scented breath at Amy’s dry expression. “You’re lucky that’s the case or you’d be out there in the rain with my butt. Now get some sleep, we’re leaving first thing in the morning.” “Don’t have to tell me twice,” Spike said, rolling into a ball. “I’m beat.” Despite her backside constantly being peppered by raindrops and the tight, dark space they were squeezed into, both dragons soon found themselves asleep, the silence only being broken by the occasional snore or burp. In the pitch darkness of the hovel, a burst of green light accompanying one of many burps went completely unnoticed by either slumbering dragon.