“It has been thirty-three days.” Twilight said as she walked in a tight circle around the table. “Thirty-three long, torturous days.”
Raj and Spike sat silently, watching the pacing unicorn. Raj moved like he wanted to talk but Spike yanked him back down into his seat and whispered, “She's doing a thing. Let her go.”
“Was it difficult? Yes. Was it a humbling experience? Yes it was. Did I regularly forget about it all together and give myself terrible headaches? Everypony knows I did. But no more! Because today is finally the day! Today,” she reached up to her head and yanked the knot of bandages away, “my horn has officially grown back!”
She stared cross-eyed up at her regenerated appendage for a moment, a wide grin on her face, before it lit up with lavender light. The glow attached to much of the room's contents and dozens of books floated free their shelves and began orbiting the room, spinning in the air and flapping their pages as if they were flying on their own accord.
Inverted force field domes marched out of the kitchen carrying water and sprang themselves upwards, spraying the water in a mad burst of moisture that was similarly held fast by magic. It formed a nebula of glittering droplets that gleamed brilliantly in the omnipresent, lavender glow from the dozens of floating fields.
There was a flash of light and Twilight was standing on the table, eyes burning white and horn glowing such that the halo of it stretched a full body length ahead of herself. She lowered her head, focused for a moment, and then threw it upwards with a cry of effort. All at once, the glittering droplets streamed out of the windows and doors of the library. They raced upwards, crashing together with a mighty clap and breaking apart, drifting lazily to form a rainbow hued symbol in the sky over the library in the shape of a six pointed sparkle.
Twilight lowered back down to the table and let out a breath, the books and scrolls slowly flapping their way back to their places on the shelves. When the last one was back on the shelf she let the last of the magic go and she laid down on the table, visible ripples of heat drifting up from her horn.
The room was quiet for a few moments before somepony outside shouted “Woo! Do it again!”
The three of them broke out into light laughter for a moment. Spike sprang forward and wrapped his arms around Twilight's neck in a tight hug. “I'm so happy you got your magic back Twi!”
She nuzzled the little dragon. “Me too Spike. I was beginning to forget what channeling a spell felt like.” She wiped her brow and huffed out a breath. “Although I think I overdid it a bit.”
“More than a month with no practice will screw up anyone's stamina.” Raj said. “You should probably take it easy.”
“I've been taking it easy Raj. Anyway,” she bamfed to the shelf, leaving Spike to flop gracelessly onto the table. “I have work to get back to. Without magic, there isn't much research I've been able to do. I'm still sitting on so much analysis to do of our trip into your memory.”
Raj furrowed his brow. “How will magic help you analyze that? We did that more than a week ago.”
Twilight gave him an eager grin. “Zecora's not the only one that knows memory spells.” Her horn sparked up and her eyes went white, images flickering past them. “With this spell, I can read my own mind, witnessing your memory again by reliving my memory of it, in precise detail.”
“Neat.” he said. “If you want something straight from the tap, I can get another potion from Zecora.”
She winced slightly. “I'm not sure if that would work exactly. I talked to her already. The components for it are pretty rare and already out of season. Anyway, after how bad it hit me before I'm not in a big hurry to try it again. From what she said, if we had a reaction like that before, there's no telling what it might be like if we did it again.”
He frowned. “Did she know what caused it?”
Twilight shook her head. “Afraid not. It could have been your arcane resistance, the nature of the memory, the fact that we had so many ponies along for the trip, or a bunch of other things. Heck, according to her it might have been worse if we had less passengers. For all we know we might end up in a coma if we went through with just the two of us. Don't tell her I said this, but that's the problem with oral traditions. Not actually understanding your craft can only cause problems.”
Raj's face fell, but not for the reason Twilight thought. The idea of using a memory potion to out Celestia had occurred to him after a few days, and it was a thought he was actively mulling over, but the revelation of the potion's instability squashed that flat. Besides damaging his friend's worldview, he couldn't imagine the feeling of being gradually crushed beneath the weight of Celestia's magical power resulting in anything pleasant when they came out of it.
“Now then!” Twilight summoned a notebook to herself in a burst of light and shoved it into Spike's claws. “I have been dying to ask some questions about what I saw in there. If you have time.”
Raj nodded, “I got nothing but time.” He was surprised that she'd held back her curiosity for so long.
Twilight grinned and her horn lit up, summoning a trio of chairs to them alongside a large stack of notes and papers. “Great. First up, what is this device?” A glow formed in the air that resolved into an image, showing Raj's kitchen on earth. In the center of the image was a black box, a sequence of numbers and buttons along the right-hand face of it below a glowing set of digits.
“Microwave oven. Common household appliance.” Raj answered back, somewhat impressed by the illusion.
She scribbled that down in her notes. “Please elaborate.”
“Um, alright. It's a box that opens up. Used to re-heat and cook food quickly. It exposes whatever is inside it with microwave radiation to generate heat, hence the name.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Microwaves? Are those related to the radio waves were were searching for a while back?”
“Yeah. Both are electromagnetic frequencies, but on different wavelengths.”
“So you use one of these waves to communicate, and another one to cook food?” Twilight asked skeptically.
Raj rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I'm pretty sure we use both to communicate, but we also use microwaves to cook.”
Spike shook his head. “Wow, humans are weird.”
“No argument from me Scales.” Raj said back with a shrug.
Twilight spent a few moments scratching down further information. “Interesting, all very interesting. I admit, I did not think of that when I saw that thing.”
“What did you think it did?” Raj asked.
Twilight shrugged. “Honestly? I thought it was a clock. A big, inefficient clock.”
Raj laughed. “Well, it does that too.”
Twilight ended up having dozens of questions about his world. It took him a good twenty minutes to explain the concept of television and a good thirty to explain the many cables that snaked all throughout his house. Electricity was not an uncommon thing in Equestria, but outlets and power grids apparently were. The idea of power traveling dozens of miles to each and every house was something she couldn't rationalize.
The inquiry/research was interrupted by a blazing belch from their scribe that burned off a small bit of notes. “Oh! Correspondence from the Princess.” She lifted the scroll and read the tag, her face screwing up. “Huh, it's for you Raj, and it's from Princess Luna.”
A trill of fear ran up Raj's spine, certain that it was an order from Luna to get Twilight to cancel the research. He was running through ideas on how best to fight an Alicorn when he opened it up and scanned the contents. His shoulders sagged with relief as he went through it. “Oh good, it's just marching orders.”
“What did you think it was?” Twilight asked.
“I, uh, I don't know. Something far worse?” He swiftly changed topics. “Anyway, she's sending me to the Dragonlands. I'm assuming those are exactly what they sound like. A land full of dragons.”
“Wait, why are you being sent there?” Twilight asked as she leaned over his shoulder to study the letter. “Equestria hasn't had diplomatic relations with the dragons for centuries.”
Raj stepped away from her, keeping his letter from her view. “It says they're trying to return all the treasure that Jolly Roger stole to whoever he took it from. A few tons of loot were taken from Torch's horde long ago, so they're returning it and I'm the one who's supposed to take it to him.”
“That's... odd.” Twilight's face screwed up in confusion. “Why you? We have envoys for this sort of thing.”
“I don't know. I'm far from an ambassador.” He read the note again. “Blueblood is going too, so we might just be security.” Spike let out a rude raspberry at the mention of the hated unicorn. “They're sending a whole boat there, so there's probably someone on the ship that will be handling the talking.” He rolled the scroll back up. “Never read anything about the Dragonlands. Either of you been there?”
“I have.” Spike piped up. “It's barren and rocky. Covered in mountains and volcanoes. And jerks, it's covered in lots of jerks. At least it was when I was there for the dragon migration. There's probably less now.”
“Definitely less now.” Twilight added.
“Well that's good. The lower the jerk per square mile ratio, the better.” He paused and let out quick breath. “Right, well, I'll take the train to Whinneapolis in the morning and get on the boat. Only a few days sailing to get there, find this Torch, and then come home. Should be a bit more than a week.”
“Wow, this is so unexpected. What an honor!” Twilight said with a clap of her hooves.
“Yeah. Honor.” Raj smiled, putting on a calm front.
Spike spoke up. “I should go with him.”
Twilight's good cheer evaporated. “What? Absolutely not.”
The little dragon scowled. “Twilight, I'm a dragon, these are the Dragonlands. If I'm not with him, some drake could think they're being invaded and roast them. I have to go.”
“No you don't. Rajrishi is perfectly capable of taking care of himself.” she said.
“Twilight, I'm going.” Spike declared.
The two of them exchanged harsh glances for a few tense moments. Raj looked back and forth between them and quietly said. “I, uh, I should get some stuff ready.” He rose up and went off to gather his things. At that moment, getting between the two of them seemed a great deal more treacherous than any mission.
***
The train screeched to a halt outside Whinneapolis and Raj hopped onto the snowy platform. He looked around, still a bit paranoid about the whole thing.
Logically, this trip had to be some sort of trap. Luna could be acting at the behest of her sister, sending him on a dangerous mission to be disposed of quietly . It made sense. So soon after he was so clearly threatened by the Solar Princess he gets a mission to go far, far away out of the blue? It wasn't a far leap to make. If that was the case, then why send Blueblood? Perhaps he was the one to do it. It would depend on how ambitious he was, and how ambitious could a powerful and royal unicorn be?
Raj shook his head before the musings drove him batty. This was so far outside of his wheelhouse he couldn't keep his thoughts straight. None of that mattered much anyway. This was a task from Princess Luna, he had to do it. If something tried to kill him, he'd deal with that as it happened. All he could do was stay sharp and vigilant.
He gathered his bag from the stowage and felt the reassuring weight of his hammer in his palm. Vigilant, but also armed. That's the ticket.
Spike followed him out, still rubbing sleep from his eyes. “That was a short ride.”
“It was four hours Spike. You were just zonked out the whole time.” Raj explained.
“Oh, sorry.” He covered a big yawn. “I was... up late last night.”
“I know. You and Twilight kept it up until the wee hours. What did you say that managed to convince her?” A moment passed. “Spike?”
He turned around the see the little dragon curled up next to a trashcan, already nuzzling into it and drifting to sleep. Raj let him lie for a moment before picking him up and draping him over his shoulder the same way he'd seen Twilight do.
Raj was actually quite grateful for the young drake's presence. Besides being great company, he knew that Spike was a solid man to have in his corner. No matter what happened, Spike would have his back.
Admittedly, he felt bad about using the little guy like that. That's ultimately what he was doing, he realized and he cursed Celestia again for putting him in this damnable situation.
The boat was small and covered in sails, clearly built for speed and little else. The helmspony waved at him as he approached and Blueblood came down the gangplank in his silver-piped uniform. He gave a crisp salute and said, “Captain.”
“At ease. How is the ship lieutenant?”
“Sound, crewed, and ready for travel sir.”
“Is the treasure on board?” he asked.
“It is. All three tons of it. I took the liberty of locking the hold where it's stored. We can't have anypony on the crew making off with a single bit.” He hoofed the key over his superior.
“Good job Blueblood.” he took it. “And what about the envoys?”
Blueblood raised an eyebrow. “Envoys sir?”
“The ponies that will be representing Equestria? That will be serving as ambassadors?” Raj explained.
Blueblood looked askance for the first time since Raj had met him. “There... there are no envoys sir. You're the last one to come aboard.”
Raj cursed silently. That more or less settled it then. “Don't worry about it. Good work Blueblood.”
“Thank you sir. We are ready to move out on your say.” He looked at the dragon draped over his shoulder. “There's not going to be enough dragons where we're going sir? You think we need to bring our own?”
Raj looked over at the slumbering kid. “Think of Spike as a cultural guide. Someone to help us get through the place unmolested.”
“Of course sir, always wise to bring along a guide. And might I say sir, it is quite an honor to be a part of this expedition and this unit. Thank you for this opportunity to serve.” He gave a polite bow with a mild smile.
Raj waved him off. “You're very welcome Blueblood, but I'd like to get going.”
The lieutenant nodded and stepped back, gesturing for Raj to move forward. He did so, hoping that this would be the one mission that ended up going well.
***
Raj was on the deck eating a handful of banana chips when he saw the first dragon.
He looked up to see a yellow dot in the sky, roughly the size of a dime. He cocked his head and called out, “Lieutenant?”
The unicorn was at his side in an instant. “Sir?”
Raj pointed. “What is that?”
Blueblood squinted for a second and then his horn lit. A lens formed in the air in front of him, mimicking a telescope. He peered through it and sucked in a sharp breath. “Sir, that's a dragon.”
“Oh!” Raj swallowed his mouthful of chips and looked back up at it, already swollen to the size of a quarter from his perspective. “Alright, we've prepared as best we can for this. Blueblood, send the crew down below. I don't want any panic on the deck. And have one of them send Spike up.”
Blueblood nodded. “Yes sir.” he spun about and started ordering the small crew about.
Ponies filed below deck in good order and about a minute later a crest of spines came up the stair. “Spike, I think we're going to need you in a minute.”
The little dragon frowned at him, “For what?”
Raj opened his mouth to reply but got cut off when the thing was suddenly over them. It zoomed past the ship, kicking up a tempest and a spray of water in its wake. The ship bucked and jumped, the crew below deck shouting in alarm. Raj grabbed the mast for stability while Spike grabbed onto him. Blueblood simply lifted himself up with his magic for a moment to avoid the tossing ship.
Just as Raj was regaining his bearings, the whole ship threw again as something massive landed on the stern, causing the whole thing to angle up sharply. Supplies and storage on the deck slid back, stacking haphazardly against the gunwale. Raj hauled himself and Spike up onto the nearly-horizontal mast and looked down.
Perched on the rear of the ship was a dragon roughly the size of a city bus, smaller than the one he'd seen in the Everfree Forest, but still bigger than any living thing he'd ever seen. The thing was a burnt yellow color with frills and claws of dirty red. A thick beard of crimson spines waved off its chin and neck, each one visibly sharp. The monster's neck stretched forward, nostrils flaring as it inhaled sharply.
All of that was something Raj could handle. Then it angled its head up and exhaled.
Awful red fire spilled from the thing's mouth in a long column, rolling waves of it reaching into the sky. Raj felt his eyes immediately water and the skin of his face tighten from the heat. The fire rose up and mushroomed out, flattening into a wide ceiling of red that fanned out into drifting tongues of fire, bright red cinders drifting down to burn on the surface of the water.
Raj didn't know at what point fell down on the mast, but at some point he did because Spike was standing on his stomach shaking him. “Raj! Come on Raj, snap out of it. We need you!” Spike hauled back a claw and gave him a weak slap across the face, snapping him back to sense.
The beast coughed a cloud of smoke and spoke in a rolling, reedy voice that was terribly loud. “I smell treasure on this ship. Tell me, who was so stupid as to sail gold and jewels this close to the territory of Cinder the Terrible?”
Raj lifted a hand and worked his way to his feet. “I did. Captain Rajrishi of the Lunar Guard. I... brought this ship here.”
Cinder looked down at the partially flooded ship he was perched on. He looked up at Raj with something like bemusement on his face. “That was a foolish idea, Captain. Open your hold and allow me to take your treasure, and perhaps I will permit you and your crew to swim home.”
Raj paled. Neither of those things would work He looked down at the ship, already in such a sorry state and the thing hadn't even really attacked them.Thinking quickly, he blurted. “That would not be wise!”
Cinder paused and narrowed his eyes. He drew close enough for Raj to reach out and touch the giant monster. “Really? Not wise, huh? Then who don't you tell me what would be wise, mammal? Quickly.” The thing smiled, showing rows of teeth longer than his finger.
“Because it's not yours! We're bringing it to it's rightful owner. An ancient dragon named Torch.” Raj shouted, desperately hoping the beast recognized the name.
Sure enough, Cinder went rigid. “Did you say Torch? The treasure on your ship belongs to Dragonlord Torch?”
Raj had no idea what a Dragonlord was, but he went with it. “Y-yes. It is.”
“Does he know you're coming?” the giant beast growled.
“He does!” Raj yelled quickly.
Spike whispered up to him, “Torch doesn't-”
Raj slapped him with a finger and hissed back. “Shutup Spike.”
Cinder let out a low growl and flapped his wings, lifting off of the stressed ship. The boat righted itself, water sloshing off the deck. Raj hopped away from the mast and managed to get his feet underneath him. Spike fell down and Raj managed to catch him with an arm. The giant beast settled on the water, wings folded up on his sides. Raj had the comical thought that he looked like a giant, scaly duck. He craned his neck forward and growled. “If that treasure belongs to Torch, I want nothing to do with it.” He lifted a claw out of the water and pointed at a mountain near the shore. “Dragonlord Torch lairs in a cave near the base of that mountain. Go there, give him your tribute, and begone. If I see you or any other pony ship here, I won't be so gracious.” He smiled again, showing all those teeth.
Raj shuddered at the sight but managed to shake it off. “Of course, and thank you Cinder the Terrible.” he gave a bow.
Cinder nodded and turned about. He had just started paddling away when a voice called out to him. “Wait!”
The huge dragon paused and Raj turned to his side to see Blueblood reaching out to the creature. Raj resisted the urge to strangle him and instead gripped the railing.
Cinder turned about and glared again, his patience rapidly dissolving. “Who dares?”
“I do.” Blueblood declared. “You broke our ship. The mast is cracked, the sails are scorched, and our keel is smashed. We won't be able to get under way for hours, maybe days.” He gestured up to the ruined sails, pieces of his breath still smoldering on them.
Cinder scanned the broken ship with a bored look. “Your point?”
“We might sink, and Dragonlord Torch is expecting us. Neither of us want to keep him waiting, do we?” Blueblood asked, his tone very precise.
Cinder considered at the unicorn for a moment and growled. “No, no we do not.” He then unfurled his wings and took to the air.
Raj hissed at his lieutenant, “What in the actual hell are you thinking Blueblood?”
“That we need to get moving and we can't because of that thing.”
“He was leaving!” Raj hissed.
“That's kind of my point Captain.” Blueblood said back tersely.
The ship lurched again for the third time in as many minutes. Most of the crew turned to the rear to see Cinder at the rear, flapping his wings and propelling them along.
Raj looked up at that, stared for a minute, and said. “Huh.”
“How did you know he was going to do that?” Spike asked.
“Never underestimate the power of appealing to somepony's best interests.” Blueblood explained with a casual flip of his mane.
Spike fumed at him for a moment before Raj stepped between them. “Well it worked, good work Lieutenant.” Blueblood gave him a salute and went off the tend to the crew.
Spike glared at him as he left. “I don't like that stallion.”
“He may have just saved our lives Spike.” Raj pointed out.
“He's a jerk. Why did you make a Lunar Guard anyway? Weren't there any piles of manure or dead raccoons you could stuff into a uniform?”
“I'll admit, I didn't look for any of that. Besides, I'm not going to count someone out just because they were rude to Rarity once.” Spike grumbled incoherently in response and Raj shook his head at him. “Don't be like that. Go get your things, we'll be on the Dragonlands before you know it.”
Raj looked over the side of the ship and saw a crag of rock zip past the ship. He turned to follow it and saw it quickly shrink into the distance. He looked up to see the ropes and lines of the sails snapping wildly in the wind. Raj was not a sailor, but he was pretty sure a ship like this wasn't meant to go highway speeds.
“Too fast.” He muttered to himself and ran up the ruined aft of the ship. He leaned over the rear rail of the ship and shouted to be heard over the roar of the wind. “Cinder, we need to slow down. There isn't enough-”
He cut himself off when he saw the giant monster grin again, eyes full of terrible malice. Raj stepped back, realizing the monster's purpose. He spun and shouted as loud as he could. “Brace for impact!”
Raj's yell came only a few seconds before the event. There was a terrible crunch that reverberated through the deck and Raj was flung forward. He flipped in the air and hit the main deck flat on his back. The ground angled up as the bow split horizontally, the whole of the ship opening like it grew a mouth and was trying to eat the beach. Cries of alarm and pain came up through the boards, the ponies below confused and scared in all the sudden chaos.
Raj lay where he landed, hissing in pain, and flinched when Cinder's silhouette tore across the sky. The giant dragon circled for a while, giving out great booming laughs, before he banked and left them marooned on hostile shores.
There was one bright side, Raj realized. He was now definitely sure that Celestia wanted him dead.