Raj lifted up another broken piece of hull, this one a sizable chunk of crossbeam. He draped it over his shoulder and started back to the ship with it.
He looked back at the ruined hulk. Calling the thing on the beach a ship seemed an exaggeration to be honest. The underside had ground to pieces on the shallow draft before splitting open, the keel driving into the rocky sand of the beach and kicking up the stern. The deck had levered up on the stern, leaving the whole thing resembling a massive box and stick trap built by somebody who didn't really understand the concept.
The chunk of beam ended up on a steadily growing pile of debris. A pair of earth pony sailors dragged over a length of yardarm and tossed it next to the pile. They took a quick breath and headed back out, but not before shooting Raj a dirty look.
That was fair, Raj thought. After all, there was a pretty solid chance they were all going to die out here.
Blueblood wandered up, a cloud of small pieces of debris held in his horngrip. He looked up at Raj and nodded. “Captain.”
“Lieutenant.” he answered back.
“We lost a lot of the ship on the bottom of the shallows, getting to that will be more difficult. But, based on what we've been finding there won't be much to work with.”
“Skip it then. We should be able to get by with what we have. Bring everyone in and have them start tearing nails and other materials from the wreck, we can do that by firelight. Come morning, I want everyone to get started on putting the coaster together.”
“Aye Captain.” Blueblood nodded and started down the beach to fetch the salvage teams. Actually fixing the ship was out of the question, they didn't have the time, materials, equipment, or expertise to make a vessel capable of crossing the gulf between the Dragonlands and Equestria. Which is why they were trying to build a coastal vessel that could skirt the edge of the Dragonlands until they reached somewhere more hospitable, hopefully.
Raj went over to the camp that had been set up in the shadow of a tall rock. Much of the crew huddled there in cobbled together tents and shelter. A few of the crew lay on bunks, groaning slightly or otherwise laid up. Miraculously, nobody had died in the crash and the worst injury was a snapped leg that happened when a pony fell from the sails, but all of the hurts were still fresh enough to be painful.
A puff of green flared up into the sky and a trail of green ashes sailed off across the sea. Another message to Celestia. Spike had been sending them every few hours, keeping her updated on how poorly everything was going.
He lowered himself onto a deck chair and leaned back with a hard sigh. Something was pressed into his hand and he looked down to see Spike holding out a cup of water. He took it with a nod and took a long draw. Spike smiled and asked “How you doing?”
“Tired. You?”
“About the same.”
“We get anything back from Celestia?”
Spike frowned. “Not yet. I'll keep trying though. It's weird, she's usually not this unresponsive.”
“Yeah, weird.” He took another sip from his cup to hide his concern about that. “Coaster's gonna start getting built in the morning. Might be able to get it together in two days if we're quick.”
“I still say it's a mistake. We should just wait it out.” Spike insisted as he sat down on a rock. “Princess Celestia's going to send help, she has to.”
“Too risky. We don't know how long it'll take any rescue to get here, or even if they'll be able to get here. Besides, I'm getting the feeling that camping on this beach isn't the safest thing in the world, we don't know how long Cinder is going to tolerate us being here. Hell, we don't even know if this is Cinder's territory. I wouldn't put it past the jerk to push our ship into his neighbor's territory just so he doesn't have to deal with us.”
Spike frowned. “That'd be awful mean.”
“That's why I think it's possible.” Raj killed his drink and stared at the fire. “While you're all doing that though, I'm going to go find Torch. We have a couple tons of gold and jewels we still have to deliver or this whole mission is a bust.”
“Mission already seems busted Raj.” Spike said with a stern look.
Raj shrugged. “Since when have I let clear and abject failure stop me from doing something?”
Spike looked at him blandly. “Are all humans as idiotically stubborn as you?”
Raj thought about it and answered. “About half and half.”
“Great, that's just... that's just great.” The little dragon murmured as he wandered off to find somewhere to sleep.
* * *
It took Raj hours of aimless wandering, dodging lava flows and jets of what he hoped was steam, running from herds of scaly monsters that hurled stones at him from afar, and the odd earthquake(Equusquake?), but he was definitely, a hundred percent certain he was lost.
He scanned the horizon, looking for any landmarks to work off of, but nothing jumped out. Everything was blasted and cratered, either made from rough stone or jagged planes of black glass. With the sudden changes in elevation, he couldn't even tell where the ocean was. He looked around for some high ground to get his bearings and settled on the distant form of a volcano, hoping it wouldn't be too far to see either the ship or the valley he was searching for.
After a few miles of uneven traveling, he heard a voice shout at him from above. “Hey you!” Raj almost jumped out of his skin and hopped back, panicked. A blue blur hit the ground twenty feet off and he got a good look at the source of the voice. It was a blue, female dragon, of that he was sure, but many times smaller than Cinder. She looked like she'd come up to mid chest at full height. A crest of spines ran down her head and back, but they were angled like fins and a pair of curving horns dangled down from where ears would be on a human head. She snarled at him, scales lifting in a threat display and claws protruding. “What do you think you're doing here? Can't you read?” She pointed at a few illegible scratches on a nearby rock.
Raj looked at them blankly. “I... no, no I can't. Please, I don't mean any harm, don't be afraid.”
She scoffed, “Me, afraid of you? You're just a...” She trailed off when she got a good look at him and her face screwed up in confusion. “What, what are you?”
He put a hand on his chest. “My name's Raj, I'm a human working on behalf of Equestria. Are you Dragonlord Torch?”
The blue dragon rolled her eyes. “Do I look like Dragonlord Torch?”
“I don't know what he looks like. So... maybe?”
She gave a frustrated sigh and crossed her arms. “My name's Ember. Princess Ember. Torch is my stupid Dad.”
Raj let surprise show on his face. “Oh! Great, that's great. I need to speak with him. It's about returning something of his. Something that was stolen a long time ago.”
Her scales flattened and her claws retracted, her expression going rather bored. “Oh, you're the one that Cinder was talking about. He said he smashed some monkey-thing's ship when it gave him some lip. I wish I had been there for that, it sounds hilarious.” She laughed slightly to herself.
“I wouldn't call what I'd been giving him 'lip' exactly. More like begging for my life and safety.”
Ember shrugged. “Whatever. My Dad lairs near the opening of a crag next to that mountain. Come on, I'll wake him up for you.”
“You sure? Seems you're tired of me already.” Raj offered, hoping to leave the rude dragoness behind.
She snorted. “If anyone but me wakes up my Dad, he'll roast them on principle. The only reason I'm doing it is so that you get out of here faster and I don't have to deal with my Dad whining about someone getting so close to him. Now hurry up, I don't have all day.” She took off and Raj hurried to keep up.
She led him to the base a mountain that stabbed high up into the sky, an ominous glow blazing from the peak of it and black, hardened lava flows running down the slant of it. A smaller mountain nestled in the shadow of it, maybe a thousand feet high and covered in faintly blue spars of rock. He was forced to hop gingerly over cooled lines of lava that still thrummed with heat and cursed at the smell of his burning boot leather.
After some mild burning and a great deal of insults from his guide, he stood at the base of the huge mountain and its foothill. Ember landed nearby and he asked, “Alright, which way now?”
“What do you mean which way?” She said with a sneer. “We're here.” She then strolled up to the foothill and knocked a claw against it. “Dad! Dad, wake up. Some... thing is here to talk to you!”
Raj was confused for a moment, then the damn mountain shuddered and started to open.
The irregularly rocky surface revealed itself to be a hide of scales, each one as big as the hood of a car and coming to a slightly raised bulb at their nadir. What he thought were flat expanses of rock were actually the webbing of enormous wings, each one the size of a football field. What he thought were rocky spars showed to be an enormous breastplate, somehow forged from heat blackened metal. As the thing rose up, he saw a head wider than a highway flanked by a pair of plunging horns that went low and then swooped up to point at its titanic jaw. A massive claw crunched into the stone and a rumble like an earthquake sounded. The edifice of its face split open to reveal a titanic maw large enough to swallow a semi-truck whole ringed with fangs and teeth.
Raj stared open mouthed in stupid panic. A small, screaming part of him realized each of those teeth were bigger than his torso.
It rose up on its hind legs, wings spreading wide and arms reaching for the sky. And then Dragonlord Torch roared.
The mountain they stood in the shadow of shook, small rocks and pebbles rolling down the slope. The world shook, as far as he could tell, and he shook with it. He felt his joints rumble and his bones knocked against themselves. A deep basso note rippled the air and he felt his eardrums flex. He couldn't breathe, could barely stand under the all encompassing force.
Then it halted as the great dragon's mouth closed with a thunderclap of sound and it lowered smoothly to all fours. It worked its jaw a few times like it was tasting its mouth and scratched idly beneath a wing. Slowly, it curled an elbow a few times as if it had slept on it wrong. It looked around blearily, visibly tired still.
The thing hadn't been roaring, Raj realized, Dragonlord Torch had been yawning.
Ember flapped up to her father's face and perched on the sharp beak of his nose, looking like nothing but a blue speck on the giant dragon's face. He heard her yelling something at him but he couldn't make it out. After a moment, Torch's eyes went wide and a shudder passed through him. A brief, rumbling sound came from the massive thing and Raj saw him sit up a bit straighter and his stomach tucked in slightly.
Torch brought himself low, pressing his chin to the ground so that Raj felt like he facing a talking house instead of a talking skyscraper. Ember hopped off his nose and landed next to Raj, her arms crossed. Torch spoke, his jaw barely moving, producing a volume comparable to a normal yell. “I am Dragonlord Torch! Known as Death on Wings to the Griffons, Vah Neech Baaten to the Rakshasa, and Grandson to Bahamut himself! I am the Undefeated-”
“Unless you count that pegasus with the shield.” Ember side-whispered.
Torch shot her a quick glare and continued, “-Lord of of all Dragons!” He finished with a shout that rippled Raj's skin. The words echoed for a moment off the stony crags and Torch slid closer, turning to scrutinize him with a single, garage-door sized eye. He squinted, his pupil shrinking from the size of a bathtub to no wider than his fingertip in a second, the muscles of Torch's iris sliding against each other loud enough Raj could hear them move. He rumbled, “And who are you?”
It took Raj a moment to realize he was supposed to speak. He stuttered, his voice cracking high, “I-I'm Ra-Rajrishi Singh Oberoi. Captain of the Lunar Guard, newly re-formed.”
Torch paused as if waiting for him to continue. When it became clear there was nothing else to him, he snorted slightly but still enough Raj felt the hot wind eddy up to touch him. Torch rose back up to his full height and looked down at him. He eyes flicked to the blue dragoness standing to his side and behind and he rumbled. “I see you have already met my daughter, Ember. Did she give you any trouble?”
Raj shook his head, courage slowly returning and he gave a bow. “No, no trouble at all. She was very helpful in finding you Lord Torch.”
“You do well to give her some respect. Ember's going to be the next Dragonlord you know.” Torch said with a prideful nod.
Ember rolled her eyes and took a step back. “Dad, don't start this sludge again. I don't want to be Dragonlord!”
“Nonsense. You'll be perfect for it. End of discussion.” Torch answered back.
Ember growled and stomped a foot. Raj saw that and spoke up. “Well, I'm sure you have many long years of life ahead of Lord Torch. Such things can be settled in time.”
Torch gave him a mild scowl. “What? You think I'm dying? Ha!” he let out a short bark of laughter that shook the mountain. “Dragonlord is not an inherited position. Like everything a dragon ever gets, it must be earned. And when the time comes, Ember will acquit herself well in the earning of such an honor.”
Ember pressed her palm against her beak and shook her head. Raj was almost sure he saw brief hint of amusement on Torch's enormous face before it returned to his resting scowl. “But that is enough on such trivial things. Why has my daughter brought you to me and interrupted my sleep?”
Raj's purpose came back to him in a flash and he hurried to explain. “I'm a human, here on behalf of Equestria. We seek to return something to you in the name of goodwill, something that was stolen long ago.”
“Well, out with it then!” Torch pushed.
Raj took a step back. “Treasure. Several tons of it, stolen more than a thousand years ago by a sky pirate by the name of Jolly Roger.”
Torch scrutinized him for a moment and then drew in a sharp breath, held it, and then let it out slowly. “Ahh yes, I recognize the smell of that old gold. I looked for that burned Rakshasa and his Titan-built craft for the better part of a century but never found it. Where was it hidden?”
“A cave in the Shattered Lands.” Raj answered back.
“And you recovered it?” Torch said, audibly surprised. “To venture into that twisting place is to court death. You're braver than your size would say.”
“Thank you Lord Torch.” Raj bowed again. “I had my people leave the treasure on the beach to the south. You are welcome to collect it at your leisure. I would have it brought to you, but we experienced troubles on our way here.”
“Cinder crashed their ship on the rocks.” Ember said blandly while studying a claw.
“Did he now?” Torch said back.
“Yup, broke their whole dumb pony-boat clean in half.”
Torch rumbled with laughter. “Hilarious. But even if you could bring it, I could not accept a gift such as that.”
Raj froze. “W-what?”
“Of course. I can't simply accept a gift like that, it would insult my dragon honor. Were you deaf when I said everything a dragon owns must be earned? No, to get this treasure from you will require a proper challenge!” He turned about and started walking off. “Come along, to the Magmadrome!”
* * *
The Magmadrome ended up being little more than an ash filled caldera at the top of a nearby volcano, a small lake of molten stone bubbling at the center. Torch sat in a depression cut into the rim of the caldera that had to have been made for his exclusive use.
Dozens of fully grown dragons lounged on the rim of the volcano, all of them equal to Cinder in size and wildly varying in their form. Raj, quite naturally, was terrified. Apparently when Dragonlord Torch calls for a formal challenge, everyone attends.
Raj sat waiting on a carved stone seat on a raised plinth next to Torch, elevated enough that he was level with the massive creature's head. He sat nervously for more than thirty minutes until Torch let out a settling roar at some invisible signal, startling Raj just shy of wetting himself.
“Dragons!” Torch shouted, quieting the murmuring conversation. “Today, we have a rare opportunity. A great treasure has been brought to the Dragonlands and I, in my infinite grace, have decided that this treasure will be put up as a prize in a free for all contest of wing-war.” He paused for a moment and then shouted. “BE THANKFUL!”
Murmurs of thanks and general positivity reached Raj through the ringing in his ears. After absorbing that for a few moments, Torch continued. “All dragons that are eligible may compete. The last dragon standing wins the prize. Now, assemble!”
Most of the generally smaller dragons got up from their perches and flew forward, spacing themselves in a way that Raj was fairly certain this was an established game that dragons would play. Raj looked to his side and saw Ember a few feet away, arms crossed as she looked down at the assembling dragons. “Are you going down?”
“To what? Play a round of wing-war with those boulder heads? No way.” She said back snidely.
“The scales you're not girl!” Torch rumbled, his enormous eye flicking down to his daughter. “As Dragonlord, I can't compete.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So I want my gold back. I name you as the Dragonlord's Champion, empowered to fight in my honor and earn me glory. Now go, go fight and win.”
Ember glared at her Father for a moment before turning away and begrudgingly flying down into the caldera. Raj watched her go and squinted, a hunch forming in the back of his mind that he kept to himself.
A roar sounded and all the dragons on the ground flapped up into the air and bulleted at each other. It took Raj only a minute to figure out the nature of the game: Don't touch the ground or you lose.
He watched a brown dragon the size of a car take a hard hit directly in its wing joint and the limb locked up. It tried to balance out with the other one but it had lost too much momentum and it ate ashes. It sprang up to its claws, roared frustration at the other players, and trotted off to the side of caldera as the spectators laughed and jeered.
Raj squinted, trying to pick Ember out of the aerial crowd. He found her after a minute and immediately realized why Torch had chosen this contest. Ember wasn't as big as most of the other dragons, but she was a hellion in the air. Eating up distance in rapid flaps and going in and out of manic dives when she went on the attack, she was flying loops around her nearest competitor. She wasn't anywhere near as fast as Rainbow Dash, but she was almost as maneuverable. He thought about offering that as a compliment, but realized nobody else would see it that way.
Five minutes in there were barely any fliers left, just Ember and six others. One of the larger ones went into a too sharp turn that left it sprawling in the air and easy prey for a pair that seemed to be working in a team. While they were ganging up on the vulnerable one, Ember flew in behind the two, grabbed their twisting horns, and cracked their skulls together. The two drifted down to the ground stunned while their prey crashed headlong into a wall. That left four.
“Girl's decisive.” Raj said.
“That she is.” Torch rumbled back, a touch of pride in his tone.
Two of them got into a midair wrestling match while the other, a bigger red one with significant overbite, began chasing her. Ember let him, drawing him into a twisting ascent that cost her a lot less energy than her pursuer. The red one started to lose steam, and it was then that she snapped her wings against her sides and fell into him, back legs first. The red one crumpled and started losing altitude, plummeting towards the magma pool. To his credit, he started to correct himself but was too fatigued from the chase and ended up plopping into the molten rock to a chorus of roars from the crowd. Raj shuddered for a moment before the red dragon crawled out, seemingly unharmed.
The rest of the match was rather boring in comparison. The wrestling pair decided to gang up on Ember but she was still too quick. She kept out of their reach for a few minutes until fatigue became a factor and ended up colliding with each other. That left Ember the sole dragon standing.
Torch stood up to his full height and roared, loosing a column of flame that dwarfed Cinder's and actually managed to drive Raj past the point of wetting himself this time. Ember flapped back over to the perch next to her Father, looking tired, a little beaten, and not pleased in the slightest with her victory. She crossed her arms and shot the both of them a dirty look. “There Dad, I won you your stupid treasure. Go and get it.”
“Not all of it is mine girl. The champion gets half of any prize won. Why else would a self respecting dragon accept such a thing, honor or not?” Torch chuckled.
Ember's eyes went wide. “Wait, I could have refused?”
“Unimportant. What is important, is that you go and gather the new addition to your hoard. You need to pick up some size if you're going to compete in the Gauntlet of Fire.”
Ember sneered at him and shouted. “How many times do I have to tell you? I don't want to-”
Torch cut her off with a rumble. “Captain, tell my daughter where to find her winnings.”
Ember's gaze cut towards him and he hesitated. “Um, boat on the shore to the north. Big broken thing, can't miss it. Ask for a unicorn named Blueblood, he'll give you what you need.”
“Whatever.” Ember spat and flapped into the air, already soaring off to the north.
Torch watched and shook his head. “I swear to Bahamut, that is the only whelp on this world that can go to collect tons of fairly won treasure in a bad mood.”
Once she was out of earshot, Raj said. “Dragonlord Torch, may I ask you a question?”
“If you must.”
“There is no champion thing in the draconic laws, is there?”
Torch gave him a scrutinizing look for a moment. “You're a bit more perceptive than I thought.”
“So there isn't then?” He asked again.
“No, of course not. How could there be a law mandating dragons fighting on behalf of other dragons? That's unnatural.” The old beast explained.
“Then why lie?”
“Because Ember needed to compete! I couldn't just give her the treasure, that part was true at least. Her flying talents, brains, and with increased strength from a bit more size? She'll be a Dragonlord for sure.” Torch explained.
“She seems dead set on being Dragonlord. Every time it comes up she rails against it.”
Torch shrugged. “Here in a few days I'll manufacture some reason to forbid her from competing. That will get her to change her tune. Best way to get that girl to do anything is to tell her she can't. Gets that from her mother.”
Raj stared at him, surprised for a few moments. “So, you have to lie and manipulate her into taking actions that advance her self interests?”
“Do you have a problem with that human?”
“No, no. I'm just surprised. I've traveled a nearly impossible distance, and yet being a parent is still basically the same.”
Torch actually cracked a smile and let out a brief chuckle. The chuckle threatened to collapse the stones beneath his feet, but it was still a laugh. Torch turned, slowly heading down the mountain. “Come Captain, I'll walk you back to your ship.”
The trip down side of the volcano was quite harrowing, both due to the steep angle and the semi-regular earthquakes that shook its surface. Raj did manage though, only falling down six times. Once they reached the bottom, they talked as they walked, Torch's voice somehow modulating to be audible over his own slow steps but not so much it threatened Raj's eardrums.
“So I assume you have a whelp of your own?”
Raj nodded. “I do. He's twel-, thirteen now. I don't know how dragons age, but that's about the start of adolescence.”
“That would make Ember a bit older I think. Relatively at least. Does yours constantly think that they're moments away from being adult as well?”
“Oh yeah. I remember the day he got his first underarm hair, he was so proud of himself. He was walking around the house shirtless, finding excuses to lean on things in hopes that me and his Mom would notice or something. It was hilarious.”
Torch chuckled. “Sounds like Ember when her horns started coming in. I caught her talking about how she was going to set up her lair when she moved into her own. Had to handle that one real fast.” He shook his head. “She's a good whelp though. Smart, way smarter than I was at her age. She might very well be the best whelp I've ever had. Fitting that she'd be the last.
Raj frowned. “Why would she be the last? Is... is something happening to you?”
Torch side-eyed him. “What is your obsession with thinking I'm dying? No, she'll be my last because I'm old! I'm a hundred generations past my whelping years. I don't need any more little scaled specks waking me up every two weeks asking for gems to eat because they're too small to go get their own.”
“Yeah, feeding your kids. Such a pain in the ass.” Raj deadpanned.
Torch snorted. “I've vaporized beasts for speaking to me so flippantly. You're lucky I'm in a good mood human.” The giant dragon chuckled lightly. “It's not just the annoyance. It's a challenge when you're my size to even exist around something as small and fragile as a whelp. For instance, do you have any idea how much effort it's taking to not accidentally kill you right now?”
Raj paused. “Not a lot, I hope?”
Torch huffed. “It is a lot. I have to engage the magic in my wings so I don't settle all my weight on the ground. If I didn't, I might cause a sinkhole. I've been tamping down my inner furnace, otherwise my body heat would roast you alive at this distance. Scales, I have to trick my voice around you. If I talked at my normal level, your eardrums would explode in your head!”
Raj stared up at the giant creature. Torch was a creature the size of a skyscraper. Easily the biggest living thing he had ever seen and likely would ever see. He had never even considered what life would be like for something with that much power. “I hadn't realized that kind of power could be so alienating, or exhausting.
“Alienating. That's a good word for it.” Torch grumbled. “No, I got very lucky with Ember. I don't need any more after her, Bahamut knows I have plenty.”
“How many children do you have anyway?” Raj asked.
Torch shrugged. “Hundreds. Maybe even a thousand, I'd have to sit down and do the math to get an exact number. Had my first during the war, maybe a couple times older than Ember is now, and I just kept going for a few millennia. I had meant to stop a few centuries ago, but Ember was a bit of a surprise.”
Raj laughed. “I know that feeling.”
“Do you now?” Torch asked, intrigued.
“Yeah. I had my son when I was Ember's age, maybe even younger. Both me and my wife were still living with our parents at the time.”
“Is that normal for humans?”
“God no. We were dumb kids that made a dumb mistake. Imagine being your daughter's age, all that anxiety and idiocy rolled up in an awkwardly growing package, and add in being responsible for a helpless newborn. That's what I did.” Raj answered back, a pitying smile on his face.
“I'm sure that would have resolved itself pretty quickly actually.” Torch said.
“How's that?”
“I'm pretty sure I would have accidentally killed the kid in less than a week.”
The two shared a laugh as they continued on towards the shore.
* * *
When they arrived at the boat, pretty much everypony there was in a panic.
A crude defensive line had been built out of spare wood and every able crewman was huddled behind it clutching weapons. As they got nearer, he saw several of the crew break and run off screaming down the beach.
Raj frowned. “I think they're scared of you.”
Torch smiled. “They should be. I am quite terrifying.”
“I'm going to go ahead and see if I can keep everyone calm. Please wait here.”
Torch shrugged and Raj went sprinting towards the beach. As he got nearer, a black eyed unicorn came running from the defensive line, a wild look in his good eye. “Captain! Thank Celestia you're back, we're about to be attacked by some sort of walking mountain!”
“Stand down. That's Dragonlord Torch, he's here for his treasure.”
Blueblood pointed a hoof at the giant beast. “That's Dragonlord Torch?!”
“Yeah, it is. I know, he's really big. I kinda peed myself when I first saw him, don't worry about it. There should have been another dragon here earlier.”
Blueblood looked at the distant Torch for a few moments and shook his head, sense returning. “Yeah, blue, smaller, yeah she was here. Said she'd earned half of the treasure in a contest and demanded we bring it out to her. When I tried to ask a question she punched me in the eye.” In the distance, Raj heard Torch start laughing.
“Are you okay?” Raj asked.
“No Captain, I just said I was punched in the eye.” He shot back, his tone sounding like he was addressing an idiot.
“Fine. Then have someone else get the rest of the stuff out if you're too hurt to do it yourself. And get someone to chase down the runaways.” Blueblood grumbled and set off, horn glowing as he set to his tasks. Raj turned around and continued at normal volume. “Dragonlord Torch, I'm assuming you can hear me. Please come get your treasure.” After a second, Torch's distant form started trudging towards the beach.
By the time the giant dragon had arrived, the remaining crates were stacked up outside the ruined ship. Torch lowered his enormous head to them and sniffed hard enough a few panels came off and flew up his nose. He snorted and raised back up, coughing slightly. “Ahh, I recognize that smell. It's my old treasure all right.”
“I'm glad it meets your expectations. Please, take it with Equestria's goodwill.”
“Happily.” Torch reached a claw down and daintily lifted on the crates. He held it to his mouth and exhaled a burst of flame over it, vaporizing it in an instant. Raj had seen Spike do the same trick, storing matter within his internal fire. It made no sense to him, but that was par for the course.
Torch did the same trick with the rest of the boxes and snorted, finally dislodging the bits of wood he'd inhaled. He breathed easy for a moment and then looked down at him again. “Now that that's done, I have one last thing. Your ship, it's broken, correct?”
Raj frowned. “Um, yes it is Lord. Cinder did a real number on it.”
“How long will it be to fix?”
“Days sir, maybe more than a week. After that, we're going to coat our way north to Griffin lands. Catch a ride back to Equestria from there.” Raj shrugged. “It's about all we can do.”
Torch shook his head. “You'll go from squatting on my beach to sailing along the shores of a dozen territories to begging for help from ill-tempered pigeons? That is unacceptable.”
Raj held up his hands in a helpless gesture. “Well, what do you propose?”
* * *
There were a great many things Raj had learned during his time in Equestria. The true origin of all sentient species, that magic was real, what it was like to have super strength, and just how lonely a person could feel. One thing he never expected to learn was just how rad it was to ride a dragon.
Torch was, admittedly, the Cadillac of dragons though. His back was broad enough to stroll on and he emanated just enough heat to cut the chill of the open air. There was even some sort of windbreak effect from his wings that cut the wind down. What should have been a ripping gale felt like a box fan on medium blowing against him.
His fellow passengers were not of a mind to enjoy the experience however. Much of the crew, Blueblood included, were huddled in the cleft beneath the backplate of Torch's armor, terrified that at any moment Torch would dump them from his back and let them break apart against he ocean. Only the more adventurous sailors had decided to throw caution to the wind and enjoy the once in a lifetime experience.
Not that they had much time to appreciate it. They had been in the air maybe two hours and they were already nearing the coast of Equestria.
Vast swathes of ground rushed past, too fast for Raj to identify. He was pretty sure he saw the port of Whinnypeg whip past, but by the time he was able to focus it was a blank dot on the horizon. Rajrishi had no idea how fast they were going but was pretty sure it would have made Rainbow Dash furious.
“We're getting close, hold onto something.” came Torch's voice, emanating up from the scales of his back. Raj didn't question it and immediately clung to one of the orange spines protruding from his scales. Vertigo hit as Torch decelerated and banked hard. Raj looked down and saw Ponyville Square, several small shapes running for cover. The voice emanated again “Anywhere I can land around here?”
Raj shouted back that there was and guided him towards the Flats, the only open terrain that could accommodate the enormous beast. Torch landed hard, great rents in the earth shearing open from the impact. Once still, he stretched out a leg to form a ramp and grumbled “Alright, everyone off.” Every passenger sprinted off the giant dragon in about a second.
Once everyone was off, Torch turned around and rose to his full height. “I hope this is your village. I'm not carrying you all again.”
Raj laughed. “It is, don't worry.”
“Good.” Torch turned his head and coughed a gout of green, the flame solidifying into the ruined hulk of the ship. It tumbled into a gully with a crash and a plume of dust. “Don't need that littering up my beach.”
Rajrishi turned to the assembled crew. “Blueblood, Spike, go into town and tell everypony what happened. Try and calm them down. I'm guessing Dragonlord Torch caused a bit of an uproar. The rest of you, the train station is on the north side of town. Get whatever ticket you need to get yourselves home. Dismissed.”
Blueblood gave him a crisp salute and Spike gave a nod. The rest of them just zipped off, some of them screaming in stymied terror. Torch smiled at the reaction, seemingly wistful. Raj bowed low and said. “Thank you again Dragonlord Torch. You may have just saved some of our lives.”
Torch rolled his eyes. “Save your thanks. They were stinking up my territory with their pony-smells. Gonna be weeks before that washes out of the rock. But if you insist on thanking me, I'd have a question instead.”
“Name it.”
“A few months ago, a dragon came here to lay her eggs, a larger one. Female. I smelled her on you when we first met.”
Raj paused, suddenly unsure. “Yes, she was here. What about it?”
“She's dead then?” Torch asked bluntly.
Raj thought about lying to him, but didn't see much point. “She is.”
“What happened to her eggs?”
“I managed to save them. They're being incubated in Canterlot right now. As far as we can tell, they're healthy and viable.”
Torch narrowed his eyes. “Hmm, then I believe I owe you a great deal more than a simple ride Captain. I have another request though.”
“Go ahead Dragonlord Torch.”
Torch pointed an enormous claw at his chest. “Keep that to yourself. I know its unlikely, but I don't want it getting back to Ember. She has a great deal going on and she doesn't need her mother's death distracting her.”
Raj froze. “That dragon was... so the... holy.” He paused, surprised by it all. “I... yes Torch. I won't tell a soul.”
“See that you don't.” He flared his wings and brought them down into a heavy beat, lifting his mountainous bulk from the ground.