She already could see one of the jackals, he was not even twenty meters behind the scooter, so she grabbed one of the five red phial's and waited for him to get just a little closer – the jackal made a jump and the girl threw it as hard she could, hitting him right onto the head.
The thin glass shattered and the red powder inside covered the jackals face, which immediately crashed onto the ground and yelled in agony. The powder burned into his eyes and nose like fire – making him temporary blind and short of breath.
The jackal was not alone, half a dozen was still onto their, slowly but surely trying to circle them in, when Clockwork noticed one of them to her left, she took another phial and did her best to throw it, but the beast saw it coming and was able to dodge the throw.
She quickly grabbed one more and gave it another shot, this time the jackal was to slow, since he had to look where he was running for a moment, leaving him open to attack – once more there was a howl of agony and the predator fell head over paws onto the ground and rolled a long a bit, until he was lost in the darkness behind them.
“Mountain! Mountain!” Herb screamed, when they approached the border of the mountain, forcing him to get into a sharp curve.
The cart on the back shook and one of the battles fell out before she could get a hold onto it, making her curse – just moments later Herb saw a rock coming, but it was to late to avoid it, so the scooter scoured it and he lost control, sending the two filly's to the ground, luckily it was still enough sand beneath to make them fall quite soft.
Herb tried to pull him self together as good as he could and grabbed the bag which was laying next to him, while he stepped over to Clockwork, helping her up.
“Are you okay?” he said concerned, but the filly had to shake her head for a moment to get the focus back.
“I... yes... what about the scooter!?” she said with a moan.
Herb took a look around and found it nearby a few broken glow-sticks, which had been scattered everywhere “broken” he replied and grabbed her hoof to pull her away after she quickly had picked up a few things from the ground.
Another jackal approached them from behind, but since he stepped over some of the thin glass, they could hear him coming. Clockwork spun around and threw her last phial she had and hit him on the right cheek.
At first the effect was just partial there, just one of his eyes was blind, but the short furred beast could not help to rub his snot with his paw, spreading the powder even more over his face until he collapsed, desperate trying to get rid of it.
Not too far away they could see some kind of entrance in the dark, strangely enough, it almost looked like somepony had a fire made in the cave, since there was a constant glow to it.
“We hide in there!” the stallion shouted as they ran for the entrance, but suddenly got cut off by two jackals in front of them and one behind.
They was about the size of a adult stallion. Their fur was a mix of gray and sand, while their legs seemed longer than a wolf's and their body-shape thinner all around. Still both shared the same selection of deadly weapons, sharp long claws and teeth sharp as knifes, four of them fang sized.
The jackals carefully circled in a few meter distance at first, since they knew what had happened to their brothers, so they checked if their pray had run out of luck.
Herb slowly stuck his hoof into his beg and grabbed a blue bottle he had hidden inside. “Hold your breath...” he whispered to Clockwork.
“What?” she asked, but the colt quickly pulled out the bottle and threw it as high as he could, she had just a second to realize his plan, when the colt shot a beam of magic onto the bottle and it exploded in a cloud above them.
The jackals backed off quickly but inhaled some of the powder, while the two filly's ran once again for the cave they had spotted when the jackals behind them realized what had happened.
“What was that!?” Clockwork yelled out of breath, when she noticed the powder had no noticeable effect.
“Tranquilizer!” was all the colt said and ran as fast he could.
On foot usual a jackal had then within seconds, but the remaining ones had inhaled a big enough amount to make them dizzy and partial blur their sight, so when one of them tried to jump on them, he missed them by a few centimeters and stumbled onto his side, to get up a few seconds later, trying to fetch up again.
The filly's barely had made it into the cave, there was still this strange glow to it, but nowhere near was a fire source to be found, instead, the walls looked like they been partially made out of glass, which reflected the light from deeper within the cave.
The colt was almost out of breath and huffing hard, while Clockwork still could keep up her paste. Herb might was a boy, but also a unicorn, she for the other hoof might was a girl, but also an earthpony at that, giving her more strength and endurance – on top of the physical work she often performed when helping her father.
“I … I … can't...” Herb tried to say, while he slowed down.
Clockwork stopped a moment and turned around - he was almost ten meters behind her when she had realized the problem, so she ran back and pulled him forward, while the jackals walked up and down in front of the cave for a moment, but then decided to run after them, a little wobbly on the legs, but the effect seemed to wore off quickly.
“Come on, run!”
“Can't … any...”
This was the moment he wished he had listened to his father and ate less candy.
Clockwork looked around and found a gap near a rock. It might just was a crack, but better take a risk and have a chance, than have none at all.
The two quickly stumbled towards it and she crouched inside of it and pulled him right after, it was barely enough place for both of them, but it was the only place to hide.
“You got anything else?” she asked Herb, which was still trying to fetch his breath again “Don...t know...” so she grabbed the bag and pulled out a few bottles.
A green and a yellow one – as well some leaves and something which looked like oil, but there was neither red or blue to be found.
“What is all of that?” she asked “Can we use it!?”
The colt shook his head “Not like this...”
then there was a claw suddenly waving in front of their faces as one of the jackals tried to reach them.
They howled and scratched the wall in order to widen the crack and every time they did so, the claws came close, to the point they scratched Herb on his flank, to scratch once again on the wall, trying to stick in their snot, barking and clenching the teeth on the scared children inside.
Then the earth around shook for a moment, like a small earthquake, followed by a strange noise.
The jackals turned heads towards the sound, which was coming from the depths and suddenly run of a moment later towards the cave entrance.
“Why... they run!?” Herb asked, moments before Clockwork would stick her face outside, a burst of flames shot right past the hole and she snapped back, pressing her face against the wall behind her. Only two of the jackals made it outside.
The heat was almost to much for the young ones to comprehend, giving their already beaten circulation a hard time to keep up, while gasping for air since the flame had burned it all for a moment until fresh one streamed in from the desert.
“SWEET CELESTIA!” Herb said, after he put down the hoof he had covered his face with “What was THAT!?”
Clockwork just starred at the cave they just had been in and watched the walls partial melting from the heat, to cool down again and reveal some of the black glass they had noticed before.
The two stood hidden for about half an hour, fetching their breath and eating the little there was left in the bag, before they dared to check for the predators.
Herb was the first one to get outside again, but his first look wasn't towards the entrance, instead of the other direction. Until now there had been no further flame bursts and the rest was cool enough to be able to step on it.
The cave was quite, there was only a constant growling to be heard, like they sat on a sleeping volcano.
“I think we have to go in deeper” Herb said to Clockwork, which was crouching out of their hideout.
“I think, we have to go home...” but she gave it another thought, after looking towards the night which was waiting outside “on the other hoof, we came so far”
The two filly stumbled down the cave and followed their nose. It was just one long path and the deeper they came, the thicker and smoother the glass walls became. It almost looked like some kind of mirror maze, since a dozen filly's and colt's followed them everywhere, to mimic every move.
“What you think this is?” Herb asked.
“Maybe some kind of volcano...?”
“Can't be, the Badlands don't have such a thing” he said certainly. Geography was one of his favorite school subjects since he could learn a lot about far distant places, where all kind of medicine grew his father had mentioned and at times it just reminded him on some of Trixie's story's.
“Then I guess we have found what we have been searching for...” the filly said.
Herb turned his head and looked at her, walking on his side. The dancing reflections and the shimmering light made her almost look magical like she was the center of everything there is.
Clockwork noticed his stare and their eyes met for a few moments and she gave him a small smile, but turned her head away blushing when the two stopped on an edge in front of them.
The cave ended here, there was only a hole leading down and no other way was to be seen.
“Dead end I guess” she frowned.
The colt starred down and kicked a stone nearby into the hole. The noise was a constant click-clack-clack-clock-click... which got more and more silent the further the stone fell down, until it stopped.
Herb gave Clockwork a bright grin and before she could even say a word he simply jumped down, like on a water-slide.
The filly put a hoof onto her face and sighed “one day...” and jumped down right after him.
After a few meters of free fall, the couple found them self on a giant slide of slick melted glass which made them unable to stop. They rushed deeper down into the mountain, while the light around them flashed faster and faster, forcing them to partial shut their eyes from this sickening effect, when the slide suddenly ended and the two fell another meter and landed ruff on the ground.
Clockwork had landed on Herbs back and already could feel the marks she would had from this ride.
“Do you remember, what I told you in your room?” she cawed.
“No... what?” he grumbled.
She gave him a quick slap on the back of his head.
“Ouh...” it followed and rubbed the spot, while she got down from him.
The room they found them self in was some kind of underground cave, at least a couple hundred meters in diameter in all directions.
It was gigantic and they barely could see the ceiling above them, if it hadn't been for the glass reflecting the light everywhere - the light source was a puddle of lava, which was boiling on the other side of the room in a big pit, covering a third of the room borders, filling it with hot thick air and the constant noise of bursting lava bubbles.
Everywhere in the room where big rocks scattered, like parts of the ceiling had crashed down once in a while, ranging from filly big ones, up to rocks big enough to fill a barn with.
The two walked around in the room and searched for some kind of exit or clue what to do next, but aside of a gap through which some of the heat and smoke escaped, there was not much else to be seen, when Herb made a few quick steps to the side “Look!”
Clockwork followed his direction and found a few skeletons, leaning on a half-molten rock stack. There wasn't to much left to tell what species it was, they looked quite old and half of them was burned to nothing more than ashes.
“You think what i'm thinking!?” Herb said and swallowed hard.
“I think... we should be more silent” she whispered, as they continued their search, sneaking from rock to rock, while scanning the area with their eyes.
They had passed about half the room and discovered a few more skeletons behind rocks, when both spotted something on the end of the room.
On top of a stone plateau stood a big chest. It looked almost like an old pirate treasure since it had rubies and diamonds scattered on the outside everywhere and golden plates running around the edges. Only odd about it was, that its color pattern seemed like it was sliced diagonal – one half in a deep brown, the other half in a bright yellow.
Herb pocked Clockwork “The monster...” he whispered.
“... and the pegasus” she agreed.
The two now walked a little faster, but soon gained more speed and almost run on the end, but not without checking around them - but for now the room seemed empty.
There was no dragon to be seen or heard anywhere and from what the story had given away, they could not had missed it, so they rushed up a stack of stones, which almost looked like stairs until they reached the last one and got their hooves onto the plateau.
Only ten more meters and they could touch it for real. It wasn't a story anymore, they stood right on front of it. If they just could bring a hoof full, from whatever was inside, they could solve all the problems, so they walked towards it like in trance, starring on the riches on the outside and image the amounts inside.
Just a few steps later, the lava behind the plateau suddenly began to boil up, while the bubbles now burst faster and the fluid shook back and forth, the light pulsated brighter and flames shot out of it towards the sky, making it rain burning hot spots everywhere around them with a sharp “Hiszz” when ever it dropped. The two young ones did their best do back off and dodge the spilled liquid, when the earth began to shake again, knocking them of their hooves.
The earthquake got stronger to the point the two could not fight it anymore and got thrown around like toys, while something rose out of the fire-pit beneath, covered in hot lava, making it look like a giant wave of molten rock would bury them beneath and burn their skin off, but than something even worse got revealed as soon the molten stone dropped down – like a butterfly leaving its cocoon.
The monster stood slightly bowed down and still was over sixty meters in size, big enough to be a skyscraper in Manehatten and throw houses around like playthings.
His scale-skin was something like a deep blue, touched with the orange tone of the flames beneath, which shimmered in oil like manner, whenever he moved. Only his tummy was a more hue color- tone, but still a dark green, with the same oil effect, like the rest of his body.
On his back staggered spikes big as a barn doors back and forth, running down from his head to his tail, while they got bigger until the middle of his back, to get smaller again to the tip of his tail, which was waving up and down, wiping onto the lava beneath, while he got out of the pit to lean over the treasure chest, which obviously was protected by some magic spell, since molten stone dripped over it, but didn't left any damage behind.
His four-fingered claws slammed onto the ground and buried them in it to give him a better hold - each of this claws was long and sharp enough to pierce two meters thick steel, right after his thick legs and three-toed feet followed and he did his first steps like an oversized alligator, walking on all fours, rocking from side to side.
His big bulky skull was turning all around, while his green burning dragon-eyes searched the area. The skale-skins on the side of his head twitched a little, like he would try to listen to something in the distance – hidden behind those you could find the dragon ear holes.
The dragon spread his pair of wings, each about thirty meter in diameter, when he opened his mouth, showing his giant teeth - to release a deep and earth-shattering growl
“WWUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhouuuuuu!”
The two hold their hooves onto their ears, but still it was deafening loud and the bass squeezed their stomach's together, making them choke for a moment.
Herb looked to his side and saw Clockwork, her lips moved but he could not hear her, she grabbed his hoof and pulled it from his ear and again she said something, but all he could hear was a constant cheeping in his ear ringing.
“... way... re...”
“What!?”
She pulled him and he ran after.
The filly and the colt hasted down the platoon, jumped the last bit and ran in cover behind the first big rock they could find, to get in crouch position behind it, while the earth shook in a constant rhythm beneath them, making smaller stones dancing above the surface, when the dragon shouted again “WWUuuuuuuuuuuaaAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhouuuuuu!”
luckily this time it wasn't quite as loud, still enough to make the beeping return for a few seconds, but his hearing slowly came back to him again.
Even if the dragon would not make such a noise and the tinnitus would be gone, they still would had problems to hear one another, over the heartbeat in their chests, pumping blood so fast they could hear it.
The two did their best to get some more distance between him and them, going sick-sack from rock to rock. It wasn't hard to figure out where he was going, since every step gave a shock through the ground with a massive -WHOMP- noise, which in combination with the rising heat, gave them a feeling to be in a steel factory.
“What now?” the colt asked.
“What now?” she clenched her teeth “You really ask that?” while having a hard time not to yell at him “What about your sneaking like mice...? I think he seen us.” she said as sharp as possible.
Then there was a sound like a debris avalanche in the room, it was the dragon speaking slowly with a rough voice, which sounded like he had not used it in decades, giving the impression it was strenuous to remember the right words, as he spoke slowly and stretched his words doing so.
“HIIDEEE... AND BUURNNN!”
Suddenly the dragon made another strange noise, like he would try to suck in all the air from the room, just spit it out again in a growling noise, melting down a bunch of rocks in the middle of the chamber.
The two starred on the spectacle, partial covering their eyes from the bright green flame, while the rocks melted down like water to form a steaming puddle of lava.
“... if he had... that had been us.” Herb said, while his face color changed from blue to white.
Clockwork shook him, to snap him out of the shock “Don't you have anything helpful left?”
The colt shook his head and shrugged, but she grabbed the bag he still had with him and emptied it onto the ground in front of it.
“Come on, you are the chemist... do something”
The colt blinked a few times and looked on what was left. It wasn't much but than he grabbed the yellow bottle and emptied it on the ground, filling some of the green into the glass, along with some of the leafs as well the oil like fluid. He closed the glass and shook it a few times hard. “I have no idea if that works” he said with a apologetic smile.
“I say we run, we might we can find an escape on the other side of the chamber?”
“And the treasure!?” he almost had said this too loud and quickly shut his own mouth, when the dragons head turned in their direction and he made a step towards them, to stop again. Waiting for another noise so he knew what stones to roast.
“It doesn't matter... I just want get out alive...”
Herbs sight slowly wandered to the ground.
“Herb... think of your parents” she said and put her hoof onto shoulder.
The colt nodded, while behind him booming footsteps came closer.
A moment before the dragon would see them, Herb threw the bottle as far he could over the rock in his general direction and the two run as fast their hooves could carry them.
The glass shattered and a big thick fog formed itself, covering up their escape route, but the dragon flapped his wings a few times and the cover was blown and Clockwork as well Herb almost got blown away, when they crouched behind another one nearby, trying to fetch their breath from the sprint, as well the unwelcome surprise.
“We are done...” Herb said.
“Don't give up like this... we find a way to get out.”
“Well... I still got one idea left.”
“What is it?”
“I run to the right... and when I get his attention... you head for the crack over there” he said, pointing on what seemed a possible exit in a wall nearby.
Her face turned into a frown “You know, I think you are a smart guy, but of all the dumb ideas you had today, this is the dumbest by far”
A small grin run over his face, when he quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek and wanted to sprint off, but she grabbed him on the leg and he fell to the ground before he could get out of cover.
She got a tight grip on him “I don't let you go, never” she made perfectly clear to him, when once again the dragon sucked in air and another burst of flames shot next to them - over the ground and melted the stones to puddles, while the two run away from the heat. The dragon finishes his burning move and the howl in the wall was also hit and closed up by molten stone.
“HIIIDEEEE..... AND ….. BUURNN!” he said once again, slow and booming, giving almost the impression that he could be tired – but of course it was unthinkable a dragon of this size could be tired of anything, since he could stomp entire villages without even taking notice.
The colt gave a short glance around the rock and checked for the crack, but it was gone.
“Now we are done...” he reached out his hoof.
The filly looked down on it and grabbed it “could been worse” she said, surprisingly happy.
Herb gave her a disturbed glance “How?”
Clockwork thought a second about it “Spinach Pudding?”
Now the two giggled, while the dragon once again turned itself around to stomp through the room.
Both starred a little into nothing next to one another, when Clockworks said something to him, but this time she wasn't whispering anymore “Hide and burn...”
The colt starred at her for a moment in confusion “What?”
“Hide... and burn.” she repeated her self, while her eyes grew in size “the skeletons... look at them,” she said even louder.
“Shhh... he might hears you” Herb said as loud he dared, but the filly grabbed his head and turned it, so his face was pointing to one of the bone piles, which was partial showing from behind a molten rock.
“Hide and burn!” she almost shouted and with that she grabbed the colt and pulled him out of the rock, but this time he was the one trying to keep her in cover, making it a tug-war, but she was stronger and so he had to give in.
“DRAGON! WE ARE HERE!” Clockwork screamed out of her lung and the beast turned around in a surprisingly quick motion.
Whomp. Whomp! WHOMP! The steps smashed onto the ground, while the dragon moved closer on all fours, before he rose himself back to his full imitating size, while his gigantic contours in flames, got framed from the fire pits behind.
Even if they would run now, his fire breath still would burn them to ashes and the next hundred meter behind that.