//------------------------------// // 5. Credit Where Credit is Due // Story: Twinkle Twinkle - Speaker to Dragons // by Georg //------------------------------// Twinkle Twinkle, Speaker to Dragons Credit Where Credit is Due “History is just the future that has already happened.” — Starswirl the Bearded Her new home was not quite as quiet when dawn arrived again, although Twinkle Twinkle was the only unicorn at the mouth of the cave with her horn lit, struggling to do her part and raise the sun. There were six other ponies in the cave now, all mares except for the burnt unicorn stallion and a small colt who seemed to get into everything. All of the ponies in the cave had an improved prospect for survival compared to when they had been captured by other dragons, but their situation was still not improved sufficiently for Twinkle. There had to be some way to get all of the ponies to safety and still keep the dragons from being slaughtered. Ruby had grudgingly spared a few chunks of stuff from her junk pile to make bowls for water, and grabbed several dragon-hands of grass from the river valley so they had something to eat. Even the course grass was a feast for the starving ponies and after being thanked, Ruby had sulked back into her inner cave, looking disgusted. Once the sun was up in the sky, it was a short walk for Twinkle back to where the wounded unicorn was sleeping. Before she could get there, the young earth pony colt came galloping up to her and blurted out, “Hi, I’m Rootworm, but everypony calls me Root. What’s your name?” “My name is Twinkle Twinkle of House Starshine,” she replied. “Daughter of Peridot Brings the Sun and Obsidian Brings the Moon. Most likely I am the last heir of our House, and should be addressed as Lady Twinkle unless you are granted special dispensation by us.” “Oooo.” The little colt’s eyes got even bigger. “I’ve never talked to a real Lady before. Mostly they just pass by on the road in their fancy carriages while we’re out mucking around in the field. Did you ever see me out in the fields, Lady Twinkle?” “Actually, I had never left the mountain before the diaspora,” admitted Twinkle. “Oh. Do you know the name of the dragon?” asked Rootworm in a whisper. “She’s awesome, like in the storybook we had at home. Did she catch you during the attack? Did you fight her like a knight?” “We are not in a book,” said Twinkle. “She caught me, and I did not fight. Dragon names are a secret that only they know, but you can call her Ruby.” “Uh…” The little earth pony seemed to have more difficulty dealing with receiving multiple bits of information than asking for them. “Is the dragon named Ruby because she’s all red and pretty like a ruby?” Twinkle nodded. “You’re so brave!” gushed the colt. “All of the rest of the big ponies are so scared, but I saw you face right up to the dragon and talk to it like it’s your sister or something. I mean I had three sisters, and I couldn't talk like that to them or they’d swat my behind.” “No, I’m not brave,” said Twinkle. “I’m defective. I don’t feel fear or anger like other ponies do, so I can’t be brave.” “You are too brave,” protested the the little earth pony colt. “You’re big and strong—” “I’m small and weak,” countered Twinkle as she settled down next to the sleeping injured unicorn. “I could not fight the dragons or protect the other ponies. I can not even help this pony.” The unconscious stallion shifted his position, brushing his cheek against the fresh grass that had been laid under his head and letting out a low moan until Twinkle held a crude cup up to his lips and let him have a few sips of cold water. “Is he your husband?” whispered Rootworm. “I do not even know his name,” admitted Twinkle. “And he is not my mate.” Rootworm crept closer, as if the injured stallion was going to jump him. “Is he going to die?” “Yes, unless we can find some medicine. Castorflax bean pods or butterfly flower stamens would help make a potion to fight the infection.” The little earth pony’s eyes lit up. “I know what those are.” “Do you have any of them?” Twinkle watched the little colt’s ears fall flat, which spoke louder than words. “Ruby will not let us search for either of the components, therefore this pony is going to die.” The injured stallion seemed to wake slightly from her words and moved one hoof to brush against Twinkle Twinkle’s fetlock. “Nova,” he rasped. “Pleased to meet you,” said Twinkle. “My name is Twinkle Twinkle, and this colt is Rootworm.” “Pleased to meet you, kind lady,” wheezed Nova. “I take it we have not escaped from the dragon somehow?” “No.” Nova did not move other than to breathe, and after a moment, Twinkle added, “No, we have not escaped from the dragons. I purchased you from the dragon who captured you.” The injured stallion let out a brief sigh and relaxed back against Twinkle’s knee. “I’ve always wanted to be sold into slavery under the hooves of a beautiful mare.” “She’s not that pretty,” said Rootworm, but after getting no response from the sleeping unicorn, he looked up at Twinkle. “Beg pardon, M’lady. My ma, she’d say you were a stick, and needed to be fed all that grass we got, but that’s not really very polite, I suppose.” “Truth is more important than posturing,” said Twinkle. “It is important that all of you survive, so whatever grass Ruby provides for us should be split evenly. I shall see to Nova’s needs as much as possible as to maximize his chance of survival.” “Or I’m eating him,” rumbled out of the back of the cave. * * ✹ * * It had been difficult for Ruby to sleep, what with the ponies in the outer cave shuffling around and murmuring to themselves in voices low enough they probably thought they could not be overheard. Far too much treasure had been expended to… buy them, and any minute she expected one of them to plummet off the edge of her cave entrance into the valley below, or another dragon to slip in and grab one. Treasure should stay put, and not wander around on its own. She had just managed to slip into a comfortable doze at the same time the ponies had gathered together for a nap, when a gust of wing-driven air blew into her cave. She darted up out of her pool and rounded out into the main cavern just as the huge form of her brother backwinged to a halt at the cave ledge. The ponies went berserk, first fleeing away from Brass into the back cave, then bolting back out into the cave entrance due to Ruby’s abrupt appearance, and eventually after several darts back and forth, clustering around Twinkle Twinkle so tightly that even her pale purple horn was just barely visible. “What are you doing, nitwit!” bellowed Ruby. Brass had a baffled look to him — much worse than his normal clueless expression — as he looked around the cave floor at the huddling herd of ponies. “Where did you get all the ponies?” he asked while obviously trying to count them from the way he was moving his lips. “I asked myself the same question,” growled Ruby. “Now what are you doing here?” “Oh. Um.” The big lug looked down at the pebbled ground, then out the front cave entrance, anywhere but at Ruby as he mumbled a few more words. “What?” asked Ruby levelly. “My ass hurts,” admitted Brass while shifting from one leg to another. “A lot. I tried soaking in the swamp and breathed fire over it and everything, but I can’t turn around enough to see it.” “Your. Ass. Hurts.” “Yeah,” said Brass, brightening up and looking at the small herd of ponies. “Maybe eating one of your ponies would— Ouch!” He rubbed his nose where Ruby had wacked it with her tail. “Or not. Ouch!” Giving the big lug one last wack over the head with her tail, Ruby shoved him in the direction of where the sun was beaming down through the hole in the roof of the main cave. “Let me see your ass so I can kick you down the cliff.” “Can I look too?” The little unicorn had managed to get herself freed from the small huddle of frightened ponies and walked in their direction slowly, as if she did not want to get stepped on by accident. “Why would you want to look at my brother’s fat ass?” growled Ruby. “I’ve never seen a dragon before yesterday. It would be a learning experience.” “But that doesn’t—” Ruby stopped with a fierce scowl. “Fine. Turn around, stupid.” Her brother turned slowly with his tail held low. Twinkle had to make a short hop to clear it and the clump of nervous ponies giggled at the sight, then giggled a little more when Twinkle tried to get Brass to raise his tail. “Couple of spots of blood,” mused Ruby. “Nothing serious.” “What made the blood?’ asked Twinkle. “It’s been over a day since the raid.” “How should I know why he’s bleeding,” snapped Ruby. “Arrows or spears, I suppose.” “Are they still stuck in there?” Ruby was getting tired of the little pony’s questions, even though this was a fairly good one. She bent closer to her brother’s rear with a grumbled, “If you pass gas, I’m ripping your tail off.” Even with the sunbeam coming down from the roof of the cave, it was still difficult to to see inside the small holes in Brass’ rear, or at least until Twinkle lit up her horn to help. Using the tip of one claw, Ruby cautiously poked in one of the larger holes until she felt something grate inside and Brass let out an agonized howl of pain. “Yeah, there’s something stuck in a couple of these holes!” she bellowed over his protests. “Didn’t think anything could get through your thick hide.” “Enchanted blades,” said Twinkle. “Pull them out!” howled Brass. “Stop poking them and pull them out!” “There’s nothing sticking out to grab, you moron!” She gave the larger hole an additional poke with a matching screech from the big dragon. “They’re buried deep.” Twinkle moved closer to the hole and peered into it. “The wound is getting infected from the swamp water he soaked it in. If the infection spreads to his blood stream, he’ll die.” “Die?” Brass howled and beat his fists against the wall of the cave, knocking down small bits of dirt and rock. “I don’t want to die!” “He’s too dumb to die,” scoffed Ruby. Twinkle Twinkle shook her head. “How smart he is has nothing to do with how well he fights off an infection. If it gets into his bloodstream, his temperature will go up, he’ll become delusional, and when it reaches his brain and shuts down his body, he will die.” Brass whimpered. “I don’t want to die.” Twinkle took a step back from inspecting Brass’ rear. “The ponies you attacked did not want to die either. That’s why they defended themselves.” “Fix it,” growled Ruby, snaking her head down to glare right at Twinkle to the point where they bumped noses. “Why?” asked Twinkle. Ruby growled louder and snapped, “Fix it or I’ll eat you.” “Then I’ll be dead and he will be dead.” The little unicorn just stood there without moving a muscle until Ruby was forced to blink. “I can try to remove the metal speartips and cure his infection, but I want something in exchange,” continued Twinkle. After a lower growl that she could not put as much venom into, Ruby muttered, “What?” “I want his promise that he will no longer hurt ponies.” “I’ll promise!” wailed Brass. “Shut up, stupid.” Brass lowered his voice to an occasional sniff, but Ruby winced when Twinkle opened her mouth again. “And once he swears an oath that he will no longer hurt any ponies, ever again, I’ll need your help to go look for the herbs we’ll need to treat his wounds. Your brother should recover, and the wounded ponies will have a better chance of surviving too.” Brass had been reduced to slobbery tears, crying, “Do it, sis! Please! I don’t want to die!” * * ✹ * * It was humiliating. Although she could blame most of this on Brass, a great amount of the shame was completely her own. Being pushed around by a tiny slip of a pony who was more bones than muscle in her cave was one thing. Doing it outside where any dragon could see was a whole different claw. There was a little pocket of swampy ground under her cave where the thin stream of spring water sprayed out from the cliff face, which made a number of roots, berries, and flowers that the ponies loved grow all over the place. The ponies picked and plucked and pruned, uprooting some of the plants and spreading others around into new plantings. And eating? Oh, they ate like a dragon in a gem pocket, and what they did not eat, they tried to pack into the two baskets and few bits of cloth they had saved back for this. Ruby could not see what was so exciting about grass, of all things. Grass was grass. She had scooped up a few claws of the stringy stuff earlier for her captive ponies and not really cared about what she had in her grasp. Still, if the ponies could gather it instead of her having to get green stains all over her claws, that was a good thing, right? It all boiled down to that annoying little purple unicorn, who said she never lied. If Ruby had eaten her like she wanted, her brother would have died over the next few days in unspeakable agony. A dragon would have lied and watched Brass die instead of making a deal, even if the other burned pony died too. The pony, however… Still, the little purple one had never lied to her before, quite unlike nearly every dragon she had ever known. If she said her brother was going to die if he did not get some sort of pony medicine on his ass, he just might. Dragons died from a lot of things — mostly other dragons — but getting sick had always had only two possible ends: die or get better on your own. The idea of having ponies come up with a way of keeping her brother from dying because of a bunch of pony spearpoints in his ass was… bizarre. Anyway, it didn’t cost her anything other than the embarrassment, and as long as no other dragon saw her— “Hey! Ponies!” A greenish-blue male she recognized from a few years ago curved across the sky and folded up his wings to plummet down on the unsuspecting pony female who was digging something out of the streambank. The pony looked up and shrieked in panic just about the same time Ruby collided with the diving dragon, knocking him to one side and into the muddy pond with a gigantic splash. This was more like it. Ruby clawed and bit the unfortunate male with great enthusiasm, taking out some of the frustration she was feeling and hammering him across the face several times whenever she got the opportunity. He struggled and fought for a while, and once she got him in the proper grip and stuffed his face into the pond mud, he was just slowing his motions to something controllable when that blasted pale purple pony appeared at the streambank and called out. “Ruby. Is he drowning?” “Yeah.” She gauged the decreasing struggle the male was putting up and added, “Just a couple of minutes and he’ll be out of your hair. Wuss.” She muscled through one last spasm he made in order to break free while considering just how far away the worthless waste of scales had made his lair, and the extremely unlikely prospect that after she killed him, she would be able to make it there to get any of the free loot. That, and the possibility that another dragon would sneak into her own cave while she was gone and make off with some of her valuable ponies. “Oh.” For a moment, it looked as if the pony were going to do the sensible thing and return to hunting herbs for Brass’s punctured rear, but after considering the two dragons, Twinkle called out, “Can you please not kill him?” “What, are you going to buy… I mean exchange some of my treasure for him too?” snapped Ruby. “If you want me to.” The pony looked at the struggling male dragon from snout to tail as if measuring to see if he would fit in Ruby’s cave, but did not say anything else. It went against everything Ruby had learned about survival amidst her kind, but she yanked the male dragon’s head out of the mud and held it up while he gasped for a limited amount of air. “Listen here, Fish. These are my ponies. Got that?” “Your ponies,” gasped the other dragon. “Yes.” “The only reason I’m not dragging you back into the river and holding your head underwater until you grow gills is because of this one,” snapped Ruby, pointing the unfortunate male dragon’s head at the little defenseless pony and regretting that enough water had gone down his gullet that his fire was going to be out for a few weeks. “Do you understand?” “Yes!” gasped the male dragon, although Ruby did not believe him for a moment. “Are you going to attack her again?” “Yes. I mean no! No!” gasped the dragon through the chokehold Ruby intensified against his scrawny neck. The little pony was doing that staring thing again at Ruby, which made little prickles of chilled scales run up and down her neck when she spoke in that far too calm tone like ice. “I don’t trust him.” “Hear that?” snapped Ruby, who was finding the act of strangling another dragon to be highly cathartic. “She doesn’t trust you.” “If he swears an oath not to harm ponies like your brother did, I would trust him.” Ruby was startled enough to relax her stranglehold on the male dragon, which was not as bad as she thought, because Fish was startled too, and they both stared at the little pony for a while. Finally, the male turned to Ruby and said, “I didn’t know ponies were stupid like that.” “They aren’t,” snapped Ruby. “This one’s defective. Like you. Now…” She tightened her grip around the dragon’s neck and he resumed gasping for air. “Are you going to swear an oath on the First Egg like she said or do you want to go swimming again?” * * ✹ * * “I should have just left him in the pond to rot. He would have stunk up the water, but that’s life,” grumbled Ruby while trying to figure out how to carry three ponies and the bundle of weeds they had dug up. It was not that far back to her cave, but she had gone through a lot of work for this, and really did not want to have to come back. Treasure was far better than ponies. Treasure stayed where you put it, and did not need to be fed or medicated. Then again, treasure did not grow in value, like these ponies were supposed to within a year or two. They certainly were growing more annoying, particularly with their need to build things. “What are you trying to do with those sticks?” “Making a way to transport what we gathered,” explained Twinkle, who did not even look up at Ruby’s gruff voice like the other two trembling ponies. “Fresh cattail reeds for making baskets, while the roots are good sources of vitamins and minerals. We’ll need to make several trips over the next few weeks while your brother heals, and having baskets will make the gathering easier. Also, willow branches for making larger baskets so you can carry us more safely.” She paused, as if considering something she had not thought of before. “Ruby, can you use your fire to carry the branches back to the cave like your brother did with the wagon?” “Yeah.” Ruby looked around to make sure no other dragon was watching, particularly Fish, who had bolted away just as soon as he had been properly sworn to the Oath of the First Egg. She leaned down to the pile of branches and concentrated, breathing out gently to allow her fire to gently swirl around the tree limbs until they were consumed, then breathing it back into her second belly where it would be safe. The strangest hoard any dragon had ever carried in their magic. Branches. By the time Ruby had flown the ponies back into the cave, branches had begun to appear normal. The ponies in the cave had cowered away from her during the landing, but the sight of the small unicorn being placed down on the pebbly ground had given them unusual courage. They clustered around Ruby, helping to unload the medical herbs and pony foods, then proceeded to go right over to her idiot brother, who was sprawled out on the gravel with his rump sticking up in the air. The weirdness of yesterday still remained, like the taste of Toadwort mushrooms on the back of the tongue. Twinkle was certainly the cause. Ruby could still remember loaning the small unicorn a sharp steel knife out of her treasure, watching her cast several spells on it until the knife glowed a brilliant blue, then her using the blade on Brass’ rump in a gruesome display of magical dexterity. One at a time, she cut out arrowheads or spear blades without a single pause until she was soaked from horn to tail in dragon blood and foul-smelling ichor. All of the rest of the ponies had fainted during the procedure, including the tiny curious one. Twinkle seemed to think of the bloody task as a lesson, and had talked about it while working. The bloody holes had been stuffed with the rest of the pony clothes that had not been sacrificed to bandage the injured stallion or reserved to be made into bags, and in the end, she had declared the operation a success. Now, all of the adult ponies fairly swarmed over the resting fathead with bundles of herbs and wads of gooey sap to treat his injuries, which had already stopped bleeding, at least. “Hi, sis.” Brass looked intensely embarrassed, mostly because of the small pony foal climbing up on his nose, checking for notches in his scales or any missed arrowheads. “Any luck back there?” “Who knows.” Ruby bent down and concentrated, feeling more awkward than her brother as she released the smoke from her second belly, allowing it to coalesce into the bundle of thick branches, only dry and fragile instead of green as before. “That’s… good, right?” “No.” Twinkle nosed about in the branches, taking one in her magic and breaking it in half. “They can’t be woven into baskets if they’re dead. We’ll have to get more later.” That was something Ruby had not known before. She had always used her inner fire to keep her most precious bits of her hoard where they could not be stolen, but had never considered what might happen to a living creature — or plant as it seemed — to be turned into smoke and stored in her second belly. Still, her idiot brother was the problem at claw anyway, and worthless little tidbits of information about dragon’s fire were not— “When we get your brother and Nova healed, will you show me how you transported the branches in your fire?” asked the bothersome little pony, even while she had her back turned to Ruby and was sorting through the collection of picked plants with the others. “No,” snapped Ruby. “Please?” “No!” Ruby huffed, particularly when the other ponies did not scream and run away, but just looked back at her, then at the purple pest before resuming their plant sorting. “What, are you going to pay me to see how my fire works?” she added with a spiteful snap. “Yes, of course,” came the answer Ruby had expected since the moment she had asked the question. “How much?” Ruby had not been about to ask the asinine question, but Brass apparently had fewer scruples. His eyes were lit up with greed and he almost got up, except for the startled cry from the tiny pony checking the scales on his head, which made him settle back down in his original undignified position. “We’re not making you pay for treating your injuries,” pointed out Twinkle. “We exchanged that for a promise that you would never hurt ponies again.” “And you don’t have any treasure to pay him for anything else!” Ruby felt a little better about herself when one of the ponies tried to hide behind Twinkle, which would have worked better if their sizes were reversed. Twinkle nodded and returned to an intense study of Brass’ rear. “You wouldn’t understand the concept anyway.” The casual words burned in the back of Ruby’s mind all the while the ponies examined and prodded her brother. She had thought all of the blades had been removed, but Twinkle’s close inspection resulted in her pulling several more long, thin slivers of steel out of his rear and putting them in a pile to one side. The other ponies regarded them with horrified looks that made them seem more terrified of the bloody inert metal than the live dragons sharing their cave. Late in the evening after all of the ponies had gathered together in a pile to sleep and Brass was quietly snoring with his head under one wing, Ruby was still keeping the small purple pony under observation. Or perhaps Twinkle was keeping her under observation. It was getting difficult to tell the difference. Most of the herbal paste had gone onto her brother’s butt, but enough had been left over for Twinkle to smear carefully over the crispy burns on the other unconscious pony’s exposed skin. It did seem to relax the pony and make him more comfortable, much the same as it had done for Brass. Ruby scowled. Now she was using the pony names for her brother and herself. It was not like they had not used informal names for each other before, but they were dragon names, all properly sharp and nasty like dragons. Ruby was not a good dragon name. It was soft, and pretty, sounding like delicious… rubies. Not as bad as Twinkle, for the First Egg’s sake. A dragon known by that name might as well bury their head in the sand and let all of the other dragons kick them in the butt. …which was all she could see of the scrawny pony. She was strolling in the direction of the cave entrance at a leisurely pace, much as if she had all the time in the world to make her escape into the darkness of night, despite the sharp drop at the cave entrance and her lack of wings. But when Ruby caught up with the pony, she was showing no signs of attempting to escape. Instead, she was sitting on her rump, looking out the narrow slit of rock that led to the outside. It threw Ruby for a moment, because she had a whole rant all prepared to use against the attempted escapee and no target. “Do you watch the stars?” The little pony scooted a little to one side, and then a little more, leaving enough space for Ruby to sit beside her and look at the few dozen or so stars that were visible through the narrow crack in the rock. Checking over her shoulder to make sure Brass was still sleeping, Ruby reluctantly sat down next to the pony and said nothing. After all, she really had nothing to say, and it had been a long and frustrating day. “I’m sorry,” said the little pony. Traditionally, dragon apologies included rolling over on the back and exposing their throat, although displays like that were rare because it generally only gave the angry dragon an easier way to tear the vitals out of somedragon who deserved it. The strong dominated the weak, and did not need apologies. Accepting an apology included a demand for treasure out of the miserable wretch’s hoard, which was the only good reason for not killing the offending dragon, because once they were dead, their hoard became a free-for-all, and the killer was often out of luck by the time they arrived for any loot. Since Ruby already owned the apologizing pony, there was nothing else she could demand out of her except— “What is this concept you said I would not understand?” Ruby reached down and ran the tips of her claws through the little pony’s mane to straighten it, because the tangled curls were starting to get annoying, and she wanted her treasure to look its best. “Credit,” said Twinkle. And for many hours afterward, the dragon and the pony sat side by side, watching the stars and talking of strange and unknown things, or at least things previously unknown to dragonkind.