Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Dri- OH MY GOD. Aurora hissed as she crawled out of the disgusting burrow in the ground, the infuriating dripping of water leftover from the morning mist driving her thoroughly insane.
She looked down at herself in disgust, her ice blue scales coated in mud and filth. She took a deep breath to calm herself, while there was not much that could summon her anger, being dirty was one of them.
Shaking out her wings, Aurora looked at the burrow with contempt, there was no way she would be spending another night in a hole in the ground. With a bit of running start, Aurora leaps into the air, beating her wings hard until she reaches high enough above the ground where she can comfortably catch the wind currents and glide above the Everfree forest. Azusa, who had been quietly snickering at her, easily kept up with the brutal pace that Aurora set.
It doesn't take too long before she spots a tall stone spire in the distance. It takes a while to arrive, but she is pleasantly surprised when she does. She glides around the castle several times, studying it closely.
The base seems stable, the stone hasn't eroded from the elements, no large predators have moved in, there are quite a few holes in the roof, and spiders have definitely made a colony, but overall, with a bit -correction- a LOT of work, it could be a worthy abode.
Landing down in front of the entrance, Aurora folds her wings close to her sides and walks into the castle while Azusa remains in the air, keeping a watchful eye for anything out of the ordinary. She wanders through the rooms, taking note of which room needs repairs and which rooms would be most suitable for her to make a nest. She poked her head into one room only to quickly dart back out and slam the door, a look of slight disgust on her face. She would come back later when the pair of tortoises finished their... business.
A loud crack draws her attention to the ceiling, where she spots a large chunk of the roof coming loose with all her closing and opening of doors. She just manages to dodge the large rock as it crashes down right where her head was but a couple of seconds ago. If she had been any slower, she may have been quite hurt.
She gingerly steps over the rock, continuing her exploration albeit much more cautious. She had to dodge a few more pieces of debris as she walked, but thankfully she was small enough to dodge them without any harm to herself.
She sighs as she opens the last slightly rotted door, already prepared for some new horror. She is instead surprised with a massive library, far larger then she had ever seen! Dust covered every surface, but she could feel the ancient magic keeping these books preserved still flowing. She walked through the library, not even being able to guess just how many ancient tomes, scrolls and books of the magic line the creaking shelves.
This was perfect! The perfect place to make her nest! There were no holes on the walls, the door was halfway decent, and the magic that preserved this place would keep any rain from leaking through! She practically pranced through the halls, gathering materials to make a nest. Most of the blankets and banners she found were moth-eaten and smelled musty, but they would do until she could purchase better ones.
She made a large nest happily, using the rattiest banners for padding against the stone floor, then using the softer blankets for the inner layer. Most dragons would happily sleep on the stone floor, but she liked to sleep on softer things, so sue her.
After making her nest, she breathed a stupid amount of frost over it to freeze it and keep it cold, which is exactly how she liked it.
As much as her decent nest called to her, she had to turn away and walk out of the castle to make sure that no creature would dare to try and come near her castle.
She flew back into the air, using her ice blasts to make a layer of extremely cold frost over the trees and ground to serve as a warning. It wouldn't do to have any predators wander into her territory, completely unaware that she was around. If they choose to trespass after they received her warning, well.... it wouldn't be her fault if they were scattered all over the forest in pieces. Azusa assisted by burning the outer layer of her territory, making it so any creatures had a double warning, first with ash and embers, then with pure cold.
After marking the outlines of her territory with her ice blasts, she considered her next move. She would need a hoard, for spending and supplementing her diet. She didn't have one as of yet, which was not at all surprising considering her position in the Dragonlands. She had scavenged the scraps of the older dragons who wouldn't care as much, and it helped that she mostly fed on meat and fish, but she still needed gems and gold to harden her bones and scales.
She could steal some gems and gold from nearby settlements, but that would just antagonize her to her new neighbors, and there was no guarantee that they even HAD any gems. So that option was out... Maybe if she worked for gold which she could later exchange for gems? That could work, and it would build up a nice reputation with any locals she might encounter, but where? She refused to work in the mud and filth like she heard earth ponies do, so that was out... She had, however, heard of a rumor that the Pegasi controlled the seasons with the help of a factory in Cloudsdale was it?
Aurora nodded to herself, Cloudsdale it was. She coasted on the wind currents over the forest until she reached a decent sized lake. Taking in a breath with her massive lungs, she descended quickly before splashing into the water and completely submerging herself in the water. She thoroughly washed her scales and wings of dirt and debris, she had to make a good impression after all, and it wouldn't do for a dragoness like her to fly into any civilization covered in refuse. She used her strong tail and wings to shoot herself out of the water and immediately into the sky.
She continued to gain altitude until she was able to comfortably glide over the clouds. It might be a little difficult to find Cloudsdale, but surely it would be worth the effort to get a paycheck.
CHOICES
How are we going to introduce ourselves?
1. Land in the center of town and announce our presence. We should get them used to us sooner rather than later. +10 Infamy +5 strength
2. Land on the outskirts and ask for direction. We don't want to alarm anyone. +5 Honour +5 Cunning
3. Fly around Cloudsdale for a while until we run into a Pegasi who can give us direction, we should have as little contact as possible so work of us doesn't get around +10 Cunning +10 Exhaustion
4. Nevermind. This was a bad idea, we should just mine for our gems like every other self-respecting dragon, it can't be too hard, right? +10 Mana