//------------------------------//
// Frawy 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

Rocks, lava pools, more rocks, more lava pools, some bigger rocks, some larger lava pools. That was about the extent of what he could see, not much different from what he'd been seeing for the past hour of walking. Not yet a dragon in sight, and much as he was somewhat thankful he didn't have to deal with them he was also very much aware that he needed to, sooner or later. That was why he was there, after all. And he was, on top of that, worried about what the lack of them might mean.
He kept trotting forward, eyes alert for any sign of movement yet finding nothing nonetheless. Surprisingly, the place was not that hot, all things considered. The sky was permanently half-obscured by smoke and floating ash, not dissimilar to the gloomy cloud cover of an autumn day, meaning the Sun only did so much to heat the ground below. And while the pools of lava were certainly hot, staying far enough from them mitigated that. The only real bother was the occasional gust of wind, blowing the heat from above the pools towards his face, but those were rare.
And he wasn't planning to go near the lava pools, anyway. Not just because they were lava pools and he was a pony, he was careful enough not to fall into one on accident, mostly because he would have been quite bothered if his clothes or his beard had been damaged in the process. But he would need to perhaps inspect some if he kept on finding no dragons, maybe they were hiding in them. Certainly a curious hypothesis, but he wasn't really sure what else to think. He did believe he'd been the wrong pick for the job, after all.
But Princess Twilight had insisted, and she was the ruler of Equestria. Not even he could quite refuse an order from her, especially not so in dangerous and uncertain times such as those. And though he'd much argued that other creatures and other ponies would have been better suited for the task, she had refused to listen to any of his arguments. He hoped she had her reasons for it, and the pressure of facing such a crisis so soon into her reign hadn't taken too much of a toll on her.