"Why are you going that way?" Their new purple companion was peering at the rest as they had started down the valley.
Aeorean twirled in mid air. "Well, I only prepared two sky walking spells, and, wellllllllll--"
"--Stop that." She rolled her eyes. "And stay still a moment." She craned her neck back to look into the sky, speaking strange words with the syllibant hiss of a dragon. Elemental power flared along her form as she took hold of arcane energy for her own whims. "Good, nobody around. I will not wait for you to slow climb out of here. That is what you were doing, right?"
Jon lifted his shoulders. "You have a better idea?"
"I always do, get used to that." She stuck out her tongue mildly before she reared up, shedding her disguise as she did so. She doubled and doubled again in size, landing gently, as far as her size allowed, on all fours. "Everyone up," she demanded, her voice changed, as it must with sheer size.
He would get to ride a dragon? Jon rated his time in Everglow positively overall. With a barely stifled giggle, he moved to accept the ride being offered. Aeorean inclined his head. "That is super nice, but I do have wings, so I'll follow you."
The dragon shook her head with a huff. "Few are fast enough to keep up with a dragon, but waiting for you to fly after us is still an improvement over your original idea." Her eyes fixed on the Zebra. "What are you waiting for? Up."
Zecora did not seem as confident in the idea of scaling a dragon. "I do not--"
"--Don't finish that line," cut off the dragon, bringing their tail over in front of Zecora. "Walk up. No fingers or teeth required."
Zecora eyed the thin and spikey limb she was being invited to step on. Her doubt was not hidden, but the dragon had told her to do it. Couldn't blame her! She hoped, at least. She started up along the tail, getting past the spines near the start and accelerating to a lively trot along the dragon's spine. "One thing, something usually given to start. A name is a grand thing for telling creatures apart."
Unlike some forms of dragons, that rift dragon had large expressive ears, turned back towards Zecora. "I didn't mention it? Huh, used to everyone already knowing it." She buffed her chest with a few claws. "Gonna guess none of you speak properly?"
Aeorean, flapping up beside the dragon's head, shook his own quickly. "Sorry, never learned draconic. We both speak common well enough." He flashed a goofy bit of a grin. "Your name come in common?"
"As if." She rolled her eyes at the very idea. "So we'll just make something up." One of her great eyes peeked over her shoulder to see Zecora sinking to her haunches on her neck. "You're on? Great." Her wings spread wide to either side. "Let's go traditional, Longma. Literally dragon horse. Too on the nose? Don't care." She threw herself into the air with a great push of her powerful legs, wings coming down to control and force her angle higher, carrying them at a wind-whistling rate at a sharp angle out of the crevice.
Jon grabbed Zecora, one hand grabbing firmly to a ridge of scales as the other arm snaked around her, snatching her from flying free by grabbing her about the barrel. Just for it all, all that momentum, to just... stop.
But momentum did not work that way. He was thrown forward, where his grip did not help. He slapped into the ground, Zecora landing on him with a cry. He groaned in pain, but he was groaning. He was alive! He took some tiny solace in that, though it'd be really nice if... Oh, she was moving.
Zecora scrambled free of what had cushioned her fall. She twisted around to look at him, looking him over quickly before a potion emerged at the end of a hoof, extended towards him.
He took it gladly, chugging it down. The hurts began to fade quickly. "Oh, having a healer around is kind of great." Sure, just not being hurt in the first place would have been better, but one takes what one gets. "Thanks."
Zecora nodded even as she continued turning, looking for Long-- Oh. She was right there, back in pony form.
"Looking for me?" The pony gave a smile, no hint of her draconic origin remaining. "Did I break him? I swear I am just awful with my toys." She trotted up to Jon and reached to prod him.
"I'm a toy?" He swatted at her hoof as he started scaling to his feet. "I'm a warrior."
Longma rolled her eyes at the declaration. "A warrior that kills dragons. By that logic, I'm playing with my toy just right." She flashed a smile, equine teeth displayed. "Now, where is... There he is." Aeorean was just emerging from the valley, flapping towards them with his usual smile. "Wow, he's kinda always cheerful, isn't he?"
Jon patted himself down, making sure nothing came loose on the rough ride, but everything seemed present. "It's not a bad trait."
Zecora inclined her head. "Better to have one with cheer, than one who views life through a sneer."
Longma hiked a brow at that. "Was that supposed to be subtle? It wasn't. Hey, birdbrain, over here!" She waved once.
Aeorean landed in front of the group. "Wow, I forget how fast dragons fly." He inclined his head at his two ground-bound friends. "You two alright?"
Jon waved at Zecora with one hand. "Thanks to her, all together. Dragon riding is trickier than I thought it'd be."
Longma gained an abrupt grin. "You've thought about riding dragons a lot then? And you can't even speak their language? That, my little pet, is just rude."
Aeorean inclined his head at Jon. "Gotta say, she's not wrong."
Zecora set a hoof on her forehead. "Whatever infractions my eager friend has made, we need a destination, despite our group upgrade."
Longma looked to Aeorean. "These two stink of other worlds." A smile slowly spread. "I happen to like that smell, one of the reasons I didn't tear you all apart to a fine soupy texture. Still, gonna bet they have no idea where anything is. So, you. Local boy."
Aeorean pointed at himself.
"Yes you. Where are we going? Did you want to go to one of those fancy pony cities?" Longma fluttered her long lashes. "You have primal magic, maybe you'd rather avoid them? Like to rough it? I can respect that..."
Aeorean tapped at his cheek with a hoof. "Well! The original plan was to close the rift and go get the reward. I promised to share it with them." He waved the same hoof at his two not-dragon friends. "After that, I was gonna scope out the job board and ask around for a new quest!"
Longma clapped her hooves together in one firm stroke. "Fantastic! That sounds like a perfectly reasonable plan. One addendum." She separated her hooves just a little. "One day to savor our money and relax a little. Ponies know how to be decadent, and I'm not skipping the chance to be pampered in luxury."
Aeorean looked to the others quietly. Jon shrugged in reply. "Sounds as good a plan as any."
"Right, but..." Aeorean danced on his hooves lightly. "But, that money." He glanced between Longma and the others. "It has to come from somewhere."
Longma shrugged lightly. "You owe me. You destroyed my cushy pad. You killed that little pissant. You made me bored. Covering me on this is not even that big of an ask, I think."
Jon opened his mouth, ready to volunteer the split funds, but he put the brakes on himself. "Zecora. I'm willing to give up my portion enough to cover our dragon guest. Would you like to join in?"
Zecora dipped her head, ears splaying out left and right. "You can learn, friend Jon. I admit, I do not know what to spend on. Take half from him--" She pointed to Jon. "And half from me." She pointed at herself. "When burdens are shared, it's almost free."
Aeorean hopped up in place, thrusting a hoof up in that instant before he hit the ground. "Wow, great! You guys! We're such a great team." With a giddy little cantor, he turned in place before pointing to the rail in the distance. "Let's get a ride. As fun as hiking is, a train ride can be even more fun and I bet you'll have such a good time."
Longma advanced a little past the pegasus, peering in the direction of the rails. "They were that close? What I get for coming in during the dark. There I was, thinking a nice cozy rift in some forgotten building under everything wouldn't be noticed for centuries." She sighed wistfully. "But, on the other horn, we get to enjoy a train ride, so there's that."
The entire group got to moving, hiking across the snowy plains. Aeorean began humming to himself along the way, but it turned back to words after not long. "I doubt most of the monsters in this area would dare to mess with us."
Jon could but shrug at that idea. "What if they can't tell one of us is also a dragon?"
Longma's tail thumped against the ground with all the force of a dragon's limb. "Then I get to have a different kind of fun, but still fun... And you get to witness it. Aren't you all lucky? Perhaps you should hope for it."
Zecora shook her head. "Of your physical skills, there is little doubt. But surely there is more to your clout?"
"You doubt me?!" Longma turned up her nose in disgust. "The nerve. You're new here, so I'll write that up as just plain ignorance. I'm sure you're very talented wherever you come from, but here you're just a zebra that rhymes." She quirked an ear at Zecora. "Is that a new oracular curse?"
Aeorean bounced mid-step. "Pretty sure that's just a thing she likes to do," he sang with clear joy at the situation. "I like it. Please keep doing that, Miss Zecora."
Longma rolled her eyes. "Be that as it may... Yes. Haven't you witnessed it? I'm not one of those brutish drakes that pounces on things and tears them apart with tooth and claw." She seemed to consider. "Not that I mind doing that if the situation calls for it, but, no... I prefer weaving in the arcane. You know, wizards write their magic in a perverted form of our language. They understand we are the true and proper source of arcane power."
Aeorean flapped a wing, brushing Longma's back in the motion. "Arcane's only one kind of magic. I do primal." He flashed verdant greens in his eyes with promise of his druidic power. "Just as good, but different."
"Yes, yes, little druid." She did not sound impressed. "Your kind is so obsessed with upholding the systems in place. The arcane allows you to rewrite the rules and create new things entirely. Clearly a superior power."
"Nuh-uh!" he burst in a fit of ultimate debate. "Besides, once you have something you like, if nothing holds it together, it flies apart, and then you don't have it anymore." He nodded with complete confidence. "And that's no good is it?"
"It would seem they are two complimenting parts," joined Zecora. "Neither is better if both are required arts."
"Ugh." She paused long enough to cross her arms a moment. "Fine. Primal's much better at putting things back together again. Happy?"
"Very." Aeorean was suddenly aloft, darting forward on his agile wings. "I'll look for a station!"
That made sense, to Jon at least. "I guess the train wouldn't just stop anywhere on the tracks for new riders."
Longma smirked with a new idea. "If I laid across it, they would have to stop."