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// 15 - City Issues 
// Story: Ponyfinder: Potions and Swords 
// by David Silver 
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They were seated side by side, a member of their species next to them well, mostly. Longma did not have a dragon. She looked like a pony, and had a pony working at her. All of them were getting a haircut, or a mane cut as the ponies would call it.

Longma smirked faintly. "Hoof care translates to claw care, but having my mane touched up? Does nothing. This is literally a waste of time." Not that she was rushing to get away from it. "Do continue."

The human man working at Jon's hair was clearly made curious. "You usually have claws?"

"Big ones," promised the sometimes-dragon. "And, thanks to today, they will shine. What I don't always have is a mane, or anything like it."

Zecora prodded, a tapping really, at Longma with her brightly colored hoof. "You just enjoy watching them work."

"And that their focus is on me." She looked sidelong at the mare working diligently. "This town is criminally lacking in actual dragon care."

The mare laughed nervously. "Sorry... You'd want to go closer to the dragon lands for that." She inclined her head westwards.

Longma's ears pricked. "You're serious?" But she saw the others were looking at her skeptically. "Rift dragon," she reminded with a roll of her eyes. "I don't keep track of not-rift geography or happenings. I know I give the impression, but even I don't know everything, I'll admit that."

The mare working at Longma leaned in a little. "Are you the sort of dragon that gives wishes?"

Longma arched a brow at the idea. "You have us confused for djinn, or some varieties of fiend. The only wish a dragon can reliably grant is a swift end." The mare tensed. "That wasn't a threat. You're doing great, go on..."

Jon glanced aside at his attendant. "If it helps, not a dragon."

The man chuckled at that. "Two at once would be a bit much."

"Maybe a mated pair," noted the mare working at Zecora's mane. "That would be lovely to imagine, a pair of dragon loves getting their hair done here."

"Dragons don't have hair," reminded Longma with a huff. "And this dragon has no love to bring with her, so you're out of luck. You get one, and be happy about that!"

Zecora's eyes were on the window, the large one that showed the outside world and the people in it. "I think our fun is at an end," she noted calmly. "We have more pressing things to attend."

Jon matched where she was looking. There were a lot of people, rushing past. Panic, muffled cries of concern, mostly muted by the walls of the barber shop they were in. "Uh, yeah, that doesn't look good." They were running in an uneven mob away from... something. He shoved up to his feet, away from his surprised barber. "Gonna advise you all head somewhere safe." He wagged a finger at their attendants. "Zecora?"

She nodded in reply, giving her permission to plunge into danger.

Longma was less enthusiastic. "Let the locals deal with local problems."

"It became our problem." Jon waved at the hairstylists that were already moving to flee. "No relaxing until the city isn't in immediate danger."

"Ugh... Fine." She hopped to her hooves with an annoyed flick of her tail. "Let's rip whatever it is in half so we can finish my day!"

They emerged out onto the street, the noise of the panic much louder once the door was opened. "Run!" called out one. "Dragon!" added another. "And not a friendly one!" added a third as if to make that clear.

Longma flopped to her haunches. "You're joking." A great roar washed over them from further north. "You're not joking." She applied a hoof to her face. "A fellow dragon, ruining my day off? Figures. Typical! I will rip their tail off and feed it to them!"

Jon raised his hands, palms towards Longma. "If you're both dragons, maybe you could talk it out?"

Longma hiked a brow. "Little bit of advice. Outside of specific situations, a dragon meeting a dragon is a fine reason to rip and tear until there's only one dragon around. If you're feeling especially nice, asking them to get lost is optional. If they take that, great, saves you both some time and pain." She licked over her teeth that seemed a bit too long. "This isn't really one of those specific situations."

A fresh roar that had Longma quirking an ear. "You're joking."

Jon reached for his sword, but didn't draw it just yet. "You know what they're saying? Are those words?"

"As much word as you can fit in a scream, but, yet." Longma raised a brow. "That isn't a hungry dragon, at least not hungry in the traditional sense. They smell something far more appetizing than a meal, or some treasure."

Zecora turned towards the sounds. "It is my habit to riddle, Please speak plainly before we face a dragon in the middle."

Longma spread wings she didn't have a moment before, her form growing rapidly as she retook her massive natural form. "This is my problem," she hissed at her smaller friends. "I'll handle it."

Jon took a hurried step forward. "We're a team. We can help."

And Longma just laughed at the little human. "This is not something you can help with. Thanks for the offer." She reached a great hand down, patting Jon like the tiny little thing he was. "But I prefer my toys intact. You stay. Stay!" she ordered like someone directing a naughty dog. "Right here." She leveled a claw with the ground. "Good... Be right back."

With a great push of wind, she took flight on her powerful wings, speaking in strange sibilant hisses. "Over here," she added in the more common tongue, taking flight towards the roaring, though the roaring had stopped.

Another shape rose from the banks of buildings, a reptilian form, dark with streaks of blue, similar to Longma. "There you are," he greeted warmly, not nearly as ready for battle as Longma had made it seem. "Why are you hiding in this place?"

"I'm not 'hiding' anywhere," returned Longma, the next words in the tongue of dragons, undecipherable by Jon or Zecora. "A party of adventurers trashed my last place."

"They are the worst." The other dragon shook his head, flapping in slow circles around Longma. "Did you tear them apart?"

"Better." Longma turned in place and launched herself forward, guiding the conversation out of town, and out of hearing range.

Jon scratched behind his head a moment. "Um... They don't seem to be ripping each other apart. Are they friends?"

"I think friends is the wrong term." Zecora watched them fly away together. "I think that dragon wants to make another wyrm."

"Guys!" Aeorean landed beside them, wings folding up tight. "I heard a dragon was storming the town and I came to make sure you were alright. I saw two of them! But one looked kinda familiar..."

"That was Longma," offered Jon. "And maybe... a boyfriend?"

Aeorean colored in his cheeks a little. "Oh, um... does that count as a day of relaxation? I mean... good for her." He kicked a hind hoof up, scratching at the bottom of his chin. "Dragons sure are loud when they come calling for that kind of thing, aren't they?"

Zecora waved the others along, heading westwards through town in the general direction of the dragons. "Just because he is asking, there is no guarantee. How she reacts would be."

Aeorean nodded, keeping up easily. "Why is Jon lagging behind?"

"She told him to remain still. This, and perhaps dragons making friendly is not his thrill."

Aeorean's blush only grew worse. "I'm not trying to spy on dragon courting, um... I hope they... have a great time... If they aren't wrecking the town, good! Good..."

Once the buildings were not in the way, they could see, in the distance, the two dragons clearly having a discussion. It was not a romantic one, so far they could see. No snouts were being met. No embracing. No, um, topping already in action. They were speaking, and Longma appeared to be on guard, not being seduced. Still, they were too far away to pick out the words.

Aeorean inclined his head slowly. "Yep, two rift dragons. Wow, never saw two of them at the same time before. And both great wyrms! This is... possibly terrible..." He rubbed at a cheek with a hoof. "The town isn't helpless, it is a city, they have heroes, but two great wyrms is a lot to ask!"

"Is one great wyrm easily managed?"

"No!" burst the pegasus, his wings flaring out. "Not even slightly. But two? That's how cities just get reduced to ash. And maybe all the other towns unfortunate enough to be nearby. Now, uh... to be fair, Longma doesn't look like she's big friends with the other one, so they probably... probably aren't going to go on a fun rampage across the empire."

Zecora watched the distant, large, figures. From so far away, they didn't seem like such behemoths, at least until one noticed how small the trees around them were in comparison. It was a meeting of titans. "She will say yes, or she will say no. How dragons react to being declined, only they know."

Aeorean shook his head quickly. "Nope! Nope! I can tell you pretty easily how most dragons react to being declined, and it isn't with a handshake."

Zecora lifted her shoulders. "If he wishes to claim her heart, perhaps he can consider today a start. A no today may become a yes later. That is less true if he leaves a crater."

Aeorean chuckled nervously, eyes on the distant two. "You're not wrong, perfectly reasonable, yep yep yep... But he's a dragon. Reasonable is not a thing he has to be..."

Back in the city, Jon was left behind. He had stayed in the square Longma had told him to stay in. The ponies and humans of the city had begun to calm down. The dragons had left. They weren't being roasted with elemental fury, nor being torn into uneven chunks. A grand day!

"Excuse me." An officious pony in chain armor was coming closer. "I'm told you were in the company of one of the two dragons?"

Jon nodded to the newcomer. "Hey there. She isn't here to cause trouble."

"Reports say she led the other one away, so we don't have any... immediate issue with her," agreed the guard? "We were just hoping to get some information, for the safety of the city."

A distant roar echoed over the plaza. The pony cleared his throat. "This is a somewhat pressing matter. If you could spare a moment?"

"Longma, that's her name, or at least the name she goes by with us." Jon crossed his arms, looking off in the directions the dragons had gone. "She's a bit stuck up, and a bit spoiled, but she's also a dragon, so maybe she has a right to be both of those?"

The pony nodded. "That checks out. Is she violent? What does she see us as? Food? Entertainment? Curiosities? I've heard a great many things dragons can decide we are."

Jon could easily imagine a few of those. "Zecora, the zebra with me, and myself count as curiosities for her. The rest, I think, a source of pleasure. She was just getting her hair done." He hiked a manicured thumb at the hair salon they had fled. "As for violent, she seems the sort ready to be that, but it isn't what she gets up in the morning to do."

"That's a relief," admitted the guard with a sigh. "You don't know anything about her friend, do you? Any advice would be appreciated."

But Jon knew nothing. "Sorry, never saw them before. Longma's the first dragon I ever saw, and I only saw two, and the second's dead."

"Ah..."

"I killed them."

"Ah?" The guard hiked a brow at Jon. "And still you remain friends with Longma? A curious story, obviously."