//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Journey to the First Flame (Continued) // by Rated Ponystar //------------------------------// The next day’s travel was uneventful, which suited them both just fine. They both needed a less hectic time. But Smolder, being who she was, wasn’t content with quiet for long. And truthfully, even Fluttershy was starting to get anxious. After putting herself in danger several times, she had learned that the anticipation could be worse than any actual battle. As they approached the border, Smolder started to get worried. Finally, she voiced her concern. “This isn’t right. We were supposed to have seen it by now.” She pulled a map out of her saddlebag. “What were we supposed to see?” “The watchtower. Well, to a cyclops, it’s more of a guardhouse, but it’s about as big as a pony tower. It’s at the border.” Fluttershy thought that over a moment. “Well, maybe they tore it down. Didn’t you say that cyclops aren’t usually very organized?” “Well, yes, but they still have some structure. Their government is really bare minimum, only things they can’t accomplish on their own, and one of those is keeping outsiders out.” Fluttershy looked ahead. “Maybe we’re approaching from the wrong angle? I’ve heard of ponies getting themselves turned around sometimes...” “I don’t think so... maybe we better take to the sky, just in case.” Fluttershy couldn’t argue with that, so she flapped her wings and took to the air. They flew forward a bit, carefully scanning the air around them. Eventually, they spotted the guardhouse, but they didn’t notice it at first… because it was a mass of broken stone. Smolder and Fluttershy looked at its remains for a while. Finally, Smolder spoke up. “Well... this is unexpected.” “What do you think happened?” “Maybe you were right. Maybe they did get careless and destroy it.” Fluttershy wanted to believe that, she really did. But she knew better than to bank her life on foolish hopes. “We should still keep our eyes open,” she said. They kept traveling. They spent more time in the air, as much as they dared. They never wore out their wings. If they were attacked, flying away from the danger was the best choice. Amazingly, the next day’s travel was quiet. They didn’t see any cyclops. In fact, they didn’t see anything. But instead of feeling relieved, they were getting more and more anxious. Out of a desire to have something to talk about, Fluttershy started to ask more details about just about anything. Smolder answered, asking some of her own. After an hour of back and forth, Fluttershy asked a very important one. “When we get to the First Flame, what’s going to happen?” “We light it, and we’ll instantly be teleported back to the Dragon Lands. Then there’s going to be a big, three-day party. It’ll be the best! We’ll play games, eat until we’re ready to burst, then...” “Smolder...” Fluttershy’s words were quiet, but the twinge of fear in that word silenced her. Smolder looked at her professor, who was wide eyed with fear. She looked and saw why. It was the corpse. Initially, they assumed it was prey, something that the cyclops had for a snack and hadn’t got around to cleaning up. However, they quickly saw the truth: it was a cyclops. Smolder looked like she was going to be ill. She had eaten meat before, but it had rarely been right off the bone, and it had usually been cooked by someone else. This one, though, was raw. And it had been an actual civilized creature, one included in Princess Twilight's Equal Rights Amendment, even if none of the cyclops were taking her up on it. Fluttershy fared better. She knew brutality was a part of nature, and being among nature had prepared her for such scenes. But even she felt ill. The body was not fresh. Flies were devouring it, and the blood had long since gone black. “...I...” Smolder struggled to get any words about the sight before them out. Fluttershy fared better. “Do... do you know of any enemies the cyclops have?” “...N… no. Well, dragons might do this to one, but not in the middle of cyclops territory. This would be for trespassing onto territory or attacking another dragon.” She looked at the cyclops again. It was soaked in blood from head to hooves, but even with the decay she could still see the muscles that it had once had. “What could have done this?” Fluttershy asked while trembling from head to tail. “I have no clue, but I don’t want to find out.” They looked at the scene. After tearing their eyes away from the corpse, they started to look at the area around it. There were rocks and stone. It was like the watchtower, they realized. Then they realized where they must be: in the ruins that had once been this cyclops’s home. “I don’t think we should travel at night anymore,” Fluttershy said. Smolder had no objections. Night had been swiftly falling at that time, so they searched for a place to make camp. They settled for taking some of the rubble for a makeshift shelter. It wasn’t the ideal solution, but it afforded them some safety for the time being. The next morning’s trip was a miserable experience. The hard night’s sleep and the worry on the travel did not make for a good experience. By the afternoon, they were about midway through the cyclops territory, but too exhausted to celebrate. Their travels brought them to more destruction. More ruined buildings, more remains that had been picked clean of their tasty parts. It was maddening. As afternoon gave way to dusk, they searched for another place to stop for the night. They found one in a cave that seemed to be far from any settlement. Before declaring it safe, they searched the place carefully. Nothing was living in it, and there were no signs that anything else had been there before.  Using a few stones, they made a makeshift barricade. With themselves concealed, they chanced to start a fire and set up the campgrounds. As a result, it looked like that night’s rest would be better than the one before. Sadly, that turned out to not be the case. It was about an hour after the fire had been extinguished and both her in their sleeping bags that Fluttershy was stirred. She lay there, trying to peer out into the darkness and see what it was. Her mind, still hazed by sleep, tried to grab all the floating thoughts and arrange them into some coherent understanding. She had finally reached the conclusion that she had been dreaming, and was about to go back to sleep when a small scraping sound jolted her mind into alertness. Something was in there. Slowly, trying not to make any noise, she reached her hoof in the direction that she knew Smolder would be in. She couldn’t see, but her hoof made contact with Smolder’s face. Smolder snorted. Fluttershy tensed and pressed her hoof onto her snout. Smolder gave a small moan. Then there was another scrape, and Fluttershy felt Smolder’s body tense. For the longest time, neither dared move, listening for the sound again. After what felt like an eternity, they heard it again. Scrape. It was a little louder. Scrape. A little louder. Scrape. It was getting closer. There was a long moment of silence. Then, she felt it. She felt something pressing on top of her sleeping bag. Something that was traveling up her body. She lashed out with her hoof. It struck something, causing an unnatural yell of surprise. After that, an incredible number of things happened in a short period of time. First, once whatever Fluttershy hit went down, it alerted a lot of other creatures, whatever they were, to the fact that they were awake, and they all gave similar unnatural cries. They didn’t sound like roars, more like high pitch squeals. Smolder, seeing that being passive was out the window, breathed fire in every direction where she knew Fluttershy wasn’t. The cave lit up, allowing the two to see some dark figures. The creatures gave over more angry cries. Fluttershy, even in her panicked state, realized the cries were in pain. But her survival instinct kicked in, and she turned and bucked the nearest figure, not even taking the time to see what they looked like. Smolder ran out of air to exhale. She lunged forward while she took in her breath, slashing at a creature with her claws. They sunk into something, and another squeal of pain was heard. Not slowing down, Smolder breathed fire again, looking around the cave. Fluttershy felt something swipe at her back. She stayed focused. It wouldn’t be the first time she had gotten an injury like that, working with animals her whole life. She simply charged forward, kicking at everything she could see. Smolder saw what she was looking for. Unfortunately, at that point, one of the creatures jumped on her back, wrapping two appendages around her. She struggled, eventually pushing herself back. She had been hoping to hit the wall and make the creature let go. But because they were in the middle of the cave, they fell back onto the floor. Whatever her attacker was, it gave another cry of surprise and loosened its grip. Smolder tried to get up, but her new position made her vulnerable, and two more figures attacked her. Fluttershy, seeing Smolder go down, lost herself in a panic. Instinct fully took over at this point, and she made a mad dash in the direction she saw her student fall. The strange creatures reached for her, but she ignored any pain. She slammed into one the creatures, sending them to the ground in a heap. Smolder breathed fire again, managing to land an entire faceful on the creature attacking her. This shriek was the loudest of all, and it flew off her. Smolder got to her feet, slipping away from the one that had been holding her. Apparently it was simply too disoriented to keep a good grip. Now free, Smolder made a mad dash for her goal and let loose a breath. It struck the campfire they had set up earlier. Smolder’s flames, magical in nature, caused a great fire immediately. The cave filled up with light, and it had the same effect that Smolder had been hoping for. The creatures recoiled, covering their faces. Light was not kind to them, it seemed. Both Smolder and Fluttershy took that moment to get a good look at their attackers. They were still hard to see, because they were black. Not simply dark colored, but pure black, the kind no light escaped from. It looked like their skin had no texture, a surreal and otherworldly quality. They appeared to be bipedal, standing on long legs with clawed faces. Each and every one of them were covering their faces, their long claws hiding any other features. All this was taken in by them within the span of half a second, after which both of them realized they should be running. They ran toward the cave entrance, Smolder striking their barrier so hard the rocks collapsed, allowing them to break free. Too scared to question how the creatures reached them without taking down the barrier, they ran out into the open air. Well, Fluttershy ran. Smolder was hobbling, the pain of striking the rocks catching up with her. Still, adrenaline was already beginning to numb the pain. Fluttershy flapped her wings to get in the air. Smolder started doing the same, but she did it too late. Just before she got to a safe height, a claw wrapped around her ankle and pulled her to the ground. She redoubled her efforts, flapping her wings harder, but it was no good. Another creature jumped on her, and another, and she was dragged back to the ground. Fluttershy, seeing this, was about to make a dive, but at that moment, something happened. The sky lit up in several different colors. For a split second, Fluttershy thought she had stumbled into one of Vinyl’s raves. The heat also got far more intense. After a moment she realized what the colors were. They were flames, all coming down from above her. She looked up. There were dragons. There were a lot of dragons. They were all bigger than Smolder. If Fluttershy thought about it, they seemed even bigger than Ember. Not huge, like some of the dragons that they had met, but an intimidating height for a pony. But that wasn’t the first thing they noticed. Fluttershy had seen dragons in several colors, but not like these. They seemed metallic., their scales shining in silver, gold, and copper.  As the flames covered the area, one dragon flew down and landed in front of them. He looked like moving silver. “Come with us.” The instruction was simple, and Fluttershy’s fear of dragons was shouted down by survival instinct. She started moving forward, only stopping when the dragon said “Aren’t you coming?” Fluttershy turned back. Smolder was glaring at the dragon, and baring her teeth on top of that.  “I’m not going anywhere with...” Fluttershy didn’t remember running toward Smolder, picking her up, or carrying her to safety, but she must have, because Smolder was suddenly on her back, hardly protesting through her shock. Fluttershy didn’t stop following the dragons until they led them to what looked like safety. It looked like another camp with a lot of tents. That was all she had time to take in before she was inside. As she plopped Smolder down and collapsed to catch her breath, she heard the dragons mumbling about her. She didn’t care at the moment. Even her social anxiety had things that could override it. But not for long, because she soon realized all eyes were on her. Her heart, which had been slowing down, suddenly raced again. She felt herself go stiff. Smolder looked tense, but not out of nerves. She looked angry. Her eyes were shifting around as if she was sizing up threats.  Three of the dragons approached them. Even through her nervousness, Fluttershy recognized one as the silver dragon that had instructed them to follow. He was on one side of a golden dragon, with a copper dragon on the other side. “What business have you in our lands?” the gold dragon asked. “Who are you?” Smolder answered, which was relieving to Fluttershy. “I’m on the journey to the First Flame.” That reaction led to a tremor of chuckles amongst the crowd. The golden dragon looked a bit put off, but before he could say anything the silver dragon laughed. “The chromatics will send any dragon with a pulse these days,” he said. “A little slip of a girl like you looks like she should still be on her mother’s back.” Fluttershy had seen Smolder mad before, but this was a whole new level. Luckily, her teacher instinct kicked in and she gave Smolder a look, telling her not to do anything rash. Smolder relented. “Mind your tongue, Jaden,” the gold dragon said. He then turned back to Smolder. “While his surprise wasn’t tactful, I must share it. You seem far too young to be taking the Journey. Has Torch truly picked you?” “Torch isn’t Dragon Lord anymore. Ember is. And yes, she selected me.” The golden dragon looked surprised once again. “Ember? Are children now in charge of the chromatics?” Seeing Smolder get even angrier at him, he decided to turn to Fluttershy. “And who are you? I don’t believe I’ve seen a pony up this far in decades.” “I’m her professor.” Fluttershy managed to get it out without stuttering. Now the golden dragon looked truly stunned. So did the other dragons around. “Chromatics are associated with ponies now? What happened?” By this point, Fluttershy had calmed enough to realize that she better do the talking, not letting Smolder’s anger get the better of her. “One of our Princesses, Twilight Sparkle, has begun a campaign to unite different races. She’s opened a school to welcome every creature. Smolder was chosen to represent the dragons.” “She was chosen to represent one half of the dragons,” the golden one stated. “The loser half,” Jaden mumbled. Smolder flared, but before she could say anything, the golden one’s tail smacked Jaden in the back of the head. “Watch your tongue, young one. Show some behavior appropriate to your station.” Jaden mumbled, but kept quiet. Fluttershy flinched a bit at the news of “one half”. “Oh, excuse me, we were not told that there were any dragons that didn’t serve the Dragon Lord.” “The Dragon Lord rules over the Chromatic Dragons,” the golden dragon stated. “I rule over the Metallic Dragons. I am High Priest Xieru.” Fluttershy managed to swallow more of her fear in order to keep the mission safe, a skill she had been forced to master ever since meeting Twilight. “I am... Professor Fluttershy. Smolder has chosen me to accompany her on the Journey.” “Forgive me for saying so, but a pony hardly seems like a suitable companion for a trip like this,” Xieru said.  “Hey, watch it,” Smolder warned. “Fluttershy’s defeated several monsters.” Jaden opened his mouth to say something, but Xieru, having guessed he would, turned and gave him a look. Jaden grit his teeth. Xieru turned back to Fluttershy. “You did handle yourself quite well,” he conceded. “And you don’t even have a fire breath.” “What are you even doing this far south?” Smolder asked. “I thought your territory didn’t start for another fifty miles.” “I’m afraid... that we’re dealing with a crisis... oh, but forgive me. I imagine you will need your rest.” He turned to the copper dragon at his side. “Fetch these two provisions. Well...” He looked at Fluttershy. “Bring provisions for the young one... Smolder, was it? Take Professor Fluttershy to the field and let her graze.” The copper dragon didn’t speak, but moved his claws into a few shapes that Fluttershy realized were some form of nonverbal communication. As distrustful as Smolder was, she didn’t turn down the meal. She insisted on eating in the same field Fluttershy was taken to, unwilling to be apart from her. It was two hours later, with both feeling better fed, that they were taken into the main tent of the campsite. By now the adrenaline of their near fatal encounter with the shadow imps had worn off and their bodies were crying for sleep, but their brains demanded that their curiosity be sated. Xieru looked at them as they took their seats on the cushions provided for them. After taking a deep breath, he began. “I suppose I need to start from the beginning. Professor, unless I’m mistaken, you never even knew we existed.” Fluttershy, feeling guilt, looked at the ground. “Well, no. We just established connections with the Dragon Lord a few years ago, and tensions are still high.” “Well, it’s no wonder that you haven’t. Chromatics and Metallics have never seen eye to eye.” “That’s an understatement,” Smolder muttered. A sharp look from Fluttershy got her to regret those words. If Xieru was bothered by Smolder’s comment, he didn’t show it. “The two tribes of dragons have split largely due to religious differences. Smolder’s tribe worships the dragon lord Tiamet, while we worship his brother, Bahamut.” Fluttershy felt tense. Every race on Equus worshiped one of the Great Creators. The ponies' own, Fauna Luster, was rather laissez faire about worship, and as such church gatherings had become less common as pony society marched on. But she knew other races had far more passion in it. Twilight had made it clear she needed to be careful when discussing these things. “While Tiamet has stated that dragons should travel the world and live among it, Bahamut stated that we should remain close to the First Flame. This led to our split.” “That’s leaving a lot out,” Smolder said. Fluttershy gave Smolder a look that told her to be nice. This time, however, Xieru did not allow the comment to pass without mention. “Do you believe that I’m misleading your professor in any way?” He didn’t sound angry. He sounded like he could be discussing the weather. It only made Smolder angrier. Smolder stood up, shocking Fluttershy in her swiftness. “Don’t pretend it was a peaceful break. Don’t pretend that there wasn’t blood.” “I pretend nothing. I merely don’t think that reopening wounds is best. Especially if you're ignorant as to what truly happened.” Smolder looked enraged. So enraged that Fluttershy decided it was time to upgrade from a stern look to the Stare. Even in her rage, it withered Smolder’s desire to cause trouble, and she sat down. Xieru looked at Fluttershy with a newfound respect. “Now then, you’ve no doubt noticed the swath of destruction as you’ve arrived in this land.” That actually got Smolder to calm down. Remembering things at the border was a reminder that more immediate concerns needed to be addressed. “Yes, we saw. What’s going on?” Xieru took a deep breath. “I’m afraid that we’ve been betrayed by one of our own. We are being attacked by a worshiper of one of the Titans.” Fluttershy felt her heart lurch. She, like many ponies, was convinced that the Titans were mere mythology, the result of scare tactics that cropped up as the gods became less involved in the affairs of mortals. The few agents of the gods left, like the Princesses or Santa Hooves, were mum about their existence. But fake or not, there were mortals who worshiped them, and they had committed some of the most egregious sins in history. “We had a dragon, Valaxis, a previous priest. He ended up betraying us and worshiping Null, the dragon Titan of Death.” Fluttershy saw Smolder shiver at the name. She vaguely remembered hearing the name in school, but it was lost among the many other names and dates she had memorized then dropped. “He...” Xieru swallowed. It looked out of place on the dragon, who up until that point had remained very calm and stoic. “I’m sorry, this is a bit difficult. He... sacrificed dragons to Null. Made sure to do it quietly. He killed quite a few before we caught him.” Fluttershy was beginning to suspect the matter was more personal than Xieru was letting on. Or the sacrifices had been far more gruesome. “We locked him up, but on the day his trial was to begin, he escaped. We aren’t sure how he did it, but somehow he brought Nightwalkers into our world.” “Was that what those things were?” Fluttershy asked. Smolder spoke. Her voice was shaking. “But... they’re not real... they’re just something parents make up to keep their whelps quiet.” Xieru looked at Smolder with pity. “This is why we look down on leaving the Flame. You start to lose sight of how the world is. Evil forces do not stop existing because they are out of sight. Trust me, there will come a day when they will return. Grogar, Lucifer, Nightmare Moon, Discord...” Fluttershy was caught off guard. “Um, Nightmare Moon wasn’t a Titan.” Xieru looked at her, his expression neutral. “What makes you so sure?” “Because I’ve met her. She’s turned back into Princess Luna and rules alongside her sister in Equestria.” “...I see,” Xieru said, sounding a bit alarmed. “Well, I suppose there was a rumor that she wasn’t the embodiment of darkness. I had always heard Princess Luna died in the battle against Discord.” “Discord is free as well.” Xieru’s eyes widened. “What?” “Yes. Princess Celestia instructed me to befriend him. We have tea together once a week.” “...” “...” “...Well... ponies are quite accomplished these days,” Xieru said, still processing what Fluttershy had just said. Fluttershy wasn’t quite sure she was being believed, while Smolder was taking some satisfaction in the fact that the Metallics were caught off guard by something. “Well, at any rate, Valaxis has been wreaking havoc on us since. We’ve been doing our best, but he intends to slaughter us all. I believe we will win, but I fear we will lose several dragons in the war.” There was silence for a moment. Fluttershy and Smolder pondered on what to do next. “We can help.” Fluttershy’s statement caused a surprised look, both from Xieru and Smolder. “What? But Fluttershy, we’re on a mission...” “It can wait,” said Fluttershy, in that firm voice she used whenever she didn’t want to be argued with. “If we don’t take care of this, it’s going to come to Equestria and the Dragon Lands... um, the Chromatic Dragon Lands,” she corrected herself. Xieru seemed impressed. “I admire your foresight, but I’m not sure what you can do.” “We can send a message to Equestria,” Smolder said. “Celestia’s bound to send help. Maybe Discord...” “It would take too long,” Xieru said. “Unless you know how to send messages by dragon fire.” “...No,” Smolder said, now regretting she hadn’t taken Spike up on his offer to teach her. She figured some of these dragons knew how, but none of them would have a connection with any citizen of Equestria. “And without the others, I can’t use the Rainbow Power.” “The what?” The question came from both Smolder and Xieru. “It’s a power granted to us by the Elements of Harmony,” Fluttershy explained. “We used it to defeat Tirek.” “You haven’t mentioned that before,” Smolder said. “Well, we really haven’t had much of a reason to use it since... but it doesn’t matter now. We need to find another way.” Xieru chuckled. “Fighting Titans and finding Equestria’s Elements. You are a pony of many surprises, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy blinked. She started to ask what he meant, but Xieru continued on. “I imagine you’re both tired. It is an unholy time of night. Why don’t we turn in for right now? Once we’re rested, we can discuss what to do.” That sentence reminded Fluttershy and Smolder of just how tired they were. Xieru was right, they would think better after a few hours of sleep. “We can discuss this in the morning, over breakfast,” Xieru assured. “Well, maybe after breakfast. In either case, a full night’s sleep would be beneficial to us all.” Xieru instructed another dragon to escort them both to their tent. This dragon was female, her bronze scales looking a bit dull in comparison to her companions. Still, she walked with a bounce in her strp that reminded them both of Pinkie Pie. At first, the walk was silent, barring the dragon’s humming that sounded suspiciously like the Winter Wrap Up theme, but after a minute she spoke. “What are the pony lands like?” The question surprised Fluttershy. “Excuse me?” “What is Equestria like? I hear that the entrance to Tartarus is somewhere in Equestria.” Fluttershy shivered. Even years later, their run-in with Tirek was a frightening memory to look back on. “It is, but you wouldn’t guess it.” “Is Cerberus real? I hear he is a vicious beast.” “Oh no, he’s a sweetie. A few belly rubs and he can be very playful.” “...Right,” said the dragon. “But what is Equestria like? What are the cities like?” “It depends on where you go,” Fluttershy said. “My hometown of Ponyville is small, and it has a big open field and a lot of animals.” Fluttershy’s tone was filled with warmth. She was clearly fondly remembering home. “Is it true the capital is built on the side of a mountain, and that Celestia carved it herself?” “What? Oh my no, it wasn’t carved out of the mountain, it was built on the side of it. And Celestia didn’t build it herself, it was made by workers who lived over nine hundred years before I was born.” “Well... Celestia is a warrior, right?” “Well, yes... but Equestria was peaceful for a long time before Nightmare Moon escaped. She hasn’t directly done any fighting in nearly a century.” The bronze dragon looked at her. Fluttershy was unsure of how to read her expression.  “That... sounds wonderful.” Again, Fluttershy couldn’t quite place how that sentence should come across. Disappointed? No, that wasn’t it. Was it sadness? As if reading her mind, the dragon spoke. “I hear life is easy there. That there are no wild animals and that everyone has enough to eat.” “Well, that’s not true. Near my home, there is the Everfree Forest, and it’s filled with unnatural animals that resulted from Nightmare Moon’s magic. And Celestia has done a lot to help her ponies, but even she can’t help everypony.” It was true. Despite there being programs to feed and house the poor, ample support systems for orphans and abused foals, and leading mental health treatment, there was still suffering and corruption. “Still, I’ve always thought living there would be cool,” the dragon said. “The priests always say leaving the Flame is a bad idea, but it’s hard and painful sometimes.” “Why is that?” “Even before this whole mess happened, the cyclops were terrifying. And food is harder and harder to come by. We really have to work the land and raise cattle to get anything. Equestria sounds... it sounds so easy.” “...You know, I have a friend named Zecora. She’s a zebra.” The dragon turned her head. “A what now?” “They’re like ponies, only they have stripes instead of a solid color. She used to live over the sea, but now she lives in Equestria for research. She tells me she misses her homeland, even though she came here to get away from it.” The dragon looked surprised. “Really?” “She said she left home to escape challenges, but she found new challenges in Equestria. To be honest... being the only zebra around made it difficult to fit in.” “Really?” “Yes,” Fluttershy said. She decided now was not the time to go into how xenophobic Equestria could be. “And the weather is different than she’s used to, and many things that she could get easily in her home country aren’t available where we live. “She told me that moving there has taught her that every place you live has its own challenges. Where you decide to live should have the challenges that you are best equipped to face.” The dragon thought about that. “I suppose that’s true.” “Don’t be so quick to think you’ll be happier somewhere else.” “I guess you’re right. Still, I wouldn’t mind seeing Equestria someday.” “Maybe you’ll get the chance,” Fluttershy said. “Princess Twilight will want to come here on a goodwill mission once she learns it exists.” She smiled. “I look forward to it. Well, I better let you get to sleep,” she said. They had reached the tent. As the dragon left, Fluttershy asked her, “I don’t think I caught your name.” The dragon looked back at her with a smile. “It’s Sykir.”