//------------------------------//
// Episode 4: An Infamous Night 
// Story: COLD 
// by Shadow Spector 
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Episode 4: An Infamous Night


The first thing Opul did when she woke up was widen her eyes to immediately become fully coherent in the day. A dragon who wasn't alert in the morning was a dead one. 
She turned to look around the trashed room to find the rotting calendar that was still hanging up. “How long has it been with me away from him?” 
The dragon continued counting the days, starting from her arrival in the community and continuing to the current day. She inevitably stopped at a day just passed day 750 where the marked off days seemed to stop. The white non-pony was confused for a moment before she noticed her single wing peeking out from beside her. Within a flash, she was fully reminded of what had happened, her failed mission. 
Her vision became blurry with tears from the reminder, and she walked over to the other side of her room to where her straw basket was. Ever since day one at the community, she had been planning for her bunny’s return, making sure that whenever she got him back, that he would absolutely adore being reunited with her despite the harsh conditions the two were still under.  
But that's not how life works, as she had come to be so acquainted with. The words spoken to her in that throneroom burned like a scar in her memory. She heard it right from that pegasus's mouth, how the previous leader, Emperor Contume had put an end to Opul's journey to find her little friend. The filly wasn't trustworthy, but the dragon knew deep down that she was right.
It was probably the only thing she could've been told to clear her mind up from whatever that unicorn was doing to her. Opul didn't even know what she was gearing up to do in the moment that she and her friends were being riled up against the salmon-colored pony. It was as if she were in a trance, subject to the unicorn's violent hypnosis. The hearing of her friend's death was barely enough for her to regain control.
Throughout the white non-pony's entire life, she devoted everything to making sure he stayed alive. She was successful throughout every problem the two were put in except for the last one where he was brutally robbed from her. It was unfair.
Opul collapsed on the base of the basket, picking up the straw basket to hug it to her chest as the water droplets fell on it. “I'm sorry I couldn't save you.”
She nuzzled her snout onto the basket, pretending as though it was her friend still with her. “I just want you back.”
Opul’s grief was interrupted by a knock on the door. Instinctively, the dragon dropped the basket before wiping her eyes to erase any bit of evidence of her emotions. After hearing another set of knocks, she carefully traveled to where the ladder was, slowly climbing down it with no feeling to hurry.
She opened the door to see a creature with the exact opposite expression as she had: a smiling brown yak with varying horn colors.
“Good morning, Opul,” the brown non-pony said brightly.
“What do you want, Droll?” Opul asked, trying not to let her voice crack.
Droll put on an unamused face for a second before resuming his smile to his friend. “Yak want more liquid gems.”
“Yeah, whatever.” The dragon traveled to the outskirts of the dump she called a home to pick up one of the numerous jars of liquid gems that she had managed to scavenge from the community. She then returned with a single jar to a disappointed yak.
“What?” Opul snapped.
Droll hesitated. “Yak need more.”
Opul slouched her shoulders. “Why? You never tell me anything.”
Droll regressed back a bit, appearing to be nervous of the situation. After a couple seconds, he spoke quietly. “ . . . Please?”
Opul sighed before going back to the same side of the abandoned building again, picking up an arm-full of liquid gem jars to transport back over to her friend.
Droll beamed at the sight as he struggled through his position to hold the multiple jars and maintain his balance. 
“Thank you.”
“Tell me what you're up to.”
Droll widened his eyes and stuttered for a moment. “Uh, yesterday, Candid got drink from tavern and no pay. Then strange pony spoke of future and-.”
“Wait,” Opul interrupted. Although it seemed Droll was grasping at straws, something caught Opul off guard. “Candid stole a drink from the community?”
“Be fair. Only water.”
“He knows how unforgiving this place is of creatures like us. Did he not hear what Radiance said about breaking the rules?” Opul paused for a moment. “I really want to say I'm surprised, but at this point, it's impossible.”
Droll seemed uncomfortable holding the jars, but he managed to speak. “What dragon do?”
“I am gonna go over there and make sure that neither you or Candid get into trouble.” The white non-pony traveled to another section of the garbage dump she called home to retrieve a random gem off the ground. She was using her food source to solve the issue.
It was when Opul went through the doorway that she looked at Droll who was still struggling to maintain all the jars in his grasp. She clenched her teeth in partial guilt. “Um, maybe I can get you a box.”
Droll grunted. “Yes, please.”


Opul traveled through the streets, letting the sun reflect off her scales to illuminate the ground around her in a beautiful display of colors. She strutted with a purpose, not letting anything distract her from where she was going. To her knowledge, her idiot friend had decided to rob the community tavern of drinks, and she knew that it was up to her to keep him out of trouble. Deep down, she knew one thing she was good at was keeping the ones she cared for safe; at least, she thought this was the case up until a few days prior.
She didn’t need to ask Droll for directions before she left; she knew where she was going. The community tavern was a popular place among the citizens, but she only sneaked in there once to get her claws on the liquid gems that had been used as a failure of a drink-idea. She was so thankful for the numerous batches made before all the customers disowned them, and she knew it was okay to safely claim the jars without concern of anyone missing them. 
Within a couple of minutes, her trek to the tavern had been completed, and she stared at the gray building that appeared abandoned even in the light of day. The first thing she noticed at the entrance was the new, low-budget board next to the door that acted as the new lock, making Opul wonder what had happened to the chains on it. Regardless, she traveled through the doorway to find herself out of place within the dark bar.
The first thing she noticed was the back side to a red pony that was organizing glass behind a counter, causing the dragon to look away uncomfortably. “Excuse me.”
The pony froze in place before turning to see the dragon. He regarded her inquisitively with a young face that appeared to be just as old as the friend whom she was trying to help in the first place. “Hey, what do you need?”
“My friends were here yesterday, and they might have ordered a drink and didn't pay for it.”
The red pony narrowed his eyes. “The yak and griffon?”
“Did they leave that much of an impression here?”
The equine regarded Opul in deep thought, looking her up and down before his face calmed down. 
Opul continued. “It's my job to keep them out of trouble, so I’m here to pay for whatever they may have taken yesterday.”
“Generous of you, isn't it?” He asked with an unnecessary amount of emphasis on the first word.
“I do what I can.” Opul lifted up her claw to present the gem to the pony, to which the stallion raised his hoof in rejection.
“Don't worry. It's already paid for.”
The white non-pony narrowed her eyes in confusion. “What? Since when?”
“Oh, about thirty seconds ago.” The pony winked at the dragon, causing her cheeks to glow as bright as the equine’s coat. “What's your name?”
Opul gulped reluctantly. “O-Opul.”
“Nice name. The name’s Vitri.”
“Why would you pay for my friends, Vitri?”
He smirked. “Maybe I'll tell you that if you meet me for dinner tonight.”
Opul’s smile faded fast as she hesitated. The sudden offer made her mind think of the one she was trying to help in the first place, but she quickly and forcefully dropped that thought out of her mind. “Um, yeah. Yes, I'd love to.”
Vitri beamed at the dragon. “Perfect. Try to freshen up a bit too, will you? Those markings on your torso aren't a good look."
Opul shrank back. "I-."
"Then you can meet me at 7 tonight at Chez Poneesse.”
The red pony turned back to his glass-work away from the white non-pony, telling Opul that it was time to leave. As the dragon turned towards the door, her gaze was brought back to the pony after she heard the sound glass breaking against the floor.
Vitri gritted his teeth at the broken cup against the floor, trembling for a moment before he immediately grabbed another bottle off the shelf and launched it at the wall with all his might. It exploded in a flattened mushroom as the liquid went everywhere.
Opul was just watching, her mouth left ajar before Vitri noticed she was still in the tavern.
"Uh," Vitri began, "remember, 7 tonight."
The dragon nodded as she turned back towards the door, shaking her head of any intrusive thoughts from what she just witnessed. For some reason, she felt a ping of guilt at accepting the equine’s offer, but she immediately disregarded it. She had to prepare for a night she was definitely going to remember.


Opul had no idea what she was doing. She had been home for over an hour and was still completely lost in her task. According to the time, she only had about five hours before she was due to meet Vitri at the restaurant, but no progress had been made at all in her preparations.
“Do I show up like this? Do I bring flowers? Do ponies even like flowers?” Opul continued to pace back and forth through the dump she called a home. “What if I smell? What if I blow my only chance at this? I haven't even been around other creatures for most of my life. What makes me think I can do this?”
Opul continued to pace in distress until she managed to kick her leg against a glass substance. When she looked down, she noticed a jar of liquid gems that she still had, and instantly, she had a solution. She knew she couldn't do this herself, but if she had help . . .
The dragon wasn't even finished with thinking through her plan when she bolted out of the door. She ran at top speed to the location where she anticipated her aid to be. According to the community, the walls were now under construction from the catastrophe that had happened the day prior. It was obvious that this was where she would find him.
Opul got to the broken walls and scanned them for her friend. She had been so devastated the day before from losing a pillar of her survival that she took her anger out on the poor yak by saying he lost nothing. Deep down, she knew it was out of place because he must've been feeling the same way she felt after losing her little friend as well, just on a grander scale. Although she had apologized, she still couldn't forgive herself for her reaction.
Droll had to know at least something about how to solve Opul's current predicament, and to her, he was her only hope. After a couple moments of searching, she found the brown yak scaling the wall that was already half way built. From the ground, a dozen ponies who were supposed to be working were sitting on their plots, staring at the yak who appeared to be doing all the work. 
Opul narrowed her eyes and tilted her head before walking up to the base of the wall to call up to her friend. “Droll!”
“Hey, no interfering, dragon!” a stallion scolded from behind. “We got bets as to how long this yak lasts before he hurts himself.”
Opul flinched. “None of you are going to help him?”
“He's supposed to get hurt on his own. We’re not allowed to help with that.”
Another pony spoke up. “He's been doing fine so far. He should have this done pretty soon. In the meantime, I'm thirsty. Do you mind getting us some drinks, dragon?”
Opul gritted her teeth in frustration, crossed at the decisions of the ponies in front of her. She was indeterminant of her next move when she heard the familiar sound from above.
“Opul! Hey!”
“Back to work, yak!” the lead pony said while still sitting down.
“Hey, don't talk to him like that!” Opul demanded. 
The lead pony instantly stared Opul down before getting up from his recline, traveling over to the dragon menacingly before whispering to her. “Know your place.”
Opul inhaled sharply before looking him into his eyes in slight fear. “I need Droll for a bit, please.”
“Not until this wall gets done.”
“Well, maybe you all could help him.”
“Oh, buck no!” a pony from behind declined. “We still are waiting to see if he gets hurt or not. Nothing’s happening until we figure this out for sure.”
Opul glanced up at Droll who was still fixing the wall before looking back at the ponies who were still watching without helping. Opul needed her friend's help, but she wasn't going to get it until his job was done. This wouldn't happen fast enough without the help of the ponies. She was also concerned at the thought of her friend getting hurt. Construction accidents could be serious, and it scared her to think that the ponies were waiting for something like that to happen without even trying to prevent it, or even hoping for it to be prevented either.
Opul looked away as a thought appeared in her head. “You all really aren't going to help until this contest of whether or not Droll gets hurt comes to an end?”
“Buck yeah,” the lead pony sounded. “I've got 20 bits riding on him getting hurt. Once this is done, we’ll commence working.”
Opul smirked before walking up to the base of the walls. “Droll, come down here for a moment.”
“Uh, yak busy.”
“Now!”
Immediately, Droll lowered himself down to the same level as his friend and marched over to her. “What would Opul want?”
The dragon said nothing. Instead, she grabbed a chunk of Droll’s fur and yanked it out. 
Immediately, Droll yelped in pain and breathed heavily before uttering one word. “Why?”
Instead of answering, Opul turned to the ponies behind her to see their jaws wide open. 
The lead pony shot up from his seat to turn to his group. “Now pay me!”
He wasn't the only one demanding money. All throughout the group of workers was a mix of ponies giving bits and ponies collecting it.
“Why dragon do that?” Droll asked as his eyes watered.
“Sorry about that, Droll. But you should have help now.” With that note, Opul sat back to watch the numerous construction workers join Droll in fixing the wall, it's production coming along much faster now.


The construction was nearing its completion. Opul had initially started watching and waiting for the job to come to a close, but from the long time it was taking, the dragon decided to chip in with her work and help out the wall whichever way she could, which wasn’t much. Everytime Opul would do some work on the wall, Droll would accompany her and get it done completely by doing the entire section over again.
Opul smiled awkwardly. “I’m not the best at building.”
“It thought that counts.”
Opul looked around at the multiple bricks still left to be packed in, a thought coming to her mind. “Maybe I can give you some bricks to help.”
“Dragon no need to-.”
“I insist,” she smiled.
Droll tilted his head in curiosity as he nodded his head to signal Opul to get the bricks as he began putting the finishing touches on the wall. “Dragon sad today. Now dragon happy?”
“It’s a long story,” Opul said.
Droll looked around the wall and then back at Opul with a look that told her that they had time.
“Well,” she began, “I met someone!”
Droll’s smiled faded. “What?”
“I know,” she beamed. “When I went to go pay for your drinks, the pony behind the counter already paid for them and then asked me to meet him later tonight.”
Droll gritted his teeth in concern as he was about to finish the last part of the wall. “Dragon be careful?”
“Of course. What is there to worry about?”
“Opul no even know pony at all. Pony may be dangerous.”
“I've been in danger all my life. I think I'll be fine, but I was kind of hoping for your help.”
Droll put the last brick into place. “Opul want Droll’s help?”
“Yeah, Opul does. I lived my whole life without really interacting with others for long periods of time, so I don’t really know how to go about this. And you actually had a family at one point so I was really hoping you’d be able to help me.”
Droll glanced away emotionally before he nodded in agreement. Immediately though, he walked down the stairs back to the ground, prompting Opul to follow closely behind.
“Yak try,” the brown non-pony said hopefully.
Opul looked at the stairs and noticed that they were darker than usual. She narrowed her eyes in confusion before they widened in shock. “How long have we been out here for?”
“Community work take long time,” Droll said. “Should be around six. When dragon meet pony?”
Opul froze in fear before answering. “Seven.”
Droll blinked hard and then smiled in amusement. “Better work fast.”
Instantly, Droll started cantering and Opul was quick to follow. The two began making their way through the streets, passing by all sorts of different stores and businesses. The white non-pony was debating whether or not to ask Droll where the two were going but ultimately decided to trust her friend.
Finally, the two creatures stopped in front of a building, and Droll looked up at it pridefully.
“What’s this?” Opul asked, looking around.
“Place to help.” 
Droll marched inside as Opul followed behind. Eventually, the two began heading closer to a counter where an older, yellow dragon stood twice the size of Opul, causing the white non-pony to shudder at the species. Immediately, Droll took notice of Opul’s reaction and stopped their movements altogether.
“What wrong, Opul,” Droll asked. “Why no smile?”
Opul’s eyes moved from her focus on the yak to the oversized creature in the distance behind him. “Dragons make me uncomfortable.”
Droll narrowed his eyes in confusion before Opul continued.
“The earliest memory I have is being thrown out by dragons. They’re selfish creatures.”
“But Opul dragon too.”
“I wish I wasn’t.”
Droll looked away in sadness before looking back at the counter for a moment. When his eyes returned to Opul, he spoke in lenience. “Dragon no have to be here. Yak sure dragon get help from griffon-.”
“Please don’t tell Candid about this,” Opul immediately said back before a long pause. “We can do this. Let’s just get this over with.”
Droll decided not to question it, and he traveled over to the counter where the big dragon was. “Dragon need makeover for date. Dragon in hurry.”
“Say no more,” the dragon said, pulling out a chair and gesturing for her to come over, to which she reluctantly did.
Droll brought out a picture of a dragon with a beautifully-styled hair design. “Dragon put hair this way.”
“What?” Opul said, backtracking away. “No. Dragons don’t do stuff like this.”
Droll tilted his head as if he knew more than her in the moment. “How dragon know?”
Opul was stopped cold before she managed an answer. “I can just feel it.”
“Dragon do it anyway. Pony may like it.”
Opul huffed before subjecting herself to the seat of torment. She sat down in a recline and closed her eyes. “Please make this quick. I don’t even know what time it is.”
“Oh, it’s 6:45,” the yellow dragon said.
Opul’s eyes broke open in shock, but she remained motionless in the chair. “I need to be somewhere at seven.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” the other dragon said. “I know what I’m doing when it comes to dragons. I’ll make you beautiful in no time.”
Opul subtly shifted. She felt as though the bigger dragon was implying she didn't look beautiful.
The white dragon’s eyes wandered down to the multiple marks on her chest and stomach, realizing that perhaps there was merit to the thought.
The yellow dragon went wild over Opul’s hair, spraying and styling all over. Opul clenched her eyes shut throughout the entire experience. She had never done something like this before. She was nervous to make herself so vulnerable, but she trusted Droll enough to believe that she would be perfectly safe. She could feel the coldness of the spray touching her head and cement her hair a different shape, and her new concern was of looking stupid. But she went along with it.
“Keep your eyes closed for this next section,” the stylist said.
Opul obeyed, and she could feel the pressure go against her eyelids. She squirmed for a bit but controlled herself, forcing herself to sit still.
“Just got to add the finishing touches and we - are - done!” The yellow dragon abruptly walked away and Droll followed her, speaking inaudibly for a moment. Soon enough, the dragon returned with a mirror.
When Opul sat up, she was panting, but she got to get a good look at what the stylist had done. Through the mirror, she could see the sight of a beautiful, pale dragon staring back at her with her turquoise hair in elegant curls. Opul blinked and for a moment, she could see the light-green eyeliner placed on her eyelids.
“Good color choice for the eyeliner, Droll,” the yellow dragon said. “Where did that idea come from?”
Droll’s smile faded slightly as he shifted uncomfortably. “Just . . . random.”
Opul got up and looked at the time to see she only had five minutes left to get to her place. “I need to go right now. Thank you both for the help. What do I owe you?”
“For a fellow dragon? No charge. Just be happy.”
Opul narrowed her eyes skeptically before continuing out the door at full speed, causing Droll to sigh behind her and pull out a few bits to which the yellow dragon stuck out her claws demandingly.


“You look beautiful,” Vitri said from across the table.
Opul smiled. “Thank you.” 
She said no more for a bit. Instead, Opul looked below the table at the big diamond in her claws that she was planning on using to pay for the meal. It only took ten minutes to go back to her domicile to claim it, but she was willing to be late if it meant that her date didn’t have to pay anything for her. She regarded the diamond happily before she put it down to look at her date.
“So you never told me,” Opul continued.
Vitri appeared minorly stunned at the sudden topic. “Tell you of what?”
“The reason. You said-."
"Hey!" Vitri said to a waitress passing by. "My glass has been empty for two full minutes and none of you have come by to fill it up."
The waitress smiled nervously. "Terribly sorry-."
"Do something nice for me so you can earn something nice from me, will you?"
Opul raised an eyebrow before Vitri turned to look back at her.
"Some creatures, am I right?" He sighed. "Sorry, what were you saying?"
The dragon was still astonished before she slightly shook her head to get her mind back on track. "This-this morning. You said that you’d tell me why you helped out my friends.”
The pony dropped his food onto the plate in realization. “Oh right. Well, the thing is, I live to be generous.”
Opul beamed brightly at the statement. “Yes, it’s good to do something nice for someone else without expecting much in return.”
“Without expecting much?” Vitri repeated. “Isn’t that the whole reason to be generous?”
Opul was stunned, but before she could speak, Vitri continued.
“The whole goal for doing something nice for someone is so that you can get something nice done for you in the future.”
“Well-.”
“And after you give something up like that,” Vitri swallowed his food, “everypony looks around and sees the good thing you did, and you become some sort of icon.”
Opul lowered her eyebrows in disbelief at what she was hearing. “You’re not supposed to be generous so someone can do something nice for you in the future. That kind of defeats the purpose.”
“It's basic common sense. Why would you willingly do something nice if you weren’t ever going to get anything out of it?”
Opul sighed and looked Vitri in the eyes. “We do get something out of it. It’s the feeling that you’ve helped someone else out, and it makes us happy. It’s not right to only do good things in the hopes that they’ll do something for you.”
Opul’s eye caught on a male waiter who was making their way over to her table with what she hoped was the bill. She quickly smirked to herself, believing this to be a perfect opportunity to show him what she meant.
“Are we thinking of any dessert?” the well-dressed waiter asked.
“No, thank you,” Opul said, reaching for the bill from the pony’s hooves. 
Immediately as her claws touched the paper, Vitri’s hooves grabbed a hold as well. Opul was shocked before she quickly turned her casual grab into a firm grip, holding her half in her grasp. 
The waiter widened his eyes before speaking quickly. “Okay, goodluck.” With that note, he marched away to avoid the incoming conflict.
“Come on, Vitri,” Opul began. “Let me show you what I’m talking about.”
“No, you only want to do that so you can take all the credit for paying the bill.”
“I’m only trying to show you my take on giving.”
“I only invited you here to show you how generous I can be,” Vitri admitted. “More generous than you, I guarantee. Now give me the check.”
Opul took a deep breath while still holding on. “Vitri, I worry for you and what might happen if you keep thinking like this. Please, hear me out and let me do this.”
Vitri blinked in thought, taking the dragon’s words into consideration. With a deep breath, he let go of the bill, letting the check come into full control of Opul.
The white non-pony smiled. “Good, now I can pay for both of us.”
Immediately when she said this, chattering outbroke among the entirety of the tables around her, each with ponies eyeing Opul after she made her decision. Opul could only manage to hear a few words as she looked around at the numerous citizens.
“Can you believe it?” one voice spoke.
“Did you just see that?” another said from a different location.
“Did a dragon just willingly pay for someone else?” said yet another voice.
Opul blushed uncomfortably at the unwanted attention before her gaze returned to the rageful eyes, seething in betrayal. Immediately, the white non-pony widened her eyes and stuttered, but Vitri was quick to make his thoughts known.
“I knew it,” he began. “You just wanted to get everyone’s attention. You just wanted to show that you were more generous than me.”
Finally, the waitress came by with the water jug. "Here's that water I-."
"Not now!" Vitri yelled, slapping the water jug out of her hooves.
By now, the dragon was noticeably shaking.
“Is that all this was?” he yelled. “To show that you were better than me?”
“No, I promise-,” she stuttered again.
"I thought this was going to be easy. Out-"generous" a dragon. Are you trying to make me look like a fool?"
The white non-pony opened her mouth but was too speechless to make any noise come out.
“You’re the worst kind of creature, Opul,” he finally said, which sent shivers down her spine.
Opul blinked back tears, trying to figure out what her next move was. Instinctively, she put on a brave, angered face. With a shaky breath, she spoke. “You need to leave.”
“Me, leave?” he repeated. “I’m the pony here. You're the one who has to go.”
Opul glared at him more, her anger becoming more real. “I’m serious. Go.”
The pony responded again. “Know your place, dragon.”
“Don’t talk to me like that!” she cried out.
“Oh yeah, what are you going to do about it?” Vitri said.
Opul gritted her teeth, ready to wipe that smug look off his face. She could feel the anger rising inside her, blowing through her ears like a tea kettle. She was about to lose it before she stopped herself, taking a deep breath to calm herself down.
She looked back up at Vitri with a modest look. “I’m okay.”
“You’re doing it again!” Vitri jumped up from his seat, launching himself over the table into Opul, knocking her out of the seat and onto the floor.
Immediately, the sound of screaming from the ponies in the surrounding tables overtook the room. Through Opul’s dazed head, she could hear the diamond she was going to pay with slide underneath the table out of her reach. When she opened her eyes to look for it, she could only find Vitri getting up off the ground to come at her again. Immediately, Opul rolled away to gain distance so she could have enough time to get up. She was just barely able to get to a stance by the time Vitri made it to her, swinging his hooves at her face, to which Opul dodged out of the way, backing up to avoid the swipes. Immediately, Vitri tried again, but Opul blocked with her arms, having the pony’s hooves stop right there.
“What are you doing??” Opul scolded.
“Showing you who’s better!”
Vitri kicked Opul away, causing the dragon to fall on the ground as if she were sitting. When she looked up from her impact, the sight of the red pony stampeding towards her made her stick her legs in the air to block the attack. Immediately when this happened though, Vitri reached out his hooves to grab Opul by the legs and throw her across the room. 
She landed next to some poor ponies who were only wanting to get food that night. From the doors, multiple bangs were heard as the sound of security tried to get in, but with the amount of ponies at the walls, the doors were blocked. Opul huffed at the realization that there wouldn’t be any Calvary any time soon.
Vitri wasn’t losing any steam as he ran across the room to Opul, the murderous look still on his face. Instinctively, Opul picked up a nearby chair to throw at Vitri, but it barely managed to do anything to him. The dragon tried again, instead, picking up a chair to use as a shield. Worried at it not helping much either, Opul held it out in front of her, rushing into Vitri at full speed to try and knock him over and do at least something to help her in this situation. Instead of hitting him head-on, Vitri moved aside at the last moment, putting his leg out to trip Opul and have her go crashing onto the chair she was holding.
"Come on, use your claws," Vitri taunted. "You're not generous enough to spare me the scars."
With the wind knocked out of her, Opul had landed on the floor next to her original table and saw the glint of the diamond still resting motionless below. She began to reach out her claw to it when Vitri picked her up, only to slam her down onto the table forcefully. Immediately after the impact though, Opul knew what she needed to save her, and she rolled off the table with still no oxygen left in her system. She used whatever strength she had left to reach underneath the table and wrap her claws around the heavy diamond.
She could barely get a grip on it when she felt the hooves wrap around her legs with great force and pull her back. Opul clenched the diamond for dear life as Vitri stood her up and wrapped his arms around her neck from behind to squeeze down hard, strangling any bit of oxygen she was able to recuperate from when she had the wind knocked from her. 
The dragon coughed. "Are you - trying to kill me??"
"Oh, of course not," Vitri said back, panting. "You'll use your claws before that and prove me right."
Opul focused on lifting her arms, but it was exceedingly difficult to do so without oxygen. She could feel her arms grow numb from the asphyxiation, but she still held on tight to the diamond. She knew it was now or never. She concentrated every bit of her remaining effort, any bit of energy she had left into raising the diamond up, storing it with power from her claw. Finally, in her final use of her arms, she let the stored-up power go, letting her arm with the diamond go at full speed into Vitri’s temple.
A loud club was heard, but soon after, Opul’s neck was released, and she fell to the ground gasping for air. She continued to rub her neck over and over as she coughed and gasped dry breaths, trying to fill her system with oxygen again. 
She steadily got to a stance and turned to look down at Vitri’s unconscious body in terror. She was absolutely horrified at what just happened, still in disbelief of it all. It was at a time like this that she was thankful for her survival mindset as well as her experience of fighting for her life.
"Is he . . . dead?" one voice said.
"No, but he's down," another voice answered.
Opul coughed again as she turned to look around the room at the poor ponies who didn’t want to be present at all to see what just happened. From the multiple doors in the room, several of them were now banging loudly with the sounds of older ponies trying to come in to solve the situation. Quickly, the dragon located a door that was quiet and she made her way over to it while still trying to get her breath back.
She looked at the group of ponies one last time before speaking in a raspy voice. “Sorry for that.” She then turned to the ponies who were in front of the door, and they made a path for her to exit. 
Opul limped outside of the restaurant, completely in shock at the realization of what just happened to her. She was still panting and she could feel herself bleeding from the attacks, but they weren’t too much. 
Droll was right. When she had spoken to him about her plans, he was concerned for her. She should've listened to him and thought twice about who she was being with. Next time, she would be more careful like she had always been used to. She inevitably decided to call it a night as she marched down the streets with the moon overhead. 











	Cold