Chapter 9: Travel
I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
Christopher Reeve
Entry Four:
Today was much less eventful than yesterday. I woke up at the crack of dawn, and found Drake busy working on something with Flim and Flam. When I asked what it was, he said he’d figured out a solution to the communication issue I brought up last night. On the SSCS 6000, as I am henceforth writing it, Flam and Flam stood with one of Drakes scales. He explained he’d worked with the brothers and found a way to enchant the scale, so they could always find him. Not only that, but it was possible for them to send Drake a signal with their location as well.
With that issue worked out, Drake and I spent about an hour exercising, not sparring. Drake said that it was important to vary our workout, but I think it was because he got hurt worse than he lets on, in his fight against the hydra. While we were exercising, Flim and Flam had their breakfast.
After we finished, Drake asked the brothers if they were going to stick with us, more a as formality at this point than anything. As expected, they emphatically said yes. With that taken care of, we pulled out the map to pick the spot we met at tonight. A cliff face, just south of the gap, set away from any towns. It was away from the road, but Flim and Flam assured us they’d make it. They set off before of Drake and me.
After they left, we had our classroom time. Drake is picking up on reading and writing real fast, but still can’t produce even a wisp of smoke when trying to breathe fire. For me, we went over the fight and discussed what went well, what went poorly and different strategies to fight other creatures. We set off, making good time, but we stopped a number of times, Drake said that is was so we didn’t get there to soon ahead of the brothers, but I think it was because he was hurting from his fight with the hydra.
This evening, we met Flim and Flam, had dinner, and talked about how we’re going to handle crossing through the gap tomorrow. All in all it was a good easy day.
-Spike
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Entry Five:
Today we crossed the border. The difference between Equestria and the Wildlands is stark and startling. The grass had a brown shift to it all, like wheat ready for the harvest left to grow uncared for. I pointed this out to Drake, and he said it was probably because the mountains restricted moisture from passing through them, or because there are no ponies maintaining the environment out here. He flew throughout the whole day with much fewer stops until he found a shallow canyon with trees growing on either side. Once he was sure that Flim and Flam were coming, I assume this is thanks to that scale he gave them, he sat down and we had a long classroom session.
Flim and Flam arrived late, after the sun went down. Drake asked how they were doing. They replied that they were fine; just shocked by the differences between Wildlands and Equestria. Drake directed them over to the fire I’d made for myself and went hunting. After Flim and Flam settled in I went in search of food as well. There wasn’t much in the way of plant foods. What little I did come across I decide to give to Flim and Flam, unless I couldn’t find anything else for myself. By pure chance, I stumbled upon a den of some sorts. I decided to try a trick Drake had discussed which involved sending a bunch of smoke into it. Shortly thereafter my dinner came fleeing out and was promptly consumed.
After dinner I went back to our camp with some of the berries and tubers I had found in hand. I gave them to Flim, since Flam had already fallen asleep, and spent some time talking to him. While I still don’t like or trust these guys, I have to admit they aren’t all bad. Drake came back about an hour later with what looked like half a boar and said that he would take first watch. Flam would have second, and me and Flim would share third. Flim asked why Flam had it alone and Drake said it was because he was asleep now and if anything happened it was the watches job to wake everyone rather than get in a fight. Flim still seemed unsure, but Drake reassured him it would be alright.
So now I am going to bed. While Drake promised I could sleep as we flew, I want to be as well rested as possible for my turn on watch. I also want to be awake tomorrow so I don’t miss something new and exciting in this unexplored land. After all, who knows what we’ll find.
-Spike
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Entry Six:
Today was our first full day outside Equestria. When I saw the sunrise it was so normal, yet so alien. Shortly after it rose, Drake got up, although he moved with a limp and seemed sore, and stretched before walking off for a bit.. After we’d all gotten up, taken care of business, and had some breakfast, made up of last night’s leftovers, we headed out.
Things were going pretty uneventfully until we exited the far side of the gap and were attacked by strange beasts. They had arms with wings growing out of them, talons for feet and looked as if they would walk upright; their faces were flat and they lacked any feathers on their heads or front torso, which was instead covered by what seemed to be animal skins. Most of them also had twin bulges covered by the skins.
As he tried to fight them off, I fell off Drake. He tried to catch me, but the beasts blocked him and started to attack his wings forcing him on the defensive. I thought I was dead, a goner, going to hit the ground and become a stain. I had stabilized my fall but, without wings, what could I do beside become uncomfortably intimate with the ground.
Much to my surprise that is not what happened. Instead of meeting my end I suddenly stopped falling and starting going sideways. At first, I was afraid one of the beasts attacking us had caught me; instead it was a griffin. This might not seem like much improvement, but I saw a bunch of griffins wearing armor and armed with lances, bows, and even a few swords forcing the beasts off Drake.
The one who caught me introduced himself as Hyde McFarweather, and flew me back to Drake. By the time we got to him, the beasts had been driven off and he was talking to their leader. Drake was asking questions about the beasts and the griffins. The griffin leader, in turn, was asking why two dragons were on their own instead of with the migration, and didn’t already know the answer to Drake’s questions.
As things seemed to be going nowhere fast, Drake, bleeding from puncture wounds to his wings, said “Look hovering here arguing is just going to make us targets if those-- you called them harpies right,” receiving a nod from the leader he continued. “Those harpies come back so why don’t we go somewhere safe, surely you have someplace like that around here and we can sit down and talk while we wait for my ground bound friends to join us.”
Their leader, Swiftwing McFarweather, as she introduced herself, agreed and sent a pair of griffins, Hyde and his brother Jekyll to escort Flim and Flam to the camp after Drake told her roughly where he thought they were.
They guided us to a camp, on the ground, at the edge of the mountains, filled with griffins. From my vantage point I could see fifty or so out in the open. Flim and Flam showed up soon after we had landed. Drake filled them in, and told us to explore and learn what we could about the camp and the griffins, while he meet with their leaders
While Drake met with the Ealge-eye, who was the leader of the camp and Swiftwing’s mate, the rest of us spent the day with the first civilized life we’d met out here. Hyde and Jekyll decided it was their job to show us around the camp, I can’t believe those two are brothers, different as they are, but we had a fun time. They showed us all sorts of sights. My favorite was their blacksmith, it was so simple but so efficient, the Griffin in charge was huge, but, much to our surprise, kind and friendly. Jekyll and Hyde also showed us how they put up the tents and explained how they breakdown, move, and setup the camp.
The last thing they showed us was their trading post, a fairly large tent that anygriffin can use to sell their wares or find something they might need. It might not seem necessary, but he said when they trade with other groups out here it get really busy. The salesponies that they are, Flim and Flam fell in love with this place and are still busy selling what they have and buying things they think they’ll need out here. Night is falling now and I’m going to call this entry done. If the Wildlands are going to be like this every day, I definitely have to get stronger.
There is one other thing I want to mention that didn’t really fit in with the rest, as we were walking around today I noticed that I am not that much smaller than Flim and Flam now, maybe a head and a half. Also my shoulders have been itching since this afternoon. I think there is something under the skin. My claws also seem sharper and I’m not sure but I think my sight and hearing are improving too.
-Spike
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Night fell on the Wildlands and Drake was in the center of the griffin camp for the McFarweather Family. Interesting lot, griffins. Their society is seemingly feudal and based around blood lines. The most basic unit is a pride, the extended family of an individual griffin. The next layer is the Family which is all the extended families from a given ancestor. The various Families make up Clans, which in turn make up the Houses, each of which is vying to be the Great House, the leader of the griffin people, seated in their only permanent settlement, High Wind Eerie a mountain top fortress located on a lone mountain that is allegedly the birthplace of the griffin race.
These days most griffins are nomadic, but they have legends that tell of a time when they were settled and a major force in a now dead empire. This was what intrigued Drake the most, what was the empire, had it existed or was it a myth. When he asked about it, he was told that it had indeed existed, a great empire based on order, led by minotaurs, encompassing all races of the time, and its ruins still dotted the landscape to this very day.
When Drake asked Eagle-eye how it fell, he could tell him nothing. When Drake asked the family’s record keeper, Muninn, who had been there in the meeting tent, she could only tell him that is was a time of cataclysm which cast down the mighty and gave rise to new enemies such as the harpies that had attacked him earlier that day, and were continually on the hunt for any griffin they could find.
For his part, Drake had told his story as best he could without giving away his origins, but divulged the training he had planned for himself and Spike. While all this had been occurring, some of the McFarweather’s doctors had been bandaging Drakes wings were the harpies had drawn blood. As Drake was pondering fallen empire in the twilight of the day, Spike and Flam joined him in the center of the camp, Flim absent because he was still trying to trade with the griffins.
“Well gentlemen, what do you think,” Drake asked, after sharing with them his findings and hearing their tale in return.
“Well, the ruins could tell us what happened, and why things are how they are,” Spike replied the opportunity to discover something new tugging at him. Drake looked the young dragon over and noticed that he had started to grow, already much bigger and likely strong than when they had first met.
“If we do go into these ruins I am willing to bet they will hold many treasures. These griffins seem to believe them cursed, and perhaps with good reason” Flam said, feeling comfortable in the camp, but worried what would happen once they left and what other monsters might be out there.
“What we need is a place we can base ourselves out of; a spot that will allow us to train. As we get stronger we can go into these different ruins and learn both the secrets they hold and what our weaknesses still are. I can tell you right now the fight with the hydra left me hurting even if it didn’t draw much blood, and I was having no effect on the harpies while they were having a field day with me. Plus, Spike, with you unable to fly at the moment, carrying you is too big a risk to continue doing. That said, I think we can probably find a ruin and secure a part of it then train in the plains outside it.”
“Do you really think we can take one as we are now,” Flam asked. “You already pointed out that the last two encounters with monsters were less than a walk in the park.”
“Yeah, given what the harpies did to your wings maybe we should just stay with these griffins for a while,” Spike said, pointing to Drake’s bandages. “They can teach us how to survive out here.”
“Maybe, there are still some questions I have for them. A few days with them couldn’t hurt.”
As the trio continued discussing what they should do shouts began to sounds throughout the camp, shouts calling for bodies and weapons to repel an attack. The source was not named but everyone in the camp was rushing to the plains side of the camp. Not one to be left out of things, Drake joined the flow with Spike and Flam in tow, picking up Flim along the way.
At the edge of the camp every griffin that could carry arms was arranged for battle in what Drake thought looked an awful lot like the Greek hoplite formation. Yet, it was what was across from them that took Drake by surprise and left Spike stunned as well.
“Are those Diamond Dogs,” Drake asked Spike as he looked at what must have been over one hundred of the twisted hounds, many in makeshift armor with crude weapons or nets.
“Yeah, but why are they attacking these griffins, it’s not like they have any gems.”
“Do you suppose they want to enslave them?”
Before Spike could reply a scarred Diamond Dog bigger and seemingly brighter than the rest spoke out, “You griffins are ours now. Put down your arms and serve us. Resist and you will die and be our food.”
Swiftwing answered for the griffins, “No griffin will ever serve any of the twisted Fallen.” With that reply a wave of arrow flew from the griffin lines and fell amongst the Diamond Dog. A number of pained yelps came out, but not enough to realistically impact the course of the fight. The Diamond Dog alpha let out a ferocious howl and charged at the griffins, his soldiers following on his heels.
From his point behind the Griffin lines Drake could see only one outcome. ‘They are going to be beaten. If they take to the air the Diamond Dogs get into the camp and capture or butcher everyone there, but on the ground they are outnumbered at least three to one in this fight. Got to help them, Swiftwing called them fallen, if for no other reason, they have to live so I can find out what that means, maybe it relates to how the empire fell.’
“Guys,” Drake began, turning to his companions, “We have to help. Flim, Flam you two do whatever you can even if that is just plugging holes with the SSCS 6000, or moving hurt griffins back away from the front lines. Spike I want you to add your strength to any point in the griffin lines that is breaking. You fought these guys before, but this time you have to make sure they don’t get up. I’m going to try getting into the D-Dog horde and reduce the pressure they can put on the griffins. All right team, break.” Drake clapped and took off leaving the unicorns and Spike stunned. Flim and Flam quickly recovered and began doing as Drake asked by levitating injured Griffins out of the fray and moving materials around to build a wall the Griffins could fall back along and use to funnel the Diamond dogs.
Spike stayed still a mental war being raged in his head equally as fierce as the one going on around him. ‘I can’t kill them. I mean sure I have killed, but only for food, things that can’t talk, but Diamond Dogs can talk, they have a society. Ok it may be a somewhat evil society, and it sounded like they are here to enslave the Griffins, but kill them. I can fight them, I have done that before, hurt them maybe, but take their life, that’s just too much to ask.’
As Spike argued with himself, Drake landed in the middle of the Diamond Dogs and began to fight. Initial things went well for him with several of the mongrels dying at his claws, but they soon reacted, surrounding him with speardogs. Any time Drake would try to attack they would back up where he was attacking and come forward from behind him forcing him to react and dodge. Oh, and the number going after him is increasing.
‘Oh Shit! I didn’t think this through very well did I,’ Drake thought as he quickly found himself surrounded and unable to do anything. ‘Time to change location.’ Drake jumped up and tried to fly to somewhere else on the battle field, but his wings, damaged from the fight with the harpies and carrying unnoticed damage from the fight with the hydra, decided “ah nope” and sent a wave of pain through Drakes body causing him to crash into the ground where he was quickly surrounded again. He was forced into fighting just to stay alive.
Along the griffin line things were going less than swimmingly, despite their use of a shield wall they had already lost close to a third of their force. While the dead bodies of Diamond dogs covering the ground lost were encouraging, they still outnumbered the quickly tiring griffins. Flim and Flam had parked the SSCS 6000 on the griffin left flank and were busy throwing Diamond Dogs back from it. They fought to keep that part of the line secure despite the sense of fatigue they were beginning to feel. Near Spike the griffins still were moving back and he was standing still.
Spike twisted towards and away from the battle, conflicted about what to do. Suddenly, in the midst of his mental battle, a griffin bumped into him, tripped, and fell down creating a hole in the line. Spike turned towards the disturbance and came face to face with a charging Diamond Dog who jumped through the hole and tackled him before the griffins could react. Spike tried to force the mutt off him, but it was going for the kill. The mongrel having lost his weapon elected to punch Spike with his armored paws. Spike blocked as best he could but each blow drew blood from somewhere.
“Help! Drake, someone, anyone help.” Spike called between blows, but no help came. As he looked into the eyes of the dog on top him, eyes filled with greed and desire, something snapped. The battle in his mind ended, overridden by his survival instincts. As the fist drew back yet again, Spike inhaled. As it came down, Spike exhaled and a stream of flames shot out his mouth very different from his normal green fire. Instead flames of blue and white covered the Diamond Dogs face, slipping into its drooling mouth, igniting fur and spreading across the body and down its throat. The dog rolled off Spike trying anything to extinguish the fire, but in a few moments its agony ended.
Spike stood slowly, blood dripping from his face, his mind reeled with what he had just done. Had anyone seen him they would have noticed a strange look in his eyes. Nearby he heard Drake roar, not in victory or anger, but in pain.
‘Help Drake, protect the griffins,’ a part of Spike said. ‘I have the power, I’ve killed once now, what is another, or another after that. I can protect them, the Diamond Dogs can’t block my flames. I can burn them.’
Something in him hesitated though, ‘I just took the life of a thinking creature, I am a monster, what would Rarity think, what would Twilight think. I have to leave, go somewhere that I can’t hurt anyone.’
‘Help Drake!’
‘Monster!’
‘Protect the griffins!’
‘Flee!’
Spike did the one thing that made sense. He threw himself into the fight, help or flee, protector or monster; the only way out of this was through the Diamond Dogs, so through them he would go. His mind shutting down, Spike ran on instinct alone. He leapt over the griffins in front of him and began attacking the Diamond Dogs, his claws slashed, his jaws snapped, and anytime they tried to surround him Spike’s flames burned a path.
Pain that was all Drake felt. Cuts marred his wings and snout, a stab wound in his breast burned. Still he fought, feeding on the pain lest he falter now.
‘I was supposed to be powerful, immortal, capable of changing the world, and here I am being beaten by a bunch of strays.’ Drake swept his tail, forcing the dogs back and preventing them from climbing onto his back, by sheer luck he hit one slicing it in half. ‘If only I could breathe fire or something, then I could hit with that even though I can’t reach them.’
Suddenly, he saw a flash of flames in his vision. ‘Looks like Spike finally joined the fray, but what is he doing away from the griffin lines.’ The dogs chose the next moment to rush forward from all sides Drake swept out with his good arm, swung his tail, and darted his head in behind his arm forcing the Diamond Dogs to fall back. Using this next reprieve from the fighting, Drake noticed that the Diamond Dog numbers had shrunk. A thinned force occupied the griffin lines, a group focused on him, and another focused on Spike. The griffins may have finally taken the upper hand in their battle thanks to Spike, and Swiftwing slaying the alpha, if Drake’s eye did not deceive him.
Across from Drake, Spike was now absorbed in his own fight. The dogs weren’t going to lose to him, they had the bigger dragon surrounded and grounded. All they had to do was herd this one there, and they could get them both. They slowly herded Spike towards Drake, doing their best to avoid losing any more of their comrades with only mild success.
Drake looked up from his personal battle sometime later and noticed what was going on. He saw the Griffins were in the final phase of their fight. They were almost guaranteed to win, but would be too tired to help him and Spike. Then he saw, for the first time, just how wild Spike looked and how he was fighting.
‘Something is wrong,’ Drake thought. ‘Something is wrong and he needs help, this has to end now.’ Drake looked at the Dogs around him; they’d stopped attacking and seemed to be waiting for something. ‘Alright it is now or never, I need to breath fire, break out of the circle and get over to Spike, then I need to get us into the camp, hopeful the dogs will give up. If they follow us,’ Drake shrugged. ‘Well here’s hoping they won’t.’
Drake began to inhale concentrating on everything Spike had taught him. He focused on the power inside himself, trying to find it. Once his lungs filled, Drake picked his target, a Diamond Dog with the heaviest armor of those around him. Just then, Drake felt it the power Spike had described, more than once, in fact those descriptions had become quite frustrated the last time they tried this. He exhaled, sending his power out with his breath. Drake watched expecting a stream of flames to roast the dog alive. Instead a streak of lightning came out slamming into the first dog then arcing from it to those closest to it killing, burning flesh, and stopping hearts.
Drake blinked. The dogs surrounding him blinked. Flam and Flim blinked. All the Griffins not so engaged that they could only see the enemy in front of them blinked. Drake laughed, a deep, happy, crazy, on the verge of menacing, laugh. “Not what I was expect, but certainly has potential.” Looking to the Dogs still around him he asked, “Whose next?”
Rather than reply to his question they fled, running away then diving into the ground presumably into the tunnels that had brought them to the Griffin camp in the first place. Drake began walking to Spike, a short distance away, but his injuries slowed him. The Dogs noticed he was coming and shifted some of their number to face him, having missed his light show. Drake inhaled and reached into himself. It was easier this time than the last. He sent another bolt out, knocking a pair of dogs down. The rest noticed they were the only ones still on the field, the others having either fled after Drakes first lighting blasted or died at the talons of the Griffins. They too fled leaving an angry, confused young dragon on the field.
Spike spun around, the Diamond Dogs have mysteriously run away. Turning, he saw Drake standing in front of him, bloodied and injured. Spike slowly calmed down and took stock of his surrounding as his mind began to work once again, he noticed the bodies and tasted blood. Slowly he looked at his claws and found them covered in it. As he looked at the bodies and his own form, realization hit him, dropping Spike to his knees.
Spike began crying. “What have I done?! I killed so many of them. I took the life of intelligent beings. What kind of monster am I?! What have I done? Over and over Spike repeated those same questions as tears mingle with the blood on his face.
Spike knelt there crying as Drake limped up to him. When Drake got next to him, Spike turned and asked, “Am I a monster? Are you one? Is that what you are helping make me?”
“No Spike,” Drake said softly. “A monster is something that will enslave others. Cause them harm and pain for its own benefit. What I see in front of me is a hero, a protector, if only a young one still learning.’
“How,” Spike choked through his tear. “How can I be a hero after killing so many?”
“Look at the griffins over there Spike. Think of the families that will remain together. Think of the children that will be free come morning, free of chains and slavery. The parents whose lives you likely saved by fighting as you did.”
Spike tried to choke back his tear, tried to respond, but couldn’t as the tear kept flowing. He grasp onto Drakes leg. Drake held Spike close, there in the midst of the battlefield, until he had cried himself to sleep. Then Drake lifted him up and began limping towards the camp. Flim, Flam, and a number of griffins came forth when he began walking, and escorted the pair into the camp. Once Spike had been taken to be treated with the injured griffins, Drake flopped to the ground just inside the camp, giving in the fatigue and blood loss of the battle.
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