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// Chapter Sixteen, Cue the Palette Tow....Nevermind 
// Story: Dancing Flames, Cooling Ember 
// by Tamara Bloodhoof 
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Chapter 16
Cue the Pallet Tow....Nevermind


After our incident outside of Ponyville, it took us another two long, arduous days before we finally reached Staliongrad. The, for lack of a better word, island seemed conspicuously quiet, with barely anybody standing in the tollbooth queue. 

“Any idea what’s going on Ember?” Grim muttered under his breath as we walked towards the town. My only response was to shake my head slightly. My wounds had yet to heal properly, and, while they were looking better, I still had a lot of muscle showing, and the blood had yet to properly stop flowing from my wound. I was willing to bet that the only reason I hadn’t yet died of blood loss was my now draconic nature, but I was still weak, and I doubted I could even handle a pony foal in this state. 

Grim continued to walk forward, and, once we reached the actual tollbooth, a grey mare with dead eyes looked at him, then spoke in a gravely tone. “That’ll be twenty bits.”

‘……..I think they’re trying to rip us off………..’

Grim gave a sidelong glance at me, one of his eyebrows raised, but I merely nodded again, my breath still catching. He counted out the appropriate amount of money and handed it over to the teller, who nodded once and muttered, “You’re clear.”

‘Of course they’re ripping us off.’  I thought, my head throbbing. ‘That’s what a tollbooth is for. I know that it isn’t the best idea out there, but I don’t want to cause any commotion right now.’

‘Spoilsport!’

The inside of the town was even more foreboding than the outside of it. Nobody seemed to be walking around, or, more correctly, nobody who didn’t have a reason was walking around. Instead, guards were roaming around everywhere; each of them dressed in either plated metal armor or else was dressed in hardened leather armor. I could see them standing on rooftops, walking along the roads, and even flying through the air. Here and there a stray merchant or civilian would walk by, but they invariably went inside a shop or began to speed up, rushing for the cover of the indoors to hide them from the guards glares. I don’t know what got them all into such a state of paranoia, but it didn’t seem like there was going to be any way around the guards.

‘Well, you do know that you could just kill them all? Or hell, if you don’t want to kill them, then just knock them senseless.’

As Gemina said these words I looked over at my wrecked shoulder, getting another look at the blood soaked and well diced muscles, the cracked scales, the shedding skin, and the crimson drops still trickling down my arm, painting my black scales crimson.


‘How the hell do you expect me to fight them like this?’ I snapped back. ‘Besides, we aren’t trying to kill them, we’re trying to find a doctor or someone who could help me. That and supplies.’

‘Geez, why don’t you go ahead and ruin every chance for fun we have, it’s not like I care at all.’ Gemina moaned, giving me the distinct feeling that she had just rolled her eyes. ‘You  aren’t any fun you know. Oh, except when you grabbed that dog, held him still and gave him a nice. Tender. Ki*GLRK!*’

I growled slightly as I concentrated on mentally chocking my sister for a bit before letting the mental grip slacken, causing her to gasp and splutter inside my mind, rasping out a quick, ‘Well fuck you too.’ before diving back into the recesses of my mind.

“Grim, should we skirt the town? If you don't think we should walk by the guards....” I croaked, looking up at him. He looked down at me, then at my crushed arm, hanging limply next to my side before shaking his head, his face grim. “I need a doctor that bad?” I asked, raising an eyebrow slightly. His only response was to start marching forward, almost carrying me towards the town, his face set in an expression befitting his name.

As we neared the town I could feel the attention of the nearest guards shift to us, their eyes now following us as if we were storming into the town with raised blades and flaming torches. But, thankfully, nobody decided to stop us.
‘I hope you realize that karma is now going to have someone stop you in your tracks.’
‘If it does so, then karma is a bitch. I just saved Grim, didn’t do anything other than cause a small crater to form in the ground, and worked myself to the bone to do just that, so no, I don’t think karma will’ which, of course, was the exact moment that a Pegasus barreled out of the sky and slammed into Grim, knocking him back a few steps, his hands no longer holding me up, which then forced me to drop to my knees to stay upright, my good arm propping myself up from the ground. ‘Okay, it’s a definite, karma’s a bitch.’

‘Told you so.’ Gemina said, chuckling.

The Pegasus charged at Grim and slammed his head into Grim’s gut. Grim gagged but kept standing, raising his fist to punch the Pegasus in return, only for two Earth pony guards to suddenly leap onto Grim’s back, slamming their hooves into his head repeatedly, their hooves smashing into him like a set of anvils. After the first five or so hits the sounds began to sound slightly muffled, accompanied by what could only be described as a squelching sound.

“Grim!” I choked, slowly standing up on my feet. “Don’t…..hurt him…..” I growled, only for the Pegasus to give me a withering sneer and cuff me upside the head, sending me tumbling back into the ground. As I raised my head again, I realized that blood was starting to coat my right eye, and the only reason I hadn’t yet lost sight was due to some sort of second lens that protected it. As the blood poured out from my head I could feel my consciousness ebb away and hear Gemina chuckling in my ear. 

“No……………..” I croaked, my body shaking with the effort to keep myself up as the sound of….squelches…..continued coming from behind me. As my brain once again began to sink into the darkness of my consciousness, I heard a shout from behind me.

“Lieutenant SilverWing, what the bloody hell are you doing?” a female voice shouted out, followed immediately by a pounding sound, followed by yelp. Luckily, it didn’t sound Canine, but rather it seemed to be equine.

‘Did someone send in the cavalry?’

Forcing myself to return to consciousness and stave off another bout of the Gemina, I slowly rolled onto my back, unable to summon the strength to do anything more. What I saw was so outlandish that I couldn’t even believe it. Standing before the Pegasus who had just assaulted Grim and I was Fluttershy dressed up in a suit of plate armour, her wings poking out of some holes in the armour. Her face scrunched up in anger, and her left hoof coated in a thin coating of blood, obviously from the bloody lip and nose that the Pegasus before her was now sporting. 
Grim was still standing, though it was just barely. I could see that the fur on his face was matted with blood, and the two Earth ponies that had been on his back until a moment ago were now rolling on the ground, cupping their faces with their own hooves, yowling like a pair of whipped dogs.

‘………………and that is probably a euphemism that I should never use again……………’

‘Actually, you should have never used it to begin with, that is the worst thing you could ever say now that Grim is a friend. Are you trying to be crass?’

‘………………..you do realize just how ironic that line was, right?’ I asked, our little spat actually helping me to remain in control of my own mind.

‘Of course I do, why else would I say it?’ Gemina replied, a tone of confusion in her voice.

‘…………touché……..’

Fluttershy growled again at Silverwing before walking over to me, a hoof extended out to my claw. “Do you need help standing?” she asked, though from her sceptical tone it was obvious that she wasn’t really asking, she was just trying to preserve a shred of my dignity as a dragon.

“……yeah……” I gasped, trying, and failing, to take her hoof in my claw, instead flopping back down onto the ground, my body suddenly wracked by jolts of agony, the wound in my shoulder suddenly pouring blood from it once again. The edges of my vision began to slowly fade as I looked at her, slowly drawing further and further in.

Fluttershy looked at my shoulder, then at the ponies behind her, all of which had yet to draw any weapons, then at Grim, her eyes blazing. “What’s she doing in this condition, and why did you come here?” Her voice seemed to be coming from a distance, echoing around in my head.

“Wait, it’s a SHE!” the three guards all cried out, their voices also seemingly from a distance.

‘Once again, the lack of mammaries leaves all mammals stumped. I chuckled wryly.

‘Damn asshole racists.’

Grim, still barely remaining on his feet, began to walk over to me, gasping out, “She used too much magic. It trashed her body. We came for a doctor for her, though I think we need one for me as well now.”

Fluttershy looked at me, and, as she did so, my vision finally went black. She began to mutter, “Then a doctor you’ll get. Just wait a bit dear, we’ll fix you rig…..” and my consciousness left me, my mind once again falling into oblivion.