//------------------------------// // A New Friend and a Ride // Story: Legacy of Dragons and Knights // by DARKPHANTOM13 //------------------------------// Spike P.O.V. Mist? I was honestly expecting something similar to Zecora or something but I not going to judge. Up close I can get a good look at him. He is a bit taller than me by two or three inches. He had brown skin, black dreadlock hair that almost went to his shoulders with a few locks in front of his face. He is wearing something that looks like a black hooded cape that stops around his knees, a white shirt with what looks like some type of chain mail under it, some slightly wore cargo jeans, brown boots, and strangely enough, metal shin guards and gauntlets that cover his hands and forearms. All and all he looks like the modern version of a young knight. “So why are you here doing in the Everfree forest of all places?” Mists ask me. “I could ask you the same thing,” I say with a smirk on my face “but if you must know I’m going to the other side of the forest to get to dragonborn territory to learn about my heritage and discover my roots.” Which wasn’t technically a lie since that is some of the reasons why I’m heading there in the first place. Mist gives me a look that says he knows that’s not the whole story, but he shrugs, letting it go for now. “I’m heading there myself. There is a tournament that is going to take place at a town called Smoldering Pit in about a month and a half from now?” He says with a smirk of his own. “Tournament?” I ask. That sounds interesting. “Yeah, the Young Fighters Tournament. It’s a fighting tournament where anyone between the ages of sixteen and twelve can compete. The winner gets a cash prize of 1,000 gil.” He says getting more excited as he talks about it. “A thousand gil?” I question. “Yeah, that’s about the equivalent of 10,000 bits.” He explains. Whoa…that’s a lot of bits. I’m not exactly a greedy person but I can’t help but drool a little at the thought of that much dough. If I win that tournament I wouldn’t have to worry about money for a while. But my chances of winning it are somewhat low since I have been in only three real fights and have about a year of self-training. Then again it would be a go chance to test my skills and see where I stand. It’s not like I got any better idea of what I am going to do once I cross the border. Besides Mist seems like a good guy and it would nice to travel with someone for a change. “I think I’ll sign up for the tournament as well. Mind if I tag along?” I ask. He looks at me for a second, than looks up thinking about my proposal. After a few minutes he shrugs his shoulders. “Why not? It is safer with two people instead of one and it would be nice to talk to someone besides myself.” Mist says nonchalantly as he grabs his duffle bag that was off to the side the entire time. I tell him to follow me as I head back to the tree where I left my backpack in. As soon as I got it the two of us went on our way. While we are walking we talked about each other. I talked about some of my hobbies and basically some of my dreams to see the world and become an adventurer. Mist tells me that he is more or less a wandering adventurer that wants to become a knight and one of the strongest swords men in the world. His hobbies are training and reading. It reminds me of Twilight. While it does bring back some pretty bad memories I silently pray that he isn’t nearly as bad as she is. This goes on for a few hours and I must admit that Mist was right. It is nice to have someone to talk to. We notice that the sun was going to down and decided to make camp. After a meal of berries, jerky (courtesy of Mist’s stash of food), and water I climb up a tree that will be my bed for the night. My new traveling companion asks my why I’m sleeping in a tree. After explaining he follows my lead and makes himself at home in a nearby tree. We both fall asleep to the noises of the forest. The Next Day Like the last two nights I startled awake. That damn nightmare came back for round three. Though for some reason it isn’t quite as bad as the last two times. Not that you will hear me complaining. I glance at my watch and it says 7:33 AM. I look at a nearby tree to see that Mist is waking up as well. After exchanging a ‘good morning’ we gather our stuff and make our way down to ground level, eat some breakfast, and continue on our journey. A couple of hours later we finally made it to the other side of the Celestia-damn Everfree Forest. We decided to stop to eat something while we check where we are. According to our maps Smoldering Pit is two towns over, meaning we will have to pass Dragonville and Ashen Twine to get there. We did the math on how long it would to get there and I practically cry at the results. From the looks of it we will get there in about two weeks on foot to get to our destination. And that’s not taking into account of us doing any sightseeing or getting more supplies. While I was depressed about all that walking, Mist asks me if I want him to help train me. I told him ‘sure’ since I knew he was more skilled at sword wielding than me and I could use some advice. We gather our swords, put some distance between us, and once he was ready I charge forward, ready to unleash all of my training and skills upon my new sparring partner. Needless to say, I came, I saw, I got my ass kicked. I knew the black haired teen in front of me is good with his sword, but by Celestia, the skill gap between us is a lot bigger than I thought. I can’t even lay a scratch on this guy. After basically half an hour of him knocking me around he says that he wants to see how well we do with hand to hand combat. Luckily for me before I was exiled I took some fighting lessons from Applejack and Rainbow Dash, so I’ll have at least some idea of what I’m doing. Round two wasn’t as bad a round one. I still got my ass handed to me, but this time he had to work for it and I was even able to land a few hits. After another half hour of me getting a beat down we decided to take a break. As we are resting he tells me about my skills. According to him he says I’m pretty good for someone who was self-taught, I could think on my feet, adaptable, and I am both physically and mentally strong. While I am okay at using ether two-hand style or one hand style, I tend to lean towards the latter which makes sense since it allows me to use my other hand to punch or throw fireballs. He asks me if I was both handed. Funny story, after years of working as an assistant and writing to the point that my right hand would cramp up at least once a day I learn how to write with my other hand. After I mastered how to write with my left hand it starts to bleed into other things. Either way Mist says will help with my swordplay since I can use either hand. Mist also asks me about my powers and my fire sword trick and in all honesty I don’t know. Both the flame sword and fire slash were complete accidents and I have never heard of a dragonborn being able to do something like that. I’ve heard mages being able to do something like what I did with magic but not with fire. I will have to ask another dragonborn if I want to learn more about this. As soon as we were rested we continue on or our journey where we soon found a road that will take us to the nearest town called Dragonville. “I wonder if it is related to Ponyville in some way.” I thought to myself, but I chalk it up to being a coincidence. It was around three in the afternoon when we an old truck with a trailer of what looks like rocks, ore, and metal with the trailer stuck in a ditch, with what looks like a man and his son trying to get the trailer out. Mist and I looked at each other and decided we should help them. As we got closer we got a better look at the two. The man was about 5’6 feet tall. He was slightly tan, brown eyes, with shaggy black hair, pretty muscular, from the looks of it an earthwalker, and he was wearing a blacksmith’s outfit. (AN: just think the skyrim blacksmith outfit.) What we guess was the man’s son was more interesting looking. While he had the dragonborn eyes, which were blue, and teeth, but he didn’t have pointed ears or claw like nails. The kid appear to about eleven or twelve years old, had dirty blonde hair, slightly lighter skin than the older man. He was wearing a blue shirt collar shirt, jeans, and some white sneakers. 'He must be a Mix I thought to myself.' Mixes are more or less slang for hybrids. They are somewhat rare since even when you have parents that are say a dragonborn and a taurus-blood, their child will usually be one or the other. So it is a bit of a rare sight to see a Mix. “Hey, do you two need any help?” Mist asks them. The two turn around to us. After the man gave us a once over look he says “Yeah. We need to get out of this ditch but don’t have the man power. Mind lending us a hand?” “Sure.” Mist and I say. The man nods at us and tell the kid to get inside the truck and floor it on the man’s signal while the man, Mist, and I get behind the trailer to push it. “Now!” the shaggy haired man yells. The three of us push with all our might while the young boy in the truck stomps on the gas pedal. It took a minute or two but we were able to get the trailer out of the ditch. As soon as we did it the boy stops the truck, gets out of it, and walks up to the older man. The blacksmith looking man pats him the head and say “Good job son.” He turns to us “And thank you two for helping us. My name is Smith Firehammer and this is my son Jack.” He introduces themselves. “Glad to be of help. My name is Spike and this is Mist.” I say while pointing to the knight in training. “It’s nice to meet you too. From the looks of it looks like you have some place you want to go. If it is not too far out of the way we can give you a lift if you want.” Smith tells us. “Yeah, we’re going the sign up for the Young Fighters Tournament in Smoldering Pit. If you can give us a ride we’d be grateful.” Mist explains. The man’s eyes widen and a smile appears on his face. “That’s where we‘re heading. My family’s home and gunsmith and blacksmith shop are there. You can even stay with us until the tournament is over as long as you two help around the place.” I’m practically crying tears of joy right now. Not only do we not have to worry about where we will live when re get there for a while, by riding in a truck we will get there in a few days instead of two weeks if we make good time, and most important of all we wouldn’t have to walk all the way there. Faster than Scoots on her scooter Mist and I agreed. We get into the truck, with me and Mist in the backseats of the truck with our packs on the floor and Smith at the wheel with Jack riding shotgun. As we ride along Jack, Mist, and I talk among each other with a comment or two from Smith while Life is a Highway plays on the radio. I can’t help but think what has happen and how I got here. While I have some bitter resentment for my former friends and sister, worry that the CMC didn’t make it, and I’m going to miss my home and friends I can’t help but feel a little happy about my current situation. I fought six dangerous creatures, meet a sea serpent, possibly made a friend with Mist, and we’re going to stay with a gun and blacksmith family while we train and prepare for a fighting tournament. While this journey had a terrible start but things have gotten a bit better and I can’t wait to see what is around the next bend.