Chapter Six
White Noise woke up with a start, banging his head against the bed above him.
"Ow..."
The throbbing pain from the new bump on his head was further compounded by a sudden blinding headache. White let out a small whimper and curled into a ball under his sheets. Why did I have to take the bottom bunk? he thought.
Rubbing his head with a hoof and trying to focus his mind, White Noise tried to remember what had caused him to wake up so suddenly. It had been a dream – he'd had a very strange dream, and it had become very frightening at the end.
White Noise tried to remember his dream, but only small snatches of it came to mind. Standing on a mountain, with the world stretched out beneath me. Shouting into the wind... it changed colour as my voice got louder and softer. Darkness... a voice... a scream!
Sweat broke on White's forehead as he decided against trying to recall the end of his dream. He found himself envying Daisy Dreams, an earth pony who had mastered lucid dreaming and been the subject of an in-depth study conducted by some of his old classmates and friends. Her dreams were always controlled and she had the psychological resilience of a rock.
"Good morning White Noise, I trust you slept well
I dozed like a log, and dreamt sweetly for a spell," Sibwashie announced from above, as he peered down at White.
Sibwashie smiled sympathetically as he saw White Noise rubbing his head and sighing.
***
The sun was still low in the east as White Noise and Sky Wave hobbled onto deck, with a steadier-hoofed Sibwashie following just behind them. White blinked the sunlight out of his eyes and turned his head to the side.
"Uurgh..." moaned Sky. "Why does the ground... keep... moving? It's making me –"
Her words were cut off as Sky raced to the edge of the deck and stuck her head over the side. White Noise felt something rising up in his own stomach, but fought to keep it down.
Once she had finished emptying her guts, Sky suddenly got an idea that she felt she could kick herself for not coming up with earlier. She smiled as she extended her wings and lifted off the deck, feeling better as soon as her hooves left the swaying floor.
White glared at her enviously. "Remember to flap, now."
Being a clever pegasus, Sky knew that the strong wind that was propelling the Moonchaser would be able carry her without any need for flapping, so she merely extended her wings. She gained a little bit of speed and flew up and around, doing a loop-de-loop in the air.
"Pegasus show-offs," muttered a member of the crew, who was busy mopping the deck.
Watching Sky twist and turn in the air, White was reminded of his nausea, and quickly turned to Sibwashie in an effort to take his mind off it again.
"So, Sibwashie, excited to get home soon?" he said, envying the zebra's nonchalant attitude to the swaying deck beneath them. "Where exactly is your village? In relation to this 'Molaro' we're going to be landing at, anyway?"
The zebra smiled, and replied after a period of thought:
"As soon as I could walk, I learnt how to swim and how to sail
The coastal town of Molaro, conveniently, is from whence I hail.
"I remember the seaweed dinners and the long boating trips
My parents' warm, wooden hut, and my brother's dinnertime quips.
"They won't be expecting me, not for a while – I'll catch them by surprise and unaware
But they'll be overjoyed to see me, and homesickness is a burden I'll no longer bear."
"Wow, that sounds great!" White Noise replied, his eyes wide with anticipation. "I can't wait to meet them! In fact, I'd better practice my greeting. Hold on, let me think about this for a bit..."
White furrowed his brow in a look of intense concentration, while Sibwashie waited patiently to hear his friend's latest attempt at Zebrican.
White Noise cleared his throat and began to speak, slowly and deliberately:
"«Hail and well met, family of my friend
I hope you don't resent the time that he will spend»
"«Helping me out with the dragons and their fire
I'd rather not earn any of your ire.»"
Sibwashie nodded his head enthusiastically while cringing on the inside. Sibwashie had to give White points for effort, even if his rhythm was quite off.
"Hey, look at that!" Sky shouted from above. "The island's coming into view!"
White and Sibwashie rushed over to the side of the ship and peered out at the small chunk of land that had just appeared. The island was relatively flat, and looked very green and full of life, even from a distance.
***
"Welcome to the Lunar Republic!" Ocean Glider announced proudly, as the ship pulled up to a shiny new harbour some time later. "We'll be disembarking in the recently founded town of Port Welcome, where I hope you will all feel... 'welcome'!"
Sky Wave rolled her eyes and landed back on deck as the Moonchaser came to a halt and let down its anchor. She was loathe to admit it, but her wings were actually quite tired after keeping her up in the air for so long. At least I've managed to keep my lunch down, she thought.
"Ohthankgoodness," White Noise cried, galloping off the ship with a wobble in his step as soon as the board was lowered.
Once the ship's other passengers had departed, White, Sky and Sibwashie were able to have a chat with Ocean on her own.
"Thanks for the wonderful trip," said White, trying not to think about his lingering sea sickness. "When will we be departing for Zebrica?"
"I'll just need two days to stock up on supplies and take care of some business over here," Ocean replied. "Maybe find some other passengers for the trip too. If you guys can hang in there until then, that'd be great."
"I'm sure that we will find something to occupy our time in this place
Go ahead and do what you need to; don't make it a race," said Sibwashie.
"Great! I don't have to get started with all that just yet though, so I'll show you guys around town. Port Welcome's gonna be a pretty important place someday..."
***
As Ocean Glider had said, Port Welcome was a very new town, having only been founded a few months earlier. It had been established to handle the sudden influx of traders, tourists and new citizens who had come to find adventure and riches in the newly prosperous Lunar Republic.
"Ever since the return of Her Majesty Princess Luna," Ocean began, slipping into a pattern of speech that suggested a history as a tour guide, "total agricultural production in the Lunar Republic has increased by approximately twenty-one percent, and is set to get even bigger. Plants just get bigger and grow faster here, and it's all thanks to the fertilizing magic of the Princess's moon – which this island just happens to be in the perfect spot to receive."
White Noise lifted a hoof to his chin. He knew that there was definitely something about this island that made the plants grow better than they did in Equestria, and he was starting to believe the moon-magic story, despite its inherent absurdity. He remembered that astronomy and studies of the moon were never Princess Celestia's favourite subjects and that their tiny departments received very little interest or funding. He regretted not showing interest in either of the fields; some grounding in astronomy would have helped him understand a little bit more about the nature of the magic at work in the Lunar Republic.
The four equines trotted out of the harbour area and into Port Welcome proper. They trod on newly placed paving stone, past wooden houses so new that they were practically still wet with paint, and into what would eventually become the town square.
"As you can see," said Ocean, using a foreleg to gesture towards the buildings around them, "this town square isn't finished yet. Directly ahead of you, where those short walls of stone now stand, is where a clock tower will eventually watch over Port Welcome. Also note the empty storefronts: they're on sale by the town planning committee for low, low prices. Any forward-thinking entrepreneur should scoop one up now, before they're all gone."
White Noise got the hint and made a mental note to visit the town planning committee later on that day.
"Uh, Ocean?" asked Sky Wave. "Sorry if I'm interrupting or anything, but is there anywhere a pony can get something to eat around here? I'm pretty hungry."
"In keeping with its theme of hospitality to newcomers, Port Welcome hosts a number of fine eateries, each catering to a different taste," replied Ocean, not missing a beat. "My personal favourite is 'The Giant Salad': a brand new local startup with a distinctly Lunar flavour and very generous portions."
Sky Wave's eyes lit up at the prospect of "very generous portions", and she insisted that the group make their way to the eatery for a big lunch post-haste.
"Sounds fine to me," White Noise said, realising how hungry he had become after eating very little on the voyage, due to fear of throwing it all up again.
"The sun is in the middle of the sky, signalling the time for a meal
It would be good to pay it heed and fill up our stomachs, I feel," agreed Sibwashie.
***
The Giant Salad was a very new business, and it showed in the inexperience of its waitering staff. The group had had to wait rather a long time for their food, but all the irritation that went with that was forgotten upon the meal's eventual arrival.
"Woah," said Sky, her eyes growing wide as she desperately tried not to drool. "They don't call it The Giant Salad for nothing. This is going to be sooo gooood..."
The other three thanked their waitering staff and made light conversation while picking at their food politely. They ignored Sky's ravenous chewing, and tried not to grimace as she stuck her head right into her salad, splattering her pink face with lettuce and tomatoes.
"You seem to know quite a lot about the Lunar Republic," remarked White Noise, once Ocean Glider finished detailing the pros and cons of the island's various beachfronts. "How did you learn it all?"
"To be honest with you," Ocean Glider replied. "It was all required reading for my side-job as a canvasser for the New Lunar Republic."
White nearly choked on an olive, but managed to squeeze out a polite smile (or rather, a polite grimace).
"Now, I know folks are a little antsy about our movement, and I don't expect you or anyone else to support us just because, but there's been a lot of misinformation going around. I'd really like to clear some of that up."
"I'm listening," White replied, having successfully swallowed the olive.
Sibwashie's ears perked up, indicating that he too was interested in what Ocean had to say for her "movement".
"A lot of the misconception that ponies have about the NLR stems from their basic misunderstanding about what a republic is and how our government works," Ocean began, slipping back into tour-guide-slash-lecturer mode. "The Lunar Republic doesn't have an immortal and benevolent princess to watch over it, so we have to make do with regular ponies. And I don't know about you, but I'm disinclined to put as much trust in a mortal pony with selfish desires as in a wise and ancient princess. So that's why we have a little thing called 'democracy'."
Sibwashie grew more interested. In his studies of different cultures and governmental systems, he'd heard of this "democracy" (adapted from the Goatish words "demoroc", meaning "people" and "racseey", meaning "rule of law"), but he had never studied any country that practiced it in very much depth.
"What that means is that we get the ponies living here to vote for who should lead them. To prevent any one governor – that's what we call an 'elected prince or princess' – from becoming too powerful or too complacent, we hold new voting sessions every three years, and each governor is only allowed to be governor for a total of six years at most."
White Noise nodded in understanding. "So it's a lot like how we decide on mayors, but on a larger scale."
"Exactly. Now, because of that scale, it's very difficult for one pony to get him or herself elected into governorship on their own, as the first few candidates soon found out when the Lunar Republic started out. A successful election campaign that captures the votes of ponies requires the kind of careful planning and thorough advertising that can only be achieved by a group of ponies working towards a common goal. And that's where the 'party' system comes from."
A loud burp distracted Ocean from her speech for a moment, and she turned to look at a blushing Sky Wave.
"That was some good salad," she said meekly, gazing at her empty bowl with half-lidded eyes.
Ocean Glider smiled dismissively and returned to her speech. "A party is a group of ponies that bands behind a single candidate for governor whose views they support and tries to get that governor elected. The New Lunar Republic is one such party – it is a peaceful political organization, and not a rebel movement, as some might think."
"Then what about that 'Celestial tyranny' business?" asked White, narrowing his eyes accusingly. "I take offense at that kind of slander being aimed at my Princess."
Ocean rubbed her mane with a hoof and smiled awkwardly. "Some of our PR officers – especially those working in the Equestrian Outreach program – are perhaps a little overzealous. Although their claims are not completely unfounded: Princess Celestia could probably have handled the Nightmare Moon situation a little better."
White Noise considered starting an argument with Ocean about the princess's conduct a thousand years before, but decided the better of it. Over the previous year, the subject had become a hideously divisive issue among enough ponies for White to want to steer clear of it.
Sibwashie's face crinkled up in concern, and he opened his mouth to speak:
"Your explanation has been well-worded; a soothing balm to my fears
But there's something I do not understand; a problem gumming up the gears.
"As a student of nations and peoples, I've studied this political system
But all other cases suggest that a party's country binds them.
"If this is true, then why does your New Lunar Republic escape its confines?
Why search Equestria for votes, when none from there can even queue in your lines?"
"A good question," replied Ocean, taking a moment to decode Sibwashie's poetry. "The New Lunar Republic is a new party that believes in and aims to create, well, a 'new Lunar Republic'. This small country has seen a huge influx of ponies over the past year or so, and many of them came here after being told about the island's agricultural wonders. At the moment, citizenship is easy to come by, and with citizenship, comes voting rights."
"That's pretty smart," noted Sky Wave, joining in the conversation now that she was finished eating.
***
After their lunch, the travellers bade farewell to Ocean Glider, who had to go attend to various matters in town. Their tour over, the two ponies and zebra decided to head over to the town planning office with White Noise, to have a look at the price of shops in the square.
"I really think it's time to expand Dragonfire Delivery outside of Equestria," said White Noise as the three walked down the road. "The whole point of dragonfire is its ability to send information over vast distances! Restraining it to operating within a single country would be an awful waste."
"But who are you going to get to run the store?" asked Sky Wave. "As far as I know, the only dragons outside of Dragonia are the young ones in Equestria, and they're mostly there for the School for Gifted Unicorns."
"I've thought about that a lot, and I think I'm going to do a little redistribution back home," White replied. "Melvin's sudden and refreshing change of attitude has earned him a job somewhere more important than Hoofington. I was going to just give him my newest employee – one of Spike's friends, whom I hired via correspondence in Bridleburg – as a shop assistant, but that's kind of a stupid idea now that I think about it, and not really fair to my other employees."
"Hmm," pondered Sky. "So Melvin will work in the new store here, and your new employee will be able to cut his teeth in the slow-moving Hoofington."
"Exactly. It's a rather brilliant solution, if I do say so myself."
Activity on the other side of the street caught Sibwashie's attention, and he turned his head to see two stallions arguing over something.
"I ain't hirin' nopony what supports them pushy NLR politicians," said the first stallion, a stout middle-aged yellow earth pony with a thinning mane of brown hair. "Them's gonna ruin mah country wit' their highfalutin ideas about Princess Luna and buildin' cities. Mah great-grandfather left Equestria because 'e wanted –"
"Yes, well, I'm allowed to support whatever political party I want to," interrupted the other stallion, a young brown pegasus with a full-bodied blonde mane. "And it's not like you have any choice but to hire me! In case you haven't noticed, there aren't a lot of pegasi in this town, and your crops are going to get awfully dry unless somepony gives them a little rain every now and then."
"It's a matter o' principle!" the older stallion roared.
"It's a matter of you have no choice and should pipe down and give me a job!"
Sibwashie had always been a rather large zebra and not because of gluttony or sloth. In school he had always been the largest in his class, and he had excelled at the traditional Zebrican sport of Quaggball because of it. When he discovered his special talent, however, he began to use his great physical stature for a rather different purpose.
The arguing stallions fell silent as a large shadow loomed over them and a disapproving striped face gave them each a long stare.
"From what I understand of your fight, the two of you could work together for mutual benefit
But the younger has a radical political affiliation, and the elder, he will not hear of it.
"Consider for a moment, if you will, the practicalities of your situation as things stand
The younger needs money, and the elder needs a pegasus to water and nourish his land.
"Although you disagree on matters of state, it may be necessary to put such things aside
For until other pegasi move into town, each other's presence you must simply abide," Sibwashie said.
The younger stallion pumped a hoof in the air and sneered at the older one. A glare from Sibwashie quickly wiped the expression off his face, as the diplomat prepared for another speech.
"Young one, your disrespect towards an elder marks you as a stallion of poor breeding
Cease this foolishness, lest your conduct reflect on the NLR in a manner most misleading.
"This old farmer has lived many more years than you, and is wiser for having seen more
He respects the ideals of his ancestors, and the land to which both he and you swore.
"I would recommend that he hires you to keep his farm alive, yes
But for your insolence, whatever pay you asked for, he should offer you less."
The two stallion stood dumbfounded for a moment, before nodding their heads slowly and turning to each other. Their right forelegs lifted off the ground and went into a shake, and their quarrel was resolved.
Sibwashie smiled and bowed to the two stallions before returning to White and Sky, who had long since stopped their conversation to watch the scene unfold.
"Very nice," said a voice from behind Sibwashie. "An excellent show of diplomacy – and the rhyming just tops it all off with a delightful layer of finesse!"
Sibwashie spun around to face the speaker: a charcoal-coated earth pony mare a few years older than him. Her yellow-and-orange-streaked mane was done up in a tight bun on top of her head, and she glanced at the zebra with keen, clever eyes from behind a pair of round-framed glasses.
"My name is Vibrant Pattern," she said to him, her tone brisk and business-like. "After seeing that skilled display of mediation performed by a stranger in an unfamiliar environment, and to ponies he doesn't even know, I feel I have gauged enough of your character to know that you can be of great use to me. I have a task for you, sir, and should you choose to accept it, I would be eternally grateful. A large monetary reward would be in order."
"I will listen to what you have to say
Perhaps we can enrich one another this day," replied Sibwashie.
"Sky and I are going to go on ahead to the town planning office," called White Noise, anticipating that Sibwashie's conversation with the long-winded mare could take some time. "We'll meet back here later."
Sibwashie nodded to White, and then turned his attention back to Vibrant Pattern.
"Excellent!" she said. "Now, my husband and I are new to the Lunar Republic, and have been living on a farm. Coming from a background where we knew little of agriculture, we have nonetheless planted our first crops quite successfully. And that would be the end of it, if not for the terrible problem that plagues us."
The mare took a breath, steeled her resolve, and continued.
"You see, sir, for the past week, a terrible great beast of a dragon has been burning our crops! He comes every night to destroy a part of our fields, and leaves again once the morning comes. My husband and I have tried to chase him away, but to no avail – we have even come close to being burnt ourselves many a time!"
Sibwashie raised an eyebrow at the mare's story. The behaviour of this dragon really wasn't consistent with the profiles of any dragons he had ever met - but it did fit in eerily well with Salty Seadog's cautionary tale.
"Nopony is willing to help us: they are all too afraid of the dragon to chase him away, be it by coercion or by force. Now, my husband and I are both modern ponies, and have no desire to hunt the dragon like a common animal – we have both dealt with a good few kind and generous dragons, and know that they are just as much people as we ponies and zebras are. This is where you come in."
Sibwashie's eyes widened as he realized what he was being asked to do.
"We'd very much like it if you could talk our dragon into going away and not burning our fields anymore."
***
The sun was low in the western half of the sky as Sky and White exited the Port Welcome town planning office with smiles on their faces and a neatly rolled-up deed in White's saddlebags. It had taken a fair amount of paperwork and discussion, but overall, White Noise found that buying a stand in Port Welcome had been a good deal easier than in Fillydelphia, or even Ponyville.
"Now I just need to send Melvin a message about his promotion," White Noise told Sky Wave. "I'll include a cheque for travel costs – he'll have to hire a pony to get him to the docks, because those stubby little legs aren't going to cut it."
"When do dragons' wings come in?" Sky asked.
"I think it takes about a century – that's what Smooth Scales told me, anyway. The only dragons that can fly are a good deal older than you or I. A little unfair, perhaps, but then they go on to live with wings for thousands of years, so I guess that makes it better."
The ponies walked in silence until they came to the shop White Noise had been looking for – Birdtamer's Hawk Messenger Service, a modest little store with a majestic hawk painted on its sign.
White entered the store and produced a pre-prepared letter from his saddlebag, using his mouth rather awkwardly, and sorely missing his telekinesis (not for the first time).
"To Melvin the dragon of Hoofington, Equestria, please," he asked politely, depositing the letter on the counter.
The clerk locked eyes with White for a moment, and then took the letter and his bits. Moments later, a hawk was released into the air with White's message tied around its ankle.
White Noise left the shop to rejoin Sky Wave, sighing inwardly as he did so. Little did the clerk know that the letter he had just sent would likely put him out of work within a few months, or a year at most. White felt sorry for the clerk, and for whoever owned the store, but he knew he couldn't stand in the way of progress; especially not progress he had personally worked so hard for.
***
"She wants you to do WHAT?!" Sky exclaimed.
The day had given way to night, and she and White had met up with Sibwashie in the town square, before going off to book rooms at the first inn they came across. The hay and oats dinner the inn had provided had been quite delicious, and the ponies and zebra were lounging in their chairs around the dinner table, feeling stuffed after their second (or in Sky's case, third) courses.
"It seems like a good idea to me," White Noise added. "In case you've forgotten Sky, I originally hired Sibwashie for basically the same reason. We're going to be negotiating with dragons in Dragonia to discover the secrets of dragonfire magic, remember?"
"Yes, but there's a difference between academic dragons who discuss magic with academic unicorns, and crazy dragons who burn up ponies' farms for no good reason! This sounds like a really stupid idea to me."
"Every pony, zebra, dragon and any other creature you could care to name
Has reasons behind their actions, although they may not all think the same," Sibwashie told Sky, at which she rolled her eyes.
"Do this if you must, but I really don't think it's going to end well," she replied.
"Oh don't be such a wet blanket, Sky!" chided White Noise. "We're going to go with Sibwashie tomorrow and offer him moral support, and that 'we' includes you, whether you like it or not."
Sky pouted, but stiffly nodded her head.
***
Using his mouth, White Noise angled the toothpaste tube towards his toothbrush and gave it a gentle squeeze. Toothpaste exited the tube and landed neatly on the brush's bristles. White put the tube down and smiled to himself – a perfect spread on the second try: he was slowly getting better at doing things without magic.
The toothbrush was held by an earth pony bathroom fixture which White had dubbed the "brush vice", even though it probably had another, more delicate name. As he angled his head down and moved his teeth over brush's toothpaste-filled bristles, he tried to remember how he'd managed to do this sort of thing during the first few years of his life, before his magic had manifested.
Like a lot of gifted unicorns, White had been able to use magic earlier than most, which made him the talk of the magic kindergarten back in East Canterlot. He'd only been able to do a little very weak telekinesis and some funny voice-changing spells (which he now found little use for outside of parties), but the earth ponies and other unicorns in his class would watch in awe when his horn so much as lit up.
That just means I'm really at a disadvantage without my magic, he thought. I hope it comes back soon.
White's horn sparked, and a tiny glowing particle descended from his horn and into the basin in front of him.
Woah.
Closing his eyes in concentration, White focused on his horn. Was his magic back? He could feel something there. The bottoms of his hooves tingled as if he was standing in a very shallow puddle. White tried to lift his toothbrush.
A flashing pain cut through White's skull, and his thoughts became foregrounded with a violent shade of red. His horn sparked again, made a faint clicking sound, and then fell dormant. White could feel that his magic was finally building itself back up to noticeable levels, but decided against trying it again for a few more days.
He returned to brushing his teeth.
***
Vibrant Pattern and her husband owned a small farm just a few miles outside of Port Welcome. She met with Sibwashie and his friends in the afternoon of the following day, and the four of them took a horse-drawn carriage to the farm, with the ladies riding in the back while the men pulled.
"This... is probably... good for me..." wheezed White Noise as the farm finally came into view. "I'm sure... I'll be a lot fitter... once this trip... is over..."
The ponies pulled up to the farmhouse in the late afternoon, and were greeted by Vibrant's husband, a nervous and retiring warm-coloured stallion who introduced himself as Yellow Orange.
"Hello dear," Vibrant said, running up to her husband and giving him an affectionate nuzzle. "In order of appearance, these are: White Noise, Sibwashie and Sky Wave. Sibwashie is the zebra I told you about; the one who's going to solve all of our problems! His friends are here for moral support."
"I'm glad to hear that," Yellow replied, before turning to address Sibwashie. "My wife and I really need this farm to work. If you can talk the dragon away, we will be forever in your debt."
"I can only promise to try, as I know little of this dragon's nature or his circumstance
But I shall do my best to get through to him, now that I have been given this chance," Sibwashie replied gravely.
The night was not due for another few hours, and the ponies and zebra wiled away the afternoon with chatter, all of them trying to ignore the tension and gravity of the situation. The travellers told Vibrant and Yellow of their travels, and Vibrant and Yellow told the travellers of their lives on the farm, and where they had come from.
"Yellow and I are very much city ponies, funnily enough," Vibrant told them. "Yellow is one of the Manehattan Oranges, and I was born to the Manehattan Patterns. Our families have lived in that city for generations, and most of our relatives still do."
"But the times have been tough on us," Yellow Orange continued. "I ran a specialist orange and orange-related products store in Bronklyn, until a combination of bad luck, dishonest employees and the fickle Manehattan market put it out of business. Seeing as my special talent is basically 'oranges' – like many members of my family – I was at a loss about what to do after the disastrous failure of my business."
"We considered starting another shop in Fillydelphia, or even an orange farm somewhere out in the country, but we didn't have enough money! We were forced to live – or should I say leech – off the kindness of our respective families until we found out about the Lunar Republic."
"I remember it as if it were yesterday. I was walking home after another unsuccessful day of job searching when a kind pony noticed my unhappiness and asked me what was wrong. I broke down and poured out all of my sorrows on that kind pony, who listened quietly until I was done. When I could speak no more, he offered me flier."
"Yellow stormed into the apartment with that flier in his mouth: he was so excited! I read it over and over, not believing what I was seeing. We knew then that we would be able to start a farm in the Lunar Republic for less than we could ever have imagined, and reap the benefits of the island's magic! It was the happiest day of our lives..."
The city-turned-farmer-ponies talked at length about the wonders of their new country and their beautiful farm, and about all the plans they had for it. At that time, they had only planted cornstalks and orange trees, but they planned to expand into other forms of produce – and then there was the thought of starting a family.
All the excited talk served only to make Sibwashie nervous. He was confident in his skills as a diplomat, but he had to admit that he had never used them on a dragon. I've never even used them on a baby dragon, let alone a full-grown, crazy one! he thought.
Thankfully, the talk of the farm eventually let up, largely thanks to White Noise's intervention.
"Did we tell you that Sky Wave's an aerial dancer?" he asked them.
"Oh, how delightful!" Vibrant replied, bringing her hooves up to her face in glee. "Please do give us a demonstration, dear – I do so enjoy a good dance!"
"Well, I haven't really –"
A discreet jab in the ribs from White cut Sky's excuses short, and she gave in showed the ponies a part of her newest routine, swearing them all (but Vibrant Pattern especially) to secrecy after the fact.
Eventually, the sunset cast its red rays over the land, and Sibwashie was led to the orange orchard, with instructions to gallop over to the cornfield, should the dragon decide to burn that instead. His friends offered to accompany him, but he politely declined. Any interference from factors he didn't have complete control of could jeopardise the whole operation.
***
The evening breeze broke against Sibwashie's stiff mohawk as he waited for the dragon to make an appearance. He watched the small leaves of the young orange trees in the "orchard" sway in the wind, and stared out into the evening sky. The stars had not yet come out, and there was no hint of a dragon. If one lay in wait nearby, he was doing a good job of keeping himself concealed.
Many of the trees had been newly planted, he noted, and there were scorch marks on the ground not far from where he stood.
Sibwashie waited for what felt like an eternity, his mind empty of thoughts as he focused only on watching the sky. He knew what he would say; he had practiced his lines over and over in his head, and had analysed every little detail of his words to ensure its effectiveness. All he could do was continue waiting, and try not to be driven mad by it.
Eventually, his sensitive ears caught the soft sound of leathery wings flapping above him. Sibwashie looked up at the dragon, and the dragon looked down at Sibwashie.
The dragon's tar-black scales made his shape difficult to discern over the backdrop of the night sky. All that Sibwashie could make out clearly was his dark purple belly, and his eyes. The eyes of the black dragon glowed red with menace, making it impossible for Sibwashie to read any real emotion in them.
However, the eyes were not white, and neither were they stained with fluid. This brought Sibwashie some small relief; relief that was immediately cancelled out by rows of the dragon's long, sharp teeth, so white that they glistened in the moonlight.
Sibwashie cleared his throat, and in a loud, clear voice, began to speak:
"Oh dragon lord, thou who hast lived my lifetime a hundred times over and more
For your kind ear and wise understanding, I stand beneath you and implore.
"I speak for the humble and diligent ponies making a living of the fruits of this land
For there is much about thine conduct that neither I nor they understand.
"Why, pray tell, dost thou roast more of their farm each night?
Couldst thou bring the cause of thy actions to light?
"For if thy reasoning is flawless, and thy intentions noble and good
I shall make them vacate this land, and even agree that they should."
The dragon continued to stare down at Sibwashie, his expression unchanged.