The great green dragon came to a careful landing at the mouth of his cave, the pale lady in his grasp still limp. Finally away from the ponies that had hurt her, he could actually inspect her injuries.
Slicing the tough ropes away from her body and muzzle with his claws, the dragon was surprised to discover she was more or less unmarked, save for the ugly swelling on the side of her head. Though that alone was more than enough to warrant concern. Cradling her to his chest, he dragged her into his cave as gently as he could. Once inside, he went to lay her down gently atop his hoard of gems, arranging her in what looked to be a comfortable position, when he realized he felt something warm and wet sticking to his claws. He looked down in confusion, and let out a gasp at what he saw.
His claws had torn bloody rents in her hide, simply by gripping her, and her blood was dripping down onto his sleeping hoard below her.
“Something's wrong here...” he said. Leaning back slightly, and looking over the female. He lifted one of his claws, still dripping blood, and scraped it against his own hide, raising the sound of metal scraping on metal. Then he gently lifted the dragoness' own paw, and made one of her claws scrape along her side, raising barely a sound, but peeling back the topmost layer of her scaly skin in a series of white flakes.
“Her hide is like snakeskin...” he said, then blinked, and slapped himself in the face. “Of course, new dragoness I’ve never seen before, she's young. So young she's barely matured and not even properly set. No wonder she got hurt so easily...”
He looked over her form, laying there. The bloody rents in her skin from his claws, and the large raised lump on her head, and slumped. Dragons rarely, if ever, got hurt or sick. So he had very little in the way of medicine, no way to heal her.
Or at least, none readily available.
The dragon padded around his sleeping hoard, and into a further recess in the back of the cave, beyond the pile of gemstones. In a bracket of iron in the cave wall was a log wrapped with a great wad of linen cloth that had been soaked in pitch. The dragon gently breathed a small puff of orange flame on it to ignite it. The life from the huge torch lit the room, and revealed the dragon's storage chamber. A giant, crude wooden larder, enchanted to store the rewards of his hunting trips for long periods of time. And several chests filled with various personal treasures, things more valuable to him than his sleeping hoard, and a broad, crudely fashioned stone slab raised on pegasus style stone pillars that came up to his hips when he sat on his hindlegs. A dragon sized table.
The dragon went straight to the largest chest and began to sort through the contents; enormous scrolls, tomes bound in leather and metal with text carved upon their faces.
Finally, he located what he'd been seeking, a particularly large tome, upon which was written an ancient language that resembled claw scratches. He opened it to a few pages in.
“Poultices, tinctures, tisanes... there we are! Proper potions!” his eyes lit up, then he flipped through the book rapidly to the page he needed, his claws skidding over the pages with a scraping of magical sparks, signifying the enchantment upon the pages to protect them from the ravages of the anatomy of the reader.
“Potion for broken ribs, broken legs, broken wings, broken claws... ah, head injuries! Let's see...” he peered closer at the page. “For one dose, two pounds of powdered timberwolf bark...” he blinked. “Is that a pun? Ngh...” he shook his head. “Twelve cragodile stonescales, two dozen deepwort mushrooms, twelve gallons pure spring water, one pint unicorn water, and...” he paused, then growled. “Damn it all.” he spat, grabbing a spare scrap of parchment and a large Roc's quill and a pot of ink (it was actually a re-purposed milk can) and scribbled something down upon it.
Taking his note, he went back to the main chamber, and went to where he'd stored the remains of a broken down wagon he'd found near the forest. It had been filled with crates and sacks of pony foodstuffs, which he'd long since devoured (say what you wanted about the little weaklings, but pony sugar was delectable). Taking a couple of large sacks he then turned back to his inner chamber and the chests there. He reached into one and pulled out a carved quartz bottle that glowed from within and dropped it into one of the sacks.
He turned to leave, but before he even got out the mouth of his cave, he paused, looking back at the female. Part of him wanted to remain at her side in case anything should come looking for her. But he couldn't stay and get medicine at the same time, and simply moving her was injuring her worse all the time.
With a snarl of frustration, he stomped out of his cave and headed into the Everfree.
* * * * *
Twilight walked through the remains of the boutique alongside one of Celestia's guards -she didn’t know his name- and the Ponyville inspector. A team of unicorn guards were lifting and sorting fragments, and as a byproduct, cleaning up the pile of wreckage. They were currently working their way through the collapsed remnants of her workroom.
Sitting there, like a shining mockery to the devastation about them, were Rarity's gem storage chests. Each one still neatly organized by type and color.
“As you can see, Lady Rarity had a considerable stock of gemstones.”
“For her dresses, yes.” Twilight said.
“Right, her business.” The inspector nodded. “As I told princess Celestia, The working theory is our perpetrator, possibly a young, wild dragon whelp got wind of a pony with a large store of gemstones and came to steal them.”
Twilight hesitated, remembering Spike's greed growth. “And Rarity?” she asked, taking a single cantering step to catch back up.
“We've been examining each and every piece of the building as closely as we can. Current theories are... unsavory, but we can't find any real solid evidence to back any of them up.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“To be honest, there's no sign of any kind of struggle, no hoof marks, no blood, no burns from self defense spells or dragon fire, and besides the ones that go along with the colossal pawprints in the main floor there are no no claw gouges in the wood.”
Twilight put a hoof to her chin in deep thought, then glanced over at the cleared area that had once been Rarity's ground floor work area.
“Inspector, would you mind if I took a closer look at something?”
“Of course not princess. Just ask before you touch anything.”
Twilight glared at him for a heartbeat. “I'm not going to contaminate the evidence inspector.” she said, then turned and trotted over to the chests, then began walking around them.
The chests were still intact, for the most part, standing on their little wooden legs, save for one which had both legs broken off cleanly on one side. Something about that fact gave twilight pause, and she stared at them while her mind worked, taking in every detail.
“Inspector, did you notice this?” she asked.
“Notice what, your majesty?”
“These chests... does it look like any attempts at forced entry?” She said, gesturing with a hoof at them.
The inspector blinked, then narrowed his gaze as he peered at the chests. “Hmm... Hard to tell. They are damaged but...”
“But it doesn't look consistent with what a dragon would do, does it?” Twilight surmised.
“I'm no expert, princess, I couldn't say.”
Twilight frowned. He might not have been an expert, but Twilight knew dragons. Or, at least, she knew one. And a dragon attempting to get into chests full of gems, but not leaving any claw scratches, or even a little scorching on them?
Something didn't add up here.
* * * * *
A few miles past the border of the everfree, in a small, gnarled tree that had been hollowed out into a home much the same fashion as the golden oaks library, Zecora the zebra was busy grinding lungwort petals -an ingredient in a potion to help a young foal in ponyville who was having some trouble breathing- humming and singing a tune from her homeland as she worked.
It was right about then that her whole house started to shake, the branches outside swaying and creaking wildly, windows rattling and a wind howling like a monsoon had just arrived.
The zebra mare dropped her pestle and backed away from the workbench in alarm, then nearly fell over as the ground violently shook beneath her, accompanied with the sound of a heavy impact just outside her door. Several bottles and jars on her shelves toppled over.
“Alchemist! Come out!” A tremendously vast and deep voice filled the air, penetrating through the walls of her home.
Zecora froze. She knew of only one being in this forest with a voice like that. She'd encountered it once, long ago, when she'd first moved to the everfree. A creature that was known in legend, even in her homeland. A creature that filled her with fear and dread.
“I know you're in there, zebra! Come out at once!” the voice thundered.
Her legs quaking beneath her, she stumbled to the door and cracked it open just enough to peek out with one eye, holding her flimsy wooden door between her and the enourmous beast as a shield, useless as it was.
“Get out here damn you! I'll not speak to someone through walls and doors!” he growled.
Gulping convulsively, Zecora crept out of the door of her tree hut, till she was out on the grass, hunkered down low in a fearful crouch. “W-what do you wish of me, great dragon of the everfree?”
“I need you to brew a potion.”
Zecora's rhyming speech pattern short circuited.
“What?”
“That is what you do, is it not?”
“Y... yes, I do.” she said, staring up at him.
“Good. Then I have one other question. Do you have any Lavender?”
Confusion writ across her striped face, zecora tilted her head. “Lavender? Yes,yes I do.”
“Do you have two pounds of the petals?”
“Two pounds of petals of lavender? That is quite the tall order.”
The dragon snarled at her and she shrunk back into a tiny quivering ball. “Do not banter with me! Do you have the flowers or not!?”
“I have them! I have them! Please do not roast me!” She pleaded, rhyming once again lost as she covered her head with her forelegs.
The dragon snorted. “Quit your sniveling!” he growled, sitting down hard with a earth shaking thump. “Now go and fetch your brewing cauldron, and whatever tools you need for a large batch of brew.”
“Y-yes, yes sir, at once.” Zecora said, leaping up and dashing into her house, and going straight to her herb stores. Lavender was a fairly common ingredient in many of her potions, but two whole pounds of the tiny petals? She'd need to use her whole supply.
Less than five minutes later, Zecora was dragging her largest kettle out her door, her entire supply of lavender stuffed in and stacked high on her saddlebags on her back. “I am back with the petals and cauldron, what now needs be done?” she asked.
“That is all your lavender?”
Zecora nodded fervently.
“It shall have to do.” he said, then laid down, couchant style, and brought one paw up to the base of his neck, where Zecora only now saw that he was wearing a a tremendous, bulging sack like a pendant on a rope cord.
He removed it from his neck, and brought it down before her, and shook out the contents. Bark, still wet from where it had been peeled off a living plant, rock fragments that... that had blood dripping off one side, the sight of which caused Zecora to flinch. There were a large number of reddish brown capped mushrooms that she immediately recognized from potions she'd brew for healing lacerations and other grievous wounds, and...
And a carved quartz container filled with a sloshing fluid that glowed a brilliant cyan blue. That alone held her gaze with such rapt fascination that, for a heartbeat, she forgot about the dragon entirely.
“Fill your cauldron with water, and work your magic with these ingredients.” he said.
Knowing that failure to comply would mean her end, Zecora fought to control the primal fear within her, and got to work.
* * * * *
Twilight found her friends gathered in Sugarcube Corner, each one looking ready to go to war... in their own fashion. Applejack had another brand new length of rope, and saddlebags bulging so full of supplies the flaps wouldn't close, and Twilight could clearly see them. All apple products, naturally. Rainbow Dash had her rainbow warpaint on, and Pinkie Pie... was wearing forest camo military fatigues, a beret, a bandolier with cupcakes peeking out of pockets spaced around it and a slingshot sticking out of one of her jacket's pockets... and she was also busy loading cream pies into her party cannon.
Fluttershy, meanwhile, had long since retreated to her cottage home.
“What're you girls doing?” She asked.
“Gettin' ready to go with you.” Pinkie said.
“Who said I was going anywhere?” Twilight asked.
“Come on Twilight, it's us. Something major happened, now we're gonna go deal with it. 'sides, you don't think Rarity's gone, do you?” Pinkie said.
Twilight blinked. “Wha-? How'd you-”
“You aren't crying all saddy-waddy like Sweetie Belle and her parents, or stumbling around like Spike. You've got that look you get when something's not quite right and you've got to figure it out. We're here to help you with that.”
“And all this?” Twilight said, gesturing at the room full of her friend's 'equipment'.
“Well how else are we gonna head into the Everfree forest after two full sized dragons?”
“Who said that was what we're doing?” Twilight asked.
“Twilight, the only critter that knows what actually happened is that dragon. Like as not, we're goin' to have to talk to the critter sooner or later, might as well be sooner.” Applejack said.
Twilight shook her head, but had to give a small smile. “My friends are all crazy.”
“You know you love us Twilight.” Rainbowdash said with a smirk.
* * * * *
In a small, idyllic cottage a literal stone's throw from the border of the everfree forest, some few miles from the main path into the forest itself, a large number of animals sat, stood, perched, and generally hovered around the sofa in the middle of the living room.
Upon that sofa, lay their caretaker. The former bearer of the element of Kindness was sobbing, her face buried in the pillows.
Angel Bunny hopped up on the couch next to Fluttershy's head and reached out with one soft paw to gently pat her on the head.
Fluttershy raised her eyes from behind the pink barrier of her long mane, and stared at him with shining, tear filled eyes. “Oh Angel...” she sniffed. “I... I just saw her yesterday... and now she's gone...”
Angel's ears went down as he frowned.
Fluttershy reached out with her wings and forelegs to draw him in, but the rabbit hopped backwards and out of reach.
“Please Angel... mommy needs a hug...” she sniffed.
Angel pointed across the room.
“Is something wrong with Harry?” she asked.
Angel looked where he was pointing, and saw the resident bear standing in the way. He slapped his forehead, then gestured and squeaked at the big ursine, who, looking sheepish, stepped aside.
Revealing Fluttershy's writing desk.
“You... Oh angel.” she sighed, seeing the untouched food list sitting atop the table. “I-I know there's not a lot of food in the house, but I’m sorry... I can't do chores now... I’m sorry,.”
Angel looked, then groaned, then ran over to the table, hopped up to the surface, violently kicked the food list off the top, then grabbed a quill and a scrap of blank parchment, and a envelope, and ran back over to fluttershy, shoving the items in her face.
“Angel! What're you...” she said, then ground to a halt.
The envelope had a mark on it, a simple, solidly printed D, that occasionally quivered in a slightly unnerving manner.
“You want me to write Discord a letter?” she asked, and Angel nodded enthusiastically. “Why would you want me to...” her eyes went wide.
“Oh, I’m such a stupid pony!” she muttered as she began to frantically scribble on the parchment.
* * * * *
Twilight Sparkle, flanked by three members of the knights of harmony, were walking down the path to the Everfree forest, Pinkie hauling her party cannon behind her.
Considering they made absolutely no attempt to conceal themselves, they were spotted instantly by the guards in the cloud post next to the path.
“Halt! Who goes there?” an authoritative voice called down from above.
The four mares stopped and looked up.
Twilight cleared her throat. “Princess Twilight Sparkle and the bearers of -”
“Former.” Applejack reminded her.
“Former bearers of the elements of harmony!”
“Oh! Princess, one moment.”
A few seconds later, the owner of the voice, a standard colored Pegasus guard came gliding down before them, a compound bow and a quiver of arrows strapped to his saddle region. He back winged smartly and came to a perfect landing.
He saluted smartly. “Your majesty, as Princess Celestia instructed, we have observation posts extending along the Everfree border in both directions every quarter mile, and we have regular patrols planned out between them. The border of the Everfree is officially on lockdown.”
“Oh! That's... that's good, Sir... uh...?” she said.
“Corporal Straight Arrow, Your majesty.”
“Thank you sir Arrow. That was nicely done, now if you'll excuse us.” Twilight said, stepping around him and walking towards the forest again, her friends following suit.
The guard blinked in confusion, then turned to look at her. “Your majesty!” he exclaimed, leaping into the air and coming down in front of her again, wings spread wide.
Twilight fought the urge to groan. “What?”
“Princess Celestia specifically instructed us not to allow anypony to enter the everfree.”
“And?” Twilight asked, this time letting her exasperation leak into her voice.
The corporal gulped. “Uh... Due to her orders, I'm not allowed to let you pass.”
“Oh really?” Twilight said, eyes narrowing, and the other mares pressing in close as well.
Just as the corporal was about to consider waving the group through, another voice called down from the cloud post.
“Corporal, sir! Somepony's coming out of the forest, sir!”
“Rarity!?” The mares all gasped, trying to look past Arrow.
The corporal snapped his wings shut and whirled around.
Instead of being greeted with the sight of a white unicorn, they found themselves looking at a zebra, hauling a cart full of things.
“Zecora!” the group all exclaimed, then rushed forward so fast they knocked the confused guard to the ground.
“Zecora, what's going on? Why does it look like you're moving? I mean... again?” Twilight asked as they reached her.
The zebra panted. “Too many times, I'm threatened now. To this forest, I must take a bow.”
“Zecora, what happened?”
“The great ruler of the everfree, descended he did, upon my tree. He growled and roared, and told me to brew, and then with a cauldron full, without so much as a thank you, off he flew!”
“Wait... ruler of the Everfree? The Everfree doesn’t have a ruler.” Rainbowdash said.
“The greatest of beasts, green and full of fire, dominates this place, from plains to mire.”
“Greatest of... wait, Zecora, the green dragon came to you?” Twilight asked.
The zebra nodded.
“And he wanted you to brew somethin'?” Applejack added.
“A potion I have never seen, ingredients ripped from monsters, strong and mean.”
“Wait... ripped? You don't mean...” Twilight swallowed convulsively.
“Ah think we all get the picture, Twilight.” Applejack said.
“Eeeeeyuck!” Rainbow gagged. Pinkie looked a decidedly greener shade of pink than she had a moment ago.
“Compounds and magics, strong in the blood, mixed with unicorns water, I hardly understood. But ask he did, and so I did brew, and then, as I said, off he flew.”
Twilight's jaw dropped.
“Uh... what's 'unicorn water' 'zactly? 'Cus, ah don't wanna go and make any assumptions.” Applejack inquired.
“You don't know what unicorn water is?” Twilight said, turning to her friends, disbelieving.
“Uh... no. No ah don't.” Applejack said.
“Me 'neither.” Pinkie added.
Rainbowdash shook her head.
Twilight groaned. “Unicorn water is also known as 'panacea'. It's basically the strongest healing potion ever created, it's capable of curing any illness, or healing any wound short of outright death, and has been known to extend the lifespan of a normal mortal creature indefinitely if at least one dose is taken every fifty years. Only the magic ritual used to create it has been lost for centuries... and where did you even get any!?” Twilight said, turning back to Zecora.
“I did not. The beast, he brought.”
“Oh... the dragon had it...” Twilight blinked, then lunged forward and put her hooves on Zecora's shoulders, staring her right in the eyes. “He had you make a potion, and the panacea -the pinnacle of magical potion making- was just an ingredient in it!?”
“Simmer down Twilight!” Applejack yelled, physically dragging her off the startled zebra.
“I'm sorry! I'm sorry, it just doesn't make sense! Why would...” Twilight paused, eyes widening. “Wait... wait wait wait... Dragons are naturally resistant to outside magical influence, so...”
“So what, Twilight?” a gentle, motherly voice asked from behind her.
“Princess Celestia!” Applejack exclaimed, who then bowed before Twilight could turn around.
“Hello my little ponies.” the tall, white alicorn said, as Twilight turned. “Twilight. Might I ask what you're all doing out here... is that a cannon?” Celestia's eyes widened as she glanced at Pinkie.
“Yup! And I've got plenty of pies and cakes for ammunition!”
Celestia blinked. “I'm... not sure what effect that will have on a dragon...”
“Thank you!” Rainbowdash exclaimed.
“What?” twilight said.
“Oh, just glad somepony else thinks Pinkie should've been packing regular cannonballs rather than cakes and stuff.”
“Where would she get them?” Twilight asked.
“Where did she get a Cannon in the first place?” Rainbowdash countered.
Twilight paused. “Fair enough.”
“Now what was that you were saying earlier, Twilight?” Celestia asked.
“I was... oh! Right, the panacea! Yes, dragons are naturally resistant to outside magical influences, so most normal potions wouldn't work on them. If they needed a potion for one of their own kind, it'd have to be ridiculously powerful just for it to be able to affect them. So, something like the panacea would probably act as a catalyst, overpowering their natural magical resistance and allowing the other ingredients to exert their effect... or perhaps the other way around, the other ingredients boosting the panacea, I couldn't be sure without studying an actual dragon taking such a potion.”
“Like Spike?” Pinkie asked.
“Well, I suppose. He is resistant to magic, but not as much as an adult dragon.”
“Twilight, I do not understand, why a dragon would come to me, with this elixir in hand.” Zecora said.
“What the heck is a hand...?” Rainbowdash muttered.
“Long story short, Zecora, there was a adult dragon in town, Rarity's missing, her boutique is destroyed, and the dragon that lives here came to rescue it after my friends here knocked it out. It probably came to you looking for help healing the one that we need to find. Do you know where it's cave is?”
“I know where this beast resides, but now, I'd rather run and hide.” Zecora said, glancing back fearfully at the forest.
“No-pony is going to make you return to the forest, my good zebra.” Celestia said.
“But-!” Twilight started, but Celestia cut her off.
“I'm sorry, Twilight, but you're not ready to confront a dragon.”
“Not ready to... I’m an alicorn! I'm immortal and more powerful than ever, and you sent me to deal with a dragon a few weeks after I first came to ponyville!”
Celestia shook her head.“That was a dragon entering its century sleep. They are weaker, slower, and much more easily manipulated than an alert, and obviously violent dragon. This one is defending a dragoness. Male dragons have been known to become incredibly violent when protecting a female. You're lucky ponyville wasn't razed to the ground when it came to her aid before. And besides that, if our potion master produced what I think she did for him, then the female is likely at full strength now as well. You cannot engage them head on.”
“Then what the hay are we supposed to do!?” Twilight snapped. “Sit on our haunches and do NOTHING!? Our friend is missing, and the only creature that possibly knows what happened to her is in there, and now you just want us to give up!?”
“That is not what I am saying at all, Twilight.” Celestia said in an even tone.
“Then what are you saying?” Twilght.
“I'm saying, we wait for backup.”
Twilight blinked. “Wait... backup? From who?”
“Your brother, for one. Ponyville needs protecting, and his shield seems admirable for the job. As for the other, Well, I’m expecting Discord to show up any minute.”
“Discord?”
“He is basically a deity, Twilight. You want beings like him on your side if possible when going after dragons.”
Twilight snorted. “I guess you're right.”
“Normally I wouldn't agree with you, but in this case, I guess Celestia does have a point.” the bored sounding voice of the god of chaos said with a long suffering sigh.
Everypony there jumped and looked to the source of the voice, where discord hovered nonchalantly in the air, Fluttershy held in a coil of his long, serpentine body.
“Uh... hello everypony. I hope we didn't interrupt.”
* * * * *
Back at the dragon's cave, the dragon crept along, holding up the cauldron with one paw, being most careful not to spill any of the contents as he walked with three legs back to the female.
She lay where he'd left her on his gem hoard, her chest rising and falling in slow breaths. He paused there, then, the medicine in hand, to finally take a moment to actually look at her.
Her primary color was alabaster white, while her underbelly was a extremely faint shade of pale blue, very nearly white itself. Her crest of spines, which went all the way down her back and along her tail, were deep purple. She had the same general body type as himself, long, elegantly proportioned, and sinuously muscled. He smiled at that, one of his own. They'd likely get along well. She was as long as he was, nose to tail, perhaps a few feet shorter, but nothing remarkably noticeable. She was slimmer and sleeker than he was, but still carried the common pear shape with a broadening of the body going from the shoulders back to the hip, along with the common pot belly. Her long tail was tipped with a diamond shaped tail spade in a similar color to her bellyscales, and he could just tell that she'd be one of the type with those rare, supremely prehensile tails, able to curl it around a tiny object, like one of those ponies, without so much as bruising them.
Her head -besides the injury- was adorned with a set of horns. Two coming off from the back corners of her skull, going up at first then sharply curling down and around her cheeks in the fashion of a ram's horns, framing -but not interfering with- her mobile ear frills. Curiously, she had a third horn erupting from the center of her forehead, above and between her eyes. This one was gently spiraled, and curved backwards slightly and, although quite short (a mere foot and a half long, barely more than a bump) it was sharp and pointy. Her face...
Narrow, slender and petit. Her snout was perhaps a quarter shorter than his, and much more effeminate than the long, rugged ones of males of the same body type.
Coming to her side he placed the cauldron down and took her head and long neck gently in his paws, being extremely careful with his long, sharp claws. Shifting himself alongside her, he rested her head against his chest, then reached out with his tail and picked up the cauldron again, bringing it back to his paws. He nudged her lips apart with one smooth scaled knuckle, and eased her jaws apart before bringing the lip of the cauldron up.
He poured the potion in a bit at a time, the fluid sloshing in her maw for a moment before the unconscious dragoness' body slowly, weakly, began to swallow on reflex. Then, the potion taking effect almost instantly, began to grow stronger. He poured more in, and she swallowed faster, and stronger, till before he knew it, she'd downed all of the potion.
The lacerations on her side vanished, the lump on her head shrank, and he could actually hear the bones in her skull shift and realign.
And then, she began to move.
* * * * *
A dull throbbing sensation in her head greeted Rarity upon this waking. Her eyelids, her head, her body, they all felt as though made of lead. She was laying on something that shifted under her, and gently prickled at her... like she was laying on a bed of rocks the size of grains of rice... pointy ones. Also, there was a strange taste in her mouth... she could detect...
Lavender?
She tried to force her eyes to open, and it came with great mental effort, but her heavy lids parted just enough for her to see... to her left a riot of colors, and a grey dimness ahead and to her right. She fought to make her eyes focus beyond the blur, but the effort was too much and her eyes slid slowly closed again, and she could not find the strength to open them again.
Denied, she let out a weak moan in frustration.
A second later, there was the sensation of someone at her side.
“Oh thank goodness, the medicine's working. Can you hear me?” a deep, resonant voice asked, in a voice that was far too loud for her addled brain.
“Oooooh....” she moaned.
“Pale lady? Please, say something...” the voice, very clearly male, insisted.
“Mmmmhhh... I...” she tried to say... something, anything. She was confused, what was going on? Why was everything so fuzzy? And why was her chest vibrating so as she spoke?
Before she could even contemplate trying to speak any of this, she felt a pang of hunger so intense it was like the stab of a knife, deep in her middle, coupled by a rumbling from her middle, demanding food.
There was a moment's silence, before she heard that deep, resonant male voice chuckled.
“Of course, I’m such an idiot. You need food. I'll get you something easy to digest.” the voice said.
The fog did not lift from her mind, but she was able to detect the environment around her grow brighter, and considerably warmer.
The next thing she was aware of, there was a smell that reminded her of canned vegetable stew, only there was something else to the scent -not at all disagreeable- that made her stomach growl and her mouth water. The hunger pangs now seemed to sharpen her mind and bring her to full wakefulness, and the smell of food gave her body an incentive to waken. Her eyes fluttered open.
To the visage of a great green dragon hovering over her.
He glanced down at her with those great golden eyes.
She screamed.