//------------------------------// // Déjà Screwed // Story: Stupid Direction-Face // by Estee //------------------------------// She crossed her forelegs. The boots made it feel slightly weird. "How is it getting colder?" Garble demanded. The little spurts of claw-warming flame were getting smaller every time she glanced back towards the distinctive I-am-about-to-hack-up-a-scroll sound. This one had been particularly weak. "Because we're heading higher," Rainbow told him, and there didn't seem to be much point in blocking the irritation. "You told me about what a great flier you are. Didn't any of those stunts take place at altitude?" "No --" and he froze again, stopped moving up the cliff face. He hadn't been quite as slow there: as it turned out, there were some areas where claws could actually be an improvement over hooves, and climbing was one of them. He didn't have to search every inch of rock for the ledges which would allow a pony some chance of purchase: he could simply score the cliff with a hard swipe and lock his claw tips in at the end. They'd actually been picking up a little time on the initial slope (but not much of it) -- and now he'd stopped again. "No?" It was actually kind of refreshing to hear him talk about something he hadn't done. "Why not?" "There's -- more obstacles at low levels. It's more challenging. Not like a stupid pegawuss, who thinks going through a cloud is some big accomplishment..." She bit back fifteen particularly choice comments, flapped again. After a moment, she heard him put another clawhold in the rock. "How's that vest?" "Huh?" "The dumb vest," he clarified. "Is it warm?" "It keeps me nice and cozy," Rainbow half-lied: it helped with short-term exposure, but she'd been outside too long, and no clothing could help with her wings: she refused to let anything cover them. To do so would sacrifice some degree of flight, and Rainbow had her priorities in order. "Where'd you get it?" The curiosity seemed to have a degree of sincerity behind it. "From a friend." "Back in town?" "Yeah." "Bought it for you or made it?" "Made." Another too-long moment without any movement taking place. "Bet she'd like to boast about making something for a noble dragon." The horror nearly sent Rainbow's wings back against her body. Is he talking about going back? All the way to Rarity, that's another pony he might somehow recognize out of nowhere even if he hasn't done it with me yet and even if he doesn't, it's more chances for him to spot Spike, especially if she's in the middle of making something for that noble dragon. If we get away with that, I'll have to come back here with him tomorrow and do it all over again... "...but we should get this done today," Garble finally decided. "You've held me up too long already, Direction-Face. So if everything goes okay -- I'll just hit her place on the way back. And I know you can show me where it is." She turned back just in time to see the grin. "So come on. Onwards and upwards..." She wished for Spike's trick, that she had the scroll and ink on her along with the fire which would send it all into the aether. Some way of sending a warning -- but she didn't need one. If he was serious about it, all she had to do was put on one burst of speed as they crossed the bridge back into Ponyville and reach the Boutique ahead of him. Claim she'd wanted to give Rarity some warning about Garble's colors and sizing so the designer could start working before the dragon ever got there. It would give them enough of a chance. "The red looks good," Garble commented, pulling himself up again. An even smaller trickle of flame followed that announcement. "Thanks." "My scales look better." "Wow..." "What?" "Someone really sucks at slash-gouge-claw." "So what happened here?" "Huh?" A bare hiss of sound. Garble was staring at the mound of debris. "This wasn't in the scouting report. It said something about a rockslide zone..." "Yeah, well... this is what you get after the rockslide," Rainbow tightly whispered. "And keep your voice down, unless you want another. I don't think the mountain is used to your noble dragon volume. Or, you know, we could fly..." It wasn't the rockfall which Fluttershy's scream had set off: that one was higher up the mountain. There had been several of those danger zones during the climb, and they'd only managed to trigger the one. But after their mission... well, other ponies used the mountain sometimes, and the mayor had decided it would be safe for everyone if there was nothing left to fall, mostly because it would have all come down already. Several carefully-projected bursts of thunder later, the trail was as safe as it was going to be -- but every storm and season created the chance of something new to fall. He looked up at the unsteady-seeming cliff rocks. The yellow eyes widened. "No. You fly over it -- but stay low. Real low. Don't go more than a few feet over the base. No matter what happens. You hear me, Direction-Face? Low and slow. Say it back to me so I'll know you've got it." "Why? Because you need me to direct you over each pebble one at a time? Let's start now: left, up, left, up, up, up, and up..." Garble shook his head -- and for the first time, the gesture didn't seem to be a dismissive one. "How's your eyesight?" She was a pegasus. "Good. Why?" He pointed a claw. "Right up there. See it?" She followed the line on instinct -- Softly, "-- what is it?" Garble was still staring. "Green? Emerald." A huge one, about half the size of her head. "It's gotta be a little exposed or it won't work... but I'm guessing the rockslide uncovered it a little more. Big one, too... so stay low." "What... what happens if I don't stay low?" "Well... I don't know if it works with ponies," Garble admitted, and the sound of him saying he didn't know something focused her attention. "I don't think there's been any ponies stupid enough to come this far without a noble dragon escorting them. You know, given how dumb you all are, that's saying something... But that means I don't know if it detects ponies. If it does... it'll go off." "Go... off...?" No grin. All arrogance temporarily set aside. Nothng but whispered thought. "Well, when everyone's being all quiet and junk, you've got to have some way of setting off the rockslide..." This time, she froze. During the original trip, she had insisted several times on getting ahead of the group. Going back to town for a snack while the rest of them made their way up, then meeting them at the top. On flying, real flying, not what Fluttershy's panic attacks had forced Ranbow into as a non-substitute (which had still been much faster than she was moving today). Would any of her potential paths have brought her past the emerald? "Something happened here, though..." Garble said. "It would have buried the ground ones, so we've just got to stay away from the higher stuff. We may not be the first ones through here, Direction-Face." The grin was a cruel one. "Been missing any ponies?" And he started the newest leg of the climb. She flew nearby, keeping up. Physically, there was nothing easier, if resisting the urge to truly fly could ever be described as 'easy'. "Emeralds set off rockslides." "In that setting, yeah." "Is there anything else -- which does other things?" He nodded. "Like what?" "You'll know if it kills you." Another grin, with protruding fangs seeming to consume the air. "Keep those pie-plate eyes open, Direction-Face. You probably won't see anything before me -- but if you don't see anything at all, it'll be too late..." Two rubies. One sapphire. Garble led them around. Two involved major detours: the third was a simple shift to the right. Apparently the detection radius had something to do with the gem's overall size. And Rainbow was searching her memory, trying to remember every bit of the previous course, she was sure they'd been within the supposed range of the big red spicule... Maybe the gems didn't detect ponies. Or it was possible that they'd been luckier than they'd ever known. The dragon had defended his cave in more ways than simply waiting for an intruder he could snap at or flame... How had it been done? How were the gems capable of triggering things at all? Was this dragon magic, something beyond the movement of scrolls, a little miracle which had become so everyday in its nature that Rainbow often casually asked Spike for the favor in the name of saving a stamp? And why was Garble trying to work his way past all of it? Some of the ground travel made sense now, along with the lack of speed: he was trying to make sure he saw everything and because most dragons could fly, the defenses almost had to be heavier against anything traveling through the air. But... ...it can't detect ponies! At all! We had ponies coming up here so they'd have a good place to watch the eclipse! Lots of them! Somepony would have triggered everything! I'm perfectly safe from everything that's been set up! It's just him who's in danger... A lot of danger. Rainbow was sure she could fly away from pretty much everything in time, but with Garble... well, he couldn't be that fast, no matter what he said and especially because he'd gone to so much trouble in saying it. Why was he taking the risk? What did he have to do in the cave? Whatever it was, the goal was leading the dragon into taking what sounded like some major chances in the name of what was probably a really stupid and probably ego-ridden goal. And she couldn't set anything off... but if he did, she'd have to get out of range... Just reaching the cave meant he had to take multiple risks. There was still one he was reluctant to chance. "I'm not jumping that." He gestured again, and the movement was slow, uncertain. Three tiny flickers were blown onto the extended claws. "So don't jump! Fly!" His wings once again seemed to be trying to find a new home within his spine. "I'll overshoot, I told you that before with the other stuff --" "-- Then walk! It's narrower than your stride!" Garble stared down at the gap which so many locals now called Fluttershy Point. Then looked at the very long plummet just below it. Seemed to be struggling for an arrogant excuse as to why he couldn't do that either. Failed. The teenager stood there, frozen in several ways. One of them was shivering silence. "It," Rainbow declared, "is a hop, skip, and jump. You can leave out any two of the three. So move your dragon rump." The half-lidded eyes forced themselves open again. His head came up. The lower jaw chattered. "Y-y-you can't t-t-talk to me like that..." "So come over here and yell at me." She'd been on the other side of the gap for at least ten minutes. "Because a noble dragon should totally tell a stupid pony how out of line she is from close up. If you can even move..." His eyes were getting brighter again -- but there was no flicker of flame at the back of his throat this time. There was only a single tiny curl of smoke. "I'm -- I'm gonna..." "Whatever it is," Rainbow pointed out, "You'd better be able to do it from over there." The glare was fury. It was challenge and defiance, with more than a touch of murder thrown in. And for a moment, with Garble motionless at the edge of the gap, it felt as if that was all there would ever be. His right leg came forward. Touched the opposite side. The claws spasmed. The dragon screamed, a surprisingly high-pitched sound, began to tilt, the scrabbling claws misdirected the motion away from the faceplant which would have saved him, sent him to the right, towards the wider portion of the gap, more than wide enough to let a plunging teenage dragon through... It seemed to take forever, and forever was more than enough time for Rainbow's instincts to take over in a stream which almost could have passed for stupid thought. He's a murderer. Or he wants to be. He thought smashing those eggs would have been funny. He would have hurt Spike. He doesn't care about anyone or anything except himself. He has friends and he wants to keep them, even if he's the only dragon who ever would have. He's been telling me stories. About himself, but... stories. He didn't have to tell me about the gems. He -- -- she dove, her wings almost cramping from the upshift to full speed after so many hours of just barely flapping along. Her forelegs stretched out: Garble was considerably taller than a pony and would be heavier to suit: she'd lifted Spike a few times and the little dragon was surprisingly weighty for his overall size. Carrying Garble for any real distance might be a challenge. But momentum would be on her side for a while, and he wasn't significantly wider than a pony: she could get one foreleg on each side and then press in... He was still screaming, and she tried to get ahead of the sound. His body twisted as he fell, the yellow eyes blazed towards her... Garble blinked. There was just enough time to recognize it as one of pure confusion. One second for all of it, maybe two. And she had him. She pressed tightly, heard him grunt as her forelegs ground against his ribs, felt his scales grating against her coat. Two small cuts came from extra-serrated scale edges: she ignored them. The momentum was directed, she pushed into the curve which would let her swoop up without too much of an extra effort, she couldn't afford to land too far above the gap because she wasn't entirely sure she could spot every last gleam from an embedded gem at speed, the Sun's position had changed too much from when they started and while she was confident in her eyes, there had to be something for her to see -- -- she got to within hover distance of the ledge. Put him down, and finally felt the cuts. "Ow!" Rainbow instinctively licked the little wounds. "Oh, that's gonna..." Well, not much of anything, really: annoying and they stung, but there was only a little blood, and Rainbow was better with that than most ponies, as she was better than others at just about anything which could be considered important. "...be fine before I even finish this sentence." Garble was staring at her. "Y-y-you..." His head went down into a very awkward angle, and a final wisp of flame lightly brushed his chest. "You saved me..." "No, I didn't," Rainbow spat back. The thought was disgusting and like the dragon himself, she wanted to get rid of the thing before it did any real damage. "Because you would have flown. Hop, skip, jump, or step, you missed all four, the Princess only knows how -- but your wings would have done the real work. I just went after you before I thought about that." Because she really hadn't been thinking at all. The stare continued. She gave it right back to him. "...yeah," he finally said. "I would have opened my wings. I was just about to do that when you caught up.." "I get that," Rainbow fumed. "Totally." "You didn't do anything at all. Nothing I couldn't do for myself." "I'm not arguing." "So we'll just keep going." "Let's do that." He slowly began to move -- but not for long. "Hey, Direction-Face?" "What?" "Compared to dragons? Your reflexes suck."