//------------------------------// // A Bad Landing // Story: TMPDA: Last One In The Nest // by Myriad of Failure //------------------------------// "Oi! Watch where you're going!" "Mind my bags!" "What d'you think you're doin'?" I ran through the train station, flashing an apologetic smile as I crashed into various ponies. Several of them screamed when they saw me - some things can't be helped. I would have flown over them, but the strap on my saddlebags had broken, leaving me trying to hold them up under my wings. Because of this, I'd also had to gallop through the festive streets of Canterlot rather than flying to the station, as well as stopping by Conundrum's house to drop off a note - the poor stallion would be confused if I didn't turn up in a week. He'd probably open an abduction case... I knew without looking at the clocks that I was already ten minutes late. Bursting out onto the platform, I immediately noticed the large, multicoloured train in front of me. All of the carriage door were shut except for one, which was being held open by an armoured royal guardspony. Beside him stood another guard and a very angry conductor, whose exaggerated gesticulations made me fear for the safety of our eyes. "- a royal decree to prove-" "I don't want your decrees, sonny! I want this train out of here before the next one runs into her -" "Train to the Badlands?" I asked, stepping up to the small congregation. "Sorry I'm late - the traffic was awf-" "On, on, ON!" I found my rump being pushed forcefully through the doors, followed by the two guardsponies. Who knew train conductors were so strong. The door snapped shut as a shrill whistle pierced the evening air. The wheels beneath us began their laboured roll out of the station, giving a tired chug with each rotation. Picking myself up from the floor, I glanced at my companions. I could only assume that they were coming to the Badlands with me, seeing as they had been kind enough to hold up the train for me. One unicorn and one pegasus, both in the golden armour of the Day Guard. It was the grey unicorn who had been arguing with the conductor. Reaching a hoof down, I offered to help him up. A pair of amber eyes locked onto mine. "We are on a diplomatic mission." He snapped, getting to his hooves unassisted. "We are representing the whole of Equestria and the Princesses." He jabbed a hoof at my chest. "And you dare to turn up late!" "Like I said," I pushed his leg away, "the traffic tonight is awful, I woke up late, and my saddlebags broke. Nopony could have been on time in those circumstances." I glanced at his face, which was silently fuming a few inches from mine. Day Guards were almost impossible to tell apart, however, that angry whine was... distinctive. "Do I know you from somewhere?" "I would never associate myself with such an undisciplined civilian." Professionally, he stood to attention, despite his reluctance. "Junior Captain Iron Discipline, at your service. We will be protecting the ponies attending the summit, so I unwillingly accept responsibility for your welfare." Spinning away from me, he stalked into the carriage proper, his gleaming sword cutie mark catching the overhead lights. "Ah - I've got it!" I drew his attention back, causing him to glare angrily at me. "We left you on one of the guard towers! Remember - early summer evening? I always wondered if you managed to get down." I grinned, only for it to turn sour once I realised what I'd said. "... Sorry... about that, by the way." Iron Discipline, to his credit, managed to keep his temper. Just. His cheeks flushed crimson, his eyes narrowed threateningly, his mouth curled into a shape I didn't think possible - but he only let out a low growl before storming to the back of the cart, which was empty except for the three of us. Shrugging, I figured it could have gone much worse. "He takes a bit of getting used to," the second guard spoke up, the pegasus, ready to reassert his existence, "you might want to go easy on him - he can be a bit neurotic." He saluted me with a white wing. "Junior Captain Cloud Drift, pleased to make your acquaintance. You would be -?" "Nocturne," I flashed him a friendly, fang-filled smile, saluting in turn, "hopefully you'll be able to take a joke?" He gave me a stiff smile, hiding his discomfort. I put it down to the fangs. "Shall we?" He gestured a hoof to the empty benches, letting me lead the way down the aisle. "So... you didn't really leave him on a roof? It was just a joke?" "Oh, what? No - no, we did. Yeah, me and a friend may have left him up there once." I took a seat halfway down, Cloud Drift settling in front of me. "In our defence, we'd had a little to drink, and he called us fat." "Are you sure he did that?" "Maybe, maybe not - I don't remember it too well." I scratched my head. "He called us whales - or was it buffaloes?" Shaking my head, I put my bags down, taking out the book that Orion had leant to me. Unlike most Equestrian books, it was bound in a black leather case, with a pair of dragon wings outlined in dark scarlet on the cover. It was old enough for the red dye to have become unidentifiable and cracked. All the better - I had a nasty suspicion that it might have been blood. Most of the writing bat ponies traditionally did used either berry juices or blood for ink; seeing as ink's pretty hard to get a hold of on a mountain side. In a way, it was lucky that bat ponies rarely bothered to write things down. It would have been very awkward for pony scholars, otherwise. "That's not like Iron," Junior Captain Drift glanced over at his sulking partner, "there's always a reason for what he does - like you being late set him off." He shot me a strange look - disappointed, protective, and inquisitive all in one. "You must have annoyed him." "It's not my fault he gets annoyed so easily." I argued, wondering why I was defending myself to this guard. "It was just a joke, for the sake of the Moon Goddess!" He stared at me incredulously. "Look, I have a lot of reading to do, and you probably want to sleep. So how about we leave it at this, and pretend nothing happened?" Shaking my head, I opened the bound leather, supporting the book with my wings. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cloud Drift move over to another set of benches and lay down. Nevermind - I wouldn't be needing the guards anyway, so I guessed it didn't matter that they weren't fond of me. Begrudgingly, I began reading the old, spiked script. If anything could tell me how to survive the initiation, it was this book. O sweet Moon and stars, I was going to be eaten by a dragon! I had just woken up, my muzzle in the crisp, flaking pages. Looking down, I noticed that I had only gotten halfway through, and could remember even less. The movement of the train had stopped, but outside the landscape was still a glorious mass of shadows. Empty grey wastes, sparse shrubs and dust that stirred with the lazy wind. No more snow or harsh northern winds; the Badlands were not the preferred roosts of the bat ponies. "Are you ready there?" Iron Discipline snapped, his pack already strapped over his armour. "We have another couple of hours hiking before we even get to the meeting, and we're expected there at dawn." I groaned, standing up reluctantly. Tucking the book into my bags, I noticed that somepony had fixed the strap. Testing it, I found that it was as sturdy as it had ever been. At least that was one thing I wouldn't be worrying about it. We left the train, none of the conductors bothering to see us off. We had been dropped off in the middle of a desert, beside a ramshackle town - whose sign declared that this little hovel was Dodge Junction. The train ploughed on as soon as they saw us departing. Only its uniform rumbling filled the bleak expanse, filling the early morning air with steam and whistles. Once we put it behind us, the world became a silent place. Iron Discipline led our small band, Cloud Drift at the rear. They made sure I was in the middle, either to protect me, or to stop me from running off. I didn't bother asking which it was. Trying to break the monotony, I flew for sections of the march, disliking the scrape of sand beneath my hooves. It always found its way into every crack and crevice, and each time the wind stirred itself sharp grains battered my face. What I would have given for snow and rocks... It was about an hour before dawn when they came into view. Shaded blue by distance, a pinnacle of rock jutted out from the flat expanse. From our position it looked several hundred feet high, with no apparent path to be seen amongst the jagged edges. Even the summit of the mountain looked spiked and craggy. Hopefully there was a plateau at the top, otherwise we'd be camping on a cruel network of serrated edges. Above all of this the dark silhouettes of dragons soared. I froze in mid-air. Cloud Drift walked into my legs, nervously looking up at me and rubbing his head. Iron Discipline, to his credit, managed to walk another few feet before turning back to complain at me. "We only have an hour to get there!" He stormed over, trying to puff out his chest beneath me. "We do not have time for sightseeing!" "I don't know... Surely we can admire it for a second...?" And delay my fiery death a few minutes longer. He squinted ahead of our party, the gloom clouding his hopeless vision, before grabbing my bags in his telekinesis and hauling me after him. "If you seem to think for a second that I don't know what you're doing, you are very much mistaken! Trying to delay us, slow us down, possibly even preventing us from getting to the summit at all! We hadn't even left Canterlot and you were already sabotaging our mission... You must be working for the dragons!" "I'm working for everypony - that's the reason I'm here!" I complained, not try to fly out of his grip. If he wanted to believe such ridiculous manure he could, but he would have to drag me the whole way to the summit before I agreed with him. "Oh, really?" He turned back to glare at me. "I don't remember you informing us of your purpose - for all I know you could be making sure that no deal is ever made!" "Princess Luna would never hire somepony like that..." "You can never be too careful! She became Nightmare Moon - I'm sure she could easily betray ponykind to the dragons!" Iron Discipline didn't get to say any more than that. It just so happened that as he uttered those words, I decided to relieve myself of my saddlebags and dive at a certain Junior Captain. After rolling across the gritty, shard-strewn dirt, while his helmet abandoned him (along with a little of his dignity), Iron Discipline wasn't as willing to impart his ground-breaking wisdom. Mainly because I was trying to use his face as a shovel - but little details like that seemed somewhat insignificant. "Oh, come on, Iron," I growled, hissing into his ear, "I'm sure that's not what you meant to say." I pressed his nose deeper into the sand, spreading my own weight to prevent him from moving. A weak groan drifted up. "Now, now, Iron - we need something better than that." His breathing was getting quite weak, so I pulled his head up. Nevertheless, I kept the rest of him pinned to the ground. He gasped, coughing sand and grit out as his lungs rattled. Patiently, I waited until he was able to speak again. However, as his mouth opened weakly, it was instead his horn that lit up in reply. Improvising, I smacked a hoof against it. The sparkles vanished with a dissatisfying pop as the guard squealed like a filly. His muzzle hit the ground again through no encouragement of mine. Angry yet responsible, I rested an ear to his chest, searching for a steady heart beat. Clang! Dazed, I raised my head. A large white feathery mass was pinning me down. I had been forced onto my side with the minuscule grains exfoliating my right cheek. One wing was folded painfully, and the other was between me and the rocks I'd landed against. "You're insane!" A guard shouted. I couldn't work out who had said this; my ears were ringing. "You okay over there, Discipline?" "Sweet Celestia!" I tried to shift my weight, only to find an armoured hoof grinding down into my hip. "She's insane!" Hoof steps rattled the earth, sending vibrations into my skull. A pony spat. The metallic scent of blood filled the air. It wasn't mine. Through my hazy vision, I made out a grey shape lumbering towards us. "You should sit down." "We should feed her to the dragons!" "Drgerns dern eet pernehs..." I murmured while checking my teeth. None of them felt broken, but you could never be sure. A white hoof smacked my forehead. Bright lights flashed and danced in my eyelids. "Absolute psycho..." And eyelid was lifted open. Sparks coated the view. Squinting amber pupils loomed into mine. "They should banish you to the Moon with your princess - two lunatics together." "Don't antagonise her, Iron - she's already squirming like a pig!" "I'll do what I like, Drift." He let my eyelid snap shut again. "She's not going anywhere." The hooves stomped around me, stopping just behind my head. "Bat ponies are such an unstable race; no self-control, can't be disciplined, and practically worship Luna... It's a miracle there aren't more attacks. Obviously, it's Princess Celestia that keeps everypony under control." "Iron..." "No - I'm going to say it!" Hooves scuffed the earth. "Make peace with the dragons? We can't keep all of the pony races under control, and dragons are worse! Leave them to their own lands and we'll keep ours, thank you very much!" Beginning to get my bearings back, I considered a way out from beneath the pegasus. Iron Discipline was still spewing his ridiculous manure, so Cloud Drift was a little distracted. One of his white wings was hanging next to my face, his left hoof pinned both my back legs, and the right hoof was crumpling my wing, both forelegs were securing mine. I smiled inwardly - I still had something. "- so we take her back, tell the princess she's unstable, and leave it at that -" I bit down on the wing. Wrenching my head, I managed to pull Cloud Drift over. A sharp buck to his ribs and he was shoved a few feet away. This gave me the room to roll over - out of Cloud's grasp and Iron's lashing hoof. Stretching my wings, I attempted to fly. The creases and pulls hadn't left, but I managed to get off of the floor the right way up. "I don't know why you're calling me insane," I complained, flying backwards as the unicorn galloped after me, "you're the one with crazy prejudices!" I stopped moving, letting him tackle me. We tumbled across the dry mud; I ended up on top. "You need me for this mission, and I apparently need you - so give up! We're stuck here now, so we might as well hurry over to the mountain and hope that the other ponies arrive soon to put some space between us. Alright?" He didn't reply, grinding his teeth instead. I didn't want to make peace with him - not really. Nevertheless, we needed to get to the summit, and I hated to disappoint the Goddess of the Night. This way I'd just have to accept that someponies can't be persuaded to love their Moon Princess - and he would have to accept that someponies weren't going away any time soon. Taking his silence as a positive answer, I got up and stalked off to find my saddle bags, purposefully turning my back to tempt him. I wouldn't hold back if he still wanted to fight, especially as I now had the moral high-ground by offering the truce. Unfortunately, he behaved, and we returned to the monotony of marching. Only now I kept getting dirty looks from both of the guards; I had bruised Cloud Drift's ribs and torn out a clump of his feathers. Having been afraid of meeting the dragons since Orion had explained everything, I was unexpectedly looking forward to it. Possibly because I'd prefer the company of potentially dangerous, fire-breathing monsters than these two royal guards. Especially when Iron Discipline made us take the winding path up the craggy rock face, rather than letting us fly up. I did offer to carry him, but I don't think he liked the idea. Somehow, the strange inkling that I might drop him put him off. As we ascended we could hear the roars and rumbling tones of the already present guests. Above us their rippling shapes flew, letting out shrill shrieks at our arrival. I was the first to make it over the lip of the plateau, just as the Sun broke the horizon beneath. It was a vast, flat expanse - like much of the Badlands - where the dragons had made it their home. Gem hordes lined the lip of the hill, with dragons nesting, feasting, and circling their piles. Early rays of light caught each gem, causing them to flicker with a fiery light. Rock formations - towering pyramids and balancing slabs - littered the ground like a foal's discarded toys, all the while towering three times higher than the tallest stallion. At the centre of all of this, bathing the ground with a stifling heat, a bubbling, spitting pool lay. It writhed in reds and yellows and oranges - bursting and sloshing angrily. This wasn't just a plateau. It was a caldera; a volcano. Hesitantly, I placed a hoof onto the rock, fearing it would crumble under my hooves. This was ridiculous, of course - if it would crumble under my weight, then there would have been no chance for the dragons surrounding us, watching us. But dragons can survive immersed in magma... the voice in my brain whispered, and you can't. I ignored the voice and kept walking, keeping my head up and my wings furled out. Slitted eyes watched us from every angle as we trotted through, silent and brooding. We were not welcome here, yet. Ridding my mind of the two guards behind me, I focused on what I was here to do, what I was moving towards. The leader of the pack. The lord of the horde. The alpha dragon. His white eyes watched me, peering out from the lava pool. I could only see his head, which was a blood red with curling black horns. He had no fronds or frills on his squared jaw - instead it was decorated with deep lines and scars. Coming as close as I dared, I stopped a good ten metres from the edge of the pool and bowed, keeping my wings and back legs straight, and my nose to the floor. Raising my eyes slightly, I watched the great dragon emerge. First his hooked wings gripped the edge of the pool, which must have had a twenty foot diameter. Even so, his wings were bent as they lifted him out, revealing the tattered crimson leather. His legs were short and gnarled, with claws gripping the rock he levered himself onto. Down his back he carried cruel black spines which continued to the tip of his tail, which dragged limply behind him, still partially submerged beneath the molten rock. "Day to Thestral." The beast rumbled, with a voice like a landslide. He used the Cave Tongue, although I suspected that his Equestrian was just as fluent. "Day to Drake." I replied, keeping my head lowered. I knew that my own Cave Tongue was a little rusty, and I couldn't quite get the guttural choking sound right, but I managed to cover it with an awkward cough. My mother would have been ashamed if she thought I'd forgotten - she was even making sure that Lullaby was able to make conversation in this strange language, despite the filly never having stepped into a cave in her life. "I, Magma." He surveyed his tribe around the crater. "King of Ruby Horde." "I, Nocturne." My own name had no translation to the Cave Tongue - I'm afraid to admit that my mother learned the word and decided it was the perfect name for her daughter, similarly to Fantasia. Leaving me to pronounce it with a slightly mangled growl. I quickly tried to remember my colony's title. "Born of Lonely Colony, live of Equus." Magma moved his head slowly - it took me a second to realise that the old dragon was nodding. Broken fangs protruded from his mouth in a twisted smile. "You will suffice." He declared, reverting to Equestrian. Shame - I was just getting used to the clunkiness of the Cave Tongue again. Flicking the clawed finger of a wing, the king waited as another dragon sloped up beside him. This one was younger - not fully grown, just emerging from puberty with resplendent wings the colour of caramel. Red spines covered the entirety of his whip-like tail, and red whiskers fanned away from his angular face. Sulky yellow eyes glared back at me. "I, Crater." The young male announced, his gravelly voice trying to crush each word. "You shall face Crater, my grandson," Magma inclined his head slightly, "evade him for ten minutes, remaining airborne. You succeed, you will become an ally to the Ruby Horde." I nodded, rising from my enforced crouch. My legs and wings ached from the uncomfortable position and the previous brawl, but it could have been worse - I might have been told to fight this dragon. "Wait! What in the name of Celestia are you doing!" Iron Discipline grabbed my tail and pulled my back. "You can't fight a dragon!" "I'm not going to fight a dragon - it's just an initiation." I shook him off and glanced at the great dragon. "Apologies, Crater, Magma - King of Ruby Horde." His deep red face nodded slowly, his grandson, on the other hoof, failed to hide his impatience. "Initiation? I thought you were a representative!" "It's to prove that they can trust me," thinking about it, I added quickly, "look - it's a tradition. And on the bright side, if I die, you're allowed to make any demands you want!" I tried to keep my false smile in place. "If I do lose, you will need to find another bat pony. In that case, I suggest you find a mare called Sonata - she's a conductor in her mid fifties, but I've never met anypony as terrifying, ferocious or violent." "But -" I ignored his protests, turning to face Magma and stretching my wings out. Crater loped over, spreading his own magnificent wings. Taking a deep breath, I pushed away from the ground. Piling on the speed, I raced upwards, face raised to the dawn sky. I could hear the even beats of Crater's wings. Currently slower than mine, but far more powerful - enough to soon be picking up speed. Spinning, I soared away. The only advantage I had was that I was more manoeuvrable and agile. I could turn a corner faster. He could fly faster, further, and could also breathe fire - all of which was perfectly allowed. We were matched in relative age, but that was about it. He mimicked my turn. Relying on my ears, I shut my eyes. The early morning Sun was a blinding distraction; I would do better not seeing. Flying upwards again, I waited for him to get closer, trying not to waste energy. Beyond the rushing wind, I could hear his steady, even breathing. Just what I needed - a fit dragon. The sound changed; he had opened his mouth. Hot breath on my hind legs. The gasp of air. Flipping, I plummeted past the dragon, nose down. I tucked in every possible inch - pointed my wings. Sweet Moon and stars - I loved free-fall. It would take the dragon longer - wind resistance and all that, hopefully. That wasn't the worry. I couldn't open my eyes without them streaming. I couldn't see the ground. I could open my mouth, sounding off regular clicks. Close now - getting closer. Three. Two. One! Wings snapped open. Body twisted. Only sky above me now. Sky and a waiting dragon. Blistering Moon craters - I had expected him to follow, not wait for me to crash. I kept my eyes open in panic, watching him rush towards my side. Curving, I tried to move out of the way. Too late. An outstretched claw caught my leg. I tumbled over his back, buffeted by the lashing tail. Rolling and tumbling, I fell, disorientated. He was coming back. Blue flashes were interrupted by bursts of brown as I flipped. Unfurling my wings, I righted myself. He was above me when I regained control - my back to the ground and stomach facing his jaws. I evaded the teeth, as the blast of heat caught me. Flames barely missed my tail as the updraught hit me, boosting me upwards. The extra space gave me time to get away. We danced like this for some time. He would eventually catch up to me, I would twist away. If I was lucky he wouldn't try to spew bright yellow flames across my tender fur. Every muscle ached, and though I couldn't see, I knew that gashes lined my legs. How much longer did I have? Jaws snapped at my tail. I pulled away, doing a back-flip so that I rested on the dragon's neck. I was already running down his tail, jumping off into the clear air when he flicked back at me. Spines caught my hooves; I hardly felt it. Adrenaline pumped, and I wasn't using my legs too much anyway. "Thirty seconds." The great voice boomed beneath. Not long now! Gasping a lungful of air, I tucked up and turned. Every breath burnt my lungs. Unrolling, I sped in one direction, listening for the movement of my opponent. He came from beneath, cutting across my trajectory. Head-first, I changed direction, opposite to the previous one. Flapping my wings as hard as I could, I tried to get out of the way. Between gritted teeth, I hissed in another breath. Sounds changed, a roar rumbled towards me. I opened eyes I'd forgotten were closed. White flashing fangs. Blinding light. Blinding fire! Unable to stop, I balled up. Wings surrounding me, I sailed onwards, tumbling down. Was it enough? Was it enough? Heat enveloped me. Hotter and hotter - yet - Blistering agony found my brain. Screaming, I fell and fell, crashing and plummeting. Was it enough? The heat receded, leaving the white pain to stab my wings. I dared to open my wings, eyes still shut, spinning and flipping and spinning... "Five." Wings fully extended, slowing my descent. I was on my back, facing the sky. "Four." I didn't breathe. I opened my eyes. A dragon was in pursuit of its prey. "Three." Unable to fly, wings screaming, mind protesting. "Two." Sweet Princesses. Oh, Moon - oh, stars! "One." My eyes screwed tightly. Attempted to flap. Facing down now. I hated impact.