//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 (Gore in this chapter) // Story: Ambassador // by THOSEideas //------------------------------// "Why couldn't Dragons live on a tropical beach with coconuts and palm trees?" Everypony silently agreed as the trio trudged through the knee deep snow and the wind whipping their faces. No pony was happy about the weather that they were in the coats helped a lot but it didn't keep the snow from freezing their legs off in the snow. The Worst part was at night, they couldn't find anything to burn to start a fire so they had to pile themselves in a tight group with their coats covering all of them and the saddle bags on top. The day wasn't bad unless it was windy like it was now, the worst part about a flat expanse was that there wasn't any cover of any sort. The trio thought of an idea to take the edge of the wind off a bit, they would take turns hiding behind the pony who was closest to the wind so they wouldn't get hit by the worst of it. This went on for a day and night, non stop wind and snow in their faces. They couldn't even stop to get some rest because if they did then they would freeze. This was hell frozen over. "Does anypony else see that jutting up white thing, or am I hallucinating?!! "No I See it too, come on we better hurry or else we might freeze." The ponies traveled on with new motivation as they thought of shelter from the wind, as they got there they found a rock jutting up out of the snow and it had created a snow drift to hide behind. The ponies huddled up behind the rock thankful for the cover from the wind. Silently they all agreed to get some sleep while they could because they might not get another chance like this. ~~~ When they woke up they found themselves encased in a wall of snow on three sides and a rock on the other. The snow walls weren't deep though so they were able to get up to the surface and look where they were going. There wasn't any wind now so they could talk normally to each other. "Hey, which way are we headed?" "To the right, because we came in from the left." "Lets eat first because I think this is going to be the only time that we get the chance." After eating their usual rashions of dried fruits and veggies they set out in the now belly deep snow. At least it wasn't windy. The problem with belly deep snow was going through it, it's very dense and you need a lot of strength to do it. So instead of walking side by side to block out the wind, they walked in single file and rotated so they could regain their strength to do it again. They only had a day's worth of traveling until they reached the mountains, and the dragons. That left them about two days to talk to the dragons and persuade them to not kill everypony in Equestria, that's not a lot of time. Mockin's only wish was that they actually got to talk to the dragons instead of being killed on sight. The best way Mockin had come up with to gain the dragons trust was to approach their leader directly, he figured the dragon must have some sense if he was the leader. "Hey, did anyone come up with an idea for talking to the dragons?" "I've heard they like Phoenix eggs, but we would need to find a nest first." "I have read that the younger dragons will approach first and inflict minor wounds to a newcomer, if the run away or beg for it to stop they see it as weakness and cast you out. So, if we approached directly then we would be injured and tested before we are able to talk to the older dragons." Mockin and Arrow just stared at Crash as he shoveled these facts right onto their brains, they couldn't comprehend that Crash had said that many words in one go. "What?" "That's brilliant! We may actually have a chance of gaining their trust now. Also, why didn't you mention this earlier?" "I dunno, I just remembered now." Crash seemed very confused so they just let it slide. However, this news brought good news and bad, the good was that they had an actual plan, the bad was that they would have to be injured and wounded to prove their worth. Mockin shuddered as he thought of dragon claws cutting his flesh and tearing away at his pelt, worse, he thought of what would happen if they breathed fire at the ponies. He just hoped they didn't. The mountains were very large as the ponies trudged on through the snow towards their target. They had only come in sight a day ago, but now they were VERY hard to miss. He mountains were covered in snow with a few patches of exposed rock sticking up here and there, no tree was dumb enough to grow out here. In fact they couldn't find any sign of life, was it because of the Dragons? Or was that the reason why the Dragons settled here in the first place? They had a lot of questions that needed to be answered soon before their heads exploded with the vastness of them. "Well, here is the base of the first mountain." They had arrived, at long last they had reached the mountains. Now they just needed to find the dragons, which should be easy, right? Wrong, these dragons knew who to hide their young from the small animals that snuck into unsupervised dragon nests and kill the baby dragons. Usually snakes but out here in the cold it was a snow fox that would even attempt at trying to get a Dragon egg or baby. "Where should we start looking first?" "They probably already know we are here." "Why do you say that?" "Because we came across an open field of snow with no cover, and Dragons are would be able to smell us a mile away. Heck I don't know who couldn't smell us right know." "So, what should we do?" "I say we travel deeper into that ring of mountains and find what's inside." The trio head out for a cluster of five mountains connected to each other except for a gap big enough to fit a small town in. It took the trio two hours to reach the gap and when they did they saw an amazing sight. The mountains stretched upwards on both sides creating a bottle neck. The mountains stretched up higher then what most pegasi could reach so it was a perfect place to hide an entire species. However, they didn't go unnoticed, one of the scary things about dragons is that they can be extremely silent for their massive bulk. Arrow was the first to figure out that they were being watched, so he turned around and was staring at the fangs of a twenty foot long Dragon. As he screamed for his life the Dragon roared drowning out Arrow completely and making the other two ponies nearly die of surprise. Mockin and Crash turned around and saw what had roared and immediately wished they hadn't. The Dragons roar didn't only warn the two ponies but the entire Dragon fleet, which were now surrounding the trio. It was an amazing sight to behold, as well as one that would clean out a constipated ponies bowels. The trio were too frightened to speak first but the dragons weren't. "Well well, looks like we have a snack for our young. How generous of them." "WAIT! We are here to speak to your leader!!" "Oh! It speaks! What a surprise, but if what you say is true then we will just have to test that now won't we?" The other Dragons just laughed as they backed up to let the teenage dragons come towards their prey. When the teen Dragons all lined up Mockin counted 12 in total, this was going to be the best day of their lives. "Try not to cut too deep mind you I want to see what they want, IF they can make it." "No promises" Replied one of the teenage Dragons as he stepped forward to Mockin. To be honest Mockin, was more scared of how the other Dragons seemed to enjoy this, then the Dragon approaching him. The Dragon walked up to him with his claws out stretched and ran his claw down the side of Mockin's face. Blood seeped out of the cuts on the side of his face and ran down his neck. Mockin shook with the effort to not scream. The Dragon just laughed and went to Arrow and Crash doing the same thing to each pony. The next Dragon walked up and did the same thing as the first Dragon but on the other side. Three more Dragons came up and inflicted wounds on the ponies on various parts of their bodies. Mockin would be surprised if he would be alive at the end of this with all the blood they had lost. The next Dragon had the longest claws and knew it. He walked up and went to Mockin's hip, where his cutie mark should have been. He sat there and then stabbed Mockin's side just below the spine and in between the ribs, he had some practice with this move because he missed every single vital organ. Every Dragon gasped as the Dragon did this, they hadn't known a pony to get this far in the test but to pass the most agonizing of all the tests with only a whimper and unconsciousness was a first. The twenty foot dragon stepped forward after this dragon had done his damage and spoke. "Enough, these ponies will need medical attention after what you just did to them Needle. You could have killed them." "I knew what I was doing, besides why should I care if they die? They are the ones who drove is to such drastic measures in the first place." "I know, but to come here is a suicide mission, and we nearly proved that. We must come to terms with these ponies." After the twenty foot Dragon had spoke he looked at Crash who was still sitting there with blood-shot eyes and blood covering his pelt. "How do you stand here and look at us with such determination after you have lost at least three pints of blood?" "I stand here because I will protect my friends with my life before any of you threaten there exsistence any further than you have. If you don't miiind I... I will beee....." And with that, Crash passed out as well.