//------------------------------//
// Another One Joins the Fray 
// Story: TMPDA: Last One In The Nest 
// by Myriad of Failure 
//------------------------------//

"So, where abouts have you come from?" I asked, smiling at the colt beside me. He didn't want to be there - I'd snook in before Secret could see me, so I was now squished between two other new additions.

"I, well - I've actually been in the Crystal Empire lately. Unfortunately, budget cuts make travelling a little difficult at the moment, so I've been spending a lot of time there." He gave a nervous smile, asking politely, "Have you ever been?" 

"Unfortunately not." He had been an easy-going stallion (until I sat down), the type that could sit back and expected everything to sort itself out. Although, as a historian, I supposed that kind of attitude kept you sane. "I have friends who've been."

"In a way, it was quite pleasant being stranded there for half a year," he mused, "it's a beautiful place - loads of history and mysteries hidden in those lands."

"That does tend to happen if a place is forgotten for over a thousand years."

"Well, yes - I expect you're right." He nodded to himself, then turned back to his bowl of broth. He was an old stallion; his mane was dark grey as well as some of the hairs in his lilac coat, his eyes were lined, his voice rasping. He was probably the reason they'd turned up late. That, and Secret's whining.

"Do you usually work with these ponies?" I asked. Beside me sat a younger colt whose name I'd forgotten, and another mare sat a little removed from the group eating quietly, and, of course, Secret was chatting loudly with Dust Trail to see if she'd met any bat ponies on her youthful adventures. Together, they made an odd bunch, nevertheless, they were all academics of some kind - the young colt studied politics, Secret obsessed over bats, the stallion I was talking to, Chronology, documented historical encounters. The most interesting of all of them was the silent mare - she was actually a dragon researcher. She was probably the only one in Equestria.

"I've often worked with Sombre, here -" I smiled at the colt as he turned at the sound of his name, recalling that he was Sombre Muse, "- and I have had the pleasure of meeting Miss Secret on the occasion." 

"So you wouldn't know that mare?" I glanced over in her direction.

"Miss Heat Haze? No, I'm afraid we only met on the train." He sighed, shrugging. "From what I have heard, she keeps to herself, and spends a lot of time travelling. She briefly mentioned a family in Canterlot, but mentioned is all she did."

"Do you have a family in the Crystal Empire?" I asked it to be polite. Having told Spike that we needed more information on what was going on in camp, I suggested talking to everypony to see if they had anything to say. Only we had to be subtle and look out for anything suspicious. Spike didn't do subtle too well, though having now been caught by Secret, I wan't too worried about him giving away our tactics. 

It had occurred to me that any small pegasus could have stolen the egg; possibly having been blackmailed into it, tipped off as to what was happening here, or hired to do somepony else's work. If so, somepony in our party would know something, and I was determined to find out who - even if nopony here actually committed the crime.

"Goodness, no. Nieces and nephews are all the family I have, and they all live in Vanhoover. Yourself?"

"Mother and sister live in Canterlot - I'm not sure about the rest of the clan. Last thing I heard was that my cousins were living in Filly Delphia, but that was years ago. My mother would know."

We smiled and fell into an awkward silence. Covering up my lack of speech, I stuffed the rest of the broth into my mouth (which, to give Spike credit, was one of the best I'd ever tasted). With that gone, I got up to leave the bowl with the other dirty washing, and trotted over to Heat Haze.

She jumped as I sat down, settling quickly once she saw who was there. She was a bright mare - a pegasus with feathery crimson wings and a tangle of lime green hair that was too thin to make anything out of. Instead, she cut it close to her jaw and tied back the front strands with fraying string. 

"So... researching dragons..." I looked at her, hoping for some kind of reply, "sounds like an interesting job."

"It is."

"Have you been to the Dragon Islands?"

"Yes."

I was beginning to get the impression that she didn't want to talk to me. "Speak of Isles - I desire truth" If she spent so much time travelling and living with dragons, I reasoned that it would be easier if we weren't speaking Equestrian.

"Speak of little - dead lands, scorched - even Great Depth burns." She shrugged and turned back to look at the camp. Her broth lay untouched beside her. 

"Much like here, then?" I snorted. "I'll leave you to your musing..." Turning, I settled back into the main circle. A frown plastered my face. Her Cave Tongue was infallible, spoken with the accent the dragons themselves used. I knew I mustn't have misunderstood - I couldn't have forgotten that much. So why was it wrong? And if so, why would she lie?

"That's a grumpy face."

I shot Cloud Drift a glare, giving up when he twisted his appearance into an even more hideous abomination. 

"It's my thinking face." 

"I like it better when it's laughing."

"Yeah, well..." Rubbing a hoof through my mane, I tried to avoid his gaze. Was he flirting or just being friendly? "Can't be laughing all the time, can we?" I shook my head. "Anyway - how did the first meeting go?"

"Alright," Cloud glanced around at the party, "I'm not sure how many of us understand the politics of what's going on, so it's mainly the Princess doing the talking. The scribes write things down, those two make notes," he nodded towards Perfect and Dust Trail, "and we all try to avoid that other bat pony. Once you get into a conversation, you never get out." 

"And you stand there looking pretty?" I raised an eyebrow, accompanying it with the old half smile. Two could play at this game.

"Please - a Royal Guard is dignified and imposing - we leave pretty to the princesses."

"Not among dragons, you don't." He batted at me for that, but I leapt out of the way, tumbling into somepony.

"Urgh - sorry!" I spat out a lavender tail, only to see a pair forest green eyes staring back at me. They didn't quite look angry - it was more a cold grimace. "It's - er - Sombre Muse, isn't it?"

"Yes." He got up so that I could right myself, not offering a hoof to help me. "And you are Nocturne, the intermediate. And the detective." As if defying the laws of emotional ability, his face grew colder. "If this is how you treat diplomacy, I fear we have little hope of leaving here with our lives."

I froze, blank-faced with astonishment. "Why do you say that?"

"If you cannot take this seriously, and cannot find the egg, we will surely be killed by the dragons for this breach in trust and honour." His eyes flicked towards the rest of our party, who had fallen silent after our outburst. "I hope that you realise what exactly is at stake here; although I doubt your ability to do even that, if you are incapable of behaving sensibly."

I do not cry. I get angry, I moan and complain and argue. But it felt so hard, just then, to think of that quick remark - that witty comeback - that easy shrug. Because what he said was true? Possibly.

"At least I... I'm trying - it's just...!" I bit my lip. His gaze held steady, his lips pinned in a line, his jaw set. He could have been a statue. At least if he had been a statue, he wouldn't have been talking, and I could have shattered him in one quick buck. "A little optimism would be appreciated!" I muttered, feeling the blood rush to my face.

"Optimism isn't going to find the egg."

"Neither will pessimism."

"I am not being pessimistic, Miss Nocturne. I am simply stating the facts." 

"Why don't you state them to somepony else who cares!" 

"Please - Nocturne, Sombre Muse - stop arguing!" Princess Twilight waded in with all of the powers of friendship behind her. Even to this day, I'm not sure how much power that actually was. "I'm certain Nocturne is doing her very best to find the thief, while we will continue with our own tasks. What hope is there if we start fighting amongst ourselves?"

"As an intermediate, the bat pony should not be included in the collective 'ourselves'."

"Technically, yes," Twilight waved a hoof, "but that isn't going to help the situation right now."

"It doesn't matter," I turned away from the group, stalking off into the rock fields, "Sombre Muse is right - I'm not up to the job." I had considered shouting 'we're all going to die' - but I didn't want to leave the princess trying to calm several hysterical ponies. However, this way... this way the thief, or their informant, would think they were invincible - incapable of being caught. And when ponies to get too confident, they start to make mistakes...





I managed to avoid the majority of the party for the rest of the afternoon - it wasn't hard. The plateau was large, filled with jagged rocks and large, lumbering dragons, whom they were busy talking to. It didn't take long for me to find a nice dark corner to nap in. My late night excursion and early start had started to make my eyes sag. 

I wasn't just napping. There was still the case to consider; the point of the bluff is to do the opposite, not actually give up and wait for clues to walk past. What I needed to know was whether anypony had a decent motive or opportunity - which could have been everyone, seeing as somepony could have been hired to do the deed, while the pony themselves were still trekking across the Badlands.

Taking a clean sheet of note paper, having napped for a solid hour, I scrawled out everypony's name (including Spike - even though he was helping me, it didn't make him innocent. For all I knew, Twilight could have told him to investigate me). Next to each name, I put down a possible motive. First things first - Princess Twilight...  she could have been collecting eggs for her beloved Princess Celestia, or she researching them - the world had heard of the mistakes made in our fledgling princess' experiments, so it wouldn't have surprised me if she wanted to look at a new egg now that she had more power. However, she was the Princess of Friendship... Would she really ruin the treaty for the sake of science?

Next, Fluttershy, the most evil pony known to Equestria... She kept animals - I'd heard Spike say that she'd left one of her friends keeping an eye on them. Would she want to take in a dragon? Heck - maybe one of her animals ate dragon eggs! But... well, she was the Element of Kindness (or had been - whatever happened to those sparkly necklaces?), would taking an egg from its nest be kind? No, probably not.

Spike... In my head, I imagined that Spike would do whatever Twilight told him to do, or, if the emotion spurred him, he would recklessly take matters into his own claws. Taking an egg... could he have been related to it? Would he know? It didn't sound like he'd ever lived away from Twilight, so it was unlikely he'd remember mama dragon - and he looked nothing like the pair of dragons I'd seen. And he would've had to hire somepony to get it for him - because I certainly wasn't attacked by Spike last night. No, he was just as unlikely as Fluttershy.

So... who else... the two guards? They should both have been devoted to the will of their princesses; so they would want these negotiations to go smoothly. Unless they bore our crowned rulers some bitter grudge... Iron Discipline didn't seem to like Princess Luna very much, but she wasn't the main princess organising this, and it would affect Celestia too. Or... or all of the princesses could be together on stealing eggs, have sent guards to cover their tracks, and one of their own to sweet-talk the dragons into trusting us, while they hired a stealthy underling to nick it in the night... Nevertheless, even if that was true, did I want to go against three (or four, depending on whether the pink princess was joining in) alicorns? I didn't think so.

Who next? Perfect Eloquence and Dust Trail. They understood the language, and had done their research - however they were considering settling down to look after Perfect's nephew... would that have constituted stealing a dragon? Perfect had money, so she didn't need to sell an egg, and both of them had seen dragon hordes before - it would have been easier to take an egg there, where they could leave immediately, rather than hanging around the crime scene... but they did have protection from the princess here, and a little anonymity in the group - and Dust was entirely capable of doing it. A small pegasus - strong, quick, and able to do tight aerial manoeuvres - as well as being worryingly fast (I would know; she'd crashed into me once), I could see she was small, and from her time pilfering priceless art, to take an egg from the very edge of a nest... it wouldn't have taken much.

I drew a question mark next to their names; not that I really wanted to follow that up either. I had at least on one occasion accused both of them of murder - I didn't want to make it look like I had some kind of prejudice against them. Although, if it meant finding the egg, I would have accused them of theft quite happily. I preferred to ruin a short friendship than be roasted alive by an angry dragon.

Then there were just the scholars... the problem was that I didn't know them well enough. Chronology didn't look like he could pinch a cookie from an unattended jar, let alone take a dragon egg. Despite that, looks could be deceiving. Sombre Muse... he definitely appeared to have something against the investigation, although, I suspected it was a bias towards my unprofessional approach, rather than finding the culprit. Nonetheless, if his bullying persuaded me to actually give up... it would have helped him stay undetected - except for the fact that everypony had seen us arguing, making him a little suspicious...

So, the final two. Secret didn't seem capable. Full stop, the end - next pony. I shook my head, tapping my pencil on her name. Coming to a summit with dragons was a little bit weird if her area was bat ponies, even if there was a bat pony going - and I had been called up at short notice. Despite this, it was possible that she'd heard about it when I came to the Castle, begged to come along, and had left in as much of a hurry as I had. Even then, circumstances didn't really give her a motive for nicking a dragon egg - if it was to become her own personal translator, a hatchling wouldn't know the Cave Tongue any better than she would. Spike was evidence for that.

Heat Haze... she'd studied dragons for... a few years at least, she lived in Canterlot when she wasn't travelling, and she didn't know what the Dragon Islands looked like... strange, but not necessarily a motive. There just wasn't much information - like the other scholars, all of whom had been invited by the princesses - so they must have been trusted. Similarly to how I got a reference from the Glorious Moon Goddess. Heat Haze would be trusted by somepony, and, working with dragons (though possibly not in the Dragon Islands), she must have felt some affinity for them, or at least known the risks. She wouldn't have been stupid enough take it.

In conclusion, either it was Twilight or the guards acting on behalf of the princesses, Dust Trail acting without motive but all the capability of carrying out the crime, or it was a certain political scholar who wanted to stop me investigating, but didn't have a motive either, and would have had to hire somepony to commit the crime.

Overall, I was no closer to finding the thief. On the other hoof, at least my brain was a little more in order.

Therefore, what would get me more information? Everypony else was talking with the dragons - leaving the camp particularly empty...

I searched Perfect and Dust's tent first. Mainly because I wanted to be caught there the least, making it safer to get them out of the way first. Obviously, if they were sensible, the egg would be concealed in such a way that even the trained eye wouldn't suspect. Thankfully, I hadn't actually received any kind of formal training, so my uneducated eye could stand a chance. 

It was a cosy little tent - the canvas material of the tent looked well-worn, and had several patches where the material had been replaced by new, slightly differently shaded, canvas segments. There was also a woollen mat rolled out on the floor, with a blanket screwed up at one side, and two saddle bags stowed in a corner. I lifted up the blanket, finding nothing, and pulled up the corner of the mat, but the ground looked the same as the rest of the sandy rocks around here, so I let the corner drop. 

Of the saddle bags, one was grey with little speech bubbles for clasps while the other was a dirt splattered orange, tied together with fraying bits of string. I eased open the grey one first; inside were bags of oats, dried fruit and strips of mint chewing gum. Beneath these were neatly folded blankets and a few documents - nevertheless, they were just passports and a journal documenting their adventures. I would have taken it to read through, but knew she'd realise, so left it where it was in case I found the time tomorrow when talks resumed. 

Shutting the clasps carefully, I started work on Dust's bags. Having string was impractical for a pegasus, however, it did mean that they had to be tied in a pretty specific way which involved both your wings and teeth. It would also need to be shut while stationary, rather than during flight, meaning a quick stop... My heart beating that little bit faster, I lifted the flap and peered inside.

"Found something interesting?"

I squealed and sprang back. 

"Spike! Don't sneak up on me like that! I thought you were Dust Trail." I glared at him before slinking back to the bag, glancing inside only to find more hay and oats, and boiled sweets instead of chewing gum.

"You'd think, with ears as big as yours, you'd hear everything."

"Only if I pay attention to them." I rifled deeper into the bag, making sure that the things I found went as deep as the bag itself.

"So... you haven't given up?" Spike peered over my shoulder.

"No, that was just a ploy to make the thief more confident."

"I think it just makes the rest of us panic," Spike shrugged, "but I guess you're the detective."

I didn't reply. I couldn't - I had my mouth around the string and was trying to knot it back together, identical to the other flap. While I was down in this awkward position, I opened the other side, expecting to find the same things.

"Does Dust Trail know you're looking through her - sweet Celestia, what are THEY?"

I hurriedly shut the second flap, covering Spike's eyes with a free hoof. "Something you're not old enough to see." I knotted it quickly, feeling the blood rush to my face. "Something I'm sure I'm not old enough to see, either."

"...You're looking for the egg, aren't you?"

"No, I just like rifling through other pony's stuff," I dead-panned, "of course I'm looking for the egg."

"What if it's under that... stuff?"

"Then it can stay there - I'd rather risk the displeasure of the dragon king than look through that stuff" I glanced back down. Spike had a point. Technically, the dragons had already searched our camp - so unless they felt the same shame as we did, it would already have been checked... Nevertheless... urgh. "Spike... could you stand outside, please? Just for half a minute or so."

He looked like he was going to argue, but he stooped beneath the tent poles and slouched outside.

For the record, the egg wasn't in there. 

That's all I want to say about my experience.

Following Spike, I came out into the sunlight, blinking against the contrast. With our dragon here, I couldn't really follow my plan and search Twilight's bed, his bed, and the guard's beds. That left looking through Sombre Muse's things - however, their tents hadn't been put up yet, and their bags lay out in the open, where any dragon or pony could see me snooping. It seemed that investigations would have to stop for the moment.

"Want to help me put up some tents for the new arrivals?" I asked. What I didn't specify was that by 'help' I really meant 'do by yourself', because I didn't have the technical skills. 

"Sure! How hard can it be?"





Only one of the tents ended up with a sizeable rip in it - and that was in the opening, rather than the roof, so I figured it wouldn't matter too much. There were a few little pricks in the material in some other places, but with Spike having claws and me having hooked wings and fangs, that was to be expected. They would have to be grateful that we'd put up their tents for them, rather than focusing on the fact that they could have done it better themselves.

We had only put up two - one for the stallions, one for the mares - seeing as our little corner was starting to become a quite cramped between the rocks, and the guards had complained yesterday about spreading out too far. It also meant that there would be a witness in each tent to the other's activities. It was harder to keep a secret if you had to include a confidant.

I planned to snoop through them once their personal effects had been added.

By the time we'd finished, Spike was hunched over the camp fire again, and the ponies were just beginning to trail back into camp. Still wanting to appear out of sorts, I went for a walk, ready to enjoy the cooling evening air. 

Why steal a dragon egg? To get a baby dragon, perhaps - although that required a mother dragon to hatch it, or a hefty amount of magical energy. Only trained unicorns should really be trusted to carry it out safely. What would you do if you got a dragon? Raise it as your own? Keep it as a pet? Make a circus attraction? It would be difficult to do any of those options once it got bigger and could think for itself. Chronology didn't have any foals, I reminded myself. Not that he seemed particularly broody, but anypony could get lonely and want a little company. Not that a baby dragon was the usual answer you would think of...

So, what if you didn't want the dragon? What if, what you wanted was simply the egg? They would sell for a high price - especially in the Griffon Empire, where the wars with the dragons had made owning a dragon egg a serious status symbol. When I was in the Guard, we went to the Griffon Empire for the last part of our training, and had seen dragon eggs displayed out in the open on mantelpieces or on desks in the houses of the extremely wealthy. We had been carefully advised to say nothing and not interfere.

It wasn't a trade any sensible Equestrian would agree to, so the price in Equestria was much lower. You'd need to be somepony who knew about the trade in the Empire... Somepony who had travelled, somepony in communication with the griffons, or somepony with links to a black-market operating here, which then shipped the goods abroad... my mind immediately leapt to Dust Trail.

"Night to Thestral."

I jumped involuntarily. From behind, a figure approached, their shadow spreading over me. "Night to Drake," I offered politely. By now, I was beginning to suspect that this dragon was scaring me intentionally. Whether to unhinge me or to prove something, I couldn't tell.

He stopped just beyond my right wing. I flicked my gaze over, seeing those molten gold eyes trained on me.

"Speak of treaty - Equus pain or pleasure?" I assumed he had been at the meeting; I hadn't seen him while I was napping - despite him having a nasty habit of finding me while I was doing something important.

"Pain." He shifted. I couldn't be sure if I'd heard him growl. "Pain yesterday, Pain tomorrow." I snorted in feigned agreement. To clarify, he didn't mean that literally - yesterday and tomorrow were simply used to refer to the past and the future. So he had met ponies before.

"Yesterday, know of Equus?"

He slouched forwards, the scarlet spines along his back swaying with the skin. He nodded darkly, lifting a tattered wing. Beneath which, a patch of twisted pink skin showed where there should have been caramel scales, continuing on beneath the surrounding plates. I hadn't noticed it while we were fighting.

"Of Equus?" I couldn't hide the disbelief in my voice. Ponies and dragons didn't traditionally get along, but for a pony to physically hurt a dragon? It was unlikely - glistening moon rocks - it was practically impossible!

"Equus see great mind, know of little truth - Thestral, also." With that cryptic response, he raised a second wing and took to the sky, twisting gracefully into the sunset. 

I stayed where I was. The investigation forgotten, I puzzled over what he had said. Even for the Cave Tongue, this answer was particularly ambiguous. Literally, it meant that ponies have great thoughts, but they lack knowledge - as well as bat ponies... but what did any of that have to do with the scarring? Was it inflicted for a reason, but not the right one? But then again, he said that bat ponies did it too... so were we all just blind to the truth? Was I looking in the wrong direction? Did this have anything to do with the theft, or was he just trying to confuse me?

The theft...

If he had been injured by a pony, could he want revenge? I couldn't be sure how old the marks were - a dragon his size... he could be well beyond his fifties, so it could have been inflicted years ago. I shook my head and began to pace. Scales would normally grow back, and despite the scar tissue beneath, it would just take a little longer. Inevitably, dragons' scales grow slowly - it takes a lot of time for them to form and harden back into shape. By the looks of it, some scales had already reformed around the wound.

So how long... and was it long enough to still bare a grudge?

Theoretically, if Crater did have some desperate vengeance against ponykind, would faking the theft of an egg during a crucial treaty possibly make up for it? Depending on who he blamed for the injury. Was anypony here even capable of doing that?

Twilight had the magical ability, Dust Trail the brash and violent past - even the Royal Guards could have done it, depending on time frames. If the treaty failed we would all be in trouble, on the other hoof, if the egg was planted on somepony... they could be framed for the crime, punished, and Crater would have his revenge...

No, no, no - it relied on too many variables. How would Crater have known the pony would be here? And if it was a spontaneous plan, how many things could have gone wrong? Surely, if he craved vengeance, he would actively scheme against his attacker, rather than wait with a patience I was certain he didn't have? And none of this explained why I was attacked last night by a pony. Or why Crater would tell me this, when all of the dragons would know by now that I was the one looking for the egg. 

However, like the crazy theory against the princesses, would I dare declare to Magma that his grandson stole the egg? If I did, unless I could prove everything faultlessly, I would be doubted, shamed, and ripped into little fluffy pieces. 

With that in mind, if this was Crater's plan, he could ruin the negotiations, the pony that injured him, and the bat pony that had just shamed him in front of his entire horde...

It was worryingly believable...