//------------------------------// // Ch.17 - Dialogue // Story: The Line // by Sooks //------------------------------// The smell of burnt flesh filled her nostrils, choking her. She squeezed her eyes shut and groaned, trying to roll away from the stench. But the smell seemed to be all around her, pain all through her, and as her senses started to clear, minutia by minutia, a memory came back to her. She was dead. Her eyes opened slightly, taking in the realm around her. It was dark, oppressively so, but her eyes were built for just such an environment. Slitted pupils adjusted for the near absent light, bringing objects into focus that would have been lost to another pony. Her ears swiveled about, but there was no sound to pick up. She tried to move, but her entire body ached in protest. And the burning stench still poisoned the air around her. Tartarus was not supposed to be pleasant, she supposed. She coughed violently as the burning clouded her senses, and when she uncurled from her fit, she saw the tip of a dragon claw pointed right at her. Whatever mire her senses had been in evaporated in an instant, and she scrambled to her feet to back away from the dangerous appendage. It was seared black from root to tip, jutting from an equally blackened finger that was pointing, almost accusingly, at her. She continued to stumble back until she hit a ridged wall. She yelped, backing away from that now, but she slowed. She glanced around her, turning slowly, and made out the seared dragon corpse that surrounded her on three sides. Slowly, as if acting too quickly might reanimate the charbroiled dragon, she backed out the one way she saw open. When she was nearly clear of the corpse and its suffocating odor, she froze. She heard a stone clatter, but she had not caused it. Slowly, she looked up past the dragon's body into the darkness. An green eye, bigger than her, opened and stared down at her. The darkness shuddered, and the head turned to face her. However far the once empty black extended, the shadow seemed to go just as far. She turned and ran. As fast as her legs could carry her, she fled from the shadow until she collided with a pillar. She tumbled to the ground, groaning, then huddled up as she heard the pillar collapse beside her. The sound of fluttering wings erupted all around her, and she curled up tighter. The shadow roared and surged towards her. Green fire erupted from its nostrils, illuminating its monstrous face in an eerie glow. Its jaw was square and powerful, nothing like the angled shapes most dragons seemed to bear. Small crystals, or perhaps particularly thick scales, jutted from its chin and the curve of its jaw like hair stubbles. The head by itself was a mountain, solid and immovable, the body an invisible mountain range. The filly scrambled back to her feet, but a massive hand landed beside her, cutting off her escape. The monster stopped only a couple feet from her, a titan spanning into the darkness, and for a long while, they watched each other in the near non existent light. "How did you get here?" The monster hissed. Green fire flared from its nostrils. Its voice rumbled like thunder, and shook Comet to her bones. "I-I... I don't know." Green fire flared from its nostrils. "I was in a battle, and then there was this green flash, and the next thing I remember is waking up here." The filly held her ground as she stared up at the giant, scaled face. "A green flash, hmm?" The shadow stepped back a pace and began to circle her. "I was not expecting company. All I wanted was a body, and I already have the one." Comet glanced at the pungent corpse for a second, but continued to follow the monster as it circled her. "So tell me, little one, what am I to do with you?" "...Let me go?" "And why would I do that?" The monster's orbit contracted. "I-if you have no use for me, then you have no reason to keep me here… Your magnificence." The filly’s senses were sharpening, and with it came a crucial line she recalled from her studies: approach with flattery. "True, but I have not had pony in a very long time," she could hear the saliva dripping off its voice, "and I am rather famished." The battered remains of her survival instincts kicked into gear, subduing her plans for praise. She planted her hooves, flared her wings, and bared her teeth at the monster before her. "I am Comet Shimmer, Lancer of the Equestrian Royal Air Guard. I've killed more dragons than most ponies will ever see in their lifetime, and if you bring another scale closer to me, I'll cut you down too!" The monster lunged forward, roaring with enough force to knock her on her back. Once her ears stopped ringing, she swore she could hear it chuckling. "You have spirit, my little pony, but not much sense, I think. You mean to murder me with what, your broken blades?” It chucked at her startled realization. “Hmm." It swiveled his head, eying her curiously. "...Do I know you?" It leaned back and pondered. "I cannot imagine I would. It has been centuries since I saw a pony, and you have such terribly short lifespans. The only place I can think of is," it leaned in closer and snarled, "the storm. You..." Comet swallowed hard. "...You're the sparklefang." The dragon guffawed. "And you're the pony who woke me from my stupor." The titanic creature stretched into a more relaxed pose, only slightly. "Sparklefang, hmm? So I suppose you've read Earnest Hem's work." "You know him?" "I was his host for some number of weeks, long ago." The dragon's eyes glittered. "He offered me a golden astrolabe in exchange for my hospitality, as is dragon custom. But my home is not so welcoming in these dark times. So what then, little trespasser," it leaned back in and sniffed, "will you offer for your life?" "I... I gave you your freedom. You were under some kind of spell, and we lifted it." "Indeed you did, and I believe I saved you from a battle you had no chance of surviving." The titan snorted. "So again, what will you offer?" Comet's heart was racing. She looked herself over: blackened armor, blackened fur, and broken sabres. She frantically patted herself, tears coming to her eyes, before she hit a lump in her armor near her flank. Hesitantly, she reached under the chainmail flap, into her pocket, and pulled out her curious contraption. By some miracle, it was unscratched. With a shaking hoof, she offered it up to the massive dragon. The beast took it between two razor sharp talons and examined it closely. It pinched it with its other hand, twisted it, and started at the mechanical clicks. "Fascinating. What is this? What does it do?" "I... I don't know." Comet squirmed as the dragon played with the sphere. "I found it a few months ago, but I've yet to figure out what it 'does.' Perhaps a superior intellect such as your own can solve it." She bit off the thought that it might not, in fact, do anything. "A puzzle? HAH," The dragon laughed, "excellent. I have not had a puzzle to solve in ages. Most excellent, most excellent indeed. You have my thanks." Green fire flared from its nostrils, and a number of milky orbs flared to life across the darkness. The cavern they inhabited was massive by any standard. Stone pillars supported the nearly invisible ceiling every few hundred yards, all hewn of the same dark, reflective stone. And for every stone pillar, a dozen or more pillars of books, tomes, scrolls, and peculiarities towered above the once indigo filly. She stood in awe; there had to be more works here than in all of the Canterlot libraries combined. So much knowledge, more than she could hope to partake of in her life, surrounded her like trees in a forest. The gears whirred in her head as she thought over Earnest Hem's writing. "...Hem wrote about you." The dragon cocked its head. "He wrote about a wise dragon whose hoard consisted almost entirely of books. He said you had read them all." "Indeed I have," the dragon replied, "most of them twice." It set the contraption in a bowl crafted from the skeletal hand of... something. "Hmph, 'sparklefang.' Hem was a learned fellow, which is why I could tolerate him, but he had no talent for naming things. 'Broadwings, glimmerbacks-' did you know he wanted to call longtails, 'razortooths?'" The dragon chuckled. "On top of 'tooths' not being a word, not all dragons have sharp teeth." Comet stared at him. "Oh yes, it's true. Some dragons are vegetarian; just plants and gemstones for them. Nothing but big, flat molars. He looked about as surprised as you do now. We would spend many nights exchanging facts about our kin, but I imagine much of what I know of equine culture has long since become outdated.” Its spines glittered with magic, and the scrolls Comet had run into began reorganizing themselves. “Tell me, is Celestia still your ruler?” “She is.” “That is excellent to hear. I had my doubts about her in the beginning, so unsure of her own potential as she was, but if she has lasted this long, then she must be doing something right. Long may she reign.” The dragon eyed her curiously. “You said your name was Comet Shimmer, is that right?” “It is indeed… sir?" He nodded. "And what might I call you?” The dragon let out a long, low, undulating hum that sounded like a foreign song. “Um…” She made a feeble attempt, and her host laughed at the noise. “Indeed, not for the likes of ponies. Hem took to calling me ‘Scholar,’ so I suppose you can do the same.” “It is an honor to meet you, Scholar.” Comet bowed and tentatively took a seat on the stone floor. “I take it this is your home?” “Indeed it is. I made the mistake once of moving, and that was when my hoard was only half this size.” The dragon shuddered, a sight most peculiar to the miniscule pony. “Of course, I have had to be careful with this place as a result. Dragons are greedy creatures, I’m sure you’ve heard.” “I have heard something to the effect, yes. Is it true that spark- magic wielding dragons are physically influenced by the size and content of their hoard?” “Indeed! I did not bear wings as a whelp, you see,” Scholar’s massive, leathery wings unfurled to their full length. “not until I had acquired enough of a hoard. No one has ever done a proper analysis of the matter, but it is true.” “Why not?” “Do you question why ponies acquire your cutie marks at a certain age, or why you prefer this food to that food? Nature does not require the asking of such questions.” “You’re… very different that what I would expect, sir.” Comet scratched the back of her neck. “You have an eloquence that I don’t see in most ponies, let alone other dragons.” “Yes, pity that. Though I do not know what dialogue you can expect to have, brandishing a spear upon your introductions.” The filly hung her head. “Let it be said, however, that the fault is not purely your own. So, a member of the Royal Air Guard, hm? I imagine you have quite a tale to tell. So, little Shimmer,” The dragon leaned in, “weave me a story.” “I… don’t know that you will care for it.” The pony tried to find a nicer way to allude to the slaughter of his kin, but none came to mind. “Little pony, I know what your position implies. I am quite conscious of the war, as you are well aware. If I wished to hold you responsible for the death of my kin, we would not be having this conversation. Now go on.” So the filly spoke, and recounted her adventures across the southern lands: her battles, her few joys, her losses, the near destruction of her self, the storm, and their last stand. She was shivering when she came to the present, but she did not look away. “And then you appeared.” “And then I appeared,” the dragon mused. “I imagine you have a better understanding of what happened then, between the two of us.” “Indeed. And since you have told me your story, I would be remiss not to give my own. Come, walk with me.” With no hope of actually keeping up on foot, Comet took to the air. With the ceiling so high and the walls beyond sight, she might as well have been in the open skies. “I take it most of what you know of my kind is from Earnest Hem’s writing, yes?” “I’ve read little bits and pieces elsewhere, but yes.” The mammoth dragon seemed genuinely surprised. “My mother works at the capitol library. I spend a lot of time there, reading and helping with the work.” “Another avid reader, I see.” The dragon smiled, his fangs appearing underneath his scaled lips. “Hem’s work is sufficiently thorough, and paints a vivid picture as we are, or rather as we were. But he failed to capture how long we had been. “We are one of the ancient races, little Shimmer, and one of the last that remain. Long before the strife that lead ponies to Equestria, before the unicorns had even thought to refine the use of magic into an art and science, we were strong. Our lands stretched from the Quiet Sea to the Blinding Vale. We had no blood king, no emperor, no government -- we had no need of arbitrary rule. Honor, respect, and the recognition of power with responsibility held us in check. When the pony tribes rose to prominence, we parlayed with them, struck accords and agreed that their lands were theirs as much as ours were ours. Any pony that dared to take from us, that which was ours, would be held accountable for their actions, as would any member of our kind that so encroached upon your homes. “And for thousands of years, we have endured in this fashion: Never weakened, never mightier than we have had to be.” Scholar sighed. “But nothing is permanent, it would seem.” The titan circled around a clearing in the mountains of written works. The two of them stopped, and Comet looked around to find what she had been led to see. “A shadow has descended upon my kin, one I cannot quell. It moves in the darkness, invisible to all but those who know.” His eyes and spines flared with magic. Before Comet could react, Scholar opened his mouth and engulfed her in green fire. The air was painfully hot, so much that she could hardly stand to breath. Her eyes watered as she struggled in the inferno, but as fast as it had begun, the fire was ended. Comet hovered, dazed, as the dragon looked her up and down appraisingly. “I… huh?” The filly stared blankly at her host. “Hmm, excellent, most excellent. Forgive me, little one, but I had to be sure, and this is one of the few locations with a large enough clearing to release flame in. Come, it would be easier to show you.” She followed him farther into the cave, albeit at a greater distance. “About two hundred years ago, not long after Earnest Hem completed his journal -- I have a copy around here somewhere, it so happens -- I began to notice something strange among my kin. Where greed had once been our greatest sin, a lust for power had begun to fester. With no discrimination for breed, size, capability, or territory, a hunger that could not be sated gripped the dragon flights. Whatever they had claimed, they demanded more. When they began to take from lands that we had agreed never to take from, lands of the zebras, the deer, and the buffalo, I and others of comparable strength and stature intervened. The conflict was costly, but necessary. For some decades following, we believed the matter to be resolved. “Only a short time ago… twenty, thirty years perhaps, the hunger returned more violently than ever before. Before we realized the extent of the threat, my friends started to vanish. Have you wondered, Comet Shimmer, why I am the first of my kind you have encountered, despite fighting dragons for months?” The pony shook her head. “Most of us are gone, from what I have surmised. Dead, most likely, or caught and magicked into servitude like I was. I was captured while attempting to locate a friend of mine. We had been working together to solve this crisis, but I lost all contact with him a few months ago.” “He was another magic user like yourself?” “Yes. I fear he is gone as well.” The dragon’s shoulders sagged, his wings drooped -- Comet had never seen a dragon emit any sort of emotion, and she never imagined she would see one exude sorrow. “I may be the last of my kind.” “I’m sorry, Scholar. I can’t imagine…” She tentatively hovered close and placed a hoof on his side. She didn’t think he could even feel it, but his form swelled a bit. “Thank you, child. But it is worse than that, I’m afraid. Come, this way.” The dragon spat a fireball down their original path and led her off in another direction. “The other dragons, ‘broadwings’ and ‘longtails,’ lesser breeds if you will, have been consumed by this renewed lust. Logic, intellect, higher thought: all of these have been rotted away, replaced by animalistic hunger. Their bodies have atrophied with their minds. Their scales grow soft, their senses dull. My closest kin have been eradicated, and the rest have been turned into mindless beasts. I imagine,” the dragon chucked, “the monsters you have fought have been a grand disappointment when held against the creatures of language and philosophy that Hem described.” “To be honest, sir, I don't think we could have managed against dragons any more dangerous than they are." Comet paused for a moment. "But wait, that can't be right. There is still strategy in the dragon flights. That trick with the maelstrom could not have been thought up by animals, and someone had to 'magick' you into slavery," she said. Scholar smiled. “Just so. Nor could they have systematically found and killed the magically adept dragons so surgically. Ah, here we are, here we are.” A series of gigantic glass chambers were arrayed in front of them, each containing a body much like the one Comet had ridden in with. The fireball from before appeared, floating over the towers of tomes before funneling into an empty chamber. It swirled about before dissipating, the charred corpse left behind in its wake. “As you say, there is still complex logic occurring within the dragon flights, despite the elimination or subjugation of the notably intelligent among us. This was the mystery I was attempting to unravel with my associate before he vanished. I had managed to recover some of his findings and spirited them to safe keeping just before I was captured. Once you freed me, I recovered them and returned to my work, determined to uncover the truth. And I found it... or rather, them.” Comet looked from chamber to chamber. Within each, a dragon corpse hung suspended in fluid, each dead from one method or another. “Forgive me sir,” the filly said, “but I’m afraid I don’t follow. You’re saying a dragon flight is responsible for all of this?” “Yes, so they would have you believe.” The dragon slunk up to one of the chambers, fangs bared menacingly at its contents. “Or perhaps a trusted friend. A mate. An emissary. They appear by your side, basking in your trust, conversing with you, learning from you, whispering in your ear. “Driving you mad.” The dragon growled and spun away to face the filly again. “Two hundred years ago, they tried with a smaller group, perhaps as a test. We halted their conquests, and they disappeared. Since then, they have slowly worked their way through our population, influencing our alphas and eliminating dissenters. Anyone that opposed them or grew wise to their plans was killed without mercy. Thirty years ago, confident in the grip they had over all of dragonkind, they set their plans into motion.” “They made the dragons into their puppet army?” “Many, most, but not all. Some flights escaped, I believe, fleeing to the far corners of the world. But yes, the vast majority of the dragons, as a race, have been enslaved.” Comet flew up to land on Scholar’s nose. “But what would have the power to subjugate the entire dragon race? That would be tens, hundreds of thousands of dragons to ensnare.” “That, little one, is what I hope to confirm.” He motioned to the collected bodies. “With each of these subjects, I noticed a unique magical residue that all of them share. For each of these, there were five that I captured that did not possess it. It is a regrettable sacrifice, but a necessary one. The one with which you came provided enough foundation to form a fire that only affects creatures bearing that magical signature. I tested it on you.” The filly looked stunned, almost offended, and the dragon chuckled. “Do not worry, my little pony. You only would have burned if you had been the enemy I hunt. So you were never in any real danger, as it would happen.” Comet nodded, but was no less wary of the titan on which she stood. “So what’s causing this residue?” “I see traces like it sometimes, as a result of spells that are designed to be cast and sustained autonomously.” “So these dragons are maintaining a spell over themselves for long periods of time? But they’re not magic wielders.” “Isn’t that just the most peculiar thing?” the dragon hummed. Magic arced along his back, and a matching glow appeared around one of the least destroyed bodies. "What are you doing?" Comet watched the magical exchange like a foal. "I am attempting to rid this body of the magic controlling it, hopefully giving us a glimpse of our true enemy -- oh, that's, that is intricate." Scholar furrowed his brow. "This magic is not simply an illusion -- its actual physiology is altered to match a draconic appearance. I've seen something like this before, but..." "... But what? Scholar?" Instead of reply, the dragon blasted the body with a wave of fiery magic. The filly watched, jaw hanging open, as the dragon corpse began to rapidly shrink in size. It's wings shrank and grew thin as silk, its scales merged into black, chitinous plates. Holes appeared along its legs, evidently not wounds, though the missing trachea that had ended the creature’s life remained unchanged. When the body finally settled, the monster inside the chamber was something between a pony and a beetle, barely larger than Comet, and utterly nightmarish. "What is that?" Comet stammered. "That, little one, is a changeling." Scholar stood, unwavering in his pensive gaze, but the fire in his eyes spoke of the fury he was withholding. Comet stared at the equine insect, its uncanny similarity to her own race making her ill. Scholar emitted another wave across the other chambers, and each corpse morphed into an identical, albeit generally more destroyed, clone of the first creature. "I've never even heard of a changeling before." "And that speaks well of Celestia's leadership. Changelings are parasites, swarming through lands and feeding off of the emotions of their inhabitants. Above all else, consuming love gives them the greatest power. But nothing loves a changeling, so they disguise their form to take the place of one their target cares for. A sibling, a mate, a colleague, the changeling will feed off of your emotions for the subject, hypnotizing you to avoid you catching on. Ravenous creatures, they will take and take until there is nothing left for you to give. "Celestia and Luna must have found something that repels them, keeps them beyond Equestria's borders. Your land is one built upon love and trust. If a changeling swarm were to harvest those emotions, they would gorge themselves for a hundred years, and leave your lands empty and desolated." "And now they have a dragon army to force their way in." "Indeed, which means two things. First, they may have promised something to the dragons, something that their atrophied minds hunger for. Gold, gems, dominion, I cannot say, though it is unlikely said promises would ever be fulfilled. The mind of a dragon is not so easily tamed, but a combination of powerful hypnotism and the lure of our natural desires may suffice. Second, whatever means of protection Celestia and Luna devised has waned, enough that the changelings dare to challenge it." Scholar squinted at the changeling corpse and frowned. "There's something else that's bothering you," Comet said. "A changeling can rarely mimic a creature significantly larger or smaller than its natural size. Zebras, ponies, deer, even buffalo are all within the tolerable range. For a changeling, especially a drone such as this, to imitate a dragon many times its volume, would require a great deal more power than they normally possess." "What does that mean?" "It means, Comet Shimmer, that your race and mine are in grave danger. This swarm, through its queen, has already amassed a great deal of power, and if their goal is the consumption of Equestria, then all of the power they shall devour, and all of the magical devices and artifacts your kin have developed, will bolster their strength even more. If the changelings succeed, your country shall be consumed, my kind shall be forever enslaved to these monsters, and untold numbers of innocents will be devoured in the ages to come." "Well we have to do something," Comet shouted. "We have to find a way to warn them, to tell them what's really happening... Oh Faust, your kin... We've been killing them, and they-" "May well be beyond hope as it is," Scholar interrupted. "The next generation may grow strong and wise, as we once were, but I fear the damage done to those that the changelings now control cannot be undone. Dragonkind has been dealt a blow we shall never fully recover from. Our goal now is to make sure that ponykind does not suffer the same fate, or worse." Scholar smiled. "Perhaps your arrival might be of use after all." "What can I do?" Comet stared up at the dragon from the end of his nose. His two large, clear eyes stared down at her, measuring her worth in silence. "It is just as you said. Someone has to tell Celestia, and your comrades, who the real enemy is. If I leave this place, it is likely I will be captured and used towards the end of Equestria. You must go in my stead. Tell your princess what we have learned here, and what awaits your home if you should meet them in battle. Tell her, 'she is late for her chess game.' She will understand." He grabbed a small pendant, breathed on it, and handed it to Comet. Milky ether swirled across its surface for a moment before vanishing like morning dew. "This bears the magical signature that indicates changeling magics. Give it to Celestia. She should be able to devise the same revealment spell that I have. Do you understand what you must do?" "I do. I'll tell them. I'll tell them everything." Comet bit her lip. "And I'll tell them of what your kin once were." The dragon laughed. "What we were, and what we may yet be." He plucked her from his nose and set her on the ground. "There is one more task I would bestow upon you." "Anything." The filly had to strain her neck to meet the dragon's gaze. The titan reached into a sack between two of his breast scales and produced a small sphere of his own. He brought it down for Comet to take. It was an egg, she saw, lavender with violet spots. "Is this..." "One of my mate's. She disappeared years ago, I'm afraid, along with our other eggs. This is the last one, the only one I could spirit to safety. I do not trust my kind with its future, not with what they have become. Take it, Comet Shimmer. Take this egg, and see that my offspring has a better life than I can offer." "I will. And I'll tell you everything, after it's done." The dragon smiled at her resolution. "I'm afraid, little one, we will not meet again." He stopped her reply with a massive talon. "There is no more time. Go now, Comet Shimmer, and end this war before we are all defeated. The good will of all dragonkind goes with you." Scholar's chest swelled with fire, and he engulfed her in green flame. As the fire died down, no trace of the filly, or her cargo, remained.