As you stare at the huge pile of treasure you think,
Oh Luna, so much gold... But is the potential freedom and life of luxury worth the broken bones almost guaranteed to get?
Before you can ponder this further, you suddenly feel a pair of claws clamp on you shoulders and roughly dragged to your feet. You see a bipedal dragon with purple scales and yellow hair obscuring his eyes standing in front of you, crossing his arms after he lets go of you,
"Dragons only, chump. Back down the mountain with you."
"Back down?! After what I put up with on my way up?! Look, I'm not even here to bother you. I just want to keep an eye on-"
"This is our mountain now. We make the rules." He smirks at you, "And my rule is that non-dragons go back down the mountain. The easy way or the hard way."
You return the smirk,
"And what if I can get past you?"
He laughs, "Give it your best shot!"
You take a deep breath-
STOP!
Only to gag and cough in surprise at Selena's outburst causing the dragon to look at you in confusion as you think in surprised panic,
W-what?! Is something wrong with Nightshade?
No, just don't say those words!
You gain a look of confusion as the dragon looks at a watch he drew on his hand while you think,
What words? I was just gonna knock him back with-
With the Fus Ro Dah, the three words used by a Dragonborn warrior to slay dragons. The three words that would mark you an enemy to all dragons everywhere. What do you suppose would happen if every dragon here heard you shout those words?
...Oh.
"Time's up," the dragon says, and he picks you up by the neck as you're distracted by your mental conversation with Selena, "You're going down, and you're going down my way. The easy way."
"Would you kind- Wait," You say as you were about to whip out the Power Glove until you heard that last bit, "Seriously? The easy way?"
The dragon gains a cruel smirk as he says,
"Sure. All you gotta do is sit back, relax, and let gravity do all the work."
With that he throws you over the edge of the cliff. Time seems to slow to a crawl as you look down and see just how high you really were. It looked like it would take days to fall (not really since you manage to get up here in a few hours, but you're too stricken with fear to care) so you do the only thing you can do: Pull a sign out of nowhere that says
Buck You Lady Luck
With that, time unfreezes and gravity kicks in as you start to fall towards the ground below as you angrily shout,
"MOTHERBUCK-*crack*!"
Before you hit the rocks and start rolling down the mountainside, shouting curses of the dragon, his family, and his very existence all the way down, until you slam against something. You hold your head in pain as you say,
"Ugh, that hurt. I swear the next time I see that stupid dragon I'm gon-"
“Groah!”
“EEEEEEPPPPPP!” you shriek like a filly as you jump into the air in fright.
You turn around with the Power Glove at the ready, look up, and see… the strangest looking thing you've ever seen. Seriously, is that supposed to be a dragon? It’s got derped eyes, eight legs, weird wings and it’s tongue is hanging out if it’s head.
“Groah” it says again.
As you stare at the... "dragon" in front of you, you can't help but think,
It doesn't appear to be hostile, if anything it looks like a lost stupid puppy. I guess I could try talking to it...
With that thought in mind you say,
“Ummmmm… hi?”
“Blarg”
“So uh… are you a dragon?”
“Blarg,”
“Kay, not too sure what that means…”
“Honk Honk,”
“Are you lost?”
It doesn't respond, and instead starts scratching itself like a dog.
“Well if you’re looking for dragons, they’re way up there.” you say as you point towards the top of the mountain.
As you point, you see a similar looking dragon climbing up the mountain... or at least trying to climb it. It looks more like it's trying to slide down the mountain rather the climb it. You just shake it off as you look back towards the dragon and say,
“See look, I think your relatives are looking for you so... shoo.”
You make a 'shooing' motion as you say this, and the 'dragon' looks at you confused before it says
“Honk, blarg, Honk,” It then licks you upside the head and starts walking away.
You get a disgusted look as a part of your head is covered in dragon slime. Making a disgusted sound you begin to wipe off as much slime as you can as you say,
"I swear the amount of times I get covered in some disgusting liquid should not be this mu-ugh it got in my mouth! IT GOT IN MY MOUTH! OH LUNA IT BURNS! IT BUCKING BURNS! *spit noises*"
You stick out your tongue as you desperately try to wipe off all the dragon slime that got in. Once you think you got it all off (you almost used the "Incinerate!" plasmid on your tongue before Selena took temporary direct control to stop you from doing that) you put your tongue back in you mouth and are about to go climb back up the mountain when...
*ding*
Your eyes open in realization when you spot the strange looking dragon begin to easily climb the mountain. You smirk slightly as get a great idea.
You jump into a bush, dislodge it then use it to hide you as you ride on the thing’s back while also holding onto the thing's scales since your now sideways.
“Hey, thought I’d keep you company, you don’t mind right?”
“Honk!” it says as it starts panting happily.
Using the thing’s help, you manage to get back to the top of the mountain and witness Spike being hazed by the Teenaged dragons. They make fun of him for being little and for being raised by ponies, and then they start putting him through the tests. After the tail wrestling test, you realize your new friend is named Crackle, and apparently all of her family look weird since cause you've seen her cousin hanging around with the others. Soon the dragons get to the lava jumping so you (still in the bush) take Crackle by the horns and steer her further up the volcano so that you can get a better look at the cannonball competition… and just so happen to end up at Smaug's cave entrance.
You don't go in just yet, instead you use your new position of height to see what's going on with the cannonball competition. You see Spike starting to get cold feet and you can't blame him, It's a giant pool of lava! Even you aren't stupid enough to cannonball into one...
Unless I had a fireproof c-
No.
But I'd be wearing the Nobody Cloak! It's fire proof, plus think of all the bits we could ma-
I said no.
Your mental begging of a get rich quick scheme is interrupted when you hear,
Erised the Ink-moth
"What's the matter, you chicken!?"
You suddenly hear a chorus of jeering laughter that's all too familiar to you; it's the laughter of somelin- somedragon getting bullied. You quickly make your way closer to the dragons (using Crackle as a decent cover) just in time to witness the same dragons who (possibly) un-alived your own bullies teasing Spike about his size,
"You sure your name's Spike and not Shrimp?" one taunts.
"Or Peewee!" another joins in.
After they continue to make jabs at how he doesn't have any wings yet, how he looks more like a hatchling, and even strike a low blow by saying,
"This kid is probably a pony in a dragon costume!"
*snap*
Your eyes blaze orange and you're about to explode on these jerks. No matter how outnumbered you are; noling picks on your little buddy! You would get a decent point to dive off into the fray too, but Crackle keeps shifting over to her cousin, who has also been watching all this go down...
POV Change (Twilight and friends in the dragon suit)
"Honk." Crackle says to the ponies, thinking that their suit is an actual relative of hers.
"Oh no, we've been spotted you guys. What do we do now?" Rainbow asks the others.
"Well don't look at me Rainbow, I haven't the slightest on how to deal with these garish beasts." Rarity shrugs.
"Well we need to think of something!" Rainbow practically yells, "It's right there!"
"Girls! Quiet!" Twilight tries to silence them for the stake of maintaining their cover as long as possible, fortunately the other dragons are still to busy being mean to Spike.
"Honk?" a slightly confused Crackle asks.
"Oh I sure hope this works..." Twilight tells herself nervously before turning to Crackle "Uh, meep meep?"
"Honk honk blarg, honk screech blarg whistle wort-wort *Jackhammer noise*." Crackle replies.
"I think I'm seeing a pattern here. Blargs come after honks... or vise-versa?" Twilight's mind raced to comprehend what she just said, but draws a complete blank. So instead she improvises,
"Meep-beep blarg... snorkle?"
Crackle just stares at her for a moment, and then begins to howl with laughter. After drawing the attention of everyone near and still going on for another minute or so, she finally settles down and clears her throat.
"Ah... very good cousin, very good. It is always such a treat to see you." Crackle speaks in a sophisticated Trottingham accent.
POV Change: Bugze (You)
*crack*
All your anger at the dragons disappears as you quietly turn around and look over to Crackle in shock and you swear you hear glass breaking as you look at your scaly companion. You stare at her for a good few minutes before you ask,
"Did... did you just talk?"
Crackle turns around and looks at you in confusion before she says,
"Blurg Honk Snort?"
You give her a deadpanned look before you facehoof and mutter,
"I think I've been straining my ears for too long trying to hear what those dragons were whispering before. I'm starting to hear things."
For some reason, you can't help but feel that Crackle's cousin agrees with you. Sighing you have Crackle take you back to Smaug's cave cave entrance so you can get a better look at Spike. Crackles cousin follows Crackle as you get back to the cave entrance. With another sigh you focus back on Spike. Although instead of being at the top of the diving board where you last saw him, he's now swimming around in the pool of lava!
Whoa, And I thought I was fireproof...
The red dragon (who looks familiar...) says something which causes the other dragons and Spike to nod their heads before they get out of the lava pool and they...
Begin to pig out on the gem pile they were playing on earlier.
“Yeesh these guys are just the worst, stupid dude-bros... Come on Spike you’re better than this,” you say aloud.
“Honk,” Crackle agrees with a nod.
While they pig out, you debate whether you should take all the gold now or later.
Well... Spike's not exactly in any immediate danger, I mean dang, the kid can eat diamonds like they were candy and swim in bucking lava like it was a pool.
With that in mind you jump out of the bush and motion for Crackle to follow you into the cave. You and Crackle sneak into the cave as quietly as possible. When you get close to a stack of gems and gold you can't help but rationalize...
"Well... I don't think Smaug's gonna miss some gold, after all I'm sure that he stole from somewhere else first..."
Opening the Inventory, you quickly begin stuffing in gold and jewels, careful to not wake Smaug as you're not very sure how to win a battle with him (not to mention he's probably still really mad about you slashing his eye and making him fight a Hydra) so it's probably best not to wake him up.
"Sleep Little Dragon, Sleep Well, and don't wake up or look to me..."
You weakly try to sing a lullaby to keep Smaug asleep, but your attempts are in vain when Smaug shifts a little. You freeze at this action and stay as still as possible till Smaug stops moving. When he does and you can once again hear him snoring, you sigh in relief and go back to grabbing as many gems and gold as possible. As you do you notice in the corner of your eye...
A strange golden bottle with the image of a angry-looking stallion bucking on it. Wanting to get a closer looker, you quietly sneak by Smaug's head while Crackle stays near the pile of gold and jewels you were looting from. When you get to the bottle it reads,
BUCKING BRONCO
"Knock your enemies for a loop and keep them hanging high with a mini-quake. Now in Earthy Apple Cinnamon."
You smile with nerdy happiness as you think,
Aw yeah! Another vigor to add to the collection! The Bucking Bronco too! This'll come in hoofy for later. But I should probably wait awhile before I drink it. Considering how... 'explosive' these things can get when I drink them I should probably wait till I'm not near the gigantic dragon who hates me and could eat me with one bite before I drink it.
With that thought in mind you put the Bucking Bronco vigor into The Inventory for later.
"Bucking Bronco vigor" added to Inventory
With that done with you're about head back when you see a pair of orange nunchaku in the pile next to you. You give a quiet nerdy squee as you think,
Hay bucking yeah! Num-chucks! Oh, I'm gonna have so much fun with these!
You pick them up and notice an inscription on them. You look closely and see-
And they have a picture of Baise bucking Lee himself engraved into them! So... awesome! Better save em for later to try out, don't want to accidentally throw them into Smaug. That would NOT end well for me...
As you put the "Nun-chucks" into The Inventory, you spot a shiny metallic grey hammer sticking out of the pile.
Wait, Is that...
You quickly (but quietly) rush over and pick up the hammer and start squeeing,
Oh my Luna, the design, the decorations, the strap, it IS Mjolnir! I can't be... lieve...
You stop your squeeing when you realize that you're holding the mallet which means that it's NOT Mjolnir because you're able to lift it. Your smile drops at this as you think,
Awww... would have been awesome if this were the real thing... Oh well. I guess I could take it to the appraiser as it looks like silver at the very least. Hay, worst case scenario: I can sell it to Comic Joe's for a few bits.
With that thought in mind you put away the silver mallet and the Nunchucks into The Inventory.
"Orange Num-chucks" added to Inventory
"Metallic Mallet" added to Inventory
With that said and done you walk back over to Crackle (who has just been staring at you in confusion) and continue looting. As you do you don't notice three pairs of eyes watching you...
POV Change: Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow
Unknown to you, Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity saw you undisguised. First, they saw the beard and couldn't help but be weirded out to see facial hair on a changeling. As for the hair style and color unique only to you... Well, it's matted with dirt, sticks, leaves, and small rocks earned from travel. It almost looks as though your mane is greased with murky brown, decorated with patches of orange and green popping out.
Essentially, they didn't recognize you at all.
"What the hay?" Rainbow Dash perked, "What's a changeling doing all the way out here in dragon territory?"
"From this far after a few years..." Twilight hummed, "I don't want to believe this is one of Chrysalis's drones, but for one to be all so alone... Something like this doesn't happen unless their group has been... forcibly disbanded."
Rarity pointed with a gasp at the mess of a mane their object of attention wore,
"And such disastrous mane hair! I'd didn't think changelings had manes until we met the Hooded Offender, but it looks as though it went through YEARS without proper mane care!" she dramatizes, "Even his beard needs a little touchup."
Rainbow nods, surprisingly, in agreement to the subject of the mane and beard,
"Yeah, I can feel a 'Hardcore Survivalist' vibe coming off of him."
The two unicorns stared at her.
"What? I've read enough Daring Do to know what this character would be like. Come on, Twi, don't you think he kinda looks like the 'Smooth Junglest' as described in the Third Book?"
"You mean the one who called himself 'Jack' and flirted with every single character in the book, mare and stallion, pony and nonpony included?"
Twilight responds with a raised brow.
"Yup!"
"Who helped lead Daring Do away from an infested part of a forest likely filled with Hornets and Bees along her way towards her next temple?"
"That's the guy!"
"The very same stallion who apparently was supposed to have died off in the end, but possibly didn't die due to the epilogue where there was flirty note left behind by said character, which started off a heated argument in the entire Daring Do community about whether or not he left it there before or after his apparent death?"
"Definitely! And I still say that the 'Smooth Junglest' lived as he got mauled by a tiger AND skewered with 9 arrows even before his supposed 'death' and was just fine a few pages later."
Twilight Sparkle looks back at the changeling, then back to her friend,
"Don't ruin the dream, Rainbow."
"Hehe," Rainbow sheepishly says, "Sorry, Twi, but you gotta admit, he looks the same!"
"Regardless, he doesn't seem very intelligent seeing how he's looting a Dragon's treasure horde from right under the sleeping dragon." Twilight points out.
Rarity looks back and forth between her two friends. Sure, she always knew that they were into this Daring Do and A.K yearling, but couldn't help but become utterly lost. Her most appropriate reaction is to rub her head a little to ease a growing headache,
"Oh, dear. What have this journey turned into?"
POV Change: Bugze (You)
"Ah...Ah...Ahc-"
You cover your nose quickly to suppress the sneeze that would have definitely woken up Smaug. When you make sure that you won't sneeze you sigh in relief before you glare at a wall and mutter,
"Whoever was talking about me almost got me killed! Someling's getting pranked when I get back!"
With that said you go back to looting. As you do you begin to say under your breath,
“Alright, this gold is mine. It would've been mine a few months ago if I hadn't needed to use it to stop Smaug and King Ghidorah.”
“Blarg?” whispers Crackle.
“Oh, well this guy and a giant hydra were fighting… because of me, and I used Smaug’s stolen treasure to…”
SCENE MISSING DO TO REASONS! REASONS THAT ARE SO IMPORTANT THAT WE CAN NOT EVEN SAY WHAT THEY ARE!
“…And then the Zebras and Giraffes lived together in harmony in Giraffrica forever after because of their mutual dislike of Ketchup-flavored Potato Chips, anyway that’s how I saved Hearth’s Warming Eve” you finish to a very confused Crackle.
“B-Blarg?” Crackle asks confused.
I concur with the abomination, WHAT? says an equally confused Selena.
“Oh you’re confused? Let me start again. Smaug and King Ghidorah were fighting so I used my ill-gotten gold to-”
Enough! NO! We've wasted enough time as it is. The longer you stand her blathering, the more likely the chance our red dragon will wake up.
“...Good point,” you say as you hastily start stealing more gold. As you do you start to monologue your plans for the gold and jewels,
"All I need to do is gather about half this gold and I’ll be able to pay off the Doctor and finally be able to go back to Appleloosa.”
You grab an shiny-looking diamond from the hoard and look at your reflection.
“Then there’ll be no more fighting, no more crazy stalker mares, no more princesses, no more chasing purple dragons…”
Which you have already neglected. finishes Selena.
“OH Buck, Spike!” you yelp before covering your mouth.
Smaug twitches in his sleep, so you slowly back the buck off and back towards Crackle (she had moved back to the cave entrance while you were talking to Selena). You quickly stuff a couple more jewels and gold before you jump back into the bush on Crackles back. With that she (and you since your on top of her) head back to see what's going on with Spike. Oh, and if your wondering how much loot you nabed, well...
"Unknown number of Gems" added to Inventory
"Unknown number of Gold Coins" added to Inventory
"Unknown number of Jewelry" added to Inventory
-WARNING: Due to the fact you were looting in a rush and that you're not a qualified appraiser, the quantity and value of this treasure will remain unknown.
The two of you witness Spike and the others lying on their backs after eating a lot and making small talk. They are alot closer to where you are then last time, so you can actually hear what they're saying this time and you hear Spike say something that worries you,
“The way I feel right now, I can hang out with you guys forever,”
“Forever? No Spike No!” you gasp.
You then hear Crackle's cousin say,
“Forever?!” in three separate voices.
“Yo Crack, what’s up with your cousin’s voice?”
“Honk Honk?”
“Eh, guess it doesn't matter, but yeah, Spike can’t stay with these Dude-bros, they’re a bad influence on him. His family is back in Ponyville where he belongs. Plus the mares will try to kill me more so then usual if I don't...”
“Blarg,”
“Well I know he’s amongst his kind but… Spike isn't like this, he doesn't have to follow this path…” you say with sadness.
No, he doesn't… whispers Selena, Wait, how is it you can understand what this abomination is saying?
Before you could respond, you hear the dragons talking some more,
“Ya, now we’re going to go swipe some Phoenix Eggs, you’re in right Spike?”
You gain a look of confusion as you think,
Phoenix egg? I thought the only phoenix in existance was Celestia's annoying bird. Which reminds me, I still owe that little pest a prank for setting me on fire last year- Gah, focus bug.
You snap out of your thoughts and tune in back to Spikes conversation,
“I, Um…”
“Come on, it will be fun!” says the Purple one.
“Well, maybe not as fun as Squash the Bug” says the big one.
“Oh yeah, that was pretty fun last night” says Garble.
“Yeah, I love a good fight,” says the White one rubbing a gash over his eye.
“Wait a minute,” you say as you realize you've heard these voices before.
“What’s squash the bug?” asks Spike.
“Oh that’s where you come across some Changelings, and then you squish them,” says Garble.
“Oh no, these are the guys I left the others with…” you say with a hint of guilt.
“Y-you guys came across Changelings last night?”
“Oh yeah, thought they could crash our cave last night, so we showed them otherwise.”
“Did you see a dark colored unicorn filly with them, or a stallion with a bunch of funny clothes?”
“Don’t know about any filly, but some weirdo shouted at them before running away from us.”
“That must've been Tennant,” says Spike aloud.
“Yeah, the idiot ran right out into a forest fire, and unlike us, they ain't fire proof,” says the White dragon.
“I’m sure he’s fine, he probably had Nightshade too,”
You then hear Crackle's cousin say,
“Oh no, he still doesn't know,” in two different voices before you hear choked back sobbing in a third.
You look back at Crackle in confusion as you ask,
“Seriously, the heck is up with that, can you speak in different voices?”
“Narp” says Crackle.
“But yeah, thanks for squashing those Bucking Bugs, they foalnapped Nightshade and we couldn't do anything,” says Spike.
"Oh that language!" Says Crackle's cousin in two different voices... again
Just ignore it bug, right now is not the time to let voices get to me... well more so then usual at least.
“Ohhhh… Nightshade, who is that, your little girlfriend?” taunts Garble.
“Wh-what? N-no, she’s just my friend,” stutters a blushing Spike.
“Oh wow, little guy’s gone native huh?” taunts the big dragon.
“Yeah, I bet he sleeps with pony mares,” chuckles the purple one.
“Oh yeah, I sleep with mares all the time." Spike responds obliviously.
The chuckling stops as they look back at Spike.
“Say what now?” says Garble.
“I sleep with mares all the time, they’re really comfortable.”
The dragons all have shocked faces on and so do you.
“Spike… slept with mares… as in more than one? Uh... I don't know if I should be disappointed or be congratulating him?” you stutter in disbelief.
“Really? H-how many?” asks Garble.
“Oh well let’s see, I've slept with Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadance, the Cutie Mark Crusaders…”
He keeps listing off names as you and the teenaged dragons listen on in shock.
“Twilight really? I thought he was like your little Brother! And the rest of the Deadly 6? The Buck?! Sun Butt… how the heck did he pull that off? Cadance, how could you? And the CMC, oh their sisters are going to be so upse…” you then realize who else is apart of the CMC.
“THAT LITTLE PUNK WAS WITH MY BABY?!”
You pull out your Power Glove with burns angrily,
“Alright, new plan, Skin Spike alive and make a nice new fireproof coat out of his perverted scales, and then use his skull as a drinking instrument, and his spine as a back scratcher, and-” suddenly you feel your mouth close on its own for a second.
You Idiot, he merely means he has slumbered with these mares. chides Selena.
You realize that she’s right, “Oh…I guess that makes more sense, heh heh…”
Seriously, your mind always jumps to the most perverted outcomes, just like those teenaged whelps! she chides as you know she is shaking her head in frustration.
When you look back, you see the dragons still look shocked.
“…And then there was that time with Moon Dancer, and yeah, that’s about it.”
Garble blinks once before answering, “Dang… are pony mares really that loose?”
You can't help but blurt out at this,
"Oi! That's sexist... I think. Although with my experiences with mares so far that could be true..."
You can feel the facehoof from Selena before she says,
Bugze... shut up.
You decide to listen to Selena for once as the purple dragon says,
“They all seem to like dragons a lot,” contemplates the Purple one.
“Yeah see, you all thought I was crazy when I told you about waking up with my claws in that Turquoise Unicorn’s Mouth!” shouts the White Dragon.
“Oh yeah, that sounds like Lyra, she likes Claws and Minotaur Hands for some reason, I've woken up to that too…” Spike says in a creeped out manner.
Note to self: Knock out and/or drag Lyra to a local psychologist for claw and hand obsession. Also, thank Luna I'm a changeling.
“Where exactly is this Ponyville again?” asks the Purple dragon.
Garble shakes his head to get rid of these thoughts, “Alright! Let’s stop talking about… this... and just go swipe some eggs.” stutters Garble as he flies off.
The Big one fist bumps Spike and says, “Respect little man,” before he picks him up and flies off.
“I don’t get it, respect for what? What did I do?” stutters Spike.
You see them carrying Spike away, and you realize enough is enough, Spike can’t be around these dragons anymore.
You rear Crackle up and declare,
“Hi Ho Crackle, Away!”
“Blarg,”
And Crackle begins to crookedly fly after the dragons to which you hold on for dear life.
As you do, you don’t notice Crackle’s cousin trying to follow.
POV Change: Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow
“We have to get him, we can’t lose him too!” shouts Rainbow Dash trying to fly almost heading towards lava.
“Rainbow Dash, please stop, we can’t fly in this thing,” says Rarity.
“Yeah, we’re going to have to hoof it,” says Twilight.
“But we have to hurry, we can’t let Spike Go… we can’t let anyone else go…” Rainbow laments with tears in her eyes.
Rarity and Twilight hug her with tears in their own.
“We won’t Dash, we won’t lose Spike like we lost… them.” says Twilight sniffling.
FLASHBACK, TWILIGHT VERSION!
The girls were following Spike through the Everfree forest while Rarity (somehow) is working on the dragon suit. Earlier there had been search teams looking for Baker Sylvester Tennant, Nightshade, and the changelings that had infiltrated the town, but a forest fire had kept them at bay. Both Twilight and Spike reasoned that Tennant had taken care of the problem in his usual way, so Spike decided to go on a quest of self discovery.
Suddenly, the trio runs into Flash Sentry and notice that he looks sorrowful.
“Flash, what’s wrong?” asks Twilight in concern.
“I… was out looking for Tennant… my bro…” he says saddened.
“D-did you find him?” asks Rainbow in a combination of worry and hope.
“I…I did,” he says as he holds up a burnt and battered scarf.
Everyone gasps at this.
“N-no way…” Rainbow says in heartbroken shock.
“Oh no, oh dear,” Rarity mutters sadly.
“Flash, are you saying he’s…” Twilight asks.
Flash puts his head down, “Probably.”
“No… no,” says Dash with watery eyes.
“I found this right in the center of a burned out area. It seems to be where the fire originated. Not too far away was a cave…” he pauses saddened, “Inside I saw both Green and Red blood, and piece of cloth from Nightshade’s vest…”
“Oh My goodness,” says Rarity.
“M-my student… Nightshade…” laments Twilight.
“There was no other trail I could find…I’m…I’m sorry,” he says before he stands off to the side as some tears escape him while the mares have a group cry with each other, Rainbow having the worst reaction to the news.
“Wh-what do we do now?” asks Twilight.
“What do you mean!” asks an angry and saddened, but determined Rainbow Dash, “We keep following Spike! That’s what we do!”
“My poor little Spikey-Wikey, he has no idea… he could get hurt.” laments Rarity.
“We are going to make sure Spike comes home safe and sound! We have to!” shouts Rainbow.
“Y-you’re right, I can’t let my little brother come to harm, *sniff*, I just can’t,” says Twilight.
“Then let’s push on ahead… Please… let’s push on a-bucking-head…” Rainbow Begs.
“OK,” says Flash, “I’ll head back to town, everypony else needs to know… but girls, be safe out there.”
“We will… we have to. We are NOT going to lose anypony... else...” says Rainbow.
BACK TO THE FUTU-I MEAN PRESENT
After a few more sniffles, Twilight sighs as she says,
"Come on girls, we can make it there a little bit after they do if we start moving now."
With that said Rarity and Rainbow nod their heads as they start after Spike and the other dragons.
POV Change: Bugze (You)
You suddenly feel a shiver up your spine,
“Weird, it feels like ponies think I’m dead again... eh probably nothing.”
IN THE DREAMSCAPE
Nightshade’s dream starts playing sad music,
“Weird, it feels like ponies are sad because of me... Oh well, BANZAI!” Nightshade yells before cannonballing into a fruit punch lake.
BACK WITH YOU SOMETIME LATER
You and Crackle managed to catch up with the dragons even though you lost sight of them a few minutes ago, but you and Crackle managed to find them in a forested area as they're about to...
SMASH A PHOENIX EGG INTO THE GROUND!
What do you do?
