//------------------------------//
// IV - Into the inferno 
// Story: Aethia 
// by Malckeor 
//------------------------------//

	She listened as a long, slow breath was exhaled through the stallion's nostrils. His own crossbow was primed on his side. Father and daughter stood before the circular makeshift targets on the back wall of their home. Behind them, the wind softly breezed through the trees. "Always mind your breathing. That brain of yours should be clear when facing scary situations, no matter what."
His daughter blinked. "Like this?" She faced their targets and began to mimic the pattern, exhaling through her mouth.
"Yes, precisely," he replied. "Whichever way feels most comfortable, but be careful not to give yourself dry lips. That would be more distracting than anything!" He laughed before closing his eyes. "Concentrate on the breath. Imagine that it's a calm stream of water, flowing into your brain and out with each exhale, taking with it any of the butterflies that may be tickling your insides. Be relaxed. Be focused."
She stopped following along for a moment. "I'm supposed to see water? But what does my brain look like? What if I don't want the butterflies to leave, Daddy?"
Her father snickered. "Good questions! The butterfly thing is just a figure of speech, sweetheart, and your brain looks like a sort of squishy pink sphere with a bunch of lines running along it. Just imagine that." He re-shut his eyes and continued. "Imagine the warm water is trickling along those lines, keeping your little mind clear against a couple of bad griffons, or ponies. Feel that beat in your chest slow, and then visualize your target." He took in another breath. "A clear mind means a calm body; calmness means an accurate eye. You can't let those tickly butterflies distract you from the matter at hoof, or you'll get yourself hurt, or worse." She gulped, watching her father with full attention. "And when you're ready..." He opened his eyes and landed a bolt in one of the targets, dead center. The thrum almost made his daughter jump. Another bolt was in his teeth from the quiver strapped to his chest before the filly had processed the landed shot. He took it in his left hoof while winding the crossbow with his wing mechanism and settled it in the weapon. Another bulls-eye was scored not four seconds after the first. A few more thrums echoed off the wall out into the trees, and by the time he'd returned to his regular stance, five bulls-eyes had been scored in a span of just eighteen seconds.
"Whoa..."
"Just like that," he said. "The wind-up time could be a problem against a large group, but... Hmm..." His daughter didn't quite understand what he'd meant, but he settled away from his thoughts before she could voice a question. "We'll deal with that some other time. Show me what you've got, Em. It's all you!"
She placed the small crossbow in her mouth and focused forward.
"Heh, slow down there. Forgetting something?
"Oh!" She spat out the weapon and grabbed it in one of her hooves. "I-I-"
Her father laughed. "It's okay, hon. This is a lot to take in. Remember: concentrate, just like I did."
She nodded with a determined glare at the lone target hanging on the wall. The filly's eyes shut, and she began to tune in to her breath; she'd noted her inhale, noted her exhale, and the brief moments in-between. She could feel the stream loosening her body with each inhalation and exhalation. Her mind became still as an evening lake. There was a soft cranking sound, but her eyes stayed shut, just like her father's did. The sound soon faded to her, and the target began to show in her mind's eye through the trickling stream. She could almost touch it, but she'd known it wasn't that close; it was at least double that length from where she'd stood, well out of her little hooves' reach. She watched as it morphed into a mean griffon's face. It wanted to scratch her, chop her, and all sorts of other mean things that her dad had warned her about. It morphed further into a wicked mare's face. The water steamed down her blackened mane.
Emerald Dream took a swift breath in and opened her eyes wide. The target was gone, but she'd remembered that sound. It was louder now, much louder. It was moving as quick as a webbed wing that cut through the sky like butter. She locked the crossbow in her jaws and jerked her neck in one direction. It was in her sights, a good bit to the right. Emerald let loose her own thrum, and she heard the bolt plant itself deep in the wood.
The target came to an abrupt stop on the rope that it hung from. Her father's eyes were wide with shock, his teeth gripping the wooden lever. Emerald at last took a clear look at the target.
Her crossbow fell.

"Keep away from the windows!" Everyone scrambled on Emerald's command to position themselves outside of the beasts' visions; Breeg, Zolf and Dazzle dove behind the counter, while Nira and Jen ducked under Simon's table beneath one of the windows on the same side as the wounded drake. Emerald moved to the corner on their left, and Doug jumped to the adjacent one. Simon fell to the floor like a sandbag, but he was in a blind spot, and that was all that mattered.
"They left the network, left the young and the brood mother…" Breeg shook his head. "This is so strange..."
Jeneine peered up to look at the drake. The truth of the pegasus’ words seemed to hit her then and there like a sudden wave of magic. "O-oh Stan..."
"Really?! That guy was a crook!" yelled Dazzle. "He got what he deserved! Screw his stupid legacy-"
"Dazzle, stop," commanded Emerald. "We need to come up with... W-we need to think of a way through this right now-"
"Dr-dragons?!" slurred Simon before he jumped up and struggled to balance himself. "Screw this! I'm not waiting around to be a roasted snack! *Hic!* I'm outta here!"
"No!" Jen tried to grab him, but she was too slow. The wasted griffon pushed through the door past Breeg and Zolf and took off towards the eastern plains. "Simon! Wait!" Jen ran for the exit, only to be restrained by the duo who'd tried to stop her mate.
A ferocious shriek sounded from above. They all watched through the front window as the aerial drake swooped low, letting loose an orange-touched inferno that lit up the evening as bright as the sun. "NO!" Jen wrenched out of Zolf's grasp, but Breeg held on. Simon plummeted to the ground in the center of town, his agonized wails echoing off every building that had been torched with him. The drake landed and towered over its charred, twitching prey for a few moments before it silenced his cries with a crunch of its jaws.
"Luna...s-save..."
Emerald let out a slow, shaking breath. The tan griffon had stopped her struggling and was staring silent at the dancing lights. To her left, Zolf ran a paw over his eyelids as if he were trying to wipe away what he'd just seen. "Your princesses can't help us here," he replied to Doug. Emerald noticed the bartender's slight trembling. She'd imagined he'd seen some bad wounds and had maybe taken part in a few tense hunts himself, but he didn't strike her as a griffon who'd witnessed death before. None of them did, with the exception of Breeg. Emerald could see something in his grey-trimmed face - some hardened, but unsettled familiarity at the burning sight - that convinced her he'd experienced his fair share. "Listen." Zolf's voice returned Emerald to reality. "I've got a few more weapons stashed in the back room, but like Emerald here said, we need a plan. Fast. None of us are getting out of this if we don't keep it together and figure something out." He caught the drake rising back to the skies in the corner of his eye.
"Simon, y-you..." Jen collapsed from where she stood. Nira stepped up and gently settled a paw on her tan feathers, pulling her close.
"F-first things first," Emerald addressed Zolf with as calm a voice as she could manage. "Are there any others around here? Besides you guys? We could use any help we can get."
He sighed. "Nope, this is it. Those you see here are the whole of Peak's Pass during daylight..." He winced with a look towards Simon’s table.
The pegasus settled a still hoof on the wall. Breeg said, "Saura and her flock are usually the ones back earliest, from what I've gathered, but we've got some hours until then." He ran a paw over his face. "We'll have to make do."
Dazzle's orange eyes settled on Breeg. "Hold on," he replied from the aged griffon's side. "You're not suggesting that we march out there and fight these things? Did you not see what happened to the drunken moron a minute ago? That's the last thing-"
"Hey, watch your mouth you no-good saddle-back!" shrieked Jen.
"No, don't interrupt me with your featherbrained slurs, you piece of trash," retorted Dazzle. "It's not my fault that you picked from the lowest of the low for companionship. I have no intention of dying like your jackass of a-"
"Oh, I'll kill you myself!" Jeneine shook free of Nira's grasp and rose while drawing her maul. Dazzle stood to face her with a horn that glowed bright.
"Stop!" yelled Emerald, who put herself between the two just as Breeg grabbed Jen with stern claws around her dominant paw. Nira and Zolf pinned the unicorn to the floor.
"G-get off me you f-f..."
"Alright. Look, you two," began Nira. "I'm not fond of our situation either, but if we keep going like this, that is going to be us." She pointed to the flames. "So I suggest you both step back and get a damned grip while we plan our way through this. You can pummel and levitate each other later."
Jen tried to pull herself towards the tackled stallion, but Breeg kept his hold. With one last struggle, she let her maul fall to the floor with a metallic clunk. Her blue eyes shut tight, and Jen fell into the orange griffon's arms while angrily digging claws into the back of her neck. Dazzle rose silent as her loud sobs echoed off the grey walls. "H-how...?" Tears trickled through her tan feathers. A bit of blood was showing where her claws had been. "How do any of y-you expect us to get through this? Th-these things killed Stan himself, and h-his pack! How are we-"
"We have to separate them." Emerald spoke from where she'd stood between Dazzle and Jeneine. "Stan's pack had that larger drake cornered, and it looks like they gave it a beating. Fighting two at the same time was what did them in, I'm sure of it."
Zolf tilted his head. "How exactly do you suggest we-"
"We split into two groups." Emerald wasn't sure how much time they’d had. "You four will draw the smaller dragon to the other side of town and do what you can, while Dazzle, Doug and I take care of the bigger one. Whether or not you've done it for a living, I've lived here long enough to know that every griffon has gone on at least a couple of dangerous hunts in their lifetime, and you all seem to have kept up with your weapon experience. We can make it out of this."
Zolf glimpsed outside once again and fiddled with his mace. "We're taking the aerial one? I-I don't know..."
Emerald shared a look with her associates. "I'm a decent shot, but Dazzle and Doug haven't exactly done anything like this before, which is why we're taking the wounded drake."
Dazzle shifted his eyes. "Emerald, wait a minute-"
"If this is what we're doing, I'm staying with you three," said Breeg. "It may be hurt, but you can't underestimate something like this. You ponies will need a griffon with you." He took a quick look towards the door. "I'd prefer that no one else dies today."
"But Breeg," said Zolf, "wh-what about-"	
"Uh, guys?" Doug's quiet voice sounded from his almost-forgotten corner. "I-I'm sorry for interrupting, but look. It's gone."
The bar grew silent. Everyone moved to get a good look through the windows. The evening was getting darker, but it was still light enough to see that nothing was there aside from the stretch of plains backed by the glowing mountains. Emerald inched forward as the foundation creaked in reaction to a spring breeze.
"So, just the one then?" Nira's voice broke the silence.
"I guess so." Zolf breathed a sigh of relief. "Breeg?"
The aged griffon paused. "I don't like this-"
A loud, shattering crash made the entire structure rumble beneath their paws and hooves. Emerald Dream raised a foreleg to guard herself from a wave of glass just as a roar thundered into the bar. When the flying window shards had settled, the brown-coated pegasus saw a large, white, pupil-less eye staring back at her, the other of which was slashed shut. The beast's maw began to open, and Emerald drew her crossbow on her left side in one fluid motion. With a deep breath to match the dragon's, she flapped down with her trigger-wing just as a bright light had formed in the throat. Her bolt pierced through the roof of its mouth. The terra drake stomped backward, its agonized shriek piercing through the shattered window.
"Get out of here!" Breeg's voice re-entered her consciousness. "Head straight for the store! It's just out the door to the left!" Dazzle was the first to retreat outside, followed by Doug, Zolf, Nira and Jen.
Emerald didn't move. She stared at the back door, recalling the bartender’s statement about stashed weapons. The pegasus had taken note of their current arms; the bartender, Zolf, had his mace, and Jen held a large spiked maul. The crimson-feathered griffon had sported a dirk, and Emerald held her own crossbow. Doug had his spade. Everyone else was unarmed.
It wasn't enough. She'd observed that having someone at a range to keep tabs on the whole target, claws and all, played a huge role in surviving against those things, and they only had one crossbow for two groups. Zolf's mace was scarred with use, and a dirk wouldn’t serve against a dragon. If they were to have a chance against these two terra drakes, Emerald knew they would need those weapons.
She felt a paw on her back and turned to see Breeg. "Emerald, there's no time! We can manage. You shot it good, but it's-"
The pegasus shook free of his grasp and ran towards the door. "Where's the key?!"
Breeg’s eyes scanned quickly across the counter. "I don't know! Zolf has it hidden somewhere!"
"Help me, then!" Emerald bucked the door as hard as she could. It didn't budge.
Breeg glanced outside to see the drake clawing at its mouth. "Emerald, we're out of time! We can't-"
"Help me!" She bucked the door again.
"Oh, for the love of..." Breeg positioned himself at Emerald's side. "On three! One... Two..."
They each rammed their weight into the door. Something cracked, but it still stood. He counted again, and again.
With that, the door flew off of its rusted hinges, revealing an assortment of crates alongside two weapon stands further in the back. The two ran to them and grabbed what they could; Emerald took a blade in her mouth and quickly holstered a longer sword and smaller crossbow on her back along with a dozen smaller bolts that she threw in her bag, while Breeg holstered a lone shield and gripped a sharp axe. Emerald was now beginning to feel the stinging cuts on her legs, and one on her forehead, but she shrugged it off and focused on grabbing the gear.
"Alright, that'll do it. We need to move." Emerald turned Breeg’s way with a nod, taking care with the sword she'd held in her teeth. The old griffon took a single step back into the bar with a glimpse…
"Hit the deck!" Emerald saw him silhouetted against a wave of flames as he doubled back. She leapt into the crates and felt the room shake, followed by a distant collapse. The sweltering (look this up) heat hit the pegasus' skin like a powerful spell. She took a breath in, but her lungs turned to fireballs. The pegasus collapsed closer to the ground, coughing and unable to stand.
I-I can't breathe. How do I stay calm?!
Her vision blurred, and a whirlpool of colors entered her mind's eye. She stretched a pair of shaking hooves forward through the smoke, grabbing for the shimmering blade that had fallen between two crates. Her saddlebag had become an anchor, and the weapons on her back didn't help. The colors started to fade, and for an instant, Emerald thought she could see that Princess of the Night from far across the sea...
A strong paw pulled the pegasus back to her numb hooves. Before she knew it, Emerald was leaning against the aged griffon on her right. She couldn't feel any feathers on his shoulder. "W-we're good. Stay by me," murmured Breeg as he coughed himself. The griffon maneuvered them back into the bar where the flames were spreading as they pleased. The front wall to the right of the entrance had been blown opened, and the tables and chairs that were still intact had been flung about. There was a painful amount of heat; Emerald realized that her companion was keeping them close to the flames, in the thickest part of the smoke for cover. Breeg stopped to grab something that Emerald couldn't see just before part of the roof collapsed on their left. They each broke into a hustle, struggling through the embers and overwhelming heat. The pair made it to the entrance and threw themselves out into the orange-tinted debris left in the fireball’s wake.
"Hey, there they are!" Emerald recognized the distant female voice. She heard the others settling around them in the grass.
"M-Miss Dream, you're bleeding," said Doug as he and Zolf helped her to stand.
"I-I'll be fine," she managed to say.
"What were you two doing?!" Nira pulled Breeg to his paws, taking care to avoid his scorched left shoulder. "We thought you were dead!"
Emerald let out a cough. "Wh-who's the best shot?"
Zolf was silent before his burning establishment, watching as his life's memories went up in smoke bit by bit. Breeg was about to place a paw on his shoulder, but was stopped by the deafening, ferocious roar from the other side of the flames. In that instant, their moment of rest had come to a halt.
Jen ran to Emerald's side. "Simon used a bow! H-he taught-"
"Take this!" Emerald hoofed the small crossbow her way with renewed strength, along with a dozen smaller bolts from her bag before motioning a shaking hoof towards the sky. "Keep an eye on your target! Let the others know what to watch out for."
Almost on cue, there was a second draconic shriek, this time echoing from the sky. "Uhh, I suggest we move!" yelled Dazzle as a distant crumbling sounded. One of the burning buildings had collapsed.
Zolf and Nira swiftly grabbed the axe and greatsword from the wounded pair, while Breeg in turn took the short blade and holstered the shield.
"Stay together, and don't stray from your groups!" Breeg held a free paw on his shoulder. "These things move fast, but they're slow to throw a hit! The eyes and neck are what you want to be swinging for!"
Zolf nodded. "Let's get this thing out of the air, you two!" With that, they took off, leaving the three ponies and Breeg with their own quarrel. Emerald watched as the airborne drake altered its course in the dim sky toward the three griffons, relieved that the plan had worked. All four figures soon vanished eastward behind the burning buildings.
"Alright, you three. Our prey is wounded, but that just means it'll be angry. Be light on your hooves and listen to everything the two of us say, and we'll get out of this just fine." Breeg nodded towards Emerald. The griffon seemed to have taken notice of her leading experience. "The sooner ours is dead, the sooner we can move to help Zolf's group."
"Right. Dead," said Dazzle.
"Why hasn't it shown itself yet?" asked Emerald, positioning her wing back on the firing mechanism. "I mean, since..." She gestured towards the inn.
"Probably waiting for us to make the first move," suggested Breeg. "These things aren't the smartest in the world, but they're still dragons."
"Or it c-could have collapsed, maybe?" a trembling Doug said. "From its wounds?" There was a strange tone in his voice, as if he were wishing for something he'd known was impossible.
"Only one way to know for sure." Breeg moved to the front of the group and motioned for them to follow. "Slow."
"Hold on a second, captain geezer," Dazzle interrupted. "If that thing's waiting for us to show ourselves like some tribal zebra assassin, why don't we use this opportunity to high-tail it out of here? Turn and run without looking back? It'd be-"
"These things lay deep inside pitch black ursa caves for hours, sometimes more than a day, waiting for the right moment to go for the young without the mother noticing." Breeg glared back at the unicorn. "Terra drakes are patient hunters, and like I said, they're not stupid. What's most likely going on here, is that our friend is using all that smoke and flames for cover," Breeg pointed at the burning inn, "with its eye on us as we speak. These things have good eyesight, you see, as they live underground. If we were to opt for your idea of an escape route, it'd be right on us, and what's worse, we'd most likely be surrounded by burning structures at every angle." Doug began to shake harder. "What we need to do is draw it out into the plains where you ponies came from, on its side of the inn. Out into the open where we can actually move away from its flames and swipes. Understand?" He was still glaring at Dazzle.
The unicorn looked away from the griffon with a short nod. "Yeah, whatever."
Breeg once again motioned their slow approach. At last, they began to creep towards their foe, one of two that stood between them and freedom from the inferno. Emerald minded her breathing. Her wounds weren't anything major, and her lungs were starting to return to normal, but there had been a lot of close calls one after the other leading up to this approach, way more than she was used to. When Breeg began to move them towards this great winged beast from below, Emerald couldn't help but feel a tinge of anxiousness. She listened for a hint, any hint, that the griffons across town were striking true, a pained beastly shriek, a triumphant hunting call, or anything else that could bode well, but the embers had become too loud for her to hear anything from their battle, as if she would anyway.
What she did hear, however, was the stomp.
"Move!" Breeg yelled out, breaking into a run. "Stay with me!"
Emerald froze as a single white eye peered through the smoke. With a roar that sounded as if it could split a mountain in two, the terra drake charged through the flames with such fury that it felt like an earthquake had arrived in its wake. Its wounded wings were spread outward, adding to the pegasus' horror as the ruined right side of the inn crumbled beneath the hulking dragon.
"Emerald!" Breeg's voice broke her out of her daze. She bolted after him towards the left, past what remained of the Pawtapped Inn's front door. The drake kept after her, leveling another establishment with its sudden change in direction. Emerald's heart thundered in her chest, almost as fast as the beat of her hooves. She had no idea how close the beast was, and she wasn't about to turn around to find out.
Breeg had been standing at the Pawtapped Inn's front-left corner, not seven strides away, but he'd vanished in the blink of an eye. "Just keep moving!" he'd yelled. As Emerald was about to catch up, a sweltering wave of heat began to wash over her amidst the quaking stomps; she'd now known for sure how close the creature was, and what it was about to do. As the pegasus and her ferocious pursuer cleared the side of the building, she caught glimpse of an orange figure crouched down in the back, right outside the room where they'd acquired the stored weapons minutes earlier.
"What are you-?!" Emerald couldn't stop in time to follow suit, nor did she want to with the stomping behemoth that was about to torch her like that poor intoxicated griffon. As she listened for the exhale that would light up her and the grassland, however, the pegasus instead heard her mother slicing through dinner with a kitchen knife on a peaceful night short after having arrived home from a busy few weeks...the evening silence interrupted by an agonized wail and a sudden fall; that ancient, bright, maddened mare in the moon a cowering filly compared to the horror that had risen beneath her light on that evening.
Emerald dove to the left when she'd realized what had happened, when a pained shriek filled her ears followed by a heavy rumble; the terra drake had come tumbling down to skid forward along the ground, its flame breath scarring the grass with its wail. Black blood oozed from a cut on its right hind leg. Breeg had struck true, re-opening a sizable wound courtesy of Stan's pack.
The pegasus sprung to her hooves and once again settled her left wing on the crossbow. She noticed Doug and Dazzle, who were adjacent to her from where the dragon had fallen, close to Breeg. The ferocious beast between the split group rose in a renewed rage, as if it couldn't feel the gaping wound it had just re-received.
Breeg launched forward to drive his blackened sword into the neck, but had to dive away when the beast's tail came swinging around. It roared again, and Emerald caught sight of smoke venting from its sizable nostrils.
"Watch for the flames!" she yelled across, landing a bolt just beneath the dragon's cleaved eye. A weak stream of fire whipped out of the beast's mouth in a pained hiss, and its half-gaze was soon settled back on the pegasus. Breeg replied with what sounded like a growl, escalating into a roar as he loudly bashed sword against shield, and the drake was back on him.
The seasoned griffon had assumed an upright stance with orange wings spread outward for balance. His yellow eyes glowed in the evening. The expression may have intimidated any common beast, but it was nothing to a dragon, no matter how wounded.
Emerald took another shot, only for her bolt to bounce off of the scaly neck without a graze. The pegasus had for the most part became accustomed to her shot judgment over the years with her unique "bow-saddle" firing technique, wherein she keeps the crossbow on her left side with a makeshift firing mechanism for her wing rather than going through the trouble of holding the weapon in her jaws, but the evening shadow and ashen air were creating trouble for her aim.
Breeg once again had to dive, this time to avoid the drake's crushing claws. He drew the beast further out into the plains. With no clear shots in sight, Emerald took the opportunity Breeg had provided her to soar across to her two associates. Doug was still trembling, and Dazzle was crouched behind the earth pony, still as a cockatrice's prey as he looked between the ongoing battle and the Pawtapped Inn's blasted back wall.
"What are you two doing?!" yelled Emerald above the not-so-distant quakes and roars. "Breeg and I can't do this by ourselves!"
Dazzleflash blinked at the pegasus, face blank. "Looks to me like you guys are doing just fine."
Emerald Dream wiped a trickle of blood from her forehead. "Listen, you two. We're not expecting you to rush in like a couple of royal dragon slayers. There are other ways you can help." She glanced back towards their foe to see their griffon companion's shield crumble against a swipe. "We need to move, now. Dazzle, do you think you could use that blinding spell again?"
The unicorn shook his head. "Not a good idea. If you'll recall, the drake up in the mountains took down that featherbrained monument short after I gave its retinas a taste of the dazzle, along with a tree. This one is angry, and has already had a bit of practice going in blind." Dazzle placed a hoof over his right eye. "I have a feeling total blindness would send it into a destructive rampage, and there aren't any trees for it to demolish out here, only us."
Emerald was surprised that the unicorn showed what could have been concern towards others for once, and even more-so that he'd said something logical rather than loud and venomous. "You're right. We'd be better off not taking that chance." She ran a hoof through her disheveled blue mane. "I'm having trouble getting shots off, though. Can you give me a bit of light without overdoing it? Without blinding the dragon? And can't you pull up a couple of boulders or something?"
He sighed. "I could give you light, yeah, but that's it. My magic doesn't work that way with the rocks, and I'd need them to be exposed to do anything in the first place. I'm no Canterlot Sorcerer. I can't just pluck them up from the grass."
"Okay, it'll do," Emerald said. "Doug, I'm going to need you to cover us. Breeg can take care of himself, for now, but if the dragon comes after Dazzle or I, we'll be in trouble. It'll be up to you to make sure it doesn't run us down, to buy enough time for Breeg to grab its attention again."
Unsurprisingly, the earth pony was shaking. "M-Miss Dream, I..."
Emerald was quick to place a gentle hoof on his shoulder. "Listen, Doug. I know it's scary, but we really need you to do this. You're a much stronger pony than..." She paused, moving to look at the spade that rested across his back. "Can I see that for a second?"
"Uhh, sure," he replied.
She grabbed and inspected it quick with another glimpse towards the dragon; it looked as though it had been blasting one of its shoulders with a long wave of fire. Breeg was nowhere to be seen. She quickened her speech, running a hoof along the stainless tool. "Doug, do you know what this is? This spade was made with refined metal enchanted by alicorn magic! You can tell by how scattered the light is across the surface." She held it up to the nearby flames' radiance. "Ponies in the west take their farming seriously, as I'm sure you know, and the most prestigious farmers' tools are made with this method for maximum efficiency. Believe it or not, weapons crafted for dragon slaying are also enchanted with alicorn magic, as the princess' power is the most effective force against them in this world." Emerald gave the spade back to him. "It was written all over the records I looked over! Alicorn-enchanted tools are so hard to come by! This is amazing!"
Doug let out a suppressed laugh. "Alicorn magic? My family w-was certainly up there, it's true. Are you sure?"
"Positive!" Emerald smiled. "If this thing goes after you, you'll have the best defense in the world against it! But it's only a spade, remember, so you should focus more on buying time for Breeg rather than slicing away. You'll be well-equipped, though! How lucky we are that you've held on to such a spade!"
The earth pony blushed. "I-I guess I'm good for something after all, heh. Okay, Miss Dream. I'll do my best."
Emerald nodded. "Let's go, then. Breeg needs our help."
Doug began his advance towards the struggle ahead of the two others. Dazzle's blank, lingering stare left the pegasus as he moved to follow the motivated stallion. Emerald's smile faded.

Breeg thrust his blade as high as he could, missing the drake's neck but cleaving a fresh wound near where its left foreleg met the torso. If the cut was painful, the beast didn't show it; Breeg spotted a swipe approaching from his left and raised his shield to meet it. He was too slow, catching two of its claws with his defensive steel but leaving the third to graze against his burnt shoulder. The griffon cried out, dropping the ruined shield along with his stance. He recollected himself just in time to dive away from its crushing maw, and soon heard yet another powerful inhale. Breeg jumped to his paws and dove through the creature's forelegs. When the evening brightened, the griffon bolted past two sets of giant claws to the right. The flames didn't recede, but judging by their path, it had lost sight of him.
The griffon took this opportunity to put some distance between him and his prey. When he came to an exhausted stop, Breeg glimpsed back towards the burning inn, where the three ponies were positioned well away from the struggle. It looked like Emerald might have been chewing into them, but he wasn't close enough to know for sure.
What a fool he'd felt like. Breeg could have been on the other side of Peak's Pass fighting off the smaller drake with his own kind, the only other griffons he'd cared to think about at this moment, but instead he'd decided to play the hero and help the Equestrians to have a fighting chance, the petrified Equestrians who were only there in the first place to score big from a brood mother's hoard.
A lot of good that choice had done him. Now he'd die with nothing but cowardice for company, and the others would perish under these twin drakes' onslaught. What's worse is that Breeg would never know what caused this; terra drakes never went on outright rampages like these two, and he'd still had that feeling that something was amiss, something huge. These dragons would burn Peak's Pass to the ground, but would they stop there? Hundreds more existed underground where these two came from. What's to say that more wouldn't rise to the surface all across Aethia? What about the dragons in Equestria? Were these two the start of something greater?
But alas, none of it had mattered, for Breeg was once again face to face with his draconic foe, and still alone. The wound he'd inflicted had been scorched shut like all the others. It stared at the small griffon with its one eye, tongue moving across its teeth.
Breeg stood as high as he could and drew his sword once again, roaring at the wounded dragon with dwarfed ferocity. He'd at least go out with glory, which was much more preferable than the age that was creeping up on him. Breeg would die in a solo effort against a ferocious dragon, the likes of which he'd never been brave enough to face in his golden years. Maybe his situation wasn't so bad after all?
He took a short breath and charged with all of the strength he could gather.

Emerald's crossbow thrummed through the night. Her bolt landed in the dragon's right foreleg that had been upraised. The shot seemed to limit its strike by a moment, giving Breeg just enough time to evade out of his charge.
"Sure took you three long enough!" the exhausted griffon yelled.
"Doug, stay by me," Emerald commanded. The earth pony moved to her side, spade clutched in his teeth. Dazzle was a little closer with the orange glow of his magic directed at their scaly foe.
"This good, Emerald?" the unicorn asked as Breeg dodged another blow.
"Perfect," she replied. "Keep it just like that." Another shot landed on the underside of the beast's jaw. It didn't flinch. She fired again, and again, and again. The dragon still stood. Emerald focused on the more recent gash on its back leg and landed a few bolts there; it had since been scorched once again, but the pegasus figured shooting the fresher wound would stagger or distract the beast, giving Breeg a chance at the killing blow. It didn't seem to feel that, either.
"Damn it!" Emerald muttered. The dragon all the while had been throwing blows and bites at Breeg as if the ponies weren't there. It was getting faster, throwing more powerful strikes that crashed through the earth harder with every miss. Breeg was getting slower. Emerald concluded that the dragon had now descended into such a rage that it couldn't feel her pokes, nor did the small bolts seem to be doing any real damage. Emerald's current strategy was useless, whatever the case. At this rate, the old griffon would tire out and the four of them would never see daylight again, along with the others across town.
Unless...
"Breeg!" Emerald yelled out. "Do you think you'd be able to keep it in the same spot for a while? Keep it from turning?"
Breeg evaded to his right before replying. "Uhh, I can try!" He spotted an oncoming high swipe and ducked just in time. "What's your plan?"
"We're coming around!" she replied. "That gash on its shoulder is deep, and still fresh. I want to see if it likes a few bolts in that spot!"
"Alright! Just..." The griffon jumped back to avoid yet another wide swipe and wiped sweat out of his orange feathers. "Just hurry up!"
"You two, let's go." Emerald and her associates carefully began to move into the beast's vision. She could see Doug beginning to shake once again, spade clattering in his teeth, but he didn't falter.
Dazzle shot a glance towards the pegasus. "Are you trying to get us killed? Grouping up in front will just encourage our friend here to incinerate us all at once!" The ground rumbled beneath another crashing blow. "This is a terrible idea."
"You think I don't know that?" Emerald retorted. "None of my shots are doing anything. That fresh wound Breeg carved out is our best chance to get its attention."
"Attention?" Doug asked. "B-but-"
"The plan has changed," Emerald stated. "Breeg is the only one with the strength and reach to kill this thing, but he's too wiped out to go on the offensive. He can't keep going like this, and neither can we. Our choices are to either make the dragon collapse from blood loss, or give Breeg a window to strike. Since it keeps searing all of its wounds shut, our hopes lie on the latter."
Dazzle looked into the hulking beast's eye for the first time that day, and sighed. "All I wanted out of this trip was riches..."
"I'm with you, Miss Dream," Doug said, spade tight in his teeth. "I-I'll do well."
She nodded, taking a step back to match Breeg's backward dodge. The hulking dragon now stood before them all, studying the whole group with a single white eye as it tried to split Breeg in half once again. The griffon almost stumbled out of his dodge. Emerald found her orange-tinted target on the beast's left shoulder, and with a deep breath, she steadied her stance. "Here we go."
Thrum.
The bolt sank into the still-wet flesh near the bottom of the cut, where Breeg's downward thrust had exited. The beast hissed at the blow, but it lowered its maw in yet another attempt to crush the exhausted griffon between its teeth. He dove well out of the way just in the nick of time, but was slow to regain his stance. Emerald reloaded as fast as she could.
Thrum.
This one landed on the edge of the wound, a little higher from where the first bolt had stuck. The dragon let out a short growl with its eye on the pegasus. It would have charged, but Breeg took this opportunity to strike at its right foreleg. The blade bounced off of its scales and out of Breeg's exhausted grasp. Their foe replied with a roar, lowering its head in an aggressive motion. He didn't have a chance to recover his weapon; the griffon braced himself, and was rammed on the dragon's blind side. His flailing body vanished into the darkness.
Dazzle gasped as the beast took in a breath. "Oh shit..."
"Scatter!" Emerald shot another bolt into its wound. "There's no stopping it! Scatter!"
Dazzle and Doug had moved well before her command. Emerald felt the familiar heat wave coming over her as she galloped further out into the plains. She didn't look back towards the light, even when her unicorn companion had cried out in a shrill agony. Emerald just ran as fast as she could; she'd dared not fly when their towering foe was still airworthy. Her legs accelerated into a canter until their deepest cuts were oozing again. She’d come to a stop at where she'd judged was three hundred feet out from the flaming Peak's Pass. Her associates, and Breeg, were nowhere to be seen in the darkness, but Emerald knew the scaly hunter would find them. Terra drakes know darkness better than the lunar princess herself.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. Everything had fallen apart from one moment to the next. What could she have done differently to get the griffons to listen? And why did Dazzle have to open his damned mouth? Now the denizens were dying anyway, along with the ponies that Emerald herself had put in danger. She'd felt even worse for the griffons across town, who were most likely dead by now.
The lone pegasus opened her eyes to look up at the mountain that masked part of the growing sea of stars, where the dragons had broken the surface and slaughtered Swooping Stan’s pack. She cursed it with what remained of her breath, along with herself.
A heavy flapping sounded from behind. Emerald wiped more blood from her forehead before turning to face the hunter in the darkness, its wingspan cutting against the twinkling sky. It caught sight of her with a white eye that squinted in the night, as if the dragon recognized the one who’d last inflicted pain upon it.
It dropped down just in front of Emerald with a quake, growing silent for once. The drake just stood there for a time, staring down at the lone pegasus who had begun to tremble. It had seen her for sure; was it savoring the moment? Emerald didn't know enough about terra drakes to say, but she'd known for certain that it was over. In moments, she'd either be lit up for any of her surviving companions to see, or devoured on the spot, or both. The pegasus wasn't sure which she'd preferred, but she'd wished that the drake would get on with it already.
Emerald felt her quiver as if it mattered. There were three bolts left, no less useless than a full stock would be. She glimpsed past the beast to see the burning town in the distance, the old Peak's Pass that had been standing in what little glory was left to it just a short while earlier. The torched buildings were radiant, but Emerald saw something that was somehow even brighter.
Rising east in the distant sky, silhouetting the towering dragon with a dim light, was the mare in the moon. It, or she, had looked just as she had all those years before, although her lunar visage was now somewhat calming; was it something to do with her remedied madness? How could such a basic image look less 'insane,' or insane at all?
Emerald tried not to waste any more energy pondering over stupid questions. The mare in the moon would do nothing but watch, just as she had before. The pegasus was about to curse her lunar visage, but somepony had galloped to a stop between her and the drake.
Emerald blinked and squinted. "Pr-princess?"
"Run, Miss Dream," a shaking voice replied.
She saw moonlight glimmer against the metal near his muzzle and gasped as he inched forward.
"Doug, what are you doing?!"
"Run away!" The drake's eye moved to the stallion. "I-I can k-k-kill it!"
"Don't be stupid, Doug! Get back!"
He took the spade in one of his hooves. "That griffon was wrong. The princesses can help us. Their magic is right here!"
"No!" Emerald started to run forward, but she stopped herself when Doug upraised the tool. With two hooves grasping the handle, the earth pony brought all of his might down on the dragon's left foreleg. His spade whacked into the beast with a metallic clang, bouncing off of its scales without leaving a scratch. Through the moonlight, Emerald saw Doug's eyes open wide with horror as he tumbled backward.
The dragon brought chaos flooding back into the night with a roar; Doug glimpsed towards Emerald one last time before a gargantuan limb came crashing down on his back. He was unable to scream, even with his head and forelegs exposed through the earth-touched talons; Emerald let loose a furious wail of her own and shot one of her last bolts at the beast. It felt nothing. Even as she’d screamed, Emerald heard the crack as more weight was pushed down on the poor stallion. When the drake had had enough, it lifted from Doug's broken body and closed its teeth around his torso. The earth pony was still alive, struggling with his forelegs as it flailed him to and fro in its powerful jaws.
Emerald fired another bolt into the reddened darkness and heard it bounce off the drake's hide. She didn't know what else to do, and she couldn't let herself just watch, so she listened to what her cutie mark was telling her. It wasn't until she'd heard what sounded like something between a scream, sob, and choke come out of the flailing silhouette, that she'd come to terms with what had to be done.
Emerald Dream ripped the crossbow from its makeshift holster and set it in her mouth. She loaded the last bolt while adjusting her moon-touched eyes on the earth pony. Between the darkness and the motion, she wasn't confident of a lethal hit, but she had to try even if it was the last thing she'd do. One bolt was useless against the hulking beast, but if it could strike the right spot on a pony...
"Now, unicorn!"
The whole evening lit up with an orange radiance, and the drake threw the earth pony from its maw not two moments later with a shrill shriek. Emerald's vision took a time to adjust to the sudden light, but when it did, she saw a bloodied griffon grappled onto the dragon's back, sword in its neck. Breeg dug his claws into its scales for support and planted his sword further up the spine, driving the blade deep through hard flesh and bone all the way back to where he'd made the original incision.
The dragon reared up, releasing the loudest sound Emerald had ever heard as it spat out one last torrent of flames. Breeg leapt off his prey just as short streams of fire started to seep through the oozing wound, leaving the blade behind to melt amidst the spewing black blood. The pegasus took a short stride towards Doug before she collapsed and sheltered her ears from the piercing death wail. She could see streaks of flame whipping through the air just above, so bright that the constellations vanished from the sky. There was one last quaking crash, and Emerald knew it was over. The last of the flames receded, and the twinkling stars returned to the night.
The pegasus sprung back to her hooves without a thought of the carnage just a short way behind her, or the griffons across town. She trotted to where Doug lay and rolled him onto his side. Dazzle soon joined them with his orange glow.
Both of the earth pony's hind legs had been reduced to twisted appendages of ruined flesh. On his torso, Doug’s grey-coated skin had been stripped raw in a number of places from his flank to his front shoulders, including a complete omission of his right-side cutie mark. There was a large oozing wound between his two shoulder blades where the drake's middle claw had been, and the way his lower body was positioned suggested a severe fracture or two.
"Doug?" Emerald let herself say after a short breath in. Her tone was calm to match the hum of Dazzle's spell.
Doug coughed out a stream of blood before his vision settled to reveal the pegasus' broken visage; her blue mane was unkempt, and there was a sizable cut on her forehead along with smaller ones all over. Somehow, though, the earth pony was smiling at her.
"Try not to talk," Emerald continued, placing a delicate hoof on his shoulder. "Th-the dragon is dead, all thanks to you! You did it! Can you believe it? We're getting you out of here, Doug. Don't worry."
"C'mon buddy," Dazzle added with a noticeable strain. "We've still got big scores to make back in Equestria! You and me! You can't quit out now."
Doug let out a gurgled sound that may have been a laugh. He may not have been as hard-working as most farm ponies, but he still had that traditional earth pony build. He was strong, even if he'd never realized it. He could take a lot of punishment, Emerald was sure of it.
His voice soon came out along with more blood. "Y-y'know, Miss Dream... E-Emerald, your eyes..."
She shook her head. "No, Doug. Don't speak. We need to get you back to Westglide first. Understand?"
"Westglide?" Dazzle muttered through a pained breath. "Emerald, h-he won't be able to-"
Doug coughed and continued on despite Emerald's objections, almost at a whisper. "Those eyes... Y-you remind me of s-somepony I knew back...west, y-years ago. F-family friends. Th-they..." A single tear trickled down his cheek. "Sh-she was always s-so nice to me, her and her brother, whenever w-we'd play together...away f-from Dad..." He coughed. "Th-those were..." Doug's stare became distant, and she felt his hoof begin to fall limp in her grasp as a final bit of blood streamed from his mouth. The earth pony's eyes slowly shut for the last time, and he was gone.
Emerald tried to focus on her breathing, to keep herself calm and rational, but for the second time that day, it was impossible. Her mind began to race; she saw the face of Swooping Stan, of the Mare in the Moon, of her father with an arrow in his grasp, and finally of herself. Emerald let Doug's hoof fall and turned away from the corpse in silence.
"Uh, shouldn't we-"
"Let's go," Emerald interrupted. "We'll make sure Breeg is alright, and then we're getting out of here."
Dazzle blinked, glancing away from Doug's still body to look at the pegasus. "Umm, as much as I'd prefer not having featherbrained companions, you should reconsider that strategy. We've heard nothing from the group across town. Have you forgotten about those records you've been constantly reciting since we set out? About the drunken idiot who got himself killed earlier?" He limped to her side. "If that other drake is still alive, which it probably is if today's unrelenting bullshit is anything to go by, we'd be as good as dead on our own. These things live in the dark; they hunt in the dark, and it doesn't look like either of these two were planning on scooting back underground anytime soon. What makes you think they'd stop here? It would hunt for us, and kill us well before we got back to whatever passes as civilization on this cursed continent." Dazzle stopped for a moment. The sound of his magic filled the air between them. Emerald didn't meet his stare, nor did she reply. "And another reminder: it's a quarter of a day's trek back to Westglide. We're exhausted, and wounded on top of that! How the hell do you expect just the two of us to make it all the way back through the night?! You live here, for Luna's sake! You know how dangerous it gets out in the wild! We've still got a lot of night ahead of us, you cloud-breathing moron. The Mare in the Moon has barely risen in the sky, so I suggest you-"
"Don't talk to me about the Mare in the Moon," interrupted Emerald, stepping towards the unicorn with a threatening glare. "And don't lecture me on what to do. I don't care about the dragon or the griffons! We're moving when I say so, and it matters not to me if I have to fly off without you and your flapping tongue. Celestia's sake, I've had enough of you, of this town and of these damned mountains."
Dazzle had to step back from the stronger pony's advance. He peered away from her. "Well gee, I sure wish you'd felt that way earlier when our two ferocious friends were preoccupied with Stan's pack. Maybe we wouldn't be in this mess then. Maybe..." The unicorn's voice trailed off. He glimpsed at the earth pony.
Emerald gritted her teeth in preparation for another heated reply, but she stopped herself. What was she thinking? Dazzle was right; they wouldn't last through the night in their state, especially with a dragon on their tails. Their only chance was to travel together with the griffons to Westglide. That is, if the three others were even alive.
Her breath became less heavy, and the red was soon gone from her vision. Emerald took another reluctant glimpse at Doug's orange-tinted corpse, dropping from her high posture with a sigh. "I...I meant..." The pegasus cleared her throat as a single tear showed itself. "We'll patch Breeg up, and do what we can to help the others. Then we'll worry about...other things." She sniffled. "I-I'm sorry."
Dazzle glared back at her. "It's not me who needs the apology."

Breeg laid where he'd landed, cherishing his moment of rest next to the motionless drake. The grass felt great against his wounds, and the thick black blood that was trickling onto his fur made it that much more peaceful. He'd been on a lot of hunts, had conquered various creatures from harpies to ursas, but now Breeg was a dragon slayer. He'd never thought he'd have the opportunity to coat himself with the life's essence of an alicorn-forsaken dragon, and in his graying years no less, but there it was, and damn was it sweet. The dead drake at his side gave him more pleasure than she whose beastly shrieks split his mind to the core. Shrill, angry, wounding wails that put the dragon's to shame.
Breeg closed his eyes tight. Why in Tartarus were those memories still there, and why did they always surface during the best of moments? They were useless. He was a mighty dragon slayer now, what every griffon dreamed to be from the time they learned to fly. There was no sense in ruminating on the past. He was mighty, inspiring, ferocious even, above such petty knives in his skull. So why? Why did they keep slicing about?!
The griffon sighed. It wasn't him alone who'd brought the beast down. If he hadn't run into that unicorn, Dazzleflash, after the group had been separated, he never would have been able to land his strike, and Emerald and the earth pony had kept it busy just long enough. None of them were cowards after all. They pulled through, and the whole gang might just live to see tomorrow thanks to them depending on how Zolf’s group was doing.
Zolf... The bartender had told him a tale or three about his own trips into the wilds; he'd gone on a few hunts with his grandfather, and had joined up with a couple of packs after his death as a hire whenever the inn wasn't doing too well. He'd never killed anything larger than a cockatrice, but Breeg had seen him take the mace to a couple of disruptors. Some of the guys he'd beaten or intimidated into submission were pretty big, and skilled with their own weapons. Zolf wasn't one to let fear or uncertainty get the best of him. Breeg was sure he'd be fine, even against a dragon. As for Nira and Jeneine, Breeg didn't know what to think, but they'd seemed seasoned enough in one way or another.
The old griffon rose, groaning from the aches in his joints. His pony companions were still nowhere to be seen. He'd hoped they hadn't somehow perished in that last torrent of flames, although he wasn't sure how they could have with the beast blasting its last breath towards the sky.
Standing tall, the griffon came to realize just how busted up his left foreleg was. It had been knocked dead by the ram; whether it was dislocated or broken, he couldn't say, for the dragonflame's stinging graze on his shoulder overwhelmed everything else. He could see in the moonlight that there were no feathers present on the burn. There were also a few gashes on his upper back and torso, and it felt like a couple of ribs were broken, but those were the least of his worries. Breeg winced at the sharp pain as he lifted his wounded leg off the ground. With no weapon to boot, Breeg knew he would be dead weight against the other dragon, and it was unlikely the ponies fared any better. He'd hoped he wasn't wrong about Zolf and his companions; if that other drake still stood without any critical injuries, Breeg feared they would all be dead well before any of the local flocks returned.

Emerald watched as the orange-tinted beast became clearer with every step. Dazzle's magic casted a shadow beneath the unfolded right wing. Its webbing had arced outward over the grass, and the body itself was on its stomach, head and neck resting upright. Black blood oozed down the side of the long throat like a stream. Next to its closed jaws, seated in the growing pool, was Breeg. His hind legs were soaked with the black fluid, along with the rest of his fur, and his tail. He held his burnt foreleg across his chest.
"Hey there, ponies," he called out. "Glad you could join me. I was getting worried."
Emerald crouched to his side and reached into her saddlebag to grab a flask of water. She poured it over his feathers wherever blood was seeping through, letting the liquid trickle red off his body.
"You guys alright?" He winced as the pegasus treated the deepest cut with a bandage. "Still in fighting shape? No major wounds yourselves?" His yellow eyes peered into Emerald's visage. There was no reply. She kept her focus on his wounds. "Hello? You're bleeding, Emerald. Are you in good shape? Why aren't you two saying anything? And where's-"
"Doug's dead," Emerald replied without moving her vision from the reddened feathers. "It got him just before you two showed up. He wasn't quick enough."
Breeg blinked a few times before sighing out his grief. "Forgive me, I... I heard you scream, but I didn't..." He paused. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, griffon," Dazzle said. Emerald could feel his orange eyes burning into her.
She applied the last bandage and moved to his hanging shoulder. His featherless flesh had been scorched a yellowish-white, with a bit of blood caking the feathers just below it. "It's burned pretty bad and scraped on top of that. I think you can expect to have a scar." She doused the wound in water and took care of it as best as she could. "This might hurt a little." Emerald placed one hoof on his lower joint and the other behind his shoulder with a push, popping it back into its socket. He winced with a shorter groan than she was expecting. The pegasus was no doctor, but Breeg would be fine for now.
"So, what about me?" Dazzle turned sideways for them to see. He winced hard when his hoof was settled on the ground. Emerald hadn't noticed; the whole lower part of his right hind leg was charred black all around, and his whole flank was yellow and furless. He must have been hit full-on by the flames, whereas the old griffon had avoided the main blast. If Dazzle didn't get treated soon by someone who was qualified, he could be in more trouble than Breeg. Emerald opted not to tell him that until they were finished with the matter at hoof.
As she prepared to do what she could for the unicorn’s wound, Emerald noticed that Breeg's attention had moved to the distant glowing town. "Someone's sounding off."
Dazzle tilted his head. "Sounding off? As in, annoying griffon sounds?" He winced. "What are they saying?"
Breeg ignored the unicorn's jab. "Well, it's a sort of call," he replied. "Hard to make out from way out here. Depending on intensity, it could be used to either alert others within a pack that the prey has arrived, in an ambush or trapping sort of sense, or as a warning, or, in a more optimistic sense, as a..."
Emerald moved back to Breeg's side, who’d looked up towards the smoke-filled sky above. "What?"
He rested a paw on his forehead. "Run."
"What? What is it?" Emerald soon saw the large shadow approaching through the star-kissed smoke, heard its heightening shriek as it soared closer.
"Run!" Breeg repeated. "Towards the...the mountains! Kill your magic! Stay together this time!"
"Celestia damn it, really?!" Dazzle's glow vanished in an instant. "We're dead! This is it!"
"Shut up and move, Dazzle!" They all booked it towards the peaks, where more drakes could be lying in wait at every cliff. This wasn't a smart plan; odds were they'd perish well before reaching the upward path, but what else could they do? They weren't in any state to fight, and the mountains were their only hope for losing the drake. Their best bet would be to dig out another makeshift cave with help of Dazzle's magic and hunker down inside, with hope that their scaly friend would move on by daybreak. Maybe then they could find a flock to see them back to Westglide safely.
Their foe didn't breathe any flames, however. Nor did it keep on its pursuit; no, the dragon simply plummeted into the ground like some ancient anomaly from the stars. They'd heard and felt its landing from the distance they’d ran across the plains, and turned to see it slide in the moonlight next to where its larger companion had fallen. It didn't rise. For the first time since the sun had vanished, Emerald felt a cool breeze flowing against her coat.
"Umm, is that it?" The unicorn's orange eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.
"This evening just keeps surprising me," Breeg said. "I doubt any griffon has ever seen that before either, or pony for that matter."
Emerald looked towards Breeg when the unicorn's orange light returned. "Should we approach? Or..." She paused. "What should we do?"
Breeg scratched below his wide beak. "Keep low, and stay quiet. Follow my lead."
The group prowled back towards their fallen foes, silent through the night. Some unforeseen consequence had indeed caused the drake to plummet down into the earth below. Its neck had been twisted beneath the body, with its motionless head protruding out on its right side beneath the foreleg. A second pool of black was spreading from the fresh kill, merging with the life's essence of its larger companion whom Breeg had felled just a few feet away.
Dazzle blinked. "What the hell am I looking at here?"
"It's dead," added Emerald with a relieved laugh. "H-how...?"
Breeg had already moved to inspect the body. "Well, it's clear to me that the bulk of the impact was absorbed by the neck. That's what killed it. Something messed up its ability to control itself in the air, which you can see here..." He touched the underside of the unfolded wing. It had been cut at about the halfway point, where the blood-soaked webbing was barely being held together by a twig of skin. The wing had bent across the grass in a grotesque direction from the wound onward, coming to rest where the beast's head should have been.
Dazzle swayed where he stood for a moment and soon planted his flank in the grass. "W-we're home free. Thank Celestia..."