//------------------------------// // A Deadly Foe // Story: The Secret of Ponyville // by BleedingRaindrops //------------------------------// I left that town behind that day and never looked back. Something—some otherworldly force pushed me away from it. Maybe it was the fox, maybe it was my inner denial, and refusal to accept what had happened. I don’t know that I’ll ever know, but there was something else drawing me as well. I made it to the end of the valley—for though we didn’t know it, that little village had been in a vast valley—and discovered what would eventually become my ultimate downfall. The mountain stood alone among its subjects, towering above them like an ancient monolith. I felt the familiar tug from my horn, directing me up the mountain. Somewhere up there, there were gems to be had. I decided to follow my horn and marched right up the side of the mountain. My belly rumbled loudly and I quickly realized that going nearly a full day without food doesn’t do much good for one’s stamina. Furthermore, I was a unicorn. We aren’t exactly built for long distance travel, much less climbing mountains. Needless to say I didn’t have much strength when I reached the cave, in addition to being wholly numb with cold. Did I mention the cave? There was a cave—a large vast opening cut into the side of the mountain, though with little flat ground to stand on. Heat radiated out from it, so I did what any sensible creature would do when presented with a frozen mountain top, and a chance at getting warm. I could feel the ice melting off my coat as I entered the cavern. The air was surprisingly dry, though I suppose it owed that to whatever the source of heat was. Of course, it didn’t matter to me much how the cave was heated and dried, just that it was. There was very little light, but a little horn magic could fix that. Rather than simply light the cave, however, I decided I’d better know what was around me, so that I wouldn’t intrude on any current residents. Spend enough time out in the cold and you learn to expect life forms to already be living around any and all heat sources. I reached out with my newfound magic, and sure enough, there were small rodents running through the walls of the cave. Food. I could figure out a method of hunting them once I’d regained my strength, but what interested me right now was the enormous life force coming from the very back of the cave. Deep, very deep back down there somewhere, was a slumbering giant. Listening carefully, I could even hear it breathing in the distance. I let out a small moan as I realized that was also where the gems were probably hidden. My scarf was dripping wet now, so I moved farther back through the rocky cave. A mouse passed by in front of me by chance, so I targeted it with my magic and pounced on it. A satisfying crunch sounded beneath my hoof. Excellent. It was a lucky shot I’m sure, but I was proud of my first kill out on my own, small as it was. On top of that, I was starving. I plopped it back without a second thought, not even bothering to chew; it was small enough to swallow whole. It was almost too dark to see this far back in the cave, and the light outside was diminishing anyway. It was night time, and I needed my rest. I found a comfortable enough rock and curled up to sleep. ~ ~ ~ I awoke to the sound of a crackling fire. There was a slight breeze on my face, and I could feel snowflakes on my cheeks. I opened my eyes, and instantly regretted it. I was facing the fire, and there was white everywhere else from the snow. The combined effect was visually painful, and I recoiled. That was when I discovered another horror: I couldn’t move! I was tied up and gagged, so, naturally, I tried screaming. “Oh, hey. It’s awake! Great,” called a voice from behind me. It sounded like a filly’s voice, but hardened as though she had grown up in a hurry. “Hey, cut that out. No need to wake anything dangerous. It’s just a precaution.” Somepony shifted against my back. I tried turning my head but couldn’t quite get the angle I needed. They—she walked around in front of me. She was young—not much older than myself—with a pale tan coat, and vibrant blue eyes. The rest of her was wrapped warmly in wool cloth. I couldn’t see her face, and if she had a cutie mark, it was covered. “Sorry. But I can’t afford to trust anyone around here, besides...” she leaned in and brushed my face with her hoof. “who knows, you could be valuable.” She chuckled at that, then walked to the far side of the fire and rummaged through something. A moment later, she stood up, a saddle bag across her back. “Alright, we’re moving out. Gotta run the goods back to the boys and…” She trailed off, eyeing my bounds. “Don’t suppose I can trust you to not run away if I untie you?” The look in her eyes told me she didn’t really think so, but had asked simply to entertain some tiny hope. I responded by grunting, glaring down at my gag, then back up at her. “Oh, right. Kinda hard to nod when your mouth is the only thing that can’t move. Let me help you with that.” She snorted and grabbed the knot holding the gag in place, then yanked it tighter. It pressed into my cheeks and actually began to hurt. A tear escaped one eye. “Now then. You’re not going to run, because there’s nowhere to go out here except back up to the dragon’s cave, and I’m pretty sure you don’t feel like becoming dragon chow.” She placed a hoof on my cheek and stepped down, hard. “So you’re gonna stick with me, and we’re gonna go sell you to some loser with cash. Now get up!” She grabbed at the knot around my legs and pulled hard, effectively removing the rope but pulling me roughly across the icy ground. She kicked me onto my feet and tossed the rope in her saddlebag, then turned to glare at me “Come on, we’re moving.” I didn’t budge. The world around me took on an eerie shade of blue for a few moments. The other mare took a few steps, then stopped when she realized I wasn’t following. “Oh come now, it’s not like we’re gonna hurt you or anything. Rare items need to be kept in good condition. You’ll be pampered for as long as we can manage it.” Her blue eyes gleamed in the light from the fire, and I glared strongly into them. I didn’t have to like her, but her words made sense. I bit down hard on the rope in my mouth, and it cracked apart. I guess it must have frozen solid. It was certainly cold enough that night. I spat it out and and worked my jaw a bit to loosen it. “Fine. I’ll come with you.” I trotted over to her, then gave her an icy stare “But you’ll be the one sold when we find traders. Not me.” Her eyes smiled, but she didn’t respond. Instead, she inclined her head, and the two of us wandered into the snow, side by side. ~ ~ ~ I decided to call her Crystal. She was hard and cold, like ice, but I would never bestow so mundane a name upon somepony, even as disrespectful as her. Besides, I actually came to like her. She had an aggressive, confident attitude that I found particularly endearing, and her tongue wasn’t really as sharp as she may have wanted it to be. Of course, had I realized this from day one, perhaps I could have bypassed what happened to her team entirely. Crystal led me to a hidden location further down the valley. Had I not been searching for their shelter, I might never have seen it. Barely visible against the snow was a sort of canvas. As we got closer, I could see that it was half of a tent, set up against the side of the mountain. A thin trail of smoke poked out through the top, before being whisked away by the wind. Crystal pulled back the flap, and ushered me inside. I could feel warmth and see light coming from inside, but right as I passed her, Crystal’s friendly smile twisted into a snarl, and she kicked me roughly inside. “Come on, get in there!” She ducked inside after me and pulled off her face mask and helmet, revealing her fuschia mane. Her face looked… well, young, but old. Hardened, by what looked like years of a rough life, but far too young to have lived long enough for these scars. She flashed me a brief, mischievous smile, then turned back to her team. “Alright. New cargo for you lot. Take good care of her, she’s fragile, and we don’t deliver damaged cargo, do we?” They all shook their heads. “Didn’t think so. Now that that’s settled, everypony welcome Rarity, the newest temporary member of our team.” Crystal’s ‘team’, was a small ragtag group of would-be explorers. We sat and ate with them for a while, to get to know each other. They gave me a surprisingly warm welcome, in more ways than one. I was allowed to sit with them by the fire, eat their food—which was mostly bread, but food nonetheless—they gave me a warm blanket, and they all patted me on the back and introduced themselves. As a whole their interests revolved around finding rare valuables and selling them at questionable markets to the highest bidder. I wasn’t exactly thrilled, but they had given me food and shelter. I had to be grateful. Compass Rose was the navigator. Shocking. She had an innate sense of direction—rare for an earth pony, I should think. She could get herself lost in a maze and still be able to point to the entrance, wherever it was. Actually, she wouldn’t have gotten lost in the first place. Gold Mine wasn’t that much of a mystery either. He was another earth pony, with a sharp eye for appraisal, and a thirst for gold, gold, and more gold. Go figure. Not to mention his coat may as well have been gold encrusted for all of its glossy sheen. He was constantly stroking his golden brown mane. Feather Breeze was an odd assortment. He was a free spirit, on the one hoof; he loved to travel, loved living free, and hated the idea of staying in one place for very long. On the other hoof, he was very aggressive, in a “grab the bull by the horns and then hammer toss it over the nearest fence” kind of a way; a bold confidence and fierceness that just seemed aloof to his otherwise passive nature. But I guess that’s a pegasus for you. It kind of reminded me of Snowflurry. Storm Vision was clearly the muscle of the group. His wings were enormous, extending past his hindquarters, and his beak and talons were razor sharp. He constantly had a scowl on his face, and looked about ready to pounce on the first creature that spoke to him. He told of how he grew up in the wild, and taught himself to fly through sheer willpower. He claimed to have flown through a hurricane, and between his wings and his attitude, I believed it. Then there was Crystal, whom the others just called “Boss”. She said very little about herself, only that precious items were the love of her life. I found that odd for a pony her age. She was the youngest of the group—possibly even younger than myself, but that was hard to tell—but still commanded respect as though she were decades older. She was an enigma all in herself. She demanded respect from the others with an iron hoof—even Storm—but when she looked at me, her eyes flashed blue, and she smiled that odd mischievous smile. It was as though we understood each other on some other level, yet I felt that I did not understand her at all. Respect, I suppose was the word, but I’m not sure I’ll ever know. I was the only unicorn. It felt odd, like I was being inducted into their group—not taken as their prisoner. I wasn’t really so much of a captive, not now that I’d found my magic, but I feel like I should have at least felt like one. Following suit with the others, I explained my past. How I’d grown up in a small hunting clan up north, and how I’d always seemed to find gems wherever I went. The others’ eyes gleamed hungrily at that bit. When it was over, Crystal doused the fire and stood over the smoking embers. “Alright, you losers. We all buddy buddy now? Got to know each other pretty good? Bellies full? Good. Let’s go nab some gems.” She thrust her hoof into the air and the others silently followed suit, then she began issuing orders. “Feather, we need eyes in the skies. You know what to do if there’s trouble.” Feather nodded. “Rose, you’re with me. We’ll need to find our way outta that cave quick if the dragon wakes up, and we’ll need to book it back here before he finds us. Mine, you too. You’ll know the best stuff to grab. We don’t need to kill ourselves with a heavy load.” Gold Mine responded by grinning, and swiftly tucking his hoof into his chest and shooting his elbow back, in a sort of reverse punch of celebration. “You!” She turned to me, eyes deadly focused. “You said you can sense gems?” I nodded quickly. “Good. You’re with me too. It’ll be nice to just know where the loot is for a change.” “Storm, as usual, you guard the haul. We don’t need anyone making off with our stuff.” “Oh, and here.” Crystal tossed me my saddlebag, and a face mask, “You’ll need these. Protect your face. Let’s go” We all filed out into the snow, which was falling lightly. I wasn’t entirely sure where we were headed, but Crystal didn’t seem in the mood to tell me, and for reasons I couldn’t even begin to explain I wasn’t in the mood to refuse. She marched forward with a dagger-like stare that made me forget she was a filly for a second. Then again, she really wasn’t a filly, if one thought about it. How she commanded such authority at such a young age was truly the mystery of the age, but I had little time to think about it before I realized with dismay exactly where we were going. In hindsight, I should have already known. The cave was easy enough to spot in this weather, with the thin trail of smoke snaking out of the hole in the side of the mountain. Feather took to the air and vanished before long. His white feathers blended well with the background. Storm took to the air as well, but didn’t vanish the way Feather had. His dark feathers stood out against the snow, and he didn’t seem to be trying to hide, either. He just flew wide sweeping arcs across the valley, occasionally ascending and diving again. The rest of us headed toward the mountain. Well, along the mountainrange, but toward the peak that held the dragon’s cave. It was clearer that day than it had been the previous day, so I could see the mouth of the cave. My mouth simply hung open as I saw how far up the mountain it was. It’s difficult to recall if I was more impressed by how far Crystal had carried (or more likely dragged) me down the mountain, or how far up it I had climbed with barely any strength and an empty stomach. It was much easier to climb in daylight, especially since Rose was very good at finding buried trails. I was decent enough at it myself, but I couldn’t be asked to help guide others. I slipped once or twice on patches of ice that had appeared at first to be snow. Each time I fell, I slid right into Gold Mine behind me, who simply glared at me and shoved me back up the hill. Crystal on the other hoof, well, she didn’t appear to need any help at all. She glided across the snow as gracefully and nimbly as if she’d had wings, and was only allowing the illusion of flightlessness in order to show off. Not even ice patches disguised as snow could cause her to stumble. It took the four of us just under an hour to climb to the cave mouth. When we finally reached it, nopony bothered stopping at the edge. It was dark in there, but that was where I came in. I’d been in there the previous night, and my horn would allow me to find the gems, in addition to lighting the cave if it came to it. Besides, I can’t imagine any of them wished to stay out in the cold a moment longer than I did. It was infinitely warmer inside the cave than outside. We all stopped in the cave opening, letting the frost drip off our shivering limbs. “Alright, Rarity, you’re up. Take us to the goods.” Crystal spoke softly but with a firm tone, not to be ignored. “Oh, come on, Boss. Let’s sit here a moment and thaw.” It was Gold Mine who spoke. Casting a glance at him, I was surprised he could speak so well, what with all his shivering. He looked like a cat who had been forcibly given a cold bath. Crystal shot him a hard look. “Can it, Mine, or I’ll feed you to the dragon.” All at once his eyes opened as wide as they would go, his mouth clamped shut as tight as it would go, and any color left in his coat, vanished. Crystal smiled warmly at him, then turned to me with the same face. “Rarity, if you would. I’d like to find those gems now.” I nodded and lit up my horn. Perhaps if I could call out to them… As expected, I felt the pull of my horn, and followed it directly through to the back of the cave. The route was long—far longer than I had originally thought. Points of it didn’t seem traversable at first, but I was able to find a route before the others noticed. I considered asking Rose for help, but I soon found that I didn’t really need her. I could find my own way. I led the group around a few twists and turns, over some small chasms, and finally to a vast room from which all the heat seemed to be radiating. We were here. I couldn’t see anything, but I could hear the others scrambling over the rocks behind me. I slowed to a mild canter to allow them to catch up. My horn cast no visible light over my surroundings. Every rock, every crevice, every lurking treasure waiting to be discovered, was shrouded by enveloping shadow. But I could see it all. Every crevice, crack, twist and turn of the cave. As though I’d attained some form of supernatural sense of my surroundings, I didn’t need to see where anything was. I simply knew. It was like recalling a memory of a place you’d spent much of your time in, to help you navigate in the dark. The first thing I noticed was how vast the cavern was. I could have fit my entire home village in there twice over, with room to spare. The floor wasn’t smooth or entirely flat, but any jutting rocks had been smashed and brushed to the side by a massive force. A veritable mountain of gems occupied the vast majority of the cavern. It stretched back against the far wall, rising higher as it went. I may have spent a moment or two drooling over the sheer number of gems I’d found, but then I felt the presence of something else on the gentle breeze that wafted through the cave. A sound so subtle I’d nearly missed it, but there it was. I reached out with my senses to find what it was and nearly recoiled from the size of it. A massive life force that seemed to fill the whole cavern, radiating outward the very heat we were enjoying like a furnace. A few of the gold pieces shifted, and I saw it. A barbed tail stuck out from the far side of the gem hoard, the tip swaying just slightly. I froze. If that was the tail… A terrifying suspicion rose in my mind, but I dared not voice it. The hair on my neck stood on end, and I turned very slowly to my left until it came into view. My heart nearly leapt out of my chest as I found myself nose to nose with a fully grown dragon. Well, not quite, but when its head is the size of a house a few meters feels very much like no more than a few inches. I relaxed when I realized it was still sleeping. As it turns out, Dragons breathe very little during deep slumber, or at least that must be the case here, because the rise and fall of its chest had not disturbed a single gem or piece of gold. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn it was just an oddly shaped rock formation. I let out a quiet sigh. This would not be a problem. I would simply need to be careful in extracting some of its hoard without waking it. The others halted when I stopped, and I could feel their eyes looking about for anything; any light whatsoever, but there was none. They had been following my footsteps, and now those were gone. They were left with no sense of direction, or where to go next. I smirked, and tapped my hoof gently, releasing a sharp click which brought them straight to my side. “Now what? I had a choice. I could tell them where the gems were. I could help them steal the gems and escape. I could be nice. Or I could wake the dragon. I could doom us all. I could even survive the encounter. I probably even had the power to control it. It would be easy, with the power Burūfok had given me, to simply wipe them all out, and take the gems for myself. After all, they were just going to sell me when they found a buyer. Or at least they were going to try. They didn’t know what sort of power lay inside me, or how much I suddenly craved the gems before me. I found myself lusting after them like I never had before. I no longer simply knew where the gems were, I wanted them all. I turned a devilish grin toward Crystal, and pointed. Her eyes flashed blue, and she began walking forward, smirking just as I had. Rose stuck to Crystal like frost on the tip of your nose, stepping lightly behind her, yet managing to fall ever so slightly behind. Perfect. I stood rooted to the spot. Watching. Waiting. Crystal walked right in front of the dragon’s snout, close enough to tickle it’s nose as she walked by. It snorted, releasing a scalding hot stream of air that caught Rose perfectly in the face. She stopped walking, and fell over on the ground, holding her face in her hooves as she tried to conceal the agonized moans pouring out from beneath them. The dragon stirred, shifting its enormous head from where it lay. I moved quickly to the back of the cave, using my newfound auravision to navigate silently as I shuffled over rocks and around massive piles of sparkling gems. Claws scraped over stone, gold flung itself from the great beast’s hide, filling the cavern with a maelstrom of glittering gemstones. Rose stiffened, and began shivering despite the heat. A low whimper carried through the air from her direction. The dragon’s head descended in front of her, its eyes glowing dimly in the dark. Rose looked up into them, ignoring her burns, as it drew in a long, cold breath. Her eyes widened and she scrambled to find her hooves. The dragon's jaws closed momentarily, a thin wisp of smoke from its nostrils being the only warning for what came next. The cave erupted in an inferno, filling the cave with a blinding light as liquid heat poured from the jaws of the ancient reptile, drowning out Rose’s screams. Then, by the light of its deadly breath I saw the full size of the dragon. The beast was gargantuan, filling up the entire cavern as it rose to its feet. I’m not even sure half of the volume of that mountain of gold was even gold. It was as though the dragon had buried itself with gems just so one would think the hoard was even larger than it was. Glowing red scales lined its sides, flowing smoothly into massive batlike wings, which now served to fuel the whirlwind of gold filling the cave.Crystal had managed to avoid the initial fireblast, and hopped behind a rock holding up a pile of gems. She sifted through them, ignoring the dragon as though it were not even there. But those were my gems. I had claimed them. The cave flashed blue, and the dragon’s tail swatted Crystal into the far wall, pinning her there. She kicked at its tail and tried to slide out from beneath it but to no avail. The beast’s head snaked around, supported by its long neck as it flowed toward her struggling form. Its tongue flicked out, whipping her with its barbed edges. I watched fixedly, genuinely curious as to what might happen next. Crystal looked down at me despite her tormentor. Blue eyes burned back with the same intensity as my own, as though somehow she knew I’d done this. The dragon seemed to have made up its mind, curling the tail around Crystal and whipping her toward its open jaws. She sailed through the air, completely powerless to avoid her inevitable fate. I should have been glad—No. I shouldn’t have. And I wasn’t. I don’t know why I did it. Perhaps it was pity, but I doubt it. She bore nothing but ill will toward me. She intended to enslave me if she got the chance. I should have hated her. I did hate her. But whatever the reason, I couldn’t watch. I twisted away, and looked down at my hooves through closed lids. She didn’t deserve this. What came next I could never have planned nor predicted. The roar of the dragon, the clatter of claws on stone, the cries of Crystal and Gold Mine, all ceased at once—like somepony had shut the sound off. A minute passed with no sound and no movement. It was as though time had stopped. The sweat froze on my coat, and frost nipped at my nose. I snapped open my eyes, blinking in disbelief. There was ice beneath my hooves. I looked up, slowly. There, before me, taking up the entire cavern, a perfect ice carving of a dragon. Its tail lashed, it’s wings were unfurled, claws stretched out, jaws wide open, ready to devour the object suspended in the air before them: Crystal. For some reason, my heart sank when I saw her there. Not ice like the dragon, but frozen in place. Trapped. Alone. I had no reason to feel any emotion at all toward her—she’d held me against my will, intended to sell me like a piece of property, and had only removed my leash because the cold would do just fine—but there it was, the sound of my heart crying for her. A blue flash spread throughout the cave, followed by a loud crackling sound that quickly grew in intensity. The ice surrounding Crystal shattered, and she fell to the floor, sending gold coins everywhere! “Ow, watch it with the mid air freezing will ya?!” She exclaimed, getting up and massaging her rump. “That was a brilliant idea, but let me down easy next time, okay?” She glared at me with blue eyes. I returned her intense gaze, and there was silence in the cave for a few moments. Then she relaxed, forcing a smile to adorn her face. “Look, relax. We’re alive, you’ve conquered a dragon, and there’s a whole hoard of precious gems here. Let’s gather what we can carry and hoof it back to the hideout.” She began scooping up piles of my gems. “Better yet,” she went on, tossing a hefty sapphire into the air and catching it. “Why don’t we just head back to civilization ourselves. Just the two of us. You and me.” Her eyes flashed blue. I blinked, transfixed for a moment. Her words made sense, but there was something behind them that felt off. I shook the thought away, and smiled back. Whatever she was planning behind that wry smile of hers, I could surely handle it. And I would destroy her before she carried it out. “Yes, let’s go.” ~ ~ ~ The wind had kicked the snow into a veritable blizzard by the time we reached the valley floor, but compared to the ice inside the cave, it may as well have been summer. Crystal had decided she would carry the most of the gold, so that I wasn’t overburdened. And I let her. I’ll never know why, but her words just made sense in the moment. Despite myself, I wanted her to carry it. I kept only the three sapphires that clung to me as though children. I looked back up at the mouth of the cave, the fire of the dragon vivid in my mind. I could still hear Rose’s screams as its molten breath poured down her throat, roasting her from the inside out. I had done that. Not directly, but I’d intentionally led Crystal next to the dragon so that she would wake it up, and that Rose would be right in front of it as it woke up. I had planned all of it, but… She didn’t deserve that, did she? What had Rose done to me, that I should orchestrate such a horrifying death? Had I really intended for her to die? Yes, I suppose I had, and the worst part was that I had enjoyed it. I could remember myself smiling as the fire consumed her lungs. I had loved it. But why? Just then, I faintly heard Crystal’s voice call out to me through the whiteout. The wind slowed for a moment, bringing enough clarity that I could make out Crystal’s shape in the distance. I felt my heart stop for a moment. Had she really gone that far already? Would she really leave me behind? She motioned with her hoof for me to come to her, and I obliged. “Are you coming or what?” She asked when I got closer, and I realized it was what she’d shouted to me a few moments before. I took another look back at the cave. “Come on, already. We got the gold, now let’s get back to the hideout and ditch this place. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be around when that dragon thaws. Nice touch by the way.” I blinked. Of course, the gems and gold we’d stolen. How could I have been so childish? That was why I’d had Rose killed. She’d been after my bounty, and I certainly couldn’t share it with just anypony. Only Crystal had earned that right. But why Crystal? “Ugh, stand there and freeze for all I care. I’m leaving.” She left. Just like that. Abandoning her cargo so soon? I was shocked, to say the least. It wasn’t until I felt my scarf growing hard that I realized I was still standing there staring at the place where she’d disappeared. Surely she wouldn’t leave me out here to starve? I decided I’d rather not risk it, and scurried after her. It took about three seconds for me to understand exactly why we’d built the ice wall. Blizzards are no fun to be out in. The wind bites, the snowflakes blind, and there is no escape from the chill that creeps into every fold of clothing you cover yourself with. Not to mention your cargo. You thought ice was cold? Ice is at least kind enough to numb the skin it finds, so that you no longer feel it. The three little gems pressing against my side stung like an icy dagger, even through my saddlebag. I had never been out in a blizzard, and knew little about covering myself with suitable clothing. Needless to say, I was grateful for the facemask Crystal had given me, and for the scarf I had loved so much. I thought of Snowflurry as I trudged. She never seemed to mind the cold. I suppose it was the feathers. They must have been just toasty. A natural barrier from the elements. Many of the stories Grandfather had told me about the far south had little birds in them that were never cold, because their feathers protected them. I almost wished I had been born a pegasus. None of this would have ever happened. I would never have been in that house, and I wouldn’t have gotten in trouble, so Snowflurry wouldn’t have followed me out, and she wouldn’t… I stopped walking. And I would never have been dragged to that cave, nor would I have met Burufok. He would never have given me my magic, and I never would have met Crystal, or found all that gold. I was lucky to have been born a unicorn. It granted me such wonderful gifts, such as gem tracking. I reached out with my horn, feeling for the familiar tug I had always associated with precious gems. Sure enough, I could feel the gems, and not too far away. Finding warmth in the tips of my hooves, I set off at a gallop, following the gentle guidance of my horn. The hideout wasn’t far at all. It took me not but a minute before I could see the glow from inside the tent emanating through the whitewash. I shivered in the stinging wind. All manner of inner thought gone, I dropped the spell, and rushed almost blindly toward the tent. Heat! Snow crunched beneath my hooves as I closed the distance between me and the tent flap. I burst through into the cozy interior, and tripped over a small pile of logs. My hooves were knocked from beneath me and I had a very untimely meeting with the ground. But it was warm. A sneering tone, followed by several voices laughing, assaulted my ears. “Oh, nice of you to join us, sweetie.” I looked up from the floor to see Crystal and Feather Breeze gathered around a pile of… “My Gold!” I scrambled to my hooves and rushed toward my gold. Crystal let out a snort, and flashed me a very cold look. And I just… stopped. I have no idea why, I just stopped running, and stared into her deep sapphire blue eyes. She smiled. I blinked. In front of her, my gold was scattered around neatly, forming distinct piles in front of each of them. I could see the largest was for her. One, two, three, four… I thought at first that she had included me, but then I remembered that Storm Vision and Gold Mine had not come back yet. There was no pile for me. She smirked, obviously noticing that I’d figured it out. I was precious cargo as well, to be sold as soon as we got to the nearest town. I would have no need of… gold. I let out an audible whimper as I silently uttered that final word. My lower lip quivered as I realized she really did mean to sell me. I didn’t matter to her at all. My legs felt weary all of a sudden, and I slumped onto the floor, exhausted. I wasn’t sure whether to cry or roll over and go to sleep. I knew she’d been cold at first, but she had seemed to like me back in the cave. Maybe I had just wanted a new friend so badly I’d let her delude me into thinking we could be friends. I crawled over behind some of the cargo crates and curled up there, so they wouldn’t hear my whimpering. A found a nice silk cloth piled next to an overturned crate. It would do for now. I pulled it tightly around myself and cried into it. She would return every tear she'd stolen from me someday, but for now I would let them flow. I reached into my saddlebag and fished for the three blue sapphires I’d taken earlier.