“Went into the Everfree to confront a dragon and save Equestria. Be back this evening.”
Raj stared down in thought at the semi-legible pony-script he'd written and added “P.S. I ate the macaroni salad. It was good. Give Spike my compliments.” Content with his note he cradled his quill and weighed the paper down with a book. Outside, he heard what sounded like the scream of a jet followed by a suppressed squeal of excitement and assumed that the Wonderbolts had arrived.
He stepped out of the library to see three Pegasi in form-fitting blue jumpsuits. Nearby, Rainbow Dash was hopping back and forth, forelegs curled up to her mouth and eyes glittering. The nearest Wonderbolt, a smaller mare with a snowy mane pulled up her goggles and said “Captain Rajrishi? I'm Lieutenant Fleetfoot, and this is Misty Fly and Silver Lining. We're at your disposal.”
“Shouldn't that be Fleethoof?”
“Sir?”
“Nevermind. Happy to have you here. Has the Princess told you what the job is?”
Fleetfoot shook her head. “She told us you were going to do that.”
“We're searching for a female dragon that's taken up roost in the Everfree. We need to find her before she lays her eggs or we're never getting rid of her. Keep an eye out for smoke, burned sections of forest, and, the most telltale sign of all, a giant dragon. Rainbow Dash is familiar with the forest, she can tell you what to look out for.” As soon as her name was mentioned the blue pegasus zipped up next to him with a starry-eyed grin on her face.
Fleetfoot looked at her wingmare and said “Misty Fly, get Dash's information.” she nodded and stepped aside with Rainbow who immediately began rattling off every aerial hazard she knew about the Everfree.
Raj continued “Once she's taken care of that I'll need you three to start running a grid pattern over the Everfree and report back anything you see.”
“Where are you going to be during all of this sir?” Silver Lining asked. “Not back here I hope.”
“I'm gonna be in the forest, same as you three. I know the place better than anyone and I can think of a few spots a Dragon could lair, but I don't know how to guide someone to them from the air. I'll have to check them out on the ground.”
“How are we supposed to find you in the forest if we need to contact you?” asked Silver Lining.
“Sky-write something, or just fly around overhead. If I see one of you, I'll send Rainbow Dash up to talk to you. If I need one of you to do something, I'll have Rainbow Dash hunt one of you down. It's not a great system, but it's what we have to work with on such short notice.”
“It'll work. That's the important thing.”
Misty Fly flapped back over and said “All done. I can tell you on the way.”
“Alright then. Talk to you later Captain, stay safe out there. Wonderbolts, let's go!” All three flapped in unison and took off like rockets, complete with streaming lines of smoke.
“Aww yeah, let's do this!” shouted Rainbow Dash as she geared up to follow. She sprang into the air but skidded to a halt when Raj loudly cleared his throat.
Raj smiled up at her and said “Nice try sparky, you're with me.”
“What? Whaddya mean? I'm supposed to be flying with the Wonderbolts! That's what I'm here for!”
Raj shook his head. “No you're not. You're supposed to stick with me while I move around the Everfree on foot. I need a flier fast enough so I can coordinate with the Wonderbolts from the ground.”
“Ohhh, okay. That makes sense.” She lowered to the ground and bounced a few times from hoof to hoof. “Well, that sounds good too. It'll give me a chance to get to know the guy that's been hanging out with my gal-pals.”
“Alright, sure. Just do what I say and stay behind me if anything dangerous happens.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Sh'yeah, do you know who you're talking to? Some monster shows up I'm gonna kick its flank all the way to Fillydelphia!”
* * *
Raj strained his head back from the snapping jaws of the Timberwolf, hot sap splattering onto him. He planted his hands into the thing's aggregate form and pulled, tearing a huge chunk out of it. The thing seemed not to care and continued snapping and flailing rabidly.
Snarling, he lifted the beast up and swung it down, shattering it into a thousand pieces of dry wood. He panted for a moment and called out “Rainbow? You can come out.”
A minute later a blue head poked out from the foliage of a nearby tree, looking worried. “Are you sure? Where'd the Timberwolf go?”
“It's gone.” replied Raj as he dug around in the pile of wood until he found its heartswood. “For good.” He snapped the piece in half and tossed them aside.
Rainbow flapped over and looked around. “Wow, you really did a number on that guy. Are you okay.”
“I'm fine, nothing I haven't done before. It's good we ran into that thing actually, I don't like the idea of a rabid, solitary Timberwolf this close to town. Glad I got to it before it hurt anyone.”
“Yeah, yeah good. Haha.” She laughed weakly and rubbed the back of her head. “Hey, uh, so, sorry I zipped up into the tree like that. I was, uh, that thing startled me.”
Raj shrugged. “Don't worry about it, it was just one Timberwolf. Besides, it's what I told you to do. Now come on, Zecora's hut isn't that far.”
“Zecora's? Why are we going there?”
“If a dragon has been living in the Everfree, I'd bet money she know about it. Hopefully she'll be able to point us in the right direction.”
“Right. That makes sense.”
The two of them continued forward for a short while before Zecora's tree-hut came into view. Raj knocked and they both heard “Who is this that comes to visit me?” The door opened and Zecora smiled at the pair. “Ah, it is Rainbow Dash and Rajrishi!”
Raj blinked “How did... how did you know you'd be able to complete that rhyme before you opened the door?”
Zecora opened her mouth to reply but Rainbow Dash pushed her way between the two. “Yeah yeah, hey Zecs, we got a problem. You seen any dragons around here?”
The zebra cocked her head. “A dragon in the forest? I have, if I am honest.”
“Slant rhyme, but it works. We need to find this dragon as quick as we can. Any idea where we can find her?” Raj asked.
Zecora cleared her throat and pointed with a hoof deeper into the woods. “I have seen her shadows where the mega-trees loom, past where the poison joke blooms.”
Raj processed that for a moment before saying “Alright, so pretty deep in the woods. Big area, but that narrows it down. Thanks Zecora.”
“Not a problem my friends. Is there any other help I could lend?” she jived.
Raj shrugged. “Not unless you think you could fight a mature, highly territorial dragoness.”
Zecora's face went serious for a moment before saying “I would need time to prepare my brews, but I believe they would be of use.”
Raj cocked his head and said back warily “Well, we're on something of a time crunch, so we'll have to keep going on our own. But if I come up with something I'll send Dash back. Speaking of which, you should probably go find the Wonderbolts. Tell them to focus their search around where the forest becomes really tall. They should be able to find that.”
“On it Captain.” she shot back before disappearing into they sky in a streak.
Zecora watched her go and mused. “You are a Captain now? Surprising, that the town would allow.”
“Princess Luna gave me the commission, so they didn't allow anything. Captain of the whole Lunar Guard, which consists of just me so far.”
“Ah, by royal decree they accept, I see. Last I heard your presence was met with mobs and fire. Your situation sounded quite dire.”
“They were pretty frosty to me at the beginning, yeah. Save the lives of everyone in town though and they warm up pretty quick. Speaking of which, did the Froggy Flu get to you? I don't remember seeing you while we were handing out the cure.”
At that Zecora actually laughed, her head thrown back in genuine amusement. “Rajrishi, I have no fear of any pony illness. I have many ways to-”
She was cut off when a powerful gust tore through her yard and Rainbow Dash slid to a halt just past them. “Done Raj, the Wonderbolts know where to go.”
Zecora shook her head and exclaimed “Oh my, such quickness!”
“Okay, seriously, how do you do that?” Raj asked with insistence. “There are, like, four words that rhyme with illness and none of them were relevant to the conversation. What were you leading to before she showed up?”
“What's he talking about?” Rainbow asked Zecora with a cock of her head.
She shrugged. “I have no clue. Raj, have I aggravated you?” She asked with a knowing lilt to her voice
Raj glared at the zebra for a moment. “No, nevermind. One of these days you're going to explain that to me. Come on Dash.” Raj turned and started jogging into the woods.
“Later Zecs.” chirped Rainbow Dash as she flapped after him.
“Goodbye my friends, do come and visit again some time. You may even catch me out of rhyme!” she let out a little chuckle and went back into her hut.
* * *
“So you guys knocked a tower into the river to drag the thing into the water?” asked Dash, eyes wide with interest.
“Yep, chopped the whole thing down. Pinkie's idea.” Raj smirked as he wrapped up the story.
“That. Is. AWESOME!” she shouted with a puff of her wings and jubilant hop. “I mean, I heard the story from Pinkie and it was great then but she's not the best storyteller. But wow Raj, that whole thing just sounds super cool with all the fighting and fire and stuff. Man, I wish I was from the same town Pinkie is, then I would have been able to come with and really kick some tail!”
“Definitely would have helped.” Raj admitted, teeth chattering as he was hit with an autumn wind.
The pair were miles further into the Everfree, past the bramble thickets and with the mega-trees looming ahead, visible through the nearly bare branches. Raj shivered every time a breeze blew through the skeletal trees and silently regretted not grabbing something from the library to cover his bare torso with.
Rainbow seemed not bothered by the cold in the slightest and trotted alongside him merrily. “Whenever me and the girls go on some sort of adventure or something, we usually end up solving it with words or a rainbow laser every now and then. Sometimes, I wish we'd have more chances to really fight something cool. Like during Cadance's wedding. We got to beat us a bunch of changelings and it was awesome as buck!”
“I think Twilight told me about that one. Weren't they sent flying away due to some sort of love explosion?”
Rainbow looked away and dug her hoof into the ground. “Well, yeah that's what did it, but we were important too!”
“I think she told me that you guys got in a fight but were dragged right back to where you escaped from. You were gone five minutes.”
She looked up in thought for a moment and hummed before admitting “Well, okay, sort of important, but that's what I'm talking about. I mean, I like being able to save Equestria and help ponies realize harmony and friendship and junk, but I wish I got a chance to be cool and badass while doing it. Like you do.”
Raj waved her off. “Trust me, you do not want to be like me. For one, I don't think you could take as many crotch-shots as I do.”
“Hey, I'm pretty tough. You won't believe how often I crash into stuff.”
“That doesn't inspire confidence Rainbow.”
The pegasus shot him a cocky grin and laughed lightly. “Yeah, well I'll- whoa!” she cried out as she slipped and fell flat. “What the?”
“Clumsy. “ Raj said.
“No. Something grabbed my hoof. Look.” Raj glanced down at her back left leg to see a gnarled, tentacled claw holding tight to her leg.
“Crap!” Raj shouted as he reached back for one of his axes. Before he was able to Rainbow was jerked away.
“Raaajj!” Rainbow cried out as she was dragged along the ground, a fissure of dirt erupting up in her path. She sputtered and spat as earth was sprayed into her mouth, hooves flailing at anything in reach.
Rajrishi chased after her as quick as he was able, fumbling to get his bow un-slung as he went. Rainbow kicked at the misshapen claw holding her hoof and grabbed for anything in reach, anything that would slow her down. Luck favored her and her hooves wrapped around a thin sapling. The baby tree bowed sharply and her hooves slid up the trunk, leaves and branches tearing free and bunching under her grip.
It gave Raj the opportunity to catch up and he slid to a stop over the prone pony. He smacked an arrow to the side of his bow and aimed downwards. Rainbow saw this and cried out at him to stop but Raj just whispered “Strong as you can Crescent.” And drew back the string, straining with effort.
The arrow wasn't powerful enough to break the sound barrier, but it was strong enough to punch through the ground and into the hide of the thing holding Rainbow's hoof. They both heard a pained groan rise up from the ground and the appendage uncoiled from her leg. Now free, Rainbow shouted and immediately shot straight up past the trees.
Raj drew another arrow and pulled the string back, scanning around for anywhere else the thing had broken the surface. He felt a light rumble from the ground as the subterranean beast left the area, another low grumble rising from the ground. He relaxed the string and straightened. “Rainbow! You can come down now. I think it's gone.”
Rainbow slowly drifted down, tentatively scanning the ground that had so recently betrayed her. “What the Tartarus was that thing?”
“Something I've run into before. I don't know what its real name is but I call it a Molopotamus. Once you see the whole thing, you'll realize it's pretty accurate.”
“And they're just... around the Everfree? Waiting to grab hooves and drag ponies away?”
Raj nodded. “Pretty much. It's something I had to deal with on occasion when I was living here. Got wise to it after a bit though, stick near trees, be mindful for shaking, that sort of thing.”
“That's insane! This is why I live in a cloud house. Nothing terrifying lives in clouds.”
“Except lightning. Lightning is terrifying.” Raj pointed out.
“We don't live in clouds that are filled with lightning!” she shouted back.
“And I avoid ground filled with Molopotamuses... generally.” Raj answered.
The two stared at each other for a minute before their faces cracked and they started laughing helplessly. Rainbow settled onto the ground and started winging the dirt off of herself. “That was nuts.”
“Yeah, it's pretty surprising the first time it happens. You okay?”
“Think so. Just some scratches. Hoof hurts, but it didn't crack the wall so I'll be fine.”
“You wanna go back home?”
She shook her head and shot back “Sh'yeah right dude. This is just the kind of dangerous fun I've been wanting to get into. No way I'm going back now.” She raised her head resolutely and stamped a hoof.
A second after that they both heard an aerial scream from overhead and a smoking Pegasus swooped through the canopy. She flicked her goggles up and said “Captain. I saw Rainbow Dash pop up through the woods. Are you two alright?”
“Convenient. We're both fine, don't worry. How goes the scouting Lieutenant Fleetfoot?”
“Sir, we found the Dragon. You're gonna want to see this.”
* * *
Raj stared at the dragon, wondering just how terribly dangerous this thing was.
From nose to tail she was at least sixty feet long and no part of that didn't look dangerous. Her orange scales were thick and sharp, curling up into a hooked barb at the tip. Her claws were as long as his arm and curled inwards like a hawk's, each one capable of ripping him in half with a single flick of her digit. Her tail was several times longer than he was tall and as thick as his waist. It was easy to imagine her sweeping aside a small house as easily as he would a pile of cans.
Indeed, the creature was incredibly intimidating despite the impediment of being dead.
“We found her like this about an hour ago, just laid out in front of her lair. Good thing too, otherwise we never would have found her.” Fleetfoot explained
“Lucky in two ways then.” Raj strolled close and inspected the great bulk of the thing, still having trouble getting over its sheer size. He looked past her into the hollow dug out underneath one of the mega-trees. It was an impressively large hole, and likely would have made a fine place to raise a clutch of hatchlings. Raj looked back and asked “What happened to her?”
“My guess would be a fight, but she doesn't look like she's hurt. Maybe some magic or something put her down, I don't know.” Fleetfoot shrugged and looked up at him helplessly.
“Good enough I suppose. Looks like we're done here. Good work Wonderbolts.” Raj gave the lieutenant a congratulatory pat on the back. “Where's Rainbow?” He glanced around for the wayward pegasus. Fleetfoot pointed at the mare over by a tree retching her guts out. Raj said “Ah, 'scuse me.” and headed over to her. “You okay Dash?”
Rainbow stood up straight and wiped her mouth. “Ugh, yeah 'm fine. Just seeing, well, that got me. Sorry.”
Raj waved her off. “Don't be. Happens to everyone the first time. If you're good to fly, head on home. We're done here.”
“Wait wha?” she asked only somewhat incoherently. “Whaddya mean we're done here?”
“Dragon's dead. Don't have to worry about her nesting here. For once the Everfree has solved a problem. I'll be sure to notify the papers when I get back.”
“Hey, the dragon may be d-dead, but we still have the problem of dealing with whatever big scary thing killed it. Anything that could do THAT-” she pointed at the expired dragon “has got to be just as scary.”
“Dash's got a point sir. We could be in the same mess and not even know about it.” Nimbus added from over by the dead beast.
Raj ran a hand over his headwrap and nodded. “Yeah, you're right. Well, if we're here, we're here, might as well do something with it. Fleetfoot, Dash, search the area. Silver Lining and Misty Fly go over the dragon, try and find out what did her in. I'll search her lair for any signs of what did this.”
The pegasi nodded and set off to their duties, Rainbow Dash zipping all over the place while Fleetfoot took a more measured approach while the other two grimaced at their unsavory task. Raj drew out a flashlight and slid down into the dragon's lair.
Raj was prepared for some awful stink and was not surprised. As soon as he landed he was struck by a powerful, acrid reek. The smell worsened as he went deeper to the point he was forced to wrap his patka around his face just to breath.
He scanned the dirt walls and floor, looking for anything that might tell him what happened here. His beam reflected off something and he hurried forward to discover a mound of jewels that came up to his knees.
Raj was somewhat surprised. He'd read that hoarding was a trait only common in male dragons and that dragonesses rarely kept possessions. These were likely stockpiled to feed her hatchlings when they arrived. Glumly, Raj picked up a ruby the size of a golf-ball and rolled it around in his fingers.
As he crouched the smell worsened, like there was a heavy cloud of stink. A film covered the dirt next to the pile of jewels and it glittered with a polychromatic shine as he ran his beam over it. The ground under the film was a good half inch lower than the surround floor.
“Vomit?” Raj wondered aloud as he crouched down to look at it. The ground wasn't sunken, it was eaten. Corroded by whatever was spilled on it, likely the result of a digestive system designed to dissolve gemstones. Whatever happened to the dragoness had made her empty her stomach before it killed her. He cocked his head and squinted “Wait... didn't I-”
Raj felt hot air blow across the nape of his neck and smelled ozone. Before the shiver had even completed he was springing to the side.
Something big crashed into the wall, shaking a rain of dirt from the ceiling. He yanked an arrow from his quiver and slapped it against the side of Crescent at a bad angle. He re-adjusted the draw just in time to see something sinewy flying at him. He cried out as his bow was knocked against his face and went into a sprawl, almost all of his arrows sliding free.
He rolled to the side and fetched up his flashlight, darting the beam around to find his assailant. He cursed in surprise and scrabbled back before a heavy coil of muscle laid across his stomach.
Long and white, with open hood and octet of burning green eyes all focused on him and him alone, Slitherscale the Naga loomed close and dangled her tongue out to hiss “Remind me brother, what was it you said? Boots and a matching jacket?”