The Dragon's Rogue

by Mr101

Chapter III - Slight Concern.

The Dragon’s Rogue

Chapter III - Slight Concern.

As they headed towards the town, Davril had gotten back onto his feet by himself and was now walking alongside Barb. Despite his protests, he had given into Barb’s insisting that he go get himself checked out at a hospital, but only after taking him to see Dusk, as Barb figured that he would help smooth things over at the hospital. During the trek back through the woods, she had noticed he had been taking in his surroundings and quietly humming to himself.

“So… do you have a name?” Davril suddenly asked.

“What?”

“Your name. I can’t keep calling you lass or Draynor, can I?”

“I’m a Drag— oh forget it, my name’s Barb. And your name?”

“Davril, Davril Longfang, pleasure to meet you.” Davril smiled, giving her a dramatic bow.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head as they carried on walking.

“So, where did you say you were from again?” she asked, turning her face to him.

“Cyrium,” he replied.

“And where’s that exactly? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a place.”

“Interesting… I don’t suppose you have a map or something I could possibly look at?” Davril asked her.

“Well, there’s one back at the library you can look at if you like. There’s just a couple of problems though…” Barb replied.

“What’s that?”

“Well… for a start, Ponyville—”

“Ponyville?” Davril asked, stifling a laugh, “sorry, but that sounds like a ridiculous name for a town.”

“Anyway,” Barb continued, ignoring him, “the ponies there—”

“Ponies? You mean like mounts? What about them?”

“Will you stop interrupting me?” Barb scowled at him.

“My apologies,” Davril chuckled, raising his hands up slightly, “I’ll be as quiet as a mouse.”

“Anyway… as I was trying to say, the ponies here tend to overreact to new things.”

“Ah come on, they can’t be that bad,” Davril smirked.

“They accused a friend of ours of being evil because he’s a Zebra,” Barb replied, hiding her own guilt from the incident.

“Wow… you guys would give the Elves a run for their money.”

“The what?”

“Seriously? Just how far away from Cyrium is Equestria?”

“How would I know? I already told you I’ve never heard of it!” Barb said with a huff.

“By the Gods…” he muttered.

They soon came to the edge of the woods and Barb came to a stop, she bit her lip as she looked to Davril.

“How do we go about this?” Barb muttered softly.

“Go about what?” Davril asked her.

“Getting you back unnoticed to the library.”

“Easy.”

Davril flicked his hood up and over his head, hiding the majority of his face to those who would give a passing glance to him. He then wrapped his cloak around his body to cover himself more than it currently was and smiled to Barb.

“If need be, I can just stick to the shadows. I’m fairly good at keeping myself unseen when I want.”

“Hope you’re right… okay, lets do this,” Barb smiled softly.

As she escorted the human into the town and down the main road into the marketplace, Barb was surprised at how none of the ponies seemed to pay them much attention. Davril on the other hand was doing his best to keep his head lowered whilst taking in his surroundings carefully and laughed softly.

“A horse folk race? Now that’s new…”

“It’s ponies,” Barb corrected. “don’t call them horses, it’s an insult.”

“Right…” he chuckled, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Howdy, Barb.”

Barb froze and spun round on the spot to see Applejack approaching her, a grin on his face.

“Keep quiet,” she hissed to Davril, “I’ll do the talking.”

“Alright, alright. Keep your scales on…” he muttered back.

She then looked over to Applejack and gave him a meek wave.

“H-hello, Applejack. How are you?”

“I’m fine thank ya, Barb. Who’s your friend?” Applejack asked.

“Oh, him? H-he’s just somepony who, uhm,” Barb paused for a moment, “needs to speak with Dusk immediately!”

“Ah see,” Applejack nodded before sticking his hand out to Davril, “put it there friend, name’s Applejack!”

Before Davril got a chance to return the gesture he was pushed out of the way by Barb.

“S-sorry, Applejack. But it’s very important I get him to Dusk, I’ll see you later!”

Applejack blinked as Barb dragged Davril away and towards the library. He scratched his head as he looked after them with a confused stare.

“Well that was odd…”

---

“That was to close…” Barb muttered.

“Still not sure what the big deal is,” Davril scoffed, “he seemed like a decent bloke.”

“Yeah well, I’d still like to avoid having to deal with everypony right now and—”

“Did you seriously just say ‘everypony’?” Davril snickered.

“Yes! Stop interrupting me!” Barb shouted.

Barb blinked and looked around, realising that her sudden outburst had drawn the looks of a few ponies nearby before blushing a light shade of red. She quickly ushered Davril away from the marketplace and further down the street towards the library as Davril struggled to not laugh at Barb’s embarrassment.

“Didn’t know dragons could blush,” Davril teased, “cute.”

“For the last time, I’m a dragon not a—” Barb stopped mid sentence and blinked, “oh… right. Wait… what did you say?”

“Nothing,” Davril chuckled, “so how much further is the library?”

“Not to far now… we just gotta pray we don’t run into—”

“HI BARB!”

“Oh by Solaris’s beard no…” Barb whispered.

Running towards the pair was the last pony Barb wanted to see right now. Bubble Berry. Her eyes went wide as she quickly darted between Davril and Bubble, fearing the worst.

“H-hey Bubble,” Barb chuckled nervously whilst ushering Davril to turn around behind her, “how’s tricks?”

“Theeeeeeeeeeey’re GREAT!” Bubble grinned, “hey, who's your friend? Is he a new pony?”

“Uh… yeah, sorta,” Barb gulped.

“OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!” Bubble gasped loudly, “I have to throw you a party!”

As Bubble went to turn Davril around to talk about the upcoming party, Barb quickly grabbed Davril’s arm and gave a sheepish grin to Bubble.

“T-that would be nice Bubble, but we really got to get back to the library now.”

“Oh…” Bubble said, his hair deflating slighting before returning to normal and a smirk adorning his face, “oh… I see.

Barb blinked in confusion but suddenly went a dark shade of red as Bubble winked at her and waggled his eyebrows.

“I-its not like that!” Barb protested.

“Says you,” Davril said.

“S-shut up! Both of you!” Barb shouted, her blush darkening.

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later, you know, after you had some fun,” Bubble teased.

Davril burst out laughing as the flustered Barb pushed him away from Bubble and towards the library. Bubble giggled and skipped on his way back to Sugarcube corner.

“That was embarrassing,” Barb grumbled.

“Oh lighten up, t’was all in good fun,” Davril smiled.

“Whatever…”

They soon came to the library, and to Barb’s relief they hadn’t run into anymore ponies. She was about to enter but hesitated, not sure if Dusk was actually inside or not.

“Uh… you okay waiting out here a second? I need to prepare Dusk…”

“Why?” Davril asked.

“He can be… a little eccentric at times with new things.”

“Okay…” Davril replied, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

Barb took a deep breath and opened the door. She took a step inside and looked around, not seeing Dusk anywhere.

“Dusk? You here?”

There was a rustle of papers as Dusk emerged from his study. He saw her and smiled, quickly rushing over, giving her a hug.

“Where have you been, Barb? I’ve been worried sick!”

“Sorry… I kinda ran into Elusive at the market and needed to clear my head,” Barb replied.

“Oh… are you okay now?” Dusk asked worriedly.

“Yeah I’m fine…” Barb lied with a mumble, “but that’s not important, I—”

Before she could continue, Davril popped his head in round the door and Dusk saw him. His eyes went wide in surprise as he pushed Barb behind him protectively.

“Who in Solaris is that?!” Dusk shouted, finally noticing Davril.

“Why is everypony interrupting me today?!” Barb groaned in frustration.

“Barb stay behind me! Who are you, and what are you?” Dusk demanded.

“Easy… I think my hangover is kicking in…” Davril grumbled rubbing his head, “my name’s Davril. I’m a human, I take it you're Dusk?”

“Yes... how do you—”

“I can explain, Dusk…” Barb began, “you see—”

“Firstly, both of you get inside. I don’t really want another Zicoro fiasco on our hands,” Dusk interrupted.

He ignored Barb’s look of annoyance as he quickly ushered the pair into the library and closed the door. Dusk took a deep breath and turned to the two.

“Okay, Barb, can you take Davril into the living room? I need to write a letter to the Prince.”

“Uh, sure thing, Dusk.”

Dusk smiled and headed into his study, a worried expression on his face. Davril watched him leave before following Barb into the living room.

“I thought you said he was eccentric?” he asked as he took a seat, carefully moving his sword to one side under his cloak, “he seems alright, just like that Applejack fellow.”

“Give it a moment,” Barb sighed and took a seat, “and I said he could be a little eccentric at times.”

He nodded as Dusk soon joined them, he handed Barb the scroll and Davril watched in fascination as Barb blew out a jet of green flames that vaporized the scroll, leaving nothing but a trail of dust that floated upwards and vanished.

“Why did you do that?” Davril asked.

“I can send things to the Prince via Barb, she’s got magic fire.” Dusk replied, taking a seat beside Barb.

“That’s pretty amazing, if I’m honest,” Davril said,

“Thanks…” Barb smiled, not expecting the compliment.

“So what did you need to tell your Prince?” Davril asked, shifting in his seat slightly.

“Oh, nothing important… just student-teacher stuff you know?” Dusk smiled awkwardly.

“Okay…” Davril relied suspiciously.

---

Solaris sat in his study, he’d just finished dealing with the daily court duties and was taking a quick break to look over some tax forms that a few nobles had recently asked him to consider. It wasn’t something he really wanted to be doing but he figured he get it done sooner rather than later. A pop caught his attention and a scroll landed on the desk in front of him, he recognised the seal attached as the one belonging to his student, Dusk.

“Wonder what Dusk wants…” he muttered as he picked it up and began to read its contents carefully.

‘Dear Prince Solaris,

I’m writing to you on an urgent matter. Barb recently returned from being out all day and brought someone I have never met before called Davril, he said to me that he is a ‘human’ but for all I know he could be a changeling. That’s all I know of him so far, the reason why I have yet to question him is because of what you told me the other day regarding the rogue Griffon Baron’s different spies made up of the other races. I’m not sure where this Davril is from but I’m a little bit suspicious that he would turn up at the library of the ruler’s number one student. I await your reply with haste and will do my best to learn more about this stranger.

Your faithful student,

Dusk Shine.’

Solaris lowered the scroll and stroked his beard in thought.

“Interesting… this does raise some concerns…” Solaris muttered before summoning a quill and a blank scroll.

‘Dear Dusk Shine,

‘I thank you for alerting me to this situation. I would like you and the other Elements to invite him to Canterlot within the next few days for a trip as to not raise too much suspicion in him, as I would rather like to meet this Davril in person but I fear sending a contingent of guards or having you invite him to see me directly might cause him to become alarmed and do something drastic.

As you have mentioned that Barb found him, I would suggest you bring along her with you as a familiar face he can trust would be invaluable. I trust in your judgement my student.

Yours,

Prince Solaris.’

Solaris rolled up the scroll and his horn flashed briefly as the scroll vanished with a soft pop. He picked up the forms on the desk and carefully started reading them again, all the while planning in his mind the events of the next few days.

---

“So this is Equestria then? It definitely seems I’m no where near Cyrium then...” Davril muttered.

“Yup, all regions of the Kingdom,” Dusk replied.

Davril mused over the map that was strewn out on the table in Dusk’s study. After Dusk had sent his letter to Solaris, Barb remembered that Davril had wanted to see a map of Equestria and had gone off to grab one. Leaving Dusk and Davril in an uncomfortable silence.

Davril has assumed Dusk was being somewhat quiet because of the fact he seemed to be a new species to him, judging by the reaction of both him and Barb. Whereas in reality, it was because Dusk was slightly nervous around a possible spy.

“Interesting… are all your towns named after horse— I mean, pony related things?”

“What do you mean? Barb asked.

“Well… Hoofington, Staliongrad. Are they really necessary to be called them?”

“Well why not?” Dusk asked, “the griffons have a town called Beakburg.”

“... I see,” Davril said, “this place is weird…”

“What was that?” Dusk asked raising his eyebrow.

“Nothing, Ducks,” Davril replied quickly.

Dusk didn’t hear what he had called him and returned his attention to the map. Barb on the other hand had heard what he called Dusk and was trying not to giggle. As Davril also returned his attention to the map, Barb burped and a burst of flame followed by a scroll appeared. She looked at Davril wide eyed and covered her mouth, blushing lightly in embarrassment.

Davril chuckled as Dusk quickly grabbed and opened the scroll, quickly scanning its contents. Davril watched him out of the corner of his eye, a little suspicious about his behaviour.

“Right… okay,” Dusk started, “I uhm… I need to head out really quickly and see the guys. You okay to keep Davril entertained, Barb?”

“Yeah… sure, is everything okay Dusk?” Barb asked him.

“Mhm, why wouldn’t it be?” Dusk smiled with a slight twitch to his eye.

“Right… okay then?” Barb replied, raising her eyebrow at him.

“Well, see you two later!” Dusk said with a wave before leaving the room and exiting the library.

“I see what you mean…” Davril murmured, “so, how about some tea? I don’t mean to brag but, I can brew a mean Sweet leaf tea.”

“Sweet leaf?” Barb asked.

“Type of plant native to the west coast of Cyrium, makes the tea taste sweet, hense the name, I should have some… ah!” Davril grinned, pulling out a couple of brown leaves from a pouch on his belt, “you fancy some?”

“You know what? Sure,” Barb smiled, “it’ll be nice having someone make me tea for once.”

“Why’d you say that?” Davril asked as they walked into the kitchen.

“I may be Dusk’s adopted sister, but I’m also his assistant. Meaning I usually make the tea for us.”

“Oh, right,” Davril replied, “well, take a seat and I won’t be too long.”

Barb smiled and took a seat at one of the chairs, watching Davril as he began to prepare the tea.

---

“I hope Barb will be okay… I feel as if I shouldn’t have left her on her own with him,” Dusk muttered as he briskly walked, “no she’s more than capable at handling herself, I believe in her.”

Dusk quickly found himself outside of Sugarcube corner and walked inside, thanking Solaris that he had gotten there before it closed up for the evening. As expected, he saw Bubble behind the counter with a happy grin serving some customers. Bubble looked up and saw Dusk and gave him an energetic wave. He returned the wave and took a nearby seat, waiting for his hyperactive friend to come over.

After Mrs Cake took over for him, Bubble quickly made his way over to Dusk and gave him a bone crushing hug.

“Hiya, Dusk!” Bubble giggled, “what brings you here? Is it for a cupcake? I just made some and they are so delicious I can go get you one right now if you like the and—”

Dusk placed a hand over his mouth to try and silence Bubble but he kept talking in a low mumble.

“It’s not that, Bubble. I need to talk to you and the others in private, preferably somewhere that isn’t the library,” Dusk said, removing his hand from Bubble’s mouth.

“Why’s that?” Bubble asked tilting his head.

“It’s something the Prince has asked me and—”

“OH! I get it, like super top secret-ninja-action-spy kind of thing?” Bubble grinned.

“Uh… yeah something like that I guess.”

“I can ask the Cakes if we can use the back room! We’ll be closed soon anyway,” Bubble suggested, “when do you want to have the meeting?”

“An hour,” Dusk replied, “I’ll go tell the others.”

“I’ll make the snacks!” Bubble shouted before darting into the kitchens.

Dusk nodded as he got up and left the shop. As he walked down the streets of Ponyville he looked up at the Carousel Boutique and decided to leave speaking with Elusive for last, he was about to carry on when the door opened and Elusive stepped out. He saw Dusk and smiled with a nervous wave.

Dusk sighed softly and walked over to Elusive, already feeling the awkwardness of the impending conversation.

“Hey, Elusive…”

“Good Evening, Dusk…”

There was a slight pause as an uncomfortable silence hung over the two before Dusk spoke up.

“I need you and the guys to go to Sugarcube corner in about an hour… I need to talk to you five about something the Prince has told me.”

“Okay…”

There was another bout of uncomfortable silence as Dusk rubbed his arm and tried to think of something else to say. Elusive rubbed his hands together slowly and looked up to Dusk, some concern on his face.

“How’s Barb? I was worried about what happened earlier…”

“She’s fine… she’s just doing a task for me back at the library,” Dusk replied.

“I see… is she going to be at this—”

“No, she’s going to be at the library during it, I’ll fill her in on it later and besides,” Dusk looked into Elusive’s eyes, “I think it’s best if you give her some personal space for a bit longer…”

Elusive reluctantly nodded before heading back into the shop. Dusk sighed as he turned around, heading off towards the edge of town to go inform Applejack and Butterscotch about the meeting.

Comments

[Seraph973]

Way to go Dusk/Twilight. So much for not judging a book by its cover.
Anyway, another good chapter. Also that is a nice cover image. Though Barb's mouth/snout looks kinda off.

[shellfish2233]

NOOOOO!!!
I NEED MORE!!!!!

[loveless2012]

Good story so far

[Secondchancer]

Awesome update can't wait till the next chapter

[The 10th Doctor]

Yes, an update that I have literally been eager for since I read the 2nd chapter.

[The Library]

Awesome story so far, and I Must say that Barb looks damn sexy on the Cover art :P
My reaction: *scroll through pages with stories, spots a nice looking cover art* HOT DAMN!
Anyhow, I cant wait for the next chapter!

[Truly Luminous]

It's good but is rule 63 really necessary here?

[Beats-Box]

3356485 Yes, since so few authors can do it properly, seeing it done well is very necessary.

[Truly Luminous]

3359245

While that is true I still feel that the whole thing is just confusing but that is just my personal take on the whole rule 63 thing . One last thing YES FINALLY A ROUGH/ASSASSIN/THIEF CHARACTER.

[candyman20XX]

Nnniice!!!

I really like how this is shaping up.

Well written with a plausible plot premise. I will be waiting eagerly for future updates.

add on obligatory thumb, fave, etc...

[Maeroon]

This is the first r63 fic I have ever read, and all I can say is... This is awesome!

[Kronos fiery]

[Blaze]

3359270 I don't remember him saying anything about an assassin and it's Rogue, not rough. Also, rogues are anything (Mostly in gaming terms) that has to do with deceiving something/one.