Chapter 21
"Ain’t nothin’ out there as far as the reports are saying. Those dragons just up and vanished like smoke in the wind,” a rust-colored minotaur said, arms crossed over his bulging pecs as he leaned against the wall. Despite the grey in his mane, the bull was an intimidating example of his species.
Phantom growled, the burnt remains of his tail swishing in agitation. “Well, they’ve got to be somewhere, dragons don’t just disappear,” the pony seethed before slamming a hoof down. “Dammit! They’re purple for crying out loud! They should be easy to see against the dirt and rock!”
The door to the bar slammed open. “Then why aren’t you out there looking yourself, coward!” shouted a gryphon with bandages wrapped around his head, tan feathers poking from beneath them to hang in his face. Spots of red could be seen seeping through the white linen, but the gryphon didn’t seem to care as he glared at Phantom. “In case you haven’t noticed, we don’t have a whole lot of wings to spare in Bedville, so somepony like you who’s hiding in the bar while the rest of us do your job doesn’t have any right to moan about it.”
“I’m coordinating the hunt! I need to be in town!”
“Pfft, yeah, keep telling yourself that,” the gryphon said with a roll of his blue eyes. “I’ve searched a few miles south of town, but I didn’t see ‘em. I’m starting to think you were right about where they went, Anvil. What do we do now?” This was directed at the large minotaur, who grunted and stepped forward.
“I can tell you what you should do. Go see the doc and have that head re-bandaged. Looks like you sprung another leak there, Gerard.” When the gryphon’s irritation visibly grew, Anvil added. “You could take the time to visit Gertie while you’re at it. I’m sure she’ll want to see you when she wakes up.”
Instantly, Gerard’s expression hardened. “My head’s fine. I’m not going to waste time getting it looked at again while that dragon is running free.” Looking away, he continued more quietly. “Besides, there’s no point in waiting for sis to wake up when the doc doubts it will even be today.” He returned to glaring into the minotaur’s eyes. “I’m more use in the air than grounded right now, so tell me where to fly already.”
With a rumbling sigh, Anvil responded, “At least take a seat for now; we’re waitin’ for the rest of the fellas to get back right now.” Moving to the table to sit across from Phantom, the minotaur poured himself a glass of water from the pitcher set out for them and leaned back, ignoring the creaks of protest from the chair. “What’d the doc have to say about Gertie, anyway? I heard she got hit pretty hard.”
Accepting the change of topic for what it was instead of trying to get directions from the bull, Gerard sat on his haunches. “The hit wasn’t what put her in the hospital, the landing was. The concussion may have been from the dragon's tail, but she twisted her neck up something bad,” the gryphon explained, voice tight. “Even when she comes around, she won’t be flying for a while… I don’t know what we’re going to do with her out of commission; our rag tag group of a weather team can barely get by when she’s keeping us organized.”
Anvil grunted, looking into his cup and swirling the contents. “That’s not gonna be good for the towns water supply; as much of it comes from what you birds manage to squeeze out of the clouds as it does from the wells… Minin’s gonna be slowed down too.”
Phantom huffed. “That sister of yours got off easy if you ask me. I’m all for enthusiasm, but diving in like that without a plan and picking a fight with a dragon? She’s lucky she didn’t get roasted.”
“Yeah, well nobodys talking to you. Maybe if you did more than just scream and shout the entire time, that dragon would be hogtied in a cell right now instead of running loose.” The words were practically spat at the pegasus, and it looked like Gerard was going to get violent before the doors swung open.
“-believe we haven’t been able to find them yet. I was hoping I could have another go at the little lady, see how well she does when I’m ready for her,” Strong Arm the minotaur was saying as he walked in with Ironwork. “She definitely wouldn’t be landing another hit like this one, that’s for sure.” He patted the large bruise in his abdomen before wincing. “I hope not anyway, my guts probably aren’t in the best shape.”
“You could always go see the doctor if it’s worrying you. I’m kind of worried myself. That’s a wicked bruise and I don’t want you passing out in the street. Dragging a big lug like you to the hospital would be a pain in the rear,” replied Ironwork as he pulled up a chair and sat with the others.
“Ha! It’d be good exercise for you, maybe you’d start looking like a proper minotaur instead of a twig!”
“Stop teasin’ the lad, Strong, we got more important things to be talking about,” Anvil interrupted, getting the laughing bull to quiet and Ironwork to break off his glare. “So you didn’t find anything then. Well, that pretty much confirms it; those dragons fled up the mountain. Pretty darn fast too if they weren’t even spotted.” Anvil looked to the pegasus. “What do you plan to do now, Phantom? Seems your criminals got away, and I doubt they’d come back through here.”
The scarred pony put his head in his hooves with a groan. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to send somebody up there to look for them.”
“And by somebody, I hope you’re talkin’ ‘bout yourself,” Anvil cut in, leaning forwards and placing a large forearm on the table. “I was gonna wait until everyone filled in, but I might as well make this clear now; we agreed to go after the dragons when they came to town, and we did just that.” His nostrils flared. “At personal cost to us I might add. I’m sorry they got away, but I can’t go sendin’ my people out on a hunt when there’s work to be done here in town.” He gestured to Gerard who looked like he wanted to say something. “You heard ‘im, our weather team is shot as it is, so we can’t have the rest of our flyers off on a wild goose chase.”
“But-!” Phantom was interrupted by the entrance of Gem Mill and a grey earth pony, the former looking nervous and the latter with a blank expression save for a small wince that came with some of his steps. “You got to do this for Gem, don’t you? You all owe him right?”
“We do, and we’ll keep doin’ what we said we would. If those two are insane enough to come through town again, they’ll be finding themselves in a cell right quick.” He waved a hand at the pony in question, who was shifting under the attention and trying to avoid the angry eyes of Phantom. “I’m sure Mill will agree with me on this that traveling the wastes for a couple of criminals he doesn’t even personally know while the town is in dire straits is going above the call of friendship, or even fulfilling a couple debts.”
“He… He’s right Phantom. I’m sorry, but Dr. Zariba is going to have to find those two on his own. I’ve done what he’s asked, so we’re even,” Gem said, getting up the nerves to look Phantom in the eye. “We’ll keep a lookout here, but I’m not going to ask my… my friends to risk their lives any more than that. Especially not for that zebra.”
Phantom growled, but didn’t get a chance to respond before the gryphon spoke. “You don’t need to ask; I volunteer.” All eyes fell upon Gerard’s determined features. “I wouldn’t be able to look sis in the eye if I didn’t try everything I could to make sure that dragon got put away.”
“Now wait a minute, you just got done sayin’ how hard it’s gonna be collecting water with Gertie out of commission, you can’t go flyin’ off now,” Anvil protested.
“Maybe, but they’ll have to make do,” Gerard shot back. “I’m not going to let some dragon get away with hurting the only family I have!”
“This whole talk seems pretty pointless to me,” said the grey earth pony that had remained quiet until now. “That mountain has more than enough nooks and crannies to hide in. Unless you’ve got an army looking, you won’t be finding someone up there when they don’t want to be found.” Turning to Phantom, his expression became icy. “You got an army, lad? Or would you rather try and take a whole town away from its work for this vendetta of yours?”
“Vendetta? I don’t give a damn about those beasts beyond what my boss asks. If he didn’t want them brought in and the valuables they stole returned, I wouldn’t even be here!” Phantom nearly shouted.
“Well, technically, Dr. Zariba didn’t ask you to bring them back, right? Just to set up a watch to ensure there’d be ponies keeping an eye out for them if they came through town.” Gem Mill shrunk a little under everyone’s attention. “I only got one chance to read through the letter before it was, ah, lost, but I’m pretty sure he expected you back in a few days. You’ve probably spent as much time here as he figured it would take to do what he asked, and we will be keeping vigilant, so why not just head back?”
Phantom was about to snap back that he could do no such thing until he actually put some thought into it. Really, once a tight enough net was laid and the right individuals were chosen to make up the trap, the pegasus was meant to fly straight back to where the caravan was and follow the tracks left behind until he caught up. He also remembered there being instruction left for Gem Mill on how to contact the group while they were on the move if Bedville actually managed to capture the dragons. Phantom hoped the red earth pony had that bit of the letter memorized before it got torn apart.
He shook his head. “The boss wouldn’t like that I just left you here to handle things now that the thieves have actually been spotted.”
“He also wouldn’t like you wasting time here when there’s nothing you can do,” Mill countered. “I may not know him as well as you, but I know this much; Dr. Zariba is very astute business stallion. He likes to allocate his resources where they’ll be the most productive. And this?” He waved a hoof around the room. “This isn’t one of those places.”
Phantom found himself rolling Mill’s words around in his head once again. The earth pony really was giving him the perfect excuse to wash his hooves of this whole Bedville debacle, and he was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. If anything, he could shift blame onto Mill and the inhabitants of this backwater mining settlement and let them deal with an irate zebracorn.
“So what? You’re just going let them get away? We’re not even going to try and find them?” snapped an irritated Gerard, glaring around the table.
“Hardly,” Phantom grumbled. “That overgrown lizard has been a thorn in the side of my group for near as long as we’ve been around. She’ll be showing up eventually I’m sure' she always does.” The most recent meeting came to Phantom’s head. All the way out in the middle of nowhere by himself, and Amethyst Thistle still ended up showing up to try and scorch him.
“Then I’ll go with you,” Gerard said instantly.
“Are you daft, boy?” Anvil said, voice rising. “First you wanted to go gallivanting through the mountain for who knows how long, and now you want to go running off with people you don’t even know? Just let it go, Gerard! Stay where you’re needed; where your sister is.”
“Bedville got along just fine before Sis and I came here, and it’ll do just fine when one of us leaves. I’m going to do this, and nothing you say is going to change that,” Gerard snapped.
Anvil looked ready to shout, but paused when the grey earth pony spoke up. “Let him go, Anvil. You know how stubborn the boy can get.”
“Wha-? Is everyone goin’ nuts around here?” the minotaur asked in bewilderment. “You can’t be serious, Grey. The boy is gonna wind up getting himself killed out there! He’s lettin’ his anger get the better of him; that’s no way to go into anything, especially a fight with a dragon!”
“Hey! I can handle myself just fine!”
“No you can’t,” Grey interrupted, shooting a look at Gerard before directing it and Anvil. “If you’d let me finish, I’d tell you that Gerard won’t be going alone. I’m going keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid to get himself killed.”
“I don’t need an eggsitter!”
The gryphon was ignored as Anvil stared with narrowed eyes at the earth pony. “And why would you do that? I don’t see how this benefits the town, Gerard, or you for that matter. What are you up to, Grey Stone?”
“I’ve got my reasons sure enough. That’s all you need to know for now.” Turning to Phantom, Grey asked, “So how about it? That sound good to you, Crispy? Two volunteers, free of charge. I think your boss would like that.”
Eyelid twitching, the pegasus grit out, “Why would I want an earth pony slowing me down? It’s already going to be a long enough flight without having you crawling along the ground behind us.”
“Gerard will carry me most of the way I’m sure. He’s a strong enough flyer for that, aren’t you lad?”
Instead of answering, the gryphon spoke to Anvil. “If Grey goes with me, will you quit trying to stop me?”
Rubbing his forehead, Anvil groaned, but still answered. “I’d still rather you stick around and help the other flyers, but Grey is right, you’re too stubborn for your own good. At least with a level head keepin’ track of ya, you aren’t likely to get into too much of a jam.”
“Then he comes,” Gerard replied curtly. “When will we be setting out?”
Dropping his head hard onto the table, the scarred pegasus nonetheless gave in and began outlining when and where they’d be flying, resigning himself to having extra baggage for the trip.
While this happened, Anvil stood up and walked past Grey Stone, giving him a tap on the shoulder as he did. Silently, the pony stood up and followed until they were out of earshot of the others. “So, you want to tell me what you’re up to, or should I start guessin’?” the minotaur questioned.
“Something just doesn’t feel right about all this, hasn’t since scar face over there showed up as a matter of fact,” said the earth pony, jerking his head towards the outsider. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to be accused of judging a book by its cover, but the way he acts? The way that dragoness acted when she was running? It just doesn’t add up. She never tried for a killing blow even when she had more than enough opportunity. And the other one…”
“The little one,” Anvil supplied as he closed his eyes and found the closest surface to lean on. “We talked about this already when you pulled me aside before; age don’t mean much in the way of dragons. They age slowly for one, and you’ve heard the stories miners tell about ‘em. How they can grow and shrink when treasures involved… Besides, I’d rather not think about what this would imply about Gem Mill. He’s a good guy; he’s always done right by this town, and is a personal friend of mine. I don’t think he’s one for huntin’ children.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Grey Stone replied after a spell, jaw clenching. “But maybe you’re wrong too, and I’d rather not risk something horrible happening to a child when I could have been there to change it.”
Anvil stared at his old friend, meeting Grey’s fiery gaze with a cool one before sighing. “Gerard’s not the only stubborn one around here… Just don’t spend so much time watchin’ the boy’s back and trying to save little dragons that you forget to watch out for yourself. I don’t want to go lookin’ for another drinkin’ buddy that can actually keep up with me.”
Grey Stone chuckled at the minotaur’s smirk and started back towards the table and the animated discussion being held there. “Come on, Anvil, I’ve survived two cave-ins, I don’t think you’ve got to worry about me.”
His smirk becoming slightly more forced, Anvil muttered under his breath. “Somebody's got to; Asterion knows you won’t do it yourself.”
~8~
Amy was looking over the map silently as her brother slept, the first rays of dawn providing the light as she planned their next move. She was thankful that she had tossed the parchment atop the rest of their purchases the day prior as it was proving invaluable now.
The mountain she and her brother now hid upon, as well as Bedville below, were clearly marked on the map along with many other notable landmarks. This, combined with the rough sense of direction provided by the rising sun, gave Amy a clear idea of where to go.
“Ugh, shut the curtains will ya. It’s too early,” came a grumble from behind. The dragoness smirked as she looked over her shoulder with fondness towards the ball of purple scales, tiny claws pulling a tail up over a tired face.
Using her own, spade-tipped tail, Amy prodded the small dragon. “There’s no such thing as too early for an adventurer, Spike. Now come on and get up. You’ll have plenty of time to doze during your first long sleep. Right now, we’ve got to get moving.”
It took a few more insistent pokes before Spike swatted at the offending appendage and sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “Fine, I’m up, I’m up,” he grumbled. “You’re as bad as Twilight.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear she doesn’t let you laze about, then.” Amy said, reaching to her side and tossing a bag at her brother. “Now eat up and get a drink of water. Not a lot since we’ll have to ration our supplies, but enough to hold you over until we get down the mountain.”
Spike shielded his eyes against the morning light. “We’re going during the day? What if we get spotted?”
“I haven’t seen anyone for a while; I think it’s safe to assume they’ve given up on finding us for now, so as long as we don’t get close to Bedville I think we’re good.” She scooped up the map and moved over to Spike as he pulled out the canteen and a clawful of nuts. She herself took a few slices of dried apples to nibble and wash down with a sip of water.
“But if we’re going down the mountain, won’t we be passing right by the town?”
“If we went down the way we came, then yeah, but that’s not the way we’ll be going.” Amy explained after her first slice. “It’ll be tough, and definitely a bit of a gamble with how little food we have for the trip, but I think going around the mountain a ways will be worth the time and energy to ensure not having to fight our way out of another jam.” She drew just enough water from their canteen to wet her tongue and lips before capping it. “I know they tend to glorify it in all those adventure stories in Equestria, jumping in and beating the bad guys, but believe me, the last thing you want to do when you’re out in the middle of nowhere is pick a fight. Injuries, even small ones when you’re far from medical attention can be serious problems.”
“But aren’t the Daring Do books based off of your adventures? Prose Worthy said he gets a lot of inspiration from you,” Spike asked.
The dragoness blushed. “E-exaggerations! Prose exaggerates all that stuff. I don’t go around picking fights or falling into traps like that! I’m not some greenhorn explorer or something.” Amy began to fidget under her brother’s incredulous stare until she blurted out, “My enemies are way more conniving and devious than that idiot Ahuizotl though! So of course they’ve managed to get me in a bind once or twice. A less experienced adventurer would be caught way more though.”
At this point, Spike was struggling not to break his blank expression as he watched his sister’s embarrassed fumbling, but prevented the twitch of his lips from turning into a full-blown smile long enough for the dragoness to throw her arms up in defeat. “Fine, so I get in more than a few fights! And yeah, I’ve been caught on more than one occasion, but I’m still not nearly as bad as Daring Do!”
Falling backwards, the younger dragon finally began to laugh, and his sister scowled at him soon after. “That’s not funny, Spike.”
“Yeah it is,” he responded as his laughter died down and he took a few deep breaths. “Seriously, I know you’re a good adventurer, and you’re probably right, going around the mountain is a good idea, but that doesn’t mean teasing you is any less hilarious. You’re almost as easy as Twilight.”
Amy glowered at the little dragon. “I’m glad I’m entertaining you,” she said, folding up the map. “Now, if you’re done laughing at my expense, help me pack things up and figure out how I’m going to carry it all along with you.”
Sitting up, Spike wiped a tear from his eye and asked, “Carry me? Why do you need to do that?”
“Mountain climbing is dangerous business; I want to make sure you don’t get hurt, and I’d rather not carry you the same way I did on the way up. It was too unsteady.”
The edge of his lips turned down. “I’ve got claws and legs the same as you, Amy. As long as we’re not going as fast as you were yesterday, you don’t need to carry me. I’m not going to let myself be a burden to you if I can help it.”
Amy giggled. “While I appreciate the sentiment, and I’ll be sure to hold you to it later, I think it would be for the best if we do this my way.”
Shaking his head, Spike refused. “Nah-ah, I’m not changing my mind on this. I’m doing this on my own.”
The dragoness stared at the young face filled with determination; the same determination she recognized from her younger self. The same determination she now knew was actually immature stubbornness. Even so, she sighed. “Fine, you can try it solo.” Mumbling under her breath, she added, “You’ll change your mind soon enough I’m sure.”
Beaming over his victory, Spike knew his sister was going to be impressed by his climbing skills.
The young dragon strained, sweat beading on his forehead as he reached for the hand hold a mere inch away from his claws. Spike hated to admit it, but he probably wasn’t in the best of shape after living as a librarian’s assistant and riding on said librarian’s back most of the time. It was only now, a mere ten minutes into the climb that he realized this and that he maybe should have taken Amy up on her offer.
Eyes screwed shut, the sudden burst of vertigo and feeling of his foot slipping were all the warning he got as he no doubt fell to his doom and began screaming. “Ahhhh!… Ahhh…! Ah-!”
“Seriously, Spike, how high do you think we are?” the annoyed voice of his sister asked. The little dragon’s heart clenched at the idea that Amy would throw her life away to fall after him, and he risked glimpsing the rapidly approaching rocks to see her one last time. “Hey, how’s it hanging?”
Spike looked from his smirking sister, down to the tail wrapped around his waist, to the ground below as he gently swung back and forth. “Oh… Can we not tell anybody about this, please?”
“No promises,” was the reply before Amy grunted and tossed him to the ledge a couple of feet away. “As morbidly funny as it was, maybe try not to make so much noise, eh? We are still trying to hide, after all.” A few seconds later, the dragoness joined him on the ledge and began adjusting the makeshift packs and straps binding their things to her back.
With a forced chuckle he mumbled, “Yeah, I’ll do that,” Spike got up. “Okay, maybe climbing is a little tougher than I thought, but I still have to learn. I don’t think there’s enough room on your back for me.”
Amy hummed as she sat down, legs dangling over the edge. “Maybe, but we’ll have to figure something out. I may not catch you next time.” Spike mimicked her position and put his own mind to work.
A solution came to Amy first, and the younger dragon soon found himself tied to the end of Amy’s tail. Certainly, it was an odd setup, but the compromise allowed him to climb under his own power while still giving Amy the ability to help him along and not have to worry about him dropping a few hundred feet.
It was in this way that the pair of dragons traversed the mountain, rounding a large portion of it before descending to begin their long journey. Where it would conclude, neither was certain, but working together, they could only believe that they would come out on top.
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Make me wonder what the townsfolk would do to Phantom if they knew the truth.
[Insert obligatory comment celebrating the release of a new chapter]
Yay! It IS ALIVE!!!
Nice . A lot of old stories that vanished for a while are coming back this month.
I love how you took the time to give the lackeys some depth.
I sense a massive 'Oh crap' moment when they realize just who that little dragon is... and what their boss has already done to him.
Can't wait for the next update.
Count me really glad about Grey Stone's actions this chapter, it's good to see that not everyone in Bedville is quite so gullible as to swallow the story about Amy and Spike with zero questions now that they've seen how the pair of them behave. It's gonna be convenient to have a potentially friendly face inside Zariba's camp, especially since I imagine he'll be able to pull Gerard out of his vengeful stupidity once he has enough proof about what is really going on.
6284451
Yeah, it's funny how many people commented about the depictions of ponies in this being jerked; I didn't realize how jerky they come off as at the time and was just writing them in that socially awkward and sometimes hurtful way the show does. Guess I missed the nail a bit.
In Lore's defense though, she's a naturally prickly pony to begin with, and she's been with Amy a long time. Besides being the tough love type, she's also been cleaning up Amy's messes for as long as they've been together, which is a pretty big list. Amy is skilled and smart, but she tends to get herself in stupid and dangerous situations often because of her emotions and whatnot.
If it's any consolation, a smart pony just entered the scene last chapter, and Twilight & Co, will be redeemed in the end. Maybe they already have up to this point? There's still ten more published chapters, after all.
6284451 Nice to see someone shared my initial thoughts, but he is right when he said to keep reading.
6284834
Has this been mentioned in the story and I missed it first time around? If it's not you may wan't to make a point of bringing it up at some point. Maybe something like a reminiscing monologue when and if she realizes Amy has got herself into trouble yet again?
When that town find out who those dragons really are, and how one of them are connected to both Princess Celestia and Twilight, I can only imagine their reactions. And so far, we see our dragon duo working their way closer to their goal.
C&Cs will be PM.
6468188
I didn't have an editor for the first few chapters, so I apologies for the errors. Actually, if you feel like taken some time out of your day to more accurately point them out, I'd appreciate it. Every correction helps.
I don't know why people are celebrating this stories return. It wasn't really dead.
“Maybe, but they’ll have to make do,” Gerard shot back. “I’m not going to let some dragon get away with hurting the only family I have!”
The irony there is palpable.
Anyway, nice chapter again.
6480049
Finally got around to starting the next chapter tonight actually. 400 words in only, though. Jobs and living paycheck to paycheck really drains the creativity out of ya.
Even so, my story is way less dead than some I read. Stories that update once a year flummox me. Like, just do a paragraph a day and you'll finish a chapter faster than that.
6480069 It's not like your story is The White Rider or The Last Brony
You're doing fine as far as I'm concerned. But I'm sorry to hear about having to live like that. It be tiring. 
6480049 Probably because the stories that update maybe once a year if not have gone without an update / word from the author for 2 years (regardless of them logging on in that time or not) are pretty much the norm.
Hell, I've seen some on Fanficiton.net that have been going on for 10 years, one with a 4 year hiatus in-between two chapters.
hmmmmm
why don't the bedvillean ponies mention anything about how to "dangerous criminals" actually paid fair and square for their supplies with actual diamonds