Treasure
Treasure
by
paperhearts
"How come we're walking so far tonight?" Ocellus' voice fought in vain against the tremble of a giggle. "If I'm not back by midnight I'll turn into a pumpkin you know. Literally. You'll have to carry me home."
"It's no further than usual. You sound drunk or something." Smolder kept her eyes ahead. Hazy lines of crimson and ochre stretched across the sky, penetrated only by the silhouette of the crest of the hill they were traversing. "Been skipping on your sleep again?"
"Just revising." There was the hint of a challenge in Ocellus' voice, buried as it was beneath the changeling's quiet demeanour. "Besides, if I'm missing out on my sleep there's only one dragon to blame."
Smolder laughed, but it sounded harsh to her ears as it echoed between the trees and rocks. "I would say that no-one asked you to come, but that's obviously a load of crap."
Ocellus giggled again. "Obviously."
They travelled in silence for a few minutes, forcing themselves up and over fallen trees and jagged half-peaks. The night hung low around them, a predator that was growing in strength and waiting for the right moment to strike. Smolder grunted as she skidded on some loose scree, and the backpack she was carrying pressed against her wings as she spun. Almost instantly Ocellus was at her side, her forelegs wrapping under Smolder's arms in an attempt to take her weight.
"Are you okay?" Her compound eyes held a thousand reflections of the rising moon as she looked Smolder up and down. Smolder hesitated a moment before swatting her hooves away.
"Fine, thanks. Just this hill trying to throw down. This was a lame idea, by the way."
Ocellus laughed, her pink wings twitching and trembling in the warm, still air. "Duly noted."
Smolder bobbed her head and returned her attention to the ascent. It would have been quicker to fly there, but she needed to save her wings from having too much of a workout before the main event. Her scales were starting to feel tight and dry, but she tried to ignore the discomfort. This time, she told herself, this time, I'll succeed.
"Thanks, by the way," she said, when the silence had clung to them too long for her comfort, "for, you know, coming with me. Again."
Ocellus flashed a smile that was painful in its earnestness. "No problem. What are friends for?"
Smolder grunted at that, and turned her gaze to the sky. The colours were still pressed together, obscuring from her the void that she knew was waiting beyond. It felt hostile, incomprehensible. Raising an arm, Smolder watched as her orange scales were stained first by the gloam and then by the moonlight.
"It must be scary up there," Ocellus said.
"A little." Smolder shrugged, though it didn't stop her heart from beating faster. "A lot, I guess. But it's worth it, you know?"
Ocellus cocked her head, a jerky set of movements that were almost too fast for Smolder to process. "Hey, isn't this the part where you're supposed to say to me 'But if you tell anyone I'll char your ass'? Gallus was right, you have softened over the years."
"Gallus would know all about getting soft." Smolder glanced over her shoulder. "And you've become a real comedian, huh?"
Ocellus' delicate laugh seemed to infuse the twilight around them. "I've been taking notes."
Smolder chuckled. "You ass."
They reached the peak of the hill a few minutes later and slumped to the ground, gulping down air and allowing weary sounds to escape their mouths. The land rolled down and away from them, a badly fitting jigsaw puzzle of colours and textures, the lamplights of Ponyville in the distance turning the town into a hazy crowd of fireflies. Smolder hugged her knees and gazed down, a smile growing on her lips. It always satisfied some primal need, being this high above everything. It wasn't so much about the physical distance, neat though it was, but more the sense of dominance she felt looking down on the world.
Even after all the years spent studying at the School of Friendship, Smolder knew she would never excel in the art of personal reflection. But she couldn't deny that she had changed, and for the most part that change had been for the better. Which is why she had to indulge herself, to embrace her heritage, in moments like this. You can take the dragon out of the Dragon Lands, but you can't take the Dragon Lands out of the dragon, her brother had told her when she had left for Equestria. The years since had exposed Smolder to enough to know that the subtle plea hidden in his words had been justified. Her shoulders weren't designed to carry the burden of duty, but they were designed even less so for guilt.
"You're being reflective again."
Smolder rolled her eyes and pressed her feet into the rocky ground. Ocellus had stretched out, and was busying herself with pulling a battered tome from her saddlebag.
"You're revising. Again."
"Am not!" Ocellus tapped the cover and flashed a toothy smile. "This is Meadowbank Magic's Compendium of Plants, August Edition." Her eyes grew wide at Smolder's expression. "It's totally not for revision! It's for pleasure!"
Smolder slid out of the embrace of her backpack and sighed, stretching her wings with gentle flaps. "I'm not convinced there's a difference when you're concerned."
Ocellus stuck out her tongue and rolled onto her back, her forelegs holding the book in the air. Smolder watched her read for a few minutes, a fond smile on her lips, before standing and continuing her warm-up. She didn't want to think about it too much—too much thinking lead to doubt. It was much better focusing on something mechanical. She lunged and flapped, stretched and hovered, losing herself in the repetition. Then she lifted her backpack and pulled out her coat.
"Okay, I'm ready," she said, more to herself than to Ocellus. Nevertheless, the changeling looked across.
"You took a lot longer tonight. Everything okay?"
"Yeah." Smolder slipped into her coat and gently buttoned up the flaps around her wings. Almost instantly the fabric began to create a reservoir for her body heat. "Just enjoying the now. Anticipation is always the best bit, you know?"
"Just like before a test," the changeling replied brightly. After a moment she giggled. "I'm joking, Smolder. Comedian, remember?"
"Maybe I was a little early on the praise there," Smolder replied with a smile.
"So mean!" After a moment Ocellus' gaze softened. "Look, are you sure you don't want to leave it for tonight? The view from here is already incredible. Isn't this enough?"
Smolder held her gaze before looking to the sky above. Her hands balled into fists. "Not even close."
"Well... Good luck then," replied Ocellus, her voice warm and, Smolder was convinced, encouraging. "Go get your treasure. I'll be watching."
"I know you will." Smolder braced her legs before pausing and looking back at the changeling. "Thank you."
She pushed off, not waiting for a reply, desperation fuelling the wingbeats that carried her up and away from Ocellus, the hill and the world below. Smolder knew she wasn't the fastest of fliers, but what she lacked in speed she made up for in endurance. She had soon settled into a steady rhythm, the muscles in her back and shoulders tightening and relaxing as her wings pushed her through the air, her scales lifting to trap the currents and aid her ascent. The sky was still against her though, packed with bands the colour of earth and fire that gave nothing away as to her progress. Smolder closed her eyes against the sight and pushed on.
She flew for minutes that felt like hours, alone in the darkness and with only her senses to guide her. As she felt the first drops of moisture on her face, Smolder began to relax and let her mind wander. She thought about the birds she used to see at this height, before her ascents had become blind. Were they always looking down at the world in awe or contempt? Or was the sight so familiar to them that they didn't even give it a second thought? Smolder had always found herself hoping it was the latter. It wasn't a sight she enjoyed the thought of sharing. She had invited Ocellus once but the changeling had declined, either too afraid or too disinterested to join her. Even now it seemed a shame, but Smolder had come to grudgingly accept that it would have defeated the purpose in the first place had Ocellus agreed.
A dull burning sensation began to blossom across her muscles, and Smolder set her jaw. Beads of moisture were now clinging to her face, but she refused to open her eyes. Her nerves began to grow and her lungs felt as though they were filling with the splinters of gems. She tried to brush the creeping doubts aside and focus on the task in hand. Yes it was hard, and yes it hurt like hell, but Smolder knew she had pushed through the pain countless times before, and she knew she could do it again—tonight, tomorrow night and however many more nights it took.
Her body continued to mark her progress, weathering the tumultuous currents. The scales on her face cooled as she soared through and then above the clouds, the plummeting temperature condensing the moisture into ice crystals. Not for the first time she hummed appreciation for the moderate protection offered by her coat, the material for which Yona had brought back for her from a trip to Yakyakistan. Before then, Smolder had been forced to abandon her attempts here, where the skies tried to turn her already cold blood into ice and her lungs into crystal weights. Even with it, it felt like her body was being slowly poisoned.
When the pain finally became too great Smolder cried out into the void, her wordless declaration lost in flame and crystals. Just a little further, she ordered herself. Just a little bit more. Her wings felt sluggish, alien, and her mind languid. Her insides were alight, her scales freezing. She gulped down the thinning air, flexing her fingers and toes. Vague images and echoes pushed themselves to the surface, and from there into oblivion; a year, three years, of school were condensed into a few fleeting seconds. Desperation, hope, determination. Smolder shuddered, her senses bleeding into one.
It's not getting any colder.
The thought sliced through everything with such clear precision that Smolder was initially struck dumb. It wasn't getting colder, and the currents had ceased their punches. She had made it! She had reached the edge of the—what had Headmare Glimmer called it? The troposphere?
Angling her wings Smolder pushed back, slowing her ascent almost instantly. The sudden change in motion thawed her, body and mind, and she spun round, furious beats of her wings holding her altitude steady. Smolder inclined her head, gulping down as much oxygen as the sky would allow.
And then she opened her eyes.
Smolder was no stranger to treasure. She had hoarded her first pile of jewels when she was five, under the expert guidance of her brother. She was stealing from other dragons by the following year, including her brother, and from the trading caravans that sometimes passed through the Dragon Lands not even half a year after that. Even when she had moved to Ponyville, Smolder couldn't, wouldn't kill that particular urge. A necklace from a market stall here, a student's textbook there, most days Smolder would ensure that her hoard beneath the floorboards of her dorm room had grown by at least one item.
But in the end it was all material, and so it just couldn't compare.
The world curved out before her, vast and beautiful.
Smolder stared at it, and then she laughed.
She had made the trip twenty, maybe even thirty, times, but every time she opened her eyes it felt like the first. It began in her gut and penetrated every organ as it consumed her body from horns to tail. Smolder had to remind herself to breathe as she attempted to comprehend the tableau below, which called out to her even as it pushed her away. The sunset was suspended in its escape attempt, a fiery arc keeping the darkness at bay. Beneath it, mountains and plains and forests and oceans stretched out, a living map, and for a moment Smolder indulged herself once more.
But in the end, she knew it wasn't something she could hope to hold, to possess, and that was fine. Anyway, her body ached, and her mind more so. Pinning back her wings, Smolder angled herself and descended, dreaming that she was a shooting star.
Ocellus was exactly where Smolder had left her; the changeling was lying on her back amongst the wild grass, the book she had been earlier reading now a makeshift pillow. As Smolder approached the crest of the hill, she opened her mouth and forced out plumes of fire, being careful to not let her coat get singed. Ocellus leapt up, though whether from fright or excitement it was impossible to tell, and stared wide-eyed as Smolder slowed to land, trailing sparks and embers. It was an expression that seemed intent on holding too many emotions and feelings for one face, and Smolder hung in the air as she hunted and separated them.
Her chest hurt. Her lungs hurt. The sight she had just witnessed had nothing on this, and in that moment Smolder vowed to never again speak about enjoying the feeling of anticipation.
"I didn't know I was getting a light show too," Ocellus laughed, clapping her hooves together.
Shaking herself out of her stupor, Smolder performed a mock bow. "What are friends for, right?"
"So did you have fun? Did you find your treasure?"
Smolder studied the changeling for a moment longer, feeling her heart plummet. It wasn't there. She swallowed, landing amongst the moon-kissed grass. The first time she had flown to the edge of the world it had almost been there. But every time since it had seemed to drift further and further away.
She plastered on what felt like the lamest smile and shook her head. "Nah, out of reach again, you know?"
Ocellus frowned and cocked her head. "Are you okay, Smolder? Did something happen?"
Smolder stared at Ocellus, at the way the moonlight pooled and shimmered across her eyes, at the way her mouth curved with a kindness that was both alien and sublime. She could sense her timidity and her confidence bubbling beneath her skin. She could feel her strengths and doubts, shaped over the years they had shared.
Smolder opened her mouth, the blood pounding in her ears, her limbs feeling as numb as they had in the freezing sky above.
When Gallus had flown non-stop to Griffonstone as part of the last school fundraising event, it had been in Ocellus' expression then. When he had got back from scaling Yak Khan Mountain with Yona too.
It had almost been there for her as well. Almost. What was she doing wrong?
Smolder inhaled deep. It was warmer on the ground, but otherwise it didn't feel as though she had come back down. Her body still hurt, and the sight before her was still something she could not hold in her hands.
"I'm fine," she said, and smiled at Ocellus until she looked away.
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The two or three cusses felt a little out of place, but overall this was REALLY good! Especially for someone's first fic!
Have a like! :)
EDIT: Turns out this wasn't actually paperhearts' first rodeo (more info here). Either way, it's still great!
At first I thought this might be going into Eagle and Sparrow direction, but took a while to realise by the end.
Poor Smolder.
There's something strangely beautiful about how you wrote this. I love it.
9805891
What's the Eagle and Sparrow direction?
Wow, this was really kinda awesome. Quite well written, and one can really feel the emotions in the story. It has that charm of a fic that is short but meaningful.
It's just the perfect length for what it is.
9805996
The Eagle and Sparrow is a short story about all the birds getting together to elect a King to rule. After much argument they finally agreed that the bird that could fly highest would get the job.
All the birds flew, but the mighty Eagle flew highest, until right at the point where he started to glide back, exhausted, the tiny Sparrow, which had been hiding in the feathers on his back, took off and soared higher still.
And so the Sparrow was declared the King Of The Birds.
In this case the Sparrow was sneaky, but it works just as well with Freinds.
9805859
Thank you very much, I'll gladly snaffle that like up. I appreciate you taking the time to read my work. I can only offer an apology if the cursing felt in any way off to you; it evolved naturally as I was writing the characters/dialogue and I was reluctant to mute it. I'm glad you could still enjoy the rest of it though!
9805891
Huh, reading fairy tales and folk stories is something of a hobby of mine, so I'm fairly disturbed by the fact I haven't even heard of that one! Back to the books for me! Thanks for taking the time to read and share. Hope you enjoyed the story.
9805974
There's something beautiful about your very kind words too! Sincerely, thank you. I'm delighted you enjoyed the story, and appreciate you taking the time to read it.
9806039
Thank you ever so much for such kind words. I'm really pleased you enjoyed the story, and that the balance worked for you. The dialogue and emotional content were my main areas of focus for this effort, so your words are doubly heartening. Thanks for taking the time to read it!
A lovely read. But I feel like I missed the point at the end.
9806352
I think...she wanted Ocellus to look at her the same way she has their other friends after something strenuous?
Your prose is very elegant. You painted the setting very well––I'm very sad that summer is ending now, haha.
I'll definitely be revisiting this story when I feel the need to see Smolder and Ocellus hanging out. I look forward to your next story.
9806352
I'm super pleased/appreciative that it didn't hamper any enjoyment of the story though.
Ack! Then I can only hold my hands up and apologise; I wanted to make Smolder's intentions and the reveal subtle, but I have clearly either buried them too deep or stuffed up the execution. My bad.
It's a little along the lines of what 9806388 has already said. Smolder has feelings for Ocellus, who in turn is dating Gallus. Smolder is thus trying to win/steal her heart by doing something extreme, as she remembers the way Ocellus looked at Gallus after his own exertions.
Honestly, I'll go away and think on the execution a little more. It might just be one of the cases where it was clear in my head, but perhaps less so on paper. Thanks for taking the time to read my work. This has been helpful feedback.
9806409
Haha, but autumn and winter are following, the most beautiful of seasons! Thank you for taking the time to read my work, and also for the very kind words. Put a smile on my face, that.
I'll do my best to entertain with future stories too. No pressure, haha!
9806278
My memory is failing with age, but I beleive it might be one of Aesops Fables.
Some of the oldest lies for adults?
As for the story, please dont alter it, the feeling of realising the meaning of the story, no matter how long it takes, or how suprising, I thought was the point of the story.
9806617
Thanks for the pointer, I'll start there.
Oh, and I won't be changing anything in this story (though thank you for giving me a little more to think about). I was mainly talking about reflecting on the feedback so far and what it might or should mean for my future work.
As I read this a song played in my head and it's just so perfect and fits quite well with the story, at least for me.
I highly recommend listening to it while reading, here
As for the story, you definitely know how to write. I look forward to your next story
9808603
Ooh, I'm not sure there's finer praise than that, so thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I usually write a story to a specific song or two to get me in the right frame of mind, so to have music tap into people as they read it is an immensity gratifying thing to hear. Tis a tune that, too. Thanks for sharing!
And thank you for the follow too! I'll do my very best to justify your decision to do that. From looking at your following list I'm in some esteemed company, so thank you again.
9808657
you're very welcome, it brings me joy whenever I can make others genuinely happy.
So what did you think of the song I shared, did it fit well?
9809468
It was a tricky challenge for me personally, mainly because I listened to a specific song before sitting down to write this story (and before every time I sat down to edit it too), so to attach a different track to it after needed some mental gymnastics, haha.
That said, I can definitely see why it would come to mind, and definitely see how it fits the material, sure! I'm generally intrigued by how songs can do that, and how different songs can be recalled for different people reading the same material. I wonder if that was true for any other readers too.
9810014
well now i'm intrigued, what song did you listen to while writing this?
9810883
Ack! Completely thought I had replied to this already. My apologies!
My pre-writing track for this one was:
Oooh, I really don't read nearly enough, so it takes me a while to get around to it, but here I am finally, and very pleased I came. That was a beautiful story. You are an excellent writer.
9831994
I'm pleased you enjoyed it.
Ah, thank you for such kind words, really, and for taking the time to read my story in the first place! That really put a smile on my face this morning.
9844311
Hello, and thank you so very much for taking the time to read my work. I really appreciate it, and your thoughts on the story have left a pretty big smile on my face. Thoroughly delighted that you liked it, and very much relieved that the aspects I wanted to get right with it have been quite well received.
Thanks again, and have a nice day!
I not a frequent commenter, so I don’t know if people comment half a year after the story is written, but I want to.
When I realized what this story was really about, it felt like a bolt of lightning hit my gut. I love when stories do that! The entire story I was wracking my brain trying to figure it out, and it still knocked me head over heels, even though I should have realized it. That’s a sign of a damn good story. And I love seeing the LusLus pairing, even if it’s only mentioned offhand. I still maintain that they’re cute together.
As for the song in my head, I personally heard this when Smolder had reached her zenith. Inspiring and invigorating for your soul. While I also contemplate how altitude might affect dragon bodies.
I can only imagine Ocellus’ reaction if she knew the truth. It’s an almost tragic story, but a beautiful one. Well done.
nice work
My sincere apologies for taking so long to reply. Been a tad under the weather and I've not been online much.
10245765
I'm delighted to read about your reaction, because it's exactly the reaction I was hoping readers would get. Sometimes I worry I am too flowery for my own good, and I lose the immediacy and obviousness when I put moments like that into my work. I'm glad it worked for you, and thanks for sharing your own soundtrack. I'm always interested in what people hear or think of when they read this, and it is a lovely piece of music.
Thank you so very much for taking the time to comment; the fact by your own admission you don't do it all too often makes it all the more special for me. So thank you!
Again, it was exactly what I was going for. I'm so so pleased to read that it felt that way to you as a reader.
Thanks for reading my work! I appreciate it.
10255848
Thank you very much for taking the time to read my work and comment. I'm delighted to read that you enjoyed it!
9805859
HO-lee crap, this was a first?!!
10447408
Actually, no, that comment was incorrect. paperhearts formerly wrote under an account named Ceffyl Dŵr that they ultimately deleted (more info here). This wasn't a "debut" per se, but rather a successful comeback attempt.
Either way, it's still great.
:)