Dragon Coasts
They managed to reach the safety of shore without further event, Fluttershy dragging both Twilight and her seapony body onto the sandy beach before using her magic pearl shard to revert back to her hippogriff form. By that point, the shock of what just happened settled in enough that Fluttershy had another panic attack and could only stand on unsteady legs as a result. Twilight, however, found her own body too waterlogged from the swim to successfully shapeshift, leaving her stuck in her natural form until she dried out. That caused her to panic a bit too, since walking around undisguised in foreign territory was potentially very dangerous for a changeling.
Fortunately, at the edge of the beach they found a cave to hide out in until Twilight dried out and they both recovered their wits. They spent the first few minutes there mostly in silence, doing what they could to try and shake the loose water from their bodies.
Fluttershy watched Twilight groom her glossy wings, currently floppy and useless from their swim earlier. “So,” she finally began, breaking the silence, “you’re a changeling.”
Twilight looked up from what she was doing and made a sheepish chuckle. “Yeah, kinda,” she admitted before sighing. “I’m…sorry for deceiving you. But most creatures don’t generally react well to encountering a changeling.”
“I suppose I can understand that,” Fluttershy conceded. Her brow furrowed with confusion. “But why did you come out here on your own in the first place?” She motioned vaguely outside the cave to the sea they had just escaped from. “Clearly you have…well…enemies that want to stop you.” She frowned. “Who were they anyway?”
“They were centuriones,” Twilight answered. Then, realizing she probably wouldn’t understand the changeling term, proceeded to elaborate. “Basically, they were specially trained soldiers fiercely loyal to the queen of the Changeling Kingdom.” She lowered her gaze with a sad sigh. “I…didn’t exactly get permission to come out here in the first place, so they were sent to…take care of it.” She then gazed out of the cave herself. The sea visible through the opening was calm, with no sign of trouble on it now, but she was certain Pharynx and his cohorts were still out there somewhere. “Hopefully we’ve escaped them for now, but they’re not going to give up that easily, nor do I think they’ll believe we went down with your boat.” She winced and looked back at the hippogriff. “Again, I’m very sorry about that.”
Fluttershy idly poked at the cave’s gravel floor with one paw for a second. “Right now, I think I’m just more interested in knowing why,” she admitted. She looked Twilight right in the eye. “What was so important for you to do all of this, if it was going to cause so much trouble?”
Twilight sighed again. “Ironically, it was to try and prevent even worse trouble from befalling us all,” she admitted. She bit her lip before deciding to start from the beginning. “Have you ever heard of a mare called Nightmare Moon before?”
“Nightmare Moon?” Fluttershy’s brow wrinkled in further confusion. “Isn’t she just a legend?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think so,” Twilight explained as she reached to check on the research in her satchel, having managed to stay on her side despite everything. As it was magically enchanted to be water resistant, the papers inside were thankfully only mildly damp at most, still perfectly useable and, more importantly, legible. “And that means the threat she potentially presents goes beyond just the changelings.” She then shook her head and looked around at their surroundings, trying to get her bearings again. “But it won’t matter much if I can’t get to the Griffon Order in time. So…where are we exactly, and how far away from Horseshoe Bay are we still?”
“Oh…quite a few miles still, actually,” Fluttershy admitted with a wince. “And this beach would have to be the shoreline for the Dragon Coasts, so…” her wince deepened, “…this isn’t exactly friendly territory we’re in, I think.”
“Particularly for a changeling like me,” Twilight added with a wince of her own. “Dragons and changelings have…a history.” She took a deep breath. “Still, I don’t see much other option at this point—we’re going to have to try and go the rest of the way by ourselves, on foot or by wing.”
It was clear Fluttershy didn’t particularly care for either option. “The jungles here are supposed to be really dangerous for those who don’t know how to navigate them though,” she pointed out. “And I don’t know about you, but, um, I don’t really know the layout of the land here at all.”
“I don’t either,” Twilight admitted. “But without a boat, going by water isn’t going to be very practical, so we’ll just have to take the risk and…”
She cut herself short when they suddenly heard the sounds of some creature approaching from deeper within the cave. Huddling together in alarm, they peered down the dark tunnel to see a light faintly cast itself upon the walls where the tunnel bent around a corner. As they watched, the light slowly grew stronger as the sounds likewise grew louder. At one point the source of light, appearing to be from a fire, moved positions and caused the shadow of what held it to be cast, revealing the distinct outline of a dragon. And they were clearly coming their way.
Fluttershy winced. “What should we do?” she whispered to Twilight. “If it catches us intruding on dragon territory without permission…” she let the thought hang unfinished.
Twilight bit her chitinous lip. “Run, maybe?”
“But that wouldn’t stop the dragon from just chasing after us, would it? And what if they can move faster than we can?”
“The only other thing I can suggest then is to hide…but this cave was the only place we could hide on this beach,” Twilight argued back. She jumped when the dragon still just out of sight was heard bumping a small rock which clattered nosily. It and the light it carried were still closing in and would surely come fully into view in just moments. “It’s either that or hope we can reason with them.”
“It’s a dragon,” Fluttershy whimpered, huddling closer to Twilight in terror. “When they’re angry, reasoning is supposed to be just about the last thing you can do.”
The debate was halted when, having stalled for too long, the dragon finally rounded the corner and stepped into view, halting a split second later upon seeing the two other creatures also in the cave. She was a dragoness, roughly analogous to them in age (or so Twilight reflexively estimated), bearing immaculate scales of a near perfect white except for her underbelly, which was colored a pale cornflower blue, and the crest of long spines atop her head as well as the inside of her wings, both of which were a moderate indigo color. Upon spying them, she raised the ball of magic dragonfire she held cupped in one paw up higher and stared at them with her blue eyes just long enough that both changeling and hippogriff thought she would unleash her full draconic rage upon them at any moment.
Instead, she broke out in a friendly grin. “Why hello there, darlings!” she declared surprisingly cordially. “Whatever brings you two ladies out here?”
Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged stunned glances, not having expected this reaction. “Uh…” Twilight managed to utter, scrambling to form a coherent response.
“I mean, I assume you two didn’t come into this cave just because,” the dragoness prompted in amusement when she didn’t get an immediate answer.
Fluttershy was trembling by Twilight’s side, uncertain the dragon wouldn’t still attack. “W-w-why aren’t you angry about us b-being here?” she asked in a shaky voice. “A-aren’t we in-in-intruding on your territory?”
“You mean this old place?” the dragoness asked, motioning to the cave they stood in. She scoffed. “Oh, most anything interesting was picked clean from here ages ago, darling. I mean, sometimes you do still get lucky and find the odd sliver of a gemstone that was overlooked…” As if to prove her point, she suddenly stopped to pick a shard of crystal from a crack in the wall and popped it whole into her mouth to crunch upon. “…but mostly I just use it as a nice little shortcut out to the beach and not much else.” She pointed a claw nonthreateningly at the other two. “But I trust you two are here for rather different reasons. I assume you shipwrecked, yes?”
Twilight blinked in surprise at her accurate deduction. “How did you figure that out?”
The dragoness chuckled and motioned to their figures. “The fact you’re both frazzled and wet like you had, for starters,” she observed. “But that’s usually why non-dragons like yourselves would suddenly turn up on the shores of the Dragon Coasts anyway.”
“Well…you’d actually be right,” Fluttershy concluded. She tried to make an apologetic grin, but it came out as a wince. “…sorry.”
“Oh no, no harm done that I can tell,” the dragoness reassured and closed the gap between them, towering a full head taller than even Fluttershy who, as a hippogriff, wasn’t exactly short herself. “These things happen sometimes, after all. The more important thing here was if anyone was hurt and if you need assistance getting back where you belong.”
Fluttershy and Twilight again exchanged glances. “Well…we could use passage from here to the Griffon Order border,” Twilight conceded, deciding they might as well take advantage of the dragoness’s unexpected offer of assistance. “That was where we were heading when our boat…sank.”
“Since you’re offering and all,” Fluttershy added. Since it seemed they weren’t going to be ripped to shreds for now, she slowly started to relax again, releasing the tight grip she’d unknowingly put upon her changeling compatriot.
“We’re just surprised, is all,” Twilight continued. “I…would’ve thought you’d have much more issue with us being here.” She motioned to herself. “Particularly me as a…you know…changeling.”
“Well, I do find it odd a changeling would be here and also not disguised,” the dragoness said, raising a puzzled eyebrow at Twilight. “But since you’re in the company of a hippogriff, I presume there’s a good reason.” She pointed at Fluttershy. “Is she your prisoner or something?” she asked the hippogriff.
Fluttershy’s eyes bulged. “Oh my, no!” she quickly countered. “She’s with me as…” she hesitated for a split second, shooting a side-glance at Twilight, “…as a friend.” Twilight wrinkled her snout, not sure she agreed with calling it that, but kept silent as Fluttershy continued. “Actually, it’d been my idea to team up anyway, as I’m the one with…well…the boat to get us there. Or…at least I was the one with boat…” She looked sadly out the cave’s mouth at the sea where its waves had swallowed up her lost ship.
Rarity harrumphed at this, seeming taken aback at this detail. “A changeling being friends with anyone?” she mumbled aloud, clearly finding the idea odd. “That’s certainly new.”
Twilight decided to not dispute the point and instead take control of the conversation again. “Anyway, I’m not in disguise simply because I’m too wet,” she explained to the dragoness. “We were trying to dry off when you found us.”
The dragoness furrowed her brow. “Changelings can’t stay disguised in water?”
“Well, no, we can, it just takes extra effort because the water causes interference, and I’m…” Twilight turned sheepish, “…not practiced enough at it. I, uh, suppose that’s what I get for learning the theory but not putting it into practice more.”
“Oh, well then, if that’s all,” the dragoness said before drawing in a deep breath of air.
Twilight’s eyes widened as she realized a second too late what she was about to do. “No, wait—!”
The dragoness released a cyan blast of fire directly at both of them, fully engulfing the two. Twilight cried out and attempted to shield herself against the heat of the flames while Fluttershy simply flinched away with a whimper. However, though they felt an intense heat fully surrounding them, the flames never harmed them. And once they faded away as quickly as they’d appeared, the only thing the two noticed different was their bodies having been blown dry by the heated air. A quick pat down by each of them and the dragoness’s smug grin quickly made clear that had been the intention.
“There, that should solve that problem for you both,” the dragoness proudly remarked before pointing at Twilight. “Now I recommend you disguise yourself as something that’s not a changeling, because I cannot guarantee other dragons will react to your presence as kindly as I have.” Then, without waiting for Twilight to comply, turned and motioned for the pair to follow her. “Now come along. I don’t know if I personally will be able to escort you as far as the Griffon Order border without first checking with the Dragon Regent, but I can at least still get you settled somewhere more comfortable until that’s sorted out.”
She then started back into the cave the same way she’d entered from. Fluttershy, uncertainty still visible on her face, silently gave a questioning look to Twilight. Twilight, reverting back into the hippogriff disguise she’d been using before, simply shrugged, unable to think of any good reason not to follow, and trotted after the dragoness. Fluttershy hesitated a second, but not wanting to be left behind, quickly hurried to stay by Twilight’s side.
“My name is Rarity, by the way,” the dragoness said as she led them through the cave. It quickly proved to be a tunnel, open at both ends, and it wasn’t long before they were reaching its other exit. “What are yours?”
“I’m Fluttershy,” Fluttershy introduced before motioning to her companion. “And this is Twilight.”
“Twilight?” Rarity asked, glancing back at the disguised changeling. “Just Twilight?”
“That’s right,” Twilight confirmed, raising an eyebrow at the question. “Why?”
Rarity shrugged her shoulders. “It just seems like the sort of name that should have a second part to it, like…Sparkle or something.”
“Nope, just Twilight.” Twilight decided to change the subject before they went any further down that odd rabbit hole. “Anyway, we appreciate your generosity helping us like this,” she said. “We weren’t sure we’d really be able to find the way on our own.”
“You almost certainly wouldn’t,” the dragoness replied confidently as she snuffed the ball of flame in her palm, no longer needed. She incidentally said this almost the same moment they exited the tunnel and entered the jungles further inland. They were thick and intimidating to her two charges, and though they could hear the constant sounds of other wildlife in the distance, they couldn’t see much of it. “The Dragons Coasts do tend to be quite dangerous for those who don’t know what they’re doing here.” Almost to prove her point, a snake suddenly lunged from the dense foliage and at her throat. However, almost without looking at it, Rarity casually grabbed it out of the air with one paw, whipped it over her head like a lasso, and then hurled it back into the bushes with ease. “Fortunately,” she continued as if nothing had happened, “I’m quite adjusted to it. You’ll be safe so long as you stick close to me and do as I say.”
“…sounds good to me!” Twilight swiftly agreed, cowed and astonished at the capability their guide just demonstrated.
Fluttershy spared an apologetic wince the in the direction the snake was thrown before finally changing the subject. “So…why are you helping us?” she asked as they hiked through the jungle. “I’ve only ever seen dragons from afar before now, but…I had always been told dragons are fierce and mean to strangers.”
“Historically, they are,” Twilight agreed. “According to legend, they were the ones who drove the ponies from this part of the continent when coming to take it for themselves, and retaliated against anything that they thought might take it away again once they had it. The changelings certainly have had that demonstrated to them any time we’re caught infiltrating their land, at least.”
“Foolishly, I might add,” Rarity couldn’t help but point out.
Twilight opted not to acknowledge that point. “In any case, you haven’t acted like that towards us.”
“Not that we’re complaining, of course,” Fluttershy swiftly added before they inadvertently gave Rarity any ideas. “You can go right on acting as you have.”
Rarity made a twittering laugh at that before going on to answer the question. “Truth be told, I was once exactly that sort of dragon in my youth, particularly just after my molt,” she admitted more solemnly. “I treated any non-dragons with contempt, anger, and even violence, as I’d seen other dragons do while growing up. I never really stopped to question it…until I crossed paths with one young creature who’d lost his way. Initially I was going to treat him the same as I had any other outsider…but then I saw how innocent, young, and helpless he was and realized that being mean wouldn’t help anyone. Instead, what he needed was help getting back on course to where he did belong, which I did. More than that even, I somewhat helped him get established as a successful trader who comes through here every now and then to trade with dragons for various gemstones. In fact, I believe he is due to pass through here again rather soon…” Rarity pondered that detail for a moment before shrugging, deeming it irrelevant to the conversation. “Anyway, after I did all that, I decided to make it a point to be more a service to outsiders than a hindrance. I’ve found that’s all most of them need, much like yourselves.” She then made a serious side-glance back at them. “That is unless such outsiders are seeking deliberate harm to me or other dragons, in which case, I assure you, vengeance will be swift.”
Twilight and Fluttershy both audibly gulped at the implied threat and jointly made a note not to get on the dragoness’s bad side.
“So why are you two heading for the Griffon Order, anyway?” Rarity then asked, using her claws to thwack aside some vines barring their path. She eyed specifically Twilight as she continued. “You’re not planning to spy on the griffons living there or anything like that, are you?”
“Oh, no, no, no!” Fluttershy quickly assured, taken aback by the suggestion.
“Just because I’m a changeling doesn’t mean my every action has an intended subterfuge behind it,” Twilight added hotly, a little annoyed at the stereotyping.
“My apologies,” Rarity assured. “But while I prefer not to judge a creature by their skin these days, just because I am giving you two the benefit of the doubt does not mean you have my full trust just yet.” That point made abundantly clear, she then prompted again, “So if not for that, then why are you heading there?”
“Um…well…” Fluttershy began, uncertain, “We’re heading there because Twilight is hoping to stop…”
“…I’m hoping the Griffon Order has resources for a project I’m independently researching,” Twilight swiftly interjected without giving specifics, hesitant to entrust Rarity with the truth if the dragon really still had doubts about them.
Unfortunately, the dragoness was no fool. “All right, that is it,” she announced suddenly, halting and about facing so to block their path, preventing them from continuing. “You two are trying to hiding something, and I’d like to know what it is before we go any further with this arrangement of ours.”
Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged glances, with the latter silent motioning she’d like to know the full details too, before Twilight sighed and nodded. “What do you know about Nightmare Moon?” the disguised changeling asked.
“Nightmare Moon?” Rarity repeated, rolling the sound of the name around her tongue. “Nothing! I’ve never heard of any…Nightmare Moon.”
Twilight sighed a second time, this time more wearily. “Then this is going to take a bit of explaining.”
She spent the rest of the hike explaining the situation to the two creatures she’d managed to inadvertently team up with, laying out what she’d uncovered, her conclusions, and what she hoped to do about it. By that time, nearing their apparent destination, evidence of other dragons living in the area became more visible. Some were occasionally swooping in flight above them, but most were keeping to themselves in the dwellings they’d made for themselves, visible even from afar. Most lived in simple caves, but some had settled in the ancient temples or other structures left behind by their original creators after the dragons had colonized the area. Rarity’s own dwelling was made out of one of the smaller of these structures—a single-room stone building placed in the opening of a large crevasse atop a hill and partly overlooked the valley seeming to be the center of the dragon population. Twilight finished her explanation as they reached the entrance of this dwelling.
“So ultimately what you’re trying to do is stop this Nightmare Moon,” Rarity summarized as they entered, before adding, “Do watch your step, by the way. I use my spare time making jewelry out of the scrap metal and gemstones not worth eating to trade with other dragons, but I suppose I’m not very tidy about it.”
Twilight and Fluttershy looked around to see most every available surface of the dwelling covered with pieces of thin metal in various stages of being twisted into decorative shapes and embedded with small insignificant gems. “Right, I’m hoping to stop Nightmare Moon before she can cause too much harm,” Twilight confirmed as she and Fluttershy carefully avoided stepping on any of Rarity’s projects.
“But just what makes you so certain that this mare is about to return, or even exists at all?” Rarity questioned, giving Twilight a skeptical eye. “After all, her banishment was apparently a thousand years ago, long enough that it all could just be a story…”
“I’m done my homework on this, I promise you,” Twilight assured, reaching into her satchel to pull out all of her extensive research, holding it up for Rarity to see. “I can definitely confirm Nightmare Moon existed and gathered plenty of evidence suggesting she will indeed return, likely soon. The best account I’ve found suggests she should return in less than a week’s time now.”
Rarity took Twilight’s research to skim through, wanting to see it for herself. Fluttershy, meanwhile, had been reacting to the explanation very thoughtfully and attentively, though there was also a growing worry underlying it once the full scope of things became clear.
“And…you’re saying that if you don’t, then when she comes back, Nightmare Moon will likely try and take everything for herself?” the hippogriff summarized somewhat uneasily while they gathered near a large pile of valuables stored at the back of the dwelling. When Fluttershy reached out to touch a particularly large ruby sitting on its edge, her paw was slapped away by Rarity without comment.
Twilight nodded, pulling Fluttershy closer to herself, so to give the dragoness’s belongings a respective perimeter. “By force, if necessary, but I think if I can recover what was used to defeat her a thousand years ago, I can stop her again before she gets very far.”
Pacified by Twilight’s research, Rarity handed back the papers before rubbing at the underside of her snout for a moment. “But your queen doesn’t want to do this?” she asked, sounding incredulous, “Enough to send soldiers after you?”
“She thinks she can use the chaos of Nightmare Moon’s return to stage her own attack on her enemies and expand her territory,” Twilight explained apologetically. “I didn’t approve myself.”
“Can…she do that?”
“…probably? But I’m not sure it’d matter, because even if she succeeds, once Nightmare Moon is done with the more immediate political powers, she’ll eventually turn her attention to the Changeling Kingdom too.”
Rarity raised a questioning eyebrow at that, suspecting the changeling’s motives again. “So you’re saying Nightmare Moon is enough of a danger to the changelings that you want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Twilight nodded again. “But it’s not just the changelings. The hippogriffs, the griffons, probably even the dragons and others are all likely endangered by Nightmare Moon’s return too. If the stories about her intentions to bring about an eternal night are true, and I suspect they are for reasons already discussed, then her return potentially affects the whole of our world. Meaning anything that stops her would be to everyone’s mutual benefit too.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened slightly at this implication. “So, um, basically,” she concluded, “what you’re trying to do is…save the world?”
Twilight blinked. “…I guess so? I…hadn’t really thought about it that way.”
Rarity laughed at the idea. “Well, look at that, a changeling actually trying to save the world for a change,” she remarked. “That’s not something you see very often.” She gave Twilight an impressed look. “I suppose that would make you a truly unique changeling indeed, darling.”
Twilight sheepishly averted her gaze before shaking her head, turning apologetic. “In any case, I’m sorry I’ve dragged both of you into this.”
“It’s all right,” Fluttershy assured her. “I was the one who offered to help you in the first place.”
Twilight locked eyes with the hippogriff. “You didn’t know what you were getting into at the time.”
“Maybe so, but…I still wanted to help you after you’d helped me, so…even though it’s gone like we planned, I probably still would’ve offered anyway.” Fluttershy then shrugged with her feathery wings. “And now that I know your intentions for doing this are good…I’d think it’d be wrong if I backed down now.” She glanced in the vague direction of the sea. “Besides, I don’t really have an easy way back home at this point, so…since I’ve already put myself all in…I guess I might as well see it through.”
“I can’t ask you to do that,” Twilight reminded.
“You aren’t,” Fluttershy assured her. She shrugged a second time. “With respect…you probably need all the help you can get anyway.”
Twilight made an amused snort at that. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”
“I suppose I will assist as well,” Rarity also offered, picking out a gem from within her hoard and popping it into her mouth. “I already said I would try to get you safely to the border at least, and I don’t see much reason to stop now since I would seemingly stand to gain.” She looked at Twilight. “Though, assuming you even do find these so-called Elements of Harmony, how exactly are you going to use them and what happens to them afterwards once you do? Will you try to keep them for yourself?”
“I’m not sure I can even if I want to,” Twilight admitted. “That’s why I’m trying to get to the Griffon Order. Not only will Nightmare Moon likely return somewhere within their borders, I’m hoping the missing links I’m looking for lie somewhere there as well, because as it stands now, I barely have any information about what they are or where to find them.”
“And you think the Griffon Order has that information?” Rarity asked with a scoffing laugh. “The griffons can barely keep their own business straight, let alone something from a thousand years ago!”
“Yes, but their territory contains the most major locations Equestria held before it fell, so if that information is anywhere, it’s gotta be there!” Twilight huffed. “Look, I know it’s a gamble, but given I haven’t found what I’m looking for elsewhere and having a limited amount of time left, it’s the best hope I’ve got.” She motioned to the dragoness. “That is unless the dragons happen to know anything on the matter, but considering you didn’t even know who Nightmare Moon is…”
“Well, I don’t know about these elements specifically,” Rarity began with a shrug, “But there were a lot of magical artifacts scattered all across this land when we dragons arrived here. They’re now collected in the relic depository for safe keeping, as a sort of group hoard for all dragons. If we have anything like these elements, they would likely be there.”
Twilight perked up at that. “Is there any way I can get in there and look around?” she asked eagerly.
Rarity snorted a small cloud of smoke and shook her head. “Not likely. The depository is where some of the most valuable items in the Dragon Coasts are, so no non-dragon will be allowed to enter.” She then paused, regarding Twilight for a moment. “That is unless…Twilight, since you’re a shapeshifting changeling, I don’t suppose you can also achieve a dragon form?”
Twilight raised her brows for a second, intrigued by the challenge. Then in a flash of magic she took on a dragoness form paralleling Rarity’s own lean build but in her own purple hues. She then held out her claws in a presenting manner. “Would this work?”
Rarity made a toothy smile, revealing the tips of her fangs. “Quite,” she said, turning to walk over to a large and weathered crate she’d presumably recovered from some past shipwreck, tipping it over and emptying it of its contents. “Now Fluttershy,” she continued as she looked to the hippogriff, “how are you with tight spaces?”
Fluttershy claimed she could deal with tight spaces so long as she felt safe within it, so soon all three of them found themselves heading up the steps of a particularly prominent ancient temple placed near the center of the Dragon Coasts. The bored dragon standing guard at its entrance barely glanced up at the two dragonesses, one white and the other purple, carrying a large crate between them and motioned them right through without a second thought once Rarity explained that the crate contained a new magical artifact the Dragon Regent had ordered be delivered. Once inside, they swiftly entered a massive chamber filled with stone shelves, all laden with a vast array of magical artifacts. Better still, they had the chamber all to themselves.
“Wow, I didn’t think there were so many artifacts found in this region,” Twilight remarked in awe, taking in the sight as she and Rarity set the crate down on the floor.
“Yes, it seems ancient creatures had a penchant for hiding these things here, under the assumption they’d stay safe,” Rarity explained casually. “It’s my understanding many of them were safeguarded by traps and such when we dragons found them.” She waved that matter aside and motioned Twilight forward. “But never mind that, darling. Go ahead and look around, see if any of these match what you’re looking for.”
Twilight hesitated a moment, uncertain where to begin given how many there were and no apparent organizational system they were placed under (to her annoyance). But eventually she picked a shelf at random and started circling around to briefly examining each artifact and its apparent properties. She began using her wings so to reach the higher shelves once she dismissed all of the lower ones.
The crate they’d brought in lifted its lid after a moment, allowing Fluttershy hidden inside to peak her beak out. “Can I come out now while you’re doing that?” she asked cautiously.
“Mm, better not, darling,” Rarity advised sympathetically. “I expect Twilight won’t take long at the rate she’s going, and then we’ll need to sneak you back out anyway, along with any artifacts on the off chance Twilight does find something. Speaking of, I’ll still need you two to sit tight while I speak with the Dragon Regent for her okay to escort outsiders to the border, otherwise I might get in trouble if I am caught doing so without permission, and then where will you two be?”
“I suppose,” Fluttershy said, watching Twilight circling the room. She really was making quick progress, but it was also clear the disguised changeling was growing frustrated the more she didn’t find what she was looking for. “Who is this Dragon Regent anyway?” she then asked so to make small talk.
“The Dragon Regent is the leader over the Dragon Coasts,” Twilight answered from higher up the room, having overheard the question.
“Well, more like the representative for the Dragon Lord ruling back in the Dragon Lands,” Rarity clarified. “For the Dragon Lord rules over all dragons, no matter where they are, but as he can only be in so many places at once, the Dragon Regent is appointed to oversee general affairs on his behalf on our side of the Celestial Sea.” She noticed then that Twilight had stopped close to the very last shelf and seemed to be hovering there. “Find what you were looking for, Twilight?” she called.
“Yes and no,” Twilight responded, flapping back down with the object carried in her disguised draconic arms. It was a large slab of decorated stone, likely salvaged from one of the ancient temples scattered throughout the jungles. “It’s not the Elements of Harmony, but I think it does give me some new information about them. See this?” she pointed to a prominent mural painted at the center of a stone, depicting an alicorn pony and six magical objects encircling her, linking their respective magics together into one powerful beam.
Rarity nodded her head at the depiction. “Are those supposed to be them, then?” She asked, “The Elements of Harmony?”
Twilight nodded and tapped at a section of text written next to the image. “According to this Ancient Equestrian writing, there were apparently six elements, often used as a weapon of last resort by those worthy to bear them when all else had failed to preserve Equestria from a given danger. They appear to feed their power directly into the user, allowing them to then use it directly against their targets.” She looked up at Rarity and Fluttershy peeking out of the crate, appearing optimistic. “It’s not as good as finding the elements themselves, but it at least gives me a better idea of what I’m looking for.” She then hefted up the slab to go return to its spot before pulling out a spare slip of paper and a quill from her satchel she still carried. “This is too big and heavy to take though, so just give me a moment to note some of this down so I can refer to it later.”
“No hurry,” Rarity assured her calmly. “We seem safe to take however long we need, so…” she then jumped when an unexpected commotion echoed into the chamber from the depository’s entrance, followed by hurried footsteps moving in their direction. “Actually no, I take that back,” she hissed as she quickly shoved Fluttershy’s head into the crate and thumped its lid back in place. “Twilight, hide quickly, someone’s coming in here and—Dragon Regent Ember, what a surprise!”
Twilight had swiftly landed back on the floor, scrambling to stuff her notes back into her satchel when four dragons entered the chamber and she swiftly ducked behind a supporting column to hide. The dragoness leading the way was tall, lithe, cyan-colored, and all business as she sternly marched inside like she owned the place. And considering she carried with her a formal-looking scepter that Twilight recognized from her studies as a symbol of dragon political power, she was likely the very Dragon Regent spoken of by Rarity. This in of itself was potentially bad, but Twilight was more concerned by the three dragons accompanying her, which she recognized all as the same “dragons” who’d attacked and sank Fluttershy’s boat.
“Pharynx,” Twilight murmured to herself, knowing that her being in disguise wouldn’t save her from being detected if other changelings were here too.
However, the Dragon Regent, Ember, didn’t seem aware of the true nature of these dragons accompanying her. “Rarity, isn’t it?” she more demanded than asked from dragoness, the only creature in her immediate view upon entering. “The guard out front said you’d be in here, delivering an artifact.”
“That’s right, Dragon Regent,” Rarity quickly kowtowed to her leader, attempting to appease her enough so to still slip out of here without incident. “In fact, I was just finishing with that, so…”
“Then why,” Ember continued sternly, interrupting, “did he also say you were ordered by me to deliver it here, when I have no recollection of ever giving such an order?”
Rarity, caught in a lie and knowing it, didn’t reply right away. Meanwhile, the other three dragons started to survey the chamber, no doubt looking for signs of wrongdoing. “R-really?” she asked of Ember, trying to feign innocence, but the beads of sweat forming on her brow probably weren’t helping her be convincing. “I don’t know what to tell you then, Dragon Regent. Maybe this is simply a failure of communication on some dragon’s part or…”
“Also,” Ember again interrupted, folding her arms as she stared Rarity down, “the guard said you’d entered here in the company of another dragon.” She motioned to the chamber, appearing devoid of other creatures but clearly she didn’t believe it actually was. “So…where’s that other dragon?”
“Other dragon?” Rarity repeated shakily, eyes reflexively bouncing from the crate with the cowering Fluttershy inside, holding her breath in fear of being detected, to the column she saw Twilight duck behind out of the corner of her eye. “There…must be some sort of mistake then, because it was only me and me alone who entered the depository, so…”
Ember motioned for her to be silent. “Rarity, these three dragons are from the Dragon Lands and they’ve alerted me of a changeling intruder hiding somewhere in the Dragon Coasts,” she explained. Twilight, listening, didn’t know whether to scoff or show pity for the partial lie Pharynx and his crew had deceived the Dragon Regent with. “You know that means anyone or anything could potentially be a changeling in hiding until we either find it or ensure it’s been chased away.” She pulled out a ceremonial stone dagger, intricately engraved with runes up and down its blade. “That also means, since you can’t verify otherwise, I have to make sure you aren’t that changeling.” She loomed closer, holding up the dagger. “I advise you to cooperate.”
Rarity heaved a big sigh, but seeing the other three dragons had all subtly taken positions so to block attempts at escape, she relented and nodded her head, holding out one paw. To her credit, she only made a small flinch when Ember sliced the dagger across her palm, drawing blood. Twilight, familiar with what was going on from her reading, winced but otherwise knew Rarity wasn’t in too immediate danger. The dagger was just being used to test if she was using a magical disguise—not only did it take a split second for any changeling’s disguise to adapt accordingly to a freshly opened wound, creating brief anomalies that would give it away, Twilight also knew the dagger would be enchanted in such a way so to further mess with the disguise’s magic, making those anomalies more pronounced.
As Rarity demonstrated none of that though, Ember was satisfied and lowered the dagger. “So if you truly are a dragon,” she continued, looking Rarity in the eye, “then why are you actually here?”
“And just who have you brought here with you?” said one of the three “dragons.” Twilight immediately recognized his voice as Pharynx. “Are you aware they’re potentially a changeling? Because if you have knowingly smuggled such a changeling in here…”
“I know nothing of any changeling,” Rarity boldly declared with as much confidence she could muster.
But Twilight knew Rarity’s word wouldn’t be enough, not with three other changelings in the room. They’d probably already detected Fluttershy through her emotions—Twilight herself could sense the hippogriff’s terror from here—and maybe even Twilight too through similar means, they just hadn’t chosen to reveal it yet. Knowing she and her allies needed a way to escape then, Twilight racked her brain for any ideas while Rarity was buying her time. Unfortunately, she couldn’t think of any plan that wouldn’t also force her to reveal herself, potentially making things worse.
Meanwhile, Ember’s attention had moved past Rarity. “What’s in the crate?” she asked after a beat of silence, nodding her head at it.
“Nothing,” Rarity replied without missing a beat.
“Then why is it here?”
“I had used it to carry the artifact, but now that I’ve delivered it, it’s empty.”
“Then you won’t mind if I open it and double-check,” Pharynx stated and, without waiting for any response, approached the crate to do just that. He already knew what was in it, of course—this was just an opportunity to reveal it without also giving himself away as a changeling.
Which was when Twilight came up with what she knew would be the best idea she’d get. Dropping her own disguise so to allow full use of her horn, she hurried out from behind the column and faced Pharynx just as he was bending down to open the crate. “I’m sorry, Pharynx,” she paused long enough to tell him before firing a spell right into his chest, knocking him back and forcing him to revert into his natural changeling form.
“WHAT?!” Ember bellowed upon realizing she’d been deceived, lunging herself at Pharynx before he could recover.
Twilight meanwhile exploited the confusion to fire the same spell at another of Pharynx’s changelings, revealing him too. At the same time, Rarity jumped the third and final one, kneeing him between the legs before hurling him into another column with enough force to knock him out, also causing his disguise to collapse. By that point, chaos fully broke loose as dragon and changeling started hurling attacks of both fire and magic at each other, giving Rarity and Twilight enough cover to reclaim the terrified Fluttershy from the crate.
One of the changelings tried to tackle Rarity from the behind while they did this, but he was only ripped from Rarity’s back and hurled in Ember and Pharynx’s direction before, with one fluid movement, she flipped the now empty crate in the same direction and lit it aflame with her firebreath. As they then retreated, Twilight further added to the confusion by firing a spell that made a blinding and loud bang, further clouding the senses of those still in the chamber. They quickly ran to exit the temple without waiting to see how the rest played out. The guard at the entrance scrambled to try and stop them, but Rarity knocked him aside with one punch to the face.
“You two stay close to me,” Rarity commanded as she unfolded her wings and launched herself into the air.
“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,” Fluttershy was repeating to herself as she struggled to keep pace on Rarity’s left while Twilight, still undisguised, followed on the dragoness’s right.
They had barely gotten a hundred feet away from the depository before a scratched and bruised Pharynx burst out of the building and gave furious pursuit, firing blasts of magic at them and trying to shoot them down. In his anger and desperation, his aim was wild and imprecise, but it still made all three of his targets work to evade them as best they could.
“Rarity, I’m going to climb onto your back!” Twilight declared before planting herself backwards on the dragoness, using her as a base to steady herself and return fire. Her aim was slightly better and thus kept Pharynx from closing the gap between them.
However, they also weren’t shaking him. “I’m not going to be able to shake him off our tails long enough to get you two to the border!” Rarity declared after a moment of this. “And what’s the point if he can just keep chasing you into the Griffon Order?”
“So what do we do?” Fluttershy cried, her eyes squinted almost entirely shut as she pumped her wings as hard as she could. She yelped when one of Pharynx’s shots narrowly missed her.
“Twilight, you have magic, can you teleport us to safety or something?” Rarity asked, glancing at the changeling sitting on her back.
“Changelings don’t teleport, we use fire portals!” Twilight explained as she focused on countering Pharynx’s attacks. Despite everything, she was at least successfully keeping him out of arm’s reach.
Rarity snorted hotly. “Then use one of those!”
“It won’t do any good—I only have enough power for short-range portals, too short to escape Pharynx for very long!” Twilight ducked as one of Pharynx’s shots narrowly missed her too. “To go any useful distance would mean having way more thaumic energy in my reserves than I’d have even on a good day, and this obviously isn’t a good day!”
However, Rarity’s face suddenly lit up. “I think I have an idea!” she said, then, realizing how much of a gamble it was, amended, “I pray I have one at least! Hold tight and stay close!” She grabbed Fluttershy’s paw and proceeded to bank into a turn. “Hard right!”
She swooped around then down towards a gap in the jungle canopy below them. As they shot closer to it, it became clear the gap was caused by a patch of boggy swampland. Rarity raced towards it like she planned to ram into it for long enough that both Twilight and Fluttershy shouted for her to stop, but at the last possible moment she pulled up to skim low over the muddy ground. Pharynx, staying right behind them, also pulled up at the last possible moment, but it was soon clear Rarity was expecting him to, as she then lured him between a series of vines she shot through with practiced skill but he could not and immediately got ensnared within them.
“That won’t hold him for very long!” Twilight warned as Rarity then pulled out of the swamp and sped to the northwest.
“Yes, but hopefully it’ll hold him for just long enough!” Rarity said back, clearly having some kind of destination in mind.
They kept flying for a few tense minutes, eventually reaching a spot in the land where the jungles thinned but didn’t vanish entirely. During that time, they heard a distant explosion that Twilight was certain Pharynx violently freeing himself, but he nonetheless didn’t immediately reappear. Knowing time was short either way, Rarity was anxiously scanning the ground as they flew, clearly looking for something specific.
“Please be here, please be here, please be here,” she kept mumbling to herself as she did this. She made a relieved gasp upon spying the dark speck of a creature pulling a cart before shooting down towards it at high speed, pulling the others along with her. “He’s here! Oh, Spiiiiiiike!”
The creature pulling the cart swiftly proved to be a preadolescent diamond dog with a greyish mulberry coat of fur and floppy ears, wearing a diamond-studded collar and a dusty green vest and matching flat cap. Appearing to have been lost in thought as he hiked, he startled upon hearing his name and looked around for the source before finally looking up once Rarity’s shadow passed over him as she came in to land.
His face brightened upon seeing the dragoness, clearly recognizing her. “Well, hey, Rarity, long time no see! Didn’t think you’d be this eager to come see my trades again, but I’m sure not gonna complain. And you’ve brought friends too, but more the merrier for—” he stopped short upon realizing one by one who the creatures accompanying Rarity were, eyes widening in shock. “Wait, is that a hippogriff? What’s a hipp—is that a changeling too?!”
Rarity cut short any further comment by grabbing his face by the cheeks and forcing him to look her right in the eye. “Spike, darling, this is very important! Do you still have that artifact I gave you a couple moons ago?”
“Huh? Oh, oh yeah, I do!” Spike assured, his grin returning and pleased he could be of assistance for…whatever this was exactly. “I can’t get rid of it, in fact. Nobody ever seems to trust it enough to want it, even though I keep telling them that it’s pretty much—”
“Where is it?”
“Oh, well, in my cart with all the rest of my stuff, though it’s probably kinda at the bottom because—whoa!” He stumbled to one side as Rarity, in her desperation, pushed past him and lunged upon his cart, digging through its contents for the item in question. “Uh, okay, go for it, I guess, just don’t break any—”
“I’m sorry, who is this?” Twilight interrupted at this point, feeling just as confused while pointing a holed hoof at the diamond dog.
“Remember that creature I said I had helped?” Rarity asked, her front half most of the way buried into the cart. “This is him!”
“Hello!” Spike greeted, taking the chance to shake Twilight’s extended hoof despite not really understanding what was going on either. “My name’s Spike! It’s nice to meet you. I’ve never met a changeling before, so—”
“Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you too—what’s he got to do with anything?” Twilight replied, trying to keep them on subject while anxiously peering back in the sky for any sign of Pharynx or other pursuers. Thus far still nothing, but she knew they were pressing their luck the longer they stayed here.
“I gave him a magic artifact I had found not long after we met and that you should recognize,” Rarity explained in a rush while continuing to dig through Spike’s cart, now so deeply into it that only her bottom half was visible. “At the time I didn’t have a use for it and nobody else wanted it, but now I think it’ll help get us out of here!”
“Get out of here?” Spike repeated, brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of the situation he’d been involuntarily thrown in the middle of. “Are you three on the run from some—” he trailed off when Fluttershy suddenly pulled him into a hug from behind, wrapping her forelegs around his middle. “Uhhh…”
“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy apologized as she squeezed him. “But I’m very stressed at the moment and I could really use something soft to hug.”
“…well, I am huggable,” Spike relented, grinning as he was again just glad to be of service.
At that point Twilight spied a small black dot shooting across the sky towards their location. “He’s coming back!” she alerted the others. “Whatever we’re going to do, we need to do it now!”
“WAH-HA-HA-HAAAA—I FOUND IT!” Rarity declared suddenly as she victoriously thrusted the glowing object out of the cart and into the air. She then spun around to face her changeling companion. “Twilight, will this help you with the fire portal thing?”
She tossed it to her to hold. Twilight’s compound purple eyes bulged at the sight of it. “Is this a changeling mana container?!Balani, how did you even get—?”
“But will it help?” Fluttershy pressed, tightening her grip on Spike enough that the diamond dog wiggled free for his own well-being.
“Informis Una auxilio mihi tribuit, yes, absolutely!” Twilight declared with wide eyes as she used her magic to check on the container’s contents. “There’s enough to power a portal jumping all of us from here directly into the Griffon Order!”
“Even better!” Rarity declared.
“But that’s a lot of thaumic energy to cast all at once!” Twilight pointed out with a wince, continuing to examine the container. “I’m not sure I can do it without overstraining myself, and—”
“Hey, is that another changeling?” Spike suddenly asked, peering up in the sky as Pharynx drew close enough to be able to identify. “Why is there another change—?” He jumped to one side when a blast of magical energy hit the ground near his feet. “They’re shooting at us! Why are they shooting at us?”
“Twilight, whatever you have to do, just do it now!” Rarity commanded as she turned and spewed a ball of fire at Pharynx closing in. Pharynx proceeded to dodge it almost lazily, but the ball detonated at the peak of its arc, releasing a shockwave that nonetheless sent him spiraling out of control.
Throwing caution to the wind then, Twilight magically transfered the container’s energy into herself before turning around and using all of it at once to cast the single most powerful fire portal she’d ever done, the portal forming as an oval of swirling green fire a few feet ahead of them. But no sooner had she done that did nearly all of Twilight’s strength leave her and, feeling dizzy, she started to collapse to the ground, eyes rolling up into her head.
Fluttershy caught her before she hit the ground and began dragging the limp changeling towards the portal. “Please, let’s go now!” she called to the others, seeing Pharynx’s flight recover and turn around to resume his charge.
Rarity grabbed Spike by the collar of his vest and charged for the portal too. “Wait, my cart—!” the diamond dog started to protest, waving his oversized paws at the cart they were leaving behind.
“I’ll get you a new one!” Rarity promised before shoving Fluttershy and Twilight the rest of the way into the portal then throwing Spike through and swan-diving into it herself.
She did so just in time for the portal to collapse upon itself and vanish, just moments before Pharynx could fly into it himself, forcing him to instead veer upwards back into the sky in anger.
Hundreds of miles away though, the portal’s other side spat its travelers out into an open but grassy clearing where they all thumped together into a heap. After the portal collapsed, they all laid there panting and attempting to recollect their wits again. Finally, Spike was the first to stand up, straightening his hat.
“Okay, does somebody want to explain what’s going on now?” he all but begged, feeling extremely confused now.
You know, it was actually kind of fun finding the right balance between Rarity's usual self and the typical attitude of dragons. 
Stats
Page generated in 0.019 seconds
Total duration
1,103 users online
1,989,796 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
This was a fun region. And now we know the sixth non-pony species you're using!
If I may, what you said about editing at the beginning of the story? Yeah, you definitely need to comb through this again now that the story's been submitted.
Another surprise so Rarity would be a dragon I mean it would make sense since dragons to have diamonds and rubies in their territory she might have used them for good use aside from eating them
Ohh so spike is a diamond dog instead of a dragon interesting choice and also ironic since in the human world he's a dog
Somehow I can relate to that
Wow this is really intense again so Twilight and Fluttershy made it to the coast but unfortunately it's in the dragon territory and they need to figure out how to get through without any detection but luckily there was one dragon who is actually pretty friendly name Rarity she kind of questions about it but nevertheless she was pretty friendly to them knowing to the fact one is a changeling and the other one is a hippogriff so Twilight explain about this whole situation about Nightmare Moon returning and trying to find any information how to stop her so Rarity decide to take them where they keep all the artifacts are and it looks like they found a couple of information even though not enough but they said something about the elements of harmony but before they could have leave it looks like they have company it was ember and the Three Dragons with her which unfortunately to Twilight it was pharynx the other two in disguise Rarity tried her best to convince ember nothing is happening but of course the dragons told her about a changeling spy and he was about to check out the crate where it Fluttershy is hiding Twilight had to use every Magic to get him to drop his disguise and the other two to create a chaos that everybody is too distracted making the Sweet Escape but an only works a couple of minutes before he gave Chase to them and they can't outrun him forever but luckily Rarity has an idea and lucky for them again Spike the Diamond dog was there on time just to show them the trades but he was pretty confused what was going on and he has the crystal that the changelings Apparently used to charge up their powerful Magic and they had to use it because pharynx it's getting closer so without any choices Twilight power up the crystal it took a lot of her but it worked so they all jump in there they managed to escape from him for now but it looks like Spike needs some information what the heck just happened
I feel like this chapter was in some ways a step forward, and in others a step back from the previous. The plot advances, and group dynamics really form, but at the same time, the action feels like...filler, being that we know Twilight won't be captured so early and already that Pharynx and such are after her, and it really draws out the chapter to being one of the longest.
Also, things feel rather off with Rarity's behavior. She's not as intense as she should be (drama queen Rarity being angry and upset or just generally intense can propel whole episodes in FiM), and it makes her a bit boring. I think the issue is that instead of being all about emotion, the story makes her super logical in thought, and accepting of whatever there is to put things together; it's like Rarity got fused with a Vulcan.
This off version of Rarity prevents there being any conflict with her, which really makes the early part of the chapter feel a little flat.
I am at peace
Hmm... if Nightmare Moon is just a story to everyone, I wonder what their theories on the Mare in the Moon are? (Among dragons, there would likely many who recalled it being bare.)
I figured Spike would be the token pony, but I guess Diamond Dog works too.