Side Quest: The Word Wall
The Word Wall
A Tale of the Dragonborn
“So, remind me why we’re out here, again?” Sly asked.
It wasn’t that she disliked the Canterlot Boulevard. It was, as far as boulevards went, rather nice. The granite flagstones were smooth beneath her hooves, and the path they formed ran arrow-straight from the very heart of the city to the massive gates at its approach several miles away. Trees and fountains broke up the avenue’s monotony, and already hundreds of merchants had set their wares on wooden booths painted in garish, eye-snagging colors. Technically, such street vendors were in violation of various city ordinances on unlicensed businesses, and they were all probably skipping out on the crown’s taxes as well, but the few guards wandering the early morning mist showed no sign of interrupting their commerce. The coins Sly saw the merchants occasionally slip the guards when they thought nopony was watching probably helped.
No, the Canterlot Boulevard had nothing to do with Sly’s surly mood. There were always bits to be made here, one way or another, and she probably would have found her way to this very spot at some point even if Twilight Sparkle hadn’t dragged her along on some ill-defined errand.
But not for several hours. Like, later afternoon, when the sun was setting and she had more than three hours of sleep.
“I told you, we’re meeting somepony,” Twilight said. She looked impossibly chipper for such an early hour. Her mane was perfectly combed, leaving her bangs razor-straight across her brow. She had foregone her usual librarian’s robes in deference to the muggy heat that infiltrated the city during the summer months. Naked, she was even easier for Sly to read than usual.
Her ears were up and twitching, swivelling to face every faint sound that echoed down the boulevard. Her tail bounced with each step as she trotted back and forth on a little path, and at each turn she stood on the tips of her hooves, her neck arched to peer over the thin crowd toward the distant gates.
But most oddly of all, she was smiling. Twilight, who like Sly never rose before the crack of noon if she could possibly avoid it, was smiling.
Interesting.
“Somepony, huh? Anypony I know?” Sly took a deliberate seat in the middle of Twilight’s path, which had the happy effect of stopping her damn pacing and annoying her, too. It took all of Sly’s self-control not to smile when Twilight pulled up short and huffed at her.
“No,” she said. She raised a leg as though to step around Sly and keep pacing, but then gave herself a little shake and took a seat. “Sorry. I guess I’m a little nervous.”
“I couldn’t tell,” Sly said. “So, who are we waiting for, exactly?”
Twilight’s smile returned, but smaller this time. A hidden little thing, just between them. She lowered her voice and leaned in, resting her shoulder against Sly’s. “It’s a secret.”
Perhaps this morning wasn’t a total waste, then. Sly stifled a yawn and gave the boulevard another look for whoever Twilight might be waiting for. So far, none of the merchants or guards had paid them the slightest interest.
“I don’t suppose it could’ve waited a few hours?”
Twilight poked her in the flank with the sharp edge of her hoof. “No, and stop whining. I had to get up just as early as you.”
That was true, but it was Twilight’s secret they were out here for. The more she thought about it, the less fair this seemed, and Sly was about to say so when Twilight suddenly jumped up and stood on her hind legs to peer down the boulevard. Faintly, Sly heard the clop of hundreds of hooves on the granite stones, and what sounded like a dozen wagons creaking their way toward them.
“That’s them!” Twilight bounced on the tips of her hooves. She started down the boulevard toward the racket and called over her shoulder at Sly. “Come on!”
Huh. Sly slowly rose to her hooves, stretched, and followed her odd friend.
* * *
Sly finally caught up with Twilight outside the one building she’d rather have avoided that morning. Or any morning. Twilight knew this, yet there she stood, grinning like a fool as Sly closed the distance and sat with her head low to avoid attention.
“Twilight, this is the guard headquarters,” she whispered.
“Yup!” Twilight said, far too loudly for Sly’s comfort. “I’m sure you’re familiar with it.”
True enough. Sly had been here many times in various capacities, none of which she cared to repeat. Judging by the looks she was receiving from guards as they trotted through the building’s wide entrance, they remembered her too.
“It’s too early for sarcasm, Twilight. Why are we here?”
“I told you, it’s a surprise.”
Technically, ambushes were a type of surprise. Sly gave the nearby alleys a quick check for hidden shapes. “If this is about your birthday, I’d like to apologize again.”
A flash of annoyance passed across Twilight’s face. “It’s not…” She closed her eyes and let out a slow breath. “We’ll talk about that later. We’re here to—Oh, there they are!”
A dozen or so yards away, a large column of ponies decked out in armor came to a halt. Their equipment wasn’t the shiny brass that festooned the city guard; this was dull, worn and functional armor, iron plates riveted with bronze, leather scales braided together like dragon skin, scarred from use, designed for a single purpose: to keep the pony inside it alive. Weapons of war – bows, spears and even axes were slung across their backs or held in their hooves. They looked tired, and mud splattered their legs and bellies, but they all seemed happy as well, or at least relieved. A company back from deployment in the countryside, Sly guessed.
“Friends of yours?” she asked, her voice still low.
“Just one,” Twilight said. She sounded distracted, and Sly saw her eyes darting around the column. “It’ll be a few minutes before they’re dismissed.”
Indeed, none of the soldiers seemed to be going anywhere. Those carrying rucksacks set them down, and a few hefty earth ponies broke out of the formation to begin unloading the wagons, but the rest assembled into a loose formation. At their head an older pegasus, crisscrossed with scars and lean as a sapling, stood apart from the rest of the company, deep in conversation with the largest unicorn Sly had ever seen. The unicorn was an officer of some sort, Sly guessed, based on the fluted filigree on his armor.
And not a bad looking officer at that. Sly let her eyes roam across his sturdy form. If it weren’t for the long horn and pure white coat, she’d have confused him for an earth pony. Her annoyance with Twilight for dragging them out of bed so early began to wane. She turned to Twilight to say so, and noticed her gaze also seemed fixed on the white unicorn.
Oh ho. Sly grinned. “Impressive, huh? Don’t see unicorn stallions like that very often.”
Twilight blinked rapidly. “What? Sly, that’s—”
“I know, I know, inappropriate.” Sly leaned against Twilight and draped a foreleg around around her shoulders. “Come on, I saw you eyeballing him.”
“I was,” Twilight said. Her voice had gone flat for some reason.
“There’s no harm in that,” Sly teased. “I mean, he’s pretty big.”
“Mhm.”
“So, do you think it’s true? About unicorns with long horns?”
“I’m sure I wouldn’t know.” Twilight carefully extracted herself from Sly’s grip. “Now, if you’re done—”
Sly wasn’t. “He’s an officer. They’re usually from wealthy families. I’ll bet he’s pretty lonely, too, after all those months…” Sly trailed off. The potentially wealthy stallion in question had finished talking to the pegasus and started marching toward them. When he was a few paces away, Twilight darted forward and jumped up to throw her legs around his neck in a tight hug.
Huh.
“Shiney!” Twilight gave his neck another squeeze. “Oh, it’s good to see you again.”
“Hey, Twiley.” The stallion dipped his head to nuzzle Twilight’s cheek and returned the hug with a single leg that wrapped completely around the smaller mare. “Missed you. Heard you’ve been busy, too.” For a moment, his eyes flicked up to encompass Sly. They were open, honest, and maybe just a little suspicious.
That was fine. Sly was used to suspicious ponies. She put on her most disarming smile.
“It’s been a crazy year.” Twilight sniffed and rubbed her eyes with her fetlock. She noticed the shift in his attention and disentangled herself from the hug. “Anyway, Shiney, this is my friend Sly. Sly, this is my brother, Shining Armor.”
Ah, brother. Not for the first time, Sly wished for a way to rewind time so she could punch her past self in the face. Still, her smile didn’t move so much as a millimeter as she stepped forward to touch his hoof in greeting. “Officer, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Please, just Shining.” He tilted his head slightly. “You know, you sounded taller in Twilight’s letters.”
Those damn letters again. Sly gave Twilight a look. “Well, she’s not a very good writer.”
That earned her a brief scowl, quickly subsumed by the practiced indifference Twilight usually wore. “Anyway, can we get your bags? Your room in the castle is already set up.”
“I’ve carried them for ten miles already today, I think I can handle another two.” His horn glowed a light pink – a disconcertingly effeminate color for such a large stallion – and a pair of rucksacks levitated over to rest on his back. He didn’t seem to notice their weight, and together the three of them began the short trot back to the palace with the siblings in the lead, and Sly a few paces behind.
* * *
“You never mentioned you had a brother.”
Twilight stopped, her head tilted up and to the side like she always did when trying to recall some obscure fact. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. Or that he was a captain of the guard.”
“Oh.” She resumed her trot down the dim hallway. “I guess it never came up.”
Shining Armor’s quarters weren’t technically in the castle; they were in the guard barracks on the castle grounds. Still, they were spacious, larger than Sly’s, and equipped with the nice furnishings one would expect in a senior officer’s home. As soon as they had arrived, Shining dumped his bags on the bed, gave Twilight another hug, and excused himself to wash up. Before they departed, he asked them to meet him in the palace library in an hour’s time.
So, to the library, after a quick detour to grab Twilight’s librarian robes from her quarters. Something about proper decorum. Sly, as usual, went unclothed. Since it wasn’t yet noon and the library technically wasn’t open, she doubted anyone would object.
“It’s just, sometimes I have misunderstandings with the guard,” Sly said. They stopped at the library’s imposing blue doors while Twilight fished a key out of her robes. “You know how they are.”
“Mhm, always so concerned with the law.” Twilight unlocked the doors and propped them open. “I’m sure you two will get along fine, though.”
“As long as he understands things. You know, with us.”
“Perhaps you could explain ‘things’ to him.” Twilight led them over to an empty table, her magic grabbing a set of cushions from a shelf near the door for them to sit on. She glanced at the towering windows arrayed along the eastern wall, and with another burst of magic pulled aside dozens of drapes, flooding the cavernous room with dust-speckled shafts of morning light. Thousands of shelves stretched away from them in neat rows, into the still-dark recesses of the library, with barely enough space between them for a pony to turn.
Explaining the particulars of their relationship to Twilight’s brother seemed like a bad idea, actually. Shining Armor struck her as the protective type. She was working out a diplomatic way to say that when another set of hoofbeats sounded from the hallway, and they turned to see Shining Armor trot in. He had also foregone robes, Sly was surprised to see. Unicorn nobles rarely ventured outside their homes without some sort of dress.
“Ladies, thank you for coming.” He gave Twilight a warm smile and Sly a respectful nod. Taking a spot at the table beside them, he levitated a paper scroll out of his leather saddlebags and unrolled it, revealing a map of the mountains around Canterlot. “One of our patrols found something a few weeks ago that I thought you might be interested in.”
“What’s that?” Twilight propped her hooves up on the table and peered down at the scroll.
“It’s a map,” Sly said. “It’s like a drawing of the ground.”
That earned her another look. “Yes, thank you, Sly. What did your patrol find, Shiney?”
He glanced between them for a moment, and then gave his head a little shake. “A dragon, we think. Just a few leagues from the city limits. The patrol saw it roosting on a mountainside near an old shrine.” He tapped the map with his hoof at the top of a valley nestled between two low mountain ridges.
“Did it attack them?” Twilight asked.
Shining shook his head. “It barely moved. For a while they thought it was a statue.”
That was odd. Of course, the whole thing was odd; dragons haunted the edges of the civilized world, not valleys just a few miles from its heart. And dragons were winter lovers. Seeing one just a few weeks from the start of summer was almost unheard of. Sly gave the map a little frown.
“Hm.” Twilight rotated the map on the table, eventually returning it back to its original position. “You said it was near a shrine?”
“That’s what it looked like. Near ruins, at least. They didn’t want to get too close, obviously.”
“Understandable.” Twilight peered at the valley again, then pushed back from the table and trotted toward one of the library’s innumerable shelves. “Hang on, let me grab something.”
And then there were two. Sly glanced up from the map to see Shining looking at her. The silence stretched out to the point of discomfort, until finally she had to speak. “So, Twilight mentioned me in her letters?”
“Yes, she said you kept her safe while searching a crypt in the Everfree. It sounded dangerous.”
Sly’s tattered ear flicked as she remembered the final confrontation with Curalmil. “You could say that,” she said after a short pause.
Shining didn’t miss the gesture, and his eyes lingered for a moment on Sly’s cheek. Most ponies wouldn’t have noticed the thin scar beneath her coat, another keepsake of Curalmil’s blade, but Shining seemed pretty observant. They lapsed back into silence until Twilight returned, bearing what else but a book in her grasp. She set it on the table and flipped it open to a bookmarked page.
“Sorrow’s Ridge,” she said. “It’s an old dragon priest shrine. Which probably explains the dragon.”
“Hm.” Shining spent a few minutes reading the book, then sat back and fixed Sly with another stare. “So, is it true? This ‘Dragonborn’ thing?”
Apparently Twilight was chatty in her letters. They’d have to talk about that later. “I try not to brag, but yes.”
Shining turned to Twilight, who had the grace to at least look uncomfortable. “I think there’s a good chance, yes. She’s closer than anypony we’ve found so far, at the very least.”
He let out a slow breath between his teeth. “Well, that’s more than I expected. Sly, would you like to go dragon hunting?”
And there it was. The faint tug on her soul, so soft she’d almost forgotten it existed during the long, easy months in Canterlot. But now the memories returned, and the images Shining painted in her mind of a dragon huddled against the side of a mountain, waiting for her, filled her veins with a fire the likes of which she hadn’t felt since they left that terrible crypt. She realized, after a few moments of silence, that her hoof had risen of its own accord to cradle the black jewel hanging from a chain around her neck, resting above her heart. It felt warm against her coat.
“Yes,” she said. “I would like to go dragon hunting.”
He nodded. “Excellent. We can leave in the morning – it’s close enough that we should make it back to the city by nightfall if we—”
“I’m coming too,” Twilight said. She snapped the book closed and levitated it onto her back.
Shining frowned. “Twiley, I know you have some experience now, but this sort of thing is dangerous. Dragons aren’t—”
“I’ve fought dragons before, Shiney.” Twilight’s voice held an edge. “And worse. Besides, our chances are better with three ponies.”
He glared at Twilight. She glared back. Sly measured the distance to the door, in case she had to run. Finally, just when Sly was about make a break for it, Shining leaned back and smiled.
“Alright, you can come,” he said. “But if things go pear-shaped I want you out of there, no questions.”
Twilight looked like she wanted to continue the argument, but eventually her hackles settled back down, and she smiled as well. “Fine. If it’s too dangerous, I’ll sit out.”
Celestia had once mentioned to Sly that Twilight was a terrible liar. Shining Armor, who had grown up with her, probably knew that as well. It certainly explained his eye roll, but he didn’t seem inclined to press the issue. Instead, they sat back down and made plans for the morrow’s adventure
* * *
The line between civilization and wilderness was thin and sharp. Less than a mile outside the Canterlot city gates, the last cottages and inns fell away, leaving only meadows and forest around them. Bright sunlight, so welcome now that the long dragon winter had finally surrendered to spring, streamed through the high leaves to cast dappled shadows on the road beneath their hooves.
It was nice, Sly decided. The snowpacks on the mountains kissed them with a cool breeze that was utterly absent in the sweltering city haze. The rich odor of a million ponies was gone, replaced by wildflowers and pines. Ahead of her on the road, Shining and Twilight bantered with each other, occasionally flicking their tails to chase off flies. The biters that didn’t take the hint vanished in tiny sparks the same violet color as Twilight’s magic.
They seemed like they were having fun. Sly took that as an opportunity to slip off the main road and slink through the bushes instead. With the racket those two were making as background, she slid through the forest unheard and unseen, more shadow than pony. A wolf a dozen feet away didn’t even twitch its ears as she passed.
The road slowly dwindled as they left Canterlot’s environs, going from a wide flagstone-paved avenue to a thinner cobblestone path. A little rougher on the hooves, but untroubled by mud or dust. Twilight and Shining’s voices fell behind as Sly cut a straight path over ridges and across draws, until, for the first time in months, she found herself completely alone.
Her whole life had been like this, once. She paused in a hollow between two towering sycamores and listened to the birdsong and the rustle of young leaves, free, unfettered, the world at her hooves. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and let the stillness seep into her bones.
What would it cost, she wondered, to just keep wandering down the road, past Sorrow’s Ridge and the dragon waiting for her there. To not worry about the Guard or Celestia or pissing off Twilight one too many times. To keep going and be free once more.
Silence again. A dragonfly floated up from the nearby stream and alighted on the tip of her horn, frozen, poised on six needles, waiting. She stared up at it, crosseyed, until the faint sound of Twilight and Shining Armor drifted to her from the road.
She shook her head to dislodge the dragonfly and stood to stretch. A few more steps put her on the road a couple of paces ahead of the siblings. They both jumped at her sudden appearance.
Twilight, who was used to Sly’s disappearing acts, recovered first. “See anything?”
“Just trees and mountains.” Sly adjusted her armor, brushing away a few of last season’s leaves that clung to her coat. “We must be getting close to the valley, though.”
Shining Armor’s eyes were still wide as he stared at her, as though seeing her for the first time. A little spooked, maybe. After only a second or so his guard training took over, and he spoke with the same calm voice as always. “We are. We should hit a river in another mile or so. That’s our cue to turn.”
Sly stayed beside them for the rest of their time on the road. In addition to the quiet joy of their company, it was nice to hear Shining’s stories about Twilight as a foal, despite – or, perhaps, because of – Twilight’s protests and the bright-red flush on her cheeks whenever her brother started a new tale. Shining was about to start on Twilight’s first schoolyard crush when they finally reached an arched stone bridge over a noisy brook.
“Thank Celestia, we’re here,” Twilight said. She bounded off the road and slid down the gentle embankment to the stream’s bed. The melting snows hadn’t yet swollen it to its full width, and there was as much dry gravel for them to walk along as water. Trees crowded up against the banks, some as thin as her horn, others so huge the three of them together could not have linked hooves around their trunks, and all leaning over them like pillars ready to fall. The ponies settled into a line – Sly in front, Twilight in the middle, and Shining bringing up the rear – as they marched upstream.
“Ah, come on, Twilight. What’s more fun than sharing with friends?” Sly was careful to keep her grin pointed forward, where Twilight couldn’t see it. “I feel like we’ve grown closer on this trip.”
A grumble was Twilight’s only reply. Further back, Shining chuckled but didn’t needle his sister any further.
The next few hours passed in relative quiet, with only a few words passing between them to warn of sharp rocks or hidden pools waiting to snap unwary ankles. The sun finally broke over the mountain ridge to the east, chasing away the last of the morning’s shadows and filling the valley with warmth. The trees on either side of the stream grew thinner and further apart as they proceeded higher into the mountains. Looking back, Sly could see the road as a thin ribbon in the distance below them, easily lost between the swaying branches.
This, now, was finally wilderness. Sly unlimbered her bow and loosened the straps holding her arrows in their quiver. Months had passed since she last fired it in anger, but some skills never died. Holding the ancient bow in her magic was like stretching a muscle long unused, but ready – eager, even – to clench and flex and burst. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the crisp mountain air, and held herself perfectly still. Poised. Her life, she imagined, was balanced on the edge of a razor, ready to fall away from the soft easy living of Canterlot and back into the violent dance of magic and bow and sword.
She let the breath out slowly. Shining Armor stopped by her side and gave the ebony bow a long, measuring stare, followed by a raised eyebrow for her.
“Nice bow,” he said. He leaned forward to peer at the at the lettering on the black wood, just beneath the grip. “Aefenrepsung?”
“Nightfall,” Sly said. She gave the string a gentle pluck, and the air filled with a deep, musical hum. Despite firing thousands of arrows, not to mention lying in a crypt for centuries before she found it, the dragon sinew string showed no signs of weakness or fraying. Long after they were dust, Sly knew, the bow and string would still be perfect, held forever in tension, waiting, wanting to kill. She squeezed the bow tighter for a moment, then started back up the stream bed.
“We must be getting close,” Twilight said. Her voice was quiet, on the border of a whisper. “I smell something burning.”
Sly smelled it too. An acrid, ashen scent that flowed down the valley. It overwhelmed the pines and mosses, filling their noses with the promise of death.
“Dragon,” Shining said. His horn glowed, and the two spears slung to his saddle detached themselves to hover just above the ground at his side. “Less than a mile, I’d guess. Keep your eyes open.”
Unnecessary advice, but Sly appreciated it nevertheless. They crept in silence for another hundred yards up the streambed, until it finally grew too narrow to fit them. Sly hopped up on the bank and threaded her way through the low trees and bushes until finally there were only moss-covered rocks between her and the highest point in the valley, where two mountains came together and rose another thousand feet into the sky.
There, halfway up the slopes, a pony-made artifact stood out from the rugged stone. Some ancient race had carved a wide shelf and several pillars out of the rocks. They were still too low to see whatever might be on the shelf, but the dragon was impossible to miss. It perched atop one of the pillars like a hawk, wings mantled, waiting for prey to wander into its gaze.
But not today. She smiled a vicious smile and slinked back down to Twilight and Shining, who huddled in the trees around the stream. They both jumped a few inches when she suddenly appeared beside them.
“It’s up on the slope,” she said, ignoring the dirty looks they gave her. “Pretty small, too. Probably a juvenile.”
“Not as big as the one…” Twilight trailed off. She looked up at the sky.
“Not even close,” Sly said. “I think it’s a blood dragon, anyway. Not… whatever that thing was.”
“Fire,” Twilight said. It was almost a whisper.
Shining glanced back and forth between them. Whatever he may have been thinking, he wisely kept to himself. “So, what’s the plan?”
* * *
Ten minutes later the sun was nearly straight overhead. Sly’s shadow diminished to a small, dark puddle beneath her hooves. Trying to hide from a dragon at high noon wasn’t the easiest task in the world, but she was very good, and besides, Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor made for quite a distraction.
She watched them charge the last few hundred yards up the slope toward the dragon’s perch from a rocky alcove on the mountain ridge. From this position she could look down on the entire battlefield; the dragon and the odd artificial shelf were directly across the narrow valley from her, and the tips of the ridges seemed near enough to touch. This must be how pegasi felt when they flew over ponies far below.
Shining Armor and Twilight were white and purple dots moving across the lichen-gray valley floor. The dragon stirred as they approached, its tail – nearly as long as the rest of the beast – uncoiling like a serpent, and it let out a roar that shook the ground beneath Sly’s hooves. The monstrous sound rattled small rocks and pebbles free from their moorings and sent them tumbling down the slope all around her. She looked uphill, to make sure no boulders were headed her way, and then back to the brewing fight below.
The dragon, as Sly suspected, didn’t stay on the ground. It spread its huge wings, gave them a tentative flap, and leapt away from its perch to soar toward the ponies. The air trembled as it inhaled, and a wash of fire poured from its mouth to envelope them. Every tree, every bush for a hundred yards in front of the beast burst into flames as it climbed higher into the air and began to circle the valley.
Sly felt her guts clench as she waited for the pall of smoke to clear. She’d seen Twilight survive worse, and supposedly Shining Armor was pretty skilled with shield spells himself, but it seemed to defy reality that any living thing could live through that inferno. The smoke lingered far too long, and when it cleared she nearly cried out in relief to see them safe. A perfect circle of unburned vegetation surrounded them, encased in a shimmering pink field larger than anything Sly had ever seen Twilight cast.
So far, so good. Sly let out a shaking breath and turned back to the dragon. It circled high above the valley floor, but not so high above her hiding spot on the ridge. Each orbit brought it within a hundred feet, give or take, of her bow. Well within range.
Sly stood as the dragon reached the far side of its circular path. Slowly, smoothly, she levitated an obsidian arrow from her quiver and set on the bowstring. When the dragon began another slow turn toward her, she lifted the bow and drew back the arrow. It hissed against the shelf, and the bow’s limbs creaked like old bones. They would not break, she knew; not with all her strength could she crack this weapon. Nothing mortal could.
Inhale, hold. Exhale, pause. She sighted down the arrow at the dragon’s huge form. The Wind’s Eye burned like a coal against her chest, beneath her leather armor, pressed against her heart.
There.
The arrow left her bow as if shot from a cannon. The backwash as it passed started another miniature rockslide around her hooves. The dragon never saw it coming.
The obsidian broadhead was sharper than a razor, sharper than freshly broken glass, sharper than any blade that had ever existed. Once, Sly had accidentally touched one of the black arrows against her leg in a moment of careless handling, and several minutes passed before she noticed that an apple’s worth of blood was pooled around her hooves.
The arrow struck the soft, supple scales of the dragon’s shoulder, where wing met body. A gout of dark blood burst from the wound, and the dragon shrieked in pain. The injured wing sagged as the arrow dug further into the joint with each flap, and the dragon clawed at the air in a desperate attempt to stay aloft.
It wasn’t enough. Dragons might be powerful, but they still needed two good wings to fly. Sly watched as it careened into a ridge a hundred yards away with a sickening crash and tumbled down the valley slope to the ponies waiting below. A vicious, joyous grin stretched across her face, and she jumped down to follow its rambling descent, half-running, half-sliding on the loose talus.
Another leap and she cleared a line of rocks separating the valley’s walls from the flood plain below, where Twilight and Shining Armor waited. She leaned forward and galloped toward them as though her life depended on it.
Behind her the ground rumbled, and another thunderous roar split the valley. Sly spared a glance over her shoulder to see the wounded dragon clamor onto its three good limbs. The maimed wing hung limp at its side like a broken sail. Black, steaming blood flowed from its shoulder and left smoking pits as it splashed onto the rocks.
The shield around Shining Armor and Twilight flickered as she passed through it and came to a stumbling halt beside them. Her lungs burned with exertion, but she couldn’t keep the grin off her face.
“Anytime now, Twilight,” she wheezed. She drew another arrow and readied it on the bow, just in case.
“Cover your eyes,” Twilight said. A lavender glow built around her horn and quickly turned as bright as the sun. The last thing Sly saw before squeezing her eyes shut was a tiny red ember sparking to life just in front of her friend. An intense heat, like standing in front of a blacksmith’s forge, stung her face, and the air began to crackle from the force of Twilight’s spell.
Suddenly it was gone. Sly peeked out from behind her hoof to see the ember streak away from them toward the dragon. The stones beneath its path glowed a dull red for seconds after its passing.
And scratch one dragon. Sly’s grin somehow grew wider.
The fireball struck with all the force of a meteor falling from the heavens. A tremendous, deafening crash shook their bones as it exploded, surrounding the dragon with a wave of flame that reached to the sky. The fires flared for another moment and then, with the spell exhausted, vanished in the space of a second, leaving a tower of smoke rising from where the dragon had once been.
“Gods, Twiley,” Shining Armor whispered.
“Wow,” Sly said. “Practicing much?”
“A little.” A smile betrayed Twilight’s modest words. Her face was slick with sweat, her lips pale and her legs shaking from strain. “Anyway, shall we see what’s—”
A deep growl sounded beyond the smoke.
Crap! Sly drew the arrow back and sighted down the shaft. The thick black smoke thinned, and as it did it began to glow, as though lit from within. A sudden gust carried away the last of the pall.
The dragon crouched in a pool of liquid stone. It held its good wing before it like a shield – the scales glowed a brilliant orange, like an iron ingot freshly removed from the forge. They popped and hissed as they cooled.
“Sly…” Twilight started. She took a fumbling step backward.
“It’s not a blood dragon!” Sly shouted. She released the arrow, only to watch it burst into a shower of sparks as it struck the ultra-hard scales of the dragon’s crown. “Move!”
The next few moments were something of a blur for Sly. She started to run, pausing long enough to snag Twilight’s robe with her teeth and drag her into motion as well. Shining Armor needed no prodding; he bolted into action as soon as Sly took her first step. Together they half-stumbled, half-galloped across the rough valley floor.
“I think it’s a fire dragon!” Sly shouted. She chanced a glance over her shoulder. The dragon had stepped out of the magma pool and was chasing after them with a disturbing amount of enthusiasm.
“I gathered that,” Shining said. He didn’t even seem winded by their run. “Twiley, do you have any more spells like that fireball?”
“Yes, but, ah…” Twilight trailed off into a wheezing cough. Sweat lathered her coat, and every few steps she stumbled. “I can’t... I can’t keep casting those… too much energy.”
Sly licked her lips. The dragon sounded closer. She risked another look back – yes, definitely closer. “Okay, change of plans. I’ll distract it again. Shining, keep Twilight safe while she figures out another spell. Questions?”
“Yes,” Shining started. “How are you—”
“Okay, go!” Sly broke hard to the right. Shining was a smart pony; he’d figure something out. But to do that, he and Twilight needed a few seconds without a dragon chasing after them. Sly ran away from them until she had a decent amount of clearance, and then turned to gallop toward the dragon.
Dragons never expected frontal assaults. Sly was pretty sure she’d read that somewhere. This one certainly seemed surprised – it slowed to a stop and drew back its head for another volley of flame breath.
That wouldn’t do. Sly lifted the bow even as she ran, rapidly firing a trio of arrows at the softest points on its body she could see. One sank a few inches into the dragon’s chest with no apparent effect, and the second passed clean through its wing membrane to soar another hundred yards before skipping across the ground.
The third arrow, at least, had some impact. It struck the dragon’s thigh and penetrated just far enough to pierce the muscle, little more than a pinprick to such a huge beast, but enough to jolt it, and when the flame breath came it missed Sly by several yards. Her coat blackened and curled, the tips of her mane and tail spontaneously ignited in the sudden blast of furnace wind, and she would have screamed if the superheated air had not sucked the breath from her lungs to fuel the fires all around.
She stumbled and rolled onto the rocks to snuff out the flames. Her skin cracked and bled beneath her charred coat, but at least she wasn’t burning. For a few seconds, anyway; the dragon was less than a dozen yards away and none too pleased. Its eyes burned like coals as it took another shambling step toward her.
Sly jumped to her feet just in time to leap away from the dragon’s claws as they crashed down toward her. Scythes as long as her leg cut furrows in the bare rock and showered her with fragments of stone. Her bow came up, loaded with another arrow, and let loose again into the dragon’s chest. This time the arrow sank nearly to its fletchings before it stopped, leaving just a tiny nub protruding from the scales.
Enough, little mortal. The dragon’s voice shook her soul. Its head leaned back, and its chest expanded as it drew in the breath that would end her life. Cease being.
Not for the first time, Sly wished for some witty remark to spit back in the face of death. Instead her tongue stuck in her mouth, and she took a helpless step away from the dragon. At this range, it wasn’t a question of being hit by the dragon’s breath – simply being near a dragon vomiting its flame was lethal. There probably wouldn’t even be a corpse left for her friends to recover, just hot ashes drifting in the wind. She hoped Twilight would live.
When death came, it was not what she expected. A deafening clap of thunder shattered her hearing, a bright flash left her reeling, and when her sight finally returned the dragon seemed as shocked as she. Its head and neck were blackened and smoking. One of its eyes was simply gone, the scales around it melted like wax. The sharp tang of ozone burned Sly’s nose.
The dragon recovered first. Its good eye slowly focused on her, and it reached toward her with open claws. Just inches away from her chest they stopped, shuddered, and fell to the earth.
Huh.
Sly looked up again. The dragon was on its side, not breathing, one of Shining Armor’s spears skewering it clean through the neck. Bright drops of liquid fire leaked out from the wound to puddle on the ground.
Interesting. Sly turned to see Shining and Twilight running toward her. Their mouths moved, but without sound. In fact, the whole world was eerily silent. Something hot and wet trickled down her jawline from her poor ears; she looked down to see drops of blood pattering on the stone.
Shining Armor and Twilight finally reached her. Twilight’s eyes were wide and filled with alarm, and she grabbed Sly’s head with her hooves, tilting it this way and that. Shining’s mouth moved in silence, though from his emphatic gestures Sly assumed something had him excited.
“Am I dead?” she asked. She heard her own voice, muffled, as though her ears were stuffed with cotton.
Twilight’s response was to roll her eyes, so she was probably still alive. After a few seconds of fumbling, Shining managed to pull a glass flask from his saddlebacks. A thick red liquid sloshed within, a soothing liquid, thick as blood, that Sly knew would taste like grass and strawberries. He popped the stopper off and passed it over to her.
Sly drank the healing potion and shivered as it went to work. The skin beneath her blackened coat knitted itself whole, her ears popped, and with a sudden rush sound returned to the world. She blinked a gauzy film away from her eyes and realized her head no longer ached.
“Nevermind, answered my own question,” she said.
Twilight’s response was to thump her in the chest with a not-so-gentle hoof. “You idiot! You have a bow and arrow! I’ve seen you hit apples from a hundred yards with that thing, and you decide to run up and give the dragon a hug?!”
“That’s how distractions work.”
Twilight looked like she had more she wanted to say, but Shining Armor got there first. “Ladies, the dragon?”
Oh, right, the dragon. Sly turned back to the beast, which seemed pretty dead. Shining Armor’s spear in its neck had caught fire and burned like a torch. Its remaining eye was dark and lifeless. It would not trouble them again, she decided.
“Nice shot with the spear,” she said to Shining. She stepped toward the dragon to retrieve what arrows she could, when suddenly the massive corpse shuddered. Beams of light leaked out from beneath its scales, and before Sly could leap away, a warm glow enveloped her, chasing away her vision. A sensation of completion, of returning home after a long journey, filled her heart.
When her sight returned the dragon was gone. A huge skeleton remained in its place, along with several of her arrows. She snatched them up with a grin and turned back to Shining and Twilight.
They stared at her, mouths agape. Sly let the moment drag out for delicious seconds before speaking.
“What, never seen a dragonborn absorb a soul?”
* * *
They had enough time to investigate the shrine before heading back to Canterlot, Shining decided. It wasn’t much to look at; just an old altar with some etchings and a large curved wall inscribed with dragon script. Twilight and Shining stopped at the altar and discussed it in low voices.
Any other day, Sly would have stopped at the altar as well, though only to collect the various valuable offerings left atop it. Twilight didn’t like that much, but she had learned to stop complaining several months back. As for Shining, he seemed too pragmatic to care.
But this day, Sly walked past the altar to the curved wall. Something about it drew her like a moth to a flame. She stared at the angular runes carved into the stone, as though by staring long and hard enough she could puzzle out their meaning. The world dimmed and faded away, and the words began to glow with their own cold light. Nothing remained but her, the words, and a chill breeze swirling around her soul.
Zul Mey Gut, something whispered in her mind. She mouthed the syllables silently, tasting them. They were perfect.
The world returned, and suddenly Twilight was by her side, also staring at the wall. They stood in silence for a bit.
“Odd, aren’t they?” Twilight said. “No one knows what they mean. The dragons only had a few high priests, and none of them survived the first war.”
“Yeah,” Sly said. She tried to swallow, her mouth suddenly dry as a stone. “Odd.”
“Anyway, we’ve got a long walk ahead,” Twilight said. “Ready to head back?”
Sly nodded. “I think I am. Let's go home."
Footnote: Level Up (Sly)
New Perk: Muffled Movement – Noise from armor is reduced by 50%
New Shout: Throw Voice: The Thu’um is heard, but its source unknown, fooling those into seeking it out.
Footnote: Level Up (Twilight Sparkle)
New Perk: Augmented Shock, rank 2: Shock spells do 50% more damage.
Footnote: Level Up (Shining Armor)
New Perk: Champion’s Stance, rank 2: Attacks with two-hoofed weapons require 50% less stamina.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Cold in Gardez · 67k words · 383 6 · 7k views
- Cold in Gardez · 9.7k words · 782 14 · 10k views
- Cold in Gardez · 54k words · 711 18 · 7.8k views
- Cold in Gardez · 10k words · 1,184 27 · 21k views
- Cold in Gardez · 13k words · 709 17 · 12k views
- Cold in Gardez · 7.2k words · 964 13 · 9.6k views
- Cold in Gardez · 15k words · 434 4 · 4.1k views
- Cold in Gardez · 3.2k words · 187 3 · 2.9k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.175 seconds
Total duration
981 users online
423,025 hits today, 2,814,898 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.®
YAY ITS ALIVE
So.... is this still going on? Cause if so then you are awesome.
*Notice on the rarely visited home page*
Updated?!
3662341
3662461
Yes :) This short story is a bridge to the sequel, which will start publishing in a few weeks.
3662542
Holy crap! Thank you for giving us more.
You can only find spears in Vvardenfell, though
Glad to see you picking this one back up.
3662542
Oh goodie! Been quite some time.
I can't properly put my excitement into words. I've waited for this for sooo looong oh man!
ITS LIKE CHRISTMAS
so... a rogue, a mage, and a fighter.
this party is going to go far.
Oh hey look a early Christmas present and it's AWESOME
This chapter is so delicious. Really looking forward to how the Throw Voice gets abused.
A new update?!? Reads like a glass of water in a dessert.
Congrats, your update reminded me that Fimfiction still existed.
I am very excited that you have decided to continue this. This fanfic is one of the first MLP fanfics I read, and it remains one of my all time favorites. I might be a little biased, but I think it is better paced than Fallout:Equestria. It's not as epic, but the narrow focus allows it to be an amazing piece of fiction!
Don't feel too bad, Sly. Twilight never tells anyone about her brother. Apparently she thinks family members are supposed to be a surprise.
Gods, I love Shining Armor so much. Nice to see him be decently impressive, if a tad overshadowed by his OP sister.
I wonder if Cadance is going to show up in the sequel.
A UPDATE!!! o.o
Oh, that shout. I wonder what Sly plans to do with it when she have figured it out.
Thank you cold enjoyable as always.
I can'twait till next time.
Magic is a fickle mistress, but a spear never fails to get its point across.
... I'll excuse myself.
woot!
Note to Twilight: Lightning is always good against dragons. Fire and Ice are mixed results at best.
More side quests please. I know you might not feel like giving this more of your absolutely valuable time, but this adventure has just been epic! thanks for sharing this.
The phrase "upcoming sequel" really gives me hope ´cause i thought there would be no sequel ^^
Level up footnotes!
Man, those are fun.
I can't believe it took me over a week to get to this. Holidays, why do you have to be so busy?!
Yay, dragon slaying! I'm glad there's no longer any question for Twilight about whether or not Sly is a Dragonborn. If they ever get around to telling Shining Armor about their relationship, I hope it's shown 'on-screen'; that explanation would be ripe for hilarity. Not to mention I'd like the details myself. I suspect you're being intentionally obtuse with conveying those details to the audience.
I'm not 100% certain what happened to the dragon at the end, there. I assumed they placed a shield spell over the dragon's head right as it was about to give Sly a relaxing firepuke bath, making it give it's own face said relaxing bath... but I'm not sure that's what actually happened. Did I miss something, or did the story just not confirm what was going on? Even if that's not what happened, that sounds like a great strategy. If a dragon turns out to be immune to it's own breathe weapon, it would at least be useful to avoid getting hit by it yourself.
At least there's one benefit of having to wait so long to read this epilogue cum sequel segue; I don't have to wait as long between reading this and getting the sequel!
3704011
I considered making Krosis the 'main' villain of this story, with the dragon just being an appetizer. But by the time I wrote the dragon's fight, it already seemed like a complete enough story.
So, sorry Krosis.
3699210
Lightning bolt. Hence Twilight's perk at the end.
hay melon-nose!!1!
hay troll bait!!1
hay cheese brain1!!
3742572
Consider who's speaking. In fact, there are hints that Twilight herself isn't entirely confident about her response.
Huzzah! Let us prepare for the sequel!
Don't you like surprises? Aren't you excited by the unknown? It could be anything!
Don't bother answering that.
That was rude, Twilight.
—my brother.
Awkward.
Oh, that Twilight. Always forgetting family members. Isn't she hilarious!
He's not stupid. He knows that it would bother Twilight if you mysteriously disappeared. Just make sure it stays that way, and you'll be fine.
It's safer anyway to let her come than to have her following secretly. I'm sure he knows that.
Twilight. All future return from your investment of a wish.
Fear not. Shiny is basically the best at shields. He could probably safely just stand there while you killed the dragon with a spoon. Assuming the dragon fails to react to you attacking it with a spoon, of course. And assuming you had a spoon.
How long would it take you to kill a dragon with a spoon?
Oops.
Nobody ever expects the stupid plan. Sometimes, that's enough.
I looked these words up after I finished. I don't know why. Big surprise, it tells me that Sly has gained the Shout the story says she gained. Who would have guessed?
I can't wait for the sequel. It will give me an excuse to reread The wind Thief, and then I'll have something new to read! It'll be great.
YESSSSS!
Also Twilight thunderbolted a dragon's face off. Which is kinda cool.
I've had this story on my Read Later list for far too long. I really enjoyed it, it was a really interesting blend of MLP and Skyrim lore. I find myself leaving curious about those love letters Twilight had though.
"Upcoming sequel" quite. Well, I'm enjoying your other works, so take you're time and finish Salvation before posting the sequel.
Sequel you say?
Life just got better.
T
3784366 SHAZAM!
T
One: Brilliant story, nice integration into the TES-verse. Discord is totally Sheogorath, isn't he?
B: Sequel? Please let the be a sequel
Lastly: Why did I keep picturing Sly as an alternate, non-attention-seeking Trixie?
4766659
You know, for all that people seem to think Sly is another version of Trixie, I have to admit I completely missed that comparison when I was writing her. It wasn't until people pointed it out in the comments that I was like, 'Oh, yeah, I guess she is.'
A sequel is in the works. No ETA for it yet, though.
A flutteryay story?
5238748
May as well stop now, man.
5239185
I laughed when I read this.
This was a blast to read, and I got the impression you had fun writing this.
Definitely looking forward to reading sequel.
Well that was a lovely romp.
Good to see everyone, including Shining(yay!), being badasses.
I love how even Celestia shows character development, despite the fact that she's only an active character in the prologue and epilogue, and everything else is second-hand via Twilight. That's skill, there.
I also can't help but wonder how Celestia felt about Twi asking Sly to keep it secret. She's a smart cookie - she surely knows exactly why Twilight wanted Sly to hide it, and I imagine that has to sting a bit coming from your beloved student.
I also love that you left this open to interpretation. I mean, there are some pretty clear romantic overtones, at least on Sly's side, but it's still primarily a friendshipping story. Don't get me wrong, I love romances, but not everyone does and I like that we're free to read more or less into Twi's & Sly's actions as suits our fancies. Laying bare all of a character's thoughts and motivations can sometimes make them more believable/relatable (or less, though you never seem to have that issue), but a little uncertainty makes them a lot more interesting (which is incidentally what kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through Salvation, as well).
So anyway, a zillion people have asked this, but I might as well add my voice: is the sequel still in the works, or has it been shelved or scrapped altogether? Either way, keep up the awesome!
7732930
Someday, maybe. I have quite a bit of it planned out, and some even written. But, as always, other priorities intervene.
So yeah, I just binged this so... I need MOAR!!!!!
I'm extremely late to the party but I just found this. Great read! By far the best Skyrim crossover I've read. Only one problem: it's too short, and there's no sequel yet. Come on now?!
3662542
Sequel?