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[Telgin]

and Sanctuary

Praetorian went to the priest, Sanctuary, who had arrived at the fort recently, and knocked on his door.

“Coming,” a voice replied through the door.  A few moments later, the door swung open to reveal the young stallion.  “Hello.  Mr. Praetorian, is it?  Would you like to come in?” he said, stepping aside slightly to make room.

“Thank you,” said Praetorian as he entered the small house. “I need some spiritual advice, sir.”

“Of course, of course,” Sanctuary replied, motioning for him to join him on the bed.  “What is it I can help you with?”

“Last night,” Praetorian said as he sat besides the priest, “I was plagued by a vision. A vision of the gods.”

Sanctuary looks back at him for a moment, deep in thought.  “A vision... what sort of vision?”

“A... A disturbing one. The Sheyim were gathered, and in a great courtroom. They were judging the nations,” said Praetorian.

The priest nods slowly as he listens.  “I see.  Who all were present?  What did they say exactly?  Which nations were they judging, and for what?”

“All the gods were there judging. First they brought the Beorites to trial, for their attacks on us. Next were the Rainbow Ponies, for the corruption that they brought to us. After that came the Deutschmeiner, for their betrayals and enslavement of our people. Then came those of Dream Gem, for their betrayal of us.” He took a deep breath. “All of these, they declared as a sentence a fire to burn up their nations. Then... Last to be taken to trial... were ourselves.”

“And we were judged and found wanting too?” he asks, looking intently at Praetorian.

“Yes. Yes, we were. For following the foreign gods and false idols of the Deutschmeiner, for following the foul habits of the Rainbows, and for allowing in their corruption.” Praetorian paused. “Not for us is the punishment by fire. First Govos has decreed a famine. The skies will be sewn shut, and not a drop of rain will fall. All that survives will be consumed by the plagues of insects of every kind, along with parasprites in great numbers.”

“I see,” Sanctuary begins, holding a hoof to his chin.  “Those are quite serious accusations, and the punishment does fit.”  He looks back to Praetorian.  “However, while the accusations are great, I’m not sure that I see them as wholly founded.  There are no false idols here, for example.”

“Not us... Not us alone, but the whole of the Meandering Gloss. But... The punishment shall not end there. Laltur decreed the next part of our punishment. A foul pestilence and plague upon our bodies. One that will not heal, a festering thing. And then Babin decreed the last, and the worst, of our punishment. The discordants will destroy our nation, killing most... and the rest shall be taken into slavery.”

Sanctuary makes a small sigh.  “I suppose that last one does hit rather close to home, doesn’t it?”  He thinks for a moment.  “How did this vision come to you?  Was it from prayer?”

“It came in a dream, after I had prayed for protection for my brother,” said Praetorian.

Sanctuary nods silently.  “I will be honest.  Visions aren’t something to be dismissed lightly, but at the same time sometimes a dream is simply a dream.  Rarely are they so vivid, I admit.”

“I know... And part of me hopes it is just a dream...”

“Well, there is one thing that can be said for visions.  They often come in sequences.”  Sanctuary smiles and lays a hoof on Praetorian’s withers.  “For now I wouldn’t worry too much.  If the visions return... perhaps there is something more to be concerned of.”  He nods toward a small shrine in the corner of the room.  “If it makes you feel any better, I have prayed for our safety every day that I have been here, and the gods haven’t yet sent me any visions of such a sort.”

“That’s some relief, at least,” said Praetorian, looking a little relieved, though not much. “Thank you, sir.”

“You’re welcome,” Sanctuary says.  “If you ever wish to speak about anything like this, don’t hesitate to bring it up.  Is there anything else you’d like to speak about now?”

“No, no. I think that’s it,” answered Praetorian.

[Iceblaster]

How do you get idea's for your writing, I have been having some sever writer's block recently and unable to come up with an RP post.

[Telgin]

Well, DF serves up some of it.  Ponies getting killed, born and married, for example.  Other things are outgrowths of those.

Otherwise, a lot of this is written cooperatively among several players.  The last post written by Dsarker and myself, for example.  If you have time at some point, you may want to try dropping by our IRC chat room at http://client01.chat.mibbit.com/?channel=%23dawnpick&server=irc.mibbit.net

Sometimes tossing ideas around with others can get something going.  Or, as in my case, day dreaming all day at work. 

[Iceblaster]

Thanks, I'll drop by when I can

[L1wW]

Another day, another five hours of shooting the same damn target. “You know, if it takes me five hours to get one bulls-eye, I think I might just end up stabbed and bleeding in a field...” Prodd said to himself. He noticed a presence behind him.

Redhat was behind the marks-pony, his wolf walking in front of him. The poor thing was limping rather badly. He gave the furry animal a little pet, before continuing onward.

Prodd turns around to see Redhat and his pet wolf walk off. Leaving the bolts behind, he quickly trots up to the two. “Hey, Redhat right? Can I tag along with you two? I... uh... kinda have no idea what’s around here...” Prodd trails off.

“Well... sure.” He said moving over to pet his dog again. “have you met my dog yet?”

“...Not yet.” Prodd says. “Poor thing looks like it’s been dragged to hell and back... cute little trooper...”

“Well, yeah...” He pets her again. “But she’s fine now.” He smiled a little and stroked her head. The wolf gave Prodd a little nuzzle.

Prodd affectionately strokes the wolf’s head. “So... how have you been since our last encounter?” He asked, delicately moving the wolf back to its master.

“Oh... well it’s been fine, also feel free to keep petting her, she honestly loves attention.”

“...Alright then...where are you headed?”

“Why, I’m just going on a stroll with my dog.”

Prodd nods. He takes a look back at the target filled with bolts. “Hey... Redhat, if I ever get mortally wounded... could you visit me in the hospital... I’d prefer not to wake up alone...” Prodd trails off before quickly saying, “Not that I’d get wounded, y’know... just... just in case...”

“Well... Heh... I spose’...” He gave an awkward laugh, trying to change the topic, Red didn’t want to honestly do it, but BEING NICE IS APPARENTLY WORTH It. “So, how are you?”

“Well aside from that morbid topic, sorry ‘bout that...” Prodd apologizes. “...I feel fine I guess, ‘cept not being able to hit the center of a stationary target seems like a slight red flag considering my career choice.” He laughs slightly.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be perfectly fine so long as you make sure not to the let an enemy lasher get close enough to bludgeon your face with a scourge.”

“Yeah, hopefully standing on a wall will protect me...” Prodd says. “Speaking of that, Flamberge and Crosshair are making all of us practice close quarters combat when us marks-ponies should be standing away from the melee... I don’t get it...” He shrugs.

“Well, you can’t always outrun your enemy, so being able to win in a duel, or at least not get too many broken organs before the melee ponies show up, would be a good thing.”

“...Fine, I’ll try to gain some competence in hoof-to-hoof combat...” Prodd vows, “However I doubt a markspony would last long alone against something trained with a weapon... hopefully I won’t have to fight alone... ”

“Anyway, you might want to keep a dagger on you.”

”D’aww that sounds like you care about me...” Prodd says. “Anyway this crossbow should make a good bludgeoning weapon...”

“Yeah, but a knife will actually murder something with ease...”

“Yeah and you’re implying I’d have enough time to even draw a knife when some jackass comes barrelling down at me...”

“Yeah, but not all ponies are pegasi.”

“Yeah? Well- wait what the hell does that have to do with anything?”

“You can run if he gets to close.”

“Whatever...”

“Meh...” he pets his dog again.

Prodd shrugs.

“So yeah...” he said, trying to break the ice, or at least Re-rail the conversation.

“Yeah...” Prodd says. “...Hey is there a library around here?”

“Sadly, no.”

“Damn, I want to try learning a few spells... put this horn to use...” He pauses, “I had this idea where you create a magical barrier thing on your body, kinda like some type of armor, that way if a sword or something stabs you, you could create something the size of a coin where the impact would be, prevent getting stabbed, and potentially save you from a new wound, like really small a shield. ‘Course it would take a lot of energy, probably be extremely obvious, have a high chance of completely missing the blade, and cover such a miniscule area it would probably be worthless in a prolonged fight... but if you were to be stabbed in the head, it could stop the blade from going further...” Prodd rambles on, very much unlike his usual self...

“Nope, I really don’t have the blessing of a horn to go with these wings.”

“Huh?” Prodd snaps out of his rant. “Oh... uh... s-sorry...”

“It’s okay, wings honestly help more in my lane of work than being able to make flashy lights.”

“What? You don’t like flashy lights?” Prodd muses.

“No, just entertainment doesn’t help me impale a corrupted pony”

“Well... it can actually help for me I guess... I’d like to imagine a corrupted pony would love to see some fireworks from yours truly.” Prodd says. “By that, I mean distract him long enough for me to get a kill shot...”

“They're nihilistic doom bringers, who only crave pain and the ever looming end for us all, I doubt entertainment will stop them for even a moment.”

“Eh, a flash of light in a bush or something would at least get them to turn their heads...”

“Yeah, I spose’ but I wouldn’t know.”

“Oh well, I guess we’ll learn the next time any thieves show up or something...”

“I guess that could help.”

“Yeah, maybe...” Prodd says, already losing confidence in his perfect plan.

“Anyway, I should probably head back now...”

“Yeah... see you around...” Prodd says. Prodd walks off and makes sure Redhat is out of earshot. “Man, I can’t wait to take her hat off...”

[Telgin]

and

As was usual for this time of day, Temperance was sitting in his office, trying to feign some semblance of interest in the work orders he was filling out.  More planks to be cut from the felled trees.  Always more planks.  He scribbled some numbers down and signed off on each page.

Soon a loud knock was heard from the door. “Temperance, I request an audience.”

Temperance looks up and pushes the paperwork aside.  “Just a moment.”  He steps over to and opens the door.  “Come in.  What’s on your mind?”

“Well, I’d like to comment on your decision to give every single pony in the fort who is old enough to stand a weapon and expecting them to stand their ground and engage in combat during a siege.”

Temperance nods slowly as he sits and points for Redhat to take a seat of his own.  “I’m not a big fan of the idea myself, honestly.  It wasn’t my idea.”

“Still, you're the stallion who signed off on it, and can discontinue this project just as easily. Now please, do tell me why you thought it was a decent idea to put inexperienced civilians in the middle of combat and in the way of danger, just to make the military’s job easier, when it’s the military’s job to keep them safe? That’s just illogical.”

“As I said,” Temperance reiterates with a small frown, “it wasn’t my idea.  Flamberge ordered it.  For what it’s worth I mostly agree with you.  Issuing the crossbows is probably not going to do a whole lot of good really.  At least not with the way things are right now.”

“Then tell the crazed half-wit to go balls off and discontinue this project. You're the pony who  runs the fort and could demote him if even looks at you funny.” He gave him an angry look. “and if you don’t like it, why would you listen to him for even a moment. You do realize you essentially removed everypony's civil rights by drafting them, right?”

Temperance’s frown grows.  “I do make most of the decisions here, but when it comes to matters of Duskfields’ defenses, Flamberge has the final say, not me.  So, no, I can’t demote him nor contradict him, really.”  He sighs and raises a hoof to his forehead.  “And I can assure that nopony’s civil rights were dispensed with just by giving them a crossbow...”

“Yes, but they did now that he can say “BOOM we’re under attack, you can’t go against anything I say or do!” And I mean anything, at all, especially since you have no power over your subordinates.”

“That’s technically true, but if we’re really under attack we’re all better off doing what he says anyway.  And if he abuses his power all I have to do is write a letter to King Golud and he’ll be out of a job.”  Temperance sighs again.  “Whatever else can be said about Flamberge, he does seem to have our safety at heart.”

“But he’s putting your ponies in danger.”

“Yeah, I know.  Believe me... my wife and I are on the list too.”  Temperance points at the crossbow sitting in the corner of the room.  “Things are dangerous enough that some of us being armed probably isn’t a terrible idea though.  After all, if Millstone or some of the others with him had been armed, maybe he’d still be alive.  Flamberge isn’t asking for us to go out into battles with the rest of you.”

“He’s expecting you to stand on the battlements and fire Correct? Firing over our heads at the enemy while me and melee pony’s fight. Am I to expect you master marksponies to hit the enemy and not one of us with your extensive week of training? Oh, and yeah, I don’t expect a crossbow to save anypony if they’re dealing with a pegasus who can close the distance in barely an instant, And speaking of pegasi.” He paused for a moment to add dramatic effect. “What happens when a squad of pegasus discordants fly over the wall and run into your wife? I don’t see how a wall keeps out winged ponies, and it usually takes more than 3 or 4 bolts to down an armored pony, given you can actually hit the thing.

“I know, I know,” Temperance agrees.  “It’s the best we can do, though.  In the event of another invasion, we’re mostly there to make the discordants think there are more soldiers than there are, I guess.  If I have anything to say about it, in combat we won’t be doing much shooting really, because of what you said.”

“Oh, so your horrid aiming, lack of experience and inability to stand their ground without dying after a single hit, is apparently supposed to be your way of helping?”

Temperance looks increasingly unamused.  “Flamberge seems to think so.  I don’t agree, but it’s what he ordered.”  He shakes his head.  “Look, Crosshair is going to be organizing training sessions for the civilians periodically, so we won’t be shooting with no experience.  And I have every intention of keeping the civilians away from danger as much as I can.  As far as I’m concerned the crossbows are an emergency last measure for if one of us gets caught outside and none of you are around to help.  It’s a long shot, but better than none.”

He just gave him an angry look. “Fine. But the moment somepony dies because of this, when they could have been safe and sound huddling in the tavern while the real soldiers do their jobs, the blood is on your hooves too.” He gets up and gives him an even more disgusted look. “And when you have to go to that pony’s funeral, and you look that pony’s foal and widow or wife in the eye, I hope you know you're accountable for it.” He got up from his seat and went for the door.

“I know,” Temperance replies plainly.  “I know.  If you want to talk to Flamberge about it, be my guest.”

“I prefer to avoid talking with brutes.” He said, before opening the door. “Anyway, this has been quite a pleasant get together, but I need to be on my way now.” 

“See you around,” Temperance again replies plainly, sinking back into his seat.

[Fr0stByt3]

Steel Rivet stepped back from his anvil and placed his hammer down next to it. The forge began to cool, no longer glowing white hot. It remained the only source of illumination in the room, its cherry red glow providing just enough light to see by. His muscles ached, his throat was sore, and he hadn't eaten or slept in days, but he'd finally finished.

The steel gleamed red in the light cast from the forge, the glow shimmering in the air around it. As with the doctors' tools, runes were engraved on both heads of the hammer. The most prominent was at the center of each head. An angular yet also liquidly curving rune, the runes emitted an aura of power that would be especially apparent to unicorns. The weapon itself seemed to have an air of hate surrounding it. This hate was not aimed at the ponies(and Gryphon) of Duskfields, but rather at the Discordian ponies who had been raiding it for quite some time now.

Steel Rivet nodded approvingly. Now then, to get something to eat. Cream Puff, the head(and only) chef in the town apparently made a mean sandwich. After eating, he would begin to train. There was no time to waste, no way to tell when the next attack would come. Steel Rivet promised himself that next time, he'd be ready. That next time, they wouldn't be caught off guard. That next time, nopony would die like Millstone did. A tear escaped his eye as he remembered how useless he'd felt, how afraid to die he'd been. Somehow, that thought didn't seem so scary anymore. Mostly, it had all been replaced with rage. They wanted them dead? They were gonna have to fight for it.

[DVNO]

[Avatars coming, pinkie promise]

Carnith did not like this. Carnith did not like this one single bit. He sat on his gold pile, rhythmically tapping his claws nervously on the overturned  gold throne centerpiece. Max should have been back months ago! What is tying him up? He didn’t think to fly up and tell him the plan has changed? Carn couldn't stop chasing scenario after scenario of ‘what if’s’ around in his head.

Carn, at the end of his rope, grabbed the throne and chucked it across the hall. The throne rang out with a terrible clamor. “That’s it!” Carn exclaimed. “I’ve had just about enough of This! Those ponies are not as harmless as Max likes to believe! They did something to ‘em! I know they did!” The dragon thunders down and out of the cave. “If they harmed a single feather?” He seethed. “Well? Hell’s comi’n for ‘em!” The dragon exploded out of the cave, making a bee-line to Duskfields.


Temperance, meanwhile was just getting done with the plans to relocate a few of the workshops now that they had some stone to work with.  He stretched and stood from his chair, nodding approvingly at the layout he’d devised.  “The rest can wait for later,” he said before stepping outside and trotting toward the fields to see if Morning Dew was up for getting a bit of lunch.

A meteor strikes the ground a couple feet in front of Temperance. The creature in the epicenter rises up slowly. His eyes center on the one pony in front of him. The head one. The one Max is always on about with the odd hair. “You steal’in my Griffon?” The dragon asked with a bitter contempt, singling out Temperance specifically.

Several ponies who bore witness to the dragon’s arrival scream and flee or cower.  Temperance does the latter: backing up a step and trembling before the mighty reptile.   He wants to flee, but his legs just won’t move.  “Wh-what?” he squeaks.

“Oh no you don't.” Carnith snatched up Temperance with his tail and dragged him up to his level, face to face. “What happened to my griffon, Temperance!?” He reiterated with a desperate anxiety, shouting so hard Temperance can feel the dragon breath.

Temperance is frozen in terror.  “G-g-g-griffon?” he finally managed to utter, trembling in the dragon’s iron grip.

Carn takes a glance around and sees the military coming to the rescue already. Carn tilted his head and inspects the pony with one livid serpentine eye. “Scribblebakes? Correct?” He squeezes Temp hard with his tail, choking the life out of him like a boa constrictor. “Don’t lie to me!”

The stallion gags and chokes as his ribs are compressed painfully.  He finds it impossible to answer the question vocally, and merely nods, wide-eyed.

“Well, well,” Carn sneered with a volatile little smile. “Your sister killed mine. What a small world.” Carn cracks Temp against the ground with his tail like a whip, Stunning him. With a spread of the wings Carn takes off like a bolt before Flamberge can even close half the distance between them.


Flamberge bolts after the dragon like a pony possessed,  but even his own impressive speed was not enough to catch the monster before it was well outside the town.  Still determined to kill the beast he continues following it without the backup from the non-flying ponies.

“Flamberge!” Called his Captain of the guards as she quickly catch up, she have always been a quick flyer, grabbing onto his tail to stop him from going too fast too far. “You need to come back and rally the troops! You can’t go off and fight a dragon alone! I won’t let you!” she shouted into his tail, not letting go as her wings does an Air Brake to slow both of them down.

Flamberge resists her pull, dragging her through the air for several meters before turning around onto his back in midair, wings still flapping, he looks down, a bit of self-control regained, and shouts at her, "Captain Crossbow, release me, NOW, or that monster will escape, and I will make sure you regret it!”

“Commander! You are not going after that Dragon alone! You can’t catch up to it! Go back and rally the troops! I’ll follow it instead to make sure it won’t get away if you want!” Crosshair said, still not letting go of her commander.

Flamberge looks furious, he seemed nearly ready to buck Crosshair  in the face, but he then takes a deep breath and exhales, he then says, "Alright, fine, we'll go back and get the others. Come with me Captain, I'm not letting you go chasing a dragon by yourself either."

Crosshair finally let go of his tail and nods “Alright Commander.” And with that, follows him back to the town.

The pegasi return to the town as rapidly as they can. Flamberge lands on the roof of Temperance's office building and calls out to a nearby soldier, "Round up the entire town I have something to say!"


Morning Dew is busy weeping in the corner after seeing what happened to her husband, while Mountain Dew, who doesn’t know what’s wrong yet, is still anxious.

Convalescence peeks out from the hospital, where she had hidden after seeing the beast that landed in the center of town. Now that the danger was momentarily over, she galloped out to find her family, and found her husband and son in the group Flamberge had assembled.

Following close on the brown doctor’s heels, Case Study was also interested in what the dark pegasus had to say. Had the dragon killed somepony? Damaged important buildings? Surely the commander wasn’t foal enough to go after the thing?

When everypony is gathered outside Temperance's office, Flamberge, still standing on the roof, looks down at the gathered ponies and begins to speak.

"Ponies of Duskfields! As many of you may know by now, our town has just been assaulted by a dragon. It is with a heavy heart that I tell you, that the foul beast has not only escaped justice, but has abducted a civilian, the manager Temperance, and made off with him, to the gods only know where.

"But I swear to you now, I will not sit idly while such a monster is allowed to fly free in my skies! Nopony else will suffer at the claws of this most vile serpent! Ponies of Duskfields, we will need every hoof you can spare to see this deed done, if any of you are willing to help us fight this demon, or then grab your weapons and ammunition and meet with the military ponies in the training fields within the hour. The rest of you, fear not, for we shall track this beast to it's lair and bring back it's head."

Flamberge flies down to the ground then beckons to his captains, "Praetorian, Crossbow, come with me, we have to discuss strategy."

As the ponies file into the building, Redhat started to wonder what exactly they were planning, and how badly they’d balls it up. He immediately walked over, And opened the door.

Flamberge looks up as Redhat enters and says,  "Redhat, what is it? Is the Dragon back?" As he speaks his forehoof is already reaching for his weapon.

“No, but If you're going to discuss strategy, you might as well have the pony who’s actually been in the thing’s cave be part of the discussion.”

Flamberge looks surprised at Redhats statement. 

"You know where it lives? How? " He questions.

“My dog followed Max up to his cave one night. I managed to get inside the place, and he had something else living inside with him. Now that dragon was yelling for Max, and just so happens to be flying of the in the general direction of Max’s cave.”

Flamberge looks furious.

 "You knew we had a Dragon nearby and you didn't tell ANYPONY!" he rages at the soldier.

“MAX WAS HIDING THE DAMNED THING! FOR ALL I KNEW IT WAS JUST AN EXTREMELY LOUD GRIFFIN.”

Flamberge glares at Redhat then says,  "Fine!  I'll deal with the griffin later.  Redhat you will lead us to the cave, but first what can you tell us about the cave and the area around it?"

“The area’s forested and the cave is in the side of a mountain, but the big thing is that the cave is booby trapped. When I got to the place, I actually fell down a pit trap.”

“Then we should bring a plank or two to block off the pit trap.” Crosshair suggested as she resist the annoyance of having something kept away for so long like this.

“Do you honestly think there is only one trap in that entire compound?” Asked Redhat.

Flamberge rubs a forehoof to his forehead, "And the bird brain is still unconscious, well if it's trapped we can't send in a lot of ponies.  Perhaps if I lead some fliers into the cave we can try and get him to fly out into an ambush."

Flamberge sighs,  "We can't make a detailed plan without knowing the area better. Praetorian, Crossbow,  what would you advise."

“If we wait and make a detailed plan, by the time we gets there, Temperance might already be reduced to nothing but bones!” Added Crossbow

“If the dragon has dealt with ponies before, it’ll be expecting an attack by the pegasus ponies here,” says Praetorian. “No, I suggest a different strategy. If we go in by foot, we can go quietly enough that the dragon won’t hear us, and disarm the traps we find. I suggest the spear ponies at the front, then crossbows, then swords at the back. If this dragon is alone, well and good, but if it isn’t, the crosshairponies will need protection, and the spearponies’ shields will protect us from the dragonflame more than bare flesh will. Crossbows to aim for the eyes and the mouth. Spears will concentrate on holding the shield wall, while the swordsponies can attack at close range.”

"That would work Praetorian, if the dragon tries to fight us in the cave," begins Flamberge, "but do you really think it wouldn't try to smash through our line to take to the air outside?  Its most effective strategy would be to flee and then strafe u s with firebreath, when we exit."

“If it does try to break through, we can then attack it without proceeding further into the cave. If it tries to flee, then you and the other pegasus ponies can attack it without losing any part of our initiative, and our marksponies will be able to engage it as well,” says Praetorian.

"If it tries to break through while we are bunched together in the cave entrance many ponies will be crushed," counters Flamberge.

“Not so, sir,” returns Praetorian. “If the dragon tries to break through, it has two choices. It can do so on the wing, or it can do so while on foot. If it tries to fly out, it will require a cave entrance large enough for it to fly through; therefore, we will have enough room to break apart and avoid its attack. If it tries to do so on foot, we will have enough warning; and thus be able to change our formation and press the attack.”

"And what sort of formation does one adopt to stop a charging dragon?" Questions Flamberge,  "Praetorian, I have no doubt you could hold your ground against this thing,  but can the rest of your squad? Can those two spearfillies?"

“They don’t need to do so. We hit it from the side and catch it in the pincers of our formation,” says Praetorian.

"If that is the plan then would it not be wiser to set up the formation outside, then draw the Dragon out and not worry about anypony falling into some grisly trap." Says Flamberge.

“In any case,” says Praetorian, “we will be risking a pony by sending them into the dragon’s home territory. If there are traps, there could very well be ones set up to catch flying intruders. Even if there are not, the dragon can merely flame them to slag in the air. Even if it does not, the dragon has been faster than the pegasus ponies here before. If it is drawn out into the sky, the battlefield becomes much more complicated. We have only a few ponies who can fly in the first place, and many of our melee-armed ponies are not pegasus ponies. If we attack in the cave, we are the ones choosing the ground of attack, and preventing the dragon from fleeing so easily. If there are traps, I have no doubt that if we proceed slowly, we can disarm them.” He shakes his head. “If we engage it in the air, we’ve turned the confusion of the melee into disorder. I would not recommend pursuing such a strategy.”

"I had not intended on a protracted battle in the air, I had planned to have the crosshairponies target the leathery wings, to bring it to the ground outside the cave where we can surround it."

“And how much wingspan will it have to lose before that happens? How many bolts? How many of those will be misses, simply because of the dragon being an unfamiliar target? How long will it take?” Praetorian shook his head. “This does not bode well. If we are assuming that we have to rescue Temperance, will we be able to do so? And are we still assuming that the dragon is alone? If Max is not the only griffon out here, how will this strategy change?” Praetorian changes tack. “This dragon is dangerous, and we want to bring it down quickly. Drawing it out will require it to be drawn out in the first place. If that works, how many of the pegasus ponies sent in to do so will survive? We can’t risk so many ponies for a plan that relies on the enemy being a fool.”

Flamberge moves towards the door and says, “I don’t actually expect Temperance to still be alive, but you have a point. We will go with your suggestion Praetorian,  for now. Alright, Redhat, you’ll lead us to the cave as soon as everyone who is going is ready to go. We’ll regroup at the training field, hopefully we’ll have enough.”


Convalescence had spent most of the last hour in her home above the hospital, torn between her desire to help fight the dragon and the combined forces of her husband's pleas and the murmuring doubts in the back of her mind. You haven't even picked up a crossbow in years. Look at yourself, you don't have a markspony's body anymore. Patches had worried rightly that she would want to go as soon as Flamberge called for volunteers, "Please Conny, think of Mittens," he asked.

Calmy, she looked at him and replied, "I am thinking of him, and of you too." She knew she would have to go, and nothing now could stop her. She kissed them both goodbye and left to join the others.

Praetorian goes out into the waiting crowd, searching for two mares, and he spots the first, Maize, in the middle of the milling ponies. He forces his way through to her.

“Maize!” he calls out to her.

Maize looks up at his call, and moves to meet him. “Prae-Prae... what’s going on? I heard something about Flamberge getting civilians together to go fight a dragon...”

“Yes. A dragon has taken Temperance. We’re going out to fight it, and hopefully kill it,” he says, before kissing her on the cheek.

Maize frowns as she returns the kiss. “I don’t think this is such a good idea...”

“Yes, I know. I probably won’t come back. Take care of our foal, and Serenity. She’s the only pony with skill in weapons that is smart enough not to go up there and isn’t being forced. You’ll need her help if the discordants come before you are reinforced.” He smiles at her. “I know you, and our foal, will do me proud.”

Maize puts her hooves around him. “You don’t have to go.” The way she says it almost sounds like a request.

“Oh, I have to go. I signed up for this stuff,” he smiles, a little sadly this time. “And I was the one who made the plan. Be a little demoralising to have me back out of it now, eh? Don’t worry. I’ll try to get as many ponies out intact as I can. Redhat’s almost ready to take over from me anyway. Just those two twins I’m worried about.”

“No.” Maize holds him tightly. “You come back. You. I can’t live without you. We can’t live without you.”

“You can, and if you have to, you will.” He grips her tightly. “Swear that to me, Maize. Now. Swear that you’ll go on if I die.”

“That’s not a promise I can make.”

“Make it, Maize!” says Praetorian. “You need to make it at some point. Even if I survived this, any discordant’s blade could end my life. I won’t have you dying to join me!”

“Prae-Prae,” Maize starts, “I really doubt there’d be much hope for my life if you don’t come back, even if I don’t end it myself.” She looks him in the eyes. “I’m not going to make a promise I know I can’t keep, even if it hurts.”

“Maize.” Praetorian holds her head in his hooves. “Serenity is still there. She’ll need you. Our foal will need you. You need to keep going through this, even if the worst should happen. Please. For me.”

Maize sighs. “Fine. But only if you promise that you will try, no matter what, to come back to me. Hopefully in as few pieces as you can manage.”

“Of course, Maize,” says Praetorian. “I promise you, if I can, I’m coming back. Not even a dragon can stop that.”

Maize smiles. “How could a mere dragon stop my Prae-Prae?” She gives the stallion a long, hard kiss.

Praetorian holds the kiss as long as he can, and finally breaks it with a smile. “Don’t worry, Maize. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

Maize nods, and sends her soldier off with a few pats to the flank. “Don’t forget to write,” she jokes.

He laughs, a little, and moves off to the next pony he was looking for, Serenity.

The mare in question is already searching for him. Serenity pushes her way through the crowd, the curious parasol floating by her side. “Praetorian!”

“Serenity!” he calls out. “Good. I was looking for you.”

Serenity rushes forward, throwing her forelegs around his neck. “I came for you as soon as I heard! Is it true about Temperance?”

“Yes, he’s been taken by a dragon. We’re going after the dragon now,” says Praetorian. “I don’t expect most of us to come back. You’ll need to look after Maize, alright?”

“Of course I will.” Serenity glances around at the civilians arming themselves. “This is insanity, he’s sending innocent ponies off to their deaths! Surely you could handle this on your own.”

“I don’t think we can handle this. It’s a damned dragon. Most of us will die. If we’re lucky, we’ll scare it off and it won’t come back again.”

Serenity grasps his muzzle with a hoof and pulls him down to meet her eyes. “No. You can handle this. You will defeat this monster, and you will come back alive. For her. Understand?”

“I’ll do my best. But if I don’t come back, you will have to take charge here. You’ll be the only pony left with any skill in weapons. Protect them. Protect her. Swear it.”

She stares hard into Praetorian’s eyes for a moment, before answering. “...I swear.”

“Good. Now don’t worry. I’ll probably be back by tomorrow, at the latest,” says Praetorian.

Serenity hesitates for a moment, glancing around at the crowd, before grabbing Praetorian by the collar and pulling him into a long, deep kiss.

Praetorian holds the kiss for as long as Serenity wants, then pulls away. “See, now I’ve got to come back, to get another of those,” he jokes with a smile.

With a smile and one last glance, Serenity trots off to find Maize.

Praetorian goes off to join the soldiers who were ready for the battle.

Lightning Runner spotted Sweet Potato, in the back of the crowd, hovering just high enough to see above everypony, he quickly flew off to her, making sure no to hit anypony on their head with his hooves “Sweetie!” He called out

“Lightning!” Sweet Potato responded, flying over to him “Please don’t go... I don’t want you leave me...”

“I have to, it is my job... I don’t like it but I have to, to rescue Temperance... just hold onto the memory of me if I don’t come back” Lightning put with hooves over Sweet Potato’s shoulders

“I know... Just be safe, okay?” A tear formed in Sweet Potato asked

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine... now I need to go before somepony notices I’m out of formation” Lightning flew back to his spot in formation, Sweet Potato waving at him in the distance.


(takes deep breath ...)

[DVNO]

( ... PART 2)


Carn swoops down and into the cave with one swift glide, not even bothering to close the magical circular door. Now he knew he was in trouble and time was short. He lands and flicks the pony with all the answers on to the hallway floor with a single motion. “Alright. Unlatch your tongue.” He sneered.

Temperance collapses immediately after being released.  He clutches at his chest where the dragon’s tail had been all but crushing his bones.  He chokes and coughs for a few seconds before scrabbling away from the dragon as much as he can.  He says nothing at first, merely looking at the dragon in terror.

Carn taps his foot, impatient. “Yeah, yeah. I knocked the wind out of you. Yeah, I’m a big scary monster. Got yourself composed yet, Scribebakes?” He asked. “I have a bone to pick with you.”

Temperance wheezes for a short while before swallowing hard.  “Wh-what do you want with me?”

“What happened to Maxwell Yellowfeather?” He bellowed, the veins in his skull visibly popping.

Temperance cowers again, covering his head and hugging the ground as the dragon shouts at him.  When silence falls, he looks back up.  “M-Max?  Max the griffon?  H-how do-”

“Heh, How do I know him. Uh, who do you think I am?” Carn asked rhetorically, flame jetting out of his nostrils. “I’m Mr Yellowfeather!”

Temperance could do nothing but stare in disbelief.  A few seconds passed.  Maybe half a minute.  Then the pieces started falling into place.  “Gasis above...”

“Is he alive? Is he dead? Are you torturing him down there? What is happening down there, Temperance? I thought you were going to keep him safe?” He said in a panic, shuffling up and down the hall. “ I thought he trusted you! What happened?”

“He... he’s alive,” Temperance began, sitting up slightly now that he was somewhat convinced that the dragon wasn’t going to eat him imminently.  “He’s badly hurt though.  He’s being treated by our doctors.”

“And how did that happen?” The Dragon asked, rhythmically tapping his left pointer claw on the hall floor aggressively.

How to word this delicately...  Temperance took a deep breath.  “It was a discordant pony.  We were ambushed by a dozen of them one day a couple of months ago, and Max was the first one that they ran into.  The soldiers got to him just in time to save his life.”

“I’m sure ...” Carn said cautiously, lowering his voice. “But, Max is fine? He’s fine? Tell me he's fine. He’s going to be able to fly out of this deathtrap?” He said worriedly, the tapping becoming faster.

“I... I’ll be honest.  I’m not a doctor.”  Temperance moved into an awkward sitting position, trying to avoid agitating his aching ribs.  “But they told me he’ll be fine.  He’s already made significant improvement.  They told me he should make a full recovery.”

Carn studied the pony intently for a while, his lip still stiff. Suddenly the dragon exhales and deflates, his aggressive posture dissolves away into a slouch as he leans back on a hall pillar. "I should have been there to pull him out of the fire ..." He said with a gasp, at a loss. He clenches his fists. "I should have torn those discordants in half."

“None of us knew it was coming until it was too late,” Temperance says, wincing a bit with each breath.  “Even if you were there... I don’t know if it would have made a difference.”

Carn noticed Tempeance still wheezing a bit. "Sorry 'bout that." Carn said apologetically, a little more calm now. "Here. I got something of a painkiller back here somewhere." He gestured to an half-broken granite table. "Please, sit. Be my guest while we talk though this like, how do you say it? 'Gentlecolts'."

Carn stomped over to his hoard. He fished around and grabbed a bottle of bourbon and a mug in his palm. He carefully set the bottle on the table and slid the mug to temperance with a single scaly finger, as if the mug was a thimble. He grabbed an entire barrel of rum and cracked the top like a beer can. "You married, Temperance?" He took a swig.

Temperance nodded and looked at the mug apprehensively.  He didn’t drink... but was he about to say that to a dragon?  “I am... one filly too.”

"Then you know that while what you say may be true? It doesn't take a single ounce of the sting out."

Temperance frowned slightly and nodded again.  “No, I’m sure it doesn’t.  If Morning Dew or Mountain Dew were hurt, I’d be very upset even if I knew they were going to be alright.”

Carnith groans. “ ... Just ... Max put a lot of trust in you ponies, and I put a lot of trust in Max. I’d say too much sometimes. He could have been wrong. Something went and gone wrong down in Duskfields. I possibly overreacted about all of this ... but I just needed an answer.”

Temperance continued to glance at the mug, wondering if he should partake of the dragon’s hospitality.  He took a tiny sip and cringed a bit.  “It... don’t worry about it.  I don’t suppose you had many options here.  About Max, I mean.”  He decided to avoid drinking any more of the alcohol.  “He’s a good guy.  We’re doing everything we can for him.”

Carn snorted. “Damn straight he’s a good guy. If it weren't for that ... charisma? Whatever it takes to just walk up to a strange band of ponies and trust them to the point of his life ... We should have been gone months ago. But he had this crazy plan ...” Carn looked around. “So, secrets out, I guess.” He stretches his arms out wide, gesturing to the hall and himself.

He laughs nervously.“ Heh, Max and I we, uh, we had a lil’ bet. I’d like to know something, so I can tell him when he’s out of the hospital.” He laughs a little harder. “So, Max and I, Moving into Duskfields, was there ever a shot at all?” His laugh faded into a bittersweet grin. “Cause’ that’s why he was helping you all this time, you know. Just waiting to squeeze this all into a casual conversation somehow ... Yeah, he’s a good guy like that.”

The pony looked a little surprised, and swirled the liquid in his mug a moment.  “That’s why he was hanging around?  I... guess that makes sense.”  He frowned slightly.  “You... seem like a dragon that can appreciate honesty.  Max living in Duskfields was already not a problem... but a dragon... I’m not sure how...”  He looked back up at Carnith.  “I... I don’t think you’d hurt anypony on purpose.”  He’d probably have killed him already if he wanted to.  Little was stopping him.  “But... convincing everypony?  And all of the visitors...”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Carn said while sloshing his keg. “But no, Carnith. The ponies aren’t going to rip the horns out of your head, Carn. I can find a happy medium, Carn.” The dragon mimicked in Max’s voice endearingly. He chugged the keg and threw it into the large pile of likewise empty kegs that had been accruing since Max went missing. “When can I visit him in the hospital?” He said, wringing his claws. “I need to see him.”

Temperance thought for a moment.  “If you really want to see him right away, I can probably arrange for something.  Giving the others a bit of fair warning would go a long way toward seeing a dragon.  If you can wait a few days, maybe a week, then he should be well enough to leave himself.”

 The dragon nodded.“And no ‘accidents?’ No accidental militia alarms? No crazed zebra hunters taking a pot shot at my hide?” He crosses his arms. “A total ceasefire for one day on my kind?”

Temperance nodded.  “Just give me a chance to talk with the others.  I promise .”

Carn looked at him, in deep thought. “I would be in a debt, Temperance. I ... I can’t ‘trust’ you. Not until I get a signed apology from Virtue could we even begin on the road of being ‘friends’. But, I can start to see now what Max had been seeing all along ...”

Temperance remembered the dragon mentioning something about his sister from before, but was so scared out of his mind at the time he couldn’t remember what exactly.    “How do you know my sister...?  What did she do?”

“Ajaxia Thrak.’ He said, glancing away. “Slain by a pony named Tharissa or some other, in service to Virtue of Dawnpick.”

“Dawnpick?  Wait... you mean Sarissa?”  Temperance didn’t know the details of the fight, but that particular letter did stand out in his mind.  The dragon that attacked Dawnpick did a lot of damage, but pointing that out seemed to be counterproductive right now.  “I... I see.  I’m sorry about that,” he said with a small frown.  He looked aside.  “I have no intention of seeing such a tragedy happen again.”

“That’s the one.” Carn said at Sarissa’s name.  “However, this little fact isn’t going to get me any closer to Max’s hospital bed, therefore it’s tabled between us for now.” Carn rubbed his face. “I have no intent of causing a tragedy either. I just want to see my bird.” There’s a long silence. Eventually, Carn gestures at the open cave door. “Your friends? Should be here soon to claim you back, I’m sure. You’ll vouch for me when they come that this is all little misunderstanding blown out of proportion?” He asked.

“You have my word,” Temperance said simply.  Flamberge had a temper problem, but he’d still listen to him about this.  Carnith didn’t seem to be a threat to Duskfields.


Flamberge, with the entire military might of Duskfields, and all the volunteers from the militia behind him, follow Redhat out of town, into the forested mountains.

Redhat almost misses the entrance to the cave at first, if not for the telltale stair like stones leading up the mouth. There is a yard of open plateau before the  right side of the cave is stopped by a sheet of granite. Beyond is the mouth, with the magic door open. There are some potted plants a few feet outside of the cave basking in the sun on the top stairs.
 
Distant voices can be heard coming out of the cave.

When they get in sight of the cave, Flamberge curses under his breath, this didn’t look as easy as he had hoped. The stairs leading up to the cave entrance where narrow, the yard or so of plateau at the top was too small, and there was no place to station the crosshairponies. It appears they had no real choice but to use Praetorian's plan anyway.

Flamberge stops and calls his captains together to finalize their strategy.

Flamberge begins speaking, "Praetorian, your squad takes point, watch your step and keep an eye out for traps. We'll be needing your shields when the fire starts. Crossbow, your squad, and the militia are in the middle, I doubt wooden bolts will do much to it's scaled hide so aim for the face, mouth, eyes and anyplace else likely to hurt it.  I'll bring up the rear, with my squad, incase any griffins try to ambush us, if they don't we'll go over and around to join the spears in the front after the first volley. Everypony clear?"

Praetorian nods. “Clear, commander. Redhat, Bascinet, Epaulette. On me.”

Crosshair nods as well “Alright Commander, We’ll rain hell.”

The party approaches the cave entrance,  Redhat points out the trap he fell in last time and it is avoided, the spearponies lead the way wary of unexpected surprises.

Bascinet takes point, trying to act brave. Epaulette, instead, bemoans their fate. “Zis is going to end terribly.”

“We will be fine,” Bascinet replies. “We get to run, at least.”

Epaulette gives her a look. “You think we can outrun a dragon?”

“Maybe, but outflying it is the hard part” said Red, “Honestly, if we can’t finish this thing quickly, you me, everypony here and at the town are dead.”

“Quiet you three. Keep your eyes out for more traps.” He speaks a little more privately to Redhat. “Red, I’d rather you didn’t spook the new ponies. I want everypony here to be ready to stand against that beast, not ready to bolt in fear.”

“Fine, I just want you to know full well, that every pony that was allowed to volunteer for this essentially volunteered to commit suicide...”

“Yes. That’s why I’m here. Because if those ponies are willing to make that sacrifice, who am I not to do the same? But better that if they are with us, they aren’t ready to run. That will only make them an easy target,” says Praetorian.

“And what if they cower and run? They have no experience, and could even blow this entire mission with inexperience. It’s the militia’s job to keep civilians safe, not lead them on a death march.” 

“Yes, I know that. And that’s why we’re up the front. We’re to protect them, and hopefully let them kill this beast before it kills everypony you know and care about.” Praetorian shakes his head. “Redhat, I know you may not agree with this, but I would rather not stake everypony’s life on a forlorn hope.”

“I still wouldn’t bring any random joe and his uncle on a mission like this, I honestly expect if anyone survives this it’s only going to be the ponies who know what they’re doing.”

“So... not us,” Epaulette half-asks.

“You’ll survive this if you remember your training,” says Praetorian. “Keep your shields up, and strike when the enemy is vulnerable.”

“Just don’t get fire in your face, you’ll probably not die horribly.”

“And keep together,” reminded Praetorian.

“And keep behind me, if you are going to be such a scared little filly,” Bascinet throws in, earning a sneer from her sister.

“And keep behind me, and I’ll keep behind Praetorian.” said Red, half jokingly  “Just please don’t break down during all this...”

“Bascinet, Epaulette. You can fight between yourselves outside of battle. Now, and in battle, you will be the best of friends. Your lives, and the lives of everypony you care about, depend on that,” reprimands Praetorian.

The patched together army finds an immaculate hall made of marble.They see Temperance, sitting at a half-broken table, and the dragon, leaning against a pillar. The dragon’s head swerves around, his eyes locking on Flamberge’s own with an animosity.

“I’ll speak with them right away,” Temperance says as he stands and turns.

As Temperance turns he sees the full might of Duskfield marshaled before him.

“Temperance? Get down!” commands Flamberge, more than a bit surprised to see the pony still able to stand at all.

Crosshair quickly get into the firing line of her Marksponies and the civilian, Crossbows aimed at the majestic beast “Take aim!.... FIRE!” there were twangs and thunks as powerful crossbow bows were let loose, and just for today, Hell came in the form of dozens of wooden bolts.

Temperance looks equally surprised and refuses to get down.  “What?  No!  No, stop!” he shouted, waving his hooves.

The dragon throws a claw over his face reflexively as he is impaled by a thousand splinters. Carn looks down at his claw, pierced by three bolts. He watched the blood trickle. “Alright.” The dragon simply exhaled. ”Alright! If that’s the only language you ponies are going to understand, have at it!” He bellowed, flame licking out of the sides of his mouth at every syllable.

Temperance continues to wave his hooves madly.  “No!  No, st-”  He clutches at his sides and doubles over, unable to finish the sentence.   “..stop...” he mutters.

Carn steps back to his coin pile. He melts the gold in his palm and slings the molten metal at the ponies. The while hot metal makes them all stumble back an inch. The dragon gets on all fours, in a stalk. He looks like he’s about to charge. “Come on then.” Carn didn't want to hurt any of them. He just wanted them to scatter and know they have already worn out their welcome in his cave.

Flamberge in the air above the crowd shouts, "The dragon cowers before us! Everypony hold position and keep shooting!"

Carn rushes the line and bats Epaulette and Redhat across the hall with his forearm. He lets loose a jet of flames at Crosshair in a fury.



Seeing true hell in the form of dragon fire coming at her, Crosshair weren’t about to stay there. “Break!” She barked her order, having everypony in the way to break apart away from the fire as she dive to the side, but not quick enough before her cloak and bits of her tail caught on fire, unless looked from nearby, she might look like a pony on fire! Although she quickly throw her flaming cloak away. No matter how cool it is, it’s just too hot for her. And she had to swat at her tail against the floor to try and stomp off the fire, luckily it was just hair there.

“Crosshair!” Flamberge exclaims as her cloak catches on fire. He glares at the dragon with all the hatred a pony’s soul can muster, and lets out a battle cry that his squad takes as the order to engage.

With the dragon now engaged with the spearponies, the swordsponies all charge in, going around or over the crossbow users, and all according to plan, quickly surround the dragon, cutting for it’s wings and legs. Flamberge flies toward the dragon’s fiery maw swinging his blade like a madpony.

The dragon snarls as Flamberge’s flamberge sliced his snout. He shouts in pain as two spears jab him on every side! There are too many, too adamant. They won’t back down. He grabs Flamberge out of the sky and tosses him down the hall, Flamberge hits the onyx and marble floor down toward the gold pile with a skid. Carnith lashed around with his tail, bringing one of the pillars down with a wild strike. boulders come hurling down and a beam of light shines down from the broken ceiling. “Sky-rats! Mud-horses! Vile manipulators of the good and natural! All of you!”

Temperance recoils from crumbling stone that smashes into the ground next to him.  He looks back and forth frantically, unsure of what to do.  He’d clearly lost control.  “Stop...” he tries to shout again, but his voice doesn’t carry.

Flamberge drops his sword and tucks into a roll as he lands softening the blow. Upon stopping he instantly gets back onto his hooves and draws his knife. Like a rocket he blasts off again toward his reptilian foe and slams into the back of the dragons head, latching on with his legs and jabbing the blade in between the dragon's scales, missing the vitals, but causing bleeding and much pain.

Carn’s head jerks around sharply and he lets loose a roar. Carn was clearly panicked. He didn't want to fight! He didn't want any of these ponies to die! Max would be devastated! But he didn't want to die either. The talking plan has clearly been thrown out the bucking proverbial window. He took the one option he still did have.  With a stomp of his foot he causes an explosive mini-earthquake, knocking every pony back. He looks up at the newly made hole and smashes through it with a gust of his wings. Flamberge still held on as he took flight out of the new cave entrance. Carn could still feel the one sky-rat still on his neck. He bats at him like one would bat away a mosquito.

Flamberge maneuvers around, using his superior agility and wings to keep with the dragon, while avoiding the swats mostly, and holding on through those he can not dodge. Repeatedly stabbing the knife into different places on the dragon's neck and head, trying to hit something important, while dragon blood begins to mat his fur.


Carn arcs up farther and farther, all the way up to 13,500 feet. Then, he nose dives, twisting a wing to send him into a spiral. He tried his best to get this pony to unlatch, hoping the wind tunnel would send him careening.

As the dragon dives Flamberge pulls his wings in tight to the side, jabs the knife in as deep as he can while biting down on it, and holding on tight to the dragon, all trying to reduce the amount of drag on him as much as possible so to stay with the scaled demon.

A wing shifts and the dragon jets upwards again, barley saving himself from a ground collision at a mere 3,800 feet. He takes a hard left, and a hard right. Carn finally flings Flamberge off of him. “Stop this!” Carn shouted, hovering. He grabbed his profusely gouged neck in agony.

Flamberge, his black coat, and steel armor running red with dragon blood, looks unwilling to stop, his eyes smoldering with murderous rage.

Flamberge twists the knife around in his mouth so that it is pointing forward and flies forward again, this time he makes for the fragile membrane of the dragon’s left wing, knife first, intending to stab and slash his way through.

The wing is slashed twain, and Carnith feels as though an invisible floor fell out from under him. He spatters fire at Flamberge with nothing but a carnal hate in his gut. Okay, This pony could die. He wanted to take this pony with him at least. He gasps and tries to reach for something as his torn wings refuse to support him. He falls, falls down to the forest below.

After the dragon falls, Flamberge takes a few deep breaths and calms himself. He then flies down after the dragon to make sure it was dead.

Flamberge looks around the impact site. There is a crater in the forest, but there is no dragon. There is however, an audible low growl all around him. Flamberge bolts upward into the sky as fast as his wings can take him, taking evasive action in case of any fire that may be following him, and then flattens out his flight to search for the dragon in the woods.

 Suddenly, A set of jaws spring up from the forest and snatch Flamberge, the dragons razor teeth puncturing his armor like tin. Five sharp knives stab Flamberge in the midsection as Carn drags him down. As the wind is knocked from Flamberge with the blow, he drops his knife from his grasp causing it to fall somewhere off in the woods. Carn slams him repeatedly on the forest floor and then tosses him; His body slams clean through a small tree and collides into a larger burr behind it. “I - Just - wanted a peaceful solution to this!” Carn shouted. “Your friend! Temperance, He wanted you stand down!” He coughed out with some trouble. He lunged on him and took two swipes at Flamberge with his claws, one blow connected with the muzzle.

Flamberge tries to stand after the thrashing but his legs give out as the claw strikes him again. He once more begins to stand up, he coughs and spits blood from his mouth. His armor leaking yet more vital fluid from the punctured holes. He looks up at the dragon, his face contorted into a mad grin, despite the bleeding claw mark crossing his face. The pony seemed to be enjoying this.

Flamberge laughs then says to the dragon, "Temperance is a spineless fool, and you demon, you can't win this. This fight is over. You can't beat me. Nothing can. I am Flamberge! King among stallions! Leader of Duskfields! Slayer of countless beasts. I will end you like I have countless foes before."

Carn spits a little blood on the ground as well. He abstains from a killing blow and regards the pony with a sullen shake of the head. “Can you truly not see beyond your own bloodlust?” He asked with an amazement.

"I can see there is no greater threat to Duskfields than that which stares me in the face, I will make sure you never threaten anypony again. And when I'm done with you, I will cut your head from your neck and mount your skull on my wall." Flamberge retorts.

“Get over yourself.” Carn snarled. “So. You fancy yourself a dragon slayer. I can understand the reason why you want to go down in fire. But what have I actually threatened? How am I so evil?” Carn cried out.

Flamberge glares, “You have stolen from me once, and I will not stand to see you bring ruin upon my town.”

Carn scoffs. “You cannot even stand at all. Let alone stop me from doing what I please. Just walk away. I’ll collect Max, and I’ll walk away as well. It will be as simple as that. You can have your patch of worthless, badger pony infested dirt. I never cared about your precious town! Wanted none of it! I showed nothing but respect and restraint toward it. Just walk away ...”

Flamberge shakes his head, “Only one of us is going to be walking away from this, beast, and it won’t be you.” Flamberge spits blood on the ground between them, and now having been disarmed by the earlier attack, leaps up at the foe once more with bare hooves, flying straight at the beasts gaping maw, and breaking a fang lose with powerful strike. He catches the fang and turns it around to use as a dagger of his own, jamming it into the dragon's eye socket.

Carn made a terrified little grunt  as his eye was split in half. His head slammed to the ground as the tooth pierced his skull. “H-how could I expect any less?” Carn said in a nervous hiccup. The life in his eye slowly faded dark, his breathing slowly faded to a deathly rasp.

Flamberge raises a metal clad hoof above Carn’s head and slams it down onto the fang, driving it deep into the skull, like a hammer with a nail, quickly ending the dragon’s life.

The pegasus pony, exhausted, and bleeding profusely, collapses on top of the slain dragon, unable to muster the strength to stand, waiting and hoping his allies would find him soon. While his whole body was racked with pain, Flamberge had a smile on his face. As he passed out, he could swear he heard Crosshair shouting...

“Commander!” Shouted Crosshair again as she flew in with her squad of marksponies, at least the ones that could fly. Finding the wounded bleeding pegasus on the slain beast, she let in a quick gasp before heading right towards him. “Get the bandages, Now!” She ordered as she practically tear his armor off of him to apply pressure on his wounds to try and slow the bleeding, She’s no doctor, but she know that letting him bleed to death isn’t an option here.

As Crosshair strips him of his armor, Flamberge comes slightly back to this world, "Crosshair?” he looks up at her confusedly, “...Are you dead too?" he asks half delirious.

“No Flamberge, I’m not dead, and neither are you! We’re going back to Duskfields together, you’re going to survive and you’re going to see your foal born!” The Markspony sobbed as she catches the bandage from her squad and begin to wraps them around Flamberge’s wounds, tightening them and offering prayers to whichever gods out there that her Flamberge may survive.

“Oh...good....where’s...where’s my sword?” mutters Flamberge before sleep takes hold of him once more.


Back at the cave, Temperance was finally beginning to recover from the shock of having a miniature war erupt around him despite his best but pathetic attempts to stop it.  All of the soldiers appeared to have suffered minimal or no injury, so his mind immediately drifted to the next topic at hoof.  “He didn’t listen... none of them listened...” he says as he stares up into the hole in the ceiling.

He glances out of the cave mouth, and despite the sinking feeling inside he starts in its direction.  There was no way the fight could have ended acceptably.  Either the dragon was dead, or Flamberge was and the dragon would no doubt attack him on sight.  But, he had to try.

Temperance points back at the hoard of treasure and says to the soldiers left, “Don’t touch it.  None of you lay a hoof on any of it.”  He then trots outside with a slightly stilted gait from his aches.  He didn’t even know where to begin looking...

(8418 words)

[Telgin]

and

Temperance slowly approached the door to Max’s hospital room.  He did not want to have this conversation, but he knew nopony else in Duskfields was going to.  None of them could.  He glanced at Yari, who shrugged at him and stepped aside to allow him entry without a word.  At least that much was simple.  He knocked twice and cracked the door before peeking inside.  “Max?”

Max jumps at the sound of the knocks. Finally, somepony to explain why he’s been shuffled away by some guards. He sits up from his bed, being careful with his still slung arm. “Yes? Who’s that? Temperance?”

“Ah, yes, it is,” he responds, stepping into the room.  “Uh... h-how are you?” he asks, unable to completely mask the enormous amount of unease he was feeling.  It didn’t look like anypony had told him what happened yet.

He shrugs modestly. “Not bad. Can’t wait to get out of this hospital. How about yourself?” He cocks his head to the side and regards him with one blue eye. “Something the matter? Can I help?” He said, truly oblivious.

“I-I... I’ve been better,” Temperance replies, taking a few steps further into the room after shutting the door behind himself.  “H-has nopony told you what happened a few hours ago?”

Max shook his head. “No, I’ve been under. My arm, didn’t reset right. Case had to adjust some things. Took near all day.” He laughs. “But it’s fine. It’s all fine. I’m going to be able to fly soon, Case tells me.” His eyes glisten. “ It’s been so long since I‘ve been back to the cave. I - I can’t wait for business to get back to usual, really.”

Temperance continues toward Max slowly, whispering a prayer to Nirmek for Max to forgive him of what he was about to tell him.  He debates if it was wise to be within Max’s reach, but he chances it.  “Yeah... a-about that.”  His eyes lower to the floor and he fixates on a knot in one of the floorboards.  “A-a dragon flew into town this morning.  H-he grabbed me and took me back to his cave.”  Temperance continues to stare down at the floor instead of Max.  “Y-your cave.”

Max’s eyes dilate back to tiny black pins in fear. His heart froze still and the world stopped cold. “ ... and you’re still in one piece.” Max observed. He closed his eyes and locked his claws together. He felt barely there, felt like he was going to keel over.“I have faith you handled the situation? The ... dragon in my cave left for good?” He looked up at Temperance with a pleading. “No one was hurt?”

Temperance looks everywhere in the room but Max.  He is silent for some time, before finally saying, “There... there were some injuries.”  He sighs heavily.  “He... he explained everything, Max.”

Max twists his head to the right and tears stream down his eyes. “I am so sorry some ponies were hurt because of me!” He gasps. “ I am sorry. I am so sorry. I understand the guards outside now.” He puts his claw on his chest. “I completely understand. I completely understand if you’re upset with me, Carn and I, we’ll fly off as soon as I’m able without a word.  It’s all my fault ... ”

Temperance felt a tiny sting in his eyes as he fought back tears of his own.  He manages to succeed for the moment.  “No, no... everypony will be alright...”  He wrestles with his own mouth to continue.  “Max... Carn... I-I... the soldiers were the ones... wh-who found the cave.  I-I g-guess Redhat told them...”

Max rasps deeply. “ ... Okay. Okay. So he flew off without me when the soldiers came, when he was injured.That was always the backup plan - incase things went south. Okay. I can live with that.”

Temperance swallows hard and looks Max in the eyes, slowly shaking his head.  “He... he tried.  I tried... I tried as hard as I could to get them to leave him alone.”  He blinks back tears.  “He’s gone, Max.”

Max ignores the statement completely, continuing.. “ ... We have a place, a hill where we like to watch the sun set. He’ll be there, that’s where we said we’d meet back up if there was ever trouble. He’s there, that’s where I need to be...”

No choice but to just say it, it seemed.  Temperance continues to shake his head.  “No, Max.  He’s dead.  I... I saw him.”  He chokes a bit.  “I’m so sorry...”

Max pauses completely, jaw agape.  He gave him a look that pierced his soul. Not a look of anger, or fear. Just a look or sadness that betrayed a bottomless disappointment in Temperance. “No ....”

The pony’s ears go limp and he nods.  “I... I’m so sorry...”

“I ...” Max bit his bottom  beak. His demeanor wilts away into something quiet, and fragile. He cups his head in his shaking claw. “ ... ”

Temperance for his part can think of nothing to say or do.  He simply hangs his head and looks away.  So many small things could have gone differently to spare Max this terrible news...

Finally, Max looked back to him. “Thank you for notifying me, Temperance. It’s the least after all I’ve done afterall.” He said, voice cold as steel. “I’m sure you did everything in your power to keep Flamberge from taking a hold of the situation.” He lashed out, barely keeping his composure.

“I did!” he pleads in turn.  “I did everything I could!  It-it just fell apart faster than I even knew what was going on!”

“So how long is the Commander and his needy lil’ spouse going to be in the stockade for this?” Max asked, knowing full well the answer.

Temperance collects himself slightly and frowns.  “They won’t be charged.”

“Doing everything in your power, huh? What a statement.” The griffon drawled in contempt. He winces. “I’m ... I’m sorry, I just need some time  ... you know what? I’m not sorry. I’m furious. They get to walk away like nothing happened?” 

“You don’t understand...” Temperance begins, taking a step back.

He cocks his head incredulously. “Oh, I’m pretty sure I understand completely.”

To be fair, he probably did.  Temperance has no idea how else to word it though.   “I really am doing everything I can...” he says in a weak voice.  He was planning on doing more than he really should.  What little difference it made.

“Not enough.” Max said while shaking his head, at a loss. “Just not enough.”

Temperance’s head drops lower.  “I know...  I know...”  He raises a forehoof to his head.  “I’m sorry...”

Max gestures at the door listlessly. “So am I under arrest, with the guard and all? Haven’t puzzled that one out still.”

“I intend to sort that out,” Temperance says with a bit more resolve in his voice.

“You best and get it done, then, before I get the impression Flamberge posted ‘em there.” the griffon muttered in disbelief. He put a shaking claw back up to his head. Tears start streaming.  “Just ... Go. I need some time...” He choked.

Temperance sighs heavily again, nods, and turns to leave.  He says nothing to Max as he exits, but upon running into Yari again, he says, “Don’t let anypony bother him unless it’s life or death.  And if he needs somepony, come get me.  Alright?”

She looks back indifferently.  “Yes, sir.”

[KingStrongbeard]

, and

When Flamberge next opens his eyes he sees he is back in Duskfields, in a bed, in a room he recognized as part of the hospital. The morning sunbeams reach through the window, the light having woken him. At his side, hunched over his bed and still sleeping was Crosshair.

Flamberge tries to stretch but that pulls on the stitches on his torso, causing a bit of discomfort. He touches his face and feels the bandage there as well. Flamberge thinks trying to remember how he got here. He remembered the dragon. He could remember flashes from the fight, flying into the sky, cutting it’s wing with his dagger, the fall, the bite, the final blow. It was odd, Flamberge thought, that he could remember such details from the battle, something he had never been able to do before with other conflicts.

He then remembered the treacherous griffin that was behind all this. That had let this monster exist so close, without warning them. He climbs out of his bed to find and talk with this Max. As his weight on the bed shifts Crosshair awakens.

“Nnm... Flamberge?” Mumbled his pregnant mare as she awakens slowly, yawning and rubbing her eyes softly.

Flamberge continues looking around the hospital for the griffin, checking each room in turn while delivering a barrage of questions to his mare, “Captain Crosshair, where is Max? What did you all do with that traitor after I blacked out? How long have I been out of it? What’s happened since I killed that monster?”

“Woah woah, slow down, Commander. Max has been incarcerated already, he’s in that room.” she gestured. “I posted a guard there to make sure he’s not going anywhere, but he’s still hurt so he’s needed to stay in the hospital. And you’ve been out of it for a whole day! I was worried that you might not wake up,” Crosshair answered as best as she could.

Flamberge tries to think, but his mind was still foggy, he then exclaims, “Temperance! Temperance was alive when we got there! Did he make it back?”

“He did!” Crosshair nodded “He’s fine, Commander.”

“Good, good. I need to talk to him, right away Captain,” replies Flamberge, heading towards the door.

Crosshair gently grabs onto her commander. “Not yet, Flam. You need your rest and I’m not taking no for an answer.”

“This is important Cross, it can’t wait for these cuts to heal, if you won’t let me leave here, then you’ll just have to bring him to me,” suggests Flamberge.

“Alright, I’ll bring him here. But please, get back to bed and rest, alright? You can’t go around walking with those wounds like that!”

Flamberge yields and returns to his bed.  Several minutes later, Crosshair returns with Temperance.  The stallion frowns a bit as he sees Flamberge’s wounds, and he sits where Flamberge can look at him with a minimal of moving.  “You wanted to see me, commander?” he asks, knowing full well why already.

Flamberge was resting in his bed as Temperance enters. “Yes, Temperance, I am very sorry about laying down on the job, but with the circumstances...” he attempts a little humor, then quickly says, “I need to know what all happened after I blacked out, and I assumed you would be the best pony to tell me.”

“It’s alright, I understand,” Temperance replies at first, with a small and nervous smirk.  “I’m not sure what all to tell you really.  It’s been about a day.  The guards are watching Max...” he says in a slightly dejected tone.

Flamberge begins questioning Temperance, “Were there any other casualties from our attack? I didn’t get to the see the aftermath of part of the roof collapsing.”

Temperance shakes his head.  “No.  There were a few minor injuries, but the other soldiers have all been patched up already.  Carnith was the only one killed.”

“Carnith?” Flamberge quirks an eyebrow before he realizes, “Oh, you mean the dragon. Yes, and what was done with the dragon’s corpse? Was it left in the woods?”

Temperance sighs and nods.  “Yes, his body is still where he fell.  I’ve got a few volunteers to help deal with that, but there hasn’t been nearly enough time.”

“Help deal with that? What did you have planned?” questions the Commander. “It’s far enough from town that the smell shouldn’t be a problem...still, when I get out of here, I’d like to go and take the head. The skull’s probably a bit large for my room, but I thought it would look good over the gate, as a symbol of sorts.”

Temperance balks visibly.  “You... what?  No.  No, no, no.  We’re going to bury him if at all possible.  I’m not going to let his body be defiled like that...”

Flamberge looks confused. “And why not? It’s a dragon. A monster. Not somepony’s pet.”

“A monster...”  Temperance’s face shifts to a distinct frown.  “Flamberge... have you ever spoken with a dragon?”

"I spoke with this one. He thought he had beaten me. Ha!" Flamberge winces as his laugh pulls on the stitches in his side. "He tried to bargain with me, I can only guess what his game was."

“Yes... well...  I’m not sure I understand it completely...”  Temperance turns a nervous eye to Crosshair, then back to Flamberge.  “Let’s say Crosshair disappeared for several weeks, and you thought you knew where she was.  Somewhere you weren’t welcome.  Somewhere you were hated and would probably be attacked on sight.  What would you do?”

"Well, I suppose I'd either storm the gate or take a hostage to negotiate, depending on whether or not I thought they'd kill her," replies Flamberge.

Temperance doesn’t move a muscle.  “Then you understand exactly what Carnith’s ‘game’ was.”

Crosshair tilted her head slightly. “What are you suggesting, Temperance?”

“Max,” Temperance says plainly.  “Carnith was looking for Max.”

"Well, that's not a big surprise seeing as we found it in the bird's cave," Flamberge answers dismissively.

“I... I don’t think you understand,” Temperance says, shaking his head.  “Carnith was Max’s friend.  A very good friend,” he adds, nodding toward Crosshair, then back to Flamberge.

"Clearly," Flamberge states. "If Max would risk our safety to protect that thing, which brings me to the next question, what should we do with him?"

Temperance sighs mentally as Flamberge completely misses what he was getting at.  Fine, that was straying into territory they didn’t need to be going into anyway.  “Nothing,” he says.  “He suffered the loss of his best friend.  When he’s well enough to leave, that’s exactly what we should let him do.”  Temperance looks aside.  “That’s what he wanted to do anyway.”

Flamberge nods, "Well, no pony died, so I suppose exile is fair enough. And I doubt the bird himself was the mastermind of any plot they were cooking up anyway."

“Exile?” Temperance asks, mildly confused.  “No... I mean let him leave if he wants to.  I don’t imagine he’s got much to go back to now.”

Flamberge looks surprised and confused, "Are you seriously suggesting we let him go unpunished for this!?"

“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Temperance insists.  “I spoke with Carnith.  The two of them were planning on leaving as soon as Max returned to his cave.”  He raises a hoof to his chest.  “He snatched me because he was trying to communicate with us in the only way he felt he could.  You know full well what would have happened if he just landed in the courtyard and started asking for Max.”

“It.. wouldn’t turn out as bad as landing right into your office, snatch you up and fly away. Right?” Crosshair suggested.

"Didn't do anything? Indeed he didn't. He didn't warn us we had a dragon nearby. He didn't tell anypony that if he wasn't able to go back to that cave that we'd be attacked. He didn't prepare for the possibility of that BEAST taking one of us like it did. The ONLY reason I'm even entertaining the idea of exile, instead of worse, is because I assume the dragon had threatened him into it." Flamberge explains.

Temperance takes a deep breath.  “Flamberge... I understand that you’re looking at this in a different perspective than I am... but what would have happened if he did tell us about the dragon?  Half of Duskfields would have fled or been in a mob wanting his head.”  Temperance keeps his hoof against his chest.  “And if Carnith did want to hurt us, don’t you think he’d have done more than give me a few bruised ribs?  He could have easily killed or eaten me before you got there.  He and Max just wanted to live peacefully!”

“Yes, Temperance. But we didn’t know that, did we? We expected the worst when something like this happened. You’ve got to understand this, when there’s a big fire-breathing can-chop-you-up-in-one-bite Dragon that came out of no where and stole our Leader, well. I suppose you didn’t expect us to go offer him cupcakes and sandwiches in his cave, do you? And I believe if Max have had told us about the Dragon, we’d at least be open to listening and give him a chance. Sure we might not trust him right away, but that can’t possibly be as bad as him ponynapping you out of nowhere unexpected.” Crosshiar reasoned.

“I-I know,” Temperance replies.  “I know why you attacked Carnith.  If I was in your position I have no doubt I’d have done the same.”  He looks away from both of them.  “I tried to stop you... but it was too late.  But this isn’t about that... Max has already lost enough, we shouldn’t just throw him out there with the discordant ponies alone!”

“Well.. I suppose a death of a really good friend is punishing enough.” Crosshair nodded. “A dead bird is a useless bird, after all.”

Flamberge rubs his forehead with a hoof and says, " Fine, fine. You both are being too soft on him, but I'll wait till he can defend himself before passing judgment."

“Defend himself?  Pass judgment?”  Temperance raises an eyebrow.  “Flamberge, you’re the military commander, not a judge.  Until we get a judge out here, I am the king’s stand in for passing judgment, and until I receive evidence that Max was plotting something, I’m dropping it.”

"You!?" exclaims Flamberge, "You're just middle-bucking-management, my orders are to keep this town safe and without a judge, or a member of the nobility here, I'm the one in charge of dealing with such threats, and he isn't off the hook until I say so!"

Temperance recoils at the outburst and takes two steps away from the angry pegasus.  What, did he have to go get the papers signed by the king?  He considers it for a moment and decides against provoking him any further.  Maybe after he cooled off some he’d be more rational.  “Fine.  Fine,” Temperance says, narrowing his eyes at Flamberge.  “Do whatever the buck you want, Flamberge.  You’re going to anyway.”  He raises a hoof and points it at him.  “But you’re going to treat Max with all the respect you’d treat any pony in Duskfields.”

Flamberge narrows his own eyes at Temperance, and says, "Are you trying to give me an order?"

Suddenly, Temperance realizes that the level of respect that Flamberge gave him was all but nonexistent, so what was he expecting him to give to Max?  Still, he holds his ground.  “It’s the law,” he says coldly.

Crosshair hopped up between the two arguing stallions “Alright, alright, Break it up. As important as this thing is, the commander’s were still bit by a dragon and It’ll be best if he have some rest for now. You two should talk after you’ve cooled down, As Captain of the guards here I’m not about to stand here and watch two most important stallions in this fort strangling each others to death. So please, Temperance. Flamberge.” She said firmly with surprising authority coming from such a small mare.

Flamberge lays his head back down on his pillow and says, "Alright Crosshair. And Temperance I shall deal with him as I would any suspect foreigner."

“I’ll make sure he’ll be treated fairly.” Crosshair nods

Temperance lets out his breath and nods.  “Thank you.  Now, was there anything else?”

Flamberge sighs, "The gold in the cave... but I think I know what you will say about what we should do with it already."

Oh, probably.  “It’s not ours.  It belongs to Max now, and we’re not going to touch it.”

"Fine," answers Flamberge his dream of using the gold to import a mountain of steel falling apart around him.

"One more thing, what have the civilians been told about the situation?" he questions while keeping his eyes on the ceiling.

“I’ve barely said a word to any of them.  I don’t want to make this any harder on Max than I have to.  They know there’s a dead dragon out in the woods, and that you killed it.”

Flamberge nods almost stoically, "Good. That's all the questions I have for now."

Temperance nods in return.  “In that case, I’ll leave you two.”  He turns and starts for the door.  “Get well, commander.”

“Good day, Temperance.” Crosshair gave him a quick salute before returning to her commander’s side.

[Telgin]

Temperance's Journal - 11th Hematite, 271

I can say with no exaggeration that today and yesterday have been the worst two days in my life.  I'm very depressed right now, so I'm not going to write out extensive details.  In short, Max had a dragon as what I must assume to be his coltfriend.  That dragon lived out in the mountains.  He got worried when Max didn't come home, and abducted me to figure out why.

After a little chatting, he let me go and I promised he'd get to see Max and that Max was fine.  Except for the fact that the soldiers found the cave and killed Carnith before any of that could happen.  Yeah, you can probably imagine what telling Max was like.  I don't blame him one bit if he hates all of our guts and flies away at the first opportunity.

Add getting into a heated argument with Flamberge on top of it all, and I just want to go to bed and forget everything.  I'm starting to hate my job.  I get no respect from Flamberge, and that's making my life very hard.

Will it really be worth it?

18th Hematite, 271

When I was eating lunch this afternoon, I overheard something a bit shocking.  Apparently, everypony in town got together and decided that they needed a mayor... and they elected Convalescence.



Fine.  I guess that tells me what everypony thinks of my leadership over the past week.

I thought I was doing a pretty good job, but I guess not.  I mean, maybe I haven't made some of the best decisions around here, but I didn't think that the others thought they needed somepony else to make the decisions.  Is this because I let Max stay in Duskfields?  I thought the others were getting along with him alright.  Or is it because I let Flamberge have a bigger room?  Try telling him yourself that he can't have it!

No, it's probably because of the whole dragon thing.  What was I supposed to do?

I guess I shouldn't be so bitter about it.  Convalescence is a nice, smart mare.  She's friendly enough too.

Either way, it's probably a good thing that Morning Dew was busy in the fields during lunch, else I probably wouldn't have been able to keep how upset I was from her.  Tonight when I came home she knew something was wrong, but she didn't get it out of me what it was.  She's smart too, so I know she has to know.

It'll pass in a few days.  Maybe even I'll learn to appreciate Convalescence's help.

After we get an office set up for her...

21st Hematite, 271

Well, maybe she won't be taking up the reins too soon.  She gave birth again today to her second foal: an earth pony colt she and Patches named Elixir.  By now I've managed to more or less recover an air of normalcy regarding her election as mayor, so I was able to keep things fairly relaxed when I came by to see her and the newborn.  He was a big, strong colt, and Case Study said she was very tired after labor, so I left with that.

I wish the best for her and her family.  At least there are no patients right now, so she can relax like she needs to.

23rd Hematite, 271

Another colt was born this afternoon.  Pepper Flakes gave birth to her foal this afternoon: a little pegasus colt that she and Scimitar named Mace.  When I went by to check on them, I noticed that Scimitar wasn't there, and I found him out by the gates with the other soldiers on patrol.  I tried to convince him to take it easy, since he's still recovering from his wounds and had a new colt.  He agreed to head off to see the two, but I get the feeling he'll be back at the gates before the day is out.

I don't blame Flamberge for having the soldiers on patrol though.  It's been a few months since we last saw the badger ponies or discordants.  It can't be long before they return.


Hematite is ripe time for ambushes, so they're on alert.  Oh, and Splint, if you prefer another name for the little colt, just say the word.

11th Malachite, 271

Now that we've got stone to work with, we moved a few of the workshops around and have started actually planning that instead of the haphazard mess we had before.  That brings up an issue of space though, which I set Smoothblock to working on today.  I had her drain the murky pools that were taking up space, so that we can fill them in to open up space for some mason shops soon.



Things have been fairly slow otherwise.  We're still running low on wood, considering the incessant demand for it.  That's put finishing the housing on hold for the moment.  I'm considering opening up a northern gate to allow faster and safer access to those trees.  It opens up another entrance we have to guard though.

Maybe I should speak to Flamberge about it?

Actually, that reminds me of something else interesting that did happen today:



Crosshair gave birth to their foal this morning: a unicorn filly they named Crossbow.  I didn't want to intrude on the two, so I spoke with Bonesetter about it later over dinner, and he said that she was surprisingly small considering how large Crosshair got.  I hope the filly is alright.  He seemed to think she would be.

Crosshair herself fared very badly during labor, he said.  She lost a lot of blood and is very weak right now.



She made it through though, which is what counts.  In any case, I suppose the two will be off duty for a while.  I'm sure Praetorian can pick up the slack.  Maybe it'll be a while before we see any more thieves.

17th Malachite, 271

Everypony has somewhere to sleep again.  We were short just a single bedroom for Bascinet, so I went ahead and decided to convert the dorms over to a real bedroom.  Nopony needs it right now, so that seemed reasonable.  If we have any guests and they need somewhere to sleep, there's room in the hospital.

Now that we've got a bit of stone coming up out of the quarry, I'm starting to look at using stone for some future projects.  A temple and barracks are two big items that we've been waiting years for, but Smoothblock is the only pony here with any masonry skill at all.  I'll be sending word back to Coupledye to ask for some masons at some point in the future.

Just got the room for everypony, and I'm already asking for more.  I guess there's always need for more ponies.

20th Malachite, 271

Pumpkin Patch gave birth to her foal this evening, just a few hours ago.  The doctors told me that everything went well, and that the unicorn colt was strong.  She and Plastron named him Green Hills.

It's interesting.  It looks like all of the farmers are going to be out on maternity leave at the same time soon.  Pumpkin will be out for a while, and may not be back before Dew and Maize give birth themselves.

Everything should be fine though.  We've got close to a year's food stocked up.  It does remind me that we should probably get some stallions out there helping them soon, though.

22nd Malachite, 271

I spoke too soon, I suppose.  I haven't even had a chance to write a letter back home, and this morning Crosshair flew into town to let me know that a small caravan of new arrivals was on the way.  I greeted them at the gate, and was pretty surprised to see that there were 12 of them.  It took a while to get them all settled, but here's a list of who all showed up:

An elderly earth pony stallion woodcutter named Pine Straw,
An earth pony stallion mason named Marble Slab, and his wife,
An earth pony mare priest named Sacerdotessa,
A pegasus mare carpenter named Crosscut, and her husband,
A pegasus stallion swordspony named Gorget,
An earth pony mare dyer and weaver named Mauvine, and her husband,
An earth pony stallion farmer named Bountiful Harvest,
An earth pony potter named Underglaze, and his wife,
An earth pony mare spearpony named Pila, and their son,
An earth pony filly (nearly a mare) named Scarlet Swirl,
A unicorn stallion wood burner named Blast Furnace, and his daughter,
A unicorn filly named Strawberry Shortcake.

I suppose I don't need to break the news to the carpenters that they've got a lot of work cut out for them in the form of new housing.  The good news at least is that Pine Straw should be a big help to Holly with getting more wood cut down trees.

The masons were a fortuitous arrival, since we've got some stone to work with now.  They're going to have a lot of work ahead of them.  We could start on a temple next, but frankly I think building a new drawbridge in the northern wall is a better use of time and resources.  Once that's done, we can start trying to plan where to put a temple.

Speaking of a temple, Sacerdotessa, the new priestess, is an interesting pony.  Apparently she's Praetorian's sister.  The two spent some time chatting after she arrived, which is good.  She should get acclimated fairly easily then, I hope.

26th Malachite, 271

The drawbridge is finished, but we're still working on getting a lever hooked up to it so that we can raise it to shut the entrance off.  It does give us quick access to a small forest growing up there at least.



The marksponies and spearponies are currently watching Holly and Pine Straw cut down some of the trees.  Hopefully if anything unfriendly shows up in the mean time, they'll be enough of a deterrent to prevent an attack.  Or, more likely, hold them off until Flamberge and his squad can get there.

1st Galena, 271

Sacerdotessa is fitting in pretty well, but I caught sight of a somewhat amusing "conversation" between her and Sanctuary this afternoon.  If I learned anything from having a priestess as a mother, they can be pretty opinionated and defensive of their beliefs.  The two didn't really argue so much as quote a lot of religious texts at each other and try to trip the other up, but perhaps Duskfields is too small for two priests?

I'm not sure.  Maybe when the temple is finished the two can put their little differences aside and work together.

2nd Galena, 271

I'm pretty ashamed to admit it, but we're just now getting some soap made.  There have been a lot of failures along the chain, mostly losing my notes that it needed to be done, but Rosebud let me know today that she delivered some to the hospital.  I'm sure the doctors will be happy, even if this is quite late to actually help any of the currently recovering ponies.

Completely unrelated: we've also made progress toward filling the moat with water instead of air.  It won't really make a huge difference, defense wise, but what's a moat without water?



The pumps are being put into place now, and once they're ready, the aquifer which tested us so in the past will be one of our greatest assets.

9th Galena



Today was another one of those days that makes me want to admit that I can't do this, quit and go home like mom, dad and Virtue want me to.  It started out bad, and only got worse from there.  The start was when a giant simian monster with a single eye trundled toward us from the south, bellowing in some barbaric language none of us understood.

Crosshair was the closest to her, since she was flying a patrol at the time.  The fight started out fine, she says, since her first shot struck her in the head and put her down.  Based on estimates from an armory check later, she must have fired close to seventy bolts into the thing... but it just wouldn't die.


She actually went back to get more ammo to shoot it with.  And of course refused to shoot it anywhere lethal.

While that was going on, the badger ponies came back.  Up north, Bonesetter was gathering some colonies of bees to transport back inside when one jumped him.  He was bruised in the fight, but was fast enough to escape while the spear ponies came to his aid.  Praetorian slew the monster with a few precise strokes of his spear.  That was about the end of our good fortune.



More badger ponies arrived from the south.  One jumped Prodd as he went to help Crosshair kill the cyclops, and stabbed him in the stomach.  The markspony managed to get a single shot off and wounded the badger pony, but she then stabbed him in the head, and he went down.  She stabbed him several more times, grievously wounding him, before Flamberge got there and killed it by cutting it in half with a single swipe of his sword.



If that wasn't bad enough, Sanctuary was running outside.  Nopony knows what he was doing, since he was killed moments later.  Another badger pony stabbed him in the head, killing him instantly.  He was a kind and pacifist stallion... of all the ponies...



His wife, Aventail, was out there too.  She tried to get to him, but she was too late.  He was already dead by the time she got there.  I came running with my crossbow about that time, only to find that the battle was over and that she was weeping over his body.  I couldn't watch anymore, and slunk back inside.  I couldn't pretend to be a soldier after seeing that.  For a moment... just a moment... I saw Morning Dew there instead...

I now know full well why Virtue came to hate these monsters.  I didn't think she was capable of hating anything, but now I know why.

They've killed Sanctuary and wounded many ponies out here.  What, because they want to steal something shiny?

I'm so angry right now, I can't think straight.  Fine.  They want to steal something?  Let them have Flamberge's sword.  In their brain.

Nirmek have mercy on me... I need to just walk away.

17th Galena, 271



Well, I don't know what the zebras thought they'd find, but they arrived to find a bloody massacre on our front doorstep and in the way of their wagons.  We managed to clear the bodies out of the way to let them through, but after that they weren't in too much of a mood to trade.  Neither was I, really.

Still, job to do and all, so I did.

As before, I traded away a lot of food in exchange for some food we didn't have seeds for here, as well as a lot of metal objects that we can melt down for weapons and armor.  I hate that we need so much, but I'm utterly sick of seeing ponies getting hurt or killed.

After I traded with the zebras, I showed them somewhere they can stay for a few days while they wait for the risk of further badger pony attacks to die off.  I immediately went home after that, since I don't feel like working right now.

25th Galena, 271

Do I ever have good news to report anymore?  Today we were beset by yet another thief, this time a discordant pony.  He tried to ambush Cream Puff as she was helping to clean up some of the mess out front (I should probably talk with everypony and get better protocols set up for this).  It kicked her in the leg and gave her a very nasty bruise, but thank goodness she's a strong and determined mare.


The capital P is Cream Puff.  I remembered she's in a civilian squad with a crossbow, so she gets to put out a little punishment.

She fought back and gave the discordant pony a couple of nastier bruises in response with her hooves, and at that point we descended upon him.  I guess it was because of what happened just a few days ago, but we swarmed him like an angry bunch of parasprites and tore him apart with our crossbows.  All of the civilians I'd issued the weapons to came running, and there was little left after we were done.



I stood a long while, looking at the corpse.  I don't feel the least bit sorry for him.

Not after we buried Sanctuary.

I feel terrible.



26th Galena, 271

I'm starting to wonder if maybe this is just a joke.  Like we were sent out here to die or something.  We suffered yet another attack this morning.  Smoothblock and a few others: Cream Puff, Pepper Flakes, Convalescence and Heartfelt, were helping to drag some mudstone chunks up to the surface for the masons to start working on.

They ran into six discordant ponies: five armed with scourges and one with a spear.


5 lashers and a spearpony.  Normally, this would be cause to write off all of the unfortunate civilians right there.  However, feeling pity on them, I nerfed whips and scourges into oblivion before embarking.

Crosshair must have spotted them from the air, because she fired a shot from the training area all the way out to them and grounded one with that shot.  The remaining ponies started for the civilians, and led off by attacking poor Pepper Flakes.  Heartfelt told me that one of the discordants broke her leg with its scourge before biting her in the eye.



After that, Cream Puff attacked the discordant like a mare possessed.  She leaped atop him and beat him with her hooves until he couldn't move.  When the others joined in and started firing at the other discordants, they broke and fled.  It took some time for the soldiers to arrive, but they quickly dispatched both wounded discordants.



Pepper Flakes and Prodd are both in the hospital now being tended by the doctors.  She may be blind in that eye now, but she'll live, and has a long road to recovery.  Not as long as Prodd though.  He was badly wounded, but Case Study told me that he has something that should save his life.

I'm getting beyond sick of this eternal conflict.  Nopony else was killed, but I briefly saw Pepper Flakes being helped back inside by Scimitar, covering her eye but failing to hide the blood pouring from the wound.

I don't know if I'll be getting any sleep tonight.  If I thought it would do any good, I'd sit out on the walls all night and watch for more discordants coming to kill us.  But then I'd just get killed, and it wouldn't do any of us any good.

I hate to say it... I even hate to write it... but I wish mom was still here.  I could use some of her canned words of support.  I've heard them all a hundred times... but I'd take anything right now...

5th Limestone, 271

As if the discordant ponies attacking us wasn't enough, now we're hurting ourselves!

We were running low on wood again, so I authorized opening the northern bridge to allow quick access to that forest.  Well, we don't have established safety guidelines for how to use it, so Chaff opened it without verifying that it was safe.  Keen Edge was out there dragging a log up to the drawbridge, anticipating it to open.  Just not as soon as it did.

It struck him square in the head as it came down, knocking him out and probably causing severe and lasting injuries.  He's now in the hospital with the others under urgent care.  I thought for sure that three doctors would be overkill here, but looks like I was dead wrong.



Actually, he got tossed into the air.  If it landed on him he'd be dead.

I'm praying for his recovery as well as the others.  We've had amazing recoveries so far... I can hope for yet another.

I'll go check up on them all in the morning.

12th Limestone, 271

Prodd was released today.  I saw him in the tavern this afternoon while getting something to take to Morning Dew for lunch.  He looked terrible, but at least he's up and around.  I don't imagine he'll be back on duty for a long time yet.

The doctors here are absolute miracle workers.  That much is evident.

18th Limestone, 271

The other patients were released yesterday and today, which means that once again the hospital is empty.  For now, anyway.

Maybe we'll keep it that way for a little while.  To help improve our defenses, I've made sure that more ammo was made out of the wood we cut down, and that the moat is finally filled with water.  It took forever to get the pump system set up like we needed, but Epaulette and Bascinet started pumping this morning.

It'll take a few days to get it all filled, most likely, but it will be one more obstacle between us and attackers when it's finished.


You can also see where I filled in another pool with DFHack.

The new housing is out near the old garbage dump.  Nopony lives there yet, but we should probably relocate that before anypony does move in.  And maybe build a garbage compactor like the one I read about in Virtue's diaries.

9th Sandstone, 271

Just a small update on a couple of new projects.



First off is the temple we started near the northern entrance.  I wish we had something prettier to make it out of than mudstone, but it at least opens up the labor pool a bit since the masons can work on it in parallel with the carpenters on the new housing.  I'm sure once it's finished it'll look nice enough anyway.

The other project is that trash compactor I was talking about.  It'll let us get rid of a lot of junk a lot faster than just letting it sit out in the sun and waiting for it to fall apart or otherwise decay.  Virtue mentioned putting some safe guards up about the one in Dawnpick, so I've already taken the liberties of ordering that here.  A locked door and plenty of warning signs ought to do the trick.

Another update worth mentioning: Morning Dew must be getting close to her due date.  She's been very tired the last few weeks, and given her size I don't blame her.  I've given both her and Maize time off to use as they see fit.  I don't want either of them getting hurt or stressing themselves too much.

23rd Sandstone, 271

Today was the big day!  Morning Dew was walking with me to work this morning when she went into labor.  Let me tell you, having seen a battle unfold around you seems surprisingly mild when your wife and unborn foal's lives are potentially on the line.

I immediately ran and got Convalescence, who in turn grabbed Case Study and Bonesetter.  I sat with Dew throughout the process, which was every bit as stressful and painful for both of us as I'd heard it would be.  My hoof still hurts where she was squeezing it!

But, it was all worth it to see our new foal.  A unicorn colt.  It's a good thing Mountain Dew was a unicorn too, so we've got a bit of experience dealing with magical outbursts.  We had a few names picked out depending on if it was a colt or filly, but the name we decided on was Honor.  I think it fits him very well.

Not all of the news today was good though.  When Praetorian and Maize came to visit us this afternoon, they broke the news that they were planning on leaving Duskfields.  I... was not happy to hear that.  Not at all.  After speaking with them briefly, Maize told us that she didn't feel comfortable raising their child here, and to be honest, I can't blame her at all.  After what happened with Carnith, and the eternal attacks from the discordants and badger ponies, I feel pretty guilty sometimes not taking my family somewhere safer.  We'll make Duskfields safer, but if Praetorian and Maize don't feel they can raise a family here, I won't try to stop them.

We'll be seeing them off in the next few days.  I really don't want to see them go, but it's for the best.

I'm feeling pretty depressed about it all, but maybe I'm just tired.  Today has been a long day, for both Morning Dew and me.

[KingStrongbeard]

Flamberge staggers out of the hospital, at 4 in the morning,  his hooves are shaking. His mane and beard are unkempt and he has not slept.

He makes his way towards the apartment buildings and finds the door he was looking for, he knocks on the door saying,  "Cream Puff? It's Flamberge, can... can I come in?"

The only answer is a murmur and the sounds of a pony turning over in bed.

"Puff, please, it's about Crosshair. I have nopony else to turn to," Flamberge had an uncharacteristic sound of desperation in his voice, "please open the door."

“Sleep.  Go ‘way.”  She obviously doesn’t want to wake up, and probably didn’t hear the bit about Crosshair.

"Puff, Crosshair is dying. Please open up," he responds.

A loud thump from the other side of the door indicates Puff has fallen out of bed.  “What?!”  More thumps indicate her moving towards the door.

Flamberge begins his explanation, "When we left the tavern earlier after dinner... she went into labor," Flamberge pauses, "There were complications."

Puff finally reaches and unlocks the door, flinging it wide open.  “What happened?!”

"I don't know, she... she struggled for hours, but she couldn't take it, she went limp and blacked out... the doctors ordered me out... they are.... they're cutting her up as we speak to try and save the baby." Flamberge looks on the verge of hysteria.

Puff’s eyes go wide at that, then she motions for Flamberge to come inside.  Once he does she starts pacing, trying not to think about the worst.  “Ok... ok, we’ve got to stay calm.  Case and the others are really good at what they do... I’m sure they’ll save Cross and the foal.  We just... we need to stay calm.”  Puff looks very much like she’s not taking her own advice.

Flamberge enters and sits on the bed and places his face in his hooves muttering, "and if they don't? Without Crosshair..."

“They will.  It’s what they do!  You’ve seen the injuries they’ve treated!  A little... emergency C-section... is probably.... a walk in the park?”  Puff doesn’t sound too sure, but tries to put on a brave face.

Flamberge nods. "Dr. Case has worked miracles before," he says though he sounds unconvinced, "But... if the worst comes to pass, then I...I don't know how I'm going to raise a foal alone, and..."

“You just gotta stay positive.  Crosshair is tough, the doctors are skilled... it’ll all work out.”

Flamberge nods, he looks up at Cream Puff, for a moment he moves a few inches closer to her, but then remembering an earlier time he moves back and continues looking at the floor, "I just wish there was something I could do, but this isn't something I can fight off, there is no dragon to slay, no bad guy to battle. My father was right, I am just a useless thug."

Puff looks uncomfortable as Flamberge gets down on himself.  Him depressed isn’t really good... but she doesn’t really want him strutting around, either.  Still... he could use some cheering up.  “Hey, come on.  Everypony has stuff they can’t do.  You can’t levitate things, or bake a souffle, or grow crops, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of.  I can’t fight.  You can.  It takes all kinds of ponies to keep a town running.”

"Maybe," he says not sounding convinced, "Puff... is this my fault? I fathered the foal. Do you blame me?"

Puff gives him a sideways look, thinking.  “To be honest... it’d be really easy to blame you, Flamberge.  But I don’t.  Crosshair is a small mare... any pregnancy is risky for her, but she still wants a foal.”  Puff sighs.  “She wants your foal.”

Flamberge lays back on the bed, "She wants more too, or she did, but if she still does after this, I don't know..."

“She might not be able to after this.  You’d have to ask Case.”

"Is it bad that I almost hope that's the case? I don't want either of us to go through this again," he questions.

Cream Puff shrugs.  “I don’t know.  She’d hate not being able to give you more foals, but it’d be better than going through this again.”

Flamberge sits back up, and says, "I should probably go back by the hospital to wait for the news... Will you come with me Puff?"

It’s not like she’s going to be able to sleep right now.  “Sure.  Cross’ll love seeing a few friendly faces when this is all done with.”

[L1wW]

So I just woke up in the hospital... what happened anyway?

Okay I tried remembering after a few minutes and I got this:

There was an ambush, I saw Crosshair shooting at an ogre, I ran in to help, when I saw a badger pony to my right... I ran up and tackled him or her... it... I tackled it. It then stabbed me in the guts, that hurt. I shot my crossbow at it in reaction and got it in the leg... then... then a dagger was lodged into the right side of my head... I passed out...

I saw nothing but darkness and felt I was lifted off the ground and carried somewhere... probably the hospital... and then I woke up to write all this.

Man I must love ellipses or something... but... something feels off. I'm going to try to look over myself without moving too much, wouldn't want to mess with these bandages and stuff...

I'm fine, just a few bandages all over me and some stitches on my abdomen... hopefully noth Oh god

Oh god...

My

My right eye is gone!

It's gone!

GONE

WHY ME?! WHY ME?! WHY GODDAMNIT?!

I will never touch alcohol in my life! I will never hunt again! I will pray to a god!

If I can get my eye back and see through it again... goddamnit!

Why should I even care? I was a crappy markspony, I deserve to loose my eye...

I didn't train hard enough, why should I have crystal clear sight if I can't even hit the side of a barn!

I never socialized with anypony ... except the mare with the magical red hat...

Where is she? How is she?

 I can't see out of it...

Nothing, darkness... nothing but darkness...

I can't even properly gauge the distance from my hoof to my face with my good and only eye!

Can I still be a soldier? Can I still shoot without depth perception? Is this it?

Will I get kicked out? Can I still protect anypony from danger with just one eye?

I can't change a damn thing, I might as well wait for what the doctor has to say...

[KingStrongbeard]

It’s been about a week since Crosshair have delivered Crossbow, it’s a miracle that Crosshair survived the operation, and she’s thankful to be there and see her beautiful little foal in her forelegs, squeaking and nuzzling onto her lovingly like that as they both rests on top of the dorm’s roof. The new mother had made a rapid recovery from giving birth to the young unicorn, but the large scars on her from when the doctor cut her open to take the foal out might take years to heal, if at all.

Looking down at the ponies going about their days, Crosshair sighs softly and rests her muzzle close by for her daughter to play with and snuggle onto. “I wonder.. if Flam’s really is okay with the scar..” She muttered out loud. “It’s.. pretty big.. and pretty ugly.. I hope he doesn’t.. hate me for it.” Crosshair continued, her foal giggled as she boops her mother’s nose, producing a little smile from the mare.

“What do you think, Crossbow? Would Daddy still love mommy?” She asked the young foal
“Goo!” answered Crossbow with a giggle as she made spit bubbles. It only produce more smiles and endless happiness for her mother.

Crosshair then lowered her head again to rest on her forelegs with Crossbow snuggling close. “Maybe daddy deserves somepony that’s not.. as damaged as mommy.. nopony likes damaged goods afterall..” she muttered some more as she idly watches the town. Temperance going to his office, Puff taking a break.. Maize out in the field.. Praetorian drilling his spear ponies.. her marksponies practicing using the targets.. Flamberge flying towards her.. wait.

Crosshair got up as she sees that, still carrying her foal with her and turned around to take the air. But it wasn’t fast enough

Flamberge lands on the roof and says, “Here you are Crosshair. I’ve been looking for you. Not like you to sit up here alone. What’s going on?”

Crosshair tuck her wings back to herself and turned around to face her stallion again, giving him a weak smile as she let little Crossbow onto the floor, who happily squeaks and goos as she crawls over to her father to nuzzle onto his forelegs lovingly. “Oh, um.. I’m just.. relaxing, with Crossbow, is all..”

Flamberge lifts Crossbow up off the ground with his forehooves, hovering and lifting her above his head. Then sitting back down on the ground with his daughter in his grasp.

He looks to Crosshair, then quirks an eyebrow as she seemed uncomfortable.

“Is something wrong Cross?” he asks.

Crosshair turned her head to the side and down slightly. “No! of-of course not..” She lied.

Flamberge places Crossbow on his back, holding her between his wings as he approaches Crosshair, “You shouldn’t lie to me Crosshair. I can tell when something is bothering you, now what is it?”

Crosshair let out a deep sad sigh, lowering herself slightly closer to the floor, her wings and head lowered, her ears flopped down “It’s just that... I’m scared that you wouldn’t love me so much anymore.. I’m.. damaged..”

Flamberge looks slightly confused, “Damaged? What do you mean? Did something happen?”

“I’m.. not pretty anymore..” she whimpered. “I have this big ugly scar on my stomach!”

Flamberge moves forward and kisses Crosshair on the cheek, he then takes Crossbow off his back and holds her in his forehooves between them, “That is nonsense Crosshair. You are as beautiful as the day we met. I don’t care about some scar, I care about you, and about Crossbow.”

Crosshair looks up, holding their foal together with him and perking her ears “Really?” she asked with little tears in the corner of her eyes.

“Of course,” he replies, “And when I see that scar, I will always remember that you got it bringing my wonderful little filly into the world, and how could I hate you for that?”


Flamberge nuzzles Crosshair and then their foal.

Crosshair beamed up from that, wiping away her tears as she nuzzles him and their foal aswell. Making their young little unicorn squeaks and giggles happily, snuggling onto both of her parents’ muzzles.

Flamberge looks up at Crosshair sadly, “And besides,” he touches a forehoof to his face, where the dragon struck him, “I’ve got plenty of scars now too...and you still love me...don’t you?”

“Fully.” Answered Crosshair with a beam as she nuzzles onto him as well as her daughter, beaming their love for him.

Flamberge frowns, “But, you don’t find me as attractive now, do you?”

Crosshair runs a hoof along his scar gently “You’re as Attractive to me now as you were when we first met.. maybe more, even. You’ve got this scar defending Duskfield, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Thank you Crosshair,” replies Flamberge before he kisses her tenderly on the lips. They hold the kiss for a few moments before little Crosshair starts to make sounds as if trying to get her parents’ attention.

“I think it’s time I feed our little Crossbow.” Said Crosshair with a smile as she carefully and gently takes Crossbow from her father’s hold.

Flamberge allows her to take Crossbow from him, and asks, "Should we take her inside, so you can have a bit of privacy then?"

Crosshair nodded, giving her daughter and Flamberge a soft nuzzle “Mmhmm, we should.” She replied before hopping down from the roof, using her wings to glide herself down to the floor again. Crossbow giggled and squeaked all the way down.

Flamberge follows behind happily, smiling as his daughter laughs.