Chapter 1

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The sun was out and about, brightening the day with rays of its elegant light. But it wasn't a hot day like other days in Equestria. It was relatively warm and lightly breezing. A normal day for earth ponies and unicorns to go out and have a stroll, sit around, read a book or do just about whatever came to their minds. And an average day for pegasi just fly around, race or just relax on a cloud and get a tan. But for other ponies, it would also be a perfect day to explore.

And that's exactly what an alicorn mare did!

Humming a tune to herself and minding her own business away from solitude, a young mare roughly in her teens trailed down a path. She didn't know where she was going, but she didn't care. She was old enough to go out on her own and explore; with a bubbly, go lucky smile to boot.

“I wonder where I should go?” The young mare asked herself curiously. There were so many places she could go to, it was hard to choose. Where could she go?

“Ponyville? No. That would be too obvious,” that was out of the question, but maybe later down the line. She wanted to go to places that seemed 'unique' to her.

“The Crystal Empire?” She stopped as her darkish-pink hued body shivered, fur standing in place, “Oh, heck no! I am not a cold fan,” likely the last place she'd go to. Though, best not to say that towards the crystal ponies – especially towards the royalty there. The last thing she needs is to get in trouble for just saying bad things.

“Griffonstone?” her family had mentioned that place growing up. But they were kind of vague about it. Was it a place? She didn't pay too much attention to her mother's teachings. She fell asleep through most of them, “A-Am I supposed to look for a statue of a griffon?” she stuttered a little, scratching the side of her head with her right wing, confused in her train of thought.

The decisions were vast and choosing just one place to go seemed near impossible. She was in a forest miles away from home. If she went back now, her mother would see her as a clueless teen. She snorted to herself to try and steer clear from those thoughts. Her mother would never disown her like that. But she still couldn't go back. The mere thought made her roll her eyes.

“No, No, Sakari. You told them you could handle this. It's time to prove them wrong,” she said in a determined tone. She stopped and pondered. Should she still wonder on hoof or...

She gasped, 'wait!' she thought as she spread her feathered wings. “Duh, I can fly.”

She snickered and mentally bonked herself on the head before she flapped her rosy-pink wings and lifted herself off the ground. Couple more flaps and she was up in the air. She flew up and through the thick wall of leaves and burst through with little effort, flying high above the forest down below. Though not higher than the mountains, she still got a glimpse of her surroundings.

Of the places she knew, Ponyville was in the Northwest; the Badlands was right behind her to the south; Baltimare was just a few miles North of where she was; the neighboring swamp said itself. She shivered at the thought of her uncle living there. Why he lived in a swamp near her home was beyond her -- She wasn't too fond of the swamp, but to each is own. She couldn't complain. The Celestial Seas, however, then came to mind. That place was glorious for stuff like lounging and sightseeing. Maybe she should start there?

Sakari smiled at the idea and flew towards the Celestial Seas. Maybe she can get an answer there.

“Oh, this is so exciting!” she exclaimed. “Out on my own, doing whatever I want. The possibilities are endless.” she kept an enthusiastic smile on as she finally made it to the Celestial beach. She took a nosedive and curved an upward, graceful turn before landing on the hot sand with ease. She sat down immediately to catch her breath.

“Next time, exercise the wings a little more,” she told herself. She wasn't the best flier around, so racing with other fliers was never in her agenda. She only flew just to help her mother and aunt around her home. “Come to think of it, I only have like a few Earth Pony friends in Baltimare.” But regardless, if she does make friends along her journey who can fly, then hopefully, they can help her out later done the line.

“Heh, you're talking to yourself, again, Sakari,” she giggled to herself. “hopefully, I can fix that, too.” Or maybe not, it was her quirk, after all. She did this when she was a foal growing up and she hasn't stopped since.

So, probably not.

She looked around and took a moment to take in the scenery. The Celestial Beach was so gorgeous that any tourist here would no doubt take many photos. With the sound of the calm ocean water being pushed by the gentle winds over the sand, it made it seem like paradise just being here. Even the sun itself gave the water a glistening shine; hardly any clouds could be seen around it. No wonder this beach was named after Celestia herself, it was very beautiful!

Sakari took as much time as she needed to bask in this wonderful view and take in the sun's rays of light. The only thing that was a little off was that there weren't any other ponies in sight. No one soul.

Sakari grew a little suspicious. Normally, when it came to a place like this, someone would bound to show up and have fun or just lay down for some sun. It didn't make any sense to her. Only the sound of flowing water and rushing wind can be heard. The sun was out, so it would be a perfect time to go outside.

“Where is everypony?” Sakari asked herself, suddenly getting a sickening feeling she was being watched.

Minutes passed and still no sign of any other ponies around, she wondered if this beach was either closed or restricted. Maybe she should look for someone? An idea she could've thought of sooner, but distractions a plague! She chuckled to herself and got up, but was immediately brought back down by a sudden gust of wind. Sakari let out a spooked “Eep” and closed her eyes so sand wouldn't get in them.

When the wind finally died down, Sakari opened her eyes to see five shadows fly above her. She shook her body like a dog before looking up and seeing five figures float in the sky. She could barely make out what they were due to some clouds hiding the light for a moment. Luck was on her side and the sun's light revealed who they were...

five teenage dragons hovered in the sky just minding their own business. They all look around as if they were trying to find something.

Sakari, however, tried really hard not to squeal at the sight of them. That must be the reason why no one was around!

'D-Dragons!' she mentally screamed as she tried not to move so they couldn't see her. Then again, she was out in the open. How they didn't see her was beyond her. But her heart was racing and her blood was flowing – she was excited. Of all the creatures to run into first in her travel, it had to be dragons. She smiled wide and almost thought about wanting to get their attention, but she had to calm herself down because these were not adult dragons.

These were teenagers. And teenagers were far more aggressive than the adults; unstable even, maybe? She recalled her mother telling her about how violent dragons can get, but at a young age would be a different story. Sakari had learned of dragons from her whole family, though they were stated as warnings, or stories, or rarely legend. But instead of fearing them -- as the fearsome reputation of these flying lizards claims that all should fear them -- she was actually fascinated by them, intrigued even. Her excitement came back to her as she also realized that this was going to be her very first encounter with dragons face-to-face!

Besides, she was an adult now. And she could make her own choices. Hopefully, some of her choices would get her a cutie mark; she tried a lot of things growing up, but luck was not on her side. She took a calm breath and was about to get their attention, but then one dragon on the far left points to a direction and all five of them zoomed away before she could get a word in.

“H-Hey, wait!” Sakari called out. “Don't leave!” But it was too late, the dragons were gone and out of sight. Sakari slouched and kicked the sand in frustration. “Darn it, there goes my one chance to experience something." Or so she thought. Even though she needed to rest, she had to go find them. A sight like this is something she could not pass up. She held her head up and looked at the sky with determination.

“Looks like I know what I want to do now,” Sakari grabbed her things and spread her wings. The thoughts of her mother saying not to go near dragons were heavily ignored.

Sakari flew to the sky and headed straight. Above the ocean and towards the dragons.

Chapter 2

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"This looks like a good spot. Let's land here, guys," a young, energetic voice commanded as a group of five teenage dragons appeared from the sky and landed on the sandy shores of an average-sized island housing a dormant volcano.

When they landed, each dragon took a moment to take a breather as their trip from the dragon lands to this specific island was still quite an exercise for all of them. With how much time and energy they used to get here from time to time, they'd expect to get used to it by now. But, the exercise was still good.

"Phew….Never gonna get used to these trips here," a lavender dragoness by the name of Maar said as she folded her wings before she heard one of her friends chuckle amusingly.

A mud-brown, tubby dragon chuckled as he said in a joking manner, hoping to get a reaction out of Maar, "Oh, what? Already exhausted? Guess you need more exercise than--"

A quick, solid punch to the face got him to shut up real fast as he fell flat on his back with his face caved-in; he couldn't even finish his sentence, she punched him so fast. He got a reaction out of her; it just wasn't the reaction he was expecting.

The rest of the group laughed out loud as Maar pouted in annoyance and pulled her fist back, glaring death daggers at him, "Crack another joke like that, again, Clump and I won't hold back another one, ya jerk!" she was way skinnier than Clump and the rest of their friends – if a race was involved, she would win, claws down!

Clump's face popped back into place like spring. If he didn't have armor, that punch would've down some serious damage. Then again, that still hurt! "Geez, Maar. Learn to take a joke!" He got back up and rubbed his snout carefully while Maar rolled her eyes, arms crossed.

"It was still funny," another voice pitched in, sounding tougher with a bit of arrogance. Seeing roughhousing like that always amused the leader of the group and he wouldn't mind watching it all day.

"Hey, Garble?" the slight alluring feminine voice of a magenta dragoness chimed in, wanting to ask him something as she stood next to him, fluttering her eyes at him.

Garble blushed faintly and stepped back a bit, feeling a tad awkward towards his friend, but he replied to the flirty dragoness anyway, "What do you want, Sunder?"

Sunder chuckled at Garble's timidness and just loved toying with him, but she was so happy to be included in this group and play with her friends, but there was one thing she had to know, but also mess around in her own way, "Now that we're here, what are you going to do about that 'little package'?"

Garble's faint blush evolved into a bright pink as Maar and the other dragons laughed at Sunder's innuendo. Garble glared fiery eyes at them and burned his gaze, ordering them to shut up but it went by deaf ears. Clump went down on one knee while Fizzle and Maar held themselves by their knees, trying so hard to catch their breaths from laughing so hard. Sunder got a good chuckle out of what she did. Despite having a crush on Garble, and more than likely he shared the same thing to her, it didn't hurt to poke at it from time to time.

Garble turned to his friends and barked at them defensively, "Will you guys shut up already! She didn't mean it like that!" He groaned to himself and looked to Sunder," We'll deal with this when we get to the molten rock field." He motioned ahead as he walked to the spot they needed to go. Sunder followed while the other dragons caught their breaths and rushed after them. If it wasn't them being the butt of every joke, it was sure funny when it happened to their leader.

Once the dragons disappeared, it seemed like seconds or minutes passed as the quiet peaceful time on the island resumed. Until a pink blur dropped from the sky and crashed onto the sand like an anvil causing an audible bonk upon crashing. Sand kicked up for a moment before it quickly faded as an alicorn mare was flattened like a pancake sprawled on the sandy terrain. Exhaustion hit her like a steroid Minotaur and she could barely move some parts of her body.

"Note to self: should've exercised with my uncle and aunt... instead of helping mother with chores," Sakari mumbled with her face full of sand. Determination was key, but it did not hold back for anyone – and she was no exception. She managed to move a twitchy arm and used it to pop her head out from the sand to take a breath of air. Her body felt like mush but she was still kicking, miraculously. As she dragged herself out of her sand bed, she noticed her wings were unfolded and hanging from her sides. She tried to move her wings so she could get them to fold, but a few bone pops and muscle twitches meant that they were out of commission. Sakari huffed an irritated sigh before shaking her body like a dog to get all the sand off her body.

"Great, guess flying is out of the question," she brushed a piece of her scruffy mane away from her eyes and looked around to see where she was at. She felt warm sand between her hooves, which was a good indicator of where she was. "Okay, so I'm on an island?" she talked to herself. "But what kind of island, I don't even know. I don't remember this being on my map." She turned to look at nothing but open water. No other islands in sight.

"Guess this means this island must be unexplored," she looked down at the sand again and thought to herself that this place could almost be used for summer vacations or something. The air blew across her and it felt nice, gentle and warm. A bit of rocks here and there and occasional seashells and cone-shells, but it was still nice. A light smile contorted as she felt excited about herself for finding this island. She would be giddy, but then she recalled why she was here.

"Oh yeah, those dragons," the last time she saw them was heading here.

Having remembered that, she quickly turned to see what the island provided and it was unlike anything she'd seen before. Swamps, mountain, deserts, she'd seen a variety of them growing up, but this island seemed a little... different. Grass that reached up to her neck covered a lot of the ground. She looked left and right and saw that the grass went on – and judging this, it looked like it circled the entire island -- almost like tufted fur covering a neck. That wasn't the only thing strange, too. Tall palm tree-like trees roused from spots within the sea of grass; sprouting in some kind of pattern. Sakari looked at the foliage confusedly and wondered why it was like this, but it seemed vast and goes on to the center of the island. Come to think it, the tall grass itself almost seemed impossible to see; it was so thick, any creature could hide in there for either an ambush, surprise attack or just play hide and seek; it was a perfect place to sneak around. Good for her, but it was also kind of nerve-wracking, too. She recalled something before on her mom's TV about creatures that hid in a tall grass field. The way they moved around so quick to catch their prey like some reptilian ninja was not-lying-about-it terrifying. But she couldn't, for the life of her, remember if it was a movie or a nature documentary.

It didn't make things any better when she noticed a dead Volcano up ahead.

Either way, recalling that moment might've been a bad idea. There was tall grass, but the wildlife was unknown to her and she didn't know if said creatures from that program were here. But she had one goal she needed to accomplish and hope to any god above that's higher than Celestia that's listening that they're still here. But, her answer was quickly given when she realized the sand below her can leave imprints from any creature who stepped on it. She gasped happily and looked down to find that was just the case. Footprints of many different kinds from as big as hers to a little trail of footsteps – even footsteps the size of a kitten; cute! She giggled to herself and figured these were the teenage dragons she was looking for. She wasn't sure about the tinier set of footprints but it's a start. And with their trail leading to the tall grass, that just complicated things for her.

She looked weary at the tall grass and conflicted herself; one side telling her to drop it, but the other telling her to press on.

She shook her head out of her trance and stamped a hoof on the sand, "No, if those dragons can get through that field, then so can I!" she said with eager confidence. Like a soldier, she followed the trail that leads into the grass field and melted into the grass itself.

"This seems easy, too easy," she said as she pressed on, being cautious about her surroundings – but she was excited, too. She's never interacted with teenage dragons before and the last time she interacted with something reptilian was with a snake near her home; she was unaware it was a copperhead, but she was fortunate it didn't bite her. It struck at her, so her father had to take care of it, but from then on she had to be cautious with new approaches. She ventured further into the tall grass, but it proved to be quite difficult to see what was in front of her. Every time she pushed grass away, more grass appeared; it was like she was swimming in water. She looked down to see if she was still hot on their trail, but even that was proving difficult. She almost felt lost, but she powered through it like a champ. Just then, she heard rustling next to her and forced her to stop with a squeak in her voice.

She didn't think twice and leaned her head toward where the rustling came from... only to hear low, eerie hissing exhaust from a creature's mouth...

… The exact hissing she heard from that – "And it just occurred to me that I was watching a nature documentary. Oh..." Sakari winced, but the creature that stood behind the tall grass immediately attacked with fangs exposed. Sakari screamed as the grass waved and bounced like they're on an extreme sugar rush. Screams, cackles, hissing, punching, it all happened at once and Sakari tried running like a bat out of hell just to get away from the savage creature after her. As she ran, she stumbled upon a bush wall and accidentally rammed right into it. She rushed in, thorns poking at her body, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, that's doesn't tickle, Ow-ha-haow!" try as she might to get through the large thorn bush wall, she succeeded and jumped out, landing back into the tall grass and dropped to the ground with a splat.

"How? Why?" she shakily pushed herself back up and sat on her haunches. "Note to self, learn some magic." She rubbed her head and groaned slightly, plucking a few thorns out of her butt. "Eep!" she sighed in relief, glad to know the worst was over. "Least it can't get any worse, ri--" she looked down, muzzled scrunched, eyes dilated and spine chilled at what she found. The sounds of numerous rattles vibrated the pregnant air. Obviously, it can.

Rattlesnakes… Of all the situations or creatures to run into on her trip today, it had to be rattlesnakes.

She tried to not move an inch but it was too late, the number of rattlesnakes around her saw her and rose up, ready to strike. "Oh, come on!"

The snakes lashed out with hisses and fangs bared, causing her to run once more. She desperately tried to avoid their nipping kiss as they tried to take a bite into her legs – only for her to dodge them. It took but a couple of minutes to get out of that snake-infested grass hell, but it felt like an eternity before she finally managed to get out of the tall grass and plop back on her belly, again. All of that felt like an obstacle course for psychopaths. Was life trying to tell her to shove it or something? This island was a madhouse!

Sakari lifted a shaky hoof and lifted herself back up before she heard the sound of roughhousing a couple of miles away – she was close. "Oh, thank Celestia."

She got up and trailed down a much softer grass field where she can see much clearer, aside from the same trees as before. There was no path for her to take, so she had to walk around many trees as she could before stumbling upon a field of burnt gravel and three-rows of rocks that eerily share the same pattern as shark's teeth. She could hear the dragon's roughhousing get a little louder the more she got closer to them. But as she did, she dove behind a large rock so she wouldn't be seen; the dragons were right around the corner and her heart started to race with excitement; they were in the center of whatever this area was. Finally, she found them, but how many she didn't know.

Part of her didn't want to get caught and another part just wanted to see them play; why not both? She looked at the rocks around her and they were tall enough to hide her frame. 'Huh, convenient,' she thought as she quietly peeked around to see the commotion, only for a small oncoming fireball to fly over and nearly take her eye out. "Whoa!" she reeled back and planted her back firmly against the large rock, eyes nearly popped out from the shock. She placed a hoof on her chest and felt her heart race a mile a minute. That was nuts! She tried to calm herself down as best she could; a few deep, quiet breaths and she was functioning, but this large rock was probably not the best way to see the dragons in action.

With the rocks being large enough, she could sneak around, easily. Like a panther stalking its prey, she took the opportunity and crawled behind the rocks, all while listening to the teenage dragons talk and hearing more fireballs being thrown, 'I would say this is my lucky day, but I ain't gonna shoehorn it.'

A hiss in her direction broke her out of her thoughts. Sakari looked to her right and saw one of the rattlesnakes that tried to bite her from before and it hissed a threat at her, just daring her to come back to their territory as it seemed to be shaking his tail at her like how someone would shake a fist in frustration.

Sakari gave the little snake a frustrated glare and used her wing to shoot the rattlesnake a middle feather, 'Yeah, up yours too, pal.' She crawled away as the rattlesnake motioned his rattle to his eyes, then to her before slithering away back into the tall grass.

Sakari overheard the dragons talk and sneakily pop her head over a medium-sized rock and watched in awe. The five dragons were wrestling and having fun. The white dragon clashed with the tubby brown dragon in a tug-a-war display; one was about to go down and Sakari already had a guess on who would win. Sure enough, she witnessed the brown dragon pin the white dragon with ease.

"Oh, that had to smart," Sakari whispered to herself before she noticed the other three. She studied them and indicated that there were two females and three males. Her eyes sparkled and never took them off her sights. 'Fascinating. Are they fighting to win over the hearts of those females?' Sakari hypothesized, but after a mad dash from the lavender dragoness to the brown tubby dragon, that call immediately changed.

Maar slammed her bulk onto Clump and held him down while Fizzle walked away to lick his wounds. Maar was determined to put Clump in his place; this little wrestling match proved she could do it, and it was a ton of fun beating the ever-loving snot out of him; she also wanted to wrestle Fizzle, too. But since he lost, she can also take her frustration out of Clump.

"Had enough, Clump?" Maar said, pulling a Boston Crab on him and keeping him pinned. "Or should I say: Chump?" She mocked him for the heck of it.

Clump growled furiously and glared daggers at Maar, "Not even close, ya newt!" Clump swung his tail around Maar's waist and pulled her off with ease, planting her on the ground. This gave Clump enough time to get up and launch himself back and elbow dropped Maar in the back. All while having a revenge smile on his face. "What are ya gonna do now, huh?"

Though that elbow hurt, she was not gonna go down that easily. She was easily more flexible than Clump and with a swing of her back leg, she slammed her foot against Clump's face for a surprise attack. Clump never saw it coming and he got up just for Maar to escape.

Clump held his snout and rubbed it. He growled at Maar, but the speedy dragoness shoulder rushed his gut and caused him to bend over. It didn't knock the wind out of him, but it still hurt as he clenched his midsection in a bit of pain.

Taking this opportunity, Maar wrapped her right arm around Clump's neck and fell back with Clump's head. A good DDT later and Clump was back on the ground in a dazed state. Maar stood over his body and posed victoriously, receiving applause from the other dragons.

"That's how it's done, Chump," Maar hopped off of a groggy Clump before he got back up himself and walked away in defeat.

Sakari leaned her head back in absolutely what-the-effery and paused to process what she just saw. 'Okay, maybe not fight for females. Fighting for the sake of just screwing with each other. Gotcha!' Though, she had to commend the dragoness for taking the victory. It almost made her want to join them.

Then she noticed the red dragon perched on the side of the wall with the other dragoness snuggling up to him. "That must be their leader?" Sakari whispered to herself and examined them as best she could. They were next to a small bubbling lava pit just minding their own business. "Are they mates?" she wondered. If that's the case, then good for her. She gasped softly and forgot to write this stuff down. She reached to her side but froze dead in her tracks when she felt only bare skin...

… Her bag was gone.

"M-My bag! My ba--" Gasping, she quickly covered her mouth before hearing one of the dragons say 'hey, did you hear something?'

Panic enveloped Sakari. Her eyes were filled with fear and anxiety. She didn't want to look over, she didn't want to move, and she didn't want to breathe. All she wanted was to fix the mistake she caused.

'Eh, must've been nothing' the dragon went back to mind his own business, prompting Sakari to relax and ease aware that terrible tension.

"That was a close one," she thought her heart was gonna jump out of her body from getting caught, but luck was on her side today, mostly. Her notepad was in her bag and she had no idea where it could be. 'Did I leave back on the beach, this island's beach, somewhere on the island?' that latter better not be true. The last thing she needed was to go back through that Tartarus, again. 'Oh, buck me dead!' she thought to herself and mentally smacked herself before she turned to peep at the dragons playing.

From the looks of it, it seems they were going for another round with each other. But the red dragon looked eager to get the next round. Not that she would blame the reptile – from the looks of it, fighting in such a roughhousing way was in their blood as teenagers.

A tiny orange claw reached up and grabbed Sakari's left wing tip and gave it a little tug.

Once again, Sakari froze in place. Had her luck now just ran out? Tartarus be her home! She didn't want to look back, but she had to. But, whoever was behind her, she hoped it would give her a quick and painless death.

"Um, excuse me?" a tiny, almost squeaky voice called out.

Sakari blinked a few times in confusion at that type of voice. Wait, wouldn't an attacker have a more ... intimidating voice to it? She calmly looked back and looked down to find a sight so adorable, she nearly wanted to squee.

Standing before her was, to her surprise, a sixth dragon, and a young one at that. A little dragoness so tiny she reached up to her knee. Orange scales surrounded her body, but a light layer of dirty-yellow trail from her lower jaw to under her tail. Tiny curved horns protruded out from the sides of her head -- almost like a little bull. She sported purple fin-like protrusions across her head and on her tail tip. And her eyes were turquoise and shiny like diamonds. The only thing lacking was her wings. The baby dragoness held a finger up to her chin and innocently looked up at her with eyes so curious, it matched her own curiosity about dragons.

Sakari felt her heart soar from looking at this little one; she was so cute. She fully turned around and paid attention to her instead of the dragons rough-housing down yonder.

"Hello, little one," Sakari said in a gentle tone, being nice as she could to the little dragon. "Oh, aren't you adorable."

That got a little blush out of the dragoness and made her puff her cheeks a little, "I'm not cute, I'm scary!" the little dragoness flailed her arms in a grumpy manner, but Sakari found it adorable.

"Yes, you're scary, indeed," playing along, that got the little dragoness to stop and cross her arms, feeling proud. "What's your name, little one? My name is Sakari."

"Smolder!" Smolder replied, but tilted her head in confusion while trying to pronounce her name, "S-Sa-sa..narny?" Close but no dice.

Sakari mentally chuckled and waved a hoof, "Uh, call me Si, if you like." this little dragoness seemed like a smart one, but she still had a long way to go to learn names and other vocabularies.

Smolder smiled adorably and nodded to Sakari, loving that instead of using her other name, "Okay, Si. Si!" she pointed at Sakari and repeated her name, "Si. Si!" She smiled again. She's never heard of a name like that before and it seemed better to say than her friend's names.

"And Smolder is a cool name," Sakari complimented and gave Smolder a bit of an ego trip and she chuckled smugly.

"Darn tootin'!" Smolder said. She smiled up at Sakari and actually liked talking to her. But, then a few things occurred to her. "Oh, um…" she reached around and pulled a strap off her neck before taking it off and dragging a familiar bag to her, "this yours?" She asked.

Sakari's eyes bug out and she almost wanted to jump for joy and hug Smolder for finding her bag. She smiled excitedly, "Yes, yes, that's mine. Thank you, Smolder. Thank you." Smolder smiled happily as Sakari grabbed the bag from her, holding it close to her chest.

"Where did you find it?" she asked.

Smolder pointed back to a trail that lead to the far right side of this unusual spot, "I found it lying on the beach. My brother and his friends were playing so much, I head back to the beach and founded it."

That last part surprised her, "You walked away without being – wait, trail?" she looked to the spot Smolder pointed and noticed a trail that lead to an opening to the dragon's play area down to the beach where the sand, dirt, and soot overlap one another. She blinked numerous times to make sure she wasn't seeing things and made sure she wasn't going crazy. There was a path here the whole time and she didn't see it? There was a path here the whole time and she didn't take it?! Sakari's left eye twitch out.

Smolder noticed Sakari's unusual behavior and tilted her head in confusion, "You okay?"

She didn't know what to think at this point. She wasn't frustrated at this place for how it was made. She was just frustrated and annoyed at herself for not finding it from the beginning; her excitement got the better of her and it led her to this point. She trekked through Tartarus, only to find out there was an easier way the whole time. 'Why do I get the feeling this is a metaphor for something?' she looked down at Smolder and chuckled, waving an assuring hoof, "I'm fine, just thinking to myself, is all."

Smolder just looked at her oddly, but shrugged. The face she made got her to giggle, though. This mare was goofy, but in a good way, "You're funny. My brother is gonna love seeing you."

Sakari paused in shock and frantically waved her hooves and shook her head in denial, "No, no, no, your friends can't know I'm here," that got Smolder to tilt her head in confusion, again. Going to explain this to her would be a tad difficult because she was a child, but she'd try her best. "I don't want them knowing I'm here because I don't want them to hurt me. I think they'd burn me if they saw me."

Smolder crossed her arms and gave Sakari one of those looks that said 'what are you talking about?' and thought she was being either silly or weird. "No, they won't," she pointed overhead. "My brother and his friends only hurt themselves." she sighed disappointingly and kicked a pebble, "But they won't let me play because I'm too little." She pouted in frustration and sat down with her arms crossed.

She felt a little bad but understood the big brother's perspective. If Smolder were to get hurt, he'd be the one responsible. But, in this situation, she was a stranger and Smolder's parents probably told her not to talk to strangers. A dark cloud floated over her; this could be bad. All she wanted was to study dragons and now she was caught by Smolder. It's a good thing she hasn't told her older brother, yet. But, she also felt bad no one was able to play with her. 'Eh, screw it,' she told herself to drop the paranoia stuff and play with the little dragoness; or just talk with her.

"Well, I can talk with you, at least," Sakari reached into her bag to find her notepad and pen, confusing Smolder but made her curious to know what else is in that bag.

She smiled when she found her notepad and pen. Using her magic, she lifted them out and opened her notepad, "Okay, what would you like to talk about first?"

"What's in the bag?"

"Pardon?"

Smolder pointed at the bag and looked a little eager, "I wanna know what's in the bag!"

An odd request, but she complied, "Okay. Sure, Smolder," she opened her back and looked inside and showed her what she had. Course she showed her the pen, notebooks, and snacks she brought, but Smolder looked at them unamused and found them boring. Sakari noticed and chuckled before she brought out a few gemstones she found. A ruby and sapphire gemstone. "I found these two a few weeks ago with my father," she smiled proudly at her find. Never before had she been so proud to find them, she considered them to be her good luck charms. "They're not much but – huh?" Sakari noticed something off with Smolder before she realized what was going on and tried so hard not to smile and squee.

Of all the cute things she's seen, Smolder was ranking high right now. The little dragoness beamed her sparkling eyes on the gems and Sakari could've sworn she saw the gems reflecting off her pupils. Smolder had both claws on her cheeks and, if she even knew what she was doing, wagging her tail like a puppy just waiting to get its treat. She looked so excited and eager to see such a pair of gems, that the tiny dragoness was starting to drool a teeny bit – something that Sakari didn't notice just yet.

'Okay, that is the most adorable thing I've ever seen,' Sakari thought as she studied Smolder's behavior toward the gems. She had no idea she loved gems that much. "Oh, you love gems?" Sakari asked.

Smolder nearly bounced with glee as she smiled, "Yes, so much." the little dragoness looked like she wanted to hold them real bad, until her stomach started to growl, causing her to pause and blush bright red, smiling sheepishly up at the pony in embarrassment from her stomach noises. Sakari acknowledged that and smiled a little, "Looks like someone's hungry." She had no idea what dragons ate, but it was worth a shot to learn just what they eat. She looked into her bag and found some snacks she brought.

"Here, hold these for a moment," Sakari passed her gems over to Smolder and Smolder held them close until a joyful smile appeared on her face as she gazed upon the two beautiful gems. Sakari noticed and thought it was adorable before going back to her bag and started digging through it, "I have a couple of sweets you can eat, or maybe some hay--"

Crunch

"--cakes?" Sakari lifted her head to find where that random crunch sound came from and to her astonishment, bewilderment, and shock; she found Smolder mouth full of the gems she had her hold. She couldn't find the words she wanted to say; her words were so far back down her throat that they almost seemed permanently stuck. Not to mention, the reality of the situation she was in.

One chew after another and Smolder gulped her meal down. The little dragoness smiled happily and cutely patted her little belly, "Yum, those were so good." Smolder giggled before letting out a smoke-covered burp.

And yet with what just happened, Sakari still sat there flabbergasted by what she saw. She didn't know what to think or how to feel about this. On one hoof, her lucky gems were just eaten by a baby dragoness, but on the other hoof, she just learned something bizarre about dragons and their dietary needs. She looked back in her bag and quickly noticed an egg-shaped emerald before she looked back to Smolder and slowly closed it before the tiny dragon could see it. She was at a loss, but she did know this trip dragged her into a bizarre journey.

Smolder noticed the look Sakari gave her, and she looked nervous from it, "Uh, are you okay? That look is scaring me."

Sakari snapped out of her trance and waved her hooves frantically, she spoke in a reassuring tone that she'd hope would get Smolder to calm down, "Oh, don't worry about me, Smolder. I'm fine." She smiled awkwardly and giggled embarrassingly. "It's just... I didn't know dragons ate gems, is all."

Smolder tilted her head confusedly, "You didn't? Dragons eat gems all the time." How could she not know dragons ate gems? It was common knowledge. This pony was weird indeed.

Sakari took a deep breath and explained to Smolder, just a little, about what she wanted to do now that she was out on her own, "Well, ponies don't really know dragons as well as you may think. We know very little and..." – how was she gonna say this without making it feel awkward – "...ponies are too scared to even come up and talk to one." she smiled a bit awkwardly and thought Smolder would just think it's weird in general.

Smolder, indeed, thought it was very weird, but the little dragoness casually shrugged it off and smiled a little with a little giggle, "You're weird--" speaking her mind right there "-- but you seem fun to talk, too. And I like you." This pony was strange and weird, but she sure was good at making her laugh.

Having that said, Sakari wondered if Smolder was willing to comply and answer questions regarding her species, but how she said it got her to smile and Smolder's cuteness really made the tone shift a lot. "I can be!" she said silly-like. "You up for answering some questions?"

Smolder eagerly nodded and smiled up at her, "You bet I am!" She may not be playing with her, but she was enjoying this pony's company. She was so excited, that she neglected to mention Sakari was sitting on hot rocks made from the lava pool ahead of the teenage dragons play area.

A couple of questions and note-taking later, Sakari and Smolder were enjoying their company. The mental conflict Sakari had slowly subsided and in return, she gained friendship from Smolder. The little dragoness had never had a friend, one who was so different, that she was happy and thrilled. Both of them were having the time of their lives. Until Sakari overheard a voice near the play area and froze her in place, making her flinch in shock.

"Hey, Smolder where are you?" Garble's voice rang out, worriedly.

It didn't take a moment for Sakari's body to go cold when Smolder instinctively responded to him, "Over here, big brother!" And immediately heard wing flaps heading in her direction.

Garble was coming this way!

She tried to look for a place to hide, but it was too late – much to Smolder's confusion.

Smolder backed up a couple of steps to make space as a large red, scaly body landed between her and Sakari; the landing caused Sakari to flinch hard and plant her back on the rock she used to hide herself from the dragons, bracing herself against it as she pulled back as far as she could go. She gazed up to find Garble's back was turned; a relief for Sakari, but that did not stop her from turning ghost-white at the sight of him; her eyes bulged out in terror and amazement, but it was mostly terror. Afar, he seemed like a normal teenager, but up close, he actually seemed very intimidating.

She kept her gaze on him and mentally prayed to any god above that listened that he wouldn't turn around and spot her. He wasn't gigantic like the adult dragons, but he still looked like he was lethal enough to cause some serious damage – those claws aren't for show and neither was that spike on the tip of his tail. Her brain flipped so many alarms that it was near impossible to pick which one to go for. Survival was at its max right now and she needed to find a way to get out of there before she could be seen.

She looked around hastily for a way out, but Garble was too close for her to just sneak away. Her wings were back in full capacity, but the space she's in between the rocks prevented her from taking flight. She felt her heart race a little while she noticed Smolder distracting him; she seemed to pay more attention to him now than her, but she looked like she wanted to tell him about her. Paranoia chimed in and now her body froze like as if it just got turned to stone by a cockatrice. Moving a muscle was out of the question and forget about making noise! She had to fight herself not to doing anything to warrant his attention; she can breathe, but she had to keep that quiet, too. However, sneezing was gonna be an issue because Garble's tail-tip was just mere inches from her muzzle.

'Don't move, don't move, don't twitch, don't sneeze, don't fart!' is all Sakari could think as she watched the dragon siblings talk.

"Hi, Garble," Smolder greeted casually with a little smile but flinched when Garble pointed at her.

"Don't you "hi, Garble" me, Smolder. Why are you over here?" Garble sternly asked. "You know you can't leave my sight. Remember what mom said?" he was lucky one of his friends pointed out to him that his little sister disappeared on him.

Smolder crossed her arms and pouted up at her older brother. She hated it when he started to nag like this – their mother does enough of that already. "Yeah, I do. But I didn't go far. I was talking to a friend. And--"

Smolder only got that much out when Garble placed his claw over her snout and forced her to stop, frustrating the little dragoness further; she really hated it when he did that. Garble crouched down and released Smolder's snout, despite giving him an annoyed look, "Smolder, I know you like to explore, but please, can you do that around where I can see you? The last thing I need is to get in trouble with mom and dad." He looked at her with genuine, caring eyes. "What if you got hurt?"

Smolder tried to retaliate that and said in an annoyed tone, "But I'm not gonna get hurt because no one messes with dragons."

Garble scowled at that and shook his head at her, "No one messes with older dragons, Smolder! They'll see you as an easy target," he countered that and got Smolder to stop her soon-to-be tantrum, "Diamond Dogs, Minotaurs and even ponies would see baby dragons like you as an easy target. If any creatures like them, or others, were to find you, who knows what could happen?"

Smolder to a second to soak that info in before she looked back for a split second to look at Sakari, but Sakari quietly shook her head in denial. She'd never hurt anyone in her life!

But Sakari listened and tilted her head slightly. That cold feeling warmed up from Garble's words. He seemed to really care about Smolder and would not hesitate to protect her if he saw something as a threat; the fact he brought ponies up was alarming. Yes, ponies can get violent, but they're really friendly folks. She didn't know much about Minotaurs and Diamond Dogs, though, so she was at a lost there. Then she felt a little insulted, too, as the way he said 'ponies' like it was venom made it sound like he was going into racist territory here.

She's never hurt anyone in her entire life – not on purpose, but at the same time she'd hurt those who tried to hurt her or her family; if only these dragons knew what she was capable of and knew who she really was.

But she will give him credit for being a good older brother to Smolder; she wouldn't know because she never had siblings. Guess that was one thing she was missing in her life.

"But, Garble, my new friend wouldn't hurt me. She's really nice," Smolder said as she pointed to Sakari, but Garble shook his head again in disbelief, keeping his attention on only his little sister and never actually acknowledging a pony right behind him.

"Smolder, imaginary friends wouldn't hurt any of us anyway," Garble said as he grabbed Smolder and held her in his left arm. "Now you are coming back with me." He stood right up but ultimately gave Sakari a horrifying shock when his tail slightly brushed against her hind leg.

Sakari cringed and widened her eyes, again. Anxiety and nervousness rang hard as she thought he figured out she was there and she was finally caught; she even assumed she was dead, too. But, much to her luck that still shined upon her, Garble didn't look back. She was safe, for now.

Smolder struggled to get out of Garble's hold, but he was far stronger than her and he wasn't going to release her just yet. She pointed back at Sakari and told him, again, "But he's right there; your tail just touched her." But Garble was having none of it.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't care," Garble needed to head back to his friends and have Smolder be in one spot so he can keep an eye on her. He wasn't gonna buy this whole imaginary friend nonsense. "If she was real, she would've moved by now." Garble spread his wings and flapped them to gain momentum.

Sakari covered her face with her wings and arms as Garble took flight with Smolder and headed back to the other dragons, the power of the wind from his mighty wings blew her mane back some and rustled her feathers a bit – one thing's for sure, this dragon was not only very intimidating up close, but judging by that takeoff, he was also a strong flyer.

She heard Smolder say "Wait," before disappearing. Sakari remained still on impulse for a bit. Her body stiffened and her mind still alarmed by what just happened. That was a scary ordeal and she was so glad Garble didn't spot her. After a second, she peeked between her feathers and saw he wasn't there. She uncurled her arms and wings and relaxed for a moment, sighing in relief while taking it easy on herself...

….. FFFFFFUUUUUURRRRRPPPPPPP.......

"Ew! Clump! You did not just do that," Maar exclaimed, standing near the rocks Sakari hid behind with Clump as Clump looked at her confused.

"What are you talking about? That wasn't me!" Clump retaliated, but only received another punch to the face from Marr.

"That's disgusting!"

Clump held his cheek, "Says the dragoness who likes to burp!"

Both of them were about to go at it, but Garble flew over to a rock wall ledge and placed Smolder on it, much to the tiny dragoness's disapproval. It was enough for Smolder to see Sakari's horn poke out from behind the rocks. Shame her brother couldn't see it.

"Stay here and don't leave this spot, alright?" Garble ordered and received a nod from Smolder in return. Garble flew away and landed next to Maar and Clump, "Alright you two, quit your flirting." Maar scoffed lightly with a faint blush at such a notion while Clump rolled his eyes "It's time we play a game we all know and love."

His friends knew what he meant and gave him excited grins. Well, except Sunder. Sunder stepped back and shook her head, wanting out of this.

"Oh, that's okay, Garble. I'll just stand aside and cheer for you," Sunder said with a bit of flirt in her voice. Everyone was expecting that from her. Smolder rolled her eyes without Sunder noticing and Garble just shrugged carefree while the others just nonchalantly dismissed it; Sunder wasn't much of an active dragon. Garble knew this, but really wished she'd knock it off with the flirting.

Sakari peeked her head over and overheard Sunder and thought this was a different trope for them. Guess she wasn't like that lavender dragoness, at all.

Now that she got her wits under control, she can watch the young dragons play sports. But in the corner of her eye, she saw Smolder looking down at her and waved. Sakari smiled wholeheartedly and waved back.

"All right, listen up!" Garble announced with determination in mind. "Ya'll know the rules about Dodge-rock: Get hit, you're out. Whoever's left wins."

"I'm gonna win this time, Garble," Maar said, prompting to challenge Garble, but that didn't deter him. He was deadset on winning.

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Clump said to agitate Maar, and it worked when she gave him a wicked death glare but he only returned it with a battle-ready smirk.

Fizzle just gathered all the rocks he could and lined them up. He wasn't much of a talker, but he got straight to the point with action.

Sunder just cheers on, mostly to Garble. They all knew she had a crush on him, but Garble was in no mood – nor was even interested in a relationship. But, her cheering wasn't bad, so he won't complain.

"Alright, two team. Maar, you're with me. Fizzle and Clump, you two are together," Garble ordered. Maar was more than happy to be on Garble's team. Beating these two would be a cinch.

Fizzle and Clump were none too thrilled about being paired up, but they were ready nonetheless. Garble and Maar was quicker than them, but they were not gonna let that get to them.

Sakari quickly ducked down as Clump and Fizzle got far enough to where they can have range to fly after the rocks; Maar and Garble did the same. Only for them, they stopped at the edge of the lava pool. All four hunkered down and prepared to lunge after the rocks. All they needed was for Garble to say...

"GO!!!"

And like that, all four dragons rushed after the rocks. All four got their fair amount and rushed back before finally beginning the game.

Sakari and Smolder watched on as Maar threw the first rock at Fizzle, but Fizzle dodged it as Clump threw one at Maar. Maar dodged in time for Garble to step in and throw a curveball at Clump. Clump dodged by an inch.

"Ha! Ya missed!" He smirked at Garble after just barely dodging that curve rock.

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it, Clump," Garble snarked back with a smirk while getting another rock. "Because I don't plan to miss again."

Fizzle blew a raspberry at Maar after managing to dodge her thrown rock, smirking at her while she growled, "Hold still, twinkle-claws!" She tossed one more only for Fizzle to duck and Clump to just barely dodge it by leaping over it. She smirked and teaseed the brown dragon, "Ooo, so chubby-wubby Chumpy thinks he's athletic now. Now I have officially seen everything." She smirked at Garble when she gazed over at him, keeping up her teasing, "Now if he would cut back on taking extra gems from the horde pile back at the Dragonlands – then I'd be surprised."

Garble laughed at that kind of tease while Clump looked very angry, growling under his breath, his cheeks turning a bright mixed shade of pink and red; pink from embarrassment that Maar was going so far as to tease him by his weight, and red from anger as he was really starting to get tired of her insults towards him.

Sakari widened her eyes at the skills these dragons shared. The tenacity, determination, the strength, the gameplay displayed by them was enjoyable to watch and it almost made her want to join – it almost got her blood pumping and adrenaline going. She looked up at the ledge to see Smolder just bored out of her skull. She didn't know what the young dragoness was thinking, but she had a feeling she wanted to play with her or join her brother. She sighed to herself and felt bad about not being with her to play with her. Have another pair of eyes watch Smolder while Garble did his thing; that would've been a good idea, but she had to lay low. She almost sulked until she heard one of the dragons let out an aggressive roar. She flinched and took a look at what was going on.

Clump, already in the zone and wanting to put Maar in her place, was so into the game that he blindly started throwing rocks at her and Garble that got to the point he threw them aimlessly and almost hit Garble and Maar... and Fizzle and Sunder and Smolder and Sakari, on occasion.

"Geez, Clump, your aim sucks. Look where you're throwing!" Maar said as Clump growled at her in a fit of annoyance and anger.

"Shut up, Maar!" he threw another rock that went sailing at Smolder.

Smolder flinched and yelped before she ducked down as the rock smashed just above her head.

Sunder lifted a leg as a larger rock sped by her. "Whoa! Clump, ya moron! You're getting too into this game!" She was worried because from the looks of it, their fellow teenager looked like he's been pushed over the edge.

Sakari squeaked and ducked as several rocks flew just above her.

Garble noticed another rock being thrown and nearly hit Smolder, again. He growled in frustration and glared anger-filled daggers at Clump, "Hey! Watch it! You almost hit my little sister!" But it went by deaf ears as Clump started throwing more rocks at them.

'That one has gone insane!' Sakari thought as she lifted her back up to find the brown dragon was glaring at the lavender one before he walked over to the right side of the field and picked up a boulder far larger than the ones they were supposed to play with, much to their shock and worry.

It got to a point that even the other dragons were thinking this might be too much for them to handle and it was gonna escalate into something different. Clump was at a point he was done with how Maar's been treating him.

"I've had enough of you, Maar. I'm tired of you always insulting me and pushing me around!" Clump roared and lifted the boulder over his head, not even thinking about the game anymore. He glared down at her as he prepared to toss.

Maar lifted her claws and backed away, shocked by this turn of events, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Clump, s-settle down. Buddy, settle down…" She sheepishly chuckled a bit, "You know I was only messing with you." Truth be told, she had always liked Clump. Sure, he was immature sometimes, and a bit of a glutton, but there's something about his attitude and how he always tried to joke with her that interested her. Yes, she was constantly picking on him – but that was her way of showing a bit of affection – but she also wanted to keep a tough image.

She saw the rage in his eyes. Heck, Garble and Fizzle saw it, too. Yes, they all loved to mess with each other, but when one was a target too many, it can get a little ugly; Clump was showing that right now. Sunder stepped away while Smolder shook in fear a little. She was not used to seeing other dragons get so full of rage like that; it really did scary.

Garble had to pitch in. He was their leader after all and he needed to take charge and settle the group down, even if it's one member having a rage moment, "Clump, take it easy! We're just having fun here." He didn't really know what to say to him to calm him down. Normally, Clump would take hits from Maar and them, but he didn't think it would get to him this much. "I know we're all dragons, but if you keep this up you'll hurt one of us."

And that was the truth, too. Dragons had hard scales, but enough damage could lead to something fatal...

...But Clump was too angry to see reason. Maar had pushed him over the edge and he was gonna bring her down one way or another.

With no other logical way to solve this, Clump threw the boulder with ease, not caring if it missed Maar or not. Everyone widened their eyes and scattered, dodging the oncoming boulder – all except one.

Sakari held her mouth and gasped as she figured out the trajectory of where the boulder was going and she was terrified.

Garble turned in time to see where the boulder was going, too. But he wasn't gonna have enough time to take action. He looked on in shock and fear.

Clump immediately saw where he threw the boulder and his blinding rage shifted to immediate shock and horror.

Smolder was scared out of her mind. The boulder was coming right after her! She tried to hop off the ledge, but quickly saw that wasn't going to do anything as she was too high and the fall would hurt her really bad. Without wings, she couldn't fly; she was a sitting duck!

Her wings snapped to life and Sakari flapped as hard as she could and flew into the air as fast as a bullet.

Smolder gasped in fear as she backed up a bit, scrambling to get out of the way, and she screamed in horror as the boulder shadowed over her. Before anyone knew it, the boulder crashed into the wall, causing an explosion of dirt and dust to come forth as it slid down, landing on the ground with a hard thud.

"Smolder!" Garble called out in shock, horror, and fear. No response, only silence.

That silence remained for some time as the dragons processed what just happened. Fizzle and Maar were stone-still while Sunder shook in her own claws. Why did Clump do that? Did he do what they hoped he didn't do?

Clump was more in shock than the others. Not because of what he tried to do, but because of what he didn't intend to do. He kept his gaze on the dirt trail before he felt a sickening presence loom after him. He looked in the corner of his eye and saw a rage-induced Garble heading right for him; one hand balled into a fist and the other claws bared, fangs grinding in rage. Clump felt the fear and guilt overtake him, but Fizzle stopped Garble and Clump when he spoke out...

"Look! Up there," Fizzle pointed as Sunder and Maar looked up. Garble turned and looked up to where Fizzle was pointing at; Clump looked up but he was shaken to his core.

Suddenly, the scared, but alive, cries of Smolder could be heard. As the dirt cleared, they saw Smolder crying in the arms of a newcomer they never expected to see on this island. They all gazed up at her in shock, awe, and confusion, but she gazed back at them in anger and disappointment.

Sakari saved Smolder just in the nick of time, but she was caught and seen by the other dragons...

...But she didn't care anymore. Not in the least bit.

Chapter 3

View Online

What started out as a usual hang-out turned into an unusual, bizarre, and near-frightening experience for everyone. For Garble, it should've been just a typical day to play with friends – nothing more, nothing less; roughhouse and be the boss. Was that too much to ask? Apparently, this was gonna be more than too much to ask since his parents forced him to bring Smolder along, to babysit her. It's bad enough when he had to keep an eye on his friends who act just like little hatchlings, but having to actually watch one was just as tedious. But now, something happened that he never expected, nor ever thought could happen.

He and his friends stood there glancing up at a newcomer they had never seen before float just above the boulder Clump threw, holding Smolder protectively in its arms. Many thoughts rang through their heads, but all of them thought the same thing: who or what was this thing?

But, of all the dragons eyeing this new creature, Garble noticed the look this creature had and the tense eyes it gave off. It was angry and annoyed. He thought, for a moment, it was staring at him but he analyzed as best he could and calculated exactly where this newcomer was looking at. One glance to his left and he already figured out what or, in this case, who it was looking at.

Clump stood there flabbergasted and confused. Where did this thing come from? And why was it glaring at him so viciously, it nearly matched Garble's? Beads of sweat dropped from the sides of his face as he never looked away from what he assumed was a wrathful angel sent to punish him for what he did. And he knew exactly what he did to warrant it. He even winced under its glare and slowly backed up a step.

An action that the other teens mimicked, a bit uneasy under this mysterious being's glare. Maar, Fizzle, and Sunder were all just as baffled as Garble and Clump were.

Fizzle kept a look of awe on his face. This new face looked pony-like, but the wings were far larger and the horn was noticeable.

Maar, however, noticed Smolder buried in its arms. She was alive, but, from what she could tell, was scared out of her mind. Dumb Clump! Why'd he had to go and throw that boulder? She glanced at the look this pony creature had and she figured out right away that it was just as mad – or worse. She winced though; she felt she was partially to blame as well, knowing she was to blame for pushing Clump too far.

Sunder stood next to Fizzle and kept her eyes on the creature, too. But, unlike the others, Sunder looked at the creature further and raised a scaly brow. The posture, the frame, the mane, the eyelashes? They were definitive hints of the gender of this new arrival.

'Well, its female, that's for sure,' she thought to herself, but what really intrigued her was the fiery look in her eyes. Why was she so angry? And why did she save Smolder? Okay, that last question was obviously stupid. But, now she wondered how Smolder felt about it.

The sound of gravel falling to the ground was all Sakari could hear, but she didn't care about that. She knew she was caught and she could see the dragons, who stared right back at her with widened eyes. But the others were none of her concern – except two. Once the gravel finally silenced, it was replaced with the scared cries of a shaken Smolder. Sakari held the baby dragoness close to her chest as she cried in her fur and gripped it hard in her tiny little claws, never letting go of her savior.

She looked down at the little dragoness in her arms, her glare melting into a devastated look of worry and absolute concern for the child's wellbeing, "Are you alright, Smolder?" Sakari asked with great concern and worry for the baby reptile, quite scared out of her mind once she had registered what had just happened. She had just prevented her new little friend from being crushed to death, just by the skin of her teeth.

Smolder was too scared to talk, but she looked up at Sakari with tearful eyes and nodded shakily before looking back down and snuggling up to her with a whimper, keeping a tight grip on her fur and burying her face in her chest; she felt safer around her, especially in her arms like this. Something Sakari immediately understood as she held her close, never once letting her go.

Sakari had a feeling this might've traumatized the poor little dragoness, but she will no doubt fix that as she lifted her head and glared back at Clump, the one who terrified her by throwing that boulder – and Clump knew he was in for it – she had her eyes on him and solely on him.

After a couple of flinching reactions from that head gesture, Fizzle had to nut up and say something, even though he didn't want to and no one else was saying anything, "Okay, so, who's the new girl?"

Sunder looked to Fizzle, surprised, 'Guess I'm not the only one that figured it out that it's a girl?' Or they all did and she just made a pointless investigation. Either way, he held a good question, "I don't know. But she did pop up out of nowhere." She shrugged, clueless about what to make of this.

Maar was still surprised, but she raised a brow and asked the new face herself, "Hey, who are you? And where did you come from, pony?" A sudden head jerk in her location got her to stop and shudder a little. Something about this 'pony' didn't seem right. Why? She looked like she wouldn't take on any of them, so why was she so deadlock and not approaching this girl?

Sakari looked at Maar in slight annoyance, her eyes narrowed at being called a pony and nothing else – it just rustled her fur up something good.

'Okay, that was racist.' She thought in annoyance; she got that, obviously, these dragons aren't big on friendship with any creature but themselves. But, for now, she'll let it slide. 'But whatever, I've got bigger fish to fry.'

She gazed back to Clump who winced a bit as she began to descend to the ground with Smolder still in her arms, fluttering her wings with the grace of a moth's wing beat.

Garble watched as she did, but never moved a muscle. Like Maar, he could sense something was up with this pony. Or, what he thought was a pony. Ponies either have wings, horns, or none of the above. But in this case, this newcomer actually had all of the above. If his three friends were not gonna approach her, then he'd have to do it himself. He had to be the leader, after all. Though, he had to take this in a calm approach, and so he did.

She flew down somewhat gracefully, landing right before the dragons, and folded her wings as she landed on her hoofs. But as she righted herself, Garble approached her; though the look in her eyes petrified him on the spot. Her body was calm and poise, but her eyes demonstrated a fiery nature; one of anger and rage. He shuddered just like Maar, but not quite as much. He could still move, but he had couldn't shake the feeling she was here to finish something. She had just saved Smolder's life and for that he wasn't gonna threaten her, just talk.

"Who are--"

"You're Garble, right?" Sakari asked in a quite frustrated, yet straight-to-the-point tone. A tone that Garble was not gonna argue with, but also couldn't help but give his full attention to.

"Yes, but, who are you?" He asked, but remained cautious. He's heard her voice just now and it sounded serious. Almost similarly like him. Just who was this pony?

Her glare craned to him, but he remained still as Smolder looked at Garble with one eye with tears still running down her cheek, "I'm Smolder's 'imaginary friend'. But, you can call me Sakari." The alicorn stated with a tone of annoyance, but also to jog his memory as she used her wings to make air quotes on 'imaginary friend'.

Garble blinked at her for a moment before realization hit him like a troll club. He widened his eyes in shock and put two-and-two together once the puzzle was set in motion. Smolder wasn't far from where he was and she hid behind the rocks where he found her for some unknown reason. Then he felt something against his tail-tip, but assumed he brushed it against a smooth rock. He recalled Smolder mentioning a friend but he assumed it was just in her head. But, in this whole entire situation, he didn't do the one thing he should've done to confirm whether he was right or wrong...

'I should've looked behind me!' He gripped his head with his right claw and felt absolutely stupid for not realizing sooner, – not to mention he also felt embarrassed when he realized where his tail might've been or rather might've touched, causing his face to start heating up in embarrassment; especially since he just realized that this newcomer is a female, which caused his embarrassment to go sky-high. "Oh jeez, did I--"

But before he could finish that sentence, she cut him off as she held out his tearful baby sister towards him once she got the little one to let go of her fur. "Take Smolder. I need to have a word with your friend," Sakari glanced firmly at a confused yet intimidated Clump before glancing back at Garble with a soft yet serious glare focused on him. "And then I have a few choice words to say to you once I'm done with him."

Garble quickly took his whimpering little sister and held her close to his chest. Not only was Clump in trouble, but him? What did she have to say to him and why were he and his friends trembling at this girl's presence? But, he was not gonna object to this pony and stood aside. He looked over to Clump and warned, "Brace yourself, Clump."

Clump blinked at Garble's words before he turned his head and saw Sakari approach him with a snarl, rolling the fur on her right arm up like a sleeve and causing his heart to race in a bit of fear. He gazed around for a way out but found none. Clump could feel his insides churn from looking at that snarl, but as she approached, she lashed out.

"Are you out of your mind, you big buffoon?!" She shouted, causing the other dragons to reel back from her roar. Clump crouched a little and stepped back two steps in fear, eyes shifting about for a way to get past her as well as trying to avoid eye contact with this angry creature.

"I-I-I...uh...." Clump twiddled his claws. He tried to come up with an excuse, but even he was having a tough time trying to speak to her. "I didn't mean--"

She glared angrily at Clump, furious for his actions. He had nearly crushed Smolder, her new friend, because of what he did; and in doing so, he may have absolutely traumatized the poor little one. "Why did you do that?!" She barked sternly at the pudgy dragon as she pointed to the big boulder in question. She was not gonna let that slide, at all.

Clump flinched and tried to explain as best he could, but his words were failing him so badly that he explained through gestures like a mime would do. He held his head as he motioned to Smolder, then at Maar, then to the boulder, and so on. He was freaking out by what he had almost done. He would question why a pony was here and scolding him, but right now - even if she's scolding him, she's saving him from a fate worse than a scolding as far as Garble was concerned – maybe even saved him from a colossal beating, too.

Sakari rolled her eyes and got a little impatient with his gestures. She knew the cause, but not the reason. And she wasn't gonna get anything out of gestures, "English, motherbucker, do you speak it?!" She bellowed almost like a drill sergeant. She preferred to hear his words instead of watching him move around like an idiot; though, a part of her found it very amusing for the most part.

Clump recoiled and cringed, almost blanched hard from her firm roar. He responded right away so he wouldn't get yelled at again and said, "Y-Y-Yes, ma'am!" He pointed at Maar who flinched when he did so. "M-Maar just wouldn't stop picking on me!"

Sakari soaked that bit of information in and zipped her head back to look at the dragoness in question once Clump pointed her out. She immediately spotted Maar, who stood next to Garble, the dragoness in question was looking confused just like the rest.

Maar winced, however, once Sakari gazed her glare over at her and waved her hands nervously, speaking up to Clump. "Hey, man, don't drag me into this!" Only to flinch when Sunder punched her shoulder, silently reminding her that it was her teasing that got Clump to snap in the first place. "Ow!" She glared lightly at Sunder who glared back with her claws on her hips, while rubbing her right sore arm. "What?!"

Clump shakily continued to explain to Sakari, "S-She made me mad, and... and I… I... I wasn't trying to aim for Smolder! I swear!" He was quaking in his claws and couldn't figure out why. And he couldn't understand why this pony was scaring him so much. But he tried to convince her that it wasn't his intention that the boulder was heading for Smolder either.

'Okay, so, the lavender dragoness is Maar, this brown one is Clump, and the red dragon is Garble. I'll know the others later.' she said to herself before putting her attention back onto Clump. It was an excuse, but an excuse that was not good enough to save his hide. She shook her head in disappointment, "Even if she had been teasing you, you decided to retaliate and try to hurt her in return for her bullying instead of ignoring her taunts." She motioned to his friends, knowing they were trying to calm him down when he started losing it in their game. "If you had just calmed down like they told you to, you would've seen you were putting a little one's life in danger with all those bigger boulders you were throwing!" She had a point there. Getting mad over a squabble like that is more childish than the child herself.

Though she was right about Smolder, Clump tried to find a comeback for that part about Maar. He worked up enough courage to sneer at this pony and he stopped shaking like a leaf and said with some confidence, jabbing his claw into her chest as he pointed, causing her to back up a step with a slight offended scowl on her face. "Well, Maar shouldn't have targeted me so much! She does this to me all the time!" Yes, he knew they were having fun, but the way Maar kept picking on him specifically riled him up, and he wanted her to give it a break. He then said, smugly, "And if Garble would've put Smolder somewhere else then maybe this wouldn't have happened."

Oh, what a very big mistake he made when he said that.

A crack sound emitted in Sakari's mind and something entirely new took over her thoughts; she almost lost control when Clump put Smolder into this. Shaking like a volcano about to erupt, Sakari then verbally lashed out and shattered any form of pride and confidence Clump had into pieces and made him rethink what he said as his eyes nearly bugged out in alarm when she got directly in his face, flapping her wings with as much might as an adult dragon when she flew up to his eye-level.

"AND YOU THINK THAT JUST MAKES IT OKAY?! YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT COMPLETELY EXCUSES THE FACT THAT YOU HAD ALMOST, VERY NEARLY KILLED A DEFENSELESS LITTLE BABY?!" She roared in outrage, incredulous that this dragon supposedly thought that excused his dangerous act that would've ended Smolder's life.

Clump yelped and quivered yet again as he was brought down on his butt while Sakari gave him a good ol' stern talking to, curling up a bit as he recoiled in fear from her roar.

Garble and the other dragons stood aside and just watched with wide eyes as she let loose on him, but they couldn't help but have a conversation themselves, too.

"So, who's the new chick?" Maar asked, curiously.

"Well, it's a pony, obviously. But one we've never seen before," Sunder said, pointing to Sakari's wings and horn. "Never seen a pony with both wings and a horn before, have you?"

They've recalled encountering other ponies before; different ones with wings, horns, or none at all. But this one was different altogether. They hated ponies as much as the next dragon, but why would one be here? That sparked a real enigma to them.

Garble, however, didn't really care about the how and why of the situation. All he cared about was his little sister's safety. After that huge unnecessary skirmish with Clump, she probably needed some therapy after that whole ordeal. He glanced down at Smolder and saw she was still holding on to him tightly while shivering a little; she was still shaken and scared, but she was alive. He felt so bad for her, but none more so than wanting to pulverize himself for not saving her. Instead, this pony saved her. As much as he hated to admit it, but this pony had earned his gratitude for saving his baby sister, and earned a V.I.P ticket to not get a beating -- even though this pony had an attitude like she could handle herself just fine in a fight.

"Hey, Smolder, are you alright?" Garble asked calmly. He let out his soft side for a moment, but refused to have his friends acknowledge it. He had to keep that tough image, but he attempted to calm her down as best he could. He recalled his parents informing him to watch her, that much he knew. But he had to think further back; something his mother and father always used to do when he got scared. 'Come on, think, ya bozo!' but it was all for not as nothing came to mind. Pressure was getting to him, just a little. But with Smolder safe, he shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Fortunately, Smolder snapped out of the titanic shock she ever felt and responded to her older brother, slowly looking up at him with teary eyes before giving him an affirmative nod that she was alright. "Y-Yeah…" She managed to hiccup out, although it was a little bit shaky at first. "I think so…" She wiped at her teary eyes with a little sniffle and another hiccup.

He smiled lightly at her response, grateful that his little sister was alright and that she's calming down enough to talk to him. He glanced back at Sakari who was still giving Clump a verbal beatdown. He winced a teeny bit when she motioned over to their direction, most likely pointing at Smolder who looked a bit surprised when her friend pointed to her; she had just now noticed her new friend was chewing out her brother's friend.

"— and all you were concerned about was your own petty tantrum, that no-dragon else's safety mattered? Every-dragon's safety in this area matters! But Smolder, she doesn't even have her wings yet, and she wouldn't have been able to get out of there fast enough if I hadn't been around, you jerk! She's only a baby!" Sakari jabbed, glaring at Clump and baring her teeth like an angry lioness protecting her cubs. She was reminding him that while they were all having good fun in their own way, they still have to set a good example for Smolder since she's still a hatchling.

"I-I'm sorry!" Clump squeaked out as he was backed into a wall. Here he was, knocked on his butt, and backed into a wall – by a pony, of all creatures.

"Yeah, you should be." Sakari scowled at his apology, "Hell, you'll be lucky if I don't have half a mind to tell your parents about this!" She frowned at his quite horrified face once she brought up that she may tell his parents about this little fiasco. She would too; she wouldn't care if it meant exposing herself to adult fire-breathing dragons.

'Man, if my parents find out about this blunder, I'm screwed!' He whimpered at the thought and even begged her, "No! Please, don't!" He frantically shook his claws in front of him at the pony, begging her not to speak of this little incident to his folks.

Just like all dragons, Garble hated ponies because he found them way too soft and easy to pick on. Smaller than him and at the bottom of the species list. Dragons are far superior to them and he wouldn't mind watching them burn at his mercy. He glanced at Sakari intently. But this pony, something about this pony didn't sit right with him.

"You guys can feel it, too, right?" Garble asked, steadily focused on what he felt earlier.

"What are you talking about, Garble?" Fizzle asked.

He looked back to his friends, a bit appalled by Fizzle's question, "Don't tell me you guys can't sense it either? I can't be the only one that feels something off with that pony, right?"

Maar chimed in and she motioned to Sakari, "Yeah, I've been sensing something, too. But from what I can tell –" she glanced curiously at Sakari while speaking to the leader of their group "– she's actually kinda acting a lot like you, Garble." She looked back at him, his curious face melting into a look of shock yet surprise when she said this.

"What?" He asked her, surprised by such a comparison.

Maar nodded, "I can't put my claw on it, but she kind of reminds me of you." She shrugged nonchalantly, but she noticed something was off with this pony, too. "Fiery temper, very wicked glare, gives off an intense vibe around others once her mind is set?" though, the intimidation could use some work. She chuckled lightly and gave him a little knowing smirk, knowing she meant him. "Now who does that remind you of?"

Garble had to take a moment to think about that. But, he immediately brushed it aside and tried to say something to Maar, but...

"Oh, don't say anything like that, Maar," Sunder said, refusing that statement for Garble as she waved a claw at her words. She motioned to the irate alicorn, "She's just a moody prissy pony; there's no way she's like Garble. It's just… impossible!" She was not gonna believe for a second that a pony would act so much like Garble; it was preposterous. She even voiced that to her friends, knowing they're thinking the same thing as she looked to them, motioning to the scene before them and voicing Maar's theory. "I mean, c'mon! 'A pony behaving like a dragon'… I never heard of such a thing! It's absurd!"

Something that the teens slowly found themselves agreeing on. It seemed very unlikely that a pony would behave so similarly like a dragon. It sounded absolutely ridiculous.

As much as he'd love to talk for himself, Sunder had a point. A pony and a dragon had nothing in common and Sakari was no different. Ponies were just soft, glittery, sing-song creatures while dragons were born tough, fierce, and prideful. Though, it still baffled him that Sakari was giving Clump such a scolding like a grownup dragon punishing their children for borderline naughty behavior. Why wasn't Clump fighting back?

Maar just rolled her eyes at Sunder. That dragoness really should stop being such a butt-kisser. She never was fond of her tagging along because all she wanted to do was try and canoodle up to Garble. It really annoyed her. 'For crying out loud, girl, he's not interested in you! Back off already!' She thought to herself.

Though he kept a close eye on Smolder, Garble never took his attention away from Sakari and Clump. Seeing Sakari scold Clump instead of him really took the momentum of wanting to beat the snot of him away and he almost felt jealous that a girl was doing his job. But, at the same time, he also felt bad for Clump. He had been the punching bag for quite a long while and it no doubt took its toll on him; something he understood very well. Maybe they should ease up on him; he was part of their group, after all.

With Sakari doing what he wanted to do, it's not really worth the effort anymore. But, Garble did acknowledge one thing, "I'll give her this though; she's saying what's on my mind." He nodded, knowing he would've given Clump an earful for nearly squashing his little sister – although he'd warn him not to do it again or he'd pound him; this mare was doing way more than what he would do.

Sakari sighed lightly as the fumes finally cooled down and she ceased her scolding roars at him; any more yelling and her voice might've given out. She frowned softly at the dragon before her and crossed her arms as she stated, "Look, I'm sorry that this 'Maar' girl picks on you a lot, but honestly? You're much bigger than she is and you should know better." She motioned to him, using his size as an example of being bigger than Maar before crossing her arms, again, as he sadly nodded in confirmation about that. Her tone settled from anger to gently reprimanding, similar to how a mother gently scolds her child. "Being the only grown dragons around here in this area – you and your friends need to act like grown dragons and be responsible for one another, even give a little kindness. You don't always have to be mean to each other; everyone has limits. It would set a better example for little ones like Smolder, just like Garble's doing. It's the only way she can learn, after all."

Garble widened his eyes and flinched a bit, his cheeks burning bright pink as he gazed shifty eyes around when the pony mentioned him being soft around his little sister. "I… I dunno what she's talkin' about." He muttered while trying to avoid eye contact.

Sunder giggled lightly, finding it a bit adorable to see he's such a softy towards little Smolder, little dots of pink appearing on her cheeks as she smiled at him while giggling softly. Fizzle and Maar only smirked lightly yet knowingly at him as they sneak little amused chuckles, knowing he's trying his best to be a tough guy around them yet be a responsible older brother for Smolder at the same time. Smolder herself gave her big brother a grateful smile as she looked up to him.

Clump only nodded in agreement with Sakari and her every word; she made some very good points – he should've been the bigger dragon and just cooled down, at least enough to acknowledge Smolder's presence around and see that he was about to put her in danger. And he should've kept a cooler head and been a bit more reasonable yet responsible, so to set an example of influence for Smolder – but here they were now.

Once more he tried to speak to the pony, gazing up at her guiltily like he was a young child being reprimanded by his mommy for bad behavior, his voice filled with regret, "B-But… I…s-she…" He couldn't form the words he wanted to say and could only glance away in shame as Sakari adopted a firm posture while she hovered over him in the air, her hooves on her hips – almost in a way a disappointed mother would… almost in a way that even his own mother would take when he was being naughty.

"Don't you 'But I…she…' me, buster." She pouted at the pudgy teenager and snorted lightly, raising a brow at him. "What do you have to say for yourself?" The only response she got was a blank stare and a few blinks from him while the only sound they could hear was the flapping beats of her own wings. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?!" She firmly repeated as he then shrunk a little and whimpered like a puppy under her repeated stern words, his blank face changing into a face of regret.

That did it – he could no longer hold it in. The hurt he felt from Maar's teasing, the horror and shame of what his anger nearly made him do to Smolder, the regret he felt about how he acted, and the fear he had felt from this angry pony – it was all too overwhelming for poor Clump.

And to the surprise of all his friends, with one last whimper, he collapsed down on all fours before the pony; he covered his eyes with his claws and he immediately broke down into tears, just like Smolder had been doing earlier. His sobbing even caught Smolder's attention as she looked over to him to see this surprising sight. Her tears had long stopped as she blinked in amazement upon seeing her brother's friend gushing out fountains of tears from his eyes as he let out crying roars while he sobbed.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" He didn't hold back as the dams burst and his tears spouted out with no intention of stopping; he sniffled and whimpered a few times but that only really increased his sobbing. His tears even sprinkled down on Sakari like raindrops as he continued to cry. "Waaaaaah-ah-hahahaha!"

Sunder blinked in shock and uttered under her breath in surprise by what she was looking at, "I can't believe it…" She could hardly believe what just occurred. A pony had just managed to make one of their own cry like a hatchling. She winced a bit as his crying increased, and gave a slightly sad, pitying look towards Clump; maybe they have been too hard on him.

Fizzle was flabbergasted. For as long as he's known Clump, he was the muscle dragon of the group – but here his pal was, crying in the presence of a pony. He winced as he gazed away while rubbing the back of his neck, even though he can still hear his bud break down; despite their slight fights with one another, they knew they were just screwing around with each other. They knew one another ever since they were hatched; they weren't related, but Clump was his best friend and he felt a somewhat slight brother-like bond with him. He cared about the big lug and he wanted to go over there and give him some form of comfort, but right now, he didn't know what to say or what to do.

Maar watched the two with her eyes wide in surprise yet shock; Clump was actually crying! She had never expected Clump to actually break down like this. But at the same time, she felt deep pity as she watched him cry at the hooves of this pony before him – she felt really guilty that she pushed him over the edge; and she felt like she was the one who was making him cry instead of the mare before all of them. She winced and bit her lip, holding her arm in regret as she gazed down to the ground while listening to his meltdown, her free claw touching her chest, right on her heart. Her eyes started looking a bit shiny as well; Clump's crying was really starting to have an effect on her.

Garble was quite stumped, jaw dropped and eyes wide; he was speechless – the way this pony had just handled this situation, almost reminded him of how parents would act when scolding their hatchlings. He should know; his parents sure gave him an earful whenever he misbehaved until Smolder was born. But this pony, this pony was something else.

Cooling down her firm demeanor and cooling her emotions down at last - upon seeing this clearly overwhelmed and guilt-ridden teen dragon break down crying right in front of her, Sakari sighed lightly to herself with a hint of remorse – knowing she may have been too rough on him during her scolding; He looked like he was having a rough day, so the least she could do was give him a bit of comfort after putting him through the wringer like that.

She fluttered her wings and landed right before him, tenderly caressing his head with her feathered wing as it carefully lowered down to his shaking form, while gingerly rubbing his back with one hoof; her other hoof was gently touching his claws to carefully lower them from his face which worked as he looked up at her tearfully, his tears still running down his cheeks and his lips quivering through his whimpers.

"There, there… I'm sorry I yelled at you. You just made a rash decision, that's all." She wiped his tears away as his whimpering slowly ceased. "Please, don't cry…" Her voice had turned so soft and so warm, that it almost felt like a blanket wrapping around his body in comfort. The last thing she wanted right now was to see hurt, sad, crying faces. Her voice now became as gentle as a mother dragon lulling her hatchling into a sense of security. She cooed as she comforted him, "I'm not mad at you anymore… I just don't want anything like this to happen again, okay?"

"O-Okay…" Clump sniffed, pulling himself together as the pony helped him at least sit up enough for him to get up on his own. His claws came in contact with her hoof as she gently pulled him up to sit up. The result was… actually very interesting. Surprisingly, she had a gentle, caring touch to her; sure, she was a pony, but he's never actually touched one before.

Sakari was having similar thoughts, she's never really touched another dragon other than holding Smolder minutes ago, and instead of feeling rough scaly patches – Clump had more of a smoothness to his hide, almost as smooth as her own skin. Using her wing, she caught an escaping tear dripping down his cheek and gingerly flicked it away.

When she did that, Clump winced lightly and he tried to scrub his tears away, becoming fully aware that he showed weakness in front of his friends by bawling like a baby.

But his friends were too surprised by what was occurring in front of them to even think of giving him even more of a hard time. They knew he needed a break, a very big break. They were dragons, but there were limits on how much bullcrap they could take and from the looks of it, Clump's been through enough already.

Sakari reached into her bag once she got it open and she pulled out a handkerchief. Rearing up on her hind hooves like how his friends are standing on their feet, she gently grabbed onto his right arm for support before using her free hoof to gently wipe the tears out of his eyes with the hanky. She gently pressed it to his muzzle when she heard how stuffy it sounded as he sniffled while she wiped his tears away. "Here, blow."

Obliging her just this once since the gentle comfort of her voice soothed him a little; he blew hard into the soft cloth, but had also unintentionally blown smoke in her face in the process.

Sakari winced only lightly when her now slightly messy yet smoky hanky nearly got stuck to her hoof while gaining a bit of soot on her cheeks. She shook her head to shake the soot off and put the handkerchief in a separate pocket in her bag. No use getting dragon snot and soot all over her stuff. She'll get rid of that later; no use polluting the area.

But even if she gave him comfort, Clump was still a little upset and slightly afraid of her as he hiccupped a bit. He backed up a bit from her after she had rid him of his tears. He curled up a bit against the wall, hugging his knees and wrapping his tail around his hip, and only letting out a strangled, scared whimper. He couldn't speak, he was scared to talk any further – he was worried that if he did something else, he would set her off again somehow.

Seeing such a sight was heartbreaking for her to witness, to say the least. It should be the other way around, but nonetheless – she had to calm him down somehow, because comfort alone was only doing so much for the two of them at the current moment. "You don't have to be scared… I won't yell at you anymore. You've been through enough as it is." And she understood that perfectly – this poor dragon had been through quite enough a lot. But how was she going to prove that she wasn't going to hurt him? She immediately turned to her bag to look for some sort of incentive to offer.

Smolder tilted her head as she watched her new friend start to dig into her bag for something. "Si?" She wondered what her friend was doing. Especially when her look of determination slightly melted into a look of sadness a few moments later once she had found something in her bag. The little dragoness became confused - what was her new friend sad about?

A little idea came to Sakari – if he didn't want to believe her words, then perhaps a peace offering will do. She glanced into her bag a bit sadly as she ran her hoof over the cool, smooth surface of the big egg-shaped emerald gemstone she had kept hidden from Smolder; it was her very last good-luck charm that she had found with her mother. She knew sacrifices had to be made if one had to build a bridge of trust between two parties – plus, it may cheer him up. Sighing lightly but accepting what she must do, she made her decision as she nodded.

Clump wiped his eyes from the saltiness his tears had left behind and breathed steadily to get his hiccups to stop until a sweet scent came to his now clear nose. He sniffed about for the pleasant aroma, a small smile starting to grow on his snout as he took in the sweet, delicious scent before looking towards the source and to his surprise…

It was a big, shiny, ripe-looking egg-shaped emerald being offered right before him!

He wasn't the only one who was surprised; the rest of the gang gasped lightly when Sakari was offering something that dragons can't resist: a gem-snack.

"Clever pony…" Fizzle quietly commented. He didn't know if it was luck this pony knew about their love for gems, or if it was completely coincidental.

Sunder raised a brow, wondering how a pony like this one managed to get her hooves on a nice delicious-looking egg-shaped emerald such as that one. "Where did she get that?" She uttered softly.

"And how did we miss smelling that little scrumptious piece of heaven on her?" Maar couldn't agree more as she pouted lightly at seeing this little gift offering. How did they not smell that succulent-looking emerald earlier?

Smolder looked amazed; her friend had another gem on her? But she's offering it to one of her big brother's friends? As strange and weird as Sakari was, she sure was unique.

"Here." The pony's voice spoke gently, causing Clump to look up at her in surprise; however, she was avoiding eye contact with him while holding the gem to offer the emerald to him, keeping her eyes from facing him by pretending to see something interesting in the sky. She avoided eye contact with him mostly to be somewhat submissive yet willing to form some sort of truce as she offered him this sweet delicacy – hoping to build a form of trust between herself and the teenager.

From studies before she departed on her journey, she read a book about doing this – avoiding direct eye contact with certain dangerous creatures – it was a way to show them respect because that meant she was acknowledging their power as well as the danger he could pose to her very life and well-being.

But she didn't want to fight anymore; all she wanted to do was settle this situation peacefully.

Such an action from such a creature, this pony – the very angelic-like creature that struck him down with her wrath – was now showing him kindness, in the form of trying to form some sort of peace between them after such an emotional drop-bomb. It was surprising, yet it started making Clump see her in different lights.

Yes, she was very scary, but she had only been that way because she was justifiably angry since she revealed that she was friends with little Smolder… and now, she's showing that she knew limits and was giving him kindness and comfort, instead of further emotionally and mentally torturing him with her words. This sudden change… it felt… really nice. Normally, dragons aren't that big into getting involved with emotional subjects and mushiness, but in this case, this was an exception.

'Plus, that emerald she's offering sure looks good.' He couldn't deny, this pony had good taste. To dragons, especially teenagers like him and his friends, out of all the gems that dragons knew of by their knowledge, emeralds were considered a bit rich in taste, yet quite filling depending on their shape – and this emerald sure looked very filling and very ripe, judging from the look of how it's shaped, causing him to briefly lick his lips. She was offering it, but she was also giving him a choice if he should accept it or not. It sure looked tempting, though - all that anger burnout really perked up his appetite.

Despite that, this pony actually showed something else, too; she showed that she was different from other ponies, not just by appearance… but by the fact that she was brave enough to stand up to a dragon like him, and yet at the same time, was kind and gentle enough to offer him a form of peace between them in the form of a gem, as well as give him a respectful acknowledgment of his power and skills as a dragon.

'This pony's alright.' He concluded in his thoughts.

Smiling softly and blushing lightly from her genuine kindness towards him, he took the ripe green gem carefully from her hoof, being careful not to claw her by accident. In return for such a gift, he thought to himself – if she can show she means that she won't give him any more grief, perhaps he can show that she won't be harmed by even the likes of him – for she was the very first pony to ever be kind to him. "Thanks…" His voice almost came out in a bit of a bashful but grateful whisper.

He slowly reached his claws towards her, much to her notice when she looked to see he had taken the gem. Sakari gave a little warning sneer when she saw those claws getting close to her face, narrowing her eyes only slightly. He immediately stopped but kept his arm extended and turning his head away, he avoided eye contact just as she did before; it was up to her, after all. She gave him her form of peace; it was only fair that he did his own form of peace as well – by giving her a gentle rubbing on the head with his claws, without injuring her in the slightest. However, just like she showed towards him, it was all about choice.

Widening her eyes at his actions, Sakari was a bit surprised by his own submissiveness – allowing her to make her decision on trusting him or not. Granted, this action was a bit sudden and it was a little bit invasive to her personal space, but at the moment when she saw him give her the chance to decide for herself – she didn't care. He was willing to cooperate with her and in return for showing him she meant no harm, she realized he was showing her the same thing. This was a rare occurrence for her, for the first time in her life, she was allying herself – with the very creatures nopony was brave enough to try befriending. At this very moment, she was making new friends.

With a deciding nod and a soft little smile, she slowly shut her eyes and placed her head under his palm, much to his own surprise as he looked right back at her once he felt her touch; she allowed him to feel her hair, touch her fur, and even rub her cheek as she could feel his claws explore while rubbing her head. She gave his claws and his palm a little nuzzle as she felt safe for a moment with his surprisingly comforting yet warm touch. By doing this, Clump found out that just like him – she is warm, alive, and full of blood and life – just like he was. Opening her eyes and making eye contact with him, she gave him a bright yet sweet little smile, a sparkle in her eyes. And in the moment of discovery and compassion, Clump found himself giving her a toothy smile back as the sparkle was returned in his eyes.

It was at that moment while getting a bit of a better understanding of one another, the both of them made a discovery that the both of them now knew – while they are both very different species, under the fur and beneath the scales, they were the same: creatures who were both living and breathing, and were more alike with each other than one had ever thought.

"Are you guys seeing what I'm seriously seeing?" Maar spoke for the gang, baffled by what she was looking at.

"I see it, but I can't believe it…" Fizzle added, his eyes wide in surprise.

Garble slowly nodded, he was speechless at what he saw before him – just before, Sakari was scolding Clump in his place, but now she was being kind. Just what was happening here?

Although, his train of thought halted when Sakari turned her head and made eye contact with him… and judging by that slightly firm face slowly returning and replacing the calm, kind expression she had before, she gave a snort and spread her wings. But before she can go and confront Garble like she planned to, she gazed at Clump who had started to nibble on the emerald, speaking gently towards him as he starts sampling the egg-shaped gemstone. "By the way… I'm Sakari."

The teenager looked a bit surprised at her giving him her name and he slowly pronounced it once he could form it on his tongue. "Hmm… Sa-ka-ree…huh." Eh, close enough. Closer than Smolder got it, he allowed the name to form on his tongue and insert itself in his memory banks. While he licked at the emerald like a popsicle, he gave her a little smile and gave her an introduction back. "That's kinda pretty. Name's Clump."

Giving him a smile in return, she then took flight and flew right towards Garble with a soft frown on her face, the look in her eye about as serious as she had been earlier.

Taking notice, Smolder looked up at her older brother and saw he looked concerned, but she had to point out the obvious for him. "I think she's a bit mad at you too, big brother."

'Yes, but why?' Garble thought – he understood most of her rage was at Clump, but what did he do to deserve some lashing? He carefully put his sister down when it was apparent she stopped crying and had calmed down, but he held her little claw – refusing to let go of her so soon.

"Garble…" Sakari's voice broke him from his thoughts along with a jerking sensation on his right free arm, causing him to yelp and snap himself back to reality. She was right in front of him and now had him by the arm.

Garble flinched in worry, he didn't know what exactly he did to get a lashing, but the pony had him in her grip now. And it may have just been from witnessing her anger earlier, but he was a bit nervous about what was in store for him. "Yeah...?"

"You're the one who's responsible for Smolder, correct?..." She received a nod from him. "Then, you should know, you must be punished for putting Smolder into such a high area where she had been vulnerable to such a horrific incident." Her voice purred out, leaking a mix of anger yet serene calmness at the same time, all while sounding as smooth as silk – which sent shivers down the dragons in the area's spines.

That made Garble freeze; that's what she was angry at him for? Okay, he'll admit – maybe it wasn't the safest place to put Smolder up there, but he didn't want her wandering away from his sight, again. 'Okay, gonna have to call 'my bad' on that one.' He winced lightly as he had conflicting thoughts about what was going to happen – she wasn't wrong. He was responsible for Smolder, so he deserved part of the blame too for almost losing her today. "R-Really?" He gulped in response to the pony before him.

"Yes…" Sakari's voice hissed out, narrowing her eyes at him, the slight venom in her voice spooking the teenagers around them, also causing Garble to whimper a bit as she gripped his arm.

His friends winced sharply and braced themselves for what was to come to Garble, wondering what the angry pony was going to do.

He shut his eyes tight and braced himself for what was coming, expecting to hear scolding or feel pain…

*Slap!*

…But what he didn't expect was just a simple slap on the wrist.

"There." Sakari let his arm go and she backed away from him, giving him his personal space back.

"Huh?!" He blinked his eyes open, blinking them in confusion yet in a bit of surprise by what had just happened. Smolder giggled and broke out laughing a little at seeing the sight of her brother getting worked up over just a little slap on the wrist. Clump was kind of the same as he tried to fight his snickers down and keep his mouthful of emerald bits from spraying out, putting a claw to his muzzle while doing so; he couldn't help it, the look on Garble's face was hilarious.

Sunder raised a brow, incredulous about what she just saw. "Wait, that's it?"

"Just a slap on the wrist?" Maar blinked in surprise by Garble's so-called punishment. "No yelling? No fighting?" She was stunned that was all Garble was getting.

"Hmm… well, that was a bit anticlimactic." Fizzle shrugged as he talked to himself after witnessing Garble's 'punishment'.

"E-Excuse me, what?" Garble looked to Sakari who flew a distance away from him and landed onto the ground, folding her wings to give them a break from use.

"You heard me." Sakari jabbed back at Garble calmly as she glanced back at the red teenage dragon. She motioned up to where the boulder had crashed, frowning lightly at the sight from where she was standing. "While I am pissed that you placed Smolder up there where your pal here nearly crushed her," She gazed at Clump calmly as she dusted herself off from the dust of the ordeal, causing Clump to blush in embarrassment as he slowly chews on the emerald he holds. "…I'm no fool when I know you were trying to be a good big brother, keeping her where you could see her." She nodded, knowing he was only trying to be a responsible sibling. So she decided to cut him some slack for that one instead.

"You didn't know that this would happen, but it did. But… I'm not going to give you too much of a hard time." She chuckled lightly as she gazed down to the little dragon at his feet, holding his claw while looking up at her "I don't want little Smolder to get upset with her…" She smiled trying not to giggle, but she teased him momentarily and sent a wink towards Smolder's direction "…'imaginary friend', for picking on her big brother."

Garble's cheeks lit up from embarrassment at her bringing up that 'imaginary friend' bit; but when she told her the reason why he was only getting a slap on the wrist, his eyes widened in disbelief. That… was actually generous and believable on his part; yes, he did mess up by placing Smolder in a spot where she was vulnerable, but he had no clue that Clump would go on a rampage. He pouted lightly as he heard his little sister giggle at his reaction and for Sakari mentioning his words about her being her imaginary friend. "Aww, be quiet, ya little troublemaker."

Smolder giggled but hurried over to Sakari and hugged her leg, nuzzling into her fur gratefully, "I told you that I was with a friend and that your tail touched her." She gave him an adorable 'I-told-you-so' smirk as she looked at him.

Sakari, as she held her little friend close in a hug, gazed up in time to see Garble's face turn a mix of mortified, embarrassed, and ashamed as well as a bright shade of pink to compliment his scales when that part was brought up – which caused her to nearly burst out laughing. She did let out a few little laughs because the look on his face was too priceless to resist.

He winced deeply as he looked to the pony, still embarrassed as he rubbed his neck, gazing awkwardly at his tail which slouched in shame on the ground, slightly curling up near his leg when it was being brought into this. "I, uh… didn't touch anything personal, did I?"

"Simmer down there, buster…" Sakari smirked widely, teasing him further because she was having fun with this. "You only touched my hind leg with that tail of yours."

"Oh! Oh…" Garble heaved a sigh in relief that he had been holding in, feeling his forehead and wiping sweat off. That brought him some relief as he actually smiled a little to show said relief, "Oh jeez, thank goodness…" He had only touched her surprisingly smooth leg with his tail, not what he worried he may have touched instead.

Although, his embarrassment skyrocketed when Sakari added, "If you touched me where your tail was hoping to touch – I'd make sure to make your 'rubies' extra red, because you'd better take me to dinner first if you're trying to get fresh with me, pal."

The sudden innuendo actually got all the teen dragons to bust out laughing hysterically while Garble looked incredibly flustered and pink in the face.

"So… you're travelling out here?" Sunder asked, raising a brow at Sakari.

It had been an hour or two since they finally calmed things down enough for everyone to get comfortable with each other; especially with their latest guest who had explained why she was here in the first place. They were sitting near their pile of gemstones, taking a break from their games to finally let curiosity take control. It also gave them time to get introductions out of the way so they wouldn't have to keep calling each other 'pony' or 'dragon' the whole time.

"That's right." Sakari smiled softly while holding Smolder in her lap who was playing with her tail. "Left the nest, recently and was out to see the world…"

Something the dragons quickly understood, smiling lightly at one another. From the first moment they could fly, they too have wanted to get out of their nests to see the world themselves.

"Heh, just was trying to figure out where to start," She sweat-dropped a bit sheepishly. She brightened up and looked at them. "Then I saw you guys flying off somewhere."

"So, you followed us?" Garble crossed his arms, raising a brow at her as he started piecing together why she was here.

"Well, I wasn't stalking you, if that's what you're thinking," She snarked at the red teenager, making him lean back a bit – as if surprised by her snarking skills but he smugly smirked, secretly impressed by her tongue. From the sound of it, it sounded like this pony was actually about their age. "You see, there's not much information on dragons in literature." She rolled her eyes lightly at the mere lack of info on dragons. "Probably because nobody's ballsy enough to get near a dragon without pissing themselves." While it was understandable that the fear of dragons loomed over ponies that not a single one would traverse Equestria and study them, it would've been nice for somepony to at least be brave enough to document something; the current information felt like it was made out of fear.

Her unfiltered comment got Clump and Fizzle laughing hysterically, nearly rolling on the ground laughing or nearly spitting their gems out.

"Oh, jeez… it's funny, because it's true!" Fizzle facepalmed as he laughed. It really was a fact. Ponies were outright scared of dragons for such a long time that it became common knowledge to the dragon kingdom. Heck, some dragons didn't have to do anything to scare them off; their presence alone was enough to make them go running back to their mamas. But Sakari?

"Ok, now I know you're totally different from the other ponies, Sakari." Clump laughed as he wiped a tear away. "You're talking our lingo here." He was impressed that she would actually admit to something true and she wasn't looking the least bit offended. "Hoo, dragon lords above… you crack me up." He laughed a bit more but tried to steady his breathing so not to choke on the gems in his mouth.

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Maar crossed her arms. "I know we dragons are everything they probably heard of, but really? Not even a short chapter?" She was appalled that there was that little information on dragons where Sakari apparently came from. She was a little invested in the idea of a pony writing down information about them. Not all dragons are mean; must've been at the wrong place and time, apparently.

Saraki threw an arm up in agreement with Maar, "I know, right?" Sakari said, confirming to Maar that there was little to no information on Dragons back at home, as far as she could tell. "So, I wanted to take a chance to gather any information I can get by observing you."

This caused all of them to actually blush lightly, realizing that this pony had been watching them the entire time, and they had no idea she was around… all except Smolder.

"Then, I was found by this little stinker," She playfully shook little Smolder who squealed and laughed as she tickled her some with a little smirk. "Who was soon discovered 'missing' by snaggletooth over here." She gazed at Garble with a smirk, mentally laughing at his pout as he flipped her off for that nickname. "And I'm pretty sure you know the rest."

"Sooooo… you were basically spying on us." Sunder blinked slowly.

"No, dummy," Maar pointed at their guest, frowning at her fellow dragoness. "She was trying to be smart and actually get some information about dragons – rather than be like the rest of those namby pamby ponies."

"I dunno if I should be offended by that or not." Sakari honestly stated, raising a brow at Maar's last three words. "But I'm getting a teeny bit of a feeling that you were trying to enter into racist territory there." She grabbed a Fire Ruby from the gem pile. "Not all ponies are 'namby pamby' or as bad as ya think." She pointed at them as she stated this before biting into the ruby with an audible crunch, chewing up the tip of the gem that shaped like a heart, savoring the sweet taste. "Mmm," She smiled softly as she enjoyed it. "So good."

But when she looked up, she blinked in confusion because all of a sudden, the group of teenagers and little Smolder were looking at her wide-eyed and some slack-jawed.

"What?" She looked around and shrugged, wondering why they were looking at her like that. "Something on my face? Did someone let one rip? If so, it wasn't me this time."

"Oh, it's not that." Fizzle droned in shock.

"Definitely not that." Sunder nodded in agreement, spooked.

"We're just wondering something else," Maar widened her eyes in complete awe.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Sakari wondered what in Equestria was wrong with them. Why were they looking at her as if she ate a live bug in front of them?

"Sakari?" Clump spoke in what sounded like concern. While Smolder looked confused yet surprised. "Sisi?"

Okay, now she was really confused. Why are they acting so funny? "Why are you guys acting like I just ate some sort of bug in front of you?" Sakari raised a brow at them.

"If no-dragon is going to say it, then I will!" Garble was tired of his friends beating around the bush, so he decided to be the one to point out the ursa major in the room. He looked at her, confused yet in wonder. "We're wondering; How, what and why in Torch's name is a pony taking a bite out of a gem without breaking her teeth?!"

Once Garble finally threw it out, Sakari's eyes widened slightly. Now she understood why they were looking at her like that. Looking at the gem in her hoof, they easily saw that she had bitten through it without any trouble… and without causing any dental damage to her teeth. She then started to sweat as she gazed down, uttering under her breath once she realized what she had done.

"Aw, schist."

A Mare Among Dragons

by Dashzilla93

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3