//Crap.
Spike: And I'm sure you're miles away by now, Twilight, not like you could have helped, or anything, no...
//I glance around, blue bullet far away but still coming quickly. A person-sized rock lies next to a tree with a sliver of space between them. I leap between them and try to dig in before I'm seen.
//Several breaths pass. Did that work?
//The Avatar of Speed turns sharply and dives like a falcon.
Spike: Great, here we go...
//May as well get prepared. She may fly, but I have the power of the land!

The Drakeling breathes in and focuses, casting Terrae Corpus! The Drakeling's scales become as hard as rock!

//The Avatar cuts her speed by flaring out her wings, and lands gently.
Rainbow Dash: Heh heh, for a moment there you probably thought that would work.
Spike: Yeah, my luck's not that good.
RBD: Come on, hands up and get out of there; I don't have all day.
//...
//YOU ARE PATHETIC.
Spike: I think I'm stuck.
RBD: What?
Spike: I said, I think I'm stuck.
RBD: What do you expect me to do about it?
Spike: A little help?
RBD: Not falling for that one.
Spike: No, I'm really stuck.
RBD: Well, you better hurry it up. I'm already late for something.
Spike: For what? Is there another dragon district somewhere you'd like to terrorize? Other tensions you'd like to strain?
RBD: Hey, that silver dragon's approach was way too aggressive, it looked like he was attacking the city!
Spike: And I'm sure that's a problem that never happens to pegasi.
RBD: Wh-- hey! Are you accusing me of being racist?!
Spike: Maybe a little.
T: (Speciesist, really.)
RBD: I am totally not racist! I would never discriminate against any group of dragons or people!
Spike: 'Dragons or people'.
RBD: ...You know what I mean!
Spike: Does not being racist include saying that all dragons are criminals?
RBD: Oh, that. Funny thing, in that case all those dragons _were_ criminals because they tried to stop me from arresting a known terrorist, but I may have gotten carried away...
Spike: I'll say.
RBD: For your information, featherbrain, I have plenty of friends who are dragons!
Spike: Name one.
//The Avatar of Speed holds a hoof to her chin, wings stretched out. I think I'm almost free from this rock...
RBD: This guy named Spike, we were friends back when I lived in Ponyville. We still talk sometimes, though nowadays he mostly--
//In outrage, I burst out:
Spike: _That_ is how you treat your friends?!
//The Avatar pauses, then trots a little to the side to get a better view.
RBD: Oh, hey, Spike! I didn't notice it was you!
Spike: 'Swings, I'd hate to see what you'd do to your enemies.
RBD: It looks like you're really stuck between--
Spike: That's what's happening now? You're making bad jokes instead of helping me?
RBD: Sorry, let me get that for you.

Rainbow Dash bites the Drakeling in the bronze vestskirt! Rainbow Dash drags the Drakeling by the bronze vestskirt!

//I cough and rub my neck; even with hardened scales the little hoops choked me.
RBD: The armor's new.
Spike: It's a dangerous world out there.
RBD: Heh heh, because ponies like me are flying around in it, I know.
//Strangely enough, that was my next line.
RBD: Sorry again about that last fight, I didn't know it was you.
Spike: Is that supposed to be better? That you're okay with people you don't know getting hurt but not your friends?
//Rainbow Dash recoils, as if struck. She opens her mouth, failing to respond once, and then finds the words.
RBD: If you don't accept my apology, you can just say so! You don't have to be rude!
Spike: ...Fine. If you think it's an apology, I'll take it as one.
RBD: Ugh, gee, I never really remembered you being this mouthy.
Spike: Twilight says you've been away for a long time.
//Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes.
RBD: Don't remind me. So, anyway, what's up with you? Why the armor?
//Uh, do I tell the truth? Where would I start?
Spike: Well, in case you haven't heard, I completely lost my memory.
RBD: Woah! All of it?
Spike: All of it.
//She thinks for a moment, staring off into space.
RBD: Woah.
Spike: Yeah. It's been kind of weird.
RBD: So why are you in the Aquinatics?
Spike: Oh! Well, since I lost my memory, I decided I want it back.
RBD: Is it around here somewhere? I could find it for you in a jiffy if I knew what it looked like!
//...'Lost', not 'misplaced'.
Spike: Uh, that's... I came here to meet up with other dragons. You know, figure out if there's someone who knew me and ask them about it.
RBD: ...Uh, Spike? You didn't know any dragons. Except for, like, a few punks you met at some point and saved an egg from.
//I've already done that! Even if it was ponies this time.
Spike: ...Are you sure?
//No dragons at all who knew me... even in a past life, I wasn't as connected with my kind as I wanted to be.
RBD: Hey, would I lie?
//Yes? I don't know you!
RBD: You lived in Ponyville and Canterlot, as far as I know.
Spike: (Not many dragons there?)
T: (You could say that.)
Spike: Well, whatever. Even if I don't find my memories here, I'm going to make new memories, and figure out what it means to be a dragon!
//With this ankh, I'll convince Quine to take me as an apprentice, and become a Hero to lead dragonkind!
RBD: Heh-heh, if you really want to know more about your past, you should ask--
Spike: Yeah, yeah, I know. But I don't want to have only one person tell me who I am and what I should do.
//It kind of ruins the point of finding out who I am if someone just tells me.
RBD: Funny thing about that, heh-heh...
Spike: Besides, Twilight's busy telling me what to do _now_, it'd be impossible for her to squeeze a word in edgewise about my past.
T: (Oh, come on, I'm not that bad. Am I?)
//I shrug.
RBD: Twilight?!
T: (Celestia she is so transparent.)
//Rainbow Dash continues:
RBD: You two hang out? What for?
//...Didn't Rainbow Dash see us both in Forlegsandria's dragon district? She should remember that...
Spike: Uh, well, it's kind of a long story, and you have things to do...
//She lifts her wing and gestures to a scroll tied there.
RBD: These? Nah, they're not important. I fly pretty fast, you know!
//I haven't forgotten.
Spike: Anyway, what have you been up to?
//The Drakeling dodges away from the incoming question! The Drakeling counterattacks! The Drakeling throws a question at the Avatar of Speed!
RBD: I've been pretty darn busy with this forest fire and the refugee handling, I haven't been back to the dojo in two weeks!
//The flying question strikes the Avatar of Speed in the train of thought, and the severed part flies off in an arc!
Spike: You train in a dojo?
RBD: Oh, right, no memory. I'm the master of a dojo, in the greater Gloucester region. You should visit sometime, the view's awesome.
//Huh?
RBD: It's on top of a mountain overlooking Fillydelphia.
Spike: What are you doing right now?
RBD: I have to deliver Applejack's orders to the troops handling the refugees from the Valley. We're trying to get them to Detrot or out of the region without being attacked by dragons.
Spike: Why would dragons attack them?
//Rainbow Dash shrugs.
RBD: I don't know; I forgot to read the orientation materials. It's a land conflict, I guess?
//If there's senseless violence between dragons and ponies that can be solved, then by Celestia, it's my duty as a Hero to solve it!
RBD: Wait, hold on, you never answered my question!
//Oh, crap, she remembered.
Spike: Oh, so...
//I suppose the truth is better than lying.
Spike: I'm trying to be a Hero, traveling the land and righting wrongs, and Twilight is traveling with me. A land conflict sounds complicated, maybe there's something I can do... but I really just came here to train with fellow dragons. Twilight's advice and training has been great, though. I've learned a lot, even if she isn't a dragon.
RBD: Wow! Did Twilight tell you about the 'Hero of the Land' thing?
Spike: What? Should she have? What is it?
RBD: It's some wacky old law put in place by Princess Celestia, grandmothered in by Princess Hazel. A Hero, known across all Equestria for her benevolence and power, can gather together the Elements of Harmony and challenge the Avatars for the right to an audience with the Princess herself! Uh, Hazel, not Celestia.
T: (But if there were a time for her to come back...)
Spike: _That's really a thing_?!
//Why doesn't the world always work out in my favor like this?!
RBD: Yeah, I know!
Spike: So all I have to do is gather the, the whatever-they-were --
T: (Elements of Harmony.)
Spike: And defeat the Avatars, and I get to meet Princess Hazel?
RBD: Twilight should know more; I just heard one of my students rant about how he was going to meet the Princess. (Not going to happen.)
Spike: You said 'her', but it applies to anyone, right? Even drakelings?
//Rainbow Dash shrugs.
RBD: It should.
Spike: Then I know what I must do! I will be a Hero of the Land in the name of Celestia!
RBD: Heeey -- that means we have to fight sometime!
//I gulp. Whoops.
Spike: Hopefully a long, long way in the future, you know, when some time has passed...
RBD: We should spar!
//What?! Right here?!
Spike: No, no we shouldn't!
RBD: Come on, it's just a little practice! What could go wrong?
Spike: A lot!

[[SAVE LOCATION]]

//Rainbow Dash leaps into the air!
RBD: You said you were a Hero, right? You must have fought someone after the last time we met. Come on, show me what you've learned!
//I would really rather not.
Spike: Stop! I don't want to spar!
RBD: Don't be such a spoilsport!

//Rainbow Dash swoops down from above!
Rainbow Dash strikes the Drakeling in the left upper leg, but the attack is deflected by the Drakeling's bronze vestskirt!
The Drakeling punches at Rainbow Dash with his left hand, but Rainbow Dash dodges away!

//She takes to the sky until the sun is behind her.
RBD: _What did you DO_?!
Spike: Sorry, I'm not very good.
RBD: That's a guilty stance!
//...What?
RBD: Why are you _that_ guilty?! _What have you done_?!
Spike: ...How can you tell that much from a _stance_?!
//Damn my body language!
//ALL OF TWILIGHT'S FRIENDS HAVE SUPERNATURAL LIE DETECTION POWERS, REMEMBER? CHAPTER OF YOUR STUPID LIFE PART ONE?
RBD: _Tell me_!!
Spike: (So, what, do I tell the truth, or...)
//Silence.
Spike: (Damn it...)

[[SAVE LOCATION]]

>>TELL THE TRUTH
>>LIE

Spike: I haven't done anything! I don't know what you're talking about!
RBD: Liar!

Rainbow Dash divebombs the Drakeling!
Rainbow Dash kicks the Drakeling in the right upper arm with her left front hoof, denting the scale through the bronze vestskirt!
The Drakeling strikes Rainbow Dash in the lower body with his right hand, but the attack glances away!
The Drakeling leaps backwards, away from Rainbow Dash!
//I can't get away from her! She's too quick!
\\Avatar of Speed.
//...Right.

RBD: Your scales. Twilight's been teaching you things, hasn't she?
Spike: What's it matter?
RBD: Dragonscale is hard, but not that hard.
//Technically, dragonfeather, but who's keeping track?
RBD: And I sincerely doubt Applejack would teach a dragon her personal move. So has Twilight taken you on as her own little apprentice?
//'Own little'? Why the diminutive?
Spike: (I thought some historical figure used it to do some terrible thing.)
T: (It was lost, until we recovered it. Nothing under the sun is new; many things are simply forgotten.)
RBD: Your body language is an open book, Spike. How'd you disappoint her this time?
//I stay silent.
//...'This time'?
RBD: Or are you going to bet I won't beat it out of you?
Spike: No, I'm certainly not counting on that...
//Maybe honesty is the best policy?
//WHEN DID THAT FUCKING START AND WHO DID YOU PICK IT UP FROM, BECAUSE EVERYONE AROUND YOU IS A SHITMOUTHED LIAR

[[SAVE LOCATION]]

>>TELL THE TRUTH
>>LIE

Spike: I, uh...
RBD: Yeah?
Spike: I might have started the forest fire.
//Rainbow Dash pauses for a long time, staring at me.
Spike: (Is she broken, or--)
RBD: You featherbrain!
T: (Trust me, he's a lot more than that.)
Spike: You don't understand, I was just defending myself!
RBD: By _burning down a forest_?! How?!
Spike: I had to use dragonfire or I would have been killed! What should I have done, die?!
RBD: Yes!
//Uh, what?

//Rainbow Dash leaps into the air!
RBD: You're a Hero, Spike! That means you don't get to say, 'I was ordered to,' or, 'it was self-defense'! Everything you do is on your own head!
Spike: I know that!
RBD: Do you? As a Hero, the privileges you get are hoof in hoof with the things you give up! Forgiveness being one of them! If your choice is between hurting innocent ponies and dying yourself, then guess what? You fall on that sword!!
Spike: Do you teach your students this? That there's no possibility to make amends, and it's better that they die than make one mistake?
RBD: _Heroes don't make mistakes_! You decided that your life was more valuable than the lives of over two dozen others!
Spike: Then I'll take the consequences for that mistake! I know I'll do more than enough good to counteract the damage!
RBD: No, not by yourself. You don't know enough yet.
Spike: I've learned, and I'll prove it by my actions!
RBD: I don't know why Twilight let you loose after that. You've shown you can't be trusted already! You have intelligence, Spike, but no wisdom; you have power but no control. You're a loose cannon and you're going to end up hurting yourself and others. I can't in good conscience let you leave.
Spike: Oh, great, I have a feeling who's about to 'teach' me what control means...
RBD: You're not the old Spike, because the old Spike would know better than to do something like this! I can't let someone with so little wisdom and so much power wander around a dangerous hotspot like the Aquinatics!
Spike: What a coincidence that your morality and sense of duty inspires you to assault me, who knew it would work out like that?!
//This guy.
//THIS GUY.
T: (This girl.)
Spike: I don't want to fight you!
RBD: Just give in!

Rainbow Dash divebombs The Drakeling!
Rainbow Dash strikes at The Drakeling in the upper body with her right wing, but the Drakeling dodges away!
The Drakeling strikes Rainbow Dash in the left front hoof with his Dashing Rogue Punch, bruising the skin!

RBD: Nice try!

Rainbow Dash kicks The Drakeling in the right lower leg with her right rear hoof, bruising the muscle and shattering the bone through the steel shinguard!
An artery has been opened by the attack, a ligament has been torn, and a motor nerve has been severed!

//AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
//I fall to the side, hard, driving the breath out of me.
T: (Wow, she's serious.)
//'Swings that hurts so much, make it go away, please Celestia make it go away...
RBD: Pinkie's move only works with four legs. You're predictable and it opens you up for sorely needed punishment.
Spike: My leg...
RBD: The quicker we get this over with, the sooner it'll stop hurting.

The Drakeling breathes fire! Rainbow Dash is caught in the dragonfire! Her mane has been singed!
Rainbow Dash leaps backwards, away from the flames!

RBD: This is for your own good!
Spike: Excuse me if I don't think so!

//The Avatar of Speed flies in a loop just out of dragonfire range. I struggle to stand up
//OW OW OW OW OW OW OW
//And fail.
//Is she drawing that circle in closer, or is it me?
//The wind distorts all along the trail, swirling with the Avatar. I feel it go one way across my feet, but tree branches lean the other way -- it's going in a circle?

Rainbow Dash charges at the Drakeling!
RBD: You can't stop me now!
Spike: Why should I surrender to illegitimate authority?
The Drakeling stands up.

The Drakeling strikes Rainbow Dash in the head with his Fist of Justice, bruising the skin and bruising the muscle!

Rainbow Dash strikes the Drakeling in the right hand with her Wind Drill, bruising the skin, bruising the muscle, shattering the bone, jamming the bone through the right wrist's muscle and shattering the right wrist's bone!
An artery has been opened by the attack, several ligaments have been torn, a motor nerve has been severed and a sensory nerve has been severed!
Rainbow Dash strikes the Drakeling in the right lower arm with her Wind Drill, bruising the skin, bruising the muscle, shattering the bone, jamming the bone through the right elbow's muscle and shattering the right elbow's bone!
An artery has been opened by the attack, several ligaments have been torn, a motor nerve has been severed and a sensory nerve has been severed!
Rainbow Dash strikes the Drakeling in the right upper arm with her Wind Drill, bruising the skin, bruising the muscle, shattering the bone, jamming the bone through the right shoulder's muscle and shattering the right shoulder's bone!
An artery has been opened by the attack, several ligaments have been torn, a motor nerve has been severed and a sensory nerve has been severed!

The Drakeling gives into pain! The Drakeling collapses!
//HOW IN THE WORLD IS THERE SOMETHING THAT HURTS MORE THAN THE LEG

//The Avatar of Speed folds her wings and steps over me.
RBD: Wow, she's serious.
//?
RBD: Taught you her own strike and everything. Twilight really trusted you, kid.
Spike: Doesn't that say something?
RBD: Yeah, her trust was misplaced.

Rainbow Dash grabs the Drakeling by the upper body with her left front hoof! Rainbow Dash grabs the Drakeling by the upper body with her right front hoof!

//The Avatar sticks her face close to mine, and says:
RBD: I want you to know, when you come out on the other side, this isn't anything personal. It's just business.
Spike: Charming.
//From above, from below, from every side and every angle comes a thundering roar, terrible enough to split the ground open and shake down the sky, a rage only possible from one who knows the dragon instinct.
Spike: That must have been a dragon!
//The Avatar turns her head. Off past the Aquinatics, a silver tail the size of rivers slips behind the mountains.
RBD: Damn, what did he burn down this time?!
Spike: Was that Quine?
RBD: Yes, which means I have to deal with _him_ now! And I'm already late!
//But you had time to do this to me?
RBD: Stay here! I'll be right back!
Spike: Oh, like I'm going somewhere!
//The Avatar of Speed launches off of the ground, and speeds away into the sky.
//...

Rainbow Dash was defeated! (?)
Spike earned 6000 experience points!
Spike is now level 19!
//Crazy rainbow bint...

[[SAVE LOCATION]]

//Great.
Spike: Twilight?
//Silence.
Spike: Great. You're either disappointed with me, or there's another enemy nearby. Please, let me black out from pain...
//No such luck. I lie in the sun, unable to move.
//...

//...
//An hour passes. I see a vision in the delirium.
C: Spike. Can you hear me, Spike?
Spike: Celestia! Is that you?
C: Yes, Spike, it is I.
Spike: Celestia, being a Hero is much more confusing than I first thought!
C: How so?
Spike: Heroes are -- well, heroic. Legendary tasks and extreme danger are their foodstuffs. Difficulty is the very road they travel.
C: That much is true, yes. Were your path easy, it would not need a dragon of your capabilities.
Spike: But all the stories tell of Heroes who succeed! Heroes whose strength of will gives them enough physical prowess to overcome any obstacle, completely dedicated to the cause of good!
C: Do you feel, that because you have been defeated physically, your quest is no longer true?
Spike: I don't know what to feel right now.
C: Take hope, my little drakeling. Any beast with bulging muscles can break limbs and tear flesh. Only a dragon of the truest caliber can maintain after such a thing happens to her. A mind is the final, eternal sanctuary of a living being, and it cannot be forced by another.
Spike: ...Is that why I'm always struggling? Because my faith is too weak, and my devotion to your cause uncertain?
C: No. Your opponents are far beyond your level. Your faith is the only grace which saves you.
Spike: Yet...
C: Yes?
Spike: The words that opponents say. The ideas that ponies introduce, challenging how I act and how I think. Am I supposed to ignore everyone and everything but myself and what I want? Or what I think others want?
C: If people could correctly determine and want what is best for themselves, no Hero would be necessary. Your goal, as stated earlier, is to put an end to the life of the current false Princess of Equestria.
Spike: ...Is that absolutely necessary? Is there any way at all the Princess wouldn't need to die?
C: ...An interesting question, so let me ask one in response: a crafty gambler might know the weights of the dice. But does she know the result of a hard throw?
Spike: ...Each 'best path' depends at least a little chance and different outcomes arise from pure happenstance. The wisest plan can be shattered by the fool who acts randomly.
C: Exactly. It is my analysis that only through her death may Equestria's recovery be absolutely secured. You might be inclined to share my path and defer to my wisdom, intelligence, and age. But you should only agree with a person, even a deity, if your own mind guides you so.
Spike: I do believe in you, Oh Celestia! ...You know, not that it matters much now.
C: Spike, why would you ever say such a thing?
//Guilt pounds through my veins. I'm not sure if it's for being defeated in the first place, or doubting myself.
Spike: My arm and leg are broken. I'm no use as a Hero. For me, it's over.
C: Never doubt my power, Spike. I think the shadow of hope approaches yet...
//The vision fades, and the pain returns.

//Far off in the distance, a flier silhouetted by the sun races towards me from the mountains.
Spike: Celestia, please, let that be someone other than Rainbow Dash...
//WHY? DO YOUR WANT YOUR MAJOR FUCKING ASSHANDLINGS TO BE FROM VARIED SOURCES?
//...There are two of them. What could this be?...

//I lie another few minutes, watching the fliers. They head directly towards me, and land.
//One is a full dragon of medium size, back legs about the size of a pony, with orange scales and a scar on his neck. The other is a smaller dragon but still winged, with grey scales and sharp claws.
Orange Scarred Dragon: Galsid. Stay alert.
Grey Sharp Dragon: Oh, uh, right!
//Hell yeah, dragons!
//She nods and leaps into the air, circling our small section of road at a low altitude. The orange dragon extends his neck out, looking at me.
OSD: Drakeling, my name is Osdar. I am here to help you. I am approaching now.
Spike: Nice to meet you, Osdar.
//People have the weirdest names.
//Osdar approaches stealthily, slinking like a cat. Galsid motions an 'all clear' to him, and he gently puts a claw on my torso.
OSD: Excellent, you still have your fire. It has not been taken from you. You haven't been made into a brainwashed zombie.
Spike: Yeah, you arrived in the nick of time; she was just about to come back.
//Osdar narrows his eyes.
OSD: Only a creature with the cruelty of a pony could refuse to kill an enemy, instead maiming him for later to use as a toy and a slave. What is your name?
Spike: Spike.
OSD: Spike, you are badly hurt. As we came to survey the damage the Avatar of Speed had done, we have no medical supplies and cannot help you here.
Spike: (Darn, not even, say, one of those nice golden potions?)
T: (One is worth more than the average hospital.)
OSD: We can only help you in Hole Five, a long flight from here. There is no way to stabilize your body in flight. If you ride on my back, it will hurt terribly.
//I'm used to that by now.
Spike: Better than being a horrible pony's boytoy. Man, am I glad you guys showed up.
//I THINK 'PERSONAL DRAGON DILDO' IS A BETTER PREDICTION; USUALLY BOYTOYS ARE TREATED BETTER THAN OBJECTS.
OSD: A dragon after my own heart. Galsid!
//She perks up at the sound of her own name and lands.
OSD: Get your rope. We're tying the drakeling to my back and making for Hole Five.
GSD: I hope we'll make it. Strength is about.
OSD: The Avatar of Strength is slow. That is why any of us still live. Rope?
//I'm lashed onto Osdar
//OW OWOWOWOWO OWO WOWOWO OW
//and we take to the sky.

//OW OW OW OW OW WHY DID YOU AGREE TO THIS JUST GO BACK AND GET FUCKED ALREADY IT'S WHAT YOU REALLY WANT
//Trying to ignore the pain (and instinct), I cling to Osdar's back as we tear through the sky. I yell over the thrashing wind:
Spike: You said 'Hole Five'? What is that?
//I have to learn about dragons here.
OSD: A gathering of dragons in an underground cavern beneath the mountains! The situation is rough, but it's better than being torn to shreds or selling our children into slavery!
Spike: How many holes are there?
GSD: That's what he said!
//Galsid snickers as Osdar answers:
OSD: Three of them! Two, three, and five!
Spike: What happened to the others?
GSD: Never existed! It's just a code!
OSD: If you ever hear talk of other holes, none of them exist! Each speaker and intended recipient can have a different code!
Spike: I came to the Aquinatics to meet Quine! Where is he?
OSD: Securing the future of dragonkind!
Spike: What?
GSD: He's the oldest dragon around! He has to dart around pony settlements to draw the attention of the Avatar of Strength, so Hazel's dogs don't put us to the sword!
//What?! Is the conflict really that bad?!
OSD: He's organizes the Holes to try make our lives better, and journeys out for help and places to send refugees!
GSD: Which is why so many of us would die for him, and so many ponies want him dead!
Spike: Where does Quine usually--
OSD: Galsid, look--

[[SAVE LOCATION]]

The Pegasus charges at The Dragon!
The Pegasus headbutts The Dragon in the right wing with his +bronze pickelhaube+, tearing apart the muscle through the scale!
A major artery has been opened by the attack!
The +bronze pickelhaube+ has lodged firmly in the wound!
//He came from nowhere!

GSD: Kyaaah!
//The pegasus, painted pale brown from above and blue from below, leaves the helmet embedded in Galsid's side and dives back towards the earth!
Spike: An ambush!
OSD: She can't fly!
//Galsid falls rapidly, spinning round and round. She's unable to control her wings or stabilize.
//Pegasi start chasing as Osdar slims himself, moving faster. More pegasi approach as we weave through the sky. Straining to see Galsid, I see figures on the ground.
Spike: Archers!
OSD: Spike, hold on! We're landing!
//HOLD ON? WITH WHAT? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

The Dragon slams into the ground!
//Osdar slams into the dusty earth, kicking up a cloud!
The Dragon jumps away from the flying copper bolt!

The Dragon slashes the Archer (1) in the upper body with his left front claw, tearing apart the muscle through the iron chainmail, shattering the right false rib, jamming the right false rib through the heart and tearing apart the heart!
The Dragon slashes the Archer (2) in the lower body with his right front claw, and the severed part flies off in an arc!
The Archer (2) has been struck down!

OSD: Do you have dragonfire? Use it!

The Drakeling breathes fire! But the Archer (3) dodges away from the flames!

OSD: Now I have you!

The Dragon breathes fire! The Archer (3) is caught in the dragonfire! The Archer (3) has been burnt to a crisp!
The Archer (3) has been struck down!

Spike: Holy crap!
//His dragonfire is a torrent of hell!
//The three archers are dead or dying, but Osdar sniffs around the scene anyway. He finds nothing.
OSD: There are reasons I have lived long in this region, and luck is only one of them.
//Osdar stares into the sky, to where Galsid was injured. He squints for half a moment.
OSD: The pegasi are out of the sky. Likely fighting Galsid. They're not going to have an easy task of it.

//I twitch as a mare steps silently from behind a rock. She has a straw hat on and a strut to her step. She has no weapons.
Spike: (A civilian? What is a civilian doing here?!)
//Silence.
//I open my eyes wide and jerk my head back towards the rock, trying not to draw Osdar's attention. She needs to hide! I don't know how strained dragon-pony relations are in the Aquinatics, it might be enough to take innocent lives...
//She puts a hoof to her smile. Why is she not running?!

OSD: But if they knew to find us here, more will be coming. We have to go, and can't outrun them on foot. The sky it is.
//The mare steps just behind the end of Osdar's tail, and stretches her neck. What is this crazy bint--

The Dragon leaps into the sky!
The Mare bites the Dragon in the tail, denting the scale!
The Mare latches on firmly!
//She'll get tossed away!

OSD: What is--
//Osdar reaches the top of his leap, and flaps his wings to launch us skyward.
//Instead, he straightens out like a rope pulled taught, unable to rise further in the air!
Spike: _Did she just anchor you to_--
OSD: What?! No--

The Mare takes down the dragon by the tail with her teeth!
The Dragon slams into the ground!
The Dragon's lower body takes the full force of the impact, bruising the muscle and tearing apart the lower spine's nervous tissue!
The Dragon's upper body takes the full force of the impact, bruising the muscle and tearing apart the middle spine's nervous tissue!
The Dragon's head takes the full force of the impact, bruising the muscle and tearing apart the upper spine's nervous tissue!

//She slammed him down like a wet noodle!
//HAHAHAHA OW OW OW HAHAHAHAHA THAT WAS AWESOME DO IT AGAIN GIRL HAHAHAHAHA OW OW OW
//Did she break the dragon instinct?
Spike: Osdar! Osdar, answer me!
//His head lies limply in the dirt, unresponsive.
Spike: (If only my limbs weren't broken, I'd...)
T: (Also lose in a humiliating manner?)
//The mare steps up onto Osdar, using the spines on his tail as steps. Her coat is the same color as Osdar's scales, a pasty orange. Three apples dance on her flank as she walks.
//She sits down, tips her hat, and says:
Applejack: Howdy, Spike.

The Archers have been defeated!
Spike earned 5 experience points!

[[SAVE LOCATION]]

Spike: ...You know my name?
Applejack: Sure do. 'Course, you don't know mine. I'm Applejack, pleased to meet you.
Spike: And -- taking a wild stab in the dark here -- Avatar of Strength?
Applejack: Sure am.
Spike: Great.
//There might be better positions for first introduction to an enemy I'm meant to defeat.
AJ: Why the frown, partner?
Spike: I'm not exactly in the fiercest way right now...
AJ: Huh huh, you mean, tied to a dead dragon?
//Osdar sputters, tongue thrashing about in the dirt.
AJ: Dyin'! Sorry.
Spike: I'm sure I don't stand a chance.
AJ: Hm? Spike, are you thinkin' of me as an Avatar instead of as your old friend Applejack?
Spike: ...Was I friends with everypony in Equestria?! Or just everyone who _happens_ to be known for legendary combat prowess?!
AJ: Hmm. I think I know who you've been talkin' to since you hit your head, and who you ain't.
Spike: You know about the memory loss?
AJ: Spot on. Right shame about your memories, Spike, no one deserves a terrible thing like that.
Spike: Yeah.
AJ: I heard you went crazy and lost everythin'. Or lost everythin' and went crazy, one of them.
Spike: No, but I am a Hero now.
AJ: Very not crazy.
//An awkward silence follows. Applejack leans over to glance at my arm.
AJ: Rainbow Dash?
//I nod. The Avatar tuts.
Spike: Is the conflict really so bad that you killed two dragons out of the blue?
AJ: I've been huntin' this one for months, I reckon. Suppose I have you to thank, Spike, for gettin' him to land long enough.
//That makes me feel just peachy.
AJ: That makes me the most dangerous orange critter in these lands, huh huh.
//This pony is an ignorant fool, killing for amusement without regards to the consequences. She is clearly my enemy.
Spike: Celestia, don't you take anything seriously?! You killed a person!
//Her chuckling ends. The Avatar's tone becomes a little more serious.
AJ: Livin' in the Aquinatics leads a pony to take what amusements she can get.
Spike: I've killed people before, but I didn't _celebrate_ it.
//Applejack puts her face much closer to mine and asks:
AJ: Y'all think I like fightin' a war?
//A war? No one said anything about a war.
Spike: What war?
AJ: Maybe they don't consider it that in the rest of Equestria, but trust me, Spike. This ain't nothin' less than a full-scale war between dragons and ponies.
Spike: ...So you just killed two people because they were dragons. That makes it better.
AJ: Squished orange here _burnt down three taxhouses_. And that was at the _beginnin'_, we lost track of individuals after that.
//...Taxhouses aren't really that popular with anybody. But if Osdar burnt them down, there must have been a reason for his actions. Whatever it was.
AJ: Every second I turn my back, or try to get a hint of shuteye, I hear about another attack by dragons on the folk of the Aquinatics. I'm the leader of the Cavalry in the Aquinatics and I won't stand to see one pony hurt.
//But Galsid didn't do anything!
\\That I know of.
Spike: It's fine to kill anyone because they share the same species?!
AJ: Ever since the disappearance of Celestia, ponies have been raided by dragons in this here land, almost like clockwork. It ain't even been the same dragons, maraudin'; I brought justice to all the first ones and new ones came out of their Holes to take their place. Every dragon seen in this region's bein' organized and led.
Spike: Aggressive self-defense is still kind of grey...
AJ: Every dragon I kill makes it harder for whoever's directin' these monsters to take more innocent lives. So yes, Spike, I hunt dragons.
Spike: Have you tried talking it out?
AJ: 'Course that was the first thing I tried! I reckon I'm a farm girl, but I ain't braindead!
T: (Not entirely, at least.)
AJ: Problem is, us and them both want the same thing. The Aquinatics. It's exclusionary, and we ain't bein' driven out of our homes!
Spike: Now that I've asked introductory questions I can naively assume that's all there is to the conflict and trust I've been told the entire truth. Where do I sign up for the Equestrian Cavalry?
//I mean, knowing the nature of the world, neither side is probably innocent, but that doesn't mean I can't have a preference.
//YES, YES IT FUCKING DOES, 'HERO'
//Why is the _dragon instinct_ of all people have a problem with me supporting dragons?!
//HEROISM DISCLUDES RACIAL LINES AS A LOYALTY, SHITHEAD MCDUMBNUTS. YOU CAN'T SUPPORT DRAGONKIND AND BE A HERO AT THE SAME TIME UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE A SHITTIER HERO THAN YOU'VE ALREADY BEEN.
//Who are you to decide what a Hero is and isn't?
//I'M NOT SPEAKING FROM MYSELF, BUT FROM TASTE. OF WHICH YOU WOULD FUCKING HAVE SOME IF YOU WEREN'T SO FOCUSED ON BEING FACE-DEEP IN SOME PONY'S--
//Applejack takes off her hat with a hoof and holds it to her heart.
AJ: Spike, do you know what this hat is?
Spike: Particularly cheap looking?
//JUST BE A DRAGON, FUCK THIS DAMN HERO SHIT
//Shut up I'm trying to have a conversation!
//BREATHE FIRE AT HER IT'LL WORK
T: (Her last one was much nicer.)
AJ: It's the Element of Honesty. I'm its holder. And I don't lie.
//She doesn't lie, in the same way a painting shows part of a scene truthfully. No one can be blamed for only knowing their perspective, though...
Spike: Fine.
AJ: So, Spike, what were _you_ doin' in the region?
//Don't say seeking Quine as a mentor, don't say seeking Quine as a mentor...
Spike: Just some Hero things.
//I wonder if she knows any more about the 'Hero of the Land' Rainbow Dash mentioned. I still need to ask Twilight about that.
AJ: Tryin' to figure out the whole Aquinatics situation, are you?
Spike: That was part of it. But then...
AJ: Rainbow Dash.
Spike: Yep.
AJ: So what's the other part?
Spike: Trying to figure out why everyone gets all awkward and dodgy when I mention my memories, and finding out who I was.
//A short pause, in which Applejack gets awkward and dodgy.
AJ: I couldn't imagine why that would be, Spike.
Spike: You're terrible at lying.
//She lowers her head for a moment.
AJ: S'why I usually don't try.
Spike: I figure I'll just skip asking you about it so we can avoid a long conversation where neither of us say anything.
AJ: Had a lot of those, have you?
Spike: _You have no idea_.
AJ: Well, I can't say the help up here in the Aquinatics is unwanted, Spike, but I don't know if any one person can do all that much. 'Specially if you're willin' to attack one of the stallions under my command; that sort of thing seems like it'd worsen the problem instead of helpin' it.
//Uh, crap, is this the part where she declares intent to assault me? When I have two broken limbs and am tied down?
AJ: So here's what I'm gonna do for you, Spike.
Spike: Ugh, great, this again.
//Applejack looks inquisitive. If she knew the word, I'm sure she would agree.
AJ: Pardon?
Spike: Go ahead and use whatever justification you need to use to assault me; bonus points if you use a new one that I haven't heard before.
//The Avatar of Honesty laughs.
AJ: I _wish_ I had time for a fuckin', Spike, but I'm a busy mare.
//Huh, that's strange.
//ARE YOU MORE CONFUSED BY THE PRESENCE OF CURSE WORDS OR ABSENCE OF CROTCH-POUNDERY, BECAUSE TO ME THEY'RE BOTH A DELIGHTFUL FUCKING CHANGE
AJ: Nope, you're a prisoner of war now. I take you to camp, you heal up for a while, and then you can contact Twilight about arrangin' somethin' for you to leave. I'd ask if it sounds good, but...
Spike: Wouldn't change anything if it did.
AJ: Sorry. This is the way it is.
Spike: No, no, this is a nice change. I just have to worry about who's going to assault me while lying helpless in a hospital bed later, instead of right now.
//Applejack shrugs. In less than a minute, she unties me from Osdar, ties me to her back, and trots off down the mountain.

//WELL THIS IS OW A FINE SITUATION OW YOU'VE MANAGED TO OW FIND YOUR STUPID UGLY FAT DISGRACE-OF-A-DRAGON SHITASS OW IN, ISN'T IT OW
Spike: Can you -- GAAH -- try not to bounce as mYAA--
Applejack: Sorry, Spike; I reckon it's just the way I walk.
//WALK BETTER OW YOU SHITEATING ASSHOLE OW
//Shut up.
//HAVE LESS BROKEN LIMBS
Applejack: Now, if'n you pay attention, you might learn somethin'.
Spike: I don't see knowledge of strutting being huge in my future.
//She stops walking.
AJ: Look ahead of you.
//We're looking into a gap crinkled into the land between two mountains. Short, flat rectangles of red earth jut vertically up, and others out of the steep cliff faces. There is sand here, too much of it, only broken by the angled rock and occasional cactus. Tucked below the north face of the gap is a collection of shoddy yurts, and another (less shoddy) gathering lies further to the west.
Spike: What is this place?
AJ: Prison. Fortress. Mine.
Spike: 'Mine' as in yours, or--
AJ: Mine as in, more than seventy-five percent of Equestria's galena reserves. Gorge Coltiers is the name.
Spike: That's the point of contention, then?
//Applejack keeps moving, more slowly, downhill.
AJ: What is?
Spike: About the land. You're using it as an expendable resource and taking everything you want from it to further your monetary schemes, and the native dragons of the Aquinatics are opposed to seeing their lands plundered.
//Applejack laughs.
AJ: Uh, Spike?
T: (Oh my Celestia you're such an idiot.)
AJ: Dragons? Opposed to critters taking silver out of nowhere and turnin' it into shiny pieces of art?
//WHAT KIND OF FAKE DRAGON ARE YOU
AJ: Their problem is that G.C. is _not theirs_. The mine, the art, and hell, even the critters who dig it up; dragons as I know 'em aren't opposed to slavery.
Spike: (Excuse me for trying not to rely on stereotypes when examining geopolitical conflicts.)
//Wait, crap, I just did. Damn.
T: (There's a phrase I like to keep in mind sometimes. It is, 'when you're talking, you're not learning'. Learn a little.)
AJ: They ain't goin' to have any luck tryin' to take this place away from us, though. Cliff faces are too close for the big one to get in, airspace is tight for maneuvers and such, we can retreat into the mines 'cause nothing vital is kept in the open air, and half of the active Magic Corps is kept within alert distance.
Spike: The big one?
AJ: Quine. I'm sure you've heard of him.
Spike: Yeah.
AJ: G.C. is one nut he'd be crazy to try and crack. So he hunts down the families of everypony workin' and livin' here, like the coward he is.
//I'LL SHOW YOU COWARD YOU SHIT-MACHINE WASTE OF CARBON--
//Applejack leaps from one boulder to another, jumping over a ravine leading far into darkness below.
//FUCK OW OW FUCK YOU OW OW
AJ: The sayin' goes, there are three things that'll get you out of G.C. The first is the returnin' of Celestia. Second's Princess Hazel, 'cause she's my boss. Third is death.
Spike: For me, you said earlier that Twilight could... do something, I guess?
AJ: Oh, right. Four, then.
Spike: Is Twilight the odd one out in that group?
AJ: Well, Spike... that's a good question.
Spike: Just who the hell _is_ Twilight Sparkle, anyway?
//Twilight pops into existence next to me in a burst of scentless air, carrying a scroll. Her horn glows, but for only a moment.
Twilight: Lieutenant General Applejack!
AJ: Howdy, Twilight.
T: New orders from Princess Hazel.
//The scroll levitates in front of Twilight as she walks. Trots? Stumbles? Her legs are short and there's an odd, awkward gait she has to adopt to keep up with Applejack, who is faster.
AJ: Great. Put 'em on my desk, will you?
//The orders disappear in a poof of scentless air.
T: Oh, I see you've captured a prisoner!
Spike: So, what, are we pretending you don't listen in to all my conversations and follow me around everywhere I go?
AJ: It's a dangerous place for a drakelin' to wander around. Wouldn't want him mixin' with the wrong kind of folks wounded like he is.
T: Hah, I have heard Rainbow Dash is in the area. Good to see someone's looking out for him.
Spike: Yes, apparently we are. Or I've been magically silenced. I wonder which it is.
AJ: You know me. Always lookin' out for my friends. What're you up to?
T: Hmm? Oh, just the usual business. See you later!
AJ: Wait! You're so busy you can't talk with two of your best friends in the world?
T: You know what they say about idle hooves, Applejack.
//THAT YOUR PARENTS SUFFERED BEFORE THE END AND THEIR DYING THOUGHTS WERE THAT IT WAS ALL YOUR FAULT?
Spike: That your parents suffered before the end and their dying thoughts were that it was all your fault?
//Where the hell did that come from?
AJ: Right, no hooves of Celestia's. See you later, Twilight; hope whatever you're plannin' now works out.
T: Thanks, Applejack. Bye!
//Twilight disappears in an implosion of air. Applejack drops from a tree's roots to the gorge floor.
//OW LEG FUCK OW FUCK FUCK LEG OW
Spike: GCHAAA -- hoo, don't do that. What's the verdict, magically silenced or ignoring me? What do you say?
AJ: _I would say_ that was rather rude of you, Spike. A good friend shares with you one of her closest moments with her kin, and y'all go and make a comment like that! Damned shamed of yourself, you should be.
Spike: Twilight's parents are dead?
AJ: I don't know, she don' talk about it. You commentin' like that don't exactly open up a pony's heart.
Spike: She never talked about her parents or family or anything. I didn't even realize she had one.
AJ: Everypony's got a family, Spike!
Spike: Do I have one?
AJ: ...Suppose so.
Spike: Who?
AJ: Before thirty seconds ago I'd've said Twilight, 'cause she raised you since hatchin', but it don't look like you agree with that assessment. That ain't no way to treat family.
Spike: Do you know who my old family was, before my memory loss?
//Applejack pauses for a long time. I guess she is the holder of the Element of Honesty if she's this bad at lying.
AJ: Twilight would.
Spike: You didn't answer my question.
AJ: Yeah, I didn't. And I don't reckon I will. Entrustin' a friend with a moment like that, only to have them turn around and say what you said... I wouldn't be surprised if Twilight don't send to get you out of G.C. now, Spike.
//I stay silent. That might be a big problem.
//Why did I decide to say that? Did I somehow pick up that Twilight had no living relatives? How would I? She's not old enough for me to assume that right away. Does the dragon instinct know something I don't?
//FUCKING YES SO LISTEN TO ME MORE.
//See, there's an obvious problem with that.
//I'M INSIDE EVERY DRAGON FOR A FUCKING REASON YOU ASSMIND.
//...Wait. How would you know Twilight's parents are gone unless there was a dragon who cared enough to know?
Spike: Applejack?
AJ: Not sure I want to talk to you right now, Spike.
Spike: Just who _is_ Twilight Sparkle?
//Applejack sighs. The yurts are approaching at a rapid pace.
AJ: Kid... if I really knew, I'd tell you.