Dear DragonWyrm Heart,

In answer to your first question: this most recent search has been both frustrating and productive at the same time. The technological changes since my last search are encouraging. I suspect that, in the next few decades, the eastern continents may finally be close to where they were, technologically, at the onset of the Keeper War. This is the first time that I felt so close to finding someone with the skills that could help me with my "problem," and could even possibly upgrade the Hourglass defense grid controls for more... robust body sizes. However, the one person (dragon, really) that I think may have the skills has been extremely frustrating to find, though I do hold out hope that Tracker will be able to help me find him.

As for the second part of your letter, I am thrilled to read that you have a new clanmate! And so quickly, too, but then again, I found five life-long friends in the span of one day. I can't wait to meet him personally. (And don't think I don't know what you are doing, mister, by being vague)

Finally, it pleases me to read that you are refinding your center with the help of your clan. (I’m still miffed that I missed

“Dragonfriend...” Tracker’s voice cut through Twilight's thoughts as she was writing the letter.

Twilight looked up and saw that Tracker was motioning to a line of clouds to the north. From the way the clouds were piling higher and higher at a very rapid rate, it would not be long before they fully developed into thunderstorms. So quick was the development that she would not have enough time to finish her letter. The letter could wait until later, anyway. Both of them needed to be watching for any signs of movement, right now. If they hoped to catch a dark scaled dragon against the backdrop of dark clouds from this distance, they could not afford any distractions from now on.

Twilight took a couple of calming breaths in preparation. It had been two months since she had explained to Tracker what she was doing and why, and everytime they got close to possibly finding Rye’lath, she would find herself queasy with adrenaline and anxiety. Tracker, much to her relief and mild shock, did not tease her, but was overly eager to help her find Rye’lath, and, if failing that one, would help her have ‘complete union’ with her mate. She almost wished he had been teasing then excited, almost. Maybe then, she’d just be hot with embarrassment...

Given what Alagoas had told Twilight about the dragon whelp Rye’lath, this location, like the others they had already searched, was a place where thunderstorms were frequent, and were mostly rural. Rye’lath, while not shy, was apparently not really into social interactions, and found crowds of a certain size to be unnerving and/or awkward.

Twilight carefully repositioned herself on the cloud she was on and made some adjustments to get the cloud back in form, as it had been thinning a bit. She needed to make sure the cloud remained stable and steady during what could be a long wait. Clouds outside of the influence of the order magic that saturates the pony lands tended to resist long-term control. Steadiness was essential when and if she used the pair of binoculars currently resting on her chest, and, of course, stability was a given, to prevent her from falling from the sky without warning. Not that she risked falling to her doom, as she was high enough to easily recover, but she was not a daremare like Rainbow Dash. Depending on how long they would be watching, it was possible that she would have to recheck and fix her cloud several times.

Tracker, as a dragon, could not passively cloudwalk, so he would have to glide and use thermals to fly and maintain both altitude and steady sight. Flapping his wings would make his head bob up and down ever so slightly, just enough to make looking for what would amount to a speck that much harder. With Twilight now fully on the alert, he began to slowly glide around her, instead of hovering. If all went well, he would only lose sight of the clouds when he was forced to turn, in order to remain near Twilight, but not too near. The hope was that between the two of them, they could effectively cover the sky ahead.

They watched with no results, long into the mid-afternoon hours. It didn't worry Twilight too much, as they had only been searching in this area for less than two days, and it was entirely possible that Rye'lath could be on the other side of the squall line. They would remain in this area for a week or more, just to be sure, before moving on to the next search area. Twilight was considering having them take a break when something caught her attention.

"TRACKER!" Twilight yelled out using what was used to be known as the Royal Canterlot voice. “I HAVE MOVEMENT!”

Tracker, who was, at that moment, some distance away, stopped gliding and hovered. He looked over towards Twilight, who, by this point, had activated the magic laser on her binoculars. Twilight had added that spell so Tracker could get a better understanding of exactly where she was looking. It took him a few seconds, on account of his hovering, to see exactly what Twilight was seeing, but he did eventually see a dark speck buzzing around near the base of the clouds. Given the distance of the thunderstorms and the apparent closeness of the ‘speck’ to them, it left no doubt that he was looking at a dragon in flight. Whether this was Rye’lath, he could not say. He would have to approach carefully. The winds could be turbulent around a thunderstorm, and dangerous on their own; he would have to be dealing with not only himself, but Twilight as well. Further compounding this was that Twilight was a self-admitted novice, when it came to flying.

“I see him… help guide my flight, if you will… his flight is erratic, and be careful. It is too soon to see if it's from the gust front or not.”

“Will do.” Twilight nodded in agreement. She could keep an eye on the flying speck of a dragon, while Tracker would attempt to intercept. They had felt that it would be better to have Tracker confront any dragons, as Tracker could find out whether or not the dragon had Chosen or not. If the dragon had Chosen, it wouldn't matter whether or not the dragon was Rye’lath before or not, they would move on.

As they got closer, Twilight’s hope and excitement began to reach fever pitch. Tracker had to growl out his annoyance several times to get her back on track. And once they had gotten within sight, and were able to see his distinguishing features, Twilight had to fight even harder to stay flying.

The dragon was dark green; in fact, so dark was the green, that it was almost black in the low light caused by the dense storm clouds. In stark contrast were the light blueish green wing membranes and webbed spines, which went from the top of his head all the way down to his tail weapon. Two whitish horns curved down the back of his head, similar to DFW’s. Unfortunately, the whelp was not currently facing them, so neither could get a good look to see if there was a horn on his snout, as the whelp seemed determined to only face the storm. So far, everything about this dragon seemed to match the description given to Twilight by Alagoas.

Neither Tracker nor Twilight could immediately tell if the dragon was an older adult, a first growth adult, or a whelp. Whelps would sometimes switch to a four-legged stance in running or flying for better stability, and whatever that contraption hanging down from him was, it had to make flying more difficult. It appeared that it would be up to Tracker to find out for sure, as he had several key phrases he could use. He could use magic if needed, but, with so much going on, that would be dangerous, which would not be worth it...

The dragon was wearing a weird leather harness, which was attached to a metal box with various oddities attached to it. Tracker had no idea why he had the strange metal box, but, once she got a good enough glance, Twilight immediately knew what it was, and lost several hoofs of altitude as she squealed in delight, which was drowned out by the wind. The metal 'box' was some sort of crudely and haphazardly gathered collection of scientific instruments. Her head started to swim with ways to make his research safer and more accurate… and also in wondering what he discovered. She never could resist the opportunity to chat with a fellow researcher, even one who was just beginning their intellectual journey.

Tracker didn’t have time to admire what the dragon was doing. It was becoming more difficult to fly, and he did not want to get caught in the worst of the storm. That, and he could tell that Twilight was losing it. “HEY! YOU!”

The dragon nearly fell out of the sky in shock, but quickly recovered. He quickly span around and nearly fell out of the sky for a second time, this time from fear.

“Drraggon of Green and White Scales! I..I.. wasn’t aware thisss wasss y-yourr territory! I-I will leave post haste!”

Tracker was taken aback. While a dragon inadvertently entering another dragon’s territory uninvited was extremely rare, but not unheard of, there were none within several hours’ flight. Not surprising, given that dragons preferred caves, natural or otherwise, and they were over some of the most boring and flat land in the world. So unless this was a ‘careless,’ not paying attention adult dragon, this was very likely a whelp, and, quite possibly, Rye’lath.

“Wait!” Twilight cried out as the dragon quickly dove away. However, the way that the dragon was retreating, it was highly likely that he didn’t hear her.

Hmph. Tracker chuckled in amusement as he recovered from his shock. He now knew for a fact that he was dealing with a whelp, as an adult would have waited for him to respond, and not immediately fled. Unless he was a dishonorable adult dragon, which made no sense, as he correctly addressed him, and there was no dishonor mark on him. He didn't even let me respond before he made a mad rush out of here. He definitely prefers to avoid confrontations... a bit odd for a whelp... but then again...

By this point, Twilight was fighting to catch up to the quickly retreating whelp. Why does... Every... Single… Flyer…. I meet… think they’re Rainbow Dash!?!! Twilight grumbled. Why am I comparing this dragon to my friends!?! She shook off the thoughts as she realized that she wasn’t focusing on keeping up with the whelp. Luckily, he was heading away from the storms.

The whelp didn’t miss a beat as he dropped to the ground, running, the metal box of instruments now hugged to his chest.

“Wait! I just want... to talk with you... about…” Twilight panted out as she landed and ran to try to keep up with the panicked whelp.

"I must leave!” The dragon interrupted Twilight, yelling back while still running. He knew what could happen if he didn’t quickly leave, and he still needed to get to his cart and secure his equipment. “I have intruded, however inadvertently, on a dragon territory, and must leave as quickly as I can."

Twilight was confused; there were no dragon territory wards nearby, as far as she could tell, and Tracker had made no mention of any. "But there are no dragon hoards nearby!”

“No offense miss… uh whatever your race is… but dragons’ magic is not something that can be detected by non dragons… not that I can detect it myself…”

That definitely confirms it… He is still a whelp. Twilight inwardly sighed in relief. Because dragon whelps had no access to their magic, outside of firemail, until Choosing, they couldn't detect magic, either.

“While that may be true, whelp...” Tracker spoke as he carefully landed behind Twilight. “She is Dragonfriend. Furthermore, my hoard and territory are both far from here.”

“Then why did you confront me, so close to the storm?”

“I am under contract by Dragonfriend, here, to track you down…” Tracker smirked as he leaned towards the whelp, his head over Twilight as he prepared to confirm his suspicions. “Rye’lath…. You are Rye’lath, right?”

It took all that Rye’lath had to just gulp and not squeal like spooked prey. He always made doubly sure he remained on the right side of the local populace, and especially when there were dragons in the area. He just hoped that he wasn’t in too much trouble, even though he doubted that. Why else would someone contract a dragon to track him down, if he hadn’t done or seen something he really really shouldn’t have?

“Relax, whelp.” Tracker eased back, facepalmed, and shook his head. “You have done nothing dishonorable… right?”

“No…” Rye’lath couldn't shake his head no fast enough before he realize he may be answering incorrectly… “I mean yes, I mean, NO, I have not done anything dishonorable…”

“Good then, Dragonfriend, you're up.”

“Thanks, Tracker…” Twilight breathlessly thanked Tracker. She just hoped she could quickly get herself back under control, as she began to feel tight in the chest over her excited realization that her search may finally be over... “Well, you see… that is, I heard that you, well, actually saw an-and I figured that you… that is…”

Tracker sighed and rolled his eyes at Twilight’s fumbling. He knew that delaying it would only stretch out the embarrassment, and lengthen the time that Twilight would be without a full union with her mate. The sooner Twilight got the cock made, the sooner she could do just that.

“Dragonfriend wants your help in constructing an artificial ‘fucker.’”

Both Twilight and Rye’lath instantly reddened in embarrassment. Twilight wanted to ease into the conversation, and Rye’lath found the blunt and colorful revelation of the subject to be awkward. Tracker just shrugged at it all.

“Um…” Twilight tried very hard to not let her blush deepen even further. “Rye’lath, can you give Tracker and I a few minutes? I will privately explain everything to you, afterwards.”

Rye’lath took a few seconds to register what Twilight had said. When he did, he nodded in agreement. “Of course, of course… I’ll be over here...”

Rye’lath slowly and uneasily walked towards his cart, which he had parked not too far away. He still had to secure and check his instruments. With any luck, they had worked, and he had some useful data.

Twilight nervously waited for Rye’lath to walk out of hearing range. At least Tracker’s straight and to the point revelation of why she was here had snapped her to a more neutral state, if a bit embarrassed. She was sure she would have hyperventilated and passed out, otherwise.

Once Twilight was confident that Rye’lath was out of earshot, she pulled out a memory crystal that she had managed to enchant earlier and held it out to Tracker. “Here, I enchanted this for your hoard.”

Tracker hesitantly took the crystal. He had told Twilight that there was to be no payment. Given her close relationship to the DragonWyrm Clan, he would not feel comfortable taking anything, as, without the DragonWyrm Clan, there would be no Southern Isles Clan.

Their clan leaders Merc and Windjammer, when they were young, had been forcibly enthralled by dark magic creatures known as changelings, with the use of a very powerful dark magic amulet, which had stripped them of all of their memories and, worse than that, their hoard names. The DragonWyrm Clan had managed to do something that was unprecedented, and even thought to be impossible, at the time. They had managed to restore their hoard names. Without that restoration, the clan would have never even started, much less grown to be one of the largest dragon clans in the world.

Tracker pulled himself out of his inner history lesson to gaze at the ‘memory’ the crystal captured. He could see an image of himself, Twilight, and the dragon whelp Rye’lath, back when they first encountered each other in the thunderstorm, lightning flashing in the background. It surprised and amazed him, as it was an expertly captured memory crystal, especially considering how chaotic things were, at the time.

“Dragonfriend… I…” Tracker was torn between lusting after the crystal and feeling self-conscious that she was giving him a payment which he would never accept. “You didn’t have to give something like this to me… I...you… I can’t take this...”

“Don’t give me the ‘Southern Isles Clan owes everything to the DragonWyrm Clan’ spiel, Tracker…” Twilight smirked. She was used to this from Southern Isles Clan dragons, particularly ones that didn’t know her firsthoof. She learned real quickly how to ‘persuade’ them to be a bit more reasonable. “I’m giving this, not as payment, but because I want to give it to you as a gift… as a friend.”

“Soo…” Tracker began after a thankfully short, awkward pause. “you are good then?”

Twilight took a deep breath, just like she was taught by Cadence. She knew that if she didn’t calm down, that she may end up spooking Rye’lath, and ruin any chance that he would help her, if he could. “I think so…”

“If you need me again, Dragonfriend, send me a letter… and please, let me know if everything works out...”

“Will do.”

Tracker bobbed his head in goodbye and leaped right into the air, heading north, back towards Traxti City.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long delay, my editor had... stuff getting in the way... The good news I have one more chapter ready to go and already edited!

Also on a happy note: Welcome Rye'lath to the story courtesy of Xaldon Ajide! I haven't had so much fun introducing someone's OC since *spoilers*

The Dragon OC invitation will remain open so if you have one see this for more information.