The dragon was the single-most beautiful thing that Blackbird had ever seen. Gleaming silver-white, its beauty was otherworldly, profound, and after she had gazed upon it with great intensity, her vision clouded over with tears. Such stark beauty stood out in sharp contrast to the ruinous desolation of the city all around. The mere sight of it left her feeling peaceful, contemplative, and she was filled with a curious calm that she had not known since she was quite small. Her mood was such that she began to weep; the sheer dreadfulness of this wretched trip leaked from her eyes and soaked her cheeks. Everything that had happened, everything that had been done, all she had witnessed, all she had seen, it all rushed to the surface and overwhelmed her.

From the looks of things, she was not alone.

Two ponies approached the gargantuan silver wyrm; Dim and Chanson both seemed a whole lot smaller with each step they took closer. How Dim could approach such a magnificent creature was beyond Blackbird, whose knocking knees hardly allowed her to move at all. More than anything, she wanted to lay down and have herself a good cry, but now was not the time.

Emperor Chanson Argentée came to a stumbling halt, but Dim kept going.

“Explain yourself, dragon,” demanded Dim as he drew nearer.

Clapping her talons over her mouth, Blackbird was left stunned by the shocked expression on the dragon’s face. How could she tell it was shocked? What else could it possibly be? A pony—a particularly diminutive pony even by pony standards—had the unmitigated audacity to demand that the dragon explain itself. Now, the silver-white dragon was left agape and little curls of smoke rose from the corners of its mouth.

“Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting that sort of welcome—”

“I said explain yourself, dragon. Don’t make me ask you again.”

Flexing claws longer than swords, the dragon peered down at what could only be described as the bite-sized morsel making demands. Blackbird, her talons still over her mouth, swallowed and almost choked on the laughter that came pouring out of her throat. Pulling her talons away from her muzzle, she wiped her damp eyes with a many-creased knuckle while having herself a bit of a chuckle.

“A favour was asked of me. Princess Celestia made a formal request that I come here, restore order, and secure the Emperor’s rule.” Bending his serpentine neck, the dragon lowered his head down quite a ways to have a closer look at Dim, who fearlessly stood in an aggressive pose. “My name is Chromium. Your name is Dim. You and Emperor Chanson bear some of my essence.”

Blackbird heard Dim wheeze out the word, “Essence?” Now, it seemed, Dim was confused. Or curious. It didn’t matter, his bluster had been disarmed and the silver dragon had cleverly established its control over the situation.

“Oh, that’s a complicated affair. A long time ago, in a place called Skyreach, I was asked to donate some of my essence. A little something called, ‘Project Eternity.’ I doubt you’ve heard of it. Why, that makes us almost distantly related in a somewhat weird way, I suppose.” Heaving a smokey sigh, he added, “The centaurs were attempting to build a better alicorn. Well then, tiny cousin, let me have a better look at you.”

Saying nothing else, Chromium snatched Dim up from the ground and held him up at eye-level to better examine him. Blackbird, who could hardly believe what she was seeing, hiccupped. Gushing adoration, she allowed her eyes to drink in the sight of the incredibly beautiful dragon, who was now eyeballing Dim in the most inquisitive manner.

“You have Luna’s lineage in you,” Chromium said, obscuring Dim in a cloud of smoke. “But also some of Celestia’s blood. Funny how those paths cross. It’s inevitable, really. As the centuries roll on by, these things are bound to happen. The Nightmare Curse is in full effect, and there is something else… there is something else about you that I cannot quite put my claw upon. How curious. Anyhow, while many of your bloodline would succumb to the Nightmare Curse, you seem to have made it your strength. How curious that you would bend it to your will. Luna lives in fear of it, but you, you’ve embraced it. Hmm, something tells me that you do not strive for goodness, my little pony.”

“Gut und Böse sind bedeutungslos. Beide können in Brand gesetzt und verbrannt werden.”

Rubbing his shiny chin with his free claws, Chromium nodded. “I see.”

“Tust du?” Dim asked, a quick bark of brief sound.

Chromium paused to consider, and then replied, “Ja. Tue ich. Wie kommt es, dass solch eine kleine Kreatur keine Angst vor einer so großen Kreatur hat?”

“Ich habe vor, meinen Schwanz in die Sphinx zu stecken.”

“So viel Mut.” Chromium began to chuckle. “I wish you the best of luck. You’ll need it, Sphinxficker.”

“So, you’ve come to put the city in order?” Emperor Chanson Argentée’s voice cracked with every word. “Then you are welcome. We are grateful for any aid you have to offer. Thank you.”

“If all of you will excuse me, I have work to do. Now, how did that repair spell go?”

Unable to enter the boardroom, Blackbird paced, fitful and unsettled. Chromium had turned himself into a pony; a magnificent silver unicorn, a size that allowed him to enter the skyscraper, ride the elevator, and do whatever it is that they were doing in the boardroom, the place that she had been shut out of. This was irksome. She had done so much to save this place and this was her thanks?

“It’s that Spider Queen that Dim found.”

With a sudden twist of her neck in an almost boneless, supple way, Blackbird glanced down her back at Bombay Sable, who stood in the doorway. The fastidious felinoid was sculpting her claws with a fine, long file and wore an expression of casual disinterest. A thousand trains of thought all readied to leave the station of Blackbird’s mind, and she found that she could neither focus nor concentrate upon any one particular thing.

“What else could warrant a private meeting with a silver dragon?” Bombay continued, her whiskers quivering with every spoken word. “No doubt, right now, there’s a fine toothed comb going over Dim’s memories of the encounter. And you… you were kept out so you wouldn’t fret over his discomfort or worry about him. Tell me, Blackbird… does it bother you at all that Dim gets a bit friendly with creatures like that Spider Queen?”

Blackbird, distracted, replied without thinking. “Should it?”

“I’m not too bothered by it myself. No, what concerns me is just how friendly those creatures might be with Dim. Makes me think they want something from him. Just like that silver dragon wanted something from him. Seems like everybody who is anybody wants something from Dim… and as for Dim himself—”

“He is loyal to us,” Blackbird said to her companion, fearing what might be said.

“I was just about to say the same thing.”

Groaning from a sigh of relief, Blackbird felt her spine unkink. When had she gone tense? She couldn’t remember. Bombay was still filing her claws, and Blackbird wondered if maybe she should do the same. A deep breath, a shudder, and a few talon-taps against the floor passed a few seconds as the conversation hit a lul. Dim was loyal, wasn’t he? I mean, he would never be tempted by whatever promises of power that Spider Queen had offered him. He had come back for her. She made herself take a deep breath and wondered where this conversation was going.

“I worry if we’ve become his weaknesses.” Bombay’s words had all of the subtlety of a cast iron skillet dropped on a tile floor. “Maybe my loss has me thinking funny. Dim’s dangerous because he has nothing to lose. He didn’t take sides and only looked out for himself. But now, he’s sided with us and—”

“We’ve picked sides?” Blackbird wondered if she had said the right thing and when Bombay nodded, the big hippogriff felt her muscles go twitchy.

“Yes we have.” Bombay slipped her file away into an inner pocket of her coat, adjusted her belt, and then smoothed out her lapels with finicky paw motions. “I fear there will come a time when Dim’s weakness will be exploited. I’ve learned something about my associations with Eerie… if you are friends with powerful creatures, they attract powerful enemies. That fake alicorn is only just the beginning, Blackbird.”

Reaching up with one paw, Bombay rubbed the scars around her missing eye with tiny circular motions. “I need sleep.” The statement came out sounding weary and pained. “Are we strong enough to be Dim’s friends? It was already hard enough with Eerie. But Dim…” Her words faded into a breathy, pained groan.

“Maybe that’s what friendship is.” Blackbird’s tail swished as if it had a mind of its own. “Maybe we’re not strong enough… but we’ll do it anyway. Dim will be courted and hunted by powerful stuff. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ll manage somehow. I plan to stick this out. Dim came back for me. He didn’t have to.”

Bombay chuckled, an unexpected but welcomed sound. “Seems to me that you are courting and hunting Dim, Blackbird. I’ve seen the way you look at him. It makes me feel better to see it. There has to be love in the world, Blackbird. The Bard was always going on about that, and he’d make exaggerated efforts to woo me. I miss him.”

Alas, Blackbird wasn’t sure what to say. She had the object of her heart’s desire and any kind words she had to offer just felt… hollow. Empty. Meaningless. Sure, she knew loss; having lost her father, but it wasn’t the same and she knew it. Bombay had lost her soulmate, her one true love, the perfect fairytale romance that only a privileged few will ever know or experience. How did one console another over a loss like that? What words could possibly be said.

“It’s all coming together, Blackbird. All the pieces are being moved into place. We’re some of those pieces. With Chromium’s arrival, it feels like somebody just moved a rook—or a queen, perhaps—across the board. A war is coming, Blackbird, and we failed. Feels like we’ve failed. We’ve lost the Bard. I’m a pawn myself, but the Bard was one of those important pieces in the back row.” Shaking her head, Bombay now seemed at a loss for words. Unable to continue her thoughts, she mewed in frustration and then said her final words: “I’m going back to sleep. If anything exciting happens, come wake me up.”

This place. Blackbird had never seen anything quite like this place. After her extended tour of the countryside of Fancy, after seeing the squalid living conditions that the poorest endured, this place truly stood out. Hot and cold air came through vents, ensuring that the room was just the right temperature. Fine carpets covered the floors. Clean running water came from faucets. Elevators saved one from the effort of running up and down stairs. Electric lights banished the darkness.

Chanson’s living quarters were rather bare, sure, but the rest of the skyscraper stood as a testament to what the modern era could provide. After seeing the worst of living conditions, this place stood out in sharp, painful contrast. A tall tower of gleaming steel, glass, and concrete. An army of staff that kept everything neat and tidy.

At the moment though, all of this mattered very little.

“Dim, are you alright?”

Exhausted, Dim only held his head up so he could sip from a steaming cup of tea. He hadn’t slept much as the dragon’s arrival had interrupted his sleep. In Blackbird’s eyes, Dim appeared frail. She moved closer, halted for but a moment, and then drew closer still. When she reached Dim’s bedside, she sat down on the floor, reached up with her talons, and with a careful flick, swept Dim’s mane away from his mismatched eyes.

“A small mind such as mine was never meant to contain the mind of an ancient dragon.”

Of course, Blackbird did not understand, but she kept her ignorance to herself. Half of Dim was covered by a blanket, but his front hooves hung out over the edge of the bed. They were in a poor state, Dim’s hooves, in need of care and attention. Chipped, scuffed, adventure-worn, his front hooves made Dim look more a vagabond than a vizard.

He needed a trim and a little work done. Unable to keep her talons to herself, she stroked his chin, where a tiny tuft of fine black hairs had sprouted. Then, with her talon-fingers on his chin, she noticed the fine black hairs on his upper lip, too. Eyes narrowing, she studied him for a bit, and then decided that a bit of facial hair suited him. Vizards should be hirsute.

She sat watching him blink, entranced by the way that his eyelids each seemed to move of their own accord. One moved faster than the other, but this changed. It was fascinating to watch—alluring in its own way. Bluish highlights danced within the silken strands of his ebony-black mane.

“Chromium told me much, Blackbird. Filled in some of the gaps in my knowledge.” Dim took a sip of tea, and Blackbird watched him swallow. “Two very different wars are brewing. The conflict of the Midreach will consume the whole of the world. But as awful as this will be, the conflict that comes after will be worse. Grogar will profit from this state of conflict. It doesn’t matter which side wins, Grogar will ultimately be the victor. If this conflict could somehow be stopped, if a peaceful solution could somehow be found, it would hurt Grogar immensely. He needs war, hostility, and death. A solution to bring peace to the Midreach might even be Grogar’s undoing, but I think that’s optimistic nonsense.”

Another sip, and then he added, “Grogar would only slumber and wait for the next conflict to arise.”

“So what I hear you saying is, even if the good guys win this coming fight, we still lose?”

Blackbird saw the pain in Dim’s eyes and then she heard him say, “Yes.”

Her talons came to rest upon the bed, mere inches away from Dim’s foreleg. She thought of everything going on here in Fancy, and though she wasn’t the smartest creature, she knew how the events here could and would affect what went on in other places. The crushing weight of failure settled upon her back and made her proud neck bend.

“Chromium says the old pantheons are reviving. And he’s right. Chantico has come back from death. In Windia, Collie Ma has been resurrected by her Thuggee cult and she roams the land, spreading great evil. The Black Hound has returned to collect the heads of depraved diamond dogs and has been seen in Windia battling the Thuggee cults. It’s as if the entire world prepares for a battle that might very well end it.”

“Get some sleep, Dim.”

“Will you watch over me?” he asked.

Aware of the moment of naked vulnerability, Blackbird made no effort to be funny. “Of course, Dim. I’ll be here when you wake. Now get some sleep.”

“As soon as I finish my tea…”

Author's Notes:

This might be the last chapter for a while. I am about to embark.