My rest was pleasant, I had spoken with Luna and Shadow. It made me happy to see that the two were in such high spirits with their new found relationship. We spoke about many things during my visit to the dream realm but my time was drawing to a close, I thanked to two dream walkers and said my farewells. I awoke in the middle of the field and the sun was just in the process of coming above the horizon. I assumed it was roughly around five in the morning.

I looked to my comrades and all but Archimedes were sleeping, he perched himself just beside the campfire that had been burning all night and was heating up a kettle. I pulled myself off the ground and made my way over to his side.

“Morning Arch, you been up all night?” I asked the stallion. He looked to me with tired eyes and nodded with a kind smile.

“Yeah, someone has to keep an eye out for hostiles. What some coffee?” I looked to the stallion and nodded back,“It should be done in a couple of minutes.”

“Good man, right after my own heart.” He gave me a playful shot to the arm and gave a light chuckle.

“Shut up. Well, you have fun with the coffee. I’m gonna take a nap till we need to head out.” He stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder,“You snore... just so you know.” I gave with a smile and nodded. He strode over to my gear and used the spot, to which I just left, to sleep. I turned my attention to the kettle and watched as the steam slowly rose from the top of the spout.

/////////////////

“Well maybe someone should have taken their shift instead of leaving him to sit up all night to watch over everyone.” said a very annoyed Axton, who carried Archimedes with Night Strife while he slept.

“I would have, it’s just he didn’t wake me up.” Pyro replied.

“He shouldn’t have had too. You knew that it was your shift at three.” Terra said.

“You guys are always picking on me, I hate you all.” Pyro said with a light chuckle.

“Ease off the guy, he messes up every once in awhile but you all have your share of mistakes from time to time.” I said to silence the group.

“And you’re of no faults? Ha! Mr. Perfect over here.”

We continued through the field to our destination as I replied,“I have plenty of problems, but none that concern any of you.”

“Concern none of us? Like what? Come on, you don’t bring something up like that and just expect to drop it, do you?” said Pyro.

“I do.” I simply replied, We continued down the field and all remained quiet till we began to near the bottom of a mountain. While we began climbing to the top of the mountain, Night Strife continuously looked to me without speaking a word. I noticed this and after ten minutes of constant staring, I began to feel annoyed. I figured that if I held out for as long as humanly possible as I could, Strife would lose interest and continue to follow. “Just over this ridge and we should be about two hours from the badlands.”

As we reached the ridge, I ordered for the group to rest for a bit. We stopped for lunch and as I dug into my food, I noticed not one, but three sets of eyes staring at me. Pyro, Night Strife and Axton. They continued to stare at me, and it made me feel agitated. ‘How long have they been staring at me for? It’s been about five hours since camp.’ I thought to myself. The pressure continued to build inside me and I finally tapped out. “What are you all staring at?” I asked with an agitated tone.

“I knew we’d finally get you, tell us then.” Said Axton.

“Tell you what?” I asked, I was confused by his statement.

Axton and the other stallions looked to me and said in unison, as if they prepared beforehand. “You have problems, tell us.”

I found it strange just how timed and precise they were with each other, that gave me an idea but I’ll save it for later. “Ok, that’s worth on one secret.” I looked to the group and smiled. They all looked back and gave me their full attention. “I can’t taste.”

“What? I don’t get it.” Said Axton,“What do you mean you can’t taste?”

“It’s exactly how it is, my taste buds are shot and I can’t taste anything. Sure I can taste things that are extremely bitter or spicy but that’s the fullest of its extent.” I told the group.

“How’d that happen? They don’t just go away, do they?” Asked Pyro.

I looked to him and shook my head,“No, they don’t just go away. And for the part on how it happened, I couldn’t tell you. When I first came to this world, I could taste anything. After a couple days here, I noticed that some things tasted bland or like nothing at all. It could have been anything really.”

“Could it have been something you ate? Something you drank?” Asked Strife.

I looked to the blue pegasus and shrugged,“Your guess is as good as mine.”

Pyro looked to me and tilted his head,“How does it feel? Not to be able to taste.”

“Honestly, I do miss being able to taste, I really liked your soup though, it was the first thing I tasted in a while. I’m not sure how I was able to, but it was good.”

Night strife retreated to his thoughts for a moment before speaking,“Didn’t you say that you could only taste things that were either ‘extremely bitter or spicy’?” At this comment, both Strife and Axton looked to Pyro. The fiery maned stallion raised an eyebrow in confusion and Strife said,“You’re not cooking for a bit. For good long while, I’ll handle the food for now.”

“Come on, not fair! I’m a great cook! You just don’t have any sense of taste...” Pyro looked to me and said,“No offense.”

I looked to Pyro with a smile and said,“None taken.” The sight of these stallions fighting amongst each other was entertaining enough.

//////////////////

“How is he still sleeping?” Asked Terra,“I’m a dragon and I don’t rest for this long.”

I stopped in my tracks and looked to the group. They all halted and looked to me with a puzzled expression. I looked over Archimedes and cracked a smile,“You’re a jerk, you know that?”

The others looked to Arch and noticed with eyes were open and he was simply laying on their backs lazily. Terra and the rest of the gang moved away from the stallion and Arch fell to the ground with a loud thud. “Well it was fun while it lasted. I guess I could stretch my legs for a bit.” I let out a light chuckle at his playful characteristics and motioned for us all to head forward.

/////////////////

“So this is was it looks like, I haven’t been here before.” Said Night Strife.

“Nice to be home, This brings back a few good memories.” claimed the large dragon.

“All I want to do is visit this Dragon kingdom, maybe ‘borrow’ a few gems from the dragons.” Said Pyro with a smirk.

“Have fun with that, one finger on their jewels and you’ll lose a hand.” Terra said to Pyro, making the fiery maned stallion rub his hand in a touch of fear.

“On the other hand...”

“Maybe you’ll lose that too.”

“Shut up! Do say that, you’re creeping me out.” Pyro said defensively.

I coughed to attract the attention of the others,“Alright, I have a family I wish to see within a couple weeks so I’d like to get this done.” We all proceeded through the scorching hot plains of the badlands until we finally found it. I was determined to solve this problem once and for all and my goal was just ahead of me. Dragon Territory, the Kingdom of Drakes Plain.

We stood in front of the large stone gates and there stood two large Dragon guards, one on each side of the door donning armor from head to toe. “I wish to seek entrance, for me and my party.” I said to the guards.

“Who goes there? What business do you have with this place? Be gone!” The left guard blasted a horde of black smoke and knocked me to the ground. Terra was about to jump in when I stopped him. I pulled myself off the ground and dusted myself off.

I returned my attention to the guard once again and said,“I, Darkmoon’s Crescent: the guardian of the Mystic mountains, have been sent by royal order to deal with a problem here, I wish to speak with your King.”

“It doesn’t matter who you are or your orders, you aren’t worthy to meet with our King.” The guard slammed his spear on the ground and caused a small shock wave and triggered a reaction of guards to surround us completely, each well equipped as the guards blocking our entrance. “Be gone before we make you, human.”

I unsheathed my sword and was soon copied by the rest of my companions, we all stood back to back in a circle. “I don’t want to hurt you, but we are entering this city, with or without your permission.” The guards all burst out into laughter as I finished my threat.

“And what you and your brigade of miscreants going to do? Bleed on us?” The crowd of guards roared loudly in laughter.

I looked to my party with swords ready and nodded. They all roared loudly, sounding our battle cry. I looked to the gate and focused on getting inside,“We’re going through the front door.”

The battle’s begun, but what’s waiting for us on the other side?

Thanks for your time and your thoughts.
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And I leave you with something awesome...

Keep it cool, Condemned.