A Sniffling Essence[Chapien + Phil]

[Chapien]

It was a rather beautiful morning in the Badlands. The sun was rising over the mountains, and the trees seemed to sparkle from the sun's light reflecting off of the condensation from last night. The land seemed empty and quiet for miles around, with pine tree after pine tree covering the landscape, mountains jutting out in the distance. A small stream gurgled nearby, and birds chirped in the sky- but beyond that, the forest had the appearance and sound of being wholly lifeless. Except, of course, for one little creature.

At the top of one of the infinite trees of the forest, a green baby dragon snored, soundly asleep in the canopy, a small, brown blanket pulled tight over him. He was sleeping rather soundly and didn't show any sign of waking up any time soon. He probably would have slept all day - until, of course, a bit of melting snow dripped off of the branch above him onto his forehead, causing him to wake up with a brief yelp immediately, jumping up and very nearly falling off of his branch.

Rubbing his forehead, Sniffles moaned and stretched. He grabbed his blanket and rolled it up, before stuffing it into his make shift pack. Strapping his pack onto him, and checking to make sure that he wasn't leaving anything behind, Sniffles began his swift, yet careful, descent down to the surface. Landing on all fours with a quiet thud, Sniffles sniffed around in the air, a smile on his face. Today was going to be a great day - he simply knew it!

[RarityDash]

Verity Essence truly didn't have much use for the wild, untamed wilderness. She was and always had been a city mare through and through. Evidently her ancestors long wandered the Unyasi savannas as nomads, but for her there were few thoughts less appealing. Not that she minded the wandering aspect; Verity did like to travel and she did a lot of it for her job with REIN. She was just so thoroughly a social creature. She was in her element when there were others around. Out here in the Badlands, surrounded by a whole lot of snow and nothing, bundled in a heavy coat just to keep warm, she found herself mostly just bored and annoyed.

The zebra mare loved her job. There was nothing more exciting to her than tailing suspects, deceiving them, extracting information and then watching carefully laid traps suddenly come together in the end. It was a life of problem solving, danger and suspense. Still, not all missions were winners; some REIN work sucked. This was one of those. It was nevertheless important. Dragons were, in the most literal sense, a big deal. Occasional observation of the dragons settled in the mountains and the caves along the borders of Equestria were important for any number of reasons. Verity could see the need for it, but that didn't make it suck less. It was time consuming survey work, involved wandering this empty landscape and was all around kind of dangerous.

Worse over, she was out there all alone. "You're one of our best agents.", "We have faith that you can do this on your own.", "You don't need anyone slowing you down." They were nice sentiments from her superiors, but it didn't change the fact that this was a dangerous land for a single zebra, no matter how well trained she may be. Couldn't they have at least given her a military escort? Even a mostly useless, insufferable layabout like Dagger would make this mission a little less miserable.

Just then, as the zebra continued through the forest in the direction her maps told her to, she heard a strange thud nearby. She turned at once, giving a small jump. She did a bit of a double take at what she saw there standing at the foot of a tree. it was a baby dragon. The mare gave a small chuckle. Okay, if the dragons were just going to drop out of trees right into her lap, maybe this job wouldn't be so bad after all. She nodded and cautiously approached the young dragon.

[colour=#333366]"Hey there,"[/colour] she started casually. [colour=#003366]"I wasn't aware dragons made a habit of climbing trees,"[/colour] she added with a smirk.

[Chapien]

Sniffles jumped slightly in surprise and stared at the figure in front of him. For a moment he remained silent, staring at the figure with a curious gaze, his eyes moving up and down, his nose sniffing the air slightly. The figure appeared to be one of those pony-things from the south, but if he remembered correctly, ponies certainly did not have stripes... or did they? Sniffles had never really been known for his memory - his mind wandered so often that he found it a bit difficult to remember unimportant details, such as whether or not ponies had stripes, or if climbing trees was really a good idea, or what he ate last night.

After roughly a minute of simply staring, he responded, [colour=#008000]"Are you some type of pony or something?"[/colour]. He continued to glare at the "pony" for a moment, before grinning and running towards her on all fours before standing back up and grinning widely at her.

[colour=#008000]"Well! Usually, dragons don't climb trees, but I'm special!"[/colour] he said, with a smile,[colour=#008000] "Or did they say that I was unusual... ah, nevermind! It is great to meet you, Ms pony-thing! My name is Sniffles, Sniffles the dragon! And what brings you here to the land of dragons on this simply beautiful morning?"[/colour]

[RarityDash]

[colour=#008000]"Are you some type of pony or something?"[/colour]

Verity laughed. She couldn't say she was surprised this dragon had never seen a zebra before. Unyasi was literally on the other side of the world. [colour=#333366]"Well, I'm a zebra... but for all intents, we're really pretty similar to ponies,"[/colour] she said with a shrug.

[colour=#008000]"Well! Usually, dragons don't climb trees, but I'm special! [/colour][colour=#008000]Or did they say that I was unusual... ah, nevermind! It is great to meet you, Ms pony-thing! My name is Sniffles, Sniffles the dragon! And what brings you here to the land of dragons on this simply beautiful morning?"[/colour]

The zebra gave another laugh. She liked this little guy. He was funny. She gave a small nod to him and smiled. [colour=#333366]"Heh. Nice! Glad to meet ya, Sniffles the Dragon. Verity Essence is the name, though I dunno, I guess Ms. Pony-thing works too," [/colour]she said.

[colour=#333366]"As for the question of why, I'll just cut to the chase: I'm here to spy on your kind and determine if any movements have occurred that Equestria needs to worry about," [/colour]Verity said with a smirk. [colour=#333366]"Princess Celestia has an interest in knowing just where you dragons are, I suppose, and I'm the sucker who got saddled with the job of determining just that."[/colour]

[Chapien]

Sniffles gave Verity a confused smile. What did she mean, spying? How does one even spy on dragons? As far as he could remember, the rest of his kind were immensely boring and spent a done of time sleeping, eating, and not really doing much of anything else! What interesting 'movements' would any dragon EVER do - other than himself, of course. Sniffles was rather certain that he was the most interesting dragon that ever existed. Ever.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Verity! Zebra sounds like a rather funny word. What exactly is a zebra? Are you like, just pony-things but with stripes instead of wings and horns or whatever it is ponies have?" Sniffles wasn't afraid to admit when there was something he knew absolutely nothing about - and ponies was one such thing. Sure, he had heard about ponies, and had even observed one or two of them from a distance, but he hadn't actually interacted with any until now! Though, apparently this wasn't a pony he was interacting with - it was a zebra. Which he thought was silly. She basically looked like a pony, but with stripes! Why even bother making a new name?

Of course, Sniffles had more questions. "Equestria is were you ponies are from, isn't it? Why do you need to watch us? It's not like dragons do anything interesting! I mean, we mostly just... eat and sleep!"

[RarityDash]

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Verity! Zebra sounds like a rather funny word. What exactly is a zebra? Are you like, just pony-things but with stripes instead of wings and horns or whatever it is ponies have?"

Verity chuckled and shook her head. [colour=#333366]"Oh, no, we zebra are a proud and noble race, rich with traditions and culture all our own, stemming from our long history roaming the savannas of our distant ancestral home of Unyasi!"[/colour] she said stiffly, a telling grin on her face. [colour=#333366]"Or something like that, I guess... Really, if you want to get down to it, ponies with stripes is probably more than close enough." [/colour]The mare gave a shrug.

"Equestria is were you ponies are from, isn't it? Why do you need to watch us? It's not like dragons do anything interesting! I mean, we mostly just... eat and sleep!"

The zebra gave a nod.[colour=#333366] "Yeah, I'm from Equestria. Stalliongrad, to be exact," [/colour]she said.

[colour=#333366]"As for the why of this mission, guess it just boils down to how big you guys are.[/colour]" She laughed and shook her head. [colour=#333366]"Well, not you--you're still tiny--but I mean the adults. You guys get so huge compared to us; it can be kind of dangerous for us, you know? One of you wanders down into Stalliongrad, the damages can be huge. We just like to do occasional checks of the border areas round here to make sure we don't need to get too worried or anything."[/colour]

[Chapien]

Sniffles giggled a little. He was starting to really like this striped pony/zebra! He had a good feeling that they would get along just fine. [colour=#008000]"Well, if that's the case, then let me inform you that I am no ordinary dragon! I am a sky dragon!" he said, flexing his tiny, obviously useless wings pridefully, "One day, when I'm bigger, I'll be able to fly around and stuff, unlike those silly earth dragons who just... dig... or something..."[/colour]

Just then, Sniffles got an idea. His face lit up and he grinned. [colour=#008000]"Perhaps I can help with your secret spying mission thingy! I know where a bunch of sky dragons live in this area and I could point you to them, you know, make your job easier," he said, before getting a bit quieter, "Though... I can't help with the Earth Dragons. They live underground... I don't really like the underground much..."[/colour]

[colour=#008000]"But!"[/colour] he continued, regaining his volume, [colour=#008000]"You have to do something for me! If I help you with this, you have to take me out of this empty snowy land and take me down to... um... Equestria! I've always wanted to see the pony cities and towns and... stuff!"[/colour]

[RarityDash]

[colour=#008000]"Well, if that's the case, then let me inform you that I am no ordinary dragon! I am a sky dragon! One day, when I'm bigger, I'll be able to fly around and stuff, unlike those silly earth dragons who just... dig... or something..."[/colour]

Verity laughed some more and smiled at the little dragon. This kid was just great. He was exactly what she had needed to raise her sunken spirits.[colour=#333366] "Heh. I see, I see. Flying, huh? Sounds exciting."[/colour]

"Perhaps I can help with your secret spying mission thingy! I know where a bunch of sky dragons live in this area and I could point you to them, you know, make your job easier. Though... I can't help with the Earth Dragons. They live underground... I don't really like the underground much..."

The zebra mare's smile widened as she gave an approving nod[colour=#333366]. "Ha. That would be great,"[/colour] she said. [colour=#333366]"Actually--even better--why don't we just cut out the running around. REIN isn't looking for perfect accuracy with this intel; just a general idea. If you could just point me toward where the sky dragons might be on this map of the region, it would save a lot of trouble...[/colour]" she added as she presented a detailed map of the border regions to the young dragon.

[colour=#008000]"But! [/colour][colour=#008000]You have to do something for me! If I help you with this, you have to take me out of this empty snowy land and take me down to... um... Equestria! I've always wanted to see the pony cities and towns and... stuff!"[/colour]

Verity chuckled again and nodded. [colour=#333366]"Guess there would have to be a catch, huh?"[/colour] she said with a long sigh.

[colour=#333366]"Well, I'd be perfectly cool with that. Sounds like a fun time to me, I'd say actually," [/colour]she added, shrugging. [colour=#333366]"Help me out with the mission and I'll take you back with me. "[/colour]

[Chapien]

Sniffles smiled. He was always glad to help anyone! This was his first real encounter with a pony (well, zebra... same thing, really!) and he had already made a friend! Sniffles knew he was irresistibly charming, but not to this extent. He eagerly snatched the map and unfolded it, taking a long look at it, before beginning to point at the map.

[colour=#008000]"Let's see..."[/colour] he began, [colour=#008000]"There's a lair here,"[/colour] he pointed at a mountain deep into the badlands, [colour=#008000]"Here..." [/colour]he pointed to a location somewhat closer,[colour=#008000] "Here..."[/colour] he continued to point, pointing at various mountains, forests, lakes and so on across the badlands, though all were significantly far away from the Equestrian border. Until, of course he came to the last one.

[colour=#008000]"Aaand here!"[/colour] he proclaimed proudly, pointing to the last one, before his smile faded somewhat. He was pointing to a mountain dangerously close to a dot labeled 'Stalliongrad"... He wasn't quite sure what Stalliongrad was exactly. It was apparently some type of pony lair, if he understood what Verity had explained earlier, though he wasn't quite sure he did. Ponies were all very confusing - which is what made them all the more fascinating to Snifffles, of course! They weren't boring, tired, or even greedy like all of the dragons he knew - one of the many reasons he was excited to head to Equestria.

[RarityDash]

[colour=#008000]"Let's see... [/colour][colour=#008000]There's a lair here, [/colour][colour=#008000]Here... [/colour][colour=#008000]Here... [/colour][colour=#008000]Aaand here!"[/colour]

Verity watched with much interest as the young dragon pointed to spot after spot. Puling a pencil from her saddle bag, she circled each area in turn. They were pretty in the clear until they got to the very last lair. This one was somewhat troubling. Apparently there was a dragon's lair not all too far from Stalliongrad; much closer than they had anticipated. This was definitely worth noting.

[colour=#333366]"I see..."[/colour] she said, nodding as she made some more quick notes on her map. [colour=#333366]"And you wouldn't know where any earth dragons in the region are?"[/colour] she asked looking at the dragon. [colour=#333366]"And I kinda doubt there are any sea dragons in the area to worry about..." [/colour]she added with a laugh.

[colour=#333366]"Are there for sure earth dragons currently in these parts though? Any mountains or caverns they've told your kind to stay out of?"[/colour] she continued to question, her pencil ready to jot down any relevant info.[colour=#333366] "Also, do you visit this lair often? How mobile are the dragons there and how would you describe their behavior?" she[/colour] asked, pointing toward the circle on her map near Staliongrad.

[Chapien]

Sniffles frowned slightly. He realized that he knew next to nothing about Earth Dragons other than the fact that they liked to dig holes and live underground, which he always thought was strange - closed spaces terrified him, a fact that he had often gotten teased for back when he had lived with his clutch. He took another look at the map, thinking for a second, before remembering that there was a rather large crevice deep within the badlands that led to a large underground network that was more likely than not inhabited by those silly Earth Dragons.

[colour=#008000]"Well.." [/colour]he began, tentatively pointing at a location deep within the badlands, [colour=#008000]"There's a rather massive crevice located here, which apparently has a fairly large underground network within... I've heard rumors that the Earth Dragons live down there, and it's fairly deep in the badlands so you shouldn't have to worry but... who knows how long those caves really extend for, right?"[/colour]

[colour=#008000]"As for the sky dragon lair near that pony lair... there aren't many there as far as I know. There's only one adult dragon living there as far as I know, and I don't know how many hatchlings are there, though I believe that the dragon spends most of the time asleep, so he shouldn't cause too many problems."[/colour]

[RarityDash]

Verity listened to the young dragon's words closely, recording notes as she did. She wondered for a moment how far she could trust the intel, but decided it was probably safe. She had given this dragon no reason to lie to her. Moreover, she could pick up nothing in his body language that told her she should be wary of trusting him. That didn't mean he couldn't still be wrong, she supposed; the information was unverified. Still, it just wasn't worth the effort corroborating the dragon's information. Accuracy was important for REIN, but so was efficiency. Having an agent held up for weeks chasing dragons around from lair to lair was not in their best interest.

[colour=#333366]"Great," [/colour]Verity said as Sniffles finished speaking. [colour=#333366]"You might have really just shaved weeks off my assignment, kid. It was a stroke of luck we ran into each other."[/colour]

[colour=#333366]"Thanks to you, I don't have to run around up here freezing to death as I track down dragons," [/colour]she said with a small laugh. [colour=#333366]"Instead, I think I can turn right back around and head to Stalliongrad."[/colour]

[colour=#333366]"Though it might still be in REIN's best interest to drop by this dragon's lair and spy on him for a while," [/colour]she said, nodding. [colour=#333366]"Might have to make it a stop along the way."[/colour]

[Chapien]

Sniffles grinned happily. He was always happy to help someone, and he was glad that he had been able to assist this zebra-thing. What was more, he was finally going to leave this massive, empty, and frankly boring wasteland for the fascinating and obviously far more interesting pony lands to the south! With a zebra! Something that until today he didn't even know existed - and how often does that happen to, well anyone? Not very often, Sniffles bet! And to top that off, Verity was some sort of spy or something! How much more awesome could things get?

[colour=#008000]"I'm just glad I could help!" [/colour]he said, smiling. [colour=#008000]"And besides, it's not like you're not returning the favour. I mean, you're taking me to Equestria! That's just... so cool!"[/colour]

[colour=#008000]"Stopping at the lair on the way shouldn't be much of a problem... though, most dragons really don't like interruptions. They view other dragons, even dragons as small as me and ponies as..." [/colour]he chuckled, [colour=#008000]"Well... food."[/colour]

[RarityDash]

[colour=#008000]"I'm just glad I could help! [/colour][colour=#008000]And besides, it's not like you're not returning the favour. I mean, you're taking me to Equestria! That's just... so cool!"[/colour]

Verity smiled, happy to see the enthusiasm from the young dragon. He really was a good kid. He had the right sort of energy.[colour=#333366] "Heh. That's right," [/colour]she said with a nod.

[colour=#333366]"And it'll be my pleasure to show you anywhere you wanna go once we get back there. It'll be my payment for you helping me out like this, kid. It'll be fun,'[/colour] she added, smirking. introducing this little dragon to an entirely new world sounded like it could be a lot of fun actually. She was quite eager for it.

​

[colour=#008000]"Stopping at the lair on the way shouldn't be much of a problem... though, most dragons really don't like interruptions. They view other dragons, even dragons as small as me and ponies as... [/colour][colour=#008000]Well... food."[/colour]

The zebra chuckled at these comments, a grin appearing on her face. [colour=#333366]"Guess you don't know much about spy work, huh?" [/colour]she started with a nod. [colour=#333366]"The whole general idea of it is, you know, not letting the guy you're spying on know you're watching or that you're even there."[/colour]

Smiling, she continued,[colour=#333366] "And for a big old dragon like this, I doubt that'll be so very hard."[/colour] She gave a shrug. [colour=#333366]"Chances are the guy'll just be sleeping soundly anyway."[/colour]

​

[Chapien]

Sniffles grinned. [colour=#008000]"Well then, what are we waiting for? This dragon isn't going to spy on himself!"[/colour] He thought for a moment, before adding,[colour=#008000] "...or will he? Can someone do that? Can someone spy on themselves? Is that possible? If so, how can I prevent it from happening? I don't want to spy on myself!"[/colour]

Sniffles giggled slightly, barely concealing the fact that he had just made a rather horrible joke. Sniffles tended to have an odd sense of humor, particularly when he was excited - and boy was he excited now! Verity and Sniffles began their journey towards the dragon cave - as well as Stalliongrad - and he could just BARELY contain his excitement. He seemed to walk with a very slight skip, a beaming smile stretched across his face. It wasn't too long of a journey to the cave; after all, Sniffles wasn't terribly deep within dragon territory. If all went well, they would arrive at the cave within two or three hours.

[RarityDash]

[colour=#008000]"Well then, what are we waiting for? This dragon isn't going to spy on himself! [/colour][colour=#008000]...or will he? Can someone do that? Can someone spy on themselves? Is that possible? If so, how can I prevent it from happening? I don't want to spy on myself!"[/colour]

Verity gave a laugh. [colour=#333366]"Ha! Never knew dragons could be so much fun, kid,"[/colour] she started, smirking. [colour=#333366]"Then again, I never knew too many. Also, I guess someponies say the same about zebras, that we're all too serious and stuff, so I dunno."[/colour]

She gave a sigh. She really hadn't ever had much dragon interaction. This with Sniffles probably already easily qualified as her longest conversation with one by a long shot. It was going pretty well too. She wasn't entirely sure if dragons just got a bad rap for being so big and potentially dangerous or if she hadn't just found a particularly awesome one.

[colour=#663366]"But yeah, I think some unicorns might be able to do it, spy on themselves. Don't know. Magic can be kinda confusing like that sometimes,"[/colour] Verity said with a shrug, purposely opting to give the joke question an answer. [colour=#333366]"I imagine you don't have much to worry about. I figure a smart kid like you is much too sharp to let you get the drop on him."[/colour]

Chuckling, the mare pressed onward. They had a long way to go, but would get there in time. The trip probably wouldn't be so bad with this kid along either.

​

[Chapien]

Sniffles giggled. [colour=#008000]"Of course. I'm far too clever to let myself spy on me!"[/colour]

The journey continued for a few hours, with moments of silence broken up by Sniffles pointing out various locations of interest, babbling on about how interesting everything was, talking about mountains, streams, rivers, and even individual trees that he had visited, talking about their many, many wonders. Sniffles was very much enjoying himself. Not many ponies came out to the Badlands, and he imagined that Verity would be immensely interested in knowing everything and anything about the beautiful vistas of the untamed wildlands north of Equestria.

Eventually, of course, they reached a tall mountain, with a bit of smoke coming out of the top. Sniffles looked up, squinting his eyes, before declaring, [colour=#008000]"We're here!"[/colour]

[RarityDash]

[colour=#008000]"We're here!"[/colour]

[colour=#000000]

A pleasant journey ended for the moment with these words. It had turned out to be a pretty cool trip, and she was swift warming up to her dragon friend. He had a good way of reliably pointing out interesting pieces of terrain that Verity might have missed. He was also fun to joke around with and tease a little. Hours passed quickly for the zebra as they made their journey toward the mountain that was their destination. Finding this young dragon really had been the best break she had had in a long time. He was great.[/colour]

[colour=#000000]When he finally did speak those words, Verity looked up and nodded. Looked about like she had always assumed a dragon's lair did; big scary mountain with smoke pouring out. She sighed. This wasn't gonna be a lot of fun. She supposed they'd have to climb up and meet this dragon guy then? That was gonna be "fun".[/colour]

[colour=#333366]"It's at times like this I kinda wish I was a pegasus,"[/colour] [colour=#000000]Verity said through her sigh.[/colour][colour=#333366] "But we are here now... so I guess we have to go through with and check in with the big guy..."[/colour]

[colour=#333366]"Guess that means we start with the climbing!"[/colour][colour=#000000] she added with faux excitement before slumping ahead. She then started toward the mountain, ready to being the long climb up to the dragon's cave at the top[/colour].

​

[Chapien]

Sniffles couldn't help but giggle at Verity's apparent aversion to the climb. Climbing was easy! Sniffles had been doing it virtually all of his life, after all. He quickly headed to the base of the mountain and began to skitter upwards, crawling up rocks with ease, his claws giving him a level of grip that nopony could posses, allowing him to climb with relative ease. And though his wings were far too weak to allow flight, they served as a convenient balancing tool to prevent him from plummeting off of the face of the mountain and facing an untimely end.

After a few moments of climbing, he looked down, seeing that Verity was still quite a few meters behind him. He grinned and shouted, [colour=#008000]"Need some help?"[/colour]

[RarityDash]

[colour=#000000]Verity started her climb at what could only be described as a steady pace. REIN trained its agents well and demanded agents met certain strict physical standards. Verity was thus in quite good shape and a lot tougher than she might seem at first glance. Stuff liking hiking up mountains just wasn't part of her job description though. it wasn't her forte. She was a city mare. This just wasn't the kinda thing she did usually. In short, she was simply out of her element. The fact that Sniffles was moving up the mountain with ease only make that more apparent to her.[/colour]

[colour=#000000]At the offer of help, she sighed.[/colour] [colour=#333366]"Nah, I can cope. Just slow down a little, would ya?"[/colour] [colour=#000000]she started, calling up to the dragon. [/colour][colour=#333366]"I can only do this so fast..."[/colour] [colour=#000000]she added between breaths.[/colour]

[colour=#000000]The zebra mare continued upward after her dragon companion, Her pace was steady, but she kept a found pretty solid hoofing most of the time. Soon they were getting pretty high, to the point where a fall would spell disaster. Looking down, Verity became grateful she didn't have a fear of heights. The fact that the path was becoming more narrow and treacherous only made it more difficult on her. All the same, she was confident they'd soon be there at the top.[/colour]

[colour=#333366]"Almost there! How ya holding up, kid?"[/colour][colour=#000000] she called out to the dragon as she continued to make her climb. [/colour]

​

[Chapien]

Sniffles peaked his head over a ledge. He had already made it to the cave, it turned out, and Verity was just behind him! He grinned at her and said,[colour=#008000] "I think we're here! That wasn't so bad, after all!"[/colour] It was no surprise that Sniffles was such a good climber. He was a sky dragon, and though he couldn't fly yet, he had spent the majority of his childhood up in high mountains. Climbing was almost literally a requirement for survival throughout his life, and that was only doubly true when he had left his nest to live on his own. If it wasn't for his skill at climbing trees, he likely would have had great difficulty finding safe places to sleep at night.

Seeing that Verity was close, he decided to inspect the cave entrance. It was rather big, as to be expected, and there was a massive amount of smoke emerging from it - meaning that the dragon was likely taking a nice, short nap. And by short, he meant a couple hundred years, of course. Old dragons were very, very sleepy, especially after they had just eaten a large pile of jewels. This dragon was likely old, large, and fat, Sniffles thought with a slight giggle. He slowly began to tip toe into the entrance, a slight smile on his face.

[RarityDash]

[colour=#3b7c17]

"I think we're here! That wasn't so bad, after all!"[/colour]

[colour=#222222]

[colour=#000000]Verity gave an exasperated sigh as she pulled herself finally up to the top of the mountain. [/colour][colour=#333366]"Speak for yourself, kid,"[/colour] [colour=#000000]she said as she sat there a moment, trying to let her breath catch up to her. She shook her head and took a deep breath.[/colour] [colour=#333366]"This isn't the sort of thing I'm eager to do again any time soon..."[/colour][/colour]

[colour=#222222]

[colour=#000000]She sat a while longer, collecting herself, until she noticed her companion had went ahead. Not wanting the young guy to face whatever was in the big dragon's cave all alone.[/colour] [colour=#333366]"Wait up, kid. I'm coming too,"[/colour] [colour=#000000]she said as she stood and followed after the young dragon. She entered the cave slowly, wanting to be careful. This was a full grown dragon they were talking about. If they weren't careful, this could be deadly bad. Indication was that the dragon was asleep, but that didn't mean it would stay that way.[/colour][/colour]

[colour=#222222]

[colour=#000000]As they got deeper into the cave, the shape of the dragon came into sight. Sure enough, he was sleeping. He was also even bigger than Verity imagined. Gah, this was scary. She didn't scare easy; her job was all about dangers, but this topped most of them. She really hoped this guy didn't wake up. [/colour][/colour]

[colour=#222222]

[colour=#333366]"He seems out cold. I don't imagine he's gonna wake up and start moving anytime soon. We're probably good,"[/colour] [colour=#000000]she said with a nod. [/colour][/colour]

[colour=#222222]

[colour=#000000]It was about then that her eyes went to the dragon's hoard. It was quite the impressive pile of gems and gold and all things priceless. Now, Verity wasn't a zebra too often tempted by such things, but she was nothing if not opportunistic, and what sleeping dragons didn't know wouldn't hurt them. She wasn't a connoisseur of either gems or relics, but she was good at guesswork and there were a few pieces jutting out of the glimmering pile that caught her eye. She gave a nod.[/colour][/colour]

[colour=#222222]

[colour=#333366]"I think I'm gonna try and take something from his stash. Wanna see me try?"[/colour][colour=#000000] Verity asked, glancing over at the dragon with a mischievous smile on her face.[/colour]

​[/colour]

[Chapien]

Usually, Sniffles would be very much supportive of mischief - especially mischief against his own kind. Dragons were mostly so serious and so mean all the time that it was simply entertaining to mess around and have some fun with them. However, if there was one thing Sniffles had learned from his many encounters with his own kind, it was not to steal from them. Ever. Even if they were sleeping. You see, if dragons were cranky usually, they were extra cranky when they woke up and found something missing. Sure, it seems like there's a lot of gold and gems in one particular dragon horde, too much to keep track of, but adult dragons were so greedy and selfish that they were actually able to keep track of practically EVERY piece of treasure in their stash.

He approached Verity carefully and said,[colour=#008000] "Well, that sounds fun and all and you can try but... Dragons are notorious misers. If he wakes up and finds out something is missing... Well, just be careful, Verity!"[/colour]

[RarityDash]

[colour=#008000]"Well, that sounds fun and all and you can try but... Dragons are notorious misers. If he wakes up and finds out something is missing... Well, just be careful, Verity!"[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Verity chuckled at the response. Of course the kid wasn't going to be sure about this. Heh, maybe it was stupid as hay? Still, Verity was in the right gear for mischief and wasn't sure she could stop herself. What was the worst that could happen? The dragon waking up, getting all indignant about his missing stuff and burning down the entire Kuznitza District in a mad rampage. Okay, come to think of it, that actually sounded like really legitimately bad... Maybe this idea wasn't so hot after all?[/colour]

[colour=#000000]But no, she had to do something now. It would totally suck to back off having just said what she did. She shook her head slowly and stepped ahead.[/colour] [colour=#333366]"Ah, but kid, you forget that I'm an expert. In my line of work I've deceived countless ponies. Don't think I can't do the same to a dragon... I come prepared!"[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Verity looked around the cave until she spied a large rock. Giving a nod, she pulled a vial of red liquid from her saddlebag, containing a number of similar vials and poured its contents onto the rock. It instantly turned a deep crimson.[/colour][colour=#333399] [/colour][colour=#333366]"This here's a little zebra magic, courtesy of my mother. Apparently it's a fast acting dye potion made from plants common in Unyasi that'll change the colour of anything seeped in it pretty instantly. All I know is it sure is handy for a zebra on the fly who needs to change her stripes."[/colour]

[colour=#000000]She rolled the rock toward the big dragon's hoard quietly and smiled.[/colour] [colour=#333366]"it's also comes in handy for stuff like this,"[/colour] [colour=#000000]she said playfully as she pulled a giant ruby about the same size and colour as the recently dyed rock. [/colour][colour=#333366]"When the big guy here wakes up, he won't know the difference. It's all small stuff for him. He won't be the least bit the wiser,"[/colour] [colour=#000000]she said as she stepped back, gem in hooves beaming with pride and confidence.[/colour]

[colour=#333366]"Here, catch!"[/colour] [colour=#000000]she then called as she tossed the large gemstone toward the dragon. [/colour]

​

[Chapien]

Sniffles caught the gemstone easily and eyed it. It certainly was a pretty find. He grinned and looked back up at Verity. He had a feeling that the two of them would get along excellently. After all, she was able and brave enough to trick dragons - fully grown, terrifying dragons! He flexed his wings, waiting patiently for Verity to head back over to the opening of the cave.

He simply could not wait to get on the road - it had always been his dream to travel across Equestria and beyond, and finally he had a guide and companion to assist him! This... zebra, or whatever she was, was extremely helpful, friendly, funny.. the adventures they could have together made him excited just thinking about them!

[colour=#008000]"Wow! That was cool!"[/colour] he said, smiling. [colour=#008000]"But uh, maybe we should get moving..."[/colour]