Dragonlands

>>>Directory: https://pastebin.com/aBuFQj0h
"What are we doing all the way out in the Dragonlands?"
>"What do you think? You didn't leave me a body to bury."
"I... don't know then."
>"Then shut up."
"I-is this a volcano? What if I were to fall in?"
>"Then I'd be free of you for three hours until I got bored and decided to serve charred filly to some of my friends here."
>That shuts you up pretty quickly.
>You follow her across the brown rock, barely managing to keep up with her insane pace even with your earth pony traits.
>At least you should have those...
>"Stop."
>You do.
>"Do you know how magic works? Where it comes from?"
"Yeah, when you turned me into this fucking mess you said something about the earth..."
>"Equestria's magic, and the magic of all of the species that reside on it comes from the ground beneath our hooves, yes. Do you know what produces it?"
"Hundreds of millions of gallons of molten magma?"
>"Well, good guess. There's far more magma in our planet than that, by the way. But no, the magma may shape our land over time, but it isn't the world energy source. Do you want to know what is?"
"Yes."
>"Tough fucking shit, I'm not telling you."
"I- what? You can't do that!"
>She chuckles maliciously.
>"I just did. The answer will likely come to you in time, oh well. Patience is something that is highly desired in a good filly."
>The words make you shudder a bit.
"I'm a good filly, Twilight."
>"Sure you are... you killed my best friend and you do nothing but laze around my castle like a bum. The answer will be revealed to you when you're ready."
>She hits a crack in the rock with her hoof, splitting it open.
>"Just as I expected, an old laying den. This is a rare sight indeed."
>You peer into the hole formed in the rock.
"I don't see anything."
>You can hear her grunt a bit in exertion as she ionizes a portion of the air inside the hole, the bright plasma illuminating the bones of a young dragon amid a fine powder.
>"This one is a perfect example. just enough air to allow breathing room for the young, but no food and no water. Dragon young all hatch at about the same time, so natural selection quickly takes effect. Biting and clawing at each other, tearing limb from limb in an effort to attain the most disposable energy. After two or three days, the strife will end with one remaining dragon. That is the one that the mother will raise."
"But... this den was undisturbed."
>"Sometimes, the mother will die, become injured or fall ill. Other times..."
>She holds your head up and looks you in the eyes.
>"She'll just forget."
>You whimper.
>"Of course, dragons aren't intelligent creatures across the board. Testing has shown that their aptitude fluctuates, with the eldest dragons possessing far greater intelligence than the average equine, and most of the others possessing about that of a pony with a slight mental handicap. Spike was above average, about what you'd expect out of a pony..."
>She covers the tomb back up with stones, heating the rock into lava and holding it in place until all that remains is the same crack."
>"The point I'm trying to make here is that dragons are, on average, stupid. You took away one of the few that had a fucking chance of integrating into pony society."
"I think you're trying to make another point too."
>She laughs coldly.
>"Oh? And what would that be?"
"That you care about me."
>She glances back at you with tired eyes.
>"You must be losing it. I could care less if you lived or died."
>So could you.
>Suicide is painless, it brings on many changes...
>But you do have a hunch, through all of the real urges you've felt over the years.
>"Hop on my back. I'll carry you to the edge of the volcano."
>The gentle swaying of her coat and mane in the hot wind feel sort of nice.
>You cling tightly to her as she beats her wings to climb over boulders and piles of bones, obviously long-forgotten by the beasts that consumed their former flesh.
>Finally, you make it to the tip of the world's wound.
>A few hundred feet below you, bubbles of molten rock pop and spit while a few of what you expect to be Twilight's friends the eldest dragons relax in the pool, their massive wings catching slow-moving lava flows and diverting them slightly over the ridged structures.
>You stand up on Twilight's back, hooves wobbly from the wind and the curvature of her barrel.
"Cowabunga."
>You rush forward, kicking off of Twilight's face directly over the volcano.
>If you're wrong, then you won't have to live the rest of your miserable life as a filly.
>And if you're right...
>You're getting a spanking later.
>Or worse.
>But at least you'll know.
>As you accelerate, the fear of death you thought you had lost starts to rise back up in your chest.
>Do you really want to be wrong about this?
>What if she really doesn't care?
>Oh god you're less than twenty feet awa-
>With a flash, you stand beside a breathless Twilight.
>"I've never had to cancel a large amount of momentum with a teleportation spell before. Interesting."
>To your surprise, she rubs your mane.
>"It's not often that I learn something that truly interests me, and even less often that I learn two things in a day."
>She plants a kiss on your forehead.
>"I love you, my little pony. Where do you want to eat tonight?"
~Fin.