The chillwinds swept through the valley as Enthorn trotted beside her foster parent, Jörmungandr. Jorm was looking forward, stalwart, and maybe tensing up trying to ignore the foal's insistence on watching her breath in the cold. This peculiar creature had no memory of life past just a few days prior, so every day is something new. Every day she finds another new way to drive him mad. "How much longer till we get thereeee" Enthorn complained, already growing bored of breathing heavily. "Look ahead, child." Jorm nodded his horn directly forward, where the valley opened out to a lovely port city, the sun setting over a frozen lake. Lanterns were being lit and villagers were making the rounds, clear even from their vantage point. It seemed odd for there to be this much commotion so close to night. "I believe we are just in time for a festival." "Like a big party?!" Enthorn's tail began to wag as she suddenly darted ahead. "Careful, child! Don't stray too far." Jorm pursued her down the path, the two making it to the town's limit with a race, much to the bewilderment of the town guard positioned there. Ent was looking around excitedly. The past day was spent merely walking, running, walking, drinking water, walking. It was just the two of them for a while, and Jorm was no fun. But here... There were other folks running around, carrying big boxes full of colorful things, they were being hung up all over town! "Hey, hey pops!" Ent jumped up excitedly. "Can I run ahead and see the shiny things?" She stopped jumping, almost expecting Jorm to give a stern frown and a 'no, child' this or that. Jorm turned form his conversation with the guard, "Just a moment, little one. Wait over there, I will fetch us some food. Then, we can see the lights." She perked right back up. Close enough! Barely able to contain her excitement she trotted in place, giddy as can be. Beneath her, with each step of her hooves, the snow turned ever so slightly grey. A nearby foal looked at her purple-glass eyes and horns and hurried along. 'Whatever he was off to go see it must be really cool!' Enthorn thought to herself. 'Wait. What if he was running because it's gonna be over soon?' She didn't want to miss the party! Her pace quickened, and what had looked like a shadow beneath her, cast by lamplight, turned pitch black and remained in place as she ran off to the market, leaving blackened hoofprints in her wake. Rounding the corner she saw the foal dart by, her senses were alight. It was the market square. There were big trees with rocks and eggs and glass of all kinds of colors and shapes hanging from it. There were sparkly plants and shiny-vines hanging from the buildings, and she saw in front of her a pile of boxes that practically beckoned her toward it. She peered in to a massive treasure trove of shiny things, baubles and ornaments and fancy plates. She could barely contain her excitement, to the point she didn't notice the whoosh overhead, as a flight of dragons crashed into the market behind her. Nor did she notice the panic and screams to run away. She did notice, however, when a fleeing market-goer bumped into her in such a way she wound up in the box, just in time for a dragon to hoist the entire crate. Didn't bother Ent much, though. She got to get a closer look at shiny things. Jorm ran out into the market, shouting for her, but Ent was simply enjoying looking around at the baubles; even in the dark, cramped space of the box, they reflected her purple glowing horns. It was beautiful. Not much later, the dragons arrived at their hoard, cracking open their haul and chuckling about their new treasures. Garlands whipped around in giggling, ravenous maws; painted eggs and ornaments gingerly held in clawed hands. All the keep echoed in malicious merriment. That was, until they heard a thud and a giggle from one of the crates. Confused, two of the clutch circled the box, unsure if it was cursed, or if there was a stowaway. Just as one began to wind up a fireball in its throat, Ent burst out to the surprise of all. The wyrm, panicking, whipped its head up and spat magical fire out the window. "Whoaaaa." Ent looked around, getting her bearings. She was wreathed in tinsel and had a glass snowflake dangling from her horn. "You guys look really scary. Is this a costume party!?" Her eyes lit up, full of wonder. "You... what are you, creature?" A larger dragon of the bunch lurched forward. "Very strange for a foal to be left alone in a box." "Yea, and your horns look. Shineey." Another piped up and was promptly silenced with a firm grip on his snout. "I'm five days old!" Ent shouted with a burst of energy, unsure of the question. "I wanted to see the shiny things. Are they for a party?" +++++++++++ The large dragon chuckled. "Yes," he hissed. "They were-*are*- for a party, for our noble keep! Those horses down there had prepared them for us." Ent cocked her head. "But... I think I saw them putting the shiny things around their houses, not here." "Yea, cuz we sto-" the smaller dragon again had his snout gripped, firmly. "We were going to borrow them, little creature. Indefinitely." "Imdeffinatly is a big word. What's it mean?" The dragons all looked at each other, baffled at the little veil's lack of understanding. Another chimed in to clarify. "Uh... forever." "But that's a looooong time." "...Yeah." "But what about the horsies that made them? Aren't the shiny things theirs?" "Well they are *our* shiny things, now." The large dragon clutched a heap of golden decorations. "They make such a splendid addition to our keep, wouldn't you agree, small creature?" He looked like he was trying to be intimidating, but Ent didn't catch on in the slightest. "I mean yeah but." Ent looked around and to the window. "Won't they want them back?" One dragon chuckled a bit. "Well, yeah." "Then you stole! Stealing is bad, silly!" she frowned with a bit of a pout. "Well, we needed them more." The big one snorted. "Why?" "Because." "Because why?" "Because I said so!!!" He shouted with an echo that reverberated through the stone halls of the keep and into the dark night. "Now, will you be silent and go back to your home, or will we have to throw you out there ourselves?" Ent's eyes began to glow, overwhelmed with anger and fear, she began to cry. A sob turned into a shout, and into a distorted sound of uncontrolled magic. The air grew heavy, candelabras were snuffed out, and all the light in the room was snuffed bar the eerie glow of her horns, hooves, and eyes. "What madness is this? What is this creature?!" The leader panicked and whipped his head around watching the keep become trapped in darkness. In the distance, from the window, one of the dragons spotted a brilliant light shining from the edge of the town they overlooked. "Uhhhhh, boss? I think we got trouble." The large dragon, in a confused hurry, grabbed into a pile of gold and gems behind him and dropped it carefully at the little foal's feet. "Okay, okay, don't cry, see? Here, take some of the decorations back, okay? We were just joking about all that!" He let out a nervous chuckle in a half-hearted attempt at defusing the situation. It seemed to work! Ent stopped crying and all the lights returned to the room. She sniffled. "Ohgkay. Thank you mister stranger." She nabbed a large Amethyst gem from the pile and stared at it with fascination. In the distance, a boom shook the building, and all the dragons turned their attention. "That's my dadg. I'm gonna go home nowh. Goobyeee" She choked out the words through the snot and tears in her face. She walked towards the now dilapidated door and a furious, combat-ready Jorm. "Enthorn! To me!" He ran to the foal. "Are you hurt, did they do anything to you? Did the-" "No papa, they were just joking." Ent looked back at the shaking crowd of dragons, huddled as far away from the two as can be. "Can we go home?" Jorm stomped forward and the dragons ducked further into a corner. Ent almost swore she heard him chuckle. "Yes, dear. Let's return to town. I got you some pastries I'm sure you'll love!" His glum demeanor vanished in an instant as the two left the keep through what remained of the door. "Oh heck yes!!! What didja get?" Ent's sad expression was wiped out the instant she heard about food. The two talked in the light of Jorm's glowing horn, back to town. Behind them, the clutch of dragons shakily regained their composure, stared at the pile of handcrafted trinkets and decor, and the near-death experience they just faced. "We need to give that town back their stuff." "Yeah no absolutely- Everyone! Take down the haul." The sounds of orders barked filled the rocky overlook, as a group began to repair the door, and the smaller, faster wyrms brought back box after box of goods back to the community. In the cold, as they approached the edge of town once more, Enthorn passed the amethyst gem to Jorm, asking to keep it because it looked like her horns. Jorm sought to it that she would have a necklace made just for her.