Hope's Refraction

SoftScales met Shafows eye when the pony thanked her, but only grunted in response, shrugging. Her eyes cross the room with disinterest -ugly door, orange flowers, nothing hoard-worthy- before landing on Storm.

She gasped, wings a yellow blue as she rushed across the room.
"Storm! Are you okay? Hey," she added, suddenly fixing her orange-red eyes on Milky. There was a brief pause as she glowered, then...

"You know anything about dragons? We used to get hurt sometimes growing up."
She began to ramble, babbling out everything related to dragon physiology that she could think of. Surely something of it had to be useful to the pony.

Spoiler:

"Huh...Well, that's...interesting. Have to take a closer look at it-Hmm?" Shadow turned to look where Diamond was, and froze, stock-still for a moment. Her eyes widened, and she stepped away reflexively as she tried to maintain a level of self-control. "Everypony...I...Think we just got a new problem!" she announced, eyeing Diamond with the same look a mouse might a very angry cat. For the moment, any further inspection of the flower or anything that might have been near the spiderling were utterly forgotten.

"What in the name of Brimstone is that thing?, Scales blurted out, staring at the... thing that her attention had been drawn too. She flapped her wings, hovering before Storm and Milky, her wings stretched to their full size as if to block them from the spider-things view.

Despite herself, she gulped with nerves. Looking at it, with it's multitude of eyes, bulbous form and all those legs made her feel a bit ill.
She had no intention of backing down.

She was alpha mare after all.

Hidden Gem derps and just goes. "Umm... What are you all looking at me for..."

The fear that appeared on Hidden's face was equal if not greater than Shadow's... "PLEASE DON'T HATE ME!!! I'M NOT EVIL!!! I SWEAR I'M JUST AN ABNORMAL PONY!!! SWEAR I'M NOT AT ALL EVIL!!! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE BUCK I AM!!! Any other changelings I've run into seems to dislike me sometimes or really like me but I never see them again to learn anything... But always ponies hate me... This was what... Golden had on me... DON'T HATE ME PLEASE!!!"

"You're no more a pony than I am a dragon!" Shadow retorted. The cool, more-or-less collected demeanor was gone now, replaced with growing horror as she realized this...thing...could have devoured her at any time. While a small part of her might later appreciate the irony of that train of thought, the larger part was looking for an exit, any exit. "There's a reason the changelings fled from you! You're a monster, even by o-their standards! They at least leave the victim untouched physically...things like you? There's nothing left after you sate your appetites!" It was one thing to deal with dragons...They were intimidating, but she was expecting that from them. That, she could handle. To be confronted with what she had sincerely hoped was little more than a boogeyman to keep pupae at bay? That was entirely another! She moved away from Diamond, trying to get a headstart in case it attacked.

"My true name... Is hidden gem... I was raised by a kindly old couple of cowponies who knew I was this... Monster... They called me... Their little spiderpone... I'mnotamosteri'mnotamonsterimnotamonster..." Was what the Spiderling said quietly as she started to cry rivers of tears.

Milky Way walks up to Hidden Gem, unblinking and unflinching, and gently gives her a hug. "Ssshhh... It's okay, we won't hurt you, there's nothing to be afraid of... Only those who purposefully hurt others with their own hooves are monsters, even if some ponies may think otherwise... As far as I can tell, you're no more a monster than a pony I know who was born with two tails, or really any of us for that matter."

Scales stared at Milky Way in disbelief, trying not to let her discomfort show.

"You're kidding right? Look at that thing! It was hanging around, pretending to be something it wasn't."
She snorted, taking an aggressive stance in mid-air.

"Burn it, you all heard Blotchy Pony- it's a monster. It even said so itself! Storm, Star Flanks, get away from it right now. And if you even think about putting one of those... leg-things on somebody, I'll make you regret it!"

Milky Way glares at Scales from her hopefully-comforting hug. "I have a name, you know. We both do. Use them, and with respect, please. As can be attested to by your own self, what you are on the outside has nothing to do with who you are on the inside."

Shadow slipped away from the dragon, shaking her head and looking around again for an escape route. "Listen to her, she's the only one showing any sense right now!" She indicated Scales. "But hey, if the rest of you want to let the timberwolf in your midst drag you off and eat you, that's your problem! Me? I'm getting as far away as I can from it...Especially considering the lava's still rising!" With that, she backed away, picking one of the flowers in the hope that heat resistance would transfer to her and trying to make her way to the door. Being overly dry wasn't helping her mood any, but she was baffled at how Storm and Milky Way could just casually deal with a monster like it was nothing. The dragon might just be confident in his ability to defeat it, but the pony? She was being foolhardy, if you asked the changeling.

"Find then!! I"ll jump back into the pit of lava and be done with it then!!!" Gem said sounding very histarical and hoping that SOMEBODY STOPS HER!

Scales felt her jaw drop.

"Are you kidding- I am nothing like it," she objected. She rose into the air a little, alternating  glares between 'Rpugh Diamond' and Milky Way. "I don't pretend to be something I'm not, and if Spider Pony wants to throw itself to the lava, then I say we let it!"

She shot a glance at Shadow, then looked at her brother. She dropped a little.
"C'mon Storm," she said. "You heard Blotchy Pony- that thing's dangerous! You aren't gonna keep your claws clamped around it forever are ya?"

Hidden Gem just gets in as submissive a pose as she could... Just closing her eyes and waiting for the sweet embrace of death.

Zakiyya snaps out of her momentary self-loathing by the sudden shouting of the pony like dragon. She then takes a single look at the cowering Gem before stepping in between the aggressive dragon and the scared spider. After a moment she pulls out her quill to write a message. " I don't really understand whats going on but can we set aside whatever differences we have so we can get out of here?"

Shadow flinched a bit at the roaring, but didn't look back. She needed to focus on the matter at hand. More specifically, what was with this door? If she could get it open, she might be able to get away from the monster and the overly loud dragon. She was tired, overheated, thirsty, and regretting coming to the train in the first place. As an afterthought, she pushed on it to see if it was open...

Perception: So...Doors.:

Milky Way screams and does in fact cower in fear from the dragon, though her comforting hug becomes a protective one, even as she shakes and whimpers.

Scales let herself hover in place for a moment, before lowering, inch-by-inch, towards the ground. When she touched down, she bowed her head a little, stretching her wings. It wasn't a full display of submission, baring her neck to his claws... but it was an act of contrition.

She didn't want to fight, especially not on something like this. She looked at the sounds of the writing, then back at her brother.
"Stripes is right. We nearly got killed by those blocks in the last room. Maybe we should try and get somewhere without lava before we have this conversation."

"Dracopone... For somebody who seems to care about them knowing about YOUR name... Well err... Like giving nicknames?" Hidden Gem notes something that was kinda starting to really bug her that she noticed.