Under the Black Sky

The charred remains of what had once been a beautiful orange-leaved tree fell with a dull thud, raising a cloud of ash that polluted the air, already thick with smoke. Lingering for only a moment, the cloud retreated to the shadows of the nearby trees. The crackle of burning wood accompanied the massive pillars of black smoke that rose from the decimated corner of the forest. The stars above were snuffed out; the only light to be had was the threatening orange glow of the surrounding fires.

A low rumble resounded across the smoldering grove. As it rose, it broke into the distinct sound of laughter. “This is but the beginning of the fall of Equestria!” the dragon boomed. “Smoke and ashes! Fire and death! Embrace the inevitable!”

A scowl arose on the pegasus’ ash-covered face more bitter than the cold of a thousand winters. “You are a desecration of nature itself, and that desecration spreads no further,” Sky growled through clenched teeth. “By Celestia herself, I will destroy you!” As he spread his wings and raised his head to the heavens above, he suddenly began to glow in a light all his own, casting shadows against the remaining trees of the wood. He slowly rose off the ground as the dragon watched bemusedly.

“I’m waiting,” the dragon said nonchalantly.

Sky suddenly began flying in an erratic pattern, following loops, turns, and twists that seemed to lead in no direction in particular. His speed, however, gradually began to increase as he built up momentum and rallied his power. Finally, in an abrupt twist, he spun around and launched himself at the dragon’s face. It responded with a jet of yellow flame, which he merely dodged to the left. As he passed the dragon’s head, he turned and bucked with both hind legs as hard as he could against the monster’s head. However, just as it had every time before then, the rock-hard scales of the dragon withstood the blow, resulting in little more than the familiar clang of his hooves against the skin of the dragon.

C’mon, Sky, hit it! Some simple bucking isn’t gonna cut it here!

The dragon’s head whipped around and took a mighty bite in Sky’s direction; he just avoided becoming a late night snack. He quickly flipped backwards, driving the dragon’s lower jaw into its upper jaw, hearing a satisfying snap as his blow connected. He then twisted and sped away, hoping to put some distance between himself and his opponent.

As he turned to face the dragon, he saw its eyes locked on him. “You’re nothing more than a meager little gnat,” it said in an irritated tone. “All you can do is pester me, but if I had a mind to do it, I could simply fly away, and you could do nothing to stop me.”

Sky leveled his eyes and managed a grim smile. “Why don’t you try that?” he challenged, fighting to catch his breath.

“Because that would mean leaving without dealing with you. And we’re afraid that you’re just too important at the moment to leave by yourself.”

A thought struck Sky. “What’s with the constant switching between ‘I’ and ‘we’ with you? Can’t figure out how many of you there actually are?” he teased, hoping to lure it into a hasty action that he could take advantage of.

Instead, the dragon spread its wings and took to the air, never turning its back on the pegasus. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” it roared as it spewed flames all along the ground, reigniting faltering flames that had been burning for what seemed like hours.

Sky’s heart sank as he watched the fires spread. He remembered what the Painted Forest had looked like as he had approached no more than a few hours ago. Now…now it was just another casualty in the ongoing war with the Chimera. A war that had lasted too long and caused too much destruction.

He launched himself at the dragon once again, feeling more desperate with each passing second. He was pushing the limits of his strength now: it had only been a week since his last battle with the Chimera, and he was finally feeling the toll of his many sleepless nights. All the while, the Chimera opposed him, fueled by a simple desire to annihilate any trace of life within Equestria. It fought on, despite Sky’s best efforts, drawing strength from a seemingly endless well of dark malice and power.

His foe unleashed a new torrent of flame as Sky approached. Quickly rolling to the side, he approached the dragon’s body, only to be greeted by a quick swipe of its claw. He acrobatically planted his front hooves on the passing claw and pushed off, launching himself backwards high into the air, right over the outstretched neck of the great lizard. Somersaulting around to right himself, he quickly made several trips around the dragon’s body before streaking up into the clouds and smoke in the sky like a rocket.

There was a moment of silence. “This again?” came the dragon’s voice through the haze. “I seem to recall something like this from our first battle. Do you remember?” It flapped its great wings and began to follow Sky into the clouds. “But I did not have wings then. It is quite foolish to think that you can use the same—”

Its sentence was abruptly cut off by a blue bolt splitting the sky, striking the back of the dragon’s head and driving it to the ground. The body slowly followed, collapsing awkwardly onto its head. Another cloud of ash and debris rose as the monstrous form of the dragon landed amongst the flames with a crash that shook the ground.

Sky stood just outside the crash area. “Sorry, what was that? I couldn’t hear anything but your screams of pain.”

The dragon rose up again, a hulking shadow, flecked with orange from the raging inferno. Its eyes were no longer the mere haunting shade of crimson they had always been. It may have been a trick of the light, but Sky could have sworn that the eyes of the dragon now blazed with fire; a hatred more furious and intense than anything he could have imagined.

“You will suffer,” it hissed. “You will know the despair of endless darkness, when no sun or moon will rise into the sky. You will understand the foolishness of attempting to defy us. You will watch as those you love and care about burn and crumble into dust. And, in the end, you will beg for us to end your life.”

The flames of the burning forest suddenly rose up like towers, illuminating the battleground and causing the dragon to appear as though it were an apparition of living fire. “And we will gladly accommodate,” it snarled.

“I will never ask for anything from you,” Sky shot back. “I’d much rather give you what you deserve!” With a blaze of his own magic, he erupted into the air, making straight for the dragon’s head. It quickly moved aside and snapped as Sky whizzed by. Gritting his teeth in concentration, he pulled into the tightest U-turn he could manage and flew straight into the dragon’s eye, prompting another roar accompanied by a new burst of flame.

“If I’m a gnat, then I’d best play the part!” he shouted defiantly as he hovered before the great beast.

He saw the shadow too late. By the time he noticed the lightless area moving along the ground, he knew he was in trouble. The dragon’s tail whistled through the air, sounding eerily similar to a sword in mid-stroke. Sky began to roll to his right, but the tail caught his wing and rear left leg, sending him careening through the air for what seemed an eternity as he tried to regain his bearings and right himself.

Suddenly, he felt a hard object like a clamp snatch him out of the air. Almost instantly, he felt a crushing pressure close in around him. As his eyes finally began to focus, he saw his predicament: the dragon held him in its outstretched claws, teeth bared and eyes aflame with hatred.

“No more games.” Sky could barely hear its voice against the roar of the burning forest and the rising tension in his body as the dragon tightened its grip on him. “Would you like to know how I will destroy Equestria?”

Sky squirmed and snorted, but said nothing. “No objections? Not even a witty remark?” the dragon mocked. “Very well. I’ll start with that pitiful little outpost in the north. No one even cares about it. I’m sure that none of the ponies on your…Council…will even notice if it’s gone.”

Something else began to tighten in Sky’s body as he listened. “Then I’ll move south, taking out whatever gets in my way. I suppose that Cloudsdale wouldn’t be too far out of my way to deal with.” It smiled cruelly. “Perhaps I’ll visit that nice home of yours in…where was it…Foalumbus?”

The dragon’s claws grew tighter by the moment, but Sky was no longer aware of them. All he knew was the heat of his rage and the feeling that sparks would begin to shoot from his hooves if it got much worse.

“Then I’ll burn Ponyville to the ground. You seem quite fond of that place. And then, as the culmination of my conquest I—” It suddenly stopped short, as though its voice was stolen away. Then it began again, as though no interruption in its thought had occurred at all. “We will overthrow Celestia. She will fall, and Equestria with her!”

The dragon’s eyes became narrow slits. “And then, I will take all those that you cared about—Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, your princesses, your sister, your parents, and even that Lily from the north—and I will make them part of myself.”

Sky’s eyes grew to an enormous size as the dragon’s words reached him. He could feel the color drain from his face. His thoughts and emotions were suddenly thrown into chaos as his rage was engulfed by a flood of worry. “And then,” the dragon said quietly, “you will die.”

For a moment, nothing happened. Sky couldn’t imagine it…his friends and family, forced into service for the rest of their…existence…as pawns of this monster. His mind was reeling.

“Monster…” he uttered. He clung to the word. This…monster. This hideous, unfeeling, abominable monster. It threatened him, his home, his friends, his family. This monster did not deserve death. It deserved worse. It deserved the very thing that it wanted to do to Sky. It deserved suffering. Eternal suffering. Pain without end. Pain without respite.

Sky’s thoughts rallied around his anger. No…this was more than anger. This was pure hatred. It was pungent and bitter like vinegar, yet powerful and satisfying. If this thing wants chaos so badly, then I will show it chaos.

“You…you DARE to threaten them?” His voice fell to a deep tone; a growl from his very hooves. He didn’t hold back the dark thoughts of his mind any longer. To him, his hatred was the only thing that could vanquish a creature made of hatred.

“If you’re so set on power,” Sky continued, “then I will show you POWER!!!” The blanket of clouds above was suddenly ablaze with lightning, overwhelming the orange glow of the burning wood. The dragon looked up for just a moment when a dozen bolts fell together, striking the dragon’s body in unison. A shockwave burst from the brilliant explosion, causing the fires to sway in the wind. Many went out entirely.

When the light subsided, the dragon was still recoiling, arms flailing and claws smoking, as it attempted to regain its balance. A lone lightning bolt twisted and wormed its way through the air, repeatedly slamming into the dragon, then retreating for just a moment before resuming its assault. With each strike, the clouds above seemed to grow darker and darker, with only the outer edges revealed by the constant flashes of lightning.

Sky flew at the head of the solitary bolt, his mind set on just one thought: pain. As much of it as he could inflict. As he slammed into the dragon’s midsection, he planted all four hooves on his foe and channeled a surge of magic that engulfed the dragon in blue coils of lightning. Pushing off, he felt the dragon sway limply as it began to fall back to the ground.

Oh, no, Sky thought. You’re not done yet.

Swiftly, he shot around behind the collapsing monstrosity and let its weight bear down upon him. Then, focusing again on his feelings of animosity for this pitiless beast, he found the strength to lift it up into the air. Each beat of his wings fueled the fires of his rage. He could inflict more upon this demon. Each moment of his own effort would be entirely worth it if he could just hurt this thing even more.

He could hear the dragon strain to reach Sky against its back, but its arms lacked the length to find him. Forcing himself onwards, he accelerated higher and higher into the tumultuous sky, bearing his despised burden with him the entire way. At last, with a final effort, he broke through the bottom of the cloud and was swallowed into the subsequent blackness.

The lightning stopped. For a few quiet moments, peace returned to the plain.

The silence evaporated mere seconds later as the great black cloud suddenly glowed with light, then burst asunder as a flash bright as the sun itself broke over the tormented forest. The peal of thunder snapped entire limbs off many of the trees below. Small rocks and boulders were jarred loose on nearby hillsides, falling in small cascades of stone.

And, in the midst of the ensuing destruction, a dark body fell back to the earth as another hovered above.

It was a dragon no longer. The Chimera’s body lay smoldering on the ground in the small crater it had formed when it fell from the sky. All three heads lay still, eyes closed. Its breathing was weak and shallow.

A second body landed skillfully beside it. Each step it took was forceful and determined, a step taken towards a single purpose. It placed its front hooves against the Chimera’s foremost neck. The Chimera opened its eyes and looked up.

Above it stood a pegasus, wings spread, mouth open just enough to see its rows of teeth grinding against each other. His face was twisted in a mask of fury, and his eyes glowed white. His breath came deep and heavy.

Sky spoke deliberately, enunciating each word between breaths. “IT. IS. OVER.”