They Came from Up There

Chatper 3: A "Foalish" Rivalry

"So what you're saying... Is that Mikar is... weakened?"

"Yes, my sire."

"Not dead, but weakened?"

"Yes, sire." The squire replied, shaking before his master's throne.

"Good." The beast rumbled. It let out a hearty chuckle, then got straight down to business again. "You have done well, Jule. I am glad to have you as my squire."

"Thank you, sire." Jule replied, still shaking.

"You are... friends, with this Mikar?" The beast continued.

"Correct, sire. We met at birth. We are like brothers," Jule answered.

The beast thought about Mikar, weak and defenceless on the Forbidden Green World, also known to the creatures that dwelled there as "Equestria". Mikar would be slow to heal, as all Fox-type Skykin were. He thought on about many things... Mikar's family, Mikar's wealth... Mikar. The name troubled him. He knew it well, but he hated it. It was like a mosquito in your ear... Buzzing and consistent until crushed by a greater force. That was what the beast planned to do to Mikar.

"My sire, what are you going to do with him? Will you rescue him, sire?"

"SILENCE." the beast replied angrily, upset about his thoughts being interrupted. "I will... aid him, Jule. As in, end his pain."

"Oh, you will?! Thank you, sire! You have no idea how much this means to me!" Jule replied. He didn't understand the beast's true meaning, however. The beast was soon to realize this, but made no move to make his idea more clear. He didn't care for Jule's feelings... He wanted Mikar dead. And if his Sky Guards didn't do it, he would kill Mikar himself.

"Jule... Go home, and tell Mikar's parents that they have nothing to worry about." The beast growled. His tone was evil; Jule recognized that tone, but he didn't want to intrude on his master's feelings. He nodded quickly, and prodded off, thrusting himself off of the Sky Temple and pumping his wings towards Mikar's home.

"Oh, and Jule!" The beast roared.

"Yes, sire?" Jule replied, whipping around to hear his master's words.

"Call me Draugr. Not sire. Understood?"

"Yes, s- Draugr."

"Thatta boy. Now, go!" Draugr sent the Dragon-type on his way, and laid back in his thundercloud throne. He watched Jule go with his one eye. In the other, there was emptyness. The same emptyness that Mikar had showed him many years back. His mind drifted back to that memory, and he slowly closed his eyes, remembering every last detail.

MANY YEARS EARLIER

"Come on, Draugr. It's only a little peek! Your parents won't mind at all. We'll just swoop down, take a look, and get out of there! Simple!"

Draugr was back. Back on the stratus, with his friend, Mikar. Mikar. He hated that name. Mikar wanted to go down into the Forbidden Green Land and take a closer look at a castle. It was a large castle, big enough to hold both of them easily if they wanted to go inside. But they never made it that far. Beside him was Mikar, and another friend of his, Oregam. Mikar and Oregam were trying to persuade Draugr into going down to the castle with them. He wished he hadn't followed them.

"Ooh, but Mikar, what if we're caught?" Draugr shot back. "You know what they do to Skykin that go below the stratus!"

"Stop being such a baby, Draggie. Now come on!" Mikar leapt off of the cloud and soared towards the ground. He rapidly approached the castle, and swooped into a close landing on the ruined roof of it. Mikar smiled and waved towards Oregam and Draugr.

"Come on, Draugr. He did it. We can go together!" Oregam said. Oregam was another Fox-type, but isntead of gray or white fur, hers was golden, a rare mutation. A mutation that would earn her title as Emperor. At least, would have earned her. Oregam motioned to Draugr, who reluctantly swooped off of the cloud with Oregam. They flew over the castle, the wind ruffling their wings. Draugr's draconic scales tingled; Something wasn't right. He landed on the roof anyway, Oregam swooping in beside him. The castle was huge and destroyed, with symbols of the moon and some other things on the walls. On a pedestal in the center of a large room were 6 different orbs, each of which had a different etching on them.

"See? This isn't so bad, Draggie!" Mikar boasted. He was acting foolish; This was very bad.

"Well, no I guess not," Oregam said. "But I smell something. Don't you boys?"

"Nope, not a thing!" Mikar replied. Oregam had always been a nervous Skykin... But they never listened to her. Dragur sniffed the air. She's right, something does stink, Draugr thought as he picked up the smell of sweat and rotten meat. Now his scales were really tingling. He wanted to bolt out of there in case something happened, but nothing did. Not yet.

"Okay, we did it. Can we go home now? Please?" Oregam whimpered. Her fur stood on edge at the sight of the castle. It seemed she was scared, too. Mikar, who obviously had a crush on Oregam, acted brave. Draugr had a crush on her too, but he was in no mood to act brave. He saw a large shadow creeping up behind Mikar. From that shadow emerged two giant, yellow eyes.

"Why? There's nothing to be afraid of!" Mikar said, oblivious to the lurking death behind him.

"Yes there is..." Draugr whispered. He pointed behind Mikar, whose face turned from daring to shock as he whipped around and beheld what stood behind him.

Standing behind them, on the plain in front of the castle, was a Manticore. Each of them knew what it was from school... Each of them knew what it could do. Its scorpion tail twitched angrily as it eyed the Skykin, one to another. It let out a low growl, and an eerie smile crept onto the beast's face. They knew what it wanted.

Lunch.

"RUUUUUUN!" Oregam shouted, flapping her wings and taking off into the sky.

"Oregam, no!" Draugr screamed, but it was too late. The Manticore's tail whipped forward with lightning speed and impaled Oregam through her chest. Blood flew everywhere, soaking the screaming Draugr and barely missing Mikar, who had soared away just in time to avoid the blood.

"OREGAM!" Both boys screeched, staring into huge, gaping wound of the vixen. They could see her beating heart. The Manticore pulled its tail from her chest, spewing more blood onto the ground and dropping her onto the castle floor carelessly. All of their hearts were crushed that day; Oregam's through the Manticore's tail and Mikar's by watching her get killed. Draugr screamed at the sight and feel of her blood covering him. His wonderful purple scales were now stained orange, the color of Fox-type blood. The Manticore wasn't finished, however.

The Manticore lashed out with its sharp claws and clipped Draugr on the face, who had barely dodged the attack. He hadn't escaped unscathed, though - For some reason, he could only see from one eye now. Draugr and Mikar felt a spark of bravery light inside of them as the Manticore's paw swung around and smashed into a tree. Orange blood mixed with green blood as Draugr roared and doused the Manticore with flames. They had little effect; Draugr was only a youngling back then. To the Manticore, the flames only felt like scratches. Mikar watched from above, and dove straight in towards the Manticore at full speed. He collided with its neck, and bit down. Hard.

The Manticore roared, and felt the venom of the young Skykin coarse through its veins. It forgot all about the lunch and took off into the woods, Mikar's venom spreading throughout its body. By now, it was probably watching the ground turn to magma and angry dragons chasing it. After all, the venom did have a strong hallucinogenic effect. It whimpered as it went, both boys cheering as they saw it run off into the woods. They shot mean and vile insults at the retreating beast. Then, Draugr reached up and felt his bleeding eye, expecting it to be only a small scratch. What he felt was nothing. His eye was gone. His shock turned into sadness, however, as he heard coughing and gurgling. Oregam, he remembered.

Both boys stopped their cheering and dashed over to the barely alive Oregam. Mikar grabbed hold of her paw and looked into her eyes. Draugr watched from his one eye, the other socket bleeding profusely. He didn't care. Not anymore.

"Oregam, keep breathing. We're gonna get you out of here. Please, Oregam!" Mikar shouted into her ear. He didn't want any of this. He only wanted fun.

Oregam could only blink and cough. When she tried to talk, more blood sputtered from her mouth. Mikar, regardless of her wounds, leaned forward and kissed her. She knew that he already loved her, and Draugr too. The two held their kiss for moments, until Oregam began coughing more blood up. Neither boy dared say a word. She looked into Draugr's remaining eye, and smiled. She loved him, too. Not as a lover, but as a friend who stuck by her side until the end. Her breath became shorter as death creeped in on her. Draugr and Mikar sat there, begging her to keep breathing, and comforting her the best they could. She died shortly after, both boys crying loudly and holding onto her paws tightly. No more blood gushed from her wounds, no more wheezing breaths. She was dead.

Mikar let go of her paw, and looked at Draugr with a look of sadness. Tears poured from Mikar's eyes. Blood poured from Draugr's eye socket. His other eye bore no tears, however - only hate. He looked over at Mikar and returned the gaze, but not with sadness. With anger. Remorse. Rage. His blood loss left him weak, and he was slowly collapsing onto the stone floor. He couldn't get back up. Mikar watched with concern, and he took another look at the body of Oregam. She looked peaceful, now that she felt no more pain. He looked back at Draugr, who was busily trying to flap his wings. They wouldn't budge. He stared into Mikar's eyes with a gaze that could start a fire. His weak legs kicked furiously, inching him closer and closer towards Mikar, who reversed until his tail hit the castle wall. He shot a glance back, then turned his head forward to look at Draugr.

"This is your fault," Draugr growled, his voice deeper and more steely than ever. "You killed her. You killed Oregam... You killed her with your STUPID DARE!" Draugr roared, his voice echoing off of the castle walls. Glass broke, and and animals nearby must have gone deaf. Mikar recoiled, wailing loudly.

"I d-didn't mean it! It w-w-was an accident-"

"ACCIDENT! An accident killed your crush! MY crush!" Draugr shot back. He hated Mikar. He hated him more than the pony god that moved the sun. "I don't care if it was an accident..." Draugr went on, his voice becoming weak from blood loss. "Oregam is... dead. And now I... Will be... Too."

"Draugr... I'm sorry."

"I DON'T CARE!" Draugr roared. Some Skykin were starting to show up on the clouds above, watching with concern. None of them dared go below the stratus to rescue Mikar or Draugr; They were as good as dead anyway. Mikar took one last look at Oregam, then at Draugr.

Then he flapped his wings and soared away.

"Sire? My sire, are you alright?"

"What...?" Draugr spat. Tears were starting to drip from his eye, and he looked at the guard who had hailed him. He was one of the Fox-type Skykin... The one that he now hated. But he didn't hate this guard in particular. The guard's purple armor glinted in the evening sun.

"I-I'm sorry, sire, I didn't mean to disturb you... It's just, you looked hurt, or sad. Is everything alright?" The guard said. He looked at the tears in Draugr's eye with genuine fear. Seeing a Dragon-type Skykin cry was like watching a bear shake paws with a deer... It just didn't happen.

"Yes, Gorduf. I'm... just a little tired, is all. Fetch me a leg of sky deer and... just some water."

"Yes, sire." Gorduf saluted with a paw over his left eye, and took off towards the Sky Temple's mess hall. His armor clattered as he clumsily bumped into a cloud pillar.

Draugr got off his throne, padded over to the edge of the cloud, and peered down. Beneath him was the castle where Oregam had died. He could barely make out the castle from this height. He knew what was beside it, however - The grave that he had built before he was rescued by his loving parents. He let out a sigh, and a tear fell, bound for the Forbidden Green World.

Draugr sat back on his throne and silently wept.