A Tale of Two Dragons

|CHAPTER TWO|

A Message and a Weapon

The fire had died down to a pulsating bed of embers in the small campsite, glowing dully in the darkness. Greymane lay on his side with his belly to the fire, sides rising and falling with the rhythm of sleep. Scav, it seemed, was nowhere to be seen.

Almost a hundred or so yards away a set of wild eyes spotted the glowing embers in the darkness, just barely able to make them out from a ways away. The owner of these eyes quickly changed course, zeroing in on the small light with all due haste.

As the creature approached, its eyes locked onto something else as it came into view: Greymane’s sleeping form. Now the creature began to zeroing in on the pony, rushing forwards with a burst of speed and reaching forwards to...

“Unicorn! Wake up!” the lone survivor from Los Pegasus shouted, shaking the sleeping Greymane.

“Gah!” Greymane yelled, jumping to his hooves and hopping away from his assailant, “Wh-what the hay!?”

“Quickly now, I need you to take a message! This is of the utmost importance!” the survivor growled, stomping a hoof for emphasis.

Greymane rubbed his eyes, moaning a bit, “Ugh, who in tartarus are you?” he asked, lighting his horn to get a good look at the pony. His eyes bulged at the sight.

The other’s black-brown mane was disheveled and burnt in a few places; his caramel coat shimmered with perspiration, blood-crusted cuts lacing it all over it with a burn mark charring one flank; his eyes were wild, but determined as they glared back.

“Celestia’s horn! What happened to you?!” Greymane exclaimed as he recoiled slightly at the sight.

“Worry about me later, damnit!” the earth pony barked, impatience flooding his voice, “Do you have anything to write a message with or not?!”

“Um...yeah...I-I think so, but we should really be getting you cleaned up! I’ve got some burn ointment somewhere around...” Greymane began, drawing his eyes to the cart as he started towards the medical drawer.

“No! To tartarus with me! I need to get a message out right away!” the earth pony interrupted, stomping a hoof again, “Ponies could die, damnit!”

“Okay, okay!” Greymane said, the dull milky colored aura of his magic grabbed hold of a drawer of the mobile stall and opened it. From the drawer he produced a piece of parchment and a quill, “Wait, ‘die’? What do you mean: ‘die’, who the hay are you writing this to?”

“There’s few things that die could mean, unicorn,” the earth pony said darkly. He threw a glance westward, eyes paranoid for a moment, “The message is to Princess Celestia, are you ready to write?”

“Th-the princess!?” Greymane sputtered, an eyebrow raised as he gave the other pony another once-over, “Celestia as in ‘princess of Equestria’ Celestia?”

“What? Yes! Who else in Equestria is named princess Celestia!?” the earth pony yelled, “This message is of the utmost importance! Just write what I say, damnit! Got it?”

“Geez, okay! I’ve got it!” Greymane said.

The earth pony opened his mouth to begin, but something else beat him to it.

“What in Drak’s name is going on here?” Scav asked, approaching from the forest.

The earth pony gave Scav a glance, but then did a double take, “Dragon!” he yelled.

The pony’s eyes analyzed the area, landing on a knife laying on the cutting board that poked from the mobile stall to his left. He pounced on the knife, gripping the handle in his jaw as he faced Scav, determination in his wild eyes.

“Hey! Whoa! Easy there!” Greymane stepped in, grabbing the knife with his magic and pulling it away, “He’s with...oof!” Greymane winced as the earth pony turned and headbutted him. The magic on his horn died as their heads connected  with a sharp crack and the earth pony grabbed the knife again, this time turning it on the stunned Greymane. He aimed the blade for the unicorn’s throat and...

A massive mass of scale and muscle smashed into the earth pony, knocking him off his hooves, sending him and the knife rolling across the ground. Scav flared open his wings and brought himself to a halt from his body check.

Before the earth pony could get up, Scav whirled around and pounced on him with a snarl, pressing him to the ground with one clawed hand and raising the other above his head to...

“Stop! Stop! Stop!” Greymane shouted, clutching his head with a hoof.

Scav froze, his snarl dying as he turned his head to Greymane. The earth pony also gave Greymane his undivided attention.

“Everypony just chill the buck out!” Greymane yelled, rubbing his head once he was back on his hooves, “You,” he pointed to the earth pony, “Scav, the dragon, is with me, okay?” Greymane turned his gaze to Scav, lowering his hoof, “Scav, let him up.”

Scav remained where he was for a mere second before pulling back and letting his prey up. The earth pony rolled onto his stomach and got to his hooves, wincing and rubbing his side before giving Scav a suspicious glare that the dragon returned.

“Now, what happened to you and what in the name of the goddesses is this message that you keep going on about?” Greymane asked.

The earth pony turned his gaze back to Greymane, “If it’ll stop you from asking that, then fine. A few hours ago, a large group of dragons destroyed Los Pegasus. They burned the city to the ground and killed everypony there, besides me. They were led by a black-scaled dragon who called himself Shadowfang,” the pony gave Scav a wary glance, “he was similar in stature to your dragon here.”

“So he was a Shrr’tohl?” Scav asked.

“What?”

“Smallest of the dragon races,” Scav replied, still glaring back at the pony with his arms at his sides, claws flexed and ready, “but the most innately intelligent as well.”

“Yes, whatever,” he turned back to Greymane, who now wore a surprised expression on his face, “all I know is that I need to get a message to the princess, warning her. Shadowfang said that he was going to keep destroying our cities until the princess surrendered to him. I expect that you can understand the urgency of this message. Now, can we continue?”

Greymane nodded, mind reeling at what he was hearing. He picked up the fallen quill and parchment again, giving a nod when he was ready.

“Twenty-two-hundred,” the earth pony began, “Los Pegasus destroyed by a large group of anywhere from fifty to seventy dragons...” Greymane’s eyes widened at the number, he exchanged glances with Scav, who also looked rather perturbed, “...The dragons were led by a shorter dragon with black scales, eyes and spines dark purple, name: Shadowfang. All inhabitants were massacred besides one. Shadowfang has made a threat to continue razing Equestria’s cities until the princesses surrender the throne to him, immediate action requested.

“Okay, send it,” the earth pony finished.

Greymane looked at him oddly, “Send it?”

“You know the spell to send paper messages long distances, right? Magical flame?” the earth pony asked, then to Scav, “Or send them via dragonfire?”

“Um...no,” Greymane admitted, Scav shaking his head as well.

“Damnit!” the earth pony yelled, “why didn’t you say that in the first place!?”

“Sorry,” Greymane shrugged with an embarrassed smile, “I didn’t really think about it. All you said was that you needed a message written.”

The earth pony groaned, looking to the sky in exasperation. After a second he turned back to Greymane, “Do you have a map?”

Greymane nodded, opening another drawer in the cart and pulling out a map. He magicked it over to the earth pony, who grabbed it in a hoof and spread it out on the ground before him, glaring over it in the darkness of the night.

“We really should be seeing what we can do about those wounds...” Greymane began again, eyes lingering.

“Not now. Once we send this message,” the earth pony asserted, not looking up from the map, “No time to waste.”

“You know anything about this ‘Shadowfang’ character? Dragons only ever get into groups that big during migrations, right? How in the world did Shadowfang get that big a group?” Greymane pondered, half to himself as he trotted over to Scav.

Scav opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by the earth pony.

“Where were you two yesterday?” he asked as he continued to glare at the map.

“Los Pegasus,” Greymane replied, “we’re merchants.”

“Hm,” the earth pony grunted, “Aha!” he said, bringing his hoof down on a spot.

“What?” Greymane asked.

“You might not be able to send a message, but there’s at least one pony with the capability in most of the major cities throughout Equestria.

“The closest settlement from here is Appleloosa, but we’d have to cross over ghastly gorge and they still don’t have a messenger, being Equestria’s newest settlement we haven’t been able to get anypony in there yet.”

“We? What do you mean ‘we’? Who are you?” Greymane asked, making his way over to the earth pony with Scav in tow.

“Equestrian Royal Guard, earth pony division under captain Charger,” the Royal Guard answered, “After Appleloosa, there’s one town that’s relatively close and it has a messenger,” he continued, “it’s a small town called Ponyville.”

Elsewhere...

The cavern was rather dark, a few quiet fires sitting in small alcoves in the walls made shadows dance across the soot-black walls. Subdued noises echoed through the labyrinth of carved hallways and rooms of the cavern, everything from distant, deep voices to a whispering breeze.

Shadowfang tapped a claw on a massive block of carved obsidian that served as a table, his gaze evaluating a map that rested upon the table. His deep purple eyes flickered back and forth across the its colorful surface.

“At the start of the new day,” he began to himself, “everything hinges on Canterlot. Sever the head of the serpent and the rest falls with it,” his constant tapping took the stage for a few moments, “but this serpent has fangs. Calling their princesses powerful is an understatement,” his eyes fell onto one of the books resting to the left of the map, a dark smile brewing on his face, “But that’s not to say that not everything has a weakness, there’s a bane to all things. Only so long as you can get your claws on it...”

“Shadowfang,” a voice rumbled from the entrance to the room.

“Firetongue,” Shadowfang greeted, raising his gaze from the table.

Pleasantries attended to, Firetongue stepped into the room, his massive size forcing him to keep low so as not to hit his head against the ceiling.

“Many others grow weary and uneasy,” Firetongue began, stopping a respectful distance from the smaller dragon, “It is no small thing to challenge Celestia’s rule, seeing as how she presides over the travel of the sun and moon.”

“You question my capability?” Shadowfang inquired calmly, almost making it a statement.

Firetongue flinched, “Not to present offense, but...yes.”

Shadowfang held up a placating hand, “I take no offense from your question, it is every living thing’s right to challenge the power of its leaders. To not do so is to follow said leaders to one’s doom,” Shadowfang frowned, “and Celestia rules only over the sun. Her younger sister, Luna, controls the moon.”

Firetongue’s eyes widened, “The ponies have...two gods?”

“Yes,” Shadowfang replied, frown deepening, “am I the only dragon who keeps track of pony happenings?” Firetongue opened his maw to answer, but promptly shut it, shrugging, “Nevermind,” Shadowfang continued, “Yes, they have two gods. Luna is the younger of the two and is deity of the moon, she was recently released from her banishment there a while ago,” Shadowfang looked away, lowering his voice and mumbling to himself, “I’d expect something like that to be common knowledge by now.”

“So...you have a way to beat both of these gods?” Firetongue asked, “These creatures control the heavens themselves! How is one to defeat...”

Shadowfang cut the larger dragon off by taking one of the books to his left. He flipped open to a page that he’d marked and moved the book so that Firetongue would be able to read it, spinning it and bringing it to the middle of the table.

Firetongue glanced down at the book, eyes skimming over the page Shadowfang had flipped to before looking back up at the smaller dragon. His gaze was inquiring.

Shadowfang smiled, “You thoughts?” he asked.

“I...I’m not familiar with the language it’s written in,” Firetongue admitted, glancing away and rubbing a large hand against the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed.

Shadowfang’s smile faded, “Oh. Well then I should have you learn it, Equestrian isn’t that hard once you get down the basics of it. It’ll be useful to have a couple more eyes for the research that I’m going to need to do. Looking past that...” Shadowfang spun the book so it was facing him, “...tell me, Firetongue, how does one kill?”

“Claws and fire,” Firetongue replied without a flicker of thought.

“With a weapon,” Shadowfang agreed, nodding, “and with a weapon we will defeat the goddesses of day and night. A weapon forged with the sole purpose of keeping the gods themselves in check!” Shadowfang went on, voice rising, then dropping for effect, “Tell me, Firetongue...have you ever heard of the Elements of Harmony?”