Chapters |CHAPTER ONE |
A Tale of Two Dragons
It was just another day at the market. The sun shone brightly down on the busy streets, not hot enough to be scorching but not weak enough to let the world grow cold. Locals and tourists chatted animatedly with friends and those selling their wares alike, talking about the latest Los Pegasus gossip or haggling over prices noisily with merchants of all trades.
Merchants shouted out about the wares they were selling in an attempt to lure in customers. And one stand in particular seemed to be gathering quite the crowd, and not just because the more interesting of the two merchants in question was an eight-foot-tall dragon.
“The finest jewelry that you’ll ever lay eyes on! Guaranteed !” the dragon called out, gesturing with his hands as much as his words, “Genuine, fire shaped dragon’s craft!” he added enticingly.
The dragon blew a quick flame into his right hand and brought his left over the right, appearing to catch the fire between his palms. Leaning closer to the crowd below the small stage that he stood on, he pulled his left hand away, showing off a fine opera necklace in the fire’s wake. The inset gem sparkled like a miniature flame, the golden chain untarnished and new.
The dragon’s smile only widened as some of the crowd let out ‘Oohs’ of interest.
He stood back up, letting the necklace twirl from his fingers, glinting in the sun’s light.
“Nowhere else in Equestria can you get jewelry and trinkets like these!” he brought his empty left hand to his maw, lowering his voice to a stage whisper and adding, “Unless of course you wanted to slay a dragon and steal his treasure trove,” he gave a winning smile and a wink before standing up again.
“In all seriousness, we dragons have been hoarding treasures like this fine piece here since time itself began! Would you trust a pony to know half what we do about gems and precious metals?” he asked, pausing for a second and scanning over the crowd, “Or would you trust a dragon!?”
To the dragon’s grinning delight, many of the ponies turned to each other, nodding heads and conceding that ‘The dragon’s got a point.’
He had them right in the palms of his scaly hands.
The dragon gave a quick glance around to the other stalls, many of the other jewelers glowering as their customers slowly but steadily made their way towards the wildly gesticulating scaly creature.
He gave off another winning smile, “And who wouldn’t want to get their special somepony something special for Hearts and Hooves day? Why settle for mundane pony jewelry when you could get your hooves on fine dragon’s craft!?
“Just talk with my associate here,” the dragon gestured to his unicorn accomplice, who gave a little wave of his hoof, “and he’ll set you up with something that’ll last a lifetime..!”
Later...
Celestia’s sun was much lower in the sky now, nearly set. The dull glow gave the dragon’s lush green scales an orange tint as he and the pony made their way down a trail leading out of Los Pegasus. To the north, printed in bold white lettering, a massive mountainside sign reading: APPLEWOOD was starting to glow with magical light.
Birds danced on the wind, their songs the only noise for a while as the two merchants continued on their way.
Once they’d made a good distance on Los Pegasus and were free of anypony else on the trail who might be listening, the unicorn merchant was finally allowed to burst out laughing. He came to a halt, the cart and dragon following suit and the latter of the two grinning down at him.
“‘Fine dragon’s craft !’” the unicorn quoted between a fit of cackling, “Scav, you are too cruel!”
“I am,” Scav, the dragon, bowed deeply, “And so are you, Greymane,” Scav continued with a smile as he stood back up, “after all, you’re my partner in crime.”
“Yeah,” Greymane admitted, wiping a tear from his bright blue eyes as his laughter settled, “and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he continued, sharing a brief, warm smile with his compatriot.
Greymane’s fit over, the two continued onwards a while, content to stay smiling and silent as the sun descended into the horizon. The stage that Scav had used had been folded up into the duo’s wheeled cart. It trundled slowly along behind the two, giving a light glow as its enchantment pulled it along behind them.
“I swear,” Greymane suddenly said, breaking the silence, “one of these days I’m going to burst out laughing at all those horseapples you spit out,” he said, exchanging a warm smile with his comrade.
“Speaking of which,” Scav said, turning his head around to watch the trail behind him, “hopefully we’ll be able to get a nice lead on those ponies before they figure out that all that jewelry’s fake.”
Greymane turned his head around as well, eyeing the trail behind him for a few seconds, “Shouldn’t be an issue, we’ll be able to hear them coming from quite a ways away.”
“Lucky for us we sold almost everything. The cart should be pretty light now, give us an advantage if they do come charging with torches and pitchforks,” Scav nodded, turning back to the trail ahead of them as well.
“Torches and pitchforks?” Greymane inquired with a chuckle, “what time period are you from?”
“Okay,” Scav began with a quick shrug, “maybe I overestimate what they’ll do if they come after us, but it’s still close enough.”
Greymane chuckled once more, turning to Scav, “Hey, you remember that one time we scammed Fillydelphia? Right as we were leaving that one stallion yelled out something like...oh what was it? Something like ‘Hey! These gemstones are fake !’” Greymane had to stop in his tracks again as he was overwhelmed by rancorous laughter, “Oh, Celestia, the look on your face was so priceless when he yelled that!”
Scav halted as Greymane got over his fit of laughter, a nostalgic smile on his face as the cart came to a halt just behind the pair.
“If we had still been pulling this cart by hoof instead of magic,” Greymane went on, shaking his head as the duo started walking again, “oh goddesses, we’d be doing Celestia-knows how many years in prison!”
“I still remember the feeling of that teleport spell you used to get us out of there, almost made me throw up. That and you sliced the top of my spines off with it!” Scav complained good-naturedly, running a scaly hand through the light green spines that ran across the top of his head and back.
“Well yeah,” Greymane admitted, “but do you also remember how it let us escape from the guards? How your spines grew back?”
“Yeah,” Scav admitted back.
“Plus, that was the first time I ever tried a close range teleport spell. You know I’m not all that great when it comes to magical stuff, I’m better when it comes to gems and precious metals,” as if to solidify the point, he jerked his head back to his flank, where a simple jeweler’s loupe magnifying a white diamond stood out against his dark grey coat. A similar device attached to a headband ran around his skull, folded up and out of the way for the moment, “I’m the one who gets our stuff and makes sure it looks legit, you use your talent to sell it.”
“Talent,” Scav agreed before again running a hand through his scales and smiling, “and my good looks.”
“Don’t push your luck, pal,” Greymane grinned before taking on a more serious tone, “and keep an eye out for a place to spend the night, we should find someplace before the sun’s completely gone.”
The sun was only a shrinking sliver on the horizon when the two pulled off to the side of the trail to a small alcove of trees at the base of the Los Pegasus mountains.
Greymane activated the brakes to keep their cart in place before unlocking a cabinet on the side of the cart, pulling it open and rummaging around inside.
“Hey Scav, could you go see if you can find some firewood for the fire tonight?” he asked, procuring a knife and a big, white chef’s hat with his magic, “I got it last time, remember?”
Scav groaned from where he was standing on all fours on the soft grass, he looked to Greymane as the unicorn set the hat on his head and the knife on a cutting board, “You’re just going to complain that it’s too wet or I didn’t get enough or something,” he stretched like a cat and then laid down on his belly, “then you’re just going to make me go get more.”
“Oh, no I’m not,” Greymane reasoned, opening another drawer that unleashed a slight chill. He pulled some raw vegetables out of it with his magic, setting them on the cutting board as well.
“Yes you are,” Scav replied, “you do it every single time I get firewood. ‘Oh, this is too wet, Scav! This isn’t enough, Scav! Blah, blah, blah, Scav!’ Every single time!”
Greymane sighed, picking up the knife and gesturing to the vegetables, “So you’re going to cut the vegetables for the stew and cut them into nicely sized pieces? We’re having veggie stew tonight, remember?”
Scav brought out one of his clawed hands, looking at the long talons at the ends of his fingers, “Well I don’t see why not,” he replied, looking back up.
Greymane fixed Scav with an ‘oh, really?’ glare.
“Fine,” Scav grumbled, getting up and heading off into the forest.
That settled, Greymane turned to the cutting board, humming a tune as he started to chop the vegetables for the soup.
The sun finally slipped below the horizon, engulfing the land in an uncomfortable black sheath of darkness...
Elsewhere...
A new moon had risen high into the sky, black as if blind to the chaos that raged below.
The black dragon’s scales reflected the red and orange glow of the fires that raged in the city below him. He could see the dark shapes of more of his kin as they flew around below, bathing the city with fire.
The smell of smoke wafted up from below, carrying with it the dull roars of dragons and the faint, fearful cries of ponies. He found a smile crossing his lips, showing off a wide set of razor sharp white teeth that gave a strong contrast to his scales. He kneaded the soft earth with his claws as he watched the magnificent blaze. A building collapsed below, sending up a cacophony of dancing sparks like fireworks into the air above it.
“Shadowfang!” a powerful voice boomed from above him.
Shadowfang looked up as a dragon that easily dwarfed him many times over swept down and landed before him, causing the ground to quake. The other dragon was the color of fire, though dark soot dulled the colors.
Shadowfang gave a nod of acknowledgement, “Firetongue,” he greeted, his voice filled with intelligence.
“We have rounded up the remaining survivors, as per your orders,” Firetongue rumbled with a bow, his tone as if he were talking to a superior despite Shadowfang’s much smaller size.
“Then lead the way,” Shadowfang said with a nod, unfolding his wings as he prepared for flight, “Our time here nears its end.”
With massive gusts of wind, the two dragons alit the air, swooping down into the city below from their mountaintop perch.
Shadowfang looked over his kin’s handiwork with a keen eye as he sailed above, smiling to himself as he eyed the mass of destruction. Closer to the epicenter of the city, a new smell entered his nostrils: the thick scent of charred meat.
The two dragons circled and soon came across what appeared to be a town square. It was ringed by fire and a mass of other dragons, all baring their teeth at a group of cowering ponies in the unburned center.
Shadowfang slowed, letting Firetongue fly off and continue circling. The smaller dragon scanned over the group below, considering his best course of action for what he planned to do. He eventually circled down and landed hard on a mass of burning wood that had recently been a small building of some sort.
A mass of sparks leapt into the air, the sound of crunching wood drawing all eyes of the frightened ponies to Shadowfang.
The dragon chuckled quietly as he scanned over their looks of sheer terror, What a sight I must be, he mused, small bits of fire burning at his feet, something out of their worst nightmares, no doubt.
Shadowfang approached the group on all fours at a leisurely pace, folding his wings and surveying them with a keen eye. He halted as the group began to back away, though noted as one of the ponies refused to back off.
The pony in question, an earth pony, pushed forwards with a shattered staff clamped tightly in his jaws, a determined look in his eyes. His dark mane was disheveled and there was a sizeable burn on his right flank. A few cuts laced his body, but still the pony stood strong and defiant.
With a word, he got the other ponies behind him, gaze never breaking from Shadowfang’s.
The dragon smiled, That one will do, he told himself as his eyes met the defiant pony’s pair. The smaller creature held Shadowfang’s gaze.
“I am Shadowfang!” the dragon began, breaking eye contact with the earth pony and looking over the shivering group as a whole, “Lord of fire and bane to my enemies! All who oppose me shall fall and die in wreaths of flame! The time has come for your whore-god Celestia to know and to fear my name! For your kind’s blasphemous time of rule is at and end!”
To Shadowfang’s satisfaction, the earth pony with the spear spat something foul past the spear and charged with a battle cry that was muffled by the weapon.
Shadowfang let the pony get close before batting the spear away with a claw and snorting a blast of smoke into his face. The pony coughed and stumbled back a pace, disoriented by the smoke and disarming blow.
Shadowfang pounced, knocking the would-be hero backwards and pinning him to the ground with his front claws. The pony fought and kicked, but was unable to move past the dragon’s steel grip.
Shadowfang brought his face in close to the pony’s, letting out a low growl as the smaller creature continued to struggle. Some of the other dragons flinched forwards, caught off guard by the action before turning their gazes back to the larger group.
“Resistance is pointless, little one,” Shadowfang hissed into his quarry’s face.
“Rot in Tartarus!” the pony spat, literally, into Shadowfang’s face. The dragon’s lips spread out into another smile, an action that made the pony falter for a moment.
“Hold this one!” Shadowfang called to the sky, stepping away from his prey and towards the group of ponies. Two larger dragons dropped from the sky and pinned the prisoner down before he could get back up.
“I, Shadowfang the dragon, Lord of fire, shall rule Equestria with all of dragonkind! As is our right !” he paused as all the dragons around him lit the air with their mighty roars, daring the heavens themselves to challenge that statement, “For too long you ponies have presided over what is rightfully ours ! No longer! You here bear witness to just the first reclamation of land! It shan't be our last!” Shadowfang turned back towards his prisoner and gestured. The two dragons rolled the pony onto his belly so he could properly face Shadowfang, who continued, “But I am a reasonable dragon, and while this is our land, I might be willing to share it, to a degree, if dear old Celestia surrenders to me.
“Any of your kind who do not prove to be...problematic ,” he gave a slow glance towards the group of ponies behind him, “shall be allowed to live with a degree of freedom in our land,” Shadowfang leaned in close to the prisoner, speaking slowly and deliberately, “But ...until I hear of Celestia’s full surrender, my kin and I shall visit your cities one by one and burn them and anything alive within them to. The. Ground, ” there was another ground-quaking roar of approval from the dragons, “Do I make myself clear?” he asked, moving his face closer to the prisoner’s.
The prisoner stared back for a few moments, a hint of fear finally showing in his eyes.
“Do I make myself clear ?!” Shadowfang yelled.
This time the prisoner nodded vigorously. Shadowfang gave a satisfied smile as he pulled back from the prisoner. He turned and took a few steps towards the group of ponies, who retreated as he approached, “Good, you’ve officially volunteered to be my messenger. I suggest that you gallop to your whore of a god with all due haste, every second that you waste means another second gone till we destroy your next village.”
“What of them?” the prisoner asked, jerking his head towards the quivering group that he had tried to defend.
“Them?” Shadowfang inquired.
He looked back at the prisoner, thinking for a few seconds. He then turned back to the group of ponies, then to the dragons surrounding the area, and finally back to the prisoner.
“Kill them,” he said simply, words directed to his kin. The prisoner’s face twisted into a look of sheer horror, no doubt mirroring the faces of the group to Shadowfang’s rear.
Shadowfang kept his eyes on the prisoner as the other dragons blasted the defenseless group of ponies with gouts of fire. Their fading screams of agony played a pleasant melody in the black dragon’s ears. He watched the prisoner’s eyes grow wide and his jaw drop as those he sought to protect were turned to charred and unrecognizable skeletons.
Shadowfang smiled.
And all the while, still bright with magical light, the large sign reading: APPLEWOOD shone through the night from its perch atop the Los Pegasus mountains.
|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?”
The Message and the War Room
|CHAPTER THREE|
The Message and the War Room
The new moon rested at the apex of the heavens like a blinded eye trying to gaze down upon the world. Crickets chirped noisily in the brush and the stars gazed down upon the earth below, reveling in the chilly serenity of it all.
“The only problem that I can see with getting to Ponyville is that we’ve got to be more than thirty miles away from it,” the Guard turned to Greymane, “Would it be asking too much for you to perform a long range teleport spell.”
Greymane nodded sheepishly, “Teleporting isn’t my forte,” he admitted.
“Hm,” the Guard growled, scanning over the map again for a few moments, “Dragon,” he turned to Scav.
“It’s Scav,” Scav replied, arms folded and eyes still flaring, “My name is Scav .”
“Whatever, can you fly us to Ponyville?”
“No. A pony or two I can handle, but there’s no way I’d be able to carry our cart as well as the two of you,” Scav replied.
“To tartarus with your cart! You’ll have to leave it here for now,” the Guard growled with a stomp, “Can you carry your friend and I here to Ponyville?”
“You’re crazy if you think that Greymane or I are going to just leave our cart sitting here!” Scav retorted, “If we’re going anywhere, that cart is...”
“Actually...” Greymane interrupted, trailing off and rubbing the back of his neck. Scav looked over at Greymane, “I mean, it’s not like somepony’s gonna steal it. We could just come back once this is all over.”
“The fate of Equestria may lay upon us getting this message to the Princesses,” the Guard agreed, snatching Scav’s gaze away from Greymane, “All I need to do is get to Ponyville and send the message, you’ll be free to go after that. Now, can you carry us to Ponyville?”
Scav bit his lip, looking from the Guard to Greymane, “You-you’re sure, Greymane?”
The unicorn nodded, “Yes.”
Scav turned back to the Guard, “Fine. But once we’ve delivered the message we’re done here, okay?”
The Guard gave a gruff nod.
“Okay then,” Scav said, laying flat on his belly, “get on.”
Later...
“Those lights! Do you see them?!” the Guard called out over the rush of wind and the flapping of wings.
Scav, fatigue pulling his body groundward, looked over the blackness of the ground below, spotting a group of lights amidst the darkness, “Yes!” he called back, “That where we’re headed?!”
“Yes! That should be Ponyville, make haste!”
Scav changed the angle of his wings, rotating his body forwards as he dove for the ground.
“If memory serves me...” the Guard began, unfazed by the rush of wind in his face, whipping his short mane and tail around wildly, “...the messenger lives in the town library, he’s a young dragon named Spike...or was it Spine? One of those two, the name’s not important.”
Scav flared open his wings, catching the wind as he came in for a landing. He aimed for an empty street, landing heavily on all fours and running a few steps to dissipate his momentum before dropping low to let his passengers free.
The two ponies hopped off, Greymane stretching his legs while the Guard turned in a circle, glaring around to spot the library. Scav remained low to the ground, catching his breath.
“I need to get in better shape,” he muttered, rubbing his back with a pained expression.
“So this messenger is a dragon?” Greymane asked, curious.
“Yes,” the Guard replied, heading off, “follow me.”
“Follow you? What?” Scav asked, stretching his back out, “No, the deal was we get you to Ponyville and we’ve done...”
“The deal was that you were free to go once the message has been delivered,” the Guard interrupted, not stopping as he trotted off down the darkened streets, “now follow me.”
“I don’t think so,” Scav growled back, causing the Guard to stop in his tracks and turn around with a glare, “how do you think that you’re going to stop Greymane and I from leaving?”
The Guard opened his mouth to reply, but Greymane beat him to it.
“Scav, wait. Why not just see this through? Aren’t you the least bit curious about all this? I don’t know of a time in history when a large group of dragons came together to do anything besides migrate,” he reasoned. Greymane then trotted a few steps closer, dropping his voice so only Scav could hear his words, “Besides, we might be able to get something nice out of this. We are doing a big thing for Equestria here, maybe we can get a reward of some sort,” he pulled away and his voice returned to normal, “C’mon, it’ll be fun!”
Scav remained silent for a few moments, glaring from Greymane to the Guard and back.
“Fine,” he finally said, “lead the way.”
Later...
Twilight Sparkle flipped to the next page of the book she was reading with a hoof, gentle candlelight seeping over the pages. She continued reading before a loud knock at her door made her flinch, drawing her gaze from the letters.
Twilight frowned down the stairs before glancing outside and noting the time.
“It’s just past midnight,” she said to herself as she got to her hooves, “who in the world could that be?”
With a touch of magic she turned on the downstairs lights, trotting carefully down the stairs as she stifled a yawn. She made her way across the ground floor, frowning as she wondered who could be at her door.
Upon reaching it, she pulled the door open with her magic.
“Can I help you?” she asked the two ponies on her doorstep. The first was a greyly colored unicorn with a jeweler's loupe and the second, a swaybacked earth pony with... “Oh my! What...what happened to you!? You’re all covered in...in blood !” Twilight gasped at the sight of the beaten and battered earth pony, eyes bulging wide.
“I’m fine, ma’am. I have a...” the earth pony began, only to be cut out by a freaking-out Twilight.
“But you’re hurt!” she exclaimed, gesturing with a hoof, “you’ve got cuts and burns and...”
“I assure you that I’m fine, ma’am!” the earth pony asserted, growing annoyed, “I have a very important letter that I need to get to Princess Celestia with all due haste and I need your dragon to send it, okay?”
“Wait, you’ve got a letter for the princess?” Twilight asked, confusion added to her current symptoms, “Who are you?”
“Royal Guard, earth pony division under captain Charger. But that’s not important. I have a letter that I need to get to the princess immediately! Lives hang in the balance!” the Guard turned to his compatriot, “Greymane, the message!”
Greymane nodded, pulling out the folded message and magicking it to Twilight, who took it in her own magical grip.
“Well...alrighty, then. Why don’t you two come inside. It must be freezing out there,” she moved back to let them in, “head up to my bathroom, there’s some first aid supplies in there. I’ll go have Spike send this, then we can get you to the hospital.”
“If it’s alright with you,” the Guard began as he trotted in, “I’d rather go with you to see that the message is sent without delay.”
“Well, okay. My bedroom and bathroom are right next to each other anyways...”
“Hey, do you mind if he comes in too?” Greymane asked, gesturing back outside to Scav, “Don’t worry, he’s with me.”
“‘Don’t worry?’” Twilight asked, following Greymane’s hoof, “why would I..?” Twilight’s eyes bulged out at the sight of Scav outside, but quickly went back to normal, “Um, sure. Him too.”
“I’m good actually,” Scav said, eyeing the small door frame warily. He looked to Greymane, “I’ll just wait out here.”
“You sure?” Greymane asked.
“Ahem. Miss Sparkle, the letter,” the Guard said, looking around the room.
“Hm?” Twilight asked, looking away from Greymane and Scav, “oh, yes, sorry. Right this way.”
Twilight headed up the stairs with the Guard in tow.
“Are they closed?” Spike asked, looking back over his shoulder with a happy grin.
“Mm-hm,” Rarity nodded, a pleasant smile crossing her lips, her eyes squeezed shut, “now what is this surprise, Spike?”
Looking forwards again, Spike pulled a fine silver necklace with a perfectly cut diamond set into the pendant. He performed an about face and walked up to Rarity, who waited patiently as he clasped it around her neck and took a step back.
“Okay,” he said, his proud smile barely contained, “open them.”
Rarity opened her eyes and looked down at the necklace, eyes sparkling with wonder.
“Oh, Spike! It’s sooo beautiful!” she cooed, looking back up at him and embracing him in a hug. She planted a kiss on his cheek, but suddenly pulled back, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him, “Spike! Wake up! Spike!” she cried as the dream came crashing down...
...“Huh, wuh?” Spike asked, groggily rubbing his eyes as Twilight released him, “T-twilight? Ugh, what time is it?”
“Just after midnight,” Twilight replied, cutting to the chase, “I’ve got a letter that I need sent to the princess, then you can go back to sleep, okay?” she magicked over a folded piece of parchment to the still half-asleep Spike.
“What? Another friendship report? But I thought you already had me...”
“Oh, for the love of Celestia! Why is it that whenever someone is asked to do something they always have to go around asking questions and not actually doing anything!” an exasperated voice growled. The owner of the voice, the Guard, came up next to Twilight, “Just send the message!”
“Geez, okay, okay!” Spike said, leaning away. He held up the parchment and blew a flame on it, vaporizing the message into a flurry of magical energy that zipped out a window and offwards to the horizon.
“Finally!” the Guard exclaimed, feeling a great weight lift from his shoulders.
“I think you could have asked that a little nicer,” Twilight said, fixing the guard with an unhappy look. She looked down to Spike, “thank you, Spike.”
The Guard opened his mouth to speak, then promptly shut it as his legs grew wobbly, his body swaying. Twilight’s eyes turned to him, a question rising in its wake.
“Um...are you sure that you’re okay?” she asked, “Here, let me grab my first aid kit.”
“F-fine...” the Guard assured her, holding a hoof to his forehead, “...as a...” and then he decided to faceplant into the floor.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Scav replied, “In fact, I think I’m going to go pay Los Pegasus a visit,” Scav glared up the stairs at the receding form of the Guard, “Call me suspicious, but I don’t exactly believe our ‘Royal Guard’ friend here.”
Greymane was quiet for a second as what Scav was implying sunk in, “You don’t believe him?”
“No,” Scav replied, watching as the subject of their conversation made his way up the stairs behind Twilight, “not on his word alone, at least.”
“Fair enough,” Greymane replied, glancing back over his withers, “though those injuries look convincing enough…”
“Still, though,” Scav replied, eyes going back to Greymane, “what he’s saying doesn’t add up, I want to see Los Pegasus for myself. You coming?”
Greymane considered for a moment and then shook his head, “No, I think I’ll stay here and keep an eye on our friend. If he turns out to be some nut, then I could see us being rewarded for keeping a good eye on him. The same goes if he’s telling the truth and we really just did help assist Equestria in getting this message out.”
Scav nodded, “See you in a bit, then,” he said, turning and lifting his wings before thrusting them groundwards and lifting into the night sky. Greymane shielded his eyes from the blast of dust that the takeoff sent up before closing the door and looking around.
“Hm, cozy little place,” he remarked.
A yell of fright came from up the stairs.
Elsewhere…
Sitting cozily on a large, round cushion set out before a crackling fireplace, princess Celestia read over Twilight’s most recent report. A small smile graced her lips as her eyes slid back and forth, reading over the well written lines of ink.
A quiet pop of a spell materializing made the alicorn flinch, taking her eyes off the report as a new piece of folded parchment landed before her.
Another friendship report? she thought with a quiet frown, That’s odd...
She set down the current report and selected the other document with her magic, immediately noticing that the parchment was of a different quality than Twilight’s. Unfolding it showed that the writing style was different as well, deepening her frown. If not from Twilight, then who had sent the letter?
Twenty-two-hours. the letter began, as her eyes flowed over the page...bulging wide by the end of the short reading.
Los Pegasus destroyed… she read again, fifty to seventy dragons...inhabitants were massacred...threat to continued razing equestria’s cities until the princesses surrender the throne...immediate action requested.
Celestia stood, dropping the parchment as her magical grip faded. She rushed to the doors, flinging them open with a blast of energy. The two Guards posted to either side of them, jumped at the noise, startled from a quiet conversation as they turned to their leader. Their stoic expressions quickly turned to worry as they spotted Celestia’s face.
“Is there something the matter, prin…” the Guard to the left began.
“Yes, there is,” Celestia cut in, not wasting any time, “fetch my sister and Captains Shining Armor, Charger, and Wingald. Have them meet me in the war room,” both Guard’s eyes widened at the mentioning of the war room, Celestia turned to the other Guard, “you, come with me!”
“Yes, your highness,” both Guards chorused, the first rushing off as the second followed Celestia as she galloped down the hallway and towards the war room.
Celestia feared that war was on the horizon.
