"WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE?!" Garble spat a large burst of flames. Just after Ember turned down his offer he had ordered all the dragons in the Equestrian tribe to assist him in raiding Ponyville, but the few adult dragons that actually lived in his kingdom simply thought it was some kind of joke and laughed it off. Sure he could have forced them to assist him, but what was the point of being the Dragon Lord, when they didn't even respect him?
In the end the only ones following him were all the teenage Dragons, who were just as eager as himself to show the older dragons what they were made of.
In most other situations Garble would have blown the whole thing off seeing how this "horde" was quite pathetic and not really worthy of the Dragon Lord's raid crew. However, it wasn't like they were going up against another dragon clan or a griffin horde. Their enemies were ponies, and for this purpose his little crew should be more than sufficient to get by without any kind of complication.
At least that's what he thought, but just as they had crossed the border to the Dragon Lord’s realm, he suddenly flew into something solid, causing him to bounce back and the whole dragon horde to stop. He shook his head and tried flying on, but once again he flew into the invisible barrier. Just as he was thrown back he noticed a faint magenta glow emanating from the point where his head connected with the strange barrier.
"Hey Garble, what's the matter?" Gobbler, one of Garble’s closest goons, had flown up to him. "Why did we stop?"
"It's Dragon Lord Garble to you," he snapped back at Gobbler, "and apparently some buzzkill is trying to keep us from having our fun." A grin crept onto his face "How about we show them what we think of their welcoming committee? Everyone FIRE!"
He took a deep breath and behind him he could hear forty dragons doing the same, releasing a deadly storm of flames and heat onto the annoying barricade. It licked over the barrier, which started to explode into magenta light as it recoiled the firestorm back onto the stunned horde. Of course it didn't really do any lasting damage to them, but no one likes being spit in the face.
"That's it! Come on guys, let's get down there and teach whoever did this a good lesson." With that, he darted down towards the ground, his horde following close behind him. All of them growled and roared like maniacs. But when they landed, they were greeted with a sight that made them stop for just a moment.
A chess board stood in the middle of a big grassy plain, with one player on each side. Garble immediately recognized the one sitting on the right. It was the annoying purple pony friend of that wimp Spike. For some reason, she wore a crown and an expensive looking dress. However, she wasn't the thing that caught him most off ,guard. That honor belonged to the player sitting on the left of the board.
To be honest Garble didn't have any clue what he was supposed to call that thing. Its tail and most of its body looked like that of a dragon, but the other parts seemed to be made out of different animal parts, like a lion paw, one goat horn, one deer antler, and two wings, one bat and one pegasus. It was almost as if someone put a bunch of animals into a mixer and randomly picked out a few parts to build some joke of nature.
Just as he began to accept that he wasn't dreaming, he noticed that the chess pieces weren't anything normal either. Purple ponies in different shapes and sizes were standing together with a bunch of little statues of Spike, all facing towards the animal-mix thing. Of course his figures were just as illogical as the being himself. There were a few ponies, some weird bug creatures, and other beings Garble had never seen before, all colored in red and facing towards the pony. All of the pieces moved as if they were alive and the two players were apparently so focused on their game that they didn't even notice the bloodthirsty horde of dragons standing right beside them.
Garble shook of his confusion, puffed out his chest as best as he could and marched up to them "Hey you two! Get out of the way of Dragon Lord Garble or prepare to be crushed by our fur-" Before he could finish, the weird mix-up creature snapped its talon and suddenly all Garble could muster was a dry croak.
He tried to say something while the abomination moved one of his pieces, a strange mix out of pony and fish with incredible amounts of hair, where it shattered one of the Spike figures by simply screaming at it. Once the figure finished screaming the abomination turned towards Garble and folded his hands.
"Did your mother never teach you any manners?" Its voice was as smooth as silk, but slightly scratchy at the same time. "First, you take such a long time that we have to find some way to amuse ourselves while we wait. Then, you simply interrupt us while I am finally about to beat my friend here at chess."
Once again he tried to open his mouth, without success. All he could do was watch a little pony figure with a heart shaped mane walk towards the fish pony figure, petrifying it with its stare.
"I agree that it is incredibly rude, but trust me Discord, you are still far from beating me here." The purple pony turned towards Garble and even though her face remained collected, he could have sworn that he saw smoke coming from the tips of her hair. "And don't worry Garble, I'll get to you in a bit."
By now the horde behind Garble had begun muttering and shooting confused looks at him, which only served to fuel Garble’s growing rage. How dare they simply ignore him and play their stupid game? If he could only smash that damn board! But something made him unable to move a muscle.
A tall armored pony moved forward and annihilated a smaller purple pony, also wearing armor. At first the dragon like creature looked satisfied, just to notice his mistake a second later. A slightly smaller but otherwise very similar looking purple figure moved forward and lay a magical chain around the black pony figurine wearing a royal garment.
"Checkmate" The purple pony called out and got to her hooves. "Told you I would win."
"Well, where would be the fun if there was no challenge?" The strange creature grinned and, with a snap of his talon, the chess board turned into a sun chair and a bag of popcorn "How about it, want to go on to the main event?"
Suddenly Garble could feel his voice returning in all his glorious power. "Who do you think you are? You are standing in my way of destroying Equestria and making every single pony my slave. Starting with you." With all his might he let out a wall of flames that enveloped the pony in hot orange flames. He struck a victory pose with the crowd behind him applauding and laughing at the pony’s demise.
"You know Garble; I hate it when somepony tries to get ahead of schedule."
Immediately the laughter stopped. The voice came out of the flaming inferno, just before the flames exploded and vanished revealing the completely unharmed pony. Not even her dress was singed in any way. But how was that possible? His fire was strong enough to melt solid stone! How could a pony survive it?
"First I want to finally properly introduce myself." The pony walked up to him and somehow, even though Garble was at least a head taller than her, she still seemed to look down on him "My name is Twilight Sparkle, fourth princess of Equestria, Element of Magic and sister to the little dragon you almost killed."
Even though Garble still couldn't explain how the pony shrugged of his flames, he also knew that he couldn't possibly reveal that to this princess pony, so instead he put on the best smug grin he could muster. "So what’s that supposed to mean? Are you two here to take revenge for the little wimp? Or are you actually trying to stop me and my horde to take over your pathetic kingdom? If so where is your army?"
"Oh, don't count me in," the abomination called out from his seat "I am just here to enjoy the spectacle." He threw a claw full of popcorn into his mouth and started munching.
"And I just came here because I wanted to personally read this scroll to you." Her horn glowed and a parchment scroll appeared in front of her.
"By order of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and the Elements of Harmony," she read in a stern voice, "the current Dragon Lord, Garble, for his crime of gravely injuring Spike, member of the Council of Friendship, Hero of the Crystal Empire, and Messenger of the Princess of Friendship, is hereby banished from Equestria and is forbidden from crossing the border under any circumstances. Violation of this verdict will result into immediate arrest. This verdict is absolute and can only be lifted by the victim Spike himself. Signed: Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and every member of the Elements of Harmony."
She looked up at him, her eyes almost shooting daggers. "And now, a little advice from myself. Should you ever cross this verdict, you'd better hope that the princesses capture you first. Because if you ever show your face in front of me or any of my friends, I can't promise anything." She turned around and walked away earning a disappointed gaze from the hybrid creature. "Come on Discord, we did what we came to do. We are leaving."
Discord pouted like a little fledgling as he stood up from his chair. "Seriously, Twilight? You're letting him off that easy? You really are no fun at all." The pony shot him an angry glare, and for some reason the popcorn in his paw exploded like a bomb.
"I never asked you to come with me in the first place. We are leaving!" With that she walked back towards the barrier without another look at the Garble.
Unsure Garble turned around to his horde of dragons, looking at him with partially disappointed, partially amused expressions. They were looking down at him. In just a few sentences this damn pony princess had crushed every bit of respect the dragons had for him. If he didn't do something right now, he wouldn't just be humiliated by the adult dragons, but by his own entourage. So he did the only sensible thing he could think of.
"Are you freaking kidding me?" He spat another fireball that hit an invisible shield around the mare. Slowly the mare turned around and looked back at him, her face slowly losing its composure. He could have sworn that Discord’s eyes lit up a little.
“Do you really think I would just turn around and stop my first raid as Dragon Lord, just because a bunch of prissy pony princesses aren't happy that I messed up their worthless, weak little wimp of a dragon friend? Don't make me laugh!"
Her hooves hit his stomach faster than he could blink, and his eyes widened as he felt his scales, strong enough to withstand the claws of a griffin, crack and pierce through his flesh. Roaring in pain, he stumbled back and tried to clutch his bleeding stomach, just as a burst of energy hit him directly in the face and sent him flying into his own horde, knocking them aside like dragon shaped bowling pins.
The taste of copper filled his mouth and his snout felt as if it was completely shattered, while the broken scales of his stomach dug deep wounds into the soft flesh beneath. Yet Garble couldn't even make a sound or move a muscle. All he could do was stare at the monster that replaced the little pony.
Stones and chunks of grass and earth ripped out of the floor and started to float beside her as she positioned herself above garble. Glowing white spheres stared at him where her eyes should have been. It was as if small claws shot from these rage filled eyes to claw out his own as Princess Twilight Sparkle opened her mouth to release a voice with enough power that it could have probably crushed Garble on it's own.
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO CALL SPIKE WORTHLESS!"
She hit him again, breaking his snout while the dragon screamed in agony.
"SPIKE, ONE OF THE BRAVEST, MOST KIND-HEARTED DRAGONS WHO WAS EVER BORN!"
A barrage of magical beams rained down onto Garble like spears. Every scale hit by them cracked like eggshells, and some of them even crumbled away, leaving his soft flesh exposed to the pony’s attacks.
"HE DIDN'T EVEN WANT TO BE DRAGON LORD! THE ONLY REASON HE JOINED IN YOUR STUPID GAMES WAS SO HE COULD PROTECT HIS FRIENDS!"
Garble looked for anyone who could save him, but he could only see Gobbler’s retreating shape in the distance, before even more beams hit his legs, breaking one of them. The pain was unbearable.
"BUT YOU! YOU ALMOST KILLED HIM, WITHOUT EVEN THE SLIGHTEST BIT OF REMORSE! YOU ENJOYED EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF BREAKING HIS LITTLE BODY, DIDN'T YOU? YOU ATTACKED HIM WITHOUT ANY MERCY! SO YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW MUCH MERCY YOU CAN EXPECT FROM HIS SISTER!"
The air itself seemed to overflow the pony’s rage, as her horn began to glow, contort, and twist in impossible ways while it gathered energy. All Garble wanted to do was run. But all he could do was cry as he lay on the ground, bleeding and beaten, as the whole weight of his situation came crushing down on him.
He would die here, and there was no one who would save him.
His horde had already fled for their lives, and he couldn't even blame them. They had all come here to prove themselves and beat up a few helpless ponies in the process. So why was he lying on the floor brought close to death by one of these "weak" creatures he wanted to crush? The magenta glow reached its peak and the pony lifted her horn into the air to give garble the rest, when suddenly a lion paw rested itself on her shoulder and Garble could hear the amused voice of the pony’s companion.
"I am quite impressed Twilight. You really showed this loudmouth who's boss. What's next? Wanna finish him off?"
With a gasp the mare's eyes returned to normal and the magenta glow vanished, causing the rocks and dirt to drop down alongside her mane. She looked down on the shivering form of Garble and seemed to come to a realization. Immediately her horn began to glow again and Garble braced himself for her final blow but to his surprise the pain in his limbs and torso seemed to ease a little. He opened his eyes to see the magenta glow of the pony’s horn covering his wounds like bandages. Suddenly, drops of something wet fell onto Garble. As he looked up, he saw her eyes filled with tears, dripping down onto his sore body. Before he could fully realize what he was seeing, Twilight had already turned around.
"Never show yourself to me ever again. Next time, I can't guarantee that I’ll be able to control myself." Her voice shook and threatened to crack as she walked away, disappearing in a purple flash.
"Phew that was close." Discord turned to Garble "I have to say I'm impressed. Not even Tirek was able to upset Twilight like that, and he blew up her house."
Garble still couldn't move at all. If this weird creature hadn't stopped her, the pony would have killed him in a fit of rage. Of course, he was incredibly thankful to be still breathing. But he was even more confused.
"Why?" He managed to mutter weakly.
"Huh, did you say something?"
"Why would she cry?" Every word he said felt like claws ripping his maw apart, but he had to know “I almost killed her little brother and then tried to kill her after exclaiming I would destroy her homeland. Any dragon would have killed me without any hesitation. Why wouldn't she? Why would she help me? And why would you save me?"
Discord laughed as he grabbed Garble's shoulders and brought his face so close to Garble's that his fur tingled his nose.
"Just for the record, if all went how I’d wanted, I would have killed you myself. Do you know how much my dear Fluttershy cried when she saw what you had done to little Spike?" His grip hardened and Garble flinched as his talons pressed down on his scales. "But my friends wouldn't have tolerated that. And I really couldn't let Twilight kill you."
"But why?"
"That's the question isn't it. Why? Why did Twilight run away from you every time you threatened her? Even back then, she was more than strong enough to face you. Why would Celestia, the being that is so powerful that she can move the sun and moon at the same time never even try to take over any of the other countries? And why wouldn't they kill their greatest enemies after battle, instead just capturing or banishing them, taking the risk of them coming back? Those are the questions I asked myself for centuries while I was encased in a stone statue. It didn't make any sense to me. That is until I met Fluttershy, one of Twilight’s dearest friends.
"I am the Incarnation of Chaos, Lord of Disharmony, and the symbol of everything that threatens the Harmony that ponies uphold. Still, Fluttershy treated me as if I was just a pony like her. Even when her friends tried to tell her to distance herself from me, she still stuck to my side." Just for a moment his gaze grew distant. "Even when I betrayed their trust and became their enemy once again, they found it in their hearts to forgive me. That's when I finally got it. Ponies don't serve Harmony; they try to live it. Most of them hate chaos and conflict more than anything and try to avoid it as much as they can. Running away from battle. Discarding safe strategies in favor of mercy. And finding the incredible strength to even forgive their greatest foes if they make an actual effort to redeem themselves."
The grip on Garble’s shoulders loosened as Discord stood up and straightened his back.
"So you see, if I hadn't stopped Twilight from snuffing your candle, it would have destroyed her. She wouldn't be able to live with the fact that she ended a life and for no other reason than losing herself to anger. For her that would probably be the equivalent of becoming like the villains that she is usually defending Equestria from."
Discord cackled and stretched out his back. "But listen to me rambling on and on. I have to get back and comfort our poor little princess. As for you, consider this a little gift from me."
And then with a snap of Discord’s claw, Garble suddenly sat right on the snout of Torch, back at the Dragon Mountain. Surprised, he looked around and saw Ember, looking up at him in shock.
Now that the imminent danger was gone, the pain really set in. All he could remember afterwards was Ember and Torch carrying him to their healer, and how Ember constantly tried to keep him awake while he was carried there. And the last sentence he said before he finally lost consciousness.
"Ember, if you ever meet Spike again. Please tell him that I'm sorry for what did."
Then everything went black and he passed out.
