Dragon Lord Ember stood decked out in her absolute finest. She was wearing her golden armor, and she held the Bloodstone Scepter in her dominant claw. She sighed, slightly miffed at the fact that there was yet another task she had only just recently learned that the Dragon Lord was required to do. Taking care of dragon eggs was one thing, but dispelling curses was something else.
Ember stood before a large cave, and next to her stood Garble, the newest "hero" of the Dragon Lands. In fact, it was he who had gotten the Dragon Lord to come to this cave.
"So. . . yeah," Garble said with a slightly apprehensive grin, "He's in pretty bad shape in there, and you are the curse breaking Dragon Lord-."
"I've never heard of the Dragon Lord breaking evil curses," Ember said sourly.
Garble shrugged, "Well, yeah! That's cause no dragon has been seriously cursed for, like, forever!"
"Are you sure he's even cursed at all?" Ember shot back as she folded arms sassily, "Maybe he's just got a cold or something?"
"He's coughing up totally black smoke!" Garble said as he gestured into the mouth of the cave.
Ember gave Garble a look that said "seriously?".
Garble frowned and added quickly, ". . .that turns into black sludge that falls out of the air in big sticky globs."
Ember blinked expressively at this. "Oh," she said.
From within the cave the sound of pained hacking and coughing could be heard, which was immediately followed by the sound of something slimy and stick falling to the cave floor.
Garble chuckled as he slowly began to back away. "Well, then, I'd better give the Dragon Lord plenty of room to perform her royal duty! Wouldn't want to get in the way! Show that curse the power of the Bloodstone Scepter, oh mighty Dragon Lord!"
Ember huffed loudly, but nevertheless marched into the cave, determined to get things over with as quickly as possible. That being said, it wasn't long before she came across the afflicted dragon in question. He was a huge, adult; red with a yellow underbelly, and some pinkish-red spines. He was obviously in very bad shape, curled up against the cave wall, both his cheeks and eyes tinted with an unsightly dark purple color. What's more, his labored breathing echoed ominously through the cave. Speaking of the cave, the floor and some of the wall were caked with pitch black, tar-like sludge, just as Garble had described.
Ember stopped at the edge of the sludge on the floor. Even though she was wearing armor, she didn't want to chance getting any of the stuff on her. She focused her attention on the ill dragon and met eyes with him. "Greetings, sir!" she declared loudly, "I have heard of your affliction, and as Dragon Lord, it is my duty to cure you of this curse! Remain calm, and I will-."
The dragon interrupted Ember's speech with a loud series of coughs that echoed throughout the cave, seemingly causing it to shake. With each cough, clouds of unnaturally dark smoke came out of the dragons mouth, flouted up towards the ceiling of the cave, and then began to drip black sludge like a raincloud straight out of Cloudsdale's Weather Factory.
Ember watched the sight in a mixture of disgust and horrified fascination for a bit. Then it occurred to her that even if she managed to cure this dragon, she would still have to content with cleaning up all of this possibly toxic sludge. However, she suddenly noticed that the red Bloodstone atop her scepter was glowing, and emitting a strange magical hum as well.
Ember stared at it for a moment, then looked at the mess before her. "Yeah. . . I think I get it. . ." she said to herself, then she looked up at the sick dragon and said, "Alright sir, I'm gonna need you to hold in your coughing for as long as you possibly can. Yeah, I know this sucks, but it's for your own good. . .and it's also an order! From your Dragon Lord!"
The huge dragon wheezed painfully, but nonetheless nodded and closed his mouth.
Ember nodded, and looked towards the Bloodstone Scepter and gripped it tightly. "I hope this works," she whispered to herself, then she cleared her throat and declared in a louder, authoritative sounding voice, "Bloodstone Scepter, hear my words. . . In the name of every Dragon Lord that has come before me, I call upon your power. . ."
Ember then raised the scepter high and shouted, ". . .May your light rid this cavern of this darkness!"
The Bloodstone Scepter emitted a huge blast of red light that filled the cave. It washed over the black sludge like a wave of cleansing water, causing it to quickly break up and dissolve into nothing. After several seconds of the intense, crimson light, it was all over. The Scepter returned to its original glow, and the walls, floor, and ceiling of the cave were now in pristine condition.
Ember looked around with amazement stamped on her face. Ember let out a surprised laugh, impressed by her own power, and then looked over at the afflicted dragon before her. Soft wheezing came out of him, and he still didn't look any better.
Wasting no time, Ember quickly flew over to him and landed on his snout. "Now, dark curse. . ." Ember said as she looked the red dragon in his purple tinted eyes, ". . .In the name of the Dragon Lord, and the power of the Bloodstone Scepter. . ." Ember gripped the Scepter with both claws and swung it high over her head. ". . . I cast you out of the dragon you dare afflict!" she declared, and she swung the Scepter down and struck the large dragon's forehead with the glowing Bloodstone.
There was a burst of light like a brilliant red supernova. Then, the light slowly died down, and returned to a more gentle glow that illuminated the cave.
Ember lifted the Scepter off of the dragon's forehead, and she looked into his eyes. The purple tint within them, as well as that on his cheeks, was completely gone. Ember smiled at this, glad to see that the dragon's eyes were bright and full of life.
"Feeling better?" Ember asked kindly.
The dragon's breathing was calm and relaxed sounding, and there was clear gratitude in his eyes. However, his eyes widened suddenly as a low rumbling began to come from within him. The rumbling began to grow louder and louder, and both Ember and the newly cured dragon were getting nervous. Ember felt the dragon's mouth twitching under her, and it suddenly occurred to her to jump off and fly out of the area of in front of the dragon.
Just as the rumbling reached a fever pitch, the dragon let out a loud retching noise, and something dark and amorphous went flying out of the dragon's maw and right out of the cave.
Ember looked out after the object as the large dragon gasped for breath and panted heavily. "The curse," she muttered to herself, feeling slightly concerned. Then she turned to the dragon and said, "Stay here and relax for a moment. I need to make sure this is taken care of."
Ember then promptly turned and flew out of the cave. She flew out several yards away from the cave, and she found the strange blob relatively quickly. It was a strange, sparkling, dark purple mass that rippled as it laid on the rocky ground. Ember frowned as she walked over to it with a tight grip on the Bloodstone Scepter. However, she paused when she noticed that the mass was starting to slowly rise up into a mound. Ember's mouth dropped open slightly as the mass began to form itself into a more defined shape. In a matter of moments, the magical mass had taken on the shape of a unicorn about the size of Princess Luna.
The being of magical energy turned its head towards Ember. The creature had no eyes or any other discernable features, but it appeared to be looking at her. Also, while it lacked a mouth, an ominous voice emanated from it.
"And now. . . I am finally free to recreate this world and this reality in my own image."
Ember couldn't help but shudder a bit, much to her own embarrassment. However, she couldn't deny that the voice was quite unnerving. It had a deep echoing effect to it, and it was impossible to tell if the voice was male or female. Steeling her resolve, Ember pointed the Bloodstone Scepter at the creature and said, "Who. . . or what are you?"
The creature stared in Ember's direction for a moment, then it said, "I will answer you. I am the Tantabus."
Ember eyed the creature severely and said, "Where did you come from? Why did you infect that dragon?"
The creature was silent for another moment.
"Answer me!" Ember commanded.
The Tantabus was unfazed by the Dragon Lord's command, and it said, "Again, I will answer you. I was a creation of the Princess of the Night, Princess Luna."
Ember looked at he Tantabus in disbelief. "What? Impossible! Why would a pony princess curse one of my dragons. The Dragon Lands and Equestria are friends."
"I was not deliberately placed within the dragon you freed me from," the Tantabus said as it's mane and tail blew freely in a magical breeze, "Princess Luna created me for the sole purpose of turning dreams into nightmares. Night after night, I grew more and more powerful. Powerful enough to free myself from her dreams and seek other dreams to turn to nightmares. My goal was to gain enough power to free myself from the dream realm and enter the real world. However, I was stopped by my creator's allies, and most of my being was reduced back to pure magic."
The Tantabus then pointed at the cave and said, "However, one of my creator's allies had dreamed of the dragon within the cave. It was within my ability to spread to the dreams of those I could see. While my creator focused on the dreams of Ponyville, a fragment of my being was able to reside within the red dragon."
The Tantabus set its foreleg back down and continued, "However, due to most of my form being destroyed, most of my power was dispelled, and I was reduced to nothing more than a dark plague. Worse still, the dragon's sleeps were dreamless, leaving me no opportunity to regain power. Even now, after being freed and finally able to exist in the real world, my power has been severely weakened. Therefore, I have a proposition for you."
Ember frowned in response and simply said, "What?"
"You freed me from within the dragon. It is inevitable that we work together, and benefit together."
"What are you talking about?" Ember said, still frowning.
"If I can regain my power, I will be able to change reality itself. Any desire you have, I will be able to give to you. I can turn the Dragon Lands and every dragon within it into whatever you wish. All I require is for you to assist me in stealing Princess Luna's magic so that I may be whole again. Once I achieve my full power, this entire world and reality will belong to us. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. All you need to do is say yes."
Ember stared at the Tantabus with utter disbelief at what she was hearing. After a moment of tense silence, Ember snorted smoke out of her nostrils and said, "Really? Seriously? you just finished telling me that you're a. . . thing that creates nightmares, and you expect me to help you get more powerful, betraying one of the pony princesses in the process?" Ember then chuckled and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, sure, you're totally not going to betray me and turn the Dragon Lands into a nightmare world along with the rest of, well, everything."
Ember then raised the Bloodstone Scepter threateningly at the Tantabus and said, "So, here's what's gonna happen: I'm gonna finish what Princess Luna started!"
The Tantabus appeared to raise its head slightly at that, then it leaned forward slightly and said, "You have decided to spit upon my offer. . . Fool. You misinterpret my lacking of my full power for a state of weakness. The power I currently posses is more than enough to destroy you, and you simply do not have the means to harm the Tantabus."
The Tantabus then stood tall as it let out an arrogant laugh, then it said, "Nevertheless, the fear that you will experience during your demise will surely help to restore my strength. At the very least, you will be a useful weakling."
Ember clenched her teeth at this statement, and then quickly dashed forward towards the Tantabus. She swung the Bloodstone Scepter, albeit slightly prematurely, and the glowing red stone sliced into the Tantabus' chest.
The magical being shrieked out in pain and half staggered, half floated backwards away from the armored Dragon Lord. It moved swiftly across the ground, stopping several yards away from Ember. It then looked down at it's chest, and the decent sized gash that was now cut across it. Bits of the Tantabus' purple energy form seemed to burn and crumble away into ashes as the gash slowly healed and regenerated.
". . . That Scepter. . . That Stone. . ." the Tantabus said almost thoughtfully, "It appears it not only possesses magic potent enough to cut me free from within that dragon, but also power enough to tear through my ethereal form."
The Tantabus slowly shook it's faceless head and said, "No matter. Neither my creator nor the Element Bearers had the power to truly destroy me, so certainly a creature as unimportant to the grand scheme of things as you has no hope in destroying me either."
The Tantabus's horn sparked, and then a magical whip shot out towards Ember. The Dragon Lord flew to the right to dodge the attack, and then flew up quickly to avoid the whip when the Tantabus swung it sideways. As Ember took the air, the Tantabus continued to swing the magical whip at her. Ember looked down and was surprised at how long the Tantabus' whip had extended.
The Tantabus's head snapped unnaturally in one direction, and its magical horn whip managed to catch Ember around her right leg. In an flash, Ember was swung straight down to the ground with a tremendous crash. Before the dust even settled, however, Ember flew up from the impact site, still with the magical chord around her right leg. She then backflipped in midair, swinging the Bloodstone Scepter to cut the chord, causing it to turn black and crumble to ashes.
After the long magical whip fell apart, the Tantabus planted t's hooves firmly on the ground and fired a magical blast from its horn.
Ember deflected the blast with the Bloodstone Scepter and flew back down to the ground to charge at the Tantabus. The creature shot more magical bolts at Ember, who proceeded to deflect them as well. The Tantabus fired more bolts at the Dragon Lord, who continued to deflect them as she approached. However, the bolts came out faster and faster, much to Ember's growing concern. Her face was scrunched up in concentration as she swung and twirled the Bloodstone Scepter faster and faster. The sound of the bolts being deflected off of the crystalline scepter got louder and swifter as Ember fought to keep up. Then, inevitably, the Dragon Lord took a bolt directly to her helmeted face.
Ember cried out as she was thrown backwards, the remains of her shattered helmet flying off as she fell flat on her back. Ember growled as she quickly sat up, ignoring the sensation of pain on her face. Thankfully, the helmet had served it's purpose, preventing Ember from being seriously injured by the bolt. Now taking the fight far more seriously, Ember swiftly rolled to one side, avoiding another magic bolt, and flew in a sideways arc towards the Tantabus. She moved fast enough to avoid the creature's shots, and managed to get close enough to slice off it's horn with a swing of the Bloodstone Scepter.
The Tantabus' body morphed out of its pony form and snaked it's way up into the air. It then twisted and turned itself into a spiral, and then reformed to have the body of a maulwurf.
Ember jumped backwards as the giant mole-like creature dived into the ground where she once stood. It burrowed into the ground, sending rocks flying. Ember backed off quickly, her eyes darting around as she anticipated the Tantabus' resurfacing. Sure enough, a moment later, Ember could feel the ground shaking.
Ember immediately took flight straight up, and the ground seemed to explode beneath her just seconds after she left it. The Tantabus shot out of the ground, its jaws wide open, and it's four huge teeth poised to chomp the Dragon Lord in half. However, Ember flipped over and swung the Bloodstone Scepter, this time slicing off the Tantabus' maulwurf nose.
The Tantabus fell to the ground, covering its face with its huge paws as it crashed back into it's hole. It's magical body collapsed and lost its form, only to suddenly spring back up as eight separate tendrils. The bulbous head of a massive kraken rose up amid the eight tentacles, and the Tantabus lashed out at the Dragon Lord with its arms.
Ember was clearly stressing as she gave her all trying to parry the strikes of the kraken's tentacles with the Bloodstone Scepter. It was like a combination of the whip attack and the magic bolt attack, and Ember was once again having trouble keeping up. With a powerful strike, she chopped through one tentacle, only to have another grab onto her right arm. With a furious tug, Ember pulled her arm free, but lost that section of her armor in the process. Then two tentacles wrapped around her waist, but she spun her body and hacked off the tentacles with the scepter. But even as those sections of tentacles turned to ash and fell away, another tentacle struck Ember hard, knocking her out of the sky and causing her to crash land a few feet away.
Ember groaned and sat up just in time to see two more tentacles reaching for her. She sliced them apart with two swift swings of the scepter, and grunted as she stood up, in pain but still able to fight.
"Is that the best you can do?" a familiar booming voice suddenly said.
Ember's eyes widened in surprise, and she turned around to see the previous Dragon Lord towered above her.
"Dad? What are you doing here?" she asked incredulously.
"Watching my daughter making a fool of herself, apparently," Torch said with disdain, "How have you not defeated that creature yet? Pathetic? Are you even trying?"
"Of course I'm trying!" Ember argued back, frustrated by her father's disdain, and annoyed by the fact that the conversation was even taking place.
"That makes it even worse!" Torch roared, just as frustrated as Ember was, "You call that fighting?! Your form is sloppy! You have no hope at winning this whatsoever! You're an embarrassment to all dragons!"
"What are you even talking about!?" Ember cried out as she waved the Bloodstone Scepter at her father.
"Hanging with ponies and the pony loving dragon has made you weak and pathetic! Weak attack! Timid moves! A real dragon would have won by now!"
Ember bit her lip. The words of her father were beginning to get to her. In spite of this, she looked him in the eye and said, "I know what I'm doing. I'm the Dragon Lord!"
Torch laughed and said, "Oh really? What dragon would respect you?!"
Suddenly, a multitude of smaller dragons came out from behind Torch's massive body. They all pointed at Ember and shouted words of mocking ridicule at her.
A sudden pang of panic shot through Ember, and she pointed the Bloodstone Scepter at them and shouted, "Stop! I command you! I am your Dragon Lord! I demand respect!"
Torch just smirked as the multitude of dragon continued to laugh and jeer at Ember, which only served to unnerve the young Dragon Lord even further. She closed her eyes as she shuddered slightly as the mocking pounded in her ears. But then, she felt something smack into the back of her head as another voice said, "Oh, come on!"
Ember turned around and saw Garble standing next to her with his arms folded and a frown of annoyance on his face.
"Don't listen to what others say!" Garble said, "Trust me, I learned that lesson not too long ago. But whatever. If you wanna win, you can't let anything distract you. Seriously, they're not the focus here! Shouldn't you be paying attention to that thing over there!?"
Garble pointed over to the Tantabus, which had returned to it's unicorn form. Ember looked over at it, and the first thing she noticed was this it was standing still and quiet, not doing much of anything, almost as if it was in concentration. Ember then turned to look up at Torch and the laughing dragons. At that moment, it suddenly clicked in Ember's head.
"They're not real, aren't they?" Ember said as she narrowed her eyes at the Tantabus.
"They are not," the Tantabus replied, "However, this might finally allow you to see the potential of my power. In this weakened state, I can create illusions that instill your deepest fear. At full power, I could warp reality itself, and create anything at all with no limits whatsoever. Therefore, I ask you again, will you ally yourself with me?"
Ember's only answer was a fierce war cry as she charged towards the Tantabus, swinging the Bloodstone Scepter back behind her to ready a forward slash.
"Stop! You don't know what you're doing!" the Tantabus called out, but Ember ignored him and slashed the Tantabus across the chest. As the illusionary Torch and other dragons faded away, the Tantabuss form slithered up in a large arc and splashed onto the ground a few feet away. It then rose up in the form of a vile tatzlwurm.
The giant worm opened its maw and let out a screeching roar, only to be promptly silenced when Ember came down from the air and slice into it with the Bloodstone Scepter. The glowing red stone cut through the tatzlwurm Tantabus like butter, cleaving it in half neatly as Ember fell down through it. One half of the creature crumbled away, while the other half compressed and morphed into a muscular minotaur.
The Tantabus roared as it swung a fist at Ember. The Dragon Lord just smirked and raised the scepter high, and brought it down hard to slice through the fist, causing the arm attached to it to burn and crumble.
"You're getting nervous, aren't you, Tantabus?" Ember said with a cocky smirk as she advanced towards the Tantabus, "You're the one whose form is getting sloppy. You thought you could trick me into helping you, then you thought you could beat me. So right now, you finally see what a terrible mistake you've made."
The Tantabus's sparkly form morphed yet again, his time turning into a copy of the Dragon Lord herself. It then created a copy of the Bloodstone Scepter out of its own magical energy and held it out threateningly at Ember.
"Now we shall test the arrogance and pride of the Dragon Lord against the power of the Tantabus!"
Ember gripped the Bloodstone Scepter tightly, and then ran forward and swung at the doppleganger. The Tantabus leaped over her, and then spun around, striking Ember in the back. Ember grunted as she was sent stumbling forward, and turned around fast and stabbed at her opponent. The Tantabus blocked the strike and kicked out at her, forcing Ember to hop backward to avoid the cheap shot.
The shimmering copy lunged forward and thrust out an elbow, which Ember leaned backwards to avoid. As she went in to strike back, however, a swift slash from the Tantabus struck her left arm, shattering the armor there.
Ember grunted in pain as she stepped back, but then swung the Scepter two more times at the Tantabus. After seeing it block both attacks, Ember swiftly circled around the Tantabus and slashed at it from the left.
Bits of the Tantabus went flying as they burned, hacked off by several more slashes from Ember. The Tantabus finally managed to parry Ember's attack with it's own scepter. It swung down hard at Ember, who only just managed to block it, and thus avoid having her currently unprotected skull split in half. Expected it to continue to ramp up its attacks, Ember was caught off guard when the Tantabus flew backwards, seemingly in retreat. However, this moment of surprise was just enough to give the Tantabus the opportunity it needed.
With a snarl, the Tantabus lunched forward and jabbed Ember in the chest with its scepter. There was a loid crack as Ember was thrown backwards and landed flat on her back. The Tantabus charged forward with it's scepter raised for the kill. Ember's eyes opened wide, seeing the doppelganger coming, and she quickly used her arms to flip herself, smacking the Tantabus in the face with her tail.
After landing on her feet, Ember quickly glance down at the golden armor on her chest. The attack had cracked and shattered it, and as Ember breathed out, it finally broke and crumbled away. Now furious at the loss of her armor, and the sick determination of the evil monster she was facing, Ember let out a huge snarl as she dashed forward at it. She gripped the Bloodstone Scepter tightly with both hands, and the Tantabus did the same as the two charged at one another.
The two scepters clashed as the dragon faced off, their weapons sending sparks flying as they came in contact.
"You will fall," the Tantabus hissed with its featureless dragon face close to Ember's face, "Your father will see the failure of a Dragon Lord you are, all of the dragons will cease to respect you, and I will put every creature you care for through unimaginable horrors. . . starting with the dragon named Spike."
Unfortunately for the Tantabus, its words did not invoke fear in Ember. Rather, they invoked only the fiercest of rage within the Dragon Lord. With a nearly animalistic cry, Ember put all her strength into pushing back against the creature.
The Tantabus strained against Ember's new burst of strength and said, "Your efforts of defeat me are fut-."
A burst of fire from Ember's mouth to the Tantabus' head cut off its words, and with a final push, the Tantabus was knocked down to the ground. Ember then flew up above the where the Tantabus lay and flipped the Bloodstone Scepter upside-down in her claws so that the glowing stone was pointing down at the magical being.
"I could make your fondest wishes a reality!" the Tantabus' cried, it's voice finally showing some vestige of emotion, mainly panic.
"I wish you were destroyed!" Ember snarled as she dropped down fast, stabbing the Tantabus in the chest with the Bloodstone Scepter.
The Tantabus' dragon form promptly melted into a magical puddle, the twinkling lights within it quickly going out.
"STOP! You know not. . . what you do!" the Tantabus spoke out in a voice wracked with pain, "I could have given you. . .everything!"
The Tantabus' mystical purple form slowly turned a dusty grey from where it was impaled by the Bloodstone.
"NO! STOP! DRAGON! I must. . .turn reality to. . . nightmare. . ."
The greyness spread through the entire puddle of Tantabus, and rather quietly, the Tantabus turned completely to ash and blew away.
Ember breathed out slowly, and she pulled the Bloodstone Scepter out of the ground and admired it. Then she looked across the landscape until she spotted who she was looking for. Then she called out, "Garble! Head on back and tell any dragon who asks that I've gone to Canterlot! Princess Luna has some explaining to do!"