Even Gods Make Mistakes

The thudding against Spyro’s skull was intense. It was as though somedragon had managed to jar the belt of fire and dump it all in his head. Stumbling to his feet, he tried to walk forward. Nope, that wasn’t going to happen, not in his current state. Besides it was night time, he should prob… wait, if it was night time, then why in Avalar could he feel the suns warmth, unless… Oh heck no. If he was blind then he couldn’t hunt, and if he couldn’t hunt then he would have to ask Cynder to feed him.

Ok, I’m an Idiot. How could he have forgotten Cynder? She had been there for him, even when tainted by Malafore’s controlling magic. She gave him a reason to fight, a reason to kill. Killing was something he hated, only ever doing so when he was protecting his friends, or when it was necessary to feed. Certainly, the red crystals dragons consumed provided him with energy, but they did nothing to promote cell metabolism or mitosis. And right now, Spyro felt as though he could eat an entire flock of sheep. Even so, he still couldn’t move far, on account of his impaired vision. So he just sat there, waiting for something to happen, be it death or rescue. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was only a few minutes, his eyesight returned, revealing a soft green meadow, much like those surrounding the Cheetah tribe homelands. And then, in a most delightful irony, Spyro spotted a single sheep, grazing by a small tree. Spyro’s hunger got the better of him. How could he find Cynder without the energy to fly? Stealing himself for the attack, Spyro created a rough plan on how to instantly kill the beast, and thus cause minimal suffering. A strong, swift bite to the base of the creature’s skull would suffice, but it would require that he attack from above. Launching himself skywards, he used some low-lying clouds for cover, gliding through them easily. Fortunately, though his head hurt, flying helped to clear the purple dragon’s head, the wind feeling surprisingly refreshing.  Once he was at the right angle, Spyro tucked in his wings and dove towards his prey, as a falcon might when ambushing a pigeon mid-flight. He landed just as planned, griping the terrified ewe’s skull. One second and a twist later, the sheep was lying on the ground, peaceful at last. Using his flames, Spyro singed away most of its fur, allowing him to feed unimpeded. The meat was tender, which suited Spyro just fine. Surviving for days on dried meat alone was not the most pleasant experience. Once he was half way through his meal, Spyro thought he heard a rustle next to him. That was all the warning he received before he was roughly kicked sideways by a pair of iron clad hooves.

“Get away from her, you monster! Go on, get. Next time, you’ll spend the rest of the afternoon puttin’ your face back together!” The orange pony stared at Spyro, looking like she had daggers for eyes. Spyro backed away, still processing what the mare had said. Not wanting to start a fight, he tried apologising.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean you any harm. I was hungry you see, and well, I can’t survive without meat.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “I am sorry, honestly.”

“Well, it don’t make much difference if you’re sorry. Ponies don’t take kindly to dragons, especially those who kill livestock.” The orange mare started to advance, eyes locked with the dragons. Spyro knew he was running out of options, but continued to talk.

“Listen to me, please. I had no such idea your kind were here, let alone that you had livestock.” Spyro backed away, considering a retreat. “I mean you know harm.” Unfortunately, this pony was as stubborn as a mule.

“Well I sure as hell mean you harm, you monster!” That’s it, he was out of options. Lowering his stance, Spyro flared out his wings, baring his teeth.

“I told you, I’m not one to fight needlessly. But if that’s what you are looking for, I shall not hesitate to defend myself.” Despite all attempts at a peaceful resolution, it seemed this mare was intent on being foolish. The pony in question, simply grunted, spun on the spot and bucked, aiming for Spyro’s eyes. The dragon had been in the centre conflict for most of his short life, and thus had no trouble in side stepping the pony and then sweeping at her front legs with one, deft swipe of his tail. The orange pony fell flat on her face, before getting up and charging directly for Spyro.

“Seriously… again?” Spyro was tired and simply wanted to end this battle as quickly as possible. Feeling the earth within and around him, the dragon encased himself in rock, levitating a few metres into the air. When the pony was close, the purple dragon dropped down, creating a shock wave which knocked his assailant a good twenty metres away. He flew over to investigate. Much to Spyro’s relief, she was alive, albeit unconscious. If it were not for his acute hearing, the dragon would not have heard the sound of footsteps behind him.

“Cynder, you found me…” He looked down at the pony’s unconscious body. Upon following his gaze, Cynder’s eyes lit up.

“Food!” Before Spyro could stop her, Cynder went to grab her flank within her maw. Spyro acted quickly, in utter desperation. He locked one of his horns under her neck, pulling Cynder away from the pony.

“Wait… Cynder, ugh, I have already made a kill, see?” He pointed a front paw towards the dead sheep. “We will have to feed elsewhere, these ponies are sentient. I fear that they won’t take kindly to what’s happened.  Cynder eyed the pony suspiciously, a trail of smoke curled from her nostrils, a sign of agitation.

“And what exactly did happen?” Spyro shook his head, whilst walking towards the half consumed carcass. He gripped with all four paws and then flared his wings.

“I’ll explain later, we need to get out of here first.” Nodding in agreement, Cynder took to the skies effortlessly. Spyro followed, slower than his mate, but with a swift pace nonetheless. They landed in a clearing on the edge of a vast forest, broken only by a few small areas of grass and distant mountains. Unbeknown to the two dragons, a cyan Pegasus followed close behind. Landing from cloud to cloud, she observed as the darker of the two purple figures began to, much to her disgust, consume the meat offered by the other. When she was close enough, the pony let out a furious war cry before diving, directly at the monsters that had hurt her friend. Just before she struck, Spyro shouted out to his companion.

“Cynder, dive now!” She unleashed the power of shadow, disappearing into the ground with a cloud of smoke, just before she was tackled by the Pegasus. The pony in question crashed to the ground with a soft thud. Before she could react, the assailant found she was pined to the ground, by none less than the dragon who had disappeared just moments ago.

“Hey, get off me, you over grown piece of…” Before she could say any more, Cynder whipped her tail forward, placing its bladed tip against the creature’s throat, who stopped squirming immediately.

“Cynder, stop, don’t kill her. Doing so will just make their population fearful of us.” Spyro, by no means felt particularly compelled to become friends with this pony, but nor did she deserve death. Cynder bared her teeth, before roaring into the ponies face. The force of her breath alone caused the Pegasus’s rainbow coloured mane to flap in the wind.

“Leave now and do not bother our kind again. Understand, pony?” The cyan Pegasus nodded roughly. The moment Cynder let her go; she flew out of the clearing as fast as possible, short of creating a sonic rainboom. Cynder snorted with amusement.

“Wow, she is desperately slow, a poor fighter too. Spyro, were you met with such hostility?” Cynder decided to feed later, opting instead, to nuzzle her mate’s neck. The male dragon sighed.

“Yes… I thought we were done fighting, Cynder. I had hoped, no, I believed that we wouldn’t have to do this anymore.” All of the pain, misery and violence, was starting to catch up to him. “We have both killed, countless times. Can’t… can’t we just have some p-peace.” Tears began making tracks down Spyros face, wiped clean by Cynder’s paw.

“It is over, Spyro; we can just leave; fly away from here… just the two of us.” Cynder cast a wing over her mate, just as she had when trapped in the centre of Avalar. But this time, Spyro stirred.

“No… we have to make peace, I have to apologise. I don’t want enemies, Cynder, even if we can just leave them behind.” Spyro looked towards the edge of the forest. Cynder nodded, realising that she could not leave in good conscience. The sun was now directly overhead, offering warmth and courage to the companions, despite the challenge they faced ahead.

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Rainbowdash was terrified, A dragon that can use magic? Two of them? I have to warn Twilight, she’ll know what to do. Her thoughts were rapid and confused, but she still managed to reach the library before lunch. Crashing through the door, she called for Twilight.

“Rainbowdash, what’s the matter?” Twilight was utterly confused. She had never seen her confident friend so fearful.  The last time she had seen any traces of terror, was during the young flyers competition.

“Twilight… Applejack was attacked by dragons!” The first image which sprang to mind was that of huge beasts, bigger than mountains, ripping her farm pony friend apart, piece by piece. It was a completely impossible scenario, but for Twilights fear ridden brain, it was all that made sense.

“WHAT! HOW MANY?! HOW BIG WERE THEY?!” She immediately levitated a quill, ink and blank letter onto her desk. A letter would need to be sent to the princesses immediately.

“Umm, there were two and they were about your height. They were both purple, like Spike, but one of them was a darker shade.” This caught Twilight unawares; she thought for certain Applejack could handle even two dragons, assuming they were the size Rainbowdash described.

“Is Applejack ok?” Twilight asked, now curious at the answer.

“Oh yeah, they just knocked her out. I was kinda surprised really; I thought they would have just killed her.” Rainbowdash paused for a moment, bringing a single hoof up to rub her chin. “When I followed them into the Everfree forest, I saw they had taken one of Applejacks sheep… and… and were eating her.”

“So what did you do?” Twilight asked, as she scribbled furiously on her draft letter.

“Well, I tried to tackle the darker of the two, from sound her voice; I think she was a female. But just as I was about to hit, she disappeared. Then she pinned me to the ground, flicked her tail forward and put this weird, blade thing at the end of her tail against my neck.” Twilight dropped her quill, shocked at the dragoness’s apparent violence.

“How did you escape?” Rainbowdash looked away, embarrassed about what had happened.

“I didn’t, the other dragon, a male, told the female not to kill me. He said that he didn’t want ponies to be frightened of them.” She snorted before continuing. “Guess they didn’t succeed with that one. Anyway, the female roared into my face, then told me to leave them alone. She released me after that, so I flew here.” Twilight finished writing and rolled up the scroll.

“Ok, I’ll get Spike to send this letter to the Princess, and then we can go look for Applejack. We need to get her someplace safe; maybe she can offer more information on the situation.”