Even Gods Make Mistakes

Once they had finished their meal, Spyro and Cynder buried the carcass, allowing its remaining nutrients to feed the lives of others. It was now early afternoon, but thanks to a lifetime of practise, the pair could easily cross the several kilometres in just a few minutes without much effort. The sea of green below, passed in a blur, revealing rolling fields and a small town on the horizon. There was very little cover on the ground, so the pair gained altitude, hoping to pass for small birds. Beneath their gaze, ponies of every shade and colour went about their business. Once over the outskirts of town, they dropped down to land. There was a soft thud as their paws struck the dirt, followed by a deathly silence from the dozen ponies surrounding their arrival. Cynder could not help but snort in disgust, was this really how ponies reacted to anything different? The next reaction was even more pitiful; everypony screamed and ran. A few larger individuals, led by one very big red stallion, advanced towards them, stern faced and ready to fight.

“Are you sure about this, Spyro? I don’t know what these ponies intend for us, but it doesn’t look good.” Cynder inched closer to her mate. Gripping the ground with her talons in anxiety, she flared out her wings, just in case.

“Yes, we have done enough killing, it’s time to stop.” He waited for Cynder to relax before addressing the ponies directly. “We mean you no harm. We wish to surrender unto you. Our claws are yours, our horns held high.” Once completing the speech of fealty, both Spyro and Cynder allowed themselves to be surrounded by the ponies. The large red pony, marched up to them glaring angrily.

“Ya’ll hurt my sister?” The ponies voice was deep, his tone even. Spyro knew he was no threat to him, but was not exactly looking forward to his reaction.

“Was she orange with a blond mane and tail?” This was all the conformation required. Like he had done, so many times before, the red pony spun and kicked out with a single hoof. Striking Spyro in the jaw, the dragons head snapped back, protected, fortunately, by his hard scales and tough skeletal system. Cynder growled, but remained still. Spyro would never forgive her, if she despatched the offending stallion. Cracking his neck, Spyro grimaced.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Eeyup.” The red stallion gestured to his comrades, who proceeded to hog tie both dragons. Spyro remained silent, while Cynder growled the entire time, especially when her wings, along with Spyro’s, were secured to their sides with rope. Once arrested, two unicorns levitated them into the air. By some, unspoken consent, they were taken to the centre of town, where a large tree stood, apparently hollowed and converted into a private dwelling. They were dumped roughly on the ground, before being savagely kicked in the gut by a pair of stallions. Though they had intended to inflict pain, they only succeeded in producing a dull thud, their hooves stopped dead in their tracks by the dragon’s natural, protective armour. The door swung open, seemingly of its own accord, to reveal a lavender coloured unicorn and the rainbow maned Pegasus they encountered earlier. The first seemed bewildered, while the latter seemed to act with bravado. False bravery, both Spyro and Cynder knew, but they said nothing.

“You two again? You have some nerve showing up here. You’re lucky I don’t kick your flanks into next Tuesday!” She was silenced by the unicorn, who simply stared at the sight before her.

“Rainbow, make sure Spike stays in the bedroom for a while, until I figure out what to do.” The purple mare watched her friend disappear upstairs, before turning back to the two dragons. Cynder tried to think of all possible actions she could take, but decided to go with the simplest one. She allowed herself, despite the indignity of it, to be roughly carried inside and then locked in some sort of basement. Although dragons had excellent eyesight, there was no light whatsoever, thus the room appeared pitch black.

“Spyro, are you there?” Cynder was sick of being tied up, so she proceeded to cut the ropes surrounding her torso with the blades on her wings, and then ripped through the others with her tail.

“Yeah, hang on a moment; I’m going to give us some light.” A bright, but small flame soon filled the space in front of Spyro’s head, the purple dragon using it to burn away the ropes holding his paws together and wings shut. Once he was back on his feet, he suspended the flame in the air, revealing the barren room, within which they now resided. Cynder moved forward and nuzzled her mate, offering her support after having witnessed him getting kicked. She then leant back and blew smoke into his face.

“So now what, wise guy? Honestly, you are thicker than a log at times.” Spyro pouted, pretending to look hurt. He knew not, how the ponies would treat either of them, but hoped for the best.

“Well, I guess we wait. We could easily escape, I know, but what kind of message would that send?” Cynder sighed. She could break down the doors like they were paper, but, deep down, knew that it was wrong. They were the invaders, thus needed to suffer the consequences.

“So, what do you wanna do in the mean time?” To Cynder’s delight, Spyro replied with a sly grin.

“Well, we could always play.” Not needing any more encouragement, Cynder launched her entire weight at Spyro, wings and talons flared. Spyro rolled over backwards, planning to flip his companion back over towards the wall behind him. His plan succeeded, but at the last moment, Cynder grabbed his torso with her hind legs, pulling him with her. Spinning him around, she held Spyro against the floor for a moment, before blowing more smoke at him.

“Pinned you, HA!” She leapt off and retreated, laughing all the while. Spyro got up swiftly, shaking his head. He grinned broadly. The young dragon hadn’t had  chance for fun since he was raised by dragonflies.

“Oh you are really going to get it now.”

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Twilight hadn’t the slightest clue of how to proceed. The dragons were secure, she hoped, but for how long? Would they try to escape, and if so, why hadn’t they done so already? Big Mack had been adamant that they were just monsters, but upon being pressed for details, admitted, judgingly, that the pair had offered their surrender and a call for peace. For this reason, she felt that it was her duty to talk with the two dragons, for better or worse. Anypony, or anydragon for that matter, deserved to have their voices heard. After making sure that Spike was out of the library, Twilight descended to the basement, magically unlatching the dead bolt. It was a magical lock, only able to broken by her, or one of the royal sisters. The door swung open, revealing a sight of absolute tranquillity. A pile of tattered ropes were lying in the centre of the room, while a dim flame burned, with no apparent source, near the ceiling. In the far corner, were the two dragons, curled up, the lighter colour resting his head over the neck of the other. The darker was resting her head on its companion’s front paws. While their tails intertwined, the bodies could scarcely be told apart, save for their colour.

“Ahem.” The interruption caused both captives to bolt upwards, apparently expecting an attack. When they saw the lone mare by the door, both relaxed. The two dragons glanced towards each other briefly, before the lighter purple dragon spoke up.

“Sorry, we have seen a fair amount of violence in our time, so we tend to be on constant alert.” The now obviously male dragon coughed before continuing. “My name is Spyro and this is my mate, Cynder.” The female simply nodded, allowing her companion to do the talking. Twilight hesitantly answered, still unsure of the dragon’s intent.

“Umm, m-my name is T-Twilight Sparkle. Is it true, that you attacked my friend applejack?” She quickly regretted the

situation, as the one named Cynder was quick to anger.

“Only in defence, if your so called friend wasn’t so stubborn, we would have had no reason to harm her. Then we come to apologise, but what do you do? You tie us up and throw us in your dungeon.” Once again, Spyro was forced to intervene. Cynder was a good dragon, but she was capable of losing her temper, especially when it concerned Spyro.

“Cynder, be nice.” The dragoness snarled, but allowed her mate to speak. “Now, I’ll start from the beginning. We were involved in a… war.” Twilight looked back to the door nervously, war was not something she enjoyed thinking about, and the mere mention of it gave her serious anxiety. “This was on a planet, one which is different to this I can tell, called Avalar. We were both destined to die, but for some reason, I woke up in a quiet meadow. I had not fed in days, so when I spotted a sheep a little while away… I was… forced to make a kill, else starvation for both myself and Cynder, would have been a serious threat.”

Twilight was now very worried, carnivores? I thought dragons just ate gems. She quickly recalled some defensive spells, just in case. Oblivious to this, Spyro continued his tale.

“While I was feeding, your friend kicked me away. I tried to apologise and explain the situation, offering that I would just leave, not wanting any trouble, but she could not be persuaded. I was forced to leave her unconscious. Just after I accomplished this, Cynder found me, so we retreated into a nearby forest with our kill. We landed in a clearing, where we were attacked a second time, in this case, by your blue flying friend.” Cynder could not help but laugh at the mention of the Pegasus.

“That pony couldn’t fly to save herself. She is one of the slowest fliers I have ever seen.” This caught Twilights attention; it was not every day Rainbowdash was accused of being slow. Cynder took over the role of speaking, by instinctive consent. “When she attacked, I used my magic to dodge and then pin her to the ground. Ha, we sure sent her packing!” Twilight nodded.

“And then you came here to apologize? Why?” Spyro resumed talking, so close was the bond between him and Cynder, that they could almost read each other’s minds.

“Because, we have seen too much pain and suffering in our lives, we want it to stop.” Twilight had heard enough. Although she could see that they had been through a lot, there was only one way to tell if they were telling the honest truth. It wasn’t something that either dragon would like, but it had to be done.

“Spyro, Cynder, personally, I believe you when you ask for peace, even if you are… carnivores.” Twilight sighed, still wondering how to deal with the situation fully. Celestia still had not replied to her original letter, and she was worried that its contents were slightly biased. “To be sure you tell the truth however, you need to meet the element of honesty.”

“And who might that be, young pony.” Cynder’s slightly agitated tone earned a glare from Spyro, but Twilight ignored it.

“The orange mare you left unconscious, and for future reference, her name is Applejack.”