Ponyville was going through its daily activities, even at the School of Friendship. Something that was a little different right now would be a teenage dragon named Prominence, she was visiting there from the Dragon Lands. She certainly made herself known to the community for her competitive behavior. She met the students there, especially her own kind who are studying there, including Smolder of course. While she managed to get on the good side of a couple of dragons and some of the other students, like Garry and Geena, plus a couple of yaks like Trud. Most of them weren't really up for her brash personality. Still, many creatures were willing to try and warm up to her.
It was almost evening, the sun was about to set on the hills, Prominence was hanging out with Sunshine, Gus, and some of the dragon students excluding Smolder. They were at the Ponyville Cafe talking about how things were going for them, exchanging their bits of information, and more while having the nice drink of their ordered refreshments like iced tea or lemonade. Mosty, it was Prominence learning about how the dragons had been doing at the school. She was a little surprised by what she heard from them.
"Okay, so... Ballet," Prominence spoke up first, putting down her cup of soda. "It’s some kind of a pony dance, right?"
"Sure is," Pyther, who was sitting beside her, confirmed, then took a sip of her half-finished iced tea.
"If it involves wearing that weird skirt, you wouldn't catch me dead in it."
"Heh. Probably because it would've taken all of your life to learn it." Pyther snickered to herself as Emerald determined to speak next.
"Exactly,” Emerald, who was also sitting beside her together with her twin sister, said, still holding her cup of lemonade. “Anyways, I'm a part of the school's journalist club for the school’s newspaper. We report any story that needs attention. Like… only a few weeks ago, there’s this family of pegasi that adopted an eight-year-old male griffon who was poorly abandoned, trying to find some food."
“Really!” Emerald nodded. “How was he now?”
“He was doing fine. Gallus and Smolder said that his adoptive sister was very jealous of him, and she finally reconciled with him afterward.”
"That sounds cool. What else?"
"Well, we've been wanting to get an interview with you. We're very curious about how you've been doing in Ponyville so far."
"Eh,… it's fine I guess. Wish I didn't have to be so cautious about my surroundings. Why do ponies have to make their homes so fragile?"
"Probably because we live in a rocky area," Pyther spoke with a chuckle.
"Yeah," Gus agreed, still drinking his cup of soda. "You should learn how to deal with wooden structures."
Prominence just rolled her eyes as she looked toward Flare and Tanzanite, who were right in front of them, both drinking their cups of lemonade. "So, what do you guys do?"
"Oh, I… I haven't found my thing at school yet," Tanz admitted. "It's a real shame. I thought I would've gotten the hang of potions."
"Eh, I think I did okay," Flare scoffed.
"You made a love poison that caused the students to go crazy over each other. And don't even think about throwing Tarsi under the cart with you."
"Well… How did that book even get into the classroom?"
"You think I know?"
As they argue, Prominence stopped listening to the boys as she knew they were going to be like this for a while. Instead, she drew her attention to the twins beside her. "Okay, so what do you girls do?" Prominence asked. “I’ve already heard Emerald about telling interesting stories, what about you, Peridot?”
"Oh… Ugh… I'm a cheerleader," Peridot responded nervously. "It's pretty fun."
"Is that another pony sport in a dress?" Peridot nodded in confirmation "Great. Is there anything that ponies don't do while wearing a skirt?"
"Yes. They have Buckball," Sunshine informed. "From what I've heard it's a blast to play."
"Heh. Sounds good to me. Remind me to try it out sometime." The hippogriff gave a thumbs up before he noticed the sun was setting.
"Hey, maybe we should be getting back to school," Sunshine said. “Look outside.” They looked out to see the town’s atmosphere turned from bright to the shade of yellow and orange.
"Yeah, you’re right. It’s getting kind of late," Emerald commented.
"Hey, we can still talk about what you guys do here," Prominence said.
“Yep. C’mon, let’s go.” Gus, Sunshine, and the dragons got up and started heading back towards the school. Peridot was the first to open the door and let her friends out of the cafe first. As they're walking, little do they know that they're unaware that somebody was following them.
The figure who was following them looked to be bipedal like the dragons and even had some black horns pointing backward. The body was covered up with black clothing though Its red eyes showed through its mask, which matched the scarf it wore. In between its eyes, there were yellow scales. On the creature's back was a slightly curved hilt that had a blade resting in it. Attached to its belt, the figure had some star-shaped blades on its left side and a pouch that was filled with some orange powder on the right side. Jumping off the top of trees and buildings, the figure followed the group that consisted mostly of dragons. Again, the students weren’t aware that they'd been followed.
"I can't say I didn't want to come here," Pyther admitted. "I was still kind of going with what the former Dragon Lord, Torch, said about ponies here."
"Yeah. I'm busy thinking about the dragon who wanted to steal pillows," Prominence commented. "I mean... I still like rocks, but pillows are something I never got enough of. You know, they’re soft, fluffy…”
As they kept chatting, the figure looked down at the dragon and grabbed the pouch, and chucked it very hard down to the ground, making the powder burst and spread to form an orange cloud. This made them shriek as they were engulfed in the thick cloud. They were puzzled.
“What was that?” Sunshine said in shock.
“I don’t know…” Gus replied. They then heard loud sneezes and coughs. They then see that the dragons were having a much bigger problem. They coughed and even sneezed out some fire. They weren't in control of themselves right now. “What’s going on!!!???”
"What… WHEEZE!… What is this stuff?" Flare wheezed.
Emerald let out several coughs and sneezes before she answered. "I think... ACHOO!… this is dragon… ACHOO!… sneeze powder," she sneezed.
The thick orange cloud was making it hard to breathe, let alone speak. Seeing the trouble their friends were in, Gus and Sunshine started helping them get out of the cloud. They only managed to pull Peridot and Tanz out of the cloud. They still kept sneezing and coughing. “You two are okay?” Gus asked with a concerned tone.
“We’re okay,” Tanzanite coughed. Peridot then let out a very loud sneeze with fire coming out of her mouth, and smoke coming out of her nostrils.
“Good enough. You stay here, me and Sunshine will get the others.”
Gus and Sunshine are about to get back in to save their dragon friends, that’s when they saw the mysterious figure who threw the powder bomb leaped down into it. It first jabbed Pyther in very precise places of her body. From neck to armpits, to hips, and stomach. Whatever the combination was, Pyther went limp and collapsed roughly to the ground.
"Gah! Why can't I move?" Pyther said to herself, unable to feel her whole body.
At a speed of light, this figure then went to Emerald and did the same to her. From neck to armpits, to hips, and stomach. She felt limped and then collapsed. And then again, the same thing to Flare, from neck to armpits, to hips, and stomach. He went limp and collapsed, not feeling anything in his body.
Prominence saw what happened to them in horror, and she had yet to be attacked and tried to fight the unknown figure back. Her continuous sniffling and stinging eyes have made it harder than it usually would be. She could barely see. Though she could feel the figure jabbing her in specific places that made her body stop working. Her arms and legs couldn't support her and Prominence collapsed like the rest of the dragons.
Gus and Sunshine tried tackling the figure to the ground, but he appeared to be much stronger than them. They were being flung into the air. It then grabbed those star-shaped blades and threw them at its targets. They were nearly stabbed by them.
"Oh my goodness, that was close!" Sunshine cried. He flew off to get help, though Gus wasn't letting the figure off with an easy victory.
The griffon dove down just as the figure was drawing out a blade from its sheet. Gus rammed into him, forcing the long curved blade out of its claws, and landed beside the unconscious dragons, still laying down like they’re dead. The griffon decided to take the bipedal creature up to the sky. Since it didn't have wings, it wouldn't be able to fly, though it did something surprising.
It kicked Gus in the stomach, making the griffon lose his grip. It hurts so much, he almost collapsed. Given how high they got, Gus thought there was going to be a pancake on the ground in a minute. The figure then saw Sunshine and then punched him in the bells as hard as he could. Sunshine yelled in pain, and small drops of tears came out of his eyes. He collapsed a little and held his area with his claws as it was very painful to handle.
However, the creature removed its scarf and lassoed a nearby tree branch, swinging back into the air with the tail just centimeters from the ground. It soon unhooked the scarf from the tree and landed. Running over to the blade, it picked the sword up and dropped a smoke bomb on the ground.
Gus and Sunshine, still in pain, flew to the smoke cloud to find that the figure had vanished. "Where did he go?" Sunshine questioned, still holding his injured parts.
“Don’t know. He just ran away.” This question would have to be answered later as they drew their attention to the dragons. Aside from Peridot and Tanzanite, who already felt unconscious, they were all lying on the ground unable to move their bodies and in pain from the powder entering their systems, including Prominence. “This ain’t good,” Gus said to himself.
The next morning, Peridot, Tanzanite, and the other dragons were in the hospital, including Sunshine and Gus. They were recovering from what happened the night before while all the other dragons were still healing. This was likely due to the fact they were stuck inside of the dust cloud longer than them.
“How’re you feeling, Perri?” Tanz asked.
“Feeling better,” she replied. “I’ve never sneezed that hard in my life. My nose was pretty itchy.” Peridot walked over to her twin sister, Emerald, who had just woken up. “Emma?”
“Oh, Perri. You okay?”
“I’m okay. How are you feeling?"
“Not good,” Emerald groaned. “My eyes are still stinging.”
"You think that's bad?" Prominence, who was right beside her, exclaimed. "I can't feel my legs!"
Emerald and Tanz then saw Flare and Pyther in front of them, still on their hospital beds under their deep slumber. “How we’re Flare and Pyther doing?”
“Still doing fine,” Prominence replied, “But they are in pretty bad shape.”
Gus and Sunshine had also spent the night at the hospital, and it didn't take long for them to wake up after hearing this. The griffon didn't wait to state the facts. "You're not the only one who was attacked by whatever that creature was," he remarked. “This thing hit me in the stomach.”
“Yeah,” Sunshine said. “It even hit me in the…” He then pointed to where that figure punched. “…Who knows where.”
“Yikes,” Peridot cringed.
“And yet,” Prominence continued. “You can still walk!”
"And you chose to come here…" Gus yelled back.
"Tanz, could you please get Gus to stop?" Emerald asked. The drake walked over to the griffon and held his beak shut with several muffled grunts as the griffon couldn't open his beak. "Thank you."
Soon, Starlight Glimmer entered the room, horrified with what she saw. Nurse Redheart was by her side and was able to catch her up to speed. "They showed up last night with two of the teenaged ones," Nurse Redheart explained. "We had to send some medics out to get them here for treatment."
"I can see that," Starlight sighed, then walked towards the students and Prominence. “Hope you all feel okay. Can somecreature explain to me what going on when yesterday’s incident happened?”
“I will,” Gus said. She then looked over to both Sunshine and Gus. They then started explaining what they’ve witnessed. From the dragon sneeze powder to the mysterious figure who attacked them.
"I see. I’m glad you’re fine. You two go back to school immediately. I'm going to stay here with the dragons for the time being." The boys understood and left the hospital, heading back into town. As she watched the boys leave the door, she then saw Prominence still on her bed. “Who’s this fella right there?”
“That’s Prominence,” Tanzanite replied. “She came here from the Dragon Lands.”
“So,” Prominence said to Starlight, “you must be that Headmare they talked about.”
“Oh, yes. I’m the one who is in charge of them.”
The news about the incident had spread rapidly. This wasn't just because Gus and Sunshine are a part of the school’s news crew, several ponies had witnessed the surprise attack as well. Word started spreading around Equestria. Not just Equestria, in other places as well, including the Dragon Lands. None of them were happy to hear about their kind being attacked, especially the parents. They demanded that Ember find answers. It would be sooner than they thought as parents of hippogriffs and changelings were concerned that they could be next. The ambassadors were called to Canterlot for the emergency meeting.
Once everyone was there, Twilight was the first to speak. “Thank you very much for coming here,” she spoke. “Now, you may have heard the news about this unknown figure who made a vicious attack on those students…”
"How could I not?" Ember interrupted. "I've got dragons who kept threatening to come here to speak with you. Obviously, it's not going to be pretty, so I nearly destroyed my throat to get them to listen."
"You did use the honey we gave you, right?" Thorax said to her.
“Of course,” she replied, then continued. “Still, we have to catch whoever the heck thought it was a smart idea it was to attack a bunch of teenagers."
"Question. Didn't it only attack the dragons?" Little Strongheart asked.
"Probably," Twilight confirmed, "There’s a report stating that two non-dragons are walking with them during that time. We still don't know why this thing did such a violent act."
“From my observation,” Queen Novo said, as she stood up from her chair, “Maybe it's because of their power.” She then turned to Dragon Lord Ember. "Ember, how much punishment can a dragon take?"
"Quite a lot, your majesty," the Dragon Lord answered. "We dragons can survive incredibly high temperatures, crushed by boulders that weigh hundreds of tons. Most of us fight each other daily, usually, the worst thing that happens if there is a black eye."
"Don't dragons break bones?" Gilda questioned her. “You mentioned that they were getting crushed by giant boulders by that amount.”
“Only in rare cases. Even then it's usually something like when an adult is a little too rough when training their children. I don't know any other creature who could whip the floor with a dragon so fast."
"Creature not fight fair," Rutherford reminded. "They use sneeze powder."
"You mean the powder from a Dragon Sneeze Tree?" Spike questioned. The yak prince nodded in confirmation.
"That means the criminal came prepared," Thorax guessed.
“True. Plus, according to witnesses,” Twilight added, “The creature looked an awful lot like a dragon. Though, it was still missing the wings. However, judging by its size and age, it should've molted by now.”
"So, it's not a dragon," Iron Will commented.
"Then what is it?" Rutherford questioned.
"If we knew that, we wouldn't be standing here and talking about it," Ember grumbled, "We'd be locking that guy behind bars!" She nearly stood up onto the table if it wasn't for Thorax and Spike holding her back.
Sitting back down, Novo gave a low brow. "Was that appropriate?" the hippogriff asked.
"How else would you act if you were still agitated from dragons asking you non-stop questions?"
"How about you and I take a five-minute break?" Spike said, still holding her arm.
"He’s right," Thorax commented. “You don’t want to take it too far in this room.” Both dragons walked out of the room so Ember could calm down a little bit. As they walked down the hall, Spike decided to talk with his friend to help her calm down.
"I know you're under a lot of stress," the younger dragon noted, "Especially since what you and Thorax went through recently."
"Please, don’t remind me of that," Ember grumbled. "I felt like I just cleaned up someone’s mess, and then another one just fell into my lap."
"You know, I could always drop by when you need some help."
"Spike, I don't want you to get caught up in my problems."
"Hey, that's what friends do. Let's just get you something to snack on, probably some gemstone pastries, and then we can get back to business." Ember just muttered some words to herself as she and Spike carried on down the hall.
At the School of Friendship, there’s a lot of turmoil going on there. All of the students there have heard the news about the incident, even their closest friends got so troubled when hearing this. They kept talking and talking about the incident, worrying that they could be next to join with them. The Young Six was no exception to this. They’re in the hallways having a conversation with each other.
“This is horrible!” Gallus said in a bothered tone, wandering around in circles. “Why do they think that teenagers, who are one-twentieth the size of their parents, would be such a threat?"
"We're connected to the spirit of harmony," Silverstream noted.
“That's different,” he exclaimed. “We're the chosen ones by the spirit.”
Smolder and Ocellus were a little concerned about this, feeling internally panicked that they might be the next target. "What if it's not just Ponyville?" Ocellus panicked. "Could other places be next?"
"I don't know," Smolder responded. "I'm still trying to figure out how their bodies just stopped working."
"Exactly. Maybe there was some sort of magic involved." Sandbar took note of his panicking friends and offered some advice.
"Look, girls, I know this is bad," the colt spoke, "But I'm sure our professors, or the royals, or… some creature is trying to find a solution. Besides, we're safe here and in the tunnels as well."
"Yona thinks friends worrying too much," Yona said.
"That's probably because Sandbar already talked to you," Gallus commented. Yona glared at the griffon who just gave a smug look.
"Still, Sandbar's right," Ocellus commented. "We should try to calm down until we know what we're dealing with." The Young Six carried on down the hall until they saw Gus and Sunshine, who looked to be having their own conversation.
"We can't get involved with this anymore," the hippogriff stated.
“Look, I can get us some tools we need, and show the creature what consequences are,” Gus responded. “We could even just use my cross... Oh, hey guys.”
The young six seemed to have interrupted the griffon’s plan. Gus was kind of happy with this as Sandbar decided to speak first. “How are the dragons doing?” the colt asked.
“Peridot and Tanz are both doing better than the others,” Sunshine informed. “The doctors say that they should be fine by the end of the day.”
Sandbar and the rest felt relieved. “That’s good to hear.”
“What were you guys talking about?” Gallus asked.
“I was saying that we’re going to catch the creature that put the dragons in the hospital,” Gus explained.
“You think that’s a good idea?”
“That’s what I said,” Sunshine spoke.
“He’s right, Gus,” Ocellus commented. “We don't know what this crook could do. They could probably have magic to probably... maybe open portals or something.”
“Then they could’ve just summoned one to keep the dragons in until they starved to death,” Gus retorted. “That… or they… could be warped somewhere that didn’t have oxygen, like the bottom of the ocean.”
Sunshine and the young six were a little disturbed by this. “...Right then,” Gallus spoke. “If you are going to do something, how about you tell us where that attack happened since you’re with them yesterday.”
“Right. So, we were just leaving the cafe when the smoke bomb hit the ground. And that’s when the figure appeared doing some… I don’t know… martial arts thing that made them feel limped.”
“Okay. You bring your news stuff, then we could go head there and try to find a piece of evidence.”
“Sounds great. Let me know if you need anything you think will be helpful.”
“Got it,” he grinned. The two griffons gave a fist bump to each other before Gus and Sunshine flew away. Ocellus knew this was a bad idea and made sure to remind the blue griffon.
“Gallus, what are you thinking!?” the changeling said, grabbed his feathered chest, and pressed her face to his beak. “Do you really wanna get us in trouble?”
“Look,” he said, pushing her back, “Gus was going to get involved regardless of what we did. We might as well help him to make sure he doesn’t get in over his head.”
Sandbar was about to object, but he had a feeling Gallus knew the griffon more than they did. “Maybe he’s got a point,” he admitted. “Just make sure that we don’t get into trouble with the princess.”
“No promises.” The six walked away to their next classes while worrying about how things would go if they were to help Gus and Sunshine.
Recess has arrived, and everyone got out of their classrooms. Sunshine and Gus were still having a conversation, still in disagreement with their plan. “Gus, do you know what’ll happen if Princess Twilight hears about our plan?” the hippogriff questioned. “You know we’ll be in big trouble!”
“You were attacked too, it just punched right at your bells,” Gus said. “I’m sure that the dragons would be rooting for us. Plus the students that are friends with the said species.” They stopped for a while as they heard a cry coming from the lobby. The boys looked over to see Coral, who was sitting on a couch feeling sad and upset. They then walked towards her. “Hey Coral, how are you doing?”
“How do you think I’m doing?” the hippogriff responded angrily, with tears flowing down to her cheeks. “My close friend, Pyther, is in the hospital. No one knows who did it to her and I don’t know if she’ll be okay!” She held her claws to her eyes and sobbed very hard. They felt bad. Pyther and Coral were very close friends since they first came here to the school.
“Hey, don’t cry. You know I was going to ask you if you wanted to tag along with us.”
Coral then pulled her claws away to make her sorrowful eyes visible. “With what?”
“Finding out who that thing was.”
“Will we catch the jerk who did it?”
“Maybe. Shall we?” He then held his claw, telling her to shake claws if she agrees to go with them. Sunshine leaned out from behind Gus and was singling Coral to say no. Instead, she shook Gus’s talon, leaving Sunshine to facepalm.
“Fiddlesticks!” Sunshine murmured to himself.
After school, Gus, Sunshine, and Coral waited outside the front of the school for the young six to show up. They should’ve shown up by now. “You sure they’re coming?” Coral questioned.
“They said they would be here,” Sunshine answered.
“Don’t worry. I think they could catch up,” Gus said. He put his claw in his bag and grabbed a notepad and a pencil. He handed them to Sunshine while he carried a camera. “Here, Coral, you can take this.” He handed the hippogriff a microphone that was attached to a tape recorder. “Pretend that you’re a part of the news crew and we’re trying to get some information and sources about the attack. Come on.” Gus quickly took off with the hippogriff flying off to catch up.
The young six exited the building when they could see Coral and the boys heading downtown. “Oh, crud,” Gallus groaned, “Guys, wait up!” He and his friends did their best to catch up, but Gus’s team had a head start.
Downtown, some guards were surrounding the area of the attack. Some bystanders, most of them were journalists, were being questioned about the events that happened last night when the news team arrived.
“Oh, man, the guards are here,” Sunshine sighed.
“It’s okay. Just follow my lead,” Gus ordered. They landed in front of one of the guards, who wasn’t pleased to see them.
“Hold it,” the guard ordered. “This area is restricted.”
“We know. But we need to take some photos and get some information for our school’s newspaper. Mind if we get a closer look?”
“I’m sorry, but by order of the princess, no civilians are allowed in this area.”
“You know that you failed to stop a spoiled child, a bug made of burnt Swiss cheese, and a creature that’s clearly compensating for something. You think you can keep ponies away from a crime scene like this!?”
The guard didn’t like the attitude, so Sunshine decided to cut in. “I’m sorry, sir,” he apologized, “Our friends were injured and got taken to hospital. We just want to know more so we can find out if they’re going to be okay.”
“That’s understandable, but orders are orders.”
Coral then decided to give it a try and put on a sad face. “Sir, please!” she sighed, “I’m really worried about my friend. Can’t we just go in for five minutes before we have to leave?” The guard simply shook his head, making Gus get frustrated.
“Hey, you sure I can’t just test my camera?” he asked. Without warning, he shoved the camera in the guard’s face and pressed the button, making a very bright flash. The guard yelped in pain as the griffon flew towards the crime scene.
“He’s never done that before,” Sunshine noted. He and Coral flew after the griffon, who was now being targeted by the rest of the guards. Gus tried using his flashing attack to keep them away from him. He managed to take useful pictures, like a picture of some orange powder on the ground. Eventually, he was caught by the guards and his camera was taken away from him.
“Hey, I need that!” Gus cried.
“I think we’re done here,” Sunshine spoke. He grabbed his friend by his tail and started dragging him away. “Grr. Coral, help, please.” Both hippogriffs pulled the angry griffon away, just as the young six showed up. They could hear him screaming for his friends to let go of him while also throwing insults at the guards. Gallus was having second thoughts right now.
“Okay. If we leave, we don’t have to get involved,” he whispered.
“That’s what I suggested in the first place,” Ocellus furiously stated.
“I was hoping that we could meet up with them before something like this happened.” The six students quietly slipped away while an angry griffon was still fighting with his friends.
After about half an hour, Gus and Sunshine were in their dorm room with Coral. “What was that?” she furiously exclaimed.
“For one, I showed how bad their military was,” Gus scoffed.
“You know what I meant. You fought with us halfway here. You know how much you weigh?”
“You can cry about your coat getting sweaty later.”
“Right after you give us an answer.”
“Yeah,” Sunshine agreed, “You’re usually so obedient.”
“That’s because that’s stuff like schoolwork. Stuff I don’t have a choice to do. This was our friends getting attacked. You think I want to just stand back and watch the disaster silently?”
“Look, I’m just as upset as you guys, but the princess is already on it and the criminal will be found eventually.”
“Uh-huh. I’m not going to wait that long. I’m going to find one of the changelings to see if they can help.” The griffon walked out of the room, leaving the hippogriffs confused.
“Why would he...? Oh no! WAIT!” Sunshine quickly took off to stop Gus from his next plan. He managed to catch up and had to ask, “Hold up! What in the name of Queen Novo are you planning?!”
“I'm making a plan to bring that li’l punk to us. The only picture I took that could be useful was the powder itself, which we know what it's made of." Gus flew around his worried friend, who didn’t like the sound of the plan. Still, he followed his friend to make sure he didn't go too far. They found Moss, who was just minding his own business until the two griffs showed up.
"Hey there. What's up?" the changeling questioned.
“We need your help with something,” Gus explained. “You already heard the news recently, right?”
“About the attack yesterday night? Of course. I’m hoping that they’ll come back feeling better, especially Tanz. What’s up?”
“Here’s the thing. Think you could be a dragon so you could help us catch that crook?"
The changeling just blinked as he had to ask, "Ooookay? And if I get injured...?"
Sunshine decided to answer this. "Listen, Moss," he explained. "Gus and I are just trying to help find that thing who attacked the dragons and us. Could you please help, so Gus doesn't do anything dangerous?"
"Woah. Uh-huh. You guys do know I will get in trouble if I get caught, right?"
"Which is why I know you'll want these," Gus spoke. He dropped a small bag in front of Moss containing a lot of bits. "Will this be enough?"
"Where did you even get this?"
"I know a griff. Just pretend to be a dragon and we'll catch it." Moss picked up the bits and just simply nodded. Gus smiled, while Sunshine was just feeling a little worried.
The P.A. system soon activated, “May I call on Gus to please report to my office? I repeat, May I call on Gus to please report to my office? Thank you,” Starlight requested.
The griffon rolled his eyes before telling the changeling something. “If I don't get detention, then meet me by the four bridges,” Gus requested. Moss just nodded as the cranky griffon flew off. Once he was gone, he looked at Sunshine.
“You're the one thing keeping him alive, are you?” the changeling asked.
“...Yes,” Sunshine sighed. “Yes, I am.”
Later that evening, Peridot and Tanzanite made their way back to the school from the hospital, still concerned about the other dragons. They’re the first ones to be dismissed since they stayed in the cloud of sneeze powder for a short amount of time than the others, and recovered so quickly. As they’re walking back, Peridot checked her surrounding to make sure that the same suspect wouldn’t come back to attack them again. Both of them were worried.
“Tanz,” Peridot said to him with a worrying look, “do you think that thing will come back and attack us again? I’m worried that it might be worse than yesterday since we’ve been out early.”
“I don’t think so,” Tanzanite replied, “But don’t worry about it, someone will take care of that. Hopefully, it’ll learn its lesson.”
“…How long will it take them to recover?” Peridot asked again.
“Probably till tomorrow or so,” Tanz guessed, “according to the doctors. I’m not sure about whatever the creature does to disable their bodies. I don't even know how that works.” He could see Peridot was still worried for the other dragons, especially with her twin sister. “I know how you feel, but we better hurry though, if we stay at school, we should be safe.”
The two began to hurriedly walk back before they’d be attacked again. Just as they nearly reach the entrance of Twilight’s castle, they saw a new dragon that they had never seen before. It was tall with a prominent chest that had green scales on it. The rest of his body was mostly yellow with his wings, eyes, and large horns being colored green. Both students were a little confused by this.
“Who is he?” Peridot whispered.
“I don’t know,” Tanz replied, “maybe he's the one Dragon Lord Ember sent.”
The unknown dragon saw the two students and walked over to them. “What’re you two doin’ out here? You don’t want to get attacked again, right? Get inside, right now,” he ordered in a booming voice. Peridot and Tanz listened and ran into the school.
The unknown dragon looked over to some bushes. “They’re gone now.”
From the bushes, a griffon’s head stuck out his head. “Good. Just... just keep wandering around until that thing decides to attack you,” Gus ordered.
The dragon, who was Moss in disguise, walked closer to him. “Did you even have a real plan here?” he questioned.
“I thought if you just made yourself look like a target. Usually, the villains overestimate themselves and think it's too easy.”
“If that's your plan, then I'll just carry on walking… aimlessly… until someone kills me.” Moss carried on while Gus followed behind by jumping into different hiding spots. “Hopefully someone will plan my funeral when I die.” Sunshine, who was regrettably there, was doing his best to keep up with the griffon. During this, the friends had some questions for each other.
“So, Gus, what did Headmare Starlight say to you?” the hippogriff questioned.
“She… threatened to make me help Professor Applejack move some manure,” the griffon explained. “After hearing her yell, the manure probably would be more pleasant.”
“That stinks,” he uttered. “No pun intended.”
“Yep.” Gus then sighed a little before he continued. “Speaking of which, where’s Coral?”
“I don't know. I haven't seen her since you paid him with that bag of bits.”
The two did their best to focus on Moss and they weren't the only ones. Gus and Sunshine then looked up, and once again, they saw it. The same figure that attacked the dragons from the night before, from a house’s rooftop, had refilled its pouch of dragon sneezing powder that was used before. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, it followed Moss for a little while until he was in the position the creature wanted.
“There it is,” Gus exclaimed quietly to Sunshine, pointing at the said figure. “Just stay put.”
The sneeze powder bomb was chucked to the ground and it burst on impact. Inside of that dragon having trouble breathing and sneezing much, Moss's form changed to that of a Roc. As the figure jumped down, it was so surprised by this, feeling confused about how that dragon just turned into a giant bird who eats molted dragons. It didn't have time before he was rammed into by the disguised changeling.
“Now's our chance!” Gus cried. He charged out of his hiding spot and grabbed onto the falling creature before slamming him into the ground. He knelt down with his knees on his head, and his claws holding tight to its claws to prevent him from escaping. “How do you like that, huh!?”
Just before Gus could remove the creature's mask, the griffon was thrown off and the katana was quickly drawn. Worried about his friend, Sunshine then jumped in, tackling the creature to the ground, again, with his knees on its head, and his claws holding tight to its claws. The katana was dropped, and Gus got back up to give a couple of punches right to its face and torso. Moss flew back down and turned into a minotaur for extra strength. He held up the creature from under its shoulders, thus its arms were stuck.
“Alright,” Gus said, walking close to the masked figure. “Hold still.” The griffon used this chance to remove the mask of the creature to find a face similar to that of a dragon.
“Um... Dragons this size usually have wings, right?” Moss questioned.
“Yep,” Sunshine confirmed. “They do.”
“How about we let our new friend here explain what he is,” Gus said. “Go ahead and speak.” They looked at the dragon-like creature who was remaining silent. They waited for the answer, but they still haven’t got it. “Oh, night owl, huh!?” Gus requested that Moss shook him around a little bit. This didn't work, so Gus decided to get creative. After a while, they got the dragon-like creature tied up in a chair next to a tree. Sunshine and Moss didn't understand what the plan was until the griffon placed an apple on the creature's head.
“Really?” Moss exclaimed. “Are you seriously going to knock that apple off its head?”
“With a crossbow,” Gus nodded.
“...Where will you get a crossbow?” Sunshine questioned.
“I brought it from Griffonstone. Be right back.” He flew back to his dorm room as Sunshine and Moss looked at the creature, who was looking a little worried while trying to escape.
"You know, I think I'd speak up if I were you." Moss nodded.
"Only if you don't use me for target practice," the creature spoke.
“Really?” Moss exclaimed again. “Now you just talk?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay then. Sooo… what are you doing here in Ponyville?”
“I've been told that creatures other than ponies are becoming a common thing.”
“A common thing?” the figure nodded. "Who told you that?"
“My clan,” it replied.
Gus soon came back, looking a little disappointed. “I’m back,” he said, “I couldn't remember where I put my arrows. Plus, I'm pretty sure I should've even had a crossbow while I'm here…”
“We've got him talking,” Sunshine interrupted.
“Nice. What did he say?”
“I think we're about to learn about his… clan.” Gus sat down and they all looked at the creature, who resumed.
“I’m not gonna say my name for now because of different concerns. So, I am a kobold. We're a lesser version of the dragons. We can't fly or breathe fire. We're not as strong, big, or as tough as the dragons. Because of this, we were slaves to them. Some couldn't take it anymore and so we began to find a way to fight back. We became trained ninjas, and we made our own fighting style just for taking out dragons.”
“So, it's got to be embarrassing when you get beaten by teenagers,” Gus mocked and snickered a little.
“Shut up!” the kobold said, just glared daggers at the griffon. "You think I came alone?"
“Excuse me?”
“Once I found out that dragons are common here, I retreated back to my team that's been exploring all around Equestria. We've strayed away from the dragon lands for now. Only some of us have traveled here.”
“Only some. Really!… And where would your gang be at now?”
"… I'll never tell you."
“Oh, wise guy, huh!?” The griffon looked over to Moss and was about to request a form that would make the kobold talk when someone else decided to speak.
"What are you doing out here?" The students looked up as they could see Dragon Lord Ember and a couple of guards by her side.
"Um... You're welcome," Gus remarked.
"I wasn't all for this Dragon Lord!" Sunshine cried. Moss was simply trying to sneak away but some of the guards caught him in the act. Ember's attention was drawn to the kobold, who was still tied up.
"You seriously caught this guy?" the dragoness questioned.
"We got lucky," Sunshine admitted.
"What kind of creature is he?" the kobold asked, looking towards Moss, who was being escorted away.
Ember didn't like being ordered by someone on her bad side. She walked over to the kobold and smacked him on the head, hard. "Hey, I'm giving the orders around here, so shut up!" she confirmed. She looked back at Sunshine and Gus, neither one knew what to do right now. "You two, go back to school. I’ll take care of him for now." Both griffs listened and were escorted away. Ember looked back at the kobold. "Alright, kid, tell me what did you do to the dragons yesterday?"
The next morning, Prominence and the other dragon students were still in the hospital, on their beds, still feeling limped. Pyther was being helped by a nurse to see if she could walk again. Nurse Redheart held her hoof, and Pyther holds it as support and got out of bed to stand. While the dragoness stood on her wobbly legs for a minute before she collapsed again.
“Ugh, what's wrong with my body?” she groaned.
“Your nerves from your brain are trying to send signals to your bodies, but something seems to be interrupting them,” Nurse Redheart explained.
She helped the teenage dragoness back into her bed as there was a knock on the door. “I'm sorry, we're not allowing visitors in this room.” The nurse kept trying to help the patients until she heard some more knocks, which were much more aggressive this time. When she heard splintering wood, she answered the door. “Do you m...?”
The mare paused when she saw Dragon Lord Ember standing in the doorway. “Do I what?” Ember said, fuming.
“Um... Nevermind.” The nurse left the room to try and avoid any conflict as Ember was followed by Spike, who seemed to be carrying some notes with him.
“So, how did that guy explain it again?”
“He said that if we similarly apply the pressure points, their bodies should regain function in no time,” Spike explained while reading the notes he had. “All we have to do is to jab it hard.”
Ember nodded and looked over to Pyther. She came beside her and held the rails of the bed. “How’re you feeling, Pyther?”
“Doing okay,” she replied, “but my legs were very unstable.”
“Where did that ninja jab you?” she asked.
“Um... I think on my neck, then on my underarms, lower back, hips, and stomach.” Pyther explained.
Spike nodded and flew behind the dragoness. “Okay, Pyther. Hold still.”
With his claws attached together to form a small spade, he jabbed her in the sections she just described. This made her flinched as Pyther already felt a jolt as she got a tingle in her legs. Looking down, she stood up and managed to stand up, albeit a little wobbly. "Wha... I can walk now?"
“Phew, can't believe that worked,” Spike admitted. “Let's get started on the others.” The young dragon went over the other patients who were still recovering. Finding out where the kobold had jabbed them and they managed to regain control of their bodies.
“Thanks for your help,” Emerald said, feeling all better. “But I still don't understand how this happened.”
“Pressure points,” Ember explained. “From what the kobold explained, everybody has pressure points.”
“Hold on,” Flare paused, “a kobold? Do you mean those unmolted versions of us?”
“Exactly,” she replied. “To continue, hitting you guys in the right spots can paralyze you for several hours. Sometimes even for days.”
"More than enough for them to get an opening," Spike added. He flew up to Prominence, who was dying to get out of bed.
"Did you at least rough the guy up?" she asked.
"Some kids beat me to it," Ember admitted. "They were told to stay out of way, especially that griffon."
“Hold on,” Emerald interrupted, "Were 'those kids' a cranky gray griffon and a bright light-yellow hippogriff wearing glasses?"
Ember rose an eyebrow while sounding a little annoyed. "Yes. You know them?"
“Unfortunately.” She slowly managed to stand with her legs feeling a little numb from being immobile for so long. Spike managed to help Emerald get her footing as Ember went to check on Prominence, who was fuming.
"Do you at least know where that... kobold, was it?" The Dragon Lord nodded as this was the right name. "Great. Where is he so I can break his bones?"
“Hold up. As much as I'd love to see that happen, we need him alive for answers. We've got him locked up in the castle right now until we can take him to Canterlot.” Prominence just groaned as Ember turned her attention to the students. “Listen, I’m glad you’re all okay, once you've all recovered, go back to the school and stay there until further notice. Understand?”
“Yes, Dragon Lord,” the students responded.
“What about me?” Prominence questioned.
“You're heading back to the Dragon Lands, tonight,” Ember ordered.
“Seriously? I was…”
"That's an order! If you get injured from whatever that kobold has planned, that's on you. You don’t want to be stuck on that bed all day long, do you?" Ember crossed her arms and waited for an answer. Prominence just groaned as her time stuck in the hospital was best described as dull.
"Fine. But can I at least stay until we know these guys are safe?"
"Alright,” Ember sighed. “Make sure that they stay in the school. I don't want anyone to blame me for something that was out of my claws." Prominence agreed to this and soon took the students back to school once they were all ready to go.
When they got back, several students were delighted and relieved to see their friends come back again. Especially some like Coral, she has been mournful and sorrowful for a while. And now when she saw Pyther again, she became joyful.
“I’m so glad you’re back,” Coral cried while giving Pyther an embrace with little tears coming out of her eyes.
“So am I,” Pyther said. “You can stop crying now.” Pyther and Coral sat down together on the lobby’s couch so they could talk for a little while after being apart for so long.
“How are you doing back there at the hospital?” the hippogriff asked.
“Feeling better,” Pyther replied. “That dragon sneeze powder annoys me, I kept sneezing and coughing a lot of times. Then I passed out when that kobold made these gestures to my body that made me weak and flabby.”
“Kobold?” Coral has never heard of it.
“They’re the lesser versions of the dragons. That’s the thing that attacked us last night.”
“I see.”
“My legs were still wobbling even after I fully recover from the powder. That’s when Dragon Lord Ember and Spike came in, they did say something about… pressure points.”
“Pressure points?” the hippogriff questioned, with her eyebrow raised.
“That's what I heard.”
“It's kind of like a dam for a body's muscles,” Emerald informed. She came in front of them and decided to join in with the conversation, with Peridot beside her.
“Yeah, I could barely control my legs,” Pyther added. “They just... wouldn't turn on. You know what I mean?”
“I think so,” Coral responded with a shrug.
“However, it works,” Emerald added. “I'm glad that kobold is going to be locked up now.”
“Me too,” Peridot said. “I’m hoping that his punishment will be severe.”
“Exactly.” Both Emerald and Peridot gave each other fist bumps.
“You know,” Pyther spoke. “I'm kind of curious how he got caught.”
“Oh yeah,” Peridot exclaimed. “Now that you’ve mentioned it, How did he get caught?” The girls heard someone clearing its throat. Looking to where it came from, they could see Gus on twos leaning against the wall while fidgeting his fingers.
“You're welcome,” he said. The girls were puzzled about what he meant until Emerald figured out the context.
“Wait. You captured the kobold?" she asked.
“Yes,” he replied with a grin. “Well… actually, I had some help from Moss. Still, we did better than what the guards could do.”
“He’s in the castle right now, and you know that, right?” Pyther questioned. Gus just simply nodded. “ Well. I'm glad he's there too. I should've thought before coming to Equestria by himself.”
Gus was a little confused by this claim. “What are you talking about?”
“Dragon Lord Ember said he came to Equestria by himself.”
“Wha... That's not true. After we caught him, he said that he had a team back at some sort of camp.”
“That's not what the Dragon Lord said,” Emerald noted.
“Then that guy must be lying to her. I'm going to tell your leader what he really said.” Gus went off to find Ember.
“Wait,” they said, “come back!” Emerald, Peridot, Pyther, and Coral are chasing him. Gus was about to leave through the door, but his plans were cut short by some guards blocking the exit to the school.
“Oh, what now?” he heatedly exclaimed.
As they almost reached the entrance, they could see him standing right beside the guards. To prevent trouble, they stepped back a bit.
“I'm sorry, kid” one of the guards spoke. “We're not allowing students out of the school until it's safe.”
“Safe? The only kobold around here right now is locked up in a castle. I need to get through.” He was about to get through the guards, but one just held his spade in front of him.
“Kid, you're meant to…”
“I stutter or ask?”
“No, but…”
“Move out of the way!” The griffon tried pushing the guards out of his path, to which they pinned him to the ground. “Gah! Seriously?! Now you actually do your job!?”
"We've also been told to keep you away from kobold," the second guard added. "You're a bit of a wild card so we're not taking chances."
"But that kobold's not alone."
"You blinded some of our friends with your camera. What makes you think we're trusting you?" Gus has then carried down the hall to his dorm, yelling and throwing insults at the two guards. Emerald, Peridot, Pyther, and Coral saw what happened as they stepped back.
“We should leave,” Pyther said to the girls.
“Yeah,” Emerald agreed, same goes for Peridot and Coral. They went back to the couch where they’re sitting a while ago to continue chatting.
“Do you need to have a princess to make you think? A fledgling could defeat you. I mean a filly already did to all of ya.”
“Oh, shut up,” the guards groaned. They chucked the grumpy griffon into this dorm room and locked him in.
“Hey! Just because you hear something doesn't mean it's wrong! You know better than anypony!” Gus could hear the guards walking away meaning that they weren't sticking around to listen. He tried to open the door, but he couldn't even turn the doorknob. After pounding on the door for about a minute in frustration, Gus just lied down on his bed until he looked out the window. He tried to open it up but found out some locks were installed on the other side. Not understanding why they would do this, Gus instead looked in his closet for something to help him.
“Let's see here. Emergency bits, machete, bricks, aha!” The griffon pulled out a crowbar and brought it over to the window. “This should do.” He pried at the window with all of his might, but it wouldn't budge. When that didn't work, he just simply jabbed his crowbar into it, breaking the glass.
Carefully climbing through the broken window, Gus flew away from the school before anyone could see his escape. After getting to a safe distance, he could see an angry violet dragoness wandering around town while grumbling to herself. Gus had an idea and decided to approach her for a chat.
Flying alongside Prominence, the griffon spoke up. “Hey there, Prominence,” he said.
“What do you want?” the dragoness sighed.
“Oh, I was wanting to tell you about some secrets that kobold has been holding.”
Prominence stopped walking and looked at Gus for a minute. “What are you talking about?”
“Did Dragon Lord Ember say that the kobold was by himself?”
“Of course. She didn't understand why he would be here by himself.”
“Probably because he wasn't alone and was lying.” Prominence took a minute to think about this and gasped. “I caught him and when he was talking, he said that some of his gang members were here in Equestria. Kind of hard to think about when you've been in a hospital for two days.”
“Hey, you try losing control of your body!” She pointed her claw in Gus's face, standing over him as he landed on the ground.
“Alright, look, I'm trying to help you. You want to show these guys who's boss?” Prominence stepped back and let the griffon speak. "Okay, so I think they might be attacking here again, so we should fight back."
“And you have a real plan?”
“I do. I've got a machete you can use.”
“Is that some kind of sword?” Gus nodded. “Okay, how’d a teen like you get a weapon? That’s very dangerous and threatening.’
“I just found it in Griffonstone.” Prominence then raised her eyebrow. “Trust me, it's a messed-up place. A dumpster looks like a five-star hotel in comparison.”
“Uh-huh. What exactly is your plan?”
“It doesn't matter as long as I can tell the Dragon Lord about the truth.”
“Good luck with that,” she said with her arms crossed. “She's in Canterlot with a meeting already. She was told not to be disturbed.”
“Dang it! Well, looks like you're going to have to get my machete.”
“Only if you tell me what you have planned.”
“Simple. When you see a kobold trying to kill you, fight fire with fire by using the machete against his sword.”
“Hmm, that makes sense to me. So, where's your machete.” Gus was about to answer until he saw some guards looking around.
“Uhh, sorry. Gotta go! Meet me at the cafe!” And the griffon took off before the guards could spot him. Prominence was left confused and she continued to look around for something to do before she was forced to go home. Gus found a hiding spot to buy him some time before he got caught. He had a feeling that one dragon wouldn't be enough, especially against a team that had trained to fight that exact creature.
Then he remembered his professors. From what he had heard, they had fought various creatures before and some of them were pretty good at it. Though he probably wouldn't be able to convince them to help in a fight. So he would have to think of a different way.
“You there!” cried a voice. Gus looked to see some guards surrounding him and just simply held up his talons.
Later that evening, guards arrived in Ponyville with a cart being pulled behind them. This was meant for carrying the kobold to Canterlot, where they could keep him for the time being. Ember was exporting with them and walked inside the castle to find the kobold locked in a cage. His weapons were kept in a box that rested on the other side of the room.
“About time,” the kobold groaned.
“Quiet,” Ember ordered. The guards made sure that the prison wasn't able to attack as he was taken to the cart while Ember carried the cage.
Meanwhile, Starlight and the rest of the main five were watching from inside of the school. “You think they might need some help?” Applejack asked.
“Not yet,” Starlight said. “We shouldn't get involved unless something goes wrong.”
"Like a student escaping?" asked Pinkie.
“Why do you bring that up?” Rarity asked. The pink pony simply pointed to Gus, who was carrying his bag, waving to the teachers like he was wanting to get caught.
“How did he get out again?” Rainbow Dash said. “AJ, I thought you boarded up his window?”
“I did,” the farm pony reassured. “I swear that I blocked those windows.”
“Enough,” Starlight exclaimed. “I don't care how it happened, let’s just get him inside before he does something dumb." The mares all got outside, which was what Gus was waiting for.
“Try and catch me if you can!” he cried before flying away. The mares gave chase and when it seemed like Dash would easily catch him, Gus reached into his bag and pulled something out. “Pocket sand!” Tossing the said item in the rainbowed mare's eye, Dash ended up crashing into a building while Gus kept ongoing.
Prominence was just waiting at the Ponyville Cafe. She should've left for the Dragon Lands hours ago. She finally saw Gus flying towards her while digging through his bags. "Finally," the dragoness groaned. "What took you so long?"
"I had to escape from inept guards," the griffon explained. He handed the visiting dragon a face mask, some goggles, and the machete he promised.
Holding the blade in her claw, Prominence was impressed. "Not bad, kid."
"Use it well. You can't find a lot like it. Now, hide."
"What?"
"Hide!" Prominence did so just as Starlight and the mares rounded the corner.
"Gus, what do you think you're doing?" the headmare questioned.
"Pointing out the flaws in Equestria's security systems," the griffon responded. He was levitated into the air by Starlight's magic and was carried back to the school. Prominence poked her head out from her hiding spot. The griffon seemed to know what he was doing so she followed from a distance.
Back at the castle, Ember was just loading up the crate containing the kobold's weapons. The prisoned creature was still locked in the cage that was sitting on the cart. The guards were ready to go, though they didn't notice they were being watched by four more creatures. Once everything was ready, they set off to Canterlot.
The guards had to get a good run-up to get airborne, which allowed the unnoticed creatures plenty of time to catch up with them. One of them jumped to ground level and sliced through the hitch connecting the guards to the cart. They felt the weight disappear and they could see the cart was now rolling on the ground without them.
Ember grabbed one of the wheels to break it to a stop. This left her wide open to get attacked by one of the creatures, who jabbed her in several parts of her body. The Dragon Lord's body went limp and she fell on the ground. Despite her best effort, Ember couldn't move.
She couldn't see what was going on behind her, but she did hear the guards getting attacked with the prisoner quietly laughing. "What did you do?" Ember questioned.
"Did you think I came alone?" the kobold questioned. He looked at the ambushing creatures, who turned out to be more kobolds. They took a key away from one of the guards, helped the prisoner out of the cage, and returned his weapons. Holding the katana, the formerly imprisoned kobold stepped over to the disabled Dragon Lord. "Sayonara."
Ember couldn't hit the kobold with her fire breath given his position, so she only shut her eyes and wait for the impact, which was likely going to hurt. However, when the kobold was about to swing his blade, he stopped. This wasn't his choice, he was being forced to stay in place thanks to Starlight. She and the rest of the mares had seen the ambush and were just in time to stop them.
Gus was released by his headmare as they had some uninvited guests to take care of. The kobolds charged at the ponies while the one Starlight stopped was thrown away from Ember. Dash and Applejack raced towards the kobold and put up a good fight. Dash kept darting around, making her almost impossible to hit. Applejack was delivering several strong punches and kicks that sent the kobolds flying.
While this was going on, Fluttershy and Rarity raced over to help Ember and the guards, who were all unable to move their bodies because of the pressure points. They were carried away from the fight scene, which the kobolds weren't having an easy time with.
Starlight was creating force fields for her friends over even just using her levitation to fling them around. The kobolds were struggling for a little bit until one of them re-entered the battle. He pounced at Starlight, who didn't have enough time to react before her pressure points were hit. She collapsed onto the ground as her attacker stood above her. "Do you really think you're the first ponies we've had to fight?" he questioned.
He was about to go for the final strike before he was tackled by, of all creatures, Prominence. Recovering, the kobold tried to slice her with his katana if it wasn't for the dragoness countering it with Gus's machete. She didn't have much experience with it and the kobold would have an easy victory if there wasn't random junk being thrown at him. The griffon sat on a roof while he chucked several items he had with him.
Prominence used this distraction to deliver a couple of punches at her enemy. "Having fun?" Prominence asked. "I sure am." She even picked up the kobold and used him as a meat shield for Gus to toss more items almost at the speed of arrows.
Ember was talking Fluttershy and Rarity through the process of pressure points. They did as they were told and managed to help the Dragon Lord regain control of her body. While the two mares went to help the guards, Ember found Starlight unable to move her body. Not even her horn was working. The Dragon Lord flew over to snatch up the mare before she could get hit by a set of shurikens.
"Are we winning?" Starlight asked. Ember looked over the battlefield, which appeared to be in a bit of a stalemate. Both sides were giving their all. However, someone was missing.
"Where's the pink one?" Ember questioned. They would have their answer soon as they could see Pinkie charging into the fight with her party cannon. She raced towards the kobolds and blasted her party cannon, sometimes right in their faces. The kobold, whom Prominence was fighting, was having enough. With a couple of kicks, he managed to break free and fled towards the Everfree forest.
The ponies, dragons, and Gus followed them as the invaders were jumping through the tops of the trees, making them kind of hard to see. The rustling then appeared to stop and the team looked around. "Where did they go?" Dash questioned. Some shurikens were launched down from the trees, which Dash barely missed. The kobolds jumped down several times and launched a couple of blows before jumping back into their hiding spots.
Ember and Prominence were taking most of the attacks, but they knew they wouldn't take it much longer. Gus decided to help them out with some information. "They're too comfy in the trees," he noted, "How about we burn them out?"
"Good idea," Prominence commented. With a couple of breaths of fire, she had set the trees on fire and the kobold leaped down. Some of them were badly burned and didn't look like they could fight on anymore. One of them refused to give up, despite his injuries.
He charged the group. Instead of going for one last attack, he smashed a smoke bomb on the ground, which honestly made the forest fire look much worse. Dash and Fluttershy had to gather some clouds to rain the fire out, they could see that only four of the kobolds were still there. The one that tossed the smoke bomb had vanished.
"Great, he got away," Ember grumbled.
"He shouldn't make it far," Starlight noted. "He looked pretty beat up." She then drew her attention to Gus, who was being given his machete back from Prominence. "Gus, why did you just decide to leave the school?"
"That guy was lying about coming here alone," the griffon explained. "I was going to tell one of you, but the guards tried locking me in my room. Badly I might at."
"You almost burned down the forest!" Applejack stated.
"Yeah, we still got four of the five guys who were trying to kill dragons."
"He makes a good point," Ember admitted. She walked over to the injured kobold, while they were still breathing, it looked like they would need medical attention. "I'd say we get them fixed up and have them locked away until they're willing to give us proper information. Also, keep an eye on the griffon."
"Oh, don't worry," Rarity said. "We will." The six ponies all looked at Gus, who didn't seem to care.
"You know, just because you're in charge of me doesn't mean you're always right," he said. "You might have a point with the fire, but how do you think things would've gone if you didn't save the Dragon Lord?"
"Just get back to school," Starlight ordered. She began carrying Gus with her levitation as the guards came to assist Ember with the injured kobolds.
"Thanks for the help, kid!" Prominence called. She and Gus waved goodbye to each other as the griffon was taken out of sight. The dragoness was about to take off again until Ember stopped her.
"If you're going to go home now," the Dragon Lord spoke, "Take the train." Prominence just nodded and walked away to the station.
The next morning, most of the students were enjoying their Saturday, Gus wasn't one of those students. Sunshine and Emerald could see him walking to Sweet Apple Acres and decided to walk with him.
“Gus,” Emerald called. Gus turned around to see Sunshine and Emerald came by. “Where were you last night?”
"I helped burn some ninjas and now they're in prison," Gus explained. "Now I have to help plant new trees."
"Makes sense," Sunshine commented. "You want some help with that?"
"Are you sure you want to do that?"
"You helped fight a group that was targeting my species," Emerald reminded. "I wouldn't say you had the best plan, but still, you're braver than I am."
"Also, we're kind of worried about your temper getting the better of you," Sunshine added. "Promise us you won't do something like that again."
"I'd be making a promise to make hot ice," Gus responded.
The hippogriff and dragoness both glanced at each other before turning back to their friend. "We worry about you sometimes Gus," Emerald admitted.
"And you're good friends for that." This just simply made the two smile as they carried onto Sweet Apple Acres.
Meanwhile, in Canterlot, Ember was talking with Twilight and Spike while they walked down a hallway leading to some prison cells. In each one, there was a bandaged-up kobold. They looked to see the alicorn and dragons before turning away. "They aren't in a talkative mood right now," Twilight explained.
"Find a way to make them," Ember ordered.
"Ember, calm down," Spike begged.
"Look, one of them got away and I'm worried about him coming back."
"We understand," Twilight responded. "We've already informed the other kingdoms about him. They have their guards keeping an eye out for him. If he decides to come back, there's a high chance we'll catch him."
The Dragon Lord took a deep breath before responding. "That makes me feel better. Be on your guard with these guys. I'm not letting them lie to me again."
"Don't worry," Twilight reassured, "We'll make sure to get the truth out of them. Right now, we should go." The alicorn and dragons walked out of the room, leaving the four kobolds in their cells.
Author's Note
Three stories to go