It was a bright and sunny day in Maretime Bay. Above the ocean, Zipp was taking her dragon son Sparky for a flight. The pegasus and infant laughed as she prepared for a dive. "Here we go!" She said before she dove down from high up towards the water. When she believed she was close enough, Zipp adjusted her direction so she was flying just above the water. Mist spraying from the sea as a result of the breeze she created that sprinkled over them and made Sparky giggle. "Heh, heh. Yeah, that was pretty cool." Zipp bragged to her son before she rubbed his head. "And one day, when you're bigger, you'll be able to do that too." Hearing that made Sparky laugh even more in excitement, as if he understood his stepmom's words, as the two of them continued their flight.
However, as they had their fun, they were oblivious to the fact they were being watched. And they weren't friendly eyes, as they followed the duo from afar, yet close enough to keep them within sight.
Unaware of the approaching danger, Zipp looked down to Sparky and asked. "Ready for more?" Her response was more excited babbling. Zipp laughed at the hatchling's enthusiasm and was about to do another spin when her ears picked up the faint sounds of something else in the area.
Immediately, this got her concerned as she pulled Sparky closer to her, scanning the area for any signs of extra, and most likely unwanted, company. At first, it seemed that the pegasus was just being paranoid. However, that quickly changed when she saw the shadow of something fly over them, making her jump back in fear. It was too fast to get a good look at the silhouette, but she could tell it was something big.
Sparky, unaware of what was going on, looked up at his mother and gently poked her to get her attention, wanting to get back to flying. Looking down at him briefly, Zipp rubbed his head for comfort. "Sorry, kiddo. We're going to have to head back now." She told him.
But before she could make the flap back to change direction, that was when they attacked. Out of nowhere, Zipp found herself rammed by something large. The impact sent her spiraling. "WHOAAAAA!" She exclaimed before she was able to steady herself. It was then that she was able to identify her attacker. "A dragon?!" She gasped before noticing something far more important; Sparky wasn't in his carrier.
"SPARKY!" She cried as she instinctively dove after the falling dragon. Feeling something flying in the same direction, Zipp turned and saw the large dragon following her. However, they didn't seem to be interested in her. No, they went past her and instead seemed to be diving after Sparky. "Oh, no you don't!" The pegasus shouted as she tucked in her wings and legs to increase her speed.
The dragon noticed this and started to do the same. The two were now neck-and-neck, or more accurately nose-and-nose, each inching past the other the closer they got to their target, who didn't seem to understand the danger he was in and was laughing like he was on an amusement park ride.
Zipp and the dragon continued racing each other to catch the infant first. Luckily, Zipp was able to gain that extra shove, probably a result of mother love, and was able to speed past the large reptile and grab Sparky in her hooves before he hit the water. "You okay, Sparky!?" She asked once she felt him in her grasp. Sparky cooed in response, nuzzling into Zipp's coat, which help eased her adrenalin.
But only for a few seconds as now the danger had doubled. Not only was the large dragon flying after them like they were his prey, but now a second one had joined in the pursuit. "OH, COME ON!!" Zipp shouted in exasperation before looking back down at Sparky. "Hang on tight, and do not let go." She warned him, to which the baby dragon nodded and clutched her fur tightly, before she executed evasive maneuvers.
To Sparky, this was all just one big game, with Zipp repeatedly having to dodge the dragons attempts to snatch him from her: loops, turns, barrel rolls, you name it. It was some of the most fun he's had in a long time. To Zipp, it was the most stressful thing she's had to deal with since she almost killed her sister.
However, the ride was soon reaching its end as Zipp neared the shore of Maretime Bay. "Phew! Almost there!" She told herself before she realized something. "Wait, if I go there, then I'll lead the dragons to everypony else! Zipp, you idiot!" She cursed herself as she tried to think of another plan and fast.
Thankfully, she was able to get one forming when she heard the concerned shout of Hitch from below. "Zipp! Sparky!" He called out to them. Seeing her coltfriend help relief Zipp's stress, albeit only slightly, as she quickly dove down and landed in front of him. "Zipp, what's going on!?" Hitch asked her. "Ponies are saying we're being invaded by dragons, and then I see two chasing after you-" He was cut off when Zipp suddenly handed him Sparky. "Wha?"
"I don't have time to explain! Just take Sparky and get somewhere they can't find you!" She said as she prepared to take off again.
"And what about you!?" Hitch asked, already afraid of what the answer was going to be given her wings were spread.
"I'll hold them off. Now go!" She urged him before she took off too fast for Hitch to stop her.
"Zipp, no!" The stallion still ended up shouting to no avail.
Zipp knew the dragons wanted Sparky and not her, so she'd have to really get them mad to shift their attention and priorities from dragonnapping Sparky to frying her. It was risky, but it would keep her son safe until hopefully reinforcements arrived.
However, as she flew towards the dragons, and they flew towards her in return, an angry roar bellowed through the skies. "BLAIZE! LAVA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Everyone stopped their charges, including Hitch from running away, and turned to the source. Above them, there was a third dragon, this one a tannish-pink male, looking down angrily at the two attackers.
The new comer dragon started to approach the other two, which made them start to land. Seeing the dragons weren't immediately going to attack, Zipp started to descend herself, though only to keep a closer eye on them and recuperate.
Once back on the ground, Hitch immediately ran up to Zipp and gave her Sparky before his hooves started to glow green and he slammed them on the sidewalk. Before any of the dragons could ask what just happened, all three of them found their legs ensnared by vines. Despite it being clear it wouldn't hold them down for long, Hitch didn't care. His town, his marefriend, and his son were endangered by these dragons, and he was going to get answers. "I am Sheriff Hitch Trailblazer of Maretime Bay. And I demand an explanation as to why you attacked my marefriend and son." He told them with a glare to let them know he wasn't playing around.
"Your son?" The second dragon, a fuchsia colored female, repeated in disbelief. "Do you take us for fools? That hatchling isn't your son. You clearly stole him like ponies have done before."
That didn't help make Hitch any less angry as he stomped the ground again and had vines wrap around her snout. "He IS my son. I've raised him since he was an egg after I found him ABANDONED on the beach, and love him more than my own life. So I'm not going to ask again." He warned them as he got his roof ready to grow more. "Why did you attack him and Zipp?"
"Wait." The third dragon spoke up. "Forgive them, they must've saw your son and panicked." He said as he looked back at the other two with a frown. "The past years have been difficult on us."
"More like we've been forced into hibernation to survive." The first dragon grumbled.
"Lava." The third dragon cautioned before turning back to the ponies. "But, essentially yeah. We only have just woken up after centuries of being asleep and our Dragon Lord wanted to reconnect with ponies. So he sent us here as ambassadors. Unfortunately, we haven't exactly made the best first impressions, have we?" He said with a sheepish smile before remembering something else important. "Oh, and you can call me Tumble. I feel that's something I should get out of the way now."
"That's an understatement." Zipp mumbled as she walked up to join Hitch. "If you're here on a friendly mission to reconnect with ponies, then why did those two attack me?" She pointed to Lava and the second dragon who she believed she heard was called Blaize.
Knowing she wanted an answer from the source, Tumble turned around and looked to the two troublemakers for an explanation for their behavior. Realizing what she was expected to do, Blaize gave a sigh and explained herself. "I apologize, but when me and Lava saw you with the hatchling, we were reminded of what happened right before we went into hibernation."
"Hatchlings would often have been stolen as eggs by greedy ponies in the old days, even before the Alicorn attacked. So seeing you with a hatchling made us think you did the same and forgot the whole reason we came here." Lava finished the explanation. "Buuuuttt, now I'm realizing we may have made a mistake there if what you say about finding his egg is true." He said with a sheepish smile. "Uh, oops."
The looks Tumble and the ponies were giving the two was enough to let them know they were in trouble, and would defiantly be hearing about this later. Thankfully for those two, there was an icebreaker in the form of another dragon, a white female, arriving. "Sorry I'm late!" She apologized as she landed. "I got turned around by that sea stack and was heading the wrong way." She explained before she noticed the situation. "Oh, this is awkward."
"Lava, I've told you you need to think before you act." The dragon known as Jade told her mate. "You could end up really hurting someone."
"I know. I know." Lava grumbled. "I messed up. Don't need to rub it in."
By now everyone had left the streets of Maretime Bay, after calming the general public down as best they could, and were heading back to the Brighthouse to talk more there, as well as for the dragons to meet the rest of their friends.
Once they had arrived and opened the doors, Hitch and Zipp going in first to properly introduce the dragons, they were greeted by Pipp, Izzy, and Misty frantically running towards them. "OMP, Zipp! Are you okay!?" Pipp asked as she checked her sister for any injuries.
"I'm fine, Pipp." Zipp assured her sister in confusion.
"We just heard about the dragon attack." Misty explained before apologizing. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you from them."
"It's fine, Misty." Zipp assured her. "Was all a big misunderstanding anyway."
"Soooo?" Izzy asked with building excitement as she hopped over to Hitch. "How did it go? Did you two show those dragons why they never should've come to Maretime Bay and sent them flying away crying?"
"Uh, not really." Hitch said as he opened the door and revealed the four dragons standing outside.
Seeing them up close, the three other ponies reacted as one would expect. With terror. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" They all screamed before Izzy shouted. "It's every mare for herself!" As she ran for the couch.
"Don't eat me, please!" Pipp begged. "I'm all fat! It's not healthy! Too much chewing!"
Misty didn't bother saying anything beyond screams and just hid in the closet.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Everypony clam down!" Hitch quickly defused the panic. "Like Zipp said, it was all a misunderstanding. The dragons have been gone for so long, and are trying to reconnect with the rest of the world."
"They are?" The mares said as Izzy popped her head from behind the couch and Misty from the closet.
"Yeah, we kinda flew to conclusions back there when we saw the pegasus with the hatchling." Blaize admitted. "But we're all cool now."
"At least until the Dragon Lord hears of this." Tumble said jokingly, making the dragoness glare at him.
Hearing that eased the ponies worries and they slowly approached the dragons, albeit with caution. "Sooo." Pipp said in an attempt to break the ice. "I'm Pipp, and this is Misty and Izzy."
"Hi, new friends!" Izzy waved now that she knew they were safe.
"Hi." Misty just waved.
"Nice to meet you all." Jade greeted in return as the dragons entered the Brighthouse. "I'm Jade. Mr. Grumpy over here is Lava."
"Hey!" He resented that joke, but Jade just introduced the rest.
"And these are Tumble and Blaize."
As they came in, Izzy suddenly gasped at the realization. "All these new friends, and I don't have any friendship bracelets!!"
"Oh, uh, that's fine-" Tumble tried to assure her, but the unicorn was already getting to work with the crafting, putting up a mesh cover around her Crafting Corner.
"No peaking! Be done in a minute!" She told everyone briefly before getting to work, complete with construction noises coming from behind the covers.
Deciding to just let Izzy Izzy, everyone else decided to talk about the elephant, or should I say dragon, in the room. "So, I have to ask, how did you get your scales like that? Because they are gorgeous!" Pipp asked as she flew around Blaize and Jade, singing the last part. "And how did you keep your manes so well-kept while being asleep for centuries? I can barely keep mine straight overnight."
"I didn't even realize dragons had hair." Hitch commented. "I thought since you're reptiles you wouldn't have any." He said before looking down at Sparky. "Gotta wonder what that means for Sparky."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but only female dragons grow manes." Lava told him. "A drake like him is going to be as hairless as the rest of us males."
"Well, that's a relief." Hitch sighed, thankfully he wouldn't have to worry about getting hair products for his dragon son.
At least until Lava then added. "Of course, there's always the chance for facial hair. Just ask my cousin Rocky."
That got everypony's imaginations working as they looked at the baby dragon, now imagining him with a mustache or goatee.
Just then, Izzy pushed the cover away and came out with four large bracelets held by her magic. "I'm done!" She sang as she hopped over to where everyone else was sitting and handed each of the dragons a bracelet. "Here you go, new friends!"
"Thanks...Izzy, was it?" Tumble said as he took his. "Honestly, we weren't expecting such a warm reception so quickly."
"That's Izzy for you." Zipp chuckled before she asked the really important question. "So, what happened so long ago that made you all forced to hibernate?"
The dragons all looked at each other before Blaize sighed and told the story. "It was so long ago, but still feels like it was just yesterday. It all started when the alicorn known as Opaline began turning pony kind against each other. She wanted to take all of the magic for herself, and used the weakness caused by the division to her advantage."
"But it wasn't just pony magic she wanted." Lava took over. "She wanted dragon magic, too. So, she attacked the Dragonlands and took our magic by force." He said with a growl. "And when she took all of a dragon's magic, they died."
"WHAT!?" Everypony gasped at this information, Misty especially. "D-Died?" She stammered out.
"Yes. They became nothing more than decaying bodies for her to push aside as she chased us down." Lava answered, trying his best to hold in his anger and not scare the ponies.
"That's horrible." Pipp gasped with a hoof over her mouth.
"It was." Jade said sadly, fighting back the urge to cry with her own memories. "We lost so many friends and families. Not even hatchlings were left alone."
"Hatchlings?" Hitch repeated as he looked at Sparky. "So, then that would mean Sparky's birth parents..."
"It is a very high possibility they died defending their egg." Blaize confirmed the sheriff's guess. "By the time she was able to be driven away, not many of us were left."
"But what happened after that?" Zipp asked. "If Opaline wanted all dragon magic, she would've returned to finish the job. But here you are alive and well, so something had to have happened to stop Opaline from returning." She said before getting a hypothesis. "Maybe it had something to do with the Unity Crystals and why they were created."
This surprised the dragons. "You know about the formation of the Unity Crystals?" Tumble said.
"Kind of." Zipp admitted. "We know Twilight Sparkle made them as a way to keep all the magic away from Opaline, and that they disbanded at some point before we brought them together again. But aside from that, we don't know what happened to stop Opaline. Not even Misty knows."
"I was kinda Opaline's minion when she found me as a filly." The unicorn nervously explained to the dragons before quickly adding. "But that's not a thing anymore! I quit her and now I serve Princess Zipp!"
"Misty." Zipp groaned at being called princess again while the rest of her friends just chuckled at her embarrassment.
This was another surprising reveal for the dragons. "You're the princess now?" Jade asked.
"Well, a princess." Pipp confirmed before explaining. "We're sisters. Both heirs to the Zephyr Heights Royal Throne."
"So you have a queen too?" Lava said before chuckling. "Oh, how Celestia must've been rolling in her grave when that happened."
"Lava." Tumble told him in a warning tone again.
"Well, more that's how the pegasi went about it." Zipp said. "Earth ponies and unicorns not so much."
"Makes sense." Blaize nodded in understanding. "I mean, the only alicorn left was Opaline, so there wasn't a single pony for everyone to unite under." Just after she said that, the ponies began to giggle. "What? What'd I say?" She asked in confusion.
"Oh, nothing." Izzy said innocently. "It's just that there is another alicorn besides Opaline."
".........THERE IS!?" The dragons exclaimed so loud it shook the foundation. "Who are they? How did they appear?" Blaize asked.
Before anypony could answer, the doors to the Brighthouse swung open and gave the dragons their answer in the form of Sunny flying inside in her alicorn form. "Sorry I'm late!" She apologized to her friends as she landed. "I was in Bridlewood, and only just heard about what had happened as I was coming back." The alicorn explained before her powers faded and she was back in the form of an earth pony.
It was only after she powered down that she noticed the dragons and their flabbergasted looks. "Oh, hello!" She greeted them with a wave and sheepish smile. "I'm Sunny Starscout, and as you just saw I'm also an alicorn." She introduced herself with a blush, embarrassed to have revealed something so big so quickly.
And the dragons were definitely still in shock with what they had witnessed with their jaws dropped. "D-D-Did she just become an alicorn?" Lava asked with a shaky paw pointed at the orange mare.
"That shouldn't be possible." Jade said.
"Well, Sunny is always known for making the impossible possible." Izzy said as she leapt over to her friend and wrapped a hoof around her, pulling her into a hug. "She got those powers after bringing the Unity Crystals together. Possibly as a thank you gift."
"But how is she even here?" Blaize asked.
"Well-" Izzy was about to either say she flew or she was born, but Tumble stopped her.
"We mean how is it you're still alive?" He clarified. "Opaline would never allow there to be another alicorn, even a pseudo one like yourself."
"And if magic has come back to the point it could allow us to wake up from hibernation, then that means that she also has returned." Blaize added before another thought came to her. "Actually, how is it Opaline hasn't attacked yet? All this magic can't have gone unnoticed by her."
"Oh, we don't have to worry about Opaline anymore." Zipp assured them.
"Yeah, she recently moved to a new castle six feet underground." Pipp said before adding. "Actually, make that twelve feet."
"......." The dragons said nothing and just started at the pegasi in confusion as to what they meant.
With a groan, Zipp said upfront. "She's dead."
"Dead!?" The dragons repeated in surprise before Lava muttered. "Aw, I wanted to kill her." And Jade rubbed his back.
"But how?" Blaize asked Sunny. "How did a pseudo alicorn manage to not only defeat, but actually kill Opaline of all ponies?"
Sunny was about to answer, but Pipp quickly flew in front of her. "You want to know what happened?" She rhetorically asked back. "Oh, I'll tell you what happened."
Opaline's entire castle was on fire as the alicorn ran to the top to escape, only to realize she was trapped. Before she could turn around, Zipp landed directly in her path.
"Opaline looked at my sister." Pipp narrated. "She knew it was the end of the line. You could smell the fear!"
"Oh, so that's what fear smells like." Izzy commented. "Smelt like sulfur."
The alicorn blasted Zipp in the face with her magic and was about to fly in for the kill. But the pegasus recovered and grabbed the alicorn before flying out the window. Once outside, she grabbed Opaline's hooves and spun her around before sending her crashing down with such speed that it created an explosion when she landed. All while Zipp looked down proudly at her work.
Back in reality, everyone looked at Pipp with differing reactions as she finished the story: Zipp had a hoof on her face, Hitch, Izzy, and Sunny looked confused, along with most of the dragons, and Izzy and Sparky, alongside Jade, seemed to actually be engrossed in the story. "Wow!" Jade said in amazement.
"Wait, wait, wait! Hold up! Time out!" Lava said, making a T with his paws. "You're saying your sister fought Opaline by herself and killed her."
"That isn't what actually happened." Zipp groaned at the smaller pegasus.
"Okay, so I might have taken some creative liberties since I was knocked out for most of it." Pipp admitted. "But still, I was generally correct."
"More like completely out of the ball park." Zipp muttered.
"Wait, wouldn't that make it a homerun?" Izzy wondered.
"I mean, technically, while the parts surrounding Opaline's death are overexaggerated, you did fight her all on your own." Hitch pointed out, to which his marefriend sent him a small glare.
"Yeah, but not like that." She told him, feeling embarrassed by the glorification she was being given.
“So that part of the story is true then.” Blaize said before looking over at Sunny.
Before the earth pony mare could ask why, Pipp’s phone started to ring. “What is that?!” Jade asked as she jumped in fear, shaking the entire Brighthouse and everypony inside.
“Oh, that’s just my phone.” Pipp assured her as she pulled it out and saw it was their mother calling. “It’s from Mom. Let me take this. BRB.” She said before flying into another room to take the call.
“What the heck is a phone?” Lava asked.
“Wow, you guys really need to get out more." Izzy said jokingly.
"Well, we have been in deep hibernation for centuries, only having woken up a week or so ago. So you tell me." Blaize told the unicorn with an annoyed glare, having either not understood the joke or not finding it funny.
"Ehe." Izzy chuckled nervously and sunk away.
A few seconds later, and Pipp came back with a mixture of surprise and confusion on her face. Zipp saw this and walked over to her sister before asking. "Well? What'd she say?"
"It was weirdly vague." Pipp replied. "All she was saying was that she had some special guests that wanted to meet with us. And by us, I mean the whole gang. Though probably mostly you from how she sounded."
"Oh, well that sounds reassuring." Zipp groaned at the thought of being shown off by her mother again like when she was a filly. "Couldn't you have told her that we were busy with our own special guests?"
"I tried to, but she said this was important. I mean, not like emergency important, but more along the lines of 'get your flanks over here now' kind of important." Pipp explained. "She did say they could come with us, though."
"Wait, your mother is the Queen of Zephyr Heights, right?" Tumble asked the two pegasi.
"Yeah." The sisters nodded.
"I think I might have an idea of who she is talking about." He told them. "See, while we went to Maretime Bay, and some of the others went to Bridlewood, the Dragon Lord himself decided to visit Zephyr Heights due to it being the 'big city' and he was the only dragon that had a close relation with ponies in the past."
"Really?" Sunny said with peaked interest. "And who is this Dragon Lord?"
"You'll get to know him once we arrive." Blaize said as she and the other dragons got up and went for the doors.
Once they were gone, and the ponies were alone, Hitch walked up to Sunny and asked. "Is there something going on, Sunny?"
"Hmm?" Sunny broke out of her thoughts at Hitch's question and slightly blushed at getting distracted. "Oh! It's nothing too big. It's just that from how Blaize described the Dragon Lord, he seems familiar."
"Familiar?" Misty repeated. "How?"
"Well, it's just a guess, but if he's a dragon from the days of Twilight Sparkle that was close with ponies, then I just thought, maybe, it was-" Sunny was about to say before she was cut off by a shout from outside.
"Hey! You ponies coming or what?" Lava shouted at them before getting a light punch from Tumble for his rudeness. "Oww! I was just asking a question!"
"Guess we'll find out when we get to ZH." Zipp said as she flew out the door with her friends close behind.
The trip to Zephyr Heights was a relatively easy one. With three of the ponies already having wings, they didn't need to take the Marestream and instead could fly alongside the dragons while those without wings rode on their backs.
Once they arrived, the guards, thankfully not panicking at the sight of the dragons like they probably did when the Dragon Lord first appeared, and lead them all inside the palace to the throne room where their mother and her guests were.
Opening the large golden doors, the ponies and dragons saw the pegasus queen sitting at a large table joined by another dragon, a purple and green male. That had to be the Dragon Lord judging by how the other dragons bowed upon seeing him. Seeing him for herself, Sunny gasped. "It can't be."
"Darlings! Welcome!" Haven exclaimed as she flew over and hugged her daughters. "Oh, how I've missed my little angels."
"Mom, we talked just yesterday." Zipp reminded their mother.
"Yes, but that was on the phone. Not the same as meeting up in person." Haven explained before she broke the hug and remembered her guest. "Oh, were are my manners? I'd like you ponies to meet the Ruler of the Dragons; Dragon Lord Spike."
"SPIKE!?" Sunny shouted so loud it shook the room.
Noticing her surprise at his name, Spike chuckled and got up from his seat to meet the ponies personally. "I see my reputation proceeds me if I get that reaction from somepony."
Realizing her was talking to her specifically, Sunny started stammering out her own introductions. "Y-Your Lordship! Your Spikeness! Your-"
Spike held up a paw to stop her. "Please, just call me Spike. I've always been more of a down to earth dragon rather than a high flying one. Even after I molted." He joked, earning some laughs from the dragons as they rose.
Still super excited, Sunny squealed and ran up to grab Spike's paw and shook it. "EEEEEEEE! It's an honor to actually met you! I've read all about you and your adventures with Twilight Sparkle and her friends! I have so many questions!" She emphasized this by pulling out a notepad and pencil from her satchel.
Seeing this made the Dragon Lord laugh in nostalgia. "It's like she never left." He said to himself.
Before Sunny could start her list of endless questions, Zipp quickly moved in front of her and took over introductions. "Uh, pleasure to meet you, Spike." She said as they shook. "I'm Zipp, you've just met Sunny, and the others are Pipp, Izzy, Misty, Hitch, and Sparky.
Seeing the baby dragon on Hitch's back, Spike's eyes widened. "A hatchling?" He said in complete shock as he slowly walked over to the pair and gently placed a paw on Sparky's chest, as if confirming this was a real infant dragon. "I thought all of the eggs were destroyed."
"Well, one seemed to have survived." Hitch said. "And I've been raising him as my own ever since."
"I thank you for that, Hitch. Seeing a dragon already living among ponies again fills me with much relief."
"Certainly better than some others among us have reacted." Tumble muttered under his breath, making Blaize and Lava glare and blush in embarrassment.
"Wait, so Sparky was an egg from thousands of years ago?" Sunny asked. "How?"
Spike gave a sad sigh as he gestured for the others to follow him. Everyone else silently followed the Dragon Lord back to the table and sat down before he gave his story. "After Twilight was able to defeat Opaline, she made the Unity Crystals as a way to keep magic from falling into her hooves again. Unfortunately, the damage left behind by Opaline's attack remained on all creatures, that especially included us dragons. I shouldn't have to explain how the Unity Crystals need friendship and harmony between ponies to function. Well, even with Opaline gone, the distrust between pony kind remained, and as those who still believed in unity from the old days started to pass on, the magic got weaker and weaker until the crystals most likely died when Twilight did."
"Most likely?" Zipp repeated, having pulled out her phone to record the story.
"I wasn't there when she died." Spike admitted. "Like I said, the dragons were still recovering from Opaline's attack and drainage of our magic. With all of the division and hatred in Equestria, our magic wasn't returning to us fast enough to keep ourselves alive. So, to avoid extinction, we put ourselves into a long hibernation until magic would return and give us our strength back."
"Wow." Misty gasped. "I still can't believe Opaline was that awful."
"She was something my friends and I, no Equestria, had never faced before. I am just relived that she has been vanquished."
"Wait, you already know about that?" Blaize said in surprise. "But how?"
Spike chuckled. "Well, Blaize, besides seeing Sunny here, Queen Haven was just about to tell me the story of how these ponies defeated Opaline."
"Ah, yes, thanks for reminding me." Haven said before resuming her place in the story. "Now, where was I? Oh, right!"
Opaline and Zipp faced each other in the stormy skies above her castle; flying around while trying to knock the other out of the sky.
"Opaline fought against my daughter. But her efforts were in vain. My Zephyrina's skills in flight were too much for her!"
Zipp fly high into the air above the alicorn before she descended down with lightning speed. Opaline didn't have time to dodge as Zipp slammed into her on her way down. Still, the pegasus did not slow down. Instead she continued on going faster, and faster, and faster still until she crashed into the castle with a rainbow explosion that vaporized the alicorn and destroyed the foundation.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Back it up!" Zipp cut the story off. "And I thought Pipp's story was over the top. But you're saying I killed Opaline with a rainbow explosion?"
"A Sonic Rainboom is the correct term." Spike told the pegasus.
"That only makes it even more crazy!" Zipp shouted. "You're seriously telling ponies I flew fast enough to break the sound and light barriers?"
"So far, I think it was only the sound barrier." Spike added. "Rainbow Dash never did boast about going the speed of light, so I doubt she made it that fast."
"That really doesn't narrow down the impossibilities of it being possible." Zipp pointed out before turning to her mother. "Mom, what the heck?" She asked, just barely keeping herself from swearing in front of her son.
"Well, I wasn't present during the battle, Zephyrina." Haven explained. "So I had to fill in the gaps of what happened based on accounts."
"And whose accounts were those?" Zipp said aloud before she took a guess and glared at her younger sister.
"Eheh!" Pipp chuckled under her sister's annoyed gaze. "Look, Mom asked me first, so I had to come up with something!"
"You know you both could've asked me for details. I was there doing most of the fighting." Zipp said with an eye roll.
"Yeah, that probably would've made more sense." Haven admitted.
"Okay, now I'm getting confused. First you say that Opaline died when you threw her into the ground so hard she exploded. Then you say you killed her with a Sonic Rainboom. Now you're saying neither of those happened. Can someone just tell us the story of how Opaline died already!?" Jade shouted in exasperation.
"Yeah, all these false stories are starting to get old." Lava agreed.
"Well, fortunately for you, you have a pony that was there and wasn't knocked out early in the fight." Zipp said as she decided to tell the dragons the true story of what happened. But first she had to make sure she wasn't leaving out or missing important details. "Misty, you mind helping me fill in the gaps?"
"Me?" The unicorn said in surprise to the request before starting to get nervous since this would tell Spike, the Dragon Lord, that she used to work for Opaline. And it was one thing to tell the other dragons this, but to tell their ruler..."Uh, I, uh." Misty stammered out her response.
Thankfully, Spike has been around the block enough to know the social cues of ponies and what they meant. "You used to work alongside Opaline, didn't you?" He asked the blue unicorn.
Surprised he figured it out so quickly, Misty just slowly nodded and quietly said. "Yes."
"Ah, don't worry about that." Spike assured her. "One of my best friends nearly destroyed reality all because she got upset her friend got a Cutie Mark before her and my friends destroyed her cult. And another close friend kept putting us in danger of actually dying because he was a bit of an idiot." He paused to chuckle at the ponies' looks of utter shock and confusion. "My point is, I'm a pretty forgiving guy, so you don't have to worry about anything."
"That's a relief." Misty sighed.
Seeing that conflict was over, Zipp began her story. "Well, to explain how we got to the point where we battled Opaline, I'm going to have to explain some background details. It might drag, so I'll try to get through it quick." She said before she began telling the story of her saga.
All while she narrated, the ponies and dragons listened with interest of Zipp's story of her rise and fall, leading to Misty telling of Opaline's deadly plan for the pegasus and her complete defection, and then the battle against the alicorn in her castle. Zipp told of her battle plan, the initial tussles with Pipp, Izzy, Hitch, and Sunny, her own fight with the alicorn, Misty saving her from being choked to death and getting thrown out of the window as a result, saving the unicorn in return, to battling Opaline face-to-face as the castle crumbled around them, finally getting to their escape before they themselves were killed. "So, in the end, Opaline more or less destroyed herself since she was so fixated on killing me that she failed to notice the castle falling around her until it was too late and she was crushed.
'Whoa!" Both Izzy and Jade said in amazement. "That was so much better than the other stories." The dragoness said as the end.
"Probably because it was actually true." Lava muttered to Tumble, who just shushed him but did agree with his statement.
"Honestly, I expected more from an alicorn." Blaize said. Something no one else seemed to have noticed was that she was looking directly at Sunny when she said that. The orange mare saw this and knew that Blaize wasn't talking about Opaline. She was talking to her.
"Well, she was still weakened from whatever Twilight did to her all those years ago." Zipp explained, not having seen what Sunny saw so assumed the dragoness was referring to Opaline. "Thankfully she was, and Misty realized just how evil she was when she planned to kill me, or we might not have been able to defeat her."
"But you were." Spike said as he got up from his seat and bowed before the pegasus and her friends. "I owe you more than I can ever repay you, Zipp. You have brought peace to Equestria and avenged my friends." As he rose back up, he saw one of his old friends in the place of the pegasus. "You have that same unbreakable, brave spirit that Rainbow Dash had. Almost as if she was looking out for us through you. And I will never be able to thank you enough."
"N-no thanks are necessary." Zipp said with a bashful blush. "It was an honest team effort, if anything."
"And you all have my eternal gratitude." Spike smiled at the six of them before bowing again.
"Ours as well." Lava said as he and the other dragons stood up and stood beside their Dragon Lord before bowing as well.
Zipp and her friends couldn't help but swell with pride at the gesture. They all felt like heroes akin to Twilight and her friends. Well, most of them did.
Sunny saw the look Blaize gave her as the dragoness approached Spike. One that showed disappointment in her. And hearing Spike thanking Zipp for defeating Opaline, alongside all the stories ponies have been giving of the alicorn's demise, it made her feel horribly insignificant as she kept thinking about what Blaize said to her. How she expected more from an alicorn.
As much as she tried to hide it, she did not feel like a hero at all.
Suddenly, the doors to the throne room opened again and a blue dragoness entered. "Uh, Your Spikeness?" They said as they approached the group.
"Fountain." Spike said as he and the other dragons rose. "I thought you were still in Bridlewood with Leaf and Luxxe."
"I was." Fountain confirmed. "But we had short of an issue. Not the 'ponies panicking or forest on fire' kind, mind you." She quickly assured him.
"Then what kind of issue is it?" Spike asked.
"Well, you see, the unicorn leader invited us to his tea shop for some tea and..."
Turns out tea and dragons don't exactly mix perfectly. Or at least this specific type doesn't as Alphabittle was learning firsthoof. "And then-hic! And then he had forgotten to tie his shoes! Ahahahahahaha!" Luxxe laughed as she finished another random story while the unicorns forced to listen just chuckled nervously in confusion at whatever they had just witnessed.
Leaf, on the other hand, was looking at his paw like it had grown faces. "Whoa! How long have I had this?" He asked himself. "Its like...why do we grow hair when we're reptiles? What are these tattoos on our butts?"
"Hey, barkeep!" Luxxe shouted to Alphabittle.
"Not a bar." The unicorn mumbled to himself for the eight time.
"Another shot of that tea. And make it jumbo sized!" The dragoness ordered.
"But you've already had thirty cups." Alphabittle tried to remind her.
But a drunken dragon doesn't listen to reason. "I said jumbo sized! " She slammed her paw on the table, breaking it in half before getting back to her audience as she brought them back in as they tried to sneak away. "Now, have I ever told you about the duck and the grapes?"
When Spike would come and clean this mess up, Lava and Blaize can count themselves lucky their misunderstanding was forgotten about.
Author's Note
2 years ago today, I released my first pony fanfiction in the form of Not Good Enough. The story that would eventually become the start of the Zipp Saga readers would be enjoying.
And now, 2 years later, we have the start of the next part of the saga, Sunny's Story.
I will get more into Sunny's arc with the next story, but I'm pretty most of you should already be able to put together what it's all about.
So instead, let's talk more about everything else with this story. Some may remember I have mentioned this event in other stories, and have been meaning to write it, but just never figured out a time to actually do it. But I thankfully figured one out as soon as I started getting ideas for this new saga.
Regarding the opening skirmish, that was something I have had planned for a while. Lava and Blaize seemed to be the perfect dragons for such a tussle since Lava's kind of a jerk, and Blaize was shown not to be trustworthy of outsiders. Tumble was always meant to come along as the voice of reason, and Jade was added in last minute to kind of be the comic relief of the group.
After that, it was mainly just getting the idea for what Opaline did to the dragons, ending up having it be way worse than in cannon, and some exaggerated stories by Pipp and Haven on how Zipp defeated Opaline referencing Mufasa and Mulan respectively. And then I had them meet Spike, he says his thanks for avenging his friends, and honestly I was struggling to figure out how to end this story. Probably very abruptly if I'm being honest with myself, but hopefully everyone still enjoyed it
Sunny's not looking very sunny right now. Hopefully she can brighten up again before something extreme happens.
