The Aurorians: Rise and Fall

The dark coated alicorn peaks his head out from its shade behind the trees, leaning its head into the early day and feeling the sun’s rays.

“I think they are not searching anymore.” he says and waves his hoof to the young blue stallion, indicating to him that he could come out off his hiding. The blue stallion did so, savoring the nice warm rays of the sun onto his blue coat, too.

“Aw, it’s so nice to feel being free and not to haul carts all the day!”

To only be short-spoken to by Owal.

“Alright, glad that we could avoid all those close calls, Sparks. These dragons seemed to be searching for you, flying around that much lately. Well, to your and my luck, they seem to have stopped their search and given up. Just glad that I taught you everything to the best of my knowledge! Now, you know some good fighting techniques and how you can use them with your powers. And all in one full moon´s pass! You also learned pretty quickly during your training, too! So let’s do a practice run.”

Owal turns around, stepping out of the thick barks and looking at the blue stallion, giving him a grin and a firm nod.

“Alright. How should we start this practice run?” The blue Stallion replies nodding and stomps his hooves down at the dirt, his head stretched out ready to attack.

The dark coated alicorn turns his head to face a group of withered dying trees. “You remember how we practiced on trees?”

Sparks, his head still close down to the ground and ready to do what Owal commands, replies with a determined voice: “Yeah I remember.”

The grateful dark alicorn points at an individual tree.

“Good! Let´s start: I want you to give one of them a lightning punch, then a lightning bomb and finally cast lightning blade to cut a tree in half!”

Sparks immediately dashes off, heading for the first tree.

He draws his right hoof back, charging it with his electrical power, feeling it build up in his limb. With a final jump, he darts at the tree and quickly punches the center of his target, releasing the tension of the electric force. The tree instantly explodes in a loud blast, wooden shards and chips sailing to the ground.

But that was only the beginning, one of the few powerful and destructive techniques, Owal had taught him!

He quickly turns too his second target, already collecting his electrical energy and forming it into a blue energy-ball. The blue stallion takes aim and looses the electric ball at the tree´s base. At express speed, the electric orb hits the tree, setting free its energy with a loud explosion and catapulting the tree´s upper part into the air like a rocket.

Finally, Sparks turns to his third target, glaring at it. The furious pony lunges out, raising to his rear legs and stretching his two front hooves to his back, collecting tingling energy in them. With a final determined cry of exertion, he rapidly slams them to the ground with a loud thud. With that, he forms and looses the energy in his hooves. Like a crescent made of lightning, it swiftly darts at the tree and splits it into two halves. The lightings heat sets it afire in addition.

Owal meanwhile sits down, leaning with his back against a tree and nods appreciative with folded front hooves. “Perfect! It seems you are ready to fight some dragons.” he means smiling.

“Alright! I am feeling ready! Just let me do this and show these dragons who is boss.” he announced, swinging his two hooves in the air like a pugilist, ready to fight against anything that will stand in his way.

Owal nods in agreeing manner. “Okay. I am going to let you go to rescue your friend and the other ponies.” He pauses for a moment, thinking about his next words. “I don’t think your powers will be able to kill these dragons, but maybe able to hurt them a lot and cause some damage…”

Sparks stops for a moment from punching the air and turns his attention to Owal. “What do you mean?”

“Dragons are extremely hard to kill, especially for me because I´m using magic. But for you it is another thing, because your powers are no real magic and you can cast a extremely large force of lightning that others with magic can’t do.” he explained serious.

“Well, I guess that makes sense…somehow…” Sparks replies, scratching his head.

“Alright. Now, you can go back to the mines and do whatever is needed with your powers to free those ponies. And once you have saved them, do bring them back here!”

“Alright! I will do as you said, Owal!” Sparks gives a salute before he trots up the hill and disappears in the distance, heading for where the mine is located.

While he is walking along the desert plains back to mines in his heroic attempt to free the ponies there, a figure above casts its shadow onto the ground below and soon lands in front of him, throwing the desert dust around.

A large dragon planted threateningly himself in front of the blue stallion. “Ah! So you are alive and finally returning to us! Though we were sure you were dead after we gave up the search.”

“Well, somehow, you could put it that way I guess. And yes, I am still alive!”

The Dragon before him snarls and responds: “Well, too bad for you! We dragons have order, that if you were still alive you have to be destroyed for our loyalty to our master.”

“Oh, too bad you are going to have a hard time destroying me, because I think it´s me who has the upper hoof now, dragon.” Sparks hit back cheeky.

The dragon only chuckles at his remark. “Ha! One single pony like you will take me on? The best joke made in years! You will never win, because you´ve got nothing on me!”

Sparks just smirks. “Well, if you think I´ve got nothing on you, let me show you this…”

And with that, he rapidly rears onto his back legs, conducts his electrical energies into his fore legs and stomps them down, casting lightning all around that rips the desert plain´s ground and strikes the dragon, causing a loud scream of pain out of the dragon. The sheer mass of energy and their power knocks him out instantly.

At a rapid gallop, Sparks dashes into the direction of the mine, knowing that he needed to get there fast. The dragon´s screams may have warned many of the others and might have blown his plan freeing the ponies.

Sitting in the slumps of his cage, he looks up. An opening outside his bars allow him a view at the beautiful sky, just to notice it going dark when a very spiked dragon passes by and grabs the bars of the cage to tell something to Arso, the black stallion with the fiery mane.

“You know your little blue friend is dead! He is never coming back!”

Arso tilts his head up from the cell´s dirty floor and laughs “Ha! I know he made it and he can’t be dead!”

The dragon gives an evil smirk at the black pony. “Nah, a dragon saw him fall down the hill into a raging river. A small pathetic creature like him would never survive this! Face the facts you pitiful creature! Your friend is dead!”

“I will never believe that he is dead! He is alive and he made it! I just know it!” Arso’s temper grows and rushes to his hooves, biting the dragon´s claw that gripped the cage.

The beast gives a short yelp in surprise an angrily throws him to the back of his cell.

“You disgraceful useless pony!” he shouts at him, losing his temper. He bends up the cell´s bars with his strong claws, ready to beat the hell out of the black Stallion, but was stopped by a bright lightning, pounding the dragon´s head into the ground and causing a big dirt and dust cloud.

Arso rubs the dirt out of his eyes and tries to see what struck down this dragon to unconsciousness.

“Whoa! Wait, what did that?” he asks confused and continues to rub his eyes. Because of the dust cloud all around, he can’t keep them open for long, only getting a quick glimpse at the blurring glob of gray appearing in his eyes and standing on top of the dragon´s head.

He begins to panic. What struck down this dragon? And would it be friendly to ponies? And what if it wouldn´t be?

“Who is there and who are you?” He questioned into the dust.

The shadow in front of him lowers itself onto all fours, the dust cloud beginning to vanish, and trots over to Arso.

“Well I am glad I got here in time or that dragon would have killed you, Arso. There, I am pretty sure.”

With a final rub, the black stallion cleaned his eyes from the last remains of dirt and dust and looks at the pony in front of him, recognizing its voice and going very wide-eyed in surprise. “Sparks? Is that you? But…I thought you were…were…”

Sparks quickly interrupts his sentence and smirks. “Dead you say? Nah! A pony like me is going be a lot harder to kill from now on!”

“Wait…what…why…” Arso stutters, not knowing what to feel.

A dragon soon appears from around a corner to the cell, noticing the unconscious dragon and the blue pony standing next to him. “You there! Stop and surrender!”

“I will show you Arso” He simply replies.

And then, he quickly turns around and dashes straight at the dragon, gathering his electrical power and punching him hard in his stomach. Taken by surprise, a jolt of lightning sends the beast across the room, through the bars of the cell and ramming the dragon´s head inside the wall.

The black stallion only stares in amazement about the demonstration of his blue friend´s powers. “But…but…but… how?...”

The blue pony quickly trots over to Arso “There is no time to talk! I need to get you and all the other ponies out of here!”

He indicates to Arso to take a few steps back. The black stallion did so, still awestricken by Sparks new abilities. With a few electrical enhanced kicks, the gate´s locks blast out off their hinges.

“Arso, I need you to guide these ponies out of the mine while I´ll keep the dragons busy!”

Arso stutters at Spark´s orders, not really believing into his friend´s crazy plan. But, in the end, this may is the last chance to escape forever, so he nods and responses: “Yeah, Sparks. Where should be head too?”

Sparks just grins. “You remember the forest where we first planned to go to? Head for it and you may run into a new friend I made.”

“Who is this new friend?” Arso asks curious.

The blue pony waves a hoof. “There is no time to explain. You must get going now, Arso! I´ll stay here and take care of these dragons!”

“And what is about you, Sparks?” his black-coated friend questions concerned.

Sparks just stares into Arso´s eyes, urgency in his own ones.

“JUST GO!”

Just as to emphasize his words, another dragon appears in front of them and tries to stomp them into the ground. Sparks acts fast, kicking Arso to the side and jumping to the other side to avoid the attack. With a loud rumble, the dragon-fist hit the ground where the two ponies had stand one second before. Wasting no time, Sparks jumped, hitting the dragon´s chin with a large charge of electricity.

Together, the two ponies fight their way through the mine, Sparks systematically knocking out every dragon that unfortunately crosses their way and freeing every pony out of its cell.

Finally, they reached the mine´s centre, ponies working hard everywhere, hauling pushcarts or working at the walls with pickaxes, everypony´s face black with dirt and their backs witnessing the usage of the dragon´s whips.

Suddenly, there is a movement in the shadows and a large dragon, appearing like a yellow snake with sharp claws, steps out of the shadows, puffing smoke out of his nose.

“So you are the leader of the dragons in this mine! Finally we meet…”

The blue hero, sweating from his former efforts, stares at the dragon face to face from the distance.

The black Stallion meanwhile yells to the ponies, announcing to stop their work.

“I want every pony to follow me because:”

And that were the magical words.

“We are leaving!”

There was a short silence, broken by the sudden outbursts of joy from hundreds of ponies, laying down their work and starting to form a crowd in front of him. He catches eye of a young colt that was brought to the mines and hauled a way too heavy cart.

He picks him up, because he was exhausted and way too slow to travel such a far distance. At his command, they follow Arso out of the mines while he carries the young colt to the gate that leads out. He notices, that the gate has been broken open for them to leave the dreaded mine. Arso one more time realizes that this is the time for them to finally leave and gain their freedom! And he one more time sees the immense power Sparks got now, when he looks the rampaged door over.

“Alright, everypony! I want every single one of you to head for the forest beyond the landscape!”

Every pony follows Arso, trotting their way to the forest and leaving the mine empty, except for our blue hero, who was still there to face a great challenge.

As the blue pony keeps his stance, the dragon speaks up. “It’s been so long, since I fought one of you, far too long I must say…”

Sparks tilts his head. “Wait, what you said?”

“Enough!” the dragon simply roars. “You must be destroyed to prevent the prophecy from coming true!” With that, he opens his mouth wide and shoots a large fireball at the blue stallion.

The blue stallion reacts quickly and avoids the dragon´s attack, ducking behind a rock

“This was close!” he puffs. “And this dragon is going to be harder than the others to take down!”

The yellowish dragon swings his large fist and stomps the ground with a loud thud, breaking the rock and, with it, his hiding place. “You can’t hide from me so easily! I will destroy you and make you into a paste!”

Sparks turns around to face the dragon once again and focuses his attention on him.

“I am tired of this! Let´s end this once and for all!”

The blue stallion raises his hooves up into the air, collecting his powers, and drops them down to the ground, casting his lightning from the sky and into the open mine, electrifying the dragon and throwing the loose dust from the ground all around.

After a short silence, a grumbling came out of the dusty cloud. “You have to try harder to hurt me, you pathetic blue pony!”

The yellowish dragon charges at the blue Stallion, sparing him only a second before he would get smashed into the wall. He quickly jumps to his left, causing the ferocious beast to smash into the mine´s wall.

“Well, and you have to be a lot smarter if you really want to destroy me!”

The yellowish dragon snarls at the remark and turns his head away from the wall and slams his fist with incredibly strength against it

“I will show you, foolish blue stallion!”

Sparks feels a rumbling from the ground and notices the wall crumbling behind the dragon. He smirks and pokes his tongue out. “Good luck with that…” he sang “…because you are going to taste a delicious load of earth!”

“You little…!” as the dragon was about to finish his sentence and slam down his fist onto sparks, a large amount of earth detaches from the wall´s edge above and falls down, slamming the angry beast hard into the earth and burying it under thousands of rocks. He swings his fist in a last try to hit Sparks, but fails.

Only unclear small mumbles of the dragon´s language can be heard, muffled by the large amount of earth. Though, he was still alive. “I…. will ha… my…. rev…”

Sparks just brushes his hooves clean from all the dust and the ordeal and bring his ear closer to the dragon´s earthy cage. “Wait, what did you say? I can’t hear you! it sounds like you have a load of earth in your mouth! Sorry, I can’t help you with anything if you don’t tell me what´s wrong!”

He rolls on his back, laughing in relief in the dusty dirt.

“Ohhhh I kid myself so much now!”

The Dragon continues to try and grab and reach anything with his one free claw, waving it around. Sparks waves back at the yellowish flayed claw, standing out from the dirt.

“Thanks for everything! I had very much fun! Maybe, we should do this again sometime! It sure was fun!”

And so, he trots his way up the path out of the mine, but abruptly stops.

“Oh, wait! There will never be a next time, because I will never return here again!”

He kicks dirt at the direction of the dragon and trots his way out of the mine and over the desert landscape to the forest right beyond where he gained his freedom.

He didn´t look back only one single time…