//------------------------------//
// Brutalized 
// Story: The Anvil of Dawn 
// by Starlix 
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The night sky was a daunting thing. So silent and massive, gazing back with an image of the entire universe. Waiting within, a nest of bright lights and images of the galaxy they found themselves in. Such an image in reality was so much more incomprehensible to beings who lived on the tiny rocks within them. Who were we to think we could truly fight something as ancient as this, ancient as time, ancient as eternity. It was impossible.

Along the walls of a large city, the lone figure gazed upwards, pondering the great mystery that was her existence. Lately these thoughts had been coming more often and it unnerved her greatly. The night felt at home, the darkness her element, and the night sky seemed as if it wanted to rebuke that claim. To state that she was foolish to think that this impossibly large realm belonged to her and to her alone. Sighing, the figure flopped onto her back.

The dragoness lay on her back, staring ahead blankly, her wings splayed out, magenta membranes glowing slightly. Onyx black scales lined her slender body, appearing rather hard to spot in the dark evening. A belly separated smoothly into three plates, the same color has her expanding membranes heaved has a deep breath flowed from her. Piercing, glowing emerald eyes gazed out at the taunting sky, while the pale moonlight caused the markings across her head and under her eyes to glow faintly. Closing them for a few moments, she tapped her claws against the rough stone walls she found herself on, deep in thought.

Peace seemed truly elusive tonight. What was she doing out here? She knew she should be asleep, but it wasn’t a particularly peaceful night. The horrors that marred her mind plagued her, nothing terribly unusual, however their intensity had seemed tripled this night. And so she sat, a near silent sentinel in the one place she felt truly calm. The peace and quiet of the night.

And it taunted her.

It was rather ironic, she thought. How her entire life since being freed she had attempted to throw off the shade that her enslavement by Malefor had cast upon her. Yet her peace was in the night. In the place where most dare not tread. She had tried her very best to remove the plague that seemed to follow her, yet in the area where it was born did she feel at ease.

The dragoness sighed once again. Rolling to her side, she cast her gaze over the battlements, eyes roaming absentmindedly over the untouched meadows and rolling hills. She didn’t feel as if this was her doing however, for she could see the scars where they truly lie. Hidden by the grass and dirt, thousands lay dead on this field, thousands that she helped kill. Swallowing the hard lump in her throat, the female broke her gaze, finding it increasingly difficult to see.

To each side, the walls remained empty, most unlit except for the ever present lights and life from the city behind her. Despite the renewed proximity to her kind, the touch of Malefor still cut deep to the bone, and so she strayed away. They probably wouldn’t care to converse with a  murderer after all.

Running a claw over her chest, the dragoness felt the renewed pain start again. It had been 3 years since they had blasted the one that did this to her to the very core of the planet. That had felt more gratifying than she would ever admit. The feeling of working seamlessly alongside her purple partner to bring that monster even just a fraction of the justice he deserved only further tapped into her raging bloodlust towards him. When he had finally been bested, she had been ready to die, thrown to the center of a cracking planet, what else could she expect.

But then he saved them. Spyro.

For a moment, she smiled, a passionate, heartfelt smile crossing her previously scowling muzzle. The purple savior that her people looked up to. He had been the one to free her from her horrible enslavement, to save her from...her. Even now she felt that trust and understanding she had felt from the beginning, the only one who ever really had shown her that.

At first, this newfound trust had only increased her guilt. Every scar that had marred his young body had been caused by her, and her alone. Even now, older as they were, the scars remained, alongside the trove of new ones that had marred him. And just like that, the peace was broken again.

She had hoped after she had pulled him out of that core once the shattering planet had been rebuilt anew, that they could find peace, be it death or life. She knew which one was more likely to find her and which would find him. She wasn’t dead yet, but they had been closer than ever before in the last few years. Peace had only momentarily reached the pair, as well as the world as a whole.

Their power invited challenge. Them being alive brought challenge to the surface, new, deadlier opponents that would do everything possible to reach the victory they craved so badly. Her gaze was drawn to the long jagged scars that traced the tops of each of her forearms, along with a myriad of other smaller marks from past struggles.

She supposed that the scars brought a new sense of strength with them. Among the agony and death, they had become stronger, more whole. The broken truly were the strong in the new state of the world she found herself in. Only those who had been shattered knew just how to be able to bite back. The world they were in started to view them differently. It was slight at first. After the second time the city had been sieged by wayward species, the many that had been slaughtered by her claw all those years ago.

The citizens already viewed her with wariness or outright hostility, but it got so much worse after the continual outcries against her. Fear was an emotion she often felt, even if she hid it well, but this was a threat she couldn’t kill, couldn’t stalk until paranoia made it weak. In fact, paranoia made it more deadly, more vicious. When demands for her head started to be made, something had to break.

That was the first time she left. The guilt, the fear, the anguish, it all overwhelmed her. The breaking point she had been nearing had snapped. In a panicked blossom of red energy she had split across the sky, channeling wind to breakneck speeds, she exceeded the city walls in under a second and sped out into the darkness, nothing but immediate survival on her mind. 

Alone, she felt happy, a bittersweet emotion in her eyes. She craved the acceptance from those around her, yet they cared not for her redemption. To them she was nothing more than a burden, a scapegoat, a murderer. The tears stung, and the words hurt more than the claws that they often swung at her.

When all seemed lost, he would always come for her. Holding her gently as she sobbed in pain, agony in her heart, the blisters in her soul. The trauma was holding her back, she knew she should shed it, for Spyro cared not for the world when it hurt her deeply. She truly understood that night what it meant to be soulmates, to find one that truly understood your pain, and the one who couldn’t bear to see it consume you.

As the night dragged on and he whispered sweetly to her, she could hear what he did not show. The slightest quiver in his voice, the most subtle unsteadiness in his motions. This was wearing him thin, for that she could see, almost as if it were painted on his scales. The purple dragon refused to show his scars to a world that cared not for them and only for an idol.

She couldn’t remember how long they stayed up that night, or how long it was before he himself broke and sobbed against her shoulder. The two young dragons sharing in the agony of a world that could not understand them. For they were always destined to carry this burden. Those that carry the world on their shoulders are often most sighted to its problems.

Spyro was her rock, the one thing in her existence that held her aloft. After her thirst for revenge against Malefor had culminated in his death, the single sole purpose for existence had shifted. The purple dragon that had torn her from the grasp of that abomination had been just as negatively affected by it as she had, though he didn’t show it. The happy, gentle Spyro that was her Spyro had not changed, but he was as scarred as was she.

Something truly crossed her mind that night. All along she had thought that she was doing this to get rid of Malefor’s chain that had bound them, but the second she felt it’s removal, her life had been drifting. Now all she wanted to do was hold on for dear life, and to make anyone that try to do her harm feel hellfire, and to make those who would do it to Spyro feel it twice over. That night, she made a promise to herself. She would do what she always did, the one thing that made her more of a dangerous opponent than anyone but Spyro himself.

For once, she could call herself something and feel sure. She wasn’t a hero. She wasn’t a martyr.

She was a survivor.

Cynder, the black dragoness, former Terror of the Skies, would never again feel the darkness envelop her heart. No matter the pain, no matter the trial, no matter the injustice done against her, she would persevere. Broken and shattered, but at the same time imposing and indestructible. Invincible, but not immortal.

Back on the wall, she broke from her memories, once again feeling the purpose she had always had in the back of her mind. No matter the call, she would answer it. To owe it to her species, to owe it to herself, she would live on. Never again would she be a puppet and never again would she run.

Turning back to the city, she didn’t feel the bite of the horrors that haunted her waking mind. If they returned she would fight, as she always had. She would endure as she has endured. With a gust of wind, Cynder spread her wings and blew into the night sky, flying for her room.

The night above her stared back, unmoved.


*

Sunlight filtered into the room. The curtains, partially pulled to the side let the gentle rays of golden light flow into the room unobstructed. Along with the rays of soft light, the gentle chirping of birds and the occasional quiet conversation from the streets below filled the air. The peaceful atmosphere remained. This didn’t last long for a dragon currently  facing the window, muzzle propped up on a nest of blankets and pillows.

Growling lowly when the light flicked across his closed eyelids, the purple dragon rolled over slightly, clutching at a foreign object in his nest. A low, peaceful moan reached his ears and his eyes opened groggily. Laying, pressed up against his side, was his black scaled companion.

"Mmmm...Cynder...what are you-” Spyro trailed off, confused. They didn’t share a room, yes they were courting, but they still kept their own rooms. Despite this, she would often sleep in his room to help appease both of their nightmares. The other’s comfort usually was enough to stave off the nightmarish visions or at least provide a shoulder to cry on when they came back in full force.

She didn’t respond, instead curling up against his chest more. For a moment he was stricken by the adorable pose she was in. Her head pressed up against his neck, paws curled against his chest, snorting in her sleep every once in awhile. Grinning softly, he wrapped his wings around her and slowly rolled over, pulling her onto his chest, with him on his back. The black dragoness remained asleep, kneading her claws against his chest gently.

He smiled, reaching over for a pillow and moving it behind his head, careful not to penetrate it with his horns. Propping it behind him, he stared down at his dragoness, slowly rubbing his paws down her sides, listening to her soft purrs. His smile drooped slightly at the sight of the many scars marring her perfect scales. The lines of scarred flesh were varying in length and size, some, like the horrific wounds to her forearms were particularly nasty. Others were smaller, ranging from the size of his claw, to the thin lines running all the way down her barrel and to the base of her tail.

Gazing at his own body, as much as he could see that wasn’t obscured by sleeping dragoness, that was, he didn’t fail to notice his own battle scars, marring his armored belly scales. They had been in some...bad times. The dragon growled to himself softly. He blamed himself for some of them, carelessness had gotten them into some trouble. He didn’t think of himself as arrogant, he knew he was often too selfless for his own good, but his stubbornness often led to him taking his own word over others.

Spyro had been fighting since he was a child, something that others had often used to get what they needed. It wasn't often he got a break, his near supernatural fighting ability more than a match for nearly anyone alive. 

A sudden thought jumped into his head. Well, the only one he could really say who was even was currently snuggling on his chest, fast asleep. A low rumble built in his throat. This morning had been perfect, a rarity these days. They would often return back to the city with a fresh set of injuries and stories to tell without much time to themselves, sometimes a day or two of leave.

Their young bodies hadn't grown much since the battle with Malefor, and it wasn't expected they would hit the next growth spurt for a few years, when they were in their late twenties, something the eighteen year old dragons didn't want to worry about. While their size may have only increased by nearly a foot in both directions, him and Cynder had only trained and fought harder, their combined strength making up for their youthful size. Despite this, they both had an average height of about five and a half feet, still slightly above average for their age.

Things didn't look to be getting better, so the new height and weight was appreciated.

He would’ve never guessed that freeing the world from Malefor’s shadow would cause the planet to still be in the shade. It never really got to him too bad. The only way is forward, that’s what he had always been taught growing up. His adoptive dragonfly parents had been adamant about him keeping a positive attitude in spite of his differences growing up. Being ten times the size of everyone tended to cause some wariness towards the village’s resident dragon.

His thoughts past this point just seemed to drift and come quickly. The light gradually got more bright as the sun rose in the sky. This was to the ire of a certain sleeping dragoness, who began to shift in response to the sudden heat on her face.

“Turn the damn light off.” She mumbled into her nest of purple scales as she buried her head. He laughed, feeling the normally independent dragoness use him like an oversized pillow.

“I’m afraid being purple doesn’t give you that benefit.” he stroked her head with a paw, running the tips of his claws over her ivory horns. The dragoness just grumbled and wriggled in his embrace. Her wings shuffled over her back, splaying around her form.

“Well, I’m gonna have to court a dragon that can instead then, I suppose.” She raised her head and eyed him evilly, her tail tip swishing back and forth.

“Ouch, you trying to injure me you little devil.” He smiled softly at her jab. She yawned before laying her head back down, gazing into his purple irises. Her jade eyes sparkled in the golden light of the sun and he felt his breath take for a moment.

Noticing his sudden infatuated gaze, she chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Males.” She growled playfully. “All it takes is a bat of an eye to make you lose your head.” She wriggled free from his grip, and he reluctantly complied. Her eyes, still slightly groggy from sleep looked fuller than usual, like some energy had entered them.

“More like your eyes, Cyn.” He leaned over and nuzzled her gently. She returned it without hesitation. She stretched widely, splaying her wings out and giving a satisfied groan. She turned to him, when he stared at her, expression unreadable.

“C’mon purple boy, get up, let’s get ready for the day.” She turned around halfway, before turning her head and eyeing him from the corner of her eye. “And I don’t mean ‘up’ like that.” She rolled her eyes at his cheeky grin. 

“Of course Cynder.” He got to his feet, stretching his body in a similar fashion as she had. She pushed open his door, her sharp tail blade disappearing around the corner of the door frame by the time he had started moving.

The teasing dragoness wiggled her hindquarters at him as he raced to catch up with her. Falling in step beside the black dragoness, he turned to see her smirking at him out of the corner of her jade eyes. His own eyes narrowed.

“You’re being awfully playful this morning.” He raised a brow at his ebony companion. She merely laughed.

“I’ve just been feeling good today, that’s all.” She leaned over and licked his cheek, before grabbing his left paw in her right. “And I’ve got you with me.” He blushed, the dragoness was cuddly when she was feeling depressed, but she was never really this affectionate before. Her independence seemed to shine through in this state however. 

It was the little things he noticed, she held her head higher than normal with a bright smile that he rarely saw from her. For the first time in a while she seemed truly...happy. Her smile was infectious and he turned to gaze into her eyes as well, smiling fondly.

Suddenly she stopped and looked around, eyeing her surroundings anxiously. Spyro stopped as well and cast a nervous look at her. “Cynder?” He asked, bewildered.

“I was expecting a certain little gnat to interrupt our moment.” She smirked at him and resumed walking. Spyro laughed and fell back with her. 

“Well, he’s back at home visiting Mom and Dad, no need to worry.” Punching him good naturedly on the shoulder, she snickered.

“Why don’t we go give him a surprise.” She grinned slightly evilly at him. Eyes widening at the suggestion, he raised a paw to his chin.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Well, Sparx has always been skittish, and i'm in the mood to get a good laugh. Besides, I'd like to get away for a bit, you know, get some time together.”

He pondered her suggestion as they cleared the entrance to the temple, the home of the governance of the dragon city of Warfang, the Guardians. They had given the pair the next five days for rest and respite, it wouldn’t hurt to take a bit of a siesta. Besides, it had been a long while since he had seen his adopted parents.

Before he could voice his acceptance, a sharp pain racked his right foreleg. Wincing and yelping slightly, Spyro stopped, yanking the foreleg off the ground and bringing it to his belly. Cynder stopped, looking over her purple companion with alarm, before a look of understanding crossed her features. She winced.

“Leg hurting again huh?” She questioned softly, sympathy in her voice. She knew his pain well. Each of them had taken some bad hits in the last three years, their bodies had taken a beating. Red gem treatments helped a lot, but some wounds would never fully heal.

“Yeah.” He murmured lowly, casting a disapproving look at the heavily scarred limb. Carefully placing it back in the ground, he leaned more of his weight to his left. Even the slight motion of his right limb touching ground again caused a lance of pain to spike through it.

He teetered for a moment, before his black scaled companion saddled next to him, leaning on his side to give him support. He muttered a thanks, sighing in pain, the purple dragon flopped back onto his haunches. Cynder took a seat next to him, watching him with a expression mixed with concern and pity. 

Bringing up the offending limb, Spyro sucked in a breath. Letting it back out resulted in a frigid blast of icy air that settled over the wounded leg. However unpleasantly the pricking sensation was, the numbness began to spread over the limb after only a minute or two. Pressing it experimentally into the ground, the purple dragon seemed to deem the results acceptable, and got off his rump, Cynder following suit.

“That’s a clever trick.” She commented, eyeing the way he seemed to be walking almost perfectly now. He nodded once before resuming the walk to the outskirts of the large city.

Along the way he grabbed a few Red gems from a vendor, doing his best to ignore the wary glances he kept casting at the purple dragon’s companion. As they neared the edge of the city, traffic began to heat up.

Finding a side alley, the two dragons proceeded up the climax of a building, giving a fantastic view of the tan and white colored buildings that made up the city. Along the horizon, the rapidly climbing orb of orange light cast a beautiful image of pale yellows and sparkling wheat colored plains, grass shimmering in patches outside the walls. Taking in a deep breath of the fresh air, Spyro wandered to the edge of the tall building, casting a glance down, before falling backwards off the 200 some foot tall spire, letting gravity take him.

A rush of exhilaration flew through him. Shouting in joy, he cascaded through the narrow openings in the buildings, flapping his wings and quickly gaining speed as he reached the city walls. A screech of wings behind him nearly sent him tumbling from the sky.

Using a finely channeled current of wind, Cynder flew right past him, soaring into the sky, Spyro hot on her heels. Flapping her wings every so often, the dragoness’s sleek body shot through the clouds, a smile on her muzzle, teeth showing. Spyro couldn’t help but admire her form, she really was meant for the air. Sleek legs, beautiful wings, a lean form perfectly adapted to her. He gave a toothy grin, greatly pleased that this view belonged to him and him alone.

Sensing his staring she look back at him as she slowed to a hover, the both of them several hundred feet above the ground. “What are ya staring at there Spyro?” She gave him a look, one that clearly said ‘I know exactly what you are staring at, and you better watch it well.'

“Heh, nothing Cyn, nothing.” She rolled her eyes and gave a fake huff and turned to admire to landscape spanning around them.

“Even with all of the destruction going on around us, at least we have a few like this still.” She had a content smile on her face as her emerald orbs took it all in. Green rolling hills and forests with small streams going through and around them as far as the eye could see. A long ways off, the familiar shapes and colors of the mushroom forest.  The muddy browns and faded reds contrasting greatly with the vibrant greens.

He noticed she winced a little as they lazily took off in the direction of the large mushroom forest. Her wings, tattered and torn in multiple places were a little too damaged to fly on their own. She made light of this disability by channeling streams of wind to keep her moving. However, it must have hurt to flap the tattered appendages for too long.

She didn’t comment on this however and so they continued on for as long as the day would hold. Nothing of interest came up the rest of the day, and the two made their journey mostly in content silence, only having a few conversations within the day. The forest and trees passed quickly, going from a lush green to a slightly darker version of the color as the hours passed.

Daylight fell over the next few hours, the dragons making a quick stop around midday to hunt before shooting back into the sky and resuming the flights well into the evening. An hour or two after the last ray of sunlight had fallen over the horizon. And the pair decide now was the best time to end their flight and rest their sore and aching bodies.

Resting by the fire, the two dragons sat down, side by side against the chilly night. Firewood had been easy to find, and a simple bark of flames from Spyro gave the pair a bit of warmth against the Avalarian winter night. Not much was said between the two, both rather exhausted from the day’s long flight.

Just as Spyro began to doze off, Cynder jerked away from him, getting to her feet rather quickly. He groaned, still rather sleepy and not liking the cold air suddenly brushing against his scales.

“Cyn?” He questioned groggily. She looked back at him sheepishly.

“Gotta go...uh...take care of business.” She smirked and jerked her head to the brush around them. Cheeks faintly glowing a light red, he cleared his throat and nodded, somewhat embarrassed. She just snickered and walked off into the woods a little ways.

Turning his gaze back to the fire, the dragon lay down on his side, stretching a bit, before closing his eyes and turning his head a ways from the fire. With the warmth of the flames combined with the soft clicking of crickets and crackling of fire, he began to doze off a bit. 

*

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but the sleepiness in his system left him instantly when he felt it. The air was suddenly stale, foul, horribly wrong. Raising his head sharply, the purple dragon scrambled to his feet, whirling around. His instincts were suddenly on high alert and he had no idea why. The forest seemed darker and the fire was gone. A cold, unnatural chill raced across his spine, and the darkness of the forest was closing in on him.

That's when he heard it. A deafening, terrified scream rang out through the woods. Despite it possessing a haunting tone he had never heard before, he recognized the voice instantly. His heart stopped for a second, then paws scraped the ground and he was in motion.

“CYNDER!” He yelled the name louder than ever before, an unfathomable fear coursed through him, something sickening. The woods began to close steadier and his heart raced, harder, and harder.

Something was very wrong. The dragon couldn’t hear anything. After the scream the forest had gone completely silent. He could barely make out the crunching of twigs under his paws as they cut into the ground. He ignored the sharp pains as rocks cut into his sensitive pads, only worrying about finding his companion.

His vision was getting fuzzy, the darkness ever consuming more of his line of sight. He began to hyperventilate, forcing more air than he should into his lungs. The air got more toxic and suddenly his world spun.

He resisted the urge to vomit. Collapsing on his side, he was acutely aware of a horrific gurgling, sloshing sound coming from deeper in the woods. The sound wasn’t something from this reality could make, it reverberated in his skull, driving him insane. He screamed, clawing at his head, violently tearing a gash or two in his scales.

The Sound was followed by a smell. Pungent didn’t even begin to describe it. His stomach heaved, but he couldn’t vomit. He couldn’t breathe. The nightmare was just getting started however.

With an exploding roar, the forest suddenly became alive. That accursed sound coming from everywhere. It was surrounding him, all consuming. The monstrosity didn’t have a form, it was just raw terror and torment. The earth below him moved, tendrils caressing along the purple dragon's scales. Eyes widening, but unable to move, unable to thrash, unable to scream, the earth turned into something else.

It felt like sticky, slimy flesh encompassing his own. The sound was full force in his ears, the unholy gurgling followed by a terrible sound of tolling bells and exploding horns. Blood vessels in the purple dragon’s eyes ruptured, turning his eyes a muted red.

As everything reached a breaking point, it suddenly stopped, and pain was then all Spyro knew.

He found himself able to move, able to scream, able to cry and vomit and bleed.

Red hot agony exploded in his hind legs, and he screamed his throat raw. Bending his neck, and hearing a disturbing set of popping noises accompanying it, the dragon groaned and nearly went out cold as he surveyed the damage that thing had caused. 

Both of his hind legs were ripped open, scales littering the ground everywhere around them. The wound was cut right down to the bone, which were split in half cleanly. The legs themselves were holding on by a few strands of tough muscles. Through the pain, the puss and heavy bleeding was making it harder to keep his head up.

Gasping as the lances of agony redoubled, Spyro gritted his teeth and reached for the satchel that had fallen off during his wild dash into the woods. It lay a few feet away, it’s precious contents of red gems already spilled all over the grassy forest floor. He wasn’t even sure how much they would do an injury like this, but he hoped they would at least keep him from bleeding to death.

Each time he pulled his limp body along, he prayed to the ancestors that the muscles in his back legs didn’t snap off and leave him completely crippled and dismembered. It took a minute, but he dragged himself along the forest floor towards the life saving gems. Reaching out with a paw shakily, he smashed the gem and felt it shards began to do their work.

Looking back, he saw that the bleeding had indeed mostly stopped, and a few strands of muscle had begun to reattach themselves, but the injury was still extremely bad and needed attention. He felt fear worm it’s way into his adrenaline fueled mind. How the hell was he going to get to help this far out in the wilderness? There was no way he was flying, not when the speed and air resistance could sheer his limp hind legs off so easily.

Maybe Cynder could give them some form of smooth jet stream. Wait…

“Cynder!” He croaked out, his throat acting like it hadn’t worked in years. He swallowed hard, calling her name out once again and getting no response. He tried to scream, but his throat refused to cooperate. Only on his third attempt did he hear something.

A rustling, heaving sound coming from the woods where he thought he heard her scream. Preparing for the monster that did this to come back, the dragon summoned what little strength he had left, and forced his forearms up and under himself.

However, instead of something terrible, out came the dragoness. Her ebony scales were bloodied slightly and her eyes puffy and red, but otherwise alive. When her eyes found his, she nearly collapsed. He was horrified when she limped into the small clearing he lay in.

Her sides were a shredded mess of flesh and scales, through some of the deeper cuts, her rib cage was partially visible. Seeing her immense struggles and pain, he grabbed a gem and tossed it her way. The black dragoness barely caught it, stumbling as her wounds bled all over the ground.

The flow was stemmed partially when she crushed it in her jaws, unable to lean far enough to place it down without exacerbating her wounds. She moaned as some of the pain left her body, yet she still struggled to get to him. “Spyro…” She whispered, so quietly, that he more saw the movement of her mouth as opposed to any words being said.

“I know….” He croaked. “I know.” 

It was back.

With a jolt, he felt the air change once again, however this time they were together, and they refused to be caught off guard again. It seemed to close in faster this time. The smell coming almost instantly following that terrible gurgling sound. And then they saw it.

In an instant, their world turned to lava and fire.

Words didn’t describe its form. The mass of flesh with a thousand eyes and a thousand mouths stared deeply into the two dragons. In the distance the bell tolling rang, louder and faster this time. The being seemed to follow them, looking the same as the two’s heads moved in different directions.

Cynder broke from her terror induced trance first, gnashing her jaws in sudden anger. Her maw was suddenly engulfed in bright purple fire as convexity crawled to the surface. The being seemed to contemplate this for a second as it stopped writing and the noises slowed, the constant gurgling and ringing of bells.

Then it’s force tripled. Spyro nearly blacked out, his head felt like it was exploding, but he did his best to conjure up convexity in desperation as Cynder had. This seemed to enrage it further. It’s mass began circling them more now, forming a tight circle around the two huddled dragons. 

Just when it was within a foot of touching them, Cynder screamed, the action sounding wet and deranged, unnatural and demented, like that of a cornered animal at the limits of it's sanity.

“NOW!”

Two beams of convexity impacted the tightly condensed coils of mass just as they seemed to jump out at the two wounded dragons. With a force greater than any they had ever felt, the beams tore through the being. From the ashes, a sharp tidal flow of energy rushed at them.

Ashy, dark grey light poured from the wounds, washing over them with the intensity of a tsunami.

Spyro felt like he was drowning, and to his right Cynder seemed to be in a similar state. Gradually the forest began to light up and the bell reached a fever pitch of heavy intensity. Within seconds, he was overwhelmed and with a feeling like his skull had just imploded, Spyro blacked out.

*


*

Cynder jolted upright, breathing raggedly. She closed her eyes and groaned when she felt the effects of a splitting migraine break through her skull. Sitting back on her haunches, she heard the sound of a chain pulling roughly on her. Tilting her head back, she realized she was chained by her neck to a wall. Cynder's breath hitched rather violently, eyes widening in a primal sense of fear.

Upon further inspecting she noticed that the chain was unlike any metal she had ever seen. It was white and seemed to almost glow. In fact the whole rest of the room was a painfully bright white color. A twinge of numbed pain coursed through her sides. 

Surprise flooded her as she looked down at her barrel and found that the majority of the wounds had been expertly patched up, the fabrics showing large red stains however signified that the effects of the red gems must have worn off by this point. It’s been a while then.

Unhappily, she realized that she was once again stuck in a cell, chained to a wall. If she hadn’t been so exhausted she probably would’ve panicked and busted anything on her attempt to get out of this prison. However, she was weak and still adrenalized from her and Spyro’s run in with that abomination.

The thought of her purple companion brought a sense of worry immediately to the surface. His injuries had looked nasty, she prayed to the ancestors that whoever patched her up did the same for him.

A steady clipping sound echoed down the hall, bringing her attention upwards. She forced her weak body to respond, moving into an uneasy combat stance. Her tension escalated as the sound grew louder, her nerves still hopelessly frayed. A few seconds passed, though they felt like hours, and Cynder felt like she was about ready to jump out of her scales.

It stopped outside the door, just out of view.

What rounded the corner was not what she expected.

A quadrupedal purple...thing. Covered from head to...hoof in lavender fur, a horn emerging from the center of her head. Bound across her back were a pair of large feathery wings. It looked at her, seemingly only mildly surprised to find her awake, but more surprised at how she already able to move as she was.

Cynder was confused, this creature didn’t seem the least bit threatening. She dropped her guard for a moment and couldn’t stop herself from speaking. “Who...Who the hell are you?”

It pondered her for a moment, before speaking.

“I’m Twilight, and I saved your life.” The creature spoke softly, staring at her with a mixed expression of pity and slight anxiety. Cynder wasn't too shocked to feel the latter emotion given her tarnished reputation, but the former came as a surprise.

"Where's Spyro?" She demanded, keeping her defensive posture. The equine didn't seem very surprised by her angry tone, but her eyes narrowed slightly, casting the dragoness a weird look. A wondering look seemed to linger for a moment, before she realized who she was asking about.

"Being kept in a similar condition as you. He was much worse off, we had to keep him in surgery for a bit longer than you." Cynder's eyes widened. Surgery? She hadn't seen the extent of the damaged caused to her purple companion, aside from the gashes around his head and neck. Worry colored her tone.

"Where did you find us?" Her anger was diminished slightly, now filled more with a trembling fear as the nightmare in those woods came back to her. The lavender Alicorn seemed a bit surprised at the question. She tapped her chin and sat back on her haunches, thinking for a moment. Cynder's piercing gaze never left her.

"How much do you remember?" Twilight let her gaze fall back to the dragoness. Cynder's posture fell slightly, a shiver running across her spine. When the dragoness found herself unable to respond, Twilight sighed. "Well, eye witnesses say you and that other dragon suddenly appeared on the outskirts of the Everfree forest, shrieking and firing blasts of purple energy everywhere. You were yelling something about an eldritch demon, while your companion writhed on the ground tearing at his head with his claws." Twilight gave her another pitied look before she continued. "You can understand that you two were not allowed to continue in that condition, we couldn't risk you harming any ponies that happened by you."

Cynder was shocked. She didn't remember that part. The last thing that her fuzzy mind could conjure up was feeling desperation and terror like she'd never felt, when that thing began to close in around them. Convexity followed naturally after that, the unstable energy doing as it always did and tearing apart whatever it hit. Bringing a paw up the her aching skull, she tried to recall what Twilight had mentioned, but all she could get was a vague feeling of fear.

"What happened to you two? We need to know, something like that isn't taken without consideration around here. Monsters aren't too uncommon." Twilight seemed apprehensive, clearly unnerved by the level of violence done to the two dragons.

"Where is here exactly?" Cynder questioned her, a sudden fire born in her voice. When had the world turned so lopsided. In all her ventures she had never encountered anything like Twilight, or that monster in the forest for that matter.

"Equestria." She smiled. "Specifically, Ponyville. More specifically, you're being held in my castle at the moment." Castle? Cynder was starting to get nervous. Was this little equine in front of her some kind of royalty. Looking her over, she certainly gave off that appearance. Her...forearms? She wasn't really sure what to call them, were embroiled in some kind of gold shoe, while a crown adorned by gems sat on her head, resting atop a mane of navy and pink hair. 

She certainly had a poppy appearance. 

"Now-" Cynder's concentration returned to her captor once she began to speak again. "Who might you be, and I'll ask again, what happened to you two?"

"My name is Cynder." Her suspicions were confirmed true as the pony didn't even bat an eye at her name. They must have been rather far from her home for that name to not carry it's usual stigma and fear. "I'm a dragon."

"Yes, I figured that much, though we often don't see dragons this far away from the kingdom." Cynder was once again confused. What...what kingdom? She didn't voice it however, as she was still unsure of this creature's intent. Best not to give away any weakness. For now she was concerned with gathering information that would help her and Spyro escape.

"I can't remember much of what happened before now." The black dragoness lied. "Most of my memory is still hazy and unclear." If the equine could tell she was lying, she didn't show it. Instead she just sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Figured as much. With the extent of the trauma you two looked to have went through, you mind is most likely washed it all out to protect itself." Looking a bit dissatisfied with the answer, the equine got back to her feet and addressed Cynder once again. "You need to stay here and rest. My apologies for the chain, but we couldn't be sure whether or not you would try to harm anypony once you awoke."

Cynder turned and pulled on the chain. "Can you remove it?" She forced as much submission into her voice as she could choke down. Twilight regarded her for a moment, biting her lip. Nodding once, her horn lit up in a violet glow and surrounded a key from thew bag on her side. Cynder tried to keep a straight face, but felt her knees go slightly weak. These things had telekinesis?

Mouth dry, the black dragoness watched apprehensively as the key floated through the bars before sliding into a lock on the back of her neck. A quick click followed, and the chain slid off, colliding with the ground in a loud clang that made her head pound. Gritting her fangs, the ebony female refused to show it had affected her.

"Guards shall return with a meal and drink for you soon enough." Twilight seemed to gain some cheer into her voice. "Then we will just have to keep an eye on you for the rest of the day and make sure you remain stable, then we shall see about returning you to Dragon lands." 

Cynder called out for her just before she rounded the corner. "Wait." Twilight stopped and cast a questioning look over her shoulder. "What are you exactly?" Twilight regarded her strangely.

"I am a pony." She appeared surprised by Cynder's blank look, but when nothing followed her brief explanation, she turned the corner, her hoof steps echoing down the hall, followed by the sound an extra pair of them. Confused, Cynder's mind could only conjure up one thought.

"What the hell is a pony?"

*

Twilight sighed as she trotted into her study. Plopping her saddle bag next to her desk, she pulled the chair up and fell back into it heavily. The last few days had been crazy, even by Ponyville standards. The screaming and flashes of light from the Everfree had culminated in those two dragons appearing on it's outskirts. She hadn't been there herself originally, but she had seen the wounds that had been on them.

Creatures of the Everfree wouldn't hesitate to try and maim what they saw as prey, but dragons? Dragons were an apex predator in their own right. What could've have gotten them to cause such mental and physical damage. Twilight rubbed her skull, thinking back to that day. The energy spike had been felt by every unicorn in Ponyville, something powerful had breached their world. History in Equestria had told of rifts to other worlds and dimensions, but they didn't often drop creatures that existed on Equis in the first place, if the unusual circumstances around those two were to be connected in that manner.

Those Dragons were enigmas. They didn't have the same appearance and mannerisms, at least from what she could tell with her brief interaction with the female who called herself Cynder. Even under their magic resistant scales, she could feel the power that existed within them. Especially the purple one, she recalled Cynder calling him Spyro, despite being on death's door had an extraordinarily potent power yield resonating within his core. She presumed that was the only reason he survived his wounds to begin with.

It would take a t bit until he awoke, and until then she could't guess the state of his mental health, but she had seen firsthand his delusional screaming. How he tore himself to ribbons and writhed like something was moving through his body. The image was haunting. Rubbing her eyes, she logged the report as best she could, noting the peculiar circumstances leading to their arrival at the edge of the forest, and the strange sounds that were heard from the Everfree the previous night. She didn't want to request help from Equestria's leaders yet.

As much as she hated involving her friends in danger, she was worried that she may have to. Something about this whole situation felt unnatural, otherworldly. For now, she would take the only course of action she felt she could. She would attempt to get as much information from them as she could. The purple one was unlikely to awake for the next few days, in the mean time she would have to gain Cynder's trust.

Something about the dragoness popped out to her. She was somewhat agitated and distrustful, like the many dragons she had met, barring a few. However this felt different. It wasn't malice that seemed to drive her. The enigma that was the black dragoness would be a fun one to solve. Befriending someone like that would be hard, but she never was one to turn down an opportunity to help a soul in need of it.

She laughed to herself. My, have things changed since she first arrived here. Going from an anti social bookworm, to befriending dragons and monsters. After scribbling down the rest of  her findings, mainly those relating the state of the injuries and the conversation with Cynder in more detail, Twilight set her tools down and walked to her window. 

The setting sun cast a shadow on the ominous shadow of the Everfree forest, looming in the distance. Nothing ever seemed to go right around that cursed place, even now with the Tree of Harmony residing in it. It seemed the woods were just permanently cursed, ever seeking to bring misfortune on those around it. Well it wasn't anything Ponyville, couldn't take. They had fought it all before, there wasn't much that could threaten her friends or her kingdom anymore. She felt the power of the Alicorn within her. And a bright, determined smile broke her lips.

With her friends by her side, nothing from that forest could truly hurt them.

Rainbow Dash, the newly appointed leader of her guard. The Pegasus had really shown her flying and precision abilities. That loyalty made her an amazing guards-mare. Despite her eventual dreams still being set on the Wonderbolts, the mare had felt that a premier job working for the protection of her best friend, and a princess no less, was an offer too tempting to pass up.

Rarity had begun to really expand her skills outside of just those of a seamstress, though a master of her craft she really was. The exploration of the Everfree would be much safer with the money and skilled equipment that Rarity could provide. The generous mare had grown an affinity for specialized orders when it came to clothing, something akin to camouflage would be easy to create.

The raw strength of a strong mare like Applejack was something most creatures couldn't really contend with. The earth pony had a buck that could knock a Manticore down for several hours. Her sense of smell was weirdly unparalleled, nothing would sneak up on them. They would avoid violence as best they could, and having an early warning system in the mare's nose would be key. She considered also bringing Applejack down to meet Cynder next time she visited. The farm pony wasn't a built in lie detector, but she had an odd ability to catch the ticks of those she talked to.

IF worse came to worse, Fluttershy could calm down anything that really wanted to make them pay for trespassing. The timid Pegasus might lack the confidence to talk to many of her own species on even terms, but her way with members of other species was unparalleled. For one, nothing could really get past her Stare if it came down to that. Whatever weird voodoo magic lay behind it, it did it's work as a paralysis and semi mind control agent. Perhaps that's why she hated using it so much.

And finally there was the party pony, the defiler of natural laws. Pinkie Pie was pretty much a last resort when it came to danger. The pony was a constant source of morale, constantly showering those around her in goodnatured cheer. Nothing would truly be able to break the group's spirit when she was around. The pink mare's habit of breaking natural laws was also half the reason they escaped so many of the dangerous jams that Ponyville often found itself in.

With the group, there was nothing that could break them, they would be invincible, just as they had always been.

"You are mysterious, but I will uncover you eventually. I'm going to love finding you out."

Oh how wrong she was.

*	*	*