Scav’s eyelids pulled back and light slapped him across the face. He squinted and turned his head away from the light in an effort to appease his constricting pupils. In an attempt to block the light, he tried to bring his arm up, but was met with resistance. It was then Scav noticed that he was strapped down to a metallic table, bound tightly in steel braces.
Confused, Scav tried to move, but his arms, legs, tail, and chest were all held tightly down. Scav focused on one of the braces and pulled with all his strength, clenching his teeth as he tried to free himself. He soon gave up, no matter how hard he pulled the metal didn’t so much as shift in place. As it was metal, Scav prepared to melt it with a blast of fire, but the flames caught in his chest and he was only able to let out a wheeze.
“Don’t worry mister dragon!” An oddly cheerful voice came from behind him. Scav tilted his head back so it was upside down and looked into the eyes of a milk white pegasis with a crimson red crest on his helmet and clad in silvery steel armor. It was the same pegasis that he had seen before getting knocked out in Horsehead, “Those bindings’ll take the strength of either a key or two dragons to pull apart. You won’t be goin’ anywhere,” The pegasis stopped, looking into Scav’s eyes, “Oh, pardon my poor hostness...” he paused, thinking for a word, “...ishness..? Pardon my being a bad host, I am Colonel Wingald, commander in chief to the Equestria Air Force only second to General Charger and the princesses themselves,” Wingald emphasized his name by putting a hoof to his chest and raising his wings.
Scav finally caught his voice, “Hold on a second and let me make one thing clear, I am not with the dragons who are making war with you! I was in the town to help put out the fire.”
“And my mother was a cow!” Wingald laughed then paused in thought, “Was she..?”
Scav raised an eyebrow, or rather lowered one as his head was upside down. Whoever this Wingald was, he was either crazy or downright weird.
“Ah, no matter. The point is that we found you by a fire,” Wingald lifted his right front hoof, holding the shoe of his hoof parallel to the ground, “On one hoof, we’ve a dragon,” Wingald did the same with his other front hoof, “And on the other we’ve a fire. Dragons breath fire,” He paused, considering what he had said and dropping to all fours, “Yes. We’ve also a report from Canterlot of a certain somepony reportin’ an attack on a village by the name of Hoofhills in which dragons turned the city to ashes!” Some of Wingald’s goofy demeanor was replaced with a cold harshness as he spoke of Hoofhills.
“And I helped send that message!” Scav retorted, glaring at Winglad, “Well sort of...”
“Sort of..?” Wingald echoed.
“I’m not a wild dragon. I was hatched by a student of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Me and my friend are traveling sellers of fine goods, we were bedding down for the night and an earth pony ran into my friend. The earth pony had him write down a message concerning that attack!”
“So how did you help..?” Wingald asked.
“That’s beside the point! You’ve got the wrong dragon. I saw smoke from Ponyville and then went to Horsehead to help! If you ask the villagers they’ll tell you that they saw a dragon go to the river and then spit some water on a part of the fires! I also saved the lives of four other ponies who almost got crushed by the falling bell tower! I’m on your side!” Scav exclaimed the last part angrily.
Wingald raised his wings and then put them against his back again, fidgeting in indecision, then looked to his left, “Are you buyin’ any of this..? Well of course you’re not buyin’ it with bits and all, but...”
“Sir, I understand what you mean,” another voice cut in.
Scav noticed a second pegasis who held a pencil in his mouth and a small notebook with his hoof. The second pegasis had a dark grey coat and his helmet’s crest was a stark white-silver, it fit with the silvery steel armor he wore.
“To answer though...” He placed the pencil through a loop in the notebook so he could speak with ease, “...when you found him, what was he doing?”
Wingald made a flapping motion with his hands, rising on his hind legs as he did so, “Floatin’,” he said simply.
“Floating? Not razing the town with abandon?”
“How do you raze a town with abandon?”
The second pegasis facehoofed at Wingald’s statement, shaking his head, “He was just floating in midair and not obviously attacking or otherwise acting against the village?”
“I’d just had some hornheads put out the fires with water from the river. One of them spotted this dragon shortly afterwards...floatin’. If I remember, he had a little grin on his face...” Wingald looked back at Scav as he trailed off.
“Did you interview any of the townsponies? Can you directly prove that he was attacking the town and not helping it?” The grey pegasis looked at Scav for a moment before returning his gaze to the Colonel.
“No...” Wingald admitted.
“Then I suggest that before you do anything, get that confirmation. He could be quite useful to us if he’s an ally.”
“Or we could just torture him and find out like Charger ordered, which in fact he did order meanin’ that I am obliged to carry out the ordered orders.”
“I would hope that you could at least consider...”
Before the pegasis could finish, Wingald gestured to two unicorns behind him, motioning them forwards. Both wore armor similar to that of the royal guard, but it was a uniform metallic grey signifying that they were part of the military. Both had dark grey coats like Wingald’s assistant, but they had dark crests, not silver ones. The unicorn on the right held a pair of tongs with a blazing hot coal held in the pincers, the other held a tool with a needle nosed pair of pliers at the end.
“As we all know, dragon’s scales are impervious to fire,” Wingald started to explain, Scav’s eyes followed the red hot coal, “They may blacken, but the dragon won’t be harmed as a result. However, the tissue below is not impervious to flame. If one were to pry off a scale and put fire beneath it, that could be very painful. Don’t you agree, Straphe?” Wingald looked to his assistant.
“Yes, sir. But I still...”
Wingald cut Straphe off with a raised hoof, “Orders are...is orders,” The milk white pegasis lowered his hoof.
“You don’t have to do this!” Scav started to squirm away from the two unicorns, eyes transfixed on the red hot coal and the tool that was obviously going to be used to pry off a scale.
“Actually I was ordered by my superior to do so so I do,” Wingald said matter-of-factly.
“No!”
As the two unicorns trotted to Scav’s right side, preparing to start their procedure, there was loud sound of an impact from the wall behind them. Everypony and dragon froze, turning to the source of the noise as motes of dust were shed by the ceiling. There was a muffled roar from outside and then another impact, the wall noticeably shifted.
“What is that?” The unicorn with the prying tool asked.
The unicorn with the coal, set the glowing ember down and drew his sword with magic.
One final smash and the wall caved in, throwing chunks of masonry into the room. The ponies ducked and Scav flinched as more dust rained from the ceiling. With the wall gone, an assortment of sounds made themselves available to the small group. Roars of dragons and screams of ponies with occasional sounds of clashing metal and magic.
Before anypony could move, a medium sized dragon with golden scales burst through the dust, clearing it with the massive beat of his wings.
“What..?” Wingald began, but he never finished.
The golden dragon shot forwards like a snake, grabbed Colonel Wingald with one of his claws, and smashed through the roof, raining more rubble down. Wingald’s helmet clattered to the floor, joining the debris. Just before the dragon was free of the room, he locked eyes with Scav.
“Dragon!” The second unicorn promptly drew a sword of his own.
“He’s got the Colonel!” the other yelled out.
“Go out there and combat the other dragons!” Straphe yelled, the unicorns saluted and rushed out. Straphe moved into a pouncing position, preparing to leap into the air and chase after the ponynapping dragon.
“Wait!” Scav yelled out as Straphe lifted off the ground. Straphe halted, hovering in the air and glaring back at Scav, “You’ll never make it! The other dragons will knock you out of the sky before you can get a hundred yards!”
“I have to try!” Straphe turned again.
“Get these braces off and I can get him!” Scav yelled, “The dragons won’t attack me and I can fly faster than you!”
“I’d face insubordination charges!” Straphe retorted.
“And both of you will face death if you don’t!” Scav shot back.
Straphe looked up at the receding dragon, then to Scav. He landed and hit a mechanism on the side of the table and the steel braces unlocked. The green dragon got to his feet and unfolded his wings, but before he could leave, Straphe shot to the air and got right into Scav’s face.
“Double cross me and I will personally rip off all of your scales and set you on fire!”
“Deal!” Scav replied.
Outside utter chaos flourished. Ponies were fighting off dragons a hundred times their sizes with magic and metal, the former being more effective.
As Scav scanned the area, he noted that the flora was very similar to that of Horsehead’s, meaning that the other town was not likely far away.
The present area had the appearance of a small military compound. All the dragons were on the ground, breathing fire or wreaking havoc with their claws against the ponies. Scav looked to the sky and saw the fleeing golden dragon, he leapt to the air and gave chase. With all the chaos on the ground, those that saw Scav were already otherwise engaged to do anything about it.
Scav’s life depended on rescuing the crazy Colonel and he flew with all his might. The golden dragon flew at a leisurely pace, flapping his wings slowly. The dragon expected that he was home free. Scav thanked the dragon god Tarn for making dragons greedy and arrogant, if it weren’t for these traits, the other dragon might actually try to escape with haste.
Scav got above and behind the other dragon, aimed, folded his wings back, and dove. He balled his hands into fists, placing them before him and tensed his muscles in preparation for the coming impact. The dragon didn’t realize that Scav was there until the last moment, when it was too late to do anything.
Scav hit the other dragon between the wings on his back. The dragon’s wings collapsed, releasing the air that was previously below them and causing the dragon to plummet towards the earth. He roared in rage as he got his wings back in order, going into a flat spin and furiously fighting for control. The other effect of hitting the dragon, was that he dropped Wingald.
Before the dragon started into a flat spin, Scav opened his wings and dove after Wingald, the pony appeared to have a broken wing. He had both his wings unfolded in an attempt to slow himself down, but only one of them was flapping.
Behind him, Scav saw with dismay that the other dragon had regained control and was chasing after him with a snarl.
Scav folded his wings to his back again. Without their help he would be able to fall faster than the other dragon, who was using his wings for guidance. Fortunately, their flight had taken them almost five miles up, giving them plenty of time to fall. As he passed Wingald, Scav grabbed him with his hands, trying not to slice the pony.
Wingald was startled, and looked up to Scav.
“You!” He yelled over the rushing wind.
“Me!” Scav replied.
A roar came from behind them.
With Wingald, Scav would no longer able to fly with his earlier ease. This meant that the other dragon would be faster and could catch him unless he was free falling without his wings. Unless he wanted to hit the ground, however, Scav would need to pull up eventually.
Scav knew that he had three options. If he pulled up now the other dragon would get him, nullifying the point of that choice. If he braked, unfolding his wings and trying to stop in midair, the other dragon would pass him but the Gee forces at the speed he was going would tear his wings off which again canceled a choice. Finally, Scav could play chicken to the ground; if the other dragon pulled away first, Scav would be able to get some sky between them, but if this happened too late, he would hit the ground and die. The only option that stood a chance of success was the last one.
“Wingald! Tell me when the other dragon pulls away!” Scav yelled over the wind.
“You’re tryin’ to save me?” Wingald looked confused for a second, then, “Got it!”
There was another roar of rage, from behind them.
The green landscape rushed up to meet them and Scav started to fear that they wouldn’t have enough time to pull up when Wingald finally yelled, “He’s away!”
Scav slightly opened his wings, tilting them so that they brought his nose up. Scav’s vision darkened slightly as the Gee forces threatened to cause him to black out. Remembering his training for battling Gee forces, Scav tightened the muscles in his arms, legs, tail, and abdomen. ‘The grunt,’ as they had called it, restricted blood flow to the lower body to combat the Gee forces that were trying to push his blood downwards and away from the brain, which resulted in a blackout.
The ground was still rushing up at them and Scav thought for a moment that he was going to crash, but a yard off the ground the Gee forces relaxed as Scav finally leveled off. He realized that he had been holding his breath and let it out.
“Damn, dragon!” Wingald had a smile on his face, “You almost hit the ground! Ha!” the ponies eyes then widened, “Look out! He’s goin’ to ram us!”
Scav braked, almost losing his grip on Wingald in the process. A golden blur shot past Scav and smashed into the ground. The gold dragon rolled across the ground, ripping up the dirt and brush, roaring in rage. He survived, but was greatly wounded, as Scav continued onwards.
“Good thing that didn’t kill him,” Scav stated.
“Why? He would’ve killed you, or me, or anypony,” Wingald said from Scav’s clutches.
“Dragon shall not kill dragon,” Scav said simply. Wingald looked up to Scav for more of an explanation, but wasn’t granted one.
The military base was in sight and Scav reached the burnt compound in just under a minute. Much of it was damaged, but the fires and dragons were gone. Scav set Wingald down at the small entrance and a group of ponies started in their direction, he then landed beside the white pegasis. Straphe appeared to be at the head of the approaching group.
“Dragon,” Wingald looked up at Scav, “What do they call you?”
“Scav,” Scav replied.
“Well Scav, it seems that my mother is a cow!” And with that, Wingald laughed as the ponies arrived.
Elsewhere...
“What..?” If tones could kill, Firetongue would have been dead at Shadowfang’s word.
“We lost Colonel Wingald,” Firetongue repeated, looking at the ground, “Garter got him, but he’s MIA.”
“What do you mean he’s Missing In Action!” Shadowfang yelled, smoke curled from his nostrils as he smashed his fist upon the table. His upper lip was curled in a snarl and he repeatedly folded and unfolded his wings.
Another voice replied before Firetongue could, “A traitor!” The voice belonged to Garter, the golden dragon. Garter limped into the room, his injuries obvious.
“Garter, report,” Shadowfang said coldly.
“I was on my way to return when some twice cursed son of a whore’s bastard deliberately hit me and snatched away the pegasis! We free fell, playing chicken to the ground, but I pulled up too early,” Garter growled, as angry as Shadowfang, “I got a chance to attack the bastard back, but he dodged me and I hit the ground, getting all of this,” Garter gestured to his many wounds with a single sweep of his hand.
“Description,” Shadowfang was concentrating on the table, listening.
“He was like you...but green,” Garter said. Shadowfang’s head snapped up, his eyes fixing on Garter’s.
“Explain.”
“He was of your race, but he had scales of green instead of black,” Garter said.
“Could this be a sign of another dragon rebellion against Equestria?” Shadowfang wondered aloud, “No, that would make no sense.”
“What could a dragon gain from taking this pegasis colonel?” Firetongue asked, “You still have yet to inform us of his importance.”
“Colonel Wingald is the head of the Equestrian Air Force, as such he is one of the key players. Wingald may be unorthodox to the extremes, but no other pegasis has plans that come together half as often and as well as his do. If we were to capture him from the figurative chess board, it would allow us more free reign of said board.”
“Chess board, sir?” Garter asked.
“Am I the only one who actually knows something about the ponies besides how they taste?” Shadowfang asked, annoyed once again, “Chess is a game where the objective is to capture the other players...but that doesn’t matter. Wingald would also be a decent bartering chip for us,” Shadowfang drummed his talons on the stone table, resulting in a rapid fire clacking rhythm.
“I also think that I saw this dragon strapped to a table in the room with Wingald,” Garter stated.
“A torturing table no doubt, but why then would this dragon rescue his captor? It makes no sense.”
“Maybe he wanted to kill Wingald on his own...” Firetongue suggested.
“No, he would have let Wingald hit the ground,” Shadowfang retorted, “It is an awful fate for a creature of the sky to be killed from a fall.”
A moment of silence passed.
“So what now, sir?” Firetongue asked.
“Damn this dragon. We move on,” Shadowfang again studied the map in front of him, “If we are to defeat Celestia and Luna, we will need to harness the energies of the Elements of Harmony, yet none of my books here...” Shadowfang gestured behind him, “...have anything that I don’t already know, though I may have missed something.
“However, I will be able to find out more from the Canterlot archives and libraries.”
“But how will you get that stuff if...” Garter was silenced with a gesture from Shadowfang.
“I was just getting to that...until we storm the gates of Canterlot, I doubt that I’ll be able to get my claws on any of that information. Therefore another party must be employed, any guesses...” Shadowfang hoped that at least one of these dragons would have the intelligence to guess correctly.
“A smaller dragon?” Garter asked.
“A smaller dragon?” Shadowfang asked, his tone adding a ‘seriously?’ to the end.
“A changeling,” Firetongue, the smarter of the two larger dragons guessed.
“How would we even begin to find a changeling much less get one on our side. No! Dragons are not the only ones with eyes for greed and wealth,” Shadowfang hinted.
“A cow!” Garter exclaimed, certain that he had guessed correctly.
Shadowfang slowly looked to Garter, “Garter,” he said.
“Yes, sir?”
“Why in Celestia’s accursed whore’s name did I put you in charge of capturing Wingald?” Shadowfang said slowly.
“Uh...because...”
“That was a rhetorical question you shit-wit moron!” Shadowfang paused, looking from one dragon to the other, but both shrugged, “A pony for crying out loud! I plan to get a pony on our side! By the bucking gods, you..! Ugh!” Shadowfang paused and calmed himself, then continued, “And I have the perfect pony for the job. I’m sure that she’ll jump at the chance to be put in a position of power as well as reap the benefits of high authority. The life of a travelling magician is not a high paying job after all...and she’s credited for defeating an Ursa Major.”
Author's Note: Well it doesn't take two sh*ts to guess who Shadowfang's bringing in. Even though no one is going to care I'm going to apologize for this one taking longer to get out. My editor is having finals so I had to go over it extra to work out the kinks. Anyway if you read this far then thanks.