Appledashery

by Just Essay

Cue Victory Medley

With wide, gray eyes, Lancie beamed. He tugged on Rainbow Dash's mane, then pointed with a sharp claw at the Flame Staff.

Rainbow nodded, then motioned for him to be quiet. On stealthy hooves, she snuck out from behind the rock and approached the chaotic crucifix under the shadow of the dragon matriarch.

"Blood Fire..." The large beast spoke, her thick tail to Rainbow Dash. "Face me, my oldest son."

"What would you have of me, mother?"

"While you have made mistakes—much like your youngest brother—I can tell that your wisdom and patience outweighs that of all your other brood siblings. I still have much hibernation to undergo before I can be healthy and strong enough to properly lead our kin. As such, I must entrust the welfare of the brood to you."

"I would be honored, mother."

At last, Rainbow Dash reached the Flame Staff. Biting her bottom lip, she reached over and... tapped her hoof against it like a pensive feline.

She didn't get zapped by a beam of red light. This was because there was no force field present to deflect her.

Exhaling, Rainbow Dash gripped the staff in her hooves, flapped her wings, then carried the thing away from the center of the smoldering crater. Once she reached an outcropping of rock, she hid her body behind it, took a deep breath, then swung the staff like a club against the volcanic glass.

CRACK! The staff shattered down the center, dropping every chaos shard loosely to the floor with a rain of gray matter.

---

Somewhere south...

Beyond the crater...

The flying castle lurched. Beams of manalight fizzled into nonexistence. Chaos diffused from its tight grip to the leylines. Then—coasting like a deflated balloon—the entire structure drifted down towards the floor of the Wasteland below.

The dragons froze in mid-battle, realizing the nature of the situation. Aatxe was completely missing, and—more importantly—so was Blood Fire. With sudden nervousness and apprehension, the young dragons completely abandoned the bloodied, pockmarked courtyard altogether. One by one, the broodlings flew away from the structure, abandoning ship until the remaining group of them filled the low atmosphere above.

This evacuation was not lost to the squirrels. Brucie grinned wide, perched atop a crumbling pile of burning mortar. "Zamechatel'no!" He fired several rounds into the sky, grinning with bright incisors. "Drragonz hafe left squirrel castle, comradez! Ve hafe von back sky home!" He shook his bushy tail, rejoicing. "For Mozer Rushnut!"

"For Mozer Rushnut!"

The air filled with rodent ecstasy. Bloodied and battered warriors of the furred kind leaned against one another, whooping victoriously

Meanwhile, the castle finished its slow glide, coming to a dull rest against the base of a mountain. With a monumental thud, it settled in place, spilling dust and sediment everywhere. The once-floating structure had just come shy of passing the griffon barrier, and now it served as a landmark right along the edge of the wasteland.

---

"Is that everything?" Rainbow sputtered.

"Sparky, girl, that's everything and a half," Lancie beamed. "Way to go."

"Eh..." She shrugged. "I had a little apple on my shoulder, pointing me in the right direction."

"And what am I? Aquarium gravel?"

"Hah."

Behind them, the dragon matriarch's voice boomed: "A sacrament is in order, Blood Fire, to anoint you as my choice broodling to lead the rest of my nest. This is something that Aatxe in all his foolishness failed to take into account."

"What is required of me, mother?"

"Find ample flesh for feasting, and I will anoint your horns with its blood. Then you shall be steward of my brood."

"Very well, mother..."

"Erm..." Lancie gulped, then whispered in Rainbow's ear. "Now might be a good time to skedaddle."

"Don't need to tell me twice," Rainbow said, scooping up the shards and flying swiftly out of dragonsight. "Let's find a good spot for zoopage."

"Over there!" Lancie pointed. "Just beyond the crest!"

"I see it." Swooosh! Rainbow flew past the mists.

Comments

[RoboRed]

Cue Victory Medley

*salutes*

[Phoenix Kitten]

Quest complete: Retrieve the shards.
Exp: 50,000
Extra items: Don Canter's shotgun, Shard of Top Dog, Purified teleport crystal.
Bits received: 0

New Quest: Return to Ponyville
Rewards: ???

A world boss approaches: Romulus, Psycho for hire.
Whose knives are apparently made of something sharp enough to cut clear through dragon scales.

[destinedjagold]

...And then catbird became dragon food. The end~

[MidnightReflection]

And now we must rescue Appleblo- Oh look, Romulus.

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

dammit, all the good music is taken! wait... what about...

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

"Find ample flesh for feasting, and I will anoint your horns with its blood. Then you shall be steward of my brood."

This ... does not sound good.

I hope that Blood Fire doesn't get the idea to head for Equestria.

But knowing our heroes' luck.........

[Staxon Braxon]

6568603

But what if it's just supposed to be a feast for Blood Fire alone? If so, I'd say a catbird and a pair of delusional twins would suffice.

[Aatxe360]

6568603

Head east for blood. That was my idea. See? I'm good for something.

...Always something bad when I get mixed up with floating structures. Nothing good comes from them, I tell you...

[YoshiFawful64]

6568603
Well, Romulus, Flim, and Flam are still around, you know...

[Leftover of Saikano]

So, they actually got the fragments, and the flash of light the other chapter was not Romulus snatching the staff and becoming a final boss? Fair enough.

[Khao]

Has been done already and will be done a thousand times more with a thousand different games.

But goddammit, I will contribute.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

6568747 Hmmmm, good point.

I know who you mean, and yes, they would.

They certainly wouldn't be missed, I know that much.

Not by me, and I definitely not by Rainbow!

6568851 An even better point, and it's a good idea.

Well put. Well put, indeed.

6569005 Yeah, I know. But I just had the thought that devouring them might turn out to be more of a sacrilege than a sacrament, as rotten as they all are.

[zaponator]

Remember when nothing used to happen in this story?
Now everything happens!

[RoboRed]

I can't believe I forgot this one:

[Appledash_Gurl]

6568577 Shhhhhhhhh, dont jinx anything!

[Samurai-Demoman]

This Chapter in a Nutshell

The Russians Squirrels are victorious

And this:

[DrEggnog]

Wow, I'm surprised just how much of a victory this is, so far. A LOT has really happened in this arc, hasn't it?

[Seraphimus]

7072985 There's one big bad left. It's not over yet.

[arancaytar]

"Find ample flesh for feasting, and I will anoint your horns with its blood. Then you shall be steward of my brood."

Just Dragon Things.