Dragon Quarry

by Mimkage

Ch:8 Dragon Tears

“Oh my celestia!” Twilight’s voice bounced off the tattered walls of the largest building in town. Following it was only dead silence as Sun Burst and Shining Armor just stood and stared in utter shock. The three were speechless, their voices captured by the silence gripping the air with only the sounds of falling stones from the walls falling to the ground and water droplets dripping from the ceiling.

After what seemed to be an eternity someone finally shattered the silence with a simple question about the thing that stood before them.

“I-is that…” stuttered Shining as Twilight approached what left them in awe.

“I think it is… the dragon in the statue! It’s Empress Jade!” Said Twilight, her eyes widened in amazement. Before them stood a large, green elegant dragon bowing down to them, standing in the center of the room, and encased in dark black crystal, seemly trapped in time within the crystal. Seeing her now it was clear the gem statue they found could not possibly capture the image of her as she was the picture of beauty and radiance. Even bowing down she had an air of pride to her that demanded respect. As Twilight approached her she noticed a look of despair on her face, tears frozen upon her face.

Seeing her tears broke Twilight’s heart as she brushed her hoof against her cheek. She wanted to wipe away those tears away but this was a sadness Twilight could not remedy for the source of her pain was clear.

Her kingdom in ruins and abandoned, her subjects gone without a trace and venous black crystals replacing them as residents. If what Twilight heard was true it was likely she stood here, frozen in time, alone for centuries having to stare at the empty shell her once glorious kingdom. Just the thought of being so utterly alone with no choice but to live in the ruins of her home, it made Twilight want to cry along with her.

“This is awful.” She looks out through a hole in the wall, seeing the ruins that Jade was forced to look at every day. Her expression of depression clearly captured the feelings attached to this place. It was just a dark, cold pit of sadness and dread. This was the nightmare of any leader, to have the land and subjects they loved just gone.

Shining approached Twilight, placing his hoof on her shoulder to comfort here. He too felt the grim nature of this place, it was truly suffocating in every sense of the word. Craving a bit of comfort, Twilight snuggled against her brother, a tear falling down her cheek as she tried to collect herself.
“I-I’m okay… come on, we have to find Spike.” She said, smiling sadly. Shining nods, walking off to search the area. Twilight lingered for a second, looking out the city again before following him. The three spilt up, searching the area for any possibly clue.

Meanwhile, bellow them, Spike scraped his scales until they sparkled like a freshly waxed car. Punchin continued to chow down on rubies to her content, seemly not at all concerned that Sard was on his way. As Spike began to work on his tail he noticed something on the side of her body, a nasty, purplish-blue bruise. It was then he remembered back at the castle Cadence had blasted her with a magical beam when she was trying to escape. She even mentioned later on that she had a few bruises from the impact but Spike wasn’t expecting one that looked that bad.

“That’s one nasty bruise…. Does it hurt?” He asked, prompting Punchin to look down on her side. Seeing the bruise instantly made her panic as she looked around. She spots the rode she had before and leaped for it, slipping it on to conceal the nasty bruise. This confused Spike but he didn’t have much time to dwell on it as the ground began to shake with a ‘thud thud thud’ sound coming from the halls.
He was almost here.

Spike resumed his frantic cleansing, scrubbing his tail as the large door slowly open. Sard entered, his eyes instantly glaring down at Spike which made him jump, dropping the stone he used to scrub. His nose flared, sniffing the air as he entered the room. Ever so slightly Spike could see him relax a bit which helped relax him too. Still that intimidating fear still persisted, making him cower before him.

“At least you’ve erased that insufferable stench.” His eyes wandered down to Punchin, his eyebrow raising as he noticed something odd.

“Why do you still wear you Chancellor’s cloak, my child? It’s not like you to honor your garb outside your duties.”

Punchin waved off his comment, scoffing as she leans against the wall with her arms crossed against her chest.

“Hey, you’re the one who always complains about how I just throw the thing aside, gramps. Last thing I would expect is you complain about me actually taking care of this old thing.” She was so calm and collected that Spike was unsure as to whether he should be impressed or afraid that she was such a natural, deceptive, dragon. Sard raised an eye brow, staring at her for a second before turning his attention back to Spike.

“Well we can discus that later. First things first.” He says, reaching his giant hand down to Spike, grabbing him gently in his palm and lifting him up to his face. Spike, who was still afraid, just gave a nervous chuckle.

“Who are you, young one?” Hearing his voice now Spike could hear a certain softness in it. Without the smell of ponies to fuel his rage he was actually a very calm dragon with a father-like tone in his voice. It helped to lessen the fear gripping Spike, allowing him to talk.

“I’m umm…. Spike, your majesty.” He bowed a bit to him, showing his respect only to have Punchin burst out into laughter.

“Ahh you’re killin’ me pony pet.” She says, leaning against Sard’s leg with a light giggle still in her voice. Spike blushed, feeling embarrassed.

“Punchin, please do be friendly. Judging by his way of speaking he clearly is not one of us. He has been through quite a bit, I assume.” Punchin scoffs, looking to the side as Sard continues to speak with Spike. “I must apologize for my earlier behavior; it was not my intention to frighten you so. It is my job as Emperor to protect my children and our history with ponies… well it’s been horrid to say the least.”
Spike gave him a confused look, not understanding at all what he meant.

“Horrid? What do you mean?” He asked, urging Sard to look down at Punchin.

“Punchin, where is this whelp from? All Earth dragons knows of the travesty and crimes committed against us by the ponies. Clearly this young one is completely oblivious to our history which is impossible.” He said, growling a bit until Punchin said something that slapped a look of shock on his face.

“You’re right, all Earth Dragons know of our history... except one. The one that was taken from us.” Sard’s eyes instantly looked at Spike, making him step back nervously. He looked him over with squinted eyes. He stared at him for a long while before speaking again.
“Come child, there is something I must show you…” He placed Spike on his snout, carrying him out into the hall. Punchin follows them, staying close.

As all this happened, back at the Crystal Empire, Celestia and Luna finally made it. They sat together with Cadence in her throne room as she explained the situation at hoof. A grim look was glued onto Celestia’s face, Luna looking at her with concern.

“So, that is why you have called us.” Celestia looks out the window out to the mountains in the distance. “We must hurry. If there are truly Earth Dragons still alive out in the artic north we must hurry and clear up this mess before we find ourselves in conflict…”

Comments

[Draconicus the Reaper]

dang it I want to know what happened

[Starlight Nova]

If the OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like?

[Mimkage]

7378493 hmm well... the specific ones would be Sard, Splinter, Punching and Crush... Sard and Crush would have a deep, scruffy voice, Punching would be more sassy and Splinter would be a hyperactive child.

[Insane psycho]

I think spike was stolen by one of the princess

[johnnyomon21]

please tell me that the princess of the sun caused this!? no she did not take spikes egg!

[ShadowSpider]

7378493 Well Sard is described as being a father like elder with a bit of a temper. So I imagine his voice being similar to Ozai from Avatar.
Punchin however seems very laid back, and I think is female, so for her I keep hearing Wendy from Gravity Falls.