The Dragon Master

by Cantus

Nine - Gateways and Destinies

Applejack followed the staff, not thinking of where it was taking her. She ran at full pelt, her muscles straining as she attempted to catch the thing. But where she was fast, it was agile, better able to duck under low-hanging branches, less hindered by the environment around it.

“Slow down, consarn it!”

It ignored her. The treeline broke, and it began to slither across rain-battered cobblestone. The journey was almost complete. All it had left to do was find the door.

Applejack gasped as she saw what she was running towards. A pair of enormous doors stood before her, set into the mountainside. She’d been told that it was big enough for a dragon to walk through, of course, but seeing it with her own two eyes was something else.

The doors began to creak open, slowly, then suddenly sped up, opening a thin black line in the rock wall. She had to pick up her pace, or else it would escape! Her muscles already burned, but she willed herself faster, using as much strength as she could muster. She dashed towards the opening...

The staff slipped inside. She followed a few moments later, right on its tail. She leapt through the gap as it began to close, the heavy doors scraping shut. She landed on something cold and solid. No surprise there. The sudden change in scenery was disorienting, but she quickly got her bearings. There were walls of stone, looking as if they’d been cut straight from the insides of the mountain. The ceiling was even higher than the doors, and all around were symbols glowing in soft red light, the only source of illumination.

She didn’t have the time to admire the art, however. She had something to find. She looked around, and cursed quietly. It had disappeared! She didn’t see how that was possible until she caught sight of the side passages. There were so many of them, and it could have darted down any of them! How was she supposed to find it now?

Spike heard the sound of the doors opening and shutting again. He peeked out into the corridor, expecting to see Gravil. To his great surprise, the form he saw was equine. It was in the shadows right now, so he couldn’t make it out, but...

Applejack trotted into the light thrown by the Runes. Spike’s heart jumped as he recognised her. “Applejack!” he exclaimed.

*******

She snapped around to the source of the noise, her muscles tensing instinctively in surprise. When she saw Spike, however, she was overjoyed. He was safe!

“Spike!”

She ran towards him, her hooves clacking against the stone floor. She ran forward without really thinking, sure that she could stop. She found, unfortunately, that smooth stone does not lend itself to traction. She tried to stop, her hooves trying to gain enough grip to slow her down, but there simply wasn’t any there. She slipped, and tripped, and fell head over hooves onto the hard floor. The world went blurry for a moment. Spike ran to her side.

“AJ! Are you-”

She stood up, shaking her head, trying to clear her vision.

“Yeah, ah’m fine. Had some worse knocks’n that in my time. Consarned floor...”

Now that the shock had passed, Spike remembered why he’d originally come out here.

“Shh! He might hear you!”

Applejack stared at her young friend.

“He? You mean the guy who kidnapped ya?”

Spike nodded, holding a claw to his lips. He whispered:

“Yeah. Are the doors still open?”

The orange pony looked behind her.

“Nope. Musta shut when I got in here.”

Spike continued whispering.

“Then you’ve gotta hide! If he catches you in here-”

AJ felt slighted.

“He’ll what? Honestly, I wouldn’t mind givin’ him a piece of my mind...”

The little dragon shook his head furiously.
“Nonono! You don’t get it! Gravil’s...well, he’s...just come here!”

Applejack sighed, following the young dragon to the room he pointed out.

*******

On the peak of Mount Tena-Lin, the wyrm paced around the eight symbols that comprised the Rune of Life. Technically it was a group of runes, not a single Rune, but as long as they worked in unison, that was of little importance. They may not have been one Rune, but they worked as one. One with much more power than any of them could have by themselves.

He walked around the circle of dull symbols, reading each one in turn. Dragon. Connector. Wyrm. Connector. Wyvern. The World, inverted. Journey, inverted. The World, upright this time.
Together they spelled a message that could undo the mistakes of the past, set the world upon its correct path once again. It only needed one thing - magic. If sufficient magic were channelled through the runes, they would give it shape, give it order. He had spent years finding and crafting the exact combination and order of symbols, exactly the command he would give the magic. All he needed was the magic.

The door creaked open, and a familiar presence entered the room. The old wyrm turned to address it.

“Ah, you’ve arrived. By Olni’s teeth, what happened to you?”

The Staff did not answer. It slithered across the floor, still biting into its own neck.It writhed across the chipped stone of the mountain, and stopped at Gravil’s feet. He stooped down and picked it up.

“Goodness, we’ll have to fix you up after all of this. At least your suffering will be in the name of a good cause.”

He clasped the pieces tightly. He could not afford to lose them now. Only a few hours remained. The Runes were in place. That was one. The Staff was now back in his presence. That was two. Royal Blood was three. Now he just had to wait for sunrise...

*******

“What do ya MEAN, she’s not here?”

Rainbow Dash’s voice resounded through the otherwise-quiet forest.

She fluttered impatiently in place in front of her purple friend.

“I mean, Applejack was assigned to Unit J, and they haven’t seen her in several hours!”

Rainbow’s retort came in a loud, angry voice.
“And you were planning on telling us this when?”
Twilight’s eyes screwed up and she sighed.
“Because! She could be anywhere! Do you know how much time we have left?”
Her hoof pointed towards the pink-purple sky, already lightening with the promise of morning.

“We’ve only got until midday before Gra-Vil can enact his plan! You don’t want that, do you?”

Rainbow retorted.

“Well, no! But what kind of friend doesn’t even care when her friend goes missing?”

It was Twilight’s turn to retort angrily.

“You think I don’t care about this!? You think it doesn’t bother me that one of my best friends has suddenly gone missing in the Everfree Forest, at night? Well it does! I want to search for her, Rainbow, believe me. But I’m scared that if we stop we’ll miss the deadline, and and...”

Twilight choked for a moment, unable to think of what would happen if they missed it.
At last, she found her voice.

“Well, we just CAN’T!”

Rainbow still simmered with frustration, but she saw her friend’s point. Twilight always freaked out about deadlines, even when they didn’t matter - except this time, the deadline really was important. She spoke one more time, to end the conversation.

“Okay, fine. Just promise me we won’t forget about looking for her.”

In spite of the situation, Twilight smiled slightly.

“No, Rainbow. I swear I won’t forget.”

The blue pegasus nodded, apparently satisfied. She turned around, and began to fly, in the direction that the rest of the company was going. There wasn’t long now. They were almost at the place that the scouts had pointed out. They were almost there...

*******

Applejack stared wide-eyed at Spike as he regaled her with stories of the events of the last few days. Her wonder was half at the events he was describing, and half at the fact that he was so calm. As he finally finished describing the most recent things that had happened, she put her hoof to his mouth, imploring for quiet.

“An’ through all this, he never mentioned why he’d gone to the bother of takin’ ya all the way out here? An’ why he’d never done it before now?”

Spike’s mouth opened as he prepared to reply - then hung there, as he realised he didn’t have an answer.

“I...I dunno. I mean, he probably wanted me to...”
His arms flailed, as he tried to describe exactly what his mind had been on for the past few days.
“I mean...I sort of...I got lost in everything, and I...”
Applejack again placed her hoof to his mouth.

“Whoa, whoa! It’s alright. Ah’m sure this cant’ve been easy, so it’s no wonder you’re confused!”
Spike sighed. When he’d gotten himself together, he went on.

“No, he didn’t say. No, I didn’t ask. I-I’m not sure why.”
Applejack shook her head.

“Well, what’s done is done, ah suppose. But ya don’t need ta worry, ‘cause the rest of us’ll be here soon enough.”

Spike sighed.

“But if they can’t open the door, what’s the point? If they can’t get in, then...”
Applejack retorted.

“Those doors might be tough, but there’s gotta be some way ta open ‘em!”
Spike shook his head.

“Gravil went on for ages about how strong and unbreakable they were. About how well protected they were, how mighty the enchantments were, how they’d stood under the assault of whatsisname and whowasit. Got kind of boring, actually. ”

Applejack rubbed her head, trying to think of something.

“Well, there’s gotta be something we can do! It’s gonna be midday in a few hours, an’ after that-”

Spike hadn’t heard that before.

“Wait, what’s all this about midday?”

Applejack’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh, right. We got ta him not tellin’ you why he wanted you, but we didn’t get to what he does want with ya. Well, from what Twilight said, he’s plannin’ to bring a whole lotta angry dragons back ta life. An’ it seems that the ritual, or whatever it is, needs royal blood. From the sounds of it, a heck of a lot of it too.”

A shiver ran down Spike’s spine.

“WHAT?!”

Spike began shuddering, and he began to gibber incoherently.

“How the - what the - what-”

For the third time, Applejack put her hoof to his mouth.

“Yeah. Ah know. That’s why we absolutely have to get ya out of here. But panickin’ will only make things more difficult. So please calm down, sugarcube.”

It took some time, but eventually Spike managed to get his breathing under control. At last, he was fit to speak again.

“O-okay. L-l-let’s do that.”

*******

The treeline receded, and at last they stood before the Doors of An-Bel.

Twilight regarded them solemnly. The drawings in her book simply couldn’t do them justice. They were so much bigger in real life. The carvings they were festooned with were amazingly intricate. She could see why they would be seen as beautiful.

Right now, however, they were the strongest thing standing between her and Spike, as well as the fate of all Equestria.

A pegasus sidled up next to Twilight. She spoke in a low voice:

“Oh my. They’re s-so large, aren’t they?”

Twilight couldn’t think of any response better than:

“Yeah, they are.”

Fluttershy whimpered.

“D-do you think there’ll be actual D-dragons in there?”
Twilight did know what to say to that.
“Not unless we’re too late.”
That wasn’t exactly comforting, but Twilight quickly made up for that.
Don’t worry, Fluttershy. We’ll crack this thing open and nab Spike out of there before...”
She gazed up at the sky, noticing how close the sun was to midday.
“...before anything bad happens! I’m sure of it!”

Fluttershy didn’t seem reassured, but she did a good job of masking the worry in her stomach. She went on.
“But that door-it looks so thick. How can we get through it?”
Twilight grinned.
“Magic, that’s how.”

*******

They weren’t going to just attack blindly, of course. This would be quite the struggle, and they wanted to make easier in any way possible. They knew the doors would likely be protected, but what they didn’t know was how extensive the defenses were, and whether or not the defenses had degraded in many years of neglect.

Twilight’s horn began to glow as she probed the stone for weaknesses. There were few. Although the doors had suffered the effect of weathering, there were still remarkably few cracks in them. That wasn’t the end of it, though. Within the doors, she felt something unusual. Something that felt like magic. That was probably the defenses. She concentrated, intensifying the spell, allowing her to inspect the doors more deeply. Suddenly the feeling was overwhelming. With her enhanced senses, she could feel the magic infused within the door. It was strong - very strong. Suddenly, she doubted their ability to defeat it, even with fourteen unicorns.

Even so, they would have to try. There wasn’t enough time left to try anything else.

“Captain Spellshine, are your soldiers ready?

*******

Something occurred to Applejack. Something had been bothering her since Spike had told her his story.

“Spike...you said you and that Gra-Vil feller opened the door with some kind of password, right?”

Spike nodded, not really understanding where this was going.

“Yeah...but what does-”

His eyes lit up with understanding.

“You want me to open it?”

Applejack nodded.

“Seems like the best shot we’ve got.”

Spike nodded.

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

*******

Spike stood in front of the doors, desperately wracking his brains.

Applejack was indignant.

“Whaddya mean ya don’t remember the password?”

Spike retorted angrily.

“A lot of stuff happened in the last few days, okay! I was more worried about what was happening to you guys than that one phrase Gra-Vil said that one time!”

That didn’t make Applejack feel any better.

“Consarn it! From what ya said, the two of ya went through loads of doors! How can you not remember the password?”

Spike retorted.

“There’s a different password for every door! No, I dunno why they did it like that, but they did! How’s anyone supposed to remember all of those anyway?”

Inspiration struck Spike. He looked upwards.

Could it be? It was a long shot, but...

A row of symbols were carved above the door. His head buzzed as their meanings became clear.
“Many approach me, but only the King opens me.”

“Of course! That’s it!”
A spark of memory ignited in Spike’s mind.
Applejack was taken aback by his sudden change in mood.

“Wait, what? What makes sense?”

The little dragon pointed to a string of symbols, stretched out just above the doorframe.

“The Runes above the doorframes are like, hints to the password! That’s how they managed this stupidly complex system!”

Applejack scanned the rock, almost afraid to believe.

“An’ you can read this, right? Tell me you can read this!”

Applejack’s tone grew more frantic.

Spike scanned the glyphs, trying to think what that phrase might mean.

“Reading it isn’t the problem! It doesn’t make sense!”

Applejack responded.

“Whaddya mean it doesn’t make sense?”

Spike shook his head, desperately trying to untangle the meaning. He knew it was a hint to the password that he had heard earlier. What was it, what was it? He had to remember.

It was something like...something like “The King Is Here”...

Applejack was on tenterhooks, acutely aware of both how little time they had and of how little use she was at the moment.

“What? What is it?”

Spike responded.

“It’s...it’s...Rek Sun Sa!”

The symbols heard his words.

*******

Twilight and Rarity stood before twelve other unicorns, as Twilight explained their plan in brief. There wasn’t time to bring aid, not before Gravil’s ritual would be completed. As the door was too heavy to move via muscle, they would have to try magic. All present unicorns would combine their spellpower into one, with the hope that this would be enough to open, collapse, or at least break a hole into the doors. It wasn’t a great plan, but there weren’t any better options.

Fourteen horns began to glow, and fourteen beams of light soared into the air. They joined, and were one.

Twilight prepared to give the order to fire.

“Ready...aim...”

*******

The runes on the door glowed a fierce red, as if in answer to the equine magic. Twilight’s heart thumped even harder. Was it preparing to defend itself? From what she’d heard, that was entirely possible.

Before she could give the order to fire, a loud grinding noise came from the doors. What happened next was beyond what she had dared hope for. The doors opened, and opened quickly. Before disbelieving eyes, Spike and Applejack were revealed.

The spell dissolved. Twilight’s mind temporarily turned numb, the joy so sudden and immense that she couldn’t quite process it. Rainbow Dash acted a bit sooner.

Charging headfirst towards the doorway, she almost knocked the two over in her enthusiasm.

“You guys!”

She’d wanted to say more, but for the moment, she couldn’t think of any. The sheer relief of knowing her friends were safe was enough to fill her up, for now anyway.

It didn’t take long for the rest of Spike’s friends to join the circle. No one spoke. They embraced, and said more than any number of words ever could. It felt like the best moment of his life.

Rarity kissed him on the cheek.

Correction. Now it was the best moment of his life.

********

They stood there for a few minutes, catching up on the past few days. Spike told of Gravil’s evil deed, and his surprising heroism against the chimera. They all shared their worries, and they felt their worries fade.

It couldn’t last, however. Emotional reunion or no, the story was not over yet. They were still in the middle of the forest, and there was still the question of Gravil.

Technically, they had already saved Equestria. Technically, Gra-Vil could not perform his ritual without Royal Dragon Blood, and the world’s supply of .

But that wasn’t enough for them. Rainbow was the first to speak out.

“We’re not seriously just gonna up and let this creep get away with this, are we?”
Twilight joined in, with a valid point of her own.

“Yeah. If we just let Gravil go, he could try something like this again!”

It was Rarity who made the last point.

“And we simply can’t leave little Spikey-wikey live his whole life waiting for that brute to return! It’s simply not fair!”

Captain Steel Shield conferred with the other captains. One grey-furred stallion raised his voice in objection.

“I don’t like this. We’re going to rush, literally, into the dragon’s lair. And you propose we do it blindly? This smells too much like a trap for my liking.”

A blue mare spoke up, angrily opposing him.

“Are you proposing that we let this Gra-Vil go? That we neglect our duty to Equestria?”

The stallion shot back at her, leaping to defend his position.

“Of course not! But it wouldn’t kill us to wait for some kind of reinforcement, or at the very least a search of the place. What might kill us is the dragons, or their traps.”

The mare did not back down.

“Are you really so much of a coward? We already outnumber Gravil sixty to one and you want better odds? Besides, this guy’s been slipping through cracks and hiding in shadows for centuries! It’s only a matter of time until he figures out we’ve got him beaten, and runs off somewhere. Do you really want that on your conscience? That you let an enemy of Equestria live to fight another day?”

The two snapped and growled at each other, the animosity between them palpable. Steel Shield had been listening to all that they’d said, and finally stepped in.

“Everypony! It is clear to me that this Gra-Vil person is a threat to Equestria, and all of her ponies. He has kidnapped her citizens and attempted to kill many others. Therefore, it would be a grave failure on our part to knowingly enable him to continue his plotting. I say we get him.”

The blue mare looked at him in surprise, not expecting him to back her up.
The grey stallion glared at him with a look that could have curdled milk. He bit his lip.

“Very well. On your heads be it.”

*******

The sun crept upwards. It was mere minutes to midday. Gravil’s scales began to tingle with anticipation.

The Runes had been placed into exactly the correct order. The Staff was broken, but that was not a problem - only the head was necessary. He took it in his hand, and held it up to his left arm. He spent a moment bracing himself. Then, a quick cut across, in the tender place between the scales. There was a brief flash of pain, gone as quickly as it had come.

A few drops of blood spattered to the floor, upon the shield-shaped Rune. There was a faint glow, in orange, as the Rune recognised the substance. He grasped his arm, to assure that no more blood was spilled than necessary. Quickly, the leftover magic in his body reacted to his injury, using their power to seal the wound.

Alright. Step One was finished. He took the carven head of the Staff in his hand once more, as he prepared for Step Two. The left fang, carven from a piece of bone taken from Kalfe, first of the Wyverns, was brought to touch the wing-symbol. It glowed green. The right fang, carven from a long-forgotten Sea Serpent, touched the wave-symbol. It glowed blue.

Everything was in place for the final step. All he needed for that was his young charge.
He got to his feet, and prepared to retrieve the Prince. Destiny was at hand.

*******

The ponies advanced cautiously, intimidated by the sheer size of the place. They had been wary about bringing Spike with them, but he was the only one who could guess at the passwords. Spike’s ability to grasp the riddles seemed to increase every time he solved one, and they made good time. At last, they arrived at the last place where Spike had seen Gravil.

There was no-one there.

Twilight spoke.

“Spike, are you sure this is the last place you saw him?”

Spike responded.

“Definetely. It was right here!”

She went on.

“Well, I don’t see him. Where else could he be?”

Spike tapped his forehead, trying to remember the places he’d seen over the last few days.

“Well, there’s the Tomb of Tales, that’s kind of like a library. It’s to the left, I think. Then there’s this place way down underground, - you get there by going right...”

Rarity spoke next.

“And those big doors behind you?”

Spike shook his head.

“Nah, that’s the Throne Room. He left me here before he went off. He wouldn’t be in there.”

*******

Gravil opened the door of the Throne Room. For one brief second, both he and the ponies stared at each other, dumbfounded by the other’s sudden appearance. Gravil’s instincts kicked in, his arm lashing out to grab the baby dragon in front of him. Without a word, he spun on his heel and began to run.

The ponies were not far behind him. They dashed forward, intent on catching the wyrm. So hasty had Gravil’s escape been that he had not even bothered to shut the doors to the Throne Room. He raced at a speed that none would have expected from a biped, although it was still less than theirs. However, he was making good use of his head start, and it was not long before he reached the double-doors opposite. He barked out the pass-word, and the door creaked open. He dashed through the small opening, dragging Spike with him. He barked the phrase again, and the doors began to close as swiftly as they had opened.

Rainbow Dash had taken to the air, and was rocketing towards the door. The air rushed over her fur and feathers as she closed the gap between herself and the wyrm. She was almost there...

The door shut itself. Rainbow slammed straight into it. Pain shot through her, and she fell to the floor.

The sound of hooves clattering rang out, as the rest of the ponies desperately searched for grip on the floor. They found little. A small pile of ponies gathered at the foot of the door as those who failed to stop in time crashed.

*******

Gravil almost bounced up the spiral steps, dragging Spike behind him in an uncomfortable position. In no time at all they had reached the top, dashing out into the glorious midday sunlight.

When Gravil finally stopped, he let go of Spike’s hand. The little dragon dropped to the ground, exhausted by the sudden intense burst of exertion. It didn’t take long for him to recover, however - he still remembered what Applejack had said.

“Hey! Ya mind tellin’ me what all this is about?” he yelled.

Gravil turned to him.

“I should think that was obvious. I saved you. We do not have time for this, My Lord. Give me your arm.”

Spike flinched, drawing his arm back.

“No way!”

Gravil’s eyes stared, unflinching.

“Give me your arm.”

Spike’s face twisted in disgust.

“NO!”

Gravil’s chest filled with fire. The wyrm grabbed the baby dragon by the wrist and lifted him up, such that the two were face to face. Gravil began to speak, his voice filled with a barely-repressed anger.

“You...you...you do not, can not understand the true importance of what is about to transpire! I thought that perhaps, perhaps you would understand if I told you of your people’s suffering, but-”

Spike suddenly cut in, his voice loud.

“They’re NOT my people! MY “people” are still alive! And you’re trying to kill them!”

Gravil’s face bore an expression of shock. It took only a moment for it to change to disgust.

“So be it.”

Gravil raised his hand, the staff’s head gripped tightly. One motion, and the cut was made. Blood dripped from Spike’s arm, and landed on the crown-shaped rune. It began to glow bright red. For a moment nothing else happened. Then, the light changed. The Runes began to change, their colours blurring together into a pure white. Gravil dropped Spike, lost in his actions. He began to speak, his voice full of force.

“Sun-I, Reffen Et Ressen!”

There was a slight buzzing in Spike’s head as the words became “Brothers and Sisters, return to me!”

*******
Steel Shield yelled out loud.

“THREE!”

A column of armoured equines slammed into the door. At last, it buckled, and broke. Adrenaline rushed through their veins. It took only a few moments for them to climb the spiral stairs. To their surprise, there was no door awaiting them at the top of the stairs. They charged out, into the sunlight.

*******

The sun reached the apex of the sky. Gravil could feel Olni’s glory radiating down upon him, filling him up with power. He raised his hands to the sky, as if trying to grasp the sun within his hands.

Spike looked on, momentarily paralysed. The mountain began to shake, and the air began to tremble. The Runes could no longer be seen, the carvings obscured by the light they gave off. It was almost as bright as the sun.

This was the moment that Gravil had waited for. This was the payoff. The long centuries, the waiting, the nightly frustration of being unable to change his people’s fate. He was trembling in the face of it all. So absorbed was he that he failed to notice the cohort of ponies bursting in on him.

It took a few moments for him to notice the cacophony of clattering hooves. The sound made him wince. It was ugly. It didn’t belong here. He turned to face the intruders, anger and disgust in his heart.

“You stand on hallowed ground, equines. You do not belong here. Leave now, or you will suffer the wrath of The Dragonfather himself - and his wrath does not fall lightly upon trespassers!”

The ponies advanced still. Twilight knew that it was certainly too late for diplomacy, but she decided to speak anyway. If nothing else, it might distract him long enough for them to gain the upper hand.

“We don’t have to fight, Gra-Vil. Just hand over Spike and we can all go home.”

She glanced around, as the ponies around her edged forwards, attempting to surround Gravil.

Gravil responded to Twilight’s remark with a snort.

“You can have him! It is clear that he has been corrupted much more thoroughly than I feared. He is not a dragon any more.”

Rainbow Dash charged. She flew like a bullet, the air rushing past her as she closed the gap between her and the wyrm. There was a sickening crunch as their skulls collided. Both of them reeled from the impact, Gravil stumbling backwards, only to fall onto his back. Rainbow Dash managed to steady herself, her wings flapping desperately.

It was at this point that the ponies flanking Gravil jumped him.

Four ponies leaped into the air, crashing down on top of him. Instinctively he dodged, attempting to evade the mass of metal and flesh that had suddenly appeared above him. He was only partially successful, as two full-grown stallions landed on his legs.

Gravil struggled against his captors, limbs flailing wildly. He and the stallions wrestled
desperately as more ponies advanced, trying to subdue him. There was a scream as the wyrm bit one of his opponents in the leg. The stallion momentarily loosened his grip. In that moment, Gravil pushed with as much force as he could, shaking off his first opponent. The weight on him relieved somewhat, he was able to pull himself free. Immediately he ducked again as a third pony aimed a hoof swipe at his skull. He struck out at his enemy, lashing with his claws, drawing lines of blood on the mare’s chest. The shock stunned her for a moment, and Gravil slammed his shoulder into her snout, driving her back.

He spun around on his heel, turning to flee towards the edge of the peak.

Steel Shield raised his hoof, pointing at the fleeing wyrm’s back. He bellowed a command, and the unicorns assembled. Beams of light emitted from their horns, chasing after the old wyrm faster than he could run. They hit him in the back, bathing him in incandescent energy.

He screamed, and fell. Smoke rose from his form. He lay still.

Twilight Sparkle stepped forward cautiously. Was that really it? Gra-Vil had seemed like such a dangerous threat, like such a bitter and vicious adversary, that it was almost disappointing to see him defeated so quickly. Even so, there was no sense in taking risks. Her horn glowed, and the wyrm’s body was wrapped in purple light, a force-field to restrain his body.

More ponies emerged from the doorway, as those who had been at the rear of the group finally reached the top of the spiral stairs. Cautiously, they edged around Gravil’s restrained form. When it seemed that he was truly immobilised, they began to walk past him, to Spike beyond.

Suddenly there was a crack, and the pressure in Twilight’s forehead became much more intense. Gravil was struggling! It took more and more concentration to draw out the power needed to contain him. Twilight turned to look at the wyrm. He was still there, laying on his stomach, perfectly still. The difference was his eyes. They were wide open, bulging, filled with rage. Their eyes locked, and the pain became even more intense. It was as if her head was an eggshell, and a massive bird was trying to peck its way out from inside. Twilight fell to the ground. She was barely able to maintain the field. Other ponies had noticed what was going on, and moved to aid her.

With a roar of pure fury, the barrier broke, and Gravil dashed forward. Guardsponies formed up, attempting to form a wall of steel in front of him. They did not assemble quickly enough. Like a bull charging through a sandcastle, the ancient wyrm assaulted his foes.

He barrelled through the stunned guardsponies. His muscles burned, his bones ached. He could feel the last of the magic he’d absorbed expend itself, giving him enough strength to run. The work was already complete. All he had left to do was to greet his King.

“Stop him!” somepony yelled.

At once, the guardsponies leapt forward, trying to catch him again. Pegasi took to the skies, flying faster than he could run. Unfortunately for them, he did not have far to go. He reached the gate seconds before they did.

“Come forth, Galdor! Come forth, oh Dragons! Revenge is in our grasp!”

A massive, scaled arm erupted from the silver portal. Its hand was equipped with five large, talons, each longer than a pony’s foreleg. Its scales were green, dark green, the colour of the sea. Gravil began to laugh.

“Ahahahahahahaha!”

The ponies found they could not move, utterly paralysed by fear. They had failed. Equestria would suffer dragonfire once again.

Even in his exultant state, something bothered Gravil.

The arm. It was not rising. It had risen up, up to its elbow. Yet, it had come no further.

“Come, brother! Do not be afraid, for the portal is wide! Come through, that we may see you in your full glory!”

The hand moved down, towards Gravil. It moved back and forth for a few moments, as if indecisive.

“What? What is wrong, brother? Why do you not emerge?”

The hand reached for him.

“W-what? What are you doing? I am not your ene-”

The hand grasped Gravil firmly about the waist, claws pinning his limbs to his sides.

“Brother! Brother! Do not do this! Please! Can you not see? Our true enemies are right before us! All we need do is - aaaaaah!”

Gravil’s scream was the last thing they heard him say before the arm receded back into the silver pond from whence it had come, dragging him with it.

The portal shimmered for a brief moment, before disappearing.

*******

The sensation was bizarre. There had been such fear, so many terrifying things happening in quick succession, and now - nothing. Nopony knew what to do. There was silence until, at last, somepony did something. Spike turned to the crowd of ponies, and spoke.

“I think we should leave.”

*******

Nearby, safely within the shade of the canopy, it looked upwards. It saw the battle, the drama, the struggle between both of its enemies. Its heart leapt in exultation when the portal burst open, and sank just as quickly as it flickered out of existence. It had witnessed Gra-Vil’s highly ironic demise. Conflicting emotions filled it. One of its enemies was gone. It should be happy about that. Still, it could not help but feel disappointed at the failure of Gra-Vil’s plan. Oh, how much closer the goal would be if he had succeeded! The cities of the sun-queen would have burned! Oh, how it would have loved to see her burn for a change!

It growled discontentedly. Even so, good things had come from this. There was one less ancestral enemy. This was their way. They were no longer strong enough to fight wars. They would win many small victories, until one day they had gained enough ground that their enemies had nothing left to stand upon.

It briefly considered attacking the ponies as they made their way through the forest. It was tempting, very tempting. It longed for the thrill of battle, to rend and tear the filthy usurpers. They deserved it so badly...

Even as the thought occured, it knew that there was not wise to do that. It would not do to reveal Its existence to the usurpers. Engaging in battles personally was not something the Cri-Es did anymore. It could always act through servants, It thought. There were plenty of beasts in Everfree, yes, but it had spent much of its energy dominating the mind of that red-furred monstrosity earlier. The midday sun did nothing to help matters. It very much doubted that It could control so much as a mouse in this cursed light. It could wait until night-time, but by then they might be far from here, close to the exit. An attack by deep forest beasts on the edges of Ponyville would be highly suspicious.

No, there was no need to take action yet. There would be plenty of time, plenty of opportunities to further the plan. It would allow them to return home safely. Their time had not yet come. It turned away from the mountain, and slipped back into the shadows.

Comments

[Cantus]

At last, after all of the promises, and assurances, it is finally done.

Enjoy.

[Xaldon Ajide]

stupid cri-es and also silly wyrm

[awesomespike]

943100
Honestly I am highly disappointed in this chapter, I feared that gravil was just going to be played off as a vengeful monster all the way through this chapter and my fear was true. The more I red the story the more my hopes grew that one of two things was going to happen

1. Spike was going to be the key to reawakening a lost civilization and bringing it back to the world. As well as becoming the bridge between a peace or alliance between ponies and dragons.

2. The time spike spent with Gravil would create a strong enough connection that spike would either through persuasion and being a decedent of the royal family.he would have been able to change the way Gravil felt or thought. Gravil was/is a character I think Spike needs, theres obvious much about dragon culture Gravil new and could have taught Spike. As well as their is also another threat out their that Gravil's knowledge would have been needed to combat and now that knowledge was lost. I understand Gravil waited a long time to do that plan, but that's just what he did was waited. He didn't have anyone or anything that could have affected him and spike could have been just what he needed to help change the rage he felt. Spike was always a lot smarter than he is given credit for, during his story why didn't spike put together what happened between dragons and pony happen because of a misconception and lack of communication ON BOTH the ponies and dragons part. Both side had a chance to open communication to end the conflict before it reached damn near extinction for one side. I guess my point is I feel you could have built a better connection between Gravil and Spike, because honestly I felt there wasn't anything at all except for at one or 2 little bits where Gravil seemed to show amusement and Enjoyment towards spike, and even than it felt like it was gone fast.

[Cantus]

I understand how you might be disappointed by the ending, but I must ask you not to fear. The time was not yet ripe for Gravil's absolution. The events of the story come about from a truly massive amount of misconception and ignorance. Gravil has indoctrinated himself so thoroughly that he cannot conceive of a world ordered differently than the world in which he thinks he lives - a world of good, mistreated dragons and evil, usurping equines. He needs to accept that he's wrong before that can happen, and he won't accept that from anyone whom he does not respect. All the people he respects are dead, which provides a problem. Trust me though, Gravil will change. I won't simply let him go.

[Weeeman]

cdn.styleforum.net/3/31/31e871cd_Go_On.jpeg

[Azarune]

Good thing this is incomplete because I demand a happy ending!

Best wishes mate, though I am still wondering if Spike will ask Celestia her side of the story...

[beirirangu]

hm... one consistency error I saw was that the password used on the front door in chapter 2 was "San", but in chapter 9 it was "Rek Sun Sa", which was the password to the room that healed Gravil in chapter 2...

[Angelus Alvus]

You kinda make a big deal about Spike dying to revive the dragons to end with him totally fine by the end. But it was a very good story.