//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Dragon Our Love 'Till the End: Zog Strikes Back // by The Lord Thunder //------------------------------// Five enormous Shadow Dragons neared Zog's fortress, a jagged, rocky structure of ebony that jutted high above the walls surrounding it. As they cleared the courtyard, their forms contorted, growing sleeker and shorter until they were small enough to fly between the massive pillars lining the outer rim of the massive assembly hall one story below Zog's throne room on the top floor. This was one of the abilities they enjoyed about being Shadow Dragons; the ability to shapeshift into a smaller, bipedal form. The assembly hall was a huge, nondescript chamber consisting only of the room itself and large stone columns arranged in a grid that held up the top floor of the fortress. Thorn, the dragon on point, planted his feet on the ground, a look of satisfaction on his face as he pivoted to face his comrades. “Did you see the looks on those ponies' faces?” “See them?” his brother Scorn asked. “I could practically taste their fear!” “They ran like scalded dogs!” said one of the other dragons who had been part of the team that destroyed Buckington. “Their screams were music to my ears,” another dragon chipped in. “Let's go inform Zog of our victory,” the fifth dragon said. “He will be pleased.” Indeed, General Zog would be pleased. Thorn took comfort in that fact. Not like those poor fools who'd botched the mission to stop the ponies fleeing through the mine, which ended in the mine being destroyed. For the past week those dragons had been locked up in the dungeon underneath the fortress, and Thorn knew they'd be lucky if they ever saw daylight again. He'd never seen Zog so angry. Thorn nodded his approval as the other dragons, aside from his brother, marched upstairs to deliver the news to their leader. Their mission was complete, and now Zog turned for the balcony overlooking the courtyard. As he did, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. A flight of very slender and shapely dragonesses were passing through the fort's airspace, their forms beautifully outlined in the evening sky. “Well, he-LLOH!” “What is it?” Scorn asked. When Thorn stopped on the balcony and didn't give an answer, Scorn joined his brother and saw what had caught his attention. “Nice,” he whispered. “Shake that tail for me, darling.” “Where is Emperor Zog?” a voice behind them asked. Thorn barely noticed this, his eyes still glued to the flattering figures of the dragonesses. “I'm not sure. He's probably in his throne room.” “I didn't ask for a 'probably.'” “Go look,” Scorn added, throwing a wave behind his back at his distractor. “We're kinda busy, as you can see.” There was a tremendous roar of rage, and one of the stone columns behind Thorn and Scorn exploded in a burst of dust and flying bits of rock, sending the dragons instinctively diving to their bellies for cover. Thorn twisted onto his rear end to see what had caused such a display of power. “What the?!” Thorn managed to whisper, feeling his blood turn to ice. The sight before them held Scorn's mouth fast. “Next time it will be your heads,” the colossal figure standing before them warned in its booming baritone. This huge dragon, if that was what it was, it certainly resembled a dragon, sent a chill up Thorn's spine the likes of which he'd never felt before. This dragon, pitch-black as the rest of the Shadow Dragons, had two pairs of legs folded across its massive chest for a total of not four, but six limbs. Four wings stuck out from its back. Two wedge-shaped heads, with four pupilless ruby eyes glowing on each head, stared down at the two sentries. “What is going on down here?!” a voice from above snarled. General Zog, the one-eyed commander of the Shadow Dragons, charged down the spiral staircase that led to his throne room. A mighty vertical scar ran through what was long ago his right eye. Cyhperus, his second in command, joined him close behind. “Ah, general Zog,” the two-headed dragon said, both mouths speaking in unison. “I've been expecting you.” Thorn swallowed a hard lump in his throat, thankful that Zog had taken the stranger's attention away from him and Scorn. Most Shadow Dragons in their bipedal form stood about six to six and a half feet tall. Zog was rare specimen, eight feet in his bipedal form. But the two-headed dragon towered even over Zog. Thorn guessed his height to be eleven feet, maybe even twelve. He would have hated to see this dragon's full-sized form. Even the mighty General Zog shivered at the presence of this monster. “Who-who are you?” “You may have heard of me. I am known as Veroth.” “Veroth?” Zog's single eye squinted in confusion. “The Shadow Dragonlord from the ancient Dragon Wars? That was one million years ago. How can you still be alive?” “Alive?” Veroth echoed. “I don't recall being dead, just sent on a... rather long vacation. The Prophecy never did come true, after all.” Yes, Veroth recalled the ancient dragon prophecy: “When dragons fight dragons and darkness covers the land, hearts united shall illuminate the shadows and bring about light anew.” During the terrible Dragon Wars, various dragon clans had banded together to put an end to the Shadow Dragons' reign of terror, led by none other than Veroth himself. Dragon scholars had believed this to be the beginning of the prophecy, but no light was brought about during that destructive conflict. When the other sniveling dragons realized they had no hope against Veroth, they formed a pact with an ancient tribe of alicorns. By combining their strength, they managed to seal Veroth away in the gates of Tartarus. For one million years he dwelled there until the seal had weakened enough for him to escape. By now, most of the dragons about the fortress had congregated in the assembly hall to check on the commotion. All of them had their sights turned towards Zog, expecting their leader to do something about this mysterious newcomer. He would not relent in front of his subordinates, but this was one of the rare times Zog had truly been afraid. Despite this, he took a defiant step closer to Veroth, pointing a claw at him. “This is my fortress! You don't just barge in here and give me orders!” A massive clawed hand found its grip around Zog's neck. He felt his feet leave the ground and suddenly he was staring down at Veroth's two heads. “No longer. It belongs to me now.” Veroth tightened his grip around Zog's throat. “Unless you object?” Zog thrashed in Veroth's grip, kicking at the giant heads in an attempt to escape. One kick landed squarely on the throat of the left neck, but neither head even flinched at this. Zog brought his feet down with all his weight, stomping at Veroth's eyes. If this hurt Veroth in the slightest, he didn't show it as he hoisted Zog even higher above his heads. A gurgle escaped from Zog's throat and, in that moment, he realized he was beaten. “Fine!” he managed to croak. “It's yours!” “Thought so,” Veroth grumbled before unceremoniously dumping Zog to the floor. The other dragons backed off at an aside glance from the two-headed dragon. Even though he had four arms, he'd only needed the use of one to make the strongest dragon in their army look like nothing. Zog picked himself back to his feet, rubbing his throat.“Why are you even here, Veroth?” “I have come to correct the errors you worthless lot have made.” “What errors?” Veroth folded his arms across his massive chest. “You saw fit to destroy a single pony village. What did you think this was going to accomplish?"   “We were sending a message,” Zog replied. “Those ponies needed to be reminded the order of things.” "Imbecile,” Veroth growled. “Your little pecking order means nothing. Do you realize that now Celestia has a legitimate excuse to declare war?"   Cypherus shrugged. "So what? They're just ponies."    Those eight eerie eyes now pierced through Cypherus, who took a step back on instinct. "Ah, of course. How silly of me to forget. They ARE just ponies, after all." Veroth bent down and picked up a shard of stone from the pillar he destroyed. "Let's pretend that this piece of stone is a pony.” He flung it gently and it bounced off Thorn's scales. “Did that hurt?” Thorn tiled his head in confusion. “No.” Zog picked up another one and flung it at Scorn. “How about that?"   “Mosquitoes have hit me harder!” "How about THIS?!" With a deafening roar, Veroth drove his upper two arms through the ceiling, bringing it and the floor above crumbling down upon the other dragons. All was silent for a moment as the last bits of stone and rock fell and the dust settled to the floor. Movement stirred from the mound of rubble as an ebony claw pushed broken stone from the top of the pile. Zog and Cypherus emerged, dusting themselves off while the rest of the Shadow Dragons crawled out from the wreckage. "Ponies may not come close to us in strength, but they do outnumber us, and an alicorn COULD pose a threat. As Shadow Dragons, we must not forget that ponies possess powerful emotions.” Veroth held his bottom claws apart, palms facing each other. A spherical image appeared in the space between his claws, showing ponies laughing, smiling and generally enjoying each others' company. “Theirs is a realm of cheer and friendship, which could mean trouble for us. As you know, positive energies like these weaken us.” The globular image between Veroth's claws turned to one of ponies crying, shivering with fear and fighting with one another. “However, if we were to turn Equestria into a land of darkness and despair, the energy we could feed off their emotions would be substantial." “So, we're going to take over Equestria?” Scorn asked. "Yes. We must make our move now, before Celestia has time to act. We leave for Canterlot immediately." It was the nature of dragons to instinctively follow the strong. Thus, most of the Shadow Dragons had no complaint in crowding around Veroth, awaiting his command. Even Cypherus had now ditched Zog's side for the more powerful dragon. Only Thorn and Zog himself kept their distance from Veroth. Veroth turned his back to Zog, adding, “You, Zog, stay here and continue your search for the item that the dragons of old hid here. When you find it, you are to report to me immediately.” “But we've only found one of the three keystones needed to unlock it, and since we haven't been able to find it by digging, I'll need my army. If you're taking them-” “Oh, not all of your army,” Veroth interrupted. “Don't you have a few stewing around in that little prison of yours?” “The ones who failed to stop the ponies from escaping?” Zog sneered at the very mention of them. “They're worthless!” “Very well.” Veroth turned to Thorn, who shuddered under the two-headed dragon's gaze. “Since you are so proud of the attack you just led, you will stay here as well.” Scorn, having joined Veroth's side, glanced a silent apology back at his brother. Thorn held a protesting claw out towards Scorn. “But my brother-” A low growl from Veroth cut Thorn off in mid-sentence. He tightened his jaw, not wanting to provoke their new leader. Assessing that Thorn had no other complaints, Veroth shouted, “come!” He spread his four huge wings and flew out one of the makeshift windows of the gathering hall. The other dragons obeyed, following him out the window. Soon they disappeared over the dimming horizon. “Well,” Zog grumbled lowly over his shoulder to Thorn. “What are you waiting for? Go release those miserable failures from the dungeon.” “Sir!” Thorn stalled just long enough to give a salute, then retreated to the bowels of the fortress. Zog glared out at the horizon with his one remaining eye. His once bustling fortress was all but deserted, the courtyard empty and the sentries that usually flew watch overhead gone as well, having followed the others to Canterlot. Zog gnashed his teeth, snarling and clenching his fists. Veroth had humiliated him and single-handedly taken his entire army aside from a few incompetent fools who couldn't even stop a bunch of ponies. Now, with only this handful of dragons left, they'd have to search for those keystones themselves. This was not how he imagined his evening starting.