//------------------------------// // Chapter 6. // Story: Equestria Girls and The Golden Bell // by Sparky Brony //------------------------------// The announcer’s voice booms throughout the arena, “Next up, Fleur Delacour!” Rainbow Dash turns away from the scene in the arena. Several wizards advance on the first dragon, subduing it with magic as another wizard gathers up the eggs. It doesn’t take them very long to move off with the dragon in tow. She blows her hair away from her face, “That was pretty smart of him, turning the rock into a dog.” She glances at Spike. “That Swedish Short-snout was pretty intimidating,” Rarity says, she turns to Sunset. “There are three more of these fights?” Sunset nods, and Rarity sighs, “Well, if you ask me, it’s all rather barbaric.” Sunset sighs, “They aren’t like the dragons of Equestria, that’s for certain.” Twilight adjusts her glasses, “I don’t know why they are calling them dragons, they have only four limbs, not six. Two legs, and the forelegs are also the wings. That makes them wyverns, not dragons.” Sunset nods as she looks around the private box that Dumbledore had set up for them. All kinds of pastries and other foods are laid out on a table in the back of the room, the open front allows them an excellent view of the arena. In keeping with their cover of being American students learning of the European magical traditions and the Triwizard tournament. More humans emerge, their wands pulling another set of chains. Twilight leans forward, “Now, that is a dragon,” She says softly. Sunset looks at the roll of parchment with the schedule for the day, “That’s a Welsh Green, they are natives of Wales, and actively avoid humans.” She looks up as the dragon is chained down and another wizard deposits the golden egg for the champion to retrieve among its own clutch of green and brown eggs. “That’s interesting.” Twilight looks over, “What?” Sunset points, “They are using nesting females for this, so they are protective of the eggs. I don’t think these dragons would be a challenge if they weren’t guarding the eggs.” Applejack steps up next to Sunset, “There’s nothin’ more fierce than a mom protectin’ her youngins.” Sunset nods as the crowd hushes up. The champion for the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, Fleur Delacour, emerges. Sunset watches the small woman stand there. Rarity moves closer to the edge, picking up Spike so he can see the action. Rarity looks at Sunset, “Wonder what is in that egg.” Sunset shrugs, “Something for the next task, I would think.” Fleur steps forward, it looks like the dragon notices her. She roars and spouts a gout of bright blue flames at Fleur. “Get away, I don’t want to hurt you,” comes Spike’s voice. Sunset looks sharply at Spike, “What did you say?” Spike shrugs, “That’s what she said, she doesn’t want to hurt the human girl.” Sunset looks out as Fleur darts to the side, throwing a spell at the dragon, which shrugs off the spell and roars again. “Umm, Sunset, I think she’s getting mad,” Spike chimes in. Twilight gapes, “You mean she wasn’t mad to begin with?” Spike shakes his head, “Well, it seems she doesn’t like being chained down. But she was content being near her eggs.” Sunset watches as Fleur leaps forward, another spell hitting the dragon right in the face. The dragon sneezes, then ponderously curls up and lays her head down. In moments soft snores are emitted by the dragon. “A sleep spell. That’s interesting,” Twilight muses. Fleur moves slowly towards her goal, warily watching the dragon as it slumbers. Just as she gets close, the dragon snorts a bit, blue flames spread around, catching the hem of her skirt on fire. She keeps her composure and uses her wand to make a water jet to put out the flaming cloth. Sunset smiles as Fleur retrieves her egg. She lifts it over her head in triumph as the crowd yells and screams. “And she’s done it! Props to Beauxbatons for the imaginative use of the sleep charm,” comes from the loudspeaker. As Twilight sits Spike back on the floor, Sunset crouches down, “Spike, you were born here, how can you understand dragons? You aren’t a dragon.” He takes a moment to scratch an ear, “I dunno Sunset, when I was chasing that funny rabbit, and I went through those portals, I felt all sorts of different things. Then that bolt hit me. It seemed to go on forever, but I think it changed me, more than merely being able to talk,” he shrugs. “I feel a connection with the dragons here. I don’t know why.” Sunset looks out, watching another dragon being brought in, this one with beautiful scarlet scales and bright yellow eyes. “Can you hear the new dragon?” she asks, looking down at Spike. Wagging his tail Spike tilts his head to one side, listening, before nodding. “What is she saying?” Tilting his head from one side to the other, cocking each ear in turn, “She’s confused and doesn’t understand where she is after the long trip. She’s pretty calm having her eggs here and knowing they are safe. But she doesn’t like the chains, they’re too tight and she can’t move around a lot.” He looks up plaintively at Sunset, “They aren’t going to hurt her, are they?” Sunset shakes her head, “I don’t think so. They just seem to want the dragons for them to test the school champions. It doesn’t look like they want the dragons harmed.” Spike sighs softly, “I’m glad.” “And now, for our third champion, Durmstrang’s Viktor Krum!” the loudspeaker sounds out. Sunset looks intently at Spike, “Let’s watch this one together.” She picks him up and lets him put his paws on the edge. She can feel his tail wagging as he watches the young wizard walk out into the arena. Suddenly Victor dives to the side and fires off a spell at the dragon. The dragon evades and breathes fire at him. He takes shelter behind a rock and throws a few spells at the dragon, which disregards them. This goes on for a few minutes, neither side really getting an advantage over the other. Spike, though, is entranced by the action going on. “GO Bàofēng! Get him!” Sunset looks at him, “You know, we are supposed to root for the wizard.” Spike giggles, "It’s more fun to cheer on the dragon. Go Bàofēng! Woohoo!” Spike shouts again, holding his paws on either side of his muzzle as he wags his tail vigorously. Twilight picks up Spike from Sunset, “That’s enough from you.” She adjusts her glasses, “Bàofēng is storm wind, in Chinese, that is.” Sunset nods as Twilight nuzzles her dog. Then the action on the field catches her attention, “Oh no!” She moans as the dragon flails around, a curse from Victor has the dragon blinded and angry, she flails around, smashing some of her eggs. “Oh, that’s gonna cost him some points!” The loudspeaker blares. Sunset wants to cry, those eggs. She shakes her head and huffs as Victor grabs his own golden egg and darts away from the flailing dragon, she looks back at Spike, “Yeah, I think we should have been rooting for the dragon.” Again, the crowd quiets down as the dragon is led away, Sunset moves over to Twilight, “Just one more to go.” “And with that boy, Harry Potter,” Twilight says softly as she continues nuzzling Spike. Sunset nods, “You talked to his friend, Hermione. Is he ready?” Twilight shrugs, “I’d say he’s as ready as he’s going to be.” She looks out, “Here he comes.” Sunset looks out, “He’s young,” she murmurs. Harry Potter is looking at the dragon standing over her clutch of eggs. He runs towards a rock as the dragon lets loose a gout of flame. She watches him raise his wand and scream something. “Sunset, something is wrong, she sounds sick,” Spike says. Sunset looks down at Spike in Twilight’s arms, raising her eyebrows. A loud bell sounds, making Sunset put her hands over her ears. Rarity puts her hand on Sunsets back, “Is there something wrong darling?” Sunset looks at Rarity, then flinches as the bell sounds again, “You don’t hear that?” Rarity looks confused, then she looks at Twilight, who shrugs, “I hear them fighting, but that’s it.” The bell tolls again, “Something is wrong.” She gasps as Harry’s broom streaks towards him, the boy leaps on his broom and streaks off. The Hungarian Horntail flaps her wings to gain the air, but the chains hold her down. “Something is wrong with her! She sounds drunk or ill, her speech is slurred and broken. Must kill, must kill all,” Spike says as the dragon roars as she continues to try to fly. The bell sounds again, the chain parting. The wyvern streaks into the air after the boy on the broom. “That’s not right,” Twilight says softly, watching the two recede towards the castle, the dragon spitting flames, “The book says she should be protecting her eggs, not aggressively attacking him.” “Isn’t that kind of dragon supposed to be aggressive?” Rainbow Dash asks as she narrows her eyes a bit, following the action in the distance. Twilight shakes her head, “To drive him off, yeah. But to keep after him after he’s not a direct danger? She’s abandoned the clutch with others around, that’s not their instincts. She should drive him off then return to guarding.” Sunset grabs Twilight’s hand and runs towards the exit, “Something is very wrong, that bell. Grogar is doing something here.” Fluttershy looks at Rainbow Dash, “We need to get our brooms, if that’s ok. Maybe we can help calm her down or something.” All the girls rush to follow Sunset. As she runs, she can hear the dragon roaring. They soon get to the long covered bridge heading towards the castle. Harry is on his broom, the dragon is still trying to attack him directly. Fluttershy moves up next to Sunset, “I saw the dragons earlier, Hagrid showed me. She’s aggressive and powerful, but she’s not savage like that. Spike is right. There’s something wrong with her.” The figure on the broom streaks towards the bridge, the dragon in hot pursuit, and he streaks through the bridge supports. The dragon is so focused on him that she crashes into the bridge causing part of it to collapse. The dragon and contestant tumbling down into the crevasse below along with debris from the bridge. Regaining the control of his damaged broom, Harry starts to climb out and heads off towards the arena. The dragon though is caught in the debris. Unable to fly out, it grabs the side wall, digging its claws in and using them to slow its fall before hitting the ground. Sunset raises her wand, “Fluttershy, you and Rainbow Dash, keep going. We’ll try to do something.” She raises her wand and brings the rest of the girls close to her. She concentrates her magic and they disappear, reappearing on the ground at the base of the bridge. Applejack makes a fist and pulls her gloves tight with a smile, “Sometimes you just gotta grab the bull by the horns, or in this case, the tail.” With a powerful leap she reaches out with her gloved hand for the thrashing weapon. As she grabs on and pulls back, digging her feet in, getting a snort of surprise from the dragon. Applejack groans as she pulls hard, slowly dragging the dragon back from the structure, “A little help,” she mutters. Sunset growls and raises her wand, she knows a good sleep charm herself. She fires the spell at the dragon, and watches as it bounces off the hard scales. Twilight throws a spell herself, and also gapes as the magic bounces harmlessly off the dragon, “These dragons are resilient to magic, but not to this extreme. Grogar must have done something,” Sunset growls as she fires another spell, the dragon doesn’t even react. “I’m going to keep her focused on me,” Sunset shouts, “keep trying to slow her down!” Instead of a charm, she shoots a gout of fire at the dragon, which snorts and lunges at her. She smiles as she blink evades and throws another curse at the eyes of the dragon. The spell bounces harmlessly off as the dragon snaps at her again. She desperately teleports to the side as she screams, “We need to nullify this protection. Twilight, help!” “I’m working on it,” comes Twilight’s distant voice. Sunset looks up, at the edge of the cliff, Twilight had teleported there, and she’s got a book open, reading frantically, “I don’t know how to dispel a charm of that strength. I’m working on it.” Pinkie Pie giggles as she reaches into her bag and with one fluid motion she produces her party cannon setting it on the ground. With non-stop giggles, she jumps into the barrel of the cannon and fires, the shot sends her through the air and lands on the back of the dragon’s head. She grabs onto the spines as the dragon flails around, trying to dislodge her. She laughs loudly, “Hey Applejack, lookie here!” With Applejack’s attention broken, watching Pinkie ride the dragon, the dragon flicks her tail, flinging Applejack away. Rarity shouts and raises her wand, creating a big fluffy cushion, lined with rhinestones, for Applejack to land. Rarity turns back to the dragon, “Well that was just rude and uncouth of you. Here we are trying to help and you do that? Since direct force doesn’t slow you down, let us try something different.” She points her wand at the dragon, shooting out bright diamond sparks at the dragon, the bright lights get a roar from the dragon. Sunset smiles, “Good idea, keep confusing it, Rarity.” Rarity walks slowly as she holds her wand high. Brilliant flashes of colors and sparkles like a shower of diamonds pass by the dragon’s face, as she continues her assault, “Darling would you please hurry, this is hardly as easy as it looks. Please find a way to stop this dreadful beast a bit quicker.” In one fluid motion Rainbow Dash streaks by, snagging Pinkie Pie off the dragon’s neck. She does a tight loop right in front of the dragon then turns and heads towards Sunset. She drops off Pinkie Pie and stops for a moment, “I’ll keep it distracted. Find the right magic to stop her, Sunset!” she shouts as she kicks off the ground. She hovers for a moment in front of the dragon. It lunges forward to snap at her, and then darts away laughing. Sunset watches as Rainbow ponies up as she continues her acrobatic maneuvers to avoid the dragon. “I think I got it!” calls Twilight, getting Sunset to look up at her. She leaps off the cliff, her wand glowing as she falls, a wide jet of magic bathing the dragon as it continues to be frustrated by Rainbow Dash’s antics. She finishes the spell and blinks out, appearing on the ground, skidding as her momentum carries through the teleportation. She turns and fires another spell, getting another roar from the dragon, “I’ve cancelled the charm, but she’s still strong. We have to work together to subdue her.” She shouts. Sunset teleports up to the bridge, she fires and entanglement spell at the wings of the dragon, the magic wraps around and binds the wings down. Rarity steps forward does the same for the legs. Twilight blinks back up to the cliff face and binds the dragon’s head. “ENOUGH!" The voice rolls through the canyon like thunder, reverting off of the walls and carrying with it an oppressive smell of brimstone. The mere force of the word carrying with it the aura of darkness and death. “Twilight, bind the wings!” Sunset cries out before freezing for a moment in place. The force of the word chilling her to the soul. Slowly she turns looking to its source. Looking at the creature that has caused this chaos. Standing on a ledge on the rocks, the demonic ram looks down at the puny humans. Around his neck, the bell glows ominously, as his horns do also. Slowly surveying the situation as the girls fight desperately to control the frenzied dragon, he shakes his head before turning his gaze to Sunset. Almost instinctually Sunset fires of an energy blast of concentrated magic at the goat. A blast powerful enough to melt rock and reduce a body to nothing but bone and ash. It was a spell she learned from the libraries, one not often used, as it was deemed as too violent for most ponies. The spell lanced out, forming an arrow of energy streaks unerringly for the dark creature. Chuckling softly, Grogar simply bats the blast to the side, leaving a hole melted in the side of the canyon before he focuses on Sunset, “Really? It is funny you should choose that spell, I invented it after all. The only way you would know that spell is if you are from Equestria.” Taking a step back Sunset looked to the others then back at Grogar as he continues to speak, “Why would you give up your true form for that of such a pitiful useless creature as a human? You silly, stupid unicorn.” Laughing he stops, a hoof to the bell around his neck rings as he fires a spell from his horns. Sunset swings her wand in an arc. It takes every bit of energy her wand can put out, but she erects a sloped shield to deflect the goat’s onslaught. Most of the energy of the blast is being deflected upwards away from her and the other girls. The sound of his bell and the force of the impact causes her head to ache as she looks towards Grogar. Slowly moving down the side of the canyon, the goat hops from ledge to ledge with ease. He speaks with a cold, dark voice that is far older than even Celestia, “Do you truly think you can defeat me? I am the master of life and death itself.” Landing on another ledge he unleashes another blast from his horns, this time one of sickly green and crimson energy, that intertwine and flow into the form of a burning skull streaking towards Sunset. Had she been a normal wizard, or student, she would likely have perished at that moment, unable to get words off in time to save her. But her bond with her wand is true, as fast as any unicorn could she winks out of existence just as the skull hits the ground. The explosion turns the area where she was standing before into molten lava. Winking back into reality, she pants as she looks at the goat, “How can I stop him? He’s so powerful…” Quickly she fires off a solar beam. She had seen Celestia do it, maybe it would have a better effect against a creature of the dark. Lowering his head, Grogar lets the blast hit his horns, merely walking through it, rather than even trying to deflect it, “Well now,” he smiles, “there was true Equestrian magic in that blast, I remember the feel of that.” Slowly he continues walking towards Sunset. “You will serve me well as a slave. First here, then you shall take me back to Equestria so that I may have my revenge there,” he fires another beam at Sunset, who desperately raises a shield to deflect. The beam blows her back, and she lands heavily, her wand clattering away. Slowly, Grogar lowers his head to the fallen Sunset, “It would have been so much easier if you didn’t resist, but definitely not as much fun. Goodbye little unicorn.” His bell glows as does his horn, a smile on his face. Desperately Sunset puts her arms up to shield herself, closing her eyes in fear. The spell never comes. Sunset opens her eyes. A creature is attacking him. It looks like an equine corpse reanimated. It flaps enormous bat wings as it kicks at him. He fires his magic at the creature and all it seems to do is enrage the creature further. A thump announces another landing next to her, Sunset looks over to see Fluttershy standing there, a hand outstretched, “Come on, he’s too powerful for you to take him on yourself.” Sunset calls her wand back and reaches for Fluttershy, who helps balance her on the broom with her. Fluttershy kicks the broom into the air, and Sunset reaches over Fluttershy’s shoulder with her wand, firing spells at the distracted ram. She looks around, an entire herd of those flying equines are sparring with the dragon and with the ram. Fluttershy smiles, “I figured thestrals could help with a necromancer.” She glances back, “But I hope they don’t get hurt.” Sunset looks around, “We need to get more help, Fluttershy.” She nods and turns to streak towards the arena when Sunset notices something, she points and Fluttershy follows where she’s pointing. They land heavily in front of Dumbledore as he is heading to help with the dragon. Sunset leaps off the broom and runs up to Dumbledore, “It’s him, Professor. The thestrals are warding him off, but we need more to stop him.” She feels tears start to cascade down her face, “He’s so powerful,” she murmurs. Dumbledore holds out a hand, and Sunset grabs it. They blink out and appear in front of the dragon. Sunset looks around and points, “He’s there!” Grogar turns and looks, and with a sardonic smile, he slowly turns to smoke as more and more wizards start to appear. Several of them move to assist Twilight and Rarity in subduing the dragon. The Minister of Magic comes up, “Dumbledore, what’s the meaning of this?” Dumbledore sighs, “I fear we have more than just death eaters to deal with right now.” Fudge whirls away, “You and your fantasies, Albus. I can only tolerate this for so long.” He looks around, “These are those Americans. What are they doing here? They should be keeping a low profile!” Sunset steps towards him, “That creature from my world just attacked, and you want to know why we were away from the arena? He controlled the dragon, he broke the chains that was holding it and enraged it enough to follow him rather than follow its instincts to protect its eggs.” Fudge whips around to face Sunset, and raises a finger, “You interfered with the triwizard tournament. I should send you back to America and get you out of my hair.” Dumbledore puts a hand on Fudge’s shoulder, “Since Potter had escaped from the bridge by then and made it back to the egg before these girls took on the dragon, their actions did in no way interfere with the challenge, but they instead acted in the best interests of Hogwarts, and all wizards.” Fudge knocks Dumbledore’s hand away, “I see nothing here. What evidence do you have that this other creature attacked?” One of the other wizards comes up, “Sir. The dragon had charms on it. We are detecting residues of unknown magic on it.” Sunset smirks, “Told ya.” Fudge growls, “That is flimsy evidence.” He turns to the wizard, “Can you detect the nature of the charm?” The other wizard shakes his head, he looks back at Dumbledore and narrows his eyes, “We will fully investigate what happened here Albus. But for now, I strongly suggest that you keep these girls in line.” With that he turns violently away and starts to direct the wizards leading the dragon away. Dumbledore leads Sunset to her friends, “You said he was a necromancer. Using the thestrals to distract him seems to have been a good idea.” He turns to Fluttershy, who is sitting next to a still form, “Oh no.” Sunset rushes over and puts a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder, “I’m so sorry.” Fluttershy sniffs softly, “Four of them died to save us, the dragon got one, that monster got the other three.” She suppresses a sob as she reaches out a hand onto the neck of the thestral before her, “Thank you my friend,” she says softly. Rainbow Dash kneels down next to Fluttershy, “They helped us, their sacrifice is not in vain.” Applejack comes up next to them, removing her hat and putting it over her heart, “They fought to help us, Fluttershy.” Two of the other thestrals come over, looking at their dead companion. Fluttershy stands up and moves over to hug one of them, she looks back at Sunset, “This one lost her mate here.” Sunset doesn’t know what to say, she looks around, “We need to find him. He’s fully in this world. We need to catch him, and kill him.” Twilight helps Rainbow Dash to her feet, “I don’t think it’s possible to kill him, Sunset. He’s a necromancer. Killing his body wouldn’t even slow him down.” Sunset sighs, “It’s got to be that bell. That bell is the source of his power.” Twilight looks back at Dumbledore, “I need to research. Can I look through what magical books you have at your library?” Dumbledore sighs, “I imagine you’ll have to look at the restricted sections as well.” He looks at Sunset, “You coming?” Sunset is able to grin, “Reading about arcane magical subjects with a demonic monster on the loose?” She looks around, wizards are repairing the bridge and cleaning up after the fight. She glances up, students are heading back into the school. Her smiles widens, “Count me in.”