//------------------------------//
// 2 Revolution 
// Story: Hail Hail 
// by Brass Polish 
//------------------------------//

	Spike and Impulsoria spat fire at the rest of the ice to free Ember’s claws and wings while she told them what happened.
“This brown ratty-looking thing flew up to me as I was passing over this volcano, yelled something about a revolution, and shot a beam of ice at me. I tried to dodge, but it got my tail and weighed me down. I fell into this volcano. The ice melted in the lava, and I flew out of sight thinking that dragon wouldn’t follow me in here. I figured a dragon that breathes ice couldn’t survive in a volcano. But he flew in, and shot ice all over the place. I kept missing every time I tried to shoot fire at him. Then he got the drop on me. I’ve been stuck here ever since. I couldn’t breathe fire or get to a lava puddle to melt the ice he’d trapped me with.”
“Revolution, huh?” said Impulsoria. “Looks like you’re subjects mutinied.”
“I know,” groaned Ember.
“That’s why you only called me?” asked Spike.
“Yeah. I knew it’d be useless to call any other dragon if they’re all turning against me,” said Ember.
“What about your dad, Torch?”
Ember snorted. “He’s worse than useless now that he’s retired.”
“We saw that,” sneered Impulsoria. “We also saw a few dragons before we got to this volcano. I don’t think they’re in on this whole revolution thing.”
Spike nodded. “They’d have tried to stop us if they were involved with this ice dragon. I don’t think every dragon’s trying to overthrow you.”
“Well I still don’t know who’s a mutineer and who isn’t, groused Ember. “I only know that ratty puke is the ringleader. Like I said, the only dragon I knew I could rely on was you.”
Spike grinned.
“And now, I guess I can trust Impulsoria here,” ventured Ember.
“Well, I doubt you’re my ruler, but I’m not gonna join their revolution,” said Impulsoria coldly. “I may never have got the call of the Dragon Lord when Torch was about to step down, but I’m sure there’s a good reason for it. That’s why I’m here. I wanna find out why I wasn’t in the running.”

Ember hadn’t really heard Impulsoria. Something had caught her eye.
“Is that my sceptre?!” she said, pointing towards the entrance to the den.
“Oh. Yeah,” nodded Spike as Ember darted towards the Bloodstone Sceptre and picked it up.
“But that brown guy took it from me after he trapped me,” Ember said. “Where’d you find it?”
“In a pond of lava,” said Spike, “with a glacier floating in it.”
“And there were no dragons around, I take it?”
“No. Well, we didn’t see any.”
“I doubt he’d have let us take it if he saw us,” put in Impulsoria, taking a bite of a jewel from the sack she’d brought from home.
Ember’s mouth watered. “Oh! Diamonds. I haven’t eaten all day.”
“Well, we should go back to where we found the sceptre and see if we can find any trace of…”
“Don’t be a jerk, Imp!” snapped Spike.
With a cheeky grin, Impulsoria tossed the bag to Ember, who buried her face in it, chomping away at the gemstones inside.

When Ember’s hunger was satisfied, she, Spike, and Impulsoria left the den and made their way to where the Bloodstone Sceptre had been found.
“Well, there’s the glacier,” said Spike when they reached it, “but it’s a lot smaller now.”
“And it wasn’t wobbling as much,” added Impulsoria.
Then the glacier began to crack and shake violently.
“Someone’s in there,” Ember hissed. “And I’ll bet it’s…”
The glacier shattered. Ice shot in all directions. And from within the broken block emerged a short dragon with a face like a rat. He was glowing white, and thrashing like mad.
“Why won’t it go away?!” he shrieked.
“That’s him!” barked Ember. “He’s the one who attacked me!”
Spike and Impulsoria were more curious than surprised.
“Is he getting the call of the Dragon Lord?” asked Impulsoria.
“What? How?” spluttered Ember. “I’m not calling him.”
“He is glowing white. And he’s scratching himself like crazy,” observed Spike.
The rat-faced dragon hadn’t noticed anyone there. He was shooting a beam of ice close to the lava pond. He landed on the small block he’d made and kept shooting ice all around him.
“Looks like he’s trying to make another glacier to stay in,” said Spike.
Ember shook her head and shot flames at the glacier, melting most of the ice. Impulsoria contributed her own fire. At last, the rat-faced dragon knew they were there.

“What did you do to me?!” he screeched. “I’ve been white and itchy all day!”
“Oh, boo hoo!” snarled Ember. “I’ve been starving all day thanks to you!”
“Are you sure you’re not using your call on him?” asked Impulsoria. “To get back at him?”
“I swear, I’m not!” Ember insisted.
“You’re lying!” growled the ratty dragon. “Take the curse off me, you swindler!”
“It’s not a curse. It’s the Dragon Lord’s call,” said Spike. “And what do you mean swindler?”
“You’re all swindlers! You fire-breathing dragons left me and my brother and sister out of the Gauntlet of Fire! There’s no reason an ice-breathing dragon can’t be the Dragon Lord!” the ratty dragon blathered.
“Of course there is,” sniggered Impulsoria. “It’s the Gauntlet of Fire.”
The ratty dragon seemed to forget his itchiness for a moment as he glared crossly at Impulsoria, Ember, and Spike.
“There has to be a better system for deciding who rules over all dragons! My type cannot be left out! I don’t care if I don’t win the competition! I don’t care if I’m never called Dragon Lord Hail! I just need to at least be in the running! And so does my family!”
“Hail, is it?” frowned Spike. “Well, you know what, Hail? I think you ice dragons have your own Dragon Lord.”
Hail and Ember gaped. Impulsoria laughed.
“You pathetic little bug! I can’t believe you tried to overthrow the wrong dragon!”
“I can’t believe I wasted all that time summoning just Spike!” Ember spluttered in frustration. “I thought you were leading all the dragons I rule over in a revolution! I could’ve called any of them!”

“We have our own Dragon Lord?!” exclaimed Hail. “So I am in the running! Great! Where do I go?!”
“If you don’t know where your own ruler is, then there’s no hope of getting you there,” Spike frowned.
“Besides, it’s not like you’re leaving,” sneered Impulsoria. “Trying to take out a Dragon Lord’s gotta come with a hefty punishment.”
“Hey, if she’s not my Dragon Lord, what does it matter?!” Hail started scratching himself again. “Now stop stalling! Where do I go to answer the call?!”
“We don’t know and we don’t care,” snapped Spike. “You committed an act of war, pal.”
“Eh, he can go,” shrugged Ember.
Spike and Impulsoria turned and stared.
“But Ember, he attacked you,” said Spike. “And for such a stupid reason.”
“If we don’t let him leave, then he might never stop glowing and itching,” said Ember. “And obviously he’s been suffering worse than me all day, so I think I can get over it.”
“Hey, I’ve been itchy all day too,” complained Spike.
“I know. Sorry about that. I wouldn’t have bothered you if I knew I had other dragons to call on,” said Ember. “Thanks a lot for coming. And, uh, it was… not terrible meeting you, Impulsoria.”
“Same,” said the crystal dragon flatly. “But what good is letting Hail off if he doesn’t know where to go?”
“I’ll help him find his own Dragonlands,” Ember offered.
“Aw, thanks,” smiled Hail.

Impulsoria was amused by Spike dumbfoundedness own their way back home.
“What? Are you surprised to see someone letting a wrong-doer off?” she chuckled as she swam him across the ocean. “I’d have thought you’d be used to it. How many reformed villains have we got running around Equestria now?”
“That’s not the weird part,” said Spike. “The weird part is how quickly Ember changed her mind. She was furious. I know she’s the Dragon Lord, but she’s still not exactly… domesticated.”
“Well, neither am I,” said Impulsoria. “And she may be wild, but she’s still pretty sharp. If you ask me, she saw a bit of you in Hail.”
“Me?!” Spike spluttered.
“Hail obviously grew up away from his own homeland. Sound familiar?”
Spike said nothing.
“I guess I’m the same way,” went on Impulsoria. “Now that I know fire-breathing dragons have a ruler, and ice-breathing dragons have their own ruler, it stands to reason that my kind have a Dragon Lord as well.”
“A crystal Dragon Lord?”
“It makes sense, doesn’t it?” asked Impulsoria. “I think I’ll take a holiday from the Crystal Empire after I drop you off. Don’t want to be completely directionless when I inevitably get the call.”
“You mean you want to find other dragons like you and where they live?” asked Spike.
“I always wanted to, but I never knew for sure they must exist until now,” smiled Impulsoria.

Despite the possibility of getting the call of the Dragon Lord at any time, Impulsoria was in no hurry to pack up and venture off into the unknown. She ferried Spike all the way to the outskirts of Ponyville.
“What if Hail’s getting the call because it’s time for the ruler the ice dragons have right now to be replaced?” asked Spike just before they arrived. “If they find the other ice dragons and Hail wins the… Gauntlet of Ice, or whatever, he’ll be their ruler. What then?”
“Oh, stop being such a sourpuss,” grunted Impulsoria. “He’s not gonna try and attack Ember again now that he knows you fire dragons didn’t exclude him and his family from a chance for power. Well, see you in a few moons, I guess.”
“Bye,” said Spike, climbing off her back and running into town.
It was late, and he was sure Twilight, Nyx, and Starlight would be worrying about him.
“He’s here!” called Starlight when Spike entered the castle.
Spike ran up to Twilight and was just about to tell her everything that had happened when a blue ball of flame appeared in front of Twilight.
“Looks like Ember wrote back,” she said.
“Oh, I forgot you’ve been sending her letters asking for info on dragon culture,” said Spike.
A scroll dropped from the flames, which disappeared. Twilight opened the letter…

Dragon Lord Wind Chill divided his charges into five squadrons; one would attack the eastern region of Equestria, one would attack the northern, one the southern, one the western, and one would come from the air above the unsuspecting country and take the midland region. He’d been waiting for this opportunity all his life. Even though he’d never stepped onto Equestrian soil, he’d planned this attack meticulously for years, and he spent days atop the mountain he knew the Gauntlet of Ice would eventually take place to make sure he would win. And after all that, when the day finally arrived that Dragon Lord Deep Freeze would announce her retirement and hold the customary contest to determine her successor, the only challenge Wind Chill really faced that day was her fiercest competition for the Polar Sceptre in the form of a short, brown, rodent-faced dragon. Sure enough though, he’s pulled ahead and claimed the title he’d been working towards all his life. And his first act as ruler of all ice dragons was now about to be carried out, with he himself leading the skyward charge above the midlands. But he and his army would find the land below them blanketed in transparent sheets of many colours. At first, Wind Chill refused to believe that unicorns were casting shields as though expecting an attack, and carried on leading his troops to their checkpoint.
“Stop!” commanded a regal voice.
Wind Chill found himself facing four alicorns in the sky above the midlands.
“We have been told of your plans to claim Equestria! You must fight if you wish to take it from us!” said Princess Celestia valiantly.

None of the other four armies of ice dragons had a clear path either. The ones that intended to invade from the west found their way barred by hundreds of changelings led by King Thorax. The ones that intended to invade the south were met by hundreds of griffons led by Gilda, Gabby, and George. The ones that intended to take the north found themselves face to face with hundreds of yaks led by Prince Rutherford. And as for the east, Ember led hundreds to fire-breathing dragons to protect the shore from the oncoming ice-breathing dragons. Also, many unicorns, Shining Armour, Starlight Glimmer, Moondancer, and even Sunset Shimmer, were casting shield spells to cover the major cities. And naturally, Discord was covering the rest. The ice dragons had no hope of claiming an inch of Equestrian soil. Wind Chill had no choice but to abandon his lifelong plans indefinitely, as Princess Celestia told him quite plainly that they will know if he attempts another invasion. And with that, the ice dragons fell back and returned to their homeland. By command, Hail was in the eastern squadron, and he and Ember did their best to avoid each other’s eyes as the troops retreated. Spike was with the army of fire dragons, as was Impulsoria, who decided to postpone her holiday until the invasion had been sent packing.
“I guess it was a good idea to let Hail go,” he said when the ice dragons were all gone. “He may not have won the Gauntlet of Ice, but at least he can keep tabs on the ice dragons’ new ruler so he can’t take over Equestria.”
“As long as he doesn’t get found out,” put in Impulsoria.
“Well, a Dragon Lord has to make executive decisions,” chuckled Ember. “Let’s hope Wind Chill learns that.”