Crystal Empire; Dungeons
"Open the the cells now!" exclaimed Fluttershy catching most of the occupants by surprise by her loud voice.
"I'm afraid we can't-" started Cadence but was cut off by the yellow mare.
"I don't care! Open this cell or I'll open it myself!"
Cadence was taken back by Fluttershy's sudden confidence, she tried not to smile knowing why the element of kindness was acting this way. Love is a powerful thing making any pony do anything, she could feel the same emotion within that purple dragoness, Twilight, and Derpy but it seemed that it was pointed toward this James character. She had to admit she never heard of a dragon go by that name so the part about him being 'human' could be true.
If these ponies trust him that much then maybe he could be trusted, he would still be accountable of the all the guards he injured or killed even if it was all in self defense. She could feel Fluttershy's blue eyes piercing into her and the determination and worry she felt for this dragon, probably more than any other of the females in this room. With that she nodded and walked toward the cell with a glowing horn ignoring the protests of her Aunt Luna and surprisingly Shining Armor she unlocked the door to the cell containing the two dragons but left the chains in place in case they tried anything.
Fluttershy wasted no time and tackling James to the ground in a bear hug that could give Pinkie a run for her money. James coughed a bit as he hugged her back glad to see her again he could feel his scales on his chest starting to get moist indicating that Fluttershy was now crying. She was soon joined by Twilight, Derpy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie, and even Sam.
Malefor could only watch the sentimental moment with a neutral expression, until hoof steps in front of him caught his attention, revealing to be Trixie. She had her head down making Malefor tilt his head in confusion. "What took you so long." she whispered.
"Umm...what?" replied Malefor.
"Idiot!" screamed Trixie as he wrapped her arms around the dark dragon, "Do you know how worried I was!"
Malefor was surprised at the sudden contact, that his felt his cheeks warm up, "Well, I'm here...am I?"
"Just shut up." growled Trixie as she didn't even know that she was crying as well.
The three alicorns, prince, and three dragons could only look at the scene with mixed emotions. Celestia, the other dragons, and Cadence both smiled at the loving reunion, Luna had a disgusted look not believing that the ponies are trusting these dragons that nearly killed her, Shining Armor however was having mixed emotions, he was happy to see the happy faces but.....these two dragons still are dangerous.
James broke his embrace with the ponies and dragoness, he hadn't felt this in awh-
SMACK!
"Ow! Son of bitch!" groaned as he was smacked by Twilight, Fluttershy, Derpy, and Sam, "What was that for!"
"For leaving us not coming back!" exclaimed Twilight.
"Yeah, do that again and it would be a lot harder." added Fluttershy.
"And no more muffins!" added Derpy.
"Ok, Ok I get it." replied James with a smile as he looked over to same who was fidgeting in her place. "Girls, I want you all to meet Sam, she and the other dragons here found me and nursed me back to health."
The three mare's looked toward the purple dragoness, who waved "Sam? Y-You mean..." stuttered Twilight.
"Y-Your old girlfriend?" finished Fluttershy.
"G-girlfriend?" stuttered a confused Derpy.
James cursed to himself he forgot that he hasn't told Derpy about his human side or Sam. She must be so confused right now. I give a look to Cadence and I don't know why but it seemed that she knew about the situation I was in. "I think we should leave them alone for now," the Princess of Love said, "The rest of us should discuss what we'll do with the dragons, come join us when you are finished."
Most of the group left the dungeon leaving Fluttershy, Twilight, Derpy, Sam, and Trixie with the two dragons. "So....we're all here." said James.
"I guess we are." said Fluttershy
"James," started Sam, "We all knew it would come to this, but I think it's time to confess. I know you care for us and we care for you back, but...but....I still always loved you and always will."
"We all care for you James and want to be with you." started Derpy.
"But we know that you can only choose one." added Twilight.
"And we'll respect who ever you'll pick." finished Fluttershy.
James could only stare at the four girls with a shocked expression. He had expected this decision to be easier, but it turned out it is harder than he thought. At least Sam already knew about the other three mares so that cat was out of the bag. All three of them were looking at him with pleading and hopeful expressions, all their eyes sparkling. James took a glance over to Malefor and Trixie who seem to be more interested on what he'll do.
"I-I'm sorry," croaked out James, "I still need some time. At least until me and Malefor are out of this mess."
James felt his chest tighten when he saw the disappointing look and sad look on their faces. He wanted to choose one of them he really did, but a lot of stuff was going on at the moment that he couldn't think straight at the moment. He just hoped that he had a choice, if he survives this. The four girls nodded but didn't say anything, with each of them giving him alight peck on his cheek before exiting the dungeon. James blushed at their sudden action and just stared at the door where the four females departed from.
"I guess Trixie should be going to." said Trixie.
"Just try to convince them that we are on their side." replied Malefor.
"I'll try, but if Trixie can't..."
"Don't talk like that. You will you are great and powerful are you?"
Trixie smiled as a sense pride filled up her insides making her smile. She gave Malefor one last hug as he just stood their with a annoyed expression, before the show mare exited the dungeon as well leaving the two chained dragons alone once more.
"They do got this, right?" asked Malefor
"Of course, I have hope in them." replied James.
Crystal Empire; Caverns
Spike, Sweetie, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Dinky all made their way through the crystal caves under the city of the Crystal Empire. All types of crystals giving off a small glow illuminating the cave in a greenish blue light, the group would've taken their time and admire them, but they had other matters to attend to. Their purple scaly dragon was in trouble and they needed to save him before something bad happens.
"Are we there yet!" whined Scootaloo.
"Ya' asked that already! Not even two minutes ago!" retorted Applebloom.
"Yeah, because we should've been there by now!"
Sweetie Belle looked back at her friend, "How? The only one who's taken this route is Spike."
"W-Well...I...I just know okay!" exclaimed Scootaloo with an angry blush.
Sweetie Belle noticed that Dinky was behind the group and slowed down to join her. She could notice the worried expression of the grey filly, other than her self Dinky is probably the closest one to James here. The two were in the dark about their dragon friend, believing that he went some where for business when in reality he was in trouble with the princesses the entire time.
All forms of questions went through their head, why would the adults lie to them, did James do something bad, was he a bad dragon this whole time, or was it a big misunderstanding? The only thing that bothered them was that they didn't care what the reason was. For Sweetie Belle, James was like the big brother she never had protecting her and caring for her when Rarity wasn't available. Dinky saw James as a father figure, she never knew her real father but she didn't care when James dropped her off and picked her up from school when her mother was working.
"I miss him too you know." said Sweetie Belle gaining Dinky's attention.
"I know," replied Dinky, "I hope he is okay. I don't want him being hurt."
The two were silent until Sweetie spoke up, "When we find him, lets make sure to never keep our eyes off him."
Dinky smiled as Sweetie's attempt to make her feel better, "Yeah."
"Hey we're here!" said Spike gaining the groups attention as they made it to a cart on some tracks leading down into a dark abyss.
Crystal Empire; Dungeons
I laid on the stone ground and crystal ground, taking quick glances toward my darker half to see him doing the same. His mind was still on the four females that just confessed their feelings for him. He knows he keeps saying that everything was going to be alright, but in truth he didn't know. Anything could happen now at this point, I didn't want to choose one of them just for me to die a few moments later.
I'm guessing Malefor was thinking the same thing since we are pretty one in the same. I could tell he is trying to act like the strong stoic type, especially around Trixie. Hell I could tell that they had a thing for each other, but like I said we don't know what might happen at this point. We weren't expecting Discord to attack us, We weren't expecting Luna and Celestia to be here, and we weren't expecting most of Equestria hunting for us.
Right now our lives are being decided by a thread.
The sound of the door opening caught out attention as the familiar group of ponies and dragons came through. It did not look good....Bash, Drobot, and Flashwing gave me and Malefor guilty expressions like they had failed us. Applejack and Rarity both looked away not being able to make eye contact with me. Rainbow and Pinkie both were glaring at me and Malefor. Twilight, Trixie, and Sam both had tears forming in their eyes, Bolt was giving out a sad whine, and Fluttershy and Derpy both still crying their eyes out.
Me and Malefor stood up and try to got to the edge of the bars, only for us to be pulled back by the chains, to see what had happened. That was until we saw Celestia sporting the same glare at us, like Rainbow and Pinkie. Princess Cadence with a guilty expression like Bash and the others, and Shining Armor with a stoic expression. But what caught out attention was a certain moon princess and a newly arrived spirit of chaos standing with them both having grins upon their faces.
"I-I'm sorry James...." croaked out Flashwing.
"We tried our best, but...." added Bash, but was cut off by Luna.
Princess Luna still having her cocky grin walked up to the cage, it took everything within me and probably Malefor as well, to not try to jump at her right then and there. We all know something wasn't right this situation especially if Discord was now here. Our eyes widened when she said her statement that completely sicked the life out of me and my darker half.
"For your crimes against Equestria, you two are to be publicly executed tomorrow morning." said Luna.
Shining then walked up to the cell, "Guards would be by later for a request for a final meal."
"I'm...sorry it had to be this way. I tried everything I could." solemnly said Princess Cadence as she any the group left without saying a word, leaving me and Malefor in a shocked state.
"What the fuck just happened."
Thedas
The orange dragon or the Oracle, also known as Ignitus bowed toward the two dragon gods and rulers known as Porunga and Shenron. The orange dragon had just gotten a letter from Coco Pommel of the situation and made his way toward the castle as fast as he could. Luckily due to his title, he didn't have to spend time to check in with the guards to see the two rulers of dragons.
"Ignitus, what has brought you here my friend?", asked Porunga.
"I'm afraid we have a situation with James and his team." started Ignitus getting a laugh from Shenron.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Please, I'm sure they are fine..."[/b laughed the serpent like dragon.
"Lord Shenron, I have just gotten word from my source in Equestria that James AND Malefor have been captured by Princess Luna, with the help of Discord."
The two rulers became silent, Porunga knew the history both Luna and Shenron shared and it didn't end well. And now that Discord was in the mix things had just gotten more dangerous, James had potential to be the most powerful dragon to exist in history but he was not ready to take on a being such as Discord. Even with Malefor's help....
"What of the team that was with him?" asked Porunga putting a talon to his his chin in concern.
"Due to their diplomatic immunity they are pardoned, but since James and Malefor aren't originally from here...."
Shenron eyes squinted, he couldn't believe these two dragons were paying for the mistakes that he made 1,000 years ago. He never knew Luna would go this far in her grudge, he should've been there with her when she turned into Nightmare Moon. Not to join her but to at least talk her out of it, he had the power to visit her during her moon imprisonment but he didn't. It was all his fault and only he was the one to put a stop to this. Porunga seemed to have the same idea as him as he looked over and had the same expression.
"Ignitus, me and Porunga will head to the Crystal Empire and deal with this matter personally." stated Shenron as the orange dragon's eyes widened.
"Lord Shenron, Lord Porunga, with all due respect are you sure this is a good idea? We would not know what would happen if you two happen to show up in Equestria, let alone the Crystal Empire."
"I know you are worried for our safety Ignitus but it is something we must do on our own." stated Porunga.
"Our subjects are in danger, isn't it a ruler's job to go save and protect them?" added Shenron.
Ignitus nodded, "I guess you are right. I'll do my best to maintain order here in Thedas while you two are away."
The two ruler nodded.
"Thank you Ignitus, this will not be forgotten. Lets just hope we aren't too late by the time we arrive." said Shenron.