The Great Dragon Char dug its claws deep into the earth, snapping its jaw, beating its wings violently, gazing at all the spiders and Flame Ponies before it. The spiders scattered from the base of the fallen mountain, plowing themselves into one another, even leaping over Flame Pony lines trying to put as much distance between the dragon and themselves. With a raise of its tail, the Great Dragon Char brought it down hard against a swarm of spiders, effectively decimating the area while the force of strike sent spiders sailing across the field.
A beam of light shot past Char's head, looping itself around its neck before flashing into white chains. A forceful tug wretched Char's head to the side. Roaring in displeasure, Char raised its claws to the chain, gripping it tightly and snapping it in two; canceling out the magic. Princess Celestia conjured yet another beam of light from neighboring mountain top, looping yet another line around its neck. With a second flash the beam transformed around Char's neck into magical chains once more.
"Luna!" Princess Celestia called out.
Princess Luna dropped out of the sky, horn glowing, conjuring a large spike to stake the chain into the mountainside. Char reached for the chain once more, spewing fire into the air in rage, when a second beam of light wrapped itself around Char's arm.
Princess Cadance was near the base of the mountain, her horn magically glowing, while Lady Frost drove her own magical spike into the earth to restrict Char's movements further. Quickly backing up, Princess Cadance and Lady Frost soared back towards Lord Tundra who was preparing his attack.
"You have an opportunity, Lord Tundra." Princess Cadance informed him.
Char thrashed against the chains, his tail whipping through the air, slamming hard into the mountains on the eastern side of the fields.
Lord Tundra was concentrating very hard, his horn flashing brilliantly, creating a small blizzard of frost around him. His wings flared out, increasing the intensity of his minor storm, his eyes beginning to glow a deep blue. Opening his mouth, Lord Tundra fired a beam of frost striking the Great Dragon Char beneath its chest. The ice worked its way up Char's sides, the frost caking its scales before the beam seemed to implode on it forming a mountain sized icicle around Char. Lord Tundra took a few deep breaths, his eyes returning to normal as Lady Frost nudged him with her nose.
"I'm fine, Martha." Lord Tundra said reassuringly; catching his breath.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna took to the sky, attempting to further restrict Char by claiming its tail from a spot on one of the eastern mountains. Char's tail sliced through the air, striking a large portion of ice from its side, while its wings flapped hastily in its struggle to free itself. The winds being thrown from Char's wings made it difficult for Princess Celestia and Luna to remain airborne, forcing them to land with the others.
Clouds of fire spewed from between Char's teeth, his cries sent clouds of fire and smoke into the air. With a roar, Char shot fire from his jaws, turning the ground beneath him into molten rock. The hissing steam of the evaporating ice cut through the air, with a whip of its tail Char had cleaved the chain restricting its neck. Char's fire consumed everything, melting solid rock around him, turning the very ground to lava in its wake. Reaching down, Char bit the chain in two, freeing its arm, before stepping forward onto the field.
Princess Celestia, Princess Cadance, and Princess Luna stood at the ready their horns glowing together to repel the Great Dragon Char. Char reared back its head, the intake of a breath quivered in its throat, the scales of his underbelly began to glow; revealing that fire was soon to follow. Lady Frost's horn flashed, her wings flaring out, forming a thick dome of ice around them.
"Hold fast every pony!" Lady Frost warned.
Char's flames exploded from its mouth consuming the ice dome. Lord Tundra blasted several beams of ice to help keep the structure from melting too quickly while Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadance provided magical shields to weakening areas. The whole area teemed with hissing steam, thick clouds of mist rose from the dome as it melted away.
The sounds of Char's leathery wings whipping through the air caused sudden hurricane like winds to rush pass them; dispelling the mist. The Princesses magical shield was still holding strong. Char's claws cut through the air, striking down at the shield. The impact of the claws was so great, it shattered the shield, blasting the Princesses away and throwing Char's claws back.
Lord Tundra charged ahead, leaving Lady Frost to shield the others. Whipping his wings methodically at his sides, large chunks of ice began to form around the area. Leaping from one ice chunk to the next, Lord Tundra's blocks of ice grew in size, gaining Char's attention. Lunging forward, Char's body smashed the ice with ease, its massive jaws taking several snaps at Lord Tundra who took the sky to avoid being eaten. Char's eyes followed Lord Tundra, its tail swinging back and forth, waiting to snap at its prey once more.
"None can contend to the raw power of an Elder Dragon." Gorun declared, watching the spectacle.
Princess Sapphire could see her father flying dangerously close to the dragon's head, attempting to keep its attention while the other members of Royalty were ready to attack once more. There was a pain that stung in her heart seeing her father in harm's way but she did her best to ignore those feelings for now.
"If a simple Orc can get the better of an Elder Dragon, an Alicorn will have little difficulty." Sapphire replied coldly.
I whipped my wings, throwing off what was left of my bladed metal feathers. Sapphire took notice of my sudden panic, unsure of what I was doing.
"What's wrong, Smolder?" Sapphire asked.
"The coin, it's after the gold coin." I said quickly.
I could see Sapphire's eyes grow wide with the realization of it. Looking towards the castle, Sapphire could imagine Char carving a wave of destruction to reach it.
"We need to get the coin out of the castle as quickly as possible." Sapphire said urgently.
"I can get the coi-" I didn't get a chance to finish.
I felt something hard hit me broadside, knocking me off my hooves; the Orc's mace floundering to the ground where I once stood. Sapphire whipped around to see the Orc charging at her, unarmed, but fueled by pure adrenaline. A blast of ice shot from Sapphire's mouth, freezing part of his chest, but failed to repel the Orc entirely. The Orc brought his metal fist down across Sapphire's face, staggering her and then kicked her hard in the chest sending her sprawling. Scooping up its mace, the Orc took a step towards Sapphire but was met with a sudden blast of fire from me. I could feel my ribs throbbing with pain, I couldn't tell if any were broken, but it made it difficult to breath at times.
The Orc protected its head, having it be the only thing exposed to the elements, lifting what was left his torn cloak to shield it. My fire died away rather quickly, I couldn't keep a steady stream of fire the way my side was aching. The Orc didn't hesitate to come at me for another attack. Although, a wall of ice sprang from the ground between me and the Orc, Sapphire once more on her hooves, horn gleaming.
"Do what needs to be done, Smolder. I'll handle the Orc." Sapphire stated.
I could see a noticeable bruise under her eye, but the threat of the dragon tearing Castle Char apart was too high to argue with her now. We had injured ponies being treated inside Castle Char, it was essential to keep it protected, and I would see it kept that way. Finding it difficult to fly, I did my best to power through it, flapping hard, hoping to beat down the pain and soared off towards the castle.
Sapphire watched Smolder take off, silently wishing him luck, when the sound of metal shifting reached her ears. Her horn exploded with light, a small dome of ice formed around her as the mace of the Orc collided with it; shattering part of it. Fanning out her wings, Sapphire leaped into the air to avoid another strike from the Orc, noticing a wave of spiders coming to his aid. Streams of webs flew past her, attempting to drag her back down. Nimbly dodging the shots of web, Sapphire watched the Orc mount a Queen Spider, directing its attention towards her. Sapphire noticed the taunting gesture of the Orc for her to make the first move; her horn began to shine blue once more before accepting his offer.
There was a lull in the fighting between Spiders and Flame Ponies, the emergence of the Great Dragon Char had taken many by surprise. Dozens of Flame Ponies blasted across field were being tended to, while others were caught by the Pegasi Ponies, but the spiders had been thrown into areas in which had little forces; offering them the opportunity to get behind their lines.
Flare Fizzle was scrambling to formulate new strategies, retiring air squadrons four and two from the fighting to deliver messages to other battalions. Without Hadron's Bell, there was no way to communicate their signals to every pony at once.
"Have the western battalion fallback to route the spiders trying to reach the Narrows!" Flare shouted.
Topaz and Spinel were in frenzy, trying to adjust the pieces on the table to reflect the battle on the field. Pegasi Flame Ponies were coming in every few seconds to report things that shifted battalions considerably. The roar of the dragon shook every pony to their core, Flare was entrusting the Royal Families to handle it and focused solely on the spiders. Although, Flare made it a point to have the Pegasi Ponies gauge the length of the tail to ensure that battalion ponies did not get within range of it.
Solar Wind had left his post of the bell tower the moment it began to collapse, having elected himself to assist in bringing information and orders to Soldier Ponies in battle; all the while looking for Ray. Solar eventually came to a landing near Flare who looked at him for his report.
"Shining Armor is bringing his battalion across the field to meet Ray's battalion at the center." Solar reported.
"Ray's battalion?" Flare asked seeming surprised.
"We've had reports of the remaining front line Soldier Ponies of battalion's One and Two reforming with the General Ray over the course of the battle. Her battalion has aided in several fights throughout, and is currently charging towards the center to meet the push of the Spider Queens." Topaz reported, moving several pieces of charcoal around on the table.
"Our Ray?" Flare asked looking surprised.
"Permission to assist the General, Ma'am." Solar requested quickly.
"You're a strong flyer, Solar; I could use you here more." Flare replied.
"Please, Flare." Solar insisted, taking a step closer.
Flare could see Solar's stone expression, softening, a look of worry seemed to forming. A look of worry that Flare felt concerning Wisp, the sense of not knowing if the pony they cared for was alright.
"Take a message to the General; tell her we're shifting the battle closer to Castle Char, as far away from the dragon as possible." Flare stated. "If you happen to get into a fight while delivering this message, I'll know why you're late coming back."
"Understood." Solar said quickly, throwing her a salute before taking off towards the battle.
"We're going to need another Pegasi Pony to cover for-" Flare began but the body of a Flame Pony crashed down hard onto the table before her; it just so happened to be my body.
"…nice landing…" Mira's voice echoed in my head.
"Lord Smolder?" Flare asked aloud in surprise.
The Flame Ponies around me all started to ask about my condition, shouting orders at each other to fetch medical ponies but I wasn't having any of it. I rolled off the table, onto floor, getting onto my hooves and racing off into the castle. I was followed by Topaz who refused to leave my side.
"Lord Smolder! Where are you going?" Topaz shouted after me as I bolted down the corridor to the Main Hall.
Reaching the threshold of the corridor, I saw the Main Hall housing every injured Flame Pony. I saw ponies laying on the ground, groaning from their injuries, some ponies being sedated from the venom of the cave spiders. The nurse ponies were in a none stop scramble to address every injured Flame Pony, doctor ponies were working as fast as possible trying to get to the next pony in pain. I couldn't believe how many ponies were here, how many had gotten hurt already, and I couldn't bear to think of how many were still to come.
"Lord Smolder?" Topaz asked stopping next to me, looking concerned.
"How many are there?" I asked unable to take my eyes off the injured ponies.
"We don't have an accurate count of-" Topaz began.
"How many?" I asked again.
"Our latest report calculated our injured nearing three hundred." Topaz informed me.
"…at least… they were… brave…" Mira's voice echoed in my head.
"They're always brave." I mumbled, feeling such remorse for putting this upon them.
"My Lord?" Topaz asked, not understanding my response.
"Lt. Topaz, follow me." I said, flapping my wings and lifting myself over the banister of the stairs.
I raced up the staircase towards the Royal Chamber, my side was still throbbing. I elected not to slam myself against the stone door to open it. I pushed it hastily open instead. Rushing inside the room towards my dresser I found the coin resting where I had left it. I ignored it for the moment, pulling open one of my drawers to reveal a half empty jar of the Savannah Sun. I tore the cap from the jar, scooping a small amount from the jar and slipped my hoof under my armor to my aching side. I heard Topaz reach the doors of my room.
"Are you injured, my Lord?" Topaz asked, putting two and two together.
"Take the rest of the Savannah Sun to the doctor ponies down stairs." I instructed him, tossing the jar his way.
"If you're injured you should seek a doctor pony's assistance at once, my Lord." Topaz insisted, catching the jar.
"I'll be fine, just get that to the doctor ponies as quickly as you can." I insisted.
Topaz left the room in a hurry. I could already feel the pain lessening, promising myself to thank Princess Sheva and Zecora for their gift. I slammed my hoof atop the gold coin from the top of my dresser and headed back towards the doors.
Gorun's Spider Queen had an unusual trait among her sisters; it had the ability to jump like its children; which caught Sapphire by surprise. Sapphire's decent was met with the Queen leaping at her, slamming into her midair, knocking her to the ground; the Queen landing just several feet away. The Queen quickly skittered towards Sapphire, baring its fangs at her. Unable to fly away in the allotted space between them, Sapphire's horn released a flash of blue moments from being bitten by the Queen. The Queen's fangs bite down on solid ice, chipping several fangs, recoiling form the pain. Sapphire rose to her hooves, having released her natural Ice Pony state, providing herself with thick layers or ice and spikes that jutted from her mane.
"It's disappointing really!" The Orc shouted from atop the Spider Queen. "I had expected Smolder to be the one trying to kill me, instead I have an Ice Pony trying to do it for him! I can't say I'm surprised!"
The Ice Ponies natural state provided her with exceptional armor, but it was bulky and ineffective in a fight. Sapphire elected to keep her thick ice armor for the timing being.
"How sad it is to see him so weak!" The Orc remarked, striking his heel into the side of the Queen's head to make it charge forward.
Sapphire's eyes burned blue, stomping her hoof hard against the ground, dozens of large icicles speared up from the earth. The Queen was impaled several times before coming to an abrupt halt. The Orc lurched forward being thrown from the Queen's back and landing hard to the ground. Lifting himself off the ground, Gorun was hit blast of ice that froze his leg to the ground. Twisting his way towards Sapphire, Gorun was hit once more a blast of ice freezing the entire left side of its body.
"He's the King." Sapphire stated stepping towards the Orc.
Sapphire's horn started to glow, the ice surrounding her body turned to snow. The Orc struggled to break free from the ice, punching at his frozen side, trying to break the frost.
"If you believe him to be so weak or so unremarkable, then you haven't the first idea of who you're dealing with." Sapphire said her voice full of venom.
"He will suffer, you all will suffer." The Orc hissed watching Sapphire's wings start to become coated with razor sharp ice once more.
"He has suffered." Sapphire remarked. "But it will not change him. He has carried himself in ways that only few can understand. Mixing grief and pain into a fiery will, to never let these horrors befall any pony else ever again."
Sapphire's wing was raised to strike, the leg of the dying Queen Spider suddenly stuck Gorun's frozen arm; freeing his mace. Sapphire's wing and the Orc's mace collided, shattering the ice and fracturing her wing. Staggering back, Sapphire stifled her scream, nursing it under her arm while Gorun struck the ice from his legs. Gorun glanced at the nearly dead Queen that had saved him, reaching out to her as if to console her in the spider's last moments. Gorun took hold of an undamaged fang from the Queen's mouth and wretched it viciously from her.
"I should have gone for the blue one." Gorun mumbled to himself, examining the fang before looking Sapphire's way.
The Great Dragon Char had snapped its jaws at the passing of Princess Celestia. The Royal Family soared around Char, attacking it from all different angles, attempting to weaken and restrain it. Lady Frost had attempted to drop a block of ice, half the size of Castle Char upon the dragon, in the hopes of knocking it out cold, but simply angered it further as it shattered upon it's thick hide. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance did their best in focusing their attacks upon the joints of Char's wings, hoping to lessen its reliance of them. The tail was a constant threat, swinging through the air, displacing the air around it as it passed, making it difficult to avoid. Char opened its mouth to roar in its frustration, the force of its roar knocked every pony away from it. The Princesses were thrown hard into the mountain side, while Lady Frost and Lord Tundra were knocked hard to the ground. Char's head whipped towards Castle Char as if knowing some pony had touched its gold. The Great Dragon Char lowered itself, folding in its wings, tail rolling back slamming the ground.
Then it jumped.
Its four claws struck the earth with such force it seemed to explode the ground beneath it. Landing primarily on the sea of spiders fighting on the fields, several mountains lining the western and eastern walls collapsed from its impact. No pony was left standing on their hooves from its landing, the Pegasi Ponies were knocked out of their from the force created by Char. Deep fissures broke open across the fields, swallowing swarms of spiders, while parts of Castle Char were shaken loose.
The Dragon's jump had surprised every pony, even the Orc, as it was knocked off his legs was being thrown considerably far towards Castle Char. Sapphire was knocked back by the dragon's forceful landing, slamming hard against the back wall of the courtyard and slumping to the ground. The battalions of Flame Ponies struggled to make sense of what had just happened, retreating towards Castle Char, attempting to keep some sort of semblance in their battalions.
"Evacuate every pony from Castle Char!" Flare shouted frantically at every pony in ear shot.
Spinel and Flare abandoned the courtyard to assist with the moving of their injured ponies. The threat of the castle being destroyed by the dragon was very real now. Pegasi Ponies took to the skies, flying down to the closest groups of Soldier Ponies, asking them for assistance in moving the injured to safety.
I was in the corridor when the dragon had landed. Parts of the ceiling had broken loose; stone doors were shaken to pebbles, as I found myself falling hard to the ground. Somehow I felt that the dragon knew I had the coin, which meant I had to get as far away from the castle as possible.
"…get moving…" Mira's voice echoed in my head.
I got to my hooves. The pain in my side was no more than a mild annoyance as I galloped to the end of the hall. I saw Flare, Topaz, and Spinel with several well abled Soldier Ponies attempting to move the injured. I leapt from the top of the stairs, gliding down towards the door leading to the courtyard where I was met with a stream of Soldier Ponies rushing by to help with the injured. Finding some room, I charged through corridor to get to the courtyard where I had little idea what I would do when I got there.
Sapphire was slow to stir. Her vision was coming back into focus, seeing the Great Dragon Char towering over the fields. Beginning to move, she felt a sharp pain in left hoof which caused her to lie back down. Grimacing over the annoyance this posed, Sapphire slowly encased her hoof in ice to act as a temporary cast. Applying some slight pressure to it, it proved to be good enough for her to at least stand with it.
The Great Dragon Char roared, shattering every window in Castle Char, sending shards of glass showering down onto the Soldier Ponies in the courtyard trying to get in to assist with the evacuation. Several bursts of fire impacted the side of Char's head, drawing its attention to battalions of Flames Ponies brave enough to distract it from the castle. The scales beneath it began to glow, warning of the dragon's fire that was to come, the Soldier Ponies started to scatter in all directions to get clear of its wrath. A blast of ice caught Char in the eye, forcing it to recoil in pain, spewing its fire high into the sky as it massive claws scratched at its face trying to wipe away the pain. Turning towards its attacker, Char saw the small ice pony firing another blast of frost his way. Striking the side of its head, Char seemed to take no notice of it as its eyes burned viciously in her direction.
Sapphire watched as the dragon's tail whipped towards her, her horn blazing to form an ice wall to lessen its impact. The tail struck the ice wall, along with most of the courtyard, toppling it like sand as Sapphire threw herself flat on the ground, covering her head; the debris toppling over her.
I had just narrowly avoided the dragon's tail, hiding within the threshold leading out to the courtyard as large stone debris showered the area.
"…uh oh…" Mira's voice remarked in my head.
I watched the Great Dragon Char, rising back, scales once more glowing. My eyes fell to the moving rocks directly in Char's path where Sapphire's started to unbury herself from. I felt my heart sink, my hooves were already moving on their own, mantling over the broken rocks and stone trying to reach her. Char was already seconds from breathing its fire.
"We have to stop it!" I shouted in fear.
"…I'll channel… your magic…" Mira's voice replied in my mind.
I felt the Void Crown tighten around my head. I could feel a power gathering at my forehead. Leaping over Sapphire I charged the Great Dragon Char to intercept its fire before it could reach her. Char dipped its head low, its massive jaws opening wide as an explosion of fire barreled towards me. I lifted my wings in front of me, my forehead surged, while my magic created a barrier before me as the dragon's fire impacted it.
The Great Dragon Char's fire engulfed me, creating a small pocket in which my magic staved off the flames, but just barely. The sheer amount of fire was unbelievable, the heat was unimaginable, and all my effort was just trying to keep it from consuming me.
"…hold it… back…" Mira's voice echoed.
"I'm trying." I groaned, using whatever strength I had to keep the shield intact.
"…if you don't…Sapphire will die…" Mira's voice warned.
"I know." I said feeling the fire beginning to overtake me.
"…so will… all the ponies… inside the castle…" Mira's voice echoed again.
"I know!" I shouted, hearing my magical shield begin to crack.
There wasn't much I could do. I felt myself losing ground, the fire was deafening around me. In a few moments I knew my shield was going to fail, and that I was going to fail every pony.
"…absorb it…like your father…did…" Mira's voice offered.
"I…" I hesitated, unsure if I could even attempt it.
The cracks in my magical shield began to web, it was going to fail and the Dragon's fire was going to consume us.
"Do it!" Mira's voice shouted in urgency.
Throwing out my wings, I felt the fire envelope me, feeling the flames wash over me. I could feel my hide start to blister, and my footing beginning to waver. There was just too much fire, too much heat for me to contain, the Dragon's fire was proving too much for me to handle.
Mira's voice was so far away I could barely hear her anymore, my body was blistering in pain, and I felt myself growing weaker by the second. My eyes began to close. The colors within the dragon's flame were like none I had ever seen before; I almost found them beautiful. Just before my eyes shut, I saw my father standing within the dragon's fire, eyes burning the deep and awful red I had known so we'll; glaring at me.
"Some king." I heard his voice echo.
I felt my forehead surge with pain. I felt my anger rising at these words. Gritting my teeth, I flared out my wings and screamed into the fire. The dragon's fire was pulled inwards, swirling like a tornado around me. I could feel the flames entering through my body. The wind around the fire was howling. I could feel my hide starting crack. I shut my eyes tight from the pain, every inch of my body screamed with fire.
Just as the last of the Dragon's fire entered my body, it created a stillness that hung in the air. Great Dragon Char lifted its head in curiosity at the small burning ball of fire before it.
My wings were burning so fiercely, bits of molten fire dripped from my fiery feathers. My hide was splitting in several places, revealing the raging fire within me. My eyes snapped open, my eyes burning the deep and awful red that my father had carried. Sapphire was back on her hooves, lost for words, feeling the immense heat that flourished off of me.
"Smolder!" Sapphire shouted; voice full of fear.
"I've… never felt power like this before." I whispered to myself in awe.
The Great Dragon Char lunged towards me, its massive jaws opening as it planned to swallow me whole.