//------------------------------// // Chapter 5. A pair of flaming lovers. // Story: The Elder Dragons of Equestria // by FanboyGamer3E //------------------------------// The train pulled into the station and a number of ponies stepped out, along with a pair of dragons. The first was a four legged black dragon with a broad pair of wings and was covered with spikes and thorns, the other a two legged dragon with a pair of broad wings and large horns, and a clubbed tail. "I swear Dio you're gonna love it hear in Ponyville." Nergi said with excitement. "The ponies are friendly, everything's peaceful, why is the town on fire?" As Nergi had stated the buildings closest to the Everfree forest where enveloped in flames. Wasting no time Nergi, Dio, and the mane six sprung into action. "RAINBOW, FLUTTERSHY, USE RAIN CLOUDS TO HELP PUT OUT THE FIRE." Twilight shouted. "APPLEJACK, PINKIE, TRY AND HELP ME STOP THE FIRE FROM SPREADING, RARITY HELP THE OTHER PONIES GET TO SAFETY." Nergi charged into the flames and transformed into Nergigante, he flexed the muscles in his wings before letting them loose in a torrent of wind. "DESOLATION OVERTURE." The wind blasted was the fire reducing them to half the size of what they once where. From there it was a simple matter of using rain clouds to put out the remaining flames, and once the fires were put out the group of six ponies and two dragons reconvened. "So anyone know who or what set the fire?" Nergigante asked before transforming back into Nergi. "No, everypony said that the fire just suddenly started." Twilight replied. "Didn't even see any smoke, it's like the fire was just there in an instant, before anypony knew it the town was on fire." "Hey you guys seeing all this strange dust in the air?" Pinkie asked sniffing at the air before sneezing. The second she sneezed the dust in the air exploded and blasted her into a tree. "What just happened?" "Ignition dust?!?" Nergi said in awe. "That means... this is bad." "What, do you know what did this?" Twilight asked. "Yeah, theres only two creatures I know that can produce this type of dust, and their both Elder Dragons." "Technically their both the same kind of creature, the two kinds are just the male and female variations of the same species." Dio added. "Who are they then?" Twilight asked. "The monster that set the fire is either a Teostra or Lunastra." Nergi said. "Or god forbid both." Dio added. "Don't be silly Dio, those two are almost never seen together, though if they are together it could be worst than I thought. Teostra is known as the Emperor of flames, and Lunastra is the Empress. They earned those titles due to their dominion over fire, they both have the power to produce a steady stream of fire breath as well as that flammable dust, which is a kind of natural thermite which is shed as a kind of dandruff." "I get the dust part, but what's so special about breathing fire?" AppleJack asked. "The thing is not all dragons from my world can breath fire, and those that can are limited to only things like fire balls, flaming lasers, and finally coating parts of their body in flames, some of the only creature able to breath fire are creatures which have evolved to have a fire sac in their though as well as several different kinds of Elder Dragon. However Teostra and Lunastra both are able do all of the above, in addition to the dust." "So what do these things look like." Rainbow asked. "I guess the best thing to compare them to is a demonic Manticore with a normal lion tail instead of the scorpion stinger. They also have a set of horns, well Teostra does, Lunastra has a type of crest where the horns should be. That reminds me, I should also mention that Teostra and Lunastra have different fur colorations, Teostra is pink and his mane is red while Lunastra is blue with her main being a bluish white. It's because of these differences that the Hunter's Guild has classified them as two different breeds instead of just having them be one species, they also did the same for pair of Flying Wyverns, Rathalos and Rathian." "Alright that's all we need to know." Twilight said "If it's possible that there's more than one monster we're looking for, than we should split up for now. Nergi you take FlutterShy, AppleJack, and Rarity, and I'll take Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Dio." "One dragon and three ponies, I like it. Not to mention it follows the rule of five which is also good." "What's the rule of five?" Twilight asked. "I'll tell you some other time, for now I'll just say that it's a thing the Hunter's Guild put in place to reduce the number of casualties during monster hunts." Nergi replied. "One last thing. In the event of there being both a Teostra and Lunastra here, I want to make something absolutely clear. If both monsters are together, under no circumstances should you engage in combat. I'M LOOKING AT YOU RAINBOW DASH, DO NOT FIGHT THEM BOTH AT ONCE, I MEAN IT." "Why not?" "Because nothing can stand up against a Teostra and Lunastra at once. Maybe if they're apart, when they're together they're nigh unstoppable. The only other thing that stands a fraction of a chance against both of them at once is another Elder Dragon like me, that or a small army of elite hunters, even then there's only the smallest of changes that they succeed, even then there'll definitely be a lot of damage taken by whoever tries." "Just how powerful are these things?" "I'm going to explain this one more time since you seem to be having trouble getting it through your head. On their own, each one is pretty powerful, but when they're together they're near unbeatable, the reason they're so dangerous, beside being a pair of Elder Dragons, is that they can work together with such precision that it almost like they have the same mind at some times. Normally when Elder Dragons or other monsters encounter each other in the wild they usually battle for where they are, this is called a Turf War. However Turf Wars between Teostras and Lunastras are even more rare than seeing them together, instead of fighting each other like most monsters they work together to fight the same opponents." "He's right." Dio added. "They're akin to a flaming tornado when we work together." "I think I got it." Twilight said "The bottom line here is that we should never fight them both at the same time." "Bingo." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Person POV ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "This is bullshit." I think to myself. "It's been at least 30 minutes since we've started looking and we haven't found Jack or shit. I hope Twilight is having better luck, then again if she was than we'd probably be seeing flames fly into the sky now. Knowing Rainbow she'd probably go all Rambo and try to take the thing on herself." I look to the other members of my group. "Then again, AppleJack's not that different either, I can see why people ship them on the internet. Oh shit, I just realized that I'll never be able to watch youtube videos or anime anymore. Man that sucks, well whatever I'm living in a fantasy world now, so I guess there's no need to occupy my time with things like that anymore. Still, I'm going to miss my lazy weekends chilling out." "Hey Nergi, what we gonna do when we find these critters?" AppleJack asked. "They're not critters AJ. They're super powerful monsters who hold mastery over fire." "Yeah, whatever. Still doesn't answer my question." "Well, the first thing we should do is keep following it. While we're doing that, FlutterShy go finds Twilight's group and bring them back here. My kind isn't that popular with other Elder Dragons, so it's probably best if Twilight negotiates with them, not to mention she's a princess so that's probably gonna work in her favor." "Why isn't your species well liked by other Elders?" FlutterShy asked. "I'll tell you some other time." I reply before sniffing at the air and picking up a scent. "Hold on, (Sniff,sniff), I think I got a trail, come on." I run ahead following the scent until I reach the edge of the clearing I landed in when I first arrive, and that's when I see him. Teostra, his crimson mane flowing in the breeze. He circles around the crater and occasionally sniffs at the edges. "Is that it?" Rarity asked. "I must say, his mane is quiet lovely." "Yeah well it's also where the Ignition Dust is produced from. Hey Flutters you better go find Twilight." Suddenly a roar sounded from the direction Twilight was in. Followed by the glow of fire breath, and the smell of smoke. Teostra was the first to react, taking flight in the direction of the battle. "GODDAMNIT! Rainbow must have charged in like I told her not to, come on girls." I transforming into my full dragon form, and taking flight after the Teostra. I swoop up into the sky and do a divebomb, tackling him down into a clearing where Rainbow was fighting the Lunastra. I jump back into the air, grab Lunastra's head crest, and slam her face into the ground before letting out as savage a roar as I could. "Thanks for the save Nergi." Rainbow said from overhead. "Don't mention it, TWILIGHT TRY AND CONTAIN THESE THINGS BEFORE THEY GET UP!" "On it." She said while charging up her horn and creating spherical domes around both monsters. "LET US OUT!" Lunastra shouted. "I WON'T LET MYSELF BECOME A MEAL FOR SOME SPIKEY BASTARD." Teostra added. "You don't have to worry about that with me, I prefer to not eat anything sentient." "Nergi, what are they talking about?" Twilight asked in a worried tone. "Well, I guess I'd have to tell everyone eventually, I just hope you all don't think less of me. You see, the Nergigante breed is famous for something which no other monster is famous for, and that is the fact they exclusively hunt and devour other Elder Dragons. Sure there are other Elders that hunt each other, and even some non-Elders who hunt Elder Dragons, but the Nergigante breed is the only one who's diet consists solely of Elder Dragons. I am the one exception to this rule, my very existence going against my species's own nature." "Yeah, and what makes you so special?" Teostra asked. I had been thinking up a backstory for myself since I first arrived here, thinking ahead for a moment like this, now it was time for me to put it into action. "Alright I'll tell you, but first let me say that this is the truth, I don't care if you believe me or not. The truth is, I was raised by a Hunter." "Don'y make me laugh." Lunastra scoffed. "An Elder Dragon being raised by a human of all things." "Yeah, that doesn't make sense." Twilight added. "When we first met you you told us that all monsters had an instinctual hate for humans, so how did a human raise you when you hate them so much?" "It's a long story Twilight, so get comfortable." I began. "This first part I can only speculate because I didn't see it for myself. When I was just and egg the hunter who raised me killed my mother, and found me, since he was part of the Research Commission, he felt that this was the perfect opportunity to try something that had never been done before, taming an Elder Dragon. Unbelievably the commission approved his request and I was taken in, when I first hatched I was as spiteful and hateful towards the humans as any other monster, but as time went on I slowly gained a respect towards him. He fed me by having me hunt monsters he had captured. At first they where just herbivores like Aptonoths and Apceros, as I got older my food came with a bit more bite, things like Kestodon, Gastodon, and Jagras. Eventually when I got big enough he took me out hunting with him, he'd let me eat the bodies of the monsters after he was done carving off the materials used for crafting weapons and armor. We made a good team." "So what happened?" Twilight asked. "We were out classed. We went out hunting for another Nergigante, and we ended up coming upon a horde of them. They gave me a choice, I could either kill the hunter or die with him. Since he was one who basically raised me, I choose to stick by him. Despite this we lost, my hunter was killed and I was beaten to near death, the only reason I survived was because the palico just barely managed to get us back to the field camp. After that everything changed, the guide tried pairing me up with other hunters, but I wasn't having it. I became a loose cannon, I threw myself at whatever monsters I could just to fight and let out some of the fury inside of me. I didn't care about anything but fighting, killing, and eating. But when all that rage faded, all I felt was the same hate towards humans as all other monsters. I tried to form a kind of pack with other Elder Dragons but all they would do was either fight me or run away. Eventually I stopped caring about anything and shut myself off from the world, choosing to lie in a cave and wait to die. I grew hungrier and hungrier but still refused to leave my little hovel. Then on night I had a dream, I was surrounded by a bright light, and is saw the hunter who raised me in that white void. He told me that I shouldn't let myself die just because he was gone, and that I should go on surviving, and adventuring like I used to do with him. Which I did, I journeyed across both the new and old worlds, exploring as I saw fit and occasionally aiding hunters in their battles. After I felt I explored everything I kept on adventuring, which is when the portals to the other worlds started opening. I saw these portals as a way to begin a new adventure so I jumped in one as soon as I could, which brought me here." "You've certainly been through a lot." The Teostra said. "But still, I'm not trusting you so easily." "You don't have to trust me, all I ask is that you not light anymore towns on fire. These ponies had never even heard of humans up until a few days ago, so theres no need to cause any destruction to their civilization. As for me I'm not stupid enough to believe I can take both of you on at once, the only reason we managed to capture you two was because we used a sneak attack, I'd wager if I tried to fight you both now I'd be burnt to a crisp." "Damn right you would." A voice said from behind me. I turn around to see the unicorn from Starlight's village. He doesn't have his cloak and I notice that he looks familiar, I don't know what but it's on the tip of my tongue. With nothing else to do, I asked, "Hey, what are you doing here? What was your name again, LightningBolt?" He scowls and brings down a massive bolt of lightning on me, shouting "MONARCH'S LIGHTNING." I fall to all four of my knees and look upwards to meet his gaze. I look in surprise to see that he's three times the size as he was before, his fur is crackling with electricity, and his horn has grow into a kind of crystal drill. "Don't call me LightningBolt." He says "I refuse to be called that ever again. I AM KIRIN!" "How are you able to do that?" Twilight asked "I've never met a unicorn with those kinds of powers, only a small number of ponies can control lightning, regardless of whether their a Pegasus or Unicorn, and none of them can generate it from their body itself or increase their size." "It's because he's from my world." I say. "He's also an Elder Dragon, like me. His kind are called Kirin, out of all the Elder Dragons they are the most reclusive and mysterious. They've only been known to appear during or after crucial moments in history, or when a new king is crown. The most recent sighting of one of them was in the New World, after the defeat of a new breed of Elder Dragon called Xeno'Jiiva. The humans see the arrival of a Kirin as a sign of a new era, which makes sense why one has appeared here, along with me and the other monster popping up around the land. Am I right in assuming that Kirin?" "Yes, it is true that I have sensed a change in this world due to the portals. However the reason I have come here is not to fight, but to give my thanks for freeing me from the control of Starlight Glimmer." "Don't mention it. Anyway how can you change your form?" I ask. "Starlight granted me this ability, so as to keep some modicum of peace in the village. But enough about that, I would like to join your group." He said before transforming back into his pony form. To show him that I don't mean to fight I revert to my Pony sized body. "Hey Twilight, why don't you make Theo and Leona Pony sized so we can talk." "Wait, who are Theo and Leona?" "The two Elder Dragons you have bubbled up." "Wait, did you just give us nicknames?" The Teostra asked. "Yeah why, I have one, it's Nergi, and that Diablos is nicknamed Dio. I came up with yours just now, The Teostra is Theo and the Lunastra is Leona, I was gonna call her Luna, but there's a princess in this world who has that name so I went with Leona since Leo means Lion and Leona sounds kinda pretty." "I will admit it is a pretty name." Leona said. "But what if we need to fight?" "Then you can just transform back by touching the marks on your paws together." I say showing them my own. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Person POV ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After Theo and Leona where transformed into their suppressed forms, the two of them along with Dio and Kirin were brought to Twilight's Castle to wait for Princess Celestia to arrive. "So who's this Princess Celestia?" Theo asked. "Celestia is one of corulers of this country." Nergi explained. "She also also has more power than a Black Elder Dragon like me and Fatalis. She also has a younger sister named Luna who's almost as strong as her, and together they have the power to literally move the sun and moon." "That's impossible." Dio scoffed. "Nothing is that powerful." "Nothing from our world at least, but Alicorns have enough power easily defeat any Elder Dragon in single combat. Not to mention that the ponies can use their magic far better than we can use our Bioenergy, even baby unicorns have a decent amount of skill with magic." "You keep saying magic this and magic that." Leona scoffed. "What even IS magic?" "I don't know that much about it, but here's what I understand about it. Magic is a more versatile version of our Bioenergy, Unicorns are able to use it in specific ways, and Alicorns are capable of using an immense amount of magic to perform miracles like it's nothing, this includes moving the sun and moon and other things like that. I guess it's a good thing that there are only four Alicorns in this world." "That's another thing I'm confused about, what are Unicorns and Alicorns?" Kirin asked. "Well a unicorn is basically what you are Kirin, only their a bit more varying in color and personality. Unicorns are capable of harnessing magic and controlling it, however their amount of skill in magic depends on their special talent. However there are some Unicorns who's special talent is the practice of magic itself, that kind of Unicorn is very rare. However they also have the potential to become Alicorns however that happening is even rarer than the type of unicorn that can become an Alicorn. Granted most of this is just speculation." "True, but speculation is a key part of intuition." Celestia said as she entered the throne room. "So this is the group of Dragons who have appeared in our world? I must say, they are indeed formidable. Please introduce yourselves, and feel free to explain your powers and abilities if you so desire." "Right then, You already know me so I'll sit this out." "I'm Dio. My breed of dragon is named Diablos, I'm able to burrow through the ground and use my horns to not only attack but also to senses my way through the earth using seismic vibrations." "I am Kirin. It is both the name of my race, and the name I have chosen for myself. My kind is capable of generating lightning and charging it through our horns similar to how the Unicorns here us magic. We can also effect the environment around us, creating electrical storms with the static electricity our bodies emit." "I am Theo I am a Teostra, and my mate Leona is a Lunastra. Despite our differences in appearance we are the same species of Elder Dragon." "We both have the ability to fly, breath fire, and and produce an explosive dust. We can also set ourselves on fire to protect ourselves from physical attacks. Finally we are able to produce a massive amount of dust at once and ignite it to create a massive explosion." "intriguing." Celestia said before looking behind her. "Well do come out, they've all introduced themselves, so it's only fair if you do the same." After a couple seconds, a dragon entered from around the corner of the door. He had massive broad wings, glimmering steel scales, and a bronze nose. "Greeting, I am Kushala Daora, feel free to call me what you wish." "I think Kushala's a good enough name." Nergi said. "Very well, now on to my powers. I hold a substantial control over wind. I can create a wind shield around myself which can buffet away physical attacks, as well as create multiple self sustaining cyclones each of which further powers my wind shield. That being said, the cyclones themselves also have enough power to pick us whatever is on the ground and use it to further damage my opponents, this includes fire, lava, ice, snow, rocks, sand, and whatever else. Finally and most obviously, my scales have the durability of Steel, which gave me the title of the Steel Dragon." Rainbow smacked her forehead and said. "These monsters and their powers are just getting ridiculous. I mean, a Demon who can burrow underground, a Unicorn that's a Dragon, a Dragon that's able to make cyclones, a pair of Manticores that breath fire, what's next a giant fish with legs?" "There are actually a number of those from our world." Nergi said "In fact there's a whole class of monsters like that, their called Piscine Wyverns." "Are you serious? Oh sweet Celestia you're serious aren't you?" "That is the least of our problems." Kirin chimed in. "I neglected to mention this during our first meeting, but it appears that the one who gave Starlight Glimmer the power to tame and control us was yet another Elder Dragon. One the most powerful of all Elders, The Black Dragon, Fatalis." Upon hearing this, nearly all dragons in the room where set on edge. "You gotta be fucking, kidding me." Nergi said in a worried tone before composing himself. "If that's the case, then we have a problem. Fatalis are tyrant dragons, they instill fear within even Elder Dragons like us. Not even mentioning the fact that they have the power to evolve into two different more powerful forms. First is the Crimson Fatalis which instinctively more aggressive powerful in fire and lava based attacks, and then there's wiser and more powerful version the White Fatalis who has forsaken his mastery of fire in exchange for a mastery of lightning. The White Fatalis is also especially resilient, you could gouge out its eyes and it would still stubbornly fight on to make sure you suffered tenfold before it finally died." "I see in that case precautions must be taken in the event that this Fatalis creature decide to set it's sights on our land of Equestria." Celestia said gravely. "Tell me Nergi, are there any other abilities Fatalis are capable of?" "Actually there is one more ability that you should know about." Nergi said. "The most disturbing ability of the Fatalis, is reincarnation. You see when a Hunter wears an armor made from a Fatalis long enough the armor begins to take over their body. First it encases them inside itself with no chance of escape, then if forces them to disappear into the wilderness never to be seen again, then another Fatalis appears where the Hunter was last sighted. If I had to guess what happens to them, I'd say that the armor becomes a Fatalis egg and the Hunter inside becomes the embryo, slowly metamorphosing into the former Fatalis which the Hunter killed, effectively reincarnating itself into a new body. That's the reason why the Hunter's Guild has explicitly forbidden any hunter from wearing more than three pieces of Fatalis armor at a time. The plus side to this is that the cells in the armor only awaken after a number of years of being worn by a hunter, and since there aren't any hunters in this world who have the know who to create armor from a Fatalis, so there's no need to worry about it resurrecting itself." "Wait you're not going to kill it are you?" Twilight asked. "Surely it doesn't have to come to that." "You don't know this thing like I do Twilight, it's not some kind of misguided monarch or power hungry warrior, it's a psychopathic dragon with the power, wrath, and sedition of over a hundred demons. It has no empathy for life, only resentment and distain. It instills fear in even the largest of the Elder Dragons like Lao Shan Lung, and demands to be obeyed and feared. It's beyond me why the Fatalis didn't just kill Starlight for the hell of it, much less why it gave he the power to take control of Elder Dragons and other Wyverns." "Perhaps it was just a whim." Kirin stated. "Never the less, we should formulate some sort of strike force to repel it if it ever decides to attack a town or city just for the hell of it." "My thoughts exactly." Celestia said calmly. "I would like to make you all members of a new extension of the Royal guard that will be placed under Princess Twilight's command, with Nergi, or should I say Nergigante, becoming the Captain of the new guard. Tell me Nergigante, Dragon of Extinction, do you accept this responsibility and the burdens that comes with it?" "I do." Nergi said with a grin. "And I've got the perfect name for my new team, The Wyvern Guard."