//------------------------------// // forest follies // Story: Journey of the Noble Dragons // by closet brony 77 //------------------------------// “How exactly did this happen?!” Twilight said Five of the elements of harmony had spend the entire night searching for their dragon friend but couldn’t find a single trace of him anywhere. Things only got worse when Rainbow Dash disappeared as well halfway through the search; they did eventually find the Pegasus, but were shocked to see her bloody, bruised, and tied to a tree. “I already told you! I tried to get into the castle of two sisters to look for spike, but then a dragon appeared out of nowhere, beat me up, and then tied me to this tree!” she shouted “NOW CAN YOU PLEASE UNTIE ME?! MY WINGS ARE STARTING TO CRAMP UP!” The last vine finally snapped and Rainbow Dash tumbled to the ground in a heap, trying to stand up only to feel a sharp pain shoot up her injured hind hoof; Rainbow Dash immediately fell back down onto her flank and winced. “Ah man, that jerk really got me good there. I can’t believe I lost so badly to her!” shouted the athlete as Fluttershy bandaged up her friend’s wound. “Well at least we know that Spike’s traveling with other dragons now. And do you all know what that means” said Twilight Rarity’s eyes widened “surely you don’t think that ember is somehow involved with all this do you?” “No of course not, she’d never allow Spike to do something like this. I was thinking that we might be dealing with a few rogue teenage dragons that came from the dragon lands, I mean where else could a dragon this skilled in combat” Twilight motioned to Rainbow Dash for emphasis “come from? Certainly she couldn’t have been living in Equestria all this time.” “Hey ya’ll, come take a look at this” said Applejack, having separated from the group to take a look around the castle for clues. The rest of her friends soon joined her and found that her hoof was pointed at a series of footprints, ones that looked alot like they belonged to dragons of varying sizes; including one that was about the size of a baby dragon. “The dragon lands can wait, right now I got a score to settle.” said Rainbow Dash, immediately running off in the direction of the tracks with her friends following close behind. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!!” Spike shouted. “I was sent to keep you safe, that’s what I was doing.” Saphria replied. At first light, the group had vacated the castle of two sisters out of the back entrance so that the blue pegasus wouldn’t tip off her allies to their location. Along the way they had chatted a bit about various topics, until somehow the conversation had shifted to last night and Saphria let the details of her little brawl slip; causing Spike to freak out. “WELL YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO BEAT HER UP AND TIE HER TO A TREE!” Spike shot back “Honestly I think I was being merciful, I could have broken several more of her bones” Saphria said. “I don’t know Saphria, Artair’s got a point” said Griffith, looking up from the log he was sawing on. Once Saphria informed the group that there were search parties out looking for Spike, it quickly became apparent that they would have to hustle if they wanted to get back to the Vlemm enclave uncaptured. So Connor made the suggestion of building a raft and sailing down the river towards the northwest ocean, said raft is what Griffith was currently working on. “Excuse me?” said Saphria, glaring at the mechanic. “Well sure we need to protect big bro, but don’t you think leaving her in the middle of everfree, completely defenceless, was a bit much. I mean what if a manticore or timberwolf came along and saw the free meal?” “Well, I-um” Saphria stuttered out, trying to justify her behavior “Not to mention the various injuries she sustained” added Yam, “it was just one pegasus Saphria, you could have just done a quick, non-lethal, stealth take down to render her unconscious and leave it at that” “But I-” “Saphria, don’t you remember dad’s one rule: only kill when no other alternative is available. You essentially left her for dead out there, which is the same thing as killing someone” said Griffith. Seeing that there was no possible way to justify her behavior, Saphria conceded defeat. They did have a point after all, she may have overdone it given the threat level. Not to mention how irresponsible she acted, at the very least she could have hidden the pegasus in the tops of the trees and left her ungagged which would have at least provided some minor cover. She was just on edge from a lack of sleep, along with how much weight was put on her shoulders from this mission; she was basically transporting the hopes and dreams of the Vlemm enclave in the form of a smart-alec baby dragon. “Alright, alright I’m sorry!” shouted the ninja dragon “I messed up, okay?! Can we please just forget about it?” Spike just huffed and mumbled under his breath. “What was that?” “I said fine! But until to prove otherwise, I don’t trust you Saphria. Not anymore, if you need me I’ll be over with Yam.” with that the baby dragon stormed off. Saphria just stood there bewildered, did she seriously just get both lectured and told off by a dragon half her size? She tried to shake it off, she was Saphria for Bahumut’s sake, one of the strongest warriors of the Vlemm enclave whose stealth feats made even the shroud of night envy her. So what if she had lost the trust of the prince of Vlemm enclave, she didn’t care what a puny baby dragon thought of her…..so why did what he said make her feel so bad? All of a sudden, Connor bursts from the bushes with multiple scrapes and bruises on his body, trying to catch his breath. “Oh my, Connor what happened to you?!” Yam shouted, rushing to his side. Connor ignored bookworm and simply said “we gotta get going, like right now.” ************************** 30 minutes ago Connor was humming to himself peacefully, gathering some edible berries from one of the bushes that they had passed by on the way to the river. They did have ample provisions but a few extra bits here and there couldn’t hurt, it wasn’t like he was obsessively collecting gems like the horde did. He was pretty happy about the recent turn of events, apart of course from Saphria brutalizing that pegasus; he probably should have figured something was up when he saw that pony tied to a tree but he was too tired at the time to really care. Artair was a good dragon buddy to have, it was nice to meet another dragon who didn’t eat meat like the others; sure there were a few vegetarians on the Vlemm enclave like him but for the prince to be like that was another level of cool. Not to mention how laid back the little guy was, Saphria was all serious and Griffith was constantly babbling about his gadgets, Yam always got all sweaty and nervous when he was around, but Artair was one of those who just wanted to stop and smell the roses from time to time like him; sure he could be serious when he wanted to but he wasn’t high strung. He was suddenly brought out of his thoughts by the sound of snapping twigs, and a voice shouting “COME ON, THE TRACKS LEAD THROUGH HERE!” Standing up to scan his surroundings, Connor saw that there was a group of about five ponies running towards the clearing, one of whom was the pegasus from last night. ‘Ah balls, those must be her friends wanting to settle the score. I’d better try to talk them down from it, ponies are rational right?’ Connor thought to himself as he jogged over. As he emerged from the trees the group skidded to a halt in front of him, clearly not expecting his presence. “Hi dudettes, what brings you out here?” Connor asked. “Who are you? Are you with that brute Saphria?” asked the white unicorn mare “Name’s Connor and let me just start by saying that what Saphi did to your friend was totally out of line. She didn’t need to take it that far to protect the little dude, I’m really sorry about what happened.” Connor replied, trying not to instigate a fight. “So you are with her?” accused the blue pegasus, getting in his face “Okay bra, can you like, move back? you’re kinda invading my personal space.” said Connor, stepping back from the mare “and yeah I am with Saphi; me, her, and the other guys are supposed to make sure that ol Artair makes it to the Vlemm enclave in one piece” The group seemed to relax their stances, seeing that the dragon wasn’t about to attack them on sight like the last one did, but they still kept their guard around them. “Wait, when you say artair, do you mean Spike?” asked the purple alicorn. “Is that what you call him? What kinda lame name is that?” said Connor “his parents named him Artair so that’s what we call him” “Spike has parents?!” the pony in the stenson said in disbelief. “Of course, everybody’s got parents. At least one pair, what did you think he just materialized out of nowhere? But anyways, you never answered my question, what are you all doing out here?” “We came looking for spike, he needs to come back home” said the alicorn “I couldn’t agree more ms….” “Twilight, princess Twilight Sparkle” the pony called Twilight answered as a matter of factly “Right, Twilight. Anyway that’s what we’re doing, bringing Artair to his home to be among his own kind.” Connor said Twilight just blinked in confusion. “I think you misunderstood. Spike belongs with us, his home is Equestria.” “A dragon among ponies? Please, he’d stick out like a sore thumb. He needs to be with other dragon dudes like him” Connor shot back “He already tried that!” shouted the blue pegasus “and from what I can tell he doesn’t belong with you treasure obsessed bullies” “Treasure obsessed? Are you talking about horde dragons? No no no, Artair definitely doesn’t belong with those lameoids; he belongs with the noble dragons, the ones who are much more chill and worldly, he’d fit right in.” Connor said, his patience slowly wearing thin “Yeah right, and I’ve got a bridge to sell you. Listen, either you get out of our way or we’ll force you to.” the blue pegasus said, pounding her hooves together for emphasis. “Geeze, what is your damage?! Artair came with us because he wanted to, it’s not like we forced him or anything.” Connor said defensively “he wants to go to the enclave, he wants to be among his own kind, he WANTS to meet his parents. Who the heck are you to deny him that?” “Ponies who truly know what’s best for him” the white unicorn said with a self righteous air. ‘Okay maybe Saphi was onto something, these ponies clearly aren’t listening to reason’ Connor thought to himself, readying his plantmancer powers. “Look I was sent to make sure the little dude gets home safely and I won’t let you take that away from him. So if you want to get to Artair you’re gonna have to get through me” said Connor, assuming a battle stance. For a mere moment, both sides just stood there, glaring at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move. Eventually it was Applejack who broke the stand off, charging full speed at Connor like a battering ram; only to collide with a wall of thick vines that suddenly burst from the ground in front of the dragon. “Ya know it’s not that smart to fight a plantmancer dragon in the middle of a for-EUGH!” Connor was suddenly cut off by a focused blast of magic striking him in the side, sending him sprawling. The vegetarian quickly recovered and shot out a vine whip at the offending alicorn, swatting her across the face. “That was seriously uncool bra!” Connor shouted, rubbing his scorched side. “Well how about this?!” shouted Rainbow Dash, aiming a flying kick directly at the dragon’s face Connor narrowly managed to dodge the blow, wrapping a vine around the pegasus’ outstretched hoof and using it to slam her to the ground. Then connor summoned up several roots and wrapped them around Rainbow Dash’s body, holding her in place. “Stay.” Connor said firmly to the struggling pegasus. The vegetarian turned around just in time to see a very angry and yellow pegasus slam right into him. The look of fury on her face rivaled even the fires of tartarus, the series of blows that she inflicted upon the poor dragon were about the same intensity. “YOU. BIG. MEAN. JERK!” shouted Fluttershy with every single punch she threw down onto the poor dragon who was trying in vain to shield himself. Once he got over the surprise and slight terror brought on by this mare’s attack, Connor’s adrenaline started to kick in. When the pegasus paused for a moment to breath, Connor used the opening to wrap his arms around her, forcing her fore-hooves to her sides. Then he caused a massive flower to sprout under their feet, when the plant reached its peak, Connor threw Fluttershy over the side and she hit the ground with a loud thud, a small whimper escaping the shy animal lover. “ANYONE ELSE WANT A PIECE OF ME?!” Connor shouted, only to lose his focus when the flower he was standing on came tumbling down and him along with it. Through pure luck, Connor managed to land on his feet when he hit the ground and escaped the fall unharmed; looking over he saw that the farmer pony had uprooted the entire plant in a surprising show of earth pony strength. “I think I’m gonna need some help with this one” Connor remarked, gritting his teeth The dragon began to conjure green energy from his hands, the light swirling and pulsating around his upper limbs. Connor cast it out towards the nearby trees and when the energy made contact, the plant life suddenly uprooted itself and took the form of several golems standing at attention. Connor pointed at the ponies and shouted “HOLD THEM DOWN” The now living trees obeyed without question and began to advance on the ponies, holding out their large branches with the intent of capture. Prompting the ponies to scatter away in hopes of spreading their new threat thin. Just as Connor thought it was safe to make a run for it; a large rock flew past his head, narrowly missing it’s intended target. The nature lover spun on his heel to see the white unicorn mare was picking up nearby rocks with her magic and flinging them at him. “WHAT HAVE YOU BRUTES DONE WITH MY SPIKEY-WIKEY?!! WHERE IS HE!” she shouted, throwing another volley at connor. “We’ve kept him safe!” Connor shouted back, “and I don’t like you getting all beefy with me!”. Connor then shoved his hands into the soil, causing a crack to form in the ground that lead directly towards the unicorn assaulting him. She was caught completely off guard when a pair of hands made of leaves and dirt sprouted from under her; grabbing ahold of her hooves, they dragged her into the ground until only her head was showing. The fashionista let out a shrill scream when it occurred to her that three-quarters of her body was now covered in dirt and mud. “Oh get over yourself, getting in touch with nature won’t kill ya” Connor said, rolling his eyes at the drama displayed by the pony. “NO BUT I MIGHT!” Rainbow Dash shouted. It happened so fast Connor barely could even register what had hit him, Rainbow Dash had landed a hard punch to the back of the dragon’s head in such a way that it left him stunned. Unfortunately for Dash, one of the tree golems took her by surprise and managed to restrain her; preventing her from doing anymore damage to their master. Connor stumbled around, head spinning, trying to shake off the blow and clear out the stars. ‘By Bahumut, that pony packed a friggin punch, I can barely see straight’ Connor thought to himself. “ENOUGH” Twilight shouted in a booming voice, followed by a bright flash of purple light that engulfed the entire clearing and knocked Connor onto his butt. As Connor tried to get back on his feet, a blur of orange pinned him to the ground and held him there. The dragon looked up to see a very displeased set of green eyes staring back at him. “Okay here’s how this is gonna work partner.” Applejack said, her voice dripping venom. “Yer gonna tell us where Spike and yer buddies are or we’re gonna smack you silly until you do” Connor took the time to survey his surroundings and was horrified, all of his golems had been destroyed by the spell and all the ponies were now free; he was completely at their mercy. But he couldn’t just give up, the king and queen were depending on him, he needed a plan and fast. Then one came to him, it was risky but if it worked he’d get away clean. Connor mumbled a phrase under his breath. “What?” Twilight asked, taking a step closer. Connor mumbled again in response “Could you please speak up?” asked Rarity, stepping closer. “I said- SURPRISE!” Connor shouted as several black plants with a crab-like appearance sprouted up from the ground, surrounding them. “PLUNDERSEEDS!” Twilight shouted “TAKE COVER!” But it was too late, almost instantly the plants began to spew out their teal gas; showering the group in it and one by one they collapsed, out cold. Shoving the orange earth pony off of him, Connor stood up and looked over his now unconscious attackers. “Sorry dudettes, it didn’t need to be this way. But you forced me to act.” Connor remarked, “I’d better get back to the others, warn them about these ponies lookin for Artair.” With that, Connor quickly ran away from the scene; forcing the plants back into the ground and leaving five unconscious ponies behind. ********************************** Now “Anyways, I don’t know how long those disharmony plants will keep those ponies down so we have to leave right fricking now.” said Connor. “Fine, I was hoping for a break but if you want me to rush it….” Griffith said. Suddenly the green dragon began swirling around the pieces of wood creating a massive dust cloud that completely shrouded over him, the sounds of banging and drilling emanating from behind it. When the dust finally cleared there was a small, beautifully carved, sailboat sitting on the riverbank. As the others rushed over to help get the ship in the water, Spike just stood there with his mouth hanging open in shock. “H-How, how did you do that?!” Spike stammered out. “It’s my aura big bro. I can fix anything, build anything, and do it stupid fast.” Spike’s younger brother replied “now hop in!” The baby dragon shook off his amazement and complied with the request, sitting near the helm with Connor and yam, Griffith took hold of the steering wheel and Saphria began to manipulate the sails. Right then, as if it was divine intervention, a large gust of wind blew by and carried the ship rapidly down the river until it was nothing more than a speck on the horizon. “NEXT STOP, THE VLEMM ENCLAVE!” Griffith shouted. ****************************** “NO NO NO!!!!” Twilight shouted in frustration Moments ago, the elements of harmony had regained consciousness from their little plunderseed induced nap to see that the orange dragon had slipped away. They followed his footprints all the way to the river only to find that the trail ended there, if the discarded trash and sawdust was anything to go by, they had just barely missed the group and Spike along with them. “We had him, we bucking had him and now he’s gone!” Rainbow Dash yelled in frustration, taking her anger out on a tree. “Now what are we supposed to do? We have no clue where they’re headed!” The princess of friendship snapped her head up as if she had just had a shocking revelation. “Wait a minute, yes we do!” “What do you mean Twi?” asked Applejack, trying to treat the bump on top of her head. “That orange dragon we fought earlier, he said that they were taking spike somewhere called the ‘Vlemm enclave.’. If we can figure out where that is, we might be able to intercept them before they get there!” Twilight said excitedly. “But darling none of us have ever even heard of the Vlemm enclave.” Rarity said. “Maybe not, but the library back at the castle has dozens of geography and history books dating back several hundred moons. There has got to be something about the location of the Vlemm enclave, come on everypony” Twilight said, taking off in the air towards her home. “You heard her, move yer flanks!” Applejack said, leading the pack. Unfortunately, the mane six were completely oblivious to the fact that when the noble dragons swore to secrecy, THEY MEANT IT.