Nurse Redheart shook her head softly. "Now I need you to sit down there." She pointed up at a padded table. "Actually, lay down. Sorry, I'm used to ponies. We'll have a look at you." She turned away as Ember's friends helped get the dragon ruler into place. "The doctor will be in shortly. Can you tell me how you feel?"
Ember failed to entirely hide a wince as she was set down gently. "It's not that big of a deal... just... kinda feels a bit off here." She gestured around her right ribs with her left hand.
Redheart gasped. The motion allowed her to see the dried blood on the dragon's talons. "Were you... brawling?"
"What? No. I was way up in the air." She snorted softly. "Why?"
"Just checking." She made a casual note to check on that, confident the blood belonged to her patient. "Now, the rest of you..." Her eyes moved from one dragon to the next. The room was packed with all the dragons small enough to fit in there. She felt certain the massive one would have come in had Spike not dissuaded him. "I can allow at most one of you to stay."
They shared glances, uneasy muttering spreading through the group.
"You." Ember pointed at the she-dragon she had grown a little closer to. "Stay. Everyone else, scram!"
A proper order by the dragon lord was enough to create movement. The room emptied with a fresh wave of grumbling, but it was fast, and the room was soon empty of scales, minus two remaining.
The one that remained was not the smallest one, but also not the largest one. With pink scales, she smiled nervously. "You sure you want me?"
"Yeah..." Ember sank against the table. "Look, we're cool, right? What goes on in here, doesn't leave here. It's my business!"
"I won't say a word." She made a zipper motion with her lips. "Ember, things have gotten better, you know, with you in charge. I don't want that to change."
Ember smiled a little. "Change is what I bring, I think."
"Well keep on changing then." She rolled her eyes softly. "Imagine if Torch got really hurt. Would he ever even consider asking ponies for help?"
"Who's asking?!" She snorted a little gust of smoke. "We're just here for Spike, remember?"
"Of course." She dipped her head, letting that topic die a lonely death.
Redheart set the clipboard down gently with her teeth. "He's arriving. I'll let him do the talking and will only assist as he sees fit. Oh, here he is. Doctor..." She dipped her head as he strolled past.
Ember snorted softly. "Unicorn, that figures. Hey Doc."
"Doctor Horse," he introduced, trotting towards Ember. "Now let's see." His horn glowing, he snatched the clipboard where the nurse had left it and scanned over it. "Ooo, hmm... We need to have a closer look right away. Just sit still like that." He brought over a panel in his magic, floating it over Ember.
With a bright flash, an image of her insides came on the screen. He winced at the sight of it.
The she dragon leaned over to get a look and clapped a hand over her snout.
Ember cocked a brow. "Gee, thanks for filling me with confidence. Look, I'm the dragon lord. Patch me up and get me back out there, alright?"
Doctor Horse brought a hoof to his chin. "We'll get right on that, Miss... Ember it was? Now, could you count backwards from ten for me?" He gently set a mask over her snout.
"Is this some kinda test? Easy! 10, 9, 8..." She went limp, passing out.
The lady dragon squeaked softly. "Please tell me this is part of making her better."
"It will be." He nodded at the large dragoness. "Now, I need to get her directly into surgery, no delays. I'm afraid not even her mother is allowed in there... are you that?"
"Her mother?!" She burst into a bit of a snorting giggle, smoke escaping her snout. "Good thing she's already asleep... Look, I want to be as close as I can be. She asked me to be there."
"There's a waiting room just outside. Follow me."
Torch looked down from his lofty perch. Being as tall as he was, there were few places he could sit that did not afford him a lofty perch over all others. "Are you aware you are also being invaded?"
Spike blinked at that. "Huh, we are? What do you mean?"
Torch easily snatched up Spike and lifted him up. "There." He pointed with his other hand at the space dock. "One of their ships. It is a ship, I assume? So small..."
Spike peered down at the ship. From way up there, it did look kinda small... "They're not nearly as large as you are, Torch, Sir... They're not invading us though. They're nice enough so far as I can tell?" He shrugged a little. "What happened, you know... with Ember?"
"A lucky shot." Torch huffed out a gout of flame in irritation. "Grazed her, nothing serious. If you weren't so insisting, she would be helping you instead of wasting her time here... Really, as if they could dream of hurting her."
"Yeah..."
"She's in good talons."
Spike glanced at the pensive face of the tremendous dragon. "She is. The best we have... I don't want anything to happen to her..." He dusted himself lightly. "How did... the fight start? It was a fight, right?"
Torch's snout wrinkled a little. "Another one of those little ships touches down in the dragonlands. I thought it was a weird sort of dragon, so I go over to say hello, or at least make sure it's not some casual invading group. Surprise! it was the latter." His brows fell. "They swarmed out of it like diseased maggots from the silver beast. Other dragons heard my surprise, and it was on."
He smirked a little. "We drove them off, made them sorry they came to pick a fight with the dragons."
Spike rubbed at one arm with the claws of the opposing hand. "I'm sure you did, uh, but... are there other dragons that were, you know, 'gently grazed'? It'd be nice to have them looked at too..."
Torch's eyes focused on Spike. "Ember was right, you are soft." He suddenly drew his hand away. Fortunately Spike had wings and began to hover instead. "If it will calm the ambassador, I'll go round some of them up. You'll see with your own eyes that they're more than fine. They may be a little annoyed being called from their celebration parties. Hope you're ready for that."
Spike watched the great mountain of a dragon lift away back towards the dragon lands. "I hope they're just annoyed at me..." That'd be better than a whole collection of severely injured dragons. He considered things a moment. He couldn't help Ember more than he already had, and Torch was well on his way. He could entertain the remaining dragons... Or...
He dove towards the school. Twilight needed to be informed of what was going on.
Yona poked at Laud roughly, as was the way of yaks. "You good at smashing?"
"I prefer to focus my 'smashing' with precision." He nodded softly. "I would display it, but hurting a child is something I would avoid."
Yona snorted at that, hopping in place. "Yona not scared! We bash heads?" She angled her head towards him, brandishing her sharp horns in his direction. "Prove yaks best!"
He held up his hands with a little smile. "I would certainly lose if we competed that way. Do you know what it is to wrestle?"
"Yona not stupid." She shrugged softly. "Yona wrestle good. Want wrestle instead?"
Smolder perked a brow at the exchange. "Are you honestly going to wrestle Yona? I can think of less painful ways to end it all."
Gallus gestured at Laud's arms. "I dunno, he looks like he knows what he's doing. How about a wager? 2 bits on the human."
"Two on the yak." Smolder slapped down two coins with a feral grin.
Twilight coughed softly into a hoof. "That's quite enough of that. I didn't bring Laud here to be hurt."
Laud would not be shielded by Twilight. "Perish the thought. I will give a valuable lesson and endeavor to not hurt her while I do it. Her people value strength, yes?"
"Yes!" Yona took a strong step forward. "Are you strong? Not look strong. We see."
Ocellus ceased to be. With a rush of flames, a bell was left in her place.
Laud cocked a brow at the sudden bell. "I imagine that will be our signal to begin."
"Change-bug is funny. I like her." She clopped her forehooves together before resuming her fighting stance. "Yona is ready. Is Laud?"
"I am prepared." He took a wider stance, ready to receive the little ball of muscles and vigor.
The bell that was Ocellus struck loud and clear. Yona roared in readiness, charging at Laud with her head down and horns pointed dangerously. As she got within reach of him, he grabbed one of her horns and pivoted, directing her around himself.
She skidded awkwardly to a halt, already past him. "Hey!" She turned around in a bounce. "Stay still!" She charged wildly, her combat style not having much room for other options.
He did not repeat the tactic, instead forcing her horns down as they came. They bit into the floor and she stopped quite suddenly, planted there with the tips of her horns wedged into the ground itself. "Hey!" She yanked them free with a rough pull. "Not fair! Fight fair!"
"I don't have horns," he advised. "If you use yours, I will have to be clever."
"Fine! Will smash!" She jumped at him, her horns not joining the attack
Spike landed next to Twilight. "Uh... did I miss something?" He watched the two of them struggle. Laud had the skill, though Yona had pure power. Skill seemed to have the edge by just a little. "Important news, Twilight."
Twilight looked over at Spike, keeping half an eye on the wrestling match in progress. "Something wrong with the humans?"
"Sorta..." Spike lifted his shoulders. "Other humans landed in the dragon lands and a big fight broke out. The, uh, humans ran away in their ship, and a bunch of dragons got hurt. Ember's being seen at the hospital right now."
Fighting or not, the whisper of intrigue did not escape Laud. "By the pancreator, what?" It, unfortunately, cost him his concentration. He was suddenly thrown to the ground under the incoming mass of the young yak who was not at all interested in what Spike was sharing. The fight continued.
"Are you certain?" asked Twilight with a deep frown. "This is serious..."
"You wouldn't know it, talking to the dragons." He shrugged softly. "Bunch of blowhards are all acting like it's no big deal. Ember's really hurt! I never saw her look that bad before... I hope they can help her..."
Twilight set a hoof on his shoulder. "She's at the hospital, right?" When he nodded, she smiled. "Then she's being cared for. Let's have faith in them."
"Yeah..." He rubbed one arm with the opposing hand, standing there awkwardly. "I'm just worried... She's a friend, you know? And I thought the humans were on our side! Why are they picking fights with the dragons?!"
"That I couldn't say. Let's ask Laud... after he finishes this."
Laud and Yona were on the ground, wrestling about for dominance. Suddenly, Yona stopped. She stepped off of him and thumped her chest. "You good! Not have honorary yak hat, but maybe need it. You good at smashing? Bet you are!"
Laud righted himself, dusting his clothes of the dirt and yak hair he had collected. "I prefer to build than to destroy, but if it threatens what I have sworn to protect, then I am ready to deal with it. Excuse me, brave little warrior. I need to hear what's going on."
Smolder and Gallus peered at one another, perhaps trying to figure out who won that fight.