“Looks like we arrived just in time, huh?” Spike said with an enthusiastic grin. “Just like heroes!”
“It would seem so,” Twilight said, far less amused. The voice behind the door sounded positively angry, if not downright furious. “Let’s hope we’re greeted like ones.” She took a breath, raised her left hand once more and knocked twice in succession.
There was a brief moment of silence before a different, much calmer voice answered from the other side, “Come in.”
Twilight pushed the door open and stepped in, coming face to face with two women, an older one and a younger one. The former sat behind a wooden desk while the latter leaned over it with both fists pressed against the surface. “Good morning,” Twilight said with a polite bow. “My name is Twilight Sparkle and this is my familiar Spike.” She gestured towards the baby dragon leaning over her right shoulder, who waved with a smile. “I am here to answer your request for help in the name of the Holy Knights.”
The older woman, a dignified-looking bespectacled lady, immediately stood up and approached Twilight, greeting her with a big smile, mixture of joy and relief. “Thank you for coming, Lady Twilight.” She daintily placed her right hand over her chest and introduced herself, “I am Mayor May. Welcome to Ponyville.”
Mayor May had darker blue eyes and short, light grey, wavy hair. Her outfit consisted of a pale amber skirt suit, a white-collar shirt all buttoned up and darker green high heels. Despite her formal attire and hair color, she was an attractive woman, with her slender, shapely legs being her most noticeable feature.
Twilight briefly wondered how old could she be.
“About darn time one of you guys appeared,” the younger woman suddenly interjected, her expression twisted into a deep scowl.
She was tall, easily a whole head taller than Twilight, and a knockout beauty, even with the glare on her emerald green eyes. Her pleasantly tanned skin highlighted her freckles and her long blonde hair, tied into a ponytail, fell down her back like a golden cascade. She wore brown work boots and gloves, a worn out long coat and a high-crowned, wide-brimmed brown hat. Her dark blue pants hugged her thighs and buttocks nicely, while her orange button shirt perfectly outlined her generous bosom.
“It’s been a whole day since we sent that letter to Canterlot,” she growled, stomping forward until she stood right in front of Twilight. “Did you came here hoppin’ on one leg or what?”
Spike flinched and swiftly took cover inside Twilight’s hood.
Twilight gulped, but otherwise held herself firm. “I apologize,” she said. “I was assigned this mission less than an hour ago.”
The younger woman opened her mouth to say something else, but Mayor May swiftly cut her off.
“This is Miss Applejack,” Mayor May said. “The wagon that was attacked belonged to her family.”
Applejack turned her gaze away. “Tch,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Twilight said sympathetically. “If isn’t too much to ask, can you tell me about the incident? I would like to—”
Applejack suddenly snapped. “I wasn’t there!” she shouted, still averting her gaze.
Twilight flinched. “R-Right…”
“Lady Twilight,” Mayor May interjected. “You probably know this, but this will be the first time Ponyville serves as the host for the Summer Sun Celebration.” Her expression turned grave. “If word comes out there is a man-eating dragon roaming at less than a walking day of distance from here, it could severely affect our chances of being selected in the future. In other words, the reputation of our town is at stake.” She paused for a second before asking, “Can we trust you will be able to deal with this issue swiftly and discretely?”
“Of course,” Twilight replied firmly.
Mayor May’s expression softened. “Thank you, Lady Twilight. I will wait for the good news.”
Twilight bid them farewell and left the Town Hall building, taking back to the dirt roads of Ponyville.
“That Applejack girl sure was angry,” Spike said as he emerged from inside Twilight’s hood. He looked back at the Town Hall building warily, almost as if he expected Applejack to come out and chew them out some more.
“I don’t think I can blame her,” Twilight said. “It must be quite upsetting to lose your property like that.” She sighed. “I only wish my first attempt at gathering information came out better. Either way, we’re going to need your nose for this one, Spike.”
“You got it!” Spike sniffed the air around him. He made a pause and then asked tentatively, “Do you think maybe we can get something to eat first?”
Twilight couldn’t help but smile. “We’ll have all the time in the world once—”
“Wait a minute!”
Twilight stopped and turned around to see Applejack coming towards her. She shared a brief look of bewilderment with Spike, who quickly took shelter inside the hood of her coat, but before she could say a word, Applejack spoke first,
“I’m goin’ with you.”
Twilight blinked twice. “Excuse me?”
“I’ve traveled down the valley of the Unicorn Range plenty of times,” Applejack said confidently. “I can show you the way.”
Twilight shook her head rapidly. “No, no, no—I appreciate your offer but, one, I can find the way myself and, two, I cannot risk the life of a non-combatant.”
Applejack frowned. “Non-combatant?” She jabbed her thumb against her chest and said, “I’ll let you know my family founded Ponyville more than a hundred years ago on the land Queen Celestia herself gifted my great grandparents and we have been protectin’ it since then, Holy Knights or not!”
Twilight responded to Applejack’s frown with one of her own. She put her left hand on her hip and said, “Your lineage doesn’t change the fact you’re a civilian and this is an official mission of the Holy Knights.”
Spike nervously peeked from behind Twilight’s shoulder between the two of them as they glared at each other, unable to say a word.
After a short but tense moment of silence, Applejack suddenly deflated and said, “I’m sorry…”
Twilight sighed. “Look, I understand you’re—”
“But I’m still goin’ with you.”
“What? No, listen to me—”
“No, you listen to me,” Applejack said firmly. “My little sister, my big brother and two of my cousins were on that wagon. And the only reason they got away alive is because that dragon was too busy eating our horses.”
Twilight suddenly felt a lump in her throat.
Applejack clenched her fists and swallowed spittle. “Please, Twilight,” she begged in a low voice. “I just can’t stay here and do nothing. Please take me with you.”
Twilight bit her lower lip. “Applejack, I…”
“What is the creed of the Holy Knights of Equestria?” Queen Celestia asked.
Twilight answered immediately, "Your eyes are to discern evil, your mouth is to speak the truth, your heart is to be filled with righteousness, and your sword is to purge evil."
Queen Celestia nodded approvingly. “And what do Holy Knights do?”
Twilight pondered her words briefly before answering, “Holy Knights fulfill several duties, included but not limited to—”
“Holy Knights protect, Twilight.” Queen Celestia interrupted. “They protect the people, the comrades, the promises, and the principles.” She paused and looked upwards, her gaze becoming mournful. “My sister and I were born stronger than anybody else, but even we could not be everywhere at once. There were far too many times in which we arrived too late.” Queen Celestia closed her eyes, taking a moment to compose herself, before looking at Twilight. “That’s why we founded the order of the Holy Knights. To serve as the protectors of harmony all over Equestria. Remember that, my faithful apprentice.”
“…I think I could use a guide.”
“You mean it?” Applejack asked hopefully.
Twilight nodded. “I do.” She raised her index finger and added firmly, “But, you leave the fighting to me, okay?”
Applejack’s expression brightened, as if a massive weight had dropped off her shoulders, and her lips curved into a smile. “Thanks, sugarcube.” She extended a hand, which Twilight accepted with a smile of her own.
“Don’t mention it.”
“Alright!” Applejack cracked her knuckles. “Where’s your horse? I’ve got a couple in my farm that can get us there in no time if you need one.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Twilight said. She waved her staff and their surroundings suddenly changed; the people, the houses and the decorations vanished, leaving only an empty road around them.
“This…is the main road to Ponyville,” Applejack muttered, astonished. “How did we…?”
“A teleportation spell,” Twilight said in a matter-of-fact tone. “It allows me to transport other living beings over variable distances instantaneously.”
“Uh…that’s a mighty fine trick you’ve got there, but…” Applejack smiled sheepishly and, pointing with her thumb over her shoulder, said, “The valley of the Unicorn Range is the other way ‘round…”
Twilight shook her head. “Teleportation requires that I either have visual contact with the destination point or that I’m familiarized enough with it. As it stands now, it’s impossible for me to teleport any of us there.”
Applejack blinked. “Oh.” She quirked an eyebrow and asked, “So…?”
“Spike will carry us,” Twilight answered plainly.
At the mention of his name, Spike hopped down from the inside of Twilight’s hood. He puffed his chest out and flexed his short, stubby arms.
Applejack looked at Spike, then at Twilight. “You’re kiddin’ me, right?”
Twilight calmly took a step back, pointed at Spike with her staff and whispered, “Enchantment: Giant Growth.”
Applejack stumbled backwards, her mouth agape, as she saw Spike change into his adult form right before her eyes. “A dragon,” she muttered in shock.
“Dragon Knight,” Spike corrected.
Applejack gasped. “It can talk!”
Spike rolled his eyes. “He can talk, thank you very much.”
With just a snap of her fingers, Twilight teleported both, Applejack and herself, on top of Spike’s back.
“Hold on,” Applejack said alarmed. “Are we goin’ to ride on its—his back just like that? Without saddles or even a rope?”
“There’s nothing to fear,” Twilight assured. She waved her left hand in a circular motion and called softly, “Reject Wind.” Nothing seemingly happened, yet Twilight looked satisfied. “Let’s go, Spike.”
Seeing Spike crouching and spreading his wings wide, Applejack quickly grabbed hold of one of his fins, closed her eyes and braced herself. She felt a bump, and then nothing. A few seconds passed before Applejack slowly opened her eyes and saw Twilight standing next to her with the wind barely rustling her clothes. Carefully peeking to the side, Applejack saw they were far above the ground, moving at greater speed than any horse she ever rode on. “We’re flying,” she muttered in awe. “But the wind…”
“I erected a small elemental barrier to shield us against the wind,” Twilight explained. Her lips curved into a bemused smile. “Makes traveling like this much more comfortable, don’t you think?”
Applejack chuckled softly. “Right.” She relaxed, but kept holding Spike’s fin tightly with her right hand. “You know, I heard Holy Knights had some fancy rides, but this is somethin’ else.”
“Spike is certainly a cut above sky mantas and wyverns, but the enchantment that keeps him in this form drains my magic for as long as it remains active,” Twilight explained. “As soon as my reserves run dry, he’ll revert to being a child.”
Applejack nodded, and for a while, the three of them traveled in silence.
Soon, the mountains of the Unicorn Range became visible in the distance.
“Applejack,” Twilight called, drawing the attention of her companion. She paused, hesitating for a second before continuing, “I know you said you weren’t there, but…it would really help if you could tell me about the incident.”
There was a moment of silence before Applejack began talking. “My big bro told me they were halfway down the valley when suddenly everythin’ got dark, as if somethin’ had blotted out the sun, and then the dragon fell right on top of them. It had wings, red scales and a big, long mouth filled with teeth…”
Twilight scratched her chin thoughtfully. “Definitely not a clay dragon, they don’t have wings, and the coloration pattern of wyverns’ scales oscillates between shades of blue. That leaves tyrant dragons as the only option, but even if they are known for inhabiting mountainous areas, there hasn’t been a sighting of one in the Unicorn Range for years…”
“They were supposed to be back by noon…”
Applejack’s words snapped Twilight out of her thoughts.
“I thought nothin’ of it at first, but when the sun began to set, I grabbed a cart and went lookin’ for them. Found ‘em two miles away from Ponyville…exhausted and terrified.” Applejack gritted her teeth hard. “I don’t want to see them like that again, Twilight. I don’t want to see any of my kin like that ever again!”
Twilight gulped. Taking a step forward, she placed a comforting hand on Applejack’s shoulder and said, “You won’t, Applejack. We’ll make sure of that.”
“Yeah!” Spike added enthusiastically. “We’re gonna kick that dragon’s ass so hard it’ll have to look up to look down!”
Applejack’s expression softened and her lips curved into a smile. “Thanks guys, I—” She paused as the realization suddenly hit her. “Wait a minute—aren’t you a dragon too, Spike?”
Spike turned his nose upwards. “I told you, I’m a Dragon Knight,” he declared proudly. “There’s a difference.”
Applejack turned to Twilight with a confused frown.
Twilight raised her index finger and said, “From a biological standpoint, Spike is practically indistinguishable from a dragon; however, taking into account his human-like intelligence and capacity for speech, it would be more accurate to classify him as a Magical Beast.”
Applejack chuckled. “Dragon Knight. Got it.”
Far below them, a lush, rich valley thick with grass and vegetation spread far and wide, flanked by upthrust mountains.
“Heads up, Spike,” Twilight said. “We’re most likely dealing with a tyrant dragon. Probably one that has come from afar and is trying to turn this whole area into its territory.”
“Roger!” Spike sniffed the air around him and said, “I smell wyverns. Lots and lots of wyverns.”
“Ignore them,” Twilight said. “They know better than trying to pick a fight with a dragon.” She turned to Applejack and asked, “Your brother said they were attacked halfway down the valley, right?”
“Yeah,” Applejack replied. “It’s this big area without grass or trees, just plain ol’ rocks; are we goin’ to land there?”
Twilight shook her head. “Doing so would leave us open for an attack from above. Now, tyrant dragons are vicious and territorial. If there’s one around here, it will attack us as soon as it smells us, but we’re flying at heights no dragon normally does, which means we will see it coming.”
It did not take them long to reach the middle of the valley. Just as Applejack said, it was a large barren section, contrasting noticeably with the verdant green of the rest of the valley, much like a scab.
“Slow down, Spike,” Twilight instructed. “Remember we want to get noticed.”
Spike did as told. He then sniffed the air once more and said, “Something smells really sweet.”
Twilight opened her mouth to ask about it, but before she could say a single word, everything got dark, as if something was blotting out the sun. She frowned—they were flying above the clouds. Her eyes then widened in shock. “No way…”
With her staff at the ready, Twilight swiftly looked upwards, but it was too late. A massive shadow struck Spike in mid-air and sent her tumbling down his back with a shriek. Her staff slipped out of her hands and fell down to the earth below as she desperately tried to grasp at anything to stop her fall.
Until Applejack caught her by the hood of her long coat. “Got you!”
Twilight looked up to see Applejack hanging from one of Spike’s fins by her right hand alone, but her relief quickly changed into horror when she saw the tyrant dragon holding Spike’s forearms with its own while clamping down at the base of his neck with its massive jaws.
If Spike in his adult form was a house, then the tyrant dragon was a castle. Brutal-looking red scales covered nearly every inch of its body like armor, and the horns protruding from its head resembled a twisted crown. But what sent a chill down Twilight’s spine were its eyes; they glowed with an eerie green light, its pupils contracting with bloodlust.
Spike howled in pain. He desperately tried to free himself, clawing with his hind legs, snapping with his tail and breathing fire in all directions. All of his efforts did nothing to deter the tyrant dragon, but threatened to loose Applejack’s grip on his fin and send Twilight and her plummeting down the valley.
Applejack gritted her teeth hard and Twilight could tell she would not be able to last much longer.
“I have to teleport the three of us away, but I need to get Spike out of the tyrant dragon’s grasp first or else it’s coming with us!”
Steeling herself, Twilight grabbed Applejack’s arm with her right hand and, swiftly tracing a circle on Spike’s body with her left, conjured two spells in succession, “Magic Cancel! Teleportation!”
In the blink of an eye, the adult Spike vanished from the tyrant dragon’s grasp and re-appeared right within Twilight’s in his child form. She swiftly embraced him and, picking a point in the distance, teleported away from their attacker.
When they reappeared, the first thing Twilight felt were Applejack’s hands squeezing her arm. “I’m using a levitation spell,” she said. “Don’t worry; we’re not going to fall.”
“R-Right,” Applejack muttered fearfully as she looked down at the valley below them, curling her legs beneath her.
The sudden disappearance of its prey caught the tyrant dragon by surprise, but a single beat of its wings was enough for the beast to recover its balance. It let out a growl of frustration and began flying in circles while sniffing the air.
Twilight glanced down at Spike. The baby dragon had his face buried on her chest, tiny claws holding her breastplate tightly and his whole body trembling like a dried leaf. “He’s in shock,” Twilight thought worriedly. She felt something wet and warm slipping through the fingers of her left hand, with which she gently held Spike from the back of his neck. “He’s wounded. If I were alone it would be one thing, but I cannot treat him, protect Applejack and face the tyrant dragon at the same time. I have no choice but to retreat.”
Twilight focused, but just as she was about to teleport the three of them back to Ponyville, Applejack spoke.
“Twilight, look!”
Twilight turned towards where Applejack was pointing and felt her heart skip a beat. Far below, a caravan of six wagons, no doubt in route towards Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration, was heading their way. To make things worse, a loud roar alerted her that the tyrant dragon had noticed their presence, most likely after smelling Spike’s blood.
“I need to retreat,” Twilight thought, looking desperately between the tyrant dragon flying at full speed and the caravan moving leisurely. She felt her heart pounding furiously against her chest and drowning every sound around her. “I need to take Applejack to a safe place, treat Spike and then come back. I need to retreat. I need to retreat. I need to—”
Twilight gritted her teeth, shook her head and said loudly, “Hold on tight, Applejack!”
With those words, Twilight began teleporting down in short bursts, each as far as her eyes could see, until they reached the bottom of the valley. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she staggered forward, but Applejack quickly caught her in her arms.
“Are you okay?” Applejack asked.
“Stay behind me!” Twilight replied, pushing Applejack back. She looked up to see the tyrant dragon diving towards them. The beast opened its jaws wide and Twilight could see the glow of the flames emerging from its innards. She swiftly threw her right hand upwards and called loudly, “Reject Fire!”
The tyrant dragon exhaled and the flames fell over the three of them like a waterfall, scorching the ground around them. But neither the fire nor the gust from the beast’s passing—that would have snapped a tree under normal circumstances—did any harm, feeling more like a hot humid breeze thanks to Twilight’s magical defenses.
Twilight quickly traced her hand in a squared motion and extinguished the remaining flames around them with a burst of freezing air. She turned around, making sure to keep Applejack behind her, and saw the tyrant dragon making a sharp turn to dive in their direction once again.
Her chest heaved and her knees wobbled. It was one thing to exert oneself in a controlled environment, knowing she could stop anytime she wanted and with no fear of getting permanently hurt, than to do it in battle with a foe hell-bent on killing her.
But this was no time to hesitate; this was no time to fear.
Twilight traced a zigzagging motion with her index and middle fingers, aimed at the incoming tyrant dragon and called loudly, “Shock Stinger!” The lightning bolt struck the beast right in the middle of its chest and it fell, grounded, screaming in pain.
Much to Twilight’s horror, however, that was not enough to stop the tyrant dragon. With a rage-filled roar, it stood up and charged at terrifying speeds, each stomp of its feet making the ground shake.
Twilight’s mind raced, searching for a spell that could stop the tyrant dragon, if only for a moment to allow her to retrieve her staff. But just as she readied herself, Applejack suddenly ran past her and towards the tyrant dragon. “A-Applejack!? Wait—!”
Applejack kept running towards the charging beast, regardless of Twilight’s words. She reared her right arm back, almost as if she was aiming to punch the tyrant dragon, and then threw it upwards in a mighty swing.
The ground shook and a massive rock pillar erupted from below, hitting the tyrant dragon in the lower jaw like an uppercutting fist. It stumbled backwards with a groan of pain, its long tongue hanging from the side of its jaw.
Twilight’s eyes widened in shock. “That was earth magic,” she muttered in awe. To her further amazement, Applejack did not stop there.
With her fingers intertwined, Applejack touched the ground and called loudly, “Sand Whirl!”
The tyrant dragon’s right foreleg suddenly sank halfway into the ground, and Twilight realized it was due to the very ground turning into sand. She shook her head rapidly, snapping herself out of her stupor, and immediately seized the opportunity. Tracing a square shape with her fingers, Twilight called loudly, “Freeze Coffin!” Ice erupted from the sand pit like a geyser and fully encased the tyrant dragon’s right foreleg.
Twilight rushed next to Applejack just as the tyrant dragon began thrashing furiously in an attempt to free itself; slamming its tail, flapping its wings and breathing fire in all directions. Even if it was an aimless effort, every gust of wind and burst of fire weakened Twilight’s magical defenses more and more. “I won’t be able to hold much longer like this,” she thought.
“Applejack, listen,” Twilight said between heavy breaths. “We need to combine our strength.”
“I’m all ears!”
“I want you to attack the dragon with everything you have!”
Applejack adjusted her hat and nodded. She spread her arms and Twilight could feel the magic flowing from the earth below them, coursing all over Applejack’s body.
For her part, Twilight held her right hand open and concentrated. She visualized her staff in her mind and, focusing her magic, called loudly, “Object Teleportation!” As soon as the staff materialized in her hand, she grasped it firmly, pointed it at Applejack and called loudly, “Power Amplify!”
Applejack threw her hands upwards and called with all of her strength, “Crushing Wave!”
It was as if the entire valley shook. With a gut-wrenching rumble, the ground below the tyrant dragon exploded upwards into countless shards of rock that pierced the beast’s body like swords, one after another. Its leathery wings were torn to rags, its scales shattered like porcelain plates and its whole body buried under a gigantic pile of rock, leaving only the tip of its massive jaw visible.
Applejack dropped her arms and Twilight fell on her knees. The two of them panted, exhausted.
At last, it was over.