//------------------------------//
// Chapter Five – Dragon Lands 
// Story: Marking the Generations – Part Three 
// by Glimbursts 
//------------------------------//

After Hitch exited the portal, the others quickly followed. So quickly that it resulted in a pony pile-up.

“Oh, that wasn’t so bad,” Izzy grinned as she sat on top of the pile.

“Speak for yourself,” Hitch groaned from the bottom. 

“Can everypony get off, please?” Sunny whimpered from alongside Hitch.

It took them a moment, but eventually, they managed to untangle themselves from the pile. One by one, they spread out within the clearing that they found themselves in and started looking around. The trees and bushes all around them had foliage of odd shades of green and blue, Starlight in particular was quite amazed.

“This is nothing like the Dragon Lands I know,” she commented.

“How so?” Zipp asked.

“All the plants,” Starlight explained as she looked around. “The Dragon Lands I know are barren, dominated by active volcanoes and lava. All these trees and bushes, they are all new.”

“Are we sure we’re in the right place then?” Pipp asked worriedly.

She instinctively got her phone out to check their location, before looking at it with annoyance. “Of course, there’s no signal,” she groaned. “Okay, so we have no way of knowing where we are.”

“It’s okay Pipp, we know we can get back,” Sunny replied as she pointed to the portal. 

“That’s right, Runcord said it was a return trip,” Misty responded. “Maybe we should look around and see if we can find any Dragons.”

Hitch nodded before looking around with confusion. “Speaking of, where’s Sparky? Sparky!”

No sooner had Hitch called out, there was a rustling in a nearby bush which made them gasp. Pipp backed up worriedly whilst Starlight took a step forward before getting into a ready stance. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the bush, her horn lighting up in preparation.

Then, Sparky jumped out of the bush. Crying out with delight he ran over to Misty and jumped onto her back. Meanwhile, Starlight sighed as her horn stopped glowing and she relaxed.

“Hey there Sparky,” Misty grinned. “Don’t go running off like that, yeah?” 

“Where did you go?” Hitch asked. “We need to stick together. We don’t want to lose you.”

Sparky grinned widely and nodded before jumping down from Misty’s back. He ran around and around everypony’s hoofs before sliding directly under Hitch’s belly. He spun around and jumped up into Hitch’s hoofs.

“Oof, okay, this is definitely the most energetic Sparky has been for a long time,” Hitch grinned. “Thank you, Misty, I know we couldn’t find Sunset, but you still made a sacrifice to come here.”

“I’m just happy to see he’s getting back to normal,” Misty replied as she stroked Sparky’s cheek.

Sparky cooed happily before suddenly sniffing the air and looking extremely excited. He pushed himself out of Hitch’s grasp and jumped down onto the ground. He started running off down the path ahead of them.

“Sparky? What did we just say?” Hitch gasped.

Sparky jumped and spun in the air, he waved at the others to follow before he landed and spun back to continue running. 

“At least he’s gotten his energy back,” Starlight noted.

“Come on, we don’t want to lose him,” Sunny replied as she set off after Sparky.


They were soon running as fast as they could after Sparky. He was running back and forth across the path, sniffing at rocks, grabbing at leaves, and even stopping at times. Despite this, he was keeping well ahead of the others, and they struggled to keep up.

“Actually, this is more than normal Sparky,” Hitch gasped. “This is Sparky on steroids.”

Finally, they came to a clearing. In the centre, there was a ring of rocks which looked like a fire pit. All around this, there were footprints and claw marks. Several large tree trunks had been laid down around the fire pit, they looked like they’d been used as seats.

Sparky whooped as he jumped into the fire pit, a cloud of burned ashes being kicked up. Sparky grinned and suddenly started shooting fire.

“His…His fire’s back,” Hitch panted as he skidded to a stop. “He’s not breathed fire since before Opaline. Misty, this really was the best place to bring him.”

“Yeah, it’s brilliant,” Misty grinned. “I’m so glad he has so much energy again.”

Hitch, Izzy and Misty began entertaining Sparky whilst Pipp took photos. Meanwhile, Sunny, Starlight and Zipp walked around and investigated the clearing more carefully.

“Something’s not right,” Zipp noted.

“I agree,” Starlight frowned. “Something is really off here.”

“Apart from there being plants here now?” Sunny asked.

“If this is the Dragon Lands, where are the dragons?” Zipp asked.

“Hold on,” Starlight replied.

Her horn lit up and she vanished with a flash. High above them, there was another flash as Starlight appeared above the trees. She immediately began to levitate herself and looked around, holding a hoof to her forehead to shield her eyes from the sun. 

After a few moments, she slowly floated back down to the ground.

“There’s no dragons at all,” she reported. “The trees make it hard to see but there are none flying and none in the clearings that I could see.”

“How do we warn the Dragons if there are none here to warn?” Sunny sighed.

“We couldn’t be too late, could we?” Pipp asked. 

“Opaline has no way to interact with anypony outside of her castle,” Zipp replied. “No, something else is happening here.”


Suddenly, there was a rustling sound which seemed to come from all around them. Starlight indicated for them to move closer together in the middle of the clearing. As they did so, the bushes all around them started moving and slowly a large number of dragons appeared.

They were all shapes, sizes and colours and all walked on their hind legs. As they cleared the bushes and trees, they unfurled their wings. It was soon clear that the group of ponies were completely surrounded.

“Well, we found them,” Izzy said under her breath.

One of the dragons stepped forward further than the others. She had hot pink scales whilst her underbelly was orange. Her eyes were narrowed, and her wings spread wide to give her a commanding appearance. Her mouth was turned upwards into an annoyed snarl. 

“You are trespassing in the Dragon Lands,” the Dragon stated. “Explain yourselves!”

The dragon moved closer, bearing down on Sunny who’d happened to be the closest.

“We, err, we came, err,” Sunny gasped as she looked into the fierce gaze of the large dragon before her.

“Spit it out!” the Dragon demanded.

Starlight frowned and stepped forward, so she was between Sunny and the Dragon. Eyes narrowed she took a ready stance. 

“We mean no harm,” Starlight said calmly. “We came here for two reasons. Firstly, to request an audience with the Dragon Lord, we have vitally important information. Secondly, we needed to help our dragon friend.”

Starlight gestured towards Sparky who was clinging tightly to Hitch and looking very worried.

The Dragon snarled, turning up her nose in disgust as her eyes narrowed further. 

“Are you the Dragon Lord, erm, Lady?” Sunny asked meekly.

“It’s Dragon Lord either way,” Starlight corrected calmly.

“No, I’m not the Dragon Lord,” the Dragon snarled. “Leave your dragon ‘friend’ and leave immediately.”

“Blaize, you know you can’t decide that,” a light orange dragon behind the first said. “They’ve requested an audience with the Dragon Lord.”

“Tumble’s right,” a yellow dragon at the other side of the clearing said. “Only the Dragon Lord can deny them an audience.”

“No dragon asked you Luxxe,” Blaize snarled before spinning round to Tumble, “or you Tumble. The Dragon Lord hasn’t awoken yet and that means I’m in charge here.”

“No, you’re not,” Tumble replied sternly. “He’s going to awaken any moment now. I’m sure they’ll wait if it’s something important.”

“It is important,” Sunny said as she finally found the confidence to step forward. “There’s currently a threat to Equestria and it involves an artefact that could do great harm to all Dragons. We must speak with the Dragon Lord.”

“Equestria and the Dragon Lands used to be allies,” Starlight added. “United in a friendship that was brokered by Dragon Lord Ember and lasted for moons. It made both Ponies and Dragons safer; we were stronger together.”

“Dragon Lord Ember passed on moons ago,” Blaize frowned.

“All the more reason to maintain her legacy,” Sunny responded.

“I don’t think Ponies are our enemies, Blaize,” Luxxe said as she stepped forward. “We should take them to the Dragon Lord.”

“If they aren’t our enemies,” Blaize growled. “Why do they have a Baby Dragon as a hostage?”

“Sparky isn’t a hostage,” Izzy replied. “Hitch found his egg on the beach. He warmed it until Sparky hatched and has taken care of him ever since.”

“A dragon should be with dragonkind,” Blaize snarled. “Not amongst ponies.”

“Never did Spike any harm,” Starlight replied purposefully. “Smoulder too for that matter.”

Blaize’s eyes widened for a second, her expression changing to one of disbelief. However, her mask was soon reapplied as she rounded on Starlight, her snout coming within an inch of Starlight’s nose. “You seem to know a lot about dragons for a pony,” she growled.

“Yes, yes I do,” Starlight agreed calmly. “Now, about that audience with the Dragon Lord?”

Starlight’s horn lit up as she stared directly into Blaize’s eyes. In the background, Izzy jiggled with anticipation as the staring match continued. Finally, Blaize growled as her eyes blinked. 

“Fine,” Blaize spat, “Follow us, we’ll take you to the Dragon Lord’s chamber. But if he’s not awake already you’ll be sorry when you wake him.”

She turned around gesturing towards two other dragons, one dark red, the other light pink. “Lava, Jade,” she instructed. “Go to the portal they came through. Ensure no creature, pony or otherwise, goes in or out.”

The two dragons said nothing, they just nodded before scurrying away. 

“Come on Ponies,” Blaize grunted as she started walking. 


As they walked along, Sunny and the others became acutely aware they were still surrounded by the group of dragons. More appeared from the trees, bushes and around rocks to watch them pass. 

As he walked, Tumble slowly made his way towards Sunny and Starlight. 

“I’m sorry for Blaize,” he whispered. “She’s head of security and often takes it a bit too far.”

“Understandable,” Starlight replied. “I assume it’s been some time since you last had pony visitors.”

“It has,” Tumble answered. “I’m certain the Dragon Lord will want to speak with you though. He’s old enough to remember our friendship with ponies.”



As they continued onwards, they entered a large gorge which had a huge waterfall at the far end.

Starlight looked at this with both awe and confusion. “Okay, waterfalls of lava they had, waterfalls of water, not so much,” she whispered to Sunny.

“What about that then?” Sunny whispered back.

Starlight blinked as she spotted what Sunny was referring to. To the right-hand side of the waterfall was a large ornately carved building. Seemingly crafted at the mouth of a cave entrance. 

As they walked further into the gorge, it soon became clear that it was a natural amphitheatre. They followed Blaize down into what seemed like a bowl. At the far side of this was a large flat rock which was directly in front of the building. 

Blaize suddenly indicated for the group to stop before she continued towards the left-hand side of the rock. A large horn was supported by two triangular rocks and Blaize took a deep breath before blowing into it. The sound of the horn loudly echoed all around the gorge, the ponies wincing as it began to hurt their ears. Finally, Blaize’s breath ran out and she stood waiting apprehensively. 

Then, from inside the cave, there was a loud snort and a crash. Suddenly, there was an ominous thud that made the ground shake. Then another, then another. Finally, a huge purple dragon with green spines appeared from the building, eyes half closed and looking like it had just awoken.

“Presenting Dragon Lord Spike,” Blaize shouted.


To be continued…