//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11. 
// Story: Dreadwing Bells A'ringing 
// by avatarded01 
//------------------------------//


11.


Something clattered to the ground with an audible thunk. Orange Zest froze. In the absolute silence of the burnt out apartment her heart, pounding in her chest, was the loudest sound in the entire world. She stayed completely still staring into the darkness all around her, waiting for something to reveal itself or to emerge from within the inky shadows. But nothing came. Still she waited, sucking in small shallow breaths. Eventually she skirted out from underneath the coffee table, and crept across the room, keeping deliberately low, as if to avoid the line of sight of her unseen stalker. As she moved she passed a mirror hanging on the wall. She glanced at her self in the smoke streaked glass and grimaced. She'd always been proud of her bright orange main, that she got from her mother, and the lovely lemon yellow colour of her hair, but now both were smeared and streaked by black soot and dirt, and her main and tail were singed and burnt. Her olive green eyes watered as she remembered the moment the attack happened, the moment the dragon descended on Manehattan.

She'd been on her way home, walking down Mane avenue, her saddle bags filled with groceries to cook a delicious home made dinner for Brick Work. The gruff stallion built like his name-sake, she'd met two-weeks earlier, when she'd narrowly avoided a nasty accident while passing by a construction site. Brick Work was site manager and had been full of heart felt apologies, spluttering and tripping over himself. Zest had thought he looked quite scary when she'd first seen him, but watching him try to fumble through an apology, had softened her image of him. She suggested he buy her dinner to make up for the accident and from then on, she knew she'd found something special. The wind had picked up, blowing in from off the sea as she'd rounded the corner onto her street. Zest lived in Upper Manehattan, on third and Baker. Her street had always been a quiet one with nice neighbors, friendly phillies and easy access to grocery stores and fashion boutiques. She loved her street and had always imagined finding the right stallion and settling down there. That was when the shadow fell. Zest had had just enough time to blink and glance up, before an entire row of buildings was doused in fire. Completely smothered, engulfed in furious, bright burning fire. Zest had never seen anything like it. She never knew fire could be so big and terrifying, but also so fast, so viscous, like a ravening beast, hungry to feed on every piece of flammable material in it's path, tearing across rooftops and scorching up walls. Zest gasped just before every window on the side of the street that was hit by the fire exploded outward, spraying the street with razor sharp shrapnel. Ponies all up and down the street dropped to the ground screaming and covering themselves with their hooves, against the deadly rain. Two buildings collapsed seconds after the fire hit, their structure completely unable to withstand the unbelievable heat and force of the fire, covering the street with burning debris. It was sometime later that Zest had found out that all of that destruction, all of that chaos that had turned her street, her home into a nightmare in less than a minute, was from a single breath. One Dragon, one breath, half a block destroyed. Zest never got any closer to her apartment. It was gone in the first blast and the giant beast from which the fire originated appeared over head, swooping above the city. It was huge, a giant death machine of claws, teeth and razor sharp scales of dark blue and yellow. It's eyes were a blazing yellow as they scoured the burning street its huge wings beating smooth and massive, keeping it hovering above the thick black smoke rolling off of the smoldering structures. It surveyed the street for a handful of moments. Its eyes thin and menacing creeping over every Pony, every window and doorway... looking for something... some-pony. Whoever it was the Dragon hadn't found them. It sucked in a deep breath and opened its mouth, revealing a gaping maw filled with dagger like teeth. Smoke eked out of the back of its throat and a furious glow grew from deep down in its gut. Then it lent forward and blew a second breath of flame into the street. Zest had screamed and thrown herself back around the corner she had come from, as her ears filled with the sound of air being devoured by overwhelming heat, the shattering of glass and the screams of the Ponies still in the street. She had been at least two hundred yards away from the Dragon's terrible breath, but it had moved so fast, been so incredibly hot that even as Zest fell back away from the corner she realized that her mane was on fire. She rolled around frantically swatting at her main, clapping it between her hooves, burning embers of her mane falling to the ground. Finally the fire was out, but she had still been able to feel the heat, throbbing and beating like a living thing. As Zest had picked herself up she could feel the fire before she saw it, creeping and slithering around the corner of the street, cracking and crumbling the building she was standing next to. She backed away staring in horror at the wall of flame flickering before her charring and blackening the pavement and the Brick Work. Brick Work! She had thought about him then and was suddenly torn between running to him and her parents. She turned to run back the way she had come, but the Dragon moved crashing down into the street ahead of her. It scanned the street again only briefly before releasing another gout of flame through the populated area. Zest heard more screams before she turned and ran down a side street, disappearing into the alley ways of upper Manehattan.

Zest wiped her eyes with the back of her hoof, which only served to smear more soot across her face. She blinked away more tears. At this moment she had no idea what had happened to her parents or Brick Work. She had spent the entire day yesterday sneaking through abandoned buildings and blackened streets, trying with little success not to throw up due to the nightmarish scenes she had witnessed. Burnt out buildings, shattered carriages and wagons and bodies... burnt, blackened, charred bodies of Stallions, Mares... and Phillies scattered all about the city, while fires burned freely, with no effort made to fight them. It had taken less than a day to turn Manehattan, one of the most vibrant, active and thriving cities in Equestria into a smoldering wasteland, choking on fire and ash. Zest had finally hunkered down in an abandoned building that had already been gutted by the Dragon's fire and spent the night listening to it's rampage. Bells rang, glass shattered, buildings crumbled and Ponies died. Zest had half cried, half hyperventilated herself into an uneasy sleep only finally awakening when she had heard something in the quiet dark of the early morning. She stepped up to the shattered window and glanced nervously outside. fires were still burning in the distance and bells were still ringing. She could see Pegasi wheeling in the smoke filled air, doing something but she couldn't quite tell what. She looked up and down the street, but there was nothing. All was eerily quiet in this part of town. The dragon had to  be somewhere else in Manehattan. 'Time to move' She thought to herself and with a slow steadying breath she turned away from the window and left the shattered building.
The streets were quiet, except for the sounds of chaos in the distance as Zest moved quickly, but quietly, down the road. She kept her eyes firmly fixed on the ground at her hooves, glancing up only briefly to make sure she was going the right way. She wouldn't be able to handle seeing the true extent of the Dragon's rampage again, so she kept her eyes averted. Block after block of ruined and burnt buildings slid past, as Zest kept moving. She knew there was no way a Dragon that size could sneak up on her, but she still felt as though the terrible beast might emerge suddenly from a dark alley and engulf her in those horrific flames. She passed by her favorite boutique, the one that carried the "Simply Fabulous" fashion line designed by Rarity from Ponyville. The front windows were shattered and the interior was completely blackened and destroyed. The design mannequins were scattered about the floor, almost unrecognizable, their shape and form mutilated by the Dragon's fire. She felt her heart slide into her throat at the sight of the boutique, at the sight of the shop she had visited over and over again completely devastated, at the sight of the figure within the shop, black and twisted... that definitely wasn't a mannequin. She sniffed back a tear and kept moving, quick and determined. Her parents lived only a few blocks from where she was, but as she moved closer and closer the sounds of the chaos that had engulfed the city grew louder. Her heart began to race in her chest. What if it was already too late? What if her family was already gone? What if they were just like the Boutique? Zest found that she had started to run, tripping and stumbling over the debris scattered across the street, in a desperate effort to get to her parents before something terrible happened, and if it had already happened, maybe she could she just run away from it. Suddenly she heard a loud din, coming towards her and she slid to a stop. She looked up. A large crowd was coming around the corner down the street, running but not screaming. Their faces were filled with fear, anxiety and weariness, smeared with soot and blood, carrying what little belongings they still had. Zest watched as the crowd came at her and she realized they were being herded by the police. "KEEP MOVING! KEEP MOVING!" They were hollering driving the people onward  and away. Away from what? She didn't wait to find out. As the crowd began to stumble and race past her she turned to follow, but as she did a voice cried out,
"ZEST!" She recognised the voice straight away.
"MOM!!" She cried back and as she spun around she saw her. Her mother and father were in the crowd, tired and soot covered like everyone else, bustling about among the other Ponies trying to make their way out of the city. Zest pushed against the crowd, "MOM! DAD!" She shoved against the ponies fleeing in the opposite direction, throwing her shoulder into them in order to try and get closer. Her parents started pushing as well, trying to close the gap with their daughter, calling her name. The ground shook furiously and a bone rattling roar filled the air. Inky black smoke swirled around the Dragons wings as it descended into the street and landed in the middle of the road. Every-pony looked up at it, terror filling their eyes as their mouths dropped open. Zest didn't even look at it. She kept pushing and shoving trying to get to her mother and father. They were only a few feet away when the Dragon sneered, its blade like teeth glinting in the smokey light, fire rising in its throat. "Mom! Dad!" Zest cried again, her eyes filling with tears and she stretched out her hoof to her mother who reached back, but they were just out of reach. The Dragon opened its mouth and the flames rolled out of its throat and crashed down on the street, blanketing the Ponies below. Zest screamed, and closed her eyes as she lunged forward and touched her mothers outstretched hoof, just before the blistering heat cascaded down from above. It seared her main and singed her hair and she dropped down to the ground, collapsing into her mother, who wrapped her hooves around her daughter, Zest sobbed as she waited for the searing heat to melt and twist her body, like the mannequins back at the boutique. The pain never came. Zest opened her eyes and looked up, between her mothers arms. She gasped and her heart skipped a beat. The fire, enormous and brilliant full of colour and light and the power to extinguish their lives, swirled and writhed in the air over their heads. The heat was incredible. It was so hot that every pony in the crowd had dropped to the ground shielding themselves with their hooves. Some were still screaming waiting for the inevitable end,  but the flames continued to linger in the air above. Beyond the flames, the Dragon ceased its attack, blinking at the phenomenon wavering and flickering before it. It stared with incredulity, furious that its flames had failed to reach its target for some reason. It wheeled around and glared at something down the street. Zest followed its terrible stare. At the end of the street six ponies were standing together in a tight group, facing the direction of the Dragon. They were all wearing ruby red armor, about their chests and flanks and a white cloak billowed about their necks, caught in the hot air streaming from the burning ruins all around them. Each one also had a red horn a top their heads. The Dragon turned on them, bellowing a furious roar of  rage that Zest assumed was from their interference, but she suddenly thought that it looked almost as though the Dragon knew who they were. As soon as the Dragon's back was turned, however, the fire raging over their heads swirled and gathered into a blazing ball the size of a building and surged forward into the Dragon's back. It bellowed in pain as its wing was blown from its back in a shower of scales and blood that coated the wall of a building across the street. Every pony screamed again at the grisly sight, but Zest watched in shocked awe. Was it those unicorns doing this? Did they stop the fire? She thought as she watched the Dragon stumble forward onto all fours, grinding its teeth in pain. It recovered quickly, surging upward again and reeling its head back to release another terrible blast of merciless fire. As it did the six unicorns jumped forward, forming an arrow head aimed right at the Dragon. They tilted their horns forward and each one began to glow with a hot, pulsing red light, none so much as the large Stallion at the head of their formation. The Dragon's mouth filled with fire, smoke billowing out of its nostrils. At the same moment a point of red hot flame appeared at the tip of the Stallions horn. The fire grew into a long lance which changed colour to blue and as its intensity magnified it changed again to white. Suddenly their lance exploded into a massive spear, hovering in the air over their heads. The Dragon's eyes widened and it choked, "The Dragon Lance!" It's voice was deep and huge, rumbling through its throat and teh street beneath their feet. It opened its mouth and blew its flame straight at the group of unicorns. The towering inferno filled the street, collapsing walls on every side and turning the glass in the windows into bubbling pools. It looked as though the Ponies would be consumed, devoured by the ruthless fire, but just before it could reach them, the blazing spear above their horns, shone with an intense light, and its edges stilled and straightened, until the fire looked like a solid object; a Lance made of solid white flame. At that exact instant the Stallion at the head of the group bellowed a mighty cry
"FOR PYRE MOUNTAIN!!!" The lance shot forward headlong into the Dragon's own fire. It disappeared for just a second and then erupted through the other side, scattering the Dragon's flame in all directions. The spear tore through the air in the blink of an eye. The Dragon didn't even have enough time to blink. The spear went straight through its mouth, shearing its head clean in two halves. The spear shot off high into the air before exploding in an incredible display of pyrotechnics. The Dragon teetered and stumbled, before it collapsed into the street, the top half of its head smashing into a burnt out building on the street corner, just a few meters from where the Ponies in red armor were standing. Not a single drop of blood spilled from the Dragon's gaping neck wound. It had been completely cauterized by the heat of the white lance. The whole street descended into stunned silence. Smoke and ash whipped around the street caught in the wind left in the wake of the incredible, yet short battle. Zest watched as the group of Ponies trotted forward, the cloaks billowing in the wind. The one at the front was a tall stallion with ash grey hair and a pure white mane, his red horn protruding from between the long white locks. His eyes were a steely blue. The others were wearing hoods over their heads. All the Ponies slowly stood up to face them. One of the Police officers stepped forward and spluttered,
"W-Who are you?" The Stallion stopped, standing tall and regal before the terrified crowd,
"I am Prince Brave Heart. Son of King Blaze of Pyre Mountain." He scanned the crowd, his eyes falling on Zest. She started. They were bright and cold, full of pride and power, strength and dignity. She had never seen such eyes. His gaze moved on, and when he didn't find the pony he was looking for he asked, "Where is the Princess Luna and the Elements of Harmony?"