The fiery orange glow of the sunset cast itself over the far reaches of Equestria near the Dragonlands, where Sapphire engaged in her usual sunset flight to stretch her wings one last time before turning in for the night. Few things felt more relaxing than the cool evening wind against her face as she sailed over the forest a few acres from her cathedral.
A small pony village called Buckington stood just at the edge of the forest. It was Sunset Breeze’s hometown, but none of the ponies seemed to mind whenever Sapphire flew over the village. This time as she did, however, something was definitely wrong. A familiar, foreboding prickle worked its way up the dragon’s spine as she neared the settlement.
Uh-oh. This isn’t good. My dragon sense is tingling all over. Better make sure everything’s ok.
As Sapphire descended closer to the village, a sight among the group of houses made her freeze in midair. She couldn't keep from muttering out loud. “What the?”
In the village square below were several dragons and a single-file line of ponies all connected to each other by chains and iron collars around their necks.
Sapphire dove to the ground and crouched against the side of a house on the edge of town farthest from the other dragons. As she peered around the corner with her serpentine neck to investigate, the realization of the situation kept her from advancing. There were roughly a dozen dragons a little larger than her at around six feet tall each, lined up in two parallel rows in the village square. They certainly were not as large as full-grown dragons, but the fullness of their features and the fine points of their snouts lead her to believe they were adults. Younger dragons had rounded snouts. Another odd fact she noticed was these dragons all had pitch black scales. There wasn’t a red, blue or green dragon among them. Were they a part of some sort of faction?
This little plan had gone much better in her head. There were so many other dragons and only one of her; if she tried to help she’d be spotted and captured in an instant. Nonetheless, she watched the scene unfold to see if she could learn anything else about these mysterious dragons.
“Let’s go, keep moving!” one of the dragons shouted as he prodded a reluctant mare in the flank with the butt of his spear.
“You're making a big mistake. Princess Celestia will never let you get away with this,” a stallion replied.
“Once we get you into the Dragonlands, you’ll be out of her jurisdiction. She can’t help you!” another dragon barked. “Now move it!”
Those jerks! Sapphire thought to herself as she watched the chain of ponies march in between the two rows of dragons. What are they doing, and why are they taking ponies to the Dragonlands? They better not hurt those ponies!
Among the chain gang of ponies was a pegasi couple connected to each other. One of them looked just like Sunset Breeze if she were older. The stallion behind her also held a slight resemblance to Sapphire’s filly friend. Those were the only pegasi Sapphire could see. Did that mean?
They must be Sunset’s parents! Oh, what should I do? What should I do?! Closing her eyes, Sapphire drew her head back behind the wall of the house. She took in a deep breath to compose herself and let it slowly escape through her nostrils. Stop panicking, for one thing. Now, think, Sapphire. What can you do? It’s not like I can just charge right in there. I do have my ice powers, but one attack on any of those dragons, even from my hiding spot, will send the others looking for whoever did it, and that will spoil any hope I have of getting out of here without them seeing me. Following them would also be too risky. Hmmm…
Once again, Sapphire peered around the corner of the house, only to realize it was too late to keep thinking. The last pony in the chain gang was already out of view, and Sapphire barely caught a glimpse of the last dark dragon holding up the rear of the line as he marched out of the village. Those poor ponies. They must be terrified.
Now that the dragons were gone, Sapphire felt more comfortable looking the village over. Heavy silence had befallen Buckington as if it were a dark cloud of despair. The only ponies left watching the scene were young foals, crying and clutching the legs of elderly ponies who Sapphire guessed were their grandparents. Some of the old ponies had to restrain the children from chasing after their parents into certain danger.
So, only the very young and the old were left behind. That figures… those cowards. I wish Spike was here, he’d know what to do.
For a moment, Sapphire considered going into the village to ask the remaining ponies if they knew where the dragons were taking the others or if they knew what the dragons were planning to do to with them, but walking right into a village that just got raided by a group of dragons hardly seemed like a smart idea when you WERE a dragon. Realizing there was nothing more to do; Sapphire picked herself up and began the flight back to her attic.
As she soared over Equestria’s lonely, quiet countryside, Sapphire puzzled for something she could do to help. She was only one dragon, after all, and had very few friends… except for Spike. Even though she hadn’t seen him for ten years, finding him and his friends was the best plan Sapphire could come up with. They could tell Princess Celestia what she’d just seen. Surely somepony as powerful as Celestia could help.
“Miss Sapphire!”
A young, panicked voice snapped the dragon from her thoughts. She shifted her focus on the forest below where she’d met Sunset Breeze that morning.
“MISS SAPPHIRE, WHERE ARE YOU?!”
Sapphire dove underneath the branches to look for the shouting filly hidden underneath them. “Is that you, Sunset? I’m right here!”
The sound of little hoofsteps came from behind the dragon, who twisted around to find Sunset Breeze galloping up to her. With no warning, the young pony slammed into Sapphire with all her weight and wrapped her forelegs around the dragon’s knees.
“Miss Sapphire, it was terrible!” Sunset’s voice was shaky and sobbing.
“Shhh…” Sapphire rubbed the filly’s back with her palm to calm her down. “It’s ok, Sunset. What happened?”
“It’s not okay! A bunch of mean dragons came, and they tied everypony up and they-they took my mom and dad!”
Sapphire felt her heart sink at those words. So the pegasi she saw WERE Sunset’s parents. Not knowing what else to do, the dragon crouched down and wrapped the filly in a hug, which the young pony quickly returned with one of her own. “I’m so sorry, Sunset.”
Sunset Breeze cried and sobbed into Sapphire’s chest, shivering all the while. Being a dragon, Sapphire could smell and almost taste the filly’s fear and regret. “Hey, c’mon, don’t do that. I’m sure they’re fine, and I know Princess Celestia wouldn’t let anything bad happen to them.”
Sunset looked up at Sapphire with her big, blue, tearful eyes. “You think so?” the filly asked with a big sniff.
“You can bet on it.”
“Well, what am I supposed to do until then?" Sunset Breeze glanced over her shoulder. "I’m too scared to go back to Buckington. What if those dragons come back?”
“Listen, you can come stay with me.”
With another sniff, Sunset wiped the tears from her face. “Can I?”
“As long as it takes for your mommy and daddy to come back. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Sunset hugged Sapphire again. “Thanks, miss Sapphire. I-I’m still a little scared, though. Where do you live?”
“Well, I can show you. And you’re welcome.”
As Sunset felt herself lifted from the ground by Sapphire, the filly couldn’t help but smile. Sometimes her mother would let her fly on her back, but this was the first time Sapphire took her flying. Instead of riding on the dragon’s back, she found herself simply being carried off by Sapphire’s strong front legs. Being held in Sapphire’s grip like that made Sunset feel safer.
Soon, a large cathedral came into view, though instead of landing and taking her through the front door, Sapphire flew in through the shattered attic window. It was dark and dusty up there, but Sunset felt a sense of security knowing she had someone strong like Sapphire there beside her.
The attic wasn’t much more than a large storage space, with only a few cardboard boxes scattered about the room, certainly no toys to play with. Sapphire smiled as she watched the little filly scamper about the attic, exploring every inch of its triangular shape and peering into each of the boxes on the floor. How cute. After a while, the dragon ignored Sunset, dropped to her belly and curled herself up to think.
“Hey, miss Sapphire!”
Before she even had a chance to consider what to do, Sapphire heard Sunset’s voice and watched the filly run up to her carrying a square piece of paper.
“What’s this picture of?”
Sunset showed the picture to Sapphire. It was the same picture Spike had sent her all those years ago when she was still a baby dragon. There she was, hugging Spike tightly and smiling.
“Oh, that was me and a… good friend of mine, a long time ago.”
“What happened to your friend?”
“I’m not sure. I haven’t seen him since then.”
“Do you want to see him again?”
Sapphire shut her eyes tight to block the pain of the memories of leaving him. “Yes, I would.”
“I’m sorry, miss Sapphire,” Sunset replied after seeing the pained look on her friend’s face. “I didn’t mean to make you remember sad stuff.”
“It’s ok, Sunset. Maybe we should just get some sleep. We’ll figure out what to do about your mom and dad tomorrow, ok?”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
The sunset had darkened further, lighting the attic with only a few subtle beams of dull orange light coming from the shattered window. Sapphire yawned and rested her neck against the floor. Soon after, Sunset crawled under the dragon’s right front leg for security and comfort. With a smile, Sapphire shut her eyes.