//------------------------------// // Rage of Dragons // Story: Equestria's chain of conflicts // by Dranz_89 //------------------------------// The brown dragon growled at Moondancer, intimidating, and the ground around them seemed to growl along with him. Moondancer gulped, but she stood still between the dragons and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "You dare to oppose me? The mighty Tremor? I am the Dragon Lord of Earth, one of the six Dragon Lords of the Ancient Dragons!" the dragon did a strong stomp, opening the ground around the ponies, who struggled to keep their balance on the narrow grounds they had left, "ha ha ha! Feel the wrath of the earth, little ponies!" Moondancer's horn began to glow, as she began to levitate with the might of her own magic, three orbs began to float around her, and as she opened her glowing eyes, the orbs flew up to the sky, then a rain of light beams fell on the dragon's body, stunning him for a short momment, when Tremor recovered from Moondancer's attack, she already had her next spell ready, another five orbs floating behind her in a pentagonal formation joined their beams in front of Moondancer, who then used her horn to fire a massive beam of crimson light at Tremor, knocking him out. "Holy salamander cuttlefish!" Scootaloo expressed her shock, "she's really kicking the hay out of his tail!" "I never thought you had this kind of skills, Moondancer" Applebloom was also shocked. "Well, you know, Celestia's students are pretty good with magic" Moondancer humbly smiled back at the Crusaders. "Pretty good?! That was more than just pretty good!" Sweetie Belle gasped, a little scared, "that was astonishing! I don't recall Twilight doing that kind of magic spells ever before!" "How could this be?" Tremor got up on his feet again, looking really surprised, "where did you get this magic from? How can a little creature like you hold it?" "Magic it's not about size..." Moondancer answered, "It's about will power, a bunch of determination, and lots and lots of practice." Tremor, then, let go another roar, building towers made of earth, including the piece of ground the ponies were standing on, they were now on the top of one of the earth towers. As soon as the field ended changing its shape, the dragon appeared in front of them with his wings wide open, and crushing the towers with his tail, one by one. "Oh no!" Moondancer noticed the tower they were standing on was going to crumble, "we have to move, quick!" The ponies jumped from one tower to another, moving away from the crumbling ones, but they stopped when Tremor appeared on the other side, using the same trick. Moondancer desperately looked around, watching how the towers were crumbling, leaving no ground to stand on. She then noticed Scootaloo was flying, and quickly turned her sight towards the other ponies. "You..." she pointed her hoof at Sweetie Belle upon seeing that she was a unicorn, "what's your magic level?" "Who? Me?" Sweetie Belle also pointed herself with her front left hoof, "well, Twilight taught me some spells, and she said I'm level two." "Good! Then you must know the levitation spell, right? Do it! Now!" Sweetie Belle inmediately used her levitation spell shortly before Moondancer moved beside Applebloom and used her own levitation spell to lift Applebloom and herself, just before the tower they were standing on was crumbled down. "What?! Can the unicorns fly too?" the dragon was sure to win the battle, but Moondancer's quick thinking surprised him. "Now it's my turn!" Moondancer smiled at the dragon, confidently, before closing her eyes, and started floating as her horn began to glow again, the Sky Wanderer began to float behind them, aiming his guns toward Tremor. When Moondancer opened her glowing eyes again, the Sky Wanderer's cannons shot a powerful beam of light that covered Tremor's whole body, the earth came back to normal inmediately and Tremor crashed on the ground with a strong impact. "Is everypony alright?" Moondancer asked while landing. "You bet!" Scootaloo landed in front of her after doing a somersault, very excited, "wow! I don't know you guys, but you made Twilight look like a filly up there!" "Yeah!" Applebloom nodded, "how come she is called Princess Celestia's best student? You have showed us better magic in a couple of days, than her in her whole life in Ponyville!" "What?! No..." Moondancer giggled humbly, "I wish I was that good, I'm sure Twilight would have defeated Tremor in a single blow. But anyway, according to the general's plan we need the Sky Wanderer to escape with the princess. Can you repair it, Applebloom?" "Yeah, I could repair it" Applebloom nodded and began to think, "but with your awesome magic, I think we could even improve it!" Meanwhile in the southeast side of the crag, Applejack was in front of the red dragon that burned her home. The dragon was raging with fire endlessly, showing his power upon the pony. The heat was unbearable, and the dragon's fire just made it worse. "Behold the power of Ignis, the Dragon Lord of Fire, one of the six Dragon Lords of the Ancient Dragons!" "What's this? I thought all the dragons could throw fire." "Well... yes. But mine is more devastating!" "Well, that means you have nothing special from other dragons, right?" "Wrong! I am superior than other dragons!" "Oh yeah? Then show me what makes you so special, Ignis, the Dumb Dragon of Fire, one of the six Dumb Dragons from Dumbland!" "I thought you would never ask!" Ignis spread his wings, and flapped towards Applejack, throwing flames from his wings, Applejack jumped away avoiding the fire, but Ignis kept shooting fireballs at her. Applejack, then saw her chance to attack, charging at Ignis, but his tail knocked Applejack back and made her lose the hat on her head. "Ouch... I must find a weak point or I'll be a roast pony in no time" Applejack stood up rubbing her head, but the dragon let no time to react and threw even more fire at her, making Applejack throw herself aside to dodge it, she crawled to reach the back of the dragon. "OK, It's do or die! Yeehaw!" Applejack without hesitation jumped on the dragon's tail and began climbing on his back. "Oh you want a ride, huh?" The dragon spread his wings and lifted the flight with the pony on his back, flying around crag, making pirouettes and turns to make her fall, as Applejack was struggling to hold herself and climbing the dragon's back trying to get to the back of his head. When Applejack finally got on the dragon's nape, she made a strong stomp, knocking out the dragon, and making him fall on a field with rocks and boulders. "Whew..." Applejack climbed off the dragon, "that's gotta be the wildest rodeo ride I ever had." Applejack walked away a few steps, but Ignis got up and let go of the strongest roar he could, wrapped by his own fire, he charged at Applejack, who could barely avoid the attack. Wherever the dragon passed by, a trace of fire followed him, he drew a huge circle around the pony, leaving her with no escape. "It is time to end this, pony!" The dragon, then, made a wall of fire that was quickly approaching Applejack, who hid behind a boulder and avoided being burned. But the dragon kept flying at her and throwing fire balls. Applejack used the strength of her hind legs to kick the boulder and hit the dragon, making him fall again. Ignis got up, and began turning around at high speed, making a fire tornado, and slowly getting closer to her. Applejack, dessperately kept kicking boulders at him, but they only got in the tornado to be returned as meteors. Applejack dodged them but as the meteors exploded, she was thrown away. "Talk about backfire" Applejack hardly got up and gazed upon the tornado getting even closer, "alright...I didn't want it to come to this, but I guess I have no choice" "This is for the apple orchards!" she, then, stood on her two hind legs, and stomped the ground with her front legs, a large earth crack started opening in front of her and below Ignis. And after stomping stronger with her front legs a second time, the crack opened even more, until the dragon's tornado stopped and Ignis fell in the crack. "And that was for attacking the palace!" "You forgot I can fly, pony!" Ignis stopped his fall and began to fly to the surface. But Applejack stomped a third time, making the walls of the crack crumble down on him, until he was knocked out. The last thing Applejack heard from him was a long roar, as he fell to the bottom of the crack. "And that was for my hat!" Applejack, feeling tired, turned around and watched the crag where the princess was taken away, she remembered that the entrance cave was crumbled down and it was too tall for her to climb up, so she realised she was out of the combat for saving the princess, I know my friends will do it, she thougt. So she slowly trotted away towards the battlefield where both armies were fighting in the middle of the Badlands. On the north side of the crag, Pinkie Pie found the featherd snake. A huge green dragon, who was floating in front of her. It was strange, he had no wings, and yet, he was inexplicably floating on the air, not moving anywhere just floating and staring at the pink pony with calm eyes, so different from other dragons. "Oh, howdy!" Pinkie smiled and said, "what's your name?" The dragon brought his face closer to hers and said, "it is a courtesy to give your name, before asking another creature's name." "Silly me, that's right!" Pinkie giggled, "my name is Pinkie Pie." "I have had many names in my life, but the most common is Quetzalcóatl. They call me Quetzal, though." "That's so cool! Ok, listen, I really, really need to reach the princess, now. So, would you be so kind to let me pass please?" "I am very sorry, Pinkie Pie" he said, after a brief silent moment, "but my mission is to stop you. So please, I would appreciate if you just turn around and walk away. Sorry for wasting your precious time." "Well, like you, I have a mission too, wich is to save the princess. I can't just turn around and leave, please understand." "I understand very well, Pinkie Pie. I am afraid we have a problem. If you insist to advance, I will have to use my power to stop you. It is nothing personal. I would prefer if you just leave peacefully." "That's not good. That means I can use my own powers to advance. I'd really hate to do this with you, you seem very nice. I wish there was another way." "I agree, Pinkie Pie. I do not have any grudge against ponies, and it pains me I have to hurt the pony I have just befriended." "Oh, I consider you a friend too. Ok, let's be professionals, and no matter who wins, we'll still be friends, deal?" Pinkie offered her hoof to him, Quetzal rolled his tail around Pinkie's hoof, and gently shook it. Then, Pinkie turned around, and walked a few steps just to turn around again, facing at Quetzal, who was floating in front of her, preparing for the battle. Pinkie Pie made a few warm-up exercises and said, "alright, Quetzal. Shall we begin?" Upon hearing this, a strong wind began to blow Pinkie, making her crash to the wall behind her. Suddenly, Pinkie jumped out and fired a cannon at Quetzal. Quetzal, very surprised asked, "what is this? How did you...?" "Nuh-uh, this is my little secret!" Pinkie answered, with her cheerful voice. Quetzal's wind blew Pinkie away, but she took out an umbrella and use it to hover on the air. She reached a higher side of the crag, and used another cannon to shoot confetti balls at Quetzal. He, then, used his breath to blow Pinkie again, the wind was so strong that Pinkie's umbrella was turned inside out. But somehow, Pinkie Pie inflated herself like a balloon and hovered, landing on the crag again. "Now, that was close" said the pink pony, but suddenly Quetzal hit the crag's wall with his tail, making some rocks fall on Pinkie, leaving only a dust cloud. After a short pause, Quetzalcóatl sighed and thought to himself, I am sorry, Pinkie Pie. But as the dust faded away, Pinkie Pie appeared unharmed, and shot a firework from her cannon directly at the dragon's face. "What?!" The dragon widened his eyes as the fireworks exploded in his face, making him fall and crash on the ground. "You ok, Quetzey?" Pinkie peered down, until Quetzal showed up floating in front of her, his eyes were lost in wrath as the winds blew with rage, blowing Pinkie away again. A wind so strong and catastrophic, there was nothing Pinkie could do to save herself. When Pinkie Pie began to scream, Quetzal's eyes came back to normal, and the winds calmed down, as Pinkie began to fall. Quetzal used his winds, slowing Pinkie's fall, as Quetzal sucessfully caught her on his back. "Whew, thank you, Quetzal" Pinkie smiled at him once again. "This was not what I wanted, Pinkie Pie. I sincerely apologize. I will leave you alone if you want." "What do you mean? I don't want you to leave me alone, silly." "But I almost kill you." "Yes! But if it weren't for you, I would have become a Pinkie Pie tortilla down there. Besides, we made a deal, right?" "Yes... Yes, that is true. Then, how about I take you to the princess?" "Would you do that? But, considering what happened, I lost, didn't I?" "I do not care that, now. This war sickens me, to be honest. If dragons win this battle, we will proceed to take over the land, but if we lose, I am sure, your princess is powerful enough to end it right now." "So you don't want to live in Equestria anymore?" "I never wanted to. Dragons lived in this land ruled by the great Draconequus. We had food, yes, but everydragon fought among themselves, we were selfish and arrogant, it was not exactly a happy life. When the ponies came, two young mares swallowed their fears, and used their magic to turn the Draconequus into stone. Then, our land was conquered, and we were banished to live in caves and mountains. But still, I liked that way of life better. For once, we were looking after each other. We shared the food, shared the shelter, we were not free as before, but we were finally a brotherhood of dragons. However, Skyclaw did never forgive, and he did never forget."