//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Love Keeps Dragon On: The Return of Sapphire // by The Lord Thunder //------------------------------// Sapphire spent the morning catching animals for her breakfast, though she hardly had the appetite for more than a couple small birds or rodents. Her mind was still wrapped around the events she’d seen yesterday and what she could do to help, especially for little Sunset. The filly had gone a separate way to pick some more berries on the promise she wouldn’t go too far from Sapphire. The dragon’s jaws snapped down on her third bird of the morning, which she downed with a satisfied gulp. As good as it felt to get some food in her stomach; the dragon was still troubled with constant mental images of dragons orchestrating a full invasion of Equestria. It seemed unlikely that the dragons would be satisfied picking on one tiny pony village, but Sapphire hoped her images were merely the result of worry and not a premonition. “HEEELP!!! SOMEPONY HELP ME!!!” A shrill voice pierced the silence of the forest to snap Sapphire out of her thoughts. The fins on her head perked up. That sounded like Sunset! She darted back through the trees until she came upon the spot where she and Sunset had split up. Crouched behind a pair of short trees, Sapphire pulled the branches back to see Sunset Breeze, her eyes wide with fear. Three dark dragons had her cornered against the bark of a humongous oak. “She bit me!” one of the dragons shouted, reeling away from the filly and shaking his forepaw. Sapphire watched Sunset rise in the hands of another dragon, who quickly yelped and dropped the young pony, holding his leg. “Owww! My shin!” “Feisty little brat,” said the third dragon. “That’s good, means she’ll serve us well.” Sapphire inched her way under the branches, careful not to alert the other dragons to her presence. She especially didn’t want Sunset to spot her; the filly would undoubtedly call out the name of her dragon friend upon seeing her and thus foil her attempt at a discreet rescue. Once clear of the branches, Sapphire sighed in relief. The black dragons still had their backs turned. Sapphire drew in a long breath of air to prepare her ice breath, but had no time to release it before a child’s voice rang through the woods. “MISS SAPPHIRE! HELP ME!” Hearing this, the three black dragons snapped around and oriented on their blue intruder. For a couple seconds, Sapphire cursed Sunset’s outburst, but the terror in the filly’s voice assured the ice dragon she was doing the right thing. “Huh? Where’d she come from? Get her!” one of the three dark dragons shouted. A blast of harsh cold spewed from Sapphire’s mouth, encasing the dark dragon on point in a thick blanket of frost. Icicles dangled from his chin and arms. This distraction opened a large window of time that allowed a previously unseen fourth dragon to dive through the branches, scoop Sunset in his arms and vanish above the trees once again. The other dragons turned their attention away from Sapphire and followed the foalnapper through the branches. Sapphire wasn’t about to let them get away with it. Not this time. After a deep breath to collect her resolve, she beat her wings and burst through the top of the trees after the quartet of foalnappers. Taking point was a purple dragon who held Sunset Breeze firmly in his forelimbs. The two remaining dark dragons flanked each other behind him. They seemed to give little concern for their frozen comrade, which struck Sapphire as typical dragon behavior. Why is the lead dragon purple when the rest of them were black? Sapphire thought to herself, still in hot pursuit. And why does he look familiar? Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Sapphire convinced herself it didn’t matter who these dragons were; she wouldn’t let them hurt Sunset. Concentrating, she formed a thick ball of ice in her right hand until the frozen orb was ten inches in diameter. Sapphire ascended to position herself for a clear shot at one of the dark dragons. Several yards above the foalnappers, Sapphire took aim and hurled her projectile at the dark dragon on the left. The ball of ice bounced off the top of the dragon’s skull and sent him spiraling to the ground. That’s one down. The dragon on point looked over his shoulder to find that one of his comrades had fallen, and dove back through the leaves. The remaining dark dragon dove after him, followed by Sapphire holding the rear. Branches scratched at Sapphire’s face and pulled her hair as she glided through the trees, but the ice dragon kept after Sunset’s foalnappers, weaving her way around branches and dodging tree trunks. Sapphire judged the lead dragon was having just as much trouble as she was, as he spread his wings and shot upwards above the trees. She followed the dark dragon after him. Free from the worry of dodging trunks and branches, Sapphire found another opportunity to cast a spell. She closed her eyes and concentrated, summoning a bluish frosty mist into her paws, A thick barrier of ice surrounded the remaining dark dragon, trapping him inside of it. The icy orb and its prisoner plummeted to the ground below. Sapphire groaned to herself. There was only one dragon left, the purple one holding Sunset. How was she going to bring him down without hurting the filly, too? Knocking him out of the air at that height would put Sunset in greater danger. Even though she was a pegasus, she was just an eight year old filly and likely couldn’t survive a fall from that height. The forest below had begun to fade out into an open, grassy field with only a few shrubs and bushes speckling the prairie. All the better for her, Sapphire thought. That wide open space would leave very few places for Sunset’s foalnapper to hide compared to a thick forest. Luck seemed to be on Sapphire’s side, for the purple dragon dove to the field below and landed on his feet. Sapphire watched from high above as his form squeezed itself into a shrub in the middle of the prairie. The ice dragon dove until she touched the ground and approached the purple dragon’s hiding spot. “I know you’re in that bush!” Sapphire shouted. Frosty air swirled around her claw as she prepared another ice spell. “Let that little girl go, now!” “What’s going on?” The purple dragon whispered to the little filly he’d rescued, panting from all the fast flying. “Do you know each other or something?” “Yeah, that’s my friend Sapphire!” “I’m not messing around here!” Sapphire yelled again as a result of the silence that answered her. “I’ll… I’ll hurt you if I have to!” “Did you say ‘Sapphire?” The purple dragon’s eyes widened as he ran his paw across the top of his head. “H-how do my spines look?” Sunset giggled at her benefactor’s odd behavior and jumped out of the bush to greet Sapphire with a smile. Sapphire had still been charging an ice spell, but let her arms down at the sight of the filly. The frosty mist surrounding her claws vanished. “Sunset! You’re ok!” “Well, sure! He’s actually not a bad dragon, and his name is Spike!” Sapphire felt her blood freeze at the mention of that name. “Spike?” Heart pounding and mouth agape in disbelief, Sapphire walked towards the bush Sunset had been hiding in. “Spike, is it really you?” The purple dragon who had snatched Sunset earlier crawled out from his hiding place, approached the icy blue dragon and stood face-to-face with her. For what seemed like minutes, the dragons locked eyes, fixated on each other. Ten years had passed since the last time they’d met. So much had changed about each of them. They were both much taller and had grown their wings in, but Sapphire couldn’t mistake the smile that spread across Spike’s face. She’d NEVER forget that smile. As Spike looked the blue dragon over, there was no doubt this was the Sapphire from all those years ago. Those big blue catlike eyes were as familiar as they were ten years ago. “Spike!” “Sapphire!” In an instant, the dragons wrapped their arms around each other and held each other close, hearts thumping. “Sapphire, I missed you so much.” “Oh, Spike, I missed you, too. At least a minute passed as the two dragons held each other and remained silent to allow the happiness of the moment to sink in. The last time they’d met ended with both of them crying tears of sorrow. Now, tears of happiness wet their faces.