//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Love Keeps Dragon On: The Return of Sapphire // by The Lord Thunder //------------------------------// A half-ruined stone fortress loomed over several chain gangs of ponies as they labored about the courtyard of this stronghold, which belonged to the dragons who had kidnapped them the night before. This fort was a demonic-looking structure with black, jagged spires jutting from the top and gargoyle-like statues sitting on the corners of the battlements, watching over the courtyard and the ponies imprisoned within the eighty foot stone walls surrounding it. Autumn Gale stiffened her body, struggling to keep the chain gang moving under the weight of the box strapped to her back. The wooden crate was as tall as she was, and nearly as long. It had been filled full of rocks, chips of stone and other raw materials she and the other ponies in her chain gang had been forced to gather since sunrise. Weariness from the lack of sleep had already bore into her muscles, but now the heat of the afternoon sun bore down on her with a fury that made her forced labor torturous enough in itself. The pegasus wiped the sweat from her forehead and sighed, squinting her tired eyes to shield them from the unforgiving sunlight. The dark dragons surrounding the chain gang of ponies wouldn’t allow any of them to slow down. Autumn continued following the ponies in front of her towards the half-ruined fortress where these dragons made their base. That would explain the need for rocks and stone to rebuild the stronghold. It had been less than twenty-four hours since the dragons enslaved her and her fellow villagers, yet Autumn already hated them, mostly for the fact they took her from her young daughter, Sunset Breeze. “Come on, move it!” a dragon holding a spear barked to the sleepy-eyed ponies. “This fortress isn’t going to rebuild itself!” A unicorn stallion in front of Autumn Gale panted from exhaustion as he looked to the dragon. “We haven’t slept since you took us from our village last night. We’re all exhausted. At least allow us some rest.” “Rest? Ha! It’s only been a day. We dragons can go weeks without sleep, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll learn to do the same.” “It’s not a matter of ‘learning’. Our bodies aren’t made for going that long.” “Yeah, whatever, keep moving, and if I hear another complaint out of you, you’ll WISH you were back here carrying boxes!” “Oh, Cypherus, do try to be a bit more civil.” A dragon clearly different from the rest walked up to the guard, forepaws cupped behind his back. This dragon was a bit taller and buffer than the others. The gold W-shaped belt around his waist distinguished him as what Autumn guessed was some sort of higher authority. An eye patch covered his right eye. His left eye was a blood shade of red that seemed to glow with malice. “These ponies are our honored guests, after all.” The smaller dragon gave a salute and instantly moved out of the way for his apparent commander to address his “guests.” “Well, hello there, my little ponies! How are you enjoying your stay at my humble abode?” “You’re in charge here?” Autumn heard one mare ask. “Just who in Celestia’s name are you?” “General Zog, at your service.” The self-proclaimed general wrapped one arm across his chest, bowing with what Autumn could sense was an act of mocking politeness. “You won’t get away with this,” the unicorn ahead of her shouted. “Once Celestia finds out what you’ve done, you’re all finished.” “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, my dear guest. Your beloved princess has no dominion here.” She’d struggled to remain quiet to avoid any conflict, but the insult on Princess Celestia left Autumn Gale unable to hold her tongue any longer. “Funny to hear YOU talk about dominions! YOU invaded US!” “Aw, isn’t that cute? Look at the little pegasus!” Zog grabbed her wing and tugged on it in a sardonic fashion. “Look at these little wings. Hardly worthy of being called wings, if you ask me.” Zog’s wings spread wide as he released the pegasus bearing three Fall leaves on her flank. As a filly, she’d won a Running of the Leaves competition and earned the multi-colored leaves as her cutie mark. A pointy-tooth grin appeared on Zog’s face as he beat his wings violently. This kicked up enough dust for Autumn to turn her head and shut her eyes to block out the debris. The wind died as Zog folded his wings against his back once more. A lock of Autumn’s mane dropped in front of her left eye, which she quickly brushed back in place. “You see? THESE are REAL wings. Yours are nothing but little feather dusters. Know your place before you make such haughty statements.” “What are you going to do with us, anyway?” Autumn lowered her voice to a dangerous tone. Curling her lip, she blew her brown and red mane out of her eye. “Use us as your slaves and then dispose of us once we’re no longer any use to you? Yeah, real brave. For how strong you dragons are supposed to be, here you are picking on ponies. That’s real tough.” “I think you’ll find that we didn’t bring you here to harm you, but to give you a sort of educational opportunity.” Zog cupped his paws behind his back as he paced down the line of ponies. His calm demeanor and air of false sincerity sent a chill of apprehension up Autumn’s spine. “You see, this world works by a certain pecking order. At the top of that order is us. We are the most powerful and feared breed of dragons: the shadow dragons. Beneath us lie all the ordinary peasant dragons. Then comes the upper tier of other intelligent creatures: minotaurs, griffons, what have you. I’m afraid the lower tier contains creatures such as mules, cattle and of course, you ponies. Therefore you exist to serve those higher than you. Namely, us. This is how the world works.” Glaring, Autumn bit her tongue to fight down a retort. Obviously this Zog was some sort of lunatic. Autumn could sense it in his phony civility. His followers weren’t any better, either. What struck her as odd was the dragons guarding the courtyard were all much smaller than normal dragons, about six feet tall. However, the dark dragons circling the fortress like a flock of buzzards were the enormous, normal-sized sort. A shadow engulfed Autumn, snapping her attention back to reality. Zog had stopped his pacing in front of her, claws still cupped behind his back. She didn’t know what was behind that eye patch; but the ruby glare of his remaining eye was bad enough by itself. “What’s the matter, little pegasus? Have you run out of rude remarks about my hospitality? If that is the case, then you may return to your duties. Otherwise we can continue our current course towards its natural conclusion, but if you enjoy being among the living I suggest you don’t let it get that far. Do we have an understanding?” All the ponies in that chain gang remained silent from a mix of fear, anger and disbelief. “As I thought. Cypherus, continue to keep watch on these ponies. Just remember, they’re not to be harmed. After all, ponies who can’t work aren’t of much use to us, are they?” Cypherus gave a salute. “Sir!” After Zog walked off to address another chain gang at the other side of the courtyard, the smaller shadow dragon turned back to Autumn and the rest of the ponies connected to her chain. “You heard him, get back to work.” They have no idea who they're messing with. I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when Celestia comes here and shows them what it’s like to be invaded Autumn thought to herself. As she kept the chain going, she turned her sights to the humongous dragons overhead. An escape would be tough, if not impossible. She knew the only hope for the ponies of Buckington would be if Celestia had learned of the shadow dragons’ plot and staged a rescue. Please, Celestia, help us…