//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Love Keeps Dragon On: The Return of Sapphire // by The Lord Thunder //------------------------------// Spike could feel Sapphire shaking and almost sense her anxiety as he took her paw in his. It was understandable she'd be emotional. Although she was from the mountains beyond the Crystal Kingdom, she'd visited the Dragonlands once when she and her parents joined the Great Migration. She told Spike the stories about how the other dragons would tease her and beat her up and even steal from her. Her life after returning to the mountains hadn't fared much better. Sparsely populated, cold and lonely. Nothing like Equestria. Things only got worse when her parents died in a massive avalanche. That was when she returned to Equestria and found the old church where she now made her home. Rocky spires of varying height surrounded Spike and Sapphire with shades of brown and gray. This dreary, barren landscape was a harsh change from the lush greenery of Equestria. Instead of the pleasant smell of grass and flowers, the pungent stench of sulfur from surrounding volcanoes hung in the air. Every once in a while, the harsh cry of a dragon's roar would pierce the silence. “I'd say we're here,” Spike said. "Yeah, we are. The Dragonlands. I'd hoped I'd never have to come back here again." Sapphire's shoulders rose as she drew a long breath through her mouth and let it escape out her nose. "Let's hurry up and get this over with.” The ice dragon turned to look Spike in the eye. “How are we supposed to find a small group of ponies? This country is huge.” “Easy. We just have to find the nearest settlement and gather some intel.” “So you're saying we should just go around asking every dragon we come across if they've seen a group of ponies being brought through?” “Exactly.” Sapphire smiled, patting her old friend on the shoulder. “I like your thinking, Spike.” Little was said as the duo continued their journey, looking for a town of dragons within the series of cliffs and mountains. Spike was too nervous to say much. Everything looked the same in the Dragonlands; there were no landmarks, nothing that stood out as unusual. It was the same dreary, depressing landscape all around. He also knew their mission would be a dangerous one. How were two teenage dragons supposed to free an entire village of ponies from the clutches of many adult dragons? An enormous shadow loomed over the teenage dragons, prompting Spike to look up and shiver at the sight of a full-grown dragon flying overhead. The monstrous size of the creature was terrifying enough, but Spike also knew they'd soon be facing an entire legion of these beasts. Did they even have a chance? “Hey, Spike, look over there.” Sapphire's voice pulled Spike away from his thoughts. She was pointing at a tall cliff several miles to their right. “There's a dragon town! Let's ask around there.” From a distance, the caves in the face of the cliffs that made this dragon town looked like holes in a block of cheese. Even from that distance, Spike could plainly see the sheer size of the reptiles as they went in and out of the caves not unlike hornets busily working about their nest. Slopes and wide ledges connected the caves from the bottom of the cliff all the way to the top of the mountain hundreds of feet high. One yellow dragon emerged from his lair at the foot of the mountain just as the teenage couple arrived at the town. Spike pointed a claw at him to attract his attention. “Excuse me, have you seen-?” “Outta my way, kid,” the older dragon barked. Without another word he beat his powerful wings and burst into the air. Spike and Sapphire both covered their eyes with their arms to shield them from the dust the sudden wind kicked up. “Well that was rude,” Sapphire said dryly once the dust settled and the yellow dragon was out of sight. “I think,” Spike paused to cough up a bit of dirt he'd accidentally swallowed, “this might take a while.” “Doesn't mean I'm going to give up.” Spike followed beside Sapphire as she made her way up the slope that connected the ground to the second level of caverns. A red dragon nearly knocked them off the cliff as he emerged from a cave and streaked over head. One green dragon almost trampled them under his gargantuan forelegs as he walked about the wide ledge that connected the caverns to one another, then just about knocked them aside with his long, snaking tail. “Jeez!” Spike yelled as he ducked under the arrow-tipped limb. “If the dragons who aren't actually trying to kill us are almost killing us, what will it be like when we're facing the dragons who WILL be trying to kill us?!” “I...” Sapphire paused to swallow a nervous knot in her throat Spike's implication created. “Don't really want to think about that. Here, maybe we'll be safer inside the caves.” In contrast to what Spike had originally thought, these weren't just individual caves, but a series of branching tunnels and living quarters; an entire network of linking caves. It reminded Spike of an ant colony. These caves were dark and damp, but not as cold as Spike had expected caves to be, perhaps due to this being a volcanic region. Dragons did have an affinity for heat, after all. "I haven't seen you kids around here before.” A deep, gravelly voice seemed to shake the walls and floor of the tunnel Spike and Sapphire now found themselves in. A male blue dragon towered over them on all fours. "We're just passing through," Spike answered. A pang of fear shot up his spine from the sheer size of the blue dragon. "So you're traveling?" "You might say that," Sapphire added. The blue dragon lowered his head so he could speak one-on-two with the teenagers. "Let me give you a piece of advice: don't act too suspicious. Word is Zog's locking up any dragon he thinks might be so much as a remote threat. If you look like you're snooping around he might think you're planning something.” The dragon suddenly straightened his body and twisted his neck as if he were looking for something. After a few seconds of this, he leaned back in to continue his conversation with the younger dragons. “By Draco, I shouldn't even be telling you this. One of his lackeys could be listening in on us right now for all we know." “Oh, ok, thanks for the advice,” Sapphire answered. “You wouldn't happen to have seen a group of ponies being lead through this area, have you?” Blue shook his head. “I'm afraid I have not. Don't have much interest in ponies, anyway. They don't even taste good.” “Thanks for your time, we gotta get going, bye!” Spike's voice came out fast, panicky as he dragged Sapphire back outside onto the ledge of the mountain. “What was that all about?” she asked him. “Um, given our current mission I really don't want to think about... ponies getting eaten by dragons.” Sapphire shivered at the sudden notion. What would she tell Sunset if her mother had been eaten by those... no! This wasn't the time to think about that sort of thing. “Well, he did say ponies DIDN'T taste good, so I'm sure they haven't eaten them.” “Yeah, you're right.” Spike turned his sights skyward again, observing the rest of the caves they could explore. There had to be ONE dragon here who saw the ponies being led through. Beating his wings, Spike leaped into the air, followed by Sapphire as he made his way up to the third tier walkway. After landing, he remembered what the blue dragon mentioned: don't act suspicious. Bearing that in mind, Spike whistled as he meandered about, looking for another dragon to question. "Be careful, kid. Don't let the wrong dragon hear you whistling. It's against Zog's rules." Spike twisted around to find that another yellow dragon with brown speckles on his scalese. “What kind of jerk would want to outlaw whistling?” Sapphire asked, cocking her head in perplexity. Zog. The blue dragon had mentioned the same name. Clearly whoever he was, he was up to no good, which Spike realized may or may not have included enslaving a village of ponies. "Ok, who is this Zog character?" "Have you been living under a rock for the last year, boy?” The yellow dragon narrowed his red, slitted eyes. “He staged a coup with a gang of dark dragons and practically took over the Dragonlands by himself. The dragons who've defied him have all either wound up dead or as his slaves." Sapphire's eyes brightened at this new bit of information as she turned to her boyfriend. "Spike, I'll bet he's the one who kidnapped all those ponies!" “You're probably right.” Spike averted his gaze from Sapphire and turned back to the adult yellow. “Do you know where we can find Zog?” "Do yourselves a favor.” The yellow dragon shook his wedge-shaped head to dismiss Spike's idea. “If you have any concern for your young lives, you'd do well to avoid him. He's incredibly dangerous even by the highest standards of the dragon race." “We'll be careful.” “It won't do you any good. All you'll do is anger him. Word is, him and his followers are Shadow Dragons.” A fierce shot of dread worked its way from the tip of Sapphire's horns all the way down to her toes, which tingled uncomfortably from the sensation. “Sh-shadow?” The yellow drake watched Sapphire's pupils shrink at the mention of that particular clan of dragons. “So, you've heard of them. Remarkable that one as young as you has.” “Yeah. My parents used to tell me stories, but I thought they didn't exist anymore.” “It seems they've returned, and since you've heard of them you understand the gravity of the situation, and why you can't win?” Spike had picked up on the vibe of Sapphire's fear. He took in a slow, nervous breath himself to calm his nerves. “Sapphire, what's going on?” “Eons ago, Shadow Dragons ruled this country,” the large yellow dragon explained. “All other dragons lived under their oppressive rule. Any dragon who opposed them was killed without hesitation.” Spike tilted his head in a questioning fashion. “How could ONE dragon take over the Dragonlands by himself?” “Just that; they say he's a Shadow Dragon. They were said to be the most powerful breed of dragon to ever exist. No rivals were even close to their strength. Except maybe an alicorn.” “Ok,” Sapphire took in a deep breath of courage to compose herself. Her parents had warned her about Shadow Dragons. They'd always told her if she ever came across one not to even THINK about fighting it. Not even in self-defense. “I'll ask once more. Where can we find Zog?” The yellow dragon shrugged. “Fine. You want to risk your lives over a bunch of ponies, it's no scales off my back. Don't say I didn't warn you.” A huge yellow paw pointed to the north, far past the current mountain range. Shrouded in the fog of the valley far below, almost a dragon's entire eyesight away, was a fortress that looked small from that distance. “You see that fort? That's where he makes his base. Good luck getting in there, though. I will pray to Draco that you succeed. Not because I care about your pony friends, but because Zog has been a blight on all of us for too long. It's about time someone stuck it to him.” Sapphire gazed hard for a while at the fortress almost out of sight, contemplating the risks of the situation. Of course, they couldn't be any ordinary dragons, they had to be SHADOW dragons. The ice dragon had been ill-prepared to face that reality when she left Equestria. “What are you thinking right now, Saph?” Spike asked. He wrapped his arm around hers and entwined their tails together. Behind them, the adult yellow took to the air and went about his business. “Um... I...” Sapphire stammered. She did her best to shake away her fear and swallow her dread. “I'm still going. I made a promise, and I have to keep it. You know, Dragoncode and all.” “I was afraid you'd say that.” Spike scratched the back of his head in contemplation. Part of him wanted to just run back to Equestria as fast as he could and get Celestia and Luna to deal with the situation. Another part of him wanted to do what ever he could to help Sapphire, even if it meant risking his life. “I guess that means I gotta come with, huh?” Finally, a smile spread across Sapphire's face. With no warning, she wrapped Spike in a hug, half out of affection and half to calm her tingling nerves. “Thanks, Spike. You're the best.”