Chapter 7
The Drafernicus Relic
Rainbow Dash had to keep one claw on her pith helmet to keep it from being snatched off by the wind. Designed with a pegasus in mind, it was fit poorly on the courageous dragoness. Her other claw cradled the fiery relic tightly against her chest. She could see Everfree passing by far below. Countless wonders were lost within those dark woods. The relic would not be one of them. She tightened her grip on it and swooped down to get a better look. The Everfree Forest’s dark paths and whispered legends called out to the courageous of heart, offering adventure and glory to anypony daring enough to cross into its foreboding domain. The siren song sang true to the blue dragon, but the call of duty roared louder.
Dash banked sharply, using her draconic tail as a rudder to twist her trajectory toward Sweet Apple Acres. A second later and she would have missed the little flicker of orange and white through the canopy. Wings flared and she came to an abrupt halt, hanging still in the air. A terrified scream reached her ears. Her mind raced, heart pounding. She held the relic up and looked into its prismatic flames. What would it mean for her friends if the relic were lost? What would it mean for those below if she went on her way?
“I’m coming!” she shouted, already diving toward bleak forest. With her precious cargo tucked tightly against her side, the blue dragon hurtled earthward, rolling slowly to search through the gaps in the dark and foreboding canopy. She tucked her wings tight against her back and picked up speed, the wind raging past her ear-fins. Like an avenging thunderbolt she lanced through the treacherous canopy, sinister trees clawing at her face, her chest, trying to pry the relic from her grasp, but the intrepid Daring Do would not give it up. Her wings snapped open at the last possible instant and she hurtled a mere claw’s length off the forest floor, bleeding her momentum. There in the dark Daring Do found her friends, dragons all, fleeing a terror that lurked in the emerald gloom beyond. She whistled past them so quickly as to not be recognized, turned skyward and stalled, dropping lightly onto her powerful hind claws to face the mighty beast.
“Why don’t you pick on somepony your own size!” Daring Do shouted up in defiance. She was a mere speck in comparison, a tiny bit of blue before a veritable mountain of oak and pine. The timberwolf lumbered to a halt, confounded by its unyielding prey. Venom drooled from its oaken jaws as it clawed up the ground, snarling at the immutable blue insect before it.
“He’s ten times yer size!” Applejack called from behind.
“Applejack?!” Daring shot her a warning look. “I’m trying to be heroic here!”
“Dash? Is that you?” Applejack said as she hurried to the blue dragon’s side.
The once-pegasus lifted her pith helmet. “Daring Do, at your service,” she announced. She bowed with a flourish, spreading her leathery wings.
“Look out!” Applejack shouted.
“Huh?” Daring looked up far too late. The timberwolf swiped, plucking her from the ground like an errant weed. “Let me down!” she protested, claws scrabbling at the monster’s wooden limb as she struggled desperately for her freedom.
Applejack’s powerful bulk was a striking presence of bright orange against the earthen tones of the forest as she snarled up at the arboreal nightmare. . Her tail cracked again the timberwolf’s paw like a whip, splintering its armor and scattering it through the murky underbrush. The timberwolf roared in fury, rearing up on its haunches to swat at its adversary with Dash still tightly checked in its vice-like grip.
Squirming and clawing, the blue dragon found herself no closer to freedom. If only she had still been a pegasus she could have slipped so easily from its clumsy grasp. But she was not; she was a dragon. Inspiration sparkled in her mischievous eyes. She took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and roared. Lightning crackled in her throat and forked from her tongue, lancing into the monster’s face. Its head twitched wildly as lightning crawled across its face leaving charred trails in its white-hot wake. The monster weakened, and the former pegasus seized the advantaged. She slipped deftly from its gnarled claw and strafed along its back, spraying crackling white lightning everywhere. The timberwolf bolted for cover and was not pursued.
“You alright Rainbow Dash?” Applejack called up to her.
The blue dragon didn’t answer at first. With hawk-like intensity, her eyes searched the forest floor until she found it; the little bowl of colorful flames, resting against the trunk of a tree. “Yeah I’m fine,” she said, almost an afterthought as she descended on the precious artifact.
Applejack plodded over. “What’s that...?” she asked, peering into the fiery myriad of color.
Dash was giddy. “A Drafernicus Relic,” she exclaimed. “Real live dragon magic!”
“Did Twilight give you that?”
Dash nodded, tucking it back against her chest as she lifted into the air. “I have to deliver it to her at Sweet Apple Acres!”
Applejack looked down the path toward home. Rarity and the young’uns were well out of sight by then. Likely almost to the eastern orchard, she figured. “Go on ahead Rainbow Dash, Ah’ll catch up.”
Dash was giving her a quizzical look. “Wait. Why are you out here anyway?”
“It’s kind of a long story Rainbow...” a weary Applejack answered.
Dash sank back to the earth, crossing her arms over her chest. “Start talkin’.”
Applejack groaned. “Fine. Sweetie Belle got turned into a dragon and she went looking for Fluttershy because Fluttershy ran away because she was a dragon too and Sweetie Belle couldn’t find her so she went to find her friends and they all went running into Everfree Forest because they thought Zecora could fix them up.”
Dash narrowed her eyes. “That doesn’t make any sense!”
Applejack huffed, puffing a bit of smoke out from the corners of her mouth. “Ah know,” she drawled plaintively. “Now if that’s a cure we should get it to Twilight now and be done with all this mess.”
“Right!” Dash leaped back into the air and was off like a shot, weaving between trees at death-defying speeds. In her mind she could see Daring Do, caught up in the relic’s spell. A sandy-scaled dragon racing through the dark Everfree Forest with a horde of monstrous nightmares on her tail. “They’ll never catch me...”
Dash had the entire flight to Sweet Apple Acres to consider the many and varied ways she could make her entrance, but no amount of planning could have prepared her for the sight that lay waiting over the last ridge. Hundreds of dragons milled about in the orchards and in front of the old red barn. They were gathered in little clusters, talking and playing. Little gouts of colorful flame rose from the crowds as new dragons tested their fiery talents.
Dash finally came across her friends and swooped down for a landing, her flashy entrance routine long-forgotten. “You guys really went all out...” she said numbly.
Twilight shrugged and then took the relic from the former pegasus’ claw. “Of course we did,” she said. “We had to evacuate all of Ponyville to stop the contagion from spreading.”
“Yeah...” Dash said distantly, turning a slow circle to take it all in. Many of the nearby trees had been converted to crystal fruits. A dragonized Big Mac lead a small team gathering them up into bushels. Beneath a colorful tent, Cheerilee watched over the newly scaled young of Ponyville.
“Isn’t it neat?” Pinkie Pie cheered as she bounced in a circle around Twilight. The former unicorn had her spellbook open on a little podium. “Twilight’s gonna fix it all though. Isn’t that right?”
Spike was perched on Twilight’s shoulder “You bet!” he said, giving Pinkie a thumbs up. She promptly halted in her tracks and immediately started fumbling with her new digits, trying to replicate the young dragon’s gesture. Pinkie’s task was quickly abandoned when Twilight lifted the relic up and the colorful flames caught her eye. The pink dragon leaned way over the podium to get a better look, nearly collapsing it beneath her weight.
“Careful Pinkie!” Twilight scolded. She cradled the bowl away from her reckless friend to protect it..
Pinkie grinned. “It’s so pretty! How does it work?”
Twilight smiled brightly. “I’m glad you asked! You see--”
“Oh! I know this one!” Dash interrupted. “Each color is a different type of dragon magic. Dragon spells are cast with fire, so the different colors are sort of like building blocks. You combine little spells to make big spells!” Dash tossed her hands up, wiggling her fingers as though sprinkling magic dust over the bowl.
Twilight looked up from her work in surprise. “That’s... well that’s right,” she said. “You’ve been studying I see.”
Dash beamed with pride and puffed her chest out a bit. “Well duh!”
“Okay I think we’re ready to get started!” Twilight announced. Yet she was still thumbing through the pages of her spellbook.
“That’s great Twilight, really,” Applejack said, sauntering up.
“Hey you made it!” Dash remarked.
Applejack shot her a look. “Course I did,” she said. “Takes more than a timberwolf to stop me from gettin’ home.”
A wide-eyed Twilight looked up at her. “There were timberwolves?”
“Not in Sweet Apple Acres,” Applejack said, putting her mind at ease. “Now let’s get this started. The sooner we clean up this mess the better. Granny Smith hasn’t let a soul into the house, and Winona’s been barkin’ at Big Mac since the sun came up. Poor thing’s nearly lost her voice.”
Dash looked up the hillside where Applejack’s dog gave chaster after Big Mac, now resorting to a halfhearted growl any time the red dragon looked down at her. He shook his head in dismay and went back to his work.
“Stand back everypony, this is about to get fiery!” Twilight announced, holding the bowl above her head.
“Wait, what?” Dash said, eyes widening.
Twilight glanced back down at her book, then took a deep breath.
“Uh... Twilight...? You’re not gonna...”
But it was too late for words. Twilight drew on the glowing magic in the bowl, making the flames flicker and dance before Rainbow Dash’s horrified eyes as the lavender courted disaster. Dash did the only thing she could-- she sprang. Cyan and purple blurred into one as the ex-pegasus tackled her friend, sending them both tumbling off the podium. The unicorn-dragon choked violet embers into Dash’s face as the wind was knocked from her lungs. Dash was back on her feet in a fraction of a second. A desperate counter-lunge brought her beneath the skyward bowl and she caught it inches off the ground, saving it from being reduced to a heap of colorful-burning shards.
“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack barked, clawing at the ground. “Are you crazy?!”
Twilight just wheezed as she struggled to rise to all fours.
“Me?!” Dash yelped, pointing to her chest. “Twilight’s the crazy one! She almost turned herself to stone!”
Twilight had regained her composure enough to snatch the fiery bowl back from Rainbow Dash. “I was not! The book said fire to fire.”
Dash was nodding along. “Yeah, for dragon magic! Not for a Drafernicus Relic!”
Twilight arched her brow. “A what?”
Dash looked around and found that all eyes were on her. “What? It’s a Drafernicus Relic,” she pointed at the artifact now clutched firmly in Twilight’s hand. Blank looks surrounded her in the gathering crowd. She heaved a sigh of frustration.
“Go on...” Applejack prompted.
Dash looked back and forth between them and warily began. “It’s a dragon relic. From thousands of years ago. There was this tribe of ancient diamond dogs right? And they stole this gem. A heart gem. They were special to the dragons. The dragons buried them with their kings when they died. Well the diamond dogs got one, and the dragon king was really angry about it and demanded it be returned. But the diamond dogs’ chief wanted something in return. Dragon magic! So the dragon king’s magician hatched a plan: he crafted the Drafernicus Relic. And when the diamond dogs’ chief set fire to it, it turned his entire body to stone, and he would remain that way until the heart gem was returned. Unfortunately the chief’s son didn’t know this, and said the gem had brought a curse upon their tribe, so he threw it into a river that ran deep into the ground, and the diamond dogs must toil through the centuries to find it and restore their ancient ruler to his throne.”
More blank stares. Pinkie was slack-jawed and bleary-eyed Twilight looked as though she’d just been woken in the middle of the night. Applejack’s snout was scrunched up as though someone had suggested she switch to oranges.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Dash asked, taking a nervous step back.
Applejack was the first to speak up. “Uh, Dash? Where’d you hear all that?”
The blue dragon glared at her skeptics, pointing an accusatory claw. “Hey you asked! It’s from Daring Do. The new book came out last month: Daring Do and the Dragon’s Curse.”
Her announcement was met with a chorus of groans. Applejack shook her head and buried her face in her palm, peering between her fingers at Dash. The pegasus-dragon simply fumed.
“Dash... That’s just a book you know,” Twilight said gently.
“What? I know that. That’s from the book,” Dash pointed an accusatory talon at the relic.
Twilight looked down at it for a moment. “Well it’s probably similar,” she admitted.
“No, it’s from the book,” Dash insisted, growing visibly agitated. “It’s the Drafernicus Relic. I thought it looked cool so I ordered one from a catalog I found in the library. I didn’t think it would actually work. How was I supposed to know?”
Twilight looked visibly shaken. “What kind of catalog?” Applejack asked, looking from the magician to the former-pegasus.
Dash scratched her chin and shrugged her wings. “Magic Monthly or something like that. There was all kinds of cool stuff in there. So I ordered a few things and had them sent to the library.”
“You did WHAT?! Twilight shouted.
“I have everything sent there,” Dash explained. “Somepony keeps trying to leave packages on my front porch.”
Derpy waved from the crowd, her daughter was huddled against her side. “Delivery to the door!” she called cheerfully.
“It’s made of clouds! They fall right through!” Dash shot back. Derpy blushed and shied away.
“Dash! Dash that’s a REAL magic catalog! Those aren’t decorations!”
“Oops.”
“Oh! Oooh! Next time I want to order something!” Pinkie shouted, dancing back and forth on her hindpaws.
Twilight groaned. “Okay Dash, how does it work in the book?” she held out the Drafernicus Relic. Dash took a deep breath, and blew the fires out.