I sure you've all been somewhat eager to see this chapter and I hope I don’t disappoint. After all this necessary but rather dull exposition, how about a chapter practically dedicated to two dragons who can kick a$$ in any world.
Chapter Ten: Rise of the Dragons Part 2
Upon first look, one might have said that they hadn't seen an army that large before. However, Spyro and Cynder had both seen far larger. It was the truth in this case, as the army that they saw was not as large as the one that attacked Warfang, but was still larger than the one that attempted to raid the cheetah village.
With a bird’s eye view, the two dragons saw that the army consisted of mostly the plant-like Grublins, with about a third of them being the wing variety. The rest were an odd assortment of orcs, bowman orcs, and their hero variety. However, In the middle of the army stood a single troll whose size was easily able to dwarf his comrades. All in all it was an army that looked more like it was prepared to take over a city rather than ransack a small village. Luckily, the two dragons didn't see any wyverns, so they at least had the advantage of the skies. Also, at the moment, no one was aware of their presence so they still had surprise on their side.
On the other side of the battle line stood the five ponies that Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx had met during their first visit here. They were joined by a sixth pony, a pegasus with a blue coat and a rainbow-colored mane. Although hard to tell from this height, it was clear that those six weren't going to let this army get into town. However, with the odds at six to somewhere in the thousands; the chances of the ponies stopping the army from doing any kind of damage before the guard got there were practically zero.
At least they wouldn't be without the support of, say, two war veteran dragons.
Cynder was able to analyze the situation faster than Spyro, and so was the first to say, “We only have one shot to do as much damage to that army as possible. The best we can do is to hold them out and prevent them from entering the town.”
“And how do you propose we do that, Miss Tactical?” Sparx retorted.
Cynder ignored him for the moment and returned her attention to the army before saying, “You see how there all bunched up like that? If we time it right, a single Meteor Crash should cause enough damage to throw the army in confusion.”
Spyro, who quickly realized what Cynder was getting at, quickly jumped in with, “While the army is confused, you can use your Veil of Shadows to move around and assassinate the leaders of the army, throwing them into further confusion. Meanwhile, I stay back and make sure none of them try to make a break for the town.”
Cynder nodded her head in agreement, glad that Spyro was able to pick up on the plan so quickly. It was moments like these that made her realize how much trust and understanding they had between them to be able to play off each other’s thoughts. Shaking that thought away, she returned her attention back to the army and pointed at the troll before saying, “We will have to work together to take care of that one.”
Spyro nodded in agreement, turned his attention to Sparx, and said, “Sparx, could you go down to where those six ponies are and make sure none of them end up trying to play hero?”
Sparx gave a quick salute before saying “Finally, I get the easy job.” Before Spyro could make a comment about the importance of the situation, Sparx was already flying down in the direction of the six ponies.
Once she was sure that he was unable to hear them, she gave a small chuckle before she said, “Oh relax, Spyro, you know Sparx is just messing around.”
Spyro returned the chuckle as well before replying “I know, Cynder. Sometimes I still can’t believe that Mom and Dad raised such a slacker.”
Cynder giggled at the thought before focusing back on the task at hand and saying “How about we reminisce about the good old days after we turn these guys back into plant food?”
Spyro gave his own quick salute and said “Yes, Ma’am!”
Before Spyro was about to leave, Cynder quickly grabbed onto his shoulder. Quickly surprised by the sudden action and ignoring the slight heat on her face; Cynder said in a challenging voice “How about we make this interesting? Let’s see who can get the most kills. Loser has to cook dinner for the winner.”
Spyro was slightly surprised by the sudden action from Cynder but was unable to properly identify it after he heard Cynder challenge. Giving his own toothy grin, he replied “Deal.” Spyro then took off to a higher elevation in order for him to be able to reach terminal velocity.
Feeling the drive within her starting to grow at the prospect of both a challenge and the upcoming battle, Cynder gave her own pleasurable/sadistic grin before a cloud of pure blackness covered her body before traveling straight towards the army.
Down on the surface, Twilight and the others were starting to feel the usual tension one would feel before the start of a battle. She had never expected that this unknown force was larger than she had originally anticipated. The last time they tried to attack, they numbered between one hundred to two hundred, and they only consisted of those small plant creatures. It was fortunate that at the time, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were on official royal business with the mayor, so the entire town was already filled with Royal Guards. Long story short, they were able to drive off the army with only a single cottage as a casualty.
Now they were facing a force that was much larger in size, and, in addition to their more familiar foes, also had a few new creatures that they didn't recognize. It was these new creatures, especially that one that appeared to tower over its comrades, that had kept Twilight and her friends from attacking. Now they were stuck in a waiting game, hoping to stall out long enough for the Royal Guards to arrive. Still, even if they arrived, Twilight was worried about their chances against such a force. With that in mind, she had been secretly charging up the Elements of Harmony that they were wearing so she could use their power to at least destroy the large creature and hopefully cause enough confusion that it would be easy to rout them.
“Hey there, purple babe, what's shaking?” A rather annoying voice entered Twilight’s ear. It was enough to break her concentration for a moment and turned her attention towards the source of the voice. What she saw at first appeared to be a small glowing orb but as it got closer she could make out the creature that was creating that glow. It came as somewhat of a surprise to find that the one creating the glow was actually Sparx.
The first thing that Twilight felt was confusion given the fact that Sparx was here and not back in Canterlot with Spyro and Cynder. She was then curious as to where Spyro and Cynder were, since from what she observed it appeared that Sparx never went too far from the earth stallion. Lastly, she was also feeling a sudden twitch of annoyance from the dragonfly’s off-hoof comment but managed to regain her composure to ask “What are you doing here Sparx?”
Despite the fact that there was a large army behind him; Sparx appeared to be completely laid back about the whole situation even to the point of adopting a position that Rainbow would usually find herself in whenever she was napping. Sparx then replied “Well you know me…I just happen to be in the neighborhood and figured I hang out with you guys.” Sparx then looked behind him as if he was noticing the army for the first time before adding “Although you all seem to be struggling with those pesky Grublins. Lucky for you all, the Sparx-man is here to save the day.”
Well the reaction to that particular statement was met with three ponies groaning, one giggling pony, one pony who had a very in awe look on her face and the last one laughing her flank off by the rather obvious and somewhat poor attempt at boasting. Still there was one part of Sparx’s statement that Applejack had caught on and couldn't resist asking “Wait a darn minute you loud-mouth bug, you know what these varmints are?”
Sparx returned to his usual upright position and countered “Of course I do farm pony. There some of the most feared and dangerous creatures where we come from. Luckily for you all, I’m here to save the day.”
“Oh really?” the pony with the rainbow mane said after getting over her fit of laughter “then why don’t you go over there and show us.”
Sparx turned his attention onto her and said “Well I would but my sidekicks were practically begging me to let them handle this on their own and it never a bad time to judge how far those serving under you have progressed.”
Twilight was slightly confused and was about to ask Sparx what he meant before Pinkie suddenly shouted “Oooo my tail is all twitching like and” Pinkie let out a sudden gasp before adding” look at the falling star.” That statement, despite the fact that it came from Pinkie, was still a very random and out of context thing to say that Twilight couldn't help but turn her attention on the pink party pony. She saw that her eyes were focused on something in the sky and Twilight turned her gaze in order to see what she was looking at. What she saw made her once again realize that she should never doubt Pinkie whenever her Pinkie Sense goes off.
What everypony saw was a large boulder that was hurtling towards the ground at terminal velocity. The pressure of the atmosphere already giving the boulder a red-like glow to it but there didn't appear to be any chucks coming off it. The boulder itself appeared to be about twenty-five feet in diameter and was defiantly going to cause a lot of damage when it impacted. Twilight was quickly preparing a force-field when her mind finished calculating the trajectory of the boulder and came to a rather startling conclusion. She was about to inform her friends about where she believed the boulder was going to hit but she didn't have enough time to say a word before the boulder made impact…
…right in the middle of the Grublin Army.
The force of the impact sent a massive shock wave in all directions, causing everypony in the town to cover their ears to block out the sound. The earth was shaking from underneath their hooves and yet despite all of that, some ponies took notice that not a single window was broken during the earthquake or the shock wave. The Grublins however were sent flying at least fifteen feet into the air from the force of the impact alone as a cloud of dust started to form around the impact site.
Not that anyone had a moment to ponder what had happen for while Grublins were still in the air, a large geyser shot from what appeared to be the point of impact. Now that in of itself isn't as strange but what was stranger was the fact that said geyser was in reality a large column of fire. The intense heat coming from the fire felt as if one was standing on the surface of the sun and the six ponies watched as those strange creatures were literally being incinerated in front of them.
As each Grublin supposedly died, Twilight and Rarity both noticed that they seemed to explode into a shower of red, green, and blue gems that would hover for a moment before shooting straight towards the center of the geyser. Rarity was of course memorized by the sheer beauty of the gemstones, while Twilight could feel a strange form of magic emanating from them.
The geyser itself lasted for about two minutes before it suddenly stopped, shrouding the area in dust once again. While the six ponies tried to make sense of what was surely a miracle, Sparx gave a short whistle and said in an impressed tone, “Man, Spyro, how much training have you been doing since I last saw you?”
Spyro…it was a name that was such a blow to them that they couldn't help but look at Sparx in disbelief. There was no way that an Earth stallion could do anything like this. Not even unicorns of old were capable of such a feat. It was impossible and Twilight was about to object to the notion when Applejack said “Something’s coming out of the dust.”
Sure enough something did fly out of the dust. However, what came out was a sight that almost cause the ponies there to forget how to breath but for different reason. Flying through the air was a creature that was both familiar but at the same time foreign to them. They couldn't help but watch as the creature continued to sail through the air upside down before managing to right itself just before landing on the ground. The creature continued to slide along the dirt before it used its claws to halt its momentum and stopped right in front of the six ponies and the dragonfly.
What came out of the impact site, and was most likely the cause of said impact was in fact a dragon. The dragon was about a head taller than the six ponies and even in the evening sun, the purple scales covering the masculine body appeared to not have a single speck of dust or burn marks. The golden spines running down his back paled in comparison to the two golden horns that were as yellow as gold. His wings, which were spread out, had a larger wingspan then any pegasus could hope to achieve and its webbing was colored in a duller tone of yellow.
Sparx was the first to break from his stun silence and said “Perfect timing there Spyro, I almost thought you got cold wings and I was going to have to take care of this on my own.”
Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy all wanted to deny what Sparx was saying; that there was no way that stallion was in fact a dragon. That it was just some kind of mix-up and the Spyro stallion was still in Canterlot. However, when ‘Spyro’ turned his head to the side far enough to see them all with one eye; all of those doubts were burned to the ground as each once again felt that same familiar feeling flowing inside of their bodies as they gazed into his eye. Somehow, the absent of whatever he used to disguise himself managed to make him appear more pure and real. It wasn't until Spyro said “Sparx, what have I told you about running your mouth like that. I apologize if he was annoying any of you; I had learned a long time ago that my brother here suffers from a very mild case of serious brain damage” that cemented the fact that there was no Spyro the stallion but rather Spyro the dragon.
There wasn't really much time for anypony to process this turn of events as at that moment, a group of about ten Grublins rushed out of the dust and were heading straight towards the group. Before anypony could let Spyro know what was coming, he quickly shifted his head towards the oncoming group and Twilight felt that strange magic again before witnessing all ten of those Grublins falling to the ground with what appeared to be a large shard of ice through their heads. The moment their bodies made impact with the ground, they once again burst into gems before flying straight towards Spyro. The girls watched as the gems appeared to turn into some kind of vapor and get absorb into Spyro’s body. Spyro took a deep breath to calm his body and mind before saying “While I do commend you all for your bravery, this is one fight I’d rather you not get involved in. Stand back and watch a dragon trained under the best teachers my world has can do.”
The dust cloud had finally cleared up and they all saw the fruits of Spyro’s initial attack. Half of the army was gone, most likely turned into those strange gems and the rest were trying to reform into their attack groups. However, they appeared to in a state of complete confusion as their so called leaders were suddenly being destroyed for no apparent reason. They could see the gems were traveling to what was most likely the source of these sudden attacks but they always disappeared into nothingness when they reached a certain point.
The girls watched in a kind of disbelief trance as the army that appeared to be so formidable before was being reduced to nothing more than shambles by a dragon and some kind of assassin. Any enemies that try and make a brake for the town end up either getting a large shard of ice impaled through their head or were met with what looked like a wall of fire. Meanwhile, the leaders were continued to get destroyed by the assassin further putting the army into confusion. The girls started to break from their trance like state and were starting to believe that the town might actually be saved.
However, they should have known that the Dark Master’s Army has been known for its stubbornness. At that moment, the ogre had decided that enough was enough and managed to push his way towards the front. He now stood in front of the dragon that had prevented his troops from entering the town and capturing their target. However, it knew that it was much larger then that dragon or those little horse creatures and it wasn't afraid of any of them. It gave off a loud roar that sounded its challenge before charging straight towards the small group.
The six girls and Sparx began to panic but Spyro remained where he was at as he watched the ogre get closer and closer. The purple dragon wasn't intimidated by that roar and was in fact giving a rather confident smile. As if speaking to the air, Spyro said “Finished having your fun their Cynder?” The six ponies watched as Spyro’s shadow appeared to morph and changed before they all let out a gasp of fright as to what they saw.
Literally coming out of the shadow itself was another dragon. This one was slimmer and slightly smaller than Spyro which would give the impression that it was a female. Her scales were midnight black which contrasts with the sliver color adorning her claws and horns. The biggest shocker however was the fact that situated on the top of her wings and the base of her tail was what looked like a rather menacing scythe. For a brief moment they were able to see that her eyes were green and that in addition to everything else they took notice of made it clearly obvious that Cynder was also a dragon and not a pegasus.
Cynder took notice of the charging ogre and gave her own smirk before saying “Someone needs to be brought down a peg or ten.” She turned her attention to Spyro and both their eyes connected. After so long fighting together, they had managed to read what the other was thinking and right now they were both on the same page.
Twilight wasn't sure what was going on but she suddenly felt a large amount of magical energy coming from the two dragons. The six watched as Spyro and Cynder both started glowing with a strange aura; one purple and the other black. As quickly as it appeared, the aura disappeared and both dragons opened their mouths. What came out of their mouths was not fire but rather it was a massive magical beam that completely tore apart the charging ogre, reducing it to nothing more than a collapsed pile of gems.
When the ogre was destroyed, Spyro and Cynder turned around to see if the six ponies and Sparx were alright. What they saw was two ponies passed out, one pony with her pink mouth wide open in silence, another pony moving her cyan hoof to close said mouth and the last two still standing but in a state of shock. Cynder slowly leaned towards Spyro’s ear and whispered “I don’t know about you Spyro, but I have a feeling that we aren't going to get any sleep anytime soon.”
Hope you enjoyed the action packed slightly longer chapter. This also marks the first chapter I completed on summer vacation. Also managed to get back in contact with my editor so things should be good for the moment.