//------------------------------// // The Final Countdown // Story: My Little Dragon // by Metal Pony Fan //------------------------------// Fifteen seconds. Ice Heart looked around. Thirteen seconds. Everydragon was sitting around the mouth of the cave. A few of them talked quietly, but the overall atmosphere was one of silence. He stood up and started walking, claws clicking softly against the stone below. Five seconds. His actions earlier probably played a role in it, but he had his reasons for what he did. Three seconds. He approached Spike and Rarity as they rested nearby. Two seconds. He positioned himself behind the sleeping pony without Rarity noticing. One second. He took a deep breath. “Time’s up!” The small dragon booted the pony away from the dragoness, sending him on a tumbleweed’s journey across the grey stone of the mountain. The pony came to a skidding stop with his snout hanging over the edge of the flat mountain top. He shrieked and scrambled back like a crab, away from the edge and towards the relative safety near the cave. He glared over at Ice Heart, breathing heavily from the shock of the drake’s bizarre wake-up call. “Are you crazy?! Were you trying to send me over the side?!” The drake crossed his claws in front of him and looked away, feigning interest in some random speck of the landscape. “I thought you would fly, is all.” Nearby, something in Rarity snapped. She stomped over to the drake, no longer caring who was stronger, or if he was within his rights as Spike’s commanding officer. She was going to give him a piece of her mind. “I have had enough!” She yanked the smaller dragon up by his scarf and held him in front of her, snout to snout. “I don’t care how powerful you are, or how high up you are in the military. That doesn’t give you an excuse to treat everydragon else however you please!” Spike walked up to the dragoness and sat down next to her. “Yeah, what she said.” He yawned deeply, holding one hoof up over his mouth. “Would five more minutes have been too much to ask for?” He smacked his lips and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “I was almost full.” Rarity took her eyes off the small drake in her grasp just long enough to glance over at the pony beside her. “Full?” Spike stood up and walked over to where Chrysalis lay collapsed on the ground. “Yeah, best meal I’ve had in ages. I should thank you, but it was the midget’s idea.” He tapped the prone changeling with a hoof. “This thing is pretty creepy, isn’t it?” He lifted his hoof and slammed it down on the changeling’s head, shattering it into thousands of crystalline shards. “I’ve never had something imitate me before. It’s kind of an interesting switch-up.” A growl started forming deep in Rarity’s throat as a green glow started to envelop the pony. The growl grew more pronounced as Spike’s form changed into that of the changeling queen in a dazzling display of green light. “You…” She twisted her claws on the drake’s scarf. “I am going to make you regret everything, you little twerp. Making Twilight cry, hurting Spike, everything.” Ice Heart’s legs kicked in frantic spasms as the dragoness’ twisting claws drew the rough cloth around his neck tighter and tighter. “Not the scarf, not the scarf,” he choked out through an airway straining for air, “anything but the scarf.” Chrysalis laughed and walked away from her icy clone. “Oh, this place sure is lively, isn’t it? I may just grow to like it here.” Rarity ignored her and continued twisting the rough garrote of Ice Heart’s scarf. “Listen well, because I’m only going to ask this once.” She leaned in close the drake, keeping her voice low and dark. “What did you do with Spike?” “Cave,” the older dragon croaked, “he’s in the cave!” He fought for a few seconds, then suddenly winked out of existence, leaving Rarity holding an empty scarf. Before she could react, Ice Heart walked up beside her and snatched his scarf away from her. He coughed and rubbed his neck. “A life hung in the balance. If you choose to begrudge me my decision, then so be it, but I do not regret what I have done.” Rarity looked over at Chrysalis. “When you put it like that...“ She clenched her claws and slowly looked away. “Fine. I’ll overlook it this once. But, you are going to tell me exactly how you were able to make her bleed red. And you will use somedragon else as the fool next time.” Ice Heart shrugged. “Sure, why not? I force fed her some of the strawberry syrup that was in that bag of food you guys brought.” The changeling nodded. “It was pretty good, too, except for the… forced nature of the ingestion. Oh, and vomiting it out, of course.” “Vomit it…” Rarity’s eyes went wide like a squirrel's. “Ugh!” She grabbed a rock and frantically scraped at the red smear on her chest-scales. “I take it back! I don’t forgive, condone, or overlook anything you two have done, or will do from here on out. You two are officially at the top of my list of worst dragons ever.” She stopped scraping and pointed the rock at Chrysalis. “Before you say anything, cause I just know you’re dying to, I don’t care that you’re not a dragon. You are still the worst, and you are still on that list.” The changeling gave a mock salute. “Duly noted. Anything else?” “Yes.” Rarity inspected her scales, making sure all trace of red was gone. “If you ever spit upon me again, I will tear you into so many tiny pieces that it will take lifetimes for you to regenerate.” “Well, that’s not exactly how it works.” Chrysalis chuckled. “Even I am not entirely-“ “Stop.” Rarity pointed at herself. “Does this look like the face of a dragon that cares?” After a moment of silent stares, the dragoness forcefully dropped the rock she held. “I thought not. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go check on Spike.” With that, she walked off, snout held high and lips pursed thin. Ice Heart and Chrysalis watched her walk away in silence. Once the dragoness was out of earshot, the drake let out a low whistle. “She’s a grumpy one, isn’t she?” The changeling nodded her agreement. “Probably not getting enough fiber.”