//------------------------------// // The Glory Of The Dragon // Story: The Powers That Be // by Anthri //------------------------------// The ponies made it to the outer tower ramp, leaving Fluttershy in the cold dark of that temple. Three friends were left behind to deal with dragons single-hoofly. Fhil didn't know how this would work out but Twilight seemed to have faith in her friends so he decided to roll with it. “I'm just going to teleport the rest of us to the top, just really tired of climbing all these stairs. I think I can afford to do that now.” Twilight told the others. They nodded in relief at this news. “If it helps you Twi, I can just fly up there and meet you. It would use less of your magic right?” Rainbow Dash suggested. “I'm not sure Rainbow. You may run into trouble and we won't be around.” “Well, we've been handling these things one by one anyways. I'll be okay Twilight.” Dash reassured her. She was proud to call them her friends. This was not an easy journey but they have all come so far together. She must have faith in them, in her friends. Rarity came forward and put a hoof on her shoulder, “Be careful Dash.” she said to the cyan pegasus. “I will. I'm awesome remember?” she laughed at her own boasting. The sun had been down making it hard to see anything but lighting up the sky, more trouble appeared in the form of a fiery flying snake circling from the top of the tower and spiraling downwards towards the ponies at a very fast speed. Atlas was coming to greet them from on top. “Let's see what we can do about him.” Fhil said remembering him to be reasonable. The dragon soared past them traveling downwards intending to intimidate them with the full length of his body as they watched from the ramps edge. Atlas turned around and gently flew up at their level and hovered there. “You've come so far Fhil. Your want for peace is stronger than we believed.” the dragon said flapping his giant wings. “But I am a dragon of honor and I want to see you make it to the top.” “Why is that?” Fhil asked Atlas with a arched eyebrow. “Because I've been bored and I want to see how you will handle Skad and Av.” he said with no tone in his voice. “So you will let us just pass?” Twilight asked. “Sure, but only if the one with wings races me to the top.” he laughed. Rainbow Dash was paying attention now. “Me? You don't know who you're asking. I'm the fastest pegasus ever!” “Then you should be fine. My terms are acceptable?” “Yes!” she yelled happily. “Good.” Atlas said still flapping away. “We will race the path of the ramp, all the way to the highest rock on the tower. If you win, I will not interfere in your talks of peace but..” he grinned. “If you lose, you will have a large fight upstairs.” Rainbow Dash grimaced. But Twilight answered her worry, “If you believe you can do it, go for it.” “Atlas.” Fhil called to him and the red dragon looked back at the unicorn. “We will find peace. I know all this is my fault but I will undo it.” Atlas laughed heartily. “If you say so pony.” Rainbow Dash was ready to go. “Are you ready snake breath?” “Soon to be pony breath. But yes, on my mark.” he replied. “Three.” Twilight felt a bit light headed, her heart worried for Dash. “Two” Rarity rooted for her friend she always believed in. “One” The future was in her hooves at this moment, Fhil thought. “GO!” The dragon and pegasus shot off up the ramp flying in a swirling tornado straight up the tower. The ponies that got left behind felt the gushing wind pulling them in that direction. Rainbow and Atlas stayed tied for a minute until Rainbow was done playing with him. She started accelerating which put her in the lead. She grinned proudly and kept her pace, her strong wings holding out. She looked back and didn't see Atlas anymore. “Hah, left the old geezer behind.” But suddenly Atlas came crashing out of the wall from the center of the tower at her, mouth open, ready to devour her. Her eyes got big and she successfully dodged his blindsided attack. He continued up the ramp with her, trying to crunch her in his mouth but she turned up the pace. “WHO ARE THE MASTERS OF THE SKIES? IS IT THE GRIFFONS? THE BIRDS? THE PEGASI?” He yelled at her still trying to grasp her in his maw. “OR IS IT-” he almost had her with that mid sentence chomp. He missed as she went faster. “OR IS IT ME!” with that he matched her pace. Rainbow looked back and saw the darkness of his mouth. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight readied the group for teleportation. She cast the spell and they were gone from the doorway. They appeared at the top of the tower, in the broken mess that was obviously the remnants of a throne room. Tattered tapestries hung on the walls, the carpets were ruined by weather and the floor was coated in gold plating. In the center of the throne room was the throne, countless bones of ponies made up the piece. Skadholm sat patiently waiting for them to approach him. By the looks of it, he was the only dragon here. This worried Twilight because Av was the warmongering one. “Where is Av?” she yelled at Skad from across the room. “You must go to him.” he said and pointed out the broken window across the city to the mountains. The direction of the cut off piece of tower. “You will fight him alone.” Skad told her. She looked out the side of the broken room to the place of destiny. “No harm will come to these two, as long as you don't lose.” he clarified to the purple alicorn. “I'll go. My friends have all risked their lives to get me here.” She took off before anypony could say anything. Skadholm looked down on Fhil who had approached him. “So what is this about Skadholm?” he asked the purple dragon. “It's all as planned. To get you to separate and kill you off.” Skadholm said with a bitterness in his tone. Fhil and Raritys eyes opened wide at this realization that it HAD been too easy to get here. “So are you going to kill us, Mr. Skadholm?” Rarity asked with sadness in her tone. “Not before I tell you my story, and why it is important that either Twilight die, or Av.” Fhil and Rarity listened in on his tale of the past and how he became ruler of such a place. “This throne, this room is where it all started.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------- At a young age, Skadholm was put into captivity by mercenaries that sold his egg to the ruler of a southern earth pony king. This king, King Solomane, built his kingdom from the ground up using his own fortune. He was an exceptional trader and invested in the mountains around the town to bring him his riches. Riches indeed, it held very rare minerals and metals that were sought after all over the world. Skadholm was the name of this city but Solomane liked to call it Solomane's Tower. It became the most important trading center for miles and a tower rose up to shout its glory to all other creatures who looked down on the earth pony race. That's what the king intended anyways. He bought the dragons egg to have one of these creatures as a pet to show off his power and hubris. When the dragon was born, it grew up in such a tame way around the ponies, co existing with them up until when he started getting urges. Living in a city of gold quickly activated the dragons natural instincts and he changed. The purple whelp grew so large, all eyes were upon him when he changed in the throne room. The king screamed in horror as the dragon picked him up and smeared his body along the walls effectively breaking them, killing his master and collapsing the tower he resided in. He flew away with much of the gold in his arms after the damage and hid in the nearby mountains. Av received word of the incident by nearby scouting dragons and went to the liar of this dragon. He called him Skadholm and together they returned to the city and utterly tag team destroyed it. The tower remained in tact while the rest of it was burned. Afterwords, Skadholm lived in the city with his own clan and became loyal to Av. They planned for the future, only the two of them to lead. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The purple dragon finished his story and looked at the ponies for a reply to it. “So that's the story behind this place.” Fhil said. Rarity looked around in sadness. “This is what Ponyville could have been like had we not stopped Spike.” “Are you the one who changed the dragons heart and reverted him?” Skadholm asked curiously. “Yes but even though he loves me, I cannot give him any sort of answer to his feelings. I can only be kind as I've always been.” she told him with a regretful slanted smile. “So you think we can all live in peace?” Rarity nodded immediately, “Yes. We have grown fond of spike and we look after him as he does the same for us.” “He won't for long, his frustrations will build if you keep neglecting his true feelings.” the dragon warned. “Even so, he won't abandon his friends!” she told him. Fhil could only watch as the two debated. “You are our food!” Skadholm reminded her loudly. “And the changelings too feed off of us! But their queen is in Canterlot right now trying to rebuild it all! The griffon race eats meat too and yet we can co exist in schools and towns together!” “And what of our size?” his gray look of intensity on her. “Has your race ever know peace with another? How can you be so sure that Spike will collapse on us, instead of keep his size and be a good dragon to everypony!” Rarity proclaimed “I don't know the answer to that but you risk it all on that chance.” “We have to! Spike is our friend and I don't think I can imagine my life without him, or anyone who cannot so easily be replaced!” The purple dragon frowned. “You sound a lot like her on that day... Feels like forever ago.” “What do you mean?” Rarity asked, feeling frustrated. “You ever wonder how Spike came to be in your society?” “I already know, he was part of Twilight's exam.” she explained. “Ah, that's what she did with him.” ----------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile back at the foot of the tower, Applejack talked to Ryalon about life and how she became the Element of Honesty. She told the dragon about farm life and her decision to leave it once. Ryalon lay on her side with her arm supporting her head so that Applejack didn't have to yell to be heard. “Ah so, they really depend on you huh?” the blue dragon asked Applejack. “Well, sorta, they just recognize what ah do on a daily basis.” “So you have anyone you like there? A cute colt perhaps? You can't work all the time and get no play, if you know what I mean.” she giggled. Applejack blushed at this question. “Well it's mainly family ya know? I don't get to do much in town, maybe get out about four times a week.” she admitted. “Well, not saying you should but I do recommend you find someone to share you passions with.” the dragon told her. “Well, yeah but nopony wants to be cooped up on a farm all day. Not tah mention, it would probably hurt my resolve tah work hard.” “True. I work with a loved one and it can be tough sometimes but we have passion for it.” Ryalon admitted looking at the top of the tower. “Who is it, if you don't mind me askin'?” “It's the purple one, Skadholm. He's at the top of the tower right now but I can't tell you how it will all end. I just hope he will be alright.” “Have ya been together a long time?” Applejack asked. “Over a thousand years. The only thing that has truly come from it though is a single child.” “One?” “He isn't very affectionate and we can't have kids so easily.” she shook her head. “There was a deal made not to long ago by that pony princess with the sun mark.” “Princess Celestia?!” Applejack's eyes opened wide. “What happened?” “Well..” she wondered off into her story. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- There they were in the jungle, Skaholm, Celestia and Ryalon. The blue female dragon handed her purple egg to Celestia's magic. Ryalon looked so sad almost to the point of tears. “Thank you, Skad, Ryalon. I will prove you all wrong. We can co-exist and I promise you will see this child again. He will be different than you.” Celestia said with a calm voice. “Or he will be like us because you have failed and were wrong.” Skadholm corrected. “Well see in time. For now we have peace between us.” Celestia smiled. Ryalon spoke through her sadness. “It was Elders idea.” “He is wise.” Celestia nodded. “I can't prove anything but please have faith in our two species.” “We want to name it.” Ryalon told her. “No.” Celestia said. “I cannot let you.” Ryalon got angry hearing this. “Why!?” Skaholm answered for her, “Because we will just grow attached to it.” “And you don't know if it's a boy or girl.” Celestia giggled. “I'll give you two names.” Ryalon said out of desperation. “Fine, I'll hear them. But no promises.” she smiled. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Applejack stood there in silence, thinking deeply about what this all meant. She caught Ryalon removing a tear from her eye. “I'm sorry, but its rough when you could have been a parent.” “You still are!” Applejack assured her. “He's doing fine and if the princess said you'll see him again, then you will!” Ryalon looked at the pony with kind eyes. “Thank you, Applejack.”