//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Panic! // Story: Beautiful Scales // by Obsidian Ink //------------------------------// Deep in the everfree forest, in a cave at the base of a mountain, there lived a dragon. He had a hide of rich green scales, and an underbelly and wing membranes of yellow. He owned a sizeable hoard of gemstones, but not a terribly large amount of gold. This dragon had gotten his gems digging in the earth nearby his cave home, every gem coming out of the earth pre-cut and finely polished, it was a beautiful thing. On this day, the dragon was out and about in the edge of the forest, closest to rambling rock ridge, digging at the earth with his tremendous paws and unearthing pockets of myriad, gleaming gemstones. And that was when he heard it. A panicked draconic roar, carrying from afar. That alone would be enough to draw his attention, but what really startled him, was the fact that he distinctly heard a female of his species. He threw the last clawfull of dirt and gems into a large burlap sack hung around his neck on a length of rope, and with a surge of his mighty wings he took to the sky. * * * * * Ponies are a herbivorous herd species, whichever of the three tribes you care to look at... unless you think of the bat-winged ponies that make up Princess Luna's personal guard, but that doesn't apply here. As herbivorous herd creatures, they have a certain ingrained mental wiring, if one of the herd spots something scary, they scream and run away from whatever frightened them. Other members of the herd observe this behavior, and do the same, helping to spread the alert and get the rest of the herd moving away from the threat. Admittedly, ponies are a notoriously flighty and skittish species to begin with, heck, the first half of training in the Equestrian royal guard is designed to get the recruit to actually stand and face whatever might actually be scaring the civilians around them. Ponies in Ponyville demonstrate this trait, perhaps better than anywhere else in Equestria. What with disasters happening there every day of the week, one would think that they'd become inured to such things. Instead the residents of this quaint little village have, if anything, gotten even more skittish. Not only running away in terror from monsters, mad demigods, and rampaging star beasts, the ponies here would even run and scream from a stampede of frightened, adorable, fuzzy, harmless little baby bunny rabbits. So it came as no surprise that, one cloudy afternoon, when a huge white and purple wingless dragon burst out of and destroyed somepony's house, everypony freaked out. “DRAGON!” the cry arose from the populace as they went scrambling off in every which direction. “W-what? No, wait, please! I'm not-” the huge white scaled beast tried to say, before one of the rare exceptions to the rule appeared before its face. “What'd you do with Rarity!?” Rainbow Dash demanded of the towering white reptile. Startled, the dragon sat back on its hindlegs, now in an upright position “What?! What're you talking abou-” The dragon tried to speak. “Dash! Watch out for its firebreath!” Fluttershy cried out, cowering behind a tree. The dragoness lowered her paws to look at where the second voice had come from, and in a blink, Rainbow Dash streaked first away from, then almost immediately back, to the dragon, racing around the great beast's torso in a rapid blur. “What is going on-OOF!” the dragon yelped as something constricted tightly around her middle, pinning the forelegs to its body. Immediately following, the blur came up and wrapped around the dragoness' long snout, which then cinched tight... a length of rope around the long jawbone, clamping the dragoness' mouth shut. Suddenly hogtied, she struggled and thrashed inside the bonds, but, though its hindlegs were unbound, the creature didn’t seem to have good coordination or balance, and it's clawed, scaly paws slipped under it, and the massive white scaled beast toppled over in an arc, bringing it's head down hard onto an object that had been discarded in the backyard of the boutique over a year prior. This object was a boulder, formerly nicknamed 'Tom'. The dragon's head bounced off the stone once, then flopped back onto the grassy earth, out cold. * * * * * In ponyville, most ponies, indeed, will run in terror at the slightest sign of trouble. There are two exceptions. One of those exceptions was Rainbow Dash, who would charge headlong into danger just for the thrill. Applejack of the apple family was one to charge in to protect her home, friends, and family. She had been standing in the middle of the market square, selling apples at the family stand when she first heard the commotion, and was racing straight towards the noise while other ponies were running as fast as they could in the opposite direction. Before she could even get out of the square though, Rainbow Dash cane up to her in a flash that made the earth pony farmer rear up on her hindlegs, nearly enough to fall over backwards. “Applejack! I need rope! Lots of rope! Right now!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “I got a fresh spool in mah cart, but what's-” Rainbow Dash blew her off her hooves by blasting past her to the cart, where she grabbed one end of the coil of rope, and then zipped off back where she'd come from. “What in Tarnation's goin' on?” Applejack muttered as she ran on towards the sound of.... whatever it was. Applejack arrived just in time to see the colossal form of a full grown white dragon, wrapped up in every last inch of her brand new rope, topple to the ground before her. And hit its head on the boulder that Rarity had once thought was a diamond with a resounding crack. Applejack cringed. “There! Now it can't breathe fire and smoke on us!” Dash whooped as she came in for a landing. “Oh good.” Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief as she came out of hiding. “But uh... how is it supposed to tell us what's going on?” “Uh...” Dash said, obviously not having thought that far ahead. “Good question, conciderin' its been knocked out cold.” Applejack said, tentatively coming up to the dragon and prodding it in the nose with a hoof. “Wait, I knocked it out? Dang I'm awesome!” Dash said. “Ah think it had more ta do with the boulder it clonked its head on when it came down, Rainbow.” Applejack said, pointing at the boulder that the dragon's head had bounced off of... and where a small streak of blood now gleamed in the dull overcast light. “Oh my goodness! That... that doesn't look good...” Fluttershy gasped. “Oh... geeze, I didn't mean for that to happen.” Rainbow said, looking rather shocked. “Well now we gotta get the doctors here. Ah'm no expert, but a hit to the head that lays a creature out like that is seriously bad news, to anythin', ah'm assuming dragons included... Speakin'a which, where'd this dragon come from, and... land sakes what happened ta Rarity's house!?” Applejack exclaimed, finally taking in the ruin of the boutique. “That's where the dragon came from, we were just coming to check on-RARITY!” Fluttershy suddenly cried, then ran towards the wreckage. “Oh mah stars, Rarity was in there!?” Applejack exclaimed, Taking off at a gallop to follow the yellow pegasus around the unconscious dragon's head, with Rainbow flying over the top. They got about 10 pony lengths around the dragon's head when a vast shadow descended from above, causing all of them to freeze and look up, straight at a vast winged, green scaled form that was currently blotting out the sun. “Not again...” Fluttershy whimpered. * * * * * The dragon of the everfree forest roared at the top of his lungs, diving straight on top of the ponies that had captured the female, and landing quite like a pouncing cat, with an impact that shook the ground like a miniature earthquake. The orange one and the yellow one scattered, while the blue one with the prismatic mane and tail zipped around him like a fly, at which he swiped with his clawed forepaws. Then she came in and bucked him in the nose. It mildly stung. “Hah, take that!” the mare exclaimed. The dragon rubbed it's nose briefly, and checked. No blood. He glared down his snout at the tiny mare, and bared his teeth in an angry snarl. “Aw crud...” The mare said, fear washing over her features. The dragon took a brief inhalation, and then let out another stentorian roar, the force of which propelled the little pegasus down the road, rolling head over hooves. With no more ponies to oppose him, the green scaled beast wrapped his forelegs around the female's bound and limp form and, laboriously, took to wing. Taking her aloft and carrying her off towards his cave in the everfree, and safety. * * * * * “Ohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodness...” Fluttershy whimpered in a mantra as she shook. “What in tarnation's going on? It's dragon after dragon today!” Applejack exclaimed, watching around the edge of a building as the green dragon carried the white one away. “Y... yeah... you... better run!” The voice of Rainbow Dash came as she stumbled back towards the ruined boutique. Applejack turned as her friend approached. “Rainbow! Are you alright?” “Yeah... yeah.... just give me a minute to let the world stop spinnin'...” “Well shake it off quick, we need somepony ta get to canterlot and tell Twilight to get down here, and bring the guard with 'er. This' an emergency!” * * * * * “I must say Twilight, you've been coming along splendidly in your governmental skills.” Celestia said to the younger alicorn walking alongside her in the palace corridor. “Well, I figure I have to, what with being a princess now.” she shook her head. “Sheesh, me a princess. That's still mind boggling.” “I understand Twilight, it's a big adjustment.” Celestia agreed. “I mean, my whole life I've been an academic of magical and sociological studies and one day suddenly I've got wings and a royal title? It's enough to make any pony's head spin.” Twilight sighed. “And then there was Discord's seeds and the crystal tree.” Twilight said, tapping the aurum tiara she was wearing, with the brand new amethyst gem. “That certainly was an adventure, wasn't it.” Celestia chuckled, glancing at Twilight's regalia again. “I still can't get over how much it looks like the real thing.” Twilight smiled. “Yeah, I’ve been getting that reaction all day. Discord actually asked me if I’d gone and taken my element back off the tree before he realized it was the wrong color.” Celestia laughed quietly. “Well, in any event, I think it's past time you had some time to yourself again.” Twilight blinked and looked up at her former mentor. “What? But, the gala, and the official meetings-” “Are all perfectly alright on their own. I have professionals handling the gala arrangements, and I think you've done enough governance internship for a while. Go be with your friends, relax for a few weeks, Luna and I can handle things up... here?” Celestia stopped walking forward. Twilight blinked, then looked down the hallway... where a unicorn guard was galloping up to them. “Your majesties! Lady Rainbow Dash arrived at the gates with urgent word from ponyville!” Twilight blinked in surprised, but Celestia's gaze narrowed. “What has happened?” “The town has been attacked by dragons, your majesty!” “WHAT!?” Twilight shouted. * * * * * “Dash, please, slowly this time, please tell us what happened.” Twilight implored of her friend, wind whipping past as the group all rode along with princess Celestia in the royal Phaeton. The stunt flyer sighed. “Fluttershy got worried about Rarity because she missed spa day or something, so I went to see what was up with her. And when we get to Rarity's place, we can't see anything through the windows, so I go knocking at her bedroom window, and suddenly the whole place bursts apart and there's a full sized dragon inside. I tied the thing up fast, but before we could do anything another dragon comes out of nowhere and knocks me flying, then takes off with the dragon that came out of the boutique and heads off into the everfree forest.” “Uh... was this dragon really big, and green, with extra sharp claws, and a really spiky tail?” Twilight asked. Dash looked at her oddly. “Yeah... it was. How'd you know?” “Spike and I ran into him once.” Twilight said, then looked at spike, who was currently shaking uncontrollably as he huddled under her wing. The little dragon's brain was having problems processing all this. He didn't WANT to understand this. If he didn't, maybe it wouldn't be real. But reality kept slamming him in the face like the winds that buffeted them as they flew through the air. Dragons had destroyed carousel boutique, and Rarity, the most beautiful mare he'd ever known, outwardly and inwardly, was missing. Twilight would have wanted him to be spared this till she'd gotten on site to evaluate the truth of this, but fate had been against her, and he knew. And there was no shielding him from it. They were at the head of a long column of royal guard chariots, each one pulled by two pegasi and holding two unicorn battlemages. A hundred chariots, four hundred guards. A greater military force than the little village had ever seen before. Princess Celestia hoped it wouldn't come to a real clash. A dragon, she could handle. Doing so near to her little ponies without collateral damage? She wasn't so sure. They came down over the western side of the village, and could see a large, multicolored blob around the western edge. A gathering of ponies, surrounding a pile of rubble. Twilight bit her tongue. The flight of chariots landed in the western field, and almost before they'd stopped, spike had already leapt out of the phaeton and hit the ground in a tumble, but recovered and was quickly running as fast as his scaly little legs could carry him towards the site of the boutique. He ignored twilight's voice as she called after him. The local police force had taped off the wreckage and was keeping the crowd from encroaching it. Spike made a beeline for the tan stallion in the officer's uniform standing just at the edge of the stretched out yellow tape. “What happened?” Spike pleaded. Spike's crush on Rarity was at best an open secret in ponyville. Everyone knew, but nobody said anything. The police chief got a pained look in his eye as he looked down at the desperate little dragon whelp. “I don't know yet, son. I'm sorry.” was all he could say. “B-but-” Spike sniffled, before a magenta glow encased him, and levitated him back a few feet. Twilight kneeled down and nuzzled the baby dragon, the only way she could think to reassure him. Celestia walked up, flanked by the guard. “What has happened here?” The chief glanced at Spike, then to Celestia with a meaningful look. Celestia nodded. “Very well, we will discuss this in private. Guards.” she said, looking to the first rank behind her, which saluted smartly. “Set up a command tent, quickly.” The guards nodded, then immediately went to work. * * * * * “Around one o'clock this afternoon, a large white dragon destroyed lady Rarity's boutique when it 'burst out of it', according to her friends Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who were going to check on her after she missed a scheduled meeting with the animal caretaker earlier today. After confronting, and binding it with a length of rope, the dragon fell over and was knocked unconscious when it hit its head on a small boulder. Before anypony could further respond, a large green dragon swooped in, scattered the gathered knights of harmony, and took off bearing the unconscious white dragon with it back towards the Everfree Forest..” “That mirrors what Rainbow Dash said. And what of lady Rarity herself?” Princess Celestia asked from behind the planning table in the command tent. “No sign, your majesty. Not a single drop of blood, or a stray hair... save for what we found in her comb.” Celestia nodded. “Do we have any working theories?” The chief snorted. “Well, after our personal experience with a dragon experiencing greed growth, we currently think a dragon whelp, a stray, snuck into lady Rarity's home in search of gems to add to its hoard, and grew to full size still within the confines of the building, until it was roused this morning by lady Rainbow Dash's knocking.” “And Rarity herself?” Celestia asked. “We can't be certain, your majesty, but... well... Dragons are known to have carnivorous tendencies in the wild... If she heard something, went to investigate and found a growing dragon on her gem stores-” “Oh stars above...” Celestia breathed. “Your orders, Princess?” one of the guards asked. Princess Celestia sighed. “Secure the border of the everfree forest, post pegasus scouts in cloud posts every quarter mile along the border with spyglasses to keep an eye out for dragon activity and keep me updated. No heroics, lieutenant. No-pony is to enter that forest without my consent, is that clear?” “As you decree, princess.” The guard bowed, then turned and left. Celestia sighed and sat back, a hoof coming to her face. “Telling the girls they can't rush in to the rescue is going to crush them.” she said to the empty air.