Nebula pounced at the mismatched monster. The creature strikes its attacker with its lightning fast stinger before the black dragon crashed down onto it in pain. The Manticore pushed aside Nebula on the dirt road while he clenched his right shoulder in pain, baring his teeth and wincing.
The creature shook its body to get rid of the dirt and grunted at Nebula. It returned its gaze at the Boutique, all the guards were ready with their spears, There sharp edges pointing directly at it. The monster growled and started pacing around, searching for a weak point.
It spotted the white unicorn using her magic. It started looking around, searching for the item she's trying to use against it. Once it looked back at its injured enemy, it saw she was pulling his tail, slowly drawing his body towards the building. It looked back at the unicorn and saw she was having trouble using her magic.
The Manticore walked over to the slowly moving body and stopped it by resting its paw on the dragon's tail. It started growling at the ponies viciously.
They all started backing away, nervousness and fear very clear in their eyes. The Manticore now seemed a little smug and roared at them, right until it felt its paw starting to heat up. It looked at its attacker and saw the dragon's body was slowly started being covered in blue flames.
Suddenly, an white Alicorn landed down in front of her ponies with a thud. Using her magic, she swung her horn to her right and sent the Manticore flying towards a fruit stand, smashing it into pieces, as well as the fruits.
Celestia pointed her horn towards the creature and kicked the dirt with her right fore hoof. Once the mismatched creature recovered and looked at its new attacker, it whimpered, stumbled up to its legs and started racing towards the Everfree Forest.
Celestia shook her head and looked towards her little ponies and they all bowed before her. “Rise, my little ponies. We have more urgent matters to deal with.” she looked at the burning body and raised an eyebrow.
Nebula’s breathing sent out a stream of fire out his nose every time he exhaled. He slowly got up to his legs, and took in a deep breath. He looked at the Alicorn with glowing eyes. Before she could say anything to him, he spread his wings, blinding her and the guards and flew up to the sky. The flames dissipating from his body and the new healed scar on his right shoulder steamed. He didn’t want to see or talk to anyone right now. All he wanted was to get the infestation out his home town. All he wanted was to redeem himself for his goddess of a mare and their little girl. Once he spotted his next target he dove down.
Celestia looked up at the sky, a little surprised at his behavior. When she spotted a lone pony at the corner of her eye galloping and stopping, she looked and saw a mare with a cloak on and saw a glimpse of her side wrapped in some kind of cloth. The mare didn’t notice her, she was looking up at the sky and seemed to follow the dragon and galloped off.
“Princess Celestia.” She looked to her side and saw Rarity standing, “What shall we do next?” she asked.
“What were you about to do?”
“Oh… um… I-ah… I ordered the guards to make a path to the city hall so we can take the ponies in Carousel Boutique stay there instead. It’s getting a little tight in my home, your highness.” she answered and bowed her head.
Celestia smiled, “So be it then.” She looked at the guards and a few male ponies, “You heard Rarity!” she said to them and they all nodded and instantly went back to work. Celestia looked back down at the mare, “Do you know where Twilight is?” she asked.
“Yes. She’s at the Town Hall, keeping everything in check and order.”
Celestia nodded at her and Rarity went back in her Boutique.
The Alicorn looked at two guards and waved them over. They quickly went up to her and stood at attention at their great leader, “I have something for you both to do. Find a honey yellow mare with a brown, ripped cloak on, and a bandaged side.” They saluted at her and galloped away.
Sunny, galloped through the streets, trying to keep her eye on her friend while the little bird rested in her hood. When she finds him, he ends up having a brawl with another creature or flies off somewhere else.
She turned a corner and found the dragon she was looking for, fighting against a vicious looking giant snake. But before she could go to a corner and watch them, she saw a little filly and an adult laying behind some barrels.
She lowered herself close to the ground and quickly went over to the couple. The filly spotted her and hid herself behind the mare, peeking out with her eyes.
She got up to them and looked at the filly and the unconscious mare, “Are you okay?” she asked quietly and examined the mare. She found the mare had a large bruise on her forehead. She looked at the shaking little filly once more, “Are you okay?” she asked once more.
She nodded but stayed behind the mare in fear. “Is she your mother?” she asked and took a quick peek over the barrels to see Nebula was partly quailed up by the creature but continued to battle it out. She looked back and she nodded once more.
“I want to help but I don’t know this town. Did she tell you where you and her were supposed to go?”
“Uh-huh…” she slowly got out of hiding but winced and covered her head with her hooves once she heard Nebula roar and the snake hissing.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. The dragon’s with us. He want to take the Monsters go away from Ponyville.” She lifted the filly’s head so they have eye contact. “Come. We have to take you somewhere safe. I’ll carry your mother.” She said to her and went over to the mare.
The little bird flew out of her hood and landed on the filly’s head. Sunny slowly scooped up the mare with her head and with the help of the filly, the unconscious mare was now on her back.
Sunny quickly peek out to see if the coast was clear. Of course the battle between two creatures was still going, but Sunny lightly nudge the fill to lead the way and they both quickly went out of hiding and galloped to the nearest corner. Which was the way Sunny took when she found the dragon and the snake.
After galloping a couple more blocks through a partly destroyed town, they came across a pair of Royals Guards. They both stopped at the same time and the guards seem to examine Sunny a little more before coming up to her. “From the command of Princess Celestia of Equestria, You are to come with us.” One guard takes the mare off her back and put her on his back instead.
As they started escorting her, Sunny picked up the filly and set her on her back.
As the mares and their children started filling out of the Carousel Boutique being escorted by a guard or by their husband to head for the town hall, a large mass crashed through a building and onto the street where the ponies walked. When they all looked and screamed, the dirt got mixed with the air around the two creatures. All the ponies quickly got out of the way as they saw what looked like a single mass struggling around the dirt road, cries of hiss and roars sounded out from it.
Celestia quickly got up to the commotion when the dust settled down and saw it was a dragon and a serpentine creature. The large snake had its attacker in a death grip as it had the dragon wrapped in its long body.
Nebula bit down onto its neck as it started tightening its grip around his body. The creature hissed but it couldn’t return the bite, all it could do is try and get it unconscious. Nebula bit down harder and sunk his sharp teeth deeper as the snake tightened its grip. It was a battle of who could last the longest.
After a few moments, he had enough. For a brief moment, he ignited his body so the serpentine creature can loosen its grip on him. The large snake hissed in pain and quickly got off him and tried to get away from him, a few charred flesh steaming from its body. Nebula held onto its neck for a few moments before letting it go. The snake started slithering away, leave a faint trail of blood in its wake.
Nebula spot out the snakes blood from his mouth and flew off, leaving the ponies on the road.
“Nebula!” a soft, feminine yelled out.
The dragon stopped before he went out of sight and looked down at the ponies, searching for the culprit on who yelled his name. His heart stopped for a brief moment as he locked eyes with the mare’s teal eyes. He spotted tears starting to build up on her eyes and he could feel the joy emanating from her body.
But when he saw the filly hiding behind her and looking at him in fear, his heart broke. He winced and clenched his chest in pain. It was too much to bear seeing their little girl being fearful of him. So he took off and didn’t dare to look back.
Fluttershy’s eyes went wide suddenly as she watched her dragon fly away. She took a few steps forward, trying to see if he was coming back.
“Mommy.” She felt little hooves around her hind leg, stopping her from going any further, “Don’t go!”
The shocked mare looked back at her little filly and used her wing to nudge the filly to let go, “Sweetie… sweetie, come here.” She sat down on her hunches and wrapped the filly with her fore hooves as Playtime’s body lightly shook.
“What’s the matter, darling?” Rarity went up to the two and looked down at the frightened filly.
Fluttershy looked at her friend for a moment before returning her gaze back down to the filly. “Sweetie. What’s wrong?” she asked in a motherly tone.
Playtime sniffled, “Sc-scary dragon… ‘sniffle’ I want daddy back.” she looked up, “Where’s daddy?” she asked with teary eyes.
“He…” Fluttershy didn’t know how to put it; does she just tell her it’s the scary dragon or straight up lye to her. She breathed in and rubbed her cheek onto the filly’s head, “He’ll come back, sweetie.” She answered, but she wasn’t even sure about herself on that. All she could do is hope for both of them.
“Princess.” Celestia jumped a little and looked behind her to see the guards came back with the mare she asked for and two more extras.
“Thank you. Take the mare and the filly to the Town Hall for treatment.” She looked at the mystery mare, “But your staying with me.”
The filly on Sunny’s back shrunk down a little at the presents of the Princess, Sunny followed along with her.
Sunny looked at her little friend, “Go with the guards. I’ll see you later, okay?” she kneeled down with her fore hooves and the blue capped filly hopped off.
The filly hugged her neck, “Thank you for saving me and my mommy, Sunny.” she thanked her before she got on top of a guard and went off.
Sunny looked at the Alicorn Princess and bowed down. “Rise, my little pony.” Celestia said to her. Sunny looked up at her, “I have a question to ask of you. Why were you following the dragon?”
Sunny folded her ears back, “Um… I-ah… I was worried, Princess… He’s my new friend and he’s the reason why I’m still breathing right now as well, Princess.” She looked down at the ground, “When I was freed from the… nightmare’s influence, he took care of me and brought me here to be properly treated.” She looked at her bandaged side and bowed down to the Princess, “I understand if you want to banish me, Princess. I won’t able to forgive myself for what I have done to the good ponies of this town.” she finished.
Celestia arched an eyebrow, “So you were the cause of the attacks on Ponyville?” she asked and the mare nodded, still bowing down to her. “Were you conscious the whole time?”
Sunny stayed silent for a moment, “N-not exactly, Princess. It made me w-watch…” she answered nervously.
“Then you shall not be punished. If you were in control, then punishing you at a time like this will just make things more complicated.” Celestia said to her.
Sunny looked up with a surprised look, “B-but I-“
“You were being Used, Sunny. I know you wouldn’t do such things to other ponies. Helping a filly and her mother showed you have the heart and bravery to help them from an attack.” Celestia leaned down to her with a sly smile, “The filly and her mother you helped would’ve perished if it weren’t for you.” She leaned back up, “She’s also the same filly Nebula helped from death itself.”
Sunny’s eyes got wide before the Princess continued speaking, “So you say you know Nebula?” she asked. Sunny nodded, “Then keep following him and stay safe.” Celestia touched her horn to the mare’s forehead, “I need to know if he stays in town and is doing okay.”
“Of course! Right away, Princess!” she answered and turned her back to the large mare, she raised her ears high in the air and looked around the area to try and hear her dragon friend. Once she heard wing beats and a roar coming from behind the boutique, though sounded at least few blocks away. With that, she started galloping away with haste.
Luna assisted her little lavender friend and the not so baby dragon at the town hall and keeping the creatures of the Everfree at bay. She used her fighting skills and mischievous magic to scare off hoard after hoard of creatures. She tried her best to keep the memory under control the last time she used her skills, but failed as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. What choice did she have? Stop fighting and leave the ponies to tend to her old wounds or keep fighting till her very last breath?
Her sister’s royal guards stayed back with spears ready just in case one broke through their defences, but her royal guards did so much better, actually driving the creatures away with their terrifying appearances. She never been more proud of her children of the night. Using their own appearance to scare off the foe and hoarding around them like bats. In some ways, she was also having a little fun with them, tricking them and scaring them when she changed her appearance to something unholy.
Then suddenly, a Chimera pounced at her by surprise and pinned her down to her side, causing her to hit the side of her head on the ground as the creature rested its large paws on her neck and wings to keep her down. She looked into the eyes of the three headed creature. She always wondered what it felt like when ponies try to explain how it felt to have your life flash before their eyes, now she knew well enough how they felt.
As suddenly as it happened, the weight on her side and neck disappeared. She couldn’t get her eyes to open, thinking to herself she might have died on the spot with the creature ripping her apart. Everything she heard was nothing but muffled voices and sound.
“Have I finally perished?” she thought. She finally opened her eyes, but all was a blur and bright. When something went into her view she instinctively said, “Mother?”
The figure sounded like it was speaking to her, but all she heard were muffled voices and moving around. After a moment, she felt light pain started to sting inside her head. She winced, “Ow…” she blurred out.
“Princess Luna! Guards! Grab the cart and take her to the town hall, now!” she finally heard a little more clearly.
“T… Twilight?” she murmured.
After a moment, she felt being lifted and rested down onto something hard. She slowly opened her eyes to see the Chimera battling with a black mass, it’s roars similar to a lion calling out to its pride, but a little more intense and held a hint of an eagle screech. It was the sound of ruler of all creatures to her ears, even better than their own Empire of pony kind.
She now knew what her precious night sky was missing, and smiled at her savior and inspiration as she rode away from the battle.
Keeping track of three heads was a lot harder then it looked, but by making copies of himself and surrounding it, sent it off with the snake head tucked in between his its legs. At least it was easy to scare the thing.
For the first time, he felt his body starting to tire from all the stress he put it through. He’s spirit was willing to go on, but his body said otherwise. He felt his lungs were burning caused by all his hyperactivity and roaring at his opponents. The muscles and bones in his legs ached by all the receiving and giving and he was pretty sure he didn’t have all that much time left. Looking back into himself once more, his guess was all too true as he saw the once small crack on his core was now even larger than the last time he saw it. Receive anymore deadly blows, or over use his magic will only quicken the process of meeting his end on this small planet.
He looked around his surroundings to see the street he was in was now empty of any life in his visual sight. He could just use magic to scan the area, but he was too tired, he needed his rest before he continues.
He looked to his right and found the shaded alley. A small smile managed to crack as he slowly lumbered over, dragging his wings, feet and tail as he went.
As his whole body went into the shaded alley, he rested down with a thump and groaned as he did. The cries and yells of ponies and the roaring and screeching of the beasts slowly started to drown out as he felt his eyes starting to weigh down.
“Maybe just a little nap will do?” he thought to himself and yawned, “The ponies can do without me just for just a little while…” as he finished his thought, the world around him started slowly close as his eyelids drooped down. His body relaxed, a blissful sensation washing over his body, urging him to shut down and just go to sleep, and he happily obeyed its commands.
“Where in the world did he run off to this time?” Sunny galloped through the damaged streets, looking from alley to alley on her sides. “Surely a dragon his size can only hide for so long in this little town.” She said and the little bird flying beside her chirped in reply.
She stopped beside a still standing fruit stand and took her breath, sweat slowly beading down her warm body as she hung her head, panting. She rose her head up and noticed sliced watermelons right beside her head. She looked at the delicious looking slices of overgrown fruit with twinkling eyes and watery maw.
“M-maybe a little snack wouldn’t hurt.” She leaned in and grabbed one of the slices with her mouth, sat down and started eating happily as she held up the slice with both her hooves. “Mmmm… its been so long.” She swallowed with the seeds and started devouring three more.
With a satisfied sigh and a small belch, she stood back up and licked her lips and started going down the street with the bird perched on top of her head. “Now where were, we?” she said and continued going down in her own pace.
She then stopped as she saw signs of struggle on the ground. She looked ahead and saw drag marks going towards a dim alley. She quietly galloped over and slowed down as she neared it. She tiptoed over to the edge and peeked out to make sure there were no any dangers. When she saw a black mass resting in the middle of the dimly lit hall, her heart sank.
She quickly went over to its side and examined the body to make sure it was the right dragon she was looking for. When her suspicions were correct, she hopped over his neck and got up to his head. She then pressed her ear against his scaly, strangely hotter than normal body; she all but heard a slow and steady heart beat entering her eardrums. She smiled as she knew he was still very well alive.
She stood back, “Nebula?” no response. She lightly pocked him on the shoulder of his wing, “Nebula?” again, no response.
She then moved on over to his head and when she rested a hoof in front of his muzzle, she quickly pulled back with a short shriek, stumbled back and landed down on her hunches with a thump. She started lightly blowing cool air on her right hoof as the burning sensation on her skin slowly subsided.
She gently waved her limb in their air and looked at the unconscious drake in front of her, “Oh, dear,” The little bird then landed on top of her head, “he’s overheating.” She looked up at her little feathered friend it seemed to agree as it chirp.
She looked up at the sky “So…” she got up to all fours and raised a hoof up to her mouth, yelling out, “Anypony!” she continued as no reply was returned, “Anypony, Please Help! My Friend Needs Help!”
“Any news on the where about of Nebula?”
The sudden voice in her mind caused her to yelp in surprise.
“I am sorry I’ve startled you, Sunny.” Celestia’s voice apologized.
“Oh… It’s, I guess.” She replied out loud. The bird on top of her head looked at her like she was going crazy.
“Have you found, Nebula?” the motherly voice asked.
“Yes, Princess. He’s in an alley, in…” she blinked and started looking around, “I don’t know exactly know where actually, but he’s body’s burning and I can’t wake him. I can’t find any physical injuries but some might have happened internally.” She said to no pony whatsoever.
After a moment of silence, her ear twitched and looked at another cloud in the sky like it’ll give a better reception, “Princess?” she said.
“I’m sorry, Sunny. I was speaking. It seems all the beasts have been sent back to the Everfree Forest. Stay with him, I’m on my way.” She said before everything soon went silent.