//------------------------------// // Introductions: Ruby Blaze // Story: Heralds of Luna // by GaPJaxie //------------------------------// Ruby Blaze Character Name: Ruby Blaze Player Name: A Dragon Dreaming Race: Earth Pony Class: Dragon Warrior (Fighter) 5 Role: Bruiser Ruby Blaze opens his eyes. It would not be inaccurate to say that his dreams were strange last night. A mare with wings and a horn, and a mane like stars, calling him to join her at her enchanted castle to do battle with a great evil. She was beautiful, and regal, and even upon waking, her words ring clear in his mind. It's just that, well, his dreams are often strange. And sometimes involve strange mares. It's a normal reaction to never having met a real mare—or so his dad keeps telling him. He has met greycoated mares of course, but they aren't real ponies, and all they do is lie to him and torment him. Not that that always matters. Puberty is stupid. Talon got awesome fire-breath and a spiked tail, and all Ruby got was a deeper voice and issues with girls. Still, this dream did seems sharper than the rest, and it doesn't retreat into the fog of sleep upon waking like most of his dreams do. His dad's told him about winged and horned mares before. Well, one mare. Celestia. Maybe that's who he was dreaming about. In any case, he's awake now. And his dad and brother will probably be waking up soon. Time to get up. Ruby Blaze stretches where he lies, legs reaching for the ceiling of the dragon den, and then, with a heave, he rights himself. A twist of his neck and a shaking of his coat to dislodge the little bits of earth that always come along from his own personal bed of loam, and he's pretty much up. Might go the river for a swim later. But that would be later. He leaps down off the shelf of rock, hooves scattering the gems beneath, and heads for the main den. The world around him glitters and shines, the floor covered in a carpet of gems and golden coins. Ruby knows for a fact that his dad can tell when so much as a single coin in the hoard is disturbed, though they are the least of the treasures here. The real wealth of the pile are those items upon which Ladon sleeps. The bells of Starswirl the Bearded, the Cage that Held the Sun, the long range pony shaver. All are devices of great and potentially terrible power, left to Ladon by Ruby's grandmother. Celestia. He's never met her. But he hears she's very nice. Ladon twitches slightly, when Ruby enters the room. A great wyrm, he lies curled about the center pile of his hoard, resting his body on top of it and wrapping his tail around its edge. His scales are a deep, burnt green that transitions well into the off-yellow of his claws and frill. Nearby, on another left like Ruby's, Talon sleeps. Ruby's little brother isn't exactly little anymore—still in the middle of his own growth spurt, he stands a good head and shoulders above his older sibling. Luckily, while he's gotten bigger, he's also gotten less stupid. Okay a little less stupid. Outside the cave, the sun spins like a top through the sky, but Ruby has a good sense of how long he's been asleep. It's just about that time. Ladon twitches another claw again, always slow to rouse. His neck cracks as he lifts it up, letting out a yawn and a blast of morning breath that could—and does—corrode the rock of the cavern. Ruby Blaze grimaces. "You need to eat more emeralds, dad." "Mmm. And are you offering to go and dig them up?" Ladon replies, still sleepy, a little burst of fire around his teeth cleansing them of any offending matter. That sound is enough to wake up the others present—Talon, Viper, and little Scale. "Nah." "Mmmph. What a lazy child I've raised," he chides gently. His tail sweeps across the room as he rises, digging a furrow in the little layer of dirt. He stretches, much like Ruby, the loud cracking of his joints awaking the lazier of his sons. "You know, back in my day, your grandmother made me dig for every coin in this hoard myself." "Exactly. If I got the emeralds for you, I'd just be stepping all over her lesson." "And how do you expect to have a hoard of your own with that attitude?" Ladon asks, though his steps are taking him towards Scale. The little one is always slow to rouse, and sometimes needs a nudge. "By digging it up." He taps a hoof to the ground. "Also maybe get some from diamond dogs as punishment for trying to steal the stuff I dig up." Ladon gives Scale a firm poke with a claw, the not-quite-baby dragon responding by letting out a little puff of fire and curling tighter into a ball. 'G'way,' he grumbles, but Ladon is not to be discouraged. “I've talked with you about that sort of reasoning," Ladon says, with a bit of genuine rebuke in his tone. It's hardly unheard of for dragons to 'appropriate' gems from other races, particularly Diamond Dogs. "But, I suppose you're old enough to make your own decisions. You should start getting ready to go." "Go?" Talon asks, clearly not following. "Go?" Ruby echoes "Go?" Viper throws in quickly. Just to not be left out. Hurrying to the center of the room to beat Talon there also helps. Ruby half rolls his eyes at Viper. "You didn't have odd dreams tonight, Ruby?" Ladon asks, as he finally manages to nudge Scale up, the little dragon yawning as he climbs to his feet. Like Viper, he's still young enough to prefer his hind legs. Talon in is starting to favor all-fours. "Your grandmother said you'd probably be hearing from your great aunt.' He blinks. Great aunt? Oh right. Grandmother had a sister. "Wings and a horn, with a flowing, starry mane." Not that he'd ever seen the stars outside of dreams. "Yes, that's her," Ladon nods. "I'm sure I've told you your great aunt Luna is the guardian of dreams? "Go on, Scale. Get ready and eat your diamonds," he asides, nudging the little dragon along. He clearly doesn't want to go—wishing to remain a part of the conversation—but after a few more nudges towards the side chamber, he gets the hint that he's being dismissed. "She spoke to you, didn't she?" "She didn't speak to me," Talon says, frowning. Ruby doesn't grin. That would be way too obvious and kinda mean. Doesn't keep from smirking a little inside, though. "Your great-aunt probably didn't realize she should be speaking to you," Ladon says, in an even rumble—gesturing the three older children around into one space. "She never kept up with me like your grandmother did. No. Her message was for all ponies. Did you hear it, Ruby?" "Yes." He draws himself upward a bit—a rigid stance, head held high, tail held just so—proclamation pose. "Dink,” Talon says. "Stinkbreath," Ruby counters. "Talon, don't interrupt your brother," Ladon rebukes. Talon grumbles. He doesn't remember all of the speech. But he remembers enough. "Discord, who shattered the world and drowned it in chaos, lies trapped in stone, bound there by the power my sister and I wield, and so you are set free. "But the creatures of his chaos beset our castle, laying siege to it from all directions, and so I call for aid. Come to me, ponies! Rise up and fight for your future!" He relaxes. "There was more, I think, but that's the important bit." "That is the important part," Ladon agrees. With a gesture to Talon and Viper he adds, "And that message was for you two as well, even if your great aunt didn't know to deliver it to you. "Your grandmother and great aunt have decided that the time has come for the chaos to end. That means Equestria going back to the way it was before. No more monsters, no more greycoats. And they need our help." "So we're going!?" Viper blurts out quickly. Talon rolls his eyes. "We will be helping them, yes. Viper, you will be staying behind to watch over Scale and the hoard," before Viper can object—and it's clear he's about too—Ladon silences him with a firm strike of a claw on the stone. "And you are staying because you are old enough that I trust you with Equestria's greatest treasures and your /little brother/! It is an enormous responsibility and I will not have you shirking it." Viper is cowed by the preemptive display, finally grumbling, "Yes, dad." "Talon and Ruby—you two will come with me." Ruby Blaze nods. Chaos creatures. It's not like he hasn't tangled with them before, really. Greycoats, diamond dogs, other things—you'll run into them sooner or later if you go outside. But he's never gone looking for them, or gone looking to fight them, or gone looking to fight an army of them. His eyes shift to Dad's hoard. He didn't exactly have scales of his own. "Yes, Ruby," Ladon answers the question Ruby didn't ask. "It's your grandmother's treasure to give, but I think she'd approve. Don't weigh yourself down with a ton of metal. It'll do more harm than good. That goes for you as well, Talon." With a grin, he dives in. He knows exactly what he's looking for, too. Dad wasn't always on the hoard, after all. When he comes back out of the hoard, he's got four different things: on his hoof, a boot made for war, burnished bronze, almost golden in color. It matches the armor that he's already wriggling himself into, light plates that cover his chest and his back, held together by finely worked chain. The shield, too, is a match, a small, light thing that fits snugly to his leg, offering a small bit of protection if you know how to use it. And he did. Because of playing catch the fire with Talon. And finally, a belt. Just a normal belt. Except it meant he could actually shift the boulders at the den's entrance on his own instead of needing help. Ladon puts away a few of the truly dangerous items himself—the things he dares not leave unattended even for a moment. The cursed artifacts, the dread amulets, and much to Ruby's disappointment, the goggles that give him laser eye beams. Overall though, Ladon can't help but show a note of pride, when he inspects his eldest son's selection, examining the gear Ruby has picked, and after a time, finds no cause to object. Talon, for his part, takes very little. Though his wings have come in, he's not yet comfortable flying under any weight, and so he takes only an enchanted helmet, and guards for his claws. "Very good, both of you,” Ladon says. "Take a moment to yourselves. Clean up, get ready. It may be some time before we are back. I should talk to Scale before we go. Come find me when it's time." Ladon rumbles away to speak at length with his youngest son, the three elders left to ready themselves. "This is so not fair," Viper grumbles, tossing a coin at the hoard angrily. "Shut up, dolt. It's not a contest," Talon says. "It's a big deal. It's dangerous." "Yeah, we already discussed it, remember? And seeing as the last time got me a fire ruby butt stamp, I don't wanna do it again. Besides," Ruby says, waving a hoof at the hoard. "You're not looking at the benefits." "Like getting to take care of Scale?" Viper grumbles. "Hey, maybe you'll get your own magical butt stamp. Did you think of that?" Talon chuckles as he ducks another thrown rock from Viper. Ruby Blaze rolls his eyes again. "Come on, Viper, put some thought into it. Dad's not gonna be here." He points at the hoard again. "Like, he's not gonna be here." "Yeah, but... he's taking all the cool toys with him..." "He's taking all the toys that would blow up the world with him. There's still plenty of cool stuff left," Talon says. "Yeah. Like the one that lets you fling ice around. Also, the ones that blow up the world aren't really that fun to play with," Ruby sas. Viper drums his claws reluctantly. "I mean... I guess." "Plus you'll only have to share the tasty gems two ways," Ruby says. "But... you guys'll be gone." "Relax. We'll be back in no time. I'll watch out for Ruby," Talon says. Ruby Blaze blows a raspberry. "More like I'll watch out for you." "Shut up, dink. I'm serious." Talon snorts smoke. "So am I," Ruby replies. And, just to make a point, snorts smoke as well. "Yeah, I know you are, and I know dad's bringing you and stuff, but—" Talon pauses, seeming to realize this argument will go nowhere. "Forget it. I'm going to neaten up and then get dad." "Alright." There's not much to clean up, in truth. Talon mostly just straightens his sleeping ledge and then gives their dad some time. Viper works his way up to the horde, looking downright nervous as he tries it out. Talon gives Ruby a few looks during this period, though he says nothing. And eventually, he wanders off to the other room, returning with their dad some time later. "Ruby." Ladon spreads his wings and shimmies down to the ground, the tough wing fabric forming a rough ramp. Ruby Blaze didn't have much to clean up, either. Get the loam bed contained again, fire the edges of the shelf, and a very, very light firing of his own self to take the place of a proper river bath. He hops onto the proffered wing, makes his way up to his dad's back, and takes a seat, just behind where Ladon's neck starts. "If we cannot be back soon, Viper, I shall have your great aunt contact you. Keep your brother safe." Ladon orders, and Viper nods. A moment later, Ladon spreads his wings, and a few great beats lift him off into the sky. Talon follows a moment later, his own wingbeats faster and lighter. And off they go into the floating islands and the chaos beyond. Ruby has no idea how his father and brother navigate this swirling mess. Ladon has told him it is an instinctive sense—a natural means of knowing the way. Ruby sometimes feels he's inherited this sense, for it often seems he can navigate the islands better than the chaos beasts or greycoats. But at other times like this, he is wholly lost, and must rely on his relatives to navigate. Talon isn't helping that feeling. Normally, when he and his father fly, Talon keeps ahead, showing how much he's grown by flying a few beats in front of his father. Now though, he lags behind, flying just behind and under Ladon's wing. Where he can keep a closer eye on Ruby from below. The journey is long, but largely uneventful—few creatures desire to mess with a fully grown wyrm. And eventually, Ruby spots something in the distance. A floating island that is much, much larger than the others, covered in a dark forest. "This is it," Ladon rumbles. "I'll try to fly above them, but keep careful. I don't know if they can fly or not as well." "Right,” Ruby says. "I've got your back, Dad." Talon snorts. "That was super lame.” "Now now. You're about to meet other ponies for the first time," Ladon chides, grinning a toothy grin. "You'll need to be ready to pun at a moment's notice." "Greycoats never pun," Ruby remarks. "That's because they've forgotten how to have fun." Talon rolls his eyes. "Ugh." As they draw closer, more details can be made out. A great, looming castle stands in the exact center of the island. A menacing mass of dark stone, gargoyles, bridges and twisty towers. Surrounding it, a camp can be seen, distant firelight in a rough circle around the castle. They're too high up to make out individual creatures, but they can distantly see the catapults and siege towers. Still, there's nothing in the air that they can observe, and it looks like this will be an easy approach. Then, on the wind, Ruby hears a voice. Masculine, rough. Scratchy. Clinking. Carried from far away. "The pony who controls the sun, Calls her child of tooth and scale, She thinks by fire, battle's won, But her fires both shall fail, Three have come now to her aid, Alas to fall now to a curse, Into the deer's trap they have strayed, A sudden spell—the world reversed!" Around them, suddenly, violently, the world whirls. Now, the floating island is above them, facing down, and under gravity's pull, objects are tumbling down towards them. Rocks, and arrows, and more. "Oh..." Talon manages, as the occasional stray projectiles multiply into a vast cloud, that seems to fill all available space. "Ruby, hang on, now!" Ladon roars. Ruby Blaze narrows his eyes and tightens his grip. Ladon twists in mid-air until he's upside down, his body shielding Ruby from the rain of steel and stone. "Talon, under me!" he orders, and Talon quickly obeys, the two brothers left side by side. Ladon tries to avoid the cloud, moving to where it is thinnest, but even Ruby can see that this is no mundane barrage. The projectiles multiply, twist through the air to follow their target. And some are not mere stones or arrows, but monsters, hurtling themselves at their prey. The arrows come first. They shatter harmlessly on contact with Ladon's diamond-hard scales, and from Ruby's position on his back, they sound more like hailstones than the noises of battle. Clanging, clinking, rapping on the hard surface. But then come the ballista bolts. Now, Ladon jerks with the impact, trying to dodge left and right, but grunting in pain every time he fails. For a moment, there's a break in the impacts, and Ruby dares to peek around to see what's coming. He sees a boulder. A boulder with two little gems in its surface that look oddly like eyes, and protrusions that resemble the strangest outstretched arms. Then the rock elemental hits. It's weight is enough to slam Ladon back against Ruby's head, dazing him and knocking him away. Ladon grabs it, and a mid air grapple starts, but every blow from it's hewn fists weakens Ruby's grip. One blow. Two. Three. His hooves slipping. And then he's in the air on his own. The most confusing part of this is whether or not he's falling away from the ground or towards it. He's not entirely sure. "Ruby!" Ladon shouts, reaching out for his son. But the the earth elemental headbutts him with such staggering force that Ruby feels the crack resonate through his torso. And the claw misses. Ruby isn't sure if he's falling up, or down, but he is definitely falling. Arrows and bolts and monsters and other things whizzing around him as the whistle of air in his ears grows to a roar. Up, down, anti-spinward—doesn't really matter. He twists himself around and spreads his legs, putting his full profile against the direction of the air rushing past. When first he fell, he was spinning out of control—tumbling through the air. But spreading his legs and increasing his profile steadies him, and lets him see what lies below. He is falling down. Into the forest below. There were exactly two options here: he would survive, or he wouldn't. Either way, he'd only find out when he actually hit. It's not the first time he's fallen from a height—though the other time it wasn't nearly so high and he'd jumped, but he remembers how the landing went. How he'd managed to stick the landing without hurting his legs. He leans forward, just a bit—enough to start moving forward instead of just down. And as the canopy nears, he shifts his legs in front of him, readying for impact. It seems, in his calculations, when he determined he would either survive or not survive, he made a slight error, but he neglected a third possibility. That he would survive, but it would really, really hurt. His hooves strike ground, and knees bend. The force pitches him forward, but that was the whole point. He hadn't expected to bounce. When he comes back down from the rebound, about ten feet from where he first hit the ground, he rolls instead of bouncing—legs tucked into his sides—and rolls right smack into a tree trunk. He should probably just… lie there for a bit. Until he can see again. Lying still for awhile. Yeah. That sounds good. Distantly, through the fog, he hears shouting. Growling. Talon's voice. "Come on, stupid!" Claws grabbing him. Wings beating. A cry of pain. Then he feels a bottle shoved into his mouth, the bitter potion within washing away some of that fog, leaving him awake—if still covered in bruises. "Murgh." He blinks, looking around. "Cut the flesh and break the bone, Of Celestia's lesser fire, His last free flight he has flown, By chaos now, lights his own pyre." The same scratchy voice as cursed them before. When Blaze comes to his senses, the first thing he sees is Talon standing guard over him, snapping and breathing fire at the wall of shadowy monsters that surrounds them. Something is wrong though. His pose is wrong. He's holding his wings too tightly. And then Ruby notices the jagged piece of glass sticking out of each of his wings joints. "I said GET UP stupid!" Talon lets out a blast of fire that lights up the whole of the night, briefly showing their attackers to be a horde of diamond dogs, so vast as to seem without number. He stares at his brother's wings for a moment, and then he's on his hooves, turning to face the horde. He can see that they've landed in the middle of the camp. The castle is just ahead of them, but so is the main body of the attacking army. "Ruby, listen. I'm going to throw you." Talon bats away an advancing dog with his spiked tail, but it's clear that the only thing stopping the horde from overwhelming them is the individual members desire not to be first. His head snaps around so fast it almost makes him dizzy. "No you're not. That'll leave you here all alone." "Just do what I say for once in your stupid life!" "I'm not going to leave you!" There's a whistle in the air. An off-key note. And from some unseen source in the shadows, comes another shard of glass. This one hits Talon in the knee, bringing him staggering towards the ground. "Aaagh!" "Hey!" Ruby shouts, and breathes in, chest expanding. He looses his own flame in the direction the glass shard came from. With every injury inflicted by their unseen ally, the horde of cowardly dogs comes closer. All are armed and armored with the crudest weapons, their ankles and wrists topped by crystalline restraints. They didn't seem to know Ruby could breathe fire though, and that surprise sends them scampering back. Buying time. "Ruby, I'm not asking! You're going now!" Talon reaches down to grab his little brother with his good talon, pressing his size advantage. He's not quite big enough to pick up a pony with ease, but he's not the little drake Ruby used to be able to wrestle either. "Wha- hey, stop!" As soon as the horde sees Talon too distracted to fight, they all rush forward. And Talon throws. Ruby only has time to loose another blast of flame, aimed at the approaching dogs. Ruby flies through the air for the second time today, and for the second time he's sent spinning. He doesn't see where his blast of flame lands, though he thinks he hit his target. All he can sense is the rush of air around him, and a few moments later, his impact on water. He landed in one of the pools that supplies the castle moat, a few hundred yards from the camp. And already, the dogs are rushing after him. Muttering imprecations at his stupid brother, though not out loud, because water, he strikes out for shore. By the time he reaches the opposite shore, he's closer to the castle than the camp, and the dogs seem ill-inclined to put themselves in reach of those battlements. Back from whence he came, he can't see any trace of his brother or the fight. It's all the same blur of wood and barking dogs and firelight. Ahead of him, at the end of a long, twisting trail, stands the castle gates. For a long moment, he stands there, facing the dogs, the camp, the wood—looking for any sign of his brother, or his father. But there are none. And much as he WANTS to charge the camp, to set the whole thing ablaze and let the fire sweep away everything that isn't his family, he knows that's not what would happen. So instead, he narrows his eyes. "Hey, you rhyming glass-throwing coward! I figure if you can talk from nowhere, you can hear from where your worthless butt is hiding! "So hear this! I'm going to find you, and when I do, I'm going to make you eat your own glass." And then he turns up the trail. It is a long walk, up to the grand castle gates. From the dogs reluctance to come this far, he can only assume the battlements are crewed, but he sees nopony there. To all exterior inspection, the castle is abandoned. And yet, when he approaches its gates, they open. And before him stands the pony with a mane made of stars, the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn. A strange expression upon her face. "Your father," she greets him, "yet lives. As does your brother. But neither are here. More than that though, I cannot say." Ruby blinks a few times. His vision had gotten blurry on the way up. After a pause, she adds: "You are injured... nephew. Please, come with me." "Alright." Behind them, as they walk inside, the doors shut.