"Sparky, now might be a good time to do something—" Lancie's granite eyes suddenly bulged, for he was being lifted in two blue hooves and held as a shield against the incoming flame. "Something else! Something else!"
"Gnnnghhhhh!" Rainbow winced, tightening her body behind him.
"Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hahhhh!" Aatxe cackled maniacally, unleashing wave after wave of pure burning wrath on the pegasus' vulnerable figure. "Smell that? It's your own flesh roasting over an open fire! The fire of the Flame Staff—"
"Brother," Blood Fire droned.
"What?!" Aatxe looked aside. "Don't interrupt me when I'm monologuing before a burn victim!"
The elder broodling pointed a single claw.
"Huh...?" Aatxe squinted his red eyeslits. He gasped.
Lancie's tiny body was miraculously shielding the incoming flame. In fact, the tongues of fire split completely in two, like waves parting before an icebreaker's impenetrable brow.
"No way..." Gritting his chipped fangs, Aatxe withdrew the staff.
The flames dissipated, leaving "angel wings" of charred black soot on either side of the mare. Rainbow slumped to her haunches, gripping a dangling Lancie.
The statue stopped flinching. He studied the ashes collecting on his limbs, and he grinned with an exuberant gasp. "Eureka! Quick thinking, there, Sparky!" He winked over his shoulder. "It takes a piece of chaos to counteract chaos—!"
"Shhhh!" Rainbow bopped him on the head ("Ow!"). "Dork!"
"Oh... uhm..." Lancie winced. He could already hear the nearby dragons murmuring in shock from where stood, gawking at the scene. "... ... ...ooops?"
"Did... did that statue just talk?" Aatxe pointed, eyes widening. "Blood Fire! Brother! It's... it's..." His voice cracked more than once. "...it's it's it's—"
"A chaos shard. Indeed." Blood Fire snorted, his inquistive eyescales furrowed. The large dragon leaned in, studying the mare and her companion intensely. "And, from the looks of it, a considerably more powerful piece than any of the ones you have collected. Most curious..."
"To Tartarus with curiosity!" Aatxe growled. "A chaos shard is a chaos shard!" He stomped his foot. "And I must have it!"
"H-Hey, buddy... I'm flattered. Really." Lancie cleared his throat with a bashful smile. "But... hello? Statute of limitations? Whoah!" He fell to the ground. "Oof!"
Rainbow let go of him and marched forward. "No deal, Big Bozo!" She frowned as she stood before the statue. "I didn't come here to give this little guy to you! In fact, I came here to retrieve... those!" She pointed at the staff in his tiny grip—or more appropriately the shards attached to them. "They got tossed into the black market and then thrown all across Equestria by the wrong hooves! And it's high time they were restored in the most harmonic way possible!"
"Well, that's not going to happen!" Aatxe snarled. "These shards are mine! And I'm going to use them to collect what you have there... and then find all the rest of the pieces! Once they're all completely in my grasp, I'll rule the beastly lands and the morsel lands with an iron claw! Just like my mother always wanted!"
"And I need them to rescue a dying little filly who's been bitten by a rare kind of snake and if I don't get back soon enough she'll—"
PHWOOOOOOOOOMB!
Rainbow gasped and held Lancie up in time to block the incoming plume of flame. When the blast was over with, she looked up and growled: "QUIT IT!"
"Grrrrr!" Aatxe swung the staff in his grasp and snarled: "How about a deal?! We break that shard of yours in half. You keep the head while I keep the tail. And for such a sign of good trust, I'll fly this castle to the prancing pony lands and find a way to heal the stupid filly myself!"
Rainbow gawked at him, muzzle agape. "... ... ...what kind of a corn kernel crap spitting deal is that?"
"A pretty good one, all things considered!"
"Only a brain damaged kindergartener would agree to something so hare-brained!"
Aatxe raspberried and swung a dainty claw. "Heck, you ponies only live a blink of years compared to dragons anyways! What's holding onto half of a chaos shard mean to you in the long run anyways?"
"What are you gonna do with your half?" Rainbow smirked. "Use it as a stepping stool to reach the toilet?"
Lancie winced beside her.
"... ... ..." Aatxe glared. "... ... ...Blood Fire?" he droned.
The elder dragon tilted towards him. "Hmmm?"
"...eviscerate her alive and feed her entrails to the crows."
"Mmmmkay." Blood Fire turned towards her, mouth open wide. "HRESSHAAA!"
"Zoop time!" Lancie clenched his eyes shut, recoiling from the beast's shadow. "Zoop time!"
"Right!" Rainbow swept him up in her grasp and launched herself straight towards Aatxe.
Every dragon gasped.
"Guh!" Aatxe flinched, covering his eyes with one claw while waving the staff sissily above himself. FW-FW-FW-FWOOSH!
Rainbow used Lancie's body like a spearhead, sliced her way through the swaths of flames, and springboarded off Aatxe's stout shoulders. "ZOOP!" And she threw herself over the throne, threading the eye of a balcony ledge overlooking the chamber.
"The morsel!" one dragon shouted.
"She's getting away!" another pointed.
Blood Fire spun about, the crests around his neck flaring as he hissed and spread his mighty wings.
"After her!" Aatxe whimpered, pointing an angry claw. "And for the love of mother, don't smash through anymore—"
SMASSSSSSSH! Blood Fire plowed a fresh new hole in the ceiling as he threw his mighty muscles after the target. A half-dozen angry young broodlings soared through it.
Aatxe jumped up and down in place while debris fell all around him. "Rrrrrrrrgh!" He kicked uselessly at an errant pebble. "Fetch!"