Applejack Through the Ages

by Paradise Oasis


Fury of Fire

Everywhere one looked, the sky was on fire with dragons.

Everybody knew an attack was coming, it had been foolish for the elves to build a village so close to the dark lands, where the dark lord might see them as a threat. So it was no surprise when the stratadons alighted their rooftops with fire and flame, chasing down the pointy-eared humanoids down and devouring them. The Elves fought back as best they could, launching spell after spell skyward, striking the stratadons, and sending many of them into a tailspin. As the fight dragged on, it appeared the two sides were stuck in a stalemate.

Until the great terror swooped down upon the village.

A large orange dragon, four times the size of the strtatdons, swooped down on mighty wings. Breathing fire upon the elf wizards, she vaporized all of the village's defenders, laving charbroiled mages and scorched grass in her wake. Coming in for a landing nest to their charred corpses, the horned and scaled beast swung it's spiked tail through the village, smashing homes and killing hundreds of innocent villagers in a single instant.

"No, please, leave us be!"

Looking down upon the few fleeing survivors, the large female dragon saw a mother running with her little baby daughter, trying desperately to get away from the dark lord's armies. Seeing that she had been noticed by the large dragon, the mother fell to her knees to plea for her life.

"Please, do what you want with me, but spare my baby!" The elf maiden cried out, clutching the screaming infant to her bosom. "Please, I implore you, spare my-!"

The mother's pleading and baby's tears were cut off, as the dragon lunged downward, and swallowed mother and child whole. It was over in an instant; one second the two were there, the next they were down the beast's gullet. Throwing her head back, the great dragon roared in triumph!

And somewhere, deep in the beast's dark heart... the imprisoned soul of an ancient mare wept, powerless to stop the horrific actions that were being carried on all around her.
...

The hoard of stratadons flew back towards Midnight castle, following the great dragon as it came in for a landing in the caverns below the main palace. The lizard guards moved to feed and clean the scales of the new returnees, while Scorpan looked over the small pile of loot they had brought back in their claws.

"Good, very good... these beasts have brought us back many riches this night." The winged ape noted grimly, not exactly happy with what he was doing. Looking over towards the lizard who was the dragon keeper, he asked. "How's the orange one been doing? I hard you've had a bit of trouble with her."

"She was a bit rebellious at first, but we soon broke her to the lash." The kepper hissed, wringing his hands. "Since you brought her two us five months ago, she has led twenty successful raids on humanoid villages, no survivors."

"Lord Tirac will be very pleased, you have done well." Scropan told him. "The master will see to it that you are well rewarded for all of your hard work."

Scorpan turned to leave the dragon caverns, only to see the small slithering form of a baby dragon crawling after him. Rolling his eyes in annoyance, he readied himself for the barrage of questions that was about to grate on his ears.

"Listen, Scorpan! I really wanna go on the next raid with the big dragons!" the little dragon struggled to keep up, blowing little spurts of sparks out of his mouth. "I can really do a lot of damage with my flames, Scorpan, honest! Just gimmie a chance to prove myself, you won't regret it!"

"For the last time, Spike! You can't go out with the others on a raid until you get bigger!" Scorpan snapped angrily, causing the little dragon to cower. "I won't risk you getting hurt because you're still a little baby dragon!"

"SCORPAAAAAN!" Tirac's voice bellowed from the throne room above them. "Get up here this instant! I have need of your services!"

"We'll talk about this another time!" Scorpan replied, racing up the stairs to the floor above. "The master becomes very angry when we do not answer a summons!"

"Do not trouble yourself too much, little one!" The great orange dragon chuckled, putting a wing around the small one as the lizard men wiped her scaly skin. "Scorpan can be a bit abrupt when the master puts a lot of pressure on him, but he really does care about you."

"I know, it just I wish he had more time ta spend with me." Spike sighed, leaning up against the larger dragon. "And I wish I was big enough ta go out on raids with you and the stratadons, so I could make Scorpan proud."

"You shouldn't be in any hurry to get out there, hacthling," The larger dragon snorted, smoke coming out of her nose. "we we do to those creatures is not a pleasant or in any way fun."

"Still, I wish I could get out there and help out." The little dragon sighed, frowning. "Scorpan says I'm just too little."

"You'll all get your chances, when you older."She sighed, nuzzling several of the newborns who crawled about the cavern floor. "For now, you just be happy with your lives, and try to grow up big and strong."

"I guess so." Little spike grumbled, starting to fall asleep on the larger dragon's shimmering scales. "Where are you guys supposed to attack next, anyway?"

"i don't know much about it, one small pony or humanoid town looks like all the rest to me." The older dragon grumbled. "But I think it some place called Hoofkaido."