//------------------------------// // Act 1: A New Battle // Story: A New Flame // by The Zebra Hybrid //------------------------------// James reacted quickly and jumped out of the way as the purple ball of fire exploded on impact, but he wasn't fast enough as the force of the blast knocked him into the nearby wall. The dark version of himself, or Malefor, chuckled darkly and sent a viscous look toward the purple dragon. The two alicorn princesses taking action spread their wings and flew straight for the dark dragon both firing magical attacks. Malefor then threw up dark purple shield as the magical blasts from the two alicorns bounced off with ease. When the princesses got close enough to his shield Malefor dropped it and dodged a charge by Celestia making her speed right passed him. He then dodged Luna but used his mighty jaws to clamp down on her left wing drawing blood. The lunar princess wailed in agony as she was spun around and was sent flying in to her sister knocking both of them unconscious. "And here I thought you two would be difficult, a pity." scoffed Malefor as he put his attention on Twilight and started to slowly advance on the Princess of Friendship as she started to slowly step back her rump hitting the wall considering no escape. "LEAVE. HER. ALONE!" yelled James as he rammed into Malefor side causing him to skid across the throne room. James growled in anger as he stood in front of Twilight in a protective stance as Malefor picked himself up. "You're stronger than I expected," said Malefor sending a glare towards James ,"then again we are evenly matched since we're one in the same." "What do you even want anyways?" spat out James, "You're already free, so what's the point of all this?" "To prove that I am the superior half," said Malefor, "and that you are just dust in the wind." "And attacking me and the princesses are going to prove that?" "Of course." "But I thought if you kill me, you'll die as well?" Malefor chuckled at this, "Who said anything about killing you? I just have to beat you to a pulp!" with that said Malefor charged with his horns and caught James off guard as he rammed in his chest launching him in a pillar causing it to collapse on top of him. Malefor spread his wings and glided toward the downed dragon only to get a magical blast to the side knocking him to the ground. Malefor growled and turned his head and settled his blood red eyes on Twilight with her horn glowing menacingly. "Looks like the Princess of Friendship wants to play now." the dark dragon said as his mouth glowed a dark purple hue and launched a blaze of violet lightning at the lavender alicorn. Twilight acting quickly threw up a shield blocking the wave of electric bolts as they bounced of her shield. Meanwhile James burst out the ruble and glanced at Malefor attacking Twilight, acting quickly he stomped on the ground causing a pillar of earth to come out of the tile floor and launched it at the dark dragon. Malefor seeing the hunk of rock at the corner of his eye stopped his attack on Twilight and jumped out the way as the boulder collided into the nearby wall. James taking the opportunity charged Malefor full speed causing his horns to be engulfed in flames and collided into his side causing him to be launched with a crash out the stained window. Twilight took a deep breathe and fell to the ground in exhaustion, James quickly ran to her side and lifted her to her hooves as she put a fore leg over his neck. Right on cue a squad of guards burst through the throne room eyeing the two princesses on the ground and quickly went to their aid. One of the guards, also known as Jack Hunt one of James friends, noticed the purple dragon and alicorn trotted up to them with a look of concern on his face. "James is that you?" asked Jack, "What happened to Princess Twilight?" "Long story short an evil version of myself busted out of his crystal prison and started attacking me and the other princesses, mostly me though. So I blasted him out the window." James answers as he gave a sad look to Twilight, as she gave me a sad smile. "Well, that sucks." "Jack take Twilight, I need to finish this." Jack gave me a confused look as I gave him Twilight. "But there is no way anypony could survive a fall like that."\ "That's right, anyPONY." Before Jack could say anything else James spread his wings and shot out the window he blasted Malefor from. He felt the Princess of Friendship stir a bit signaling that she could stand on her own. "Princess Twilight are you alright?" asked Jack. "Y-yeah I'm good." answered Twilight with a hoof on her head. "Do you think James can handle....uh...himself?" Twilight shook her head, "I honestly don't know." Malefor grunted as he turned himself over, and surveyed his surroundings, he had crashed on some wooden carriage and now had ponies gathering around him. He cursed under his breathe for being caught off guard by his other half, he should've seen that attack coming since they were practically the same. "That pathetic piece of shit." grumbled Malefor as he rose from the wreckage of the carriage startling the ponies around him. He chuckled at their reaction when I sound from above him caused him to look up. There he saw James descending down with bone breaking speeds that caused the dark dragon to give a sinister grin as he spread his wings and shot off to intercept the purple drake. The two grew closer to each other until they collided in a mid air tackle and started to descend which both of them trying to get the upper hand. Malefor then grabbed James' neck with his tail and swung him around a couple times before launching him to the ground causing a dust cloud to spew in the air and nearby ponies to scatter in fear. James shakily got up and immediately dodged a surprised charge from the dark dragon and sent a blast of fire towards him. Malefor threw up a dark shield and deflected the blast before charging again and successfully tackling James. James pushed him off his back swung his claw aiming for Malefor's face only for him to duck below the strike and and push him back a bit with his silver horns. James quickly recovering from the attack used his tail to trip up Malefor causing the dark dragon to land flat on his back. James was about to make the final blow, but Malefor body then materialized into what looked like a shadow before zooming behind the purple drake and reforming back in to Malefor and launching a ball of fire into James back launching him across the ground and into a nearby carriage destroying it instantly. James staggered out the wreckage in pain, he was not going to last long sure he got a few good hits in, but Malefor was on another level. James could tell he was injured like him, but Malefor had more energy left to fight while he was exhausted. "Seems like someone's tuckered out." chuckled Malefor as James just glared at him. "F-fuck you." spat out James. Malefor gave an evil smirk and charged the injured dragon and knocked him through the side of a building. Celestia stirred as her vision began to come back to her she looked at her surroundings and found that the throne room was wrecked, she spotted her sister giving orders to the night guard and watch them disappear out the now broken windows. She couldn't spot James or his darker half anywhere which meant that they too their battle somewhere else. "Princess Celestia!" shouted Twilight as she ran up to her former teacher with Jack Hunt following behind her. "Your majesty. are you ok?" asked Jack. Celestia shook her head, "I am afraid not, this dark side of James is more powerful than we originally thought." "What are we going to do then?" asked Twilight. "This Malefor must be destroyed before he hurts anypony else." "We can't do that!" shouted Twilight as Celestia and Jack gave her a shocked and confused look. "Why not?" "Well, while you and Luna were unconscious James mentioned that if he or his darker half is obliterated so will the other." Celestia was about to answer until Luna cut her off while walking up to the trio, "Good then we can kill two birds with one stone." Twilight gave Luna a shocked expression. "What!? We can't do that! What has James ever done to you!? You just met him today!" protested Twilight. "Indeed, I did just meet the dragon today so I have no idea what he is like, plus he managed to free a dark entity that is now wreaking havoc as we speak!" "But we can't just put them down! It's not right!" Twilight gave a pleading look toward Celestia as she gave Twilight an apologetic look. "As much as it pains me, I'm afraid Luna is right." sighed Celestia as Twilight took a few steps back away from the group. Jack was also shock, he couldn't do that to James, he was kind of like a brother to him. "Princesses, forgive my intrusion but i humbly ask that you try to find another way." pleaded Jack. "Are you questioning my authority Hunt?" said Luna raising an eyebrow. "N-no ma'm it's just-" "Then you should carry out the mission, I already sent out a detachment of guards to pursue the dragons." "Y-yes, Princess." Jack held his head down in shame. "Mr.Hunt," said Celestia as Jack raised his head to look at the solar princess, "How about you take Princess Twilight back to Ponyville and keep her company." Jack looked back at the lavender princess and nodded toward Celestia. Jack walked up to the Princess of Friendship as she looked back at him. Twilight nodded as Jack gave one back as the two left the throne room heading quietly and slowly to the train station. James screamed in pain as he was sent into the side of a wall by the dark dragon, he landed on the ground with a thud causing the ponies nearby to scatter away like ants not wanting to be caught in the two dragons path of destruction. James spat out a patch of blood as he tried to pick himself back up only to fall back down. He was bruised and had cuts all over his body with blood oozing out the broken scales, the pain was unbearable. He watched as Malefor slowly advanced on his position with just minor bruises and cuts, but he didn't have the cocky arrogant look. His expression was dark and serious, and more importantly pissed off beyond belief. "You are really being a pain." Malefor said as he stopped in front of the downed purple dragon. "I-I tend to *cough* g-get that a-alot." stuttered James as he swung his claw toward Malefor's face only for him to grab it and with a flick of his wrist snapping a bone in the purple dragons wrist. James screamed out in pain as he clutched his now broken wrist, and then was suddenly grabbed by the throat and was slammed into the nearby wall of a building still pinned by the dark dragon. Malefor struck James in the stomach causing him to cough up more blood and wail out in pain. The dark dragon then kept repeating the action, loving hearing his counterpart scream in agony begging him to stop. Malefor deciding that his little 'fun' was over let go over James and watched as he hit the ground breathing heavily. "You are really pathetic do you know that?" said Malefor as James kept his eyes clenched shut, "You actually think that these ponies really like you? Let alone trust you?" "*cough* W-What d-do you m-m-mean.*cough*" coughed James. "Come on tell me you don't see it? God you are stupid, are you? These ponies have been playing you fro the start especially those bitch-ass princesses." spat out Malefor, "Why do you think they let you stay in Ponyville with the most powerful mares in Equestria? Why do you think they check up on you so much?" "'Cause t-thats *cough* what f-f-riends d-do *cough*." "Friends? HA! Don't make me laugh, the only reason your 'friends' care about you so much is because they think....no....they know that you are still a 'ruthless dragon that'll destroy anything in it's path. Have you noticed that here is no other species around them, no griffons, no minotaurs, no yaks, no buffalo, not even changeling? Because they are a self-centered race that thinks they're so high and mighty." "W-what about Sp-*cough*" "Don't even give me 'What about Spike?' those freakin' ponies probably kidnapped the poor kid. How do you even think they got his egg in the first place, and me and you both know how a dragon is over thier eggs so his parents didn't abandon him. Hell even Twilight said she didn't want you around here anymore." "B-but *cough* h-how d-did yo-?" "Please James, it wasn't that hard to figure out." James sat there in silence, thinking about his time here in Equestria. Did ponies here trust him? He always knew that anyone in the upper class were always going to be assholes so he didn't really care about the ponies in Canterlot. But what about Ponyville? Fluttershy did take him in a patch him up, but her friends did attack him and the town did run amuck when he first arrived in Ponyville. "James," said Malefor, "you don't have to deal with these ponies anymore, join me and together we'll show them who the superior ones really are." James just put his head down not at Malefor's offer but he was actually considering that the ponies really didn't trust him. He looked up and was about to answer but a stray bolt of magic landed in between the two catching them by surprise. The two dragons turned their heads to see a squad of royal guards advancing on their position. Malefor looked at James and saw him trying to stand but fall back down into the cement. The dark dragon glared at the squad of guards now charging at him, channeling the dark magic inside him he unleashed a dark beam from his mouth to where the guards were standing and formed a swirling vortex sucking them and anything close inside. The guards screamed in fear and desperation as they were all pulled in causing the vortex to close in to nothingness. Another arrow flew, but the dark dragon noticed it was not aimed for him, but for James. God he hated these ponies, here James was trying to help them and now they are trying to kill him.Instinctively Malefor grabbed James' tail and pulled him out of the way before the arrow pierced his skull. "W-why are t-they attacking m-me!?*cough*" spat out james. "Like I said they don't trust you." simply said Malefor as he followed where the arrow came from and saw a couple squads of more royal pegasi in golden armor with crossbows. Malefor grabbed James and swung him over his back before taking off to the skies as the pegasi began to open fire on the two dragons. Malefor tried his best to dodge his way around the incoming arrows but the heavy weight on his back made it difficult, plus his fight with James from earlier was now starting to takes it's toll as he started to feel tired and soreness on his body. Malefor grunted and looked ahead and noticed he was close to the entrance of the city, he just needed to get outside the wall and then they were home free. The dark dragon pumped his wings as fast as he can as he soared over the wall. Thinking quickly he turned around in the sky and fired three blasts of purple fire at the soaring pegasi and making it explode in a bright light distracting them. The royal pegasi covered their eyes from the bright purple light, but when they opened them their two targets had vanished without a trace. The dark dragon soared over of what is the Whitetail Woods and crashed to the ground, he dropped the now unconscious James from his back and checked his pulse making sure that the idiot was still alive. He let out a breathe of relief when he knew he was going to be okay, Malefor grunted in pain when he saw an arrow sticking out of his shoulder. How the arrow managed to penetrate his scales will remain a mystery to him. The dark dragon with his incredible hearing, then looked up to the sky to see two more dragons heading to his and James' position. He knew they had been following them ever since they escaped from Canterlot. From the looks of it though it seems like they lost sight of him and the purple dragon. Staring at James he let out a chuckle before limping off deeper into the woods. "We'll meet again James." finally said Malefor disappearing into his shadow form and going into the brush of the forest. Cynder and Drobot flew over the woods trying to find the duo that barely escaped the struggle that happened at the pony capital. Cynder....no Sam was getting worried, she had not come to term with it yet but if the dragon they had been watching and looking for really is James. She would- "Cynder? Are you ok?" asked Drobot as Sam shook her head. "Y-yeah I'm fine." she answered. "You have answered that the last twenty-one times I asked, and my lie detector says that you are not." "I-I'm just nervous that's all. I mean what if he is not the one?" "Ignitus told us a dragon that could control the elements and has purple scales would be the one and my scanners indicate that he has a 95% chance of matching that description." Cynder nodded as the two kept flying over the woods scanning the floor. "I think I see him!" shouted Cynder as she descended towards the floor, with Drobot following behind. Cynder put a claw over her mouth to hide a gasp as Drobot looked surprised under his metallic mask. There was the purple dragon bruised and bloodied all over and a misshapen wrist. Drobot walked over to the downed dragon and scanned his body, "I-Is he?" stuttered Cynder. "He will be fine. 75% of survival, with a 50% of injuries covering his body." answered Drobot. Cynder let out a sigh of relief, "Good, from the looks of it, for some reason the ponies turned on him, why though? They were just fine when we were watching him in Ponyville." "This seems unlogical, I suggest we take him to Ignitus since the ponies are not a good place right now." "Right," said Cynder as she put her head under the purple dragon's body and placing him on her back, "which reminds me what happened to the other one?" Cynder voice had a little venom this time. "Probably retreated deeper into the woods but we can't worry about him right now." said Drobot. Cynder nodded as Drobot did the same spreading his wings and taking off, Cynder following behind. While flying she looked back at the dragon unconscious on her back with a sad look. "Don't worry, just stay golden and you'll be alright." whispered Sam as she and Drobot flew off into the sunset. Meanwhile on a train back to Ponyville twilight was sitting in the caboose looking out the window with Jack sitting beside her. It has been quiet the entire ride. She had gotten news that the two dragons escaped much to her relief but were badly injured and was last seen heading toward the Whitetail Woods. Her stomach turned, she didn't know why but she actually felt guilty during the whole situation. Like she could have done more and probably prevented Celestia and Luna from making that stupid decision. Now James is out there somewhere hurt badly, and with him, free and and can do whatever he pleases, Malefor. She has to find him, she just has to, her friends will be devastated, especially Fluttershy, at the news, but she has to tell them. Then she thought of the crusaders...no...she can't tell them they would be ruined and she knows Derpy and DInky were very fond of him as well. Twilight looked out the window to see Canterlot get smaller and smaller and clenched her eyes shut as a lone tear slid down her cheek.