//------------------------------// // Dragons, Dragons and more Dragons // Story: Gems of Power // by WezzaHD //------------------------------// "Whoa." "Look at this place; it's entirely made of crystal." "It's like an all- you- can- eat buffet!" The dragons all stood amazed at the sight. "Now now." A larger dragon stood above them. "Let me... take all of this in. Appreciate what a feast this will be!" After a moment's pause, he grinned. "Now we eat." Lapis, Peridot and jasper entered the training field. They were sure that this was the area that Shining said. Here, he appeared to be observing the training of he Royal guards of the crystal empire. When he saw them all coming he gave a smile. "Oh hey you six. I was just getting ready to look over the training these guards have recieved. They've been gone for over 1,000 years, so I might want to oversee what they do to make sure it's up to current standards. I used to be captain of the Royal guards in Canterlot before I came here with Cadence, actually." Shining smiled, turning around to see the guards staring at the gems. "Did I say you could stop?!" With that, they each resumed their training. "Sword fighting huh?" Lapis whistled while Pearl's eyes gleamed. "Yeah, they're quite decent with swords." "Prince Shining!" One of the guards ran towards them. "I'll never get used to that." Shining muttered. "What's the problem Silver Gleam?" "There's been an incident in the town central and we need some of the guards to investigate it." "Why don't I send some of the gems there? They're not doing anything so maybe they could check it out?" "Hmm. I see. Alright then, come with me. I'll show you six what happened." How could this have happened?" Emerald Sculpt wailed like she had for the last hour. "Everything was right here!" "Yikes." Amethyst said regarding to the huge hole in the crystal pony's wall. Civilians outside were whispering to each other, some looking worriedly, suspiciously or in one case, intriguely at the gems. "What happened here?" Jasper wondered. "That's what we're here to figure out you clo- idiot." "Nopony's really sure at the moment, we're looking now." "We'll see for ourselves." Pearl said. They walked over towards Shimmer's house straight through the hole. "All of my jewels were stolen and as you can clearly see, there's a huge hole in my wall!" The Pony continued to wail. "It's not just them either, nearly every house in the area has been broken and ransacked of all their valuables." Rock Solid said. "Well they certainly weren't elegant about it." Lapis whistled, looking around. "It's not just this house either." Solid gestured to the other houses on the street; nearly everything was ransacked. "What do think did all this?" "It looks like something broke through it. Look around; everything was knocked over with nothing but brute force." "Hey, are these claw marks?" Lapis looked behind one of the chests. "Yeah, and it looks like something bit into this wall." "Something what?" Silver frowned. "Why would someone bite the wall?" "This place is made almost entirely out of crystals and jewels, and there are only a select few species like... Dragons." Pearl's eyes widened slightly at the realisation. "Yes that makes perfect sense; the claw marks, the jaw marks, the huge hole." "I'm pretty sure there are some caves near here." "So these are the caves?" Jasper asked. "Indeed." Rock Solid said, keeping his attention forward. "Be quiet you two, they could be anywhere." Peridot said as her gem began to light up, making it easier for them all to see. "This place is pretty warm." Pearl commented. "For a cave that's in the north, no less." "Wait, do you hear something?" Jasper stopped and listened. "Yeah, it kinda sounds like someone's moving metal around?" She began walking as quietly as her large stature would allow. They turned a corner, to see about a dozen dragons messing around, swimming in gold and eating remnants of the floors and walls in the Crystal Empire. One notable object was the chest of jewels; the same chest Shimmer had described. "Um, before we attack." Peridot interjected as the others got into their battle stances. "The thought occurs to me that dragons eat gems. We are gems." "I'm sure it'll be fine. We have our weapons and everything, right Garnet?" Pearl turned to her stoic friend. "Uh, Garnet?" "Huh? Oh I zoned out for a second there. What were you guys saying?" "Okay, let's just hope this goes well." Pearl sighed. They all stepped into the dragons' field of vision. "Halt, Dragons!" The Crystal Guards pointed their spheres in the fire- breathing reptile's direction. "Return the jewels that you stole!" There was a pause as the band of dragons processed what they were saying, before one of them grinned. "Oh? Let me run that by the boss." One of them grinned before turning around. "Hey boss!" She called out. Soon, they heard the sound of coins moving and falling over as their leader stepped up. a large beast, looming over even Jasper came into light, his indigo scales shining in the darkness. He opened his yellow eyes and stared at the opposing guards. "Flamedra, for what purpose did you awaken me?" The dragon asked. "Well, they say that we have to give back the stuff we took." The scarlet red dragon, now known as Flamedra, gestured to the gems and crystal ponies. The head dragon began to laugh. "Hehehe... Hahahaha! They want us to give back the jewels!" The other dragons followed suit and laughed at all of them. "We're not joking around!" Pearl pointed her spear at them. "Return what you stole!" "Oh? You're serious?" His chortling ceased as he stared at them all, sniffing a few times. "What is it Boss Medreth?" Flamedra asked. "Something smells delicious." He kept on sniffing, trying to pinpoint the scent until he looked down at the gems. "It's you, you strange creatures have an intoxicating scent. You have gems." "W- What?" Peridot shivered. "Don't try to hide it from me, I can see you wearing them right now." He growled, and all the other dragons began to advance in on them once they took time to notice. They came from the darkness of the cave, and it was suddenly evident that there were far more than they expected. Dozens upon dozens of scaly fire- breathers were in the cave. They came in from all around, the ponies and gems suddenly finding themselves surrounded. "Give them to me." "Well, um, you see the thing is, the gems are a part of us. They're not something that can just be taken on and off." Pearl said. "I see. Well then I'll just have to rip them from you! You come to my cave, attempt to condemn my dragons and I, and force us to return parts of our hoard?! You will not leave here! None of you will!" He and the other dragons began to advance in on them more, until Pearl drew out her spear and stabbed the rock hard floor with it. She held onto it as the weapon built up energy and fired while it was still buried, shattering the ground beneath them like glass and causing the gems to fall while the pony guards took flight. As the dragons followed them down, they all dashed in separate directions. Pearl with Lapis, Peridot with Garnet and Amethyst with Jasper. Garnet and Peridot ran through the holes darting left and right randomly to confuse the dragons. After a while, when they were sure that there weren't any still following them they stopped to process what had just happened. "Okay... So they just tried to eat us, and now we're lost in these tunnels, separated from the rest. Any plans?" Peridot groaned. Garnet on the other hand simply stayed quiet, looking around. The ground there was soft, and various tunnels that went everywhere. A broken minecart lay still in the middle of the room. "What's all this?" Peridot looked around the area. "This place looks pretty untouched. I don't think the dragons have been down here." "Which means they weren't the first ones to occupy this place." "They don't exactly seem like the type that makes things as much as they take them, do they?" The green gem chuckled. Garnet simply stayed silent. For a spun around, thinking she heard hoofsteps, before suddenly rugby tackling Peridot. "What the?!" She looked over Garnet's shoulder, seeing some of the dragons crash down onto the spot where they had once stood. Fortunately they had lost the element of surprise, and she disposed of them easily. Unfortunately, there were more where they came from. Garnet punched through most of them as the kept coming. As she slammed her fists down onto a bunch, her friend was open. Lapis slammed her wings into one of the dragon's heads, throwing it back. Behind her, Pearl shot a blast from her spear, blasting another bunch away into the tunnels. The two water gems stood back to back, protecting the other from the side they were facing. "Jesus, how many dragons does this guy have under him?" "Mostly dumb lackeys, but there are a few good ones in there." They heard a familiar voice echoing through the tunnels. "Take me for example." A flaming ball shot down from above the two, coming between them. Once the smoke cleared, a bright red dragon with a grin was between them. "Gotta admit, you're all tougher than I took you for." She said. "Hey, you were the one who woke up the big blue dragon. Your name was Flamedra, right?" Lapis asked. "That's right, and the 'big blue dragon' you're referring to has a name; it's Medreth." "Well whatever his name is, we're not letting him eat us!" Pearl yelled. "It's funny how you think you have a choice in the matter." Flamedra chuckled. "Even escaping into these tunnels was just delaying the inevitable. We'll find you and your friends eventually, you'll all pay dearly for trying to arrest us, and the boss will be happy. End of story. Now stay still while I beat the living daylights out of the both of you!" Her body became completely engulfed in flames and she turned to Pearl, knocking her her as she had just gotten up. She bounced off of the walls laughing before doing the same thing to Lapis. She laughed at their futile attempts to try and hit her. "What, is that all you've got? I don't know why the others had such trouble with the both o-" She was cut off as Lapis's water wing slammed her into a wall. She shot out of the crater in an attempt to get vengeance on the gem, but was blocked by the large shield Lapis had made from both of her wings. She flipped back over only to take flight so she could narrowly avoid a slash from Pearl's spear. She landed behind both of them on all fours. "Okay, now I get it." She said before spiralling towards them while simultaneously shooting fireballs, keeping them both on their feet and unprepared for when she hit them head- on. "I've had enough of this." Lapis growled, as her arms shapeshifted into needles and she dashed towards Flamedra, who merely grinned as she easily dodged each strike that Lapis dished out, stepping to the side, ducking, and jumping up into the air. Eventually, she retaliated with a fiery blow of her own, knocking her away. "I won't let you get lucky again." The dragon grinned. "Impressive." Flamedra turned around to see Pearl, who simply stood there. "You're no Sans, but still impressive." "I'm the fastest, strongest dragon you'll ever meet. I have speed and power beyond your wildest dreams." "It's pretty difficult to top what I've seen." "Allow me to try then." Her body once again became one with her flames and she spun while shooting forward, giving her fire the impression of a large drill. Pearl stepped to the right while twirling, causing Flamedra to miss. Lapis merely watched in amazement of the grace of her fellow displaced. "You don't need to worry about this Lapis, I'll handle it. Just find the others and I'll meet up with you all later." She grinned. Lapis looked hesitant but nonetheless nodded and flew away. "Fine by me." Flamedra said. "Get them all in the same place; it makes things easier for me. I'll just find them after I deal with you." She launched herself at the gem once again, but who leapt out of the way and shot a blast from her spear in the dragon's direction. Unfortunately, Flamedra moved before it could hit her and began bouncing off the walls once again to disorient Pearl, but she narrowed her eyes and kept her focus on the living fireball, despite how difficult it got as she increased speed, some of the hits she could barely even dodge them all. "Are things getting difficult for you?" She cackled. "It seems like you're getting tired!" Pearl gritted her teeth and got out a second spear. She ran towards Flamedra and thrust her left spear at her, while the dragon ducked but was tripped up by the right spear and before she could get up, she felt a blast from the spear hit her, sending her further away into the darkness. Soon, she flew out lunging for Pearl, claws- first. She flew around the gem constantly slashing and attacking like an angry team of hornets all in one. She kept close, but just out of reach whenever she wasn't attacking. This went on until Pearl retaliated with an upward slash from one of her spears. Once Flamedra was in the air, Pearl quickly charged up both her spears and fired them both, causing a small explosion, which the dragon fell out of, unconscious. Pearl paused from a moment, then picked her up and placed her against a wall for her to lean on. Pearl began to search for Lapis afterwards. "Eat spin dash, losers!" That was what they all heard before two spinning gems crashed into them. "These guys just won't stay down, will they?" "Ah well, it just means I get to beat 'em up over and over again." Jasper grinned, even if she wasn't sure how long either of them could keep this up. "We had heard stories of of your home; a city made entirely of gems and crystal." A green dragon lashed out at them, but was headbutted to the ground. He quickly jumped back to avoid another. "Is that right?" Jasper stared down at him, but he dodged as she punched the ground. Eeyup. Of course, going through the cold of the north is no easy task, but Medreth was determined and has lead us to a great bounty. I knew sticking with him would be a stroke of genius." "Well you can tell you boss that there's only one thing you're getting for all your troubles; pure pain!" She knocked him away into the caves and panted. "Ow!" "Hey!" They looked up as they heard two voices from the darkness above. A couple of dragons were thrown to the ground by a pair of familiar wings. "Lapis!" The two gems said in unison. "Oh thank God you two are are alright!" Lapis sighed. "You know it sucka!" Amethyst grinned. "Yeah, we made short work of these guys." Jasper said. "Do either of you know where Garnet and Peridot are?" "Sorry, no clue. We've been fighting off dragons and now we're lost." "Crap. Well, Pearl should be here soo-" Several more dragons burst out of a hole above them. "Crap." She jumped away, just avoiding the blast from the dragons. "Crap. They just won't stop will they?" "Any luck with water?" Jasper asked. "I'd need to concentrate, and these dragons don't seem to be giving me the chance to do that." Just as she spoke, the tunnels rumbled. "What was that?" "He's getting impatient." One of the dragons said. "We need to make this quick." Another turned their attention back to the gems before shooting forward. The other two followed suit. They were easily dispatched by the three gems. Unfortunately, more started coming through the holes, looking both angry, hungry and frantic. "For every one of these guys we beat, two more replace them." Amethyst grunted, spin- dashing through half a dozen of them, but more flew into the holes. "I can smell them!" They heard a voice boom; the voice of Medreth. What followed was more tremors with what sounded like thunder. "Jesus, what's with that guy?" Amethyst grunted. "Medreth isn't known for his patience." Another one of them grunted, lunging at the gem with his claws. Unfortunately, a whip wrapped around his snout and he was brought down. What she didn't notice was another dragon behind her that would've gotten the drop on her had a blast of energy not knocked it into the wall. Amethyst and the others looked forward to see the tall white gem they all knew. "You made it!" Lapis smiled. "Yes, but I fear none of us will make it if we don't get out of here soon." She ran towards the group and took a look at the walls. "That brute of a dragon will collapse these tunnels if he keeps stomping around like he is." She slashed a few dragons who came her way. "We need to find Garnet and Peridot, then make a fusion and beat that guy." The others nodded and they cut through the dragons, making a path to run into another tunnel. The four ran through the tunnel, fairly sure that they had lost the faction of dragons. Their search for Garnet and Peridot had so far been fruitless. The dragon had kept stomping and the tunnels kept trembling. Time was of the essence and they still had no luck. Until, that is, they saw Garnet running through the tunnels. "Garnet!" They all screamed, running towards her. She appeared to be holding something in her hands. "Do you know where Peridot i..." Pearl stopped when she took a look at Garnet's arms. She was holding Peridot's limb enhancers. They all paused for a moment. "We need to find her. Hurry." Was all Garnet said as she continued running again, and the others followed suit. They kept going, fighting all the dragons who got in their way before they finally made it back up, to see a small dragon presenting Medreth with a green, triangular gem. "Ah yes, how exquisite." He admired his prize. "Such a small gem, containing such an amazing flavour." He could barely hold himself back from eating it then and there, not that he would've had the chance when two gauntlets crashed into his head, exploding.. After the smoke cleared, he glared down at the gems. "I suppose I should be angrier, but you've all brought yourselves to me on a silver platter. Speaking of which, I should probably get some more silver for my horde after I eat all of you. I wonder if that city of yours has any silver..." "Yeah, none of that is happening." Amethyst glared at the dragon. "Oh? And you're going to stop my dragons and I? Very well." He grinned. "I'll indulge you." Sparks gathered around Medreth's jaws and he shot a bolt of lightning at the gems, who all scattered. Pearl tried to jump at him, but he batted her away. Headed for a wall, she landed on her feet and jumped back towards him, making a slash with her spear. Next, Lapis gathered water, turning it into chains around Medreth and freezing them. While he tried to break free, he was shot at by Pearl. "I see." He growled. "Let me get serious!" He broke through the ice chains and let out some more lightning breath, electrocuting a good portion of the gems. He then shot a breath of lightning at the ground, shocking them all. He swiped his tail, hitting Pearl and Lapis. Just when they were about to retaliate more dragons appeared out of the holes. "Do those guys ever quit?" Lapis stared incredulously at them all. While her back was turned, she felt a bolt of lightning hit her, throwing her back. She made a water bubble around some of the dragons, and threw it away. Pearl spun and slashed away more dragons, but got blasted away by the fire of several others before she could react. "Pearl!" Lapis cried out, distracted by the damage her friend had taken she didn't notice the large bolt of lightning hit her. "Crap!" Jasper growled. She spin- dashed over to the dragon, Amethyst following suit. Whey crashed into the dragon, making him topple over. Electricity danced around him as he gave both of them a massive shock. Garnet launched her gauntlets at him as he tried to stand up but he blasted more lightning out and made them explode before they could reach him. He suddenly felt a large pain in his leg as Jasper headbutted him. He would've gone down to stomp her but he nearly lost his balance as Amethyst wrapped her whip around his other leg. He had had enough, he gave them both a blast of incredibly strong lightning, sending them flying into a wall, sending cracks through it and smoke filled the large cave. However, a light began to build up in near the cracked wall, getting larger and larger. The smoke began to clear, and in its place stood a tall, muscular woman about the same height as Medreth. Her hair was long and flowing, split down the middle into two colours; purple and orange. Her body was orange with purple stripes and she wore a crimson gi with the sleeves torn off, along with black trousers that had also been torn halfway to go down to her knees. She stretched out her four arms and cracked a grin of sharp teeth. "Whoa..." The woman grinned. "This is new." She blocked just in time when Medreth suddenly shot a breath of lightning at her. "Get down!" She summoned a whip that latched onto his snout and pulled him back down to the ground. As he got up, have everything he had into a breath of lightning and let it all out at the fusion. However, she summoned a helmet and pointed her head at the blast, the weapon taking all of it while the rest of her was unscratched. "What?" The dragon's eyes widened. "Oh yeah, I'm pumped now!" The fusion smiled even wider, taking off her helmet. "You all keep the small dragons occupied. I wanna face this guy myself!" She smiled. The other gems, still slightly confused, nodded with grins and kept the others at bay. "Now let's see what happens when..." She threw her helmet into the air. When it came back down, she had her whip wrap around it and the weapons were both enveloped in a light. What resulted, was a hammer held in one hand, far smaller than the one wielded by Sardonyx. The swinging end of the hammer was orange and covered in purple spikes. The handle, similar to the one on Amethyst's whip, was grey with a crystal on the end. "Hmm, all that's missing is my name." She heard Medreth roar at her as she pondered. "Yeah yeah, in a minute. Wait, I know, I'm Ametrine! Now I'm ready." She grinned. She rammed her hammer into the dragon's snout as it lunged forward. Then she kicked him away when he started to get back up. "Wooo yeah!" Ametrine cheered, punching all her fists in the air. As she was distracted, Medreth jumped at her, wings spread and mouth shining with teeth. He bit into her neck, knocking her onto the stone ground. She was about to pull him off when he gave her a shock, both figuratively and literally. She then slammed her hammer into his stomach, winding him enough to be pushed off. "I am Medreth the Thunder Beast, and I will not be beaten by my own food!" He bellowed. "That's kinda what it looks like buddy." Ametrine grinned. "'Cause you got nothin' on me!" They ran at each other, Ametrine with her hammer and Medreth with the lightning building in his mouth. They clashed, and a bright light flooded the cave, blinding both gems and dragons alike. Once it finally died down, Medreth was seen lying on the ground, unconscious. All the dragons that were still standing gaped in awe. "I... I don't believe it." "These... who ever they are just beat Medreth." "Run for it!" Soon, all the dragons quickly fled, flying out of the cave and into the blizzard. "Get back here you cowards!" Flamedra yelled. "Wait for the boss!" "Whoa." Ametrine panted. "Not bad for my first run, eh?" She stumbled, separating just before she fell. No, the role of falling to the ground was saved for Jasper and Amethyst, who did just that. The others ran to hold them. "That's a new one." Garnet smiled. "That was awesome." Amethyst smiled, chuckling slightly. "Ametrine is awesome." "Grrrr..." Medreth growled, getting up." "B- Boss!" Flamedra was shocked. "You gems, this isn't over." He spat. "I'm still here. You won't, beat me." "Seems over to me." Lapis shrugged. "I cannot be defeated. I am the lightning dragon Medreth, and I will not fall to the likes of you." Just as he spoke, he heard the clopping of hooves. "Reinforcements are here Medreth." Pearl looked him straight in the eye. "Even if you could've beaten them before, you can't now. You're bruised, beaten, and you barely have a quarter of your forces left at your disposal. We'll be taking everything back." She laughed inwardly as she saw Medreth scowl at her. "I'm going to enjoy feasting on you when we meet again." He spread his wings and flew out of the cave, Flamedra and his remaining lackeys following suit. As the guards drew closer Jasper simply grinned. "Welcome to the team, Ametrine." Cadence and Shining's mouths were agape. These 7 had not only retrieved all the stolen items, but defeated a horde of dragons on their own, with one of them being a lightning dragon no less. "I didn't even know they could breathe anything other than fire." Rock Solid commented. "They can, but it's considerably rare." Shining explained. "There are lots of things a dragon can breathe, like lightning, ice, wind, even scalding water." Peridot added. "Well it does sound like a lot." Cadence chuckled. "I think we can call your first mission as guards a success." They all nodded and saluted the prince and princess. "We're glad to have been of service." Garnet said. "Alright, you're all dismissed." Shining smiled. "We should be able to take things from here, go on and have a rest." They all nodded and left the room, proud of themselves.