//------------------------------// // Dragons and Dogs // Story: Into Darkness We Ride // by Rated Ponystar //------------------------------// A dragon. A bucking dragon! Of all the things they had to face in this world in order to save it the first thing they come across was a giant fire breathing, death giving, and most likely corrupted dragon. Why do all the awesome ponies such as me have such rotten luck?! thought Rainbow Dash as she avoided another blast of flame. Even before Sombra’s take over, dragons were very rare to find in Equestria. Rainbow Dash had seen more than most ever did due to her duties as an Element of Harmony. There was a reason why dragons were feared, they were highly magical resistant, powerful fliers and fighters, and-oh yeah-breathed fire! Even though she was dodging the flames, Rainbow Dash could still feel the damn heat from them nearly turn her crisp. She was at a loss of what to do. The last time she and her friends faced a dragon they ran like pansies. Rainbow was sure she could outfly the dragon at her top speed, maybe even with a sonic rainboom or two. But that would leave AJ all alone to face this thing, and Rainbow Dash would never do that. Even if it was a million dragons she was facing. Thankfully, the dragon was mostly preoccupied with her while Applejack was making her way further up the mountain. If they could find a cave or tunnel to hide out in, they could wait for the dragon to get bored and leave. It might take a few days, and good drain on their supplies, but it would be better then cooked and dead. Just got to buy Applejack some time, thought Rainbow Dash as she made a hard turn and headed straight for the mountain side itself. She increased her speed as the rocky surface got closer and closer. Got to time this right! Just at the last second she zoomed straight up. Just as she hoped, the dragon crashed head first into the mountain and got it’s head stuck. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but give a childish raspberry at the monster and shake her plot a bit at it. Hearing a loud whistle, she looked down and saw AJ hunkered down between some large rocks, calling her down.  Without a second thought, she flew down and crouched down low with her friend. “You okay?” “Some scrapes and bruises, but nothin’ Ah can’t handle!” shouted Applejack, before motioning to the big dragon still crawling his way out of the mountain. “How long do ya think ‘till he’s freed?” “I’d say two minutes tops,” answered Rainbow Dash as she narrowed her eyes for a closer look. “Is it just me or does he not look completely corrupted?” “Ah agree with ya,” said AJ as she stared at the half corrupted dragon. “Don’t mean anythin’ though. Listen, Ah’ll distract it so y’all can fly on ahead an-” “Before you finish that sentence let me tell you now the answer is no!” shouted Rainbow Dash as she flared her wings out. “We make it out alive or this mountain becomes both our graves. I’m not leavin you, Applejack. Not even for all of Equestria.” Applejack looked ready to argue but by the time she did the dragon had freed itself and roared louder than ever. “Fine! Keep that big thing occupied! Ah’ll find shelter!” Rainbow Dash nodded before she took to the skies again in a flash. She only hoped that Applejack would find a place for them to hide out soon. Drawing her blades on her hoof gauntlets, she made for the dragon which roared at her. She had no doubt that her blades would cause barely any damage, but she had to do something to distract it. Narrowly dodging a bit from it’s giant mouth, Dash cried out and slashed her blades against the blackened scales of the corrupted sign of the dragon. The sharp steel only bounced off the scales with not a scratch on them. Dash cursed as she barrel rolled out of the way to make it the dragon’s backside, avoiding the claws along the way. Damn, what I wouldn’t give for Fluttershy and her stare. She made sure to keep herself right behind the dragon and weave and follow it each time it tried to turn in the air to attack her. So far it was keeping its focus on her and that’s what she wanted for now. Any time it looked to be diverting to the ground, where Applejack was, Dash made sure to use her gauntlets to keep its focus on the pegasus. Then in a surprise twist, the dragon spun around and reversed its position so fast Dash barely reacted to it. It opened its jaws and unleashed its flames, which Dash tried to avoid by veering left. Only one second too late as the flames nicked her right wing but the intensity was enough to make her scream. Knowing it would be only minutes until her wing’s nerves stopped working, Dash made a quick dive for the ground. She did her best to make the landing as soft as possible, but she still crashed into a bunch of rocks. Groaning, she tried to get up, grateful that her bones were only bruised and no broken. “Rainbow!” shouted Applejack as she galloped towards the downed pegasus. Helping her up, she asked, “You okay?” “Other than smelling like griffin-styled fried chicken and the crash landing? Yeah?” joked Dash with a laugh. That laugh was soon replaced by as gasp as the dragon hovered over them and roar. The two froze up, unable to turn away from the sight of the great creature ready to unleash it’s flame upon them both and send them to the beyond. However, a single arrow unleashed itself upon the face of the dragon and exploded in its face, rearing it back as it retreated in confusion. “What the...” said both ponies as they heard something landed behind them. Turning around they gasped. “Come with me if you want to live!” said a diamond dog, crossbow in one paw while holding out its other one. Rainbow Dash didn’t know who this one-eyed diamond dog was or if she could trust it but she didn’t have many options. She took it and was helped up as the diamond dog loaded up his crossbow again and fired against the dragon who was unfortunate to get it in the head again. The explosion echoed in Dash’s ear, wondering just want kind of powder or magic was in those arrows. “Amber! Cover these two while me and Stone Eye handle him!” shouted the diamond dog. Coming down the road, a yellow coated unicorn with a brown mane was charging up a spell while the black furred pegasus took to the skies with his gray mane flowing in the wind. When the unicorn named Amber arrived, she had a shield spell already protecting the three of them. “Follow me!” she shouted which neither of the two argued with. They had allies and that was enough. They followed, doing their best to keep under the shield as they heard the sounds of battle behind them. Rainbow Dash looked back to see the pegasus, Stone Eye, flying around as a distraction with some pretty decent moves while the diamond dog was firing his crossbow. They continued to run up the mountain, Applejack helping Rainbow Dash along the way as she did her best to ignore the pain in her wings. When they reached the far side wall, they saw two children near what looked to be a small entrance with a rock nearby. “Amber! Get in here! Looks like Stonejaw’s running out of ammo!” shouted the colt as he waved his hooves in the air. “Get inside! Quick!” shouted Amber which Applejack and Rainbow Dash obeyed. As soon as they were in, Amber used her magic to seal the rock behind them and the five of them sighed in relief. “Wait, what about your friends outside?!” asked Rainbow Dash. “They’ll be fine! We have other entrances into the tunnels,” said Amber with sigh. A second later she aimed her horn at them. “Now stand still or I’ll blast you!” “What the heck for?!” shouted Applejack in disbelief. “Yeah, what the hay?! First, you save us and now we’re being held up?!” growled Dash, as she glared at the pony in front of her. “We need to make sure you aren’t corrupted like the others on the outside,” growled Trailblazer, as she nodded to the two smaller ponies. “Tanner. Amber. Search them.” “This is ridiculous, we’re not-” “Dash, just let them do it. We got nothin’ to hide,” said Applejack, giving Dash a stern look. Rainbow recognized it as her “keep quiet or I’ll make you” look. Rainbow Dash grumbled under her breath but didn’t say anything as the colt and filly checked them both out. After a few minutes of being searched every part of their body, the two foals nodded to each other as the boy, Tanner, said, “Both of them are clean, Trailblazer. They’re as normal as you or me.” Upon hearing this, the mare put her magic off and raised her head back to normal eye level. “Sorry for that, but we had to make sure that you weren’t Sombra’s spies. I’m Amber, a watchguard here in our mountain. This is Tanner and Trailblazer, both of them are trainees.” “Ya got kids training to be guards?” asked Applejack, looking sad at the concept. “We all gotta pitch in,” said Amber. “Each of us has to do our part to help each other.” “I’m surprised that there are ponies still in Equestria,” said Applejack with a smile. “We thought they all died out or went overseas.” “We thought the same thing,” Trailblazer droned. “We thought we were the last.” She turned to look at the two of them. “Where are you two from? Just who are you?” “Maybe it’s best if we brought them to the Elder, first,” suggested Tanner. “Good idea. We can meet up with Stone Eye and Stonejaw along the way,” said Trailblazer as she lead them down the passage. A series of burning torches lead them forward, but as they pressed on AJ and Dash found themselves following a series of hallways that seemed to go on forever. Seeing their confused expressions, Amber smiled at them and said, “Don’t worry. It takes time to remember all the passages.” “Did y’all build these?” asked Applejack, impressed by the tunnel work. “No. These were built by the Diamond Dogs before we came here,” explained Amber, leading them down a staircase. “This mountain was originally theirs. When Sombra invaded, a few of us refugees tried to flee the nation, but were cut off. We took shelter here. In exchange for helping them with their mines, security and other things, we live as one community with the Diamond Dogs.” “No offense, but the Diamond Dogs we’ve encountered in the past weren’t exactly the pal-around-with-pony types,” said Rainbow Dash, remembering the time Rarity had gotten kidnapped. “It’s kind of hard to believe they would do this out of the kindness of their own heart.” “If it wasn’t for that kindness, you would both be scorched in a dragon’s gullet right now,” snapped Trailblazer in a voice that made Dash nearly jump. Her pause brought her rump-to-paw with a giant figure behind her. She turned around and they saw the diamond dog from outside along with the brick-red pegasus. Amber rushed to the pegasus who she hugged and said, “I was beginning to worry.” “I’m fine, Amber,” said Stone Eye, who kept his eyes on AJ and Dash the whole time. “Did you check them?” “We did, they ain’t corrupted,” answered Amber. “So who are they?” asked Stone Eye. Applejack stepped forward. “I’m Applejack. This here’s Rainbow Dash. We’re from the Crystal Empire and we’re trying to get to Canterlot-” “You’re trying to go where?!” “The Crystal Empire is still standing?!” “You’re the Elements of Harmony?!” Everyone turned to Tanner who was staring at the two with his jaw wide open. “You guys are the Elements of Honesty and Loyalty, right? We thought you were all dead! Are the other Elements around too? Are you going to beat Sombra?!” “Wait, these are the Knights of Harmony?” asked Amber in shock as she took a look at them. “We thought you all perished at the Battle of Ponyville.” “Some of us did,” muttered Rainbow Dash, regret in her tone. “T-Twilight died later... we’re the last of the six.” Stonejaw sighed. “This really sounds like something we should share with the Elder. Come on.” With that said, Stonejaw took the lead as the group followed. “Not much of a talker, huh?” asked Rainbow Dash to Amber. “No, he never has been. But he’s a good soul, trust me,” said Amber as she lead the two down further along the tunnels. “Hey! All of you! Move your rumps!” Trailblazer snapped. Rainbow scowled at the back of the lead mare’s head, and looked at Applejack. “Why do I get the feeling it was gonna be easier with the dragon?”