Fanning Our Flames

by Evowizard25


Fire Fight {Part 1}

Sunset and Spike raced through the streets of Ponyville. Dragons were very well known for their stamina, so this was easy for Spike. Sunset was never one to be best in any category. When she wasn’t studying, she was exercising to keep in shape. She could outrun most of her colleagues at school and made sure to keep ahead of her brother. She was still the eldest sibling after all. It was her duty to lead him.

They skid to a stop when they came across Inquisitor Time Turner and Vinyl Scratch. The chaos sorceress was pushing a large, black stereo on wheels. “Yo, how much longer do I have to push this thing?” Vinyl huffed and then turned to Sunset, “Oh, what’s up, Princess?”

“What’s going on?” Sunset asked sternly.

A loud roar shook the town, “Dragon.” Time Turner answered. “A really upset dragon.”

“I know that already,” Sunset scowled. “I think they heard that all the way in Canterlot. I want to know what’s being done.”

“We’re evacuating the civilians,” Time Turner gave her a quick salute. She was still his princess after all. “They’re outside of the dragon’s range and Captain Thunderlane is currently keeping it preoccupied.” A loud crash could be heard. “For how long he can keep it up is anyone’s guess.”

“Then what are you doing about it?” Sunset said, glancing at the jukebox. ‘I didn’t take Time Turner for a music junkey.’

Time Turner grinned, “Well I’m glad you asked. You see-”

Vinyl stopped in her tracks and turned, “Oh that’s easy. Lil’ Timey here wanted my sweet jams to help him beat that dragon. I didn’t have anything better to do so-” she shrugged, “-I said ‘what the hay’. So he picked out my little beauty and we hit the road. I gotta say, I didn’t take him for a music junkey.”

“I know, right?” Sunset grinned.

Time Turner gave them a deadpanned gaze, “As I was saying, I needed to borrow this sound device in order to stop the dragon.”

“And pray tell,” Spike scratched his head in confusion. “How is a boombox supposed to help?”

“It’s a stereo, not a boombox.” Vinyl corrected.

“Yes and-” Time started up again.

“Though it can turn into a boombox,” Vinyl added.

“Awesome,” Spike smiled. “I’d love to check out your apparel, Miss Scratch. They seem extroidinary.”

Vinyl flipped her mane with a hoof. A small blush peppered her cheeks, “Oh it’s nothing special.”

Sunset just rolled her eyes at him, ‘Typical.’ “Can we please focus?”

“Thank you,” Time Turner pulled out a strange screwdriver. “Now you see, Vinyl’s equipment is outfitted with chaos magic. Regular magic doesn’t effect drakes. Well it can, but we lack enough powerful magicians or a magi cannon large enough to strike the beast. Of course, this stereo isn’t strong enough to blast the dragon on its own. However,” he stuck the screwdriver into a socket. “If we amplify it considerably, we might be able to get somewhere.” He pressed a button on the little device and it emitted a strange sound. Time charger technology was incredibly advanced, so Sunset didn’t question how it could do that.

“How long’s it going to take?” Spike asked.

“Oh not long,” Time said. “Normally, this should be simple and quick. This is chaos magic though. It takes time to fiddle with.”

Vinyl smirked and leaned against the stereo, “You don’t say, Lil’ Timey. Why don’t you fiddle with something livelier and find out.”

Time Turner stopped and glared at her, “First off, I could have you executed for such talk. Second, that was bad and you should feel bad. Third, stop calling me Lil’ Timey. I’m far older than you and a hoof’s length taller.”

Vinyl chuckled, “Because it’s fun. Geez, I’m a chaos sorceress. You’d think stuff like this would happen around us.”

Sunset huffed, “You do this thing and I’ll go deal with the dragon. Come on, Spike.” She took off.

After Spike took off, Vinyl turned to Time Turner. “Be honest with me. It’s the glasses isn’t it.”

“That has nothing to do with… ugh!” Time smacked his head against the stereo.

____________________________________________________________________________


Thunderlane laid Giddilee down against the side of a crushed in building. The dragon wasn’t looking their way, so they were safe for the moment. The mare was panting heavily, having used too much magic trying to effect enough shields to stop the drake’s attacks. “That was very brave of you, ma’am.”

Giddilee gave him a weak smile, “It’s… the least I could do,” she took in sharp breaths every now and again. Her horn sparked.

‘Her horn’s going to break if she keeps this up,’ Thunderlane gave it a worrying glance. A unicorn’s horn was an essential part of them. It kept them healthy and allowed them to access and expel magic. If it broke, they’d literally fall at the seams, with their magic tearing their body apart. It was an excruciating process. It was treatable, but Thunderlane didn’t want to take any chances. “And I couldn’t be more thankful, but you need to take a rest.”

“But-”

Thunderlane put a hoof against her chest, “You’re going to kill yourself if you keep this up. Ma’am, you’ve done more than enough for us tonight. It’s because of you that we haven’t lost anyone.” ‘Yet.’ There had been several injuries, but Giddilee’s well placed shields had saved a dozen or so lives. “You’ve done Celestia proud this day. Rest. We’ll take it from here.”

“Do you think you can keep this up for long?” The dragon roared, flames spewing from his maw. “This game of cat and mouse? Well I’ll tell you something, ponies. This cat has had enough of this game.” He used his tail to level a few more buildings. “I’ll kill you and track those ponies you worked oh so hard to protect. It won’t be hard. A dragon never abandons their quarry. So come on out and maybe I’ll be lenient.”

“Oh like we’d believe something like that,” Thunderlane called out.

Ragnok chuckled, “It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not. I’m a dragon and you’re a pony. Defeat or surrender are your only options.”

“How about you surrender and we’ll talk about it?” Thunderlane said. “We have you surrounded.”

“And nary a scratch is on my hide from all the cannons and arrows you’ve shot at me,” Ragnok smirked. The great fire dragon was searching the town for the noise. The fire and smoke clouded his nostrils. “That little unicorn has been a nuisance though. I grow agitated the longer I go without bloodshed. Come on out and fight me. You did challenge me, didn’t you pony?”

Thunderlane was quiet for a moment. ‘I shouldn’t be doing this,’ “And what if I win?”

“I’ll leave this town and won’t harm a hair on a single pony’s head for a generation,” Ragnok clawed through a semi-burning building and snorted as he turned up nothing. “That is if you can beat me.”

‘He’s obviously lying,’ Thunderlane ground his teeth together as he mulled it over. ‘But I don’t have a lot of choices. If I don’t take this, my soldiers are going to start dropping like flies. Giddilee can’t handle much more shield spells she can cast.’ Before he could answer however, another voice spoke up.

“I accept your challenge,” Sunset’s voice rang out in the Traditional Canterlot Voice. The princess walked past him with a hesitant Spike behind.

“What are you doing?” Spike hissed at her. “You can’t beat a dragon.”

“Pfft, says you.” Sunset strode forth towards her opponent. “Stay with the others. This shouldn’t be long.”

“This is a bad idea,” Spike groaned.

Thunderlane couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Few ponies ever dared to take on a dragon and the ones that did always had been in groups. Doing it alone was suicide. “She’s not really going to fight it alone, is she?”

“You don’t know my sister,” Spike commented.

_____________________________________________________________

Sunset Shimmer wasn’t one to balk at a challenge. She’d dueled a few unicorns in her time and she never once lost. ‘Nightmare Moon doesn’t count. I beat her with rainbows in the end… I’m glad no one saw that. I got way too emotional.’ As well, being a Fire type blood mage meant that fire based creatures were her speciality.

Ragnok tilted his head curiously as he looked her over, “And who are you that would stand against me?”

“Princess Sunset Shimmer of Equestria,” she stated, her Canterlot Voice still present. “Daughter of Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and deity of the sun. I command you to leave this town at once.”

Ragnok blinked in surprise, “So she actually took a suiter? Interesting. I wonder if your death would remind of her place.”

Sunset’s left eye twitched, “Excuse me?” Fire played at the bottom of her hooves.

“She was the one who made a pact with the dragons of old,” Ragnok snorted. “For thousands of years, she’s lead herself to believe she’s kept us at bay, hasn’t she? That dragons are too afraid to take on a pretender.”

“Pretender?!!”

Ragnok smirked as he watched her rage, “Yes, a pretender. The sun is fire incarnate and it is we dragons who truly inherit the title ‘lord of the sun’. No equine has that right, especially not the one you all worship. Your death will remind her of her weakness.”

Sunset glared up at him, “We’ll see about that.” With her Canterlot Voice disabled, her horn flared up. Heretical talk aside, family was something Sunset held dear to her more than most. “How about you make the first move.”

“I would be delighted,” Ragnok balled up a fist as he stood up on his hindlegs. “I only need one.” With that said, he punched right where Sunset was. The moment he did, large, thick vines shot out from around her. They wrapped themselves around his fist and up over most of his arm. “What is-” They suddenly pulled him forward, smashing him into the ground. He growled, “Druid magic.”

“Tried and true,” Sunset smirk. “I’d advise you to leave now or things’ll get messy.”

“Messy?” Ragnok narrowed his eyes and turned towards the roots. With one burst of fire, he burned right through his restraints. “I shall show you a mess worth remembering, pony.” He charged, wanting nothing more than to crush her.

Sunset smirked and took off. She needed to get him out of town as quickly as she could. ‘I’ve cost Ponyville too much already,’ she inwardly winced as she remembered Fiddlestick’s burning farm. ‘I’m not going to pick a fight in town.’ The trick was to keep his attention and not get squished. Teleportation could help her, but it would cost her too much energy. Unlike with Nightmare Moon, where the dark witch’s energy level was rather weak so Sunset could expend some energy to use them, this was a dragon. She needed as much magical energy as she could when facing it.

So she needed to stop him. The problem is that she didn’t have a plan. ‘Damn it. This is something Lightning Dust would do…. Wait, where is she?’

As if on cue, a lightning bolt smacked into the dragon’s forehead. It didn’t injure it, but it got him to stop. “Take that scalie,” Lightning Dust smirked as she loomed over the dragon.

“Lightning,” Sunset yelled up at her. “Get out of here.”

“What?” Lightning scoffed. “And leave all the action to you? I don’t think so.”

Sunset just stared up at the pegasus as if she had grown a second head. ‘What the hay does she think she’s doing? Lightning on that scale wouldn’t do anything to a full grown dragon, unless she hit its eyes or mouth. Even then it wouldn’t be anything major. This is stupid. Why is she helping me? I burned down the farm. I’m… not the nicest of ponies, I admit. I won’t admit that out loud though.’

“I thought you wished to take me on by yourself, Princess.” Ragnok growled. “But of course, you ponies are too cowardly to do anything on your own.” As he grinned, a lasso roped itself around his jaw, closing it.

“That’s ‘cause we ponies are stronger together,” Fiddlesticks replied, holding the lasso with her tail. “Else life’d be pretty borin’. Don’t  ya think, Sunset?”

Sunset couldn’t believe this, “But… but your farm.”

“We’ll survive,” Fiddlesticks grit her teeth as she kept ahold of the rope. “Ain’t like we got no more trees. We don’t use that orchard that much anyways.”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” Sunset shot back.

“Maybe,” Fiddlesticks said. “But we’re still friends.”

“....Why?” Sunset shook her head. She couldn’t believe this. Fiddlesticks had to hate her after what she did.

“‘Cause we all make mistakes,” Fiddlesticks said. “It’s not like you meant to burn them down. Don’t get me wrong. Still mighty sore about it, but ah ain’t gonna stop bein’ yer friend just like that.”

Sunset’s mouth hung open, “I… I….”

Before Sunset could say anything, Ragnok flicked his snout up into the air. Fiddlesticks yelped as she was yanked off her hooves and smashed into Lightning. The pair tumbled into a part of town. Growling, Ragnok flexed his jaws and snapped the lasso. “Do you think such feeble attempts will stop me?”

“No,” Sunset seethed. Fire leaked from her horn in spurts. “That won’t stop you, but it sure as bucking hay infuriates me.”

Ragnok laughed, “And I should care, why?”

“Because no one fucks with a princess’s friends,” without a second thought, she charged. They weren’t in the center of town anymore and she could always push him out further. Right now, she just wanted to shove his head into the ground and break his wings.

Ragnok took a deep breath and let loose a torrent of flames. Sunset ducked and rolled out of the way of the blast, narrowly avoiding his swiping claws. The dragon swerved around to bite her, but Sunset teleported just in the nick of time. Appearing over his head, she pooled her magic into one flaming orb about her own size and smashed it down on his noggin. The dragon’s head hit the ground with force. Landing on his scaly hide, she quickly jumped off and gave herself some distance. That strike took too much out of her and she berated herself for it and the teleport. She just really wanted to smash his head, even if it really didn’t do much.

Ragnok pulled his head up and glared at her. The dragon roared, which nearly blew Sunset off her hooves. Then he charged once more, this time even faster. She didn’t have the distance she had the previous time, so she did her best to weave around the dragon’s strikes. She hated to admit it, but she was thankful she was small compared to this beast. She just needed a plan and fast.