The first round of Smaug's gauntlet commenced, Garble and his gang against Blue and her sisters. Smaug flew the raptors into the volcano and onto the battle stage. Garble and his boys flew down inside after them, and Smaug left as soon as he dropped the raptors off. Once he was out of the volcano, Smaug called to the raptors from the sky.
"Velociraptors, I hope you're ready for the start of the gauntlet!"
Once they were inside the volcano, Blue realized just how tough this fight was actually going to be. The air was very thick and the heat from the volcano only added to the pressure that would be put on the combatants. This wasn't going to be a regular fight, there was life and stakes riding on the outcome of this brawl.
"Alright girls, are we ready to show these wannabes what us raptors can do?"
"You bet sister!" The raptors selected their targets amidst the sweltering heat and lined themselves up against the dragons they would fight. Delta picked the thin grey dragon with white horns. Charlie chose the white dragon with pinkish spikes that looked like a mane. Echo chose a chubby light purple dragon with light blue horns, and finally, Blue chose to fight Garble. With their opponents selected, the raptors bellowed challenging roars, charged towards their targets and the gauntlet was underway.
Up above, all the dragons had gathered around the entire perimeter of the volcano to witness the battle. The volcano was large enough so that every dragon could witness the brawl and no one would be left out. The Mane Six and CMC were also watching, with the dragon trio standing by in case anything happened. They could hear the shrieks and growls coming from within as dragons and raptors slashed and snapped at each other.
Charlie was outmaneuvering her target at every step. The white dragon couldn't lay a claw on her, Charlie's training with Indominus and Tyrannosaurus had taught her how to anticipate and counter attack. With every blow that he missed, Charlie scored slashes and drew more blood with each strike. Her sisters were faring just as well with their opponents.
Delta's opponent may have been agile in dodging most of her attacks, but he didn't have the brawn to score any decisive blows. He did feel every one of Delta's attacks, especially when she grabbed him behind the neck and threw him into an outcrop. She latched onto his back with her teeth and claws, and threw the punk dragon across the battlefield. He stood back up, gritting his teeth in anger and charged back towards Delta. Only to be stopped by an uppercut with her head.
Echo was slowly making her opponent wear himself out and bleed to death. Because the dragon she was facing was so massive, she had to deliver more attacks to weaken him. The purple dragon was too fat and couldn't grab at the more agile raptor, so she used that to climb onto his body and slash wherever she could. The sickle claws on her feet carved away at his stomach and caused his blood to spill everywhere. Echo added to the injury by pushing off the fat dragon's body and making him crash into an outcrop.
Blue was locked in a much more heated battle than her sisters were. She and Garble were going toe to toe with each other, and trying to gain the upper claw. Yet Blue was able to get in more savage bites around the neck while Garble nailed more punches in her stomach. The blows didn't slow her down any, because she wasn't about to let Garble have his way. The two predators were throwing slashes and bites at each other, turning the fight into a blood brawl.
Above the battle, Smaug was smiling and enjoying himself.
"You like what you see Smaug," Indominus said to the dragon lord.
"Oh, most definitely! The velociraptors are quite the vicious warriors. I think that Blue is going to kill Garble at this rate. Now I see what she meant when she told me I would enjoy this as much as she and her girls would."
"What did she tell you?"
"She told me that Garble was going to get everything that was coming to him. I believe that she set him and his boys up, now there is no way Garble is getting out of this fight alive. If the volcano doesn't kill him, then the raptors will."
Back in the volcano, Garble was getting incredibly frustrated after being unable to effectively attack Blue. She and her girls were making fools out of his gang, and slowly killing them at the same time. But the icing on the insult to injury cake, was the cheering that the raptors were getting from the Mane Six and the CMC.
"You show him Echo, slash him up good," Sweetie Belle called out.
"Go get em Charlie, show them what yer made of," Applebloom cheered out after Charlie slashed the white dragon across the face.
Blue received a nice cheer from Twilight after she rammed Garble's head through an outcrop.
"Oh yeah! Make him feel the pain Blue, show that bully who's boss." Her friends were staring at her with expressions that screamed "wow Twilight."
"That's it! Boys, it's time to fly!" Garble yelled out after taking so many aggravating blows.
His gang broke away from the raptors and went airborne. They began making diving attacks on the vulnerable raptors. Blue and her girls had gone from offensive to defensive, the dragons were moving too quickly with their dives to be attacked. Just after Blue dodged one of the dragons, she suddenly found herself lifted off the battlefield and being carried into the air by Garble.
"Now let's see how long you can keep your cool under the heat?" Garble began a steep dive towards the lava. Blue had a terrible idea about what he had in mind, and latched onto him with her teeth and claws.
Garble pulled out just barely above the boiling lava, Blue could feel the intense heat against her back as the teen dragon flew around the perimeter. The slightest dip in altitude and Blue would wind up in the lava, so she tried to make her body as small as possible. However, she was only doing what Garble was making her do just to avoid being hit by the lava.
"That's it baby. keep on wrapping those scales around me. This is what you'll be doing all the time after I win."
In anger at Garble's cockiness, Blue clamped down on the underside of his jaw and forced his head straight up. In response, his body was forced into an upward position, and he was forced to fly away from the lava. The bite had immobilized Garble so he couldn't throw Blue off himself. After he got back past the stage, Blue detached her teeth and pushed off his body so she landed back on the stage. Garble found himself smacked against the wall of the volcano and stared back angrily at the raptors.
"You will bow before me! I won't lose to a bunch of sneaky females!" Garble pushed himself off the wall and came charging back towards the raptors.
This time he unleashed a torrent of flame at them. The raptors barely managed to dodge the flames, but it was only a trick. The teen dragons used the flames to ambush the raptors and pinned them to the ground. Garble looked down on Blue and then an evil thought popped into his mind.
"You've made fools out of us, now we're going to make you suffer far worse pain. We're going to send a couple of your friends into the volcano, and their deaths will be on your heads." The raptors' eyes shrunk to thin blades, they looked back towards the ledge and were horrified by who Garble was targeting. He and his boys were going to attack the ledge and send the Crusaders plummeting into the volcano.
"Don't you even think about harming them, or you'll be begging for the lava to be your salvation," Blue said angrily.
"Oh please, none of you will be able to save them, and if you try you'll just get swallowed up by the lava yourself. Now time to let your torment and agony begin. Ready boys?" The dragons gathered fire within their mouths and pointed them at the raptors' heads.
Back above the fight, the ponies were worrying themselves to death. Seeing the predicament the raptors were in was driving them nuts.
"They're gonna get blasted at point blank range," said Fluttershy.
"But I don't understand why." All the ponies turned to look at Tyrannosaurus after hearing him.
"What do you mean T-Rex?"
"I mean Blue isn't taking this battle seriously. It's like she and the others are setting up the fight for the right moment to destroy those punks. I just hope that they know what they're doing."
Tyrannosaurus was right, but he had no clue what was going to happen next.
"FIRE!" The dragons all pointed their heads away from the raptors and unleashed their flame blasts towards the ledge. None of the spectators knew what was going on, but as they watched where the blasts were headed, the realization dawned on them all. The flame blast destroyed the part of the ledge that the CMC and Mane Six were standing on. Twilight and the others moved back in time, and Scootaloo simply flew up to avoid it, but Sweetie Belle and Applebloom weren't so lucky. The ground crumbled underneath them and they began to fall into the volcano. Rarity and Applejack were blinding by the flames and couldn't move in to save their sisters as they fell towards the lava.
"APPLEBLOOM!"
"SWEETIE BELLE!"
The cries of Rarity and Applejack got the raptors' attention. Charlie and Echo felt fear and anger seeping into their hearts as they watched the young crusaders falling towards the fiery lava below. The sight of them crying as they dropped further into the volcano filled the raptors with incredible strength. Using pure rage, the two raptors roared like mad and freed themselves using immense strength to push the dragons off their bodies. The dragons were shocked as they were blown away, and Echo and Charlie made a beeline for the edge of the arena.
All the dragons above gasped in shock as Charlie and Echo dove off the edge of the battlefield and headed towards Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. The raptors tried to make their bodies as aerodynamic as possible in order to gain speed. They were closing the gap between the crusaders, but also the lava. They had to get to the young ponies before time ran out.
"Now Echo!" The two raptors tapped into their hidden power and unfurled their wings. The power forced them past the crusaders, and the raptors scooped them into their claws, just clearing the lava.
Echo and Charlie went skyward and soared past everypony. Then they hovered high above the battlefield for a minute to catch their breath, and to check on the fillies.
"Applebloom?"
"Sweetie Belle?"
"Are you girls ok?"
The fillies opened their eyes after realizing they weren't in the volcano anymore. Each of them realized that they were being held in the comfort of the raptors' claws. The fillies were so overcome that they wrapped their front hooves around the raptors' necks and nuzzled against their scales.
"Thank you Charlie, ya saved us just in time," said Applebloom.
"You girls really are saviors," Sweetie Belle added.
"You're quite welcome girls," said Echo. "Now how's about we teach these punks not to mess with our friends."
"Ah'm not sure that we can be of any help to you girls. We'd only just get in the way."
"Not true, did you think T-Rex and Indominus were the only ones capable of sharing their power? We can do it just as well."
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle's eyes went wide with excitement.
"You mean we're gonna be strong like all of you?"
"Well, we won't give you two a whole lot. Just enough to make you strong and tough enough to help us fight those dragons. So, are you both ready?"
"You bet!"
Echo and Charlie opened their mouths and a small amount of their power came flowing out. The crusaders closed their eyes as the power flowed around them, and then got absorbed into their bodies. When they opened them, they found the same red aura flowing around their bodies. They even had similar red markings along their sides that were like the ones Indominus had. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were overjoyed at the sight.
"Applebloom, the power has made you much stronger and you'll be able to lay a world of hurt on those punks," said Charlie.
"Alright!"
"As for you Sweetie Belle, your magic has grown to be more powerful than a full grown unicorn. Your blasts will be far stronger than normal. As a bonus, each of you can do the same trademark blasts that we had during the fight with Black Death."
"Awesome! Now let's go kick some dragon tail."
Sweetie Belle and Applebloom climbed onto the raptors' backs and stood on their hind legs like they were surfing on the Velociraptors. The dinosaurs nosed over and dove back into the volcano, with the fillies riding them like a surfboard. It was time for some much needed payback.
"Let's do this girls," Charlie called out to the her sister and the crusaders. The dragons stared at the raptors with boggled eyes. Garble was in a complete shock.
"H-H-How are they flying?"
"Same way we can fly, foolish rat." Blue pushed Garble off her body and brought out her wings in front of him.
Delta did the same with her opponent, now the tables had turned. The raptors had revealed their ace in the hole and now they had the advantage. Blue and her girls had lured Garble and his boys into a trap, now the raptors could tear them apart and fulfill their end of the deal.
"We've had this power for quite some time now, Garble. It helped destroy Black Death, turned him into a pile of ashes. Now we're going to use it to destroy you and your filthy gang of misfits. You never had a chance to beat us, there is no way out for you no. Either the volcano claims your pathetic life, or we get to tear you to pieces."
Garble charged towards Blue, but she easily flew up to dodge the attack. She came back down on his back and clamped down on his neck. Her sharp teeth dug into Garble's scales and savagely drew blood. Blue pulled away with a chunk of flesh in her mouth, Garble was bleeding from the wound but didn't back down. He snarled as he prepared to attack her again, the dragons had lost their edge in the fight.
Delta's opponent was even more helpless than Garble was. Now that she could showcase her power and skills properly, the thin dragon was flying for his life. Delta outmaneuvered him at every turn and sent him careening back into the dirt each time. The numerous blasts she unleashed upon his sorry hide had the dragon scrambling for his life. The poor fools were in deep trouble, and it was only getting worse.
Charlie and Echo were having the time of their lives dog-fighting their opponents in the air, with the help of their partners. Charlie got in close on her dragon, and Applebloom got the chance to deal some major blows. With the help of the power coursing through her, Applebloom's attacks struck harder and left the white dragon in agony. She sent him spinning away with a roundhouse kick to the face.
"Having fun Applebloom?"
"Oh ya know it Charlie."
Echo and Sweetie Belle were unleashing a barrage of blasts at the chubby purple dragon. He could hardly move anywhere in the sky without a blast almost careening into him. Sweetie Belle jumped off Echo's back and went right towards the dragon. Just as he spotted her, she opened her mouth and hit him dead center with a powerful red blast of energy. The filly landed on Echo again and they went after the dragon as he crashed into the ground. Before he could get back up, Sweetie Belle and Echo launched their blasts together and they combined as they exploded on the helpless teen dragon. His body was quivering in pain, and he had been pushed to the edge of the platform.
"Way to go Sweetie Belle."
"Thanks Echo." The girls were enjoying utterly destroying the dragons, but a reminder took away the fun.
All around them they felt the volcano rumbling and could see pieces of the inner wall falling off. Blue looked down and saw that the lava was slowly rising, and geysers were starting to erupt around the battlefield. In all of the fighting they had forgotten about the volcano and its time limit.
"Girls! We have to finish this quickly, the volcano is starting to erupt." Echo and Charlie joined up with Blue and coordinated a plan amidst all the noise.
"How are we going to end this quickly Blue?"
"Here's the plan girls. Get all of them near the edge of the battlefield, then we'll force all of them into the lava with one united blast. Then we'll grab Garble and fulfill our deal just like we promised."
The raptor smiled deviously amongst each other, as well as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle since they were going to be part of the plan. They dove back towards the battlefield in a tight formation and picked out the remaining targets.
Charlie dove towards the dragon that Delta was torturing.
"Ready Applebloom?"
"Go for it Charlie." Charlie tossed Applebloom right at the wounded dragon and called out to her sister.
"Delta fly!" The raptor turned around to see what was going on and instantly went airborne.
The dragon saw what was coming a moment too late. Blood spurted from his mouth as Applebloom nailed him with a strong kick to the face. The dragon was sent tumbling over and wound up on top of the fat purple dragon. Charlie flew under and scooped Applebloom back up and regrouped with Delta.
"How do you like having our power Applebloom," Delta asked.
"It's unbelievable, but we've gotta finish this fight at once." Charlie filled Delta in on what Blue had told them. She liked the idea just as much as her sisters did, but the increased rumbling of the volcano only made the situation more dire.
The geysers were becoming bigger and the volcano sounded like it was going to shake itself apart. The raptors flew back into the fight, ready to end it once and for all. Charlie and Echo went back to finish the white dragon while Blue and Delta focused their efforts on Garble. Their plan was being put in motion and it was time to make the teen dragons pay.
Charlie and Echo slashed up the white dragon badly while Applebloom and Sweetie Belle pummeled the heck out of his face. The dragon was so overwhelmed from the amount of force being used against him that he couldn't fly away from the attacks. The raptors tore away flesh from his neck, then gave the crusaders one last attack. They opened their mouths and let loose torrents of power at the bleeding dragon. He was devastated from the attack and crashed near his wounded and broken pals. That left only one dragon to take care of: their leader.
Blue and Delta were going at Garble with vicious attacks, but the spunky dragon was doing a good job of holding his own against them. They were doing damage, but not enough to cripple him. He fired a blast of flame at them, then grabbed Blue by the throat. He pulled the raptor in and put both claws around her neck.
"I won't go down in this fight without taking you with me. There's no way that I'm going to become a carcass in front of all those dragons. If I die by the volcano, then you're going to fry with me."
"You should know better than to talk to a guardian like that, scale boy." Garble was angered when he heard Sweetie Belle's comment. He turned up at the diving raptors and fired a blast up at them. Sweetie Belle positioned herself until she was right alongside Echo's head and the two fired a combined blast at the flame. Their attack cut through Garble's flame like it was nothing, and Blue seized the chance. She clamped down on the underside of his neck, and the attack caused him to release his grip. She took flight just as the attack collided with Garble and left him sizzling.
The raptors regrouped in the air and together with the fillies, they launched an intense barrage of blasts at Garble. The dragon felt like he was caught in the middle of an insane war zone with all the explosions and blasts around him. He was at the mercy of the raptors, and they had no intention of giving him any mercy. Blue dove into the fireball and fired a blast at point blank range into his face. Garble was sent flying into the pile with his battered and defeated gang, they had lost the battle.
The warriors flew together and aimed for the defeated group. The time for their final attack was now and all of them charged up one last blast. Blue, Delta, Echo, Charlie, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle fired their blasts at once and the dragons were blown into the wall of the volcano. All of them were unconscious, they peeled off the wall like flypaper and began falling towards the boiling lava. Blue and Delta swooped in and grabbed Garble's body as the eruptions reached their intensity peak.
The lava began climbing rapidly, and it swallowed up Garble's defeated gang. The bodies melted away as the lava claimed the former gang and reduced them to residue. The raptors zoom climbed out of the volcano and cleared the opening just as the lava erupted behind them. All the dragons scattered as the Final Destination claimed its first victims of the gauntlet. The lava cooled down and hardened after the eruptions passed.
Each of the raptors touched down, and bellowed their victory cries for all to hear. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle actually joined in on the victory celebration, even if it left their sisters a little worried. They climbed off the raptors' backs and stood in front to thank them.
"We can't thank you girls enough for looking out for us."
"We would've been cooked by that lava fer sure if ya'll hadn't been there to save us," Charlie and Echo nuzzled the young fillies in response.
"It was out pleasure girls. That's what family does, they look out for each other," said Charlie. Echo looked at her sister surprised.
"Wow Charlie, I didn't know you were poetic."
"Little something I picked up from being around Applejack and her family. Speaking of which, here come your sisters now."
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle got really nervous as their sisters approached. Both had unreadable looks as they stood before their siblings.
"Applejack I'm really sorry about doing this, but they were only-" Applebloom was cut off as Applejack and Rarity pulled their sisters in and held them tight.
"Ah was so worried about you little sis."
"We thought you were going to die in that volcano." Both sisters turned their attention to Echo and Charlie and motioned for them to join in. Charlie welcomed Applejack's hug, and Rarity pulled Echo close to her and Sweetie Belle.
"You girls continue to surprise us time and again Echo," Rarity said to the proud raptor.
"First ya save us from Timberwolves, and now ya save ma little sister from dragons. You are a true hero in this family Charlie." The young raptor felt touched by the compliments he was receiving. But there was one more matter that needed to be taken care of.
"Alright girls, we're sorry to do this, but we need to take the power back." The fillies understood and allowed the raptors to take the power back. Both ponies watched as the red marking and aura were pulled away from their bodies and down the raptors' throats. With the crusaders back to normal, the raptors turned their attention to the beaten dragon.
Garble finally regained his consciousness, only to find the raptors baring their teeth and drooling.
"You can't do this, you can't kill me." He looked at Smaug, hoping for some kind of escape. To his horror, Smaug only said one thing.
"You made a deal with them, now it's time to pay up." Blue closed in on the terrified dragon, Her voice sounded deep and deadly as she spoke.
"You challenged us and lost, and now, we will devour you in front of all these dragons. You're going to make a nice meal for what you tried to do to these fillies."
All four raptors went into a feeding frenzy and began chomping away at Garble's body. The dragon screamed out in agony as the raptors ripped his limbs off, tore out his eyeballs, and spilled his blood all over the place. All the dragons around were amazed at the gruesome feeding taking place. Seeing a dragon eaten and dismembered in such a horrific way was a rare sight to them. The screams continued even after the raptors tore open the stomach, and began ripping the guts and intestines out. Garble finally fell silent after Blue tore his head off his neck and ate his face. Once the body had been completely eaten from the inside out, the raptor squad pushed the mauled body into the volcano.
Smaug walked over and spoke to the winners.
"Well done Velociraptors, that was quite an amazing fight indeed. I'll be speaking to all of you later about those wings of yours, but now it's time for the King of the dinosaurs to have his turn."
Tyrannosaurus stepped forward, ready to take on whatever dragon would be his opponent.