Appledashery

by Just Essay

Escalationatron

"Mrmmmff..." Aatxe nibbled on cornbread and sausage on a stick. "Mmmmm... could use extra butter."

Up above the throneroom, yet another thunderous booming noise echoed.

The dragon whelp glared upwards. "Mrmmmff... for real? What's going on up there?" He grabbed another morsel and took more scrumptious bites. "Mmmmmm..."

Fwooosh! On thick leathery wings, Blood Fire flew in. "Big Boss! We have a situation! There's..." He froze in place, then squinted at the bowl of corndogs in Aatxe's possession. "Where did you get—?"

"Flame Staff." Aatxe belched.

"Mmm... right." Clearing his smoldering throat, Blood Fire gestured with his claws. "Anyways, there is a war waging in the Castle Courtyard."

"Spffffpffttt!" Aatxe spat out a river of crumbs and wiped his snout. "Whaaaat?!"

"A contingent of diamond dogs and unicorns have sprung an ambush on the brood!" Blood Fire's eyeslits narrowed. "What's more, the squirrels have returned, and they've brought their abominable weapons with them!"

"How in the heck did they even get up here?"

"There's no telling. For the time being, they need to be dispensed with."

"Then what are you waiting for?!" Aatxe snarled, waving his claw. "Go, Blood Fire! Dispense!"

"... ... ..." Blood Fire stood in place, his eyes darting towards the far corner of the throneroom.

Aatxe frowned. "What?!"

"Big Boss, with all due respect, it would only take a single claw-touch to the chaos shards and you could conceivably teleport them all away or transmogrify the invaders into—"

"And risk exposing it to those would-be burglars?!" Aatxe's voice cracked. "No can do, Blood Fire! Violence and burninating is your bag! Mother entrusted me the brood so I... uhh..." The little infant stood up on the throne and pointed at the object in question. "I have to stay here and guard the Flame Staff."

"... ... ...." Blood Fire's nostrils flared, spouting dark fumes. "But of course." He turned around, claws scraping the throneroom's surfaces. "I shall fly immediately to the top floor and engage the enemy before even more of our beloved brethren fall and die from unnecessary wounds inflected."

"You do that!" Aatxe sat down, and scoot-scoot-scooted his regal chair slightly close to the Flame Staff. "Hmmmf! Stupid invaders. Seriously, you have to be dumber than a bag of bricks to think you'd have a chance of coming down here and grabbing the staff."

---

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" Rainbow Dash hollered, flew, and headbutted a diamond dog.

As he flailed, she kicked his staff up, gripped it in numb hooves, then through it against the skull of a dragon.

Bonk! "OW!" The dragon turned, seething, and moved to pounce on her—only for a pile of burning rubble to be catapulted into his skull. "OOOF!"

"Nice shot, brother, old chap!" Flam hollered from across the violent melee.

"Grrrr!" Flim pivoted the catapult and reloaded it. "I wasn't aiming at the dragon!"

Another load of burning rubble flew.

"Deck hitting time!" Lancie yelped.

Rainbow Dash suppressed a shriek and flew forward. She narrowly dodged the projectile as it sent burning debris raining down on her and the surrounding combatants.

Wincing, Rainbow crawled towards the nearest wall. A shattered windowpane lingered above. She clmbed up, fighting the numbness in her limbs, then looked into the glass.

An orange face with white freckles stared back.

Rainbow gasped, eyes twitching.

"... ... ..." The apple mare smiled. A tear, maybe two, and her ghostly image faded entirely, replaced by the reflections of the fight happening behind Rainbow.

"Get a move on, Sparky!" Lancie snarled. "You were supposed to be underground—like—two chapters ago!"

"She's..." Rainbow gulped. "She's gone..." Her eyebrows lifted. "Like really gone!"

"Who is?"

Rainbow stared at her reflection. A devilish smirk formed. "All the bucks that I have left to give." She grinned over her shoulder. "It's time to do this!"

"I hate to break it to ya, girl, but that time passed several minutes ago!" Lancie frowned. "In fighting your way through the distraction, I think you've found that your distraction now needs a distraction!"

POWWWW! Blood Fire came bursting out of the ground. On heavy wings, he rose up, snarling with fuming breaths. "Invaders! Usurpers! You have brought doom upon yourselves!"

"Oh hey..." Rainbow blinked, staring up. "That'll work."

"Concentrate all fire on beeg burrning drragon!" Brucie snarled, somehow already sporting seven bloodied canine fangs for a necklace. The squirrel pumped his shotgun and aimed his paw at the sky. "Come on, comrades! No vone leeves forever, da?!"

"NYET!"

And a violent salvo of electrical energy flew into the sky.

Blood Fire retaliated with an excrutiatingly hot breath.

Squirrels, henchstallions, and diamond dogs went diving for cover. The surviving broodlings merely braced themselves as flame and plasma flooded the arena.

Rainbow Dash galloped, took off, and outflew the wave of heat.

"Thread the needle thread the needle thread the needle!" she rasped as she narrowly avoided a melting death. In a blur, she zoomed down a stairwell and made her rapid way to the throne room.

Comments

[RoboRed]

"Thread the needle thread the needle thread the needle!" she rasped as she narrowly avoided a melting death.

Definitely a mantra to live by.

I have a feeling things are going to get really scary if/when Blood Fire decides to disengage any and all fucks he has that relate to respecting Aatxe, and worse if he winds up using the staff.

[Lightning Bearer]

... we haven't seen Romulus in a while, have we?

[Phoenix Kitten]

6539599 Something tells me he'd be a might bit nicer.
He seems to be quite affable.

"Invaders! Usurpers! You have brought doom upon yourselves!"

You know... when he's not being an awesome threat.

[Phoenix Kitten]

6539670 Annnd we never saw a body either.

[Aatxe360]

I'm just a little surprised I didn't call the whole lot incompetent and go up there.

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

6539673
6539670
Aaaaaand he's every bit as good as RD in a scrap...y'all thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?

[YoshiFawful64]

burninating

engage the enemy

You know, if you're trying to make me think about Xenoblade Chronicles, it's proving very effective so far.

[Hestia]

So the Applejack illusion is really gone? I guess this means Dash can stop second guessing herself.

[zaponator]

Is momma dragon still showing up? I feel like things are actually working out pretty alright without her so far, but there's always time for one last twist.

[Leftover of Saikano]

Brucie snarled, somehow already sporting seven bloodied canine fangs for a necklace.

Did someone tell the squirrels that Diamond Dogs would be part of Romulus' team? Does Brucie even care?

[LucyHorseThing]

He froze in place, then squinted at the bowl of corndogs in Aatxe's possession.

What I would do for a corndog right now...
pre02.deviantart.net/9550/th/pre/i/2013/329/3/5/creamy_creamy_frosting_by_gray_gold-d6vcvwo.png

[DrEggnog]

Aatxe, you are eight different kinds of dumb. This is why villains don't deserve wish powers.

[arancaytar]

"Grrrr!" Flim pivoted the catapult and reloaded it. "I wasn't aiming at the dragon! "

Considering what a tiny target she is, Dashie definitely has something of a battlefield advantage in spite of being outnumbered a bazillion to one.

[bronyheat]

Brucie snarled, somehow already sporting seven bloodied canine fangs for a necklace.

He gets da teef cause den he can use 'em to buy more dakka!