The Elements of Virtue

by Rakoon1

The Element of Bravery, Part III - An Act of True Bravery

Gunter, Hawthorn and Bramble were walking through the cave they have entered into. After a while, the light started to fade away as they went deep. Fortunately, Hawthorn used his light nature to cause his horns to glow. As they walked, Gunter noticed Bramble was a little nervous.

“Are you okay, Bramble?” Gunter asked. “Hey, if you’re worried about the dragons…”

“It’s not that” Bramble replied. “I won’t back off of my decision to help you. However, I can’t help but feeling… weird.”

“I know what that is” Hawthorn told, while walking. “It’s that little nervous before a battle. Don’t worry, all warriors feel that.”

“But, it’s not like it’s my first battle” Bramble said. “I mean, I helped when the dark ponies invaded the academy.”

“But one thing is dealing with dark ponies” Hawthorn replied. “Another, and completely different, is fighting vicious Mountain Dragons.”

“No worries, buddy” Gunter said to Bramble. “You can count on me to cover your back.”

“Thanks, Gunter” he replied.

As they continued, they soon found the tunnel they were walking through now branching in many others.

“So this is what King Aspen meant about a maze of tunnels” Gunter observed.

“Which way should we go?” Bramble asked. “We need to be very careful, otherwise we might get lost.”

Hawthorn thought for a moment. It was then that he started feeling something was wrong with that entire scenario.

“I don’t like this…” he said. “Not one bit.”

“What?” the two youngsters asked.

“We’re already deep in the Mountain Dragons’ territory and yet we’ve seen no dragon at sight ever since we get in” he explained. “It’s too quiet… and that’s never good.”

Suddenly, the ground under them started to shake.

“Is this… an earthquake?” Bramble asked.

“Not, it’s not…” Hawthorn started, who then realized what it was. “It’s trap! Watch out!”

It was then that a successive of big boulders started rolling through the tunnels around them. They were rolling so fast that Gunter, Bramble and Hawthorn were having difficulties in dodging all of them. While dodging, Hawthorn noticed Bramble was about to get hit, so he extended a tentacle and pushed him away, but that only caused him to lose focus and be hit by one of the boulders.

“Uncle!” Bramble called, before being hit as well.

Gunter tried to dodge the best he could, using his wings to do that. However, Gunter couldn’t help but noticing those boulders were weird. It even looked like there were made of… scales? While dotting over those thoughts, he ended up being hit, with the impact even hurting one of his wings.

“But… what’s up with those boulders?!” Bramble asked. “They’re not normal.”

“That’s because they are not boulders” Gunter said. “They’re dragons.”

As he said that, the boulders stopped near them and so they uncoiled, revealing they were in fact dragons. However, they didn’t looked like the dragons they have already seen. Considering a dragon’s size without greed, they were much bigger and buffer and they scales didn’t look like normal scales, looking rocky.

The one that seemed to be leading the others was rotund and reddish orange-colored, with several dark red spikes around his body and big round horns of the same color. His wrings were reddish wings and he possessed a tuft of spikes that resembles a topknot at the top of his head. He was wearing a necklace and a loincloth with armor plates in front similar to the strips on the belt.

“So right you are, you little cat-bird”

Hawthorn tried to use his light nature or his tentacles, but before he could do any of that, he made a gesture to one of the dragons that were with him and he threw a net at them, whose rope was connected to pieces of a strange type of rock. Once the net was over them, Hawthorn found himself unable to use any of his abilities.

“What the…” he started.

“A little confused, are we?” the dragon asked. “That net is made with a special secret weapon of ours against nature magic users who dare to trespass. It’s vengestone and it is capable of nullify any nature magic… and jinchuriki transformation. That little detail is just for you… Lord Hawthorn. Oh, by the way, that rope cannot also be cut, so you may not waste your time trying to use your horns or talons.”

“You know who I am?” Hawthorn asked.

“We know who you all are” the dragon replied. “We know that one is your little nephew and that one… Well, you’re not from here, are you, little griffon? But it would appear you are a real pain.”

“This was all a set-up, right?” Gunter asked. “You knew we were coming?”

“Well done!” the dragon congratulated. “But a little too late… Okay, let’s wrap this up and take them to the boss, boys.”

The Mountain Dragons took the net with them inside and started carrying them through the tunnels. After a while, they arrived to the end of a tunnel, which had a giant gate made of polished rock. The leader of the dragons raised a claw and hit it on the gate, causing it to open. Once they all crossed, he waved the claw and the gate just closed.

They were now in what appeared to be the inside of a mountain that had been excavated. Many levels had been built in stone and each level led to what appeared to be chamber-like caves. From what Gunter, Bramble and Hawthorn were able to see, some these caves acted like nests, with some occupied by female dragons with babies, but many acted as training chambers.As the Mountain Dragons reached a tunnel at the bottom of the place, they started to go even deeper, while carrying their prisoners.

Eventually they arrived to the end of that tunnel that led to a big chamber that seemed to be more elaborated than the others. It was decorated with many gems whose glow made the chamber look like it was illuminated. At one side of it, there was a big pit that seemed to be connected to a pool of magma. There were some dragons there that were acting as guards to the one that was sitting on a throne at the top of stone stairs.

That dragon was the one that stood out between the others, as he was even bigger, having almost twice the size, and being even more intimidating. He had golden scales with some being brown (making him look having spots) with a yellow underbelly. He had large spikes on his head that looked like a big crest, having also some on his arms and alongside his jaw, and three small horns, two on his head and one on his nose. Not only that, but he also possessed sharp teeth that gave him a skeletal appearance, not to mention he had tattered wings and was wearing an eyepatch, two belts crisscrossed on his hips and a necklace with an orange gem.

The net with the prisoners was thrown to the base of the staircase leading to the throne and the dragon leader that brought them said:

“Boss, we managed to capture the intruders.”

“I can see that, you dimwit!” he replied in a very harsh and raspy voice that only complemented his look. “Do you think I can’t see that?”

“Well, with that eyepatch, your vision is not exactly perfect…” Gunter mumbled.

But the dragon that brought them heard that and roared at him:

“Hey, more respect for the great King Gunnar, you feathered weakeling!”

“Enough, Volcan” Gunnar told. “After all, they are our guests. We should treat with the proper… respect.”

“You… You’re the Dragon King of the Mountain Dragons” Hawthorn said.

“And you are King Aspen’s brother, a child of that bloody King Alder” Gunnar said. “Your father had caused me a lot of trouble in the past. It’s nice to know that I can get to him, even though he is long dead. And it was nice of you to bring your nephew along and that griffon too. To think he thinks he and his pathetic friends can defeat the Pony of Shadows.”

“Wait, how do you know about that?!” Gunter asked.

“You knew we were coming” Hawthorn realized. “That’s why that trap was so effective.”

“For certain you didn’t think we would let you come and take the shield of that pegasus warrior that easily, did you?” Gunnar asked. “That shield is proof of our victory over the pony that bested the Fire Dragons… and proof of our superiority over those sufferable firebreathers. It’s beyond me why they have a lot of attention when we are the better warriors who don’t even need greed to be strong.”

“But how did you know?” Gunter asked.

“I told them!” a voice echoed in the chamber.

There was a tremor and then a big eruption of magma from the pit and a figure made of flames immerged with it being no one else but the Lord of Chaos who released one of his evil laughs.

“Oh no…” the three prisoners said.

“Oh yes” the Lord of Chaos said. “Did you really think that you could try to ruin another of my brilliant plans without me knowing? I may be stuck in my dimension, but I for one don’t find that amusing… especially when a bunch of teenagers are the ones doing it. So I warned the Mountain Dragons to protect one of the objects of the Pillars that I possess. Although I never expected it would work so well. Not only I will be able to get rid of one of the obstacles to my plan, but also of the jinchuriki of Eight-Tails and the crown prince of Thicket.”

Turning to the Dragon King, the Lord of Chaos said:

“Good job, Gunnar. Very well executed.”

“Anything for you, my lord” he replied, while bowing before the Lord of Chaos, along with his subjects.

“Now destroy them” the Lord of Chaos orders. “Throw Aspen’s offspring to the pit and be sure to give the griffon a proper painful death. You can do whatever you want with the jinchuriki.”

“You can count of me, my lord” Gunnar said.

“Do it now and exactly how I said it, Gunnar” the Lord of Chaos warned. “I don’t want to take any chances. Don’t fail this simple order. For a Dragon King failure, I already have Flame.”

Having said that, the image of the Lord of Chaos returned to the magma inside the pit. Despite a little nervous for the Lord of Chaos’ threatening warning, Gunnar quickly recovered and told to his dragons with his loud and threatening voice:

“You heard what his excellency said! Do it, now!”

While he sat on his thrown, the other dragons turned to their prisoners.

“Don’t you even dare touch my nephew” Hawthorn said.

But they just pinned him and Gunter against the ground, while they went to remove Bramble from it, with Volcan taking him.

“Release me, now!” Bramble shouted, while trying to free himself from them.

He tried to use light nature, making electricity go through his body, but it would appear it wasn’t affect Volcan whatsoever.

“That tickles… but not that much” he replied, while starting to head towards the pit.

“No, Bramble!” Gunter exclaimed, while he was also taken by a dragon and pinned against the ground.

“Let him go!” Hawthorn shouted, while he remained inside the net, completely unable to access both his nature magic or his tailed beast transformation.

As he saw his friend being carried to the pit to be thrown into the magma, Gunter started to feel his anger and frustration boiling for feeling impotent before the eminent demise of one of his best friends. But a voice in his head told him to not let that happen, to do something… anything.

Suddenly, an immense heat started to be released by Gunter. The heat was so intense that caused the dragon that was holding him to get burned and, eventually, release him to cease the pain. Taking advantage of that, Gunter used his speed to took flight and head to save Bramble.

Seeing this, Gunnar stood up and exclaimed:

“Volcan, watch out!”

When Volcan was about to toss Bramble, he turned around and saw Gunter coming against him. However, before he could drop Bramble, the young griffon was able to tackle him and, despite Bramble ended up being dropped, Gunter managed to grab him and toss him out of the cliff to a safe place.

“No, no!” Gunnar shouted. “You idiot! Get them!”

Bramble turned to Gunter, wanting to thank him, but saw that Bramble was just hoovering above the pit, being unable to move forward any further because of his hurt wing and, to his terror, he saw him ending up falling down.

“No Gunter!” he shouted.

But there was nothing he could do to stop it. The young deer just stood there, incapable of moving because of the shock of seeing one of his best friends just falling into a pit of magma.

“Well, it was not exactly like the Lord of Chaos wanted to be done, but I guess it’s better than nothing” Gunnar said. “No let’s get rid of the other one. Volcan!”

Volcan prepared to grab Bramble, but then he stopped saying:

“How could you… How could you…”

As he started saying this, electricity started passing through his body. It was then that he turned to Volcan and his face had nothing more than rage and he shouted:

“HOW COULD YOU?!”

Suddenly, an immense electric aura, similar to his father’s, covered his body and, with such quick and power move, he was able to push Volcan against the wall behind him.

“I can’t believe it…” Hawthorn said, openmouthed and happy at the same time for seeing his nephew finally unleashing his true power, one that was similar to Aspen’s.

It was then that Bramble waved his horns and casted what appeared to be a blade of lightning that hit one of Volcan’s wings, causing him to release a painful roar.

“Okay, that’s new” Hawthorn commented, totally caught off-guard.

Bramble stabbed another lightning blade against Volcan’s other wing and then turned against Gunnar who said:

“I have to say I am impressed. Who knew Aspen’s little runt had such skills. But let’s see if you can chew this bite.”

He signed to the other dragons who started to prepare themselves to fight Bramble as well.

As Gunter was falling down the pit, he closed his eyes as he reminded of all the moments of his life: his family, his friends, all the good moments… all the bad ones. He noticed that of all the moments he had acted tough and full of confidence were not real moments of bravery. In fact, deep down, he didn’t know if he was brave enough. He didn’t got the courage to confess his feelings for Galena. But now, seeing one of his greatest friends in danger, at the edge of being tosses into the pit, he was finally able to find the courage he needed.

He closed his eyes as he got closed to the magma, accepting his fate. However, Gunter didn’t feel any pain after he splashed into the magma. When he opened his eyes, he could see inside the magma. It was like he was underwater. But he didn’t understand how could that be. He then noticed a blue aura around him that seemed to be the one thing that was protecting him.

It didn’t took long for him to also noticed the same kind of glow nearby. Swimming inside the magma, he approached the glow and saw that it was involving something… or rather someone. It was Flash Magnus, completely unharmed by the magma or even the passage of time. He was holding Netitus, which was pulsating with the same aura.

Gunter could feel it calling for him and he concluded that it had sensed his act of bravery and now had decided to protect him. The young griffon approached it and extended his talon to it and Flash Magnus. Once he touched the shield, an intense blue light was emanated.

In Gunnar’s chamber, Bramble battled the Dragon King’s guards. Just like his father, Bramble possessed now an immense speed that he used to take advantage of the dragons’ size that prevented them from reacting in time, allowing him to subdue them, and then he used lightning blades to pin them against a surface. After he subdued the last guard, he turned to Gunnar who said:

“Not bad, kid. But now you’ll have to face me.”

He jumped from the throne and landed heavily in front of Bramble, saying:

“And believe me it won’t be that easily.”

Despite Bramble being intimidated by Gunnar, who was even bigger than the other dragons, he wouldn’t back off. And so he tried to be as effective as he could. Using his enhanced speed, Bramble approached Gunnar and prepared to use a lightning blade on him, but as soon he prepared to land a blow, his electric nature just vanished after barely touch the Dragon King.

Before that, Bramble quickly retreated, much to Gunnar’s amusement. The young deer then tried to cast a lightning blade from where he was, but it dissipated as soon it touched Gunnar. Seeing his confused look, Gunnar said:

“It’s useless, kid. My spikes and horns are infused with vengestone. Your light nature won’t even give me a scratch.”

Before Bramble could react, Gunnar, using a speed that was not very characteristic for someone his size, was able to grab the young deer firmly and raise him.

“Bramble!” Hawthorn called, while trying to free himself.

“You know, the Lord of Chaos did tell me that I should throw you to the magma” Gunnar said. “Maybe I can still fix that.”

It was then that Bramble saw that Gunnar was preparing to spit lava on him. Strings of lava have started to fell down from the corner of his mouth, as Bramble closed his eyes, fearing that was the end.

Suddenly, something came out from the pit. When everyone looked there, they saw, to their surprise, Gunter, flying, while carrying an unconscious Flash Magnus. But the young griffon looked different, as now he had a blue and white sash with a blue pin on his shoulder that was shaped like a shield.

“Gunter!” Bramble and Hawthorn exclaimed, happy to see him.

“What?!” Gunnar shouted, while dropping Bramble. “Impossible! How can you still be alive?”

Gunter landed, putting Flash Magnus down, and then said:

“Now, that’s what you would want to know. But I guess you can say there’s a reason why your master didn’t what you to throw me into the pit. Because that’s what you did to Flash Magnus. That’s where the shield was. I guess you didn’t realize the shield protected Flash Magnus and conserved him throughout these centuries. And now it’s in my possession.”

Looking to the pin on his sash, Gunnar realized what he meant.

“You’re saying that’s… the Element of Bravery?” he asked.

“I have to thank you” Gunter said, advancing. “You helped me realize the true courage inside me. And now, I will protect my friends.”

Gunnar just chuckled and then said:

“Just because you have the Element of Bravery, it doesn’t mean you can defeat me.”

Having said that, Gunnar prepared himself and then spit against him a great amount of lava. Both Bramble and Hawthorn got nervous because of that, but then they saw the lava just falling on the ground, while cooling off, but with Gunter completely unharmed. But the most impressive part was the metallic layer that now covered his entire body.

“What?!” Gunnar asked. “How is that possible?!”

“The Element of Bravery protected me from the magma and now it is protecting me from your lava” Gunter said. “Now it’s time for you to pay for everything. Check this trick.”

Focusing, Gunter snapped his talons and balls of a fiery light immerged around him.

“But that’s… flare nature!” Hawthorn said.

“Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter” Gunnar replied. “The vengestone in my body will protect me from any elemental magic.”

But before he could say anything more, Gunter moved the fiery light balls and they were so quick that they were shooting stars. They started hitting Gunnar and, after each attack, he could feel a great pain, while sensing his energy reducing. The fact that was happening shocked Gunnar.

“I don’t understand…” he said. “The vengestone… it should prevent any elemental attack…”

After being hit a few more times, he realized what was happening.

“You… You’re hitting to the places where there’s no vengestone… The attacks are so quick and precise that I can’t defend them. Not only that, but they are also burning my energy away…”

After a few more attacks, Gunnar was so weakened that he fell to one knee. Taking advantage of that, Gunter recollected his attacks and then tacked the Dragon King in a way that made him fall, unconscious.

“I can’t believe it…” Bramble said, approaching Gunter, who caused his metallic layer to disappear. “That was amazing! But how did you…?”

“I have been training to use elemental manipulation for a while” Gunter said, while flying to free Hawthorn from the net. “Believe me, it was very hard, especially when it comes to fuse fire and light natures…”

“Not only that, but you also found the Element of Bravery” Hawthorn said, looking to the element on Gunter’s new sash.

“Yeah… and I also saved one of Pony World’s greatest heroes” Gunter said, approaching Flash Magnus. “It’s amazing how his shield protected him for centuries.”

“But… do you think he’s okay?” Bramble asked. “Like you said, he stayed in that pit for a very long time.”

Hawthorn approached Flash Magnus, observed him and then said:

“He will be fine… as long we get out of here fast.”

He was right, as more dragons should be on their way to protect their king.

“Okay, what are the chances of us getting out of here without crossing paths with other dragons?” Gunter asked, before noticing the look on Hawthorn and Bramble’s face. “Yeah, I know, not the best of my ideas.”

“That’s saying the least” a voice said.

They looked and saw…

“Heartbeat?!” they asked.

It was really her, the General of Affection herself.

“What are you doing here?” Gunter asked.

“Mirror Coat thought you could use a little help” Heartbeat said. “Sorry if I was late, but I stopped by Leafgreen to eat some bread. I love the bread from there…”

“Yeah, I know that” Bramble replied. “It was because of that you were not watching Star when he and I were attacked by a chimera.”

“Anyway, I’m here to take you out of this… place” Heartbeat said. “Wow, Mountain Dragons really need to update their decoration sense.”

She then noticed Flash Magnus and asked:

“Is that Flash Magnus? Wow… he looks well for a guy with more than one thousand years… Although I’m much older than that.”

“Heartbeat, please, stop rambling” Hawthorn said, while putting Flash Magnus on his back. “Take us out of here.”

“Fine…” Heartbeat said, not very please. “Hang out tight.”

She then released a burst of red light that took them out of there.

After Gunnar regained consciousness and noted that Gunter, Bramble and Hawthorn had escaped with both Flash Magnus and the Element of Bravery, with his best warriors defeated, he started to panic at the thought of the Lord of Chaos’ reaction to this.

“Oh no… No, no, no…” he said.

The figure of the Lord of Chaos immerged from the magma, looking at him with a not so very pleased look.

“My lord…” he said.

“Are you ready for your punishment?” the Lord of Chaos asked. “I may not have the same influence than I had before, but I still can show what happens to those who fail to me.”

And the nearby caves started to echo the screams of pain of King Gunnar, as he was target of the Lord of Chaos’ anger.