Chapter 47: The Dragon Lords
FLASH!
The entire airship rocked as it sought to find perches after its location had just changed in an instant. It tilted, and everybody on deck rolled to the far side, piling on top of one another.
“This shouldn’t have happened,” the alicorn princess complained. “I was certain that this specific location would be stable. What gives?”
“No time to complain,” Applejack commented. “We have to get it fixed before the bad weather does even more… damage…?”
Only now did they all realize that wasn’t the case. The rain was gone, and the scorching sun was high in the sky. They all took a peek over the edge of their blimp and saw the rocky wasteland, filled with active volcanoes, and littered with lava rivers.
“Well, looks like we got to our destination after all,” the wonderbolt said. “And ahead of time for a change.”
“That still doesn’t explain what went wrong, Rainbow Dash,” the alicorn continued. “I’ve been to the Dragon Lands before and I recall this spot. It should’ve been stable enough for the airship. So why is it crooked?”
“Why is what crooked?”
Their attention was grabbed. There was a voice that didn’t belong to any of them, yet it was familiar, not far from them. A young blue dragon stood nearby, her hands resting on her hips as she looked at the newcomers.
“Ember!” Spike yelled.
He crawled over the edge of the tipped-over airship, flew over to her side, and hugged her. As expected, she petted the much smaller purple dragon on the head.
“Dragon Lord Ember!” Twilight addressed her as she crawled over the edge and landed in front of her, with the rest of the company following suit. “I wasn’t expecting to meet you this quickly after our arrival. Were you expecting us?”
“Nah, not really,” she answered. “You guys are actually lucky your ship only tipped over.”
“What do you mean?”
“Go look on the other side of it.”
The princess was confused as to what she was talking about but chose to listen to her. She went around the ship and quickly realized the peril they actually found themselves in. Only a few hooves away from the vessel there was a slope; she knew it wasn’t there before, but it was obvious that it had been created recently, as it formed a giant crater, and at the bottom of it there were masses of ponies going about dressed in gear designed to protect against extreme heat, surrounding a strange orange glowing rock.
“Holy…!” Applejack reacted to the revelation. “If our ship tipped in the opposite direction we’d have ended up in big trouble.”
“Dragon Lord Ember, what is that at the bottom?” Fluttershy inquired.
“IT’S THE METEOR!” Twilight yelped in a high-pitched voice.
“Excuse me?”
“I read it in the paper a few days ago! A meteor supposedly landed in Dragon Lands and Equestrian Astronomy Institute was sent on site! I never would’ve thought I’d end up right here to see it!”
“And because of this meteor I had to make sure to have somebody guarding the site,” Ember spoke. “I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the dragons got a bright idea of simply taking the meteor and adding it to his hoard.”
“But aren’t other dragons supposed to listen to you?” Rainbow Dash wondered.
“Technically, but older ones are another matter. Anyway, what are all of you doing here? I doubt you’ve come all this way with your blimp just for the meteor.”
The princess finally took her excitement off from the site below and faced the Dragon Lord. “It’s a long story, Ember. Is there a place we can discuss it with you in private? We don’t want potential panic to erupt if somecreature heard it.”
“It’s that bad, huh? Okay, I know of a place where we’ll be undisturbed. But you may wanna do something about that airship of yours.”
Twilight looked at the tipped-over vessel and started to use her magic. The pink aura enveloped it and it slowly rose in the air.
“Okay, lead the way,” she said to Ember as she struggled.
“You sure you don’t need help with that?” the blue dragon inquired.
“Yes, just go!” she said as she pushed herself to hold up the weight.
Ember waved to follow her, and they all did. Meanwhile, in the group of pony excavators below, near the meteor, a lone pony was watching things play out on the top of the slope. It slipped past the crowd to where it wouldn’t be seen and removed the headgear that was protecting her from the heat, revealing a bright-furred unicorn mare, with a green mane that had a pink streak in it.
“The Princes and her friends are here…” Gusty said to herself.
After a short trot to the nearby patch of land that was big and flat enough, the alicorn princess put their airship down, finally stabilizing it. Even so, the mess was left behind on the inside after the vessel tipped to one side, so they had to clean it up. After it’s been dealt with, Spike prepared some tea while they related to the blue dragon what had happened: Of Queen Chrysalis’ return, the darkness she had awakened, the return of the Father of Monsters, and the reawakening of the Storm King.
“You guys really can’t catch a break, can you?” the Dragon Lord said as she bit through the crystal china.
“And so a potential trail led us here, Ember,” Twilight finished explaining. “Considering that the storm hasn’t reached you yet, I can assume that we managed to get ahead of them.”
“I’m not really feeling good about this, Twilight. What happened to Smolder?” The blue dragon bit the crystal cup again.
“From what Starlight told us, she and the rest of the students from the School of Friendship boarded the train before things escalated,” Fluttershy explained. “By now they should be safe at Griffinstone.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good to hear.” And she tossed the remaining handle of her cup into her mouth.
Meanwhile, as Spike was refilling the cups, he noticed that his pony of affection was acting rather tense. “Rarity, what’s wrong?”
“Can you please tell her to stop doing that, Spike?” she whispered to the side.
“Doing what?”
As he was waiting for a reply he watched as Ember picked up another crystal cup and bit into it like an apple, and as she did, the fashionista cringed. “That!” she whispered again in frustration. “That’s the royal crystal china she’s eating!”
“Calm down, Rarity. We can always get more from the Crystal Empire.”
“That’s beside the point, Spike. It’s the principle of it. The thought of those works of art being used as a snack…” She cringed again when she heard another chomp.
“Well look on the positive side: At least she hasn’t mentioned-“
“By the way, Rarity,” the blue dragon addressed the white unicorn, “what’s with the grey streak in your hair? Some kind of a new pony fad?”
And the smaller dragon face-palmed, as the fashionista made a whimpering sound.
“So! Moving the conversation back to the point,” Twilight quickly interfered to try and divert the attention away from her humiliated friend, “with what’s happened I want to know something, Ember. First, did you notice any strange happenings in Dragon Lands in the past few days?”
“You mean, besides an obvious giant glowing rock that’s attracting potential dragon thieves like moths to a flame? No, not really. The closest thing you could call strange is dragons on the beach.”
Applejack thought for a moment. “What’s strange about that?”
“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie jumped in. “Maybe they’re having a beach party!”
“But why would dragons in Dragon Lands want to swim in the water, when you’ve got lava streams all over the place?” Spike explained.
“Maybe some of them were drawn to the new ideas thanks to Smolder and are trying it out?” the princess questioned.
“That’s something I’m having a hard time imagining,” the bigger dragon added. “The fact that, when you leave the salt water to dry, it goes under your scales, making that really uncomfortable grinding feeling when you move about.” She shivered at the thought.
The alicorn thought to herself, unsure what to make of it. “As for the second thing, you wouldn’t happen to know if there was perhaps an event of cataclysmic proportions that has happened in Dragon Lands at some point in its history?”
“Sorry to disappoint you, Twilight, but I fear you’ve come asking the wrong dragon,” she shook her head. “You’re asking if I know of some event that took place in the distant past, but I’m a little older than you guys. You want to know about the past, you’ll have to ask a dragon that’s older than me, one of the elder dragons… and it’s unlikely they’ll be willing to talk.”
“What?” Pinkie Pie was confused. “But you’re the Dragon Lord. Isn’t it up to them to listen to you?”
“You’d think that,” she explained, her gaze moving to Twilight, Rarity, and Spike, “but how many elder dragons actually attended the battle of the Gauntlet of Fire last time when the three of you came here and it was time for my dad to pass the title?”
Suddenly, a snicker escaped the purple dragon.
“What’s so funny?” the bigger one questioned.
“You don’t get it?” he tried to explain. “Because your dad’s name is Torch. And he had to “pass the torch”.”
Soon, another snickering sound could be heard from the pink earth pony, but after a few moments, it became clear that the daughter was not amused by the joke.
“Just don’t say that in front of dad or he might get the idea of swallowing you whole,” she said.
A gulp could be heard from the little dragon.
“Well, anyway, back to the question,” Rarity tried to defuse the situation by changing the topic, “no, we didn’t see any “elder dragons” in the group.”
“Exactly. That’s because they don’t care, they’re beyond caring for anything other than their hoard and sleep. Even trying to ask them to talk would be like trying to squeeze water out of a rock. You’d have to force them to talk.”
Based on their past experience, the Elements of Harmony saw sense in what the Dragon Lord was saying. A long time ago, a dragon made his home in a mountain peak near Ponyville. And much to everybody’s frustration they couldn’t get him to stop blowing smoke that obscured the skies. It was clear now that he was one of those so-called “elder dragons”, and it was only through Fluttershy’s intervention that they finally got him to stop.
“You know, this may not be such a big problem, Ember,” Rainbow Dash said. “We just so happen to have an expert with us who can tame a creature as savage as they come-“
“What? No! Rainbow Dash, we’re not doing that!” the shy pegasus quickly protested.
“But Fluttershy, you’ll make it so easy. All we have to do is walk over to them, ask them, and when they refuse to talk, you just give them “The Stare”, and we’ll get them to talk!”
“You mean like how we got the Vampire Fruit Bats to stop eating Applejack’s orchard?” she snapped back.
And an awkward silence followed. “Yeeeah, Ah’m with Fluttershy,” the country pony finally broke it, “we ain’t going through that again.”
“Fine…” the wonderbolt sighed. “It was just a suggestion… But what other choice do we have then? Are we to just wander these blasted lands until we find something?”
“If all else fails, we may have to comb the desolate trails,” Zecora finally added to the conversation.
Ember finally became aware of the strange, yet slightly familiar equine that seemed to be blending into the background in comparison to the rest of the colorful companions. “I’m sorry, who are you again? Your appearance really doesn’t jog my memory.”
“That’s Zecora, Ember,” Spike explained. “She was there for Twilight’s coronation, remember?”
The blue dragon gave him an expression that showed a sense of uncertainty. “Weeeeeeeell… kinda… but what’s she got to do with this whole thing?”
“She used to live in the Everfree Forest where all the bad stuff started to happen, and she’s the one that helped reveal Turmoil,” Fluttershy answered.
“Well, it’s a change,” the Dragon Lord remarked. “I got used to seeing ponies with more pastel colors.”
“She’s a zebra, not a pony.”
“Huh… is that the reason for the funny language?”
“Moving right along!” Twilight intervened once more before things got awkward again. “Do you know ANY elder dragon who’d be willing to talk, Ember? Please, we’re desperate.”
She finished eating the next cup. “Luckily for you guys, I do. Dad’s got a few centuries under his belt. If there’s an elder dragon that’d be willing to talk, it’s him.”
The princess leaned back on her chair and let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good to her. So where exactly is he now?”
“Look out the window.” Ember pointed.
The group huddled together by the window to see what there was outside. In the far distance, there was a mountain range to the north, and one of the highest peaks had a carved-out dragon’s head sticking out.
“See that dragon’s jaw sticking out the side of the mountain?” Ember said. “Ever since he’s retired dad moved there. Well, technically he’s always lived there so he could have all of Dragon Lands in his view, but now he’s using it to make sure nobody’s disturbing his nap, just like it’s the case for all elder dragons.”
“Huh, well it’s a good thing we brought the blimp then,” Pinkie Pie remarked.
It didn’t take long for them to take off. Twilight manned the helm and steered the airship, while Rainbow Dash and Applejack made sure that altitude was increasing. Reaching their destination on the other hand was another. Their path was in a straight line; however, the distance was far greater than they imagined. For some time, they floated high above the volcanic badlands, watching the sceneries below: The meteor crater that slowly disappeared behind them, the lava rivers that some of the dragons were diving into, and little whelps playing in the shallows, and…
“Uh uh uh! Look!” Pinkie Pie jumped with excitement as she was holding a pair of binoculars.
Twilight picked them up and looked through them. “What exactly am I looking for, Pinkie?”
“Look towards the ocean!”
She gazed further into the distance, where the land met the body of water. That’s when she spotted figures; dragons doing all manner of things on the beach, such as playing ball, building sand castles, chasing one another, and some of them were diving into the sea.
“I see… dragons on the beach,” she answered. “And they seem to be enjoying themselves.”
“See!?” the party planner exclaimed. “I told you they were having a beach party!”
“And it’s still weird,” Ember said.
While everybody was taking turns trying to look through binoculars, the shaman was wandering about the edge of the airship, looking around the lands below. This place was close to home as it could get, despite the excess geological activity, and the thought of combing every inch of this place if all else failed simply didn’t sit well with her; it would be like trying to look for a needle in a haystack. Maybe she should try using the ritual she did back at the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters to reveal the corruption, but that would only cover a small area, and the Dragon Lands were huge, not to mention gathering the necessary reagents for it and doing it multiple times would be impossible. Suddenly, her gaze stopped, as something piqued her interest, but…
“Alright, we’re here,” the Dragon Lord announced.
The airship finally reached the large draconic jaws on the side of the mountain and they slowly docked, although the terrain made things a bit difficult as they tried to disembark past the fangs.
Applejack noticed the zebra was still staring over the edge of the ship. “Hey, Zecora, come on, we’re here!”
She finally snapped out of it and proceeded to join them. The blue dragon led the group to the borderline where light and darkness collided and then stopped.
“Now remember, guys,” she forewarned, “dad may not be the Dragon Lord anymore, but that doesn’t mean his ego’s gotten any lesser, even after he retired. Whatever you do, make sure to show him respect. Address him as "former Dragon Lord Torch".” Her gaze traveled to the party planner. “And no jokes on his account.”
Pinkie Pie looked around, trying to figure out at who she aimed that last part. She didn’t ponder for long though, as Ember suddenly took in a deep breath and released a bellow that echoed into the blackness of the cave.
“Ember, what was that for?” Spike questioned.
She didn’t answer and instead shushed him. And then they heard a sound coming from the darkness. It started low, and then it kept growing until the roar echoed loudly back at them, shaking their surroundings. And then the stomping followed, drawing ever closer until finally a pair of orange eyes could be seen lit up like torches, and a giant maw opened, flames bursting out in their direction, causing everybody to drop to the ground, except for the blue dragon. Finally, the dim light illuminated gargantuan dark-teal scales, a pair of large horns sitting on each side of it.
And then, the deep boisterous voice spoke. “Who dares awake former Dragon Lord Torch?! Who dares to enter his domain, thinking he will not taste his wrath?!”
“Hey, dad,” his spawn bluntly said.
The large dragon crawled out of the darkness and looked down upon the guests. “Ah… Dragon Lord Ember. A pleasure to have your presence grace my humble home… and I see you’re still not wearing the crown you’re expected to.”
“Dad, stop that! You’re making it sound so patronizing!” she rebuked him. “Besides, that crown’s bigger than me, it’ll take decades before it fits on my head.”
He laughed out loud, making the whole cavern shake. “As if there’s any other dragon around to spread the word.” He noticed the smaller purple one. “Ah… well, except for your friend of a runt.” He finally noticed the rest of the non-draconic beings present, as they were lying on the ground, trying to avoid the fire breath from earlier. “Hmmm… at least the rest of your friends show proper decorum.”
“Dad, that’s Princess Twilight Sparkle, the ruler of Equestria, and her Council of Friendship.”
He moved his head closer, his eyes finally adjusting to the light from outside. “Ah… I see. And for what reason did you disturb my slumber by bringing them here?”
The alicorn princess finally rose. “Former Dragon Lord Torch, your daughter brought me here because we’re on a mission of great importance, failure of which could spell doom for all of Equestria. And you’re the only elder dragon she said would be willing to talk to us, and I’m sure with your… advanced age, you have some great wisdom to share and we’d very much appreciate your help.”
A grumbling sound could be heard coming from the former Dragon Lord. “I see. Very well. I’m feeling generous enough, I supposed I could answer your request… depending on what it is.”
Twilight sighed in relief; perhaps some good fortune will finally be placed on her. “Former Dragon Lord Torch, you have lived for so long and have looked over your realm longer than any creature I can imagine. Would you recall at some point of some great calamity that had befallen the Dragon Lands?”
A moment of silence followed, only to be replaced by loud laughter that once again shook the cavern. “Is water wet? Is fire hot? Are gems tasty?” More silence followed, making it awkward as the princess didn’t know what to say. “The answer is yes, to all of them. My point is that you wouldn’t notice a calamity happening in Dragon Lands. That meteor that’s just fallen a few days ago has done nothing but drew other dragons like flies. An even bigger one could fall, and nobody would’ve noticed. A volcano the size of my mountain could explode and nobody would care. Such is the case with this land, if some form of disaster would happen, it would go completely under the radar.”
“But… but surely some dragon would take notice of something happening and document it, right?” there was a noticeable tone of desperation in her voice now. “Books, scrolls, any form of written text?”
The mountain shook again from the teal dragon’s laughter. “And what use would a dragon have for books and scrolls, in a land of fire? If you want answers found in those things, you’d have bigger luck getting them from a dragon that’s not in Dragon Lands.”
She couldn’t believe it; he was the one dragon that could help and he was telling her that he can’t.
“I’m sorry you had to hear that, Twilight,” Ember tried to console her. “But hey, at least you got a tip to where to go next. And I remember there’s supposed to be a dragon archivist on Mount Metazoa, named Blacktip.”
The alicorn recalled the events from some time ago. Atop Mount Metazoa, there was an emerald building called the Hall of Unity. It was at that place, that the convocation of creatures took place once in a few centuries. Twilight recalled meeting representatives of multiple races and working as archivists in a vast library of information. And as a good lead, as it was, there was one problem…
“But Mount Metazoa is really far away, it’s going to take days for us to get there and back, and time is not the luxury we have right now,” she complained in despair. “Please, former Dragon Lord Torch, isn’t there anyone you know that’s older than you and would possess extensive knowledge on the events of Dragon Lands?”
He made a grumbling noise again and rubbed his chin. “The only one that would come to my mind to that extent would be... mother.”
“Your… mother?” Twilight tilted her head.
“OUR mother, pony. The mother of ALL of us – the Mother of Dragons.”
“Dad, come on, be serious, these ponies don’t have time for your dragon tales,” his spawn rolled her eyes.
“Ember, what’s he talking about?” Spike inquired.
“Mother of Dragons is supposed to be this mystical creature that predates all dragonkind,” she elaborated, “a being from which all other dragons came. But that’s just a story that’s being told to try and scare dragons into thinking that there’s some creature out there more powerful than the Dragon Lord.”
“That’s what you think, my daughter,” Torch asserted himself. “When I was still a whelp, not bigger than you, the older dragons told me: “Torch, you’re one from the last clutch of eggs that were laid by Mother, you’re destined to do great things!” And lo and behold, I became the Dragon Lord!”
“Yeah, and nobody else knows whether or not she ever existed…”
“With all due respect, former Dragon Lord Torch,” Twilight intervened. “But I have to agree with Ember. I’m looking for something concrete that actually exists, and wouldn't have to travel to distant lands. Are you sure that any other Dragon Lord before you didn’t have anything of worth?”
The large dragon raised his eyebrow. “Anything of worth you say?” The ground tremored, not from his laughter this time, but rather movement, as he moved out of the cave’s interior towards its exit, stopping momentarily. “Ember, go fetch the bloodstone scepter. Bring it to Broken Hollow.”
“That old place? Why?”
“Just do it and you’ll see,” he ordered.
The blue dragon nodded and quickly flew away.
“Ummm, excuse me… former Dragon Lord Torch,” Rarity inquired, “but what exactly is the Broken Hollow?”
“It is a place that one of the previous Dragon Lords lived in,” he explained. “He left behind something… but I fear you’ll be in for disappointment if you’re still thinking you’ll find something worthwhile.”
The cavern shook once more as the teal dragon made his way. At the last moment, the country pony remembered that they parked their airship right at the entrance of the mouth and he was charging in its direction, he would likely end up crashing into it and destroying it!
“WAIT!” she raised her voice, and he stopped at the entrance of the mouth, turning his head, having an irritated look on his face. “My apologies, former Dragon Lord, but can you just give us a moment so we can move our blimp out of the way?” she tried to say in a respectful tone.
The great dragon bristled, smoke escaping through his nostrils. “Fine, just be quick.”
Applejack quickly ran ahead of everybody else who made their way back to the airship. It was only then that she realized that one of them wasn’t present throughout the entire conversation. At the entrance of the cavern, the shaman stood still, looking out into the lands below, unmoving.
“Zecora, what are you staring at?” the workhorse asked as she got to her side.
In response, the zebra pointed. It took her a bit to notice what she was aiming at, but when she did it became apparent what got her attention. West of the mountain range, there were vast pools of lava, but the center of the location was barren, and out of it stuck out a rock formation: It resembled a wide-open gaping maw, a pair of crevices above it looking like slit eyes, and its top split in three ways, two of the sides forming horns, while the middle one was an open-top. It looked like a volcano with a face, yet it looked silent.
“Emmm, former Dragon Lord Torch…” she tried to get his attention, “what’s the weird head thing in the distance?”
The great dragon stuck his head out of the opening and knew what they were talking about. “Ah, that would be the Ol’ Rager,” he explained. “Legend has it that a long time ago, Dragon Lands were a lush jungle, where there was no shortage of rain. Then one day, the Ol’ Rager awakened. Its emergence released magma high in the sky, consuming all the rainclouds in the process, it spewed copious amount of lava, forming the vast lakes that surround it, and it rained molten rock and fire, creating more and more volcanoes in the process, burning all the plants and trees, and creating lava rivers and springs that cover just about every corner of the Dragon Lands.”
“Oh my… that sounds awful,” Fluttershy said.
“It’s all just stories, pony,” Torch responded. “I can remember it way back as a whelp that the Dragon Lands looked like this, and even back then that giant head was there. It’s little more than an empty cavernous pit, not a volcano.” It was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. “Well? Are you gonna move your balloon or what?”
“ALL ABOARD!” the country pony announced to get them to quickly move, before the dragon got tired of waiting and simply force his way out.
They finally embarked, moving away from the mouth of the save, and the former Dragon Lord climbed out, spreading his wings, and took flight before motioning them to follow him. It dragged on slowly. With a single beat of his wings, Torch was already ahead of them while they still slowly moved, descending the northern side of the mountain ridge. Some time passed, and soon enough they heard another set of wing beats approaching from behind. It was Ember, and she landed on the ship’s deck holding her ceremonial object: A scepter carved from a purple crystal, holding a large red glowing gemstone in its grip.
“Wow, this thing moves really slow, you guys,” she commented.
“This thing isn’t made for high speed, Ember,” Spike responded.
“If we had Twilight’s old balloon we could’ve pushed it to go faster,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Who would push it? You? You just barely got your wing feeling back, Dash. You’d be moving at a snail’s pace,” Applejack said behind the steering wheel.
The wonderbolt’s eyes darted in the workhorse’s direction like daggers, but before the conflict could escalate further, they heard the loud sound of wingbeats approaching, and before they knew it, the former Dragon Lord was flying by the side of the blimp, his eyes showing a clear lack of amusement.
“Are you all planning to follow or not?”
“I’m sorry, former Dragon Lord Torch, but this is as fast as it can go,” the shy pegasus apologized.
A sighing noise came out of his mouth, they understood his frustration, but as they established, it can’t go faster, what followed, however, was something that took them completely off guard. The elder dragon grabbed the airship by its edge with one hand, while the other one grabbed the balloon. His wings beat again, and as he moved he dragged the blimp with him. The sudden acceleration threw everybody off their feet and they struggled to grab hold of the nearest solid thing so they wouldn’t be swept away. Several seconds passed before things finally calmed down and the airship came to a standstill. They needed a moment, some of them were still reeling from the experience.
“That fast enough for ya, Dash?” Applejack, still holding on to the steering wheel asked, the mare in question didn’t reply, as she slid off the nearby wall.
“Dad, that was reckless! You could’ve gotten them all hurt!” the Dragon Lord scorned the former one.
“Well, they didn’t. And besides, we’re here,” Torch proudly said.
They managed to recover from their stupor and look over the edge of the blimp. They were on solid ground once again, and before them, was another gaping maw carved into the mountain just like the one in which Torch made his home, but this one looked ancient, the passage of time visible as part of it was collapsed.
“What is this place?” Spike asked as he flew over the edge and landed on the ground.
“You’ll see soon enough, runt,” the great dragon told him. “Come on all of you!”
One after another they climbed off their vessel, the shaman being the last one to crawl to the ship’s railings. “Had I known I would have to endure this vertigo, I’d have just stayed below and waited for the go…”
She finally managed to slip over the edge, her senses not yet fully recovered, landing atop the party planner, who purposely stepped in her way. “Happy to have cushioned your fall, Zecora,” she giggled, before trotting after the rest of the group with her.
Together with the three dragons, the ponies entered the razor jaws. However, a shadow moved from nearby piles of rock, observing the arrivals that had disappeared into the cavern.
“Where are they going?” the echoing voice wondered.
It was dark. They needed to wait for a moment before Twilight lit up her horn to illuminate the room. The cave wasn’t particularly big. It was so small that the former Dragon Lord had to lay on his belly and crawl on all fours. There wasn’t anything noteworthy about this place, but there was something that stood out: There was a throne carved from a rock, adorned with red crystals that have long since gone dull, in front of it was a table, around which were small stone seats. Somebody had lived here a long time ago… a family perhaps? But why was it abandoned? They suddenly came to a standstill, as the great dragon stopped in front of a pile of boulders, and began removing them.
“Dad, why did you bring us here?” Ember questioned. “Every dragon knows this place is empty and abandoned.”
“Who used to live here?” Fluttershy wondered.
“Oh, some Dragon Lord whose name has been long forgotten from what I understand,” she explained.
“Of course,” Torch answered, “because I told so to everyone.” Everybody present gave him a confused look. “I came to the Broken Hollow a long time ago, back when I had just become a Dragon Lord. I decided to scour the Dragon Lands and seek out the places where all the other Dragon Lords before me used to live. I thought, since I’m the leader now, that means all of their treasure and hoard were mine by right. This was one of the first places I visited. And yes, it was empty and abandoned… but after what I discovered in it, I decided to make sure that rumor continued. And you’ll soon see why.” He removed the last boulder revealing a large smooth stone wall, at the center of which there was a strange small gap. “Ember, insert the scepter in it,” he pointed.
The blue dragon flew up and looked at it, unable to understand why he would say that, but she listened anyway. To her surprise, as she inserted the bloodstone crystal top into it, she discovered that it fit in perfectly. Suddenly, the red crystal began to glow, and it spread across the smooth stone wall. A tremor followed, the entire cavern shook as the wall suddenly began to move back and then slowly slid to the side. All of a sudden, a bright glow erupted from the secret room, blinding everybody.
“Come,” Torch ordered, as he moved into the light, his shadow obscuring it enough for others to regain their sight and follow.
Another cavern opened before them. This one was vast, big enough for the great dragon to pull himself to the full height. The blinding light finally dissipated, and the sight that they beheld, left them speechless. Bright radiant crystals of many colors covered the walls, and other than the ceiling, everything was obscured by them. Torch anticipated the reaction of others: Their eyes were open wide, and his daughter and the runt were even drooling at the sight.
“Behold,” he announced, “the legacy of the Dragon Lord that came before me. And it's all mine.”
Ember finally snapped out of her trance. “Wait, you knew about this place this entire time? And you didn’t tell anybody?! Even me?!”
“This is my hoard, Ember,” he said. “You think I would keep it at an arm’s reach so the scavengers could come and pick it off one after another while I’m sleeping? I’m smarter than that. I made sure to keep it in one place nobody would ever think of looking, and every now and then I would sneak out in the dark of night to enjoy its splendor.”
“Somecreature like him sneaking about?” wonderbolt whispered to the party planner. “That’s a good laugh.” Pinkie Pie who was still carrying Zecora on her back giggled.
“Yes, but what about what you said earlier, former Dragon Lord Torch?” Twilight finally spoke up. “You said something about one of the previous Dragon Lords leaving something behind.”
He regarded her. “And I also said you’ll end up being disappointed. I brought you here to make the point – you will find no written knowledge in Dragon Lands. The Dragon Lords that came before have left only riches, ones that are to be enjoyed by the powerful and coveted by the weak. We tell tales of the glory of beating an enemy and making them lesser… but that is all you will get from any dragon that has ever lived here, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
He said it outright, and it saddened her. She was hoping that for a change the answers would finally be in her sight, only to be met with disappointment. And for all she knew, Chrysalis, Grogar, and the Storm King will be arriving at Dragon Lands any moment now, likely already knowing where their quarry is and she couldn’t do anything to intervene in time. The feeling of sadness was beginning to turn into a flame in her belly, and she was getting so angry that she wanted to kick something just to relieve the stress. But…
“HEY!” Her attention was caught by Torch’s sudden yell; so loud it was that the cavern shook a little, and the sound of crystals clanging against one another resonated.
It seemed that her little companion was so mesmerized by the sight of the great collection of crystals that he couldn’t help himself but wander off to the first bright one that sat by the entrance and picked it up. Just a little bite, that’s all he was craving for right now. But the former Dragon Lord caught on to it just as he was opening his mouth, and the yell startled him.
“Don’t think even for a moment of eating that, runt!” he yelled once more, causing the tremors to shake the cavern again. “That’s mine! DO YOU HEAR ME!? MINE!!!”
The final furious bellow made the vault quake so much that the perfectly stashed crystals finally tipped, causing them to rain on top of everybody. It was too late for them to run to a safe distance at this point and all they could do is cover under the great dragon’s massive form. By the time the rain of crystals stopped, a large pile of them covered Torch up to his waist, and nobody else was in sight but Spike and Ember, who were near the wall and managed to avoid the pile-up.
“Whoops…” a single sound escaped from the large dragon.
“Never mind the whoops, dad!” Ember yelled. “Get them out of there, quick!”
The elder dragon did little more than raise his claws out of the pile and raised six equines out of it.
“I’ve heard of the “crystal shower” back at the Crystal Empire, but I don’t think these are the same things,” Pinkie Pie said as she was holding onto one of the big fingers, with Zecora holding onto her tail.
The rest of the ponies managed to get themselves up, with Rarity contently clinging to a giant crystal that was in Torch’s palm. However, one of the ponies was not present, as the alicorn princess tried to climb out of the narrow hole that the great dragon just created. Ember flew up on the top of the pile, laid the bloodstone scepter down, and tried to pull her out. Some of the crystals moved in the process, and in the chain reaction, the scepter tumbled down the pile.
“I got it! I got it!” Spike yelled as he was still holding the crystal from earlier and tried to catch the scepter.
It missed the shot, and the scepter’s head fell right on top of him. “Told you… I got it…” he said weakly, as was recovering from the impact, holding the bloodstone in one hand and the white crystal in another.
They touched. A red flash happened momentarily, and all of a sudden, the white crystal began to grow incredibly bright, almost blinding them all. The bright light faded, and as the purple dragon’s eyes readjusted he screamed in fear. A large white head of the dragon was staring at him, and in panic, he tossed the crystal away. The head disappeared… it was moving with the roll of the object. It eventually stopped rolling and the image appeared clearly again. The projection of a great white dragon, who was almost as big as Torch, was looking at the said crystal, tapping it with his claws.
“Are you sure it will work, mother?” his deep voice asked.
All of a sudden, another voice answered; it sounded feminine, but it was so deep it could barely be noticed. “It will, Skygar. The memory crystal will record everything in its vicinity… providing whatever is being recorded isn’t too far away or too big. All it requires to trigger it are gentle taps, like the ones you just made. It’s happening as we speak.”
“But mother, why do we have to go through all of this?” the white dragon inquired.
“My time is short, child,” the other voice said sorrowfully. “I have centuries ahead of you, and I cannot watch over the brood constantly. Until the time comes, you will have to watch over them in my place… until I’m ready to return.” All of a sudden, a gigantic white claw, almost as big as the dragon himself appeared, and in its palm, it was holding a pulsing crystal of a slightly grey shade. “This is the key to it all. I have imbued the bloodstone with my essence so that when the time is right, you will be able to use it. And in the same vein, it will also trigger the memory crystal activation. For should you fail in your task, those who will come after you will see the message and understand what needs to be done.”
The dragon humbly reached up and took the glowing grey crystal. “But… mother, why would anyone of my siblings listen to me?”
The claw reached upwards, disappearing, there was a snapping sound, there was a roar, accompanied by the sound of burning flames, and the claw appeared again, holding a cluster of crystals in a shade of grey.
“Because you will be their lord… MY Dragon Lord.” And the claw placed the crystal crown on the white dragon’s head.
All of a sudden, the projection became distorted, and it disappeared. There was silence in the cave now, everybody was left perplexed by what they had just witnessed.
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ok
Oof, a cliffhanger.
Cool on how we will see lore on the dragons.
Dragonmother is quite unexpected.
Looking forward on what will be shown next
Really, it was disappointing how the show portrayed dragons.
Dragons in media are often powerful and magical/mystical(usually greedy and hoard stuff but its not their only trait).
Sadly FIM depicts them as mostly only just dumb greedy brutes that needs someone(Ember) to force them to change.
No magic stuff or any culture or mystical ruins/past, just living in barren caves/land. No building or culture, just nothing.
Only thing mystical is the Bloodstone Scepter and Spike's firebreath and greed growth(and all 3 are not fleshed out in show/comics).
Kind of wonder what happened to that dragon? Pretty sure he would end up being a laughingstock for what Fluttershy did to him.
Maybe this will come back to haunt the Mane 6 in some way
11297503
I just took it as is. I wasn't particularly bitter with dragons being little more than animals with above-average intelligence.
Although the Dragon Quest was pretty much grating for all of the fandom, at least the Gauntlet of fire introduced something new, and Molt Down episode gave a better insight on dragon biology (something that, much like everything else, G5 tossed out the window).
I'd say that dragon in Dragonshy just moved on, and it's not like there was another dragon watching so he would tell anyone, and I'm sure he wouldn't just go blathering it to other dragons by himself. That case is water under the bridge.
11297578
Apparently this meant dragons are dogs instead of humans in Equestria Girls.
Which is really insulting and the show literally saying they are lower beings than other races.
They really need some kind of civilization. Or at least signs of it in the past but some event happens that caused them to end up just greedy brutes in nothing but barren lands. The show could have done that.
I feel like that dragon wouldn't let it go so easily. Afterall, wounding a dragon's pride can be a dangerous thing.
Word might come out sooner or later too.
although here the chapter ended on a cliffhanger, at least the situation is relatively calm.
Didn't it seem to me? Did Zecora really not say a word in the entire chapter?
I thought that the dragon emitted smoke unconsciously and not on purpose. Anthology "You can't stop someone from snoring in their sleep." Otherwise, the Dragon would not need to be driven to another place. (although loud snoring in our world can be cured.)
P.S. I noticed that you decided to change the tags of the leading characters in the story. Honestly, I don't quite understand why.
11298522
Zecora did speak, just not much, as there's more focus to be had elsewhere.
And yes, the dragon is emitting smoke unconsciously since he's sleeping, hence I tagged him as "an elder dragon" since we've seen plenty of other dragons who weren't his size sleep and they didn't emit smoke.
What did I change on tags? They're the same.
11298566
I remember exactly that when I started reading this story, there was no "Storm King" tag. ;)
11298582
Ah.
Well I was saving that up until he was actually revealed.
11298631
well, he somehow appears far from the first chapter and this may be a spoiler for new readers. 🤔
Ah Gusty. You inconsistent mess you.
Yeah I felt Rarity's cringe from the moment Ember started doing that. Not that I don't get Ember's obliviousness either, but ouch.
But boiling hot liquid which hardens into Rock is somehow okay?
It's nice that Pinkie Pie and Spike can swap jokes again. That was a underrated relationship.
Thanks for ruining the moment Ember.
Hey, that whole debacle was Twilight's fault, and her garbage inconsistent magic.
I love how Ember just doesn't care about or doesn't understand manners outside of the Dragon lands at all. It all just further highlights the idea that she's from a different culture.
Are you getting this down Twilight? Inexplicable tragedy? Massive cataclysm? So bad its effects lasted long enough to pass into legend... Is this ringing any bells at all?
Gusty or Garble? Gusty or Garble?
Technically I suppose it could be the Storm King or Grogar, but what are the odds of that?
Stormy is off by himself thinking about rebrands, and Grogar is probably at Discord's lair or Griffinstone, to secure usage of his far seeing eye or his cyclops minions.
Although now that I think about it, it's probably Tirek looking to get a jump on his aspect isn't it?
I don't understand why they would be confused.
Mother created these crystals as a record for storing memories, and hid it a vault guarded by the blood stone scepter, so that only the dragon Lord could access them.
Over time the crystals importance was lost, until Torch came along and started snacking on them in ignorance.
Pretty straight forward.
11297503
Yeah that was inexcusable. It's one of the few things from EQG cannon I flat out ignore whenever possible.
That's one of the things that convinced me that Dragons did used to have magic. The scepter taps into dragon biology, so someone who had both magic and a link to dragons had to have made it. A fellow dragon is the most logical explanation.
Given that multiple creatures in MLP use magic stolen from other beings, it's entirely possible that someone stripped them of magic to use it for their own purposes.
Now who do we know in cannon that is (by definition) part dragon, might know how to chanel their magic, is ruthless enough to steal magic from a entire species, and just happens to have magic equivalent to a entire race of spell casters?
Did Somebody Mention Me?
11298742
Why inconsistent?
I'd say lava has a higher density than water.
I guess a resonating voice would be more proper, but which character has that kind of voice?
11299489
Salt Water is pretty dense though.
Water I could see, but salt?
The link isn't working, so I'm not sure.
I suppose Tirek or Chrysalis.
11299855
Odd, it works for me...
Anyway, what was that about Gusty?
11299879
I privately messaged you.