Dawn of the Storm

by Real Solaris

Jungle Dragon

The Amarezon. Home to the most diverse ecosystem and hundreds of thousands of plants, animals, or insect species, it’s known to hold many a secret deep within its never-ending roof of leaves and trees. Many an explorer come to this place in search of treasure or some ancient structure, but few ever return. Only one explorer has come to this place and made it out alive, only to go back time and time again, bringing back many priceless artifacts from within the confines of the jungle to be placed in a museum for all to see and learn about Equestria’s ancient past. Though it’s unknown at the time, the recent merge with a part of Mobius had brought some new life to the jungle, with massive hollowed-out tree trunks that lay on their sides placed about, creating a whole course fit for certain speedsters. But the jungle seems to radiate a different kind of energy, not one of life, constant hostility, and eyes tracking your every movement - but one of fear, hate, and imminent danger.

In a clearing nearby the railroad tracks that run through the jungle, a flash of light appears before disappearing to reveal Princess Luna, Fluttershy, who is hiding behind her hair, and the Royal Guard they were sent with. Luna immediately starts giving out orders, directing the guard on what to do.

“Split up into five teams of ten,” says the lunar princess. “Four will go in each direction and search for any signs of the clouds. Do five sweeps of the area before returning here in ten minutes. The fifth team will stay with me and Fluttershy to ensure safety while we explore on foot. If we do not return within ten minutes, send a search party to locate us. You know the rest.”

The guards salute, and before long each team was doing what they were told, four in the skies, one down on the ground. After the sky team had left, Luna turns to find a slightly scared Fluttershy, her eyes darting around.

“Fluttershy? Whatever is the matter?” wonders Luna, worried for her friend. Placing a hoof on the pegasus’ back, she inquires again. “Are you alright?

“EEP!” exclaims Fluttershy, jumping a little to the touch of the cold silver of Luna’s hoof guards. “Sorry Princess Luna, I-I’m just a little nervous.”

“It’s alright, Fluttershy,” says Luna, understanding that the kind mare was not one of the bravest of the group – she’d rather be in her cottage, drinking tea. “Would you like to head back to Canterlot? It’s not too late to send you back if you like.”

“No, I’m fine, thank you,” declines Fluttershy, shaking her head. “I’ll stay here with you if that’s okay with you.”

“If that is what you want, then so be it,” Luna says, before turning to the jungle. “But be warned, this will not be an easy task. There will be perils lying within this mighty jungle.”

Fluttershy gulps, her ears flat against her head. Following the princess, they approach the forest. The wall of trees soars above her, making it seem almost impenetrable except for a few slivers of light that do nothing to dispel the darkness underneath the canopy roof. Noises of animals and insects from within do little to calm her racing heart, but she presses on, willing to do her part even though she was scared out of her mind. Even though Fluttershy was an animal expert and had no trouble speaking to any creature that had the intellectual capacity to uphold one end of a conversation, she still felt afraid of what might appear out of the foliage.

But as she followed Luna deeper into the jungle, she started to notice Flickies, little animals native to Sonic’s world, pop up every now and again. The most prominent ones were the Wockies, small monkeys that followed them around in the treetops. She could hear them talking with each other about who these strange ponies were and a few curious souls came pretty close to them before darting away, laughing as they climbed back to the tops of the trees. The Flickies’ playful demeanor soon rubbed off on Fluttershy, giggling as she watched the mini monkeys play stay-away from them. They had even managed to crack a smile from the guards, and Luna was smiling warmly. But that all came to an abrupt end when a loud roar shook the treetops.

“EEK!!!” screams Fluttershy as she clams up, curling into a ball. Her pink hair surrounded her so well that she would’ve turned into a Spindash had she been moving. The Flickies all flee to Faust-knows-where as the guards and Luna turned to the direction of the roar, hoping to roughly pinpoint where it had come from. Another roar perches the deep jungle, giving them an idea of where it was coming from.

“It sounds like it is coming from the northeast,” confirms Luna, narrowing her eyes. She then turns to the guards. “Four of you will need to relay a message to the other teams. We may have found what we were looking for.”

Four pegasi salute, and before long they have headed off to find the others. Luna then notices Fluttershy shaking and whimpering in her ball of hair.

“I’d be more impressed that you can contort your body to such a degree if I wasn’t worried about you, Fluttershy,” Luna says as Fluttershy uncurls from her ball. “Are you absolutely sure that you want to come with us?”

“Yes, I do, Princess,” sighs Fluttershy, suddenly finding the ground very interesting. “I’ve never been one to help with the others, and I always feel like I’m just dragging them down. I want to help, but I don’t know what I can do without getting in the way.”

Luna then lays a wing on her back, getting Fluttershy’s attention. “You are capable of so many things Fluttershy. While you may not be the strongest or the fastest, you have many abilities that are unique to you and you only. If you can believe in yourself, you can do anything.”

“You really think so?” Fluttershy asks before another roar shakes the trees. She doesn’t curl into a ball this time, but she does shrink behind Luna.

“Indeed,” Luna says. “Now, let us be off. Something very dangerous is happening right now and we don’t have much time to sit and talk. The guards should have reached the other teams by now and headed to that area.”

Fluttershy nods and takes off alongside Luna and the remaining guards. Breaching the treetops, she sees the vast sea of green reaching as far as the eye could see. A few birds flew around, and poking through the tree line were a few of the massive hollowed-out tree trunks. The scene calmed her quite a bit, but a roar put her on edge again. Looking o where they were headed, she sees a tall plum of smoke billowing high into the sky.

“Oh, dear, I hope the animals are okay,” she whimpers. Following Luna, she and the guards land just outside of the burned part of the forest, watching as the flames slowly eat away at the greenery. If it wasn’t stopped now, the whole forest would go up in smoke, and hundreds of thousands of animals would lose their homes. Luckily for them, the Royal Guard were trained in fire safety procedures, so they were able to stop the fire completely using the storm clouds that had gathered above to dump gallons of water on the inferno and stopped the advance. After the last embers were put out, They all trek farther into the ashen landscape, careful to avoid any smoldering fires. The wind then kicks up, billowing ash around the group like a tornado, forcing them to shield their eyes.

“Who is there?!” shouts Luna, using the Royal Canterlot Voice to hopefully catch the attention of whoever did this. She uses her magic to create a deep blue shield, expanding it until the tornado disappeared, then dropping it. “Come out and face us if thou are brave enough!”

As if the universe heard her, something massive lands heavily in front of them, kicking up a huge cloud of ash and dust and obscuring their vision. The behemoth then snaps open a pair of massive wings, the gust from opening them ridding the area of the ash. This reveals a dragon that towered over the ponies, so large that it possibly could take on Lord Torch in a 1v1 and possibly win. Scales a deep purple, the underbelly and highlights colored deep blue - the wings sporting the same color palette as well. Extra large horns sat on the head, very similar in shape to a Halo sword. Three large yellow clusters grew from various points on its body, one right between the wings, another on the chest, and the last on its forehead.

This would’ve been terrifying enough had the dragon’s claws, spikes, teeth, and eyes not been made out of pure Storm Lightning, and the pupil-less eyes only made it look more menacing. It lets out an echoing roar to the sky, Storm Lightning shooting out of its mouth and into the clouds, turning them into Storm Clouds. Seeing the dragon in all its scaly glory, and hearing the sky-shattering roar coming from it caused Fluttershy’s eyes to shrink to pinpricks, her ears flat and wings plastered to her sides, and she utters one word.

“DRAGON!!!” she screams, then zips behind a massive boulder and wraps her hair around herself tightly as she shivers in fright. Luna and the guards get into position, ready for a fight. Luna notices that the Storm Clouds were mainly centered around the dragon itself, ad every time a bolt hit it, the dragon’s electrical sharp weapons glowed brighter. This meant that it gained more power from the clouds, and would most likely heal any damage felt to it if they were not dealt with now.

“Guards, concentrate your energy on the clouds,” commands Luna. “I’ll be sure to keep it busy while you take out its only way to gain power or regenerate. Now go!”

The guards salute and launch into the sky, dodging bolts of Storm Lightning and navigating the air currents. The dragon takes notice of this, but before it can do anything about it, a bolt of blue magic slams into its chest, breaking a few pieces off. It turns to stare at Luna, who is charging another spell.

“That’s it, you overgrown lizard!” Luna shouts, firing spells at its feet, taunting the dragon as she circles it. “Follow the bouncing princess!”

With a roar, the dragon surges at her, swinging its claws in hopes of slashing her in half. Unfortunately for it, Luna was too fast for it, and she had charged a powerful spell that completely disintegrated the yellow crystals on the dragon’s head. It roars in pain and rage, sending Storm Lightning everywhere in hopes of hitting a target. All the attack does is destroy the ground and poke a few holes in the storm cover, which has already been halved by the guards, much to its annoyance. But it can’t do anything about it since it had a princess-sized problem flying around it. It continues to swipe at Luna, hoping one would connect.

One does, but it’s blocked by a blue shield, which expands fast enough to upset the dragon’s balance and send it staggering backward. Reeling her right hoof back, Luna pours her magic into it, enhancing the power behind it before throwing a nasty haymaker into the dragon’s chest. The punch shatters the cluster, raining yellow crystals all over her. The dragon is sent flying bouncing off the ground a few times before creating a trench as it comes to a stop.

“HA! Is that the best thou could do?!” Luna exclaims as she lands on the dragon’s chest, thinking she’s won. “We’ve battled kittens that fought more valiantly than thou has!”

But just when she thinks she’s won, a low growl emanates from the behemoth’s throat, meaning it was still conscience – and very mad.

“Oh, my sister damn it,” mutters Luna, before a scaled fist slams into her side and sends her rocketing into the ground.

“Oh, really wish I could help them,” Fluttershy whimpers, curling up even tighter behind the boulder as an explosion rocks the earth. “But how am I supposed to do anything when I just get in the way of others?”

She then remembers what Luna had said earlier; 'If you can believe in yourself, you can do anything.’

‘I just need to believe in myself?’ she thinks, uncurling from her ball to peek over the boulder she was hiding behind, only to see Luna get snatched out of the air by the dragon. It begins to squeeze her, trying to pop her like a balloon as her screams of pain echo across the forest, the guards unable to do anything to help. Then something inside Fluttershy snaps, and a newfound determination wells up inside her. ‘If I can believe in myself, then I believe that I can save Princess Luna!’

“HEY!” Fluttershy shouts, catching the dragon’s attention as she walks out from behind the boulder and flies up to meet its gaze. “YOU PUT HER DOWN RIGHT NOW!”

The dragon responds by letting out a massive roar, Storm Lightning flying everywhere. But not one bolt hits Fluttershy – any that came close seemed to bend around her like it was sliding around an invisible shield. Fluttershy then responds in her own way.

SMACK!

She slaps the dragon’s cheek, the wind whipping around from the force of the slap. In shock, it lets go of Luna, letting her fly away from the dragon. It rubs the spot where Fluttershy hit it in confusion – she was cowering in fear moments ago, now she had just slapped it – and it hurt. There was something about this pegasus that scared it, something unnatural. There was a deep blue aura that only the dragon could see surrounding her, emanating a deadly sense of dread. Her body sparked electricity every so often, though it went unnoticed by everyone.

“How dare you!” Fluttershy exclaims, touching down on the dragon’s snout to get up close to its eyes. How DARE you! Listen here, mister! Just because you’re big, DOESN’T mean you get to be a bully!”

Luna and the guards watch in awe as Fluttershy reprimands the behemoth like it was a misbehaving child. At that moment, their respect for the mare increased tenfold.

“You may have huge teeth, sharp scales, snort fire, and breath lightning,” Fluttershy continues. “But you do NOT, I repeat, you do NOT HURT MY FRIENDS!”

“You got that?” she finishes. The dragon falters for a moment, but recovers quickly and starts to curve up one final attack. Unfortunately for it, Fluttershy still has her most powerful weapon – The Stare. And it works like a charm – the dragon immediately stops charging the attack, its pupil-less eyes widening in fear. As it slinks back to the ground, she follows it, not breaking eye contact even for a second. Once the dragon lands, Fluttershy calls out to Luna.

“Luna, NOW!” Fluttershy shouts, not taking her eyes away from the dragon’s as she continues to use The Stare. Luna nods, charging her mana up into one last spell. She quickly takes off, shattering the earth below her from the force of the launch. Maneuvering into position above the dragon, Luna finds the right angle and aims for its back. When she feels the spell is ready, she fires.

“You’ve been a very bad dragon.” Fluttershy frowns. The last thing the cowering behemoth sees is her disappointed face which is completely consumed by Lunar magic. In an instant, the final cluster shatters, and its body disintegrates to ash before being erased by the sheer power of Luna’s attack. The explosion from the magic blows every tree within twenty miles sideways, and any clouds leftover were blown away. Somehow, Fluttershy manages to stay level in the hurricane-like winds, despite being right over the blast. Once the winds calm down, she lands next to Luna, who is slowly recovering from her last attack.

“Are you alright, Princess?” she wonders, “You didn’t get her too badly out there did you?”

“I’m doing just fine, Fluttershy,” Luna smiles, managing to catch her breath. “It’s thanks to you that we managed to defeat that dragon, after all.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Fluttershy giggles. “I just had a little help from somepony to believe in myself.”

“You see?” says Luna, smiling as she puts a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “You managed to stare down a dragon because you believed that you could do it. If you keep this up, you may one day be able to take down even the most powerful opponents with ease!”

“Thank you for that, Princess,” says Fluttershy. “But I’m content with staying in my cottage. It’s much more relaxing and has a lower chance of me getting eaten alive.”

“Point taken.”

Something then catches Fluttershy’s eye – there, a few meters away lying half buried in the ashen ground is a small, deep purple scale. A scale that had been dropped by the dragon when Luna obliterated it. Picking it up, she looks at it for a moment before she sticks it in her hair for safekeeping.

“Do you think we should stay for a while to help clean up the place?” wonders Fluttershy as she walks back to the group. “I think that might prevent to spread of the fire to other parts of the forest..”

“Great idea, Fluttershy,” compliments Luna. “I can send a letter to the Equestrian Fire Department and tell them about the fire. While I trust the guards’ thoroughness, it wouldn’t hurt to get some experts over here to make we didn’t miss anything.”

“Agreed,” says Fluttershy. “Maybe I can ask the National Wildlife Preservation Society if they’ll send a team out here as well to help with the replanting, that way the animals will have homes again.”

“Let’s get started then, shall we?”

Author's Note:

The final stretch is here. Two more chapters, and I’ll have fully completed TDoTS!

YAHOO