8. Battle with the Guardians
The younger longs of Ester Dracos hovered around outside of the town, watching the colossal yellow dragon rampage. It was too dangerous to be around Buttercream, so some of them had already evacuated and took some of their belongings and children. Even the older, larger ones didn’t dare fight her for fear it would destroy the town in the process. They could do nothing but watch her scour their beloved home. Buttercream still found things to steal and place in the marble bowl, which only caused her to grow bigger and far more dangerous.
At this point, she had reached the final stage of growth for a Northern Drake, going through rage mode. Her neck was much longer and she had a more muscular build, but a very ferocious face. Her beak was now more prominent and her fangs were longer and sharper. The spikes on her head now had a wavy shape with a bladed tip at the end. Her tail was still very long and she was able to keep it wrapped around the bowl, as she grabbed anything in sight to put inside.
Buttercream had completely lost herself now. She had no memory of who she was before or anyone she knew. All she had on her mind was to steal anything and keep it hoarded. Although she stormed around and roared loudly, no one was standing up to her at the moment, except for Myosoti who used his magic to create illusions that appeared to be characters from his video games in a pixelated form. She thought they were real, and continuously tried to grab them to no avail. As he continued to tease her and try to direct her away from the town, she became increasingly frustrated until she saw him off to the side. Although she was a monster now, she was still smart enough to figure out what he was up to and quickly abandoned chasing after his illusions.
No one else could stop Buttercream, but the Guardians were on their way. They had been waiting since she could not be stopped until she reached her final form. Several of the ancient elemental longs swooped in and flew around her. She swiped at them with her claws as they got close, but they were quick and dodged it. Since she was in the town, they could not use their powers and risk the property damage. Their goal right now was to lure her into an area where she couldn’t hurt anyone or destroy any buildings. She finally decided it was time to find a cave and hoard her treasure. She saw an island out at sea with a cave at the top. It was the perfect place to be away from everyone else and keep her goods. She began walking towards the island, ignoring the Guardians in the process.
Lily, Aster and Pansy all watched as the battle unfolded. Pansy hid behind Aster as Lily watched fearfully. They had faith one of the Guardians would be able to wrangle her, but they were still worried.
“I knew it was bad, but I didn’t think it was gonna get this bad,” said Aster.
“Even Mr. Myosoti couldn’t stop her,” Lily added. “Poor Buttercream. The worst thing is: she’s acting like she doesn’t remember anything, not even our friendship.”
They held each other close and Pansy went in to lick Lily’s cheek. They heard something landing to the side and turned to see Antirrhinum with several of his guards. Tigrinum flew out to meet his children.
“Dad!” cried Lily, as her father embraced her.
“I see it’s gotten worse. Have the Guardians made any progress?” Tigrinum asked.
“Well we haven’t exactly gotten to the fighting yet,” Aster explained. “Any minute now, we’re gonna see some action. Hopefully they calm her down.”
“I’m so sorry this happened,” said Antirrhinum. “I should have known Buttercream was susceptible to greed that overtakes a Northern Drake at this stage. That book tells of the rage form, but it’s difficult to tell if they are the right age for it to happen and it appears we were already too late.”
“She was already getting greedy before we even entered the palace, your highness, but none of us knew this would happen,” Lily said. “With everything I learned about Northerns in school, I wish we’d have covered rage mode. Then I might have been able to stop her from getting too many gifts in town. And if it still did happen, we could’ve at least moved her out into the mountains or a faraway island in advance.”
Antirrhinum looked out at the town and observed the damage. He was more concerned with Buttercream though. The Guardians were already starting to make their moves as she cleared the beach and traversed the surf. Kaze and Jishin swooped in and began head-butting her to knock her into the water. Mizu used her powers to pull Buttercream down in the water, but Buttercream was too strong and ripped right through the current to retrieve her goods.
“The town can be easily repaired, but she has to be wrangled in at least three days,” Antirrhinum explained. “That is the only way to stop rage mode…unless…”
“Unless what?” asked Tigrinum.
“Where is Nightwatch?”
“He went back to our house,” said Aster. “He couldn’t bare the sight of his sister like this.”
“I’ll be back. I must speak with him.”
Back at Tigrinum and Azalea’s house, Nightwatch sat in the living room where Buttercream last was before she ran off. Part of the broken lattice structure had already fallen down and was letting some light in from the sun. It was still mid morning and the weather was beautiful, which contrasted heavily with the current situation. He heard the sound of Buttercream roaring every so often. Each sound she made hit him hard and put a painful lump in his throat. He had tears in his eyes and could do nothing but reminisce. In front of him on the ground were all the pictures he had taken with his instant film camera, including a few he carried with him from years ago. His favorite picture was of him and Buttercream posing in front of his telescope. He was a teenager then, while Buttercream was a few years old and already in school. He flipped through a couple others and couldn’t help but smile, while wiping his tears.
“What am I going to tell Mom and Dad?” he asked.
“Nightwatch?” Azalea said, walking in.
“Hey,”
“Still can’t get your mind off her?”
“No. That’s just not possible right now. I’m too worried. What if they can’t wrangle her properly?”
“I’m sure the Guardians can do it. They’ve protected the beaches against wild quetzacoatls and amphitheres before.”
“Yeah, but the book shows pictures of Northerns doing the wrangling. Maybe we could let one of them take her down, but here’s the thing: I can’t let the other Northerns see her. Their king hates ponies and he might take Butter away from me if he finds out about her.”
“I see. Is that why you didn’t want anyone knowing about the book at first?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t keep it secret from you guys any longer. I just wish I’d have known ahead of time. We’d have been prepared then if I wasn’t so scared to consult this book last night. I still don’t want her knowing though.”
“Well Nightwatch, I know you care about your sister, but secrets have consequences. If the Guardians can’t handle her, our only other option is to contact someone from Nordo Dracos. We might be able to get their help without going directly to King Rubble.”
“I guess. I just hope they don’t start demanding answers as to why a lost Northern Drake is in the care of a pony.”
“There may be another way,” said a voice outside.
Nightwatch and Azalea looked out of the opening to see Antirrhinum, standing in their back lawn with his guards flanking him.
“Your highness, is everything alright?” asked Azalea.
“Emperor Antirrhinum…wait, what did you say?” asked Nightwatch.
“Another way to stop Buttercream should the wrangling fail.”
“Another way? Why does the book say wrangling is the only way?”
“The book would not have told you about it. Not many know of it. You see, Nightwatch, this all started almost a thousand years ago, under the leadership of King Solder, the first of the lineage of the Nordo Dracos royal family. After his crowning, rage mode started to afflict young purebred Northern Drakes at a prepubescent stage. Solder could not stop his oldest son, Prince Thrash, in time because they did not know yet how to deal with it. Thrash had to be sent to Oster Dracos and was never seen again. As time went on, the Northerns began wrestling their young when they went through rage mode. They noticed it could stop the transformation and bring them back down to size. The serendipity was astounding. From that day forward, all young Northerns were put through the wrangling ritual, but the king did not wish to be violent with his own children, so he tried a different method. When his younger son, Prince Surge, grew from his greed, Solder and his wife calmly spoke to him and sang a familiar lullaby. It took some time, but Surge somehow managed to remember everything he went through as a child. He remembered his father’s voice and his face. In an instant, he transformed back into a child, as if he was wrangled like the others. A few of Solder’s closest friends tried similar methods with more visual help in the form of portraits and statues. Solder saw how the Northerns had formed a close-knit culture around wrangling and did not wish to outlaw it, so this method was barely used and faded into legend. It is probably not known to the younger generations of Nordo Dracos.”
“I…I see. So King Solder sang to his son and it brought him back. I never really sang a lullaby to her, but Mom and Dad would sing to her. What about these? Will these work?”
Nightwatch used his magic to bring in all his photos and showed them to Antirrhinum. The powerful long looked closely at the photos and nodded his head up and down.
“These are good. If you can get close and show these to her, I think it could work.”
“How can I calm her down though?”
“She might recognize you if you sing or even if she looks at you long enough. If these legends are true, I’m sure she will recognize her brother quickly since she hasn’t been in this form very long. We will wait and see if the Guardians take her down first. If they fail, this is our only other option.”
Nightwatch looked down at his photos and then packed them away into a folder in his satchel.
“Alright. I’ll take these pictures with me and try them on her.”
“Do you want me to fly you in close?”
“No. That might agitate her if she sees another big dragon, so I’ll have to go on my own. I can teleport if I have to.”
“Be careful out there, Nightwatch. She’s gotten far bigger from what I’ve heard,” said Azalea.
“I’ll be alright,” Nightwatch said before exiting the pagoda with his satchel. “Hang on, Butter. I’m coming.”
As the Guardians brayed fiercely, Buttercream roared and spewed pink fire from her mouth, directing it at them. The Guardians could cast shield spells to protect from the fire, but they still had to be careful since their fur could be burnt, unlike most other dragons that had no fur. She tried to burn Jishin first, but quickly noticed her fire wasn’t working anymore. Hono had used his powers to snuff out the flames as soon as they exited her throat. Not realizing how her fire wasn’t working, she instead resorted to more physical attacks. Tsundora flew towards Buttercream and blew an icy breath to freeze her in place. The ice covered her upper body, arms and tail, but he avoided covering her head since it could seal her jaws shut and cause her to suffocate. The mighty Jishin then stepped in. He pounded his claws on the ground and used his powers to cause the earth to shake under her, knocking her over on her back. He took the opportunity to wrangle the fierce Northern, but he was hesitant at first.
“Brethren, we have never wrangled a Northern Drake,” he told the others. “Do we dare tussle with this little one?”
“You are the strongest of us all, Jishin” said Inazuma. “If any dragon is to do it, it must be you.”
“Go forth, Jishin. My ice cannot hold her forever,” said Tsundora as she blew more ice to keep Buttercream from breaking free.
Jishin slowly coiled himself around Buttercream like a boa constrictor. Buttercream tried to snap at him, but he quickly wrapped the front of his body around her neck, while the rest covered everything below. He pulled tightly to keep her from moving her legs. She was now completely covered with only her head and tail being visible. The ice on Buttercream’s arms was starting to melt from the heat coming from her body and Jishin’s. Tsundora could not use her powers anymore with Jishin in the way, which gave Buttercream an advantage. As the ice rapidly melted, she became slippery. Buttercream pulled her head in under Jishin’s coils and slid right through him. Jishin tried to pull her back out, but she was too strong. She quickly managed to push the coils apart, revealing that she had already shed most of the ice off. Jishin fought to take her back down, but she swung her fist forward with ice still on it and incapacitate him with one punch. Shokubutsu used his powers to cause vines to grow out of the ocean surf and wrap around Buttercream. Tsundora used her powers to freeze her again, but Buttercream’s rage was only growing stronger as a result. She roared so loudly; it caused all the Guardians to wince. Both Tsundora and Shokubutsu flinched from the deafening noise. They briefly lost control of their powers, from having their concentration interrupted. This allowed Buttercream to break through both the ice and vines. She immediately lunged for Tsundora and knocked her back into the ocean, using some of the ice as a blunt weapon. Shokubutsu came to Tsundora’s help, but he too met the same fate. As Jishin flew back in to stop Buttercream, she ducked right down as he flew over her and punched him square in the stomach. This caused him to roar in pain and tumble into the ocean. She then got on top of him and punched him repeatedly in the head until he was knocked out.
“JISHIN!” shouted Mizu.
Buttercream looked over to see Mizu standing behind her in the water. Mizu used her powers to animate the water against Buttercream, but that was the most she could do. Mizu was he youngest and smallest of all the Guardians, and she was not as physically strong as them, but her water powers were very capable. She did the best she could to stop Buttercream by smacking her with small tidal waves. Sadly, Buttercream was too resilient, so Mizu resorted to spraying her very hard with it. This annoyed Buttercream, but it still did no good. Finally, Buttercream roared and bum-rushed the Water Guardian. Mizu leapt in the air just in time and avoided the wrath of the raging Northern Drake.
While Jishin, Shokubutsu and Tsundora recuperated with the help of the others, Buttercream had her chance to return to her loot. She found the bowl of her goods unbothered and wrapped her tail around it to take it to the tall island before her. She climbed the cliff and then started up some stairs that lead to old temple ruins. The ruins had no roof and would be an ideal place to guard her hoard. She walked over and dumped the bowl into the ruins. The goods spilled out, leaving some room for her. Buttercream was ready to climb in and guard her treasure, until she noticed the weather around her had instantly changed.
She looked up to see Kaze and Inazuma flying around in a circle. They were using their powers to create a thunderstorm in the area to intimidate her with. Buttercream was not able to reach either of them. She tried to blow fire, but remembered that one of them was stopping her fire breath. Seeing how there were three Guardians weakened, one was tending to them, and the two above her had no control of fire, the seventh long had to be the one doing it. She looked to see Hono on top of a neighboring mountain across the water. She saw his horns glowing and figured out it was him who was disabling her fire breath. She decided to go out and stop him instead. Leaving her treasure behind, she made her way to the edge of the cliff, only to be stopped by something tiny at her feet. She looked down and saw Nightwatch standing in front of her. He had just managed to teleport out to the island from the beach.
“BUTTERCREAM!” he shouted. “I know you’re in there! Please, just listen to me for a moment!”
Buttercream roared and attempted to step on Nightwatch as he tried to take the photos out of his satchel. He was about to cast a teleportation spell until he felt something zoom right in and pick him up. Buttercream’s foot pounded into the stone path. She lifted it and found nothing underneath. Not thinking much of it, she directed her attention once again to the seventh Guardian.
Nightwatch felt someone carrying him by his arms and looked up to see Aster.
“Bad idea, kid. I think we best let the professionals handle this cage match,” Aster told him.
“Aster wait! You’ve gotta take me back to her!”
“Back to Butterzilla? Are you crazy?”
“Look, Emperor Antirrhinum told me I might be able to get her to remember who she is and shrink back down if I show her some of these photos. He said the old king of Nordo Dracos did something like this centuries ago and it worked. Please Aster. She means so much to me.”
Aster stopped in midair and let Nightwatch use his magic to show him the pictures. He wasn’t sure if this was a good idea, but seeing yesterday’s photo of all of them back at the palace brought tears to his eyes. In his mind, he put himself in a similar situation if he had to save his own sister from such a fate.
“Oh the things I do for family,” he said, sniffling.
Fighting back all his fear, he lifted Nightwatch onto his back and flipped his ears forward on his head to resemble a helmet.
“Alright, flyboy, secure the precious cargo and strap in! We’re goin’ to war! HOO-AH!!”
“Yes! That’s the spirit, Aster!”
Aster turned himself around and flew back to Buttercream. She had already started crossing the water and was close to the mountain Hono was on, but was quickly distracted by Aster and Nightwatch. Aster continued with his voices as he circled her in an erratic fashion.
“Alright, gentlemen! Bogie at twelve o’clock! I’m goin in! Man, look at the size of that thing! Stay on target! Watch my six, boys! Watch my six! Whoa! Pull up! I can’t shake her! BUTAJIRA, BUTAJIRA!!”
“Aster, the claws! Watch the claws!” Nightwatch called as one of Buttercream’s arms swung by and nearly hit them.
“Yikes! Good call, kid!”
Aster dodged each swipe of her powerful arms, doing his best to tire her out.
Out on the shore, Azalea and Tigrinum had just noticed Aster had Nightwatch and was flying around the giant raging dragon.
“Oh my goodness! Is that Aster?!” Azalea exclaimed, putting her claws against her face.
“What is he doing?!” asked Tigrinum, frantically. “Hang on! I’m going in!”
“Dear, be careful!”
Tigrinum took off to help his son as Azalea watched. Lily flew in next to her with Pansy by her side.
“Mom, why is Nightwatch out there?” Lily asked.
“Emperor Antirrhinum told us that some Northern Drakes have been able to snap a dragon youngling out of rage mode by singing to them or showing them a visual of familiar times. Nightwatch has all those photographs with him, so I think he’s going to try and use them on Buttercream.”
“I hope he knows what he’s doing. Aster too.”
As they spoke, Aster and Nightwatch continued to circle around Buttercream.
“Aster, try to get close to her head so I can show the photos!” Nightwatch called.
“You got it, kid! Lock and load!” Aster called back.
As Buttercream looked forward, she noticed Aster and Nightwatch in front of them. Nightwatch tried again to get her to listen.
“BUTTERCREAM! Look! If I show you those photos, maybe this will convince you!”
Buttercream stopped just as he called her name, but then roared at both of them just before Nightwatch could take out the photos. They were temporarily dizzy from all the wind in their faces, and she turned around to swing her tail at them. Aster tried to dodge as best he could.
“OH NO! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! Take evasive action! We need…more…power! Ay, Captain! I’m givin’ her all she’s got!”
“ASTER, LOOK OUT!!”
Buttercream was tired of missing them, so she pounded her tail in the surf to take them out with a tidal wave once they got close enough to the water. Nightwatch lost his satchel and fell off of Aster in all the commotion. Aster went out of control and skidded overtop the water before he finally plunged into it.
“AW, WIPEOUT! TOTALLY GNARLY WAVES, DUDE!”
Aster looked around for Nightwatch but couldn’t find him anywhere.
“Oh no. Nightwatch? Nightwatch?! Come on, kid, talk to me!”
“Aster, I think that’s enough impressions for today!” shouted Tigrinum as he came in to help his son out of the water.
“Sorry, dad. I think I lost Nightwatch.”
“Nightwatch is fine.”
Tigrinum nodded his head to the side. Aster looked to see Mizu helping Nighwatch out of the water, while Lily carried the satchel. Nightwatch shook off the water and looked around frantically in the ocean.
“The satchel…where’s my satchel! I need those photos!” Nightwatch called.
“I’ve got them, Nighty!” cried Lily.
“Oh, thank goodness! Miss, I need you to put me back on the island she’s keeping the treasure on! I’m her brother and I need to help her out!”
“I understand your concern, young unicorn, but we need everyone to evacuate this area,” Mizu responded.
“He’ll be alright, Mizu,” said Antirrhinum, flying in next to her. “Nightwatch knows what he’s doing.”
“If you say so, Your Excellency.”
Mizu swam over to the far side of the island so Buttercream would not see her and try to stop her. She used her powers to create a solid platform of water from the ocean and lift Nightwatch onto the island. Lily handed Nightwatch his satchel. Nightwatch quickly looked inside to see none of his belongings had fallen out and the photos were not wet. He held his hoof to his chest and let out a sigh of relief.
“Thanks, Lily. I appreciate it,” he said, hugging the little long.
“Nighty, are you sure you can stop her with those pictures?”
“I have to try. If the Guardians can’t wrangle her, this is the only way.”
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Apologies if I missed it, but the kirin should really be a part of this. They have more to do with eastern dragons than the ponies themselves. Both also originate from the same regions, and kirin even look/resemble eastern dragons.
Even if they ultimately can’t stop her rampage by brute force, it’s impressive to see what the Guardian Longs are capable of when a crisis hits, and prove why they’ve earned their titles as Guardians.
Some interesting new lore about Rage Mode, too. So triggering memories that the raging dragon would be familiar with, like with a lullaby, is another way to calm them down and change them back, but by that time, wrangling had become too ingrained in their culture to rule out, especially since it still proved effective in reversing the change. That ties in rather nicely to how Spike eventually changed back, when seeing the Fire Ruby he gave Rarity reminded him of his moment of selflessness. With the dragon culture we saw in FiM emphasizing brute force and rebelliousness, it’s not surprising that this more tender and wholesome form of reverting rage mode was forgotten.
Nightwatch is playing with fire (almost literally) by trying to get in so close to a raging Buttercream, but if anyone can calm her down without wrangling her, it’s him. I just wonder how his parents are going to take the news of all this, if he even feels brave enough to tell them.
11876489
I agree but I’m having a hard time figuring out what to do with the kirin.
11876491
When I thought up “rage mode” I liked the idea of the Northern Drakes doing wrangling and forming culture around it, but I also had to explain how Spike changed back in the show. The only thing I regret so far is not showing yet how a wrangling turns a baby Northern back, but there’s an upcoming FHS episode that shows it happening.
11876517
This is just me spitballing, but I do have some ideas:
1) Perhaps kirin were the result of these dragons rewarding ponies for their kindness or worship, as these dragons would look like gods to them.
2) Kirin are straight-up the hybrid results of "Ester Dracos" breeding with ponies.
3) Simply being another race that originated in the same province as these dragons, almost akin to ponies and saddle arabians. Saddle arabians are pretty much MLP's actual horses, complete with long muzzles and everything compared to their smaller yet more magically- gifted pony counterparts.
4) Could make it be revealed that Yin and Yang were siblings. The younger was the first kirin, their appearance being due to a sort of defect, if you will, while the older was an eastern dragon/shenlong. Something like that.
I have other ideas, but these were just the first random thoughts that come to mind for me.
Speaking of Kirin, that reminds me: do the ponies of Mistmane's homeland live anywhere near Ester Dracos? It seems likely since her country contains elements of Japanese culture, as does Ester Dracos. I know this story establishes the relationship with ponies and longs was broken after Luna's banishment, but is it possible they were able to keep some relations while losing others? Also, does Celestia's reign even extend to Mistmane's country? It's confusing because she's the "ruler of Equestria," but does that mean Empress Sable Spirit's reign was outside of Equestria? Going by the canon of this story, did both the ponies and longs have empires that existed at the same time? From what I've gathered so far, it sounds like Sable Spirit's reign and Antirrhinum's reign would run alongside each other, as they both started ruling 1000 years ago. I know Sable Spirit is long gone by now, but is it possible that there is a new pony Emperor/Empress ruling modern day? Or does Antirrhinum now rule over those ponies as well? Sorry if this is a lot to answer at once, I'm just really curious and love delving deep into Equestrian history. You create really good lore for these stories, and I love seeing how it connects with the show.
Another nice tribute to Robin with that Aster flight scene, course poor Butter's in full rage mode & unstoppable! Nighty's plan better be good if he wants her little sister back, not to mention that still leaves the consequences to deal with afterwards!
Here's hoping that Nighty can save his sister through her memories. Maybe I was a bit too hard on King Solder at first. I didn't like him a lot at first due to his hatred of ponies, but from the sound of that story he certainly cares about his son Surge, enough that he didn't even want to get violent with him to cure him of his Rage mode and instead chose a more peaceful solution. That is also similar to how Spike was cured
I wonder how many he does on average?
11876774
Um…this is our first time hearing about Solder though. Are you getting him mixed up with King Rubble?
11876590
I guess Mistmane’s country is a separate country from Equestria. As for its relation to Ester Dracos…I’ll have to figure that out later.
11876796
Damn, yeah I think you're right. Sorry.
11876847
lol, it's okay. Solder is his ancestor, and we will learn more about Solder later on.
11876590
Maybe it's like East Asia, where there cultures are identical but different.
11877931
Yeah, that thought crossed my mind as well. Like how Chinese dragons are called lungs/longs, whereas the dragons in Mistmane's legend appear to be some kind of legless long or wyrm, which I believe are called "ryu" or "tatsu" in Japan. Since Eastern Drakes are lungs (Chinese) and Mistmane's culture seems to be more Japanese inspired, perhaps Ester Dracos and Mistmane's country are like the Equestrian equivalent of China and Japan, respectively?
Also, on the note of Kirin, I like to think that maybe they are distant descendants of the ponies crossbreeding with dragons, having developed their own race? After all, Chinese legend describe them as having the body of a horse and the scales, antlers, and fire of a dragon. Maybe their land is nestled somewhere between Ester Dracos and Mistmane's country, since they have their own leader?
I have to thank Aleximus for opening my eyes to all the different kinds of dragons. I've always loved studying mythological creatures to begin with, but all the talk of dragon lore in this story especially has led me to conduct my own research, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. I had no idea that there were that many stories/kinds of dragons, and without these stories' prompting, I don't think I would have found out otherwise that there were so many variations and legends of dragons across cultures otherwise. It really is fascinating to see how vastly different cultures could have legends so similar, yet so different.
P.S. Please don't take this as me trying to impose my ideas on this story/series, this is all just speculation.
11877949
I have wondered about the hybrid thing. It’s too bad we never got an explanation in the show.
Glad to be an inspiration! I didn’t know a lot of these things about dragons before and it’s interesting the things I’ve found out!
Oh boy! Looks like the wrangling strategy didn't work mainly due to inexperience on the Long's part.
At least they have a strategy to have Nightwatch calm Buttercream down. Here's hoping for the best.