100 years after the Gardens of Equestria activated, the New Equestrian High Council has maintained peace throughout the nation. Now that there is peace, one ambitious creature wants to rebuild. Only, he wants to rebuild and entire species.
100 years after the Gardens of Equestria activated, the New Equestrian High Council has maintained peace throughout the nation. Now that there is peace, one ambitious creature wants to rebuild. Only, he wants to rebuild and entire species.
He can not do this alone. With permission from the High Council itself, he has taken with him, two ponies from the military. They will travel through lands still wild, and even lands not explored for a millenia.
War…War never changes. Nearly 300 years ago, the ideals of friendship and magic gave way to hatred and greed. Almost 100 years ago, these ideals returned to Equestria, following the activation of the Guardians of Equestria. In the century following, the ravished ponies of Equestria have managed to rebuild civilization. Many stories have been made after the dropping of the megaspells and missiles, and they are still being made to this day. In order to understand the now, one must understand the past. The world that ponies knew 300 years ago was decimated by war. Few managed to survive, but those who did, did so in huge, underground, stables. When the war was over, and all of ponykind above ground was destroyed for the most part, the stables opened, releasing the ponies who survived into the wastes. All of them opened, except for stable 2, which wouldn't open for another 200 years. Suffice to say, the ponies have lived though all kinds of hell, but there are those who suffered even more than they. They are the dragons. Without any lands to call their own to begin with, they mostly exterminated in the endgame. Only a dozen initially survived. Only 3 are alive today. One, wants to revive its race. With the permission of the High Council of United Equestria, the dragon was given permission to select two ponies, zebra, or griffon to accompany him. This is the story of their travels to find the legends of the dragon lands. First however, they need to find the dragon lands.
-~-
"Good morning beautiful." A green unicorn stallion, with a blood red and green striped and spiked mane and tail, and a cutie mark of a glowing green metallic cube, says to the mare beside him on their bunk at the New Equestria Guard station at the Cloudsdale site.
"Good morning." A purple mare, a unicorn as well, in the bed next to him replies. The purple mare has a long, black and sapphire blue mane and tail, as well as a cutie mark of a crimson rabbit skull.
'Mechant Vorse, Beastian Iris, the branch captain wants you in his office for mission brief in two hours.' The voice of a stallion informs the two ponies through a telepathic link.
"Well I guess we finally are getting that assignment." Vorse, the green unicorn, says, before getting out of the rack, and levitating his military armor, a custom powersuit, on. The suit had magic veins flowing around the outside, flowing from the center of the back to the front hooves, which where larger than they normally are. The magic cell box on the back was also larger, holding four more cells than the normal suits. This suit was also missing the helmet, where instead, there was a visor that connected to the cell box.
"It's about bucking time." Iris replies, levitating a light military outfit, reminiscent of the pre-war royal guard armor, but very much dulled in color, but reinforced with scrap metal.
"Wonder what it is this time?" Vorse asks, visually noting Iris's flank while he gets his armor on. "Probably just relocating us. Maybe it is to one of the borderland stations. We may get some action yet."
"Who knows where we are going. There are sure to be surprises no matter where we are."
"You know that's right." Vorse states, finally finishing the last clasps of his armor, and Iris doing the same.
"Let's just get up there." Iris says, in a rush to get some action.
"And people wonder why I like that mare."
-~-
"Look here you two." The branch captain says, addressing Vorse and Iris. "You two are going on a suicide mission.
-~-
Vorse- Level 1
Perks: Mechant 1-You have a unique relationship with technology, being able to manipulate most basic machines and electronics to your will with ease. You also have a resistance to all energy based weapons and electricity.
Iris- Level 1
Perks: Beastian 1- You have a unique relationship with lesser life forms, being able to control the very being of a single creature. All lesser creatures will not attack you unless provoked.
"Sounds like fun!" Vorse replies, having just been informed of Iris and his missions' danger.
"Where are we going and why is it dangerous?" Iris asks, giving the captain a stink-eye.
"You current orders are to report to Dragon Mountain A.S.A.P. It seems Elder Spike wishes to see you. Get going."
"Now that, is interesting." Iris states as Vorse and she trot out of the building.
"Pray tell?" Vorse asks her with a look of curiosity on his face.
"Because since the fall of the Enclave, Spike hasn't made much contact with us, just staying up in his dragon hole, or flying down around as Watcher."
"This just got even better then. Let's get a move on."
"Do I have to ride in one of those contraptions you make, again? You know I get motion sickness."
"Would you rather take the week trek by hoof?"
"Fine. Build that flyer at least. At least it is more stable than the others."
"OK!" Vorse shouts as they get outside the base, which has a few metal cube barriers surrounding the entrance. The magic veins running from his suits cell box to his front hooves as his horn also glows a forest green. He plants his hooves on a metal cube, almost as tall as he is, and a web of energy flows out of his hooves, covering the metal cube. Inside the cube, a chip, which is wired to each of the corners of the cube, changes to a green color, immediately before the cube itself begins to morph, the sides warping in and out, changing until the entire thing had transformed into some kind of dual prop helicopter-motorcycle hybrid. Vorse and Iris both climb in, Vorse in the pilot seat.
-~-
"There you two are." Spike growls as Vorse and Iris enter his cave. "You are late for a very important date."
"I'm sorry Elder, but we don't know why we are here, and we got here as quickly as we could, if somepony didn't have to stop by New Sweet Apple Acres." Iris replies to the massive and ancient dragon.
"What! I haven't had good chow since I joined the military."
"That is beside the point. You finally made it here ponies. It is time for you to find out why you came. ERA, GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!" Spike shouts back into his cave. Moments later, a teenage dragon, with light, pale blue scales, a set of wicked horns, laid back over his head, curling back up to a sharp point at the base of the neck, and spines that curve upwards like scycles along his spine. He lacked wings, and his tail was simple, having only two points along with a tip. "Meet End of the Dragon Era, or Era for short. He and I are the last remaining dragons alive, except for the dragon said to be beyond the waste. His mother was rare tribal dragon, hence the name. His mother was also poached in the wasteland outside Equestria.
"So what is he doing here?" Vorse asks.
"I'll let him tell you."
"Well, I did research, using Spikes massive library, to see if I could find any information of dragonkind. I couldn't find shit."
"Language!" Spike says at the young dragon.
"Sorry. Anyways, I was able to find one thing. There an ancient magic relic, said to be able to turn the remains of any dead dragon, back into an egg."
"WH-h-h-aaa-aah?" Iris gasps, her jaw dropped.
"What my marefriend here means to say is, DAFUQ?" Vorse shouts, jaw also dropping.
"You mean to tell me, that you want us, to help you, find the 500000 karat Soul Diamond?"
"Yes Iris." Era replies. "How did you know about it?"
"My grandmother's grandmother's grandmother allegedly said that she had found it, and that is how she got a dragon egg. But this was before the megaspells dropped, in old Canterlot, over 300 years ago."
"Well that is good to know."
"And how exactly is that good news Scaler?" Vorse asks in a negative tone.
"It's good, mecha head, because the book said that whenever the owner of the relic dies, it returns to the birthplace of dragons."
"My point exactly."
"If you would wait a moment, you would let me finish to say that, by using the Watcher system, I have heard about somepony who is selling off dragon scales and dragon scale accessories."
"And where is this?" Vorse asks the young dragon.
"Honestly, I don't know, but the rumor came from the Alicorn settlement past the Stalliongrad wasteland border."
"You mean Manechorage?" Spike asks Era.
"Yes, thank you."
"Well I suppose we have first objective then." Iris says. "After we get our gear, yes?" She asks, turning to Vorse.
"Mmmmm, yesh, I do believe we shhhould gather our new instruments of destruction, what shay you my good dragon?"
"What is he doing?" Era asks Iris, a look of bewilderment showing on his scaled face.
"He likes to act like a fancy pony randomly. I don't know why."
"While you three gather gear your new, I'm going to send word to Stalliongrad to arrange travel to Manechorage."
"Whatever." Vorse replies. "Just show us were the goods are."
"They are at the cave entrance, to the sides." Spike replies, before turning his massive bulk around, heading deeper into his cave, likely to make the contact with Stalliongrad, as the two ponies and other dragon head back out.
-~-
"Come 'ere little one." Iris says, beckoning the baby hellhound towards her, her horn glowing dark purple as her magic creates an energy bone, which the hound leaps at a grabs with its mouth.
"I don't know why you are bothering with that little thing." Vorse states, excitedly, as his horn glows, sending energy into nanomorphic pair of cubes, both roughly as large as his head, which proceeded to, to the surprise of Vorse, generate rockets, and fly around his armored hooves, flowing up his legs, along the sides of his armor, until settling along his sides.
"AWESOME! GEMS!" Era exclaims randomly, as he opens his travel bag.
"…" Vorse and Iris simply stare at the dragon.
"What? I can do different things based on what type of gem I ate last. I ate a sapphire last, I believe." Era states, before opening his mouth, and spouting a torrent of water out of the cave.
"What in tartarus happened to you scaler?" Vorse asks, surprised at the recent development.
"According to what my mother told me, as an egg, I was stolen. When she found the pony who stole the egg, they were in a field of radiation, almost where one of the megaspells hit all that time ago. Did something to me while I was growing. Now gems change my breath. Saphires equal water, rubies for fire, diamond for pure energy. That is all I know so far."
"Damn. Never thought I would see a dragon, let alone a mutant one." Iris states in a hushed voice.
"Yeah yeah, I know." Era replies.
"It's all settled you three. Time to go to an Alicorn city."
-~-
Level Up All-Level 2
Team Perks added-
Special Bonds(Vorse): When fighting alongside Eris, your damage resisted and dealt is increased by 10%
Special Bonds(Iris): When fighting alongside Vorse, your fire rate is increased by 50%
Mutant Dragon: All intimidations made when Era is involved are 80% more likely to be successful.
"So what exactly do you know about Manechorage?" Vorse asks Era as they are riding in a train to the Stalliongrad New Equestrian Military Base.
"All I know is that it is a place inhabited only by Alicorns, and is a peaceful place. It is pretty devoid of non-alicorns, but the occasional merchant ventures out into the wastes to trade with them."
"And in a place like that, a black market branch developed, which is where you heard that there is somepony selling dragon scales?" Iris Asks, doubtful.
"That is correct. The only problem is that the only thing I know about this branch of the black market is that its symbol is a pair of eyes, with a horn between them, and a wing on either side."
"Well then I suppose we will have to find that symbol somewhere."
"And the city isn't that huge. It's smaller than Blu River Base." Iris
"Where?" Era asks.
"It's a military base where my parents met. Decently sized, at five thousand something, but small for a city. Nothing like the place it's in though. Arbu has become a large place since Littlepip fixed their shit. The dang place is where the transit from Equestria to Red Mountain in the Zebracan nation is."
"Looks like we are here." Vorse states as the train begins to slow down, entering the frigid cities military base.
"On the tickets that we got, it shows that we have half an hour to get to the next train, luckily it set to leave out of a lane near us." Vorse states
~~----------~~
An hour after getting on the train to Manechorage, the city has shown up on the tundras horizon.
~~----------~~
"That place seems very, simple. I mean, it looks like New Appleloosa in the early days, based on the images in the books Spike recorded." Era states as they get off the train at the makeshift, single rail station. "Why would there be black market trade going on here?
"Just wait. The reason they chose this place was because there is a magical nexus nearbye." Isis informs the young dragon
"Yeah. She dragged my sorry flank out here with her on an early mission we had together. I was her bodyguard and she had to solve an issue with the local Ursa population. It did not go well to say the least." Vorse states while trotting off of the train into the small city.
"How so?" Era inquires.
"Well, to summarize the events, we found a changeling mutant hive, had to call a the Pyron Mechant, a fire using robotic suit, just to get in to clear the place, which resulted in a hive queen creating a crater two miles outside the town." Eris informs the dragon. "Luckily though, it was where Vorse here found his suit. Since his magic is green, and of a morphic variant, the suit accepted him.
"What does his magic have to do with the suit?"
"The changelings had been, surprisingly, engineering power armor that had a magic lock, by color and the "scent" as one told us before it died."
"Hay, you two. I found it." Vorse shout to Eris and Era from across an alleyway.
The dragon and mare turn towards Vorse, and look at what he sees, which is the exact emblem they were looking for. The group heads into the building, where there are a pair of green alicorns waiting inside.
"Welcome to our shop." They both say in unison, their masculine voices, though different, harmonizing together.
"How may..." The left one starts.
"...we help you?" The right one states, finishing the others thoughts aloud. "It isn't very often..."
"...that we get non-alicorn customers."
"My brain hurts." Vorse states, holding a hoof to his head.
"They are the telepathic alicorn variety, remember?" Eris asks, nuzzling up to Vorse to comfort him.
"Thanks Eris." Vorse replies softly, taking his hoof off of his head.
"Pardon me sirs, but I thought that there were only female alicorns, yet you two seem to be males." Era asks the two shopkeepers.
"Well you see young dragon, about 40 years ago, the promise that one Velvet Remedy made to our race was achieved. The first male alicorn, our all father, was a pure white alicorn, with no magic power, but was able to breed with the female alicorns. We were among the first 10 broods he made."
"There have been 40 broods in total, and only 15 of them all lived, for it seemed that if one of the newborns died, the entire brood died. With the male to female ratio being very small, makes the fact that we two are alive even more of a mareacle. Now what can we help you with?"
"I am looking for dragonscale powder." Era replies.
The look on the alicorn twins grows evermore serious at his response. "Well young dragon..."
"...it seems you are here for our..."
"...other goods. If you will..."
"...kindly follow us."
When the last words are said, the two teleport to the sides of the entrance, becoming statuesque, locking the door with their shields. That action triggers a shifting in the ground, as a stone circle in the center of the store rises up, revealing a corridor below the shop.
"Now go." The alicorns say to the group telepathically. "You will find what you seek through there. Take this memory orb." A small crystalline sphere is levitated towards Vorse. "It is protected it will only activate when you want to use it. It is a frozen image of the map that leads to the dragon lands. The one who knows where the map starts is through there."
~~----------~~
After the group moves through the newly opened tunnel, they find themselves in a dark, wet, stone cavity of the planet, with the only light source being a faint glimmer, barely noticeable to pony eyes. Thankfully though, Era is a dragon, with natural night vision.
~~----------~~
"Follow me you two. I can see a light. It may lead out of here."
"Just don't knock us off the edge scales." Vorse replies with a chuckle.
Era sighs with frustration at what he takes to be Vorce's idiocy. "Eris, get on my back. Vorse, you can use your suit to see."
"Fine." Vorse groans, using his magic to make a floodlight generate out the side of his suit. The bright light iluminating the cavern for the most part, the dark depths being unseen. The damp walls glistening, and the occasional gem giving of a colored glint.
"That must be the exit." Eris observes, pointing at an ornate archway at the end of the cavern.
~~----------~~
AN: I find that I can't write this story any more unless I change it to first person, so that's what im going to do.
