Comic books are for fans of all ages, with heroes inspiring others within those pages. But what happens when one of those heroes is released into Equestria?
Welcome true believers and newcomers all alike!
You might not be able to believe what I’m about to say, but everyone’s imagination has the ability to open countless worlds to anypony’s mind. Sometimes these worlds are nothing more than blurs, other times we can see them as crystal clear as the blue sky above. When we see these worlds as clearly as we can, we take inspiration from what we see.
Creating inspiration!
Bringing hope of a new world!
But are these worlds real? Or are they just figments of our imagination?
There is but one way to find out… So let’s turn the page so we may see what fates await, what twists will turn, packed with chilling thrills, and of course heroics!
Moonlight slithered through the night sky, blending into the neon lights that were bolted to the steel skyscrapers. The midnight sky was slowly blanketed by dark clouds that sparked with lightning and sounded with thunder.
“YOU DARE TO CHALLENGE A KING!”
But that roar was enough to silence even the forces of nature.
Atop of the tallest building in the city, its silver claws digging into the water tower that was built upon it, stood a tall dragonic creature. Unlike regular dragons, this one was barely over seven feet tall, but its black scaled body was a mountain of muscle that was covered with crimson armor that glowed dully.
The dragon lifted his right claw up, holding it up so from his blue eyed point of view, it looked as though he could grab the very moon between the clouds. “You know not your place in this world, young colt – You of four legs have no claim to this world’s precious gifts! You manipulate the world as if it were nothing more than clay to be molded in your hooves.
“That is not how this world should be! And I, as this world’s true king, shall break the chains that you Equines have wrapped around this world!”
“Where’s the logic in that?”
The dragon’s gaze slowly turned back towards the roof, where a single stallion stood in front of the supposed true king. The shadows cast by the storm clouds covered the stallion’s body for the most part, but his red eyes glowed brightly and his right hoof, which was covered with blue armor and had a rather odd brass knuckle attachment on it. “If you continue with this insane plan of yours, do you know how many ponies will suffer?!”
“Oh? It speaks,” The dragon crossed his arms over his broad chest, and closed his eyes. “But what’s this? This piece of trash is only speaking gibberish! It is a small price to pay, my friend. Or should I say ‘the garbage that was once my friend’? After all this world has done to you, I would figure that you of all ponies would stand at my side.
“But rather, you stand before me – Opposing the true king of this world!”
The stallion lifted his bulky armored hoof up, “A true king wouldn’t make this kind of decision! He wouldn’t sacrifice others just for an insane…”
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!” the dragon laughed loudly before he slammed his claws into each other, sparking up a powerful flame around the silver claws. “What do you know about the role of a king? What do you know about how I had to crawl my way past everything in order to become a king?!
“You are nothing more than a pawn of the false ‘royalty’ of this land! I shall awaken you to your senses!”
The stallion lowered his head, “… I guess there’s no other way, is there?”
“You knew this would happen,” The dragon answered back as the flames began to grow more intense around his claws. “You knew the moment that you stood before me that this would be our destiny…
“Even if I wasn’t a King – this is what would happen.”
The dragon’s wings quickly stretched out and he lept from the water tower, his tail smashing into the construct as he flew. “Prepare to face the power of a king! JUNK!”
The stallion crouched down, and at his side, two straight wings unfolded as blue energy began to course from behind them. “KING!”
The two flew towards each other, the dragon’s claws extended forward while the pegasus spun about, the blue aura surged around his right hoof.
“I don’t know about this, I don’t really like seeing a dragon as the bad guy.”
TTT – TTT
“I don’t really like seeing a dragon as the bad guy.”
“Aw c’mon Spike, don’t stop, this sounds like it was just getting to the good part!”
Spike sighed loudly as he lowered the comic book in his claws, “If you’re so interested in the book, Scootaloo, why don’t you get it?”
“Hey, you know what they say,” The young, orange pegasus chuckled. “Why buy the book, when the library is free?”
“You know that’s not how the saying goes,” Spike sighed before he closed the comic book.
It had only been a few hours since Spike was given the ‘royal task’ of watching the Cutie Mark Crusaders while Twilight was on official royal business while they were in Canterlot. The trio of small fillies was in the midst of their usual Twilight Time when the alicorn princess received a letter that requested her to attend the certain princess-y duties that came with her title.
When they ‘accidentally’ learned that Twilight and her friends were on their way to Canterlot within the foreseeable future, the three fillies begged the princess to let them come to Canterlot – Since the last time they did, there was that huge invasion of Changelings, the wedding ate up most of their time as flower-fillies, and a myriad of other reasons.
So, after getting permission from their parents, and promising that they’d follow Twilight’s every word, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were set to go to Canterlot.
However, that’s where Spike came into play.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders weren’t obviously allowed to attend the Royal Duties, and Twilight obviously couldn’t have the three fillies on their own in Canterlot (not because it was dangerous, but rather they’d probably get lost in the large city), so it was on Spike’s shoulders that he’d watch the three fillies while Twilight and the others were dealing with the royal duties.
And that’s what led the young dragon and three fillies here – To the Spectacular Comic Book shop, one of the few shops that Spike actually visited on a daily basis way back when he and Twilight lived in Canterlot.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Spike! How you been champ?”
Both Spike and Scootaloo turned to see an older stallion, a tan furred unicorn with a white, short mane that was combed back with an accompanied mustache and thick sunglasses that covered his eyes. He was quite old, but seemed to display a rather unique energy to him. And adorned on his flank was a bright red ‘M’ that had a yellow border around it.
Spike smiled at the stallion, “Oh you know, just trying to keep royalty in check – Being awesome…”
“So I hear,” The older stallion chuckled before he nudged the dragon with his right front leg. “I’m surprised you haven’t been turned into a comic book hero yet, Spike. I give it a few years.”
“Who’s this?” Scootaloo asked, although her attention was still on the comic that Spike had in his claws.
“This is Stanley,” Spike introduced as he pulled the comic away. “He owns this shop.”
“Welcome newcomer to the Spectacular Comic shop!” Stanley greeted with a wave of his hoof. “I take it those two other fillies running around are with you too, Spike?”
The young dragon turned about to the side with a flat look in his eyes and sighed loudly, “Yeah…”
Stanley only laughed in return, “It’s good to see such young ponies take an interest in this – After all, comic heroes are our modern day mythology.”
“Yeah but Stanley,” Spike brought up as he crossed his arms. “The last comic you suggested to me didn’t exactly turn out the way I wanted.”
Stanley rubbed the back of his head with a nervous grin on his face, “Well, you said you wanted a story that could suck you in.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t mean literally!” Spike retorted as he waved his arms around.
“Sorry, sorry,” Stanley replied, a hoof lifted up defensively. “I didn’t mean to do that to you. How about I make it up to you though? You told me that you really liked Radiance from the comic, so how about I give you an issue from her solo series? Surely that would make things right between me and one of my favorite customers, right?”
Spike smiled brightly, “Wait, she had her own comic?! Yeah! That’d be awesome!”
“Hey, what about this one?” Scootaloo interrupted before she took the comic that was under Spike’s arm and held it up to Stanley. “You got any more of this one?”
Stanley pushed up his sunglasses to get a better look at the book in question, “Oh, is that Junk Maverick? I haven’t seen this stallion in a while, you got good taste young lady. If you give me a few minutes, I’m sure I can find a few back issues.”
“Thanks!” Scootaloo replied after she tossed the comic back to Spike. “I wanna see all of them!”
“Hey, hey!” Spike yelped as he struggled to get a good grip on the comic. “I don’t have that many bits on me! It’s going to be one comic each!”
Scootaloo’s ears drooped down slightly, but then shot back up when an idea immediately popped into her head, “Alright! Just give me a second!”
“Huh?” Spike questioned as he watched the young filly dash away. The dragon sighed under his breath.
“Ah to be that young and small,” Stanley chuckled with a large smirk. “But enough of my ramblings, let’s get that Radiance comic for you, shall we?”
Placing the Junk Maverick on the shelf, Spike followed after the older stallion, unaware that the comic book he just placed down had an odd magical aura floating around it for a few moments before it faded away.
Meanwhile, in another portion of the comic book store, two other fillies stood at a shelf that had some figures mounted on it – one of the fillies was a white unicorn with a light purple and light faded rose colored mane that curled while the other was a yellow earth pony with a thick red mane and tail, with her mane with a large pink bow in it. “Ah just don’t get it Sweetie Belle, why do ponies want these things?”
“Well, maybe they just want to see their favorite characters,” the unicorn answered back, taping an earth pony figure that was dressed in a white jumpsuit that had several pink arrows on it. “Some ponies do like them, Apple Bloom.”
“Yeah, but they don’t bend or anything,” Apple Bloom sighed back. “Ah mean, aren’t they toys to play with?”
“I… I don’t really know why,” Sweetie Belle replied her ears lowered slightly. “Maybe…”
“Girls!”
Both of the young mares turned to the side to see Scootaloo running up to them, but stopped at the last second. “I… I need to ask a huge favor from you two!”
“Sure Scoots, anything for a fellow crusader!” Apple Bloom replied with a smile.
“Well, there’s this comic I found,” Scootaloo explained as she waved her hooves about. “And it’s so awesome cause it’s got this pegasus fighting against a dragon and it’s so awesome that I can’t just stop at one issue, so please! Can you two help me out, please?!?”
“Um, sure, but what can we do?” Applebloom asked, trying to catch up with everything that Scootaloo just said.
“I think she wants us to pitch in for the comics,” Sweetie Belle answered. “I don’t mind helping out, but how many comics are you planning on buying?”
“Uh, well, I don’t really know,” Scootaloo admitted as she rubbed the back of her head.
“No need to worry, newcomer!”
The three fillies turned towards the bookshelf right behind them to see Stanley poking his head over the shelf with his horn glowing brightly with a thicker version of the comic book that Scootaloo had looked at earlier, “I managed to find a paperback of it – It’s got quite a few issues in it and it doesn’t cost too much for the amount of comics in it.”
“Really?!” Scootaloo stated with her hopes immediately raised. But then reality struck, and her ears drooped slightly. “Um, how much?”
Stanley smiled brightly as he lowered the comic to Scootaloo’s back, “Tell you what, since I’m a fan of the fans, I’ll give you a discount on this, so no worries! After all, every comic book is one pony’s first – So, consider your first purchase on discount.”
“Wow, really?” All three of the fillies asked at the same time.
TTT – TTT
Several rose petals lofted about the lush garden in the warm breeze as Junk Maverick slowly stepped along the cobblestone path, his goggle covered eyes dashed about the area with every step that he took. Roses, tulips, daisies and other brightly colored flowers adorned the sides of the rocky path and the blue sky above was clear of any clouds…
It was calm, almost too calm…
“Why?”
Junk’s ears that stuck out from the top of his blue helmet shot up as he spun about to search for the source of that voice that echoed throughout the garden.
“Why do you persist in following me? I’m nothing more than a monster…”
Junk didn’t say a word as he continued his trek through the garden.
“I deserve to wither away. That is the fate of all monsters of this world.”
Once again, Junk didn’t say a word, he just continued onwards, his red lens covered eyes now set on the large statue of a weeping mare, thorny vines clutched around the statue’s body. His eyes lowered slightly a short cloaked figure who was huddled next to the base of the statue, several strands of rose red hair meshed up against the ground where the cloaked figure’s head and tail rested, and ripped from the top of the cloak’s hood was a rose ebony horn that sparked with magical energy.
Junk stopped for a moment to take in the sight before he lifted one of his hooves up.
“STOP!”
And so, the blue armored stallion did so.
The cloaked figure lifted their hood covered head up, revealing a porcelain mask that had glowing white eyes. “Don’t take another step closer!”
Not wanting to provoke her, Junk Maverick froze, which was difficult since his right front hoof had more armor and was heavier for his limb.
“I… I didn’t want to hurt anypony,” The cloaked pony warned, lowering her head. “I… I just can’t… Just leave me alone! Just let this monster wither away! You don’t need to take me in!”
It was then that Junk continued forward, his hoofsteps echoed through the Garden. The cloaked pony lifted her head up to see the blue armored pegasus come closer to her, “No… NO!”
The cloaked pony’s horn sparked up, and the ground began to rumble greatly, but still, Junk continued onwards. The sparks from the cloaked pony’s horn lit up even more, and from the ground several vines covered with thorns erupted and whipped about the garden. As the vines whipped about, they crashed into the flowers and tore up the very earth around the garden.
Several of the vines then struck the armored pegasus, not only denting his armor but sent him staggering back. After taking a few breaths, the stallion lifted his head up and continued onwards, even when the vines struck his sides…
“THIS WORLD WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT ME! JUST LEAVE!”
When the cloaked unicorn lifted her head up to see if the armored stallion had followed her pleas, but gasped when she realized that Junk Maverick was now in front of her – His armor extremely dented and even cracked at places, even his right goggle had a large crack in it.
She inched back when he lifted one of his hooves up to her, “N-No… Stay away! STAY AWAY!”
However, that’s when something happened that surprised the cloaked pony – Junk Maverick’s front legs were wrapped around her and brought her close in a surprisingly warm embrace. His head was next to hers and when he spoke, it was in a calm manner. “Everything in this world is essential. If even trash like me can find purpose, then surely a rose like you should have no problem – Even if you have thorns.”
“Hey Scoot, what you reading there?”
TTT - TTT
The young pegasus lifted her head up, her attention drawn from the colorful pages of the comic book and drawn to the colorful mane colored, sky blue furred pegasus who sat across from her. After the comic book shop, it wasn’t long till Scootaloo and the others were picked up, and it was time to return to Ponyville – Hence, they were now on a train headed home.
The older blue pegasus, Scootaloo’s model and hero, was Rainbow Dash – One of the fastest fliers in all of the world, if not THE fastest.
With a slightly nervous smile, Scootaloo closed the trade paperback before she lifted it up so Dash could see the comic’s cover, which showed a rather odd looking pegasus dressed in blue armor about to slam its right front hoof into a dragon’s fiery claw, “It’s just a comic book that I got today – Junk Maverick!”
“Junk Maverick?” Dash muttered as she leaned forward to get a closer look at the book in question. “Hmm, looks kinda weird.”
“Well, yeah,” Scootaloo admitted with that smile growing. “But he kinda reminds me of you – Brave, strong, and… And… I thought that maybe it’d…”
“Alright, I gotta see this,” Dash stated as she jumped from her seat and got on the same one with Scootaloo. “Mind if I take a peek?”
“Of course, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo replied as she opened the comic book once more.
TTT – TTT
Nearly the entire city of Detrot was covered with ice as Junk Maverick landed atop of one of the few patches of unfrozen ground, the weight of his armor actually managing to crack the concrete that he landed on. For a few moments, the armored pegasus looked about, “Yeesh, first the magical energy gets negated, then the place gets covered in vines, and now the city’s trapped in a perpetual ice rink.
“Can’t Detrot go three days without being threatened by some supernatural force?”
“Sorry, but I had to make a cool entrance,” A rather suave voice called out. “It’s rather standard in this profession.”
Junk turned his attention up towards one of the streetlamps where a single stallion stood on – A rather tall stallion with icy cerulean fur and a long black mane that billowed backwards in the cold air to show his rather handsome face – Which was marred by the long scar that crossed both of his eyes and under his long horn. The stallion was dressed in a large blue coat that had a black furred collar around his neck, and adorned on his face was a large smirk. “Junk Stallion… Right?”
“Maverick actually,” the blue armored stallion corrected as the odd unicorn leapt from the lamppost and land effortlessly on the icy ground. “You’re the one who’s behind this sudden cold snap, aren’t you?”
“Most ponies believe that only Pegasai can control the weather,” the unicorn answered back as he playfully trotted the icy terrain. “So why would you assume that I am the one who did this?”
“You’re the only one not frozen,” Junk pointed out, turning to the side to see a police pony frozen in a goofy fashion with a donut in his muzzle.
All over the street, there were several other ponies who had fallen to the same fate, with the smiling unicorn skating over the ice and stopped easily to lean on a rather attractive mare. “Hmm, good point. Don’t you think they look better this way? Frozen in time, capturing their beauty… But I suppose I shouldn’t waste time on my frivolous past-times.”
The icy unicorn turned his attention back to Junk. “The name’s Essha – But some like to call me the Monarch of Blizzards. Don’t know why, since I’m not royalty – I’m just a seeker of beauty.”
“Are they dead?” Junk questioned.
Essha sighed as his eyes narrowed slightly, “Yeesh, is that all you can think about? Their lives? What a waste of brain cells. Well, allow me to settle that mind of yours – You ever hear of a Windigo? They’re winter spirits that can feed off fighting and hatred, how they feed is by freezing their food supply.
“It wouldn’t make sense to kill the source of their food – So there’s a spell that freezes their food source, but puts them into a deep sleep that keeps them alive for quite a long time. But if you don’t believe me…”
Essha’s horn glowed brightly and the ice around the mare he was leaned up against began to melt away. The mare shook her head, but then realized that Essha was now leaned up against her, he smiled and waved a hoof, “Hello there beautiful.”
The mare’s eyes widened before she ran off, leaving Essha to stand on his own. When she was a few yards, Essha’s light gray eyes began to glow a bright cyan along with his horn. Then from both his eyes and horn, a surge of icy blue light surged through the air towards the running mare.
KER-CRACK!
A large amount of cold mist popped around where the mare stood and Essha closed his eyes as the last of his magic began to fade from his body. “I hope the pose is good – The last one was just perfect, and I’m not a fan of running poses.”
When the mist dispersed and Essha opened his eyes, he narrowed at the sight of only a large icicle that pointed through the air. When he turned to the side, he saw Junk Maverick flying through the air with his jet-like wings with the mare held up in his hooves. “Hmm…”
Quickly setting the mare down in a safe place, Junk watched her run off before he turned his goggle gaze towards Essha. “You think this is some sort of game?”
“That’s a bad analogy,” Essha replied as the aura appeared in his eyes and over his horn once more, however the ice began to cover his hooves and crawl up his body. “I said I am a pursuer of beauty, and by that nature, I will destroy all things that stain this beautiful world!”
The ice completely covered Essha’s body, however, it continued to grow until it formed into a giant stallion made of ice that was covered with armor .“And unfortunately for you, Trash, to both me and those who hired me, you are one of those stains! One that I will gladly remove!”
The large icy stallion galloped towards the still in flight Junk Maverick, and before the armored stallion could fly out of the way, the Icy Stallion of Essha slammed Junk right through the nearby building with a large amount of debris flying about.
Thankfully they were in the empty building district of Detrot, so nobody was in the building when the two crashed through the wall. Junk Maverick was pinned under Essha’s giant icy hoof, “This world is full of beauty – But, at the same time it’s sullied by the trash of this world! I am the one who will cleanse this world with my ice!
“You and this city shall be the first to be cleansed!”
KER-RACK!
Junk Maverick slammed his right hoof into the icy hoof and shattered it into millions of shards that danced about the empty building’s floor. It allowed the armored stallion to fly to freedom. “You know, you’re starting to sound like…”
“The Red Demon Dragon – King, right?” Essha’s voice echoed out from the large ice stallion. “But unlike him, I can see the beauty of ponykind!”
“I was gonna say like a crazy pony,” Junk coughed to the side as the brass knuckle on his larger right armored hoof hooked at the end of his hoof. “But that works too!”
“How lovely, the trash as a mouth on him,” Essha’s voice cackled as the stallion made of ice’s damaged leg began to reform. “I applaud your candor – But do you believe that you can win? From what I’ve heard, you’re made up of only junk parts…”
“Hey, being a flying trash heap can be helpful at times,” Junk retorted as the blue light from his wings propelled him forward. “Like stopping lunatics like you from turning ponies into ice sculptures!”
The large stallion made of ice neighed loudly before it galloped forward, while Junk spun around and threw his right hoof right towards the oncoming ice giant…
KA-BOOM!
TTT - TTT
Scootaloo jumped and nearly tossed the comic book out of her hooves when she heard that lightning bolt crash in the distance. It had been an hour or so when the train had returned to Ponyville and dropped off its passengers, the moment it did the three fillies made a dash to their own personal club house that was tucked away in the orchard of Apple Bloom’s family: Sweet Apple Acres.
The clubhouse was where the three would make plans to get their Cutie Marks or just generally just have fun like little ponies should. And while most of their activities were rather… interesting (including zip lining and scuba diving!), it was still a small corner of the world they could call their own, filled with items that reminded them of their cutie mark seeking activities.
All three of the fillies looked out the window to see that in the distance, clouds began to darken with bolts of lightning crashing from the dark clouds. Scootaloo tilted her head slightly, “Was there a storm set for today?”
“Maybe,” Sweetie Belle yawned before she pushed back the comic she was reading onto one of the shelves. “But it’s getting kind of late…”
“Yeah, and Ah’m pretty sure my sister wouldn’t like us staying up late here in the clubhouse,” Applebloom sighed, standing up on her hooves. “So, tomorrow morning we’ll meet here to figure out what to try for our Cutie Marks – Maybe we could be Cutie Mark Crusader Superheroes!”
“But isn’t that kind of dangerous?” Sweetie Belle stated as the three made their ways to the door of the clubhouse. “I mean, don’t heroes need to fight against evil? Don’t we usually leave that to my sister and…”
“Yeah, but heroes don’t just fight bad guys,” Scootaloo pointed out. “They help ponies – Fighting bad guys is only part of the job, besides, we could get awesome costumes!”
“Maybe we should ask Rarity if she can make us some,” Applebloom suggested.
“I don’t know…” Sweetie Belle muttered under her breath. “She might be busy…”
And with that, the door to the club house closed behind the three fillies. However, from the opened window, a strong breeze pushed the cover open.
Books are a marvelous thing. By simply turning a page, you can be drawn into an entirely new world. And this isn’t just limited by text books – Comic books also have this effect. The only difference is that you’re given images to go along with the story so you can follow along with.
Now with the cover opened, the pages of the book began to flap about in the wind.
Whether it be pictures with text, or just the words alone, books can allow a reader to see into another world – A world of ‘what if’s, to see hypothetical events in order to learn about ourselves, and to just enjoy the exploits of characters whom we can relate to.
From the pages of the paperback comic, several small lights began emerging from the colorful pages.
But are these worlds trapped in pages mere fiction? Or is there truth in a world made up of only words and drawn pictures? A chance to see into the mind of the book’s creator? Are the characters real? Are the characters just figments of somepony’s imagination?
Five lights flew from the pages, four of them being freed from the clubhouse by going out the window, while the fifth had hit the side of the window frame and landed on the clubhouse floor.
Whether you believe these characters are real or not, the emotions they convey are – The experiences they show us, the scars they receive, they are all too real for us and can show us ways of living that have never crossed our minds before.
But hey, this is all just one comic book fan’s perspective. You’re more than welcomed to think whatever you’d like about fictional characters and their impact on us.
However, if those same characters are brought into your world – Given their own strengths and weaknesses, would you believe that they were real? Would you believe that what lessons they taught hold more strength?
The light on the clubhouse floor began to grow and form into a bulky armored form, with glowing red eyes that flashed for a few seconds before they faded into black.
Meanwhile, another of the mysterious lights flew through the air and crashed into a deep, dark, yet lush forest. The moment that it struck against a tree, it fell to the ground and formed into a tall, seven foot form with horns atop of its head and glowing blue eyes.
The figure took a few deep breaths and then lifted its head up to see the setting sun, “The air… This air, I can feel it. Nature.”
Digging his claws into the dirt, the large figure pulled out a large lump of soil and allowed it to flow between his claws, “I don’t believe it – actual soil that hasn’t been marred by the hooves of these ponies.”
His blue eyed gaze turned up towards the clouds above that moved about, “And the clouds – They move freely!”
Spreading his large wings, the large form flew up into the air to get a better look at the forest around him. “An entire forest! Is this what I have been searching for? The true land of the kings?”
The large winged form turned his attention towards one end of the forest, and his eyes narrowed down at the sunset – With a town at the edge of the horizon, being shadowed from the light of the sun. The form growled loudly as he clenched his claws tightly, “No, even here the land of kings has become sullied!
“… I’ll have to deal with this myself. As a true king, I shall show these equines that this land is not to be tampered with!”
However, the large figure merely pulled his wings back and crashed into the forest grounds, his large clawed feet creating an impact into the earth, “Tonight, I rest and give them one night’s reprieve.
“But when next the sun rises, the true King shall roar!”
The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, a relic of the past tucked away within the groves of the Everfree Forest – Once it housed two of the most powerful ponies in all of Equestria, now it was nothing more than a ruined hunk of stone with some dusty books, rusty suits of armor, and a bunch of weathered furniture.
And in the main throne room, were the two banners that were in front of the large, gaping hole behind the thrones with the moonlight pouring in – A blue banner displaying a crescent moon and a bright yellow one with a warm sun on it, both of which had an alicorn mare etched into them.
“Humph, so in this world even the sun and moon yield to hooves?”
Heavy footsteps echoed through the throne room as the large winged figure walked before the thrones, a large flame engulfed in his right claws. The dragonic figure made his way to the thrones, and clenched his claws, choking the flames until they went out. “This world is in more of a crisis than I thought…”
When the dragonic figure stood in front of the two thrones, he stood there silently for a few moments. Then with his long arms, the large dragonic figure pulled the two thrones together before he sat down on them, breaking the rests between them. “Humph, barely even enough room for me to sleep in. It will do for now though.”
With his tail curled around to give him a slight prop for his head, the large dragonic being closed his blue eyes. ‘Last I remember, I was in Detrot – Facing off against that traitor. After that, there’s only darkness then the forest. This makes no sense…
‘This world is clearly different from what I’m used to, even though there is meddling by the equines, the damage doesn’t seem as severe. Even then, should I interfere with this world? I know not of what has been done in this world’s history, and my presence could possibly damage this world further.’
The dragonic being signed as he locked his claws, his eyes closed in deep thought. ‘Should I search for a path back to my own world? Or should I spread my influence here as well? There has to be a reason why I was brought to this world…
‘I’ll have to get some more information about this world, before I find my next path…’
CLANK!
The dragonic being’s eyes widened when that sound echoed through the castle’s halls, and with a few sniffs of the air, his face curled up into a diabolic smile.
Deeper in the halls of the ruined castle, two unicorn stallions dressed in bright yellow armor staggered about in one of the hallways that had many suits of armor lined up, with one of the suits of armor knocked over. Both of their horns were lit up and over their heads were a number of books that were levitated with their magic.
“Dang it, Block,” one of the unicorn guards growled under his breath. “Did you really have to do that? Pay attention!”
“Sorry, Silver,” the guard muttered with his head lowered. “But it’s late – And we’re nothing more than glorified dogs getting these books.”
“Don’t complain,” Silver sighed loudly. “This is an order from the Princess, not exactly something we can say no to. Gotta get the bits somehow, you know.”
“Yeah, but getting a bunch of old books?” Block moaned as he sat down on the ground with his ears drooping. “Especially in this old place – Where there are bats all around us. By the way, you mind turning up the light? There might be some more bats above us right now!”
“Then why would you want more light?” Silver asked with a roll of his eyes. “The lights would aggravate the bats and they’d attack.”
“You’d turn the lights up if there were snakes around,” Block sputtered under his breath.
“You ass, why would you mention snakes?!” Silver gasped, focusing on having the light around his horn glow brighter.
“I don’t see any donkeys around here,” Block snickered.
Silver was about to berate his fellow royal guard, but froze when he felt something brush past one of his hind legs – something that had scales and coiled around it slightly. When he turned around, his eyes widened at the sight of a long, reptilian tail that slithered about his leg. “GAGH!”
As fast as he could, Silver pulled his leg free and staggered about, “B-BLOCK! Did you see the size of that thing!?! We… We gotta get out of here!”
However, when Silver turned back to his fellow guard, he was only met with darkness. “Block? Block?!! Where are you!?! This… This isn’t funny!”
Furiously, the stallion drew forth more magic into his horn to look for his friend, but when he spun around, he wasn’t met with the face of a fellow stallion – Rather, he was face to face with a dragon that had black, armor-like scales and three horns that jutted out from the back of its head. The dragon smiled with, oddly enough, bright white teeth at the stallion, “Hello.”
And just as quickly as he appeared, the dragon took in a deep breath and blew on the unicorn’s horn, blowing away the magic and casting the two into darkness.
“Let’s have a little chat, shall we?”
TTT – TTT
As the night faded away with the rising sun, there was a peaceful air that lofted around Ponyville’s grassy streets, with ponies just going on about their ways, with some of them stopping to look at the large crystal tree that had purple castle embedded amongst its branches – A rather recent addition to the town.
“I still can’t believe that there’s a castle in our town.”
“Why not? A lot of weird stuff happens around here, so why not a castle?”
At one grassy street, both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were walking to their club house, the two young fillies were in conversation. The small white unicorn tried changing the subject, “So, any ideas for what we’re doing for our cutie marks?”
“Don’t you remember yesterday?” Scootaloo stated with a flat look in her eyes. “We’re going to try to be superheroes!”
“I was kind of hoping you’d forget,” Sweetie Belle muttered. “So, what do we do to exactly?”
“Well, we’ll need to come up with costumes,” Scootaloo explained with a bright smile. “Super cool names, and… And…”
“Good morning girls.”
The two fillies turned to see a violet mare walk over to them, her purple mane (with pink highlights) swished along with every step she took around the horn adorned on her forehead. At her sides were a pair of wings that matched her violet fur, and on her face was a bright smile, “I hope you two enjoyed Canterlot yesterday.”
“Yes, thank you Twilight,” Sweetie Belle replied with a slight bow of her head towards the alicorn. “We really had a good time.”
“Yeah! It was awesome!” Scootaloo added in, a large smile on her face. “And thanks for letting Spike get us some comics yesterday too!”
Twilight smiled warmly at the two fillies, “Well, I’m glad to hear that. Speaking of books, you two haven’t happened to have seen two royal guards with a large amount of books?”
“Sorry Twilight, I haven’t seen any,” Sweetie Belle answered.
“Ditto,” Scootaloo chimed in. “Why are you looking for them? Is there some big bad guy going around Equestria?! Are you and Rainbow Dash, and everypony else going to go on another big adventure?!”
Twilight reeled back slightly at the small pegasus’ sudden energy, and lifted up her hoof slightly, “Sorry, Scootaloo, but they’re just transferring some books from castle to castle. With all the damage done to the library and the books in it, it was decided that we’d transfer the books from the castle in the Everfree Forest to the one here.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry about your house blowing up,” Sweetie Belle mumbled as she turned to the side, a little ashamed to bring up the memory.
“It’s nothing for you to worry about,” Twilight reassured with a smile. “Buildings and books can be replaced, I’m just glad no pony was hurt.”
“Still, it has to stink that all your stuff got blown up,” Scootaloo pointed out bluntly, much to Sweetie Belle and Twilight’s surprise
Twilight cleared her throat and tried to put on a strong smile. “Well, yes, it is a disappointment, but nopony was hurt in that incident. My home and possessions can’t equate to somepony getting hurt, so, I’m fine with that. But what are you two up to today? Trying to get your cutie marks again?”
“Yeah! We’re trying to be superheroes!” Scootaloo replied jumping bouncing on her hooves.
Twilight sighed slightly, but kept up her smile. In her mind, she was reminded of her own experiences of being sucked into a comic book and transformed into the masked vigilante known as the Masked Matterhorn, and her friends who were also drawn into the inked pages became ‘super heroes’ as well.
Although the experience was one she’d much rather keep locked in her memories, Twilight did have to admit it was rather fun to be in an extravagant costume where she fought against goons and the evil Mane-iac. Then again, over the last couple of years, Twilight and her friends had fought against beings that were pretty much on par with some of the strongest alicorns, and each and every time they’d come out on top.
With a shake of her head, Twilight turned her full attention back on the two fillies, “Well, superheroing is really dangerous, so, I don’t know if it would be the best idea…”
That’s when something caught Twilight’s attention – There was a large shadow that loomed over Ponyville and flew overhead quickly. From the shape of the flying shadow, Twilight’s eyes widened and she turned her attention up towards the sky where she saw a large winged figure soar over the town.
And it was no pegasus, that was for sure.
“What was that?” Sweetie Belle questioned as her eyes followed the flying object that was headed straight for the middle of the town – Where the town hall was.
“Girls, I need you to get somewhere safe,” Twilight stated as her wings unfolded and she started to get a running start. “And hurry!”
With that, Twilight galloped forward and flew off after the shadowed flying being. Sweetie Belle tilted her head slightly but nodded, “Should we go get Applebloom?”
However, Sweetie Belle realized that Scootaloo was galloping after the two fliers, “Scootaloo?! Wait!”
The small, orange pegasus kept her eyes trained on the first flying being, ‘It couldn’t be… But if that’s true then…’
Apparently, Twilight and the two fillies weren’t the only ones who saw the flying being – And with the large flying being now landing atop of the tall town hall, a rather sizable crowd of ponies had gathered . The being turned out to be a seven foot tall dragon with black scales covering his muscular body, with his shoulders, chest and calves covered with crimson armor. His head had silver horns branching out: one on either side of his head and one that was just above his glowing blue eyes.
With one of his claw-like hands wrapped around the flag pole atop of town hall, the dragon watched as more ponies surrounded the tall building. It was almost enough to hurt his eyes with the odd assortment of colors, ‘With how they gather, it’s almost like moths to a flame. Now all that’s missing is a certain moth, and with a display like this, I doubt that this moth shall…’
“HEY!”
The dragon lifted his head up and turned his head to see a flurry of colors floating in front of him – A living rainbow that was attached to a sky blue pegasus’s head and backside. The dragon knew that ponykind was a colorful race of characters (quite literally actually), but this was ridiculous.
The pegasus was floating in mid-air with her front hooves crossed over her chest, “Hey buddy, what do you think you’re doing? This isn’t exactly the best place for dragons to hang out – You’re going to wreck the roof!”
“My apologies,” the dragon replied with a shrug and a cocky grin.
And that’s all he said, turning his head back to the growing group. Rainbow Dash cocked her head slightly with a dulled look before she flew in front of the dragon, “Well? Do you mind moving before you break something?”
The dragon rolled his eyes before he drew in a breath and blew Dash away from his face. “GAH!’
Dash had to take a moment to get her bearings before she narrowed her eyes, “What the!? Hey!”
“Dash, stop!”
The weather pony somehow stopped in mid-air, and turned to see Twilight flying up in front of her. “Twilight, this guy’s a jerk!”
“Yes, but he’s also a dragon,” Twilight pointed out, turning to look at the large dragon. “And our track record with dragons who aren’t Spike isn’t the best. Can you please go get Fluttershy, she might be the only pony who can help…”
Dash huffed but then sighed, “Whatever. Be back in a flash.”
And indeed, Dash flew off as fast as she could into the clear blue yonder. That left Twilight to look at the dragon – Who was in turn trying to start the world’s greatest staring contest with her, his oddly glowing, and yet murky eyes trained on her. While this wasn’t the first time that Twilight had come face to face with a dragon, and while there were some scarier moments in recent events, there was something unsettling about this dragon’s leer.
“Quite the amount of respect you command.”
It took a moment for Twilight to realize that the dragon had spoken, “I don’t really command it, she’s my friend and earned it.”
“Easy to say for somepony with the title of Princess,” the dragon chuckled as he lifted one of his claws up towards the alicorn.
Twilight narrowed her eyes at the dragon, but took a deep breath to steady herself, “May I ask why you are here? It’s not every day that dragon flies over Ponyville and perches on Town Hall.”
The dragon turned his attention down towards the ever growing crowd and smirked, “And me without the traditional ‘Hello Neighbor’ fruit basket… Where are my manners? I should’ve brought something with me, after all, I’m meeting with the Twilight Princess…”
“Actually my name’s Twilight,” The alicorn answered back.
The dragon’s face lit up slightly with a streak of crimson over his scaled face, “Oh, I… I knew that! I was testing you, Princess! And you passed!”
“Okay, but that doesn’t answer my question,” Twilight pointed out to the dragon. “Why exactly are you here?”
Rather than answer immediately, the dragon lifted his claw up towards the sun, “I came to ask you a question or two. And who better to ask than one of ‘royal’ blood?”
“Well, if that’s what you want, that shouldn’t be an issue,” Twilight sighed with relief. “Although, I think you’re a little off – The Great Dragon Migration isn’t for a few other months.”
The dragon laughed under his breath, “Oh, how hilarious – No, no, I’m not interested in migration: In fact, I don’t see a reason to do so. I’m more interested in your opinion on dragons…”
Back on the ground most of the ponies were a little confused as to why Twilight was talking to the dragon, while some were just amazed that a dragon would actually appear in their town. However, amongst the crowd, one little orange pegasus stared at the dragon intently. “No way…”
“Huh? What’s wrong Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle inquired, taking note of her friend’s reaction.
Scootaloo didn’t answer, rather she turned and began galloping off through the crowds, the small unicorn quickly gave chase, and was barely able to keep up with her winged companion. “Scootaloo! What’s wrong!”
“Just follow me!” Scootaloo called back, keeping her attention before her. ‘That dragon – He’s just like the one in…’
Back atop of the roof…
“WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!” The dragon laughed loudly as he brought his free claw to his face and covered most of it within his digits. “Hardly anything?! You hardly know anything about us dragons?”
Twilight reeled back at the sudden outburst from the black dragon, “That’s not it at all, we’ve learned a great deal about dragons, especially with Spike!”
The black dragon stopped cackling for a little bit and moved his claws slightly so that one of his eyes could look towards Twilight. “… I could ask so many more questions, but let me tell you something about dragons so you can learn something: Us dragons have an affinity to caves and volcanoes, but not because we want to… But rather we were forced to!”
It was then that the dragon pointed his claws towards Twilight, “Forced there by you Equines!”
Twilight reeled back slightly by the accusation, “Wait… What? There’s no way that we did that to dragons!”
“That’s easy enough for you to say,” the dragon stated as he crossed his arms. “But it’s the truth. You ponies stole the land that rightfully belongs to us – You manipulate this world’s nature for your own gains, all for the sake of ‘survival’.”
“We don’t manipulate anything!” Twilight countered back. “We’re keeping harmony and balance to this world! Without it, then nopony would…”
“Griffons, minotaurs, buffalo,” The dragon interrupted. “Only you Equines possess the ability to manipulate weather – Making it rain, snow, or even provide a pleasant breeze. Any other race who don’t possess these magical traits is practically forced to abide by your rules, however, it wasn’t the case with us dragons. We don’t need to live off the lay of the land in the same way as other species: The occasional jewel here or there is enough, and thanks to this world, there’s an abundance of jewels.
“But, it was because we ‘desecrated’ the land that it was decided that we would be forced to more… Desolate locations so that you ponies could thrive!”
Twilight was a little taken back from the dragon’s words. There was a little bit of logic in his words, but there was no way it was true: There wouldn’t be any reason for…
“So tell me, Princess,” the dragon interrupted her thoughts once again, this time from his mouth flames began to slip out between his teeth. “Are you just going to fly there and say nothing?”
After a few moments, Twilight took a deep breath and then calmly spoke out. “A slumbering, adult dragon anywhere near any group of creatures, almost regardless of what the creatures are, snore enough smog to choke a town. We have no choice but to ask dragons to move from pony settlements, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to survive.
“If what you say is true, then I’m sorry… But surely you can see our…”
Twilight’s eyes widened and her horn lit up just before a powerful burst of reddish yellow engulfed her. Many ponies on the ground screamed out and galloped away as they watched the newest princess in Equestria get roasted like a purple marshmallow.
Thankfully, when the flames died down, it was revealed that there was an orb of purple magical energy over the alicorn’s body and Twilight sighed in relief at being able to put up the barrier at the last second.
“I don’t accept it!”
Twilight’s eyes widened when she realized that the dragon leapt from the town hall’s roof with one of his claws held over his head. “Your words! This world!”
The dragon brought his claws down on the barrier, and shattered it into a million pieces. The force of the dragon’s attack had flung Twilight through the air before he roared loudly. “I am the Red Demon Dragon – King! And I shall shatter this falsehood with my own claws!
“THAT IS THE ROLE OF A KING!”
After she managed to regain her composure in the air, Twilight focused her magic once more and unleashed a beam of purple energy right at King’s chest and forced the dragon back through the air slightly. When the energy faded slightly, a large amount of smoke billowed from King’s chest.
The dragon looked down at his chest and scratched where the magic had struck him a few times. “… Impressive – But it lacks something.”
King slammed his claws together, and with a powerful spark, his claws were engulfed in powerful flames that he grasped. Twilight’s eyes widened at the deed, “What? Is that…”
“Equines with horns aren’t the only ones with magic you know,” King chuckled as the flames in his claws grew more intense. “Prepare yourself! King’s duel…
“ACCELERATION!”
TTT – TTT
While there was an epic clash of magic and flames going on in the skies above Ponyville, both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were making their way through the large apple orchard towards their clubhouse. Sweetie Belle was trying to keep up with her winged friend, but Scootaloo wasn’t slowing down at all.
Through panted breaths, the small white unicorn called out to her friend, “Sco… Scootaloo! What are… Are you doing?!”
“There’s something about that dragon!” Scootaloo called back, not turning back. “I’ve see him before very recently!”
“You’ve seen a real life dragon that isn’t Spike?” Sweetie Belle questioned as the two were now on a straight path for the clubhouse.
“Well, no, but that’s the point!” Scootaloo answered back. “Just follow me and you’ll…”
“Girls!”
It was then that both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo just realized that Applebloom was standing in front of the ramp, a rather bewildered look plastered on her face and she kept turning back towards the club house.
When the other two fillies came to a halt, Applebloom turned back to them and Scootaloo stepped forward. “Hey, what’s got you all jumpy?”
“Um, well, it’s been a weird morning,” Applebloom answered back as her eyes trailed back towards the clubhouse.
“Can’t be weirder than a dragon being on top of the Town Hall,” Sweetie Belle admitted with a sigh. “Wait, can you see Town Hall from here?”
“There’s a dragon in town?” Applebloom asked, blinking a few times before she shook her head. “Um, well, that is weird, but Ah’m talkin’ ‘bout the odd pony in our clubhouse.”
“Weird pony?” Scootaloo questioned, thinking for a few moments before something clicked in her head and a bright smile crept on her face. “Wait… Could it be?!”
And like an orange blur, Scootaloo dashed into the clubhouse as fast as her hooves could take her inside. Sweetie Bell and Applebloom looked at each other when they heard their friend’s voice echo from inside. “OH THAT IS AWESOME!”
Both fillies looked at each other before they followed their friend into the clubhouse…
TTT – TTT
This King was no Tirek.
He was no Discord or King Sombra (Tartarus, the only thing he had in common with Sombra was the word ‘King’).
Not Nightmare Moon nor Queen Chrysallis.
But it was because of those little facts that Twilight had to consider – This dragon was just as dangerous as the rogues gallery that Twilight and her friends had faced over the last few years. Now, when one considers that she’s been up against practically two gods, two corrupted rulers, and an immortal minotaur that could steal magic, a dragon doesn’t really seem all that difficult to deal with.
Then again, Twilight never knew that dragons had access to magic.
Diving out of the way of one of the many streams of fire that the King fired from his claws, Twilight flapped her wings as best she could. Over the year or so that she acquired her wings, Twilight had become a much more confident flyer thanks to her training with Rainbow Dash, but she wasn’t the strongest flyer around.
It didn’t help that King seemed to be toying with her, since he seemed to have way more experience flying and had shown that he was fast in the air.
‘I just need to lead him out of Ponyville,’ Twilight thought to herself, making sure that she wouldn’t be blasted out of the sky by the large (yet, compared to other dragons, not that tall) dragon. ‘Once I do so, I know I can counter him without having to worry about anypony getting caught in the crossfire.’
A loud sigh from behind caught Twilight’s attention and she turned back to see that King had stop flinging fireballs and now just looked bored. He had even stopped flying after her and used his large wings to keep him afloat in the air.
King crossed his arms and shook his head, “If you wanted to lead me out of town, all you had to do was ask.”
Confused, Twilight turned about to face King. “Wait, what? How did you know I was doing that?”
“Please, just one counter attack from you and you start flying off?” King answered as he began to lower to the ground, Twilight was at least successful in getting the dragon out of the town. “I’ve seen the tactic used so many times by that worthless scrap heap that it’s just easier and a lot less of a migraine to just get out of the residential districts when fighting.”
The moment that King’s clawed feet touched the ground, Twilight floated down slightly to be face to face to the dragon. “I would’ve pegged you for not really caring if you fought in a town.”
“I never stated that my goals were genocidal,” King countered with his eyes narrowed at the Alicorn. “Chalk that up to you Equines thinking you can understand anything right off the bat – All I desire in this world is liberation, and I only wish to spill as little blood as possible to do so.”
“There’s no need to spill blood,” Twilight pointed out. “If you’re willing to come out of the town and not hurt anypony, then doesn’t that mean that you’re willing to talk things out?”
“Would anypony listen?” King countered back as he lifted his fists again, flames starting to spark around the claws. “In order to change the world, I shall use my very own claws and flames! I learned that you Equines don’t listen to other species – There’s only one thing that every being listens to!
“And that’s absolute power!”
Immediately, King unleashed a powerful burst of fire from his mouth towards Twilight, however the mare used her wings to fly up straight and dodge the powerful surge of flames that flew over the vast plains.
While she was in the air, Twilight’s horn glowed brightly with magical energy and threw her head down towards the large dragon, with a large amount of purple energy surging down towards King. The dragon smirked and threw his palms up into the air, unleashing the flames from his claws up towards the powerful magical energy.
The two forces of magic clashed in midair and sent waves of purple and red energy through the air. When the two spells were done and the remaining flickers billowed over the field, King’s wings spread out and using his powerful legs, propelled himself towards Twilight as fast as he could.
King threw his fist up towards the smaller mare, but Twilight dipped back just in time to dodge the oncoming dragon. However, when King was now over her, he lifted his leg up and brought it down upon her with a powerful axe kick.
CLANK!
But his leg was propelled back by the powerful purple barrier that Twilight erected and knocked King’s leg back.
“NOT GOOD ENOUGH!”
It was then that King’s tail wrapped around the barrier and with a quick tightening squeeze shattered the barrier. Before Twilight could react, King’s tail coiled around her. “AAH!”
The dragon smirked before he spun through the air, turning himself and Twilight into blurs before he unfurled his tail and threw Twilight through the air. When she was a good distance away, King drew his claws together and called forth the flames within his claws once more. “The finisher!”
As King prepared to launch his attack, four sky blue hooves slammed into the back of his head with enough force that propelled him towards the ground. The dragon crashed into the ground with dirt and debris flying from the crash zone.
When Twilight stopped spinning through the air, she realized that a familiar blue and rainbow colored blur flew right towards her. “Rainbow?!”
“Hey Twi, looks like I popped in at the right time,” Dash announced, a large grin on her face. “He looks tough, but looks like he’s got a glass jaw!”
“Dash, that only works if you hit his face,” Twilight pointed out before a large amount of smoke billowed up from the ground where King was getting up, the smoke rising from his mouth and claws. “And apparently he doesn’t have one.”
King rolled his head around his shoulders and turned his head up to the two winged mares that were overhead. He took a deep breath and rubbed the bruise that was now on the back of his head, “Cheap shot.”
“Rainbow, where’s Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, keeping an eye on the dragon done below to see that he was rolling his head about.
“Well, she was behind me,” Dash answered back, throwing her front hooves behind her head. “But she saw you go hoof to claw with that jerk with scales down there, and she dove down to the nearest bush to hide.”
“Right, Fluttershy’s fear of dragons,” Twilight muttered to herself. “Then we’ll have to do something…”
“You two done yapping yet?” King called out from the ground with his claws around his mouth. “I could go get a cup of coffee, maybe bring back some cheese Danishes, check to see if the Manehatten Bucks are any good this season… Anything would be better than hearing Equines ramble on and on.”
Those comments caused Dash to narrow her eyes at the dragon, “Oh, you think you’re all that?”
“You stand before a true king,” the Red Demon Dragon called back with his claws lowered down. “Er, float. Why wouldn’t I have a high opinion of myself?”
“Pretty big talk from a dragon who just ate mulch!” Dash yelled back.
King growled as he clutched his claws, engulfing them in flames. With a loud roar, King threw his claws towards the ground and unleashed the fire, which propelled him quickly through the air towards the two mares.
Both Dash and Twilight flew out of the way at just the last second to dodge the dragon’s rabid charge. When King was higher than them, he spun around and lifted up both of his fiery claws across his chest and then snapped his arms to the side to unleash the flames towards the two ponies.
The flames flew through the air, and thankfully, the two were able to dodge the massive fires that surged just under their tails. Twilight turned to see where King was coming from…
But he wasn’t in the air where he was before, in fact, Twilight didn’t even see the large dragon. ‘That doesn’t make any sense! Even though he’s fast, he shouldn’t be…’
“Twi! Behind you!”
Twilight turned around when she heard Dash call out to her, and saw that King flew out of the flames he launched out. He had immediately flown into the flames just so he could gain a quick advantage, And thanks to that, King was in spitting distance from Twilight, with his hand extended right towards Twilight, the claws just about around her neck…
But that’s when a blue blur quickly slammed into Twilight’s side and forced her just out of the way of King’s claws.
However, the blur wasn’t so lucky.
“Dash!” Twilight gasped.
King narrowed his eyes at the struggling blue mare with a rainbow colored mane and tail, her hind hooves kicking about. The large dragon sighed loudly, but never loosened his grip. “Quite the brave and loyal Equine you are.”
The large dragon’s eyes turned towards Twilight who was charging her horn with magical energy, “You’re quite lucky to have someone so willing to lay down their life for you. I’m rather envious.”
“I’ll give you one chance to release her,” Twilight warned, the light on her horn glowing brighter. “Otherwise…”
Dash’s struggling began to slow down and her eyes began to close, yet King just kept his attention on Twilight. “You must believe that you’re a good shot with your magic. One wrong move and your loyal Equine would take the hit.
“And even if you do hit me, we’ve seen what your magic can do to me – Just leave a scratch on my hide!”
Twilight knew he was right – She could try teleporting Dash away, but there were issues with that, she’d be wide open for King to attack and there was no telling if Dash would be okay after the teleportation and with King still there, he wouldn’t give Twilight a chance to check on her.
“Scrap…”
Both Twilight and King turned to the side, just in time for a brass knuckle covered hoof to slam into King’s face. It seemed time froze when the armored hoof connected into the large dragon’s jaw. “HOOF!”
Time never stopped, the amount of power behind the hoof propelled King directly towards the ground, his claws released around Dash’s neck and she began to fall towards the ground at a much slower rate than King.
But she didn’t fall too far when a pair of armored hooves wrapped around her, “… She’s still breathing, that’s good…”
Twilight blinked at the owner of those hooves that not only smacked King down towards the ground, but also saved her friend. He was covered with blue armor that gleamed in the sun, with two wing-like protrusions from his sides like a pegasus, but were streamline with blue energy from them. His muzzle was covered with a white mask and red goggles and his head was topped with a matching blue helmet, while around his neck was a long, white muffler that billowed in the wind.
His right front hoof was a lot bigger than his left one, and had a knuckle attachment to it that had slid up from the bottom of his hoof to the side so that he could support Rainbow Dash without any discomfort.
There were so many things running through Twilight’s head: Where had this stallion come from? Why was he dressed so weird? How did he manage to knock King down so easily with one hoof? And so many other questions, but only one seemed to echo out of Twilight’s mouth.
“Who… Who are you?” Twilight questioned as she flew towards the stallion.
The armored stallion lifted his head up towards the princess and spoke clearly, “Junk Maverick.”
