A/N Italics indicate either a flashback or characters thoughts. Excluding author's notes of course, which begin with an A/N.

Dawn of Fire

Chapter 1- A Change of Scenery

"Run!"

That was the last thing his sister had told him, but it was more of an order. Their cave was alive with the roar of flames, the flickering orange and red meant he knew their origin, his three brothers were putting up a fierce battle for the family home. But these were mixed with the magical green flame, a characteristic he knew to be only typical of the Draconis Ignis, which struck fear into his heart

It had been a good day until then; a successful hunt ensured that none of his siblings went hungry. Being the youngest was often a disadvantage, as proved when he was left only the wings of the freshly caught griffin. But all thoughts of food were disregarded, when He attacked, well not Him in person, but his servants, and they had come to wipe out his family, punishment for not yielding to His rule.

"Damm you Redfang, run!"

He didn't need telling twice. His brother lay savaged on the rock floor in a pool of his own blood, barely clinging until one of those bastards ripped his head from his scaly body, in a single tearing movement that made cutting through warm butter look difficult.

Redfang's eyes narrowed, sheer determination and the self-assurance that he wouldn't suffer the same fate giving him the conviction to tear his head away from the disturbing site, and make a desperate dash for the cage entrance. A narrow dodge was all that saved him from a sudden scorching by one of Them.

I'm going to make it! Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he drew closer to the exit of the cave, he could almost smell the sweet night air, easily distinguished from the heat and smell of burning scales that had previously filled his nostrils.

It was only when he reached the gaping mouth that promised escape and freedom, and begun to spread his wings in preparation to take flight, then he realised his mistake.

Of course that would leave someone watching the entrance. They wanted to ensure no survivors, after all. The brute was huge, a dragon of strength and easily bigger than their whole cave. Which was probably why he wasn't in with the rest of them. Massacring his family.

Redfang's eyes narrowed, and didn't slow his pace as he approached the wide, gaping hole, filled with teeth easily as long as his leg. The massive believed he would simply run straight in, "fast food" in its purest form. But he wouldn't give it the pleasure, and simply charged on, sure that his plan would work.

He waited until he could see the saliva dripping down its teeth, preparing itself for its next meal. The he went straight for its right eye, jaws snapping shut barely inches from his neck. Taking a dreep breath, the young dragon launched a torrent of his red eye, instantly causing the behemoth to draw back, giving Redfang the opportunity to spread his wings, using his natural agility to fly straight through the gap, into the cool night air.

The victory was short-lived however, for he had widely underestimated his opponent's own agility, an easy mistake, considering its size. The strength dragon leapt up, its own wing, although almost miniscule in comparison to its body, somehow giving the larger dragon the gift of flight.

Redfang looked behind him and sure another the dragon was barely 10 metres behind him, claws outstretched. Quickly straining his wings, Redfang panicked accidently catching a downdraft and giving a yelp of pain as a single claw from the large dragon pierced the thin, leathery scales that his wings constituted of.

Despite the wound in his wing, Redfang's small size and superior speed eventually allowed his to outfly he larger dragon, and the hunter soon gave up on its prey, but not without a angry roar, that only gave the speed dragon more reason to smirk.

"Don't worry little one, you won't get far. He'll find you, and when he does I will watch him squeeze the life out of your pathetic body!"

Redfang shrugged in dismissal of the threat, but he felt the familiar cold fear, fear for his life, and made a sweep left, adjusting himself to fly in a southerly direction, past the Shattered Horn mountain's and to whatever lay beyond.

The wind caught the rip in his wings as he turned, and the dragon winced. Whether he was going to make it there or not was another matter entirely.

He didn't feel the desire to avenge his dead siblings. Well that wasn't entirely true, one part of him told him that he should go out and kill as many of those dam magical fire breathing bastards he could, which probably wouldn't be many. The rational side of him (and perhaps the more selfish one) told him to flee as far south as quickly as possible while his head was still firmly attached to his neck.

Redfang decided to follow this route, the one less likely to end in a messy death.

-End Flashback-

The first thing he heard was a slow thump. Thump. thump. Good, that was probably his heartbeat. This probably meant he wasn't dead. Which was good, he hoped.

But the noise wasn't of his central organ, but instead heralded a splitting headache, leading him to grind his teeth together in pain. Ahh, pain not the preferable indicator of his existence but an indicator at least.

Redfang opened his eye a sliver, and panicked when the intimidating darkness did not go away, but rather faded to light like fog. A dense, vision killing version of fog. And now it was too bright, just what he needed to exaggerate his pounding headache.

But sure enough, after a few blinks shapes began to form, soon joined by colours, and the smell of dust in his nostrils. But one figure dominated his vision, It was round, and with poofy fur sprouting from its head, and…

Wait…what in hells name is that!

He backed up immediately in alarm; some kind of furry, pink creature was staring at him, uncomfortably close to his snout. Its eyes…. Why were they so huge?

"Hey silly, looks like your awake! Wow, you're a small dragon, are you a baby dragon? Are you a growth stunted dragon? Can there be growth stunted dragons?"

The pink creature went cross eyed for a moment, face scrunched up like It was trying to think.

"Wow, I've never met a a growth stunted dragon! Wait are you here on business, or just visiting? Coz if you were visiting, we shoulda prepared a party! You know, a get-together! A fling! A festivity! A gala! A fete? A… Do you even know what I'm saying? Can you speak? Well, I know Spike can speak, but Spike is the only dragon I've ever met! Hmmm… I should really have more dragon friends…."

The thing seemed to get closer with every word. Apparently it didn't know the definition of personal space.

He looked around for possible avenues of escape. He was in a smallish room, with only one window…far too small for him to escape from. Wait, where was he again?

Looking around at the strange wooden structure he found himself trapped in, he came up with only one conclusion. Yup, this was the afterlife, and he was suffering eternal damnation. Being stuck in a room with this crazy, no-regard for your personal space creature was probably some kind of divine retribution. Or maybe this was one of His torture rooms? Did he really escape from Him? His train of thought was interrupted by a lavender doppelganger of the creature verbally assaulting him, except it was a different psychedelic colour. And had straighter fur stuff.

There are more of them?

"Pinkie, would you give it some space?"

The one known as Pinkie shuffled away, eyes downcast. But only for a moment, before resuming her previous expression, silly grin and all.

"Ohhh Twilight, do you think he would like a party?" Maybe the poor guys never had a party! C..can you imagine that, a life without parties?"

"Pinkie, why are you so random?"

"I dunno, but I'm off to plan a party! See ya later Twilight!"

And the pink one promptly bounced off. Bounced off? If it wasn't strange enough already, it had to bounce everywhere. The lavender one approached, but maintained a more respectable distance to his face, thank the stars. She examined his expression, not in a fearful way, but rather one of curiosity

"Excuse my friend Pinkie, she's a bit…well.." Twilight seemed to trail of a bit.

"Well, she's Pinkie pie, and I'm Twilight. Do you remember anything about the day before yesterday? Does your head still hurt?"

This one seemed to have as many questions as the last one. But without the space invasion, so Redfang decided to humour her with an answer"

"Eiiiyy"

What came out was more like a cross between a strangled yelp and a yawn, but Twilight seemed taken aback she got any response at all.

"Can you understand us?...If you do just nod."

He could do that much, and from his position, lying on some kind of harsh, wooden floor he gave a slow nod.

"Wow! That's fascinating; I didn't know dragons and ponies shared a common language! Well, I knew Spike picked it up pretty good, but I always presumed that was because he was a baby when he learnt it…silly me!"

Now the "Twilight" creature, presumably female from her voice, was acting more like the other female. Disturbed.

"Oh I'm sorry; I get a bit, carried away at times, but where are my manners"

She seemed to regain her composure, a little, and gave a small smile.

"Do you remember any of what happened, at all?"

He racked his mind, frustrated when it turned up blank, especially when he tried to remember the past few days. Well, he remembered coming back to the cave with his sister, after a successful hunting trip, and then….. and then….

Oh, yeah, his family was slaughtered.

The resurfaced memory caused him to wince, and Twilight noticed.

"Well, only if you want to tell me.."

"No." The echo of his gravelly voice in the small room made the word sound much harsher then he meant it to be.

"Well if you need anything…just let me know"

"Some fresh air would be nice."

If the atmosphere in the room were to get any more awkward, Twilight have probably run off. She nervously pawed circles in the ground at her feet, she was suddenly very interested in the shelf of book at the opposite end of the room.

"Uhh s-sure but it's just that, well, most ponies haven't seen a dragon before, at least of your size. So you might, y'know, give the wrong impression to some of the more.. skittish ponies."

Twilight instantly thought of a certain yellow mare.

These ponies are stupid. Redfang nearly thought aloud, but caught himself. If they're afraid of me, than how will they react to the Draconis Roburos?"

The green dragon suddenly came to the painful realization. If He had decided to follow him here, then he wasn't safe in this strange place of even stranger creatures. Or ponies, as they had called themselves. But then again, where was safe from Him?"

These ponies would be mere cannon fodder…

Looking out from the small, round window he had considered escape from earlier, he saw row upon row of neatly thatched cottages. Highly flammable, he reminded himself with grim smile, But then he made his decision.

"How long until I can leave?" He asked, in what he hoped was a polite tone.

"Well, I don't think you'll be flying anytime soon …"

He craned his neck to look at the appendages. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with them. But then he gave them an experimental flap, and found himself rooted to the spot in pain. This was when he noticed the heavily bandaged tear in the skin of his wings. He facepalmed, then cursed under his breath

Fuck! How am I meant to escape now?

He reconsidered his options, then turned to Twilight Sparkle.

"Fine, do you have anywhere I could stay? Like a cave maybe?"

She shook her head.

"But I do know five ponies who may do, c'mon, I want to introduce you to my all my friends!"

Six friends? Now where did that ring a bell?

Memories were resurfacing, but they were dark and indecipherable. The dragon had no idea why having six friends was so significant, but it would probably annoy him for the rest of the day day. Or until he could figure it out.