"Von, wait!" Midnight called out. But the kirin was already long gone. He had taken to the skies, far out of sight. Even if she flew after him, she wouldn't be able to keep up with his speed. It both impressed her and worried her.

"What are you waiting for?" Gilda asked. "We gotta go after him before that idiot gets himself killed."

"I know I know. But what I don't get is why the dragons are invading. We've done nothing wrong to them. And from what the princess had told me, they have a benevolent king." It was indeed an odd event. If their king was as kind as she was informed, they shouldn't even bother trying to attack.

"Who cares?!" Daring shouted. "The dragons are attacking and everyone is in danger. We need to get back home and help them." Midnight's eyes widened at Daring's words and was about to interrupt, but Gilda's claw touched her shoulder and she silenced herself.

"She's right. Those ponies may not like me much, but I guess we should go and keep the dweebs from getting killed." She said. "We can worry about blue boy later." While Gilda's words were a bit harsh, they rang true. They had more important things to worry about and if it wasn't any clearer, Von would be going back to Canterlot as well. Seeing no other option, the two pegasi and griffoness spread their wings and took flight. They had to make it back before it was too late.

BGM 1

Canterlot was in a panic as the dragons swarmed the once peaceful city. Celestia and Luna's guards were doing their best to hold off the attackers, but they were overpowered. Dragons were formidable opponents, even alone. With a whole group of them, they were easily outclassed. But what was odd was how organized their attacks were, which was uncommon given their brutish nature. But regardless, Canterlot was under siege and its defenses were failing.

Buildings were set ablaze and the citizens had no choice but to flee to safety. The princesses were doing all they could, but they were unsure of how long they could hold out.

"Everyone! Get to shelter!" A male voice shouted. It was Axel and beside him was Arcius. The two had seen the dragons approaching the mainland and followed after them. When the attack started, they immediately flew for the kingdom and did their best to help. They weren't that strong alone, but were more than enough when together. However, while able to endure more than the guards, they still couldn't take down so many dragons on their own.

"Well, this is quite a mess you've gotten us into, Axel." Arcius said. "Even if we get everyone to safety, we still can't beat all of them."

"I know that." Axel replied with a sad tone. "I'm always causing problems. But even if that's the case, I have the will to make things better. And right now, we need to focus on stopping our brethren. This is Daring's home.The place where Von was born. Are you with me?" The yellow dragon balled his hand into a fist, holding it out to Arcius and waiting for him to do the same thing.

The white dragon groaned, but quickly smiled and fistbumped his friend. "Fine. I guess I'll try things your way for once. Besides, they interrupted my reading and I won't forgive them for that." Arcius snarled. Axel chuckled and shook his head.

"Nerd."

"Brute." The two dragons readied themselves and took to the skies, battling their former comrades and aiding the guards in their struggle.

Celestia and Luna looked on from their castle, watching their soldiers fight bravely alongside the dragons to fend off the others. Celestia prayed that Von, Midnight or the others would make it in time to help turn the tides but for now, they were just hoping they could hold out longer.

"Is he truly back?" Celestia asked, keeping her focus on the city.

"I don't have full confirmation, but I believe he is. This looks like it could be his handiwork. But as long as he doesn't have a body anymore, he doesn't truly pose a threat." Luna replied, but her voice was different. More mystical and high-pitched. "But it seems his will is spreading across the land and if I had to guess, it made its way to the dragons. That could be why they suddenly decided to invade."

"But Eldrich would never harm another living creature. We had a peace treaty, so something must've happened." 'Luna' sighed and turned to Celestia and stared her in the eyes.

"I don't think this is Eldrich's doing. I know of him and his kindness. He would never do such a thing." She said. "But there is one I believe may be responsible for this: Konan."

"Von's step-father?" Celestia replied. "Hmm...that does seem like the highest possibility. From what I was told, Konan is quite a power-hungry dragon. But he wasn't always like this...Or so I'm told."

"Things change. Ponies change. Even dragons change, like all the creatures of this world. That's what it means to grow and evolve. And Von has grown quite alot, it seems. It's nice to see you uphold your promise to his mother." Luna replied. Celestia giggled and looked at the blue alicorn.

"I know how much his family means to him and what it means to him just to HAVE a family. I adore my subjects very much. And while he is the son of an old friend, I still see him as one of my subjects and will love him as much as I love them." Celestia replied. "You felt the same way about him, before he and your brother turned against one another."

Luna sighed and shook her head. "I suppose that is true. They truly are related, in more ways than one." As the two continued talking with one another, the door to the castle broke down and a large figure stood in the doorway. Celestia's eyes widened at the sight of the creature, her mouth agape as no words managed to come out. Luna, on the other hand, noticed the dragon right off the bat and let out a sad sigh.

"So Konan did get to you..."

Axel and Arcius continued to put up a fight against the oncoming waves of dragons, but were quickly being worn down. There were just too many of them to handle on their own but they weren't willing to give up just yet. A group of dragons began to surround the two of them, drawing in closer and ready to finish them off.

"Shit. I didn't think it would get like this." Axel said. "If we go down, we should go down fighting. You with me?" Arcius chuckled and looked at his dimwitted friend.

"I was with you the day we became friends." He replied. "I doubt that this is the end. But if we don't make it out of this, then I want to say that I've always thought of you as a great friend. ...Despite you always dragging me into your problems."

"Way to kill the moment." Axel chuckled. "I just hope Gilda will be ok."

"I'm just fine, dweeb!" A female voice called out. The two drakes, as well as the group around them, looked to the sky to see two mares and a griffon coming down. With a swift kick, all three of them each knocked down a dragon and caused the group to disperse and flee.

"Gilda!" Axel shouted with glee, hugging his fiance.

"Daring." Arcius smiled, embracing his pegasus lover. The two of them let go and looked around, seeing that one other was missing in their group. "Where's Von?"

"Von hasn't arrived yet?" Midnight inquired. The two drakes shook their heads, the mare groaning in annoyance. "The minute he heard that Canterlot was under attack, he stormed off without us."

"No doubt, he's angry because he knows Konan is behind the attack." Axel said. "Elder Eldrich would never do something like this. But if Konan is behind this attack, then that means..." Axel fell silent, looking to his companion with sorrow in his eyes.

"It means that Eldrich is dead and Konan has now become king." Arcius concluded. "And if he's king, then no doubt he'll stop at nothing until Equestria has fallen to him. We need to find the leader of this attack and take him down. If the leader goes,t hen everyone else should retreat."

The gang nodded their heads and split up, Arcius and Axel going together and the girls going their own separate ways. The royal guard were having their hands full fending off the small fry, but were putting up as much a fight as they could. No word was received from the princesses, worrying some of the citizens but they were relieved to see Midnight and the others come to their aid.

"Everyone, stay calm!" Midnight yelled. "You'll be safer outside of the city, so gather what you can and get out while you have the chance." At her command, everyone did as they were told and started to head for the city exit. Albeit, in an unorderly fashion but they were safer this way.

On the other ends of the city, Gilda was fighting off some of the draconic invaders while Daring was helping to evacuate the citizens. Gilda was a tough fighter, getting a few scorched feathers and bruises but she couldn't take them all down. She was soon overpowered, struck down to the streets and groaned in pain. The dragon who attacked swooped down to finish the job, but was cutoff and knocked away by Axel, who dove in to save the griffoness. He flew down to her and took her hand, helping her out of the small crater.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah. Thanks, i guess." Gilda replied, her cheeks turning red. She didn't want to admit that he saved her, but reaction did the talking for her. "Don't think this puts you on my good side. We've still got some issues to work out."

"Yeah yeah. Less talk, more fight. Come on!" Axel smirked and flew up into the air, Gilda following behind him and they continued to fight off the horde of dragons. Slowly and surely, their forces were starting to dwindle, but they were still formidable foes.

Eventually, they managed to bring the invasion down to its last legs and a small amount of dragons remained. However, Axel and the others were drained of their will to fight. They'd been fighting for hours on end, feeling like there was no end in sight and when they finally reduced their forces, their bodies had begun to give out.

"Dammit...not now." Axel groaned, his body shaking as he struggled to stay upright. Gilda had used up all her strength to help out, only to be escorted to safety at Axel's request as Arcius was beginning to falter too. The horde of dragons began to draw closer, ready to finish them off until a voice called out to them.

"Hold it!" It said. It was a male voice and it was one that they were very familiar with. As the dragons began to back way, three other dragons stepped up. A purple dragon with a beak-like snout, a brown dragon with a club tail and one red dragon with a cocky demeanor. "Well well, if it isn't Axel and Whitey. Didn't think you guys would ever think to help some ponies. But then again, you're friends with that lame halfling."

"Garble..." Arcius hissed, losing his composure. "Don't tell me you're behind this attack."

"Ha! You wish. Me and the boys are just guiding the others to cause a little mayhem while our so-called leader takes out those namby-pamby pony princesses." The drake replied. His friends, Spear and Gronkle, laughed with him and punched both weakened dragons to the ground. They never fought fair, even back home on the mountain and didn't care what happened as long as they won. They were all full of themselves, something that Von truly hated about them.

"So, where's the little pony-lover at? Did he turn tail and run away?" Spear mocked, staring down at the two dragons. He and Gronkle were like Garble's right-hand dragons. Whenever he showed up, those two were always there beside him to help him cause some trouble.

"I bet he's too scared to even show his ugly face. All talk and no action, a disgrace to all of us dragons." Gronkle added, slamming his tail on the ground. Garble chuckled and grabbed both Axel and Arcius' throats, squeezing tight and smiling at them.

"Even if he isn't here, we can at least enjoy ending the two of you. Death is the only thing you traitors deserve and the ponies will be next in line." He growled, tightening his grip. Axel grabbed onto Garble's hand, trying to pry himself from the drakes' grip but he was too weak to stop him. Arcius was in the same position; Far too exhausted to prevent him from doing anything and gasping for air. They could feel their life beginning to drain, frightened that their lives were about to come to a close.

"Let them go!" A voice shouted, causing the three dragons and the horde to lose their focus. As they looked around to find the source of the voice commanding them to stop, a blue blur shot down from the sky, cutting through two dragons and killing them. The blue figure stood up, rusty sword in hand and turned to face his foes. "Sup guys. Miss me?"

BGM 2

"Von!" Shouted Axel and Arcius, their voices raspy from Garble's torture. Turning his attention back to the task at hand, Von gripped his sword and charged into battle. Wasting little time, Garble released both dragons and commanded the others to attack the kirin. They obeyed without question and attacked, swiping their claws at Von.

"Whoa!" Von barely dodged their attacks, slightly overwhelmed by both opponents attacking from opposite sides, and swung his sword. His swing wasn't hard enough to deal any major damage but managed to cut across their chests. They continued to attack, forcing Von to block their strikes and gave him no chance to counter. After a few seconds, he found an opening and deflected their strikes, causing them to stumble back and flew into the air. The dragons gave chase, spitting balls of fire to take the kirin down.

Von looked back and saw the attacks coming and dodged the oncoming fireballs one after the other. However, one hit and scorched his chest which caused him to yell out in pain before two more came after that and hit him again, sending him down to one of the buildings Arcius had put out. He got back onto his feet and flew back up into the air, charging at his pursuers head-on. One of the dragons quickly reeled back and shot another fireball at Von, much bigger than the other two and it hit Von, causing it to explode and cover the part of the sky where he was in smoke.

They stayed silent for a few moments, staring at the cloud of smoke before Von burst out from the cloud, his body covered in scorch marks and came at them. In a panic, the two dragons tried to attack him but they reacted too late. With one swift swing, Von sliced deep through their chests. Blood spurted out from their wounds as they fell back to the ground, bleeding to death. Von shook the blood clean off his sword and descended to the ground to help his friends back onto their feet.

"You guys ok?" He asked, smiling at them. The two of them smiled and got back up, Axel grabbing Von in a headlock and rubbing his fist in his hair.

"You dummy. We got worried sick about you!" He scolded playfully, releasing his comrade. Von chuckled, as did Arcius and looked over at the white dragon.

"Welcome back, Von. Did the mission go well?" He asked.

"I'll tell you guys later." Von replied, turning toward Garble and his friends. "But right now, we have bigger things to take care of."

BGM 3

Garble chuckled and clapped his hands together, smiling at Von. "Wow. Never thought you had it in you to kill. Who knew a pony-loving halfbreed freak like you could actually pull something like that off?" he mocked.

"Your words don't bother me anymore, Garble. I've changed since then." The kirin replied, staring the red dragon in the face. They shot each other a silent glare before Von spoke up again. "Who's leading the attack?"

"Heh. Wouldn't you like to know. She's a pretty cruel dragon, more than that Cynder ever could be."

"Don't you DARE talk about my sister like that!" Axel yelled, nearly lashing out at him. Arcius held him back and shook his head, trying to keep his friend under control.

"You've been missing out on alot of things, Von. Everything on the mountain has changed since Konan took the throne." Garble said. Von's eyes widened and he looked at him.

"...What did you just say?" The three dragons cackled and smiled at the kirin while Axel and Arcius had worried expressions on their faces.

"Hey. Think we should tell him?" Gronkle asked.

"Yeah. Better tell him before he starts crying like a little baby~" Spear added, covering his mouth and muffling his laughter. Garble chuckled and nodded his head, turning his attention back to Von.

"You know our king, Eldrich, right? That dusty old coot that kept talking with you?" The dragon smiled as he noticed Von's shaking hands and twitching eye. "Well, Konan took him down...for good. And now he's our new king."

Von stared at Garble for a few seconds before lowering his head. He stayed silent and still for a good while, confusing him and his group of friends before speaking.

"I'll worry about that later," He deadpanned. He lifted his head, revealing that his eyes had lost their color and his skin was beginning to turn a darker shade. Axel placed a hand on his shoulder, calming him down and his skin turned back to normal. Nodding to his friend to thank him, Von took a deep breath and let it out and started to focus. "Right now, I have to take care of you and end this little invasion. First you and then your leader." Hearing his response, Axel and Arcius toughened up and prepared themselves for a fight. Garble and his gang did so as well, facing each other.

Arcius and Gronkle.

Axel and Spear.

Von and Garble.

They had some bad blood between them for years and now, they were going to settle it once and for all. Raising his sword and pointing it to Garble, Von's eyes returned to their normal color. His determination and resolve steeled, ready to end their rivalry and stop the invasion.

Author's Notes:

"Wow. I can't believe you did something so generic. Why would you make Von act like that? Blah blah blah. Whine whine whine!"

Now, lemme stop you right there before any of you say something like this. Von is and was designed to be like a generic hero. Personality-wise, he is a good boy. Following the rules, causing a tiny bit of mischief here and there all in good fun, helping others, treating them with respect and he has good morals. And when it comes to doing heroic deeds, he is generic. Yes, he will grow and develop as both a warrior and a character. No, he will not become all-powerful and be able to beat baddies without getting a scratch on him. He has had a tragic life and things CAN go bad for him. I will not avoid doing such things to him (though he's like my child and I hate myself for hurting him so) but it is the tragic things in his life that led him to be who he is now and who he will become in the future.

Granted, Von will get a few new things in later chapters and I will show it soon. After all, this story is nearing its close.

This chapter is showing the invasion and how everyone is doing what they can to protect Canterlot and Equestria before Von shows up to help. The next one will be a confrontation between Von and his friends against Garble and his gang. Another rival battle that hasn't been seen since Nova.
See you guys then