Parpetter

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. For the sake of everything good, there used to be people! Now though, the people were gone, the dragons were here, and all the beauty of the valley had been changed to fire, smoke and ash. The dragons destroyed everything including the butterflies, which had simply dissolved. Parpetter loved those butterflies, although he wasn’t really sure what the butter had to do with it. Parpetter hated flies, but he loved butterflies. It was confusing, but he guessed, “Probably cause of the butter.”

The poor, oblivious butterflies were just collateral damage as the dragons flew, and stomped through the valley toward Akkelsport. Akkelsport had been reduced to burning rubble. Needless to say, no one was happy about it! “Well, no … that wasn’t quite right,” Parpetter acquiesced. “More to the point – the people wouldn’t be happy about it, if of course, the people were still alive.” That was more on point, and made sense to Parpetter. Parpetter glanced around the dismal landscape. “The butterflies were dead,” he accepted. Parpetter was on-edge. He bowed his head and hooved the ground a bit.

The dragons had ruined everything! It hadn’t been a fair fight at all. The dragons were gigantic, and molten rivers of magical fire poured from their mouths. Plus - and Parpetter was truly upset about this - they could fly. It was just ridiculous! All of it was very frustrating for Parpetter, who now found himself in charge of the situation. Once again, he went over the facts.

- He knew he was Best in Prance!

- And, it was also true, he had been Champion Barrel Racer seven times over, but that was some years ago.

- Now though, by process of elimination, Parpetter surmised, he was the acting Lord General, Commander of the Port Army, Sea Chief of the Grand Navy (which was kind of scary), and Flight Master of the Illustrious Balloon Brigade (IBB).

Parpetter shook his head, his burgundy locks flipping through the stench of desolation in the Valley, dusty remains swirling everywhere in the dark wasteland, the little dead dragon still under his hooves. He’d never even been in a balloon, but he had always thought they were wonderfully big, even though he never understood how they flew. “Well,” he thought, “perhaps it had something to do with butter?” That made sense to Parpetter, and he decided to leave that thought there.

Parpetter glanced around. “Yep, all alone”.

The situation was dire. He knew the oath by which the Lord General was sworn: To live honestly, and to protect the Port Constitution. Well, that was going to be difficult. The Port itself was on fire and the three very large dragons now sat in the town of Akkelsport. They were eating, and it would seem … playing with the fleshy remains of the constituency. The Constitution, if it had survived, was somewhere in that vicinity. There were several problems with trying to rescue the Port Constitution. Parpetter reviewed the facts:

1) The port was on fire

2) There were dragons in town

3) There was only Parpetter

4) I’m a horse

Parpetter neighed, and bowed his head to chew a flea on his left leg. “The fleas didn’t dissolve,” he mused, “Are there butterfleas?” That was a good thought, and definitely deserved more time, but Parpetter could see that the carcass of the Mayor of Akkelsport was being tossed around by the dragons. Unfortunately, butterfleas would have to wait.

Butterfly Valley was loved and adored by the peoples of Akkelsport. Filled with rainbow colors and beauty, the valley was a place of peace and tranquility. Couples were married here, and children laughed and ran through its garden-like ambience. Parpetter snorted, thinking fondly of the many times he galloped through the valley, carrying the Lord. The two of them were the envy of all the Calvary. But now, dragons were in the valley, and they had killed everything.

Earlier that morning, unaware of the impending doom, the Balloon Brigade launched its scheduled Military Simulation for testing Operations and Tactical Defense. The dragons arrived in Butterfly Valley shortly thereafter. The bright morning sky, pinks and blues, and wispy white clouds, was darkened by the three dragons cresting over Akkel Peak, and descending upon the valley. Parpetter thought, “The IBB was, by faculty of the military simulation, perfectly positioned to defend the people of Butterfly Valley.” But apparently not. The dragon’s fiery breaths consumed the balloons, baskets and soldiers falling out of the sky like a horror-show meteor shower. Even now, the iron frames of the baskets littered the valley, still hot from the fiery death experienced by the brigade. In the air, a few Balloon Commandos did get off ballistae shots, but these merely pinged off the hard scales of the giant wyrms. Within moments the IBB no longer existed, and the pilots of the few balloons still on the ground decided to remain on the ground. Parpetter thought that decision, while lacking courage, felt smart. Still, those pilots were soon killed like the rest, truly having no power to resist the onslaught of the dragons. The dragons soon moved past the valley, and down to the port.

The Navy was their next target. Akkelsport’s ship Captains had already begun maneuvers, jockeying for position to get away from the port, and out to sea. All of their expertise was not enough though as the dragons treated the ships literally like sitting ducks. Parpetter liked ducks, but the creatures were of sour temperament, and typically in a foul mood. It was obvious to Parpetter, even if butter had nothing to do with ducks, that slathering the nasty creatures with a bit of butter couldn’t hurt. In any case, the Navy was decimated before any ship was able to put to sea.

Parpetter was in his stall when he saw white fire lick the grounds outside the Elite Stable. The dragons had turned their attention to the town itself. Hanging his head over the entrance of his stall, and looking out of the stable, he kicked at the door of his stall. “We need to get out of here,” he called to the other elite mounts.

The nine other horses were also calling out, perturbed and on-edge.

Parpetter’s best friend, Brown Boy looked over. “The fire smells sweet?”

Parpetter nodded. Brown Boy was right. The white fire outside did smell like apples. However, there was no time to think about that as monstrous roars blasted from outside the stable – too close! This put all the horses significantly more on-edge. The screams of the people outside were extremely distracting, but Parpetter resorted to his military training, disregarding noise and focusing on tasks at hand. Parpetter thought, “We need to break our stalls even though our training taught us not to.”

“We need to get out!” yelled Parpetter, “Break your stalls!”

The other horses looked over quizzically, and then they all began to kick with mighty blows against the doors of their stalls. Hard! They used their heads to push and bash, and then rise and kick! Parpetter spun around and used his hind legs to slam the stall door. The door fell, breaking into a few pieces. Other mounts were doing the same. Parpetter moved quickly to Brown Boy’s stall, assisting his friend. A few kicks later and Brown Boy was free! Parpetter looked about. Most were free. Victory and Felice were already dead outside the stables, stepped on by one of the giant dragons. Parpetter looked left, “Out the back!” he called to his comrades. “Out the back!”

Gallant the black yelled out, “It’s barred Parpetter!”

“Then break it down!” Parpetter called back.

The elite mounts moved to the back of the stables kicking and bashing against the huge double doors, slowly breaking through. Parpetter saw that Dandelion was still trapped in her stall. He looked at Brown Boy and saw that he was thinking the same thing. The two of them raced to Dandelion’s stall, and begin beating against the wood and iron frames to release her.

“Thank you,” Dandelion panted.

Parpetter snorted, making eye contact with her. A few seconds later and Dandelion was free.

“Ok, let’s go!” ruffed Brown Boy.

The three of them ran to the back doors to help the escape. Just then fire ripped through the upper rafters of the stable, wood melting in its wake, straw withering to nothing. The fire was too fast, falling down upon Troubadour, Gallant, and McKenzie. Parpetter neighed with fury, as the three mounts burned and fell to their deaths. Even though the fire smelled very nice, there was no joy to be found in the moment. The only good news was that the fire made way for their escape. The stables fell into shambles, burning uncontrollably. Parpetter raced left instinctively toward the barracks and his owner, the Lord General. He stopped short. One of the demon beasts, a red dragon, was eating his owner in the distance, while another dragon, black in color, was kicking down the barracks one after another like a game.

“It’s not even doing a good job stepping over the barracks!” Brown Boy exclaimed.

Dandelion tossed, “I don’t think it’s trying to Brown Boy.”

Brown Boy’s eyes softened, “Oh.”

Everywhere Parpetter looked, people were dead and on fire. The few remaining alive, were only alive because the dragons allowed it. Parpetter could see that his comrades Little Bee and Henry had made their way to the urban district on the east side of Akkelsport, but the third dragon, dark green, was in hot pursuit. Parpetter looked west and north toward the valley. “Go!” he shouted, “To the valley!”

Parpetter shot off, followed by Dandelion and Brown Boy. The valley was on fire, and the remnants of the Balloon Brigade lay across the valley floor. Ash and soot had darkened the day, and everything burned, even the soil. “Magic dragon fire,” thought Parpetter.

As the three of them entered the burning valley, they never saw it, and would never have expected it. The hit came fast and hard, tearing into the left side of Brown Boy. Parpetter’s friend screamed out in pain, falling over onto his right side. Parpetter pulled up, wheeling around to see what had happened. Dandelion pulled off to the right also spinning around, her yellow-white mane whipping through in the wind. Parpetter felt something jump in his heart but there was no time for that.

Brown Boy had been sucker-punched by a tiny dragon! “A fourth dragon?” winced Parpetter. The creature was many-colored, and it glowed a bit. It had an unusually big mouth, weird and flexible fang-like teeth, and big floppy ears. It’s tail was covered with barbs, and there was a needle spike on its tip. It had a long, skinny neck, but it was kind of fat in the belly. The creature looked up at Parpetter and Dandelion, smiled noisily, and then sat there eating Brown Boy.

The horses stared at the dragon in terror and unbelief. The dragon snickered back, blood and intestines dripping out of its maw. It smacked as it chewed.

Parpetter was filled with rage! He was officially ON-EDGE! These were the facts:

1) His owner was dead

2) Most of the Elite Mounts were dead

3) His best friend was dead

4) The butterflies seemed to all be dead!

Parpetter snorted hard, and then with exceptional balance and posture, began to prance. He pranced like his life depended on it. Dandelion looked on, “Uhh … Parpetter?”

Parpetter paid the woman no mind. He knew what he was doing, and it was working. He still had it. He could tell. The stupid little dragon couldn’t help itself. It just sat there amazed by what it saw. Parpetter almost lost his composure because the creature was still gnawing on pieces of Brown Boy, but Parpetter had to be strong. He stiffened up. “What would the Lord General do?” he thought. Parpetter increased his high steps, moving smoothly – effortlessly into a slow canter, increasing speed but losing no posture. The little dragon’s maw opened dropping some horsey tissue on the ground. It cocked its head and squinted. Parpetter chose that moment to raise up and twirl on his hind legs gently coming to ground into an elegant left to right body prance.

Dandelion was in awe. The enemy dragon was dumbfounded.

Parpetter pranced with head raised, then head bowed, then raised, picking up speed, circling Dandelion and the little dragon. Parpetter noticed that the creature’s stupid little glowing, colorful body, seemed to be fading in and out of view. “Dragon magic,” Parpetter concluded. He’d have to end this soon. The time had come.

With the quickness of an elite horse bred for battle, and the skill of a trophy-winning show horse, Parpetter leaped in toward the little dragon, landing on his fore-hooves, spinning around tightly allowing his hind end to pull his torso strong around so his hind legs were now facing the creature. The pressure on his forelegs was excruciating! The little dragon was already disappearing and looked to be moving away as it realized what was happening. But it was too late. Right there in mid-invisibility, Parpetter slapped that stupid dragon with a hind kick to save the ages, his hooves driving deep into the creature’s stupid little face, taking great care to end that kick with the invisible beast under hoof and squealing. Parpetter paused a moment, several breathy snorts exiting his furious snout. Then he raised up and slammed his hooves into the creature again. The dragon appeared under-hoof, dead and bleeding what looked like applesauce or something.

Dandelion moved in to nuzzle Parpetter. The two stood quietly for a short time.

“You have to go Dandelion.” Parpetter spoke finally.

“No,” she said, beautiful white hair and yellow highlights playing illusory tricks in the fiery desecrated valley scene. “No.” She lowered her head.

Parpetter moved out of the nuzzle, looking into her eyes. She was beautiful. “Take word to Othan. The king must know what has happened.”

Dandelion flinched, “But … we’re horses Parpetter. How will I communicate?”

“You’ll figure out a way,” he encouraged her. “Start with Exquisitor. The king’s mount.” He suggested, “He’s kind of a duck … if you know what I mean, but he’ll know what to do next.”

Dandelion nodded. The two stared at each other for another few moments, and then she turned and began to run west near the base of Akkel Peak. Parpetter watched her go longing to go with her. In the distance she stopped and turned around.

“Parpetter! What are you going to do?” she called.

Parpetter paused a few moments collecting his thoughts. Then he pranced a few steps forward. “I’m going to protect the Port Constitution, and save Akkelsport!”