//------------------------------// // The Final Confrontation // Story: AJ and the Dragon // by MiraculousDragonMaster //------------------------------// AJ and the Dragon Chapter 19 The Final Confrontation Spike listened to the heavy rain pouring outside, staring at the bell jar that covered the wilting Ice Iris, with only one shriveling lilac petal dangling from the stem. The sky seemed to share his sorrow. He was so deep in his misery that he didn't hear the door quietly creaking open. But, even in his sadness, he still heard something zipping through the air. He immediately jumped away from the table, dodging an arrow that had lodged itself into the edge. Spike turned to the door and saw a man levitating a bow with dark green magic. "Hello, Dragon." He said. But Spike was too focused on the bow to respond. It was obvious what his intend is. He threw a nearby chair at Brandy, which he blasted it with a dark green beam of magic. However, he saw that it was a distraction as Spike ran onto the balcony and into the pouring rain. Brandy growled and went after him. He then smirked as he saw that Spike was cornered. "What's the matter, Dragon?" He taunted. "Too nice to fight back? And I thought dragons were meant to be strong and prideful." He reached for another arrow from his sheath, but then stopped when a familiar voice shouted. "Stop!" Both of them turned to the doorway and saw that Applejack was standing in the doorway, holding the rest of Brandy's arrows, panting to regain her breath from her sprint up to the West Wing. "Applejack/AJ?" The two males asked in surprise. Spike felt the weight inside him instantly vanish when he saw her. The cowgirl snapped the remaining arrows in half across her knee, then tossed them away, all while glaring green balls of fire at Brandy. "You hurt him, and I'll send ya to Tartarus myself!" Applejack threatened. Brandy looked ready to burst with anger and pulled out a medium-sized dagger from a separate sheath on his hip that had an indigo blue ink slowly collecting down at the tip of the blade. "When we get back to Ponyville, you will marry me." He declared, making Spike's blood boil at the thought. "And that dragon's head will be hanging on our wall." "Never!" AJ shouted as she charged at him and tried to wrestle the dagger away from him. Spike lost all common sense and roared loudly as he pushed Brandy away from Applejack and got him and himself tumbling down the roof. "Spike!" Applejack shouted as she ran to the edge of the balcony, but both of them were out of her sight. The two males crashed onto one of the other sections of the castle roof, making Brandy drop his dagger. Spike grabbed him by his collar and threw him across the platform. The hunter regained his balance, grabbed his dagger, and charged at the dragon. Spike dodged the attack and climbed up to another platform. Brandy went after him, but then saw multiple columns and statues lining up along the platform. "Come out and fight!" Brandy shouted, challenging Spike. But the dragon didn't appear. He then decided to taunt him out of hiding. "Are you in love with her, Dragon?" He asked as the rain got heavier. "Did you honestly think she'd want you, when she had someone like me?" Hiding in the shadows behind a column that Brandy had passed, Spike dug his claws deep into the stone when he heard that. But, he calmed down when he remembered the pure hatred in Applejack's eyes earlier when she confronted him. "Oh, really?" He taunted back, making himself known. "I don't think you're her type!" He then punched Brandy in the stomach, making him lose his balance again. But the hunter regained and tried once again to stab him. Spike caught the arm that held the dagger and used his strength to keep it suspended in the air away from him. However, Brandy managed to push Spike away from him and got him cornered at the edge of the platform. By then, from up on the balcony, AJ found them, and that Spike was nearing the end of the rooftop. "No!" She shouted, fearful that this would be the end. She tried to go on after them, but the stone railing and the shingles of the roof had become too wet and slippery that one wrong move, and she would be sliding off. So, she stayed up on the balcony, much to her frustration, since she never liked staying in one place during crisis. "It's over, Dragon!" Brandy shouted as he went in for the kill. "Applejack is mine!" Spike felt his anger bubble up again rapidly. "You stay away from her!" Jumping over the hunter, he reversed their positions and grabbed Brandy by the throat snarling viciously. Brandy dropped the dagger a third time and saw that Spike was holding him over the edge of the roof, threatening to drop him to his doom at any moment. "Please let go!" He pleaded. "I'm sorry! I'll do anything!" Spike still glared ferociously at him, but then, from the corner of his eye, he saw with his super vision, in the reflection of the dagger blade being decorated with big fat rain drops, AJ looking down at the scene. He knew she disliked him, but she still couldn't help but feel frightened as she thought she was about to see a murder take place before her eyes. If that happened, then he would truly be labeled as a monster. And that is not who he is; not anymore. Applejack would understand, and so would his friends, but Ponyville would not. Spike carefully stepped back with Brandy away from the edge and brought the frightened hunter close to his face. "Get out, and never come back." He said. With that, he tossed him across the platform with disgust. "Spike!" AJ called out again from the balcony. The dragon in question looked up and saw the beautiful cowgirl reaching out to him. "Applejack." He breathed. He then began to carefully climb back up to the balcony. Once he was close enough, he took her hand in his claw. He then used his other claw to cautiously caress her face. "You're really back." AJ smiled fondly at him and leaned into his soft and scaly touch. Suddenly, Spike reared back and roared loudly in pain. She screamed in fright when she saw Brandy floating with dark green magic remove his dagger from beneath Spike's ribs. "Get away from him, jerk face!" A familiar voice shouted. Just then, a rainbow blur burst out into the rain and tackled Brandy, making him lose his balance. He then was enveloped in raspberry colored magic. Twilight, Flash, Rainbow Dash, and everyone else who can fly or float glared at him, while the others helped Applejack carry Spike back onto the balcony carefully. "Brandy Bar, as a Princess of Equestria, I hereby sentence you to Tartarus for continuous harassment and attempted murder." Twilight said authoritatively. "And I'll take that." Flash said as he zoomed by and snatched the dagger away from the hunter and returned to his place beside Twilight, but not before slightly scratching Brandy's upper arm with the blade. Brandy struggled as Twilight opened a portal to the infamous prison realm. He turned to Applejack, who was lying down the injured dragon. "Applejack, tell them the truth!" He pleaded fruitlessly. But the cowgirl only glared at him. "That is the truth." She said emotionless. Brandy was hovering about the portal as shackles appeared around his wrists, preventing him to use his magic. "Now, go rot in Tartarus." The hunter screamed as Twilight's magic released him and he fell in through the portal. He was already dead from the poison before he even touched the stone floor of the prison realm.