//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Knowing the Enemy // Story: Strength of a Brother's Bond // by Trexorb //------------------------------// CHAPTER 8 A/N: Quick heads up, I didn't really have this chapter proofread yet, so I know there will be some errors. I just decided to give this to all of you before I left for awhile....again... ENJOY! ~~~ Rex’s Perspective ~~~ “Shhhhhh. It’s ok little pony, it’s ok..” I said to the still crying colt. I was now starting to land on the hill, where other evacuated villagers were gathered. “*Sniff* Why did they have to go?” The child whimpered. Poor kid, lost his family, his home, basically his whole life just because of this raid. What reason though, for an important artifact or something? These dragon hunters are going to regret ever attacking this village. Landing on a clear spot on the hill, I slowly lowered myself until I was on a nice patch of grass. Great, now what do I do with the kid? I still have to help out evacuate the rest of the town. Damn it, why do I have to do this? Before I could answer myself, a rough, stallion-sounding voice interrupted my thoughts. “Squall? What are you with that dragon? Where’s your mother and father?” I turned and looked to see a brown coat, black mane earth pony, making his way up the hill towards us. I set the young colt down so that he can be with someone familiar at least. “Uncle Edge......There gone... Mama and papa are gone...” The kid then ran towards the stallion and hugged him with his forearms and wings, crying his eyes out again on the uncle’s shoulder. The uncle’s face was that of pure shock, with his green eyes wide and his mouth ajar, I couldn’t help but look away from the saddening scene before me. Looking at the others on the hill with us, there wasn’t really many survivors with us. Most must still be in the village, alive or dead. The survivor had smoke and wreckage in their hairs and coats. Some were bleeding from the multiple blasts, others coughing from the immense amount of smoke. All were mental scared though for the lost of loved ones and the lost of their home. “Why are they doing this? All just for that stupid half-pony?” I heard the uncle said. A half-pony? Is that who they want for all this? Before I could ask who the Half-pony was, I heard an explosion behind, with a sudden earthquake... What the tartarus is going on? I turned to look over the broken village to see that the west side of “Dragon’s gate” now burning with a new fire that is slowly engulfing the entire village. I soon heard scared and concern voices coming from the villagers behind me. Shit, what’s going on? *BOOM* Another one? “NO MERCY!!!” Was that Komodo? Oh no please don’t tell me that..... *BOOOM* The new fire suddenly turned black with the third explosion, burning more buildings in its path. Komodo, whatever you’re doing..... Without a second thought, I flared out my wings flew back into the smoky skies.... As I left the hill to go help my fellow drake, I heard the uncle’s words echo in my head. “Why must the innocent suffer for something they haven’t caused?” I don’t know... ************************************************************************ ~~~ Sparky’s Perspective ~~~ “What did we do to deserve this?” Flare asked his comrades. “Treason. That’s why.” Mix snapped back. He was definitely getting annoyed for still being in the same situation as us. Being tied up didn’t help him get any happier, either. “For what? Not wanting to attack a pony village. OUR OWN VILLAGE! The same village we all grew up in, Mix. Shoot, we even met Lancelot here as well! That’s where we made that oath, after the second dragon raid.” Flare looked to me for support. “Remember Sparky? We swore by the princesses, that we would hunt down all those damn dragons, to protect this village and our loved ones.” Flare’s usually cheeriness suddenly vanished as he looked at his own hooves that were dangling off his body, barely touching the floor. “So... Why would Lancelot go against his own oath because of some money? That’s not his way. Mix’s way sure, but not Lancelot.” “Just....Shut up, Flare...” I said to the distressed unicorn. “Please.... just shut up about it.” This was all really odd. Lancelot, the pony that would rather give up his life than turn on Equestria, was now destroying the very same village he swore to protect. Was it all because of all those damn bits? Was greed really the reason for him to turn on his promise? I blame that damn greedy gryphon, Heck. We trusted him, and he was the one who instantly wanted to go for the deal. When we all declined, that dragon wanted to talk Lancelot alone before we made any “brash decisions.” Then out of the bucking blue, Lancelot started agreeing with the damn drake. Heck was with him for the money, but Flare, Mix and I knew that it was wrong to endanger a whole village, for ONE dragon. Now, we’re chained to the walls, in the jail room of our own airship, their horns magically cut off by rings, and my wings tied to my sides by more rusty chains. I can hear all the explosions from our cannons blasting away at the poor villagers, which even wonders me more how Lancelot, or that strange drake, was able to even convince our ace mechanic, Gearlock, who helped build this flying ship.... but never for this reason. Flare stayed quiet, hearing all the fire and explosions from the village below us. He looked up at me from across the cell, and said “I wonder.... I wonder if Sol made it out alive.....” Heh... haven’t heard that name in awhile. He was one of us too, till he left us to help and stay protect the village, rather than attack the dragons with us. He was our friend, Flare’s cousin in fact, and now, for all we know, he could be part of the carnage going on. *BOOM* By Celestia’s beard? We don’t have enough firepower to make a big enough explosion like that! Did the villagers finally upgraded their defense? No, then they would have used it sooner. Maybe we attacked an expl- “NO MERCY!!!” ….. That voice... is it really that shield dragon from before? *BOOOM* Is that dragon causing these new explosions? Such power, but should be expected from a dragon. “Anger...” “What?” Mix said to the broken unicorn. “That dragon. He’s attacking in pure rage...” Well, no shit, Sherclop. “This rage though... is for family. This dragon, this Komodo, He’s fighting for somepony dear to him. Is the pegasus really worth this much trouble?” There he goes again with his ability to read feelings. With all my time spent with Flare, I never really could understand how he does it, even with his magic cut off. Well, it is his cutie-mark. “From what I could gather before being thrown in here, this pegasus is what that dragon needs to be “free”, whatever that means.” Mix answered. “So he must be pretty important to these dragons. Tsk, still think we should have stayed out of it, even if the money was tempting.” “Too late for that now.” I responded. The others turned their heads towards me, wondering what else I was about to say. “Now... we wait out the storm... and pray to celestia that the village, and Lancelot, are still intact by the end of it.” *********************************************************************** ~~~ Sol’s perspective ~~~ This is bad. This is very very bad. I turn back from Drew for a sec, then that celestia damn griffon comes out of nowhere and takes him! Now I have no idea where they even went! Soaring through the smoky skies, I try and see if there would be any logical reason as to why they would take Drew. Maybe they were hired? But then they would have left already since the ship is still here firing. Did Drew piss anyone off? No, he’s a happy kid that tries to do good. Besides, he never left the village ever since he arrived here. This is so Confusing. I could have sworn I heard some explosions and somepony saying something around this district, but I can’t seem to find anyp- “Help! Please! I’m stuck!” Is that it? No, it’s a different voice, but somepony still needs help! I just need to go find help, and then- “We swear, by the princesses, that we, The Guardians, would do all we can to protect this village, Equestria and all creatures, from all harmful dragons!” ….... Celestia damn it! Beating my wings, I head towards the distress call of, by the sound of it, a mare in agony. Landing near what was once the village bakery, I search and look through the rubble and smoke to find the said mare. With the intensity of the heat, and my focus on searching for the mare, I wasn’t initially able to notice the change of the fire’s color. “Where are you?” I cried out, trying to find the trapped mare. A voice responded, sounding closer than anticipated, coming from a building to my right. “Hello? Is there actually somepony there? Oh praise Celestia! I’m near the-” *BOOOM* An armor wearing pony came crashing through a burning building to my right, having the said household collapse on itself. Covering my eyes from the dust that was forming, I turned my head to see that the fallen pony was... Lancelot? ….. WHAT IS HE DOING HERE? Lancelot should be in Canterlot, trying out to be a royal guard, not here in this mess! When the dust settled, I looked back to see a red dragon with twin black shields on its arms, standing atop of the debri of what was once a house. What was really odd was that he had raven-colored flames covering his hands, rather than just blowing fire like the rest of the dragons. Is he part of this attack too? I notice that there is no more sounds coming from the once trapped mare. That must mean that the mare was in the house.... meaning I failed... “IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?!?” A voice shouted from the smoke above. Suddenly, 3 arrows shot through the smoky skies, aiming for the raging dragon’s head. The dragon brought up his shield up to his face, blocking the incoming arrows... only for Lancelot to tackle him back behind the rubble, leaving me alone in the middle of the broken streets, staring at what just happened. ….. “What?!?” Descending from the black clouds, a griffon appeared with a quiver of arrows oh his back and a bow and arrow in hand. He landed in front of me, a smirk on his face, as he said “Listen, walking glue-stick, I suggest you get going before that fight comes back here, and believe me, that crazed pony that attacked that dragon? Yah, he won’t care for collateral damage, so you better hurry or else you’ll end up like that mare under all that wood and nails? Comprende?” He knew that mare was trapped down there and he didn’t do anything about it? Who does this griffon think he is? Besides, I know what Lance is capable of and I also know he wouldn’t be going around and destroying this town or the ponies in it. Somethings not right and this griffon knows what’s going on I bet. Better follow him in secret. “Uh... y-yes sir...” I stuttered. “I... I don’t want end up like her, no sir. I’ll get g-g-get going now.” Thank celestia for acting classes. With that said and done, I hightailed it outta there, flying into the smokes to avoid being seen by the griffon. Once I sure I was out of his line of sight, I went to the nearest roof and roof hoped to where I just left, having the smoke be my ally of the shadows. When I was on the roof of our village’s tailor shop, closest to where I last left, I spotted the rageful dragon battling out with Lancelot and the griffon from earlier. And by the princess, that dragon looked like it was never going to stop till it gets what it wants. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ Komodo’s perspective ~~~ Hehehe, never thought this battle would escalate this quickly. This... this is getting pretty fun actually. So much destruction... so much fire... Hell even that damn dragon slayer is making this interesting. I couldn’t help but chuckle at this. Me, actually enjoying destruction? I hardly even recall doing such things. But this was just so fun to do. Hell, I threw the guy through a damn house! Tell me thats not kickass. Maybe I could continue doing this even after I finish off this damn horse. NO! I have to find Drew and make sure he’s safe. Just need to focus on finishing this fight, have them tell me where they took him, find him, and then..... well, I’ll figure out more when I come to it. For now, these damn dragon slayers. Panting from the battle, I look back at Lancelot to see that he was leaning against his sword, breathing heavily as well from the fight. This fight’s been going on for awhile now and I have a feelings it won’t be stopping anytime soon. I need to find out where this guy’s weak point is though, but I can’t really tell. He was very quiet though, much more than when I first met him. Soon the damn griffon landed next to him, with his bow drawn and aiming for me. Probably gonna try and hit for my face again. *SWOOSH* That fucker..... If it weren’t for these shields, I probably would’ve taken quite a beating by now. Lowering my shields from blocking my face, I tried to think of what my next move should be. It’s obvious I have to stay and fight, so running isn’t an option. I guess I just have to beat them senseless until I can get information out of them. Then I could leave them to the villagers to let them take care of these ass-clowns... During this whole stand still, I was muttering under my breath ‘accelero’, to help recharge my shield. Fun little fact, I don’t always need to keep saying it, I just need to keep saying a certain latin for a few times (20 being the most so far) and it will charge up, each word increasing the duration and strength of the magic, then I just unleash it all. Lets just say its been really helpful to not keep muttering latin while focusing on a fight. Taking one more breath, I prepare myself into a fighting stance, looking directly in sword pony’s red eyes. He noticed me, and got up himself, preparing for another round. This should be easy, just need to knock these two out. “Bring it on, you overgrown salamander!” The griffon taunted, drawing out his bow for another shot. …... I only need one of them alive to know where Drew is, right? [Quick! A wild song has appeared! Click it so the fight sounds more epic!] Keeping this in mind, I shot forward at the two dragon slayers, releasing all that pent up speed, cocked back my flaming fist, and aimed right for the sword pony’s head. Lancelot brought up his sword to block the damage, but the force of the punch and my speed brought us crashing through another household, having it collapse behind us as we exited the broken building. Getting back up, I spied Lancelot swinging down his sword over his head. I bring my shield up to parry his attack, then using my free hand, jabbed Lancelot right in the gut, having Lancelot collapse from the loss of air. Believing that I won the match, I stand at full height to look down at the fallen pony, thinking he was down for the count. Even if he recovered, he now has a nasty scorch mark on his armor. Heh, too easy. As if he read my mind, His eyes shot wide open, surprising me at how he quickly recovered from the jab. He grabbed for his sword and swung at my legs, attempting to attack while he had the chance. I jumped back to the best of my abilities, but he still managed to break a few scales and left a gash of blood on my left leg. I landed on my back, feeling the burning pain of blood on my leg slowly drip out. I look back to see the damn pony was now gonna try and cut my gut with that stupid sword of his. Like hell that will happen! I grab one of his back legs, tripping him on the spot and burning his leg as well. His sword was now on the ground right next to me. I pick myself up and grabbed the sword before he could recover again. I aimed it at his neck, as he glared back at me. “Not so strong without your sword, are ya?” As if fate loved to keep proving me wrong, a sudden crystal appeared underneath my foot, tipping me off balance and dropping the sword. I get up to see that Lancelot was up as well, with a pendant around his neck glowing an omnius green. Before my eyes, green crystal shards were appearing from the ground near him and around his feet. His scorched feet was soon encased in the green crystal. I couldn’t believe it. Earth ponies aren’t suppose to use this powerful magic. I better have been told good info from Firewing or I am so gonna have a talk with him later. The earth pony just Continued to glare at me with his red eyes. I swear something is up with him! It’s like he’s possessed or something. Lancelot took a sudden step towards me as I got up and leaned on a wall for support. More crystals were slowly starting to come up, some even floating around him. Before I could think of a new plan, He was now in front of me, grabbing me by the neck and bringing me down to stare at his face. [End music here.] “Wrong.” Lancelot sternly said as he brought back his free hoof. “Dead wrong”. His hoof was soon covered in the same green crystal. Oh god this is gonna bruise. [Another song has appeared! Click it! You know you want to.] He brought his hoof straight towards my face, breaking my snout and having me flung back towards the ground. I was right! That hurt like a bitch! Getting back up, I feel my face first to see that my snout is bent crooked. With a quick snap, I fixed my nose, though it hurt like hell when i did. I looked back at the pony and decided it was my turn to retaliate. I dashed at the dragon slayer, hoping to bring some real harm to him. I bring both my black fire fists forward, only to have him bring his crystallized hoof to catch one and headbutt the other. This pony is insane! More crystals appeared underneath me tipping me off balance again and dropping to the floor on my back. Looking up from my position, I see the pony slowly walking for me, looking as intimidating as possible. And damn is it working. I can’t fight a monster like him! And I’m a fucking dragon! Are you really going to give up that easily? No! But I sure as hell can’t beat that thing alone! Do you honestly believe you’re here alone? What are you talking about? “HEY! DRAGON SLAYER! Forgetting something?” I heard a familiar scratchy voice said. Oh thank god! Now Rex and I can die together! Oh so fucking joy! ….You’re really something, you know that? Before I could retaliate to myself, the griffon from before suddenly dropped in between me and Lancelot, with his wings looking bent the wrong way and an arrow lodged in his chest. He looked like he was still breathing, albeit barely. “I know what you and your friend were here for. Some half-pony named Drew, am I correct? Your associate there may be a griffon, but he sure can talk when given the proper motivation.” Rex said as he landed to my right, picking me up from the ground. Lancelot didn’t say anything, just stared at Rex now, instead of me. “I think I’ll be taking over the fight, Komodo. See if you can make that chicken talk anymore about where the pony is.” When I was stable enough to stand on my own, I nodded at the now smokey colored dragon, giving him the heads up to knock himself out. With that he dashed at the crystal pony, and brought him up into the darkened skies, away from me and the village. I hope you can hold your own Rex. [Song ends here] [Music to help set the mood] I look down at the broken griffon with his back on the floor. Seeing him like this was almost pitiful. Almost. I grab my leg as I start to feel the sting of the cut come back. Not yet! not till I know where the hell drew is! With a sharp kick to his ribs, I wake the griffon from his state of unconsciousness. Time for some answers. “Where’s Drew?” I said, quickly getting to business. The griffon just stared at me with his mouth open and then turned his head to avoid answering. I am really starting to loose my patience! “Where the hell is Drew?!?” I was raising my voice, hoping he could understand the kind of predicament he was in. Scared, he kept his face away from me, but finally answered. “I... I don’t know. The weird dragon that hired us *COUGH* took him and left in all of this.” Weird dragon? Why would they want Drew? “Ok, then tell me where the weird dragon is?” “I don’t know. He never said what he would do with the pony. Just *COUGH COUGH* find the pony and kill you.” Kill me? Why am I part of this? Damn it! I need more answers! “Ok, tell me this: your contractor! Who was it? The one that hired you, who told you to go after Drew and kill me. I want a name.” “Nooo...” He sounded like he was dying. I’ll make him talk... “Your dying, but there’s still time to hurt you. Give. Me. A. Name.” All he could do was shake his head ‘no’. The hell with being nice! I want to know who the hell has Drew now! With new anger, I stomp on his arrow wound, making the griffon gasp for air from the sudden jolt of pain. “A name!!” I shouted. “Now!!” He still could only gasp for air as more pain was flowing through his body. Just answer the damn question! I’m getting tired of this shit already! “THE NAME!!!” “RAGNAROK!!!!” With his last word screamed into the heavens, the griffon finally died from all the jolts of pain that were going through his beaten body. I could only stare right at the griffon's limp body underneath my feet. Ragnarok.... That was only in my dream right? Only part of that nightmare from before.... He’s not real.... right? “LET GO OF ME!” “My my, aren’t you stubborn like your brother? I should have brought duct tape to hold that big mouth of yours.... Ah, we're here!” “Where... where the hell are we?” “You said it yourself.” “What?” “Welcome to hell, Drew! Or what these equestrians prefer to call it as “Tartarus”. Silly ponies.” “This... this is h-h-hell?” “Now now, don’t sound too scared. You’ll get used to it. You are taking over my place afterall.” “What?!?” “Oh, I didn’t mention that? Well, this hell cell was specifically made to keep a half-dragon in like me, but lady luck decided to bring you here, Drew, to replace me in the prison! Isn’t it wonderful that you couldn’t decide which creature to be, so discord gave you both! Half-pony, half-Dragon!” “That was discord? But..... how can you tell?” “Please, I know that chaos handy work anywhere. Why do expect I look like this? Now then, off you go!” *CLANG* “Get me out! I don’t want to be here! ARGHHHH” “Good bye forever Drew! Enjoy eternal damnation! I know I have!” “NO! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! HELP! SOMEONE!! ANYONE!!!! HELP!!!!!!!! GAHHHHHHHHHH-” “Hehehehehe. An eye for an eye, eh Will?” [Hopefully the music ends here] A/N: My my, quiet a scene we have going on eh? I do hope this pleases most of you, it was a bitch to write, that's for sure. BUT, REGARDLESS OF MY PAIN, I hope you enjoyed that chapter. NOW ONTO THE NEXT ONE!