“BATTLESTATIONS!” I yelled. I had given everyone instructions on where to go and what to do in the event that we were attacked on the way to the mainland. Unicorns would go below decks and fire off spells from the portholes with the Earth Ponies guarding them. Pegasi and Griffins would be flying around the main deck pushing off any boarders. The Dogs would stay on the top decks as the main battle group. There were a few exceptions as to who went where, of course. We practiced drills until everyone could get to their posts as quick as possible. It wasn’t much, but it was something to give them a sense of security until I could upgrade this ship. “We have two dragons incoming!” I pointed at the growing specks on the horizon.
New quest:
Protect the airship
Challenges:
Do not let the ship take damage- 100 XP
Use no weapons to kill the dragons- 100 XP
Reward- 1000 XP
Accept/Decline
…
Accept
Everyone stopped what they were doing and focused on the specks for a second before rushing to their posts. I rushed down to my room and grabbed two of the prototypes I had built. Time to test them out. I flew back up to the main deck to see everyone was more or less in place. “Jun, Emile, Dante, Silvia, on me.” Four griffins landed in front of me. Jun had a face of unbreakable calm on. Emile, a griffin with a scar through his left closed eye, was tense like a lion waiting for prey. Dante, the oldest of the four with some burn marks on his arms and legs, had a look of nervousness about him. Silvia, a slim but surprisingly strong griffin, stood with an impatient mood. They each had a small spear, except for Emile who had a short sword.
“You four are coming with me to help stop the dragons. Put this on.” I pulled out one of my prototypes. It was a small gem set into a curved band of metal large enough to fit on the wrist. It looked like an oversized wrist watch. I held up four of them and they each grabbed one and put it on their wrist while I talked. “This is a gem communicator. It will allow you to communicate with each other as long as you are in range. To use it, just press the gem and talk into it. Everyone will hear what you have to say. Now let’s go, I’ll tell you the plan on the way.” I ran and jumped off the ship and turned into my harpy form. The others followed suit and kept the pace I was setting.
We raced forward to the ever growing specks, which were becoming more definitive by the second. “Aquila Occulus.” My vision zoomed forward and I got a better look at the targets. The one on the right was bigger and had a lot more muscles on it. Its figure was sharp and stream-lined, like a jet plane. The left one was smaller, slimmer, and had a certain grace to its movements. I dropped the spell and called to the others, “Okay we have two dragons ahead of us. One male, one female. Here's how it's going to work: you four are going to take on the male and distract him. If he's still set on the ship, then try to stall him for as long as possible. I'll try to take out the female as fast as I can before helping you guys.”
“Why do we get the bigger one?” Dante asked nervously, “Can't we take out the smaller one first?” Of course he would ask that. He was cautious to the point of being a nervous wreck waiting to happen.
“Who cares? I want to take down the stupid beast already.” Emile said anxiously. I swear, that guy is a twenty four-seven adrenaline junkie. He's one of the few who put the most hours in combat training. Hell, he's probably the best fighter out of all the griffins.
“Because, Dante, when fighting against multiple enemies, you have to take out the weaker ones first. Otherwise they'll cause trouble for you when you aren't looking.” I said.
“But why the female?”
Silvia spoke up, “Because, feather brain, boys are stupid and easy to distract. Girls are too smart to be tricked so easily.”
This got a collective “Hey!” from the other guys.
“Actually, I want to take her out because she’s probably faster and harder to handle. The male is more of a powerhouse with less speed. So that means you need to get in close so he can’t use his fire on you easily. Avoid his claws, teeth and tail and stay in his blind spots if you can. His nose and eyes are probably the only soft spots you can hit, unless you want to become an early lunch. Any questions?”
“Yeah,” Jun said, “How are you going to kill them? Our weapons aren’t going to do much damage.”
“I have a few ideas.” I couldn’t use my rifle in this form due to lack of fingers so I have to improvise. I looked ahead to see that we were almost to the dragons. “Okay, on my mark, we split. Ready?” I waited for a few seconds to let the distance close some more. “Mark!” I broke off to meet the female as the others continued their course. The dragons seemed a bit surprised in our tactics but kept moving forward.
“Music a memoria” I need my battle soundtrack. I rushed toward the female who regarded me with cool eyes. She began to open her mouth, but I was ready. I spun to the right, dodging the incoming flames. I felt the fire’s heat blaze past me in a rage. I got close to the mouth and lifted a hoof as I selected the bolt I wanted.
“Depulso.” The bolt flew out of my arm and landed in the gums. The dragon stopped breathing fire and screeched in pain as she clutched her jaw. “Torture bolt, bitch.” I cackled and sped off behind her. She spun around and flicked her tail, catching me in the back and sending me flying until I regained control.
“HOW DARE YOU HARM ME, INSECT!” She roared, “I WILL DESTROY YOU FOR THAT!”
“Ya gotta catch me first, fat ass! Accelero!” I yelled back before speeding off in the direction she had come from. The dragon gave an enraged roar before she began to pursue me. I flew as fast as I could but she began to close the distance between us. I could feel her approach through my enemy detector spell. I kept my eyes ahead and focused on not moving in a straight path so she couldn’t hit me as easily. I pumped my wings furiously and strained to get some distance for my next attack.
Chancing a look back, I barely had time to change direction before a fireball screamed by my face. She was only a few hundred meters away, but it was enough. I needed to time this right or it wouldn’t have any effect. “Fortis Protego.” I felt my body harden into steel and then let my wings snap out and catch air to slow me down. I dropped the speed spell and curled into a ball, “Ignis Depulso.” A blast of fire exploded in front of me, the force sending me straight into the dragon’s face.
Using my wings, I adjusted my trajectory and landed right between her eyes.
THWACK!
'And that is why physics is one of my favorite subjects.' After the impact, I was sent careening on behind her. The impact shook my focus and the spells I cast stopped. My form started to ripple and I began to turn back to my base form. I didn’t have my robe on me at the time, so I was at the complete mercy of the sun’s rays which began to eat away at my health bar. The burning pain intensified until I could focus enough to turn back to my harpy form. I looked around to see I was wedged between two of the spines on the dragon’s back. The dragon herself was starting to bring herself together.
‘Damn, she knows how to take a hard one to the face. Time to change my attack…once I get out of here.’ I struggled to get out but the spines were pressed hard against me. I started to push the spines away from me but the movement was caught by the dragon who snapped her head around and locked her eyes on me. I could see a small dent in the place I hit her.
I doubled my efforts to escape as I saw her reach a clawed hand toward me. Her claws were almost within reach before I dislodged myself from her back. I jumped out of the way and ran up her back. I bobbed in between her spines as she tried to catch me. I ran over her head and onto her snout, using it as a spring board to propel myself into the air. 'Commence Operation: Icarus'
“Ignis Depulso.” I cast the spell again and launched myself straight up. When the spell died and gravity began to take over, I was already a few hundred meters above the dragon. She looked up and narrowed her eyes at me with a look of pure hatred before ascending towards me. I flapped my wings hard to gain altitude. As I rose, I panted heavily. Taxed with exhaustion but still running. As I greedily drew another breath, I felt my mouth turn bitter and my nose overwhelmed with a noxious fume.
I stalled for a moment as I coughed and hacked, trying to get rid of the disgusting taste. 'What the hell? What's this? Smells familiar. Wait, is that...' I sniffed again, 'Sulfur?' A roar cut through my thoughts and I looked to see the dragon was gaining on me. “Oh shit!” I continued my ascent while looking for the source of the smell. I turned in the air, scanning the water below until my eyes locked on to a nearby island. The island had smoke rising from one of it's three peaks. I could see the top of that particular mountain glow a burning red. 'That's probably where the Dragons came from. Hmm, I've got an idea.'
I kept ascending until I thought I was high enough. 'Commence Phase two' “Trans Form Diamond Dog” My wings drew back into my body as it shifted into the bulky form of the Dogs. Needless to say, I dropped like a rock. The Dragon was coming up fast, her teeth gritted in anger. I pulled out my DMR and lined up the reticle with my small target. I had only one shot at this. I fired a few shots a her nostrils, one or two went in an struck soft nasal tissue. She roared which is what I needed as I flew towards her mouth. I fell in, barely avoiding the claws coming up to her nose. Once inside, I stabbed my claws into her tongue To keep from falling any further inside.
“Trans Form Base.” I dispelled my current form now that the sun couldn't get me in here. Bringing myself closer, I opened my jaws and bit into the tongue. Honestly, I wasn't expecting the taste of dragons. I thought it would taste like steak but instead I get the taste of lemonade mixed with the energy kick of a hundred Red Bulls. Then again, I didn't expect the Dogs to taste like chocolate. 'I wonder what griffins and ponies taste like? Chicken? Fruit?'
As I consumed the energy, I had to hold on tight as the dragon flailed about and tried to get me out. At one point, I had to put up some shield spells to block the incoming fire. But I kept calm and continued feeding. It took a lot longer due to the size but I waited until I was done.
Scanning...
Scanning...
Scanning...
Scan Complete. New form Acquired: Dragon
“Now that's what I'm talking about! Trans Form Dragon!” The creature web appeared again and selected the Dragon form. I felt the familiar waxy feeling engulf my body as it began to grow. My skin hardened into black scales, webbed wings grew out of my back, my face elongated into a triangular muzzle, my spine grew out of my back into spines and the bottom of it extending out into a long sinuous tail. The claws, talons and sharp teeth were nothing new to me. I was roughly the same size as my Dog form but a tad bit bigger.
“Holy crap! I feel so awesome right now! But , why do I get the feeling that I'm forgetting something?” I said before I felt my stomach rise from gravity. 'Wait, if the dragon's dead, then she stops flapping her wings and if she stops flapping her wings, then that means...oh fuck.' I flapped my wings and used my strength to push open the jaws of her mouth. Once open, I almost was pushed back by the sudden turbulence of the wind rushing in. I pushed the jaws open some more and jumped out, nearly cutting my wings on the teeth.
I snapped my wings open and started to fly watching the body fall to the ocean below. “Uh, no. I'm not done with you yet.” I closed my wings and dropped down to her tail. “Arresto Momentum.” I said, remembering the spell Dumbledore used. I felt my magic seep out and dissipate the dragon's kinetic energy. I grabbed the tail and began to spin the body. Slowly at first but then I began to pick up speed until the dragon's weight was throwing itself. I caught a look at the volcano island and quickly calculated a trajectory. Timing it right, I let go of the tail and the body flew back to the island. “BACK TO THE KITCHEN WITH YE, FOUL BEAST!” I yelled as her body soared through the air as gracefully as an eagle piloting a blimp.
I watched it land on the near edge of the island and raised my arms like a football referee, “And it's good!” I heard a muffled sound come from the bag at my side. I reached in and pulled out the gem communicator I kept for myself.
“-could use some help here ya'know!” It was Silvia's voice. I looked back to see that during my fight, the others had stalled the dragon but he was still heading for the ship, now a lot closer than before. I don't even think he noticed that his girl is dead. I did notice something was a bit strange about the battle. I pressed the gem and spoke.
“Not to be rude or anything, but why aren't you guys using magic to stall him?” I couldn't see them use a single bit of magic to aid them.
Jun answered, “We don't have magic.”
My brain stopped for a few seconds to process what he said. All that came out was: 'Dafuq?'
“You guys are magical creatures for crying out loud! How do you not have magic?” I yelled.
“We can't use magic.” Jun deadpanned.
“By that, do you mean you're magically inept or you just don't know any spells?”
“Um...both?” He said with an unsure tone.
I face palmed with enough force to rattle my mind a bit. 'Goddammit.' I pressed the gem again, “Fine, I'm on my way. Just keep holding him back. Any casualties?”
“Nothing much except a few singed feathers, though I think Dante is a bit shaken from the fire blasts.”
“Good. Stay frosty.” I let go of the gem and pumped my wings furiously to get there. The dragon form was a lot faster than the harpy but it was taking more energy to maintain and the distance was about a kilometer away. “Trans Form Harpy.” I switched back to my harpy form and cast a spell I had thought up but was afraid to use in case it broke the physics engine or me, “Sonor Accelero!”
I flapped my wings and by body shot forward, breaking the sound barrier. The G forces were pressing hard on my body, making me regret changing to an unprotected form. I couldn't cast a spell to protect myself because I was going to fast for the sound to make the spell and the pain was too much to focus on it. I endured it as best I could but I was starting to blackout. As I approached the other dragon, a thought crossed my mind, 'If I can't cast a spell to stop myself in time...this is going to hurt. Damn you, Newton. Damn you to the blackest pits of hell.'
I twitched my body and brought it down to bear on the dragon, not caring where I hit. The others must have seen me because they scattered when I got close. I braced myself for the pain I was about to endure.
FWAP!
I made contact with the dragon's wings and sent both of us into a spin. As we spun about, I slipped out and fell, only to be caught by Dante.
“Glad you could join us.” He said nervously, “We've been trying to stall this guy but he's too strong for us.”
“Let me take care of him. The rest of you get back to the ship.” I commanded as I righted myself in the air. Dante saluted and repeated the command through the gem communicator, before heading back.
The dragon had gotten it's wings under control and regained it's altitude. I saw a nasty looking bruise where I had hit him and the wing was slightly limping. His slitted eyes locked on to me and he spoke, “YOU! YOU MANAGED TO HARM MY WING AND FOR THAT YOU MUST PAY!”
“Uh-huh,” I retorted, “That's what your girl said before she got fucked over.”
The dragon stared at me before his eyes widened and he searched around. Seeing nothing, he gave an ear-bleeding roar and brought his rage filled eyes down upon me. “YOU HAVE KILLED MY MATE! I WILL NOT ONLY DESTROY YOU BUT I WILL MAKE SURE YOU SUFFER GREATLY BEFORE YOU DIE!” He lashed out at me with a swipe from his claws.
I dodged that and got in close to his lower jaw. I turned around and kicked my legs out, “Depulso!” The force of the spell knocked the dragon's head back long enough to give another shot at his throat. This time the dragon clutched his neck as he wheezed. His scales were the only thing protecting him from a crushed windpipe.
Enraged even further by my attacks, he kept lashing out and started to push me back to the ship. I was using every spell I could think of to defend my self. “Deflect Ignis. Protego. Deflect Ignis!”
The dragon was nearly on top of the ship. 'I have to get him out of here. I will not have my ship broken by this overgrown lizard!' I thought desperately. “Lumen!” A bright ball of light appeared before his eyes effectively blinding him. Unfortunately, that also caused him to lash out further. His tail swung by and punctured a hole in the balloon, it wasn't big, but it was big enough to cause a problem.
I turned to the ship, “Jun! Get some griffins and pegasi and patch that hole up before the air's gone!”
“Look out!” Someone cried. I felt a massive scaled hand enclose on my body in a vice grip. I looked up to see the dragon grinning at me in victory.
“ANY LAST WORDS?” He asked.
'Okay, I'm getting tired of this. Time to end it.' I thought. “Yeah, Alpha. Mike. Foxtrot.” I yelled before muttering a quick “Depulso” to escape and launch towards his face. I landed on his snout and transformed into my Dog form.
“In other words,” I said as I latched on to a spot near his eye and pulled out my other prototype. It was a small cylinder of metal with a ruby embedded in the top. “Adios, Motherfucker! Lumen Armus!” The gem glowed and out came a three foot shaft of solid, crimson light. I impaled it into his eye, but not enough to damage the brain. The dragon let loose a wail of pain and tried to scratch me off but I had carved his eye out and crawled inside it, already draining his life force.
Quest Complete:
Gained- 1000 XP
Combat Multiplier- 7
0/2 Bonus Challenges Complete
Achievement Unlocked: Wife Beater- gained 66 XP
Achievement Unlocked: Too Close To The Sun- gained 50 XP
Achievement Unlocked: Faster Than You Can Say...- Speed increased +5
Achievement Unlocked: May The Force Be With You- Magic increased +5
Achievement Unlocked: Sith Apprentice- Combat increased +5
Additional XP- 1009 XP
Total XP Earned – 8125
You are now at level twenty five
This time, the body didn't shrink all the way like the others. It actually deflated and the scales began to look like they were a few sizes too big for him. Once I was done, I dragged the body onto the ship's deck, causing the airship to sink a bit. I was still going to loot the body, no matter what any one said. The crew stared at me and the body in disbelief that I had actually killed the dragon. Some of the ponies were poking the body to see if it was truly dead instead of playing possum.
I was in my harpy form up near the balloon where griffins and pegasi were trying to stitch the hole back up unsuccessfully against the escaping hot air. “How bad is it?” I asked to no one in particular.
“The fabric is fraying and making it harder to patch up. We won't last much longer in the air at this rate.” Dante replied frantically, “We're going to die out here!”
I bit my lip in thought. 'Fabric's messed up so Reparo would be a waste of magic...Shit...I've come so far and now it's going to end here? No. I'm going to fix this thing one way or another. This is MY ship!' I began to formulate a quick remedy for the problem.
“Listen up!” I yelled to the griffins and pegasi in the air. Their eyes turned to me. “There's an island nearby but it's still a ways away.” I pointed to the island's location, “I want some of you to stay here and bring some unicorns to help mend the hole. It doesn't have to be perfect, just enough to stem the flow. The rest of you will help drag this junker to the island with me. Understood?” Everyone's head bobbed in agreement, “Move out!” They all rushed to follow the orders. Some griffins grabbed some rope and tied it around themselves and the front of the ship and began to pull. The rest held up unicorns on their backs up near the torn fabric. The pegasi were all pushing on the back end of the ship.
I went down to the helm where a Dog was holding the wheel. I landed next to him. “Hey , turn this ship hard to port.” I said and he gave me a confused look. “That's the left.” He understood and spun the wheel to the left. The ship banked and tilted at the sudden direction change, groaning and creaking in protest, but it held together. Once it was turned, I gave the Dog some instructions on what to do and then flew off to the back of the ship to join the pegasi.
They struggled to pump their wings and get the ship moving in addition to the propeller’s energy. I picked an empty spot in the middle and began to push with my hooves. “Accelero.” I said. The effect was immediate as the ship propelled faster than it had before, not by much though. I didn't use any other spells in case it harmed the ship.
Despite using magic, I still pushed as hard as I could. I continued using 'Accelero' whenever I could spare some energy. After about twenty minutes, I noticed that the ocean was a lot closer than it used to be. 'Damn, how much farther?' I thought. I took a break and peaked around the ship to see that we were half way there. 'So close. Gotta hang in there.'
I noticed some of the crew, trying to throw the dead body over the side to lighten the weight of the ship. I flew up to them and spread my wings menacingly, “You throw this over, I throw you over. Understand?” They nodded and immediately stepped away. “Good.”
I returned to pushing the ship. My wing muscles were burning but it didn't matter now that I knew how close we were to the island. After about five more minutes, some of the pegasi were dropping out from exhaustion.
They returned to the ship deck to get rest but now we were beginning to slow down and the ocean was still inching towards us. “We're almost there! Keep pushing!” I yelled, “Don't let up!” Most of the remaining pegasi and griffins got an adrenaline boost from my words but some were still dropping to the decks. We were down to fifteen of us pushing the ship and about three hundred meters above sea level. We kept moving forward at what seemed to be a snail's pace as we dropped even more.
Soon enough the ocean was about fifty meters away and it was down to just me and five pegasi and griffins. I looked down to see that the ocean's hue was getting lighter. We were above the shallows! It wasn't far now. “Accelero.” I said for the last time. The ship's speed increase a small bit and I called to the others, “Get back on the deck!” They stopped pushing and followed me back to the deck where the others were. The ship was nearly at the coastline. I stepped on the dragon's body and called out to the crew, “Brace for impact!”
The ship hit the canopy first, knocking the trees down out of it's way. The ground came next, jarring the ship and making it hard to stand up. Behind us, the ship had carved out a path of broken trees and churned up dirt. Bird and animal cries were lost in the rumble of the ship's passing. After a few more seconds, the ship slid to a stop.
It was quiet, aside from the birds we woke up. We began to get to our feet. “Sound off, who's not dead?” I got a bunch of groans in reply. They were fine. “Alright, I want the injured to get immediate treatment from Inject Vial. Everyone stay here and if you have to go anywhere, then go with a buddy. Flamehoof and Check Mark, you two check for all ship damages. Meta, Camouflage, Jun, you three are coming with me to explore the island.” I jumped off the ship rail, and glided to the floor below. The three of them soon followed.
“Let's go.” I said as I led the way into the jungle. 'Now if I was a dragon den, where would I be?'