//------------------------------// // The Cave of Samurai-Dragon // Story: Wonder-Colt 3: The Dragon's Trap. // by Will of Haphinea //------------------------------// Into the underground cave he went! The advantage of being in a Manticore body was an extra effort and much more strength was put into each attack of the sword. The only bad thing, was that the sword attacks themselves were slow, and left him open for any quick attacks that may come. There was one solution he had discovered that even the swine merchant had not been aware of: The Roar. Manticores, outside of cursed ponies who look like them at least, are very fearsome, and their roars know to shock creatures of the Everfree and wherever else they may be found. Using a roar was similar to a sword attack, but when he tested it out on the first unfortunate ghost that came across, he found it had another effect: it froze them for few seconds, precious seconds that could prove very useful if the need came. Despite this new information, and armed with some hidden weapon courteous of the helpful and knowledgeable Part Pony, he came across a hidden gem in the cave, called the Marumasa Blade. This struck even the toughest Blue Ghost down in a single hit, and the fearsome cyclops in a few, rather than half a dozen that the other sword took. It was a match in heaven, and all thanks to that odd mare. How she knew all this information about these, I have no idea, he thought to himself. The odd thing was, no matter how long he explored this cave, the enemies, while numerous, were not that strong. Only a few Cyclops, and some ghost that would pop up, and try to sneak an attack were just about the only dangers. There was finally a clearing in the cave, and what Wonder saw made him gasp, and stop for a few moments. Before him, surrounded by a moat of lava was a HUGE Pagoda-like structure. He had recognized the far eastern designs from his old school days, dreaming one day to visit the strange land, and find out if ponies, or other like ponies lived there or not. It was at the site of the structure, that the term, Samurai-Dragon made much more sense. But what of the enemies and monsters inside? Only one way to find out! Placing the Dragon Mail on he obtained earlier, he was able to swim across the moat, and arrive at the front gates of the massive building. He breathed in, and prepared himself, and opened the gate to face the monsters ahead of him. Instead of fearsome looking monsters, he found odd, pony-like creature in ninja disguises! He braced his shield closer, and before he blinked, the ninja threw some sort of weapon toward him. The object bounced off his shield harmlessly, but the ninja-like creature leapt back and readied itself to attack again. "I can tell you are going to be a pain!" Wonder roared after seeing the speedy creature leap gracefully. Frozen temporarily, the monster fell with one strong fall of the sword. Of course, there couldn't be just one ninja as three more slowly jumped and rush the cursed pony, ready to defend themselves and their building. One thing Wonder noticed was their gracefulness while leaping made their landing very slow, and recovery a bit of an opportunity to strike. Thus, after each one dropped down, he simply needed to chop his weapon, and the creatures would fall onto the weapon themselves and face their own deaths. The next walkway he found lead to more clever green ninjas, but only one strike was required to finish off the pest, as they were not strong either. He turned the corner, and encountered a brand new enemy. He recognized the armor configuration right away from his old school books: the fearsome samurai! Only, these seemed to only be the armor, while a ghostly creature moved inside and tried to strike the cursed hero and leapt back, much like the ninjas. Unlike the ninjas, he launched a series of fireballs as well! His only solution was to rush it, and drive his broadsword down upon the armor ghost, and it crumbled as he predicted. He saw a door, and he knew, inside would be much tougher. "I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but Miss Rarity, I am almost there!" he said as he entered and struck another unsuspecting Samurai ghost. After two levels up into the building, most of the enemies fell. The trick was fighting these monsters one by one, as many tried to leap back with others and attack in groups. When some poor group thought they had an upper-hand, the clever Earth Pony used what none of the monsters would suspect he would use: a trusty magic boomerang! Beside the other magic he learned to use, and obtain in this land, the power of the curved tool stunned the enemies, and allowed him to leap and attack the group without any problems. He recalled Pinkie telling him about it, as he never put much thought into it before. She demonstrated how useful it was when they went together to get his current weapon, and he instantly knew it would prove useful, and thank the excitable mare. She returned the thanks by blasting a nearby evil cloud with her adapted party cannon and giggled when the bits came tumbling out. There was one more secret she told him, and before the Dragon's chamber, he had to visit this place to heal up. Almost unknown to our hero, as easily as the ninjas were to counter, their swift attacks cut deep and brutally. Right before entering the last chamber, where he knew the dragon stayed, he found a secret room, as told by the party mare. He used a healing spell that was located inside, and got another blue medicine. These were a good just-in-case precaution, as they could resurrect the pony, should an attack prove too strong. He exited the chamber and enter the Dragon's next door, and was shocked to see, not a dragon ready to strike, but one sitting and drinking tea! "I welcome you, thou cursed enemy of mine brothers, Come, enjoy a spot of tea before thine battle. We have a small bit to discuss first!" The Dragon spoke! "I...what is the catch dragon? I am willing to fight fair with you, but this better not be a trick or so help me...!" Wonder tried to put forth a brave face, but was somewhat nervous, as the dragon was only looking down, and not at him at all. "Thou may believe what thou will. I offer this and a piece of information thine shalt surely find useful. It is only fair we conduct ourselves as warriors, not mere beast!" It spoke and waited. Wonder wasn't sure what to expect, he readied an antidote in case the tea was poison, and the sat and drank. Whatever doubts he had toward the dragon dissolved as the tea was perfect tasting! "Now, I shall speak to thee. For a long while, Mine brothers and mineself guarded these lands, for what purpose we cared not. It was ours to protect, ours to live, and ours to enjoy the spoils! Thy ponykind shalt not be welcomed here, and so I offer thee one chance: Leave. Thy curse shalt be lifted as soon as thy company and thee walk from Our town, and we shall keep only those who persisted with thine vile magic. I shall be glad to show thee a way back to prepare as soon as.." the dragon was interrupted "No deal. I would need both of your lady Unicorns, or no deal! They are important to their friends, and important to the Princesses. I cannot compromise on this. It is my duty. I know you can appreciate honor and duty, my proud Dragon." Wonder was confident he had to fight, and readied himself. "HahahaHA! I admired thine spirit. I must warn thee, even if thy fight is too much for mineself, the last great dragon will end thee, and there will be no begging good enough. Thine friends in the village will be captured and fed to fulfill his hunger, as he eats without care. I warn thee, art thou prepared to fight?" The dragon said, removing the tea table and grabbing a large weapon in its claws. "I am, and I thank...thee for thine offer. May the best of us win." Wonder readied himself, and looked down. He knew the dragon had some high honor, and appealing to it lead him this far. "I intend to! Attack ME!" It roared loudly, and from its mouth fireballs rained all in front of him, as he lifted his heavy sword, and chomped simply down in front of him, causing a huge cut it it floor itself.. "I shall taste thy blood soon enough!" Wonder waited, the area in front of the great dragon was dangerous, but like all the ones he fought previously, he knew the face was its weak point. He bravely jumped and slash its face. He took a huge amount of damage but the dragon dropped its great weapon, and did the same to him, almost killing him in one blow! He watched carefully where the sword was, and faked an attack which caused the dragon to drop its guard, and was open to two more attacks. It was clearly weak. Both creature were creatures of power, and it was so close for both of them. He launched two fireball magic towards the weakened creature, and stopped, and utter one phrase, "Yield, and free the Unicorn, keep your honor in life, and your death will be more glorious." Wonder never sympathized much with monsters, but this was a very rare exception. The dragon listened, and was very close to succumbing to effects of bleeding out soon. He looked towards the Guard and plunged the sword into his own belly and said before leaving this world: "With Honor, I leave this world...the Unicorn is thy own!" and Rarity floated down in his place, unconscious. The familiar blue flame dance above his head. This was it, the last form of his curse, he gathered the bits, teasing the flames, and finally let them consume his Manticore flesh. He awoke covered in fire, and Miss Rarity had awoken as well. She stared at her rescuer, and thank him without saying anything more than a look in her eyes. He was a Phoenix, no, a Great Phoenix he heard of from Legend. He gently grabbed the damsel, and flew her safely towards a hidden doorway, to a chamber with his return back. Before he did, he sensed an odd presence, and inside another door another Swine offered an unusual armor set for sale: The Tartaurus Armor. "I warn you there sir. It is blessed with magic that can heal you with each hit you give an enemy, but it'll consume you too! *Snort Oink* The Phoenix looked at the swine took the armor and threw his bits at him. and left for his rescued mare. He had to return her, and finish all this. There wasn't time anymore. He had another town to save after all, and the Elements had their families. It's almost over, he thought to himself before opening the doorway back into the town, and bringing his newest rescued Element to the others. They turned to thank him, but the proud Phoenix flew away, towards the castle where this curse began... "Rarity! We missed you so much I thought I would never see you again!" the yellow Pegasus cried to her closest Ponyville friend. "I missed hearing about your new dresses and our spa days, and.." "Girls, thank you all very much for welcoming me back darlings. I must ask, who was our rescuer? He seemed, I don't know, changed. And I do believe the poor dear couldn't even talk in his state!" Rarity asked the other and apologized for interrupting the shy pony. "That there was Wes, I mean Wonder. He's a strange fellow, but a brave Earth Pony Royal Guard! He wants to finish this quest soon, he said something about a promise to Pinkie or sumthin' like that." Applejack said. "No, my friends, he has to rush. For my town without help, could soon be dust!" the mainly quiet Zebra-mule stated. Silhouette heard her Zorse's words, and chased after Wonder in the air, followed by Rainbow Dash soon after. The others decided to turn in, it was soon to be night, and they were all very tired from a long day. They all started to head inside, when Rarity approached the new pony,and asked questions about his town and if she could design a new ensemble for him, and his special somepony. She nearly begged for the opportunity, before Zed turned to her and asked, "Wait, how did you know about Silhouette, our relationship is still a secret!?!" he glanced around and Pinkie popped out of nowhere to giggle at him again. "Oh darling, I can tell these sort of things! Now about your measurements, you are almost the size of Big Mac..!" she continued and forced him with the other girl to measure him out. Zed started to lament his luck. "What did I ever do to deserve this? Which of the Goddesses did I..." "Hey! Watch your language! This is a kid's show!" Pinkie interrupted.