As they run, Twilight tried to imagine into what kind of trouble Spike got himself now, but nothing could prepare her for what she was about to witness.
There they were, in the center of Ponyville. The three jerky dragons that Spike first befriended, then angered when he realized what kind of friends they really were during the Great Dragon Migration, were standing right here, and their leader, the red one, was holding Spike by his head high above the ground.
"Hey, leave him alone!" she shouted to them, infuriated.
They noticed here and started laughing.
"Aww, look! Those are the namby-pamby pony friends of Spike!" said the red one, still laughing.
Twilight bit her lip, thinking for a heartbeat what she could do. The dragon was still holding Spike; she could easily teleport him out of his grasp, but what then? The dragons would be still in Ponyville, and she doubted than anypony beside the Princesses could made them leave, even if they were only teenagers.
"We're so sorry to decline your request," said the red dragon with mocking tone. "but, you see, we kinda came a long way to visit our friend Spike, and we're not really in a hurry to part ways. Right guys?"
"Heh, yeah!" replied the fat bronze dragon.
"Yeah!" repeated the tall purple one.
"But don't worry, we will come over to you and say hello, soon."
Twilight's horn glowed, as she prepared to cast a spell.
"I said: Leave! Him! Alone!"
"Oh yeah?" red dragon said, snorting. "Or what?"
Before Twilight had a chance to reply, a calm voice sounded behind her:
"Or else, you will have me to face."
Matthias came closer to the dragons, so they could see each other better. Like Spike, they were different from dragons from Azeroth. They were bipedal, had small wings, one of them was ridiculously fat, and they appeared to be incredibly stupid. Judging by the size difference between them, Spike and a matured dragon from the 'All about dragons', Matthias guessed that they must be a teenage dragons, on Azeroth called drakes.
Just as he was observing and judging them, the dragons judged him. They weren't impressed, if their laughter was any indication.
"Oh look, those ponies have a knight in shining armor!" said the one holding Spike, who looked slightly less brain-dead than the others. Nevertheless, he was laughing. "And you know what dragons do to knights in shining armor, right?"
"They let them kill them?" Matt asked, keeping his voice casual.
That finally got him attention from the dragons. None the one he would desire, since they were rather angry instead of worried, but still, it was some improvement.
"Now, how about you release Spike and leave the town, before things get... ugly."
"Oh yeah?" snapped the red dragon. "We'd rather prefer things to get ugly. Whole town's gonna be ugly when we're finished with it." he said, and burst into laughter again, along with his two henchdragons.
"Big mistake." Matthias thought, as they took their eyes off him.
"I don't know what surprises me more." he said, not caring that with the noise the dragons were making they couldn't hear him. "That dragons can act this way despite not belonging to Black Dragonflight, or..." he added in much darker tone, as he throw himself at the three drakes. "... that you actually think the three of you stand a chance against me!"
By that time the red dragon noticed that something was off, mostly because the last word Matthias practically shouted right into his ear. But he still couldn't do anything to stop Matt from slamming his knee into the dragon's throat.
As soon as he landed his hit, Matthias bit back a shout of pain that came with it. Dragon's scale was even thougher that he gave it credit for, but now there was no turning back. As the red dragon gasped for air, he hit him with his elbow at the base of skull for good measure.
At the same time, he could hear that the other dragons noticed what was happening, so Matthias whirled, grabbed Spike, and jumped away, just in time to avoid the flames, which were most likely meant for him, but hit the red drake instead.
Being save for a moment, he spared few seconds to toss Spike to Twilight, knowing she would catch him with her magic, and said:
"Don't interfere! I won't be able to both fight them and protect you at the same time!" and with that, he turned his attention back to the dragons.
As he suspected, their scales gave them more resistance than even the bark of the timberwolves. The two strikes, which would have crushed any other creature's spine, didn't do much to the red drake beside leaving him stunned for few seconds, and his comrades flames did even less. In fact, he was the one who was more hurt.
"Time to change tactics." he thought, and threw himself between the dragons.
Twilight and her friends were looking, stunned, as Matthias threw himself right between the dragons. That was pure madness! Now not only he was fighting three dragons, but was also surrounded by them.
"I have to help him!" she thought, and prepared to cast a spell, despite Matt's warning not to help him. At the same time, however, one of the dragons tried to hit Matthias with his tail, which he swiftly dodged, and the tail hit the other dragon instead.
Twilight now understood what Matt's plan was. He noticed, or, which was even more likely, knew from the beginning, that his punches weren't going to have much effect on dragons. Their scales were too thick and durable. Even striking at vital points such as the throat wasn't enough. So, instead of using his strength, he was going to use the dragon's own strength instead.
Still, this was going to be risky. If he couldn't dodge a single strike like the one before, he would end up with his bones broken.
Twilight looked at her friends. All of them were staring at the scene before them with wide eyes, as well as all the ponies, who were showing a common sense by staying in their houses and were watching the fight through their windows. And none could blame them. How often a single pony was fighting three dragons and was winning? It was such a captivating scene, that it wasn't until few hours later that it hit Twilight that she should have sent a message to the Princess at this moment.
Matthias tried his hardest to keep up. As much as he hated to admit it, he underestimated those drakes a bit. They were faster, and, judging by their yowls of pain as they hit themselves, were also stronger that he gave them credit for. But still, he had the upperhoof: it was a lot harder to hit a smaller target. All he had to do was keep in mind their positions and react in time.
And that was what he managed to do, until he was forced to jump in the air, and realised too late that he couldn't dodge the fireball the purple dragon was about to fire at him. Cursing at himself, he crossed his arms in front of him, and waited those few fractions of seconds for fireball to almost reach him, and in that precise moment, he hit the air in front of him, which actually worked better that he expected. The dragon was also surprised, so Matthias used his momentum and slammed the dragon's face with his hooves, extinguishing few flames that were on them in the process.
Unfortunately, he lingered with pummeling the purple dragon's face a second too long. The brown dragon grabbed him from behind and lifted him in the air, squeezing his chest. As he felt his ribs shatter, he uttered a short, painful scream.
Ponies looked terrified as Matthias screamed. Their defender has lost, and dragons won.
"Heh, not so tough now, huh?" laughed the brown dragon, as he squeezed him even harder with one had, and moved the other to his throat..
Twilight was as terrified as anyone, but her fear lasted only a short time. She once again prepered to cast a spell she had in mind for a while, but before she finished, she stopped.
Matthias, despite being strangled, was talking.
Sensing the dragon's claws around his throat, Matthias didn't fall into despair, as most ponies would. Instead, he fell into rage.
Uther couldn't kill him. Sylvanas couldn't kill him. Anasterian couldn't kill him. Antonidas couldn't kill him. Such great heroes, warriors or wizards, and they fell before him. And now, when he was actually fighting to protect others, for the first time in almost a decade, he was going to get killed by those pathetic creatures?!
He gazed at the dragon with eyes that could cut through a saronite, and the drake, despite crushing him, despite strangling him, backed off a bit, scared, and loosened up his hold of Matthias. Not enough to let him escape, but enough to let him speak.
"I defeated the dreadlord Mal'Ganis at Drak'Tharon Keep!" he snapped, getting everypony's attention: both from dragons and ponies. "I fought with the blue dragon Sapphiron, the ancient servant of Malygos the Spell-Weaver, at the wastes of Dragonblight, and made him serve me instead! I dueled the demon hunter Illidan Stormrage, Lord of Outland, in front of the doors of the Frozen Throne, and was victorious! I faced the avatar of the Old God, Yogg-Saron, in the forgotten depths of Azjol-Nerub, and walked away alive! I will NOT be defeated by the likes of YOU!!!"
His last words turned into a yell, as he managed to free one arm and hit the drake right in the eye, which caused the dragon to yowl in pain. Whirling himself free after that, Matthias spun around and kicked the drake in the jaw, breaking it.
As the bronze drake fell to the ground, writhing in pain, Matt looked at the other dragons with hatred in eyes, and attacked again.
Twilight watched as her friend once again threw himself at the dragons, but this time it was different. This time he wasn't letting their attacks to land on each other while he dodged them. This time he was attacking, with rage burning through his eyes.
She though about what he just said, about all those victories against some strange creatures, including a dragon, which, judging by his title, was a full grown dragon. She though about his scars, and how he seemed so full of hatred right now.
For the first time, Twilight felt actually scared of Matthias.
Despite his injuries, Matthias moved even faster now, easily dodging all of the drakes attacks, and landing his. While they still were far from effective, he kept striking at sensitive areas, such as the throat, eyes, and joints. After a while the dragons started to actually grunt in pain whenever he hit them, which told him they wouldn't last long. That thought almost became his undoing, when he let his guard down and once again jumped up into the air, and get hit by red drake's tail. Thankfully, he managed to lift his arms and block it, but the force of the strike threw him trough the doors of a bakery.
"Now I'm pissed!" he thought, angry both at the dragons and himself. As he got up from the floor and looked around to see if the owners were here so he could apologize to them before he throw himself back into the fray, he noticed a long knife lying on the table next to him.
"Mind if I borrow it?" he said aloud, and, not waiting for an answer, hit the knife with a hoof, and as it shoot into air, caught it with his teeth, with the blade on his right side.
He could see the the purple dragon in front of the bakery, preparing to set it aflame and him along with it. Matthias was faster. He jumped out through the hole in the door and slashed the drake's open mouth.
"Awhh, mah toungh!" yelled the dragon, despite his wound being a mere graze. Matt didn't spare him a look, and kicked with his back legs drake's kneecap, causing the dragon to collapse.
As he looked at the last standing drake, he throw the knife into air, let it spin around, and caught it. Now the blade was on his left side.
He charged at the dragon, not bothering to look at his face. Matthias jumped between his legs, and slashed, managing to cut, even if barely, through drake's scale at it weakest point. As the dragon was falling, Matthias swiftly rolled out from under him, and jumped on his chest. He twisted the knife again, and prepared to lower it into the red dragon's throat, looking into his eyes.
The dragon looked backed at him with the exact same look as the children's of Stratholme gave him.
Terrified.
For what seemed like an eternity, he stared at those eyes, realizing what he almost did. Finally, he spat the knife away, and get off the dragon, forcing himself not to tremble.
"Get out of this town and never return." he said, somehow managing to keep his voice calm.
As the dragons picked themselves from the ground, two of them limping and one holding his jaw, he stood still, despite his urge to go away from everypony. But he wasn't going to take his eyes off the dragons until he was sure they left for good.
For a moment, it seemed that it would take long. But soon, the red drake looked back at him, all his fear disappeared already, and said:
"Don't think this is over! We're just a teen dragons. But just you wait. When we are full fledged dragons, we will return. And you will burn!"
Matthias shook his head. If the dragon didn't learned anything, he would break it to him.
"The only reason why I'm letting you leave is BECAUSE you are youths. Return when you are all grown up, and I will kill you without a moment of hesitation."
The dragons throw him scared looks, and all the ponies gasped.
"I don't know how the ponies in Equestria do things," Matthias said, making sure the dragons knew that he wasn't kidding, "but where I'm from, if somepony threatens to hurt our friends and burn our village, we don't sit idle."
The dragons hastened.
When they left, Matthias didn't bothered to looked at the ponies. He knew what he would see in their faces.
He turned away and went once again to the river.