//------------------------------// // Fight and First Contact (Rewritten) // Story: The Riders' Legacy // by ZillaBrony13 //------------------------------// Eragon looked around as the animals slowly came through the underbrush. They were strange animals. They looked like the Shrrg from the Beor Mountains but with a couple major differences. First they were smaller, about the size of regular wolves in Palancar Valley. Next, and the thing that really puzzled him, was that they were made entirely of wood. Their eyes were green and the same green was present in the form of a glow that encompassed their entire bodies. He heard a tree break and fall. He looked to his left and gasped. A new wolf was rising out of the underbrush. But this one was huge! It was around 15 feet tall and had the same wooden complexion and green glow as the rest of the wolves. Eragon assumed it was the pack’s leader. It howled and the pack did as well. Eragon winced and lowered his sword. In the Ancient Language he said, “Wolves of wood, I mean you no harm. Leave now and you may live. Otherwise I will make you leave.” The wolves snarled in response. One leaped out of the pack, seeking to kill Eragon and be the first one to eat. Eragon unsheathed his sword and slashed at the wolf. It fell to pieces at his feet. Then the pack charged at him. He fell into the daze of battle like he had done so many times before. He slashed and stabbed at any wolf that came close. He rolled under a wolf which then collided with one of its comrades and they both shattered. He took notice of this and grinned. They couldn’t stand a heavy impact. He used this to his advantage dodging their attacks more often than striking, resulting in the wolves slowly whittling their own numbers until the last wolf charged him. He dodged underneath and then kicked it over his head and into a tree. It shattered like so many of its comrades. He then looked up at the pack leader. It howled at the loss of its pack and charged Eragon. He waited until it was almost upon him and then he jumped as high as he could. With a yell he sheathed his sword in the alpha wolf’s head. It convulsed underneath him and then was still. The green glow faded from its body and it fell apart. He jumped clear and surveyed the clearing around him. Wood was scattered around the clearing. No wolf had survived his onslaught. He sat down and began his meditation once more. As he extended his mind he noticed something peculiar. The wooden remains of the wolves had an energy around them that he could not identify. He continued observing and then noticed movement throughout the clearing. He opened his eyes and gaped in horror. The wood glowing green and was drifting back together! Even as Eragon watched the entire pack of wolves regenerated, including the pack leader. Eragon paled. “Are they unkillable?” He thought to himself. The pack now completely surrounded him, blocking any chance of escape. He thought about contacting Saphira, but she wouldn’t be able to get to him in time. He reached his mind toward the alpha wolf, intending to take control of its mind and tell the other wolves to stand down. But he did not find a mind. Then he thought of something he had heard long ago. A legend. The legend said that here was a creature that had the power to grow back two heads if you cut off one. These wolves were similar to the creature. And the only way it was defeated was by... “Letta!” He shouted. The wolves froze in midair with yelps of surprise. Eragon jumped over them and landed on the other side of the clearing, releasing the magic as he did so. They snarled again and raced towards him. He raised his word high and shouted, "BRISINGR!" His sword burst into blue fire, painting his face in a unearthly glow. The wolves faltered in their advance and looked at the fire with terror in their eyes. "Leave." Was all he said. The Alpha wolf snarled at his pak. They charged again and once more, he cut them all down. He then looked up at the Alpha wolf and said one word. "Brisingr." Blue fire raced up the wolf's legs as the spell took hold. The wolf screamed in agony as the fire licked it's body. Eragon clamped his hands over his ears in pain. The wolf stumbled toward him as its of it fell off. Then it took one more step and fell to the ground, it's body charred and blackened. He extended his mind to the remains of the wolves and felt no energy around the wood. He sighed in releif, knowing that they were finally dead. He got up and began to practice the Rimgar. He heard the rustling of the underbrush and though nothing of it. “Oh…my.” He heard a small voice say behind him. His battle instincts kicked in once more as he whirled around, unsheathing his sword as he did so, and prepared to strike down whoever planned to hurt him. But there was no threat, so far as he could see. There was only…brightly colored horses? “This day is just getting stranger and stranger.” He thought to himself. He studied the creatures for a moment. They all were colored a bright color. White, purple, orange, yellow, blue and even pink! They were small and their head only reached to his neck. They all had marks on their flanks like a brand or something. Finally two had horns on their heads and two had wings. They all looked at him with fear in their eyes. He thought that they were friendly, but decided to check first. “After all,” He thought to himself, “The Twins seemed friendly enough.” He reached out to who he thought was the leader’s mind. The horse was purple, had a mark of five small stars surrounding a large magenta one and had a horn on her head. As soon as he touched her mind he noticed something. He recognized it! It was the same mind he had touched that had blocked his presence. Apparently she recognized him as well. Once again she recoiled and put up thick mental barriers. “You!” She said. “You were the one who touched my mind!” She lowered her horn and it began to glow. He felt that it was magic and began to chant a spell to deflect whatever the horse was planning. A blast of magic erupted from the horses horn and raced toward him with the speed of an arrow loosed from a bow. He cursed.The magic was coming too fast. He wouldn't be able to finish the spell in time. He ended his chanting and raised his sword to block the blast, but was a second too slow. The blast hit his arm and with a sickening crack it broke. Both Eragon and Saphira yelled in pain through their link and he felt Saphira take off. “No! Stay away Saphira!” He shouted at her, but she seemed to ignore him. The horse loosed another blast of magic at him, but this time he managed to block it. The other ponies tried to help. An orange one tried to lasso him with a rope, but he flipped out of the way. A blue one rammed him and sent him flying. He landed and rolled out of the way as sharp gems buried their tips in the ground where he had been seconds before. A pink one fired a blue cylindrical device at him. All the while he dodged gems, magic, the blue horse, the lasso, and blasts from the cylinder. He knew that he could not last much longer and shouted in desperation, “Eka fricai un Shur’tagal!” The horses stopped in confusion. “What?” The purple one asked. “Eka fricai un Shur’tagal.” He repeated. "What in the hay does that mean?" The orange pony asked. "It means that I am a friend. I will not harm you." "How do we know we can trust you?" "You do not." A yellow horse spoke up. "Twilight? I think we can trust him" "How do you know?" "Well we attacked first." "After he tried to take over my mind twice!" Twilight exclaimed. "Did he?" "Well...he backed off after I put up my barriers." She said hesitantly. "See? He wasn't trying to take over your mind, were you?" Eragon was relieved. "I was only trying to know what your intent was." Twilight still looked angry. "Applejack! You can't believe this can you?" "He ain't lyin' Twilight. Trust me, I'm not the Element of Honesty for nothing" "Alright fine." Twilight conceded. She turned to Eragon. "I'll trust you...for now." "Thank you." Eragon said. "Can I ask you a question?" "Of course." “What are you? You’re not a pony.” she asked pulling a parchment out of nowhere along with a quill. “So they’re called ponies.” he thought to himself. “My name is Eragon Shadeslayer, son of Brom. I once was a human, until I was changed. What would your names be?” She reluctantly put down her parchment and quill, which she had been taking notes on, and said, “My name is Twilight Sparkle. I am the Princess Celestia’s protégé and a librarian in Ponyville.” The blue one that tried to ram him before lifted into the air. “Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria. No applause is necessary.” The orange pony with a strange hat, a blonde mane, and a mark of three apples on her flank walked up to him and began shaking his hand very hard. “A’m Applejack! It’s a pleasure to meet ya!” His arm went numb from the shaking that it had endured. “Rarity, it’s a pleasure to one such as you.” said the white pony with a horn, purple mane, and a mark of three diamonds on her flank. The yellow pony that had defended her spoke up. “Um…my name is Fluttershy.” She whispered so softly that his elven hearing had trouble picking it up. A blur of pink filled his vision as a pink pony with a pink mane raced up right into his face. He couldn’t tell what her mark was. “HimynameisPinkiePieandI’mPonyville’snumberonepartypony.SorryaboutthePartyCannonDoyoulikeparties?Wellduheverypoylikesparties,evenifyournotapony.” She then gasped leaving him a little time to absorb what she had just said, or what he could understand of it. “Oh my GOSH! Your new to Ponyville! I’ve gotta go start planning your ‘Welcome to Ponyville Party’!” Just before she could run off to parts unknown, a loud thud vibrated the air around them “Wh-what was th-that?” Fluttershy asked. The answer to Fluttershy’s question landed right behind Eragon. Saphira looked pissed beyond belief when she saw Eragon’s broken arm. “DRAGON!” The ponies yelled in fright and then fled into the forest. Well, all except one. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- She should have been running. She would have been running, but she looked into the dragon’s eyes and froze at the sight. Those eyes, were just like his eyes. The memories flooded back to her as she stood in pure terror. Her parents…the dragon…the flames. “YOU HURT MY RIDER!” The mental shout tore through her mind, erasing all thought from her head. “YOU SHALL ALL BURN!” The dragon took a huge breath in. “Saphira no!” Eragon shouted at the dragon, but it was too late. The dragon breathed out blue flames that illuminated the clearing in an eerie glow. Fluttershy closed her eyes and waited for death’s embrace to take her for the first, and final, time.