//------------------------------// // Ch 9 // Story: Fractured Soul // by JollyRogue //------------------------------// The white form had more distance between us in a matter of seconds. As it got closer I could make out its actually size, and bloody hell, it was massive. It would be a miracle if I survived this without getting hurt. "Girls I want you to get as far away from here, as you can." I said, I set myself in a fighting stance. "No can do sugar cube. If you're fighting that thing, then so am I." Applejack said. A cocky grin was on her face. "Same here. Besides I don't think he'll be able to get passed my party cannon!" Pinkie said. A small cannon was at her side. "Where did you get that from?" "I never leave home without it." *sigh* I guess I could just chalk it up on the chalkboard. "Okay, but at the first sign of this battle taking a turn. I want the both of you to leave." "Can't promise a thing." Applejack said. *sigh* These ponies. "Fine, but Pinkie let me see that cannon real quick." "Okay, but why?" "I want to make sure that thing gets a good surprise." *** The creature seemed to cover those last few miles with in a matter of seconds. It circled above, it waited for a moment to strike. Now that it was close enough I could finally make it out. The white that I had seen were bones. The creature above was a giant mess of them, linked by a black shadowy haze, darker than the night sky. Not only was that creepy, but what made it truly scary was that the bones formed... A dragon! Hmm... I feel like this has already been said. What was it waiting for? I was out in the open. was it yrying to intimidate me, because that had already happened. Now it was just showing off. The dragon made a descent directly at me. Well it was now or never. "Pinkie fire the cannon!" "Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said behind me. A bang went off behind me. A cloud of confetti rose into the air. Right into the path of the dragon. Perfect. A smile crossed my face. All the confetti was caught in its bones. Now think... A large explosion of orange flames engulfed the dragon. "It worked Mr.J!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I knew it would. I'm just glad it only took three fireballs. I don't think I would have nearly enough energy to fight it head on." "Umm... Jason I wouldn't get too high and mighty just yet." Applejack said. I turned back to face where the explosion had been. Only to find an angry looking dragon. Could bones look angry? I don't know, but they would probably look something like that. Crap! It didn't work. How could something take an explosion of that size and not be the slightest bit damaged. No there had to be something, anything! The dragon gave off a loud pop. Yes! It had worked. One of the dragons wings had snapped off, and plummeted towards the earth. The dragon panicked. It flapped its other wing frantically. It tried to keep itself afloat. Bad idea. Another pop, and the other wing fell off. The wingless dragon, began plummeted, head first, to the ground to meet its wing's. *Crunch* The sound of bones snapping permeated the air. "Oh thank god! I was getting nervous I would have to do some more work." "You should really learn to keep your mouth shut sugar cube." Applejack said. She pointed at the moving remains of the dragon. "No I think this should be enough. Volle Vantes!" I said. I looked at a rock that was floating in the air. I brought the rock down onto the dragons neck. Its head was dislodged from the rest of its body. "That should do it. Now who wants to see a dead body?" "Ooo, I do! I do!" Pinkie had said, bouncing over to me. "I think I'll wait until we know it's dead." Applejack said. "Suit yourself." Pinkie and I walked over to the remains of the dragon. It looked fairly dead to me, but it was dead before I killed it. How much more dead could it have looked? Well the shadows were gone I guess that was an indicator. "Look Mr.J I found the skull." "Careful Pinkie! Those teeth looked sharp." "Ooo, look at its eye's!" "What do you mean?" "They're green!" I positioned myself in front of the skull and looked into its sockets. Even though the shadows had dissipated, its eye socket's still glowed... A dark shade of green. "Look Mr.J Its eye's are the same color as yours." Pinkie exclaimed. She was right! I turned my head to look at my cutie mark. What I looked at was the same thing. This fireball on my rump was the same as the green in the dragons eye's. "What does it mean..?" "What does what mean Mr.J?" "What does this fireball mean? It's the same thing as the dragon's eye's! When I try remembering what they are supposed to mean, the thought just slips away. It's like I'm just out of reach of getting my memories back." Tears of frustration formed around my eye's. Pinkie wrapped her arms around me in an embrace. "It's okay Jason. You'll get your memory back eventually." Pinkie whispered into my ear. Maybe this wasn't the best place to do this, as the skull looked right at us, but this was just what I needed. Those eye's had brought back an entire wave of emotions. Pinkie was just the right pony to make me feel better. We sat there for what felt like an eternity. Everything about this seemed to be right. Her touch, her warmth, even the sound of her heart beat. Just being there with her seemed to make all the things wrong with my life just disappear. Of course I knew that moment could not last forever. "Hey, what are you two doing!?" A voice yelled behind us. "Dashie is that you?" Pinkie said, as she got up and ran to greet this Dashie character. I looked up to see where Pinkie had run off to. Pinkie stood next to a group of ponies. One of them I recognized as Twilight. The other two I had never seen before. The one that caught my eye's first did so because of how colorful she was. By this I mean her mane and tail. They were rainbows! Other than that she was a light cyan blue pegasus. Her eye's were a brilliant shade of magenta. The other pony that was there had a stunning white coat. It was a perfect complement to her violet mane and tail. Then there was her eye's, they were a brilliant shade of azure blue. She seemed like she knew what it meant to be a fashionista. Maybe we could share ideas later. "Pinkie dear, why don't you bring your well dressed friend over here." The fashionista pony said. Well I'm glad she could recognize another fashionista. At least my skills wouldn't be wasted. I walked over to the group of ponies. "Hello there ladies, my name is Jason, and it is a pleasure to meet you all." "Oh my, he is sure is gentlecolt!" The white pony said. "Wait, Jason, the last time we talked you didn't have a name." Twilight said. "Well as you can see a lot has happened since this morning." I gestured to the remains of the dragon. "Now since I have introduced myself, may I know all of your name's?" "Oh, where are my manners. My name is Rarity." "And mine is Rainbowdash, future Wonderbolt, and fastest flier in all of Equestria." Said the cyan pegasus, doing a couple flips in the air. "It is a pleasure to meet the both of you. So what brings you ponies to this part of the town?" "We were coming to stop that, whatever it is, but when we got here we found you and Pinkie hugging in its remains." Rainbowdash explained. "Yes you two looked absolutely adorable! Both of your messy manes were mixed together. You two were just precious!" Rarity exclaimed. My face felt hot. Maybe if I looked away from them and at the ground it would go away. Hmm... Nope and now I was bored. "So what was that anyways?" Twilight asked. "Oh, it was just a skeletal dragon!" Pinkie yelled. She started to explain what had transpired. Hmm... This was going to take awhile. I guess I should bring the skull around to emphasize how serious it was. I walked around the remains to get the skull. When I reached it I placed my hoof on it, but its eye's shimmered. The skull snapped at me. I fell backwards, I dodged the first strike, but in doing this I tripped over one of its bones. Crap I was wide open. "Contum! Contum! Contum!" Each little shield caused the skull to bounce back. I was not going to survive this. The skull was enveloped in an aura of light yellow. It was lifted up from where it had been attacking me, along with a few other bones. The extra bones were struck into the ground like a cage. The skull was placed into the cage for a time out. "Are you okay?" A soft voice asked from behind me. "Yes, I must thank you Miss..." "Please, call me Princess Celestia."