//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Gift of the Dovah // by Liirian //------------------------------// (Author’s Note: If anyone would like to volunteer, I could use a pre-reader for this. To catch any silly mistakes that I may/will miss, and point out flaws and contradictions that I don’t notice) Chapter 3 Twilight’s eyes widened as she saw the two streams of death racing towards the group. Thinking fast, she closed her eyes and brought up a glowing shield around the group that deflected the fire and ice into the ground around them, charring and freezing it. Concentrating even harder, another layer of light was added to her already bright horn and the glow began to engulf the group, before they all disappeared in a burst of magic. Angered to see their prey vanish, the two dragons let out roars of rage, before taking to the sky in search of the ponies.         Meanwhile, behind a building the group passed earlier, Twilight was panting after the exertion those two spells brought. The shield and mass-teleport already took a chunk out of her. Catching her breath, she looked back up at the others. “Alright, new plan. Rainbow Dash, you, Nightwing, and Silver Falcon take that net and try to get at least one of the dragons, if we can take one out of the fight we’ll have a much better chance.” She ordered, speaking to her rainbow-maned friend and the two pegasi Night Guards. She opened up the saddle-bag on her back and floated the neatly folded net to the three. “The rest of you, split up. Those dragons will have a harder time getting us if we’re not together. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, you go with Ironhooves.” she ordered, indicating the heavily-armored stallion. “Rarity, stick with Eagleye.” she said, this time pointing a hoof at the unicorn guard with a bow. “Fluttershy, you’re with me. Alright ponies, lets do this!” The team nodded and split up, running off in opposite directions. o-0-O-0-o The Frost Dragon, know to her kind as Felfoviing, or Feral Frost Wing in the lesser tongue, soared through the sky, keen eyes scouring the ground below for her multicolored prey. She intended to bring swift, cold death these key that dared to oppose the Dov. They were small, insignificant little creatures that didn’t know their place. That’s not to say she underestimated them, far from it. She was well aware that they already killed two of her kind, one permanently, so she was a bit more cautious then her name would suggest. She had to restrain herself when she saw two horned key racing through the burned town, the white one and the one clad in black armor. That restraint did not last though, as she eagerly swooped down towards the two, intent in freezing them to death with her icy breath. Her plans were swiftly brought to a halt however, as she found herself tangled in a large net and crashing through a house, before landing hard on the charred ground. Icy cold rage bubbling up inside her, she looked up to see three of the winged key hovering above her, the one with the rainbow mane apparently cheering and laughing while the other two watched her with stern expressions on their faces. She growled and bit down on the net that entangled her, attempting to rip it to shreds with her sharp teeth. Her efforts were futile however, as no matter how hard she tried the net wouldn’t tear. This only seemed to make the rainbow one laugh harder, much to the dragon’s outrage. o-0-O-0-o “Hah! Take that you big...sack of..scales!” taunted Rainbow Dash, although the two guards with her could only facehoof at the lame insult. “You and your buddies better think twice before trying to freeze me again!” The downed dragon stared at Dash for a moment, and the rainbow pegasus got the distinct feeling that, if the dragon had the right facial muscles, it’d be grinning maliciously at her. The dragon turned towards where a chunk of the net was bunched up, and opened its maw. A blast of icy white gas streamed out of its mouth, hitting the net and causing the rope making it up to frost over and turn brittle. Rainbow Dash gaped when she realized what the dragon was doing. “Oh horseapples! Its trying to freeze the net to break it!” she cried out in horror. The net was enchanted to resist fire and tearing, but not ice! The two guards dived down towards the dragon, although Dash was hesitant to follow. She still had bad memories from the last time a dragon froze her to near-death. o-0-O-0-o                  Felfoviing felt the net holding her harden around the spot her freezing breath hit, cracking and turning brittle. However, those two winged key in black armor were diving towards her, obviously intent on halting her attempts to break free. The fools. The dragon turned her head to face them, maw opening as she hissed three words. “Iiz Slen Nus.” A blast of chilling energy flew from her mouth, hitting one of the key, although the other managed to avoid the wave. The key that was hit instantly froze over, a coat of ice developing over his entire body. The frozen pegasus flew over Felfoviing, slamming into the ground behind her, the icy crystals encasing him shattering on impact. The dragon mentally grinned as she unleashed another blast of freezing gas on the net holding her, her attack stalling the two guards long enough for the rope to start to fracture and snap... o-0-O-0-o Rainbow Dash watched in horror as the net simply shattered all around the dragon, spraying frozen chunks of rope all over the ground. The dragon let out a roar before turning her head towards the dazed Nightwing, who was struggling to get up after being frozen and crashing into the ground. With a flick of her tail the dragon sent the pegasus flying into a nearby building, crashing and leaving a sizable hole in the wall. The dragon looked back up at Silver Falcon, who was now hovering several feet above the dragon. A icy stream erupted from the dragon’s maw, flying towards the Night Guard, who deftly dodged it and dived towards the dragon, rolling and sliding a wing across the dragon’s back, cutting a gouge in the dragon’s thick scales and severing several spikes. A small amount blood welled up from the wound and the dragon grunted in pain, before lifting up into the sky and pursuing the fleeing pegasus. Just as it got into a hover however, it felt a jab of pain in its wing. An arrow was sticking out of it, and on the ground below the dragon saw the two unicorns that had led her into the trap earlier, one of them using her magic to notch another arrow into her floating bow. The dragon roared and started flying through the air, banking towards the two unicorns. Seeing the dragon flying to attack one of her friends snapped Rainbow Dash out of her fear-induced stupor. She shook her head, pushing away the icy terror in her mind and calming herself. She beat her wings and rose into the sky a few meters, before diving towards the white dragon. The dragon didn’t see the rainbow pegasus coming, and was knocked off course when Dash flew into its side at high speed. Unlike the dragon at Ponyville, however, this one didn’t crash into the ground, instead righting itself at the last minute. It roared as it looked back at where Rainbow Dash was moments before, but saw nothing. Momentarily perplexed, it craned its neck around to see Dash coming in from behind, slamming into the wound on its back with both hooves. The dragon shrieked as more blood gushed from the wound, before flying higher into the sky and away from the ponies on the ground. Rainbow Dash sighed in relief before landing near Rarity and Eagleye. “Hey,” she asked “are you two ok?” “Um, yes. Thank you Rainbow Dash.” thanked Rarity, smiling slightly, while Eagleye simply nodded curtly. Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder to see Silver Falcon helping Nightwing out of the building the latter crashed into, before looking up to see the white dragon circling above them, getting ready for another attack. “Well get ready, we’re not done yet.” o-0-O-0-o Twilight and Fluttershy crept through the empty, blackened streets of Appleloosa, the smell of charred wood filling their nostrils. They kept glancing up at the sky, keeping an weary eye out for either of the monstrous dragons. The two jumped when they heard a roar behind them and whirled around to see the black dragon descending from the sky, maw open and a orange jet of flame flying towards them. The two managed to roll out of the way just in time as the dragon flew past, reducing the dirt they were standing to glowing cinders. The two watched as the dragon banked around and prepared for another pass. “What are we going to do?” whispered a frightened Fluttershy. Twilight narrowed her eyes and did a quick scan of their surroundings. She noticed that Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and the heavily armored Ironhooves were crouched down in a nearby alley, waiting for the opportunity for the dragon to get close enough for them to do something. Her eyes then fell on a nearby building, one that was worse for wear then the others and looked like it could collapse at any moment. “I think I have an idea...stay behind me.” ordered the unicorn. Twilight planted her hooves into the ground and her horn started glowing. She needed to time just right. She waited as the dragon got closer, the seconds feeling like hours. Finally, just as the dragon started opening its jagged mouth for another attack, it passed by the nearly collapsed house, and Twilight released a surge of magic from her horn. The characteristic glow of her magic engulfed the building, and the entire structure lurched and slammed into the dragon, pummeling it with wooden rubble and debris. The dragon roared in pain as it rolled and crashed into the ground, the results of Twilight’s unorthodox attack scattered around him. “NOW!” Twilight shouted as the three earth ponies sprung into action, galloping towards the downed beast. Applejack and Pinkie Pie whirled around as they got closer and bucked the dragon, while Ironhooves simply shoulder-checked the creature, using his weight and momentum to slam into it with bone-crushing force. The dragon roared again before glaring at the three ponies, and unleashing a blast of flame that Applejack and Pinkie only barely dodged, while Ironhooves was engulfed in the blaze. The other ponies gasped, but as the flames died down and the smoke cleared, the armored guard was still standing, steam rising from his armor. He looked up, before bucking the dragon in the side, causing it to once again roar in pain as some of its scales were ripped off by the force of the blow. Before the armored pony could strike another blow, the dragon whipped its head around and opened its jaws, a wave of energy slamming into the guard, sending him flying before skidding across the ground. The dragon quickly righted itself and took to the sky, circling the group high above. o-0-O-0-o Rarity and Eagleye crouched in the cover of a building and waited, watching the dragon circle them above. She could feel her heart beating in her chest as her eyes followed the beast, the question of when and how it’d attack again playing through her head. She looked across the street, the pegasi hiding by a building of their own, waiting for the dragon to make the next move. She turned towards the pony she was partnered with, who was using her magic to hold her bow at ready as her keen eyes watched the dragon, waiting for it to make a move. “That was an excellent shot you made before, I’ve only rarely seen unicorns use a weapon like that. Where did learn how to use it?” Rarity asked quietly, trying to distract herself from worrying about when the dragon would attack. The other mare glanced back at her, before resuming her watch on the dragon. “If you really want to know,” she started “I was never good at combat magic like the other unicorn guards. What I could do was perform accurate and precise telekinesis. I heard about a weapon that needed both, and I’ve had one of these ever since.” she stated bluntly. “...I see.” replied Rarity. She would of asked more, if not for a roar up above. Her head shot up and she saw the dragon once again descending from the sky. Eagleye was already drawing back her bowstring and fired an arrow that pierced the dragon’s breast, although it didn’t go in deep and didn’t seem to cause the dragon much pain. The pegasi meanwhile sprung into action, Rainbow Dash in the lead. The dragon fired a stream of freezing ice to halt their charge, but it was to little avail, as Rainbow Dash gracefully flew around it while guards avoid it all together, breaking away and coming back towards the dragon from both sides. The dragon saw this coming however, and with a expertly timed roll smacked the both of them with its wings, sending them off course. Rainbow Dash meanwhile flew in from under it and rammed into it hooves-first in the gut. The dragon growled as Rainbow Dash flew past and tried to smack her with her long tail, but the rainbow pegasus managed to avoid it with relative ease. She grinned as she whirled around and smacked the dragon in the wound on her back again, causing the beast to roar in pain. o-0-O-0-o These disgraceful, insolent. barbaric key! They would pay for their acts against the dov. Felfoviing’s entire back ached from the repeated assaults to the wound opened up by one of the armored key’s strange razor wings. Her anger had reached such a freezing boil that she felt like the entire burned city would, or should, turn to ice around her. She had enough of this. She whirled around her and flew straight at the rainbow pegasus, who seemed to grin and follow suit, flying at full speed towards Felfoviing. She didn’t see what was coming next. “Wuld Nah Kest.” Felfoviing was a blur, moving too fast for the eye to see, and far faster then a creature of that size should move. The rainbow pegasus was knock clear out of the air by the large mass of the dragon slamming into her at high speeds. Watching the one who brought her so much pain crashing into building, one that shortly collapsed around her, brought a great, perverse glee to the dragon’s heart. She turned to the other two, who were once again flying towards her at high speeds. Felfoviing hovered there and waited, watching for the moment the two would hit her with their wings, before disappearing in a flash of speed as she hissed Wuld, appearing several meters away. She quickly whirled around and unleashed a blast of energy that blew them out of the sky, the unrelenting force of the blast causing them both to crash into the ground again. Felfoviing beat her wings, preparing to finish them off, before she felt several of those annoying stings again. She looked down to see the two unicorns running through the streets, away from the pegasi, while one fired the arrows that were piercing her abdomen. The fools will have to be taken care of first. She descended. o-0-O-0-o         Rarity galloped through through the street with Eagleye, who was notching another arrow. They turned a sharp corner and dashed into an alley, the dragon chasing after them from above. “I hope we have a plan beyond distracting the dragon and running for our lives!” she shouted as the ground behind them was frozen in a blast of freezing gas.         “We just need to keep it away from the others long enough for them to recover and get back into the fight.” stated the guard like it was the simplest thing in the world.         “Without getting killed ourselves that is!”                  “Precisely.”         Rarity yelped as the dragon got a bit to close for comfort, prompting to two to ducking into a building. The entire structure creaked as the wind generated from the dragon’s wings shook it.         “This building doesn’t appear stable, we can’t stay here for long.” reported the guard as she looked outside, trying to spot the dragon. She suddenly froze when she saw the dragon flying towards the building, as if it was about to...         “RUN!” the guard shouted, before pushing Rarity out the nearest door followed by jumping out herself. The dragon landed on the building and quickly kicked back off, causing the entire structure to shake and start to collapse on itself, walls breaking apart and sending wood flying everywhere, before a cloud of dust settled on the two coughing ponies.         Rarity’s coughing was cut short when something large and heavy landed on her, driving the air out of her lungs. As the dust blew away she found herself trapped under a large piece of wood from the house, pressing down on her chest. She tried to push it off with her hooves, and even tried using her magic to help, but to no avail. The wood wouldn’t budge. Her eyes rolled up when she heard the beats of dragon wings right over her head, and saw the dragon. Hovering right above her. Maw opened and pointed right at her. It was going to kill her, and she was trapped.         Before her life started flashing before her eyes however, an arrow flew through the air and embedded itself in the dragon’s neck. It roared and turned towards the offender, Eagleye. Notching another arrow, the guard let it fly, the projectile puncturing one of the dragon’s wings again. Forgetting Rarity for the moment, the dragon flew right at Eagleye and unleashed a torrent of ice, which the guard was safely able to roll out of the way from. She notched another arrow and shot it at the dragon as it banked back around, hitting its side. The dragon roared, but shifted its trajectory so that it was now flying towards the trapped Rarity instead of the guard. The white unicorn’s heart started beating faster as she frantically tried to get the piece of wood off her chest before she was frozen to death. At the last moment though, when it looked like it was going to be the end, she felt something ram into her hard and knock her and the piece of wood aside. She felt a freezing cold hit her coat as the dragon released a torrent of icy gas on the spot she was trapped on. She looked up to see Eagleye standing there, taking the full brunt of the attack. She watched as a sheet of white frost collected in seconds on her black armor, as her mane froze and hardened from the intense cold, and as her entire body stiffened as the cold rooted its cold tendrils into her muscles. In mere moments it was all over, the dragon had flown past and Eagleye collapsed onto the ground, muscles still stiff from the freezing onslaught. The dragon banked back around to finish Rarity off, but was interrupted when a rainbow-colored blur rammed right into his face.         “HEY! WE’RE NOT THROUGH WITH YOU YET!”         The fight in the sky once again resumed, Rainbow Dash and the other pegasi having recovered in the brief time Eagleye had given them. Rarity however didn’t care about that, she cared about the pony that gave her life to save hers. She slowly walked up to the unmoving body, quickly noticing that Eagleye hadn’t passed on yet, but it was obvious that she didn’t have long. Her breathing was shallow and it didn’t look like she could move any of her limbs. Her eyes turned towards Rarity as she crouched down next to her. “Why?” she whispered softly “Why did you give your life to save mine?”         The guard coughed, blood coming out of her mouth as she cringed. “You’re...the Element of Generosity...couldn’t just...let you die...” rasped the dying pony.         “But...there had to have been another way!”         The guard coughed again, more blood coming out. “Maybe...maybe...but it’s...to late now...” She broke into a hacking fit, staining the white frozen ground around her with more red, before she became still. “Tell......Princess Luna.....that I’m......sorry.......” the pony stopped breathing, her chest growing still.         Rarity silently stared at the dead unicorn in shock. A pony died...right in front of her....because of her....a pony she barely knew gave her life to save hers. She tried to fight back the tears that were coming on, but with no success.         “....I’ll never forget you.” she murmured, hot tears thawing the frozen ground beneath her. She turned to walk away, before her eyes spotted Eagleye’s bow, laying on the ground a few meters away. She delicately lifted it up with her magic, before testing the bow string a bit. She turned and looked up at the dragon as it fought the pegasi, giving it a hard, cold glare as she took Eagleye’s arrows.         “Oh It. Is. On.” o-0-O-0-o         Now that the annoying key with the arrows was taken care off, Felfoviing could focus on the winged ones. She doubted the other unicorn would be much of a threat, as she hadn’t done anything up to this point, so she decided to save her for last. She had already managed to incapacitate the two armored ones again, but the rainbow one proved to be more of an problem. The dragon snapped at the rainbow one as she flew past, quickly banking around to bring her down with a torrent of ice. But the pegasus proved ever illusive, and flew around the blast to deliver kick to the dragon’s snout. Felfoviing’s anger flared, and as the rainbow one flew away, the dragon opened her teeth-lined maw and a shimmering blue blast flew out, rippling through the air and slamming into the pegasus. The pegasus tumbled out of the sky, her rainbow mane whipping around as she crashed into road below. Felfoviing swooped down and brought herself to a hover above the downed pegasus. She opened her maw and prepared finish off the annoying pest, wisps of cold vapor streaming out of her mouth as she called upon the words... o-0-O-0-o          ‘Aim, pull back, hold, and...release.’ o-0-O-0-o                  A shrill cry echoed throughout the town as blood seeped out of the dragon’s left eye, an arrow jutting out of the socket that once held the organ. The pain lanced through Felfoviing’s entire head, turning her vision red. She turned to glare at her attacker and saw that it was none other then the unicorn from before, the one she foolishly allowed to live. She would not make that mistake again. She rose into the sky and dove towards the unicorn, who was already on the move, racing through the alleys and past burnt houses. She could run halfway across the world for all Felfoviing cared, she wouldn’t let her escape for what she did to her. o-0-O-0-o         Twilight held the shield over the group as the fire washed over them, preventing an otherwise slow and painful death by burning. As the black dragon flew off, she used her magic to hurl a large boulder at the beast, who only just barely avoided it as it crashed into a nearby building, destroying it. Twilight brought down the shield as the group scattered, giving the dragon a less obvious target.         The unicorn whirled around when she heard a roar behind her, close. The white dragon was chasing Rarity through the street, periodically trying to hit the fleeing unicorn with breathes of ice, but the white pony managed to avoid not getting frozen. The small part of Twilight that kept pointing out the small and insignificant noted that Rarity was carrying a bow in her teeth and had a quiver of arrows strapped to her back, both which looked a lot like the ones Eagleye was using...         “Ah think Rarity’s in trouble!” exclaimed Applejack, also noticing the unicorn as she ran past. “Twi, I think you should go help her.”         “What? What about you girls?” she questioned as she turned towards her friend.         “We’ll be alright fer a few minutes. Plus, if the princesses are right, yer probably the only one that can actually kill these monsters!”         Twilight turned her head towards the direction of another roar, presumably from the white dragon. “Alright.” She sighed. “Just be careful, alright?” Her horn started glowing as she concentrated on her magic, before she disappeared in a flash of maroon. She reappeared standing on the rooftop of one of the few structures that remained standing, with the silver dragon in view a few hundred meters away. She had a plan, but it was the sort of plan that had great potential to go horribly wrong. “Well, here goes nothing.” Her horn lit up again as she concentrated on the spot on the dragon’s back where the spikes had been broken from the repeated attacks. Trying to teleport onto a moving target was hard, especially one as small as the dragon, but she managed to get a ‘lock’. “Here goes nothing...” She appeared on the dragon’s back in a flash, immediately feeling unsteady as the dragon noticed its sudden passenger. ‘Have to do this fast...hope it works...’ She took a deep breath as she aimed at the jagged, swollen cut she saw in the dragon’s scales in front of her. “Yol...TOOR!!!” Flame erupted from her mouth as yelled the last word, fire washing over the dragon’s back, blackening its scales, and burning the open wound that she was aiming at. The dragon roared in agony as the flesh under the scales blistered and popped, before it took a nose dive straight towards the ground. Twilight only just barely managed to teleport away, mere moments before she would of crashed with the dragon. She reappeared besides Rarity, who was trying to catch her breath, bow laying on the ground. “Thank...you...Twilight....” The purple unicorn nodded, before turning towards the dragon, who was slowly lifting itself off the ground with the claws on the ends its wings.          It was time to end this. o-0-O-0-o         That insolent little Dovahkiin, daring to use the power of the Thu’um against her? She would make sure the pathetic wyrm suffered a slow and painful death at her claws, preferably after watching all her friends suffering similar fates.         Felfoviing crawled across the ground towards the two unicorns, mind already thinking up horrible ways to torture the two. Maybe if her mind wasn’t clouded by pain and anger she would of noticed the Dovahkiin’s horn glowing. Maybe she would of heard the sound of wood breaking. Maybe she would of noticed the large wooden spike positioning itself over the opened, blistered wound on her back. She didn’t notice any of that though, and when she finally realized something was going on, it was far too late... o-0-O-0-o         Twilight brought the large, pointy piece of charred wood to a hover above the dragon’s back. The dragon didn’t seem to even notice it, and as it approached it began to open its mouth in preparation for one of its shouts. Twilight clenched her eyes shut and looked away, before driving the spike into the dragon’s back with as much force as she could muster. The roar was louder then all the previous ones, echoing far enough for the ponies in the refuge camp to hear it. Both Twilight’s and Rarity’s ears were ringing from being so close to the dragon as it roared, although thankfully neither of them went deaf. Twilight opened her eyes as the roaring stopped, seeing the dragon slumping to the ground, the large wooden spike lodged in its back. Moments later, the dragon’s body lit up, like that last one. Twilight unconsciously braced herself as the swirling energies flowed from the dragon and into her body. Moments later, it was over, all that was left was a skeleton with a red-coated spike stick between its ribs. Twilight sighed, another dragon killed by her hooves. Unlike before though, she didn’t feel so...torn up about it. She certainly didn’t feel good about it, and something deep inside her still objected to this, but she didn’t feel like she was about to suffer a breakdown. Maybe its because she knew that these dragons had already killed far too many ponies, maybe not this one in particular...unless her suspicions were right, but the other one certainly had, and she doubted that this one would have any qualms about killing. She slowly turned towards Rarity, who was staring dumbfounded at her. “So that’s what...” she muttered to herself. “Good job Twilight.” she said with a somewhat forced smile. She turned away and used her magic to pick up the bow and slide it into the holster attached to the quiver. Her friend froze for a moment, before speaking in a low voice, not even looking at Twilight. “She died trying to save me.” Twilight frowned, she could tell that what happened was deeply affecting Rarity. But at the moment, there wasn’t much she could do about it, they had bigger things to worry about. “Come on.” She said quietly, walking up to her friend. “We need to go help our friends.” Rarity nodded weakly, before the two started walking back to the other battle.