"I WILL NEVER IGNORE A LADY'S CALL FOR HELP!"
The words were surprising, to say the least. Twilight could only stare at the blue pony that had saved her friend and even the dragon seemed to be caught off-guard by this turn of events.
Rarity, still shivering from her recent near-death experience, looked up with wonder at the pegasus that had saved her life. An hour ago the stallion had terribly confused her, acting like a perfect gentlecolt at one moment and being just rude the next. Now here he was, after rescuing her from an almost certain doom. The thought off a stallion carrying a mare in his legs seemed stupid and incredibly unrealistic even in the stories she read, and yet he was doing exactly that.
“You should get somewhere safe.” Sanji began to move towards Twilight and her friends. He was performing something between walking and flying to keep his legs free for the task of carrying Rarity. He took a short glance at the dragon. “I’ll take care of this guy.”
“The pony will not leave!” The dragon had finally shaken off his stupor and raised his right hand high in the air, only to bring it back down at Sanji and Rarity. Sanji quickly jumped up high and out of the way and away from the cloud of dust the strike had whirled up. However, now that he was in the air he was not able to avoid the dragon’s second hand that was coming down on the two ponies. The dragon’s left hand slammed into the ground on top of Sanji and Rarity, raising a second cloud of dust.
Pinkie Pie, Applejack and even Fluttershy shrieked in shock, while Twilight and Rainbow Dash could only whimper quietly. Seeing their friend die the first time had taken up all their energy.
As the dust settled they could make out the outlines of the giant hand slowly rising from the ground. The five mares stared at it, expecting it to lift up from a crater or at least the crushed remnants of two ponies. However, the hand stopped moving and as the last of the dust dispersed they saw the reason for that.
Rarity lay unconscious on the ground. On both sides of her the stallion’s forelegs were planted firmly onto the ground while his hind legs kept the dragon’s claws at bay, not moving an inch. The same smoke as before was still wafting from his face, which was almost completely covered in shadows.
"Keep your dirty paws off this lady!" Sanji's pushed his forelegs against the ground one last time and bucked the claws away from himself and Rarity. He immediately rushed at the dragon, his wings stretched out and a thin trail of smoke following his head.
In the meantime Twilight strained herself to levitate the unicorn over to the group as fast as possible. Applejack and Fluttershy stood around Rainbow Dash who was still slumped on the ground, her eyes glazed over from the recent shocks. Pinkie Pie was completely focused on the fight that was taking place way to close to them in Twilight’s opinion.
Fluttershy turned her head to face her other friends. “I think Mr. Sanji was right. We should get away from that dragon, fast.”
It took Twilight a moment to remember who `Mr. Sanji´ was. Before she could reply Applejack brought herself in, “Ah’d love to do that, but we can’t leave that guy to face a grown dragon on his own”
“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie chimed in. She had somehow gotten her hooves on a bag of popcorn and was happily flipping it into her mouth. “We would miss the whole show.”
Twilight gave the pink pony an odd look before turning back to her other friends – or at least the two of them who were still responsive. “Applejack is right. We have to help him! I know the situation doesn’t look good, but we have to at least try to–“
“Um, actually it doesn’t look like he really needs our help,” Fluttershy squeaked in her usual timid voice. Twilight followed her gaze to the dragon behind her that was flailing his arms around in a futile effort to hit the pegasus stallion.
“Party Table Kick Course!” Sanji had just dodged another attack from the dragon and jumped towards its still outstretched arm. He gave one last flap with his wings to gain momentum and pulled them back against his body. He was now spinning on his hind hooves along the dragon’s arm while his outstretched forelegs continuously beat against it. He couldn’t stretch his hind legs at the angles necessary for many of his techniques, but he found that his new forelegs more than made up for this. They felt like his legs, were just as strong and fast, but also had the additional skill and control his arms had gained from the daily high-level cooking.
The dragon was heavily armored by his scales and had very little experience in fighting, as far as Sanji could tell. He was simply flinging his claws at Sanji and occasionally shot a small jet of flames at him while completely neglecting his defense. Sadly, it seemed like he had good reasons for his self-confidence; the dragon barely seemed to notice Sanji’s kicks and just kept going. If anything, they only served to make him angrier.
“Lizard meat is usually quite tough,” Sanji muttered as he dodged another swipe and finally saw an opening to reach the dragon’s main body. “Before we can prepare the meat we have to tenderize it!” He turned on his front hooves and gave the dragon’s chest a strong buck. The dragon let out a yelp and was pushed back a little by the sheer force, but Sanji was already standing on his hind legs again and kicked away at the dragon’s body with his forelegs, shouting out the corresponding pieces of meat he was `tenderizing`.
“That’s enough!” The dragon brought his tail around to swipe at the pegasus who jumped away to dodge the attack. While the pony was in the air, he opened his mouth and let out a roaring inferno, far too wide for the pegasus to avoid. Sanji was hit by the attack and was pulled along by the fire until he hit the ground as a sizzling heap.
The dragon looked down at the burned pony with a smug grin for a moment and then turned his attention to the group of mares that stood unmoving at the edge of the clearing. Everypony, save for the still unconscious Rarity, was staring at the smoking remnants of the pony they had just met and who had saved the life of one of them just a few minutes ago. He took a step towards his next target, but stopped when he noticed a movement at the edge of his vision.
“We’re not done yet.” The blue pegasus stood again, the shaking in his legs quickly subsiding. He looked quite beat up, but his fur coat was still complete and nothing about him showed that he had just taken the brunt of a dragon’s fire. “I’ve gotten worse burns in the kitchen.” Sanji took a deep breath and let out another cloud of smoke. “You should never attempt to fight a chef with fire.”
With that he raised himself up until he stood on his hind legs again, using them and his wings to gain momentum while keeping his forelegs outstretched. The dragon watched him for a second with a mix of curiosity and annoyance. A deep and irritated rumble escaped his throat and he brought his clawed hand down on Sanji once more. At the last moment Sanji stopped his spin and brought his forelegs up to block the attack. His forelegs were glowing in a bright yellow and his hooves were bright red.
His hooves met the dragon’s hand and stopped it in its tracks. Scales gave a light sizzling sound where the hooves touched them, but other than that it didn’t seem to have any effect on the dragon. The dragon kept pushing and Sanji felt himself slowly moving even with two hooves dug into the ground. There was another feeling, though.
When he had fled out of that town he noticed that he could feel the wind and air currents. He thought that it might have something to do with his new body and the wings that came with it. Now, however, he felt another sensation; the heat was pulsating through his front hooves. It was not just temperature, it seemed to be a part of him. He had used this technique several times, but it had never been like this.
The dragon was still not reacting to his glowing hooves. If he didn’t find a way to break through the dragon’s defense, this fight would be a lost cause. The six girls – mares – were still standing nearby and watching, the dragon would go after them next. Sanji thought back to them. The poor girls didn’t even seem to know what a terrible curse had befallen their island. He could picture how they might look like as humans. If he couldn’t protect them, how would he ever be able to help the rest of his crew, his captain and most importantly Nami and Robin? They were probably on their way back to their ship already, and here he was, losing against a big lizard.
The feeling in his forelegs seemed to get stronger. Sanji tried to focus on it. They seemed to get even hotter. He did his best to push the heat even further and his hooves suddenly seemed to burst into flames. The dragon let out a yelp and quickly pulled his claws back from the fire.
“Monster Barbecue!” Sanji didn’t even think to jump or run after him. His wings spread unconsciously and he shot flying at the dragon. He didn’t even notice the glow from his hooves trailing after his body like a comet’s tail. He put the full force of his momentum behind his first attack and followed up with a series of fast kicks before the dragon had time to recover. Burn marks covered the dragon’s entire chest and he staggered backwards into the woods, letting out pained groans.
Sanji jumped off the dragon’s body and beat his wings as fast as he could, rising above the forest and still going higher. Turning around, he beat his wings twice to descend even faster and started flipping over rapidly. He brought his front hooves down on the dragon’s head, yelling “Concassé Blaze!” The dragon roared in pain and slowly fell over to the side. He hit the ground with white eyes and stopped moving.
Sanji landed on four legs without using his wings and let the heat in his forelegs subside. He spit the smoking stump of his cigarette to the ground and stomped it out with one hoof. Trotting over to the group of mares he looked up at the reddening sky. “It’s going to be night soon; you should get back to your town.” He walked past them and made his way into the forest.
Twilight stared after him dumbfounded for a moment before she caught herself. “Wait!” She galloped after the stallion, adamant on getting some answers. As she and her friends caught up to him she noticed that his hooves were back to their previous black color.