//------------------------------// // Splinter in My Side // Story: Purple Guardian // by DragonPony //------------------------------// Chapter 7 Splinter in My Side I kept running trying to pinpoint where the cries are coming from. All I can see are the apple trees looking like a blurs as I ran past them. Once I finally make it to the edge of the Everfree Forest all that is running through my mind is ‘where are they are and who would be dumb enough to go into the Everfree?’ As I began to sniff the air to try to see if I can pick up any ponies scent I see up in the sky I bright little fireball shining in the sky looking like a second sun. I crack a smile and say, “Peewee I so owe you a whole bag of sunflower seeds after this.” I take off in the direction of the sky ember. I weave between the trees as I run in a full sprint hoping I am not too late. After running as fast as I can I finally make it in time to see who was crying for my help. I wish I could say I was surprised who was out here all alone in danger but I’ve never been one for lying. There sat Applebloom on the forest ground. She was covered in dirt and clearly tired from running for her life. In front of her was her family pet dog Winona. She was a Border Collie with brown fur on her head and back with white patches of fur on her face, paw, and tail. Winona was down in a feral stance ready to attack anyone that got close to her owner. One thing that really caught my eye was the small ball of fur that Applebloom was cradling in her arms. It was a small white ball of fur and as I look harder I see two horns sticking up out of the top of its head along with big floppy ears. I remember that the creature is called a Jackalope. I learned about them from Fluttershy since she has a cream-colored one that likes to stop by for a booty call with one of her rabbits. The bunny wasn’t the problem here in this situation. The issue is the Timberwolf that has trapped the trio in a corner with large rock walls on both sides. The only way out is past the big bad wolf himself. This wasn’t some little cub ether; this wolf was slightly larger than the average wolf, not as big as the one that came after me and AJ before but still big enough to be something I don’t want to mess with. It’s looking like I won’t get that option as I see him stalk closer and closer to them. The snarl on his face shows he is out for blood. The intensity in his glowing ghoulishly yellow eyes showed that he won’t want to stop and discuss this over a spot of tea. Too bad really after all that running I could really use a drink. It is clear that Winona couldn’t take this big guy down and with him blocking the only way out they were like candy in front of Pinkie. But unlike those poor innocent sweets I will stop this bloodbath. Before the Timberwolf made it to the three I rushed out of the tree line and slammed into him at full speed with my shoulder. The force of the blow combined with my body mass knocked him off his paws and sent him tumbling into some nearby bushes. I turned to the three to make sure they are okay. Applejack look confused as to where her purple savior came from. Winona on the other hand stayed ready to pounce if I took a step closer to them. This is understandable considering I could very well look like another predator coming to steal the kill. The Jackalope looked more relieved than anything that their woody friend took an abrupt trip. My thoughts were cut short when I started to hear rustling in the bush, I figure it was our old friend getting over the shock of what just happen and is going to come back more pissed than before. “You three have to get out of here right now!” I shout at the three behind me as I drop my stance trying to prepare just in case he decide to lunge at us. “D-did that dog just talk? That is awesome!! How did you do that Mr.Dog? Can ya teach Winona here how to do it as well?” Applebloom asked exactly. As to why I thought she would just see the seriousness of the situation is beyond me. “Look we don’t have time to play who is the dashing dog Applebloom. You guys have to get out of here now before the walking lumber yard shows back up. I tell her as I let out a sigh trying to temper my growing annoyance at the situation I just dropped myself into. Applebloom backed away from me getting closer to the wall. I hear her voice shack with a mix of curiosity and slight paranoia, “How do you know my name?” I hear a growl go louder and loud as the bush started to shake more violently. It is clear we only have a few more moments before our guest returns from his potty break. I turn my head and look back at them with pleading eyes. Pleading for them to just go and get somewhere safe. “Please just get out of there. I will hold him off as long as I can but I can’t fight while trying to protect all of you as well. NOW GO!!!” I shout at them making them all slightly flinch at my tone and intensity. I then hear a quiet voice I do not recognize come from behind me. “I think we can trust him. We don’t want to be here when the wolf gets back on his paws.” Turning around again to see who was just talking to my shock it was the Jackalope speaking on my behalf. Winona seems to trust the Jackalope and gave it a nod. She got behind Applebloom and started to shove her to make her start to move. After she finally got the hint Applebloom put the Jackalope down and took off past me headed back towards the town. As they passed me Winona didn’t say a word but instead just growled at me. I can only assume she still didn’t trust me near Bloom and wanted to make sure I didn’t try anything. This made me laugh, that I am risking my life and I am still being looked at like the bad guy. This made me chuckle at the fact. “I guess the lady doesn’t want to talk to a tramp like me.” I say with a toothy grin on my face. To my surprise a slight moment I thought I saw a grin appear on her muzzle for a second there. Once they made it past me our old friend thought it was the perfect chance to jump out. The timberwolf came flying out the bush running full speed at the group. He was only seconds from being on top of Winona as she stopped to try to buy Applebloom and the Jackalope time for their getaway. Luckily enough I made it just in time to give the walking stick figure a hard headbutt, pushing him away from the herd dog. This hit didn’t have the same force as the last one so this time he only went sliding to the side but still on his feet, and clearly really pissed, but with me… yippie. I move in front of Winona to try making sure he doesn’t try that again. I gave her a nod so she knew to get out of here as I cover her. I hear her take off running only to then notice that she stopped. What could he be thinking it is only luck that he hasn’t already pounced at us again? I hear in a southern accent much like all of the Apples have but this voice was very feminine. It didn’t have the gruffness that AppleJack seems to carry in her tone most of the time. “Don’t die.” Was all Winona said to me before she took off running after Applebloom and the Jackalope. I breathe a sigh of relief that the three of them made it out of here without getting hurt, but now I have a much bigger, scarier, and very pissed off problem to deal with now. The timberwolf walks up to me with a snarl on his face and pure hate in my eyes. “You made me lose my kill you pathetic excuse of a mutt.” The timberwolf growled at me making sure he shows his fangs as he did so. “Okay first ‘ouch’, I am not a mutt from what I know of,” Hmm on second thought I don’t know my parent’s lineage for all I know I could be a mutt. “And second I am sorry about spoiling your meal but those were friends of mine so I couldn’t let you eat them like they were the early bird special.” I tell him, doing everything I can to keep my eyes glued on him as he start trying to circle around me. “Please, you are more pathetic than I thought, talking about friends with creatures of such caliber. That pony is good for nothing but food for us blessed by the forest. The horned one is a vermin that is encroaching on our Mother Forest’s lands. And that bitch is of such lower breed she wouldn’t even be worth changing into one of us to be used for breeding.” This all seemed like a joke to the wooden jackass as he then started to laugh at his own elitist bullshit. All he did was piss me off with the shit she was saying. “Oh that is big talk coming from useless spirit that doesn’t even have its own body and has to possess a bunch of firewood to even give himself any wood.” I tell the self-entitled bundle of sticks as he stops circling me. It would seem my comment struck a nerve with him. “How dare you address me that you’re better that way you ignorant pup. I am Deeproot an Alpha male class timberwolf. The species blessed by Mother Forest to be the top of the food chain. I will not have a filthy pet talk down to me. I was going to make your death quick but now I will make you suffer.” Deeproot gave me the traditional bad guy speech that I kind of just drowned out. “Yea well I am Spike of the kick a bunch of dirt and twigs ass species. And I won’t let something that is better suited to be used as toothpicks then a wolf get the better of me. If you think I would let the likes of you kill me then there must be some poison joke in you as well. I don’t care what your Tree Mother says!” I growl back at him knowing there is no way to get out of this situation but to fight. It seemed that insulting his mother was not a good idea. I don’t know many situations where it is a good idea. The next thing I knew he was charging at me full speed. Unlike his name he moved like he was running on the wind for he was on me before I could think of a response. Deeproot rose on his hind legs and struck me right across the muzzle with his left paw. The force of the blow knocked my head to the side and caused me to stagger as I pulled back to give myself a little distance to regroup and think of what to do next. I could feel that the bridge of my snout had a cut on it and was bleeding. Even with my thicker skin he was still able to draw blood which shows me his blows are no joke. If I had been a normal dog or pony that would have took off the whole front of my face leaving me looking like Mareael Jackson in the later years. “Oh seems you are slightly tougher than I thought you would be mutt. No matter you will die here and your body will be used to feed my mother.” Deeproot said with a confident grin on his face as he then licked my blood off of his claws. I start to think of a way to try to get the upper hand on this asshole. My face is still thumping from the slash he put on it, there must be splinters inside of it because it feels like a bunch of small needles drilling into my face. I remember I still have my fire breath and I try to stir up my inner flames. But to no good, ‘damn it must be slightly different to use it then when I was a dragon,’ I thought to myself. My next move was to charge at him to see if maybe if I can throw my weight around and get the advantage on him. Once I got close to him he lowers himself down to a more feral stance and waited for me to come closer. The second I was in his range he rose up from under me as I tried to get on top of him knocking me down on my back. Deeproot lunged for my throat as I lay there on my back; I had enough awareness to roll to the side before he came down on me. I scurry to my feet and try to regain my composure. It is clear that he has far more fighting experience than I do. Not to mention that he is far more used to fighting with and against a something with a body like mine. “You are just sad to watch. Have you ever fought a day in your life? Even for a filthy dog you shouldn’t be flopping around like a newborn pup. That bitch would have put up a better fight then you are. I almost feel bad killing someone so defenseless.” Deeproot taunted me not really knowing how right he was since I never had to fight for myself before much less for my own life. Well so what, even with no battle experience, doesn’t mean I am going to lie down and let this tree sap take me down. I won’t die as a dog; there is no way I am going to bite the big one before I get a chance to confess to Rarity. I can’t die and leave Twilight alone; the girl would be dead in a month. So let’s think of a way to take this guy out. Guessing Deeproot grew tired of waiting for me to make a fool out of myself again he pounced at me. I bet he thought he was going to finish me of here and now. As he charged at me with the clear motivation of putting me down I came up with some quick thinking to give me a chance to return the favor for hurting my pretty face. I look down and see a rock resting right next to my paw. With only a second to spare I take and kick the rock right at the charging batch of kindling. The rock hits him right dead center in the forehead. Draconic strength is nothing to sneeze at considering how the force of the blow made the alpha wolf cringe and miss me as he goes charging past me. Seeing an opportunity I leapt after him and landed on his back leg. I dig my claws into his hind legs and drag them down his thighs figuring I will take away that speed of his and make his a match of power where I have more of a footing against him. I feel my claws dig into the wood that made up his hip. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling when my claw dragged through his wooden flesh causing it to scream out in pain. To my surprise there was greenish blood flowing from now the gashing on his legs. I figure since whenever we dealt with them before he would just use blunt force and not sharp bladelike weapons we never saw if they could bleed or not. My celebration over the damage inflicted upon him was ended when he twisted his hips and shook me off of his back. I catch myself so I didn’t lose my footing completely as I was supporting my own weight again. I was a little pissed because it I didn’t do as much damage to his legs as I was hoping. He was still able to move even as he stood back up and had a death gaze locked on me. With the hope of taking advantage of the damage I have done and praying that I had the upper hand in maneuverability with the damage on his legs I charged at him. Experience in battle can make up for any disadvantage because it was clear he anticipated what I was going to do. As I came in for the bite, thinking this is where the struggle ends, he was able to move under my bite and go right for his target. Deeproot was able to make it to my hind legs and impale me right on my leg joint with his claw. The pain was unbelievable, I howled in agony as I felt his paw clinch digging his splinter ridden claw into my joint. I think that stupid mirror for giving my dragon-like skin or else he would have ripped my whole leg off with that. The pain caused me to buckle slightly from the pain. This turned out to be a very bad thing since Deeproot took full advantage of my moment of weakness and brought his other claw down on my back carving into my lower back. This was the final straw that brought me down to the grass under us. Deeproot pounced on me in a matter of moments, I thank Luna that I had enough sense to roll over on my back and throw my legs up to stop him from coming down on me and finishing me off right then and there. I rack my claw across this throat as he run his paw across my arm that is causing him pain. I can smell his breath as each snapped his powerful jaws come down inches from my face and neck every time he dives down on me from his superior position. We wrestle with each other, scratching and clawing at each other just waiting for the other to make a single mistake that could cause the other to lose their life. Deeproot looks down on me with hate burning in his eyes. It was clear that I wasn’t on the top of his friends to come over and watch a hoofball game list since I refused to roll over and die. And like every other bad guy does when they feel that they have the upper hand… they taunt. “You fought better than I thought you would mutt, but this is where you shall die,” Deeproot says in between snaps at my muzzle. “I will kill you, gather my kind, we will storm that pathetic pony pack and kill every last one of them. I will personally kill that small pony cub and that rat. Then I will enjoy that bitch before I put it down like I did its master.” Deeproot glares into my eyes seeming to take enjoyment at my anger at what he was saying. I keep fighting against him, keeping away every fatal strike that comes my way but even with my life only inches from being taken all I can think about is what he said. Deeproot gathering his pack and attacking the town, killing everyone I love in it. I feel my hate growing more and more. He wants to take away what I treasure, the ponies I care about, and he wants to take them all from me. I won’t let him; I won’t let anything hurt the ones I care about. There is no way In Tartarus I will allow that. I am Spike, I may be a dog but I AM ALSO A DRAGON! That was when I felt it, my fire; my fire was burning bright inside of me to protect the things I see as important to me. This caused me a grin to form on my face as I then started to laugh as I was keeping Deeproot from taking a chunk out of my neck yet again. “What is so funny beta male? Is the fear of dying so strong it has driven you insane? Pathetic.” Deeproot says with disgust in his voice. “Oh no Deepsuck, I am not laughing because of that. I am laughing because I am about to show you a trick that just ‘burn’you up and I call it ‘fire bending’!!... No no that’s stupid, hmm whatever I’ll name it later.” I say as I let go of my inner fire but to my surprise it didn’t go shooting out of my mouth like last time or when I was a dragon. Instead my whole mouth caught on fire, it didn’t burn me however but I could see the fire flowing from my jaw. I could also see the shocked, confused, and terrified expression on Deeproot’s face. Deciding not to miss my chance I force my head up and bite down with as much force as I could muster right on Deeproot’s throat. I felt him try to shake me but my bite was too hard and my teeth cut into his wood body like butter. He screamed as my bite was crushing the wood of his throat. The biggest issue for him was the fact my fire was slowly spreading on his body. I could feel the heat of my green fire start to travel all over his body. I let go of his neck but just wanted to be safe I jumped on top of his thrashing boy and bit down on the top of his neck and dragged him to the ground. I watch as the flames spread till they bathed his whole body and the wood around his throat were completely destroyed. But I think the thing that will haunt me forever will be looking into his eyes and seeing fear, fear of dying. Then I watch as the glow from his eyes faded till there was nothing left but a pile of burning wood. I did it, I won, and I killed Deeproot. Killed. I killed something, no matter if he was a giant wooden asshole he was still alive and I killed him. And for some reason I just knew it, I just KNEW it, he wouldn’t be reforming and coming back like I have seen them do before. My guess is because dragon fire is magic by default it stopped whatever spell let them come back. I can’t just sit here all day and watch a pile of wood burn. My body is covered in wounds and some of them are pretty deep. If I don’t get some medical attention soon I don’t think I will make it. I force myself up which is far from easy considering Deepbitch tried to tear one of my leg off and fucked up both of my forearms during our little struggle. As I go limping back towards the direction of town I could feel my blood pouring from my legs, back, and face. I can’t smell a thing other than my own blood. My eyesight is starting to get blurry. The only thing I can make out is a little golden ball of light coming barreling at me. “Big Bro…” I hear a sound coming from the direction of the ball of light but can’t make out what it is. “Big Bro” I hear it slightly louder this time but still can’t quite make it out. By this time I can’t walk anymore and I collapse right there on the cold grass. “Big Bro!” I grin when I finally figure out what I was hearing and see who it was that has been calling out this whole time. As well as lavender blob that is running behind the golden ball. I only have enough energy to say one thing before I pass out. “You are getting two bags of seeds” Then everything goes dark.