//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty Six: Free Falling // Story: The Equestrian Venture // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE Chapter Twenty Six: Free Falling Written by TheCrimsonDM The battle raged on below, goblins fell, dogs died, and the ponies were tired. Rita hadn’t seen such a conflict in a very long time, and the more she watched this, the more she felt like she wasn’t any further away from her old world. Twilight stood by her side watching with a grim expression, her eyes strained to see every detail of the battlefield, and finally she was beginning to growl. “What do we do? The dragon hasn’t shown up yet and our defenses are being whittled away by these monsters,” Rita asked. They had been shocked when Spike showed just how powerful he was in combat, they were worried when Maud had been injured, and Twilight was enraged when Trixie broke formation to help Maud out. Rita wasn’t sure how long this fight could last, the only ponies who were still on top of things were the Wonderbolts, but then again there were no flying monsters on the field. Rita stomped her foot in frustration when she saw the new wave of monsters coming in. Along with the ground forces came a group of flying bats with dogs riding them. Twilight stared forward her expression turned to rage as she screamed, “OH COME ON!” Rita watched with grim fascination at what happened next. The Wonderbolts collided with the bats as the battle finally took to the air as well as the ground forces. The dark clouds only aided to dreariness of this conflict but something new came from within the cloud; a huge dark shape with two wings flapping powerfully was growing in size. A horrid cry sounded over the village as the creature approached ever closer. Twilight stared angrily at the cloud and said, “That’s it, that must be the dragon. Come on, Rita. It’s time to join the fray.” Without a moment’s hesitation Twilight’s horn began glowing and the air around them popped. A blinding pink light followed by disorientation left Rita trying to find out what just happened. She looked around only to realize that she was no longer on the roof top with Twilight, instead she was on the ground in the front lines of battle. Twilight was at her side and already firing pink lasers from her horn at the enemies around them. Rita growled and focused her attention on the task before her. Goblins came at her, and she struck them down with her daggers. A few clusters of goblins received a fireball along with the riders. Rita charged forward and using her daggers took out as many of the goblins before her, goblin, after goblin, after goblin fell to her blades, but no matter how many she struck down, they just kept coming. Twilight didn’t fare much better as she used her magic to strike them down. Twilight focused on the larger targets over the smaller ones when she could, leaving Rita to more or less take care of the goblins that surrounded them. Rita wasn’t sure what they were doing on the ground, not when the dragon was still on its way that thought gave her incentive to look back at her comrades that were still fighting. The ponies were actually a lot further away then Rita had thought they were which meant that Twilight had teleported the two of them as close to the dragon as she could. That same terrible cry sounded a second time this time the volume had increased so loudly that it hurt her ears. The goblins around her winced in obvious pain, most of them turned away from Twilight and Rita and focused on charging toward the town. The riders were beginning to avoid the two of them as well. Soon Rita and Twilight stood alone on the gray rocky plain while staring at the dark shape flying above them. The monster’s wings flapped slowly causing a slight breeze. Twilight smiled and turned to Rita. “Get on my back.” “What?” Rita exclaimed. “I’m taking that thing on in the air, and I need you to help,” Twilight explained. Rita didn’t like it but it was a sound a plan as any other, the dragon was clearly not going to come down to them, so that only left one real option; take the fight to it. Rita nodded and quickly climbed up onto the princess’s back, something felt odd, maybe even wrong about doing this. Rita braced herself and after securing a safe seat she said, “Okay, I’m ready.” Twilight grinned, Rita couldn’t help but do the same, and together they took off into the sky. As they soared the dragon above them became clearer, it wasn’t quite as large as Rita had once imagined, but it was still big enough that its entire head was the size of a pony. Rita held on tightly to Twilight’s neck and suddenly had an insight into what Twilight was planning. Rita ducked her head behind Twilight’s and felt magic surge through her own body as the air around them crackled with pink electricity. A pink lightning bolt shot out from Twilight’s horn and struck the dragon golem’s stony underside. The dragon looked down but didn’t react to the attack other than acknowledging the pair’s existence. The dragon quickly looked away and kept flying straight. Rita thought about using a more concentrated blast and suddenly Twilight said, “Good idea.” Rita wasn’t sure what just happened but she ducked again as Twilight charged up for a second attack. Twilight flew in close and when only a few feet away from the dragon she unleashed the spell into the dragon’s chest. The dragon let out a painful cry as the stone shattered and disintegrated. A large hole now lay open in the thing’s chest, large enough for Twilight to fly through. As they made their way through the dragon’s chest Rita saw a green stone that glowed with a menacing light. Once on the other side of the dragon Rita heard Twilight telling her to destroy the gem. Rita turned her head and stretched out her right arm. She took aim but noticed that the hole they had just made was already beginning to close from the regeneration spell. Rita charged magic into her gauntlet and a beam of white energy flew out from her palm and towards the hole. The beam struck the gem and on contact the gem exploded. The dragon gave a shriek before its altitude lowered as its wings jerked. The dragon quickly recovered, but now having injured the dragon, Rita felt the adrenaline surging throughout her tiny frame. Twilight laughed merrily before saying, “I can’t believe that you did it. That’s one down, two more to go right?” Rita smiled and replied, “Yeah, only two more.” Twilight looked back at Rita and asked, “What are you talking about?” “You just asked me how many gems were left,” Rita explained. “No I didn’t,” Twilight said, her face growing a little worried. “But I just heard you say it.” “I was thinking about it, but I didn’t say anything out lo-“ Twilight tried to explain but stopped mid sentence. Rita instantly knew what Twilight was staring at, even though she couldn’t see the dragon that was now aimed at them with its open mouth, and the rows of razor sharp teeth, somehow Rita knew exactly how terrifying the creature looked to Twilight. Rita also knew that inside its mouth was another green gem. Panic shot through Rita’s heart as she turned quickly and upon actually seeing the dragon she through a fireball into its mouth. The fireball exploded uselessly against the inside of its stone carved mouth, it kept flying unhindered. Twilight’s speed was beginning to drop and Rita knew why. Quickly Rita turned to face Twilight who was still staring right at the dragon, and without hesitation Rita smacked the alicorn princess’s cheek. Twilight’s speed fell greatly for a second as Twilight snapped out of the fear filled trance that she was in and just as the dragon’s mouth began covering the two, Twilight focused and for a second time Rita was blinded by a pink light. Rita’s vision returned quickly this time, and without any disorientation as she saw the dragon ahead of them. The dragon snapped its jaws shut tight, and continued flying upwards for a moment. Twilight’s breathing was rapid and she was having a hard time simply hovering in the air. Rita saw the dragon disappear into the storm cloud above them and took the moment of peace to calm herself. “We… we almost got eaten,” Twilight said in disbelief. “Yeah but we didn’t,” Rita said. “I should be used to this kind of threat by now, but I guess I’ve never fought an actual dragon before. How did you used to do this?” Twilight asked. “With a good plan, good friends, and a heart full of fear,” Rita explained. “What, what do we do?” Twilight asked. “Easy, we just need to get it to open its big dumb mouth,” Rita said coolly. “Easier said than done,” Twilight stated. “Well we’re about to find out.” Twilight looked up and saw the dragon had returned with its jaws open and ready to strike at the pair. Rita aimed her left arm at the dragon’s open mouth, the gem was in there, she could see its glow, but its mouth wasn’t opened wide enough for a clear shot yet. Rita hissed in frustration at this situation. Twilight flew towards the dragon, magic surging through the two of them, and Twilight’s horn began to glow. “I’ll get it to open its mouth, you just get ready to shoot the gem.” Rita nodded and even though she knew that Twilight couldn’t see it, Twilight had gotten the message. Twilight unleashed another beam of pink energy, the beam this time went through the dragon’s mouth knocking out many of its teeth. The head however was still intact only now the dragon was trying to ram the two of them. Twilight quickly turned and darted downward. Rita took aim at the creatures open mouth, and unleashed another beam of white energy. The green gem was sitting open and ready for another hit, and Rita watched as the beam struck the gem. As planed the gem exploded and the dragon gave another howl of pain as its flight was interrupted. This time the dragon’s body began to crumble, large chunks of the dragon’s stone body falling off and tumbling to the ground below. Rita could only watch in horror as the dragon swatted one of its large wings at the pair. The wing came off of the dragon and shattered into a storm of large rocks that flew towards the two at extreme speeds. Twilight was forced to try and dodge the rocks coming at her blindly, and Rita using her new beam gauntlet started destroying the rocks she could. She got the first rock, Twilight dodged the next, Rita shot down another one, and then Twilight turned left and one of the large rocks blind sighted her. The rock bounced off of the alicorn’s head and suddenly Twilight went limp. A sudden burst of pain shot through Rita’s skull and she fell off the princess’s back. The dragon however was still chasing after them. Rita looked down and saw the ground rapidly approaching, she didn’t know how far she was from the ground but she knew that she was going to hit it soon. The dragon’s entire body had crumbled into many large rocks by this point, all of it except for a skeletal structure which was made of obsidian. Rita caught the glimpse of a green glow coming from its forehead and she knew that this was her last chance to stop it. Rita took aim and fired her beam gauntlet. She missed, so she shot again, this time a rock got in the way and took the blow instead. Rita screamed in rage and unleashed one final energy beam at the dragon, the beam raced forward, nearly hit another rock, but in the end it struck the dragon’s forehead. The dragon’s head exploded, and the obsidian skull shattered, among the remains of the skull Rita could see the shattered fragments of the green gem; the last green gem. Despite the fact that she was falling towards her death, she still managed to smile. One last opponent, a dragon none the less, she could call this an acceptable ending. Rita closed her eyes and felt her body spinning around in the air. She had been fighting for a long time now, and even though she didn’t want to die yet, she could accept this. The Plane of Glass awaited her, maybe she could be reunited with her friends there. Rita’s world was suddenly brightened by a pink light again. She quickly opened her eyes and screamed as she fell towards the sky, she slowed down, stopped mid air and began falling backwards. Rita slammed her back into the ground almost instantly and the pain shot through her body. She made a point of staying still for a moment, at least until she began coughing. “You… you okay?” Twilight asked in between heavy breaths. Rita looked over to see the Princess kneeling beside her with a trail of crimson coming down the side of her face. Rita reached out but stopped as her back screamed at her, she decided just to look away and say, “I’m breathing aren’t I?”