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// An ancient creature russles 
// Story: DiE: Glarin Ungard the Berserker 
// by InsaneJustin 
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	"What was that light?!" Said Luna as she peered her head toward the window of her bedroom. Glarin had recovered enough to where he had normal speech again.

"Forget the light! You need to get that beard back!" Glarin was dabbing a bottle onto a cloth as Luna cleared her throat. Letting the thin outer shade fall back into place, she shyly walked up to Glarin.

"Is it really necessary?" Glarin gave Luna a bleary look before he looked out the window, seeing the plume of smoke through Luna’s tissue thin curtain.

"Yes, let the other authorities handle it. It’s in the middle a nowhere and besides… We're busy here." Glarin held the cloth up to Luna for her to take. Which she took with a blush before looking at it with some second thoughts. 

"I'll show you how to braid it beautifully..." Luna watched Glarin look at his own beard and gently stroke it. How he recovered his normal speech so fast was probably why 4 maids were in the throne room right now cleaning up various fluids. His eyes would lose focus easily as he seemed to get lost in thought. Perhaps he was in some kind of drunken stupor with normal speech due to tolerance.

Luna wondered what he was thinking about as she dabbed the cloth around her chin. A blast like that should wake Celestia anyway. And it was out in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Luna sighed at the odd feeling on her chin as the fur began to grow to an oddly long length.

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"I found the Popcorn! Go back out there and tell us what were missing Carl! Moe, help me find something for the dogs." Moe looked around then over to his dogs… that he didn’t know were actually called dogs.

"Ok, but what we feed Klick, Clack, Zack, Mack, Jack, Moxie, Mixie, Skag, Klag, Dagg, Larry, Chip, Mog, Pog, Gid, Klig, Kroag, Dlack… ?" Commander Izi just looked in disbelief before giving a sigh and a chuckle.

"Moe, your new friends, they are called Dogs. Glad to hear you've named them all. Let’s find something Quickly, I bet we've already missed the start of their fight." 

Moe help Commander Izi by opening the cabinets and drawers he could reach. Before long they had a decent number of things that they gathered and took out to the command room. Carl was manning the cameras and doing his best to keep an eye on everything.

“You haven’t missed much, It seems Ursa isn’t bothered by Red’s flames. At least it doesn’t seem like it anyway. Red took to the air just a moment ago to prevent himself from getting mauled. Shes a bit bigger than him.

Moe watched the big screen with the Red dragon flying around overhead spewing bright orange loosely spread flames down toward the Ursa.

“Is that what were calling them now? Red and Ursa?” Commander Izi laid all the stuff out on the nearest table as she watch the T.V.s.

“It works right? Not like we know their names anyway.”

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Many Dragons have the ability to create a pure Hydrogen gas within them. Most of those dragons use it for flight, sending the gas to a separate lung, or Air sac to order to make their massive bodies weigh less.

Red Dragons are born with the ability set to go beyond the normal fire-breathing seen in lesser half-breeds. So long as a Red dragon eats a varied diet with sulfur and metals like platinum or gold, he or she can use them to create volatile substances greater than any lesser fire breathing dragon that attempts to use its fire. A pure blooded red dragons body is a powerhouse for creating different kinds of flammable substances, they just needed the time to do so.

Reds flames were weak right now, he just woke up from sleeping. The combustible gasses within his attack lung had to build up for a few minutes before he could make something that would hurt her. He has sent it all to his flight lung in order to prevent his head from being ripped off.

He could always just mix some of his stomach acid with his Sticky fire… 

He wondered briefly what caused the damage and why she thought it was him. He wasn't nearly big enough to do something of that scale.

Sure she was against him moving in, and he kicked out her lesser cousin Henry. But Henry said he could crash at a friend’s house, and not to worry about it.

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The real problem was getting Red out of the sky so she could tear him to pieces. It's been awhile since she’s eaten dragon flesh, and her cub would enjoy it as well. A delicacy such as that is hard to pass up. She had hoped to reach him before he had enough time to get airborne. 

After an attack like that she should have had plenty of time to run over and rip his head off.

Ursa took to running around the forest keeping an eye out for any small fireballs that may be coming her way.

She didn’t understand why he would open and then miss with such a large attack, if it left him in such a weakened state? Why didn't he blow up her cave directly?

With a powerful swipe of her left paw, the nearby earth and trees were uprooted and sent hurdling toward Red.

Twelve trees were uprooted and sent flying into the air. Five more trees were left mangled and broken not far from Ursa. The ground was missing a considerable amount of earth making a rather deep crevice.

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The trees were easy to see with his lowlight vision, and the fact she shined like a beacon in the dark made it hard to miss any of her movements. Red opened his mouth and released a huge wave of thick flame. Incinerating the trees directly in front of him with only debris and ash hitting him.

Red snorted as he stayed up in the air. He had been saving that, how was he supposed to finish this quickly if she was going to be throwing trees at him?

Red thought for a second and rubbed his belly. He should have enough stored for several of them. 

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As Red flew up higher into the sky, he began to churn the flames inside his mouth and lungs. With a practiced motion, he turned his head up and flexed his belly, pushing on the left side of his stomach. He then hacked up a small ball of red-orange goop into the air, followed by several more. He began to catch them into his mouth, only to be re-spit back up into the air. He was juggling the balls of dense red goo until green spots began to show on their surface.

He juggled them around until he had about 20 of them. They were somehow mixed together so that everything was green with red spots. At which point Red dislocated his jaw and caught them all into his mouth one after another. Once he caught them all he turned his attention to Ursa, who had been watching him the whole time.

Peeved that he had flown just out of reach to juggle some balls around.

Ursa locked her gaze on Red as he locked his eyes onto hers.

He folded in his wings and exhaled a small cloud from his nose. At which point he dropped back down a decent distance. When his wings expanded back outward, a deep sounding solid thumping boom echoed throughout the sky. Red launched one of the magma balls at Ursa the very second he expanded out his wings.

She almost didn’t even see it, she heard it land next to her, then saw a hole in the ground next to her with it sizzling with smoke and flame. It began to get more violent as it continued until she heard a muffled boom.

The ground shifted upwards with black smoke rising from the hole.

Red smiled with his mouth full of the deadly ammunition and inhaled a deep breath through his nostrils as he prepared the volley. His test shot was closer to the target than he thought. 

Ursa couldn’t let a single one hit her, such a thing would be the end for her. 

Reds eye twitched when she cracked her neck and roared up into his direction. 

Provoking him as she stood up to her hind legs.

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“No Freaking way!” said Carl as he tilted his head back and filled his mouth to the brim with popcorn.

“Shut Up and man the Controls Carl! We need a Better Angle! Also I hit the record button! I bet after we get fired we can make a killing on selling this video to some underground animal fights system for some cash.” Carl jumped up dropping the food and began to rush toward the console.

“Thinking ahead I see; I want 33% of the profit! Now Lead on Commander!” Izi furrowed her brow.

“33%? Why not 50%?” Izi raised an eyebrow at Carl. Thinking he was trying to get on her good side.

“Doesn’t Moe get some? I mean, this only happened cause a him… and somewhat Princess Twilight. But you know… I think she’s already loaded.” Carl shrugged at Izi.

“Yeah I guess so…” Izi looked over at Moe who was covering his mouth and one eye as he watched the screen. “Why not.” She shrugged as she began to propel them forward slowly. Keeping the cameras steady.

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Ursa dropped from her hind legs propelling her own body toward the ground with the intention of slamming into it, then with her toes gripping the earth, she propelled her massive body forward.

As she came down the earth quaked causing the trees to uproot and rocks to bounce. She took off like a rocket in a zig zag crushing trees under her, and using a heavy paw swipe to throw trees into Reds direction. The more she moved and distracted him, the less likely one of those things would hit her.

Red saw her start scrambling through the area and throwing more trees up into his direction. He dodged the trees best his could, letting smaller objects hit him. He couldn’t use his current weapon against the trees.

Red began to start his aerobatic dance to avoid being knocked from the sky. Staying in the air was much less burdensome than what she was doing. He would just have to wait for her to slow down a bit…

Ursa was throwing everything she had at him. If she could knock him out of the air before he had to exchange the gas in his flight lung. Then she could finish this quickly. She really didn’t want to try actively dodging those little death balls. She just hoped he was using them to try and hit her while she ran around. 

After she had exhausted all of the trees in the area she slowed her pace only to realize Red's mouth was still brimming with them. He was waiting for her to stop moving, wasn’t he? 

How long could he stay in the air before he had to land? 

Red watched as she began to slow her pace. The number of useable trees that he stayed within reach of were now all gone. She had taken to watching him as she moved around the now open space with a brisk pace. Red took a deep breath and shot another one out.

Ursa watched as his chest inflated and got ready for the coming bullet. A little quick on the draw, she jumped to the left just before she heard the boom. She was about to smile at Red but suddenly heard another boom as her paws were about to touch the ground.

She didn’t even have time to look up before she heard something land right behind her, followed with another boom as her paws just finished settling on the ground...

Survival instincts took over with the release of every chemical needed for times of desperate situations. Her brain kicked into overdrive remembering his last position in the air, her surroundings and what would happen if she got hit. 

Her only hope was that he couldn’t hit a moving target.

Ursa began to hop around as if she was light as a feather. The tips of her paws would barely come into contact with the ground before she jumped again. Even taking to tumbling or rolling her massive body, anything to keep her massive glowing body moving as erratically as possible. 

Red quickly inhaled another breath and began to pop them out one after another as fast as he could. Angry that such a huge bear could move faster than him. 

Then again, his body wasn't made for fast land movements anyway. If he couldn’t hit her with another couple single shots, then when he got down to his last seven or so. He would try his luck with a spread shot.

That always worked in the past against fast or nimble foes.

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Carl was watching the screen with Izi and Moe, all watching in awe that such a huge creature could possibly move so fast. 

It was mind boggling and brought on a feeling of hopelessness should they ever anger such a creature. Red was having a bit of trouble it seemed, he was terrible at re-aiming, it would seem he always needed a test shot in order to get it down 100%.

Ursa dodged to the left and then again to the back right at an angle, followed by a roll forward, and a spring hop to the left.

There was no boom for the last two of her jumps, she slowed her pace as she looked up. 

Red had stopped to inhale through his nose one last time, the second she looked up and saw his chest puffed out she leaped back as far as she could. 

But it was too late. Red was waiting for the moment her adrenaline rush wore out. The moment of pause when she would need to slow down and breathe.

With a deafening Phoom sound, She was hit with 3 of the little dense flame balls.

One went through her front right forepaw, with another lodged in her right shoulder, the last one had taken her left ear and part of her cheek.

Red tisked. More at his terrible aim than anything else. It would seem he only took her right arm. He wasn’t sure if it would be enough to kill her. If he got her left, it might be close enough to her heart, and it would melt through the bone and reach her heart, or explode through to it. 

Red hoped that once it popped, she would take enough damage to go down. Or at the very least leave to go lick her wounds. He needed to go and find more materials to eat, and then spend a day digesting them. He already used his only trump card.

He would have to land soon and exchange the air in his flight lung as well. But if she still wanted to fight, then he would have little choice in the matter.
The pain from her missing ear and the hole in her right forepaw was excruciating, but not nearly as bad as the one in her shoulder.

She could feel it sizzle and crack, the flesh in her right shoulder felt tight, yet the something inside of her that felt agonizingly hot moments ago, had gone cold. Only the sensations of the various pressures and the feeling of bubbles and popping were present. Her shoulder felt like it was frozen and numb, yet the rest of her body felt like she was on fire.

A thick black smoke was rising from the wound. She fell over to her right side and writhed around in agony at the feeling in her right shoulder. 

All she could do was wait it out and hope the damage wasn't as bad as it felt.

Red watched her writhe and roll around on the floor. Glad he could make such a large opponent fall and roll around in agony. As Red landed he watched her writhe around roaring, till her eyes locked onto him. Her half-awake pained expression was replaced with fury.

He landed… now was her chance. Her anger allowed her to ignore the pain emanating from her shoulder and body. Despite the fact, her right arm had become completely useless. She stood favoring her left side and ran as fast as she could with three legs toward him. Her body had become so hot that each one of her breaths was clearly visible as a thick mist in the darkness.

Red simply smiled at her. His little ball had yet to explode, he would get to see it up close for once.

As Ursa charged him, she didn’t get halfway before the ball popped.

It had been resting on her shoulder blade keeping her lungs and organs safe. Yet burning everything else and causing the spot of bone it rested upon to simply die. Her bones were strong enough to resist melting from the little ball. 

Yet… Not the concussive force of an explosion.

Red's smile grew twice its size as he watched her right shoulder expand outward into a flower made of crimson and orange. Her massive body was pushed to the left as her entire right side was engulfed in both flame and her own blood.

As she went down, the only thought on her mind was 'Who would take care of her new cub?" She fell over to the ground eyes half open gasping for breath as black spots filled her sight.

Why would he attack her anyway? She looked up and over to Red who was walking over to her.

"I must say, for a creature as young as you, you sure put up quite a fight. Don't worry, I won't let you go to waste. I'll make sure to eat every last bit of you, even the bones. As for who made that mess in the beginning… I'm not so sure." Red gave her a weak sympathetic smile as he filled his mouth with more flames. 

He always did prefer his food cooked well done, or burned black. Red stopped when he heard the distinct sound of a howl in the distance, followed by the entire forest joining in.

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"Commander, what are the timber wolves planning to do...?" Carl, Izi and Moe just watched silently as the ship's systems began to pick up various signals from all over the forest.

"Mother of Celestia, It's like the forest is coming alive…" Said Izi, Twilight had been kind enough to add an enemy count. It had stayed at 2, but when the howling began, the number began to rapidly increase.

10, 20, 40, 60, 100, 140, 200… The number kept going up.

"W-whats happening?"

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Red looked around himself and tisked. He swallowed the flames he had been building and spread his wings outward again.

"Agoreth awakens from our fight. I would love to stay, but I cannot burn the forest and its mountains to the ground, perhaps she will be satiated with just your body. And I will likely be blamed for that damage as well..." Red spread his wings and took to the air. Leaving Ursa to her fate, to die slowly out in the open, or be eaten by the forest.

Ursa lay on the floor, her breath becoming shorter, slower, her mind wandering as all of her pain seemed to subside and slowly disappear into a feeling of warmth and comfort that began to envelop her body. 

Her eyes became focused enough to see the vast number of timber wolves gathering around her. Ursa simply closed her eyes, there was nothing more she could do. She was going to die soon.

She took her attention off the timber wolves and moved her head to a more comfortable spot. If she was going to die, then she was going to die remembering all of the great times she had with her last and newest cub. The feeling of warmth and happiness from her memories kept her at peace.

She released a halfhearted and low moan toward the timber wolves to indicate she no longer cared. Her only regret was not being able to raise her second cub till he was old enough to be on his own.

The Timberwolves watched her give them a weak smile before closing her eyes. To which they all howled up into the air again.

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"Commander Look!" Carl pointed a hoof up to the screen to the timber wolves who had gathered around her right arm which was blown off and sent a small way away.

The timber wolves were running around the area of open space, gathering bits and pieces of the flesh that scattered from the explosion.

"They be eating the big bear!" said Moe. The timber wolves had gathered around the severed arm like ants and were eating it as fast as they could. After some time, one of the wolves walked off in the distance and halfway buried itself into the ground. Soon they all began to leave the arm and plant themselves into the ground at various spots.

"Are they, planting themselves to become new trees?"

"They're fixing the forest?" The newly planted trees were growing at an alarming rate with vines beginning to spread around covering the brown.

"Now they eat Bear!" Yelled Moe as the wolves began to climb on top of her and look at her wounds.

Some of the wolves clawed their way inside of her massive body with others eating and tearing away at all of the damaged flesh. Except the wolves weren't leaving her to plant themselves. More kept crawling inside of her massive body.

The ones on the outside seemed to be focusing on the flesh that was burned or damaged beyond repair.

After some time, they saw what looked like a small tree sprouting from her right shoulder.

"What are they do…?" Commander Izi put a hoof to Carl's mouth as they watched.

The timber wolves began to leap off her body and bite the small tree that was spouting. They themselves began to meld into a different form with the sprouting tree.

Were they healing Ursa? But why?

Carl, Moe and Izi watched in awe as the Timber wolves slowly but surely turned themselves into the forest, and become part of Ursas body. By the time the sun began to rise, the holes in the forest were covered in new growth and Ursa now had a new wooden right arm and whatever else they had to replace from within her body.

"Alright, it's getting early. We need to drop you off and get back home ourselves. Then take our firing with pride I suppose." Commander Izi hit the rec button again to stop it. And then they began to head on back.

They quickly moved outside of Glarins house and dropped everyone off. Commander Izi wanted to at least get the ship back into its Hanger before the sun was up completely. 

She was still on the job after all. 

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Moe put a finger up to his mouth and made a shushing sound as he got low into a sneaking pose. Many of the dogs followed Moes example and got a bit lower as they followed him. 

When Moe reached the front door he realized he couldn’t open it. Glarins huge stone door was way too heavy for him to push open all on his own. 

So he was stuck outside…