//------------------------------// // Chapter 14- Man vs Dragon. The Battle Ends? // Story: Flames of Equestria // by Mick0339 //------------------------------// Hammerhoof wondered on how the dragon was struck with the wagon, but it's gaze, while averted wouldn't stay that way for long. The titanic beast had its head cocked, but was slowly reeling it back to the correct position, glaring at the human who threw it from afar. A couple hundred feet away stood the man, who was glaring at the dragon, as the little purple pipsqueak was being carried away by Fluttershy. He was in a mild trance as Aldon caught glance of him, and Fluttershy of the man. Hammerhoof took the opportunity to plan an attack on the dragon; a hit and run array of attacks. The wagging tail at the back of the beast was open as the dragon refocused, beckoning on who threw the cart at him. Hammerhoof had to give a hearty laugh as he realized a food cart was thrown at a dragon. How it wasn't burned down in the rain of fire, he had no idea, but either way it seemed to work effectively and as intended. Hammerhoof began his hit and run, charging with his steel encrusted hooves, made to break bones with ease. While Hammerhoof wasn't the fastest pony, he could easily outpower almost any of them. Ever since the changelings came and he experienced the pain, he found new strength in destroying foes and vanquishing enemies. The only ponies to possibly have the same strength as Hammerhoof were the regal sisters, but even so, that would be on a good day. He didn't question it, but simply embraced it as he charged at the dragon's tail. As he closed in he readied his hit and run engagement, stopping for brief seconds, winding up his back legs, letting loose a cannon shot, and then gunning it away from the tail as the dragon gave a howl of pain. "Yeah, come and get me you lazy lizard!" Hammerhoof yelled, which got the beast's attention. "Ah, did I hurt your feelings?" Hammerhoof laughed as the dragon grinded his teeth. "You little insect! I'll crush you like a bug!" And with that the dragon uprooted his legs and began a savage game of whack a mole, but with the mole moving at relatively high speeds, and it retaliating. Every time the dragon crashed down his legged and missed, Hammerhoof gave another buck to the leg. After three to four more, the dragon gave more power, but with it accidentally got his leg momentarily stuck in the ground. The frontal right leg was indeed stuck, and Hammerhoof had his opening in all its glory. With another great buck, this time giving it everything, he struck the leg, busting off scales and sending the dragon roaring in pain. "You ponies! I'll kill you all. Starting with you! I'll burn you alive!" The dragon proceeded to level his head towards Hammerhoof and inhale deeply. The pony didn't need to think twice and began evasive maneuvers. The dragon spewed forth fire, which luckily the pony evaded by hiding behind the leg he had just injured, making the fire ineffective. "You talk big, but you can't even handle me. You're a weakling." Hammerhoof gave another whack on the unarmored skin, causing the dragon to further vent up pain. "You've hurt countless ponies with your little rampage. As a guard of this peaceful town, I must bring you to justice!" Hammerhoof yelled, giving buck after buck to the exposed tissue, giving the dragon more and more to pain to feel. "You little ponies think you're so great," the dragon had enough as a claw from behind the ranting pony came to flick him, causing him to fly into a nearby building. "You do everything as you please, and expect the world to bow to you," the dragon glared at the recovering pony, "but understand that I don't bow to your kind. And when you hurt my family!" The dragon bellowed, "I'll hurt all of yours!" The dragon let loose a mighty roar and charged into the building Hammerhoof was recovering against, flames burning off the top. The pony with the sword cutie mark couldn't even hear the sentence as the dragon sent a huge spiral of flames to Hammerhoof. It spiralled into a fast assaulting beam hurled towards the pony. Hammerhoof bit his lips and broke into a full sprint to the left, barely avoiding the beam of flames. The dragon screeched in anger as Hammerhoof looked to see what happened. "I know this dragon," Aldon said as scales fell off of the nearest of the dragon's legs: the backward left leg. The dragon gave a hearty laugh, "So, you have been damned to this world as well?" The dragon asked, looking at the man, as he rubbed off the pain Aldon had just given him. However, the scales were growing back at a fine pace to match the output of Aldon's strike. "The great demon of our world," the dragon chuckled. "The overseer of the gods, who see fit to toy with you." "They did the same to me human." The dragon ceased his tensions as Aldon bore his eyes at the dragon. "I can't recall the last time I saw one of your kind. Perhaps when I was back on our original world. I was transported here about a century ago, when I was still a drake. Since then, I've had a child with this world's dragons. These damned ponies though, in all their hubris, similar to the humans, have decided to take her away from me." Hammerhoof's eyes widened. "What do you mean by taken?" The pony asked. "Exactly that, they took my precious daughter. Inciting that they would sell her to the highest bidder." Hammerhoof didn't understand this though. "Didn't you try to stop them?" Aldon asked, crossing his arms. The dragon shook his head. Aldon also couldn't quite remember where he had seen the dragon. What the beast had done, and to whom. He belonged to someone. "They poisoned my food. And while I was succumbed to it, they took my child. She gave out screeches of pain as they skipped away with her." The dragon crushed the ground with his clawed feet, venting up in false anger. "What is your name?" Aldon asked, not convinced by the story. "Here they call me Firestorm, but I suppose on our world they would call me God of Fire, Sun Crusher." The dragon gave an eerie smile as Aldon's left eye twitched at the name. "What's the matter pal?" Hammerhoof started to move towards Aldon when the sky was blocked out until Hammerhoof saw the dragon coming down on him with one of his feet. Hammerhoof had no time to react as it came down, until the weight suddenly stopped descending, and the dragon's face contorted into amazement and absent praise. "Very impressive. I remember when you were just a small boy, but to think you could be so strong." The dragon continued to place more pressure as Aldon struggled holding it up with his strength, using his whole body in the endeavour, kneeling down for more support. "Why--did you attack this village?" Aldon asked, grunting as the weight increased and Hammerhoof continued to idly look at the man. The dragon laughed, but then put on the same pouting and angered face as before. "They took my child, as I said before." Aldon's face twitched in anger as he slowly got up and threw the foot and weight off of him, sending the dragon stumbling back. "Much stronger; so much so," Sun Crusher marvelled. Hammerhoof was slightly confused until he heard a similar noise that anyone would know: a cry for help. He looked in all directions, while the glares of the two creatures continued on, and they continued to press each other. Hammerhoof turned to his left and began to run as the audibility of the cries increased, and sobbings could be heard. While he put a decent amount of distance between the dragon and himself, the beast could easily still observe him. The pony was within his peripheral range, and all Sun Crusher had to do was send a splash of fire to end the little thing, but he decided to toy with the human for longer. "I've heard of your great feats. How you've defeated countless amounts of weak vampires, or even a drake once or twice." The dragon gave a hearty laugh as he watched the man's brows tighten and tension increase. "My master has told me as well," the dragon finished as the beast got his head down to Aldon's level. He whispered to the man, "you protect these ponies? You may think they will accept you, but understand that as in the other world, everyone will look at you as a demon. An unwanted swine of the world. They will seek your destruction and take everything from you. Do you wish to be made into more of a plaything?" the dragon asked. "The ponies, while some have it in their heart to harm and hurt others, some accept me. Some even befriend me. Ponies, just like humans are not all bad. There is humanity in these creatures, and you assume they have none." The dragon rose his head and gave a groan. "So you're still weak I see. They will never see you as anything more than a freak and monster. Deep down you know it too." Hammerhoof looked around further, gaining a warmer feeling on the cries as he approached more wreckage of a burning house, until he heard the cries of a filly and colt. A brother and sister trapped under burning debris. Hammerhoof could see them squirming to try and get out, crying for help, and crying for their mother and father. Hammerhoof wondered where the parents were until they saw them dead on the outside near his peripheral vision, looking to be rushing over to their kids. A simple earth pony family. Similarly to their parents, the kids had opposite hair and mane: Yellow and Orange. The mother had a coat of gold and a light orange mane, while the father had the opposite. The foal and filly followed in unison to their respective gender parent. The mother had a cutie mark of a heart with an arrow through it, while the father had a picture of a stand with some bits surrounding it. The two hugged each other and cried for help, from which they saw Hammerhoof. He smiled and eased his way over observing what he could do. Beams draped over them and could collapse at any moment, but there was an opening, that if opened a bit more would allow them to slip out. "Ok, here's what i'm going to need you two to do," the two looked at the pony, tears still slipping down their eyes, "I'm going to slowly lift this beam here," Hammerhoof pointed to the beam overlooking the small hole, "and when its up I want you two to slip out. Do you two understand?" He asked as began to slowly walk to the particular beam and got into position. The two ponies nodded lightly as they also got into positions to rush out of the 'made-larger' hole. "Ok, here I go," he said as he slowly inched himself under the particular beam, squatting and then slowly lifting it until he stood, allowing the two to slip out, "ok now!" he lightly yelled to the two. The two kids complied and began to slip out of the wreckage going by Hammerhoof as he struggled to keep the weight up fully. As anticipated the insides of their small haven in the wreckage began to collapse as he had the beam lifted, but luckily the two were out before anything fell on them. The two shook as they clinged to each other. Not letting go of the hug. The filly, looking to be the older one looked to Hammerhoof. In a kind and sweet little voice she practically whispered, "thank you." Hammerhoof nodded as the structure collapsed fully and the small space died out. "You're quite welcome, but your uh--" Before he could finish it, the young colt rushed over hysterically to the two bodies shaking the cut ponies viciously praying for them to get up. The sister slowly walked over to the brother and placed her hoof on the brother, shaking her head as she clearly saw that their parents had lost too much blood and were gone from the world. The atmosphere got tense as Hammerhoof felt compassion for the two. However, they needed to leave incase more danger was to come. That's when he heard the ruffling of flame blast going to the two children. The sister turned to horror as it creeped further, and Hammerhoof didn't make it as it overtook them and consumed them. Aldon saw it. The dragon twisted his head to the scene of the two ponies lamenting over their fallen parents. "Sick little things. Perhaps I should put them out of their misery," as he finished the dragon etched his head over towards the ponies and lined up the shot. Aldon pumped his blood as he realized what was going to happen and went into overdrive towards the ponies. They were exposed and flammable if lit on fire. The dragon gathered up the power in his mouth in the form of a beautiful yet terrifying cascade of the lighter colors of the sun. His mouth was full of them, and within seconds released a powerful flame blast towards the little ponies. Aldon cracked the ground beneath his weight as he gave one last stride to push back wind behind him and intercepted the shot, placing himself firmly in front of the two before the blast could hit. He took the brunt of it, and skin burned from his flesh. Skin oozed off, muscle was exposed and bone could be seen on some parts. Very light layers of skin remained on some parts of the body as he looked on to the dragon who laughed at the man's predicament. His clothes were burned and flew off into the ashes, his hair burned to a crisp, giving him a practically bald look. His body knelt down, while he panted with his lungs dying from the heat coursing in his body. The necklace still remained around his cooked flesh. "This is what happens," Sun Crusher ushered, "they hold you down. Now look at you; you're practically dead and for what? Saving two despicable lives. You're so utterly weak sometimes I swear." Aldon coughed and held ringing in his fried ears. He couldn't concentrate as his vision blurred. He could hear muffled noises from the ponies behind him and his pal as he rushed over to the keeling Aldon. Before he finally became completely immobilized and slightly blacked out, he witnessed a flash of light and distinct pony like figures go into his blurry vision. Almost all of them also rushed to his side as his eyes finally shut.