To Guard Equestria

by BleepBloop2

Chapter 6

By the time the sun came up I was bored out of my skull. I’d been sitting for around an hour just waiting for the damn thing to come over the horizon. I had another shower, my third that day already, and went for my fourth walk. This time, I decided to see if Zecora was awake. She’d told me roughly where she lived before the thing in Sugarcube Corner, so all I had to do was find it. Easy, right?

It took me around two hours to find Zecora’s… hut. No, there has to be a better word for it. It’s carved, or cut, from a tree like Twilight’s library, but Zecora’s is much darker, both in wood colour and general feeling. Books and Branches feels welcoming, homey, even before Twilight stayed there. Zecora’s home was more foreboding, like a sign that just says ‘BEWARE’ without telling you what to be wary of. It looked out of place to me. It was obviously constructed, though it was made to look as natural as possible. It worked a little, but I never felt as at home around Zecora’s home as I did in the rest of the Everfree. Seeing clouds move without pegasi intervention is something I’d given up on. Makes me wonder why no one told me it was here.

Zecora was awake by the time I got there. I helped her with some chores, and she told me some more about her home country. I found it easier to understand her rhymes the more we spoke, though I think she will always have some trouble if I talk at a reasonable (to me) pace. Pretty much every pony does. Pinkie Pie might be able to handle it, if what Twilight has said of her is true.

After an hour or so of talking to Zecora, I left her to her research. She gave me a warning to not take my time in the woods. She gave it in rhyme, but that was the gist of it. I waved goodbye and walked through the Everfree towards Ponyville. I like the name. ‘Everfree’. Rolls off the tongue.

Back in Ponyville, there were still very few ponies awake, so I busied myself tidying the library. It took a few hours, but soon everything was dusted, polished, waxed or otherwise made shiny. My armour and sword got the same treatment, as did the crossbow. Gear taken care of, I took the crossbow, a handful of training bolts, which are really just pointed sticks the same length as normal bolts, and went to the edge of the Everfree. I picked a target, and spent the time until noon practicing. When the sun was just shy of it’s peak, I took the bolts and crossbow back to the library. Spike and Twilight still weren’t up. A quick mental calculation told me Spike was due for a day off around now, so I let him have it. I left a note saying where I was going, and went to the dogo.

I’d found the place on my second walk that day, a single story building set near the edge of Ponyville. A new addition, it had that freshly painted look. The windows gleamed, the pastel walls were clean, and hover outside was a rainbow maned pegasus. She saw me coming, and waved before shooting over to me.

“Hey, Michael. I was starting to think you weren’t coming.”

“Lost track of time,” I explained, pushing open the dogo door. “So, how do you want to do this?”

“Standard rules?” Rainbow Dash replied, shrugging in mid air as she followed me inside.

Standard rules were basically above the belt and below the waist only. At least, thats how they applied for me. Also, nothing at the eyes, or horn for unicorns. Win condition was a forfeit or ten second pin.

“Okay. Best of three?”

She nodded, and I looked around the place. It was one big room, with a couple sparring areas in the middle. Around the edge were various weights I couldn’t use, because they’re made for ponies, and punching bags, which I could, after adjusting the height. The place was empty except for us.

I went to one of the sparring mats and stood at the far end. The sparring area was rectangular, with a circle in the centre split by a horizontal line. Think a football field, but without the goal lines at either end, and smaller. Rainbow Dash took her place at the other side. She did a pony bow, and I did a normal one. And then she was at me like a rocket, flying at head height.

I stepped to the side at the last minute. Rainbow Dash flashed by me, stopped, and kicked out at me with a hind leg. I hit it away and punched her at the base of the wing, trying to time to as the wing was coming down. My timing was off, but it was close enough for her to lose her rhythm. Wings suddenly out of sync, she rolled, dropping down to waist level. A knee to the floating ribs. Her breath left her in a gasp. An elbow to other side. She hit the mat with a thud. I sat down, pinning her wings and back legs under me, keeping her on her side. I did a quick count under my breath, barely moving as she struggled.

“Ten. One nil to me,” I said, standing up and helping her to her hooves. She was not happy.

“What the hay? You’re even faster than yesterday!”

“Not wearing armour today,” I pointed out.

“Oh. Right.” She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Still, I shouldn’t have lost that quickly. Makes me glad nopony was around to watch.”

“I’ve sparred with pegasi in the Guard, Rainbow Dash. You’ve never fought me. I had an advantage.”

“Yeah, you did. Besides, that was a practice one. It didn’t count.” She waved a hoof, as if that settled the matter. I let her have it. I didn’t come here because I wanted to beat Rainbow Dash, though that would help with the boredom.

“Want some advice?” I asked. She looked like she was about to refuse, loudly, but looked around the empty room.

“Yeah, lets hear it,” she said, looking down at the floor.

“You’re not as strong as Applejack, so don’t try and fight like her. Use your speed,” I said, moving back to the starting position. “You lost because you stopped moving.”

She nodded, and we bowed to each other.

We moved at the same time. Rainbow Dash flew at me as a blue blur. I dove forward, rolling under her. The moment I got my feet under me, I turned, arms moving up. I barely blocked a blue hoof aiming for my chest. The block spun made her turn slightly in the air, making the follow-up easy to dodge. I jabbed her in the wither, turning her more. She slapped me with a wing, gaining distance and getting her first hit on me.

She dropped to the floor and leapt up at me. I took the hit, rolling with it, twisted as we fell. Rainbow Dash did the same, so we spun around once and ended up on the floor holding each other. I introduced her nose to my forehead, to a surprising amount of blood. The red stood out against her sky blue coat.

She cried out at the pain, a high pitched squeal she would no doubt deny making. I punched her in the ribs while she was distracted, and rolled her onto her back, blocking her wings. I pinned her with a knee on her chest and got a hoof to the face. That pushed me off her, and I had to fall onto my back to avoid getting two back hooves to the chest. Grabbing her back legs, I pulled them to the side and kicked out at her hips.

Scrambling away, I got to my feet just as she did. Her face was splash of red against blue, and she looked pissed. I don’t my face was much better. I could feel the warm blood. I grinned at her, daring her to come at me. With a scream like a banshee - dizziness, over in a flash. I stumbled, but only for a second. Too long. Rainbow Dash hit me with a hoof to each shoulder. I was flat on my back, Rainbow Dash standing over me. She was still terrible at pinning. She was standing with a hoof on each shoulder and two on my thighs, just above the knees. I bent my arms at the elbow and grabbed her forelegs just above the hooves and pulled them away from each other. She landed on my chest, and we both lost our breath. At the same time, I twisted at the waist. She let out another squeal as I rolled over.

Panicking, she flapped her wings so fast they started to blur and lifted herself off me. I grabbed a foreleg and used it to pull her back down. I tried to. She ended up lifting me to my feet. It was like a tug of war with her leg as the rope. When she started lifting me off the ground completely, I let go. She went flying, and hit the ceiling. She started falling, but managed to get her wings out in time to avoid hitting the ground. She hovered in the air above the dogo mat for just long enough for me to punch her.

It was a solid right hook, straight to the ear. She dropped to the ground, blinking rapidly, leaning on her forelegs. I kicked them out from under her and her chin slammed against the mat. Rainbow Dash tried to get back to her hooves, but her legs kept slipping out from under her. I think I may have hit her too hard. Eventually, she tapped out, her right forehoof tapping rapidly on the mat three times.

I helped her stand, and started walking her to the hospital. It was a short walk, only a few minutes. I didn’t think that was a coincidence. A white earth pony mare with a pale pink mane was behind the front desk. She looked up as we entered, and flinched slightly when she saw me. But when she saw Rainbow Dash, she moved quickly around the desk.

“Follow me, I’ll show you to a room.” Her voice was soft, quiet. Not down at Fluttershy’s level, and it lacked the fear Fluttershy had as well.

“I’m Nurse Redheart,” she said, as we walked down the hallway. Her cutie mark was a red plus symbol. “What can you tell me about Miss Dash’s condition, Mister…?”

“Michael. She took a few blows to the head, and couple to the ribs,” I told her. “We were sparring, and I think it got a bit out of hand.”

Nurse Redheart made a vague sound of disapproval. “Not the first time she’s been in here for that. She’s usually complaining more, though. In here.” She led the way into a vacant room, and I picked Rainbow Dash up and put her on the bed before moving out of the way. I leaned against a wall as the Nurse checked Rainbow Dash over. The whole process took around twenty minutes, and by the end Rainbow Dash was asleep in the bed, and I was walking beside Nurse Redheart on the way to the front desk.

“So, you’re Twilight Sparkle’s mysterious friend Michael,” Nurse Redheart said just after we left the room Rainbow Dash was in.

“Mysterious?”

“Well, I’ve never seen you before now, but Twilight’s been talking quite a lot about you. When she moved here, she came and gave me some of the basics on you, in case you, and I quote, ‘did something lovably stupid and ended up hurt again’.”

“Sounds like Twilight.”

“I guess you’d know, wouldn’t you.” We reached the front desk, and after Nurse Redheart told me I wouldn’t need to fill out any paperwork for Rainbow Dash, as they kept hers on hand at the front desk, I made to leave. “She cares about you, you know.”

I turned to look at her.

“Twilight,” she clarified. “She cares about you. A lot.”

“I know.”

“And?” she asked. She sounded hopeful? Excited? Something like that.

“I care about her. A lot.”

Nurse Redheart nodded at that, and then smiled. “Well, thank you for bringing Rainbow Dash along. I’m sure you have things to do, so don’t let me keep you. Tell Twilight I said hi.”

I nodded, and then left, making my way back to the library. It was maybe two hours after noon now, and Twilight and Spike were awake. Twilight asked where I had been, so I filled her in on what I’d been up to since dawn. She was worried about Rainbow Dash, and was angry with me for hurting her, but she clammed up when I mentioned Nurse Redheart. Weird, but if she didn’t want to talk about it, she didn’t want to talk about it.

I spent a few hours helping Twilight with spellwork. It mostly consisted of me getting spell components or books for her. The rest of that night was much the same as the one before. Pinkie threw another party - where the hell does she get the money? - which I decided not to attend. Visited Rainbow Dash for a couple hours instead. She was basically okay, and was getting out sometime tomorrow evening. Really, she was just there for observation.

It was all small talk at first, though I brought some books I thought she’d not hate. A Wonderbolts history, which she seemed to know from heart, a few about aerodynamics, which she seemed to get into when I pointed out they could help improve her speed, and a few pulp fiction novels. After a bit though, she started on about her and, by extension, Fluttershy’s foalhoods, about growing up in Cloudsdale. It sounded like quite the sight. I’ve seen surprisingly little of Equestria despite having been here a decade.

I left the hospital a bit after moonrise. The rest of that night passed much like the one before. Mainly, boredom and reading. I bumped into Pinkie Pie on a few of my walks, and she was surprisingly sane. She just nodded at me each time. No theatrics, no over exuberance. I sort of remember her saying her talent was making other ponies smile; could her normal persona be a mask she wears to help do that?

The next couple weeks were pretty much that same day over and over again. Without the whole putting Rainbow Dash in hospital thing, though. When she got discharged, we spent a few days just training together, non-contact. She didn’t like that, but I wasn’t taking chances. After that, we started sparring again. She got better as time went on, but I still won seven tenths of the time. Spike joined us every now and then, when he had time. When Rainbow Dash was there, he just watched us spar, but when it was him and I, we practiced together. It was pretty even between us. I won maybe three fifths of the matches. And that was with me in armour some of the times.

Towards the end of the second week, I started talking to Pinkie Pie on my late night walks. She was curious about why I was always awake. She, and a lot of other ponies, according to her, weren’t aware I didn’t really sleep. Turns out, in order to throw parties at night and be awake in time to start baking before Sugarcube Corner opened in the morning, she slept late afternoon to early evening. This left her with a lot of free time during the night - even she can’t throw a party every day.

As for the money thing, turns out her family owns some of the largest gem mines in Equestria. She just called it rock farming when she moved here because she didn’t want ponies to treat her differently, and now she had used that too long to do anything else. I found her much easier to be around in these conversation, which I’m sure she picked up on. I think she was just glad she could make me a bit happier. Introverted ponies are few and far between, so it’s rare she has to deal with one. Even Twilight wasn’t an introvert. She wanted friends, she just wanted Celestia’s love more. Besides, she had me. That had to count for something.

It was at the start of the third week things got interesting.

A travelling performer styling herself as, ‘The Great and Powerful Trixe!’ came to Ponyville, bragging about being the greatest and how she could do anything anypony in Ponyville could do, better than they could do it. She showed up Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack before she started talking about how she killed an Ursa Major. The only reason I didn’t burst out laughing when I heard her say that was because I was sure I had misheard. But, nope, she was claiming to have killed an Ursa Major. A fifty foot tall, god-knows-how-many ton monster that was the next best thing to invincible. Only full grown dragons tangled with Ursa Majors, and even then only if they had to. Insurance companies classed them as forces of nature, like volcanoes or tsunamis

When she started describing how she did I, I did laugh. Loudly. I couldn’t help myself. She was claiming to have used lightning and fire against it. Ursa Majors were too large to be bother about any magic a single pony could summon.

When I had calmed down, she asked me what I had found so funny.

“That you’re claiming to have killed an Ursa Major,” I told her. “It, it’s just not possible. Really, it’s not. You’d be better off claiming to have killed the moon.”

“Bah, what would something like you know about magic?” she scoffed. “What are you, anyway?”

“I’m me. And really, you couldn’t have chosen something more believable to lie about?” I asked. She ignored me. I shrugged, and walked off. The trouble didn’t start until later that night. A pair of colts, hearing Trixie’s boasts and her deriders claims, felt the best way to prove Trixie was telling the truth was to have her reproduce on of her claims in Ponyville. So they went and got what they thought was an Ursa Major. I don’t know why. I think they might have a severe case of stupidity.

Thankfully, they didn’t manage to get an Ursa Major. No, they only managed to get an Ursa Minor, the child of an Ursa Major. So, instead of a fifty foot plus tall, extremely magic resistant monster big enough to cause extinctions by sitting down, we only had a fifteen foot tall, fairly magic resistant monster.

Again, those colts a fucking stupid. So, they brought the thing to Ponyville. As in, straight to the centre of the village. Where everyone was.

It came in roaring, pissed as all hell and looking to break something. It was semi-transparent, dark blue, and it’s nose was about the size of a pony. When I heard it’s first roar, my head snapped towards it.

“Spike, go get my weapons,” I ordered. Bless him, the little dragon saluted and sprinted off towards the library. “Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack, you’re on evacuation. Foals, colts and fillies are priority. Get to Sweet Apple Acres or on a train, I don’t care, just get them out of here. Twilight, think of a plan. Rainbow Dash, you’re with me.”

They gave me blank looks. “Move!” I shouted. “You’ve got your orders, so go!” The Ursa roared again, and that jolted them into movement. Spike came back with my sword and crossbow, as well as a couple small daggers he used. I took the lot.

“Hey!” he said as I pushed them behind my belt.

“You’re not fighting,” I told him. “No complaints. Stay with Twilight. And let Luna know, she might know something that can help. He grumbled, but when I handed him a scrap of parchment I had in my pocket, he pulled a quill from somewhere.

“Twilight, got a plan yet?” She was still standing there, frozen. “Thats a no. Spike, take her to the library, Look for books on the Ursas. Find me when she has a plan.” He nodded, and led Twilight away. That left me and Rainbow Dash.

“So, what’re we doing?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking over at the Ursa Minor. It was almost to the market place, which was thankfully rapidly emptying.

I looked at her, and grinned. “We’re the distraction.” I finished putting on my sword and crossbow, and loaded a bolt. “C’mon, we got ass to kick.”

I could feel my heart pumping faster as I walked, my blood pounding in anticipation. I don’t think ponies felt that sort of thing. Sure, they got adrenaline, and they had thrill junkies, but I don’t think they got a thrill thinking about a fight to come.

I stopped just outside crossbow range, knelt down on one knee and took aim. When it came in range, about 50 yards, waited for it to roar, and fired. The bolt took it on the inside of the mouth, which was not the same semi-transparent flesh as it’s skin was.

The beast roared in pain, and looked around before spotting me. That gave me an extra few seconds to reload before it started charging me. It ran slowly at first, but slowly picked up speed. I managed to get a second shot off before it reached me, this one taking it in the chest, where it hung, looking like I had shot the night sky.

After the second shot, I dropped the crossbow and drew my sword. I looked at Rainbow Dash, nodded towards the charging Ursa, and ran towards it.

About ten yards from me, the thing leapt. I changed direction slightly, running to the creature’s left side.

Rainbow Dash hit the creature going around two thirds the speed of sound. Square in the side, the creature was knocked of course. It landed hard and slid about five foot, a huge furrow forming.

I was behind the thing now. Sword in hand, I ran for it, and swing two handed at the back of it’s left knee. It roared, more in annoyance than pain I think. It tried to stand up, when Rainbow Dash swooped in and and knocked its paw out from under it. It’s chin smashed into the ground, and when it roared next it spat pale blue blood.

I swung twice more at it’s knee, and managed to get through it’s hide. It roared and kicked at me with that same leg. I left the ground and went flying backwards. My right shoulder clipped a tree, sending me spinning. It also hurt like hell. Thankfully, it didn’t dislocate. That would have been bad.

It was back on it’s feet, and trying to swat Rainbow Dash out of the air. The pegasus was flying circles around the thing, but I could tell she was tiring. She was a sprinter, not a marathon runner.

“Rainbow Dash!” I shouted, waving her over. She didn’t stop to look at me, just shot over. Good. She was learning. She landed next to me, panting heavily, not all of it from exhaustion. “Go find Twilight, see if she has a plan. I can hold him here for a bit.”

She looked over at the Ursa, who was running at us. Not as quickly as before, with one leg limping and one paw sore. “You sure?” she asked. I nodded, and she turned and flew off towards Books and Branches.

I turned to face the Ursa Major, no longer suppressing the smile on my face. The Ursa roared and lept. When it landed, it went to snap me up. I darted under its chin and grabbed the bolt lodged in it’s chest. I twisted and pulled. A lump of flesh and fur came off with the arrow, dripping blue blood. I breathed deeply, taking in the smell. I thrust my sword at the same spot, but hit bone a few inches in. The Ursa put it’s head back and roared. This one was different than the others. I felt that one more than heard it, a deep sound that made my lungs vibrate in my chest. I ran away from the thing, moving to the right between the front and back legs. I slashed at the front leg as I ran, but only managed to get a trickle of blood.

I moved too late. It got me with the back of a massive paw. Not a solid hit, thankfully, or I’d be paste, but it sent tumbling a few feet away. I heard wood breaking, and felt pain in my back and side. When I rolled onto my knees, I saw my crossbow was shattered, as were all the bolts. Well, except the one that was currently sticking out my side. That looked sore. I couldn’t really feel it. Had I suddenly become invincible? Wait, no, thats stupid. I must have hit my head.

I felt something tugging at me, and wind roared past. Looking down, I saw a pair of blue legs hooked under my arms. Looking up, I saw they were attached to Rainbow Dash. She started to slow down, and dropped me near Twilight.

Twilight glanced at me, and did a double take. “You’re bleeding!” she shouted, pointing a hoof. I looked down. There was a fair bit of blood soaked into my jacket. Looking back, I saw the Ursa was heading towards us.

“Rainbow Dash, mind distracting it for a bit?” I asked.

“No sir!” the pegasus replied, saluting and lying off.

Turning back to Twilight, I noticed she was wearing saddlebags. “Got any water in there?” She handed me a flask. I drank some and set it aside for now. I took my jacket and shirt off, cutting out the section held on by the bolt. “How the hell did I manage this?” I muttered as I worked. It was through my side, for crying out loud. It was damn near impossible. I shook my head, pushed the thought aside, and snapped of the end of the bolt sticking out my back. Quick as I could, I dropped that part of the bolt, grabbed the end sticking out my front and pulled it out. I let out a pained gasp, but that was it. Twilight was worried enough as it was. I cleaned the wounds out with the rest of the water before cutting up my shirt and using it as bandages. It would do for now.

When I was happy with the knot holding it on, I turned to Twilight. “The plan?” I asked.

She blinked a few times and shook her head. “Right. Yes, the plan. The plan that I have. Twilight’s plan. The plan made up by me, Twilight. That plan?” I nodded. Now was not the time to get mad at her, as much as I wanted to. She was under a lot of pressure, and wasn’t used to life or death situations. “Right, the plan. I have a spell, a sleep spell, it should work on the Ursa Minor.”

I was about to reply when I heard the sound of falling rubble. I turned to see a house had collapsed, with the Ursa heading towards it and Rainbow Dash nowhere in sight. It must have gotten a hit in. I reached for my sword, to find the scabbard empty. Fuck. I looked around, and spotted a glimmer of silver over near the remains of my crossbow. On the other side of the Ursa.

“Anything you need me to do for the plan?” I asked Twilight.

Twilight swallowed before speaking. “The spell, the sleep spell, it uh, it takes a while to cast. I need it to be in the same place for maybe thirty seconds?” I looked at her, and she cringed away from me. Like she expected me to shout at her or something. Christ, what did my face look like right now? Twilight knows I’d never hurt her.

I looked back to the Ursa, thinking. Still, for half a minute. Make that forty five seconds, to be safe. On its back, then. I drew the daggers I had taken from Spike, and started towards the Ursa. It was digging around for Rainbow Dash, who was currently making a wide loop behind the thing, heading for Twilight. She looked beat up, with a big scratch down one leg, and one of her wings was bending a way it shouldn’t. There goes plan A. And plans B and C as well. That left plan D. I didn’t really like plan D.

“Rainbow Dash, you got one more flight in you?” I asked as she landed near me. She winced as she touched down, and looked at her wing.

“I dunno. What do you need?”

“I need you to throw me at it,” I told her. The look she gave me told me just what she thought of that.

“Dude, you want me to what? Are you crazy?”

“Most likely,” I admitted. “But thats not important. Will you do it?”

She shook her head. “No. It’s suicide.”

The Ursa roared. Rubble fell. It was swatting buildings aside like they were made of glue and popsicle sticks. “You have a better plan?” She bit her lip. “Exactly,” I said. “Look, Rainbow Dash. We don’t have time to waste thinking up a better plan. I get it on its back, Twilight puts it to sleep, it gets taken care of.” She looked at Twilight, who nodded. Her ears were flicking around like crazy, but her voice was steady as she said, “Thats the plan.”

“Why can’t you just throw something at it, Twi?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Ursas are resistant to magic,” Twilight explained. “I’ll need everything I have just to have a chance of this working. I could lift it, because I could use magic to hold it in place, but to get anything past it’s hide I’ll need a lot of power.”

Rainbow Dash looked at the monster larger than most buildings in Ponyville, then back to Twilight and let out a whistle. “You can lift that?”

Twilight blushed. I rolled my eyes. “C’mon, times wasting and we aren’t getting less tired. You ready to go, Rainbow Dash?”

The blue mare sighed. “Yeah, fine, but if you die don’t expect me not to say ‘I told you so.’ Stand here, arms out, and I’ll loop around for speed and come pick you up.”

I nodded, and she took off. Slowly at first, with a bit of shaking, but she quickly picked up speed. Far too soon, we were rocketing between buildings, towards the Ursa. Rainbow Dash was screaming, I don’t know if it was in fear or pain. “Aim for a leg!” I shouted over the wind. I don’t know if she heard me, because she let me go.

I soared under the beasts head. I barely managed to curl into a ball before I slammed into the side of it’s leg at slightly under the speed of light. There was a sickening crack, and my arm felt like someone had poured molten metal where the bone was meant to be.

I kept going past the Ursa and hit the side of a building. I guess it was a good thing the Ursa had taken most of my momentum, otherwise that might have hurt. Or maybe it did hurt, but just didn’t register over the other pain. Like being unable to hear someone whispering because someone else is screaming in your face. With a loudspeaker. And a megaphone.

I pushed my way to my knees and made the mistake of leaning on my left arm. Nope. Not only did it hurt like fuck, but it slipped out from under my and I slammed my chin into the cobblestones, biting my tongue. I spat a glob of blood and phlegm onto the street before slowly, slowly stumbling to me feet.

The Ursa was having some trouble standing as well. It couldn’t move its back left or front right leg. The back left, because I’d cut the tendon. Only a bit, I think, but it must have snapped since then, and the front right, because it just got hit by ten stone and seven pounds of me going at about fifty miles an hour. Though that probably hurt me more than the Ursa.

I leaned against a wall for a bit, just being in pain. When I felt I could move, I pulled out one of the daggers and walked towards the Ursas back right leg. With all the strength I could muster (i.e., not a lot) I started cutting up the back of its leg. Muscle, tendon, anything I could think of that would make it harder for it to stand and move. It roared louder and louder as I worked.

It clipped my shoulder, the uninjured one thankfully, with a kick, but by that point I had cut the leg up pretty badly, so it only made me want to scream in pain a little bit. When I heard hooves on stone, I left the dagger sticking out the back of its knee and turned towards the sound.

Twilight was a-galloping towards horn, horn glowing like a beacon. “Howdy, Twi!” I slurred. I noticed Rainbow Dash behind her. “Howdy Rainbow Dash!”

“Michael! Oh Celestia, you’re bleeding. Oh no, oh no, oh no.” Her horn went out, and then flared up again. A wave of light washed over me. It felt like I’d walked under a sheet of water, cool and refreshing. For about half a second. Then it wore off, and now I wasn’t delirious, the pain came back. I grit my teeth and waved Twilight away when she came over, worried. I pointed at the Ursa, and she nodded and trotted towards it, horn growing steadily brighter. She reached out with a hoof and touched it on the nose.

It slammed its head into Twilight, sending her tumbling. She didn’t make a sound. Rainbow Dash ran to her. Time seemed to slow. It hurt Twilight. It had to die.

The Ursa rolled onto it’s side as it tried to stand, its injured legs unable to take it’s massive bulk. I walked over to it. I drew the second dagger and slammed it into the underside of it’s jaw and sliced down, towards it’s throat. I stopped short of the windpipe. Taking the dagger, I slowly, carefully, carved into the cartilage that made up its windpipe. It took some time. I was moving the knife up and down more than side to side, taking it off piece by piece in order to get through. When I got to the other side, I was splattered with blood and the thing had stopped roaring, not even able to breath. I slit the blood vessels on either side of its throat, not sure which one would kill it quicker. More blood splashed against me, a wave of blue.

Something came over me then. I’m not proud of it. A veil of red appeared over my eyes and suddenly it just being dead wasn’t enough. I started stabbing the thing, slicing it up skin and muscle, cartilage and tendons. More blood poured out, a tide of red. I heard a sound behind me a whirled around, dripping blood. It was Rainbow Dash. She had been a good hunting partner, but this was still my territory. She should know that. Maybe she didn’t. A thought came to me. Show her her place. I took a step forward. She made a sound, licked her lips and made it again. I lifted the dagger and took another step. More hoofsteps. I turned to face the source, another pony I’d have to put in their place.

It was Twilight. She looked at me. She was scared. The thought came again. Show her her place. No, I’d never hurt Twilight. I dropped the dagger and took a step back. The pain came flooding back, and the last thing I saw before everything faded to black was Twilight looking at me with fear in her eyes.

Author's Note:

Chapter 6, go! More fighting, less talking.

I know Trixie happens before the dragon in the show, I changed it around a bit to help me progress the story.

Comments

[Some random Rapidash]

Ten stone? You mean ten stones?

[BleepBloop2]

3204709
When talking about weights, I keep it singular, and so does everyone in my family, but that could just be us being weird. So I checked Wikipedia, which gives the plural of 'stone' when the word is used as a weight. But it should probably be 'stones'. If it bothers you, I'll change it, but it seems for weight, the plural of 'stone' is 'stone'.

Also, I just spent the last minute muttering about weights like a madman. I hope your happy

[Some random Rapidash]

3204847 i am happyI