The Equestrian Venture

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Twenty Five: Fire, Magic, and Rocks

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Twenty Five: Fire, Magic, and Rocks
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Spike stood proudly after unleashing a torrent of flame upon the goblins in front of him, as they fell to the ground screaming and rolling he found himself inside a moment of calm. He used the time to analyze his surroundings. The guards were taking down enemies with an efficiency that he had not seen before in battle, the pegasi were unleashing terrible weather magic upon the enemy ground forces, and the unicorns were providing ample support.

Something hit him hard in the stomach with sudden force and felt himself flinch from the blow but he stood his ground none the less. He looked down to see a goblin with a fearful expression and holding a dagger, the goblin’s fur looked scorched from the fire and Spike couldn’t help but smile as he raised his claws causing the goblin’s eyes to shoot wide in terror. Spike swung down hard and his opponent dropped a second later. Spike’s claws were stained with the thick black blood of these vile creatures.

Spike felt the ground beneath his feet shaking slightly and he whirled around just in time to see one of the Beast Riders riding a dire wolf and charging him. With no time to move out of the way he braced himself for the impact, even if the weapons couldn’t hurt him, the dire wolves were another story all together, their incredible strength actually stood a chance of penetrating his scales and he knew it.

The wolf snarled and opened its mouth wide in preparation to bite when a gray-blue blur slamed into the side of the beast knocking it off the ground and into the air. Spike stared in amazement as Maud landed on her hind legs in front of him, her dress whipping about in the wind caused by the pegasi. She turned to look at Spike with a flat expression drawn across her face just as the dire wolf plus rider landed behind her with an earth shattering crunch.

“What did you do?” Spike asked, his ability to reason gone out the window for the moment.

Maud looked back at the fallen wolf and said with her monotone voice, “I killed it.”

Five more goblins charged with drawn short swords and Spike focused his attention elsewhere. He sucked in a deep breath and felt his throat burning as he held his breath waiting for just the right time. As the goblins got within range he exhaled and with it came a bright green fire that covered the goblins in front of him. Three of the goblins were caught head on by the fire while the other two rolled away just in time to avoid it. Spike charged and with a few swipes of his claws the goblin fell dead, meanwhile Maud ran on her hind legs at the other goblin and with her forelegs she hit the small creature sending them sky rocking into the distance.

Spike turned around to see even more goblins charging his position than before, there were five of them last time, and now there was at least ten. He sucked in another breath and felt his lungs burning even worse than before, he knew that he was using his fire breath far too often in this battle and soon he would be left without it if he wasn’t more cautious. He unleashed another blast of green flame, this time taking down seven of the darned creatures. The three that were left turned and fled. Maud however gave chase and struck them all down within mere seconds.

Another giant rock rolled by Spike’s position and into the advancing horde trampling dozens if not more of the little monsters. Spike grinned at the effective tactic and watched as Maud picked up a rock that had been lying around. The rock was only the size of her hoof. Maud looked at one of the incoming riders and tossed the rock, it flew at an alarming speed and crashed into the Beast Rider’s head causing him to fly off his mount. The wolf however was still charging.

Maud hunkered down for a second and just as the wolf reached her it tried to take a bite of the gray mare. Maud however grabbed its head and lifted the beast into the air, over her shoulder, and slammed it back down into the ground behind her so hard that the impact cracked the earth around it. Maud was certainly one pony that Spike never wanted to make angry.

The battle continued to rage on like this for a while. Maud seemed to be able to fight without any weakness, her strength never lacking. Spike fought with all his strength and even though his muscles burned, and his throat was sore he continued onward, the idea of getting home to Rarity gave him the drive to strive forward. The goblins never seemed to end, and the riders continued to appear at the worst possible times.

Finally a group of fifteen goblins plus three riders charged at the two. Spike sucked in yet another breath, and as he released it the pain in his throat became too much to bear and he coughed violently instead of bathing his enemies in flame. This was bad. Maud charged forward and while standing on her hind legs she used her forelegs to unleash a torrent of attacks to decimate whatever she struck. Goblins got past her though on their way to Spike and quickly surrounded the purple dragon.

Spike stood and using his claws tore at his enemies but for every enemy he struck down, two more took their place. Even though the goblins were unable to penetrate his scales they still managed to cause bruises with every strike, and the blows still hurt, Spike feared that they might cause internal injuries if things kept up like this. One of the riders brought a spear down and swung it at Spike.

Spike grabbed the shaft of the spear but not in time to stop it from entering his right shoulder. A burning pain screamed through his shoulder as the spear dug deeper with the dog pushing it in. Spike clenched his fist and shattered the wooden shaft of the spear inside his hand. The dire wolf swiped at Spike and knocked the dragon back into a crowd of goblins and they were crushed beneath his weight. The wolf walked up, saliva dripping down its jaw as it showed its sharp teeth.

The wolf lashed out with its mouth and just as it was about to bite the wounded dragon a purple bolt of energy hit the monsters face causing it to shirk back in pain. A black cloud formed just over the rider’s head and a lightning bolt struck out and hit the wolf, the wolf spasmed for a moment as it was electrocuted before the beast fell along with its rider. As smoke rose off the bodies as Spike pulled the spear free from his shoulder and stood up. Another goblin jumped out of nowhere wielding two daggers, Spike spun the spear head around and struck the goblin with it.

Spike looked over and saw Trixie standing in the fray with two earth pony guards at either side of her, she smiled and winked at him. Obviously it was Trixie who had just saved him, and he although thankful for it, he just knew that he was going to regret this later.

Another group of goblins rushed at Spike and he was quickly thrown back into the fray. However this time Spike saw Maud standing alone in front of three charging wolves. She stumbled forward and grabbed at her side while staring them down. Spike tried to break away from the goblins but the little creatures blocked his path keeping him from getting to her. Spike tried to shout for Maud to run but she just stood her ground. The wolves all jumped in unison, their large bodies alone threatened to crush Maud beneath them.

“MAUD!” Trixie screamed.

The wolves all stopped mid air, a light purple aura surrounded them. Spike looked over to see Trixie’s horn glowing, her hat lying on the ground next to her hooves. Trixie was sweating, and her horn was sending off sparks, but still Trixie held the wolves in the air and then Spike watched in horror as the wolves were all electrocuted inside Trixie’s aura. They fell to the ground never to threaten anypony again.

Spike struck down yet another goblin as Trixie ran with a limp over to Maud’s side. Spike finally managed to break away from the goblins and ran towards the two mares, just in time to hear part of their conversation.

“Trixie can’t let you get hurt!” Trixie exclaimed.

Maud frowned at Trixie before saying, “I don’t want your help. You hurt my sister.”

“Trixie has apologized over and over again, now it’s time for you to shut up and let Trixie help you. This battle is getting dangerous and Trixie can’t let you get hurt!” Trixie insisted.

Maud still held her side, and Spike saw the trail of red running down the gray mare’s leg. Spike looked between the two ponies and after a moment he roared grabbing both of their attention. “I don’t care about your infighting; we are in the middle of a battle. Just work together until it’s over, after that you can squabble all you want!”

The two ponies looked shocked to see Spike taking command but he was not in the mood for this. They quickly nodded and turned to face yet another group of goblins. Spike charged ahead of the others and just as he met the goblins he thought, 'Twilight better destroy that dragon soon, or else we’re all in trouble.'