Pinkie Paladin

by Artgineer

A Shy Dragon

The road to Greenest was easy enough to find and follow, but something about it gave Twilight an uneasy feeling. Deep marks from some wheeled vehicle ran through the middle of the road along with fresh prints from what must have been hundreds of pairs of feet (many of them clawed). The top of each new hill showed only more road surrounded by a vast expanse of wilderness. Who built these roads? Who maintained them? Who kept them safe for travelers?

All three of these questions were answered as she, Pinkie, and Rarity reached the top of the next hill. The roads were likely built and maintained by whoever built the town just on the horizon. Unfortunately, they apparently did a poor job of keeping them safe as Twilight could see pillars of black smoke rising up from the town and a great, winged creature flying in circles over it.

Pinkie said what the others were both thinking, "Whoa! That dragon is attacking that town! Does that happen a lot here?"

Twilight strung her bow and answered, "I don't know, but some one has to help those people. Rarity, carry the chest. Pinkie, let's see what we can do."

The three rushed off towards the town, passing a sign that read, "Welcome to Greenest," as they did. The sun was just setting, but its dim light was well compensated on the main streets by the roaring flames that had enveloped many of the town's buildings, though they cast malevolent, twisting shadows down the town's alleys. Even from far off, all three travelers could hear the sounds of metal hitting metal and people screaming in fear, anger, sorrow, and pain.

Without warning, five humans dashed out from between two buildings on the party's left. A limping man with three young children raced across the street into more shadows and a woman carrying a round shield and a broken spear turned to face back in the direction from which they came.

Before Twilight could ask what was wrong, eight small, reptilian creatures nearly identical to the ones she saw motionless on the grass before streamed out of the alley on the humans' heels and fanned out around the woman. They all held crude, hide shields and short spears. The spearwoman looked ragged, wounded, ill-equipped, and absolutely determined to stop them.

Rarity dropped the chest and grabbed the first thing she could out of it, reaching past the mirror frame and wrapping both hands around the handle of a large axe. The sudden noise drew the attention of one of the reptiles and it leveled a short spear at the Equestrians. Two more followed the creature's lead.

The first reptile snickered and asked, "What do we have here? More mammals to put in the ground with their stupid, milk-drinking gods? What do we do with mammals, boys?"

The other reptiles started chanting, "Smash 'em! Crush 'em! Skin 'em alive!" before half of them broke formation and moved toward their new prey.

Pinkie rose up her shield with one hand and gripped her sword with the other. "Can't we all just get along?" she asked, "I mean, we could just throw a really big party."

One of the little monsters charged Pinkie with its spear held out in front. She drew her sword, but realized it was too late to counter and ducked behind her shield instead. Suddenly, a great wind moved past her from the other direction and a thunderous crash sounded.

Rarity held her pose with her axe like a golfer with his club. That was a good swing that any sportsman would be proud of and both she and the reptile that had met the flat of her blade knew it. Well, she did anyway. The reptile was clearly too busy screaming as it flew over the town and disappeared from sight in the clouds of smoke overhead.

Pinkie squeaked out a nervous, "Thank you," as she got in a proper stance with her shield held in front of her and her sword held over one shoulder.

Two more reptiles charged and lunged, but Pinkie was too quick this time. She used her shield to deflect one of their spears to the side and her sword to do the same to the other's. Suddenly, a third foe came rushing towards her. Her stance was too open and both her hands were already occupied. She closed her eyes tight and braced herself for a sharp blow.

Just as the little monster was about to lunge though, an arrow flew in from the side, pierced its tail and pinned it to the ground. The monster howled, hissed, and screamed, drawing the attention of the four that were still in formation around the spearwoman. It dropped its weapons and pulled at its tail trying to free itself, but to no avail.

Twilight notched another arrow and took aim at another monster.

---

Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash moved as fast as they could, Rainbow Dash cursing her short legs the entire way. Where there was smoke, their was fire. Where there was a lot of smoke, there was clearly a lot of fire and they were fairly certain that wasn't good for the town of Greenest.

As they approached they could hear screaming and crashing. All around were the signs of a great battle as buildings burned and bodies littered the streets. As they passed a dark alley, they saw a kobold fly overhead and vanish into the cloud of smoke above.

Applejack stopped to catch her breath. After a few gulps for air she asked, "Just what in the hay happened here?"

A distant roar answered her question. The other two clearly didn't know or didn't want to say it allowed, but Fluttershy had heard that noise in more than one nightmare and identified its origin aloud, "A dragon!"

Rainbow Dash took off through a dim alley while calling to the others, "this way! Something launched that kobold and whatever it is might help us take that big lizard down. You guys coming?"

The other two nodded and ran after her with Fluttershy muttering, "Just stay positive. Everything is going to be fine. It's not like this is the first time you've seen a dragon. Just... picture it in its underwear!"

---

Rarity spun around and swung her axe down hard. The reptile dove out of the way just before it could be split in two, but dropped its spear in the process. Unarmed and facing over six feet of muscle, fury, and style, the little monster ran away as fast as it could.

Pinkie smirked as she threw all of her weight behind her shield and knocked the other nearby foe off its taloned feet. As it lay stunned and confused on the ground, she drove her sword deep into the earth right next to her enemy's head. "Play nice!" she demanded, "or else you shouldn't play at all!"

The other four reptiles rushed at the three Equestrian heroes, but one of the was immediately stopped by an arrow to the knee. As it clutched its leg and lamented the end of its adventuring career, another took a broken spear to the back and fell motionless on the spot. The spearwoman prepared another strike, but wasn't fast enough to get either of the two remaining enemies.

Rarity shouted, "You are being very rude!" before sending another charging foe into the air with the flat of her axe. This one crashed through a window into a burning house and screamed for a short time before the roof collapsed and caused Rarity to wince. "Well," she muttered as the other monster dashed past her, "that was, um, not my intention."

The monster lunged at Pinkie who quickly pulled her sword from the ground and parried its spear. She then whirled – nearly danced – around her attacker and put the pommel of her weapon hard against the top of its head. The monster staggered for a moment before falling to the ground muttering something about not wanting to eat his brussels sprouts.

The creature that Pinkie had knocked to the ground and nearly skewered slowly tried to crawl away, but stopped as it came across a pair of large, clawed feet. It slowly looked up at the form of a dragon-like humanoid with golden scales and some sort of armored clerical vestments. Both of them looked at each other for a moment before the crawling kobold slowly lowered its face to the ground, saying, "Nope. Just ignore me. I'm dead. See? Look at how dead I am! No need to kill me!"

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow, but decided it was probably best to ignore the creature. She, AJ, and Rainbow Dash approached the three figures standing amidst clearly beaten kobolds. These figures against the flames made Fluttershy's heart race, but she knew that this was no time for her usual social anxiety. She just kept muttering to herself, "Underwear. Underwear. Underwear..."

Twilight saw the massive reptillian approaching and immediately leveled an arrow at it. She pulled back and was about to let go when a blur of colors rushed towards her and, before she could tell what was going on, had snatched the arrow from her grip and pointed it right at her throat.

A small humanoid with a painted face and brightly colored outfit threatened her, "Drop the bow, stranger, 'fore somethin' bad happens to you."

Twilight did as she was told and silently cursed her fortune. Just then, a massive shadow overtook her view of this small foe. She could almost hear the sharpness of Rarity's axe as she said in a low growl, "it's a bit late for that, my dear. Let. Twilight. Go."

Fluttershy's eyes were opened wide and her new claws were shaking, but then something occurred to her. She took a deep breath and in a shaky, quiet voice asked, "T-Twilight?"

Applejack looked up at the monster looming over her and echoed the question, "Twi?!"

Rarity lowered her axe slowly and asked, "Applejack?"

Rainbow Dash butted in, "Twilight?!"

Twilight responded with a question of her own, "Rainbow Dash?"

Rarity put down her axe and embrace the small humanoid, nearly crying, "Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow Dash pointed to the large, scaly creature behind her and choked out, "Fluttershy."

Fluttershy nodded and greeted her old friend, "Rarity."

"Fluttershy!" Rarity exclaimed, embracing her.

Applejack raised an eyebrow at this and was about to ask, but Twilight prematurely answered, "Rarity."

Applejack nodded and confirmed, "Rarity."

"Pinkie Pie!" cheered the hero of the same name.

"Linan," the spearwoman said just loud enough for all of them to hear, "and the man leading my children is my husband, Cuth. Thank you all for your aid."

Twilight recovered her bow and answered, "No problem. We're looking for someone named Leosin. Have you seen him?"

Linan took a breath as if to speak again, but suddenly fell and clutched her side. Cuth knelt down next to her and embraced her and their children did the same. "I'm fine," Linan assured them, "As for Leosin, I don't know him, but if he's in Greenest then he's probably at the keep in the middle of town."

Fluttershy was digging through the chest that the others had brought with them and pulled an amulet shaped like a shield emblazoned with the image of a dragon's head in profile out of it. She could feel something like a soft voice guiding her hands as she reached out and touched the top of Linan's head. A soft, distant echo in her mind led her in a strange chorus in a language that she had never heard before, yet she understood all of what she chanted, "May the one who blessed our ancestors bless this one as well. May the Platinum Dragon be filled with compassion for their health and their strength be restored. May Bahamut send them renewal of body and spirit. Amen."

A warm glow wrapped around Linan's body and in a moment she exclaimed, "The bleeding stopped! The pain is gone!" she looked up at Fluttershy and got to her feet before concluding, "Thank you. If you'll follow me, I can lead you and your friends to the keep."

Twilight thanked her, "We'd really appreciate it. Just give us a minute to-"

She was cut off by the sound of Rarity grunting as she lifted the chest over her head and started walking towards their new ally. Applejack twirled a short sword in each hand before gracefully placing them in a set of sheathes hidden in her baggy clothes and Ranbow Dash now held a wooden staff topped with a purple stone and had a thick book in a sling hanging from her shoulder. Pinkie handed Fluttershy a mace and metal shield, telling her, "You might need this."

Twilight looked back to Linan and corrected herself, "Never mind. We're ready when you are."

Author's Note:

There may be a delay on the next chapter. It's not likely, but it may happen. Still getting used to Fimfiction and now my spell checker is on the fritz.

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