Strength of a Brother's Bond

by Trexorb

Chapter 4: Not Getting Any Easier

Chapter 4

I realized something. While under the effects of manticore poison, you can't really feel anything. No muscle movements, no blood pressure, no outside pain. The pain from bruises, scars, cuts, and other wounds, all of it is gone. So it was no wonder why I didn't initially feel the wind rushing past me on my scales.

"Ugh.." I groaned, feeling the sun's light go over my eyes. I tried to move my right hand to get some of the sleep, only to find I have a stinging pain all over it. Slowly, I open my eyes to find myself falling backwards again. I really hope I'm not doing what I think I'm doing. A passing cloud only helped confirm my suspicions.

Of course, I'm falling again.......

"AGHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed, feeling a sense of déjà vu.

What the hell am I doing falling again? Last time I remember, I was on the ground, fighting for my life against a fucking manticore. So, when did I get from the burning forest to the freaking sky?

"RAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH" The fuck was that?

While still free falling, I look to my right to see..... "A HUGE FUCKING DRAGON!!!! SHIT! GET AWAY! GET AWAY!!!"

Before I could do anything to avoid the dragon, gravity decided to start playing matchmaker, with me and the ground as it's choices.

"GAHHHH," I screamed, breaking through a tree branch and landing on the ground below. "FOR FUCK'S SAKE!!" Ok, falling is no problem. It's always the landing part that I never seem to be good at. Feeling the familiar soreness come back on my left side, I hear something crash a mile away to my right, shaking the earth a bit. What the hell could have crashed?

The only thing that was in the air that I could have seen was me and the..... dragon. Did.... did the dragon fall from the sky as well? But I saw it have big fucking wings, although they did seem a bit tore up. Now I going to find out.

Deciding to at least find the dragon and see what happened, I slowly got up, feeling nothing in my right side and slight pain on my left, I trekked towards the crash. Oh, I'm just treating this new body swell. In fact, I think I might be getting used to the pain. That wasn't really the case, seeing as how I was literally dragging my right leg across the dirt, with my tail trying to keep me balanced. Hmmmmmm, I could always try going on all four legs, instead of standing.....

I was soon limping, walking like a dog, on my way to the crash zone, seeing the smoke close above the leaves... Ok so I know I'm still in the forest, meaning I must be close to where I was. Then again, it is day time, so I could be in a completely new forest. Just how big is this "Equestria" anyways? Is it only full of forests? As far as I know, I haven't even seen any ponies. So I could actually be in a completely different world with talking dogs and manticores.... and that women at the lake got it wrong!!

"Oh, come on!" I shouted, slowly losing feeling on the right side of my neck. "Did she really put me in a completely different fucking world? I haven't seen one fucking pony, let alone civilization! So how the fuck am I suppose to find Drew? I'm losing feeling in this stupid fucking body, all cause of a fucking lion thing that's apparently called a manticore, and I don't know how to even fucking cure myself! WHEN I SEE THAT WOMEN AGAIN, I'M GOING TO GIVE HER SO MUCH SHIT AND... where did all the trees go?"

I must have been ranting too much to notice, but I wasn't in the forest any more, let alone anywhere near vegetation. I was now in the middle of what looks like a wasteland, with the place only having volcanoes, dead trees, dirt, a dragon in a crater with smoking coming out and ponies with a bird thing surrounding it, and more dead plants with.......

I took me awhile to figure it out, but now I knew what I was seeing. The dragon, with purple scales and shredded wings, was laying on its side, looking like it was bleeding a bit from the wings. There were what looked like 3 ponies, two with horns and one with wings, looking at it with a lion bird thing. What was really weird was that the ponies were actually pretty colorful, one of the ponies with a horn was red with orange messy hair, the other was brown with short yellow hair, and the one with wings was blue with white long hair. The eagle-lion mix was brown, but with some white feather's near its neck.

The red pony seemed to be wearing armor around all four of its legs, from hoof to the ankle, looking a bit like gauntlets, but for ponies. It was also wearing a coat of some sort covering the rest of its body, while it looked like it was carrying a bow with a quiver of arrows on its back. By the looks of it, the red pony seemed like it was trying to tell a joke to the brown one, laughing afterwards at what looked like a failed attempt, seeing as it was the only one laughing.

The brown one seemed to have his horn glowing, with metal light armor covering the ponies entire body, except for its hooves and from the neck up, and seems to have a staff on its back. The brown one had its eyes closed, looking like it was concentrating on something, but what for? More importantly, Why was its horn glowing? I vaguely remember hearing Drew talk about how some ponies had the power of magic, called unicorns, while others had the ability to fly and control weather, those called pegasus. Was this unicorn trying to use magic?

Looking at the blue pegasus, I could see it was flying around the downed dragon, probably inspecting the damage. By the looks of it, it wore light armor, protecting only certain vital parts. What was really weird was that it had a tattoo of two blue lightning bolt on its flank. Must've had one too many drinks one night or something. It seemed to also have dagger on each side on its body and a bow with a quiver of arrows resting on its back. Probably a rogue like pony, with wings helping it to be faster than the rest. Maybe not as fast as the eagle-lion thing, though.

I had no idea what it was called. I couldn't remember Drew telling me anything that sounded remotely like that thing. Then again he did seemed to miss out a few detail about Diamond dogs, dragons, and fucking manticores. Whatever that thing was, It seemed to be trying to talk to the fallen dragon, even though the dragon was barely keeping awake. It also seemed to have bow and arrows with it too. Must be the archer, with me thinking how it must have a bird's vision, with it being part eagle or something.

I stood there, shocked that I was actually seeing ponies, wearing armor and having weapons no doubt too. Weren't they suppose to be friendly and lovable, like Drew said?

"Mystery women, I take every mean thing that I said about you and putting me in the wrong place." I said, talking to the sky as if the women could actually hear me. I turned around, not really wanting to be a part of whatever is going on over where the dragon was.

*WHACK*

That is, I was about to.... if I wasn't attacked by a hidden pony with a giant ass sword from behind.

*WHACK*

.......Twice.

Sliding towards the pony group, I feel a tremendous pain in the back of my head and back, the impact zones from the sword. The attacking pony now had one of his legs holding my neck down, choking me slightly, when he brought up that sword of his to my face.

"Well, look at this, boys. We got ourselves another one." the sword pony shouted towards the group.

Examining the pony, I saw that he had a green coat, with white and darker green spiky hair. He was definitely bigger than the rest of the group, probably 4'8 or taller, and he didn't really seem to have any horns or wings on him. He was wearing a brown coat over himself, with only two steel shoulder pads and some metal bracers on his forelegs. His blue eyes were glaring at me, while he had his giant sword in front of me, preventing me from getting up. The sword was so big, it would have looked like the twin brother of the buster blade, and it had what looked like a special hole at the handle, with his hoof holding it.

"Sweet man. Think you can keep it there while we finish holding this one down?" The red unicorn shouted back, keeping his attention focused on the purple dragon.

The green pony was now looking through my pouch that I had on me, finding the gold coins, gems, and map that I had on me.

"Well what do we have here?" The sword pony said. "Are you holding some bits and gems for us? How thoughtful."

With the sword pony being distracted holding the pouch of gems and bits, I used my left shield to smack the pony off of me, pushing him away from me and the group. It may have not been my best plan, seeing as how the blue pony now saw and was heading my way.

Quickly getting up as fast as I could, I try to run away from it all, just hoping to stay out of trouble. Didn't really work out well, with the blue pegasus in front of me, holding two dagger, ready to fight. "Where did you think you're going?" He said sternly. Wow, this pony moves fast. By the sound of it, he's pretty serious too. Wait a minute.... am I actually being threatened by a pony?

I would have been laughing at the whole craziness if I didn't have a pegasus with two dagger ready to attack my face off. I decided I could at least take on one simple pony right?

Heating up my hands with the black flames, I attacked the pegasus, hoping to at least burn his wings off.

That wasn't really the case, seeing as how I could barely move my right hand at all and I was starting to lose feeling in my left shoulder. I stood there looking like an idiot, with two fire hands limping next to my body, as I strained myself to try and attack the flying pony. Not my best plan, but not my worst one.

I was then kicked by the pegasus, landing on my back again with my black flames extinguished, but not really feeling the pain because of the poison. I tried to get back up, but with the combination of soreness, poison, and lack of nutrition, I could barely find any strength left to even keep my eyes open.

I soon felt my body being dragged by the a horn on my head, going towards the fallen dragon and the group. Once there, someone dropped my head on the ground, making me groan from the sudden impact. Opening my eyes, I see I'm near the now unconscious dragon's head and that it was the green sword pony that apparently dragged me here. Must be a strong ass pony to have dragged my whole body. Just what the hell are these guys?

"Again, great job boys," The sword pony said, facing towards the group and dragons. "We caught two dragons today. What's that make our total now, Mix?"

"Counting these two? Five in total, sir." The brown pony replied, still eyes closed and horn still glowing.

"I say we go to the nearest tavern and celebrate! Drinks on me once we finish off these overgrown lizards and turn in their scales." The red pony cheered happily. Wait what? finish off and turn in scales? What the hell are these guys, dragon hunters? "Heck, even though your a griffin, I bet I can still beat your feathery flank in a drinking match." He was now looking at the eagle-lion, giving off a smug face.

"We still have to finish our job here, you dimwit." The griffin replied, glaring angrily at the red pony. "We're not gonna drink until we find a few more dragons to skin and bring it back to our employer." Ok these guys are really scaring me. They have to be dragon hunters and, oh joy, I'm a dragon. Come on body, get out of here!

"That one dragon is weird though, with those shield things connected to its arm. Doesn't look like scales, but more like a rock or a gem maybe. What do you think of it, Lancelot?" The blue pegasus said. They do know that I can hear them still right? Oh if only I could breathe fire at them right now.... Oh that's right, all I can do is shoot FUCKING SPARKS.

"I have no idea, but I guess that means its more special then. We can always skin it off of him afterwards, sell it to a blacksmith back in Equestria." The green sword pony replied. I guess I'm not in Equestria at the moment. Where the hell am I then? I still see ponies, so now I'm very confused.

Lancelot then looked at me and grinned, trying to make me fear him. To tell you the truth, it was working. Say something to get these guys to go away!

"Ghat tah phunk ahway prum eh." I mumbled

....... Ok that is definitely one the top five stupid things that I have said. I guess the poison is finally in my mouth. Great now I sound like a man who just came back from the dentist and filled his mouth with marshmallows. Man, I still am really hungry. When was the last time I ate?

Before I knew it, I heard a laugh from Mix, with him pointing his red gem staff at my face.

"Hahaha. Would you look at this? The dragon is trying to talk." He sneered. "He also seems to have some poison in his blood system. Must have had a fight earlier, somewhat explains why it was easy to capture this one."

"Oh come one. Don't ruin this moment for us." The red pony said, seeming a bit downed by the news.

"Like you did anything to help!" Mix snapped, facing him.

With the red gem glowing in front of my face, I could smell a familiar scent of cherries in the air. I was getting really hungry all of a sudden and this staff is starting to give me cravings. Do dragons eat wood... or the gems?? I couldn't really stay focus with all the poison, soreness, and hunger. My stomach was starting to rumble from having the sweet scent of cherries filling my nostrils.

Eat it! Eat the gem!

Doing what my stomach said, I lunged my neck with all the strength I could muster, chomping down on the staff and swallowing the gem. I gotta tell you, not eating anything for the past 2 day can really make a dragon hungry, so once that gem hit my stomach, I felt complete bliss from just having had something to eat.

Mix was just horrified, seeing his prized staff just chomped on by a dragon, almost having my teeth come close to his hoof. Ha! That's what you get for sticking a damn staff in my face.

*WHACK*

Before I knew it, I was now dazed, eyes closed and tongue sticking hanging out my mouth, but my other senses were still working. That bastard must've hit me with the side of his sword again. I am not a ragdoll!

"Be careful next time, Mix!" I heard Lancelot's voice shout in a commanding tone. "Just because it's poisoned and paralyzed, doesn't mean that you should just go ahead and get distracted near it. This is why you're still learning! Now get back with Sparky so you can focus on trying to communicate back to the ship." So the whole reason for the glowing horn was because he was trying to make contact with someone. Ok, but with who on the ship?

My ears were now slightly twitching to a new sound, like the sound of something flapping in the air. It was actually pretty irritating once it sounded like it was getting closer. Oh please, oh please, don't let it be their ship....

"WE GOT ANOTHER ONE," Lancelot yelled, "AND THIS ONE IS COMING IN HOT!"

Another one? So it's not a ship, but what is that sound then?

"RAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Oh sweet jesus, I'm so going to die today. It can't get any worse, can it?

Wait, who's getting closer?

*WHACK*

Me and my big mouth.

Comments

[corrosive dash]

I F-ing love this story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i can picture the evolved two shield arm wielding, fire claw red dragon!!
total badassery

[AppleTank]

A whistling grey cynogriffin with a broom walked over to a crater forest. He shovels a few handfuls of dirt to slightly even out the hole. He then opens a portal to a burnt forest. There, he grinds some of the trees into a powder and spreads it across the field, acting as a fertilizer. He also up roots some tree stumps to make way for future generations. His work done, the Janitor sweeps some excess ash into a bag to find a buyer.

[RealityDowngrade]

Man, can you build up some suspense. ...but what's up with the black-fire fists out of no-where though?