Dragon Cleansing: A Tale of the Dragonborn

by duvagr007

Chapter Fourteen: Never Tell Me The Odds

Chapter 14

You snuffed out the smoldering fire with a quick burst of frost magic, putting an end to the beacon of smoke that had already brought at least four dragons down on your head. Pulling your axes from your belt, your gaze tuned skyward to scan for the beasts rapidly bearing down on your camp. You spotted the first one to the north. That one was nearly upon you. The second and third could be seen to the east and southeast, with the final dragon coming from the west. That last one was little more than a spec, so you would have some time to kill the first three before it showed up. Unfortunately, killing two dragons at once was a tall order, not to mention a third and fourth. Of course, normally it was just you and one other companion. Now you had four. Speaking of, your shouting had roused your party, and Twilight and Pinkie Pie were both ready to go. Rainbow was done with her gear, but she was currently busy helping Applejack with her own. So, three versus one? Not too bad, maybe you could get down North before East and Southeast showed up. On that note...

A loud roar broke the silence as North flew overhead, blasting fire at you and the ponies. It's copper hide reflected the morning sun, causing you to have to squint to keep from blinding yourself as you tracked it's movements. It flew a tight circle and landed at the edge of your camp, letting out another roar in challenge. You lowered your head, letting out a yell in reply as you charged full speed at the dragon. Twilight sent a bolt of lightning arcing past you, striking the beast in the side of the head. It let out a roar of pain and recoiled at the hit, but it would take much more than that to bring it down. You lept into the air, axes poised above your head to strike the back of the dragon's neck. You landed hard, the blades striking a heavy blow, but not where you intended. Seeing you coming, and not nearly dazed enough from the lightning, the dragon had pulled it's head back in order to take the blow on its crest of horns, rather than its softer neck.

Cursing softly, you landed on the ground with a light foot and sprung away from the dragon's counter attack. It's powerful jaws clamped down around the space you occupied just a moment ago, causing the beast to growl in anger. A loud explosion could be heard on the other side of the dragon, followed by an impact on it's flank that caused it to fall off balance. Taking this chance, you lunged forward yet again, this time finding your mark, and burying the axes in the dragon's spine. Bones crunched and nerves severed, leaving the body of the dragon completely limp. It roared out in pain, throwing its massive head skyward. The cry was cut short as another lightning bolt from Twilight arced into the dragons gaping maw, frying it from the inside. With smoke pouring from the mouth, the dragon's head fell to the earth with a heavy impact, the light gone from its eyes.

You had no time to celebrate however. As North breathed its last, East and Southeast crashed to the earth, one facing you, the other moving to attack the ponies. You gripped your axes tighter as the green dragon bared down on you, eyes filled with vengeance for the fallen North.You cast a sideways glance to the camp and saw that Applejack and Rainbow had joined the fight against the other dragon, this one a deep blue. The ponies seemed to be holding their own, so you decided to leave them to it while you took care of this one. The beast pulled its head up and backwards, the shot it forward in an effort to end the fight before it started. Luckily, dragons had very few tricks, so you were easily able to anticipate and dodge. Rolling in and to the right,you swung upward with the right hand as you pivoted, keeping the left out for balance. You connected, and put a gash over the beast's left eye. It recoiled and pulled it's head away, swinging it's powerful tail towards you. Unfortunately, you didn't see that coming until it was to late. With just enough time to brace, you caught the tail square in the chest and got sent flying towards a cliff face. The impact was heavy, and you fell back to earth dazed and barely conscious. The back of your head felt wet. Your axes clattered to the ground on either side of your prone form, just out of reach.

You looked up through bleary vision and saw a vague green mass moving in your direction. A stalk slowly grew from the top, an orange light adorning the head. Something in your subconscious screamed at you to move, but your limbs would not comply. The light grew more intense, and then suddenly exploded as you felt a wave of heat racing towards you. Fire. Fire was the only word in your mind as you lost consciousness.

__________

...

"J'Dagna!" Sound... soft and distant. Like it was only in your mind.

"J'Dagna!" There it was again, louder this time. Was that real? Were you dreaming? Dead? Could you remember anything?

...

The camp. You were under attack. Four dragons, one dead. You were fighting another. Hurt it, caught the eye. Tail swipe, cliff. Fire. Purple flash, black.

Wait.

Purple flash?

"J'Dagna!" You snapped back to the world, head screaming and fur singed. Twilight was standing in front of you while Green did it's best to smash through a translucent purple dome surrounding you. "You're alive! Oh thank Celestia. When I saw you hit the cliff face and not get back up, I feared the worst. Are you okay? I mean... obviously you aren't but can you stand?" You winced as you brought your arms in, slowly pushing yourself off the ground. Your left shoulder screamed in protest, but you ignored the pain and got your legs underneath you. Kneeling for a moment, you caught you breath as you looked at the purple mare in front of you. Her horn was practically on fire with amethyst light, and she grimaced with every impact on the shield. Yet, her face held only concern for you. Your safety and well being.

"I will be fine Twilight. Thank you." You gave her a smile as you stood to your full height, grabbing your axes from the ground. Your head was still throbbing like mad, but you grit your teeth through the pain. You wanted to save what few potions you had left for emergencies, and your mana was already low. That minor reserve was for healing hands only. Another wave of flame shrouded the shield, obscuring your view of the dragon. "Twilight, as soon as the flame ceases open the shield." She looked at you for a moment, face still plastered with concern. Still, she nodded, and you braced yourself to spring into action.

Any moment now.

Right when you anticipated the inferno ceased and the shield fell, giving you a perfect opening. You sprung straight at the surprised dragon, knocking its head to the left in order to get on its blind side. You buried one axe into the beast's throat, leaving it behind as you hefted the other above your head. You swung down with all of your strength, bringing the blades together inside the dragon's neck. The dragon's head, along with your other axe, fell to the ground as the body convulsed violently. You looked to see the other mares finish blue, Rainbow plunging her daggers into the heart of the creature. You heard a gagging noise, and saw Rarity and Fluttershy off behind a group of boulders, the white mare comforting her friend. You hated that they had to bear witness to this butchery, but it was the only solution to a problem you had ever really known. At least, dragon related problems. They certainly weren't keen to talk about their feelings. You looked to the West and saw the fourth and final dragon was still at a distance. Squinting a bit in an effort to clear your still blurry vision, you saw it circling slowly. Perhaps the sight of three of its fallen kin was enough to make it question an attack.

A few more turns in the sky and it flew off to the north, back where the first had come from. It let out a roar that echoed across the mountain range, sound bouncing all around you. You did your best to focus, trying to pick up anything intelligible.

Grah

Dinok

Alduin.

He was here.

You began moving towards the remains of the camp to help the ponies salvage anything you could. The adrenaline was leaving your system. Your limbs began to feel heavy. Your grip on your axes faltered and they fell to the ground. Vision failing. Can't stand. You fell to your knees. Coughing, red splotches replacing the gray of stone in your vision. You checked your breathing.

Heavy. Rough.

...

Broken ribs. Dammit.

You coughed again, more blood.

Purple at the top of your vision. You struggled to raise your head to look at Twilight. You did your best to instruct her.

"Bag. Red phial. Shade." You only hoped she would understand as you once again lost consciousness.

Author's Note:

So, a whole year for 1,600 words? Still got it. In my defense, I was working on Steele Breaker. Which, if you like fantasy type stuff like this then please go give that a read. It's a completely original work minus the fact that ponies. But real talk the only ponies in that that are in the show are Tia, Luna, Starswirl, and the villain. Please read it. It's a bit dead in the comment section, and that's disheartening.

Anywho, I'll do my level best to update this story and that one alongside one another from here on in. Like, every other month stagger kind of thing. One month this, next moth that. I'm rambling. If you liked the chapter let me know, if not still let me know. If you're sick of me taking forever there's really no need to say it because I know. I need sleep now.

-Duvagr007

Comments

[Sharp77]

Look in his bag, grab a red vial, and pull him back into shade...what is there to not understand?

[Saadian]

Looking good! More please, good author!