Soldier in Equestria

by robberrito

Dragonshy Part 2: Firefight

As they got closer to the base of the mountain, it looked more and more ominous. It stuck out like a spike and billowed smoke at the top as it infected the atmosphere around it and blocked the light of the sun. Every few minutes, they could hear a loud groan as the dragon snored and unleashed another massive cloud of smoke into Equestria's atmosphere. The ponies looked at each other for a few moments with blank expressions. Beneath their masks of non-emotion, there was a great feeling embedded. Was it fear perhaps? Was it great awe? Was it the special type of fear one encounters when venturing into the unknown, possibly to never be seen again?

Each pony felt none of these things. Instead, in the place of these common feelings was great excitement and determination. The prospect of going to face a mighty beast head-on certainly carried with it great prestige unlike any other. It also promised a great adventure. The challenge of scaling the mountain in the first place brought with it a great difficulty. Walking up such a slope was difficult for even those trained for it. Many supplies would need to be carried in order to progress up the entire mountain, as attempting to do so without was obvious suicide. Water was a must-have, as well as food. Ropes were also needed in the event that walking up a ledge was not possible due to the angle at which to walk. All these things were carried with the ponies in case any of these things needed to be used. Luckily, these ponies were not scaling a mountain comparable to Everest, and oxygen tanks were not needed. The ponies were also, well, ponies. Scaling such mountains was going to be much easier than for a human, as horses were built for running long distances.

Then, of course, there was the dragon.

Dragons were truly fearsome creatures. Just one was enough to endanger a village and more than that is overkill on the dragon’s part. Each dragon is massive, being higher than buildings if standing on their hind legs. A dragon could easily cause massive damage to a building if falling into them, and just leaning on them is enough to strain a house.

Despite their size, the most dangerous thing about them is their fire breath. A dragon’s breath is hot enough to completely melt a wooden building in mere seconds. This has given them their reputation of being some of the most dangerous creatures to exist in Equestria. It has also caused massive smoke to build up in the atmosphere. Now, ponies are being sent to deal with a scorching hot fire-breather who could likely cook them instantly.

This mission was especially dangerous given the dragon race’s behavior. Dragons were known to be especially short-tempered. Even a single ounce of criticism is enough to send dragons into a fit. Dragons are also known to be very careless with smaller things, as dragons often roughhouse with one another regularly. Dealing with things carefully was not generally in their interest.

This was why Fluttershy was shaking like a leaf as she walked up the mountain. The idea of facing such a creature was unthinkable to her, as she knew her friends would most likely anger the dragon and make it… she couldn’t even think about the consequences without feeling squeamish.

Her friends noticed her plight and Rainbow Dash decided to try and encourage Fluttershy.

“C‘mon, Shy! You can do it! Look, it’s not that scary to go up the mountain. You can fly! You’re brave, I know you are!”

Fluttershy continued to shake despite her friend’s encouragement. She did agree with Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t scared of the climb up the mountain.

“T-t-that’s not what I’m scared of Rainbow,” she managed to spit out.

“I’m scared of what we will be meeting… up there,” Fluttershy pointed up as she finished, right toward the top of the mountain.

Rainbow Dash frowned as she understood why Fluttershy would be scared of such a thing, but tried to play it off like she didn’t.

“Oh c’mon Shy! The dragon won’t be that scary! It’s just really big with melting hot… never mind. It’s not like we’re going to fight it! Immediately that is.”

Twilight facehooved as she heard Rainbow’s “advice” to Fluttershy. She honestly thought it would have been better if she just said nothing at all.

Despite her advice being objectively terrible, Fluttershy recognized her effort to make her more courageous and didn’t want to let that effort go to waste. Seeing that her friends were looking out for her and we’re counting on her, she stopped shaking and a determined look appeared on her face.

“Alright… you’re right Dash! Nothing on this mountain is so scary. I’ll go to the top with you, and we’ll stop Equestria from being covered in smoke.”

Suddenly, a loud scream was heard approaching behind her. Fluttershy’s eyes widened and her pupils shrunk as she heard it. She thought of one thing.

“DRAGON!” Fluttershy screamed at the yelling and fell on her back, her legs locked up and pointed to the sky. A large, red flying object flew into the mountain, causing some rocks to slide off.

The red figure stood up with its thumbs-up.

“Mission accomplished,” Soldier said with a smile on his face.

Twilight’s left eye began to twitch as Pinkie Pie rushed to him.

“Solly! You got my note!” She squealed with delight.

Soldier patted her head as she squished against him, and his other hand held the Beggar’s Bazooka on his shoulder.

“No, I completely ignored it. I am here, however. We shall fight this fire-breathing menace together!” Soldier raised his head to stare at the top of the mountain with a determined look in his eye.

“No, no, no, no, NO!” Twilight almost screamed at Soldier as she marched toward him, “You are NOT supposed to be here! Princess- erm President Celestia ordered you to stay out of the situation!”

Soldier grabbed his hat off his hat and held it near his waist, staring at nothing with a solemn look on his face.

“I am aware I am disobeying the President herself, Sparkle,” Soldier’s grip on his helmet tightened as he spoke, as if he was fighting to say what he must say, “but this situation is simply beyond that at this point. If you are to survive your encounter with this beast, then you need help from me to defeat it!”

Twilight’s eyes began to bulge harder than before, the eating to literally pop out.

“We don’t need to defeat anyone! We’re taking a DIPLOMATIC APPROACH Soldier!” Twilight was now fully screaming at the Soldier, and things looked like they were about to escalate. Luckily, Fluttershy, who had just escaped her temporary paralysis, was there to help.

“Um… actually,” Fluttershy gulped as both of the instigators turned to her with fire in their eyes, “I think that Soldier coming will be fine… we don’t have to fight the dragon as soon as we see it, and… um, if it tries to fight us Soldier can help… maybe?”

Both parties turned to one another, looking them in the eye with anger. Twilight spoke first.

“Of course, Fluttershy, I agree to your terms.”

The Soldier stared back with his right hand squeezing the helmet and his left hand clenched in anger. Finally, he responded.

“I… agree.”

Done with the confrontation, he sprung up and began to walk up the mountain. Meanwhile, he was spouting out orders to match forward. He spoke with vigor and excitement. However, he also spoke with joy at finally being able to advance up toward their goal, a far cry from the previous moment.

Twilight stared dumbfounded at Soldier’s attitude, before turning to Fluttershy. She spoke quietly, still shocked, “Um, thanks Fluttershy. I got a little too worked up there. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Fluttershy smiled nervously before replying, “You’re welcome, Twilight. I’m just glad I could help you guys. Now, we need to hurry and stop this disaster!”

Suddenly, a loud snore erupted from the mouth of the cave, and the mountain shook with it. Small rocks tumbled down the mountain and into the abyss below. Hearing the snore, Fluttershy fell on her back once again, with her legs straight and stiff. Twilight rolled her eyes before picking Fluttershy up and carrying her up the mountain.

——

Soldier laid on the back of Applejack, sucking in as much air as he could through his mouth. His bones ached and he felt like he was on fire. He tried to do something, anything, but nothing happened. All he could do was breathe and breathe until he was normal once again.

Applejack looked concerned at the state of the Soldier as she walked up the mountain.

“Ya alright sugar cube?” Applejack asked with more concern.

Twilight answered for the Soldier, “Soldier is a primate, Applejack, which means that’s he going to be a LOT more tired trying to climb up a mountain. You probably should carry him up these slopes.”

The group had witnessed Soldier pass out from walking a steep slope, and Applejack was forced to carry the man the rest of the slope. After getting to the top of the slope, they went around a spiral path up the side of one of the mountain’s spikes. After walking up the spiral, they came across an obstacle in the form of a split land bridge. With nothing else to do, the group was forced to jump. By this time, the Soldier had gained enough of his energy to jump the gap. He managed the jump, but nearly fell off when he landed and had to be saved.

Fluttershy struggled the most with the jump, trying her best to overcome her fears and jump. However, she failed to come off the ground, and instead, her front hooves landed on the other side of the bridge. Following this incident, the group advanced up the main part of the mountain. When they neared the top, however, they caused a massive rock slide that threatened to crush them all. Soldier simply rocket jumped over to the safe ground, the pegasi flew over the hazard, and the others were forced to dodge and weave through the rocks (or, in Twilight’s case, teleport out of the way of the rocks). After they all successfully dodged the rocks, they had finally made it to the top of the mountain.

The Soldier jumped up in victory after finally having achieved their first goal.

“LET’S GO! WE’LL-“ suddenly his mouth was shut by purple magic, and Twilight glowered at him.

“How about we don’t scream so loud that the dragon will be agitated and attack us!” she said in a loud, but not too loud voice.

Soldier held his thumb up for Twilight to see. Twilight groaned, not thinking that Soldier was being sincere, but released her hold on him anyway.

The Elements then attempted their diplomatic approach. Needless to say, it didn’t go too well. Each one attempted to convince the dragon to leave in methods befitting of them, yet they failed to convince the dragon. The dragon itself was very large, with its head bigger than a pony's body, and its body as big as a small Ponyville shop. It sat atop a treasure trove of gold, wrapping its legs firmly around the gold in order to sense any kind of movement from it. The dragon did not speak to any of the ponies it met. Instead, it either waved them off or blew smoke in their face to make them go away.

Once Twilight came out of the tunnel, both Soldier and Rainbow Dash smiled wickedly. Twilight groaned as their mission had reached a major obstacle. She had no idea of what to do with the dragon, who was now being outright hostile to them. She looked on as the two people she feared would do something stupid did something stupid.

"CHARGE!"

"LET'S SHOW THAT DRAGON WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T LISTEN TO EQUESTRIA!"

Both Rainbow Dash and Soldier rushed into the cave, leaving behind a flabbergasted Twilight Sparkle. She sputtered as she watched them go.

"NO! STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURSELVES KILLED!" she cried out to the battle-hungry creatures, who paid her no mind. Rainbow Dash got there first. The dragon looked up to see what the commotion was when it received a kick to the face at extremely high velocity. Rainbow Dash stabilized herself in the air to see the damage she had caused and saw she had caused a large dent in the scales of the dragon. Soldier came to add fuel to the fire. He had pulled out a large pickaxe and was charging at the dragon while wailing loudly. As he reached melee distance he stabbed the pickaxe into the side of the dragon. The pickaxe punctured the scales of the dragon due to Soldier's pure strength. The dragon gave out a roar at the two combatants before swatting at them. Both Rainbow Dash and Soldier managed to dodge the dragon's attack and repeatedly retreated out of the cave. When they emerged out of the cave, the dragon followed close behind with its teeth bared. The non-combatants were surprised by the dragon's hostility and were knocked back by the dragon suddenly landing near them. Rainbow Dash attempted to get the drop on the dragon but was stopped by its wings as it flapped her back to where her friends were, knocking her out in the process. The only thing left was Soldier, who was currently loading rockets into the Beggar's Bazooka. The dragon sneered at the human, thinking it had already won and had the human cornered. This couldn't be more wrong.

The Beggar's Bazooka suddenly unleashed three rockets in quick succession straight at the dragon. The dragon took the full effects of each blast, causing many of the scales on its body to fall off and start bleeding from the wounds. The dragon roared with furious anger and flew at the Soldier, hoping to crush him. The Soldier skillfully rocket jumped away right as the dragon bit down on where he was. The dragon ended up flying into a rock head first, causing several of its teeth to pop out and to make it even angrier. It turned around to find two rockets flying toward it. Seeing this, it blew out a massive burst of air from its mouth, causing the rockets to fly straight back at the Soldier. The Soldier did not react quickly enough and was sent flying back from the explosion. The dragon approached quickly, hoping to take advantage of Soldier's injury. However, before it could take advantage, it was met by a small yellow pony with pink hair.

"STOP!" said the tiny pony. The dragon slammed down its legs before it could run over Fluttershy, and it stared inquisitively down at her.

The dragon attempted to step over Fluttershy, but when she started to stare at it, it stopped. Her stare caused it to fear, something it hadn't done in a long time. It rapidly backpedaled away from Fluttershy until it was cornered.

Fluttershy flew up close to the dragon's face with an angry look on her face, "How DARE you hurt my friends like that? You have no right to be that violent towards guests."

The dragon slumped down as she spoke and tried to talk as best it could, "B-b-but he hit me!"

The dragon pointed toward Soldier, who was currently trying to stand up from taking two rocket blasts.

Fluttershy responded in a softer tone, "I know, and that's very rude of him, but you are bigger than him! You should be more considerate of creatures smaller than you. Also, your attitude toward ponies is very inconsiderate! Your smoke is endangering the entirety of Equestria, and you still refuse after we nicely asked you to leave. Are you that selfish?"

The dragon gulped before responding, "No, no, no, no. I'm not selfish! I'll leave, I promise!"

After saying this, the dragon flew up into the air and flew away from the mountain as fast as it could, never to return.

Fluttershy turned to Soldier, who had gotten back up from his injuries but was still bleeding.

"YOU! HOW DARE YOU ATTACK A CREATURE UNPROVOKED LIKE THAT? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!" Fluttershy yelled as loud as she could at Soldier.

Soldier's eyes were wide as he didn't know the pegasus could yell that loud. He responded in a low voice, "Um, I'm sorry?"

Fluttershy hmphed before turning to her friends, who had gotten up from being knocked into the rock.

"O-oh, hi guys. Um, the dragon left... so... we can go back down now," Fluttershy said timidly.

Fluttershy proceeded to walk back down the mountain, keeping her face behind her hair.

Twilight turned to look at Soldier with a raised eyebrow. Soldier simply shrugged, then lifted a thumb up.

"Mission accomplished!"

Soldier then passed out from blood loss.

Comments

[Comet_Chaser]

Just stumbled across this, and just from the title alone I MUST read this hahaha

[Doctor NOOOOOOOO]

ITS BEEN THREE YEARS WHERE NEW CHAPTER

[King Toxic]

11791689
He's heavy like a brinks truck.