Jump of the Iron Dragon

by tosety

seventeen

A burly human wearing spandex, mask and cape walked into my cave. On his chest was a stylized explosion and in his hand he had some sort of rocket launcher with a chainsaw at the end.

“So, Betty, should we use plan ‘A’ or ‘B’?” He was whispering to his gun before listening intently for an answer. An insane smile spread across his face as he, apparently, got an answer.

“Yes, my love, I like explosions too." His smile grew wider and more manic. "Plan ‘A’ it is.”

He then turned to face me, striking a dramatic pose.

“Foul dragon, you have met your match with Collateral Damage Man!” He proceeded to pull back the fore-end like a shotgun. In fact, I quickly realized that his rocket launcher was pump action as he launched ten rockets at me in quick succession. Before the rockets could hit anything, he tried to charge me with his chainsaw bayonet.

Amazingly, none of them even came close to me as they exploded on various parts of the cave wall. Needless to say, I was buffeted by the explosions and he was tossed like a ragdoll. Unwilling to give up, he did something even more strange and insane.

“Flying neutrino awesome explosive radioactive tiger hadoken uppercut!”

As he yelled his insanely long-named attack, he leapt up, connecting his fist with my lower jaw as I sat there, too busy trying to understand his insanity to dodge. His attack was truly explosive, as it cracked the walls of my cave and sent my head flying up about five feet.

Okay, now I am officially angry.

With a sore jaw, I roared at the little punk then proceeded to slap him around, knocking him into various walls. I did not allow him to stand for more than half a second before hitting him again with either my forelegs or my tail..

Finally, after every wall in my cave had some of his blood spattered on it and my rage had cooled to mere white hot hatred, I grabbed him by one leg, hung him upside down, and stared death at him.

“What is the meaning of your intrusion into my cave? I have done nothing to anyone’s property since I have arrived three days ago nor did I have any plans to. Yet you charge in here, attack me, vandalize my cave, and bruise my jaw.”

~~~

I woke from my memories with the feeling that something was seriously wrong. I crept out of my cave to find that the night was still young.

What had awoken me?

I put all my senses into the search and quickly noticed the smell of mind control magic.

“...Follow, sweet children, I'll show thee the way
Through all the pain and the sorrows...” A voice sang from the forest.

The combination of song and magic set my rage alight. I was glad for Emerald’s sake that it was completely different from his daughter’s magic.

---

I woke in my bunk as everypony else was walking outside. A beautiful voice was calling to us and I had to find out who it was.

“...Come, little children, the time's come to play
Here in my garden of shadows”

Something wasn’t right... The air was filled with magic...

“...Follow, sweet children, I'll show thee the way
Through all the pain and the sorrows...”

But I had to see the wonderful pony who was singing to us...

---

There were countless spells hiding the source of the magic and, apparently, the singer as well. My rage grew as I listened to more of the song, it was unapologetically a song of egg stealing.

At long last, I was able to trace the magic by its misdirection, and found them holed up in a little clearing. There were two pegasi and a unicorn standing near them. I also smelled a donkey.

---

“...Hush now, dear children, it must be this way
Too weary of life and deceptions
Rest now, my children, for soon we'll away
Into the calm and the quiet.”

We arrived in a clearing after following the beautiful unicorn and her two pegasus guards. I kept feeling like something was wrong, but everything I thought about was just plain wonderful. Everypony else had fallen asleep, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong.

That wonderful unicorn was looking at me as she sang with her beautiful voice. My eyes were getting heavy, it was such a wonderful lullabye.

Suddenly, Tallic landed in the clearing and I was suddenly wide awake.

---

I recognized Steelskin and assumed the others were his fellow orphans.

The unicorn was casting some sort of spell on Steelskin. As I got closer, I could smell that it was a sleep spell.

Time for decisive action.

I landed dramatically in the clearing, sweeping the pegasi off their hooves with my tail. I pinned the unicorn to the ground and snarled at her.

“You have five seconds to explain why I should give you a quick and merciful death, egg-stealer.”

Surprisingly, it looked me directly in the eye. Its voice and eyes showed no hint of fear, though there was resignation.

“We are giving these orphans proper homes and will be teaching them to rise above their skittish neighbors,” She calmly stated with a hint of condescension.

“Then why did you not officially adopt them?” I said, my voice dripping with calm menace as I ran the tip of a claw across her dark blue cheek, blood dripping from the shallow cut almost immediately. She did not even flinch at the pain.

One of her pegasi got to its hooves and I launched a spike into one of its wings, pinning it to a tree. I was reasonably sure I had broken at least one of his bones, but he made no sound as he tried to remove my spike and free his severely damaged wing.

She did not even look over at her companion as she replied to me. “Our village is one that is not authorized by the sun tyrant. We only follow Nightmare Moon and her teachings as our parents and grandparents have since before her banishment. If you care about the future of these ponies, you will let us take them to our hidden village. There we will train them to be strong and courageous. They will learn to defend themselves and think for themselves rather than bow and scrape to the Solar Nag. If instead, you are looking for a meal, then I promise to give you as much indigestion as I can.”

I grew annoyed with this creature. Rather than begging for mercy or seeking to explain her actions, she was criticizing the town that had been helping Steelskin so much. I was getting ready to start this creature’s torment as the screams of terrified horses made a wonderful accompaniment to the draconic justice I was about to enact.

“Tallic! What’s going on?” Alex, along with Matt, Trace, Twilight Sparkle, Frost, Rainbow Dash, that new cyborg, and a few other ponies whose names I did not immediately register entered the clearing.

“I am about to show these egg stealing pegasi what I do with someone who steals hatchlings.” I readied my talon to start a slow evisceration of the unicorn. “Have you come to offer help? I could use some seasoning for these stringy little egg stealers.”

I licked my lips in anticipation of both the taste of horse flesh and the righteous torment I was about to impart. The unicorn stared at me, debating her options, still untainted by fear. Despite my hatred of her and her actions, I had to give grudging respect to an herbivore who could look me full in the eyes as I spoke of their imminent death.

”Tallic!“ A voice boomed out over the forest, causing even me to pause.

“Cease and desist immediately!”

I looked up to find Luna arriving with a half dozen pegasi in full armor. I also noticed that the orphans were the ones bleating in terror. I was annoyed until I saw Steelskin among them. He had positioned himself in front of the younger hatchlings and his eyes stared at me with fearful determination.

I released the unicorn and looked away, unable to hold his gaze. Luna and her guards landed with a quick nod of appreciation to me and quickly surrounded the egg stealers. The two who were free immediately bowed to her with full and complete deference. The third accompanied the others once his wing was freed, ignoring it as it dragged on the ground. Luna seemed confused and concerned.

“Identify yourselves and explain your actions.” Luna spoke with the calmness of a ruler with full ability to reward or execute.

“We are your Children of the Night, my queen,” The Unicorn replied, bowing low. “We are rescuing these orphans to supplement our citizenry just as you did to start our moonshadow village.” The pegasi sat silently, allowing their apparent leader to speak for all of them.

“No. They cannot have survived a thousand years...” I heard Luna murmur quietly to herself.

I started over toward Steelskin again and saw that a couple guards were checking the foals and comforting them. Steelskin was watching me nervously as I approached. I glanced back as I heard the egg stealers claiming that Luna had been an egg stealer as well.

“Are you unharm...” Steelskin jumped as he heard me speak and I felt daggers pierce my heart. Unable to bear his fear of me, I turned and slunk off.

“Greetings, Captain Nightshade,” Luna said as a group of unicorn guards came into the clearing. “As you can see, Tallic has taken care of our little situation, so all we need to do is bring these children home and take these three back for questioning.” She was talking with a grey unicorn with strangely dragonish green eyes and armor suggesting a position of leadership.

I walked quietly to the edge of the clearing to lay down and berate myself.

---

Tallic quickly batted the pegasi into a tree as he grabbed the unicorn.

My mind was reeling with what I could now see was mind control magic. I still couldn’t shake the fake feeling that the unicorn was the good pony.

I could see a rage in Tallic’s eyes that I never knew could exist. I knew he was there to save us, but he was so monstrous in his anger that I put myself between him and the other orphans. I wanted to make sure they knew somepony was protecting them, and I wanted to be there just in case...

When Tallic shot one of the pegasi through his wing, I almost threw up. I could tell it hit and shattered one of the major bones.

When Twilight Sparkle and her friends found us, I took a quick glance behind me. All of my fellow orphans were in full freeze and even Rocky was barely even blinking. I looked back to Tallic and he was threatening the unicorn in ways that made me queasy. Twilight and Alex were trying to tell him to stop, but he seemed like he couldn’t hear them.

Luckily, Princess Luna arrived with her night guard. Looking at them reminded me of the stories of Nightmare moon and I started having trouble keeping calm again. Luna got Tallic to let go of the unicorn and he came over to us. He was glancing back at the unicorn and pegasi angrily and when he asked me how I was doing, the anger hadn’t disappeared from his eyes and voice. I jumped a little at his tone and he looked hurt as he turned away and walked off to the edge of the clearing.

I tried to follow him and apologize, but a guardspony stopped me and made me stay with the others as the guards got the other kids to wake up. I sat watching him lie down at the edge of the clearing and stare at the ground.

---

Luna approached me as I sat wallowing in my self pity. Again, I was washed over with the desire to battle any and all foes that came against her. The difference this time was that I wanted to die gloriously in the attempt.

“Greetings, Tallic. We commend thy detaining of the foalnappers, but we would discuss with thee thy conduct after the fact.” She glanced over at the hatchlings and bit her lip. I could tell that she was doing her best to be gentle in her rebuke. “Our little ponies are not used to violence as thy culture is, nay, not even as human culture is. Please refrain from threats of death and torture when there are civilians around...” The unspoken addition was 'especially children.' Her expression turned compassionate as I sat there accepting what she said without rebuttal. “Nevertheless, we are cognizant of thy motives and appreciate greatly the concern you show for the little ones.”

I sat there, forcing myself to give acknowledgements appropriate for her rebuke and expressions of gratitude. All I could think about was Steelskin. I looked over and saw him leaving with the others.

He was staring at me in fear.

---

I tried to explain I needed to apologize to Tallic, but the guardpony made me stay with the other kids as we were escorted back to town. I looked over at Tallic and knew something was wrong. Everypony else was staying as far from him as they could and I couldn’t even get close enough to ask him if he was okay.

Mister Roberts and the rest came back with us and tried to comfort the other foals.

“Hey, Steel, you look down. Care to talk?” He ruffled my mane like my dad used to.

“...What... what happened to Tallic?” He looked uncomfortable at my question and it was a while before he answered.

He smiled at me kinda sadly. It reminded me of when my dad was explaining stuff he wished I didn’t have to know. “What have you heard about dragons before you met Tallic?”

“Well...” I thought about what I had heard and thought as a kid. “...They were scary monsters that would crush anypony who went near their cave.”

“And how was he acting with those ponies that were trying to take you and the other orphans?”

“...He was really scary when he was threatening to kill and eat that unicorn. His eyes were so full of anger... and hunger... I was even a little worried that he might attack us.” I really didn’t like admitting that.

Mister Roberts took a deep breath and took a while to answer. “I don’t think that was a possibility, but... I think he really was planning on killing that pony.” He seemed kinda nervous saying this, like he wasn’t sure I could handle it. “The dragons I have seen and heard about wouldn’t have bothered saying anything before killing all three of those ponies. Dragons are violent and proud. Tallic is the kindest and gentlest dragon I have ever even heard about, but he’s probably used to being much more violent than we’re comfortable with.” Alex took a moment to ruffle my mane again before continuing. “I think he realized just how badly he scared you foals and is trying to deal with how different pony culture is from what he’s used to... Just make sure to remember he’ll never hurt you.”

I didn’t know what to think. I used to feel safe around him, but now I was a little nervous... actually, a lot nervous. I knew he was gonna protect me and I still wanted to be around him, but how he was just acting was really, really scary. Also, he was looking sad and hurt when we left.

“I have heard many stories of dragons as a child, but none were so fiercely protective as Tallic,” Trace said from behind us.

I looked back at him and saw his hands covered over by red claws that seemed to be made of ice.

“I’ve heard dragons can go to great lengths to defend anything they hold close...” He paused to look up at the sky. “While I don’t condone what he did, I doubt I would have acted much differently if I were in his place.” He smiled at me and the two of them made me feel a whole lot better.

The others were jumping at shadows on our walk back to town.

---

I walked through the trees towards my cave, unable to shake the vision of Steelskin protecting the other hatchlings from me. I had a feeling that I had just lost all the progress I had made trying to get the ponies to accept me as benevolent. There was little doubt that Miss Sweetheart would use the terror inflicted on her charges to revoke all access to Steelskin, possibly even keeping me from apologizing to him.

I arrived at my cave as the moon began its descent from its zenith and lay myself on top of my hoard.

“Our little ponies are not used to violence as thy culture is.” Luna’s words rang in my ears as Steelskin’s fear filled face filled my vision.

---

“This is what I was afraid of.” Miss Sweetheart was lecturing me after seeing the other colts and fillies to bed and trying to calm their nerves.

Sadly, I could see her point. Even I was feeling jittery and wasn’t sure how much was the attempted foalnapping or Tallic... catching them.

“I’m sorry, but after it's gone feral like that, I cannot abide you and it spending time together anymore. It’s just too dangerous.”

I could tell from her tone that I wasn’t going to be allowed to argue. She had the same tone my mom had when she was trying real hard not to yell at me.

I just sat there with my ears laid back, wishing there was something I could say to change her mind. I wanted to buck her in the face because of what she was saying about Tallic as tears of impotent rage ran down my cheeks.

---

A donkey walked back to his campsite in the Everfree Forest. Upon reaching it, he activated a runestone hung around his neck and a wagon appeared in front of him. He started rummaging through it with a smile on his face and a glint of excitement in his eyes.

“Finally, I see the beast in his glory,” He muttered to himself. “Thunder pearls-must have plenty of them... Need something to pierce metal... Inhibit his accelerated healing... Defense against projectiles... Defense against crushing... Spare weapon...”

He ended with a bag full of crackling runestones, a diamond tipped spear, a set of light barding, a short sword, and several other runestones strung on a chain.

Author's Note:

I got thunder pearls from End of Ponies.

524. I will not ask my gun for advice.
618. No matter how much my humanity loss, a chainsaw is not a substitute for a bayonet.
17. Collateral Damage Man is not an appropriate name for a super hero.
396. I will refrain from using wildly inaccurate high explosive weapons in close quarters.
215. They do not make heavy weapons in pump action.
1640. There is a limit to the number of adjectives I can attach to an uppercut.

For the record, Collateral Damage Man’s ‘plan B’ was ‘just ask nicely’ (1633, and insert facepalm here)

and original source of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKlsUrfbiE0 as mentioned in the description from the linked video inside the story.

And, of course, thanks to all my prereaders, especially Warpd who gave me the idea of making the monster hunter a donkey and Genosaber who volunteered the dialog for Trace.