Jump of the Iron Dragon

by tosety

two

I peeked out from behind the dragon’s leg and saw the ponies that were sent to drag me back to face Miss Sweetheart. I gave a little shudder when I saw that those two scary humans also came. I keep hearing how nice they are and Alex even adopted Scootaloo, a filly a couple years older than me, but they’re strange and something about their faces always makes me think they want to eat me.

They started arguing with Tallic almost immediately, and I started getting worried. I heard Alex had killed a popping cat all on his own, Matt had that freaky armor, and the ponies were three of the Elements of Harmony that defeated Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, Discord, and who knows how many other threats. There’s stained glass windows showing off how they saved Equestria, and even Twilight Sparkle’s little dragon helper has a window showing him beating up King Sombra.

At first, it looked like it was just posturing. I started to relax, and was even reminded of how a couple of older colts once argued about who was gonna date Miss Cheerilee, and how they kept talking big and acting all threatening, but were too scared of each other to be the one who started the fight.

That was till Fluttershy caught sight of me when Tallic moved his foreleg. Once she saw me, she ran towards me. When Tallic reacted, Matt shot at him. Before I knew it, Matt got stomped into the dirt. I barely even saw it, he was so quick. I sat there not knowing what to feel. I was pretty sure Tallic just killed him, but he was trying to kill Tallic. I mean, he was being attacked, right? And who knows what Matt would have done to him?

Applejack and Fluttershy dragged me away from Tallic, and I started kicking and biting till they finally let me go. When I turned around, I was horrified to see Tallic get zapped by something Alex threw. Alex just stood there watching as Tallic started twitching and fell to the ground, but before he even hit the ground, Twilight hit him with a freezing spell. He was in horrible pain with electricity dancing across his body and Twilight’s freezing spell keeping him from even being able to thrash around in agony. I ran over to him and threw my forelegs around his muzzle. Holding onto him was zapping me painfully, but I was too worried for him to care.

After I sat crying for what felt like several minutes, I realized Fluttershy was trying to get their attention.

“Twilight? Alex?”

“Uhm.. Twilight?” Fluttershy whispered.

Applejack was busy making a stretcher for Matt who was clutching his ribs and wheezing. He claimed to be fine but he winced in pain every time he tried to take a breath. I couldn't believe he was still alive.

“Twilight, Alex, you both need to stop.” Fluttershy squeaked, trying to shout.

I noticed Tallic’s eye and a bit of liquid metal rolling down it. The pain in that eye was too much for me. I flipped out and ran at Twilight, trying to hit her.

“Why did you have to hurt him? He was just trying to protect me! He was so kind and you hurt him!” Applejack grabbed me and dragged me away from her. I got a lucky buck to Applejack’s face, but she didn't even flinch.

Twilight looked at him and saw Fluttershy trying to get her attention.

“Please let him go. He’s a good dragon, just look into his eye, you can see how much he cares about Steelskin.” Fluttershy tried to shout.

Alex put a hand up to his nose and closed his eyes for a second. “Twilight, I do believe ‘hilarity ensued’. Unless I miss my guess, we’ve totally misread this situation.” I don’t know if she was obeying him, or just agreeing, but Twilight dropped the freezing spell and fell to her knees in exhaustion.

The little purple unicorn’s face was full of remorse as she got back onto her hooves. “Please keep calm and let’s talk about this misunderstanding, I’m really sorry about what’s happened.” She stared into Tallic’s eye as she cast one last spell to dissipate the remaining electricity.

Applejack finally let me go and rubbed her jaw where I got her. If I wasn’t so worried about Tallic, I would’ve been scared about what I just did to her. You don't attack a mare like that unless you want some serious consequences.

---

I lay there, stiff as a statue, unable to move as the little colt broke away and ran to me. I could feel his little muscles spasming as the electricity holding me captive coursed through his small body. The irony of a fully metal body was not lost on me. If I had but metal plating, the electricity would have flowed harmlessly around the more sensitive parts of my body, but having my muscles and bone so conductive caused the electric current to flow through my body evenly and scramble all my neural signals. Worse yet, this was magical lightning that did not dissipate naturally, but was designed to keep its target incapacitated.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. I knew better than to focus on only one combatant during a fight, yet, I put all my attention into that knight, despite knowing that the other one had a magical sword. Most weapons are laughable when used against me, as the toughest and sharpest of them would only give me the shallowest of cuts, but magical ones often had elemental natures imbued into them, of which Lightning and acid could be seriously problematic. Furthermore, I underestimated a unicorn of all creatures. Every reality I have been in, unicorns have held power on the level of my own kind, yet because they have been, with few exceptions, peaceful animals that only used healing and escape magics, I paid this purple one no mind. To think that a unicorn would be using an offensive spell like ‘bind’ would have been ludicrous a scant ten seconds ago. So now I am trying to defend my actions.

Well, time to stop kicking myself and focus on what they are doing now. I heard the yellow pony trying to come to my defense and I wondered about her voice. Had her vocal cords been injured?

The unicorn was too busy keeping me frozen like a fossil to pay her any mind, and ‘Alex’ seemed to be pondering his choices as he watched me for any indication that I was breaking free.

The good part is that it looks like they will not be killing me.

It was little Steelskin that finally got their attention when he charged the unicorn with all the passion of youth. After a short talk, the yellow pony convinced ‘Alex’ and ‘Twilight’ to release me.

As I was freed from the freezing spell, the knight surprised me twice. First, that he was still alive, and second from what he said.

“That was a warning shot you know. I try not to kill without a good reason. I’m just a little... over protective of certain ponies.” He said as the purple unicorn levitated him into an upright position. I could not help but notice the little yellow one blush. He gasped in pain when she prodded him in the side. "I mean, sorry."He quickly amended.

“I assume you have never fought a dragon before. Only those with a death wish give a dragon a warning. If you do not kill or incapacitate us on the first hit, you will assuredly find yourself crushed, burned, or eaten. Usually all three. I have yet to see even one hero get a chance to make a second strike.”

"Funny, I have a second chance... Should I still take another shot?" His attempt to laugh was cut short with a cough and him clutching his chest.

I gave a low laugh “It would be amusing to me for you to try in your condition.” I glanced at the unicorn and the other human and was relieved to see that they recognized this as friendly banter. I would need to be much faster if we ever came to blows again. Hopefully I can figure out whether or not I can break the unicorn’s magical grip before that happens. No matter what, if we come to blows again, that human must be dealt with first. Or at least, his sword.

The human chuckled. "A real hero, never lets things go that far. That's why I will do my best to make you a friend. Better to make a friend than kill an enemy." Let us see if he actually believes this.

The orange pony stopped staring at Steelskin and spoke up. “Let’s let bygones be bygones and start with some introductions. I’m Applejack, this here unicorn is Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia, The pegasus is Fluttershy, caretaker of pretty much all the animals in Ponyville.”

Surprised, I took a closer look at her and noticed her wings for the first time “an’ the two humans are Alex, Paladin of Redemption, appointed by Princess Luna herself,” The unarmored human gave a two finger salute to go along with his weary smile, “and Matt, our resident defender.” The knight seemed to frown through that faceplate “I’m just a friend” The dog gave a little bark. “Oh, sorry Winona, didn’t mean to leave you out. This here’s Winona, the best darn herder a pony could ask for.”

I decided to forget about banishing the humans for now, since the knight was in no condition to fight or leave, and the whole ‘paladin of redemption’ thing was intriguing. Especially the redemption part. It is interesting how ‘knight’ makes me want to squish, but I associate ‘paladin’ with devotion to a higher authority, not the bloodthirsty seeking of honor.

“My name is Tallic, and you can probably guess that I am an iron dragon.”

Both humans raised their eyebrows at this, but did not say anything.

“This little colt is running away from something, but does not want to talk about it right now. Could you elaborate for me?” I felt the little creature tense up, but decided truth was more important than comfort for him.

The orange pony stepped forward “Well, his parents were killed just last week.” She paused to look pityingly at him. “He was injured in the same accident. Just a couple a days ago, he was released from the hospital and moved into Miss Sweetheart’s orphanage. Tonight, apparently, he got in a bit of a tussle with another orphan and ran away.”

I surmised by how she talked that she did not know anything more about this ‘little tussle’ and merely volunteered to be part of this rescue party due to her toughness and compassion. “Can we leave him alone for tonight? I promise I shall take him to the edge of town tomorrow morning if you leave us for now.”

“Fluttershy, what do you think? Is he safe?” The unicorn asked.

The pegasus stared me straight in the eyes for a second before answering in a whisper. “Y...yes, I think he’s real scary, but he’s definitely not going to hurt Steelskin.”

“AJ, will he keep his promise?”

The orange pony seemed to think for a moment, then pushed up her hat and said, “Yup, I reckon so.”

Alex piped up at this point "Alright Tallic. Fluttershy trusts you, so I do too. I'll be in the meadow come morning, or if you want, I'll escort Steelskin h-." he looked away, embarrassed, “back to Miss Sweatheart.” He thought for a moment, then nodded. "I'll bring my daughter, Scootaloo.” He turned his focus to the child, “She's worried about you, Steelskin."

He placed his pack on the ground and withdrew a small saddle bag. "I've got a little something for Steelskin. Miss Sweetheart said he really likes cupcakes from the Cube, but they were already closed when we heard about him, so I got a good meal of carrots, celery, flowers, and a couple of hay pucks. Also a couple of juice boxes from Sweet Apple Acres. You can help him with this?"

Alex took a step forward and I tensed up, but he just chuckled warmly, "I wouldn't trust me either at this point, so I'll just leave the pack here. These woods are dangerous. Please, keep him safe."

They finished making a stretcher to carry the knight back to town, and all of them started to head out of the clearing. I noticed the unicorn was stumbling a little as she left the clearing. Yes, the sword will be my largest threat.

Alex began to turn, then stopped, "I know different dragons eat different things. The locals go for gemstones and such. Anything I can get you?"

What is this human up to? I took a moment to consider, then decided the truth would be the safest, and possibly, most profitable course of action.

“I am an iron dragon, therefore, I eat metals, primarily (you guessed it) iron. I can also survive on meat for long periods of time. Could you tell me which animals are fair game and which, like these ponies, would get me hunted down?

"Iron. Got it. I'll see what I can do. Cows, ponies, and donkeys are the intelligent animals in these parts. And humans on a good day. Basically, ask it how it’s day is going, and if it answers, don’t eat it.” He gave a slight smirk. “We can have a talk more about pony morality tomorrow over breakfast."

I watched them finally walk out of my little clearing as I wondered about this Alex. Are there really humans this compassionate, or was he just going overboard trying to trick me into trusting him? I shook my head as I settled down with Steelskin.

---

After a while, they finally left, but they got Tallic to promise to take me back in the morning. Alex gave me a ton of food. Guess I won’t have to worry about breakfast tomorrow.

“Do I hafta go back to Ponyville?”

“Why? Do you not wish to be with your own kind, little hatchling?”

“Everypony hates me... or at least they will when they find out what I did...” My voice trailed off as my head hung with shame.

“People do not face down dragons for someone they hate. They put their lives on the line for you. I could have squashed any one of them if I were a different sort, and they stood their ground without knowing what kind of dragon I am. You do not do that unless you care about someone deep enough that it would take a terrible breach of trust to counteract.” His voice was soothing and I wanted to believe him. It’s also funny how, with his formal way of talking, he uses the word ‘squash’. I think I’ll ask him about that sometime. He’s still staring at me, I guess I’ll have to explain.

“I just beat up a kid that only wanted to be my friend.”

He nuzzled me with his snout. “I believe you had a reason, and apologies can be powerful. It could be fate that brought that ‘paladin’ to us. Tell me what happened, and if I think they will not forgive you, I shall make sure you do not have to go back.”

I told him all about the train wreck, and the fight that brought me here. I ended up stopping lots of times because I was crying too hard. When I finished, he pulled me in close with his wing and whispered “It will be all right, even humans would forgive that and these ponies seem even better.”

I fell asleep with him humming that strange song about growing scales.

Comments

[KMCA]

Tallic

I could have squashed any one of them

Matt

Tis but a scratch!

[The Well Dressed Ninja]

Can we clear up what type of dragon your using? Are you simply using the image of an Iron Dragon from Fairy Tail, or are you basing it off them? If a dragon from fairy tail could be taken down by a human and a unicorn, there'd be no need for Dragon Slayer magic. You could just sneeze at them and they'd fall over.

If you simply like the shape and use it for visualzation purposes, then I guess I can't complain.

[tosety]

2506139
yes, it is an iron dragon from fairy tail, but it was the combined attacks and Tallic's failure to pay them enough mind that got him into trouble.
Plus, Twilight is Princess Celestia's prized student for a reason. She did levitate an ursa minor while casting other spells after all.
The spell I imagine she would use in this case would block the neural signals rather than restraining the muscles, though I think I will add in a bit more of how much of a strain it was on her.

[The Well Dressed Ninja]

2518261

I guess we'll just have to disagree.

[Regiced-Lobo]

2518261

If it was blocking neural signals He wouldn't feel pain