Fighting Freedom

Dragons have lots of various weapons to use in battle. The most notable one of course being the ability to breath fire. After that though, there are the claws, teeth, and horns to deal with. Even after those, there is still a very powerful tail. However, after being a dragon, I can tell you that the wings are the most powerful part of a dragon. Those wings have to lift the body of the dragon and are filled with muscle. I would hate to be hit with one of those. It's just a good thing that wings can't really be swung around.

Now I wasn't a dragon that was normally depicted in the show, one that stood upright. I had four equal sized legs, covered in green scales. My body stretched a good distance, and my head was rather flat. If anything, I was an oversized lizard with wings. Which is really what a dragon is I guess, besides the fire anyways.

I took flight out of a cavern that was embedded in the side of a mountain. I could see Canterlot in the distance, which was a stark contrast to the brown mountain behind me. It shone in the sun, just as my scales did. The light was nearly blinding, but I flew on.

Flying was a rather extraneous effort, and I nearly fell several times. I cast a great shadow on the ground, and animals below me scurried to get out of the way. It felt good to beat my wings, as if power was surging through me. It only took a few minutes to reach the castle, but I was presented with a problem. I wasn't exactly going to be able to follow the same path to the underground city as I had last time.

I hovered in the air, string down at the castle and the lake below me. My reflection was kind of scary I must admit. I could only think what the city ponies must be doing right then. Most likely screaming and running around. While I tried to figure out how to get down, I landed on one of the towers of the castle. I slipped off the first time, but the second time I was able to dig my claws in. Pieces of stone broke off and fell into the water. I watched it ripple out and spotted something on my head.

I had several horns that jutted out from my head, but circling one of them was a small wooden bracelet. I chuckled inside my head at the sight, but my expression remained the same. I assumed a dragon's smile wouldn't look so happy. After some time, I was hit by a great idea.

I leapt back into the air, and began to ascend into the clouds. Once I felt I was high enough, I locked my wings. Hoping that it wouldn't hurt too much, I began to plummet. Aiming for the center of the lake, I fell with legs flailing. The water in the lake moved out of the way at my command and built up in a circle. With just land in the way, I stretched my legs out.

Then the moment of impact came. Surprisingly, it didn't even hurt. I'm not even sure if I felt it. A resounding crash echoed out, and I smashed through the ground. To my satisfaction, I fell through the thin layer of ground. The old city was revealed for one moment before several things happened. For the first time in a long time, the sun beamed down on the old buildings. The chunks of the roof fell down along with the lake water. From below the ground also cracked and blew apart. Gigantic icicles rose up to meet me, and I was able to spot my evil rouge body (the ERB). I also managed to spot several bodies being thrown into the air.

I won't lie to you guys, I'm not a fighter. So far I had managed to survive… well in a sense, but that was just really luck. A dash of instinct too. I had believed earlier that I was a decent fighter. And in the case of a guy with a stick, I think I would manage fairly well. However in a case with pony princesses with magic AND big sticks, well… I was just hoping for an outcome. Indeed, much of the battle to come was me making split second decisions based off instinct alone.

This wasn't some dumb high school fight usually fought over some pointless reason. This wasn't even life or death really, as I had proven to myself at least, life comes after death. However, the mind is a powerful thing, and while sometimes it may not seem like it, it is a physical part of the body. It's just as inclined to keep the body alive, as it really is a part of it. So saying I felt no fear, or that I was thinking everything through, that would just be lying.

As you read try and remember that at the time, I had no idea what was going on. So as everything is described to you over a long time, know it only took moments for the event to pass. Action was taken before the entire situation was known.

I smashed one icicle to bits as I landed and crushed two neighboring buildings to dust. I watched the pony bodies hit the ground, but was unable to tell who they were. My vision was much more accurate, but I was pretty sure I was missing a few colors. Deciding that worries could come later, I let out another roar. It echoed out, and I felt pretty bad ass when the rest of the icicles shattered. The ERB turned and looked directly at me . It no longer had eyes, but instead the eye sockets were ablaze with silver energy.

I was surprised when it raised a single finger in a rude gesture. It took the moment, and headed right for me. The ERB moved extremely fast, almost too fast to see. It leapt from the ground onto the side of a building. It ran across the side of the building and then into the air. As it hovered above me, I drew in my breath.

It began to fall, and I released a torrent of fire. The fire spiraled towards the ERB, but somehow it moved to the side. It's face looked rather panicked, and I was glad to see that it was shaken. It didn't charge me again, and I took its hesitation as an advantage. As I opened my mouth to spew more flames, the ERB twisted its arms.

Suddenly water poured from the ground into my open mouth. I had tried to stop it using my own magic, but I wasn't very good at draconic magic yet, even with the aid of my old bracelet. The fire inside of me was doused, and I felt rather sick. Before I felt all warm and cozy, now I felt nauseous and rather heavy. I could barely even lift my tail without tremendous effort. A pitiful amount of steam erupted from my mouth. A sickening laugh echoed from the ERB, a very empty laugh. Now that I had been… doused, the ERB had no trouble getting close to me.

It charged at me again, and I tried to swipe one of my claws at it. I missed horribly, and it made a kicking motion at my head. I felt a very fast breeze, but nothing near enough to make me move. If I knew how to laugh as a dragon, I would have at that moment. However, I was still feeling rather out of it.

Instead of giving up, the ERB began to run around me, somehow avoiding all the fallen debris. I kept trying to hit it, but I wasn't going very fast. Eventually all I could see was a blur, and I felt the air beneath me stir. At first I thought this was futile, but when I felt one of my claws lift up, I got worried. The sick feeling was beginning to clear, but it still wasn't enough.

Eventually, the winds around me were moving at super speed, and I couldn't even see anything. Suddenly, I was picked up off the ground and thrown up. A tornado of air held me up, and the ERB suddenly popped into view again. I was in a vertical position, and the ERB smashed right into my stomach. His fist was covered in violently swirling air, and I was thrown violently back into the ground. However, as he hit me, I emptied my stomachs contents upon the ERB, which was mostly water.

Although smashing into the ground had hurt, it was worth it. I felt heat begin to spread throughout my body again. That pleasing sensation burned in my chest, and I was ready for round two. Pretending to still be sluggish, I up righted myself. the ERB approached me slowly, with a smirk on its face. It looked even less human now, with energy pouring from its mouth and nostrils. I moved suddenly, and was able to grab hold of it with one claw. Wasting no time I smashed it into the ground and dragged it across in a circle.

I thought for sure that would be the end, but when I picked up my claw again I saw that the body was still fine. In fact it had a thin coating of ice all over it. I wasn't even sure if I had hurt it at all. Suddenly the body was no longer in my claws. It was moving all around, seemingly punching me. Small ounces of pain hit me all over the place.

I thrashed wildly, as if trying to swat a mosquito. Which was what I was really doing in all honestly. Eventually my tail made contact, and I heard a satisfying crack. It was only the ice armor, but at least I had done something. I had to turn around to see the body smashed into the ground. Before it could disappear again, I snatched it in my claws.

I took off into the air and flew through the hole in the roof. Once I reached the height of the castle, I came charging back down into the old city. As I smashed into the ground a dust cloud went out into a circle. A few more buildings crumbled from the shockwave, and dust was scattered into the air. Silence settled for just a moment, and then I groaned as I picked myself off the ground.

To my very unsatisfaction, the ERB was perfectly fine. Well at least in the being able to move department. Some of the ice on the head had fallen apart and I could see behind it. Instead of my face, all I could see was blinding energy. I wasn't even sure if there was much of a body left. Regardless, the ERB was pissed. It slowly stood up off the ground and glared at me. One of the eyes was still intact, even if energy was pouring out of it. A narrow slit was glaring at me, and it spoke volumes of anger.

The ERB jumped away from me, and stood on top of a tall building. It let out a roar of its own, which was eerily hollow. The energy that had been pouring from every hole was suddenly sucked back up. I could see air around the ERB began to collect small ice particles as it swirled around the ERB. The air formed a small coating over the ERB's body, and it let out a hollow laugh.

Before I could even move, the ERB was suddenly in front of my face. Its arms were moving so fast and its palms connected with my head rapidly over and over again. it didn't really hurt, but I was being pushed upwards. Eventually I was standing on my back legs and the ERB was hovering in the air hitting my stomach. It still didn't hurt, but I couldn't force my body to go down.

The ERB did a back flip while hovering in the air, and that's when it all went downhill. Or uphill rather, as I was launched into the air. The ERB fell back to the ground as I flailed in the air. It didn't stay there for long, and it used its twice magically empowered legs to launch itself into the air at a blinding speed. It continued to pummel me with blows to my underside. I was continuously pushed upwards, but these blows were starting to hurt. For the second time we went up through the hole in the ceiling, up past the castle, and into the evening sky.

For one single moment, I hovered in the air, at peace almost. Then the ERB appeared above me, and drew back both arms. With a mighty shove, I was thrown back towards the ground. I could see the ERB above me as I fell. It was spinning upside down rapidly, with its head pointed at me. The ice that had been swirling around it formed a large ice spike on the head.

Before I became dragon shish kabob, I drew in my breath. I let out a torrent of fire as the ERB headed right for me. It flew through the fire, and I heard several pops, but I couldn't see anything. Something made impact with my stomach, and I was launched even faster to the ground. We missed the already made hole in the lake, and made a whole new one.

After smashing through that my speed was greatly reduced, but it wasn't enough. I smashed into the streets of the old city, and made a hole in those too. I finally stopped falling when I reached the chamber of the peace core. I landed almost right next, and was able to get a glimpse of it up close. It was a beautiful thing, and was teeming with energy. You could feel it humming from anywhere in the room. If you are wondering what that means, go find an electrical generator outside some apartments or the like. Almost like feeling of being near one of those, but much more intense.

I laid on the ground, not really in the mood to move just yet. My mental capacity, which had been miles behind, finally caught up with me. The entire time, I had been counting on dumb luck to see me through the day. Now it seemed like a really stupid idea, but even I have to admit, that was pretty bad ass. I had been flying around and smashing things like any awesome hero should.

From where I was I could see the ERB. It was missing an arm and a leg, but gore didn't litter the room. In fact, it looked like the arm and leg had been amputated a long time ago. The wounds didn't bleed and were perfectly healed. Besides the fact that a leg and arm were missing anyways.

It slowly picked itself up, and fell over again. It seemed like whatever had been happening was finally over. I had let myself go to instinct awhile ago, and dragons have pretty fierce instinct. It was surprising I didn't feel the urge to eat the ERB. Eating myself may have given me some serious indigestion.

The ERB, still determined to… do whatever it was going to do, started crawling towards me. I started to move as well, but stopped when the ERB stopped. It had laid its head in a puddle of water, and rested there. Its arm reached out and touched the water, and the water rippled out in answer. I waited for something to happen, and was not forced to wait long. The ERB used its one hand to make some signals, and then in a monotone voice, neither strong nor weak, said,

"Water"

At first nothing happened, and I sighed in relief. After I sighed, almost as if the water knew what was happening, the water began to wrap around the two stumps of the ERB. It continued to wrap, until there was a blob at the end of each stump. The blobs took shape into an arm and leg, and then turned to ice. The ERB, admiring its new limbs, stood up once more, and punched a nearby pillar. It cracked, but did not shatter. Satisfied, if not a bit disappointed, the ERB then focused on me.

Once again I sighed, but this time because I was still not done. However, before I could move again, the ERB fell to its knees. I stood on all four legs again, ready, but confused as to what was going on. It seemed to almost cry in pain as water flowed into its mouth. I just stared, hopelessly lost to any idea of what was going on. For another few seconds, nothing happened. Then a loud crack, and two icy stumps erupted from the ERB's back. Blood didn't spew out, but sparkles did.

My jaw almost dropped in disbelief when wings of water unfurled from the icy stumps. This thing had way too many tricks up its sleeve. Then again, I guess that was partly my fault, even if it was out of ignorance. The ERB picked itself up once more, and gave me what must have been a wicked smile. I wasn't really sure, as half its mouth didn't exist anymore.

Throwing mental awareness to whatever dark corner caution was at, I drew in breath again. I was unable to spew flames though, as I had a fist of ice in my throat. Opposed to the punches of air that had stung at best, this punch really hurt. I couldn't imagine what it would be like if I didn't have scales. Before I could even register the punch, the ERB was on my back, and tearing at one of my wings. Pain racked through me as it tried to rip off the wing. In a classic move, I tried to smack it with my tail, but only managed to hit myself.

I took a blind swipe, and got a clawful of air. The ERB hovered in place, its wings beating slowly. The regular arm rose and was clenched into a fist, the arm of ice hung limp. It didn't have a five fingered hand, but more of a three prong claw. I wasn't sure if the digits could bend or not, but it wasn't out of the question.

I shook myself a little, trying to prepare myself, but it did no good. The longer the ERB drew breath, if it even breathed anymore, the more powerful it became. That was what I assumed anyway, I wasn't sure if there was a limit to the power it could obtain. The one trick I had was used up, and it had little effect. There seemed to be no way to win now, but there wasn't much else I could do. If I had been thinking clearly, I guess running away may have sounded like a good idea, but that wasn't going to happen. Human instincts may be to run away, which is a fairly useful survival technique, but a dragon has no such instinct. Dragons are the top of the chain, and everything else runs from them. If something doesn't cower in fear, or even fights back, it's only instinct for a dragon to pummel the shit out of the thing.

Tired of waiting for something to happen, I let loose a stream of fire at the ERB, but it moved out of the way fairly quickly. It landed on the ground and closed its wings. It seemed that it couldn't fly for very long. I lunged at it, but bit into thin air. The ERB started spreading water all over the ground as it flew around me in circles. As it flew, I tried to hit it with swipes of my tail, or bouts of flame. However, my aim was horrible and I never hit once. The ERB took off into the sky, and raised both its arms. I looked around me to see that the water beneath me glowed. It rose up and around me, and soon I was in a glob of water. After the ERB clenched its hands, the water began to freeze.

I let loose a stream of fire, intent on evaporating anything wet near me. It somewhat worked, and the water that was left splashed back down to the ground. Before I could catch my breath, I had to clumsily move to the side. Icicles hailed down on me, and they didn't seem to be stopping. Most shattered uselessly against my scales, only leaving a small sting. I had to watch to make sure my eyes didn't get speared though. At least I wasn't the only one having no success.

We both stood still for awhile, acknowledging the stalemate for a second. Then the ERB touched the ground in two places, and water pooled there. After large puddles had gathered, they took a rough human shape. Then they both gained the features of my human body, only lacking the nice looking smile. They were smiling alright, but it was the smile that said bad things were going to happen. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I complained about how I never saw mention of any of this awesome magic. I also made a note to learn these tricks.

The two clones ran at me, normal speed thankfully. They didn't seem to have the magical implants, and I wasn't complaining about that. One was turned back into water the moment he reached me as my claw smashed down on it. I winced slightly at smashing myself into the ground. The other maneuvered around my tail, narrowly avoiding losing its head. It jumped on my back, and one of its arms turned into a rather sharp looking icicles.

While I struggled with the clones, the ERB set about making more. Moving rapidly around the room, clones began to form everywhere. They all bore down on me, and even though 5 of them would go down with one swipe, 10 more would take their place. I had never been so upset to see myself until this point. It was actually becoming pleasant to smash my smiling face into droplets. That thought unsettled me even more than I was.

This continued on for awhile, clones charging uselessly at me. Most wouldn't get near me due to be evaporated, and the ones that did get past usually got smashed. The lucky one that got through would find a spot and try to stab through my scales. That of course didn't work, but they weren't giving up. I kept swinging, and soon the ground around me was very wet from destroyed clones. They never stopped coming, but the numbers seemed to be letting up.

While I fought on with the horde, the ERB concentrated on a much bigger summoning. As the water around me began to pool, it clasped its hands together. In a classic moment, the ERB's remaining hair started to fly upwards. Small chunks of rock lifted into the air around it. Then it pointed at me with its good hand, and a small light shot towards me. It hit me in the rather large area of my chest. A few more clones were crushed under my claws while the water that was around me started to rise. Once again, it covered me, but much more tightly this time. I wasn't sure if the ERB was trying to make a dragonscicle, but I wasn't about to let that happen. I tried to evaporate the water with fire, but It proved hard for me to maneuver my head into the right place. Besides any water that was evaporated was replaced with more. Once I was covered completely, the water glowed a brilliant blue, and then flowed off of me.

Relieved that I wasn't frozen, I took a second to breath. I quickly changed pace when three more clones jumped in front of my head seemingly from nowhere. The pooled water retreated across the room, and began to glow there. While the three clones were enveloped in fire, it began to take shape. When all was said and done, I was staring at a copy of myself, but this time, in my current form. I had a feeling this one wouldn't go splat as easily. It roared at me, and I roared at it, or me rather. It was almost like looking into a mirror, if that mirror was intent on killing you anyways.

Instead of fighting in the now cramped core chamber, I flew out through one of the holes in the ceiling, and past the ancient city. Once again in the sky, but this time in a darker setting, I took a deep breath. I only got a moment repose to gaze in wonder at the city of Canterlot. It wasn't lit up like Vegas or New York, but it was filled with light anyways. Small balls of light hovered over the city, lighting it up fairly well. A large ball hovered over the castle, providing enough light for me to spot my copy flying straight at me.

When this was all over, it would take quite some time to explain what happened on that day/night. At first the citizens saw a dragon latch on to the castle somewhat clumsily. Then it smashed through the lake, revealing another city. Then two of the same dragon flew and fought in the skies much later.

The only difference between me and the copy, was that the copy dragon didn't have eyes. Instead, it had blue globes in the eye sockets, revealing its true nature. At first, we just cashed against each other, and then broke off. Nothing was being accomplished, and the scales proved to be too tough for claws or teeth. After a small bit of aerial combat, I managed to land on the back of my copy. I wrapped my front claws around its wings, and closed tightly. Unable to fly anymore, we plummeted once again. I could swear I could hear a broken record playing or something. The events seemed to repeat themselves, in slightly different ways.

This time we managed to miss the empty lake, and crashed into a few trees. They groaned in protest as they were ripped from the ground. I was unable to hold on, regardless of my powerful limbs. I landed on the ground, an turned to face the clone. It was busy picking itself up off the ground, but managed to spare the time to glare at me. Instead of being chivalrous, I just blasted the thing with fire. It was satisfying to see my fire actually hit something, and cover it. The fire was like a great wave that crashed against the face of the other dragon. It split after hitting the face, and several times afterwards. I continued to let loose, but I could feel the need to let up. It was like I had exhaled for too long, and I was running out of breath. Which made sense if I thought about it.

Eventually the fire ceased to light up the sky, except for the small flames that littered the ground. Those were soon stomped out by the clone dragon as it thrashed about. It seemed as if the fire had some sort of effect, if only to antagonize it. After it finished stomping about, it turned to face me with even more hate in its eyes. Which was quite an accomplishment, as it lacked pupils.

We slowly circled each other only for a few moments. The clone leapt as soon as it got a chance, latching its mouth to my neck. The teeth were stopped by the scales, but I could still feel them. We were evenly matched, at another stalemate it would seem. I was just glad the ERB had yet to show up again. If I had to deal with it, and this clone thing, I wouldn't last very long. Under the assumption they could manage to get past the scales anyways.

My tail managed to connect with the clone's head and it let go quickly. It backed up, rearing its head. It let out a roar of pain, which I was quick to answer. It hadn't occurred to me yet, but I hadn't actually spoken a word as a dragon. I had roared, which I suppose is speaking in one way, but normal speaking of any kind had yet to come.

Suddenly, a torrent of blue fire was heading for me. I turned my head away, and the fire clashed against me. I realized that it wasn't actually fire, but water in the shape of fire. How that worked I wasn't really sure, but I gave up asking such questions a long time ago. Once the water had stopped splashing against me, I was careful not to let any in my mouth, I turned to face the clone again.

I could only think of two viable options at the moment, both of which would be a challenge. The dragon clone had to be dealt with, and it was pretty much invulnerable. The good thing is that meant I was as well. However, it did have two points of weakness, the eyes and the mouth. If a torrent of water inside me could make me feel like crap, then what would a torrent of fire do to my enemy?

I lunged at the clone, a claw aiming for its left eye, but it just caught the leg in its mouth. It didn't bother biting down, but shook its head violently. After feeling like my arm was going to be ripped off, it finally let go. My leg was sore, and didn't feel like it was going to be useful. Going for option two, I drew in a large gulp of air. The clone did the same, and we both released at the same time.

Blue and yellow flames clashed against each other, and steam rose above. They clashed between me and the clone, neither one giving an inch. The fires seemed to twist and turn, as if filled with their own life. This continued on for a few seconds, an oddly beautiful combination of fire and water, that looked like fire, lighting up the area. Both torrents ceased at the same time, and I closed my mouth reluctantly. Small amounts of fire escaped from between my teeth, and I snorted. Black smoke rose up, and for a second, clouded my vision.

Several more clashes of fire and claws later, and nothing had been accomplished. Except for a small feeling of exhaustion anyway. Seemed this body had a bit more stamina then my old one. Then again, I wasn't moving nearly as much. That's when the situation got worse. The ERB flew up through the hole in the lake, wings of water beating slowly. A crude sword of ice rested in its good hand, and it was smiling at me. While I was distracted, the clone dragon managed to hit me with some fiery water breath. Which is less confusing then you might think. It splashed against my head uselessly, leaving a cold stinging sensation.

The ERB lunged at me when I turned to face the dragon. I saw him coming out of the corner of my eye, and by sheer luck, managed to grasp it in a claw. I smashed it against the ground, and held it there. It struggled, and tried to stab my claw, but the ice broke against my scales. I roared at the clone dragon, and drew in breath. It copied my actions, and again flames of blue and yellow clashed. This time though, I didn't let up even when I felt like I had no breath left in me. The yellow seemed to overtake the blue for a second, but only just. The blue orbs that counted for eyes of the clone narrowed at me, and it opened its mouth just a bit wider. The yellow flames backed off, and I had to force them forwards again. It was the oddest battle of wills I've ever fought, solely based on my ability to breath. Thankfully I've had a lot of practice at that.

The clone didn't seem to be running out of breath, and I cut my losses. I closed my mouth abruptly, and felt the water splash against me. Only a small trickle went inside, and was evaporated quickly. After it was over, I had a face full of clone dragon. It was trying to wrap its teeth around my neck again, which was futile in any case. Its open mouth gave me an idea, and I reluctantly let the ERB go. I didn't just let it up though, I gave it a good toss. Far enough to give me enough time hopefully. Now that I had both forelegs free, one notably better than the other, I grappled again with the beast.

After a lot of pain in my left leg, and a nearly clawed out eye, it was all over. While it tried to wrap its mouth around my neck, I drew in one final breath. I grabbed its neck with my claws and dragged its head down to mine, as if we were going to kiss. Before it could react, I held its mouth open with my claws, and let a torrent of fire loose. The flames spewed right into the open maw of the beast, and for a second nothing happened.

I continued to let the fire go, and in an instant the water dragon turned to vapor. While I had a moment, I took a deep breath, and let out a sigh. One incredibly difficult obstacle down, only a few more to go. All these impossible tasks I had to do, all I had wanted was to do a bit of travelling. But I guess I somehow became some sort f hero. Not that I'm not hero material, sexy, suave, and smart. I even provide my own comic relief.

While I was taking my breather, the ERB managed to make its way back to me. When it saw no sign of its dragon, it fled back into the ancient city. Giving a final sigh I chased after, just wishing that the day was over. Nothing sounded better right now then a nice long nap. I ended up right back where this had all started, in the chamber of the core, back when I actually had my old body.

The ERB to the right of the center of the room. The core was still on its small altar, untouched by the ravaging battle. The ERB pointed its good arm at the core, and a small stream began to flow between the two. I couldn't tell which way it was going, but I had a bad feeling about it all. The ERB suddenly lurched forward onto its knees. Its mouth was in a grimace, and its eyes narrowed. A battle of will seemed to be going on, but I wasn't about to pass up such an opportunity. I drew in breath, and prepared to release.

Suddenly I couldn't move or release my bout of flame. It seemed that the ERB was stuck as well, and the stream of energy stopped flowing. For only a second, there was a calm between the two of us. Frozen for an unknown reason, waiting to be let loose. Two unstoppable forces that had been brought to a halt. The world stood still as I glared at my enemy. Then a rift opened between us, and a blue oval appeared in the air.

Imagine my surprise when Morkar, complete with nose in book, stepped out of the portal. He didn't even look up at the room around him, or notice the current state of it. He walked across the room absentmindedly, focused solely on his book. His eyes did not wander, and he approached the altar. He tapped around it comically for a few second until his hand made contact with the core. Still without looking away from his book, he put the core in the folds of his robes, and walked back to his portal.

Even though I had seen a lot today, this had completely surprised me. The ERB seemed angry, but its expression may have been frozen that way. Morkar would be answering some questions next time I saw him, which would hopefully be sometime soon.

My limbs regained their motion just as quickly as they had lost it, and the fire spewed from my mouth. The ERB which had been unprepared, was hit full on. I mentally screamed a fuck yeah, and kept it up. I didn't let up until I had to for fear of suffocating. I was surprised that I had been able to hit the ERB, as it hadn't had trouble with such attacks before. Although it had seemed a bit drained right before the whole fiasco.

As the fire continued to swath around the ERB, I heard no screams, which worried me. I heard a clunk and then a hiss of steam. When the fire finally disappeared, I saw a gruesome sight. The ERB only had lost almost all of its body, except for the head, and that was going fast. It was dissipating into energy, but it wasn't all gone yet. They eyes narrowed at me as they disappeared, almost promising revenge. The scattered energy dispersed upwards, and I waited for something else to happen.

An anticlimactic end to a very climatic fight. I didn't care though, I was just glad it was over. I felt like I had just gone through a DBZ fight scene, and came out on top. I earned the right to a small nap at least, but I couldn't take it just yet. Now that the danger had finally seemed to pass, for the moment, my mind finally caught up with me.
It was interesting, realizing everything I had done before then. Almost as if I hadn't lived through it yet, and was doing so just then. It wasn't any clearer the second time around, if anything it was more confusing. However, I did realize just how incredibly crazy I was, and even more so awesome. I'm positive that if I had been aware for the battle, I wouldn't be breathing right now. Or I would be in great pain at least. The dragon instinct had saved my life, and I was most grateful.

After this small epiphany, I began searching for bodies. Hopefully just unconscious ones, but I wasn't getting my hopes up. It took a little bit, but I managed to find the bodies of all the ponies, which were in fact alive. A part of me sighed with relief, and a small primal part of me was displeased. Horse meat sounded really good. I almost gagged when that thought crossed my mind, and chalked it up to the dragon part of me.

While I laid the bodies on the ground of the ancient city, Rarity began to stir. She took one good look at me and tried to let out a scream. Instead she fainted and fell silent, which was probably a good thing. I might have instinctively moved to cover her mouth with my hand. Which would of course smash her with my claw.

My first goal was to get out of there before anyone else saw me. It was kind of late to avoid the city, but the city folk had no idea what was going on anyways. Celestia or Luna might have a few more questions as to why there was a dragon. Hopefully I could just let them wonder that forever, or it there even was a dragon. The core was also missing now, and I had no idea how Celestia would act. If the core was influencing her as suspected, would she even remember anything now? Or was she still under the control of it, and would be desperate to get it back. Either way, I didn't want to stick around. I carefully picked up Rarity, and put her on my back. I lifted my wings and beat them furiously. I was lifted up and into the sky.

The moon shone over me, and I was feeling rather tired. I don't know how long I had been awake, but the fighting had tired me out. In some corner of my mind I wondered why the moon and sun still moved if there was no princess' to move them, but I shrugged it off. There was likely a back up group of unicorns or something, and I honestly didn't quite care.

I made good ground as I flew over the trail back to Ponyville, and towards my destination. There was a certain someone I had to talk to. That could wait till morning though, but I was determined to make it to the forest near the tower before I fell asleep. So I continued to fly, going at least four times the speed I had when walking.

While flying, I managed to hear Rarity begin to shuffle. For the first time as a dragon, I tried to speak. Have you ever tried to speak without just doing it? I know that I never really thought about speaking as an effort. It always just happened, without me even thinking about it in detail. As a dragon, speaking wasn't that much different, but enough for me to notice. When I spoke as a human, there was only a slight vibration of my throat, not enough to be noticeable. As a dragon, my throat rumbled as words exited my mouth. The words were guttural, and sounded very imposing, and when I spoke, it didn't really fit the words.

"I would advise not looking down, and to not freak out."

Rarity who was still unaware of her location and situation, mumbled incoherently. I counted mentally to 5, and on cue Rarity let out a scream.

"Usually I'm doing something to make a girl scream."

Rarity screamed for a few more seconds, and then finally began to calm down... to a certain degree.

"I demand I be set down this instant!"

I felt a small tap on my back, and imagined her stamping her hoof down.

"Unless you want to jump, that isn't gonna happen. This a direct service flight to Ponyville, no exceptions."

Rarity said nothing for a second, and then

"You can't keep me up here against my will!"

I let out a chuckle, which came out more like a snarl than anything.

"Actually, you'll find that I can."

Silence. A few minutes passed before it was broken by Rarity.
"You're a very odd dragon you know."

"Oh go on, insult the thing with your safety in its hands, or claws rather. I don't see how that could go bad. I suppose it's because I've only been a dragon for a day."

"Wait… you've only been a dragon for a day? How does that work?"

"Well after getting kicked out of my body I needed a new one, which couldn't be the old one."

Disbelief laced Rarity's voice as she spoke again.

"Is that you Silver?"

"No, I'm his evil twin brother, Gold."

I could tell Rarity was relieved, if only a just a bit. I heard her trademark huff, and I mentally smiled.

"How did you… change?"

My wings continued to beat, and talking and flying was getting difficult. I pressed on regardless though, in both cases.

"Well what's the last thing you remember?"

"... It was you"

"Hopefully not attacking you."

"Actually yes now that think about it."

" I can explain that."

"I would hope so."

I couldn't see Rarity's face, or anything of her at all. But from her voice, which had gone from relieved to scared, I could tell she was confused. She put on a brave face, but she was moments from breaking down. In rage or sadness though I couldn't tell.

"Well to put it simply? My body got a mind of its own, and kicked me out. It attacked you, and both the princesses. That's when I came back, again, as a dragon and kicked its ass."

"I have a feeling it wasn't that simple."

"Well no, but it would take a while to explain. However, at one point, Morkar took the core. So we, or I rather, need to go have a chat with him."

Speaking of which, we had arrived in the forest near the tower. I found a small clearing, and laid down in it. Rarity was able to get off me by sliding down.

"Feel free to go back to town by the way. I'm waiting here until morning."

Rarity looked at me, and then back at the road.

"I want an explanation."

"I think we all do. Stick around and you'll get one. I'm just not looking forward to meeting the princesses again."

Rarity made her decision, and stayed with me. She didn't lay down against me, which would have been really smart. I was producing a lot of body heat, but instead she settled across from me.

"So can you go back to your old body now."

I hadn't thought about that one. Only time I had managed to change, was when I had died. I didn't really feel like doing that again if I was honest.

"Um... I'll have to figure that one out as we go along."

"I don't think Rose would appreciate your new form."

I had forgotten about Rose too. Man I had a lot of explaining to do. Twilight would want her own account I assume. Might have been a better idea to just skip town and leave everyone confused.

"I'll worry about that later."

Exhaustion pulled at my eyes, but I fought it. I explained what had happened to Rarity as best I could. But there wasn't much to discuss in all honesty, unless she wanted a blow by blow account. There wasn't much to discuss after that, and Rarity munched on mind food. It didn't take me long to fall sleep, knowing that tomorrow would contain even more explanations. Especially with a certain wizard.

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AN:

Hey guys, I'm really sorry that it took so damn long for this to update. Lots of things just decided to happen in tandem to distract me from writing (Class, Job, Diablo 3) . I hope you guys are still reading this, as I can see myself giving up on it. I promise I'll be better about it from now on.

Quilliam says. "I was so whiped when I read this that I was actually convinced that silver was a charizard"