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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2014 20:33:49 GMT -5
The great red dragon would've been quite a sight to see in the sky as she glided along the air currents, glad to be free in the air once more. Though her stomach rumbled and her heart weighed heavy at the thought of being unceremoniously released from the griffon base that she had resided within the last several weeks. Would they even miss her? Probably not. She sighed and gazed around her, wondering what other creatures roamed about in the air. She met griffons, and ponies were land bound, as well as the kelpies that she met not too long ago.
The teenage dragon wondered if she would meet a pegasus. Maybe even a fellow dragon? She chuckled at the thought. Another dragon around these parts...that would be very unlikely. Since she left her father's cave, she hadn't seen another of her kind, and she wasn't intending on meeting them, if they were anything like her sire. Another thought came to her mind...what if she could find her mother? Would she even recognize her? Was she even alive?
The thought wracked at her mind, and she found herself losing track of her surroundings as she continued to fly through the cloud-filled route.
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Post by Stygg Whitefeather on May 30, 2014 18:40:30 GMT -5
As the red dragon merely soared through the endless sky, idling away her mind as she aimlessly skated through the clouds onward to some undetermined destination, she wasn't alone. Though the battle in Canterlot was over and the ponies were pushing back against their aggressors – the skies were still rife with danger. Unsavory sorts, griffons and pegasi out looking for opportunities of nefarious sorts were one such threat, but even worse than those, especially for a creature such as Sylvia, was the dominate species which even the Equestrian Airforce could barely contain in their weakened state. Three of these had just spotted quite a prize drifting aimlessly in the clouds.
Without warning, Sylvia finds herself set upon by two drakes grabbing onto her tail and back with their talons, ambushing her from above the clouds. One more appeared from the clouds at her side, snapping and attempting to spit at her with its venomous mucus. For a poor pegasi or griffon, this would spell death, but for Sylvia and her scales, the initial attack had not taken her down as, perhaps, the drakes had planned. Though the dragon would have to act quickly before either their spit or paralyzing tail found a weakness in her natural armor.
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2014 20:58:43 GMT -5
Sylvia had no idea where her attackers came from. She felt the claws on her back and she snarled in anger as the other snapped at her. Instinctively she reached out a claw and aimed a powerful slash towards the strange dragon-like birds. She had no idea what these things were, and she didn't want to take the time to find out.
Pulling her wings in swiftly to her side, she felt her body pitch downwards as she allowed herself to free fall, hoping to dislodge the two that had grabbed onto her back and tail. Said appendage was lashing back and forth powerfully, the spade at the tip aiming to strike at the feathered creature's body, hoping to deal some damage as she shot below the cloud line.
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Post by Stygg Whitefeather on May 31, 2014 22:00:55 GMT -5
Sylvia's claws were too slow to successfully strike out and goad one of the drakes however, fortune did favor Sylvia in her rapid decent. The one that grabbed upon her tail dislodged, it's grip unable to hold onto the appendage as it whipped around and the wind resistance pushed against its body and slipped away, disappearing into a cloud before reemerging and giving chase along with the other one already in flight.
The drake upon her back did not fair much better, taken by surprise from the sudden drop, the creature paused just long enough for it to lose grip and slip down her back and slough off just as Sylvia's now free tail lashed out and struck it under the left wing. The spade appendage pierced that critical soft-spot and the creature went limp, its body slipping free from her tail and fell lifeless towards the ground.
The two remaining drakes were still in close pursuit of their dragon prey, having now lost the element of surprise and already one member of their flight gone, but still clearly determined to bring the dragon down. Both unleashed a barrage of their venomous spit. The first shot narrowly missing, however the second struck her wing along the radius. The venom burned, even through her thick hide and scales, she could feel the ichor eat away, trying to burn through to the muscle and bone. Flight had just been made significantly painful and slow, while her pursuers were quickly closing the gap between them.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2014 2:30:45 GMT -5
The dragon gasped in pain as her wings began to burn from the acid. She painfully leveled off, a couple yards above the ground. She took a deep breath and suddenly spun around with a powerful, yet agonizing flap of her wings.
As she spun to face her attackers, she banked in the air and opened her mouth in a terrifying roar. As she did so, a stream of flames began to pour forth from her fanged mouth, shooting in a large cone towards her attackers. She powered the flames forward, hoping to take them out with the sheer heat of the fire, knowing she wouldn't be able to outmaneuver them otherwise.
Her claws soon flexed, knowing that if they kept coming at her, she would have to use them to fight them off.
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Post by Stygg Whitefeather on Jun 1, 2014 17:04:59 GMT -5
The drakes were nearly upon Sylvia once more when she suddenly spun and unleashed her fiery roar. Surprised by the sudden attack, both drakes were unable to react in time, the fire consuming entirely the one that had been upon her back in the initial surprise attack. It was burned up to a black, smoldering piece of gristle in seconds. The second drake tried to bank out of the line of fire, but was too slow, allowing its wing to get caught in jet. Unable to keep itself in the air, the drake struggled as it tumbled wildly to the ground, trying to slow its decent. With it being only a short distance to the earth, the drake managed to survive the impact but could no longer continue pursuit. Sylvia was now free of pursuers.
The area appeared safe, the ground below her comprised of simple meadows and unremarkable fields and the sky cloudy but visibly clear of any more drakes, it would seem the dragon was free to continue along her way. However, the tranquility that had followed the surprised attack was soon broken by the odd, though piercing call of something rattling the air. Like a cross between a coughing bark and horse-roar, the sound echoed and then repeated. It was a call, from Sylvia's perspective, likely the drake attempting to rouse others to take it's place in pursuit.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2014 17:31:22 GMT -5
Sylvia had to catch her breath, cooling her mouth as she spotted the wounded drake that resounded the call. Taking in its features, she noticed the stinger on its tail and she dove down towards the beast, pinning the base of said stinger before bringing her claws forward to stab them into the Drake's chest, hoping to silence the beast.
She knew she didn't have time, she had to get out of there and find shelter. Her wings were still stinging in pain and she knew she would be landbound for some time until she allowed them to heal.
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Post by Stygg Whitefeather on Jun 2, 2014 17:24:31 GMT -5
The drake was in no condition to continue the fight against a creature such as Sylvia and succumbed to killing blow with little resistance. As its limb body fell to the wayside, there had yet to show any sign of further reinforcements emerging from the skies, though with they still could be hidden within or above the clouds – or perhaps the call had not yet reached their ears, either way, it was likely unsafe to remain in the open where any observer from above could easily pick out a red dragon, even from a fair distance away.
What wasn't a fair distance away and watching with a mix of frozen horror and wonder at the sight of a dragon tear into a drake was a band of ponies. Stallions, mares, foals, a slew of a dozen or more earth ponies displaced from the war and now fording the still dangerous countryside in hopes of returning to their homes, were now shaking in their hooves at the sight just a field away from their caravan
”DRAGON!” One mare screamed and the entire band descended into pandemonium. Stallions rushing back and forth, foal crying, mares screaming as they quickly tried get moving – some even throwing away precious valuables and what little they still had to the wayside to unburden their carts in hope that the less weight would give them just enough of a start to get safely away. As they quickly fled down the beaten dirt path, a stallion had the unfortunate luck to get knocked silly by a cast-iron pan only to recover a few seconds later and stumble in a daze after the wagon that left him behind.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2014 18:43:19 GMT -5
Sylvia watched as the creature fell before her, not realizing that the whole event was being watched by ponies themselves. She could hear the screaming and her ear frills twitched as she lifted her lengthy neck, seeing the ponies rush away, leaving many of their things behind.
"Wait! Don't be afraid!" She called out to them, but many of them had already scampered. She crawled towards the stallion, trying rather hard to look nonthreatening, but as she was a large dragon heading towards him, it was very difficult to do so.
"I'm not going to hurt you." Sylvia warned him, gathering up some of the fallen items and holding it out towards the staggering pony as an offering, "I was just fighting to defend myself, that's all."
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Post by Stygg Whitefeather on Jun 2, 2014 19:42:09 GMT -5
The poor maroon earth pony had tumbled once again as he looked back to see Sylvia nearing. It appeared that Sylvia's reassurance had fallen upon deaf ears as the poor pony curled on the ground with his tail between his legs, eyes closed and ears flat against his head. His front hooves and unshorn fetlocks whipping into the empty air above him as if he could shoo away the large, pony eating dragon with such a feeble display. When death did not come as swiftly as he likely expected, his ears perked up and sheepishly he opened upturned eye to the towering reptile with her offering before him. He relaxed, though skittishly so. Even the caravan had stopped to watch, curious as to what the dragon was planning, heads and eyes peering out and from behind their wagons and things.
The fallen pony's eyes darted from Sylvia's head, to her claws, to the wagon's things in her claws. He stayed frozen like this for a long moment before he skittishly rasped, “Thank you.” And slowly composing himself, though by his demeanor, it was apparent he was silently asking permission from the towering dragon to move. The rest of his caravan were now emerging, some stepping closer, like timid cats being offered a morsel of meat. The ponies were growing bolder by the second.
When the downed maroon pony was back on his hooves, looking up at Sylvia, still unsure what to make of the situation, a shout suddenly came from one of the caravan wagons. One of the foals, a colt, who had been safely hiding under a blanket in the back of the last wagon, had sprung up with his hoof outstretch to the sky behind Sylvia. “Watch out!”, he had shouted, which followed an overcasting shadow and the clear and distinct sound of the air behind Sylvia being quickly cut by a fast moving object barreling down towards her and the pony.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2014 6:32:30 GMT -5
Sylvia watched the pony in interest. Why were they so afraid of her? The griffons weren't nearly as jumpy, and they had approached her right away. Then again, they had weapons and armor, and these ponies were completely unarmed.
Having gently placed the objects before the pony, she heard the small foal's cry as he had pointed a hoof behind her. The young dragon glanced out of the corner of her eye, spotting the shadow. Unaware of what the object or being was, she threw a protective wing over the maroon pony and spun around, lifting her tail upward before swinging it in a powerful swipe towards whatever was coming at her, hoping to knock it back. As she did so, she unleashed a powerful roar that shook the very ground she stood on, hoping to frighten whatever was coming at her and the helpless being she guarded.
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Post by Stygg Whitefeather on Jun 3, 2014 17:56:20 GMT -5
There, nearly upon her once more was another drake – likely summoned by the cries of the downed one she had just shortly ago dispatched. It's talons were outstretch and hungry, clawing for the dragon on the ground. Sylvia's attempt to swat the beast away failed to connect in any meaningful way, instead, as if the drake had anticipated such an attack, the creature snatched the tail in its talons, pinning it to the side with its weight and force from the dive before attempting to send a wad of that debilitating spit onto the Sylvia's back. Her roar however, diverted several other drakes from their own dive-run at the dragon, forcing them to break their dive and split, ending in a hover in the air above Sylvia and the stallion – watching their comrade struggle with the dragon's tail.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2014 6:28:30 GMT -5
Sylvia couldn't believe their numbers. Her tail lashed side by side to once again throw off the attacker and she roared loudly as she pushed forward, spreading her wings despite her injury.
The unlucky drake closest to her would have to move pretty quickly as she sent another torrent of flames from her lungs. She was determined to defend not just herself, but the groups of stallions nearby who probably looked like tasty treats to the drakes. She leapt into the air, making sure not to move too far from the ponies below as she drew a claw back and aimed a slash at the wing of the nearest drake. Her back claw struck towards another that was behind her, the dragon using her sheer strength to battle.
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Post by Stygg Whitefeather on Jun 5, 2014 15:06:26 GMT -5
Sylvia's breath attack failed to connect; her pained movement before pivoting gave the drake on her tail the signal to move, the drake avoiding the blast by the tip of its tail. It swooped up to where the other two were waiting to strike. Surprised by her will to fight after suffering a strike from their venomous spittle, this new trio were captivated as the mass of power leap into the air. So much so, that one drake failed to react as one of Sylvia's claws shredded it's wing – unable to continue in flight or in hover, the drake fell to the ground with an audible 'plop', where it stayed, dazed. The second drake, only catching a glimpse of its mate taking a claw to the wing, realized to late the fury that had just been unleashed upon them and took Sylvia's back claw across its chest, raking away scales and skin. The force of the strike so much as to even send the drake spiraling and crashing into the other fallen one on the ground. With two more already dispatched, the third drake beat its wings back and took to the air, shooting straight up into the sky in hopes of getting away unscathed.
The caravan of ponies had scrambled back into their wagons and carts, even the maroon stallion had galloped away from the fight the moment Sylvia had taken to the air and grabbing what little he could of their fallen things in his muzzle and one foreleg. They are about to scamper off, but curiosity seeming to befall them again, they all turned and watched as the dragon appeared to be on the cusp of victory.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2014 16:36:35 GMT -5
Sylvia's eyes narrowed at the drake as it tried to escape. Her anger boiled, "I was just...trying...to help these creatures!" She roared to the Drake, unsure whether it could understand her or not. With painful pumps of her wings, she darted up towards the Drake, a feral rage filling her. Gone was her usual sweet, calm composure. She wasn't going to allow this one to call for more reinforcements. She drew near enough to its barbed tail to grab a hold of the base to keep the monster from stinging her and she took in a deep breath, unleashing yet another blast of fire, the intensity of this stream was evident as her pupils became paper-thin slits in her eyes.
The dragon wasn't going to give up, not when she had been set upon by such great numbers.
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