Chapter 9: Into the Fire

Dan and his team charged Alduin, Dan and Geoff attacked him from the front, Sarge and Shadow attacked his left, and Goldheart and Hardhead Attacked his right. While Tom attacked Alduin from behind with a variety of spells. Dan and Geoff distracted Alduin as Sarge hit him repeatedly with his skyforge steel sword and the rest used close quarters combat. This gave them an advantage, however Alduin recovered quickly. He attacked with deadly accuracy, he broke Goldheart's hind legs and trough him into town hall, he also forced Shadow trough the wall of a nearby building knocking him out. Tom was forced to put up a defensive ward around everyone else to counter Alduin's fire breath.

"This isn't working!" shouted Sarge. From the expression on Tom's face Dan could tell the ward wouldn't last much longer with Alduin constantly attacking it. That's when Dan had an idea, an idea so crazy that it could give them an advantage.

"Alright, Tom hold the ward as long as you can. I have special weapons and amour for all of you." Dan then distributed his deadric artifacts. He gave Sarge Savior's hide and the Ebony Blade. Geoff got Volendrung, while Tom got the Mace of Molag Bal and the Masque of Clavicus Vile. Dan equipped the Ebony Mail and Spellbreaker. He also drew Dawnbreaker and, after much consideration, gave Hardhead Mehrunes' Razor. Just as he finished giving out the gear the ward failed and they were back in the fight.

The power of the deadric artifacts stunned Alduin, Volendrung hit him with the force of ten warhammers, and the Mace of Molag Bal caused his wound to continue to bleed no matter how old they were. The Ebony Blade drained him while Dawnbreaker caused his scales to burn. Hardhead did his best to help with Mehrunes' Razor but because it was a dagger along with the fact that Alduin could crush him with his feet, he wasn't able to help much. Again Alduin was able to recover and moved faster to dodge the weapons. However Dan and his team were slowly pushing Alduin out of Ponyville, by this time most of the fighting had stopped and everypony was watching them fight.

The fighting continued past the outskirts of Ponyville to the edge of the Everfree forest. Dan and his team attacked with renewed strength seeing that they were no longer in Ponyville and could not hurt anypony still in their home. The fought for hours but ever the mightiest of warriors get tired. As the fight continued Dan and his men found themselves trying harder to lift their weapons. They were determined to defeat Alduin but one slip up caused them to suffer a crippling blow.

Hardhead tried to stab Alduin where his wings join his body but Alduin saw this coming and knocked Hardhead trough some trees and into the forest. Dan and his men watched Hardhead disappear into the forest giving Alduin another opportunity to tip the scales of the fight in his favor. He lashed out at Dan who was able to deflect the blow with Spellbreaker, unfortunately the shield was ripped from his grasp and landed somewhere in Ponyville. Dan, Tom, Sarge, and Geoff continued to fight but they were losing hope.

While they were fighting Shadow who regained consciousness went to look for Hardhead and bring him back to Ponyville. He found Hardhead unconscious along with Mehrunes' Razor embedded in a tree. After retrieving the dagger and putting Hardhead on his back he headed back to Ponyville while trying to figure out a way to help the others.

Things were not going well for Dan and his men, Geoff was tossed into a tree and knocked unconscious. Sarge's left arm was broken making him unable to use the Ebony Blade. There was almost no help left for them when Dan had another crazy idea. He gave Sarge Dawnbreaker and told him and Tom to buy him some time. While they were distracting Alduin he tried to contact the deadric princess Nocturnal. "Lady Nocturnal, I need your help, as one of your Nightingales I ask you for a favor. I need you to open an oblivion gate so that we may trap Alduin in between our realm and yours by closing it while he is only partially trough it." After his prayer he rejoined the battle drawing his Nightingale blade as he ran towards Alduin. By this time Tom and Sarge had been defeated. Alduin prepared to kill Dan when a sudden pain from his back caused him to stop. Shadow had managed to sneak up behind Alduin and drove Mehrunes' Razor into Alduin's back. This distraction gave Dan all the time he needed, as he charged an oblivion gate opened behind Alduin. Alduin succeeded in tossing Hardhead off his back just as Dan stepped in front of him and used the Unrelenting Force shout causing Alduin to stumble into the oblivion gate which closed, with unnatural precision, once he was half way between the two realms. The battle was finally over, the remaining dragons immediately surrendered or ran away after Alduin was defeated. The reinforcements from Stalliongrad arrived just as the fighting finished, they then tended to the wounded and put the remaining dragons in chains. Dan stood there looking at the spot the oblivion gate was unsure if his plan actually worked. It wasn't until Nocturnal contacted him telepathically confirming that Alduin was trapped in a place between the two realms with no hope of escape that he collapsed from fatigue.

The guards won but at a price, over three hundred guards were killed and another hundred wounded. Goldheart's neck was broken when he crashed into town hall (he died instantly incase you couldn't figure it out), Hardhead had multiple broken bones and lost a lot of blood, he died during surgery due to blood loss. Shadow had two broken ribs and a concussion Shinning Armor recovered in time to see the end of the final battle but would still be in the hospital for a few weeks. Geoff regained consciousness he had some whiplash and a headache but he was fine after the pain subsided, both of Sarge's arms were broken so somepony had to feed him untill they fully healed, Tom was drained from using so many magical attacks and his left leg was fractured. Dan had the worst injuries three broken ribs, his left leg and right arm were fractured, he had a concussion, and would not regain consciousness for about two weeks.

Authors Note: I should have the epilogue up next week. If you didn't like the story why the hell did you read up to this chapter.