I eyed the tree closely, searching for anything out of the ordinary, besides of course the glowing chains that bound it. The first thing I noticed was how beautiful it was, or at least how beautiful it could be provided it was not chained up. The glowing steel marred the ancient tree’s faintly shimmering bark and clashed with the gentle grace of its boughs.

A part of me wanted to stay and gawk at the supernaturally pretty plant but I turned my attention downward. Seeking out any piece of the chain that seemed weaker from the rest of the thick links of metal. There was no lock, and no end or beginning to it, however, only a continual loop that secured the tree to the ground.

“Brute strength it is then,” I muttered aloud.

Stepping up to the tree I grabbed a length of chain in all four of my arms and tried to pull it apart. I was immediately disappointed but not surprised when I found that I could not harm the metal. It was simply too strong and didn't seem to strain at all even when I used all my metaphorical muscles.

“Come on you,” I murmured to myself.

Readjusting my grip I tried to pull a bit of chain off the tree but was once more disappointed. Expertly woven and intertwined with the plant’s branches there was no safe way to remove what bound it. Even if I removed all of its extremities, the noble vegetation would find itself still trapped in bondage.

“It's pointless,” whispered a faint, vaguely feminine voice borne upon the wind. “The spell is too strong.”

“If you think that's going to stop me then lady you don't know me,” I retorted, grabbing the chains once more.

“Lady? I… No, it does not have that kind of strength,” the slightly baffled voice replied. “It can only be removed by the hand that placed it.”

“Of course, there would be some kind of magical bullshit involved,” I muttered mainly to myself. “Nothing can be easy in ponyland.”

“I am not sure what you mean, but that doesn't matter anymore. The dark one is coming, and he will destroy you. I am sorry I failed you,” declared the voice, which dissipated at the end, as if drifting away on a soft summer breeze.

“He will try,” I replied.

I gave the chains one last half-hearted tug before turning around just in time to see a dark shape loom overhead. A moment later and a familiar and slightly amused, dragon landed in front of me.

“I thought you dead, or at least destroyed,” he remarked. “You must be coming from somewhere nearby. Perhaps after I kill you a second time I will have to seek that location out.”

I took a moment to eye the dragon up and down, noting that he was only a bit taller than me at the moment. He wore the same amount of jewelry as last time and had the same maleficent look in his emerald eyes. The tooth I had knocked loose had grown back, leaving no trace that we had even fought at all.

“Funny,” I began, extending all four arms and approaching him. “You kind of have to live to see tomorrow to do any of that.”

“I will enjoy crushing your arrogant spirit,” he spat.

I immediately broke out into a sprint, charging directly at him with my arms spread and ready to grab him. While I ran at him, the dragon reared back, and inhaled deeply, preparing himself for a titanic eruption of acid. Rather than dissuade me from my chosen path it only emboldened me and I continued to run directly at him without flinching.

Even when he exhaled and spat a cloud of green directly in front of himself I simply barrelled right through it. I exited it a moment later, almost completely unharmed thanks to the fine layer of crystal I had coated myself with. I hadn't recalled much from my old chemistry classes but I did know that there were certain materials that were resistant to acid. I knew glass was up there, so with a bit of intent and a whole lot of luck I had called forth something similar.

This took my opponent by surprise, the dragon blinking in shock and giving me enough time to close the distance. Though larger than myself by several orders of magnitude at that point, I was unbothered by the increased bulk. I simply launched myself at his midsection, arms extended wide, with the top two reaching towards his wings.

The dragon had just enough time to brace himself, but only slightly. Despite his preparation, I still knocked him back, my internal core of pure lead weighing more than even he did. Like a cannonball to the chest, I knocked my foe clear off his feet and sent us back into the lake.

Confused, and with the wind knocked out of him, he wasn't able to put up much of a fight as I pinned him. My metal arms extended and wrapped about his wings, securing them against his back and leaving him even more off balance. I was also able to bind one of his forelimbs, but it was a tenuous hold at best.

That didn't matter much, as the dragon was just barely able to keep his head above the surface of the water. His free arm grabbed a hunk of land, and pulled hard, dragging him toward the safety of the small island. I wasn't about to let this happen, and with a thought, I activated part two of my plan.

“Auugh!” screamed the dragon as over a dozen spikes pierced his scales and sunk deep into his flesh.

Not all had been able to find purchase in the dragon’s body but that didn't matter as a majority managed to do so. The sudden shock of being impaled caused his grip to falter, and I twisted my entire body, forcing him to relinquish his grasp entirely. With the added weight on his chest and no viable way to keep his head above water, the dragon plunged into the depths.

I felt his panic keenly and worked to make it grow by driving my spikes as deep as possible into his flesh. The barbed spines ripped and tore at his muscle, quickly turning the bright blue water a dark shade of crimson. His frantic struggles only made things worse for him as he worked the metal hooks into joints and under scales.

As we rapidly sunk into the cool depths of the lake and bubbles burst from his mouth, I almost thought my victory was secure. Then he began to grow, pushing against my constraints as his form bulged in an attempt to return to its natural state. I gripped and thrashed as best as I was able, but I could not stop him from enlarging himself.

Though I still weighed him down considerably, he soon became so massive that I felt like a child clinging to one’s mother. The process must have been agonizing as my barbs tore flesh, and ripped off scales as he grew. Yet he pushed on, using his unbound limbs to clamber toward the surface in search of precious oxygen.

I knew that if he were able to fill his lungs once more, the fight would be over and I would surely lose. So I abandoned the grip I had on both his wings and upper arm, shifting all my attention to his midsection. This may have seemed like a foolish move, but It was a gamble that paid off after I squeezed down with all six of my limbs.

Ribs cracked, and I forced out what little wind remained in the dragon’s lungs, causing an eruption of bubbles. I followed it up by immediately wrenching the dragon to one side, adding confusion to injury. Sure enough in his panicked state, the dragon kept trying to swim upward, while unknowingly getting no closer to the surface.

Mostly blind, and completely desperate, a swimmer may not know which way is up, a fact I put to use.

Though we were close to the water’s surface, I continued to twist, and angle the dragon downward. With his lungs burning, he knew what was happening, and that his mad attempt to escape the depths had been stymied. The male’s lungs no doubt burned, and his mind wanted nothing more than to breathe in once more.

I gathered as much when I felt his chest inflate for the first time since I had tackled him several minutes earlier. We were close to the surface, but not close enough and I knew that he had just consigned himself to a watery fate. His struggles became weaker and more directionless as his body realized that it was not oxygen that it had taken in.

Freeing two of my arms, I reached back and gripped tight the delicate bones around the base of his wings. A sharp turn snapped them, rendering two of his six limbs utterly useless. I then repeated this motion, breaking one of his arms, and then doing the same with his tree trunk-sized legs. It was difficult, but with him slowly sinking to the bottom of the lake and being unable to fight back it was not impossible.

With that done, I grabbed hold of his good arm, stepped off his chest, and stood on the slanted side of the island. Though the dragon hadn't known it, I guided his flailings in just such a way so that he didn't get far from the spit of dirt. Using all my strength, I hauled him back onto the land and splayed him out on his back, arms spread wide.

With a punch, I forcibly ejected the water from his lungs and hoped that he wasn't already dead. Thankfully someone was listening to my prayer, as his chest heaved and he began to cough. Vomit and water spilled from his lips, the dragon ejecting the contents of what he had eaten and drunk over the last few hours.

I merely stood off to the side, waiting for the moment when he seemed to realize what had just happened. That took a while though, as I soon discovered that I had likely collapsed one of his lungs during the fight. There was other damage, but my gaze didn't linger on the many new wounds he sported but his face.

“You bitch,” he muttered, his voice barely rising above a panicked wheeze.

“Aww good. You’re not dead yet,” I remarked.

“What-” the dragon paused and coughed hard, the movement causing him an immense amount of pain.

“What do I want?” I answered. “Simple. I want you to remove what binds this tree.”

“And in return, you’ll spare me?” he muttered.

I met his gaze, my unblinking tiny black eyes peering into his bright emerald orbs. “You’ll also have to leave, take your dragons with you, and swear to never return but yes.”

My foe’s relief was immediate, though he hid it beneath an overinflated sigh. “You've got… a deal,” he wheezed.

I wish I could have smiled at that moment.

“Good,” I declared.

Grabbing his arm, I dragged his bulk over to the tree, ignoring the pained wheezes that slipped from my foe’s lips. Once the tree was close enough, I took a step back and watched him closely. Sure enough, he did as he agreed to do, and began to undo the enchantment he had placed on the plant.

He did so by locating a particular set of links in the chain, and squeezing down on them while closing his eyes. His fingers glowed faintly, and after a moment of concentration, the chain suddenly fell slack. Without the magic holding it together, the metal quickly evaporated over the course of mere moments.

“It is done,” he muttered. “Now leave me be while I regenerate from my wounds.”

“No,” I replied, stepping over to his unbroken arm.

“No?” he shot back in confusion.

“I know your type, and I know you will just keep coming back until one or both of us is dead,” I explained while grabbing his shoulder in my four arms.

He tried to resist, to pull his sole unbroken limb from my grasp but he didn't have the strength to do so.

“No, you’ve got me all wrong. I swear if you just-”

“You mistake me for someone who cares to hear the empty lies of a dead man,” I interrupted.

A quick twist and a pull tore the limb from its socket, letting it hang limply against the ground. To his credit, the dragon merely grunted, refusing to give me the satisfaction of another yelp of pain.

“You think that because I care for the ponies that I am like them,” I continued, walking down to the edge of the island. “But I am not. I am something far more vengeful, and far crueler. I am these things so they need not be.”

“W-wait,” he pleaded.

“Those who seek to harm my ponies will be annihilated so thoroughly that even the memory of them is destroyed, lost like their bones to the sands of time,” I concluded.

Picking up his tail, I dragged the dragon back into the water, ignoring his increasingly frantic pleas and desperate cries. I didn't stop until I had pulled him to the very bottom of the lake. There I watched as he tried to hold his breath, and swim back towards the island.

His broken limbs and singular functional lung did little for him, save for granting him a few seconds of frantic grasping. Then with a look of resignation, he exhaled, releasing his final breath. I waited, watching him closely until his twitching stopped and the light completely left his eyes.

Only then, when I was certain of his demise, did I pluck the necklace from around his neck and make my trek back to the island. I stepped around the bubbling pit of acid and approached the tree.

“You and I are allies now,” I declared in a firm tone.

“Y-yes my alpha,” replied the faint voice.

“We will speak and reach a more mutually beneficial arrangement in the future but right now I need to know if you can help me contain the dragons,” I pressed.

“I… yes, I will be able to do that,” it replied. “Though my power is limited at the moment I can conjure a turbulent wind that will keep them grounded.”

“Good,” I stated. “And fret not. You have not traded one slave master for another. I merely demand your assistance for the moment but after I will only ever request it, this I swear.”

After a moment’s hesitation, the tree responded. “I believe you,” it declared.

“Let us get the butcher’s work done quickly,” I exclaimed.

Turning my gaze to Lakeside I noticed that the dragon’s death had not gone unnoticed. His cronies sprinted this way and that, carrying off whatever they could fit on their backs. Some hauled chests packed with wealth while others hastily lead away small herds of enslaved ponies. Most were disorganized, but there were a few more orderly groups that were plundering whatever wealth they could get ahold of. Led by larger dragons that had likely once been lieutenants, these bands of raiders would be a painful thorn in my side if they escaped.

“Because I have ponies to save,” I proclaimed.

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