Steel Head saw that wave of fire approaching... the heat was like the hell gates had opened right in front of him. He only got a slit of second to look to his side and see Octavia being engulfed by flames and then...
The royal guard felt the hard wooden floor against his face. He opened his eyes looking around, slowly grasping the real world. He had half fallen from his bed and was in a really awkward position. He was face planted against the wooden floor while his flank was still on the bed.
The bed was a simple bunker bed, just like any other bed in the small rooms of the royal barracks. With a groan, the white pegasus got out of his bed and stood up. His heart was still racing and his coat was all covered in sweat. That was probably the worst nightmare he ever had in years... and it made something clear to him.
He stepped outside the room, not caring to take his armor with him. He went to the barracks bathroom to take a quick shower and, once he was dry, Steel Head took off to the night sky. It was really weird to fly without his armor but he found out that he was a lot more agile and fast without the extra weight.
Like a shooting star, the royal guard flew through Canterlot, reaching the residential area of the capitol. Silent as a ghost, he started to descend and landed in a balcony. He walked as silent as he could and knocked lightly on the glass door. A few seconds without any answer from the resident and Steel head knocked again. This time, a dark silhouette moved inside, reaching the glass door and opening it.
Octavia stepped outside the dark room. The pale light of the moon bathing her gray body and sleepy face. She rubbed her eyes a few times, not really believing that Steel Head was standing there at 3 AM.
"Steel...? what the hey are you doing here at this time!?" She said and let out a yawn.
"Sorry... but I had a nightmare..." He said stepping closer.
Octavia arched an eyebrow.
"A nightmare... you came to visit me, at 3 AM because of a nightmare..." She said feeling a sharp point of annoyance poking her head with that words. What was him? A foal!?
"Yes... I dreamed that I'd lose you..." He said looking deep in her eyes... that caught her attention. "In a few hours I'll be leaving to the lands of the Dragons... and there is the possibility that I don't return."
"Land of... what?" Octavia was very awake now. "Why are going there?"
"Eravel was kidnapped and I'll be going there to bring him back..." He said serious. "And after my dream I realized that I can't go without giving you at least one more kiss..." He said and approached Octavia.
"Steel... no." She said stepping back.
That 'no' hit him in the chest like a spear... but before he could say something Octavia started talking.
"I want that kiss after you come back to me. Understand? You MUST come back!" She said looking him in the eyes.
Steel head was speechless for a few seconds but then he grinned and nodded.
"Ok... but! I'll want a lot more than just a kiss when I come back!" He said and spread his wings.
Octavia chuckled lightly and watched as the royal guard fly away... The reason why she kept him away all this time was because she was arranging all the necessary things to move back to Ponyvile and live with him... It was suppose to be a surprise.
Steel head never felt so light before... so... focused in a task. Go to the land of the dragons, get Eravel back without dying and live happy ever after with Octavia... It seemed simply enough and with Luna by his side, what could go wrong?.
As he was approaching the barracks to get a few more hours of sleep, Steel head caught something moving from the corner of his eye. He stopped in the air, just floating while looking around... there was nothing. Maybe it was just his imagination?
He simple shrugged and turned to finish his flight... When he turned, the royal guard found himself face to face with a huge dark blue dragon. The dragon had a pair of ethereal wings... something hat resembled Princess Luna's mane and tail. The eyes of the beast were bright yellow and to stare on them was almost like stare on Princess Celestia's eyes. You could feel the wisdom that could only be achieved through the ages...
Steel Head had only enough time to gasp and the dragon opened his mouth. A small wave of green flame engulfed the royal guard and when the flames were gone... so was the white pegasus. Not even a speck of ash was left of him... The huge blue dragon then simply flew away, as silent as he came... vanishing in the night.
X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"You are joking... right?" I said looking at Discord. He just laughed softly. We both were in the usual scenario... A green planice, with a few trees here and there... Blues sky with pink clouds floating around and the sun was high in the sky.
"Not at all..."Discord said. "And don't think that you have any option left... you will do that, or else, somepony might get hurt."
I closed my fists for a second... and sighed in defeat... he was right... I had no options left. It had to be done.
"Ok... I will do my part. But I hope that you do yours too, or else I'll be in deep trouble!" I said pointing a finguer towards the draconic creature.
"Don't you worry your little mortal mind with that... Discord always have things under control!" He said stuffing his chest in pride.m I arched an eyebrow and crossed my arms.
"Or something like that..." He completed after seeing my disbelief face.
"But I can't believe that..." I said still very shocked. "I mean... to use me like a bite... they all will be walking straight into a trap!"
"Yes... and something is preventing me from telling Celestia or Luna of the dangers..." Discord sighed. "But if you manage to do what I told you to do, everything will be fine."
X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Luna, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Twilight were all gathered next to a dark blue carriage with four pegasi attached to it. The pegasi where royal guards, but they were part of Luna's royal guards. Their coat was of a dark blue and their eyes were yellow, just like a cat. All of them wore dark armors and had bat like wings... They surely looked a lot more intimidating than Celestia's guards.
"Where the hay is that pegasus?" Rainbow Dash snorted. Steel head was really late and the mares were starting to lose their patience.
"I'm sure he has a good explanation... let's just wait a little bit longer." Twilight sighed. Spike was on her back, sharing that feeling of impatience... The safety of his 'brother' was at risk and they shouldn't be wasting any more time!
Everypony was gathered near the train station... and and it was starting to gather a lot of attention from the civilians. Luna wasn't exactly the most popular princess among their subjects. They all knew that she had come back, but many didn't had the chance to even look at her.
After just a few more minutes, a white pegasus wearing a golden armor and carrying something on his back, landed near the group.
"Sorry for being late!" Steel Head said panting.
"What in tarnation did'all take this long to arrive?" Applejack scowled him.
"I had to grab something back in Ponyvile... I'm really sorry!" He said putting his front hooves together and bowing his head.
"Enough..." Luna said before any other mare had the chance to say something. "We already wasted much of our precious time. Everypony, to the carriage." She commanded.
With that said, Applejack, Twilight and, with a lot of persuasion, Rainbow Dash, got inside the carriage. Steel Head and Luna started to fly and right after, the dark royal guards pulled the carriage to the sky.
"So... why did you got so late?" Spike asked to the royal guard.
"I had to grab two things that Eravel will like to see." Steel Head said smiling... He then Gently dropped the objects that he was carrying on his back inside the carriage.
Those were long objects, all warped in cloth. Spike started to unfold the cloth and his eyes filled with comprehension. There, he could see the two objects that Eravel liked most: His sword and his axe.
"I think it was a bad idea to bring these..." Twilight said. "I remember what it is like when Eravel use these weapons... And let's say that it tends to get pretty... messy."
"Messy?" Rainbow Dash said arching and eyebrow. "It usually turns into a blood bath! What's wrong with you Steel? You shouldn't have brought these weapons!"
"Well... what if we need him to use them?" Steel asked, trying to defend himself.
"That's why I'm here..." Luna said in a neutral tone. She didn't seems to care of the consequences of Eravel getting his hands on his weapons.
"Sorry girls..." Steel head sighed "but I kind of put myself on his place... If it was me, I would have loved to have my armor as soon as possible."
"I know Eravel too..." Spike stepped to defend the royal guard "And I know that he will love to see his weapons..." In fact, Spike didn't know that... he was just siding with Steel Head because he trusted that the white pegasus knew Eravel like no pony else.
Rainbow Dash didn't agree to that... she almost died twice because of those weapons and she hated to even think of Eravel going out of control. It was impressive that he once defeated a Hydra, but she well remembered that he almost died there. Dragons where not like hydras... they were far more powerful. Not only that, they wouldn't be anywhere near a hospital... And she didn't exactly trusted Luna's healing powers. The Princess of the Night was an alicorn, more powerful than any other pony, except from her sister... but she didn't had the knowledge that a medic unicorn had.
Aside from that initial disagreement, the rest of the trip was quite peaceful. They had to stop when the night arrived and set out a camp. Luna didn't seem very pleased seeing everypony going to sleep after she had risen the moon... This was something that she never really accepted well and watching her own guards going to sleep too was very... disappointing.
Twilight saw that and walked near the Princess of the Night.
"I think you should get some rest too Princess." The purple unicorn said smiling softly.
"I thank you for your concern, but it is rather strange for the Princess of the Night sleep right after she had risen the moon and lighted the stars..." Luna said a bit cold.
"I know... but you stood up all day and we need you to be at full force when we arrive at the land of the dragons..." Twilight tried to reason with the dark blue alicorn.
Luna just let out a sigh.
"You are right Twilight Sparkle... but that don't make it any easier." Luna said laying on the grass end closing her eyes to sleep. Twilight approached the princess and laid right next to her... almost as if she was comforting her friend.
A few hours later, Steel Head opened his eyes and checked if everypony was still sleeping... Not a single movement from his companions. A few more minutes passed and, when he was 100% sure that nopony was going to wake, the white pegasus stood up and walked away in silence.
He didn't wandered too far though... Only enough so nopony could hear him or see him. Once he was out of sight, Steel head opened hi mouth and let out an almost inaudible screech. That sound was almost immediately answered and a brown pegasus landed in front of Steel Head. The new pegasus was hiding in a cloud and had followed the group almost the entire trip.
"I need you to go and report." Said Steel Head in a serious tone. "Celestia is not coming, her sister Luna is. Far as I observed, Luna is more impulsive than her elder sister and can be very dangerous."
The brown pegasus nodded. And then spoke.
"What about his weapons?"
"They are here, both of them..." Steel Head answered.
The brown pegasus then handed him a small flask with a green potion.
"Apply this to the blades... and make sure the the sword is still working... If we want Celestia here, the sword if the fastest way to summon her."
Steel Head nodded and then stashed the flask in a small pouch under his armor. Without more words, the brown pegasus flew away and Steel Head returned to the camp. Once there, he grabbed Eravel's weapons and poured just a bit of the potion on the blades... the edge glowed lightly with a greenish light and then turned back to normal... The white pegasus stashed the weapons back where he got it, warping it all in the cloth, and went back to his spot to sleep.
As the sun rose on the horizon, Luna started to wake up everypony to finish the trip. They where only a few hours from their destination now... And each second their apprehension grew more and more. The group didn't had a clue of what they would find once they got there and could only hope for the best.
The ground under them started to quickly change from a the green grass to the reddish dirt. The air started to get hotter and was a little difficult to breath. They all were forced to land and continue the trip on foot. Soon enough, they started to see smoke coming from the mouth of very active volcanoes. Rivers of magma coming from them... the heat there was really intense for a pony that is used to lower temperatures.
"Bah'Celestia!" Applejack said taking her stetson off. "How can anypony endure this heat?"
"Hold on a second." Twilight said and her horn started to glow. A purple flash erupted from the tip of the horn and everypony could feel the ambiance temperature going down untill it was something more comfortable.
"Thanks Twi." Apple jack said letting out a sigh of relief.
"No worries..." She said smiling softly. "I forgot to cast this spell on us before we enter here... I used the same spell when me, Rarity and Dash came to rescue Spike. It's a simple shield spell that can canalize the brain frequencies in short waves of-..." She stopped the explanation when everypony was looking at her with expressions of confusion. "Well... ahem... Basically is a shield that isolate you in the ideal temperature."
"I think we should not waste anymore time..." Luna said starting to walk... Her guards were ordered to stay in the carriage, ready to transport the ponies out of there if needed.
The others followed the princess in silence. Every step they took the landscape looked more and more inhospitable... it was then that they saw a small winged crature, flying at it's top speed towards them. The creature started to approach fast and soon they could see Eravel screaming something.
X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
The plan was simple... I only had to sneak out and run to where discord had indicated me, find the group that came to rescue me and then leave... But of course that luck wasn't on my side. No sir... I HAD to stumble on a loose rock while sneaking on the ground, where I was going to attract less attention... and the rock had to roll down the hill and land right into the tail of an older red dragon.
Let's just say that if one teenager dragon enraged is bad... six more are six time worst! I was flying for my life now... almost literally. I knew I wasn't going to die... maybe they would just beat me senseless... but in the end my "mother" would find me and then bad thing would happen.
I flapped my wings as hard as I could and started to gain altitude... The six teenager dragons followed me just the way I wanted. Once I was high enough I simply closed my wings and started to dive like a missile. This was a small trick that Rainbow Dash helped me to perfect... and I just hoped it would work.
I looked back for an instant and saw that the others were still chasing me. I breathed deep... filling my lungs with air... the ground was getting closer and closer... the wind was hitting my eyes and making me shed some tears... when I was close enough to the ground I spread my wings, tilting them in 30º. I felt all my joints hurt when my whole body suddenly change from a 90º fall to a horizontal flight. All the speed I had gathered in the fall was now pushing me forward so fast that If something appeared in front of me I would certainly collide. Behind me I heard the sound of three of them hitting the ground, just like I did so many times until I finally perfect this stunt.
Then I heard... the worst thing ever... A thundering roar that I recognized as my 'self proclaimed mother'. I felt a chill down my spine and the urge to speed up. I had to reach the group that was send to rescue me and then flee!
At a distance I saw them... A group of six ponies and a baby dragon. I dove to the ground, and started to scream at top of my lungs.
"RUN! WE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!"
It was then I felt something hit my back, sending me to the ground. I hit the floor and rolled a few times before stop. My head was spinning and someone was laughing hard at me... It was three teenager dragons that were chasing me.
"Eravel!" I heard Rainbow Dash yelling and then I felt her hooves around my head... softly pulling up to look at me. "Oh my gosh... you are not hurt are you?" She said full of worry.
"I'm ok... I think..." I said coughing lightly and then standing up.
The cyan pegasus glared at the three teenager dragons... Her stare was almost so strong as Fluttershy's.
"We got to get out of here... now!" I said grabbing her wing and pulling towards the rest of the group.
"And where do you THINK you are going, vermin?" one of the dragons said smirking. "We are going to teach you a lesson that you will never forget!" He said and then him and the other two charged at me.
The three of them opened their mouths and let out a blast of flames. I jumped in front of RD and spread my wings, embracing her to protect her fragile body from the flames. I hear the flames hitting something... but felt nothing. Behind me was a dark blue energy and walking towards us was Lune with her horn glowing.
"BEGONE DRAGONS!" She shouted in her royal voice and the three dragons flinched at it. "WE SHALL NOT LET ANY HARM FALL OVER OURS SUBJECTS!"
I didn't saw that Luna herself had come. This was perfect! With an alicorn on our side, the fight was already won. But then... my bad luck showed up again.
It happen so fast that no one had the chance to properly react. A cone of blue flames fell over Luna's body, turning her into stone. Right next to our group, a mighty blue dragon landed... he had ethereal wings that resembled Luna's mane and tail... his whole body was even bigger than my 'mother'. He was truly a Behemoth.
The two dark royal guards charged against the dragon but he simply used the flames against them, turning both into stone too. Their heavy bodies fell on the ground but to our relief they did not shattered.
"ERAVEL!" I heard a male voice. I looked back at the group of ponies and saw Steel Head. He flew towards me, carrying something on his hooves. One of the teenager dragons threw a ball of fire against him. He was too far away for me to intercept the projectile... I had to watch him being hit by the flames and fall.
His body hit the floor and rolled several times, full of brunt marks. Me and Dash hurried to help him but he was unconscious. I grabbed the package that was near him and unfold the objects all covered in cloth. The idiot had brought me my weapons... As If I could take a dragon of that size on my own... But at least now I could provide enough time for them to escape.
"Rainbow... run." I whispered to her.
"What?" She shouted. "Are you nuts? As if I would really leave you behind like this!"
"Damn it Ranbow!" I shouted at her. "I need you to get out of here now!"
"I don't care!" She yelled back. "I'll stay with you no mater what!"
It was no use... I breathed deeply and looked at Rainbow.
"Ok... listen... tell Twilight to send a letter to Celestia. I'll take care of these three here... While I do that, distract that... thing... and please... take care... I need you safe"
She nodded and then kissed my lips... I kissed her back, knowing that this was probably the last time we kissed.
"Hey look at that... the vermin has a marefriend!" One of the dragon shouted and the three started to laugh hard.
"Let's get her first then!" The second said and the three pairs of eyes focus on the cyan pegasus... MY cyan pegasus.
"Under my dead body!" I roared and unsheathe my sword.
My axe and my sword in my hands again. It felt like ages since I last used them... I just hoped that I still remembered how to do it properly... AND that the blades where in good shape.
The first dragon charged in, swinging his arms against my head. I crouched to dodge his claws and my sword meet his stomach. I heard him gasping for air and falling to the side.
The other two charged at me at the same time. The second teenager opened his wings and the third threw a fire ball against me. I jumped to dodge the flames but the second was waiting for me in the air. He kicked me right in the face, sending me to the ground.
I rolled to the side, recovering my breath... right in time to crouch and dodge another fire ball. I threw a fire ball against the second that was in the air... and he dodged. Bu that gave me enough time to reach the third and his him on the side of his head with my axe. The third dragon fell to the side unconscious and I turned to face the last one.
The second teenager threw a cone of fire against me and I countered with my own breath of fire. Both flames colliding against each other and making a big flash. The remain teenager took advantage of that and charged against me. He hit my stomach with his head and sand me rolling a few times on the ground. When I was about to stand up he landed on my chest and opened his mouth. I saw the flames forming to hit me right in the face.
"Leave'im alone yer overgrown lizard!" I heard Applejack's voice.
The dragon looked at the side right in time to her buck approaching. Her powerful hind hooves hit him right on the face and the dragon landed on his back, unconscious too.
"Thanks AJ!" I said standing up.
"We al' have a big problem to deal with right now!" She said and I saw a cyan blur flying in circles against the adult dragon... He looked extremely frustrated because no mater what he did, he couldn't hit Rainbow Dash.
"Did Twilight wrote to the Princess?" I asked.
"No! The scrolls got burned by that huge thing!" AJ said.
My heart filled with panic... we had no way of contacting the Princess now and no way to win that! I dashed towards Rainbow Dash and yelled at her to run. But in the moment she turned to look at me... The adult dragon hit her with the blue flames, turning her into stone. I saw her body fall on the ground and a crack appearing on her flank, right where her cute mark was.
At that moment I felt something burning inside my chest... Burning like a thousand suns. And I embraced that fire.
"It's been a while..." I heard a voice inside my mind.
I flapped my wings and reach to the sky in a blink of an eye. Right after I was dashing towards the blue dragon, ready to strike! I wanted his head on my wall for what he had done!
His mouth opened and a cone of blue flames came towards me. I spun in the air dodging the flames but he hit the side of my body with his hand. The ground started to approach fast but something held me right before I could land. A coat of white magic was surrounding my whole body and I was gently placed on the ground.
The fire in my chest wasn't so strong anymore either... I saw the dragon looking up and when I looked on the same direction I saw Princess Celestia floating with her wings wide open. She had a serious expression on her face and it slowly turned into an angry face when she saw her sister turned into stone.
"IT WAS YOU THAT TURNED MY BELOVED SISTER INTO STONE?" She said in a more calm version of the Canterlot voice.
The dragon looked at her and let out a soft laugh.
"Yes it was Princess... Do you like it? I took some years to finally perfect the petrifying flame that you once tried to teach me." He said smiling at her. It was not a grin, nor a devilish smile... it was more of a tender smile. And it was possible to see on his eyes that he only had good feelings towards the Princess of the Sun.
I saw Celestia's eyes widening and her expression changing again. She was shocked with something... And here I was thinking that nothing could actually shock an eternal being.
"You... Is that... You?" She said and approached the Behemoth.
"Yes princess..." The blue dragon said and his ethereal wings vanished. "It's been almost a thousand years since we last saw each other. How are things back in the new capitol?"
I simply couldn't hold it any longer. It was too much.
"WAIT A DAMN SECOND HERE!" I shouted. "Can anyone tell me what the buck is happening here?"
The dragon looked at me and smiled.
"If I say 'Discord'... does this make any sense to you?"
I face palmed... That accursed abomination was the responsible for all this mess... why the hell didn't I saw that before?
The blue dragon then threw his flame on Luna, her guards and Rainbow Dash... they all turned back into flesh and bone again. They all breathed deeply and had a confusion expression, looking to the sides a little lost.
"Celestia...? and... Y-YOU?" I heard Luna saying and then she flew to be next to her sister... But to be honest I only cared for one thing right now.
I walked towards Rainbow and hugged her thigh. She simple warped her fore hoofs around me, hugging me back.
"You need to stop scaring me like that..." I whispered. "You are going to give me a heart attack one of these days!"
She chuckled lightly and kissed my face.
"You need to stop worrying so much about me... Having a babysitter is not cool!"
We both turned to see the the huge dragon speaking with the Royal sisters.
"But why did you took part on this crazy plan?" Celestia said giggling lightly "If you wanted to meet us, you could simply come to Canterlot."
"I know... But when Discord told me about his plan, I thought that it was too fun to simply pass... Besides..." His huge head turned to look at me. "I wanted to see closely what kind of soul you put on my son's body."
I blinked a few times when he said that.
"Wait a second... so... you are..."
"Yes..." He said lowering his head to see me better. "I'm the father of your body... and the father of many other dragons across Equestria. My name is Night Sky"
"Wooow..." I heard Spike's voice next to me. Twilight and the other approached to listen better to the conversation. "So... you are a magic dragon! Just like me!"
"Why is your name 'Night Sky'?" I asked to him.
"Because..." I heard Luna saying. "... I was the one that named him." She was floating next to her sister... Wings wide open.
"That's all and good... but Ah must ask... What about poor Steel Head ov'there?" Applejack said pointing the body of the unconscious royal guard.
"Oh no... I forgot about him!" I said and dashed to where Steel Head was.
"Don't worry about him." I heard the elder dragon saying.
As I approached the guard, his whole body flashed in a green light. He had turned into something else... Some pony like creature with a small horn and bug wings. His whole body was covered with some kind of exoskeleton and he had some holes on his hooves.
"What the...?" I jumped back, startled by that.
"A changeling?" Celestia said. "Night Sky, what's the meaning of this?" She looked the huge dragon with a serious stare.
"The changeling attack on your kingdom was, in part, my fault." He said. "So, it is up to me to fix things up... Queen Chrysalis, you can come out now..."
The three teenager dragons got warped in a flash of green light giving place to three more changelings. One of them had the same height as Celestia and the other two were the same size as the one that was disguised as Steel Head... The higher one approached the dragon with a smirk on her lips... She spread her wings and started to float, close to the royal sisters too.
"It's nice to see you again Celestia..." She said.
"OK STOP!" I shouted. Every single pony and dragon that was there turned to look at me. I cleared my throat before start. "Let me get this straight... The changeling attack was your fault... and now you want to make both kingdoms to make peace..."
The dragon nodded and I kept talking.
"Ok... that's all and good but why in Loki's name you kidnapped me? Why not to simply call the Princess here? Where is the true Steel Head? The original one... not this... bug-like-pony..." I looked at the changeling and he hissed at me. "...AAAND... more important of all... WHY THE FUCK DID YOU LISTENED TO DISCORD?" When I finished my speech Night Sky and Chrysalis started to chuckle.
"I already told you Eravel..." he said. "I did it because I thought it would be a fun way to pass the time... None of you were in actual danger... And your friend... Steel Head? Don't worry about him... He is alive and fine. I send him to a very special place with a very especial pony..."
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"ah-... AH-CHOO!" Steel Head sneezed and rubbed his hoof against his muzzle before adjusting his sunglasses... "Damn..." He cursed and relaxed again, taking a sip from his cold drink... The white pegasus was laid on his back in the a long chair, just enjoying the sun on his coat and the nice smell of the beach...
"Everything ok Steel?" Octavia said, interrupting the song she was playing on her cello, right next to him.
"Yeah..." he said looking at the beautiful mare next to him. "By the way, what song is that? Is beautiful!" He said taking his sun glasses off to look better at Octavia.
"Nothing especial... I was just improvising a few notes..." She blushed with his complement.
"Coming from you, everything is especial." He said and stood up, walking towards her and then kissing her lips lightly.
X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"What about them then?" I pointed towards the changelings that were teenager dragons just a moment ago. "I could have really hurt them with my weapons!"
"Hardly..." Queen Chrysalis said. "The motive we swapped the true Steel Head for one of my changelings was that he would put a spell in the blades. You can hit anypony with them without causing any real pain... Especially us, since we have a natural armor."
"But why bring my weapons here then? Why not to have Spike to send a letter to Princess Celestia, asking for help." I asked sheathing my sword... I just hoped that the spell in my weapons wasn't permanent...
"This was Discord's Idea..." Night Sky said. "He said that It would be rather boring to just send a letter to Celestia... So he wanted to use the enchantment in your sword... The enchantment that would warn her if you ever got near to lose your temper... Just like you did when you saw that cyan pegasus turned into stone."
"So..." I started. "We were just pawns being played for Discord's amusement?"
"Basically..." Night Sky Answered. "Well... not only his amusements... mine too. It was really fun to watch you all."
I opened my mouth to say something... but was there anything else to be said? No... it wasn't... At least not in front of royalty.
"C'mon..." I felt a hoof over my shoulder and saw Applejack. "Let's get going... Ah think that they'all have a lot t'discuss..." She pulled my lightly and I started walking.
Rainbow Dash got next to me and touched my shoulder with her head. I looked at her and smiled. In the end, everything went just fine. Nopony got hurt and the Princesses were discussing peace with another kingdom.
"And where do you think you are taking MY SON!?" We all turned to see A blue and green dragon staring at us with pure rage on its eyes... It was no other than Tharianee, my 'self proclaimed mother'.
"I-am-not-your-damn-son!" I shouted at her... She was starting to get REALLY annoying.
"Mother stop that!" we turned to see a light blue dragon, Zera, landing near her.
"Stop interfering Zera!" She scowled her real son. "I won't let those ponies take my son from me again!"
"Tharianee..." Night Sky said with a sight. "We already talked about this... our son died while he was still an egg... this is not our son!"
"LIES!" She roared and I felt even Applejack stepping backwards. "YOU gave our son away to your 'beloved' princess! You betrayed me and even turned Zera against ME!"
"HEY!" Rainbow Dash stepped forward. "Will you shut the buck up?" She said angry. "No one betrayed you, you dumb overgrown lizard! Now back away or I'll have to teach you a lesson or two for messing with my mate!" She snorted.
Everypony simply looked shocked at Rainbow Dash... Knowing that she already got attacked by that dragon before, her courage and determination was really impressive. But, bravery and foolishness always walk side by side...
Tharianee let out a deep growl and in a blink of an eye, she jumped against Rainbow. Celestia and Luna cast a spell to contain the female dragon, but both weren't prepared for a quick reaction... No one really expected that Tharianee would attack... The princesses weren't able to properly aim and the spell miss.
I did the only thing I could do at the moment. I jumped between Rainbow and Tharianee, throwing a cone of fire right in the dragoness face. Her claws ripped the air and hit my body with full force. Getting hit by a dragon was nothing compared to a manticore or a hydra... Her massive palm hit my side and I hear my arm, wing and some ribs breaking.
I landed on the ground and bounced a few times, hitting a nearby rock. Everything around me was spinning... far away, like an echo; I could hear someone calling my name and a distant roar. Some lights flashed in the sky... and a cyan figure came towards me... my sight was so blur that I couldn't distinguish who it was... And the pain... was so overwhelming... I just give in to the darkness, wishing that all that pain would fade.
X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"I honestly wasn't counting that your 'mother' would show up..." I heard Discord's voice...
My body was laid against a tree, under the cool shadow of the leaves. As I opened my eyes I saw the usual landscape... green grass... pink clouds... a few trees and a bright sun in the sky... a group of buffalos dancing with pink skirts near a chocolate lake… nothing out of order… I breathed deeply and stared at him.
"You damn bastard!" I said and started to stand up.
"Yes, Yes... I know you are angry at me... but what can say? It was fun wasn't?" He grinned at me.
"Oh yeah... SUPER fun... You don't know how much fun is to be almost killed!" I growled at him.
"Oh, don't be such a wuss..." He said crossing his arms. "You should be already used to be beaten senseless..."
"I'll just ignore that you said that..." I sighed... Being beaten is something that no one can simply 'get used' to... "What happen after I blacked out?"
"To put it simply... Celestia, Luna and Night Sky used their powers to bring Tharianee down..." he said simply. "The she was dragged by the changelings... after that Luna and Celestia agreed to join Chrysalis to discuss the peace between both kingdoms..."
"Good to hear that..." I sighed. "So... what now?"
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Well... now that your crazy scheme to make peace with the changeling kingdom is complete... what have you planned to make my life miserable?" I crossed my arms.
"Eravel... You speak as if everything I do is to annoy you and make you suffer!" He looked shocked. "And I would be offended... if that wasn't true!" He said and started to laugh. My palm simply meet my face.
"Speaking seriously now... Didn't you saw what I did here?" He said grinning at me. "Everything I did was to help you... Ok, not everything... many were for my personal amusement... But if you think deeply into what happened, you will see how much yourself steam grew... Not only that, but how much you've learned too. Chaos can be the most efficient teacher you can ever expect to have!" He said stuffing his chest with pride.
I hated to admit but he was right. It was through the things that he put me through that helped me grow. Not only as a dragon, but as a human too. Since the beginning he helped me see things that I was too dumb to realize myself.
"Now..." he said. "It's time to wake up... I'll come see you again in your dreams when I feel bored again... so, until next time!"
With that, the ground opened under me, making me fall towards a void... I fell for just a second before I could grasp the real world around me. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. I was in a hospital room... Strange to think how many time I woke up in a room like that... probably many times more than any pony on an entire life.
I pushed my body to sit. I felt my body all warped in bandages, but the pain was not so great as I thought it would be.
"Be careful now..." I hear a familiar voice next to me. "You don't want to get hurt again do you?." The voice belonged to Steel Head.
"Heh... Good morning for you too..." My words came a little weak... My throat was totally dry. "Wasn't you suppose to be with Octavia in some other place?"
"Well... after two weeks we had to come back." he grinned.
"Two weeks? Wow..." It was amazing how you simply don't feel the time passing when you are asleep.
"Yeah... you sure are lazy!" He said and we both chuckled.
"So... how's the things now?" I said making myself comfortable.
"It seems that we are now at peace with the changeling kingdom... The dragons aren't causing any trouble either so, everything is calm now..."
"And RD?"
"She is worried sick about you... it took a lot of talk to convince that mare that she should go back to her routine... But still she comes every night to stay besides you."
"You and Octavia?"
"Best than ever. She moved back to Ponyvile and I'm living with her now... Oh, and you are homeless now." He said smirking.
"Erm... what?" What the hell did he mean with that?
"She is living with me in that treehouse... and we need our privacy and your room, since it is bigger... I even changed that terrible glass door to the balcony... now it has a nice and thick wooden door."
"What the...? What about my stuff?" I said frowning at him.
"With Rainbow Dash..." He said still grinning.
"Oh you damn..." I chuckled. "You guys did that so I HAD to live with her didn't you?"
"Kind of...you can sleep in the street if you think that living with the mare that you love is so bad" He laughed softly.
"Let's see... Live on the street, alone and exposed to the weather... or live with my love in a comfy and warm bed... such a hard decision..." I said scratching my shin, as if I were thinking.
"Maybe a kiss can help you decide?" I heard a female voice and turned to look at my open window... There was Rainbow Dash, grinning at me.
"Only a kiss? I think I'll need more than that to be convinced..." I chuckled.
"Ok, what about a good punch sandwich?" She said showing her hoof at me.
"No need! A kiss will do!" I gulped and heard Steel Head laughing.
"You can leave now..." Rainbow Said looking at Steel Head and approaching my bed. "I need to teach this overgrown lizard a lesson or two..."
"Uh-oh..." Steel head said trotting to the door. "Good luck buddy!" He said before getting out of the room and closing the door.
Rainbow Dash climbed on my bed and cuddle against me… I warped an arm around her neck and smiled at her.
"You are worrying me…" I chuckled.
"Why…?" she arched an eyebrow.
"I nearly died… spend two weeks sleeping… and you are not freaking out."
"Well… Discord came to my dreams…" She shrugged.
"He did?" It was my turn to arch an eyebrow.
"Yeap…" She nodded. "He came saying that I shouldn't worry about you… that you were going to be fine…"
"And you beat him don't you?" I chuckled.
"Well…. Just a little bit… He woke me up before I could hit him more."
I couldn't help but laugh at the image of Rainbow Dash beating Discord.
"Ok, now THAT makes more sense…" I said wiping a few tears after laughing so hard.
"He had it coming… I wanted to give him a payback for what he did to me when he broke free from his stone prison." She said chuckling.
"I can imagine that…" I said and kissed her forehead.
She sighed and closed her eyes.
I closed mine too and we both stood in silence. No word had to be said in that moment… We finally found peace. I could only hope now that this peace would last for a good time…
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
It's funny how much one can change when he is willing to. How one can find happiness, friendship and love if he is willing to let go of his past. I'm the living proof of that…
Two month passed after those events… It took me a week to be released from the hospital and several days to be able to fly again. Until then, Rainbow Dash needed to help me get home, since I was now living with her.
Steel Head kept loyal to Octavia… Princess Celestia assigned him permanently as an officer in Ponlyvile… Not that the small town needed that, but the princess knew better than to separate him from his friends.
Far as I knew, the diplomacy between Equestria, the land of dragons and the Hive was going very well… The princesses even allowed some of the changeling to live among ponies to harvest love from the ambience and take it back to the Hive… just like the bees do with the flowers... This fact about bees I learned from Twilight. She insisted (didn't stop annoying me until I give up) to keep giving me classes about Equestria and how to control my fire.
Spike was having these classes too and he turned to be a huge fan of Night Sky. The elder dragon promised that he would teach the young purple drake how to make 'spells' out of fire when he got older. That is something that I'm eager to see happening too… But I know that I probably won't live long enough. My body may be of a dragon but my soul is not and I know that I'll be in Valhalla many years before Spike reach adulthood.
Some times I wonder how my life will be once I reach the great hall of Odin... If I'll be with the body of a dragon or a human… and more important… If Rainbow Dash will be there too. Celestia insisted that I should not worry about this kind of stuff but sometimes I just can't help it. But what I know is that I'll enjoy my life now. Enjoy the treasures that many, back in my home world, will never have the pleasure to have… Peace, friendship and love. And each day I want to experience more and more of this warm happiness in my chest, because life is like this: A big school where you learn how to be happy.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x
Eravel closed his journal and rested his pen on the inkpot. The dragon stood up and stretched his arms and wings, yawning. He took long hours to finish this particular part of the journal. Many more books he would fill but that would have to wait… because he still had many other moments to live…
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
A/N: Well… the story has ended… this makes me sad (really, I'm almost crying here… hate when it ends). I only hope you guys had enjoyed this fic as much as I did writing it. I know that this is not a good fiction, and I know that many didn't like it (whole or some aspects of it) but I want to thank every single one of you guys that helped me making this fic.
Maybe this was not the best ending, but you guys can be sure that I did my best with the little time I had… so, thank you… thank you very much! For all the love and hate… Thank you.
Probably I'll start something new… IDK… maybe related to this one (hardly)… But my only wish is to provide entertainment for you all, because I love every single one of you!
So, thank you again, and see you next time!
Brohoof!