Twilight Sparkle awoke early the next morning to await word from Princess Celestia on when the Elements would arrive. She didn't have to wait long as she made her way down stairs and noticed a royal carriage outside her front door. Twilight galloped to the front door that she opened with her magic as she approached. Princess Celestia herself was waiting for Twilight and the others who she could see were walking up the road towards the library. One of the royal guards who had pulled the chariot unloaded two chests from the back and placed them at Celestia's feet. One was the lavishly jeweled and decorated chest that housed the Elements of Harmony and the other looked to be a dusty old wooden crate that hadn't been opened in centuries.
"Princess, what's in that wooden chest?" Twilight asked as her friends joined them.
"A few hundred years ago a dragon went on a rampage in Equestria. I lead a small group of ponies much like yourselves to drive him off, but it was not possible without special armor that negates the attacks of dragons." Celestia explained as she used her magic to open the chest and pull one set of armor out to show the girls. It didn't look like anything special. In fact it didn't look like armor at all. It appeared to be a simple modest earth colored dress.
Rarity stared confused for a moment at the "armor" Princess Celestia presented them. Her jaw dropped at how repulsive it was. It was beyond a crime to fashion to wear such a thing, much less let it exist or even allow it around royalty.
"I'm sorry Princess, but you expect us to fight a dragon wearing that?" Rarity asked looking like she was about to die from the armor's existence.
Princess Celestia looked the armor over once again herself at Rarity's comment. The armor had once looked marvelous when it was worn all those years ago, but age had faded the fabric and the magic woven into it seemed faded. The princess let out a sigh and put the armor back in the old chest.
"I suppose it won't do then. Rarity and Twilight, I will need you two to craft new armor then." Princess Celestia commanded levitating a dusty old book out of the bottom of the chest. "This book contains the spells Twilight will have to cast on the fabrics as Rarity creates the armor. If the dragon is as wounded as Fluttershy reported then we won't be expecting to see him until he recovers. There should be time."
"Yes your highness." Rarity and Twilight said in unison as they gave her a bow. Both of them were excited about the task. Rarity got the opportunity to make some "armor" for her friends and Twilight was going to learn new spells.
Luna had been searching almost relentlessly the entire night for the dragon that had been freed from his prison. There were no signs of where he might have gone after leaving the crumbled ruins, but Luna was fairly sure she knew where to look next. Deeper in the woods was the ruins of an entire pony city that was abandoned left barren during the drought and famine Discord had brought on in his time. It was the city that was once the Alicorn capitol of Equestria and was once the epicenter of pony culture and civilization. But now the forest had consumed it with its overgrowth and the creatures of the forest had taken up homes in the lifeless buildings.
After a night of unrelenting searching, Princess Luna had come upon that old ruin and found her first clue as to where the dragon had run off to. Freshly broken fauna smeared with blood lead the alicorn deeper into the nostalgic ruin. The morning sun barely broke through the canopy of trees above, dimly lighting her path. In the distance Luna had caught of glimpse of what looked like the dragon's tail as it moved around a corner and out of sight. She immediately chased it galloping at full speed. She stopped as she turned the corner. It was a dead end. Luna immediately began looking for any doorways or even a storm drain he may have hidden in, but no matter how hard she looked there was nothing but tall solid walls.
A low growl came from behind Princess Luna causing her turn quickly to see the dragon was just a few feet behind her.
"Dear brother, what hast driven thou to do harm to innocent ponies!" Luna demanded taking a defensive stance.
"Hatred. For over twelve hundred years I lay in that dungeon waiting for my elder sisters to free me. Waiting for them to come find me and heal my broken body. But as time passed I accepted that I was abandoned. Left to die. I could only feel pain and my hatred grew. I'll have my revenge on Celestia." The dragon explained as he slowly approached Luna trying to drive her back into the dead end.
"Thou knowest Celestia and I would never abandon ye as such." Luna tried to reason. "We were under the impression that thou had been slain by Discord."
"But you never bothered to find a body?" The dragon retorted.
"N-no…but…" Luna felt her flank brush up against the wall as she ran out of space to back away from the advancing dragon.
She quickly realized how dangerous of a position she was in and searched for a way out. It was too late. The dragon raised its right hand to take a swipe at her with his claws. Luna quickly dodged and leapt over the dragon using her wings to glide her to a safe distance before turning to retaliate. She readied as spell to fire back at him, but hesitated. The dragon's mobility was hindered by its broken wings and injured right flank. It moved slowly to face her. In her eyes this was still the dragon she had grown up with. This was still her little brother.
The dragon charged at Luna using his fiery breath to attack her. Luna put up a barrier spell in time to stop the attack and moved out of the dragon's charging path. He couldn't stop his charge quick enough and ended up going headlong into the side of a ruined wall that collapsed on top of him. The dragon slowly rose from the rubble and turned to attack Luna again.
"Damian, stop this senselessness! Thou shalt only end up hurting thyself even more!" Luna warned. "Dost thou not remember how we fought abreast long ago?"
Again Luna tried to talk sense into him as she dodged his attacks once more. He charged her again a little more slowly this time swiping his claws and snapping his jaws at her. Luna gracefully dodged his attacks as if she knew they never had a chance of hitting her in the first place, but the dragon's movements gradually got faster.
"Hast thy hatred murdered thy sense of justice! What happened to the noble divine dragon thou once was! What of thy oath to the royalty of Equestria! Did thou not pledge to serve and protect thine elder sisters!" Luna tried to remind the dragon of who he once was. Who he used to be before evil had taken his soul. She prayed he'd wake up and this fight would end with an embrace.
"Justice! I was betrayed! I shall have my justice with Celestia's head!" The dragon roared as he barreled at her again turning at the last moment to swing his tail at her. His blow landed and Luna was sent helplessly flying into a wall. Luna staggered trying to regain her balance. The dragon didn't waste his opportunity to strike her down. He stood on his hind legs with his claws raised high forcing all his strength down into this one blow to finish her.
His claws stopped mere inches from Luna as she summoned a great deal of magic to levitate him off the ground. The dragon tried to struggle against her magic but couldn't break the spell. Luna locked eyes with the dragon and started to cry. She could not see the innocent dragon she once knew. His eyes were filled with hate and malice, but through all that, Luna saw one glimmer of hope for him yet. There was still the spark of the seventh element within his eyes. As long that hope remained Luna knew her dear brother could be redeemed.
"RELEASE ME!" The dragon demanded straining harder against her magic.
He was gradually winning against her and Luna could feel it. She knew she did not have the means to save him at that moment and not enough strength to imprison him and bring him back. She did the only thing she could do. Luna used her magic to throw Damian as hard as she possibly could into the stone wall behind him. The building collapsed burying the dragon. Luna used the opportunity to escape tearfully leaving the dragon she called brother behind.