Sparkiverse: I Have to Wonder

It was cold, and terrifying. I remembered hearing about the blizzards of the Frozen North, but this was insane. Snow came in giant packs of white that sprayed in my face and dug its way into every nook and cranny of my already-freezing iron armor. I was thankful for my snow goggles, which were pretty much the only things that were keeping my eyes from being bombarded by ice shards. They were also supposed to help me see in a storm like this, but they didn't help much. Looking for a cave carved in white stone with white snow around it in a white tundra wasn't going to be easy, even if the weather was clear. I'd turn around if only I knew which way the Crystal Empire was. My sense of direction was gone. My warmth was following. I was dying.

This time had been better. The only reason I hadn't flown above the cloud layer before was fear of freezing, but it feels the same above as it does down below. Oxygen is becoming a slight issue, but I can always fly lower. I miss the armor, though. I thought it was only making me colder, but it was a layer between me and the piercing winds. It helped, however slightly.

I stumbled around for what seemed like hours. Each step I thought would be my last before I sank into the snow and it swallowed me whole. I was numb, so I couldn't feel the ache in my bones, but Celestia was I tired. And thirsty. And hungry. I was on the brink of giving up entirely before I felt ground beneath my feet. ...What? That couldn't be right.. I opened my eyes (which had been shut for the longest time) to see the ground at my hooves, and the storm behind me. Was it weird that the blizzard opened a single spot of solitude as I was about to drop? If it was, then I didn't care. I went limp and was asleep before I touched the ground.

The problem with flying above the clouds is that it's impossible to see anything on the ground. I don't know how long I stumbled around before, so I wasn't going to be able to judge where I was based off of that. Another problem. The drakes that live up here know about my handy clear-skies-up-here trick too. I've had to duck into the clouds countless times to avoid their glare. An angry drake is not a pretty drake. You can take my word for it. I'd been able to learn from them, though. They all seemed to be heading along a road, with drakes going in a straight line from one speck in the distance to the speck behind me, or vice versa.  I've been tailing a pale blue youngling for a while now. She's headed towards a gap in the clouds, which I can only assume marks the entrance of the cave I'd fallen asleep in. I just hope she doesn't get me hopelessly lost.

I was warm. There was a light steam surrounding me, and it softened my aching body. It felt imaginary, and out of place. I opened my eyes to see first my iron armor, then my own brown hooves, a couple dark purple strands in front of my face, and then...

I jumped back. The snout of an enormous, fiery, white dragon was ten inches away from my own muzzle. The nostrils flared once, and the snout withdrew, leaving me alone in the cloud of steam. It was silent, and the world was at a standstill, as if it was holding its breath. I didn't dare move.

"Do you know who I am?" came a low, raspy, booming voice that I could only assume was from a dragon. Not a drake. A dragon. The sheer magnitude of the voice shook the cave, and I could hear shattering icicles falling behind me. I was too stunned, and frankly, petrified, to speak for a moment, but then I remembered my mission. I found new strength, and it carried in my voice.

"You're Cor, Lord of the Frozen North."

"Mmm. And you, pony?"

"I'm known as Nimble Wing, a Guardian of the Princesses. I've come to fulfill my role and bring back the Crystal Empire's own Princess, her majesty Mi Amore Cadenza. I've crossed the Frozen North, braved the worst blizzards, and I'm willing to slay a dragon to ensure her return."

It was all going too well, in hindsight. I was the hero, Cor was the evil dragon and I was going to fight valiantly to save a Princess in distress. Of course it was beyond me at the time to think of dragons as anything more than mindless beasts. It's how all the fairytales went, it's how it's always been. Celestia, what a fool I was...

The cave shook from what I could only imagine to be a chuckle.

"Slay a dragon? For a pony princess?" Cor laughed, with increasing volume and power, before the steam cleared, and I saw him.

Nothing. Nothing could be compared to him.  He was twenty stories tall, at least, and every inch of him was covered in gleaming white scales. His wings were massive, and they wouldn't extend halfway before hitting the cave walls, and this was a huge cave. The tail was long and slender, with a metal band at the end of it, separating the flesh from a magical, white flame. But nothing was worse than the eyes.

I'd worked with drakes before. Their eyes could be scary, sure, but it didn't faze me in the slightest. I could handle a drake. A drake is nothing to a dragon. Their pupils are black, but Cor's pupils were voids. The deep purple irises seemed to burn with a passion, and there was so much to see. Hunger, energy, anguish, and spirit, you could get lost in Cor's eyes forever. And I did. Until I got a giant tail to the face.

I slid across the rocky cave floor and crashed into the wall, barely jumping out of the way before boulder upon giant boulder crashed to where I was milliseconds ago. I clenched my teeth in agony, waiting for the searing pain on my cheek to wear off. Magic tail fire was a force to be reckoned with, apparently. I opened my eyes after the pain had faded a little and looked up. The dragon had a dark grin on his face. It was clear that he didn't get this kind of fun often.

"I beg you to try."

Yes! I was right, the pale blue drake is leading me straight to her home! I dive ahead of her, straight through the gap in the clouds and into the gaping cave mouth. The boulders are there, and the shattered icicles too, this is definitely the right place. I hit the ground with a thud, diving behind a boulder immediately. The blue drake lands a second after I did. I hope she didn't see me...

A challenge. Finally. I reached around to grab at the silver spear clipped onto my armor below my wing joint. I was ready.

"Bring it."

A jet of ice and frozen breath shot where I stood. Predictable. I threw the spear high into the air and flew back, up and around, making a half circle before righting myself. I grabbed the spear at its peak and kept the momentum going, I was headed for the eye, my weapon at a deadly angle. This would be quick, and simple. I was almost there, going faster and faster and I could almost see the air bending around me, when-

Wham! The edge of Cor's giant wing cut me off and knocked the breath out of me. The air boundary shattered as I held onto the thick digit for all of the Princesses' worth. Acting fast, I repositioned the spear and stuck it into the soft membrane of the wing. A simple twist, and I pushed myself downwards, the deadly silver cutting through like a warm knife through butter. He yowled in pain and tried to throw me off, but to no avail. I wasn't Nimble Wing for nothing, and I could hold through rough air.

It took a half a minute of thrashing around like a bull rider, but I finally tore through the last of the membrane. A piercing roar filled the frigid air as Cor threw his head up in agony. My spear and I both clattered to the ground, and I took a moment to catch my breath and find my weapon. It'd flown to the toes of the dragon's enormous clawed feet, so jumping towards it probably wasn't a good idea, but I did it anyway. A Guardian of the Princesses concerns himself with a Princess's safety before his own. I jumped to snatch it in my teeth and bolted upwards, flying the length of Cor's massive chest.

I was fighting a fifty ton, towering monster, and I was winning. For a princess. It was perfect. Like a fairytale. It was moments like these when I felt the most alive, pure, and whole. I reached the heart, turned around in the air and struck with all of my force, every muscle in my body contributing and pushing the spear as hard as it would go.

Time slowed. The world paused. I was drifting in midair, body still arched over the throw. Cor had stopped too, with his purple, void-like eyes wide in shock, staring forward into space. Nothing moved.

Then everything started to shake. Cor went limp, and as he fell to the ground, his wing went up, torn membrane flailing about, like a flag of surrender. I smiled, wiped the sweat off of my forehead and lowered to the ground. The strike wouldn't kill him, of course, it hadn't even come near his heart, but the silver was enough to disrupt any magical creature's ability to even function. He wasn't dead, but he was certainly out for the count, giving me enough time to go in and search for the Princess. I pulled the spear out of Cor's chest, clipped it back onto my armor and galloped further into the cave.

The drake seems to be tending to a hill of white further into the cave. Peeking my head out doesn't help much, so I take a few steps out of my hiding spot. It might be who I'm here to find, after all. She flies off with a ball soaked with blood in her claws. I slip in right as she passes, and run towards the hill.

"Cor...Lord of the Frozen North, I return. Nimble Wing," I say. It was better to come clear and hide nothing from a dragon.

"Nimble..Wing...come back to do more damage? Why not finish me off...here, and kill me...now?" His voice is harsh, and strained. It's like he's fighting to speak.

"Because that's dishonorable. And, because I've come not to do more harm, but to repair what harm has been caused." The great dragon's head appears from behind the mass of white, and lowers the ground before me. Cor's eyes are nothing but pain and anguish. His fiery energy is gone, and his shine is following. He is dying. But in those eyes is a tiny glimmer of hope, and new found understanding.

"Cadence...she told you?"

I nod. He lets out a quick sigh of relief and closes his purple eyes.

"Frozen fire...was a magic that my flight has been trying to work at for a long time, Nimble Wing. Our struggles were hard enough up here...with the lack of food and the great frozen wasteland. Laying attacks from other dragonflights on top of that was Fate's cruel and twisted choice. We needed...something that would drive them away forever and make our lives easier...better.

"I was on the brink of a new discovery, Nimble Wing. I was so close that I could taste it. But something went horribly wrong, and Nix Ignus was created.

"Do you know what it's like, Nimble Wing, to be eaten alive...by fire, not quickly, but as slowly and...painfully as possible? Nix Ignus does just that. It starts at your tail...your base...and gains ground constantly. It would be a year before Nix Ignus would be merciful enough to swallow me whole. I was in endless agony each and every day, until your pony princess heard my roars...and rushed to help. She took care of me.. and with her magic, she made a Levamen. It's powerful, know that. It has the ability to stop Nix Ignus entirely, as long as it's always...kept on and its wearer always in good health. It draws off of the lifeflow of the wearer, and now that I've weakened..."

The tail lifts from behind his body and rests next to the head. The white fire has gone past the band and is crawling up the tail. My heart gives a lurch. What did I do...

"Why?"

The question takes me by surprise. I hesitate to answer, but sigh.

"Back in Equestria, the classic bedtime story was about a knight who was so valiant and chivalrous that he would do anything to save a damsel in distress. If that included fighting a dragon, which it often did, then he would do so. It was seen as great to go to the length of slaying a dragon to free a maiden, especially if it was a princess...I guess I wanted to be that hero."

Cor chuckles.

"The hero, hm? Symbolically dressed in shining armor, no doubt?" I sheepishly nod, and hang my head.

"Nimble Wing, being a near-immortal being such as myself, you pick up a lot of knowledge, wisdom and experience. Weeping for past memories does you no good, but learning, on the other hand, will always be your friend. Look back. Take in the situation...and learn," he said. His head lowered and hit the ground with a soft thud. "Look now, Nimble Wing. The princess is safe at home, the victorious knight still stands and the 'evil' dragon is defeated.

"But I have to wonder...who's the real villain?"