The Sleeping Hero

Discord is using every trick he knows to keep Numinex occupied, but his having very little success at keeping him busy and thinks, 'I think I made a mistake in trying to keep this one busy until he wakes up...'

Four hours ago, outside of a burning village in the Badlands

Numinex isn't getting much useful information regarding the Dovahkiin that defeated his lord in Sovngarde, so he decides to continue taking his frustration out on the town of Brayville below him.

Discord sees the chaos the ancient dragon is wreaking on the town his evil side enjoys it while deep down he feels sorry and wants to help them out and approaches them.

He looks towards the creature flying towards him and curiosity gets hold of him and asks, "Nunon wo ahrk fos eylok do ulfah los hi? Fahraal zey nu uv Zu'u fen luv hi oraan! (Just who and what are you? Answer me now or I will tear you apart!)"

The Draconequus hovers in front of the dragon, cocks his head and says, "I'm sorry, I don't speak that language. Do you understand what I am saying?"

The ancient Dovah sighs and says, "I do understand what you say, I have many questions that require answers. You will answer them or I will kill all these ponies."

Discord smiles and thinks this will be simple and will only have to answer questions for them and says, "It is nice to be able to talk things out isn't it? What is your name by the way, mine is Discord and I am a Draconequus."

Numinex looks at them and replies, "I am called Numinex, I am a dragon that lived very long ago from the time when Dragons ruled over men and I died at the hands of a strong warrior that was not Dovahkiin. That is Dragonborn in your tongue, but I digress. I was resting atop my mountain when I was woke by the sounds of boots and crunching snow, a battle was fought between four of the mortals that lived on Mundus. After a few moments, only the strong one remained and begged me for his life and offered me a place to rule over many subjects. I followed my nature and accepted his offer and met him at the hofkahsejun, the palace in Whiterun called Dragonsreach. As he led me into the back of the palace in a large space, he asked me to try knocking down the wall to greet my new citizens. I then heard an order yelled out saying, "Do it now!" I was beginning to turn my head when something extremely heavy fell and was wrapped around my neck just past my head. Years passed by as he called me his pet, I was greatly depressed when my friend, Paarthurnax visited me and was worried for me. One day, a dovah whose mind was not there came to visit me, he just so happened to look similar to me so I said to him, "You can rule this palace in my place if you would get the guards to raise these chains and stand in my place." As he threatened the guards, the chains were raised. As he took my place, I made my escape and commanded them to flee, when they let go of the cranks, the beams fell upon him and I told him, "Thank you for freeing me." I returned to my mountain and slumbered when Olaf returned with a large force of men that succeeded in killing me." He stops talking about his past and then says, "Now that I have told you what happened to me, I demand you answer my questions!"

The two make conversation for four hours answering questions each other had, when Numinex says, "You have satisfied my hunger for knowledge of this world, but you haven't yet told me of what I must hear. What became of the Dragonborn that defeated my lord Alduin, answer me now or I shall kill you!"

He nervously scratches his cheek with a claw and answers him with a half truth, "Well, through rumors I hear that there is a legend about an ancient hero that slumbers in a place called Ustengrav and will grant the one who wakes him a kiss and riches. I don't have any interest in finding out if it is true or not though."

He continues to hover in place and says, "Then there is where I shall go, farewell Discord. It was kind of you to answer my questions, but speaking any further would make me try to kill you out of aggravation." With that said, he takes off and heads in the direction that Ustengrav should be located with what he heard from the aggravating conversation with Discord.

Discord heads down to the panicked ponies below and helps them out by putting out the fires and asking if any ponies are still hurt and says, "Hmm, how funny. I am behaving like my best friend Fluttershy, she would be so proud of me for helping others without wanting anything in return. I will have to tell her of this later when I am done here."

Numinex arrives at the destination and sees Ustengrav below then lands there to get a better sense to see if the Dragonborn is still there or not, he roars in frustration at not sensing any sort of presence, living or dead. He then turns to face the group of ponies beginning to gather around him in curiosity. He squints his slitted eyes in suspicion and asks, "What has become of the one that slumbers here?" He then turns the rest of his body around to face the crowd.

A cream colored female earth pony steps forward and says, "Well, we brought out many old corpses that were inside of it and buried them. Then a little bit later, he returned here with Princess Twilight Sparkle and set fire to them so they could not come back to serve Alduin again and then went back into the ruin. After that I couldn't tell you because they haven't came back out at all, they may have teleported away to Zecora's."

He lets out a low growl, as his patience runs out and says, "And where is this 'Zecora' located?"

She pushes a pony off of her that tries to keep her quiet and answers him, "I don't know what house is hers but I think it is a tree by Ponyville." She then points in the direction of the town.

Numinex smiles and says, "Thank you for telling me, here is your reward for giving me what I want to know so quickly." He then roars in anger and opens his maw wide and brings it down towards her body to eat her.

The female looks back around and sees a giant open mouth and screams in horror and turns to run away when jaws close on her body. She feels its teeth pierce her abdomen, nearly splitting her in half and lets out blood-curdling screams of terror as he opens once more, and feels herself starting to slide further into the dragon's mouth towards his stomach to her death.

After an hour passes by while Discord helps the surviving ponies get back to some sort of order as he feels a great fear coming from the direction of Ustengrav and takes off quickly and says, "Take care all of you, and be sure to notify the princesses of what happened here ok, bye!" As he races towards the ruin he thinks, 'Oh Celestia, I hope that what I am feeling isn't coming from the workers at the camp...' He finally arrives a half hour later and sees the death and bodies that lay about as others continue to try to run away as Numinex burns them alive with flame and uses his body to crush them. Outraged, his eyes glow red and he loudly yells, "WHAT IN THE NAME OF TARTARUS ARE YOU DOING TO THESE POOR PONIES YOU FILTHY DRAGON!"

He crushes the last screaming pony with his tail and jumps into the air to hover and speak to the one that was so rude in speaking to him like that saying, "Ahh Discord, what brings you here? You didn't seem to care for these pathetic, weak ponies before. These ponies answered my questions quickly but they annoyed me greatly by answering my questions vaguely, so I rewarded them for their trouble by eating and killing them all. For there is no greater reward for a job well done than death."

Discord glares angrily at a smiling Numinex and says, "Of course I do care for these ponies, for I was only stalling you for time. I had to wait until the Dragonborn known as Bayott recovered his previous appearance, because he was blinded due to being asleep for seventy thousand years! Now I am going to be facing you because you have really pissed me off!" He then snaps his fingers and makes him see an illusion.

Numinex falls to the ground as the vision shifts around him suddenly, and finds himself back inside the hold of the heavy beams with a smiling Olaf One-eye looking back at him.

Olaf looks back at Numinex and says, "Welcome back, stupid dragon. Did you actually think I would allow my favorite pet to get away so easily by killing you? Oh no, you were merely just forced to remain unconscious while we carried your fat fucking carcass back to Dragonsreach and back into the trap. Get comfortable because you are going to be here awhile, just so you don't escape again, we are going to hack away on your wings so you can't fly with them ever again."

He gets lost to the illusion and yells out, "NOOOO! ANYTHING BUT THAT, PLEASE! DON'T YOU DARE HARM MY WINGS, I WILL STAY HERE IF YOU JUST LEAVE MY WINGS ALONE!"

He smiles evilly back at his pet dragon and says, "That is a very tempting offer but I have to refuse it, for I cannot risk you escaping again." He then orders the guards to begin chopping away at the soft membrane between the wing bones.

Numinex roars out in agony as they hack away at the soft tissue. After the membrane is chopped away, he hears Olaf walk away and say, "Enjoy your new look, pet.

About half an hour passes when he senses something is off about this and finds out that it is an illusion and breaks free from it, and sees Discord hovering in the air with glowing red eyes and a wicked sneer across his face and says, "You nearly had me there talented foe, but you lack the constitution to solidify it. Now, I will show you what a true dragon can really do..." He then roars in rage at him and takes to the air and shouts, "GOL NOS VAAZ!"

After he hears the shout, he can't react fast enough as a spear rises from the earth and pierces Discord in the center of his front, close to the right side of his body and screams in pain as it rips its way out through the rest of his side. He holds his side as blood runs out of the nasty gash in his body and looks back up to see a large gout of fire rushes forth and engulfs him completely.

He watches as the blackened form of Discord falls down to the ground un-moving and turns to face the direction that the pony pointed and takes off saying, "Now to avenge the defeat of master Alduin."

Two hours earlier, Outside of Zecora's

The group of girls sit and chat with each other while they wait for him to wake up when they go silent as they hear a groan then a voice say, "Damn, my head feels like I have been kicked in the melon by Shadowmere."

Cadence softly says, "Oh hey everyone, he is waking up finally." As she steps back a little bit to give him some room, they all begin to gather around Bayott's restored form and talk among themselves about his much improved look.

Shadowmere's gaze shoots towards Bayott and says, "Hey, I didn't mean to kick you that time! I was trying to kill a skeever that was leaping for your neck!"

He opens his eyes and looks around to see who just spoke and finally gets to see the forms belonging to everyone and looks at the closest form touching him right now. He looks to see a female having black fur, a large chest size with a large pair of fangs showing from under her upper lip, red eyes with vertical black slits, long thick-bodied wavy black hair and tail with a red streak running through them both, large, black, bat-like wings and very large hooves for feet with black fur feathering with red tips growing over the top part of them. He watched her shift slightly and he could see a couple images on the front of her right shoulder, one was a red horse rearing on it's hind legs just above the arrow of the symbol of the dragonborn.

Bayott chuckles and teases her back saying, "You still missed it and hit me in the head still, and damn those really are some big hooves. They may be the exact same size as what you had when you had four hooves instead of hands. What exactly are you, you are rather cute to be a vampire."

She blushes and pounds on his chest with balled up fists saying, "Will you stop tormenting me with that incident! I said I am sorry that I missed, I will work on improving my aim! Stop saying how huge my hooves are, I can't help having large hooves because I was born in Skyrim long before you were!"

He pulls her into a hug and kisses her cheek whispering in a tufted ear atop her head, "Hey, at least those big hooves will come in handy when we get into a fight. I like the outfit you are wearing, it shows how curvy you are." To tease her a little more he gives her butt a gentle squeeze, causing her voice to squeak out, "EEEP!" He laughs as she then shoves him off and stands up, stomping back to the group.

Shadowmere glares back at him with a stronger blush on her face as she sticks her tongue out then says, "You are such a flirt, corpse."

Bayott smiles and asks, "By the way what is with the red marks on the front of your shoulder and why is one of them the symbol of the Dragonborn?"

Celestia pipes up saying, "She is a pony with the form of a Thestral, though some features are definitely unique to her like her larger wings, her fangs, and the feathering covering her hooves. That is called a Cutie Mark, every pony can get them with the exception of changelings, Hippogriffs and Seaponies. Which one is the symbol of the Dragonborn?"

He looks to the one that spoke and sees that she is obviously female. Having a white coat with wings and a horn, also having a sun cutie mark on the front of her right shoulder including light magenta eyes, long floating see through hair and tail made up of light cerulean, light turquoise, very light cobalt blue, and pale heliotrope hair. He answers her, "It is the largest image of the two, the one with the two dragons and the arrow in between them, the rearing horse is not part of it. So who are all of you then, since I can finally see."

They all scowl at the usage of the H word as Celestia clears her throat saying, "Ahem, we are ponies, not horses. Please refrain from using the H word when referring to any of us and call us ponies instead. My name is Princess Celestia, I am what is known as an Alicorn and I am co-ruler alongside my sister In Canterlot, Princess Luna. I also raise and lower the sun every day as well as hold court for about three hours per day to deal with issues and petitions from the citizens."

Bayott laughs when he hears her say that and responds, "That is impossible, from what knowledge I picked up from the dragons I slew, we are on a planet and it spins around and moves in a circle around the sun which is at the center and the moon rotates around our planet. Nice joke, tell me another."

Star Swirl steps forward and says, "My name is Star Swirl the Bearded, I am a unicorn and a world renown wizard. I am sorry to inform you that this is no joke, past studies have revealed that it is only Equestria that needs to raise and lower the sun and moon as well as control the weather, but we know that it started about seventy thousand years ago. It has not been explained yet why that is, we hope to one day find that out. The ponies since then have evolved and learned to use their inherited magic, they only ever cooperated with each other to keep the cycle going. Just over two thousand years ago, two sisters were chosen to help with the cycle but took it all on themselves to spare the other ponies their lives and thus became the first Alicorns ever to exist. If you would like to know more later, just ask because I have all the materials that will prove those facts to you."

He looks to the older looking pony that just spoke and sees that he has a purple pointed cap on his head and a cape over his body having a light grey coat, with long light grey beard, hair and tail with streaks of white going through it all and a horn, showing his age. He has dark violetish grey eyes and has a cutie mark showing a crescent moon with a yellow star at the lower part of the moon. He says to Star Swirl, "So how do you deal with the weather?"

He is about to answer when Luna steps forth and answers for him, "My name is Princess Luna and I also am an alicorn. We have teams of weather ponies that balance out nature, making sure places get enough rain and other places get enough sunlight, and bring winter in when it is that time of year. I raise and lower the moon every night, as well as watch over the Dream Realm. I guard the dreams of ponies against nightmares and hold the night court for about two hours if there are any issues that need to be addressed at that time, the rest of the night I guard the Dream Realm."

Bayott looks at her and sees that she has moderate cyan eyes, a long floating see through moderate sapphire blue and grayish persian blue outline hair and tail, with a dark blue coat with wings and a horn and a cutie mark depicting a crescent moon on a dark purple background.

Twilight steps forth and introduces herself saying, "My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, and I am the second newest Alicorn to Equestria. I represent the Element of Magic as well as teach at the School of Friendship I founded, in between teaching the magic of friendship I also hold short one and a half hour session court at my castle just outside of Ponyville. I really look forward to the experiments as well as learning what you have to teach me from your time, I was the one that guided you around Ustengrav when we teleported there to get the rest of the ingredients necessary for the spell.

He turns his head and looks at her seeing that she has purple eyes with a medium length dark blue, purple and raspberry streaked hair and tail on a pale mulberry coat with wings and a horn and a cutie mark depicting a pink, six pointed star surrounded by five smaller white ones.

Cadence then steps forward and introduces herself saying, "I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza or Cadence for short, I am also an Alicorn. I rule the Crystal Empire alongside my husband Shining Armor since it's return a few years ago, and we have a beautiful Alicorn daughter together, which has never happened before. I am the Princess of Love for it is my duty to show love to those who need it most.

Bayott looks at her and sees that she has light purple eyes, very long hair and tail of violet, rose and gold streaks, a pale pink coat with wings and a horn and a cutie mark depicting a blue crystal over gold lace.

Queen Novo steps forth and introduces herself saying, "I am Queen Novo, I rule over Seaquestria and Hippogriffia and have two forms. This form is a Hippogriff, the other is a Seapony but I can only switch to that form when I am in the water.

He turns his head to look at her and sees that she has a beak, wings and clawed hands, long feather like appendages sticking out of the top of her head and tail with a medium length bright fuchsia filmy substance for hair and a tail, claws for hands, magenta eyes with a light fuchsia gray coat and ears that look like seashells.

Princess Skystar steps forward and introduces herself with a smile on her face saying, "I am Princess Skystar and Queen Novo is my mother, she may be a bit strict at times but she has good intentions. I also have two forms, this one is a Hippogriff, the other I can only use in the sea is a Seapony."

He looks at her and sees that she has brilliant cyan eyes with slightly long, light arctic blue filmy hair and tail, a light gambogeish gray coat with wings and a beak, as well as having clawed hands.

Ember nervously steps up and introduces herself saying, "I am Dragon Lord Ember, I rule over the dragons in the Dragon Lands, my father was the previous Dragon Lord. He told many stories, a few were ancient legends that mentioned a foe that the dragons all feared to fight. Should they ever fight him they would lose everything to him, from seeing what happened earlier I suppose you are the one that we should fear. What are you going to do to the rest of the dragons I rule over?"

He spins his head around and looks to the female that just spoke and rises to his feet, standing above her by about three feet. He notices that she is very different from a dragon from his time, standing on two legs with clawed hands and feet with three toes and retractable claws. She also has a smaller frame similar to what the dragons of his world have, with brilliant red eyes, an elongated snout with brilliant cyan scales with a pale turquoise underbelly and moderate indigo membrane that shifts to a light cobalt blue closer to her body. On top of her head she has a pair of horns protruding down from the sides of her head and curling to the front, light apple greenish gray in color with moderate blue backward pointing spikes on her head going down along her spine to the tip of her tail. As he takes in her appearance, he sighs in relief and slight disappointment and says, "Do all dragons look like you do?"

She nervously grabs her tail and gently wrings it inside of her claws and shuffles her feet at his intimidating look and says, "Y-yes we do. There isn't a problem with that, is there?"

Smolder glances at Dragon Lord Ember and sees that she likes him and smirks and looks back to the quite tall human named Bayott and sees a pair of crystal blue eyes, a helmet made of metal with horns that stick out from the sides and curve towards the front like those of a minotaur. He also has tanned clear caucasian skin in desperate need of a bath, armor covering his chest and the top part of his biceps with black fur attached to the collar at the back of the neck. He has a thick padded shirt under it with a pair of pants made out of the same fur mixed with metal plates covering it in some places attached to the leather that the fur is sewn onto, his boots look much the same as his pants and hand guards and can't help but ask, "Aren't you hot under all that metal and padding?"

Bayott answers Lord Ember first saying, "No there is no problem with that, I was merely asking for reference to compare your dragon's appearance to the ones from my time. As for you, I am warm but I will be fine. I have been to places warmer than this, but I do say I will need to bathe once these introductions are over."

Ember sighs in relief at hearing that and releases her tail but still fidgets due to her attraction to him and looks at his eyes and gets lost in a fantasy.

Pinkie Pie bounces up and says, "Hi! I'm an Earth Pony, my name is Pinkamena Dianne Pie or just Pinkie. I represent the Element of Laughter and I'm also the Friendship Ambassador to Yakyakistan. I teach at the School of Friendship, I also love throwing parties for any and every occasion. I am a sociable baker at Sugarcube Corner, I live on the second floor with my toothless pet gator Gummy. If you like sweet treats, you should come visit."

He looks at her to see she has no wings or horn, light cerulean eyes, a medium length extremely curly and poofy brilliant raspberry hair and tail, a pale light grayish raspberry coat with a cutie mark depicting two blue objects with yellow strings and says, "I sure hope that the parties you throw turn out much better than the last one I went to, a lot of people died and I ruined a high elf named Ondolemar's life by having him play a prank on someone and cause a distraction."

Several ponies gasped at hearing that and Pinkie pie replied, "Oh Celestia of course they are way better! The only fighting you will do there is for cake if a certain pony is there." She sends a wink to Celestia, earning her a soft glare back.

Everypony chuckles in humor at the joke that she just made as Rarity steps forward to introduce herself and says, "Hello darling, your appearance is much more pleasant to look at now that you look less...grotesque. I am Rarity and I am a Unicorn like Star Swirl, I represent the Element of Generosity. I also teach at the School of Friendship, as well as, a seamstress, and design outfits and sell them. I have a boutique in Ponyville and Canterlot and currently looking to expand to other locations, if you ever need an outfit please come visit me at my home in Ponyville at Carousel Boutique."

Bayott looks at her and sees that she has moderate azure eyes with long, curly moderate indigo hair and tail. Her coat is a light grey with a horn sitting on top of her head with three diamonds for a cutie mark. He then says, "You only make clothing, no armor at all?"

Rarity's eye twitches in aggravation as she hears him say that and replies, "Yes, I only make fashionable clothing. Armor is not very appealing though it is functional and has its purpose, I despise getting dirty and avoid it whenever I can. Speaking of which, thanks to a certain Thestral I have to scrub and scrub to get all this blood out of the fur on my legs and out of my hooves. At least I have a reason to go visit the spa today..." She gets lost in a dream about returning to the spa.

Rainbow Dash strides forward and introduces herself saying, "My name is Rainbow Dash, or Dash, RD or even Dashie for short and I am a pegasus. I am the fastest flyer in Equestria, I represent the Element of Loyalty. I am also a teacher at the School of Friendship, I am a member of the Weather Patrol in Ponyville. I would like to race against you using that shout to go really fast sometime."

He grins and sees a female Pegasus with wings and moderate cerise eyes, medium length rainbow hair and tail containing: amaranth, vermilion, pale light olive, harlequin, cerulean, and purple. Her coat is a light cerulean with a cutie mark depicting a red, yellow, and blue lighting bolt coming out of a cloud. To tease and taunt her a little bit he says, "Heh you don't stand a chance against that thu'um...Tomboy."

Everyone snickers as Rainbow's face turns red from blushing as she replies, "We will just have to see about that one day, stinky!"

As she returns to her place, Applejack steps forward and introduces herself saying, "Hiya, mah name's Applejack or AJ and ah'm an Earth pony like Pinkie. Ah am the Element of Honesty and the teacher at the School of friendship as well. Ah work and live at Sweet Apple Acres wit mah family, mah grandmother Granny Smith, mah big brother Big McIntosh, and mah little sister Apple Bloom. Granny and ah are talented cooks, so if yer ever hungry, feel free to drop in round lunchtime or dinner cause there's always enough to go around."

He looks at her and notices she has sap green eyes with long, pale light olive hair and tail with some kind of hat on her head, a brilliant gamboge coat with a cutie mark depicting three red apples. He then asks, "What is that you are wearing on your head, I have never seen something like that. It looks really good on you, maybe one day I will show you my cooking."

She cocks her head slightly and says, "This ol' hat, It is my favorite Stetson. I would be interested in seeing how you made food then."

Starlight then steps forward and says, "My name is Starlight Glimmer, I am a Unicorn as well as The Principal of the School of Friendship. I live with Twilight, Spike, and her pet owl named Owlowiscious."

He turns to look at her and sees persian blue eyes with moderate purple hair and tail with lighter purple and pale light aquamarine streaks. She also has a pale light heliotrope coat with a cutie mark depicting a purple and white star with two two-toned glimmering blue streams.

Fluttershy shuffles nervously and introduces herself saying, "Hello, my name is Fluttershy. I am a Pegasus like Rainbow Dash, an animal caretaker, a teacher at the School of Friendship, and part time singer for the Pony Tones. I represent the Element of Kindness, and when Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and I get together, we form the Elements of Harmony to win against our foes. Thank you for saving my life Bayott, I am really grateful that you have done that, I owe you my life."

He looks over to her and sees moderate cyan eyes with a very long pale light rose hair and tail, her coat is a pale light grayish gold with a pair of wings and a cutie mark depicting three butterflies with cyan bodies and pink wings. He answers her and says, "You are welcome, I just couldn't allow myself to watch someone die from a frostbite spider's bite."

Outside Ustengrav, A few minutes earlier...

Discord opens his eyes to see Numinex flying off towards ponyville and says weakly, "I need to...warn the...others...I am sure...he will handle this."

He blacks out for ten minutes then comes to again and snaps his fingers to teleport but it fails to work. He then tries three more times and finally succeeds on the fourth try. He finds himself outside Zecora's and coughs saying, "I'm sorry everypony, I have bad news for you all."

Presently, at Zecora's hut

Everyone jumps when they hear a bang as a badly burned Discord arrives on the ground hacking and coughing telling them about having bad news. Bayott is the first to run up to him yelling, "What happened to you? Did an ancient dragon attack you? TALK DAMNIT, TIME IS AGAINST US!"

Discord gasps and says, "Spell worked, consumed tons of magic. I sensed chaos, went to help, distracted beast called Numinex at Brayville. Told half truths, sent him to Ustengrav, stalled for time best I could. Hoped you would wake soon, sensed great fear and chaos by Ustengrav, much death, fire and carnage. Dragonborn, go to Ponyville, for it's in grave danger now!"

They all have a scared look on their faces as they turn to look at each other as Bayott rapidly turns towards Shadowmere and yells, "COME WITH ME, SHADOWMERE WE GOTTA GET THERE GIRL!"

Fluttershy steps forward and says, "Maybe we can just talk to them and get them to stop? Then we won't have to fight at all."

Bayott sighs and walks up to her, cupping her cheek in one hand while kneeling down on one knee to look into her eyes and sadly says, "It would be much more pleasant if things worked that way all the time, but with these dragons from my world...I'm sorry but they only respond to strength. What makes this situation worse is that I have heard and read about him in books and from a very close friend and ally to me. He was cruel and vicious, and burned towns and their citizens to ash without a second thought, dragons from my world follow their base nature and seek more power. Numinex has to die, I am sorry." He kisses her forehead, turns and then walks away from her saying, "Let's get going Shadowmere."

Shadowmere feels a new ability awaken and wants to find out what it does and says, "Ok I am going to try something out, one moment please."

He pinches the bridge of his nose and begins to walk down the path saying, "Hurry up, we don't have all day!"

She starts running at a slow jog looking over her shoulder at Rarity and says, "I'm sorry about this Rarity, you may have to make something different or repair this when I shift back." She then activates the ability and jumps into the air as her body contorts back to its original form, retaining the wings, fangs, red streaks and feathering. She lands on the ground and trots forward a few steps before nudging Bayott with the side of her nose and saying, "Get on you corpse, we have a town and its citizens to save."

Bayott feels something nudge against him, pushing him to the side and tells him to get on. He turns his head to look and sees Shadowmere's new form and says, "I didn't know you had this ability girl, this will speed up our traveling time at least."

The entire group is stunned speechless at seeing her transform into a giant four legged pony towering above Celestia, as Twilight says, "Right now I can't use my magic much at all, can some of you tend to Discord's injuries while I show him how to get there?"

Celestia answers her saying, "Several of us will stay and help Discord recover from his brave attempt. I fear that the Elements of Harmony would have no effect on these creatures so we must rely on Bayott, for I think the rest of us alicorns are also feeling the drain on our magic."

Ember and Smolder step forth as Ember says, "We will come with you so we have an accurate description for these ancient dragons to keep an eye out for them. Anyone else want to see this as well?"

Queen Novo steps forth and despite her objections, her daughter joins her. She responds by saying, "My daughter and I shall be going with you as well."

He gets annoyed and calls back, "Is that all that is coming to watch the fight? We really need to get moving now." He then looks to Shadowmere and asks, "Can you lower your back a little bit so I can get on?"

She looks at him and says, "No I won't because you have gotten up here many times before without any aid, now hurry up so we can go fight Numinex."

Rainbow Dash darts forward and joins the group that is going to watch the fight saying, "I gotta see this for myself, I sure hope that Ponyville's citizens are ok though..."

Bayott leaps up onto Shadowmere's back and calls out, "Take to the skies and lead the way Twilight, fly fast for time is not our friend!" He grabs a couple handfulls of her mane and holds tight and yells, "Hyah Shadowmere, make haste towards Ponyville!"

Twilight takes off into the air, heading in front of them and begins leading the way saying, "Ok follow me everyone!"

Shadowmere rears up on her hind legs yelling, "I am glad that I have four hooves again, here we go!" She then returns to the ground and breaks into a full gallop, faster than most ponies could ever hope to be. She raced down the path, loving the feeling of the wind in her hair as she runs towards the prospect of another foe to defeat.

Rainbow Dash follows after them, eager to watch some action after doing nothing for a few hours. She looks at how fast Shadowmere is going and is impressed by the speed she moves and catches up to her asking, "How can you move so well with a body like that?"

Shadowmere watches where she is going and says, "It relies on coordination and not stepping wrong, because one misplaced hoof will lead to you coming up lame and getting put down or being retired to the stable if your owner really likes you."

She replies and says, "That is such a horrible fate for a pony! How can humans be so heartless?"

Bayott answers her saying, "What do you expect us to do when we don't have the means to heal anything more than a superficial cut like skin and muscle, it is considered a mercy to put a horse down when they break a leg and can't put any weight on it."

Shadowmere adds to it and says, "It is horrible, but they do what they can to ease the suffering. Can any of you hear that?"

Ears tune forward to listen in as Princess Skystar says, "Yes I can hear it, whatever made that noise just said 'Yol Toor Shul.' Is anyone else getting a bad feeling about where we are going?"

Ember looks forward and exclaims, "I see smoke coming from Ponyville!"

Bayott yells to everyone, "Everybody stay here and DO NOT ATTRACT ATTENTION TO YOURSELVES! I am going to go fight the dragon, you will see just how deadly they are." He then gets off of Shadowmere's back and runs towards Ponyville with Shadowmere closely behind him.

Rainbow Dash looks around and sees Twilight's castle and says, "Umm Twilight, you are totally going to freak the buck out. I am sorry but your castle is seriously messed up right now."

Twilight turns to face Rainbow Dash and exclaims, "WHAAATT! Please tell my you are joking! I have so many books in the main room that I want to catalogue, and OH BUCK SPIKE!! COME ON RAINBOW DASH, HELP ME LOOK FOR HIM AND SEE IF SPIKE IS OKAY!" Stopping for a brief moment before taking off for her crystal home, she looks back to say, "I am terribly sorry Queen Novo, Princess Skystar, Lord Ember, and Smolder but I have to go see if my brother Spike is okay."

Queen Novo smiles at Twilight and says, "Worry not Twilight, for we all understand your concern for family. Go and check on him, we will watch the fight from here and take note of this new threat's appearance. Good luck and we hope that you find him in good health."

Bayott runs through the fields outside of Ponyville and says, "Shadowmere, I want you to follow me on the outside of the town while I go and draw him out here to make the fight safer for the citizens."

Shadowmere runs alongside him and says, "Ok that sounds like a good plan to me, I will keep him occupied until you get outside of the town to fight him."

He runs into town and weaves between burning buildings, keeping out of sight to get close to Numinex, when he is close to him he shouts, "FO KRAH DIIN! Come fight me in the fields you coward!" He then takes off in the direction he came from, trying to lead him to the field just outside of Ponyville.

Numinex is caught by surprised and twists his head around to look at the Dragonborn and roars in anger at the fleeing foe, glad that he finally found the one he was looking for. He chases after them and flies a short distance away in the direction he is running and hovers in the air just outside of town and calls out to him, "I have found you at last, Dovakiin. My lord Alduin asked me to kill you for defeating him at Sovngarde. I look forward to taking your corpse to Alduin!"

Bayott calls out to him and responds with, "I will kill him for sure this time, even if it means that I have to turn the gods against me to do it. I shall look forward to doing the same, for Mara told me that whenever I kill a dragon and take their knowledge and soul, the soul is consumed and permanently increases my power. So come on and feed my hunger you lizard!" Waiting no longer to get the battle started, he conjures an ice spike spell in his hands and shouts, "KRII LUN AUS!" and begins firing his ice spikes at his eyes, trying to blind him.

Ember and Smolder are stunned at the sheer size of the Dragon called Numinex and the battle that is just beginning, a wave of purple light races forth from Bayott's mouth as he starts throwing ice at him through spells from his hands, trying to bring his life to an end. She looks over to Queen Novo and Skystar and notices that they are both just as mesmerized as they are at the fight taking place and says, "This is a terrifying fight isn't it?"

Queen Novo looks over to Lord Ember and smiles nervously and says, "Yes it is, I can not believe that he is fighting something that so much larger than he is. I sure hope he succeeds in this fight, because there is no other hope for us beating something that size. Even the Storm King would have trouble beating him."

She is about to ask Queen Novo something but is silenced when a roar of pain comes out of the dragon with something in his eyes and says, "I feel sorry for any dragon that fights the Dragonborn."

Bayott finally manages to dodge his attacks enough and get a good strike on his left eye, rendering it useless and wants to start hacking and slashing away at him. Wanting him on the ground, he draws his battle axe shouting, "JOOR ZAH FRUL!" Causing Numinex to roar in pain as he forces him to the ground, he charges forth with his axe ready to swing and yells, "NOW Shadowmere, attack!"

Numinex is confused by what just happened and looks away from Bayott for a moment to locate the other foe and feels an intense pain in his chest as there is a severe cut starting just to the right of his sternum and goes halfway to the wing joints. He then feels a bone break as a horse bucks his sternum, robbing him of breath briefly. He recovers his breath and looks to the horse and shouts, "FO KRAH DIIN!"

Shadowmere gets hit by the freezing cold whirlwind that passes over her and slows down just enough to feel a wing knock her away to the side, she gets up slowly and screams in pain as her right front foreleg is broken in two places and stays down to avoid getting in Bayott's way and yells, "I can't fight anymore, kick that scaly ass for me!"

Bayott hears her and swings his axe to his left, tearing a nasty gash along the side of his neck close to the backside of his jaw. He then turns it and swings upward with it, trying to cut its throat but is grabbed in the dragon's mouth and screams in agony as teeth rip through the armor and padding on his upper body and on his legs. The axe is torn from his grip as he is shaken around like a rag doll and thrown back into the ground, gasping for air as he hears, "YOL TOOR SHUL!" Briefly having time to cast a steadfast ward as his skin is singed in places before the shield goes up.

He stops his attack on the Dragonborn and bites at the shield, shattering it and staggers him. He then goes in for the killing bite but his jaws snap shut on themselves as the human barely escapes his grasp and hears him shout, "SU GRAH DUN!" He feels the first strike of the battle axe that the Dragonborn wields as it tears a deep gash close to his wing and whips his head around and tries to grab him by the legs but is surprised as the battle axe hits his jaw hard, fracturing it and breaking several teeth. Causing him to raise his head high, roaring in pain and rage at the attacks he is swiftly inflicting.

Bayott rolls underneath the dragon's neck and begins hacking away at the flesh under his wing, hearing bones break and sees them start to pierce his hide one by one as he wails on the area with the axe saying, "Damn you have some serious problems here dragon, prepare to die forever!"

Numinex is beginning to feel the numerous heavy strikes that the Dragonborn is landing on him, greatly injuring one wing but still usable, four shattered ribs that poke through his hide, and a fractured jaw then thinks, 'It was a mistake to fight this one, but I will at least know peace and not be forced to serve Alduin again. I do hope that this Dragonborn is able to either change Alduin's ways or end his existence, it is time for this fight to come to an end.'

He stuns Numinex with a heavy strike to the head with the axe and climbs up his neck, fighting to keep his balance as he brings the axe down on Numinex's head. The strike leaves a deep gash in the skin on his neck, leaving the bone to show beneath the opening, causing him to be thrown off as the dragon rolls his head and tries to return to the air where his strength is.

He breathes a stream of fire at him shouting, "YOL TOOR SHUL!" Thinking he did great damage against him, he attempts to fly away in fear of the Dragonborn.

Bayott gets moderate burns and continues to fight on and sees him trying to escape and uses one last shout yelling into the sky, "STRUN BAH QO!"

Numinex's eyes widen with fear as he hears that and tries to go faster to escape the gathering clouds as the first of many lightning bolts strike his body, further weakening him and force him to turn around to land to continue fighting. Large rain drops and winds strike his body, making him struggle to reach the edge of the village when three more lightning strikes sap the rest of the strength from him and he hurtles forth, landing ungraciously on the ground and making a large ditch as his form continues to slowly come to a halt near the terrified group of various beings.

The Dragonborn catches up to the downed stunned dragon, ignoring the wind and rain and his wounds and leaps off of its back and aims to bring his axe down onto its neck to lop off its head yelling, "Die Numinex and pay for your crimes against mankind and now these Ponies! Now OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!"

He turns his head towards the left as he hears the Dragonborn leap onto his back and says, "Farewell Dragonborn, I will look forward to joining my brothers and sisters as your eternal power source. Beat Alduin until he is bloody and has learned his lesson or make him join us all!" He closes his eyes for the last time and waits for the blade to sever his head once more.

Bayott is too focused on ending Numinex, so he isn't able to notice the group of ponies standing several feet away watching every move he makes. He swings his axe down full force onto his neck, slicing all the way through and cleanly severing his head as he lands on the ground and says, "Return to death Numinex, I will remember your valiant effort to defeat me."

About twenty minutes earlier...

Ember looks to her left as the battle is underway, hearing a noise she looks towards the woods to find the rest of the group including a healthy looking discord and says, "How did you heal so fast Discord?"

The group scowls at Discord for the prank he just pulled on them as he answers, "Well, I wasn't really hurt that bad. I wanted Bayott to go on ahead because it did take a minute or two for me to heal, but I am glad that I got here in time to record this lovely chaos!" He then pulls out a video camera and begins recording the fight.

Thirty five minutes earlier at Twilight's castle

Twilight and Rainbow Dash arrive at her castle, which is a complete mess that will take a lot of time and effort to repair. She starts sifting through piles of crystal debris looking for Spike and sees a purple tip sticking out from underneath some rubble and says, "Rainbow, here he is! I think I found him, help me dig through this rubble carefully."

Spike groans as the rubble is pulled away, rubbing his head and saying, "Dang Twilight, next time warn me before you do an experiment that dangerous." He sits up and shakes his head clear from the fuzziness and exclaims, "Twilight! You're here, there is a dragon attacking your home! I managed to drag the heavy bag under the table to protect them but I got hit by something while trying to get to safety and got knocked out. Is the dragon gone now or is he still around?"

Twilight is about to answer when she hears a voice ring out yelling, "JOOR ZAH FRUL!" she then sighs and tells Spike about the events that occurred when they got to Ustengrav. After ten minutes of telling a shortened version of the story, she tells Spike, "The Dragonborn Bayott, is fighting the Dragon called Numinex. We should get out of here and head to the forest where it is safer. Thank you Spike for saving the books." she then gives him a hug and asks him to stay close to her and exits the castle and begins heading for the forest when something large tumbles towards them and stops with an audible crack as a bone breaks, exclaiming in pain.

Shadowmere calls out to Bayott as he fights Numinex, "I can't fight anymore, kick that scaly ass for me!" she then shifts to her bipedal Thestral form and gets up to her feet. She sees Twilight a short distance away and cradles her arm as a wing hangs limp, walking towards her saying, "Hey Twilight I see you found a survivor, he is pretty cute for a dragon. We shouldn't stay here too long, Numinex is a strong foe and is merciless. Let's get to a safer place."

Twilight nods her head and the group makes their way swiftly to the forest, reuniting with the group of ponies when they hear, "STRUN BAH QO!" She watches as the sky turns dark grey as winds begin to pick up when lightning shoots down from the clouds and strikes the flying dragon.

Rainbow watches in awe as the weather seemingly has a mind of its own and is filled with rage, striking Numinex about fifteen times as rain begins to fall from the sky. The drops are so large they hurt when they hit the fur or a wing and says, "Hey this rain hurts! Can somepony please put a shield up or something before I am black and blue all over?" She yelps in pain as another two strike her face and opens her eyes to see a form falling from the sky, making contact with the ground and the momentum carries it forward, making a large ditch when it finally comes to a stop about thirty feet away as it says something barely audible over the wind and rain.

Then a form comes leaping off of its back with the axe held high over its head yelling, "OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!" Just then a sickening slicing noise is heard, followed by a thud when the head falls to the ground as the body slowly begins to burn and an aura of light surrounds it as it stands by the severed head.

Rarity's eyes turn to pinpricks as she shrieks in terror and faints at the sight of the head being severed. As she begins falling to the ground, she is caught by Fluttershy who is a little green herself at the sight of the blood and the severed head saying, "O-Oh my, look at all the b-b-blood. Poor Luna is going to be so busy fighting nightmares for awhile after today."

The light is so blinding, they have to look away to avoid getting blinded. When it dies down to a tolerable level, they turn around and see the aura surrounding Bayott as the rain, wind, and the sky clear up. After the light show ends, Rainbow exclaims, "That...was...AWESOME! What just happened there after you killed it? The beheading was gross but watching the rest of the fight was cool!" She sees him stagger and slowly start falling to the ground and races to catch him before he hits the ground when Applejack meets her there at the same time, arresting his fall and gently lower him to the ground and call out, "We need to get him to the Hospital quickly! There are holes through his stomach and legs, as well as a few ribs poking out through the skin!"

Celestia steps in front of the group and looks at the severe state of Bayott's body, seeing all the holes and frowns saying, "Come on everypony, we must hurry to Ponyville General Hospital and hope they can save him!" She then starts trotting towards a burning Ponyville, passing by the numerous bodies of citizens that lay on the road as tears make their way down her face.

Every being in the group has tears running down their face as they pass through the vision of Ponyville in flames when Luna begins crying and saying, "It has happened again, I weep for the subjects lost this day. Please keep moving forward everypony, there is nothing we can do for them right now. I wish that this could have been prevented, but I feel that this was fated to happen no matter what we did. Discord can you please put the flames out so we can stop further damage to the buildings and begin to make repairs and bury the dead?" She then lets the tears flow freely as she follows after her sister.

Discord literally blows his nose into a kleenex, then pulls out a handkerchief and cleans it out saying, "Yes Your Majesty I will do that right away." He then puts his nose back on and snaps his fingers, summoning cotton candy clouds and chocolate milk rain to douse the raging fires that are consuming Ponyville. As the fires die out, he thinks to himself, 'I sure hope that Bayott will be ok, this world really needs him right now.'

Celestia throws the doors open in a hurry and calls out with the royal voice at full volume saying, "WE DEMAND A DOCTOR THIS INSTANT, WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY HERE!!"

Everyone including Luna wince at the volume she uses as Twilight sees a doctor and Nurse Redheart come racing towards them with wide eyes answering, "Are you alright Princess Celestia, where are you hurt!?"

Luna quickly answers, "It is Bayott the Dragonborn that is gravely injured and needs urgent attention, make haste doctor and tend to his wounds and save his life. For he single handedly saved many lives this day by slaying the ancient dragon Numinex that attacked and nearly burned Ponyville to the ground entirely."

Dr. Greymare looks at her and asks, "Ok which one of you is he so we can examine him?"

She points to the one clad in armor and says, "He is Bayott the Dragonborn, he is human but the books say he has the blood of a dragon. You may have to verify this to be sure to get the right kind of blood he needs, now hurry for his wounds are terrible!"

He quickly walks up to the being and sees the wounds are indeed severe and yells out, "WE NEED A GURNEY HERE STAT! DOC TOP GET YOUR TAIL HERE NOW, WE NEED YOU FOR SURGERY! Nurse Redheart, send a pony to fetch Dr. Fauna!" As she yells out orders to various staff members around, Doc Top comes racing around the corner.

Doc Top sees the being clad in armor and sees the severity of the wounds and helps the nurses raise his body to get the armor and padding off of him and throw it into a pile on the floor so they can wheel him to surgery to begin working on him. As they finish removing the armor he says, "ON THREE! Ready, one, two, three!" They heave him onto a gurney and race down the halls towards surgery, blood falling from the body and leaving a trail down the hallway.

The large group comes together in a big hug and cry together at everything that has happened lately with Luna sobbing and saying, "Don't worry...my little ponies, for he will survive this. He must survive this, because our world needs him to save us all. If he should fall to his injuries, we shall rely on the dark arts and bring him back ourselves."

Nurse Redheart takes a syringe and takes a blood sample, capping the needle and then races it to the hematologist to rush a test on the blood. As she reaches the room, she goes through the door and breathes heavily saying, "Sorry, but we need this blood identified now!"

The hematologist takes the sample and grumbles saying, "Do this, do that, you all treat me like a slave you know! Getting me to constantly check the blood of every creature that comes through, I expect some vacation time when this crisis is over!" He then puts the sample into the machine and it works on identifying it.

After a few minutes, the results come through and shock the hematologist. He reads the results saying, "This says his blood is dragon blood. There is an infection in his body but it isn't dangerous or contagious, so it seems that we can safely give him clean blood since dragon blood is all the same. We would need to find a donor or two because we don't have any in stock."

The group stops sobbing and breaks from the group hug and make their way to the waiting room as Celestia picks up the big pile of armor and sword, moving it to the waiting room with them. She sighs and thinks to herself, 'I think he may want to get this repaired, I shall take it with me to see if the armorer can repair this in Canterlot.'

She turns and walks away saying, "You will get your vacation after this, thank you so much for doing this." She races towards the group heading to the waiting room and says to them, "You were right, he does indeed have the dragon blood in his body. I do not know how this is possible but we will need a couple donors, for we do not have any dragon blood in stock. Are any of you willing and able to give blood to save his life?"

WARNING: CONTAINS NEEDLES, BLOOD BEING DRAWN DESCRIBED IN DETAIL. SKIP THIS PART IF YOU CANT STAND NEEDLES OR THE DRAWING OF BLOOD AT ALL.

Ember, Smolder, and Spike step forward with Ember saying, "I'm sorry Spike, but you are not big enough yet to give blood. Someday you will though, just be patient my friend."

Spike sighs and says, "I'm not big enough to do a few things, this stinks." He returns to his seat and looks dejectedly towards the floor in disappointment.

Nurse Redheart leads them down the hall to where they will take their blood, and begins preparing them for the procedure saying, "Have you given blood before? Do you have any history of diseases or illnesses we should be aware of before we take your blood?"

Ember and Smolder both answer saying, "No we don't as far as we know, we get a yearly exam to check our health for mating season."

She nods her head and walks into the room and begins preparing their arms to begin taking the blood and explains every step to them as she executes it saying, "Ok, you are going to feel a prick when the needle passes between your scales and into your arm. If you feel faint at all, please notify someone immediately."

They wince as needles are pushed into their arms to take their blood and watch as the dark red fluid runs through the tube and into a bag as it is rocked back and forth to keep it moving. They both watch in curiosity as the bags slowly begin filling up. They watch as the bags are replaced with empty ones as they get full.

Nurse Redheart finishes the process and clamps the tube shut after taking three pints of blood from Ember saying, "Alright Lord Ember, that is all we can safely take from you today. Please help yourself to any of the food available at the tables and more gems will be brought out momentarily." She then removes the needle and puts a piece of gauze under the scale and wraps it up with some sticky wrap, and slaps a sticker on her arm that reads in black lettering: 'I Donated' over a red heart.

Ember sighs in relief as she makes her way to the table and begins eating an apple. She grumbles at the meager amount of gems that are on the table and asks, "Has Spike been raiding your gem supply lately? There are hardly any gems here on the table."

She then goes and replaces a second full bag that is making slow progress saying, "I am sorry about that. We weren't expecting any dragons to come visit, so we normally don't keep many gems on the table as snacks. You seem to be slower than Lord Ember, Smolder. We may have to reposition the needle if this keeps up, for the wounds on Bayott are very serious. What in Equestria made those large holes? If he wasn't wearing that armor, he would have died before making it here to us."

Lord Ember sighs and answers her by saying, "An ancient dragon that my father told me tales about, made those large holes with it's teeth." She then begins telling her the story from when they came to help Celestia with an urgent request.

Nurse Redheart listens to the story while she waits for the last bag to finish filling up saying, "Wow, he won against something that size and removed its head? Then with some ability of his, he absorbed something from the dragon and reduced it to a skeletal state? I wonder just what exactly this being is." She looks back and sees the bag is full and quickly finishes it up, removing the needle and placing gauze under the scale and wrapping it up in some sticky wrap and slapping a sticker on her arm that says the same thing as Embers. She then cleans up the tubes and the needles, placing them in the respectable bins and takes them to the lab to prepare them for transfusions.

THIS IS THE END OF THE MENTION OF NEEDLES AND BLOOD BEING TAKEN

The doctors get to work on the wounds, marveling at how he is still alive after receiving such severe injuries. Dr. Fauna speaks up and says, "I don't know why you called for me to help you two, I know nothing of the anatomy of this species."

Dr. Top sighs and says, "We called you here because we need help sewing up all of these broken and damaged pieces inside of this being. If you have a question of what something is, just ask us ok? Now get back to sewing up that stomach, if the acid in there gets into the body, he will be in serious trouble."

Nurse Redheart begins scrubbing up and puts on a gown and enters the surgery room saying, "Doctors, the blood is being prepared. Tests have proven that the patient does indeed have dragon blood in his veins. We only have four pints of dragon blood to work with though, I sure hope that will be enough to save him."

Doc calls back, "Are you serious? He has dragon blood pumping through his veins? How is such a thing possible, I would love to figure out how this happened once we are finished here if we save his life. Now get over here and provide suction so we can see what we are doing more clearly!"