Author's Note

Apologies for skipping through the story thus far, I am just trying to reach a point where Star Reaper is back to his normal self. I promise that I will provide more details about his adventures and cut down on the skipping.

6: The Dragon's Penance

After giving Vidia a clean bill of health, the girls wait for the three fairies to wake. When they do, they spend a little time congratulating them on delivering their eggs and talk about what happened to Vidia on her way back.

It is morning the next day when Tinkerbell wakes up to see a few of her friends by her bed and yawns, asking, "Hey girls, what time is it?"

Iridessa smiles and says, "It is a bit past sunrise, Tink."

Vidia then looks at the tinker fairy and crosses her arms, saying, "Way to go on delivering half a dozen eggs nearly as big as a sparrow's egg, you are going to have your hands full raising them."

Rosetta turns to her with a frown, holding her hands down at her sides with her fists on her hips, saying, "Vidia!"

Tinker Bell blinks several times in disbelief when she says in shock, "SIX! REALLY?" She then groans and puts her hands over her face, sighing audibly, saying, "That explains why I seemed to weigh as much as a boulder, No wonder my back was always aching..." Turning to look at the girls, she asks, "Did you manage to bring Star here?"

Vidia nods, saying, "I did, though there was a hawk attack. I am fine because Star told me to fold my wings against my back and caught me in his mouth, though I will share that story with you when you get released in a few days."

Shaking her head, she says, "Nuh-uh, I want to hear it now. So spill it, Vid."

A few days pass when Vidia and the others come to visit their friends as she approaches the dragon curled up in front of the healer's tree, patting him lightly on the nose with her right hand.

Feeling someone tapping him, he opens his eyelids and sees Vidia hovering before him with a slight frown on her face, causing him to smirk and ask, "Let me guess, you want to play catch the fairy again?"

She frowns more as her friends chuckle and glares at the dragon, turning her head up with a huff, crossing her arms, saying, "I certainly do not! And why did you catch me inside your mouth? You could have damaged my wings or accidentally swallowed me!"

Star looks at the fairy with a smirk and says, "Well, I wanted to catch a fast snack, and you dared me to catch you." He then sees her look at him aghast and says honestly, "The truth is that I couldn't think of any other way to keep you safe from that pesky hawk which tried to make me it's dinner after I snagged you. He wouldn't like how I tasted anyway, because I would burn all the way down." With a smirk, he adds, "Besides, I would never let myself swallow a cute cactus as prickly as you, because your thorns would agitate my stomach lining."

Vidia hears her friends raucous laughter as Rosetta snort-laughs, causing her to get angry with a slight blush on her cheeks, saying, "I am not a cactus!" Her wings flutter angrily, sending her a little higher as she glares daggers into his eyes.

Seeing an opportunity to further mess with her, he smiles and says, "No you are not..." making her smile and nod victoriously, when he finishes, "but you certainly are as prickly like one."

She glares at him and turns to the door angrily, shouting, "UGH!" then heads inside while grumbling to herself.

When Tinkerbell is finally released, she leaves with a large cart that holds all six of her eggs and looks at eggs that Nyx and Fawn birthed, saying, "At least we will be able to know whose eggs are whose from the color."

Pushing her three eggs along, Fawn flutters behind her cart with a warm smile and a short giggle, saying, "That is a good thing with how many you have to look after."

Star looks at the fairies, saying, "Should any of you need assistance with caring for them or looking after them, all you need to do is ask and I will help."

Rosetta coos, saying, "Awee, what a great father you will make."

A week quickly passes as Tinkerbell's eggs are the last to hatch, with her friends except for Nyx. Watching the first of six eggs shake and crack, with seconds feeling like hours as the first one splits open to reveal something completely unexpected.

Queen Clarion looks on curiously, saying, "Oh, how interesting... I have never seen these type of creatures before. Though with how large their wings are compared to their bodies, I would say they are definitely a type of fairy." She turns to Tinker Bell and says, "Tinker Bell, I would like you to raise your children well while also studying them to see what they are capable of."

Tinker Bell looks at her and says, "You can count on me, Your Majesty." When the little creature begins to cry, she smiles affectionately at the little creature, having a tiny body shaped like an equine's with four legs, two large antennae between two long, pointed ears atop its head. Approaching the crying infant, she leans over and picks it up. Cradling it on its back, she sees it is female like her. Turning away from the others and pulling down her top to begin feeding her hungry child, she feels her latch on to her much larger breasts and begins to hum a lullaby to her.

Without realizing it, the subtle desire grows within the hearts of most of the fairies in the room, only noticed by the queen when she sees each of them squirming in place while biting on their lower lip, thinking, 'Pixie Hollow might be getting a slight boost before too long...'

Years later, in Star's den

Distracted from thinking about his past, Star chuckles as he lightly puffs air to help hundreds of his children learn to fly, saying softly to one of the creatures he and the others decided to name Breezies, "You're doing a good job there, Misty. Why don't you help out your brother Zap, he seems to be having trouble activating his magic to fly."

A tired Tinker Bell flutters into Star's den, saying, "Our children are running me ragged, Star. Mind if I rest in your arms for a bit?"

He looks at her and says, "Did you leave them with Fawn again?"

She blushes and nods sheepishly, saying, "I can't help it, she is just so good with them and is always so full of energy despite having to look after dozens of her own. Vidia can barely keep up with her dozen children, she begs me to look after half of them at least once every week."

Star looks at her curiously and says, "You said no and refer her to Fawn each time, don't you?"

Chuckling with a nervous nod, she says, "Of course, I need as much time I can get to work on a cure to help return you to your normal size."

Cocking his head, he asks, "How are you faring with that, by the way?"

With a defeated sigh, Tinker Bell heads over and lays down in his arms, saying, "I am getting much closer than I was since I got Zarina to help me with it, she thinks that we will have to use a mixture of dust to make a mixture to reverse the Poison Joke's magic."

Star lays his head down beside her, saying, "I know that you will figure it out soon, Tink."

A decade passes when the cure is finished as Tinker Bell uses it to return Star to his larger state, saying with a huff, "I still can't believe that my sister has even more children than I do... How can she keep all those names straight!?"

With a chuckle, Star says, "She thinks of it as a nursery rhyme, which goes something like..." and then begins to name off the three-hundred names. As he starts the next part, he continues, "Then the two sets of twins are Dinkle and Jingle, then Sprinkle, and Winkle. Followed by Day, Dill, Dot, Edie. The quints are Fee, Fie, Foe, and Fum..."

Shaking her head as he manages to name all three-hundred, she says, "You have a mind like a steel trap, I still laugh when I recall how Vidia was caught in the air with you while being intimate. She was the first after us fairies to lay only one egg, though every fairy calls her 'Freefall Vidia' which never fails to make her blush from embarrassment."

He looks at her and says, "It was her idea to do that, you know." Reminded of the children, he asks, "Speaking of which, what are the children all up to?"

Tinker Bell then says, "Well, the Breezies are learning how to gather pollen and pollinate flowers to produce seeds, though it is a challenge for them when the winds pick up, so they started to move in swarms. As for the baby fairies, they are learning to enjoy and hone their talents."

When his body finishes growing, he sighs and looks at Tinker Bell saying, "That is good to hear. It is time to move some sacks outside and fill the big one..."

Together, they spend several hours moving the sacks outside to fill the massive one in front of the den while the fairy looks at the big sack with a sad expression on her face, saying, "I guess it won't be too long before you will be saying farewell to us..."

Wishing he could hold her, he looks at the massive sack with a nod, saying, "It could be days from now or even centuries, I do not know until I bring this blue dust to the being."

Tinker Bell then looks up at him, asking, "Can I go with you to deliver it to her?"

With a nod, he heads for the waterfall, saying, "Of course you can, find a place on my head."

Once she is on his head, he leaps into the air and moves toward the massive sack, then grabs hold of the large poles they had prepared for this day. Flapping his wings hard, he slowly gains altitude and begins to make his way up towards the second star to the right.

Their journey to space takes much longer than it would any other time as the sack places quite the burden on his wings which causes him to sweat with exertion, making his way to the second star to the right.

When they reach the being, Tinker Bell looks at the featureless human-shaped being in awe as she hears her say, "You have finally brought the blue dust I require...good."

She uses her magic to measure the dust, taking a few moments before she smiles with delight, saying, "This will be just enough to birth a single planet, with enough left over to create a moon."

Star looks at her and asks, "What shall I do with this dust?"

The celestial looks at him and says, "Why take it to the orb and let it absorb it, what else?! Though the fairy has to stay behind due to the extreme gravity field."

Huffing at not being able to accompany him, she crosses her arms and frowns while her face goes cherry red, grumbling, "It's not fair how he gets to experience it and I can't."

Rolling her eyes at her pouting, she sarcastically says, "If you want to be squashed like a gnat, go right ahead and follow him."

Ignoring their conversation, Star watches the fairy get off and stay behind. Able to be on his way, he heads to where the orb rests in space.

Once he arrives, he suffers through the pain and uses his tail to split the bottom of the sack, letting the orb draw the dust from the split and into its center. It takes a few moments for the sack to empty when he hears it rip and is torn right off the poles, making him look down to see nothing left of the sack and release his grip on the poles. With the task finished, he flies back toward the being while fighting the increasing gravity field that tries to suck him in.

Tinker Bell watches as the massive chunks of rock slowly start to move toward the spot where Star is returning from, asking, "Why are the large rocks being drawn in?" When she feels herself being slowly pulled toward it, she flies backward to get out of its reach.

Using her magic to put a shield around the small fairy, she says, "The gravity field is rapidly expanding to draw in whatever matter is in its reach, that shield will protect you from being sucked into it as well as the blast that will eventually come after it."

When Star returns to the being, he sees Tinker Bell in a shield and addresses the being, asking, "Now what must I do?"

She looks at him quickly and says hastily, "Now you must wait for the majority of the debris to be sucked in, then suffuse your magic into the orb. Once you have given it half your magic, you must use the most devastating attack you can unleash with your blue fire and cast it upon the orb. After that is done, race back here and I shall protect you while you watch a new galaxy be born."

Cocking his head, he eyes her and asks sarcastically, "That's all I need to do? There's no weird ritual to perform, no funny dance to do, or spell to chant including bippity boppity boo?"

The being rolls her eyes and scoffs, saying, "Of course that is all and NO! Now shut up and just wait for your turn, then come back here and watch the force of the universe work its own magic."

Hours pass by as they watch massive chunks of rock smash into each other and crumble into dust when they reach the orb while the dust is drawn into it in a spiral pattern, even nearby stars are drawn into the orb. When the majority of the chunks are drawn into the glinting orb, Star takes off toward the orb.

He notices the difference immediately as he circles the orb, feeling it attempting to tear him into pieces as he begins to channel his magic towards the orb. Watching as the orb draws in his white, yellow, and blue sparkles of light, he fights to maintain his distance from the orb while keeping track of how much magic he has left. As he feels his own scales slowly being peeled off of him, the glinting becomes a steady orb emitting small beams of pure white light. Taking that as a sign, he stops feeding it his magic and heads a distance away to start channeling his most destructive blue fire spell, calling it 'Blue Meteor' due to it being capable of reducing a mountain into a smouldering crater with debris scattered in a fifty-mile radius.

Tinker Bell watches in amazement as the brightly sparkling orb gets brighter when she sees Star's head move, averting her eyes to watch him when he sends out a massive swirling orb of blue fire almost half his size towards the orb. Her eyes follow the ball of fire as he turns to fly away hastily, watching it hit the orb and causes a tiny explosion in the orb. The white sparkling light absorbs some of the swirling orb, causing the light to grow even larger and slowly pull in more of the blue fire. The leftover blue fire forms a glowing halo of flame while the bright light begins to take on a faint, bluish hue, then starts to slowly flicker between even brighter than before or almost a dimly glowing shade of purple.

The being watches him return with many of his scales missing from his body, casting a shield around him, saying, "Now get behind me and observe a once-in-a-lifetime experience." As he gets into place, she focuses her own magic onto the large ball of light, matter, fire, gas, and energy. Forcing her will onto it, she forces it to compress in on itself, trying to get it to reach critical mass, saying, "Now don't be so stubborn..."

Star watches her for several seconds as she makes the light get smaller and smaller, yet making it flicker faster and faster between white, light blue, and a new color, red.

It takes her a few minutes to get it to the necessary point, but she takes a short breath, saying, "When it winks out, close your eyes and turn your heads away from the flash or you will go blind forever." She then pulls off a tiny fragment of herself and places it on her palm, then holds it up to her lips and blows it towards the extremely bright, rapidly flashing blue light. With a thought, she uses some of her remaining magic to make a recording of the event, saying, "As a gift for helping to set things right, I will grant you a memory containing a safer version to remember so you don't go blind."

He watches the star wink out from existence and immediately closes both sets of eyelids and turns his head away, saying, "You are most gracious."

Tinker Bell closes her eyes and turns away, covering her eyes with her palms when there is a blinding flash from behind her followed by an explosion which causes her ears to ring loudly before going deaf altogether.

The being watches with delight as the bright blue wave of light washes over her, leaving two bodies of swirling, molten rock. The smaller one rapidly cools with her assistance, using some magic to help it glow a very light, light blue.

As their shields fade away, Star and the fairy open their eyes to look at the aftermath to see a small, glowing light blue moon near a much larger planetary body of swirling, molten rock with a moderately sized sun nearby.

Sighing happily at it working out in her favor, she gauges the distance from the single planet to the sun and nods when it is about right, saying, "I have work to do, so let me give you your gift before you go on your way." She picks up the recording and splits it in half, then turns around and shoves the shapeless mist into their heads, saying, "There you both go, now I need to get to work on making it suitable for life..." She turns away from them and heads towards the newborn planet to begin.

He shakes his head a bit to clear it of the dazzling image, then goes after her saying, "Before you go miss, I must ask if you will grant me permission to be the first to roam the world due to my penance starting soon."

She turns around and glares at him sharply, asking in a protective, angry tone, "Why would you even dare to ask to be the first on my new world after you murdered my brother and the last world?"

He sighs and hovers there under her fierce glare, saying, "I ask because I will soon be reduced to a savage beast driven solely by base desires and instincts, forced to watch helplessly without any control over my body as it operates on its own. Therefore, I do not wish to be on the fairies' world when that happens, as I have made them suffer enough."

She thinks about it for a moment before nodding her head, saying, "Very well, it will take me a couple hours to make a breathable atmosphere, so be by my side until I am finished."

Star bows his head to her and says, "Thank you for granting my request, great one. I have some farewells to say in that time."

Tinker Bell then flies toward her and asks, "Excuse me, great one...but when do you think us fairies will be able to visit it and bring the seasons?"

With a groan, the being looks at the fairy and says exasperatedly, "I have many names, but please just call me Faustine or Equise. As for you fairies being able to visit it, it will take me about a century at the least to make it remotely suitable for you to perform your previous duties. Be warned though, it will be a harsh and dangerous world at the start until evolution brings the planet into a better age."

With his questions answered, he turns away from Equise and looks at his friend, saying, "Climb onto my head one last time Tink, we head for Pixie Hollow first."

Making her way to a spot on his head with tears in her eyes, she sobs and clings to a spike saying, "I don't want you to go..."

Once they return to Never Land, Star circles the Pixie Dust tree, looking down at the ground saying, "My task is done, little ones. Gather at the tree so I can wish you all a brief goodbye, though I cannot stay long for my penance may begin at any time." He then lands in a spot big enough for him that does not have any fairies in it.

A couple minutes pass by as Queen Clarion makes her way from the tree as three glittering orbs, coalescing into her true form with tears forming in her eyes, saying, "We saw the brilliant flash earlier, does that mean that we will be able to perform our duties once again?"

He nods and says, "Yes, but it may be a century before it is remotely suitable for you to visit, keep a distant, but close watch on the new world. Rely on the scouts to determine the state of the planet, as it will be a hostile environment at the beginning of evolution." With a sigh, he looks around at the gathered fairies and says, "For those who consider me family or a close friend, keep this knowledge in your minds should you ever spot the slightest hint of my appearance in this new world. I will NOT be remotely kind, loving, or even friendly as I will be imprisoned within myself, unable to control my mind, magic, or body. My body will be driven by the base needs and instincts to survive, living and acting like a savage beast even worse than a hawk. Be honest with the children why they should not go looking for me, tell them what the dragons of the ancient past were like as I will be just like the worst of them. Should you ever be in the new world and hear a distant roar or see me in the distance, gather together and flee the planet until I fade from view."

Letting it sink in for a good minute, he then sighs and feels a slight discomfort come over him. Turning his head to Nyx, he says, "Nyx, come take Tinker Bell off my head please, I can feel the change beginning. I love you all and will miss the misadventures a few of us have had. Especially that one time with you, Freefall Vidia."

The scout fairy darts over to where Tinker Bell is desperately clinging to his spike and hits her with nightshade powder, saying, "Sorry about that Tink, but we need you here." She then kisses him on the head, picks her up and carries her away while tears fall from her cheeks, silently crying over having to say goodbye to a friend and the father of her children.

Vidia's wings go lax for a moment as she is annoyed at hearing that, then regains her altitude, screaming, "OH WILL YOU EVER LET THAT NICKNAME FADE?!?"

Star laughs with the other fairies and says, "Not if I can help it!" Casting his gaze around at the gathered fairies, he sighs and says, "Farewell to you all, may we meet again one day when my penance is done." After giving them a few minutes to hug him and say goodbye, he jumps up into the air when they are clear and makes his way to the winter lands.

An idea passes through his mind as he flies in circles around the Pixie Dust Tree, singing, "Farewell and adieu, to you fairy ladies. Farewell and adieu, to you lady fairies! For I've been ordered to begin now my penance, but I hope in a long time to see you again..."

Tinkerbell slowly stirs groggily, feeling someone hugging her tightly and hears someone singing a sea shanty. She looks at the fairy's wings to notice that it is Nyx that is holding her close when she notices that she is sobbing, then hugs her back as she spots Star pass through her vision over the trees. She lets herself cry against Nyx's shoulder as she figures out that it is Star singing the shanty, saying, "If only he could stay..."

As Star finishes the last line of the song, he changes his angle and banks to the north as the feeling gets a little more painful. When he passes over the border into the winter lands, he roars to get the winter fairies attention and then bellows, "Winter fairies gather at the Pixie Dust Root, my task is done and must say a swift farewell!"

When the winter fairies quickly make their way to the root, they cover their heads when he makes to land on the cliff above the root, hearing him say, "Watch out for falling snow below!" Only a couple fairies have to move out of the way of a falling pile of snow, Periwinkle being one of them as she looks to Gliss with sad eyes, saying, "It looks like he is going away for a long time, Gliss."

When Star settles himself on the cliff, he looks down at the winter fairies, saying, "I wish that I had the time to say a proper goodbye, but time is against me now as my penance is starting. It will take a century for the new world to be remotely ready for you all to visit, but be warned as it will be very dangerous. Rely on your scouts to keep a close watch on the new planet's development and discuss with the others if it is safe enough for you all. For those of you who consider me family or as a close friend, I love you and will miss the adventures we had. Which means you too, Glacier Gliss."

Gliss then blushes crimson and shouts, "OH COME ON THAT WAS ONLY ONE TIME, AND YOU GAVE ME THAT NICKNAME BECAUSE YOU LET ME CONVINCE YOU TO LET ME RIDE YOU AS YOU SKIDDED ALONG THE GLACIER ON YOUR BACK!"

He chuckles at that and says, "Well it wasn't my fault I skidded right off the edge and slid down a snowy hill until I hit a rock and sent you into the air, oozing as you landed right in a snowbank. The only clothing you were wearing then was snow, which still didn't cover much."

She huffs as everyone laughs at hearing that, saying, "I still had quite a bit of fun, so I don't care....even though I had to fly back in a blizzard wearing nothing."

When the laughter subsides, Star then continues to tell them what he told the warm fairies, adding, "Before you ask where the new world is, Peri's twin sister, Tinker Bell was there with me so she remembers where it was as we both were there to watch it be born. The being then introduced herself to us, asking to be called Faustine or Equise, then gifted us with a memory we could remember without going blind." With a sigh, he feels a bit more pain come across him, saying, "I must be going now, so be honest with our children and tell them why they must not look for me. Farewell to you all, may we meet again in the future when I am in control and of sane mind."

Pushing off the cliff's edge, he circles around them as he sings his final farewell to them, singing, "Farewell and adieu, to you fairy ladies. Farewell and adieu, to you lady fairies! For I've been ordered to begin now my penance, but I hope in a long time to see you again..."

Periwinkle hugs Gliss close as they both cry into each other's shoulder throughout the song, only looking up at the end of the song to see him bank up towards the second star to the right, saying with a sad sigh, "Goodbye...dear." before watching him fade from view completely and devolves into a sobbing fit.

Doing what he can before the penance fully takes hold of him, he hurries over to Equise's side and arrives just as he watches the atmophere form around the world, saying in a few words, "Penance...taking hold. Must reach safety of the planet. Is it ready?"

She can sense a complex magic taking hold of his body, finding it amazing as she nods her head, saying "Go on ahead, I just finished the atmosphere. Though it will take me a little while to bring life to this world, so you will have to find something suitable for you to eat. I will do whatever I must to keep you from hindering my work, just so you know."

Star nods and says, "Okay, I can...survive on most anything except stone." Without a moment to waste, he makes his way toward the new world as it begins to cool down. Looking at all the volcanoes scattered across the surface, he heads to a range of solitary peaks.

Faustine observes him curiously as he then lands beside a set of rocky peaks, standing on his back legs while letting out an agonized, screeching roar when his body suddenly glows a bright yellow and a shimmering, white orb shoots out of him and towards outer space. As she follows the orb toward the moon with her eyes, she sees it stop in front of it and examines it with her magic. Her eyes widen with surprise at what she learns, saying, "Interesting, so your consciousness and soul are in that orb, being shown and experiencing the final moments of those you've harmed repeatedly. A fitting punishment for all those you have killed."

A few dozen millennia later...near a solitary mountain

Star Swirl the bearded looks up at the sky with a nervous air about him, saying, "Where did you go, you mad menace to ponykind..."

Flash Magnus spots a black shape in the clouds a few thousand yards away, circling around to the right by the swirling clouds, saying, "It's east of us right now, seems to be keeping a distance due to that last blast you gave it across it's right cheek. I still don't understand why you don't just end its life already."

Her hooves are trembling violently as Clover watches the skies warily, saying, "B-Because my mentor says that ponies should never take a life if they can find another way."

Proud of his young protege, he looks at her with a happy smile of approval, saying, "That's right, my bright student." He then glances behind him, asking, "Are you nearly done in there, Rockhoof? I can't keep fending his attacks off forever, you know."

Rockhoof huffs and trots out of the large tunnel he just carved into the mountain, saying, "Yep, and the crystal circle is finished. All that remains is to get that dragon to follow us in and trap it inside with the leyline crystal."

Star Swirl hears a roar and looks up to see the dragon diving down at them, saying, "Let's go! We will only get one shot at this!"

Steeling her resolve, she swallows her fear, saying, "I will wait by the entrance invisble until the dragon follows you in, then restore the mountain to how it was before and teleport to my second position while still invisible. When my task is complete or fails, I will teleport out and repair the other side of the mountain."

They run towards the finished tunnel that Rockhoof dug out as the young Clover makes herself invisible and moves into position, sticking to the left side and going around the massive, deep hole to hold the dragon.

Clover watches nervously, not making a sound and keeping her breathing steady although she is scared out of her mind as the massive, legendary dragon that has plagued the world for many years approaches her. When it gets closer, she realizes how truly massive it is when one of its scales are twice size of her body. Seconds drag on when the dragon finally disappears into the tunnel, letting her sigh in relief and cast her spell to restore the mountain's side.

Moving on to her next task, she teleports to the next point and waits for the dragon to pass in front of her, hopefully falling through the shale layer covering the massive pit below. Seconds feel like hours to her when she sees the others run past her along the far side of the hole below her, with Star Swirl holding up a powerful barrier as a blue stream of fire strikes the shield. Relieved that the shield holds, even though she can see her mentor sweating up a storm, she watches the dragon trot after them. When the flames subside, the dragon leaps forward and lands right in the middle of the shale layer, causing a crackling to fill the air as it gives way and sends the dragon to the depths below. She pulls out the leyline crystal and inserts it in the group of crystals, inside the slender spot shaped for that specific crystal. She watches with wonder as the completed group of crystals glows with a white light while a constant, low musical hum fills the air.

She trembles as she hears the dragon hit the bottom of the shaft and roar out in anger, waiting to find out whether or not the crystal device will work. Within a couple of minutes, she hears the dragon stop roaring as the deep rumbling inhale rises up to her ears. Not wanting to risk disrupting the structure, she steps away from it and trots a fair distance away before teleporting outside to restore the other side of the mountain.

Star Swirl watches his student restore the other side of the mountain, waiting for her to finish before asking, "So did the device work, Clover?"

Clover turns around to face her mentor with a smile saying, "It did indeed, the dragon is in a deep slumber now."

From her cave, Equise senses a disturbance far above her planet and focuses on its source, being the orb that was ejected from the dragon when he started acting like a mindless beast. As she watches the shaking orb, an ear-shattering roar of agonizing pain fills her cave, making her wish she could cover her ears. The screaming roar continues as the orb cracks in half, causing her to gasp and try to use her magic to keep his existence and soul from being split apart.

As she pours all her magic into keeping him together, she watches another crack forming and fights even harder, saying through clenched teeth, "Please don't let him die like this..."

A sudden piercing wail fills her cave, leaving her to watch in horror as the crack completes with an explosion at the center driving the four pieces of Star's shattered soul apart. When the cave goes silent, she sheds tears at how she failed to keep his soul safe when the sounds of four distinct sobs of grief, sorrow, and despair filters into her mind.

A few thousand years pass with the sobs sending her in a depressed state and keeping her there as she bangs her head with her fists, pleading with tears in her eyes, "Please stop crying, I don't know how to help you..."

When a subtle shift around her catches her attention, she looks up into the night sky to see the four pieces of his soul slowly pulling back together. A hopeful glint appears in her eyes as she hopes they reunite, watching with baited breath as they pass the edges of the moon. They suddenly snap back together and fuse, releasing a bright flash when she notices the mare's shadow disappear from the surface. She is relieved to hear the sobbing stop and sighs with relief, saying, "My head is my own again." Recalling something mentioned long ago, she says, "Hmm...on the day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape..." She chuckles to herself as she realizes what happened, saying, "I see now, these 'stars' were the fragments of his soul reuniting, and when they fused back together, they allowed her the chance she needed to escape. Oh how amusing! I can just let the ponies handle things from here, though I might intervene if it is required." She then watches the orb shoot toward Canterlot, passing right through the stone and returning to the dragon's slumbering body.

A year later, at Canterlot

As Twilight blasts away at the crystals that the imposter is using to make her image appear, she destroys them all and then blasts a wall of crystal she appears in to reveal the imposter she has been looking for. Galloping toward her in spite of her protests, she leaps toward her and topples her over.

Lying on her back with a pony above her, she tries to protect herself with her forelegs and looks under them at the pony, saying, "Please! Don't hurt me!" When her eyes make out the pony who knocked her over, she recognizes them as Twilight, saying, "Twilight, it's me."

Standing over the imposter with a frown, she hears her say how she was imprisoned here just like her and leans her head down a bit with her frown deepening, saying, "Likely story."

With no other choice, she crawls away and gets onto her hooves to begin their little greeting. As she starts prancing, she sings, "Sunshine, sunshine," then drops down and covers her eyes with her hooves, pulling them away, continuing, "ladybugs awake."

Recognizing the prance, Twilight sits down and continues the next part as she claps her hoof against hers then holds it up, saying, "Do a little shake..." The realization hits her that this truly is her old foalsitter brings a big smile to her face as she leaps toward her with a big hug, saying, "You remember me!"

As she hugs her back, she says, "Of course, how could I ever forget the little filly I love to sit for the most." An evil cackling laugh echoes down the cave toward her, making her turn her head in the direction it came from as she realizes what she needs to do.

A constant, low musical chime reaches her ears, causing her to shake her head to get rid of the sound. She then points down the tunnel, saying, "We need to get out of this place." Twilight then heads forward before stopping and facing her saying, "We need to stop her!"

Hearing a constant, low chime in her ears, she rubs her ears and then says, "Alright, let's go."

Further into the twisting caves, a dragon continues to be kept asleep by the crystal device when a melody starts to fill the air followed by singing. Unable to hear anything due to the crystal's enchanting magic, the dragon continues not to stir.

When the singing comes to an end, the two girls approach the end of the tracks. Noticing the massive dark hole below them, they don't give it another thought as they are sent into the air. Thinking quickly, the real Cadence says, "I'm going to use my wings, hold on to me!"

Twilight quickly wraps her front hooves around her foalsitter's barrel and looks up at the ceiling to avoid looking down and panicking, safely reaching the ledge up above as she spots a crystalline structure glowing brightly and creating the annoying chime that has been irritating her ears. Channeling magic with her horn, she then blasts the structure to pieces and sighs as the chime fades away.

Cadence lets out a relieved sigh, saying, "It is good to have a little break from that chiming."

When the enchantment effect weakens and fades away, she senses something off about the dragon and looks him over and gasps when she realizes that his mind has been broken, saying, "If he wakes up now in that state, he is liable to destroy all my hard work in his wild rampage! I must do something to limit the destruction, but what?" With no better options available to her, she sighs and says, "I'm sorry for having to do this to you after what you have gone through... but there is no other way." She then uses her magic to enter his mind and scrambles his memories, placing a mental alteration spell to behave as a young creature with a moderate intelligence and slight curiosity.

Deep down inside the hole, the slumbering dragon's eyelids flutter a bit before opening slowly. As he lifts his head off the floor and tries to stretch his body out, only to find himself unable to and looks at where he is.

The two mares are confronted by three entranced bride's mares, stalking toward them and saying, "You are not going anywhere."

Hearing the voices from above, the dragon lifts its groggy head and sees that it is in a deep hole. Knowing that something is up above, he places one front claw on the wall followed by the other. Feeling that it is a steep wall, he digs his claws into the wall and attempts to climb out of it.

As clawing sounds reach their ears, Cadence thinks fast and summons a bouquet of flowers. Not wanting to know what is making the clawing noises, she waves the bouquet in front of them as they focus on it. Without a moment to lose, she tosses the bouquet down another path to keep them away from the clawing noises coming from below. When they chase after it, she and Twilight take off for the exit, saying to Twilight, "I have no clue what that clawing is being caused by, but we do not have time to figure it out now."

When he finally claws up out of the hole, he stretches his body out and then yawns happily, saying, "I hungry." As he looks around him, he finds many large crystals sticking up out of the floor, saying with a bit of drool dripping from his mouth, "Crystal tasty, tasty is food." He heads for the crystal and bites right into it as if it were butter, then starts to chew what is in his mouth.

While he enjoys the crystal's taste, he hears some loud noises coming from above him. Curious, he turns towards the commotion and spreads his wings, saying, "Upsy daisy..."

As the bride's mares squabble over the bouquet, Lyra Heartstrings hears a slow, heavy flapping from behind her and turns to face them, saying, "You are not going anywhere..." and continues to walk forward when a massive object rises into view. The object soon becomes apparent when the rest of the head is seen, clearly belonging to a huge dragon. Trembling in terror, she promptly pees herself and backs away as she looks into a set of crimson, slitted eyes with one diamond in each eye as a pupil.

Star watches her as she accidentally steps on the bouquet, blinking and says, "Little Pony..."

The others then join her in backing up to the exit as Lyra screams bloody murder, shouting, "BIG DRAGON!!!" Hastily turning around, she takes off galloping for her life as the others piss themselves and race after her, screaming their heads off in terror.

Pulling his head back in disappointment, he huffs, saying, "Rude pony. Pony apologize." Letting himself back down, he approaches the wall and uses his front claws to dig his way out to make the pony apologize for her rudeness.

It takes Star some time to claw his way outside, making the hole big enough for him to leap out of to take flight. When he leaps out of it and takes to the air, a shimmering light catches his eye. Banking to his right, he lifts one eye up to look at what caught his attention and sees a shimmering lavender bubble around a city. As he focuses his eyes on the bubble, he notices little black dots hitting the bubble repeatedly. The tiny dots spark an image of his memory, seeing himself snag a small flying creature from the air and says, "Fast snack, still hungry." He flies up towards the sky for a better chance at catching a few of them in one pass, bringing his wings closer to his body when he gets high enough.

Chrysalis is in the throne room, watching the barrier as it shatters and crumbles away. She turns around and heads toward the stairs leading to the main floor, laughing victoriously when she hears dozens of her subjects scream in fright or cry out in pain through the hive-mind. Wincing at having so many voices scream at once, she shouts back through the connection, saying, "Don't you know it hurts when so many of you scream like that through the link!? What is happening?!"

A changeling watches with wide eyes as the massive dragon retreats and starts to turn around, answering through the link, "A dragon just dove down and snatched several others out of the air...and ate them! Here it comes again, everyling head down to the streets where we can have a-" She is unable to finish her sentence as the swift dragon opens its mouth and catches other changelings, including her when she slams into something hard. Looking up in a daze, she trembles and screams out through the link as well as her voice when the jaws snap shut. She feels her chitin being crushed, causing her immense pain when everything just goes black.

The Queen hurries to the balcony to find the dragon that dares to devour her subjects, charging a strong beam attack to kill it or drive it off and finds it diving after them again. She glares daggers at it and screams, "HOW DARE YOU TREAT MY SUBJECTS AS YOUR FOOD!! DIE YOU BASTARD!" then launches her attack on the dragon.

Star sees a bright green beam race toward him, feeling it slam into the base of his neck and runs along it. The attack causes him to screech in pain as it melts his scales and burns his hide, forced to pull up out of his dive. Circling around, he looks at the one that hurt him and growls angrily, shouting, "INSECT HURT DRAGON. INSECT SHALL BURN!"

In the streets below, Twilight looks at the now, very angry dragon with fearful eyes, saying, "Why can't we just have one problem to deal with..."

Applejack watches as the dragon rears its head back as it heads towards them, breathing fire down onto the street as changelings try to get out of the path. Using her strong back hooves, she bucks them to the other side of the street and gallops towards them when a roaring fire blazes right behind her and chars the end of her tail. Breathing quickly, she looks back to look at her tail and sighs with relief, saying, "Talk about a close-shave..."

Forced to act quickly, Chrysalis throws up a shield to protect herself and her subject's food, saying, "YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY SUBJECT'S FOOD FROM ME!"

When Star's orange fire doesn't do anything against her shield, he stops the attack and flies away to come up with something else. As he circles around the city in the sky, he watches the insects' movements as they go after the ponies.

Several minutes pass as the changelings take the city, keeping a watchful eye on the dragon while escorting the six mares to the wedding hall. With the dragon keeping its distance, the changeling queen takes the opportunity to gloat over her victory.

As he hears singing flow out of the back of the structure he seen the insect in earlier, he seizes the opportunity to attack her while her guard is down. Flying down without a sound, he lands in a large green field of grass, bushes and a few trees, spotting the black insect that hurt him earlier an bares his teeth in silent anger. He starts walking toward the creature that has its back to him, lowering his head to look through the window while glaring at it.

Chrysalis hears a large inhale as her mane is drawn backward, turning around in an instant to see a large open mouth fill with a blue light and channels her magic to create a shield. She watches as the dragon breathes blue fire against her shield, causing her to strain herself against the attack. To her horror, she feels herself get driven back as her shield begins to crack, shouting desperately to the others behind her, "Help me maintain this shield or we all will burn!"

Thinking quickly, Twilight rushes over to Cadence and uses her magic to burn away the goop sticking her hooves to the floor, saying, "Go to him before the shield fails!"

Finally free, Cadence gallops over to her love and hugs him, letting her love flow out toward him. Her strong affections cause a heart to appear from her horn and touch his head, waking him from the trance as he rubs his head.

Watching as more of Queen Chrysalis's shield cracks, she shouts at her brother, "YOUR SPELL, DO YOUR SPELL!"

As her love tries and fails to cast his spell, she holds him close, saying, "My love will give you the strength you need."

Star watches her shield crack even more when another light draws his focus away, causing his attack to falter when it suddenly races toward him and sends him into the air and away from the city. He recovers from his position and is about to circle back around to investigate the new lavender bubble surrounding the city when a black speck races past him screaming, making him turn his head to see what it was and spots the insect that hurt him. With an angry roar, he chases after it, shouting, "Bad insect must burn!"

She spots the dragon flying after her and tries to fly even faster, but looks back to see it quickly gaining on her and teleports herself down to the ground behind a large boulder in the badlands. Trembling lightly in fear, she takes the form of a smaller boulder and prays that it cannot find her here.

Later that evening, Princess Luna returns to find the reception underway and asks, "Hello everypony, did I miss anything?"