The Dragon

Once they finally finish defeating the spell and removing any residual traces of it, they rest and wait for the dragon to rouse from its sleep. Most of them do succumb to their exhausted bodies due to the day's battle against Sombra, though Celestia and Luna keep awake as the younger sister looks around the dry ground for any clues to what they must do now.

As Luna wanders around, using her horn to see where she is at, she spots several massive piles of something that glint in the light of her horn. When she reaches them, she sees broken shards of crystal-like material piled up high enough to reach the base of Canterlot from the ground. Picking up one of the shards with her hoof and examining it, she wonders aloud, "What could these be I wonder?"

Celestia watches her sister's illuminated horn, seeing her stay around the pile of glinting objects for a little while, asking herself, 'What did you find over there?'.

A half-hour passes as the others rouse from their slumber, with Celestia waiting for them to finish waking up, saying, "It seems my sister has found something worth checking out, let's go find out what she discovered."

When Luna continues digging around for another shard matching the one she is looking at, she finds it a few moments later and lays it in the empty space. When the edges meet, she watches a light run along the broken edge and repairs the damage. It takes her a minute to find the rest of the fragments, but she manages to complete the picture as the last crack repairs itself, she looks at the completed image of a city engulfed in blue fire, saying, "I wonder how long ago this fragment happened..."

She looks over her sister's shoulder, saying, "What do you have there?"

Looking back at the gathered ponies around her, all trying to get a peak at the image and holds it up for them to see, saying, "This is a completed memory fragment that I just finished assembling, we will have to gather enough shards to complete the images so that he remembers his past. Once that is done, we will have to work on the next step. As the massive piles before me indicate, we will have a lot of fragments to finish. Let's solve these puzzles everypony, then we can find out more about him." The completed fragment them is pulled out of her grasp and heads up high into the air, stopping in a spot as a massive lattice of squares appears where fragments should go.

Rainbow looks up at the towering pile of shards and chuckles sheepishly, saying, "We might be able to assemble several of these, but there's an awful lot to assemble. Is there a way that we can get more help? Like, from the crystal ponies? He did play a part in defending their empire after all..."

Luna smiles at that and says, "Very good idea, Rainbow. I can create a door back to the Dream Realm from here now that Sombra's spell and its influence is gone." She then turns to her adopted niece and her husband, asking, "Cadence, Shining Armor, can you two go speak to the crystal ponies and ask if they would be willing to assist us in restoring the dragon's memories since Sombra's spell is no longer trying to seize control?" She then adds, "I will then add any who wish to volunteer, to the spell and bring them into the Dream Realm to transition into his mind, after that I will do some patrolling and check on you."

Cadence and Shining Armor nod as she says, "Of course we can, I am sure there are at least a few who are thankful for the dragon keeping Sombra distracted. Let's be on our way, Auntie Luna."

Glad they changed the day to night just before the train arrived, Celestia watches as her sister opens a door then follows them out, turning to the massive piles before her and says, "Let's get started everypony, we have a lot of work to do."

Luna waits near the others as she watches dozens of crystal ponies show up and lie down in layers of circles, then fall asleep so she can bring them in with her. A few minutes pass as at least a hundred crystal ponies show up and join the others when Luna flies up to see how many others are coming, only to find that Cadence and Shining Armor are the last ones coming.

When Cadence and her husband take their original spots, she smiles widely and says, "We managed to get the entire empire to come lend a hand with all those fragments! With their help, hopefully it won't take us days or even weeks to assemble them."

Smiling at her niece for doing so well, she says, "Excellent work on getting their help, I was beginning to wonder if it would take us months to finish assembling those shards." Focusing her magic, she sends her magic out to connect with each of the gathered pones, taking her a bit to make sure she didn't forget any of them. Finally making herself comfortable, she slips into the Dream Realm to find them all around her.

They all wait for her to grant them access to the door into his mind, which doesn't take long before they all start making their way through the door after being warned not to stray too far from the piles if they can help it.

When Luna watches Shining Armor and her niece go through last, saying, "I will check on your progress after patrolling for a little while." She then closes the door and begins her patrol.

As the ponies begin to work on assembling the fragments unknown to the dragon, they complete piece after piece little by little. As the feeling of guilt slowly gets stronger within him, Star shifts his position more and more in hopes to find a comfortable spot.

By the time they work on assembling the last shards, dawn begins to near as Celestia hears the dragon sigh heavily and mumble in a fitful slumber when she sees her sister Luna return with a haggard expression on her face, asking, "Sister, are you alright?"

The exhausted lunar princess looks at her sister a moment before she watches a fragment fly up into the air and take its place, causing the entire array to shine brightly before separating into an uncountable number of books. The books hover in mid-air as hundreds of massive bookshelves rise up along the outer edge of the gathered ponies, and watches them start to fly toward the bookcases.

Twilight watches in awe as several lifetime's worth of books fill the shelves, drooling slightly as she says, "Soo many self-organizing books..."

Luna looks at Twilight and chuckles, saying, "Yes, but those aren't normal books, Twilight. Each one is filled with his knowledge, memories, feelings, and more."

Star sighs and opens his eyes slowly, saying, "Everything makes sense now, though knowledge is a double-edged sword."

They all gasp in surprise at the dragon speaking, watching his every move as he slowly rolls onto his stomach when Luna approaches, saying, "I am glad to see you are finally awake. Do you feel well enough to tell us about yourself?"

With a small shake of his head, he moves his front legs in front of him, saying, "The guilt and shame I feel over my past prevent me from doing so." He then sighs and curls his neck around to lay his head on his clawed hands, saying as a tear slips down his scaled cheek, "I'm evil and deserve to be put out of my misery..."

Celestia then looks at him and begins to say, "You-" but is cut off by her sister's hoof on her mouth. She looks at her with a curious expression as to why she did that.

Luna walks forth and says, "Knowing what one has done in the past is a burden of its own, but the past shapes us and allows us to learn from the past mistakes we have made. Even I have learned from my own mistakes from long ago, and I am certain that you can grow wiser from yours."

Rainbow then chimes in and says, Yeah! You went after that evil King Sombra and kept him at bay long enough for Twilight and Spike to find the heart and save the day!" She then says, "Unfortunately, you were knocked out by Sombra's attack, so you didn't get to see end."

Applejack then steps forth, saying, "Ya might be really big and intimidating, but ya didn't attack us, the crystal ponies, or the crystal empire as we were trying to save it."

Star's guilt and shame lessen ever so slightly at hearing that, saying, "You really think that one such as I can move past what has haunted me for several millennia?"

She smiles at him and says, "I myself am slowly getting over my own dark past that makes me feel ashamed of myself and how foolishly I behaved."

Celestia then sighs and says, "I believe that anyone can find a way to come to terms with their mistakes, though it may not be easy for some."

Stepping forward, Twilight says, "With friends at your side, they can help get you through tough times. Friendship is magic, after all."

His guilt and shame ease up more as he uncurls his head and looks at them, saying, "It has been several millennia since I have had a friend." He looks at her curiously and tests her asking, "Would you be willing to consider me a friend if you knew I am responsible for ending countless lives?" He then stretches out his claw and turns it over so the palm faces up, continuing, "Will you touch my claw if it was covered in the blood of innocent victims I am responsible for? I have enough blood on my conscience to turn the ocean red. What will your answer be, young one?"

Feeling all the attention fall on her with wide eyes and several gaping mouths, she feels a massive weight upon her shoulders while she looks at one of her hooves pensively and thinks it over.

Luna holds her breath, sure that the rest of the others in the room are doing the same thing while hoping she makes the right decision, thinking, 'Would I be able to bring myself to call him a friend and touch his clawed hand after hearing what he said?'

Lost in thought, Twilight shakes her head and looks up saying, "Sorry for taking so long to answer, I was just thinking it over carefully."

Star raises an eyebrow, looking down on her expectantly while expecting her to refuse to be his friend, saying, "Yes? Go on, little one."

She then walks toward the dragon and says, "Of course I would consider you a friend, your past has no control over who you are now." Following through with her decision, she not only touches him...she jumps up onto the palm of his hand, then lays down on it saying, "Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?"

Shocked speechless, his eyes go wide when he notices a few other ponies do the same as Twilight. One by one, he hears them introduce themselves when a young whelp walks up with large eyes full of wonder, saying, "Now what a strapping young whelp we have here, are you able to speak yet?"

With a mildly annoyed huff, he makes fists and rests them on his hips saying, "Of course I can talk! My name's Spike, what's yours?"

Star realizes that he hasn't introduced himself yet and says, "My name is Star Reaper, young Spike. Tell me, do you not have parents to care for you?"

Spike sighs sadly and shakes his head, saying, "I-I don't know anything about my parents, Princess Celestia told me that she found me as an egg several years ago and took me in. When Twilight Sparkle started attending her school for gifted unicorns, she was able to use her magic to hatch me, she has been looking after me ever since." He then looks up at him with eager and knowledge-hungry eyes, asking, "Can you tell me what you know about dragons!?"

He smirks and says, "I most certainly can, though I might be different from the dragons here. What I can tell you is that dragons are prideful, loyal to their personal values, and protect their loved ones from harm. Once I learn about where I am and what other dragons are like on this world, I can tell you more alright?"

Celestia then steps forth and looks at the six mares in his palm with a smile, introducing herself as her sister comes up beside her, saying, "My name is Princess Celestia and this is my sister, Princess Luna. We rule over Equestria together, bringing both day and night to our subjects. I watch over our subjects by day while my sister watches over their dreams at night." She then clears her throat and says, "Now that introductions are out of the way, would you be so kind as to explain why you were at Canterlot?"

Star thinks back a little bit and says, "My mind is still a bit fuzzy, but I was lured there by a powerful pony with a long, white beard and his friends. At the time, there was no city on the mountain, but he lured me into a pit there and made a chiming fill the air which lulled me into a sound sleep." He then recalls what happened after he woke up and sighs, saying, "I deeply regret attacking the city when I woke up after the chiming had stopped, for I have the blood of those that I killed on my claws as well." He then sighs and curls his head towards his body, saying shamefully, "I was not myself then, my mind was that of a young, curious and hungry drakeling's

Wanting to try to keep him from slipping back into sadness, Luna then sets a hoof on his claw, saying, "It is alright, you did not hurt any ponies in your attack."

Before he can respond, she then places her own hoof beside her sister's and looks at the dragon, saying, "That is correct, though your blue fire caused some significant damage, no one was injured. Now that you are back to your senses, you will have full control over yourself." Sensing that dawn is nearing, she looks at Luna and says, "Sister, the time to raise the sun and lower the moon is nearing, we should head back."

Realizing the time herself, she nods and turns back to Star, saying, "We look forward to hearing more about you in the future, Star Reaper."

He watches the six mares in his claw return to the ground as the dark blue pony, Princess Luna, uses her magic to summon a door beside her. When she opens the door for the others, he looks through the door curiously, thinking, 'She has some interesting powers of her own, I wonder what lies beyond that door?'

When they all return from the Dream Realm, Princess Luna and her sister watch over them as she says, "From what he says, he may be a bit older than we are. It will take time to help him get past his grief and shame, though it is good that we were able to defeat Sombra's spell and repair the damage it had done."

As the aura over the dragon's body fades, the being of pure white appears in front of the two sisters. She looks at the two princesses and says with a pleased tone, "It pleases me to see that you have succeeded in defeating the dark presence trying to corrupt his mind, you two have done remarkably well in this challenge." Turning her gaze toward the slowly waking dragon, she says, "Now it will fall to the young ones to help him get over the ghosts from his past that have haunted him for so long."

With the being beside them, Celestia asks curiously, "Forgive me for being rude, but who in Equestria are you and how do you know Star Reaper?"

She looks over at the older sister with a smile and says, "Apologies for earlier, I was really anxious with my hopes of you all saving him that I was rude. I go by many names, but I seem to be called Equis these days. As for Star and I, we go back a very long ways. However, that is a secret until he decides to tell you his story." Putting a finger to her chin in thought, she then says, "I do believe that it is nearly time for you two to raise the sun and lower the moon..."

When Star Reaper opens his eyes, he lifts his head and looks around him to find hundreds of ponies around him when he notices the sky getting lighter. Turning his head to the east, he watches the sun rise into the sky saying, "Such a beautiful thing to watch..."

Equis makes her way towards her old acquaintance, saying, "You are back to being yourself I see, I'm sorry that I couldn't prevent your soul being taken from your body so long ago. Years later, I felt something happening to it again and failed to keep it intact, with the four pieces of it reuniting during this year's Summer Solstice. I sure hope that there will be no more surprises from the penance you were suffering through, as I am getting tired of failing in my attempts to keep you from harm."

He turns to look at her, saying with a pained look on his face, "Faustine...I-I'm so sorry for how I took your brother from you. If only there was a way to find the heart I channeled him into so I can return him to you..."

Realizing what he is talking about, she waves his words away, saying, "No need to worry about that. After you set things right with me and left, an object was flying through space toward me. As it glinted in the light, I pulled it into my hands and discovered that my brother's essence was trapped within it. Once I pulled him out of there, I joined his essence with mine so that we would never be apart again. I then looked at the object you crafted and admired your work, so much so that I left the enchantment intact and sent it down into the world for others to find. So feel guilty over his death no longer, for he is now a part of me."

Star sighs in relief at hearing that and says, "I am glad that you were reunited with him in a fashion, though his death will still bring me pause. I wonder whatever became of the crystal heart I crafted..."

Gasping in surprise, Twilight and several other ponies exclaim in unison, "YOU MADE THE CRYSTAL HEART?!?!"

A glint catches his eye as he turns his head to see a towering crystal structure, seeing the glint come from underneath it and focuses his eyes on it. When he takes in the sight of the spinning, light blue crystal heart, he smiles and says, "Ah, there it is... It brings me joy to see it fulfilling its purpose." Remembering that they asked him something, he turns his gaze to the ponies and says, "I did indeed make it, though it was a challenge with claws not quite as big as mine are now. Perhaps I will share the story of its creation another day." He then glances down at his body curiously, saying, "This is interesting, I never enchanted it to have this effect... Some other being must have added it."

Equis/Faustine/Equise smirks at him admiring her work, huffing before saying, "It was nothing really, just a minor blessing I imbued it with. Do me a favor though and look after yourself, for I am not your caretaker anymore."

Star nods and says, "I will do my best, thank you for what you have done for me so far."

With a pleased smile, she mutters, "Such a troublesome young dragon." then fades away to return to her cave so she can watch over him from there.

He looks at the fading form and shoots back with a huff of smoke, "YOUNG?! I'm tens of thousands of years old, how am I young?"

Before she fully fades away, she laughs musically and says, "I'm still older than you, drake."

Star watches her fading form leave sparkles of light behind and blows a raspberry at her, saying, "We will find out who can outlive who one day, I promise you that."

Celestia and Luna both look up at the dragon with awestruck faces as Celestia asks in disbelief, "Are you really that old?! How long do dragon's live naturally?"

He looks at her and says, "Yes I have been around that long, and where I'm from...dragons don't die of old age, but in battle." With a heavy sigh, he looks up into the sky, saying sadly, "Though it may be possible that I am the very last of my race from my old home, it grieves me to know that I set things into motion that may have resulted in their extinction..."

Fluttershy rests her hoof on his claw and says with her voice full of affection, "Well, you may be from another world, but there are other dragons here. So if you think of it that way, you aren't alone."

Rainbow then lays a hoof on his claw, saying, "That's right, there are dragons in the Dragon Lands across the sea to the east, though they are a rude, rowdy, and mean bunch."

Reminded of another world, he wonders if his old friends might still be around, saying, "If it would be alright with you all, I'd like to see if a certain place far from here is still around after all the years I've been gone."

Luna sees the protest in her sister's face and says, "You may do as you wish, we are not your wardens. When you do return, could you come to Canterlot and share your past with us?"

With a sigh, he nods and rises to his feet, then stretches his body and wings out, saying, "I will come by, but make sure that your guards know not to attack me at all, I have razed cities to the ground for that."

Celestia then comes forth and says, "I do hope that when you arrive, you won't make such a spectacle as last time."

Star then shakes his head and says, "Like I said, I was not quite myself then." He takes another look at her and notices she has something on her cheek by her lips, making him wonder what it is. Acting on his curiosity, he says, "Excuse me, but I must find out what this is..." and quickly darts his tongue out, curling the end up like a fish hook before pulling it back along her cheek and brushing the corner of her lips.

Getting madder than a wet hen at him licking her, her mane starts smoking as she glares at him and shouts, "JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, LICKING A PRINCESS LIKE THAT?"

Fighting to control her snickering fit of laughter, Luna chimes in with a barely controlled grin of amusement, saying, "He spotted the frosting and crumbs on your right cheek, so he took care of it for you..."

Celestia's face pales at hearing that and turns to her sister with a mortified look, asking, "DID I REALLY HAVE CAKE ON MY FACE ALL THIS TIME?!? How could I have been so careless...how humiliating!!"

He sees the younger sister subtly waving a hoof near the ground for him to get going and says, "I shall return when I have satisfied my curiosity, and then quietly debate sharing my tale with you." Raising his wings up, he then jumps off the ground and heads up into the sky to go search for them.

Rainbow takes off into the sky after the dragon and flies beside his head, asking, "Hey, mind if I tag along?"

With a chuckle, Star continues going and says, "Not at all, but can you breathe where there is no air?"

She scoffs and says, "There's air everywhere, the only place you can't breathe is underwater!"

Looking straight ahead, he chuckles again and says, "In your case, there is also the emptiness of space, which is only revealed in its vastness at night."

Continuing on into the sky, Rainbow slowly finds it harder to breathe, gasping out, "How are you...able to handle...this so easily?"

Star stops climbing and hovers in place, saying, "I do not know what lets me continue living where there is no air to breathe, perhaps it is just how my body was made to be." Looking at the pegasus with concern, he says, "You best head back down before you lose consciousness and plummet to the ground, the air only gets thinner from here."

Huffing out in annoyance, she gasps, "Alright...fine, but I want...to see how...skilled you are in flying!"

Nodding his head, he says, "Very well, we shall see who has the better skills when I return. Where can I find you once I return?"

Rainbow smiles and gasps, "Ponyville. It's a small town...south of Canterlot. The city where...you went after...the changelings. Just call my name...and I'll come to you."

Star watches the pegasus turn back toward the ground in a dive, eventually causing a burst of rainbow colors to race outwards in a circle. Finding the sight quite interesting, he watches as a rainbow streaks its way over the glinting castle of the Crystal Empire. When the streak ends, he returns to his journey to find his friends from long ago.

Remembering the way back like the back of his hand, he closes his inner eyelid and flies into the void of space toward the second star. It takes him a little while to reach it, but he then turns in the direction of the planet's last location. Focusing his eyes on where it is located roughly, he spots it and smiles to see that it is still there.

Fairy Mary is giving orders to her tinkers when she spots Lucinda slacking and says, "Lucinda, get off your laurels and keep working on repairing baskets."

Tinker Bell helps Clank and Bobble finish up the repairs on one of the wagons when she hears a commotion outside, then puts her tools away as Clank hooks Cheese up to the wagon, saying, "I'm gonna go see what is going on outside."

Bobble gets up into the seat as Clank finishes and then joins him in the seat, saying, "Alright, we're right behind you."

They head out of the tree as Tink asks the gathered fairies who are looking up at the sky nervously, "What's going on?"

One of the fairies looks at her and points up to the cloudy sky, saying, "Look at the clouds for movement and you'll see something there."

The tinker fairy looks up with curious eyes, spotting something dark within the clouds when it slowly drifts down into view, gasping and shouting, "EVERY FAIRY GET TO COVER, STAR REAPER WILL ATTACK SHORTLY!"

Watching the fairies dart around below in panic makes him sigh sadly as he remembers what he told them long ago, singing, "Hello and greetings to you, fairy ladies. Hello and greetings to you, lady fairies. For my penance finished and I just had to visit, but I yearned to visit since I am myself again."

It takes a few minutes for them to calm down before he sees glittering golden trails hustle about to move things away as he circles around the Pixie Dust Tree, letting them finish before attempting to land.

Fifteen minutes pass as they work to clear an area large enough for him to land, chattering excitedly between themselves after discovering he has returned to himself at last.

He lands and settles in, watching as three orbs spiral out of the tree and come together to form Queen Clarion, saying, "It has been many years since I was last here, Queen Clarion. I hope that all the years have been fair to you and your fairies?"

Queen Clarion smiles up at him, saying, "Indeed they have, though unfortunately a few fairies do fall victim to hawk attacks every few years."

With a sad look on his face, he averts his eyes to look around at the fairies and turns back to Queen Clarion, asking, "Are my closest friends still around, or are they gone?"

The queen fairy looks at him and sighs, laying a hand on his nose, saying in a sorrowful tone, "Most of them are still around, such as Tinker Bell, Vidia, Iridessa, Silvermist, and Fawn. It pains me to inform you that Rosetta had fallen victim to a hawk two centuries ago...I'm sorry for your loss."

Not wanting to let himself slip back into depression, Star changes the subject and asks, "I appreciate your honesty. How are things with you and Lord Milori, have you had your first child yet?"

Queen Clarion lets him change the subject as she smiles and nods, saying, "We have indeed, several thousand years ago. Since then we have had and raised dozens of children together."

He smirks at the queen and cocks an eyebrow, saying teasingly, "Only a few dozen? You two should make the most of your time together and have as many as possible while you are still able, for time never stands still normally."

Crossing her arms and huffing lightly, she narrows her eyes at him and says, "We do make the most of our time together. Do you know how much stress laying eggs puts upon a body my age?"

Chuckling at her using her age as an excuse, Star says, "Nice try at attempting to excuse your inaction, but you haven't aged a day in the thousands of years I've been gone."

Queen Clarion smiles and pats him on the nose saying, "I appreciate the compliment, but I am involved with Lord Milori, who is not as old as you."

He blows a raspberry at her teasing, causing them both to laugh lightheartedly as he turns to the gathered fairies, saying, "So where are my closest friends at, don't play coy." He then feels something land on his head and chuckles, saying, "Is that you, Freefall Vidia?"

Vidia stomps her foot on his head and shouts, "HEY! IT TOOK ME CENTURIES TO LIVE THAT NAME DOWN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

With a chuckle, he says, "It will take many more as I will never let that nickname fade away if I can help it."

Tinker Bell and the others make their way towards him swiftly, with Tink looking him over and crossing her hands over her noticeable chest, asking in annoyance, "You just had to have grown even bigger since last time, didn't you?!"

Star looks at how she squirms, making him chuckle and say, "I can't help it, my body won't ever stop growing. I am glad that you missed me, even if it is just for certain parts."

They all watch in amusement as their friend goes cherry red, giggling away as she looks like a fish out of water for a few seconds before starting to bicker with her friend, who has been absent for so many years as Fawn whispers, "Looks like she still holds a candle for him after all."