//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3; part 2 
// Story: The adventures of Dread Wing the Kirin 
// by Vediccio 
//------------------------------//

“What is this strange feeling?” A tall, majestic white Alicorn thought out loud. She felt uneasy, as if something terrible had happened. She walked out of her bedroom, out into the grand halls of Canterlot Castle, heading down. She had to pass a lot of stairs, and she always wondered why she put that secret study in the depths of the castle, instead of her own room. Twenty minutes later, after passing patrolling guards, greeting them and the occasional servant, she had now reached the depths of the castle, standing right before a quite large runed, ornamental door. She muttered a couple of magic words, opening the stone door and entering the medium sized room. 

The room looked like your average royalty study, filled with paper. In the middle of the room stood a pedestal with a map over Equestria on it, decorated with four different gemstones on it, marking four different notable locations.  But there was something wrong. The red gemstone, The Ruby, that marked dragon mountain was cracked. “Oh no” the white Alicorn murmured. She quickly walked out of the study, closed the door and teleported to the office of the captain of the royal guard. There was somepony sleeping by the desk.  “Captain Valiant!” she shouted out.
The pony sleeping on the desk quickly rose at attention, clearly looking tired. “Captain Valiant reporting for… Oh my, Princess Celestia! What are you doing here during this hour?”
“The Element of Fire has been stolen!”
“What? Are you sure?” he looked skeptical. 
“Of course! How could you doubt me Captain?”
“I’m so sorry, your majesty” Valiant stammered, “It’s just that… how is it possible that somepony killed the dragon?”
“I don’t think it’s a pony, but a monster…”

[Over at the cave] “What?”

“What what?” Daisy asked while putting a couple of jewels in her bag.

“Nothing, I just got this feeling that somepony said something insulting about me…”

[Back at Castle] 

“Well, if this thing is this dangerous, we have to stop it immediately!” Valiant Shield said out loud, “Tell me where it is heading, and I will send a battalion of guards to the location!”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know where it is heading next, so to be on the safe side, send a battalion to the ruins of the Palace of the royal sisters and make sure that the Temple of the Tides is secured. Oh, and prepare a squad of guards to wait for me in the courtyard in the morning, I wish to see how the dragon died.” Celestia ordered Captain Valiant.

“But, what about Cloudsdale?” Valiant asked, “Shouldn’t we reinforce the security there?”
Celestia shook her head. “No, that would just keep them away, and if we can’t get them In the other locations I atleast want to lure them into a trap. And an increase in security would cause weariness amongst the citizens.”
Valiant nodded, and Princess Celestia disappeared in a puff of white smoke. She had obviously teleported back to her chambers.

“What is the world coming to?” The royal guard captain asked himself before returning to sleep on his desk.

[Aaaaand back to the cave!]

The sun shone bright and hot, since it was in the middle of the summer. We have left the cave, only taking a small bit of the jewel treasure with us. I stopped a moment at the entrance to the cave. I stopped a moment to take in the fresh air that you could only fin at this altitude. It is a wonderful feeling, the cold morning breeze softly caressing my face, sending shivers down my spine(positive shivers). I also took the moment to look out upon southern Equestria. It was a beautiful sight, well, except the Everfree Forest, but it was an minor detail. In the distance I could spot our next destination, and it was not a vacation spot that I would recommend to my friends. 
The Palace of the Royal Sisters could easily be spotted from here, and just looking at it gave me the creeps, but I knew that I had to go on, for somewhere in the old forgotten depths of the ruins lies my objective, the Element of Earth. Daisy is shouting at me to hurry up, eager to continue, but I think that eagerness will vaporize when I tell her our destination. Awell, enough poetry for today, we’ve got an element to retrieve!
*****
When we reached the borders of the Everfree Forest, Daisy got second thoughts.
“Are you sure that the element of earth is in there?”
“Of course I am!” I reassured her. “The demon herself told me that it would be there!”
“Are you sure that you didn’t mishear her?” 
I raised an eyebrow. “Well, I am quite sure that I didn’t mishear her, and *The Everfree Forest* isn’t a line that you mishear easily.”
“Well, do we even know of where to look?” Daisy asked full of unenthusiasm.
“Why, in the Palace of the Royal Sisters of course!” I said full of enthusiasm.
“Wait… What and where is that?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.
I sighed heavily. History lesson incoming.
“It’s the old Palace that the Royal Sisters Luna and Celestia lived in a millennia ago, before Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon.”
“So you mean that the place could be haunted?” Daisy asked.
“Well, since I don’t believe in ghosts, I would say that it’s not haunted, but if you want to believe it, then go on ahead.”
Daisy crossed her arms. “You seem awfully sure of yourself.”
“Well, I’ve got a self-confidence the size of a mountain.” I said with my chin up, looking proud.
“You sure got a greediness the size of a mountain.” Daisy said with venom in her voice, smirking.
“Well, that’s because I’m half dragon, young one…” I sounded like an old man when I said young one, hilarious. 
“Which means your only half the dragon you suppose yourself to be.” She replied with even more venom, smirking widely. 
“Well, I’m not the one sleeping with my thumb in my mouth…” I was the one smirking now.
“Hey! I do not sleep with my thumb in my mouth!” she replied loudly, totally collapsing the smirk.
“Do too!” I replied with a childish voice.
“You know what? I’m not having this argument with you!” she said and barged right into the forest, completely ignoring the timber wolves that were waiting nearby, obviously attracted by our arguing.
I drew my sword and molded with the shadows, rushing towards the leaping timber wolves. With a quick swing, I sliced the first two timber wolves that leapt from the sides like a hot knife through butter, gaining a surprised face from Daisy. With the element of surprise blown, the rest of the timber wolves, five in a total, leapt out from cover. It would have worked, and would probably have killed at least one of us, but lucky for us, I just shadow stepped out of there, causing them to crash into each other. While they were disorientated, I charged in and started slashing. I took at least two of them before they regained their composure, and Daisy regained her own as well. As quickly as the deadly viper she is, she drew her bow and filled the air around me with arrows. If I’m not mistaken, and I hope that isn’t the case, she’s actually trying to kill me! Sure, she’s not the best assassin in the world, but she is very fast. Remind me not to get on her bad side.
After that volley of deadly arrows, which by the way almost hit me at multiple times, the timber wolves lay dead as dead timber wolves can be. We had just barely entered the forest when Daisy asked: “Do we have to walk all the way?”
“Yes”
“Why?”
“Why, you ask. Well, maybe because that’s the whole meaning of this little adventure of ours!” I replied enthusiastically.
“But… Can’t you just shadow step, or whatever to call it, us there? Isn’t that much faster, not to mention safer?” 
“Well, there are three reasons why we aren’t shadow stepping. One: It totally destroys the whole adventure theme. Two: It’s very far away, and the ‘Shadow stepping’ takes more energy the further I step. Three: It’s always fun to live a little dangerous!” Daisy gives out a sigh of defeat and starts walking into the forest. True, it is a lot safer, and would like nothing more than to shadow step there to keep Daisy safe, but I can’t be all overprotective of her. Besides, she needs to learn how to take care of herself, and learning in how to use that bow and those daggers is a step towards that goal. Awell, time to move on.
*****
The squad stood ready in the courtyard, ten handpicked royal guards with the mission to protect their princess while she was inspecting some place only the superiors know about. It was quite the thrill really, and maybe this was one step in the direction towards a promotion, if things go smoothly. They started to sense something in the air, feeling calm and soothed. That’s when they realized that their princess just stepped out into the courtyard. Quickly they rose up and stood in attention, awaiting orders.
“Who is your commanding officer?” Princess Celestia asked calmly, but still with a hint of authority.
The pegasi guardspony to the far right stepped forward. “I am, your majesty.” She spoke with an deep and authorative voice. And like all royal guards, her golden armor was enchanted to make her fur become white.
“What is your name, soldier?”
“Leftenant Moira Thundercloud, milady.” She said with a Trottingham accent.
“Very well lieutenant, I hope that Captain Valiant have already told you the situation?” princess Celestia asked. 
Moira nodded. “Yes, he did.”
“Very well, let us be off!” princess Celestia said while taking off into the night, towards Dragon Mountain. After her flew lieutenant Moira, and after her the other guardsponies went off into the night sky.
The flight to D.M. went rather smoothly, and it was a rather nice morning. The fact that the guardian of fire might have been killed for the element of fire would confirm her suspicions, but nothing could be for certain until she had confirmed anything. They were getting closer to Dragon Mountain now, and the air started to feel strange, an aura of death, something wrong. The feeling got stronger the closer to the cavern they got. They were standing right outside the cavern now, and the feeling could literary be smelled from there. There was something very wrong her to, maybe because the cavern entrance was literarily covered in shadows, hiding harmony knows what. The Lieutenant stepped slowly forward, almost afraid of what could give of such an foul aura. After a couple of meters in, she released a sigh. “It’s safe to go in!” she shouted out. 
With the remaining retinue of nine guards, Celestia stepped inside and lit her horn, illuminating the darkness of the cavern. She immediately regretted it.
Lying just a few meters ahead of her, the old dragon’s lifeless body lied rotting, almost decayed. How it could have decayed on such short notice was something the princess couldn’t explain. The guardsponies, even lieutenant Moira, vomited to both the sight and the smell. The smell was the most horrible part of it all. There were even maggots eating away the carcass. But the princess came here for an answer, and an answer she would get. Her horn lit up, and she motioned her arms to slowly turn the dragon corpse to lie on its side, and she gasped at the sight it revealed. A rather large cut had been made straight into the heart, and that cut seemed to have been followed by something cylinder like object, most likely  the killers harm reaching in to rip the element from its resting place. On top of that, the dragons limbs were all mesed up, as if something had been trying to rip them from their original places. Whatever this monster could have been, it must have been either rather big and strong, or just very powerful in magic. But the most alluring is the cut. Not every blade could cut through dragon skin, much less dragon scales. The blade must have been either special enchanted with an old spell, special made or… no, that’s not even possible. Lasercorn’s sword was lost with him, and surely this monster wasn’t Lasercorn. Or is it? No, it couldn’t be him. He wasn’t gifted with immortality, and much less would he want to go after the element of fire. No, this monster must have found Lasercorns remains and taken the sword from his corpse. Disgusting. But the most curious thing is… Why is the body still here? It should have turned to ash when the element was removed… maybe this foul magic has something to do with it? If so… this foul sorcery  must be stopped.
“Milady, if it wouldn’t be too much to ask, but could we go back to Canterlot?” Lieutenant Moira asked princess Celestia. “The men are getting unnerved.”
Celestia looked over to the other ponies, and they were indeed getting rather unnerved.
“Alright, let’s return. I am done here anyway.” 
Moira nodded and called out to the other guardsponies that they were leaving, and they all sighed of relief. They all stepped out into the warming sunlight and very welcomed chilling breeze. They lifted and flew back to Canterlot, eager to just forget what they just saw and felt.
*****
Finally. After hours of cutting, dodging and running, they were finally here. Daisy was not very impressed. “THIS is what we were risking life and limb for!?” she shouted at me, clearly not amused.
“Yes.” I simply replied.
Her face became red, and not in a good way. “YEAS!?” she screamed at me, completely ignoring the environment we were currently standing in. “THAT IS ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY!?”
“Yes.”
Before I knew what was happening, she tackled me and performing an very strong choking grip around my throat. It was not very comfortable. Oh, did I mention that we are currently lying in the middle of the hall? Awell, now you know. As she choked me, my senses went numb, and now she was pounding me against the floor. Hard. And clearly she didn’t notice that the hard pounding was now causing cracks in the floor, which clearly indicated that the area under the floor was clearly hollow, much likely a very deep pit, leading down to the very depths of the palace. But no, she was too busy trying to kill me to notice that we were going to fall to our most certain death. Awell, you know what they say: Karmas a bitch. And with that, the floor finally cracked and collapsed, and we went down, fast. Well, atleast the face of somepony who clearly was enjoying hurting me had disappeared, and was now replaced by a face born of pure fear. Lovely, really.
“HELP ME!” she screamed.
“Why should i?” I simply asked, wanting to take the moment to agonize her.
She was not very amused by my answer. Perfect.
“What do you mean ‘why should I’!?”
“Exactly what I meant.”
“AREN’T YOU GOING TO HELP ME!?”
“Well, after that quite forceful display of sadistic might, I don’t really feel like saving your life.” I replied plainly, and she shifted her expression to something that was afraid for her own life. All according to plan.
“I’M SORRY!” 	she screamed, but I wanted more than just a ‘I’m sorry’. I want her to beg. Oh goodness, I’m starting to sound like an sadistic maniac. Awell.
“Not good enough.”
“PLEASE, I’M SORRY I TRIED TO KILL YOU! HELP ME!” she cried desperately.
Well, she was getting rather depressed now, and besides, I got my revenge. Grabbing on to her, I   forged a net of shadows that caught us one meter from the floor. Daisy was now crying full out. 
“What the actual buck were you DOING!?” she screamed out that last word straight into my ear. It was painful.
“Oh, nothing really, I just wanted some revenge after you tried to KILL ME!” I replied, and I just had to shout out that last word. You know those father daughter moments? This was not one of them. Far from it actually.
“Oh you can’t be serious! You would actually risk my… OUR lives, for some petty misunderstanding?”
“Petty misunderstanding? PETTY MISUNDERSTANDING!? YOU TRIED TO KILL ME!” I was less than amused by her reply, and I was not impressed.
“Well, I was just getting a bit carried away! I mean, we had been risking our lives just to reach some old, barely standing ruins in the middle of nowhere!” she snapped.
“Do I need to remind you that these ruins are more than just some old, barely standing ruins in the middle of nowhere? This is the very palace that the two royal pony sisters had their seat two thousand years ago! It’s archeological and historic importance and value is worth more than almost anything you can find in Equestria today!” the archeologist in me snapped at her. Let’s just say that he doesn’t take kindly to people disregarding old and historic monuments as some pile of rocks.
“Hey, take it easy! You don’t need to snap at me!”
“Well, sometimes youngsters like you need to learn some little manners on how to treat relics of old!”
“Oh please, not this talk again! Just because I tried to find out what more my bow could do, you had to give me hours of lecturing on ‘that bow is of historic importance, be careful with it, and PLEASE don’t hit manticores on the head with it’!”
“Because manticore heads are very hard and that piece of historic importance is made of wood. Sure, it’s very hard wood, but still!”
“I don’t see the problem. I killed the manticore didn’t i?”
“Yeah, after you pierced it in the eye with that bow!” 
“The bow held! Besides, I don’t see why exploring the further use of the daggers might be such a big problem, anyway.”
I gave her the evil eye. “You smashed them right down on the petrification the cockatrice inflicted on you! Several times if I might add!”
“Hey! I broke the petri… petry… the stonifying thing spell stuff! I don’t see the problem.”
“Cockatrice petrification creates some of the strongest rock in the world, damn near close to bedrock, and you just SMASHED the daggers TIPS against it!” I snapped.
“It worked! I don’t see what all the fuss is about.”
It could be called an understatement to say that Dread Wing was angry, so no need to go into any details.  Let’s just say that mistreating old relics is like sacrilege to Dready. 

Too angry to continue lecturing Daisy, Dread Wing went out to explore the cave they fell down in. it was quite dark and damp, but it was dark enough to have problems to see. With a snap of his fingers, he conjured up some fire in his hand. Sure, his draconic heritage allowed him night vision(however would they had survived in caves, if hundreds of years of living in caves didn’t develop some sort of night vision?), but Daisy needed to see too. The ruins were astonishing. There were carvings and statues all over the cave. It seems as if they had fallen down into some sort of pony made chamber, and it looked like some kind of antechamber. Intrigued, Dread Wing gave Daisy the torch and continued inwards, towards the carvings. 
Daisy was about to say something that involved ‘What? Are you just gonna leave me here?’, but quickly closed her mouth when she figured that he wouldn’t hear her through his mental shield called *Quest for Knowledge*. Instead, she had a look around, to see if there was something for her to do while uncle Dready did his thing. And unsurprisingly, there was absolutely NOTHING to do! Only a history freak like Dready would love this place, but for her, it was like time stood still in an empty room. A very large and spacey room, but an empty room nonetheless. Sure, she could play tic tac toe with herself on the gray sand… wait, since when was there gray sand? I know normal sand, but that was way brighter than this, besides, it felt strangely light…
“Uncle Dready! There is some kind of strange sand over here!” I shouted at him in hopes that he could explain this to me. And as I suspected, he came jogging over.
****
These wall carvings are simply amazing! I have never seen anything like it! It looks as if the carvings are telling either a story, or an prophesy, but I think it’s the latter. Any translating would take time, but I think that in the end, it will all be worth it! I wonder what that dragon like figure is…
“Uncle Dready! There is some kind of strange sand over here!” Daisy shouted from the other side of the antechamber. I jogged there to investigate this weird ‘Strange sand’, and the results was not anywhere near a happy result.
“Daisy, that is not sand” she looked strangely at me, “That is ash.”
****
How I feel? Awfully confused. What the hay is ash? “What is ash?” I asked uncle.
He looked at me, seemingly troubled. This ash thing must be something awfull.
“Ash is what remains of a creature when it has been completely burned.”
How do I feel? Terrified, disgusted and curiously curious. Terrified and disgusted, because its ashes! The remains of somepony who’ve been burned alive from the looks of this place. And curious, where the hay did the fire come from?
****
While Daisy is investigating the ashes, I decided to continue my translation of the tablets. They are quite interesting to say the least. The tablets tell of a story, that many creatures would come here and seek an artifact called the Element of Earth(probably the same one that we are seeking). It also tells of a creature of terrible power that would one day come and seek the element, and wether this creature would be successful was not mentioned, but the picture of this *creature of terrible power* was quite interesting. It was a pony standing in some sort of victory pose above a pile of corpses, with some kind of dragon shadow towering behind it. What could it mean? By the look of it, the pony could be a Kirin, or just somepony with a dragon friend(or slave). It was all interesting to read, but there was something else that caught my eyes, something very peculiar. This was so unexpected, so strange, so weird and so very… fanboyish.
*Gold is best pony*
I swear, this is true. It is carved straight into the tablet, right under the pony… dragon…
Could it be? No, it can’t be. This is where the tablets end, and then comes what I call, *The door*. Quite unimaginary iknow, but I had an lack of imagination. We can call him Sesame if you want.
Awell, anyway, what I think is that the dragon/pony on the tablet could, but only could, be Gold Burn, the Kirin that wreaked havoc across Equestria and various other nations. But why would she be pictured in a place like this? I could only imagine that she would come here and try to get the Element of Earth, but without evidence I can’t confirm it. What did she do here, if she even went here? I’d better look it up in Marelin’s tome.
****
Seriously, how long time could it be to just read a couple of wall paintings, say what they mean, and then go on looking for that Celestia damned element. But no, lets drag on and take a read in my GIGANTIC BOOK, and waste even more of our time. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some monster down here that’s been watching us for a long time, and wants to kill us…
How right could a mere mare of 14 have been so right?
****
“Hmmm” I hmmm:d, “it says nothing about Gold Burn ever going here, but she did disappear after they had mortally wounded her with Ballsbane.” I said to myself. I sat down and leaned on one of the pillars, and oh colt was it a bad idea…
****
The whole world shook, dust falling down from the cracks in the ceiling, and I swear that the world was falling down upon us. Please Celestia, don’t let us die…
****
The shaking stopped, and where there had been a wall, there was now a hole…

A small breeze swept out through the hole, releasing the dread stench of dead.

Inside, a beast of solid stone rose from its slumber…
****
“What is that stench?” an armored Pegasus said with an Trottingham accent. “Sergeant, status report?”
“We’ve confirmed two life forms down there, but they don’t really fit the whole *Monster of Terrible Power* description, ma’am” a white(magic effect from the royal guard armor) Pegasus said, with a bit more of an Canterlot accent.
Lieutenant Moira gruffed back at the sergeant. “And what about the hole? I’m quite sure that it isn’t supposed to be here” She replied, “And ready the men, we’re going down.”
Sergeant Shining Armor stood silent, and then went to round up the men. He knew better than to question his superiors, but sometimes they were just wrong. As was this whole goose chase. But, if they were still here, and he had guessed that this *monster* had come before them, because of the hole in the middle of the old throne room. And they just couldn’t ignore the threat this monster posed to Equestria. It had to be stopped.
****
It was dark.
It was damp.
It was the perfect place to place this goddamned Element of Earth!
The torch that I gave to Daisy went out when the doorway opened, and she panicked. And while trying to calm her down and say that everything is alright, I tried to peek into the new room. I also took note of the voices from the above. They sounded military… probably the royal guard coming to secure the element. One of them sounded Trottinghamish… can’t say I liked them very much. There was this one time… meh, don’t really have time for stories now, do we? My first priority, get Daisy away from the guards, and second to get that element!
I *dragged* her into the hole in the wall, fully knowing that doing so would probably risk her wellbeing… but it’s better than to have the royal guards pull her away.
It was surprisingly cool in here… not counting the mysterious breeze. It was a VERY spacious cave, even bigger than the dragons lair. Only thing missing is the gigantic hoard.
Wait… is that something sparkly I see over there? Need to look a little closer…
****
During this same time, in some mysterious pub in some mysterious place there sat an mysterious stallion playing a mysterious card game with some other mysterious stallions and one mysterious mare. He said something mysterious, but we won’t know what it is, because it was so mysteriously mysterious that we won’t know what he mysteriously said about something mysterious.
His eye twitched.
****
So long… it has been sleeping for so long… two milleniums has passed since something has disturbed its sleep… it doesn’t have the celestial aura of Celestia, and not the Soothing aura of Luna, but of something dark and twisted… of grief and sorrow… of greed and violence… this thing has come for the Element of Earth… it must not have it… at any cost…
****
“oh bucking hell….” Daisy said when the gigantic stone monster rose up from the center of the ginormus cave. To say that she was scare was an understatement. She was scared shitless. To use the bow would be completely useless against stone, but she wasn’t so sure about the daggers… maybe, but it wasn’t really worth the risk of dying. When she turned around to run out of the cave, the door slammed into place, blocking the only way out. As quick as the wind, she darted across the cave, hopefully out of the monstrosity’s view. All it did was drawing its attention.
****
Crap! This isn’t good! The door is closed, and we’re locked inside with an stone golem. Think! What could ever be good against rock? I could try to levitate it… Just reach out my hands and focus my horns…
The golem was suddenly shrouded in an black aura, slowly lifting up into the air.
HA! It works! And now to the slamming… And with that, Dread Wing slammed the golem into the cavern floor. Worst. Idea. Ever.
The cave started to shake, obviously it was unstable, but at least it didn’t focus on Daisy anymore.
Now it was all focused on me.
*****
That was close! Lucky me that uncle Dready had powerful magic. My back feels weird... 
Daisy slowly rose up and turned around, and was greeted by a sight that made her sick a long time ago… the skeleton of a dragon.
****
“… The hell is going on in there?” Lieutenant Moira asked nopony in particular. They had been so close to capturing them, and then suddenly that damned stone door closed shut, not moving an inch when they tried to push it open. Some minutes after that, the earthquake came. The men were quite happy that they were on this side of the door. The sergeant has been whining on about how dangerous it is down here, that this room might collapse. Stuff it, Moira had said, and the sergeant has been quiet since. This is not going to look good for him in my report.
*This thing is an high priority target, don’t let him escape* Captain Valiant Shield had told me, and letting him escape would be like an death sentence. Both for me, and Equestria. And I will not fall back and risk the thing escaping because of some old chamber, the cost is too much, and if we stay here, we have the element of surprise. It’s going to come out, and when it does, we will be ready.
****
It’s bucking bedrock! How in tartarus couldn’t I recognize it!? And I’m supposed to be the mineral expert… some expert I am. Of course slamming it against the floor was the worst idea of the century, since it didn’t do shit.
How the hay do I counter bedrock!? The most hardest and sturdiest stone in the world, and it’s alive and moving. Telekinesis sucks… punching worthless… hacking? Nah, probably wouldn’t work. Think Dready, think! Everything went black.
****
The mysteriously mysterious Stallion twitched his other eye mysteriously mysteriously.
****
Daisy quickly turned her gaze from the dead dragon to where she thought she heard somepony get hit.
The golem moved its hand from the wall, revealing a smashed Dread Wing falling to the floor.
****
“Why?” Dread Wing thought to himself. Why didn’t I think of that? If I did, I could’ve found it while it was rising from the telesmash, and this would all be allot easier. And now I’m falling towards the floor, all smashed up and powered down. *Thump* I hit the floor. It wasn’t nice.
Wait. I turned my gaze upwards. There! The very thing I should’ve looked for at the beginning. The magical power source! Almost all golems have those, and I was stupid enough not to look for it.
And it is situated right below the waistline… 
I feel a quote coming…
****
The look on uncle’s face… Defeat, shame and the most painful of all… hopelessness.
*Thump*
That triggered Daisy.
She drew her bow and repeatedly fired shots at the golem, even though the arrows bounced right off of the hard rock.
If she could just distract the golem for a couple of seconds, maybe uncle Dready can find some sort of weakness?
****
I felt two things about Daisy shooting the golem. First: Pride. Pride because she dared to shoot it in the first place to save me from a second slam that would have definitely killed me. Second: Anger. She’s risking her life just to save me! She should be finding a way out of here. But I’m still proud of her, because I found the magic source.
Under the waistline…
A well, time to muster up what little strength I have left for one last thrust.
“AIM FOR THE BALLS!” I shouted while thrusting Ballsbane towards… the golems crotch… 
For some weird reason, the blade shone bright as day. Huh, interesting.
The golem turned its gaze towards me, clearly wondering why I was making so much noise. Well, prepare for the worst surprise ever. It shines so bright… Hit!
****
“AIM FOR THE BALLS!”
Daisy froze.
“What in tartarus did he just scream?” she thought to herself. Seconds later, Dread Wing was thrusting his whole body forward, with a shining sword… “Wait, where’d he get that?” Daisy said to herself. It’s so bright… and then there was a bright explosion.
****
The Mysteriously Mysterious Stallion Mysteriously plays his Mysterious hand. Royal straight flush. He Mysteriously grabs the chips around the Mysterious table.
****
There was nothing other than bright white. Uncle Dready was saying something, but I couldn’t hear it. The bright white won’t go away. Could it be that…
“I’M BLIND!!”
****	
As the light faded away, Dread Wing could see more clearly. He scratched his eyes, and then turned his gaze towards the former golem.
There, levitating in the air above the rubble, was the Element of Earth, his prize.
“Phew! That was close. Don’t you think so too Daisy?” He asked Daisy while grabbing the element. No response.
Then came the scream. “I’M BLIND!!”
Ah crap.
****
“Phew, I am glad that it’s over” Celestia said to herself, sitting in her study, enjoying a nice cup of tea. Today was a very bright day, and very nice. It was one of those days that felt like nothing could go wrong. The weather was just terrific, with a small breeze coming in through her open balcony door, and the sound of running feet… wait, running feet?
And faster than she could react, a brown pegasi stormed through the door, with a clearly obvious face that screamed *something terrible has happened!*. He was panting.
“Slow down captain Valiant, take slow deep breaths” she said with her trademark motherly voice. Valiant was taking slow, deep breaths, and soon enough he stopped panting. He cleared his throat.
“The Element of Earth has been stolen!” he shouted.
And there went the *day were nothing could go wrong* out the window and exploded.
“WHAT!?” Celestia shouted in the royal canterlot voice. Yes, shouted. To say that she was frustrated would be an understatement. Things were not going according to plan! Lieutenant Moira was supposed to have intercepted the *collector* as she had named it, since she didn’t know it’s real name. It seems like that the intercept mission didn’t go as planned, and the collector is one step ahead of everypony. Hopefully, Moira is still able to stop it…
****
When the earthquake stopped, everything calmed down, but the ruins are crying. The stones… oh the bastards, finally something took initiative and hurt you! I would if I could, but you hide so well… Argh!
But I feel a presence… no wait, several… Quite flamboyant and stupid, but still… but one sticks out from the rest… it feels like the one the dark one told me about… the dragon…
****
“Blink damnit, blink!” I keep shouting at her, but she. Just. Won’t! It was just a flashbang, and the effects wear of if one keeps blinking, but so far she has been neglecting my help. She is still screaming, and clearly she’s scared, but there have to be something that I can do… Well, there might be one thing…
*SLAP*
Daisy stopped screaming, but she still sobbed. “Can you hear me?” I asked. She nodded. “Good, now listen. You have just witnessed a flashbang, and its effects are blindness, but it can easily be removed by blinking, do that now please.” And fortunately, she started blinking.
After what felt like hours of blinking(it was actually just one minute, but still), she stopped blinking and looked at me. Then she started crying again and hugged me, hard. I put my hand on the back of her head and stroked, trying to calm her down. “Shhh… it’s over now…”
****
“How much longer do we have to wait, Lieutenant?” Sergeant Armor asked his commanding officer, who seemed to have no intention of leaving the clearly unstable chamber. 
“Until the collector comes out and is captured.” She answered plainly. Shining Armor faceslapped himself. “Are you daft?” Moira turned her head to look at the sergeant, whose face now was all red and furious, “If we don’t leave soon, the ruins will fall down on our heads!” Shining shouted at his superior officer, not giving a shit about the consequences. 
“I thinks that’s a really, really good idea!”
Every one jumped in shock. How the hell did that guy sneak up on us?
Moira broke the silence, “Who the hay are you and where did you come from!?” she shouted, obviously shocked.
“Well, first I was walking down the hall looking for that caznarn stone that’s always watching me, and then I heard shouting, and since no one has been here for over six months, I started to wonder who it could be that suddenly comes to visit ol’ Meerow, and then I sneaked up here to listen more closely, and I think this young colt”, the strange stallion tapped Shining Armor on the shoulder,” is absolutely right. You all should really get out of here before the stones retaliate!” he said, now sounding scared and angry at the same time.
“Sir, I don’t know what you’ve eaten or whatever, but we’re here on a mission, and we won’t leave until we have captured that monster!” Lieutenant Moira shouted, clearly not wanting to move.
“So… you’re the ones trying to stop the dragon, ey?” the madstallion  adapted a new tone, the like that you hear when someone addressing someone he’s about to kill.
“If he is the collector, then yes. But how do you…” she never finished the line.
*ZAP*
The madstallion shot a lightning bolt at the lieutenant, sending her across the room, straight into a pillar.  
*ZAP*
Another guardsman was sent across the room.
*ZAP*
Another one.
*ZAP*
And another one.
“HIDE!” Shining Armor screamed.
*ZAP*
Another one. The intercept squad of 15 Guardsmen had been reduced to 10, and with the commanding officer out of duty, as the highest ranking member, Sergeant Shining Armor took the initiative. The madstallion was still throwing lightning bolts around, almost sending the room into a total collapse. With no other plan, he leapt the stallion, tackled him and punched him, hard.
The stallion seemed to be quite weak, since one punch knocked him out cold. “It’s safe now!” he…
*ZAP*
Shining Armor was sent into the ceiling.
The door rumbled.
****
Well, it seems like we’re done here, no time to loiter. We need to get out of here before the guard tries to capture us, and find a safe place to rest. And as the door rumbled open, I could hear zap sounds, as if someone was throwing around lightning bolts…
As I stepped out from the large cave, something was out of place… There were black dots her and there, guardsmen littered the room, and they too had black dots on them. I couldn’t sense any aura from them, which meant that they were dead… but there was one moving…
His suit had some nicer ornaments, and from what I remember from the guards in Stalliongrad, he must be a sergeant. Yeah, I was real popular over there… Story for another time!
As I moved closer to him, he tensed up. “So, ready to finish me off?  After all, you did kill off the rest of my squad, why wait with me? What’s so important that you let me be the last?”
I stood there, silently watching the half dead guardsman. 
“Well? Are you going to tell me, or will I die not knowing?”
“That depends, which one do you prefer?” I asked him with a darker voice, adding to the scene.
The guardsman tensed up, and then turned around. His eyes went wide when he saw me. “Who the hay are you?”
“Well, I go by many names. Freak, monster, pest, abomination and hybrid, but you know me as *Collector*” His eyes went wider and his jaw dropped. “But you may call me Dread Wing, Son of Dark Flame the Scarred, The shadow of the East. Or just Dready, whichever takes your fancy.”
I understood that he was left speechless, probably scared shitless for knowing that the one they were hunting was standing right in front of him, without his squad to back him up. Now, to unmask that crazy looking fellow behind the rubble. “Hey, crazy looking guy, get out here!” 
And sure enough, that crazy looking guy came out, and sure enough, he readied a spell.
“If you’re going to zap him, don’t even think about it, I want him alive.” I sneered at the crazy looking guy.
“But… They are working with the stone! They have to be punished!” he almost pleaded.
The hay? What’s this with a Stone? Crazy guy. “The reason for him being alive, is that what fun is a hunt without a hunter?” 
“Ah, you mean it like that!” he almost sounded excited.
“Yes, and what do we do then?”
“Zap him!”
“NO!”
Crazy stopped and looked at me confused.
“We DON’T zap him!”
“Why?”
“if you zap him, who is going to report back to the princess?”
“Ah, you mean it like that!”
“Yes, and what do we do then?”
“ZAP HIM!”
*Smack*
Crazy was sent across the room, landing on the floor.
“WE DON’T ZAP HIM, YOU CRAZY IDIOT!” I shouted at him. I face slapped myself, then I wrapped everybody in shadows and flew us all up, not wanting to waste another second down there.
Daisy was somewhat used to the shadow walk, the others weren’t. The guard puked, and crazy… started acting all crazy again. “BOOOYAAA!” he screamed, “The dragon saves the day!” he proceeded to the chasm where me and Daisy fell down, “Suck on that, Stone! I’m on the surface, away from your evil schemings and whispering!” He jumped and punched the air in some sort of victory act, and then proceeded to lie down on the stone floor. Oh, and it seems like the guard have stopped puking.
I flared my wings and my two horns, dispelling the illusion. His eyes widened.
“Now, why don’t we get a little more… civilized” I closed in on the guardsman’s face, “you know my name, but I don’t know yours… Awfully rude, don’t you think?”
His eyes burned with hate, probably because of the loss of his squad. He mumbled something.
“I didn’t catch that, say it again please.” I said with a calm tone.
“Fuck you monster!” he shouted.
“Well, that wasn’t very nice. Here I was trying to be civilized and what did I get in return? The same bullshit I’ve gotten all my life outside the lair.” I said, hurt pretty badly. I turned my head. “No offense.”
“None taken.” The bull said, and then he walked away into the sunrise.
“Besides, why can’t people be somewhat civilized with me? What is so wrong that no one can have just ONE polite reply? Awell, I understand your situation, that you are looking at a monster, and that he deserves to die for what he has done.” I glared at him. “But know this, I am not responsible for the deaths of your brothers-in-arms, and know that I am doing this for a good reason. A well, suns almost up now, time to go. Hey, crazy!” I shouted at the crazy guy still lying on the floor.
“Yeah?”
“Get up, we’re moving on.”
“Nice.”
“Alright, Daisy…” I looked around. “Where’s Daisy?”
“YOU BASTARDS! I’M GONNA SKIN YOU ALIVE IF YOU DON’T GET ME UP FROM HERE!”
“Ah, there she is!”
*cough*
I turned. “Oh, yeah. Lets erase that last part…” I clicked my fingers, and a shade of black enveloped  the nameless guardsman’s head, and then disappeared in a flash of grey. “That does it! Let’s get moving!” I said, wrapping myself in shadows and went down in the chasm and picked up Daisy, flying her up.
She was clearly angry. “Why in tartarus did you leave me down there!? You know I hate dark, damp places!”
“No, but I do now!” I said with a smile. Big mistake.
*phow*
The good old feeling of a flying fist colliding with ones face is… so nostalgic. Reminds me of my university years, all the brawls I got into for both fun and honour’s sake. Honour. It’s shit if you can’t keep it. Honour is shit regardless, since it brings nothing but trouble. Lives have been lost due to honour’s sake. Well, the ones that didn’t have anything to do with it anyway. But, there are some aspects about it that are good, like keeping you from doing nasty things, I don’t know. All I ever learned about honour is that it gets you into trouble.
*Thump*
Oh, I just hit the ground. My cheeks sour, the impact hurt my back, and it hurts like hell. Anyway, guess I deserved it. Oh, forgot the guardsman.
I jumped back up, despite the pains in my back. “Well, let’s get going then!” I said merrily.
*Gasp*
“What happened to that man?” Daisy asked, worriedly. Troubling. Now I have to explain stuff, and I hope that she didn’t see the massacre downstairs. 
“Ehm…” I turned around and looked at the guardsman. Hmmm, seems like Crazy knocked him out when I went to get Daisy… Aha!
“He was injured, but don’t worry, I called for help.” Phew…
“But… there aren’t any ponies for miles! How can you be sure that anyone even heard you?” she looked both worriedly and suspiciously at me.
“Dear, he is a soldier, they always have some sort of emergency team in the area.”
“Okay, but what if they don’t understand the signal?”
“Trust me Daisy, they will.” I said with a more serious voice.
“Okay, if you say so…” she then proceeded to lean on a nearby wall.
I walked to the chasm, looked up and pointed my right index finger towards the sky, pointed out my thumb and then tilted it towards my index finger, firing a red flare into the sky. 
“Bang”
I wrapped everyone into my shadows, and turned my gaze to Crazy. “By the way, what’s your name crazy?”
“Meerow” he said, and then we flew out of the ruins, heading south of the forest, towards our next objective. But first, let’s find a place to make camp, ‘cause I’m pretty worn out…

The mysteriously mysterious Stallion cashed out.