Everyone had to leave the dinner room for some fresh air and to let the staff clean up the biohazards left behind. Twilight still ate what food was given to her as she still wanted to feel what food was like in this time without war with the dragons and ejge, no matter how soft everyone seemed to be. The mare returned to the castle yard where she started to train with her spear in hoof-to-hoof combat, fighting imaginary adversaries while the patrolling guards and brick-layers continued their tasks. Further away in the mountains stood a wooden watchtower where two guards were busy falling asleep.
"I'm bored!" the first guard complained.
"Nothing is ever going to happen anyways," the other rolled over onto her back. "I mean, even the few that still protested against the tribes living together-" the mare started pretend coughing. "-disregard we've been together four about five hundred years now--".
"Ha. That's true. They're not here anymore. They were banished from Equestria."
"Meh." The mare's eyes widened at a sudden realization then tightened as a devilishly wide grin stretched across her muzzle. "Maybe we'll get attacked by a dragoooooon! Ooooooooh!"
The stallion backed away. "Stop that. You know I hate dragons."
"Vicious claws and teeth approaching you ever slowly, just waiting for you--"
The entire tower was torn over before she could continue torturing her colleague. Luckily, their armor protected them from the collapsing timber, but it didn't take them long to realize what it was.
"Something's coming from the distance," a watch guard at the castle shouted.
Several of the patrolling guards gathered below him near the walls, curious, but also worried.
"What is it?" one of them asked.
"It's a...It's a dragon."
"Oh, well that's not a problem. They tend to fly around here and--"
A huge fireball cut the pony short when it punched into the barracks, tearing them apart and lighting the remains on fire. The ponies all scrambled around before several captains and sergeants brought them back to their senses. Many fire fighting and archery teams were formed to extinguish stray embers and live fires. The archers climbed several of the wall segments that had already been completed and aimed at the dragon who appeared to be leaving. One of the sergeants galloped towards Twilight's training spot and angrily called out to her.
"Twilight, what are...Twilight? Wherea re you?"
"What's going on, sergeant?" an archer asked.
"I don't know. I can't find the dragon hunter."
"Great! Right when we needed her."
"It's turning around!" another archer shouted.
The strings of dozens of bows strained against the arrows and the hooves pulling them back. They waited for the flying monster to get close enough and let loose a flurry of arrows. Unfortunately, having no experience with dragon fighting, the ponies didn't realize that their arrows would only bounce off the tough scales of the dragon, and said monster amused itself by swiping its club tail into the wall segment. Stone shards and ponies flew in all directions over a short distance, and the dragon found it hilarious, but its amusement didn't last long as a ball of white light punched into its stomach and left wing, destabilizing it and tearing the scales off its underside.
Having lost its balance and feeling a searing pain on its belly, the dragon was incapable of keeping to the air and crashed into the ground. When it got up, it could only see and maybe even feel the pitiful attempts of the ponies trying to kill it with their arrows. It yelled again when a burning sensation engulfed its wings. Someone has set its wings on fire, letting the thin skin flaps tear to shreds like paper.
"A dragon," a female voice spoke.
A claw swiped at where the dragon thought the voice was, but all it hit was air and grass. The dragon growled with frustration when he heard the voice laugh at it.
"You're not even a fully grown dragon!"
"Pin it down!" a sergeant ordered.
The ponies barreled towards the dragon who tried flapping its damaged wings away, and it nearly succeeded, but Twilight had other plans for it, and fleeing wasn't one of them. She had been hiding underneath its wings the whole time, sneaking there after shooting the dragon and following the moving shadow of the wing so as to remain perfectly hidden from the creature's sight while it was preoccupied. Standing on her hind legs as best as she could, the mare threw her spear into the dragon's exposed belly and, with the help of some rope, allowed Twilight to just barely hold on to the weakened dragon. Several more guards ran up with javelins, doing the exact same thing. The dragon was finally pulled to the ground and had its arms, legs, wings, and mouth bound.
One of the guards took off his helmet and wiped his forehead. "That was...surprisingly easy," he commented.
A captain slapped him behind the head. "Easy? She's the one who did everything!" She pointed at Twilight. "All because of that weird weapon. I didn't even know dragons were immune to arrows. I just thought they were resistant, seeing their size."
Twilight ignored the compliments of the ponies around and climbed onto the dragon's back, disappearing behind the folded wings. After sounds of a scuffle, a dracopony was tossed onto the floor, groaning in pain and attracting the attention of the guards.
"What in the hades is that?"
A mare grabbed the blue dracopony's leg and examined it. "Why does it have claws and scales where there should be fur and a hoof?"
Twilight glared at the creature who saw her approach and immediately tried to get away, but with the wounds the dragon hunter inflicted upon his legs, he couldn't do much except imitate a caterpillar. "This is a dracopony," she hissed as she stomped on her victim's hind leg. "It shouldn't be in this reality. It must've followed me. Plus," she chuckled. "This is barely a juvenile dragon. Look at it. Its horns have barely grown out of its skull, its limbs are thin and lanky, and this species' red scales are still copper colored. It's barely even the size of a fully grown dragon."
The captain cleared her throat and approached Twilight. "Well, then let's take him in for questioning and--"
"Dracoponies only deserve death, so that's what I will GIVE!"
The lavender unicorn raised her weapon but was stopped by gold-tinted magic.
"STOP!" Celestia bellowed. The alicorn landed next to Twilight and nudged her away gently. "I will not have you kill either of them.
"Then how am I supposed to get my new armor and weapons, Imposter Princess?"
Celestia blinked slowly and left her mouth agape. "That's my new name?"
"Yes."
"Hm."
Celestia rolled her eyes and shook her head, preferring to ignore the comment and get to the draco pony who was protecting his face from the alicorn. Upon closer inspection. Only his left foreleg was covered in scales and had claws growing out of the hoof. The rest of the body was still very pony like despite having patches of cerulean blue scales here and there. A dragon 'antler' was growing out from the right of his head and his pupils were starting to morph into the classical reptilian slit. With his heavy panting, Celestia could see that many of his teeth became sharper and more predatorial.
"It is alright?" she soothed the dracopony. "I won't hurt you."
"I just did this because she forced me to," the dracopony stuttered.
"Who forced you to do this? How were you even capable of riding this mighty creature?"
"A green and blue unicorn mare. She's as tall as you, Princess. She said I would have a great adventure if I followed her. I didn't understand what she meant!" The stallion started wailing in tears.
"It's alright, my little pony. We're all here to help you, but we need to keep you in the dungeon for your and everypony else's protection." Celestia faced her guards and started giving orders to them. "Sergeants. Captains. I need some of you to divert into small groups that take the wounded to Sparkles' clinic. I know that you have already diverted group for fire fighting, but now I need you to get some of the masons and architects to assess the damage. I also--"
Celestia was cut short when she heard a scream. Twilight had her foreleg in the chest of the draco pony and her spear held high.
"Twilight!"
The lavender unicorn mare looked at Celestia with open eyes and an apathetic expression.
"We need him! And I still need to help him any ways I can."
A badly beat up guard approached the princess and reported to her. "Princess Celestia, she already killed the dragon."
"She what?! Twilight! Please! Don't do this!"
The lavender unicorn casually lowered the blade of her spear at a slow -yet regular- speed towards then into the skull of the dracopony despite his screams of pain, and only pulled out just as slow when he was dead. At that moment, Celestia felt genuinely terrified at the expression Twilight made, and the sunset behind the lavender unicorn only compounded upon the growing cold and darkness the alicorn felt as she gazed into Twilight's eyes. It was so benign. So emotionless. So carefree. There were no regrets in them nor in her physical movements. With one quick slash, the blood on the blade was wiped off and thrown into the grass. The princess realized to just what extent Twilight hated dragons and whatever was associated. She wasn't just a hunter; She was a soldier, and a veteran instilled with hatred grown from her own experiences and losses.