//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10: Legacy of the Dovahkiin 
// Story: All Hail the Dragonborn 
// by RedtheDestroyer 
//------------------------------//

I didn't know when I hit the bottom, but I felt myself hitting something hard yet soft. The impact hurt me slightly, but other than that, I was fine. I pushed myself up, but all I could see was pitch black darkness. Besides that, I felt myself being in some sort of water. Judging by the shallow water I was standing in, I must be in a swamp. But that wouldn't explain the total darkness.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" Silence greeted me. I listened harder.

Confused and in a panic, I went to try and feel anything but water, however, I didn't seem to feel anything that was different. Having no other options, I trudged through the water in one direction and continued my pace. "I hope I can get out of here. This place feels off."

I suddenly remembered that I could create light, so I raised my hand imagining a ball of light to appear. The light blind me in the darkness temporarily, but my vision returned a moment later. To my shock and disgust, I ended up in the belly of a beast, literally. The stomach seem to be large enough to appear as a pink underground lake. I glanced at my hands worried about my armor status. Fortunately, the curse had been suppressed back, for now. A stray thought made me think of a certain alabaster princess.

I searched in the sick greenish water having little other choice but to feel for her in the water. The water went up to my knees, but luckily it seems the dragon's stomach hasn't began processing us. I finally manage to spot Celestia five feet away from me half emerged in the green water. I pulled her from the water carrying her in a bridle style. The water itself seem to have been slowly eating her flesh exposing her muscles and left over skin. I used my free hand to start the flow of healing magic into her wounds.

Once the wounds healed, Celestia seemed to regain her consciousness. She stared blankly in the edged darkness around us before seeing me carry her. She squirmed realizing I was carrying her.

"Don't move. This water is a form of stomach acid." I said sternly. 

She paused in her struggle staring bewildered at me. "Stomach acid?"

I nod my head. "Yes. We are in the belly of the giant dragon that swallowed us." A tremor nearly knocked me off balance, but I managed to stay upright.

Celestia pushed out of my grip before flapping her wings in a hover motion beside me. "Then we need to get out of here quickly."

That was one thing we could both agree on. I scanned the belly for anything that could be useful. My eyes soon fell upon a fairly large dark bruise to my left. I hummed to myself. "How hot are your flames, Sun Princess?"

She looked to me again, perplexed. "As hot as the sun can be. Why is that important?"

"Okay. I've got a plan in mind."



Alduin proudly hovered among the wreckage his dragons dealt across the mountain city. Millions of stallions and mares being stained before his eyes. Yes, quite a few of his soldiers died, mostly the weaker Equi dragons, but nithing he couldn't replace easily. The World Eater glanced at the monstrous earth dragon. The dragon was so big he was almost triple the size of the city itself. It was a feat in itself that the Canterlot hadn't collapsed yet due to weight alone. The beast simply stood in place waiting for his orders.

"I believe we've played around for long enough. Time to show these ponies who is on top of the food chain. Dranix Mayhem."

The beast of a dragon bellowed a mighty roar sending vibrations throughout the Canter mountain range. The pony inhabitants froze stiff at the intimidation tactic. A certain blue alicorn eyed the enormous dovah carefully.

Alduin bared his teeth to the ponies below. "Pony residence of Canterlot! I would like to introduce your final doom: Dovah Colossus. Make peace with your gods while you still have the chance."

Princess Luna glared at the World Eater hacking away as many dragons her blades can cut down. Slowly making her way to Alduin. The colossus dragon moved into a battle stance arching his back at the mountain top. A bright orange sphere of fire gathering in his maw. The Moon Princess had just enough time to quickly  raise a magical shield around herself before bracing for impact. A huge, powerful torrent of flames lit the enitre street in a sea of flames and death. Even fellow dragons, mostly the Equestrian Dragons, were somehow being burned alive with her soldiers.

Alduin smiled at the destruction his pet creating effortless chaos in the city. The Dovah Colossus frantically tore down any nearby building using them to smash nearby soldiers with ease. Luna charge enough rage-fueled moonlight before unleashing a gigabeam of pure energy into the exposed belly of the giant beast. The beam itself barely left a scratch on his belly, but the Dovah Colossus lost his balance for a few seconds. This gave Luna the chance to take off into the air.

She sped up toward the Colossus at mach-speeds that could rival Rainbow Dash in a fifteen mile sprint race to the finish. Luna reared her scyph preparing the final blow, but the World Eater parried the charged attack in a instant.

"Fus-ro-dah!"

A blue energy lightly touched her body before she was hurled violently into the body of the mountain of the other side of Canterlot, the air knocked clean out of her. Her armor waned, cracked in several places at the moment. Fortunately, the armor manage to take care of most of the impact.

Alduin bellowed out a long drawn out laugh from his belly, eyeing the Moon Princess like she was a joke. "Where is the fighting spirit you ponies had earlier? This other princess of yours can't be all your kingdom has to offer. And you better come up with something quickly! I'm not sure if your precious sun princess and 'dragon hunter' would be able to survive digestion much longer."

A nearby guard glared at the dovah. "The Elements of Harmony will stop you!"

This revelation just made the dovah chuckle. "Really? Six ponies with six gems can stop me with pathetic harmony magic? Let me demonstrate your impending doom, to all your kind, and how feeble your magic truly is. VEN GAAR NOS!"

The clear blue sky turned as black as night. A powerful vortex formed in the blink of an eye before swiftly turning into a tornado. It tore through the streets of Canterlot growing more and more powerful the longer it stayed alive. Parts of buildings and the castle itself were broken, even completely torn apart to dust in its winds. Many of the equestrian soldiers were being swallowed and torn apart just by the sole twister. Some pegasi tried to tame the raging winds, but ended up caught in the fray themselves. No pony knew just how truly terrifying nature was until now.

It didn't last forever due to a powerful beam of moonlight pushing the twister back with brute strength. The tornado viciously fought back making Luna wince at the pressure in her skull, but the wind pressure only slowed her down temporarily. Eventually, the twister ceased existing with the growing hole in its body. Luna pant heavily being brought down to one knee still battered and bruised.

"This futile battle proves how weak your magic is against true forces of nature. You refused to surrender, and now you will receive your cleansing from this earth. Do it, Dovah Colossus."

The Colossus arched his head into the air charging up another ball of fire steadily growing brighter and hotter. It slowly grew bigger with the words it mumbled.

YOL....

Waves of intense heat radiate off the sphere warping the usually cool air around the mountain top. Storm clouds brewed in waiting over head. The ponies who didn't immediately die from the battle were being pushed back into their homes by the intense heat. Even some of the minion dragons began to retreat back giving the mighty Colossus room to roar.

TOOR.......

The ponies, including Luna, began to panic trying to escape the Colossus heatwave of death. Alduin could feel victory at hand.

SHU-

A different torrent of golden flames burst forth from his stomach making the Dovah Colossus lose focus. The beam of fire breath shot into the sky penetrating all forms of substance in an instant of the beam's touch. The ponies watched in a collective awe and fear at the Colossus' show of power. The World Eater, however was furious.

"You were supposed to kill them with the beam, not shoot it in the air!"

His words fell deaf to the Colossus' ears. The giant dovah's eyes rolled into the back of its skull before falling firmly on its back with a mighty thud. The impact shook the cliff ridge close to its limits, but it managed to still cling to the cliff side.

Everycreature present simply gap in disbelief. Did the Colossus really died; killed by his own flames no less. That's when two figures stepped out of the hole in its gut.



I held my head up out of the scorched hole in the dragon's abdomen. I reached the top of the hole pushing myself out of it while the Sun Princess swiftly flew out. But I didn't care at her arrival. I was beyond pissed and at my limit of dealing with Alduin. I brandished my greatsword silently glaring through my helmet.

Alduin stared at me evenly, studying my next move. I could feel the dragon soul inside of me burn in my body. "When you leave Nirn, let Akatosh burn your soul for eternity. For you deserve a far worse death," I could feel my skin crawl and boil like my mortal skin was being melted off the muscle in my body. Fosused rage and tampered judgment radiate off my body in waves. "Mul qah diiv."

Alduin's eyes widen to pinpricks at my soul transformation. I was the same, but different than my previous cursed armor form. My senses were sharpened, my perception of time slowed to a mimimum crawl, my armor and body felt weightless, two light dragon wings burst from my back feeling like they were apart of me, and my teeth and hands felt longer, stronger and sharper. I continued to stare at Alduin for a few more seconds before taking a burst of flight. I roared in his face raking my hand/claws across his face.

The World Eater roared in pain reeling back using his left wing to beat me away. I manage to steady myself back on the ground staring at his pain expression. That only fueled his anger. "Curse your existence, dovahkiin!" Alduin roared out before fire breathing at the me.

I rolled out of the way sprinting to the right, then jump in the air before slashing my greatsword down at him. He dodged my attack using his tail to swipe me at my right. I sprawled out on the ground hearing Alduin furiously stomping at me. A bright yellow beam caught Alduin in the face momentarily stunning his approach. I looked to my left seeing Celestia had cast the spell. She nod my way.

I smirked feeling my greatsword was just as happy. I rebound back at Alduin, charging at full force. I embedded the greatsword watching the powerful fire enchantment do its work. Alduin screamed in agony which was actually a relief for me. It was finally over.

"Tiid klo ul..." Everything around me turned black and white. Everything seemed even slower now. Alduin grinned down at me like he won. "Don't think you have won yet, Dovahkiin. Your tale will now come to a close just as mine will be reborn. I will admit, you did admirably well compared to your ancestors, but my vessel is immortal compared to your mortal soul." I could barely move in the shout he cast, but I could tell this spelled doom for me. Alduin put the last of his remaining energy into his final shout. "FUS. RO,"  Time immediately resumed course, but it was already too late. "DAH!"

I lost my grip on my weapon before flying helplessly backwards with tremendous force. I felt the powerful g-forces that threw me back with so much speed it broke my dragon aspect shout instantaneously, sending my vision fading into absolute black.



Celestia, Luna, and the ponies in Canterlot couldn't believe what they saw. It all went perfectly. The dragon slayer plunged his greatsword into the chest through the leader of the dragon uprising. They were saved by the mysterious warrior of justice. They didn't know exactly what happened, but the next instance resulted in a thunderous 'DAH'. And the dragon slayer being nowhere to be found.

It was almost like he vanished from existence entirely. Celestia covered her mouth in mute horror just like some of the townponies. Alduin smiled in a victorious triumph falling on his scaly back. He could feel his flesh crumble away in dark red embers. "Now everything is," He took a final breath of fresh air on the stone street."As it should be."

A moment later, nothing of the dovah remained on the street except the dragon slayer's ancient greatsword, uselessly lying on the ground. No shouts of triumph ringed in the air for their savior was not here to celebrate with them.

Luna placed a hand on Celestia's shoulder understanding her sister's feelings. Celestia shrugged off her hand, recovering from the shock. She approached the dragon slayer's unusual greatsword. The sun princess knew exactly what to do.



Ember was currently beating up an enemy dragon to a bloody pulp. She needed to prove herself capable to his eyes. She originally was going to let the ponies work out this mess that Alduin started. After all, she and the left over on her side had absolutely no reason to fight except for oweing Spike a favor. But then the dragon slayer showed up. He changed her view of the world around them. It wasn't really 'love' per se, but it was a warm sensation of feeling for the stallion. Something she didn't felt for anyone else before. Somewhere in the chaos, a thunderous 'dah' echoed off the southern edge of Canterlot. Every Dovah paused at the noise confusing Ember and the Royal guards.

An enemy dragon from the same southern side flew furiously pass them."Every drake, retreat! The firstborn has been defeated!"

Just like a wave of water the enemy forces began to fly away in swarms. Ember just stared at the dragons in baffled awe. It must have been the dragon slayer's doing. She thought.

The former Dragonlord took off into the skies heading toward the source of the noise. She eventually landed in the street clearing. Markings and scars in the city were evident. A clear tall tale sign of heavy battle and fighting. Except, evidence of the dovah leader and the dragon slayer were nowhere to be found. Her joy turn to worry.

"Where is the dragon slayer?" Ember frantically looks around before spotting the nearby pony crowd, and Celestia in the center of the street holding something. The Dragonlord walked up to Celestia not entirely sure why everycreature was so sad, "Is he sleeping somewhere? I need to speak with him about something."

The sun princess turned to her, her heart filled with sorrow. She displayed the beaten and slightly bent greatsword the dragon slayer would carry all the time. The dragoness' eyes widen in realization. They killed each other.

She hesitantly took the greatsword feeling the weight of the blade. Celestia proceed to get up hugging her firmly. "I'm so sorry. It happened before anyone could do anything. The dragoness' heart dropped into her stomach, dread filling her every pour. She felt something wet grace her eyes before she roared, almost angrily, to the heavens.



~Fin~

The sadness eventually passed giving way to understanding and the triumph of that day. Celestia, in his memory, made a holiday dedicated to the dragon slayer's vicious and noble battle against Alduin known as The Dragon Dance Festival. The sadness for the fallen hero soon passed like water under a bridge; for the ancient evil was slained making room for peace to reign across the lands of Equestria once more.

Truly the Dragonborn has a legacy of legend.