Sunblade began the tale of his mission; he had entered the dragon lands as the princess asked him to. She sent him there to learn more about the dragons and their kingdom. He had entered at night in order not to be seen by any unfriendly eyes, and in the dragon lands that was nearly all the eyes. He had been very nervous. Young adult dragons he could certainly handle, but full adult dragons were another story. It was hot, and he could see red light coming from small and large pools of boiling magma. The smell of brimstone was bad, but not unbearable.
He had found shelter for the night under some large rocks; the stone roof would keep him hidden from the sky. He had slept uncomfortably on the surprisingly warm and hard ground. As the sun rose, there was a heavy cover of smoke in the sky. He did not see any dragons and that was lucky. He started walking, and for two hours, he had seen no signs of life. There had been times when he had to jump from rock to rock or had to use magic to cross a river of lava.
As he stopped to take a small break, a loud roar echoed through the air. Sunblade hid himself with the magic of his cloak and saw an enormous dragon fighting with a true wonder of the world. It was an Earth Giant made from the bones of the world, and it threw huge stones at the dark blue dragon. The great beast answered with fire as blue as its scales. Sunblade watched in awe as the battle unfolded, the giant glowed red and orange as it walked through the fire. It grabbed the dragon's long neck and the fire stopped as it squeezed. The dragon attacked with its claws, trying to break free, however, the earth giant hoisted the dragon high and brought it down like a sack of flour. The ground shook and boulders flew high into the air. They crashed down and Sunblade blinked multiple times to avoid getting hit. The shaken pony moved slowly closer to see the battle's aftermath.
The earth giant moved away to the east, not looking back at its fallen opponent. The dragon was dead, broken just like the ground under it. Sunblade looked at it for a long time in worried thought; if such forces still wandered the world then ponies would need more power to defend themselves. He spat at the dead creature. Sunblade had no love for dragons, after all one had killed his father. He turned away and began to walk again.
Still listening, Celestia was startled by this revelation. She understood anger but not hatred. Despite her disapproval of Sunblade's action, she stayed quiet as he continued.
Sunblade continued walking deeper and deeper into the dragon lands, but there seemed to be a lack of any dragons. Besides the blue one, there were few dragons he could see. He watched the sky and the rocks around him, nothing. Sunblade stopped, something was not right at all here. As he stood there in thought, thunder rang overhead, rain started to fall slow at first, but soon turned into a huge storm. Steam rose as the cold water drops hit the hot ground, Sunblade knew he needed to find a safe place to let the storm pass. Lightning flashed over him as he ran trying to see through the fog of steam.
Fortunately, he located the mouth of a large cave. He drew out his sword and whispered a spell of illumination; the sword began to glow bright with white light. Sunblade entered the cave cautiously, as thunder boomed outside. He walked for about four minutes before stopping, then he took off his wet cloak and put it on a flat rock to dry. He lifted his saddlebags and pulled out some food and a canteen of water.
The storm raged outside as Sunblade ate and drank his small dinner for the evening. Suddenly, a terrible smell hit his muzzle. It nearly made him throw up. It was coming from deeper within the cave. Suddenly afraid, Sunblade put away his food and began to go further inside. He let the foul smell guide him as his sword lit the way.
It was really starting to get hot inside the cave, and Sunblade's silver mane stuck to his white coat. The cave immediately widened into a dragon's lair. There were small piles of gems and what looked like a stone bed, however, there was no sign of the owner. As he walked around the lair, Sunblade suddenly stepped in something.
He closed his eyes, praying desperately that it was not what he thought it was. He opened his eyes and looked down. His eyes grew wide and he dropped his sword. In front of him was what remained of a small nest, all the eggs had been smashed.
Now, he did get sick.