//------------------------------//
// The Cure-all Pony 
// Story: The Last Heroes of Equestria 
// by ZeroStar 
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	The sun slowly crawled out from its hiding place behind the horizon. Its rays shone through the window of a young unicorn in the city of Canterlot. The young unicorn opened her bright teal eyes to the sight of a new day in the city of Canterlot, the capitol of Equestria. This certain pony’s name is Cura, she had a white coat and bubblegum pink mane that had darker streaks of pink. She wore red-rimmed librarian glasses and had a relatively upbeat view on things.

Cura walked down the frigid hard-wood stairs, still cold from the night before. She made her way into the quaint little kitchen of her home. “What shall I have for breakfast, I wonder?”, she asked herself in a soft and soothing voice. She walked to the refrigerator and opened the stainless steel door to reveal a rather bare interior. “It seems I may be going shopping first…”, Cura commented as she opened the crispers of the fridge. She closed the door gently and walked with a certain enthusiasm usually found in ponies having a particularly good day. Cura went over to her coat rack and grabbed her dark purple scarf and wrapped it around her neck. Her horn glowed with a baby blue light as she approached the front door, opening it with her magic, and closing it on the way out. She trotted down the street towards the bakery. She walked inside and greeted the pony who owned it. “Why hello Cura, how are you this morning?”, the tall earth pony had a dark brown coat and a white moustache and mane that was cut short.
“I’m feeling great, stopping in for a muffin before I head out on my next assignment. I forgot to go shopping the other day.”, Cura walked up to the counter and grabbed a muffin, floating a few bits from the purse hidden in her scarf onto the counter.
“Where are you going this time?”, The Stallion asked her with interest, knowing that if Cura ever heads out anywhere, it usually means that something interesting had happened.
“Ponyville, but they never told me what happened”, Cura answered, almost suspicious of the assignment’s lack of details.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll do plenty of good out there. Good luck, Cura!”, the adult pony called to her as Cura left.
“Thanks, have a nice day!”, Cura called back on her way out the door. Cura walked back towards home, taking bites of the fresh blueberry muffin she just purchased on the way back towards home. A chariot being pulled by two large white Pegasi with golden armor, signifying they were sent by Celestia pulled up beside Cura. “Miss Cura?”, one of the Pegasi looked down at Cura, wondering if he was addressing the correct pony.
“Yes?”, Cura responded, expecting that this was how she was getting to Ponyville.
“We’re here to bring you to Ponyville.”
“I expected as much.”, Cura said as she hopped into the chariot.
“You’re younger than we imagined.”
“Excuse me?”, Cura asked, trying to look over the rim of the chariot at the Pegasi.
“We expected somepony of your reputation as a doctor to be… older.”
“Well, I don’t like to brag, but I take my practice to heart. I’m sure that there are other ponies that are as good but are too busy. Now, could we please depart? I would like to get there soon  to help everypony.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”, the Pegasus said as the two Pegasi took flight with the chariot behind them.

It was a few hours before black smoke could be seen coming from the once happy town of Ponyville. Cura looked down on the town to behold the destruction left by some sort of devastating event. Houses were demolished, stores burned, and ponies riddled the streets, both dead, alive, and somewhere floating in between. A worried look found it’s way to Cura’s face. “It looks like I have a lot of ponies to help…”, she cringed slightly at the horrific sight. After a minute or so, the Pegasi landed in the street, keeping their panic in check as they were trained to do. Cura hopped off the chariot and thanked the Pegasi for bringing her there. The Pegasi took off and went back to Canterlot. Cura walked along the blackened streets and surveyed the area, looking for anypony who was injured and asking those who weren’t for help by bringing them to town square.

Cura walked about the town. She found an tan earth pony with a light brown mane who was in a bad place. The pony was stuck underneath a large wooden beam that had their leg pinned down. Cura rushed over to the Earth pony. “Are you okay, can you move?”, Cura asked with urgency in her voice.
“No, I can’t, it’s too heavy for me to move.”, the tan earth pony pushed against the beam, struggling to try and free himself, but to no success. Cura braced herself against the beam to help push it away, but being so small, she was not strong enough. She quickly scanned the area for anypony that could help her. She saw an unconscious earth pony on the sidewalk on the other side of the street. She quickly ran to them and nudged them with her hoof. “Hello? Are you okay? Are you hurt at all?”, she asked while quickly looking them over for anything out of place.
The pony quickly came to, placing her western style hat back on her head. “I am now.”
“Good, I need your help freeing that pony that’s trapped over there!”, Cura pointed to the tan pony trapped by the beam of wood.
“I’ll do what I can.”, She followed Cura to the trapped pony and slowly tilted the beam enough to take the pressure off the other pony’s leg for Cura to pull them out. Cura then got to work, her horn glowing baby blue, giving an X-ray of the pony as Cura looked up and down the leg that was pinned. Cura could see that the bone was broken in several places. “Don’t move while I get something to deal with your leg.”, she tried to use a softer tone of voice, so she wouldn’t induce panic in the already traumatized pony. Cura looked around, scrounging a few pieces of wood from what used to be a house and some cloth from the ruin of a kitchen. Cura created a makeshift splint and placed it on the earth pony’s broken leg. Cura then lowered her head to the pony’s leg and used her magic to push the bones back into place and tighten the splint and bandages. The earth pony screamed in pain as the bones shifted inside his leg. Cura then went back into a nearby building and came out with a wooden block about half a foot tall and put it under the now splinted leg. “I’ll come back to check on you later.”, Cura said as she left to find somepony else to help. She had walked about a block before finding somepony in front of the Carousel Boutique. They were a white unicorn with a very pristine dark purple mane. Cura cringed as she looked at the mare’s front right leg, which was broken to make it face the opposite way it was supposed to. “I don’t think I should wake her up for this…”, Cura said as she walked into the store to grab some material to use for bandages. As Cura returned, she found the unicorn coming back into consciousness. She went to the lady unicorn’s side, “Don’t panic, it looks like you’ve gotten injured in the incident. Can you tell me your name?”, Cura looked the unicorn in the eye.
“Rarity, my name is Rarity.”, she said weakly, barely conscious.
Cura looked over a few feet and floated a small stick towards her, “Here, bite on this.”, Cura instructed Rarity in her usual soothing soft voice.
“W-… Why?”, Rarity asked, still pretty out of it.
“Just trust me.”, Cura said as she put the stick in Rarity’s mouth, “This may hurt a little.”, Cura explained as she held Rarity’s foreleg with her front hooves.
“Wha wiww?”, Rarity said wearily, her speech muffled by the stick in her mouth.
“This…”, Cura said as she quickly bent Rarity’s foreleg with a gut wrenching crack, followed by a muffled scream of agony coming from Rarity, which then turned to a series of sobs and waterfall of tears. Cura bandaged up Rarity using her magic and shifted the bones back into place. Rarity was still in unbearable pain, so Cura used her magic once more. Her horn glowed it’s usual baby blue colour and she tapped Rarity on the forehead with her horn. Rarity froze up as Cura’s horn made contact with her. Cura then gently laid Rarity into a resting position. She softly whispered an apology as she made her way down the street to help more ponies. Cura was wondering what could have caused all this. “Could it have been a tornado, a hurricane, an earthquake?”, she suggested to herself, trying to make some sense of the situation. “No, none of those could have started the fires I saw from overhead…”, Cura was starting to really worry about what was going on, and also understanding why she wasn’t told any details about what happened. The fact that it could spread panic at the news means this was a serious incident that meant it could prove a future threat, but what could it be? She turned a corner and found another earth pony. He had a red coat and orange mane and was absurdly larger than the average pony. “Wow, he’s pretty big.”, Cura said as she walked around him and looked him over, noticing a semicircle of punctures in his flesh, still bleeding a bit. “What could have done this to you?”, she looked into the wound with her X-ray vision, seeing something in one of the punctures. Cura concentrated on the object within the opening of the stallion’s flesh, lifting it out with her magic. To her surprise it wasn’t a bit of wood, or a nail, or a rib, but a tooth of gargantuan size. “That’s odd…”, Cura said as she studied the tooth. She put the tooth on the ground next to her and quickly closed up the large pony’s wounds with her magic. She nudged the large stallion with her hoof. To her dismay, he did not awaken. She concentrated for a moment, her horn began to glow yellow, electricity arcing off of it. She touched his chest with her horn, surging electricity through his body, his eyes shot open as he jolted back to life. “Are you okay, Big Guy?”, Cura asked, making sure she didn’t end up hurting him in her attempt to shock him back to consciousness. “I guess so.”, The large red stallion said shaking his head, trying to clear the haze in his mind. “Good, now stay put, I’ll come back to check on you.”, Cura smiled and ran off once again. It was only a few moments before she found another pony in need of attention. This time it was a sky blue Pegasus mare with rainbow mane and tail. Cura went over to her. Cura looked over the Pegasus and saw that on of her legs was severely burnt and she had a few ribs broken out of place. “It seems you had some massive blunt trauma to the side, and a burn? Odd, I don’t see any burning houses around this area…”, Cura took note of the surrounding area. She turned her attention to the ribs of the blue mare. She used her magic to look at the extent of the damage. All the ribs were broken on the left side of her body, forcing pressure on the lung. “Wow, what could have done that?”, Cura wondered as she magically forced the bones back into place and bandaged the burnt leg. She shocked the Pegasus to life like she did with the Stallion from before. The sky blue mare gasped for air as she returned to the land of the living, coughing up blood shortly after. “Calm down, your left ribs are broken, and you’ll put them out of place if you keep moving too much.”, Cura touched the mare with her horn and put her to sleep like she did with Rarity. Cura looked down the street, hoping she won’t have to lose anypony today. “I’ve done good so far, I hope I can keep it up.”, Cura said as she ran down the street to find more injured ponies.

Cura got to the centre of town where she beheld the sight of the creature that caused all the mayhem. A giant creature with black scales, enormous teeth and claws. A creature that Cura did not expect at first. “A dragon? By his size, he must be pretty old, and powerful.”, Cura observed it to find that several pieces of the beast were cut from its body. Its front feet, its right wing, the tip of its tail, and, most amazingly, its head. Cura’s mouth slowly opened as she tried to imagine what could have possibly done this to such a powerful creature. “Help, somepony help him!”, a voice cried out from behind the dragon’s corpse. Cura rushed around the body to see a frantic purple unicorn by the side of a large black Pegasus with red and green spiked mane. “Wow, he’s even bigger than that other stallion!”, Cura said as she rushed over to him. Once Cura arrived, she noticed an axe beside the stallion. “No way… Did he take down the dragon? Alone?”, Cura thought to herself. “Are you lost, little one? Do you need help finding your parents?”, the purple unicorn asked in concern for Cura. Cura looked at the unicorn, “If anypony needs help, it’s him. Help me lay him on his back.”, Cura instructed the unicorn as she tried moving the stallion. Cura looked over the stallion and saw a lot of problems. A burnt wing, several broken ribs, a crack in his skull and a lot of broken glass in cuts. “Are you sure you should be doing this? You just a filly after all, how do you know what to do?”, The unicorn questioned Cura. The young unicorn looked towards the older one, “I’ve been sent here by the princess to help out. I’m a doctor. Cura.”, Cura explained to the purple unicorn. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is War Heart.”, Twilight introduced them, concerned for her friend’s health she had a panic in her tone. Cura began pulling glass out of War Heart’s wounds, “Wow, he really took a beating…”, she commented as she pulled out the glass shards one by one. When the last of the glass was out, she looked at the pile of shards, “What, did he try to catch every piece with his body?”, Cura shook her head. She then fired up her magic and x-rayed War Heart. “Let’s see what we find.”, she said to herself as she scanned the massive Pegasus. “He’s lucky he’s so big and tough, not many could withstand this kind of punishment without dying…”, she shivered for a second, “Or maybe unlucky enough to live through all that pain.”, Cura began to push his ribs back into place with her magic, making all sorts of crunching sounds as the bones shifted through flesh into their original places. Cura looked at War Heart’s head for more injuries and noticed a nasty looking bump on the back of his head. “I can imagine he’d wake up with quite a headache if I woke him up now.”, Cura looked at his wing, “That is going to take about a month to heal if given daily bits of healing magic.”, she diagnosed him and kept looking him over. She turned on her X-ray again, concentrating on his heart and lungs, noticing one lung was almost collapsed. “Well, that isn’t any good, better re-inflate that lung.”, Cura called Twilight over. “Is he going to be okay?”, Twilight asked, worried he might not make it. “He won’t be if I don’t get this lung inflated.”, Cura explained.
“Then how do you fix him?”, Twilight’s worry worsened nearly into a panic at the thought of losing a friend.
“I need you to blow air into his lung using mouth to mouth while I heal it to make sure it stays inflated.”, Cura instructed her with a voice of urgency.
Twilight hesitated for a moment before having Cura shout at her, “Do it, or else he dies!”, Twilight closed her eyes and put her lips against War Heart’s and exhaled into his mouth, his chest filling with her breath. Cura was casting the healing magic still, “Good, nice job.”, Cura put her ear to War Heart’s chest, smiling. “he’s going to live, but will have to be hospitalized for a while.”, Cura cast one last spell that would put War Heart to sleep for the next thirty days. She backed away from War Heart, “Now, can you explain what happened?”, her question directed at Twilight. Twilight shook her head for a second, trying to clear her thoughts and taking a deep breath. She began to tell all she saw when the creature attacked.

A few minutes of explanation passed as Twilight concluded her telling of what she saw. Cura looked at War Heart, “Wow… that is quite admirable. You don’t find may heroes these days… But… I suppose it’s crises like these that a hero must rise from the crowd.”, Cura smiled. 
“How old are you?”, Twilight asked, kind of taken aback at the young unicorn’s wisdom and knowledge.
“Young enough to know I have a long ways to go, and old enough to know I have come far.”, Cura said to Twilight as she walked away.
“That didn’t answer my question at all…”, Twilight stated in an irritated tone. Cura ignored the unicorn and left to take care of the rest of the town.

Cura returned to Canterlot by hoof. Taking quite about a week to get back. She walked into the palace, many of the guards recognizing her and letting her pass through with no trouble. She made her way to the throne room where Celestia was seated on her magnificent chair. “I’ve dealt with the situation at Ponyville.”, Cura reported to the princess.
“What happened?”, Celestia asked, concerned about what the source of the smoke in the distance was.
“It was a dragon, very large, black scales, breathed fire, and I was told that his name was Agarrmagonn?”
Celestia’s eyes widened, “Are you sure that it was Agarrmagonn?”
“Yes, Princess.”
“Then this is bad news indeed.
“Why, what is happening now?”
“I’m going to have to make some plans…”
“There was also Agarrmagonn’s death.”
“Wait, he’s dead?”
“Yes, I saw the corpse myself.”
“How did this happen?”
“It turns out that there was one Pegasus that took action against him, and bested him in battle.”
“What is their name?”
“His name was War Heart, a newcomer apparently, he wasn’t born in Equestria as far as I was told.”
“Hmm… Perhaps I should meet this War Heart, I shall send him an invitation to the Gala and meet him, as well as have the Mayor of Ponyville declare him as ‘Protector of Ponyville’”
“You seemed concerned before, what is it about that dragon that bothered you so much?”
“He is part of a clan of dragons that once warred with us a long time ago, and our treaty has stood for over a thousand years, until now. Only me and Luna remember since we were the only ones from that time.”
“So what are you planning on doing about this?”
“They will be after him when word gets out of Agarrmagonn’s death… I will have to warn him, so that he may do what he decides is best. We owe him that much for risking his life that he at least have a choice in the matter.”, Celestia floated a paper and quill to her using her magic. She wrote out a letter to Twilight, instructing her to inform War Heart of his new title and invitation to the Gala. Celestia then sent it away in a wisp of cloud.
Celestia shook her head, “This is not good… It could mean war with the dragons of the west…”
“I’m at your service whenever you need me, Princess.”, Cura bowed and turned away, about to leave before Celestia spoke up, “Wait… After the Gala, I’m going to talk to War Heart personally and discuss what he plans to do personally, I’d like you to come along when I go to him.”
“Of course, Princess, you need only call on me.”, Cura then turned and left the throne room to go home.

About a month later, on the night of the Grand Galloping Gala, Cura was hurriedly getting ready, trying to put on her dress, which had a very difficult to reach zipper. It took her about a minute until she realized she could just use magic to zip it up. Her dress was made of silk, breezy and a beautiful shade of crimson. She quickly ran out her front door and galloped to the castle. She got there as Twilight Sparkle was stepping off her carriage. Twilight of course did not recognize her, only seeing her once and a month ago. Cura rushed up the steps, a little clumsily due to wearing a dress. She finally reached the top of the stairs where Celestia was. “Hello, Princess!”, Cura greeted the princess in an ecstatic tone.
“Hello, Cura. Good to see you.”, Celestia replied in a friendly manner.
“How goes the Gala?”
“Boring, as usual… Would you fetch me a glass of water, please?”
“Yes, Princess.”, Cura trotted away happily.
Celestia looked towards the carriages at the entrance to see a large black stallion Pegasus exit the carriage. The Pegasus approached her with a Pegasus mare with blonde mane and grey coat at his side, her eyes staring off in different directions. She looked down at the black stallion. “I must congratulate you on your amazing feat. To defeat a dragon like Agarrmagonn is no easy task.”
“I was just doing what I could. If I were to refuse helping, I’d be no better than the dragon itself.”
“Powerful, Brave, AND Noble. You are very special kind of pony. Please accept this medal, and with it my thanks for saving the lives of many of my subjects.”
“Thank you, Princess.”, War Heart bowed his head as the medal floated around his neck. The medal was made of silver and was in the shape of a shield. The black stallion walked on with his accompaniment into the palace where the most of the Gala was being held. Cura trotted down the stairs floating a glass of water in front of her. She reached Celestia and gave her the drink. “Thank you, Cura.”, Celestia said after taking a sip.
“No problem, Princess. Did he show up yet?”
“You just missed him.”, Celestia chuckled.
“Really? Well that’s a shame, I was hoping to see how he recovered.”
“I’m sure he is fine, he looked like he was fine. However he was quite nervous.”
“Must not be used to this sort of crowd.”
“Probably.”

About two weeks after the Gala, Celestia and Cura took a chariot to Ponyville. They went to visit Twilight Sparkle, since they had no idea where he lived. Twilight then led them to where War Heart lived. A house made of wood with a stone chimney. The doorway had ornate carvings of dragons along the frame. Twilight knocked on the door with her front hoof. “It’s open!”, a gruff growling voice shouted from within. Twilight opened the door and walked in, as did Celestia and Cura.
“Hey, Twilight, Princess, Filly?”, War Heart greeted them as he was sitting at his table next to the grey coated, blonde Pegasus from the Gala, both of them eating a plate of pancakes.
“I am Cura, I saw that you lived to see another day after that fight with the dragon.”
“…”, War Heart sat there in silence and turned his gaze to the Princess, “… She serious?”
Celestia nodded, “Yes, she is. Cura is one of my best doctors.”
War Heart nodded his head slowly, “Impressive…”
“We’ve come to ask you something.”, Celestia declared.
“And what would that be?”
“Now that you have killed a dragon, they will be searching for you. I’ve come to ask if you planned to leave for somewhere else, or what you propose you do.”
War Heart paused for a moment. He crossed his front legs and pondered the situation. 
“I guess staying would endanger Ponyville… Hiding isn’t my way of doing things… Plus if I ran away from their direction, they would surely attack the rest of Equestria on the way to get me…”
“So what is your choice?”
“The only one I feel is right. I’m going over there to hunt down their leaders and stop them from organizing an attack on Equestria.”
Cura smiled, “I told you he was a hero.”, she looked at Celestia.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”, Celestia asked, wanting him to be sure before going into the western scorched lands and mountain ranges.
“I’m sure, I have someone here to protect…”, he put his hoof on Ditzy’s and looked over at her smiling.
“Very well, it is decided. You will venture west. You will have to defeat or kill the ringleaders of the dragon clans.”, Celestia declared to War Heart.
“I will be joining you.”, Cura spoke with a firm feeling in her decision.
“And you will need a guide, somepony to guide you when you are lost, and to help you by providing knowledge and wisdom when he is able.”, Celestia’s horn began to glow and suddenly an icy blue Unicorn with a dark blue mane streaked with white appeared in front of her. 
“Yes, Tia?”
“I want you to accompany War Heart on his journey to the west.”
“Ah, another chance to be with that stallion should be rather pleasant.”
“Excellent. The War on the dragons has begun, you are our front and only line of defence.”
War Heart walked over to his wall and grabbed his shields. One shield was emblazoned with a large heart, symbolizing his family, the other had a picture of bubbles identical to Ditzy’s cutie mark. He then grabbed his belt and axe. He walked over to Ditzy, who nuzzled her face against him, “Good luck, come back safely.”
“Don’t worry, I will. I promise.”, War Heart walked towards the door and outside, taking the first steps into his next big adventure with his companions Cura and Orion.