//------------------------------//
// Dragon Land (part 2 of 2) 
// Story: The Last Heroes of Equestria 
// by ZeroStar 
//------------------------------//

	The three heroes walked through the tropical forest in silence, not speaking so they do not attract unwanted attention from whatever beast may be hiding nearby. War Heart looked up as he walked along, noticing it was about noon as the sun was directly overhead. He looked back forward to see nothing but jungle. He walked on with weary steps, unenthused about walking across such a large stretch of land. “I’m bored…”, Cura said as she walked behind War Heart.
“I know…”, War Heart replied, sounded somewhat impatient.
“Can we play a game?”, Cura asked him, hoping he would agree to play with her.
“Sure, how about the one where we don’t get me ambushed by keeping quiet.”, War Heart answered, still sounding grumpy. Cura’s reaction was hopeful at first but changed to disappointment at War Heart’s game idea.
“My hooves hurt…”, Cura complained after a few minutes of walking. War Heart sighed, thinking he was never going to find an end to her complaints. War Heart ignored her complaint and kept walking.
“Can I ride on your back?”, Cura asked him in a relatively helpless tone.
War Heart looked back at her with a face that looked like it said ‘Are you serious?’
Cura put on the most pathetic face she could, even managing to tear up a little.
“Nope…”, War Heart said as he turned away from her.
Cura pouted, but kept walking due to her lack of choices.
The heroes walked into a clearing of the jungle, with a single green bush sitting at the center of it. The bush looked somewhat unnatural, but what does one suspect when in a strange land? The heroes proceeded past the bush, as Orion walked past he was suddenly brought to the ground. A creature with a long face covered in bone a mane of green unkempt hair, a coat of wood brown and a tail green and as unkempt as its mane. The eyes were an orange colour, the irises somewhat smaller than they should be. The eyes also had a flavour of mystical insanity about them, giving a feeling that they were not looking at you, but into your very being.
“You have been ambushed…”, The creature spoke after a moment of stillness and silence, “…By the bush pony!”, the unkempt earth pony stallion exclaimed as he reared back and raised his front hooves to make him look intimidating. The stallion looked down at Orion, whose eyes were widened in surprise. He lowered back on all fours, then moved his head downwards towards Orion and forced open Orion’s mouth and looked inside, then let go, sniffing him afterwards.
“You aren’t dragons…”, The stallion stated in disbelief. He jumped away from Orion.
“What was your first clue?”, Orion said sarcastically as he got off the dirt covered ground. Cura and War Heart had just been watching the two’s interaction, with an uninterested look.
“I have been here for so long, the only company I know is dragons. Not the friendliest of folk, seeing as they try to kill me every time they see me. Luckily, I know how to get around unseen.”, The earth pony explained as he lifted the dragon skull mask off his face.
“What are you even doing here?”, Cura asked as she looked him over from afar.
“I came here from Equestria because I just didn’t like most ponies, however it wasn’t until lately I noticed that dragons are not very talkative. I tried to make a conversation with one only to have them reply with a very unattractive snarly noise like this! GRRRRRR!”, the earth pony bared his teeth as he growled at the party, a sight that was more than enough to make them uncomfortable.
“What’s wrong with your teeth?”, Cura asked with curiosity as to how they got that way.
“Well, when hunting, you need to learn to live like your prey. I can’t grow wings, but I can change my diet. At first it only made me sick from consuming the flesh of another being, but one grows accustomed to such things after the first dozen times.”, the earth pony smiled, bearing his pointed teeth once more.
“Rrrrright… We’re leaving.”, War Heart stated as he turned away. A look of shock struck the earth pony’s face, “But don’t you want a guide or something?”
“I’m sure we can find our own way.”, War Heart replied as he kept walking, “We have to get to the far north and can’t be slowed down by you.”
“I could probably cut off days of travel for you if you let me come along.”, the earth pony bargained
“Pass.”, War Heart said as he rejected his offer. Suddenly War Heart’s leg was caught in the earth pony’s grasp, “Pleeeeease?”, the pony had a look of desperation and a fear of being all alone. War Heart sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, “Fine…”, then War Heart pulled his leg away from him and kept walking.
The earth pony’s expression turned from dismay to excitement as he walked next to Cura, having a certain spring in his step.
“So what’s your name?”, Cura asked, looking towards the earth pony.
“It’s… ummm…”, the pony put on a face of despair, “I forgot…”
“Can I name you?”, Cura asked with some excitement.
“Why not?”, he replied, thinking it was not that important or unwise.
“How about… Lily Bush?”, Cura suggested.
“…. Maybe I’ll come up with a different name.”, the earth pony had a look of uneasiness.
“How about hermit?”, War Heart suggested.
“That sounds good, I’ll be hermit, then.”, the hermit said, rather accepting of the new title.
“What was wrong with the name I gave you?”, Cura pouted.
“It was just a bit too… um… feminine.”, Hermit smiled nervously, hoping she would be understanding.
“Fine, take his name then.”, she scoffed and looked away. The Hermit then suddenly stopped, a shocked look on his face, he stared off into space. Cura turned towards him, “What’s wro-”, she was suddenly interrupted as she was grabbed by the mane and dragged, screaming into the jungle.
“Cura!”, War Heart shouted as he charged in the direction she was dragged to. Suddenly Hermit snapped out of his stupor and followed after Orion who was following War Heart.
Cura was taken to another clearing in the jungle, a small shelter of boulders in the center where she was forced to stay inside by the green-scaled creature with blue reptilian eyes. It snarled at her viciously as it backed her into the corner of the shelter. She screamed in fear as it got closer and closer to her. More of the beasts showed up, all with a look of hunger in their eyes, their gaze fixed upon their next meal. A loud roar could be heard outside as War Heart charge towards the shelter, as if challenging the creatures to attack him. The beast’s green scaled shimmered in the sunlight as the five of them circled War Heart. The made no noise as they stared at him, he stared back at them, the look of a beast in his own eyes. Orion and the Hermit watched from the side of the opening, keeping out of sight of the creatures War Heart was about to face off against. War Heart let out a bellowing battle cry as he charged at one of the creatures, trampling it he charged past it to the entrance of the shelter. The creatures all at once jumped on him, latching onto him with their claws and biting him once before jumping away and going back into a surrounding position. War Heart screamed as he was bitten, wincing in pain for a moment. Only one creature leaped at him this time, digging its claws into him and biting into his shoulder. War Heart reared back and turned his head towards the creature biting him, biting down on it hard enough to break its skin and crack the bones in its neck, then throwing it to the ground as it went limp. The blood went off his lip and dripped down his chin while a good deal of it ended up down his throat. The taste was strange, a warm sensation followed by an adrenaline rush like he never experienced before. He quivered for a moment as his eyes widened, he then closed his eyes for a moment. Another one of the beasts  pounced at him only to be brought to the ground by the large black stallion, he screamed in his face like he did with the Scathewinds, only now it seemed more feral, and filled with so much more bloodlust than before. War Heart began to repeatedly bring down his front hoof into its face, making it cave in on itself, making a repulsive cracking sound as he screamed and kept pounding its face into the stone. Cura watched merely ten feet away from the corner of the stone shelter, tears in her eyes as she watched her hero horribly mutilate the head of his opponent, a look of murderous bloodlust in his eye. The other creature began to slink away slightly as they watched pack-mate get pummelled into the floor. After a few more stomps War Heart stopped and screamed at them again, rearing back and stomping once more. The pack quickly turned tail and sprinted away, fearing the force they had witnessed. War Heart’s only movements were only from his heavy breathing. Orion was appalled at what he saw while the Hermit stroked his chin. The Hermit walked towards War Heart. War Heart shook his head seeing something approach him slowly, not quite able to tell what it is. He didn’t know what it was as his vision was blurring. He charged towards it, almost in instant reaction the blur began to charge at him as well. As they collided, War Heart found himself pinned to the ground. Cura walked out of the stone shelter cautiously. War Heart’s head was forcibly turned towards Cura.
“Look at her, she’s frightened. She thinks you mean her harm. Are you going to protect her? Then protect her from yourself.”, the Hermit expressed to War Heart with the utmost concern.
War Heart’s vision cleared as he calmed himself. The Hermit climbed off of War Heart and let him stand up, “What happened?”, War Heart asked, not knowing exactly what he did.
“You drank of their blood, it awakens something in one who tastes it. A call to the beast within, making one more bestial than sentient. With enough of the blood ingested, you’ll develop traits like them, like my teeth.”, The Hermit explained to War Heart.
“Is it permanent?”, War Heart asked, seeming bothered with this occurrence.
“Well, the physical changes are, as is the new lust for the blood of other creatures, but only if you give in to the rage too much that physical changes will manifest.”, The Hermit spoke in a reassuring tone.
“How can I avoid it?”, War Heart asked, knowing this development was going to be trouble.
“You need something to concentrate on, or somepony you would protect. Violence will stir the beast, that will be unavoidable, and acts that one would consider immoral would decay your very being into that of a monster. It seems that your focus is the young one, if she dies, so will you, in a sense. Seeing her in danger will incite your beast, allowing you to draw on its instincts and power.”
“How do you know all this?”, War Heart asked suspicious of the Hermit.
“I told you before that I had to survive here, and I did that by calling on the very beast I was speaking of before.”, Hermit smirked, bearing the unnatural sharp teeth again.
War Heart looked at Cura, who flinched as he turned to her, scared of what he was before, “I’ll resist its call, I won’t become a monster.”, War Heart said as he turned back to Hermit.
“Good! Let’s keep heading north then!”, Hermit exclaimed as he marched away.
War Heart walked over to Cura, who slinked back as he approached. “How about you give your legs a rest for a while, I’ll carry you.”, War Heart smiled slightly at Cura as he lowered himself for her.
Cura felt somewhat nervous as she walked over to him and hopped on his back. He stood up and began walking north with Orion and Hermit.

After a few hours of walking, Cura fell asleep on War Heart’s back, her face rested against the back of his neck, her legs dangling on either side of him. He looked back at her and smiled slightly. He walked forward with Hermit and Orion at his sides.
“She must be quite brave to come here with you.”, Hermit commented, noticing she had fallen asleep.
“She calls me a hero, admires my will to protect others.”, War Heart explained.
“Do you believe you are a hero?”, Hermit asked.
“I do what I can, and I can’t sit by while the land is in danger.”, War Heart stated with confidence.
“And that is exactly the reason I believe you won’t fall to the beast, you are noble, you hold a value of others lives above your own. That is the thing that will keep you from being a monster.”, Hermit explained to War Heart.
“This doesn’t sound like any magic I’ve ever heard of…”, the other stallions looked at Orion who just spoke out, “That somepony can transform by drinking of blood and being angered is ridiculous.”
“Well, I know from first hand experience that it’s real.”, Hermit said, sounding a little insulted.
“How about we drop it and keep walking until we find some shelter?”, War Heart asked rhetorically.
“Is that what you’re looking for? Well I can make shelter round her no problem.”, Hermit said boastfully.
“We don’t look like bushes, Hermit.”, War Heart stated as he rolled his eyes.
“Oh yeah…”, Hermit said, looking down in shame.

It was getting late and the party stopped for a moment.
“Who’s on guard duty first?”, War Heart said as he let Cura slide down his wing gently onto the ground.
“I guess I will, not feeling very tired anyway.”, Orion said as he laid down, readying a spell to make a barrier around them.
Hermit laid down as well, almost instantly falling asleep. Cura awoke somewhat, and looked at War Heart, then proceeded to lazily walk over to him and take shelter under his wing again. She went back to sleep nuzzled against War Heart. War Heart laid his head down and closed his eyes, drifting off into the blackness of sleep.

It was in the dead of night when Cura awoke, she lifted her head to see she was alone. She stood up and saw a pair of red eyes floating among the foliage in the pitch black. She froze in fear as their gaze locked upon her. She backed away slowly. The eyes began moving towards her. Her heart raced in panic from the thought of this may be her last moments. The eyes drew closer and War Heart walked into the light. Cura sighed and walked over towards him, relieved to see somepony instead of something terrible like the Ghostwyrm. As she got closer to War Heart, she began to notice he had a smile on his face, like he was happy to see her. She smiled back and kept approaching him. It wasn’t until she was merely two feet away that she noticed his teeth were sharp. Her eyes widened as she start to back away again. War Heart jumped at her and kicked her over with his front hoof, injuring one of her legs in the process. She tried to get up, but her futile efforts came to no avail. War Heart stood over her, looking down with a sadistic grin, bearing the awful teeth that she found so unsettling. He raised his hoof, getting ready to strike. Cura looked over to her left and saw the bodies of the hermit and Orion, both missing pieces of flesh, as if it were torn away and devoured by some monster. She looked back up at War Heart who brought down his hoof as she screamed. She awoke with a sudden shake of her body, startling War Heart, who was on watch at the moment. “Are you ok, Cura”, War Heart asked in a concerned tone.
Cura pressed her face against him and began tearing up, “Please don’t hurt me.”, she said in a fearful tone.
“That wasn’t me, you had a nightmare. You’re safe now.”, War Heart spoke in a reassuring voice, patting her on the back lightly, “Now go back to sleep, it’s only a few hours before the other wake up and we head out.”
“Okay…”, Cura said in a pathetic tone as she retreated back under War Heart’s massive wing.
“Good girl…”, he whispered as he returned to watching the surrounding area.

Dawn came, the sky was turning a shade of orange, and the air was cooled and crisp from the night. War Heart was still on watch. He stood up and nudged Cura, “Time to wake up.”, he whispered. Cura opened her eyes and stretched her legs. War Heart woke the others, telling them that they needed to get moving once more. As all of them woke, they began moving on again. They pressed on towards north, War Heart leading; the hermit and Cura in the middle, side by side; and Orion in the back. After three hours of walking they reached the end of the jungle and a snowy plain was revealed to them. “It seems we have reached the northern lands.”, Orion declared, walking up beside War Heart.
“It seems that way…”, War Heart replied, staring at the landscape. He stepped forward and entered the land of snow, the others promptly following him. His mind wandering off to thoughts of his old home, of coming back to the forests of Caneighda, but then wandered back to Ponyville and his new home where Ditzy was waiting for his return. The thought made him smile, gave him something to think about other than his quest. For the next few moments he only thought of how he would want to go back home to see her now. He stopped thinking of home when he stepped over the ridge to see a mountain of stone and ice. A fortress sat in the side of the mountain, carved out of the stone itself. Cura shivered as she walked, not having as much tolerance to the heat as the others. Her teeth chattered from the cold, loud enough for War Heart to hear. He turned to the young, shivering mare. “You need another ride?”, War Heart asked, raising an eyebrow.
“N-n-n-no, I can walk, I c-c-can be strong t-t-too!”, Cura said, standing up straight and marching on, trying to show she wasn’t totally helpless. Until the point where she tripped and ploughed face first face-first into the snow. War Heart rolled his eyes and chuckled as he walked on. Cura stood up again and started walking, trying to stop her body from shaking so much. The walked for about an hour before her willpower caved, “Can I have a ride?”, she asked War Heart, feeling somewhat shameful.
“Baby.”, War Heart said chuckling, mocking what she called him before.
“I am not a baby!”
“Then I guess you don’t need a ride.”, he raised an eyebrow and looked down at Cura.
“I don’t.”, she walked on with a pride in her independence. Until there was a sudden drop of a foot, where she was totally submerged in snow. She was freezing at this point and scrambled out of the snow to War Heart.
“Okay, I’m a baby, can I have a ride, pleeease?”
“Okay.”, War Heart crouched and let her climb onto him. She clung to him tightly, trying to get some warmth from him. He walked into the deeper snow, it only reached his belly. On Orion and Hermit it went to their chest level. They trudged through the snow for what seemed like forever, nearly blind from the reflection of the sun on the snow. Cura looked on ahead from War Heart’s back, the mountain side fortress was close, only a few minutes away. Something seemed unsettling about it. She got an eerie feeling just by looking as it, as if it was looking straight back at her. 
“Hey, Orion, what do you know about this dragon lord, whats-his-name?”, War Heart called back.
“Well, there is a bit of an issue there, it says in my scrolls that he was slain by Celestia in the great war over a thousand years ago. The map doesn’t show this place at all, but that could be that it’s a new structure since these maps are about as old as Canterlot itself.”, Orion explained as he looked at the fortress.
“Maybe Celestia only thought he was dead, and he escaped.”, War Heart suggested.
“Perhaps, that seems pretty likely the case here.”, Orion replied.
The heroes approached the entrance to the fortress, the gateway was massive enough to easily fit a full-sized dragon through it. The snow was tracked in on the stone floors by the heroes’ entrance. The ceiling was high above their heads, reaching about eight stories high. The walls covered with symbols every few feet as they walked down the halls. Cura walked beside War Heart, having dismounted as they entered the halls of stone, “I don’t like this place…”, She commented staring uneasily at the high ceilings and walls.
“I don’t recognize these symbols on the walls… it seems like a new dialect in their language.”, Orion said as he studied the symbols on the walls.
“It seems kind of pointless to put writing on the walls of a hallway…”, War Heart commented as he started to look closer at the walls, actually stopping completely and starting to look closer. Hermit walked up to one of the parts of the wall with writing. He looked at it and mumbled for a few moments. 
“Bah-lay Gar-lah too-rem Raazmus, kah-lak vah-soo ahr-tem.”, Hermit spoke as he read the indented writing on the walls. His eyes widened for a moment, “This isn’t a fortress, it’s a crypt… These writings are epitaphs. ‘Here lies a loyal servant of Raazmus, eternally loyal.’”, Hermit translated the writing to the others.
“That’s not unsettling at all…”, War Heart remarked in sarcastic tone before continuing down the hall, Cura right next to him.
“How can you read this?”, Orion asked the Hermit.
“I dunno.”, The Hermit said as he walked down the hall with War Heart and Cura, Orion following right behind him. They walked for a few minutes before finding themselves at a dead end. Symbols as large as War Heart adorning the wall.
“Here lies lord Raazmus, the old king of the old mountain.”, Hermit read aloud.
“So the other dragon sent us here to beat down a corpse?”, War Heart chuckled, “Maybe he should come out of his cave more often.”, War Heart laughed at the idea that Aceribus had not left in so long to realize the lord was dead. Hermit put his ear to the wall and tapped on it with his hoof, “It doesn’t seem to be very thick, we could break through if we wanted to, check out what he looked like at least.”, The hermit suggested.
“Sure, why not, he may have some treasure we could bring back home.”, War Heart said as he reared back and smashed through the wall with his powerful hooves, making a hole large enough for him to squeeze through and the others to walk in. They entered through the hole to find a large dome shaped room. At the center was a large skeleton of what looked to be a massive dragon, even bigger than Agaarmagonn, the black dragon War Heart fought in Ponyville. The gargantuan skeleton was wrapped around a hoard of treasure of all sorts. Gems, and golden objects, more than they could possibly hope to carry. The skeleton also had a crown of what looked to be obsidian, a volcanic glass, jewelled with a ruby, a sapphire, an emerald, and a diamond all adorning the sides of the crown and at the center was a brilliantly cut bit of jet, a gem as black as midnight. As the three stallions were busy admiring the treasure, they did not notice the thud coming from the hall that Cura heard. She poked her head through the hole in the wall and looked around. She heard the thud again, a little louder than last time. A last thud made the rock crumble, creating a cloud of dust. Cura’s eyes widened as she saw a figure emerge from the dust, eyes glowing with blue flames, its body creaking as it walked towards her, making a clacking noise as its feet hit the ground.
“War Heart…”, Cura called out nervously, not moving out of fear the skeletal dragon may charge.
“What is it?”, He called back, unaware of the danger.
“I think you should look in the hall…”, Cura said slowly motioning him over, looking towards him wide-eyed. He looked in the hall to see the slow moving skeletal beast walking towards them.
“What the fir!?”, War Heart said as he walked back into the hall, “Hey, Orion, check this out.”
Orion walked into the hall, raising a curious eyebrow at the skeleton, “Strange, I’ve never heard of something like this before…”, Orion commented.
The skeletal dragon was the size of a regular pony, bones indicating it once had wings and a tail. It flared out its skeletal wings and roared. The sound echoing for a few short moments. It began walking towards the heroes again. Noises could be heard from inside the walls of the hallway, a series of muffled roars and thumping as the walls seemed to empty themselves of a multitude of dozens of skeletal dragons, all with blue fire in their eye sockets. The Hermit walked out to join the two other stallions, “Well, I guess that is what one would call, eternally loyal.”, Hermit said as he shifted into a battle-ready position.
“There plenty enough for the three of us, may the best pony win.”, War Heart exclaimed as he flared his wings out getting into a stance to charge. Orion’s horn began to glow, readying a spell. 
War Heart reared back and charged at the reanimated skeletons with a determined look in his eyes, colliding with one and forcing it to the ground. He stomped down on its head with his front hoof, shattering the skull. The Hermit bared his teeth as he charged, his pupils dilated as he ran at one of the skeletal beast, taking pleasure in seizing it by the neck with his jaws and snapping its spine, making it go limp as the head severed. Orion let out a small ball of energy fly at the mass of skeletons, the ball shattering five of them as it passed through them. War Heart was being latched to by several of the undead dragons, their claws were dull from ages of decay so they were not effective at holding onto the Pegasus. War Heart readied his shields attached to his wings and swung them around, spinning around and bucking another skeleton. The Hermit seemed to completely lose touch with reality, taking too much joy in the battle. He would use his teeth to grab hold on one skeleton while he smashed another with his front hooves. He felt absolute bliss hearing the smash of bones and the cracking of a spine within his jaws. He cackled in bliss as he began to pound one of their skulls into a pile of tiny bone fragments and dust with his front hoof. As Orion finished the last skeleton with a fire ball spell, silence found its way back into the hall of crushed bones. The Hermit froze in place as his eyes went back to normal, acting as if nothing happened. War Heart looked among the shattered remains, “That was  a good work out.”, he said as he stretched, “I needed that.”
War Heart walked back towards the end of the hall with Hermit where Cura and Orion were waiting.
“That almost seemed too easy…”, Cura said with an eyebrow raised. They all heard a low growl that echoed throughout the crypt. The walls and floor began to shake violently. Among the bones of the once animated skeletons, the blue flames they saw in the skeleton’s eyes floated above the remains and lazily floated towards the end of the hall, passing by the heroes and entering the main chamber where the treasure hoard and the remains of Raazmus were. They all walked into the room to see the wisps of blue fire float into the eye sockets of the giant deceased dragon lord.
“That can’t be good…”, War Heart commented, watching this proceed with an annoyed expression on his face. He took a step forward towards the giant skeleton, the flames turned red and gained speed, now whizzing past the heroes and flowing into the eyes of Raazmus. As the last of the wisps of flame entered the eyes of the dragon lord, his once inanimate head turned to the heroes. Raazmus roared at them, a blue flame glowing inside his mouth, eyes, and ribcage.
“That’s more like it.”, War Heart said as he stepped forward, smirking, “You three stay here, I’ve got this.”, he said as he stood on his hind legs, grabbing his axe from his belt with his front hoof. He crouched into a readied position with wings spread, shields upon them. He took off, and flew at the reanimated dragon lord. He was struck out of the air by the dragon’s large claw. War Heart fell to the ground, rolling back to his hooves. He ran towards the dragon this time, knowing he won’t have enough control of his movements in the air with his shields on. The dragon raised its claw and swung downward onto War Heart, creating a cloud of dust on impact. As the dust cleared, War Heart could be seen holding the dragon’s claw back with his shields, he struggled as he tried to keep standing under the strength of the dragon lord. He smirked as he began to push back the claw, only to have a sudden expression of shock as the dragon’s other claw slammed into him from the side, forcing him into the wall.
“Ow…”, War Heart said as he got up from the ground near the wall. The Dragon looked towards the other three ponies. War Heart’s eyes widened as the dragon blew flames into them before they could possibly run away, making them disappear into an inferno and cloud of smoke. Time froze for him as he watched his companions die before him. He felt the bloodlust return, his pupils dilated as a tear ran down his right cheek at the idea they were all gone, that he failed to protect them. He slammed the ground with his front hoof as everything went red to him. He screamed at Raazmus, the echoing battle cry serving as a herald for his inevitable destruction. War Heart dropped his axe and threw off his shields. He took flight at Raazmus, who was facing him now. Raazmus swung at War Heart like he did before, War Heart dodging it by barrel-rolling to the side and flying straight into Raazmus’ skull. The impact caused Raazmus to recoil, War Heart landed behind Raazmus and charged again. Raazmus brought down his claw, colliding with War Heart again. War Heart threw the claw to the side, causing Raazmus to lose balance. War Heart jumped to Raazmus’ head, landing on his face and started to pound his front hooves into the top of Raazmus’ skull. Raazmus shook his head violently, throwing War Heart off him. War Heart screamed at Raazmus again, the look in his eyes was that of rage, murder, and sorrow. War Heart took flight again, preparing an aerial dash. War Heart screamed again as he dashed towards Raazmus, diving straight into his maw and breaking through Raazmus’ rib cage. The beast roared at War Heart once more, not able to feel the pain War Heart wished he could cause to him. As Raazmus tried to turn to face War Heart, War Heart charged again, this time aiming for Raazmus’ left leg. War Heart landed on Raazmus’ left front leg, War Heart stomped on it with his front hooves, snapping the bone and breaking off the leg. Raazmus lost his balance upon losing a leg. He fell to his left side, War Heart jumped upon his head once more, this time noticing that the crown Raazmus was wearing was glowing. “Let’s see how much of a king you are without this crown of yours!”, War Heart shouted as he brought his powerful hoof down onto the obsidian headpiece. The crown shattered, as did the life of Raazmus. The blue inferno within the dragon flowed out into several torrents, the skeleton became lifeless once again. War Hear continued to stomp into the skull, cracking it and breaking through bone with tears in his eyes. He could almost hear her voice in his head calling his name as he broke down and sobbed on the skeleton of the now inanimate dragon. He cried at the thought that his companions were gone now, and that he had failed to protect them. He could almost hear the little mare’s voice in his head, telling him to get up and press on. War Heart felt something tug on his tail, “Come on, we have to keep going… you can cry later…”, Orion was standing behind War Heart. War Heart’s ears perked up as he heard Orion speak, he quickly wiped away his tears. “Right… Let’s go…”, War Heart said as he pretended he wasn’t crying and got off the skull of the dragon lord Raazmus. He walked towards the hole in the wall they used to enter the burial chamber of Raazmus. Cura and the Hermit just watched War Heart leave the room with his head down, as if he had been defeated. Cura walked beside War Heart, “What’s wrong?”, she asked with concern.
“I failed…”, War Heart replies with a hopeless tone.
“What do you mean? You beat the dragon, he’s gone.”
“I failed to protect you all… I don’t know how you survived but it isn’t my actions that kept you from harm.”
“Orion put up a barrier right before the blast hit us, but you didn’t know it was going to do that.”
“Still, I got cocky, I even let the beast take over…”
“You tried your best. That’s all anypony can really ask of you, you taught me that.”
“I guess I did…”
The Heroes exit the crypt. Orion looked over his scrolls once again, “It looks like there is only one Dragon Lord left… Barridamus… Supposedly he has been asleep for ages… He must be pretty powerful to survive so long… The map points to the southwest, to a cave on the edge of a mountain in the middle of the land.”
“Let’s get this over with…”, War Heart said wearily.
“You don’t sound too enthused…”, Orion said, commenting on War Heart’s mood.
“Just… Leave it alone.”, War Heart said in an irritated tone.
“Fine.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”, Cura asked, concerned for her large friend.
“I’m sure, I won’t bother anypony with my issues.”, War Heart walked faster, moving ahead of everypony through the deep snow. Cura was freezing once more from the cold. The Hermit walked by and offered her a ride. She hopped onto his back and hid in his ridiculously large green mane, keeping her warm. Orion and the Hermit walked on, following War Heart. They soldiered on through the snow, Orion shivered as the cold worked its way into his bones, “I swear that it got colder than last time we were out here.”
“The weather around here gets pretty erratic, encouraging a need to quickly adapt to anything at a moment’s notice.”, the Hermit explained to him, un-phased by the cold.
“How curious…”, Orion whispered to himself.

The rest of the journey seemed rather boring in comparison to the rest of their journey. They finally reached the cave of the Dragon Lord. The mouth of the cave was 8 feet in radius, stalagmites and stalactites along the edge, giving it an eerie look. War Heart was the first to step inside, hearing a squishing sound as he landed on the ground inside. “What the fir?”, War Heart said as he looked at his slimy hoof. He looked at the rest of the cave, beginning to smell something unsettling as a hot breeze blew past him. His eyes widened as a part of the ground moved from under him. He flew out right away, “It’s the Dragon’s mouth!”, War Heart shouted as he exit the colossal dragon’s jaws. The entire mountain and the area around it began to shake as the massive mound of dirt and rock crumbled around the Dragon. Its scales were pitch black and shiny and dotted with many pearly white stars. The dragon’s eyes were a bright purple that glowed even in the light of day. The heroes all watched in awe as the dragon roared to the skies, a guttural sound that tore through the air with the sounds of impending doom.
“Well, this is it… The final lord…”, War Heart said as he discarded his shields to allow himself to fly. He flew up to meet the dragon at eye level. The dragon stared at War Heart like one would like at an insect, “Are you the one that has awakened me?”, the dragon spoke with a booming and thunderous voice.
“I am War Heart, descendant of Pride Heart the Slayer, Protector of Ponyville, Hero of Equestria. I have come to slay you, to keep Equestria safe!”, War Heart shouted at the dragon, who scoffed at him.
“Then I will obliterate you with just my breath…”, Barridamus inhaled, taking several seconds to fill his lungs. War Heart brought out his axe and dove towards the massive maw of the dragon. War Heart watched as a mass of black stained energy amassed itself in the mouth of the colossal dragon. He stopped and threw his axe into the mass of dark energy in the jaws of Barridamus. The axe flipped through the air into the black mass, colliding with it and causing a shockwave that made it become unstable and begin to collapse in on itself, dragging in bits of the dragon into a centre the size of a pinhead. War Heart began to feeling a force pushing him towards the point that his axe collided with the mass. He tried to fly away but to no avail. He struggled against the flow as a rock came flying by and hit him square in the face, knocking him unconscious and flying into the pinpoint. Short seconds after they saw their friend disappear into nothing Cura screamed, “War Heart!”, her eyes widened as the black point in the sky disappeared. The remaining ponies stood there in shock, Cura collapsed to the ground, unable to believe her hero was gone. Hermit put a hoof on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Cura shed a few tears before letting her head hang down as melancholy took over. She headed towards home, not caring whether or not Orion or Hermit followed. Orion picked up the shield with bubbles upon it and hung it by the strap on his saddlebag. The trip was silent on the way back home. The aura of melancholy had them drained of energy. As they returned to Ponyville, three fillies ran up to them with excitement to see the heroes return, but with one missing. Cura and Orion went to town hall and talked to the mayor, telling her what happened. The mayor sent a message to Celestia who came immediately to Ponyville, however, the princess was informed of the fact only two ponies of the original three returned. “It’s wonderful that you returned, I must congratulate you… two?”, Celestia’s joyful tone turned to sorrow as she realised the truth of what must have happened. Orion explained to Celestia what War Heart did to slay the last Dragon Lord. Orion then went to War Heart’s home and knocked on the door. Ditzy Doo answered the door with a smile that turned to a look of concern as Orion put a shield on the floor with Ditzy Doo’s cutie mark on it. Orion left her to her sorrow and went back to his mare friend Apple Jack. Cura went back to Canterlot, she opened the door to her home and went straight to bed, not caring that it was the middle of the day. She sat there and cried, thinking of what War Heart taught her.

The cold feeling of raindrops tapped upon his face. His eyes opened slowly with his vision blurred. He sat up and looked around to see a world of grey buildings and dark skies. He laid in a small pile of trash bags and rolled out of the pile wearily, his head pounding. He braced his fall out of the trash, putting his hands to the ground. He heard a voice, “Hey, Man, You alright?”