//------------------------------// // chapter 10 // Story: Draconic Guardians of Equestria // by Defias //------------------------------// Vakarious had finally made it home after his visit with Twilight at her library. Upon entering his home, he immediately took to his human form and went up to his room, intending to finally begin studying the samples. It was something he really needed to do, the outcome of which possibly being nothing to worry about, or everything to worry about. "Now let's see what made you." Vakarious said to himself as he poured the contents of the stone box on his table, with a combination of green, black, and white dirt being what spilled out. He sorted the samples by color, with the green dirt on the left, the white in the middle, and the black on the right. He then began to cast an assortment of elemental spells, finding out exactly what he was looking at. "Just as I thought. The black dirt is black due to it just being burnt, nothing abnormal there, with the green being Fel taint. The white, as to be expected of a demonic portal, is the remnants of the runes used for the connection. Ugh, I won't be able to tell if it's related to the Burning Legion at all though." After spending an hour of doing what, Vakarious felt like, nothing but staring at dirt, he finally gave up. While he knew for a fact what it was, he just didn't know where it came from, or if it was even related to his own arrival or not. Nonetheless, he would send a letter to the Princess anyway, just to be safe. If she felt it was enough to worry about, then good on her and if not, then so be it. Princess Celestia, While I'm sure you will find yourself curious as to how you received a letter in such a manner without the services of Twilight Sparkle's assistant Spike, I will gladly explain how I sent this to you at some other time. At the moment, however, there are more important matters to attend to. Yesterday, I decided to fly over the Everfree Forest, along with the one called Rainbow Dash. While we were making our return, I took notice of an odd marking on the ground below me. Upon further inspection, it was a marking that was all too familiar to me, a demonic rune of teleportation. This is an ability I know of that only two types of beings make extensive use of: Warlocks, a type of Arcane caster that delves into demonic power, and agents of the Burning Legion. Unfortunately, I could not gather any other information from my findings. As I have not been able to find out whether this is cause for alarm or not, I have decided that I would leave that decision to you. As this is not my world, it is not my place to make such decisions over something that could just be trivial If you have any questions or concerns, you can reply directly to me by simply focusing on my essence, much like when you send scrolls to Spike. With regards, Vakarious. After he was satisfied with what he had wrote, Vakarious rolled the letter into a scroll. He then held it within the palm of his hand, and the letter disappeared moments later, leaving a similar, albeit purple trail of flame as it does when Spike sends scrolls to the Princess. With nothing else to do, Vakarious decided tour the rest of the town, seeing as he had nothing else planned for two weeks. Might see what I could get for the house seeing how plain it looks. Vakarious thought to himself shortly before taking his Pegasus form. ~~~ After a couple of minutes and many failed attempts later, Vakarious gave up trying to get his Ipod to work comfortably in his Pegasus form, and started heading towards the market. As he was making his way in the streets of Ponyville, Vakarious noticed Rainbow Dash in the sky clearing a single cloud. With nothing else to do, and not minding a guide, he decided to get her attention and see what she was up to. "Hey Rainbow, what's up?" Vakarious called out. "Oh, hey Vaka, just finishing up my shift in weather clearing duty. What are you doing?" she replied. "Heading to the market to look at stuff. Figured I'd get some house stuff, yaknow," he said. "Sounds cool. Your house is pretty ugly though, sure you can find enough things for it?" Rainbow teased. "Well, as you know, bits really aren't an issue for me at all," Vakarious joked. Rainbow just snickered before landing next to him. "So, question. Seeing as you have wings, why don't you actually, yaknow, use them? Are you just scared of flying?" Rainbow asked. "Yup, definitely. Figured me out," Vakarious answered sarcastically. "In all seriousness, I honestly just forget. And generally, by the time I remember, I end up arriving where I needed to be anyway." "That's a pretty dumb reason, not gonna lie. I mean, how do you forget, that you can fly?" Rainbow said. "Simple, really. Seeing as the only other form I've ever used for thousands of years was one that couldn't fly, I got into the habit of not flying while in any other form," Vakarious replied. "Well, that's still dumb. I've gotta jet though, gotta make sure the skies stay clear for another hour before I'm off. See ya later Vaka," Rainbow said before flying off. Vakarious just sighed and continued down the road. When Vakarious finally made it to the market, he was quite surprised. He found the market much more lively and full of activity than he expected from such a small town. He just shrugged and moved on, looking over the various merchants and items on display. The whole place reminded him greatly of human Swap Meets, minus the vans, trucks, and music of course. As he was about to make his way to a merchant who had quite a bit of furniture, Vakarious could see the ponies running in a direction, with some screaming. Curious, he decided to go see what all of the excitement was about. After following the group of excited and screaming ponies, he shortly came to a stop in front of what appeared to be a tall clock tower. Wading through the crowed, he saw what all the ponies seemed to be in a fit about: a young filly was some how hanging from the edge of the tower. After noticing that the only help were a couple of apparent fire fighter ponies with a short ladder, Vakarious came to the realization that there were no other Pegasi around besides himself. Rolling his eyes, he decided to fly up to help the distressed young pony, assuming it would be an easy task. However, he found that due to his lack of experience in his Pegasus form, he could not grab filly at all, not even being able to fly underneath to catch the young pony. I'm going to regret this... Vakarious thought to himself before landing on the perch the filly was holding on to. After one last attempt to try and grab the filly in his Pegasus form, he created a large area of mist around himself an the filly, before changing into his human form and after doing so, he grabbed for the filly. However, he wasn't quick enough, and the filly slipped, screaming as she fell. Rolling his eyes again, he dove after her, grabbed her, and elevated the earth below him shortening their fall greatly. After they were safe on his pillar he had swiftly created, Vakarious started to leave to hide, but it was too late. He was in the open, in his human form, holding a filly, whom he promptly set down. After a long silence, the filly screamed and ran away towards the center of the town, with the rest of the ponies following suite. Wonderful... Vakarious thought to himself before heading towards Twilight's library to explain why a riot in Ponyville was likely. ~~~ "Instead of reading the same books you've read hundreds of time on dragons, why don't you just ask Vakarious everything he knows about dragons?" Spike asked Twilight, who indeed had a book with limited knowledge on dragons. "Because Spike, I've asked him a lot already. Besides, I think he'll be impressed with how much I already know about dragons," Twilight replied, not taking her gaze off of her book. Before Spike could respond, they both heard a pounding on their door. "Ugh, can you get that Spike?" Twilight asked, before tidying her desk up a bit for her unannounced visiter. Spike nodded and headed for the door, while Twilight continued cleaning her area up. She was about to head into the main room, until Vakarious barged into her study. "We've got a slight problem," Vakarious said. As he said that, Twilight noticed that he was in his human form, and could safely assume what the 'problem' he was referring to was. "Let me guess. Somepony saw you in your human form, got scared to death, and alerted the town to the monster amongst everypony?" Twilight asked, clearly annoyed at the situation she would probably have to deal with. "Well, not exactly along those lines..." Vakarious began. "This should be interesting," Twilight muttered. Vakarious just rolled his eyes before he continued. "I might write a novel about it later. Anyway, here's the situation..." ~~~ "So, let me get this straight. Because you didn't take the time to learn how to be a Pegasus, you had to resort to using your other form to same somepony, regardless if anypony else saw you?" Twilight asked, after Vakarious explained the situation. He merely nodded, before Twilight walked around. "Well, you were going to end up coming out with at least your human form at some point in time anyway. So, the good news is, at least you did so saving somepony. As for the whole town 'rioting' over this? Just give them time, and they'll get used to you. I mean, at least your first impression wasn't turning Ponyville into the chaos capital of the world," Twilight finished. "What does that have to do with anything?" Vakarious asked, confused at the reference. "That's what Discord did, remember? Even so, after he did that, ponies are starting to accept him a month since he was released and reformed. Your first impression was saving somepony you didn't even know, so you'll have a MUCH easier time," Twilight informed. "Whatever. So, I might as well just go about town looking like whatever I want now? Short of the whole 'giant dragon' thing of course," Vakarious said. "Your Pegasus form won't really hide you anymore, so I think it'll be safe. Besides, Princess Celestia did want you in your true form at the Gala anyway, so this is pretty convenient," Twilight replied. Vakarious rolled his eyes once again, annoyed at the turn of events. Sure, he didn't have use a form he hated anymore, but now he was going to be the center of attention: something he hated even more than his Pegasus form. "Guess I'll go then. Kind of annoying how the town is reacting to me, but whatever," Vakarious said before heading to the door. "Wait," Twilight said, before he could leave. "What?" "If you're not busy...I was wondering if you could tell me everything you can about dragons?" Twilight asked. "Yeah, I could tell you everything I know about my kind, "Vakarious answered. Before Twilight could squeel in excitement, however, Vakarious added one last thing. "And perhaps some day, I might tell you a little of what I know. Thank you for your help with todays situation, Twilight Sparkle." "Okay, no problem Vakarious," Twilight said begrudgingly. Vakarious saw her frustation at his reply, and couldn't help but snicker as he left the library. "Well? What'd he say?" Spike asked Twilight, who was heading back to her study. "Oh, nothing. He just did something that caused the entire town to see his human form, that's all," Twilight replied. "No, what did he say about him telling you everything he knew about dragons?" Spike asked again. "Oh, he just sa--How do you know I asked him?" Twilight asked. "Twilight...C'mon. What did he say?" Spike replied. "He said 'perhaps someday, I might tell you a little of what I know.' Ugh, I knew that was going to happen," Twilight said, going into her study and shutting the door before Spike could say anything else. ~~~ Vakarious headed towards the edge of the forest he become used to. He had decided not to go into the town for the rest of the day, and possibly the next, just to give the town time to calm down. All things considering, it could have been worse...I mean, at least I didn't get threatened with nukes and a lot of guns pointed at me... Vakarious mused to himself. Indeed, the initial revelation of the Obsidian Dragons on Earth were very hostile, and almost resulted in a world war. Luckily, however, the human's will to live was just enough to prefer giving the dragons a chance rather than obliterating themselves with their own nuclear weapons. When Vakarious reached the edge of the forest, he knelt down with his right hand in the dirt and his left arm behind his back. He was making a very simple attempt, yet important nonetheless at connecting with the elements of the world. While he knew very well he wouldn't have as deep as a connection to this world as he did his own, he could still get an idea of the state of the elements anyway. Besides, he had nothing else to do. As he did so, however, he wasn't met with the chaotic visions he usually had when associating with the elements, but rather, he ended finding himself and his surroundings growing darker and darker. Vakarious soon found himself in an empty darkness, a void he was strangely familiar with. After a bit, he realized exactly what powers could have brought him to this empty void: the dark magics of the Old Gods. However, it was very different, both from the dark magic he used, as well as the Old God magic he was shown from a different world. Indeed it was dark magic, but it was very original. While not powerful enough to entrap him within the void, allowing him full ability to escape, he was curious to find out who or what was responsible for the darkness. Soon, his curiosity would be answered. "You are quite intriguing indeed," a dark, ominous voice said. Vakarious, once again, rolled his eyes as a dark purple mist began manifesting before him. After the mist dissipated, what stood before him was a dark grey unicorn, clad in silver armor, a red cloak with a white fur lining, a silver crown with a red crescent jewel, and a red horn. "King Sombra?" Vakarious asked, unenthusiastically. He knew exactly what was going to happen now: the Unicorn would either try to corrupt him in some way, or try to get him on the Unicorn's side. "You are quite perceptive as well," the dark Unicorn replied. "I'll play along. What is this place and why am I here?" Vakarious asked sarcastically. "Oh, don't be so insulting. You know very well what all of this is. After all, you are quite powerful and skilled in the dark arts, yes?" King Sombra said. "Fine, you got me. But still, obviously you're alive and well somewhere, with some intricate plan or scheme to take over the world or something. So either you want my help, or you want to prevent me from getting in your way or something," Vakarious snarked. "While I am indeed alive and well, as you so delicately put it, right now my current plans of retaking my empire has been....delayed," King Sombra replied. "I see. Well, I guess being shattered into thousands of pieces by the silly emotion known as 'love' is an understandable delay," Vakarious said. He wasn't really impressed with the 'king' that stood before him. King Sombra didn't seem affect by his comment, though. "Exactly, though that is not the delay I am quite referring too," King Sombra said. "Pray tell, what else could possibly be delaying you? Surely not the Element Bearers, seeing how the Elements of no effect on you. In theory, of course," Vakarious replied. "That is the purpose of this little, 'meeting'. What delays me, I believe, interests you as well," "And you telling me what that is has a catch," Vakarious said. "I wouldn't call it a 'catch', but I would call it fair that you need to earn my bit of information," King Sombra said. "Alright, what's this 'fair bit' you want me to do?" Vakarious asked. "It's simple, really. There are only two beings on this world who are powerful enough to completely resist my ability to peer into their thoughts and dreams. Those two beings are you, and the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, Discord. As you pointed out, the Elements are of no concern to me. Discord, however, is a threat to me due to his chaotic abilities alone. What I ask of you is simple. Destroy Discord, and I will tell you what you want to know, with an added bonus," King Sombra offered. "Added bonus, huh? If that added bonus is power, I can guarantee you it's useless to me," Vakarious said. "Oh no, it's much more rewarding. Simply put, it's a way for you to get back to your world," King Sombra said. "Well now, that definitely is quite interesting. Perhaps this little 'catch' of yours fair after all," Vakarious said. King Sombra grinned, having the young dragon exactly where he wanted. Vakarious, for his part, was not stupid. While the offer of a way home really was intriguing, and tempting, he knew better than to trust anyone who wielded the power he had access too. He allowed himself to indulge the offer nonetheless: perhaps he could learn something he had missed. "I won't destroy Discord. Frankly, I prefer not to destroy things I don't know. As such, here is what will happen. I am fully capable of incapacitating Discord in such a way that I can hand him right over to you to do whatever you please with him. Do keep in mind, however: should treachery even be hinted, I will not hesitate to make you suffer. I am just as capable of making you wish for death," Vakarious said coldly to King Sombra. The latter however, merely grinned before commenting. "Very well. You capture Discord, and I will share what I know with you," King Sombra replied. "Oh, one more thing. It's not really worth mentioning, but I haven't actually decided on what I'll do yet. So next time we 'meet', I might either have Discord with me, or, I'll still have Discord with me, but he'll be with me voluntarily," Vakarious said. Before King Sombra could say anything, Vakarious disappeared, returning to reality. King Sombra grinned, though. While he indeed could not see into the thoughts of Vakarious, he could see into the thoughts of the other recent arrival: Kil'jaeden. And from Kil'jaeden's thoughts and past, he knew Vakarious' exact weakness: Arrogance. While normally he could defeat anyone by using their own fears against them, Vakarious was too powerful for that. Instead, his arrogance would be his downfall. Either Vakarious would accept King Sombra's agreement, thus allowing him to simply send him back to his world and prevent him from returning to Equestria, or he could use him to draw the Burning Legion to Equestria. "We will met again, Dragonlord." ~~~ Vakarious got up from his kneeling position. After stretching, he decided to head back to town, despite his earlier intentions of waiting. He really had nothing to do at all, even though he was 2,600 years old. As he was nearing the town, a familiar blue blur caught his attention. "Hey Vaka! I heard you pretty much caused a riot in Ponyville today!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew towards Vakarious, who was in his human form. "Yeah, bit of an incident. How is the town anyway? Are they looking for me with pitchforks and torches?" Vakarious asked. "Naw, they pretty much just went back to doing what ever they were doing. Seems you had less of an effect on them all than Zecora, or even Discord," Rainbow said. "Well, that's good. At least it means I can go to the royal party thing in the way Celestia wants me to. Plus, now Rarity doesn't have to make me anything either," Vakarious said. "I'm curious. How come you always refer to the Princess by just her name? Like, you don't call her, yaknow, Princess Celestia?" Rainbow asked. Vakarious was surprised by her question, but he answered her anyway. "Frankly put, she's not my princess or ruler, that's why. It's how I addressed human leaders on Earth as well. I never referred to them using their titles, ever. It's just habit, really. Not really out of disrespect at all," Vakarious informed. Rainbow Dash just shrugged. "You're pretty weird," Rainbow said. "Yeah, says the Pegasus with all the colors of the rainbow," Vakarious replied. "Hey, what's wrong with rainbows?" she asked, pretending to be offended. "Oh, nothing. Just, on my world, rainbows were usually associated with, well, never mind," Vakarious said. "What, you scared to finish what you were saying?" Rainbow said, still feigning offense. "Yup. You might sonic rainboom me or something, and we can't have that now," Vakarious replied, mocking worry. "You know, that's not even remotely close to what a sonic rainboom does," Rainbow informed. "That's with the assumption that it's real. But enough fairy tales, I need to get home. The Gala is in like what, ten days?" Vakarious asked, taking on a semi serious tone. "Something like that, yeah. Why?" Rainbow asked. "Just curious. Need to make sure I have all the tunes the Gala wants," Vakarious said. Rainbow was confused by his answer though. "Um, why do you need to make sure you have all the tunes for the Gala?" Rainbow asked. "Ha, Twilight didn't tell you how she pretty much volunteered me to organize some music, did she?" Vakarious said. "Nope. Sounds like something she'd do if she was excited enough though," Rainbow replied. "Excited is an understatement..." Vakarious muttered. Rainbow just giggled, though. "Well, I'm gonna head home. It was a pretty busy day today, plus I still need to check on Tank," Rainbow said, taking off shortly before Vakarious asked who or what 'Tank' was. Vakarious shrugged and continued home. He had to admit, even with the awkward stares and occasional panic attacks, the walk home was far more boring without Rainbow Dash walking with him. He just shrugged that thought, and continued until he had actually made it home. Another thought had crossed his mind, though. While he wasn't really going to go through the 'agreement' he had made with King Sombra, he had piqued his curiosity with a return trip home, especially with the mention of Discord. Perhaps this Discord fellow knows some way to connect this world with mine... Vakarious thought to himself, before entering his home.