//------------------------------//
// Son of the Brood 
// Story: Calming Sigh-- with a Breath of Fire 
// by Laze Around 
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	The Princess Siblings were powerful, yes, but they were still ponies of mortal minds. They had emotions that could be taken advantage of, quirks that could be exploited, and defenses that could be cracked.

The princesses were young when I first encountered them. They were still prone to rage, and were plenty prideful to say the least. Royalty seemed to have gotten into their heads, Celestia's especially. She looked more content and proud with what she had, but even her brightest rays could not banish shadows that it made, only see the light that they cast. For the Sun Princess, she could have at least tried to do it, and maybe, just maybe, she might have found Luna sooner in the shadow that she herself created over her sister.

The battle with Sombra made me realize just how far the Princess of the Moon was falling into the darkness. All she had wanted was for somepony or someone to love and acknowledge her and the wonderful nights that she bestowed upon all. But alas, they all loved and praised Celestia's day more than they did her evenings. I would have reached out for the poor mare if I didn't know that she would have more than likely stab it with her horn than reach out to it.

She was very desperate for recognition back then, but only sought it from her own pony kind.

And that was her own mistake.



The battle with Sombra ended just as expected. The tyrant king never even thought that someone else would be after him when the princesses arrived. They all knew and expected the princesses to take care of the evil stallion. Everypony had confidence that they could get the job done, and the cunning king counted that they would come on their own.

Noble Pride, I snorted, how predictable.

I jumped out of the shadow that wasn't in the king's sight, one big enough to make it look like I was hiding behind the fractured crystal that cast it, and used my [Bonebreak] skill on one of his hind legs to distract him. 

There was a crack, loud and audible. I saw and felt his leg dent and cave in. Sombra's eyes went wide and began screaming in pain. He fell to his side and looked at his broken leg before screaming louder than before.

I rushed over to where the princesses were trapped, transforming my arm from shoulder to fingertips into a dragon's limb. With a roar of effort, I plowed through the crystal with pure brute force.

The battle went easier from there as the king was reduced to nursing his leg and staying immobile during combat. But I made sure that I stayed as far back as I could and allowed the Princesses to take the final blow on the king.

King Sombra had been furious, roaring out as best a pony could and spraying spittle with his every attack. He made sure to shoot me every hateful glare he could when he had the chance, but with me staying away he couldn't get any kind of revenge for what I did to his leg. He was cursing with all his might at what I was, what I did to him, and that I ruined his plans. His eyes were manic, and he was practically frothing in the mouth.

It was a satisfying sight to behold, and I made sure to smile at him broadly for every look he shot my way.

Near his defeat, however, he activated something near his crystal throne just before he was banished out of the empire and into the frozen tundra. The ground shook and the whole room lit in a crystalline light, I had no choice but to access one of the Dragon Genes within me just before the whole empire disappeared.

I grew draconic wings and my hands turned into scaly claws, while a set of horns sprouted from my head through my lengthening hair, and a thick tail extended down at the end of my spine. [Warrior], my human/dragon hybrid form granted to me by the [Force] Gene. It emphasizes on power, but it also allowed me to take flight. It's one of my favorite forms, as it still retained its humanoid appearance.

There wasn't much we could have done to the empire and its ponies, but I already knew that the disappearance was not permanent.

It was only after the land became empty that I remembered that I was not alone.

"What are you, Creature!"




My eyes snapped open as my ears picked up the sound out someone close by. My body tensed and my mind was immediately on high alert. But then I remembered where I was.

Two Canterlot guards were standing beside the newly re-sealed spirit of chaos in the royal gardens. The noise that I heard came from their armors' shifting plates just as they made their way to their posts.

There wasn't really any need for me to panic. Even with the two guards merely a few feet away from me, there was no chance of them spotting me in my current location; not unless they could look into the dimension inside the shadows.

"I'm really not liking my new position here in the garden." said one of them. I began stretching in place, one ear focused on their conversation.

"It's not like we have much of a choice." said the other. "You've heard what this thing did to the closest town?"

"The Chaos Capital of the World? Who hasn't. There's a celebration later on in honor of the mares that turned this thing back to stone."

It's been a few days since Discord's rampage. The places that weren't reached by the light that came from the Elements of Harmony were still being rebuilt, repaired and/or restored. I've taken to sleeping within the shadows of the palace in order to avoid Luna's ability to visit dreams, seeing that I have yet to show myself to Celestia and her loyal subjects.

I just can't seem to get the timing right, and every time I try she's either busy or already too tired. I would prefer it if she were at full strength, if only to ease her nerves when I do decide to show myself, and make her less guarded when she thinks that we're on equal footing if ever a fight breaks out.

That thought still gives me a certain amount of discomfort. Asking for help from one of the beings that disliked me, and was still around to do it even after so many centuries. I usually just leave them alone and wait for time to take its toll, but that idea was pretty much moot on someone with Celestia's longevity. The only ones that I've shown myself to were the descendants of the mare that took care of me more than a millennia ago, and there were those few good creatures who helped in my travels and their descendants.

"Say, have you noticed how the princess has been acting for the last few days?"

I heard one of the guards ask. By this point I was already wide awake and this particular topic piqued my interest. For Celestia's "Motherly" act to crack in the presence of her 'Little Ponies', there must be something weighing in her mind.

"I've noticed it, too." the other guard answered.

"Did you see her usually looking out into the gardens every once and a while?"

"Yeah. I also heard that she was pretty distracted during the Day Court. A few nobles had to repeat what they were saying a few times for her."

Hmm, curious. For the Sun Princess herself to be this distracted, it must really be something big. Was Discord's release really bothering her? I don't think what he did then and now were any different.

"You think it was because of this?" the guard asked, pointing his spear at the petrified Spirit of Chaos.

"I did." the other guard answered. "But then I saw her just before my shift the other day looking at that instead."

I raised a brow when the guard turned his eyes my way. I was sure that they couldn't see me, or even sense me in the dimension within the shadows, I've checked centuries ago.

"That?" questioned the other guard. "What is that anyway? I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before."

Now I noticed that the guards weren't really looking at me directly, but were actually looking at the thing that was casting the shadow where I was hiding.

My gaze shifted to the figure that the guard's eyes were set on. Up on a pedestal, with a plate for its name, was a figure unlike any of the other creatures that could be seen in this world. It stood on its hind legs, with its arms and claws spread apart as it roared to the sky. From within its long mane, a set of horns sprouted from its head not unlike that of a young Minotaur. However, what made others re-think of its race were the wide open, scaly, leather wings that were on its back and the thick, reptilian tail that extended from the end of its spine.

"What is that, anyway?" the guard asked.

"The name's on the plate."

With curiosity winning over his mind, the uninformed guard slowly made his way towards the statue. I leaned back within my hidden space and looked at his expression as he read the words etched on the plate. Confusion was apparent in his face before he drew back with an incredulous look, then he turned back to his partner.

"Is this thing real?"

"As real as this guy." the other guard said, tapping his spear at the new pedestal that was made for Discord's new re-sealed state.

The other guard went back to his post beside his partner with a little more haste in his steps. He looked back at the statue, and then to the one that was Discord and shivered.

"Dude, is that why the princess was checking that statue? Cause she thinks that he might break out as well?"

"If I had to guess?" the better informed guard pondered. "Yeah, there's a high possibility of that if this one got out." he looked back at the biped-standing statue again and nodded to it, directing his partner's attention. "If Discord here represents Chaos and  Disharmony, that thing over there represents Power and Destruction."

His partner shivered as the last two words were said with a deliberate emphasis. "What did he do?"

The guard shrugged before adopting the stoic guard expression as he looked steadily forward. "No one really knows much except the princesses themselves, but from what the captain said to me when I asked, he said that the Badlands wasn't always as big as it was a thousand or-so years ago."

"And that thing was the reason?"

"That's what the captain said."

I drew deeper into the shadows as the conversation was concluded. I quickly made my way to the royal kitchens, taking all of the food I intended to eat without any of the ponies even noticing.

My mind went back to the conversation of the two guards. My lips quirked in amusement at the reason for Sun Princess' public mask cracking.

So, Celestia was actually expecting my return. That just makes it easier for me, more so when she's still wary of the things that I've been capable of back then. She and Luna had only seen three of my many dragon forms, seeing that I rather dislike going full dragon. I've only shown them the ones that I could become while splicing the Force Gene and my strongest Gene: [Warrior] , [Myrmidon] and [Kaiser]. 

What they had in the gardens was my [Myrmidon] form. 

That had been quite the battle, easily the longest one I had since coming here. Nothing ever surpassed it in terms of time and effort. I knew that the sisters would only have kept coming after me after showing them what I could do at my best in the Badlands. The place had definitely earned its name over time, but back then it was more ... dark. Anything and everything disgusting and vile was set in that place, crimes and "Evil" were common, and a lot of residents near the place would normally get raided every other week. And it wasn't just ponies that hung out there. Every other outcast went to that place and they banded together as a group.

It had to go. For the sake of the precious ones I knew in Equestria and the few I knew over the borders.

[Trance], [Radiance] and [Infinity], the Genes that I spliced to unleash my body's strongest form.

Trance for strength in spirit, Radiance to focus on all that is good within me, and Infinity to unseal the strongest power of my dragon blood.

The Brood, a dragon clan nigh extinct because of the whims of a Goddess who feared their power. They had the strength to destroy the world, and almost did so after the Goddess promised to grant any wish they desired. The dragons fought over the wish like starving dogs.

The clan was split into two factions in the aftermath of the internal war: one, ashamed of what they had done and the destruction that they have wrought to the world, sealed their powers in repentance; the other continued to pursue the Goddess and the wish. In the end it was never granted as the first generation of Ryu defeated the Goddess and weakened her enough that she hid herself for years.

The second generation of Ryu had to kill her spawn a few centuries later. I wasn't familiar with his story, but it was more or less the same as his predecessor.

This Identity of mine is the Third Generation, centuries after the Second Ryu.

The Goddess had rewritten the history of the world and portrayed the Brood as evil Demons who nearly destroyed the world. She created four Guardians to hunt down and destroy the Brood with the aid of her power. Still, even with the power that my kind had, they gave only the barest amount of resistance as they were hunted down. They could have won easily, but because they feared the catastrophe of nearly destroying the world to happen again they sealed their bloodline's potential for the last time and fled across the ocean to escape their pursuers. Those that didn't were unfortunately slaughtered.

In order to find this truth, the Third Ryu, along with his friends, journeyed the world to find the Goddess. Along the way he learned from many masters and obtained the spirits of the many slain Brood while learning the art of combat and arcane. In the town where the remnants of the Brood that sealed their powers resided, the Elder, Jono, tested Ryu and gave up his life to unlock the strongest power of his kind to him: [Infinity]

But, without [Trance] and [Radiance], the power would consume him and will become berserk, a dangerous state while wielding the strongest transformation of the clan.

[Infinity] had always been the strongest power of the Brood, and it was this power that I unleashed in the Badlands to wipe out the cancer that plagued it. I transformed, for the first time since coming to Equestria, into a full dragon and unleashed a devastation that even I wasn't prepared for.

The ponies nearly went to war with the dragons for what I did, but after claiming that I was independent, the ponies had to grudgingly pull back in their attempts. The dragons didn't really care. They knew that in an all out war they would be the victor, with or without my help. Even with the princesses, the ponies would have too many casualties on their side.

The dragons from then on heeded every word I said after personally going to see the extent of my Dragon Lineage. It's one of the reasons why I still kept contact with them even after our first sour encounter. I had to make them all keep my existence a secret to those who did not know and stressed to them that I was nothing but a myth.

The ponies were easy enough. I was only categorized as a 'Dragon' to them as they refused to believe that a tiny biped that looks like a disfigured Minotaur was the same 'Dragon' that caused the expansion of the Badlands. With a begrudging sigh and a throbbing nerve from the princesses that tried to warn them, they gave me a name appropriate enough to count as a terror to the ponykind, and one that was more or less revered by all Draconian kin. Ironic that it was merely a translation of my ultimate dragon form and my name from two different languages.

From inside the shadows of the garden, I looked back at the petrified state of my dragon form and looked at the name that was carved on the marble stone. All this time, even though I was already nothing more than a myth in history, I knew that at least two ponies remember me and the terror hidden beneath my dragon scales.


"Emperor Dragon"


I still laugh remembering the confusion of the ponies back then when they pass the statue. They wondered what the princesses were thinking of when they put the name of the strongest dragon on a disfigured Minotaur. Some even found it distasteful and said that the princesses merely added the wings and tail to make it resemble a dragon somewhat. Obviously this was never said in their presence.





It was past noon and the ponies were gathered in the great halls of the castle, where stained glasses depicted the greatest exploits of the six mares who were about to receive recognition for their defeat of Discord. Many of them waited patiently, and cheered as the  guards blew their horns to signal the entrance of their heroes.

I eased back within the many shadows cast in the room and awaited for the Mane Six to arrive.

Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn prodigy, protege of the Sun Princess, Scholar of Friendship, and bearer of the Element of Magic; led the group of five mares who each represented an element that completed the set of the most powerful artifact in all of Equestria.

To her right was the Earth Pony, Applejack: proud owner of the Equestria's best apple orchard, a mare with an earnest heart, the living lie detector, the pony whose bucking skills could even make a grown manticore run with it's tail between its legs and Bearer of the Element of Honesty.

To the left of the unicorn was another Earth Pony, Pinkamena Diane Pie, aka Pinkie Pie: the pony who broke more rules of the world that would have made even Discord proud, the mare who was at a constant sugar rush and the prime party planner of all Equestria; Bearer of the Element of Laughter, and the pony who brings mirth to my brooding heart.

Behind the Party Pony was the Pegasus, Rainbow Dash: the fastest flyer in all Equestria, the only pony in history who recreated the legendary Sonic Rainboom as a young filly, the most protective of all the Mane Six, the flying dare-devil with a courage of steel but a confidence of glass, and Bearer of the Element of Loyalty.

By her side was another Unicorn, Rarity: one of Equestria's top fashionista, the mare whose vanity is only equaled by the amount of beauty products she uses every week, the Drama Queen that cannot be matched in whining, the mare who only wishes the beauty of everything she sees, and the Bearer of the Element of Generosity.

And last but not least, the Pegasus whose natural beauty cannot be tarnished, but only enhanced, the mare whose personality makes you want to grab your chest as if pierced by the arrow of concentrated cuteness, the shyest and most soft spoken pony in all of Ponyville, the veterinarian whose Stare could intimidate even a full grown dragon (Much to my shame), the Bearer of the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy.

All six ponies made their way on the red carpet of the halls, the crowd taking in every single one of them. They reached the throne and smiled proudly as the guards continued to blow the horns in the tune of victory and celebration. Celestia smiled back at them before flaring her wings to gather the attention of the crowd as the music played on.

"We are gathered here today to once again honor the heroism of these six friends who stood up to the villain Discord and saved Equestria from eternal Chaos."

The ponies in the crowd cheered and stomped their hooves as a form of applause, shouting and hollering praises for the six. Celestia took this as a cue and directed their attention to one of the closed curtains. Her horn shined and parted the cloth to reveal a new stained glass portrait, depicting the six mares and them working as one to defeat the spirit of chaos.

The ponies seem to only cheer louder at the sight of the portrait, and the six mares merely basked at the attention, some waving bashfully back to the crowd. The pink pony named Pinkie Pie was instead hopping in place as the excitement grew. Today was a time of joy and celebration, the tranquility after a great disaster. Celestia stood proudly behind the Elements and she smiled at the cheers meant for her champions.

And after that instance, there was only silence.

The ponies all stopped smiling and stopped their applause. Confusion spread on their faces as all of them tried to talk, yet no sound would come out. Some noticed their steps and tried to make a sound by stomping their hooves, but again there was none. Confusion gave way to panic as the idea that they had lost their hearing came to them.

Celestia saw the state of the her subjects and opened her mouth to speak, but like them there was no sound that came out. The Mane Six all tried to communicate with each other, but with the sudden loss of their primary tool for reaching out to one another they slowly started to feel what the rest of the crowd felt.

"Ponies..."

The sudden call of their kind easily startled the silent crowd, some even jumping off the ground from the surprise. Heads turned to look for the source, but most tried to see if they could hear or speak again. All suddenly stopped cold and stared at the throne. Celestia and the Elements boggled at the sudden intensity of their stares. It took them a moment to realize that it wasn't them that ponies were focused on, but what was behind them. And as one they turned, with Celestia's eyes shrinking into dots after seeing just who was there to greet her.

"Hello Celestia."

I sat on top of the throne of the Sun Princess, poised like gargoyle as I stared down at her and the ponies. The claws on my hand and feet were digging into the seat, my wings were partially opened and keeping me balanced, my tail was wrapped along the throne, and my lengthened hair fell past my shoulders and partially hiding my face.

On the ceiling high above, a gigantic eight pointed star was rotating unnoticed over their heads. It was [Silence] a spell that did just as the name intended. Originally, it was a spell intended to keep mages from casting spells, but because ponies here used their horns as a focus instead of verbal commands to trigger the self hypnosis function to achieve the magic, I had to find a way to make it a useful tool. And this was the fruit of centuries worth of trial and error.

[Absolute Silence]

With a snap of my finger, the spell was released, yet no sound came as the ponies stood in shock as they looked on.

I shifted the way I sat and made myself comfortable on top of the throne, one leg dangling down while the other hugged near my chest. My cheek came to rest on my knee as I stared at the Princess in a bored contemplation.

"So, Celestia. Where is Luna?"