Protection
Pain… The word, and feeling, resonated through Stargazer's mind and body as he limped back to the ruins of his home. The dragon was playing a game of cat and mouse on him, and as in most cases the mouse was not doing very well. He had not slept since He had sent Applejack back to her home. Not that he slept much before that either, he was too busy making sure the taint of this place never washed onto her.
Sleep was nothing compared to his wounds however, he was sure that if they were not yet broken he already had fractured most of his ribs judging from the ache that throbbed through his body, and the way his lungs felt if he took a deep breath. His left eye (The white one, now blue) was swollen shut from three massive claw marks. It could heal it may not only time would tell, but if it didn't he would be half blind permanently. He was battered and bruised, claw and bite marks ran across his body, and he had long since run out of magic to use. That would be hell to pay later but at least he could see his old face now.
Blue eyes, black fur, black wings, black hair with a few grey streaks that blurred as he moved, and a black horn. Cracked and broken but that mattered very little to Star anymore. For three days he had fought the dragon and the forest's many evils. It was taking it's toll on him to the point where he cared very little whether he lived or died anymore, either way his pain would go away and one was easier than the other. Yet he took the most difficult one, he didn't care for his own life, but there was a certain pony who he missed more than he thought imaginable. One pony who had graced him with the first and best friendship Stargazer had ever had. One pony who he would love to see again, however unlikely it was that would happen.
"Applejack" he almost whispered it but the name already brought comfort to him before, during, and after the fights he had with the dragon and with his own mind as the magic tried to take control. It was the one thing he had held on to as he watched as all his worldly possessions were destroyed, except for two other things, one was stored safely under his house, the other was a reminder of why he was here and he kept it on him at all times. Applejack knew about one of them, his horn, but the other he had kept from her. It was not her burden to bear. But as much as he hated to do it he pushed her from his mind, he had to remain alert and she distracted him. Stargazer came into the view of the house that had provided his shelter during the demonic events of his life in the forest. He walked through the main entry, or rather what was left of it. The dragon had demolished it along with most of his house. Half of it was simply gone, obliterated by the fight that had taken place right after he sent AJ out of harm’s way.
He now stood at the crater where the Dragon had first landed in his house, the crater reached the forest floor and only served to further depress him as he remembered the last time he had seen her. He had teleported her away using quite a large portion of his magic, said his peace to the Dragon and charged.
The fight had both opponents covered in new injuries but was largely unimportant. Apparently the dragon was just testing him to measure It's opponent's power which was next to nothing. Using his magic to fight had drained him and he didn't even have much after teleporting AJ away. Adding to the humility of the moment the dragon had simply picked him up and clawed him across the face, then thrown him deep into the forest. Combined with the fatigue of using his magic the wounds he sustained were enough to knock him unconscious. When he woke up he was in a pool of his own blood and could barely stand.
That had started the three days of running and fighting from the dragon and the dark magic of the forest, and now here he was. From where he was standing he had the full layout of his house in view. He was just about to go find his horn when he saw a column of shadows fly from behind the treetops and land on the second floor of his house.
"What in the-?”
The shadows disappeared and from behind them came a supposedly small unicorn. She was lavender in color and had a violet streak going through her hair.
She seemed to be unused to teleportation because she immediately fell to the ground sending up a plume of dust. She scrambled to get up causing more dust to rise. Finally she stood and looked at her surroundings, she had a quizzical look on her face and was trying to find a way down. She saw the stairs and levitated some wreckage from his roof off of it so she could walk down. She appeared to investigate the wreckage from the impact of the dragon then moved on to his bed. Looking at the floor she walked towards the stairs. Why is she walking towards the-.. oh. She walked right in front of the wall and began to push at it. When the door opened she walked down the stairs into what was supposed to be his secret vault.
He stared at the hole in the wall where she had disappeared. Utterly astonished, in about two minutes a random unicorn had teleported into his home and found his vault area. Not to mention this is only the second pony he had ever seen in his entire life. Then he remembered the massive dragon that constantly found, him no matter where he was, and mercilessly beat him to his limit then tossed him aside to keep the 'fun' going. Being an Alicorn he could handle this barely.... But a small unicorn would be killed immediately. He ran forward ready to yell at her to get out of this place. But he stopped outside the door, he had never met this unicorn and if he scared her, she may not be able to use her magic, and he was out of his so she would be stuck here with him fighting a dragon!
He looked around, not a dragon in sight. No immediate danger, so he could do this calmly and just tell her to teleport back to wherever she came from. He took a deep breath and walked down the stairs as quietly as possible. Midway down he stopped. Wait a minute... She looks familiar somehow. he thought about her appearance. Lavender, streaks in her hair, unicorn, and that cutie mark is... oh no. Now he knew where he recognized her from. Applejack had described all of her friends to him. That unicorn was undoubtedly Twilight Sparkle.
While he realized who she was, she knocked into the podium that held his horn. He watched as it hit her foot then rolled onto the floor. Twilight just stood and stared at it. All the while irritation ran through Star. She could at least pick it up she's in someones... He looked around at his home then remembered the destruction that it had gone through. Right she probably thinks the owner is dead. This will be interesting.
"Sweet Celestia!" he heard her say "That's an Alicorn horn!”
He had to say something now, before she began to inspect his own Horn in front of his face when they didn’t have time, he wasn't sure when the dragon would attack next.
"Indeed it is" he said.
She turned and looked at him her eyes floated from his hooves to his wings then up to his horn, her eyes getting wider and her mouth hanging the entire time. He limped down the stairs over to her “You, miss sparkle, Should not have come here". She just continued to gawk at him. He waited for her to respond.
After a minute of waiting she cocked her head at him. Then she started to poke herself, she wiped her eyes, and slapped herself. Star felt like he had never been more confused before in his grand years accumulated in the forest.
"What are y-"
"Shhh" she said very quickly.
She then proceeded to start touching him, on the nose, on the knee, the leg, the hoof, then she tapped his horn right on the snapped area. Immediately electricity surged through his body and he let out a yell of pain as he quivered then collapsed.
Completely unfazed Twilight began to pace around the room muttering random snatches of speech that Stargazer could barely hear over the pain that raged from his horn. In between intervals of blaring pain, he managed to make out "Impossible... threat to Celestia...revolution...whole cities destroyed...think, think, think!”
As he lapsed in and out of consciousness it occurred to him that this unicorn may in fact try to kill him as she seemed to find him to be some form of threat to the royal powers that resided in Canterlot. Which was absolutely absurd but she didn’t know that. That fact aside she had no idea that her life was in serious danger. The dragon could appear at any moment and he barely had enough strength to stand let alone save this young mare.
After considering that one bit of information he snapped out of his lull in reality and pushed his body off the floor despite the protest his muscles groaned at him with after being practically electrocuted. He realized that magic had returned to his body at the sight of the crawling lines that ran around the length of his hooves and up onto his body.
Well well well! That didn’t hurt as bad as expected. Shaking from his thought he started to say something to the still rambling unicorn, but his eyes snatched at his horn and any sound he was about to make was shut off by yet another surge of irritation.
"…Could’ve at least put it back." He silently grumbled to himself and picked up the horn with his mouth and placed it back on top of the pillar where he always kept it.
Looking at it back in its usual spot a sudden pang of sadness went through him and before he could help it his aching shoulders sagged and his ears drooped. Suddenly the room became quiet. He looked in the direction of Twilight and saw that she was staring at him with her head cocked to the side, almost waiting for something.
“Yes?” he asked wondering what this particular pony wanted from him.
“Well I was wondering why you hadn’t attacked me yet. Also why has your coat and eye color changed, and why you bleeding from the mouth?” The second she was done talking, a coughing fit accompanied by a raging fire in his chest caused Star to cough blood for the next few moments. Hating the taste but unfortunately used to it, he wiped his mouth and drew his head up from the ground to meet Twilight’s mortified expression. Despite the circumstances he couldn’t help but chuckle a little. Then his frown came upon his face as he remembered her first question.
“Attack you?” he asked. “Why would I do that?”
“Because you’re an evil Alicorn.” She stated, not even asked, just stated. The accusation Stargazer was so blown away by it that he had to actually process it for five seconds before he responded.
“For someone who has so much learning in friendship you really seem to like to judge people. Besides I'm the one who now has to protect you from your damn dragon.” He growled it out at her and her expression became something of horror. “Oh I’m sorry, did AJ send you here blindly fail to mention that particular tidbit of info? Or were you just sent here to wander blindly through my home and get yourself killed?!” his voice along with his anger was steadily rising as his mind connected these events together in the only logical way possible.
Applejack must have sent her unicorn friend Twilight to find him, why she had waited three days he had no idea but that’s the only thing that made sense to him right now.
“W-what?” she asked quietly.
Stargazer calmed down as he saw the fear in her eyes. In fact she looked on the verge of tears. The anger he felt subsided and he knew he had scared her and now he felt horrible.
“Look I’m sorry I scared you” he apologized. “But you should not be here.” He pointed at her and said “unless you think you’re capable of fighting a very large dragon I would suggest teleporting back to wherever it is you came from.”
Suddenly she took a step toward the Alicorn, a sudden fire in her eyes as she seemed to realize something.
“Where is Applejack?” she asked accusingly.
Star blinked, confused by the question
“What do you mean where is she? Is she not the one who sent you to this place?” He responded. Now he was confused it only made sense if Applejack had sent her here. His thinking was cut short by her response.
“Applejack has been missing for weeks! How would I even contact her?”She said
“What do you mean missing?!"
“We haven’t seen each other since we tried to get her back from Cherry Valance’s farm!” she yelled at him tears streaming from her eyes as she recounted the memory.
Stargazer stumbled backward into a sitting position. Why would she not go to her friends after all that happened? Twilight noticed this and yelled at him “WHAT DO YOU KNOW?” she screamed at him.
“I-” he began to say but was interrupted as the ceiling exploded and massive shockwave knocked Twilight and Star against a wall, as they slammed against it the wall fell, burying them in rubble. At the center stood the Dragon, Dark Bloody red in color, glowing golden eyes that were fueled by pure evil, and covered in nicks and cuts that oozed shadows, that evaporated in the cool night air, instead of blood.
The very second he saw the Dragon he was filled with a fury that had hounded him for a long time, he shot up from the wreckage as magic and energy poured into his body fully engulfing him in power, one eye glowing piercing white, the other abyssal black. The lines across his body glowing with a whisping aura that drew off him when he moved.
He was ready for a fight but when he looked down he saw that, while he had not been heavily damaged, Twilight was unconscious and bleeding heavily from serious wounds that riddled her body. He gave one look at the dragon then flew down and picked her up. He looked at the dragon who seemed to just be waiting. Madness he thought. Then he looked into her mind.
He didn’t want to completely pervade her memories so he stuck to the ones from recent times. That didn’t help much because he still knew he was using her mind like a book, plus the memories contained her feelings toward him... they didn’t look good and they didn’t make him feel any better. But finally he found what he was looking for: a memory of where she had been and where he could take her to help her heal her wounds.
He saw princess Luna standing before Twilight, asking her to come here and pointing her in the direction of the area of where Star was. She explained about the magical disturbance and he immediately knew it was from his fights with the Dragon.
Stargazer pulled out of her mind with his destination in mind. Canterlot… The Royal Palace… Princess Luna… Oh grand! If I don’t die of dragon fire or claws, rest assured I’ll be banished for yet another millennia. He looked at Twilight and sighed, she would die if he didn’t get her there. No choice, but there never really is anymore.
He looked at the Dragon, it was slowly moving around him in a circle, waiting for him to make a move. Star slammed his wing toward the dragon and a blade of energy shot from it and slashed the Dragon across the face leaving a fresh cut and pushing the beast hard enough to flip it onto it’s back, roaring to make it’s pain known. With that Stargazer, leapt forward and pulled his horn from the rubble and took flight with Twilight on his back. The blow was hardly enough to kill the dragon unfortunately and, before long he heard the leather flap of wings in close proximity behind him… The chase was on.
Through a cloud, and another, perspiration and water dampened his brow and plastered his hair over his eyes causing them to itch. He wiped his face to clear his vision and continued to fly faster than he had ever flown. The dragon was close behind him and he was beginning to tire from four days lack of sleep, no food, water, and the numerous aches and cuts that were scattered here and there. He could see a mountain range and beyond that, The Royal Palace stood dark and quiet blotting out the stars.
Suddenly he felt an intense heat coming from behind him. He turned and threw Twilight into the air as a flaming inferno swallowed him. He quickly flung out his wings as far as he could reach and poured a reservoir of magic into them. The flames gathered in his feathers until he held two fireballs, which he launched back at the dragon. The Dragon dodged both of them and slammed into him. They grappled in mid air for a few moments spitting curses and growls, roaring when they received a blow, until they began to lose altitude.
Star whipped out his wing sending another beam that stopped an incoming claw and began to climb up the dragon’s side and onto his back using the spikes and crevices the dark scales offered. He found himself in between the two massive wings that flapped wildly at the air as the Dragon tried to steady itself. Star struck both of the wings, where they connected with the body in a soft skin like covering, with his hooves. An effective dead-wing.
As the wings went limp, the Dragon twisted it’s neck until was looking at him and breathed a new wave of fire at him. Star stuck out a wing to protect him from the flames and then whipped it off to the side to blow off the flames that stuck to them. He then jumped forward and slammed himself into the Dragon’s head just as they both struck the earth. They hit a peak of the mountains and teetered over a cliff that fell into a valley filled with trees.
With Star’s weight the Dragon fell over the edge and landed on it’s back in steep rocky decline, and began to slide down. Star had leaped onto the dragons stomach and now was dodging the claws that slashed at him from either the pain that the Dragon’s back was going through or the fact that it knew he was on it’s back. Either way he had to put all thoughts of flying out of his mind as they picked up speed. If I flare my wings he thought to himself they will rip from their sockets like leaves from a branch during a storm.
Suddenly the Dragon hit a boulder and Star was thrown skywards. He flung out his wings at the sudden slowing and caught the winds. His wings strained and he felt some feathers wrench themselves from their placement on his wing membranes. Luckily nothing was broken. He looked Down at the dragon who had hit the floor of the valley with the boulder not to far from- Star grimaced as he heard the crack of the boulder as it fell on the beast’s head, pushing it’s face into the dirt. Then despite the situation began to laugh as the Dragon clawed at the weight that had hit him square on the face. So he flew up and landed next to Twilight, who had hit a cloud and suffered no damage. He checked her over and grew serious. Her heartbeat was very faint, and her breathing was shallow. If I don’t get her to the castle… He didn’t complete the thought.
“Twilight” he said
Her eyelids fluttered and she groaned. He shook her gently.
“Hey don’t fall asleep on me you might not wake up.” He didn't mean to sound so harsh but he needed her up.
Her eyes shot open and she sat up abruptly and squeaked as the pain from her injuries made their appearance to her. He shot out his wing before she fell and lowered her back onto the cloud.
“And don’t move to fast.” He paused and thought then said: “In fact it would be better if you didn’t move at all you took quite a hit back there.”
“What happened?” she whispered
“You were thrown into a wall”
She groaned as a response…or from her injuries… probably both.
Star had to get her to the Castle now, he had no time to waste anymore, much longer and she would pass out possibly permanently. He looked over the side and saw that the boulder was almost dust on top of the Dragon. He turned back to Twilight who was twitching as the pain ran the course through her body.
So young to endure so much hardship he thought. Then he grimaced as he remembered whose fault this fell to. He shook himself from his thoughts and spoke to Twilight.
“Alright we’re not far from the palace and then I can get you some help from a doctor. But you’ve got to get up on my back for me to carry you, and you need to hold on. Can you do that for me?”
Twilight blinked and nodded. He started towards her but she stopped him with a question.
“When we get there will you answer my question?” She asked him with pleading eyes. I was going to tell her regardless at some point but she needs to hear this.
“Twilight I don’t have much time to answer you, but I can assure you I did not harm Applejack and that she is safe. Will that be enough for now?”
She looked immensely relieved
“Yes” she said back
Star nodded and lay down in front of her and helped Twilight crawl onto his back. He instructed her to wrap her forelegs around his neck so she could hold on. They would be going fast. With Twilight wrapped around his neck her face was squashed into the left side of his.
“Comfortable?” he asked.
She nodded and blushed a little bit, Star smiled at her. Who knows I may make a new friend. He decided to focus on a style of optimism.
“Great, hold on tight.”
With that he launched off the cloud and into the night sky.