We return to Ponyville to see a certain yellow Pegasus running through the town attempting to warn them of a rather ominous cloud of smoke that was floating in their direction.
"Help. Help! Please? Help?" she said though none of the other ponies noticed due to her quiet voice "There's a horrible cloud of smoke headed this way and…"
"Don't be such a scaredy pony. It's just me, Equestria's future ball bouncing record holder. Now, three forty six, three forty seven, three forty" Rainbow Dash said to Fluttershy after startling her before being hit by a ball of paper courtesy of Winter "OW! WHAT THE HAY WINTER?!"
"Don't be rude to Fluttershy, Dash" Winter replied, not looking up from his work, which appeared to be mixing some metal powder with a clear liquid in a bowl while Twilight and Spike watched.
"Winter, just out of interest, what are you doing?" Twilight asked, watching with fascination and wondering whether to take notes.
"I'm making a burn ointment, it's an old recipe that an old pyromancer discovered when attempting to create a potion to augment his abilities. I'm at a critical and rather delicate stage now, so please try not to distract me"
"Why? What're you mixing together?"
"Caesium powder into an ethanol/water mixture, if I get this wrong, the whole thing will blow up in my face."
"Caesium?" asked Spike "Wouldn't that be the worst thing to mix with water?"
"Normally, yes" answered Winter "But by applying my magic in the correct way, I can stabilise the Caesium atoms long enough to bind them to the hydrocarbon and water molecules; however, this takes a great deal of concentration, so if my focus wavers too much, well… boom."
"I must record this…" muttered Twilight, producing a quill and parchment out of nowhere and making notes on Winter's actions while Spike suddenly started hacking and coughing before burping up a scroll, startling Winter, causing the contents of the bowl to explode in his face while Rainbow literally fell out of the air laughing.
"CELESTIA! I NEEDED THAT!" roared Winter at the sky before cleaning up the mess the explosion had made as Twilight read the letter.
"Listen up everypony; I've just received word that smoke is spreading all over Equestria…" Twilight announced as Winter cleared his things away.
"This was what she blew up my ointment for?! To tell us about something we can see by… looking… up… crud, that is a lot of smoke!" muttered Winter.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you…" interjected Fluttershy, barely noticeable annoyance in her voice.
"…But, Princess Celestia has informed me that it is not coming from a fire…" continued Twilight, ignoring the two.
"Oh, thank heavens."
"…It's coming from a Dragon" finished Twilight, causing all the other ponies to gasp in shock.
"A… a Dragon?" Fluttershy asked fearfully.
"What in the name of all things cinnamon swirled is a full grown Dragon doing in Equestria?" asked Applejack.
"In a word? Sleeping" answered Twilight, much to the bewilderment of most of the other ponies there.
"WHAT?!" they all asked.
"His snoring is what's causing all this smoke."
"He really should see a doctor; that does not sound healthy" chimed in Pinkie.
"Well at least he's not snoring fire" muttered Rarity "but what are WE meant to do about it?"
"I'll tell you what we're meant to do: give him the boot!" Rainbow butted in, acting out some karate moves before crashing into Winter, sending his container of Caesium powder halfway across Ponyville.
"RAINBOW! I NEEDED THAT!" he yelled in annoyance.
"Sorry Winter, guess I got a little overexcited."
"A little?"
"ANYWAY…" interjected Twilight, trying to get the conversation back on track "we must encourage him to take a nap elsewhere."
"Great, the only thing worse than messing up a Sea Serpent is waking a sleeping Dragon" groaned Winter "does Celestia really think it's wise to wake him up knowing their reactions to… premature awakenings?"
"We have no choice, according to the princess, his snoring could blanket all of Equestria in smoke for the next century if left unchecked; Princess Celestia has given us this mission and we must not fail, I want you to gather supplies and meet back here in an hour." This little speech caused Rainbow to salute and Winter to roll his eyes at her antics.
"Okay ponies, you heard her, the fate of Equestria lies in our hooves. Do we have what it takes?" Rainbow asked after Twilight left and was met with affirmative sounds from Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie, uncertainty from Fluttershy and a scoff from Winter.
"Personally, I think this is foolishness to the point of idiocy but if our Solar Overlord demands it, who am I to dispute it?" he grumbled as he walked off to find his Caesium and to prepare.
Scene Change: Outskirts of Ponyville
"All right everypony, I'm mapping out the fastest route but we've got to keep up a good pace if we wish to make it up the mountain by nightfall" said Twilight, producing a map from her saddlebags.
"Wait, mountain?" asked Fluttershy nervously, though no-pony but Winter appeared to notice.
"Yeah, the dragon is in that cave at the very top" replied Twilight, pointing said cave out, causing Applejack to remark on how cold it looked and Rarity to pull a scarf out to which Rainbow scoffed at.
"Yeah, right, THAT will keep you warm up there" she muttered.
"Well not every pony has a natural layer of insulation from stealing all my pies Dash" Winter put in.
"Are you saying I'm fat?!"
"No, I'm saying you eat all my pies…"
"You're just jealous of my perfect figure, which I maintain by burning a lot of calories."
"Uh-huh…"
"What? Don't believe me? Maybe you should try it out and you might not look half bad at the end of it…"
"Is this your version of flirting?" he deadpanned to which Rainbow backpedalled in the air.
"NO! NO! I have no time for that mushy rubbish" she responded, much to Rarity's annoyance.
"Right…" Winter replied, raising an eyebrow "I'm taken anyway, so…"
"WHAT?!" all the mares involved in this conversation shouted in unison.
"Ooh, tell us darling, please. Who is it?" gushed Rarity excitedly.
"Ah'll admit that I'm curious also…" added Applejack.
"Yeah, who's the unlucky pony?" chimed in Rainbow, smirking at him.
"Very funny Dash, it may surprise you to know this but I'm married to my job" Winter answered with an eye smile, causing them to sweatdrop 'They've got no idea how true that is' he thought in amusement 'Celestia always scared off any interested mares and Luna's antics alone ensured that I never had any time for such thoughts; speaking of Luna, I wonder how she's doing…'
"So you don't actually have a Special Somepony?" Rarity asked, causing Winter to blush and splutter.
"Err… No…?"
As this exchange was going on, Fluttershy had attempted to convince Twilight to allow her to stay behind but Twilight had dismissed the idea as she considered Fluttershy's natural ability with animals as too valuable.
"Are you sure you want that pony with us? I mean, she's scared of her own shadow…" inquired Rainbow before being hit in the head again by a ball of paper "OW! WINTER!"
"I told you not to be rude to Fluttershy" Winter retorted, scowling at her "Just because she has fears, it does not give you the right to poke fun at her for it."
"Oh she's just a little nervous, I'm sure that once we get going she'll be fine" replied Twilight as Fluttershy let out a squeal of fear at her shadow "Okay girls… and Winter, LET'S ROLL OUT!"
"ALRIGHT!" cheered Pinkie, rolling forwards… literally, getting confused looks from the others "Hey, this is fun."
"Pinkie, what are you doing?" asked Rarity.
"Twilight said to roll out, so I'm rolling out."
"What? That's not what I… What I meant was…" spluttered Twilight in annoyance before sighing "Pinkie, just get up and walk."
"Okie-Dokie-Lokie"
Scene Change: Base of Mountain
When the group arrived at the mountain, they were greeted by a loud growling sound.
"Whoa, what was that?" asked Rainbow, shocked.
"That is what it sounds like when a Dragon snores" Twilight answered.
"Got plenty of experiences with that, have you Twi?" asked Pinkie jokingly.
"Well I DID live in the same castle that the reigning monarch occupies, so yes, I do have plenty of experiences with it thanks to the ambassadors."
"It… It's so… high" trembled Fluttershy.
"Well it IS a mountain" retorted Rainbow in an annoyed voice "I'm gonna fly up and check it out."
"No, you won't" chimed in Winter, catching Rainbow with his magic.
"WHAT?! Why not?"
"One: safety in numbers, Two: we've no idea what's up there besides the Dragon so you may get hurt or worse, and Three: you're likely to cause an unnecessary fight with the mood you're in now."
"What'd you say?! No I won't!"
"Yes you will."
While they were bickering, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie had begun climbing the mountain but they noticed that they were lacking a couple of members.
"C'mon you two, we want to get this done BEFORE sometime next year" she called to them, causing them to look up sheepishly.
"Right, we're coming" they shouted before Rainbow took off and Winter teleported himself up there.
"I know that was lazy" he explained "but it saved time."
Meanwhile, the others had been trying to encourage Fluttershy to fly up the mountain after them but a snore from the Dragon had caused her wings to lock up and Applejack to grab Twilights map and look into another way around while Winter went back down to check on Fluttershy.
"Aha, Ah've found a way" Applejack announced just as another snore caused Fluttershy's entire body to lock up, much to Rainbow's annoyance "Don't worry Twi, we'll be lickity-split."
"I'm not sure about that" Winter added in "Her entire body's locked up, so you'll have to carry her the entire way. Hm, I know! Show me the route and I'll carry her with my magic while you go on ahead, it'll be quicker that way."
After being shown the way that Applejack found, the group split up with Winter and Fluttershy going a longer way around and the others taking the direct route; Not long after they parted, Fluttershy's body loosened up enough for her to talk again so Winter set her down and sat in front of her.
"What's wrong Fluttershy? You've been acting oddly since Ponyville" said Winter, looking at her with concerned eyes.
"Well… I… I'm scared for my animals…" Fluttershy replied, not looking him in the eye as she was afraid of admitting her fear of dragons to him, worried that he might make fun of her or think her a coward.
"Hm, I'd imagine that you would be, but Spike is capable of taking care of them… provided he knows what he's doing; but you're not telling me the whole story, are you?" Winter asked, shocking Fluttershy.
"H-How did you…?"
"I've been around for a long time Fluttershy, I know when a pony isn't telling me everything and normally I'd let it go but what's affecting you is dangerous – both to you and to the other girls – so please, tell me what's wrong so I can help" he pleaded causing Fluttershy to look down, wondering if she could tell him of her fear of Dragons and what his reaction would be. After a few minutes, she nodded and steeled herself.
"I… I'm… I'm afraid of Dragons" she told him, not daring to look him in the eye which caused her to miss Winter's sympathetic look. She sat there, quivering until she felt something around her shoulders, looking up she saw that it was Winter's foreleg and that he was smiling at her as he pulled her into a one armed hug.
"Fluttershy, everypony has fear, it's a natural emotion and nothing to be ashamed of" he said to her as he looked at him.
"B-But, look at me, shaking here. I'm not brave like you or Applejack or Rainbow…"
"Balderdash, between you and me: Rainbow's scared out of her wits, she's just good at hiding it" Winter cut her off "Besides, bravery isn't the absence of fear, it is the facing and conquering of your fears; the absence of fear is called foolishness… or idiocy, the two are interchangeable in this case."
"Now that's rude" Fluttershy scolded him, though she was giggling at his remarks "and your rant about bravery sounds like something I'd read on the side of a cereal box."
"Understandable, that IS where I get most of my wisdom" replied Winter, nodding sagely causing Fluttershy to descend into a full on fit of laughter at his antics "better?"
"Yeah, thanks Winter."
"No problem. Now then, shall we re-join the others?"
"Y-Yeah, but I don't know if I'm…"
"Ready?"
"Yeah…"
"Nopony ever does, but it'd give the others more confidence if you were there."
"Really?"
"Really, really. Anyway, if it helps, I'll make sure that you don't have to face the Dragon if you don't want to, it's your decision after all."
"Thanks Winter, that means a lot."
"No problem, now then let's get moving" he said before teleporting himself and Fluttershy to where the others were waiting, startling them and annoying Rainbow.
"YOU'RE LATE!" she shouted.
"Sorry about that, we got lost on the Path of Life" Winter responded smirking at her, causing her to laugh at his ridiculous excuse.
"Moving on from Winter's terrible sense of direction…" interjected an annoyed Twilight, causing Rainbow to laugh and Winter to rant about not having a terrible sense of direction, though nopony was listening "…we're already behind schedule, so let's get moving!"
Soon they came to a rather large drop which all the ponies but Fluttershy were able to jump across, prompting encouragement from Twilight and Applejack and a musical number from Pinkie about jumping.
"Pinkie, I don't think a musical number is really necessary or appropriate right now" Rarity deadpanned.
"YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! We're in a Hasbro cartoon, not a Disney cartoon!" Pinkie replied, much to the other ponies' confusion.
"Pardon me for this Pinkie, but WHAT IN THE BLAZES ARE YOU ON ABOUT?!" bellowed Winter, summing up everyone's thoughts at that point.
"You know, Disney? Where everything can be solved with a musical number and true love's kiss?"
"Sounds ludicrous."
"It really is but it makes for good entertainment apparently."
"I still have no idea what you're on about."
"Don't worry about it; in fact, forget about it."
"Moving on" said Winter, hoping to save everypony from further confusion "You can jump Fluttershy, I will catch you."
"Promise?" Fluttershy asked, looking up at him.
"I promise, and even if I miss, the others here will not let you fall" he replied to nods from everypony else.
"Okay… a hop, skip…"
"You're doing great, now just make sure not to look down" added Twilight, trying to help but instead making Fluttershy look down, causing her to lock up again and Winter to catch her with his magic and bring her over to their side.
"Sorry, I guess I forgot to jump" she said apologetically. Later, after nearly being flattened by a rockslide, they arrived at the Dragon's cave where Twilight assigned everyone jobs; Rainbow was to clear the sky of smoke, Pinkie and Rarity were to cause a distraction if the Dragon got angry, Applejack was to prepare apples to catapult at him and Twilight, Fluttershy and Winter were to attempt to negotiate with him to get him to leave but Fluttershy didn't want to enter the Dragon's cave, admitting her fear of Dragons and telling them about it and Winter backed her up on her decision, so he and Twilight entered the cave on their own.
"So what is the best way to wake up a Dragon without ticking him off?" Twilight asked Winter as they walked.
"Offhand, I'd say not waking him up; let's face facts here: he's gonna be grouchy no matter how we wake him up" Winter replied. After walking some more, they found the Dragon asleep on a massive pile of gold and jewels.
"Whoa, I've read about Dragon hoards but never seen one in person, it's… amazing" said Twilight, impressed by the hoard.
"Tch, I've seen bigger and more impressive hoards" scoffed Winter "This one has nothing on Smaug's little collection"
"Yes, but nopony has ever seen Smaug's collection other than the princesses" deadpanned Twilight "now stop insulting his treasure and wake him up."
"Why me?"
"Because you have a greater arsenal of Ice spells than I do"
"Hmph, I suppose your reasoning is logical…" grumbled Winter as he approached the sleeping Dragon, the Dragon was red with a yellow underbelly and yellow wing membranes and had smoke coming out of his nostrils at an almost constant rate "Well, here goes: OI Dragon, the personal student of Princess Celestia wishes to speak with you."
This woke the Dragon up but Twilight's attempt at negotiation failed, as did Rarity's attempt at charm, Pinkie's attempt at… something and then Rainbow annoyed him by kicking him in the snout.
"That don't sound good…" said Applejack right as Rainbow rocketed out with an angry Dragon in tow, the Dragon took a deep breath and blew out a massive stream of hot flames at them, which caused the girls to all shut their eyes and cuddle up to each other (and Winter) in fear, but upon realising that they couldn't feel any flames, they opened their eyes to see Winter with a look of concentration on his face and the flames swirling round them in a cocoon-like shape before dissipating, causing the rock behind them to shatter, revealing a very angry Fluttershy who scolded the Dragon and convinced him to leave.
"Dash, remind me to never get on her bad side" Winter said to Rainbow after seeing Fluttershy's anger.
"Only if you extend the same courtesy to me" Rainbow replied.
Scene Change: Golden Oak Library
"…This adventure has taught me to never lose faith in your friends, they can be an amazing source of strength and can help you overcome even your greatest fears.
Always your faithful student
Twilight Sparkle"
"A lesson I think we should all keep in mind" said Winter, writing something down on a scroll of parchment.
"Thanks for the info about that burn ointment Winter, I'm sure it'll come in handy; by the way, who was the pyromancer that invented it?" Twilight asked him as he gave her the scroll.
"I can't remember his real name, though he became known as Xan, the insane pyromancer, after an accident that left him irrevocably scarred both physically and mentally, possibly magically too as he was unable to use any magic other than fire magic afterwards…"
"That's terrible!"
"I know, but we can't change it now, unfortunately"
After that, Applejack called them out to witness Rainbow getting startled by Pinkie when she was about 3 bounces off setting a new Pony Record and Fluttershy getting startled by a leaf; once this had occurred, Winter decided he'd had enough excitement for one day and headed home, as night fell, his thoughts turned to the recently returned Diarch of the Night.
'I wonder how she's adjusting, is she okay? Does she have any ill effects from her transformation… ah, I'm sure she'll be fine, after all she has Celestia with her' he thought but the more he considered it, the more he wanted to check, just to be safe 'Ah, screw it. She won't know I'm there.'
As he thought this, he cast off his cloak and headed to one of his windows, opening it and looking out over Ponyville at the moon in his true form.
"Well, if I'm going to do this, I'd better do it now before I change my mind" Dark Saber said before flaring his wings and taking off.
Scene Change: Canterlot
"We thank thee for thy service, but it is no longer required. Leave us now, please" said everyone's favourite blue Alicorn to one of Princess Celestia's guards.
"Sorry your highness, Princess Celestia ordered us to protect you at all times, so that is what we shall do" replied the guard much to Luna's annoyance.
"We highly doubt that we are going to get attacked in our own room and we also doubt that your protection orders mean that we cannot get any solitude or privacy! NOW GET OUT!" yelled Luna, the force of her voice throwing the guard from the room and slamming her door shut, after locking it she walked over to her bed which was decorated in a fashion similar to her mane "You mean well Sister but your guards are most annoying."
"Well, what do you expect? All they've had to deal with in the past millennia is petty thievery and drunken brawls" came a familiar voice from her balcony, quickly she turned to see a pure black Alicorn leaning against one of her doorposts, he had a blood red mane, tail and eyes and his Cutie Mark was a black shield with a dark purple outline and a silver sun within it accompanied by a blood red sword next to it.
"D-Dark? Is that really you?" Luna asked, worried that this might be a dream.
"Yep, unless I'm some other black and red alicorn who knows where you keep your secret stash of apple flavoured salt licks" he replied mischievously, smiling at her before the wind was knocked out of him by Luna tackling him into a hug.
"It IS you, it's really you, where've you been? Oh I've so much to tell you…" she gushed like the Mississippi river before she heard a cracking sound.
"That's great Luna, but please ease off or you're going to break my back" said Dark in a pained voice causing Luna to release him and help him to his hooves "Huh, you don't speak as overly polite as you used to."
"Sister said that it wasn't necessary among friends and family and I consider you to be both… i-is that alright?" Luna explained, sounding extremely nervous at the end but her statement made Dark smile.
"Of course it is, provided you don't try and get me a throne again just to get rid of your paperwork" he answered, adding a teasing note on the end which made Luna laugh.
"And I would've gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those meddling, arrogant, stuck up, idiotic…" Luna's rant about the nobles would've gone on for longer but Dark interrupted her.
"As much as I love badmouthing nobles Luna, my time here grows short and I must leave again soon, so can we please talk about a more pleasant topic?"
"What? Why must you leave? I bet it was those…" here she trailed off into another rant about nobles, though it was mumbled this time, causing Dark to hold back his laughter.
"In part, but I'm not on best terms with Celestia at the moment, so I don't think I should remain here for too long…" Dark answered, causing Luna to frown.
"Dark, whatever was said and done after my banishment was her grief talking, surely you know that with how attached to her precious ponies she gets, she took my banishment hard."
"I know, but that doesn't make what she said any less true, she also ordered me away from her sight unless she is threatened."
"It wasn't a real order!"
"It was an order nonetheless, one I have to obey; you both mean too much to me to put at risk like that again!" replied Dark seriously which caused Luna to frown in annoyance at Dark's stubbornness and loyalty as well as her sister's past actions.
"Every day, your absence takes a toll on her Dark, every day I hear her cry out your name as she wakes from a nightmare that I can do nothing to help with, every day I see the weight on her shoulders that her actions have caused; why will you not help her with this?!" Luna demanded, anger lacing her words.
"Because she's better off without me! Do you know how much it pains me to know that I failed you both that day? Do you know how much I suffer knowing that I cannot protect you as I once did? To know that my presence is a danger to you both and that you're better off without me there?" ranted Dark, a few tears escaping his eyes but the rest held back only by his will not to cry in front of his adopted sister "Eventually she'll move on from me and find another being more worthy of being your guardian."
"If that is what you really believe then why did you come back? Why didn't you just live out your days as a nopony in a big city? We both know you could" Luna asked him, slightly shocked at how broken her adopted brother had become in her absence.
"Because I wanted to make sure you were okay, I wanted to make sure that your transformation hadn't affected you beyond a change in looks and attitude, I wanted to make sure my sister was recovering properly" Dark replied, head down, not looking at her.
"Dark…" Luna trailed off, uncertain how to continue "if I asked you to, would you still be our guardian? My brother? …Celestia's most precious pony?"
"Heh, that right belongs to Twilight now Luna; if you ever meet her, you'll understand why" said Dark, smiling slightly as he thought of the close relationship that Celestia and Twilight shared, knowing it was good for them both "But if you asked me, I'd always say yes. I'd never stop being your brother and I'll always protect you and Celestia, just from the shadows now."
"It brings me peace to know that Dark, please drop by and see me more often if you insist on continuing this idiocy of yours" said Luna, giving in because she know that Dark's annoying stubbornness would not allow him to do anything other than what he thought was right unless explicitly told otherwise by both her and Celestia (though admittedly, they rarely had to tell him otherwise).
'Tch, if only you knew Dark, if only you knew; Celestia's relationship with Twilight is her strongest but you will always be special to her Dark, if she finds you, she'll never let you go again.'
"I will Luna, though I can't say for certain when I'll next see you, Try not to scare any more guards in the meantime" replied Dark, smirking at her as he turned to go.
"Bah, we shall get our own guard!" retorted Luna, slipping into Royal speech in her annoyance as Dark laughed.
"Until next time sister" he said and took off.
"I'll see you again, good luck… brother" Luna smiled and closed the doors to her balcony before falling down onto her bed for a nap. The next day, Celestia noticed that Luna seemed to be the happiest she'd been in years and wondered why but her pondering was overruled by joy at the fact that at least one of them appeared to be recovering from the events that saw Luna banished, though this joy was soured by the memory of the aftermath of Luna's banishment.
'When I find you Dark' Celestia thought as her mind turned to her guardian, friend and most precious pony 'you will never leave me again.'