My Son, My Soldier, My Hero

by That_Random_Pony

Life… and Death

The Ashla walked over to Agner and placed his hand on his chest. A hue of silver surrounded the warrior, then Agner's body dissipated into thin air. It did the same to Fermot before looking up into the eyes of its counterpart, who was ignoring the other warriors blasting and striking it. Both entities roared in unison with deafening volume, just before bursting toward each other. There was no explosion, but the force of one sent every warrior present backwards. Figanti caught Renkan as they sailed backwards, only to be caught by the League leader's dragon. The massive silver dragon landed on the top of another cruiser ship, digging its claws into the metals as the force of every hit sent massive gusts of wind and energy in every direction.

The Ashla sent energy-packed strike after strike into the Iikro's torso, cracking many of the bones covering its body. The Iikro smashed its elbow into it's opposite's face, then spun around and kicked it away, racing after it to send a beam right into its face. Before it could hit another cruiser, the Ashla shot its arms out and roared, using the shockwave to stun the Iikro. It roared as it bursted towards the dark monster, using its Rite to bring the Daedalak to hand. It slashed viciously, cutting through bone and flesh with the energy influenced blade. With every roar and grunt, the Ashla only doubled its efforts.

Using its own power, the Iikro created a miniature barrier over its body to block the next attack, then headbutted the Ashla and started its own attacks. It hit the blade out of its grip, then sent a barrage of blasts into the Ashla, who took most of the shots before curling up to withstand the attacks. Focusing its power into both palms, the Iikro roared as it sent another beam of black at the Ashla. It flew away from the dark blast hurtling at it, then twirled around and sent an equally powerful shot of silver into it.

The two halves funneled their power into the beams, roaring as their powers struggled for dominance, rising to levels beyond anything their hosts' kind had ever seen. And every Signa present could only watch the divine being within their leader fight the very darkness that it was meant to be.

---

Canterlot Castle

"AHHHH! NGGGHHH!" Ember's roars and thrashes had turned to groans and moans as she stiffly squirmed, her tail spasming with every little movement the egg made.

"This is it, Ember! Just a bit more!" Urishana assured merrily, trying to use her healing Rite to keep the dragoness from tearing her flesh. "Just breathe, and push!"

Out in the hall, King Draco and Celestia both paced back and forth nervously, the lunar princess showing her own by reciting every constellation in the night sky in her head. Twilight, on the other hoof, was reciting every kind of spell she could remember. Everypony else was sitting and panicking, especially Pinkie. Moon was unneeded, now that Ember had gotten weak from her thrashing the hour before. It still didn't help him, as he could still hear the healers shouting at one another.

"Do all layings take this long?" Celestia asked worriedly.

"They take half this time!" King Draco growled, fiddling with his claws shakily. "What could be happening?"

"They said that Loki'irian births are different when the female is one of them," Moon told them, shuddering when he heard a crash in the room, followed by Loki'irian swears he had learned.

"It must be entirely different from what she thought," Fluttershy sighed.

"Aren't you worried, Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked, noticing the usually timid and excitable pegasus was as calm as ever.

Surprisingly, she shook her head. "Birth always has to be painful," she said, smiling sweetly. "So much work goes into making little ones, but in the end it's all worth it. I deal with animal pregnancies all the time. It's a wonder to see."

"Do they shoot flames and try to kill everypony around?" Applejack questioned, cringing when she heard Ember cry out.

"Of course not," Fluttershy giggled. "I've never seen a dragon pregnancy, after all."

Moon was a bit uneasy with her being comfortable in a situation like now, but he knew she was experienced with this sort of thing. And while everypony else was excited, Moon felt his focus wandering to energies he'd never felt before. One felt beyond malevolent, almost as evil as some of Equestria's most dangerous enemies. And the other felt… neutral, almost. He could feel a certain righteous characteristic, which seemed familiar as well, but that was it. And he knew these signatures were far, extremely far, but he could still sense their growing power.

"There!" Urishana shouted, grabbing everypony and dragon's attention. "One last push! Give it everything you have!"

"Gggggggaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" Ember screamed. There was the sound of a body hitting the bed, then silence. The door opened, and Urishana came out smiling.

Holding a red and orange egg.

"SHE DID IT!" Pinkie yelled. "WE'RE AUNTIES AND UNLCES, EVERYPONY! WOOHOO!"

"Look!" Moon exclaimed, pointing to the egg.

Everypony and Urishana glanced at the egg, gasping as a black line climbed from the bottom of the egg and began to draw an image. They recognized it before it had even finished, then covered their eyes as it flashed suddenly. The symbol was a picture of the egg's own kind.

The symbol of the Alamonshuor.

---

The Ashla grunted as it smashed through a cruiser, which exploded after a black beam tore through it and shot towards the being. It shot to the side to avoid it, but the beam followed. Flying back and forth, up and down, the Ashla tried attacking the Iikro to stop the beam, but there was a barrier around it as it did so. The Ashla knew it was using up energy to do so, and so it reached out mentally to the members of the League.

Namely, Konaskol.

If I am to defeat this monster, you must help me do so.

Its power quadruples my own. How am I-

You and you alone know a technique of old, one that can lower its energy enough for it to be vulnerable.

The Regesa… I understand.

I am sorry, Konaskol. But either your ability saves your race's future, or we all burn in Nedafan.

…

…

Give me an opening.

The Ashla weaved around the beam still following and headed towards the Iikro. It charged all of its power into its right arm, speeding like a bullet to the enclosed monster. The Iikro believed it was a game of chicken. The Ashla would try to move at the last second to let the beam hit him. But it was surprised when its counterpart smashed through the field, the beam still following. Both flew out of the way, the shot firing at yet another dreadnought. The Iikro went to recommence its attack, but a pair of arms crushed its own arms to its body.

"You DARE?!" The Iikro snarled, trying to break free.

Konaskol laughed softly as he started to drain his own life force, then grunted as he forced a connection with the Iikro. It felt the massive energy drop, then grunted as its own energy was sucked out from its body.

"What… are you… doing?!" It roared, trying spread its arms and free itself. Konaskol moved his head back to avoid the Iikro's thrashing, his body covered in his own green aura.

Figanti, Derekosh, Jaqeluu and the League watched as the immortal member of the strongest warriors used an ancient, and forbidden, Rite. The very skies darkened as the Iikro's energy was casted off to the stars, along with Konaskol's own power. The Ashla stood on the ground, bringing its arms outwards and opening its palms. With some effort, two massive silver spheres hummed to life. The Iikro felt Konaskol's energy vanish, and he let go as he plummeted to the planet below. Its energy was drained significantly, enough to give the Ashla a more daunting signature. Its eyes widened as it felt said entity's power charging, and it looked down just in time to see it bring two massive energies together.

"You coward." Using some of its own power, the Iikro used an ancient memory to find a location. "Don't think this is over. I still have a war to finish."

It's body dispersed into ashes, its signature moving far out enough for it to be unfelt. The Ashla powered its attack down, sighing at its failure to finish its counterpart fast enough. Figanti, Derekosh, and Jaqeluu landed in front of the divine being.

"Where are our brothers?" Derekosh asked, his fist clenched in anger.

The Ashla moved its hand to the side, and with a small shot of energy, two forms began to reappear on the ground. The white energy faded away, and the bodies of the two Signa laid on the dry ground. The Alamonshuor's ran over to them, checking their wounds with anticipation and worry.

"They… they…"

"I could only make sure their blood flowed and their innards healed," the Ashla told them. "Agner will wake in several lunar revolutions… and Fermot will as well… but he will never speak again."

The men sighed, both in relief that their brothers had survived, but pity that they were still horribly injured. "And Fermot's hand?" Jaqeluu questioned. "It had been severed."

"I merely reattached it. He'll need time for it to heal properly. And until then, he'll need to use blade bigger than a dagger for his good arm." The Ashla looked to the setting sun, feeling its body wearing down. "He will return. I promise you all, he will return. And when that time comes, I will be here to fight with this boy, as both Reku'un and Ashla. You, Figanti, must teach the boy control. For when the Iikro returns, it will use more than its host's form."

Jaqeluu and Derekosh knew what it was talking about. "You'll use your true forms… won't you?" Figanti asked.

The Ashla nodded, its mark glowing a light blue. "He will return within four lunar revolutions. Their attack will initiate at the homeworld. You'll have only one chance of destroying their world and securing victory," it told them. "I cannot retain this form… anymore. Ready yourselves… for a battle… like no other. This is… goodbye."

Its body glowed once again, some of the metals falling off while a portion entered openings in the man's body. Draco's glowing eyes returned to their hazel color, and his body shrunk back down. He swayed back and forth for a moment, then fell forward. Jaqeluu caught him, grunting as he felt his broken arm jolt in anguish.

"He's unconscious," Jaqeluu grunted, pulling him onto his back. "We need to get them to a healer. Figanti… gather our dead… and coordinate the fleet to move to Canterlot."

He nodded slowly, flying off to find another dreadnought that had survived the attack.

---

"Is it a boy or a girl?!" Fluttershy squealed as she held the egg carefully, using her wings to keep it steady in her hold.

King Draco glanced at the number of spots on the shell, then chuckled softly. "It's a girl," he announced.

"How did you know?" Celestia asked with a grin.

The king of dragons chuckled. "Odd number of spots," he smiled. "You learn things as king for several hundred years."

Urishana walked out of Ember's room, holding the door open as she stood on the threshold. "She's awake," she told them. King Draco walked over to Fluttershy, and the mare hoofed over the egg gently.

They followed him in as he went over to his exhausted daughter. "Ember. Look. It's your daughter," King Draco whispered, holding out her egg.

She weakly looked up and smiled, slowly pushing herself into a sitting position as her father placed the egg in her claws. "It's… amazing," she murmured sleepily. "I… wish… I could see her… with my own eyes."

Urishana stepped forward, smiling softly as she placed a hand on the egg. "Then let me help you with that," she giggled.

The shell began to glow brightly, causing everypony and dragon in the room to watch as the egg took on a more bipedal shape. The form was small, it had an even smaller pair of wings, and a long, slim tail. When the light died down, a baby dragoness with red scales and orange spines rested in Ember's arms, its breaths calm and even. Ember felt her eyes water as she looked at what she had created. A beautiful dragon hatchling that she would call her own. Her daughter.

"What will you name her?" Her father asked, stroking the small spines of the hatchling. Ember groaned quietly as she felt the sun hitting her eye, and then… it dawned on her.

"Dawn," she said immediately, caressing her daughter's cheek. "Her name is Dawn… my little Dawn."

As if hearing her own name, Dawn's eyes opened and closed as she grew accustomed to the light, then glanced at the crowd around her. They all smiled and stifled squeals as it pushed itself towards its mother, then looked up to Ember. She giggled and laughed, gurgling as she looked to her grandfather. Ember brought her close and nuzzled her, a tear wiping onto her daughter's cheek.

Celestia and King Draco smiled at their newest family member, and the alicorn sighed softly. "We're grandparents now," she laughed gently.

He chuckled as well and smiled. "I told you. We are getting old."

Author's Note:

The name… DAWNED on me XD All joking aside, I flipped a coin for the gender, and I got tails, so Dawn dragoness it would be! Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and as always, like, fav, comment, and have an awesome day or night! Peaces!

Comments

[Xavven]

That pun was.... *sigh* you need to join me in the corner. We will suffer together for our puns against humanity.