• Published 19th Mar 2016
  • 5,133 Views, 109 Comments

The Last Healing Dragon - Gearsmash King



Dragons might be very big, terrifying, and very greedy. But not all of them were like this.

  • ...
11
 109
 5,133

Chapter 6: A Dragon's Memories

Lazarus led Fluttershy and Angel to a large cave, halfway up the mountain. It was dark and looked frightening, perfect for a dragon. Lazarus walked inside and several small lights shimmered from above. Fluttershy looked up to see what they were and saw that they weren't lights. They were the eyes of several bats, staring at them. Lazarus just kept moving into the cave.

"Those bats aren't afraid of you?" Fluttershy asked, looking up at the beady eyes.

Lazarus slightly tilted his head up to look at his little guests.

"They don't have a reason to fear me." He said, leveling his eyes forward, "I offer them protection, while they are my eyes and ears in the forest."

"Your eyes and ears in the forest?"

"Yes, because there are times when I'm too far away to hear an animal cry for help. So, they relay the message to me by passing it through the forest to each other. I only need them during the night."

Fluttershy looked back at the bats, some of them curling up into their wings to sleep.

"I have birds, too." Lazarus said as they entered a chamber with a reflective pool, "But there's less activity during the day, so they just fly around the forest keeping an eye out for hunter traps and anything that could cause damage to the forest."

"Were you here when Tirek tried to take over Equestria?" Fluttershy asked, looking around the large chamber.

Lazarus looked at her with a painful stare.

"Yes, I was here for both accounts." He sighed, reaching up to grab something, "I watched as he set fire and ruined half the forest, leaving many animals homeless."

Fluttershy watched as the dragon grabbed a gem that had been imbedded in the wall. It was a rose red jewel that seemed to be containing something. Lazarus brought it down to her, allowing her to see what was in it.

"This is what I saw from my point-of-view." Lazarus said, taking the gem and placing it in the shimmering glass smooth surface of the water.

He released his grip and the jewel fell into the shallow pool, causing only a single ripple. The ripple sailed gracefully across the smooth surface. In it's wake, Fluttershy saw the ripple change the pool into a picture. Then the picture began to move and saw through the eyes of whatever created the picture, high above the ground. They moved towards the mouth of the cave and saw Tirek and a small purple blur, shooting magical beams at each other and blasting apart rocks. The eyes looked down to see several animals run from the destruction and into the cave. Fluttershy could hear the terrified screams of the animals as they ran passed. After watching the fight for what seemed to be a few seconds, a red clawed fist appeared in front of the eyes and it slammed into a rock shelf that was above the opening. The rock fell and everything went black.

"That's all that I want to remember, from that day." Lazarus said, reaching into the pool and retrieving the gem.

"What is that?" Fluttershy asked as his claws raised out of the water with the gem in their grasp.

Lazarus put the gem back where he pulled it from and grabbed another, this one being blue.

"These are memory jewels." Lazarus replied, looking at the blue sapphire in his claws, "They contain the memories that I don't want flying through my head or have use for later."

Fluttershy looked puzzled as he approached the pool again.

"Some of them are my most prized possessions."

He placed the sapphire just above the surface and opened his claws. The image that was displayed, showed three smaller wingless dragons with what Fluttershy believed to be their parent. The parent and baby dragons looked almost like Lazarus, but different in some ways. The three babies were green, orange, and blue. The green and orange ones had smaller crests on their heads, much like Lazarus, but they didn't have sharp tips at the ends. At least, not yet. The blue baby didn't have a crest on it's head at all. Instead, it had small spikes running down the center of it's back. It resembled the purple parent a lot more than it's siblings. Then the red clawed hand appeared again. Only this time, it stretched out to the little green baby dragon, who shot a little spirt of fire at the claw. The claw retreated and advanced again at the green dragon, rolling it over and tickling it's belly. The sound of laughter filled Fluttershy's ears as the little dragon was attacked and spitting blue flames. Then the pool faded to black, before turning into a shimmering surface.

"Who are they?" Fluttershy asked, watching the same clawed hand reach into the pool and retrieve the jewel.

Lazarus held the sapphire in his claws and closed his eyes.

"They were my family." He sighed sadly, placing the jewel back in it's place, "My everything."

Fluttershy's ears drooped at the way he said, "were." It didn't sound like something he wanted to share, while at the same time, it sounded like something that needed to be spoken of.

"What happened to them?" Fluttershy asked gently.

Lazarus didn't say a word. He only reached for another red jewel and brought it down to the pool.

"This is what happened."

The gem fell into the water and the pool changed once more. Fluttershy saw winged and wingless dragons fighting, healing, and digging frantically. The host of the memory raced through the battle, attacking any enemy that crossed his path. The eyes focused on a cave that was on the side of a mountain and saw blue flames erupt from it. The host finished off an opponent and continued to the cave, only to stop after seeing a red flash come from inside.

"NO! SALEEN! HOLD ON!"

SSSSSSRRRRRREEEAAAACH!

Fluttershy heard a voice call out, followed by a horrible and deathly cry come from the cave. The host raced to the cave and found a winged dragon standing in front of a group of motionless and charred bodies. The dragon turned to look at the host and surged forward, biting into the host's arm. Fluttershy watched in horror as both dragons bit, clawed, and tail-whipped each other. Finally, after only a few minutes, the fight ended when the winged dragon lay before the host. The eyes turned from the enemy and focused on the four bodies. Three babies and an adult, all the same colours and shapes as the previous memory. Only this time, they were darkened and slightly twisted. The adult twitched and slowly turned it's head.

"Lazarus..." The dragon shuttered in a female and dying voice, "I-I.. tried to... protect... them."

"Sssshhhh." The voice from before hushed, "Try not to talk. I can heal you, make you strong again."

"I'm... too far gone." The female dragon replied, breathing shallow, "I won't make it."

"But what if I-"

"Lazarus, if you try to... revive me in the condition you're in... I fear... you don't have the strength."

The eyes looked at the dragon.

"We... will... wait... for..."

Before the female could finish her sentence, her eyes closed and her head rested on the floor of the cave. Fluttershy could feel tears roll down her cheeks as the pool faded back to it's original form. Then she turned to look at Lazarus as he retrieved the jewel.

"I could have revived her," Lazarus said, "but the battle drained most of my magic."

He put the jewel away and looked at another. Fluttershy tried to figure out which one he was looking at. But she got distracted by some that had familiar items and beings contained in the memory.

"After the battle," He continued, "I found out, a few thousand years later, that the reviving ability we possessed, took such an amount of power that it would have killed me, if I wasn't at full strength."

He grasp another gem, this one was yellow. Fluttershy looked at what it contained and gasped. The image that was inside it, showed Princess Celestia looking very exhausted and sad.

"This was the first time I used that ability."

He dropped the jewel into the water and Fluttershy watched as a magical battle flashed above the Everfree Forest. The host, who she now knew was Lazarus, crept through the forest and watched as the lights flew across the sky. Lazarus began to accelerate his speed, until he was in a full run. Charging through the trees and bushes and dodging other wildlife, he raced towards whatever was causing the commotion.

"I'm not going to standby and watch as this gets out of claw." Fluttershy heard him say as a structure appeared in the distance. "I can still put a stop to this."

As the structure got closer, Fluttershy began to recognize some of it's features. The statues that were perched on the outside, weren't completely destroyed. Some of the walls had very familiar holes in them. Even the shape of the towers were familiar. After a moment, Fluttershy realized what Lazarus was racing towards.

"The castle of the two sisters." She said, looking up at the dragon.

"Keep watching."

Fluttershy looked back at the pool and saw that Lazarus had stopped just a fair distance away from the castle. She watched as a white alicorn raised out of the ruins of the castle, surrounded by six gems. The gems floated and hovered to her front, forming a pentagon with the star shaped gem in the center. The gems spun furiously and a magical rainbow beam shot out, hitting a dark and more fearsome alicorn. The beam didn't stop as it traveled towards the moon and the white alicorn floated to the ground. Landing close enough to Lazarus, that Fluttershy saw the sun cutie mark on her flank. After a short while, she watched Celestia lay down with a hoof over her heart and the gems fall to the ground. As she laid on the ground, her mane stopped flowing and her eyes closed. Lazarus approached slowly, trying not to frighten her. However, as he got closer, Celestia remained motionless. He reached out a claw and gently placed it on her side.

"Hey, are you alright?" Fluttershy heard him say.

There was no answer. The only response he received was her body rolling onto her side. His claw moved to where her heart was and waited.

"No." The voice said, moving his claw away from her lifeless body. "I've seen more than enough to know that you still have too much left to do. I refuse to watch you die from a broken heart."

Using his tail, Lazarus drew a circle around them both and spit flames into the rim. The circle glowed bright blue as the flames traveled through the outline. The flames grew bigger as a dome formed over them. In a flash of light, Celestia appeared before him, looking very sad and lonely.

"Your highness?" Lazarus said, slowly moving across the dark and starry plain they stood upon.

Celestia raised her head and looked at the dragon. To Fluttershy, it appeared that Celestia was looking at her, but she knew she wasn't. Fluttershy stared into the pool as tears formed in the princess' eyes.

"Wh-who are you?" She asked, trying to hold back her tears.

"I'm your second chance." He replied, stopping a short distance from her.

"Second chance at what?"

"At life. I have come to bring you back."

Celestia's eyes widened as she heard the words.

"What life? I have no life! I've banished my only sister to the moon and now I'm alone! What life could I possibly have, after such a deed?"

In her words, Fluttershy heard the pain and sorrow that lived within the alicorn. Lazarus reached a claw out to the princess and raised her head to look into her eyes.

"That is something I do not know." Lazarus said, sounding reassuring, "But what life will your subjects have if you are not there to guide them?"

Celestia wiped away a tear, as did Fluttershy.

"I know it will be difficult, but you must remain strong." He continued, "I have lost loved ones as well and it has been difficult without them. But I have remained strong, because they would want me to be everything I can be. I have fought many battles, several of them I regret, but nothing has stopped me from putting the ones I care about, before myself. They are the ones that are worth living for."

Celestia's tears stopped and Lazarus moved his claw away from her.

"What should I do, then?" She asked, looking up at the dragon.

"You are young and smart, I trust that you will be able to answer that question."

Before she replied, Celestia bowed her head and appeared to be in thought. Then she looked back at him.

"Very well then, bring me home."

In another flash of light, Celestia vanished and reappeared in front of him, but was the same motionless body he had left her. Finally, after a moment, her mane began to flow again. However, she remained unconscious and still. Lazarus' flames faded away and he erased the circle, before retreating back into the forest. Several minutes later, Fluttershy watched as the image began to blur and sway. She watched as the ground rose up and heard the sound of a heavy impact, before fading back to her reflection in the pool.

"What are you?" Fluttershy asked, wiping away a tear and looking at the dragon.

Lazarus retrieved the gem and looked back at her.

"I am something the past left behind."