Draconic Guardians of Equestria

by Defias

Chapter 6

After walking through the forest to vent his anger, Vakarious had inadvertently turned into his true draconic self, and soon after making some noise in is dragon form, Vakarious found himself in a rather uncomfortable position: Six ponies, three of which who were responsible for the little, if only, enjoyment of his time in Equestria, were all glaring at him with such intensity, even the Old Gods would tremble at the site.

Now, Vakarious had found himself in situations where he was the center of attention many times in the past, with a majority of those times involving people or groups of people pointing many knives, swords, or guns at him. And most of those weapons would have had no real effect on the dragon at all, thus not really putting his life in any sort of danger. And, while this situation wasn't that different, as is, his life wasn't in danger, he had never really been given the glares these ponies were giving him.

"Alright. I can tell you guys look a bit upset, and judging from the way you're looking at me, I assume it has something to do with me," the dragon said, making a futile attempt at easing the already high tension.
"You better tell us what is going on right now!" Twilight threatened, powering her horn as well. Vakarious simply rolled his eyes before responding.
"Look, turn your horn off and calm do--"
"Don't you dare tell me to calm down! You lied to us all! To me! To the Princess!" Twilight interrupted, her growing anger being made clear if the raising of her voice and the intensity of her glowing horn were any indication. Wow, she's really pissed off. I'd really hate to be whatever companion she had or found that ever had the THOUGHT of even just leaving her.

"Fine, don't calm down, give yourself a stroke if you want. It really isn't necessary to point a loaded horn at me though," Vakarious said. He wasn't worried about Twilight actually hurting him in anyway, he just figured explaining anything to her and her friends would be far more difficult with purple beams hitting him.Twilight complied though, the purple aura around her horn dissipating, though she kept her glare of anger locked on him. This did relax the rest of her friends though, though they seemed more concerned with their lavender friend more now than the humanoid being standing before them.

"Now, I suggest you all take a seat somewhere, because I will begin explaining everything I can from the top, and I guarantee you it will take quite some time," Vakarious said, the group, save for Twilight, sitting down.
"Now, I will begin by pointing the obvious out: I am a dragon. More importantly, I am the leader of a very large group of dragons from my world..."

~~~

"...And that is, for the most part, the gist of everything important about me. What I told you about myself before though, Twilight, and indeed all of you, was the truth. Everything about humanity, most of what I did, and everything I stand for. I merely just left out some 'minor' details about who I was," Vakarious said, wrapping up his explaination. Night had engulfed the forest long ago, Vakarious assuming his lecture extending well over a few hours. And of course, he still left some major details out, such as the dark Old God powers he wielded, and his Brood's greatest enemy, Draken'Kar. To Vakarious' slight relief, though, five of the six ponies seemed much more comfortable and relaxed around him, Fluttershy even apologizing to him for following him when he wanted to be alone. Twilight, however, still seemed rather upset with him, though she did seem a bit more calm now. If nothing else, she wasn't trying to kill Vakarious with her glare.

"I think, Vakarious, given the circumstances, it would be best if you left Equestria. While everything you said about yourself and what you stand for may be true, I believe it would be the best for everypony if you stayed away, given the kind of danger your mere presence could bring," Twilight stated, to the shock of her friends. Vakarious wasn't surprised, though, and in fact was expecting this sort of response.

"Very well. You are right, Twilight Sparkle, it would be for me to take my leave. I feel I must apologize, to all of you. I have hid major details about who I am from you all, I have been very short and cold with you all, even after you all provided such hospitality towards me, a stranger you knew only for a span of two days at most. And I am especially sorry to you, Pinkie Pie, for my inexcusable rudeness towards our offer of celebration for me. Before I depart, I thank you all, once again," and with that, Vakarious began his departure, hoping to leave before anyone could say anything, however, a voice he had not expected to hear broke the silence...

"Vakarious, wait," Rainbow Dash called out, much to her friend's, as well as Vakarious' surprise. "Twilight, he hasn't done anything to deserve being kicked out of all of Equestria," Rainbow continued. Vakarious found himself standing there, surprised that, of all the ponies, Rainbow Dash was defending him, mainly because she reminded him of, well, himself, or so he thought. He would have been in Twilight's position in a situation like this, telling an outsider from another world to leave.

"Rainbow, he's dangerous..." Twilight said, trying to convince her friend. Rainbow wasn't going to have any of it, though.
"No, Twilight, he's not! You're not even giving him a chance!" Rainbow Dash responded. Vakarious just stood there, curious as to how these new events would fold out, while the rest of the pony group looked at each other, confused on who to agree with, if either were right at all.

"He had his chance already Rainbow! He had his chance the first time he had everypony gathered in the library! Even if he just 'hid his past', he still proved that he can't be trusted!"
"Are you listening to yourself Twilight? You're being just as stubborn, if not more so, than when Princess Celestia had us reform Discord! At least Vakarious didn't turn us all against each other and turn Ponyville into the chaos capitol of the world!" Rainbow Dash shot back, hovering in front of Twilight now.

This apparently had a great effect on Twilight, though, as she began recalling her memories of that day. Of the day she first met Zecora, and how everypony was afraid of her and shunned her just because she was different. Her rainbow maned friend was right.

"I'm...I'm so sorry Vakarious...everypony...I..I let my anger take control of me...Can you ev--"
"I forgive you, Twilight. Considering I know that feeling of losing control over your emotions, I believe I can say I understand." Vakarious said, trying to reassure the lavender unicorn.
"It doesn't make how I reacted right..." Twilight continued. Vakarious decided he'd cheer the unicorn up the best way he knew: Teasing her.

"Hmm, no, it definitely wasn't right, that's for sure. I mean, not only did you say such hurtful things, you also had a particularly dangerous magical horn pointed at me, glowing and ready to use. So not only did you hurt me with words, you almost hurt me with magic as well," Vakarious teased at Twilight. She was about to start crying because of what she realized she had done once again, until she noticed Vakarious grinning at her, then laughing, along with the rest of her friends. Soon, she found herself joining in with the laughter, which went on for quite a bit.

Well damn, it seems the Princess was right about that friendship crap afterall. Well played, very well played. Though Vakarious was still deterimined to find some way back to his world, back home, he realized that his stay on this world wouldn't have to be depressing for him, or at least, not as much. After all, he still lived with the memories of his past, and the issue of returning to his world was still at large. He would worry about that later though, instead focusing on the current events that present themselves to him.

~~~

"Um...I think maybe we should get back to Ponyville and out of the forest...if everypony wouldn't mind, that is..." Fluttershy said, suddenly breaking the silence.
"Fluttershy is right girls, we really shouldn't be in the Everfree forest in the dark like this," Twilight added in agreement with Fluttershy's suggestion.
"I'm confused. Why is the forest a bad place to stay at night?" Vakarious asked, recieving a few questioning looks before Twilight answered.

"Right, different world...Anyway, the Everfree Forest is obviously, the forest that lies outside Ponyville. And while the Everfree forest is 'technically' a part of Equestria, it is, nonethless considered the most dangerous region of Equestria due to many reasons. A few of those reasons being the dangerous flora and fauna the inhabit the forest, the vast size of it, as well as the unnatural way the weather works," Twilight said.
"Interesting. Though, how does the weather in the forest work that makes it 'unnatural'?" Vakarious asked, his curiosity peaked now.
"Well, unlike the rest of Equestria, the weather in the Everfree Forest isn't controlled by the Pegasi or magic, instead, it happens all randomly on its own. For example, rain may be scheduled on a Tuesday in Ponyville, so the Pegasi weather ponies bring the clouds about so it can rain. In the Everfree Forest, however, it rains all on its own. Attempts to control the weather in the Everfree Forest have always ended in failure, though nopony knows why," Twilight said.
"Hmm..." Vakarious pondered everything he was just told for a moment before coming up with a response.
"You know, it seems like it's quite the opposite. It seems like the weather in the Everfree Forest, or everything in the Everfree Forest is the most natural in all of Equestria, compared to the rest of the country, where everything is controlled by weather ponies and magic," Twilight was going to say something, but Vakarious cut her off before she could begin.
"Then again, seeing as the weather is 'random' and acts on its own, my opinion may not mean much."

"Right. Anyway, we should really get going. This deep in the forest, who knows what dangerous creatures might be lurking," Twilight said.I have this strange feeling I'm going to regret joking about this, but, here I go. Vakarious thought to himself before responding to Twilight.

"You know, I highly doubt there is anything in this forest, or even this entire world short of your Princesses, that would pose any sort of threat to me. And, since I like you guys well enough..." Vakarious paused for a second, before continuing. "...Well, maybe not you Twilight, since you almost shot me, " Vakarious joked, causing Twilight to roll her eyes in response. "...Look, the point I'm making, is you could probably live in this forest forever, and no harm would come to you guys with my protection," Vakarious finished, jokingly flattering himself.
"Can we leave now please...?" Fluttershy asked.
"Fine, stay close though. I'll light the way since you all seem afraid of the dark scary forest," Vakarious teased.
"I'm not scared of the forest! I just, don't want to run ahead and abandon my friends is all," Rainbow Dash said, defending her honor that Vakarious apparently insulted.

"You tell yourself what ever you want," Vakarious teased.
"You know, I didn't HAVE to stick up for you!" Rainbow shot back.
"No, you didn't. Why did you stick up for me anyway?" Vakarious asked, leaning towards Rainbow so the rest of the group didn't hear. He figured it was some personal reason.
"No reason really, you just seemed kinda cool when I first met you. Most ponies would have been embarrassed if they lost a race as bad as you did. Instead though, you just acted so casually, like you meant to lose so badly," Rainbow said. She was right though, he had done absolutely terrible in that race, no matter how good he told himself he did. Vakarious felt like there was another reason, though.

"And?" Vakarious prodded.
"And what?"
"Rainbow Dash, I'm a 2,600 year old dragon. Do you REALLY think I can't tell when you're hiding something?" he responded, hoping she'd fall for a very, very old trick he knew of.
"Ugh, fine. There is another reason, but first. How did you know?" she asked.
"I didn't, actually. I just assumed there was more, so I used my age against your judgement, making you think I knew more than I did. Basically, you fell for the little trap I set hook, line, and sinker," Vakarious said, smirking. "So now, that other reason?"
"Ugh, I'll tell you, but you can't tell anypony else, okay?"
"Your secret will follow me to the grave," Vakarious said, hoping his morbid joke/promise would invoke some sort of reaction from the rainbow maned Pegasus, but he had no such luck.

"Alright. About a month ago, the Princess asked us all to release somepony we turned to stone about two years prior so we could help reform him. The reason we turned him into stone in the first place is a whole other story. Anyway, reluctantly, we released Discord, that's what his name is, and out of all six of us, Fluttershy was the only one who actually gave Discord that chance to reform himself," Vakarious was intrigued. He had heard a mention of this 'Discord' once, and briefly, when Twilight Sparkle had given him a lecture on the history of Equestria. He forgot who or what he was though, as at the time, notable beings were not really relevant to his interests.

"After Fluttershy invited us all to a dinner party with Discord, to show that he was actually reforming himself, nothing but disaster struck. Discord, being the spirit of chaos and disharmony, absolutely ruined the dinner party before it even started, and was showing signs that he was just using Fluttershy's kindness for his own gain. But, when Fluttershy said that he was her friend, it looked like that actually affected him greatly, since he said he had never had a friend before," Rainbow Dash continued.

"So, question."
"Yeah?"
"This 'spirit of chaos and disharmony', Discord, he did things that warranted him being turned to stone, was released and given a second chance, and did the same things as before. Tell me, how was he not just destroyed?" Vakarious asked, though he already knew Discord was reformed and apparently 'good'.
"I'm getting to that. Anyway, all of us except Fluttershy just stared at him in shock for a bit until Fluttershy's rabbit came into the room and told us, or rather, 'showed' us, that Applejack's home, Sweet Apple Acres, was flooded, due to none other than Discord's chaos. Anyway, long story short, Discord face two options, either live in his world of chaos, forever losing his only friend he had ever made, or fix everything he bucked up, and keep Fluttershy as a friend. He chose to keep Fluttershy as a friend, surprisingly," Rainbow Dash continued, starting to run out of breath.

"Anyway, it turned out that the key to reforming Discord was showing him the magic of friendship, and becoming his friend. So like I said, out of all of us, Fluttershy was the only one out of all of us to actually give Discord a chance. The reason I stuck up for you Vakarious, was because I didn't want to make the same mistakes I made when we 'helped', if we even did that at all, with Discord's reforming," Rainbow Dash finished, almost passing out due to her being out of breath now.

"So, I'm assuming you were rightfully distrustful of Discord?" Vakarious asked.
"That's putting it lightly. I wanted to turn him back into stone the moment we released him. I didn't give him a chance, at all. I didn't want that to happen again to you," Rainbow replied. Vakarious was astonished, really. Rainbow Dash not only learned from her mistakes, but, she actually put forth great effort in preventing herself from making the same mistakes in the future. He had to admit, he respected her for that. It was something humanity sorely lacked.

"Thank you, Rainbow Dash. I definitely take back what I said when we first met, about me not ever wanting to see you again. If it weren't for you, I'd probably be banished right now, I really am in your debt," Vakarious said.
"Don't worry about it, I figured you were just jealous of my awesomeness. Oh, and don't go doing me any favors either, it was no prob at all," Rainbow replied.

"I insist. Besides, being in your debt is a nice change of pace from being in Twilight's debt more than once," Vakarious joked.
"Fine, but I'm definitely gonna make sure I use this 'debt' of yours for the most pain in the rear thing I can think of," Rainbow joked back. Before Vakarious could reply, he had noticed that Rainbow Dash and himself had fallen back from the rest of the group quite a bit. Not enough for his flame to stop lighting the way for them, but enough for there to be a considerable gap. Rainbow Dash seemed to notice the same thing.

"We should probably catch up to the rest of the group. I mean, you're pretty cool and all, but I don't want my friends thinking anythings up with you and me. That would NOT be good for my rep," Rainbow teased, mocking a gagging gesture.

"A few steps ahead of you," he replied, shortly before disappearing into the ground, and reappearing right behind Rarity, the latter completely oblivious to what he did. Rainbow Dash simply flew over, landing quietly behind Applejack, who was walking besides Rarity. The group continued walking, occasionally yelping or stopping every time they heard a rustle or a branch break in the woods. Vakarious smirked at their reactions, finding it amusing how easily started the six were, considering the fact that they were going to apparently fight him earlier or something. Vakarious soon found himself looking up and staring at the night sky, losing himself in his thoughts, bringing back memories of him and his sister...

~~~

In a forest covered by the pitch blackness of the moonless night, a young pair, consisting of a child, and a teenager, walked. The youngest of the pair, a little girl, held the hand of the older teenager while they walked, never even letting the thought of letting go of his hand...Her brothers hand.

"Vaka, can we please leave...This forest is much scarier than the one at home..." the little girl said, the fear in her voice being indistinguishable. The teenager however, just rolled his eyes at the nickname her sister had given him.
"Sister, you have nothing to be afraid of. Besides, I thought you wanted to go out on an adventure like the stories Guardian Praetorian always told us?" Vakarious responded, trying to calm his sister down.
"You're...right Vaka...It's just, we're so far away from home, and I'm not sure we can ever get back..." the little girl said, her voice a bit more calm now.

"What has Guardian always told you?" the teenager simply asked.
"That no matter where we are, whether we are in a distant land, or a familiar land, whether we on our world, or another world, that where ever there is life, we are at home..." the little girl said, a bit more relieved now.
"That's right sister. Even this dark forest, which admittedly, is quite creepy," Vakarious joked, trying to ease his sister a bit more.
"Besides, even though you're just a little whelp, you're still a dragon," he added, teasingly.
"I'm not a whelp! I'm 1,002 years old now!" the little girl snapped, seemingly forgetting her fears, which is exactly what the teenager wanted.

"I dunno little sis, only a whelp would be afraid of the forest," he teased. The litte girl thought for a moment.
"Fine..." she grumbled, her fear finally being vanquished by her older brother.
"There's the annoying little Alestra that aggravates Guardian Praetorian in the mornings that I know!" Vakarious teased. The little girl, Alestra, just rolled her eyes.
"Well, we're here now sister," Vakarious said, as they entered a clearing.

From where the two were, they could see the night sky perfectly, even more so, since it was a new moon that night. It was the reason he came out to this area every new moon, just to get away from the people and dragons he was always around, dictating and always telling him what to do. And, while he understood his role in the world, and ultimately his destiny, he still needed to separate himself from it all. While Vakarious understood why he had to be what he was, he felt that he could be more if left to his own devices. Vakarious had always been intrigued by the stars, and other worlds that may lie beyond. One of his dreams was to someday leave his world, to find what other life may lay out there in the vast reaches of the unknown. Unlike all the other dragons he knew, he loved the fact that, as 'all knowing' as they were, there was much more in the universe that he, and other dragons, did not know about. Nor would they possibly ever find out, either.

"This is boring," a little girls voice said, interrupting his thoughts. He expected as much of a reaction from his sister, but he would show her what he loved to see anyway.
"Indeed it is Alestra. Indeed it is," Vakarious responded simply, before gazing upon the stars again.

~~~

As the group continued, Vakarious continued to let himself be lost in his thoughts.
Here I find myself on another world, and what is the first thing I try to do? I try to leave. I can't even get mad at myself, because while I have always longed to find another world, my true place is on my own. On Earth, with the dragons. The people.
As he continued in his thoughts, he was interrupted by the excited cheers of a pink pony.

"Look everypony! We're almost out of the forest! Oh oh oh! And when we get out of the forest, we can totally throw a 'We saved our from friend from a dragon, but he turned out to be the dragon, then he escorted us out of the forest' part!" Pinkie exclaimed, earning a collective groan of annoyance from her friends.

"Look, I'll definitely go to this party of yours, but I think a couple of things should happen first. The first being, all of your friends look tired as hell. The second, I don't think it'd be wise if you told everyone I was a dragon. I mean, look at how well you guys took it," Vakarious said. Pinkie stopped bouncing for a moment before replying.
"Okay! We can still have a 'Our friend escorted us out of the forest' party!"
"That would be fine, and tomorrow would definitely be the best time for it," Vakarious responded. This made the pink pony squeal in excitement.I was already an ass to everyone, I might as well go to another one of her as an apology of sorts.

"Ugh, the sooner we get out of this DREADFUL forest, the better. It will take quite a long bath tomorrow to get my mane back to its luxurious state," Rarity said.
"Um, beg 'pardon Rarity, but considerin' all that happened tanight, how is your mane your only concern?" Applejack asked, frustrated at her friend.

"Why darling, you speak as if you don't know me. You know how much my appearance means to me. Unlike some ponies here, I like to remain clean and proper," Rarity said.
"Ya could do with a proper attitude cleanin, that's fer sure," Applejack mumbled to herself. "
"Look girls, and boy, we made it!" Twilight said, before Rarity could respond to Applejack's comment. The group had finally made it out of the forest, finding themselves in a field they all knew.

"You can turn your fire light out now, Vakarious," Twilight added.
"Wow, I know I'm a dragon, but I didn't think I looked THAT bad," Vakarious joked.
"I don't get it," Twilight responded, the joke being completely lost on her.
"Never mind. Hold up for a second, I kinda need to change my appearance," Vakarious said.
"Okay then...Well, let's go," Twilight said, continuing towards Ponyville. Vakarious soon followed again, this time appearing as a Pegasus with his reptilian wings and glossy dark purple coat.
Today was definitely quite eventful. Kinda curious as to how tomorrow will turn out now. Vakarious thought to himself. He would worry about the next day, or rather, the next few hours later though. He was rather exhausted, after staying up for two days in a row.

Comments

[FuriousDarkness]

"Look everypony! We're almost out of the forest! Oh oh oh! And when we get out of the forest, we can totally throw a 'We saved our from friend from a dragon, but he turned out to be the dragon, then he escorted us out of the forest' part!" Pinkie exclaimed, earning a collective groan of annoyance from her friends.

"Okay! We can still have a 'Our friend escorted us out of the forest' part!"

What KIND of part?
Also, I am seeing an "indent/wall of text/indent" cycle. Might want to fix that.

I was already an ass to everyone, I might as well go to another one of her as an apology of sorts.

I thought this was third person?

By the way, Vakarious might actually be able to hold his own against Celestia, due to the information you have given:
He almost killed Sargeras
Sargeras wields godlike power
Sargeras has apparently laughed at Deathwing
By simply showing up, Deathwing caused the apocalypse and terraformed all of Azeroth

From this, we can conclude that Sargeras' near defeat at Vakarious' hands was because Vakarious is better than Sargeras, who again, wields godlike power. But you can ignore this because I am a fan of logic.

[Defias]

2252020 Well, fixed those silly mistakes, as well as bettering the format/fixing the wall of text. (Seriously, my friend needs to get to editing already : /)

Although I can't really say too much without spoiling, I can say there is a reason Celestia and Luna do have the ability to over power Vakarious, which will be explained. As for the whole Sargeras thing, that's in the next chapter.