An ancient gold dragon from another dimmension seeks an old freind to redeem a favor. That favor being to protect its egg until it returns. But the dragon never returned.
The dragon wars rage on getting worse by the year. One dragon hopes to keep his only heir out of the clutches of tiamat. He sets out to redeem a favor from an old freind who now resides in a dimension called equestria. Though the dragon never came back. One thousand years later and the egg is now guarded in canterlot until it hatches.
Luna breezed through the night sky searching for any disturbances in her subjects’ dreams. The city she flew above was Tira her favorite place to fly over on patrol. The city had a serene setting at night with stone columns and buildings graced by sweeping arches that shone alabaster in the moonlight, polished silver statues, and four spires at its center.
Breathing a content sigh she started banking right to land on the nearest building with a view of the city. It seemed that there wouldn’t be any nightmares to combat tonight. There She lied down and drifted off into her own peaceful dream.
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Luna awoke after only about an hour, something was up. For some reason she felt a sudden feeling of dread. The night marched on in silence until an explosion of gold and black painted the night sky forming a vortex. Then two beasts flew out of the portal with alarming velocity narrowly missing the spires and gliding over Luna before crashing into the ground east of the city. The gold one had dropped what had looked like a golden egg right on the ground at her feet. She looked back at the beasts recognizing them as dragons. One was golden and the other dragon seemed have scales made of living shadow.
They circled each other in an almost formal way. The gold dragon growled at the other dragon before saying in a venomous tone “I should have known Tiamat would send you to slay me and take my heir. Have you not forgotten our last encounter Tantubus?!”
The other dragon chuckled darky, “yes I do! And it will make my victory all the more satisfying!”
The two then clashed, attacking each other mercilessly. The one known as Tantabus struck out aiming to clamp his teeth around the golden ones throat. The other dodged it and spun his barbed tail round striking on Tantubus’s back earning a brief cry of pain. Tantabus then pulled the golden ones hind legs out from under him and moved to pin down his opponent. They rolled around a couple times fighting for control until the golden one slashed his claw across Tantubus’s face down his neck and ending at the front leg. The shadowy creature shrieked and grasped gingerly at his now damaged eye. He disengaged and got up to fly away but his opponent was anticipating this and was already in the air. “You’re not getting away this time.” The golden one bellowed kicking Tantabus back to the ground.
At this time a small gathering of ponies had gathered on the edge of the city to discover what was making such a ruckus. They watched in horror, and yet amazement, as the beasts’ battle raged on. Luna also couldn’t help but watch and wonder if the egg she possessed was the source of this conflict.
‘All this over a golden egg’ she thought turning it over with her magic. The egg suddenly moved a bit as if responding to her action, ‘wait didn’t he say take my heir?’ she then realized that she was cradling a dragons egg, and a small one at that.
Turning her head to the battle once more she noticed Tantabus growing weaker. The golden one wasn’t impervious to damage however, and had some bad wounds too.
Tantubus collapsed from the fatigue and pain unable to fight any longer. “Please show mercy Ghillen!”
The other now known as Ghillen gazed forward with no emotion as he took his claw and drew it across Tantubus’ throat, “I have already shown you forgiveness twice now and twice have you betrayed your word. You chose to serve Tiamat and tried to steal one of the few surviving golden dragon eggs. You are too much of a Threat.”
The ponies that had gathered quietly sneaked back into their dwellings exchanging hushed whispers fearful of the dragon’s wrath. Ghillen backed away from the corpse as it slowly dissolved into shadows and settled down to catch his breath. For a few moments everything was silent until he heard the sound of hooves land softly on the grass a couple yards from him.
“I know you have the egg.” Ghillen said looking at Luna with a inquisitive eye, “wasn’t by mistake that it was dropped on that roof”
Luna held up the egg to the dragon with her magic, “I don’t know how you got here or why it is you came but you must leave at once!” she wished that her voice had come off as authoritive but it more or less was a squeak.
Ghillen chuckled halfheartedly and got on his feet. “I can tell you’re of good morals and mean no harm but unless I find someone in this dimension to guard the egg I am unable to get back to my brothers and sisters defending the world from the forces of Tiamat.”
Luna looked down at the egg that was now slightly glowing, “but why here in Equestria?”
“Dragon wars are the closest from safe and Tiamat wants to find as many eggs as possible to add to her army. She especially wants golden dragons because we tend to associate with Bahumut the most. Our contact here in this place you call Equestria notes that it is extremely hard to get to and has two highly powered deities that might be willing to help.”
“What contact?”
Ghilen shrugged his scaly shoulders “an old freind of mine, a mage who went exploring this dimension and never returned. He wanted to stay here under the guise of Starswirl.”
Luna couldn’t suppress her look of shock. Ghilen noticed and started to look serious, “I hate to ask you of this but it seems you know of whom I speak. Please take the egg to him, he will ensure its safety."
Luna nodded hesitantly, “very well, I swear to get this egg to him poste haste.”
The egg then pulsated and let off a golden light that died down after a couple seconds. Then the vortex that had once ripped the sky was once again open. Ghilen nodded to Luna and lift of from the ground, “I must go now. Once the war is over I’ll come back to reclaim the egg. Farwell kindly stranger.”
And with that he flew back through the portal and out of Equestria and Luna set off to meet with Starswirl.
Unoticed by both, a single shred of shadow remained. Making its way towards luna, it crawled into her shadow and hid itself to buy time until the next opportunity presents itself.
Starswirl paced back and forth in his part of the castle of the two sisters deep underground. His workshop was a mess as usual. Old tomes and parchment cluttered his desk in organized chaos, his gizmos and projects placed upon the center table at random. He even had a potion making bench in the corner complete with beakers of various substances churning and gurgling within their containers and labeled with a hurried hand.
The clock tower chimed in the distance signaling five in the morning. Starswirl stopped pacing and made his way over to one of the stone walls lining the room. He worried that Ghillen Might not have made it to the portal he had created. Setting his hoof on one of the bricks he then took a breath before speaking in draconic, “May Bahumut guide my judgment.” He stepped back from the wall as a sigil in the form of an ascending dragon appeared. Starswirl then walked through the sigil and into the hidden room.
The two sisters had granted him this space to build his sanctuary as a thank you for defeating the sirens. But what he didn’t tell them was that he had built his personal library and vault down here as well. Nobody knew he was from a different dimension so they understand any of the knowledge or magical items that he brought over from his home dimension.
The space was about thirty feet square with meticulously organized shelves. There were about 50 artifacts and magic items contained upon the shelves on the left and books ranging from magic tomes written in elvish to history books that looked absolutely ancient. Then in the back of the room stood a glass case containing a suit of armor that was intended for a bipedal creature. Resting upon the breastplate was the same sigil as before but cast in pure platinum and in the armors strange looking appendage; a sword with a single sapphire imbedded in the hilt and the guard in the shape of feathered wings. He walked over to it and stared into the empty eyes of the helm, “It seems that now is the time for Julien of Mt. Starswirl to finish what he had started”
“Finish what exactly?”
Starswirl didn’t even have to turn around to know it was Celestia standing behind him, her wise and even tone was now hostile with distrust. He turned around and looked at Celestia in the eye. She had emotionless expression on her face, “what kind of creature does that Armor fit.”
The silence grew deafening until Starswirl finally answered, “My original form is that of a creature called human, my name being Julian.”
He noticed that Celestia was carrying something in her magic aura. She followed his gaze and lifted the golden egg in the air, “here is the item you’re expecting. You better explain everything once I am finished with today’s duties.” She put the golden egg on the ground at Starswirl’s feet and turned to walk out the door then paused, “two dragons came out of a portal earlier this morning and the one known as Ghillen gave Luna this to pass along to you. He also said something about a dragon war happening in another dimension. Seeing as I’m the only one of us concerned by the possibility of this leading Equestria into conflict, you are being placed under guard. This secret room only furthers my suspicion.” She then went back up the stairs and into the castle.
Starswirl picked up the egg and then went into the work shop to write one last letter.
About twenty minutes later he set his quill down gently, placed it in an envelope with a key, sealed it and wrote it out to princess Celestia. Leaving the letter on the desk he looked about his work shop one last time before taking the egg into his vault and sealing it behind him. Once inside he placed it upon the nearest shelf once more and took off his hat and robe. He muttered out a spell and his body began to change. Hooves turned to hands and feet, fur turned into robes, and his horn a wand. He stretched his back and appendages which ached from the transformation. Looking down at the wand in his hand he threw it aside, “don’t even remember what this thing does.”
He walked among the shelves picking items that he would need on his quest back to the order’s citadel. He grabbed the bag of holding and put various items in it; an iron flask, a horse figurine made of obsidian, a sword made with a green dragons tooth for a hilt, a decanter of what appeared to be water fresh from a spring, an a miniature stone tower topped by small gargoyles. He was about to move along but something caught his eye, ‘Ah, the Belt of Dwarven Kind. I love the beard it gave me but it is trivial for this endeavor.’
He then picked up a piece of chalk and cloak binging them to the glass cabinet. He opened the cabinet and started putting on the armor and sheathing his sword. He put the cloak around his armor and picked the chalk up and drew some words and symbols on the back of the cabinet door. First he activated the cloaks magic making him completely invisible. He then cast the spell on the cabinet making a portal appear. As he was about to cross over he suddenly stopped, “I forgot something” He walked over to the books and selected one Labeled Volo’s guide to hatchlings and placed it next to the egg. “Celestia Probably isn’t familiar with the rearing of metallic dragons.”
And with that he walked into the portal which closed behind him leaving nothing but a human sized hole in the glass.
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Celestia completed various tasks as noon neared. Upon reaching a lull in her tasks she decided to check on Luna. She checked her room first but found that she was not there. Getting worried she decided to check with the guards posted outside of Starswirl’s basement Stairs. The reported that no one had entered and that Starswirl hadn’t come out either. Relived she dismissed her irrational fear and headed to the throne room.
Entering the throne room a defining shout filled her ears, “Not another step!” Celestia looked over to Luna who stood in between the two thrones. Her eyes Gleamed with jealousy, an expression that Celestia had rarely seen on her sister’s face, but now it also showed a twisted hatred very unlike her. Instantly she knew that this wasn’t her sister.
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Celestia dropped to her knees as the reality of what she just did sank in, ‘I just banished my own sister to the moon’ She then Shot up and ran to the Basement stairs and franticly asked for the whereabouts of Starswirl. The guards reported the same thing as earlier and Celestia descended the two flights of stairs. Throwing the door open she called out for him, “Starswirl come quick, I need your help. You’re the only one I know that can help Luna”
She looked around and found the letter that he had left Behind. Reading it her eyes began to fill with tears.
“Not you too”
AN: don’t worry it won’t always be this dramatic. (At least I hope not.) Also a big thank you to the people who commented, liked, or faved this story and I hope you enjoyed this chapter
I Know I haven’t been truthful about my origins. You probably think me a spy sent from another dimension but that is far from the truth. 248 years ago I was a young adventurer who went from town to town seeking the next journey. Eventually I and my party came across a diabolical scheme to raise a great evil from Avernus, the Dragon Queen; Tiamat.
We followed them to their shrine and tried to intervene, but we had failed miserably. Having lost my friends to this ritual, I was now outnumbered and surrounded by cult members. It was at that moment when I met Ghillen, a gold dragon sent forth by Bahumut to stop the ritual. Seeing my predicament he picked me up in his claws and flew me south to Mt. Celestia where the order of Bahumut was based. I couldn’t let go of my newfound hatred so instead I learned to channel it became a paladin of the order, protecting the innocent and keeping evil at bay.
Tiamat wouldn’t be seen until five years later. In those five years I searched for a way to defeat Tiamat. Sometime in the second year I discovered the power held within arrows of slaying. Arrows Strengthened by magical properties that are deadly to the intended creature’s health. I had only managed to produce two of them to use against her.
Alas, luck was on my side on the morn when Tiamat arrived. Calling upon Ghillen to fly me closer, I used these arrows to deal a devastating blow to Tiamat then rejoined my brothers to finish the battle. Afterwards Tiamat realized her defeat and retreated to the shadows. Hearing of my great deed, Bahumuut gifted me with immortality under the condition that I return whenever called upon.
I then led the brotherhood for a while, but I grew weary of constant battle pursuing the study of magic instead. Upon learning a way to conjure my own portals to different realms and universes I saw it as an opportunity to learn more. Eventually I settled here and felt at peace.
It was naïve of me to believe that she would be gone for good. Now I must face her again. I don’t expect to ever return so I leave all my worldly possessions to the hatchling. I know it will be safe in your care. This key should open the door after I leave.
-Starswirl the bearded
Ps: DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING IN THE RED TRUNK
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Four days later
Celestia read the letter over once more and cast her gave upon the tomes held within Star Swirls vault, “there has to be something in here that can help.”
Over the next few days she scanned through many tomes that she thought might have the information she needed. However, her efforts to find a solution yielded no results. She would have to wait for the banishment spell to wear off.
Not able to bear the guilt she felt for banishing her sister or the loss she felt due to the abandonment of Starswirl, who had no intentions of returning, she left the castle behind with the dragon egg and sealed Starswirl’s vault until further notice. She spent the next couple of centuries adjusting to her new role as princess of both night and day choosing to residing in a new castle carved into the side of a mountain named Canterlot. There she awaited luna's return.
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Starswirl, or Julien as he was known in this dimension, looked about him as he exited the portal. The waning crecent moon was barely visible through the cloudy sky. Snow drifted to the ground slowly, the fridgid air turning Starswirl’s breath to cloud. Mt. Celestia was directly in front of him by about two miles and if he strained his eyes he could just barely make out the revolving lights atop Starswirl Mountain to the west. He had to get to where he was going, and fast.
He figured that it would take him about a whole days walk if he were to travel on foot so he reached into his bag of holding and withdrew the horse figurine. He threw it down at his feet breaking it into three pieces. The pieces then dissolved into smoke, growing in size until it condensed and formed a real horse complete with saddle.
Starswirl clambered atop the steed and grabbed hold of the reins. Giving them a shake and shouting a brief “hyah” he set course to meet with the order at the base of Mt Celestia.
Arriving just as dawn broke over the horizon and flooded the valley below he was met with a gruesome sight. The Armies of Tiamat were already here laying siege to the citadel. The forces outside the gates clashed with the advancing kobolds hoping to repel the enemy attack. Above the city flew seven golden dragons waiting for Tiamat to show herself.
A sudden shout was heard and two kobolds rushed him from the trees behind causing his steed to rear in fright. Starswirl was thrown from the saddle and landed with a hard thud before one of the kobolds grinded him into the snow with his foot and leveled its sword at his throat. The other one walked over to him and gestured to the symbol on his armor before hissing out in draconic, “this one must be lost.”
“Let’s take it to the master to see if it has any inf-“ the kobold fell over as an arrow struck it square in the eye. The other backed away unsure of want happened until another arrow struck it in the shoulder allowing Starswirl to get up. Wasting no time Starswirl drew his sword and lunged at the reptilian beast plunging the steel through its armor and into its chest.
“Are you alright Brother?” Starswirl pulled his blade from the kobold turning the white snow into red and turned around to see who had saved him. The young archer was outfitted in leather armor, winter furs, and Bahumut’s sigil. The archer glanced quickly to his sword before going into shock, “wait a minute, you’re him aren’t you? Darrious said that he who wields the holy avenger would return one day to lead the order and force Tiamat to bow once more! Julien of Starswirl, the Champion of Bahumut!"
Starswirl sighed before cleaning his sword on the now dead kobold, “they didn’t have to make it sound that damn dramatic. Who even is this Darrious, trying to paint me as some kind of demigod?”
“But you’re Bahumut’s champion, aren’t you the one who single handedly drove Tiamat back into darkness? Haven’t you come back to help us?” the archer said his hope almost giving way to despair.
Starswirl went over to where he fell in the snow and picked up his bag of holding as well as the ebony horse figurine that had transformed back to its original state. He then turned to the archer once more, “Question one; I got really lucky with my aim when firing those dragon slaying arrows. Question two; yes, I am back to help the order slay the beast once and for all.”
He then paused looking up at the sky as an enormous shadow soared overhead. Tiamat the five headed dagon queen was flying straight towards the citadel, “but first we must evacuate the citadel!”
And so Starswirl and the archer raced against the dragon Queen to the citadel. The archer filled with hope and the wizzard filled with dread knowing that he was too late. Bahumut and Tiamat were about to face one another in a fight to the death.
Surely the order would put his name down in infamy upon their historic texts as the failed champion. If the order survives that is.
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Seventeen years before the return of Nightmare Moon
The morning sun rose steadily across the sky over Canterlot signaling the beginning of the day. The ivory towers rose high above the ground with its roofs of gold reflecting the suns light as Residents started their mourning routines preparing for what was going to be an interesting day. Today was the day of the grand galloping gala and unknown to all there was going to be a very unruly guest joining them tonight.
In the castle guard captain Cavalier checked her list once more to make sure all the preparations and guard assignments were met, the last location on her list being the main entrance. Rounding the corner of the stairway she was meet with the satisfactory sight of a well decorated grand hall with guards posted by both doors and ready for visitors.
She then went through the doors and into the throne room to see if the princess was there. Surely enough Celestia was sitting there writing last minute invitations. Cavalier stepped forward and floated the list over to Celestia with her magic. “Here’s the checklist princess. Is there anything else I could do for you at the moment?” she asked with a genuine cheer in her voice.
Celestia looked at the list and was about to dismiss cavalier when she noticed an empty check box, “why is there no guards posted outside the vault?”
Cavalier brought the list back, her cheerfulness fading a bit, “I ran out of guards to post and I figured that since it is already locked up tight that we could move those guards somewhere more important.”
“Then ill post you outside of the vault for this little oversight.” Celestia said in a serious tone before giggling, “don’t worry I’m sure it won’t be a problem. After all its just one night. Now run along and prepare yourself for tonight.”
Cavaliers cheer returned as she speed out the throne room and up to her quarters to get ready for the party. Meanwhile Celestia left the throne room to get some breakfast.
Later that day as night approached Cavalier went down the east wing corridor on her way to the ball room and was about to pass by the tower vault when she heard a loud crack followed by two more little crackles. She yelped then took off down the hall to get the princess. She speed across the ball room nearly tripping over her own feet. Spotting her in the crowd cavalier waded over to the princess who was in conversation with some of Equestrias’ high society. Celestia looked at cavalier in con fusion as the guard captain was in panic.
“Princess! There’s something moving in the vault!” cavalier managed to say somehow without screaming.
Princess Celestia’s look of confusion then morphed into realization. “Sorry everypony but there is something urgent I must attend to,” she said biding the small gathering farewell, “Cavalier, come with me and be on the lookout for suspicious activity!”
“As you command princess!” Cavalier grunted as she raced after the princess who was now already exiting the ballroom. Upon reaching the vault door they noticed a hole in the door no bigger than a bowling ball. “What could have done that?”
Celestia smiled, “the Dragon egg has finally hatched.” Her smile quickly faded however as she noticed the hole was made by something eating away at it. “But it apparently eats gold and is now missing."