Saturday, January 26th

"Sir? Sir?" I was woken by the stallion shaking my shoulder.

"Hmm? Oh, yes? What is it?"

"We've arrived in Stalliongrad sir! I'm here to escort you off the train."

"Oh! Wow, I slept longer than I thought... Ok, lead the way." I stood up from the still made bed and stretched. I walked over to my weapons corner and pulled on my gloves. Then I grabbed my Buster Sword and started after the stallion. We walked through quite a few cars until we reached the car where he led me out of the train and on to a wooden platform.

"Here you go, Stalliongrad! Goodbye hero!" The platform was totally empty.

"Wait a minute, something's wrong here. Why aren't there a ton of ponies here trying to flee the dragon attacks? Did they all leave already?" The stallion shook his head.

"The ponies of Stalliongrad are too proud. They refuse to leave even in this danger." Off in the distance, I heard a dragon roar sound off, it carried enough volume and force to shake the ground beneath me. "Well, if you'll excuse me, that sounds dangerous. I hope to see you again hero!" The stallion dashed back into the train and I shrugged my blade off my shoulder.

"Well, duty calls." I ran off the train platform right as it started pulling out. I saw a dirt trail that led to a small town. It consisted mostly of wooden buildings, like in Appleloosa, but it had a few more permenant stone buildings as well. Above it, there was a huge, blue dragon circling lazily in the night sky over the buildings. It roared again before sending a jet of flame down at the city. After that, it quickly flew away towards some desolate looking mountains to the north of the city. I knew I wouldn't be able to chase it down on foot, so instead I ran into the city to see if I could help with the fire. I quickly ran down the dirt path to the town. As soon as I got close, I could hear yelling from ponies as I passed them. I couldn't tell if it was screams of joy or fear, and at the moment it didn't matter. I easily located the burning building by following the smoke plume it was sending into the sky. The building was of course, wooden. It was totally enveloped in flames and looked to be on the verge of collapsing on itself. There was a mare in front of it, screaming.

"Help! Help! My husband and child are still inside! Please, somepony, anypony help me!" There was a crowd gathered around, but even though they all looked like they wanted to help, nopony moved forward.

"Out of my way!" I barreled through the gathered crowd, they all screamed. I could tell it was in fear this time. I tossed my sword to the side and into the snow as I charged the burning door. I rammed it with my right shoulder, breaking it in and littering myself with burning wood. I quickly brushed the wood off, and coughed a few times due to the smoke that filled the room. Flames licked at the armor around my lower body. I had to find the ponies and get out fast before I was fried like a crab in my own armor. My shirt had already caught on fire, and I pulled it off quickly before throwing it into the flames. I gazed through the smoke, searching for a sign of the endangered ponies.

"Daddy..." I heard a whimper from above me. The sound had come from upstairs. I stumbled blindly through the smoke, searching for a staircase.

"Hey! Whoever's in here, keep calling!"

"Who is that?! Please! Daddy needs help!" I found some stairs and crawled up them as fast as I could.

"What's wrong with your daddy?" I called back, desperate to keep the young voice talking so I could find him.

"He got hurt! He needs help! Please..." I ducked low to the floor, risking letting the flames on the ground burn my chest so that I could locate the young voice. I saw it, a young colt cowering under the body of a large stallion.

"I'm on my way! Stay calm!" The building was breaking apart around me, burning beams fell from the ceiling as I crawled to the colt. The colt was alive and fine, but the stallion... A burning beam had fallen from the ceiling. It had landed on him, I assume snapping his spine. Judging by the way he was positioned over the colt, it was obvious he had saved the colt's life by ending his own.

"My daddy! You have to help my daddy!" The colt looked up at me with tears in his eyes. I coughed through the smoke.Suddenly, the floor began to give way beneath me with a symphony of cracks. I quickly reached out and grabbed the two ponies as I fell through the floor. We all went down through a new hole in the building. I managed to pull the colt in my arms as we fell. My back slammed into a burning table, crushing it beneath me and covering me in flaming splinters. The dead body of the stallion landed next to me heavily.

"We have to get out now..." I mumbled to myself. I cradled the colt in my left arm and lifted the stallion in my right. I picked myself up from the remaining shards of the table and dashed towards the light filtering through the smoke, only hoping it was coming from the door. With a gasp, I plowed out of the smoke and into the cool air of the night. I breathed in heavily and fell to my knees.

"My child! It saved my child!" The mare screamed. I relesed to the colt and he ran over to his mother. The building collapsed behind me, sending a new wave of heat and flame at my back.

"Mama! Mama! I love you mama!" The colt cried joyfully as he embraced his mother. The mare tore her gaze from the colt and looked back at me.

"My husband! You saved my husband as well, yes?!" I grimaced and slowly shook my head. I slowly held out the dead body of the stallion and laid him gently in the snow.

"I'm sorry... I wasn't fast enough..." The mare looked horrified at the blackened corpse of her husband.

"No... no! No!" She released the colt and ran over to the body. She cradled the corpse's head in her forelegs as tears ran freely down her face. "No... no.... He is gone..." She sobbed gently. Her tears fell like rain, dotting the stallion's burnt mane. The colt walked over as well.

"No... papa... He can't be dead!" He turned to me. "Strange creature! You help him! You save him! Please!" I slowly shook my head with a sorry frown on my face.

"I'm sorry... I can't..." The colt looked at me in disbelief.

"N-no... No! Papa! I don't want you to be dead!" The colt wailed helplessly and curled up next to his father's corpse. I turned away from the distressing scene.

"I'm... I'm so sorry... It's his own damn fault. Killed himself to save a kid. What a prick. You know, if he had saved himself he could've just made more." I muttered quietly. Everypony was to absorbed in the shock of my appearance to notice Steven. One mare spoke up.

"Uhh... sir... You are a sir yes?" She was talking to me. I turned to her. She was a brown pegasus mare with an orange mane. I nodded quietly. "... Your mane is on fire..." I jumped and shoved my head in the snow. This got a small awkward laugh from some of the crowd. I removed my head, and water hissed as it ran down my neck. I was really hot from running through a burning building. My armor was super heated and was melting through the snow.

"Thank you... I'm going to go hide for a moment while I take off these pants before they destroy my legs." With that, and a few questioning looks from the crowd, I grabbed my sword and ran behind the nearest building. I quickly stripped off my armored pants and shoes. My legs were very red, and heat blisters were beginning to form. "Wow... this is way worse then the small roasting I got from the demon snowman..." I mumbled to myself. My skin on my upper body was red and sensitive to the touch. I was covered in splinters from the snowman still on my left arm, and I could feel them all over my back from the table. My hair was most likely ruined, not that I actually cared. Not to mention that I still had bruises galore. I sighed heavily. I was reaching my limits on physical damage. "There's no way we can kill that dragon. We should turn around and walk to the nearest operating train station." I rolled my armor out in the snow in an effort to cool it off quickly. Then I laid out in the snow next to it in an attempt to cool myself off as well. I started picking out all my splinters in my left arm as I cooled off. I managed to get most of them out, making a small pile of wood in the snow.

"Hello? Are you still back here sir?" I heard a mare's voice call from around the corner of the building. I quickly jumped to my feet and started pulling on my armor.

"Don't come back here! Give me a moment!" My armor was cool enough to wear now, so I slipped on my armored boots as well. "Ok, I'm decent. You can come here now!" A dainty blue unicorn with a light purple mane came around the corner of the building I was behind. She looked scared, but determined.

"Y-you saved that colt..."

"Yes... I'm sorry I couldn't get the stallion too... I didn't get here fast enough..."

"Oh no! We are... very thankful... Saving the colt alone was fantastic..."

"No. I should've been here sooner. I should've ran faster. Then I'd have saved the stallion too..."

"... You are a very kind creature. I can see this. Why did you come here?"

"... I'm glad you aren't scared. Hi, I'm Sharky White of the Lunar Knights. I'm here to help you with your dragon problem." She jumped in shock and her eyes widened.

"Alone? You believe this is wise?"

"I never said it was a good idea. I was just hoping I could convince it to leave... but after that... It must die. How often does it attack like that?"

"At least once every few days... Do you believe you can fight it yourself?"

"How much damage has this town taken?! No. I don't believe so."

"Come. I will show you... you believe you can't win?"

"Yes, I don't think I can win."

"... Then why do you choose to fight?"

"Because if I don't, who will?"

"... That is a very noble thing to say. I do hope it doesn't get you killed. Follow me." She trotted off around the building. I grabbed my sword and stood up to follow her. She led me to the sites of several buildings burnt to the ground. Often they had small groups of ponies in front of them. They were always crying. I could only assume they were the previous owners of the burnt husks. My heart cried out for them. Steven inwardly laughed at them. After seeing a few buildings though, I noticed a strange pattern. In every attack area, there was only one burnt building. In every scene, no matter how close the houses were, only one building had been burnt to the ground. Others nearby had been burnt, but not to the ground.

"I have a question, what is this building?" I pointed to the latest husk.

"That? That was Silt's blacksmith workshop. Here in Stalliongrad, we pride ourselves on being the number one producers of weapons. Our craft is legendary. Sadly, with these attacks, only few of our workshops still stand..."

"Right... What is this building?" I pointed to another husk off in the distance to another husk.

"That was Flare's blacksmith workshop."

"What about the one I ran into?"

"That? That was Burner's blacksmith workshop."

"Riiiight... I think I need to see this dragon... Where is a still standing workshop?"

"My workshop still stands. Why?"

"I need my sword repaired. After that, I'm going to kill this dragon." She nodded happily.

"Thank you! Oh thank you! I shall gladly repair your blade! Please, follow me!" She led me around the town a bit more. Ponies gasped as I went, but I ignored them. I was brought to a stone building. "Here we are! Please, give me your blade." I held out the Buster Sword for her. She levitated it away from me and trotted into the building. I waited patiently for her to fix up my sword. As I waited, a small crowd of ponies gathered a few buildings away from me. They were whispering and pointing at me.

"What are you lookin' at?! Piss off!" They all suddenly scattered and I scratched my head in confusion. I stood there for a few more minutes, then the unicorn came back out with my sword.

"Here! Good as new!" She levitated me the Buster Sword and it was clear of all rust and shone like a mirror. The blade was so sharp the felt like I could cut the air with it.

"Wow! Fantastic work!"

"Thank you. Now, please go! Celestia knows how long until it comes back!" I turned away from her and headed north to the mountains. I gazed at the burnt husks as I walked.

"... Something isn't right about these attacks..."