Chapter 44

Strong Shield dropped the three unconscious criminals inside the individual jail cells “Thanks for taking them” he sighed as he turned to face Shining Armour

“Not a problem… where is your armour?” Shining Armour raised an eyebrow at the half-grey mane

Strong Shield looked at his exposed body, the fur had grown to show the many years of duty, for once his cutie mark was exposed, a dull iron shield stood proudly on his flank

“At my home, clean, waxed and awaiting somepony to bring it back” Strong Shield looks away from his body and back at the captain “shall I go and collect it now?”

Shining Armour shook his head “You keep it, besides it’s older than I am” he chuckled “But make sure you take your brandy before I get a chance to nab it”

Strong Shield started to salute but stopped “Well I never thought it would come to this but… I’m glad the guards have somepony like you to aspire to”

“Thanks” Shining Armour smiled

“If I had a boss that allowed an evil queen to take over then I would want to do better” Strong Shield smirked

Shining Armour laughed it off “Yeah well don’t break a hip walking home” they both nodded happily at each other as Strong Shield walked to his office and collected his final few things

The captain of the guard waved the old stallion off as he left the barracks “You still pack a mean swing” Shining Armour muttered to himself as he headed back inside

“Captain, who shall replace Strong Shield’s position of training recruits and guard maintenance?” Private Barrier asked as he saluted, his head sweating slightly down his grey fur

Shining Armour looked at him “At ease… nopony yet” he shook his head “We shouldn’t have lost him this way”

The private wiped the sweat from his brow “Well I know you will make the right choice, I have to go for my shift” the private saluted and hurried away

Shining Armour walked over to the large barrack window and looked at the sky above, the moon was beginning its decent “How long have I been up?” the unicorn rubbed his eyes “Heh the excitement of being a guard”

“Sir I actually had a message for you” Private Barrier returned saluting “It’s from your wife, Princess Cadence”

Shining Armour nodded “Continue”

“She said that…” Private Barrier paused to think before relaying the message “You missed dinner, it’s in the dog”

“Ah…” Shining Armour sighed, “Hmm… bugger”

Meanwhile…

Adamas dropped Dave at the entrance to a cave in the side of the mountain, the rocks seemed to swirl inwards, and the dragon crawled on all fours while Dave had to jog to keep up

“So what is this elder like?” Dave asked as he avoided Adamas’ swinging tail

The dragon hummed “Wise, he is the oldest and last remaining elder of our time”

“What happened to the others?” Dave asked as the cave randomly opened up enough for Adamas to crawl comfortably

“They died doing generous acts” Adamas chuckled “They did what they did so the future was better for all”

“Sounds like Rarity has some competition for Element of Generosity” Dave smiled as he jogged “So what does he want to see me for?”

“he has little rants that make little sense, long story short he wants to inspect you” The dragon had enough room to look back, his head scales brushed against the roof and a few rocks broke

Dave avoided a rock that fell from the roof “Ok… so he is kinda crazy?”

“No!” The dragon spat “He is wiser than any other, and has seen much more than you can imagine” Adamas stands to his full height as the cave opens up again, Dave had to lean back to look up at him

The walls and roof of the cave are supported by four large rock pillars and each are twice the size of Adamas, other dragons are sat around and Adamas joins them as Dave steps towards a large bulge in the wall

“So where is this elder?” He calls but his voice is drowned out by a deafening voice that echoes around the cave

“I am everywhere!” it booms, the large bulge opens up revealing a huge yellow eye that reduces the other dragons to nothing more than insects

Dave gulps as the eye takes up most of his vision and makes him feel like a flea “Hello… I’m Dave”

“Yes the young one has told me about you” The eye looks at Adamas before returning to Dave “I am honoured to meet you”

“Wait meet me?” Dave shrugged “What have I done?”

The eye chuckled and blinked, causing the cave to shake “You showed generosity to something that attacked you, you remained resilient”

“You mean gave Adamas a diamond?” Dave laughed nervously “Well ok it was nothing really but…”

“No you taught us all a lesson” The eye looked at the dragons “We thank you”

The dragons all slammed their tails against the ground and the sound similar to a drum beat rings out “Your welcome” Dave rubbed the back of his neck “WAIT!”

“What is it little one?” the elder asked as Dave looked around the room again

Dave pointed at the large, gazing eye “If that is your eye then how big are you?”

The eye chuckled “I am generous so I allow my body to be a home for dragons” the pillars scraped the roof as long claws were revealed on top of each stone pillar

“Y-you’re the mountain?” Dave gawped

“Yes, this cave you are in now is just one of my claws” The eye nodded “and I am proud to support my descendants during their lives”

“So the outside was just your wings wrapped around you?” Dave rubbed his head in amazement

“A couple of times actually, I must ask you something” The elder’s eye looks sympathetic

Dave managed to stop gawping to nod “Sure what is it?”

One of the claws descended and stopped a few feet from Dave’s head “May I have a look?”

“Look where?” Dave looked nervously at Adamas who simply nodded reassuringly

“Into you, the ponies aren’t the only ones with magic you know… even if the gift has died out” The elder looked sadly at the dragons

Dave flinched as Odio squirmed painfully, obviously to hide from the guest “Sure… go ahead” Dave smiled as the claw gently rested on his head

Dave’s body seized up and shook slightly, the eye moved slightly as if it could see all of Dave’s being, it hummed and chuckled as it learned about Dave, he stopped when he hit a certain piece of information

“Rest for a moment” The elder removed his claw “Then we must talk” Dave collapsed to the ground and Adamas frowned as the elder glanced at him

“What is it elder?” Adamas asked as he looked down at Dave

“In a moment he will awaken” the elder sighed and a gust blew through the cave “I must let you all know first” The elder revealed the new information and the dragons all look between him and Dave

Meanwhile…

The girls all climb out of the cartridge, one behind the other and they all thank the guards

“Well I must say I am worried about Dave” Rarity sighed, “I hope the princesses find him soon”

“We all are” Applejack smiles reassuringly “Well goodnight everypony”

“Goodnight” Twilight smiled to her friends as they all went back to their own homes, Twilight walked into the library, Spike on her back “So we are just going to wait?” Spike moaned

“Yes Spike we can’t do anything” Twilight sighed as Spike jumped of and began storming to the bedroom “I told the girls that we would meet them in the morning”

Spike mumbled to himself as he climbed the stairs “Whatever” he said aloud as he left Twilight alone downstairs

Twilight was about to follow Spike but a knocking at the door stopped her, she opened the door to reveal Pinkie “Oh hey Pinkie what’s up?”

Pinkie walked in but turned to Twilight, her face slightly serious “Hey Twilight can I talk to you?”

“Um… sure what about?” Twilight led them both over to some seats and sat down

“It’s about the harem thingy” Pinkie shuffled on her seat

Twilight grinned, “You want to be part of it too?”

“Oh no” Pinkie shook her head “Dave’s only a friend”

“Then what is it about?” Twilight’s curiosity peaked, her friend was slightly more serious than usual… so actually serious

“I was wondering that, if Dave chose to be with one of you” Pinkie played with her hooves “Would we all still be friends?”

“Well I…” Twilight had to think, she wanted Dave but she was beginning to see that she had been slightly nasty towards her friends “Yes Pinkie, we have been through worse”

“GREAT!” Pinkie bounced on the seat “So what are we gonna do when Dave gets back? Party? Please tell me we are going to have a welcome party!”

“Yes Pinkie we can have a party” Twilight sighed happily

“HURRAY!” Pinkie cheered loudly, Spike groaned up stairs as he put a pillow over his head to block out the pink mare’s cheers

Meanwhile…

Dave awoke rubbing his head “What the hell happened?” he looked up at the giant orange eye “Oh I remember”

“Well you managed to have another being forced into your head” Odio chuckled “He is weak though so he couldn’t find me”

“Thank you again Dave” The eye looked at the dragons that sat around the room “We thank him!” the dragons pounded their tails again

Dave reluctantly got to his feet “what have I unintentionally done now?” he asked as he continued to rub his head, Odio managed to remove the dull pain

“Many thousands of years ago” the elder began, the dragons around the room groaned as another story was going to be told

“Oh hold up” Odio rummaged “Let me get the popcorn”

“A choice was made, a choice that would ripple through time, things would happen that never would have occurred and a child was born that shouldn’t have been” the elder sighed

“Woopidy do da” Dave cheered sarcastically “is this going somewhere?”

“I have been alive longer than I should be” The elder ignored Dave and continued “I have learned that the past will always come back to haunt us”

Dave looked around at the other dragons, they all had sat upright, serious eyes locked onto the elder and Adamas shot Dave a threatening glare

“I learned that you have to do things for the good of others to stop the nightmares returning” the eye shuddered “You have to make sacrifices to stop chaos reining”

The dragons begin to slam their tails in unison, Dave looks around nervously as the ground shakes, Odio’s chuckle stops

“That time has come about once more” the elder glared at Dave “there is a storm coming Dave, one of fire and pain”

“What do you mean?” Dave’s voice did not travel far due to the thunderous beats

“The pain will scar eternity!” The elder shouts and the dragons roar, “The fire will consume the sun and burn the moon!”

Odio swirled slowly around Dave’s mind “this doesn’t sound good” he whispered as the ground cracked at the edges due to the combined force of the dragon tails and the elder’s voice

“Consume the sun? Burn the moon?” Dave’s heart leapt to his throat “Celestia and Luna? How do I stop it?”

The elder’s eyelids fall slightly and the beats of the dragons stop “Celestia, god of the sun and Luna god the moon, both princesses of Equestria”

“Yeah that’s them” Dave steps forward “What is this storm?”

“The storm has been coming for a long time now” the dragons begin their beat again “It will win, it plans, it shapes and evolves”

“What is going to happen?” Dave yelled

“The mighty princesses” The eye frowned “are going to be destroyed”

“No…” Dave growled behind gritted teeth “How can I stop this from happening?”

“You can’t, the moment they gain possession of a certain tool… it is over” The eyelids drop shut for a moment before opening again

“What’s the tool?” Dave began to snarl as he stepped forwards “Tell me!”

“The tool… the item that can defeat the sun, the moon and the elements of harmony” the elder sighs “It shall doom us all if the sun doesn’t have control”

“If Celestia is destroyed the sun will stay up or never show!” Dave yelled “Now for the last time… TELL ME!”

The dragons all glare at each other before retuning their gazes back to Dave and the elder, the elder groans as he looks at the angry human

“The tool… is you”