Author's Notes:

This is a six part crossover with Danger A Dragon and his story, The Iridescent Element. I had a different plan in place but this crossover kind of blew it out of the water. You'll know what I mean when you read the later parts of the crossover. Also, I made changes to the first few chapters to reflect what happened during the course of this crossover.

~THIRD PERSON POV~

Skye brushed aside some foliage on her way through the Everfree. She grumbled a bit on how they couldn’t come up with anything else but ultimately let it go. She stretched a bit and nearly blacked out when something fell on her head. Hissing in pain, she rubbed at the top of her skull and looked down. The item that fell looked to be an oversized hourglass, with four different elements swirling from the top while never reaching the bottom. She crouched and picked it up, turning it upside down to see if it actually worked like one.

“Okay, this is unusual.” Skye muttered and nearly cried out when a message sounded out in her head. ‘I am Draigo, a primordial dragon. To those who find this hourglass, know that I’m here should you need help. I will give my protection to those I deem worthy. I will give my attention to those who need to talk. Finally, to those who misuse this item and others like it, you shall know my wrath.’

“Draigo … the dragon. Why do I not find that hard to believe?” Skye said out loud, unknowingly activating the hourglass.

A portal opened before her and out stepped a big armored man. His armor was black with golden accents. Not an inch of his body could be seen due to the armor and helmet that he wore. As Skye examined him she noticed that each of his gauntlets’ fingers had a claw on them and that the helmet only showed a single glowing orb for the man’s eyes.

“A skeleton? Well, I’ve seen just about everything now. Are you the one who summoned me?” the armored man inquired.

“Summoned? I suppose so.” Skye echoed, pulling her hood over her head. “I’m apparently the Grim Reaper here. Although how that works out, I got no idea,” she added, moving closer to inspect the man closer.

“Ah, a new Displaced. This ought to be interesting. If you’re the ‘Grim Reaper’ then where’s your scythe? Everyone knows that Death wields a scythe.” The man said as he allowed the female skeleton to examine him to her satisfaction.

“It got stolen by the Jersey Devil.” Skye said casually, stepping away from the man to give him space.

“Jersey Devil? Huh, got more mythology going on than normal, eh? Who have you met so far and do they like or hate you?” the man asked. “Oh, my manners are slipping. My name is Draigo.”

“Draigo, huh? My name’s Skye. It looks like I have a mixture of them, considering a bloody Harpy tore through the throne room.” Skye explained, and considered his other question. “I’ve met ponies. It was a shock to the system, that was,” she answered, not really sure what Draigo meant by the question.

“I bet it was. Which ponies have you met? Celestia? Luna? Twilight?” Draigo asked to help clarify his previous question. “I hear a bit of an Aussie accent to you. You originally from Australia?”

“Oh. I’ve met Celestia and Luna. No idea who this ‘Twilight’ is unless you’re referring to the awful book series.” Skye gave a shudder at that but otherwise, kept her voice neutral. “Celestia’s a pain to be around, mainly because she imprisoned me for something I allegedly did and yes. I’m from Australia but moved away a few years ago. I kept in touch with my cousin fairly regularly but that stopped a couple of days ago when I got executed.”

“Well, that makes two Aussies that I know...You got executed!? Wow, that’s harsh. I’m sorry Celestia is a pain. Not all of them are like that. Mine is quite nice. I guess your first few days of being a Displaced haven’t been all too pleasant. Maybe I can help out with that.” Draigo said in an apologetic tone while taking in their surroundings.

“The execution was meant to be fake. It wasn’t. After I died, I became a skeleton, with this cloak and a scythe. No idea where my scythe is now but I’m sure that the Jersey Devil isn’t far from it. Who’s the other Aussie you know?” Skye shrugged and moved further into the forest. “While you’re here, why don’t you help me play bait?”

“The other Aussie is a guy named Joseph. I met him awhile back and helped him with a few problems. What are we bait for?” Draigo said as he followed Skye into the forest. She stiffened slightly at the name but continued walking regardless.

“Joseph? Likes to tinker with things? Loves science?” Skye asked, moving her head from side to side before picking a random direction. “We’re bait for a Harpy, the Jersey Devil, both, or possibly something else entirely.”

“Yep, when I first met him he had modified his portal gun to shoot two types of goo. Are we trying to kill whatever we’re bait for or something else?” Draigo wondered as he extended his senses out.

“No fucking idea. The only thing Clover told me was that I was bait. Nothing else was said beyond that.” Skye answered and rested against a tree trunk. “I don’t remember Joseph ever owning a portal gun.”

“Well, Joseph is a Displaced. Just like you and me. He probably got it when he was sent to his Equestria. There’s an Aperture Science building there as well. Wait, did you say ‘Clover?’ As in Clover the Clever?” Draigo asked, freezing mid-step when the realization of Skye’s words hit him.

“Not so sure about the ‘Clever’ part but that’s what she introduced herself as. Why you ask?” Skye asked, watching him freeze.

“If she’s here then Starswirl the Bearded is as well...Luna is still Luna, right?” Draigo asked in a very concerned voice.

“Starswirl is here as well. When I spoke with her a few hours ago, her eyes flashed when she mentioned ‘subjects’. I didn’t think anything of it so I just shrugged it off.” Skye said thoughtfully, cringing when a far-off screech sounded.

“Crap, two bad things happening at the same time. Okay, first. Luna is going to become so jealous of Celestia that her being will become corrupt and turn into something known as Nightmare Moon. I’m not sure if that can be avoided, but try to help her as much as possible. Compliment her night, stay up with her, try to keep her mind off of Celestia, get some citizens to visit her during night court, get some of them to compliment her night, anything to help boost her confidence and see that she is still loved and wanted. That is more important than that eerie screech we just heard. Finding and stopping whatever that was is still important. It’s just not as important as Luna.” Draigo rambled as he paced back and forth. “While being bait is what was planned, why don’t we just go toward that screech and capture whatever it is? I’m sure that’s what Starswirl would want. He was, and still is, the biggest nerd I’ve ever met. Even Twilight Sparkle, who won’t be born for about 1000 years, isn’t as big a nerd as he is!”

“You’re saying for me to be kind to Luna? I’ve done nothing but be kind to both Princesses, and Celestia still hates me! But, Luna is a bit more compassionate so that may help somewhat with this Nightmare Moon thing you’re talking about. We could try and capture the creature but I got nothing to capture it with.” Skye said finally, having processed the information dump. She leaned away from the tree and strode in the direction the screech came from. “You mentioned Displaced and other Equestrias. What’s that about?”

“Displaced is short for dimensionally misplaced. Each of us typically gets their own version of Equestria. You were sent here via execution, not very nice, and I was sent to mine when I put on a necklace I got from a gypsy at a renaissance fair. The hourglass that you held before I showed up is my token. You should have heard a message when you grabbed it. Tokens allow others to summon a Displaced.” Draigo explained and then waited to make sure Skye understood and didn’t have any questions

“Renaissance fair? That’s where I got executed.” Skye murmured then shook her head to clear the memory. “I think I have a token already,” she said thoughtfully, thinking back to when she first arrived. “Something hit my head, and it turned out to be a cackling skull with an apology note. I did what the note said, threw it up into the air … and then it vanished. Haven’t seen it since.”

“That sounds like creating a token. I got my original copy back, though.” Draigo said as he tapped his chin. “I’ll probably find your token in my world when I return. Anyway, Displaced can be good, evil, and somewhere in between. Each Equestria is in it’s own universe and each is different. They can have similarities, but each one is unique. Like mine for example. I created the first four dragons in my Equestria and have given them powers and size that only my world has. Ah, my princesses are nice and caring as well. Any questions so far?”

“Having a nice Celestia would be a good change of pace.” Skye commented, and nearly clapped her hands over her head as the screech from earlier sounded much closer. “But one question I do have is this: how did you create dragons? I haven’t seen you do anything other than talk,” she said bluntly after recovering from the screech.

“Well, I created them with my powers. You know that screech that almost makes your non-existent ears bleed? Well, once I hear it I then make it so that the intensity is much less, for me. That’s why I don’t have to cover my ears. That’s also only one of my powers. What would you like to help capture these things?” Draigo asked.

“Depends on which creature it is.” Skye muttered and looked up to see if it was flying about anywhere. “Both the Jersey Devil and the Harpy have wings. If it’s something else then we’re screwed.”

“Why would we be screwed if it’s something else? Flying is always an advantage.” Draigo said as he searched the area for anything that moved.

“Because I don’t know what else lives in this forest!” Skye turned and shouted at him. “It could be just these two creatures, or it could be a whole bunch of them! Who the hell knows!?” she continued, barely noticing both their shadows lengthening further than what they should have been.

“True, but that doesn’t mean we’re screwed. So long as we keep alert we should be fine.” Draigo said in a calm voice to Skye.

Skye snapped her jaw a couple of times before finally relenting. She looked at the ground in embarrassment and saw that their shadows were longer than before. “Are our shadows longer or is it just me?” Skye asked, looking back up to Draigo.

“It’s not just you. I think we’ve found our first mythological beast. Any idea what it is?” Draigo said as he kept an eye on their shadows.

“Nope. Never seen anything like it. But something tells me that they can manipulate shadows.” Skye replied wryly and stepped into the shadow that was cast by a nearby tree. She felt something pull at her cloak and immediately stepped back out. Skye turned and saw the barest glimpse of a wispy black hand before it faded back into the trunk’s shadow. “That … is scary.”

“I won’t disagree. Well, the only way I know how to fight shadows is with light. I’ve got no idea how to capture these things, though.” Draigo said as a small shiver went through him.

“Problem with that is, that we cast shadows wherever we go so there’s no telling if they’re following us or not.” Skye said and tried to move away from the shadows as far as possible. “What am I doing? There’s no way we’ll be able to stop them!”

Draigo sighed. “There’s a way, but we’ll be broadcasting exactly where we are to everything within a few miles. Knowing that, would you like me to stop them?”

“If it means you will stop sinking into your own shadow, then yeah.” Skye said quickly, running up to Draigo as the shadow demons gently pulled him down.

“Do calm down. There’s nothing to worry about. Even you, as Death, can’t kill me forever.” Draigo said as he began to emit light from his very being. The light slowly intensified until the entire area around them had no shadows for the demons to hide in.

When they felt the light, the demons retreated as silently as they came from deeper within the forest, where no light could be found. Skye looked around quickly to see if anything moved, not even realising that the light was of a great intensity. “I don’t think - spoke too soon.” Skye sighed as two screeches sounded out from the trees above them. “Of course they’re up there. Why wouldn’t they be?”

“Should we even the playing field and join them in the sky?” Draigo asked.

“I don’t see why not. Think you can toss me up there? I can hover and it seems to be done by instinct. I can’t really control it yet.” Skye shrugged and pointed up to the tree tops.

“Toss you? While I can toss you, I think getting you used to the feeling of floating will help you the most,” Draigo said as his armor melted into his body and turned into scales. Wings, spines, claws, and a tail grew from his body as his neck and limbs lengthened and he began to grow. He stopped growing when he was double the size of Celestia.

Skye backed away from the transforming man and wondered why he wouldn’t transform before. Soon as she moved her gaze from the tree tops, a deformed, black horse swooped down with leathery wings, landing with a thud. It looked to the skeleton, recognising it from when it attacked the castle. Skye turned her head to look at it and saw her scythe sticking out of its shoulder.

“So that’s where it got to,” she said grimly and faced the monster fully. “This is what? Round three?”

The Devil only howled in response and charged at her, the horns atop its head lowered as it tried to ram her. The Devil missed as Skye floated out of the way with the feeling that there was a cushion of air beneath her.

Draigo smirked at the Devil as its attack hit nothing but air. “Pick on someone closer to your own age, like me.” He then yanked the scythe from the Devil’s shoulder and passed it up to Skye.

Skye took the scythe and swung it experimentally, feeling relief at having the weapon back. “I think this evens the playing field a bit more.” Skye commented, wobbling a bit on the cushion of air. She hadn’t got used to the feeling of floating yet. She looked down at the Devil and laughed harshly before trying to pinpoint the location of the other monster that screeched.

“It definitely evens the playing field for you. For them? They were screwed from the beginning. Would you prefer to take the Devil on to even the score or deal with whatever has been screeching?” Draigo asked as he toyed with the Devil.

“I’d love to even the score. You can probably take on the other monster, which I’m pretty sure is a Harpy.” Skye answered, and pointed to a nearby treetop. A head with black feathered hair and a fairly pointed feminine face poked out from between the leaves. The leaves did little to hide her striped body. She had taloned feet and brown striped wings which were tucked against her sides in an attempt to make her look smaller. Draigo lowered Skye down to the ground as he examined his feathery foe.

“It is a Harpy indeed. Well, if you need some help call me.” Draigo said before taking off towards the harpy with a massive beat of his wings. Skye simply nodded and leaned on her scythe slightly.

“Round four. Do you have a grudge against me or something?” Skye asked her foe and watched it get ready to ram her again.

The Harpy screeched at Draigo and took off into the sky with a flap of her wings, knowing that he was coming for her. Draigo smiled and gave chase to his agile opponent, increasing his wing beats to gain some speed. Once the Harpy reached her preferred height, she turned around and flapped her wings at him, creating a gust of wind that was intended to push him back.

“Do you realise how little air your feathered wings push compared to mine?” Draigo asked as he powered through the gust of wind. His speed dropped some, but with a few wing beats his speed was back up. The Harpy gave a worried screech and flapped higher. On every down stroke she made with her wings, razor-sharp feathers flew down towards the dragon.

“This is going to hurt if I stay at this size,” Draigo said after a couple of the feathers had left wounds along his body. He dropped his speed and wove through the rest of the feathers as he slowly grew bigger and bigger.

Skye dodged to the side as the Jersey Devil tried to ram her yet again. She turned and drew her scythe along its back, making sure to not get stuck again. “Is this all you do? Ram and tackle? There’s got to be more to it than that!” she taunted, trying to get it to do something different. The Jersey Devil merely howled and tried to punch her with its clawed hands, not letting the pain in its back deter it.

The Harpy was astonished at the sight of the dragon growing in size. Not really knowing what else to throw at it, she spread her wings wide and began to flap them in quick succession, creating a series of storm clouds and sending them towards Draigo.

“Storms? Man, I hate flying in storms. It’s hard to just sit back and enjoy the flight. You’d better send your strongest storm at me, though. I mean look how big I am.” Draigo commented, noticing the clouds coming together. He was at his full size and took up about a football field in each direction.

The Harpy heard what he said and smirked, giving stronger flaps. The storm cloud forming in front of her slowly grew until she deemed it a good size. She then sent it towards the others, making one giant storm cloud that spanned a couple of acres in either direction.

“Well, I did ask for her strongest storm now didn’t I. Well, nothing to do but go through it.” Draigo said to himself as he continued head long into the storm cloud before him.

Skye looked up and found a massive storm cloud. She gritted her teeth when thunderclaps sounded out and felt herself tossed into a nearby tree.

“I think he may have cracked a few ribs.” Skye groaned, and slowly got up, leaning onto the tree for support, her scythe nearby. She looked at the Jersey Devil and found it getting ready to ram her again. She looked between the tree and its lowered horns before getting an idea. It howled and began to charge. One it got close enough, Skye moved to the side and gave a bark of laughter at seeing its horns embedded in the tree trunk.

In the storm cloud, lightning flashed, thunder clapped and mini rain storms with clumps of hail formed within Draigo’s way.

“Not that I don’t need a good workout, but I think it’s about time to show this puny being what I can do,” Draigo said as he got to the middle of the storm. He hovered in place and stretched out his forelegs while he tapped into his magic reserves. After a few moments, a giant gust of wind dispersed the giant cloud with Draigo as its epicenter.

The Harpy shrieked in surprise and was blown a bit away by the gust of wind. She recovered quickly and flew around to Draigo’s front. Once she got into position, she desperately flapped her wings at him to let loose a barrage of sharpened feathers aimed mostly at his face.

“Not that this hasn’t been a nice fight, but I do have a new Displaced to look after.” Draigo said as he spun in placed and used his tail to send the Harpy towards the ground. He took the feathers mainly in his back and cried out from the sheer amount that hit him.

The Harpy moved backwards and watched the dragon’s tail swing in front of her. She then moved around back to his front and waved before she let out a high-pitched shriek at him.

“So, it’s a vocal contest now?” Draigo wondered in a louder than normal voice as the shriek rang through his ears. He took a deep breath and let out a massive roar in response to the Harpy’s shriek. The Harpy covered her ears and instinctively tucked her wings against her body and went into a free fall. Skye watched the Harpy fall down and land with a thud, creating a miniature crater.

“That’s it? I thought she would have put up more of a fight.” Skye muttered, having only caught the tail end of it.

Draigo landed next to the Harpy and wrapped her up in a cocoon of earth. “She put up more of a fight than I thought she would. Then again, I was going easy on her.”

“You were?” Skye asked, and looked over to the Jersey Devil, its horns stuck in the tree trunk. “This one kept ramming me. When I looked up at the storm cloud, it tossed me into a tree. That,” she pointed to its current predicament, “is the result of the fight. I didn’t think it would be that stupid.”

“Yes, I was. I could’ve just wrapped air around her before she even took off. There are many things I could have done, but it’s more entertaining when you actually fight your opponent. Shall we deliver these two to the cranky sun and jealous moon?” Draigo said as he wrapped the Jersey Devil in its own cocoon of earth.

“Sunbutt will definitely appreciate it, not to mention Clover and Starswirl.” Skye agreed, taking her hood off and eyeing the two mounds of earth. “How we going to get them back to the castle though? I don’t even remember where it is.”

“Are you afraid of heights?” Draigo asked as he levitated the two monsters in front of him.

“We’ll soon find out.” Skye replied, watching him levitate the monsters with interest. “When we get back, I hope that they have cages set up for these two.”

“If they don’t then I’ll just create some.” Draigo commented as he wrapped some air around Skye and brought her onto his back. “Grab onto the spine in front of you so you don’t fall off. Let’s see how Celestia and Luna respond to a dragon flying toward their castle.”

“From what I’ve seen of Celestia, she’ll most likely be extremely suspicious, paranoid and I think she’s a bit racist too. But I think that’s more towards me than anything else.” Skye muttered, grabbing onto the spine in front of her as well as keeping a tight hold on her scythe.

Draigo took a couple languid steps before beating his wings to take flight. He gained some altitude and began circling around in wider and wider circles. Once they had spotted the castle he flew directly towards it at a leisurely pace.

“We should probably fly overhead before landing so I can dodge whatever they direct towards us.” Draigo said as they got near the perimeter of the castle.

“Sounds like a good idea.” Skye agreed, looking down at the castle. “I don’t think they’ve spotted us yet anyway.”

“How can they not spot a dragon the size of a football field? Are they blind or just incredibly inept at observing?” Draigo wondered aloud.

“Simple. They never look up.” Skye said with a shrug.

“They’re prey items that inhabit the same world as dragons, harpies, devils and who knows what else. They better learn to look up. Especially when a shadow passed over them.” Draigo said as he circled around to find a spot to land.

Skye hissed when a bolt of searing heat narrowly missed them. She peeked over the side and found Celestia flying up towards them.

“Why don’t we scratch what we just talked about?” she asked nervously.

“That’s one out of how many?” Draigo asked. “Try that again and you’re in for a world of hurt, Celestia. I don’t appreciate being fired upon when I’ve done nothing to either you or your ponies.”

“She did the same thing to me.” Skye grumbled. “Princess, why don’t you try talking instead of firing for once?” she asked the princess once they were level with each other.

“‘Tis easier to shoot than to ask.” Celestia answered as she powered up her horn threateningly.

“We caught the monsters, though!” Skye protested, pointing to the levitating objects in front of Draigo. “You can’t tell me you aren’t pleased by this.”

“The way I see it, you’ve got two choices, Tia. Either let us land and see what we’ve brought you or you start a fight with a being older than time itself. Which would you like to do?” Draigo said in a frighteningly cheerful tone. Celestia merely narrowed her eyes at him and flew down, not bothering to answer him.

“I don’t think she likes those choices.” Skye commented.

“Heh, that’s because I basically gave her an ultimatum instead of actual choices.” Draigo said as he followed Celestia.

“That most likely made her less likely to like you.” Skye said, watching the ground get closer and closer.

“I only need one Celestia to like me. Mine.” Draigo commented as he landed in a big clearing near the castle.

Skye slid off Draigo, landing in a crouch as her scythe clattered to the ground next to her. She picked it up and walked around to his front, watching Celestia do the same.

“Are these the monsters?” Celestia asked, pointing a hoof towards them. Draigo uncovered each of the monster’s heads while leaving the rest of them encased in their cocoons.

Skye moved away from them when the Harpy gave an especially loud shriek that nearly broke the nearby windows, sending cracks running through them. The screech also made Skye’s bones fracture slightly, despite how far away she was from it.

“Has Skye captured them?” Clover asked, running outside and slowing to a stop near Celestia.

“We’ve captured these two, yes. Let me do one thing before we continue.” Draigo said then formed a bubble around the Harpy’s head. “There, no sound will get out of her unless I allow it.”

“Put the two monsters in the dungeon.” Celestia commanded a group of wary guard ponies to transport the two monsters to specially designed cages. She then turned to both Skye and Draigo,”I will speak to thee in the throne room,” she ordered of the two of them before going into the castle herself.

Clover watched the guard ponies pick up the monsters and decided to follow them towards the dungeon.

“We don’t have a choice, do we?” Skye said rhetorically.

“Doesn’t seem like it.” Draigo said as he shrunk down to Skye’s size. “I wonder where Luna is right now?”

“No clue.” Skye sighed and lead Draigo inside. “I don’t really know what she does but you did mention a night court earlier, so she’s probably sleeping.”

“Yeah, that’s most likely true. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens, though.” Draigo said.

“I was imprisoned for a couple of days so anything is possible really. I just hope Celestia doesn’t shoot on sight.” Skye said and lead the way to the throne room, opening up one of the big double doors. She walked in and looked around for the princess. “She did say the throne room, didn’t she?”

“Yes, she did. If she does shoot then I’ll return fire. It’s her own fault for being too aggressive from the get go.” Draigo said as he spread his wings instinctively.

“That is because we live in a world full of monsters who attack on sight. Mine sister has had to adapt how she sees things.” Luna sounded out from behind the pair.

“Luna! It’s very nice to see you. I’m glad that you’re here.” Draigo said with a big smile as his tail wagged back and forth like a happy dog’s would.

“Doth I know you?” Luna asked quizzically, tilting her head to the side.

“Nay, thou dost not know Us. We have been summoned to this world by Skye. Wouldst thou accompany Us in visiting thine sister? She is hard to look upon due to her alabaster coat. We would prefer to look upon azure tones.” Draigo said as he brought out some old english words from his memory.

“I … shall accompany thou in visiting mine sister.” Luna said at length, liking the compliment he gave her.

“You know how they speak?” Skye asked, surprise evident in her voice.

“Of course We know how they speak. Dost thou not know how to speak in the olden tongue?” Draigo asked without taking his eyes off of Luna.

“No. It does my head in every time they speak. It’s just through sheer luck I was able to answer them at all.” Skye answered, shaking her head at Draigo’s continued usage of the olden tongue.

“Mine sister said that she would be down in the dungeons with Clover the Clever.” Luna said with a chuckle at Skye’s reaction. She then moved further into the throne room and beckoned for them to follow her.

“Then why did she say to go to the throne room?” Skye wondered out loud.

“Tis a way of showing who is in charge. She has us go to a room and makes us wait for her to show up. A ploy that shall not work for we have fair Luna to keep us company until Tia shows up.” Draigo said as he followed Luna into the throne room.

“So it’s a sign of authority. Great.” Skye muttered, following the both of them. “How long will it be until she shows up?” Skye asked, directing the question to Luna.

“Mine sister said that she wouldst not be long. How didst thou catch the monsters?” Luna replied, sitting down just in front of her throne.

“We caught one through trickery. It was quite stupid and got itself stuck in a tree. The other could not handle its own kind of attack. Once they were subdued We encased them in earth for transport.” Draigo explained.

“And thou can manipulate the earth?” Luna asked, genuinely interested in this.

“That and more, my Princess.” Draigo said as he bowed his head and extended his wings in a shallow bow. “Wouldst thou like a demonstration?”

Luna inclined her head to him, giving him permission. “The room is yours.” Luna answered. Skye moved to stand behind Luna to get a better viewing position.

Draigo warmed up by recreating Luna’s cutie mark out of ice. He then proceeded to show his prowess with a multitude of different elements. Creating a pillar of water that became an arch, a fire star, an earthen likeness of Skye, a small tornado, and a gold diamond ring sized to fit Luna’s horn.

“There are many others, but these are the ones We use the most.” Draigo said as he levitated the ring onto Luna’s horn. Both Luna and Skye clapped at the end.

“That was impressive.” Luna said, blinking a bit at the ring.

“I knew you could move earth but I didn’t you could do those other things too.” Skye said and stared a bit at the ring. “That’s a nice ring.”

“I can manipulate every element. That includes time and space, Aether, and Nether. Aether and Nether are life and death respectively.” Draigo explained. “Thank you. It's one of the few pieces of jewelry that I've made. I do hope that you like it, Luna.”

“It is a thoughtful gift. Thank you, dragon.” Luna said, bowing her head slightly in thanks. Skye went to speak but her attention was drawn to the doors, where Celestia was walking in.

“The other princess is here.” Skye said, moving away from Luna to stand beside Draigo.

“Greetings, Tia. Thine sister was kind enough to keep us company in thy absence.” Draigo said with a turn of his head toward Celestia.

Celestia ignored him for the moment and went to sit on her throne. Once she was decidedly comfortable, she looked down at the two of them.

“We art glad mine sister kept you company. We have a question. How did thou get here without Us being notified of a dragon?” Celestia asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.

Draigo reached between his scales and pulled out a copy of his token before transforming into his human form. He then tossed Celestia the hourglass.

“That hourglass is thy answer. Skye found a copy of it and activated it unknowingly.” Draigo explained.

Celestia caught the hourglass in her magic and inspected it. She noticed the way the different strands moved about and filtered down into an empty bottom-half.

“This is a strange contraption. It is not a timepiece, yet it looks like one.” Celestia commented, her soft anger giving way to curiosity. “Thou said that Death activated this unknowingly?”

“Yes, twas evident since she knew not about Displaced, as thou dost not know. If thou say Our name while holding that hourglass and say a brief message then thou shalt summon Us.” Draigo said in explanation of the tokens’ activation.

“How did thou come by this?” Celestia asked Skye, looking at her.

“It fell on my head.” Skye said simply, rubbing a bit at the place where it hit her. “That thing is lethal.”

Celestia nodded and then turned her attention back to Draigo. She looked at him for a bit and considered something before sighing to herself.

“We thank thee for helping with the capture of the monsters. They wouldst surely be of use to us.” Celestia told him.

“Thou art welcome. Tis there anything else that thou need help with while We art here?” Draigo said as he returned to his draconic form.

“Can thou send the skeleton back to Tartarus?” Celestia asked him.

“You still on about that!? I’ve never even been to Tartarus, so how do you expect me to go back there?” Skye said in disbelief, her lower jaw hanging open a bit.

“She speaks the truth. She comes from a planet called Earth, like myself.” Draigo told the princess.

“She never explained where she came from.” Celestia replied.

“Thou didst not ask, sister.” Luna said, looking between the three of them as they spoke.

“If you want me to go back so badly, then give me directions and I’ll find my own way there. Happy with that?” Skye asked.

“I doth not know where it is.” Celestia answered unhappily.

“I would only be able to help in my world. It would be folly to assume the location of Tartarus is the same in this world.” Draigo told them. “Wouldst thou happen to know, dear Luna?” Luna shook her head.

“I doth not,” she said.

“That’s just great! One wants me to go back to a place I’ve never been before, and they both have no idea where it is.” Skye sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that this world is the same as yours in terms of layout. Where would Tartarus be then?” Skye asked Draigo.

“Deep in the Everfree forest embedded in a mountain that no one can find unless they already know where it is.” Draigo said.

“That’s certainly helpful.” Skye said sarcastically, running through different options of where it could be. “It doesn’t really matter though, does it? I’m sticking around indefinitely so you may as well get used to me.” Skye said, looking at Celestia blankly.

“There is another way to find Tartarus. I've never liked using it, but I could search for it using Nether manipulation. If it’s the place all souls go to then it will be the highest concentration of Nether energy.” Draigo said in a sad tone.

“I’ll find it myself. It’s fine. If she wants to get rid of me that badly then I’ll leave and search for it on my own. Since I’m already dead I’ve got eternity to find it.” Skye said with a shrug. She clenched and unclenched her fists at the thought but other than that, her stance was neutral.

“Depending on the type of immortality, you could still be able to be killed. My type allows me to be killed but I only stay dead under very specific circumstances.” Draigo explained.

“Well, you remember how loud the Harpy’s screech was when you unearthed her head? It was so high-pitched, I felt some of my bones fracture slightly. So high-pitched frequencies is a weakness I discovered. Other than my own stupidity, I got no idea on what other weaknesses I have.” Skye explained, sitting down on the floor and laying the staff of her scythe across her lap.

“So, you don't actually have an eternity to find Tartarus. Heck, you don't even have a grasp on your powers.” Draigo said. He started to pace around the room.

“No, but I’ll learn about what I can do eventually. That was just an over exaggeration anyway. I know I don’t have eternity but, theoretically, I do.” Skye explained. Celestia and Luna watched this exchange curiously, unsure if they should interrupt or not.

“Eventually? Do you even realize the position you're in? A Displaced is usually the single most powerful being in their universe. That doesn't mean that they are unbeatable! You are now the biggest target in this universe for any and all baddies. Heck, even as powerful as I am. I'm only one of the primordial beings in my Equestria. They can kill me and anyone else in my world. You've most likely got something similar. Understand now? You've got to get ahold of your powers ASAP.” Draigo ranted at the new Displaced.

“Hey! I’ve only been here three days! Today is my third day! I’ve spent most of the time here imprisoned in the dungeon by that lunatic that calls herself a princess so don’t blame me for wanting to go out on my own. I’ve already died and I don’t plan on making that a second time. You want me to get ahold of my powers ASAP? Then teach me! If not, then I’ll find some other way to figure out how to use my powers.” Skye ranted, getting up quickly and storming over to Draigo while saying this.

“That's a great idea! I'll teach you how to use your death abilities. I'm warning you, though, I won't go easy on you.” Draigo said with a wide grin as he turned to confront the angry skeleton.

“Idiot says what?” Skye asked herself, all anger gone from her voice as she stopped herself from walking right into him. “What?” she repeated, trying to figure out if he was joking or not.

“I'm going to teach you how to use your powers! This isn't going to be easy for you.” Draigo told the new Reaper.

“How can you teach me if I don’t even know what my powers are? I’ve got sort of an idea thanks to my notes back home but I ultimately don’t have a clue.” Skye said, backing away slightly from the dragon, suddenly fearing for herself.

“Your powers are similar to my Nether manipulation with a few extras, like your scythe. All I have to do is teach you about your death powers and everything else is gravy!” Draigo said in an excited yet fearful tone.

Skye clapped her hands and turned to face Celestia and Luna. “After me calling you a lunatic, Princess Celestia, I am not sure if you will let use any training grounds.” Skye said nervously. To her surprise, Celestia smiled at her.

“‘Tis fine. Thou art able to use the training grounds. Mine sister and I wouldst like to see this training for ourselves.” Celestia said, with an encouraging nod from Luna.

“What?” Skye asked in surprise and looked at Draigo. “Did you expect that?”

“No, I didn’t. I thought that Tia would be disinclined to acquiesce your request.” Draigo admitted. “Though, we are talking about training death powers. We will have to have suitable targets every now and then. So, I suggest using the forest during those points in the training and that the Princesses keep a distance away should anything go awry. We don’t need them dying on accident.”

“That would be a bad thing for Equestria.” Skye murmured. She looked between the both of them though and wondered what brought on the change. “Why did you agree, though? You think he’s going to pound me to dust?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I think.” Celestia answered, still having that same smile from before. Skye sighed and looked to Luna.

“Princess Luna, can you tell us where the training grounds are?” she asked her. Luna nodded and walked towards the throne room doors.

“The training grounds are this way. Mine sister and I will make sure to keep a fair distance when thou uses suitable targets.” Luna promised, and lead the three of them to where they needed to be.

“Celestia is way too agreeable all of a sudden.” Skye whispered to Draigo, twirling her scythe around her arm.

“Yes, it’s a bit odd. She probably thinks that once you have a hang of your powers that you’ll be able to find and go to Tartarus. Just how she wanted you there in the first place.” Draigo said as he watched Luna leading them to the training grounds.

“I got a bad feeling about her.” Skye commented, watching Celestia cautiously for a bit before looking back to the front as they rounded a corner.

“Hmm, we’ll have to keep an eye on her if you, a Grim Reaper, have a bad feeling about her.” Draigo said.

“Eh? I’m sure I’ll get a hang of the feelings. For the moment, I just want to figure out how my powers work.” Skye replied.

“The first thing we’ll do when we get to the training grounds is find your source of energy. I’ll help a bit, but I’m only used to helping dragons find their source of magic. So, it might take awhile.” Draigo told her.

“Good luck helping me with that then.” Skye said with a chuckle, looking up and around as they entered an unfamiliar part of the castle. After a few more twists and turns, the group found themselves at the training grounds, which took up a lot of space. It seemed to span an entire football field with an impressively high ceiling. There were training dummies littered about but it didn’t seem like any of the guard ponies were using it.

“Thou art luck today is an off day.” Celestia observed.

“Thine guardsmen art lucky that they aren’t here. None of the powers we are going to be training are laughing matters and all of it can be considered ‘dark magic’ in one way or another.” Draigo explained as he walked into the center of the training grounds.

Skye shuddered and followed after him, standing a bit away from him awkwardly. The princesses walked over to a couple of benches that were set up for the guards for when they wanted to take a break during training.

“So what did you say was first? Finding my source of magic or something like that?” Skye asked.

“Yes, we’ll find your source of magic.” Draigo said as he walked over to Skye. “Sit down in a comfortable position. I’m going to pour some of my magic into you. It should either flow into your source or avoid it all together.”

Skye stared at the dragon for a few moments before sitting down on the ground with her legs crossed. She placed her scythe next to her and looked to Draigo for the next course of action. Draigo put a claw on her forehead and let some magic flow into Skye’s body. Skye tried to screw her eyes shut but then remembered she didn’t have any. So instead, she let the magic flow through her and out again. As it did, she then realised that there was a part in her where the magic didn’t flow, instead, it just avoided it all together. Could that be the source of her own magic?

Draigo pulled his claw back after a few moments. “Feel any area that my magic either avoided or pooled into?”

“Yeah I do. For some reason, the magic is completely avoiding the area where my heart used to be.” Skye replied, looking up at Draigo as she put her hood over her head.

“Well, the next step is accessing that power. Try to tap into your ‘heart.’ For me it feels like fire, ice, lightning, along with a few other elements are coursing through my veins. You need to find out how it feels to tap into your power” Draigo explained.

Skye tried to figure what he meant before mentally feeling around where her heart used to be. She thought she found something but it felt cold. “Extremely cold. That’s what it feels like. Not icy cold, but more … cold silence, I guess?”

“Like there's a cold void that sucks all the warmth from your very being and won't allow a single sound to be heard?” Draigo asked.

“When you put it that way, yeah. But then again, I got no warmth to begin with.” Skye replied, not even bothering to attempt facial expressions anymore. It was just too difficult.

“That's the feeling I get when I use nether manipulation. You'll have to get used to that feeling if you want to use your powers. Now that you know where and how to tap into your powers we'll move on. Is there anything about your new self that you feel confident with or about?” Draigo asked.

“What do you mean?” Skye asked, tilting her head to the side before standing up.

“Something that feels familiar or feels right when you use it. Your scythe, your body, obviously not your powers, but something.” Draigo listed off.

“Oh. My body then. I may be a skeleton but it’s still my skeleton, if that makes any sense.” Skye said, stretching a bit before tapping her foot against the ground. “Surprisingly, I don’t have any broken bones.”

“Okay, tap into your power and do some exercises. While doing so, try to have your power go into your movements and everything about your exercises.” Draigo said as he demonstrated what he meant. With each movement of his jaw electricity jumped for each of his teeth and across his entire body.

Skye eyed the electricity for a bit before doing as he asked. She felt around her ‘heart’ for a bit before finding that cold feeling again. She then raised her fist up and slowly clenched and unclenched it, trying to get the cold feeling to travel through her bones. It eventually did and found small, black wisps curl off her fingers.

“This is going to take some getting used to.” Skye commented.

“If you think that's hard then it would be next to impossible during a fight.” Draigo tapped into his power and performed some attacks. Black energy could be seen flowing from his claws, wings, tail and fangs. “Once you get to this level we'll work on techniques and sparring, with and without your scythe.”

“What did I say back in the throne room? I’m still getting used to actually having magic, let alone controlling it.” Skye replied, looking at the black wisps on her fingers with interest. She closed and opened her fist again, letting go of the cold feeling for a bit. “I just need time to get used to this first before we get to the hard stuff.”

“Don't get me wrong. The level I showed you is magnitudes above what you just did. You're progressing fairly quickly, but you're right, it'll take time to get used to. The sparring and techniques will only be after you’re more used to things, I promise you. Now, let's continue your exercises.” Draigo said as he resumed his own exercises.

“Continue how? The only thing I’m doing is opening and closing my fist.” Skye said, leaning slightly on her scythe.

“Is your energy flowing through your entire body? Are you able to get those wisps from anywhere besides your fingertips? These exercises are to get you used to your power and using it as your body is moving around. So, try running, throwing punches, kicking, things that you'd be doing during combat.” Draigo said as he hit the floor and left blackened claw marks.

“If you want me to do all that, then let me fight you in your human form. The best way to learn is by doing.” Skye shrugged, walking to one of the training dummies. She tapped into her magic, noticing that it was a lot easier this time, and went to punch the dummy while letting her magic flow through her.

“I thought you didn't want to spar, but alright. Come at me.” Draigo said as he changed into his human form and took up a fighting stance.

Skye looked over her shoulder, mildly surprised at him taking her up on her offer. She turned fully and let her magic flow through her as she ran up to him. She prepared her scythe and swung it at his head, not noticing black wisps trail off the blade.

Draigo charged forward and lowered his right shoulder. Skye’s scythe would hit him, but only with the staff. He let his magic imbue his body once more, his entire body becoming darker. As his shoulder made contact with Skye’s chest, Draigo let out some of his energy to affect the level of fear Skye felt.

Skye managed to hit Draigo on the back with her staff, surprised that he charged. She gave a groan when he hit her and stumbled backwards a bit. When she got her bearings and looked back at him, she could see elongated claws on Draigo’s hands. This made her shake her head to see if it was just an illusion but it didn’t go away.

“What did you do when you made contact?” Skye asked, a bit of fear leaking into her voice.

“Fear inducement. I used this along with my frightful presence to help Joseph get rid of some robots. You should be able to do the same. Truthfully, I don’t even need to touch you to use it. The amount of fear you have right now is about what prey feels when they are being stalked by a predator. With enough fear someone can go from competent to useless in mere moments.” Draigo explained as the black energy around him intensified into a black aura.

“That would be why your claws look longer than normal.” Skye muttered, switching her scythe from left to right. “Let’s try this again. I want to try and get my fighting skills up to scratch.”

“Alright. Remember that a weapon like your scythe has an area where you’ll only hit with the staff instead of the blade if you opponent is too close to you.” Draigo said as he conjured a golden sword that had a double headed eagle as its crossguard into his right hand. “I’ll be using Nether manipulation along with every stroke of my blade. Each will be a sample of what you should be able to do yourself. Fear is only the beginning.”

“Of course it is.” Skye groaned. Switching her scythe back to her left hand, she got into a fighting stance. “I hope I know what I’m doing,” she said to herself, letting her magic flow through her and into her scythe, watching as it turned a darker colour.

“Good, you’ve learned to imbue your weapon with your magic.” Draigo said as he began to slowly walk towards Skye. His sword’s blade went from gold to black as he walked.

“And that means what, exactly?” Skye asked, noticing his weapon change colour as well.

“It means that you’ll be able to have a further reach for if you have to touch someone for your powers to work. Or for dramatics, like this!” Draigo said as he plunged his sword into the ground and conjured some ghosts that floated out of the ground.

“That’s just dramatics?” Skye asked with a laugh and went to try something with the ghosts. She lifted up her right hand and pointed it at one of the ghosts. “Something simple. I want to see if I have control over these. Try doing a backflip,” she explained and ordered the ghost to attempt to do her bidding.

“Yep, I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to touch anything to use my powers.” Draigo said as the ghost did a backflip and an army of them appeared behind Draigo. Skye felt delight at the backflip and leaned to the side to look behind Draigo and pointed to the army behind him.

“Did you summon those ones?” Skye asked him.

“Yes, I did. I wonder if any of them have something to say to their Princesses?” Draigo said as one of them floated into his body.

“I’m sorry, your Majesties. I died in a training accident and was unable to help protect our kingdom.” a voice said through Draigo’s body.

Celestia stood up at this, tilting her head in curiosity at Draigo. She walked up to him and tried to place the voice he used.

“‘Tis fine, trainee. We accept thine apology.” Celestia said as she bowed her head slightly. “Are these others the same as thou?”

“All of them are guardsmen, Your Majesty. Some have regrets from being defeated in battle while protecting this castle while others never got a chance to tell a significant other how they felt. It varies from pony to pony.” the voice explained.

“I feel like crying now.” Skye sniffed.

“Do not worry, Skye. While each of them have regrets, they are able to move on. This one inside me is actually the only one with strong enough regret to actually want to say something.” Draigo explained.

“So you want me to try and send them on?” Skye asked, looking out over the many ponies. “There’s a lot there,” she added with a whisper.

“Yes. I summoned them from the Nether and can return them myself, but this is good practice.” Draigo said as the spirit floated out of him. Skye watched the spirits for a bit before walking up to one of them. She crouched so she was eye-level with it and tried to figure out what to say to them.

“Hello. Can you say why you’ve stayed behind?” she asked the spirit.

“I wasn’t able to tell my friend goodbye or that I loved her.” the spirit explained with a bowed head and droopy ears.

“What was her name? Can you remember that?” Skye asked gently.

“Her name was...Clover. She was studying with some really important pony. I can’t remember much else.” the spirit said as it wracked its memories for details. Skye gave a soft gasp at the name but there was no other reaction beyond that.

“I know who Clover is. I’ll let her know what you told me.” Skye said at length, wracking her brain for what she hoped was an appropriate response.

“Reconciliation is great, but if you do it for each spirit you meet then you could be doing that forever. As I said, each of them can move on. All you have to do is send them on their way. How you do that is up to you.” Draigo said in a mood shattering explanation.

“What else am I meant to say? I couldn’t think of anything else.” Skye said, standing to stretch for a bit; mentally glaring at him for ruining the moment.

“You don’t have to say anything, if you don’t want to. This is going to sound cold, but I would just send them on without a word.” Draigo said as he gestured to the army of ghosts.

Skye sighed and gave a nod, knowing that it seemed to be the best way. She crouched in front of the spirit she talked to before and saw black wisps curl off her right hand. She extended it and placed it on the pony’s shoulder, willing the spirit to move on. After a few seconds, the pony seemed to give off a sigh and moved upwards in a cloud of white smoke.

“It may be cold, but it seems to be the most efficient way.” Skye said softly.

“Try sending multiple of them at one time. After they’re all gone we’ll continue sparring.” Draigo said as he turned to face the army he’d summoned.

“Let’s see if this will work.” Skye said, moving back a bit and holding her scythe in both hands. Watching it turn dark, she sliced the air, sending a wave of black energy towards the army, making about half of them move on as the wave passed through them. “Hey, it does work,” she said delightedly.

“Good job, Skye. Let’s send the rest of them on over. It was cruel to summon them back to the living world, but it was necessary for practicing your abilities.” Draigo said.

Skye gave a nod as she sent another wave of black energy towards the rest of them. Once she had made sure they had all moved on, turned around and looked at him.

“Sparring? Right, fighting skills, all that.” Skye said a bit distractedly.

“There will be some things I use during our fight that you won’t be able to do. Just try to think about things that you’d think a Grim Reaper should be able to do and try it out.” Draigo said as his sword’s blade became half white and half black.

“Sounds good to me.” Skye replied, holding her scythe loosely by her side.

“Rule one: Keep a good grip on your weapon!” Draigo shouted as he used some dark earth to knock Skye’s scythe from her hand. Skye got startled when Draigo shouted. She watched her weapon sail across the room and land point first in the floor.

“Oh come on!” she shouted, running after her weapon.

“Rule four: Never turn your back on an opponent.” Draigo said as he tripped Skye from behind. He then placed himself between her and her scythe. Skye gave a small shout as she fell to the floor, her arm falling out her cloak.

“What happened to rules two and three?” Skye got up and grabbed her arm with her other hand. Looking at it, she got an idea and then tossed it behind Draigo towards her scythe. “I think I’m able to control my arm,” she whispered and concentrated, feeling her arm move across the floor rather quickly.

“I’ll tell them to you when they come up, like right now. Rule two: Never underestimate your opponent.” Draigo said as he levitated Skye’s scythe into his left hand. The scythe seemed to have some dark electricity flowing through its blade.

“Never underestimate your opponent, huh?” Skye asked and pointed to the bottom of the scythe where her detached arm had grabbed on to it. She concentrated and forced her arm to move up the staff, stopping just short of Draigo’s own arm.

“Very good, but you’re still disarmed.” Draigo said. “How do you plan to take back your scythe?”

“Um, clicking my fingers?” Skye asked uncertainly. She had no idea if it would work but it was worth a shot. She clicked the hands of her right hand and watched the scythe vanish, only to reappear in her hand with her arm still attached to it. “I’m actually surprised that worked. I was only joking!”

“Very good, Skye. That’ll help surprise your foe when they think you no longer have access to your weapon. Though…” Draigo said before charging at Skye and swinging his sword in a downward arc. “Rule three: Don’t get distracted and pay attention to your surroundings.”

Skye looked to him, then up as she noticed what he was doing. She brought her scythe up to try and block the downward stroke, feeling vibrations go through her as the blade struck.

“I got to pay attention all right,” she muttered.

“Good reactions. Do you know what your antithesis is?” Draigo asked as he continued to swing his sword at Skye at a variety of angles.

“Life?” Skye asked as she attempted to block each strike. When she couldn’t block it in time, it hit her bone, causing her to cry out.

“Correct. Don’t be surprised if there’s something here that tries to use it against you.” Draigo said as the white part of his sword bled some white energy into Skye. As the white energy coursed through Skye’s bones, she felt the bones knit back together. It proved to be too much though as she blocked the next strike with her staff and jumped out of range.

“What did you do?” Skye asked as she bent over to catch her breath.

“Aether manipulation is the white energy. Aether is able to heal anything among other things. I tried healing you a bit so you could continue to train. Was it too much?” Draigo wondered as he let Skye catch her breath.

“Yes, it was! I’m dead. Sure, healing bones is fine but it kept going and tried to give me my body back. It can’t. I can’t get my life back and I can’t get my body back. It was painful being stripped of it the first time and I’m definitely not going to go through that again just to get it back.” Skye tried to explain.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to cause you pain with that. I guess I’m too used to healing living things. This is good to know for the future, though.” Draigo said, trying to find something positive about the incident. Skye mentally poked her tongue at him and stood up, keeping a tight grip on her scythe.

“Ready to go again?” she asked angrily, clearly mad at him taking the healing too far.

“Whenever you’re ready, milady.” Draigo said as he readied himself. Skye nodded and poured some more magic into her weapon, making it turn a deep black. She ran up to him and swung the scythe towards his feet but kept her eyes on the rest of his body, waiting to see what his next move would be. Draigo jumped up and over Skye’s head as he turned in midair. He then swung the flat of his blade towards Skye’s own feet.

Skye’s swing kept going when Draigo jumped. She stumbled after it stopped, spun and noticed Draigo had tried to swing for her legs as well. Thinking for a bit, she walked up to him to try and get a good look at him.

“Can you take off your helmet? I want to have a look at your eyes.” Skye asked, realising that they eye slit was too dark to see anything.

“Thought of something, have you? Well, let’s see if it works.” Draigo said as he took off his helmet with one hand. His face was very masculine and he had dark brown hair with ice blue eyes.

“It’s this sixth sense that I have only just figured out.” Skye murmured and peered into Draigo’s eyes to see if this sixth sense was right. After a few moments, she stepped back and held her head, crying out a bit in pain. “You … killed one of your own kind ... in a flash of furious rage.”

“Yes, I did. His name was Shen Long. He believed that by killing me that he could rid the rest of the dragons of the delusion that I’m their god. I had summoned a girl named Crystal earlier that day and he was about to kill her even though the fight was basically over.” Draigo explained as he took a few steps back from Skye with shock evident on his face.

“You felt anger, rage and a white hot anger at what he did. It looked to go by in a flash but it took all of five minutes to completely eviscerate him.” Skye droned on, sounding like she was recounting memories. “A few memories flowed into me when I looked into your eyes. Apparently they are ‘windows to the soul’.” Skye continued wryly, not even noticing the shocked look on his face.

“That memory is one I shared with Joseph’s Fluttershy. I regret ever telling her about it.” Draigo admitted. “That’s probably why that particular memory is so strong in my mind.”

“Sorry for doing that. I didn’t realise it would be so painful for both of us.” Skye apologised and rubbed her skull to soothe the pain. “I think that’s enough training for today,” she said.

“It’s alright. I don’t regret killing him and would do so again. Fluttershy is not a pony who is used to violent actions. So, she got mentally scarred from me telling her about it. I helped her through it and she’s even tougher now because of it, but I still regret telling her in the first place.” Draigo explained. “This does seem like a good ending point for today’s training. You should still try to think of more abilities you can use, though.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Skye replied and walked over to where Luna and Celestia were sitting.

“Enjoy the show, Your Majesties?” Draigo said as he walked over to pick up his helmet.

“We did. ‘Tis very interesting to see two powered creatures train.” Luna answered with a smile.

“Is that what a human looks like?” Celestia asked him.

“Yes, this is what a human can look like, Celestia. I’m human just like Skye. Well, we were human.” Draigo said as he scratched the back of his head.

“Let me put it this way. That’s a human with skin, this is a human without skin.” Skye added, gesturing to Draigo and herself.

“Thine body structures art different though.” Celestia said as she looked from one body to the other.

“Does a stallion have the same body structure as a mare?” Draigo asked. “I’m a male human and Skye is a female human.”

“No, they do not.” Luna answered and then realised what he was getting at. “Oh, I see now.” Luna added, nodding and standing up.

Draigo had a grin on his face before his armor disappeared to be replaced with only a loincloth. “This is the closest you’ll get to a side by side comparison of Skye and myself.” Draigo then struck a few poses to show off his muscular body.

“‘Tis an apt comparison.” Celestia commented after observing the two of them for a few moments.

“For some reason, I don’t feel self-conscious when I do this.” Skye said with a shrug, taking off her cloak to reveal just the bare bones. “Princess Celestia appears to be fine with us now, which is a huge relief.” Skye added after noticing that Celestia was no longer being hostile towards them.

“Huh, I thought for sure that you wouldn’t take off your cloak.” Draigo said as he walked over to stand next to Skye. “Yes, having one of the rulers turn from an enemy to a friend is always a good thing. Not sure why she changed her mind, though.”

“After seeing thou fight and going over the monster attack in the throne room, I see no more reason to be hostile. Forgive me, it was just as mine sister said. This is a hostile world and I have had to adapt my tactics when meeting new subjects.” Celestia explained, nodding her head to Luna.

“I completely understand, Celestia. It’s just hard to have a mare who you like acting hostile towards you. I’m sorry for almost instigating a fight.” Draigo said. “It did help that the other mare I like was there to help explain things.” Draigo added.

“You like your versions of the Princesses, right?” Skye asked him, feeling her bones begin to shake. Concerned with this, she placed her cloak back on and sighed in relief when they stopped shaking. She looked to Celestia and Luna to gauge their reactions and found them staring dumbfounded at Draigo.

“Yes, I do and they seem to like me as well. I’m still not 100 percent on that.” Draigo said as he changed into his draconic form. “You would not imagine how much more comfortable it is in this form.”

“Yeah, I can’t.” Skye said. She looked out the window and found that the sun was starting to set. She looked back to the Princesses and noticed that Celestia had her horn lit up. “I thought you weren’t being hostile anymore.” Skye said nervously.

“I am not being hostile. I am lowering the sun so mine sister can raise the moon in its place.” Celestia explained as she brightened up her horn.

“What?” Skye asked, jaw nearly dropping to floor.

“Celestia raises and lowers the sun while Luna raises and lowers the moon. They aren’t called the Princess of the Sun and the Princess of the Moon for nothing. I had to help my Celestia out for about a thousand years, though.” Draigo explained.

“Uh…” Skye trailed off as she looked between the sun and Celestia, not really processing the information. “How - what?” Skye spluttered. “Princess of the Sun, and Princess of the Moon. One controls the sun. The other controls the moon. Yep. Sure. That’s plausible.” Skye added, walking away from them and to the training room doors. “That’s just perfect!”

“In some universes they are goddesses who are connected to the sun and moon. They always control the sun and moon, though. It makes for wonderful political leverage against other nations.” Draigo said as he followed Skye.

“I bet it does. Being the Grim Reaper. Fine. Monsters in Equestria. Fine. A planet full of talking horses. Fine. Using magic to raise the sun and the moon? Not fine. That one takes the cake!” Skye ranted, moving through the doors and taking off down the hallway.

Celestia and Luna looked to each other before following after Draigo and Skye, wondering what she was on about.

“Well, it can also be called Celestial Energy manipulation. Like I said, I had to help Celestia for about a thousand years.” Draigo said in hopes of making it seem more plausible for Skye.

“Wait, hang on. You helped your own Celestia for a thousand years with the sun and moon?” Skye asked, dialing it back a bit on the rant. She stopped walking and leaned on a wall to look at him. “Why did you have to help her if she could do it with Luna’s help?”

“Luna was incapacitated and there wasn’t a way to bring her back up to snuff. So, I raised and lowered the moon for a thousand years. Celestia still doesn’t know about that, though. She thinks she did it herself.” Draigo told her, glad that she had calmed down a bit.

“Ah, okay.” Skye said. It took a bit for her to think through the information. She looked behind Draigo and found Celestia and Luna to still be a little ways off. “Is that after this Nightmare incident happened?”

“Yes. Luna was banished to the moon by the Elements of Harmony wielded by Celestia. After a thousand years she came back and her corruption was purged by a new set of Element Bearers.” Draigo told her in a very quiet voice.

“Hmm. Okay.” Skye said after a bit. “Do you get hungry? Surprisingly, I don’t get hungry anymore.”

“I don’t necessarily need food to survive. It’s nice to take a break and enjoy the tastes, but my body doesn’t need food to function. It is made of the elements themselves afterall.” Draigo explained.

“Well then.” Skye replied. “I’m going to check on the monsters down in the dungeon. You want to come with?” she asked him.

“Well, if these guards are as inept at their jobs as mine are then it’d be good to check on them. Any idea how to get to the dungeons?” Draigo asked.

“Hahaha, no.” Skye said with a chuckle and turned her attention to Celestia and Luna, who had caught up by now.

“Sister, I need to attend Nightcourt. Can thou show these two to the dungeons?” Luna announced, asking her sister to give them directions. Celestia agreed and pointed her head in the way of the dungeon.

“Thank you, Celestia. Luna, if we don’t see each other again. Know that it has been a pleasure and that your nights are beautiful.” Draigo said before walking in the direction Celestia had indicated.