Author's Notes:

This chapter looks a bit dark, but not much. Also, it has a song outside of MLP, but I hope that's alright, considering I'm a fan of that fandom, as well. I just insert it to the chapter, nothing more.

Three years.

It has been three years since that "little" incident. Virin, who not wanted to feel weak anymore, began to train even harder than before. He also began to excercise with his friend, Nightwing, for his wings and muscles to pump up.

After all that during the first half year, Virin's muscles started to grow more in build, same with his wings. Ember was impressed with the results. She was even started to make a sibling bond with the young red drake. For her, it felt... nice.

Lord Torch was pleased with his daughter's affections and protection of Virin. He knew that Virin was special. The last World Protector. During winter, he and Virin would meditate all the way through it. At first, the young drake thought he was crazy, but decided not to question the Dragon Lord.

The first few days for Virin wasn't what he expected. Even though he had fire in him, he still got sick a few times, and Ember had to made sure he was feeling better. That was the beginning of their brother and sisterly bond, with the latter's protective nature growing for him.

Virin was not always training with his new sister and father figure. He even had some dreams about the voices he was hearing inside his head, but he listened to the dragon voices, not those that sounded like ponies. For some time, he and Nightwing even had few fights with Garble and his gang. They knew they were outnumbered two to six. It was rather shocking to learn that Ranger, Azam and Ogyn was part of the tall red's group.

Knowing they couldn't match with Garble and his buddies, Virin and Nightwing started to search for a friend that would make them even with one of the tall drake's gang. The scar on Virin's left eye, however, made him a rather scary appearance. Few young dragons fled to their families by the mere sight of him, which disappointed him and his friend.

One, however, was different than the rest. He was a brown dragon, named Zach. Zach was a little scared of Virin at first, but soon began to open more up to him. This pleased the World Protector.

After two years of intense training, Virin was now called "Equestrian Dragon" as his title, from both dragons and creatures alike. His muscles was more muscular than the first half year. Nightwign and Zach was amazed by the drake's abilities growing each year. He was starting to grow stronger than even Garble, making the drake in question a bit "scared" of him.

Virin's flying ability grew even more. He was even faster than his friends in the air than his first time as a dragon. In the third year, he began to meditate with the one drake he considered his father, Torch.

Like last time, Virin had it a little hard for him to concentrate, but Torch told him to empty his mind to focus, into which he did. He felt more at ease with the help of the large dragon in his presence.

He was even started to become more mature with his sister, who knew all about being matured. Though, Garble was still mocking and interrupting his training alone. These times got him to be near the breaking point like at the incident, but Ember warned Garble to not interrupt her brother's peace, much to the bully's annoyance.

In his cave, Virin was snoring softly, his mind completely clean and controlled. He was sleeping peacefully with the dream he was having.

In a grassy field, Virin was smiling in pleasant as he felt more at peace. That, however, was soon faded as he began to feel a breeze, interrupting his peaceful dream. The field was replaced with a dark, cold void where no one would feel at ease.

Frowning, he demanded, "Alright, who are you?!" No answer. He tried again. "I command that you show yourself, now!"

In an instance, a bright light appeared in the distance, blinding him for a moment. The light faded. He slowly removed his paws from his eyes, only for hiis eyes to widen at the sight.

A few colours, white, pink, purple, and blue was in front of the young drake.

"Swee-" The white started.

Titling his head in confusion, Virin asked, "Who are you?" It didn't answer. Growing tired of this, he started to roaring, "WHO ARE YOU?!"

"Wh-why?" The dragon only blinked, now more confused.

"Did you had to die?" The pink one then said. Virin's eyes showed more confusion now. What did it mean by "had to die"? He was alive. Why would he be dead when he was standing where he was? This just didn't make any sense!

"I am right here! I am NOT DEAD!" Virin yelled to the darkness. He received no answer. He was starting to feel annoyed for the lack of answers. He turned around to leave.

"D-don't..." The purple one begged. This only made Virin confused as heck. "D-don't leave... u-us..." It finihsed. Virin's eyes widened. Why didn't it have him leave them? This just didn't make any sense at all!

Virin started to feel another breeze coming to his aid. Sighing in relief, he didn't have to talk with these weird colours. Though what made him frown, was that they sounded just like them in his other dreams.

"Son." A male voice came. The voice was the one that made the colours to slowly disappear. Virin tried to reach them with a paw, but they were now gone.

Turning to face the voice, Virin's eyes widened even more. "Who are you?" He had to have answers now.

"My dear." A female voice arrived. The young drake relaxed as he could see the wings and only eyes of the two unexpected voices. The female continued, "Do you wish to have answers, my son?"

Virin's eyes widened, but composed himself. Nodding, he said, "Yes, please."

He could feel that the female smilie. "Do you wish to know who you are?"

The boy blinked, but nodded anyway.

"You're our child from long ago. In fact, you're really ours to begin with." Virin blinked. The female clarified, "We were the ones who gave birth to you."

"Indeed, my dear." The male added. Virin could feel that the male was calm. "We trust that Mr. Lord Torch and Ms Ember took care of you?"

The boy blinked again. "How do you know my sister and the one I consider my father?"

"Sweetie," Virin glanced at the female. "We've been watching you since you got here."

"Huh?"

"You see," the male started, gaining his son's attention. "I was the one who teleported you here from one of our wars with the humans."

"But why?" Virin asked, puzzled. Why would his own father do that to him?

His mother was the one who answered. "In order for our species to survive, we had to send one of our children to a peaceful world, which was this one. Your father knew one of the dangerous arts discovered by our kind."

"Yes." The male chuckled sheepishly. "I found the art when our city, your birthplace, was being attacked. We was defended you as our last hope of survival against the human warriors." He then frowned. "But..."

"But...?" Virin also frowned.

His mother finished. "The humans destroyed the walls to our city when your father finished the spell. You could say we were outmatched by their skills in using weapons, like spears and arrows."

Virin frowned in sadness. Why would the humans do such a thing to his kind? Such beasts.

"And now," he turned to his father. "The humans took control over our planet, Earth, ever since our race was all but wiped out, even our World Protectors."

"You're the last of our hope." His mother begged, "Please don't die, or else our kind will be extinct."

"I promise... mother." Virin nodded. "I promise you." He felt his parents smile in his mind. Then the dream ended.

Virin's eyes opened. Gasping quietly, he looked around. Still in his darkened cave. Was that all real? Was his race really going to be extinct? No! He will not let that happen. Ever.

Day broke, and the dragons began to stir from their world of dreams.

Lord Torch yawned, rather loudly. His daughter also yawned.

"When do you think he will wake up?" Ember asked her father, wondering about her brother.

"Don't know." He answered, unsure. "He is a heavy sleeper, after all."

"I will wake him." His daugther volunteered. She walked out of their cave, and began her walk to the average one beside theirs. Ember looked inside. Still filled with the gold treasures from creatures who left them, the tooth was still in its place in the pedestal.

She looked to see a familiar dragon on the pillow. Ember smiled a evil smile. There, on the pillow, sleeping, Virin continued snoring as if nothing was happening.

Ember approached the sleeping dragon using her tiptoes. She nudged the red drake, only for him to moved to another direction, his back turned down as his face was upside. The Princess silently chuckled at the gesture.

What a funny way to sleep, brother. She thought, humoured. She took a side of the pillow and pulled it up as Virin hit the ground rather hard.

"Ouch." He groaned, rubbing his eyes. Blinking to focus, he looked up at the ceiling of his cave. He then heard giggling from the side. Glancing in the direction of the sound, he murmured,"Why did you do that?" He had irritation in his voice.

"Wake up." She ordered. "You don't want to miss your training today, right?"

Virin groaned again. He stood up and stretched his limps for them to be awake. They made their way out of the cave. Ember noticed his condition.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Just a bad dream this night." Virin responded.

"Nightmare?" She asked, worried. Ever since those few fights with Virin and Garble, she was starting to break them up when things got out of hand.

"Something like that." Her brother shrugged, standing on four legs. Knowing why Ember would ask him that, he just answered "Better this way" all the time, and added "Maybe you should too" one time.

The now-siblings began making their way to the place where their father, well "consider" for Virin, wanted them and the latter's two friends to meet with him. They wondered why he would, he only responded "You have to find out for yourselves".

In a open field, the siblings noticed Nightwing and Zach in the middle of it. The former smiled happily for seeing them.

"Hey, guys." He called, waving a paw.

"Hey." Virin smiled as he and his sister walked up to them. Zach was a brown dragon with a few white markings on his wings, merged horns, wings slightly curved, a spear at the end of his tail, his eyes were red in colour. His height were the same as the young red's.

When he first met Virin, Zach was scared for him, mostly for the scar on the left eye. But as they got to know each other better, Zach opened more up to Virin and joined his group with Nightwing, whom was a friend of his.

Zach's personality wasn't that obvious for Virin and Nightwing. He was mostly afraid all the time, he also had a stubborn and ignorant side of himself, often asking Torch questions about the young red.

"So," the black drake started. "What's for the schedule today?" Nightwing occasionally joined Virin whenever Torch gave the young drake a mission to complete.

"That is why I wanted you here." A booming voice trempled the ground below them. Firstly shaken, the friends and sinblings looked up at the Dragon Lord.

Virin frowned. "And why is it that you wanted us here?"

Smiling at his "son", Torch began explaining. "For the reason I gathered you and your friends here, is that I want you three to investigate something."

"Investigate?" This time, Zach was the one who frowned.

"Yes." The Dragon Lord nodded. "A disturbance seemed to appear in one land of the minotaurs."

"And you want us to solve the problem?" Virin questioned.

"Correct." Torch said, pleased with his "son" getting to know this.

"I don't know, father." Ember replied, uncertain, gaining their attention. "I don't want my brother to engage something that could be dangerous. The prince of the hydras was one of the things, since he was alone fighting it."

"I know." Her father said. "But this time, he won't be going alone. His friends will be there to help him."

Ember sighed in defeat. She didn't want to argue with him.

Nodding, Torch gave instrutions to the trio. "Since you'll be doing this yourselves, I want to tell you something about the problem. It seems that a group of thirty unicorns of Equestria sealed the entrance to the city, where the minotaurs' royal palace lies within, in order to steal the treasured artifacts they hold so dear."

"That's why you want us to help them?" Nightwing asked. Torch nodded.

"But why not Garble and his friends?" Zach wondered, gaining glares from his two friends. He coiled back by the stares.

The Dragon Lord responded, "Knowing them, I know that they would just take the artifacts and money for themselves when the problem is solved." He added, "I want those that I trust the most, the ones that wouldn't take things for themselves without permission from the owners."

"...You have a point." The brown drake smiled sheepishly.

"And we won't let you down." virin said, smiling confidently. Torch smiled, pleased with the one he will soon have to call son.

"I'm happy to hear that," the large dragon thanked. He then motioned them. "Now go."

Nodding, the trio flapped their wings, with Virin a bit faster, and flew beyond the mountains and out of the royals' sight.

Flying, the trio was making their way for the land of the minotaurs. Virin, knowing it'll be a long flight, called out,

"Hey, I have an idea." This got Zach and Nightwing's attention.

"What is it?" The black drake asked.

Hovering down, Virin was soon followed by his friends. "Why don't we sing a song on the way?"

Zach's eyes glittered. "What kind of a song?"

Virin thought for a moment, before a flash came to him. He also heard a young voice in his head, one that sounded like a small boy.

"Let's go on an adventure."

This got the one idea for a perfect song. "I know just which one." Zach and Nightwing had curious looks as Virin started singing.

[Insert song: Adventuring from Land Before Time.]

"I'm goin' to go adventuring."

Zach and Nightwing asked, "Adventuring?" Then they knew that this investigation was kinda like one.

"I'm goin' on adventuring

and who knows what I'll find."

The brown dragon, nodding his head, joined in the song. "He's goin' to see the great beyond."

"Across the mud." Nightwing.

"Beyond the pond." Virin.

"He's going to see the great beyond." Zach and Nightwing.

They started walked towards the mountain sides as the former continued.

"Will there be ugly, bugly things and ickely, tickely, prickely wings?"

"A front that bites

and back that stings?"

"You never know." Virin walked down the ledge of the mountain with his friends following.

"Will there be things with pointy horns that shoot magic?" Zach.

"Up above and underneath?" Nightwing.

"We'll bet so." Both.

Virin started flying, his friends following suit.

"I'm goin' to fly the mountain tall

where fires burn and rocks fall."

Nightwing started to fly creepily behind as Zach hadn't noticed him.

"And scary things can creep and crawl with one big bite."

Zach gasped, glancing back at the black drake. "Ah! Stop!" Nightwing laughed as he continued with the song.

"He's going to reach the highest high where even dragons never fly."

"Maybe he will touch the clouds." Zach.

"Well, I won't say goodbye." Nightwing.

"Will he cross the big ocean?" Zach imagined Virin flying over the ocean to the land beyond it.

"Where it hot, even hotter?" Nightwing imagined the red drake calmly walk across lava.

"Bet he's gonna meet a lotta evil creatures there." Zach.

"Yeah." Nightwing.

"Will there be yummy things to eat?" Zach, as he imagined Virin eat lots of meat.

"Will there be things that ouch your feet?" Nightwing, as e imagined the red getting hurt by spiked plates.

"Will you be scared?" Zach.

"No!" Virin shouted, flying down to the ground, his friends following him.

"I'm goin' on adventuring."

His friends joined the chores.

"Adventuring, adventuring."

"And when I go adventuring

There'll be so much to do."

All three: "But if you go adventuring, adventuring there's just one thing

Ya know what you are going to do?

You're going to take all your friends with you!"

"Oh, yes! Please!" Zach pleaded.

They then finished.

"We want to go adventuring, too!"

The friends laughed until tears came in their eyes.

"Oh, boy." Nightwing wiped his tears. "That was fun."

"Yeah." Zach agreed, before he looked at the red drake. "How did you know that song?"

"I don't know." Virin shrugged. "It just came to me." He had lied, since he didn't want them to know that he had a vision of a long-necked creature singing it.

"Well," Nightwing began, "whatever it was, it made our trip easier. Look." He pointed to their destination. His friends noticed that they were already at the minotaurs' main city.

"Yeah, you're right." Zach nodded in agreement. He looked at the red drake, who seemed to be in deep thought. "Something wrong, Virin?"

Virin jerked his head up, before seeing that it was the brown dragon who asked. "Yeah. Sorry. Was in my mind." Who was that that had sung that song? I only saw him in a few visions, but who was he, and with those other young children?

Nightwing, from the corner of his eye, side-glanced at Virin who was still in thought. "Let's go," he called. "We don't want to let those unicorns get away, now do we?" He gave them a smirk.

Zach and Virin also smirked. "No we won't." They replied at the same time.

After a few minutes of walking, the trio finally made it to the city. The walls were quite high, it had marble, and pointed spikes on the front side of the walls, making it look impossible for them to just fly to it.

"So," Virin began, "is that it?"

Nightwing nodded. "According to Lord Torch, it's the city with a wall that has marble rock as its construction." Then he frowned. "But, where are the guards?"

They made their way through the gates, and looked around. The city seemed to be deserted, but not to their eyes. Just then, a number of guards, around thirty, came out of their hiding places and pointed their spears at the intruders who dared to enter their home.

The trio lifted their paws up. "Wait." Virin called. "We mean no harm."

"Yeah, right." A guard spat. "You're just saying that so you will get our treasures, don't you?"

"No we won't." Zach pleaded. "Please, you have to believe us."

"That's quite enough." A new voice joined in. They all looked to see it was the minotaur king who joined in the conversation.

The king, who looked at the dragons, frowned. "And who are you supposed to be?" He asked Virin.

"My name is Virin, your Majesty." Virin bowed respectfully. "And these are my friends: Nightwing and Zach." Said dragons who also bowed in respect to the king.

The king smiled at their humbleness. "By looking at you, I see that you're not to threaten us." He gestured to the guards. "Now leave them be." They all nodded to their king. The king then said to the trio, "Are you here to help us?"

"Yes, your Majesty." Virin answered. "We were sent by the Dragon Lord himself. I'm also the protector of this world now."

The king's eyes widened a little. "The Dragon Lord? Now, I'll be. So you're the World Protector he's been talking about?"

"You know of me?" The young dragon asked, a bit shocked.

"Why yes." The king confirmed. "He had been visiting me whenever his pupil has his time off. I see that pupil is you, Protector."

Protector? Virin thought, amused. Then again, the minotaurs probably knew of his status as the Equestrian Dragon from his father figure.

"Enough of this talk." The king then said. "We're dealing with a threat here." This got the trio's attention.

"It's the unicorns, right?" Nightwng asked.

The king nodded. "Yes. They're causing us trouble whenever they travel to our beloved city, and we could use some assistance. I believe that's why Lord Torch sent you here?"

Zach nodded. "He had given us the basic details of them. He also said it was around thirty unicorns."

"And he's right." A guard confirmed.

"Then, let's not waste any time." Virin called.

"Now, now, no need to rush." The king told him. "We first need a plan, and get you to have at least ten guards each."

"I'll not need protection, your Majesty." Virin responded, narrowing his eyes. "This is probably the reason why Torch and my sister trained me. They also taught me the use of combat techniques to help myself."

"I understand." His Majesty finally said. "So, then, what are you planning to do without ten of my guards?"

"Fight them myself, of course." Virin replied, his pride taking over.

"I don't think so, my friend." Nightwing interrupted, gaining everyone's attention. "For what I've seen, you're a bit... aggressive when it comes to be outnumbered. Not to mention, you are also a bit distracted when you're talking to no one."

"I've got my birth father to thank for his aggressive personality." Virin rebuked, with pride in the voice. Not wasting any time, he turned to the west and bolted in the unicorns' direction.

"Virin, wait." Zach called out, hopelessly.

"His birth father?" The king frowned in tad confusion. Nightwing sighed and turned his attention to the king.

"From what he'd told Lord Torch and the Princess, he seems to be from another world." The black drake explained.

"He's an alien?!" A guard cried in fear. Nightwing and his friend looked at each other, with the brown drake nodding, whispering "They may know". The black dragon sighed and began telling them Virin's story.

Running, Virin glowered in the direction he's going.

"Stupid Nightwing," he muttered, irritable. "What's with him going around and be a leader, huh? I am the one who made him my friend. He must deal with it."

Anger is not the issue, my son. His mother reminded him sweetly.

Virin stopped for the moment, staring at the sky. "Mother?" He whispered.

I heard everything, she said. But, your friend is right. Aggression will not come to your aid when the time comes. You need to calm down and breathe.

Virin took a deep breath as his mother's voice told him, and relaxed.

"Well well." A voice came. "What do we have here?" The dragon looked up just in time to dodge as a red beam of magic shooting in his direction. He rolled to the side, glancing at the beam which hit a trash can. He looked back to see more than twelve male unicorns come out from their hiding place.

"What was that?!" The dragon growled angrily, the image of the one who attacked him coming back.

"Aw, isn't that cute, boys?" The same voice sneered. "The lizard think we would hurt him."

The "lizard" snarled in rage at the direction the voice was coming from. It came from a dark green furred pony that stood in front of the rest.

"What's with the attitude?" The dark green unicorn mocked. "Aren't you happy to be alive?"

The dragon roared in rage, taking them aback, but they recovered and stood their ground.

"You're a dragon." The leader sniggered. "No matter. We will deal with you so we can sell you for a good amount of money." Virin roared, enrage, the thought of them taking and selling him makes him very angry.

"Don't you you're messing with an ordinary dragon." He growled in a warning.

The leader laughed evilly. "Get him, boys." The unicorns did as their leader commanded, and began firing beams at the young dragon. Virin jerked his head up at the sudden attacks, but spread his wings and flew up, rather fast than they could see.

"Wow." A unicorn breathed, before noticing that he's friends giving him stares of irritation. He smiled sheepishly before shooting a beam at the dragon, who dodged to the side and began flying towards the stunned pony.

The pony's friends was stunned as well. Is he really going to fight back?! They thought in shock. They knew the dragon had the disadvantage, but he was really going to fight anyway.

"He's crazy!" Their leader yelled, before being rammed into by the angered dragon, sending him to the wall behind his gang, knocking him unconscious. Virin roared in triumph at the quickly defeated pony.

The others, however, growled in anger seeing their boss unconscious after one attack. They began firing their magic at the dragon, who dodged them with relative ease with his speed, stunning them once more.

"How can he just dodge them?!" A pony shouted. Virin snarled at the unicorn and flew towards him, clawing his eyes. "My eyes!" He was then sent flying to his unconscious leader by the same attack by the angry dragon.

The rest began to step back in worry. This dragon was crazy. In all their life, they've never come across a single being that intended to challenge their gang.

Virin roared in triumph and anger. He then glared at the rest of the unicorns, who looked back in shock and fright. The dragon landed on the ground, which they thought he was given up. That, however, was not the case. The fully enraged dragon ran at them at full speed, clawing two ponies, kicking two more, before flying up and spinning around into a ball as he was seen caught on fire. The ponies gasped just before the ground got slammed on by the dragon that had been on flames, creating a huge crater and knocking them all unconscious as they hit the walls behind them and the back walls with their fallen leader.

I call that attack "Flaming Meteor". Virin thought, before roaring in victory at the fallen ponies.

With Nightwing...

After telling them the story of Virin, Nightwing, along with his ten guards, was walking the city, carefully looking around for an ambush.

"Alright," he called. "One of you go ahead and scout for any unicorn that are ready to attack." A guard in silver armour nodded and walked forward.

"What are you planning, sir?" One of his guards asked.

Nightwing answered with caution. "I'm planning to see if the ponies are going to either attack from the north, the east, or west." Then he recalled what his friend, Virin, said. "I'm to blame for Virin to wander off from our arguement."

The guards looked at each other in sympathetically, before one young than the rest walked up to the drake.

Nightwing glanced at the young guard. "What is it?"

"Well," the youngling rubbed the back of his head, "you said you're to blame for Sir Virin's behaviour, yet I disagree with you. My guess is that he think you're just being overprotective of him."

"I'm not "overprotective" of him." Nightwing snapped, making the young guard step back. He sighed. "Sorry."

"It's alright," the youngling reassured him. "Another guess is that he thinks you are his father, but you're like a brother to him, right?"

The black dragon blinked, before nodding. "Yes. I'm like a big brother to him." Before realization came to him. "Oh, now I get it." He continued to look at the young guard. "You're saying his thoughts of my protective nature gets the better of me, while I should let him take care of himself at a time?"

The youngling slowly nodded. "And that you should try to be less protective for him, and try to apologize to him."

Nightwing smiled gratefully. "Thanks, I needed that. I'll apologize after our mission here." The young guard smiled in happiness, before he noticed a beam of magic coming his way. The black drake noticed it too, and quickly grabbed the youngling and slid the ground.

"Kid," the guard behind them cried out. "Are you alright?!" He kneeled beside the young guard.

"I'm alright," the youngling assured him.

"Well, well," a sinister voice came. "What are you looking for?" The guards and Nightwing took fighting stances, and the guard beside the younger one stood over him.

"You, obviously." Nightwing snarled at the dark gray unicorn. "Just what did you think you were doing? Attacking a child like that?" He was obviously pissed with the pony who dared to hurt his new friend.

"Just searching for our leader," the unicorn replied darkly. "But we found you. We had heard an enraged roar and decided to check on it, but didn't know where our leader had gone to."

An enraged roar? Then it came to him. "You're not talking about my friend, are you?"

"So, you know him?" The unicorn sneered. "We had heard a loud crash, and we also heard it crashed like an meteor."

Nightwing, still in battle stance, commanded his troops. "Prepare to attack." The guards did as commanded, and stood ready for an opening.

"Lookie, boys," the unicorn sniggered. "They think they can take us on."

"Oh, we can, and we will." The guard, who stood over the youngling, snapped.

"Alright, attack." the pony ordered. The unicorns lightened their horns... but not fast enough as a red blur as fast as lightning came ramming into the dark gray pony, sending him to a wall.

The guards looked agaped as Virin gave a loud, but dangerous, growl to the other unicorns who stepped back in fright.

"Virin?" Nightwing shrieked. He was afraid that Virin would attack them too, especially since his senses seemed to be out of control.

The pony Virin sent flying recovered from the sudden hit. He looked at the one who dared to ram him... only for him to shriek in fright as the red dragon growled visously and dangerously at him.

"That's the one who attacked our boss!" The pony, coming to his senses, shouted in rage. Virin, still growling dangerously, flew at him faster than the lightning at the pony, who screamed as he was sent flying back through the walls of a few buildings of the city.

The guards and Nightwing cringed at that. That looked like it had really hurt.

Virin, who stared mindlessly at the holes, roared in triumph, before glaring at the rest who coiled back in worry. He began to fly up to the sky, getting curious stares from the ground.

Oh no! Nightwing panicked in his mind. "Everyone! Get away!" The guards did as commanded and took cover. The black drake perked through his cover and stared in agap as Virin was soon spinning in the air while his body was being set aflame, and descended to the ground with a mighty "CRASH", sending the unicorns in the area everywhere, buildings, trash cans and broken benches.

Nightwing's eyes widened in sutter shock. Was that a new technique? If so, then how did he learn that? The Princess sure didn't teach him that move.

Virin, who was still in his uncontrollable state, began searching for the last unicorns in the city.

The black dragon began to panic. He's going to where Zach is! He ran out of his cover besides his guards' cries of stop, and flew to the brown dragon's area.

With Zach...

Looking around, the brown dragon began to sigh heavily.

The guard at his side glanced at him. "Tired?"

"A bit." Zach replied tiredly, his mind screaming for him to stop the search and rest.

"Maybe we should take a break for now." Another guard said, noticing the other eight's states. Just then, they heard a loud "CRASH" from the west, causing them to bolt up in surprise.

"What was that?!" A guard cried out.

"Dont know!" Another cried.

For Zach, however, it seemed the crash was made from one of his friends. His eyes widened as he saw a familiar black shape coming towards them.

"Nightwing?" This got his group of guards' attention.

The black dragon landed and started to pant from the rather fast flying. "You... have... to... get... into... cover..."

Zach blinked in confusion. "Nightwing, now you're starting to scare me. What is going on?"

Still panting heavily, Nightwing answered, "Virin... is... on... his way..."

The brown dragon, still confused for the situation, only beamed. "Really? Then this search will be easier than we thought." The guards nodded in agreement.

Recovering from the panting, Nightwing shook his head. "No. What I'm saying is that Virin is out of control."

"What?" Zach cried. "Are you telling me, Virin's anger and aggressive side took over?"

"Yes." Nightwing confirmed. "And I've seen it for myself. He's getting more unstable if we don't do something for him." Just then, a beam of blue magic was coming from his way through the shadows. The black dragon noticed from the corner of his right eye and ducked just in time.

This is why I'm worried! The thought repeated in his mind from his own area. He knew, if there's unicorns in the place, then Virin's not too far now.

"Well, see how lucky we are, boys." Another sinister voice sneered as the pony and his group stepped out from the shadows. The leader of the group continued, "Two dragons in one area? More money for us to get from the checkpoint."

Zach, confused for what he said, only asked, "And what are you needing that for?"

"For our own uses." The leader responded darkly, before being sent flying to a wall by a red blur. Recovering from the sudden attack, the pony sneered at the one who hit him. "Just what are you doing?!" Only for him to coil back at the vicious growl from the red "lizard".

Zach gasped at the sight and state of his friend. "Virin, what do you think you're doing?!" Said dragon who paid no attention to him, his only thought was to settle this.

The unicorn recvoered from the shock and snarled back. "You'll pay dearly for hitting me!" Before he shot a blue beam at Virin, who took it without flinching. Rubbing where the beam hit, the red dragon gave a hateful roar to the pony. He flew straight at the unicorn who continuously started to shoot at him, but he didn't flinch one bit.

Zach, Nightwing, the guards and the unicorns then felt a breeze...coming from Virin who was starting to form a black aura around him as his blue and yellow eyes' pupils was beginning to shrink into nothing as they was forming a evil red colour in their place.

The unicorn shrieked in horror at the dark dragon that was coming for him. He continued to shoot beams at the evil dragon that was flying towards him, only for them to sink into the darkness of the dragon.

Stopping for mere itches from the unicorn, the dragon started to talk in a dark voice. "Now you wish you hadn't attacked me with you magic." The pony shrieked in fear as he heard the voice.

Zach and Nightwing shivered uncontrollable as they had heard their friend speak in an evil voice. They just wanted him to be normal, and friendly.

Nightwing, not wishing Dark Virin to finish the unicorn off, cried out, "VIRIN, STOP!" the dark dragon's eyes widened as he heard his friend's voice, the darkness slowly starting to fade.

Virin, who began to swaying side to side, laid on the ground as he got into unconsciousness. He was unable to control that intense darkness within him. The unicorn was shaking uncontrollably as he thought it was the end of his life.

Nightwing and Zach let out huge sighs of relief as their friend was in his normal state.

"Guards," the black drake said, "bind them." The guards nodded, still frightened by the red dragon's dark powers that had been released, binded the unicorns' frozen states and hung them together.

Zach, again, let out a big sigh. "Thought he was going to be consumed by darkness for a second."

"Me too," Nightwing said in agreement. "But luckily, there was still light in him." Now everything was going to be normal...
right?

Groaning, Virin started to wake up from his unconscious state. The first thing he noticed, was that he was back in his cave, and was lying on his pillow.

How did I get here? The thought repeated his mind. The first thought that came to him, was that he was in an backyard alley of the minotaurs' capital city, being attacked by unicorns, and then... nothing.

"Oh, good. You're awake." A familiar feminine voice said, relieved in the voice.

Virin looked up to see his sister at the cave's entrance. "Sis?" he muttered.

"Don't worry, you're safe." She reassured him.

"'Safe'?" He repeated. "What happened? And most importantly, how did I get back here?"

Ember blinked at her brother's confusion, before smiling sweetly. "You can thank him." She gestured to the dragon beside her.

Virin saw that Nightwing was at his cave's entrance alongside his sister. "Nightwing..." he growled.

"Easy." He raised his paws. "Listen, I'm sorry for how I behaved back at the capital. I was... worried for your safety, and wanting to make amends with you."

The young red stared at him for a few minutes, hoping to find a lie... but strangely, nothing. He gave a heavy sigh. "Apology accepted. I was... in a bad mood that time."

Ember raised an eyeridge. "In a bad mood?" she frowned. "You seems to be in a fresh mood every now and then."

"But he wasn't today." Nightwing said, choosing his words carefully. "Let's just say, he was just a bit excited for the mission."

"Excited?" Virin and Ember asked at the same time.

Rubbing his neck, the black drake nodded. "Yeah. And, it seems he wasn't ready just yet with the investigation. He needed a bit more time."

"Guess you're right." Virin said slowly. For now, all he needed was a break from today's mission, and think of what happened back there.

Everything seems to be going to normal, right?