The morning of the summer solstice has finally arrived. Raiju sat atop the hill as he watched an enormous army of Ponies headed for the field below, with The two princess leading them on, with Twilight and her friends close behind. He didn't go down to meet them, instead, he just watched as the army of his own kind began to appear on the horizon. They stood about three hundred yards apart as the Jinouga began to roar, attempting to unnerve the ponies. The pony army was far larger than the Jinouga's, but the jinouga knew they had the upper hand. A booming, almost spine chilling voice came from the distance.
"Your time has come Equestria...Due to the return of Princess Luna, the treaty has been rendered null and void. We will now finish what we started over nine hundred years ago, and conquer Equestria. Any further attempts at negotiations will be ignored."
Princess Celestia just stood there for a moment, taken back by what the voice had said, until she finally began speaking to herself.
"So then he really was telling the truth?!..." she shook her head trying to stop thinking about it, then asked the six ponies... "All right. Are you all ready to use the elements of harmony?"
They all nodded and prepared themselves. They all began magically floating into the air, as their bodies began to glow beautifully, and, once they all opened their eyes, a massive beam of incredibly bright, white, light shot over the army of Jinouga. A short while later, the beam spread out and covered them all, similar to what had happened then the elements were used on discord, freezing them in place. Raiju then stood up and teleported himself in front of the ponies. He didn't turn to look at them; he spoke as he began walking towards the now frozen jinouga army.
"That was amazing...I've never seen that kind of powerful magic."
"Thanks but where are you going?" Twilight said confused.
"This isn't over. I spent a lot of time thinking about this, and I realized that, that spell wouldn't work on my brother...I want to thank you all for everything you have done for me."
"What are you saying? Why wouldn't it affect your brother?"
"I'm sorry Twilight; there is no time to explain. Hopefully the princess can explain, but right now I need to give you all a fighting chance..." He then ran as fast as he could towards the Jinouga army, as a long rectangular box appeared in a bolt of lightning, besides the princesses with a note attached.
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Dear Princess Celestia,
The contents of this box include weapons I have made for you and a few ponies. They are made from the scales of the Nargacugra that attacked during nightmare night, and are more than capable of cutting through my species scales. Unfortunately, there were only enough scales to make a few weapons. A couple whips and the rest are swords and spears. The whips may be difficult for a normal pony to use so I would recommend a unicorn who can manipulate it with magic to use them. Do not take this battle lightly, my brother alone could wipe Equestria out if you do not take the utmost care in your attack. I wish you much luck as I try to give you as much a chance as possible.
-Raiju
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The princess stood there not knowing what to do or say as the other ponies pulled the weapons out of the box.
"What is he doing princess?" Twilight said, wanting answers.
"...He's giving his life for us all...he's right in that his brother probably won't be affected, because he is not a normal Jinouga. Zeus...The Wolf Stygian…he does not control lightning like the rest of his kind; he instead controls what is known as the dragon element. It acts in a way similar to lightning, but its true workings are completely unknown. From what I know, a dark jinouga is only born once every two hundred thousand years and their power is immense, well beyond that of a normal jinouga...some say that they are among the strongest creatures in the world." She then stared out towards Raiju, who had stopped halfway between the two armies, and said. "There is no way he can defeat something that strong…I can't believe he'd so willingly do something like this after everything I've said and done to him."
Meanwhile, as Raiju had stopped between the two armies. A shadowy figure could be seen making its way to the front lines and, as it got in front of all the other Jinouga, it said.
"What is this? A meaningless attempt to delay the inevitable?" He had just then noticed Raiju standing out in the distance. He began walking towards Raiju as he yells out. "YOU! You're still alive?! I knew those to idiots would screw it up somehow. It's bad enough you killed two of the four of them, but they really couldn't finish you off? No matter they will receive punishment for their failure later, for now I get to conquer Equestria myself and finish you off in the process."
He finally reached a few feet from where Raiju was standing after a few moments of walking. He stood a good three feet taller than Raiju; his scales were completely black while the gray shelling blended in with his white fur.
"I'm not going to bore you or myself by explaining how stupid you are for standing here in front of me. I assume you are here for a bit of revenge." An evil smile appeared on his face as he continues. "I would be happy to let you try."
The two jumped backwards as Zeus inhaled deeply until he let out an incredibly loud roar as what appeared to be black and red lightning shot out of his back. Raiju immediately lunged at Zeus, attempting to catch him off guard, but he quickly dodged out of the way and countered by slashing his claws against Raiju's arm. Raiju fought back the pain and lunged back towards him. The two then locked their claws together, sending massive bolts of both blue and red lightning in all directions. Pitch black clouds began to form, swirling above the two jinouga. They began releasing large bolts of both red and blue lightning as the two where fighting. Raiju was struggling against his brother's strength, as his brother began laughing at him.
"You are pathetic Raiju! You know you can't even hurt me. So why even bother trying?"
As he finished saying this, he twisted around and smashed Raiju with his tail. Raiju fell to the ground in agony as his brother walked over, pinning him to the ground with his paw.
"What made you think that this was a good idea? Sure, of all times this would be the most advantageous, having no interruptions from any other Jinouga, but you know as well as I, that you couldn't dream of being able to defeat me in a one on one fight."
"I only do what I must!" Raiju yelled back. "You are a monster and you need to be stopped here and now. It is my duty to defend this land and its inhabitants...I will gladly throw my life away if there is even a small hope to save them..."
"Hope?!” he said laughing. “You have no hope."
Meanwhile, Princess Celestia was closely watching Raiju in the battle. Everpony began getting very worried, noticing that the wolf they had seen as the strongest creature in equestria, couldn't hold his on in this battle. Twilight began talking to the princesses, voicing everypony's concern. "This is not good. We need to do something."
The princess stood there for a moment, until she turned to look at the massive army of ponies.
"Ok I have an idea, but I am going to need the help of everypony here.” She yelled out to the army. “I will cast a spell that will give Raiju our strength but I need everypony to help. You must all trust both me and him completely. This may just be our only chance."
The entire army yelled out in agreement, they knew this was all that they could to to help at this point. Princess Celestia's horn began to glow incredibly brightly as she prepared her spell. The spell blasted out heading straight towards Raiju, and once hit, he immediately felt the pony’s strength flowing through him. He no longer felt the pain from his injuries, and immediately shoved his brother off, and stood himself back up.
"Isn't that cute the ponies gave you their power." Zeus chuckled. "Tell me brother, you must have been here for quite a while...How strong are these ponies, I'm certain they must not have been happy with your entry in these lands. Did they ever try attacking you?"
Raiju stood there for a moment trying to come up with a response, until Zeus finally realized what happened.
"They tried to kill you didn't they? Did they so much as scratch you?" He let out a big laugh and said. "This is hilarious. What difference do you think this make if your injuries are healed. Your strength, even if doubled, still doesn't even hold a candle to my own." The evil grin reappeared on his face and he said. "Get up as many times as you like, I will enjoy beating you back down just as much as the time before it."
The two then began fighting again, with Raiju still unable to hold his own against Zeus. Now beaten a bloodied again, Raiju stood a good distance from his brother. Some of his ribs have been fractured, and his breathing was staggered. He jumped at his brother, who quickly jumped out of the way and slammed Raiju with his claw knocking him to the ground.
"I grow bored of fighting you brother; As much as I would love to drag your agony out, I wish to spread the pain and conquer Equestria now." He stood for a moment until he jumped incredibly high into the air. As he came down he prepared to slam his claw down onto Raiju's head as he screamed. "Your life ends now!"
Raiju's consciousness was fading and didn't have the strength to react fast enough. He closed his eyes, prepared to die. Zeus's claw struck Raiju directly on his head. Much to Zeus's surprise, Raiju was unharmed, although unconscious. Zeus stood above him, furious. He raised his claw again, and as it came down a massive column of electricity came out from Raiju, sending Zeus flying. Raiju slowly stood up, as his body was now engulfed in electricity. He stood there staring at Zeus as a scroll appeared, floating just above Raiju's head. Zeus ran headlong into Raiju and attempted to slash his throat, but once he got close to him, Raiju grabbed his arm and almost broke it. He let go, as Zeus pulled back in agony, once he realized what Raiju had just done, he said.
"How is this possible? How can you hurt me?!"
Raiju immediately began rushing towards Zeus, who was now struggling to avoid his attacks. Raiju was quickly backing him down and was starting to land, increasingly harmful attacks until finally Raiju managed to smash his claw into Zeus's rib-cage, both fracturing some ribs, and causing him fall onto one leg. Raiju slowly walked up to him as the scroll slowly unrolled and went in front of Zeus's face.
The scroll read.
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I hereby decree that the Jinouga species will never be allowed within Equestrian lands regardless of ruler(s) unless given specific permission from said ruler(s). If any Jinouga is to break this declaration, they will be forced to make a public apology and leave immediately, or face punishment from the ancients…
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The note continued for a while explaining many details of the declaration’s magical properties and fixed any possible loopholes, such as making an exception to said rule for Raiju. At the very bottom of the scroll, there was a large space for a signature. After reading it Zeus immediately objected.
"You think I will just abandon conquering this land and make it impossible for any Jinouga to return? You must think I am an id-"
Raiju then grabbed him by the throat and picked him up until he was completely off the ground. Injured and struggling for breath, Zeus let lose a huge blast of black-red lightning, which caused Raiju to let go of him. As soon as Zeus hit the ground he lunged straight for him. Raiju jumped out of the way and grabbed his tail. He slowly picked him up by his tail and slammed him onto the ground. He flipped him over and walked over to his head with the scroll again. Zeus looked up at the scroll and, after a few moments, he finally said.
"I do not know what you have done Raiju, but I cannot defeat you. You are the first in a very long time who has put me in this kind of situation. As much as I don't want to do this, and by how much I want to tear you limb from limb...I have no choice. I will sign the scroll."
Zeus slowly stood up and held out his paw. The scroll floated towards him as he made a small cut on his paw. He slowly reached out his arm, and placed it on the spot for the signature. He pulled his paw back revealing a bloody paw print. The scroll immediately spun shut and began glowing brightly. The scroll then split into two separate scrolls, one of which teleported over to Princesses Celestia and Luna while the other stayed with Zeus. Raiju then turned around and started walking back towards the army of ponies. He stopped a few feet from Princess Celestia and didn't make a sound, his body still engulfed in electricity. After staring at them all for a moment, began wobbling until he fell, face first onto the ground, as the electricity dissipated. Twilight, her friends, and the two princesses immediately rushed to his aid. As they began attempting to help him, Zeus limped over. The ponies all prepared themselves for battle, when he raised his paw to stop them.
"Lower your weapons...I am no longer here to harm you. As required by this scroll, I am here to make an apology to all the ponies of Equesrtia." He then looked over, noticing his brother, unconscious, and on the ground. "As much as I would love to see him suffer...It would be dishonorable for me to let him die because you know so little of our species…You should know not to give him any more of a charge. He over charged his body during our fight, and any more will do him serious harm." He began walking away as he said one final thing to the ponies. "If you could be so kind as to unfreeze my army, you will never see us ever again."
As Zeus, and the now unfrozen Jinouga army, faded into the distance, Princess Celestia ordered a large group of ponies to assist in carrying Raiju back to his home. It took over twenty of the strongest ponies in Equestria to lift him onto the large cart, which they used to carry him. It was more than a week before Raiju finally woke up. Many ponies took shifts watching over him during this time. When Raiju finally awoke, it was RainbowDash's turn to watch him. She was in the other room, reading a book, when she heard Raiju scream from the other room.
"ZEUS!!" He screamed as he reached out his claw ready to attack. He looked around the room, now realizing where he was. "What am I doing here?" He said as RainbowDash rushed in. "RainbowDash! What's going on? Why am I here?"
"You're awake! Finally! We were all really worried about you. Wait here I'm going to get everypony. Don't go anywhere."
She took off, and headed straight for town as fast as she could. Raiju was left very confused.
"Why am I back home...” He said to himself. “Did they really defeat my brother? But then that doesn't explain how I am alive."
Raiju continued to lie there, still sore from both the fight and from being unconscious for over a week, while he waited for RainbowDash's return. A few minutes later, Twilight, her friends, burst through the door and immediately ran over and gave Raiju a hug with the two princesses close behind. Raiju was still taken back from being in his home and started asking everypony questions.
"Could somepony please tell me what's going on here? Why am I home?"
Twilight responded. "What do you mean? You have been asleep for over a week, we had to bring you somewhere after you defeated your brother."
"Defeat-What?! I was just fighting him a few moments ago...besides, I could never hope to defeat him."
"But you did; and saved all of Equestria and everypony in it, in the process." Princess Celestia said with a smile.
"But...The last thing I remember was my brother jumping into the air to finish me off...then I was here."
"After he landed on top of you; you suddenly exploded and after that, he couldn't even touch you." Twilight explained.
"Yes." The princess continued. "And after you had pinned him down I received this." She pulled out the scroll and Raiju immediately recognized what it was.
"T-That scroll...Only one of the ancestral beings can create such a scroll. How did you get it?!"
The ponies then proceeded to explain everything that happened past the point Raiju doesn't remember. Even after everything was explained, he still didn't recall any of it. They decided to leave him so he could get some rest and soak in everything that had happened. Before the ponies all left, Pinkie Pie came up with the idea to throw Raiju a "Saving all of Equestria" party.
A week later was the party, and with the Princess's help, everypony who was involved in the battle was there. Everypony was having a great time, all of Pinkie's party plans were a huge hit. Towards the middle of the day, some thunder could be heard coming closer to town, but no clouds were in the sky. Half an hour later, a massive bolt of red lightning struck the ground just outside of town. Once the intense light faded everypony stood in disbelief from what they were seeing. Towering above the town was the White Fatalis, to which Raiju immediately ran to. He stopped about twenty feet in front of him and started talking to him.
"Wait please...Why are you here? Did I do something wrong?"
The Dragon stood there for a moment until both him and Raiju disappeared in another massive bolt of lightning. Raiju found himself in a large cave, with no way in or out, having only a few pools of lava to light the cave.
"W-Where am I?” Raiju said while looking around the room. “Why did you take me here?"
The dragon spoke in an incredibly deep and powerful voice. "Calm yourself. I brought you here so that we may speak."
Raiju couldn't believe his ears. "You-you're speaking...but you never speak." he said, visibly confused.
"This is an exception. An explanation is owed to you and I am the only one who can give it. You likely don't remember defeating your brother, like the ponies have told you. You likely don't remember what happened after you passed out. However, you might remember that Princess Celestia had cast a spell that gave you not only her own powers, but the strength of anyone else who would willingly give you it. Upon your becoming unconscious I gave you a small portion of my own strength to you."
"B-But why? I mean I greatly appreciate it. But why would you go out of your way to help me defeat my brother?"
"Ever since you have entered Equestria I have been keeping an eye on you, to make sure that you wouldn't try anything.
Your actions have proven to me, that you have completely forsaken your former self. You are honorable beyond mention, just as Amatsumagatsuchi told me...all those years ago when your brother and the princess signed that treaty, we, of the ancients, were very angry about the loophole Zeus had hidden within."
He began slowly walking back and forth within the room, and continued talking.
"We have been trying to undo that loophole ever since, but we aren't allowed to interfere directly. Once we discovered that Princess Luna had returned, we knew that we needed to hasten our efforts. A few years later, once I discovered that you were helping defend Equestria, I devised a plan myself involving you. I wasn't sure, even as I was giving you some of my strength, if you would survive such an influx of energy."
Raiju then interrupted, believing that he now knew what the dragon's intentions were.
"So you knew that since I had basically been throwing my life away anyway. You concluded that so long as I had no regard for my life at that point, you could give me said strength without worrying about the repercussions, regarding my own life.That way you could force my brother to do as you wish, without you having to directly attack him."
"Precisely. However, since you survived, I owe you this explanation."
"I greatly appreciate your assistance in this, I'm not really sure if they would have been able to defeat Zeus if my life had ended then. I didn't really wear him down as much as I thought I would."
"Hmm...yes...Well I best return you to the festivities in Equestria, just tell the ponies that there was a miss understanding and that everything is fine. One final thing though. I want you to know that you have been accepted by the ancestors for the divine protection spell. You are the first being eligible in over five hundred thousand years, congratulations. Simply notify me or any of the other ancestors should you decide to do so."
The dragon's chest then began to glow a bright red and as red lightning began to surround Raiju he yelled out.
"Wait what do you-"
Just as he was saying this, he was teleported in a massive flash, arriving in the center of Ponyville mid-sentence.
"-mean, I..."
He looked around realizing that he was back in town surrounded by all of his friends, who all then rushed to him, asking if he was all right.
"We were all worried about you Raiju. What was that dragon doing here?" Twilight asked.
“Yeah! I thought you said that dragon’s aren't allowed in Equestria, 'sept for spike of course.” RainbowDash interrupted.
Raiju paused for a moment, soaking in everything that had just happened. He began thinking to himself, not realizing that he was speaking out loud. "That was the ancestor...White Fatalis."
Taken by surprise, Twilight says. " The White Fatalis?! You said that is the strongest dragon EVER! What was it doing here in Equestria."
Raiju, now realizing what he had said out loud, tried to calm everypony down. "OH...wait, there is nothing to worry about. He was not here for anything; it was all just a huge misunderstanding."
"Really? That's really frightening."twilight said, with a worried look on her face still.
There was a momentary pause, until Raiju finally spoke.
"There is nothing to worry about though, he apologized and left. What do you say that we forget all about this and return to the party?"
Everypony returned to the festivities, although Twilight and her friends still seemed very nervous after hearing what Raiju had said. It was getting late now and most everypony had returned to their homes. Twilight, her friends, and the two princesses met up in the center of town, were nopony else was.
"Well the party seems to be just about wrapped up." Raiju said with a smile. "And Pinkie! Everything you did for all of this was absolutely perfect. And tell Mr. and Mrs. Cake, that their food was delicious."
"Thanks!" She responded with a giggle. "Tonight was crazy fun. That was the biggest, most bestist party I've ever thrown. 'Sept for that giant dragon part, he was kind’ scary. HEY! Do you think he would want some cake? There is a lot-"
They all looked back to where the massive cake was, only to see that it was missing. In its place was a smoldering letter that read.
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Dear Pinkie Pie,
I hope you do not mind, but I saw this cake as I stood outside of town and it looked delicious and I had to try a bite. I know it is a bit selfish of me, so I wanted to apologize. No hard feelings?
-White Fatalis
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She put down the letter and said. "Aww...Why didn't he just ask? I would have wrapped it up for him."
The other ponies started laughing, and after a few moments, Princess Celestia said. "So I guess we really don't need to worry about him then do we."
"Nope." Raiju responded with another big smile. "He was actually looking for my brother, so we have nothing to fear."
They all began taking their leave, so they can go back to their normal lives in the morning. All the way home, with Thundercloud fast asleep on his head, Raiju couldn't stop thinking about what the ancient dragon had said. He quietly said to himself. "Divine Protection...wow...I can't do that...besides, Equestria is no longer in nearly as much danger as before now that both dragons and Jinouga aren't allowed here...I sure hope that won't be necessary in the future."