CH. 1: Upon arrival

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It was a sunny Thursday afternoon in ponyville; the town's newest princess was off in her new castle, sitting quietly by her desk engulfed in a new book while Spike tended to his chores. Applejack slowly walked into her barn; her brow soaked and her legs shaking. Applejack's sister (as well as her other friends) was searching the town for possible ways to get her cutie mark. A stressed Rarity stood in her boutique, slaving over a worn-out sewing machine. A snoring Rainbow Dash spread eagle-style across a make-shift bed of clouds floated across the sky. The shyest of the main six heaved a bag of feed to each bird in her cottage with the help of a certain creature of chaos. And as for Pinkie pie, well...She was...Pinkie Pieing. It was the perfect image of peace and tranquility for the ponies. Unfortunately things were not so peaceful in the human world, the Sahara desert to be exact.

The sand broiled and the air was filled with disorienting rays of heat from the burning sun above; each breath taken singes the lungs. The discarded carcasses of many animals lay scattered across the land decaying over years and years. Completely secluded from any human eyes, two large reptilian creatures (Ryujin and Shinigami) waged bloody war with one another. But these dragons were different from the average beasts found in Equestria's world. They were about the size of teenage dragons but were actually around twenty-two or twenty-five (in pony years). Ryujin -the smaller of the two- was a strong aquamarine color with deafening spikes and intricate yellow eyes that shined as bright as cats' eyes during the night. Shinigami -the larger of the two- had eyes that seemed to host a large red fire of which no one has ever seen. His scales were a magnificent silver that could blind a man given he stared long enough. Both creatures had incomprehensibly amazing wings on their backs that illuminated their entire body, and both were covered in the other's blood. In the distance the remains of an African village smoke high into the sky for satellites and nearby cities to see.

Again and again the two lunged themselves at one another. After a few rounds the two stopped.

Ryujin stood facing his brother with his teeth and claws showing his intent, "Why did you do it?!"

Shinigami smiled casually, "They had it coming."

"First our parents, and now innocent humans."

Shinigami's smile faded, "Arrogant brother, our parents got exactly what they deserved. I, their first born, was pushed out onto the streets while you received help and countless Tudors to master your magic."

"I tried to find you; tried to bring you back."

"You betrayed me! You took everything from me! And now i'm gonna do the same to you and kill every last weakling on this and any other world I find, since you're so fond of those who are beneath us."

Ryujin gave his brother a deep snarl then zoomed forward with the help of his wings, leaving a ring of dusk and sand flying in the air behind him. A moment later he delivered a powerful blow right in Shinigami's stomach. After spiting up a handful of blood and staggering -but staying up- Shinigami jumped on his brother and began clawing away countless scales and tissue layers. Ryujin screamed in pain and tried desperately to pull his brother's arms away from his face. After a few seconds of struggling, Ryujin's arms fell limp and dropped to the red covered sand. When he thought the job was done and his brother was nothing but a bloody body, Shinigami stood up and cringed at the site of his sibling. suddenly the blooded body on the ground opened its eyes and took a deep breath. Then (with a quick maneuver) Ryujin got up and behind his unsuspecting enemy. Shinigami looked back too late and found himself caught in a choke-hold. He rapidly looked around and began to sweat nervously until he glanced upward. He cracked another smile and stretched his wings. A few flaps and soon both brothers were off the ground and caught in a high-speed grip; the sand beneath swirled high into the air after them. Once they were at a respectable altitude, Shinigami locked eyes with his now former family and grinned.

"Sorry Ryujin, but you lose."

Back in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash slowly blinked and rubbed her eyes. There was a slight breeze that tickled the free feathers of her wings. She smiled and took a deep breath of the cool afternoon air. She looked up; the sun had reached the far western part of the sky. The golden rays of light illuminated her blue coat and rainbow mane. Ponyville had just enough day time left for Dash to get in some last minute practice. She stood up, stretched her legs and wings, and stepped off her cloud. She traveled the skies of Ponyville with the warm sun on her back and sought out her friends to find out what they were up to. She found Pinkie Pie in market and went down to say hi, and to see whether she would help her train.

Dash landed calmly in front of Pinkie and smiled, "Hey Pinkie, what's up? wanna hang out?"

Pinkie could barely stand still, "Are you kidding?! I can't play right now, it's national cupcake day. Aaaaannnnd you know what that means right?"

"Uh....no."

Pinkie rolled her eyes and sighed, "Duuuuuhhhhh; it means I gotta make cupcakes for every-pony I know! And I know a lot of ponies. There's you, Bon bon, Lyra, Octavia, Applejack, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, Scootal-"

"Alright I get it, you have a lot of work to do."

Pinkie nodded, "You bet I do. See ya later Dash."

Pinkie took off in the direction of Sugar-cube corner, leaving a rather confused Rainbow Dash standing in the market.

"That has got to be the strangest mare I have ever met," Dash said shaking her head.

High above the Sahara, Ryujin and Shinigami were still linked. Shinigami charged his arm and elbowed his brother in the kidney; Ryujin gave out a loud groan and lost his grip. Shinigami glanced back and saw his brother cradling his side; he quickly turned and grabbed Ryujin, pinning his arms and wings down. He shifted his position in the air so that he had Ryujin facing the Earth and began to descend at a faster and faster rate. The stinging dust-filled air was forcing its way past them, limiting both dragons' vision. Ryujin struggled to reach the spare knife he always carried under his wing. His claw making its way around the leather-based hilt of the blade. finally in hand, he used the knife to edge his arm away from Shinigami's grip. Closer and closer the two get to the ground but finally Ryujin managed to slip one of his arms out and stab his brother. Ryujin felt as the blade dug into his brother's scales and past his skin, he did not stop until the hilt of the knife touched Shinigami's chest. Shinigami screeched in pain and let go of Ryujin, who (like his brother) looked back to see his enemy holding his wound. Ryujin turned, put his knife back under his wing, and punched Shinigami; sending him flying with a trail of blood leading the way. Ryujin stretched out his wings and soon his speed slowed. He landed safely on the beautiful sands of the desert. The warm sun was engulfing his hole body, sending a feeling of peace even in the mitts of fighting. Shinigami on the other hand had not been so lucky. After being punched he quickly descended in a violent spiral; his spinning slowed as his wings flew open but he was unable to regain control in time. He crashed to the ground, skidding across the rough grains of sand; every impact resulted in a loud grunt. When he finally came to a halt, Shinigami let out another groan and felt a large shortage of breath.

Ryujin walked over to where his brother was lying, "Stop this nonsense brother. The people of Earth Don't have anything to do with this."

Shinigami slowly looked up at his brother, "Why didn't you kill me? You had the perfect opportunity but instead you just punched me."

Ryujin sighed, "I don't want to kill you. We wouldn't have to fight if you would just stop attacking innocents and go home to our world."

Shinigami chuckled, "Your weak."

"I'm just tired of all the killing in our lives, all the death. So I will do what ever it takes to protect as many as I can."

Shinigami rose to one knee and cradled his chest, "Why do you care so much about these....things! They are nothing compared to our kind. We could kill every one of them in a matter of days."

"Which is why we must protect them."

Shinigami stood up with no resistance from Ryujin, "No! I will make you watch as I kill every last human, then I'll go to the next world riddled with pathetic weaklings and do the same there. And when I am finished with all of them, then I will kill you as well."

"Please Shinigami, stop now. I don't want to fight anymore."

"That's because you're just as weak as the humans in this world."

Shinigami leapt towards his brother. He swung his claws, wings, tail, and anything else he could find to put an end to Ryujin. He slashed off scales and ripped off spikes. Ryujin did the best he could but it wasn't enough. Shinigami moved too fast and Ryujin soon enough found a claw coming right towards his left eye. Time slowed as Ryujin dodged just enough to save his vision, but his brother still managed to cut deep into his face, freeing layers of flesh once again. Ryujin was flung back; he let out a terrible scream as blood entered his throat. His breathing quickly changed from steady and focused to rapid and painful. Ryujin sank to his knees trying to clear his throat; Shinigami slowly approached. Ryujin looked up at his brother; when Shinigami was in range he spat blood in his face and rapidly scurried back a few feet. He had been lucky not to lose any teeth, but he could not ignore the blinding pain from the wounds on his face. Ryujin held his hands up to his face; red rays of magic shot from them and began to dissolve his wounds. But before he could completely heal, Shinigami wiped the blood from his eyes and located his brother. As Shinigami began to advance towards him, Ryujin stood up and raised his arms; his hands glowed with magic again and soon a great burst of energy shot from them and echoed to his brother. Shinigami (with a quick jolt of power) broke the sound barrier and dodged the ball of magic and then turned to his brother, smiling.

"Resorting to your cheap tricks now are you?"

"These 'tricks' will help me stop you from rampaging all over Earth, since you give me no choice."

Shinigami snarled, "We'll see."

Elsewhere in Fluttershy's cottage, the wide variety of blue birds, green birds, and robins that stayed there hummed the most gentle song they knew. Fluttershy had just finished feeding all of the animals she cared for and was sitting down for a picnic with Discord and Angel bunny. Angel's face lit up as he looked upon the wide range of vegetables and bowls of sweet flowers. As Discord was about to take another drink of Manehatton brew, he twitched violently as a sharp ZAP ran throughout his entire body. He looked around to find the source of the strange twitch but found nothing.

"Fluttershy, did you feel that?"

Fluttershy looked at Discord then rapidly looked around the room, "Oh my! Is there a draft? We better get you a blanket before you catch a cold."

Discord shook his head, "No, not like that....actually it's probably nothing."

Discord looked down and stared into his tea, thinking. There was a loud knock at the door.

Fluttershy turned to the door, "Oh...um, excuse me a moment."

She answered the door to find none other than Rainbow Dash standing on the other end.

Dash's face lit up, "Hey Fluttershy; You doing anything right now? 'Cause I got some sick new moves I wanna try out. But i'll need an extra hoof."

"Well actually I-," Fluttershy looked back to Discord and Angel.

Dash jumps to a low hover, "Great! These new moves are sure to blow every-pony's horseshoes off," she demonstrates a few spins and twirls, not really listening to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy raised her voice as to be heard.

"Sorry Rainbow," she lowered her voice back to its original volume, "But i'm um...kinda busy right now."

Dash lands in disappointment, "Are ya sure?"

"Oh yes, but you're welcomed to join us," she gestured inside, "I just made some delicious cucumber sandwiches."

Dash took a quick glance inside Fluttershy's home and saw Discord and Angel Bunny sitting around a small table. She saw as Discord enchanted the porcelain tableware to dance around the room, interrupting Angel as he was about to take another bite of salad. Angel looked up to Discord and waved his fist in frustration. Discord sat calmly whistling and ignoring Angel. Dash (nursing a fake smile) turned back to face Fluttershy.

"uh...no thanks, i'll just drop in some other time. See ya."

She took off in a flash to search for another friend that would help her. Fluttershy closed the door once again to return to her picnic.

Dash started to become irritable, "O for two, huh. Well, there's got to be some-pony around here who's free," she flew towards Twilight's castle.

Back in the desert, Ryujin was attacking his brother left and right. Fierce bolts of lighting and concentrated waves of wind and sand flew from his hands but none of his efforts did any true damage. Shinigami slid, jumped, and dispersed almost all that was thrown at him. Ryujin ground his teeth as Shinigami evaded his every move. After the last energy burst left his hand, Ryujin focused on the sand underneath Shinigami. Once again his hands glowed and soon there arose snakes from the sand itself; these snakes immediately solidified and grew larger by the second. Shinigami had neglected to look down and just as he dodged the last of Ryujin's spells and was about to charge, the snakes jumped up. He looked down as they wrapped themselves around his body and proceeded to constrict. Shinigami groaned as he struggled to get an arm or wing free, but he alone could not break the snake's grip by force. He then got an idea and looked at Ryujin with a smile on his face, despite the snakes' force.

"Dragons may be fire-proof Ryujin, but snakes aren't."

Shinigami took a deep breath and soon the scales on and around his throat glowed with the light of the fire that was about to free him. Ryujin felt his sweat drip off his face as he watched. Shinigami looked down at the snakes and released a burst of flame that annihilated the creatures; nothing but ash was left behind. He let out a long breath (now that he could breathe properly).

Shinigami laughed before speaking, "You're gonna have to try harder than that."

Ryujin growled, "Believe me brother, i'm not done yet."

Ryujin and Shinigami locked gazes once again and charged forward; claws and teeth at the ready to ensure as much damage as possible would occur to the other. Time slowed once again as the two kicked up the desert sand with every step. Shinigami's eyes narrowed, his brow wrinkled, and he refused to slow his sprint for any reason. Ryujin's face on the other hand did not share the same hatred; he was running as fast as his brother, he had his claws ready to strike just as his brother did, but on Ryujin's face there was no wrinkled brow or narrowed gaze. He was angry but not hateful. Instead Ryujin remembered the times before his own brother resented him.

The great forests of their native land where leaves blew in the breeze, the hours spent hunting for birds' eggs and boars for dinner with their father, the tall cliffs they used to learn to fly. Ryujin could remember the first girl he and Shinigami fought over, and the first time Shinigami ran away from home. Ryujin had found him sleeping on a bench in an abandoned train station half the world away; he remembered the extremely long fly back home and how furious their parents were. He also remembered leaving home to pursue his talents. And he remembered Shinigami leaving home as well, furious with their family. When Ryujin returned, he found their parents on the floor, not breathing. In his mind he came back to the present; Ryujin now saw what was in front of him, and it was not his brother. In that moment Ryujin realized that his Shinigami had died long ago. He had to face facts and stop this monster to protect Earth and the memory of the Shinigami he knew and grew up with.

The two closed the gap between them in a few seconds. Just before they collided, Ryujin disappeared in a cloud of red magical smog. Before Shinigami knew what was happening Ryujin reappeared behind him and tore away at the scales on his back. The silver that had fallen from Shinigami's body now added new-found luster to the sands below.

Shinigami let out a screech that could have frightened the toughest of men, then turned to face Ryujin.

"YOU ASSHOLE," he bellowed as he swung his arm around to tare at Ryujin.

Ryujin quickly ducked down to gain the advantage, but what he didn't see coming was the large silver tail speeding closer and closer to his head. His reaction was too slow and the tail smashed into his face, sending him flying several meters. When he landed, he moaned and tried his best to get back up. He struggled to stand as he felt his energy start to fade; his legs trembling under the weight of his body. Finally on his feet, Ryujin saw Shinigami high in the air and advancing toward him at super-sonic speeds; blood was flying from his stab wound. Ryujin widened his gaze and looked around but there was nothing in sight but a bunch of sand. He did the only thing he could think to do at the moment. He opened a portal to the closest world there was.

As all this was going on, Fluttershy and Discord were still having their lovely picnic, although Discord started to feel more and more uneasy. Suddenly he received the same feeling he had earlier, but this time it was much more intense. The zap forced such a twitch that he almost dropped his tea.

Discord shook his head, "That can not possibly be right."

Fluttershy looked up from her plate, "What was that?"

"Really, it's nothing," he looked down at his tea and lowered his voice, "I hope."

Way across Equestria in the great city of Manehatton, there was a sudden magical disturbance. The space in the middle of the street became distorted. Every-pony around stopped to experience what was happening. More and more gathered around in amazement. They were soon baffled by the huge portal that emerged from the distorted space. Through this gateway, suddenly poured tuns and tuns of sand and dust. The ponies were riddled with sand-filled lungs and could not stop coughing for several minutes. The amazement in their eyes was quickly replaced by worry and fear. They slowly back away.

On the other end of this portal Shinigami was still hurtling towards his adversary. Surprised by the appearance of this portal, Shinigami frantically flapped his wings but could not stop himself in time and fell straight into it. Seeing as though he had escaped certain death Ryujin let out a sigh of relief; he even took a moment to rest before flying into the portal himself to end this dangerous fight.

Soon the frightened ponies witnessed the two dragons fly out of the gateway and slide against the cobblestone roads. They both felt the rough road against their wounds; it was several seconds before either of them tried to get up. As the two of them struggled to their feet they looked around at the new world they now stood in. Shinigami looked at Ryujin and growled.

"Where have you sent me?!"

Ryujin chuckled, "Well I had to do something."

"Fine, it doesn't matter anyway. If I can't kill the people of Earth, i'll just have to settle for these...," Shinigami looked around, "...Ponies."

The ponies -hearing this- lowered their ears in horror and started galloping in every which way they could to get away. Shinigami charged after one and captured him by his horn. The pony squealed and struggled to get free. As his brother was about to end the innocent unicorn's life with a quick slice, Ryujin let his morals take over. He took off, breaking the sound barrier with very little effort. He landed a swift blow on Shinigami's chest (the same place he had stabbed him), forcing him to release his hostage. The power behind Ryujin's punch sent Shinigami into a nearby building. On impact the corner of the building cracked with pressure.

Ryujin caught the pony before he could hit the ground; he slowly let him down.

Ryujin looked at the pony calmingly, "You gonna be alright?"

The terrified pony looked at Ryujin, "I think so...thanks."

There was a slight noise behind them. The unicorn gasped in fear before turning and galloping away as fast as he could. Ryujin looked back to where he last saw Shinigami land. But to his surprise, Shinigami was gone. Ryujin quickly began to panic and vigorously looked around. Suddenly he heard a large 'Whoosh' above him. Ryujin looked up just in time to see Shinigami crash down on him with unbearable force. A large CRACK echoed from Ryujin's ribs. The ground beneath the two brothers cracked and split as Ryujin was slammed. Shinigami smiled and slowly stood up and saw his brother defeated. He was about to laugh when he suddenly received another wave of pain from his chest. He held his stab wound with one hand and covered his torn back with the other. He clenched in pain for a few seconds until it became manageable. After this, he lowered his arms and ignored the pain, then examined the world more closely.

Shinigami took a deep breath and grinned, "Now, where should I start?"

He flapped his wings and took off in search of his first victims. Ryujin still laid on the road; blood leaking from his many wounds. He slowly regained consciousness and painfully rose to his feet once again. He cradled his ribs and tried to see which way Shinigami had flown, but he was gone. Suddenly the many ponies that had taken cover, emerged from the houses and buildings they hid behind. One brave Pegasus flew out into the street.

"He flew west, in the direction of Ponyville," the pony said hesitantly.

Ryujin looked westward and then turned back to face the pony, "Thanks."

Ryujin quickly raised a hand to the ribs that were broken and sent more magical sparks to heal them. After each rib cracked back together, Ryujin let out a soft squeal. Once his ribs were fixed he took a deep breath, stood up, and took off after Shinigami as fast as he could (once again breaking the sound barrier). The ponies in Manehatton watched -mouths open- as he flew away.

The ponies of Ponyville were completely oblivious to what was happening. Rainbow Dash was just arriving at Twilight's castle. She looked at the great structure and smiled with pride and wonder in her eyes. She stepped inside and gave witness to the crystal-like structure as well as her very own throne of loyalty.

"Oh yeah! A cool throne for the coolest pony!" she said with great enthusiasm.

Twilight lifted her head from her book when she heard Dash's voice and came out to meet her in the hall.

Twilight was delighted to have her friend visit, "Hi Rainbow, what can I do ya for?"

Before she could answer, Dash and Twilight heard what sounded like a big gust of wind come into Ponyville. They turned and immediately started to hear the screams of dozens of ponies. They both flew outside to see what all the panic was about. What they found shocked them to the greatest extent.

Every-pony around was galloping away in fear, as a silver dragon figure touched down in the middle of the street. Pinkie pie took off to seek shelter in Sugar-cube corner and Rarity locked herself in her boutique (making very sure to close the drapes). Shinigami flew around the peaceful town and captured every pony he could get his hands on; He rounded up Derpy, Lyra, Ms. Cheerilee, and many more. In the past, Twilight would refrain from jumping to conclusions about strangers, but in this case she had no doubt that this dragon was evil. Both Twilight and Dash were left speechless at the sight of Shinigami; their jaws were dropped. When the two came to their senses they quickly flew back inside the castle.

Dash flew away from the door with widened eyes; breathing rapidly, "What the hay is that thing and what is it doing in Equestria?!"

Twilight looked out the windows at Shinigami, "It looks like a dragon but I've never seen one like that before."

Spike ran out from around the corner and zoomed to twilight's side. he cowered behind her; his legs shaking vigorously. The monster outside was still going on a rampage.

Spike screamed, "Twilight! There's a big scary dragon monster outside! You gotta use your friendship-castle-beam-thing to drive it away."

Dash flew to Twilight and nonchalantly hid behind her with Spike, "Yeah, Spike's right Twilight. You have to do something. I mean...normally I could take a monster like that any day, but better safe than sorry right."

Twilight looked at her friends and nervously gulped. She had never used the castle for something like this before.

"Alright...i'll give it a shot."

Twilight took a deep breath and quickly galloped to the center of the great hall, and (with a spark of magic) activated her castle's friendship ray. Shinigami was outside and still rounding up the ponies; he put them all in one area to be dealt with all at once. After he landed, he raised his claw to strike the terrified ponies in front of him when suddenly his ear twitched. He looked back to see what the strange noise was and gave witness to the giant castle that lay before him. The huge crystals, the fascinating flags and banners, and the towering front door all left him in awe. A closer examination showed that something on the roof of this castle was powering up. Shinigami's open-mouthed gaze closed; he growled and jumped from the street and up toward the machine. The captured ponies watched as Shinigami flew away. once he was gone, the ponies looked at one another in mutual understanding. Then they all simultaneously galloped away and hid in the nearest building, except Derpy who still sat there with her head turned in confusion.

Back at Fluttershy's cottage, the group was finishing their picnic when a strange sound roared from town. Discord's ears fluttered and his head shot up. He quickly dropped his tea and stood up. Fluttershy and Angel bunny looked up at Discord; Fluttershy was about to speak when Discord shot out the door.

"Oh my!" Fluttershy said as Discord ran from the table.

She and angel quickly stood up and followed Discord outside to see for herself what was happening. After she gave witness to the travesty in town, Fluttershy let out a squeal and charged back into the safety of her home. When she looked out the window she noticed that she left Angel outside and quickly flew out to bring him in with her. Discord was still outside watching the dragon fly up to Twilight's castle.

"Oh dear, that can't be good."

Shinigami touched down on the roof of the castle and looked upon the great machine that glowed with magic; he examined the machine and reached a hand out to touch it. The device quickly sent a rough shock of power and zapped his hand away. He growled and grabbed hold of the machine . Twilight, Dash, and Spike were still inside; the ceiling rumbled and a loud zap followed by a growl echoed down to the ponies. The three of them looked up and lowered their ears; a loud CRACK came from above and dust fell to their heads. On the roof Shinigami raised the machine his above his head; as he was just about to throw, a sharp pain came from his chest. Shinigami cringed and his legs withered; he quickly threw the machine off the edge of the roof and down to the streets. After this, he dropped to his knees and held the throbbing hole in his chest. He sat there for several minutes until the pain subsided.

Shinigami starred off into the horizon and growled, "Damn you Ryujin."

Inside the castle, the ponies (and Spike) gazed up at the ceiling which was producing more worrying sounds. once the noise stopped, Twilight and Dash looked at one another then back up towards the roof. Spike looked around and spoke up.

"Is...is it gone?" his voice echoed through the room.

Twilight quickly flew to Spike and covered his mouth with her hoof. Every pony looked around in silence with nervous sweat dripping down their brows. Shinigami stood up and looked to the street; his captives had gone. He stretched his wings and prepared to take off when, again, his ear twitched. He slowly looked to his feet and smiled with a low growl. Then he jumped up to gain power for the drop. Dash's ears flicked and she took another look up. She jumped to a hover as she recognized the sound of wings flapping.

She began to float backward, "Uh...Twilight."

A moment later Shinigami crashed through the ceiling and landed on one of six thrones in the hall. The debris from the roof fell down all around them; some of the larger pieces hit Twilight and Spike on the head, knocking them out cold. Dash flew back to avoid the falling rocks; she managed to escape the architectural avalanche with only a few scratches. Shinigami slowly stood up and brushed himself off, then looked on to where Twilight and Spike lay.

Dash also looked at her unconscious friends and clenched in anger, "Alright that does it!"

Shinigami turned to her; a smug grin across his face, "And what are you planning on doing, little pony?"

Dash spread her wings, "I'll show you a little pony!"

She took off in a ray of furious Rainbow colors. Once she got close enough, Dash turned and bucked Shinigami in the face as hard as she could. Shinigami looked at her -unaffected- and let out a loud laugh.

"You're gonna have to use something much stronger if you're gonna get through dragon scales."

Outside Fluttershy's cottage, Discord stood and saw Shinigami crash into twilight's castle. He quickly looked around for several second before sighing in annoyance.

"I guess I'LL have to do something about this."

With one quick snap of his finger, Discord vanished. Shinigami raised his hand to strike down Dash when -right before him- their was a quick poof of strange magic. Once the smoke had faded, Discord found himself between Shinigami and Dash.

He looked at Shinigami curiously, "Hmmm... You're not the dragon I remember. Where's the other one?"

Dash looked at Discord with an alarmed expression, "Other one?! You mean there's more than one! And you've met him before?!"

Shinigami looked at Discord, "And who are you, little insect?"

Discord looked Shinigami up and down, "Who are you calling 'little,' we're practically the same height."

Shinigami wrinkled his brow and snarled at Discord.

"Fine I don't care anyway. I'm going to kill you no matter who you are."

Shinigami raised his arm again to strike, but just as he was about to slash he was interrupted a second time. Ryujin crashed through the side of the castle and tackled his brother. Shinigami lay on the ground; the wind completely knocked out of him. Ryujin stood up and looked at the ponies; he let out a short sigh of relief. He then picked his brother up by his spikes and heaved him high above his head; Shinigami felt helpless in this moment. Then (with one great back-swing) Ryujin threw his brother through the other side of the castle and onto the streets. Dash and Discord faced Ryujin with their jaws dropped; they looked at the state of him, his body was beaten and bruised. All over he had patches of missing scales and bleeding cuts.

Ryujin looked back at them, "You two okay?"

Dash was speechless; in her mind all she could think was...."So...awesome." Of course she was unaware of this dragon's intentions.

She flew up to the suspicious dragon, "Who are you?"

Ryujin was about to answer when he noticed Discord.

He turned his head, "Discord?"

Discord's face lit up, "I knew the magic from earlier today was yours. But I haven't seen you in years."

Dash looked at Discord angrily, "Wait, so you knew these dragons were in Equestria earlier today!"

"Well I-"

Dash floated closer and closer to Discord, "And you didn't bother to tell any-pony!"

Discord shrugged his shoulders, "Oopsy,"

Dash was about to thrash Discord when she suddenly remembered about Twilight and Spike. She turned and faced Ryujin.

"Discord said you have magic. Can you help my friends?"

Ryujin looked at an unconscious Twilight and Spike. The site of another dragon among these ponies surprised him. He walked over to them and removed the ruble that surround their bodies. He knelt down next to them and focused; his hands started to glow once more and soon the ruby light covered twilight and Spike. Before every-pony's eyes, the cuts and bruises on their bodies healed and they slowly regained consciousness. Twilight blinked and moaned in aching pain; Spike soon followed in the same fashion. The two of them looked up and stared into their healer's eyes for a few seconds. Then they let out a huge scream that echoed in Ryujin's ears. Ryujin stood up and shook his head; he rubbed his ears in irritation.

"No Twilight, Spike, he helped us," Dash explained.

Twilight quickly turned to Dash, "He what?"

"This dragon saved us from the other one, and he healed you,"

Ryujin turned back to the group, "My name is Ryujin."

Dash looked at him with her head slightly turned, "Ryu-what?"

Ryujin shook his head one last time and stared at the ponies,"It doesn't matter right now. We have more pressing matters at hand."

He quickly looked towards the hole in the wall he had created. Shinigami was no where to be seen; Ryujin widened his gaze and frantically flew out of the castle to located his brother. He found Shinigami standing in the middle of the street and looked even angrier than before. The two brothers growled at one another then charged forward with great speed. As they met, Shinigami caught his brother's hand and pulled him close for a knee right in the gut. The force of the blow caused Ryujin to spit up another small puddle of blood. He stumbled back a few feet but recovered quickly and flew forward. He delivered an uppercut to Shinigami's jaw; his head flew back and he let out a scream. After he regained himself Shinigami ran forward, throwing punch after punch and Ryujin did the same. The both of them were executing several beautiful combos; it was a big cloud of dodges, hits, and counter-hits. Dash flew to the hole in the wall and watched with great interest; she imitated some of the dragons' moves against a imaginary foe in the air.

Twilight lit up with an idea, She turned to Spike.

"Spike, if you're not too hurt I need you to write a letter to Princess Celestia right away."

Discord turned to Twilight and shook his head, "Twilight, must you make everything so complicated."

Twilight turned to Discord, "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Discord suddenly snapped his fingers and disappeared in another POOF of magical smoke. After a few seconds he reappeared; this time he was accompanied by Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. The three of the princesses immediately turned to face the streets and saw why they were summoned. Spike and Twilight quickly took notice of the princesses and bowed to greet them (Dash was too busy watching the fight to notice they had arrived).

"Rainbow!" Twilight yelled.

Dash turned and saw all of the princesses is the room with her. She innocently lowered her ears and bowed before walking up to them. The group looked at one another in mass confusion.

"Where did they come from and why are they here?" Twilight asked eagerly.

Dash intervened, "Who cares about all that. The greenish looking one saved our lives, so I say we lend him a hoof."

Before any-pony could object, Dash flew out to where the fight was raging on. The two dragon brothers were now locked, with their arms latching onto the other's shoulders. Dash came close and bucked Shinigami right in the face but again Shinigami seemed to not be bothered by her hit. He growled at her; his face full of anger and annoyance. Again and again she kicked and kicked him, hoping one of her hits would do some damage.

Ryujin screamed at Dash, "What are you doing! You're gonna get yourself killed!"

"Don't worry about me, i'll be fine."

As all of this chaos was going on, Applejack was returning to town from her chores at the farm, where she had not heard the commotion of the fight. She carried two bags full of apples on her back. She just reached the market district when she saw Dash fighting with two dragons, she dropped her jaw and her apples.

"What the hay is going on here?"

She galloped forward to the aid of her friend. When Dash saw Applejack running toward them, she smiled.

"Applejack, hit the silver one!" Dash called.

"If you say so."

Applejack obeyed and started bucking Shinigami left and right. All these distractions were making Shinigami extremely annoyed. He suddenly shoved Ryujin away and swung his tail around, knocking Dash and Applejack away. He then went over to them and picked them both up by their manes. The spikes at the end of his wings were ready at their throats. Ryujin was about to charge, but stopped.

Dash struggled and tried to fly from Shinigami's grip, "Get off of me!"

Applejack tried kicking Shinigami, but to no effect, "What the hay do ya think you're doing, let us down ya creep!"

"Shut up!" Shinigami yelled, then turned to Ryujin.

"Wait, stop!" Ryujin pleaded.

Shinigami laughed, "You see Ryujin, you're just as weak as these ponies. Now watch as they die slowly and painfully"

Dash and Applejack lowered their ears in fear and desperately struggled to get free. Ryujin looked around and began breathing very rapidly. All was lost when suddenly, several bursts of magical rays shot out from Twilight's broken castle. Ryujin looked over to see all four princesses fiercely hitting Shinigami with everything they had. As Ryujin was about to take advantage of the situation, two ponies (one pink and one white) charged passed him to help free Dash and Applejack.

"Sorry for the delay Twilight," Rarity said as she and Pinkie arrived at the scene.

Pinkie looked to Twilight, "Yeah, I mean, when we saw that big scary dragon we all screamed as loud as we could. Then we ran around in big circles. It looked some thing like this."

Pinkie was about to demonstrate when Twilight suddenly reminded her of the situation.

"Pinkie, could you leave the performance for later, we kinda have more important things at hoof."

Pinkie innocently nodded and then galloped forward with Rarity. The two of them joined their friends in battling Shinigami. Ryujin just stood there; this time he had his jaw dropped. Every-pony was helping him suppress his brother, yet he had never met them. Even Discord was shooting a few magical shots at Shinigami. Between four princesses, one Pegasus, two earth ponies , and one unicorn, Shinigami found himself overwhelmed. He had no choice but to drop Applejack and Dash. Once the two were back on their hooves, they started fighting again.

After a few minutes of fighting off the ponies, Shinigami felt his energy start to fade; his moves slowed and his breathing became heavier. He suddenly growled, jumped up, and flew away from them, but Dash was right behind him. When she got close enough, she delivered yet another blow to Shinigami's head; this time he was sent falling back to the ground. Ryujin was there to catch him before he hit the road. He looked at his brother in his arms, beaten by sheer exhaustion from fighting what he called "weaklings." For one moment, Ryujin thought that this would teach his brother a lesson and perhaps change him.

Shinigami tried one last time to strike at his brother, but Ryujin easily blocked the pathetic swing. This act showed that there was no hope for changing his brothers mind, he was gone. Ryujin looked at Shinigami and threw him to the ground. The princesses -and every other pony that fought- walked over to Shinigami; they all stood over him. Shinigami saw his brother, with all the ponies standing at his back, then let out a low growl.

"Fine, have your ponies for now," he said as he struggled to stand up.

Ryujin yelled, "Give up!"

Shinigami looked around, then suddenly spotted the Ever-free Forest. He quickly took off and disappeared behind the plants.

"I don't think so," Dash said as she prepared to race after him.

Ryujin grabbed her shoulder, "Let him go. He's too weak to do any harm right now anyway."

Rainbow dash looked at him sternly, but decided to agree.

With Shinigami temporarily gone, every-pony in town emerged from their hiding places. They had all witnessed the spectacle that had just occurred. With the whole town gathered around, they looked to Ryujin for an explanation.

Twilight walked up to Ryujin, "So...what was that all about."

Dash joined her there, "Yeah, why were you two destroying our town?!"

Before Ryujin could answer, he felt all of the fatigue that he had been ignoring come back to him. he fell to the ground in pain and exhaustion. The ponies looked at him curiously.

"Well we better get him to the hospital," Dash said, attempting to raise Ryujin by the shoulders.

Twilight stopped her, "Wait rainbow, we don't even know who he is or what he's doing here."

Dash looked to twilight with a bit of surprise in her face, "He saved my life, and healed you and Spike."

Twilight looked at Ryujin hesitantly, then turned back to every-pony.

"What do you think Princess?"

Celestia looked to twilight confidently, "I agree with Rainbow Dash, this particular dragon seemed to want to help after all."

Luna stepped forward, "I agree as well Twilight."

Every-pony around grabbed Ryujin and carried him to the hospital. Once in the room, the doctors were stumped.

"How are we supposed to operate on a creature we know nothing about?" one of them asked.

Then, before every-pony's eyes, the wounds on Ryujin's body began to heal themselves.

"That's impossible! Dragons don't have magic," Twilight said.

Discord walked to the bed, "Ryujin is not like the dragons of our world,"

Celestia looked to Discord alarmingly, "Discord, you know him."

"Oh yes, we met many years ago; he was still quite young back then."

Every-pony looked to Discord in shock. Just as Twilight was about to ask another question, Ryujin opened his eyes ever so slowly. He looked around the room at all the ponies that surrounded him.

"Where am I?"

"Your in the hospital, sugar-cube," Applejack answered.

Rarity looked to the dragon, "We never did thank you for saving our lives."

"I could say the same," he added

"Yeah, but who was that other dragon and why did he try to kill us," Dash asked.

Ryujin let out a sigh and began to speak.

"His name is Shinigami."

"Shini-what?" asked Dash.

"Shinigami," Ryujin corrected, raising his voice, "and he is...was my brother."

Every-pony looked at Ryujin and let out a small gasp.

Ryujin continued, "And my name is Ryujin. We are both dragons of another world."

Dash turned her head, "Okay...but why were you fighting your own brother to the death?"

"Well I suppose I will have to start at the beginning to answer that."

Pinkie Pie looked extremely excited, "Ooooo, magical dragon life story time."

Ryujin let out a small chuckle at Pinkie's comment, then began he life's tale.

CH. 2: A hero's tale

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Ryujin started his tale.

"Twenty-five years ago in another world, a married couple of dragons had a son and named him Shinigami. During that time, Shinigami was my parents' pride and joy (yes I know that sounds cheesy). Growing up, Shinigami was always a quick learner; he was walking when he was just six months old, and he spoke his first words when he was about one and a half."

"That's quite impressive," Rarity said.

"My parents thought the same thing, or so I'm told."

Ryujin continued.

"As time went on, Shinigami came to consider himself to be greater than anyone he knew. He continued to think this way through his entire life."

Applejack turned to Dash, "Ah think ah know some-pony that fits that description."

Dash looked at Applejack with a questioning expression on her face.

"Because of his high-and-mighty attitude, you can probably guess he didn't have many friends. Then three years later, I was born."

Dash and Applejack started making faces at one another until Twilight caught on. She quickly separated the two and went back to listening.

Pinkie jumped up, "And then he became incredibly jealous and spiraled out of control, destroying thousands of lives in a drunken rage!"

Ryujin paused in shock for a few seconds before speaking.

"What's your name, strange pink pony?"

"My name's Pinkie Pie, but my friends call me Pinkie, and I have a lot of friends. I mean, there's Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy....."

"Um...Pinkie," Twilight said as Pinkie continued to list names.

She raised her voice, "PINKIE!"

She looked at Twilight, startled.

Pinkie innocently lowered her ears, "Oh...sorry."

The ponies that were listening couldn't help but let out a small giggle; even Celestia found it amusing and cute.

"Well Pinkie, not to put a damper on your creative spirit, but by this time in my brother's life he was just three years old. So I doubt he could go on any type of 'Drunken rage.'"

Pinkie sat back down (a little embarrassed). Dash spoke up.

"Anyway, what happened next?"

"Of course, back to the topic at hand. Despite what many may have thought, Shinigami was actually delighted to hear of my existence. For my first few years he tried to teach me as much as he could (math, vocabulary, ETC). He wanted the two of us to be the smartest and most powerful dragons around. But of course, he never truly saw me as an equal."

Dash walked to the front of the room, "Booorrrinnngg! Get to the good stuff, not all this 'brotherly love.'"

Rarity turned to her, "Darling, don't be rude."

"Actually, I agree. We can skip all the unnecessary stuff. Now lets see..." Ryujin scratched his chin, "...Oh yes; When Shinigami was about ten, he became interested in fighting after he had witnessed a dispute break out during school. It fascinated him to see how much one dragon could beat another so easily."

Most of the ponies started paying very close attention at this point.

"That day, he raced home and pleaded to our father to teach him to fight. But our father insisted that we must first learn to fly before we can learn to fight."

"Why did you two have to learn to fly first?" Luna asked.

"Well where I come from, when dragons fought they would use anything they could to win; this included their wings. Because of this, other species on our world would call our kind barbaric; we are dragons after all. But our father was different; he preferred not to fight if he could. Shinigami did not share my father's philosophy, but he still agreed to teach us. I guess he saw how much my brother wanted to learn and just gave in. But flying came first, so he took me and Shinigami to the cliffs."

It was now, that Dash became interested.

"You used cliffs to learn to fly? How high were they?! Were there big dangerous rocks at the bottom?"

Twilight and some of the others rolled their eyes.

"Actually, yes there were."

Dash smiled, "Awesome."

"Yes you see, where I come from, learning to fly was both a dangerous and necessary task. But despite this, it was actually quite simple. First you learned the wing positions and then you learned to get a feel for the wind under you. We also prepared for extreme weather and various hazards. When our father thought we were ready, he threw us from the cliffs."

Every-pony in the room gasped in horror.

"But he did catch you if you couldn't fly right away," Cadence assumed.

Ryujin looked at her and simply said...

"Nope."

Another gasp emerged from the ponies.

Dash jumped to a hover, "Awesome!"

Twilight looked at her, shocked, "Rainbow, that's horrible!"

Dash landed innocently, "Well yeah, Horrible. That's what I meant."

Twilight gave another look to Dash.

"True, many dragons died in their pursuit. Luckily, both me and my brother seemed to be naturals."

Dash proudly stood up in good posture, "I know how that feels."

Again some of the ponies rolled their eyes.

"After we had successfully avoided certain death, we drove ourselves in pursuit of perfection; spending all our free time learning new tricks and achieving faster speeds. After some time, we eventually learned to break the sound barrier with ease."

Every-pony was intrigued; silence filled the room to avoid missing any details.

"How'd you manage that?" Dash asked eventually.

"Believe me when I say it took a while."

Dash moved closer to the bed, "Ya know, I have been known to break the sound barrier myself. I call it a soni-"

"Can y'all please exchange war stories later," Applejack interrupted.

The two of them turned to Applejack. Dash sat back down.

"Right, right. Anyway, when our father was satisfied with our ability to fly, he decided he would teach us to fight. But he insisted that we only fight to defend ourselves. Shinigami was extremely excited. I on the other hand was more interested with my flying, to be honest, but I figured that it wouldn't hurt to learn a thing or two alongside my brother. I-"

Suddenly there was a noise coming from outside the hospital. Ryujin turned to the window behind him and saw three little ponies peaking in. When the three of them realized they were caught, they quickly ducked down in hopes that they would not be called out. They whispered to each other behind the wall.

"I told you they would see us," Sweetie Belle said.

"So what if they saw us. They can't expect us to just wait quietly at home while the town is a mess and there's a dragon here," Scootaloo responded.

"Yeah, but I'm supposed ta be at home with Big Mac after ah broke our new plow last week. Applejack's gonna be awfully mad," Apple Bloom worried.

Applejack had seen that her sister had disobeyed her orders. She had a stern look upon her face.

"Apple Bloom! You get y'urself over here right now little filly. And the rest of ya too."

Apple Bloom lowered her head, "Told ya."

The three fillies shamefully walked inside to where every-pony was gathered. They got a definitive look at Ryujin then turned to Applejack.

"Ah thought ah told you to stay at the farm with Big Macintosh on account of you breakin' our new plow."

Apple Bloom looked at her sister with her ears down.

She lowered her voice, "We just came into town for a second. When we saw all the rubble and every-pony here at the hospital, we wanted ta know what was up."

Applejack continued to scorn the filly, "You were grounded and ya disobeyed my direct order."

Scootaloo looked to Apple Bloom, "How the hay did you manage to break a brand new plow anyway?"

Apple Bloom shook her head, "It's a long story."

Twilight stepped in, "Uh, Applejack? Not that it's any-pony's business, but could you perhaps do this some other time."

Applejack had realized that she was creating a scene in front of every-pony, including the Princesses. She slowly looked around to find every-pony staring at her.

"Right, uh...sorry."

Scootaloo jumped up onto Ryujin's hospital bed, "So how long did it take you to learn how to fly? How high did you go? What did it feel like to finally be able to fly?"

Ryujin leaned back, "Well I can't remember exactly, but it was quite amazing."

Applejack grabbed Scootaloo and sat her back down next to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. She didn't send the fillies home, but she gave them a look that clearly said, "You won't be getting off scot-free." Ryujin continued with the story.

"Anyway, the first few days of training to fight were extremely vigorous. My father thought that the best way to learn something was to do it. When he said this to us, I thought he meant that we were gonna go out and pick fights with strangers. Fortunately, he would never allow that and we just participated in sparring matches. Occasionally my brother would get carried away and treat it like it was a real fight. He didn't mean any harm; he was just a hot-head. And of course he always won."

"How long did it take the two of you to learn to defend yourselves?" asked Celestia.

"It took about seven years for us to become satisfied with our skills. By that time I was fifteen and both me and Shinigami had matured considerably. Of course, we didn't spend all of our time training. We had many friends, went to school, and participated in sports. However, it was also around this time that Shinigami began to change for the worst."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dash asked.

"I grew to pride myself on my skills in fighting and flying, but I still couldn't beat Shinigami. I wasn't jealous; in fact I applauded his talent and so did our parents. Unfortunately, his pride got the best of him. At school he started to show off and even picked fights just so he could prove that he was better than everyone. Eventually he became rather popular around town and even got some job opportunities because of his strength."

"But...," Rarity said, guessing what was coming next.

"But one day, we were sparring like usual and we had both gotten very tired. However Shinigami was not satisfied with a draw when I suggested it; he wanted to win. He kept coming at me and I soon felt as though he sought to do real damage; I didn't know what to do. Then suddenly, a great power took hold of my entire body. My hands began to glow bright red and then a big burst of energy shot out of them and knocked Shinigami to the ground."

Twilight turned her head, "But I didn't know dragons had magic."

"Oh yes, many dragons had magic in my world. I was lucky enough to be one of them."

"Could anybody else in your family use magic?" Luna asked.

"My mother could, but she only knew a few spells to help around the house. My father and brother showed no signs of magical talent that I know of."

"How did your brother react?" Sweetie belle asked.

Ryujin looked down to the little filly, "Well little one, with my first spell, I had won our sparring match; Shinigami was not happy about that. It angered him to be beaten by someone he considered below him, even if I was his brother. I went to inform my parents of what happened and they were astounded. They congratulated me with my favorite dish that night, swirled gem cake."

Spike emerged from behind Twilight, "Mmmm, that sounds delicious."

Ryujin smiled when another dragon entered the conversation.

"Believe me fellow dragon, it is. But at dinner Shinigami fell silent; a sense of bitterness on his face. I tried to cheer him up, but he wouldn't listen to me."

Princesses Celestia and Luna took a moment and looked at one another in memory of their falling out years ago.

"After that day, I practiced and used my magic during our fights; I became very proud of my gifts, even if I only knew a few tricks. At school, I'm ashamed to say that I started to show off just like my brother. I suppose that's one reason Shinigami turned out the way he did. Soon, the popularity that had once belonged to my brother had shifted to me; I even got some of the same job offers that he did. When he heard of this, it angered him greatly and he eventually formed a big grudge against me. He thought I was trying to steal his fame, and he refused to talk to me."

"Talk about a drama queen," Rarity said.

The ponies around looked at Rarity blandly.

"What?" she said innocently.

"I turned every job down," Ryujin continued, "to avoid making him any more bitter than he already was. But that seemed to make him even angrier than before. He thought that I considered myself to be 'too good' for the opportunities that were presented to him. One day, my parents learned of a teacher that would be willing to help me study my magic. I was delighted, but this act seemed to push Shinigami over the edge; he thought that our parents liked me more than him."

"Who was the teacher," Twilight asked.

"Well over the years there were many. In fact one of those teachers is in this room with us," Ryujin gestured toward Discord.

Dash chuckled, "Who, Discord?"

Discord had been messing with the various ponies in the room with little pranks when he heard his name. He turned to see every-pony looking at him.

"I honestly never expected to meet you again," Ryujin said to him.

"Really? Discord actually helped some-pony," Dash said, surprised.

Discord folded his arms and walked forward, "Why is that so hard to believe? And here I thought that we were friends."

Discord gave Dash a fake smile.

"I admit he wasn't my most quiet or grounded teacher, but he did teach me a thing or two. (You know, when he wasn't playing tricks or making inanimate objects come to life)."

"Oh come now, those were some of my best jokes."

Ryujin ignored Discord's comment and resumed the story.

"Well anyway, before I left to learn and study magic, Shinigami disappeared; ran away from home. I went out to search for him. It took a few days to find the bastard; turns out he was taking shelter in an abandoned train station which was used many years ago by another, flightless, species. When I found him I suspected that he had realized he had nowhere to go, so he silently followed me home.

"I'm guessing your parents were pretty mad," Sweetie Belle said.

"Oh yes, in fact I distinctly remember my father screaming as loud as he knew how. My brother stood there in silence with a concerning expression on his face. The next day was the day I left for training. Shinigami seemed to be full of joy; as I was leaving he walked up to me and gave me a hug, which was extremely suspicious behavior for him. At first I thought that the running away may have changed him, but then he started to squeeze me and even cut me with one of his claws. It was then that I realized he was just playing nice to keep our parents happy."

"Then you just left?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, I went on and traveled to many places with my teachers. When I got to the point where one teacher had nothing left to teach, he passed me on to the next. I eventually became very well-rounded in the ways of magic."

"What'd ya do after you were done study'n?" Applejack asked.

"At this point, I figured I had spent enough time on the road and decided to go home; start a life. When I arrived it was dark and I was very tired. I landed on the front porch and knocked, expecting to see my parents and brother and the surprised expressions on their faces. There was no answer. I turned the knob to find that the door was unlocked; my parents would never go to bed without locking the door. I figured something was wrong and walked inside."

Every-pony was paying very close attention. Ryujin hesitated before finishing the story.

"The entire room was dark; I walked through the living room and flipped the light switch. Once I could see I began searching for my parents, who were nowhere to be seen. I Looked up the stairs and saw their bedroom door damaged and wide open. I made my way up the stairs, not knowing what I would find and fearing the worst. I peaked around the corner and inside the master bedroom.....I saw my mother and father on the floor....their bodies had been mutilated and torn to pieces."

The ponies in the room fell silent in horror; Applejack covered her little sister's ears, as well as her friends'. Ryujin struggled to finish the story.

"There was blood....everywhere, but I still checked their pulses. I think it was because I was in shock and didn't believe what I was seeing. I fell to my knees....I had not seen my parents in five years and now....I would never get to talk to them again."

Ryujin kept talking, holding back the tears in his eyes as to not seem weak. After all, dragons are proud creatures and crying was a sign of weakness. Scootaloo, Sweetie belle, and Apple Bloom pushed away Applejack's hooves so they could hear.

Ryujin gripped the sides of the bed, "Deep within me, I knew who had done this to my parents."

"Your brother," Dash assumed.

"Yes."

"What did you do," Twilight asked.

Ryujin calmed his 'feels' and his voice went back to normal.

"Well first, I buried my parents and cleaned up the....mess in the house."

"But then you went after your brother, right?" Dash asked.

"True, I did look for him for a while, but I knew it was hopeless. The only way I would find him is if he made some stupid mistake or he sought me out."

"So, you just let him go?" Scootaloo asked.

"Little one, revenge only leads to more pain. You'd be wise to learn that now," Luna added.

"I couldn't agree more. So I moved into my Parents house and that's where I lived for the next two years. Then one day, I received a letter from one of my old teachers; he had moved to the human world sometime before. The letter informed me that my brother was there and aimed to do terrible things."

"So you left to finish the job and get even," dash said.

"Yes, I left home to take care of my brother, but it was not because I wanted revenge. All through my life I have come to cherish those who are not as strong or powerful as I was. I went to protect the people of Earth, who would have no defense against a dragon. If I couldn't....More children would experience the same pain I had."

"But why did he go to the human world in the first place," asked Twilight, "and how did he get there, you said he didn't have magic."

Celestia turned to her ex-student, "There are many naturally found portals to different worlds. I seem to remember you going through one yourself to retrieve your crown."

"Yes, my brother seemed to have found one of these portals. Anyway, Shinigami always thought that I was beneath him, and when I received his popularity, He became very hateful. He came to hate all that weren't as big or strong as him, and wanted to show how much more powerful he was."

"I'm guessin' things didn't turn out the way he wanted huh," Applejack said.

Ryujin looked down, "I wish that were true. When I opened a portal to the human world, I could easily follow his trail of blood, death, and destruction. I caught up with him in a desert village. He had laid waist to the houses and starving people that lived there. Hundreds of innocent children and adults lay in the dirt....motionless; this reminded me of my parents. I confronted Shinigami about everything, which he didn't deny. Then our conversation broke out into a fight. He was expecting an easy victory like when we were young, but he was in for a rather large surprise."

Ryujin picked up his head, "Not only had I improved my magic through the years, but I also learned better combat moves."

Dash jumped up again, "So you showed him what's what!"

"Actually we were almost evenly matched, almost. While we were fighting I found myself in an unfortunate position and opened a portal as a defensive move, which happen to lead here. But I did manage to cut him rather deep with my knife; he'll be feeling it for a while. And I think you know the rest up to this point."

When Ryujin finished he leaned back to relax.

"That is quite a story," said Rarity.

Pinkie turned to her friends, "Actually, it's kinda like Lord Tirek's life story with his brother."

"Yeah, except Tirek and his brother split up after they got to Equestria. And you know, Lord Tirek didn't brutally murder his parents and hundreds of innocent children like Ryu-somthing's brother did," Dash said.

"Well yeah. There's that."

"You can just call me Jin," Ryujin said, instead of continuously having to correct the rainbow pony in front of him.

"You'll have to excuse Rainbow Dash Mr. Jin, She obviously doesn't know a handsome dragon when she sees one," Rarity said.

"Rarity, your trying to get him to give you some jewels aren't you. Just like you did with the sleeping dragon in the mountain cave," Twilight accused.

"Well I would never do such a thing! Twilight, I'm shocked that you would even suggest such behavior."

Dash rolled her eyes, "Yeah, sure."

Ryujin pointed to the ponies, "So your name is Rarity, and yours is Twilight?"

"Why yes. In fact we should all introduce ourselves," Rarity suggested.

Everypony went up to Ryujin and introduced themselves one by one. Ryujin got a small feel for each's personality as well as their name. When it was Spike's turn, Ryujin was curious as to how the young dragon came to be in the company of these ponies. Twilight told him of her entrance exam and that Spike was the result.

"But you were told about your dragon parents, right?" Ryujin asked.

"Nope, but it's okay. I got my real family right here."

Spike gestured the bulk of the ponies behind him. Ryujin was proud to see such a well raised an honorable dragon; they are a rare breed.

"But it is exciting to finally meet a dragon that's not rude or harms rare exotic birds," Spike said.

Ryujin smiled, "I'll bet."

The ponies continued to list themselves, but it seemed as though one was missing.

"Hey, where's Fluttershy?" Dash asked.

"Oh, she must still be cowering in her cottage," Discord answered.

Some of the ponies let out a small giggle. Then Princess Luna turned to Ryujin.

"I'm sure you must be tired from today's events. You deserve to rest now; you did save our lives after all,"

Luna smiled and admired Ryujin's story. She looked back on her own mistakes and the fact that she gave into her temptations for revenge. Although she had just met him, Luna became quite fond of Ryujin and wished to see him again.

"Yeah, before we had to step in and save yours right back," Dash said comically.

"Yes well as I said, me and my brother were 'almost' evenly matched. Anyhow, I suppose I could use a nap; I did just almost die afterall. And yes, if it weren't for you ponies, I admit, I would have. Of course the healing spell I cast right before I passed out helped a little as well."

Dash chuckled.

Applejack stood up, "Alright every-pony, you heard him Let'um get some rest now ya hear."

The cutie mark crusaders and Dash were the last ones to leave the room.

Ryujin called to Dash, "Hey, it's Rainbow Dash isn't it?"

The cutie mark crusaders proceeded out the door. The only ones left in the room were Dash and Ryujin.

Dash turned to him, "Yeah, but you can call me Dash, Rainbow, R.D., or anything really. I have a lot of awesome nicknames."

"Alright Dash, I couldn't help but notice that you were the first to help me when I was fighting."

"No need to thank me. That's what your friendly neighborhood Rainbow Dash if here for."

Ryujin smiled, "Well thanks anyway."

Dash nodded and on that note, left the room. Ryujin couldn't help but take a liking to Dash's spunk. Not to mention the bravery she'd shown when fighting a dragon she couldn't possibly beat on her own. He hoped to see her again sometime soon, after he got out of the hospital that is.

He then laid back on his hospital bed with a smile on his face. After a few moments, one of the nurses turned off the lights and closed the door. Ryujin's smile faded and he strongly hesitated to try and sleep, for he knew what awaited him in his dreams.

Discord returned to the cottage and found Fluttershy locked in her room. After several minutes of persuasion, he finally got her to calm down and get some sleep. The darkness had covered Ponyville and Discord layed in his bed. He recalled his time on the road with Ryujin. Discord starred off into the stars, not smiling. The night was calm and quiet; only the crickets and cool night breeze could be heard.

"At least he doesn't scream anymore," he said to himself.

Every-pony drifted off to sleep.

CH. 3: Tragedy Strikes

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"Fine, have your ponies for now," he said as he struggled to stand up.

Ryujin yelled, "Give up!"

Shinigami looked around, then suddenly spotted the Ever-free Forest. He quickly took off and disappeared behind the plants.

He zoomed behind the tree line until he was sure his brother and the ponies could not see him. He looked back at the creatures he now despised. Ryujin was talking with them when he suddenly collapsed onto the cobblestone roads. Shinigami let out a quiet chuckle at the site of his brother falling to the ground. Suddenly a sharp pain once again ignited from his chest; he cringed and fell to his knees holding his wound. As Shinigami stood up his vision blurred and blood leaked from his body; he limped forward into the forest to find someplace to hide out. He walked until his legs were ready to give out when he spotted a lonely cabin among the vast trees of the forest. The house appeared to have one of its lights on, so Shinigami tried to walk towards it. But with his next step his legs failed and he dropped to the ground with a groan. He slowly picked up his head and crawled onward. He finally reached the front door and managed to get a knock in before losing consciousness.

Inside the house, Zecora was preparing her dinner when a loud bang erupted from the from the door. She walked over to answer it when, to her surprise, she found an unconscious dragon lying on her front porch in a pool of blood. The creature appeared to be breathing, but there were countless wounds scattered about his entire body. Just then the dragon opened its eyes and warily looked at Zecora.

"Oh my, what the hay? Why on my door does this dragon here lay?"

"W-why are you r-rhyming?" Shinigami passed out.

Zecora ignored the creature's comment and decided to help. She dragged the dragon into her home and placed him on the bed. The creature was losing blood fast. Zecora ran to her kitchen and grabbed bandages and several herbs. She slowly got the bleeding to stop. Once that was done Zecora started mixing together different herbs and spices to create something that would bring the fever down. She continued to heal the dragon for the next hour or so. When there was nothing more she could do, Zecora sat back and waited. Eventually Shinigami slowly blinked and opened his eyes. He looked around the room when he noticed the bandages covering his body. He ripped them from his wounds and found that he was healed all except a small scar on his chest. Beside him in a chair was a sleeping zebra with blood-stained hooves; after a few minutes the zebra awakened. Zecora looked to see Shinigami sitting up.

"Where am I? What have you done to me?"

Zecora stood up, "You were hurt and near your end, so I took you in and patched you up as, perhaps, a newly-found friend."

"And why do you continue to talk like that? It's very annoying."

Zecora looked a bit irritated by Shinigami's tone, "I could say the same to you. But it is none of my concern; every-pony may speak as they do."

Shinigami cracked his fingers, "Oh so you're friends with those ponies are you?"

Zecora smiled, "I am, indeed, friends with the pony folk. We met over some unfortunate poison joke."

Shinigami frowned, "I see."

"The strength you once had should be with you now. Just walk the length of this room; see how much your body will allow."

Shinigami stood up and walked around Zecora's house. After a few minutes he was satisfied with his ability to move around; he looked at his fist and smiled. He faced Zecora and asked her name; after she introduced herself Shinigami did the same. It was customary in Shinigami's world to introduce yourself to those who helped you, even if help was not asked for. It was at this moment that Zecora expected some type of explanation as to why Shinigami was practically dead on the door way.

"Let's get one thing straight, I didn't ask for your help so don't expect a thank you."

Zecora's smile slowly faded, "I do not wish for a thank you. But maybe you could give me the reason I had to make a healing dish for a dragon in much worse shape than a pony with the flue."

Shinigami's brow wrinkled, "I don't have to explain shit to you! And I certainly don't have to sit here and let you insult me."

Shinigami began to advance at an alarming rate. Zecora lowered her ears and started back towards the door. As he approached, Shinigami cast a large shadow over Zecora. He growled and angrily grabbed the zebra by her neck and lifted her up. As she hung in Shinigami's grip, Zecora struggled for breath. She quickly looked around and saw a bottle on a nearby table. With a little swing, she managed to knock the bottle to the ground, smashing it to pieces and freeing its contents. The room quickly filled with the emerald smoke of the potion; it disoriented and stung Shinigami, causing him to drop Zecora and cover his eyes. She got on her feet and galloped to the door; she had to tell the others about this dragon. But before she could get away Shinigami swung his tail around and tripped the poor zebra. The smoke cleared and Shinigami could see once again; he was angrier now and sprung himself on Zecora. She tried her best, dodging claws, legs, tails, and wings. But eventually Shinigami got the better angle; one of his spikes managed to slice Zecora's thigh, leaving her with a great gash. Zecora screamed and held her bleeding leg.

She fell to the floor in agonizing pain; she cradled her leg and tried to drag herself to the door, but Shinigami was right behind her. He approached at a steady rate and, before she knew it, Zecora was being lifted up a second time. This time Shinigami lifted her by her bad leg; Zecora squealed in pain as blood dripped to the floor below. She saw another bottle on a table and attempted to repeat her trick from before, but this time Shinigami was ready and walked to the center of the room with Zecora in his grip. He had her just out of reach of anything she could use to get away. She started kicking Shinigami with her good legs, but since he was back to his full strength, the kicks were nothing to him. He squeezed the gash on her leg and Zecora screamed again; blood poured from her at an alarming rate. Shinigami covered her mouth with his wing so she wouldn't be heard by the ponies in town. Slowly, he lifted Zecora so the two of them were looking into each other's eyes.

Shinigami's gaze was steady and focused.

"I am a dragon, the greatest and most powerful thing in this world. I don't need your or anybody else's charity."

Shinigami lifted his wing and readied a spike at Zecora's throat. The zebra struggled as hard as she could; small rapid squeals escaped her mouth. Then Shinigami pulled his wing back with great force; all that was heard was a quick....

....SLICE.

Blood dripped from Shinigami's wings as he dropped the pale corpse.

Shinigami slowly sighed, "Well that takes care of that."

He then turned and left the small hut, but before he went deeper into the forest he turned back and faced the house. He smiled and suddenly the scales on his neck lit up once more and fire sprung from his mouth. The flames engulfed the hut and laid waste to everything inside. Zecora's corpse was left burnt to a crisp. Shinigami walked on into the forest with the ruble burning behind him until he spotted a large cave. He approached the dark structure to find that it was unoccupied. He went to the inner-most part of this damp and disfigured cave and crafted a suitable shelter. He then laid down, feeling completely at ease, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep. This was the same time that Ryujin and the ponies were sleeping back in Ponyville. The night had ascended upon the town and everything went calm.

Ryujin knelt in the center of a large dark vacant room. He slowly looked around, finding nothing but shadow until he spotted a door barley visible. Suddenly two large figures walked to the doorway from the other side. Ryujin smiled and jumped up when he saw his parents. He ran and embraced them. Once again he smiled as wide a smile as he could mange. After a few minutes he took a step back and found a third figure far behind them. The third figure came closer and closer; Ryujin could make out the creature's red eyes, sharp teeth, and blood-covered claws. He quickly urged his parents into the room while he tried to bar the door. But it was too late, the creature was upon them. It burst through the door and knocked Ryujin to the ground. Ryujin looked up just in time to see the creature rip his parents apart while they screamed. He tried to help but he couldn't move his body, he was paralyzed. He watched as his parents fall to the ground dead. Suddenly the creature turned to him and Ryujin could see the monster his brother was. Shinigami sprung towards him in a vicious leap.

Ryujin sprang up, "No!" he gasped.

He was sweating and breathing rapidly. He quickly looked around the room but found nothing but hospital equipment. Ryujin let out a gasp of relief and leaned back once more. He rubbed his eyes and calmed his breathing. A nurse walked by and heard the commotion; she quickly peaked in.

"Is everything alright?"

Ryujin glance at the pony and cleared his throat, "Yes I'm fine, thanks."

The nurse left and Ryujin let out another sigh. He closed his eyes and tried his best to get least a couple hours of peaceful sleep.

At the break of dawn, the various ponies began to awaken from slumber. Rainbow Dash had woken up to perform her weather duties in Ponyville. She slowly dragged herself out of bed, took a shower, and had breakfast. Then she headed out and started clearing the skies. When she stepped outside she was not greeted by the usual pleasant morning smells, instead there was a foul Oder that completely took Dash's nose hostage.

She cringed and covered her snout, "The things these ponies cook."

Dash shrugged the smell off and resumed her duties. Once enough of Ponyville was visible from below, she descended to meet her friends, shop at the market, or just go back to sleep on a rogue cloud (she hadn't decided yet). She watched from the sky as the many ponies started their days; walking, running, talking, ETC ; except for Twilight, who was using her magic and her assistant to fix her castle. When she was about half way down to town, a small line of smoke coming from the Everfree forest glistened from the corner of Dash's eye. she recognized the spot to be where Zecora's house was. Dash instantly flew towards it; at first she just thought that Zecora had been making something strange and that the smoke was nothing to be concerned about. But as she got closer to the forest, the foul smell from before got stronger and stronger.

Dash became worried and quickly flew back to town to gather her friends. She found Applejack working on her farm. Dash had not realized how fast she was actually going and crashed in to interrupt her, knocking over a wagon of apples by mistake.

"Rainbow Dash! You need ta look where yur goin',"

Dash stood up and brushed herself off, "Sorry A.J. But I saw some weird smoke coming from Zecora's place and there was this terrible smell too. I think we need to check it out,"

Applejack turned toward the forest, "So that's where that awful stink's comin' from. Alright, you go round up the rest of the ponies and I'll meet ya at the forest entry."

Dash did just that and gathered her friends to meet at the start of the forest. The smell was getting to be a real nuisance and all six of them were worried.

"What in Celestia's name could she be doing to cause this horrible smell," Twilight asked.

"Well I guess we'll have ta find out," Applejack answered.

They all walked onward into the dark forest until they came across the smoking remains of what was Zecora's house. They all gasped in shock at what they saw. The mane six slowly entered the building; they looked around at all of Zecora's artifacts and trinkets now burned and unrecognizable.

Rarity glanced around, "What on Earth happened here?"

Dash rapidly looked around for anyone hurt, "Where's Zecora?"

The ponies started searching the hut for any sign of their friend; they called out her name but there was nothing. Suddenly Applejack's face was filled with fear and worry.

"Y'all don't think that silver dragon got to her do ya?"

Twilight prepared to answer when they heard Fluttershy scream in terror. The rest of them quickly ran over to her. Fluttershy was frozen where she stood; it was like she just saw a ghost. The other five gathered around her, wondering what she was so frightened by (Although they knew it could be just about anything).

"What is it?"

"What's got you so spooked?" the ponies asked.

Slowly, Fluttershy lifted her hoof up and pointed at something in the corner. The ponies all turned and gave witness to what she had seen. Every-pony's eyes widened when they saw the smoking corpse. Fluttershy fainted as the others gasped in horror; they had found where the strange smell was coming from. Twilight approached what was left of Zecora; her body was burnt and disfigured, not to mention the unbearable stench. Every-pony's eyes became wet and glossy; tears flowed down each's cheeks. Twilight could only get out one word...."No". They all bowed their heads in grief. It was several minutes before any-pony could speak clearly.

"She should be buried," Dash said.

"Ah reckon so," Applejack agreed.

"I need to tell the other princesses about this. Some-pony should tell Ryujin as well."

Suddenly Dash wrinkled her brow in anger, "This is all his fault! If he hadn't brought his brother hear in the first place then Zecora would still be alive!"

Twilight walked up to her, "Rainbow, this is no-pony's fault."

"Of course it is. We should march up to that dragon make him take his brother and leave."

Applejack, Dash, Pinkie, and Rarity all started to argue as to whether or not to go with Dash's plan. While this was going on, Twilight just stood there and looked at Zecora; remembering all the times she had helped her when she had gotten into trouble. the poison joke, when Trixie banished her, when Spike went out of control, the list goes on. She looked back at her friends who were still arguing; Twilight tried to get their attention but they just kept yelling. Suddenly she became angry.

"Will all of you just shut the buck up!" the ponies stopped and looked at Twilight, "Can't you see our friend is still laying here. Don't you ponies have any respect!?"

The ponies looked at one another then at Zecora. Grief, sadness, and guilt filled their faces. They all apologized, remembering the issue at hand. The ponies gathered around the corpse. Dash flew up and grabbed some torn piece of curtain to cover her friend, and then they all carried Zecora back to town (except for Applejack, who carried the still unconscious Fluttershy).

Upon arrival in Ponyville, the ponies struggled to carry Zecora to the funeral home. They left a trail of tears behind them. As they arrived, the many ponies of town started to investigate. Soon they too saw the horror of what happened. It was at this time that Fluttershy woke up. She looked at Applejack and said nothing. Instead she just started to cry harder than she ever had; Applejack tried to comfort her.

"It'll be alright sugar-cube."

Back at the hospital, Ryujin slowly awoke and looked around. He began to sit up and rubbed his eyes, wondering what he should do about his brother. Suddenly he heard loud voices outside. He looked out the window and saw every-pony gathered around the funeral home entrance.

"What in the world?"

Suddenly Ryujin began to fear the worst and sprung from his bed. He raced out of the hospital and joined the pony crowd.

"Pardon me. Excuse me," he said as he fought his way passed to see what was going on.

Finally he had reached the front. There he saw the mane six gathered around a coffin. Ryujin's suspicions were correct; his brother had struck. The mane six turned and looked at Ryujin, he saw the tears fall from their eyes. He stood there with his mouth open. Dash and a few others looked angry when they saw him; he heard one pony call out.

"This is all your fault!"

Ryujin looked at the ground, ashamed; he then slowly walked up and gave witness to Zecora's body. He stood there and stared at her; suddenly the image of the dark room and his parents being attacked flashed before his eyes. He saw their bodies on the floor, felt their blood on his hands; it was like he was experiencing the horror all over again. Suddenly Ryujin snapped out of his nightmarish daydream and rubbed his eyes.

Dash walked up to him, "You can probably guess what happened."

"Who was she?"

"Her name was Zecora, and she was a friend," said Twilight.

Ryujin now felt a huge wave of guilt wash over him.

"I don't know what say. I should have been there to protect her."

"She wouldn't of needed protection if you hadn't brought you brother here in the first place," Dash commented.

Twilight turned to her, "Dash you're not helping."

Ryujin looked at the ponies, "No she's right. I brought death into this world, and have to take full responsibility for what happened."

The ponies looked at Ryujin; they saw the guilt and general grief in his eyes. Dash was still angry, but she decided to put her anger aside and focus on Zecora.

"We should start to bury her."

The other ponies agreed and started the funeral. As they all said their goodbyes and told stories about their adventures with Zecora, Ryujin stood at the back of the crowd and listened. The longer the funeral went on the more guilt he felt. He had to fix this; he had to find his brother.

When the funeral was over and all but the mane six had left, Ryujin approached the ponies.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid."

As he spoke, Princesses Celestia and Luna arrived in Ponyville. It seems that Twilight sent spike home to send a letter while she stayed at the funeral. They had heard most of what Ryujin had said. Ryujin walked up close to the grave once again, not noticing the princess's arrival. He stared at the tombstone in the ground. Suddenly the image of his parents' graves flashed before his eyes. Once more he was reminded of their fate, and now he had brought that sorrow to the ponies. He turned and walked out of the building; while he did so, he kept his head bowed in shame of his failure. Princess Luna watched as he did all this, then she followed him out.

"Twilight told us what happened and I wanted to tell you that this is of no fault of yours."

"Yeah, tell that to them," Ryujin said sarcastically as he pointed to the ponies inside.

Luna continued to try and cheer him up, "How do you think you could have avoided this? Do you believe you should have killed your own sibling?"

"Maybe."

"Then how would that make you any different than he?"

Ryujin looked at Luna and he started to understand what she was trying to say.

The princess continued, "You may not be able to save every-pony, but I for one am well aware that if it wasn't for you there would be many more burnt houses and dead friends; if not in this world then in the next."

Ryujin continued to look at Luna; he felt a little better after listening to what she had to say. But he still felt as though he had to do something about his brother to make up for the death of Zecora.

"Thanks Princess."

"Please, call me Luna."

Ryujin knelt down and gave the princess a hug. Luna was surprised at first, but then she found the hug to be welcoming and warm. She felt her care for this new dragon to be growing.

Ryujin stood up and walked back into the funeral home; he saw the ponies standing around comforting each other. Suddenly their attention shifted to the dragon.

"I'm going after him," he said in a strong voice.

The ponies looked at him, shocked.

"I have to find some way to stop him but first I need to do a little reconnaissance. I need to find out where he's hiding and what he's up to."

"Alone?" Rarity asked.

"Yes. I can't risk anymore of you ponies getting hurt on my behalf."

Dash turned to him, "But what if he were to catch you tailing him? If something happens to you, there would be nothing stopping him from attacking here. We can't take that risk; we're coming with you."

"No, that won't work, we would be too noisy. One can be much quieter than seven," he said, "Besides, I thought you wanted nothing to do with me anymore."

Dash looked at the dragon; she was angry, but she did not hate him. Her friends and Ryujin's own words had helped her to realize that Shinigami was the real villain. Of course Ryujin was not completely off the hook. After a few moments, she spoke.

"I just want to get this over with."

Twilight spoke up, "Well if we all can't go, then who?"

"I can only risk two others coming with me."

The ponies looked at one another, trying to decide who would go. Finally Twilight spoke.

"I'll go."

"No; by the looks of you you're another princess, so I can't risk you getting hurt. But it would be good to have someone that can use magic. If we are caught they can quickly teleport themselves away."

"But the only person ah can think of that can teleport and isn't a princess is....Discord," said Applejack.

"Well then he'll have to be one that comes. Now I have room for one more."

Dash looked around at her friends; she couldn't bear the thought of any of them being hurt. She had to stay loyal to her friends and do whatever she could to protect them.

"I can go. I'm the fastest flyer around, so I could escape easily. Plus we all have some experience with fighting if it comes to that."

Ryujin looked at the pony; he again admired her bravery. Hopefully when all this is was done he could get to know her better. But to the matter at hand.

"Alright sounds good. First things first, where's discord?"

"Oh I got it," Twilight said.

Twilight walked outside to the middle of the street; the ponies and Ryujin had followed. Suddenly Twilight's horn began to glow as she concentrated. There was a large poof of light and when it cleared Discord stood in front of her. He was confused as to why he was summoned.

"Honestly, are you just going to summon me willy-nilly? You must give a guy some warning; I was having so much fun at home."

"Alright enough of that," Dash said, "We need you to come with us."

"Oh but where ever are we going? And why does it have to be me?"

"I need you and dash to come with me into the forest to do reconnaissance on Shinigami."

"No thanks, sounds too dreadful for my taste."

"Well too bad you're going!" Dash yelled.

"Alright, alright, no need to yell. You ponies always over react."

Ryujin looked at Discord questioningly, "You do know that Zecora is dead."

Discord's face became much more serious. He discarded his sarcastic tone and paid attention.

"And now we need our help to stop him," Ryujin continued.

Discord saw the severity of the situation and finally decided to agree to go with them. Of course this does not mean that he really had a choice.

Every-pony wished the group good luck as they departed into the forest. The three had mixed feelings about this mission, and all of them were a bit frightened about what could happen. They walked into the forest without saying word to one another.

CH. 4: Reconnaissance

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Around the time of Zecora's funeral in Ponyville, Shinigami was awakening from his deep slumber. He opened his eyes and looked around the cave he had taken refuge in. He stretched out his arms and yawned ever so casually. He stood up and looked at the damp bedrock and various stalactites and stalagmites of different shapes, sizes, and smells. He walked slowly to the cave entrance and gazed out to the forest; the golden rays of sunlight peeking through the thick line of trees that stretch far above.

Shinigami slowly looked around and sighed, not sure what to do next; he couldn't just attack the town because he would lose again. He also had no idea what was in this forest, or if he would be spotted by some random pony from town. Shinigami turned and looked back inside the cave; he noticed a large flat stone surrounded by various smaller ones. He picked up the larger one and a reasonably shaped small one, then dragged the two stones against one another and followed the strong line of chalk that resulted.

He smiled, "This could work."

Then he drew a small circle to indicate his cave, and decided that if he was going to stay here he would need to become familiar with his surroundings, and started mapping out the forest on his stone. He drew the town's location as well as the area that used to be occupied by Zecora. When this was done he traveled outside the cave and walked onward into the Ever-free forest; he would soon know this place better than the tip of his tail and he would be ready if his brother came wandering in.

Shinigami traveled through tree line after tree line, fending off and destroying countless timber wolves, mythological beasts, and other deadly creatures. Finally he broke through the trees and out into an open piece of land. In the center was a large castle that seemed to of been abandoned long ago. Shinigami smiled and slowly made his way closer to it. As he approached this castle, the sky darkened, the trees waved in an unforgettable gust of wind, and the screeching howl of a wolf echoed in the distance.

He walked along the cobblestone road until he reached the front doorway. He examined the giant doors and lifted his hand to give them a slight push. The doors swung open imminently with a loud Creek and slammed against the walls inside. Dust and dirt flew out of the dark hallway; Shinigami put his arm up to block his eyes. When the dust cleared, Shinigami lowered his arm and gazed into the advanced darkness before him. He stepped inside and looked around; his dragon eyes allowing him to see almost perfectly. Suddenly the doors behind him started to Creek once again and slammed shut with an ominous crash.

Shinigami glanced back, "Well alright then."

He then walked onward, exploring the castle's many rooms both in plain sight and hidden.

It was at this time that Ryujin had gathered up Dash and Discord back in Ponyville. Every-pony wished the group good luck as they departed into the forest. The three had mixed feelings about this mission, and all of them were a bit frightened about what could happen. They walked into the forest without saying a word to one another. They slowly walked along the main trail deeper and deeper into the darkness. In the distance were the howls of timber wolves and the roars of various mythical creatures. Soon enough, Ponyville was no longer in sight and the group started to become uneasy.

"You know, I've never been truly fond of this place," Discord said, masking his fear with jokes.

"Well we better get this over with," said Ryujin.

Dash turned to the two of them, "What are we doing again?"

"We need to find Shinigami."

"Right, but then what? It took every-pony to beat him before."

"We're just gonna find out where he's hiding and what he's up to. Then we can go back to town and I can think of what to do next."

Dash flew next to Ryujin, "That's it? You're just gonna let him go?"

"Well it's not like we could just run up to him and hope for the best, we would be dead before we knew what hit us."

Dash landed. Ryujin looked down at Dash's face and saw her deep dissatisfaction with his answer. He stopped walking, as did the others, and knelt down next to Dash.

"Look...I'm sorry about your friend. I know what your feeling right now."

Dash looked at him, "Do you? I just had to bury my friend."

"I know, and I also know there's nothing I can say to just make you forget that. I just-"

"Just nothing!" Dash snapped.

Ryujin's mind escaped him in that moment; once again the painful memory of his parents flashed before his eyes. Seeing them on the ground, ripped apart. His blinding pain made him angry.

Ryujin slowly stood up, "You think you're the only one to see loved ones die. You think I don't know what it's like to bury someone. At least your friend got a funeral; I had to bury my parents in the back yard and clean up their blood with an old rag!"

Ryujin stopped and starred into Dash's face. She had her ears lowered; her mouth was open and she slowly took a few steps back. Ryujin snapped out of his trance and realized he was frightening the pony. He backed up a few feet and rested on a tree. He looked up at Dash and Discord, who were staring back at him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that....I-"

Suddenly there was a low growl in a nearby bush. The group quickly turned and faced this bush just in time to see a large timber wolf jump out. It lunged itself towards Ryujin and grabbed hold of his face, trying to pry loose the scales protecting his flesh. Ryujin was pushed onto his back with a groan and struggled free from the wolf's grip. He grabbed the wolf by its sides and threw it back against a tree. With a loud crash, the creature broke into dozens of pieces that flew everywhere before falling to the ground. Ryujin looked up to see the other members of his party fending off their share of the beasts. More and more wolves poured from the blackness of the forest. The three of them kicked and punched until they could do so no more. Finally it seemed as though they had won when there was nothing but a big pile of wood on the ground in front of them.

Dash pointed to the pile, "Quickly, burn it!"

Ryujin looked at her confused, "What are you talking about? We killed them."

"No. You can't-"

Dash was interrupted by the pile of wood on the ground suddenly coming to life again. An emerald-colored magic surrounded the wood and soon shaped the pieces to form a giant wolf that towered over them; It roared and spit foul breath. It raised a claw and swung at Ryujin; he jumped over the massive wooden paw and rolled underneath the beast. The wolf staggered, trying to strike the dragon; suddenly Dash flew up and kicked the monster in the face. The beast swung his claws and roared at Dash. She dodged, ducked, and hit the wolf repeatedly until finally the creature screamed in pain. Dash smiled as she thought it was her efforts that caused the beast to make such a horrible noise, but then she looked down and saw a glowing light coming from under the beast's stomach. The wolf screeched in pain as huge flames soon covered it from head to toe.

Dash flew back to avoid the heat and landed near Discord. Ryujin walked calmly out of the inferno, and jumped up high above the burning structure. He flapped his wing vigorously to put out the flames before they burned the whole forest down. The fire slowly died down and Ryujin landed; the burnt remains of the timber wolf lay there smoking. He let out a calm breath and stood up. As he was walking back to the others, Ryujin was surprised by yet another timber wolf. It jumped from a quiet bush behind him, nearing his back. but just before it reached him Dash flew in and bucked its side, sending the last of the creatures back into the trees.

Ryujin looked as the wolf flew passed him and disappeared from sight. He lowered his guard and relaxed, feeling as though all the danger was behind him. He then turned to Dash who was hovering next to him.

"Uh...thanks."

"Don't mention it. And....sorry for before. You were right...I'm not the only one who lost some-pony because of this guy."

Ryujin saw Dash's lowered ears and distant gaze. He realized that he may have single handedly made her feel even worse than she already did.

Ryujin sighed, "No, I shouldn't of gotten angry. I just meant that-"

Dash smiled, "I know....thanks."

The two of them starred at one another for a moment in silence, until they were interrupted by Discord.

"Not to be a third wheel, but don't you two think we should get back to the task at hand?"

Ryujin and Dash shook their heads and snapped out of their sympathetic spell. The two of them turned and walked over to Discord. Dash lead the way; Ryujin starred as she passed him. He was trying his best to cheer the pony up but he feared he was failing.

Dash scornfully flew up to Discord, "You know, it would of been nice if you helped us out with the big one."

"What? And mess up your concentration; oh good heavens no. Besides, you two did just fine."

Dash gave Discord another glare before continuing on the trail with Ryujin. The three of them walked along the path until they found the clearing that held Zecora's house (or what was left of it). They slowly approached the smoldering ruin and ruble with open-mouth gazes; the air was still thick with the bitter smell of charred flesh. Slowly the group approached, covering their noses, and entered the area that used to serve as Zecora's kitchen. They searched for any sign that might lead to Shinigami; a footprint, a trail of broken branches among the bushes outside, anything. Ryujin was examining some dried blood stain on the floor while Dash walked over to a familiar corner within the house. She stopped in front of a misshapen burn mark on the ground.

She starred with glossy eyes, "This is where we found her."

Ryujin turned and looked as Dash lowered her head and starred intensely at the stain; her eyes were watery as she relived the moment over and over again in her head. Dash's ears were lowered and she appeared to be holding her wings close to her sides as if they were her friends trying to comfort her. Ryujin had seen that look before, he had made that look before. That was the look he made whenever he visited his parents' graves. Dash is feeling what he had felt so many times before; and now, more than ever, he felt as though he could relate to this pony, this friend. He had to do something before she became any more depressed than she already was. He looked around until he spotted a random dirt path; he walked over to it ever so nonchalantly and gazed down it for a few seconds before speaking.

"Hey, maybe he went this way."

Upon hearing Ryujin's voice, Dash blinked her eyes and shook her head in an attempt to end her compromising emotions. She and Discord turned and joined Ryujin near the start of the trail; the two of them looked down the path questionably.

Dash stood next to him, "What makes you say that?"

"I don't know, just a hunch."

"Well that's comforting," Discord whispered under his breath.

Ryujin started to walk forward and the others followed, still unsure of this particular route. Ryujin knew this random path was a shot in the dark, but he didn't care. He had successfully distracted his new friend from her pain, at least for the time being. The three of them continued to blindly walk onward.

Back at the princesses' old castle, Shinigami was still wandering through the labyrinth of rooms; the entire castle seemed to be covered in cobwebs and reeked of mold. He eventually found himself entering a long dark hallway with many rooms attached. He traveled down this hallway, quickly glancing in each room, until he spotted what appeared to be an old library. He turned and slowly entered the room only to gasp at the sheer scale of it. He turned his head and could see nothing but shelf after shelf featuring books of all shapes, sizes, conditions, and topics. Shinigami entered the room and started scanning the nearest of the shelves for anything that might be of use.

Eventually his interests were peeked when his eyes came across a certain series named, "The History of Equestria." Perhaps he was just curious or perhaps he was looking for something particular, but he liberated the first volume of the series and began to read. He skipped through the book until he spotted a chapter that seemed like it would be the most interesting: "Military records." His eyes dashed over entries titled, "Queen Chrysalis," "King Sombra," and "Discord." As he read, Shinigami became more and more interested; he even began to lose himself in the accounts of Equestria's attackers.

Off within the Ever-free forest, Ryujin, Dash, and Discord continued to aimlessly walk on. Unlike Ryujin, Dash had been in this forest many times and would like to think she knew the place rather well. She looked around at the leaf-stripped trees and jungle-like vines and raised an eyebrow questionably.

"You know, I really don't think he went this way."

Ryujin and Discord stopped walking and turned to face Dash. In his mind Ryujin thanked some-pony for finally saying something.

"Oh well excuse us. I was unaware that you were an expert in tracking down a dragon," Discord said in a friendly sarcastic tone.

"That's not I meant," Dash said, bickering with Discord, "I just meant that I've been in this part of the forest before and there's nothing here."

Ryujin spoke up, "Well where do you think we should look?"

"We could check the cave with the tree of harmony in it, or Princess Celestia and Luna's old castle. And there's-"

Ryujin interrupted, "Old castle?...Yeah that sounds like somewhere he'd be. Where is it?"

"Uh, it's awhile from here."

Ryujin looked up at the sky; they had been searching into the afternoon.

"We can't afford to waste that much daylight. Discord, you know where this place is right?"

"Unfortunately."

"Good, I need you to teleport us there."

Discord sighed, "I suppose you'll want me to fetch you a cup of tea as well."

"Stop complaining and just do it!" Dash snapped.

Discord watched as Dash's face became wrinkled and stern; perhaps, he thought, this was not the right time for jokes. He nodded and took hold of Dash and Ryujin; then a strange aura began to rise from Discord's hands. This light soon traveled unto Dash and Ryujin, surrounding their entire bodies. In another second there was a bright flash of light and a "poof." When the smoke cleared, they looked around and found themselves in the middle of the castle's courtyard. The air was bitter, the trees were stifling, and there was a giant ruin of a castle towering high above them. Once the last of the magic light had receded back into Discord's hands, the group took a step forward.

"Geez," uttered Ryujin.

They continued to walk forward on the cobblestone road. As they get closer to the front doors, the forest seemed to get darker as if the sun was slowly dying down like an old candle. An ominous glow covered the entire area and sent fear into the group.

"You think he's in there?" Dash asked, nerves rising in her throat.

"Only one way to find out," Ryujin responded.

The trees swayed and sung a horrifying song against the wind as they arrived at the castle's entrance. Ryujin gave the door a push and with an unsettling creek, they opened. As they had done before, the doors slammed into the walls of the castle interior. The group looked at one another then turned their attention back to the blinding darkness that filled the castle's halls. Ryujin took a deep breath then stepped inside, half expecting his brother to just jump out and end it right then and there. But when he took another step inside, then another step, he realized the only thing that was waiting for him was the wind and darkness. After he entered the building, the others soon followed.

In the castle library, Shinigami was finishing a section of Queen Chrysalis's chapter when his ear twitched. He quickly turned to the entrance of the room and dropped the book. He flew high into the air and hid behind some pillars; waiting for the intruders to show themselves. Ryujin and the rest of the group slowly separated and covered every inch of the castle. A few minutes past and none of them had found anything.

"Honestly, it shouldn't be this hard to find a big silver reptile that wants to kill everything," Discord said to himself.

Dash searched the tower Twilight used to study from time to time; it was filled with spider webs, dust, and many books scavenged from the library. Unfortunately there was no sign of Shinigami anywhere; she gave an angry sigh and descended back down the steps to join the others in defeat.

"Well I can't find him."

Ryujin kept glancing around, "Let's keep looking, this place is bound to have a lot of hiding places."

The three of them continued to search the halls; eventually Dash came across a very long hallway with many rooms attached to it. Like Shinigami, she started walking until she reached the immense library. She stopped in front of the room and pictured her and her friends running around the room, terrified. Then she remembered Twilight, coming in and finding them all. She reassured them and they all laughed about it. Dash couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the memory.

"You see anything?" Ryujin bellowed from afar.

Dash once again shook her head, ending her daydream. She turned and saw Ryujin standing at the hall's beginning.

"It's the library, come help me look."

Ryujin agreed and gestured Discord forth; the two of them transcended down the hallway until they met Dash at the library's entrance. The three of them looked inside at the incalculable scale of the place.

"Well, well, well," Discord said, "it's a good thing we're not looking for a specific book."

They entered the room, the ceiling towering over them; columns and shelves cover the walls. They stepped further and further into the room, checking every corner and crevice. High above them, Shinigami was intensely watching their every move. They began to spread out, and covered every part of the room, Shinigami continued to observe. He began to move in closer until suddenly, Dash flew up with great speed; just barely missing him. Shinigami recognized this pony to be the same one from town; the one who liked to kick. For a quick moment, Shinigami raised his hand to slice Dash's neck and be done with her, but he knew he would be spotted by his brother. He lowered his hand, luckily it seemed as though Dash had not yet seen him. Shinigami quickly dropped down and glided into a corner on the far wall. Dash looked around, flying from pillar to pillar and finding nothing.

"See anything?" Ryujin asked from below.

Shinigami's attention shifted from Dash when he heard his brother's voice. He turned his head and saw Ryujin standing only the length of the room away.

"No, nothing."

Anger and hate filled every ounce of Shinigami's being. He growled in a low voice as he watched Dash fly down and speak to his brother. Hundreds of plans flew through is head: if he attacked now Ryujin would see him; if he sneaked around he could take Ryujin out but the others would notice and have time to get away. Shinigami knew he was faster than them, but he couldn't risk it. His only chance was to take each one of them out secretly, leaving his brother for last. After that he would have no one standing between him and the town.

"I can't see any sign of him," Dash said.

"How about you Discord?" Ryujin asked, bellowing towards the chaotic creature on the other side of the room.

"Nope nothing."

Ryujin walked forward, rubbing the back of his neck. Behind the pillar in the back of the room, Shinigami glanced over to Discord.

"I'll have to start with him," he whispered to himself.

Ryujin walked on to meet Discord in the middle of the room when he suddenly tripped over a book. Shinigami was about to get the angle on Discord when he noticed his brother stumble. Ryujin looked down to see an open book; this should not have surprised him, but he turned his head at this one. Shinigami watched as Ryujin picked up the book that he was previously reading; he began to sweat nervously. Ryujin looked at the book in his hands, it read, "With her many changeling minions, Queen Chrysalis ravaged Canterlot..."

"This just happens to be opened to a page like this?" Ryujin whispered.

Ryujin kept his head low, but his eyes were scanning the room intensely.

"What's that? Did you find something?" asked Discord.

Ryujin looked up, "No....just another book."

Shinigami heard his brother say this and let out a sigh of relief, satisfied that he was telling the truth. With that he started to move around the group; once in a good point, he tried to find ways to draw Discord alone and kill him. Discord walked over to Ryujin who had dropped the book. Ryujin looked at Discord when he suddenly saw a shadow fly behind the pillars on the far end of the room; Ryujin's eyes widened.

In the deep forests Ryujin stood alone, cautiously looking around and listening for the slightest peep.

"This time," he said to himself, "This time I'll win."

He walked on ever so slowly, checking behind every bush. So many times before had his brother bested him, but no more. He slipped through the shadows ever so quietly. Suddenly he gazed out into the far tree line; he saw a thin dark disfigured creature pass through the trees. At first he thought it was Shinigami; he stood there frozen in his tracks, but after a few minutes, there was nothing.

"Must of been a bird or something," he told himself.

He continued to scan the forest, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find his brother. Suddenly Ryujin heard a loud noise come from the brush behind him; before he could act, Shinigami was already upon him. Ryujin quickly found that his arms and wings had been pinned behind his back and Shinigami was a top of him.

"You're dead, I win again," Shinigami said triumphantly.

Shinigami stood up and allowed Ryujin to get to his feet.

"Don't make me laugh, I let you win," Ryujin explained.

"You're such a liar."

"Am not."

"Yes you are."

"Am not."

Suddenly this memory begins to fade away; Ryujin rejoins the present situation. He begins to sweat nervously,but keeps a straight face as Discord looks at him.

"Any sign of him?" Ryujin asked Discord casually.

"No, now can we please leave. This place is not really my style; all gloomy and boring."

With that question, Ryujin raised his eye brows. He held back a smile.

He still kept a straight face, "I suppose so. You ready to go, dash?"

Dash looked at Ryujin; her eyes told him that she was about to protest leaving so soon. Ryujin quickly widened his eyes and gestured her forth as if there was something he needed to tell her. Dash was confused, but decided to obey and followed Ryujin and Discord as they headed for the library exit. Shinigami had gotten into position to take out Discord when the three began to walk away. He growled; this was his chance, and he wouldn't let his prey get away that easily. He suddenly looked around and found a large piece of discarded ruble on the ground next to him. Shinigami lifted the piece and, with a great heave, threw it against a nearby wall.

Ryujin, Dash, and Discord were about to reach the hallway when the three of them heard a CRACK at the other end of the room. They turned and saw nothing but an empty library.

"What was that?" Dash asked.

Ryujin stopped dead in his tracks and lowered his head. Dash began to walk over to where to noise came from; Ryujin became more uneasy with every step she took.

Ryujin turned to her, "I'm sure it was nothing."

"I won't take long, I'm just gonna check it out."

"Damn," he whispered.

Shinigami stood in the darkness as dash approached him, he would prefer to take out the one that could teleport first, but Dash was just as good a substitute. As she got closer and closer; Shinigami readied his claws and teeth. Dash walked on, looking around for the source of the strange sound. Ryujin was back with Discord, trying to find a way to stop her from getting herself killed. Finally he turns to Discord.

"Maybe we should help her look."

"Alright."

Discord lifted his hand and snapped his fingers casually. Across the room, Dash was slowly walking on when suddenly a giant magnifying glass appeared before her and she soon found herself wearing a brown cliche detective suite, compliments of Discord. As soon as she noticed, Dash looked to the others with a confused and annoyed face. When Ryujin saw this he turned and looked at Discord with an unamused expression.

"what? I helped her just like you said," said Discord innocently .

"Oh just come with me, and stop....Being you,"

Ryujin took hold of Discord and lead him along as he made his way over to Dash. Discord was confused, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice at this point, so he went along. When Shinigami saw his brother and Discord approaching, he became furious. He would not let this opportunity pass him by. Shinigami looked around once again and tried to come up with a plan. Suddenly he looked up and a strange idea popped into his head. Ryujin was about to reach Dash and persuade her to leave before anything happens when he heard a faint "whoosh" sound. Both Ryujin and Dash's ears fluttered.

Both creatures looked at each other in mutual understanding then they looked up. Behind one of the large columns, Shinigami floated, using up great amounts of strength to push the pillar over; it cracked under the pressure. When Ryujin saw this he became alarmed and readied him self to sprint to Dash as fast as he knew how. But just as he was about to take off, the large cracked pillar broke and hurtled towards the ground. Ryujin and Discord looked up just in time see the pillar come down on them. Dash quickly flew up to get over the pillar and save her friends when she was halted. Shinigami slowly lowered himself down in front of Dash.

"Well, well, well. It is about time I got one of you three alone, and this is much easier than trying to take you out silently."

"Yeah so ya got me alone, I can still fight," Dash said bravely.

Shinigami laughed, "Oh I have no doubt of that, but you see, it would be futile. You alone can't hurt me,"

He glanced over to the large pillar that had his brother and Discord pinned down, unconscious.

He sighed, "That is a pity; I expected more. oh well, I guess I'll only get to kill one of you."

Dash looked over to the pile of ruble that was crushing her friends; all that could be seen of them was Discord's arm sticking out.Then she turned back to her enemy.

Dash gulped, "Well here goes nothing."

Dash suddenly flew up at amazing speeds, she soared high above Shinigami. Then she turned and shot back down. But the dragon merely glanced as she approached him and jumped up to meet her at super sonic speeds. The two neared each other, both going as fast as they could. Meanwhile a strange light began to emerge from under the pillar ruble. Soon this light covered the ruble, growing more intense by the second. Shinigami and Dash came closer and closer to one another, but Shinigami's speed was far superior to Dash's. He got the edge and grabbed Dash just before the two of them collided. With both hands out Shinigami slams against Dash, the rough scales digging into her torso. As he grabbed her, Dash let out a huge groan and spat blood from her mouth. The two stopped in mid-air; Shinigami had the young Pegasus in his grasp.

"So are you gonna try that again?" he asked sarcastically.

Dash Couldn't speak, she just hung there struggling to get free. Suddenly the strange light from under the pillar became brighter and brighter. Shinigami raised his tail up to Dash's neck, the sharp spike at the tip was practically shaving her. Sweat and blood dripped from her body; her eyes were wide and her breathing was rapid and patchy.

Shinigami laughed, "What's wrong? Aren't you gonna try more of those fancy kicks you like so much?"

The spiked tail glided to one side of Dash's neck, preparing to turn crimson with her blood when it was interrupted. The light that had surrounded the ruble on top of Ryujin and Discord had erupted with a loud Bang. Pieces of debris flew in every direction as the ruble burst in an explosion. Several pieces were launched at Shinigami, he quickly covered his face with his wing until the dust had settled.

As he lowered his wing, he could see his brother standing beside him. He was about to act when Ryujin took the liberty of striking first. He delivered a devastating puch to Shinigami's jaw, forcing him to release Dash and fall backward. Dash fell to the ground in shock; if Ryujin had not come along when he did she would be.... Dash sat there on the ground; eyes wide, out of breath, and jaw dropped. She had been in life-and-death situations many times before, but this was the first time death had her by her neck (quite literally). Ryujin watched as his brother moaned, sat up, and wiped the blood from his chin.

Shinigami slowly stood up. The two stared at one another; it was like a quick draw match in an old western movie. Ryujin turned his head slightly to talk to dash; keeping one very observatory eye on his brother.

"Dash, go and get Discord from under that mess over there."

Dash was still in her trance of shock and hadn't realized what Ryujin said.

She starred blankly, "What?"

"Dash!" Ryujin screamed.

Dash slowly blinked and shook her head. She looked towards the pile of broken column that lay on top of Discord; quickly she stood up and flew over to it. She used her snout and wing power to lift most of the pieces covering Discord, despite some of the heaviest ones. When Discord was revealed, Dash saw a thick shield of ruby magic extending the length of his body. After a minute or so, this magic evaporated, leaving Discord virtually unharmed. Dash proceeded to shake Discord until he regained consciousness.

Discord looked around and then at Dash, who was hovering over him. When Ryujin saw that the other members of his party were awake and ready for action, he turned back to face Shinigami.

"You two need to get out of here," Ryujin said to his friends; his back facing them.

Shinigami raised an eyebrow, "Oh look at you, so confident that you'll win."

Dash looked at him in protest; she couldn't just leave him here.

"What? No, I can't."

He turned to them, "No time to argue. Discord, take Dash and get back to town."

"But..." Discord said.

"Do it now!"

Dash readied herself to fly in and fight along side our hero, but she was halted by Discord. As she was about to take off, Dash felt Discord firmly grab hold of her. Before she could speak, Dash saw Discord's chaotic magic cover her entire body. The next thing she heard was a quick "Poof," and she was back in Ponyville. The air was calm and the sun had reached its climax in the western part of the sky; several ponies had witnessed their sudden arrival. Dash looked around until her gaze reached Discord.

She flew up to his face, "Why did you do that?!"

"Well what did you expect me to do?"

Dash got closer, "Help him! Take me back there now."

"Are you mad?"

Dash calmed her voice, "He saved both of our lives. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"He said he didn't want our help. Why are you so sure he'll lose?"

Before Dash could answer, the rest of the main six came galloping to her side.

Twilight stepped forward, "What happened?"

Dash landed, "We found him in the old castle. I was about to help fight when SOME-PONY teleported us back here."

Discord folded his arms and huffed.

Luna flew to the front, "Where's Ryujin?"

"He's still there, fighting. We need to go help."

Twilight looked around, "Alright, I'll teleport us there."

The ponies continued to prepare for the fight.

After Dash and Discord left the castle, the two brother starred each other down; Sweat dripped from both.

"I guess I'll just have to kill you before they come back."

Ryujin smirked,"I guess so. That is, if you can," he pointed, "You know, that's a pretty big scar; one might wounder if it might be a set back."

Shinigami glanced down at his chest and held his hand to the scar; he growled.

"You got lucky last time with that puny knife of yours!"

"it seems this puny knife served its purpose."

Shinigami smiled, "You know how this is going to end."

"Yes I do; with me standing over your corps."

"Ooooh. Well come on then, let's see it happen."

Ryujin growled and closed his fists tightly. Shinigami smiled and did the same. Simultaneously the brothers leapt toward one another until they were inches apart. They both screamed as they collided.

CH. 5: It's over?

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Ryujin growled and closed his fists tightly. Shinigami smiled and did the same. Simultaneously the brothers leapt toward one another until they were inches apart. They both screamed as they collided. They reached with their fists out, but Shinigami landed the first blow. Ryujin flew back, rubbing his jaw. He slowly reached behind his wing and roughly maneuvered his fingers; after a few seconds he withdrew his hands and held up a small holster. He quickly grabbed the knife nestled inside and discarded the holster.

He growled, "Alright, come on then."

Shinigami jumped high and soared toward Ryujin at super sonic speeds. Ryujin readied himself and waited for his brother. When he got close Shinigami extended his claw, but Ryujin quickly grabbed his wrist and thrust his knife deep into Shinigami's side. Shinigami's speed caused the brothers to fall backward into a nearby wall; it rumbled and cracked under the pressure. When they landed Shinigami used his leg to push away from his brother. Then he let out a scream and clenched the tissue surrounding the blade. He hesitantly wrapped his hand around the hilt and roared from the pain.

"One...Two...THREE!"

He ripped the knife from his body and screamed again. As he was doing this, Ryujin shook his head and rose to his feet. With the knife in his hand Shinigami stood up and held his side; blood leaking between his fingers.

"That's the second time you've done that!"

He turned and threw the knife to the other side of the room, out of sight. As soon as Shinigami turned, Ryujin stretched his wings and dashed forward. Shinigami turned back just in time to feel Ryujin's fist loosen his jaw. He staggered and Ryujin continued his assault, punching his ribs and face, slamming the edge of his wings into Shinigami's forehead, twisting to strike him with a rough tail, and grabbing his shoulders for a headbutt. Finally he slowed and delivered a final knee to his brother's bleeding cut.

Ryujin stepped back, panting. Shinigami stood in front of him, stunned, but finally dropped to his knees. He bent down and spat out a puddle of blood. He groaned and held a hand to his side again; after a few minutes of rough panting he smiled.

"My turn."

Shinigami span around and wrapped his tail around Ryujin's leg. Before Ryujin could free himself, he was lifted up high in the air. The tail swung back and threw him through a stone wall and out into the dark hallway, debris surrounded his every side. He stayed down to catch his breath for a few seconds.

He then slammed his fist against the floor, "Come on Ryujin," he said to himself.

Back in Ponyville, Dash was explaining the situation.

Luna flew to the front of the group, "Where's Ryujin?"

"He's still there, fighting. We need to go help."

Twilight looked around and gulped, "Alright, I'll teleport us there."

The ponies nodded and gathered around Twilight. She was about to teleport them when she noticed Discord standing back.

She turned her head, "You're not coming?"

Discord sighed, "well if every-pony else is."

Discord slowly walked over and joined the group.

Twilight took a deep breath, "Alright, hold on."

She closed her eyes and wrinkled her brow. Suddenly her horn began to glow and a bright light soon surrounded the group. A big poof of purple magic was all that was left.

Ryujin slowly stood up with blood leaking from many small cuts, he stared through the hole in the wall that he just made; his brother was starring back. They both growled and Shinigami began to advance. Ryujin took a deep breath and raised his hands. Red sparks shot from them and focused into small currents of electricity centered in his palms. Shinigami picked up speed to a run and starred at his brother. Ryujin stepped out of the hallway and rose one of his hands. He began to sprint around the room, shooting bolt after bolt of Lightning. Shinigami evaded every one of Ryujin's attempts, slowly gaining on him. He suddenly jumped forward and slammed Ryujin's hands away. Ryujin thrust his wing at Shinigami but he dodged, Shinigami punched his brother in the face, staggering him. Ryujin shook his bleeding head and flew forward.

In the castle's court yard their was a strange disturbance in the air. Out of nowhere, a huge luminous light appeared and disappeared in a flash. When the dust cleared there stood all four princesses, two pegasi, one unicorn, and two earth ponies. They looked around, the air was calm and the sky way black. Dash walked out to the front.

"Come on, they were in the library."

"Right, you lead the way," said Applejack.

Ryujin kicked his brother in the side; Shinigami cringed but managed to grab the leg, quickly turn, and throw his brother back against a book shelf. The shelf tumbled down, books and pages flew all around; Ryujin was under it all. After a second or two, he pushed some of the books and the shelf out of the way and stood up. He was about to charge when his ear twitched. He quickly turned his head to the hallway and listened.

"Oh crap," he whispered.

The ponies approached the main door at an amazing rate; they heard the fight rage on inside the castle.

Ryujin looked back to his brother, who was sprinting his way. He did the same and the two dragons soon met in the middle of the room. Ryujin punched his brother's face, Shinigami used the momentum to spin around and round-house kick Ryujin in his waist. Ryujin jumped up and slammed his fists down, Shinigami blocked with both of his arms and spread his wing. The wing's spike traveled through the air and pierced Ryujin's forearm; he screamed and pushed away from his brother, his arm pouring blood.

Finally the ponies had reached the front steps and climbed to the massive front door. Dash and the rest of the company stopped in front of the structure. She lifted her hoof and pushed open the door; it flew open as it did before and slammed into the interior wall.

Ryujin held his arm tight and sent more ruby sparks into his wound.

Shinigami growled, "Not this time."

He began to step forward when there was a sudden crash that echoed throughout the castle; Shinigami stopped. Both brothers faced the direction of the main door.

Shinigami smiled, "Well, well, well. Do you here that? They've come to save you."

"Don't hurt her!"

Shinigami raised an eye brow, "Her?"

Ryujin realized what he had just done, "Them...don't hurt them."

Shinigami threw back his head in laughter, "Don't tell me, you've started to care for that Pegasus."

Ryujin's gaze dropped to the floor, "I just don't want anyone to get hurt."

"You know, you say the most cliche lines when your lying. I can see right through you. And I want you to know that I will make you watch as I personally shred her to the bones."

Upon hearing those words Ryujin raised his head, his gaze was strong and determined, and growled. He sprinted after his brother before he could completely heal his arm. He raised his good hand and threw the best punch he could, but Shinigami grabbed the arm using his tail. Ryujin struggled, pushing forward with everything he had. Suddenly he was thrown to the ground, Shinigami was laughing above. Blood was leaking from Ryujin's arm as he slowly came to his feet. Shinigami disregarded his brothers efforts and turned to the exit.

Shinigami waved, "Don't worry, this'll only take a second."

Shinigami disappeared around the corner and left the library. Ryujin tried to take a step, but his leg couldn't handle it and he dropped to his knees. He sat on the ground panting; he turned to his arm which was throbbing with pain. He lifted his head and looked to the exit; after a few seconds his breathing calmed and he began to ignore the pain in his arm and the fatigue in his legs. He stood up, took one last deep breath, raised his hand, and blasted red sparks of magic into his wounds. Faster than ever, the wounds came together and sealed. The strength returned to his legs and he shook the blood from his body and ran forward.

The ponies walked on, checking the room around them as Dash led the way to the library. The hallway was in sight when, suddenly, a figure stepped out from it. This figure glistened with silver scales and looked at her with two small balls of fire for eyes. Dash stopped in her tracks and the others did the same.

Fluttershy timidly stepped forward and hid behind Dash, "Who is it?"

Dash slowly turned her head, "Take the others and run as fast as you can."

Shinigami smiled in a low growl and charged forward.

Dash quickly pushed Fluttershy back, "Run!"

Before she turned back around Shinigami was upon her; he grabbed her hoof and threw her behind him. She slammed against the wall before she could regain control; the impact was rough and painful, Dash shook her head to regain focus. Shinigami raised a claw and sliced at the rest of the ponies, but princesses Celestia and Luna stepped up and created a magical shield. Shinigami's hand bounced off the shield when made contact. He roared and span around to reached behind the ponies with his tail. He wrapped his tail around Rarity's tail and picked her up. Rarity screamed in pain and terror as she was swung around the room and at her own friends. Shinigami tossed her into the group and the whole bunch fell to the ground.

Shinigami stepped in front of the group and took a deep breath, the scales around his neck lit up a bright red. Dash watched as the fire left his throat. Twilight quickly pushed her way through her friends and formed a large purple bubble around them all. The flames banged pushed against the bubble, Twilight Cringed and struggled under the pressure. Dash wrinkled her brow and flew forward, she got ready to turn and kick Shinigami when she was suddenly grabbed by some-pony behind her.

Ryujin tossed Dash out of the way and charged forward. He tackled Shinigami to the ground and turned him on his back. Ryujin threw punch after punch and growled and snarled all the while. Shinigami struggled, trying to push his brother off of him, but Ryujin had him completely pinned down. Ryujin continued to punch and slice his brother; blood began to pour from Shinigami's face and chest. It wasn't long before Shinigami started to lose his breath, he made disturbing gargling sounds but Ryujin did not let up.

Twilight dropped her spell and fell back, panting. The rest of the ponies took a step back from Ryujin as he gruesomely ripped his brother apart. It wasn't long before Shinigami's arms dropped to the ground and he stopped functioning. Ryujin didn't care, he still tore and sliced and punched. It was several seconds before he finally grew tired and slowed. He stopped and panted in place. He lowered his arms and slowly looked around at the ponies; every one of them cringed at the sight of him, the blood covering his face and the sorry corpse underneath him.

Ryujin slowly stood up, "You all okay?"

The ponies were speechless, and frightened. Dash joined the rest of her friends; she glared at Shinigami's body as she walked.

Rarity looked at him, "I..I think so. But.."

"But what?"

She glanced at her friends, "Are you okay?"

Ryujin looked back at his brother for a few seconds.

He took a deep breath, "Yeah. Anyway we should get back to the town."

The ponies blankly nodded and discord gestured him forth.

"Well that was uh...something," Discord whispered to him.

Ryujin didn't answer, he just nodded. Discord stepped into the middle of the group and raised his arms. His strange magic surrounded every-pony and with a quick poof they were gone. When they reappeared in Ponyville, the night had ascended and most ponies were asleep. Ryujin took a few steps forward when his legs began to wobble; his fatigue had caught up to him. He shook and dropped to his knees. The ponies rushed forward and held him up.

Twilight lit up her horn and teleported the group into her castle.

"Come on, lets get him into one of the spare rooms."

They did as Twilight said and carried him into one of the castle's spare rooms. Spike came out of his room at the sound of all the commotion.

He ran to Twilight, "What happened?"

"I'll tell you later, Spike."

They placed him on the bed and stepped back. Ryujin had lost consciousness; he was covered in blood. The ponies slowly left the room and closed the door. They all looked at one another.

"Ain't any-pony gonna say somthin' about what we saw him do?" said Applejack.

"He did what he should of done," Dash blurted out.

Twilight looked at her, surprised, "Rainbow! Didn't you see what he did? He killed his brother."

"Perhaps his world is just naturally that violent. Who knows what he's used to?" Celestia commented.

"What are we going to do now?" Rarity asked.

"Well, there's nothing more that we can do tonight," said Dash.

After a little while, the ponies decided to deal with the situation in the morning. They all left the castle and went home to get a not so good night's sleep. Little did they know that Ryujin and Shinigami had gathered the attention of some very unpleasant types.

Back at the old castle, Shinigami's body lay rotting on the ground in a puddle of blood. A sound suddenly came from the front door. It soon burst open with a loud bang. On the other end was a large pony-like creature wearing a hood that hid it's features. It stepped forward, staying to the shadows. it traveled until it stood directly above Shinigami. Suddenly the creature flipped up the hood to reveal a dark green face, razor sharp teeth, and hole-covered hooves. The pony's horn began to glow a bright green that surrounded the dragon's corpse. The pony looked up and smiled.

In the morning, Ryujin slowly blinked and opened his eyes with a loud groan. he looked around at his room. He shook his head and quickly got up. He walked to the door and pushed it open lightly. Then walked through the castle until he found Twilight and the rest of the mane six in their thrones, which had been fully repaired by now. As he entered the room the ponies looked at him and he starred back.

Ryujin gulped, "Sorry if I uh, scared you all last night. I don't know what came over me," he glanced at Dash.

"It's...alright. What will you do now?" Twilight asked.

Ryujin sighed, "I'll have to go back and get his body so I can bury it, he was my brother after all, at least he was once."

"Want any help?"

Ryujin looked up at the ponies, again astonished at their kindness, even after he just got one of their friends killed.

"No, I got it."

The ponies nodded and Ryujin began to walk to the door.

"Uh...Ryujin?" Dash called.

Ryujin quickly turned to her, "Yes?"

Dash gestured to Ryujin with a disturbed look. Ryujin looked at his body and saw that he was still covered in dried blood.

"Oh...right."

"The bathroom is over there," Twilight gestured to a far room.

Ryujin smiled and walked over to the bathroom and washed himself of the blood and dirt that surrounded his whole being. After a few minutes he stepped out, good as new. He waved to the ponies and stepped out of the castle. When he got outside, the ponies in town starred at him silently. He took a deep breath and awkwardly walked to the edge of town and into the forest. When he was no longer in the sight of any-pony, he raised his hands and teleported himself to the old castle. When he arrived he found that the place had not changed; it was still dark, cold, and unwelcoming.

He walked inside and looked upon his brother, bloody and torn. He slowly walked up to him and knelt down beside his body. He reached under it and lifted it in his arms. He hesitated at first, some wasn't right; the body felt weird, unnatural. Ryujin was unsure of what was wrong, but he didn't want this to take any longer than it had to.

"Come on," he said to his brother, as if he could hear him.

Ryujin walked back outside, leaving a large dried blood stain on the ground in the castle. He exited the castle courtyard and looked around until he saw a small hill far off. He smiled and walked toward it, the farther from the castle he got, the lighter the forest became. When he finally reached the top of the hill, he gazed all around. The sun penetrated the tree line and illuminated the green patches of grass scattered around.

"This is as good a place as any."

He placed his brother on the ground gently and knelt down. He began to dig a sizable grave for Shinigami and didn't finish for about twenty minutes. When he was done he climbed out of the hole and picked up his brother once again. He turned and slowly placed the body in the grave. Ryujin stood up and looked around again. The forest was calm and the sun was warm on his face. Ryujin held up his head and felt the cool breeze tickle his neck. He turned back to the grave and began to fill it once more with dirt.

The ponies were still inside the castle, talking about their lost friend and trying their best to comfort each other; they had all been through a lot. Suddenly a bright red spark erupted in the middle of the room and a second later, Ryujin stood before them. He turned and looked at all of them.

He took a deep breath, "It's over."

CH. 6: New Friends, New Life

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The ponies were still inside the castle, talking about their lost friend and trying their best to comfort each other; they had all been through a lot in the past two days. Suddenly a bright red spark erupted in the middle of the room and a second later, Ryujin stood before them. He held his head high, turned, and looked at all of them.

He took a deep breath, "It's over."

The ponies looked at one another.

"Well, what will you do now? Are you going back to your world?" Dash asked.

Ryujin looked at the pony with his head high and determination and respect in his eyes. He walked out of the middle of the room and faced the mane six. Spike came around the corner and slowly walked to his pony friends. Ryujin slowly dropped to one knee, lowered his head, and closed his eyes.

"W...What's he doing?" Dash whispered to her friends.

Suddenly Ryujin's body ignited in red flames; the ponies gasped at the sight. After a few seconds, the flames died down and left Ryujin kneeling on the floor, unmarked. He opened his eyes and stood up straight.

He glanced around, "I have sworn myself to the six of you."

The ponies blinked and looked at one another blankly.

Spike smiled, "It's his dragon code. You know, like the time I agreed to do whatever Applejack said."

Applejack rolled her eyes, "Oh pony feathers, not this again."

Ryujin walked forward, "Don't worry, it's not that extensive."

"What do you mean?" Spike turned his head.

"You're still a young dragon so I'll completely explain the code to you. The code is different for all dragons; each decide for themselves the extent in which they have to abide. However, one detail remains the same no matter how far you take the code."

The ponies leaned forward.

"If a dragon activates his or her code, like I just did, they can never abandon those who they have sworn to....In other words-"

"You can never go home," Twilight interrupted.

Ryujin slowly nodded, "...Right. At least not while you all are still here."

The ponies looked at him, surprised.

"Darling, why would do such a thing?" Rarity asked.

Ryujin looked at the group proudly, "My father was very clear in this area; 'if someone provides to you, a kindness, you must always repay the favor.' You all saved my life in town, and you came to save me a second time at the castle even after I got your friend killed. The only way to repay you all was to activate my code and pledge to help."

Dash turned her head, "What does that mean exactly?"

"MY code," he gestured to himself, "states that I must always defend you all and that I must do my best not to let any kind of harm come your way. Each dragon's code demands different things."

"You say 'each dragon's' but you're only the second dragon we've met that follows a code," said Twilight with a proudly smiling Spike standing next to her.

"Well, not all dragons follow the code, it is a choice. When a dragon is very young, he or she is given the choice to either live by a code or not; most choose to not, my brother for example. That was another reason him and my father often argued."

"So what are you gonna do now?" again asked Dash.

Ryujin stood and thought about it, "I...guess, try to fit in as best I can. And of course I'll need a job, not to mention a place to stay."

Twilight smiled, "Well that shouldn't be too hard, we can help you fit in. As for you having a place to stay, you can keep your room here in the castle. It's not like I will use it."

Ryujin's ears lifted, "Really? You're sure?"

"Although I don't know about any jobs for you. But you're a dragon; don't you have some sort of hidden stash of treasures?"

"Well yeah, but even if you all help me go get it, the money I've stored won't be worth anything here."

"Well in any case I'm sure you'll be fine," Twilight said waving her hoof gently.

Ryujin looked around at the ponies; all of them had bright smiling faces that left him astonished. How, he wondered, could they still manage to smile? How after everything, could they still be willing to help? He looked around and felt something he had not felt for the past two years; a sense of belonging, a sense of family.

He slowly smiled, "Thanks, all of you."

Pinkie widened her grin, "That's what friends are for."

Ryujin's head shot up, "It's only been two days and you already consider me a friend?"

"Well you did save our lives after only being in this world for a few minutes, so yeah." Dash smirked.

Ryujin chuckled and walked toward his friends, his new family.

Unfortunately things were not this touching deep within the crevices of the Ever-free forest. On the surface stood a small and modest cave entrance that spread several echoed voices from within. Deep below ground, in the darkest depths of this cave ( lit only by some bioluminescent fungi ), were hundreds if not thousands of strange dark creatures with bright glowing eyes. These black pony-like beings had been surrounding something in the middle of the dark and dripping cave. This something was the torn, beaten, and rotting corpse of Shinigami. Standing over him was a large being with a pale blue mane, emerald eyes, razor-sharp teeth, and a rough and torn tail.

The creature addressed her army, "Tonight, my children, we receive our salvation! No more scavenging, no more going hungry! We will have our revenge! And we will start with Ponyville...with Twilight Sparkle."

The changeling army roared as their queen turned to face the corpse in front of her. Chrysalis lowered her head and concentrated; her battered horn soon glowed so intensely that the changelings had to shield their eyes. From the surface, the cave entrance emitted a beautiful light in the darkness of the forest, and it only seemed to be getting brighter. Suddenly a strong ray of energy shot from Chrysalis's head and struck Shinigami's body.

He lit up and shook rigorously for several minutes; Chrysalis's legs began to wobble from fatigue. After another minute or so the magic began to dim until it was almost dark in the cave once again. But just then, the light returned ten-fold in a massive magical explosion. This explosion flung Queen Chrysalis back against the cave wall; several changelings were also pushed back.

When the light finally ceased, the changelings warily looked up to find a large silver figure glistening before them. Shinigami appeared to be completely healed again.

He angrily glanced around, "Where am I? what is this?"

Queen Chrysalis slowly stood, panting, and walked over to him.

She smiled ominously at him, "Now you can finish what you started."

"What? Who are you? Where are we?" he growled.

"I am Queen Chrysalis and these are my children," she gestured forth, "I brought you back to life."

Shinigami shook and rubbed his head, "Where's my brother?"

"I'd imagine the other dragon is still in town, which is why we need you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Now that You're alive, we can take our revenge."

Shinigami glared at the Changeling queen, "So you thought that I was going to help you because you revived me? what's stopping me from just eating you."

The changelings became alarmed and readied themselves to protect their queen. Shinigami turned to them and grinned. He let out a deep and grainy growl.

"I would prefer if you didn't harm them," Chrysalis interrupted.

He gave the army one last growl before turning back, "Why should I care what you would 'prefer'?"

Chrysalis began to get agitated, "Because we can help one another."

Shinigami wrinkled his brow and took another step closer to the queen, "How many times must I explain this to you WORTHLESS INSECTS; I don't need anyone's help."

Chrysalis took a few steps back, "We can give you two things you could never have yourself."

"And what would be those two things?" he folded his arms.

"An army of changelings," she nervously smiled and gestured, "and my magic."

Shinigami looked around at the army before him; his mind wandered back to the old castle and the book he had been reading.

"Now that you mention it I have heard of you before, you tried to take over the capital city, right?"

"It's called Canterlot, but yes. And if it wasn't for a CERTAIN pony I would have succeeded."

"Yeah I read you got your ass handed to you," Shinigami chuckled.

Chrysalis became outraged, but she knew she stood no chance against this dragon; she stayed quiet, grinding her teeth.

Shinigami turned to leave, "You made me laugh so I won't kill you this time, consider yourself lucky," he headed for the cave exit.

"Wait, you can't just leave!"

Shinigami growled and quickly turned to face her, "I can do whatever I-"

He looked down; something was different. He glared as his hands glowed a profound black aura.

"W...What is this? What have you done to me?"

Chrysalis stared in amazement, "My spell must have had...side effects."

Shinigami raised his hands; pulled them back, and threw them forward. Suddenly a large ball of black magic shot from them and banged against the cave wall, knocking loose several rocks. The changelings' eyes followed the burst as it traveled through the air. Shinigami lowered his hands again and thought. After a few moments he bagan to slowly grin as he stared at his new magic; a devilish plot soaring through his mind.

He turned to Chrysalis, "On second thought, your right; we have the same enemies. After all, you did bring me back to life, and not to mention you gave me magic in the process."

Chrysalis hesitated at first, wondering if he was really telling the truth. But after a while she decided to trust the dragon, he was, after all, her only hope.

She turned to her army, "You see, my children, now we will march on Ponyville and take revenge on those who foiled our previous plot. We will rule all of Equestria and never go hungry again!"

The changeling army roared and rejoiced before Shinigami. He looked around with an ominous smile stretched across his face.

He turned to Chrysalis, "Of course we will have to prepare for this attack."

Her smile faded, "What do you mean? We're ready now."

"If we're going to do this, we must have every advantage we can get."

She turned her head, "What do you propose?"

Shinigami looked at his hands once again, "Have you ever taught magic to anyone else?"

Chrysalis smiled at her new ally and began to laugh. Shinigami smiled as well.

Back in the castle, every pony put on a smile for Ryujin, even if Zecora was still on all of their minds. The mane six took him out into the town and began to introduce him to every pony else. The response of the townsponies were to be expected; some ran in terror, some growled in anger, and others were simply curious. After Ryujin had seen the entirety of the town, he had lost some of his spirit.

Ryujin scratched at his head awkwardly, "I think it's gonna be quite a while before anyone accepts me here."

Applejack approached the dragon, "Aw cheer up sugar cube, they just need a little time. Trust me, they'll come 'round."

"If you say so."

Pinkie Pie smiled and hopped forward, "AJ's right; and besides, Nightmare Night is coming up in about a month. That's the perfect time to get every pony to warm up to you."

"That's a great idea, after all it worked for princess Luna," Twilight added.

"What's Nightmare Night?"

"It's an amazing holiday with candy, costumes, and lots of fun." Pinkie ferociously explained.

Ryujin's smile reemerged, "I guess it's worth a shot."

He decided to continue to try his best to gain the ponies' favor.

After that, the days began to pass more quickly. The ponies trudged through thier jobs and tried to return to thier previous happy spirits. Unfortunately death is not easily forgotten. Ryujin had begun to establish himself in Ponyville, accepting jobs from those who offered and getting better accuainted with his pony friends.

Finally the one month marker had passed and the day of Nightmare Night arrived; every pony was finishing thier preparations for the evening. The morning light shined on Twilight's castle and into Ryujin's room and illuminated his face, which was wrinkled and disturbed. He quickly turned in his bed until his eyes finally shot open. He sighed and blinked tiredly before sitting up. For a minute or so Ryujin sat at the edge of his bed, staring with the same distant look that had been on his face every morning for the past two years. Eventually he shook his head and stretched to yawn, slowly rising to his feet. The dragon wandered to the bathroom to wake himself up, his feet patting on the crystal floors.

When he emerged he took a deep breath and made his way to the main hall. There he found Twilight listing materials followed by Spike holding a long piece of paper and quill and repeating the word "Check."

He approached them, "Hey guys, what're you doing?"

Twilight turned, "Oh, your up, good. We could use all the help we could get."

Ryujin rubbed his face one more time, "With what?"

"Nightmare Night; this year has to be perfect. Ponies...haven't really been the same lately."

Ryujin lowered his head a bit, "Right."

Spike raised his eyes, "But tonight will change all that. There's going to be games, decorations, and I've heard that princess Luna is coming again."

Ryujin remembered what his friends had said and became determined to change his reputation, "Is there anything I can do?"

Twilight thought for a few moments, "We need some pony who can fly to help put up some of the decorations. You could start with that; and if you need any help go and find Rainbow, she's probably taking one of her mid-morning naps."

Ryujin nodded and headed out to start his work while Twilight continued to list and Spike continued to "check." He pushed open the castle doors and spread his wings, the morning wind brushing against him. A few flaps later and he was soaring over Ponyville with the warmth of the sun on his back. He examined every pony hard at work getting everything ready. He eventually found the spot that would serve as the center point for tonight. He quickly descended and made a quiet landing among the ponies.

He looked around at the banners, tables, game boothes, and food stands that plastered the town. Ponies were all over, running about and trying to make everything just so. Quickly he saw some discarded banners lying on the ground. Ryujin reached down to pick them up when Pinkie came hopping around the corner with a big smile on her face, checking every pony's process and congratulating them on a job well done. She eventually made her way to Ryujin who was gathring up the ends of the banners and scanning for the perfect place to put them.

"Those would look great right over there," she pointed between two adjacent buildings.

"Alrighty then," he said as he flew up and began to tie the banner up. "How's this?" Ryujin asked when he was done.

"Fantastic! Now I've got to get over Sugarcube Corner and taste...I mean 'check on' the food for tonight."

Pinkie zoomed away leaving a trail of dust behind. Ryujin flew down with a chuckle in his throat and walked over to another discarded banner. As he picked it up he found that more and more fabric lay beneath; there was no way he could pick it up and hang it properly all by himself. He looked around seeking assistance until he spotted a lone cloud with a familiar rainbow-colored mane hanging off the edge. Ryujin took a deep breath, dropped the banner, and flew up to this cloud.

When he reached the cloud he saw Rainbow curled into a ball, her chest slowly rose and fell as she snored. A small breeze pushed through her mane, brushing it back and out of her face; allowing the golden rays of the sun to illuminate the whole scene.

Ryujin hesitated to wake her, "Uh...Dash."

No response.

"Dash, hey," he gently tried again.

Dash slowly blinked and wiggled, "Huh, what?"

She turned around to find Ryujin floating beside her.

"Oh hey," she yawned, "What's up?"

"Sorry but I needed some help with the decorations," Ryujin pointed.

Dash stood and looked down at the pile of fabric on the ground.

"Oh, sure. Just gimme a sec."

Ryujin nodded and flew down. Dash yawned again and stretched for a few moments before stepping off her cloud and joining her friend.

But as Ryujin and the ponies were putting up decorations, Shinigami was busy with a different kind of preparation. There were just enough rays of light peaking through the trees to brighten the forest floor and all the living creatures that roamed it. Shinigami sat alone on top of the changelings' cave, concentrating. His hands soon began to glow as his brow creased. The black magic became more promising as it started to spread to the dragon's arms, then his shoulders. After a few minutes Shinigami's entire body was covered with the black aura. He suddenly wrinkled his brow even more and the magic surrounding him increased. Shinigami struggled for a few seconds; his body began to rise from the stone and float in mid air.

Before long, Queen Chrysalis walked out from the dark cave and looked up to see Shinigami's progress.

She smiled with her razor teeth, "You learn fast."

Shinigami opened his eyes; the strain of the spell no longer showed, "I've always had that going for me."

The dragon quickly stood up, still being suspended only by his magic. He raised his arms and his whole body followed his command. He floated forward and down until his feet were safely on the ground. Once landed, the magic quickly receded back into Shinigami's hands.

He walked forward, "Why are you teaching me pointless spells? I don't need to levitate myself if I can fly."

"Learning to levitate others is easier if you already know how to levitate yourself."

Shinigami rolled his eyes, "I suppose."

Chrysalis raised her head and her horn began to glow. With one motion there was a large poof of smoke and when it cleared a changeling stood before the two of them.

Chrysalis smiled with a cocky expression, "See for yourself," she pointed.

Shinigami glared at the queen for a moment before turning his atention to the changeling minion before him. He took a deep breath and raised his hand. The changeling quickly became nervous and looked to his queen for assistance, but Chrysalis simply stared at Shinigami with anticipation in her eyes. Shinigami's hand once again began to glow black and the changeling began to grow more uneasy.

The dark magic suddenly shot from Shinigami and blasted the side of the changeling, who had closed his eyes in anticipation of some form of pain. After a minute the changeling opened his eyes to find that he was completely unharmed. He looked around and let out a sigh of relief. He was at ease....until he looked down.

Shinigami's hand was steady as he held the changeling ten feet off the ground. He smiled in shock of his own abilities after only one month. The changeling, on the other hand, was frantically shaking and shouting to be put down. Soon enough, Shinigami's arm began to wobble and he complied with the creature's wishes. After he had safely landed the changeling, Shinigami's magic suddenly flew back into him and disappeared.

Chrysalis let out a small hah, "You see, I told you."

Shinigami did not thank her, "What's next?" he asked with a monochromatic tone.

Chrysalis's triumphal smile faded, "Don't you think you should practice levitation a little more?"

"I got that already," he raised his voice, "what's next?"

The queen became increasingly irritated, "Alright, let's see how well you can teleport."

Shinigami smirked, took another deep breath, and readied his hands again.

The day advanced quickly for both Ryujin and Shinigami. Morning turned to afternoon and afternoon turned to evening. All during this time the ponies were preoccupied with the much anticipated Nightmare Night until finally it was time. The town was lit with countless lanterns of blue, orange, yellow, red, green, and purple; the night was filled with the vast combinations. Banners covered the buildings and hung above the many different food and game boothes. The ponies behind these boothes smiled as they offered corn, apples, cotton candy, chocolates; pin the tail on the pony, pop the balloon, toss the spider, and many other games and treats.

The streets were crowded with werewolves, vampires, zombies, gouls, ghosts, goblins; alicorn princesses, fairies, pirates, knights, witches, and several ( less extreme ) animals. But even among so much variation, every pony had one thing in common; a smile across thier face for the first time in one month.

Earlier, Ryujin had returned to his room in the castle to have a nap before joining in the festivities. He managed to get about half an hour when a loud knock woke him. Ryujin opened his eyes and gazed at the ceiling; another knock came. Ryujin looked to the door and quickly rose to his feet. He rushed over and opened the door to find a crazy-haired Twilight with a white lab coat, cracked goggles, and shined black shoes.

"Are ya ready? Every pony's already started!" she said with a huge smile and a small jump.

Ryujin looked the pony up and down with a grin on his face, "So who are you?"

"I'm glad you asked. I'm am the mad genius scientist Victor Van Frankenhoof."

Just then, Spike came running down the hall until he reached Twilight. He was covered in green paint and had several fake stitches spreading all over his body. His head scales were black and unorganized, and his eyes were surrounded by red painted bags.

"And I am the deranged psycho monster created by Dr. Frankenhoof," he said as he stood by Twilight's side.

Ryujin bent down and took a closer look at the young dragon, "Is that right? Well, deranged psycho monster, are you ready for some candy?"

"Absolutely!"

Ryujin patted the young one's head and laughed. He slowly rose to face Twilight again, who was chuckling along with him.

"I still need to change so don't wait up. I'll be out soon."

Twilight nodded and turned to leave, "Don't be too long."

Ryujin smiled and closed his door again. He wandered over to the window and opened it wide; the ponies outside seemed to be having a grand time and Ryujin was eager to join them. He quickly turned and opened his dresser, reached in, and began to pull out several garments and began to get dressed. When he was finished, he walked over to the mirror and examined any flaw in his design. The mirror revealed a black shirt, pants, and tail cover, all of which were covered by a thin layer of fur. His feet were covered with grey except for the toes, which had elongated silver talons. On his head, he placed two large silver eyebrows and covered the spikes on the top of his head with more silver hair. Lastly, across his chest was a large section of fur protruding out.

Ryujin looked all around himself and found the cloth section of his costume to be ready; next was the paint. He quickly exited his room and rushed to the bathroom. He grabbed the paint on the side of the sink and began. He painted his face grey and black and did the same with his hands. The claws on his fingers and wings were painted silver. The wings themselves were painted grey with a hint of brown to seem thinner.

"And for the final touch," he reached beside the sink and grabbed a pair of large fangs that extended down to his chin when placed in his mouth.

When he was all done, Ryujin took one last look at himself; he was ready. He turned and headed for the main doors dressed as the perfect vampire fruit bat.

Burst after burst of black magic erupted in the dense Ever-free forest. Shinigami stood, his legs wobbling from exhaustion, with his eyes shut tight and his brow creased. He extended his hands and forced more power to come forth. In one final push, he focused his magic, fatigue causing him to show his teeth, and let forth another poof of black smoke. But when it cleared and Shinigami opened his eyes he found that he was still in the same spot as before; just like all his other attempts.

He quickly dropped to one knee and began panting heavily. Chrysalis strolled out from her cave behind Shinigami and came up on his left side. She looked at the dragon with a smug grin on her face.

"Not so easy is it?" she smirked.

Shinigami growled in annoyance, "What do you want?"

"Just checking your progress," she said as she began to circle Shinigami.

"Well you've checked. Now go away so I can get this."

Shinigami stopped panting and rose to his feet; Chrysalis took a few steps back. Shinigami closed his eyes again and extended his arms. Just like before, black streams of magic ran over his body. Chrysalis watched, slow shaking her head. Shinigami quickly opened one of his eyes and caught a glimpse of her disappointed glare. He suddenly let out a large sigh and dropped his hands; his magic zooming back.

"What, what is it?" he snapped.

"Your doing it wrong." Chrysalis said with a calm smile at the sight of Shinigami's frustration.

"What're you talking about?"

She sighed, "You need to focus on where you want to go exactly, not just on moving somewhere in general."

"I'm doing 'exactly' what I should be. Now leave be before I eat you or something," Shinigami turned his back to the queen and closed his eyes again.

Chrysalis wrinkled her brow and stormed off, "Fine stay there and fail!"

Shinigami slowly turned and checked to see that she had gone. When he was satisfied, he quickly looked around; his gaze widened when he spotted a large boulder in the distance.

"Fine, I'll try it your way."

One last time he closed his eyes, readied his hands and concentrated. But this time thought only of the boulder. As the magic covered his body, Shinigami continued to think: the boulder, the boulder, the boulder, the boulder. Finally the poof came and Shinigami opened his eyes.

He looked down to where he stood and he looked back to where he once stood. He was now.....a few feet closer to the boulder. He looked around with both relief and utter disappointment, not to mention extreme exhaustion.

"Well...it's better than nothing," he sighed.

Ryujin made his way through the castle doors and walked to where the festivities were thickest. The ponies around seemed happy and distracted by the colorful lights, fun games, and candy. Ryujin walked throughout the place until he heard something he had not expected.

"Hey you!" a voice called.

Ryujin looked around until he spotted a small zombie waving him over to one the balloon pop booths. He was suprised to say the least but he made his way over.

"How 'bout it big guy, wanna give it a go?" asked the vender.

Ryujin smiled at this development. He began to think that perhaps this meant the ponies were ready to accept him.

"Sure."

"Alright just take a dart," he pointed to seveal darts on the table in front of them, "and pop a balloon to win a prize," he moved his hoof to point to the back wall of the stand.

Ryujin picked up one of the darts and focused on a large orange balloon in front of him. Just then the ponies around stopped what they were doing and glanced over. Ryujin felt the eyes on him, perhaps this was more than just an innocent game; perhaps the ponies were seeing it as some sort of gesture. Maybe this was a sign that things would start to get better. These thoughts rushed through Ryujin's head as he took aim and threw.

A second later, a loud pop was heard and pieces of orange fell to the ground. Ryujin smiled and gave a victorious HA.

"Well done," the vender praised and handed Ryujin a small stuffed bear.

After that the ponies went back to thier own games; it was just a small event, but Ryujin had a feeling it made the ponies feel a little better about him. He thanked the vender and walked on through the streets.

He walked until he saw Twilight and Spike gathered among a sizable crowd surrounding the apple bobbers.

He walked to their side, "Hey guys."

The two turned to face him, "Oh good, you made it," Twilight exclaimed, "And it seems you already won something," she pointed to the bear.

Ryujin smiled, "Yeah," he took a glance around, "looks like everything turned out alright."

Spiked jumped with enthusiasm in his step and candy in his arms, "I'll say! This is shaping up to be one of the best Nightmare Nights yet!"

Ryujin smiled with the small dragon, then suddenly noticed the commotion at the front of the crowd, "What's all this about?"

"Oh yeah come look," Twilight gestured him forth.

Ryujin walked closer and gazed above the ponies. He watched as Rainbow Dash and Applejack frantically pulled apple after apple out of their barrels while constantly checking the other's progress. Beside each pony was a large pile of exrated fruit and a referee counting a fast as possible. The crowd cheered as the two plunged into the water again and again.

Twilight shook her head and chuckled, "Those two are at it again; always trying to prove whose better."

Ryujin laughed, "Aw come on, Twilight. Haven't you ever gotten caught up in a competition?"

"Not nearly as much as these two, let me tell you."

Spike jumped in place to get a view over the ponies' heads, "I can't see."

Ryujin looked at the poor struggling youngling and kneeled down to him, "Hop on," he pointed to his shoulders.

Spike smiled and climbed Ryujin's back. The larger dragon stood up, giving spike the perfect view for the final moments of the event. As Dash and AJ lifted out of the water one final time, the referee called time and proclaimed the final tally.

The crowd hung in suspense, "Rainbow Dash: 30. Applejack:....30. It's a tie!"

A huge AAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW rushed through the crowd.

"Aw shoot, not again," AJ disappointedly stamped, her head dripping.

Dash and AJ walked two one another, "Next time for sure," the two said simultaneously.

The crowd dispersed and Twilight and Ryujin joined their soaked friends.

"Another tie," Twilight exclaimed.

Spike cheered from Ryujin's shoulders, "Yeah but this was a close one!"

The group looked at Spike.

Dash flew up to him, "Well look at you; getting a bird's eye view huh?"

"You could say that."

Dash was now at eye level with Ryujin and he got his first definitive look at her costume. She was wearing a green collared shirt with two shirt pockets and cufflinks. She was also wearing a tan and green hat; all of which were soaking wet.

The pony quickly noticed Ryujin examining her attire, "Pretty cool huh," she said looking at her costume.

"Yeah. Uh, what are you?"

Dash's jaw dropped, "WHAT! You've never seen a Daring Do costume before?"

Ryujin stared, lost, "Who's Daring Do?"

Dash stared in gasp and suddenly fainted.

"Daring Do is a famous explorer and the main character in Rainbow's favorite book series," Twilight explained.

Dash quickly zoomed back up, "Daring Do is the bravest, boldest, most amazing pony in the world! Besides me, of course."

"Really."

"Hey look!" Spike suddenly said, pointing off into the distance, "I can see Princess Luna's chariot."

Ryujin looked up at him, "Making use of your bird's eye view?"

Spiked laugh.

Then, Dash creeped up next to Spike, "Ya know I bet I could help you get an even better look."

"What do you mea- WWWOOOOAAAAHHHH," Dash suddenly lifted Spike high in the air and flew around at extreme speeds, sending candy pouring down.

Whe she finally came down, Spike was toppling over from dizziness and fright. Dash watched and tried but couldn't help falling down in laughter.

"Rainbow! That's not funny," Twilight gathered the disoriented dragon.

Dash continued to laugh, "It's hilarious."

Ryujin chuckled and picked Dash off the ground.

Dash looked at him, "What are you do-"

Ryujin suddenly took off faster than sound and zigzaged through sky. Dash screamed as she got a taste of her own medicine. Ryujin landed again and placed Dash on the ground.

Dash's eyes spun in her head and she struggled to stand, "uuggghhhh, that wasn't funny."

The other ponies and dragons laughed and laughed some more.

"I beg to differ, RD," AJ chuckled.

Dash stood up, shook her head, and began to giggle along.

The ponies all around began to make thier way to the center of town, where Luna was stepping out of her chariot. She smiled and greeted every pony and every monster.

"Come on yall, let's go greet'er"

It was now that Ryujin noticed Apllejack's costume. She was completely covered in wooden attire and had a large set of razor-sharp teeth.

"Timberwolf?" Ryujin asked.

"Yup. And pretty accurate if'n I do say so myself," she looked at his costume, "Vampire fruit bat?"

Ryujin knodded with approval.

"Nice."

Suddenly Princess Luna spotted the group and joined them. One by one the ponies greeted her with smiles across their faces. Luna was happy to be back.

"Hello every pony. I am eager to get started with the festivities once again."

Ryujin waved, "Hey Luna, how ya been?"

"Very well, thank you," she smiled.

"Well alrighty then," he looked around, "What shall we do first?"

Dash pointed, "I think I see Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy over there. Come on."

The group walked on. Luna and Twilight were near the rear while every pony else rushed forward.

"It's good to see that everything is beginning to seem normal again."

Twilight glanced over to her fellow princess, "It hasn't been easy, but I think tonight will give ponies around here a push in the right direction."

Luna looked on to her friends who were getting farther and farther away, "And how has he been?"

"Who, Ryujin?"

Luna nodded, "After...IT...happened, he completely blamed himself. I think he does that quite often actually."

Twilight looked over to the dragon, who was now laughing with Pinkie (cotton candy) and Rarity (a crystal pony), "Well, I can't speak for him but I think he's gotten better in this passed month."

"It's just, I have a feeling he is hiding his true thoughts and feelings."

Twilight's smile faded, "Why do you say that?"

"Before I was banished, I had hurtful thoughts that I kept hidden for a long time. I have learned to recognize when some pony else is doing the same. I don't want to see him become bitter as I did."

"You're worried about him?"

"Yes. I know it sounds strange, but could you watch him. To see if you notice what I suspect?"

Twilight saw the worry in Luna's eyes, "Alright."

Luna showed a small smile, "Thank you Twilight Sparkle."

"Hey guys! You coming or what?" Dash called from across the street.

Twilight and Luna waved and began making their way over.

Shinigami tried again and again but simply couldn't reach the boulder in one go. After so many tries his legs felt like they would give out at any moment. Another poof came and again Shinigami saw that he had failed.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH," he burst with frustration.

He panted and sweated heavily, his body struggled to move, and his vision began to blur. Shinigami trudged on, back to his starting position in front of the cave. He only had a few steps left when his eyes suddenly rolled back and he fell to the ground with a loud THUMP.

Chrysalis heard the noise from inside and wandered out to investigate.

"What was-" she turned and saw the unconscious dragon at her hooves, "Crap."

She quickly readied her horn and sent streams of emerald magic that covered Shinigami from head to toe. The dragon lifted off the ground and followed Chrysalis as she ran back into the darkness of the cave. She zoomed down to the deepest debts to where her army rested.

"WATER," she commanded.

The changelings became alarmed and confused until they saw Shinigami float in after their queen. One minion ran to the water supply in the corner and gathered a large amount in a jug. He galloped to his queen's aid. Chrysalis quickly snatched the jug and began pouring the liquid into Shinigami's mouth. Shinigami slowly peeked open his eyes for a few seconds before passing out again.

Chrysalis gave a sigh of relief and placed Shinigami down to rest for the night.

"The fool's gonna kill himself."

Twilight and Luna reached the rest of the group, who were waiting in line for the test your strength game.

"I bet you I can crack the bell," Dash smugishly said to Applejack.

"we'll see."

The first pony up was Rarity, "Are you sure about this, I just shined my hooves."

The operator of the game began to chuckle in his throat.

"What?"

"Little lady, I don't think this is the type of game for you."

Rarity huffed and walked up to the pressure pad. She lifted her hind legs and bucked hard. The hammer flew up and stopped just under the bell. The vender stared up with his mouth open.

Rarity smirked at the pony, "Maybe it's YOU that should find a different game."

She walked back to her friends, who were cheering and applauding her. Next up was Dash.

"Alright, let me show you how it's done."

She walked up to the pire and bucked. The hammer rose and struck the bell with ease.

"Top that."

AJ smirked and approached the game; she turned and sent the hammer up to the bell with a huge ding. She was about to take a victory lap when there was a loud CRACK behind her. Every pony watched as the pire began to split and fall. The group suddenly turned there attention to the little filly alicorn in the shadow of the pire, her ears down and mouth open in terror.

"Oh shit," Ryujin said as he bolted to the filly's side.

He quickly made his way around the faling structure and grabbed the pony. The pire was right on top of them now, so Ryujin jumped to the side and out of the way. Every pony gasped as it crashed to the ground in a heap of dust. The mother of the filly quickly sprinted to where Ryujin lay. Ryujin slowly turned and revealed the small pony wrapped up in his wings, scared half to death. He released the pony and she ran to her mother.

"Thank you so much," the mother said.

Ryujin nodded and stood up and dusted himself off; he looked around to find every pony in town had seen the whole thing. Suddenly, one random pony began to stomp his hooves; soon more and more did the same. Rujin looked around at the town cheering for him, he smiled.

For the rest of the night Ryujin felt completely at ease, he played games and laughed with his friends; he even joined in on some of Dash's pranks. He listened to the different stories of the mane six about their various adventures and fights. And he began to meet some of the other townsponies. Nightmare Night was a success.

By the end of the night, the ponies were beginning to take the young ones home and the venders began cleaning up their booths. The goup was walking when Spike began to yawn.

Twilight turned to him, "Well I guess it's some psycho monster's bedtime."

Spike became alarmed, "What? I'm not tired, I just-" he couldn't help but yawn again.

"I'll take him home," Ryujin offered.

"But i'm not tired!" Spike pleaded.

"Come on," Ryujin picked up the small dragon and took his small lantern of candy.

"Thanks," Twilight gestured.

Luna smiled at the sight of the two dragons together like that.

Ryujin waved and made his way back to the castle with Spike in his wing. By the time he reached the front doors, he could here Spike snoring; Ryujin smirked at the sight. He walked in and down the hall to Spike's room. He unwrapped the youngling, put the candy on top of the dresser, and raised his hand. Ryujin's hand glowed with red until a small poof covered Spike. When it cleared, Spkke was completely clean of his costume. Ryujin tucked him in bed and closed the door on his way out.

He walked back outside to find that Luna's chariot had arrived to take her back to Canterlot. Ryujin quickly covered himself in magic and teleported to his friends. Every pony was saying their goodbyes when Ryujin appeared before them.

"Leaving?"

"Yes I must return to Canterlot to prepare for my duties."

She began to get in her chariot, Ryujin approached it before it took off.

"Well, thanks for coming."

"It was most enjoyable," she smiled, "but it must have been even better for you. Every pony opened up to you for the first time."

Ryujin smiled, "Yeah, I think things will be different from now on."

"If you could, I would very much appreciate it if you would write to me and tell me how things progress."

"Uh, sure. I can do that."

"Thank you, I look forward to hearing from you."

"See ya later."

Luna smiled and nodded, Ryujin stepped back. He walked back to the mane six as the chariot took off; every pony was waving goodbye.

"Well, I reckon it's time to turn in," AJ said once Luna was out of eye sight.

"I agree; I need my beauty sleep," Rarity gestured to herself.

The mane six said their farewells and headed home. It was very late when Ryujin and Twilight entered the castle and cleaned themselves up. The two said good night and went to thier rooms. Ryujin got into bed with a smile on his face; he knew that tonight was a great advancement for him. However, something was keeping him from closing his eyes. His smile faded for he knew that if he fell asleep, his good mood would be ruined. For some time he stared at the ceiling until he was too tired to think, he had to sleep. Ryujin closed his eyes and eventually lost consciousness.

When he was awakened, it was morning and the sun was shining through the window. He looked around at the crystal room in pure surprise. He gave a huge sigh of relief and rose to his feet. His eyes closed as he yawned and stretched. He slowly walked out his bedroom door and closed it behind him. He was about to walk to the bathroom when his ear twitched. There was a strange noise coming from the throne room.

"Twilight? Spike?"

No response.

Ryujin slowly walked down the hall until he reached the corner; the noise got louder, it was a kind of choking sound. Ryujin began to get nervous as he peaked around the corner. He saw Twilight lying on the floor, covered in blood.

He gasped and sprinted to the princess, "Twilight what happened?!"

Twilight slowly turned her head to face him, "You could have saved us."

"What?"

A different voice came from behind him, "You could have saved all of us."

Ryujin's eyes widened as he turned. The room began to darken all around him and a cold chill rushed through the air. Ryujin looked up to find a towering dragon standing over him.

"Mom?"

"Why didn't you save us?"

"I-I didn't know he was going to hurt you. I-"

"Of course you knew! You knew and you did nothing to help! Now it's going to happen all over again and the result will be the same."

"No. Mom, I-"

The dragon disappeared into the darkness.

Ryujin stood up and banged his head, "Alright, wake up. Wake up."

He put his hands down. But when he did so he saw Spike lying on the floor next to Twilight, not moving. Ryujin began to panic and breathe heavily. He turned to run when he saw Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack dead in the middle of the thrones.

His breathing quickened, "This isn't real. This isn't real."

He ran to the front door but blocking it were the bodies of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Suddenly he heard one of them take a breath. Ryujin ran to them to find that Dash was still alive.

He leaned down and held her in his arms, "Dash? Dash, what happened?"

She moved her lips and whispered something.

"What?" he put his ears to her mouth.

"This is your fault."

Ryujin moved his head away, "What? No, no. I didn't-"

Dash's head suddenly became limp and dropped. Her body became cold in Ryujin's arms. Ryujin starred at her dead body and felt tears under his eyelids.

"No, this isn't real," a tear ran down his cheek and dripped onto Dash's face.

Suddenly there was a noise behind him; someone was coming. He turned to find another dragon towering over him; this one had blood dripping from his claws and teeth.

"No, it can't be...I- I killed you."

Shinigami smiled a red smile and raised a claw. Ryujin put up his arms to defend himself but it was too late. He saw the claw come down on his face and everything went black.

Ryujin's eyes shot open in a gasp. He jumped up and panted on his bed. He looked out the window and saw the moon and stars glistening in the night. He ran from his bed and sprinted to the throne room. It was completely empty. Ryujin's panting calmed.

He rubbed his bloodshot eyes, "I need some fresh air."

He walked out the door and spread his wings. His wings flapped and took him to the roof of the castle, where he landed. Ryujin sat down and put his head in his hands; several minutes passed. After he calmed down his head rose and he watched the moon big in the sky. After a few more minutes he heard a flapping noise behind him.

"What're you still doing up?"

Ryujin turned to find Dash standing behind him, "I could asked you the same."

Dash walked to his side, "Couldn't sleep," she sat down next to him.

"I know the feeling."

The two watched the moon for a while until Ryujin looked over to Dash. Her coat was shimmering in the moonlight and her eyes were illuminating their ruby color; Ryujin saw the night sky reflect perfectly in those eyes. Her mane flowed with the cool night breeze that tickled his scales. He could help but stare.

Dash took notice, "What?"

"Uh, nothing. It's nothing."

"...Some night, huh."

Ryujin chuckled, "Oh yeah."

The two turned back to the moon.

"So what's your world like?" Dash finally asked.

"My world?"

Dash ginned, "Sure."

"Oh, well, me and my family lived in a forest region. The trees were too tall to see the top and there were streams with cystal clear water. To get to school we would take a long trail that led right through the middle of the wood."

"Dash faced him, "Why didn't you just fly there?"

"...I don't know. I just liked the look of the forest."

"What about when you left home?"

Ryujin smiled, "When I left to practice magic I travelled all over. I saw giant volcanos that constantly spurt out lava like rain. I saw the vast water lands to the east which had huge bogs and blue lakes; and I stayed up in high mountain temples that stretched above the clouds. I travelled for years and every year brought a new wonder to my eye."

Dash saw the passion in hs eyes, "So why'd you give it up?"

Ryujin slowly dropped his smile and looked down, "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Okay."

He lifted his head again, "I lied before."

She turned her head, "What?"

"Back in the castle; I didn't activate my dragon code."

"Then what was the fire and everything?"

"A light show, that's all it was."

"Well why did you lie?"

He sighed, "I wanted to stay here....After my parents died, my home lost all its wonder and I needed to leave. That stuff I said about returning a kindness was all fake."

Dash sincerely smiled at the dragon, "If you wanted to stay, all ya had to do was say so."

Ryujin's ears shot up, "Really?"

"Sure; we all know what you're going through."

"What do you mean?"

Dash widened her eyes; she had said too much, "I uh. I just mean every pony experiences loss. We've all been there."

Ryujin looked into dash's eyes; she was hiding something. He was about to speak when Dash suddenly stood up.

"Look at us getting sapy," she smirked, "I better go. Lots to do tomorrow."

Ryujin stood up, "Right, right."

Dash jumped to a hover, "See ya later."

He waved, "Yeah, see ya. And Dash..."

She turned.

"...Thanks."

Dash smiled and nodded before taking off. Ryujin watched with a smile as she flew away. Once she was gone he made his way back down and into the castle for the rest of the night.