Two Years Ago...

It was one of those special occasions that Mom and Dad brought me along with them on one of their expeditions, be it to hunt a monster or investigate lost ruins. No matter the situation I was always happy to come along I could hardly sleep. One early morning, Dad woke me up to see something, carrying me on his back as I was still half asleep, yawning constantly.

"Where are we going...?" I whined, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"You sure you don't want me to use ice to wake you up?" He mused, a red eye meeting my tired pout.

"I'll hurt you,"

"Fair enough, but we're here, just keep your head down and try not to gasp," He tapped his lips, then pointed over the ridge facing a grassland beyond the cliff. With us hidden by the bushes I peered over to what caused such a ruckus this early in the morning, and what I saw woke me up and drained all the fatigue in an instant.

Lowering its ragged body close to the ground, a dull, muted green and its lower mandible feature a long, protruding chin spike. The upper back and wingtips are covered in a moss-like fur, with a club-like tail covered in sharp needles. A Rathian. And facing it from the woodland, sharpening its tail between its bluish-red jaws was a jagged form of a Glavenus, the flames residing in his maw superheating the blade to a molten orange glow.

"Woah...!" I breathed, pushing my forehooves atop Dad's head as he chuckled, pointing toward the Rathian building up for a fireball.

"Watch closely, this here's one turf war you don't want to miss," He sounded as giddy as I did.

Rathian spewed a blazing sphere at the Glavenus, consuming it in a hot flame only for that blazing blade to strafe through the embers, striking the wyvern that took flight across the face, caving a deep gash through the cheekbone. Rathian swayed in the air, catching herself to dive into a backswing, slamming its spined tail against the Brute's lower jaw, knocking it back though it quickly adjusted its posture as though it were a swordsman.

Rathian landed, and the two monsters squared off in silence, taking careful strides with their eyes locked. With what little understanding of aura sense I had I felt only a rage between them, crashing like furious waves against the other. It was breathtaking, then, Glavenus's wave rose and towered. It brought its bladed tail low, swinging sharply in a horizontal stroke, missing the Rathian that took flight again. Rathian tried to sweep with her tail again but Glavenus kept his evasion steady, swiping the air to nick at the underbelly of the green wyvern until it finally swooped high, avoiding the firey tail in exchange for retreating for the skies.

The Glavenus was triumphant, roaring proudly as the flames extinguished across its tail, using a nearby rock to sharpen its edge before it slowly returned to the forest.

That was the first turf war I had ever seen. It wasn't just some battle between animals. It felt like a crossing of two warriors.

Landing before a fallen tree I had to push my way through a thicket of vines and leaves to reach my destination. Shoving through, the ground widened with the forest overgrown around the edge of the large basin, the floor of the clearing covered in leaves, patches of grass and vines with the occasional root wrapping itself through the environment. Many vines and branches hooked themselves into what appeared to be a cluster of loose rocks wedged into the west side of the basin wall toward an elevated portion of the forest.

There was a strange sensation in the air, and my chest felt really funny just from standing here. Upon my approach I followed a large root, brushing my wing across the scarred wood toward where the rays of sunlight left a large hole in the ceiling of green. Without much tree growth in the basin, it was the first I've seen the orange sky since we entered. "Where's that monster?"

Something caught my eye, a reflection of light from... a longsword? Approaching with a tilt of my head, I gasped, spotting the foul-smelling body of a monster. Mostly blue, with black foreclaws, back-stripe, and head-frills, and with cream-coloured underbellies. And a head fixed with a single, sharp horn. A Great Baggi. However, most of its scales were smothered by a strange, purplish-black substance, as if it were infecting it.

Side-stepping the strange corpse, I found the pony that had caused the commotion, and I almost yelled but bit my tongue, "Myst, Myst!" I whispered, trotting over to nudge her fallen form. Judging by her forehead she was bleeding a little, and her barding was almost shredded but thankfully kept her body safe.

Taking out a small bundle of green, fuzzy leaves that worked as a good bandage, Woolly Lambs Ear. Once applied to her gash I bit my lip, carefully setting her head down as I ran and gathered her sword to place back in its scabbard before a rustling in the woods behind me forced my sword to draw to my hoof.

"It's me," The blunt stare of Argo eased my nerves as he too took note of the dead Baggi and unconscious mare in my hooves. "She sustained a blow to the head, perhaps hunting this wyvern."

I wanted to say 'yes' but something about this situation felt wrong, squinting down at the still breathing unicorn I shook my head. "I dunno, right now, we need to get her back to our camp," Helping her onto Argo's back, I picked up the longsword though his magic took it quickly. "Are you sure it won't strain you?"

He shook his head slowly. "You worry about safeguarding our return, you can't fight with two weapons, and I can't put up much of a struggle myself," That was fair.

Again though, the area looked really torn up but just against someone as amazing as Myst? How did that make sense? "Myst's too good of a fighter to be knocked out by a large Baggi, and this substance..." I used my hunting knife to carve out a few remaining claws and scales from the monster, tucking them away. "Something about all this doesn't make sense, even that roar from earlier isn't normal."

"Perhaps it's best we contemplate this away from the turf war," Argo was right, and that led to another question that I vocalized.

Behind us, the trees to the north toppled over as something shoved them down into the basin, breaking their trunks at the base as a steady stream of that thick, black mist poured down the lip. Through the darkness something shifted with the shadows, lifting itself off the earth to shroud the sky in a faint, dark shroud. Seconds later, a roar bellowed through the skies, the very same that now trembled in my soul. Feeling a chill rush through my coat I sprang with my wings, tackling Myst and Argo back in time to avoid the several spheres of inky darkness that stained the forest floor.

"Are you okay?" I asked, picking them up, luckily, Myst was fine and steadily adjusted on Argo's back. "Go, now!"

"This isn't the time, Argo! Move your flank or I will!" And I gave him a hard glare that he read rather quickly, shaking his head.

"...you better be back before nightfall," Argo quipped dryly, trotting away toward the forest as I flew back to cover his escape, the dark mist blown by my hooves when the massive monster landed, crushing the Great Baggi beneath its claws. A great shroud curled to conceal its form, and a neck craned to face me with pure malice behind its movements, the sheer strength in those muscles was enough to put me on edge.

"Calm down, calm down and focus," Drawing my sword, I kept my wings wide in need of a hasty escape, whatever this was, I needed to stall for as long as I can. "This isn't native to the Forgotten Oak, and I can't identify any of its characteristics with all this black smog. Heck, it was hard to breathe in this stuff." It was as if I stared back into an abyss that could move.

Its body is covered in dark exoskeleton plates, with a lack of visible eyes and fanged jaws. The other unique part were its wings, covered in jet-black fur that resemble a tattered and ragged cape. It seemed to be blind but it could tell where I was, maybe using an acute sense of smell? Then it roared ferociously, sounding eerily like the howl of a group of ponies. Then it lunged with one claw, slamming it down where I once stood as my silvery form struck across its left-wing with a twirling blade. It didn't even break the skin.

When I landed it whipped itself around, lunging for a side bite that I skipped away from, diving under the claw that swept its body around, the tail threshed through the earth as I plunged my sword high, slicing across the chin as my wings flicked me under its throat to avoid a large blast of darkness. "Sword Dance!" When it dived back the red blades extinguished themselves while I bit down on a Might Seed, ignoring the spicy nick to my tongue for the increasing heat to my blood. "Quick Attack!"

I rushed the monster as it spat another breath attack in my general direction, forcing me to dive up and over to deliver my various strikes and slashes to the back, unfortunately, I only managed to leave a few tiny wounds in its frame as the wings jittered, and a loud, ear-raking roar pierced the air. That's when my heart plummeted to my stomach as it growled up at me. The second its wings rose I saw it... "S-S-Six limbs...!"

Two appendages were attached to the wings, though it refused to use them, releasing another payload that I narrowly avoided as it performed a handstand, the tail catching my shield as I cried out, my back slammed into the side of the basin with a tremendous amount of force despite my own increased strength. I grit my teeth a tugged a potion from my belt, sipping it as I flew away from another row of claws tearing up the earth behind me.

I rolled to my left, avoiding the tackle as it tore across the ground, reeling its neck back to fire a burst of purplish-black energy, that same substance beginning to envelop the Elder Dragon in a thick shade as it pawed at the ground. My breathing was laboured now, just one strike and I was nearly knocked out, and this mist, whatever it was made it difficult to see its aura, or maybe that was just it, anger, indirect anger that flooded my senses. I'm beyond terrified that I'm shaking...! Grinding my teeth, I flared my wings wide, a dark purple mantle coating my sword. "I can't let this thing leave, if I can knock it down maybe I can make my escape!"

The Dragon howled, barreling toward me with its right leg folded, preparing to shred me into pieces. I did much the same, flying as tight as I could, sword drawn close to my cheek to knock it down by striking the head. Even if it can't see, the nose must be very sensitive, I mess this up and I'm dead on the spot! I need to make my escape. "Night Slash!" I screamed, praying that this stupid gamble could work. Keeping my eyes on the monster, I met its overbearing presence head-on.

When I blinked, I swore an eternity passed, everything just rushed by my eyes in a flurry of colours that I hadn't registered moving at all until I was staring at the mud by my hooves, blood blinding my left eye from a warmth spreading from my forehead. By my forehooves, the hilt was all that remained of my sword, the faint wisps of my ability fizzling away in the dark. I managed to sit upright, spotting the Elder Dragon's massive form lying on its side, shaking its head from a large shard of my blade embedded above where its eyes should be had a horn not blocked the edge from piercing further.

"Run... you need to run, Akira!" Forcing my body up through the lightheadedness, I gathered a large, black scale and stumbled for a moment. The dragon was rising too, his growl muffled in my ears. "It's going to kill you if you don't run, you idiot!"

My vision split for a few seconds, and... who was that? Someone was standing in front of the Elder Dragon, facing me. It looked like my Dad, standing on two legs, and it definitely wasn't a Diamond Dog. "A human? Godmother Ren...?" I couldn't speak, coughing as my chest stung. It looked like Ren; long, ginger hair tied back into a ponytail, the bangs curled and revealing forest green eyes. Then the woman raised her hand to the right of me, finger prodding up above the ridge of the basin.

That was it! The woman was gone when my vision focused. But I had to thank her for pointing out the missing link to my escape.

Expanding my wings, I threw myself toward a dip in the basin, my hoof sweeping the roots in the ground to find a solid chunk of rock. Reeling back with a hazy glare, I tossed the rock with all my might past the black dragon's head, itself ignoring the rock entirely for my battered form. For once, I found my smile amidst the chaos. "Heads up, dumbass." I coughed, throwing myself back into the foliage and away from its claws.

The ground trembled a bit, my rock had nestled itself against the boulders suspended by the vines, that single tap was enough to dislodge the rock cage, releasing a rockslide upon the Elder Dragon that barely had the time to shield itself with its wings, taking the brunt of the avalanche with its body, wailing in protest as I tumbled through the branches and leaves onto solid ground again a few feet down. I wanted to lay there and sigh but if I did I could pass out any second.

Against my body's protests, I scrambled to my hooves and stumbled toward the general direction of our camp, using my notebook to guide me slowly but surely toward a safe haven. Fortunately, not once did that terrifying sensation return, yet somehow that scared me just as much. "Score one... to me." I chuckled a little until I was forced to cradle my chest. Okay, it hurts to laugh.

Today, as of now, was the worst day of Myst's life thus far. "I've been trying to figure out what your deal is; are you a poser? A nerd for monsters?" Myst shrugged, blue eyes downcast. "But I get it now, you're just a bully, Akira." A painful look struck the bat pony's face, her mouth opened to say something but found nothing.

"Hey, up for a pretty rewarding hunt?" Silver suggested with a smirk.

"No thanks, I've got my own to fulfil," Myst declined, disappearing into the woods again, still flicking mud off her head.

Myst Cut was the best of the best in training, her aptitude for magic was above average, almost a prodigy, and while she's learned to utilize every weapon at a hunter's disposal she preferred the longsword for its simplicity. Unfortunately, socially she stuck around those with less than acceptable attitudes toward those that were seen as 'weak links'. That's how it's always been.

She brushed through the forest, taking a second to gather a few herbs nearby. In her bag, she had already acquired and produced several mega potions for her objective but the more the merrier. Once settled on a direction of running water she sped up her pace, longsword bobbing a little on her back while her magic hovered her hunting knife ahead of her face to cut away at any branches or vines that impeded her. Every action was thought of ahead of her, using the environment to speed along her progress, following the scoutflies that weaved ahead of her but she took a detour just for a moment to recover.

She slid down a small bank toward the river, scanning the area before ultimately sighing as she hopped into the shallow, cold water. It didn't take her long to wash off what mud remained, her scowl present constantly. "Why is it I'm always having to clean up whenever that good for nothing pony is around?" Ever since they met it had been one incident after the other, and Akira looked so content with herself like nothing was ever a concern.

"Oh no... M-Myst!"

"I'm so-so-so sorry, I-i-"

"A complete joke," Her hoof kicked the water as something heavy broke several branches underfoot. Myst froze, turning her gaze toward the noise as she held back the urge to yelp. Fortunately, what approached the river were three large cow-like herbivores. They had leathery grey skin with black stripes along their backs and a head reminiscent of a Hadrosaur. They had a large, two-pronged crest protruding from their heads and a flat, spiked tail. "Aptonoth..."

Slowly exiting the water, the trio bowed their heads to drink quietly, not paying any ear to the mare present. Myst lowered her guard, she had never seen monsters like them up close, normally she'd run right by and focus on the task at hoof; so to see them so content was... nice. A tiny smile graced her but it didn't last, she had tracks to follow, and her scoutflies had stopped tracking since she detoured.

"Okay, large monster, alpha of the Baggi species..." She murmured, finding the old tracks belonging to the large, blue reptile. Once the scoutflies had a reading they lit the way as Myst ran through what she knew. "The larger ones use a stronger form of sleep gas and tend to use their large bodies and tail to knock hunters down and rarely use their claws."

It didn't take her long to find the warmer tracks, all converging on a large basin below. Spotting a wall coated in vines she hooked her hooves around one and shimmied down the ledge, landing with a huff as her purple magic unsheathed her iron longsword. The scoutflies flashed red and regrouped into her lantern, the Great Baggi was very close. Hugging an overhanging root toward the open space she heard what sounded like growls and panting.

Peeking the corner, she found it, the abnormal Baggi. It appeared like any other in the forest only its eyes were glazed red and its maw dripped with a purplish-black mist, the same that coated much of its body. What was also to noticeable were the various large scars across its back, and the bite marks down the nape and the lack of a horn. Whatever or whoever attacked it left it basically fighting on its last legs.

Myst took a deep breath, biting down on a red seed that tasted like a hot pepper nipping at her tongue but bolstered her strength. "Focus, it's just a monster," She rushed in, swivelling her blade close to her flank.

It had its back to her until it cried out, feeling the weight of the sword sliding across its belly, splitting the scales while Myst dived, avoiding its jaws as she spun her blade horizontally, striking in a criss-cross twice to keep it back. The Baggi roared at her, diving back to vomit up a plume of sleep mist. The mare evaded it, continuing her slashes and performing a spinning dive over the sweeping tail, flinching the beast with a rising slash to the jaw, tossing it against one of the trees.

The Baggi gripped it with its claws, lunging back as it brought its body weight down on where Myst last stood, rolling with her blade forward she dived closer to the monster's belly, "When enough kinetic energy is stimulated within your weapon, release and enhance its damage output, so long as the last stroke hits the amplification with apply," She always wondered what this phenomenon was but didn't question its effectiveness.

Striking left then right she held the weapon above her horn, spinning to deliver a wide-ranged spin that sliced through the monster as it charged, making it tumble slightly, when she looked, her weapon retained a silvery sheen. "There," Keeping on the offensive she dipped left, avoiding another pool of sleep gas, then another by heading right, sliding under the jaws while her sword slammed its mouth, Myst swivelling to slicing at various angles across the tail while sliding across the ground, scrambling to her hooves to escape the range of its tail.

While the Baggi spun around to face her it was blinded by the edge of her blade cycling through its knees, knocking the beast down, wailing. When Myst faced her downed opponent, her longsword flashed gold. "It's vulnerable, even if somepony else is hunting this, I'm the one-" She unbuckled her scabbard, holding both in her magic. "-who will slay it!"

Not wanting to be slain, the Great Baggi hopped to its feet, stumbling slightly as it spat a large wave of sleep gas in her direction. Myst's eyes widened, her perception of time stalling, if she fell asleep now she'd certainly be eaten by this infected monster. "'When your 'Spirit Gauge' is full, depending on its level, you can unleash one of two hidden arts, releasing all the collected energy', just as we were taught,"

Her eyes never faltered, thrusting her blade through the cloud as it connected with a solid mass. Holding her breath, she hooked her hooves around her longsword, vaulting through the cloud to breathe safely. Her weapon turned cherry red in that instance, craning the large sword up and over herself and the unsuspecting Baggi, Colliding with the ground beside the Great Baggi's open maw, a streak of crimson rippled and tore through its purplish-blue hide, riddling it with tremendous amounts of kinetic force.

Taking a long breath, Myst still had one level remaining. Skipping back she spun her scabbard to her left flank, sheathing her sword until that energy pulsed within her scabbard. In one fell streak of crimson, another devastating barrage of slashes shredded the wyvern, blood pooling out from its massive wounds as it released a strained cry before collapsing to the forest floor.

The red embers dazzled the sky briefly as Myst sheathed her blade, clipping it in place once more with a stratified expression. "Now to reap the reward-"

A great breath of wind struck her tail, nearly knocking Myst on her muzzle. When she spun to greet her opponent she saw only a black shadow sweep over her head and through the gap in the forest ceiling. That too quickly became obscured by the collapsing tree that overtook her vision, resulting in a flood of pain to her forehead, her hooves laying out toward the corpse of the Baggi ahead of her.

The dots filled her vision, and her consciousness quickly faded away.

"Ugh," Parting her dry lips, my ears perked up when I found Myst stirred from slumber beside me. Setting my notebook down I turned on my spot to face her. Her eyes were half-lidded, rubbing a hoof over her properly bandaged forehead, a simple mega potion alleviating her cuts and bruises. "What - ah, the wyvern, I-"

"Hey, hey, it's dead, and you're safe," I reassured, helping her sit upright, only for her body to jerk away from me in surprise.

"Akira?" She coughed as I held out a small mug of water. Myst quickly drank it without complaint, using her hooves.

"One and only, we're at a camp me and Argo set-up, no monsters can find us up here, so relax," Motioning to the tent she was in I pointed a wing at her equipment. "I patched up your equipment with what I could find but you'll probably need new armour after this, that monster tore it to pieces."

"Monster... right, I... I was tracking that weird Great Baggi and..." Her aura suddenly overflowed with terror, judging by her expression it was all a blur when it occurred. My smile fell a little. "I took it down but then something big knocked me out when it toppled a tree, I think? I still can't think straight," She tried to move but I stopped her with my hooves. "I need proof I took down that monster, otherwise I'll fail-"

"You fail? Pfft, as if," I snorted, flicking my rucksack open to reveal the acquired materials from the Baggi. "I carved up some pieces for you, the non-sticky, sickly, purply parts that is," I handed them over to her kindly. "Your kill so the parts are all yours, I got my own from that big monster, well, a scale anyway." And various injuries that I rather not bring attention to.

Myst, however, noticed the bandages, her ears flopping with her head lowered. "Why... why did you help me?"

Is that a trick question? Rubbing my nape I looked around, "'Cause... you looked like you needed help? No trial is worth completing if I just left someone to die, that's not right." Her brow creased.

"Why do you keep saying those words?" Her tone was irritable but that could be because she was tired.

"'Somebody', 'Someone', 'People', 'Person', all those words," Myst really looked miffed by that, guess it's natural since Mom and Dad use them often.

"Oh, it's just the variation of words my Mom and Dad use makes referring to ponies, griffons, dragons, and the like with a bit more inclusive, better than 'somecreature' or 'everypony', doncha think?" Before she could reply I hopped to my hooves with a grin. "Well, dinner won't be long; Argo's pretty good at turning random plants into a pretty tasty-looking meal, I'll bring you some soon so just sit and recover, we'll pass once daybreak arrives, count on it!"

I pushed the tarp back to spot the campfire and small pot over the flames with Argo stirring methodically. Then Myst cleared her throat, looking down at the floor with a shameful blue hue over her shoulders. "How are you so certain?"

I smiled a little more that my fangs showed, "Well that's easy - 'cause so long as we survive until morning, we pass," Her eyes shot up at me, perplexed as I rolled mine. "I mean, they said nothing about us needing to fight monsters, gather resources and stuff, that was just optional, all it tells them is how capable we are to take on higher ranking quests from the get-go, but with a little work we'd climb those ranks in no time, that's why."

"Don't worry about it, 'kay?" I winked, pushing the tarp down with a heavy sigh.

"That sounded like it went well?" Argo mused from his spot, not facing me as I let the heat die from my cheeks, that was really hard not to make awkward.

"You kidding me? After what I've done I'm surprised she even spoke to me, but hey, head trauma can throw anyone off their game," I shrugged, sitting down on my back with a heavy sigh. "That monster was scary~!" My eyes spun in spirals.

"No doubt, but I've never seen a monster like that one before," My hoof rubbed my coral necklace nervously as I stared up at the stars. "It's aura... it was pitch black."

With my right hoof I raised the single, black scale I peeled off that Elder Dragon. It wasn't like Fatalis, I doubt I'd have lived to tell about it, but something that powerful is out there in Equestria now, it did something to that Great Baggi. Whatever else it can do, I have a bad feeling this won't be the last I've seen of it.

Dragonhearted

by Slendy

Chp. 3 - Darkness Rising