//------------------------------// // Chapter 14: Encounter // Story: Equestria's Inventor // by Yormsky //------------------------------// Chapter 14: Encounter To conclude the last test of my current absolute limits, I bade Princess Luna farewell and began to run. Endurance and stamina were the two physical aspects of myself and I didn’t have even the slightest clue as to how far along they might have progressed. It was pretty much a guessing game after I put on my exoskeleton suit which had various mechanisms built in to conserve momentum while moving, along with the whole Magic Engine-powered insanity which made the whole thing feel practically weightless to me. I had no idea how long I was going to be able to run before tiring. I couldn’t even narrow down the distance I expected to travel. And I was almost certainly not going to be able to just travel in a straight flat path the entire way through, so there was also a factor of terrain to take into consideration. Not that I was going to even try with that last one, it was beyond impractical to attempt. So instead, I did the next best thing and just… started running. I’d gone through enough books with maps to know approximately how far certain places were from one another, so I started from just outside Canterlot proper and began following the train tracks down the mountain. In about eight minutes I made it through the five-mile spiraling path that took the train from the base of the mountain to Canterlot. From there, the ballast under the train became less gravelly and more dirt and grass-like, with the track straightening out into an almost perfect line. I was exerting about the same amount of energy as I would by power walking before being brought to Equus, so I decided to steadily speed up until it started feeling like a light jog. I went east towards Baltimare and continued for another twenty minutes before the lack of exhaustion led me to impulsively blitz forward with a combination of all my speed augments. For three seconds every minute once in a while, I would go all out with my Runes, Double Time, and Bypass Acceleration. After the fifth time, I noticed that, hilariously, jogging at what had to be around 75 kilometers an hour (47 mph~) was still slow enough for me to be recovering from the sprints. At least to me, it felt like what little shortness of breath I started developing from sprinting around at max power lessened if I just jogged. Two hours later, as I came upon the sight of the Badlands Mountain Range in the distance, I slowed to a stop and began to reconsider the practicality of continuing the test. After all this time running, at times sprinting like a madman, I was pretty confident in asserting that I would inevitably get more mentally drained than physically tired. I probably should have come to this conclusion seeing Dodge Junction nearly half an hour prior, but— *Danger* Despite this being the first time Precognition had ever kicked in for me, I managed to instinctively understand exactly what it was and wasted no time in kicking things into Bullet Time. After dashing to the right, I turned back and just barely caught the tail end of a condensed ball of fire crashing into the spot I’d previously been standing on and scorching it an ashen black. In my heightened state of alertness, I pushed my senses to their limits and spotted the threat a second later. [Identified Status] [Level: 80+] [Name: ??? [Race: Dragon [Class: 100 Years Sky Wyvern] [Details: At ten feet tall, this dragon just barely passes the threshold for adulthood for its species. Though not a True Dragon as it lacks a set of arms and merely possesses wings, it's shown remarkably potent skill in stealth and fire magic. Known possible abilities include: Magic Insulation, Body Strengthening, Transformation, Wind and Fire Magic, and Innate Fire Breath.] “...Why did you do that?” I asked after the dragon and I held a staredown for several seconds. “You look like you’d make a nice snack and I am hungry. I’m going to kill and eat you,” the dragon calmly said. “Really now?” I felt the corners of my mouth turn upwards. It’d been a while since this terribly bad habit of mine had reared its ugly head, but I was far too amused to care. I quite liked to think myself to be pretty reasonable most of the time, but when confronted with bullshit that I didn’t have to tolerate… Well, I supposed I could get just a little sadistic. “Face your death and die!” The dragon sneered as it opened its mouth and launched another fireball at me. I raised my hand and conjured my own ball of water to counter and the resulting collision resulted in the water blowing up like a pack of C4 as the steam produced covered everything in a couple dozen meter radius. “I will give you one last chance to back down and fuck off. Attack me again and I will no—” I cut myself off as the dragon charged towards me in a fit of rage. Eyes narrowed with a frown firmly placed on my face, I somewhat expected this to happen and resolved myself to kill the dragon as efficiently and quickly as possible. I wasn’t going to hold back at all and would instead try to catch the dragon by surprise with all my most potent combat Abilities. Bang! To my surprise, it had been all too easy, and perhaps with a smidge of overkill that Double Time, Bypass Acceleration, and a Fire Rune-enhanced punch to the chest managed to spear a foot-wide hole into the dragon’s chest. Before the chunks of viscera, flesh, and bone fragments hit the floor the intense fire effect of my punch even cauterized the wound. Not that it would do much to stop the dragon from dying, what with its heart completely obliterated. “Ack!” The dragon coughed up a macabre splatter of bloody spit. Impressively, it did not immediately perish outright. Even with such a grievous wound, its magic and lifeforce were potent enough to give it a bit more time in the mortal plane. “You shouldn't have pushed your luck,” I said while shaking my head at the dying dragon. “You could have gone for another prey, maybe hunted something familiar, or even traded for food with some of the neighboring ponies. But no, you just had to try to kill what should have been a complete unknown to you.” “Spare me your insults, whelp!” The dragon hissed. I could respect its unyielding nature given it was unflinching in the face of its own impending doom. “Nothing in the world would — ack! — force down my will. Not you, not those insufferable ponies, not even death!” “Damn, I read you dragons were prideful but this… this is a bit much, is it not?” I could only continue to shake my head. “It is as nature wills it to be,” the dragon coughed up even more blood; it was probably over a gallon at this point. “I will die…” He was starting to weaken at a visible rate, “because I was not strong enough… and I accept that. Continue… roaming my clan’s… domain… and… you too… will… eventually… die…” [Feat Achieved!] [Combat Level System Activated] [Level 42 → Level 44 (Effective Combat Level: Level 89)] For a time, I stared at the dragon carcass while lost in thought. I could admit that ever since relocating to Canterlot, I’d considered the possibility that I’d eventually have to kill a sentient creature. But, I never imagined it would happen, of all the time for it to happen, while I was out doing an otherwise routine test. I definitely didn’t expect my first kill to be a dragon and yet, here I was with not a scratch on me. I wasn’t really feeling much of anything while staring down at the dragon. There wasn’t any regret for my actions nor sadness for a lost life. I also wasn’t cheerful, enthusiastic, or happy to have grown so powerful so quickly. If anything, I was annoyed to have been forced into this position because the idiot wanted to make me a snack. What the hell was I supposed to do now? Leave the carcass to rot in the middle of nowhere? Maybe incinerate it with the use of Fire Runes? No… As I contemplated where to go from here, I circled back to the dragon’s words and logic. To it, I was just a snack to be consumed. I was worth nothing but the nutrition and taste my body could provide. Why the hell should I treat its remains any differently? Why limit myself to human customs for a being who never intended to extend the same courtesy to me? I was neither going to leave the carcass to rot, bury it, nor even cremate it. No, instead, I was going to do what it had been intending to do to me and make use of its body for my personal gain. Dragon Blood would make for a strong general alchemical catalyst and was the key ingredient to several highly prized potions. Dragonhide could be incorporated into my exoskeleton suit to boost its magic-resistant properties and go a long way toward turning it into fully-fledged power armor. Dragon Bones could be forged into nearly unbreakable weapons. Even the Dragon Meat could be either kept for my own dietary needs or exported to the Griffon Kingdom for a fortune. One of the most surprising things I’d come to learn while staying at Catnerlot was that even if they were inherently averse to all things non-vegetarian, the ponies of Equestria were full of pragmatic ponies who understood the needs and opportunities in dealing with carnivorous intelligent life like the Griffons and Minotaurs. If not, I wouldn’t even consider my choice. With my decision made, the only problem left was the matter of how I was going to bring the dragon carcass back. I reached over to try to pick up the dragon and… Oh boy, was it heavy even with the exoskeleton suit doing the overwhelming majority of the lifting. To me, it felt like I’d picked up a fifty-kilogram boulder. Maybe if I jogged back to Cantorlot while carrying it, I’d finally feel tired. … “Oh my,” Celestia said as she descended from the sky. “You really are carrying around a dead dragon? Why?” She was infinitely more at ease than the dozens of guards that surrounded me and forced me to stop before I could get back into the capital. “It tried to kill me while I was testing my endurance. I gave it a chance to leave me alone even after it attacked me a second time. The third time, I attacked it back and now it’s dead,” I explained. “I do recall my sister regaling me with the results of your tests,” Celestia said with a nod. “But that doesn’t explain why you’ve decided to return with the body. How far did you go to have even encountered a dragon?” “I stopped right as the Badlands Mountain Range was coming into view when the dragon ambushed me and to be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to do after I killed it. But, since it decided to try to make a snack out of me, I thought it fair to respond in kind and process its body over here. By the way, do you mind selling most of the meat for me to the Griffons?” “That can be arranged,” Celestia said as she had the guards stand down and disperse. “Just… Try not to scare my little ponies so much. Had you explained that you had been attacked in the Badlands the guards wouldn’t have kept you;probably. The various Dragon Clans have restricted themselves to that area in the understanding that it is a neutral zone as far as the laws are concerned.” “So there’s no political implications if the Sky Wyvern Clan finds out one of Equestria’s royal alchemist killed one of their own?” “No. You might be made an enemy of that particular dragon’s direct next of kin,” she pointed to the dead dragon I’d placed next to me. “But the rest of the Clan would probably remain as indifferent as they are to anyone else. They certainly wouldn’t raise a problem with me.” “Cool. Anyway, I’m going to go butcher this thing up in the kitchen. After I finish sorting that out, I think I’m going to rest for the rest of the day and maybe take the train down to Ponyville to visit Twilight tomorrow. I could use the break.” “I’m sure she would be thrilled to learn of all the things you’ve been up to since she left; well, except for this latest engagement... I’ll give you my condolences now for the interrogation you’ll be put through after you tell her about your working Rune Magic,” Celestia said with a cheeky smile. “That’ll be... something, alright.” I winced at the thought and shook my head. “I’ll be going now. Sorry, you had to take time out of your schedule to deal with this situation.” “Think nothing of it. If anything I’m glad whenever I have an excuse to escape the drudgery that makes up most of my Day Court.” After that, I ignored all the strange — mostly horrified — looks I received as I walked through the streets with a dead dragon over my shoulders. It wasn’t until I got all the way into the kitchen with a knife in hand that the weight of my would-be actions hit me. For the first time in possibly years, I felt palpably uncomfortable with the idea of committing to something. This wasn’t some random chicken or fish I was about to butcher up, but the body of a sentient creature. Logically, it shouldn’t even register as it didn’t look anything like a person, but… I couldn’t help but think of it as one. Try as I might, the moment I went to start cutting, I felt like I was going to be cutting up a dead human body like some unhinged serial killer. “Ugh…” I had to swallow down a bit of bile that rose up my throat and blink the tears that threatened to leak out of my eyes. Frowning, I grit my teeth and started processing the dragon anyway.  After all, this was the world I now lived in. One where for trivial reasons someone had tried to kill me. If anything, I suppose I should be glad that it was this of all things that finally got to me. Fighting and killing the dragon? I didn’t even blink an eye. Talking and listening to it as it died before my very eyes? I couldn’t have cared less. But this? How ironic that it was making use of my spoils of war that tugged at my morality. I could only hope that I’d get over it with time and experience even if I sincerely hoped I’d never need to.