//------------------------------//
// The story begins 
// Story: The Wondrous Tale of Raptor Rapier 
// by Devianpony 
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	A dark blue pony trotted towards Ponyville, he was tired and hungry and was happy to have finally run across a town. The stallion walked into town and looked around. Ponies were moving around everywhere and no one seemed to notice him. He trotted through the town looking for a place he might be able to stay while he was there. 
While he was distracted looking left and right at the buildings, the pony didn’t realize until it was too late the large cart of apples in front of him. He knocked into the cart sending apples, and him, flying. An orange earth pony popped out from behind a sales stand that was next to the cart. “What in Equestria?!”  She exclaimed, startled to see her apples all over the ground surrounding a dark blue stallion.
“Who are you?” she asked the stranger who had obviously sabotaged her apples.
“Oh, uh, I’m so sorry about your apples,” said the stallion looking guiltily at the apples surrounding him. “My name’s Claymore,”
“Well Claymore, I’m sure ya wouldn’ mind helpin’ me clean up all these apples you spilled!” she glared at him as she said the last part. “And the name’s Applejack,” she started picking up the apples and placing them back in the cart.
Claymore’s stomach growled as he helped Applejack pick up her spilled apples, and he could barely resist the temptation of biting into one. Eventually they got all the apples back in the cart. Claymore was about to ask Applejack if he could have an apple when a voice cut him off. “I see you have a new helper, Applejack!” the voice said.
Claymore spun around to see a purple mare holding at least 5 checklists in the air with her horn. 
“I woudn’ really call him a helper, Twilight, he just knocked o’er ma cart o’ apples and he was helpin’ clean up,” replied Applejack.
Twilight chuckled and looked over Claymore. He had a brown, slightly messy mane, bright blue eyes, and two heavy-looking bags slung over his back.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” asked Twilight.
“Uh, no, I’m from the Manehattan area, actually,” Claymore replied.
“So what brings you to Ponyville?” Twilight continued to pester him with questions.
“Um, well uh… they weren’t all that fond of me over there…” he said with a guiltily. “I kinda accidently, definitely-not-on-purpose brought a dragon into the city,” Claymore said looking down at his hooves.
“Riiiggghhhttt, so what was your name?”
“Claymore, you can call me Clay though,” he replied. “Do you know anywhere that I could stay for a while?”
“You could stay with me at the library, I’ll take you there, but then I have some stuff to do,” she said the last part with a glance at her checklists.
The two arrived at the library, and as soon as Twilight let Claymore in, she sped off to complete her checklists, taking her dragon-assistant with her. Claymore put his bags down on the floor and looked around at the library’s vast collection of books. He looked around until he found something he liked, and sat down to read.

It was growing dark when Twilight finally returned, and when she did she promptly sat down with her books and started studying. Claymore was hoping she would provide something to do other than read, but apparently not. Spike was shelving books and pretty much everything was boring, so Claymore tried to make small talk.  “You must really like books, being that you live in a library and all,” he said, hoping it would spark a conversation, but all Twilight did was grunt without looking up from her book.
“What are you reading?” Claymore said, trying again.
“The Complete Index of Magic,” Twilight said, still not looking up from her book.
“So you like magic?” he inquired.
“I’m a unicorn, it’s kind of what we do,” Twilight said with a sigh.
Obviously this isn’t working; I need something that will grab her attention. Claymore thought to himself. He went through all of his petty topic starters and decided none of them were very attention grabbing. Then he perked up, maybe he could tell her the grand story of Raptor Rapier, the greatest sword-wielding adventurer to every set foot in Equestria!
“Wanna hear a story?” Claymore asked hopefully.
Twilight sighed. “Sure,” she obviously wasn’t going to get any studying dne with this pony pestering her so much.
Claymore smiled, not noticing her reluctance to lend an ear to his story. “The story begins way back when Equestria had just been founded, a dragon had begun to terrorize the land, and had taken the princesses hostage. There was only one pony in all of the land who was brave enough to fight the fearsome beast, Raptor Rapier!”
Twilight perked up; maybe this story wouldn’t be all that bad…
“The leaders of the three species called a meeting to debate how to fight the dragon. At the time, Raptor was the general of the pegasus army, for harmony had not completely set over the land and armies were still kept. Raptor had devised a plan to fight the dragon, which the other leaders agreed with, and she was set in charge of the whole operation.
Raptor handpicked a team of nine ponies to help her on her quest.  From the pegasi, she selected three of her fiercest pegasus-warrior friends, Sky Soar, Cumulus, and Dewdrop. From the earth ponies she selected the strongest of the bunch, Tiller, Rocker, and Snow. She also selected the best spellcasters-unicorns of the time, Diamond Heart, Starburst, and Rainbow-“
“A unicorn named Rainbow?” Twilight interrupted, skeptical of the name.
“Yes, she was the one who created the formula to create rainbows, you’ll never hear the pegasi admit it though,” Claymore chuckled and continued his story.
“The team was outfitted with the strongest armor and the sharpest swords in all of Equestria. The journey ahead of them would not be easy, they had to cross many obstacles before they could reach the dragon’s lair. The ponies bid their families fare-well and set off toward the great mountain, but the dragon had forseen their coming and had sent many minions to impede their progress. The first of these the ponies encountered at the edge of the great sun desert. 
“The ponies reached the desert to find their way blocked by a huge golem, formed from the desert sands. The team of brave adventurers charged the monster but was blown back by the monsters powers. Raptor devised a cunning plan to destroy the monster. She sent the earth ponies, being the strongest to distract the golem from the front. She told the unicorns to summon water from the ground, and when they did she took her team of pegasi into the sky with buckets full of water.
“The earth ponies charged the creature and were buffeted around by a huge sandstorm that the golem had created. The pegasi took the opportunity and threw their buckets of water down, which dampened the sandy body of the monster and it melted into a pile of mud. The ponies rejoiced over their first victory, but not for long, as they had a whole desert to cross ahead of them. 
“The desert provided a harsh obstacle. The unicorns could no longer summon water from the ground as they had before, for there was no water to be found. The ponies were about to give into despair and die in the desert when an old hermit invited them into his house, little did they know it was another of the dragon’s minions. The hermit offered them all water and they drank it down eagerly, but the drink had been spiked. Dewdrop hadn’t trusted the hermit, so she only drank part of her glass. If the pegasus had drank the whole glass, the mission might’ve ended right there.”
“During the night, the hermit transformed into his true form, a huge scarab beetle and scuttled into the adventurers’ room. The spike in the water was meant to keep them asleep while the scarab went about his evil deed. Fortunately, the scarab’s scuttling had woken Dewdrop, and she silently drew her sword and crept up behind the monster. The scarab was preparing to kill its first victim, Raptor herself, when Dewdrop struck. She stabbed the beast through the back of its shell, which caught the creature completely off guard, and the beast died.
“The next morning, the other adventurers thanked Dewdrop profusely for saving them. The ponies found some un-spiked water and it took it with them, for there was still desert to cross.”
It was getting late so Claymore stopped there and yawned. Twilight stared at him appalled. “How could you stop there!” she exclaimed. “It was getting so good!” 
“Hey, I need my rest, perhaps I’ll tell you the rest in the morning,” chuckled Claymore.
“Fine,” sighed Twilight and led Claymore over to the guest bed. “You can sleep here,” she said, “and I’d better hear the rest of that story soon!”
Claymore laughed and lay down on the bed. “Trust me, I’ll tell you the rest eventually,” he yawned loudly and pulled the covers of the bed over his head. Twilight knew she should get some sleep as well, and she got into her own bed. She fell asleep thinking about golems and scarabs and how the story would continue…