Kurai the Forsaken

by Seth Typofather


Chapter 5: Run

Walking down the dirt road Kurai took a detour through Ponyville to take in the sights. Though, the looks he received ranged from curious to frightened. Obviously word had spread of his knack for inducing fear. Sighing, he expected nothing less from such simple folk who were simply living their day to day lives, then suddenly he shows up and verbally scares Celestia. Stopping at the familiar sight of the large library, he figured he might as well get answers from Twilight. Entering a small bell rung above the frame of the door, immediately after the sounds of a welcoming gesture were heard. “Welcome to Golden Oaks Library, do you-“ She paused and her plastered smile drooped. “-Oh, it’s you.”

“Yes, it’s me. To put it bluntly I need something to do here, so I thought coming here to read would pass the time before picking up Apple Bloom from school for Applejack.” Stepping forward he was stopped by a barrier flashing in front of him, upon noticing his pouch gone she released the barrier.

“Sorry, we don’t really get used to having ponies with weapons here. Will take some getting used to. Also I have been reading up on your kind, fascinating creatures you humans are. If not a bit frightening from your constant disputes, but our worlds do have one thing in common. And that would be we share some mythical creatures, you won’t believe how hard I had to keep this a secret from Fluttershy.”

As if ignoring everything she had said Kurai sat down at a table. “You have trouble trusting me don’t you? Wait, research? How have you been researching my kind without actually being there?” Twilight pointed to a large book next to him, rolling his eyes he inspected the title after removing his helmet to get a clear look. Upon reading the title and the odd inscriptions on the spine Kurai threw open the pages, hoping that he would be wrong.

“What is it? Is it something bad?”

Raising his head to look her dead in the eye he pointed with a hoof to the book. “This right here is a encyclopaedia from The Dukes Archives, no doubt written by Seath.” Glaring banefully at the book he turned to see Twilight now staring at him with wide sparkling eyes and an excited grin. “…You really like books don’t you?” She nodded like a bobble head in response, sighing he prepared himself for the worst. “Well, the Dukes Archives is a giant library upon a cliff-“ With that she squealed like a schoolgirl being asked out by her crush.

“A giant library?! You’re so lucky to have had that to yourself! All the information, all the spells! Im so jealous of you, I would do anyth-“ Having heard enough from her he cupped her muzzle with a hoof for a while until she calmed down. “S-sorry.” She blushed. “I really am jealous though, what kind of spells did you find there though?”

Thinking for a moment, he did want to earn her trust as well as develop a few connections here. If he is to live in Equestria, then the rules of the social norm have to be followed. An idea occurred to him, he still held the scrolls in a separate satchel. “How about I teach you the spells I found? Lets start with something simple and harmless like chameleon ok?”

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Hours have passed, it was amazing how quickly she kept up with the most complicated of spells. Of course he hid the dark magic as that was a much more fatal form of magic he feels she can not control, mostly due to her purity and it would drive the user mad with power. The school bell in the distance echoed out into the afternoon, that was his cue to go. “Thank you for letting me stay the while miss Sparkle, I have to hurry on now, I don’t want to keep Apple Bloom waiting.”

Nodding her head humbly she then shook her head. “No, thank you for sharing this amazing magic with me, you don’t mind if I copy some and send them to Celestia do you?” All it took was a simple nod that she can and she was off to write the letter, not before giving him a thankful smile of course.

Passing through the gate that lead to Ponyville just in sight was the school, an assortment of fillies and colts pouring out the building. It seems impossible to how much children could fit in that one building. Standing patiently he waited for the sight of Apple Bloom, sure enough that red mane would stand out in any crowd. Along with her she carried a small badge of first place displayed proudly on her chest. “Do you like it? It was thanks to you I won!” Giggling she hopped in circles around him.

He couldn’t help but laugh at how happy she was, it did feel good to earn something non-material but something better than the souls earned from kicking a hollow off a cliff. Pride. “Alright calm down, I had a talk with your sister, you’re in luck. Let’s go exploring.”

“Well…” She had no other choice as her friends were down with the flu for the day, and going back to doing nothing on the farm was not something an adrenaline fuelled filly would enjoy doing. “…Ok! But remember, I gotta be home before sundown.”

“I promise.” He places a hoof to his chest as a sign of betting his honour on it. The thought of exploring always excited him, and for him to be this happy was more than a rare occasion. “Now lets go.” Kurai went in the direction of the vast fields with Apple Bloom right next to him recounting every detail of her day.

Nopony in sight, he released his pony disguise and fell flat on his back with a relaxed sigh. To feel alive again, it was amazing. “So what are you goin’ to do now?”

“Hm? Oh, well we can take a look if there are any fish in that small lake over there. Or do you want to do anything?” He had her at fish.

Chuckling he sat up and stood, walking towards the lake with her nearby. Something felt off about the lake though, it was dark and murky, not like the other smaller lakes in the distance which were sparkling and clear. Slowly a head peeked out, it was about Apple Bloom's size, looks a bit like a crocodile. “Aww, it’s so cute!” She approached it to give it a pet with her hoof.

“No!!!”

As swiftly as possible he pulls her back just as a long and thin arm shot out and grabbed at the grass where she would have been, within moments it whipped back into the water and dove down. A slow rumbling accompanying it a few seconds later. “Apple Bloom…run.”

“What?”

“RUN!”

He grabs her and holds her over his shoulder, running faster than he thought he could in his armour. With the way she was positioned she could see it clearly, her pupils dilated at the sight of a humongous creature crawling out the lake, three pairs of legs in a centipede shaped body. Angered by it's prey being taken away it raised its whole upper torso to reveal not a chest, but a maw surrounded by fangs moving in and out as if imagining feeding on her flesh until there was nothing but blood stained bone. With that it roared, causing the grass around the prairie to rustle outward like a shockwave.

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Patrolling the skies was no easy task, especially with having to keep up with a strict schedule of keeping the weather pattern in check. A cyan blue pegasus streaking across the skies, kicking and busting through every cloud in sight all with a stylish rainbow streak following close behind. Yawning she had cleared another unruly bunch of clouds in ten seconds flat, marking it off a list she held with a hoof. Yawning once more she decided to tuck in for a nap, only to be knocked off her flight pattern by a sudden gust, knocking her into food cart. “Anyone catch the number of that tailwind!?”

Clearing her head she flew upwards to face the source, as captain of the weather team it was her duty, forward she flew to the still emanating source of the wind. Fighting against the current it suddenly stopped, giving her a quick boost of momentum. Though she was a pegasus, her magenta coloured eyes were sharper than any gryphon. And at her height above the ground she needed it. And thank Celestia she had it, two figures running from a giant behemoth. Without a seconds delay Rainbow Dash flew downwards to get on the same level. Slightly panicking at who were being chased. “Apple Bloom?! How did you even end up in this situation!?!” She turns a glare to Kurai. “Of course, it has to be you to be around when this happens, I oughta-“

“Shut up and take her to safety! While you’re at the farm get my pouch! I need it to fight the dragon! We have little time!” Though insulted she had to agree that his priorities were straight and grabbed Apple Bloom despite her struggles to cling to Kurai.

“Y-You’ll come back with his stuff right? Please don’t let him get eaten!”

Smiling confidently the element of loyalty never would let anypony down. “I won’t, kiddo! But we need to gather up the other five first.” Shooting off like a bullet through the skies to the farm, where Applejack seemed to have been sitting with worry painted all over her face.

“Oh sugarcube you’re okay!” Applejack cried embracing Apple Bloom. “You know how late it is little filly?” Before she could continue scolding, Apple Bloom broke out in tears, explaining what just happened. “WHAT?!?! Rainbow, you get him his stuff, I’ll gather up the rest. Just come meet us at the library when you do so to lead us there!” With a salute she was off leaving a fading rainbow trail.

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Listen to this for extra effect. (Gaping Dragon OST) Credit to From Software.

Fighting this thing wasn’t as easy as the one in Lordran, for once it actually calculated its actions, not to mention the lack of weaponry or protection. With a swipe of its long arm it slung him into a rock a couple of yards away, breaking it in two. “Thank you Havel for your leggings and gauntlets, argh..!”

Struggling to get up he had no idea what to do, at least Apple Bloom was safe. Was this his destiny, to become some cursed dragons meal after saving another life? A small object landed at his feet, looking up all he saw was a small rainbow streak disappearing. Smiling he tied it to his hip and brought out his Greatshield of Artorias and an obsidian greatsword. “Thank you, now. Come at me foul creature!” Obliging to that the dragon charged forward, all it took was for a simple roll to the right and prepare to swipe at it. In his excitement he forgot that the movements were much more calculated, his mistake leading to the large tail swinging to the right and into his back as he had no time to turn at all. “Argh! Dammit! Since when did you actually grow some brains?!” Struggling to get up as the beast approached, enjoying every moment of its meal squirming for dear life.

Lifting it's upper torso to deliver the crushing blow a spell was shot right into the feeding hole of the grotesque monster, looking up to see his saviour in his moment of need. Or, saviours. The mane six are back in business. “Seems that magic you taught me came in use after all.” Twilight smirked confidently while Fluttershy cowered behind her, though she loved animals, adult dragons were not her favourite to deal with. “Pinkie, Applejack, the monster has 6 legs, tie a few up to make it lose its balance.”

Whipping out a piece of long rope al Applejack could say was. “YEEEEHAWWW!” Closely followed by Pinkie Pie zipping around the dragon, getting it to stomp each time she was within range. Unfortunately it's tail was free and could put a damper on the whole strategy, quickly turning to Kurai while getting the rope ready to toss he nodded knowing what had to be done.

As Pinkie Pie kept it's legs occupied it couldn’t notice Kurai running after the wildly flailing tail, focussing all his might into his swing he slammed the sword down. The tail severed from the main body struggled around a bit before going limp and surrounded in a pool of thick blood, he gave he thumbs up to Twilight and Rarity ready with their levitation spell. Both lifted the heavy tail at the tip and swung it clockwise once before giving the dragons back a good smack, causing it to lunge forward and impale its teeth into the ground. In a blur of orange and blonde Applejack ran circles around it and tied its legs up, fully incapacitating it. The beast was stuck good now.

“Now we need to finish it!” Kurai yelled out, tossing up an uchigatana to Rainbow Dash who promptly caught it with her mouth. She had no idea how, but this felt right, quick and awesome like her. One running and one flying at the neck and head of the incapacitated dragon. Being closer he cut the neck clean off the body, the head seeming to float midair as Rainbow Dash flew right past it, cutting the head in half before it even touched the ground. Taking a moment to gather what just happened the group looked to one another.

“Did we just, kill it…?” Twilight asked, clearly baffled at what just happened.

Kurai interjected. “We had no choice, you knew that from what the book said about ‘Gaping Dragons’.” The body dissolved into a white mist before being absorbed into his being, no doubt collecting the souls of those fallen to it as well as the soul of the beast itself. Twilight nodded, sighing happily that such a monster has been taken care of. “Also, nice strategy using your ‘stare’ from a distance to keep it still once it was down Fluttershy.”

The pink maned pegasus blushed from the attention. “How did you know I could do that…?”

“Well firstly the monster has good eyesight so to catch it in your stare was no problem, and Apple Bloom told me. Heh. Thank you for helping me, all of you. Now, I think we should get to our homes in case any more are lurking nearby.” All mumbled and nodded in agreement, it was already nightfall.

“Kurai.” Applejack sternly spoke, her face cold as steel. “We need to talk once we get back to the farm.”