//------------------------------//
// CH. 2: A hero's tale 
// Story: Ryujin 
// by bestponydash 
//------------------------------//

          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.