The party finally managed to make it to the top of the peak, with little complications aside from extreme heat. Strangely enough, the far top of the mountain did not bear such overbearing temperatures, instead being much cooler. The flat area atop the massive towering stone of Dragon Isle seemed dusty and rigid. Lifeless bushes littered the landscape, and the occasional black fox roamed about in the open. This area seemed even more deserted than the trail leading to it despite the apparent existence of plant life other than a cactus.
“Well, we’re up here.” Derpibra announced as he wiped his forehead clean, being sure to do the same to Fluttershy. He tilted his head over to Sanctus. “Where’s your king?”
“He will sense that we are up here eventually. Just give him a minute.”
Optix free fired her M1 Garand into the air. “We’re here! Hey, you listening!?”
“I don’t think you should be addressing the king like that…” Twilight warned.
As the bullets hailed into the air, after some time, a great gust of wind took over the landscape, then eventually a booming sounded off from an unknown location. Optix made sure to load another clip into her rifle and stowed it away, feeling as though she drawn out their new friend.
A great beast of awesome size, even when compared to the other dragons, suddenly appeared in front of them from a torrent of purple lightning. The creature had coarse, sapphire colored spines forming its back, midnight blue scales, and a surprisingly welcoming face. It didn’t look aggressive at all, even with its bright eyes colored like the sun, about the size of a pony. It bore a black crown encrusted with an unfamiliar yellow gemstone. “So...you’ve come.”
“It was tough to say the least. Are you…?”
“Magnus, the king of Dragon Isle? Indeed, you speak with me in the flesh.”
“You-you’re a big guy aren’t ya?”
“I’ve been recognized for the disproportionality of my size compared to others. But I digress. I trust you have come here for a particular purpose… Derpibra?”
He nodded his head with a confident smirk. “Yeah. But hey, how do you know my name? You didn’t exactly tell me.”
“‘Tis a difficult question to answer in any… definite manner without stirring confusion. But, here.”
He reached out with his great claw and left it wide open, motioning for them to step in.
They all looked at each other before accepting his offer. While they stepped aboard, Fluttershy’s eyes began to open.
“I will show you, as it is difficult to explain. I will take you back in time, to allow you to be witness to a ritual.”
(A ritual…?) Derpibra thought.
After some seconds, they were engulfed in a magnificent white magic, and promptly disappeared. Being tossed through a purple vortex, they witnessed events that occurred in their lifetimes, before eventually the events turned to happenings they have not yet witnessed.
(I have terrible memories of time travel…) Twilight thought as she gulped.
“In this time, you cannot interact with anything, else you may change interfere with something and perhaps even change your present somehow.
“Don’t worry. We are well aware of the risk at hoof.” Twilight remarked.
Time passed, rather slowly, until eventually they landed upon dirt. As they looked up, they noticed that there at the top of the mountain once again. Dragons surrounded a stone pedestal, and seemed to be breathing magic into a stone bowl with odd inscriptions that sat atop it.
“What’s going on here?” Derpibra asked.
“The dragons breathe their essence into the stone bowl, one by one. This can take several hours to complete, and because of how much magic it consumes, it can only be done once every one thousand years.”
“Wow... “
As the ritual progressed, the spell was eventually completed, and a fascinating pillar of light erected from the bowl into the sky, forming a sphere of great size. It then broke into one hundred sparks of magic, that soared through the air, never to be seen again.
“What was that?”
Magnus snapped his talons and brought them to an overhead view of Earth. They witnessed the magic fly to certains countries and disappear… one of which landed in Equestria.
“This ritual is called the Blessing of the Scale. Our power randomly chooses one hundred mortals to be affected by our blessing. That bolt that landed there… was yours.”
“Really? That’s crazy!”
“Indeed. The magic works in it’s own fashion, usually in the form of coincidental happenings to set you on your path without you realizing it. Yours hit you when you were just born.”
“Seriously…? How comes nopony told me? Not even my parents?”
“The magic masks itself. It does not make it obvious how it works. That however is the extent of my knowledge of the power, for the many millions of years I’ve used the spell, I have not learned specifically how it works, for I’ve never seen its effects personally. I just know it works, oddly enough.”
“So that’s how it works... how did you know my name though? Does the magic tell you?”
“In the form of an electric whisper, yes.” With another snap of his talons, they were taken back to present time.
Stepping from his claw, Derpibra turned to him and continued his banter. “So that’s how I was chosen?”
“Yes, rather unlikely so. But the magic will forever be with you, even after you finish your deeds here. Life of adventure has chosen you… embrace it.”
“I might as well. No point in being a weak pony like I used to be when I was smaller.”
“You have a power that will make you strong. I sensed it yesterday… an intriguing flash of strength. I was able to tell it was you.”
Derpibra’s body was wrapped in a colorless aura, attempting to flash his newly found power. “Was this given to me from the blessing?”
“Yes. It is a rare power to be finding amongst mortals. If you train with me, I can show you how to become the ultimate warrior. However, we mustn’t have much time left… I can feel the darkness approaching.”
“How much time do we have?”
“If my sense of time remains reliable… one month. It is a sea of black, ready to sweep us away if we are ill prepared for such an event.”
“No way…”
“Are you willing to fight for us?”
“Yes!”
“Such elasticity. Now, prove it further, as this is the second and last test of endurance.”
Derpibra looked puzzled as Magnus drew a dagger that could count as an ultra-greatsword above ultra-greatswords, and poked his wrist with it. Then, retrieving a much tinier stone chalice, he dripped a boiling spot of blood into it, and offered it to his potential Dragon Rider. “Drink from this.”
Derpibra carefully took the chalice and stared into it, watching it steam as it bubbled and popped in the unfortunate cup it was in. “Uhh.... Twilight! Analysis!”
She stepped to the chalice and tested it with her magic. “It is about five times hotter than normal body temperature, and seems to have some kind of poisonous substance in it, giving it the opaque and bubbly nature of it. Are you sure you want to drink this?”
“Hell no!” He shot back. “Well, I’m gonna have to I guess…” Rather reluctantly, he brought the chalice to his muzzle. Every pony became more worrisome the closer it got to him. Before he would drink it, he said: “Well, if this is my destiny, then I won’t die, right?” As he ingested the perilous blood, it made a brutal sizzling noise and a geisers worth of steam left his face. The fact that he wasn’t screaming in agony afterwards was reassuring. Astonishing even. After he finished, he dropped the chalice and smacked his lips. “I know this may seem kinda weird to say, but that tasted like boiled cranberry juice.”
Magnus laid silent, surprised at Derpibra’s ability to resist the toxins within. “You enjoyed that…?”
“Not really. I wouldn’t ask for seconds, but at least it didn’t kill me.” As he made that statement, his balance began to give way. His vision was becoming blurred and painted red with veins.
(What the heck is this feeling I’m getting?) Derpibra fell to his knees, a feeling of lightheadedness and weakness coursed his veins. The vision his eyes perceived started to warp, twisting and turning before suddenly dashing forward into some form of memory. His peripheral vision was once again blurred, albeit less severely.
What he could make out from his sight however was a dragon as black as night, with eyes that glowed almost a blinding red orange. He envisioned silhouettes of ponies and dragons fighting in large groups against the much larger black dragon. It released a roar so realistic and audible that it knocked him out of his vision. Feeling normal again, he stood, shaken by his frightening sight.
“Are you okay?” Twilight asked.
He did not respond, only standing there in shellshock.
Applejack waved her hoof in front of his quaking eyes, but not even he responded to his beloved mare. “Did you do something to him Magnus?”
Magnus missed her question, and instead paced back and forth with a worried expression. (Never has anyone been so damaged by their visions like he… he is paralyzed by what he witnessed. Every single individual that drank my blood has reported their sightings… but Derpibra, he seems… undescribable.)
“Hey, you heard me right?” Applejack questioned, this time more firmly. “What did your blood do to him?”
He faced her and sighed. “It’s a vision presumably. He may have seen something so harrowing that he was left in shellshock. It will wear off shortly.”
“Will he be alright?”
“Yes. It is only a vision afterall. The unfortunate thing about it is that the visions have always proved themselves to be true.”
“What was the vision then?”
“I do not know.”
Applejack curled a brow. “Why not?”
“I possess the power to, but I choose not to. I’ve… driven one of my Dragon Riders insane with one simple but fatal mistake. I never wanted to use that ability since. The risk is too grave...Derpibra may be invaluable to dragons surviving the impending chaos. I do not want to risk him, or anyone in his wake should such a thing occur.”
“Can you at least tell me why?”
“The memory… I do not want to remember. It was so harrowing…”
Derpibra shook his head before he finally gotten himself out of his terrified state. “That was scary…!”
Magnus approached Derpibra as he spoke, “What did you see?”
His body was still trembling, but otherwise remained intact. “A gigantic shadow, kinda looked like a dragon…” Tears began to fill his eyes, since he’s never been so terrified of anything in his life, not even roaches.
Applejack gave Derpibra a tough hug and pecked him on the cheek. “Buck up sugarcube. You gotta be strong for what’s ahead.”
“S-sorry. No one told me that dragon, or whatever… would be that huge.”
“Quit your sobbing!” Optix called out. “You’re supposed to be the guy who stops this Darkness crap from killing everything here. Puff out your chest and say ‘I can do it’!”
He sniffled before feebly puffing out his chest as instructed. “I… I can do it…”
“Louder.”
“I can do it.”
“Louder!”
“I can do it…!”
“Louder damn it!”
And with that, he filled his lungs with air, tears disappearing, confidence restored: “I can do it! I can beat anything!” His magic reacted to his emotions, coursing him in the same colorless aura as yesterday. But something was different. For a split moment, his mane pulsed a glorious golden color before fading to it’s normal red. Afterwards, his magic faded away, and he took in a confident breath. “Yeah! Thanks girls, I feel better now.”
Magnus’ eyes widened from the sudden flash of power. (Could this be…? What was that flash of gold just then? Maybe the legends are true…)
“I gotta train hard. Magnus, what should I do first?”
He cleared his throat. “We must focus on your endurance, skill with magic, among other things. We only have a month.”
“I understand.”
“Then let us proceed. Your friends must go however, as you must not have any distractions. That, and if our training becomes intense, then they will not be in the way. Sanctus, would you like to train his friends?”
“Might as well. For a month as well?”
“Yes. Take the portal to the bottom of the peak.”
Derpibra winced. “There was a portal!?”
Magnus chuckled. “It is only accessible to those who endured the trials.”
“Phew. Welp, see you all in a month!”
As the group waved their goodbyes, Derpibra would now have to endure fighting a dragon many times larger than him as a form of training.