Return of a Hero

by Teridax1234

Meet the Ponies Part Two

Chapter 2- Meet the Ponies Part 2

Derpy happily scarfed down her last muffin. She did not know why she loved them so much. They were sweet, soft, buttery… she wished she had ordered more.

“Kodai, you should’ve asked for one,” she chided. However, once the grey mare turned around, she saw the brave pony with his head kept low, his cheeks flushed. He didn’t react to the news very well. Derpy approached him and put a hoof on his shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about it. You should consider it a blessing! That way, less ponies would be wary of you.” The maroon “pegasus” actually didn’t consider this. He had been so used to acts of heroism or just hiding in the shadows. But he needed this population of ponies to trust him, otherwise he feared for the safety of them all once the Ninetails recuperated.

If that means I’ll need to use this methodology, I guess it is good enough. Willing himself to stand tall, he sped up his pace to catch up with her, when a loud voice called

“Look out below!” Something cyan and rainbow slammed right into his back, sending him hurtling several feet. When the stallion broke out of his daze, he lifted himself off the ground, checked his hat and started searching for whatever creature slammed him in the back. What he found was a cyan-furred and rainbow-maned pegasus mare, who was already back up. “Urgh, my head,” she groaned. She whirled around to face Kodai, and he found her irises to be colored cerise. “I’m sorry for hitting you like that,” she began to explain, “it’s just that I’m looking for” she stopped dead mid-sentence. Her eyes trained up and down his body, then his wings. She sputtered, realizing how blind she must have been. “I’ve been looking for you.” Kodai eyed for Derpy carefully, who had left with her confections.

“Me,” he replied, wearily. Rainbow pulled out a rolled up, slightly crumpled paper from her mane and held it to him. The 'pegasus' took it from her, and swiftly unraveled it with his hooves. It was his hospital release form, carrying his description and name. Okay, so she was looking for me… “But why,” he asked.

“I was part of the pair who saved you,” she replied, “When I heard that somepony recently checked out of the hospital, I had this nagging in my head that told me it was you. And after you saved the entire town from an over-sized bear, I wanted to meet that pony.”

“And here we are,” he finished. A silence passed between them for a moment. “So, I never told you my name formally. I am Kodai.” The pegasus perked up.

“I'm Rainbow Dash. You must've heard of me by now.” The Hero cocked a brow.

“Should I have,” he asked. Rainbow Dash smiled. She flapped her feathered wings and flew around Kodai at a speed great enough to surpass the technology of his day. When she stopped in front of him, her arrogant smirk would have put the Ninetails’ to shame. “I’m only the fastest pegasus in Ponyville, if not Equestria,” she claimed proudly. “And future captain of the Wonderbolts!” Kodai looked at her, dumbstruck.

“And who are the Wonderbolts?” It seemed like an innocent question. Innocent until Rainbow’s jaw fell instantly.

Another egghead? I sure hope not…

“You’ve never heard of the Wonderbolts,” she burst out, “They’re only the most famous fliers in all of Equestria! Everyone who gets out once in a while knows who they are.” Kodai’s eyelids lowered, not amused.

“I’ve never heard of them because rumors of them never existed. I live outside of Equestria, miles away. Miles and miles…” His eyes wandered toward the east. My demon sense is tingling… and I never thought I’d think up that phrase. Rainbow Dash simply looked at him strangely, who was off in his own little world by this point.

“Um, hello,” she said calmly. The stallion shook his head quickly and smiled in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry. Got lost in my thoughts,” he said quickly. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“I can tell,” she said under her breath. “By the way, what’s with the hat?” Kodai’s eyes turned upwards, as if looking at the hat.

“Oh, this? It was a gift from a white unicorn, a mare named Rarity.” Rainbow Dash's eyes widened ever so slightly at her name.

“Rarity? Oh she’s a friend of mine, but we aren’t all that close. Different interests, y’know?”

Yeah, I’ll bet, he thought. Suddenly, Rainbow had suspicious look on her face, as if remembering something important.

“Ah, yeah, that’s what I was forgetting! Where’s your horn? You had a broken horn! It even says so in the report!” Kodai made a move and put a hoof over her mouth.

“Be careful what you say out loud,” he whispered harshly, “From what I can gather, ponies with wings and a horn are extremely rare, as a matter of fact there should only be two of them as far as I know! As long as I do not let the world know, I can avoid publicity! Don’t tell another soul, outside of Rarity and Derpy!” He took his hoof off of her mouth.

“But why them?”

“Derpy I met in the hospital, and remember it was Rarity who gave me the hat in the first place.” Rainbow nodded once.

“Okay. Nopony else. Got it.” Kodai nodded back.

“Thank you Rainbow Dash. Now I need to be on my way, my tour with Derpy is not over yet.” He was on his way, when Rainbow spoke once more.

“Maybe another day we can hang together,” she said. Kodai turned around to look at her with a soft smile.

“That would be nice. Until next time, Rainbow!” He spread his wings and flew off, tracking down Derpy once more. While in flight, he was feeling uncomfortable. Something is amiss here. It can’t be pure coincidence I’m making friends with ponies who all know and are friends with one another, and I’m sure those four all know one another. Someone is manipulating fate, or another force is at work... but how is all of it connected? His thoughts were interrupted when he spotted Derpy by a house with a yellow furred and pink maned pony. He waved, called out her name, and landed beside them, coming to a soft landing. The yellow pony immediately shied away, hiding her face slightly behind her pink mane. Derpy looked at him in what appeared to be concern.

“I guess you’ll have to introduce yourself…” she said quietly. Kodai took a few steps forward. The yellow pony did not move, but lowered her head, as if she were afraid.

“Sorry, little one…,” he spoke softly, soothingly. This was a situation not unfamiliar to him. “I did not mean to scare you. Please, tell me, what is your name?” The pony muttered something, inaudible to all.

All, except for him.

“Fluttershy? That's a nice name.” The yellow pony, named Fluttershy, looked up at him, her cyan eyes staring right into his cobalt ones. Never, not once in her life, did anyone catch her name the first time she told them. Derpy looked shocked, her eyes totally focused.

Oh my Celestia… she thought. Fluttershy, almost compulsively, gripped him in a hug. Kodai was surprised, but he did not mind. Fluttershy immediately let go, startled by her own act.

“Oh I’m sorry, I just don’t know what came over me… I just, well… you’re the first pony who has ever heard me. Your hearing must be really good… if you don’t mind me saying.” He voice was soft and sweet, and was pleasant to listen to.

“It was not a problem, not at all,” he said, “It’s not your fault. Perhaps some just don’t take the time to really listen. I’d probably do the same if the positions were reversed.” Now that she had her head raised and he could see her whole face, she was absolutely, positively, the most adorable thing he’d ever seen. If cuteness could be used as a weapon, she would most definitely be the strongest one. “Tell me Fluttershy… what is it that keeps you busy on the outskirts of town?” Fluttershy raised her foreleg and had a blue bird land on her arm.

“I just take care of the animals outside of the forest. The poor little things need somepony; it's just so dangerous in there.” The stallion winced. The animals… could not take care of themselves? His power was not enough then!

Orochi… the bastard demon, he took away everything!! “Tell me,” he started, “about the forest.” It was Fluttershy’s turn for wide eyes.

“Oh my… well, it just isn’t natural. You see, all of Equestria is taken care of by ponies. The weather, animals, plants; all of it is finely regulated.”

"The weather is taken care of by the pegasi, the plants and animals normally taken care of by the earth ponies, and the government ran by unicorns,” added Derpy, who had remained silent.

“All of that is true. But in the Everfree forest, all of the plants and animals take care of themselves, and weather moves on its own. It was then some of the other ponies realized nature could take care of itself, but”

“But you did not want to lose all of this.” Kodai trotted past her. “I can’t blame you. Without these regulations, per se, a large amount of the population loses a job. And then the purpose of their life is gone as well, grim as it sounds. Your kingdom is stable, why bring such a change?” But in his heart, he knew why. Orochi obliterated nature. Even if they tried, it would not work. Nature would stop dead at the edge of the forest. That’s why someone has to take care of the plants, the animals, even the weather. Then the day and night cycle, which Orochi took as well… hold it! “Fluttershy,” he began turning back to her, “this may sound like a very stupid question, but who controls the day and night?” Fluttershy looked surprised.

“Oh, I um, though everypony knew, even the ones outside of the kingdom, like griffins or zebras… but I guess that’s okay. It’s controlled by the two ruling sisters. Princess Celestia controls the day, Princess Luna controls the night.” Kodai relaxed.

“What are they like?” Fluttershy blushed; no one has really asked that question.

“Princess Celestia is bright and warm as the sun itself. She is the negotiator, the peace maker between us all. She never raises her voice, and is very subtle and persuasive. Princess Luna is very different. She is very direct, and is more mysterious than the moon. She is not too keen on planting ideas with words, and says outright what is needed. But the dynamic creates a harmony like no other, one that has been effective for centuries. They are the wisest, strongest, and I guess prettiest ponies in the world.” Kodai nodded.

So they’ve been alive for hundreds of years. But they are only ageless, not immortal. If they were gods, I would sense it. There have only been sixteen divines, and it is likely all of them are dead. At least I know fifteen are…

“Um, Kodai... are you alright?” The maroon pony gave her a blank stare before responding.

“I, erm, I’m fine. I’m just fine.” The hell I’m not. He felt something small poke at his back leg. He looked behind him, then down. He saw a small rabbit, which looked apprehensive about his presence. Fluttershy quickly went around and got it on her back

“Oh. I’m sorry. It’s just my pet bunny, Angel.” Kodai’s expression softened. If there was one thing he liked more than anything, it was wildlife. And it was good to, for it was a reminder of his past… his home. “Would you like to pet him? I mean, if that’s okay with you…”

“Just set him down,” he replied, and Fluttershy lowered to the ground to make it easier for Angel to hop off her back. The stallion lowered his head to get a better look at the rabbit. Strangely, they locked eyes for a long moment. Angel slowly had and expression of pure disbelief. What is going on in his head? Then, the unthinkable happened twice today-

Angel whistled.

He whistled loudly, calling any animal that could hear- mammal, reptile, bird, amphibian, fish- then creatures that defied classification- creatures of myth- a cockatrice, a manticore, and others. When it all subsided, they all focused their eyes on the stallion. Kodai met their gazes with a fearless one. Fluttershy and Derpy Hooves just looked at the massive myriad of creatures, completely shocked, which was an understatement.

Surely somepony’s attention will be caught by this, thought Derpy. Then, slowly, rows upon rows of animals bowed their heads. They knew who it was. They knew what this stallion was, and what it meant for the world.

The Hero of Myths has finally come home.

At last, they all returned into the forest, except the ones already by Fluttershy’s gardens. Angel leapt on her back, as if nothing happened. Derpy just sat there for moment before shaking her head.

“I think I need to turn in. I need to pick up my daughter.” Kodai looked at her and trotted up to her with a smile, wrapping one foreleg around her neck in a grateful hug, which she returned. After a moment, they broke the hug.

“Thank you, Derpy. For everything.” Derpy smiled.

“You’re welcome. Maybe another day we can talk, preferably without all the animals.” The maroon ‘pegasus’ laughed in response.

“Yeah, hopefully,” he replied. Derpy lifted off and flew, surprisingly straight, for the other edge of town. Kodai watched her leave, and then turned back to Fluttershy. “I think I have to consult a book about what just happened.” Fluttershy beamed at his words.

“Oh, there’s a library near here. Just look for a big tree with windows, you can’t miss it.” Kodai nodded.

“Thanks, Fluttershy. I'll see you later.” Before he could fly, the yellow pegasus caught him with a question.

“Where did you get that fedora? If you don’t mind me asking…” Kodai rolled his eyes, back turned towards her.

I’ll never escape that question…

Later, the maroon pony scanned the area for this Tree Library, all the while in thought. I think I’m getting a good idea of who's doing this… the Guardian has many questions to answer. Once he found his destination, he made dive for the area around it. He landed, thankfully, right in front of the door. He walked up, opened the door, and heard a bell ring. There was a lavender unicorn mare, reading a large book. She had a deep purple mane and tail with a stripe of pink running down each of them, and her eyes were violet. Once she heard the bell ring, she looked to him initially with confusion, but then her expression changed into one with a smile.

“Oh, hi! You must be that pony Pinkie was talking about. Well, allow me to welcome you to Ponyville.” She got up and closed her book, memorizing the page number, and then trotted up to meet him. Kodai decided not ask about Pinkie, already foreseeing how that conversation would end.

“Yes, thank you. What’s your name?”

“Twilight Sparkle,” she answered, “And yours?”

“Kodai.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Twilight had this nagging in her head. Something about him is familiar… Doing her best to shrug it off (and ignoring the hat), she looked behind her, then back at him. “I assume you came here looking for a book?” Kodai nodded once.

“Two actually- one on Animal psychology and another on legends,” he informed her. Twilight nodded, then turned towards a set of stairs leading down.

“Spike,” she called, “I need your help!” A younger voice replied.

“Comin’ Twilight! Just gimme a second!” The one who the voiced belonged to was the third surprise today- a dragon, presumably a hatchling, had come up the stairs. He had green spines running down his back and tail, a green belly, and the rest of his scales were purple. His eyes were green and snake-like. He ran up to join a place beside Twilight. “So you’re the guy Pinkie was talking about! Nice to meet ya! My name is Spike.” Kodai responded with his own name once more. Twilight wasted no more time, and got right down to business.

“Spike, find me all the books you can on Animal Psychology. I’ll look for legends and myths!” With that, the two got to work. Spike used a ladder to search two separate sides of the library, while Twilight looked picked out books with her levitation magic. Kodai noticed the horn and object glow magenta. Within ten minutes, the duo each gathered a pile of books. Twilight used her magic to set one down on the table, while simply used what the maroon stallion assumed to be a massive amount of strength to set down the other pile.

“There. Feel free to check them all out if you want.” Kodai was stunned at the number of books present before him. In less than ten minutes, she gathered piles of books bigger than the library he had as a child.

“I… um… well, I’ll look through them all.” Twilight smiled.

“Don’t worry, take your time.”

A few hours later, Kodai has scanned through the entirety of both piles. The animals’ strange behavior was caused by evolution it seems- they all shared a common tongue, thus explaining the incident at Fluttershy’s cottage. But as for the legends… he found nothing. Nothing there explained why they did what they did. The legends did not date back far enough, it seems.

“Twilight Sparkle,” he spoke. The lavender mare was right at his side.

“Yes, Kodai? Is there something wrong?” He turned his head sideways.

“Nothing wrong,” he replied, “It’s simply that these mythology texts do not date back far enough. I’m looking for something far older…” Twilight blushed. She had one… but the princess told her not to share it with anyone.

“I-I only have those few,” she stammered, “I’m sorry.” The stallion raised his brow. Something was wrong.

“Twilight,” he said, getting up from his place at the table, “Are you alright?” Twilight smiled and nodded. A moment of silence passed where Kodai read her expression, searching for some kind of giveaway. But he found none. “Okay then. I really must be off, there's something I need to get.” He began his trot towards the doorway, when something clicked in Twilight’s mind. The stallion… maroon… Ursa Major… cloaked creature… the hospital…

That’s it! “Kodai, wait a second,” she practically yelled. Twilight levitated towards her the golden book with the strange symbol on it. But the symbol was not unfamiliar to the hero. In fact, it was easily recognizable. It was the kanji for god- 天.

Why would they imprint that symbol? Twilight practically shoved the book in his face.

“Please, you must read this!” The stallion did as he was told. He took the book under his foreleg, and sat down at the table. Slowly, he opened its golden cover.

And it was what he was looking for. There it was. A recount of the entire ordeal- and specifically, the Battle with Orochi, but it did not mention the demon by name. Twilight looked on.

“I saw you fight with the Ursa, and your fall. I admitted you to the hospital! You had a broken horn.” Kodai sighed. He whipped his head, causing the hat to fly off of him, revealing said horn. “Now, tell me that isn’t you!” A long silence fell in between them. When he broke it, his answer was earth-shattering no matter what.

“No.” Twilight stumbled in shock.

“B-but I thought,” she sputtered.

“But nothing,” Kodai snapped, “That hero died a long time ago! How can I be one if all my people died! I don’t deserve this! And now look at me! I’m the laughing stock of my enemies! I was never a hero, and I never will be!” There was a flash of light, and all of a sudden, the five other ponies that Kodai met were in the room, along with two newcomers- a dark blue furred and a pure white furred alicorn. The white one was dressed in gold regalia, and her mane and tail was literally flowing like a wave of pastels, along with magenta irises. She was tall, taller than he was. The other had black regalia with crystal blue horseshoes, and her mane was flowing like the former, but it sparkled like the night sky. These must be the twin princesses Fluttershy was speaking about… I must admit, they are far more impressive in person. He looked around the room. Everyone had an expression of absolute surprise. Then, the two princesses approached him, hoof steps in sync. When they were directly in front of him, they bowed their heads in respect.

“It’s an honor to finally meet you,” spoke the white alicorn, presumably Celestia. The other, Luna said nothing, she simply looked in his eyes, searching for something. They locked gazes for a time while the rest of the group spoke.

“Princess,” began Twilight, “How did- I mean how did you know?” Celestia simply smiled warmly at her.

“Simply put, Twilight, I didn’t. I warded the book with a spell that would notify me when you shared the book with somepony. All I had to do was hope that you presented to the right stallion. In this case, him.” She flicked her eyes toward the Hero.

“Hold up a sec, your highness,” interrupted Applejack, “I thought there were only two ponies with a horn and a set of wings!”

“I’m not sure about that. Whatever transformed him is magic I’m totally incapable of performing, because the magic that did it was old. Older than I and my sister combined.” Celestia turned back to the maroon alicorn, still locked in a gaze with her sister. “Forgive my rudeness. We never properly introduced ourselves.” Kodai broke eye contact with Luna and looked at Celestia. “My name is Princess Celestia.”

“My name is Princess Luna. And thou?” Kodai almost smiled at the use of old English.

“My name is Kodai.” Celestia motioned for everyone in the room to sit down. Doing as they were told, once seated, Celestia spoke again.

“I assume at this point all of us know one another. So, may I request Kodai, that for those of us who do not know the tale of the Hero, perhaps you could recount it..?” He nodded, but not before saying

“It’s not the tale of a Hero. It’s the tale of a man who failed at saving the lives of countless people.”

“500,000 years ago, there lived a civilization with technology and philosophy that was envied by the rest of the universe. The human race once flourished on this Earth, and I was its leader. We were at the height of the golden age.” His tone darkened.

“But that all changed one day. An eight headed serpent which controlled elements to devastating proportions came upon my race. We fought wars with it and its hordes of demons until all humans were obliterated, like it promised, and then it proceeded to rob the planet of plant life, animal life, weather, season, even the day and night. I was the only one left. My guilt and anger being the only things keeping me alive, I set out to find six artifacts- the Elements of Harmony. And once I found them, I engaged in a battle with the dreaded demon master. But it was too powerful. Using my elemental powers that I was gifted with, I combined them with the Elements of Harmony and banished the demon away. But the world was dying. I used whatever power I had left to bring back the flora and fauna- but no humans. And in my heart, I knew I failed. But the demon had a master- a powerful Dark God, whose powers were more than enough to erase universes, even time, from existence, captured me in my sorrow. He trapped me in a realm of darkness, where there was no light, matter or even antimatter, just a realm of nothing, as is his essence. And there I remained for 500 millennia, until now.” He stopped speaking, allowing the words to sink in. It was finally Luna who spoke next.

“If it was formerly thou who controlled the Element, and now it is them six, then is there a connection?” Before Kodai could respond, he heard a deafening roar, a familiar roar. He burst through the door, the other eight ponies right on his tail.

I know that roar. But he can’t be here! What he saw chilled him to his core. A serpentine body made of pure darkness like the kind that covered the sky two months earlier was in the center of town. It waited there, scaring off ponies with a mere twitch of its dragon like head. Kodai landed in front of the specter. It turned on him, bringing its head a few inches away from his face. The stallion stared at it with cobalt eyes that conveyed anger. Finally the demon spoke, in a deep, dark voice.

“Kodai.”

“Orochi.”

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[Jorofrarie]

Shit just got real, real fast...

-Jorofrarie