A Jinouga is chased from his homeland and finds himself in Equestria were he knows he isn't allowed.
A Jinouga (of the Monster Hunter series), named Raiju, is chased from his homeland thousands of miles from Equestria after his king discovered him sabotaging their army and ordered his execution. After catching wind of this he makes his escape, and after weeks of running, and taking a serious blows, leaving him with a gaping wound and a broken foreleg. Continued running on his injuries leaves him with no other options, he began charging up a massive amount of electricity to teleport himself as far away as possible. He did not know where he was or where he was going, but he knew that it was his only choice. Now completely drained of energy he awaits his death, until he is saved by Twilight Sparkle. He begins his healing process in secrecy, until Princess Celestia catches wind of his existence in Equestria and orders his capture and execution. This execution fails and eventually the princess allows him to stay in Equestria for a while longer while he heals from his injuries. -Cover art is personally drawn, constructive criticism on anything is greatly appreciated-
It is a beautiful afternoon in Equestria, it is almost sunset and everything is peaceful. In an area far from any of the cities and towns the ground began to spark as lightning could be heard. In a huge flash of sparks and lightning followed by a scream of agony a huge beast appeared in a field on the edge of a forest. It appeared from the flash at a tremendous speed and as it tried to slow itself down he screamed as he fell to the ground with a horribly broken left arm. After skidding across the ground for about 30 yards it finally came to a stop. Exhausted and badly injured the beast got to his feet as quickly as he could, thinking to himself "I can't believe that worked...but now I have almost no energy left and they will be here soon...wherever here IS." He looked around quickly trying to make a plan when he noticed the forest to his side. The beast appeared as though he was being chased by something incredibly powerful. It stood at about 15 feet at his tallest and twice as long, he was a pale blue-green color with dirty gold shells on his forearms and in two rows along it's back with white fur strewn about, he had an appearance similar to that of a wolf only covered in scales, his forelegs were much larger than his back legs, and atop his head were two large horns. There were huge claw marks running down its broken left arm, but it needed to begin its escape first before he could tend to its wounds.
"There’s no way they won’t be able to find me with this huge crater I left. I guess I have no choice but to try and trick them and completely discharge and hope that I’m close enough to whatever civilization is near here that they can save me...it's a long shot but it's all I have."
So the beast Ran into the forest as fast as it could and a short while later two flashes of light the same as the previous appeared nearby, where two of the same creature appeared and began running after the other one. The first one knew he couldn't outrun the other two with a broken arm. So he began setting his plan into motion, in a huge flash the beast released a huge burst of electricity from his back. He kept running for a little while longer until he found a large bush to hide in and collapsed in it. The other two came by a minute later and began whispering to each other in a strange language.
"He is completely drained now there is no way he'll survive much longer"
"You're right...but the king will not be happy with just us saying that he was discharged and we left."
"Yeah I guess your right...I guess we'll have to look for him"
He nods in agreement "Hmm...But if we can't find him in 20 minutes we can safely assume he won't survive the remaining half hour. We can't risk staying in these lands any longer than we need to."
With a chuckle the other responds "It's not like any of those pathetic ponies here would WANT to save him anyway."
Being exhausted, in a massive amount of pain, and slowly losing his life he only heard some of what the other two were saying before blacking out for a few minutes. The two pursuers spent a while looking for him before running back through the forest and disappeared in a blinding flash of light. Now alone in an unknown land, the creature lies in the bush he is hiding in listening to the world around him waiting for a slow and painful death. 10 minutes have passed since the other two creatures left and he knew that his time was running short, he had almost give up hope when he heard a faint sound coming from the distance. He couldn't tell just from the sound who or what it was, at first he thought that his pursuers might have returned but he decided that he needed to try. So he called out.
"Hello! Is anyone there! I need help!"
In the distance he heard a female's voice call back
"Yes hello? Who needs help?!"
The creature was glad to hear a someone respond even if it was a total stranger and didn't know if they were friendly or not.
"Yes I'm just off of the path in a large bush, please I’m seriously injured" he said breathing a sigh of relief.
She was running down the path when she noticed something sticking out of the bushes "OK I think I see you I'll be right there"
As twilight ran towards the voice she noticed that it wasn't a pony calling out for help and started slowing down to be more cautious. She came up behind him where he was laying on his right side and only his head was sticking out of the bush.
She cautiously asked "W-who are you?"
He quickly responded "Please my name is Raiju, I don't know where I am and I'm slowly dying. Please I need to explain but I can't see you."
Twilight slowly walked around towards his face but continued to keep her distance. As she rounded to his face they both gasped at the sight of each other. Raiju was the first to speak.
"You-you're a unicorn."
"Well yeah” She responded. “You are in Equestria after all. What exactly are you?"
Stunned by what Twilight is telling him be begins frantically looking around as if trying to flee. Realizing that he can't move with no energy and a badly broken arm he sighs and says.
"Please, listen...I am not allowed here however I have no choice but to ask your help. I am critically injured and I have no energy left. If you could get me some I will gladly explain everything and leave after my wounds are healed."
Confused Twilight asks. "Get you some energy? How would I do that?"
Realizing he is using the wrong word he says. "Oh, I'm sorry I'm still not very good at speaking your language...let me see, I need...electricity? Is that the word? The stuff that flashes out from clouds?"
Twilight was surprised by what he was asking her to do but before she could respond Raiju said.
"I am sorry, but there is no time to explain, my time is running short, and this is the only thing that will help me, if you can somehow get me some electricity I will explain everything."
Now seemingly in a rush Twilight says. "Ok I know someone who can help but I am going to have to leave you for a little while"
"That’s fine” he responded. “But just know that if I am unconscious when you return you need to strike my back with the energy, I will try to drag myself out of this bush and get closer to the path."
Twilight still very confused by the whole situation, runs off back to Ponyville. When she exits the forest she immediately starts calling out for Rainbow Dash. Rainbow quickly flys over after hearing Twilight calling for her.
"What’s the matter Twilight?"
"Rainbow! There's no time to explain. I need for you to get a thunder cloud and follow me back into the Everfree forest."
"Why do you-"
"I said there's no time to explain please just hurry."
And with that Rainbow Dash nodded and flew off to get a cloud. After a few minutes she returned with a small black cloud and began following Twilight through the forest. As they made their way through the forest Rainbow Dash looked over and asked Twilight
"So, do you wanna tell me why exactly you need this cloud in the middle of the Everfree forest?"
"There's an injured creature out here that says he needs it to survive."
More confused than ever she asks. "He needs a thunder cloud to survive? What kind of creature is this?"
"I'm still not sure I only saw his head. The rest of it was hidden behind a bush; he said he only had a limited time left and that this was the only thing that could help, so I came as quickly as I could."
Just then the creature came into view; he had managed to drag himself half way onto the path but seemed to have passed out in the process. Their eyes widened in surprise by the sheer size of it. He was just lying there across the path, motionless with his Left arm covered in blood and massive claw marks going down the side of it; it didn't even appear to be breathing. Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at each other in disbelief; Twilight took a deep breath and said.
"OK we need to hurry, he looks seriously hurt."
Visibly nervous Rainbow asks. "Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean we're electrocuting this giant...thing. What's going to stop him from ripping us apart when he wakes up?"
Twilight starts thinking about what Rainbow Dash said and responds. "Well...I guess you're right, but why would he. We ARE saving his life after all. Besides, we can't just leave him like this."
Reluctantly Rainbow flys over top of him with the cloud in hoof as Twilight walked over in front of him, keeping her distance in preparation for the lightning strike. She looked at Raiju and said
"OK Raiju I brought my friend Rainbow Dash to help. How much electricity do you need? We don't want to hurt you on accident."
Raiju doesn't respond, his breathing is very faint and can't speak
"This is bad” she looks over to Rainbow Dash “Let’s just take it really slow"
Still very nervous she says. "OK but let’s be ready to get out of here fast, just in case"
So Rainbow jumped on the cloud and a lightning bolt struck him directly on his back. He didn't move but his breathing improved as he began continuously whispering in a voice almost impossible to hear.
"More"
"More? Rainbow he needs more!"
"Got it"
So Rainbow Dash jumped again and after the bolt struck him again they notice a few scales on his shoulders and under his eyes, as well as the cracks between the rows of shelling on his back, glow for a short while until fading back to the way they were. A tear began to fall from his eye as Raiju started whispering again, this time slightly easier to make out.
"All"
"All?! You can't be serious that much electricity will kill you."
But he just kept repeating the same thing over and over. Twilight came to the conclusion that they have no other options and had to empty the cloud of everything it had.
"OK Rainbow Dash, give him everything you've got. It's our only choice now."
So rainbow Dash started jumping up and down rapidly causing the cloud to erupt in a massive storm. For the first few seconds nothing was happening but soon Raiju's eyes opened wide as he let in a huge gasp of air raising his head off the ground. Just after that the shelling along his back which was glowing very brightly, began to split up reviling that the shelling is actually recessed spikes that go down the length of his body the backs of which glowed a brilliant blue. After the cloud emptied itself of the remaining electricity the spikes laid themselves back flat against his back as he started to move. The two ponies were scared now, after seeing what the creature really looks like. Raiju slowly started to stand himself up as Twilight and Rainbow Dash started backing away slowly. He noticed them backing away as he finally got to his feet, he called out to them.
"Wait...please, I will not harm you."
With a startled look on her face twilight said
"W-What are you?! We just pumped a massive amount of electricity into your body, and you healed from it?! You should be dead!"
Raiju sits down and takes a deep breath preparing to explain everything to the ponies.
"My name is Raiju, in my language I am what is called a Jinouga, you would probably call us...Thunder Wolves. You are likely also wondering why I am here in Equestiria. To put it bluntly I am a traitor to my kind, they are a war based, and cruel society that knows nothing but death and conquest. Over the years I have realized the terrible deeds I have committed and over 2 weeks ago I escaped my execution."
Trying to figure out what exactly is going on, Rainbow Dash asks. "So you were chased here because you are different from the rest of your kind?"
"Precisely.” He responds. "The king ordered my execution after discovering that I was not doing my duties and sabotaging his plans. I want to thank you both, I know you don't fully understand but you two are the only reason I am alive. This begs the question. What are your names?
"I am Twilight Sparkle."
"And I am Rainbow Dash."
Now with a big smile on his face Raiju says. "I am glad to have met both of you, but...it is getting late, and I need to rest if I am to heal quickly; but before you leave I need you both to promise me one thing." He suddenly had a very serious face as he said "Neither of you can speak of my existence to anyone, and I mean ANYONE."
Confused Twilight asks. "But...why? You said you aren't like the rest of your species, right?"
"How I am is irrelevant, my species as a whole is not allowed here. Why that is, is something I don't wish to talk about, it is a long story that I am not proud to tell and you are probably much better off not knowing. But please, you need to promise not to tell ANYONE about me."
"OK we promise, right Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah, OK I promise."
Twilight’s curiosity was now in full swing from everything that has happened in just the past few minutes. She asks.
"Can we still visit you? I mean there are so many things I want to ask you."
"I would rather you didn't. “He responds.” Just to avoid others asking questions. But if you really want to I have no problem with someone to keep me company. I saw a cave while I was running that isn't too far from the path I will rest there leaving a small path of pushed down grass so you can find it."
The two ponies then said their goodbyes and began heading back to town. As they were walking they heard Raiju in the distance Thank them one last time.
The next day, Twilight decided that it would be better if she Left Raiju alone to rest for a day even though she had so many questions she wanted to ask. She decided instead that she will go to the Canterlot Archives to see if she can find any information on the Jinouga species. The trip takes a good two hours and Twilight needed to return before night so she can Visit Raiju the next day. She took the earliest train she could, at 6 am. and raced to the archives. When she arrived she asked the head librarian where she could find information on foreign species and civilizations. She was pointed to the eastern wing and headed straight to it and began searching for a book that would help. She spent a good 5 hours searching for anything on the Jinouga species with no success. After finishing a book Twilight slammed it shut and let out a huge sigh, as she looked up she noticed that Princess Celestia was smiling watching over her.
"Good afternoon Twilight, what brings you to the Canterlot Archives?"
"OH! Hello Princess, I-I just thought I'd spend some time studying some books that I don't have in Ponyville.
"What is it you are studying? You seem to be struggling to find the correct book.”
"No I-I was just doing random research, you know just seeing if I can find something interesting."
Princess Celestia raised her eyebrow and said
"Twilight...I know when you're lying to me and I don't appreciate it."
Twilight searched around struggling to find a way so she didn't reveal what she was really researching. She lets out a sigh realizing that there is no way she could get away with lying to the Princess.
"I'm not supposed to tell anyone but I guess it couldn't hurt to tell you. Yesterday afternoon I was walking home from house sitting for Zacura, while she is on vacation to her home land when I heard something calling out for help so I rushed to help him, and after finding out what we needed to help, me and Rainbow Dash Saved him from his severe injuries, afterwords he told us he wasn't allowed in Equestria but I've never heard of any creature not being allowed here."
"What is the name of his species?"
"He called himself a Jinouga.” She pointed over towards the now very large pile of books she has already read. “But I haven't found anything in the archives on them."
While Twilight was looking away pointing at the books, Princess Celestia's Eyes widened after hearing what she said, but she quickly regained her composure and with a straight face said.
"I have never heard of them either, but if the creature says it isn't allowed in Equestria, then I'm sure it's for a good reason."
"I know that. That’s why I find it strange that there is nothing on them here."
"Just be careful Twilight, remember that no matter how nice someone appears they are still unknown to you, and you never know what they may be thinking."
Relieved that the princess wasn’t going to get rid of Raiju she thanks her. "Thank you Princess I was worried that you might have wanted to throw him out even though he is still severely injured and almost unable to walk."
With that the two said their goodbyes and after a few hours more Twilight set off back home. The entire way home Twilight was wondering if she did the right thing telling Celestia about Raiju. She decided that the best thing to do is to tell Raiju that she told the Princess about him. The next morning Twilight woke up early, leaving Spike a letter telling him that she will be out all day. While walking through the Everfree forest Twilight noticed a large flat cart in the middle of the path with 6 unicorn guards surrounding it. As she walked towards them to inquire what they were doing, a guard ordered her to stop.
"Halt! This pathway is off limits by order of Princess Celestia."
"What for?” She snaps back. ”I have someone that I am to meet out here!"
Just then a voice came from around the other side of the cart.
"Twilight? Is that you?" It was Shining Armor, in a fully armored suit.
"Shining Armor?! What are you doing here?"
"Princess Celestia said that there is an incredibly dangerous creature out here and I am ordered with its capture."
Just then Raiju slowly limped his way out of the cave nearby. He yawns and looks around. With a puzzled look he asked.
"What is going on out here?"
"You there! By order of Princess Celestia, you are hereby under arrest and are to be brought to the Canterlot prison for further questioning and a your trial."
Now visibly angry Twilight says. "What?! Princess Celestia told me that she knew nothing about the Jinougas!"
With a sad look on his face Raiju responds. "You mean you told someone that I was here?"
"Yes and I'm really sorry, I came here to tell you, I just... I couldn't lie to the princess. Please don't be mad at me.
Raiju sighs and says. "I am not mad. I understand that you can't lie to your princess; it's against your good nature.” He looks over at Shining Armor and says. “I will go quietly white unicorn, but I am afraid that I cannot walk effectively enough to make it at any speed.
"The name is Shining Armor, and we brought this cart in case you needed it."
"I appreciate the thought, let's get going then."
Still very angry and confused Twilight says. "You are just going to go with him? You've done nothing wrong."
"Please Twilight, you don't understand. I need to go with him, I have no choice."
He limped his way slowly to the cart and sat down on top of it. Raiju wove goodbye as the guards began to struggle pulling the cart and Shining Armor put up a powerful barrier around Raiju. As they exited the forest Raiju got his first glimpse at the rest of Equestria, after looking around he tried starting up a conversation with Shining Armor.
"So...how do you know Twilight Sparkle?"
"She is my sister. Why? How do you know her?"
"Twilight and her acquaintance Rainbow Dash saved my life. If it wasn't for them you wouldn't have the need to arrest me."
"Acquaintance? Rainbow Dash is one of Twilight's best friends."
He appeared very puzzled. "Friend? I do not know this word, what does it mean?"
"Really you don't know what a friend is? Well...friend is a complicated word but to put it shortly it is someone who wishes the best for another and expects nothing but the same from the other. You mean to say you don't have any friends?"
Still confused and now seemingly a little sad, he responds. "I suppose not. I had a few personal allies but nothing that would fit that definition. Do you have many friends?"
"Well, no I don't. But that is mostly because of my job taking up so much of my life, I do enjoy the feeling from protecting the citizens of Canterlot though. What did you do in your homeland?"
Raiju looked very sad as he was asked this question.
"I-I don't want to talk about it. I have done many things I am no longer proud of, but let’s just say one of my peace time duties was to attend to and interrogate prisoners. The irony of my situation would be laughable if it wasn't so depressing."
After a while with bits of small talk between the two of them they came up upon a cave leading through the mountain that Canterlot is built on. Shining Armor proceeded to explain exactly what the cave is.
"This cave was built to bring prisoners into the city without having to walk directly through it. It has been a very long time since it's seen any use."
They made their way through the cave which leads directly to a large stone room. There was little in the room but there were over fifty guards surrounding the only other way out. The doors were made of solid steel and were over a foot thick to prevent escape. As the door slammed shut behind them Princess Celestia walked in from the other side of the room. Raiju stepped down from the cart and began slowly making his way to the center of the room where sat down awaiting the trial. Before Princess Celestia could say a single word Raiju let out a small chuckle and said.
"Twilight Sparkle...you just couldn't let me be could you?"
Everyone in the room was confused, who was he talking to? Just then Twilight fell from the underside of the cart with a thud and said.
"Of course not! You have done nothing wrong and are being wrongfully imprisoned."
Princess Celestia confused at how Twilight went undetected under the cart, and angry that she did says. "Twilight! Why are you here and why are you defending this-this monster?"
"I have already said why am defending Raiju and he is no monster! Besides you said that you knew nothing about the Jinouga species."
"Well I lied! You have no idea what they are capable of...almost 900 years ago his species declared war on Equestria. They killed tens of thousands of ponies. We only just came to a peaceful treaty; if we had waited any longer then we would have been wiped out completely. Part of this treaty was that their kind was not allowed on Equestrian lands under punishment of death!"
More confused than ever Twilight asks. "A war? Why was there nothing in any of the books I read?"
"Because I removed all of those books over 700 years ago, so now nopony knows the atrocities they brought to Equestria but me. But that is enough; I will speak with you after I am done here. Guards keep her away from the beast and put up your barriers around him."
All of the guards in the room then proceeded to put up their barriers around Raiju with Shining Armor putting his closest to him, being able to make the strongest one. Princess Celestia smiled at the fact that he could no longer escape. Raiju looked around and observed the enormous mass of magic now surrounding him then looked back at the princess.
"Well…What do you have planned for me? I'm not going to defend myself in a trial, I know exactly what I have done and I accept the consequences."
Interrupting again Twilight snaps at him, saying. "WHAT?! You're not even going to defend yourself?"
"Twilight you are meddling in something you do not understand, please just-just leave it where it lies. It's best if you forgot I ever existed."
Princess Celestia continues and says. "Since you know the punishment for entering Equestria I will not drag this out any further. You are to be executed tomorrow at dawn. It will not be public because I don't want anypony to know that your kind even exists."
"Fine. Am I to stay here until then?"
"Yes and I will return to oversee the execution. Guards! Begin making your exit but keep your barriers up, and Twilight you are coming with me."
The guards began filing out until it was just Twilight and Celestia in the room.
Now trying to reason with the princess, Twilight tries defending Raiju again. "Princess you can't just kill him. He has done nothing wrong, in fact from what I know of him he has been nothing but kind and appreciative of everything Rainbow and I have done for him."
"You do not know this species like I do, they are incredibly powerful and dangerous, only pain and suffering follow in their path. He is likely no better than their monstrous king."
As Celestia says this Raiju's head turns up as he begins to look very angry.
"What did you just say?"
Princess Celestia ignored him and continued to make her way to the door. Raiju raised his voice in anger, it blasted across the room as he said.
"I said repeat yourself Celestia!"
Princess Celestia and Twilight both turned to look back at him, as Princess Celestia repeats herself.
"I said you are no better than your king."
Before the two could even turn back around, all of the magical barriers were completely shattered and Raiju was mere inches from Celestia's face. His eyes full of rage and as all the spikes down his back stood up as his fur stood on end glowing a beautiful shade of blue, sparks arced across his entire body and thousands of firefly like insects began circling around him at an incredible speed releasing even more sparks onto him. Raiju began speaking to the princess as if he is trying to hold himself back from attacking.
"I will sit here and accept punishment for the crimes I have committed; I will even accept punishments for crimes I haven’t committed. I HAVE done terrible things, and not just to your species. But you do NOT...EVER! Compare me to my brother!"
Princess Celestia is now visibly terrified. "Brother?!"
"Yes Princess Celestia, my name is Prince Raiju, lead war strategist for the entire Jinouga army. The Hell Wolf, King Zeus, is my younger brother, and I am nothing like him. He is the reason I am here in the first place, I came here accidentally while trying to evade my execution that HE ordered because I was found sabotaging our own army."
Raiju then stopped himself and began taking deep breaths to calm himself down. He began limping back to the center of the room as he said.
"I apologize for my outburst, it's just that you really hit a nerve and I just lost it. I just need to calm down."
The princess and Twilight then quickly made their exit and the doors magically slammed shut. The next morning the princess walked into the room. This time with only one other pony, a tall, powerful looking unicorn dressed in all black. Behind them 10 earth ponies also dressed in black brought in an enormous guillotine.
"Let us begin." The princess says waving the guillotine over.
Raiju made his way to the guillotine without a word and placed his head on the block awaiting his swift end. The executioner pony raised the blade to its maximum height, then Princess Celestia nodded to drop the blade. It fell from a huge height traveling at a frightening speed; the blade struck him directly on the neck but only went in about half an inch. Confused Princess Celestia rose the blade herself and used her own magic to push it down on top of him. It didn't go much further in but the blade itself shattered upon impact. Princess Celestia could believe what she had just seen.
"Why won't you die?!"
"You will never pierce my scales with such a simple blade; you would need something much sharper."
"B-But that was the sharpest blade ever made in Equestria."
Raiju stands up off the guillotine. "Then it appears that we are at an impasse, you cannot kill me no matter how much you wish to, and I am unable to survive on my own for a while. If I may make a suggestion then? I need no longer than a week to be healed enough from my wounds to leave of my own accord. If you allow me this time I will gladly leave Equestria and never return."
Princess Celestia spent a good while thinking this over, she was visibly worried but eventually she came to the decision that she had no other choice.
"Fine, but there are conditions that apply to this. You are not to attack or even converse with anypony, you have only a week no more I will come to see you off when your time is up and you will leave then with no delay or questions. I will however allow you to stay in the cave you were found in so long as you do not exit it until the week is up."
"That is more than fair; I will seal this agreement in blood, as is customary with any binding contract." He then proceeded to cutting open his hand and slamming it on the ground leaving a blood stain in the shape of his paw. I greatly appreciate this princess, I will not disobey your terms, and this seal proves that."
With that Princess Celestia ordered Shining Armor and his guards to escort him back to the Everfree forest. She also sent Shining Armor to stay and keep an eye on him just in case, to make sure Raiju didn’t break the conditions and to make sure Twilight didn't try to speak with Raiju.
Author's note I decided since their is going to be another language that it would be best to just italicize everything in that language so as to avoid any confusion. Also I personally find it easier to read Italic in the dark setting, so If you are having trouble differentiating them changing that setting might help.
The group of guards pulling the cart finally arrived at the cave late in the afternoon. Shining Armor dispatched the guards back to Canterlot, he then waited for all of them to leave until he turned to talk to Raiju.
"Well here we are. Princess Celestia asked me to make sure you follow the conditions she placed. For some reason though I trust that you will, even though the princess doesn’t, but I do need to make sure Twilight doesn't try to come here.
"I understand, but where are you going to stay if you're going to be watching me? I mean you probably don’t want to sleep on the floor of this cave"
Thinking about it for a second he could only come up with one solution. "I suppose my only choice is to stay with Twilight. If I know my sister, and I most definitely do, she's going to make me ask you a lot of questions. Will you mind if I ask you some questions from her?"
"No not at all, as long as they are not about my past I am fine with it. There are many things I have done that I want to forget. And Shining Armor…thank you for saying that you trust me.”
Shining Armor then left for Ponyville, and Twilight's library to explain the situation to her. When he arrived he took a deep breath in preparation for whatever Twilight might do and knocked on the door. When she opened the door she became furious at him.
"Shining Armor! How dare you show up here after everything that’s happened! You didn't even try to help me protect Raiju.” She suddenly became depressed as her eyes began to tear up. “And now he's dead because I couldn’t convince the princess that he wasn’t evil. Don’t you trust me anymore?
"Of course I trust you.” He responded. “You’re my little sister; there is no one I trust more than you. Either way, that's why I'm here now. He isn't dead, far from it in fact c’mon I’ll explain inside.
Taken back by what her brother was saying she rushed him inside. They sat down in the main room and right away Twilight asked.
"So you actually convinced Princess Celestia not to go through with the execution?" "No not at all. The Execution went on as scheduled, but he was completely unfazed by it. A three hundred pound, incredibly sharp blade fell directly onto his neck and it didn't go in an inch even after the princess herself pushed it down on top of him."
"Are you serious?! I knew he had to be strong, just by his sheer size, but that’s just… scary...where is he now?"
"Well, that's why I'm here. He is back in the cave we found him in. HOWEVER...the princess has set some ground rules.
Raiju is only allowed to stay for one week not a day more, NOPONY, and that includes you, is allowed to talk to him, and he is also not allowed to exit the cave until the week's up. She put me in charge of making sure all of the rules are followed, so I need a place to stay for a week. If you let me stay and don’t try to go over there, Raiju said I can ask him questions for you so long as they aren't about his past.
"I'm still mad at you for not helping me.” She said with a somewhat angry face. “But I can't just turn you away. I promise that I won't try and see Raiju then."
Twilight then proceeded to show Shining Armor the guest room in the basement of the library where a small bed was already set up. She walked back upstairs leaving Shining armor to get some rest, and began writing a list of questions she wanted to ask Raiju.
The next morning Shining Armor took Twilight's list, which was almost four pages long with space in between for him to write the answers down on, and set off to the Everfree forest. He walked into the cave to find Raiju still sleeping inside so he decided to wait near the entrance until he woke up, while he read through Twilight’s list. It wasn't until mid-day when he finally woke up; he sat up, shaking the dirt off of him, he turned towards the entrance and noticed Shining Armor standing there and said.
"Well hello...what time is it? You haven't been here doing nothing for long have you?"
"No not really, just a few hours, but I don’t mind sometimes being alone to think is a good thing. Besides you probably need lots of rest. By the way, how is your leg feeling today?"
"All things considered it's doing ok, I might be able to put some weight on it in a day or two but it is still sensitive. So...how did Twilight take all of this?"
"She took it well I think, after I told her she seemed more upset with me for not trying hard enough to help than anything else. Though she did give me a list of questions she wants to ask you if that's alright."
Raiju looked towards the ground with a depressed look on his face. "I'm surprised she wants anything to do with me after I lost my temper with the princess."
"Well…some of the questions are about that, and one of them I myself would like to know. So shall I begin then?"
"Sure, ask away."
Shining Armor pulled the list and a quill out of the bag he was carrying with his magic and started with the questions. "OK, this is the one I want to know. How did you manage to break all of those very powerful magical barriers and get in front of the princess so quickly?"
"Well the answer lies deep in my past but I suppose that does deserve an answer. As I had said, I was the lead strategist for my species, part of what I had to do for my "job" was to know the strengths and weaknesses of any species we were going to attack or have to defend against. I have learned a lot about magic over the years and what it is capable of and so I know exactly how to do away with many very powerful spells. As for getting in front of her, I just teleported."
"Wow, that's amazing. So you mean to say that you can dispel any spell you want?"
"To a degree, yes I do have my limits after all."
After he finished writing everything down, he started again with another question. "All right that clears that up, I guess. Next question how is it that you can survive so much electricity and what were those insects that circled around you?"
"The insects? Oh yeah they are called thunder-bugs they are a rare type of firefly that when in the presence of large amounts of electricity they themselves begin to discharge electricity, I use them to supplement my own reserves. I had called them to me during the night to help with charging myself back up. In all honesty I’m still not even half charged, I had forgotten how long it takes to come back from zero. Surviving large amounts of it has to do with what I am. Being what you would call a thunder wolf, I have the ability to absorb, release and control large amounts of electricity using the specialized organs in my back. Watch, I will give you an example."
Raiju lifted his tail and slammed it to the ground as a ball of electricity ran down his back to the tip of his tail where it stopped and hovered. Shining Armor watched in amazement as the ball began circling between the two of them.
They talked for a few more hours until Shining Armor had to go back to Twilight's home and give her, the answers to her questions. The week came and went with no incidents, and although not at 100%, he was able to move well enough to survive on his own. On the morning he was to leave Equestria, Princess Celestia arrived to make sure he leaves without any problems. She flew directly to the cave entrance where Shining Armor Waited with Twilight at his side.
Visibly upset the princess said. "Twilight...why are you here?"
"At the very least can I say good bye to him?"
She let out a heavy sigh. "I guess that would be ok.” She then turned towards Shining armor. “Shining Armor! Has everything been ok this week?"
"Yes, he's actually been very accommodating...let’s just get this over with then.” He turned towards the cave and yelled. “Raiju Are you awakeyet?"
Raiju yawned and called back. "Yes I am now. I'm on my way."
He stepped out of the cave for the first time in over a week, shielding his eyes from the sun as it pocked through the tree tops.
Princess Celestia stood in front of him. "Your week is now up; I expect that you are well enough to leave."
"Yes, I am prepared to leave and I will not return, I am greatful for everything.” He said bowing to the group. “Which way is the best way to go so as to not run into any other towns.”
The princess pointed to the south west and Raiju began walking away. As he began walking away Rainbow Dash swooped in with urgent news.
"Twilight! There you are!” She suddenly had a puzzled look on her face as she noticed the group of ponies. “What is everypony doing out here?...Whatever you need to come quick two dragons are heading straight for Ponyville!
Raiju turned around, surprised and confused by what Rainbow was saying, he interrupted saying.
"Two dragons? That's impossible dragons never fly together outside of their migrations. Are you sure that they are dragons? What did they look like?"
"They looked like dragons, and I think one of them was a dark green and the other was red."
"Dark green and red? Is there a clearing or field of sorts between your...Ponyville and them? I might be able to reason with them since I speak their native language."
The group quickly made their way to a large clearing in the creature's path. As they came into view Raiju immediately figured out exactly what was coming.
"Those aren't dragons, they are wyverns. Wyverns aren't as strong as dragons but they are much faster and are a lot more aggressive. Those two are called Rathalos, the red male, and Rathian, the green female, they are a couple and are a relatively common species, but that doesn't mean they're weak. They are often called Los and Ian for short. Let's hope I can still reason with them, they aren’t well known for negotiating."
The two wyverns noticed the group and came towards them, the Ian landing on the ground while the Los hovered about 20 feet off the ground. Raiju proceeded to speak to them in a strange language none of the ponys seemed to understand.
"Wyverns! Your presence here in Equestria is not welcomed by the inhabitants. What is your purpose here?"
The Rathalos snapped back. "That is of no concern to you...MUTT."
"No it isn't but I am the only one here who speaks our language, and they wanted me to talk to you. So I’ll say it again tell me why you are in Equestria, if you aren't going to tell us then I am going to have to ask you to leave.
The Rathian lets out a chuckle as she says. "Get a load of this. The puppy thinks he can boss us around. C'mon let's just kill him and hurry this up."
"Just wait a minute we don’t need to-"
Just then the Rathalos spat out an enormous fireball that hurtled towards Raiju. He barely dodged out of the way in time and readied himself for a fight. He quickly turned around and yelled out to the group of ponies.
"All of you! You need to get away they won't listen to me."
They all backed themselves a good distance back and proceeded to watch the fight unfold. Rathian quickly ran at Raiju, she jumped and flew above him as Rathalos appeared from behind her blasting another fireball at him. Raiju had no time to avoid it this time taking a direct hit to the chest, singeing his fur. He knew now that they meant business and he needed to put an end to it quickly before things got out of hand.
"Wait! If we are to fight here, we are going to have to enact the rules of a duel."
"Fine.” The Rathalos said with a disgruntled look. ”I suppose we have to. Our conditions are that if we win then you are to leave us to what we wish in Equestria."
"I agree and if I win you are to leave and never return to Equestria."
They both thought about it for a moment until the Rathian said. "That seems fair; after all there are two of us.” A menacing smile appeared on her face as she said. “Let’s get this fight truly started then."
The fight went on for several minutes with Raiju doing little more than dodging their attacks, never revealing his electrical abilities, but also never getting the chance to hit either of them. The Wyverns then began talking to him between attacks.
"Why do you continue this fight you have yet to land a single attack? Is there some reason you defend these creatures?"
"Yes, I defend these ponies because I don't believe that they should have to suffer under evil creatures like you.
"Really?” The Los said with a laugh. “How pitiful, these are weak and useless creatures not worthy of anyone else’s attention let alone protection."
"You are wrong; no creature should be treated as less than another just because they aren't as strong, they should be treated based on their character."
"FINE THEN! If they really mean that much to you, let’s see what you do now!"
Just then the two Wyverns shot fireballs in different directions. The Rathalos, still in the air, shot his towards Ponyville while Rathian shot hers’ at the group of ponies and the princess. Raiju had to act quickly; he jumped and spun, flinging a ball of electricity towards Rathalos's fireball. He then took off running as fast as he could to intercept the other one. The fireball and electrical ball collided and exploded in the air. Raiju then Jumped directly in the path of the other fireball, taking the hit in his left shoulder. Princess Celestia’s eye’s widened as she muttered to herself.
"He-he saved us?!"
Raiju turned to quickly give them instructions. "You can't stay here! They will just continue to attack you."
Twilight was very concerned and asked. "But what about you? You haven't hit them once yet."
"Yes, I suppose it is time to stop analyzing them and go on the offensive. Don't worry I will-"
Just then Rathian came charging at an incredible speed but quietly enough that the other ponies couldn’t hear. Without even turning to look Raiju jumped doing a backflip, and as he was coming down he slammed his tail down as hard as he could directly on the Rathian’s head, burying it over a foot into the ground, knocking her unconscious. Raiju smiled as he looked back at the ponies.
"Only one more now, but he's going to be very mad now so get out of here while you can!"
The group ran almost back to the forest as the now furious Rathalos, with puffs of flame coming from his mouth, screams at Raiju.
"HOW DARE YOU! Your life ends now!
Rathalos then began pelting the area with more and more fireballs, leaving Raiju with no option but to dodge them. As they hit the ground they left large clouds of smoke and dirt, Raiju began leaving clusters of electricity under these clouds as he dodged his attacks. Eventually there was so much smoke in the air Rathalos had to stop so it would clear up.
"Quit hiding wolf! There is no escape from me!”
From under the smoke a chuckle could be heard when Raiju responded. "Who's hiding?"
Just then all of the electricity Raiju had placed rose up into the air surrounding the Rathalos grabbing his wings causing him to plummet to the ground. Once on the ground the electricity shifted on top of his body pinning him to the ground so he couldn't move. Raiju walked from the smoke victorious.
"This fight is over, you have lost."
"All this time fighting...you were holding back. What are you?"
"You will find out in time, you are quite young aren't you? Now...you and you partner must leave Equestria and never return as per our agreement."
Rathalos angrily agreed and after Rathian awoke, they began flying away. The group of ponies then returned to Raiju to congratulate him with Twilight leading the group.
"YOU DID IT! That was amazing."
Princess Celestia slowly walked up to Raiju. "Quite. You have my thanks for saving Ponyville and very likely all of Equestria. I would like to say one thing though, contrary to what you said earlier you are not the only one here who speaks that language. I heard everything you and those creatures said."
"Really now? So you do know then that I did try to resolve this peacefully?"
"Yes I know, but for now, why don't you rest for a day while I think some things over?” She saw his singed fur and all of the cuts on him. “By looks of it you took a few nasty hits during that fight."
"Thank you princess I really appreciate it." He said bowing to the princess
With that Raiju returned to the cave and went to bed. Everypony else returned home, including Shining Armor who went back to Canterlot, until the next morning where Princess Celestia and Twilight came to Raiju's cave, and called in.
"Raiju? Are you awake yet?"
They could hear him call back. "Yes I will be out in just a moment.” He walked outside and bowed to the two ponies as he said. “I will make my leave now, I am very grateful for the extra time you gave me, and I am especially grateful for you and Rainbow Dash saving my life Twilight.”
As he began walking away, Princess Celestia immediately stopped him. "Hold on a moment I need to ask you something. What happened yesterday got me thinking about how truly defenseless Equestria really is from creatures like that, now more than ever with the dragon's nest being so close. So I would like to ask if you would stay here and act as a sentinel to all of Equestria?"
Raiju was completely taken back and didn’t know how to respond. "Honestly? You would let me stay here knowing who I am? And what of your subjects, I don't think they would react very well to my presence, let alone my living here."
"I am very serious, you know far more about what happens outside of these lands and are strong enough to dispatch any threat that might come this way. As for my subjects, I'm sure they will warm up to you eventually. I have also asked the mayor of every town and city to come to the Canterlot main gates tomorrow at noon where they will meet you."
"I am honored that you would even consider something like this, I Promise that I will do my absolute best."
Twilight interrupted and asked. "So you'll stay?"
"Yes I will."
Princess Celestia smiled and said. "I'm glad, and I will see the both of you tomorrow."
"Both of us?" Twilight asked in confusion.
"Well yes, you don't want to go? Besides, it couldn’t hurt could it?"
"No, no I would be glad to. I just thought you wanted to speak with them alone. How is he going to get there any way?
Raiju quickly answered. "I'll just walk. It shouldn't take more than a few hours if I run."
The next day Twilight met up with Raiju just before he was going to leave for Canterlot.
"Twilight? Shouldn’t you be getting ready to leave for Canterlot?"
"Well I was actually hoping to go with you if that was ok."
"With me? I suppose there is no harm in it but I am using it as a bit of exercise. I haven't moved much in the past week and need to stretch my legs. You could probably hang onto my back if you want, but this is likely going to be a very bumpy ride for you, and you had better be ready to hold on. Are you sure you want to go with me?"
"I'll be fine, it won't be that bad."
She then proceeded to climbing up his tail and taking a seat in the fur between the shelling on his back. The fit was very comfortable, almost the perfect size for a pony to sit in. Raiju began on his way to Canterlot, walking at first until he exited the forest where he began picking up speed.
The path to Canterlot was long but full of beautiful fields and, winding hills. Twilight was enjoying the ride, they moved at a great pace. It wasn’t nearly as bumpy as Raiju had made it seem, until Raiju suddenly began slowing down to a stop. They were at the top of a hill which looked over to a huge field and Raiju started staring off into the distance, Twilight then noticed that he had started crying.
"Is something wrong? Why did we st- You're crying, are you alright?"
"This field...It is where that war took place 900 years ago."
"And you are feeling remorseful. It’s fine Raiju, believe me nopony remembers what happened back then, and you aren’t like that anymore."
"But I remember! Every time I close my eyes I relive the horrors that happened in this field. You have no idea what happened, you don't want to...of the fifty thousand dead ponies, guess what our side of the war suffered? One soldier rolled his ankle on a rock...If it wasn't for Princess Celsetia's quick thinking, there would be no more pegasi either.
"It isn't your fault, and like you said, it happened over 900 years ago."
Tears were now pouring from Raiju’s eyes as he continued. "It is my fault though! The whole strategy was made by me. I even made the plan to use Cloudsdale as a weapon, we were going to fill it with enough energy to fry every pony that lived there and move it over Canterlot to discharge." He punched the ground in frustration almost knocking Twilight off of his back. "My whole life up until the past few weeks has been dedicated to the destruction of others."
Twilight couldn’t imagine the plan he had come up with and started getting scared, but she realized that Raiju must have come this way on purpose. "Is that why you ran this way then? You wanted to pay your respects."
Raiju had begun to calm down, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Yes and with what Princess Celestia is asking me to do for Equestria I wanted come here to say this.” He suddenly became very serious and said. “From this moment onward I swear to protect this land and its citizens from any dangers large or small, until I breathe my last breath. There is nothing I can do to atone for my sins, but I will devote myself to the defense of these ponies and will throw my own life away to protect them."
Now content with his oath, Raiju began silently walking again. After a while more of walking Raiju began to talk to Twilight again.
"Twilight. I would like to ask you a question. Why do you so eagerly and openly trust me, even though you know who I am and what I have done?"
Twilight was confused. "Why wouldn't I? You have done nothing to me or anypony else, but be kind and accommodating. Besides, I consider you a good friend now."
"That word again, I only know of that word from what your brother told me, but from what I know of what a “friend” is, I'm glad I can call you my first and only friend.” Raiju looked into the sky realizing what time it was and said. “It is almost noon now, what do you say we go to Canterlot then?"
Twilight looked up and began panicking. "Oh my gosh! I almost forgot! We are never going to make it on time now."
"Don't worry I planned on this, come off my back and stand by my side and we'll be there in no time."
Twilight stepped down and stood by his side as he had asked. Raiju then began gathering some energy around his back and after a few seconds, let out a howl releasing a massive flash of light and sparks. Twilight then realized that he had just teleported them to just 500 yards from the gates of Canterlot.
"Well here we are, let’s go meet up with the princess."
Meanwhile Princess Celestia was greeting the many mayors from across Equestria in preparation for Raiju's arrival. She was standing on a small wooden pedestal off to the side of the Canterlot gates which were closed for the meeting.
"Ladies and gentlecolts, I have called you here today so that I can inform you all of a newcomer to Equestria. I have put a lot of thought into this, and from what I have seen and know of him, I have decided to put him in charge of taking care of any major dangers that may come into Equestria. He has already saved Ponyville from two wyverns that were trying to destroy the town. I would ask that you tell the ponies of your respective towns not to fear this creature; he is only there to help.” Now noticing Raiju and Twilight in the distance he introduced him. “Without further delay I would like to introduce Raiju.
Raiju began walking up along-side of the crowd of ponies with Twilight. They stared at him, terrified and confused.
"Hello everypony I'm glad to meet you all, I hope I’m not late, I needed to make a small detour on my way here."
"You are just on time." The princess said, now turning to the crowd. "Everypony...this is Raiju, he is from a very far away land, and has agreed to help anypony who needs it. Would you care to explain to everypony what you’ll be doing and how you’ll be doing so Raiju?"
Raiju nodded and proceeded to tell all of the mayors what he will be doing exactly, After he had finished Princess Celestia began to speak again saying how the Wonderbolts will remain as first responders of any disaster but will now act as informants to Raiju when needed. With everything explained the princess sent them back to their towns except one, whom Princess Celestia stopped.
"Mayor Mare I would like to speak to you privately. I just want you to know that Raiju has been staying in a cave in the Everfree Forest, I want him to stay there because of its relatively centralized location in Equestria. I want you to welcome him to your town as best as you can."
Twilight then went over and talked privately with the princess and Mayor Mare about what her plan was for keeping Raiju informed of any attacks. When everyone left Twilight walked back to Raiju, right as she was opening her mouth to speak to him, his stomach began growling.
"Ooh...I guess I'm getting hungry, It has been quite a long time since my last meal."
"Good, I was going to suggest that we go and visit some of my friends. We can visit Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres tomorrow morning and get you something to eat."
"That sounds like a good idea; I don’t need to eat yet anyway. Are we ready to head back home then?"
Twilight nodded and so Raiju teleported them back to the Everfree forest, the two said their goodbyes and began taking their separate ways when Raiju noticed a small wicker basket sitting at the entrance of the cave with a note attached to a barrier surrounding it.
Thinking Twilight might have left him a gift Raiju asked. "What's this? Twilight is this from you?"
"No it's not mine. There’s a letter, what does it say?"
Raiju unfolded the letter as the barrier dissipated, it read.
We have come to understand that you are the one who saved Ponyville from the Wyverns. Those wyverns were only here because of us; because we wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for you, we both agreed that you would be much more fit than us to take care of her. The reason behind why they were after us is far too long to explain on this piece of paper; In short we had ventured into a foreign land during our adventures and got into trouble with those two wyverns. We don't want you to search for us to return her, we love her and always will but she is much better off with you.
Sincerely,
Two ponies that made a terrible decision.
PS: We had not decided on a name you that is for you to decide. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raiju then opened to basket confused by the letter. Inside was a small Pegasus filly no more than three weeks old, she was the same teal color as Raiju with a short spiky mane with a similar dirty gold color. Raiju was awe struck; he had no idea what to say or do, before he could say anything Twilight said.
"Wait...what? Somepony just gave you their newborn daughter. Why?"
Raiju suddenly became incredibly nervous. "I-I can't take care of one of your kind. What do I do?
"Well...I really don't know. I suppose you have no choice but to take care of her."
"B-but I don't know the first thing about taking care of a child especially one of another species, what do I do?"
"Don't worry I'm sure my friends will help in any way they can, I know I will."
Twilight’s reassuring words seemed to calm Raiju down, but he was still very uneasy about caring for a child. "Thanks Twilight that means a lot. I suppose now I better get to making my cave a little more like a home then. I'll see you tomorrow so we can go into town and get some things for the filly then?"
"Sure I'll see you first thing in the morning."
Raiju spend the rest of the day and part of night building a small room inside the cave for the filly to sleep in. The next day Twilight came to the cave with Rainbow Dash in tow. Raiju had made a door at the entrance of the cave with the word "Welcome" carved into the center. Twilight knocked on the door and walked inside, to a full room with wooden walls and a crib in the corner. The crib only had a pile of leaves for a mattress, and the rest of the room was still quite empty aside from a rather large table in the center, but it had met Raiju's needs for the night.
"Hello? Raiju are you...” Now noticing the renovations to the cave she stopped mid-sentence and said. “Wow. You did all of this yesterday?"
Pointing to the crib in the corner with the sleeping filly inside, Raiju quietly responded. "Shhh...She's asleep. Yeah I had to do something for her, It's still quite crude but it works."
Rainbow Dash began whispering and said. "Twilight said that you were going into town today so I decided to tag along too."
Twilight then said. "It would be best if we had as many ponies as possible to show everypony that there is nothing to be afraid of. So I suggest that we visit Applejack first, you said that you are hungry after all, and her house is just outside of town."
Raiju agreed and grabbed a sling that he made to carry the baby out of the blanket that was in the basket, and gently put her in it without waking her, and the group set off towards Sweet Apple Acres.
The trip to Sweet Apple Acres was a short one since it was on the edge of the Everfree forest anyway. On the way there Raiju began expressing his confusion to the other ponies.
"I am baffled...I mean, I have only met 4 ponies, only two of which I have actually had full conversations with but two ponies whom have never meet me gave up their child to me? Why?”
"Yeah, Twilight told me about that.” Rainbow Dash responded. “That’s really strange, have you thought of a name yet?"
"No...I don't really know where to start with a name."
"Oh that reminds me.” Twilight interrupted. “I’ve been wondering for a while now; what does your name mean? It seems really bizarre.
"My name? Well actually it's a play on the name of the first technique I ever learned. It essentially means balled lightning. You've seen me use it before; it's actually a very difficult technique to use effectively, that’s why my parents were elated to see me use that technique before anything else.
They talked a while longer until they finally made it to Sweet Apple Acres. They walked around looking for Applejack until they heard her in the barn. Twilight and Rainbow Dash went inside as Raiju waited outside, because he couldn't fit in the door. Applejack was very busy stacking up hay bales and talked to them while see worked, until Rainbow Dash stopped her to say hello.
"Hey Applejack."
"Howdy Rainbow, how ya' doin'?"
"I'm fine."
After greeting her as well, Twilight said. "Applejack we need some help. We need a bunch of apples for a new resident of Ponyville, he doesn't have much and needs a bit of help getting started out."
"Why sure Twilight where is he? I'll show y’all were you can get some."
"He's just outside, waiting for us let's go."
The three began walking out of the barn when Applejack noticed Raiju standing, looking around the farm, enjoying the view. She grabbed the other two ponies and pulled them behind the Hay bales she had just stacked.
"What in the hay is that?! And what's it doin' in Sweet Apple Acres?"
"Applejack clam down. That's who we were talking about. He isn't dangerous we promise, he hasn't eaten in over a week."
Applejack reluctantly came out from the hay and walked outside.
"H-Howdy there...Mr..."
"Hello! You can call me Raiju, you must be Applejack. Your friends have told me all about you, and how you grow all the apples for Ponyville."
"Yeah, Applejack you think you can help him out?"
"A’ Course I can help. How many apples ya’ think ya’ need?"
Raiju thought about it for a moment when he said. "Hmm...I dunno maybe a barrel full?"
"Well...normally I don't give out that much for free, but seen' as your Twilight and Rainbow's friend I can spare some this time."
Raiju was surprised by the pony’s willingness to help him so quickly after meeting him. "Wow really? I really appreciate this I promise to pay for it next time...somehow."
"Thanks Applejack.” Twilight said. “Hey you don't think you can come with us into town can you? He needs to get some things for that filly but we think that the more ponies we have accompanying him the less scared everypony else will be."
"That seems like a mighty fine idea, I guess I can take a bit of a break."
They tied the barrel to his tail and began walking towards Ponyville. They all seemed to get very nervous as they approached the town, worried about what the other ponies might do. They finally made it into town when they noticed that it was completely silent, and the streets were bare. They walked down the main street until they got to the general store. Twilight knocked on the door and a middle aged pony slowly opened the door. She walked inside and bought a large amount of filly formula and diapers, she walked back outside magically carrying the supplies as the door locked shut behind her. Twilight proceeded to tying the supplies to his tail like the barrel of apples.
"Well this should be enough to last you quite a while."
"Thanks Twilight, I promise I'll pay you back as soon as I can."
"Don’t worry about it, you’re new and you need help, simple as that. Next stop…Sugar Cube Corner? We know that Pinkie is going to want to meet any newcomers."
"Good idea.” Rainbow Dash said. “She's gonna want to throw a party, and what better way to introduce you to everypony than with a party?"
Puzzled, Raiju asked. "Wait, I'm confused. How do you know she's going to throw a party?"
All of the ponies laughed and told him to wait and see. Once at Sugar Cube Corner the group of ponies walked inside, while Raiju played with his new daughter outside. The group told pinkie there was someone new in Ponyville, and she quickly told them that she needed to meet him right away. They pointed outside and Pinkie Pie was outside in a flash and immediately noticed Raiju, before he even noticed her there, Pinkie was already hanging upside down from his horns,with a giant smile on her face she began asking Raiju questions in rapid succesion.
"Ooooooh, you must be new to Ponyville. I know everypony in Ponyville, and I’ve never seen you before, so that means you’re new! My name is pinkie pie, what's your name? Where are you from? What's your favorite kind of ice cream? Why-"
Applejack suddenly interrupted her. "Hold on their Pinkie Pie, slow down so he can answer you."
The group went on to explain everything to Pinkie Pie from the beginning. She looked confused by the whole thing.
"I don't get it...any way we need to throw you a party and introduce you to everypony in town."
She quickly zoomed off leaving Raiju baffled. The ponies all laughed as the group began walking back towards the Everfree Forest. They untied everything from Raiju's tail and began making their separate ways when Pinkie ran over to tell everypony that the party was going to be in the cave the next afternoon. They all said their goodbyes and went home, Raiju began remaking the room he made to be much larger for Pinkie Pie’s party. The next day, around noon Twilight showed up at Raiju's cave and was amazed by all the work he had done.
"Wow, this is really shaping up to be a beautiful home."
"Thanks Twilight, c'mon and I'll show you the clearing I made from the trees I've been taking down."
Raiju brought Twilight around the side of the cliff the cave was in, and walked into a small clearing with a creek running alond on side of it. It was a beautiful area, flowers started to grow and everything seemed much more lively than the rest of the forest.
"I love this spot...I come here to sit and think, it's calm, peaceful. As I build more inside the cave this clearing will get bigger, and it might be a good spot for a picnic or something."
"That's a great idea! We should get going though, Pinkie is going to set up for the party and, for some reason, she always likes doing it alone. Ok, you're going to need a foal-sitter of this afternoon...I guess we can ask Fluttershy, but that could be a problem."
"You don't think she will?"
"No, no she would love to, it's just that she is very easy to scare and she might not answer her door seeing you there, no offence. How about I bring her and you can go with me to pick her up after the party?"
The two of them walked to Fluttershy's cottage, Raiju handed over the filly and hid in the forest nearby waiting for Twilight's return. Twilight knocked on the door and Fluttershy answered with her bunny, angel, riding on her back.
"Oh hello Twilight. How are you today? And who is this cute little filly?"
"Hi Fluttershy. This is someone new to town's filly, and Pinkie is throwing him a party. He has nopony else who can take care of her. Do you think you can take care of her until later tonight?"
"Sure twilight. What's her name?"
"Well...she actually doesn't have one yet. It's a long story. I'll be back later tonight with her father, hopefully he can answer all of you questions. Maybe you can help him come up with a name."
"That a little, umm, strange...well I'll be happy to take care of her for tonight."
"Thanks Fluttershy, her dad is really grateful for this. We don't expect the party to last long so we might be back really soon."
Twilight handed over the filly and the two said goodbye, after fluttershy closed her door Twilight began walking back to the cave when Raiju caught up with her to walk with her the rest of the way. They arrived at the door to the cave where they heard music playing from inside. Raiju took a deep breath, knowing that everypony will likely try to run away and opened the door. All of the ponies inside turned and began to welcome him home until they all saw him, the room went completely silent.
Twilight looked over to Raiju and, with a faked smile, said. "Well at least they didn't scream and run away right?"
Pinkie Pie came out from behind a large crowd of ponies with a party hat in her hooves.
"Welcome home!! Here put this hat on."
She placed the hat on top of Raiju's head and stood back to take a look at him. She immediately began laughing historically until she fell on the floor. Twilight also began laughing as did a few other ponies in the room. Raiju became confused at why they were laughing and asked to see what was so funny. Twilight magically lifted up a mirror up to his face so he could see, after looking at himself with the tiny bright pink party hat on his head he began laughing too. This was great, it helped lighten the mood and made everypony much more comfortable. The party went on for about an hour with everyone having fun much to Raiju's surprise. Towards the end of the party Raiju walked up to Twilight.
"Twilight this is great! everypony is having a great time. I'm actually really surprised. I kind of expected them all to run away as soon as I got here."
"Yeah I'm really glad that everypony is willing to give you a chance."
"Me too. I just-"
Just then a pony that had just left could be heard screaming not too far away. The ponies all ran outside with Raiju not far behind to see what was happening. As they exited the forest more screams could be heard, a Pegasus pony few by and said that there was a dragon not far from Ponyville.
Raiju quickly stopped him and asked. "A dragon?! Wait, how large and what did it look like?"
The Pegasus said that it was about Raiju's size and was black with golden, almost glowing, wings. Raiju's eyes widened as he called out to all of the ponies to run back to town, then he raced over to the field the Pegasus said the dragon was near. The dragon came into view flying very fast and very low to the ground as Raiju stood waiting for him to land.
"What are you doing here...Rukodiora?"
The dragon stopped and hovered just a few feet off the ground with beautiful golden wings having spines traveling along the sides of it's tail coming off his wings which hugged his body until halfway down its tail, there was also a rock about 3 feet in diameter circling around him. The dragon responds.
"I could ask you the same thing Jinouga. Unless you are here for a snack too?"
"No, quite the opposite. I have been “employed” by the ruler of these lands to defend it against threats like you."
"Oh how cute the ponies needed a guard dog to protect them from the big bad monsters. You're an embarrassment to your species, which is definitely saying something."
"That is enough, now I am going to have to ask you to leave Equestria...NOW!"
"I do not take orders from you, but I'll gladly rip you apart just so you'll shut up and get out of my way"
As he finishes saying this, a red and black beam comes shooting from its mouth. It impacts the ground leaving a scar across where it hit. Raiju dodges it and immediately raises all of his spikes as electricity begins to spark around him.
"So you're unleashing your energy now hunh? Well then...I won't mess around either!"
Just then he let out a massive roar as his wings began to change color. The part closest to his body turned a dark red-orange, a black aura surrounded him as he began taunting Raiju.
"Since you said that you know what species I am, I suppose I don't need to tell you what kind of power I am capable of."
"I know exactly what you are. The dragon of the magnetic pole, Rukodiora, able to control magnetism and anything magnetic, so yes I do know exactly what you are capable of."
The two then began ferociously fighting with neither getting any hits on the other. They both were incredibly agile, quickly moving out of the way of each other. The fight continued for almost an hour, they were both becoming more and more exhausted. The dragon was getting very frustrated from missing.
"STOP MOVING SO I CAN KILL YOU!!"
He then began to circle around slowly in a figure eight, ferociously flapping his wings. The ground beneath Raiju began to shake until a massive chunk of the ground ripped itself into the air an began breaking appart. Raiju leaped from the piece of earth he was on, grabbing onto the dragons feet. It couldn't fly with all of the extra weight and fell to the ground where Raiju pinned him down with a grin on his face.
"You leave yourself wide open after using large amounts of you power. Now...you have lost. You are to leave Equestria and never return."
"How did you know...it doesn't matter. Fine, I know when I have been bested, I will leave."
Raiju stepped off the dragon and let him go. The dragon leaped into the air and flew away as a group of ponies walked to Raiju who was now visibly exhausted from the long battle. Twilight stepped up to him, ecstatic of his victory.
"That was amazing! I can't believe how you turned that around and used his own attack against him."
Raiju responded between breaths. "Patience. It is key in almost anything you'll ever do, something I learned long, long ago. I’m just glad he lost his before I became too tired to fight, I couldn't have lasted much longer."
Pinkie Pie suddenly burst in between the two shouting in amazement and waving around.
"Wow that was CRAAAAAZY! You were all like whoosh and he was like GRRR."
Twilight interrupted pinkie pie as Raiju smiled from the complements.
"Pinkie pie hold on he's tired and probably wants to see his daughter and get some rest. Let's go pick her up from Fluttershy's house."
"Yeah it's getting late. I don't want her to think that I'm a bad parent."
The two set off across the field which was now ripped apart from the dragon ripping chunks of metallic rocks from the earth. While they made their way to Fluttershy’s house, Raiju asked Twilight a question.
"Twilight...there have been two attacks on Equestria in under a week! The Princess said something about the nest being close; do you know approximately how far it is?"
Twilight though about it a moment, when she recalled going there herself. "Well when we followed spike, when he went there, we walked for a little over a week before we got there."
"A week?! Then that means it's almost on the border of Equestrian lands. I might need to go and speak with whatever is in charge; I just hope that it isn't the main nest otherwise we will have some serious issues, very soon."
"Main nest? You mean there's more than one?"
"Yes there are five in total; north, south, east, west, and the main nest. The main nest is home to the most powerful dragons, most noticeably the dragon generals, the most powerful of all dragon kind."
Flutershy's cottage then came into view, they walked up to the door, Twilight knocked and poked her head in. Fluttershy was on her couch with the filly sleeping nearby.
"Oh come on in Twilight." She tried looking behind her. "Where is her father?"
"Well ya’ see, he can't really…fit inside you house. C'mon he's just outside."
Twilight wove her over to the door. Fluttershy was very confused but walked over anyway, they took a step outside and Raiju, who was playing with a few raccoons who were sliding down his tail, turned around and said.
"Hello. You must be Fluttershy."
Before he could even finished greeting her, Fluttershy yelped and ran towards her house. Twilight expected this and had already slammed her door shut. Fluttershy stood against her door terrified, Twilight started to try and calm her down.
"Fluttershy! Just calm down. There is nothing to worry about."
Raiju seemed concerned. "I just wanted to come here and thank you personally for taking care of my daughter."
Fluttershy wasn't listening; she was still searching for an escape. She saw her window open and leaped through, a few seconds later the door opened a small crack as Fluttershy placed the baby, gently on the ground on a mat.
Twilight couldn’t believe how she was acting. "Fluttershy! That's just-"
Raiju interrupted her, looking very sad. "It's ok Twilight. I understand...I'm not really the kindest looking thing in the world. Well I'm going to head home I guess, today was fun...up until a few hours ago that is."
Raiju gently picked up the filly and began walking back towards the Everfree forest while Twilight stood in front of Fluttershy's home looking very upset. When Raiju was completely out of view, Twilight teleported herself into Fluttershy's house where she found her hiding underneath her couch.
"Fluttershy your acting ridiculous, Raiju is one of the nicest creatures I've ever met; there is no reason to be afraid of him, all he wanted to do was thank you for taking the time to watch his daughter."
"B-But he's huge, and he's got sharp teeth and claws and-."
Twilight stopped her and began to explain everything to Fluttershy, starting from the very beginning of what she knows all the way up to a few hours prior, where he saved Ponyville from the dragon. While Twilight was telling Fluttershy everything, she came out from underneath the couch and after she was finished Fluttershy said.
"He has already done all that for Equestria even though everypony wants nothing to do with him? Now I feel really bad...I acted like a big jerk, I need to go apologies to him. Could you show me where he is Twilight?"
Happy that Fluttershy wants to make amends, Twilight responds. "That's an excellent idea, follow me."
The two set off for Raiju's cave in the Everfree forest, meanwhile Raiju had decided to sit in the clearing he had made with the filly. While sitting in front of the stream he began gently rocking his daughter and humming a sad sounding lullaby. After a while of humming Raiju's eyes began to tear up, and as a tear rolled off his cheek a voice startled him.
"Umm...excuse me? Mr. Wolf?"
Raiju turned around to see who was talking to him, as he turned Fluttershy had a brief moment of terror where she ducked and covered her eyes trembling. She looked up a second later, took a deep breath and sat down next to Raiju. She noticed the tears in his eyes and said.
"I'm sorry if I made you cry, I came to say that I’m sorry for the way I acted before."
Now realizing he never wiped his eyes of tears he does so while saying.
"No, no you didn't make me cry I understand how you acted, I'm a giant wolf covered in spikes and sharp claws, you reacted the same as almost everypony else. The song I was humming just brings back memories."
"Good memories?"
Raiju let out a sigh as his eyes began tearing up again.
"No Fluttershy...these are memories of a time I want to forget. It's just..." Tears began falling and he began choking up. "How I learned it is making me upset...any way." He said after regaining his composure. "I owe you an apology."
"Apologize to me? What for?"
"Twilight and I could have explained everything before but we didn't. We made you babysit for someone you don't know."
"It's ok, really. She was an absolute angel; she does like to try and fly around but she doesn’t seem to be a very strong flyer." Fluttershy looked at Raiju seeing many cuts and bruises from the earlier battle. She looked concerned as she asked. "Twilight said a dragon was trying to attack Ponyville and you stopped him. You're not hurt are you?"
Raiju just now realising that he is covered in scratches, smiled and replied. "Oh! No I'm not hurt, just a little tired."
The two talked a short while then said goodbye to each other and Twilight walked Fluttershy home. Raiju walked inside his cave to see that it has been completely cleaned. "A happy ending to an odd day. I suppose that I should write a letter to Princess Celestia detailing the attack today. I just hope these attacks become less frequent because I can't handle two a week. "
He placed a blank piece of paper on a table in his house, and began writing. After finishing his letter he teleported it to Princess Celestia by charging up a small bit and zapping it.
Meanwhile Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were talking to each other about Raiju.
Princess Celestia was pacing around the room saying. "I just don't know, He did save Ponyville and all of us watching but I still don't trust him after everything that their species has done. I know you've never even seen them before but surely you must have an opinion on the matter."
"Well you're right I don't know what they did in the past but from everything you have told me, he seems to be trust worthy to me. If he was going to attack Equestria he would have done it when he was in front of you, that would have been the most opportune time, would it not?.
"I guess you're right but-"
Just then Raiju's letter appeared in a flash between the two Princesses. It was slightly burned around the edges and fell to the ground. The two princesses seemed very confused; they had never received a letter in this way before. Princess Celestia lifted the letter up and magically unrolled it.
Late in the afternoon a large dragon attacked ponyville with intent to devour its citizens. I managed to defeat the dragon after a very long fight, however the landscape were we fought is in total ruin due to its powers over magnetism. I am writing you this letter to inform you that I will be trying to repair the land to its former self over the coming weeks. I am however, pleased to inform you that no ponies were harmed nor were any structures damaged during the attack. If there is anything you need to ask me I would be happy to answer you.
Princess Celestia couldn't believe it. Why wasn't she informed of this from somepony else? Could Raiju really be trusted? She was still very uneasy with the whole situation and felt she still needed to make sure over the up-coming months.
It has been a few months now and fall is about to begin, the leaves have already turned color and a chill was in the air. There were only a few dragon and wyvern attacks since the fight with the Rukodiora, but Raiju had convinced the most of them leave without conflict. Raiju has finished his home in the cave; it had everything from a kitchen, to three bedrooms, one room for him, his daughter, and a guest room just in case. He has also decided on a name for the filly, Lightningcloud, he didn't know how ponies usually picked names so he tried his best while using inspiration from what he knew about naming children in his own culture. With fall setting in the ponies began preparations for the running of the leaves celebration. Twilight of course saw this as a great opportunity to continue helping everypony get to know Raiju, as many are still uneasy of him. Early one morning a few days before the race, Twilight made her way to the Everfree forest and Raiju's home. She knocked on the door and walked inside where she found Raiju playing with Thundercloud who was trying to fly but didn't quite have the wing strength.
"Good morning Twilight. How are you?"
"I'm good. Trying to teach her how to fly already?"
"No, actually she just likes to try on her own. I don't think I would know where to start with teaching her to fly, I might ask Rainbow Dash if she can help me teach her. So what brings you all the way out here? There isn't any danger is their?"
"No there isn't any danger. I just thought that you might want to join us at the annual Running of the Leaves. It's a small race we hold every year to knock the leaves off the trees in and around Ponyville."
"Do you really think that, that is a good idea? I mean having me running behind a large group of ponies; that would seem quite terrifying to me."
"You don't need to run, I jog through most of the race so I have enough energy left over to pass everypony else, the leaves falling from the trees is a very beautiful sight as well. Two years ago was my first ever race and I came in fourth."
"That is quite commendable, if you really think that this is a good idea, then I will go, but I’m not going to run, I’ll stay behind and walk."
The day of the race has arrived and the ponies were all lined up and ready to go as Raiju walked up with a small number 58 on his shoulder. Twilight waved him over to the side of the starting line where she, Rainbow Dash, and AppleJack where preparing to begin. Pinkie Pie wove to her three friends as she floated above with Spike in a hot air balloon to commentate the event. Raiju still seemed very nervous about the event, and the other ponies also showed their own concern by avoiding the side of the starting line Raiju is on. The race began with all of the ponies taking off as fast as they could, while Twilight and Raiju simply began walking. The race continued and after a while, Twilight eventually began running to catch up to the rest of the ponies. Now alone with his thoughts Raiju was enjoying the scenery until after a few more minutes the finish line finally came into view. Raiju noticed the large group of ponies; most of them looked very concerned. When he was just a few feet from the finish, he overheard a few ponies talking.
"Wait didn't Twilight say he was purposely going to come in last"
"Yeah you're right...but then where is Berry Punch?"
Raiju looked around and until he looked up and asked Pinkie Pie if she had seen the missing pony. She shook her head no, Raiju then quickly turned around and ran a ways backwards down the path a hundred feet or so. He closed his eyes as a large blue cloud pulsed at a massive speed from his back, scaring the ponies until it passed safely by them, a few seconds passed until he finally opened his eyes and ran off. He stopped at about the half-way point of the race and began looking around and called out.
"Is anypony still out here!?"
He heard a faint voice, in the distance and rushed to where it was. Behind a large bush was an enormous hole and when Raiju looked inside he saw a plum colored pony with her arms wrapped around a tree root that was sticking out into the hole. Raiju immediately stuck his arm out into the hole only to realize that she was just out of reach. He looked around, trying to find something to extend his reach. With no other options he clawed down a tree and quickly carved a J shape into it. He reached the tree into the hole and picked up Berry punch, after carefully pulling her out he gently picked her up and asked.
"Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?"
Still slightly in shock she took a deep breath and said. "Yeah I think I'm fine...Thank you for saving me."
Raiju then charged up and teleported them both back to the finish line, where everypony was still waiting. After getting back he gently placed her back on the ground as everypony began cheering, Twilight then walked up and said. "Is she alright?"
"Yes she'll be ok, she's just a little shaken up, and for good reason, I need to go back there and fill that hole in...I must have missed one from that Rukodiora attack."
Before letting him go to fill the hole, Twilight stopped him and asked. "By the way, how did you know where to find her?"
"Well you saw that pulse I set out right? I sent out a pulse of low powered electricity, which basically bounces back whenever it comes in contact with something that conducts electricity, in this case, that pony over there. It’s the same way I knew that you were under that cart on the way to Canterlot it's just not visible when using it to see small areas. I'm just glad that tree was nearby so I could cut it down and carve it out to pull her to safety."
"Why didn't you just lift her out using magic? I've seen you use magic before." Raiju blushed and said. "Well I can use magic, but...I can't lift anything over twenty pounds. I could have lifted her with electricity, but I don't think she would appreciate that."
"You really can't use magic to lift anything? I could try and teach you a bit, it could be fun. Maybe while I teach you magic, you can teach me a little of your language."
"That would be fun. I guess we-"
Just then Rainbow Dash flew over after winning the race and said. "Hey Raiju, how come you didn't run in the race? You probably could have come in second. Behind me, that is." She said, boasting of her accomplishment. Twilight rolled her eyes and let the two talk.
"Well...I didn't run because I didn't want to scare everypony. I mean big, scary me running behind them, wouldn't quite be the most enjoyable thing for them. Besides, it wouldn’t be a fair race then since they would run out of the way."
"Hmm...I guess that’s true. Hey! I got an idea! Why don't you and me race? I know that you're pretty fast, maybe you can actually keep up with me." She said looking over at AppleJack with a smirk on her face.
"A race? Sure why not? Sounds like fun! Are we going to run the same course as the running of the leaves?"
"Yeah. It's got a perfect course to run, lots of straight-a ways and plenty of turns. I'll fly but I'll stay low to the ground to make it fair."
"Let’s go then…So long as you’re not tired from the previous race"
The two lined up as a bunch of ponies as well as Twilight and Applejack gathered around to watch. Raiju started stretching, as did Rainbow Dash. Raiju then asked one final question before starting.
"Are there any special rules you would like me to follow?" Rainbow Dash confidently said. "Nope, just stay on the track. OH, wait! No teleporting. Almost forgot you could do that."
"OK then." he said with a smile as he held out his paw and extended the two dew claws that he usually leaves recessed in the side of his arms.
"A bit if extra traction, so long as you don't mind that is." Rainbow Dash had a big grin on her face and readied herself for the race. Applejack began the count down. "On yer' mark, get set...GO!"
The pony and the wolf took off, keeping neck and neck with each other. Raiju looked over and began talking to Rainbow Dash. "Wow you are fast! I'll give you that much, but...is this as fast as you go?" While saying this he began zigzagging around Rainbow Dash.
They were coming up on a long straight away and Rainbow Dash started laughing and said "OH so you want a REAL race hunh?"
She started flying higher and higher saying. "I hope you can run A LOT faster than that." She finally reached her peak and immediately turned; she came screaming down until an enormous rainbow busted out from behind her, as her speed increased to an incredible level. She finally reached close to the ground, and turned, passing straight by Raiju. Raiju quickened up his pace and began to glow they finally reached the half-way point when Raiju suddenly blasted forward becoming nothing more than a blurry, light blue streak. Rainbow Dash was confidently in front; now at the three quarter mark she sees the blur that is Raiju pass by, leaving sparks along the ground. She immediately began speeding up, but couldn't catch up. With just a little way to go Raiju began to slow down and as the finish line came into view, he went down to walking speed, exhausted and unable to run, Rainbow Dash flew by at the last second, passing Raiju and winning the race. Raiju crossed the line a few second later, panting. Between breaths he says.
"Wow! That was something...You are really fast."
"Me?! You flew past me while I was at my top speed! How did you do that?!"
Now that he's caught his breath he responds. "That was my lightning run. I use my energy and give myself a negative charge and put a mass of positively charged energy in front of me, which in turn pulls me forward. Unfortunately it really tires me out quick. Now! You have to explain to me what it was that YOU did to go that fast."
Rainbow Dash proudly responded. "That was a Sonic Rainboom. Something nopony else can do but me. It's kinda hard to explain really...I just...do it."
Raiju laughed and said. "I understand, there are some things you just can't explain. That was really fun though, it's been a long time since I ran like that."
The two spent a while longer talking about races in their past, until Raiju left to begin making plans to learn magic and teach Twilight his language.
The days of fall went by with little happening, until the day of Nightmare Night. That day Twilight decided to invite Raiju to the festivities. Knocking first, she entered Raiju's home, greeting him.
"Hi Raiju. How are you today?"
Raiju turned around just finishing changing the filly's diaper. "Hello Twilight. I'm good, how are you?"
"I'm doing great, are you going to be joining us for Nightmare Night tonight?"
"Nightmare Night? What is that?"
"It's a holiday were we celebrate the legend of Nightmare Moon. Princess Luna herself is supposed to be coming to Ponyville again this year."
Raiju suddenly got very confused. "Princess...Luna? I thought she was imprisoned on the moon."
"Well she was actually, when she was Nightmare Moon. Over a year ago she returned and was brought back to her former self."
Raiju stood there, lost in thought, until Twilight asked again. "So do you want to go, I mean the whole point is to scare everypony and, let’s face it, you can't be beat in that department. Besides it'll be fun, and you can meet the princess while you're there. She had a lot of issues with ponies being afraid of her and adjusting to a life one thousand years in the future."
"I guess I could go but where am I going to leave Thundercloud, she wouldn't like all the noise while she's trying to sleep." Twilight thought about it for a moment. "Hmm...Well Fluttershy hates Nightmare Night, she would be glad to have an excuse not to leave her house."
They both laughed and Raiju agreed to join the festivities. Later that afternoon Raiju went over to Fluttershy's house and dropped Thundercloud off after explaining that he was going to join the Nightmare Night celebration. Later that night as Raiju was walking to Ponyville, he was stopped by Princess Luna flying in.
"Greetings! You must be the Raiju whom my sister spoke of. I would like to ask you a question. I was thinking, and wanted to know if you could assist me during Nightmare Night, last year I discovered that these ponies enjoy being scared on this particular night and you fit that description quite well."
"Thanks, I guess...What is it that you need me to do princess?"
"I just want you to follow behind me and look as menacing as possible. My sister has informed me that you can look especially terrifying when you are combating dragons"
Raiju agreed to assist the princess and they set off to make an entry that nopony will ever forget. The two entered Ponyville, walking down the main road as Raiju made tendrils of lightning flailing off of his back. The ponies all began to run in fear as Raiju started becoming more and more depressed. "Is this really fun? Having everypony run in fear of you?"
The Princess, picking up on Raiju's feelings responds. "They are not TRULY scared. Tonight is just for fun! They all know that you mean no harm."
"If you say so princess." Raiju said trying not to sound unhappy.
The night went on and after a while the novelty of Raiju and the Princess "terrorizing" the town wore off and everypony went back to the other activities and the children all went off to collect more candy. Three hours had passed and everypony was getting used to being around Raiju, while in the middle of throwing a rubber spider onto a web, Raiju heard a noise far off in the distance and perked his head up to listen closer causing him to miss his throw. It was the sound of a Pony screaming for help, he would have thought nothing of it, being a night full of ponies scaring other ponies but he heard something else alongside the scream. Twilight, who was dressed up as a werepony asked him.
"What's the matter?"
Still trying to listen for the noise he responded. "That growl...Twilight find the princess and meet me by the western edge of town, but stay back...and try to keep everypony else away from there, but don't alarm them."
Raiju then took off towards the western edge of town where he heard the noise. Upon arrival he found a pony dressed as a Vampire screaming while running towards town. Raiju stopped him and told him. "Calm down, please, I don't want to alarm the rest of the town, I will take care of this." He then released the pony and continued walking to where he had come from, until he finally heard a voice coming from the darkness speaking to him.
"Well, well, well...A Jinouga in Equestria? Are you here to scout a new attack on this land? Or are you here for a feast like me?"
"Why do you Wyverns always ask the same thing?" He then sarcastically continued. "Oh I'm sorry. Pseudo-wyvern. Is that the correct classification for a Nargacuga?"
Still in the shadows it responded. "I have no interests in political correctness. Now are you going to get out of my way so I can eat or am I going to have to kill you?"
"You are going to need to get through me before you touch a single pony"
Twilight and Princess Luna finally arrived and saw Raiju in the distance glowing brightly in the dark and prepared to fight. The Nargacuga let out a roar which made Twilight and Princess Luna flinch in a moment of surprise. All any of them, including Raiju, saw of the Nargacuga was the glowing, blood red trails following its eyes.
"What is that?!" The princess asked, seeming very concerned.
Twilight took a moment and responded. "I-I have no idea. How is he supposed to fight something he can't see?"
The Narga suddenly jumped at Raiju slashing him across the arm with the razor sharp blades it has on its wings. The two ponies got a momentary glimpse of the creature as it passed through the light Raiju was emitting. It was completely black and its upper body was covered in what appeared to be fur, while its tail seemed much like a snake in appearance. Raiju began trying to throw bolts of electricity at where the eye trails were but continued to miss. The Narga was toying with him at this point, knowing that he couldn’t be hit, but after a while, he decided that he was sick of fighting and began to get much more serious. Without any warning a faint sound could be heard, it sounded like a whip was being spun around until a snap was heard. Raiju tried to jump out of the way of whatever was coming towards him, but to no avail. Ten sharp scales sunk in deep, all across his back, as he yelled out in agony. Some scales landed close to the two on-looking ponies and Luna magically picked one up.
"These scales are unbelievably sharp! He needs assistance."
Raiju, having heard her, suddenly yelled to them. "Stay back! Nargacugas are incredibly dangerous, and won’t hesitate to attack you. I don't want you hurt princess."
Princess Luna ignored him and began to fly up into the air, her horn glowing brightly. Suddenly the moon itself began to glow and lighten up the area around the fighting creatures. The Narga was completely visible now and as soon as Raiju saw him, a massive amount of electricity shot from his back totally surrounding it.
Raiju walked up to the now caged creature and said. "Now! You will agree to leave Equestria immediately and never return, or I will kill you where you stand."
The Nargacuga was furious and after letting out a loud roar, reluctantly agreed. "Fine! It's not worth dying over a snack anyway. You got lucky that the clouds moved out of the way"
Raiju then re-absorbed the electricity and the creature disappeared back into the dark. Twilight and Princess Luna rushed over and began talking to him.
"Why did you release that creature after spending all that time fighting it?" Said the confused princess.
"He made him leave Equestria and never return, the wyvern said he wasn't willing to die over one meal...right Raiju?"
"Yes! He won’t be a problem here ever again...You sure are picking up my native language quickly.”
Twilight smiled at the compliment and noticed the scales sticking out of his back. "Oh my goodness you're hurt! Quick, we need to get you help!
Raiju laughed and said. "No, no. I just need to get these scales out and a bandage to stop the bleeding. Luckily that was a normal Nargacuga, and he didn’t hit me anywhere life threatening. There is a rare subspecies that has a deadly poison in the scales on its tail and the blades on their wings."
Princess Luna interrupted, asking. "These came from its tail? From what little I saw of that creature, the tail was most definitely smooth."
"Well…yes and no. Much like the spikes on my back, the Narga's can conceal those fast growing, incredibly sharp scales for use as a weapon. They are masters of stealth and deception as you saw...or didn't, as it were. They release a chemical from an area behind their eyes that creates that red trail, it’s very disorienting in low light situations." He looked at Princess Luna now, and said. "Princess...I want to apologize for yelling at you earlier, I shouldn't have done that...I do greatly appreciate helping me anyway. It would have been very difficult if it weren’t for you."
"You need not apologize; you were only looking out for our safety.”
The group went back to the festival after cleaning up the remaining scales and removing the ones stuck in Raiju. The celebration went on without anypony aware of what had happened. Then next morning, Raiju headed straight to Fluttershy's home to pick up Thundercloud. When Fluttershy came to the door she and Raiju began talking.
"Good morning Fluttershy. How was Thundercloud last night?"
"Hello Raiju. She was a perfect little angel all night. Can I offer you anything before you leave?"
"Oh, no thank you. But before I go I need to ask you something. I was talking with your friends and I told them that I hibernate during the winter months. I asked them who could watch Thundercloud for me, and they all said that I should ask you, since most of your animal friends also hibernate."
Fluttershy suddenly perked up, elated with Raiju's offer. "Oh! I would love to; just drop her off, with whatever she will need, a day or two before you start hibernating."
"Really? I didn't think you would want to do it so...willingly."
"No, really I want to. I've always wanted to try my hoof at helping raise a filly, and I really like filly sitting, its lots of fun."
Raiju thanked her and set off back home to enjoy the rest of the day with his daughter.
Winter has set in, and Raiju was hibernating in his cave while Fluttershy took care of Thundercloud, with occasional help from her friends. The ponies were enjoying themselves as the winter holidays passed by. There is only a month left in winter, and Raiju's hibernation, and preparations for Winter Wrap-up began. One day a noise could be heard off in the distance, it sounded as though the wind itself was screaming in anger, everypony knew that there was a big storm coming, so they thought nothing of it. Later that day the wind began to pick up around Ponyville, this was no normal wind though; it was far stronger than has ever blown in Equestrian history. The next morning, a dragon, much like the Rukodiora in body shape, was seen slowly walking towards Ponyville. Its body was grey and metallic looking with highlights of white and what seemed to be rust and it slowly began breathing its icy breath to freeze over the town. Knowing that they couldn't take care of this creature on their own Twilight and Rainbow Dash snuck out of town to wake up Raiju, and save the town. They made it to the cave and walked inside, they tried everything to wake up Raiju, yelling, poking, magic. but to no avail. After almost an hour of persistent trying they finally got him to wake up.
"Ugh...what month is it?" He said, slowly rolling over.
Twilight immediately began expressing her concern. "Raiju quickly, I know that your hibernation isn't over but we desperately need your help!."
"Twilight? Why are you-"
"Raiju! If you don't hurry that dragon is going to destroy all of Ponyville."
Raiju suddenly sprang up. "WHAT?! Ok...tell me what you know of it."
Rainbow Dash started relaying everything she learned. "It's really hard to see due to the intense winds around Ponyville from the blizzard, but we know that it's a grey dragon and it's freezing the town over with its breath. It looks a lot like that other dragon...Rookie--Ruki..."
"Rukodiora?...grey...strong winds...breaths ice" His eyes widened as the name of the creature came to his mind. "Kushala Daora!"
Raiju bolted out the door towards town, leaving RainbowDash confused.
“Kushala…What? I think he’s just making up stuff now."
The town now had a giant wall of ice surrounding it, as the dragon hovered above. Without warning Raiju jumped at the creature raking his claws across its side, but it didn't even leave a mark on the metallic scales.
"I was wondering if these ponies would ever defend themselves." It said with a chuckle. "Although I didn’t expect a Jinouga. I hope you are prepared to fight me."
Just as he finished saying this, the winds nearby increased, making it very hard to see through the snow. Raiju was already struggling to keep himself awake and knew he had to act quickly. The dragon spat out mixes of ice and wind in an attempt to catch Raiju off guard, but missed. After five minutes of fighting the dragon, with columns of wind erupting all around, started to get irritated and stood up on his back two legs, he slowly raised his wings, and with the incredible force from flapping them, caused an enormous tornado to form around him. Raiju was too close, and the sheer power from winds, actually picked him up and threw him over fifty feet, where he landed with a loud thud on a nearby frozen pond, that broke from his weight. He immediately got up and ran towards the dragon, who was still trying to catch his breath from that last attack and couldn't avoid him. Raiju pinned him down as he tried escaping by using the wind to push him off but couldn't, so it said.
"Get off of me! I'll rip you apart."
"You will do no such thing. This fight is over and you must leave, and don't you DARE return or I will make sure you can't leave."
The dragon agreed, but was not happy about it, and after Raiju stepped off of him, he said one last thing before flying off.
"You got lucky this time! You haven't heard the last of me."
Raiju watched angrily as the dragon flew out of view. Now with nothing around, Raiju realized how tired he still was, and started running back to his cave to rest, leaving Twilight and Rainbow Dash to help everypony else to thaw out the wall of ice surrounding the town. A month later began the annual Winter Wrap up. Before it truly began Twilight and Fluttershy went to the cave to see if Raiju would be willing to help wrap up winter, and Twilight had a lot of questions about the dragon that had attacked during winter. They managed to wake him up much quicker this time, and after a big yawn he began talking to the ponies.
"Oh! Hello, how are you both doing?"
Twilight smiled and responded. "Good morning Raiju. We just wanted to wake you up to see if you wanted to help with Winter Wrap up."
I'd be glad to help, what do you want me to do?"
"C'mon, I'll explain on the way."
On the way to ponyville Fluttershy split off and went to go prepare to wake up the other hibernating animals, and Twilight began asking Raiju questions about the dragon.
"So Raiju, you left before I could ask. What was that dragon that attacked us last month?"
"Wait there was a dragon attack?! I had a nightmare that a Kushala Daora attacked but I don't remember waking up for any dragon attack."
Twilight looked at him confused and said. "That...was no dream. That is exactly what happened...so what was it?"
"Wow...I guess I don't remember things very well when I wake up mid hibernation.” He said with a small chuckle. “No wonder it was so vivid. Well...A Kushala Daora is a powerful dragon able to control both wind and ice. Very easy to anger and will do anything to get what they want, they tend to be very well respected throughout the dragon species...I wonder what he meant when he said ‘You haven't heard the last of me.’"
The two went on to find something for Raiju to do during Winter Wrap up, and decided that he could assist in both clearing and plowing the fields. Winter Wrap up was now over and spring was under way, a few weeks later Rainbow Dash was seen flying around Ponyville trying to round up every pegasus pony she could. Raiju, who was getting food for himself and Thundercloud, noticed Rainbow Dash flying around and stopped and asked her what she was doing.
"Hey Rainbow Dash! What are you doing flying back and forth around town?"
"No time to talk Raiju. There is a massive storm coming from the south east, and Cloudsdale is requesting that everypony capable of helping, to come and help move it tomorrow morning."
"Storm? Where?"
Rainbow Dash pointed to a very far off, pitch black cloud that was hardly visible.
"Hmm...I'm going to go check this out, I don't know why but I don't like the look of that cloud"
Rainbow Dash took off, back to rounding up every pegasus in town, saying. "That's why we need to hurry and stop that storm before it gets near any towns"
Raiju began walking out of town and towards a far off hill where he could get a better look at the storm. All the while, he couldn't shake the feeling that he's seen something similar before. Once he stood at the top of the hill for a minute or two watching the storm, he noticed what seemed to be red tinted lightning occasionally coming from the storm. His eyes widened and his jaw almost hit the floor, as couldn't believe what he was seeing. He suddenly stood up realizing that he needed to warn everypony. He ran back to town and immediately went to Twilight's library. He knocked on the door and Twilight opened the door. Raiju immediately started talking in a panic.
"Twilight! This is a HUGE emergency! I need to get a letter to Princess Celestia, and I need help evacuating Ponyville...NOW!"
Twilight stood there, confused, until she said. "Hold on, you need to slow down. What are you talking about?"
Raiju caught his breath and said. "That storm coming this way, it's not a storm, It's the dragon general Amatsumagatsuchi! Embodiment of the storm. We need to stop the pegasi from getting near that thing, and it's heading right for Ponyville, please I need your help."
"Wait...WHAT?! You said that they are the strongest of all dragons, what is it doing in Equestria?"
"I don't know...I need to go talk with her before she gets here, but if talking to her doesn't work, I don't want anypony in the cross fire. Homes can be rebuilt, but lives cannot."
Raiju wrote the letter and handed it to Spike, whom Twilight had just called over, and began preparing the evacuation. The evacuation only took two hours due to the train system changing their schedule to assist. The entire town was empty and Raiju was alone. He began walking towards the storm, Princess Celestia had arrived and began talking to Raiju as they walked.
"Raiju...How are you so certain that this is what you say it is."
"I've seen her before...she is immensely powerful but is not deaf to reason. Having you here will definitely help, but if things go wrong...run far away from here."
The storm was almost directly overhead now, as a voice pierced through the wind.
"You! You are the one who embarrassed my second in command and smeared my honor in the process."
Raiju was stunned; this isn't what he expected at all. "Wait, hold on. This isn't about the letter I sent, requesting a meeting with the elder three?"
"No, I was unaware of this letter. Now...Have at you!"
All of a sudden a massive blast of water shot out of the cloud. Raiju quickly grabbed the princess and dodged the attack, the ground erupted in a cloud of mud where the blast had struck. She thanked him and wished him luck as she began to fly away. Raiju began trying to come up with a plan, he knew that he needed to get her out of the storm. He suddenly came up with an idea after a few minutes of dodging attacks, and began filling the storm with electricity until the dragon finaly spoke out.
"I see you game Jinouga, unfortunately for me, there is nothing I can do. You are one of very few who have actually forced me out of my storm; this changes nothing however, my powers are not centered around it."
The swirling clouds above began to open at the center where the bright sunshine began to break through. The dragon began to slowly fly from the storm. It had no wings; instead, its body was covered in fins that glistened in the sunlight as she seemed to just swim through the air. It was completely white except for the black on its face and the two large, golden horns atop its head.
The dragon Laughed and said. "Let's see if you can hit me now."
The dragon immediately started blasting the area with water and powerful winds. Raiju started dodging and throwing bolts of lightning back, which were hitting, but with little effect. The battle lasted for about twenty minutes, with Raiju still trying to resolve the battle peacefully, but she wouldn’t listen. The landscape was torn apart and Raiju was running out of ideas, until he came up with one final plan. The Dragon let loose a massive blast of water, but this time Raiju didn't move out of the way. This time he stood still and began pulling back all the electricity from the storm that he had put in at the beginning of the fight. The electricity went straight through the dragon, causing her to flinch and fall to the ground. The blast of water still hit its mark on Raiju, breaking some ribs and temporarily knocking him unconscious. When he awoke he struggled to move and, when he looked up, noticed the Amatsumagatsuchi hovering mere feet from him. He braced himself for an attack he knew he wouldn't survive, which never came. The dragon, instead, began speaking to Raiju.
"Arise Jinouga. You have bested me this day. I wish to thank you for knocking some sense into me. I was acting on what is considered appropriate for dragon kind, defending the honor of myself and my subordinates, not for what is logical. You have done nothing to me before this day, nor have I to you. I was acting the pressure of others, but your motives are pure. You act selflessly and risk your life for others, a quality I have not seen in a very long time."
The dragon flew back into its storm and just before leaving said one final thing to Raiju. "You said that you requested an audience with the elders...I will make sure that they will see you."
Still dumbfounded, Raiju smiled and called out thanking her as she flew out of view. He then teleported himself back home and wrote a letter to the princess. It read.
General Amatsumagatsuchi has left Equestria and it is safe for everypony to return to their homes. She has decided to speed up the process and get me to speak with the three elders about the attacks on Equestria. I will attempt to have them outlaw entry into Equestria for any dragon. The battle left the area in poor condition, but luckily, didn't come close to any homes. I, however, did not come out of this unscathed. I have a few broken ribs, but I should be fine in a couple of weeks."
He then sent the letter and went to bed. The next morning Raiju woke up to the sound of knocking on his door, to which he called out telling whomever it was to come in. Suddenly Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy burst through the door looking for Raiju, immediately bombarding him with questions. Twilight started.
"Oh my goodness I can’t believe you did it! How did you do it?!"
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash interupted. "I went over there yesterday and saw what it did to the ground. Was that water that caused that?"
"Yes that was water that it shot from its mouth. It's both pressurized in its body and it is pushed faster with the wind. As for defeating it...I didn't really. I electrocuted her almost as much as I could and all it did, was cause her to fall, I took the most of it."
Twilight had another question. "The princess said something about you meeting with the three elders. What are those?"
Raiju sighed and started to explain. "The three elders are all brothers. They are the strongest dragons to ever live, and quite likely strongest anything ever. They are also called the Fatalis Trio. Fatalis is their species, of which they are the only ones. It means two things, fate and fatal, which is exactly what they are. The youngest and weakest is black and tends to disagree with the Red colored one, who is the second youngest. He likes to look out for the interests of himself and of dragon kind, with little regard for other species."
Raiju paused until Twilight asked. "And the oldest?"
"The oldest...the most mysterious of the three. His voice has never been heard by anyone other than his brothers. His scales are white in color but it is said that he will glow a blood red when angry...the only problem with that information, is that all who have seen him angry...didn't survive to tell the tale. He is considered by many as the origin of all dragons, and has the final say in anything his brothers disagree on...and I need to convince them that dragons shouldn't be allowed in Equestria."
There was a moment where none of them talked until Rainbow Dash decided she couldn't stand to silence. "Wow...Sounds like you have a lot on your plate...Well, you have my support, and I'm sure everpony else wishes you the best of luck."
“Definitely!” Twilight said with a smile on her face
They spent a good part of the day continuing to asking him questions, until they all left to let Raiju rest. Three weeks later, after Raiju's wounds were mostly healed and, while he was walking through town, a small wyvern flew up to him. It was a dark purple on its top and yellow on its underbelly and it’s body shape was very similar to a snake.
"A Remobra?" Raiju said, surprised. "Then that means."
The creature dropped the letter it held in its claws and flew off without a sound. Raiju unrolled the letter and read it. It said that Raiju was to report to the elders in one weeks’ time. He immediately stopped what he was doing and informed the other ponies.
The Day that Raiju was to meet with the dragons has come and he was already on his way. It was midday when he made it to the nest; he walked in and made his way towards the center while getting very angry looks from all of the dragons. One dragon flew over and landed in front of him stopping him in his tracks, it was the Rukodiora from before.
"What are you doing here Jinouga? You have a lot of nerve showing up at the nest."
"Out of the way...I have business here, and it isn't with you."
He showed the dragon the letter with the seal that only the elders can use. He immediately stepped out of the way and Raiju continued to the center, where he found an enormous cave that spiraled down to the heart of the nest. It eventually opened up into a large corridor that had large pools of lava on the sides. While walking through, he was stopped by a voice coming from the nearby pool of lava.
"So...you are the one who defeated Amatsu?” It said with a laugh. “She must be getting weak."
Amatsu flew into view and snapped back at the voice. "Shut up Guran-Miraosu! This Jinouga is a lot more resourceful than he looks."
"Whatever you say. Go ahead and grovel to your better." Its laughter could be heard fading away.
"Don't mind him, he's a jerk. The elders are waiting for you at the end of this corridor. Good luck, Crimson seems to be in a bad mood today, so keep your eyes to the ceiling in case a meteor decides to come crashing through."
"Thanks." He said, happy that he has an ally in high places.
He walked to the end of the corridor and entered a large room with three immense dragons standing on their back legs. Their limbs were small but appeared very muscular and their wings were enormous. The three all appeared the same except for their color and the shapes of the horns on their heads. The black one spoke first.
"Come in, we have been expecting you Raiju."
Raiju walked further into the room and waited for them to speak to him.
The black one spoke again. "So...why is it that you have requested to speak with us?"
Raiju took a deep breath and, after clearing his throat, answered him. "Well...I am here on behalf of Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. I have been put in charge of defending their lands from attacks from dangerous species."
"Yes, we have heard of your accomplishments defeating general Amatsumagatsuchi. That is worthy of praise."
The red one now interrupted. "Oh enough of this meaningless small talk. Would you just tell us what you want?"
Raiju nervously began answering. "OK...In short I would like to request limiting entry into Equestria for dragons."
The red on became furious. "You want us to make it so dragons aren't allowed in Equestria?! NO. We refuse. Now leave."
Raiju began pleading by re wording what he said. "Wait you misunderstand dragons are always welcome in Equestria. It's just the ones who attack; we request that those who attack Equestria are punished so as to encourage them not to do so in the first place."
The black dragon responded first. "That seems fair to me, we should not be attacking a species so defenseless." The red one began arguing with him. "WHAT?! You are going to side with him? Why should we give in to his demands? He isn’t even offering anything in return!"
"We have no right to be there in the first place. We also never informed them of our arrival here which puts their lives at risk. They were here first after all."
The two argued amongst themselves for a few minutes until a large bolt of red lightning struck between the two. They both turned and looked at the white dragon that was standing, angrily behind them. The black one then spoke, almost sounding afraid.
"Ok brother, what say you? Will we listen to this Jinouga and invoke a punishment for attacking Equestria?" The dragon stood there for a moment, looking Raiju over. He then look back and forth between his two brothers and nodded his head. The red dragon let out an enormous roar as an explosion could be heard above them. The black dragon then began speaking.
"Well congratulations, our brother's say is final. We will send a letter with the finer details, but we assure you that dragons will no longer be an issue in Equestria. But be warned though. If they leave Equestria, we cannot punish them if they decide to attack them."
Raiju bowed to the three dragons and thanked them as he walked out of the room back into the corridor. He made a sigh of relief, and made his way out; he was stopped again by Generals Amatsumagatsuchi and Guran-Miraosu, who had returned to the pool of lava.
"So he's alive! We saw the meteor fall after that roar. Not many can say they've made Crimson angry and walked away."
"Yes." Amatsu said. "What is it that you said that made him so angry?"
Raiju responded. "It wasn't what I said that made him angry; it's that his brothers agreed to what I asked of them which made him angry. They agreed to discourage entry into Equestria for dragons by invoking a punishment to those who attack it."
"Really?!" The floating dragon responded, very surprised. "They must see something special about what you said to them for them to agree to something so important...well congratulations. They have never handed stuff like THAT out for free."
Raiju thanked her and quickly but calmly left the area. Once finally out of the nest he breathed a sigh of relief and silently congratulated himself as he made his way back to Equestria. He finally made it back to Ponyville a few days later, late at night and went to his home to get some rest. The next morning Raiju made his way to Ponyville to tell everypony the good news, but was stopped on his way by Twilight, her friends, and the two princesses. They looked angry as Raiju began talking to them, unaware of their anger.
"OH great I don't need to look for you to tell you the news."
Princess Celestia interrupted. "We already know...we got the letter."
"Great isn't it? I couldn't believe they agreed so quickly."
"Great?!" Twilight said with a sad look in her eyes. "Was everything really that meaningless to you?"
"Meaningless...what do you mean? Equestria is safer than ever."
"Safer?!" Princess Celestia snapped. "You're species is going to wipe out Equestria next year and you say Equestria is safe?! I knew I shouldn't have ever let you stay."
To the inhabitants of Equestria, It has come to our attention that the treaty set in place, nine hundred forty three years ago, has been made void by your side. Because of this we have decided that in one years’ time, we will invade Equestria. As is required by ancient law we are required to inform you that we will attack you on the day of the summer solstice at dawn. We will not barter for peace, and intend to enslave as many of your kind as we wish and wipe out all others. We look forward to a glorious battle.
After reading it he said. "No way...how did he find out?!"
"Exactly...your continued existence will be the death of us all."
"WHAT?! Me? This isn't my fault. He would have specifically mentioned my name."
"Then whose fault is it then?" The princess said, not believing him.
Raiju took a moment and said. "Both of yours." He pointed to the two princesses. "You, Celestia, you signed the treaty. If you remember correctly, one part of it read, and I quote. "The jinouga species as a whole is not allowed inside of Equestrian lands so long as the ruler does not change." YOU signed that treaty with YOUR name. My brother put that in as a loophole so that he could conquer Equestria at a later time, if not some other king. It said that so long as YOU are the ruler...you are no longer the ruler, you are the CO-ruler of Equestria with you sister."
"Wait...you mean to say that he put that in knowing my sister was imprisoned on the moon and that she would later be freed? I don't believe you. There is no way that they could have known that."
"You don't have to believe me. I know what is and what isn’t true! I was there when it was written and he told me about it afterwards. I'm going back to my cave...Let me know if something attacks Equestria and I MIGHT help."
Thundercloud, who was on Fluttershy's back, suddenly teleported to Raiju's head. He then walked back to his house in anger. Three days had passed and Raiju still hadn't left his home. Twilight, feeling bad, decided that she should go apologize to Raiju. She made it to his house, but before she could knock, she could hear him yelling at himself through the door.
"Why can I remember that spell?! He specifically told me it in detail so that I wouldn't forget."
A loud bang could then be heard from inside.
Twilight slowly opened the door and said. "Hello? Are you ok in here?"
Raiju turned around to see who was there and, after pulling his arm out of the wall, said. "Twilight? Why are you here? I thought you didn't trust me anymore." he said with an angry look on his face.
Twilight was looking at the floor, sad as she said. "Yeah...about that. I came here to apologize. I think we all just overreacted but we really need your help with all of this."
"I'm not really sure I can help...I couldn’t hope to defeat an army. I've spent the past few days trying to remember a spell I was taught that would be immensely helpful, but I just can't remember it."
"Spell? What kind of spell?"
Raiju sighed, sat down, and said. "You might want to sit down for this; it's going to be a long story." Twilight sat down in a nearby chair as Raiju prepared himself to explain. "You remember that I told you I interrogated prisoners during peace time? Well, after the war with Equestria, we had a few prisoners that were ponies. One of which was immensely useful to us, a unicorn very well acquainted with magic. We used him to charge our soldiers before any major battles. I was in charge of overseeing him and making sure he did what he was told, since he was what we would call a VIP prisoner. In short, after about eight years he began to open my eyes to what we were doing to other creatures, and five years later I began planning his escape. It took another six years before he fully developed the spell that aided in his escape. The spell was designed specifically against my species. Basically, it discharged us to an incredibly low state and froze our bodies so that we couldn't move or speech. It was non-lethal, but it gave enough time for him to escape during a guard meeting. Before he left, he explained the spell in great detail in case I ever needed to learn it...but that was almost nine hundred years ago and I don't remember it anymore."
"Wow...so you're saying that almost nine hundred years before you came to Equestria, you were friends with somepony?"
"I guess so...but I don't even remember his real name anymore. Since we didn't like speaking your language, we just called him something from our language. Kirin. It means prosperity, since our kind had a period of great success while he was under our imprisonment."
"Well what did he look like? You said he was well acquainted with magic; maybe he wrote a book when he got back to Equestria."
"Hmm...I remember that he was completely white, both his coat and mane. He had a beard...I don't remember his cutie mark. OH! He had a really silly hat on when we captured him."
"Silly hat? Wait it wasn't blue with stars on it was it?"
"Yeah it was. How did you know?"
"That must have been Star Swirl the bearded! One of the most intelligent unicorns ever. There are libraries all across Equestria dedicated to him alone."
"So maybe he wrote something about it in a book! We need to find that spell or we don't stand a chance against the Jinouga army." He looked away and continued. "But I can't help you...Nopony trusts me after the princess got that letter and assumed it was my fault. So I guess it's up to you...You need to find something written by him from late in his life. I do know that he was not young when he escaped; in fact he was downright old, for all I know he might have never made it back to Equestria, but in the hope that he did, I wish you luck Twilight. I don't want to scare you but, this could mean the end for Equestria should that spell not be found. If you can, try to get Princess Celestia to help she will likely know more than either of us. I will stay here and try my best to remember, but if you find anything that you think could help, bring it here. It might help jog my memory."
Twilight agreed and, after saying goodbye, she immediately went back home to the library, to begin her search for the spell.
Twilight began her search for anything useful in the upcoming battle against the Jinouga in her library. She has a whole shelf organized with only books by or about StarSwirl the bearded. She immediately dove in and, two days later, she had read every book in her library that would help. She found no information that would even mentioned anything that would be useful. She went back to Raiju's home to see if he had any ideas on where to continue.
"Raiju, I've exhausted every book in Ponyville on or by StarSwirl and I don't know where to go from here. Have you figured anything out yet?"
"No I haven't...I'm still struggling to remember. All right, so there wasn't anything useful in Ponyville. You said there are library’s dedicated to him all across Equestria. Where is the largest source of books by him?
"Well...The Canterlot archives have a whole wing dedicated to him."
"That seems like the most likely option, but please slow down we have almost a year before they attack. You don't need to over exert yourself, take your time and make sure you don't miss anything important."
She agreed and, after spending the rest of the day talking with Raiju, went home for some rest. A week later, after much preparation, Twilight set off to Canterlot. She left Spike an incredibly long list for him to follow while she is gone. A week later Twilight had still not returned and Raiju realized that he was running very low on food for both himself and Thundercloud and has to go into town and get some more. He walked into town and headed straight for AppleJack's stand knowing that if anypony was going to help him, it would be her. Everypony around either wouldn't look at him at all, or stared furiously at him. He finally reached the stand and started talking to AppleJack.
"Hello AppleJack, long time no see."
"Well howdy Raiju. How yall doin'?"
"I've been better. I just need to get food for the two of us and head back home. Everypony seems to be quite upset with me and I’d rather not be here long." He paid for his food and, before leaving, he asked her one more question. "So have you heard anything from Twilight? She left for Canterlot a week ago and I haven't heard anything since then."
"Sorry but I ain't heard anythin' either. I hope everything turns out better for ya."
"Thanks AppleJack, I really appreciate it."
He then left to get the food for the filly. Upon paying for it, the shop owner forced him to pay double. Raiju knew this of course, but just wanted to go home, away from all of the ponies who were angry at him. Once he made his way back home, he sat down to enjoy a quick meal, when a knock at the door interrupted him. He opened the door and was greeted by a small group of ponies who immediately began throwing fruits at him while laughing. He slammed and locked the door astonished. He couldn't believe what just happened. He knew they were mad at him, but to openly show it like that was unbelievable. Meanwhile, in Canterlot, it has been three weeks and Twilight was still searching for the spell with no luck. One day Princess Celestia shows up in the archives and sees Twilight, with her face in a pile of three different books, and begins talking to her.
"Well hello Twilight. What brings you here? Last time you were here like this you had saved that monster."
"He's no monster princess. I'm here because of him. There was a spell used to get StarSwirl the bearded out of the Jinouga prison and that could be the only thing that can save us."
The princess stood there for a moment until she began walking out of the room and asked Twilight to follow her. While walking down the princess began speaking again.
"Twilight...You won't find anything in there about what happened after that war. When he got back after more than twenty years, he only lived for another year. The spell he used to extend his life had faded while he was imprisoned." They came to a door in the back of the library and the princess magically opened the door.
"This is my private collection. If you really think there is something in here that will help...take it." As she walked away she turned around and said. "Do not trust that creature Twilight. He is not like us and could easily turn on anypony, and I don't want to see you get hurt."
Twilight immediately turned around and dove into the books. A few hours later she found StarSwirl’s Personal diary, and on the last page she found exactly what she was looking for. The spell was right there in extreme detail. She took the book and, after closing the door which then magically locked itself, she ran directly to the train station to head back home. She made it back home in the morning and ran all around town and gathered up her friends, before heading to the Everfree forest. Once they got there, they found a massive wall of electricity surrounding the entire forest, and blocking their way.
"What is this?!" Twilight asked.
"We don't know." Rainbow Dash responded. "He put that up over a week ago and hasn't come out since. The five of us have tried everything to get him to talk to us but he won't even come out to see that it's us."
"Well we have to get him I've found something that is going to help but we need his help too." Twilight began trying to bring him out by attacking the barrier with magic. After a short while, Raiju's voice could be heard in the distance.
"Who's attacking my barrier? Leave me alone!"
"Raiju it's us we need to talk...now!"
After a few moments of silence, the barrier slowly faded until it completely disappeared. The ponies then ran as quickly as they could to his house were they found him sitting in a corner, alone.
"Raiju what happened to you?! And what's with the barrier around the forest?"
"Things have changed since the princess got that letter Twilight. In the almost five thousand years I've been alive, I have never been so hated."
"Hated? What do you mean? I know the other ponies are a little mad at you, but that doesn't mean-"
"Yes it does Twilight!" He turned around reviling that he had been crying. A large chunk of one of his horns was missing and he looked as though he hadn't slept for days.
"Oh my goodness! What happened to you?"
He turned back around and continued. "A Rajang attacked fillydelphia two weeks ago...I went there and fought it away and, after taking quite a few big hits do you know what the ponies did to thank me? They said 'Why even bother showing up? nopony even likes you.' After a Rajang attacked! I know that nopony knows what it is, but still, if I hadn't show up that thing could have leveled the entire city in less than five minutes...If it was feeling happy that day.” He sighed and, after calming himself down, said. "So what brings you here. Have you found anything that could help?"
"Better! I found the spell!"
"Really?!" He said turning around with a smile on his face. "That's great! We need to teach it to as many ponies as we can."
"That...Might be a problem. This spell is incredibly advanced and I not sure we can teach it to almost anypony. I’m not even sure if I can learn it by next year."
AppleJack then interrupted. "Well...can't yall just use the spell with the elements of harmony? After all, one of the elements is magic. Why couldn't ya just use yer magic with em’ after ya learn it?"
"Hey yeah that could work."
Raiju then interrupted. "Wait I'm confused...The what now?"
"The elements of harmony! The most powerful magical artifacts known to pony kind. We used them to turn Nightmare Moon back into Princess Luna, as well as to defeat Discord when he almost took over Equestria."
"Well...I'm not really knowledgeable on magical artifacts...but I don’t need to be! If you are sure that that will work than we’ll go with that. But first, we need to teach you the spell shall we begin? Oh! But before we do...Thundercloud, Fluttershy is here!"
All of a sudden the filly came flying in, and ran straight into Fluttershy, almost knocking her over, and gave her a big hug while saying. "Miss you!"
"She can talk now?" Fluttershy said in surprise.
"A little...She really missed you Fluttershy. She has a bunch of toys in her room if you wanna go play with her."
The two went into the other room as Twilight began to give her first attempt at the spell. She gave her best but after a huge flash, Raiju could still move around.
"Don't worry about it Twilight we have until the summer solstice. We'll try as many times as we need, just don’t overdo it and take a good long break in-between tries."
They spent months trying to use the spell until finally, in mid-autumn, Twilight finally got it to work. An hour later, the spell wore off and Raiju began congratulating her.
"Yes that was perfect! You have perfected the spell, good thing too my hibernation starts not to long from now. Now...I really don't want to face her, but I think that we should have Princess Celestia learn the spell too. It would be a good as a just in case sort of thing, and allowing her to have that much power over me could hopefully build back a little trust."
"That's a good idea. I'll talk about it with her during the winter."
Winter went by and a few days after Raiju woke up, Twilight met with him to let him know what the princess said.
"Hello Raiju how was your hibernation?"
"It was good. I really needed that to calm me down from everything that's happened last year. Did you talk to the princess about the spell?"
"Yes I did. She has been looking over it for a while and she said to meet with her as soon as possible." Raiju made his way to Canterlot, and the palace. Once inside he was met with guards and Princess Celestia.
"Princess...How are you?"
She said nothing but led him into another room. They began with little success and Raiju tried starting a conversation again.
"That was good...it took Twilight Months to get it perfect. I'm sure you will learn it just as fast if not faster, and we still have a lot of time before the summer solstice."
She walked out of the room and said. "Meet me here every day until I can complete that spell."
Raiju did exactly that. The day before the solstice, Raiju tried to meet her as usual but the princess didn't show up. He began walking around the palace until he finally found her in the throne room.
"Princess Celestia. We need to practice that spell again. Tomorrow is the solstice and you still haven’t mastered it."
"There isn't any point...I doubt it will even be useful, and I have much more important things to attend to."
"More important?! I'm sorry princess but you learning this spell could be the one thing to save Equestria."
"We will be just fine without it."
"How is that?!" He said starting to get angry. "You couldn't hurt ME if you wanted to, let alone on army of twenty thousand of my species."
"I said we will be just fine now leave. And I don't want to see you at all tomorrow."
Raiju was angry but didn't want to say something he might regret. Instead he simply left, but he didn't go home, he went back to the field between Canterlot and Ponyville. He found a hill that over looked the area and sat still staring off into the distance until he fell asleep early so he could be ready before anypony else.
The morning of the summer solstice has finally arrived. Raiju sat atop the hill as he watched an enormous army of Ponies headed for the field below, with The two princess leading them on, with Twilight and her friends close behind. He didn't go down to meet them, instead, he just watched as the army of his own kind began to appear on the horizon. They stood about three hundred yards apart as the Jinouga began to roar, attempting to unnerve the ponies. The pony army was far larger than the Jinouga's, but the jinouga knew they had the upper hand. A booming, almost spine chilling voice came from the distance.
"Your time has come Equestria...Due to the return of Princess Luna, the treaty has been rendered null and void. We will now finish what we started over nine hundred years ago, and conquer Equestria. Any further attempts at negotiations will be ignored."
Princess Celestia just stood there for a moment, taken back by what the voice had said, until she finally began speaking to herself.
"So then he really was telling the truth?!..." she shook her head trying to stop thinking about it, then asked the six ponies... "All right. Are you all ready to use the elements of harmony?"
They all nodded and prepared themselves. They all began magically floating into the air, as their bodies began to glow beautifully, and, once they all opened their eyes, a massive beam of incredibly bright, white, light shot over the army of Jinouga. A short while later, the beam spread out and covered them all, similar to what had happened then the elements were used on discord, freezing them in place. Raiju then stood up and teleported himself in front of the ponies. He didn't turn to look at them; he spoke as he began walking towards the now frozen jinouga army.
"That was amazing...I've never seen that kind of powerful magic."
"Thanks but where are you going?" Twilight said confused.
"This isn't over. I spent a lot of time thinking about this, and I realized that, that spell wouldn't work on my brother...I want to thank you all for everything you have done for me."
"What are you saying? Why wouldn't it affect your brother?"
"I'm sorry Twilight; there is no time to explain. Hopefully the princess can explain, but right now I need to give you all a fighting chance..." He then ran as fast as he could towards the Jinouga army, as a long rectangular box appeared in a bolt of lightning, besides the princesses with a note attached.
The contents of this box include weapons I have made for you and a few ponies. They are made from the scales of the Nargacugra that attacked during nightmare night, and are more than capable of cutting through my species scales. Unfortunately, there were only enough scales to make a few weapons. A couple whips and the rest are swords and spears. The whips may be difficult for a normal pony to use so I would recommend a unicorn who can manipulate it with magic to use them. Do not take this battle lightly, my brother alone could wipe Equestria out if you do not take the utmost care in your attack. I wish you much luck as I try to give you as much a chance as possible.
The princess stood there not knowing what to do or say as the other ponies pulled the weapons out of the box.
"What is he doing princess?" Twilight said, wanting answers.
"...He's giving his life for us all...he's right in that his brother probably won't be affected, because he is not a normal Jinouga. Zeus...The Wolf Stygian…he does not control lightning like the rest of his kind; he instead controls what is known as the dragon element. It acts in a way similar to lightning, but its true workings are completely unknown. From what I know, a dark jinouga is only born once every two hundred thousand years and their power is immense, well beyond that of a normal jinouga...some say that they are among the strongest creatures in the world." She then stared out towards Raiju, who had stopped halfway between the two armies, and said. "There is no way he can defeat something that strong…I can't believe he'd so willingly do something like this after everything I've said and done to him."
Meanwhile, as Raiju had stopped between the two armies. A shadowy figure could be seen making its way to the front lines and, as it got in front of all the other Jinouga, it said.
"What is this? A meaningless attempt to delay the inevitable?" He had just then noticed Raiju standing out in the distance. He began walking towards Raiju as he yells out. "YOU! You're still alive?! I knew those to idiots would screw it up somehow. It's bad enough you killed two of the four of them, but they really couldn't finish you off? No matter they will receive punishment for their failure later, for now I get to conquer Equestria myself and finish you off in the process."
He finally reached a few feet from where Raiju was standing after a few moments of walking. He stood a good three feet taller than Raiju; his scales were completely black while the gray shelling blended in with his white fur.
"I'm not going to bore you or myself by explaining how stupid you are for standing here in front of me. I assume you are here for a bit of revenge." An evil smile appeared on his face as he continues. "I would be happy to let you try."
The two jumped backwards as Zeus inhaled deeply until he let out an incredibly loud roar as what appeared to be black and red lightning shot out of his back. Raiju immediately lunged at Zeus, attempting to catch him off guard, but he quickly dodged out of the way and countered by slashing his claws against Raiju's arm. Raiju fought back the pain and lunged back towards him. The two then locked their claws together, sending massive bolts of both blue and red lightning in all directions. Pitch black clouds began to form, swirling above the two jinouga. They began releasing large bolts of both red and blue lightning as the two where fighting. Raiju was struggling against his brother's strength, as his brother began laughing at him.
"You are pathetic Raiju! You know you can't even hurt me. So why even bother trying?"
As he finished saying this, he twisted around and smashed Raiju with his tail. Raiju fell to the ground in agony as his brother walked over, pinning him to the ground with his paw.
"What made you think that this was a good idea? Sure, of all times this would be the most advantageous, having no interruptions from any other Jinouga, but you know as well as I, that you couldn't dream of being able to defeat me in a one on one fight."
"I only do what I must!" Raiju yelled back. "You are a monster and you need to be stopped here and now. It is my duty to defend this land and its inhabitants...I will gladly throw my life away if there is even a small hope to save them..."
"Hope?!” he said laughing. “You have no hope."
Meanwhile, Princess Celestia was closely watching Raiju in the battle. Everpony began getting very worried, noticing that the wolf they had seen as the strongest creature in equestria, couldn't hold his on in this battle. Twilight began talking to the princesses, voicing everypony's concern. "This is not good. We need to do something."
The princess stood there for a moment, until she turned to look at the massive army of ponies.
"Ok I have an idea, but I am going to need the help of everypony here.” She yelled out to the army. “I will cast a spell that will give Raiju our strength but I need everypony to help. You must all trust both me and him completely. This may just be our only chance."
The entire army yelled out in agreement, they knew this was all that they could to to help at this point. Princess Celestia's horn began to glow incredibly brightly as she prepared her spell. The spell blasted out heading straight towards Raiju, and once hit, he immediately felt the pony’s strength flowing through him. He no longer felt the pain from his injuries, and immediately shoved his brother off, and stood himself back up.
"Isn't that cute the ponies gave you their power." Zeus chuckled. "Tell me brother, you must have been here for quite a while...How strong are these ponies, I'm certain they must not have been happy with your entry in these lands. Did they ever try attacking you?"
Raiju stood there for a moment trying to come up with a response, until Zeus finally realized what happened.
"They tried to kill you didn't they? Did they so much as scratch you?" He let out a big laugh and said. "This is hilarious. What difference do you think this make if your injuries are healed. Your strength, even if doubled, still doesn't even hold a candle to my own." The evil grin reappeared on his face and he said. "Get up as many times as you like, I will enjoy beating you back down just as much as the time before it."
The two then began fighting again, with Raiju still unable to hold his own against Zeus. Now beaten a bloodied again, Raiju stood a good distance from his brother. Some of his ribs have been fractured, and his breathing was staggered. He jumped at his brother, who quickly jumped out of the way and slammed Raiju with his claw knocking him to the ground.
"I grow bored of fighting you brother; As much as I would love to drag your agony out, I wish to spread the pain and conquer Equestria now." He stood for a moment until he jumped incredibly high into the air. As he came down he prepared to slam his claw down onto Raiju's head as he screamed. "Your life ends now!"
Raiju's consciousness was fading and didn't have the strength to react fast enough. He closed his eyes, prepared to die. Zeus's claw struck Raiju directly on his head. Much to Zeus's surprise, Raiju was unharmed, although unconscious. Zeus stood above him, furious. He raised his claw again, and as it came down a massive column of electricity came out from Raiju, sending Zeus flying. Raiju slowly stood up, as his body was now engulfed in electricity. He stood there staring at Zeus as a scroll appeared, floating just above Raiju's head. Zeus ran headlong into Raiju and attempted to slash his throat, but once he got close to him, Raiju grabbed his arm and almost broke it. He let go, as Zeus pulled back in agony, once he realized what Raiju had just done, he said.
"How is this possible? How can you hurt me?!"
Raiju immediately began rushing towards Zeus, who was now struggling to avoid his attacks. Raiju was quickly backing him down and was starting to land, increasingly harmful attacks until finally Raiju managed to smash his claw into Zeus's rib-cage, both fracturing some ribs, and causing him fall onto one leg. Raiju slowly walked up to him as the scroll slowly unrolled and went in front of Zeus's face.
I hereby decree that the Jinouga species will never be allowed within Equestrian lands regardless of ruler(s) unless given specific permission from said ruler(s). If any Jinouga is to break this declaration, they will be forced to make a public apology and leave immediately, or face punishment from the ancients…
The note continued for a while explaining many details of the declaration’s magical properties and fixed any possible loopholes, such as making an exception to said rule for Raiju. At the very bottom of the scroll, there was a large space for a signature. After reading it Zeus immediately objected.
"You think I will just abandon conquering this land and make it impossible for any Jinouga to return? You must think I am an id-"
Raiju then grabbed him by the throat and picked him up until he was completely off the ground. Injured and struggling for breath, Zeus let lose a huge blast of black-red lightning, which caused Raiju to let go of him. As soon as Zeus hit the ground he lunged straight for him. Raiju jumped out of the way and grabbed his tail. He slowly picked him up by his tail and slammed him onto the ground. He flipped him over and walked over to his head with the scroll again. Zeus looked up at the scroll and, after a few moments, he finally said.
"I do not know what you have done Raiju, but I cannot defeat you. You are the first in a very long time who has put me in this kind of situation. As much as I don't want to do this, and by how much I want to tear you limb from limb...I have no choice. I will sign the scroll."
Zeus slowly stood up and held out his paw. The scroll floated towards him as he made a small cut on his paw. He slowly reached out his arm, and placed it on the spot for the signature. He pulled his paw back revealing a bloody paw print. The scroll immediately spun shut and began glowing brightly. The scroll then split into two separate scrolls, one of which teleported over to Princesses Celestia and Luna while the other stayed with Zeus. Raiju then turned around and started walking back towards the army of ponies. He stopped a few feet from Princess Celestia and didn't make a sound, his body still engulfed in electricity. After staring at them all for a moment, began wobbling until he fell, face first onto the ground, as the electricity dissipated. Twilight, her friends, and the two princesses immediately rushed to his aid. As they began attempting to help him, Zeus limped over. The ponies all prepared themselves for battle, when he raised his paw to stop them.
"Lower your weapons...I am no longer here to harm you. As required by this scroll, I am here to make an apology to all the ponies of Equesrtia." He then looked over, noticing his brother, unconscious, and on the ground. "As much as I would love to see him suffer...It would be dishonorable for me to let him die because you know so little of our species…You should know not to give him any more of a charge. He over charged his body during our fight, and any more will do him serious harm." He began walking away as he said one final thing to the ponies. "If you could be so kind as to unfreeze my army, you will never see us ever again."
As Zeus, and the now unfrozen Jinouga army, faded into the distance, Princess Celestia ordered a large group of ponies to assist in carrying Raiju back to his home. It took over twenty of the strongest ponies in Equestria to lift him onto the large cart, which they used to carry him. It was more than a week before Raiju finally woke up. Many ponies took shifts watching over him during this time. When Raiju finally awoke, it was RainbowDash's turn to watch him. She was in the other room, reading a book, when she heard Raiju scream from the other room.
"ZEUS!!" He screamed as he reached out his claw ready to attack. He looked around the room, now realizing where he was. "What am I doing here?" He said as RainbowDash rushed in. "RainbowDash! What's going on? Why am I here?"
"You're awake! Finally! We were all really worried about you. Wait here I'm going to get everypony. Don't go anywhere." She took off, and headed straight for town as fast as she could. Raiju was left very confused.
"Why am I back home...” He said to himself. “Did they really defeat my brother? But then that doesn't explain how I am alive."
Raiju continued to lie there, still sore from both the fight and from being unconscious for over a week, while he waited for RainbowDash's return. A few minutes later, Twilight, her friends, burst through the door and immediately ran over and gave Raiju a hug with the two princesses close behind. Raiju was still taken back from being in his home and started asking everypony questions.
"Could somepony please tell me what's going on here? Why am I home?"
Twilight responded. "What do you mean? You have been asleep for over a week, we had to bring you somewhere after you defeated your brother."
"Defeat-What?! I was just fighting him a few moments ago...besides, I could never hope to defeat him."
"But you did; and saved all of Equestria and everypony in it, in the process." Princess Celestia said with a smile.
"But...The last thing I remember was my brother jumping into the air to finish me off...then I was here."
"After he landed on top of you; you suddenly exploded and after that, he couldn't even touch you." Twilight explained.
"Yes." The princess continued. "And after you had pinned him down I received this." She pulled out the scroll and Raiju immediately recognized what it was.
"T-That scroll...Only one of the ancestral beings can create such a scroll. How did you get it?!"
The ponies then proceeded to explain everything that happened past the point Raiju doesn't remember. Even after everything was explained, he still didn't recall any of it. They decided to leave him so he could get some rest and soak in everything that had happened. Before the ponies all left, Pinkie Pie came up with the idea to throw Raiju a "Saving all of Equestria" party.
A week later was the party, and with the Princess's help, everypony who was involved in the battle was there. Everypony was having a great time, all of Pinkie's party plans were a huge hit. Towards the middle of the day, some thunder could be heard coming closer to town, but no clouds were in the sky. Half an hour later, a massive bolt of red lightning struck the ground just outside of town. Once the intense light faded everypony stood in disbelief from what they were seeing. Towering above the town was the White Fatalis, to which Raiju immediately ran to. He stopped about twenty feet in front of him and started talking to him.
"Wait please...Why are you here? Did I do something wrong?"
The Dragon stood there for a moment until both him and Raiju disappeared in another massive bolt of lightning. Raiju found himself in a large cave, with no way in or out, having only a few pools of lava to light the cave.
"W-Where am I?” Raiju said while looking around the room. “Why did you take me here?"
The dragon spoke in an incredibly deep and powerful voice. "Calm yourself. I brought you here so that we may speak."
Raiju couldn't believe his ears. "You-you're speaking...but you never speak." he said, visibly confused.
"This is an exception. An explanation is owed to you and I am the only one who can give it. You likely don't remember defeating your brother, like the ponies have told you. You likely don't remember what happened after you passed out. However, you might remember that Princess Celestia had cast a spell that gave you not only her own powers, but the strength of anyone else who would willingly give you it. Upon your becoming unconscious I gave you a small portion of my own strength to you."
"B-But why? I mean I greatly appreciate it. But why would you go out of your way to help me defeat my brother?"
"Ever since you have entered Equestria I have been keeping an eye on you, to make sure that you wouldn't try anything. Your actions have proven to me, that you have completely forsaken your former self. You are honorable beyond mention, just as Amatsumagatsuchi told me...all those years ago when your brother and the princess signed that treaty, we, of the ancients, were very angry about the loophole Zeus had hidden within."
He began slowly walking back and forth within the room, and continued talking.
"We have been trying to undo that loophole ever since, but we aren't allowed to interfere directly. Once we discovered that Princess Luna had returned, we knew that we needed to hasten our efforts. A few years later, once I discovered that you were helping defend Equestria, I devised a plan myself involving you. I wasn't sure, even as I was giving you some of my strength, if you would survive such an influx of energy."
Raiju then interrupted, believing that he now knew what the dragon's intentions were.
"So you knew that since I had basically been throwing my life away anyway. You concluded that so long as I had no regard for my life at that point, you could give me said strength without worrying about the repercussions, regarding my own life.That way you could force my brother to do as you wish, without you having to directly attack him."
"Precisely. However, since you survived, I owe you this explanation."
"I greatly appreciate your assistance in this, I'm not really sure if they would have been able to defeat Zeus if my life had ended then. I didn't really wear him down as much as I thought I would."
"Hmm...yes...Well I best return you to the festivities in Equestria, just tell the ponies that there was a miss understanding and that everything is fine. One final thing though. I want you to know that you have been accepted by the ancestors for the divine protection spell. You are the first being eligible in over five hundred thousand years, congratulations. Simply notify me or any of the other ancestors should you decide to do so." The dragon's chest then began to glow a bright red and as red lightning began to surround Raiju he yelled out.
"Wait what do you-"
Just as he was saying this, he was teleported in a massive flash, arriving in the center of Ponyville mid-sentence.
"-mean, I..."
He looked around realizing that he was back in town surrounded by all of his friends, who all then rushed to him, asking if he was all right.
"We were all worried about you Raiju. What was that dragon doing here?" Twilight asked.
“Yeah! I thought you said that dragon’s aren't allowed in Equestria, 'sept for spike of course.” RainbowDash interrupted.
Raiju paused for a moment, soaking in everything that had just happened. He began thinking to himself, not realizing that he was speaking out loud. "That was the ancestor...White Fatalis."
Taken by surprise, Twilight says. " The White Fatalis?! You said that is the strongest dragon EVER! What was it doing here in Equestria."
Raiju, now realizing what he had said out loud, tried to calm everypony down. "OH...wait, there is nothing to worry about. He was not here for anything; it was all just a huge misunderstanding."
"Really? That's really frightening."twilight said, with a worried look on her face still.
There was a momentary pause, until Raiju finally spoke.
"There is nothing to worry about though, he apologized and left. What do you say that we forget all about this and return to the party?"
Everypony returned to the festivities, although Twilight and her friends still seemed very nervous after hearing what Raiju had said. It was getting late now and most everypony had returned to their homes. Twilight, her friends, and the two princesses met up in the center of town, were nopony else was.
"Well the party seems to be just about wrapped up." Raiju said with a smile. "And Pinkie! Everything you did for all of this was absolutely perfect. And tell Mr. and Mrs. Cake, that their food was delicious."
"Thanks!" She responded with a giggle. "Tonight was crazy fun. That was the biggest, most bestist party I've ever thrown. 'Sept for that giant dragon part, he was kind’ scary. HEY! Do you think he would want some cake? There is a lot-"
They all looked back to where the massive cake was, only to see that it was missing. In its place was a smoldering letter that read.
I hope you do not mind, but I saw this cake as I stood outside of town and it looked delicious and I had to try a bite. I know it is a bit selfish of me, so I wanted to apologize. No hard feelings?
She put down the letter and said. "Aww...Why didn't he just ask? I would have wrapped it up for him."
The other ponies started laughing, and after a few moments, Princess Celestia said. "So I guess we really don't need to worry about him then do we."
"Nope." Raiju responded with another big smile. "He was actually looking for my brother, so we have nothing to fear."
They all began taking their leave, so they can go back to their normal lives in the morning. All the way home, with Thundercloud fast asleep on his head, Raiju couldn't stop thinking about what the ancient dragon had said. He quietly said to himself. "Divine Protection...wow...I can't do that...besides, Equestria is no longer in nearly as much danger as before now that both dragons and Jinouga aren't allowed here...I sure hope that won't be necessary in the future."
