> The Wondrous Tale of Raptor Rapier
>  by Devianpony
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> The story begins
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	A dark blue pony trotted towards Ponyville, he was tired and hungry and was happy to have finally run across a town. The stallion walked into town and looked around. Ponies were moving around everywhere and no one seemed to notice him. He trotted through the town looking for a place he might be able to stay while he was there. 
While he was distracted looking left and right at the buildings, the pony didn’t realize until it was too late the large cart of apples in front of him. He knocked into the cart sending apples, and him, flying. An orange earth pony popped out from behind a sales stand that was next to the cart. “What in Equestria?!”  She exclaimed, startled to see her apples all over the ground surrounding a dark blue stallion.
“Who are you?” she asked the stranger who had obviously sabotaged her apples.
“Oh, uh, I’m so sorry about your apples,” said the stallion looking guiltily at the apples surrounding him. “My name’s Claymore,”
“Well Claymore, I’m sure ya wouldn’ mind helpin’ me clean up all these apples you spilled!” she glared at him as she said the last part. “And the name’s Applejack,” she started picking up the apples and placing them back in the cart.
Claymore’s stomach growled as he helped Applejack pick up her spilled apples, and he could barely resist the temptation of biting into one. Eventually they got all the apples back in the cart. Claymore was about to ask Applejack if he could have an apple when a voice cut him off. “I see you have a new helper, Applejack!” the voice said.
Claymore spun around to see a purple mare holding at least 5 checklists in the air with her horn. 
“I woudn’ really call him a helper, Twilight, he just knocked o’er ma cart o’ apples and he was helpin’ clean up,” replied Applejack.
Twilight chuckled and looked over Claymore. He had a brown, slightly messy mane, bright blue eyes, and two heavy-looking bags slung over his back.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” asked Twilight.
“Uh, no, I’m from the Manehattan area, actually,” Claymore replied.
“So what brings you to Ponyville?” Twilight continued to pester him with questions.
“Um, well uh… they weren’t all that fond of me over there…” he said with a guiltily. “I kinda accidently, definitely-not-on-purpose brought a dragon into the city,” Claymore said looking down at his hooves.
“Riiiggghhhttt, so what was your name?”
“Claymore, you can call me Clay though,” he replied. “Do you know anywhere that I could stay for a while?”
“You could stay with me at the library, I’ll take you there, but then I have some stuff to do,” she said the last part with a glance at her checklists.
The two arrived at the library, and as soon as Twilight let Claymore in, she sped off to complete her checklists, taking her dragon-assistant with her. Claymore put his bags down on the floor and looked around at the library’s vast collection of books. He looked around until he found something he liked, and sat down to read.

It was growing dark when Twilight finally returned, and when she did she promptly sat down with her books and started studying. Claymore was hoping she would provide something to do other than read, but apparently not. Spike was shelving books and pretty much everything was boring, so Claymore tried to make small talk.  “You must really like books, being that you live in a library and all,” he said, hoping it would spark a conversation, but all Twilight did was grunt without looking up from her book.
“What are you reading?” Claymore said, trying again.
“The Complete Index of Magic,” Twilight said, still not looking up from her book.
“So you like magic?” he inquired.
“I’m a unicorn, it’s kind of what we do,” Twilight said with a sigh.
Obviously this isn’t working; I need something that will grab her attention. Claymore thought to himself. He went through all of his petty topic starters and decided none of them were very attention grabbing. Then he perked up, maybe he could tell her the grand story of Raptor Rapier, the greatest sword-wielding adventurer to every set foot in Equestria!
“Wanna hear a story?” Claymore asked hopefully.
Twilight sighed. “Sure,” she obviously wasn’t going to get any studying dne with this pony pestering her so much.
Claymore smiled, not noticing her reluctance to lend an ear to his story. “The story begins way back when Equestria had just been founded, a dragon had begun to terrorize the land, and had taken the princesses hostage. There was only one pony in all of the land who was brave enough to fight the fearsome beast, Raptor Rapier!”
Twilight perked up; maybe this story wouldn’t be all that bad…
“The leaders of the three species called a meeting to debate how to fight the dragon. At the time, Raptor was the general of the pegasus army, for harmony had not completely set over the land and armies were still kept. Raptor had devised a plan to fight the dragon, which the other leaders agreed with, and she was set in charge of the whole operation.
Raptor handpicked a team of nine ponies to help her on her quest.  From the pegasi, she selected three of her fiercest pegasus-warrior friends, Sky Soar, Cumulus, and Dewdrop. From the earth ponies she selected the strongest of the bunch, Tiller, Rocker, and Snow. She also selected the best spellcasters-unicorns of the time, Diamond Heart, Starburst, and Rainbow-“
“A unicorn named Rainbow?” Twilight interrupted, skeptical of the name.
“Yes, she was the one who created the formula to create rainbows, you’ll never hear the pegasi admit it though,” Claymore chuckled and continued his story.
“The team was outfitted with the strongest armor and the sharpest swords in all of Equestria. The journey ahead of them would not be easy, they had to cross many obstacles before they could reach the dragon’s lair. The ponies bid their families fare-well and set off toward the great mountain, but the dragon had forseen their coming and had sent many minions to impede their progress. The first of these the ponies encountered at the edge of the great sun desert. 
“The ponies reached the desert to find their way blocked by a huge golem, formed from the desert sands. The team of brave adventurers charged the monster but was blown back by the monsters powers. Raptor devised a cunning plan to destroy the monster. She sent the earth ponies, being the strongest to distract the golem from the front. She told the unicorns to summon water from the ground, and when they did she took her team of pegasi into the sky with buckets full of water.
“The earth ponies charged the creature and were buffeted around by a huge sandstorm that the golem had created. The pegasi took the opportunity and threw their buckets of water down, which dampened the sandy body of the monster and it melted into a pile of mud. The ponies rejoiced over their first victory, but not for long, as they had a whole desert to cross ahead of them. 
“The desert provided a harsh obstacle. The unicorns could no longer summon water from the ground as they had before, for there was no water to be found. The ponies were about to give into despair and die in the desert when an old hermit invited them into his house, little did they know it was another of the dragon’s minions. The hermit offered them all water and they drank it down eagerly, but the drink had been spiked. Dewdrop hadn’t trusted the hermit, so she only drank part of her glass. If the pegasus had drank the whole glass, the mission might’ve ended right there.”
“During the night, the hermit transformed into his true form, a huge scarab beetle and scuttled into the adventurers’ room. The spike in the water was meant to keep them asleep while the scarab went about his evil deed. Fortunately, the scarab’s scuttling had woken Dewdrop, and she silently drew her sword and crept up behind the monster. The scarab was preparing to kill its first victim, Raptor herself, when Dewdrop struck. She stabbed the beast through the back of its shell, which caught the creature completely off guard, and the beast died.
“The next morning, the other adventurers thanked Dewdrop profusely for saving them. The ponies found some un-spiked water and it took it with them, for there was still desert to cross.”
It was getting late so Claymore stopped there and yawned. Twilight stared at him appalled. “How could you stop there!” she exclaimed. “It was getting so good!” 
“Hey, I need my rest, perhaps I’ll tell you the rest in the morning,” chuckled Claymore.
“Fine,” sighed Twilight and led Claymore over to the guest bed. “You can sleep here,” she said, “and I’d better hear the rest of that story soon!”
Claymore laughed and lay down on the bed. “Trust me, I’ll tell you the rest eventually,” he yawned loudly and pulled the covers of the bed over his head. Twilight knew she should get some sleep as well, and she got into her own bed. She fell asleep thinking about golems and scarabs and how the story would continue…

> The Gaping Gorge
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Twilight finished her activities for the following day rather quickly and had lots of time for the continuation of Claymore’s story. Claymore’s day had passed uneventfully and he was excited when Twilight finally came home. The two sat down and waited for Clay to continue the story. The stallion prepared himself to jump into the story, and started up the tale again…

Raptor and her hoof-picked team of brave ponies eventually made it across the desert. They had little time to celebrate though, for they were soon at the Great Gaping Gorge! The deadly canyon stretched miles across and legend had it that a huge serpent guarded the canyon from below.
Raptor surveyed her surroundings. There was a convenient lake nearby that they could restock their provisions at, as well as a bridge that once spanned the gorge, but now hung uselessly into the precipice.  The brave mare led her party over to the lake, for it was sensible to go there first. After she had refreshed herself with a drink from the lake and a snack from one of the surrounding berry bushes, she took flight to the air with Dewdrop, Cumulus, and Sky Soar to see if they could just fly their friends across.
When the pegasi reached the gorge, all was quiet and it seemed the canyon would be no challenge at all. They headed over the gorge looking around for danger. It was not until they were halfway across that danger leapt from the shadows toward them. The huge serpent of legend sprung from the canyon floor. The snake was a huge beast, it towered almost into the clouds, and the pegasi were caught off guard.
“Form up!” shouted Raptor. “we won’t get the others’ help for this one!” she drew her sword and the four pegasi formed into a group, swords drawn. 
The serpent hissed and spat acidic venom at the ponies and they had to split their formation to avoid the deadly spray. Raptor yelled at her men to regroup, but was cut short as she had to dodge another spray of venom. The pegasus leader almost ran into Cumulus and the two turned to face the giant serpent together. 
“Dewdrop, Sky Soar!” shouted Raptor. “see if you can take out its eyes! We’re going in!” the mare then dropped toward the snakes body and slashed at its scaly hide, but all the blow did was break her best sword. She grimaced and backed away, this was obviously not the right approach.

Back at the lake, the earth ponies and unicorns had heard the commotion and were rushing over to see what was happening. When they arrived, Sky Soar had succeeded in gouging out one of the serpent’s eyes, but the beast was still dangerous. Dewdrop had an injured wing and was spiraling out of control and Raptor and Cumulus were still having no luck doing damage to the beast. 
The battle was mostly occurring in the air, and since the other two breeds of ponies didn’t have wings, they had to find a way to help from the ground. The earth ponies started to make their way down the edge of the cliff to attack the serpent’s base, and the unicorns prepared their strongest magic to attack the beast with. 

The pegasi were beginning to get discouraged when they noticed the arrival of their friends. Raptor helped Dewdrop fly down to the unicorns to see if they could heal Dewdrop. Cumulus and Sky Soar stayed in the air to battle the beast, and were given new confidence at the arrival of their friends. 
Raptor landed among the unicorns and dropped off Dewdrop. “Do you… know any… shrinking spells?” panted Raptor as she thought about how helpful one would be right now. The unicorns looked at each other, they knew quite a few shrinking spells and were now embarrassed to say they hadn’t thought of it. The three unicorns gathered together and aimed their horns at the huge serpent. The combined power of their magic shot out in a streak of pure energy and struck the snake. They waited for the effects to set in, but instead of growing smaller, the serpent grew bigger!
“Uh, I hope you have a plan B…” Rainbow said, disheartened at the spells failure. 
“Do you know any spells that could weaken its armor?” asked Raptor.
“We could try…” 
The three gathered back into formation and fired another bolt of energy at the serpent, but again, the spell seemed to backfire, as the scales on the beast grew thicker. 
“Hmm, since it appears there is a spell reversing our spells that we use on it, perhaps we should use the opposite of what we want to happen!” Starburst said.
“Do you think that will work?” asked Raptor rather skeptically.
“It’s worth a try…” 
The unicorns gathered into formation for the third time and fired a strengthening spell at the snake. As Starburst had predicted, the serpent’s scales grew flimsy and weak looking. The unicorns brightened up and repeated the process again, this time with a growing spell. 
The earth ponies charged at the serpent and were shocked that the beast was the size of a mere garden snake by the time that they reached it. The earth ponies looked around and saw Sky soar and Cumulus just as confused, and then they saw the unicorns, looking triumphant. The Gorge hadn’t been bested yet though, for they still needed to get across.

The earth ponies made it back to the group from the canyon floor and the other ponies were brainstorming ways to get across.
“I still think we should just fly everyone across…” grumbled Cumulus.
“Do you really think you could fly a big pony like Tiller all the way over that?” Starburst said in retaliation. “Besides, one of you pegasi is already down on a bad wing!”
“We could try and fix the bridge,” said Snow.
“I think it’s beyond repair at this point…” Starburst said, she was smacking down ideas left and right.
“Fine! How about you use your magic to float us all over there or something!” 
“Because we don’t know any spells that can do that!”
Raptor quickly jumped in before an argument could start. “How about I go and scout out the other side to see if we could climb up over there,” she said gesturing to the far side of the ravine. She swooped off and was disappointed to find a sheer cliff that obviously wasn’t climbable. 
Raptor flew back and was greeted with disappointment, but got a new idea. “What if we built a new bridge from the trees around the lake over there?” she suggested.  It was their best idea so far so everyone set to work building a new bridge. 
It was nearing sunset when the bridge was finally completed and the unicorns levitated it into place. The ponies all happily trotted across to the other side. They set up camp and went to sleep for the night, tired out from the day’s battle.


Author’s note: I switched up the style for the story portion to allow for the addition of dialogue and such. I would be very happy if any of you viewers could leave a rating or maybe give some constructive criticism or feedback ;)