Mystogan walked into the town of Ponyville after his journey to the eastern lands. While Twilight and the others were at the castle speaking with Celestia, he had just returned to his home and began unpacking his things to stay for a week to recharge his batteries so to speak. Not that he was exhausted or anything like that. But, he did love to at least stay in one place for a little bit to relax. And with all the knowledge he had collected in books to take back home with him, he was very sure that the scholars back home or any other pony would be happy with his findings Even he was excited to learn things he didn’t know about. Though, his presence did cause quite a stir when he went there.

Once he had finished unpacking and got out of his heavy armor leaving him with just his normal cloak, leather arm wraps, and leather pants, he makes his way back outside to venture back into town to see if Twilight or any other pony he knew was around. Of course, he grabbed his sword and satchel. It didn’t matter where he went, he always took those two things with him. He first made his way over to Twilight’s home. He knocked on her door and awaited an answer, but there was none. The same with Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy and the others. On his way back home, however, he did run into a familiar face. He was walking along the path when he wasn’t paying attention and a cloaked figure bumped into him. She fell back, but he was quick to grab her hand and pull her back to her hooves before she could hit the ground.

“Ah, I am sorry! I should definitely pay more attention to where I am walking!”

The figure’s blue eyes gaze up to see Mystogan’s face. The mare smiled with delight as she removed her hood, revealing that unmistakable black and white mane and that wonderfully exotic voice as she spoke.

“Ah Mystogan, so good to see you once more! It has been too long since I have seen your handsome face. I trust your travels are going well?”

Mystogan smiled as the zebra remembered that she didn’t have to rhyme with him. He was extremely happy to see her once more as well. In fact, his next stop was going to be her little hut in the forest, but as luck would have it here she was right in front him. He reaches up and gently runs his large hand through her mane then down the side of her cheek. It seemed like the right thing to do to him. She was smaller, a close friend of his and from the way she reacted, she seemed to enjoy it as she nuzzled her cheek into his touch. Leaning in more as he takes his hand away.

“My travels took me to the eastern lands first. The lands that are there are rich in resources and in beauty. Both it’s ponies and landscape. They have plenty of herbs that you’d be interested in with your own potion making. And they have this kind of tea there called ‘green tea’ and you can drink it hot or cold. In fact, I have a little gift for you. I saw the herbs and tea and well..I thought of you. So here.”

He reaches into his satchel and pulls out several medium bags and a box of green tea leaves. Zecora lets out a slight gasp of happiness and hesitantly takes the gifts. Not because she didn’t want them, but she was surprised at his generosity at spending his money on her. She takes the items into her arms and looks them over. A warm smile forming on her muzzle once more as she presses her soft supple form against his, trying to hug him the best way she could.

“You are so sweet in getting this gift for me. I will most certainly be giving you something wonderful, just wait and see.”

Zecora knows she didn’t have to rhyme with him, but when she was happy, it was second nature to do so. Not that Mystogan minded. It was adorable. Especially with what she said. He wraps her in a gentle hug after kneeling down so that he could be at least a reasonable size for returning the affection. Zecora’s body shook and warmed when she felt his large strong arms wrap around her frame, both from his affection and her excitement of being held by such a physically strong pony. After a while, he stands back up onto his hooves and nods to the zebra.

“I would love to spend more time with you, Zecora. But I must find the others and give them their gifts. But, I do hope to see you again soon. Should you have need of my assistance with any of your potion making, you know where my home is. It was nice to see you again.”

As he walked past her, she quickly spins on one of her hooves and calls out to him before he could get too far away. A light blush forming on her face before she spoke to him.

“Wait, Mystogan! If...if you ever need anything...and I mean anything, please visit me. I would be happy to...assist you with anything. Even if you need…me.”

Mystogan thought about it for a moment before a blush formed over his own muzzle. His eyes averted to the side then to the ground as he understood the offer she was proposing to him. He quickly turned away with a nervous smile on his face as he began to fidget with his hands lightly.

“That is very kind of you to offer such things, Zecora. Perhaps one day when I am a bit closer to you, I will most certainly take you up on that offer. Mating with a mountain pony is..rather rough. Just a heads up.”

He said before resuming his way back to Ponyville. With those words, Zecora’s mind wondered about the possibilities of being taken by such a large beast of a pony. The thoughts only made her knees weaker and a shaky breath escape her muzzle as she turned to head back home. She was the happiest zebra alive right now.

A few hours later, Mystogan was down in his alchemy lab experimenting with the new herbs and stones he had gathered on his travels. He was deeply concentrated to the point where his eyes were squinting before he heard several loud ‘BOOM’s which nearly made him crush the test tube his was holding. He becomes fully alert to his surroundings and sets the tube on the rack and makes his way upstairs back to the first floor to open his door and take a look outside.

“What in the-.’

He was cut off by the sight before him, his eyes widening in shock as he sees smoke off in Ponyville and several buildings on fire. Mystogan didn’t waste any time in grabbing his satchel and sword. Not even bothering to armor up not knowing what could be happening or what or who is causing the chaos. All he knew is that he had to do something to help. Little did he know that this confrontation was going to show Twilight and her friends what Celestia meant when she said that Mystogan’s kind was ‘bred for war’.

The six mares with their elements at hand stood before the towering dragon covered in minor burn marks and scratches from the enemy’s claws. The being before them was a tall, hulking dragon with orange and red scales and yellow eyes. Smoke billowed from its nostrils and wisps of fire drifted from its mouth. He reaches for Fluttershy first.

Mystogan arrives to see the dragon bite into Fluttershy’s shoulder and begins to pull at her flesh, her eyes widen in pain and a cry of agony escapes her muzzle as tears flood down the side of her now blood splattered cheeks.

“FLUTTERSHY, NOOOO!”

Cried out Rainbow Dash who looked like she was on the verge of tears herself, the others crying out as it seemed that the magic of the elements did not bother the dragon at all. After he had torn a chunk of flesh from his shoulder and even broke the bone, he threw her to the ground as he sent her tumbling off. Between the sight that Mystogan had witnessed and the sound of cries of pain and help and the smell of the burning buildings filling his nostrils. Mystogan both felt and heard his heart beating heavily. His eyes shifted in every direction before he grabs his head and lets out a loud scream/growl of absolute hatred and anger. Both the dragon and the others heard this cry of a warrior that was about to unleash hell upon the poor soul who had invoked his wrath. Mystogan’s eyes suddenly change from their usual calm sky blue hues to a mixture of ruby red and amethyst. Even the slits in his eyes become thinner than normal. The dragon only had time to face Mystogan before he leaped forward with his wings outstretched and with a look of a psychotic enraged killer flying towards him. A large mountain pony fist connects with the side of the dragon’s jaw sending him flying and twirling through the air. The dragon lands on his feet as he slid back. His eyes widening as he realized what Mystogan was. The shock of seeing the mountain pony was even more overwhelming than the sharp pain he was now feeling from his nearly fractured jaw.

“It can’t be...your kind hasn’t come down from the mountains in over a thousand years! If the war giants have sent one of their own, this is NOT good!”

Mystogan didn’t say a word, he just charged forward with another flying leap as he and the dragon locked arms in a grapple. Both the monstrous creatures struggling with their strength. Twilight and her friends moved to Fluttershy quickly to try and help her anyway they could.Though Twilight’s gaze fell upon what Mystogan had become. His body steamed to nearly double in muscle mass, or so it appeared. And those eyes...those eyes scared her to her core. And what’s more, Mystogan was in full control and aware of what he was doing. And wit5h the adrenaline and hate that was fueling the fire within Mystogan, the dragon began to struggle even more as his legs started sliding back even with his feet firmly planted into the ground. Mystogan lets out another loud battle-cry before shoving forward once more. The stallion was not going to give the dragon a chance to defend himself.

“Oh, fu-GAH!”

Was all the dragon managed to get out before Mystogan got him to the ground. He takes hold of the arm that the dragon tried to block his face with and holds it out to his side before he starts pummeling his fist into the dragon’s face over and over, more and more blood splattering on his hand with each blow. Mystogan didn’t even think to grab his sword. He was dealing full-on blunt blows before he stood up and stomped his large hoof into the dragon’s chest over and over, smashing his ribs and even stomping through to crush his lungs and heart to a liquefied soup. This went on for what felt like forever until the dragon was totally dead. Mystogan even stomped in his head to the point where brain matter was flying from under his hoof. Twilight watched all those in horror as Mystogan’s brutality was not overestimated by Celestia. Rarity and Pinkie both turned away from the blood and gore as they felt their stomachs starting to turn. Mystogan’s eyes turned to face his group of friends who felt their fur stand on end with that gaze now freezing them in place. He hurriedly made his way over to the group and shoved them all aside. Even pushing Rainbow away from Fluttershy so that he could have room to do what he was about to do.

“Get away from her you...you monster!”

Shouted Rainbow as she tried to get back to her friend’s side.

“Rainbow Dash! Let him do what he needs to!”

Shouted twilight as she pulled the cyan pegasus away from him and Fluttershy who was now clinging to life. Her eyes looking up at the mountain pony with a great source of fear in them. Not for him, but the fact that she thought she was going to die here. But Mystogan was not going to let that happen. In his state of hyper-awareness that came with the battle rage, he wasted no time in grabbing a bottle from his satchel and quickly drew the casting circle around Fluttershy. He poured the contents of the bottle onto his hands and rubbed them together, the markings on his palms began to glow along with the circle that he had drawn around Fluttershy and placed one hand on the wound and one below her left breasts to help regulate her heartbeat. The feeling of the wound and bone fully healing was going to hurt. So to keep her from possibly dying of shock, he had to make sure her heart was stable during the process. As it began, Fluttershy began to writhe and scream in agony as the healing process began. This wasn’t like healing magic where everything was healed without the pain. This took existing flesh and bone and literally regenerated from what was already there. This causing the nerves to painfully reattach. But in this case, everything was going to be properly healed, as it was done down to the very last little piece of flesh and bone. The others covered their ears to try and fade out their friend’s cries. Eventually, the wound was sealed completely, not even a scar was present. Mystogan lifts the now passed out yellow pegasus into his arms and looks back to the others with his eyes still that same mixture of ruby red and amethyst present.

“See the others! And get those fires out! She will be fine, I promise!”

After putting out the fires and making sure that everypony was safe and sound, Mystogan was quick to dispose of the dragon’s corpse through...gruesome means but got rid of it nonetheless.where nopony could see him do it. Once that was down, He stood at the entrance of the town. His eyes watched all the ponies pass by who were still trying to recover or rescue others from any fallen building. While others were trying to find their families and doing what they could to help anypony. He turns away from the entrance and begins to make his way to the lake that was near his house. Once there, he lowers himself to his knees and looks at his reflection. His eyes have still not shifted back to their normal blue, and the reflection of the blood splatter all over his upper body and face stared back at him as he lifted his hands up. They begin to shake as his eyes finally turn back to their sky blue. Finally realizing the gravity of what he had just done, he shuts his eyes hard and grits his teeth as he begins to wash off all the blood in haste.

“What was that…? it‘s like something activated inside of me when I saw everything there. Like something I didn’t know existed…”

The sound of hoofsteps could be heard a ways back as Pinkie peaks from behind the bushes and watches Mystogan clean himself of the blood. She felt bad for the stallion as he seemed to struggle to understand what had happened and why he had going in such a berserk-like state. It appeared that he truly didn’t know what Celestia had told her and her friends earlier that day. And keeping it from him when she could see the worried look on his face only made her feel for the mountain pony.

I know Celestia told us not to tell him. But what if this happens again? I...I didn’t Pinkie promise her. And he saved Fluttershy! He deserves that much!

She thought to herself as she slowly comes out from behind the bush and makes her way slowly to his side. She gently places a hand on his left arm as she comes up to his left side.

“Myst? Are you alright, big guy…?”

Mystogan sighed and simply nodded his head in response, splashing some of the water onto his face to clean off the rest of the dragon blood. He doesn’t shift his gaze to Pinkie, however. She sees that his eyes were focused on his reflection in the water and the way he stared was with a mixture of self-loathing and worry. She couldn’t take seeing her friend go without a smile. She decided he needed to know now before later down the road before it could really hurt him. And she certainly wasn’t going to stand for that. She sits next to him and looks out onto the water. She sighs softly and gently leans against him.

“Listen Myst. About what happened earlier. Celestia told me and the others-.”

“That I am not just a mountain pony, but something entirely more dangerous?”

Pinkie blinked a few times and wrapped her arms around his own in a big hug. She wasn’t going to let go either.

“How...how did you…?”

“I could tell the way you all looked at me when I was in the state I was in earlier. I saw a mixture of both concern and fear. I figured you and the others knew something otherwise you probably would have run. As an alchemist, we are good at reading others. So please, tell me what you know.”

Pinkie started to explain what Celestia had told her and the others about how he and the other mountain ponies were originally bred for war and destruction. And worst of all, this was something that the elders from where he was from knew this fact but chose not to tell him or possibly anypony else.

“So, I am a living war machine in the skin and flesh of a pony. And that is why murder and bloodshed come so naturally to me…? And as an alchemist...a pony who is supposed to help people can take the life of another so easily. I know I did what I had to do to save Fluttershy. But what if I lose control one day and I hurt you or the others? I could not live with myself if that ever happened. I...I cannot stay here anymore. I need to pack up and find a secluded place…”

“No, you can’t!”

Exclaimed Pinkie as she thought he was about to get up and leave, so she holds on still.

“If you leave Ponyville, I and the others would be sad! Especially...especially Twilight… And I still need to throw you a party! You hardly ever come out of your house when you are here. So you aren’t going anywhere, mister! Besides, I originally came out here to come and get you. Fluttershy wanted to see you. She is at home resting in bed. Thankfully with your quick actions, she is going to be fine.”

“But...I..”

“No buts, you are coming with me mister stallion!”

She said with a beaming smile as she used surprising strength to pull him back towards Ponyville.

Author's Note

Aaah, nothing like a bloody visual before bedtime! :P

May the darkness grant you peace.