Chapter 1 - The Calm before the Storm
There was a sound of wooden wheels rolling against the loamy ground as a light-blue unicorn dressed in purple magician’s robes ran as fast as her two hooves allowed her, pulling a whole wagon with her as she did. Trixie was questioning herself on why the hell she decided to take that damned “shortcut” through the Everfree forest on her way to ponyville.
The poor mare looked not only just distraught, she was terrified, as she kept looking behind her to see her chaser still there, a very angry looking Manticore she just so happened to piss off by walking in on their territory. Great, just great really.
“Will you please just leave me alone! The great and powerful Trixie did not mean to invade your house!” She was desperate, Ponyville was still a few miles away and Trixie knew the Manticore would soon grow tired of playing “cat and mouse” with her like it's been doing for the last hour, probably working its appetite.
When things seemed like they couldn’t get any worse, Trixie felt the ground beneath her hooves become soft and wet, making her grimace and shiver at the telltale signs of muddy ground, all thanks to all the rain of the last few weeks! Actually, if it weren’t for the rain knocking down those trees in the main road, Trixie wouldn’t have taken this stupid alternate route and she’d sa-!
Before the poor unicorn’s desperate ramblings could go any further, Trixie felt the wagon behind her go into a full stop with a cracking sound, she felt the wagon tip to the side, the weird angle making her slip and fall to her knees, giving her the perfect position to see one of the wheels had come off and gotten stuck on the mud. Trixie’s heart went into overdrive as not only was she bogged down, but worst of all: it wasn’t there. The Manticore had vanished.
Trixie could admit to being… a few unpleasant things that she had overheard ponies call her, but she wasn’t stupid! The manticore was part cat, well a very big and deadly cat, and Trixie had seen enough stray cats hunting for mice in her time, she knew this game. The unicorn looked around her, no signs of movement, then looked back at her wagon. It would hurt to do this but… it would be a small sacrifice if she could make it. You can recover a wagon, the same doesn’t apply to your life.
Swallowing her fear and letting adrenaline and bad decisions carry her hooves, Trixie stumbled away from her wagon and tried to make a break for it, but as soon as she began to distance herself from the wagon, a shadow leapt over her, landing firmly on the muddy ground in front of her. The manticore bared its sharp teeth in what almost seemed like a sadistic grin, making a point of flapping its bat-like wings, there was nowhere Trixie could run from this thing.
Maybe this was the sort of situation Starlight kept telling her about when trying to teach these boring magic beams to her, maybe the Great and Powerful Trixie should have paid more attention to those instead of the shiny and pompous spells she added to her last number. All she could do now was back away in a hurry, until her back hit the wooden rail used for pulling her wagon. Her eyes closed as the Manticore readied to pounce.
There was a roar and every single muscle in Trixie’s body clenched, preparing itself for the inevitable pain, was this the feeling of being ready to die? Was death supposed to be long and not painful? She heard the sound of something being dragged along the ground, was she a ghost hearing the beast drag her body? To answer her questions, Trixie dared to slowly open her eyes, what she witnessed however was a very different reality.
In front of the distraught mare stood a figure clad in red armor just a few feet away, holding a strange and very much enormous sword? Axe? What she assumed to be part of the blade was very much sword-like in nature but it seemed to split into two curved blades, almost like an axe would, though honestly that was the least of her concerns right now, as her wide eyes went to the manticore who seemed to have been pushed away.
“Please, stay behind me.” The stranger spoke in a gruff and somewhat soft-spoken, possibly more well described as fruity, voice not that Trixie needed to be told that twice from someone who ought to be here to save her flank.
The manticore and the stranger seemed to be in a sort of staring contest, even though the beast couldn’t see his eyes behind the visor of his red-scale covered helmet, the beast’s first instinct was to brandish it’s scorpion tail and open its wings wide to look bigger and more threatening as it moved around, trying to circle them both.
Trixie couldn’t take her eyes off the creature, while her “knight in red and scaly armor” seemed more like a statue, not moving an inch. Maybe he was awaiting orders? Maybe the Great and Powerful Trixie was indeed so Great and Powerful that she managed to summon a guardian? Well, this wasn’t at all how she’d imagine her summoned guardian to be like, she’d rather him have shinier armor and maybe be a little more hands-
Trixie’s mental ramblings were cut off once more as the stallion in front of her dashed towards the manticore, his enormous and rustic looking weapon crashing against the ground, lifting mud and earth as the Manticore jumped back in a haste to dodge the blow, Trixie could already see how this movie would end.
The manticore’s tail rushed in for an easy sting with clear aim for the individual’s chest, cutting it extra close as the stallion threw himself to the side in a roll, having barely enough time to lift the side of the greatsword’s blade to block an incoming swipe from the beast’s massive lion claw, making his hooves drag across the floor with the impact, the manticore however took the chance to jump back and take some distance before opening its mighty bat wings, allowing itself to take flight.
From within the helmet’s visor the stallion’s eyes did not leave the Manticore for even a second, the metalling mask covering his face all but hiding an excited little smile, he had been looking forward to something like this since he ended up in this unknown place. With a loud and threatening roar the creature came crashing down at high speed, claws ready as it flew down like a falcon, in what felt like seconds there was a splash of blood as the sound of flesh being torn echoed in the now silent forest. One could hear the drop of a pin.
When Trixie's eyes opened, she could see the armored stranger and the manticore standing with their backs turned to one another, a trail of blood between them, leading up to the manticore who now lacked a wing and half its tail. The beast whined like any wounded animal, snarling a bunch before ultimately jumping into the bushes and clearly making a run for it.
The armored stranger on the other hand seemed to have one long scratch across his metal chest plate and the scales in his shoulder, with a purple slime oozing from said scratch, possibly poison from a tail strike. Speaking of things oozing, Trixie’s eyes went down to her clothes, her magician’s attire, covered in mud and now with a few splotches of manticore blood, then everything went dark.
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It was nighttime when Trixie finally came back to her senses, she could feel something warm nearby, with a bit of a nice smell too, her eyes opened slowly, her blurry vision taking a few seconds to adjust after so much time asleep, she could just about make out the starry sky above and some light coming from her right. As the unicorn mare shifted her body to the side to get a better look, just now realizing she was laying down on top of a blanket, she was met with a campfire, one of the cooking pots hanging in a contraption made of pieces of wood, like a makeshift spit-roast, with a few mushrooms pierced by smaller sticks, like one would do to marshmallows, stuck on the ground around the fire below.
“Good to see you’re awake” The mare’s ears stood at attention, her eyes going to the source of that familiar male voice, as the strange knight squat down beside her, though this time he wasn’t wearing his helmet, which let her get a good look at him and made him a lot less intimidating too. The pony’s coat was a mix of yellow and red, resulting in a sort of ripe mango orange, while his mane was a deep carmine pink. “Anything hurting?”
“No, It takes more than just th-that to hurt the Great and Powerful Trixie!” The stallion arched an eyebrow at that, that mare had a strange way of addressing herself, a small laugh escaped him at that and now this Trixie mare was the one to arch a brow. “What? What’s so funny about Trixie?” The blue mare had an unnamused scowl on her face as she crossed her arms and sat up.
“I’m sorry, it’s nothing.” The stallion stood up and walked on towards a small and round rock where he sat down and took one of the mushroom skewers from around the campfire. He had a few questions for that unicorn but it was best to wait for her to ask her questions first.
“Aren’t you going to tell Trixie your name?” The stallion swallowed the piece of mushroom he had in his mouth. “Sun Scorch, though you can just call me Scorch.” The stallion seemed to make a bit of a face before putting the shroom skewer back down, it was a little under-fried for him, Trixie meanwhile had her eyes go to her wagon, it was still stuck in the same place as before, good thing her magic would make quick work of repairing it. She sighed and looked at her mysterious savior again.
“Okay, Trixie must know, are you some new sort of royal guard for…” She breathed in. “Princess Twilight Sparkle?” It was still hard for Trixie to accept this fact, even if she lived around Twilight for most of her time when visiting Starlight in Ponyville, it was like watching her rival reach a place where she’d never be able to reach.
“Who?” Scorch’s words both snapped Trixie out of her thoughts and surprised her. “Y-you don’t know Twilight Sparkle? Princess of Friendship? Hello? have you been living under a rock or something?” The stallion however just looked genuinely confused. “I’m being serious, never heard of her. I’m also not a royal guard, I'm a hunter.” Now Trixie was the one looking confused, while hunting wasn’t exactly forbidden in Equestria, it was surely frowned upon by most ponies and most huntings were for culling over populations of dangerous critters. “Where do you even come from?” The stallion’s brown eyes went from staring at Trixie to staring at the gentle flame of the campfire.
“Well, considering everything I've seen and been through in the last week or so… I would say I'm from another world.” Scorch half expected the mare to start laughing at him, but she seemed oddly silent, he even spared a glance back at her and she seemed pretty unnamused actually, just what sort of place did he end up on? “How did you end up here in Equestria then?” Trixie would admit to being slightly interested now, it wasn’t everyday that a pony from another dimension came around to help you out. Well, ones that aren’t Twilight or Starlight… or that bacon haired mare.
“Well, the short version… I was exploring a cave in a snowy mountain near a village, found a giant crystal wall, got pushed against it by a Giaprey, next thing I know the wall sucked me in and I woke up in a completely different cave… and it seems i am now in a different Equestria from my own.” If this truly was Equestria, the critters certainly didn’t seem to match the ones he was accustomed to.
“Oh, so a portal… and wait, what was that thing that pushed you? Guy-a, Gee-a, prey thingy! Trixy never heard of anything like that, nor has she seen it.” Maybe Trixie would have one piece of knowledge Twilight Sparkle didn’t! A small victory but still a victory for the Great and Powerful Trixie! Though instead of answering, Scorch was once again chuckling, which was rude! He at least seemed to get the message once she grilled him with a stare.
“I’m sorry, I'm sorry, you just reminded me someone is all. Well, in case you have never seen one or they just don’t exist here…” Much like that last beast he fought, it certainly looked a lot similar to how the guild would describe the Teostra, but it was smaller and just… wrong. “They’re kinda like this.” Scorch quickly took a small leather journal from his pouch, opening and skimming through its pages until he settled on one with a bit of a rustic picture painted on it. In the picture was what looked like a velociraptor-like creature with a white hide, a mouth that looked more like a beak with teeth, there were also a few curvy lines made in blue that seemed to be the claws, some darker blue lines around the body for stripes and a small fin or crest on the things head, it looked kind of silly, which prompted Trixie to laugh.
“You mean to tell Trixie that you took on a Manticore but got pushed around by this?!” To the hunter’s merit though, he did look quite sheepish right now. “H-hey, what could I do? It sneaked up on me!” Well, to be fair he could have seen it in the mirror… if he wasn’t so distracted by that one ore vein he found near it. A bad habit that never went away. Soon enough though he joined the mare in laughing at the blunder, only stopping when their stomachs made their protests known, good thing they did too otherwise Scorch wouldn’t have remembered what was cooking in the pot.
“A little bit longer and it’d have been unsalvageable.” Scorch sighed a sigh of relief, he was way too used to the canteen’s food from back in his world, the Felynes were killer chefs, sadly all that Scorch could manage in comparison was some shroom and veggie grub, it was better than rations of course but nowhere near as great as the stuff the felynes could pull off. “Sorry I took your pot while you were out cold by the way, thought you’d want something better than a skewer to eat once you came to.”
“It's fine, Trixie can overlook it… this time, you did save the Great and Powerful Trixie’s flank after all.” And Trixie hadn’t eaten real food in… a few weeks now, shows haven’t been paying very well lately, the storms hitting equestria have put ponies a bit on edge to go out of home for things like magic shows.
“Well, I sure hope this stuff is up to your “great and powerful” taste then.” There was a bit of snark on his voice when reciting Trixie’s title, something the mare picked up on but would let slide, her stomach had a very good argument on why you shouldn’t quip back at the person who cooked you food.
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“You know, this wasn’t the best Trixie’s had, but it had quite an acquired taste.” The blue mare patted her belly, happy with quelling her hunger with more than hay, crackers and the occasional disappointment. Scorch on the other hand made a dismissing “pfft” with his mouth while placing what looked to Trixie like random herbs inside of a large mug made out of… bone and wood. Right, hunter, guess he’d have those kinds of grim trophies.
“You’d be singing a whole different tune if you tried my friend Blast’s stew, what I did here felt more like eating watery paste with seasoning.” Trixie raised an eyebrow while Scorch proceeded to pour water from a waterskin on his cup and then hold said cup over the still crackling campfire.
“You’d also sing a different song if you had crackers and hay for damn near a month.” Scorch seemed to look at her for a moment, imagining the situation most likely, before relenting. “Point.” Again, a small victory, but still a victory, which put a satisfied little smirk on Trixie’s muzzle. “Anywho, if Trixie may ask, there’s some things that have been bothering her.” The stallion looked up from his herbal tea and right at her, signing with a hand that she may go on. “What is that sword and armor of yours well… made of? And why don’t you use your magic? You’re a unicorn, right? Trixie can see the tip of your horn amidst that untamed mane of yours.”
Scorch took his free hand up to his head, suddenly a little self conscious about his lack of a haircut lately, though he liked the messy strands of his hair cascading down like downward spikes and the smoother hair cascading down his neck.
“Well, that’s a bit of a long story, are you sure you want it?” Trixie didn’t seem dissuaded by that, she simply nodded her head, seeming pretty interested. “Okay then…” Scorched breathed in, taking his cup out of the fire, the ingredients within having been boiled into a fine green liquid, he took a sip of his tea for good measure.
“Back where I come from, magic is damn near gone, there have been a few theories on why that may be, some say we just evolved to not need it anymore and just can’t channel magic as well as our ancestors could, others say it has something to do with a calamity from eons in the past, when our ancestors would abuse the gift of magic to bend nature to their wills and as such nature sought to punish us all for it.” The stallion took another sip from his cup, Trixie was opening her mouth as if to ask or say something, but Scorch raised a hand, a sign to hold her words a little longer.
“Be it as it may, every creature in my world has evolved a sort of magical immunity, spells simply don’t work on them, even after death, none of us know how or why, some theorize it might be an special organ or property of their skin, the more religious say its divine punishment for past sins, either way we grew to not need the stuff to fend for ourselves.”
“So… by association…” Trixie’s eyes slowly went to the blade resting against the side of her wagon, having a better look at it now, the shaft of the blade didn’t look like it was made of metal, if anything it seemed made out of… bone. “Bingo.” Scorch replied with nonchalance while Trixie’s eyes began to widen and turn towards the pony in her company, that meant those scales weren’t fake either? They were real scales from a… d-dragon? Did he kill dragons? They certainly didn’t look like they’d belong in that dinosaur looking thing from his book, would he try to kill Spike if Trixie took him to ponyville?
“Well, you sure seem like a Kelbi staring down a Tigrex now.” Trixie did not get what the hell he meant with those words. “Guess I should give you some more context, you look about to throw up.” Scorch extended the mug in his hand towards Trixie, who seemed reluctant to take it. “Don’t worry, it isn’t made of bones, it's carved in white rock… plus the tea tastes nice.” She still seemed reluctant about it, but took the mug anyway.
“In the Equestria I came from, things work… Quite a bit differently, we’re taught from a young age four values that we must always follow, passed down to pony kind by the wyverians.” The unicorn stallion took one of the discarded sticks used to skew mushrooms earlier and, using its tip he began to draw four symbols, almost like one would draw a compass.
“Respect for nature.” He pointed the stick to a symbol that looked like a spiked club at the very top of the “compass”.
“Life as a community.” He then pointed the stick at the symbol on the left which kinda looked like a blocky building with three small triangles floating above it.
“Prosperity from nature.” He pointed at the symbol on the right, which looked kind of like a sideways windmill or a ninja star being thrown.
“And finally… Crafting from nature.” It was now the symbol at the bottom, which looked like two lines intertwining in a triangular pattern with what looked like a crude fist and a bear claw on its sides.
“And how exactly do these things justify you wearing a poor… even if very normally scary… dragon like a suit? It doesn’t sound like you’ve been respecting nature to Trixie” Trixie sounded like Fluttershy just now and she hated it. Ugh.
“Not exactly a regular dragon, it was a wyvern and before it became a piece of armor it was last seen killing ponies with poisonous claws and fireballs in a village who’s only mistake was existing too close to its home.” Hell of a fight that one was too, he really needed the new armor after the Rathalos broke his old one. “The sword on the other hand came from the horn of a desert dwelling wyvern, that one sadly was needed for further research on its species so we could better understand them, so it was captured, put down and studied.”
“So you aren’t a crazy murderer of anything with scales or that looks unpony-like?” Also known as a poacher, but that’s besides the point, for a moment there Trixie thought she had found someone who made past Starlight look tame in comparison. Scorch’s reasoning made a certain sense to Trixie, his world didn’t seem to have a purple Alicorn befriending damn near every bad guy to save the day so they had to take matters in their own hands.
“What? No, heavens no.” Scorch was already well mid preparing a second mug of that tea, seeing that Trixie would take her time mulling this over before remembering to drink the stuff, good thing he always carried extra mugs in case his friends forgot theirs… which was more common than he’d like to admit. “Although it's gruesome to think that… well… I'm using another living creature for protection, it's still a needed adaptation, without this sort of armor most hunters would get killed and many more would suffer from it.” And it wasn’t like other animals didn’t do that in nature already, like the Rajang who need Kirin horns to help them produce electricity or the Nerscylla who wear Gypceros rubbery hides for protection and eat their meat to build up their poison.
“To respect nature, we only take down monsters that must be dealt with, we want to preserve the life in our world as much as possible, that’s why the guild was formed.” That same stick that had been used to draw those rudimentary symbols now was used to draw an X between the four shapes, making it look a bit like an emblem. “To craft from it is to not let anything from a monster go to waste, we use as much as possible.”
“To put it simply… what you do isn’t good or evil.” Trixie finally took a sip of the tea she had been handed and… made quite the face, the taste was strong and bitter, not to mention it felt thick like a broth, did this pony have a special talent for making paste or something? And why was he looking at her like that? “What did you just give Trixie? Are you a specialist in pastes or something? Wasn’t this supposed to be tea?” And now he was chortling.
“I thought that would be your reaction, this is more than just a tea, i’ll admit to that much, it’s a special little mix of herbs from back home.” And a mushroom and insect or two, but some details are better off omitted. “It’s a potion of sorts, helps heal a weary body, but the taste? Hoo boy, you gotta get real used to it, not gonna lie.” Scorch had to quickly duck as the mug was all but magically launched his way. It was good to see that the mood got lifted a little bit after all that serious talking though.
“Trixie’s tired of this day! Time for her Great and Powerful beauty sleep!” A few minutes had passed since the mug had been thrown, Scorch had moved the stuff he took from inside the wagon to, well, back inside. “If you want to, Trixie can let you sleep in one of her hammocks.” Scorch seemed to ponder on the offer a little, but ultimately shook his head.
“No need, I like sleeping under the stars, not to mention… I should probably keep an eye out in case that… What do you call that thing?” Trixie tilted her head to the side a bit. “The manticore?” Scorch snapped his fingers at that. “Manticore, thanks. In case that manticore comes back.” It was unlikely, but Scorch had seen monsters who had lost a lot more than just a wing and tail coming back for another round.
“Well, suit yourself.” Trixie stood in front of her wagon for a bit, arms crossed, Scorch was about to offer some help, but soon closed his mouth when the unicorn mare’s horn shone a baby blue light, the same light enveloping her wagon and lifting the part that had sunk into the mud, the greatsword laying against it falling down on the ground and mud as a reaction. The wagon’s door opened itself and out came rolling a spare wooden wheel which neatly floated into the socket where the other one broke out of. “That should do it for repairing this old thing, good night now, mister Hunter.” She looked back at Scorch and was honestly surprised to see his eyes shining from seeing her do something so small. Was magic that far gone in his world?
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The first rays of sunlight broke through the opening between the curtains of Trixie’s wagon, waking the mare up from a nice dream where she was the one putting the Manticore on the run and then gloating about it to a dramatic and comically useless Twilight and a very impressed Starlight. Maybe she would do that once she arrived at the castle… but what would she do about that strange fellow outside? They didn’t really speak about parting ways last night, not to mention that Trixie was still iffy on his “different reality” story, not because it would be impossible mind you, Trixie knew it was very possible here in equestria and pretty likely, but some details still intrigued her.
As she changed out of her pajamas and put on more comfortable travel clothes, Trixie opened the door to her wagon, the signs of the camp that Scorch had set up last night were still there, though the blanket seemed to now be missing and so was the stallion in question, for a moment Trixie’s mind went to the fleeing Manticore, could it have come back to attack him while they slept? They were pretty intelligent creatures after all… but there was no signs of a struggle, the campsite was as pristine as it had been the night before.
The blue mare’s eyes scanned the area, her mind already settling on him just moving on, after all it wasn’t like he owed Trixie anything for saving her life. “He could have said goodbye at-” Trixie stopped mid sentence as she spotted the stallion’s sword laying against a tree and his helmet on top of a nearby rock. “He wouldn’t leave without those.” She thought out loud, an idea coming to her mind.
Trixie’s horn flared up as she focused her mind on that sword, she’d even sticked out the tip of her tongue absentmindedly. The magical aura of the unicorn’s horn began to steadily yet slowly cover the sword’s handle, but when she focused on pulling up the sword all it did was make it shake a little before falling forward, she tried to extend her magic across the blade, but even after it sluggishly covered the bone surface of the greatsword, attempting to pull it with magic was still inefficient, actually it barely shaked this time.
“This stupid sword’s got to be kidding with Trixie.” It didn’t prove anything yet! Trixie could swear she’s seen a pair of big and strange red glyphs, runes or something of the sort on the shaft! She just had to go and lift it up to get a better view! Scorch didn’t seem to be that physically strong, certainly no Big Macintosh, he was more along the lines of that guard captain that appeared on the last issue of Equestria Daily, what was his face again? Flash something, Trixie remembers Starlight telling her that Twilight was drooling over one of the pictures in the magazine.
The blue mare stomped on over to the sword, spit on her hands and cracked her knuckles before squatting down and holing the metal handle with both hands, using her leg muscles to try and lift the bloody thing, turns out it was a lot heavier than it looked, which is saying something!
“Ah! Trixie gives up! Sun Scorch show yourself! The Great and Powerful Trixie summons you!” She had let go of the sword’s handle and was back up, Trixie had seen enough cartoons and comic books to know that if she kept pulling she’d fall face or butt first on clay and her laundry bill was already looking expensive enough as is.
Trixie looked around as she heard a yawn, looking upwards only after the tree’s leaves started shaking, perched atop the branches and still clad in armor was Sun Scorch, his mane all messy and with smaller leaves sticking out of it as he stretched his arms and scratched his eyes.
“Good morning to you too…” The stallion jumped down from his perch, landing on his two hooves, finishing his stretching once on the ground. “Oh, my sword fell again…” He sighed. “Guess I'll have to clean it up again.” Trixie might have felt a tinge of guilt if she wasn’t annoyed at that weapon for making a fool out of Trixie. Yes, she was pouting a little, judge her.
“Saaay, what are those letters on your sword?” Trixie asked as she walked on over to sit down on one of the rocks around where used to be their campfire, Sun Scorch sitting at the one in front of her with his sword atop his legs, making it look easy to lift, paying close attention to the sword and stealthy casting a spell to detect any traces of magic in those letters, being a great and powerful illusionist had its perks at times
“Hm? These? It's an old cariant of a language from my world, it's called wyverian.” Scorch’s armored fingers traced the lines of the letters. “I can’t say I know what they mean though, it could be“Cera Cymmetria”, the name of the sword when it was forged.” As scorch’s finger finished tracing the second letter, he’d take out an old cloth from his pouch with the now free hand, beginning his clean up process.
“It could also be Horned Dragon, the title of the wyvern from which the sword was made.” Trixie still grimaced a little when remembering that detail, even if they weren’t the same dragons as those she knew. In the end, even Trixie’s spell didn’t pick up anything magical surrounding the sword. Starlight had told Trixie that even anti-magic runes could be detected this way.
“But… don’t most dragons have horns?” Call Trixie speciesist all you like for this, but most dragons she’s seen had some form of horn or scale up on their gnoggings! “Some do,but I'd wager few become famous for their use of said horns… or sheer size of them.” Scorch instinctively took a hand to his abdomen. “I’ve been on the receiving end of them at one point, it hurt like hell.” It was still a thrilling hunt at the end of the day, but one he wouldn’t soon want to repeat.
“And you guys just call them Horned Dragons all the time? Doesn’t it get confusing?” Scorch took his hand away from his abdomen and put the cloth away as Trixie spoke. “It would, that’s why we have a name for them… the Diablos.” Maybe it was the name itself being similar for one form of saying Demon or the way Scorch’s eyes looked as he said its name, but Trixie could feel a shiver go down her spine. It was like he was looking right through Trixie, like she wasn’t even there, he seemed to notice it too, since his eyes immediately went back to the sword. “Sorry, bad memories.”
“I-is it like that with… every dragon?” Trixie was concerned again, but Scorch simply shook his head in denial. “Not really, this one’s just more of a personal thing.” Maybe Trixie shouldn’t inquire any further, she wasn’t sure she wanted this story right now. Some time passed, breakfast was improvised but edible nonetheless.
“Say, are you going anywhere? Like a town or village?” Scorch could really use one right about now, especially to restock on things, he still had some money from before going to that cave.
“Well Trixie was going to Ponyville, which is pretty nearby.” Maybe Twilight and Starlight could help this stallion out or tell if he’s actually from another world or fooling poor Trixie. “You can accompany Trixie there,” As Trixie walked on over to her wagon, preparing herself for pulling it along, she felt a cold armored hand be placed on her shoulder. “May i?” Trixie looked at Scorch, then at the wagon, then back at Scorch before giving way to him with a smile, nothing like having others do things for you, willingly.
“Maybe Trixie will give you a VIP ticket to her next Great and Amazing magic show.” Trixie’s hands were behind her back as she walked with a serene smile, it was great to have someone who could pull all the weight of her wagon with even less effort than her! They’d be in Ponyville in half the time at this rate, not to mention Trixie missed having the company, it had been a while since Starlight last went on an adventure with her. Scorch’s response to the offer was to laugh heartily.
“Boy am i blessed then, thank you oh Great and Powerful Trixie.” Trixie would usually take offense at the sarcasm, but she was in a good mood still and she could admit to herself that she liked hearing him laugh, it was a lot better than that expression he had earlier. “Isn’t Trixie really just the greatest~” Trixie made a point to spin around as she complimented herself.
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Ponyville was bustling with life as always, the markets had ponies walking to and from the many different shops and stalls, the streets had colts and fillies playing while on their way out of school, yet all eyes would usually go to the stranger almost fully clad in armor, save for the helmet that was hanging from a thread on the side of his hip. Kids had a sense of awe while most of the adults looked concerned and somewhat afraid, especially considering Trixie was right beside that strange unicorn and flashbacks to the Alicorn Talisman incident were flooding in.
“I feel like the worst kind of superstar right about now…” Scorch muttered, he really felt dislocated here, most of the attires worn by the ponies were vastly different from what he was used to, he was the only individual not only wearing armor but, well, carrying a greatsword on his back while pulling a wagon.
“You get used to it, they just gotta see if you aren’t a threat is all.” Trixie clearly spoke from experience which was somewhat worrying to Sun Scorch, but it was probably best not to ask for details on that one. This situation sort of threw a hammer on his plans though. “But fret not, for Trixie is going to take you to someone who might be able to help you out way more than any of these ponies.” She had his attention before but now she had his interest.
It took them a few minutes walking but soon enough Scorch caught a glimpse of where Trixie was leading him, a big castle sitting on top of what seemed like a crystal tree. He’d probably have his flank kicked back home if he ever said this out loud around any Dundorman pony, but this place put his Immenseness’s castle to shame.
“Cool place, right? Trixie crashes there from time to time.” The mare had a smug expression as she looked at her companion through half-lidded eyes, Sun Scorch was wide eyed and confused, it looked kinda funny. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has friends in high places~”
Sun Scorch looked from Trixie to the castle again, his mind taken with the thought of what sort of creature lived there? Would it be this world’s equivalent of his Immenseness? Or could it be… certainly it couldn’t, those were simply legends told by old ponies, they don’t exist.
As they arrived at the castle’s gates, Trixie all but threw them open with a flare of her horn while her hand was used to throw a quick smoke bomb befor her, when the smoke subsided Trixie was standing at the entrance of the castle with open arms and confidence in her expression and grandeur to her tone. “Rejoice for the Great and Powerful Trixie has returned!” Scorch, who was standing a few steps behind Trixie, had a nervous smile.
“Trixie! How many times have I told you not to make dramatic entrances in the castle!” A female voice came from within the castle with the sound of hooves against the crystal floor, from the hallway came a mare about Trixie’s height, though she sported a lilac coat with a purple and teal mane. “You know how many all nighters I've been pulling with Twiii-” The mare stopped as she noticed the armored figure behind her best friend, putting on a bit of a forced smile, clearly a bit on edge. “Who’s your new friend over there?” The mare laughed nervously.
“Oh, please Starlight, you know that Trixie, like any self respecting great and powerful, but not as great or as powerful as Trixie, artist has to make an entrance worth their grandeur.” The blue mare took her best friend’s side with a smile, passing an arm around Starlight’s shoulders and motioning towards a very confused looking Scorch with her other hand. “Starlight Glimmer, this is Sun Scorch. Sun Scorch this is Starlight Glimmer, Trixie’s best friend and sometimes assistant in her shows.” There was an awkward exchange of waves, as Starlight once again laughed nervously.
“Nice to uhhh… meet you Sun Scorch, can you give us a little second please? Thanks.” Starlight quickly turned her heel, dragging Trixie with her before huddling with her best friend. “Why the hell is there a stallion clad in scaled armor pulling your wagon, Trixie? What did you do this time? Please don’t tell me you interacted with another cursed artifact, we don’t need this again.” The amulet and Starlight’s very own village did not need part twos, thank you very much.
“Okay, first of all! That only happened once and it wasn’t Trixie’s fault that the merchant drove a hard bargain on that amulet.” Starlight however didn’t seem very amused, which prompted the blue mare to clear her throat and smile nervously at her still very tired best friend.”Okay, okay, Trixie is sorry! But this time is different! Trixie didn’t summon him, he simply appeared and helped Trixie with a Manticore. Of course, Trixie didn’t need help because she’s great and powerful and it was a simple Manticore.” Starlight was now glaring daggers at her friend, her horn glowing dangerously. “Okay, okay! Ugh… he helped Trixie not become Manticore food, okay? Happy?” Trixie buzzed her lips in frustration, moody Starlight was a killjoy.
“So you have no involvement in this?” The advantages of living with Trixie for so long, Starlight had picked up on the little details of when she’s lying or not, they were small tells, but Starlight knew how to read them, it also didn’t hurt to make her confess to them that one time they went out to drink in her birthday. Long story. Trixie replied by nodding. “Huh… that’s rare…” Trixie felt and looked outraged, even if Starlight was begrudgingly right.
Sun Scorch, who had been standing outside this whole time, was looking up at the sky for a nice distraction, it had been somewhat cloudy today and he was hoping he could see the pegasi changing the weather, Trixie had told him about it during their walk to ponyville, as she called it, however he couldn’t even catch so much as a glimpse of them and yet the weather was changing all the same, clouds were gathering and looking awful gray now, it would rain soon.
“So, let me see if I understood this… he claims to be from another Equestria with creatures damn near immune if not completely immune to magic and where said element of our world is becoming more and more scarce.” Trixie had given Starlight the short version of the explanation. “And he’s a hunter of monsters, using pieces of their bodies as weapons and armor.” Trixie nodded. “Sweet Celestia, and here I thought I had a twisted mind…” Starlight was of course a bit sketchy on the whole concept, but Trixie didn’t really give any of her telltale signs of lying, so either she was onto her trick or she was telling the truth.
“Trixie knows, right?” Now Starlight looked slightly offended, even if Trixie was right. “Though it seems a lot more complicated than just… well… that. Look, Trixie can let Sun Scorch do the talking as she does not want to repeat herself when Twilight inevitably meets him.” Starlight groaned and pinched the bridge of her muzzle. “Okay Trixie, if he truly saved you from a Manticore then he can’t be a bad pony… I hope.”
“Great! Thank you Starlight. Now Trixie thinks we’ve left him standing there a bit too long.” Starlight sighed with a nod of her head, turning once again to address this unicorn carrying a greatsword bigger than him on his back. “I’m sorry for making you wait like that. Again, its nice to meet you, Sun Scorch.” Starlight extended a hand as Scorch’s eyes went from looking at the skies to looking right into Starlight’s own.
“It’s fine, I know it can’t be easy to trust someone who looks this different.” Those words had a bit of a sting on Starlight as she remembered the whole point of Twilight’s lessons and the school, though the smile on the stallion’s face didn’t seem malicious, so maybe it wasn’t meant as a jab, he even took Starlight’s hand for a handshake.
“Y-yeah… ha..haha…” Starlight cleared her throat awkwardly, while Trixie simply looked somewhat amused by the exchange. “A-anyway, I think I should take you two to see Twilight then? I’m sure she’d be eager to meet another pony who comes from a different world.”
Sun Scorch was dragged in by Trixie before he could even question who was the last one, though it probably couldn’t be anyone from his world otherwise the word about that crystal wall would have spread to the guild ages ago.
After walking through the castle’s halls, another set of opulent gates were opened, no grand entrance from Trixie this time around. Inside lay a round table with a magical hologram of Equestria’s entire landscape, surrounded by six big thrones with a seventh smaller throne, each one carrying a symbol, a cutie mark. Sun Scorch was wordless and impressed, especially by the map at the very center; they'd never be able to do that back in the guild!
A sound of light footsteps echoed through the room as a short purple dragon revealed himself, making Trixie shift her eyes towards Sun Scorch. Starlight seemed to have the same idea for a moment but had quickly decided to look towards Spike who seemed to very much be looking at the armored stallion. Before either mare could say anything, Sun Scorch was already running towards Spike, they both bolted right behind him knowing fully well magic wouldn’t work because of the armor.
“Uhhhhh” Spike looked taken aback and somewhat confused once that stallion ran up to him and… knelt down? What was going on? Was he a fan of his or something? He didn’t look like a crystal pony though, he looked towards Trixie and Starlight, taking in their worried expressions.
“I’m sorry for startling you uhhh… mister? Sir? Kid? How old are you even?” Sun Scorch didn’t expect to find someone so familiar here, at least in terms of kin! Spike on the other hand looked even more confused for a moment.
“Uhm… I think you should just call me Spike.” That didn’t exactly answer the stallion’s question, but seemed good enough if he was nodding. “I’m kind of a teenager, sort of, though.” His molt was supposed to symbolize that right? Like teenage ponies getting pimples and what not.
“Ah, got it, sorry I just thought you were an old wyverian.” Spike got even more confused with that one though and the expression of confusion now really got through to Sun Scorch, was he wrong? He looked exactly like the wyverians of his world.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about there, but i’m not a wyve-whatever it is you said now, i’m a dragon!” Sun Scorch had to hold his tongue not to scoff, bit of a reflex that one as the kid looked nothing like the dragons he knew, but this wasn’t his world.
“Is that so? Sorry for the misunderstanding then.” Scorch turned his head around to look at the two mares behind him, Starlight had a raised eyebrow, possibly thinking about something, while Trixie had a hand over her heart, which made Sun Scorch realize just how his actions must have looked to her. He’d have to apologize for that one as well, but he could do that later.
“Interesting way to call a dragon that one… if you really are from another world as you said to Trixie, then Twilight will be very curious to know more about your Equestria.” Starlight had a hand on her chin and an arm crossed below her chest, this could potentially be a great discovery, Starlight always did wonder if there were more worlds connected by mirrors, like Sunset Shimmer’s. “You should take a seat in the meanwhile.” And without a moment’s hesitation, Starlight vanished in a blink of magic.
—-----------------x—-----------------
The sound of hooves galloping was heard behind a different set of doors, catching all three pairs of eyes in the map room once they opened, giving way to the sound of running again as a purple Uni- no, wait, she had wings? And a horn? Sun Scorch’s eyes were wide, like he was seeing a ghost or something.
“Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for keeping you guys waiting! I needed my ink and pen and all those books on interdimensional traveling! It's so exciting to get to meet someone from another equestria again!” Especially in friendlier terms right out of the gate, Starlight had told her everything Trixie had related and it was… strange, grim even, but fascinating in a way! It's a very different culture from their Equestria.
“A-an… Alicorn?” Scorch sounded out of breath, slipping out of the chair, Twilight could swear he was going to kneel or something, which would be embarrassing considering she still didn’t like to be treated like royalty, but instead he got right up on her face instead, which was even more embarrassing, to the point of making her wings open on their own by reflex. “They… they moved… they’re real… s-so that means…” The stallion slowly backed away, putting a hand on top of the map’s table for support, a mix of surprise and disbelief in his expression.
“Are you okay there, Twi?” Starlight first checked on Twilight who let go of the breath she didn’t even notice she held. That was very sudden and a bit uncomfortable. “Y-yeah, no worries, just a bit… shocked is all.” Now that Twilight could think properly again, she couldn’t help the interest in that reaction. “Does your world not have Alicorns?” The words seemed to wake Sun Scorch from his daze.
“N-no!” He cleared his throat. “I mean… no, no we don’t. Alicorns were supposed to be nursery rhymes, fairy tales, you know?” The stallion breathed in, calming his nerves, trying not to get too giddy that he just met a legendary creature before sitting back down. “Wait, so who rules your world? If there’s no Alicorn princess there.” Twilight and Starlight also took their own seats as Spiked asked what everyone in the room had been thinking.
“Oh, that’s easy, his immenseness! The King of Dundorma!” There were a lot of eyebrows being raised at that. “He’s a wyverian, I guess you’d call him a dragon in this world based on what Spike called himself.” Twilight’s horn lit up as she began taking notes as Sun Scorch spoke, telling her what he told Trixie before about the hunters, the guild, his armor (which made them grimace a little, there was a mention of someone named fluttershy and thanking Celestia, whoever she may be, that this Fluttershy mare wasn’t around to hear it).
“Who knew Equestria could be that dangerous… and to think you can’t befriend these creatures.” Twilight felt somewhat sad by that fact, she knew all too well you can’t befriend everyone, she learned that lesson already, but she never had to kill Chrysalis or Tirek! Or Discord, even if she sometimes wishes she could.
“It's not like attempts haven’t been made in the past… but domesticating a monster is not something one should try.” Scorch actually heard of folk who could do it with the aid of strange stones, but he always wrote that off as the Argosy’s Captain pulling his leg. “It’s a tough job what my friends and I do, but it's necessary, otherwise there would be no way for us to survive.” It was easy for him to say this though, he was used to the routine by now.
“Now I understand why Starlight and Trixie looked so concerned when you ran up to me…” Spike felt his body shiver at the thought, especially considering the size of that axe-greatsword-thing, it looked like it could crush him in seconds, maybe he could impress Rarity if he could lift one of those though… and had more fashionable armor too. Spike was now lost in his own imagination.
“I wish I could see how these “monsters” look, they can’t be that much worse than the stuff we’ve seen here in our Equestria right?” Starlight looked at Twilight with bright puppy-dog eyes, expectantly too. “Right Twi? Wouldn’t it be incredible?” Twilight gave her friend and pupil a concerned but knowing look, when did Starlight learn to use puppy-dog eyes so effectively anyway?
“While I agree that yes, it would be, I don't think we should be using a projection spell on our guest, Starlight. I also do not want to watch a pony rip another creature’s guts out with a sword if I can help it.” There was a set of three lips buzzing, making Twilight look at Trixie, Spike and Starlight. She felt betrayed, had they learned nothing of friendship? And Spike was still a young dragon no way would she let him in on this! And wasn’t he supposed to be daydreaming of Rarity thinking nobody’s listening?! Her eyes then went to the hunter in question, who seemed curious.
“I mean, i wouldn’t mind sharing, but i think the Prin- i mean, Twilight, has a good point. What i told you about the encounter with this “manticore” creature who attacked Trixie pales in comparison to some of the more dangerous creatures i’ve encountered.” Sun Scorch had hoped this would dissuade them, but there were very much three sets of varying intensities of puppy-dog eyes directed at him. “I-i can also just try to tell them myself?” That seemed like a good compromise.
About an hour passed, there was a light sound of rain outside, a bit worrying to those who had been dealing with downpours a lot lately, but Sun Scorch’s tales of past hunts seemed to be a good enough distraction. Twilight was taking notes while also reacting to it as well as Fluttershy hearing ghost stories, she really wasn’t used to tales of a pony getting hurt and causing hurt like this, not even in Ember’s occasional gloating about battles in the Dragon Lands.
“I still carry the scars of that day…” Scorch sounded as cheerful as ever, Starlight could swear Trixie was paying an odd lot of attention there. “Are you for real? Can you show them to us?” Spike chimed in, jumping off his seat and approaching Sun Scorch expectantly. “Well… if everyone here doesn’t mind, I just need to take off the armor.”
“No complaints here.” Starlight turned around in the chair with Rarity’s cutie mark, crossing her legs atop the armrest for a better view, she was still a mare after all and passing up a chance to see a shirtless battle hardened Stallion outside of a magazine was not something she was about to do.
“Trixie has no complaints either, after all how bad can they even be?” Trixie had a scar from training the “swords piercing the box” trick too! It was basically gone now, so these old scars would probably be small stuff by now.
“Well, for as much as I don't like it… it would help get a better idea of what those monsters you described can do.” Twilight could still remember Shining Armor’s scars from fighting Changelings when they were still evil and the ones from fighting off tundra timberwolves in a patrol.
Sun Scorch began by taking off his pouches, hunting knife and especially a metal pendant looking thing with a bright green color in the middle, before starting the process of loosening and taking off his armor. While that was happening, Spike licked his lips as his eyes locked on the bright green thing atop the table, it looked an awful lot like a very bright gem, maybe he could take just a small piece without anyone noticing.
The young dragon tiptoed towards the small object while the others were distracted with.. well… girl stuff, Spike took the metal object in his hand, the light in the middle of it almost seemed to be moving! Which made it all the more enticing to him. With a clawed finger, Spike touched what looked like a reinforced glass-like lid and pulled it open.
As the chest plate was lowered to the ground, Spike screamed, taking all the eyes from the Hunter and towards him, as the small dragon ran around in circles, swinging his arms while a swarm of green lights surrounded him. Before anyone could do anything, Sun Scorch burst into laughter.
“Don’t worry Spike, they’re just smelling you!” Sun Scorch casually took the small locket from the ground, where Spike dropped it in his panic, opening the small lid once again, the swarm of firefly looking insects flew right back inside of their small glowing home.”Wh-what were those fireflies? And why were they “smelling” me?!” Spike shook his head, still a bit off put by the swarming insects.
“Those are Scout Flies, they are a special breed of insect that helps us hunters track things down, be it people, monsters or resources.” Sun Scorch placed the locket back on the table before stretching his arms a bit. Beneath the armor, the stallion had been wearing what looked like a black tweed or cloth vest that left his abdomen exposed.
The three mares and the young dragon took in what was before them, the most striking feature about this, the huge scar on the lower left side of his abdomen, it had to be at least a five centimeter circle right there, something big had pierced him right there. As Sun Scorch removed the vest though, three more scars appeared, most of which were gashes from either claws or maybe even fangs, two of which were around both clavicles, something with sharp claws pierced the armor while trying to pull him.
As the stallion turned around, there was a smaller circular scar, probably where whatever went in had come out through, Twilight could feel a bit of bile forming up, but swallowed it, she shouldn’t think of the implications of being pierced right through like that… and living. Around Sun Scorch’s back there were a few small burn scars, which indicated a battle with a fire breathing creature. Maybe the fire got through cracks in the armor? Possibly an older armor as the red one he wore before seemed mostly intact.
“Trixie likes what she sees.” Starlight looked at Trixie for a moment, she really was a little too forward at times, but Starlight’s father would have raised a liar if she denied she liked it as well, though her mind was more so on the same thing as Twilight’s, how does one survive an impalement like that one? Only a pony like Rockhoof would have a chance of surviving that, just what was this unicorn made of? It was already pretty strange how physically strong he was even though his body build was nowhere near the expected to lift that sort of weapon and equipment.
Sun Scorch turned back around, putting the vest back on, hiding the last claw mark that lay on his right, very much toned chest. Which Trixie was looking at… respectfully. She counted a six pack in total by the way. Respectfully.
“I told ya i had the scars still, the ones on my back? They’re from that day, hunting a beast known as the Nargacuga.” Sun Scorch scratched the bridge of his muzzle with a bit of a smile, trying to hide the red in his cheeks from Trixie’s comment.
“Man, those looked cool, but just what made this big circular one?” Spike pointed at the scar, which prompted Scorch to put his hand on top of it, his expression wavering a bit between confidence and sorrow, it was just a few seconds, time enough for him to breathe in and look away.
“I… it’s a long story…” His eyes didn’t just go to some random wall, he was looking straight at his greatsword before closing his eyes. “I’m sorry, I'll have to tell you about it another day.” When he finally turned to face the others, there were quite a few looks of concern, Scorch cleared his throat and forced a smile, his arms crossed in front of his chest. “Hey, no need for the long faces now, I'm fine, it's just… a bit of a touchy subject for me right now, but I promise to tell you this story after I find a way home!”
—-----------------x—-----------------
Outside the castle there was the flashing of lightning followed by the mighty thunder, the rain was now a full blown storm and the winds howled like crying beasts.
In Sweet Apple Acres Big Macintosh and Applejack were almost leaving the house to tie down the apple trees in fear of them being blown away by all that wind, Applebloom on the other hand was more worried about the old house and barn falling on their heads… or that the tree house wouldn’t survive this storm, it was clearly the strongest of them all.
The little filly and her siblings all looked out the window of the living room, different expectations in their minds, when a flash of lightning came down on the horizon, something caught the youngest's eyes.
The glimpse of a large shadow in the sky, the shape of a dragon flying in the skies above the farm. Applebloom scratched her eyes and it was no longer there, just what in tarnation was that all about.
—-----------------x—-----------------
Twilight had offered Sun Scorch a room in which to stay, she’d promised to try and help him get back to his home, something about finding the cave where he appeared in this Equestria through and reprogramming a magic mirror. Sounded complicated.
Well, at least I'll be finding a way back. Scorch thought, yet something didn’t feel right with him, he had this strange gut feeling ever since the skies began closing. Scorch shook his head and prepared to take off his armor to go to bed. That was when it happened.
There was a loud but familiar roar, with a metallic timbre to it, the scout flies immediately flew off of their case, turning to a blue coloration. It couldn’t be, Scorch didn’t want to believe it, but there was no denying it, when the scout flies turned blue.
Scorch threw open the doors of his room fully armored, joining an already on the run and grim looking Twilight and Starlight, hell even Trixie had gotten up and was waving towards them before joining in.
“What was that roar?” Trixie inquired, more scared than confident if anything. “I have no idea, but it sounded like trouble.” Twilight responded, shooting a look to Starlight and then to Sun Scorch, who not only was looking forward, but there was a blue swarm of lights, those scout flies of his, flying right ahead of them. “Why are they blue now?” Starlight asked before Twilight could.
“It's a special condition of the scout flies… green means its safe, its tracking, orange means danger and blue…”
The gates were opened violently, not by hands, but by a strong blast of wind. There was a huge shadow looming outside, standing tall in its quadrupedal form, the scout flew and scattered outside as Sun Scorch put his arms before the three mares and the young dragon flew in late, awakened from his dreams by the loud sound of the gates being smashed.
“Stay here and get somewhere safe, I know what that is… and you stand no chance against it.” For blue scout flies, mean Elder Dragon. Sun Scorch ran outside, as lightning fell, revealing the creature’s form.
Standing tall and imposing amidst its own storm, surrounded by the constant hows of the wind was a dragon, instead of the regular scales of most reptilian creatures, its skin was clearly made out of metal, its giant wings connecting to the base of its tail. It's head sporting a pair of backward curving horns adorning both sides of its head, blending in with the spiked that line its back. While normally only its snout would carry a reddish coloration in contrast to a silvery-metal body, the creature’s whole body had this reddish brown coloration, always highlighted by the flash of lightning. A rusting titan.
“Kushala… Daora.” Were the last words those inside the castle heard before a loud roar made ‘em cover their ears. The lightning struck the ground as the front yard of the Castle of Friendship now became a battlefield for the Metallic Dragon and the Hunter.
Author's Note
Hooo boy, this was my first ever (posted) MLP and Monster Hunter fanfic, so please bear with me if things few a bit janky, slow paced and stuff! I'll try to get better as i go, especially when writing battle scenes, after all i want to make justice to an epic battle against an iconic monster such as the one revealed by the end :D
Anyway, about the chapter itself... i hope i tagged it correctly for what's happening and what's to come, this story features one of my (very few) ocs, hope you don't hate him! I do have a propensity to use my ocs a lot in stories after all, so you might be seeing more of him and the others in other stories. >.>
Anyway, hope you enjoy/enjoyed! I'm going to look for a nice and cozy hole to bury myself now.
