The Equestrian Rider

Now in his room Damian open the window to the balcony and gazed out at the world below, he was curious.

So much to explore, so much to learn, this was a new world and he was slowly beginning to come to terms with his new home.

Then an alert appeared before him, making him fall on his rear end.

(Player System interface online)

“What?”

(Name: Damian *******)

(Race: Rock Drake)

(Title: F class adventurer)

(Level: 0)

(Skills: 0)

(Attack: 2)

(Defence: 1)

(Mana: 0.5)

(Stamina: 30)

(Vitality: 13/20)

(Anti-magic: -2)

(Abilities: 1; glider)

The interface had information about him, even a description that he found to embarrassing to read, but he noticed that he had an inventory and item shop.

“Wow, let’s see what’s in here…. Nothing.”

He wasn’t too surprised but when he opened the shop, he yelled at the top of his lungs. Startling the guards outside his room, they rushed into check on him but they found him jumping about celebrating.

After making sure he was okay, the guards left.

Damian was happy, in the first time in this new world he was happy. The player interface had a store that he could buy fantasy weapons, potions and equipment from but most importantly was the category that was dubbed, vehicles.

There he found everything bike related, the only problem was their price tags. They were in the billions, but now he had a goal, a purpose.

“I’ve only got to become a billionaire, n-no big deal right Damian? Ha hah ha?”

(Player Quest: strength building)

Time frame: 1 week

Objective: lift 150kg over the individual’s head.

(Failure to complete will result in a punishment)

“Wha-what sort of punishment?”

(Unknown)

“Shit…. Um what is my skill?”

(None)

“God damn it, i meant what is my ability?”

(Glider: allows the individual player to glide, slowing their fall and giving them control of the direction that they fall in)

“Nice…. How do I use it?”

(Glider: this skill is activated when the player is in free fall and spreads their wings; skills level is 1)

“So I just jump?”

(Affirmative)

“Gulp* fuck that, I’ll just keep myself on solid ground thanks.”

(Side Quest activated: leap of Faith)

“What?!? No?!? I have no faith!”

(Objective: make it down safely)

“Can I take the stairs?!?”

(Negative)

Crack!*

“no….”

Damian began to back up from the balcony’s edge but the system had other plans, without warning the balcony gave out from underneath him.

His cry of terror could be heard from all over the castle, waking a certain dark blue Alicorn.

Panic set in as he plummeted and his lack of control over his wings meant that he couldn’t spread them out to trigger his ability.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” His scream was girlish but he cared not, he was falling down the side of a tower, flailing all the way down.

He looked to the panicking guards that had been given no time to react, they had become nothing more than witnesses to his inevitable demise.

The ground got closer with each second and Damian closed his eyes out of fear, the sense of dread felt like it made him fall faster.

That was until a blue blur came from around the tower and caught him, he continued to scream as his fall was brought to a halt.

Even when he had been placed on the grass, he held his eyes closed tight and kept screaming like the final girl in an old horror movie.

“Hey, it’s okay, we’re on the ground now.”

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHhhhh…. I mean arhhh! Manly scream, arhhh….” But when he opened his eyes, he was met with a worried but smirking light blue and rainbow maned Pegasus mare.

“Dude, what happened?”

“Um t-the balcony collapsed when I was on it.”

“How? You’re heavy but not that heavy…. N-not like you’re fat or anything! Just um eh a light dragon is heavy for us ponies dude.”

“Well…. Thank you Rainbow Dash…. Um you saved me…. Sorry.” He began to tear up but wiped them away fast. “I’m so fucking grateful, thank you so much.”

He had brought her into a hug and the normally boastful mare was sporting a light blush, but her face turned into one of horror as Twilight, Captain Armour and Princess Celestia rushed around out from a doorway.

She wiped the sweat off her brow upon seeing zero princesses of the night, then when she turned to Damian she found the luna Alicorn glaring daggers at her.

“pssssst Damian, you can stop hugging me now.”

“Oh sorry, well thanks again…. I like living, you know.”

“Same here pal, but that’s why you need to let go of me.” He pulled away to find a gaggle of worried guards, a panicked purple unicorn, one smiling Princess and another looking a mixture of concerned and pissed.

Then he felt a tap on his shoulder, turning to find Shining Armour.

“Are you well? What happened Damian?”

“S-she save my life….” And at that time, his adrenaline wore off and he fainted.

(Objective: complete)

(Exp: 32/400)

(New Skill acquired!)

(Collect Reward)

“Sir Damian!?!” Luna shot toward him and grabbed the unconscious drake in her hooves.

Celestia noted that it would have been easier to catch him with her telekinesis but luna chose to use her hoofs. She was also proud of the Element of loyalty for saving him.

“Well miss Dash, it seems that you’re saved the day and judging by that hug, he is definitely thankful.”

“Well um I just happened to be the closest…. I was only cleaning the windows a few floors down and to the left when he fell your highness.”

“We…. I must thank you Miss Rainbow dash, but how did this happen sister?”

“I’ll look into this but as for now, I believe you should take him to one of the guest rooms on the ground floor Luna.”

“Y-yes sister.” She then proceeded to levitate Damian onto her back and carried him into a ground floor guest room.

But as soon as she entered the room, she rushed to check if Damian had any injuries or bruises.

To the luna princess’s relief, he was fine physically. She worried that this would leave him afraid of heights, which was not great considering where Canterlot was.

She went to leave but turned back to the unconscious drake and decided that she wasn’t going anywhere just yet.

Princess Luna walked up to the bed and sat down at its side, lighting up her horn and placing it against Damian’s head.

To entered his dreams.

But for some reason, she was blocked from doing so. This perplexed the midnight Alicorn, no creature could stop her from entering their dream, it was her duty to watch over them.

“Huff* we don’t understand? How?”

“Mmmmmmmm~ yawn*”

Damian rolled over and curled up into a ball, breaking Luna out of her thoughts and melting her heart.

“Heheheheheheh, we guess we should leave you be for now sir Damian, rest easy our dear f-friend….”

As she went for the door, she thought about how much she had grown attached to him. She reasoned that because he’s her first friend in the modern age, she valued him far greater than most.

Once outside the bedroom, she summoned her two most trusted guards. Echo and Nactrum, whom she ordered to watch over Sir Damian and alert her when he awakened from his slumber.

The two bat-pony guards posted themselves outside the bedroom door, but little did they know.

Damian was wide awake, he had woken up whilst Luna was carrying him.

“Sigh* now that was terrifying…. This reward better be good, I nearly became a bloody puddle.”

(new skill unlocked)

(Skill: Distressed Roar)

(Distressed Roar; triggers individuals that have an emotional connection or interest in the player to come to aid them if in range)

“Mmmmh that’s useful, it saved my life but why does Rainbow have an emotional interest in me…. She probably feels guilty.”

(Collect reward)

“Um yes?”

Then a dull light appeared in his claws, it turned into a small silver ring with a black stone on it.

(Reward: level 2 ring of ashes)

(Positive Effects; 8% stab resistance, 4% enchanted weapon resistance)

(Negative Effects; 1.3X blunt force damage, weakness to water magic)

“Well that’s…. Something, can I put it on?”

(No)

“Wha? Why?”

(This item requires you to be level 1)

“And I’m level 0…. I only got 32 Exp for falling and I need 400 Exp to hit level 1.”

He began to think about what he could do to gain more Exp whilst alone in this room, then he remembered his brother back home.

He used to train at a boxing gym and had shown Damian some of the exercises, but the human turned drake didn’t know if doing a bunch of pushups, squat jumps and sit ups would get him Exp.

“Interface, set up daily quests…. Um eh basic training?”

(Daily quests active; 50 push ups, 50 sit ups, 40 squat jumps)

“Hell yes, okay let’s get to level 1.”

He got into position and done one push up, he saw a bar appear and it went from 32/400 to 33/400.

His expression dropped and he sat up, thinking back to it. Damian noticed that next to the Exp bar was a number that said 1X.

“If I’m right, that should be a multiplier and if it works the way I think it does, then this should be easier than i first thought….”

He blasted out 10 painstaking push ups and saw that the multiplier was now 1.4X, this motivated him to push past the pain and strain.

The feathery drake was determined to hit level 1. in his head, not only would he be able to wear the ring but he wanted the reward for hitting level 1.

12 minutes later and he was on the verge of buckling but he pressed on, he only had 7 pushups to do and his multiplier was at 2X.

“Grrrrrrrrrrrr c-come on, only 6 left now. F-Five, four, th-three, t-t-two!! One!!! Thud* Gasp* wow, I got it…. That’s an extra 99 points of Exp.”

(131/400)

“Cool…. But shit I’m so weak, that nearly killed me.”

Knock* knock* knock*

“Damian dear, are you up?”

It was Nurse Butterscotch’s voice and Damian went to get up but his forelegs were aching from the 50 push ups he had done.

“C-come in please.”

She opened the door and saw that he was on his belly on the floor, quickly placing the tray of food down and helping the downed drake up.

She nudged him back into the bed and asked him what happened, his quick response was that he had a nightmare about falling.

“It must have been horrible, you’ve been sweating a lot.”

“Yeah…. Um can we not talk about it please?”

“Oh of course sweetheart, please eat up and call me if you need anything alright.”

“Thanks….” It annoyed him, the fact that they all looked down on him.

He understood that he was weak and still in recovery but everyone was treating him like a sick animal, did he really look that pathetic?

Just as Butterscotch left, Luna trotted in.

“Ah~ we see you are up, we tried to enter your dream but couldn’t. How are thou-cough* you doing?”

“I’m fine, just a bit shaken up….”

Sniff* sniff* are you sure, you’ve been sweating?”

“Um yeah I had a nightmare about falling, nothing to worry about.”

“Oh we are greatly sorry, we should have tried harder to enter your dreams and dispel your nightmare…. Sigh* We failed again.”

He felt like shit after seeing her face drop, he remembered that she was responsible for watching the dreams of her subjects.

“No you haven’t, don’t blame yourself Luna, I’m alive.”

“But we didn’t make it in time, if it wasn’t for miss Dash, you would have been…. Gone.”

“Yeah…. But I’m not, so cheer up.”

This was another reason why he needed to get stronger, this pony princess of the moon seemed to blame herself for everything bad that happened to him.

Maybe that leap of faith was the push he needed to make a place for himself in this world.

As soon as Luna left, he was going to get the Exp from the sit ups and squat jumps.

He knew if he was to take control of his new life, he needed to exploit this interface he had.

After all it was his best bet.

“Hey Luna, does Equestria have anything like an adventurer’s guild?”

“Um no but why do you ask?”

“Oh because I’m new to this world, I just wanted to see what it has to offer.”

“Heheheheh, we like you new out look but we don’t have anything like that…. But there is a lot of unexplored areas of this world.” She looked saddened for some reason.

“Luna, I’m still going to be your butler but I just want to find a place in this world is all.”

“Oh no, please don’t feel obligated to be our butler…. If thy want to be free and travel, then we encourage it.”

“Thanks but for now, I’ll be your butler. At least it’s guaranteed income and a place to sleep.”

“W-we thank thou deeply, this means a lot for us Sir Damian.”

“Awwwwww….”

She blushed and hid behind her wings before coming up with an excuse to leave, Damian saw through it and let her go.

“Now to get some more Exp, I wonder if I can go dungeon crawling or something similar and kill goblins and skeletons?”

(Dungeons: ranked from level 1 to 10)

“Umm oh and how do i enter one?”

(Upon reaching level 1, the player will receive a dungeon Stone; an enchanted stone that takes the player to the dungeon’s highest entrance)

“Cool, well I best get to level one then.”

And with that the drake began to do everything he could to gain Exp.

He was still suspicious but this interface seemed to help him, it made basic things fun and far more rewarding than they have any right being.