Secrets of the Past
Story 6
Prologue: A Fighting Spirit
By: FluttersIsAwesome

The thick forests and luscious oak trees of Kimahri Village were beautiful during this time of the year. Everything was in full bloom, and the sun, although partially blocked by the treetops, still shined through small openings in the canopy. It was always fun to run through here, unless you were being chased; this is why I was running for dear life. I used my wings to push myself forward, which gave me a little burst in speed, but I eventually got tired and stopped. Looking around, I thought I was safe. “Whew, I lost her.”

“Nope!” A hoof to the back of the head is such an unpleasant experience. When I came to, a light red unicorn sporting a yellow mane and tail was holding her hoof out to help me up. “Come on, Dust. How can you expect to win against Keaton if you can’t even fight against me?”

Rainey had been my best friend for a long while. She was always there when I needed support, and vice versa. She could be scary at times, though, so I tried my best to avoid making her mad. I grabbed her hoof so she could help me up and dusted myself off. “I don’t get it, why do I have to fight Keaton anyway?” It was really a pointless question, the answer had been burned into my brain already. Keaton was a bully and he loved to beat on other ponies in the village, so one day two of my other friends, Ginger Snap and Stone, and I decided to play a prank on him. We rigged the door in the feast hall to drop a bucket of brown dye on him when he walked through it.

He was an idiot, so he fell for it. Our group had been found accountable for multiple shaving-cream sleeping pranks, various fake present deliveries, and even two pitfall traps, so he automatically knew it was us. I don’t know why he chose to fight me, but I had no choice but to accept. It was like a code of honor the villagers followed: accept all challenges issued to you by another villager.

Rainey answered me with a loud “Ugh!” She began tapping her hoof as she got up in my face. I had to suppress a laugh as her ponytail fell in front of her face, forcing her to move it. “Sometimes I wonder what goes on in your head, y’know that?”

My grin was probably enough to make her hit me, but luckily she loved me too much. “And the rest of the time, you realize you probably don’t want to know?” I hardly ever had dirty thoughts, and she knew that, but sometimes I thought of the most random things at the most random times.

“Whatever. As for why he wants to fight you in particular, it’s probably because your dad owns the dojo.”

My dad was a pegasus like I was, but my mother was an Earth Pony. Rather than leave her just to return home, my father did the noble thing and decided to stay here in the village. The tall trees made it extremely difficult to fly, so my father decided to build a dojo and teach ponies to defend themselves to earn his living. As for mom, she was the head chef in the feast hall. I learned how to fight as a young foal and was always well fed.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

She grinned. “Anyway, let’s get to the feast hall; Stone and Ginger are probably reserving seats for us.”

I nodded happily. “Right.”

We made our way toward the feast hall, and I took this time to practice using my wings to balance myself while on two legs. My father taught me to fight with a shield and bracer blade, which is a large katar-esque blade that can retract into an arm gauntlet. It was much easier to use while I was on my back legs, so I practiced and tried to get used to the position.

Rainey turned to me looking as if she was about to pout. “I still want you to teach me how to do that.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Maybe one day, Rainey, maybe one day.”

When we finally got to the hall, Ginger and Stone were sitting at the end of one of the long tables beside two empty seats with plates before them. Rainey and I both eagerly headed towards our two friends and sat down.

Rainey looked at the spread: hot spaghetti with green beans and mashed potatoes, and for every four seats there was a saucer for gravy. Not only that, but there were rolls beside the gravy, as well. There was a bright light in her eyes as she turned to me and squealed softly. “Your mom never ceases to amaze, does she?”

That made me proud. If there was one thing people talked about regarding me more than anything, it was that I came out of the best chef in Kimahri.

From my left I heard a loud “MMM” from the silver coated colt with the blue mane, Stone had just taken a bite out of his gravy-covered mashed potatoes and was making overly dramatic eating noises. “Delicious! Amazing! Scrumptious! How does your mom do it?!”

I shrugged with a smile. “Dunno, she’s just that amazing.”

The ruby red mare sporting a mane that was more golden than yellow chimed in. “If that’s the case, then why can’t you cook like this?” Ginger Snap giggled as I held my own mouth shut. She was Rainey’s sister, so I had to be careful not to upset her. Rainey was like a sister to me, but the kind of sister that nagged you constantly about staying out of trouble.

We all started laughing, but our moment was interrupted by a rather rude comment from the bulky, blaze-orange colt with the overly spiky red mane. “Flankface!” Keaton rose and approached me. “It’s time.”
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The fight took place on a long plank serving as a bridge between two local tree huts. It looked to be about 30 feet in the air, and being the only pegasus in the village besides my father, I promised not to use my wings if I fell. The objective was to knock your opponent off the plank, but they only lost when they touched the ground.

Keaton used a wooden sword that he held in his mouth, while I used a 2x4 plank fashioned into a blade with a harness for my right arm. We were each using the weapons we specialized in, so it was considered a fair fight. Looking down, I saw nearly everypony from the village watching. Rainey, Ginger, Stone, mom, and dad were there. Braveheart, the village chief stood in front of everypony to referee. Of course, a bunch of Keaton’s friends had front row seats too.

As I turned back to Keaton, the colt was staring at me with a rather menacing look on his face. “Get ready, punk.”

I returned his aggressive gaze. “That prank isn’t the only reason you hate me, is it?”

Without responding, he charged at me with surprising speed for such a big guy. He was stocky, though, and easy to jump over. I thought I had an edge on him until I turned around and was greeted by a hoof to the face. As I flew backwards, I could hear stone being dumb down below.

“He’s doin better, huh guys?”

I was slammed into the hut behind me, and ended up breaking two pots. However, I noticed that there were about six pots that remained undamaged.

A heavy pot between the eyes is definitely an effective way of at least slowing down an opponent. Keaton fell to the ground in a daze, giving me the perfect opening. He didn't even have time to react before he was sent into the air by my swift kick. I jumped to his height for a follow up move, but he used the momentum to his advantage. All I saw was his somewhat impressive front-flip before a tremendous force hit my head and sent me rocketing downward.

Now I was helpless. As I held on to the plank trying to pull myself up, Keaton landed right in front of me and pressed down on my hooves with his own.

A few murmurs could be heard from down below, and they only helped make me even more nervous. I closed my eyes as Keaton tried to push me off, and a sudden flash came into my head.

I was no longer in Kimahri Village. In fact, I wasn't even myself. I was overlooking a snowy mountain valley, with various scattered trees and a long rope bridge connecting a rather decrepid looking castle to one of the mountains. Standing on this bridge was a griffin, clad head to toe in black armor with red trim. On his chestpiece were two crimson wings extending from the blade of a sword.

Not only that, but hanging off of the bridge before him was a colt. His hood hid most of his facial features, but I did notice his horn and muzzle, both of which were only a few shades darker than my own blue coat. I could see dirty blonde banges protruding from under his hood as well, which I found a bit odd since my mane had the same style, but was completely blonde. He wore a greyish-brown fur cloak that only covered his shoulders, and his body was covered in leather wrappings. His legs were wrapped in a mesh of chainmail that was tucked into his long, black boots. On his left arm was a triangular shield with a design that I couldn't recognize for the life of me, and on his right he had a bracer blade somewhat similar to my own.

As the griffin approached him, he kicked one of the colt's hooves off, leaving him with only one arm to support himself. However, the force of the kick caused the colt to swing, and he used this momentum against his foe. It happened so quickly I couldn't even catch it all. The colt was now in the air and the griffin was falling to his imminent death.

Before I could see what happened next, I was pulled back into reality as Keaton kicked one of my hooves off the plank. I didn't know how it happened, but somehow I managed to use the momentum of the swing he had sent me in to turn the tables. As my body flew toward the plank, I pushed up on the hoof that was still holding on and sent myself into the air with a spin.

The outcome of the fight had been decided. Keaton was on the ground, the wind knocked out of him, and I was kneeling on the plank with my arm out to the side. As I turned to look at my arm, I saw that my wooden blade was firmly broken in half. I stared at the blade for a moment trying to figure out what just happened.

Secrets of the Past
Story 6
Chapter 1: Awakening Power
By: FluttersIsAwesome

What the hay did I just see? I was completely out of it. I thought that I was safe from any more hurt, that is until three bodies collided with mine and I ended up nearly falling.

Rainey was the first to speak. “Wow, Dust! How did you pull that off, that was amazing!”

Never one to keep quiet, Stone put in his two cents. “Yeah, man, I’ve never seen you do anything like that before!”

Bringing up the rear of the comment train was Ginger. “Who cares how he did it, he won! Keaton didn’t even know what hit him.”

I looked to the broken piece of wood on my arm, then back to my friends. “Yeah... I’m not sure I even know what hit him.”

For a moment, Stone looked at the hut I had crashed into and began laughing. “Whoa, dude! You’re not gonna believe whose house you broke through.”

Almost as if he was guided by a script, Keaton’s voice rang out down below. “My house! What the hay happened?!”

Hearing this, everypony, including me, burst into laughter.

* * *
That evening I stayed up a little later than I normally did. It was about 11 p.m., and typically I went to bed at 10. Sitting at my desk, I began to think once again about what I had seen that morning. However, my thoughts were interrupted by a loud thump from behind me.

“Hey Stone.” Only he would be so careless as to jump through somepony’s window in order to get in their house.

“Hey Dust. What’cha doing?”

I leaned back in my chair a bit. “Just thinking.”

Whenever Stone’s head tilted to one side, it either mean that he was confused or curious. “About what?”

“Today.”

He put an arm around me and I found myself caught in a headlock. “Why worry about it, you won! Not only that, but Keaton’s still cleaning up shattered ceramic off his floor.” That big, goofy grin of his was always a pleasant sight. “Anyways, Rainey wants to meet at the secret spot, you coming?”

The “secret spot” of ours was a small island centered in a large lake beside the waterfall not too far from the village. It was a decent trek, and Braveheart always warned us not to go through the forest at night, so I thought it would be a good idea to go armed. “Yeah, gimme a sec.” Reaching for the uppermost drawer on the left side of my desk, I opened it up and took out my bracer, clamping it onto my lower right arm. It had a switch on the bottom edge that I could push by bending my wrist down, and that in turn released a lever that kept the blade in the bracer. My father always told me to test it to make sure the switch wasn’t broken before taking it anywhere, so I did.

The blade came out over the top of my hoof quickly, so I knew the release was working. There was another switch on the side that, when pressed, brought up a hooked lever that latched onto a hole in the blade and pulled it back in. I tested that out too, and everything worked smoothly. Finally, I grabbed my circular wooden buckler off of its wall mount and latched it to my back with a leather strap. There was a hook on the inside of shield that latched onto the strap; it may not have been the best way to secure it, but it worked.

Turning to Stone, I nodded. “Ready.”

I looked around, but Stone was nowhere to be seen. Peeking out my window, however, I saw that Stone sitting on the grass looking up at me. “Well? Come on.”

I turned around to the ladder behind me that led up to my roof. Once I was on the roof, I jumped down and used my wings to slow my descent. “Let’s get moving.”

“So you are coming, sweetheart?”

I jumped at hearing two things: Rainey’s voice come out of nowhere from behind me, and that very voice call me “sweetheart”. Normally hearing her call me “Dust Devil” was the only thing that freaked me out, but hearing this new name for me sent a chill up my spine and back down.

Before I knew it, she was behind me with her arms around me, giggling. “Scared ya, didn’t I?”

Nodding, I turned to her and saw that she was carrying her hunting spear, and also that Ginger wasn’t with her. “Hey, where’s your sister?”

As she let me go, she did a little twirl and began walking in the direction of our island. “She’s already asleep. Come on, let’s go.”

* * *
It was extremely difficult to see in the darkness of the night once we reached about the midpoint between my hut and the island. Luckily, Rainey cast a quick illumination spell that fixed our problem in an instant. However, with the casting of the light, I began to feel like we were being watched as we approached a small clearing that marked the legit midpoint.

Rainey sat down and set her spear against a tree. “Whew, give me a minute, please. You guys know I’m not as good with long walks as you.”

Turning to her, I grinned. “Maybe I should just pick you up and carry you then?”

Rainey hardly ever blushed, or if she did her red coat hid it well. However, the bright red on her cheeks was somewhat easily visible against the dark red of her hair. “S-Shut up, Dust.”

I’m pretty sure we all would have laughed had it not been for the quick rustle we heard from behind us. On instinct, I released my blade and unhooked my shield to latch it onto my left forearm as I stood up. “You all heard that, right?”

Stone nodded. “Yeah, and I don’t like it.”

Almost as if she just woken up, Rainey jumped up and levitated her spear at the ready. “Be wary...”

The minute she finished speaking, two large, bipedal, green-scaled lizards jumped out at us. One had a leather bag on its side, and the other was wielding a decent sized scimitar.

“Komodo!” I heard Rainey shout.

As they both lunged at us, I rolled to the side as Stone punched the sword-wielder in the face. Stone was regarded as the third strongest colt in the village, being able to shatter rocks with a punch or two; that’s why he was allowed to enter the forest unarmed. However, this Komodo seemed unfazed by it.

Rainey tried to speak while avoiding strikes from the other beast. “What the hay is going on?!”

I assumed the Komodo with the scimitar was a Gonzo, an “upgraded” version of Komodo that was normally known to lead a pack. That obviously meant he was tougher, so I decided that Stone would be more useful helping Rainey.

“Stone, go help Rainey, I’ll handle the Gonzo myself.”

Stone knew not to argue with me when it came to situations such as these, so he ran to Rainey’s aid as the Gonzo lunged at me again.

He was fast but somewhat clumsy. Every time he made a move, I either dodged it by a hair or had to block it, which never left me with a long enough opening for an attack. The Gonzo got smart, he sent a swift kick my way, which I parried with my shield, but the minute I stretched out my arm, his blade came down.

I left this world again and was now observing the same colt from the flash I had that morning. He was on a long stone bridge, and was facing some sort of Minotaur-like creature. The beast was extremely agile, but I watched the hooded unicorn avoid each of his maneuvers almost flawlessly. As I watched, I felt like I was “taken into him” as I saw the battle through his point of view.

The beast, from a third person view, was extremely fast, but as I watched it from the unicorn’s perspective, it was slower than Stone’s thinking process. The world looked incredibly odd, like a photo negative. Whites were black, blacks were white, and everything in between.

Again, reality came crashing back, but suddenly my own vision became negative, and it seemed like time was slowed down. The Gonzo’s sword was still descending down on me, but it looked like it was moving at half the speed it was prior to my flash. As I avoided his strike with a somewhat clumsy roll, I realized that time had not been slowed down, but my own speed and reflexes had been dramatically boosted, making everything else seem to move in slow motion.

Now I had an opening. With a quick thrust of my blade, the Gonzo fell to the ground, blood trickling from the gash in his neck. My vision returned to normal, and I felt exhausted. “Stone, Rainey, are you guys alright?”

“We’re fine.” Said Rainey as she sat atop the back of a now dead Komodo with various stab wounds and two dislocated shoulders.

“Uh... okay then.” Taking a moment to look around, I notice that we were down one Stone. “Where’s Stone at?”

“Right here. Guys, come take a look at this.”

I walked over to where Rainey was and saw that Stone had taken the bag off of the Komodo. The bag was open, and he was holding an open envelope and a sheet of paper.

“Can either of you make something of this?” he held out the letter to us, and Rainey took a look at it.

“I feel a rather disturbing presence. If it is what I think it is, you must destroy him before he has the chance to become an issue.” She looked back up at us. “I have no idea. Dust?”

I shook my head as she turned to me.

Stone took it back and stood up. “Alright, I’ll take it to Braveheart. You guys go on ahead, I’ll catch up.”

Stone was trustworthy, and we knew he could handle himself, so Rainey and I continued on our way while he went back to the village.

Secrets of the Past
Story 6
Chapter 2: The Legend
By: FluttersIsAwesome

"So, you said you saw a vision?"

Rainey and I lay down on the island, leaning against the large tree right smack in the center. "They weren't really visions. They were more like... memories. I saw this unicorn with a hood and armor, and both times the situation he was in was similar to mine. I don't know how, but I mimicked what he did and it got me out of trouble."

"Hmm... I wonder what it could mean."

I turned to the waterfall for a moment, watching the water shine as it flowed into the lake. My thoughts drifted for a moment from my flashes to the waterfall, and how the lake never overflowed; then I remembered that various underground tunnels connected it to other waterways. "What really concerns me is that letter.... Whoever wrote it probably also sent those monsters to the village; you normally don't see Komodo that close to pony territory."

I felt a warm pressure on my side and turned: I was now Rainey's pillow. "I'm just glad nopony got hurt. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose you or Stone."

"Speaking of Stone, where is he?"

Either coincidences are common for me, or Stone was just hiding and listening. "Hi, guys!" Waving at us from the top of the tree, he smiled. "Braveheart said to meet him in the shaman's tent as soon as we can. I think by 'as fast as we can', he meant 'Right now.'"

It was never wise not to follow Braveheart's orders to the letter. The trek back to the village was much easier seeing as how we now had the sun to illuminate the forest. Still early morning, we didn't expect anypony else to be awake. However, expectations have a tendency not to be met. The congregation of villagers crowded around us as we exited the forest.

"Rainey! Are you alright?!"

"Stone, my baby, what were you thinking?"

"Don't you three know not to go into the forest after dark?!"

"Dust Devil! You are in big trouble, young stallion!" When my parents shouted, everypony knew that stuff just got serious. Almost as if they were commanded, the crowd parted as my mother and father walked toward us.

My father stood tall, stabbing my soul with a piercing glare. "I hope you know what kind of trouble you've gotten yourself into, Dust Devil. Come with us."

My father's hoof was blocked by a light-red hoof from behind me. "Stop, Mr. Typhoon! Dust hasn't done anything wrong, we convinced him!"

Stone walked up from behind me and piped up as well. "Yeah, Rainey's right. If I hadn't have told him, he wouldn't have even know we were leaving."

The blonde maned, light brown mare stepped up and moved Rainey's hoof from my father's. "Regardless of who told him, my son is in charge of his own actions. He could have easily said 'no', and in fact, he should have told somepony else what you were up to!"

"Correct. My son knows better than to let even his best friends influence him. Come with me, Dust Devil."

"STOP!" It was like he could command time. Every villager in Kimahri could say, with ease, that even in his old age Braveheart was the strongest stallion in the village. My father dared not argue with him, knowing he could be easily overpowered. "Leave the child be, Typhoon. I know you and Amythest are upset, but I am quite glad that these foals did what they did. They faced an encounter that I knew had to come sooner or later, and I'd rather it have been even sooner that it was."

My father, back on all fours, stared at him with widened eyes. "Chief... are you serious? My son could have been killed, and if he had been, it could have been avoided had he just beha-"

"Still your tongue, Typhoon. Not even you know of the power your blood possesses."

My gaze shifted from Braveheart to my father and back again. "Power?"

In complete contrast to my father's attitude, Braveheart made no attempt to even try and scold me. "Ginger Snap, I know you are hiding amongst this gathering. Come out so that I may speak with all four of you."

Again, Braveheart was not a pony whose commands were taken lightly. The little filly stood behind her sister, shaking. "Y-yes sir...."

"The four of you, follow me."

* * *
The inside of the shaman's hut was both a fearful and sacred place. Various carvings and paintings depicting old legends lined the walls. There were six pillars surrounding the center room, each with different incense burning at the top. Not only that, but both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia looked down on all that entered the hut from their painted mural on the ceiling.

From our semi-circle forming seats in the center of the room, we could easily see Braveheart rummaging through old papers. "There is a legend that has been passed down for fifty centuries. It tells of a great hero that matches the description of the unicorn in your memories."

A loud yawn escaped Ginger's lips as she leaned toward Stone. "Dust, a great hero? Hahaha... you're funny, Chief."

"I kid you not, young ones, it is here." The long scroll in his hooves was filled with symbols and characters that I did not recognize, but knew was not Equen. "Come here and listen closely."

After we had all scooted closer, Braveheart took this seat in front of his brewing cauldron.

" Five hundred years ago, a great evil haunted the land of Equestria. Legends had been told of an evil named Discord that had been sealed away by the Elements of Harmony, but this was of an entirely new magnitude. This entity of shadows stretched its hand across the skies, blocking the sun and plunging the land into a pervading darkness. Its power found its way into the darkness of some pony's hearts, and they followed him.

Just when it seemed as if Equestria was doomed, a hero emerged. Blessed by Celestia herself, the hero acted as a denizen of the darkness, working in secret against this great evil. He possessed a great power: the Element of Focus, one of the six Elements of Valor created by the leader of the Raishi people to give balance to the Elements of Harmony. One by one, the great hero felled the evil's underlings, with only little aid of the other Elements. As they drew closer to the source of the darkness, all twelve Elements came together to summon the greatest of all deities, referred to simply as "Sun". With his aid, the Elements toppled the evil's kingdom of shadows.

However, this battle was the end of the great hero. As his breath slowed, and his life force faded, he had the Princess seal his power in a foal to be carried on in that child's blood." After a long pause, Breaveheart turned to me with a rather intimidating gaze. "Dust Devil, need I tell you whose bloodline carries the hero's power?"

Staring at the blade that was still on my foreleg, I repeatedly extended and retracted it. "...My own."