//------------------------------// // Prologue: Past History // Story: Little Dragon In A Strange New World II: Hero's Plight // by Zeryurijin //------------------------------// Tri Point Mountain. A long forgotten tribute to the early days of the three nations. Used during times of tension, this monument served as grounds for meetings between Equestria, Gryf and Draconis' rulers. Here away from the worries of their kin, each monarch would set the tide for requests, demands and recommendations. Denials, threats, and solutions were the outcome most of the time. Rarely did arguments arise for the fear of repercussion was great. When peace was achieved, Tri Point Mountain was abandoned, forgotten to the elements of time. Yet it was imbued with the magic of the world. Thus centuries may have passed, but the neutral grounds for the three remained in pristine condition since the time of its construction. It was here the a fugitive took shelter under the stormy night. The earthen doors leading into the main chambers opened, allowing a ragged, robed figure to stagger inside before shutting them behind. The being limped towards the throne chair where the Dragon Queen used to occupy before slumping in the seat. A bandaged hand pulled away the hood to reveal a tired, dirty scaled muzzle. Pale blue in color, they had lost their sheen due to the constant run of the owner. Green eyes burned fiercely as the other hand unloaded a satchel upon the stone table. Sapphire Fireblood heaved a sigh as she stared dully across the surface of the table towards an old statue depicting a dragon wrapped in the armor of old. The dragoness felt dim memories stir, memories of a time long ago when dragons were feared and held command across this wretched world. Dragons were great beasts of the air, feared among the lesser creatures and commanded awe when noted. When young ferals were not scuffling with griffon sentries along the borders, the dragons tended to obey their queen's rule. The nation of Gryf also minded to its own kin. When sentries were not testing their bravery by hunting out dragon hoards, the kingdom sought advice and wisdom from the king and queen. When the world was young both kingdoms looked to the south and west of the borders, to the untamed wild lands that held so much bounty, its natural beauty was ripe for harvest. That is until search parties from both nations discovered a race they had never seen before. They would learn that the outsiders were called ponies. Hailed from the the farthest reaches of the cold north, these settlers had fled from an ancient curse that plagued them. Free from the Windigos the three new tribes sought a new life in the wilderness. Wary at first, the griffons would start trade with the newcomers. But the dragons shunned them, seeing the mammals as a nuisance much like they saw the griffons. Over time the tiny settlements scattered across the lands would bloom into small towns and flourish. The ponies were most grateful for the hospitality the griffons had provided, once they grew accustomed to their taste in food. Pegasi found greater joy in knowing they had fellow flyers would could assist and aid when it was needed. Yet for all the prosperity the pony tribes had obtained, it was not without trouble. The dragons, the worst of the kin from Draconis began to raid along the borders. Crops were burned, houses trashed and even a few ponies kidnapped. Soon after there was demand that these ponies were to pay tribute to the great beasts or face total destruction at the talon, jaws and fire from some of aggressors. Griffons were in an uproar and vowed retaliation should the raids continued. To the dragons, this was a challenge. Long had they tolerated the half bird, half feline breeds of Gryf. Now allied with the ponies, they were deemed a threat. Thus the wars erupted. Griffon clashed with ferals, while ponies struggled to survive the younger drakes who pillaged and looted. Unicorn, pegasus and earth pony scrounged what weapons they could and defended their homes against the dragon's threat. But it was a losing battle. The dragons were gaining the upper wing and they knew it was only a matter of time before Gryf and the weak ponies submitted finally to their superior strength. That is until the castle in the wild forests appeared. No one knew when it appeared. Some claimed the night sky bathed the ground in a light so bright, those who looked upon it were to be blinded. Not long after the castle appeared did a new being emerge. This creatures looked like the ponies, but different. Taller, more majestic then the three tribes, this winged unicorn stepped forward with a decree: If the dragons did not cease the fighting with both griffon and pony, then retribution would be swift and just. Some dragons laughed at these newcomer. Bold was the statement, but if this outsider proved anything like the unicorns and pegasus, all they saw was a larger version of a teleporting, darting winged beast that fled from their jaws. The raids continued. In doing so the downfall of the ferals began. The alicorn as the ponies would call her, were anything but a terrified feeble mammal. Her magic was beyond anything griffon and dragon had ever seen. For the dragons, this magic stung worse then any bite or claw mark. Their high magical resilience was nothing when beams of light magic seared scale, burned flesh and charred muscle. Nor was this alicorn a light weight in terms of offense.She flew into a group of dragons lashing out with both front and hind hooves. Those caught in her kicks felt their bones snap and wings tear. When she took to the air, her wings were said to create such gale force winds, that some dragons foolish enough to get too close were swept away in a funnel cloud, never to be heard from again. The tables had turned. Griffons, seeing the ponies new allies come to their aid, rallied behind their own forces and bolstered the alicorn's defense. Thus a truce was to be called. At the time of the meeting, the dragons crowned a new queen. Her name was Demuria the Third. Unlike her predecessor, Queen Tyranis the Second, Demuria wanted to end the fighting and usher in a time of peace. She saw that such wars did nothing positive and offered regret to what the former queen had done to both pony and griffon alike. The treaty of Tri Point was signed that day and a new nation emerged from the dying fires. The nation of Equestria. Those who survived the wars tended to the burial and remembrance of those who lives were lost. For the dragons, the ones who escaped the alicorn's magic, they were condemned and punished by Demuria herself. While the nations rebuilt and licked their wounds, there was one dragoness who spat on the treaty in secret. Chrome Fireblood considered Demuria a traitor and disgrace to the nation of Draconis. They were dragons! They were to be feared and respected as Tyranis had deemed. Now because of some worthless piece of paper, they were to bend the knee and bow to this newly crowned princess of Equestria? She would not have it. With a small gathering of drakes who shared her vision, Chrome Fireblood left her home in Draconis and started a coup. This Princess Celestia held a weakness. Chrome Fireblood had seen it. The alicorn was not the sole resident of the castle in the forest. The dragoness sent a couple of drakes to cause a distraction along the edge of the border to Draconis. Then she waited until the alicorn princess left her castle in search of whom ever was responsible for harming her subjects. Chrome with three others invaded that afternoon. Searching high and low, the dragoness along with her cohorts sought to find out what was it that made Celestia protect this castle so fiercely during the war. It was then discovered in the form of a smaller alicorn. This one, half the size of the princess was a dark midnight blue. Chrome found her cowering under the bed when they rummaged through the main bed chambers. So Princess Celestia had a sister. It was perfect. When Princess Celestia returned, she found her castle ransacked and no sight of of her younger sibling anywhere. Tearing apart the grounds even further, the alicorn searched high and low with no success. It was then a injured griffon fell from the sky, bearing a scroll. Inside was a single dark feather along with the tiara of her younger sibling with a dreaded message from her kidnapper. Surrender your crown and submit to us or we shall send your sister back in pieces. Glory to the fallen Queen Tyranis. Fireblood The evening sun never set that day. Instead it rose to its apex and with it, the intense heat of the rays bore down across the lands. The ponies thought it was an omen of dark things to come and retreated to their homes. The griffons tore apart their libraries trying to find meaning behind the beloved sun's sudden refusal to set. The dragons? They felt a frightening aura bearing down upon them. It was though the sun was staring straight into their souls, searching from some weakness to burn away. Many ferals followed the ponies in terms of hiding and retreated to their caves for fear of being singled out. Temuria the Third rose from her throne and stood outside, shielding her eyes from the glaring rays. Someone out there was furious, this much she could tell. Whomever it was, may the great ancestors have mercy on them. Fireblood was not expecting the sun to reverse its course and travel high in the sky. Her fellow drakes felt uneasy as they had watched the spectacle unfold. The dragoness paid no need rather instead waited for the princess of ponies reply. Along with Luna as captive, she had the drakes kidnap a few of the settlers they had attacked earlier as a means of leverage. It never hurt to be prepared in case things soured quickly. What Chrome did not count on was the raging comet that came hurling from the sky. It crashed down among the group, sending all of them hurling into the trees, rocks and any jutting obstructions that happened to be in the ground. As the group recovered, their eyes fixated on the source. The Princess Celestia they saw was not the one from the castle. Her mane and tail was not the pale pink they remembered seeing. Instead great flames licked along her sides, scorching the ground as she approached the thieves. Her kind eyes were feral and slitted much like the dragons, bearing hatred and rage for the travesty they had committed. Chrome Fireblood felt that this time, she had pushed the once beloved princess of the ponies too far with the kidnapping of her sister. Even as the dragoness leapt to snag Luna before she could wiggle free, a great light filled the area they stood in. It was said a mighty scream tore through the trees that day and with it, the agonizing cries of the unfortunate souls who met their end. Chrome Fireblood was delivered to the feet of Queen Temuria, burned, bloodied, and nearly broken. Before her stood her attacker, Princess Celestia herself with Luna hugging her neck, fearful of the dragons standing before them. Princess Celestia went on a tirade, damning Chrome's every action against her subjects. From the attack on the settlement along the border to the assault and ransacking of the castle. She made Luna's kidnapping the worst offense next to the parchment detailing the demands the captors sent. When Temuria asked Chrome if this was all true, the dragoness merely sneered a yes. She felt no remorse or regret of her actions and would do it a thousand times over if she could. Chrome mocked Queen Temuria, calling her weak and pathetic to allow these ponies to walk all over her like very dirt floor they stepped upon. She confessed her loyalty to the fallen queen Tyranis and would rather see her sitting upon the throne then the miserable excuse of a queen she saw now. Queen Temuria bowed and apologized to Princess Celestia for Chrome's actions. She and her current council judged and carried out Chrome's sentence. Before it was to be past, the Queen asked the new monarch of Equestria if there was anything she wished to add. Princess Celestia merely asked that Chrome be punished fairly. What followed next shocked every dragon and alicorn in that room. Queen Temuria leapt upon Chrome's back, ignoring her scream as her great talons tore into her shoulderblades. Luna vaguely remembered hearing a voice in her head bading her to close her eyes, that younglings should not have to watch. In doing so, the sibling was spared the next sight: Temuria ripped Chrome's wings from her burned back and cast them aside. As the fallen dragoness thrashed on the ground in agony, Queen Temuria sentenced her to exile. That no nation welcome her for the treachery she had caused, nearly destroying the peace they had barely managed to succeed in creating. Princess Celestia was aghast with what she had witnessed. When she tried to heal Chrome, Queen Temuria forbid it. When confronted for her act, the Queen stated that Chrome saw her as a weak and pathetic creature. That mere exile would be considered a laughable offense. So she lived up to being a dragon by further damning the dragoness. To spend the rest of her life forever grounded, never to feel the kiss of the wind against her wings ever again. Thus the guilty was cast out. Chrome fled the lands of Draconis. Fled down south beyond the great forest to the barren wastelands that housed little life. She and those who opted to go with her settled and brooded. It was in the Badlands that Chrome made a promise. That she would strike back and both Queen and Princess of Equestria and Draconis. She would take her revenge against them, even if it was to fall to one of her descendents. This she swore. Time passed as the budding nation of Equestria grew. The world watched as the ponies suffered under the cruel tricks of the chaos lord Discord. The discovery of the Elements of Harmony that was later used to imprison the draconequus and freeing the lands from his warped magic. The natural disaster the nearly ended the dragon's existence that followed. Princess Celestia program to gather all orphaned eggs that survived and to help raise and rebuild the devastation caused by the fiasco. Princess Luna succumbing to her jealously and anger, becoming Nightmare Moon which ended in her banishment for a thousand years. The founding of Canterlot. Nightmare Moon's escape and redemption thanks to the new Bearers of the Elements. Yes time went on and soon the world had almost forgotten what early life had been like. History teachers and museum guides along with old books in libraries recounted the tales of pony, dragon and griffon and their struggles to live in peace and harmony in the early days. Fireblood was all but erased as those who had known about those times had all passed away either from old age or natural causes. But the promise whispered in the badlands still lingered. It called out to its kin, those who managed to survive over the centuries And one finally answered. Sapphire was a descendent of Fireblood by blood through relations in her family that could be traced to a aunt. Though the name Fireblood was abandoned in hopes of starting a new life, the pact made by their ancestor remained. Growing up, Sapphire read about the history of her family, the exile, the disgrace. Deep down she knew Chrome was right, that dragons were feared and should be worshiped just like the goddess alicorns of Equestria. But she harbored these thoughts to herself. The dragoness planned and put her own agenda into the game. At first she was successful. Returning to the home of her birth, she passed herself as a orphan from Gryf sent as a student who wished to learn about the history of Draconis and perhaps become a citizens. She was welcomed with open wings as dragons loved to reconnect to those who longed to return to their place of birth. The dragoness attended school, graduated and moved on to politics, mainly involving the interactions between the three nations. It was here Sapphire carefully manipulated events that allowed her to become an apprentice to the ambassador who represented Draconis to Gryf and Equestria when he was called. Through him, she learned all the ins and out an ambassador faced when meeting with the fellow representatives. As Sapphire matured, she used her good looks to sway and lure the old male dragon from his studies and eventually his premature end. When he died suddenly of natural causes, no dragon ever linked it to Sapphire herself. The former ambassador was buried and Sapphire's name for a replacement was cast into the ballot. When she was named the successor, this only made the dragoness even more thrilled. For now she would work close to the Queen and gain on hands insight to knowledge of Draconis Gryf and Equestria that normal kin could never access. Not without a lengthy process. Even as she presented herself as one who looked out for her own kin, the whisper of vengeance lingered in the recesses of her mind. This was all she needed to drive her plans to end those responsible for her ancestors banishment. One night, while delving into a forbidden spell book, the dragon came across a spell that would grant one the power to speak with lost relatives, spirits of the departed who were related. Sapphire wanted nothing more then to speak with Chrome and inform her that all would be well and that her descendent would soon fulfill the dark promise made long ago. It was during the incantation that she accidently called forth a different spirit. A spirit that would slightly alter her plan to overthrow the Queen and take control, but still too good to pass up. Malefor was summoned and later, secretly brought from the underworld of Tartarus. At first he could only inhabit a dark crystal Sapphire had managed to obtain from the Crystal Empire to the far north. Over time he would search for a host body and find it within the imprisoned Discord in the Canterlot gardens one foggy night. Sapphire was thrilled when Malefor offered his services to help right what had been wronged to her kin. All he asked in return were a few small favors. To the dragoness they were easy enough. With most well set plans, there are always a kinks that would unravel even the best laid plan. Sapphire's own undoing was one of the favors owed to Malefor. Once his nemesis Spyro was pulled from his world into Equestria, everything changed. Malefor became obsessed with his capture. Using resources that the dragoness did not know about, Malefor scoured the lands for the purple dragon until he found him. Found him in the safety and protection of the alicorn sisters. It was here that Sapphire's own agenda was to start falling apart. Malefor's attack on Canterlot Castle was out of the blue. So were the hordes of mindless cultists he managed to enslave. While Sapphire was hoping he would end the princesses, the lich instead captured Spyro and left the sisters to the ruination of their kingdom. Then the attack on Draconis. Again Sapphire had thought everything, though a little off the beaten path would go according to schedule. That is until Dark Spyro escaped. Sapphire was soon captured as well and condemned to die for failing to inform Malefor of the dragon's escape. She would have perished were it not for his foe conveniently bursting into the throne room and the ensuing battle the followed. In the commotion, Sapphire had escaped, though it had to be swift. She knew if the Queen were to break free of her shackles, the dragoness would surely be at her mercy. So began her hiding. For five long years using her influence and wealth from her personal hoard, the dragoness thwarted her captors time and time again. From the city of Highwind in Gryf to the splender of Manehatten, the dragoness let her pursuers across the lands. Yet time and money was running out. Sapphire knew she could not keep this up and that it was only a matter of time before she would be captured. When all seemed loss, the whispers of vengeance guided her to one source of history. She stumbled upon it in a cave once home to the changelings. What she discovered was both shocking and promising. Now here she was, taking refuge in Tri Point Mountain. The stone tablets she secured from the cave in the badlands would be her guide. It would take some research and there was only one place that would suite her needs: The Canterlot Library. The first answer was there, but to get there she would have to break in. Clenching her bandaged hand, the dragoness grinned in the dim light. The dark spell she unleashed would reach its target, providing her with the first catalyst. Soon what was to be unleashed upon Equestria would make the Malefor incident seem like whelps play.