//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: A pony and a dragon walk into a bar... // by Blackdust //------------------------------// A little ways into the badlands, an odd pair set up camp for the night. A dragon knight in spiked scale mail armor with a pick and a spiked steel shield, and a pegasus mare in leather armor with a well worn hoofblade mechanism on her left hoof, and a converted crossbow on her back just between her wings. She had a cocky smile and a spring in her step, though you wouldn't be able to hear it. "Oh, come on! You know it was funny, Fuego!" The mare said from her nearly completed single pony tent. "Regardless of whether or not I thought it was funny is not the issue, Misty. The issue i had with taunting that noble was that you did it in such a way that he would seem racist for arguing. That's what I have a problem with." The dragon, apparently named Fuego, replied. "Oh~? And what are you going to do to me, big bad drakey~?" Misty asked, teasingly wiggling her flank at him from the entrance to her tent. The spikey dragon sighed and shook his head,flicking his tail to whip it against her. "No, pony, not today. Besides, we still need to get the badlands hive before we can relax, or something bad will happen. And you still have to tell me about this... 'Dawn Flamingo' colt you grew up with back in the streets of Canterlot." A small 'eep' came from the mare as he flicked his tail across her flank. Although, at the mention of her old friend, she sobered up quickly. "Ah... Dawn... I suppose you have a right to know..." Almost 15 years ago... I almost got it... a filly thought to herself as she danced closer and closer to a small gem worth a hundred gold pieces in the house of the noble she was currently entertaining. "What are you doing, little filly?" Said noble asked her from right beside her, making the filly jump and snatch the gem before bolting for the nearest window. "Wha- HEY! Stop that thief!" The filly turned back and smirked as she broke through the window. "Idiot! Like you could catch the Mist!" And with that, she flew off, only to have a minor stun spell clip both her wings and ground her... ...Right on top of a unicorn colt who heaved her off effortlessly and pointed his hoofblade at her. "Who are you, and what do you think you're doing, you poor excuse for a pickpocket?" "Pickpocket? Look who's talking! Your cutiemark is literally for picking pockets!" She countered. The colt smiled and helped her up. "Takes a thief to spot a thief. Come on! I know a hideout nearby!" As he dragged her along, she felt something shift in her heart. She liked him. Like really liked him. Running from the nobles that she had stole from, being led by the hoof to the nearest hideout, and smiling? He was everything she had unknowingly dreamed of. "I... I'm Misty Breeze. You wanna be partners?" She asked him, half expecting him to reject her just like all the others. Mostly because being partners is like being married in the thieves world. But to her credit, he looked back and smiled wider. "Sure! I've been looking for a partner to get to a certain noble anyroad!" As he said that, she felt her wings poof out and a not-so-subtle blush spread across her face earning her a light chuckle from the colt. "Um... What's your name?" This simple question caused him to mistime a step, and almost fall. "I uh... My name is uh... is Dawn Flamingo..." "He didn't sound very confident with his reply, you know." Fuego said, interrupting her tale briefly. "Yeah, I know. That's because I was more trusting of him, than he was of me. Simple matter we resolved a couple years later." And so a few years passed, the two of them making a pretty copper from all the nobles in the various towns they ran from. They started learning that not all catches were going to be a clean getaway. They both had grown a good few feet, with Misty trying her best to stay as inconspicuous as possible. Making her good at a lot of things, but not particularly talented at any one thing, aside from when she started flying. Better than anyone her age that either of them knew, so it was a couple months after meeting her that Dawn pointed out her talent was in flying, and she confessed to being in love with him right afterwards. After those revelations, she got her cutiemark. A few more catches, and things went south. They returned to the town they met, forgetting the day that they had met. Needles to say, they walked into a trap. "Misty! Run!" Dawn shouted, throwing her his hoofblade before rushing at the guards that were following them. And as Misty caught her coltfriends hoofblade, she saw them impale him with spears, and coat him in spell fire. And as she watched, frozen in heartbroken fear, she saw him get up, and keep trying to fight. All because he saw her standing there. "Dawn..." Was all she said, before tearing her tear filled eyes away from the grisly scene and running. And she kept running, and stealing. But she would always keep track of who she stole from and where they were from, so as to avoid a similar situation from ever happening again. Fuego stared at her back since she turned away somewhere near the middle of the story, not sure if he should feel bad for the mare, or feel bad for all the nobles she stole from. That is, until he saw a tear fall and wet the sand beneath their hooves/feet. That was the deciding moment for him. He reached out and hugged her, being careful not to impale her on his spikes. "I'm sorry to hear that, Misty... Had I known it would hurt you so much, I wouldn't have asked in the first place..."