//------------------------------// // Background chapter // Story: Wonder-Colt 3: The Dragon's Trap. // by Will of Haphinea //------------------------------// Duty was something every member of Celestia's guard knew. It was ever expected, and at times required those in the Guard to do things that may have put themselves in danger. This was the life of the guard pony. Often seen as nothing but Pegasus or Unicorns, the few Earth Ponies that were in the ranks of the Guard itself were sill strong, brave, and willing to protect their Princesses and Equestria. It came as no surprise though, that they were often left to lowly guard postings on the borders and not often found on exciting missions. However, sometimes exceptions were made, and some missions required the strength and fight of an Earth pony. One Earth pony in particular, Wonder-Colt, was on a several month solo mission. It was bad enough that he was given a peculiar name, but the fact that no other guards wished to join in investigating the threat of new monsters was something he could not stand and let pass by. Celestia herself commissioned that he was to search and destroy the monsters plaguing the small villages bordering Equestria's furthest reaches, and report after each town he could. This was somewhat straight forward, but the town themselves were often a mix of Pony and non-Pony alike living together. Griffons, Dragons, Talking-Bird creatures inhabited and in some cases ran entire villages. They also lived together in other ways, as was a small town that was inhabited by both "Zorses" and "Hippogryphes". It was quite a sight, but it gave the guard some hope that Pony kind was doing ok, if they were able to interbreed with others and live together. Once more, the monsters themselves were fearsome. From lowly goblins and ghosts, to jumping snakes and terrorizing bats, to a riddling Sphinx, and a Giant dragon that requested help or he would bring forth terror and destruction. Wonder was sure he had seen it all. It all came down to this final castle. According the all the villagers in the area, this is where the monsters were first seen coming from, and thus where he hoped this journey would end. Along the way, he and others discovered a special armor set, one they called the Legendary set, as well as a Legendary sword that went with it. This kept him protected even more than his Guard armor did and with it, he could even use some very basic magic with it. The large Castle was a maze of monsters and after what seemed like forever, he finally made it to the bottom of the castle. This castle however was very unusual; the huge stone structure had many rooms, and if you were careless, one door would lead back to a room you just left sometime ago. Just as he reached this area, the magic he felt while running through the stone structure soon dissipated, and he came to what he knew was something odd: a room made up of Lit-up walls, blue-colored tiles and felt as if it was holding lightning within it. It buzzed in the air, and concerned the solider of Equestria. He didn't know what was beyond the door ahead, but whatever it was, it had to be destroyed. Initially when he entered the room, he saw a bouncing dragon, and soon fought towards it, slice at its face and casting some quick fireballs towards the foul creature. However, as it slowed to the damages given, it revealed something far more sinister, and impossible: This dragon was a machine! Sure enough and before his very own eyes, the green scales burned away and revealed a blue shiny metal coated monstrosity. Its eyes were nothing but black with a red dot scanning back and forth between each space, and it spat fire in almost a merciless torrent toward Wonder-Colt. There was no magic he had the seemed to work against this metal beast and trying to attack it left him hurt as it rushed toward him, injuring him and stressing even the magic within the armor. He was desperate, and jumped up once to try and stab the 'eyes' of the dragon, but as he hit, it moved but took the plunge attack right on the face! He couldn't believe his luck; in order to hit this thing and cause any sort of lasting damage, he had to hit the face. Why couldn't I be a Pegasus or even a Unicorn? I'll have to jump attack in order to even scratch this thing...ugh! he thought. Truth be told, his strength at least made the dragon back off for a while before it resumed its fire attacks. It took a bit, but he soon figured out how to coax the dragon into charging towards him, and jumping into him at a perfect time to attack, and soon, with much luck, and all his training he had learned, the dragon was destroyed. As the machine burned, a small blue flame danced above the soldier's head. He looked up, and took precaution to shield up, but instead of attacking, the flame dropped what appeared to be...bits?!? Although Celestia's guards are taught never to accept bribes, he figured if the monster was giving him money, he would be a fool not to grab some of the falling coins. As fate would have it, the flame was very aware of what it was doing, and as soon as Wonder bent down to pick up some coins, it charged towards the stallion. He managed to dodge the flames, and it still dropped more and more coins as it again swept down and try to attack him. He miscalculated a jump and expected to be burnt to a crisp, but the flame wouldn't be doing that. Wonder screamed as he felt something changing him and take away his armor, his weapons, and everything else he had with him. He knew this was something bad, and braced himself for whatever this evil blue flame did to him. He fell to the ground, next to an orange mare, by the look of it. He wasn't sure where she had came from, but he felt a duty to protect her. He reached over with his claw and.... Oh no, he thought as he looked over himself and seen that he was covered in scales. He also had claws now, he stood upright and soon yelled out, "I am NOT getting paid enough for this..." Author's Note: Thus begins the adventure. I am hoping I have fixed enough of the errors I had when I brought this over from my other computer. If you find any mistakes or tips to improve my writing, I fully ask for and will accept help! I thank you all.