//------------------------------// // Chapter 01 // Story: Mare, Stallion and a Dragon // by Stelsun Darkstar //------------------------------// A long time ago, there was Equestria. A land ruled by the two alicorn sisters, where almost everything is fueled by real harmony and friendship. But the thing is, that not every place in the kingdom has it's friendly and harmonious magic. Somewhere even far from Griffonstone, there's a wide forest, where a small castle is build. In this little castle lives a dragon prince, with his dragon servants. They had everything in their small home, literally anything you can imagine that an Equestrian dragon needs. But things can't be really said for one little dragon. Or a pony.. or even both. Anyway, there was this little 'dragon' that wondered around in the forest, searching for it's own home to take over and live in. Everything seemed hopeless for the little guy, until he noticed a house made out of stone. It looked like the regular house that a pony could use. The dragon decided to take advantage of the fact that there may live ponies, so he entered the house with to hesitation. "Let's see what kind of ponies live here.." The dragon thought to himself. "..so i can peacefully take this house for me.." When he entered the so called 'living room' that didn't even looked like one, the dragon kid saw two ponies, a mare and a stallion. They were both chained up to a wall with metal collars and they both looked miserable. That caught the dragon's interest and he came up to them a little closer, so he can talk to them. "Hello there.. ponies?" The stallion lifted up his head and shushed at the dragon. "Please, it'll be better if you whisper!" "Oh, sorry, i guess?" The dragon whispered back. "Why are you ponies chained up like this?" "It's a long story, dragon.." The mare called. Then, the three of them heard hoof steps. The stallion gave a quick sign to the dragon to hide somewhere. He did, but still made sure to see what's happening to the ponies. Behind the mare and stallion, there was a big wooden door. It opened slowly, only to show the heads of two changelings. One of them looked like it had few scars on it's face, and the other one looked just fine as apple wine. The scarred one walked up to the ponies and shouted something at them that the dragon wasn't really able to understand. It sounded like a combination of a hiss and few words in ponish. Still, it wasn't pretty understandable for the dragon's standarts. When the changeling was done shouting and hissing at the ponies, he shut the wooden door and locked it behind. The dragon then showed up after he realized that it's safe again. Feeling curious about the overall presence of the two changelings in the house, he asked the two ponies if they know anything about them. "Yes! We know that they killed and ate our parents, so they can take over the whole house and keep us locked in here 'til the rest of our lifes!" The mare almost shouted and the stallion frowned when she said that. "And back then.. we were just foals.." The dragon wasn't shocked by this, but still felt some pity for them. He kinda wanted to help the two ponies escape, but at the same time, he didn't want to go away from his targeted home. "You know," The dragon finally made his decision. "i'll help you both. You'll finally go out of this house after all those years!" The mare and stallion were visibly happy that someone wanted to help them. It was about time. "Um, what were your names, again?" "I'm Lighting Cloud, and my little sister, Dasher Cloud. Yours?" Asked the stallion. "My name's.. well, you can call me Frighter." It was clear that Frighter didn't had an actual name, so he quickly made up one. Now, he had to find the key for the metal collars that they were wearing, he just had to ask them, "So, where's the key for those?" "It's in the changelings's room, as far as i know." Those words from the mare shocked the dragon. He didn't know how dangerous the changelings could be, but still, he got a little nervous about the following situation. Frighter quickly formed a plan in his head on how he's gonna steal the key, while the changelings are sleeping in their bedroom. It was nighttime already, and Frighter had to take action. Slowly, he walked up on all fours to the wooden door. He carefully opened the door, careful enough to not make a sound. When the dragon finally entered the bedroom, the two changelings have thankfully fallen asleep, tucked together in their twin-sized bed. Frighter searched quietly around the room, trying to find the key that would free the poor ponies out of their misery, but for some reason he couldn't find it anywhere in the room. "Oh goodness, what if the key's not even here?!" Frighter thought in a angry tone. Then all of his sudden anger disappeared when he noticed the key he was searching for. The key was just laying on the drawer that was placed close to the bed. Quickly, the dragon grabbed the key and carefully ran towards the door on all fours again. While all of that was happening, Frighter was trying to hold his laughter, because of his succees of finding one simple key. And now, that he was out of the room, he carefully placed the key in the lockers of the collars on the ponies's necks. After few seconds of trying to unlock the lockers, the two pony siblings were now free. The three of them opened the front door and the dragon told them to run away in the forest with him, because he remembered the presence of the small dragon kingdom, and that they could possibly help them all.