An adolescent alicorn stood alone in the middle of a large, plain room. In front of her, several others of her race sat elevated on wooden seats, though there were no more than twenty. Two of the alicorns stood out, impressive in their status.
In front of the seats were two towering thrones. On one, an elegant mare resided, her coat white in places and golden orange in others, the colors fading together flawlessly. Her mane and tail were a light golden orange turning a stunning dark purple at the tips. Her mane sparkled like someone had painted it with stars. Her wing tips seemed to float about like gentle clouds, mimicking her mane and tail. A slender crown adorned with pink sapphires rested against her tall horn.
On the other throne, a dark and mysterious stallion took in the small alicorn's frame. While the mare's mane and tail had seemed to sparkle, the stallion's coat contained the whole galaxy with a dark blue backdrop to top it off. His color continued onto his mane and tail, which flowed like water around his body. His wings were the same as they too seemed to be made of water. A sharp black crown set with black opals rested upon his head, directly behind his horn.
The two alicorns stared down at the younger alicorn with differing expressions. The mare held a look of regret and sorrow in her golden eyes while the stallion's purple ones were filled with the fire of anger, betrayal, and revenge.
The isolated adolescent looked up frightfully. She had done wrong, and would face punishment. Or so it seemed. She alone knew that she was innocent, but the two powerful alicorns, the King and Queen of Equestria, took no excuses. Queen Galaxia was a fair Queen; however, King Cosmos was brutal and unforgiving. The alicorn would know, for the two were her parents.
They had named her Elementis, for good reason. Elementis was able to control all natural elements, her talent sealed by her cutie mark: air, fire, water, and earth spiraling together. This control would not help her in this situation, for she was chained in metal shackles and an enchanted metal cap rested upon her horn. The cap prevented all magic, so she was stuck in the middle of a room facing prosecution.
An elderly gray unicorn, whose mane and tail had gone white with age, walked towards the rows of elevated seats. He lifted a scroll even older than himself, cleared his throat importantly, and read off an ancient line.
"When one stands accused of treason, the two punishments are death and exile. Does the prosecuted have anything to say that might sway their majesties to the latter?"
Elementis looked up into her mother's tear-filled eyes, her vision blurred by tears of her own. She turned to her father and flinched. She realized, aided by his hard gaze, that nothing she could say would sway him from his already made decision. She dropped her head, bright orange hair covering her golden eyes. Tears fell from her face, staining her white coat.
What she didn't see, however, was that her father's gaze had softened after seeing her tearful face. He sighed hard before he said a single, soft word.
"Exile."
Immediately two guards rushed towards Elementis. They freed her from her chains, dragging them away as another guard came and held her at spearpoint. He gestured to the huge double doors made of a light oak wood on the far end of the council room. Elementis trudged forward taking one last look at her sobbing mother and stone-faced father.
On the outside of the doors stood two ponies. A twelve-year-old Celestia and a five-year-old Luna. Celestia smirked at Elementis and leaned her muzzle in close to the older pony's ear.
"How's that for a mere student?" Celestia asked wickedly.
Even though Elementis was sixteen, Celestia acted as if there was no difference. Elementis had been heir to the throne with Celestia next in line as her mother's eldest student. Celestia was greedy, though, and soon made it her mission to find any flaw or secret that could render Elementis unfit for the crown. She had succeeded, learning that Elementis had a secret friend: a dragon.
The dragons had been a sworn enemy of the ponies since long before anyone could remember. To not report one on sight was treason. If you didn't report one, one could only assume you were helping the enemy. Elementis had only wanted to be friends. The dragon Elementis had befriended was soon locked up after Celestia went to Cosmos, and Elementis was charged with treason.
Elementis shoved Celestia away and went to attack her when the guards pinned her down, spear pressed against her neck. Celestia frowned and swiftly turned and walked off. Luna looked from Elementis to Celestia before trotting off after her older sister. Elementis wasn't sad at all that she would never see that filly again. Well, until she came with an army.
Years passed, and Elementis wandered from town to town, kingdom to kingdom. She was run out of several places where word of her betrayal had spread. She lived alone in dark forests and cold tundras, open plains and cramped caves. No one even cared to get to know her, knowing a traveling alicorn had done something very wrong in life.
One day, she found herself in the home of the dragons. However, with nowhere else to go, she decided to brave it.
She fiddled with a makeshift tent she had tried to put together earlier. Suddenly, the whole structure collapsed and she groaned in dismay. It was sundown and she still didn't have a shelter. The guards had never taken the enchanted cap off of her horn, so she was left without magic. She was never a good flyer so she couldn't use her wings either.
She fell to the ground and wrapped her hooves around her muzzle. Racking sobs shook her body as tears flowed freely down her cheeks. It had been almost eight years since she'd had any kind of contact with other alicorns and five since contact with any type of pony. She had grown desolate and felt insanity slowly taking over.
A noise came from the brush at the edge of her campsite and her head jolted up. Two yellow-green eyes stared back at her. She stood quickly and pricked her ears forward, spreading her wings in defense.
"Who's there?" She yelled.
"Does it matter?" A snarky voice answered.
Elementis slowly backed away from the voice and glowing eyes. As she did, a clawed hand, that glowed with a copper color, emerged from the shadows. After the hand came a lean scaly arm connected to a powerful chest and a slender neck. Perched on the neck was a dragon's head, darker spikes adorning its cheeks and forehead. Jagged spines ran down from the top of its neck to its shoulder blades where a pair of massive wings lay tucked by its sides. The rest of the dragon's body lay draped in shadow. Looking closer as the dragon's broad jaw and shoulders, Elementis realized it was male. The dragon was small to be fully grown. The dragons she had seen from a distance had been as tall as the trees around her but she went up to this dragon's shoulder.
"W-what do you want?" She stuttered backing into a tree.
The dragon came closer until he was only a hoof or two from her. His tail flicked menacingly behind him, a sharp black blade growing from the tip. Elementis could feel his warm breath on her face as he growled low in his throat.
"The only thing I want to know is why you dare set foot in my land." He snarled, flashing his sharp canines.
"Your land? Are you of nobility?" Elementis asked hesitantly.
"Nobility? Dragons do not have nobility, we fight for the title of Dragon King!" He said proudly. "I will be in the running this year." He grinned at some private thought than scowled at Elementis. "Why do you care?"
"I, well...I used to be a royal." Elementis looked down, forgetting her fear completely.
The dragon looked at her with narrow eyes. "You don't work for the ponies?"
"No, not really. I much prefer the company of dragons actually."
His gaze softened. "Oh, well then, my name's Cobre." He smiled as his posture relaxed and he sat on his hindquarters.
"Elementis." The alicorn stated, relaxing as well.
More years passed and Elementis and Cobre became quite close. On the year they met, Cobre participated in the Dragon King challenge. He did not make it very far. Elementis helped him train for the next year in any way she could. He did better. Six years later, Cobre managed to win the crown. With his new position in mind, Elementis thought of a plan.
The dragons and ponies may have been enemies, but they avoided wars with each other. Elementis convinced Cobre to help her reclaim her throne so that they would be the most powerful creatures in Equestria and beyond. He used his power over the dragons to ambush Canterlot and the royal castle. Even with the element of surprise, the alicorns quickly launched a counterattack and the dragons were forced to retreat.
The alicorns were strong and quickly put an end to the war. They ambushed the dragon's land at sunset, a grown Celestia and Luna leading the charge. Pushing through the dragon's defenses, they surprised Cobre, casting a spell to lock him in an icy tomb. Without their leader, the dragons were soon defeated, the few who remained fled. Elementis escaped, the two sisters never noticing her among the enemy.
Elementis was devastated. The one person she had grown to love was now locked away in an unmeltable block of ice. She knew the spell the sisters had used, it would not last forever. She waited faithfully by Cobre's side, training night and day for when he would return.
Soon, the elements became one with Elementis. Water droplets marred her ears, her feet seemed rocky on the bottom, vines crawled up her legs. Her mane and tail shimmered like fire and her wings swirled like air. She was ready to avenge herself and Cobre.
Nevertheless, she waited patiently for the icy spell to wear off. Thousands of years passed by, but as an alicorn, she was immortal. She grew desolate and terribly lonely. She could feel insanity clawing at pieces of her mind, that is until the ice began to crack.
Elementis jolted awake in the middle of the night to a loud crack. She looked at Cobre's still form through the shiny surface of the ice and noticed a huge crack that went from the top to the bottom. More cracks formed with other softer noises until the ice had become a spider web of lines.
She watched as the ice crumbled to the ground and Cobre tumbled out and onto the forest floor. Elementis quickly ran to help him up. He breathed heavily and looked around, blinking rapidly.
"What happened?" He asked, his voice raspy from so many years of disuse.
Elementis explained as Cobre stared at her wide eyed.
"It's time we reclaim what we have lost, Cobre." Elementis said with a hard voice.
"I couldn't agree more." He smiled wickedly.
They set out to reclaim their dragon army, but so much time had passed that their names were long forgotten. Cobre, enraged, set out to win back his title, Dragon King challenge or not. He quickly did so, the modern dragons weak from generations of peace. Few fights were needed to become the Dragon King once again.
However, a new problem emerged. A year after Cobre's return, Elementis grew heavy with child. After the child was birthed, the two parents realized how special their new filly was. Appearing alicorn, except for a pair of razor-sharp canines, the filly, in fits of rage, would take on a dragon form. Elementis decided she could use this. She groomed the filly to become a wonderful asset, a spy of sorts. After her sixteenth birthday, Elementis would send her out to Ponyville.