Wonder-Colt 3: The Dragon's Trap.

by Will of Haphinea

Explanation and the desert of doubt

Wonder found himself tied up and on a bed in the room he recognized as where he had last seen Miss Applejack before something hit his face. He wasn't mad, only realizing after he had initially said her name, that he was a dragon after all.

"Oh you know, if I were the type of dragon that wanted to eat or harm you, I would have already. But, I suppose I should apologize Miss"...he was cut off by the angry mare.

"I don't know how you know me, or why the pig out there insists you are cursed by something, but I am telling you, I am not believing that you ain't a danger to me." She paused a bit, and then looked down on ground. "Where are they? WHERE ARE MAH FRIENDS?!?"

The dragon-pony was understanding why the Element was acting this way. She was alone, in a strange place, with odd creatures after all, but he needed to be professional about his explanation and hopefully calm down the irate farmer.

"Well, to explain to you would be a rather long story. The short version is simply, I was sent as part of an investigation into mysterious creatures and monsters that were sighted and caught attacking ponies in the North lands, and some of the smaller villages from there, to outside of the Cloudsdale area. I have fought many dragons and beasts, and apparently, one such dragon, made up of metal was what cursed me into my present form. When I came to, I found you and brought you to the town here. I know Smokey can be a bit rough around the edges, but he seems to care and helped at least..." he finished.

Silence hung between the two sitting there, and it was clear that the pony in front of him was analysing what was said to her. Suddenly, she got up, and untied the dragon guard, and gave him a quick hug and apologized in a whisper. Wonder just sat and took what was happening in, and said nothing, waiting upon the other pony to speak first.

"Well, I can't say I understand what is going on, but bein' a Royal Guard, you are my friend's only hope of gettin' out of this mess," she stated as she began to adjust her hat. "That said, I would prefer if you went and found one of my other friends first, before I begin to tell what we were doing out in the middle of Equestria. Does that sound like a deal?"

"Sure Miss...I shall proceed to the area where I believe the next dragon may be. In any case, I prefer if you would stay here and wait, I can handle this myself." He started to exit the inn, when Applejack started to follow, and was noticed by him quite quickly.

"Uh, no offense Dragon-boy, but if mah friends are out there I want to help out as much as I can. I can't just let you go off when I'm capable of doing just as much as you can!" Applejack stated proudly. "Oh, and don't think just because Imma mare that I am not as strong as you!"

Wonder thought about this carefully, if he would decline her offer to help, it could be misinterpreted as saying she wasn't able to help, and even given his limited experience around mares, this would only lead to trouble, as well as further pain. On the other hand, he couldn't risk an Element getting hurt by some creature or even worse under his watch. He thought about it and came up with a compromise he hoped would please the waiting mare.

"Well, I am charged by the Princess to make sure no one under my watch is hurt, even in my present situation. THAT said...would you consider helping me in other ways? Like collecting bits to get new armor? I am unsure I need any weapon presently, but I may in the future, and bits would help in that quest. Is this acceptable?"

Applejack considered the offer and before she agreed, a voice from in the inn spoke up, one of the pig she had previously aired her dislike of and said something that would make even Wonder drop his jaw in shock.

"Really? You are going to let that little girl out there 'nd fight for you, instead of doing it yourself? *Oink snort* If it were up to me, I would have her stay put make you food, and maybe keep you company when you need it...hehe," squeeled out the rude pig.

There is one thing Wonder had always felt proud about himself, and that was he was able to keep calm in situation, despite pressure to do otherwise. The academy for the Royal guards was a test of this, especially amongst the Pegasus guards who would mock the Earth pony most of the time. However, one thing instilled upon him years ago by his family, was always keep cool under pressure, unless someone else was being picked on. Wonder knew what he had to do, but found that Applejack had already beaten him to the punch....so to speak.

After a few more high-pitched squeels and groans of pain from an obviously hurt Smokey, Applejack walked out rather calmly, and turned towards Wonder, and brought her hoof out and simply said, "Deal."

"Um, not to pry, but what happened in there? I would have gladly dealt with that....squeely creep for you ma'am if you would have..."

"No! He insulted me, and made a sick implication of what I should be doing, so I should be the one to show him that ah don't play that way...GOT IT?" Applejack said, as she interrupted the very nervous Dragon-pony.

"Understood Ma'am!" he let out and snapped to a salute. "What I was thinking, was head over to the beach area, and clear out those guys there, whilst I head towards the locked tower door to investigate. If the coast is clear after I check, I have no issues with you going wherever that leads us to help out there. I mean, if that is ok with you?"

"Yes, that is fine, and I'm awfully glad that I can help. Maybe you could show me how to use these magic I've found in your room? Of course I can buck those monsters just fine if I haveta!" Applejack said rather excitedly.

At this point, Wonder was sure the Earth mare wouldn't harm him, and showed her the way down to the beach area, where she went off and started to buck the first snake she ran into. Wonder had to admit to himself, it was nice to have a partner in this search.

He used the mysterious door to pop back into town and head into that locked door, which lead to a spring panel he used to go outside of the tower, and find a door situated high above the town below. He entered the doorway and found he was now in a desert area, and proceeded towards what he thought was a large structure some distance away. Most of the snake were easily dealt with, although the new ant lions he had to occasionally leap over also appeared to launch fireballs as well. This made the desert a bit tougher than the beach had been, but he was sure of his training, and was soon past all those traps.

The area right ahead of the structure was very odd, as there seems to be sunflowers with faces blowing more dangerous fireballs at him, as well as that annoying sunglass-wearing cloud dropping fireballs. The cloud was easily dispatched of, but the flowers required good dodging but burnt up with his own flame, and giving what looked like sad faces before finally fading away and leaving either bits, or more magic. "I'll never understand why things like this actually drop items at all," he complained to himself.

There was a pit ahead of him that lead to a doorway, but Wonder wanted to climb the structure, that looked like a pyramid to check if there was anything beyond it, and to see what else he could find from the very top. Once he got there, below on the other side was a statue of an old enemy, the Sphinx he recognized, and a giant wall. On the other side beyond where he came from, the trail lead up to a volcanic area. He was somewhat glad he didn't go that way, as he was unsure if dragons were lava-proof.

He climbed down the pyramid, and entered a doorway the Sphinx statue had, and grabbed another 'power heart' like the one he found earlier in the tower back where he started. he exited, as there wasn't much else to do there and climbed and came down the other side of the pyramid to enter that pit with the door to proceed. Inside, he climbed to the top, and found a familiar doorway, one that meant beyond this, there would be a dungeon, and most likely, the next dragon he would have to face.

He held his breathe, and entered the doorway....

Inside he marched forward towards the end of the room and prepped himself for battle. nly a few steps inside, and a few frogs, about as big as he was bounced straight towards him! He used fireballs to kill the threats, but felt a bit guilt about killing these creatures, as they didn't specifically seems to want to harm him.

He let the other ones live by dodge their bounces, and proceeding forward, to an area full of fireball traps coming from the ceiling. He watched were he walked and moved ahead, jumping up and dodging more frogs in the next area, jumping over a few more of these strange fireball traps, that he swore had faces...

This was certainly an unusual place, and Wonder swore that the area was playing tricks on him, but he managed to ignore those feelings and proceed. He did run into two guards of some sort who threw spears toward him. He decided these were a bit more serious than the previously encountered frogs he had fought, and fire balled them without much remorse.

The next room, he thought was the funniest despite the situation, was a floor full of spring panels, so whenever he landed on one, he bounced high in the air, and continued forward through the area ahead of him. It was made a slight bit less fun when more guards came, but he simply chose to bounce over them, and exit the area before they could follow.

This last area, before he could see the back wall, was nothing but flamethrower traps, and very odd flouting red balloon enemies, for lack of a better title. These require lots of ducking and dodging, but the managed to get through and arrive at the last to half pillars before reaching what looked like a dead-end. He decided to check the wall ahead of him, as he had found in previous adventure that there were sometimes false walls, and sure enough, he found a treasure chest, and raided it of quite a number of bits, and more medicine, should he need it.

As he exited through the door, he dropped down on what appeared to be a false floor as well, and was in a chamber with two more flamethrowers, not low enough to hit him, but high enough that made jumping back up impossible.

He found a hold down even lower, and found a door ahead of him, but he knew the presence he felt behind the door was none other than a dragon. He gulped, and went in and saw a dragon wrapped in old white cloth, and flying ahead of him!

If the past dragon was anything to go by, the dragon's head would probably be the best place to do damage to it. The fireball he first launched hit his target straight in the face for some minor, but good damage. He launched two others, before he dove underneath the beast as it flew over-head, and proceed to 'puke' very odd, green-colored messes towards him. Whatever the stuff was, it caught Wonder by his tail, and hurt him a bit, so he resolved to be a bit more careful next time.

He repeated the pattern a few times, and by his count, three times was the magic number to hit the drain before it flew too high and he had to dive under him as it puked more stuff towards the much smaller dragon-pony. He was really liking the fireball now, as the sword, as much as he loved it, was very limited in terms of range.

After a few more hits, the dragons grew weaker, its cloth were engulfed in flames, and it was only a matter of time before it was finished. He launch two more fireballs and just as the second one hit, the dragon was defeated, and dropped down a beautiful yellow Pegasus. This must have been the other Element, but which one?

Before he could rush toward her, that little blue flame came back, and tried to engulf Wonder once again. It continued to drop bits, but he had learned his lesson, and while he did grab a few coins for himself, he kept an eye on the flame and shielded the mare from touching her. However, in haste to doge one such sweep, he tripped over the mare, and the blue flame did touch him, and changed his appearance once again as he screamed, and noticed he was not a dragon, but...a bunny?

"Oh great....I went from a dragon to a little useless creature? Well, at least I still have my armor and sword, that somehow, shrank...with...me...what?" He questioned himself, but knew he had to head back, and deliver the Pegasus mare to his friend in town. He began to drag her out, finding himself to be rather strong for his size.

Once back in the pyramid, he found the bunny had an unusual, but very helpful power: it could sneak into small places, and stick to walls. Granted, the first feature would do little good with a Pegasus behind him, but he resolved to use the second to harmlessly walk over any and all monsters he saw in the area.

He found a door that had the word 'Return' over it, and finally managed to bring the other pony over through the door, and found themselves back into the town. He was considering ways to bring the mare down the platform above the inn without hurting her, but just before he had run out of ideas, Applejack came by and looked at him, and looked at the other mare and simply asked one question:

"Now what the hay did you get yourself into???"

Comments

[Will of Haphinea]

A bit late on this chapter, I must apologize. I find the 2,000 to 3,000 words per chapter seems to be the sweet spot in terms of the pacing from the story. There may be some exceptions, but I am happy how this longer format has turned out. Maybe I'll post the next chapter later, should my brother look over it. =) Enjoy all, and criticism and praises are always welcomed!

[Rainbow87dash]

Um I think I'm the only one commenting