> My little pony respect is friendship > by Rainbowdash5995 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue 1 The Element Of Courage > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- My little pony respect is friendship: Prologue 1:The element of courage ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Courage  Trust  Joy  Sacrifice  Compassion  Respect  These are the six element that holds equestria to this day, and no matter what evil knocks at their doorstep the heroes of respect will defeat in any way. But before all their victories and before they even met, these are the stories of how they became their elements. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This story starts with the element of courage, a longma named Flamethrower. What is a longma you asked? It is a dragon and pony hybrid and the first of it’s kind, who lives in the snowy mountains of Barbegazi. His mane and tail was sharp, spikey, and flowing orange colors, orangered to gold. His eyes sparked a flaming ferrari red, his dragon wings were semi big and this pony was a isolated coquelicot pony who was trained by a white dragon named Avrazan. “He’ll never find me here!” The young foal giggles showing his large fang. Flamethrower was hiding in the pure white snow, playing hide and seek with his mentor. It was actually training so Flamethrower can learn to be more stealthy but Avrazan likes to turn them into games for his sake. “Flamethrower! Flamethrower? Where are you?”  *Giggle!*   Avrazan sees Flamethrower in the snow thanks to his flaming temperature and giggling. He sighs and purposely walking around the area. Avrazan scales were light cyan and dark state blue, and thanks to all the ice and snow some of his wings, feet, and face was covered in it. He was a large but smaller than giant dragons with a medium and sleek build. “Oh woe is me, I guess I can never find Flamethrower in this snowy blizzard.Dam- I mean darn you nature!” Avrazan sighs, his tail pokes the snow which causes Flamethrower to pop out. “Here I wam!” Flamethrower chomps on Avrazan’s tail, Avrazan places Flamethrower on his head and heads into their cave.  “Next time try not to be too noisy Flamethrower” “Kay Avrawan!” Avrazan chuckles placing him on his back and petting Flamethrower’s mane.  “Avrawan?” “Yes my little pupil?”  “After nap time can we go swimming? Oh! Oh! And eat snow crystals! Snow crystals!” “Yes yes we’ll do all those things now sleep” Flamethrower yawns and closes his eyes, Avrazan sighs looking outside of the cave where a breezy snowstorm awaits. Flamethrower’s parents were a pony and a dragon, the dragon was the champion and king of the dragon’s den a kingdom where only dragons lived which was a giant deserted wasteland that had a volcano in it and caves where the dragons lived circling it. The dragons were a greedy species who fought for each other’s gems and treasures, Uruloki the king of the dragons owned all of rare treasures and the most gold of all the kingdom which angered the dragons even more when Uruloki bared a child with a pony.  Before the dragons could kill him themselves, he declared a new rule that in order to rule the throne they must give their riches away and fight against their superior.  The king handed the throne over, and gave the child to Avrazan who lived away from the chaos and in the snowy top of the mountain, then disappeared along with his wife. Ever since that day, Avrazan took care of Flamethrower and trained him to be the king of dragons. Now as a grown adult it’s time for Flamethrower to leave the nest but perhaps Avrazan may have babied him a bit too much. “Noooo!! Please don’t let me go to the dragon’s den!! Dragons are there!!” “Of course they’re there, I trained you for a reason.” Flamethrower struggles to get out of Avrazan’s grip but he was just too strong for him. “What! All those games were just-” “Training sessions yes, even the drowning session was training. Now when you get there I want you to transform into your dragon form understand?”  “Y-Yes but-!” “Good. Be back before hunting.” Avrazan drops Flamethrower off the edge. Flamethrower rolls down the mountain before flying, looking at Avrazan who begins to fly away. “Avrazan you are so cruel!!” “It’s for your own good! Now stop being a coward and go already!”  Flamethrower sighs and starts flying down to the dragon’s den, he uses his dragon stone to transform into a Pyrodermoid. He arrives to the den and sees just what he expected a wasteland with walls of caves surrounding it. Many adult dragons were either in their caves holding their riches or on top of the walls laying while the teenage and little dragons were playing games around the lava pools separately. Three teenage dragons notice Flamethrower who was quivering in fear of the dragons.  The dragon on the left was a green dragon.He has a large, waving crest or fin that starts at the dragon’s nose and runs the entire length of the dragon’s body, some of his scales were lighter and darker shades of green and some were black. He was taller than the other dragons but skinner.  The dragon on the right was a yellow dragon. She has a small, round fin that starts at her head and to the end of her tail. Her scales were bright yellow with some of the scales teal. She was smaller than both of the dragons but a little bit chubby and muscular.  The dragon in the middle was a black dragon. He had horns, which protrude from the sides of his head and wrap around, projecting forward. A large frill adorns the upper part of the neck. His scales were pitch black and he had a large fang showing. He was muscular and had some scars. “Hey you!” Flamethrower turns around to see the three dragons approaching him. Remembering the lessons Avrazan taught, Flamethrower tries to look as tough as possible sadly it made it worse. “U-Uh me?” “Yes you! Who are you!” Flamethrower panicked thinking of a different name, he suddenly remembers a name he learned long ago. “Uh.. M-My name is Lagiocrus!” “Lagiocrus hmm.. Why does that so sound familiar?” “U-Um-” “The name’s Serelath and that’s Quoloth” The yellow dragon puts her arm around Flamethrower and points at the green dragon who just waves. “Oh and this is prince of all dragons Taevarth!” The dragons bow down to Taevarth who forgets his question the second they bow down to him. “Oh why thank you peasants, you’re not from around here aren’t you?” Taevarth chuckles to himself, Flamethrower nods trying to keep his cool. “Uh yes! I just moved here with my parents!” “Really? Where?” Flamethrower points at one of the caves with a sale sign on it. “Tch! Whatever, wanna become a cool dragon like me?” The two dragons immediately shake their heads with wide eyes. “Um..Yes?” “Ugh.. " “Good answer now come with me and you shall have your first test” The dragons fly out of the wasteland and into the forest area where lots of green and black dragons territories but they wouldn’t dare go near the prince. “Your first test is to bring me a gem from these dragons territories, I want it to be big and delicious. Go now!” “Eeek!”  Flamethrower starts to run into the forest realizing his mistake, it was dark, cold, with eyes glaring at him with every step he takes. ‘N-No I-I can’t do this?! I could get killed!!’ Flamethrower gulped as he starts to flap his wings, he hears a stick snap making his head turn to the right. “W-Who’s there?!” “Serelath, your majesty.” “Huh?”  Quoloth moved the large leaves out of his way and walked towards Flamethrower holding a large emerald in his mouth. He placed it on the ground. “Here, take this to that black dragon prince Flamethrower.” “H-How do you know my name?” “We’ve heard the tales of the son of Lagiocrus and how he would defeat the king and save our kingdom from this bloodthirsty greed.” “B-But I can’t defeat the king I don’t even know what he looks like!”  “Have some faith in yourself like we do. The only reason why none of us have killed or eat you yet is because we need you to help us.” Flamethrower turns around and see most of the large green and black dragons just looking at him while others bow down to him. “Oh Lagiocrus~! WHERE’S MY GEM!?!” Quoloth growls, and stomping his foot so hard the ground rumbles slightly. “You should go now before Taevarth goes berserk and starts burning the forest.” Flamethrower nods putting the gem in his mouth and flies to where Taevarth’s voice was. He lands in front of Taevarth and places the gem in front of him. “Finally!” Taevarth takes the gem and eats it with his mouth open. “Mmph!.. Okay..you.pass..the..first test” Flamethrower sighs in relief and looks at Quoloth, he just nods. “Okay! Now is time for your second test. To become one of us!” Taevarth burps loudly in front of Flamethrower’s face. Flamethrower sighs and the four dragons headed to the ocean where yellow dragons territory was, they flew over it. “Now you can swim right? Yes good! Go get me a pearl and stay underwater for.. Hmm twenty-five minutes.” Both of the dragons looked at Taevarth like he gone insane. As it turns out red dragons who happen to be rare around these parts also can’t swim or breath very well underwater. “I-It’s okay guys, I.. I can do this!” Flamethrower dives into the water and sees no yellow dragons around he sighs in relief. “Wait where’s the pearl?” “Around the coral reefs.” “Gah!!” Flamethrower turns to see Serelath next to him, he screams and hides behind the coral. “Don’t do that!!” “Sorry, I’m surprised you’re alive how are you breathing?” "Oh I’ve been living in the cold most of my life I was trained to survive underwater by-” “I don’t need your whole backstory geez… anyway Taevarth let me help you a little bit, all you have to do is to go to those blue-colored coral reefs over there and you will find some Pinctada maxima oysters, open the large one up and you’ll find a big pearl.” Serelath points to the middle of some Byzantine rocks where the blue coral reefs hidden. Flamethrower hesitates but swims through the rocks shaped like hoops, Flamethrower leans closer to the reefs when all of a sudden a huge giant mouthed sea monster attacks him. Flamethrower luckily dodges it’s fine and looks at the monster. It was a giant shark-like monster, it was enormous, and it’s fins are covered with countless tiny metallic barbs, like a grater. It’s body was a black olive color with a battleship grey streak across its body with it’s black and Golden eyes glaring at Flamethrower. “WHAT IS THAT?!” “Oh I guess you didn’t meet Beach stroker yet, you have to at least knock it out see ya”  Before Flamethrower had anything to say Serelath went back out of the ocean, he was alone with the shark charging at him, Flamethrower swam away from it looking for anything to hit it with, he spotted some giant rocks bigger than the  shark. Flamethrower got a idea and started to head to towards some rocks, the shark was gaining on Flamethrower and bit his tail with his razor sharp teeth, Flamethrower bit his lip trying to hold in his pain. Flamethrower managed to scratch the shark and get away from it, he finally got to the rocks and started to ram himself into the rocks, a column of rocks fell down but the shark maneuver around it, Flamethrower gets to a another column of rocks but then  Flamethrower stopped having the shark get near his tail again. Flamethrower rams himself into the rocks again and the shark gets knocked down and his tail stuck. Flamethrower sighs and wenches looking at his chewed up tail, he rushes to the coral reefs and finds the largest oyster then opens it seeing a large beautiful pearl. He was happy to finally get it before turning around and see the Shark coming straight at him, Flamethrower swims up as fast as he can and gets out the sea before the shark can eat him. Flamethrower looks at the shark, the shark glares back before going back into the sea. “Wow you survived huh, the last time I did that with the other dragons all I saw was blood. Eh good job I guess.” Taevarth snatches the pearl away from Flamethrower and eats it in front of Flamethrower. “Ugh! It’s too salty! I hate pearls!” Taevarth spits it on Flamethrower’s face, he just sighs and wipes it off. Serelath pitifully looks at him. “I would go ask you to go get a another one but *yawns* I don’t feel like waiting ten hours see ya” Taevarth leaves the group and goes back to the kingdom. “I’m so sorry for your tail” Serelath looks at it again. Quoloth takes a look at it and looks sick. “You better have your Mother kin look at it, it looks really bad.” Flamethrower looks at his tail which had a large bite mark on it which showed a ugly shade of purple. Flamethrower didn’t say anything, he just sniffed and flew all the way to the Barbegazi mountain where his home was. Avrazan was carrying fish in his mouth and saw Flamethrower crying and his tail bitten. “Sweet celestia what happened?!” Arvazan dropped the fish and held Flamethrower before he fell. Flamethrower turned back into a pony and was taken into the cave. “Beach stroker.. I-I managed to escape.. Before I..turned..back..” Arvazan put Flamethrower on the ground before going through the snow and grabs two aquamarines and puts one in Flamethrower’s mouth. “Eat. It will heal your tail.” Flamethrower obeys eating the gem, Avrazan looks at Flamethrower’s stone and sees it’s cracked. “It’s almost about to shatter, I made a grave mistake on letting you go. That’s it you’re staying here until your stone and you’re tail heals.” Flamethrower smiles relieved that he doesn’t have to go back. It took a whole week for his tail to heal, while it healed he thought about those dragons what they had to put up with. “So the dragons are under Liorenth’s rule then, he must be stopped.” Arvazan sighs after hearing Flamethrower’s story. “What are you going to do about it Arvazan?” “I have to go and take him off the throne, you have to stay since you’re still injured”  Flamethrower eyes widen but says nothing, Arvazan leaves to get some more Aquamarines for him leaving Flamethrower and his thoughts. ‘I was told to dethrone the king not Arvazan!  But then again I don’t have to go back to Quoloth grounds again..’ ‘But all those dragons depend on me to save the kingdom, all this pressure is making me all woozy..’ Flamethrower sighs and closes his eyes and starts to fall asleep. A few hours later Flamethrower wakes up he was in Avrazan’s grip as he snores softly. He looks around sees a pile of Aquamarines and the large rock blocking the entrance. It was morning by now but Flamethrower doesn’t need to go out so he was about to fall back to sleep but then hesitate remembering Serelath and Quolot. ‘Those two must of done the same with tests as I did, along with those other dragons who died.. I-If I don’t go now then Taevarth will grab a another dragon and force him to do those awful tests!’ Flamethrower tries to get out of Arvazan grip but he was too strong. “Um.. Arvazan your holding me too tightly.” Arvazan grunts still asleep and lets go of Flamethrower. Flamethrower takes this opportunity to push the rock as gently as he could without making any noise. Arvazan moved a little but continues to snore. ‘Phew, thank luna he’s a heavy sleeper’ Flamethrower pushes the rock away and goes outside before putting the rock back inside the cave. It was breezy and snowy and a blizzard was coming soon. Flamethrower slowly transforms into his dragon form thanks to his stone still cracked and starts flying to the wasteland. He spots the three dragons and stops in front of them. “I’m ready for the final test! I need to beat it now!” “Woah, woah hold your horses! Give me my space red!” Taevarth steals a baby dragon’s Ruby and eats it making the baby cry. “Okay now we can go, the harvest is ready for eating!” Taevarth starts to fly the other dragons follow. “I’m surprised you decided to come back.. You.. Know with.. Your tail and all..” Serelath awkwardly points at Flamethrower’s bruised tail still not fully healed. “It’s fine I ate a lot of Aquamarines so it’ll heal soon besides I needed to go back to help you dragons from that.. Guy” Quoloth smiles and grabs a Aquamarine from his green bag. “Well good thing I brought my bag with me, here’s one in case” Flamethrower takes the gem and eats it with his mouth closed. “Thank you for the gem Quoloth” Flamethrower said after swallowing the last of his gem. “Serelath did you hear that? He said my name!” Flamethrower looks at him confused while Serelath rolls her eyes. “We’re here peasants!” They all stopped, they were in the forest but the trees were all autumn colors surrounding what appears to be a giant ant hive. “See that Flamethrower?” “Yes, what is that?” Taevarth laughs and puts his arm around Flamethrower. “That my friend is a changeling hive, this will be your final test.” “What do I have to do?” “I want you to go into that hole and burn everything down and make sure no one lives” “What?! Why!?” “It’s simple really, no one likes Changelings they suck the soul out of ya and besides you be doing your kingdom a great debt.. Lagiocrus” Flamethrower glares at Taevarth. ‘Changelings aren’t threatening at all! Arvazan told me they survive out of love, I even saw a changeling as a baby dragon it never even tried to hurt me!’ Flamethrower looks at Quoloth and Serelath, their eyes were filled with guilt and shame. “Don’t tell me you guys pass this test did you?” They slowly nod. “Of course they did for their kingdom and families honor, killing a whole entire race from existence will strengthen us and will show the rest of equestria to fear dragons for our thirst for treasure! For glory! For blood! That is the oath of Dragons to put fear into our enemies hearts as we rule this country!!” Flamethrower stepped back a few steps from Taevarth, in absolute shock and anger. “You’re.. You’re mad!” “I’m not mad Lagiocrus not at all! I’m just gutsy enough to kill someone for stealing my gems!!” Serelath and Quoloth hid behind Flamethrower who was shivering in fear. “Now then Lagiocrus let’s see if you’re brave enough to kill! Go now!!” Flamethrower whimpers heading to the hive, he was close enough to breathe fire into it. Flamethrower looks at Serelath and Quoloth they were terrified while Taevarth looked at him impatiently, Flamethrower looks at the sun sees a rainbow glow. He blinks his eyes and loses the rainbow glow. “What are you waiting for? KILL THEM!!” Flamethrower shakes his head and looks at Taevarth with a heated glare. “No..” “WHAT!?!”  “I may be a coward for not finishing the deed but I’m brave enough to not kill. I don’t need to kill someone just to prove who I am.” Taevarth screams in anger and goes to hive. “FINE!! If your too much of a pony to kill them yourself then I’LL KILL THEM MYSELF!!!”  Taevarth holds his breath about to shoot a line of acid. Flamethrower growls and kicks Taevarth in the stomach making Taevarth spit acid and Serelath and Quoloth gasp. “...O-Oh dear”  Flamethrower gasps realizing what he just did. Taevarth glares at him growling loudly. “You…” “I-I’m so sorry I-I didn’t mean to-” “It’s okay Flamethrower.. I forgive you..” ‘Ah crap baskets..’ “Y-You do?” Flamethrower gulped slowly flying away from Taevarth. “Yes.. All I need from you is.. YOU DEAD!!!” Flamethrower tries to run but is caught by a blue dragon, it was a guard. Flamethrower looks to the side and sees Serelath and Quoloth both caught by guards and Taevarth being held down by two guards. They were all taken back into the kingdom and into the throne room where it looks like a huge coliseum with the king’s, Queen’s, and prince’s thrones in the middle. “We have capture the prince of Lagiocrus your Majesty” “You done well you can leave them be.” Flamethrower gasps and shivers in fear at the sight of the king. He was a black dragon with grey and purple scales.His body was long, lean with deep purple to midnight black scales and gainsboro to dim grey. Just like Taevarth his horns, which protrude from the sides of his head and wrap around, projecting forward and large frill adorns the upper part of the neck but had dark grey spikes across his back, his eyes were black and blood red, and had a long scar across his stomach. His Queen was no scarier, she was a blue dragon with purple scales. Her single large horns protruding from her head and also by her ears, which are rather large and frilled. Her tail is thick and bumpy, like that of a caterpillar. Lastly her wings are more pronounced than most other species, and her eyes were electric ultramarine. She sat on her throne next to her King. “So you’re the all so powerful prince of Lagiocrus hmm? Nothing more than a mouse shivering at the sight of your king. Pathetic.” “Enough Queen Elixtla. Taevarth come.” Taevarth flies to his throne next to his father. “Hello father, this monster tried to kill his own skin and blood!” “I beat you just so you can endure pain, guess I have to do more.” Taevarth looks away in shame, Flamethrower looks at him with pity. “Now then, your parents must be so proud of you speaking of parents let’s go meet them shall we?” The guards drag the Flamethrower outside along with Serelath and Quoloth. Outside every dragon looks at Flamethrower including Serelath and Quoloth’s parents. "MOTHER! FATHER!” They both yell for their parents but they refuse to look at them putting their heads down. “Too late to call them now, mommy and Daddy don’t love you anymore. I guess the only way to get them to love you again is to kill yourself Fufufu~ But that would be too easy now would it.” “Heh serves you right!” “Shut it Taevarth” Elixtla smacks Taevarth with her tail, he growls lowly. “Where’s your parents Flamethrower?” Flamethrower gulps pointing at one of the caves with a sale sign on it. Liorenth rolls his eyes and heads to the cave. “Oh Mr. And Mrs. Lagiocrus! Are you home?” Liorenth breaths out gigantic blast of flames into the cave burning everything including the sign, the cave was now a giant black hole that some smoke coming out of it. “Huh guess their not there” Flamethrower gulped then turns after hearing grunts and yells. Two guards covered in scratches,bruises, and ice was holding a white dragon in their grip. It look like- "Arvazan! " “Ah, you know each other, good this will make your choice much harder than before.” “H-Harder?” Liorenth nods as Elixtla explains. “You see your mentor scratched my dear husband’s poor tummy a long time ago in a duel before he ran away with you so his sentence is death, as for your " friends” the whole resistance will be torture for days and then will finally die a very slow and painful death for rebelling against us. So who do you want to die first dear boy?” “N-No! Let me be there one to di-!” “You will all die. Just choose already.” “U-Um honey dearest weren’t we supposed to keep him alive so he can breed more red dragons?” "No. I shall create more myself, now choose Flamethrower!” Flamethrower shakes his head and stands his ground. “No! I’m not going to let you pressure me into choosing! If your so called a " brave warrior” who put fear into everyone than fight me and claim your fate!” Liorenth laughs. “As you wish.” Liorenth breaths out a beam of acid Flamethrower dodges it and goes back into the champion’s throne. Flamethrower flies around the columns as Liorenth chases him, he decides to ram himself into the columns like he did with the shark and it misses him every time. “You can’t run from me forever prince! And you need to get better aiming!” “Exactly!”  Flamethrower pushes into one more column before getting out of the throne and outside, Liorenth follows but the columns that hold the champion’s throne together collapsed on him, Flamethrower flies over him and sighs in relief. “Thank Celestia..” All of a sudden the broken columns and rocks start to move loudly and pops out Liorenth with a few scratches and visually angry. “Now I’m angry…” "Oh dear!!” Before Flamethrower could get away, Liorenth grabbed his tail and bit it harshly. “AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!” Flamethrower screamed as Liorenth bit on tail and threw him like a ragdoll on the ground. Flamethrower turned back into a pony as his stone breaks in half, he gasps and tries to put them back together. “Pitiful.” Liorenth stomps on Flamethrower hooves and stomps on the stone making it shatter into a million pieces. "Pathetic.” He kicks Flamethrower stomach making Flamethrower throw up as everyone watches with a shocked expression. “Useless! Weak! Did you honestly think you would win with a idiotic display such as that?” Flamethrower just spits blood holding his stomach, Liorenth kicks him again and puts his feet on Flamethrower’s head. “I thought the prince of Lagiocrus would at least be able to throw a punch but no instead you ran like the little coward you are. Such of waste of my time and everyone’s time but don’t worry it will all be over soon.” Liorenth push his feet more into Flamethrower’s head, Flamethrower tries to move but his body was too weak. He closes his eyes waiting for his faith until a snowball hit Liorenth’s back. *Sigh..* Liorenth turns around still has his feet on Flamethrower and sees Arvazan holding a another snowball. “Was that supposed to hurt me?” “No. But this will.”  Arvazan breaths out frost from his mouth on Liorenth face blinding him for a minute. “Gah! Curse you!” "Flamethrower catch!” Arvazan slides the red Jasper over to Flamethrower which he luckily caught with his mouth. “You!”  Liorenth grabbed Arvazan’s throat tightly making him unable to breath. "I should’ve just killed you in the first place.. " Arvazan chuckles then coughs before Liorenth throws him across the wasteland. Liorenth was about to shoot out a line of acid again but then Flamethrower charges into him. He turns around and sees Flamethrower limping but was filled with rage as his body had small flames and his footsteps left a smoky mark as his eyes glow a dark orange and gold. Liorenth growls then blows a huge wave of fire at Flamethrower,he does the same as their flames mashed together. After a few minutes Flamethrower walks towards Liorenth gaining the fight. Flamethrower managed to overcome the flames and burns Liorenth to a crisp, Flamethrower’s stamina gets the best of him as the chakra of the red Jasper decreases and he stops burning Liorenth. Liorenth barely breathes the air as most of his scales fall to the ground, Liorenth tries to grab Flamethrower but his arm drops as he couldn’t move no longer. “Ha..ha I lost..isn’t that a glorious... Victory for you.. Well..aren’t you going to.. Kill..me?” Flamethrower shook his head. "Just as I told Taevarth, killing someone isn’t courage it’s being a coward instead. I’ve been running away, crying, and being selfish this whole entire time but no. Not this time. Courage is not something you are, it’s something you earned. I pass through those tests with flying colors why? Because I had my friends helping me.. Well sorta but you get the point, I had the courage to outrun a shark and survive and just because I’m a longma doesn’t mean I’m not going to destroy the race.Self-confidence, Conviction,Integrity, Leadership, Compassion, Objectivity,Adversity change, embrace, and action that’s what courage is and I’m not just going to learn it myself, all of you are as well. As the prince of Lagiocrus I declare that Liorenth along with his wife and child to be banished! And the first rule be to be selfless and have the courage of dragons!!”  Everyone looks at Flamethrower with a shocked expression, the guards hesitates looking at Liorenth. “What are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to take us away?” "Wha-?! Liorenth!!” “Face it Elixtla! We’ve lost at least I can lose with honor..” Elixtla growls soaring up towards the sky. “No! I may have lost this kingdom I won’t lose this war!!” Elixtla disappears in a puff of smoke, the guards was about to chase after her disappearing figure Flamethrower stops them. "There’s no need, she won’t cause trouble to this kingdom no longer.” The guards nod as they grab Liorenth and Taevarth. “Hey!! Get off of me!! I’m the prince of all dragons how dare you treat me with such rude beha-” "Shut it Taevarth. " Flamethrower sighs in relief before passing out cold. After that faithful day, all dragons were free from the violent royals and Flamethrower is gifted his position of becoming the King of Dragons. Six months later Flamethrower wakes up to a large ceremony that celebrates his new role as king of the dragon kingdom, they party the entire day but the next day Flamethrower packs up to head to Ponyville. “Ponyville?” Arvazan, Serelath, and Quoloth asks as Flamethrower packs his items and supplies. “Yep, I heard that there’s a blacksmith who was able to repair anything so i’m hoping he knows how to repair this.” Flamethrower shows the small tube where his pieces of the dragon stone were. “I want to transform into a dragon like I did before, it’ll be long trip but this journey may even teach me the importance of courage and friendship!” “Are you sure you want to go by yourself since you look like you’re about to piss yourself.. Again..”  Arvazan points to Flamethrower’s shivering legs, Flamethrower chuckles nervously scratching his mane. “N-No no I’ll be fine!.. Really! D-Don’t worry about me..please?” Arvazan put his hand his forehead then sighs and pulls out two bags out of nowhere. He puts them on Serelath and Quoloth then pushes them to Flamethrower . “I shall be king for now okay, you seriously need to be with someone when you’re outside so you two go with him.” “Uh okay, uncle Arvazan?” “Great! Have the best road trip ever!” Arvazan kicks the three of them out then closes the door. “Arvazan!!” “Its for your own good! Now go before I make go!!” “You are so cruel!!”  Flamethrower can hear Arvazan laugh in the distance, he sighs and turns around as Serelath and Quoloth hold his shoulders. “It’s okay Flame at least you won’t be lonely” “Thanks Quo..” “Eek! He called me Who!” Serelath rolls her eyes as they start to walk down the rocky road. “Well this we’ll be the start of your adventure and with us by your side nothing could go wrong!” Flamethrower sighs looking at the sun with a smile. “Everything’s going to be just fine!” > Prologue 2 The Element Of Trust > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- My little pony respect is friendship: The element of Trust ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Courage Trust Joy Sacrifice Compassion Respect These are the six elements that holds equestria to this day, and no matter what evil knocks at their doorstep the heroes of respect will defeat in any way. But before all their victories and before they even met, these are the stories of how they became their elements. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This story starts with the element of trust. A earth pony who lives in ponyville, who loves the nature and loves to experiment all types of plants. Her mane and tail was poofy and frizzy as soft as clouds and as swirly as lollipops, with light pink and floral white locks. Her eyes were wide with determination and misty rose as the pink roses in her garden. She was shorter than most ponies and a bit chubbier than most mares but was always quick on her white hooves, and has a cutie mark with a salmon potion with petals around it. This mare was named Flora Bloom. “Ugh! Stupid fillies! I’ll show them I can make a potion! A potion that can cure poison!” Flora Bloom stomped her hooves in the strange forest, ever since her first day of school Flora was always teased by some of the unicorn fillies about her ability to make potions better than all of the unicorns in her school, one day she was dared to go into the everfree forest and come back out with a potion. Confident she could do it, she grabbed her potion kit and rushed inside. Flora started to look at her surroundings realizing her mistake of ever coming here. The dark, scary trees making scary faces, weird black and teal vines moving slowly, yellow eyes glaring at you, the awful smell of the rotten plants. It was every foal’s nightmare. " Aw man! I should of brought my camera with me! This place looks awesome!! " Flora Bloom started to giggle, not even noticing the rockadile she just walk on across the swamp. Flora notices some weird-looking plants and walked towards them still not noticing the rockadile now getting closer to her then ready to eat her. The rockadile screams seeing a bright Golden frog hopping to his direction, Flora turns to see the frog in front of her and the rockadile going back into the swamp. “Oh hello there!” Flora Bloom puts her blue gloves on and puts her hooves on the so the frog can hop on, she looks at the frog with a grin as the frog tilts his head curious of the pony. “I’m Flora Bloom, I been studying plants lately and I been dared to make a potion here! Yes I know it’s a little dangerous but I need to so I can prove that I can make potions better than those other girls!” The Golden frog shakes his head and points at the swamp near the lilypads where other poisonous frogs were. “You’re all by yourself? Why? I thought poison dart frogs are usually together” The frog droops his head and turns around, Flora gasps and sees purple dots behind his back. “Oh you poor thing that’s why you’re by yourself don’t worry i’ll.. I’ll try to cure you no matter what!” The frog hops happily and Flora starts to take samples from the plants. It took five hours for her to create a potion that got rid of the spots but it was worth it. “There you go, go on play with your friends now.” Flora Bloom places the frog down, puts her potion, takes some plant samples, her potion set away in her bag then she walks into as different direction before she looks around the forest feeling lost. “Ribbit..” Flora turns around to see the gold poisonous frog following her. “Oh uh.. Hey there again.. Since your here do you mind directing me to the entrance?” The frog nods hopping on her large afro mane, Flora Bloom got out of the forest right before bedtime and kept the golden frog since it never left her. Flora’s potion making skills made her quite famous in the town, as a adult she started making a record of new recipes from plants, flowers making potions, having her own personal garden, even moved near the ever free forest “Goldie Can you get me a doll’s eye and three petals of a daisy?” Flora hears the frog ribbit as it hope to get the ingredients. Flora continues to mix the midnight blue liquid in the black caution. She hears Goldie ribbit again and turns to see Goldie have the white berry and the petals on his head, she grabs them with her mouth and places them in the liquid, mixing them again as the now blue liquid turns snow white. “Thanks Goldie!” Flora pats Goldie’s head, he ribbits in response. Flora hears the door knocks and opens it and sees it’s Lily grace. Lily grace had a lily that was a white bowl-shaped flower with a golden ray down the center of petals and crimson spots on top of her flavescent and cornsilk waterfall mane along with her tail, her fur was deep peach, her eyes were cornflower blue, her cutie mark is a bottle of perfume with a white lily next to it and she had a long but small horn. “Oh. It’s you..” “Do you have my vanilla perfume yet Flora?” “Yes, yes no need to rush.” Flora rolls her eyes and leads Lily to her lab where tubes of potions and her caution laid. She pulls the spoon out and gives it to Lily which she held with her magic along with a perfume bottle that was clear. Lily smells the liquid before nodding and putting the liquid in the bottle. “Good. Alright here’s your bits.” Lily pulls out a bag of bits and hands it to Flora. As Lily turns around she sees Goldie glaring at her. “Ugh! You still have that thing around?” “That thing is a golden poisonous frog, his name is Goldie, and if you say anything cruel to him, I’ll dig your grave” “I’m surprised you’re still alive, anyway I’ll be going now ta ta~” Lily slams the door on her way out which causes one of the beakers to fell, luckily Goldie caught it with his tongue. “Whew thanks Goldie man I hate girls like her!” “Ribbit..” “Oh well, let’s see what we got here how man-” Flora opens the bag that has bits that smells like chocolate. “Really? Again! I really hate her!!...She’s lucky I like chocolate…” Flora grumbles eating the chocolate bit and giving one to Goldie which he eats gleefully. Lily Grace owned a perfume shop but she became too lazy to make her own. So when she found out about Flora she made a deal with her a win win situation expect that sometimes Lily gives Flora fake bits or gumdrops. It was now the afternoon and Flora is grocery shopping with Goldie on her mane, after buying some apples and strawberries there was one item that caught her attention. A cloaked mare was selling seeds that were blue and funny-looking with name poison joke on it. Flora approaches the mare and points at the seeds. “Good afternoon Zecora how do you? I would like six packs of poison jokes please.” “Afternoon Flora Bloom I am well as you, the purchase is ten bits but beware of your silly jokes my friend just like your Golden frog the poison of your jokes will not only poison your target, but the mind of others as well” Floral Bloom nods taking her advice, and giving Zecora her money and Zecora giving her the seeds. “Do not worry my friend, it will just be one prank for trying to trick a witch” Flora wave goodbye to the Zebra and went back to her cottage where she planted her seeds, watered them, then used her own fertilizer made from dirt, Silver Torch Cactus petals, earthworms, and Rafflesia arnoldii. The fertilizer made the flowers grow quickly, she puts her blue gloves, picked the flowers up and set them on the wooden table in her lab. “Alright then Goldie I’m going to need your help if I’m gonna make a hilarious perfume!” “Ribbit..” “Okay let’s get started!”  Flora places Goldie on the table and opens her book and opens  to a page the a poison joke perfume steps were. “Step 1! Collect your flowers the look doesn’t matter as long as it is not rotten.” Flora looks at poison jokes and sees their still there. “Ribbit.” “Step 2! Put them all in a pot and grind them with a mortar and pestle. Make sure you hold your breath don’t want to lose your funny bone after laughing too much” Flora did as the step said holding her breath and putting it in the caution after grinding them. “Ribbit..” “Step 3! Add some water and a drop of rue and alcohol, can’t make the joke too poisonous” Flora turns and grabs the cup of water and bottle of alcohol Goldie was holding and proceeds to dump the water and drop a bit of the alcohol before giving it back to Goldie. “Ribbit…” “Step 4! Strain the flowers, cut the stems off and sprinkle the petals in the pot! Sparkle sparkle sparkle!” Flora gives the stems to Goldie to throw away. “Ribbit….” Step 5! Then stir until the cows come home.. At least till it turns blue” After a few minutes the liquid turns into a navy blue, Goldie hops on Flora’s mane and puts a perfume bottle on her mane as well. “Thank you Goldie!” “Ribbit…..” “Step 6! Now after your done put the perfume in your bottle and press!” Flora puts as much liquid in the bottle as much as it can handle, she tightens the cap on it and gets a box and wrapping paper with ribbons from Goldie. She puts the perfume in the box wrapped it up and placed it on the table. “Ribbit……” “Good job Goldie! You get fruit flies!” Flora climbed up her ladder and grabbed a bottle with a gold cup filled with holes on top of the self then went back down opened it having  three files coming out, one is a Apple fly, the second one is a cherry, and the third one was a orange fly which Goldie catches with his long tongue and eats. “Hmm.. Maybe next time I should write normal steps instead of corny steps what do you think Goldie?” “Ribbit…” The next day Lily comes by with clear perfume bottle and a small bag. “What are you doing here? You didn’t call me saying you had me a new perfume to make!” “I know that but I ran out of ‘Ruby & Sapphire’ perfume I need more!” Flora sighs but then gets the idea to pick up the gift and gave it to Lily. “I didn’t make any today because I have a life unlike you, here because I feel sorry for you.” “Why thank you Flora Bloom I’m so happy you pity me.” Lily glares at Flora before throwing a bag of bits at her and slowly closing the door on her way out. “That’s strange she always slams the door..” “Ribbit..” Flora opens the bag and sees actually bits, she gasps now starting to feel guilty. “Wait a minute there were rumors that her mother’s coming to vist and... Oh no..” Goldie hops on Flora’s head and Flora grabs a herbal spray then Flora rushes to ponyville. “I’m starting to regret living near everfree forest!” “Ribbit..” Flora made it to ponyville but too late, she sees many ponies affected by the poison jokes. A pony was spitting fire, a Pegasus was flying all over the place with one wing, a unicorn’s stripes were polka dots, a pony was gigantic while a another pony was tiny. “Oh no, the perfume has already been brought?!” Flora sprays her antidote to the pranked ponies as they slowly turn back to normal. Flora gets to Lilly’s perfume shop to see Lilly getting yelled at by her mother. “I AM SO ASHAMED OF YOU! HOW DARE YOU EMBARRASSED ME BY USING THIS DISGUSTING PERFUME!!” “I-I’m sorry Mother I didn’t mea-” “YOUR SORRY?! SORRY IS A EXCUSE FOR THE MESS YOU MADE!!” Flora was about to step forward but hears the mayor calling for her. “Flora Bloom thank Celestia your here, please help these ponies their sick with the poison joke!” Flora nods and continues to help the ponies in need, Lily glares at Flora as she continues to get yelled. It took a whole day to cure many mares and foals from poison jokes, Flora went back home tuckered out and forgetting to apologize to Lily. Lily was scolded by her actions which she didn’t caused, she hated Flora now along with everyone else so she decides that night she decided to have her revenge. Lily walks to the cottage and walks to the door but then hears rumbling in the ground, she jumps before her hoof gets chomped by two Hydnora Africanas. ‘When did she plant fly traps that can do that?!’ Lily sighs and uses her magic to unlock the door, she then hovers over the plant traps all over the floor and goes into the lab. Everything was sealed expect Flora’s book on top on a bookshelf. “Heh, easy.” Lily was about to grab the book but Goldie grabbed the book with his tongue. “What the-!?” “Ribbit..” “Give me the book!” Lily tries to take the book from Goldie but his tongue was too strong. She huffs and smashes one of the small glass cases and grabs a nearest tube she could before jumping out the window. Flora wakes up from Goldie croaking and runs to the lab to her window and one tube missing in the broken glass case. “Goldie are you okay?!” “Ribbit..” Goldie points at the glass where the missing tube was. “Don’t tell me she-” “Ribbit…” “Lily must of took the thorn potion, come on Goldie we have to stop her!” Flora ran out of her cottage and sees Lily in the distance running to her perfume shop. “Lily Grace stop! You don’t know what that is!!” Lily stops and turns around holding the tube with a smirk. “Yes I do thanks to the label on it!” “That’s not a label, its just a sticker I brought!” Lily glared at Flora before seeing the fake symbols and flower stickers all over tube. “Humph!” “Give me back my tube!” “Now tell me why did you gave me a false perfume!” “Because I just wanted to prank you that’s all, I didn’t realize you would make copies of the perfume and just give it to other ponies before you took it!” “It’s my job to sell! I thought everything would be fine today, Mother would be proud of me finally, you wouldn’t be the one on the spotlight but no! You just had to ruin everything! Now I lost my job, my Mother hates me, and now I have no one to rely on anymore..” Lily starts to cry, Flora tries to reach out to her. “Lily..” Lily slaps Flora’s hoof away and pushes her to the ground. “ALL BECAUSE I TRUSTED YOU!! I wanted to make amends, say I’m sorry for all the fake bits but I guess I’m already forgiven.. I have nothing to lose now and you can’t change that! Now watch as I finally have my way!” “Lily wait don’t!!” Lily pops the cap and drinks the potion and her hair starts to grow longer and more larger and her body starts to grow into a tree like state. The ground rumbles and ponies come outside to see the commotion, Lily’s hair turns into rose thorny vines that grabbed multiple ponies and colts off the ground. “You leave me no choice Lily, Goldie go and fetch me the fire beans and get me my drink..” “Ribbit..” Goldie jumps off and hops back to the cottage leaving Flora to fight Lily who is now a tree monster. One of the vines attacks Flora and grabs her. Flora doesn’t struggle and the vines tighten their grip. “Lily I don’t understand! Besides..the whole prank..thing.. Why..why..are..you..jealous.. Of..me?” Lily moves one of vines that was holding a pony, it was her mother who was struggling and screaming. “GET OFF OF ME YOU WASTE OF SPACE! YOU TWIG! YOU DISAPPOINTMENT!!” “QUIET YOU!” Flora yelled at the pony making her quiet, Flora sighs and sees Lily cry large tears from her wooden eyes. “YOu..DoN’t..hAvE..tOo..lIVe..wiTH..tHE..fACt..tHAt..yOu..aRe..aLwAys..pReSsurE..ToDo..yOuRjOb..AlWays..bE..PerFect” Lily explained that her family revolves around perfumes so when she got her perfume cutie mark, her mother worked her to the bone making perfect perfumes, but her talent was actually flower arrangement which explains the lily on her cutie mark. So she was desperate to make her Mother proud and rely on Flora to make perfumes for her in exchange for bits. "YoU..wErE..EvEryTHinG..i..WaSn’t..YoU..lIve..fAraWay..YoU’rE..aLOne..YoU..dOnT..hAvE..PoNiEs..TrUstIng..yOU..make..IT..rIghT..i..wAnTEd..to..bE..wItH..YoU..aNd..Be..yOu” Flora looked at the ground trying to figure out what to do when she spots in a explosion in the distance. A rainbow shines on in the sky and it reflects Flora’s eyes before she blinks and looks back at Lily. “If you wanted to be friends, why didn’t you just ask?” “wHaT?” “Look I’ve been called a freak my entire life, hay even if I’m known around this town most are still afraid of me or just think I’m super weird which I am. I had trust issues especially when it came unicorns, so when I met you I just always felt betrayed when you kept giving me the wrong thing every time and thought you hated me. The only friend I had was Goldie other than that you were the most pony I talked to, I wanted to be your friend really! But my hatred for unicorns caused me to hurt you in the worse way. I’m sorry for my immaturely, and all the actions I caused that you took the fall for I will see to it that I shall be punished for my prank that gone wrong and for getting you to become this. And if all that still doesn’t mean anything to you can you at least be my first pony friend?” Lily looked at Flora for a few minutes before putting her down she still had some other ponies in her grip including- “YOU! WITCH GIRL! GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!!” "You are hurting my ears, and before I can even let you down you need to apologize to Lily for what you done.” Lily’s Mother sighs and looks at Lily. “I’m..I’m sorry okay, I was just only trying to impress your grandmother so she could see I’m a great mother but I failed.. I’m so so sorry...” Lily’s Mother starts to cry putting her hoofs on her face. Lily starts to cry again putting her Mother down along with all the other ponies in her grip. Goldie comes back with the beans and a can of 20% cooler. “Thanks Goldie close your eyes will ya, this may hurt a little.” Lily closed her eyes then Flora ate the beans then drink the soda. Her stomach rumbles and she spits a huge blast of rainbow on Lily, Lily grows back down and back into her pony form.  Lily falls but Flora catches her, three pony guards took Lily and put cuffs on her. “Wait there’s no need to arrest her!” Lily’s Mother tries to stop them while Flora just looks at the mayor. “I’m sorry Flora but she tried to kill every pony! “With my involvement! If you don’t put me in that jail with her than I guess I’ll just blow up the whole town you know I can!”  The mayor sighs and points at the jail. “Fine go on ahead just don’t do anything involving explosives okay?” “Woohoo! Jail time! Come on Lily! You too Goldie!” Flora prances to the jail with Goldie on her mane and falling in it sleeping, the rest of the ponies just look at her like she was insane which she kinda was. ‘Who in the hay would be excited to go to jail?!’ And so Flora and Lily was in jail for two weeks, Lily got three weeks for the damages she caused while the rest of the two weeks Flora was complaining that jail was boring and did not fit her tastes she even gave the police advice to get more torture devices. After Flora was out (A relief to the police) she took over Lily’s perfume shop for her sake and added potions and ingredients to the mix she even made a potion kit for the kiddies. Flora also decided to sell her book about potions and supernatural and even started to become friendly and nicer. “Hey there Nate you know why I’m here.” “..Hello uh...Flora she’s waiting for you.” Flora nods and went down the steps to where the jail cell were, she stopped by cell number 5 and sat down taking out a book. Lily saw Flora, smiles and walks to the bars. “Hello Flora Bloom and Goldie” “Ribbit..” “Hello Lily Grace ready to hear a new tale of Daring Doo?” Lily nods and Flora opens the book and starts reading the book. > Prologue 3 The Element of Joy > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- My little pony respect is friendship: The element of Joy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Courage Trust Joy Sacrifice Compassion Respect These are the six elements  holds equestria to this day, and no matter what evil knocks at their doorstep the heroes of respect will defeat in any way. But before all their victories and before they even met, these are the stories of how they became their elements. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next chapter in this story starts with the element of Joy.The most happiest colt in Manehattan, a apprentice of  in training working the ranks to become the owner of Ganfu a restaurant that is famous for its combination of food from beyond equestrian His mane was smooth, long was the color banana mania with swirls of carrot orange. His fur was fluorescent orange along with his horn between his mane. His dark orange eyes are a little droopy from working all the time and had milky white freckles on his muzzle. This Colt’s name is Anmitsu shu cream cheung fun Caramel Swirls... Or Caramel for short. Little Caramel was eating a egg roll inside his room when he hears his parents debating. “Our restaurant should be more traditional involving the history of our countries.” “Loquat we have to be more modern so ponies won’t be bored when they walk in, besides this restaurant needs to spark show some life with exotic colors!” “Tabbouleh it can’t be too insane some of the ponies I met in Manehattan are posh so we need to tone it down a couple of notches.” “Then how could this work? This restaurant needs to be 5-star perfection!” “Why not both?” The two ponies look at Caramel Swirl whose face is covered with shrimp and lettuce, Loquat awes and picks up Caramel, grabs a napkin with her magic and wipes his cheeks and muzzle. “What do you think dear? Should we try both?” Loquat kisses Caramel’s forehead making him giggle. Tabbouleh shrugs and ruffles Caramel’s mane making giggle even more. “Yes we should! Thank you Anmitsu shu cream cheung fun Caramel Swirls you always give us wonderful ideas” “Your welcome 母親, الأب!” And thus was the start of the restaurant Ganfu, as the years passed the restaurant became one of the most popular restaurants in the country. “ابن! I need a Al Harees, and a smelly tofu with a bowl of rice and a bottle of oyster!” Tabbouleh yelled out from the kitchen, Caramel and two other chefs looked at Tabbouleh giving orders. Tabbouleh is a earth pony, he has a auburn beard and a auburn sleek, dry mane and tail. His fur was alloy orange and his cutie mark was a fork and a spoon crossed with a Arabic dish behind it. “Coming right up آب!” Caramel grabs ingredients from the pantry and starts to cook the Al Harees while the other chefs begin to cook the other dishes. “焦糖! I need a stuffed tofu and porridge with chrysanthemum tea!” Loquat shouts, Caramel mixing a bowl of meat and wheat. Loquat is a cornsilk unicorn, her mane was long, Khaki, and was wrapped into a bun. Her cutie mark was a teapot, and two cups of tea on a dark green tray. “Got it 媽媽! Oh! Can you give this to ب?” Caramel gets a bottle of oyster,  smelly tofu, and a bowl of rice from the two chefs and handed it to Loquat. “Sure 焦糖” Loquat takes the dishes and was about to walk out the kitchen before Caramel stops her. “This too please?” Caramel hands Loquat a bowl of AL Harees. “You’re quite fast today 焦糖” “Sorry 媽媽, I’m just really scared about this cooking contest!” Caramel sighs looking around nervously. “I’m sure you’ll do fine with your cooking skills and make this family proud. Now calm down so you won’t have a heart attack.” Loquat pats Caramel’s mane before walking out the kitchen. Caramel walks into the fridge opens it and grabs some tofu and places it on a wooden board, grabs a roller and starts to roll the tofu. One of the chefs went over to Caramel after putting a teapot on the oven. “Caramel you doing okay buddy?” Caramel turns to him and makes a fake grin. “Oh don’t worry about me sweet berry i’m doing just fine pal!” Sweet berry shrugs and gets back to work, Caramel sighs then uses his magic to open one of the shelf and pulls out a rice cooker. He places it on the counter plugs it into a wall. As Caramel heads to the refrigerator again he hears Tabbouleh call him. “ابن! Two of our customers would like to meet you!” “Coming آب! Potter can you take care of this for me?” The chef nods and Caramel goes out of the kitchen to meet the guests. The restaurant had a exotic and history feel to it, the walls had paintings of equestria history, the floor had the crystal empire patterns, and the ceiling had Princess Luna’s star constellation. The theme was multicultural of all of equestrian Caramel walks to the table in the middle of the room where his parents were and two unicorns who look to be from canter lot “You wanted to see me?” “Ah you must be the ganfu’s son caramel swirls correct?” Caramel nods, the unicorns wore very expensive clothing and jewelry, and look to be rather snooty. “Excuse me loquat and tabbouleh we would like to thank your son in a private manner.” Caramel looks at his parents, they were a bit suspicious of them and look at Caramel worried but shrugged and walk away. “Is Ganfu a foreign name?” “Why yes, it meant-” “I was about to say because I have never heard of a name like that here! Never in equestria before!” The two unicorns laugh, Caramel was surprised but kept calm. “I must say uh.. What was your name again?” “Oh it’s Anmitsu shu cream che-” “Caramel swirls yes, how exactly do you make these delicious food in seconds?” “Thank you I learned it from my.. Father I’ve been training under him since.” “That must explain the missing cutie mark..” The colt mutters making the mare nod and giggle. “Excuse me but if that’s all the questions you have for me I’ll be going now.” Caramel was about to leave till the mare stops him. “Wait I have just one more question for you” Caramel gulps then turns around. “Um..yes?” “How can you cook so well if you don’t have a talent?” Caramel’s eyes widen, he looks at his blank flank and hides it with his tail. “I-I don’t know I-I’m s-sorr-” “Alright that’s enough no more questions for the dude beat it!” A mare walks in front of the scared unicorn and glares at the couple. “T-Thank you Sunny Daze..” “How dare you speak to me and my stallion like that you Californeighan! We are guests we should be treated with respect!” The mare stomps her hoof and huffs, Sunny Daze huffs back. This causes all of the customers and workers including Caramel’s parents to look at the commotion. “I’m this dude’s pal, and he’s the one who decided to gift you with food so don’t bully him and treat him with respect!” “Enough of this chatter! Both of you pay and get out of our restaurant of else I will force you out!” The two look at Tabbouleh in shock before huffing, throwing bits on the ground and stomping out of the restaurant. “Just so you know you lost yourself two guests!” The door slams loudly causing the Bell to ring a lot, Tabbouleh sighs and turns to Sunny Daze. “Every-pony calm down the problem is gone you can return to eating your food now as for you thank you Miss Daze, for defending my Son.” Everything was back to normal, Sunny Daze nods and wraps his arm around Caramel who was looking gloom as ever. "Nah it’s fine dude just a friend in need right Caramel?... Caramel?” Tabbouleh and Sunny look at Caramel, he sighs and removes Sunny’s hoof from him. “Father..can I take a break please?” Tabbouleh nods and lets him walk into the kitchen. “焦糖! Are you alright?! I heard some pony was-” “It’s fine Mom, I just need a break..” Caramel walks upstairs to his room, his parents looks at him worried. “Did they question about the.. You know” “Yes Loquat..yes they did. We need to talk about this.” The whole entire day Caramel was under his covers stuck in his room, he twist and turn feeling frustrated and upset. After closing hours every pony went home and Caramel’s parents went upstairs. Caramel hears a knock but doesn’t bother to answer. “焦糖! Chung fun! I left leftovers in the refrigerator if you want something to eat!” “Thank you Mom..” “Do you.. Want to talk abo-” “No thank you Mom…” “Oh..oh okay.. I love you goodnight!” “Goodnight..” Caramel sighs hearing his Mother’s hooves trot away, Caramel sighs and looks outside his window to see Luna’s moon and stars shine over Manehattan. “Should we send Caramel to cooking school?” “Nonsense Loquat there’s nothing wrong with the boy he’s just a late bloomer that’s all!” “Tabbouleh I’m.. I’m so scared some-pony will hurt him just because he doesn’t have his cutie mark yet” “Which is why he’s going to stay here until the day the cooking contest starts that way he’ll get his cutie mark problem solved!” “Tabbouleh what if.. What if cooking isn’t his talent?” “.....No..no cooking needs to be his talent it has to be! Otherwise.. I.. I can’t help my son..” “Tabbouleh..” ‘I wish these walls were soundproof’ Caramel puts a pillow over his ears trying to ignore the conversation next door. He looks at the posters of all kinds of chefs from pony to griffon to moose in front of him. “How did you guys find your talent? How did you become so great?” Caramel didn’t expect an answer from the posters, he looks at his window again. “Manehattan the city that make dreams come true.. I never really got to explore the place.. Maybe.. If I explore I’ll find my answer!” Caramel opens his window and used his magic to float over to his parents window, they sleeping peacefully. He floats down outside the black fence and took a look at his surroundings. Some ponies were walking by as carts were driven by colts and over puddles. Lights from Windows and street lights shines spots on street.The wind blew paper and plastic bags, one poster flew on Caramel’s face, he took it off and looked at it. “Hmm? What’s this?” The poster had two ponies, a griffon, and a donkey playing instruments and the title of their band was called the Manhattan stars and said where they were playing. The first pony was a Pegasus who was holding a guitar, with a microphone in front of her. Her mane was in a messy brown ponytail, and wore green square-frame glasses. Her fur was maroon, her wings were small, and her cutie mark was a guitar with musical notes around it. The second pony was a crystal pony who was playing the keyboard. His mane was short ,medium violet red , pulled back, and had a hot pink hat. His fur was pale violet red and his cutie mark was piano keys. The griffon was larger than everyone else playing the bass, her feathers were white and spring green, her wings were large, white with a tint of green and had the body of a leopard. Lastly the donkey was playing the drums and had fur covering his eyes and almost his mouth. His fur was dark grey and his ears were long. “What are those things their holding? Oof!” Caramel horn all of sudden made him drop to the floor then started to drag him to someplace. “Ow! Why can’t I stop myself from moving!?” His horn dragged him all over the city sightseeing all kinds of stores, buildings then lead him to a alleyway that had one run down bar. Caramel was finally able to stop moving and took a look at the bar. “Huh? What is this place? Whoa!” Caramel’s horn lead him into the bar and forced him to sit on a chair in front of a stage. Inside the bar was rather clean and had some ponies, and even crystal ponies in seats either drinking or chattering. A colt wearing a bow tie and holding a microphone came out of the curtains alarming every-pony’s attention. “Good evening every-pony tonight we have been honored to meet the stars that makes Manehattan so bright and awake, mares and gentle-colts I present the Manehattan stars!” Ponies cheer as the curtains roll up to reveal the band, the colt places the microphone in front of the pony holding the guitar. “Thanks dude, how’s every-pony doing?” “Awesome Star light!” “Awesome, all of you ponies sit tight cause we’re gonna play jazz that will smooth the soul and mind! A 1! A 2! A 1 2 3!” Smooth jazz plays throughout the bar and through Caramel’s ears making him move side to side. ‘This..this is amazing.. The things their playing.. The beats.. The sounds.. Makes me want to.. Want to boogie!!’ All of sudden Caramel Swirls jumps out of his chair and starts to dance scaring the ponies but surprisingly made the band more excited and play music more louder. “Wow! Look at that pony over there dudes come on get your plots off your chairs and start dancing!” Star light said while strumming her guitar, ponies did what the mare said and started to dance along with Caramel swirls who was dancing in the spotlight, Star light jumps in front of Caramel. “Sup little dude wanna have a spin at the mic?” Star light said while looking at Caramel’s flank, Caramel nods and was given the microphone he jumps on the the stage and starts to sing, all of a sudden ponies start to play trumpets. ‘Manehattan! The city where dreams come true! Where you can find carrot dogs and salty pretzels Cross over the bridge of New yoke city and you’ll find Manehattan! Ride on a ferry boat and look upon the breezy sea Come! Watch the spectacular musical of Hinny of the Hills! The clothing of fashion week will make your eyes glow with wonder! Wow! Anything’s possible here at the city where dreams come true! Manehattan! The city where dreams come true! Where you can find carrot dogs and salty pretzels Cross over the bridge of New yoke city and you’ll find Manehattan! Every-pony may be a little grouchy and loud but the city never sleeps! Being generous is a wonderful thing and we ponies love the word! We’ll always have your back and do something nice for you that’s what makes Manehattan great! Anything’s possible here at the city where dreams come true! Manehattan! The city where dreams come true! Where you can find carrot dogs and salty pretzels Cross over the bridge of New yoke city and you’ll find Manehattan! Manehattan! The place! Where! Dreams come truuuuueeeeeeee!! Oh yeah!! Welcome to Manehattan! Yeah!! The music stops and ponies applauded Caramel, Caramel was out of breath his mane was a little frazzled and he was rather excited. Star light wrapped her shoulder around Caramel. “Holy cow! I never seen such excitement from a pony, you can’t even stop moving!” Caramel looks down and see he can’t stop swaying and moving up and down. “You sure got musical talent dude!” “This is music?” “Of course it is! Take a bow my friend you just got yourself some new fans!” Caramel looks at the crowd cheering and smiled. He took a bow as he felt so happy, forgetting his mission, backstage the bar was almost about to close, Caramel was in the dressing room along with the band who was putting their instruments away and was getting ready to leave. “Are you guys going to stay here any longer?” Caramel asks who still can’t stop moving. “Sorry friend of Sunny Daze but this was our last trip here, we’re going to Baltimare next” The crystal pony said as he carries his keyboard and walks out the back door where their trailer was, Caramel tilts his head confused till Star light, took her glasses off, takes her eye contacts off, then wipes her face with a white cloth. “Wait... You’re Starlight, Sunny Daze?” “..How come I’m not as shock as I was before?” Sunny rolls her eyes, putting her guitar in her case. “I was actually coming to get you this afternoon but you were all mopey dopey so.. How did you get here?” Caramel shrugs. “No idea, my horn just drags me.” “Think your horn can drag you all the way home?” Caramel taps his horn. “Nope ran out of juice apparently” “Well come on then, Clover will take you home.” After Sunny wipes all of the paint off of her and points at the Griffon who’s putting away her bass. All of them got into the van and drove Caramel home, once they got there Caramel got out of the van. “Thanks Sunny!” “No prob Dude, I’ll come visit ya next month. So remember to never stop dancing and to never stop smiling Kay?” “Okay Sunny bye!” The van drives away, and Caramel turns around to see his Mother who looks like she’s been crying for hours and his father who looks furious. “U-Um.. H-Hi-” “Your grounded for a whole year..sniff” His Mother starts to cry again, as his Father begins to talk to him. “HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO RECKLESS AND STUPID!? I NEVER TAUGHT MY SON TO BE SO CARELESS AS TO LEAVE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! NOT TELL HIS PARENTS WHERE HE’S GOING! HANG OUT WITH A BUNCH OF TROUBLEMAKERS! AND WORRY HIS PARENTS FOR DEAR LIFE!! AND LOOK AT YOU YOU’RE DIRTIER THAN DIRT IT SELF! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!! YOU’RE GOING TO BE WASHING DISHES ONLY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE-” “HEY QUIET DONKEY WE’RE TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!!” Tabbouleh gets cut off by a neighbor who opens his window and yells at him, Tabbouleh yells back. “NO YOU SHUT UP WRECKER!!” Loquat puts her hoof on Tabbouleh which calms him down a bit. “Honey let’s just scold him inside” Loquat grabs Caramel’s ear and brings him inside as he mutters ow. “Fine.. BUT I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU WRECKER AND YOUR STUPID WRECKING BALL!!” “WHY DON’T YOU SAY IT TO MY FACE!! A ZERO-STAR CHEF WHO SINGS LIKE A SEAGULL!!” “YOU’RE-” “HONEY COME ON!!” “Curse him and his wrecking ball...” Tabbouleh mutters as he walks inside. He was about to start talking to him again but Caramel cuts him off. “I know آب I did something really bad and I should be punished for it, but I was.. Forced by my magic to go to this bar and-” “YOU WENT INTO A BAR!?!” “I know 媽媽 that’s bad but I met this band called the Manehattan stars, and they played this thing called music and it made me so.. So HAPPY!!” Caramel jumps scaring his parents. “I was able to dance my hooves off! Drums banged, Piano keys pushed, the strums of bass and guitar made me sway side to side! I was able to sing! So I sung to the HIGHEST I EVER COULD~ IT WAS THE GREATEST EXPERIENCE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!” Caramel’s parents looked at him completely shocked, then Tabbouleh sighs, puts his head down in shame and walks upstairs. “I’m sorry 媽媽 I didn’t mean to-” “Caramel just.. Just go to bed please”Loquat puts her hoove on her forehead, Caramel nods and goes up stairs to go to sleep. The next day Caramel was force to to stay in his room, Loquat knocks the door and opens it, holding a plate of eggs, apple juice, and tofu bacon. “Here you go Caramel eggs, apple juice, with tofu bacon just how you like it.” Caramel took the plate and juice but didn’t bother to eat it, Loquat sighs and hugs Caramel. “媽媽, I.. I know I did something wrong but.. I I didn’t mean to make  آب mad.. I just wanted to get my cutie mark..” “Oh Caramel is that what this is all about?” Caramel nods making Loquat sigh. “I should probably tell you about your father and his cutie mark problem” "اب had the same problem as me?” “Yes and it was before we even met, your father’s family were all chefs so he was next to be a chef but he didn’t want to become a chef, instead he wanted to play the Buzuq and sing his heart out. Your father tried he tried so hard to sing and play but no matter what he could never get what he wanted and had no cutie mark for many years, after we met he eventually gain his cutie mark but never tried to sing or play ever again since it would break his family’s tradition.” “So your father tried to keep music away from you but we both knew that wasn’t going to happen now he’s afraid that your going to go through the same phase as him now and that you’re going to be frustrated and disappointed just like he did fifteen years ago..” Caramel eyes widen at his father’s story, was silent for a few minutes trying to take it all in. He shook his head and looked at his Mother hurt. “I won’t be disappointed at all” “Caramel you don’t know that” “Yes I do! Please let me try music just once! Hay it may even help me win this competition! And even if it doesn’t oh well I’ll still like it while I’ll cook tofu for you!” Loquat sighs before hugging Caramel and nods. “Okay Caramel but please don’t do anything dangerous like that again I don’t want you get hurt” Caramel nods hugging his Mother back. “Don’t worry I’ll never do anything that crazy again I’m sorry I’m really am” His Mother lets him go. "Now finish your breakfast and come to the kitchen today’s a day off” Caramel nods already finishing his food, Loquat leaves the room not before kissing Caramel on his forehead. After Caramel finishes, he walks out the door to see his Father waiting. “...Hi  اب” “ابن” A few awkward minutes past before Caramel slowly walking away but then stop to look at his Father. “Caramel Swirls?” “Yes Dad?” “I’ll never stop loving you no matter what” Caramel smiles and hugs his father who hugs him back. “Thanks Dad!” “Your welcome now start washing those dishes you hear?” Caramel nods and starts to do his chores. The next few weeks Loquat and Tabbouleh taught him different recipes for the cooking contest. “Good morning everypony and welcome to Manehattan’s first cooking contest!” A unicorn reporter shouted excitedly at the the camera in front of her, behind her is a long and wide room displaying multiple chefs dishes, and chefs cooking in front of ponies. Three ponies sit in front of a large stage conversing. The first pony was chef Buttershy, the second was Baker Wolves, and last was Chef Pork lo maine. Caramel, his parents, and a few other workers carrying things under white cloths. “Chefs who’s participating in the cooking contest please come to the main stage, guests sit behind the judges and wait as the contest begins in five minutes.” “This is it.” “Try your best Caramel and don’t give up” “I won’t Mother” Loquat nods, Tabbouleh pats Caramel’s mane avoiding his horn. “Don’t let the other chefs scare you okay” “Nothing will scare me expect for the judges bye every pony! Caramel said carrying his food on a white cloth and walking to the stage. The first round was entrees, Caramel’s dish was Neighese Spring Rolls the rest of judges thought it tasted fantastic expect for chef Buttershy who  thought it needed more lettuce and butter in it. The next round was beverages, Caramel’s drink was Jiffy Punch. This time Chef Pork lo Maine thought the drink was too tangy and spicy. The last round was desserts and Caramel presented a dish no one expected. Caramel placed his last plates covered by a metal lid in front of the judges. “So Swirls what do you have for the last round?” Baker Wolves said before removing the metal lid and revealing it to be a.. “It is a Apple cheesecake made with fresh diced Granny Smith apples and a hint of cinnamon in a lusciously rich creamy cheesecake and topped with more apple slices, I made it by myself and it was my recreation of what I thought of Manehattan.” The chefs nod looking at the cheesecake then grabbing their forks and taking a bite of the sliced cakes. The chefs eyes widen at the taste and kept eating it. “Mmph! This is.. So rich and creamy!” “The cake’s toppings are shaped into a rose! Beautiful!” “I don’t want to eat it but I just can’t help it!” “Thank you chefs!”  Caramel said feeling quite proud of himself. After all of the Judges judge the food it was time to see who was first, second and third place. “The bronze medal goes to junior chef Raspberry!” A purple colored crystal Pegasus goes on the award stand and claims his bronze trophy. “The silver medal goes to.. Uh.. How do you pronounce this?” One of the bodyguards looked at the card the host was holding and whisper it in his ears. “Anmitsu shu cream cheung fun Caramel Swirls!”  Caramel’s eyes widen slightly but smiles gets on the award stand and claims his silver trophy. “That’s my boy!! That’s my boy!!” “Mama’s so proud of you Caramel!!” Caramel sees his parents and waves at them. “And the one who claims first place, gets ten million bits, and a trip to Canterlot is.. Daisy!!” Ponies cheered for the cream-colored deer as she goes on top of the award stand and claim her prizes. “That’s all folks come to Appleloosa for the next cooking contest!!” After the contest ends, animals start to leave. Caramel and his parents leave the hall start to walk home. “It’s a shame I didn’t get my cutie mark..” Caramel sadly smiles looking at his flank. “It’s okay Caramel there’s always next time.” “Yes and this will give me the chance to teach you some Buzuq” “Really?!” Caramel’s eyes sparkled at the word Buzuq, his father nods making Caramel jump for joy. Caramel looks at his silver medal that shined, then he heard a sound in the distance, he looked up at the sky to see a faint image of a rainbow that made Caramel’s eyes glow a rainbow hue. “You know what I’m actually rather happy to not have a cutie mark for once.” “Why is that Chung fun?” “Because I can try whatever I want without having some pony telling me what I should be doing.  I learned so much from my musical adventure and I was able to find the music in me, it made me realize it’s not about being able to do this better than others, it’s about the Joy you gain from it that makes you feel pure happiness. That’s what I am right now filled with joy by the two things I love cooking and music!” Caramel says with his eyes closed, spinning. When he stopped spinning and opened his eyes he was greeted with his parents eyes popped out and jaws dropped to the floor. Caramel tilted his head. “What?” “...C-Cutie..” “...M-Mark..” They point at Caramel’s flank, Caramel looks at his flank and sees his cutie mark. It was two musical notes shaped like a fork and spoon criss cross in front of a Caramel swirled cake with Caramel cubes and small musical notes danced around the cake. “..I...got..my..cutie..Mark......................I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!!! WOOOHOOOOOO!!!!” Caramel jumped so high he jumped into space and then back to his home where parents were standing. “I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!! I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!! I DID IT!! YEAH!!!” Five weeks later Caramel and his parents come to ponyville. Caramel’s parents blindfold him and take him somewhere slightly away from ponyville. They take his blindfold off so he could see what was in front of him. It was a large run down farm with large open fields, with a old abandoned mill. “This.. Is.. AMAZING!!” “We’re happy you like it Caramel, this was great great great great great great great grandmother’s farm and restaurant, it was going to be demolished but Tabbouleh claim ownership of the place and decided to give it you.” “But why?” “It’s a graduation gift.” “Gift?” Loquat pulled out something from her bag and gave it to Caramel, it was a official chef uniform and hat along with a small red ribbon. “From now on you are Chef Anmitsu shu cream cheung fun Caramel Swirls.” “Wow! T-Thank you so much guys!!” Caramel puts the uniform on and ties the ribbon on his mane. “There’s one last thing I wanted to give you Caramel.” Tabbouleh goes into his bag and pulls out a guitar case and gives it to Caramel. “Is this..?” “Yup, my old Buzuq she’s been with me for all my life take care of her well” “I will! Don’t worry about miss Buzuq!” Caramel jumps for joy making his parents laugh but Loquat starts to cry. “Aww Mama..” “I’m sorry it’s just.. I’m going to miss you so much some of our employees and even some of your family are coming to help and live with you here but.. I don’t want to leave my little Chung fun..” Loquat cries harder and hugs Caramel, Caramel looks at his father who is sniffing almost about to break apart. “Papa you too?” “I can’t help it! My boy is growing up into a horse!” Tabbouleh starts to cry hugging both of them hard which causes Caramel to cry alongside them. After twenty minutes they finally let go and wave goodbye to Caramel. Caramel wipes his tears take a very long deep breath and look at the farm. “Today’s the day I become a true chef! And what a beautiful day it is too, hello ponyville here I come and see you smile!!” Caramel cheers dancing go Ponyville ready to make some friends.