Karma ran through the forest. The gems tightly clutched in her claws. This time, she was not going to starve. Karma kept running, her heart thundering in her chest. The flames erupted behind her.

"Karma~! How dare you steal from your father~!" the deep voice roared.

"Your not my father!" Karma screeched back as she rushed through the Everfree. The hunger in her stomach clawed at her, but she had to keep running. Her lungs burned from every movement. The large dragon was on her tail and she kept running, her wings suddenly spread out and she took off.

The night sky held her in it's cold embrace. The gems she held in her arms had reduced but it was enough so she could go to her secret cave. The dragon behind her couldn't lift off the ground, for he spent too much time eating the jewels Karma mined day and night.

"You will pay!" his voice rang out as he spewed flames into the peaceful night sky.

Karma was weak, but didn't give up on the thought of that cave. It was filled to the brim with gems. She was the only one who knew of it. Karma's stomach growled but she continued to fly.

"I'm not going to let my hunger, or Spark, douse my spirit." she muttered to herself.

A flash of rainbow colors confused Karma.
"Hey! What's with all the commotion!" a voice rang in her ears.

All she could focus on though was the gems falling to ground.
"No!" Karma screeched as she flew down, tucking her wings in tightly. The rainbow blur was soon replaced with a pony hovering above her.

Karma plummeted towards the falling gems, letting gravity do it's work. She finally grabbed the gems, curling into a tight ball as she fell through the tree line. No gems escaped her tight grip, even if she died, Karma would at least feel fresh air.

She tightened her grip on the gems and the world faded around her, letting the night and the forest around her engulf everything.

Karma slowly opened her eyes, her wings had gone, that was good. Light fluttered into her vision, it her a while to have her eyes adjust, being in the mines for so long. Her spines quivered as she sat up in the star-decorated bed. Ponies and another dragon stood around her. Karma shrunk back and let her claws slide out. The panic sunk into her brain, her eyes widened at the memory.

"Now remember, don't look him in the eyes."
"We're gonna be best friends forever right?" "Right."
"Karma! Run!"
"Takasu!"

Karma shook away the thoughts jumbled about in her head. Takasu is probably having a nice life in a big city with lots of friendly faces and delicious foods. The thought comforted Karma. The comfort didn't last long when a purple hand was held out to her.

She jumped away from the group of ponies. Wait, where's the dragon? Karma thought before she felt a claw touch her arm. She leaped into the air and dug her claws into the ceiling.

"I don't see any wings Rainbow Dash." the purple one said.
"Yeah well, she was flying when I found her." 'Rainbow Dash' replied.
"Darlings , I think we've startled her." another said.
"Ya think." a flat country voice replied.

Karma looked down, a docile drake stood on the ground. He looked up into her wild and confused eyes. He seemed to see a flash of heart-ache in her eyes.

Karma glanced around the room, assessing her surroundings.

She let go of the ceiling and landed on her feet. Karma calmed her nerves, the docile drake was just as big a threat as the ponies, which she knew were too kind for their own good. Karma looked around once more. It was a large library compared to the ones Karma had seen.

"I think we should leave and let her talk with one of her own kind." the purple one said and everyone shuffled out of the room, well except the pink one who bounced out the door.

"So, you lived in the wild then?" the drake asked Karma.
She nodded.
"What's it like?" he asked.
Karma couldn't even explain it, so all she did was point out the window, towards the mountains. Karma looked down at her arm, it was bruised and beaten. Not unusual for her, but it hurt much less than it did in the mines. Karma shivered and jumped away from the warmth of the drake. He looked concerned, but Karma didn't want anything to do with other dragons.

She ran into the door, knocking it down, and flew down the steps. Soon, she'd be able to reach her secret cave, and find Takasu and Marble.

Maybe Marble finally found her brother. Karma thought as she flew into the vast sky.

Then she realized, her gems weren't with her. It still felt nice to look into the blue sky with out worrying of being caught by Spark, Muddy, or Ursa. Things could be worse, she could still be in the mines working under Ursa and her goons.

The serpents by the lake that the dragons traded with talked about a beautiful place down south. Perhaps that's where her friends went. Soon she felt a searing pain in her wing and rib cage. She fell to the ground in a heap and tried to take off again. She was so lose to being free again. The air in the pony town smelled vulgar with the train station so near. Her lungs burned and the pain in her wing and ribcage made moving all the more hard to accomplish.

Her body shuddered and a coughing fit started up. The mines weren't good to her. She had had coughing fits before, but not this strong. A few drops of blood fell onto the floor. The drake ran out of the house and looked at her. The way Karma was now, made her look weak and sick. She wiped her face with her arm and stood up taller, tucking in her wings so they wouldn't be damaged any more.

The pain could have killed any one of the soft ponies who had never been in the harsh mines. Her spines quivered and she couldn't take much more of the eyes boring into her. She darted forwards, and climbed up the large tree that made up the library.

The drake of course looked concerned. Karma wasn't in the mood to give a fuck. She looked down, the eyes so used to the darkness, turned into slits. Karma couldn't help but notice the throbbing in her head. Each breath brought another hack and each movement brought another wave of pure pain.
Memories flooded in like water seeping through cracks in rocks.

Karma stretched her legs. Today she was going to explore again.
"Don't go too far! You must help me when Inghar's litter hatches!" her mother called.
"I won't Mama!" Karma called back.

She ran along the well-trodden trail, the trail to the river she had always followed. She loved to go down to the river and watch the serpents trade with the other, adult dragons.

She climbed down the cliff side. After landing on the soft sand, she took off towards the sea-shell stand. It always had a different stash of shells. Some were very shiny and colorful on that day.
"Why hello again Karma," Tidal chuckled, "I suppose you're here to admire my wares."
Tidal was a teal/aquamarine colored serpent who always sold sea shells at the port. He was lighthearted and kind to everyone he met.
"Tell me, how is your mother faring?" he asked.
"Oh she's fine now. The sickness left her, thank Solaris!" Karma replied, then added. "And Artemis!"

Solaris and Artemis were the gods of the sun and the moon. Dragons admired the sun because it gave them fire, and serpents admired Artemis because it gave them the tides. The two gods lived in harmony and many say that they could have been reborn. Karma always thought that , even if they hadn't been reborn, the sun and moon would move. The many stars in the sky were the dead souls of all the dragons, every time they die, a new star appears.

Then the war horns sounded off. She was dragged away and Tidal slipped into the water. Pulled. Pushed. Pulled. Pushed. Until the nightmare got worse. They let her go, she had to get to Mama. Running up the cliff she knew so well, she got to her mother's nest.
She let out a scream. The blood pooled in her nest seeped into everything in the cave in the vast tunnel. She rushed next door.
Inghar shared the same fate. Karma glanced back and the group of dragons marching her way from the other side of the tunnel. She slipped into Inghar's nest and gathered the eggs underneath her. Soon the dragons passed, she looked down, the eggs were fine. Karma slipped out of the cave, blood covering her scales.

Karma shook out of her trance. A crowd of ponies looked up at her, their young faces wide and innocent. Three fillies saw she was now gazing at them and rushed off. Karma slowly climbed down the tree, knowing with her wounds, it was not safe to travel. The drake suddenly darted in front of her.
"How'd you get those wings?" he asked.
Instead of answering, she pressed the soft spot on his back, every dragon has one. Wings spread from the spot and he gazed at them in awe. Karma then poked his soft spot again and the wings slid back into his back. He seemed crest-fallen, but Karma wasn't about to feel sorry for the drake. Every dragon had a soft spot on their backs. Some were more active than others. The soft spot controlled the wings, but was very vulnerable when the wings were not out. When faced with pressure, the wings will spread and form a barrier to protect that spot.

"Let's go inside now." the drake said before holding out his hand...And Karma took it.

Meanwhile the six ponies from earlier talked about how to deal with the dragoness. Twilight Sparkle suddenly came up with a devious (but brilliant) plan.
"Alright girls, tomorrow we put it in motion, and get the ball rolling." she said.
"Ball? What ball? IknowIhavethoseeverywhereincaseofaballemergencybutreallywhatkindofballareyoutalkingabout-" Pinkie Pie started.
"We'll be going home now." Rainbow Dash stated as she stuck her hand in Pinkie's mouth.
"But I-" Pinkie was cut off once more.
"Pinkie Pie, the sun's going down. You need to watch the little ones remember?" Applejack interrupted.
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot tonight is Date Night for the Cakes!" Pinkie exclaimed before bounding off.

Author's Note

This story will eventually collide with my other story , Once Upon a Time... (the dots are in the title...so yeah.)
I really wish the effects they give us would work on the Authors Notes so I wouldn't get so mad all the time.
I had to type in the code myself

Longest chapter I've ever written in my life!