Six elements make the world as we know it, six elements keep harmony together. Laughter, Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty and Magic keep Equestria from harm. With each element comes a great responsibility. Due to the nature of the world, there are horrible creatures that set their goals on destroying the harmony that keeps evil away. The only thing that keeps evil away from these sacred elements are the dragons and dragon heirs that protect them. As legend tells, the dragons names follow which element they protect. One will never know the dragons true secrets unless they are the dragon heir, a sacred bond between dragon and pony. With the dragon in their bodies, the true power of the dragons become used for good, keeping the elements safe from harm. But with the dragons power comes a great sacrifice. Once the dragon heir as taken the dragon within them, the dragon will drain their life force slowly. Due to this, dragon heir's die within two decades, years doubling in their worth. A thirty year old stallion will seem like a fifty year old stallion, the power from his body killing him from the inside. As with this knowledge, within each year of the elements, which travels bi yearly, the dragon heir must choose a dragon apprentice of their own. This apprentice will learn the trade of the dragon heir, and will take over once their master retires. This is the way that Celestia can keep her elements safe. There is one exception to her mighty rule. Dragon heir's can only be male. To be a female dragon heir would mean death in the most gruesome fashion, mares being a disgrace to the natural order. Mares have never been allowed in the council of dragons, woman will never be allowed to rule. Generations have followed this rule, and this shall never change...
The thud of my delicate body hitting the earth echoed around the arena. Waves of pain rocketed throughout my body, squeezing my eyes shut to keep from screaming out of pain. Gingerly, I slowly moved my right hoof to rub the side of my body that cried out with languish. The moment I reached it however, a sharp kick of what I knew was a hoof crashed against my side, sending me sprawling across the ground. I now could not keep myself from moaning in pain, my body squirming on the floor. The aching pain that was in my side now crept across the entirety of my figure. The crows of colts behind me stood in horror, watching this tragedy unfold. As I began to calm myself, the throbbing seemed to lessen, but the pain remained.
As if the fates knew that I was beginning to relax, I felt another sharp kick to my side. Agony escaped my lips once more, but this time I was returned with horrible laughter from a deep voice. My eyes ripped open to show who was doing this, as my brain focused more on the pain then who had hit me down in the first place. The moment I saw who it was, remembrance rippled through the core of my mind. The villain who had been kicking me while I was down was Iron Will, the fighting teacher of the students around me. Closing my eyes to get rid of the image of the large blue minotaur, I felt a burning sensation rush to my eyes. I knew that I was starting to cry, but I could not let Iron Will see me like this. Not again, not like last time.
Tomorrow was the day of the friendship dragon, and as tradition, the day that the next dragon heir would be chosen. Everypony in the arena knew that one of us would be chosen to become the next heir, while the others would return home as failures. How an apprentice was chosen is by the three trials of the Princess. We had to show our training styles to a massive mirror that could show the dragons true form under the Princess seat in the stadium seat above. Each element had a different fighting style, but each different style could impress any dragon. If the dragon accepted this new apprentice, it would show itself in the mirror and give to the new heir the dragon secrets. There was one problem however. I could do every training move but the third step in the friendship style of fighting. What was required is to step back with your back left hoof and to sweep your front right hoof to cause your enemy to fall. But due to my broken back left, the move was impossible for me to do, and Iron Will knew it.
I could feel the eyes of the students around me stare at the back of my mauled body, their gazes sending waves of shame through my body. I was making a fool out of myself once more, proving once again that I was a failure. As if Iron Will was reading my mind, he began to laugh again. This time however, he spoke with agitation. "Rise, Jang-ee". Jang-ee. The name for failures. The name that's been associated with mine as long for as I can remember. Just about everypony has called me that horrible, disgusting name. All because of my broken back left hoof that refused to heal, no matter what I tried to do. I had to learn to live without the full use of my hoof, and to learn how to fight without it. Fight training was something every male in the country had to do since discord called for war years ago, causing a single colt from each family to fight. Being as maimed as I am, I was still taken in as a foal, my parents putting me up for adoption before I could even crawl. My master, the man who adopted me, took me in for a sole reason. To train the next dragon heir. He has placed all of his trust into me, and if I failed, he will send me back to the salt mines were I had lived before.
Once the shame had moved into the contents of my stomach, I slowly used my front hooves to painfully lift my body upwards to stand on them. I shook as I did this, massive amounts of pain shooting through my hooves. Iron Will continued to laugh his deep laugh towards me, obviously trying to insult me. I knew inside of me I wanted to show him that I was not worthless. That I really was worth becoming the next dragon heir. Once I was sure my hooves could support my weight, I turned my head toward Iron Will's direction and bowed while saying,
"Thank you teacher". From my peripheral vision, I could see that he was now frowning, surprised I could lift my figure up after the beating he had just given me. With a pang of annoyance in his voice he replied with,
"Get back in formation Jang-ee". Bowing once more, I backed away to the line of students that had watched me become humiliated. In the ranks I could see the class jerk Antwon, who looked as if he was holding back a hearty chuckle. Frowning in disgust as him, I continued to slowly walk to the end of the line they were standing in, where I saw a familiar and friendly face awaiting me. The one nice guy within the ponies of the class, Dylan.
Dylan was a light orange pony with a long brown mane that sometimes covered his eyes, making it hard for him to train. He had various bruises on his body because of his vision becoming blocked by his hair covering his pupils, but he refused to cut his mane. For an unknown reason, he was absolutely fond of his hair. He also gave off a wonderful essence of happiness, which made me always wanted to be around him. He made everypony happy, except for Antwon. Just about everypony around us had the idea that either Antwon or Dylan were going to become the next dragon heir. But we all knew that I had no chance what so ever.
Shaking away the thoughts of sadness that plagued my mind, I stood beside Dylan and stared blankly ahead, avoiding Iron Will's gaze. Once I saw that he had chosen a new victim to bully, a small apprentice named Aaron, I turned my head towards Dylan's, and saw he was already doing so. coincidentally this caused a fit of laughter to rise out of both of our throats, a pleasure I do not usually receive. For a split second, I felt as if the sadness that sat in the pit of my stomach was lifting away, but the moment he stopped laughing it fell flat on its face.
I saw Dylan turn to face Iron Will's direction to see if he was watching, but he was still preoccupied with giving Aaron hell as well. For some odd reason, it gave me slight pleasure to see another pony hurt by him. Made me feel like he did this to everyone because he is bitter, and not because I am just hated. Disgusted with this sudden thought, I shook my head, which must have shocked Dylan. He began to stare at me, and I stared back. He said ever so quietly as to not let Iron Will,
"Sorry for what happened to you Alex..." I produced the warmest smile I could and replied with,
"It's alright Dylan, I am getting used to it." Once again we started to laugh, but during the fit my back left hoof began to ache horribly. It got to the point where I could barely keep my weight upon it, pain running through my body as quickly as like blood in a vein. Wanting to escape the arena we were in, I called out to Iron Will,
"Sir, can I please return home to my master?" Turning away from the now mangled Aaron, Iron Will laughed and held his stomach. He loudly replied,
"Iron Will can see that you are already tired Jang-ee. You are excused from practice."
