Asha and Mellia awoke before their father and, through the heavy drawn curtains, could tell the sun was just starting to rise. Seeing this they ran off down the hall.

"Hey Mellia lets go make daddy some breakfast and take it to him." Asha was four foot eleven inches tall. Her fur, mane and tail were white as snow. With her mane and tail ending in red tips like her fathers. What made her stand out was her bright sky blue eyes but what made them really pop was the fact the whites of her eyes were blood red.

"Well what are we going to make him den Asha? I think he would like dat slow grilled bacon wrapped fruit." Mellia's colors were the opposite of her sister and she was the same height. With the majority of her being a bright red with her mane and tail ending in white tips. Unlike her sister the whites of her eyes were black and shimmering gold was the color of her eyes.

"Oh ya. Daddy really did enjoy dose." Looking to her sister in thought "We could make eggs as well and toast with daddy's home made apple-butter."

Before any replay could be given a maid walked out from around the corner but before they collided the girls jumped over her. They kept on running as the maid yelled at them. "Sorry for almost hitting ya Nova!" They then looked to each other with big toothy grins before taking off even faster.

Sliding to a stop in front of the kitchen door they peaked inside "Do ya see anyone Mellia?"

"No Asha, looks like we are all good."

High fiving they made their way in and began to make breakfast for them and their father. By the time they were done the kitchen was a wreck. The maids and butlers assigned to the kitchen staff that day, upon seeing the state of their work place, did the only thing they could... call Darthus.

"Young masters, I know you enjoy making food for your father. He has been teaching you to cook and you're getting quit good at it. Though I've said this before and I know I will need to say it again. You are not to work in here without some of the staff present. You always make such a huge mess. For crying out loud you got biscuit dough on the ceiling. How is that even......you know what I don't even want to know."

Mellia and Asha did the only thing they could do in this situation. They gave him the biggest and cutest puppy dog eyes you ever saw. "We're sorry Darthus."

Quickly closing his eyes he picked up the tray with the food on it. "It is quite all right but I will talk to your father and have him do something about this. Now shall we be going then? It's about time to wake him is it not?" The three made their way to Venrus' room.

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Venrus loved his sleep, that much is true and that easily showed by how his room was dark as night even though the sun was up. So when someone started to shake him he was a little annoyed. Stretching as he sat up he stretched out his magic into the room so he could see. To Venrus having his eyes stolen by the demon was problematic to say the least. For the next few days after it happened he fought hard to find a new way to see and he did. By stretching his magic into the air everything was covered in his mana and if he used mana sense he could view the world around him. There were only two colors: black was what everything looked like and white was the out line but he could see. So when he turned and saw his girls next to him he smiled and hugged them.

"Good morning master."

Looking over to the doorway he could see Darthus with a tray of food. "Good morning to ya as well. What did ya make dis morning?"

"Not me sir, the young masters made breakfast for you. Which is why I am here. They made quit the mess out of your kitchen sir."

"I see, dank ya girls but ya know ya should wait for someones help. After we eat yer going to go clean yer mess."

"Aaawww, but Daddy!"

"Don't 'aw but daddy' me. If ya want to go exploring with me ya will clean da mess, am I understood?"

"Yes Daddy."

Once they had finished their food and the girls cleaned their mess, they dawned their gear and set out into the forest.

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The Day in Ponyville was beautiful but not all was well inside the castle of Equestria's newest Princess. Twilight and her sister Barb had gotten into a big fight. After months of searching, Barb had found another dragon willing to talk to her and fill her in on somethings she wanted to know about her race. There was just one catch, she had to go to were the dragon was. She neglected to inform her sister who now had forbade her from going. Not only would Barb have to go far away but into one of the most dangerous places, the Badlands.

The birds were singing and ponies were going about their day as if all was right with the world, that was till a very pissed off dragon through open the castle doors causing a loud bang. Barb stormed out of the castle, trails of smoke coming out of her nose as she stomped her way through town.

Twilight came running out of the castle looking just as mad as her sister. "Come back here we aren't done talking about this!"

"Oh yes we are! I'm going for a walk to clear my head and let us cool down so don't follow me!"

She kept on going till Twilight could see she was going for the Everfree Forest. Twilight knew she didn't need to worry about Barb going in there, not much messed with her since her growth spurt. Just as she was going back into the castle some of her friends showed up asking what was going on. So she led them inside and began to tell them everything.

Barb was now stomping her way through the forest completely unaware of what was going on around her or the lack there of. After an hour of walking and going over everything trying to figure out how to change Twilight's mind a roar broke her from her thoughts. Quickly ducking behind a tree and slowly peaking out to see what was going on, she saw a manticore limping into the small clearing in front of her hiding spot.

As she looked upon it she couldn't help but feel sorry for it. From what she could tell it was bleeding badly. Moving from tree to tree she got as close as she could and then she saw it. There were some kind of strange arrows sticking out of it from its front right leg and had some gashes running down its side and back leg. The stinger was barely hanging on and one of its wings were missing.

A twig snapped and the beast began to look around franticly and she could smell the fear. Not much could scare a manticore this badly other than bigger monsters but this beast was attacked. Then across the small clearing three ponies walked out with a big silver cat. The biggest of the three readied its bow and before the manticore could run it was thrown off its feet two feet away from were it had been. When it landed on its side Bard could see an arrow sticking out of its ribs but the manticore was not moving. It wasn't even making any noise but she could see it breathing.

The strange creatures slowly moved over to the manticore. Once they were close enough she could tell they were not ponies, in fact they looked like strange diamond-dogs to her. She watched on as the big one took something off his neck. "Dank ya for yer help Silver Hunter, get some rest" Then, like it was never even there, the cat turned into a silver light and flew into the item in the big ones hand. "Okay girls, finish it off and take what we need. I will keep watch."

The two small ones killed the manticore. They skinned it, took the meat, claws, teeth, wing and the stinger leaving the rest just laying there, all while the big one watched. "Daddy, we're done." they said happily. They just killed and desecrated the manticore's corpse like this was normal. She could not understand how these two sweet girls could do that or how their father could tell them to do it.

The father walked over and hugged the girls looking toward where she was. "Good job, now come on we need to head home. We've done enough for da day." With that they turned back toward the way they came.

Her first thought was to run. Run back to Ponyville and her sister and tell her all she saw, but then she got a very bad idea. If she followed and learned about these creatures maybe she could trade the info to Twilight and use it to get her to let her go see that dragon. So, going against her better judgment, she followed. As she followed, she was marking trees so she could fine her way back.

She followed for what felt like hours. Through the trees she could see they were approaching the base of one of the mountains in the forest. Once she reached the edge of the tree line, across the huge clearing was a castle she had never seen before made into the side of the mountain. A great wall blocked most of the view but towers could be seen standing tall behind. The wall was cracked and broken all over giving it a battle harden look. The top of the wall had huge spikes coming off it. The whole thing gave off this dark light in the shadow of the mountain.

As far as she could see the only way in was through the only gate or try to scale the cliff up to the chapel. "Well I'm not going to be getting in there without somepony seeing me. Ah well guess I'll go home for now. Twilight has cooled down by now."

"So little lizard, why are ya sneaking through da woods following me and my daughters?"

Barb jumped out of her skin, quickly spinning around to see that the father had some how snuck up on her. "I...I....I am s...sorry p...pl...please don't hurt me."

Venrus gave a hardy chuckle. "Oh don't ya be worrying none now, I wont hurt ya. Just wanting to know why yer being so sneaky for. We don't bite.....much. Though I thought ya lizard folks don't go around oders unless ya have to."

Now Barb was pissed. "Hey I am not a lizard I am a dragon get it right."

Venrus drew back a little "Oh ya be one of dose draconians den."

"No I am a dragon!" she was now shaking with anger.

Venrus crossed his arms "Sorry lass but ya don't look like any dragon I've seen. Though ya do look like da draconian race. Why don't ya come in. I'm new here and would like to ask ya some questions and I can show ya da books I got on dragons and draconians. What say ya?"

Barb looked to the sky "Well its not too late in the day I could stay for a bit. Plus if he is telling the truth I could get the info I need without going to the Badlands. I can learn more about him and anything else he may have in there. I wont be able to stay long though, even I don't like to get caught out here at night. Plus, if I do stay too long, Twilight will get worried and may even come looking for me."

Barb wanted to leave, this screamed bad news, but the slight chance she could get info on herself was too great. She looked to Venrus and smiled "Sure I can stay for a little bit."

He smiled at her "Good, follow me I'll show ya da way. Oh by da way my name is Venrus Nightingale and the little two are my daughters Asha and Mellia. Da white one is Asha and the red one is Mellia."

Slowly they all made their way inside as the gate closed behind them. Barb looked to it "Well its too late to go back now."

Author's Note

This is what Dark Flame Keep looks like