Chronicles of Mythrodak: Quest of the Moonstone,by Prince MythrodakChaptersEscapeSix odditiesThe CragadileEscapeHot steam shot upward as Prince Mythrodak walked slowly on a cliff side, the tiny outcroppings were barely enough for Him to walk on, small rocks crumbled with every step he could. The overwhelming heat was coming from small lava pits and volcanoes. And every rock that fell into one sent steam and boiling water shooting up. The Prince's, (or Red Stroke) father had died the night before, and his name was King Mythrodak, but now Red Stroke Mythrodak was supposed to be the new one. But he feared that he would not achieve that rank, because his father was killed by Celestia's soldiers, they came barging into their hideout in the White tail woods. Prince Mythrodak was a descendant of Black blood Mythrodak. The first Mythrodak. “Halt where you are in the name of the queen!” came a command from behind him, he looked around to see them and tried not to fall off the edge. “Um,” said Mythrodak, “Which one? You know there are like four of them now.” “Well then all of them!” answered the soldier, coming after him, arrows whizzed past him but missed and fell into the rocky mountainside below. “Don't waste your arrows men!” ordered the Captain to his troops. Red Stroke, carefully balanced himself with his staff, but soon the soldiers were on his tail. He did not know why hey were chasing him, or why they had killed his father, but he knew that they probably wanted to do that to him. He slammed his staff down on the place behind him and it crumbled down so no pony could get across. But soon some of the flying troops with bows came after him. When he finally got past the cliff face, the troops were hot on his tail. Her then ran more quickly, on the red desert rocks of the Bad Lands, he dodged lava pools and the heat became more intense by the minute. “Get him!” shouts came from behind him. Prince Mythrodak suddenly saw a canyon yawning before him, it had a stream of lava running at it's feet and steam shot out. There was an old rickety rope bridge before him, it looked like it hadn't been used in decades. Some boards were missing and the rope was all busted, he looked behind him at the oncoming fleet with spears and bows, and he knew that it was the best choice. He ran across it madly and one or two boards broke behind him. So he ran as fast as he could to the other side. Once to the other end, the bridge suddenly collapsed with him on it and it left him hanging onto the rope for dear life. The rest of the bridge fell into the magma and shot scores of boiling water up at him. “He'll die there.” said one soldier from the other side of the canyon. But he slowly he climbed, higher and higher, and as he did three flying ponies came shooting arrows at him. As if he wasn't in enough danger already. But swiftly his staff with a black Ora around it came and deflected some of the arrows. Red Stroke flung himself at the top of the canyon and stood up, he got his staff and saw that it had six arrows stuck in it. He pulled them out and shit them at his enemies, and then kept running. Three quarters of the troops were left behind on the other side, and only five flying soldiers were able to come after him. “Halt!” boomed a voice from one of them, “In the name of the Queen!” said another “I think we've already been through this,” said the Prince while he was running, Suddenly, a geyser of stem and water shot up and Mythrodak dodged it. But one of the soldiers did not, it hit him full in the chest and sent him shrieking into two others, they stumbled out of the air. The last two flew down to help their comrades, and in their distraction, Prince Mythrodak escaped behind a pillar of sandstone. Hie pulled his hood on and slipped away silently. “We'll get you for this!” shouted a voice from behind him, and it echoed through the red land. Red Stroke hoped that palace guard hadn't been killed, even though they were trying to kill him he was not willing to take the life of one of Princess Celestia's soldiers. Going through the Bad Lands was not an easy task, there were many dangers, lava, unexpected geysers, creatures, and sometimes even a dragon or two. You wouldn't expect to find a dragon usually, but that's exactly what Prince Mythrodak ran into. He was not aware of it, but when he was taking shade behind a pillar of stone, he was attacked. It was midday, and the sin was at it's hottest, plus the extra heat from the magma made it horrible. Prince Mythrodak sighed and drank the last drop of his canteen. Then he heard growling, growling of not a giant cat, but of a dragon. He turned around and sure enough, there was a pale yellow, scaly, huge, fire breathing Dragon behind him licking it's lips. “not again.” said Mythrodak in a flat voice at he dodged fire from the beast's jaws. “Cant I be left alone?” “I am Thorny Wings, the dragon of the Bad Lands.” said the Dragon in a proud tone. “I notice that your wings are not that scary looking.” said Mythrodak peering over to the dragon's rather small, plain wings. He dodged a swipe of the dragon's tail, and then stabbed it with his staff. “Owach!” said Thorny Wings, rubbing his tail, “as I was saying, I am a very great Dragon and I don't like you.” “Why not?” asked Red Stroke, sliding out of the way of a foot stomp. “Because you poked me.” said the Dragon rubbing his tail again. “But that's because you attacked me.” said Red, “Why did you before that?” “Because you are in my territory.” Thorny Wings shot out a line of flame. But Prince just dodged it, “But I’m trying to get out of your territory.” said The Prince Mythrodak. “Can I just leave?” Thorny paused and pondered that for two seconds and then he said "i'm in a bad mood, you leave now!” and with that he roared his not-so-threatening-roar. Red Stroke didn't hesitate and ran as fast as he could, getting out of the dragon's presence. He wasn't going to wait around for him to change his mind. That was close, but the plump dragon looked rather dumb, and Price Mythrodak wondered if all dragons were that easy. Six odditiesPrince Mythrodak, tramped through the murky swamp, his hooves getting stuck in every puddle. “Why do I half do do this?” he asked himself as he batted away some vines with his staff, “Run away from Celestia's own soldiers?” he felt like kicking one of those troops that tried to kill him, but he knew it would only make more trouble for him, as if he wasn't in enough already. Mythrodak paused as he heard voices up ahead. “I hate swamps.” said a voice, “Me too.” said another “Why is it so sticky here?” “I like the sunshine.” “How can you? There is hardly any!” Prince Mythrodak quietly went over behind a tree, but quietly for being in a swamp, sounds like someone squishing water in their shoes. “I want to get out of here soon.” complained another voice, The prince now heard that the voices were not the ones of soldiers, they were female. He could hear them getting closer, and closer. He knew that he could not hide from them, there were to many. So he just stepped out into the open. The six ponies gasped with surprise. “A spy!” said one in the middle. Prince Mythrodak examined them carefully, there were six, all as colorful as the rainbow. One was dark purple, with a light pink, and velvet mane and tail, and she had a flower in her mane. Her cutie mark also had flowers in it. The one beside her was all white, she was an earth pony just like the purple one, she had orange, white, and red mane and tail that was sharp. And her cutie mark was a plain old sun. There were two Pegasi, the first one was baby-blue with messy, pink and yellow mane. Her cutie mark showed pink flowers and wind curlycues. The beside her, she was white almost all over her, only her mane had pink and purple and blue in it. Her cutie mark was a constellation of a heart and beautiful designs went down her hind leg, and some on her forehead. The next pony was another earth pony, she was light bubble-gum pink, and he main was yellow, purple, and green, and her tail was blue and purple and a little of dark green. She wore a french artist's hat, and her cutie mark was a paintbrush painting curlycues. He two hind legs were all the colors of the rainbow, very odd for a pony, and her front legs also had designs. The last one was minty green, her mane was white and pink, and her cutie mark showed three mints. “A Stranger!” said the purple earth pony. “Who are you?” asked the sky blue Pegasus, “Hello, my fair Mares.” said Prince Mythrodak, doing a slight bow of his head, “I, am lost in the swamp. Sorry for scaring you, but I just stumbled across you ponies, do you mind to help me out?” He thought that at least they would help him get through this murky swamp. He had no idea where he was. “What—” started the leader of the group “Of course!” the Minty-green pony. “I feel an introduction coming on!” chimed in the colorful pony with the french hat. “Wait, guys—” the blue leader tried again, “Um...” Prince Mythrodak started, “I'm Sunny Daze!” said the white earth pony with the sun cutie mark. “But you can just call me Sunny!” “I'm Toola-Roola.” said the Pink pony with the french hat, “But you can call me Tooly!” “And I am Minty, but you can call me...Minty!” The light green one said. “And this is Star Catcher!” said Sunny Daze hugging the mystical white Pegasus, “And Wisteria!” said Toola-Roola, pointing to the almost-all-over-purple earth pony. She seemed kind of shy. “And this is Thistle Whistle!” Said Minty, Toola-Roola, and Sunny Daze altogether. Embracing the skeptical-looking Leader of the group. “Get off.” said Thistle Whistle, shoving the other ponies out of her way, “Look, were just passing through the swamp. We've told you our names, now tell us yours.” she crossed her hooves and fluttered in the air. “Well,” said Prince Mythrodak, he usually didn't like to tell his name to other ponies, but he decided to this time. “My full name is Red Stroke Mythrodak. But you can call me Prince Mythrodak, or Red Stroke, or whatever.” “We'll call you Bid Red!” said Sunny with enthusiasm, “No.” said Red Stroke flatly. “A Prince?” asked Tooly, “Awesome!” then she paused, “A Prince of What?” Prince Mythrodak didn't answer, but Thistle Whistle cut in: “Where are you going?” “I'll tell you if you tell me where you are going.” Prince Mythrodak replied. Thistle Whistle paused, she had a small bit of nervousness in her eyes, but then she cleared her throat and looked at Wisteria, looking for an answer. Wisteria Nodded and Then Thistle turned back to face Red Stroke, “Okay, we are going on a … journey … to find a gem. That's all I'll tell you right now.” “Well, to tell the truth,” said Red Stroke, “I'm running away.” “Of what?” asked Minty, Prince Mythrodak suddenly, felt fear rising up, if he would tell them about Celestia's soldiers, they would never trust him, but he wanted to get out of the swamp, “From....” He hesitated, “From some ponies—that want to capture me.” he didn't tell them it was the soldiers, but he didn't lie either. “Ah!” gasped Wisteria, “Mean Ponies! Lets get out of here!” “She's right,” said Thistle Whistle, “If somepony is catching up, then we need to get to safety!” They were going to start to run away, but then Minty cried out: “Wait!” she grabbed Thistle whistle by the tail, “We cant just leave him out here!” she signaled towards Prince Mythrodak, “Those mean ponies will get him! He needs to come with us!” Thistle Whistle sighed and then looked at Red Stroke, “okay fine. We can take him with us on our—quest. But if he attracts those ponies, then we'd better ditch him.” “Your—you're saying I can come with you?” asked Prince Mythrodak. “I just said that.” answered Thistle Whistle, and with that, all of the seven ponies, started trudging north-west. “You're going to have to get used to Thistle.” said Minty, coming up beside Mythrodak, “She tends to be a little grumpy. But she's great if you get to know her.” “Thanks for letting me come along. I don't really have any place to go anyway.” Prince Mythrodak said, “That's alright.” said Minty, “Oh, and I know what he can call you! Stroke!” Prince Mythrodak grinned slightly, he liked the name, it would be much easier to say. “Yeah, I like that name.” The CragadileThe seven pony group walked for almost two days in the treacherous swamp. And Stroke figured out a little bit more about the six ponies. For one thing: the “journey” that they were going on, was actually a “top secret” mission that they were sent on by the four princesses. They were sent on a journey to find a missing precious gem. The Moonstone of the Dreslaunt. Apparently this Moonstone was forged in the Black mountains over the ocean in Ponyland. You see, before Equestria was an official continent, most of the ponies lived in Ponyland. And Ponyland was very much like Equestria, but now most of the ponies live in Equestria, and it has been like that for over four thousand years. But Ponyland still has it's share of ponies. Anyways, The Moonstone that was crafted by the dwarven ponies in the black mountains, was a gift to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna a long time ago. And the Moonstone was of some importance to the princesses. Because a the elements of harmony were made from it. Princess Celestia sent it back to the dwarven ponies and asked them to chip off six particles, but still keep the moonstone intact. And then they turned the six chipped pieces of moonstone into the elements of harmony, and the jewelry that held them. That was a lot for Stroke to take in. but also hardly anypony knew about this. Since it was so old. Stroke didn't really like the part about helping Celestia, since her forces were chasing him an a manhunt. And he didn't even do anything. “Almost out of the swamp.” said Thistle Whistle as they trudged through the swamp, trying not to get tangled in vines or stuck in mud. “So Thistle...” said Stroke, “what it is the path that we need to take to get to Ponyland?” “Well.” Thistle explained, “Once we get out of the Heysend Swamps, we will travel to a nearby village called Dodge Junction, in the town is a railway station, and we get on it, and travel north-west to Ponyvill. And then through the white tail woods, then it will end at Los Pegasus they have a harbor and we will get a boat and sail across the sea to Ponyland, the rest is pretty complicated, but I will explain that once we get to Dodge Junction.” “Yep.” Toola-Roola confirmed with a nod, “This whole quest will take a few weeks or so.” “Have you ever been to Dodge Junction?” asked Sunny Daze, “No.” said Stroke, “It is just like Appleloosa, lots of cowponies there, and they grow cherry trees.” Sunny said, “It's basically on the edge of the swamp.” said Star Catcher, “Speaking of...” said Thistle, “We are almost there ponies.” It was true. The line of trees ended just a little ways up ahead. “Hey guys.” said Wisteria, “What kind of monsters live in this swamp?” “Monsters?” asked Thistle Whistle, “Well, there is not that much, just giant snakes, and maybe a cragadile or two.” “A cragadile?” asked Wisteria in a fretful tone. “But don't worry, they probably wont attack us. We haven't been attacked before.” said Thistle Whistle, “But don't the cragadiles only live in the everfree forest?” asked Stroke, “Yes, most of the time.” said Thistle, “But they also like swamps.” “So the Cragadile looks like a crocodile right?” asked Wisteria, “Yes.” said Thistle, “And they have rocky skin and they are large.” “Like they one over there?” asked Wisteria, she pointed with her hoof to a brown, murky swamp pond or something. “Yes—What!?” Stroke looked at the edge of the swamp pong, and there watching them was a fifteen foot cragadile. It's yellow eyes were looking at them hungrily. It was so blended in, that Stroke didn't even see it there. All seven of the ponies froze in their tracks. The Cragadile hissed and slapped it's tail against the muddy water. “The cragadile can run up to sixty miles per hour for a short time.” Thistle recited, “I think I could run twice that if it was chasing me.” Sunny Whispered, The cragadile narrowed it's eyes and waved it's tail back and forth, Stroke knew that behavior. And it was not good. That Cragadile was hungry. “Run, now.” said Stroke. And he and the other ponies took off. The cragadile snapped it's powerful jaws and went after them it's small legs could go fast. And that cragadile had one thing in mind. Lunch. “It won't chase us once we are out of the swamp.” said Thistle whistle as she was running and dodging trees. “but that's basically half a mile there.” Said Wisteria, “We'll have to make it count.” said Minty, Tooly had grabbed a rock and threw it behind at the monster chasing them, and it only bounced of the Cragadiles nose, it didn't seem to even effect him in the slightest way. Tooly grabbed a stick and threw it back while she was galloping, but it resulted in the same effect. So sh started grabbing anything in her path and hitting the cragadile. A vine, some pebbles, an old horseshoe, bark, a small log, mud, dirt. It seemed to take the cragadile by surprise and slow him down a bit, but he was hot on their tails once more. “Almost there.” said Thistle, and they galloped as fast and hard as they could. But then in a sudden movement, the cragadile somehow ran faster then them and sped up and then got in front of them and stopped. Stroke dug his hooves into the mud and stopped, and so did the other ponies, but Sunny daze couldn't slow down, and she tripped over the monster's tail and landed face first into a tree. The cragadile hissed and snapped at Minty. Stroke banged his staff down in the cragadile's snout, it jerked back and roared, and then it tripped Toola-Roola and Star Catcher with it's enormous tail Thistle gave the cragadile a series of punches with her hooves and back kicks. The cragadile tried to bite down on the pony, but got her tail instead. Stroke shoved his staff into the cragadile's mouth and tried to use it as leverage to open it's mouth. You would think that the staff would break right in half, but it didn't: the jaws of the cragadile were pried open, and Thistle Whistle flew out. Sunny Daze managed to recover from her face plant in the tree, just to get whacked by the cragadile once more, this time she landed face first in the mud. Minty kicked the cragadile in the lower jaw, to which it roared, and while it's mouth was still open, she quickly stuck a log in it. So that it couldn't close it's mouth. It thrashed, trying to get the piece of wood from it's jaws, and it rolled into Sunny Daze, who got squished into the ground, being newly recovered from the mud. The cragadile then bit down so hard on the huge stick, that it broke into splinters, and then it turned to face the ponies. It wanted it's lunch. “Distract it!” said Star Catcher, and then she sneaked around behind it, “Yo Croco-Craga-Dile thing.” said Toola-Roola, waving her hooves in the beast's face, it tried to bite her, but she was to quick and it snapped it's mouth into open air. “Missed me.” said Tooly, sticking out her tongue, Minty started to help Tooly, so that the cragadile would be confused. Then, from behind the cragadile, Star Catcher sprang up and pounced in it's head. The force of the pony was to much the cragadile's jaws slammed together and a few of it's teeth flew out. It roared in pain, and then Stroke conjured up a spell of a ribbon, that tightly wrapped around the cragadile's snout and legs. It thrashed in the mud and splashed. Come on, that spell won't last for long.” said Stroke, and without hesitation, they took off in the direction of Dodge Junction.
EscapeHot steam shot upward as Prince Mythrodak walked slowly on a cliff side, the tiny outcroppings were barely enough for Him to walk on, small rocks crumbled with every step he could. The overwhelming heat was coming from small lava pits and volcanoes. And every rock that fell into one sent steam and boiling water shooting up. The Prince's, (or Red Stroke) father had died the night before, and his name was King Mythrodak, but now Red Stroke Mythrodak was supposed to be the new one. But he feared that he would not achieve that rank, because his father was killed by Celestia's soldiers, they came barging into their hideout in the White tail woods. Prince Mythrodak was a descendant of Black blood Mythrodak. The first Mythrodak. “Halt where you are in the name of the queen!” came a command from behind him, he looked around to see them and tried not to fall off the edge. “Um,” said Mythrodak, “Which one? You know there are like four of them now.” “Well then all of them!” answered the soldier, coming after him, arrows whizzed past him but missed and fell into the rocky mountainside below. “Don't waste your arrows men!” ordered the Captain to his troops. Red Stroke, carefully balanced himself with his staff, but soon the soldiers were on his tail. He did not know why hey were chasing him, or why they had killed his father, but he knew that they probably wanted to do that to him. He slammed his staff down on the place behind him and it crumbled down so no pony could get across. But soon some of the flying troops with bows came after him. When he finally got past the cliff face, the troops were hot on his tail. Her then ran more quickly, on the red desert rocks of the Bad Lands, he dodged lava pools and the heat became more intense by the minute. “Get him!” shouts came from behind him. Prince Mythrodak suddenly saw a canyon yawning before him, it had a stream of lava running at it's feet and steam shot out. There was an old rickety rope bridge before him, it looked like it hadn't been used in decades. Some boards were missing and the rope was all busted, he looked behind him at the oncoming fleet with spears and bows, and he knew that it was the best choice. He ran across it madly and one or two boards broke behind him. So he ran as fast as he could to the other side. Once to the other end, the bridge suddenly collapsed with him on it and it left him hanging onto the rope for dear life. The rest of the bridge fell into the magma and shot scores of boiling water up at him. “He'll die there.” said one soldier from the other side of the canyon. But he slowly he climbed, higher and higher, and as he did three flying ponies came shooting arrows at him. As if he wasn't in enough danger already. But swiftly his staff with a black Ora around it came and deflected some of the arrows. Red Stroke flung himself at the top of the canyon and stood up, he got his staff and saw that it had six arrows stuck in it. He pulled them out and shit them at his enemies, and then kept running. Three quarters of the troops were left behind on the other side, and only five flying soldiers were able to come after him. “Halt!” boomed a voice from one of them, “In the name of the Queen!” said another “I think we've already been through this,” said the Prince while he was running, Suddenly, a geyser of stem and water shot up and Mythrodak dodged it. But one of the soldiers did not, it hit him full in the chest and sent him shrieking into two others, they stumbled out of the air. The last two flew down to help their comrades, and in their distraction, Prince Mythrodak escaped behind a pillar of sandstone. Hie pulled his hood on and slipped away silently. “We'll get you for this!” shouted a voice from behind him, and it echoed through the red land. Red Stroke hoped that palace guard hadn't been killed, even though they were trying to kill him he was not willing to take the life of one of Princess Celestia's soldiers. Going through the Bad Lands was not an easy task, there were many dangers, lava, unexpected geysers, creatures, and sometimes even a dragon or two. You wouldn't expect to find a dragon usually, but that's exactly what Prince Mythrodak ran into. He was not aware of it, but when he was taking shade behind a pillar of stone, he was attacked. It was midday, and the sin was at it's hottest, plus the extra heat from the magma made it horrible. Prince Mythrodak sighed and drank the last drop of his canteen. Then he heard growling, growling of not a giant cat, but of a dragon. He turned around and sure enough, there was a pale yellow, scaly, huge, fire breathing Dragon behind him licking it's lips. “not again.” said Mythrodak in a flat voice at he dodged fire from the beast's jaws. “Cant I be left alone?” “I am Thorny Wings, the dragon of the Bad Lands.” said the Dragon in a proud tone. “I notice that your wings are not that scary looking.” said Mythrodak peering over to the dragon's rather small, plain wings. He dodged a swipe of the dragon's tail, and then stabbed it with his staff. “Owach!” said Thorny Wings, rubbing his tail, “as I was saying, I am a very great Dragon and I don't like you.” “Why not?” asked Red Stroke, sliding out of the way of a foot stomp. “Because you poked me.” said the Dragon rubbing his tail again. “But that's because you attacked me.” said Red, “Why did you before that?” “Because you are in my territory.” Thorny Wings shot out a line of flame. But Prince just dodged it, “But I’m trying to get out of your territory.” said The Prince Mythrodak. “Can I just leave?” Thorny paused and pondered that for two seconds and then he said "i'm in a bad mood, you leave now!” and with that he roared his not-so-threatening-roar. Red Stroke didn't hesitate and ran as fast as he could, getting out of the dragon's presence. He wasn't going to wait around for him to change his mind. That was close, but the plump dragon looked rather dumb, and Price Mythrodak wondered if all dragons were that easy.
Six odditiesPrince Mythrodak, tramped through the murky swamp, his hooves getting stuck in every puddle. “Why do I half do do this?” he asked himself as he batted away some vines with his staff, “Run away from Celestia's own soldiers?” he felt like kicking one of those troops that tried to kill him, but he knew it would only make more trouble for him, as if he wasn't in enough already. Mythrodak paused as he heard voices up ahead. “I hate swamps.” said a voice, “Me too.” said another “Why is it so sticky here?” “I like the sunshine.” “How can you? There is hardly any!” Prince Mythrodak quietly went over behind a tree, but quietly for being in a swamp, sounds like someone squishing water in their shoes. “I want to get out of here soon.” complained another voice, The prince now heard that the voices were not the ones of soldiers, they were female. He could hear them getting closer, and closer. He knew that he could not hide from them, there were to many. So he just stepped out into the open. The six ponies gasped with surprise. “A spy!” said one in the middle. Prince Mythrodak examined them carefully, there were six, all as colorful as the rainbow. One was dark purple, with a light pink, and velvet mane and tail, and she had a flower in her mane. Her cutie mark also had flowers in it. The one beside her was all white, she was an earth pony just like the purple one, she had orange, white, and red mane and tail that was sharp. And her cutie mark was a plain old sun. There were two Pegasi, the first one was baby-blue with messy, pink and yellow mane. Her cutie mark showed pink flowers and wind curlycues. The beside her, she was white almost all over her, only her mane had pink and purple and blue in it. Her cutie mark was a constellation of a heart and beautiful designs went down her hind leg, and some on her forehead. The next pony was another earth pony, she was light bubble-gum pink, and he main was yellow, purple, and green, and her tail was blue and purple and a little of dark green. She wore a french artist's hat, and her cutie mark was a paintbrush painting curlycues. He two hind legs were all the colors of the rainbow, very odd for a pony, and her front legs also had designs. The last one was minty green, her mane was white and pink, and her cutie mark showed three mints. “A Stranger!” said the purple earth pony. “Who are you?” asked the sky blue Pegasus, “Hello, my fair Mares.” said Prince Mythrodak, doing a slight bow of his head, “I, am lost in the swamp. Sorry for scaring you, but I just stumbled across you ponies, do you mind to help me out?” He thought that at least they would help him get through this murky swamp. He had no idea where he was. “What—” started the leader of the group “Of course!” the Minty-green pony. “I feel an introduction coming on!” chimed in the colorful pony with the french hat. “Wait, guys—” the blue leader tried again, “Um...” Prince Mythrodak started, “I'm Sunny Daze!” said the white earth pony with the sun cutie mark. “But you can just call me Sunny!” “I'm Toola-Roola.” said the Pink pony with the french hat, “But you can call me Tooly!” “And I am Minty, but you can call me...Minty!” The light green one said. “And this is Star Catcher!” said Sunny Daze hugging the mystical white Pegasus, “And Wisteria!” said Toola-Roola, pointing to the almost-all-over-purple earth pony. She seemed kind of shy. “And this is Thistle Whistle!” Said Minty, Toola-Roola, and Sunny Daze altogether. Embracing the skeptical-looking Leader of the group. “Get off.” said Thistle Whistle, shoving the other ponies out of her way, “Look, were just passing through the swamp. We've told you our names, now tell us yours.” she crossed her hooves and fluttered in the air. “Well,” said Prince Mythrodak, he usually didn't like to tell his name to other ponies, but he decided to this time. “My full name is Red Stroke Mythrodak. But you can call me Prince Mythrodak, or Red Stroke, or whatever.” “We'll call you Bid Red!” said Sunny with enthusiasm, “No.” said Red Stroke flatly. “A Prince?” asked Tooly, “Awesome!” then she paused, “A Prince of What?” Prince Mythrodak didn't answer, but Thistle Whistle cut in: “Where are you going?” “I'll tell you if you tell me where you are going.” Prince Mythrodak replied. Thistle Whistle paused, she had a small bit of nervousness in her eyes, but then she cleared her throat and looked at Wisteria, looking for an answer. Wisteria Nodded and Then Thistle turned back to face Red Stroke, “Okay, we are going on a … journey … to find a gem. That's all I'll tell you right now.” “Well, to tell the truth,” said Red Stroke, “I'm running away.” “Of what?” asked Minty, Prince Mythrodak suddenly, felt fear rising up, if he would tell them about Celestia's soldiers, they would never trust him, but he wanted to get out of the swamp, “From....” He hesitated, “From some ponies—that want to capture me.” he didn't tell them it was the soldiers, but he didn't lie either. “Ah!” gasped Wisteria, “Mean Ponies! Lets get out of here!” “She's right,” said Thistle Whistle, “If somepony is catching up, then we need to get to safety!” They were going to start to run away, but then Minty cried out: “Wait!” she grabbed Thistle whistle by the tail, “We cant just leave him out here!” she signaled towards Prince Mythrodak, “Those mean ponies will get him! He needs to come with us!” Thistle Whistle sighed and then looked at Red Stroke, “okay fine. We can take him with us on our—quest. But if he attracts those ponies, then we'd better ditch him.” “Your—you're saying I can come with you?” asked Prince Mythrodak. “I just said that.” answered Thistle Whistle, and with that, all of the seven ponies, started trudging north-west. “You're going to have to get used to Thistle.” said Minty, coming up beside Mythrodak, “She tends to be a little grumpy. But she's great if you get to know her.” “Thanks for letting me come along. I don't really have any place to go anyway.” Prince Mythrodak said, “That's alright.” said Minty, “Oh, and I know what he can call you! Stroke!” Prince Mythrodak grinned slightly, he liked the name, it would be much easier to say. “Yeah, I like that name.”
The CragadileThe seven pony group walked for almost two days in the treacherous swamp. And Stroke figured out a little bit more about the six ponies. For one thing: the “journey” that they were going on, was actually a “top secret” mission that they were sent on by the four princesses. They were sent on a journey to find a missing precious gem. The Moonstone of the Dreslaunt. Apparently this Moonstone was forged in the Black mountains over the ocean in Ponyland. You see, before Equestria was an official continent, most of the ponies lived in Ponyland. And Ponyland was very much like Equestria, but now most of the ponies live in Equestria, and it has been like that for over four thousand years. But Ponyland still has it's share of ponies. Anyways, The Moonstone that was crafted by the dwarven ponies in the black mountains, was a gift to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna a long time ago. And the Moonstone was of some importance to the princesses. Because a the elements of harmony were made from it. Princess Celestia sent it back to the dwarven ponies and asked them to chip off six particles, but still keep the moonstone intact. And then they turned the six chipped pieces of moonstone into the elements of harmony, and the jewelry that held them. That was a lot for Stroke to take in. but also hardly anypony knew about this. Since it was so old. Stroke didn't really like the part about helping Celestia, since her forces were chasing him an a manhunt. And he didn't even do anything. “Almost out of the swamp.” said Thistle Whistle as they trudged through the swamp, trying not to get tangled in vines or stuck in mud. “So Thistle...” said Stroke, “what it is the path that we need to take to get to Ponyland?” “Well.” Thistle explained, “Once we get out of the Heysend Swamps, we will travel to a nearby village called Dodge Junction, in the town is a railway station, and we get on it, and travel north-west to Ponyvill. And then through the white tail woods, then it will end at Los Pegasus they have a harbor and we will get a boat and sail across the sea to Ponyland, the rest is pretty complicated, but I will explain that once we get to Dodge Junction.” “Yep.” Toola-Roola confirmed with a nod, “This whole quest will take a few weeks or so.” “Have you ever been to Dodge Junction?” asked Sunny Daze, “No.” said Stroke, “It is just like Appleloosa, lots of cowponies there, and they grow cherry trees.” Sunny said, “It's basically on the edge of the swamp.” said Star Catcher, “Speaking of...” said Thistle, “We are almost there ponies.” It was true. The line of trees ended just a little ways up ahead. “Hey guys.” said Wisteria, “What kind of monsters live in this swamp?” “Monsters?” asked Thistle Whistle, “Well, there is not that much, just giant snakes, and maybe a cragadile or two.” “A cragadile?” asked Wisteria in a fretful tone. “But don't worry, they probably wont attack us. We haven't been attacked before.” said Thistle Whistle, “But don't the cragadiles only live in the everfree forest?” asked Stroke, “Yes, most of the time.” said Thistle, “But they also like swamps.” “So the Cragadile looks like a crocodile right?” asked Wisteria, “Yes.” said Thistle, “And they have rocky skin and they are large.” “Like they one over there?” asked Wisteria, she pointed with her hoof to a brown, murky swamp pond or something. “Yes—What!?” Stroke looked at the edge of the swamp pong, and there watching them was a fifteen foot cragadile. It's yellow eyes were looking at them hungrily. It was so blended in, that Stroke didn't even see it there. All seven of the ponies froze in their tracks. The Cragadile hissed and slapped it's tail against the muddy water. “The cragadile can run up to sixty miles per hour for a short time.” Thistle recited, “I think I could run twice that if it was chasing me.” Sunny Whispered, The cragadile narrowed it's eyes and waved it's tail back and forth, Stroke knew that behavior. And it was not good. That Cragadile was hungry. “Run, now.” said Stroke. And he and the other ponies took off. The cragadile snapped it's powerful jaws and went after them it's small legs could go fast. And that cragadile had one thing in mind. Lunch. “It won't chase us once we are out of the swamp.” said Thistle whistle as she was running and dodging trees. “but that's basically half a mile there.” Said Wisteria, “We'll have to make it count.” said Minty, Tooly had grabbed a rock and threw it behind at the monster chasing them, and it only bounced of the Cragadiles nose, it didn't seem to even effect him in the slightest way. Tooly grabbed a stick and threw it back while she was galloping, but it resulted in the same effect. So sh started grabbing anything in her path and hitting the cragadile. A vine, some pebbles, an old horseshoe, bark, a small log, mud, dirt. It seemed to take the cragadile by surprise and slow him down a bit, but he was hot on their tails once more. “Almost there.” said Thistle, and they galloped as fast and hard as they could. But then in a sudden movement, the cragadile somehow ran faster then them and sped up and then got in front of them and stopped. Stroke dug his hooves into the mud and stopped, and so did the other ponies, but Sunny daze couldn't slow down, and she tripped over the monster's tail and landed face first into a tree. The cragadile hissed and snapped at Minty. Stroke banged his staff down in the cragadile's snout, it jerked back and roared, and then it tripped Toola-Roola and Star Catcher with it's enormous tail Thistle gave the cragadile a series of punches with her hooves and back kicks. The cragadile tried to bite down on the pony, but got her tail instead. Stroke shoved his staff into the cragadile's mouth and tried to use it as leverage to open it's mouth. You would think that the staff would break right in half, but it didn't: the jaws of the cragadile were pried open, and Thistle Whistle flew out. Sunny Daze managed to recover from her face plant in the tree, just to get whacked by the cragadile once more, this time she landed face first in the mud. Minty kicked the cragadile in the lower jaw, to which it roared, and while it's mouth was still open, she quickly stuck a log in it. So that it couldn't close it's mouth. It thrashed, trying to get the piece of wood from it's jaws, and it rolled into Sunny Daze, who got squished into the ground, being newly recovered from the mud. The cragadile then bit down so hard on the huge stick, that it broke into splinters, and then it turned to face the ponies. It wanted it's lunch. “Distract it!” said Star Catcher, and then she sneaked around behind it, “Yo Croco-Craga-Dile thing.” said Toola-Roola, waving her hooves in the beast's face, it tried to bite her, but she was to quick and it snapped it's mouth into open air. “Missed me.” said Tooly, sticking out her tongue, Minty started to help Tooly, so that the cragadile would be confused. Then, from behind the cragadile, Star Catcher sprang up and pounced in it's head. The force of the pony was to much the cragadile's jaws slammed together and a few of it's teeth flew out. It roared in pain, and then Stroke conjured up a spell of a ribbon, that tightly wrapped around the cragadile's snout and legs. It thrashed in the mud and splashed. Come on, that spell won't last for long.” said Stroke, and without hesitation, they took off in the direction of Dodge Junction.
