The sound of the wooden door creaking open pricked my ear over the sound of hammering away at a block of wood with my chisel and a smaller block of wood as the hammer/mallet.

“What?” I shouted, hesitating to set down my tools; makeshift or otherwise.

“Prisoner, you have visitors.” the pegasus guard shouted back. This had me at odds for a moment.

“Visitors? As in plural?” I asked for clarification, finally setting my tools down on the solid wood chair i’d been working meticulously on for the last twelve days. Great thing about Equestria is that they apparently have massive fucking trees and no processing equipment beyond hand saws; this makes it easy to requisition blocks of wood as large as a pony to take a chisel to.

“Yes, visitors as in plural of visitor.” an entirely new voice replied. Female, mature, and sourced from the largest white Alicorn I’d ever seen (let's forget for a moment I've only seen one Alicorn and no more than maybe three different guards). Next to her was Princess Luna and judging by the crown on her brow, this newcomer was also a Princess; maybe the fucking Queen for all I knew.

“And you are?” I demanded so unbefitting of royalty.

“I am Princess Celestia” -I dragged my current project against the wall for later, just in case this would take a while- “And my sister tells me that you’ve yet to provide information on your unforeseen arrival into our world.”

“So she figured bringing in another Princess would coax any more information out of me?” I asked, setting my tools on the ground to take a seat on my unfinished chair/block of wood.

“Actually, I wish to talk to you about why you have no regard for your life.” Celestia replied, laying down on the ground before the bars. Great, if she was getting comfortable then we really were in for a long conversation.

“Oh good, my favourite subject.” I replied with a smack on the knees before standing up again to reacquire my tools and resume my work. “If you’ll excuse me, I'll get back to work.” I not so much as requested as informed, already sliding the block of wood out from the wall to get behind it and continue on chiselling out the back rest.

“Absolutely, I can wait.” Celestia replied casually, settling in for a quiet, evening? Afternoon? Dammit what time was it?

With an uncaring shrug I set my chisel to work, hammering out the wood scraps with the smaller block of wood I'd turned into a mallet; honestly it was just a cube of wood I'd shaped to fit my hand a bit better, provide a grip.

It was about 10 minutes into hammering that I finally set my tools down and looked at Celestia, wondering what exactly it was she had in mind.

“Alright Celestia, what is it you want?” I leaned against the back rest of my chair/wooden block, staring directly at the older of the two Alicorns laying before my cell.

“I am not convinced that you truly do not find value in your life. Even from just watching you work on your project, I believe you have found some value, some meaning in what you consider to be a pitiful existence.” Celestia eyed me over, watching me intently as I all but sat down on my mattress, my tools in my hands.

“Look, Princess. This is by no means a meaning for life. This is a hobby, something to otherwise occupy my time with while I remain incarcerated. A meaning for life would be love,” -Luna's face began to grow red- “happiness, or the pursuit of wealth.

“My girlfriend left me and my parents are dead. I have no love. I’m in jail for randomly popping up in a new world against my will; I have no happiness. I’m stuck talking to winged, talking animals between working on very slowly carving out a simple wooden chair; I have no need for wealth.” I explained as I looked over my chisel, checking the sharpness of the tip with a glance before running a finger over the edge. Could use a sharpening.

“Then perhaps you’d be willing to change your situation? Earn a meaning for your life?” Celestia suggested as I set my tools down again.

“What’chu talkin’ ‘bout Willis?” I demanded in my best impersonation of a TV show I'd never seen before.

“My name is Princess Celestia, I do not know this ‘Willis’ you’re speaking of.” Celestia replied with a thin scowl. I waved off the comment. “I am merely suggesting that if we provide you with more tools for your work, would you be willing to begin producing products that could be sold for profit?”

“Why would I do that? I’m still stuck in this dungeon.” I retorted, looking at Celestia and Luna suspiciously.

“I will admit,” Luna spoke up for her elder sister. “That I may have been untruthful to you over the last couple weeks.” my suspicion only grew with this announcement. “I have kept you locked up claiming that it was because you were to remain incarcerated until we could find out everything about you, however in truth I merely kept you there to keep you in one place.”

“Blue Princess pony say what?” I asked quickly, my face dropping in dull disbelief.

“What my sister means to say, is that you were supposed to have been released a week ago.” My mouth hung open with Celestia’s summarization. “However, I understand her reason to keep you here.”

“Which is?” I demanded calmly, trying to keep from blowing up at Luna like I had done before.

“Rent, or lack thereof.” Luna replied sheepishly, fidgeting in place. “If you were to be released into the world, our world, you would inevitably have to find somewhere to live,”

“Which would require me to pay rent?” I asked in confusion. I will admit, I was having a hard time following the train of thought here.

“Yes. I had hoped that in your time in your prison, you’d develop some reason to go on living through your carpentry work. That way, when you were formally released you’d have something that would allow you to find work and eventually find shelter.” Luna explained, magically unlocking my cage for the first time in a month.

“And you chose not to tell me this because...” I requested, standing up and stretching though I remained in my cell.

“Because I didn’t want you to leave.” Luna replied quickly under her hoof, her voice trailing off into oblivion because of it.

“I’m sorry, what? I didn’t catch that.” I replied, taking a step closer towards the duo.

“It’s not important.” Luna insisted quickly, avoiding all eye contact with me. “What is important is that you must show that you’ve regained a reason to live again so that you do not become, what is it the locals call it? A freeloader?” Luna looked to her sister for assistance, receiving a nod in reply.

“So what? I stay in this dungeon and continue to work on my carpentry; creating hand crafted furniture that I can sell to the public, earn a living and then- Pay my way out of this prison?” I tried wrapping my mind around the situation I was in and the option I had been given, if I understood properly that is.

“If that is what you wish for an arrangement.” Celestia replied, stepping up into an upwards seated position. “Additionally, because you are no longer a prisoner, I would like to extend an offer of procurement for any special tools you may need to advance your productivity. My sister and I can acquire any tool or instrument you require.”

“I’d also like to add that if we do not have a tool, we do have the magic to create it as long as you can provide detailed descriptions and images as to it’s use and appearance.” Luna spoke up having calmed down to look me in the eye.

“I’ll be sure to remember that, Princesses. If you can provide me with stationary I'll begin drawing up a list of more tools I'd like. I suspect, however, that they’ll be readily available as generic carpentry tools.” I replied, turning back into my open cage. “Oh, as curious as it may seem, I'd like to remain down here and out of the way of everyone above. If it’s at all possible, could you have something more comfortable for me to sleep on than straw?”

“Of course. How do you plan to move completed projects then?” Luna wondered, curious about what I'd had in mind.

At that moment a burst of green sparkling fire swirled in from a nearby window and anti-burned a scroll before Celestia.

“Oh, it appears we’ve received a letter from Twilight.” Celestia noted, putting the scroll under her wing for the time being. “We can read that later.”

I was more interested in how that scroll appeared.

“What was that fire?” I asked, leaving a hand to point to empty air.

“Oh don’t worry about it; I’d just received a letter from a student of mine. It’s not important to you.” Celestia replied casually.

“No, not the scroll; the fire itself. Can that fire transport anything anywhere?” I shook my head, ignoring the scroll.

“I suppose so, as long as there is a dragon to receive it or someone, like myself, who knows the dragon breath spell.” Celestia replied, putting a manicured hoof to her chin in thought.

“Sister, there are the dragon twins who lost their unicorns some time ago. We’ve yet been unable to match them back up again with a new unicorn pair. What if they were to work with the pris- the guest to move inventory?” Luna suggested as she boarded my train of thought.

“Do you mean Weiss and Eben?” Celestia remarked, looking from me to her younger. “I do suppose that could be possible. Since they’ve already been born they don’t require magic and they’re somewhat old enough to be able to work as assistants.”

“Dragon twins? There are dragons in Equestria?” I looked incredulously at the Princesses before shrugging. “I suppose in the land of myth and magic, anything is possible.”

“Of course. As I see it, you could have one of the twins remain here with you and have the other out in Equestria, serving as your stand in. Should you open a shop or stall to sell your furniture, the twin would be able to manage the sales and requisitions for you.” Celestia suggested for me, having stolen my thoughts directly from my person.

“Just what I was thinking, actually. As long as Dragon Breath doesn’t burn wood in transit.” I pointed out. “Wouldn’t be very helpful if I send in a fully finished chair or something and have a pile of ash come out the other end.”

“That is an excellent point, human.” Luna held an overturned hoof in gesture of agreement. “Shall I fetch the twins and have them test this theory on your current project?”

“Go for it. If they’re going to work for me I might as well meet them. Question though, what does dragon care look like, exactly?” I inquired, clasping my hands together to direct my question to Celestia and Luna trotted off to complete her task.

“I suppose it would be the same as caring for a child. Eben is the older twin, so he’s already used to caring for his sister and as such would be your best option for selling your wares as he can care for himself. Weiss will require a bit more attention. I shall have appropriate items brought down with your tools if you decide to go along with this arrangement.” Celestia explained, shifting around slightly. I did the same by walking around my cell in small circles, if at least to keep blood flow.

“Am I going to only have this small cell space to work in? Or can I utilize other cells for storage, work space, living space and what not?” I inquired. Celestia’s rather long horn glowed sunny yellow and the sound of cell doors being slid back echoed throughout the cavern.

"By all means; you’re the only creature we’ve had to bring down here in ages. Make use of the space as you see fit.” Celestia replied as Luna flashed into existence, two small dragon-things on her back.

“Eben, Weiss, this is-” Luna paused, trying to find my name. “What is your name?” she asked of me as the two baby dragons slid off her back, the white one standing timidly behind her older, not so pleased black scaled brother.

“It’s-” I began, crouching down to address the newcomers.

“Not important.” Eben decided, crossing his arms over his blue scaled chest. “I already don’t like him; I can’t feel any magic coming from it.”

“Maybe he’s just hiding it.” Weiss replied softly, her golden claws hugging her brother’s body.

“Nah, Eben’s right; I'm magic-less.” I shrugged in reply. “And you must be Weiss; nice to meet you.” I held a hand out in a handshake, waiting to see what would happen.

“And this is a waste of time. This creature doesn’t look like he’d be able to care for either of us, let alone one of us.” Eben decided, turning around and heading for the dungeon door. “Come, Weiss, we’ll wait for another unicorn pair to take us in.”

Weiss, however, remained in place as she rocked back and forth on her feet; nervously clicking her claws together over her chest.

“Come on Weiss, let's go!” Eben shouted back, having pulled open the door to leave.

“I like him.” Weiss decided, making both Princesses smile.

“What? He’s not even a unicorn! I don’t even know what he is!” Eben declared, stomping back to his sister. I knelt down entirely, giving Weiss the chance to cautiously approach me before climbing up onto my lap and lay back in my arms like a small child.

“Well, this is an interesting turn of events.” Luna remarked as Eben merely glared at his sister. “I don’t think I've ever seen Weiss take so well to somepony before so quickly.”

“No kidding.” Eben grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest again defiantly. “Fine!” Eben threw his claws up in the air. “We’ll serve him, if at least for Weiss’s benefit!”

“Yay!” Weiss celebrated by throwing her arms up in the air, allowing me to try and see if the golden scales on her belly would allow her to be ticklish. They didn’t.

Instead, I settled for raking my hand over Weiss’s forward faces spines acting as hair or something, seemingly achieving the intent of showing affection I figured I'd develop eventually.

“He does know how to care for dragons, right?” Eben glanced curiously at Celestia and Luna as he trudged over to me to sit on my knee, his tail up and out of the way to play with is backwards facing spines.

“No idea.” I replied in all honesty. Weiss looked up at me with golden eyes with concern for a moment, however changed back to happiness as she whispered up to me, “I’ll teach you.”

“Well there we go; we have reached an arrangement that should prove your benefit.” Celestia announced, standing up and stretching out her limbs. Luna followed suit, save for the stretching given she’d only just sat down. “Eben, Weiss and their new caretaker will have free roam privileges, though if you decide to remain” -Celestia looked up at me as she said this- “that is your prerogative. I shall have somepony bring you your tools, as well as proper beds and facilities.”

“Then I should get to work learning how to care for Weiss.” I replied as I moved to stand, Eben removing himself from my knee so I could do so before jumping up onto my straw mattress. "And we need to see if Dragon Breath burns wood in transit." I added as Weiss popped up, climbing down from my embrace.

"I'll do it! Lemme do it! I wanna breath fire on it!" Weiss hopped back and forth on her feet excitedly, looking back up at me as Eben merely rolled his blue eyes.

Eben hopped down from the mattress and stepped free of the cell, getting ready to receive an item almost twice as large as he was.

"Can you even bring up enough fire to convert it all safely?" Eben asked, tapping his foot-claw impatiently.

"We're about to find out!" Weiss replied, taking in the largest breath she could, her cheeks puffing out in the process. This was not going to end well...

Pushing out her green fire breath with as much force as she could; the half chair, half cube of wood disintegrated into magical sparkles and licks of flame before swirling around in the air a moment, seeking out it's target. So far, so good.

Eben coughed a few times as the swirls sunk into his body and chest, loading up what looked like a rather large belch in progress. Holding up a clawed finger, everyone watched in anticipation as he physically prepared himself before opening his mouth wide and let out the largest, deepest belch he could muster; the flames re-atomizing a half chair, half block of wood in the air before it crashed to the ground.

"Hurray! I did it! I did it!" Weiss exclaimed, bouncing up and down on her feet.

"Yes, yes; we all saw Weiss. I fail to see how this helps our case." Eben replied, climbing up onto the half finished furniture piece to take a proper seat.

"Now it means that you can go out into the world, set up a shop or something and sell everything I make. We'll likely work by special order only since I can't mass produce these which means that you'll be getting to know the customer, will take their orders and deliver them yourself. Weiss will remain here with me to help build or move them around." I replied as Celestia and Luna silently made their exits.

"I don't even have to stay down here?" Eben looked at me with a raised eyebrow. Apparently this pleased his highness. "I can work with that." he grinned. The rather sharp teeth were a tad concerning given the mischievous look in his eyes but I figured we'd build that bridge when we came to it. Another day.

Author's Note

Ok, so hopefully this chapter will help establish this story as an MLP Fanfic; I was notified by staff that the first chapter didn't cut it.

Anyways, so i've kind of established a general idea of where I want this to go, but it would only last a short bit of story time. After that, I have no idea what's going to happen.

Regards for Weiss and Eben, I originally planned for there to be only Weiss living with my character in the dungeon so that she'd deliver the final products to some obscure dragon working for some obscure furniture unicorn or whatever but I thought, "that doesn't make sense, let's give Weiss a brother!"

Also, one final thing that staff or readers may have concerns for, my character is not supposed to have a proper name introduction. I wanna try and write this for as long as possible where nobody knows his name.

Prost!