Black Lies, Green Fire

Mist wove around his frame elegantly and the mysterious wind whispered and howled in his numb ears. Every second was an hour, every hour was a life time. Steadily, rain beat upon his spindly mismatched body, sending cold shivers up his bony back. The young draconequus trudged though the mud, feeling the icy wind whip his face. He whimpered, quietly. He was too weak to make a louder sound.

The exhausted draconeqqus carried on walking, though it looked more like staggering now.  He felt a sharp pain in his tail and spun around, only to see it stuck in a fallen branch, twisted and gnarled. Annoyed and tired, he attempted to pry his tail from the life-less piece of wood but failed; only getting it stuck more. He took hold of it with both paw and claw and gave it a sharp tug with all the strength he could muster. It came away, leaving a ragged hole in his tail. He cried out in pain and hugged his tail tightly, tears mixing with the rain and the blood… So much blood… He was so covered in it that you could hardly see the scraps of material that barely covered his small shivering frame. The draconequus felt a heavy feeling fill his body and make him feel unsteady and weak. He wobbled for a few seconds before succumbing to his tiredness and fell like a stone into the dirty mud. It went dark.

***

Chrysalis had wandered off again. Small wings beating hard, she hovered over the grey hills, searching for the hunting party that she was attempting to follow. It wasn’t her fault that she was curious why she was not allowed to be a part of the party so she snuck out of the castle. Unfortunately, she had lost it. She cursed mentally as she felt her robes stiffen in the rain, she knew that she should have changed into something more suitable. Suddenly, she heard a weak shout in the distance. Her ears perked up as she listened closely. It was small but it was a cry all the same, and undoubtedly of pain too. Thinking that it must be her hunting party, Chrysalis sped towards where she thought the noise came from.

***

She looked in surprise at the young draconequus. ‘Is it dead?’ she wondered before proceeding to prod it with her horn. Surprisingly, it opened a red and yellow eye, looked at her and then closed again. She rolled her eyes thinking that it could be faking and began to examine the creature. Chrysalis had never seen anything like it. It had the head of a pony, an eagle claw and a lion paw as fore legs and the back legs of a goat and… was that a dragon? Its tail was scaly with a white tuft on the end, though it had a bloody hole in it that made Chrysalis shudder. She felt an unfamiliar feeling grow in her black heart. Pity. Pity for that poor creature who was in need of serious medical treatment and a warm place to sleep. It looked male but it was best not to check, she thought, feeling disgusted that she even thought that. She focused at the task at hand. He could die in this storm, for all she knew. The nine-year-old changeling carefully lifted the bloodstained body onto her back with her magic and slowly lifted off the ground. She knew that she had to act fast or else he could perish. Chrysalis scanned the area, searching for some sort of shelter. Her eyes laid rest on a dark looming shadow that looked like a castle. She zoomed towards it, hoping that it wasn't too late.

***

At last, she arrived at the unknown castle.  Chrysalis laid the creature down on the porch before looking  up in sheer awe as she took in the full wonder of the castle. It was made from an indigo-coloured stone which shimmered even in the storm. Silver and gold decorations hung around the castle and the doors looked like they were made out of moon stone. I wonder who could possible live in such an enormous castle’ she thought. Almost as if to answer her question, the door began to open. Chrysalis quickly darted into the bushes, watching as a pale young alicorn with a light pink mane about her age ran up to the poor draconequus and levitated him off the ground, carrying him in. When the door finally closed, Chrysalis waited a few seconds before breathing a sigh of relief and flew away into they grey sky, thinking that that was the last that she would ever see of the poor creature. Boy was she wrong.