It was a bright and beautiful morning, on the outskirts of Equestria. In an old-fashioned, farming village, not too far from the Badlands. A young colt that could say that he's had it all, a wonderful town, a happy beginning, and a loving family. His parents, Julie and Artemis Bruner, were there.

"Honestly I don't why you'd be so concerned with this now. Why even bother asking me if our son has what it takes to carry on our tradition?" Said Artemis as he cradled his hand to Julie's cheek. "Honey, I believe you made the right choice! You and I are both very proud of our son, he's destined for very great things!" Said Artemis as he looked to his beloved.

"That may be the case dear, but he's still so very young. There's still so much for him to learn before he's ready for us to teach him magic." Said Julie as she was a bit unsure for a moment before rethinking her statement. "Scratch that dear, I think you're right, he's ready to be taught your work so he can walk in your footsteps and be more like you." Said Julie as she looked to her husband for his response.

"Yeah, totally Julie. I have confidence in his ability to learn art. Which is why we both agreed to the name Artcraft. A name destined for greatness!" Said Artemis as he came into the kitchen to see what Julie was preparing.

"Oh yeah, that smells so good honey, vegetable stew, my favorite! You spoil us you know that?" Said Artemis as he had to keep himself from drooling at the delicious meal before him being prepared. "I'll go outside and spend some time with Artcraft, be sure to let us know when dinner's ready, I'd never miss this for the world," said Artemis as he stepped outside into their backyard to play with his son.

"Don't worry Honey, I won't. I know how much you love my cooking!" Said Julie as she went back to tending to the stew.

"Go long son!" Shouted Artemis as he threw the football to his son. Artcraft reached out to catch it but almost had it.

"Darnit, I could have sworn I had that!" Said Artcraft as he got up off the ground, dusted himself off, and walked over to his dad. "Just wait for Dad, pretty soon, I'll be the best I am at what I do, your art. I want to make you proud of me!" Said Artcraft.

"Son, you always make us proud. every day. And don't you dare think otherwise, don't let anybody tell you differently either. They're a bunch of stinkers!" Said Artemis

"Hey honey, Artcraft, dinner's ready, come get it before it gets cold!" Said Julie as she gestured her husband and son into the kitchen through their backdoor.

"Coming mom, c'mon dad, stop being such a slowpoke." Said Artcraft as he raced his father to the kitchen.

"Alright then son, you're on!" Said Artimus as they rushed into the house.

Later that night, there was a lot of commotion going on, ponies screaming, loud magic shots being fired, and the soon-to-be strong odor of death and smoke in the air. "W-What was that!?! I-I need to find Mom and Dad." Said Artcraft as he frantically made his way downstairs to their living room only to see them readying themselves for something.

Artcraft didn't know or understand why he had such a horrible foreboding feeling all of a sudden, but he did, and it didn't help that there was currently a lot of screaming outside his house.

"Son!?! stay back, something's not right, you need to get back into your room right now!" Said Artemis as he braced himself against the front door of their house.

"Your Father is right son, get back to your room right now, we don't want anything happening to you. we love you so much, just please get to safety for us." Said Julie as she went to guide Artcraft back upstairs to his room. but before she could reach the stairs, a very loud smash could be heard as their front door was forced open, hinges coming off and all.

A tall, menacing figure standing at the threshold of their front door, holding what could only be described as a large-bladed knife. "S-Stay away from our son, we don't want any trouble, just tell us what you want, and we'll happily give it to you!" said Artemis.

"Hmm.... well when you put it like that, then I will, but not with words per se." said the ominous figure in front of Artemis.

"What do you mean, we could give you anything you could ever want. money, food anything—AARRGGHH!!!" Yelled Artemis at being stabbed in the gut with that bladed knife.

"AAHHH!? No... Please stop this, he did nothing to you, we don't even know who you are!" Said Julie as the ominous figure got close to her, and then stabbed her too.

"Mom! No! Stop this you monster, s-stop this!" Cried Artcraft as he was then backhanded to the floor, in between his parents, looking at them face to face.

"We l-love you, son, p-please find the strength to go on, we want you to b-be happy... a-and safe!" Said Julie as she was hacking up blood, and wheezing before getting weaker from blood loss.

"Y-Yes but please get out of here and g..." was all Artemis could say before he died, right then and there. When Artcraft looked over to his mom, she was already dead, both had looks of pure terror on their faces.

"M-Mom, D-Dad? get up, please, g-get up, I-I'm scared!" Said Artcraft who was now being grabbed by his arm and then lifted by the stranger. "P-Please don't kill me!" Said Artcraft while looking into his stone, cold eyes.

"Congratulations little one, you have just been drafted." said the ominous figure with a hearty laugh in his very grave voice.

Author's Note

I understand this is taking a while and I deeply apologize for that, but i'm doing everything I can.