Author's Note

Hey guys sorry for the long wait.

First as always special thanks to my editor Codex92 and my proofreader shirotora.

Okay so I just want to say sorry again for the wait. A lot of stuff irl has had me busy, mostly work.

Also another thing is that I will be trying to add more chapter to my old stories like my dbz and digimon story, along with my new spider man story.

But don't worry I will alternate between those stories and this one.

Also for those of you interested in helping me with my stories. I am seeking editors from my old stories. My editor for those stories may not have been up to the task and missed some grammar issues that could have made my story better. So if your interested and want to lend a helping hand please message me.

And finally a new story is born by a writer named NineTailBeastBall

He's started to write his first story which is a pokemon fic. So please give it a look and help with your feed back.

And as always thanks you guys for the comments and support, and enjoy.

The Arena

(Canterlot Castle)

In the castle's throne room, Celestia paced back and forth from one side of the room to the other. It had been a week since she had found out about the abduction of the reincarnated human who had saved her and Luna. After finding out that the guards who had taken Toothless were fake, Celestia asked that Twilight and her friends tell her as much detail about the fake guards, from their mane and coat colors, races, and cutie marks. Once she had received enough information about their appearances, she gave the descriptions to Shining Armor to search through the files they had for anypony that matched it, specifically any who had worked for the crown.

For the next week, she had patiently waited for any news in regard to the bandits that kidnapped the boy who risked his life, yet again, to protect the innocent.

During that time, she would often receive letters from Fluttershy and the CMC asking for any updates on their missing friend. While some nobles would consider these constant letters to be a nuisance, Celestia didn't. This showed how much Johann, or in this case Toothless, meant to them. She knew of Fluttershy's fear, but when she scanned her memories, she was proud of the pegasus for abandoning her fears to help him when he needed it.

"Has there been any news regarding our missing friend?" Luna asked as she walked through the double doors and into the throne room.

"I'm afraid nothing has come up yet. What about you, Luna? Have you managed to track him through the dreamscape?"

Since the day they found out about the dragon’s abduction, Luna had been hard at work trying to navigate through the dream realm in hope to find his dream to contact him. However, try as she may, there was no trail. She feared that either the bandits had considered this and placed an enchantment on the dragon, or that the dragon’s body prevented her from finding him.

"No, sister, there is no sign of him. I fear that our only chance is that some information about the unicorn who captured him will come to light."

As if in response to her comment, the doors to the throne room swung wide open as Shining Armor quickly trotted over to the princesses. "Your Majesties, I know who it was who took the dragon!!" Stopping a few inches away from the sisters, Shining placed a file down in front of them. "He was a former member of the royal guard. His name is Venandi."

"I remember him." Celestia added, using her magic to open the file to allow the three to see its contents. "He used to assist me by transporting creatures that I deemed too dangerous to roam Equestria; creatures whom I would have sent to Tartarus."

"You mean like the bugbear, or Tirek?" Luna asked getting a nod from her sister.

"While you were ...away, I needed somepony to help me capture any dangerous beasts and have them taken there. Venandi was a capable stallion who knew how to capture and ensnare all manners of dangerous monsters."

"Then what happened?" Shining asked. "Why is he no longer a member of the guard?"

Looking back down at the file, Celestia shuffled the papers around until a photo of the stallion was shown. "It's because I found out that, instead of transporting the creatures straight to Tartarus, he went and sold them for money." A brief pause claimed the room. "After I discovered what he was doing, I had planned for him to be arrested for his actions that could have harmed Equestria, but it seemed that somepony had informed him and he fled the castle."

"Well, at least we have our first lead. I shall go speak with my lunar guard to inform them of this stallion." Luna gave a quick nod to her sister and captain of the guard before lighting her horn and disappearing from sight.

"Well, Shining Armor, I believe it's time we do our par-" Suddenly, the door slammed open once more, a grey pegasus stallion running up to the two with a scroll in hoof. He quickly bowed before handing the letter to Shining Armor and leaving as fast as he came. While a bit dazed by the whole ordeal, Celestia watched Shining Armor open the scroll and read through it.
"What is it Shining Armor? Is something wrong?"

He did not respond immediately, reading the letter over again to make sure what was written was correct. "It's a threat warning; for an attack on Canterlot."

"What?! From who?" Celestia stepped forward, looking over his shoulder to read the letter.

"It doesn't say. All it says is that we should expect a large scale attack on the capital at anytime." Handing the letter to the princess, Shining Armor made his way to the doors. "I need to go alert the guards and put us on high alert."

"Double the guards and have everypony on high alert. And Shining Armor." Shining stopped just before stepping out. "I know that your wedding with my niece will be soon. I want you to be safe and protect her."

He gave a salute and bowed. "Yes, Your Majesty, and I'll even use my shield spell as an extra layer of defense." With that, he exited the throne room with the doors closing behind him.

With Celestia now alone the throne room, she walked over to the nearest window, looking out toward the horizon. With this new threat on the capital, Celestia will have to let Luna's guard try and search for leads on the location of the stolen dragon. "Please, wait a little longer, Johann. I promise I won't rest until we find you."

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(Johann POV)

The sound of the cage rattling on the bumpy road was something I had grown used over these past few days.

Ever since the day I was taken from Ponyville, I had been forced to unconsciousness by the leader's spell, who I learned was named Venandi. I learned it during the few times I was wasn't knocked out, which was when they would feed me.

Every time I woke up, I would see the landscape changing. We had gone from lush green grass fields to barren wastelands. Yesterday, I remembered that we were on a mountain pass, even overhearing one of the hunters mentioning a place called "the arena". I knew something terrible was going to happen to me.

After what felt like hours of traveling, the wagon coming to a halt caught my attention. I quickly closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep. "Alright, boys, before we sell our precious cargo, let's make sure he's nice and fed." Venandi ordered.

Since the day they took me from my friends, they've fed me a small amount of food and water, probably to keep me in a weakened state so I wouldn’t try to escape. They would only feed me three slabs of meat, which were about the size of dinner plates. To a normal person, that's a lot, but given my body’s change in metabolism, it was barely filling. I would get a fairly large bowl of water, just enough so I wouldn't die of dehydration. But it seemed today was different; one of the lackeys tossed in ten slabs of meat and two bowls of water. "Eat up, dragon. You're gonna need your strength for what comes next." Before he left, he pulled out a tarp that was big enough to cover the cage, preventing me from seeing outside my cage.

I wasn't sure why they had done this just now, but there's no point in trying to find out. For now, my attention was brought back to the large portion of food I was given. At first, I wasn't sure about eating raw meat. I wasn't even sure what kind it was. But when I remembered how I ate raw fish and suffered no symptoms of food poisoning, I had quickly made peace with that fear. After a good amount of time eating this meat, I realized it was beef. How ponies got beef was something I tried hard not to think of. I made quick work of the meat since it was a joy to have enough food so I didn't feel starved, and once I was done with that, I quickly slurped up the bowls of water.

After some time had passed, the wagon began to move again, which meant we were continuing on our journey to the arena. Due to the tarp over my cage, all I could do was listen for any hints on what's happening. At first, I heard the usual sounds of the wheels of the wagon turning, the sound of dirt crunching under the bandits’ hooves as they walked. But eventually, I heard what sounded like muffled voices in the distance, followed by feral creature roars and cries. As we continued moving, the sounds got louder and louder. There were voices, though it was hard to understand from the sound of what I imagined to be construction, possibly ponies or whatever creatures that was out there at work.

I heard a voice call out that I could hear a bit clearly. "Well, well, if it isn't my favorite hunter!!" The voice was rather gruff and deep. "Back with something worth buying to put in my arena, I hope."

"Steel Horn, how have you been?" Venandi called out in a cheerful tone, which made me feel a bit concerned. "And when do I ever bring something that isn't worth being put into your amazing arena?"

"Well, there was that time you brought me a sick yeti that didn't last long enough to step foot in the ring." Steal Horn began. "And that time with the siren that didn't have a voice."

"Okay, okay. So I brought a few duds by mistake, but this time, I've got something you've never had before." The sound of hoofsteps came over to my cage, then, without warning, the tarp was quickly pulled off, letting light through the metal bars. It caught me off guard, temporarily blinded as I squinted my eyes.

After I blinked a few times to regain my vision, the cage jolted as something slammed against the cage."A dragon!? You caught a dragon!?" Steal Horn's shouted, his voice ringing in my ears.

Once my eyes had adjusted to the change in lighting, I saw what Steel Horn looked like. He had black fur, standing about as tall as an average size human. And much like his name implies, his horns had a steel coating on them, similar to how a person would get a gold tooth.

Venandi stepped around to stand next to Steel Horn. "Yep. We bagged this one after it had a brutal fight with a manticore. Not only did he fight such a beast on his own, but he won. Ripped its head off its shoulders." A part of me went cold as I vaguely remembered that fight. At the time, it was like a terrible nightmare, one that would constantly replay in my mind.

"Very interesting, but he looks a bit on the docile side." Steel Horn added while grabbing a nearby stick, poking me through the cage. I had hoped that if I didn't act savage, he probably wouldn't want to take me.

However, it seemed that Venandi had anticipated this. "Sure, he looks docile now, but if put him in a situation that requires him to be otherwise…." He glanced around the area. With the tarp no longer obscuring my line of sight, I quickly noticed that we were near a large structure. It looked like a Roman coliseum from the front. "Hey, why don't you have him fight a couple of those?" He pointed in the direction of a cage that was three times larger than my own. Inside was a couple of wolves, but when I stared long enough, I noticed that they weren't any normal wolves. Their eyes glowed a menacing green and their bodies were made of dead tree branches.

"Timberwolves, huh?" Steal Horn asked while placing a hand to his chin as he gave the idea some thought. "Hmmm. Sure, why not? If this dragon is as fierce as you claim it to be, then we can talk about payment."

Without warning, the wagon started to move again, heading toward the coliseum-like building, the front gates rising up to allow us in. As we moved deeper inside, I took notice of the inside the halls made of stone with torches placed in sconces for lighting. Then, something strange caught my attention as the wagon began to angle downwards, rolling down a slope leading deeper down in the structure. We entered a room that looked like a dungeon from a medieval castle, with cages spread all across the room with creatures either snarling or roaring at each other.

"Set the cage over there and we'll have him put into the ring." Steal Horn ordered while pointing to a gate that led to a passageway made of metal bars, similar to what the Romans would put a lion into before setting them loose in the ring.

Venandi's goons lifted my cage and moved it so that it was in front of the metal entrance. It almost reminded me of how, in the Jurassic Park movie, the worker tried to get the raptor into its pen, but unlike that reptile, I had no intention of moving forward. When both the gate to my cage and entrance to the arena opened, I made no effort to move. Unfortunately for me, my captors anticipated this and started to stab my sides with spears. While my scales did provide a good amount of protection, I knew that if I didn't go forward, they would try harder and eventually do some real damage.

With no other choice, I ran forward into the holding pin until another gate opened in front of me, allowing me to continue onwards. Entering the main arena of the coliseum, overlooked by the mountain glowing an ominous red from the sun's light seeping through the thick clouds, the earth of the battlefield was stained with blood and entrails of fallen creatures in gruesome death matches. The stands and balconies had banners hanging from the edges, colored red with a horn above three claw marks, the pedestals sporting menacing-looking demon faces and skulls. There were several other iron gates surrounding the walls of the coliseum's arena, no doubt where other monstrous animals would come out, adding to the several ones that would already be maiming each other to catch the dominant one off guard with a surprise attack.

I noticed the dome of the coliseum was wide open, which means I could fly out of here! I knew that I wasn't at full strength just yet, but maybe I had enough to get me a good distance away. Taking a running start, I spread my wings and took flight. It was still a bit hard to fly, but after what happened in Ponyville, I managed to get the basics down. I was nearly high enough that I would be able to see beyond the building when, all of a sudden, my body felt as though it was being electrocuted. I started spasming for a few moments before finally falling to the ground with a heavy thud.

The world around me spun uncontrollably as I tried to regain my bearings the sound of laughter echoing in the crowdless stands. "Nice try, dragon, but it isn't that easy." Steel Horn voiced mockingly. "There's a spell that will electrocute any create that tries to fly out of here. I'm a bit surprised you're still kicking after that." It took me a while to realize that his voice was being amplified by some sort of speaker system.

As I rolled onto my legs, I heard the sound of one of the gates opening. When I turned to face it, I saw three of those wooden wolves charging out. "Alright, dragon, these are your opponents: Timberwolves. They’re straight from Equestria’s most dangerous forest, and unless you want this to be your last day alive, I suggest you put on a good fight." Steel Horn announced.

The Timberwolves started to circle around me, snarling and barking. With no other option left, I got into a defensive stance, trying my best to intimidate the wolves. While my attention was focused on the two in front, the third wolf had jumped onto my back and tried to claw away at me. Before it could do any serious damage, I tucked my wings in and quickly rolled over, knocking it off my back. Using the same momentum to roll the timberwolf of my back, I rolled onto my feet, standing back up with a snarl before twisting my body, lifting my tail over the rolled over wolf. Slamming my appendage down with a loud crash, I sent its body flying, breaking it into little pieces. For a moment, I felt proud of myself for actually beating one of them, but that pride waned until I saw that its body parts starting to glow and float back together, repairing itself. The other two wolves joined by its side as they moved in close, causing me to take a few steps back.

The wolf in the middle let out a loud howl, causing the other two to charge toward me. I summoned up whatever nerves I could muster as I watched the two wooden wolves get closer. Gripping the ground and readying my tail, I waited until both of them were within my strike stone. Just as they got close enough, both wolves simultaneously jumped and lunged at me. Seeing the perfect opportunity presented to me, I jumped a few inches out of their way while swinging my tail as hard as I could, smashing my tail into them, sending their broken pieces flying. But unlike the first wolf, when I saw their parts hit the floor, I immediately ran in and started to smash and crush the pieces under my claws, thinking if the branches were too broken, then they couldn't reform the same way.

After snapping a few twigs, I turned my attention to the remaining wolf, confident that I could win. However, instead of seeing a cowering wolf like I had expected, it didn't seemed fazed at. With another loud and ghostly howl, the broken and scattered remains of his fallen comrades bean levitating from the ground. Instead of reforming into their previous forms, they instead started to circle around the remaining wolf. The pieces began to spin around it, orbiting faster and faster as bits of dirt and dust started to kick up, preventing me from seeing what was going on.

After a few more seconds, the veil of dust started to die down, but just as I was about to see what had happened, something slammed into me, sending my body flying back a few yards. As my body tumbled across the ground, I tried to regain my balance to stand up. When I looked forward, I was utterly shocked; where there once was the timberwolf who was almost around my height stood a much larger version of itself. Now standing three feet taller than myself and with a much bulkier build was a giant timberwolf. Before I could barely rise to my feet, the timberwolf darted forward, swiping me with its wooden claw, digging into my skin and sent me flying once more.

My body collided with the ground once more, knocking the wind out of me and temporarily rendering me motionless. As my senses slowly came back to me, all I could see was the timberwolf slowly stalking its way toward me. In my mind, a large part of myself hoped that this was all just a crazy dream, that that truck didn't actually kill me, and I'm in the hospital in a coma, where I would wake up from this nightmare any second now.

The timberwolf pounced, slamming one of its paws on my chest. Looking down at me with its fangs bared, raising its free paw back to deal the final blow. At that moment, my life flashed before my eyes, from my childhood to my time with Fluttershy and the girls. It was then that my mind lingered on the girls and the sadness I saw in their eyes when I was taken. 'No! I will not die here!! I will survive, and I will find my way back to them!'

A whole new sensation started to build up in my chest before moving up my throat. Without even thinking, I spat out a plasma blast that hit the timberwolf's paw before its claws slammed down on my throat. The fire blast destroyed its limb, setting it ablaze and forcing the wolf off me. Quickly, I jumped back to my feet and roared at the beast. 'I'm not a human anymore! I am a dragon, and as such, I refuse to die to the likes of you!!' Taking a large breath of air, I felt the sensation once more and unleashed another plasma blast on the wooden wolf. The attack slammed into its chest, causing it to howl in pain as its body slowly caught on fire. The flames spread across its flammable body, rolling around on the ground in a vain attempt to put itself out. But this is where I would end this fight. Taking one last deep breath in and focusing on my target, I unleashed another plasma blast, hitting it square on its head, causing it to explode into pieces.

All that remained of the once fierce creature were bits of its burning body across the field. All was quiet until the sound of a single pair of hands clapping broke the silence. "Absolutely amazing!!! What a show!!!" Steel Horn cheered from the main spectator’s box. "He's perfect!! He will be the crown jewel of my arena and bring in all the bits!!! Take him down below!!" Before I had noticed, a group of ponies started lassoing my limbs, forcing me down and sliding a muzzle over my mouth to keep me from firing off any more attacks.

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(The stands 3rd person)

Steel Horn happily rubbed his palms together as he watched the fierce dragon being pulled back down below. For him, this dragon would be the cash cow he had been looking for, and would soon be able to abandon this pathetic means of income.

"Eh hem." Steel Horn was brought out of his greedy plans for the future by the hunter he had to pay. "Well, seeing as this one isn't a dud and could be…. how did you put it?" Venandi thought out loud with a smug grin on his muzzle. "Oh, that's right. The soon to be crown jewel of your arena. I'd say that such a creature has to be worth a large amount of bits." He added with no effort to hide the greed in his voice.

Steel Horn made a mistake showing too much enthusiasm than he normally would, and now, because of it, he would have to pay the hunter a large sum of money. Prior to their first encounter, Steel Horn would try and find a way to take what he wanted without giving anything in return, but Venandi was a crafty little pony. When the hunter had brought him an orthros, which was a rare find, but wanted a high price for it than he would have paid for, Steel Horn threatened to take what he wanted and have them killed. Much to Steel Horn’s annoyance, the little pony was much more cunning than he had anticipated. Venandi said that he left one of his cronies behind, and if he and the rest of his lackeys didn't come out by a certain time, the location and activities of the arena will be revealed to the princesses.

Venandi was both his favorite proprietor of creatures and his least favorite business associate. "Yeah, you’re right. How does two thousand bits sound?"

"Make it four thousand and you got yourself a deal." He quickly replied with a smug grin, holding out his hoof to seal the deal. Begrudgingly, Steel Horn took the pony’s hoof in his hand and shook it in agreement to his demands.

The group made their way toward the exit, passing by the assortment of caged creatures as they walked by. "So, how long until this batch of creatures gets sent out to the boss?" Venandi asked with a triumphant tone, catching a glimpse of Steel Horn's henchmen loading up the wagon with bags of his payment.

"That’s none of your concern. We have six months to ship out whatever survives that long." The minotaur answered, annoyed by the smug tone in the pony's voice.

"That short, huh? Not sure how you plan to make a profit with the dragon in that much time."

"Don't you worry about it. As far as the boss knows, we haven't gotten it." Steel Horn was well aware that the hunter knew more about his business then he was leading on. "And I would like to keep it that way." Snapping his fingers, some of his workers tossed in a few more bags of bits. "An extra thousand should be enough to keep that secret, yes?"

Veandi looked left and right, acting confused. "Secret? What secret? I have no idea what you’re talking about." He shrugged with a grin and made his way to the wagon with his biggest score yet.

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(Holding area third person)

Four stallions were pulling on thick ropes that were wrapped around Toothless’s body as they tried to put him into a large cage. Because most of his strength was spent trying to escape and battling the Timberwolves, the dragon offered little difficulty. The cage itself was twice the size of the dragon, with thick metal bars that were spaced barely enough for a medium sized dog to crawl through. Once he was in the cage, one of the stallions quickly shut the cage door and put a large lock on it. The dragon fought to remove the muzzle that was latched onto his mouth, but yielded no results.

"Well, looks like my new favorite monster has some energy left in him." Steel Horn announced as he walked into the holding area, making his way toward his prize. Once he was close enough, he rested his hands against the bars, looking down at the young dragon. "You are going to make me a lot of money, little guy. Everyone will come far and wide to see you fight and bet on your matches."

The dragon only snarled at the minotaur, charging forward, slamming against the cage. "Whoa!! That what I like to see!!" Steel Horn quickly slid his hand through the bars, grabbing Toothless by one of his ears and pulled hard, slamming his head against the cage bars. "Listen carefully, dragon. I can see that you understand what I'm saying, which means your smart enough to know a good deal when you hear one." The minotaur tightened his grip, causing Toothless to whine in pain. "If you make me a lot of money, I will make your time here a bit more bearable. Got it?"

The dragon merely leered at the minotaur with an immense hatred and rage. Steel Horn smiled, letting go of his ear and snapped his fingers, catching the attention of four stallions. "Get that muzzle off and feed it. I can't have our soon to be champion malnourished." He ordered as he left the room.

The four stallions looked to each other, sweating bullets as they turned their attention to the cage that held the dragon, who was glaring at them with unfathomable rage. "You do it." One of the workers said, pushing another one closer to the cage.

The stallion scrambled to move back. "Like tartarus, I will!!" He pointed to an earth pony worker. "Why don't you do it!? You’re the strongest!"

The earth stallion backed away just a quick. "Yeah, strongest, not dumbest!!"

As the three argued who would try and do the job, the fourth worker, who was a pegasus, looked around until he spotted what he was looking for. "Hey, you scaredy filles!!" He called out, getting their attention. "Let's make her do it." He gestured behind him with his hoof, getting the other three to lean to one side to see what he had pointed to.

In tattered rags that looked like a potato sack was a griffin. She had white feathers that were smudged with dirt and mud. The features at the top of her head and wings had light violet highlights, her lower half resembled that of a white lion. She was carrying a bucket filled with meat, carefully tossing them into the cages with the carnivorous creatures, and would quickly back away when they lunged forward, trying to claw at her.

The four stallions looked to each and grinned evilly. "Hey, bird brain!" The largest of the four called out, getting her attention. "Come here!"

Slowly and hesitantly, the griffin walked over toward them, unable to see the cage behind them. She stood almost as tall as Fluttershy, meaning she was fairly young, perhaps in late teens. "W-what do you need?" She asked nervously.

"The boss told us that you need to go in there, remove its muzzle, and feed it." The pegasus stallion lied, pointing to the cage with the dragon, who had it's back turned away from them at the time.

The griffin’s eyes shrank to pinpricks as she tried to back away, only to bump into the earth pony, who prevented her from escaping. "No way! It'll kill me!!" She shrieked in fear, trying to move away, only to have the others push her toward the door.

"Yeah, we know, but that's a sacrifice we are willing to make." The pegasus stallion said in a mockingly sad tone.

Before she could protest further, the cage was unlocked, and the door swung open. Her body was tossed inside along with the bucket of meat. She tried to tried to get out, but was too late, watching the workers lock the cage and started to walk away laughing. "Please don't leave me! I don't want to die!!" She screamed as she reaching out for help.

The griffin was on the verge of tears before the sound of movement behind her caused her to freeze. Her heart raced as she slowly turned around to see a pair of green cat-like eyes staring at her. Fear took hold of her body, falling to the ground in a fetal position, waiting for her untimely demise. For a few moments, she prepared herself for the pain and suffering that will come when the dragon claws would dig into her flesh. But as time passed, she felt nothing; there was no pain or any indication that the beast was near her. She slowly opened her eyes to see that the dragon was now on the far end of the cage. It was still looking at her, but made no movement near her.

She stared at the dragon for a while, taking in its features, and everytime, her eyes would move back to stare at its emerald green eyes. She tilted her head to the side, becoming surprised when it mimicked her, and when she tilted back up, the dragon did the same. "Um….hello." she spoke softly, still sounding scared.

At first, the dragon did nothing for a few moments until it slowly bowed its head. The griffin felt somewhat calmer by this notion and slowly started to move forward. "Um...are you gonna eat me?" She asked, feeling terrified that it will nod again, but much to her relief, it shook its head. While she wasn't sure if she could trust this dragon or not, something compelled her to ask her next question. "D-do you want me to get the muzzle off you?"

When the dragon nodded its head, the griffin cautiously moved in closer, keeping her eyes on the dragon’s muzzled mouth. Once she was close enough, she carefully raised her talons to remove the leather strap that bound its mouth shut. In her mind, she was mentally slapping herself for doing this, thinking that the moment the muzzle was off, it would tear into her.

When her talons undid the last strap, the muzzle slid off, falling to the ground with a loud thud. The dragon began to open and close its jaw, moving the lower jaw from side to side. The griffin was shocked to see that it had no teeth, but when it opened its maw and flexed its muscles, a set of teeth quickly popped out and retracted just as fast.

While she was still wary of this dragon, the griffin felt somewhat at ease. Unlike the other creatures she had to feed that would mindlessly attack anything that came close to their cage. But this dragon, a species that was known to be hostile and aggressive towards other creatures, wasn't like that. She would watch as it patted the ground beneath it before twirling around, then sat down and looked at her. 'Huh. Kinda like a cat.' She thought to herself.

Turning around, the griffin grabbed the bucket of meat and placed a piece on the ground in front of the dragon. "Eat up. Around here, you'll need all your strength that you can get." She said in a depressed tone. "I've been a slave her for over eight years now, and I've seen a plenty of the fights that happen around here. If you don't keep your strength up, your next fight could be your last."

Without even thinking she moved her hand to pet the top of the dragon’s head. Her eyes widen and she quickly pulled away her hand. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to touch you!!" She shouted, curling up while expecting the dragon to snap at her for touching it. Again, she waited for the painful end of her life to happen any second. But soon, she noticed something was gently nuzzling her side, and heard a low purring sound. When she opened her eyes, she saw that the dragon was surprisingly docile and affectionate. "Wow. You sure are friendly for a dragon." She smiled as she moved her hand back to pet the dragon’s head, causing it to purr louder.

The sound of a low rumble made Toothless’s ears perk up, causing him to look around to see where it had originated from. When he looked over to the griffin, he could see that her cheeks had turn a light shade of pink. "S-sorry. I haven't eaten in a while." Toothless moved his head over to the piece of meat that the griffin had set down for him, gently nudging it to her. She seemed surprised by the kind gesture, but pushed the meat back to him. "No no, please. Don't worry about me. You need to eat or else you won't be strong enough for when you have to fight again. Besides, I actually prefer my meat cooked."

Toothless looked down at the meat for a second, craning his head down and opening his mouth. However, much to the griffin's surprise, instead of eating the meat, the dragon had instead started to breath a low flame on it, cooking one side before flipping it over and doing the same until the meat was cooked evenly. And much like before, the dragon nudged the piece of now cooked meat over to her. The smell invaded her nose, causing her stomach to rumble again. "Thank you." Not bothering to refuse the dragon’s offer, the griffin carefully picked up the meat and started to eat.

Toothless moved his head over to the bucket to fish out some more meat, and as he did so, he took in the griffin's appearance. He saw that she seemed to have been starved for a long time, her rib cage was almost visible, and the way she happily gorged herself on the cooked meat proved his suspicions. Grabbing a few chunks of meat for himself and swallowing them down whole, he grabbed the remaining slabs of meat and placed them in front of his new friend, cooking them with his flames.

As he prepared another batch of food for his friend, the voices of the guards from before could be heard drawing near. "I bet you anything that griffin is nothing but bones."

"I’d say she's nothing more than a torn up corpse. Probably didn't even get the muzzle off before she died." One of the other stallions added.

"Who cares how she ended up? All I know, she’s as good a de-" The third voiced stopped short as all four of the pony guards stopped dead in their tracks as the looked into the cage. Not only was the griffin was still alive, but that the dragon wasn't trying to kill her. "What the actual buck!?" The pegasus stallion shouted as he trotted over to the cage. "Hey, you stupid dragon, you’re supposed to eat your dinner, not cook for it!!"

The griffin was afraid the stallions would come in and punish her, that is until she felt a leathery wing gently shield her and the sound of a low snarl could be heard. She glanced up to see the dragon glowering at them while baring its teeth, its eyes were slits and seemed completely different from before. Even with how terrifying it may look now, she felt safe.

When the stallions opened the cage and moved in, holding up some spears, the dragon leapt in front of the griffin and let out a menacing roar. The ponies slowly backed away, fearing for their lives.

"What in Tartarus is going on here!?" Steel Horn shouted as he marched torward the earth pony stallion, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him up, displaying his strength. "Why is she in that cage!?" He asked while pointing to the griffin, who was standing behind the dragon. "I paid a lot of bits for that griffin, and if she dies, the rest of you are as good as dead."

While the minotaur was busy chewing out his lackeys, the griffin moved in close to the dragon's ear. "Hey, listen, I know this is asking a lot, but if this works, we both win." That was all she said before turning her attention to the five outside. "Hey!!" She shouted getting their full attention. "You better start treating us with some more respect or else!!"

Steel Horn dropped the earth pony as he faced the gutsy griffin. "Oh, is that so?" He asked, stepping closer toward the cage with his chest out in an intimidating stance. "And what makes you think you can start giving me orders?"

For a second the griffin hesitated before stepping forward. "Because I'm the one who can help tame your new dragon."

There was a brief silence before Steel Horn began to snicker, then eventually became a hearty laugh. "Oh yeah! Like I'm gonna believe that! Hahaha!!!" As he laughed, the four stallions started to laugh as well, trying to please their boss.

Snapping her tail, the griffin turned to the dragon. "Sit, boy!!" For a brief moment, Toothless was completely confused, but quickly remembered what the griffin had asked of him. Quickly he sat down on his back legs, causing the laughter to stop. "Roll over!!" Tucking his wings against his body, Toothless laid on the ground and rolled from left to right. The griffin turned to see the shocked expressions on her audience. "Come, dragon!!" She ordered, holding out her hand with her palm out. And as commanded, the dragon got up and moved to place his head under her talons.

"You think that makes you the boss now!!" Steel Horn quickly stepped into the cage, shoving the griffin aside. "I can just as ea-" The dragon quickly snapped its jaws at the minotaur’s hand, who had managed to back away just before the dragon's teeth could sink into his wrist.

"Careful, because the next time you try and touch him, he might end up eating that hand of yours." The griffin spoke in a matter of fact tone as she moved to the dragon's side, gently patting his head to calm it down. "Here’s the deal, Steel. You make sure that both me and my new friend here live the good life while we're here, and I'll make sure that this dragon makes you all the money you want with no hassle."

The minotaur was completely livid as she stared at the once former slave who managed to tame his soon-to-be champion. When he glanced down at the dragon, he could have sworn he saw a smile creep onto its lips. 'Guess I was right about it being smart.' Though it pained him to admit, his previous statement proved true as the dragon had a better offer presented to him. "Fine, you got yourself deal. But you two better remember who's in charge around here."

As the minotaur turned to leave, the sound of the griffin clearing her throat caught his attention. "We're gonna need better accommodations than this cage." She added in a teasing tone. "You wouldn't want your superstar to be weak and tired for his next fight, right?"

Steel was grinding his teeth together before snapping his fingers at the four stallions. "You four, get those two a room where they can't escape from." He demanded as he stomped his way out of the holding area.

===================================

(Toothless POV)

After a good ten minutes, both me and my new friend were escorted through the coliseum to a large room that wasn't too far from the holding area. The door to the room was made out of metal and stood about six feet tall. Inside was a room with stone walls with a little opening in the corner of the room for some air and some luminescent crystal for light. It kinda looked like a medieval dungeon, except on the far right was a large bed with pillows and a blanket, and to the left was a very large wooden bathtub filled with water. Once the two of us were inside, the door behind us slammed shut and a large click echoed, which I had guessed was them locking the door.

"Hey, I'm sorry for barking orders at you like that." The griffin, whose name I've yet to learn, spoke. "But I've seen how that jerk works, and it was the only thing I could think of." She looked down sadly. "I must have looked like I was just using you to make my life better, huh?"

While I will admit her plan caught me off guard and was a spur of the moment kind of idea, it did get us these better accommodations. Since I lacked the ability to speak, I moved over to her and gently nuzzled her head, letting out a low purr to show her that I wasn't mad.

She seemed to understand what I was trying to tell her as she let out a soft chuckle. "Heh. You’re a really affectionate dragon, aren't you?" She asked while cupping my cheeks and gently squishing them together. "And you're really cute." I responded by flicking my tongue out making a 'blep' noise. "Awww, you're too cute!!" She leaned in and nuzzled her cheeks against my nose. I wasn't sure if I was blushing or not, but it sure felt like it. "Oh! I just realized I never told you my name yet, did I?" I shook my head. "Well, my name is Glenda, it's nice to meet you...What's your name?"

And just like what happened with Fluttershy, I had to go through a whole charade of movements to try and tell her my name. But unlike Fluttershy, Glenda couldn't get what I was trying to tell her. "Yeah, I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Hmmm…? I'm just gonna call you Noir; it's Prench for black."

'Wow, just like Fluttershy.' So, reluctantly, I accepted my second new name with a nod.

"Great. Now, if you'll excuse me." Before I knew it, Glenda removed her ragged clothes and tossed them in the air as she jumped into the tub of water. And to my surprise, the cloth landed directly on my face. For a few moments, I tried to remove the garment from my head, but unfortunately, the piece of clothing wouldn't come off. I tried shaking my head from side to side, or using my paws to pull it off, but each attempt ended up in failure. If I had to describe what I may look like doing all this, I'd say I would look like a cat trying to get a paper bag off it's head.

"Hahaha! Need help there, Noir?" Glenda laughed, followed by the rags being pulled off my head. When they came off, I got a glance at the now clean griffin. Her feathers and fur were as white as snow, and I could see that she had eyes that were as blue as sapphires. She made her way out of the tub and shook off all the water on her body, then made her way to the bed. She patted a spot next to her. "Come on. We should get some rest. Odds are Steel Horn is gonna try and find you a fight as soon as possible."

The idea of rest quickly reminded me of how tired I really was, especially after my fight. So I carefully climbed up onto the bed and performed my usual routine before laying down, reflecting on all the events that had transpired these last couple of hours. 'I swear, I'll find a way out of here.'