The Legend of Iris

by The Illustrious Q

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Adventure, Dark
Length: 7368

A secret of the past has been unearthed that has an adverse affect on Rainbow Dash!

Legends often have a way of coming true. Twilight Sparkle knows this all too well, having seen first hoof several of them come to life before her very eyes. So when she receives a recently published book on dragon mythology, she jumps at the chance to learn about their history.

Unfortunately she gets the book on the same day that Twilight promised Rainbow Dash that she would help her train for the Wonderbolt tryouts next week. To make matters worse, Shining Armor drops in unexpectedly to pay his little sis a visit following the honeymoon. Could juggling the responsibilities to her friend and her brother possibly get any trickier for Twilight?

Of course it can. And when it does, it will lead Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, and Rainbow Dash into the very heart of the Kingdom of Draconia to unravel one of the greatest mysteries of old. What happened to the dragon Iris?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-05 01:07:19 UTC

Prologue

An excerpt from Chapter 7 of Professor Fireheart’s Life Amongst the Dragons:

There is an old legend in the Kingdom of Draconia—the land of the dragons. It dates back several thousands of years, long before the reign of the princess diarchy over the heavens above, and still longer before chaos ruled the land. It was long before the time ponies ruled the earth. It was a time of struggle. It was a world fire. It was the Age of Dragons.

The legend begins with a dragon named Iris. Iris was an old dragon, how old exactly varies from dragon to dragon. Some say he was no older than two thousand, others an eon, and still others claim that he was there at the beginning standing watch over the earth as it emerged from the darkness. None of the dragons could agree on that, but, when prompted, each would state without variation that Iris had a hoard the size of Mount Canterlot. It was filled with all the rubies, diamonds, emeralds, and gold of the earth. He devotedly guarded his keep—much to the dismay of would be thieves. For each time one dragon would be foolhardy enough to try and pad out their hoard of silver with a little gold, Iris would be upon them before they even placed one claw on what is his.

The details of what exactly Iris did to those who tried to rob from him are something I shall refrain from repeating. Suffice to say, after a while, a boneyard had formed at the base of Iris’ mountain.

This had gone on for several thousand years. Every decade or so, a young dragon would ignore the bones of his forefathers, make his way to Iris’ hoard, and end up dead just after getting a close glimpse of the legendary riches.

Each time a dragon came, Iris loved it. It was a change from the usual routine. Something new was here at his side. Often times, Iris would circle high above the interloper trying to guess where he was going to try and strike out for the pile. He would wait in the clouds, his head poking through just far enough so that his eyes could see down below, until just the moment the foolish thief would try to place his claw on the pile. Iris would strike at that moment, and all dragons around Draconia would know it. For every time Iris moved upon his prey, an explosion of rainbow color would burst out from sky expanding outward for miles on end. Those few dragons who lost their nerve and turned around before reaching out to the hoard would remember that not a single claw of the skeletons around them ever reached the gold. The claws would always be just short of their mark.

However, the thieves learned that to even try to take what belonged to Iris was a foolhardy errand. They eventually stopped coming, leaving Iris with nothing but what was his and his alone.

Iris’ hoard was his greatest treasure. There was no doubt in his mind about that. At least there wasn’t until a new thought entered his mind while roasting his evening meal over the bones of dead thieves. He realized that he truly enjoyed the company those dragons gave him while they were alive. It wasn’t close company, or even company that talked to him (aside from their screams as he ripped them to pieces), but it was company in that he wasn’t the only living and thinking being as far as the eye could see.

In the end, all that guarding had created nothing more than a dragon with a hoard unmatched by anybeing in existence, save for the lonely heart that beat steadily in his chest.

Most dragons would, at this point, trail off leaving their listener with the moral that wealth isn’t everything it’s all cracked up to be and it is completely empty without somedragon to share it with. However, if one were to make their way past the Smaug Mountains, down the Valley of Norbert, following the River Draco as it entered the Forest of the Elders, one would eventually come to a scorched tree by the bank. Take a left at the tree, trot about five miles, and then take a right at the boulder in the shape of a cross at the foot of an unnamed mountain. Follow the path just behind the rock and make your way into a cave that glows with a blue light. Walk towards the light, never taking your eyes off it, and eventually you’ll come upon a cavern adorned with sapphires in every direction that you look. Once there, be sure to look down, and gaze into the eyes of Old Squirt.

Old Squirt isn’t like most dragons one would typically see in Equestria. For one thing, he’s about half the height of a fully grown stallion. For another, he’ll give you a cup of tea, a plate of chocolate chip cookies, and invite you to sit next to him as he goes about breathing his blue fire onto various scrolls of parchment strewn about the floor. Do not think him odd nor somedragon to be belittled. Be respectful, graciously sip the tea, and come to terms with the fact that you are sitting with the Lord Draco—the great king of all dragons—himself.

Now Old Squirt would begin the Legend of Iris much like any other dragon. Eldest of all dragons. Richer than all dragons. Prideful, boastful, and loyal only to himself and his hoard, so much so that eventually all he was left with was nothing but his hoard and a lonely heart. Then Old Squirt would continue on past the previous moral and mention that Iris remained alone for several thousand more years, until one fateful day when a little unicorn pony made her way through his domain.

Habits, as they are, don’t break easily. Even after several millennia alone, Iris’ first action was to fly up to the clouds and watch her from above. He gazed upon her as she struggled through the bones of his fellow dragons, pranced through the rib cages, and slept in their hollow skulls. For a being no bigger than his right claw, this little pony had impressed Iris. It was several hundred miles to the farthest horizon line, and the fact that this little pony here was the first to have made the trip into his territory, dragon or otherwise, in thousands of years was something to look upon with pride.

Iris stayed up in the clouds for weeks as the little unicorn made her way towards his hoard. He slowly began to learn her habits. The way she would tilt her head slightly to the left whenever she came upon a particularly difficult pile of bones to climb over. The way she would scruff her right hoof along the ground when trying to visualize a solution to her current problem. The way that she would look to her right, look to her left, and then look straight up before settling down to eat her meals. He was able to recognize the golden color her horn glowed as she performed her magic. He knew how her golden mane fell upon her back, curling ever so slightly at the end, forming a tip. He could recognize her yellow fur from anywhere in the sky or from his hoard. To Iris, he found that each movement of hers held a subtle grace that dragons lacked when they were still trying to steal from him.

From above he watched her struggle through the boneyard and eventually found himself wishing her luck as she made her way towards what was his. Every so often, the little unicorn would end up coming upon an obstacle that even she couldn’t overcome. It wasn’t for a lack of trying though. The little unicorn would spend her entire day working on solving it, fall asleep each night, and then continue with her problem solving in the morning. She never had to wait more than three days and three nights, for on the dawn of the fourth day, whatever was blocking her path would be gone. And always on that fourth day she would look up to the sky, gaze towards the clouds hovering just near the horizon, and smile.

Every obstacle that the little unicorn couldn’t overcome would find itself solved by the dawn, and Iris couldn’t be happier. All those thieves who had come before could not have prepared him for finding himself robbed of one of his greatest treasures. His beating dragon heart had been stolen by the tiniest, most fragile of creatures to ever grace his land. Iris found, as he munched on his mid-evening snack, that he didn’t mind it at all. He realized that perhaps having all the wealth in the world means a little bit more with someone to share it with.

At this point, Old Squirt would place another cup of tea before you and would go into another tale as he gazed into the fire that kept his cave warm. He would speak of six stone orbs that would pulse with the light and power of the Six Draconic Virtues. What each of those virtues are is something that even Old Squirt can’t remember. However, he does remember that each one was powerful enough to accomplish great feats of magic. United, they were strong enough to reshape reality to their master’s desire.

He would go in detail about how the virtues had existed since the beginning, exist to this day, and would be there when the end finally came to claim them all. He would go on to mention that the Six Virtues’ power could be augmented by the power of a hidden seventh. This one, unlike the other six that have been lost to obscurity, is one that Old Squirt gives the impression that he knows what it is, but is refusing to elaborate on. Instead, he would crick his neck once, arc his back, and then spread his wings while circling you.

He would mention that two months after the little unicorn had entered into the boneyard and was no more than just a two day trot from the base of the golden mountain, that her journey stopped. Iris watched her for two days as she just lay on the ground, unmoving save for the slow rise and fall of her chest. However, even from his perch in the clouds above, Iris could tell that the little unicorn’s breaths were becoming shallower and shallower.

It was breathing that he had seen many times before. It was the same pattern that Iris had seen after he had broken each and every thief that dared to steal from him. The little unicorn who had come so far, had been so close to reaching her goal, would die before she ever place her hoof upon the golden pile.

It hardly seemed fair to Iris. But he recalled that it was hardly fair to all those thieves of the past to end their lives just before they reached their goal. Perhaps this was the earth’s way of reminding Iris of what he had done. Perhaps it was a cruel joke the earth decided to play on Iris now that he finally had someone to care for, someone who he actually wanted to reach his mountain hoard.

Iris left from his perch in the clouds and glided down to her. He landed softly on his legs and knelt down before her. His eyes meet her magenta orbs and, for several long moments, neither spoke a word. The little unicorn smiled at him. Iris reached toward her with one extended claw and stroked her golden mane. She placed a hoof on his claw and said, “Thank you for watching over me.” The little unicorn closed her eyes as her hoof slowly fell from Iris’ claw.

Distraught, Iris gently cradled her body in his claws and flew to the top of his hoard. Unlike most dragon hoards, Iris did not keep his most precious gold there. No, what Iris kept were six round stones that glowed with an interior power. Most dragons don’t remember that Iris, aside from being the eldest of all dragons, was also the keeper of not just his hoard, but of the Six Draconic Virtues. When he obtained them, how he obtained them, and why he obtained them is something that even he had long since forgotten by the time Iris had brought the little pony to his keep. He only remembered that he had them, and, that if nothing else, he would use them to save her.

However, the Virtues do not operate in the same manner as our Elements of Harmony. In order for them to give their power to one, even with noble intentions, they must first receive something of great importance. Iris knew this. He was prepared to give up his entire hoard if the virtues would bring her back to him. If he could just have one moment to grant her wish, whatever it may have been.

The virtues would not accept his material wealth. It was, after all, his stubborn pride and loyalty to the material world that brought him to his current predicament. He asked them what they would accept, and they told him.

Old Squirt would then settle down on his hind legs and finish his cup. He would mention that on the dawn of the next day, Iris’ mountain hoard, and the boneyard that surrounded it, had vanished from the land. Dragons from far and wide searched for it and the dragon that had once terrorized their ancestors. But Iris was nowhere to be found. The old cerulean dragon had simply vanished.

It was at this moment that dragons all around the world began discovering something extraordinary. Gold. Gold buried in the ground. Gold deep within the mountain ranges. Gold flowing in the rivers. Gold appeared everywhere and not just gold. Sapphires, rubies, and gemstones of all shapes, colors, and sizes began appearing everywhere a dragon looked. As each deposit was found, the hoards of the dragons grew in wealth and prestige. None knew where the gold came from, though a few suspected that it was Iris’ hoard returned to the land. Was it truly his? Or just wealth previously undiscovered before? No dragon was sure, and no dragon cared after they had their fill of it.

Old Squirt would then relate that many years later, one young dragon would come upon the spot that had been at the very center of Iris’ mountain of gold. The young dragon had found nothing of the one who had made his home there, not even a trace of the gold that once been the envy of dragons everywhere or even the six spheres that contained the virtues of all dragon kind. What he had found was only a single set of hoofprints continuing on their journey through the kingdom and towards the land that would one day be Equestria.

Even the Lord Draco knows not what the six virtues exactly asked of Iris on that day, though he could hazard a guess. As to what that guess was, he would shake his head, smile, and then pat you on your noggin saying that such things are not for minds so young to comprehend.

And so, the Legend of Iris comes to a close. It closes not with a moral on the dangers of greed and the lonely life that it leaves you to, but rather with a mystery. What happened to Iris on that fateful day? What did the virtues ask of him? What exactly did he have to give up? And what sorts of consequences did his sacrifice have on the world around him, and are those consequences still felt to this day?

Chapter One

Darkness.

No, not darkness, Twilight Sparkle realized as she turned her head up towards the sky seeing the light of the moon entering in through a crack no wider than the tip of her horn. Night. It’s the middle of the night. Twilight exhaled, feeling the tension in her back loosen and slip away. She smiled as if welcoming back an old friend. The night was something that Twilight knew quite well, as her nearly completed doctoral thesis on the magic of friendship could attest to, and, more importantly, knew how to deal with.

Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated on her horn. She could feel it start to tingle as her magic began to flow through it. There was a familiar pop followed by a warm sensation enveloping her entire horn. Taking a deep breath, Twilight opened her eyes to see what the light of her spell could show her.

The only thing she could see was the tip of her nose.

That can’t be right. Twilight waved her hoof in front of her face. Not even the slight blur of her purple appendage appeared as it moved before her eyes. This isn’t possible. I’ve cast this spell over a hundred times; there is no way that I can only see an inch in front of me.

Twilight began to trot in a circle. Her hooves echoed against the hard floor beneath her. Okay Twilight, think this through logically. What is the last thing you remember before waking up here… in the dark… with no idea how you got here.

She paused, tapped her right hoof on the bottom of her chin, and took a deep breath. Let’s see, Pinkie Pie had invited all of Ponyville to yet another one of her parties—somehow deciding that the day dedicated to planting new trees needed to be celebrated with piñatas, streamers, and a chocolate cake the size of a redwood—but I couldn’t stay for the whole thing. It was getting pretty late, and I had a lot of studying to catch up on for... for... Twilight scrunched her face, took a deep breath, and shook her head. Great, I can’t remember.

I know I had to leave the party early to study for something important, but, silly me, I can’t remember what is was that I had to study for! Knowing my luck it’s for a test on advanced magical theory, and Spike will remind me as soon as I get up. Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed. So I grabbed Spike and left early. Twilight’s ears flattened as her eye twitched slightly.

Twilight huffed and then frowned. She took a deep breath in and slowly let her chest fall as the air escaped through her clenched teeth. Okay. So I left the party early and went back to the library. I tucked Spike into his basket and made sure the tip of his tail wasn’t anywhere near his mouth. We really don’t need that little habit of his to start up again. Then I drank a glass of warm milk, kissed Miss Smartypants goodnight, and—

“This is a dream,” said Twilight. Nothing responded to her, not that she expected anything to, but it would have been nice. Twilight rolled her eyes as a slight smile crept up her face. “This is a dream. And I know it is a dream. Because I know it is a dream, that means that I am lucid! And because this is a dream, and I know it is a dream, and I am lucid, so that means that I am in complete control!”

Twilight proceed to sit down on the ground below her and gently crossed her front legs. She turned her head up towards the sliver of light that was coming from the crack in the ceiling.

“You can’t frighten me! This is my dream! And I want to dream about butterflies in the sky, myself flying twice as high while taking a look inside a book about reading rainbows!” Twilight stuck her tongue out at the darkness and giggled softly to herself.

There was a loud, metallic clang followed very shortly by the feeling of the ground beneath her leaving her rump. Twilight glowered.

“Oh horseapples.”

Twilight screamed as gravity did what it does best, pull her down with an acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2. Of course she would have been thinking about the physics behind her impending doom. Nothing else would have suited Twilight’s scientific mind. But knowing how she was going to die didn’t help her cope with the fact that she was going to die!!! There’s so much she hadn’t had a chance to do! So many books she had never read!!! So many desserts she had never tasted!!! She had never kissed a colt!!!

Twilight pondered on that last one, wondering if kissing her brother on the cheek counted, when the inevitable splat reached her ears. It was then over her ears and well past her unharmed rump. Twilight opened her eyes and found herself staring into a blob of sugary green goo.

Right, dreaming. You can’t get hurt in dreams. I should have remembered that. Twilight felt her cheeks flush at the thought, thankful that nopony was around to see her panic over nothing. She giggled, knowing that Rainbow would have probably just started laughing at her over such a silly thing. Rainbow would probably remark that the egghead was just too smart for her own good. Why she could just picture her rainbow mane right now, sprawled out on the floor before her as a pool of red blood congealed on the red brick floor at the base of her—

Wait a second. Twilight blinked her eyes a couple of times, shook her head once, and looked again. Her pupils shrank as she realized she wasn’t imagining things.

“RAINBOW!!!” Twilight tried to scream, however the green goo that surrounded her from head to hoof had made her cries stop dead in her throat. Twilight stretched her right hoof towards the prone form of Rainbow Dash, but couldn’t move more than an inch before the goo caused it to snap back at her. She tried again. And again. And again. Twilight knew that what she was doing was the very basic definition of insanity—repeating the same experiment over and over and expecting a different result each time—but she did not care. The only thing that mattered to her right now was that her friend was in trouble just on the other side of this mess. If only she could just reach her then maybe … maybe she could…

There was a second loud thump as her hoof snapped back yet again. This time she just let it stay where it lay, her eyes had become transfixed on what had landed next to her injured friend. She could tell it was a stallion, there was no way a horn of that size could possibly belong to a colt, with a red and white spotted coat. Twilight took a deep breath as she followed his blue and cyan mane down his neck. She took a second one without releasing the first when her eyes landed on the spot where his cutie mark would be.

no… no… no… [size=9]no…[/size] Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes as her body began to quiver. Her lips trembled. Her hooves shook, but, no matter how hard she tried, she could not erase that mark from her mind. She couldn’t unsee a kited blue shield adorned with a pink six-pointed star resting below three cyan five-pointed ones arranged in a small triangle. She couldn’t stop her mind from realizing what those red blotches on the stallion’s fur really was. She didn’t want to… she couldn’t…

“…[size=9]Shining Armor[/size]…” Twilight didn’t notice that the green goo had faded around her. She didn’t take heed of Rainbow Dash’s ragged calls for her help. The only thing Twilight Sparkle knew was that one moment she was trapped, and the next she was cradling her brother’s head in her hooves.

Twilight felt Shining Armor move his head in her embrace. She looked down and gazed past his black and blue face into his eyes. His swollen, clearly blinded, eyes.

“Twilie… have to protect…” Shining Armor grimaced just before a coughing fit forced spurts of blood to make their way out of his mouth, causing him to spasm in her arms. He raised one bloody hoof up to her cheek and gently laid it upon her. Twilight placed her own hoof upon his as Shining Armor closed his eyes.

“Big brother? Shining?!” Twilight felt her brother’s hoof slip from hers. She did not look down. She did not follow her brother’s hoof as it slipped from her grasp and fall. Maybe if she didn’t look it wouldn’t have happened. Her brother was fine, he’s not—not to say that the possibility didn’t exist, in fact, she was quite aware that one day the inevitable will come, and the pale pony of death would one day come to escort them to whatever fate had in store for them—unwell. There was absolutely nothing wrong with her brother. In fact, she knew that any second now, Shining Armor was just going to place his hoof back on her cheek, and this will all have been just a silly joke. Yes, that’s right. This was Shining Armor’s—

[size=9]thump[/size]

The world became very unstable for Twilight Sparkle. Oh look, there were gathering balls of fire raining down from above and heading her way! She giggled at the circling ring as it closed in upon her. Twilight wondered how those fireballs could possibly exist. She briefly recalled a passage or two about how unicorn armies would sometime light piles of manure on fire to hurl them at the enemy castle, but the thought slipped her mind as she began to gasp for air, feeling her tears flow down her cheeks.

Twilight looked down at her brother’s corpse. She saw the face of the colt who used to play book fort with her in the kitchen; who used to read her bedtime stories before she could properly read them herself; who used to smile when he held her in his forelegs and kept her feeling safe from the monsters that hid in her closet; who now lay expressionless, bloodied, beaten, but most of all unmoving. She could feel the rising need for Pinkie Pie’s cake to escape from her throat, but she held it down as she placed one hoof to her forehead and started to shake.

Twilight looked up as she began to feel the temperature begin to rise around her. She saw the ring of fire close in on her and felt its heat begin to singe off her mane. She let out a sigh as she stroked her brother’s mane.

“This isn’t a dream, is it?” asked Twilight to nopony in particular. Twilight felt the presence of a hoof on her back, but she just continued to stroke Shining Armor’s mane.

“No, it’s not.” Twilight turned her head at the sound of the voice and looked straight into a pair of magenta dragon-slit eyes. She saw that the creature before her had dragon-like cyan wings and very sharp fangs. But what stood out the most as smoke began to cloud her vision was the rainbow colored mane. “It’s a nightmare.”

“EEEEEEEEEEE!!!” Twilight Sparkle bolted upright in her bed, her chest rising and falling in very quick succession. She brought both hooves up to her face and slowly slid them down her face  before wrapping herself with them. She closed her eyes and lowered her head while she focused on steadying herself. She could feel the warmth of the light from outside as the sun just began its trek through the sky. Twilight took three deep breaths, counted to ten and then looked straight ahead into a pair of green dragon slit eyes.

She didn’t even so much as flinch as she caught sight of Spike kneeling on her comforter. The baby dragon rubbed a few specks of sand from his eyes before opening his mouth in a big yawn. He shook his head once and looked at Twilight.

“Are you okay, Twilight?” Spike raised one hand to cover his mouth as yet another yawn escaped. Twilight lowered her head and began to examine the stars and the moons on her quilt. She moved her hoof around the pattern, tracing the outline of the constellation Orion. She sighed and looked at Spike, not quite meeting his gaze.

“I’m fine Spike. Just a bad dream.” Twilight got out of bed and proceeded to head downstairs towards her kitchen. That’s all it was. Just a bad dream. Just a really, really bad dream. Shining Armor is fine. He’s with Cadance in Canterlot! And Rainbow is most definitely not a monster! At least she wasn’t the last time I checked. Perhaps—

Twilight shook her head and smiled. Twilight knew that nothing was wrong. Crazy dream or not, there was nothing that was going to stop her from helping her friend out with her training today!

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“I’ll get it!” Twilight turned her head at Spike’s call. He ran down the stairs and passed Twilight as she landed on the bottom step. Twilight shook her head and smiled a small smile before heading to the kitchen. Let’s see, what do we have here today? Twilight opened a cupboard and peered inside. Celestios? Sunny Munches of Oats? Twilight moved those two aside. Maybe tomorrow. What I need today is something special. Something that—Twilight spotted a cereal box with a yellow mare wearing a blue flight-suit smiling confidently on the front—is the breakfast of champions. Twilight giggled as she pulled out the box of Wonder-Wheats and then proceeded to pour herself a bowl.

She was just sitting down at the table when Spike walked in and plopped himself at his usual chair.

“Who was at the door?” Twilight took her first bite of her cereal as Spike poured them both glasses of orange juice.

“Derpy. Who else would be here at this hour?” Spike placed the mail on the table in front of Twilight. He grabbed a few gems from the assortment bowl that usually sits in the middle and happily chewed as Twilight levitated the stack before her.

“Pinkie Pie, but that’s only when… nevermind.” Twilight rolled her eyes as she remembered one particular morning when Pinkie Pie showed up at the crack of dawn with three pots of coffee, thirty-five rubber chickens, and a black ball that, for reasons Twilight couldn’t fathom, Pinkie insisted was named Jamie-Kendall Duckingworth III. She shuddered at the memory. She was still getting calls from Canterlot about the missing chickens.

Let’s see. Bill. Bill. My weekly stipend from the royal treasury for conducting research for Princess Celestia. Bill. Jury duty summons. Jury duty pardon. Apology for jury duty summons with a hoof seal from Princess Luna. Twilight wondered if the poor soul who sent her that summons could hear anymore. Invitation to the royal social event of the year. Twilight rolled her eyes as she threw her invitation to her brother’s wedding in the trash. She was already mentally drafting a written complaint to the Royal Equestrian Mail about this little mess up.

She took another bite of her cereal and took a look at the last item in the pile of mail. It was a small package wrapped in brown paper and tied together with twine. It wasn’t odd to receive a package like this, Celestia knew that Twilight received at least three of these little book packages a month from the various libraries around the country, but she couldn’t remember ordering anything within the last couple of weeks.

Twilight placed the rest of the mail back down on the table then used her magic to undo the knot holding the twine together. She undid the wrapping, taking care to keep it from tearing so that she could use it again. Her father always said a unicorn can never have enough wrapping paper— her mother also said that her father was a pack rat, but Twilight preferred to think of her father as practically prepared. Once the wrapping had been removed, Twilight found herself with two items: a folded up piece of parchment, and her most favorite present in all of Equestria!

She flicked the parchment away as she lifted the book from her table. Twilight leaned forward and took in a deep breath, sighing contentedly as the aroma of freshly pressed inked tickled her nose. She opened the cover slowly, listening as the sound of bending paper hit her ears. She closed the cover, flipped it over once, and stroked her hoof over the expertly mouth-signed name of the author: Professor Fireheart, dean of xenopology at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. She turned the book on its side and looked upon the gold foil lettering which spelled out the book’s title: Life Amongst the Dragons.

Twilight wrapped her forelegs around the book and then squeezed it close to her chest, letting out a little squee as she did so. From the corner of her eye, Twilight could see Spike rolling his eyes and muttering something far too softly for her to hear. Not that Twilight cared in the slightest. She had a new book in her hooves! And she was going to read it!

There was absolutely nothing that could go wrong today.

“Vell, vhat do ve have here?” The sound of the grey unicorn’s voice echoed throughout the chamber’s stone walls. Each of his steps made a subtle clip-clop as he circled the golden pegasus tied to her chair. The stallion backhoofed the mare when he got close, noting that the mare didn’t so much as gasp as he struck her. “Answer me, Fräulein. It may very vell be your only chance.”

The mare’s magenta eyes stared into the brown eyes of the stallion. She narrowed them, and, before the stallion could even blink, the mare spat in his face.

“Ha!” said Rainbow Dash from under the covers of her cloud bed. “Take that Trakehner!” Rainbow smiled as she thought back to her first date at junior flight camp and remembered the look on Hoop’s face when she did the same thing to him. She blew a puff of her mane out of her eyes and continued to read.

“You should not have done zhat, Fräulein Do. You vould have been vise to simply answer my questionz.”

“Like I’d ever tell a screw head like you,” Daring narrowed her eyes at the stallion, not once letting him out of her sight. Colonel Trakehner tsk-tsked at Daring Do, finding himself amused at the little feather duster’s cheek.

“Fräulein Do. Vhere is the key?”

“What key?”

“Like Daring would ever tell a Green Meanie creep like you where the key is.” Rainbow rolled her eyes as she made her statement. She leaned forward a little more, leaving her head a scant few centimeters away from the pages of her book and continued to read.

Daring Do felt a hard slap against the side of her face for that little defiance. The faint red glow of Trakehner’s horn could be made out in the dim illumination of the dark grey stone that surrounded the ponies.

“You know vhich key,” Trakehner’s horn began to glow more intensely. The book that rested upon the table on the wall farthest from Daring Do began to glow the same red color of Trakehner’s magical aura. As the book floated towards Daring, it opened and flipped several pages before stopping on an image of a violet crystal scepter, shaped in the form of a cane and adorned with gems of red, blue, and silver. “The key zhat you have been searching for your entire life. The key zhat will lead the zay to the fabled Crystal Empi—”

“I don’t have it,” Daring looked up at him with tired eyes. “I never did.”

Trakehner stopped mid tirade at Daring Do’s words. “You are lying.”

“And what makes you say that?”

“Because you came here, looking for thiz map!!!” He punched the wall closest to him, emphasizing the yellowed, torn, and spotted map that was mounted upon it. “You vere found in here examining it!!! Ze only thing zhat zhat map has ever shown the location of iz the location of the entrance of the Crystal Empire, but zhat location is uselezz unlezz vone haz the key!!!

“And I thought I had anger issues,” said Rainbow with a slight smile on her face. “This guy makes Pinkie Pie look sane.”

“You have it. I know not vhere, but I know you have it,” the Green Meanie colonel turned towards Daring Do, and then slowly made his way toward her. “Tell me vhere it iz,” said Trakehner as he pressed one hoof over Daring Do’s neck. “Tell me and I shall let you keep your miserable little life.”

“Ibkoutherpoe,” croaked Daring.

“Vhat?” Trakehner eased up on the pressure he was placing on Daring’s throat. The golden pegasus took a deep breath, steadying herself as the blood returned to her head.

“I said I cut the ropes.” Trakehner suddenly felt a very sharp pain in between his hindlegs. For a mare, being kicked in that location, regardless of how hard, means only a few hours of minor discomfort. For a stallion, which the colonel was desperately wishing he wasn’t right now, being kicked there will result in the following: blinding pain, a sudden urge to sing in the soprano range of the musical octaves, followed by blissful unconsciousness.

Daring watched the colonel continue to writhe there for a few moments before she made her way to the map on the other side of the room. Daring Do took one look at the frame that housed the road map to the Crystal Empire before she spun around on her hooves. She reared back and with one well-placed buck, she shattered the glass that encased it. Taking the ancient parchment out of the frame, Daring folded it and slipped it under her shirt. She looked around the room and noticed that the door was cracked open slightly. Taking care to kick Trakehner once more where she knew it hurt, she then slipped out of the room and made her escape into the night.

“That was totally awesome!” said Rainbow Dash as she hugged the book close to her. She couldn’t believe that Daring had to go through so much trouble just to get the map to the Crystal Empire. Daring was awesome and all, not quite as awesome as Rainbow of course, but getting captured and tortured just to get the map seemed a little much to the cyan pegasus. What Daring really  should have done, and how Rainbow would have handled it, was to fly into Castle Trakehner, beat up all the guards with their very sharp spears, zoom past Colonel Trakehner while leaving behind a rainbow trail, and be out of there before the Green Meanies even knew what hit them.

A yawn escaped from Rainbow’s mouth, and, using one of her hooves, she rubbed her eyes. She wondered how long she had stayed up reading this night. She turned her head towards the window as she placed her copy of Daring Do and the Road to the Crystal Empire on her nightstand.

The sun had just risen over the horizon, casting the sky into a mosaic of reds, yellows, and oranges which waved in a manner reminiscent of Celestia’s ever-flowing mane as it began its trek through the sky. It was a perfect start to a summer day.

I’m turning into Twilight. Rainbow placed her face into both hooves as she released a heavy sigh. It’s not like she wanted to read the night away, she was actually used to being up for hours on end. But seriously, staying awake the entire night reading. So. Not. Cool.

Okay, maybe it was worth it to find out how Daring was going to get out of Trakehner’s hooves, but that’s the only excuse to get away with reading the night away! Rainbow flapped her wings a few times as she released yet another yawn. She shook her head twice and tried to keep her eyes from drooping. Rainbow Dash checked the clock and grinned. She still had several hours before she had to meet up with Twilight.

Rainbow Dash turned over and buried her face in her pillow and her head under her blankets. Today was going to be awesome. Rainbow mentally checked off another day on the calendar. The Wonderbolts tryouts were next week, and Twilight was going to help her train every single day from now until then. The cyan pegasus smiled contentedly as the land of dreams welcomed her with thunderous applause and flashes of blue and gold.

Shining Armor had stared down the dragon ambassador in his own embassy. He had fought griffon warriors at Baltimare. He had asked Cadance to marry him after she had stepped out of the shower. And he had beaten back a changeling invasion army on his wedding day. Shining Armor was used to stressful situations. He had to be. One simply does not become Captain of the Royal Guard otherwise.

So it was with a knowing smirk that Princess Mi Amore Cadenza watched her husband gallop around their royal apartment like a certain lavender filly on her first day as the personal student of Princess Celestia.

“Where is it? Where is it?!” A pink aura surrounded the sofa that Cadance was laying on. The pink princess felt the sofa levitate about three inches and then unceremoniously drop as Shining Armor didn’t find what he was looking for. “I can’t face Twilie without it!”

“Did you check your saddlebags?” Cadance had to suppress the urge to smirk as Shining stared at her. “You know, the ones that you packed last week so that you wouldn’t be panicking at the last second because you couldn’t find Twilight’s very late, but very caring and thoughtful, birthday present.”

Shining took three quick steps over to his bag, opened it, and found a small rectangle package wrapped in gold wrapping paper. He replaced it in the bag, buckled it closed, and skulked back to his wife with a noticeable amount of red adorning his cheeks. Cadance giggled as he stopped next to her. She then kissed him on the cheek.

“Cadance, what would I do without you?”

“Destroy all of Canterlot by nervously casting a want it need it spell to distract everypony the second a surprise inspection of the guard occurred.” Cadance’s words caused Shining’s jaw to drop. She lifted both of her wings as she gave a little shrug. “I’ve given this a lot of thought, and you are your sister’s brother.”

“Very funny.” Shining Armor plopped down on the sofa, crossed his forelegs, and made a point of not looking at his wife. That point lasted all of three seconds as Cadance placed a hoof under his chin and guided his face towards hers.

“Shining, you’ll be fine.” Cadance rested her head on her husband’s neck. “Twilight loves you and nothing is going to change that. Just go. You need to spend time with her.” Shining muttered something under his breath, something that Cadance suspected was entirely inappropriate for the Captain of the Guard to utter in the presence of a princess. She lifted her head and leaned in close to his ear. “And when you get back, you are going to be spending a lot of time with me.”

With that, a blue glow surrounded Shining Armor and his saddle bags. A similar glow appeared around the front door that swung open a moment later. Cadance smirked as her husband flailed about in the air.

“Be sure to say hi to Twilight for me in a few hours!” Cadance said once Shining Armor was thrown through the threshold. The Princess of Love then released her magic on her husband, allowing him to land ungracefully on his bum. Before Shining could get to his hooves, she slammed the door shut, turned the key to lock it, and then settled down on her sofa with a good book wrapped in her magic.