You know what? I let my self-loathing persona get the best of me long enough. I just want to have fun writing a fic, and damn it...I'm going to do it! I am clearly not one of the best writers on this site. I am just a writer, trying to become a better writer. First things first: I gotta be a shitty one first. I can only improve from here on out. If you guys have any edits in mind you want me to make, I'll come back and make them. Just leave your opinions in the comments. Thank you.

On the small continent of Ereve inside a rather large palace throne-room, Phantom is delivering the news about the door that had appeared. “Are you sure this door that appeared in the Time Temple leads to another world, Phantom?” A man wearing a monocle questioned as he deadpanned at the thief.

Phantom snickered at him and replied, “Oh Neinheart, you act as if you can't trust me.” Phantom put a hand across his chest going into a slight bow, showing that he swore he was telling the truth. “I assure you that these are words from the Goddess herself.” He picked his head up to look back at Neinheart with his arms crossed.

The adviser thought for a moment. He sighed, and then proceeded to turn to a maiden who happen to be standing at the throne. “Are you sure we can trust what he's saying, Your Highness? He is a criminal and I strongly advise you not to trust this man.” The adviser was strong in his position. Phantom may have helped save Maple World from evil once, but that didn't excuse him from his past as a master thief. Stealing from wealthy people was a career for Phantom, and he would never let this passion die so easily.

A maiden, whom was dressed in a manner that would fit the description of royalty, stared absently for a moment. “Empress Cygnus?” Neinheart called out, causing her to snap back to her senses.

“Oh, what is it?” She quickly replied in a soft voice as she snapped out of her trance. The empress adjusted her posture, and let out a light cough.

“Are you going to believe this man?” The adviser said sternly.

Cygnus nodded and smiled. “If it wasn't for him, you would have been serving a necromancer. I fully trust this man without a shadow of a doubt.” This caused Neinheart to recoil a bit; however, he wasn't going to dispute her decision out of high regard for his empress. Neinheart was the adviser, not the ruler. This didn't make him feel any low of himself, far from it. Being the adviser of the empress meant that he still had a huge responsibility in tending to her health as well as bringing forward information whenever it reached his desk.

A small grin crossed Phantom's face, “Well it looks like Her Majesty has given me her blessings. I will arrange for Aran, Mercedes, and Luminous to arrive at the-” The thief was cut off by the voice of a child that had come from above, as the chamber wasn't covered by a ceiling,walls windows. Only by stone columns and rows similar to that of a Colosseum.

“What about me?” The voice had come from a boy riding a black dragon with gold colored horns. It also had thing golden lines patterned down its back. They descended from the air, the dragon beating its wings hard enough to get a soft landing. The boy jumped off the dragon, and ran over to Phantom. “Why can't I go? I'm fully capable of helping.” The boy whined. He was no older than maybe twelve.

Neinheart spoke on behalf of the great thief, “You're still a child, and you might not be able to handle the duties that would be placed upon you if you were to go.” The adviser adjusted his monocle, and dusted his long-sleeved turquoise coat.

“That about sums it up.” Phantom said nodding his head in agreement.

This caused a frown to form on the child's face. He put his head down, knowing that he was just seen as useless to the other heroes. The boy knew he was much more than useless, and wanted to prove himself that he can handle anything. The dragon behind started to speak to him through telepathic means, hoping to lift his spirits, “Don't worry, Evan. We can always find some people who require our assistance elsewhere.” The dragon started to frown as well, as Evan turned with his head still hanging low. The black dragon started to frown too. “Master...?”

The young dragon master shook his head. “I'm sorry, Mir.” Evan then thought as he grinned and lowered his voice to none of the others can hear him, “We're still gonna go whether they like it or not.” Mir did not like the sound of this as his master was quite set on disobeying others sometimes.

Evan jumped back onto the onyx dragon's back, and with several beats of its wings, they were in the air. They picked a direction over the forested continent and aimed in the direction of another. From what everyone on the ground saw, the duo were heading for Victoria Island. That should at least should keep them out of trouble.

Phantom shook his head after they took off, and turned back to the Empress and the others. “Now where were we?” He paused, “Oh! That's right, we were discussing the meet up at the temple with the other heroes. Minus Evan of course.” The thief's heart sank a little. He didn't want to hurt the child's feelings, but it was for the best. They could not potentially put the life of a child who has his whole life ahead of him at risk, should the Black Wings make an appearance. Phantom blinked a few times, and quickly regained focus. “Anyway, the Black Wings will surely find out about this sooner or later, which is why we need to act now.”

“If it is that urgent, then I'll get a ship ready for me and my knights. In order to make diplomatic relations, I must go meet with their rulers.” Said the Empress. “I will arrive at the Time Temple in approximately one hour. Meet me at the Time Temple after you've gathered the other heroes..”

Phantom agreed, and wasted no time in making haste back to his airship, the Lumiere. He then set off to search for the others to make haste back to the temple.

In the skies above Leafre, Evan and Mir have made their way to the Time Temple rather than going to Victoria like they led everyone to believe. Mir was unsure of his master's decision, but he didn't question it. Evan on the other hand, wasn't going to be held from some sort of new adventure. He didn't like being restricted, or being told he couldn't do something by someone who wasn't really the boss of him. The only ones that could boss him around were his mother and father, who happened to work on a pig farm. The only person he didn't show much regard for other than Phantom, was his older brother, Utah. Evan put these thoughts aside, and entered the Time Temple to have a “quick peek” as he put it.

The giant doors creaked open, and Evan peered through the small opening. After seeing that Rhinne was not present at the moment, he took the opportunity to push the door fully open,  and run towards a single, gilded door that stood in its position amongst the other doors in the hall.

“Whoa.” Evan said in amazement.

“Master, I don't think it's really smart to just go through this door. ,” Mir protested, “Plus, I don't think the Goddess will be too happy.”

The dragon master turned to Mir and replied, “It'll be fine, Mir.” He turned his attention back to the door, and continued, “There's nothing to worry about. If there's adventure waiting for us on the other side, then why worry?”

Evan could no longer contain his excitement, and pushed open the giant door with all his might. The giant door roared open, and the child and dragon went through the door. Once through the door, they were engulfed in a bright flash, and found themselves in the middle of a town. Many of the locals stared in their direction with their jaws hanging low, and eyes widened from what they saw come through. The crowd of ponies started to grow in number from its original count due to the sight.

The child opened his eyes, and looked around him. Mir loomed over him as he stood there next to his master. Evan looked around and down to the ground where his feet were originally. What he saw were not feet, but hooves. He took a look at himself for a few minutes, and observed his new form. He was a brightly colored, blue earth pony with a brown mane and tail, and blue eyes. He still wore his red robe with the piece of white cloth in the middle that hung from the collar. Around his two front hooves, he saw that he was still wearing his two red gloves now in the form of bands, and on his hind hooves were his red boots.

“Did I just transform, Mir?” Asked Evan.

The dragon just stared at his master for what felt like hours. Mir finally managed to speak up, “Uh, that seems to be the case. I mean, there have been other instances where you would enter an area anywhere in Maple, and transformation would be inevitable.”

Evan let out a small sigh, “I really hate that sometimes. I can't pick up my magicodar!”

“What was that again, master?”

“You know? my wand?” Evan's voice rose a bit.

“Oh, that. Are you sure you can still use it?”

The ponies in the town continued to watch with slack jaws as the two conversed.

“I think so.” Evan looked over to his left, and noticed his wand sticking out of his bag. He Tried reach for it to grab it with his mouth, but to no avail. “For Grendel's sake!”

“Here, let me help you.”

Mir lowered himself down to Evan's height, and reached for the bag with one of his large claws. The dragon was careful enough as to not damage the back or the wand. He pulled out the wand, and carefully placed it in his master's mouth.

“Fanks, 'ir.” Evan said through his teethe as they gripped the wand.

“Well? Anything?” Questioned the dragon.

Evan laid the wand onto the ground, and shook his head as he gazed at it. “I can't really tell. This body is too different than what I'm used to. Transformations like this tend to render my items useless.”

The earth pony and dragon noticed that they were now the center of attention as the two noticed they were in the middle of a whole crowd of colorful ponies. The duo stared as the whole town gathered around them, but remained at a distance mainly due to the fact that there was a dragon right in front of them.

“Is that a dragon!?” One pony said.

“Why is it here?” Said another.

“Master?” Mir started to ask.

“Yes, Mir?” Replied Evan.

“I think we should go back.”

“Aw come on, Mir. Where's your sense of adventure?”

The ponies started to murmur to each other as the two continued to talk to each other. They didn't know what to make of the situation as the dragon and earthpony conversed

“I think we should go do something, I'm not used to getting this many stares.” Evan finally declared with a bit of a nervous tone.

“Let's go then.” Mir answered.

“Alright! This oughta be better than our little adventure through Lionheart,” He said shakily, “I can still feel the cold on my neck.”

Evan picked up his wand, and jumped onto Mir's back. With several wing-beats, the pony and dragon were in the air, and took off.

“Was that a dragon and a pony that entered through that giant door just now?!” Rainbow Dash shouted, shocked at what she had just seen.

“No doubt it was,” Twilight began, “If what the letter on the door says is true, then we might have some more visitors.”

“This ain't natural though Twi'! Ah' think that dragon may be up to no good, and I don't want to stand around waitin' for it to harm anypony.” Applejack said with a worried tone.

Twilight turned to her head to reply to her friend, “Let's wait for Princess Celestia to arri-”

As if on cue, a white Alicorn descended to the middle of the crowd of ponies. All the ponies immediately bow in her presence. She took in the sight of frightened and worried faces. The purple unicorn was the last one to bow after escaping her shocked expression.

“Rise my little ponies,” She spoke.

“Princess Celestia, are you able to tell us what's going on?” Asked Twilight as she looked up at her teacher.

The Alicorn opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a group of bipedal creatures entering through the door in the middle of the town. They were shouting at each other as they passed through. They seemed to be injured and exhausted, as if a battle was fought on the other side. It didn't take long for the ponies to witness one of them collapse to the ground. The crowd was scared, and shocked to see them covered in blood, bruises, and scratches as they came through the door, one-by-one. What could have done this? Who could have done this? They even appeared to be wearing strange, gold amulets around their necks.

The creatures quickly pushed the door closed, and one immediately spoke up right after with an enraged tone. “What the hell was that, Phantom?!”

“How is this my fault? Am I supposed to be some kind of look out?!” Retorted another.

“What else...would we expect...from the 'Great thief Phantom'?” Said the other creature, who was wearing a white robe. He was breathing heavily from the looks of it.

“Both of you knock it off!” One of the bipeds exclaimed. This one wore a monocle, and looked fit to serve royalty.

The ponies watched as the creatures exchanged words with each other. There was a mixture of emotions; most of them showing fear. What were these creatures, and what did they want?

“The Empress is safe from harm, and we made it through the door alive. That is what counts.” The creature wearing the monocle announced. The other two stopped arguing with each other, and proceeded to act accordingly in front of new faces.

A more feminine looking one of the bipeds stepped forth to speak, “This world seems so beautiful. Just as ours would look if the Black Wings didn't try to take over.”

Princess Celestia went up to the maiden, and stared at her for a brief moment. “Who are you? What are you? And what do you want?” She asked straightforwardly.

The maiden turned her head towards the tall equine to reply, “I am Empress Cygnus of Maple World,” She answered, “And I would like to form an alliance between our two worlds. Our world is being threatened by a wicked power, and I am afraid I don't have the power to protect my subjects from such a monstrosity.” Cygnus took in another breath, and cleared her throat before continuing, “As to what we are, we are humans. Bipedal creatures from another dimension.”

“You request our assistance? What is in it for us, Human?”

“Well, we can't offer much, but we can offer your land protection as well from him. At least to the best of our abilities.”

Celestia was puzzled by the Empress's words. She shook her head, “I'm sorry, but we don't require your assistance. The Elements of Harmony have enough power to stop any evil in Equestria.”

The Empress was saddened by Celestia's statement. It was then that the one known as Phantom decided to speak up. “Please, you'll need our help just as much as we need yours! We beg of you! The Black Mage will soon break from his seal!”

The Alicorn seemed more interested about who this “Black Mage” was. “Might I ask who this Black Mage is?”

“A terrible man. He's ruined our world once, but we are trying to prevent him from doing it again.” Answered Phantom, “Even as we speak, his seal begins to weaken. If he comes back, everything you know and love will die!” The thief tried to regain his composure, but he was able to remember all of the unthinkable things that this man did.

“If you want assurance, what he is saying is the truth,” The human wearing the monocle chimed in, “The Black Mage has committed horrible atrocities in our world. He went as far to wipe out an entire race of dragons single-handedly for not forming a pact with him. Anyone who dared to defy him was either detained, or killed. This man was the true definition of a monster.” The human stood there silently aster his explanation, hoping that it would sway the equine into helping them.

Celestia thought about the human's words carefully. She went deep into thought as she remembered Discord's reign of chaos a thousand years ago, King Sombra, and the recent Changling invasion. Celestia looked over the crowd of ponies surrounding the area. Their fear seemed to have deepened, and began to tremble at the human's words.

“Very well. We will join your alliance.” The Alicorn declared.

The group of worn out humans began to wear looks of relief on their faces.

“But first.”

They all turned to listen.

“You must tell us what happened to all of you beyond that door, prior to entering Equestria.” Next Chapter: Chapter 3 Estimated time remaining: 16 Minutes