It took a near mountain of bits to buy all of the things we needed, but Black Beauty said it was small change compared to her annual winnings. The coins had to be carted over to the blacksmith in three large barrows, and I swear all six of us had eyes the size of dinner plates at the sheer volume of money being carried into the smith’s private safe. The gruff smith was a very imposing stallion, shaped like a wedge and with legs the size of trees. His beard was cut to a few inches to avoid being singed in the forge, and his brown curls were so ragged you would think he had cut it himself (we found out later he did). The surprise about the ash-colored pony was that his heart was as warm as the forge. He had a wonderful and pleasant personality that made working with him easy. As long as you weren’t rude to him, he’d get the job done in half the time compared to if you were impatient. The racers all knew him simply as ‘Smit’, even though his actual name was Iron Ingot.

He had listened to our request and then nodded several times, “I should have the weight sets complete by the end of the week. The armor should be a few more.” He glanced over at our dragons, “I’d want to protect them too if the Blood Claw was after me. You’re very wise to seek a means of defending yourselves when you aren’t under the protection of the Circuit Guard.”

We bowed low to show our gratitude, “Thank you very much Smit.” I said as we straightened, “We’ll never forget this.”

He laughed and jerked a hoof over at his safe as the last cart was pulled out, “I don’t think I will for a long time either!” He smacked me across the back and I stumbled slightly before getting my hooves under me, “You’ll go far young’uns. Just come back to see me if anything breaks or needs a tune-up!”

I straightened and nodded with a smile, “We will Smit, hopefully not too close in the future!”

Lucky looked back as we walked out of his shop, “We’ll come visit sometime soon Smit! Count on that!”

His laughter chased us out the door as we followed the dragons into the main hall.

Nilak caught our eyes as we walked alongside him, he seemed like a very nice pony. I’d like to see where he falls when the time to choose sides comes into play.

Mel glanced at him sidelong, what time to pick sides? What are you talking about Nilak?

He glanced over at her with a serious expression, the sides that will form when all of the dragons are free. Not all dragons will take
freedom as you and Winx did. Some may even go on the attack. The ponies will fall into similar camps, those who wish for war, and those who do not.

But that could mean another dragon/pony war! Winx said as her frills erected.

Nilak nodded to her, and that is what we hope to prevent if at all possible. If we can get Mythic Song out of the way, then there would be nopony to blame for the continued enslavement of the dragons. Besides, he glanced at Mel, Winx, Ivy and Lucky, most will probably remember the caring and love given to them by their owners, however misplaced.

Then if we can stop the sparks of fighting from spreading, we stand a chance of preventing all-out war, Mel smiled at Nilak over our heads, a sound plan considering it came from your head.

The girls and I chuckled as we came back to our room, Nilak sputtering and fuming as the rest of us tried not to fall over.

“Give it a rest Nilak,” I said as I sat down in a recliner, “you’ll never get the better of Mel in a battle of words.”

That doesn’t mean they don’t still hurt, he growled, feigning being insulted, my pride has taken a fatal blow. I don’t know how long I can live with the shame of being bested by a dragonelle! He flopped on his side and then rolled onto his back with his legs sticking straight up, just bury me in the back of the building. I’ll never be worthy of resting in a true dragon burial site.

Mel rolled her eyes and walked over to Nilak’s side, such melodrama. Fine, I’ll give you mouth to mouth to save your sorry hide. She leaned down and then kissed him as we turned away. I could hear them making out and I rolled my eyes as I imagined Nilak working it for all he could get.

Nilak apparently rolled over because the next thing I knew he had put one of his paws on my shoulder, you can turn around now.

I smiled and turned around as the girls did the same, “For a second I thought you were actually gone.” I glanced at Mel and gave her a
sarcastic salute, “Nice work Mel.”

She rolled her eyes at me as Lucky and Ivy face-hoofed, you’re as bad at Nilak sometimes, you know that? Honestly sometimes I can’t tell which one of you two has the smaller brain.

Nilak and I stiffened at that, yelling at the same time, “Hey! I resent that remark!” We looked at each other as the others burst out
laughing, and then joined in as the room echoed with our mirth.

I wiped a tear from my eye and clapped my hooves to get their attention, “Alright everyone, just because the gear isn’t ready yet doesn’t mean we can’t train. I don’t know about you but I would like to get some time in on the practice track before we try it with added weight.”

The others nodded and we walked out of the room again, heading down the steps to the back courtyard and the practice track. It wasn’t much in ways of a track, barely longer than the building and a simple oval in shape. The start and finish were the only parts on the ground, the rest of the track was in the air. That was where the course made good on its worth. The ground portion may have been quite small, but the air portions were so complex it turned the route into a quadruple-decker monster that had a near-vertical drop back to the finish. The buoys were so close it would be near impossible to go fast around the corners, but that was only if you didn’t have the skill. I had seen the plans for the track in Smit’s forge while the others had been checking out armor designs, so I had a pretty good idea of how to make our speed turn into an asset rather than a hindrance if we used our weight and angles correctly. At the moment there was nopony here, but I knew at other times of the day they had to work the track in shifts to make sure everyone got a chance.

I motioned for the others to follow me, “Come on guys, we’re not going to get better here on the ground.”

“But how are we supposed to fly in that mess?” Lucky asked as she saddled Mel, “We’ll crash into each other or the buoys if we aren’t careful.”

I smiled as I climbed onto Nilak, “That’s the idea. You didn’t think the pros got as good as they are by having an easy practice course did you?” The girls shook their heads, “Well, then I guess I don’t need to tell you why we need to master this course before we get the weights. If we can do all of this track at full speed without crashing into anything, and then learn to do it with weights, racing with the armor is going to be easy in comparison.”

Mel and Winx looked over at Nilak, and he nodded, I agree with Silver. If we can’t master this tiny little track, then we will most surely fail in the races to come. He held his left paw out in front of him, one cannot stand,

Mel placed her left paw on top of Nilak’s, but two can support each other,

Winx smiled and placed her left paw on top of theirs, and three will never be broken.

I reached over Nilak’s shoulder to put my hoof on theirs, “United we stand,”

Lucky placed hers next to mine, “united we fall,”

Ivy put hers across from ours, smiling as we all finished the oath in our heads, dragons and ponies, fighting for all.

Just as before, a flash accompanied our joining, and this time I felt the power resting in my chest flare at the same time as our joined hooves and paws.

I looked at Nilak as I pulled my leg back, “Will the power in us get stronger each time we do that?”

Nilak nodded as the girls looked over at us, the stronger we bond the more powerful all of us will get. The magic works both ways so every time you join with us a bit of your spirit will join with our own. Think of it as a pool of water that has a thin stream going from one end around to the other. Water can flow both ways, just as the power does through our bond. In time you may even learn to channel that power into us if we need it, or we could put more into you to give you assistance. It is an even trade and one that none of us take lightly.

We pulled our hooves/paws back and walked over to the starting line, getting set at the mark as the starting flag rose on a pole to the right of us. It reached the top after a few moments and dropped like a stone, Nilak and Mel taking off like a shot as Winx fell in directly behind us. We had to take to the air almost immediately to avoid running off of the track, and right at the start Nilak and Mel were jockeying for position. I tried to stop them from hitting each other, and with a quick flip over our heads, Mel got in front of us as we sped single file along the track.

As it turned out, our first time on the practice track at full speed was not too bad. Winx ran into a few buoys and Mel couldn’t stop fighting with Nilak for position, but all in all it wasn’t as horrible as I had imagined it was going to be. We took a break around noon and I spotted Black Beauty off to the side, watching us from the sidelines atop Whiteout. I tapped Nilak on the flank and he looked down at me. I pointed over at Black Beauty and Whiteout and he followed my gesture, his expression lighting up as he spotted them. We walked over to them and off of the track, Mel, Lucky and the others following close behind.

Nice to see our skills are noteworthy by the great White and Black Duo, Nilak smirked as we came up to the female pair, I would have thought our training needed to have begun to earn your respect.

You earn our respect when you show you deserve it, Whiteout said with slight venom. She must have seen how we reacted because she softened it with a smile, you did well for a first attempt, but you’re nowhere near as good as you think. You’ll need to cut your time in half before you can truly compete with the other Circuit racers. I admit when we started out we didn’t have that much natural skill, but I put that off as me still being under the control of the collar. If you can master this course and then learn to do the same with the armor there won’t be a team in the entire Circuit that can beat you.

Black Beauty nodded as Whiteout glanced at her over her shoulder, “You’ll truly be the best if you can beat Whiteout and I on this practice track.” She glanced at all of us one at a time, “What do you say to a small wager? If you beat me on this track right now, you won’t need to be trained. But if even one of you gets beaten, I’ll make you train so hard you’ll feel like you need a cart to get back to your room.”

I caught Lucky and Ivy’s eyes and they nodded. I looked over at the dragons and they all nodded in turn. I looked back to Black Beauty and smiled, “We have a wager.”

She nodded, “Very well. Take your position at the start and prepare to give your all. Only by racing at your best can you hope to beat me.”

We all nodded and walked back to the start. Black Beauty took the outside position and we waited as the white flag rose like a specter. As it dropped Nilak and Mel took off like a shot as Whiteout tried to get ahead on the first stretch. Winx pumped her wings rapidly and got into the air ahead of us, shooting over our heads and taking the first position as Nilak and Mel followed suit. I could have sworn Black Beauty smiled behind her veil as we sped ahead of her. Whiteout stayed on the ground and I watched as we flew into the airborne part of the track far ahead of them both. For a bit it seemed we would stay ahead of her through the entire course, but for some reason every time we came around a corner she gained a bit more on us. I urged Nilak to go faster and he nodded, pumping his wings faster and faster until we were screaming around the corners. We passed Mel and Winx on the second to last turn, but out of nowhere Whiteout slipped in on the inside at the last minute and dove to the ground ahead of us.

We came to a stop once we landed and I hopped off of Nilak in disbelief, “How in the world did you get past us when we were ahead at the beginning?”

She looked down at me and shook her head slowly, “You’ll need to train with me to find out. And I do believe that you lost our wager, spectacularly if I might add. You must now train under me until you can beat me on this track. I suggest you get some rest for the rest of the day, you’ll be busy for the next several weeks.” With that she turned Whiteout and they walked out as we all shared shocked looks.

“Well that could have gone better,” Ivy muttered with an exasperated wave of her hooves.

Lucky and I shared a glance and then burst out laughing. Nilak and the other dragons looked at each other in confusion.

I don’t get what’s so funny, Mel said as they looked back at us.

I controlled my mirth with difficulty and I somehow managed to force out, “Damn it all. Black Beauty knew from the beginning that she would win. I made a wager against somepony who knew the outcome of the race the entire time.” I face-hoofed and rolled my eyes as I lowered my leg, “I fell for the oldest trick in the book.”

Lucky sighed as Ivy slid off of Winx, “Well I guess this is another fine mess you got us into. What’s next, trying to outrun the Blood Claw and leading us into a dead end?”

I rolled my eyes and turned to her and Mel, “What did you expect me to do? Roll over and beg to be taught like a simple dog? You and I know all too well my pride won’t let me back down from a challenge.”

Then maybe it’s time we taught you a lesson in having too much pride, Nilak said as he put a paw on my shoulder.

I glanced back at him and then at the others, feeling like something bad was about to happen. Lucky and Ivy walked up with wicked smiles on their faces, and I tried to get away only to be stopped by Nilak’s tight grip.

“We’re going to have lots of fun,” Lucky said as she pulled out a red cloth and what looked like make-up.

“Oh no, you’re not going to do what I think you’re doing.” I looked back at Nilak, “A little help buddy? Any help?”

He just stared at me with the same wicked smile as the girls grabbed my shoulders. Needless to say, I went by the nickname ‘Clown Colt’ for the next few weeks, though luckily I was too busy working off our debt to Black Beauty to worry about it too much. And hay were we working. In the following month she gave us so much training, with and without the weights, I was shocked the dragon’s wings hadn’t fallen off and that Lucky, Ivy and I were still alive. It was only at the first race of the season that we truly understood why she had pushed us so hard.

Author's Notes:

And a Happy 21st birthday to me and the first of four chapters for all of you!!! Hang onto your flanks 'cause this is going to be awesome!!

See you next chapter,
Shadow Quill, Messenger of the Moon.