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The summer sun blazed hotly down on Harmony, making her sweaty under all the layers of her stiff and itchy dress. Fixing her tiara for the twentieth time, she adjusted herself to a more comfortable position in her cramped, cardboard box. She looked up at the opening, but the only thing she could see was the blue and sky and the relentless fireball that seemed intent on melting her. Harmony sat very still, so as to catch the sound of a rustling bush or the thump of wooden armor, but all she heard was birds.
"What's taking him so long?" She grumbled to herself. It felt like she has been in this tiny box for an eternity. This must have been what it felt like for her Daddy when he was in the time-out statue.
A sudden cracking of sticks snapped Harmony out of her musings. She squirmed for just a peek over the edge. The pale green bush by Fluttershy's fence was shaking horrendously until it looked like almost all its leaves would fall away. A painfully obvious grunting sound was also coming from it as if something was struggling to get out. With a few more tugs, a knight in shining wooden armor tumbled ungracefully from the foliage. The clad figure stumbled to their hooves, and once they had regained their balance, started marching proudly towards Harmony and her Cardboard Castle.
As they walked, they held up a small cloth bag in one hoof as they announced with an air," Fair Queen and Overlord of Chaos, I have successfully completed all of your challenges, thanks to my amazing strength and perfect swordsmanship! If it weren't for my courageous acts of bravery and fearless feats of wonder, this quest would have been a bust. But I was victorious in doing all the most stupendous, impossible, unimaginable feats you could imagine. Why I'd say I was"
"A chatterbox?" Harmony interrupted. "Just hurry it up already, it's getting hot in here," she said, crouching back down into her hole.
"Alright, alright," the hollow voice said, sounding annoyed. It was quiet for a few more seconds until Harmony heard a squeaky "cough, cough"
Taking it as her cue, she poked her head over the edge and started down with her most regal, tyrannical face. "I see, noble warrior, you have indeed…um..done what I asked you to do. But before I give you the treasure, you must pass one. more. test," she finished, and reached down and grabbed a hold of the item on the floor beneath her.
"What more must I do to prove myself?" The figure asked, all according to plan.
"You must…..DEFEAT MY DRAGON!" Harmony yelled, thrusting out a cardboard cut-out of a dragon the size of a doll and dangled it in front of the knight. Using her magic, she made it move up and down as she gave a tiny, half-hearted roar.
"Ha, too bad for you, defeating dragons are my expertise!" With that, they drew their cardboard sword from his belt and charged at the wooden beast. They stabbed, they jabbed, they circled around it, pretending to surprise it from its blind spots, before poking at it again. The strike did little to it and wasn't very rough. It was more like poking a sleeping bear and egging it to chase you. All Harmony did was levitate it up and down, this way and that way, as she sat staring down, with her head propped up with one claw on the rim of the box and performed magic with the other. This went on for about five minutes, but it felt like hours to Harmony.
Harmony finally snapped. When the knight lunged for the fiftieth time, she had the dragon stumble back dramatically as she said in the most monotone voice, "Aaaaaaah. ugh. You got me. I'm dying. I'm dead." She stopped her levitation and the puppet fell the to ground, lifeless.
Harmony let out a drawn-out sigh as she slumped over the side, letting her arms hang limp.
The knight looked up at her. "What's your problem?" the masculine voice asked, annoyed.
"It's just, this game is sooooooooo boring," she groaned, "it would be a lot more fun with a real dragon. That, and I'm getting all hot and sticky in this dress."
The colt lifted the cardboard visor, revealing a confused looking Champ.
"Well, what did you expect? We can't summon a real dragon; you know what happened with the Manticore last time. Not to mention, I think it would paralyze Auntie Shy." he reasoned.
"Yeah, but at least it'd be more exciting than me just waving around a cardboard cut out!" she yelled angrily. Crossing her arms, she huffed,"This game is a bust. I say we just quit."
"Wait a second! Let's just look for something else we can use!" he said, frantically glancing about him for anything that might save their game from total ruin. However, there wasn't much to see in Fluttershy's yard. Just the backside of her cottage, some trees, the surrounding fence, the chicken coop, the everfree forest, Loki reading under an oak tree
"Or someone!" Champ said, gazing slyly at his victim. Harmony perked her head up in confusion and glanced at the direction Champ was looking. Her jaw dropped at the sight.
"Lokie?" she cried in disbelief.
"Shh, he'll hear you," Champ whispered as he turned around. "Don't you see, he's perfect for the role of a ferocious dragon!"
Harmony eyed him. "Lokie? A ferocious dragon? You're joking, right? Tell me you're joking."
Champ stomped his hoof in frustration. "Really, I'm serious! I mean, come on, he fits the part perfectly! With looks, that is. He won't even need a costume! Besides, it's not like we have any other choice. It's either this or its back to the cardboard dragon," he pointed out.
Harmony thought a moment, then shrugged indifferently. "It's fine with me. Besides, this should be pretty interesting to watch," she said with a smirk.

Upvotes at import: 26 | Stars at import: 18
Posted previously at: 2018-06-08T10:32:25 | Posted previously by: Mildgyth