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"Miranda? Miranda, are you there?"

Miranda slowly opened her eyes propping herself up on one arm. As she looked around trying to figure out where she was she heard a familiar voice come from the window to her left.

"Miranda I hope you're not still sleeping"

She poked her head out the window "Well not any more" she said rubbing her eye she looked down and saw her friend Tiffany standing on the ground with an impatient look on her face.

"You do remember what today is don't you?" said Tiffany, putting her hands on her hips

"No, What?" replied Miranda.

"I can't believe you forgot that the count's son will be announcing who his bride is today" Tiffany said in a huff

Miranda rolled her eyes "You know I don't care about what that spoiled brat does." She replied with a disinterested tone.

"How can you not Care!" said Tiffany, nearly shouting "he's the son of one of the king's personal assistant, who by the way owns this land."

"And your point is?" Asked Miranda getting slightly annoyed at her friend's fanaticism

"My point is" she answered "that whoever he chooses will get to live like a queen!"

Miranda Sighed heavily feeling kind of bad for her friend and how naïve she is "You do know that whoever he does choose is basically going to be his play thing until he gets tired of her at which point he'll turn her into a lowly house maid and find a new wife."

"You really do over think everything don't you" Tiffany teased "just come with me, It'll be good for you to get out of the house for a while."

"Fine!" she said "If it will get you off my back then I'll be right down."

She slid her legs off the bed and slowly got up stretching out as she walked over to her closet, she picked a simple blue dress with a cloak that goes down to her ankles, She looked over at the full size mirror near her closet; she was a white unicorn with blue eyes, about 5 foot 6. The work she did daily, maintaining her house and the shrine her family was in charge of, kept her in good shape not overly muscular but well toned. She left her room and headed down the steps of her house. The echoing sound of her hooves on the wooden steps reminded her of how empty the house was, and how much she missed her family. Miranda emerged from the front of her house taking a deep breath of the fresh forest air, she looked back at her home, a moderately sized house located deep in the forest.

"Come on!" said Tiffany "were gonna miss it if we don't get going now!"

"All right all right" said Miranda "don't get your horn in a twist."

The two started down the path into town at a brisk pace, Miranda looking over at Tiffany, a slightly shorter and skinnier unicorn, who had blue eyes, white fur with brown patches here and there. She was wearing an elegant dress with gold earrings. They talked about the warm summer weather to pass the time on the way into town. It was a quaint little village not run down but not bustling either, well not most of the time anyways, today was different, today there was a large crowd gathering near the one large mansion at the end of the street.

The two arrived at the courtyard in front of the mansion with dozens of others crowding in around them. As Miranda observed the quickly growing crowd she was baffled by how many furs were there, they must have come from miles around just too see who this arrogant punk chooses to be his new plaything.

"Attention, Attention, You're attention please"

She looked up at the mansions balcony, there was a tall skinny unicorn in a black suit addressing the crowd

"I'm pleased to present the son of Count Raphael , his royal Majesties personal assistant, Roderick De Masion." The crowd cheered as the servant stepped to the side as a shorter, young looking lion dressed in a grey suit stepped out onto the balcony.

"Greetings people of Hyperious valley he said as he looked down over the crowd, "I have come to you today to reveal who I shall choose as my wife. And while there are many lovely young women in this world, this village especially, one in my position can only have one wife.....At a time anyways"

Miranda looked around the crowd as they cheered again. "I can't believe their falling for this" she thought "He basically just said that he's going to get a new wife after he's done with this one."

"I could give any one of you the honor of being wed to me" he said as the cheering began to die down "however there is one among you who's beauty rises above all others. One who's fur is as pure as the first snow of winter"

"What!? No it couldn't be." Miranda thought

"One whose body is so perfectly sculpted one would think that it was crafted by a master artisan, but also one who is humble enough to have such beauty but still dress in a commoner's cloak in her day to day errands."

Miranda looked down at her cloak "No, it can't be" she thought in shock.

"One whose beauty is only matched by the importance of the duty she holds as a shrine maiden."

"NO! Please No." She thought franticly.

"The one I will allow to be my wife is Miranda Lummi!"

The crowd went silent. Miranda could hear murmurs among the crowd "The shrine maiden?" "That little wall flower?" "I didn't even know we had a shrine."

"Miranda. Miranda!" Tiffany yelled

"What?" She said being startled back into reality

"What are you waiting for he chose you, go up there!" Tiffany said encouragingly

She began to walk forward in a daze the crowd around her becoming a blur of random movement and chatter "What am I going to do?" she thought "Why would he pick me? I'm nothing special; I've never even met him."

"HALT!" a loud voice boomed interrupting her train of thought "state your name." Said one of the two large black Bulls in front of her, they were both wearing heavy armor and standing guard in front of the mansion door. She was surprised that she had already made it to the door

"Um....My name is Miranda Lummi" she said nervously

"Right this way" he said as he pushed the door open.

She looked backwards and was shocked to see that everyone in the crowd was now staring at her, some with looks of happiness; others with looks of hate, Miranda looked forward and proceeded through the doors.

The door slammed behind her as she looked around, the room was large, poorly lit and there was a set of stairs that led up to a room with a light on in it. She took a deep breath and started walking forward, "O.k. it's no big deal, all I have to do is say that I'm not interested" she thought "No, he might take that the wrong way, I'll just tell him that I'm too busy taking care of the shrine. He'll understand, it's my family's duty, and there are plenty of other girls out there who are better looking than I am." She finished her thought just as she reached the top of the stairs.

The servant that introduced Roderick on the balcony was waiting there for her "May I take your cloak miss Lummi" he asked in a very dry tone "yes, thank you." She said as she handed him her cloak.

"This cloak is rather old and worn" he said looking over the tattered fabric "shall I dispose of it and fetch you a new one?" "No! No thank you" she stammered "It was a gift from my parents"

"Very well, this way please" he said heading into the room. "Miranda Lummi to see you sir" he stepped to the side.

She winced a little at the rapid change in lighting, as her eyes focused she saw the Duke's son standing and grinning at her in the middle of the room.

"Finally my bride to be has arrived" said Roderick as he began to walk forward "now hold still I want to have a good look at you." He began walking around her taking in every part of her, he ran his claws through her tail hair which made her jump a little and let out a quick "eep" "don't be nervous my dear" he said "from this point on your life will be one of decadence and luxury."

"Um Mr. De Masion" she said nervously

"please my dear, call me Sir Roderick" he said as he walked to the table

"Big Difference" she thought sarcastically "Sir Roderick, if I may, why did you choose me? There are others out there who are far better looking than I am and you could have any of them."

"True" he said fixing himself a drink from the bottles on the table "I could have any one of them as my wife with little to no challenge, and that's the point"

"I'm afraid I don't understand" Miranda said.

He took a swig of the drink he had just mixed and said "About a month ago I came to this village looking for the one who I would make my wife. I had been to many villages before and at every one I saw the same thing, countless women wearing their most expensive clothes and jewelry in an attempt to get my attention. Many of them were beautiful, others not so much, but when I came to this village I saw something I had never seen before. Beyond the large crowd of women, just out of the corner of my eye I saw a beautiful woman, dressed in common clothes, who wasn't swooning over me, I saw you. In my life women had always thrown themselves at my feet, and for the first time in my life I saw a woman who didn't care in the slightest about me. I knew right then and there that I had to make her, you, my wife, because you are the one thing that wasn't handed to me."

"So you want me to be your wife...because I didn't want to be your wife." She said to which he replied

"More or less, now then the first thing we must do is discuss"

"Sir Roderick"

"the wedding it's scheduled for this time"

"Sir Roderick"

"next year, would you prefer blue flowers or ye"

"Sir Roderick!" She yelled

"yes my dear" he said looking over his shoulder

"I appreciate the fact that you chose me very much but I'm afraid I have to decline."

There was a long silence "E...excuse me" he said turning around to look at her with an expression of disbelief "my ears must be failing me because it sounds like you just refused my proposal which I know you couldn't have done."

"No Sir Roderick, your ears aren't failing you" she said nervously "it's just that I have my duties as a shrine maiden. My family has taken care of the shrine for generations and I couldn't imagine leaving it. I wouldn't make a good wife anyways, I'm not very pretty and like you said you could have any girl out there."

"But I don't want them!" he yelled slamming his glass down on the table "I want you!"

She took a deep breath and looked at him "I'm Sorry Sir Roderick but if I don't want to be your wife you can't make me."

"Maybe not" he said with an unsettling calmness in his voice "But I have to say your reason is a little flimsy, from what I understand the shrine at the base of the mountain is a relic of the past."

"Wha...what do you mean" She said, rather shocked at his comment.

"Nothing really, I was just wondering how hard it would be for me to convince the king to turn that old shrine into a military outpost."

"Why would you do such a thing" Miranda stammered

"It's just progress" he said with a smug tone as he began to turn towards her again "of course I suppose someone close to me could keep me from saying anything."

Miranda looked down at the floor clenching her fists "So either I become your wife or you tear down my family shrine."

"Precisely" he said "now I know this is going to be a big transition and we are going to be spending the next couple of years together so I'll tell you what. The wedding won't be for an entire year and I have other appointments I must keep throughout the kingdom, I will be returning to this village in six months, you can use that time to come to your sense and get your affairs in order." He walked over to the open doors behind him "Until then I will be eagerly awaiting your answer. Hives, show our guest to the door" he closed the doors behind him.

She was speechless she was still trying to figure out what just happened when the servant tapped her on the shoulder. She looked over at him as he handed her the cloak he had taken earlier "I'm sorry things turned out this way milady" he said with sympathy in his words "Please follow me to the door" As she did she looked down at her cloak, tears beginning to fill her eyes.

As soon as the large doors at the front of the house opened and she ran out of them, completely passing the eager group of unicorns who hadn't left with the rest of the crowd in the hopes of getting a story from anyone leaving the mansion. Tiffany was part of that group and was confused because she could have sworn that Miranda was crying as she passed her. As she watched her friend run back to the forest she saw a dark cloud begin to roll in "Well" she said to herself "So much for the summer weather"

....... Tiffany was on her way to the shrine, having just checked Miranda's house to see if everything was O.K. After the way she ran out of the mansion yesterday she had been worried, but the house was empty, the only other place she would is the Shrine. "When I said so much for the summer weather yesterday I was right" She thought "It's been raining steadily since yesterday."

As she approached the shrine she took in the sight, it consisted of three large archways; the first had large buildings on either side of it and led to a path at the foot of the mountain. The second was a similar arch that was attached to a smaller structure it was at the end of the path that came from the first arch, behind that the path disappeared and the landscape became jagged and sloped. Finally the last arch was on a plateau on the side of the mountain there was no structure attached to the final arch however as she looked at it she could just barely see a small figure sitting on top of it.

"That must be her" Tiffany thought as she began to walk down the path the climb wasn't much of a problem for her because her and Miranda had played on the mountain as children. When she reached the final gate and climbed up it she saw that Miranda was just sitting there with her knees pulled up to her chest, starring at the mountain.

"Miranda, Miranda are you alright?" She asked confused by what her friend was doing "You just ran off without saying anything, what happened yesterday?"

"I turned down his offer" Miranda said in calm tone continuing to look at the mountain. "Then he told me that if I didn't marry him he would tear down the shrine."

"What!?" Tiffany gasped "He really said that? Maybe you misunderstood him."

"He was very clear" she replied in the same calm tone

"Well what are you going to do?" Tiffany asked

"Do you know why this shrine is here?" Miranda asked "It's here so people can ask for the gods favor before they begin their climb isn't it." She replied "that's right" Miranda said "and do you know why people want to climb this mountain?"

"Um...for fame and glory?" she said

"Partially" Miranda stated "Mostly it's because at the top of this mountain is a Dragons lair."

"A Dragon!" Tiffany shouted "There's a dragon living on this mountain!?"

"Yes, or at least there used to be" Miranda said maintaining her calm tone "No one's heard or seen anything from it in over a hundred years"

"That's a relief" Tiffany said "But what does that have to do with anything"

"There's an old law" Miranda said "if anyone brings the head of a dragon to the king they may have one request within reason"

"And you're going to ask for the deed to this land" Tiffany said excitedly "Exactly" Miranda replied "but wait" tiffany said with a sad tone "I thought you said the dragon was gone"

"I didn't say it was gone I said no one had seen it, it's likely that it died long ago" Miranda said, her tone getting more determined "all I have to do is climb up to its lair and cut its head of the corpse. Even if his body was moved dragons are known for having large hordes of treasure, if I can find enough of it to sell I can just buy this land instead."

"Even if its body is still up there this is mount Hyperious" Tiffany said "no one has ever made it all the way to the top and returned" "If anyone can do it it's me" Miranda said with confidence "I've spent my whole life climbing up and down this mountain, I know more about climbing it than half the furs who have tried."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tiffany asked as Miranda stood up "wouldn't marrying him be easier"

"And be that little brat's newest toy." Miranda said, her voice bursting with determination "I'd rather die"

The next few days seemed to pass like flashes, she prepared for the trip, begun the climb, got to the lair, walked in, fell, and then darkness. "A dream" she though "More like a memory, I guess your life really does flash before your eyes just as you die. I wonder what the afterlife is like." She felt warmth all around her "Well at least it's warm, and soft?" she could begin to feel her body again and opened her eyes slightly "Am...Am I still alive" she said as she sat up causing the thick sheet that was covering her to fall off. She looked down at her body; it was covered in bandages "I am still alive" she said in surprise as she began to look around. She was in a small bedroom with walls that looked like they were carved from stone and a large wood door to her left. There were lamps on either side of the large bed she was in "but where am I."