Princess Celestia received a letter from Spike, but it had inscriptions in macaroni that confused her. However, she quickly realized that it was Discord's work. "Oh, Discord." She chuckled, amused by his playful way of helping Spike. She felt happy knowing Spike would be a great Dragon Lord and looked forward to the upcoming conference meeting. "I should inform Twilight about Spike's decision to withdraw from the meeting."
Princess Celestia lowers the sun with her magic, allowing her sister to raise the moon; she hopes that Princess Luna can communicate with Spike in his dreams due to Discord stretching the truth with his storytelling. Princess Celestia strolls down the corridors to the guest room and meets Princess Luna; they hug and embrace each other, knowing Spike will do well as Dragon Lord. Princess Luna tells her sister about finding Spike's dream door when she enters the dream realms later on; Princess Celestia explains the letter Discord wrote for Spike, detailing the recalibration of the meeting to a later date once Spike completes his training. Princess Luna is impressed with Spike's sudden change and respects the wishes of the new Dragon Lord, embracing his heritage to become the leader the Dragons desire.
Princess Celestia trots down the hallway to the guest room where Twilight and Rarity are bunking. Inside the room, Twilight looks out the window; in the direction of the Dragon Lands. She couldn't help but think about Spike and wonder why he would choose the Dragons when learning from them didn't work out the first time at the Dragon Migration. He seemed happy in Ponyville, always beside her in every way, sharing memories, playing games, and laughing; more memories appeared in her mind, causing her to shed tears. Rarity is blabbing about Spike finding someone else rather than an elegant, beautiful mare such as herself. She can't stop talking about Princess Ember, and her jealousy gets the better of her, calling Ember names.
When Princess Celestia stepped into the guest room, Twilight and Rarity hurried over to her, eager to ask a barrage of questions before giving the Princess a chance to speak. Twilight was curious about the conference meeting and the significance of the bearers being present; Rarity was more interested in Spike's love life and whether he had changed his mind about Ember and was now interested in her. Princess Celestia remained calm and composed, patiently addressing each question.
"Girls, listen," Princess Celestia said calmly with authority. Princess Twilight and Rarity shut their lips; they hope to hear good news. "Dragon Lord Spike has postponed the meeting tomorrow."
"Why would he request a conference meeting and cancel immediately? What made Spike change his mind?" Twilight asks first before Rarity bombards Celestia with questions about Spike's love life.
"Spike seeks to learn all about the Dragons before making any decisions for his kin," Princess Celestia replies and shows the duo the letter Discord wrote for Spike. The two read carefully about Spike's decree and his training; Rarity is first to speak.
"During the Dragon Migration, Spike was misled by those awful Dragons. What makes you think Spike will learn anything like those monsters?" Rarity crudely states about the Dragons; she's still hurt about Spike turning her away, setting his eyes on Princess Ember.
Princess Twilight Sparkle remains quiet and ponders her thoughts about Spike's possible learning lessons. Would they be impactful or turn him into a Dragon that brings ruin? Ember is only one Dragon, and hundreds are out there, giving and instructing Spike to become a possible tyrant since he's just a young baby Dragon, and most Dragons despise Equestria.
Princess Celestia is disappointed in Twilight for the behavior she's showcasing since Spike became Dragon Lord; Celestia feels that Twilight should be more understanding and relate to Spike about learning something impactful for all life. For Twilight, it's about Friendship; for Spike, it's about his birthright. Princess and King; learn the values of importance to become better rulers for their nations. Like staring into a mirror, reflecting on the lessons to achieve greatness.
Princess Celestia is also disappointed with Rarity for calling Dragons monsters. That attitude could draw the Windigoes if her subjects believe that Dragons are an awful race, while the Dragons feel the same for Equestrian Ponies.
"Girls," Princess Celestia gets serious. "I require you two to reflect on your emotions, destress, and discuss your experiences with other species your friends with. Also, answering your question, Spike will learn what it means to be a Dragon and understand the two worlds in one body. The wisest will encourage and teach Spike all he needs to learn and grow."
Rarity doubts that wise Dragons would give Spike wisdom, just teaching him to hoard and be greedy. Twilight, on the other hoof, believe Ember to be an inspiring teacher, but she has little faith in Spike to become a better Dragon. She wants to protect Spike from the dangers of other mean and cruel Dragons that would abuse him for being a weakling despite his title as Dragon Lord. She hopes Spike will return home, ruing his decision about becoming Dragon Lord. Also, Princess Celestia didn't answer Rarity about Spike's love interest.
Princess Celestia doesn't say another word and leaves, hoping that Twilight and Rarity see the error of their ways before it's too late to make amends for their careless mistake, allowing their emotions to drive them away from facing the truths.
It's 8:30 at night. Ember drops Spike and hides behind a bush in a forest an hour away from the Dragon Lands' borders. Ember scouts the forest quietly while Spike tipped-toe silently, following Ember's movement. Spike notices footprints on the dirt ground; it looks fresh, but he can't determine what animal Ember is tracking.
"Pssst, Spike," Ember shouts quietly to draw his attention; also not disrupting the animal, Ember found with her hunting techniques.
Spike slowly advances to Ember's position and peeks through the bush; Ember is tracking down a Manticore; the Manticore is a fusion of a lion with a red mane, dragon wings, and a scorpion tail. Spike gulps at the behemoth. Spike is unsure about hunting a vicious animal in the forest; however, watching Ember from a different angle, looking upward at her divine beauty, Spike couldn't help but stare at her movements.
Ember's irises slit and change into predator mode; she roars loudly, allowing the prey to either be brave to fight or petrified and flee for its' life. The Manticore turns to Ember's war cry and growls, accepting the brawl he'll endure to win. Spike is speechless and watches how Ember flies directly at the Manticore; it tries clawing viciously at Ember, but she dodges each swipe, left and right, up and down. The Manticore attempts to stun her with his stinger; however, Ember grabs the tail and unleashes a wave of her blue flames, incinerating the Manticore's tail to ashes. The Manticore aims to take flight away from Ember's onslaught but fails to recognize Ember's wings; Ember flies in front of the Manticore swiftly and ax-chops the head of the Manticore with brute force, causing it to crash land and sustain injuries; It whimpers in defeat while Ember approaches it.
"Spike!" Ember calls for Spike to come out of the bushes; she hoists the Manticore with one claw, displaying her strength while her irises return to normal.
Spike approaches Ember after watching the spectacle of Ember's fighting techniques during an encounter with the Manticore; Ember shows no fear, keeps her guard up, reads the body language, and devises the finishing blow to weaken the Manticore. The Manticore's eyes become bloodshot, starts grasping for air, and Spike realizes that Ember is choking the creature's life out; it scares him since he's never seen another animal killing another.
The neck of the Manticore snaps as Ember lets go of her grip; she turns to Spike and becomes awestruck by Spike's dreaded look. Spike witnessed a killing, something Equestrian Ponies under any regard don't practice.
"Ooooooooooh," Ember starts realizing that Spike has much more to learn.
Spike walks to the deceased Manticore and places his claw on its' chest, trying to find a heartbeat or any signs of life. He breathes heavily after feeling nothing within.
"You killed it..," Spike is appalled to understand that Dragons are more dangerous hunters than Changelings when they desire love.
"Spike," Ember tries to sound sympathetic to Spike since he's young with no indication about the Dragon's life. She looks around and locates an abandoned camping ground to roast the Manticore. "I'll reveal more about our culture while heating this tasty, delicious meat I know you'll savor."
"Okay," Spike follows Ember to the abandoned camping ground; there's a bonfire with smaller rocks forming a large circle; Also, there's a long rod that Ember uses to tie the wrists and back legs of the Manticore to it, using some rope left behind by other campers that once used it. Ember breathes blue flames underneath the Manticore, allowing it to cook for a while.
"Ember," Spike is nervous about the info he'll receive from Ember about Dragons being carnivores. "Do Dragons gain a growth spurt from eating meat, and what qualities does consuming flesh bring to Dragons?"
"Eating meat gives Dragons protein and energy; it also helps our spikes and body gain height and muscle mass. Some Dragons look bulkier, and others look skinny; however, those Dragons that look slim are stronger than their appearance."
"What about vegetation? Does that help Dragons grow as meat would?"
"No," Ember shakes her head. "Eating vegetables delays our growth and strength; eating much of it can sustain fatigue, causing us to become less durable. How much of it you consumed in Equestria, Spike?"
"Well," Spike scratches the back of his head. "I had a broccoli casserole before coming to the Dragon Lands; I had steamed asparagus, zucchini, and squash for dinner last night; I made spinach pasta for Twilight and her friends when they came over the other day; oh boy..," Spike looks down and recalls the many veggies he consumed throughout the years; he does mention the sugary sweets like ice cream, cake, cupcakes, and candy. He questions Ember about eating Equestrian junk food.
"I can't say I've eaten those sugary treats, but judging where you stand, I guess it's a pass. Are they similar to eating gemstones?"
"Not quite," Spike responds. "Also, I don't eat as many gemstones as I would in Equestria; Twilight controlled my portions and feared that I may regress, fearing that eating more would start a different growth spurt that could go rampant."
"By not eating enough Spike, you'll succumb to any illness mother nature will throw at you and suffer more with injuries doctors in Equestria can't repair."
"WHAT?!" Spike panics at the sound of becoming sick by eating fewer gemstones, including succumbing to injuries.
"Gemstones are delectable within our community, but they hold another purpose for our bodies; they replenish cells too damaged to heal, give us newfound energy, restore any organ that sustained an injury from anything, and keep us full whenever we can't find meat."
"Wow, I would have never known that..," Spike is astounded by how gemstones have such a magical effect on Dragons like Spike. He's absolutely speechless about their purpose, but it's clear that they give him an incredible boost of energy. He noticed that whenever he ate them, he effortlessly lifted Rarity's suitcases and Twilight's books throughout the castle's libraries. Even more astonishing is gemstones seem to have a pain-dissolving effect on him. Whenever he's had minor injuries, they dissolve his pain and make him forget about the ache. It truly is remarkable for Spike!
Ember spends a few minutes turning the rod of the Manticore, anticipating what questions Spike may ask and mentally preparing to answer each one. "Any other questions you want to ask?"
"Have you tasted a vegetable?" Spike asks out of curiosity since he thinks he's the only Dragon that ate anything vegetation.
"I have; the ones you named are some I've tried. They taste good, but it's not nourishing to our bodies; meat and gemstones are our best sources of nutrition when building muscle mass, strength, speed, and endurance. So is weightlifting boulders and mountains to gain muscle mass; however, that's a different story."
"What meats are best for consumption?" Spike is interested in hunting those younger than older whenever they are no gemstones.
"Anything except for our kin, Spike. The same goes for fish that swims in waters," Ember says, breathing more flames into the bonfire.
"Even Ponies?" Spike asks since they would be delicious to any Dragon during starvation. It was hard to say since he cared about his friends in Equestria.
"Only those who trespass into our lands unannounced or looking for trouble. Throughout centuries, some out there gave us a bad name, and many Unicorns and Pegasi thought of slaying us out of pride, sport, and to become legends," Ember said bitterly with anger and disgust.
Spike inhales deeply; he imagines the horror that Equestrian Ponies would stir conflicts to make a name for themselves with the story in the mind of defeating a tall terrorizing monster that breathes fire. "Well, uh..."
"I know," Ember already knows what Spike is trying to say even though it's a rough topic of discussion. "Equestria won't document all the facts of their history, unlike us; we Dragons know the truths and have drawn hieroglyphics depicting all events of Dragon Kind. We know that horrid pasts are imperative knowledge to learn and grow better; that way, history won't repeat."
"So.., uh.., what was the worst thing Equestria has done to the Dragons..?" Spike is already regretting asking that question; he hopes Ember doesn't have an answer.
Ember grinds her teeth, and her irises become slit; she bellows her roar in anger at the thought of the crime committed by Equestrian Ponies. That causes Spike to sweat nervously and gulps in fear at Ember's sudden change in demeanor. Ember balls her fists and stomps left and right, thinking about the atrocity Ponies did to Dragon Kind, something that former Dragon Lord Torch wanted to initiate but couldn't at the time.
"I'LL TELL YOU WHAT THOSE SCUMBAGS HAVE DONE TO OUR RACE!" Her anger boils with every fiber in her body; she breathes flames at the Manticore, nearly incinerating the flesh in rage. "YEARS AGO, THOSE PONIES LED BY A WRETCHED PRINCESS CAME TO OUR LANDS AND STOLE DRAGON EGGS!"
Spike hears the echoing of Dragon Eggs in Ember's voice in his mind while his heart drops and shatters into a million pieces. His eyes roll up, and he passes out from the shocking revelation.
"Spike!" Ember rushes over to him. Her anger becomes worried over the new Dragon Lord. "Spike, are you okay? Please, answer me!" Ember picks him up and checks his heartbeat. "Still beating," Ember wonders why he passed out. Then it hits her like a dagger piercing someone's back. "Oh.., no. No, no, no," Ember shakes her head. She doesn't want to believe Spike is a survivor of the egg raid Ponies devised years ago.
Oooooooooooooh crap... shit is really going to hit the fan now..
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It sure did.
Wonder how Luna reacts to what Celestia has done to the dragon eggs?
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We'll find out soon enough
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Looks like Luna gotta clean up Tia's mess
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More than likely.
Seems Celestia f******* screwed up too, and isn't any better than Twilight and Rarity. What a frickin hypocrite she is. Hope she is exposed, and Luna will give ALL THREE of them a bad time.
Yep, there it is; the Classical question of how Spikes egg ended up in Celestias school? As a part of a test...
Also raises the question; what happened to/where are the rest of the eggs? And what were the reasons for such a deed of stealing unborn dragon babies in this verse? Was it because of lies, manipulation or seriously misguided, Equestrian crown planned raid?
Guess we’ll see later… Keep it up.
Lookout folks. Once Luna hears of this, we're going to see FIREWORKS & SPARKS FLYING.
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You & me BOTH.
Considering rarity and twilight have met very few dragons they don't get to judge the entire species on it.
Oof. That struck him very bad.
Whoa this story did a 180 with the taken dragon eggs Ember mentioned here (with Spike probably being one of them), a certain sun princess needs to come clean like yesterday!
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Thank you
11573311
We'll see how it unfolds.
I hope Ember will explain everything to him once he wakes up. And this new chapter is great, I enjoyed it. Can't wait for Lesson #2.
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No kidding.
Ohhhhh... plot twist of raided dragon eggs.
This was a concept i had for Dragon Lord series with Spike s origins way back when.
Also the meat plot device I love too. It holds what I enjoy about dragons diets.
Lastly, i love the spike and Ember relationship. It started out fast but its just rushing love or anything
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Thanks. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far.
Oh no… Major plot twist. That is one explanation for why Celestia's school had Spike's egg. How is Spike going to feel about this?
There's a deeper point to be made here too--if Twilight (and Rarity) is really so afraid the dragons will just misled Spike, intentionally or otherwise, then she can offer her own advice as a counter, to help balance it out. That way, both stances mixed together should, in theory, help Spike be a better Dragon Lord that doesn't lean too far in either direction, which in this case seems to me like it'd be the ideal solution.
And Rarity just needs to get over herself now. At least Twilight's got an actual rhyme and reason for her opposition to Spike as a Dragon Lord now (albeit still an incorrect one), but Rarity's just blindly lashing out because she was robbed of her favorite butt monkey. 'Tis not very ladylike of you to do as such, madam.
What, she's not going to skin or clean her kill? I guess for a dragon it wouldn't have to be necessary, but if she's going to all the trouble of cooking it, I'd think she'd at least want to skin it, if just to get all the hair off of it.
In fairness, Twilight didn't know that. Indeed, we'd probably avoid three-fourths of this whole issue if Twilight had known differently from the start, but that can be partly blamed on the dragons being both isolationist from the ponies and promoting such bad relations with them that no exchanging of information's been done.
After all, we can't say the ponies haven't tried to learn more, because they have and for Spike's own benefit, no less--that was how and why the whole "Dragon Quest" episode preceding these events took place, but instead of taking the opportunity to set the record straight for the ponies, the dragons didn't exactly make themselves seem very welcoming. So the ponies have kept their distance, partly out of respect and partly because the dragons made it clear they weren't welcome and the ponies feared it'd be too dangerous for them to try again as a result. So the dragons are perpetuating this gap in knowledge between them more so than the ponies are at this point.
Fortunately, Spike's put himself in a great position to change all of that, so everybody can learn from this, hopefully curtailing problems like this where one side simply just didn't know better moving forward.
That said, back to Spike's veggie diet, it can't have been that bad for him, because he may not be the beefy hulk the dragons would seem to expect, but he definitely doesn't seem unhealthy overall still. The veggie diet may not be the ideal dragon diet, but Spike has proven one can absolutely survive on it long term and still be able to operate pretty normally. He doesn't seem the least bit sickly, both in show canon and this fanfic.
Also, I want it said just how brave Spike's being here, setting aside his obvious squeamishness for all this in favor of wanting to committing fully to learning more about his own species regardless of any unpleasantness.
Considering how big a manticore is (bigger in overall mass than Ember would be), that's actually a somewhat amusing image to consider. I doubt a standard size campfire pit would really be big enough for cooking such a beast evenly too, so that just makes it appear all the more amusing to me.
That's good. I suspect fish might be a good starting point for Spike he'd be a little more comfortable trying his own claws at himself.
Well...dragons kinda have an unfair advantage in this regard, in that they live considerably longer than any pony would, giving them a fair better ability of retaining historical records just by word of mouth as a result. Further, their preferred means of recordkeeping is on stone, which is just about as durable a surface you can inscribe things on as you're going to get, and they can do it easily without issue. Storage of such records wouldn't be much of an issue either (particularly as they can just use the walls of their own homes to do it with) Ponies have none of these luxuries, and have to settle with means that simply don't last as long.
Long point made short, it's not so much the ponies are deliberately neglecting documenting all details, it's just they are naturally loosing some of it over lengthy periods of time as what records they can make degrade and data is inevitably lost. This happens with any civilization. I wouldn't say it was done with deliberate malice or anything like that.
Which leads me to my second point from all of this--knowing your history is indeed important (real talk--I can almost guarantee pretty much everyone in these comments does not know enough of their own culture's history like they probably should). But these events Ember speaks of are also all past events, implied to be distantly past. How does she know things haven't changed, and the odds of it repeating aren't so likely now? There comes a point where you need to forgive, forget, and let go past transgressions, or you're never going to find peace because you're all too busy being angry at each other, and that's only going to add to the hatred, not correct it. Holding a grudge forever will not help.
Besides, it's easy for the dragons to put all the blame for their poor relations on the ponies, but conveniently overlook the no doubt several atrocities the dragons themselves have committed to the ponies themselves. It doesn't matter if it was done in response to each other, mistakes were made on both sides to make each other enemies, and fighting over it will only lead to more mistakes, more creatures needlessly hurt, and more bitterness over it all. Better to instead have both sides to own up to these mistakes, take responsibility for them and make steps towards agreeing to never make them again so to promote trust and unity, not distrust and hatred over mistakes that were made long ago.
My case in point precisely. I'm not excusing what happened, because it did happen and was wrong. But it happened long enough ago that one must ask...are you really in danger of it happening again? Is this something you really still need to be stressing over? Or is it time to drop the grudge and seek to make amends instead?
Plus...we don't know Celestia's side of the story to all of this. I suspect that's important, or else surely Celestia would've reacted negatively to Spike going Dragon Lord too, anticipating Spike learning of this event and fearing the heavy political fallout...but she didn't. Instead, she's welcomed it, actively been promoting it, and hoping for peaceful relations to come of it. Why would she do that if she knows she's responsible for such a past atrocity and surely knowing the dragons would be holding a grudge over it? No, there has to be more to it than just this.
So either there's some detail(s) the dragons are ignorant on that somehow doesn't make it seem as bad as Ember has made it out to be, Celestia wasn't actually aware of how serious this act actually was for the dragons when it was committed for whatever reason (but probably an accidental one) and hasn't been in a position to learn just how harmful it was, or Celestia wasn't actually the princess in question--Ember, after all, describes our culprit as a princess but not as an alicorn. And not every pony princess we know of in the lore has also been an alicorn...
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I hope there is a good explanation for this.
This Celestia bashing just keeps getting old and there is no known reason for it, except a fandom that likes Luna more than Celestia, even though Celestia has proven to be a capable and fair ruler.
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Why can't there be a good explanation?
Why do people keep on bashing Celestia?
I would really like to know why everyone keeps saying she is an ineffective leader, despite sending the right person for the job and more or less creating and maintaining a near utopian state?
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Well after the greed episode she should found out if zecora knew anything else about dragons. It was her responsibility to look after spike and that means making sure he stays healthy. That means doing everything in her power to make sure he is growing up healthy. She been taking him for granted and isn't even bothering to see that