Ember ignites her claws to dig into the Manticore's fur and peel it; the pelt comes off smoothly, despite being cooked, as Ember tosses it aside along with the Manticore's feet; she cleaves them off with her claws after slashing them. Spike is drooling at the aroma of the Manticore; he wants to sink his teeth into the tasty meat Ember cooked.
"Hey, mind sharing that delicious meal with my bro and me?" An orange Dragon with purple spikes and blue irises approaches Dragon Lord Spike and Princess Ember.
"Ah, geez," Garble is embarrassed about being in the presence of Spike; he feels awkward after going on a hugging spree for many hours. "Can't we hunt elsewhere?" Garble whines, not feeling comfortable being close to Spike.
Spike sees Garble and his younger.., older.., but he doesn't know the age gap between their sizes and height; for now, he's waiting until Ember introduces the other Dragon or if she calmly expresses herself.
"I'm Smolder, Garble's younger sister, Dragon Lord Spike," Smolder shows respect in front of her King by bowing gracefully.
"You two can stay and grab a bite to eat," Spike doesn't want to deny the Dragons a meal. Plus, the Manticore Ember caught, killed, and cooked is an adult size; there's plenty to go around.
"Awesome, I am starving!" Smolder sits down and relaxes; she encourages her older sibling to enjoy the company of the Princess and Dragon Lord; however, she remembers the unfortunate tale of Garble forcibly hugging every Dragon on the way home without an explanation.
Spike deeply inhales while clearing his thoughts of punishing Garble for bullying him during the Dragon Migration and wanting to beat up his friends after the failed Phoenix Swipe and during the Gauntlet of Fire.
"Garble, I know we had a moment of brotherhood when you dubbed me Rookie Dragon after witnessing my belly flop into the lava pits. We had fun before the Phoenix Swipe. I know, deep inside, you still wanted to teach me the qualities of being a Dragon without the bloodshed of Ponies."
"Bloodshed?" Garble is confused about that statement; sure, he had thoughts about pounding the daylights out of Twilight and Rarity for trespassing into enemy territory unannounced. He had an awful notion of tormenting the two when Ember stopped him from delivering the onslaught. He sees Spike as someone else, not a murderer like him, during the Egg Swipe. Also, Garble wanted to teach Spike the values of being a Dragon, bringing the code of honor to live life to the fullest while showing him survivor skills to hunt anything alive. He closes his eyes and groans in defeat; the truth is evident about his motives before the Ponies spied on their progress. "It's true; I wanted to teach you how fun being a Dragon is compared to being part Pony."
"Garble," Smolder sounds displeased about the Phoenix Swipe; she's not fond of it since she knows what it means to separate a youngling from family. "You know better. We can't mimic what Ponies have done to us."
Garble balls his claws in anger and grits his teeth. He thinks he knows better, but his heart says otherwise. "I know..," Garble bitterly says about his faults for following a nasty habit. He sits next to Smolder.
"Did you suffer losing a Dragon Egg during the raid several years back?" Spike asks Smolder and Garble since they are distraught.
"Garble, you were there when it happened; please explain," Smolder said; she was only two years old during the unfortunate events.
Garble looks down and sheds a tear. He looks at Dragon Lord Spike and sighs; the mere memory becomes severe. "It was a day unlike any other."
Garble's current age is nineteen years old. He explains his youth at the age of five years old. During that time, Garble asked his mother to visit the Dragon Egg that would be hatching in a few weeks; she granted him that request while taking care of Smolder. Garble ran to the Volcanic Dragon's Nest, hoping to see his next little brother or sister.
Garble met with his friends, Clump and Fume, both eagerly to meet with their siblings and become an older brothers. They talk about gaining their wings, flying like their fathers and mothers, becoming better Dragons, and exploring the world together. The trio grabs gemstones to snack on, on the way to the Volcanic Nest since they're not old enough to hunt.
Many Dragons their age want to tag along to watch their siblings hatch since Dragon Lord Torch had a meeting with the elders of the Diamond Dogs for the usual gold for gemstone negotiation. Garble mentions that many younglings were the most optimistic generation in Dragon Land history. They wanted to show the world that Dragons are not monsters as other species named them to be.
"Diamond Dogs?" Spike is curious about their involvement in the story and why they played a crucial role during the invasion.
"Diamond Dogs and Dragons do business every three months. Since the Dogs love anything shiny and precious, we struck a deal," Ember explains.
"Anyway," Garble resumes the story.
When they arrived at the nest, Garble explained the horrors that unfolded; he remembers seeing a Pony Princess adorning armor and a helmet to conceal her face from recognition. She led a brigade of white stallion armored guards to attack the Dragons protecting the Dragon Eggs. The invasion happened in the absence of Dragon Lord Torch, who was still preoccupied with royal affairs. Garble details the magic and weaponry the guards armed themselves to defeat the Dragons. Their magic stunned them as spears pierced into areas that'll render them defenseless. A total of a hundred and forty-one Dragon Eggs were lost.
"Where would Ponies strike with their spears?" Spike interrupts the story.
Garble turns Smolder around and points at the back neck, where the spine is. "There. Those punks had excellent precision with their attacks, permanently removing movement. Some were wounded when Ponies used their spears to impale Dragon's wings and pin them, preventing their flight."
Spike cringes at the thought of being pierced by spears. The closest memory is being used as a pincushion for Rarity, having those needles inserted deep into his scales.
"I saw how they operate," Ember interjects herself into the conversation. "They listened closely to their leader, awaited commands, and brought down some of the Dragon's finest protectors."
"Do you remember the color of the Princess' fur or mane?" Spike asks, hoping to thin out the decision between Princess Celestia and Cadance. Luna was Nightmare Moon still imprisoned; Spike couldn't recall other Princesses in Equestria.
"No," Garble and Ember shake their heads.
"The Princess' armor covered most of her body; if I saw any features from the Princess, I would have told my father, and Equestria would be nothing but ashes."
"Ponies are scumbags that deserve every affliction coming their way. Those that are nice are pretending," Garble warns Spike since he was traumatized from the raid. "If they saw the real you, the Dragon you, would they still be your 'friends' or end you?"
"Not everypony is vile, Garble. I met many nice Pony folks during my travels with Princess Twilight and her friends; Also, my neighbors are not hostile; they are friendly and show love and compassion. There are evil and tyranny in Equestria, Ponies who are willing to do devilish atrocities with magic, time, even cast shadows to bring endless torment."
"Are there really nice Ponies in Equestria?" Smolder has doubts about Dragon Lord Spike's claim.
"Not a hundred percent cause there are some out there that are nasty, but like a good seventy-five through eighty percent of the populous that is good."
"Hmm, better than nothing, I suppose," Ember said, hoping to support Spike's statement since he resided in Equestria before becoming the Dragon Lord.
"So, anything else that happened during the raid?" Spike wants to know more about the travesty.
Garble reveals the brutalities armored guards unleashed; the guards trampled on some Dragon Eggs to retrieve a dozen, they used their spears to separate the younglings away to avoid killing them, and the Princess used her magic on the protectors, making them collide with each other.
Garble, Clump, and Fume attempted to retrieve the Dragon Eggs that belonged to their families but got hit by the backend of the spears and flung them into a rock wall. Many younglings pleaded to the invaders about leaving their unborn brothers, sisters, and cousins go, but they ignored them; the Princess inserted herself and cast a bubble shield to repel the younglings away from her brigade and withdraw the Dragon Eggs away from the Volcanic Nest.
Ember reveals that eighty-seven Dragon Eggs got taken to Equestria, and fifty-four died from trampling and magic beam misfire. Her father, Dragon Lord Torch, arrived late and saw the ravages on his kin and the sorrow written on everyone's faces; He roared in mourning for the fallen unborn Dragons that died. Her father taught every youngling that the world is cruel and only the strong survive. Dragon Lord Torch told the younglings to be assertive, mean, and dominant whenever another invasion happens; every Dragon can slaughter the unwelcome guests.
"That would explain why you had no problems attacking Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash when they defended me from you and the others..," Spike said, now understanding the viewpoint of Dragons on Equestrian Ponies.
"I took delight in imposing fear on them before you shouted to run away. Also, when I read the letter from Princess Celestia, I wanted to show you my true colors about them, but, at that moment, in front of the guys, I went with mockery instead of blatant disrespect. The guys laughed and followed my lead because.., I knew you had to be one of the survivors from the raid."
"You did?" Spike is stunned by that comment; he starts putting pieces together.
"Yes," Garble sounds serious. "The moment you mentioned a region from Equestria's borders, I knew you had to be one of the survivors from the raid. I couldn't allow myself to scream in fury and interrogate you."
"Oh," Spike looks down and theorizes that one of those questions must be about the other Dragons hatching in Equestria.
"Say, while in Equestria, did you happen to see any other Dragons your age?" Smolder asks, beating Garble to the punch.
Spike quietly says no in sadness. "I'm the only Dragon that was living in Equestria."
"Oh.., no..." Smolder sadly says while imagining all the other Dragon Eggs decimated.
Spike may regret asking this. "Do you remember the Dragon Egg that belonged in your family?"
"I don't," Smolder says and turns to her older brother. "You?"
Garble sighs. "Purple. A purple Dragon Egg with dark purple polka dots."
Spike's eyes widen in shock, and he faints a second time.
"He fainted! That means-" Garble and Smolder now realize they just spoke to their long-lost brother and pass out from the shock.
"Great!" Ember facepalms herself, now having to deal with three Dragons that fainted.
Yep. This is going to be harder than I thought.
This new chapter is great! Can't wait to read Lesson #3. Believe in yourself, take on your challenges, and dig deep within yourself to conquer fears. Never let anyone bring you down. You got to keep going.
That means it was most likely Celestia who took the eggs because outside the unicorns and alicorns most ponies magic is more passive and certainly not able to fight a dragon with. Plus how else would she get a stolen egg for her school. I hope that she has the other eggs still because she is in big trouble. She has basically ignored one harmony tenants honesty. Stealing is not honest and I wonder what twilight going to think when she finds out that dragons hate ponies because of what they did to them with the help of the princess.
Oh wow, this took another wild turn at the end there regarding Garble/Smolder & Spike's true family!
Still don't know who that mysterious egg-stealing alicorn is though, hope we get a definite answer soon!
You’re kidding me. Spike is part of Smolder and Garble's family?!
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She'll be NO better than or compared to the various MLP Villains that attacked Equestria before. And oh, Luna, Candace, and even Twilight will definitely choke Celestia's neck out IF she is really the culprit.
Ah yes! Second best dragon!
I hope we're not setting up to reveal Spike as Garble and Smolder's long lost sibling or anything like that here. Not against the idea, mind, I just think this set-up would make it seem too convenient to feel plausible in this case. If it was instead Spike figuring it out on his own and then finding Garble/Smolder and revealing "hey, I might be related to you guys," I think that would work a little better, but as that's clearly not where we're going here...
Mmkay, so there was a princess present for the actual raid. Still, doesn't quite mean it HAS to be Celestia--as already suggested in an earlier chapter, how do we know it's not the likes of, say, Chrysalis, in disguise and deliberately trying to stir the pot?
And again, even if it IS Celestia, we don't know her motives for doing this act. For all we know, she might've had a cause that somehow justifies it, or at least reveals not everything was as it appears.
I refuse to accuse her much less doom her for anything until I know her side of the story.
So assuming Spike was indeed one of those eggs (it's a pretty safe bet at this point), then what happened to the other one hundred and forty eggs? Any chance there could still be others out there and intact or, like Spike, had successfully hatched into baby dragons estranged from their homeland? I bring it up because we might still have a chance for a happy ending here, regardless of who was actually at fault for what.
Wait, we saying there were dragons actually paralyzed for life from the neck down from this attack? Oof, that really wouldn't be helping the culprit's case here all right--I can't vouch for Equestria, but that would be considered a war crime internationally here in the real world.
Oh hey, yeah, Cadance would be a potential suspect for all this too, wouldn't she?
...you know, I can actually sooner see Cadance as being guilty for all this than Celestia? I can't really give a good reason why, but it just feels more right for me than Celestia right now (maybe because Cadance hasn't actually appeared in this story up to now, so I have no idea what her stance on all of this would be just yet?)
In any case, that means Celestia really isn't the one and only culprit it could be--we do have an alternative it could just as easily be.
Well, isn't THAT convenient.
Still nothing about any features that definitely would mark this mysterious princess as an alicorn. It probably is at this point given how the story's treating the subject, but still, confirmation would be nice, if just to help rule out a few potential suspects. Again, one doesn't have to be an alicorn to also bear the title of "princess" in their world.
That's racist. Anyone who assumes all members of a species or race are automatically as bad or evil as a select few are being discriminate and unfair, blaming a whole species for the acts of just a few or even one.
Besides, I don't believe it for a second, and we've already been given examples of ponies in this fanfic who that stereotype wouldn't fit.
Well, considering how "Secret of My Excess" ended with Spike still having all of his friends without a problem...
No society is going to have a perfectly good population anyway--there will always be the occasional bad actors trying to ruin it for everybody else. I'm sure the dragons have their own examples in their society (Sludge comes to mind). Again, don't doom a whole society or a species just because of a few bad actors.
Well, at least they still had some lines they weren't willing to cross...
Okay, that accounts for fifty-five of those lost eggs, so revising my earlier question, what happened to remaining eighty-six (again counting Spike as one of the missing eggs)?
Why the heck not? He had every reason to come clean on this point, so why try and hide it, particularly when he'd have every motivation to want and try and dissuade Spike from associating with the ponies further? Why delay or even hesitate on doing that when he should've known he may never get another chance to do precisely that if he didn't? I...I genuinely don't understand Garble's reasoning here.
That he knows of. Just because he's the only one he and his pony peers have ever been told about, doesn't mean they can't still be out there somewhere. Until definitively told what their fate was, I wouldn't give up hope for other survivors just yet.
On another note, though, I'm assuming this means that Dragon Town from the comics isn't canon to this fic, correct? Understandable, all things considered, though for the record, it could've added for an interesting additional angle in all of this...
...sigh.
All right, whatever, onwards to the next story plot point.
For mighty dragons, they certainly seem prone to fainting, don't they?
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Thanks
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Maybe
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You'll find out soon enough.
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It's for real.
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I want to say that I love and appreciate your comments. It's very entertaining to read your reaction of each chapter I posted.
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You're welcome
It's PLOT TWIST after another.
I'll stick around for the Egg thing, but once that's resolved, I'm not sticking around any further. Don't get me wrong, this is a good story, and I've been enjoying it, but I do not approve of Spike being Smolder's biological brother.
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Awww, alright then.
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I can't see the princess of love stealing a child from their parents.
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Nor can I really see Celestia doing the same for much of the same reasons, yet here we are.
We'll just have to see.
1157791 Celestia will do whatever is necessary for her ponies to thrive even if it isn't the right thing. But she doesn't really care about others not like twilight who has to fight for her even though she never signed up to handle every problem that comes along. Celestia certainly didn't care when she sent twilight the spell that turned her into an alicorn. Equestria had no elements of harmony and most of the bearers were out of commission plus there were ponies affected by the mix up cutie marks plus once again she put them in danger and almost destroyed their livelihoods.
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See, and that's part of why I'm so hesitant to just assume it was Celestia because how, exactly, does stealing eggs from the dragons help her subjects to thrive?
The answer is that it doesn't. Not only are the eggs of no real use to Equestria, it also just completely spoils their political relations and any good standing they could've had with the dragons, making them want to attack and vilify the ponies all the more. Equestria, if anything, was less safe and secure because of this action, and indeed, it was extremely lucky it avoided a flat-out war because of it. And Celestia's not an idiot, she would've known all of that would've come about in doing such a raid, so if she IS the one who conducted the raid, it was NOT for the good of Equestria or her subjects, it was for some other motive still.
And that's the other part of what makes me hesitant to accuse her, because I can't figure out just what that motive would be. It wasn't so to provide eggs for her school's test--not only is that an extremely petty reason to risk war with a powerful species, it would necessitate getting as many eggs as they can intact and unharmed...but instead, about a third of the lost eggs were destroyed in the raid instead of stolen, an unreasonably high amount if the goal was just to get eggs to use in a school test. But it also couldn't have been to curtail the coming of a new generation of dragons either, because then why steal any eggs at all? In fact, why not just do something to destroy all of them instead of just a select few? And anyway, dragons are so long-lived that not only would Celestia still have to deal with the current generation of (now hurt and very angry) dragons for at least another century or more, that'd still be plenty of time for replacement eggs to be produced and bring about a new generation of dragons anyway, so it can't have been that either.
And then there's the fact that Celestia has shown no issue at all about Spike associating with other dragons and getting to know them and the history of his species, something that would've only resulted in Spike learning the truth about the raid from a very angry side that only knows half the story and wouldn't be subjective about it. If Celestia was behind the raid, then why hasn't she tried to STOP Spike from having ANY exposure to other dragons altogether so to keep him from ever learning the truth and conflating the problem for herself, and most likely have Spike, a potentially valuable ally because he's a dragon, turn against her? Because instead of doing that, she has, if anything, only encouraged Spike to go and learn more from his fellow dragons--she at least has done nothing at all to stand in his way of that--almost as if she had nothing to hide on the matter.
So then... what else could have possibly been the motive for doing it, if not any of those things? I don't see what Celestia thought she could've gained from such an action, because with the information we currently have, I'm only seeing downsides, no upsides at all.
That's why it's so important we get Celestia's side of the story on this, because there HAS to be more to it than we currently know, or else it was just a pointless act that achieved nothing but infuriate the dragons against herself, her subjects, and her country, needlessly jeopardizing the continued well-being of all of them...and regardless about what you might think about her as a character, Celestia's still too smart for that.
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Actually as test for her school it would be a challenge to pull off so only very powerful magic students would become her students. Not knowing how many students were gonna to be very powerful plus ponies tend to hate anything not pony even if it isn't dangerous. As for spike she probably forgotten about her misdeeds considering her own sister was forgotten until she returned and she probably figured that being raised by ponies would make him more like a pony than a dragon.
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That doesn't change my original argument at all though, because it still means stealing dragon eggs for the sake of a frankly not required test (there are other better ways to test for high-powered ponies) is an extremely petty reason to be doing so, especially when it risked war, forever damaging relations with a powerful species that honestly would be better served as an ally than an enemy, and necessitated an act not only considered highly illegal but also extremely distasteful and immoral should it ever be publicly known both in Equestria and beyond, potentially spoiling more good relations with other political powers. It causes far more problems for Celestia than it would resolve, to the point the payoff would NOT be worth it.
And anyway, if it was just to get eggs for a test, why would Celestia herself apparently need to be there to directly oversee the raid? If it was because the guards wouldn't have stood a chance without her help, then that just flips the question--why would the guards need to be there at all if they wouldn't be able to meaningfully help? Why not just do it all herself, give herself the stealth advantage of only having to sneak one creature across the border rather than a whole party?
For that matter, why conduct this raid in broad daylight? Why not wait for night when there would be fewer dragons about and have less have to fight off or even raise the alarm over? Maybe even use the cover of darkness to conceal the identity of who was doing this deed? Why openly fight the dragons at all either? Why not try to stealthily sneak away the needed eggs unseen? Why wouldn't she want to do any of that if this was really the goal?
Celestia has never once exhibited such a trait anywhere in canon nor in this fic. So I'm just going to outright call that one bullcrap.
What, is she also suffering from Alzheimer's too or something? Why would she conveniently forget she had done that? Just because we're acknowledging it'd create too much of a plot hole in the theory if she didn't? It doesn't make sense.
Besides, she again has little history of this, particularly for the time period this probably took place in. Honestly, Celestia has demonstrated a pretty decent memory, she's just typically private about her own private history, choosing a "keep moving forward" sort of outlook. Further, where did you get the idea she'd forgotten about Luna? Everywhere in canon suggests the exact opposite, that she remembered Luna and her role in Nightmare Moon perfectly well, she just kept it to herself, partly because she saw it as a private and personal affair until Nightmare Moon did return, partly so to try and spare Luna being demonized by ponies who didn't know better, and partly so to avoid causing a needless panic until the time of the banishment's end. That doesn't mean she forgot--quite the opposite, in fact.
And even if it was, that still doesn't explain why she hasn't prevented Spike from learning the supposed truth. Sure, we can argue him being raised by ponies would make him favor the pony side...but only until he found out from said fellow dragons that not only had she committed such an act against the dragons, not only was he a victim of said act, it was also kept entirely from him for the whole of his life. In which case, of course he'd be inclined to turn against the ponies, probably with extreme prejudice, because why wouldn't he in such a scenario? And that's just rob Celestia of the ONE good thing she HAD gotten out of the whole charade, making it all for nothing. So why would Celestia allow for any risk of that happening? She should be making sure Spike stayed as far away from the other dragons as possible, ensuring he could never learn the truth, but not only has she not done that, she hasn't even tried too. Again, if anything, she's actively encouraged Spike to go and interact with the dragons.
It doesn't make sense. With the information we currently have, Celestia wouldn't have enough motive to do such an act, not unless there's some other factor to all of this that we haven't been told yet, but as of yet I don't know what that could be.
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She erased her sister from history to the point where she was the only one who knew the truth about her sister. Twilight her most faithful student didn't even know of her and everyone else thought that she was just a story. Does that sound like someone who is remember? She probably needed a really powerful pony for the element of magic and an impossible task is something that you have really powerful magic to pull off. Plus she weaken the dragons and even though Celestia has never outright hates non ponies she never really cared about them either considering the fact that you don't see many non ponies in Equestria in the first place. If she cared than why was poynville so ignorant of what a zebra was.
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Celestia? Yes, absolutely. Because only someone who did remember would go to such lengths.
And anyway, it doesn't change anything here with Spike, because there's no way this is all playing out because she simply forgot. Not only is that stupid, it's bad writing.
Because--speaking as someone who grew up in racism-happy America--the general public doesn't give a crap about whether or not their leader is anti-racism or not. In fact, many would go on being racist anyway out of spite.
If solving the racism issue was really as simply as just having an anti-racist as the political leader, humanity would've solved it a century ago, if not sooner still.
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Come if she truly wanted to remember her sister she wouldn't have been erased from history and demonize with a holiday every year. She would have celebrated her sister instead. She wanted to forget as much possible. And it wasn't racism alone that caused problems for zecora but fear of something unknown. Most ponies have no courage whatsoever. The nobles are more racist than the average citizen. The average citizen is just ignorant of anything outside their little world. As for her helping the guard to seize the eggs you expect them to do everything alone when she can help.
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Look, I'm not going to quibble about the Nightmare Moon matter, because it's ultimately irrelevant to this fic. As for Celestia conveniently forgetting things so to explain away why she didn't do X in response to events in the fic...no, just no. Again, it'd be stupid and bad writing to do that, and I think the writer of this fic is smarter than that.
And again, I reiterate: If solving the racism issue was really as simply as just having an anti-racist as the political leader, humanity would've solved it a century ago, if not sooner still. If anything, I feel like you're just supporting my point by saying all of that, because, yeah, that's how racism works--fear of the unknown due to an ignorance of anything outside their borders, but no courage to actually raise a finger towards learning otherwise and correcting the problem.
And it doesn't matter anyway, because we're talking about Celestia specifically here, not the general pony populace (which is mostly irrelevant to the fic anyway because they're not part of the situation), and even you agreed that Celestia herself hasn't exhibited such traits.
Well, yeah. That's their job. To go fight so she doesn't have to. That's kinda how a nation's military works.
Besides, there's another reason for Celestia to not want to personally participate in the raid--it'd immediately tie her to the matter by any witnesses looking on, armor or not. By staying out of it instead, then the dragons were attacked by a random group of guards that, as far as they knew, were acting of their own volition, not under orders. Thus raising the possibility that Celestia knew nothing of it, giving her the chance to play a plausible deniability card and clean her hooves of the whole matter by giving herself no clear ties to the matter. It'd appear, to an outsider at least, like she had no direct involvement at all, sparing both herself and her country some of the political fallout she'd be facing now (if she really is responsible for the raid at all). And...why wouldn't you want to do that?