After receiving the letter from Princess Celestia Starlight had gathered the rest of the Elements of Harmony at Twilight’s request. Together the group, including Thunderclap and Golden Claw took the next train ride to Canterlot. Along the way the ponies discussed what could have spooked Celestia into calling this meeting.
“It has to be the wyverns! There’s no other explanation,” Starlight said waving her hooves.
Applejack and Rarity nodded in agreement with the unicorn. Rainbow Dash however looked skeptically at her friends.
“A dragon? Really? I mean, aren’t dragons common in Equestria?” Rainbow asked. “Didn’t we kick one out of Ponyville's Black Mountain?”
Twilight quickly replied to her friends query pulling out a book and opening it as a visual aid.
“First off, we did, but that was more Fluttershy yelling at him. Second it wasn’t a dragon Rainbow Dash, it was a wyvern,” Twilight said showing an image of a adolescent wyvern.
“Wyverns are an ancient species that derived from dragons long ago into it’s own subspecies. According to some texts Ember provided to me a while back… *Flips a few pages*, there was a time when the wyverns were close to the dragons but that brief point in recorded history was short and all I even have is this one book which is very much incomplete.” Twilight shook the aged old book as one page turned to dust, earning a frightened scream by the alicorn who tried to coddle the rest of the book as she slipped it into a protective compartment in her saddlebags.
Starlight looked to Ember who was sitting next to her with her legs crossed.
“So, what happened then? Why are the wyverns back, and where have they been all this time?” Starlight asked Ember.
Ember shrugged. “I dunno. I never even heard of them before today.”
Everyone in the train cart facehooved hard at Embers words. Twilight sighed looking out the window at the approach of Canterlot over the next bend.
“Guess we’ll find out soon.”
As the words left her mouth the train ran through a long dark tunnel just before emerging out of the other side and into the Canterlot train Station. What they saw next astounded them. Ponies were lined up waiting to get onto the train and immediately tried to pounce the train before it even came to a full stop. Twilight and her friends waited for the doors to open and awaited the fury of all the ponies to come.
Sure enough as the doors opened the guards near by had to force the crowds back to allow the Elements of Harmony and Ember to pass through. As they did the mood of the ponies changed drastically. They went from a panicked frenzy to loud roars of cheers and praise.
“It’s them! The Elements of Harmony!” One pony cried out over the crowd.
“We’re saved!” Another stalin said hoof shaking Applejack.
Then the ponies noticed Dragon Lord Ember and her scepter. Several ponies gasped pointing at the blue royal dragon who blushed at the sudden interest of ponies. She clutched her scepter tightly but stood her ground wondering what was going to happen next. Then it happened a turn of events that even the Elements of Harmony didn’t expect.
“The Princess of Friendship has brought a dragon royal! We ARE saved!” A pony shouted.
Suddenly ponies crowded around Ember along with a few news ponies with notepads ready to take a statement from her. Like vultures they circled around her barely giving Ember any breathing room as they volleyed her with questions.
“What are you here to do?”
“Are the dragons going to ally with us after all?”
“Why was there a dragon flying over Canterlot earlier?”
Ember was quickly overwhelmed by the endless questions. She felt her dragon blood burn inside her demanding they be silent. So, in her most professional manner possible given the circumstances, Ember swung the Dragon Scepter over her head and brought it down on the ground making the earth shake as she let out a deep throated roar.
The ponies cowered from her in fear as she coughed in her hand and calmed herself. She then stepped forward to address the ponies directly.
In a calm voice she spoke kindly to the ponies trying to reassure them that nothing was wrong.
“Ponies of Canterlot, I am Dragon Lord Ember, ruler of the dragons in the Dragon Lands. Let me assure you that what has happened in the last few hours was nothing to cause alarm. The Princesses and I are working hard to make sure that nothing bad happens in the future and we urge you all to stay calm and continue as you were instructed in a calm manner.”
Starlight watched in awe as Ember commanded the respect of the ponies in a heartbeat. Never in all her time as a mayor of her own town did she see a show of great charisma and leadership, and never would she have expected it to come from a dragon of all things. Starlight in that moment was greatly humbled by Dragon Lord Ember’s charismatic nature despite being a dragon, which made her appear all the more appealing to the stunned unicorn. Starlight loved how she could go so easily from a fearsome dragon to a well respected dragon lord so easily as she could breathe. It truly humbled her and brought Ember up in her eyes.
She wasn’t the only one. The rest of the Elements of harmony too were stunned by the respect Ember quickly earned from the ponies as they cheered for her after her speech, and thus spread apart to allow her and the Elements of Harmony to pass unhindered as they made their way to the castle.
“Whew, that was something else!” Ember cried out in relief. “I was sure I’d have to knock a few heads for that!” She laughed at her dragon based humor.
Twilight stepped to Ember’s side nodding in approval.
“I’m glad you were able to calm them down and win their respect so easily, Ember,” Twilight said to her. “I’m proud to call you my friend. I was worried you might hurt somepony for surrounding you like that. I’m glad I was wrong.”
“Heh, when you deal with rowdy dragons all you life ponies are nothing,” Ember said waving her hand.
Twilight rolled her eyes and the group quickly approached Canterlot Castle. The guards at the gate recognized the approaching ponies and stepped aside allowing them to pass, but stopped Ember with their spears.
“Halt!” They said.
Alarmed Twilight and Starlight ran over to Ember who looked like she was about to gut the poor stallion guards. Twilight magically pulled them away from her and Starlight stood in front of Ember, more for the guards protection than hers.
“At ease guards!” Twilight yelled at them. “That is Dragon Lord Ember! How dare you treat her with such disrespect!”
The two stallion guards cringed at the verbal lashing they got from Princess twilight and backed down quickly.
“Sorry Princess! We were told to only allow you and your friends to pass and nopony else!” One said.
Twilight sighed patting the stallion on the back. “Don’t worry. I promise you won’t get in trouble for allowing Dragon Lord Ember to pass. She’s a friend and as a Princess I order that she be given unrestricted access to the chambers as long as we’re with her. Got it?”
“Yes, Princess!” Both Stallions saluted.
“Good. Now come along Ember, don’t want to keep the Princesses waiting,” Twilight said skipping up the stairs barely able to contain her excitement to see her old mentor again.
Ember smiled as she passed by Starlight patting her on the back.
“Hey, thanks for that. Appreciate it,” She said walking after Twilight.
Starlight blushed feeling her heart race. She watched as the dragon walked up the stairs, her tail swaying from side to side with each step. She observed her slender curved legs, her tail in great detail and the way her flank- “NOPE! Bad dirty mind! Stop that! I have a coltfriend! Dang it! Why do I have to be cursed and like both!?” Starlight complained following the group into the castle.
She walked up the steps and into the castle where she was greeted almost instantly by a large gathering of ponies, griffins, two dragons, a minotaur, deer, horses from Saddle Arabia, and a sphinx. This large gathering of species was something she had never seen before. It was truly mind boggling to behold. At the front of this massive congregation was Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Twilight, and Shining Armor standing side by side with Ember and the Elements of Harmony. Celestia stepped forward and spoke loud with the Canterlot voice to call order.
“Dignitaries of the lands! I welcome you all to Canterlot in our time of great peril! As a Princess of Equestria I have called this council to discuss the Reiktol Accord and the breach we have made and how to address it. If you will all please gather in the next chamber we will begin immediately. Thank you.”
Celestia turned to face a set of doors behind her. Her horn glowed with a blight banana yellow light that extended out to the doors and opened them up to the throne chamber, where Celestia and Luna would sit. Now it was converted into a meeting room with a large horseshoe shaped table with seats for all the dignitaries and species here. Everyone sat in their spot with the Equestrian royals a the head of the table under the thrones leaving only the open end of the horseshoe shaped table unattended.
Starlight sat between Twilight and Ember, wanting to stay close to the dragon. As she took her seat a minute passed before Celestia stood up and opened the talks.
“Thank you all for coming. As I stated earlier there was a breach in the Reiktol Accord. Now, Equestria and her allies are on the verge of war with the Wyvern Council.”
The dignitaries murmured to one another. There was a sense of alarm in their voices as a mare from Saddle Arabia stood up to speak in a regal tone, much like the Nobles of Canterlot, but without the snobbish tone.
“Princess Celestia, we all agreed to allow you to negotiate the terms of the Reitol Accord with the Wyverns long before many of us were born.” There was several voices and and nods confirming this. “Thus, you also took responsibility to oversee that no breach would occur.”
“Yeah! What’s with you?!” The minotaur yelled from his seat, the deer nodded and grunted in agreement.
Then the Sphinx stood up. Her majestic mane flowed with every slight movement she made.
“Now see here all of you! Celestia is a close friend of mine as Dallia said, most of you weren’t born when the Reiktol Accord was made!” She said silencing everyone present. “We are here today because of a breach to a contract that most of you don’t even know about, so you have barely any right to accuse Celestia of wrong doing when you barely understand what is going on.”
“Then why are we even here?” Dallia from Saddle Arabia said. “We should seek our own alliances and dictate our own terms! Why should we let such a group of irresponsible rulers determine how we live and what is best for us and others? Such arrogance I say!”
Most of the gathering mumbled in agreement with Dallia and her words. While many hadn’t heard of the Reiktol Accord many did, but those who did barely understood it. The Sphinx however stood fast in Celestia’s defense.
“Have you tried ruling this land as a whole, Dallia?” She asked the horse mare getting her attention. “You say Celestia shows arrogance yet you know nothing of the Accord-”
That invoked a violent reaction from Dallia. “HOW DARE YOU!! I KNOW THE REIKTOL ACCORD LIKE THE BACK OF MY HOOF!! It is arrogant for you to assume NONE of us know about it, when WE the Saddle Arabians HOLD the original Reiktol writings in our home!”
The mare them produced a large scroll easily ten hooves wide and two hooves thick from her saddle.
“I present to this council a hoof written copy, word for word in the draconic tongue, of the Reiktol Accord!!”
Everyone looked at the massive scroll in awe as Dallia unrolled part of it and cleared her throat.
“Dryica tenpiswo re wer powers di wer darastrix biwheg vur wer ssissthi eh Equestria,” She said with a hiss in her tone.
She said but the first sentence and already the effects of what she knew stuck at the council gathered. Even Celestia looked a bit worried at what was to come. Starlight leaned towards Ember and whispered in her tiny ear, “What did she just say?”
Ember leaned back and whispered slightly louder, “Here are gathered the powers of the Wyvern Council and the rulers of Equestria. More or less, I think…”
Starlight sighed remembering that Ember barely knew the dragon tongue. “Why doesn’t your kind know how to speak you own language?”
Ember shrugged. “Don’t know, all I do know is that only Dragon Lords use it. That’s why I even know what I do, but my father never expected me to become Dragon Lord, so he never taught me it. Kinda wish I did though, but even I have never heard of this Reiktol Accord thing,” Ember said crossing her arms. “I wonder what this means for our relations?”
Starlight sat back down and looked back at Dallia who was looking through the scroll.
“I hope it means we can still be friends in the end. I like you,” Starlight said rubbing her belly.
“Yeah, I’d like to make a few more pony friends before heading back home. Hopefully this will end well,” Ember said hopefully.
Everyone continued to watch as Dallia prepared the next portion of her speech.
“Here it is! Section 12,254 Sub Section A. part 1, Should the following terms be breached in the Reiktol Accord the Wyvern Council retains the right to enact a declaration of war on Equestria and her allies. These terms are as follows: Number one, should and equestrian kill a wyvern outside a challenge in which both parties mutually agree to fight to the death. Two, should the Equestrian government past present or future, be it from the High Thrones of a lesser throne, estate government, or any ruler of a state, province, or property on behalf of the Equestrian Government make an alliance with the Dragon Lords of the Dragon Lands without proper consent of the Wyvern Council. Three, the poaching and unhindered fishing of the salmon populations in southern and eastern equestria past the agreed terms in Section 9982 Sub Section A, B, C, and D.” Dallia paused rolling up her scroll and pointing it towards Twilight and Ember. “Your newly appointed, Princess of Friendship, has allied herself with Dragons and thus put us all in danger, and why is that Celestia?”
The white alicorn sighed raising her head up high and fluttering her wings slightly. Luna at her side leaned away from her sister.
“Miss Dallia, while your understanding of the Reiktol Accord and the dragon language is quite impressive, I strongly urge that we keep this discussion to the matter at hoof.” Celestia said in her usual calm regal tone.
“Don’t patronize me, Sun Butt! You dare to leave us out of this just because our ancestors wanted you too? What if we have needs too?!” Dallia burst out.
Everyone gasped at the tone she set against Celestia. Most in the room felt that the insult shouldn’t go unpunished, and Luna was about to take a stand when Celestia held up her hoof and shook her head making the younger blue alicorn shrink back into her seat. As the room came to silence Dallia continued to speak against Celestia.
“I move that we as individual nations become exempt from this ancient decree and be allowed to make our own alliances without Equestria overseeing us!”
The griffin then spoke up. He was a massive burly griffin easily Celestia's size. His thick body was covered by a massive cape the draped over his body only pushed back when he flexed his wings. He flared them out in anger as he addressed Dallia with a angry scowl.
“You dare! When our ally faces this mortal danger you use it as leverage for your own political game!” He yelled at Dallia.
Dallia hissed at him hitting the table with her scroll. “You arrogant bloated feather pillow! Saddle Arabia won’t stand by any longer when our, ally,” She glared up at Celestia who, to her nature remained perfectly calm with a perfect poker face. “-and makes promises and agreements that will affect us and then fail to deliver and let us suffer the consequences? No! I won’t allow it!”
The stallion horse suddenly stood up and pulled Dallia by the shoulders, “Sister please! You’re making a scene and the King is right we shouldn't-”
Dallia scoffed rolling her eyes and pushing her brother away. “You’re as spineless as the rest of these naysayers, brother. The Wyverns home is across the sea… in our direction! If they were to attack, WE would be the first ones to get hit! As the rulers it's our duty to safeguard our subjects not Celestia, and certainly not this lousy excuse for a council!”
“Sister please!”
Dallia ignored the angry looks she got from the other members of the council. She then continued her rant pushing deeper into Celestia with every word she spoke.
“Well then, tell me Celestia who was so foolish enough to make an alliance with the dragons and invoke this aggression out of the wyverns?” Dallis asked eyeing Twilight and Ember. “Surely, nopony here would have done something so rash and foolish without you knowing. Am I right?”
Celestia became stiff at the accusation. While it wasn’t completely wrong, admitting so would shame her and her fellow Princesses. In an attempt to defuse the situation celestia tried to steer the conversation a different direction while still addressing the matter presented.
“Queen Dallia as you know I have done my very best to safeguard my subjects and our allies over the centuries. Every major hurdle we’ve encountered has been dealt with and we will continue to do so as we’ve always done in the past.”
“You mean put blind faith into a group of ponies who don’t have any magical abilities other than the Princess of friendship herself?” Dallia scoffed.
Celestia opened her mouth to speak but Dallia cut her off with another item on her list of things to complain about. “What about both incidents that happened because of Discord? And while on the subject what about Tirek, or that mangy mutt you had guarding Tartarus and failed to keep one of the most dangerous creatures out of our realm? Again, blind faith Celestia and you’ve done that a lot in the last few years!” Dallia then pulled out a picture of NIghtmare Moon as was depicted in a story book. “Don’t even get me started on who you dealt with your sisters return! And that dragon at Ponyville? Your own Wonderbolts who are trained for such things couldn’t deal with them and yet, you allow the beast to roam the streets? Unguarded?”
Twilight had had enough of Dallia by this point, and so did all the mane six. Standing up Twilight flared her wings out and stared down at Dallia from her perch. Starlight stared at the suddenly angry alicorn while Ember watched with great interest.
“Now you listen here! Spike is a wonderful friend and what happened was an accident!” Twilight said pointing at Dallia.
“So, what caused him to go over the edge then? Hmm?” Dallia asked.
“He let his dragon greed get the better of him, but we-”
“If you knew what it was why didn’t you do something to prevent it, Princess Twilight?” Dallia asked cutting her off.
“We didn’t we had to ask help from our friend-”
“See! That’s what I’m talking about!” Dallia bellowed accusingly at Twilight. “You didn’t know, just like I’ll bet you didn’t know about the Reiktol Accord, when you allied yourself with the dragons?”
Some of the other members of the council nodded at the amres logic. The atmosphere suddenly became heavy as the accusations grew and grew against Celestia and her kingdom. Twilight fidgeted a bit at the accusation against her.
“How do you even know I was the one who did that?” Twilight replied to the accusation.
“It’s simple, Princess,” Dallia said smugly. “You came here with the Dragon Lord herself. Don’t think I don’t have agents everywhere. I know all about you, Ponyville, Discord, both dragon incidents in Ponyville, Tirek, Discord, the ursa minor, even the smooze at the Gala, I know a lot about what’s going on. My aunt and uncle before me and my brother took the throne were content to letting Celestia dictate everything that happened to us with her, great intentions, but I don’t buy it! I’ve seen how she handles her problems and I’m not satisfied with how she deals with these problems! Sending children to deal with ancient evils? Dragons? The changelings? Befriending Discord?”
“Hey! Discord changed! He’s a good soul!” Fluttershy said, before shrinking down at the eyes looking at her. “I-mean, I’m sorry for yelling…”
“That’s enough! This is a waste of time!” The griffin king said. “We should be talking about the wyverns and the threat they pose and how to deal with them!”
“And would you want Celestia or one of the other useless Princesses to do that for you?” She asked pulling out her copy of the Reiktol Accord. “It says here that all nations under this accord will be represented by Celestia and her ruling parties should the need arise when the Wyvern Council calls to action blah, blah, blah… Celestia has a terrible track record of letting troubles grow before taking action against them. We need to do something and prevent such things from happening not simply react to them!”
The sphinx arose taking a stand. “What would you propose then? What did you come here to gain from these talks?”
“I want my nation free from the Accord so we can rule ourselves!” Dallia said pointing to Celestia. “We won’t be ruled by somepony who doesn’t think of the consequences of her actions in the long run and sends her subjects to deal with death defying issues that should be her responsibility!”
The griffin king smashed his claw against the table as did the Sphinx. “That enough out of you! You dare speak ill of celestia who has protected her allies for ages before you were even born?”
The council was now divided. Half was siding with the griffin and sphinx delegates on continuing to support Celestia and her just rule. The other half wasn’t satisfied with her rule and demanded she unbind them from her rule and give sovereignty back to them.
Luna then smashed a large gavel on a pad echoing in the hall.
“We will have order!” She said in the Canterlot voice, bringing the conversations to a close.
“Ahem, Queen Dallia, long has the kingdom of Saddle Arabia been our allies. Why I remember a time when we use to dine in the great Tashmare Hall. Would you really want to break from us and our protection simply because you distrust my sister?” Luna asked kindly to Dallia.
“Princess Luna, with the utmost respect I feel your sister has dealt with all these problems I have previously mentioned in a horrid fashion,” She then went down a physical list she brought, Twilight was almost impressed had it not been for the mares accusations against Celestia. “Discord was spared and given three chances before he was”reformed”. Humph, had he done so in our land we would have dealt with him the first time. Permanently I might add.”
Many present cringed at the cold heartless tone Dallia spoke when mentioning Discord.
“The changelings were allowed to escape, and have made no effort to find them. That was after you found out they were invading the wedding and replaced the bride I might add,” Dallia added. “The dragons who breached Ponyville were allowed to go unpunished. Princess Twilight made actions that directly violate the Reiktol Accord, no less than five times and then we find out she doesn’t even know about it before she became a Princess? How can we expect to let the Equestrians rule over us if they make such mistakes that can cost our citizens lives!? How can any of you do this?”
“Sister please!”
“Shut it brother!” She yelled at the stallion beside her. “This is a joke. Saddle Arabia won’t allow itself to be a prime target in case you decide to ally with the dragons. The future is too uncertain for that. So, either you allow us to become independent of you or we walk from this council and will seek help from the Wyverns themselves. Then you’ll have not only them to deal with but us as well.”
Celestia looked down at the mare not making any sign that this affected her. Deep down though she feared the mare was making a big mistake. But it was as Dalli said, who was she to tell the Saddle Arabians how to rule themselves?
“Very well then Dallia, if it is what you want i will unbind you from our agreement. That doesn’t mean the wyvern council will recognize your souvergrinty. Be warned,” Celestia said as Dallia and her brother got up.
The deer stood up along with the Saddle Arabians and the minotaurs.
Celestia sighed. “Is there no way I can change any of your minds?”
None of them spoke.
Sighing with resignation Celestia gave the words to them that they were unbound by the Accord and the delegates were allowed to leave. The remaining members in the council sat in silence at the falling alliances. In the end talks about the wyverns continued unhindered.
“So, what do we do if the wyverns decide to attack, Celestia?” The sphinx asked twirling her mane. “Their inherent magical abilities make them worthy adversaries.”
“That won’t happen.” celestia stated.
Everyone there looked at her wondering what she meant.
“I’m not sure I follow Princess, but what do you have in mind?” The griffin king asked.
Celestia smiled and looked down at her sister. “Since the Accord was made during my sister's banishment I feel it necessary to take some responsibility and seek the Wyvern Council myself.”
Everyone gasped in the chamber. Celestia simply smiled at them and continued.
“I will leave Princess Luna in my stead to prepare our defenses in case my negotiations fail. She is familiar with the capabilities and rites of the wyverns. Besides, she’s more a strategist than I.” Celestia said hugging her sister making Luna blush.
“But sister, why are you going alone?” Luna asked.
“Oh? I don't mean that I was going alone. No, Princess Twilight and Dragon Lord Ember will come with me. I shall send a letter and we will depart at once. Until then I leave everything to you Luna,” Celestia then stood up and looked at the remaining members of the council. “Please, don’t delay, in case we don’t make a successful negotiation we will need to be prepared just in case. As Dallia said, I never took our problems seriously but that changes now.”
Everyone in the room nodded in agreement with Celestia as she, Twilight, and Ember departed. Starlight followed them to the chariot hall where Celestia kept all her royal chariots. THere were hundreds lined up and ready to go at a moment's notice. Starlight followed Twilight up to the chariot with their friends as the royals mounted the chariot. Celestia went first with Ember behind her, Twilight remained a moment to say farewell to her friends.
“Well, this is it. I’m off to go deal with my first diplomatic incident,” She said nervously. “Wish me luck?”
“Oh, Twilight, knowing you there won’t be any need for luck,” Starlight said.
Rainbow flew up beside her and patted the alicorn on the back. “Yeah, egghead like you and your lists, I’m sure it’ll all be fine.”
“Good luck, darling. Please be careful,” Rarity asked of her hugging Twilight with Fluttershy.
“And please make sure to come back quickly. Ponyville won’t be the same without you,” Fluttershy said softly.
“I will. Be safe all of you.”
With that twilight turned to Starlight and smiled at her student. “Starlight. I’m so proud of you and how far you’ve come under my tutelage. You really are growing into your own mare. I’m so proud.”
Thanks Twilight. Thank you for everything. Stay safe out there,” Starlight said giving one last hug before Twilight got on the chariot and it flew off into the distance.
Starlight and her friends waited for a while watching as the chariot became a speck in the distance before they retreated back into the castle to join Luna in the upcoming discussions for the wyvern defenses unaware of the dangers to come.
*Saddle Arabia*
Dallia was alone in her room brushing her mane when she heard a knocking on her door.
“Enter,” She called out for the one to enter and in came a hooded figure.
It reached it’s hood with a small black holed hoof and pulled off its cowl, revealing a changeling beneath it. She smiled sinisterly at the changeling plied her brush down and walked over to the little changeling who bowed to her.
“What is the word, 7621?” She asked it.
The changeling stood up and spoke with a gravely voice.
“The ambush was successful. We have taken twilight, and Celestia into our custody and sent our drones masquerading as them and Ember to the Wyvern Council to declare war on them.” The changeling laughed, but Dallia glared down at him.
She reached for him with her hooves but a green magical aura snapped around his neck and threw him against the wall. The changeling grunted as Dallia became engulfed in a green flame. As it subsided Queen Chrysalis stood where she once was, her horn glowing its sickly green holding the drone mercilessly as she hissed at him.
“What about the dragon?”
“Th-the dragon got away your majesty!” The changeling tried to say between being choked and sacred.
“Argh! Find her! That dragon could ruin our plans,and we need to find her before she can tell anypony about our plan!” Chrysalis then threw the changeling out the door and onto the floor. “Find Ember and bring her to me, or I’ll feed you to the wyverns myself!”
The poor changeling yelped scurrying away from his angry queen. Chrysalis hissed turning back into Dallia and continued to brush her mane. She let the feeling of the brush running through her fake hair calm her down. She looked longing into the mirror and grinned as her eyes glowed green for a second before returning to normal.
“Everything is going according to plan…”