"What in the world..?!" Princess Celestia gasped.
Her guards leapt to her side immediately, spears ready. She held up a wing to brush them back. "No!! No, everypony, it's fine. I just... There must be a mistake."
"What do you mean, Your Majesty?"
"The dragons have a... superstition, about eggs," she said. "The more colorful ones are more valuable to them. That's why they've sent us mostly white eggs. More recently, they've gotten a bit careless and sent us some red or blue specimens. But this..?"
She looked down at the spotted purple egg in front of her. "They can't possibly have meant to send this..?"
When her sister was banished to the moon, Celestia had been overcome with grief and guilt. As a futile sort of internal apology, and as a way to feel closer to her sister again, she'd taken up some of Luna's interests with a zeal very unlike her previous inclinations. Back then, she'd been... lazy and unappreciative. No doubt that had been a factor in her sister's Malafesting... that poked needles into her heart now more than ever.
In particular, she had taken herself to study, and had read - so far as she knew - all that there was to read. She certainly hoped there wasn't much more to go. While ponies had little knowledge of the ways of dragons, a few brave explorers had brought back some bits here and there. Between this and the information about egg health she had wriggled out of Torch while negotiating the egg trade, Celestia was the best-suited pony to personally examine the eggs received from the Dragon Lands.
She was using this knowledge to train her unicorns. Invoking the magic of other beings was one of the most dangerous and difficult things for a unicorn to do - but dragons were incredibly durable, even as eggs. Celestia remembered the silly legend of a unicorn actually melting a full-sized dragon to goo. Celestia herself couldn't even do that... probably. She wasn't that kind of pony, so she'd admittedly never really tried. Still, ponies tended to underestimate the ego's effect on ontological inertia, and dragons tended to have tremendously powerful egos.
In any case, her final measure of a student's mastery of magic, not only in power but in grace, was to hatch a dragon egg. No other school in Equestria had students hatch dragon eggs. It was a fine feather in her cap. 'twas boss as all getteth out, her sister would say, if she were there.
Celestia stopped herself from shuddering. Luna would be there. Very soon, actually. Long ago, an old friend had promised Celestia they would save her sister when the time came... She refocused her thoughts. She didn't need to worry about that now.
Every student in her university would be "tested" to hatch a dragon egg as part of their entrance exam. It was virtually impossible that any of these foals would succeed; her intent was to gauge their personality and existing magical potential by the way they went about the task and how they reacted to the failure. Unless the student was tremendously powerful, the egg would be unharmed by any young mind clumsy pawing at it.
Just before graduation, each student would be tasked again to hatch the same egg. Celestia still wasn't 100% sure how dragon eggs hatched normally - it was probably the love of the parent that did it - but she'd found, with the proper care, they could remain dormant indefinitely and the dragon within would not be any worse off. So, the students were usually able to hatch the same egg they had tried before. At first they had nearly all failed, but after a few years Celestia had increased the success rate to over 95% and could not be happier with the results.
The hatched dragons were raised by the state, of course. They were not able to raise them the way a dragon would normally be raised, but that was actually ideal - she intended to create a culture of "Equestrian dragons" who would populate the country. This had an effect of repelling dragons from the Dragon Lands, who were disgusted by niceness, and thus the ponies would have nicer neighbors. This on top of ensuring that Canterlot's unicorns were state-of-the-art? Celestia just had to stroke her goose a little bit.
... another phrase related to Luna. She'd been thinking about her a lot. She had to have faith. Applejack would never break a promise in any lifetime.
Coming back from that tangent, of course Celestia knew about the Egg of the Champion. It was supposed to be the most valuable dragon egg ever, wasn't it..? She didn't understand how it, or at least an egg perfectly matching its description, had come to her door. She couldn't trust just any student with this. Her unicorns had never broken a dragon egg before, but she wasn't about to let this one be the first. For all she knew the thing was a magical bomb that would annihilate the whole city if it was mishandled. She might even need to hatch it herself...
She couldn't shake the strange feeling that she needed this particular egg... but for what? She actually started to feel nervous staring at it. Nervous? It was an egg. It didn't have a pony-eating monster hiding in it -- actually, she supposed it kind of did, considering.
"Your Majesty, the egg has something underneath it," someone said. Celestia leaned in - her old eyes weren't so great these days, especially with her long neck adding extra distance from whatever she was looking at - and carefully tugged out the note underneath the egg with her usually-graceful magical aura.
"Thank you," she was sure to say. She blinked. It was written very beautifully for a dragon. Must've been a young one, the big ones had trouble with the tiny print.
To Princess Celestia of the ponies,
No other dragons know that this egg has been borne, and I do not know who bore it.
Perhaps you are aware of our myths and legends, perhaps you are not. Suffice to say you must treat the egg before you as though it were a prized and dangerous magical artifact. It is the Egg of the Champion, and the one within it will define all dragons for generations to come; but I do not know what that means now that I have sent it away from home.
It is my deepest regret that I must refuse to explain why I have chosen to trust you with this. Perhaps I am a fool to do so. Time will tell.
Yours,
~Princess Ember, Daughter of Dragon Lord TorchP.S. Don't tell my father.
Celestia blinked in thought for several seconds, while her guards looked between each other in confusion, what since none of them were able to read it while she had it.
Torch would be very upset to hear that his daughter had given the ponies the most precious dragon egg of all time. The "right" thing to do would be to tell him what happened, without incriminating Ember, and give him the egg back.
"Daddy issues," she mumbled, and the guards mouthed words to one another and shrugged.
To hell with the right thing!
Truth be told, this was an incredible stroke of luck. If this dragon turned out half as powerful as the legends implied, she (he?) would be a fantastic force to protect the Elements of Harmony.
Celestia made her decision right there. She'd been given a promise that they would all be ready. She was absolutely certain the last one was the unicorn she needed. Celestia just had to find her. She would know as soon as she saw her. She would be the one. The little hero in that egg would be her companion.
The crawling anxiety inside her was satisfied by this answer. She just knew it was right, but she wasn't sure why.
Everyone in the room snapped to attention as she looked back up. "The dragons have given us a gift that none of us will ever see a match to in our lifetimes. Perhaps not even myself." Celestia announced. "This purple egg is to be treated as a top-priority asset. No harm must come to it. The first to scratch it will be sacrificed to Nightmare Moon."
Her guards stiffened with wide eyes.
Celestia loved to use that line to get folks to respect her stuff. Six hundred years ago she'd ordered a one-of-a-kind figurine that some idiot had dropped on the floor and now it had a big dent in its head.
That kind of thing didn't happen anymore.
She pouted, having made herself think about Luna yet again - but her people got to work, busily and diligently taking the eggs where they needed to go, and she was needed elsewhere, so she called out "As you will!" and headed off.
In about ten years, she wouldn't be using that line anymore. Either Nightmare Moon or herself would be no more.
Ember quietly landed at the base of the mountain leading to her home, scrambled up the side as quickly and stealthily as possible, and peeked in the mouth of the skull. It was pitch-black outside.
She began to tiptoe in.
"EMBER!!" came her father's roar, and she almost fell back down the mountain.
She scrambled back to her feet. "... Yeah, dad?" she said as normally as she could.
"Where have you been?!" he continued, almost civilly.
"Egging." she deadpanned.
"You've never been out so late before! What happened? ... Answer!!" he bellowed. Great. Every dragon within a few miles was probably awake hearing her dad yell at her.
She rolled her eyes. "Gosh, you got me, dad," she cooed, dripping with sarcasm, "I found a legendary egg and I've been hiding it from you all day."
"Don't get funny with me, young dragon," he snarled, then sighed. "Forget it. Take tomorrow off. You've been doing well."
Ember blinked. "W... what?" She couldn't remember the last time her father had even ambiguously praised her.
"You're doing a good job, diamond," he said. "... not Dragon Lord good, but good." He paused, and his next words sounded intentional and awkward. "I know you hate egg duty, and yet you've been very devoted. I... know I haven't really rewarded you for it. You won't be able to get up early tomorrow, so, uh... take tomorrow off. I'll think of something better by then."
"... Sure thing, dad," Ember replied, unsure. She fluttered to her bed and laid back down. "... Thanks."
"Don't mention it. To anyone. I mean it." He rolled over.
She grimaced. "I won't, dad."
Figures the one time she absolutely backstabbed him he would talk about how devoted she was.
She was sure, one day, her father would use the Sceptre to call all the dragons in the world back to the Dragon Lands, and the Champion would be there, just like everyone else.
If he was recognized - as she suspected a purple dragon totally would, that was not a common color - then Ember would have to explain how that egg got sent to Equestria.
Gosh, her dad was gonna be mad.
But that was a problem for Future Ember.