Rise Of the Dragon Queen

by Mystic Sunrise


Homecoming

Twilight wasn't quite sure how she had ended up in this situation as she looked down at her younger companion, Pearl's nose in a book at the moment, but she didn't mind it too much.

Her trip back from the swamp had been uneventful. While she had been unable to tell the villagers what exactly she had found, her orb seemed to keep their attention.

Several had been known for their jewel crafting experience, so Twilight had been more than happy to let them take a look at it. But it had turned out to be fruitless. Whatever it was made of, it was like nothing that existed in Equestria, or Equus, at all. And their confusion had only grown when Twilight had explained how it had transformed into its current form.

Disappointing yes, but Twilight had taken it in stride. It wasn't a lot, but she did now have a bit more to go on with the orb. Hopefully, Princess Celestia would know more.

So she had decided to stay a few more days in the village before beginning the long trip home. Just getting to the nearest town had been an adventure all of its own.

Luckily the village was only a day or so from Appleloosa itself, so she had gone there. From prior experience, Twilight knew they had a line to Ponyville she could catch.

It had been while waiting for a train that she had, quite literally, run into Pearl. She had been shocked at how young the filly was and that she was traveling alone it seemed. It wasn't impossible of course, but it was rare.

What had been the kicker though had been the orb that hung around her neck. As red as Twilight's own was black. Something about it had struck her as odd.

And when she had asked where she was going and where her parents were, Pearl had only said "I don't know. I don't have any place to go, and I don't have a family."

That had struck Twilight as odd, but something told her it was right all the same. So she had invited Pearl back with her to Ponyville. Pearl had jumped at the chance and had said yes before Twilight could even finish the sentence.

So now here both of them were. More than one pony had given their orbs odd looks, but no one had said anything, though the odd looks continued even now.

Twilight's gaze though was drawn to the filly's cutie mark. It stood out to be sure. "So how did you get your cutie mark Pearl?" She asked, pointing at it.

Pearl's smile would've made Pinkie Pie proud as she too looked at it. "I got it the same day I got this," she said, poking her orb. "Right after I got it actually. I don't know what it means, but I always did like dragons."

Twilight giggled. "That must have been some adventure getting it. I know mine was a bit of one. It was in the middle of a swamp."

Pearl giggled. "You got it easy then. I had to get this from an active volcano." She saw Twilight's eyes widen in shock. "Oh don't worry. I was fine. I actually love the heat."

Twilight had several questions about that but held off for now. "So what was it doing in a volcano then? How did it even get there?"

Pearl rolled her eyes. "Hay if I know. I was just happy not to get roasted trying to get it."

Twilight chuckled a bit as she looked at hers. "I bet. I wonder though. Why do they look alike? I mean besides the color."

Pearl was wondering the same thing. "I don't know. I get the feeling we'll find out when we meet the others. I don't think we could miss them."

Twilight nodded. She too wanted to meet the others. For a time now, a feeling had grown in her that while she had and Pearl had seemed unique, she felt there were others like them.

Why she thought of it like that, she didn't know. But something told her that it was right. If there were two orbs like her and Pearl's, logic dictated that there were more of them. How many was another question of course, but this was better than nothing.

To add to it all, the dream from a while back kept coming to mind for some reason. The faces had begun to become clearer as soon as she had put the orb around her neck. Not enough to recognize faces, but enough to see they were ponies.

One of them, in fact, had been Pearl herself. Twilight had been able to hide her shock at that when they had first met in Appleloosa. If Pearl was having the same thoughts though, she was keeping them to herself for the moment.

And Twilight wasn't one to stick her nose into somepony else's business. Especially when they still hardly knew each other. Though it felt like they had known each other for a long time, they got along so well.

Strange. But neither Twilight nor Pearl minded too much. Pearl was as much a lover of reading as Twilight was, even if they didn't always like the same series, and so they had bonded over that. It was nice for Twilight to find somepony who loved literature as much as she did.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the train intercom burst into life. "Ponyville Station will be reached in the next hour. Please be ready."

Twilight shook her head as she settled back in her seat. She would be lying if she said she wasn't homesick and missed her friends. It would be good to get back.

She wondered what all she had missed in her time away. She also hoped Spike had stayed out of trouble. Twilight vowed to make up for the birthday she had missed the week before.

Pearl though didn't know about Spike yet, and she couldn't wait to introduce them. If Pearl's comment about loving dragons rang true, she had a feeling they would get along great. Hopefully at least.

Pearl struggled in her seat. "Um. How do you think Ponyville will take me?" She asked, giving voice to a question that had been bugging her for a while now.

Twilight smiled as she placed a hoof on her shoulders. "They will probably wonder where you came from and why you came with me. But Ponyville's residents pride themselves on not sticking their noses into other pony's business too deeply."

Pearl gave her a look. "Really?"

Twilight nodded. "Oh, they'll wonder for sure, but if you don't want to talk about something, they won't ask about it. I know a lot of ponies wondered about me when I moved there, but nopony ever asked."

She paused a moment as she remembered a certain trio. "Well, except for three certain fillies. But they're the exception, not the rule."

Pearl looked worried at the idea. "Should I worry about them?"

Twilight shook her head. "No. Whatever else, they are still some of the nicest ponies I know." She paused before smirking. "But they will ask about your cutie mark and demand you tell them the story of how you got it. Especially since it is so unique."

Pearl took a lot of pride in that as she puffed out her chest and grinned widely.


Spike knew something was up the moment he woke up that morning. It wasn't that he was sleeping at Sweet Apple Acres, or that Applejack and her family were already up and about. That he was used to.

And it wasn't even the fact that Twilight wasn't in Ponyville, and hadn't been for months now. So long that her birthday had already come and gone, something that he and the girls had celebrated privately, with Pinkie Pie promising they would give her a proper one when she got back.

But it wasn't like Twilight didn't write to them. Every so often, Spike would burp up a letter from the unicorn in question. They were nothing out of the ordinary, just Twilight happily explaining where she had been and what she had done.

Her latest though had got them all excited. She had said she was now on her way back to Ponyville, and that she had something to show them. What it was, she didn't say, but she sounded excited about it nonetheless in her letter.

That wasn't all though, and this part had caused quite a bit of confusion among the group as they had read it. Twilight wasn't coming alone. She was bringing a friend with her. Who it might be, she didn't say.

Of course, none of them minded that much. They may have been the Elements of Harmony, but that didn't mean they had to stick just to this group of friends. Pinkie was basically friends with all of Ponyville, and even Fluttershy had friends who didn't live in the small town.

Spike was curious as well. He minded even less than the girls if Twilight made new friends outside the group. She needed more than just the girls if he was being honest.

What worried him though, was where this new pony might stay. If they were new to Ponyville period, they probably didn't have a place to stay. Knowing Twilight, she'd probably put them up with the two of them.

And while Spike didn't really mind the idea, Golden Oaks Library wasn't really meant for three to be living there. It barely put up with him and Twilight living there as it was.

But all that aside, he was just happy to have Twilight back. He missed her more than he thought he would. He didn't see Twilight as his mom (yuck), but he held onto the unicorn as a younger brother did to an older sister.

And she couldn't have picked a better time to come home either. His draconic instincts were going on overdrive it felt like. His birthday had just been the other week, and while it was as subdued as a Pinkie Pie party could ever be, it had awoken something inside him.

When he had finally asked Princess Celestia what it might mean, the Solar Princess had replied that the Dragon Migration was due to begin any day now, and he was now finally old enough, in dragon years, to join the migrating Flights. It might be his heritage telling him it was time.

Spike wasn't really sure how to feel about that. Of course, he wouldn't deny what he was and where he came from. But a part of him was fighting it. He had grown up among ponies, and he almost considered himself one.

But it was a small part of him, and as the days passed, it was growing smaller and smaller. He had finally confessed to Applejack that if the Migration flew over Ponyville, he would more than likely join them as well.

Applejack hadn't looked happy at the thought, but she could also see that Spike meant it as well, and let it never be said that Applejack would stop someone who wanted to know more about themselves. When the news had finally broken to the rest of the girls though, it was a different story.

They had made all kinds of excuses why he shouldn't go and that he should even forget about the Migration at all. But he had put his foot down on that idea. In the end, Spike had forced a Pinkie Promise out of the girls that, if he did go, they wouldn't try and stop him.

Nopony liked the idea, least of all Rarity, but they could also see that Spike meant every word he had said as well. So they had promised to not try and stop him if he did join the Migration. Whether Twilight would say the same thing though was another story.

But this feeling right now? This was something else altogether, and Spike did not like it one bit. It wasn't an unpleasant one for sure, but something was very wrong, and he was tied to it in some way.

As he got up, unable to get back to sleep like this, Spike wasn't sure what was coming. But something told him that nothing would ever be the same after this.


Princess Celestia wasn't a morning pony, as those who knew her best could tell you, but today was proving the exception, and it was grating on her nerves.

The fact that her faithful student Twilight Sparkle was on her way home was something she was happy with, of course. But in her last letter, Twilight had said that she had found something that she hoped her mentor might be able to help her with.

Of course, she was always happy to help Twilight. But something seemed... Off, about the unicorn. There had been the faint whiff of magic on her letter, magic that did not belong to Twilight's own. But at the same time, it was Twilight's magic. But that didn't make sense.

And now Celestia had been woken by Luna earlier than she was normally awake for, and was being shown something in the sky above Canterlot. With no other option, Celestia looked up, blinking away her sleep.

And felt her eyes widen in surprise at what she was seeing. That couldn't be right. It wasn't impossible. But there it was.

In the sky above Equestria's capital, five stars were on the move, arranging themselves in a pattern only Celestia, Luna, and one other knew about. But it couldn't be possible.

"The Dragon Queen," Luna breathed. "It's supposed to be a myth. Did Torch ever say anything about this in my absence?"

Celestia shook her head. "No. I asked him after Twilight left. He doesn't believe it's real, and he's old enough to remember many things. This isn't one of them."

"And what of the Orbs?" Luna asked.

Celestia rolled her eyes. "He said Twilight is on a fool's errand if she is searching for them. Even if somehow they do exist, why would they go to a pony?"

Luna rolled her eyes as well. "And what of the Draconic Prophecy? You know what it says about them."

Celestia nodded. She remembered it well, even if she didn't put much stock in it.

'Under the light of the Queen's constellation, when the King Killer Star rises, the Orbs will find those who bear their mark, and She will burn the loveless hordes from Equus.'

No one knew what that meant, or even where it had come from. No dragon had ever penned it, nor had ponies, or any other race of Equus. What it meant by the Loveless Hordes made even less sense, since no known race on the planet was like that.

And what the King Killer Star was, not even Luna knew. While she had no connection to the stars, only the moon (something she had repeatedly told many ponies since her return), she knew quite a bit about them. And yet she was stumped on this.

As the stars continued to move, Celestia felt her mood darken. Something was very wrong, and she didn't like it. Not one bit.


That same morning, two trains pulled into Ponyville Station. Onboard them, five ponies felt the bonds that connected them all, strengthen just that little more.

And destiny's tune began to play.