//------------------------------// // The Great Student // Story: Story Shuffle 2: Double Masters // by FanOfMostEverything //------------------------------// Officially, it was a state visit by the leader of an allied nation. Emotionally, Thorax had a friend visiting, and was tripping over himself with happiness, gratitude, and more than a little nervousness. “Thank you again for coming to visit.” Ember shrugged, though she did smile as well. “It’s not like many other dragons work as diplomats. There’s Spike, but Twilight’s called dibs there. Everyone else is still working through the whole ‘You can’t just threaten to crush and burn everything they hold dear’ thing." She jabbed him with an elbow. "Plus, you know, we’re friends and I’d like to see how you’re doing on asserting yourself.” Thorax smiled through the pain. Nothing he wasn't used to. “So what do you think of the place so far?” “I just got here." Ember considered the recovering wasteland around them. "Also, are all the little colorful things supposed to be here?” It took Thorax a moment to figure out what she meant. “Those are flowers, and, uh, yes.” Ember stopped and took in a bush growing next to the path. “Huh. I saw them in Ponyville too. What do they do, exactly?” “Um..." Thorax's wings fidgeted. He hadn't anticipated justifying the existence of flowers. "They smell nice, they look nice, they taste nice—” “And they’re colorful." Ember plucked one of the blossoms and spun it in her claws. "So they’re basically gems for ponies? And changelings, I guess?” “Well, they grow much faster than gems.” Pinkie had explained rock farming to Thorax once. He still wasn't sure if he hadn't understood the process in and of itself or just because it had been Pinkie Pie explaining it. Ember raised an eyeridge. “I see.” She popped the flower into her mouth, chewed once, and screwed up her face. After spitting and scraping her tongue, she said, “Yeah, I don’t see the appeal.” Thorax smiled as they started walking again. At least he'd been prepared for this. “Don’t worry, we made sure to have some crystals ready at the hive.” “That’s good. Can I eat the walls?” That feeling of preparation had been very nice while it lasted. “I’d… really rather you didn’t?” “Fewmets," said Ember, snorting out a puff of smoke. "After Twilight’s castle, I was hoping everyone did that.” “I... don’t think Twilight wanted you to—“ A flash of light cut Thorax off, making both turn. To his polarized eyes, it was a riotous rainbow emanating from a five-pronged fork shape. And then it collapsed into something truly bizarre. Twilight Sparkle sighed and slumped despite being surrounded by books. Spike put a hand on her foreleg. “What’s wrong, Twilight? You’re usually so excited on re-sorting day.” “That’s just it, Spike." She spread her forelegs to take in Namepending Castle's secondary library. (Fiction, RPG sourcebooks, and unsubstantiated myths.) "This could be the last time I ever get to re-sort these books. My accession is in just three weeks. There’s no way ruling over all of Equestria will leave me enough time to play librarian. And even if it did…" She turned to the floor, tears in her eyes. "It took me a while to get used to this castle, but now? I’m losing another home.” “Well... at least we know it’s coming this time." Spike offered a nervous grin when Twilight glared at that. "And hey, we can always visit Ponyville! Heck, who says we even have to move? If you’re becoming princess, why not just say you’ll rule from here?” A hundred different reasons came to mind, all things Twilight had discovered when answering that very question. She shook her head. “It’s a nice thought, Spike, but it’s a lot more complicated than that.” “Yeah? Well I say—" His mouth snapped shut and his cheeks and eyes both bulged out. "Hrrk…“ “Spike?” Twilight froze, split between moving in to comfort her little brother and getting out of the blast radius. Thankfully, he knew to point his mouth at the ceiling before releasing a burst of mixed green and magenta flames as tall as Celestia. Smoke filled most of the room for a moment before coalescing into a scrap of paper. Spike pounded his chest and belched. “Ugh. Ember’s still putting way too much power into her messages.” Twilight patted him on the back as she caught the drifting scrap in her magic. “Well, let’s see what she wants: “‘Dear Spike and Twilight, ‘Some weird dragon appeared outside of Thorax’s hive and said something about “hue-mons.” Thorax wants me to let you know before I beat it up. ‘Ember’” Twilight blinked and reread the message. “Okay, I have several questions. Firstly, why would Thorax reach out to us when he heard about humans?” “Hey, when you have a changeling friend, the time you changed species is going to come up." Spike held up a hand. "And this was back when he was a refugee in the Crystal Empire.” “Fair enough, I suppose. But then how does this mystery dragon know about them?” Spike shrugged. “Don’t look at me. It’s not like I mentioned them at Garble’s beat poetry session at the hatching grounds.” Twilight once again tried and failed to imagine a dragon playing the bongos. “We may need to investigate. This raises too many questions. Some creature could be in grave danger.” “Ember can handle one weird dragon.” “Almost certainly, yes. The question is whether she needs to handle it, or if we can resolve this peacefully." Twilight ruffled her wings uneasily. "And no offense to Thorax, but I don’t think he can hold Ember back if she really wants to escalate things.” "Hey, he could…" Spike trailed off and brought a claw to his lips. "No, that’s fair. But what are we supposed to do about it? Hive Thorax isn’t exactly in your teleport range.” Twilight grinned. “You remember that position I offered you?” Spike crossed his arms. “I’m still not convinced that ‘arch-ambassador’ is a thing.” “I won’t be able to move the capital of Equestria, but I’ll definitely be able to define the duties of the head of my diplomatic corps. I can get us there, but I’ll exhaust myself in the process. Think you can take it from there, Number-One Assistant?” She could all but see the flattery melt Spike's skepticism. He stood to attention and saluted. “I’m on it.” “Great." Twilight wrapped Spike in a wing and prepared the relevant spell. "Hold on tight.” Going from Ponyville to changeling territory in one jump was too much for Twilight, but a chain of shorter teleports used exponentially less magic. Theoretically, jumps of less than a ponylength performed multiple times a second would make the trip viable even for a foal barely able to make sparks, but the arcane dexterity needed for such a feat was well beyond equine capabilities. Instead, Twilight made about twenty great leaps across the land. Doable for a young alicorn, but not without cost. “Last stop!" she said as they materialized outside of the hive. "Perfume and hamdingers!” She stumbled for a few steps, horn sparking, before falling on her side and giggling at the pretty colors. “Oh boy," said Spike. He'd be worried, but changelings were already cantering towards them with water and a wet towel. That just left the mission, and there was no Dragonlord to be seen. "Hey, Ember!” Her response came from above. “I’m busy!” Spike looked up and immediately felt a bit foolish. Yes, the sun was in the wrong position to spot the shadows, but there was still a gigantic dragon up there, easily the size of Torch. However, it wasn't like any dragon he'd seen before. That wasn't saying much given the sheer variety of dragons, but Spike had never seen one with feathers. It was mostly white, with a red stripe going down its belly and feather tips to match. Its head resembled a lizard's save for the backwards-pointing horns. It was thinner than any dragon of that size Spike had seen, and its tail was nearly as long as the rest of it. Two smaller shapes buzzed around it. Ember and Thorax, most likely. It opened its mouth and a cone of white snow and frost came out instead of flame. Spike's jaw dropped. "What the..." "I know. Sloppy is what it is." Spike turned to look at the other commentator. "Pharynx?" "Spike." The changeling general gave an "I acknowledge you as someone who gave my brother what little spine he has" nod. Changelings were very good at expressive body language. "Shouldn't you be, you know, up there?" Spike pointed at the huge dragon. "Defending the hive?" "Nah, they shouldn't hurt him too badly." "Huh?" A roar from the immense dragon brought Spike's attention back to the fight. It unleashed another bevy of ice breath, but the smaller figure in its path glowed blue and seemed to dance in midair. The projected blizzard wrapped around it in an elegant curve and smacked the larger dragon in the face, sending it plowing into the ground. The two small figures landed in front of Spike. His first thought once he got a good look at both was I didn't know Ember had a sister. There was definitely a resemblance in physique and the confident way each held herself. But they seemed siblings in the same way as Celestia and Luna, equals and opposites. Scales to feathers, ramlike horns to ibex, smoke pluming out of one laughing face to mist coming out of the other. Spike blinked, then looked from the behemoth to the stranger. "Hang on..." Pharynx buzzed over to the larger dragon and kicked it in the shoulder. "Get up, you wuss. You're making us look bad in front of the outsiders." Familiar, heatless flame washed over it. Thorax stood back up and brushed the sleet off his muzzle. "That was certainly something." "No kidding." Ember turned to Spike, and her grin widened further. "Spike, you came! This is Narset. She's cool." That made Narset giggle again, more mist pluming from her nostrils. "I certainly am now." "She's from outside the universe or something?" Ember shrugged. "I don't know, we were talking while we were sparring and I wasn't paying much attention." "I admit, I was more focused on the novelty of being a dragon myself." Narset looked over her own arms. Only then did Spike notice the secondary wings coming out of her wrists. "Especially one so small. What kind of dragon tempests do you have here?" "Um..." Ember looked to Spike. He shook his head; he didn't understand the term any more than she did. "We don't?" "Fascinating." “Wait, you mean the strange entity was a human?" Twilight scrambled to her hooves and approached Narset with an almost worrying grin. "A human that turned into a dragon rather than a pony? I have so. Many. Questions.” Narset drew back, mostly with her neck. “I... am happy to answer what I can, if you return the favor.” “Absolutely! We can talk in my library.” "Are you sure, Twilight?" said Spike. "Earth pony magic. The hive's right on top of a leyline, just like Sugarcube Corner." Twilight rolled her eyes as Spike's worried look didn't shift. "I'm fine." She turned back to her newest friend. "So, what do you say?" Narset’s eyes sparkled with draconic avarice as familiar as the rest of her was strange. “A library? I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship indeed.”