//------------------------------// // Chapter 7- Pegasus on the Mountain // Story: Trade Wind: Royal Tutor // by BlackBonitaCherry //------------------------------// Finishing her letter with a flourish, Celestia sent it off with her magic as Luna came into the throne room, reading a book in her aura. “Sister, this book on new treatises with the different creatures in Celestia,” “Oh that,” the alicorn chuckled, looking sheepish, “Interesting isn’t it?” her sister gave her an unamused look. “There’s one in here about a Debate Battle with Sapphire Dogs and an actual battle with Ruby Dogs for negotiations?” Celestia winced, remembering that one. “Technically the Debate Battle is still one, they just have to talk while fighting,” among the four Jewel Dog tribes, the Sapphire ones were the scholarly one, at least in terms of speech and mining methods. The Ruby tribe was known for their hunting and battle skills, while the Diamond Dogs were somewhat tolerated but disliked by the others. The Emerald Tribe were still missing, they were alive, Ruffalo could tell that much, but they were somewhere on Equis that he could not reach. The fact enraged him as much as it worried Celestia, as she vaguely recalled the Emerald tribe having an ability not shared by their fellow Jewel Dogs. An ability that for the life of her she did not remember but knew could be dangerous if they ever so much as thought about turning it against Equestria. She would talk to Luna about it, but it also meant telling her sister that Ruffalo was in Equestria and that conversation was one she wanted to put off as much as possible till the Alicorn was ready. Her reaction to the Jewel Dogs being separated into four different tribes had been bad enough. Luna frowned, turning the book to the beginning and pointing at the first page. “This treatise about dealing with the different creatures, it says only an appointed ambassador could meet with them?” “Yes, it was actually one of the goals for WEU, and most if not all the recent graduates have been named ambassadors for different tribes. If there is an issue that we need dealt with, they are sent in to deal with it,” Luna hummed. “We see, the letter you just sent, was that to Twilight Sparkle?” Celestia smiled, nodding. “Yes, I wrote to her about the dragon smoke coming from the mountain and asked her to meet with Trade Wind so that they could deal with it together. I figured it would be a good time for her to see what a dragon ambassador does,” her sister’s brow furrowed. “Weren’t we not supposed to reveal the fact that Trade Wind is in Ponyville?” Celestia raised a hoof before lowering it. “Ah,” it should be fine, right? ------------------------------------------------ Spike escaped as fast as he could, leaving while Twilight was still staring blankly at the wall while the incriminating letter lay on the table where he dropped it. He was not going to stick around for that outburst.  It was bad enough when she received that reply from Princess Celestia about the Trixie incident and became depressed when it wasn’t what she wanted to hear (the additional letter about Spike’s admission to the StarDusk Academy and Twilight neglecting her duties as the town librarian had been a hard blow to the unicorn who had immediately written back to the Princess declining the need for an ‘assistant’ librarian who could do all the work while she focused on her studies.) Yeah, Spike did not want to be around at the moment, especially if the unicorn decided to leave a long list of chores for him to finish while she went off to deal with the dragon. Hopefully, the number of chores shrink when he starts school. Speaking of which, “Hey, Spike!” Frost and the other griffin cubs were sitting around a table in the pizza restaurant, Caramel working on a sheet on the table while Glaze filled out a coloring page. Frost had cards in his talons that caught Spike’s interest, the dragon sitting next to him to get a closer look. Scootaloo was nowhere to be found, then he remembered the pegasus was visiting her aunts on a weekend trip and would be back in the morning. “What kind of cards are those?” he’s learned over the few weeks that Frost was just as avid a gamer and comic fan as he was, though quieter about it. Frost ducked his head shyly as he showed them to him, “They’re Golem Trading card, showing all the golems created throughout history with different attack and defense points,” Spike spotted one that looked familiar and blinked, “I saw that one in the Canterlot Garden,” he stated, surprised, grabbing it to get a closer look while Caramel groaned. “Come on you two, we have to choose all of our supplies, not geek out over yet another trading card game,” Glaze rolled his eyes, throwing a crayon at her head that made her glare at him. “Leave them alone Caramel, Spike just got here, and we’re only looking at the magazines till Uncle Zeph picks us up,” the other griffin huffed and took out a pile of magazines with different covers. She placed two next to one another and two more at the top, and Spike wasn’t at all surprised to see North Star was one of the magazines. The other three were a book catalog, what looked like a fashion one with bags and attire on it, the fourth had StarDusk printed on the top and showed a picture of the school. It was a dark blue school in what looked like a cavern, looking much bigger than the Ponyville Schoolhouse but smaller than Celestia’s School. “Right, we need to take a look at the classes offered and then choose our extracurriculars, though the expense,” Caramel had a notebook and abacus out, looking serious. “Yeah, uh, I’m kind of excited to attend school and all, but this is a Nocturne school right? So are we supposed to attend classes at night?” they all looked at him, making him nervous, “What?” the StarDusk magazine was shoved in his face, talons tapping at one passage in particular and he read it. “Oh,” apparently it was a 24-hour school with both day and night students. “Nocturns won’t be the only students, there will no doubt be some griffins, ponies who did not want to attend normal schools, zebras, maybe even Jewel Dogs and Dragons,” Spike perked up at that. Dragons? “Probably not our eggcousins though, that school in Fillydelphia seems to be enough for them,” “Eggcousins?” “Dragons hatched from the eggs that were kidnapped along with ours to be sold on the black market,” Glaze commented, Spike, gaped at him. “Seriously?” “Hello,” Caramel’s annoyed tone stopped the dragon from asking his next question and reluctantly sitting down, he waited for her to open the magazine. She gave them another look before opening the magazine, “Alright, we have the General Classes: History, Math, Science, Language Arts, Music, P.E. and the Extracurricular ones like: Ancient Magic, Economics, Martial Arts, Foreign Language, Theatre, and Gaming,” huh, that sounded interesting.  When they were done looking through the classes they went to the Book Catalogue to find what books they needed. “Wait, these books are already set in bundles according to year, the only thing we have to worry about is looking at the books for the Extracurriculars,” “Actually we can just get the Extracurricular bundle,” Caramel stated, pointing at it in the corner, Glaze spluttered. “But we’re not going to all of the Extracurriculars, isn’t it a waste of bits?” he demanded, Frost and Spike blinked when she pointed at them. “No doubt they’ll attend several of the classes, and rather than pay ten or twenty bits per book, we can get the bundle for eighty bits if we combine our allowance. I’ll sign up for Economics and Foreign Language, you no doubt will take the Martial Arts and Theatre, and these two will end up in Gaming and Ancient Magic,” Spike frowned. “Why would I want to join Ancient Magic?” “Because for RPG and Game nerds like you two, learning Ancient Magic is one of the things you end up learning anyways, plus the teacher is apparently the creator of those Golem trading cards. He uses his knowledge to make them,” Frost’s eyes widened. “He teaches there?” he squeaked, feathers popping out in his excitement. Spike however realized Caramel just won her argument. Glaze knew it as well if his exasperated sigh was any indication. “Fine, we’ll put in twenty bits each, and Caramel and I always share our school books so it shouldn’t be an issue.” Spike thought about it, “That should be enough, I got my allowance this morning,” along with the letter.  They looked at the North Star magazine next, which listed different events throughout the Nocturne settlements and an update on the town being built near the WEU University. Frost ended up squeaking when he saw a picture of his parents in the magazine, his mom holding a spade in her hooves while his dad was wearing a helmet and leaning over a table with a blueprint on it. “I can’t wait till that island is done,” Caramel stated, eyes gleaming, “Especially the tomato section,” “We have tomatoes,” Glaze reminded her annoyed, but she gave him a pointed look. “Not the Waxing Tomatoes,” Spike wanted to ask what a ‘Waxing Tomato’ was when they were interrupted. “I see you four are hard at work,” said an amused Zephyr appearing at their table and startling Spike who dropped the school bag magazine in his claws. Another griffin, Gabby, giggled from behind the pegasus as she waved to them. “Hello Brother,” Frost greeted, hugging him, the pegasus laughed and ruffled his feathered head, “Come on, we got a free day ahead of us so we can spend it getting all of your school supplies while Gabby and I gather some stuff for the project,” the four followed the two out of the restaurant, the smoke in the distance making the stallion frown as he stared at it, “Whoever started that fire is going to be in a lot of trouble when Fluttershy gets a hold of them,” something about that did not sound right, and Spike felt a pit in his stomach as he corrected the stallion. “That’s not a fire, that’s from a dragon,” “Huh, that makes more s- wait, how did you know that?” Zephyr asked, sounding a bit alarmed, Spike swallowed, seeing Gabby’s look of dread. “Didn’t Twilight tell you when she went to get Trade Wind to talk to the dragon? Like Princess Celestia asked her to in the letter?” his voice trailed off and there was a moment of silence as the two stared at him. “Gabby,” “On it, come on you four,” the griffin nodded to Zephyr who flew off, his metal wing shining in the sun and a serious expression on his face. Spike’s claws clenched, “Twilight didn’t get Trade Wind, did she?” Gabby gave a solemn shake of her head, “This is bad, isn’t it?” the griffin did not reply but Spike knew it was. Oh Celestia what has Twilight done? ----------------- The wind tugged at her wing again, reminding her of its message and she sighed, feeling a bit irritated. “I know, I will ask her,” the sender of the message was taking too many liberties with her permission to use the wind to contact her. He could ask Pinkie herself, but Trade Wind knew she could not refuse, it was annoying, but she couldn’t.  Trade Wind looked over the bridge construction, nodding to Limestone as the Earth Pony fastened the last brick into place. The bridge glowed with the runes carved into each individual piece, a green shine washing over it before it dulled, no signs of the runes in place. “Right, that bridge is done, how’s the path coming along?” Limestone glanced at the pile of stones to the side, all with carved runes to avoid being affected by the Forest’s wild magic.  “Should be able to get them installed later tonight, and the roof pieces are almost done,” “Good, and the pillars?” “Ready for the morning,” Trade Wind let out a sigh, good, things were on track. The Carousel Boutique trio already had all the tapestries and rugs in their possession and were working on restoring them, and Ember sent her a letter confirming the sizes of the windows and how many she would need. Ghost Pepper and his husband were familiarizing themselves with the route between Ponyville and StarDusk, stretching their wings and doing a few errands in the Nocturne settlement at the same time. Moondancer was setting all the boxes into crates and was working on restoring the shelves and clearing out any unwanted creatures. Zephyr Breeze and Gabby were supposed to take the quartet of non-ponies for school shopping while also searching for ingredients for a special potion to use for cleaning. Or, she frowned, seeing the pegasus flying towards them, he should be anyways. “Zephyr, what happened, did you forget something,” she asked as he landed in front of her, looking serious. “There’s a dragon breathing smoke and Twilight went to deal with it by herself, apparently she was supposed to take you with her,” Trade Wind froze. “What?” not waiting for an answer she was already in the sky, wings spread wide with Zephyr right behind her. If it had been the original world, the canon one, she would not have worried because they did manage to deal with the dragon. But this was a slightly different Equestria with different rules, And dealing with the dragon was not Twilight’s job. It was hers. ‘What are you thinking Sparkle?’ she thought, eyes narrowed and anger in her veins. ------------- Twilight wasn’t thinking at all, she was trying not to as they climbed up the mountain. Because if she did it would bring up the guilt of omitting the truth from her friends. “I wasn’t even aware of you being an ambassador Twilight,” Rarity commented, startling her out of her thoughts. “What? Oh yes, that-” “Of course she is, she’s the Princess’s personal student,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, Twilight let out an inward sigh of relief, she hated lying. “Yes, and Fluttershy I need you with me when we get there,” the Ranger blinked, taken aback as she looked up from talking to the chipmunk on her hoof. “What for?” “Well with your talent for animals I figured it would be a breeze for you to deal with that dragon!” she continued walking, not realizing half of their party stopped till Applejack was looking over her shoulder annoyed. “What are you three doing?” Twilight turned her head, seeing Rarity looking like she could not believe her ears while Pinkie was avoiding her gaze and Fluttershy was frozen. “Please tell me she did not just say that, please tell me she did not just say that,” Rarity rubbed her ears while muttering,  “Uh Rarity?” they were almost to the cave and Twilight saw Pinkie taking several steps back, “Come on you three, snap out of it,” Rainbow Dash said impatiently, Rarity did snap out of it, though in the next moment Twilight was flinching at the flick to her horn. “Hey!” “Are you sure you are an ambassador?” Rarity asked, suddenly serious, eyes narrowed, “Because no offense darling what you just said is the highest of insults and I am glad that Spike was not here to hear you say such a thing,” Twilight spluttered. “What? I just figured that Fluttershy-” “I’m a Ranger, not a Dragon Ambassador Twilight,” the pegasus stated sternly, “and I would have expected someone who was taught by Princess Celestia to have known better,” flinching back, Twilight felt herself panicking at the disapproval from three of her friends. Why? She thought it had been a good plan, why were they acting as if she had done something wrong? It was Trixie all over again. “Well she always did refuse to take proper diplomatic lessons,” a cold voice reached their ears, sending cold shivers down her spine and she tried summoning her magic, “I’ll make this quick,” only for a pressure from above to pin her to the ground, her magic snuffed out. “Twilight!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash cried out, but the other three remained silent as four blue hooves landed in front of her without making a sound, soon followed by another. “Rarity, Fluttershy, prevent those two from interfering, Zephyr, ask Pinkie for any ingredient you need for the remedy. I’ll be right back,” and those hooves disappeared. The pressure remained, Twilight struggling to fight against it but found that she could not. Trade Wind had defeated her. Again. “Let me go Rarity!” Applejack’s voice shouted from her right, “That North Wind had no business doing that-” “She did,” was the cold reply, “In fact, things are now making sense in a way I rather wish they did not, and for your information, that mare’s name is Trade Wind. The actual Dragon Ambassador, who I am guessing was actually supposed to be with us from the start Zephyr?” “You heard right, got a rather distressed young dragon who was unaware that the letter from Princess Celestia was ignored,” “It wasn’t ignored!” Rainbow Dash protested, “Twilight has every right to deal with the dragon, she did not need help from that North Wind,” the distaste in her tone was the same as before, though she quickly realized her error, “Wait I-” the sound of hoof smacking flesh made Twilight flinch again. “So it was you who persuaded her into this,” Fluttershy said quietly, a resigned tone making the flyer fall silent, “And here I thought you finally grew up, but it seems you have not,” it was all going wrong. All of her friends were fighting with one another, half of them were disappointed in her. What was Princess Celestia’s reaction going to be? “Zephyr, do you have the ingredients?” “Yep, here you go,” “Thank-you,” there was a grinding sound and a swirl before the pegasus returned to the cave. And Twilight was still pinned to the ground. “Twilight, did you lie?” Applejack asked, Twilight closed her eyes. “I-i didn’t really, I just figured the fastest way to deal with the dragon was to go to it,” “Fastest?” Zephyr interrupted her, almost mocking, “Trade Wind was in the Forbidden Forest and all you needed to do was go over there to get her,” “Wait, Trade Wind is in the Forbidden Forest?” Pinkie Pie asked in surprise, there was a moment of awkward silence. “Huh looks like the smoke is going away,” “Zephyr Breeze,” Fluttershy was now mad at him and Twilight felt the pressure on her disappear but there was the feeling of something around her horn, warning her as Trade Wind appeared right in front of her. The cold expression that haunted her was directed right at her, and Twilight hated how helpless she felt as the pegasus looked at her as if she was insignificant. Like she was stupid and unable to match to the other. “You know, there are many things I wish to say, but at this moment it is taking everything not to let my anger at you show. I will leave the lecture to Princess Celestia as you take everything she says as gospel, or at least, I thought you did,” Twilight swallowed. “The Dragon,” “Will be sleeping here for the next one hundred years with no issue,” she was mercilessly cut off, “The remedy I gave him cleared up his system and he will be able to sleep without worrying about choking the atmosphere. He had a permit for sleeping here before you say anything Miss Dash,” a growl came from the Wonderbolt fan, “Rarity, could you arrange for a barrier to be placed to ward off treasure seekers, I’d rather not have to worry about more ponies thinking they can deal with dragons like its nothing.” the unicorn stepped next to Twilight, not looking at her. “Of course, but Trade Wind,” the pegasus was turning away, “Where’s the necklace Garble gave you?” her wings paused and there was a sharp intake from the stallion behind her. “Ah, that? It did not suit me so I gave it back to him,” she replied, “Before I forget, Pinkie Pie? I need to put in an order for an Ultra Sweet Sugar Volcano Lava Surprise,” “Layers?” the party pony asked seriously, getting a slight smirk, “Ten,” “Okie-dokie, and would there be any Earl Grey with that?” “Ceylon please,” and she flew off. “Well, that’s me gone too, have fun dealing with this,” Zephyr waved and flew off. Rarity tapped her hoof,  “I don’t suppose you have any Silver Needle Pinkie?” she turned away from Twilight, not even giving her a glance. That just made the unicorn feel worse. “Yep! Fluttershy is Lemon tea okay?” “Of course, and we’ll get some Mint tea as well,” and the three left. “Ah have no idea what that was about,” Applejack started, staring at her and Rainbow Dash, looking displeased, “Not really happy with how that pegasus just swept in like that, but ah expect an explanation,” Twilight bowed her head. “No doubt Princess Celestia will want one as well,” and she had no idea how she was going to explain it either. Once again her life had been upended, and once again it was because of Trade Wind. And she was getting kind of tired of it.