"Hi," The dragon said with a nervous smile as he dared make the space shorter between him and the princess. He extended a claw for her to shake. She snarled, getting low into a fighting stance, making him take a step back.
The dragon sighed, "Oh good, you want to fight me, too. Let me guess, you're gonna freeze my claws?"
The princess was taken back by her first adversaries attitude. Does he... Not remember me? How did he know what attack I was going to do? Best to play friendly to avoid a confrontation in front of my subjects.
She held out a hoof and forced a smile, "just being cautious is all. It's not every day you get to meet a dragon. My name is Princess Celestia."
"As in... Tia?," The dragon asked, as he retracted his extended claw away from her, hesitating to shake it.
"That is something people who are friends with me call me by, yes. Do you know me from somewhere?," she asked and continued smiling, hoping to seem innocent.
...
"You're the one who slaughtered my family"
Audible gaps where heard from the group of nearby friends
The princess dropped her hoof and assumed her previous fighting stance. Now way was this dragon going to be friendly now!
"... I forgave you long ago, Princess. There's no need to be hostile," Dunite said as he extended his claw again, smiling a little. The princess looked back and forth between the claw and his face, confused. After a while, she stood back up and warily shook his claw.
"But your family is gone, and I took your wings. How can you not hate me?," she asked, relaxing a little as both hoof and claw retracted without harm done.
"Well, it happened thousands of years ago. Not to mention, the soldiers forced you to do it, didn't they? I hated you at first, but as I got older and more knowledgeable, I learned what being in that circle meant. Plus, you didn't have a choice, what with me attacking you anyway," replied the dragon, flicking his claw as if batting away the problem like you would a fly.
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The pegasi pulling the carriage grunted and dripped sweat from the extra weight on the carriage. After a bit of understanding on both ends, Celestia decided it would be best to take Dunite back to Canterlot for observation. Not that she told him that, she had instead told him she wanted him over for tea. Dunite had turned into a metaphorical Pinkie at the mention of tea, bouncing around excitedly. The action did not suit him, being an ancient dragon and all.
The dragon stared off into the distance from the carriage, a nostalgic look on his face. All the while, the princess sat beside him, staring daggers at him. She still did not trust him. He turned around to look at her. Realizing she had been lost in thought, and glaring at the dragon as he looked at her, she shook her head and looked back towards the front of the carriage.
"Heheheh, you don't trust me. It's alright, princess, I understand. Not like we met under sunny circumstances," He dragon giggled at his own pun. The princess noticed this.
"Do NOT make puns. My sister, Luna, does that constantly and it always gets on my nerves."
"Maybe it really brightens her day," the dragon replied, a mischievous appearing on his face. Oh, he forgave her and he had lived long... But that didn't mean he didn't enjoy being immature.
The princess sighed and remained silent for the rest of the journey, only moving to push away Dunite as he kept trying to annoy her, with much success.