CHAPTER 8: Dragon Trouble
It was a beautiful mid morning day on the eastern end of the Everfree Palace and two unicorn guards stood watch at their post on the South Balcony. Like always, the guards were solemn and motionless. They were trained to be very alert and ever watchful, in case any intruders were to appear out of nowhere, or if a subject of the palace needed urgent assistance. Tall and noble, they watched on into the distance, without letting anything break their concentration. Princess Luna, however, had other plans.
The mischievous little princess of the night never quite understood the guard’s jobs and sometimes laughed at them for being so serious. Every now and then, she would playfully annoy the guards to see if she could get them to laugh, flinch, or even yawn.
She hovered around in front of them and started to speak.
“So are you two tired of doing this yet?” she asked.
The guards did not respond. It was as if they didn’t even realize Luna was there. This of course didn’t stop her.
“Well?” she continued. “I am willing to wager that both of you will fall asleep before the sun reaches the center of the sky!”
Still no response from the guards.
“No? How about if something so silly were to happen that you laughed uncontrollably? No guard could possibly keep a straight face against……THIS!!!”
Luna took her front hooves and stretched her face apart and stuck her tongue out while making funny sounds at the guards but neither of them laughed or moved a muscle.
“No? So be it. How about……THIS!?!”
She then pressed her hooves against her cheeks and her lips puckered up like a fish as she blew air out of them. Still no response from the guards.
“THIS?!? BLABLABLABLA!!!” she said crossing her eyes and shaking her head back and forth with her tongue wiggling around right in the guards faces. Despite her efforts, the guards didn’t budge or even blink.
“You two are tough shells to crack.” she said. “But thou has not seen anything yet! We have been practicing some of the most daunting magic and thou will most certainly be begging for mercy when you FEEL THE WRATH OF LUNAAAA!!!”
Luna’s eyes glowed with light and her voice grew somewhat deeper as she spoke in the Royal We.
“DID YOU NOT HEAR US THE FIRST TIME, THOU FOOLS?!?” she said as some black clouds started to swirl around her as if a storm was brewing up. “NOPONY IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA CAN WITHSTAND OUR FRIGHTENING OMNIPOTENT POWERS!!!”
And still nothing from the guards.
“HELLO?!?! CAN THOU NOT SEE YOU ARE UNDER THE MERCY OF PRINCESS LUNA?!?!? HUH?!? RAAAWR!!! GRRRRRRR!!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!! COME ON, JUST MOVE OR SOMETHING ALREADY!!!”
At this point Luna had little bolts of lightning going off around her and the sound of thunder booming as her voice grew more menacing. But through it all, nothing could shake either of the guards.
Finally Luna’s eyes went back to normal and the clouds and lightning disappeared. She crossed her arms and gave the guards a somewhat grumpy look.
“That is just what the princess of the night thought! HMMPH!” she said flying off to prepare for magic lessons with Starswirl the Bearded.
For a few moments there was silence on the balcony when all of a sudden one of the guards started to giggle under all the pressure.
“Buckler!” the other guard snapped. “You know the rules! Keep your composure!”
“I’m sorry, Safeguard.” Buckler said reverting back to his solemn face.
There was another moment of silence until Buckler spoke up.
“Do not lie to me, you will be rolling in laughter when you retire to your quarters later tonight.” he said to Safeguard.
“Of course.” Safeguard chuckled while smirking a bit.
Suddenly the sound of constant heavy breathing could be heard in the distance. It got louder as it got closer.
“Safeguard, do you hear that?” Buckler asked.
“Yes…who is that breathing?” Safeguard asked looking around expecting it might be a messenger pony who had been running too fast to them.
“HELP!!” cried a voice.
Buckler and Safeguard both looked up to see a pegasus flying towards the castle who appeared to be in much distress. He was a mine-worker and had black markings all over him, as if he’d had a close encounter with fire. He had lost some feathers, making it difficult for him to fly, which explained the heavy panting.
“GUARDS!! DRAGON……THE MINES……GOLD…ALL OUR……GOLD…” the miner called helplessly before collapsing to the balcony a few feet away from the guards.
Buckler and Safeguard rushed over to help the miner to his feet but he insisted on staying on the ground while trying to catch his breath to explain things.
“Sir, what in Equestria has happened to you?” Safeguard asked the miner.
He continued panting until he finally was able to tell them.
“Guards……I just barely escaped……The gold mine in South Spire Mountain……it’s been taken…”
“Taken? By whom?” asked Buckler.
“A dragon…” the miner replied. “A powerful and greedy dragon……who calls himself Grumblebog.”
Buckler and Safeguard glanced at each other with their eyes widened.
“Impossible! We’ve never had any dragons invade our mountains for hundreds of years!” Safeguard exclaimed.
“How did he even know there is gold in there? Isn’t it well hidden so dragons won’t notice the gold and take it over so easily?” Buckler asked.
“I don’t know…” the miner continued. “But he just all of a sudden stormed in and blew fire everywhere. We are lucky no one was mortally wounded. In fact the rest of the winged miners may be on their way right now. The unicorns and earthen ponies have fled to the guard outpost in the valley below…”
“That mountain is our biggest gold mine.” Safeguard said. “The King will be greatly displeased to hear this. Buckler, send this news to the King immediately and have a doctor sent to the Southern Balcony.”
“Yes sir!” Buckler said rushing off to the main court.
Meanwhile, Luna was listening in on the conversation behind the walls of the balcony entrance. She crawled back further to avoid being seen by Buckler.
“Oh no.” she said to herself. “Now father has lost much of the gold we mine in that mountain. This is just another problem for the kingdom…”
Luna hung her head and lowered her ears afraid of what was to come. Suddenly her eyes widened and her ears perked up.
“Wait…That’s it! The dragon!” she exclaimed. “That could be our replacement assignment!!”
Luna then covered her mouth thinking Safeguard might have heard her. Her eyes darted back and forth. She then leaped in the air and flew off to the educational center to tell Celestia.
Meanwhile in Starswirl’s classroom, he and Celestia were waiting for Luna to arrive as she was late again.
“Just where is that mischievous little princess?” Starswirl asked.
“She probably slept in again.” Celestia responded.
“Should I start the lesson without her, Celestia?”
“I’d give her just a few more minutes till Mother wakes her up…”
Suddenly Luna burst in through the door, her face beaming.
“SISTER, SISTER!! I HAVE EXCELLENT NEWS!!!” Luna hollered while hovering right in her sister’s face.
“Um…okay…” Celestia said. “And what would that be, Luna?”
“A DRAGON JUST CHASED AWAY ALL THE MINERS IN THE SOUTH SPIRE MOUNTAIN AND TOOK OVER AND STOLE THE GOLD!!”
“WHAT?!” Starswirl exclaimed.
“Luna! That’s not good news at all, that’s terrible news!” Celestia replied. “Just wait till father hears about this!”
“What? Nonono, that’s not the good part!” Luna continued. “The good part is that you and I can go see the dragon and try to get him to leave and then Father can count that as our replacement negotiation for finals!”
“Luna, are you crazy?!” Celestia said, using her magic to seat Luna in a nearby pillow. “Princesses don’t go off fighting dragons!”
“Who said anything about fighting the dragon?” Luna asked. “We could just use the lessons on diplomacy and persuasion that we’ve been taught before!”
“But Luna, it’s a dragon. Dragons can’t be dealt with that easily. They’re massive ferocious beasts that breathe fire, wear scales as thick as tenfold shields, and are far too wild to be reasoned with!”
On the contrary, Percy and Penny ran into the classroom not noticing where they were. Penny was chasing Percy around in circles while giggling.
“What’s the matter Penny, huh? What’s the matter? Am I too fast?!” Percy teased.
“No, I’d say you’re too SLOW!!” shouted Penny as she leaped onto Starswirl’s desk and then tackled Percy to the ground.
Starswirl watched the commotion and then rolled his eyes while gritting his teeth.
“DRAGONS!” he shouted as Percy and Penny stared awkwardly at him. “What did I tell the two of you about playing tag in my classrooms?!”
“Whoops…” Penny said while smiling bashfully.
“Sorry Starswirl, but I mean how are we supposed to memorize this enormous castle in just a few hundred years, give or take?”
Seeing the playfulness and innocence of the dragons caused Luna to look at Celestia with a smirk as if to say “You were saying?”
“Alright, maybe not all dragons are like that…” Celestia continued. “…but we’re talking about a full-grown dragon. Neither of us has ever seen a full-grown dragon before.”
“Whoa, did someone say FULL-GROWN dragon?!?” Penny said excitedly.
“WHERE?!?!” Percy said rather frightened.
“He’s not here, Perseus.” Luna explained. “A miner pony just came to Everfree and told one of the guards that a large dragon called Grumpy-Log or something took over the South Spire Mountain mines and has all the gold to himself now.”
“AWESOME!!” Penny said with her eyes opened wide.
“Penny, that’s just about the worst news we’ve heard all day and you think it’s awesome?!” her brother told her.
“PERCY!!” Penny said grabbing Percy by his face. “THIS MEANS WE’RE NOT THE ONLY DRAGONS IN EQUESTRIA AFTER ALL!!!”
“Woo efur shid we wur?” he said between his cheeks.
“Penny, this doesn’t mean the dragon is as friendly and well-mannered as you and your brother are.” Celestia told the over-excited little dragon.
“But Tia-” Luna said before Starswirl spoke up.
“Your sister is right, Luna.” he said. “Dragons are usually quite wild and aren’t as negotiable as any regular delegates.”
“Everyone said the complete opposite of General Leogle and look what he turned out to be like!” Luna said grumpily.
“Be that as it may, if the dragon took the gold for himself with the knowledge that it belonged to someone else, I fear it may be difficult for him to be coaxed into leaving.” Starswirl said as he used his magic to lift papers that had fallen to the ground when the dragons entered.
Now it was Penny’s turn to talk.
“Hey, maybe Percy and I could come with them to help out!” she said.
“WHAT?!?!” Percy shouted. “Penny, you and I were left outside in the cold years ago by our parents, what makes you think that dragon will be any nicer than them?!”
“Maybe he’ll listen to us since we’re dragons.” Penny added.
“But Penny…” Luna said. “Tia and I have to do the negotiating, not you two.”
“Now that you mention it…” Celestia started to say out loud. “…if Percy and Penny came with us……Perhaps once the dragon sees that ponies and dragons live together in peace in Everfree, that may be enough to get him to see his wrongdoings.”
“Exactly!” Luna replied.
“So Celestia, will you talk with your father about it?” Penny asked.
“Well it could work but it’s still dangerous going up against a dragon.” Celestia said looking very thoughtful. “What do you think, Starswirl?”
Starswirl put his hoof to his chin and thought for moment.
“Hmmmm……Well, Princess, he may be a dragon but even in my time, there were some ponies who could communicate well with some dragons.” Starswirl explained.
“Wait, so dragons and ponies lived in peace back then?” Percy asked.
Starswirl used his magic to levitate an old book towards him and opened it up while talking. The book had a dragon-shaped emblem on it.
“Not exactly, but sometimes dragons weren’t quite so harsh with them. Somewhere around the time of the founding of Equestria, dragons became more approachable and even left the mountains they had stolen gold from in the past. I wouldn’t be surprised if this dragon is actually a descendant of the Northern Drakes who were actually more accustomed to sleeping in the open and weren’t into hoarding gold. Either way, it is likely that this dragon could be misled. With your father’s permission, I suppose negotiating with a dragon could work…”
“So all we have to do is just be nice to him just like we’ve been taught!” said Luna looking back at her sister and smiling.
“I guess it’s worth a try.” Celestia said. “But still, what if things go wrong and he attacks us?”
“I can teach you spells that can make shields of magic that will protect you against fire and extreme heat.” Starswirl told her. “It takes some practice but it certainly works.”
“Well we best ask father first if it’s a good idea. It is his choice after all.” Celestia said.
“Of course.” Luna responded. “But I am sure we can get him to leave if we try, Sister. If ponies in the past could do it then we can do it too!”
“So does this mean we can come too?” Penny asked eagerly.
“Of course, Penny!” Luna answered.
“I dunno, you guys. I’m still not too keen on visiting an adult dragon…” Percy said nervously.
“Aw relax, bro.” Penny said elbowing her brother. “I’m sure with Luna and Tia with us he’ll be fine.”
Percy blew a small plume of fire out of the side of his mouth and rolled his eyes.
“Whatever you say, sis…”
TO BE CONTINUED…