Salem stumbled on his quick march down to the rostrum as the fanfare cut through him with ease. He saluted the flags of his kingdom as he passed the procession. He climbed the steps to the old execution stage and used a drop of his magic to amplify his already booming voice.
“Ponies of the diamond kingdom, I gain nothing from lying to you. Our way of life is under threat. If the rulers had their way we would lose everything we have worked for. They’d see to it that our costermongers, our tailors, our sailors, any mare or stallion able bodied be thrown into the firing line in the fascist uniform of their citadel! I rejected this bargain. We are free inside these walls. I have no joy in telling you, that none can leave."
I couple of groans and screeches echoed from the crowd as unicorns tried to bet the system. Their magic was weak in relation to Salem’s so there was no way for them to outplay the game-master.
A carriage towing stallion rolled up and stopped, unhitched his trailer of wares, and jumped up and down at the back of the dense amassment.
“I rely on our trade routes to earn a decent living. How can I live in any sort of comfort if my only means of work are made impossible?”
Salem ground his teeth and a rage he didn’t know began to boil inside of him. It simmered however as his queen arrived on the stage, her mane like a glacial flow.
“Where is your confidence?”
She asked of her husband. She made sure to negate the augmentation spell that he had cast as to not cause alarm. She pressed her godly lips to his ear and whispered something he actually wanted to hear. He still pulled away. The disturbing visit from the night empress had left him emasculated, and frigid.
“Don’t show weakness. That is what that soulless monster wants us to think. He calls it cowardly, and he calls it miserly, but does he know your mind? I think not. Rally them. They’re yours to direct. Give them hope and treat them with respect and the same kindness will be ours also.”
Salem’s horn exploded in a flurry of power as he positioned himself in the centre of the stifled public. He looked towards his guards, ones that stood in alloyed metals, forged minerals and the other spoils of the underground trade. He then looked to his queen and as he took his eyes off of her, he removed his steel shoes. He doffed his dragon scale armour. He dropped his crown and he dropped his head. It was heavy with the doubts it held.
“I will prove that we are all in the same boat. I renounce my seat of power. In due course parliament will be introduced. Times will be tough.”
He began. He took one stride from his central locale before a squealing filly met his eye, but mostly his ear.
“Who is this darling?”
He asked. He feigned a strange little voice as he babied the baby. The mother grasped the baby from the step and shoved her into Salem’s face.
“She gets very ill around this time. She needs the medicine and professionals of Canterlot. Sometimes she is bedbound all day for weeks on end. Who will cure her now? She’ll die!”
“I understand that this is difficult. There are going to be some…”
Salem paused as a buggy escapee began chewing on his bare rear hoof.
“There may be some teething problems.”
He wrapped an arm around the mare and uncurled her ear. He pointed to the coned towers that topped the guildhall of wizardry.
“Her condition sounds serious. We will find a way to obtain the alchemical treatment she requires. Surely the councils still communicate despite the blackout.”
The mother went back for her foal in a harrumphing rush. She grabbed the toddler and placed her on her shoulder before running back towards the townhouses.
He thought he was in the clear at this point. Any concerns would be raised at the court. He was nearing the magnificent, monolithically huge statue. It was in honour of the first dragon to work the mines, a matter of centuries before the events of that day. He was nearly past the fountain that the statue waded in too.
The stones shook and throbbing crowd of ponies huddled together in pure terror. The dragons had heard the upheaval. Routes of the things, en masse, blocked the route ahead. A huge drake groped the thigh of his ancestor as he straddled the Olympic sized fountain.
“What can stop us from leaving? Dragons are immune to the magic of ponies…”
“This is Alicorn magic. Even if you could flee, where would you fly to? Empyrean wants your kind buried and gone. You are safer here than out there.”
The imposing drake released his firm grip and swam down to the King’s level.
“Our season is soon, oh merciful king. If we cannot reproduce, our race is already doomed.”
“Our will is greater…”
The dragon began laughing, his consecutive pants of air sending flumes infernal into the sky. It singed the tail of the statue. This made the drake laugh hysterically.
“He has duped you all. Put your hooves up. Anyone who was involved with our banishment, raise your hoof!”
“What if I made it worth your while to stay? Say, fifty gold pieces for each flyer you can convince?”
The dragon ignored the bribe and raised his front claws in triumph.
“Just as I thought, not one of you even knew this meeting was happening. He now tries to sway my loyalty with coin?”
Salem shot back as the tail of the mighty drake flailed athwart his clumsy backside.
“Don’t waste your energy here, Ignatius. You all must prepare for the torment to come…”
The fuming dragon spun to face the undressed king and grinned in discredit to his threat.
“You will force us? Torture, this is your gambit? He will not give you a choice!”
“That is not what I meant!”
Salem shouted but his voice could not best the howl from the drake’s maw.
A couple of rather ashen, greying dragons from the sky intervened. They locked tails before the rampaging giant and snarled and grunted until he backed down. The dragon social structure was a simple beast.
“Why do you defend this pest? He has no control over us. We offered our sensing of precious stone and we helped protect this kingdom, but what do we get out of it?”
“A selfish dragon is a dead dragon, Ignatius. You have misconstrued Salem’s words. Have some humility and let him speak.”
“Artemis, this is treason. You traitor, you’d have us all tied to chains to drive this pointless protest!”
Salem stroked his brow, a look of worry spread across the furrow.
“This will not be a physical assault. The night before today I was visited by Empress Luna. She showed me my greatest fears and made them foment in my mind, breaking my want to live. She will try this again. Her methods are cruel, but sometimes she will tease you, entice you to where you feel safe, before taking everything you love and devouring it. She does not just watch the night, dear drakes. She is the tapping at the door, the footfalls running across the floor. She is forbidden from this errand yet she has already broken that oath.”
The tails parted and the luscious red dragon leaned down to look the stallion in the eye.
“A dragon only dreams of greed, of living alone, and being content. It is what we are destined to do. All dragons will become blithering hermits in the end, thrashing at intruders who aren’t even there and speaking to their loot as if it were their only friend. How can she take that?”
“She listens. If your mind was a safe, she would find the code instantly and crack you. Every memory you have had, every emotion you have felt, anything and everything will be used against you. Steel yourselves, my subjects, for tonight will test us all.”
Salem left the drakes in stunned silence as he left the plaza, the mezzanine, and the royal menagerie behind. His queen was still amidst the panic but Salem worried not for her. She was strong, robust, made of the hardest material in all the lands.