//------------------------------//
// First Contact 
// Story: Spike: The Dragon Princess 
// by IndiBrony 
//------------------------------//

"...failure here would have knock-on effects that could ripple throughout Equestria." Cadance explained, taking a brief pause to observe her surroundings. The pink alicorn was surrounded on all sides by a vast expanse of trees which sprawled up hillsides and dived into valleys. In the midst of all this, streaming down the side of a distant mountain was a river. The water flowed into a lake which was located not too far in the distance by the Princess' right side.

"I think I've found the lake. I'm going to do a quick flyover to see if I can see anything." Cadance declared, flapping her wings and readying her scouter to scan the area. She settled herself down by the side of the lake. The body of water stretched for so long it wasn't possible to clearly make out anything on the other side. The trees lined the water, and several of them even sprouted from the water itself. Where the lake and the land met, there was little in the way of traversable land, just mounds of soggy mud and jagged rocks. Everything looked pretty tranquil from Cadance's perspective; the land hadn't been tampered at all. "It's a pretty big area..." the Princess muttered to herself.

Cadance took to the sky with her purple-tipped wings, gliding across the surface of the water. She tapped the scanner button on her scouter, hoping to find some signs of life. Her scouter blipped and bleeped as it tried to gather information from the forest, but nothing immediately sprang out. The Princess of Love pressed the button to open up scouter communications, "Twilight, I'm down by the lake, but I'm not finding much. I'm going to head back up and continue searching elsewhere. How are things on your end? Over."

She waited expectantly for a reply, but no reply came. "Twilight? Come in, Twilight. Over."

Nothing.

"Twilight, are you alright?" the Princess asked in concern. "I must have flown out of range. I'm going to have to go back. Hopefully she's alright."

The pink alicorn's wings flapped vigorously, droplets of water from the lake splashing against her as she lifted herself up into the sky. She glanced around to get her bearings. Then, having orientated herself, Cadance swivelled her body to face a northerly direction and darted off across the lake with the turbulent air rippling along her body as she pierced the skies.

Crossing the northern boundary of the lake, her scouter blipped. The Princess slammed on the brakes to check where the readings were coming from. Two power levels - one of twenty and another of thirty-five - registered on the scouter. "Hmm. Two moderate power levels, and they appear to be in the forest." Cadance contemplated her next move. Her mind rattled as she tried to make a decision. "I could go and check the power levels; it could take seconds, it might be nothing, but it's bad that I've lost contact with Twilight. What if she runs into a problem? What if I run into a problem by checking out these power levels?" the Princess groaned in frustration.

She checked the scouter again. "No. I have to get back to Twilight." she conceded. Cadance pointed her wings towards the area she believed Twilight to be in, pulled them both back giving her a huge leap forward and flew off to find the Princess.





"Captain Espoir..." Spike muttered to himself, checking out the group of dragons presented to him. They were all of similar build. They didn't look much different to an average adult dragon that Spike had seen many times before. One was a deep red with a golden stomach. Another was navy blue with a teal belly. The third was a creamy colour with a beige stomach. The last was green and purple. They were all stood to attention bar the Captain, who had begun approaching Spike, examining him.

"You hold the War Horn, yet you are neither the Princess nor the exiled King." the Captain snarled, "Explain, or find yourself at our mercy."

Spike was instantly shaken by their intimidating presence to the point where he could barely mutter a sound. He sweated nervously, fighting his desire to flee with every ounce of will. He clenched his claws and steadied his breathing before attempting to address the already impatient Captain. "My n-n-name..." he swallowed, almost choking on his words, "...is Spike. The King suggested I seek your help." the baby dragon's mind froze at that point, failing to continue any attempts at pushing out words.

Captain Espoir leaned down, bringing his face to within inches of Spike's, and stared directly into his eyes. "Go on." he said.

Spike slammed his eyes shut and turned his head away to avoid the Captain's terrifying gaze. "P-p-poor... la f-f-fear... tay... du..." Spike's heart crumbled as his mind failed to recall the last word. "Um..." he stuttered, almost in tears. "Roy...?" he continued, unsure of himself.  "Roy-ah...oo-may?" he grit his teeth together, having stumbled over almost every syllable and prayed to Celestia that he'd gotten it correct.

The Captain reeled himself back from the purple dragon's face and snorted, completely unimpressed. The group flung their right forearms up to their heads and saluted Spike. "Pour la Fierté du Royaume!" they bellowed with almost perfect synchronisation, slamming their arms back down by their side.

Whilst the group remained stood mainly to attention, the Captain relaxed himself once more. "I look around this palace and it is almost entirely deserted. It is a shambles; a mere shadow of the palace this once was. Our Kingdom is falling apart at the seams and he has left a mere child in charge in his absence? What a travesty. It is no wonder why he was overthrown. If not for Nett's ridiculous sense of 'loyalty', that throne would have been taken by one more... 'worthy', I'd say."

Spike's fears of the Captain were briefly sidelined to make way for anger at his remark regarding Nett, "Hey!" the baby dragon barked, "Nett was a great dragon! He was the most kind-hearted dragon I've met!" the Captain's ears perked as Spike ranted, "He laid down his life to protect what he believed in, which is a lot more than I can say for the rest of this Realm. Every dragon I've met so far has been self-centred, self-absorbed and looked out only for their own selfish greed! At least Nett, the King and the Princess show a shred of decency!" Spike's anger had turned a distinctive shade of crimson. "And what do they get? Nett is dead, the King has been banished, and the Princess is missing! The only three dragons I've ever known that were worth saving from these 'Heroes' have had their lives rolled up and spat out. Now I've been left here to do what I can to pick up the pieces and I will not have you speak a single word against any of them! Okay?" Spike bellowed, glaring deep into Espoir's eyes, expecting complete conformity.

The Captain simply snorted at Spike's rant. "Too soft, too gentle. Whilst the King sat on his throne claiming everything to be fine, the rest of the Realm feared for their lives against the Heroes. They came in swarms, attacking our lairs, decimating our population and taking their bodies. Many of us have experienced loss at the hands of the Heroes, yet the King defiantly claimed that it could all be solved over a cup of tea and scones. He was delusional!" the Captain roared. "His banishment didn't come soon enough! And ever since I personally helped assimilate our Realm's defences, we have suffered only minor losses."

"But you're still suffering losses!" Spike exclaimed, "Had the King been able to talk to the leader of the Heroes and understood exactly why they were attacking the Realm, things could have been sorted out by now and no-one else would have to die!"

"But they are the aggressors!" the Captain argued, "It's only right for us to defend ourselves!"

"Wrong!" Spike corrected him, "According to the Princess, it was a dragon who attacked the Heroes' village which made them fight back. The Heroes feared for their lives against the dragon who attacked their homes and must have decided the only way to deal with the situation is to kill all of you!"

"So then we should be attacking them!" Espoir pushed, "If they won't stop until we're all dead, then what do we have to lose?"

"No!" Spike interjected, "You're not seeing it from their side. They believe that all dragons will invade their village and kill them. A visit from the King to show that dragons are peaceful and that the dragon - who has essentially triggered a war - will be punished for what he did should be enough to calm everything down. Instead, what you want to do will not only end badly for both the Heroes and the dragons, but will have effect all of Equestria and the surrounding areas for years!"

"We don't care for Equestria! We have nothing to gain from their monarchy. The ponies are as weak-minded as the King, trying to solve their problems with 'love' and 'friendship'. The real world doesn't work like Equestria."

"Wrong again!" Spike corrected the Captain, "Because I know already that when the Heroes attacked, Princess Duciel travelled to the Crystal Empire to meet Princess Cadance. Apparently, the Heroes can't fight against crystals. Had the dragons been friends with Equestria before this attack, the Crystal Empire could have given you the crystals to deal with the Heroes right away. Your problems started long before the Heroes attacked. It started with the dragons' bad attitudes. All this killing could have been stopped if you believed in friendship. In fact, it was probably the bad attitude of a single dragon which might still end up in your entire Realm being destroyed. You all could learn so much from King Depaix, but you banished him and I think that was your biggest mistake."

Captain Espoir remained silent, unable to piece together a counter-argument, backed down and conceded, "You show signs of a great leader." he reluctantly admitted, "It's almost as if it were in your blood." the brown dragon half-heartedly jested. "Fine. We'll play by your rules. Here you have five of the Realm's finest warriors at your disposal. You think you can lead us out of this war and into peace?" he chortled, "Impress me. Tell me what to do and I'll do it, but if I think for a moment that your ideas won't work, I'll be forced to 'relieve you of your duties' as our acting leader."

Spike was trembling with the adrenaline coursing through his veins from the heated argument, but a small wave of relief passed over him, taking off the edge, knowing that Espoir was now willing to listen. "Okay, then," the new leader began, "I tell you where we're going to start..."