Red had filled the great dragon’s view as he stared into the face of the creature he held beneath with his anger having been let loose. He could see nothing but a blur of colors. Red, gold, yellow and even a little white. His heart was pounding in his chest, the corrupted pump pushing around the molten blood in his body, fueling his anger. He wasn’t even sure why he was angry. It had all been flashes to him. Him running, jumping out the window, appearing mid-air flying towards the beast that had come to his temporary home and then him appearing on top of the beast, his black enormous claws wrapped tightly around the arms of the dragon beneath him, tail thrashing around, destroying the ground behind him and even scratched the crystal castle with the spear tip of his tail.
Neltharion blinked in confusion, What am I doing? He stopped his tail’s rampage and looked behind him to the ponies who were staring towards the direction of him. Neltharion blinked again and his eyes began to focus. The ponies, guards, former elements, Twilight and even Spike were looking towards them, fear in their eyes, but it wasn’t only because of Neltharion. Their eyes were fixed on the scenario him and the dragon was in, not only him and his horrifying form. He saw Twilight pick up her jaw and gulp. I don’t understand...why are they looking so… It was first then that he realised something. The dragon beneath him wasn’t struggling to get free from his grip, it wasn’t even moving. From his position on top of the other dragon, he could feel it being relaxed in its arms and tensed up in its body, but not from fear or fright. It that had been the case it would have attempted to throw him off, but there was no such reaction.
Perplexed, Neltharion turned towards the head of the beast he was upon, his eyes widening as he saw its face, her face. The soft lines of the face, the full ruby scales…
“Alexstrasza?”
The murmur escaped Neltharion, not louder than a whisper to him, but still loud enough to be heard by the ponies that were standing closeby.
Staring back with a look Neltharion didn’t recognise, the dragon beneath him didn’t react. She just kept staring with wide eyes, her jaw having dropped open.
Neltharion blinked once more in shock, and lightly shook his head before looking over the dragon. The golden horns and claws, the almost glowing ruby red scales and the features of her face. A soft sigh of disappointment and, at the same time, relief escaped his mouth, no...not Alexstrasza. The dragon beneath him was much different than his sibling, the dragon beneath him horns were much closer to the skull, her face features were sharper, but were just as slender and gave a certain grace to her face, her scales were also different. Instead of the rich, deep red of his sibling’s scales, this dragon’s scales were almost glowing like embers in the sunlight, her eyes were yellow instead of Alexstrasza’s glowing orange, and of course there was the extreme lack of jewelry compared to Alexstrasza, not that the dragon beneath him would have any use for it anyway. For a lack of a better word, the dragon beneath him was stunningly beautiful, but with a form and presence that was yet intimidating to everyone but the black monstrosity of lava, metal and smoke now standing beside of it.
Neltharion shook his head once more, shaking off the disappointment he felt. For a moment he had truly thought that his sister had somehow come to this world, maybe to help him, to take him home? But that was not the case. An angry snort escaped the black dragon and a low growl erupted in his throat as he narrowed his eyes at the ruby dragon and closed the distance between their faces.
“Who are you? Why have you come to this place?”
“Neltharion!”
The dragon in question turned his head towards the pony princess that had called his name.
Twilight was swiftly flying towards Neltharion and stopped a reasonable distance from his face as she began to feel the strong heat emanating from his body.
“Yes, Twilight?”
Gulping as she looked in the direction of the dragon queen, Twilight shifted her gaze back to Neltharion and gave an almost nervous whisper, “That is the dragon queen of Draconia, Valissa the Golden, and she says she is here to meet you.”
Raising a scarred eyebrow, Neltharion stepped off the downed dragon and shifted his full attention to the flying alicorn in unamused confusion.
“And you didn’t think of simply telling this ‘queen’ that I didn’t exist? I thought we were trying to keep my existence a secret.”
Twilight’s face turned red with fury at his words and she stared right into his eyes with gritted teeth. “I was about to deny your existence when you came jumping out the window and assaulted her! Besides you kind off ruined the whole ‘keeping you a secret’ with your rampage last week in front of her personal dignitary!”
The dragon became silent for a few seconds, and eventually looked away from the tiny pony in front of him in defeat for less than two seconds before looking back at the small pony with an emotionless, which was extremely hard for him to pull off, expression. His gaze shifted quickly to the dragon queen who was starting to get up, still looking at him with a dumbfounded expression, before looking back at Twilight.
“Why does she want to meet me?”
Twilight kept an upset expression and didn’t even shift her gaze to the dragon queen who had now gotten onto her legs. “I have no idea, why don’t you go ask her yourself?”
Snorting in annoyance, Neltharion narrowed his eyes at the princess.
“I have no interest in making acquaintances with the dragons of your world.”
A smirk appeared on Twilight’s face as she processed the words of the black dragon in front of her. “Well it sure didn’t look like that, given how you jumped her the first chance you got.”
A low growl escaped the great dragon as he was getting increasingly annoyed with the alicorn princess.
“I thought my assistance was required, but I was apparently mistaken.”
Twilight’s upset expression was replaced with a warm smile at his words.
Neltharion didn’t know why the pony was suddenly smiling and he didn’t really care. He just wanted to return to his chambers and hopefully have a nice long nap without his corruption paying him a visit.
“Magnificent!”
Both pony and dragon turned their attention towards the dragon queen who had gotten onto her legs and was approaching Neltharion, glee in her eyes.
Twilight carefully pulled away from Neltharion as the dragon queen began circling him like a shark does its prey, inspecting each part of him carefully.
Awkward moments were a rare thing for Neltharion, but a dragon inspecting him as if he was the most interesting thing she had ever laid eyes upon could certainly qualify as an awkward moment for him, especially because of the way she looked at him, it made his scales crawl. In his time as a human, Neltharion had heard the quote ‘undressing someone with their eyes’ a few times, first now understanding what that quote really meant, or so he thought.
The dragon queen casually stroked Neltharion’s scales with her golden claws, looking over his black scales and armor with interest. “Extraordinary…” She mumbled.
A surprising chill went down Neltharion’s spine at her gentle touch against his scales and armor. He grabbed her claw with his own and squeezed, feeling the creaking of her bones as he put more and more pressure on the elegant red scales, but to Neltharion’s surprise, she didn’t wince, or even attempt to get out of his grasp, she simply gave him a toothy grin with half closed eyes, giving him a look he didn’t recognise. A growl escaped Neltharion’s throat.
“No touching.”
His menacing tone would have sent most creatures in existence packing to another planet and even made the ponies behind him shiver and back away, even though it wasn’t directed at them.
A single drop of sweat went down Twilight’s forehead as she tried to figure out if she could do anything or perhaps stop Neltharion from doing anything rash that could end up in Equestria going to war with dragons. If anything, she had to contact the princesses and inform them of what had happened. With a plan forming in her mind, Twilight turned and flew back to the crowd of ponies, leaving the two enormous beasts to themselves.
Instead of being frightful of Neltharion’s tone or grasp on her claw, the dragon queen simply giggled at him. “I was told you were an impressive sight, but my dignitary’s words don’t do you justice,” she gave him a toothy grin as Neltharion released his grasp and stared at her with dumbfoundment.
“Impressive?”
“Yes…” Valissa replied, resuming her position of gracing Neltharion’s scales gently, once again making a shiver go down his spine.
Another growl escaped Neltharion as he whipped her claw away with his tail, earning a gasp from the crowd of ponies behind them.
The dragon queen simply looked at him, unamused, before shifting back into a smile, only confusing Neltharion even more than before.
“Why did you want to meet me?”
Valissa almost looked confused at his question, before settling in front of him with a playful expression. “I am the dragon queen. All dragons, no matter where from, are under my protection and guidance.”
Neltharion was not pleased with that answer. He needed no protection nor guidance for that matter.
“Plus, I have heard of some incredible feats of yours,” Valissa continued. “And so I wanted to invite you to come visit my nation.”
A snort escaped Neltharion.
“Don’t you have messengers for that? Why did you come in person?”
“Because I believe you are special, Deathwi-”
Valissa didn’t get to finish the sentence as Neltharion grabbed her by the neck and forced her onto her back legs as he drew her face close to his own.
“Don’t. Ever. Call me that.”
For a moment there was fear in the dragon queen’s eyes, but it quickly died down as Neltharion let go of her throat. She looked at him with surprising glee and a little confusion at his reaction. “Very well, then Neltharion it is,” she said as she rubbed her neck with her claws.
For some reason, Neltharion couldn’t help but look at her beautiful red neck and the golden underbelly scales that went all the way up to the start of her neck. He caught himself in the act and shook his head.
Unbeknownst to him, the queen caught him looking and she walked close to him, very uncomfortably close. “So, what is your answer?” She asked, staring into the burning inferno of his eyes and feeling a shiver going down her own spine.
Neltharion didn’t budge at her close proximity, he knew it was exactly what she wanted.
“No.”
With that one word, Neltharion turned away from the queen and walked past the castle and the miniscule ponies, who made sure to stay out of his way, in the process.
The queen looked after him as he walked, slack jawed at his response. “Why not?” She yelled after him.
Neltharion turned his head back towards the queen.
“I am not interested.”
Valissa looked after him with annoyance as Neltharion was about to spread his wings and fly away from her when a sudden light came from above, making everypony and dragons turn towards the bright light.
Descending down into the air was Celestia, Luna and Discord.
Valissa gave a toothy grin at the newest arrivals. “Ahh, Princess Celestia and Luna, how nice it is to see you,” she greeted.
“Valissa, what are you doing in Equestria?” Celestia asked, not even bothering to greet the dragon queen. “You are supposed to announce your arrival minimum two weeks in advance so we can make way and avoid mass panic. Those were the conditions of our treaty.”
Smiling devilishly, Valissa scratched her chin. “It seems I must have forgotten. Oops.”
Both Luna and Celestia’s gazes hardened at the queen. Meanwhile, Discord had casually floated over to Neltharion, who was also focusing on the conversation that was about to unfold.
“So, what did we miss?” Discord asked with a yawn.
Neltharion looked at him with his usual fiery gaze.
“The dragon queen came and asked me to come with her to ‘visit’ her nation.”
Sitting up straight, Discord studied the ruby red and golden dragon who was talking with the two princesses. “That’s the dragon queen?”
Neltharion followed Discord’s gaze to the enormous golden and ruby dragon.
“Yes?”
The chaos spirit sat there in the air, observing the almost divine and monstrous being, deciding to rub his eyes to check if what he was seeing was real. “Wow,” he concluded, still observing her sleek ruby form.
A scarred eyebrow rose itself on Neltharion’s forehead.
“What do you mean by ‘wow’?”
Smiling teasingly, Discord came closer to the black dragon, not being much larger than an ant in his presence. “Nothing, nothing,” Discord chuckled. “And you said she came here to invite you to her nation?”
“Yes?”
A taunting and humored laugh escaped the chaos spirit as he understood what Neltharion did not.
Narrowing his burning eyes, a low growl escaped Neltharion as he closed the distance further between himself and Discord, letting his scorching hot breath touch the chaos spirit.
“What is so funny?”
It took a moment for Discord to realise his position. An enormous dragon that could easily be mistaken for a flying volcano was staring him down, so closely that he could get impaled on the foot long spikes that were sticking out from the massive metal jaw of the dragon in front of him.
But like so much else, this didn’t phase the chaos spirit. Disappearing in a flash of light, the spirit appeared beside the head of the black dragon.
“Ah, Neltharion ol’ buddy ol’ pal, it really is quite simple,” Discord taunted.
Neltharion straightened up and glanced to the chaos spirit while almost unconsciously his eyes began shifting to the dragon queen, who was also glancing back at him with a wry smile. Shaking his head lightly, Neltharion shifted his attention back towards the chaos spirit.
“Think about it, Nelly--”
It took all of Neltharion’s willpower not to put the taunting spirit in the dirt.
“--Why would the queen of all dragons come to Equestria, an act she has never done before by the way, and invite you to visit her nation?”
The answer was obvious, and Neltharion didn’t like it. Valissa was seeing him as a potential mate. It was the only explanation.
Brief haunting memories rose from beneath the surface in Neltharion’s mind, but as they began to take shape, he forced them away.
A rare feeling filled Neltharion’s very being and made him want to hide under his massive wings. Embarrassment. Why he was feeling it he had no idea, but thinking of how Valissa looked at him made his scorching hot scales feel all the warmer. Of course it didn’t help that Discord was looking at him with a taunting smile while wiggling his eyebrows.
The feeling made a low growl escape Neltharion’s throat and one of his claws found its way to his face. It made him angry that he felt such a thing. Embarrassment was something not fit of an immortal. It was beneath him in every sense of the word. Without further thinking, he let his black claws run down his face, the contact between his claws, scales and metal making a sound that was similar to a fusion between a metal grinder and nails on a chalkboard. Letting his claw once again down on the ground, Neltharion shook off the feelings of embarrassment and began walking over to the princesses and dragon queen, Discord floating right beside him as he walked.
It was a strange situation to say the least and honestly, it was one Celestia hoped she would never have to face. The dragon queen, Valissa the golden as she was titled, was standing before her, unannounced in Equestria. There was no way this could end well.
Through the past millennia, Valissa had made quite a name for herself around the world. The Golden was a title she was given by her own kin as her rule has been nothing but a golden age for Draconia. Before Valissa, civil wars and strife were common in Draconia as dragons are greedy and selfish, but that all changed when she rose as the last of an otherwise extinct race of dragons known as the Regius Fatalis, or the Fateful Royals. Named after a legend telling that their coming is a sign of great change. To ponies, griffins and any other non-dragon beings, Valissa was also known as the bringer of the red dawn.
This was a political nightmare to say the least, and one Celestia was whipping herself mentally for not expecting. Staring at the monstrous and serene beast before her, Celestia readied herself. She cleared her throat. “Valissa, you have broken section 36 of our treaty. But we are willing to let this go by if you leave Equestria and return to your country immediately.”
Instead of even acknowledging Celestia’s words, Valissa was simply inspecting her golden claws and brushing them against her belly as if she was trying to clean them, a sly smile appearing on her lips.
“Dragon queen, listen to our sister,” Luna yelled at the ruby giant. “We have no quarrels with thee. Surely you can understand you must leave.”
Valissa shifted her eyes to the princess's, them showing no emotion although she kept the smile. “Aah, but what if I have quarrels with you?”
Hoping the dragon queen wasn’t implying what Celestia thought she did, the white alicorn pressed on with her attack. “Valissa, violating our treaty could be reason for us to start a war,” Celestia said sternly at the dragon queen who simply looked back with a tired expression. “Both parts made it to uphold an otherwise fragile peace between Equestria and Draconia and our treaty has done just that for over four-hundred years. We do our utmost to uphold terms and keep our side of the treaty fulfilled, even going so far as allowing your kin to travel through the outskirts of Equestria, although it isn’t part of the treaty. Yet time and time again, your kin has broken your conditions of the treaty and until now we have let it slide, but this is too much, Valissa. Surely you must realise this as well. Dropping by like this, without warning, is unacceptable.” Celestia paused to observe the dragon queen. She was simply staring back at her and her sister. It had changed. No longer a tired look, but serious, almost angry. Celestia sighed, “we do not seek war, but you and your kin can’t simply go do what you--”
The loud laughter of the dragon queen interrupted Celestia. A cocky smile occupied her face, but there was a sense of viciousness beneath it, like an animal waiting to pounce at its target. “Me and my kin?” She whispered while eyeing the two flying pony princesses in front of her. It would be easy for Valissa to squash them like bugs. “You dare lecture me on my kins breaks in your treaty?” Narrowing her eyes at the princesses, Valissa looked down on them like the insolent insects they were to her. “Have you forgotten what your kind has done while we’ve had our ‘treaty’?”
With shaky eyes, Luna looked to her sister with confusion. “Sister, what is she talking about?”
Celestia didn’t answer her sister. Her mind was racing through the different things she had seen over the years. Reports of ponies getting killed in Draconia and the public outcries that had been avoided by keeping this information a secret. Various precious items having appeared on black markets all over Equestria and despite Celestia’s best intentions and attempts, she was still unable to stop the marketing of draconian items, which shouldn’t be in Equestria.
It was at this point that Neltharion and Discord closed in beside them, observing the conversation with slight confusion as it unfolded, but Valissa’s interest in Neltharion seemed to have disappeared for the moment as she kept staring down the two flying pony princesses.
The dragon queen tsked and lightly shook her head at Luna’s confusion. “You never told your own sister? You surprise me, Celestia,” Valissa giggled. “But I guess it was to be expected.” The dragon queen turned her head and her eyes focused on the small baby dragon, standing amongst the many ponies who were observing the situation before turning back to the princesses with a neutral expression. “Although it doesn’t make me any less furious!” Her words came out with a snarl and bared teeth. “This ‘treaty’ has been more beneficial to you than it has to my people in more ways than one. Out of respect for you, I have let this go by in the past, but now you dare lecture me on what my kin does on your side of the border?!” Valissa’s ruby scales began to glow as if they were on fire. “Your ponies dare trespass into my country despite the rules of our treaty, they dare explore, harvest our gems for the sake of profit, and commit heinous crimes with a punishment that leaves death being too good for them.” She turned to Neltharion with a sympathetic look. “Egg Stealing.”
Neltharion, Discord and Luna’s eyes widened at Valissa’s words. To dragons, egg stealing was the most despicable crime that existed. To steal someone’s unborn child was a crime punishable by death in Draconia, without exception.
Memories once again surged inside Neltharion and it made him want to bow his head in shame, but he kept his surprised look and forced the memories away before it came to that.
Turning her attention back to the flying pony princesses, Valissa once again kept a neutral expression. “Nevertheless I have done my utmost to keep ponies from entering Draconia and kept quiet, hoping to make the egg market stop entirely with the cooperation of your government, but it seems I was expecting too much from you and your little ponies, Celestia.” The dragon queen grinned hatefully at the princesses and a short manic laugh escaped her mouth. “And to make it all worse, I was willing to forgive your kind for the atrocities they have committed.” Once again, Valissa swiftly looked to the masses of ponies, including Twilight who had just landed amongst them and the baby dragon that was staying very close to her, before looking back to the two royal sisters with an angry frown. “That is...until I saw the drake at your newest princess’ side.”
Celestia’s eyes widened at Valissa’s words.
“He is one of the stolen eggs, there is no other explanation,” Valissa concluded. “Hatched by the magic of one of your unicorns I presume. You mock my kin and our treaty with his presence among your ponies,” Valissa growled, her tail starting to whip around. “Hatching a stolen egg that should have been returned the second you found it,” Valissa huffed in dissatisfaction. “How you continue to find more ways to mock me and my proud race astounds me, Celestia.”
Celestia gulped and composed herself. “Valissa, Spike’s egg-”
“So Spike is his name?” Valissa snorted. “How original.”
Ignoring Valissa’s interruption, Celestia continued. “Valissa, Spike’s egg had been marketed around Equestria for over a hundred-twenty years before we caught the ones who were selling it. If we had returned him and his parents hadn’t accepted him or they were nowhere to be found, your kind would have destroyed his egg! Letting his egg stay in Equestria ensured he would live, instead of never getting to experience--”
“Silence!” The dragon queen boomed, her enormous wings flaring into the air, momentarily blocking out the morning sun before retracting them back onto her back. “Despite your noble intentions, none of this was ever your decision to make!”
Celestia wanted to protest, but although she didn’t want to admit it, she knew the queen was right. According to their treaty, any items of Draconian origin had to be returned as soon as they were found, but when Celestia had first seen Spike’s egg, thinking of what might have happened to it if she handed it over, she just couldn’t get herself to do it.
“Despite all of your good will, you fail to see when something is your decision to make,” Valissa concluded. “Thus undermining my authority and the will of Draconia itself! It is as if you have no other intention than to mock my kin and their existence!” A furious growl escaped Valissa’s throat as she had closed the distance between herself and the two princesses with every sentence. It took everything for Valissa to keep herself in place and from swatting the white alicorn like a fly. She had pent up all of this anger for centuries and every fiber of her body told her to maul the princess for her insolence and lack of respect towards her and her kin.
“That is enough.”
The powerful dark voice shattered the rising tension and Valissa’s anger like a hammer on thin glass. All attention was put towards the black winged behemoth as he stood taller than Valissa, glaring down at all of them.
Beside the black dragon’s head, above his shoulder, was Discord who was sitting in the air with crossed arms and a bored frown. “Neltharion is right. This discussion ends now, you can banter all you want at the next diplomatic summit, now shut it, both of you, before you do something you’ll both regret.”
Neltharion nodded in agreement to the chaos spirit beside him, confirming his thoughts on Discord’s words.
“You are right, chaos spirit,” Valissa said, looking towards the royal sisters, her former fury seemingly gone with the wind. A cocky and superior smile appeared on her scaly lips. “We shall discuss this matter another time, and know that I am already very much looking forward to it.” She turned towards Neltharion who himself had turned and sat down to look at the mass of ponies close to the crystal castle, most of them talking, probably about what she and Celestia had been discussing although they probably couldn’t have heard what had been said.
Valissa walked up beside the black dragon and joined him in his observing of the crowd of ponies. She couldn’t help but smile at his curious look. “What will you do?”
Not even bothering to turn his head, Neltharion spoke, his voice neutral with an undertone of annoyance.
“I already told you I won’t come to your country.”
A snort escaped Valissa’s throat. “You’d prefer to stay among ponies who fear you, hate you over your own kind?”
“You are not my kind.”
His words offended Valissa more than he could ever realise, but it also sparked interest inside of her. If she and her dragons wasn’t of his kind, then who was?
“That didn’t answer my question,” Valissa sang.
A snort sounded from Neltharion, but he kept his eyes on the crowd of ponies.
“They have more than enough reason to fear us, but personally I don’t care.”
Valissa stepped in front of him and looked over him up and down before settling on his face. A short laugh escaped her throat. “Liar,” she whispered. Once again she turned her head towards the ponies, letting her side and wings rest against Neltharion’s forelegs. “These ponies will never accept us. To them we are nothing more than vicious animals which they think they can do anything to without consequences.” Valissa could see the fear in their eyes as she looked down upon the crowd of ponies and it angered her, disgusted her. “They are taught throughout their lives to fear us, to avoid us and think appearances higher than the personalities behind them.” A short taunting laugh escaped her throat. “They even do this amongst themselves. It is not uncommon for unicorns to shun other races simply because they think intelligence makes them worth more than others. The same goes for the pegasi. They believe athletic accomplishments surpasses all else and that if you do nothing, then your life is worth nothing. And lastly we have the earth ponies who believe that hard work is the only way to live, shunning all other ways of living. The only reasons these ponies are even under one flag is because of their precious princesses. Before them, they fought over basic things like food, water and even sunlight. It’s pathetic.”
Neltharion kept silent as Valissa spoke.
Turning her head back to face Neltharion, Valissa stared into his eyes, her own half-lid. She took the pressure of his legs and stroked his black neck with her serene golden claw, feeling the scorching heat coming off of his black scales, Neltharion’s expression remaining neutral as he looked back into her eyes. “Let me show you a paradise. A place where everyone is welcome as long as they have scales. Who knows, you might just enjoy it.”
Gears were grinding inside of Neltharion’s head. He was unsure of how to respond. He had never met a dragon quite like the one standing before him.
“Oh just kiss already!” Someone yelled behind them.
Neltharion felt something run through his very being again. Embarrassment. Again he didn’t understand why and again it made him angry. He turned his head and was not that surprised to see Discord floating in the air, a lion paw over his eyes as if he couldn’t watch. Beside him was Celestia who was scowling at Discord.
Sinking the lion paw, Discord looked apologetically to Celestia while smiling sheepishly. “Come On, everyone was thinking it.”
That comment only made him receive a scowl from Neltharion as well, Valissa stifling a giggle.
“At least go with her to Draconia, come on, Neltharion ol’ buddy,” Discord prompted, even going so far as to summon a fireproof suit and prodding Neltharion with his elbow. “Explore the world, we don’t know for how long you’ll be here afterall.”
Neltharion was annoyed with the draconequus to say the least, but he had to admit that the irritating mismatch of zoo animals was right. He might as well do some exploring while he was there. Maybe get some ideas for when he got home...if he ever got home.
“Very well, I’ll go.”
Discord couldn’t help but smile devilishly and knowingly at Neltharion’s response.
“But I expect you will do your utmost to find me a solution to my ‘temporary home’ problem in my absence.”
“Welp, you heard the lizard, Celestia,” Discord said, grinning while looking at the white alicorn behind him. “Looks like your librarians will their work cut out for them.” Discord yawned and scratched his lower back as he began to float away from the scene. “Meanwhile, I think I could do with a nice long nap, I haven’t had one of those since--”
“I was talking to you, Discord.”
The chaos spirit’s every movement stopped. His head slowly turned 180 degrees to face Neltharion once more, the rest of his body unmoving. “Come again?”
“Since I will be away, I would expect nothing less of you than to search for a solution in my place.”
Discord was stunned. He never would have expected work orders from a dragon. “B-but wouldn’t it be easier to have somepony else do it? And why does it have to be me? Maybe Twilight could--”
Neltharion felt tempted to laugh at the spirit but refrained from doing so.
“I’m sure you will do your utmost to find a way.”
The rest of Discord’s body slowly turned to be in the direction of his head. “I don’t believe I signed up not sign up for this,” he said, scowling at the black dragon with crossed arms.
A humored giggle came from Celestia beside him, although she did her best to suppress it. It of course earned her an unamused look from Discord. “Don’t worry, I’ll help.”
“As will I,” Luna announced, ascending down beside them from above.
“Excellent,” Valissa laughed. Stepping forward and slowly spreading her golden and ruby wings before turning her head back towards Neltharion. “Shall we?”
He hesitated a little, but after a few seconds Neltharion stepped forward, slowly spreading his enormous tattered wings, the burning blood within them clearly visible in the veins running through them.
“Lead the way.”
Valissa smiled at his response and began beating her beautiful wings.
Neltharion followed suit and began beating his black tattered wings, smoke appearing behind them in a trail as he flapped them.
Winds that resembled that of hurricanes went over the ground beneath, making everypony take cover behind the crystal castle as they watched the two beasts ascend higher and higher into the air.
With a final cheeky smile, the dragon queen flew over the castle, the morning sun's light bouncing off her scales, making the ground shine in a blinding golden glow every time the skin between her wings were hit and otherwise enveloping the ground in a sharp red light that made the ground look as if it was on fire.
Neltharion followed close behind, the burning smoke from his wings blocking out the sunlight and making the sky seem as if it was on fire.
And so they flew, the skies has never having been darker during the day as the giants blocked out the sun with their shadows alone.