Spike: The Dragon Princess

by IndiBrony

Peace Talks

King Lydda lead the way to the castle. Above a large wooden drawbridge hung a wide banner held up by iron spikes on both sides and in the middle. The banner was made from coloured fabric, depicting various things from rolling hills to armed men with swords gathering at a settlement and appearing to slay a manticore; the images separated by gold fabric and lined in golden tassels. On the roof of the castle, metal poles stood tall, the breeze occasionally flapping the flags attached to them, though not enough to clearly make out which flag it was.

The drawbridge was held up by long iron chains hooked through loops nailed to the wall of the castle. A couple of men came running out to untie the chains from the anchors they were tied to on the floor. Then, gripping the chains tightly, the two men slowly lowered the bridge for the King, his men, and the Princesses to enter. The drawbridge slammed into the soft ground, imprinting itself on the floor. The two men then pried open the two giant, arching doors that lead inside and stood just inside them to salute their King as he passed by.

Through the castle entrance there was a courtyard; the walls were lined with plants and flowers of various colours. By both corners were entrances to stairwells the guards could climb up and down from the castle walls. In front of them stood a large cobblestone house which stood tall above the outer walls. The doors which lead inside were made of a dark, thick wood, and were engraved with flowers. Here, King Lydda dismissed all but two of his men.

The doors were pulled open from inside, revealing a large, open hall. Made from the same cobbles as the rest of the castle, it was dark and dainty. Two corridors sprouted off down either side and in front of them was an open staircase which split at the back wall and spiralled around the edges of the walls, leading up to the higher levels. Atop, where the stairs split, was another door. The King took a hold of the door handles in each hand and lead the way into what looked like a large dining room.

In the centre of the room was a long, wooden table, stretching lengthways from the entrance at the front to the large glass windows at the rear. The wood was a light pine colour and draped in a long, red table cloth complete with golden trim which draped over the head and foot ends of the table, though not the sides. At the ends where the cloth overhung the table, the cloth narrowed to a point and a single golden tassel dropped down from said point.

Surrounding the table were chairs of similar ilk. They, too, were pine, cushioned with red felt on the seat and back rests and fastened down with golden pins. Lydda made his way to his chair, placing himself elegantly at the head of the table. The Princesses traversed up toward the top of the table and both awkwardly sat on chairs a couple of spaces down from the head. Unfortunately, both were left uncomfortable as the chairs were not designed to accommodate their specially shaped plots. The two guards who came in stood behind them a little further down the table, standing completely still with their spears pointed skyward. Their armour glistened in the sunlight which had just began peering out from between the clouds.

The King coughed lightly, staring at the Princesses for a moment before opening the talks. "So..." he began, his voice reverberating quietly. A long pause followed; the silence was deafening. He eventually took in a breath and continued, "You've come here seeking peace. Where would you like to start?" he asked, observing the Princesses, waiting to see which one would begin.

"Actually," Twilight opened, "what you said out there; you were right, I know nothing about you or your people. Perhaps we could start from there. Where do your kind come from?"

Lydda grinned in amusement at the question, "We originally came from the west many aeons ago, from a large and magnificent expanse of land you ponies now refer to as Equestria."

Twilight's eyes opened wide and her eyebrows scrunched in such a way that suggested stunned surprise. "You're from Equestria?"

"Well, our ancestors were." he clarified, "We were exiled."

"By who?" Twilight queried.

Lydda was bemused by the ignorance shown. "Princess Celestia." he confessed.

Twilight shook her head, "Celestia has banished creatures from Equestria before, yes: Tirek, Discord, Sombra, Nightmare Moon and The Sirens amongst many more, but she always has her reasons. I doubt she would have thrown your ancestors out of Equestria without reason."

"Her reason was control. Nothing more. Our ancestors fought alongside ponies for generations. Megan Williams was there when Tirek was banished to Tartarus having been defeated by Rainbow of Light. More were there at the fall of Ponyland. Our ancestors even assisted Celestia in locating the Elements of Harmony, though were blissfully unaware of the power of the Elements. Celestia saw only power after becoming a wielder of the Elements. She destroyed an entire Kingdom for the sake of King Sombra, she punished Discord by sentencing him a thousand years consciously entombed in stone, and banished Nightmare Moon to a life of solitude for a millennium. These are hardly the actions of the all encompassing leader she claims to be."

Twilight was miffed, unable to let the King mercilessly attack Celestia's name, "She was defending Equestria!" she growled, "Tirek tried to take the magic of Equestria for himself, Discord brought pain and suffering, King Sombra enslaved an entire Kingdom, and Nightmare Moon almost destroyed Equestria! She had no other option!" the Princess argued.

King Lydda, however, continued to berate her mentor. "The Princess demanded power and used what ever excuse she deemed fit. If it wasn't in the name of what she called 'peace', 'love', 'tolerance' or 'harmony', she'd banish it. Our ancestors saw through her tyranny, so when Nightmare Moon challenged her, they stood against Celestia, but were eventually overpowered, having relied on Equestrian magic which had been stripped from them. They escaped Equestria and were forced to make settlements in the harsh eastern lands to avoid capture by the Princess and the EUP. We've been damned to obscurity ever since, living on the outskirts of the land your Princess fought so hard to control."

Twilight dismissed his claims of fighting alongside Luna. "Now I've read plenty about the history of the Celestial War, but there's no mention of any humans being involved."

Lydda chortled, "Of course not. You don't want your unrelenting followers to realise you attempted genocide."

Twilight still denied the allegations, "She would never do such a thing!" she persisted.

Cadance jumped in to the conversation, backing up Twilight, "She's right. This doesn't sound anything like the Celestia we know."

"Then perhaps you don't know your Princess nearly as much as you think." King Lydda claimed.

Twilight sighed, contemplating a solution, "Okay," she began, deliberating over every word she was about to say, "and what about this war between your kind and the dragons, how did that start?"

The King took a moment to mull over the events before explaining, sitting back in his chair and relaxing himself. "I was dealing with some diplomatic matters with the griffons when I was informed that a dragon had perched itself inside the boundaries of one of our villages," he explained, spreading his arms in such a way as to signify that the village they were in was the one being referred to, "and cut off one of our land's primary sources of fresh water."

"The water from the mountains and the lake?" Cadance asked.

"Precisely." the King confirmed. "The locals had tried to peacefully relocate the dragon, but he refused. After a few days, the village was completely bereft of water and the villagers were becoming ill. They sent a message out to me to help them deal with the situation, to which, of course, I agreed. I brought my finest men with me. We reasoned with the dragon at first, but when peaceful resolution seemed impossible, we resorted to more drastic measures. The dragon fled."

"I'm guessing it didn't end there, though..." Twilight presumed.

"Correct. The dragon returned days later with others in tow. They scorched a large portion of the village. Lives were lost. I couldn't sit by and watch the slaughter of my people, so we left the village in search of the dragons' dwelling."

"Which you found." Cadance added.

"Indeed." Lydda acknowledged, "Worse still, my daughter went missing not long after that."

"Your daughter?" Cadance questioned, "Why would you bring her?"

"She enjoys accompanying me on my royal duties. She'd have it no other way." Lydda smiled.

"So you weren't attacking the dragons without just cause; you were protecting your people and trying to find your daughter." Twilight stated.

The King saw Twilight's first statement as an attack on his honour, and replied as such, "Of course I had just cause. What kind of leader would I be if I encouraged unprovoked violence? I'll leave that to you ponies and those dragons, thank you."

Twilight snorted at the suggestion of ponies being violent and was about to reply, but her attention was taken by the sight out of the window. She stared in disbelief at the approaching danger. Cadance caught her glare and glanced out of the window. The pink alicorn shot up off her chair in shock. King Lydda observed the ponies' sudden fright in confusion.

"Look out!" Twilight screamed. The room became temporarily engulfed in darkness, spurring the King to leap from his seat and find out what was happening.

"It's them!" he shouted, as three extremely large dragons circled around, torching the village and the fields with their fiery breath. The King darted out of the room and out of the castle gates, drawing his sword as he sprinted. "At arms!" he bellowed. As the villagers screamed and fled, dozens of armed men marched toward the dragons, hurling spears and drawing their swords. Twilight and Cadance galloped out of the castle to help in the battle.

As Lydda's men ran to attack the dragons, Twilight and Cadance both attempted containment spells on the dragons. The spells, however, were deflected. "How can they shield themselves from our magic?" Twilight yelled.

Cadance pointed out gems they were wearing around their necks. "They're Manifest Crystals! They're extremely powerful. They give the wearer a natural magical defence, and they can also strike with crystals which shoot up from the ground. Be careful, and stay off the ground!" Cadance exclaimed.

Suddenly, and without obvious reason, the dragons ceased torching the village and began to flee. King Lydda did not take kindly to the attack. "They have threatened us for the last time!" he decreed. "This ends now!" he yelled. His men cheered as he swung his sword in the direction of the Dragon Realm. "Onward!" he ordered.

Cadance and Twilight looked at each other in horror. "We need to get back to the Dragon Realm before they do." Cadance declared, "We have to warn them!"

"No time to waste. Let's go!" Twilight agreed, as the Princesses beat their wings and soared off towards the Realm.

Comments

[The Great Derpsby]

The kings really need to get over this habit of misplacing their princesses.

Also, King Lyddi-Lyddi, Twilight has known Celestia longer than you. I doubt you talked to her even once.