Symphony of Destruction

by zeroxwolfx

Chapter 2: A Royal Emissary

Chapter 2: A Royal Emissary

“That’s it men! Circle him up! Spears at the ready! Hurry Twilight Sparkle, get away from him while you can!” shouted Lieutenant Steele Hooves. His Pegasus soldiers were aiming their spears at the silver dragon, trying to corner him.

Twilight Sparkle jumped in front of Steele Hooves, glaring at him angrily, “Lieutenant! Order your soldiers to back away at once!” she commanded.

The Lieutenant brushed her aside, aiming his spear at Aardunkay, his face looking ready for battle, “Stand aside Twilight, we’ve got this monster cornered!”

Twilight jumped in front of him again, putting her hoof over his spear, “Lieutenant, this is the princess’s royal guest! You WILL order your soldiers to stand down!” she said, her voice booming with authority.

Steele Hooves gasped at this, “HE, is the princess’s guest? But… he’s a…” stuttered the Pegasus.

"Yes, he’s a dragon. Now stand down Lieutenant, this is Princess Celestia’s oldest friend, and is to be treated with the utmost respect,” said twilight to the other Pegasus soldiers.

Aardunkay did not look in the least bit threatened by this; he simply sat there calmly, watching the situation as if it did not involve him at all. Lieutenant Steele Hooves raised his hoof to order the soldiers to move away, then he approached the dragon, “Please forgive me sir, in my haste I mistook you for the enemy.”

The Silverlight shook his head, and waved his claw at him peacefully, “It is alright master guard, you are right to take such caution against a dragon, they are not all so friendly as myself.”

Twilight Sparkle approached Steele Hooves and saluted him, “Thank you for your protection Lieutenant, but I have returned from my duty, and can now protect Ponyville myself should threat arise. You may relieve your ponies of duty, and return to Canterlot.”

Steele Hooves returned the Salute, “As you wish Twilight Sparkle” he turned to the dragon, “Farewell my lord, do again forgive me for my haste” he said before bowing, and ordering his Pegasus soldiers to fly off. They took off into the distance, landing at Ponyville, and rounding up the pony soldiers, before they all took off in unison to return to Canterlot.

“Well… that must be an interesting first impression of our fair town…” said Twilight with a blush and a grin on her face.

Aardunkay nodded to her, “Indeed, perhaps the rest of your friends will not be so hasty?” he asked with a smile.

The trio walked down the rest of the hill, and came to the edge of town. As they entered Ponyville, a couple of the ponies in town gasped at the mid-sized dragon walking down their streets. Judging by some of their chatter, the guards must have fore-warned them about the draconic guest that was about to enter. And so they did not flee, or cry out in terror, they simply kept a respectable distance from him, and would often stare at him. Being not as large or ferocious looking did help subside their fears, but all ponies seemed to have an inbred suspicion to dragon kind, no matter how safe or friendly they looked. The way the dragon carried himself helped his appearance too. He had very regal, almost royal walk to him, which was aided by the view of his shimmering, lustrous silver scales.

Twilight approached her library, “This is where I live Mr. Silverlight, the Ponyville library!” she said walking backwards, before she noticed her friends, Applejack, and Big Macintosh where at her entry way. Big Macintosh had his tool set, and appeared to be making repairs on her door.

“Well hey there Twi! I heard the dragon attack while I was out buckin’ apples on the farm, and came over as fast as I could. When I saw what that varmint done to your door, Big Mac ‘n me decided we’d come on over and fix ‘er up for ya!” said Applejack, waving over to Twilight as she took a break from her repairs. She spotted the silver dragon and smiled at him, “Hey there big fella, you a friend of Spike’s?” Applejack didn’t show any fear from the dragon. She figured Twilight had enough sense not to walk up alongside something into town that was going to rip ponies to shreds. And being a dragon, she just figured that he must have had some sort of relation to spike.

Twilight smiled to her friend, “Hello Applejack!” she cleared her throat, “This is the royal guest of Princess Celestia, Silverlight Aardunkay,” she said bowing before the dragon again.

Applejack walked up to him in a friendly manner and stuck out a hoof for him to shake. Aardunkay looked at it for a moment, not quite sure what to do. Eventually AJ grabbed his large claw and gave it a shake, “Good to meet ya Mr. Aardunkay! Name’s Applejack, but you can just call me AJ. I run the famous Apple Family Apple Orchard here in Ponyville!”

Aardunkay smiled at her, returning his claw back to himself, “It is good to meet you AJ. Dare I say that you are the first pony I have met in Ponyville that was not taken aback at the sight of a dragon.”

“Well shoot, seeing ya walk into town next to my good friend Twilight, I figured you two were friends. And any friend of Twi’s is a friend of mine, ain’t mattering how big or scaly! Will ya be staying long in Ponyville Aardunkay?” she asked.

The Silverlight shook his head, “I am afraid not dear AJ. I am only staying in Ponyville for the night, until Princess Celestia returns in the morrow.”

“Aw that’s too bad. Well me and Big Mac were just about to go on a lunch break, would you like to join is sir?” asked Applejack.

The dragon raised an eyebrow, and scratched his scaly chin for a moment, “Hmm, I am rather hungry from my journey… but my diet may not quite be the same as you pony folk. Being in the far lands for so long, my tongue has only acquired the taste of gems.”

Applejack thought to herself for a moment, before she came up with an idea, “Hey! My friend Rarity just got a whole bunch of gems from her last excavation, but then her latest order cancelled. I betchya she’d let ya have some of her gems, see’in as you’re a royal guest and all!”

Twilight jumped at the thought, “Applejack what a great idea! Mr. Silverlight, would you like to follow me to my friend Rarity so we can get you something to eat?”

“Thank you Twilight Sparkle, lead the way,” he turned to Applejack to lift a paw to wave to her, “Goodbye AJ, perhaps we will meet again,” and with that he turned tail around, to follow Twilight Sparkle, the orange earth pony waving away at them.

Twilight and Aardunkay came upon the tall, beautifully decorated, spired building that made up carrousel boutique. She knocked on the door once before entering; the Silverlight was just short enough to be able to make it through the door, albeit he had to duck his head a little. Inside, the unicorn Rarity was cleaning up her supplies, she was rather disappointed to have her large order canceled, but she beamed with joy as she saw her friend, “Twilight, darling how are you?” she said, before she laid eyes upon the luminously scaled Silverlight Aardunkay. She gasped, and her eyes went wide as she gazed at him, “And… who IS your friend?”

“Rarity, this is the Princess’s royal guest, Silverlight Aardunkay. He’s staying in Ponyville until the princess returns from her royal business in the morning” said Twilight.

Rarity knelt gracefully before him, “And what an honor it is to meet such an esteemed guest! Welcome Mr. Aardunkay to Carrousel Boutique, I am Lady Rarity.”

“The honor is mine Miss Rarity” said the silver dragon, placing his claw upon his chest as he bowed to her slightly.

“If you don’t mind me saying Mr. Aardunkay, what a wonderfully exquisite dragon you are!” she said as she walked around him, her eyes gazing at his shiny, well-kept scales, “Forgive my enthusiasm good sir, but I have quite a high taste for all things luminous and beautiful. And your scales certainly don’t fall short of that! Oh I’m surprised you aren’t royal yourself, such poise and dignity you carry yourself with!”

The dragon smiled and pulled his head down slightly, a bit taken back by all of the compliments, “Well thank you dear Rarity…” he could see Spike frowning jealously out of the corner of his eye.

Twilight interrupted her, “The Silverlight was feeling rather hungry after his long journey Rarity, and we were wondering if you might loan him some of your gems, if that’s alright with you of course” asked Twilight Sparkle.

Rarity gasped at this, “Oh but of course! It’s a privilege to have a royal guest over! Please, please, make yourself at home sir, let me just go get those gems for you. And let me make you some tea Twilight, I was just about to pour myself some” she said before running off. She returned later with an entire trunk full of variously colored gems, and carrying two tea cups, which she set on the table for herself and Twilight, “Help yourself Mr. Aardunkay…” she caught sight of Spike, “…oh and you too of course my little Spikey!”

Aardunkay laid himself down neatly next to the table, and began to take gems into his maw, one at a time, eating rather diligently.

“Now then, Good sir, why haven’t I seen such a luminous dragon around before? One would think it would be quite easy to spot such a lovely creature!” she said batting her eyes slightly at him.

Twilight nodded to him, “Yes, I’ve actually wondered about that, where do you come from Mr. Silverlight?”

“I come from a land east of Equestria. In our tongue it is known as Dracolas, or dragon lands. It is one of two lands on either side of Equestria that we dragons make roost,” said Aardunkay, slipping another gem into his mouth.

“To the east… I think I may have been there before, at least a little ways into it, it didn’t look too different from Equestria” said Twilight.

“Hmm you must hot have been far in at all then. Deep inside the east lay many mountains and volcanos. It is sometimes called the ash lands, very different from Equestria indeed I’d say,” said Aardunkay as he ate another ruby.

“Well, wherever you come from, I hope it’s filled with as many glamorous and polite dragons such as yourself!” exclaimed Rarity.

The silver dragon sighed and shook his head wearily, “No I’m afraid not miss Rarity. Most dragons are not as polite, or well-mannered as myself.”

Twilight Sparkle nodded in agreement, “That seems to be true for pretty much every case I’ve encountered dragons. The only exceptions I can think of are you, and Spike.” The unicorn had had many previous run-ins with dragons, all of them no so pleasant, and some of them deadly.

The four of them ate, and talked away about miniscule things the rest of the evening. Aardunkay continued to ask about how Equestria had been doing the last thousand years or so, and was particularly interested to hear the tale of how Twilight and her friends saved Canterlot from the changeling invasion. Twilight told him of her many adventures in Ponyville; about her confrontation with Nightmare Moon, about the parasprite swarm, about the red dragon, her assistant spike, and of course, about her brother and Princess Cadence’s wedding. Although he listened to her with intrigue, he had very vague, or no answers at all to Twilights many questions about the distant past of Equestria. He was also quite vague about the nature of the lands he lived in. From what Twilight could gather, she guessed they weren’t particularly pleasant places, as he didn’t seem too happy to discuss them.

The sun began to set on the horizon, and they all decided they had a long enough evening together, “It has truly been a pleasure to meet you Silverlight Aardunkay, I hope I have the fortune of meeting again!” she said with joy, the unicorn more or less sad simply because such an illustrious creature had to leave her presence.

“Of course lady Rarity, but before I go, perhaps I might offer you a gift for your collection of fine articles” the silver dragon reached down with his maw, biting off one of his gleaming silver scales. The moment he plucked it off, it grew back to its original size, before the dragon had shrunk himself. He bowed, and handed the now quite large scale to Rarity.

“For… for me? Oh thank you kind sir, thank you! I shall treasure it always!” she said, bedazzled at the large shimmering scale before her. She bowed again politely before the dragon, as he and Twilight made their way out.

“Will you be comfortable sleeping in the library tonight Aardunkay?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

“That will be fine Twilight, I am used to sleeping on much harder surface, the soft wood will be most comfortable,” said the dragon.

Twilight Sparkle went straight to work, cataloging all of her missing books, and getting her nightly chores done, before she hopped up onto her bed. Next to her, spike took sleep, the little dragon having graduated from his little sleeping bed to using Twilight’s guest bed. The Silverlight meanwhile simply laid himself on the middle of the floor, nestling up against himself as he prepared to sleep. Twilight’s mind would slowly wind down from the excitement of the day, and she would drift off to sleep. Her dreams would be full of questions, as to what more she would learn tomorrow, of her new mysterious friend. Silverlight Aardunkay slept lightly, for although he was indeed happy to be back in Equestria, he dreaded the news he knew he would eventually have to deliver to Princess Celestia.

As she usually did, Twilight Sparkle awoke at the very rising of the sun. She found Aardunkay standing majestically outside on her balcony to greet the sunrise. It was at this moment that she first saw a look of worry on his face, “Good morning sir” she said as she trotted next to him, sitting down to admire the view of the sun, “Is something on your mind?” she asked curiously.

Aardunkay sighed, “Oh it’s probably nothing Twilight, just a superstitious old dragon worrying too much,” he said giving her a little smile.

“I might know a thing or two about worrying too much…” said Twilight, returning his smile with a grin. She gently patted his arm with her hoof, and went inside to do her morning chores, wake spike, and prepare breakfast.

By the time Twilight Sparkle had finished her duties, the sun had rose a bit higher in the sky, sharing it’s brightness with the land beneath it, creating a beautiful glow off of the land. Then the sun seemed to shine even brighter in the sky for a moment. Then Twilight realized that the beautiful light was coming from Princess Celestia herself, as she lowered her luminous self towards Ponyville. The glorious sun princess lowered herself onto the balcony with Aardunkay. Both he and Twilight Sparkle knelt before her. The princess approached the silver dragon with a warm smile on her face, “My dearest friend, it has been far too long since I have seen you. It warms my heart that I was able to meet you again” she turned to her student, “And I thank you Twilight Sparkle for greeting my old friend and acting as his guide for his time in Equestria,” Twilight nodded to her teacher, and the princess turned back to the Silverlight, “How have you found the fair town of Ponyville my old friend?” she asked.

Aardunkay nodded, “It is a lovely hamlet, princess. I do not believe I have ever seen such kindness from creatures,” he looked away at the view of the town with a look of sadness, “I only wish that I could stay here longer. Twilight and her friends have shown me much welcome and warmth.”

“You will yet see it again my dear old friend. But for now I must extend an invitation to you, to join me in my castle in Canterlot, so that I may formally welcome you, and all of the Silverlight to Equestria.” She looked to Twilight, and Spike as he poked his head out of the corner, “And of course I would also invite my most faithful student, and her assistant to join me!” said the princess with a chuckle.

“I would be honored to join you Princess Celestia. Come Twilight Sparkle, and Carthanax, fly upon my back and I will take you with me,” said Aardunkay.

Twilight Sparkle climbed upon the back of the silver dragon, along with her assistant Spike, and they all flew off into the sunset, making their way towards Canterlot. As they arrived the sun was higher in the sky, and the guards welcomed back the princess with a royal precession. They landed outside of the main hall of the castle, and Princess Celestia led them inside. Twilight Sparkle and Spike hopped off, and stepped to the side, as the princess took her rightful place at the head of the stairs at the end of the long hallway. Silverlight walked along the red carpet below her, and knelt before the princess. Twilight had been in this room twice before. Once, to discover a way to defeat Discord with the elements of harmony, and a second time, during her brother’s wedding.

“Silverlight Aardunkay, fifteen thousand years ago to the day, I proclaimed that all the dragons of the land were barred entrance to Equestria” she paused her speech, looking more gentler at Aardunkay, “And I also said, that should there ever be a time when dragons could cleanse the darkness that was in their hearts, and live true and virtuous lives, I would readily accept them back into this fair country.” With a smile she approached Aardunkay, and she bowed her head, touching her horn onto his shoulders, “And you have done just that my good friend. It is with great joy, that I, Princess Celestia, decree that the Silverlight dragons and all virtuous dragons are hereby welcomed back to Equestria!”

Aardunkay bowed before her, lips curling up into a smile, and his eyes shimmering with affection for his new princess, “Thank you… thank you so much Princess Celestia. I am happy to return to this land my princess.”

Celestia turned to Spike, “And I would like you, my dear Spike, to correspond to the Silverlight Enclave and with permission from Aardunkay, I believe that you should join them.”

Spike slowly approached the princess, “Princess Celestia… Mr. Silverlight called be by a different name, Carthanax. And he said that you might know more about where I came from. And well… I was just wondering, where did come from your majesty?” he asked curiously, and with a deep wonderment in his eyes.

The Princess smiled and nodded as she approached Spike, “Yes spike, I think it is fair to you that you know the origins of your past. You see spike, several years ago, the great organization of dragons known as the Silverlight Enclave did not know how I would receive them. They did not know if they could fully trust pony-kind yet. So they delivered to me a small purple and green egg, in the hopes if I raised you to be true and good, they could return to me themselves, and one day invite you into the Silverlight Enclave, to act as a correspondent, and emissary to dragon-kind into Equestria” she put a look of concern on her face, and knelt down towards spike, putting a hoof gently on his head, “I apologize if I did not tell you this sooner dear spike, but you were such a young dragon, and I did not want to burden you with political concerns. Will you forgive me Spike?” she asked him.

“Of course your majesty, I’m just so happy, so happy to learn that I have such an important part in pony and dragon relations! I am… very honored that you think I’m ready to act as an emissary, princess” he said blushing a bit. Then a look of concern struck his face as he turned to look towards Twilight Sparkle, “But, your majesty, what about Twilight and…”

Celestia raised a hoof smiling, “Don’t worry my dear spike, you can conduct your emissary duties from the library in Ponyville. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on any lessons on friendship after all!” she said winking at him.

Spike smiled joyously, relieved that he wouldn’t have to be wrenched away from his most beloved care taker, Twilight Sparkle. He had never known a mother in his life, but if he was ever to call somepony his mother, Twilight would have been her, even though he would surely never admit this to her. The little dragon confidently approached Aardunkay, and knelt before him.

“Carthanax, Spike, do you pledge to never let darkness, greed, or tyranny take your heart? And do you pledge your allegiance to the Silver Enclave dragons, Princess Celestia? And do you pledge to defend the borders of this nation, Equestria, till death takes you?” said Aardunkay, his head risen and poised seriously now.

Spike looked up to the big silver dragon. He was quite honored to finally be taking a serious role. This would be his first big responsibility in his life, “I swear, till death takes me!” he said enthusiastically.

“Then I gladly accept you into our enclave Spike. But for now, I’m afraid I must discuss dire news with the princess…” he said with a heavy heart.

The princess was taken back a bit by this, but she listened carefully, “As you know Princess, most dragons simply revert back to a bestial nature, leaving themselves susceptible to greed, and other evil draconic desires. But among those dragons, myself and the Silverlight Enclave vowed to turn those desires away, and submit to a live of virtue. However, aside from those two groups of dragons, there is another group, whom fully embraces their evil nature, saying that it is the ‘truest form of draconic expression’. They dive deep into their dark natures, magnifying them. These are mostly younger, and more violent dragons and they hate all pony kind, and would harm them if they could” Aardunkay looked to the ground, with a look of dread on his face, “But what I believe most terrifying, is that they worship their forebear…”

Celestia gasped at this, her eyes widening with fear. Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, “I think perhaps they already have tried to attack us. Yesterday morning, a small green dragon attacked Ponyville. He crashed into my library and started eating my books!” she said, a look of anger coming across her face as she remembered her stolen books.

Aardunkay gasped, and turned to look at Twilight with fear on his face, “He was eating your books Twilight Sparkle? Are you absolutely sure of this?”

“Yes sir, why, do you think this is significant?” she asked curiously, never thinking too much about the incident from the dragon’s point of view. She always thought he was just trying to wreak havoc while he was stuck in the library’s entryway.

“That is most dreadful news indeed. You see Twilight Sparkle, much like your assistant Spike has the ability to send and receive parchments through means of magical fire, so do select other dragons. I believe that the attacker you met wasn’t eating your books for nourishment; I believe he was using his breath to transport them back to whatever cave the dark dragons come from, in order to use their knowledge for malicious purposes. Do you remember which books he took?” he asked urgently.

Twilight Sparkle thought for a moment, “Um, let me think… A few books were missing on mechanical properties, engineering, and magically powered devices. Nothing that couldn’t be replaced and no super rare books were stolen though”

“This is most concerning… whatever they plan to do with this knowledge, it cannot be good” Aardunkay thought for a moment, pacing in the long hallway, “We must discover what they intend to do…” he said with finality.

Celestia stepped forward, “I appreciate your willingness to help our nation so soon after being welcomed to it Aardunkay, but they will recognize you, and you will accomplish nothing by charging in their fool heartedly,” she said raising a hoof in protest.

“But my princess, we MUST discover the nature of these attacks, we must discover what they intend to do with this knowledge!” he said trying to change her mind.

Spike stepped forward, “I’ll do it,” everypony, and dragon in the room looked to him, surprised, “I will go,” he repeated, a determined look on his face.

“Spike…” Twilight Sparkle tried to interrupt.

“You said that it was mainly younger dragons right? Well… I can get in there, and make them think I’m one of them, and I’ll get the information that you want, without getting caught.” The little dragon was quite determined, and he did have a rather sound plan.

“Carthanax, you must realize what would happen to you if you ARE caught… you would…” the princess raised a hoof to interrupt Aardunkay.

She approached him slowly, and knelt down next to him, leaning in close, “Spike, are you sure that you can do this? Are you sure that you are ready?” she asked him, while looking deep into his eyes. The princess would surely know if the dragon’s resolution would falter. Spike nodded to her confidently, and the princess accepted his assurance, “Then come with me everyone, we must prepare to infiltrate, the lair of our enemy.”