Chapter 7
Horseshoe Bay may have been cleared of its snow by the local pegasi weather patrol, but the cold breath of winter remained. Hundreds of tents dotted the coast and up into the parading grounds, where the negotiations were to be held. There was scarcely an open space anywhere, nearly every inch of the bay was inhabited in some way.
Twilight felt great pressure in her head, for she had expected there to be a lot, but this was waaaay more than what she anticipated. There had to have been at least three-hundred griffons, most of them armored, and there must have been a miscommunication with Ember, because there were hundreds of dragons.
Starfall felt an immediate discomfort in having told Twilight otherwise. “Twilight, I swear to you I didn’t know anything about all this….”
“No, no, it’s alright Starfall.” She replied, trying her best to calm both him and herself. “I suppose we had to expect some kind of surprise like this.”
“Land sakes….look at all that….” Applejack said quietly, the others lining the platform alongside her.
The area was split into zones; each nation was only allowed to set up their camps within their own zone, with the central area serving as the only vacant space. There were dragons and griffons everywhere, all within shouting distance, yet none of them interacted with each other in any way. Just by looking into the moving crowds, everypony could tell there was a tension in the air, one that weighed heavily on all of them.
“I think we should go find Ember.” Spike suggested.
“No way!” Rainbow argued. “We should go find Gilda first.”
“Perhaps we should avoid the griffons for now, Rainbow.” Starlight said in return. “They think us ponies attacked their king. I agree with Spike, we should talk to the dragons first.”
A dragon nearby brushed past a griffon and was shoved backwards because of it. The two butted heads and others of their kind joined in on the conflict, starting what looked like the initiation of a fight. A bright light halted the quarreling dragons and griffons, who looked to see Princess Celestia with her wings spread out wide.
“That is enough.” She said calmly. “All of you return to your zones; we did not organize this summit for it to become a brawl.” The group of instigators split apart and they returned to their areas, going about their business. Celestia then flew over to the ponies on the platform.
“Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, a hoof raised in concern. “Why are there so many more griffons and dragons here than expected?”
“I’m afraid they are here as insurance. Both King Gale and former Dragon Lord Torch brought them for fear of another nation attacking them during the summit.” Celestia replied with a grim face. “Luna and I have been trying our best to keep these fights from escalating, but it is proving most difficult.”
“Are Cadence and Shining Armor here yet?” Twilight asked.
Celestia shook her head. “They have yet to arrive, but we and the Crystal Empire share adjacent zones, so they will be joining you shortly.” Looking around at the rest of them, the princess continued. “Our zone is to the north-west, please make yourselves at home in the cabin constructed for you there. It is getting late, be sure to get plenty of rest. The negotiations begin tomorrow at noon, please take care, all of you.”
Without another word, or a chance for somepony to reply, Celestia took off back into the sky. She, Luna, and a detachment of royal guards patrolled the grounds to stop any conflicts that they could find.
“Alright,” Twilight said, turning to her friends. “All of you head to the cabin and get comfortable, we may be here for a while. Spike, Starfall, you two come with me; we’re going to see Ember.”
“Can’t we come with you, Twilight?” Rarity asked, worried about them.
Twilight shook her head, but smiled. “No, we’ll be fine, and we’ll make our way to the cabin as soon as we can.”
“Okay, just be careful, alright?” Starlight said to them.
This time, Spike nodded. “Oh don’t worry, we will.”
The group of friends separated in opposite directions; Twilight, Spike, and Starfall headed south-east as the other seven went north-west.
Discord emerged from the train and placed his claw and paw on his back, stretching it out and hearing a few cracks in the process. Glancing around, he spotted Fluttershy walking beside Shadow and immediately followed.
The dragon zone had only been inhabited for about a day, and it was already a mess. Fire-bitten grounds and blackened rocks dotted the surface as well as a few gemstones here and there. The dragons themselves wrestled about and breathed fire up in the air, a lot of them acting no different than usual, despite being at such an important event.
Spike managed to grab a few of the gems as they went, making for good snacks along the way. He sat up on Starfall’s back, the pegasus’ armor proving to be of little problem since the plates made for a smooth surface.
Twilight lead the trio, heading towards the small hill where she could see a makeshift house of stone, made specifically for a dragon and their constant fiery breath. She was relieved that Ember allowed for so few bigger dragons to come to the summit. She could only see three of four of them, one of them being the Dragon Lord’s father, Torch. Although the smaller dragons tended to be more rowdy and stubborn, the larger ones had a massive intimidation factor about them, even though they were mostly all calm and independent.
The princess and her companions were ignored for the most part as they traversed the dragon’s zone, reaching the stone house with nearly no attention on them whatsoever.
Scorch stood in wait for them, assuming that they would come as soon as they arrived. “Princess.” She said in her bold voice, nodding as she did.
“Hello again, Scorch.” Twilight replied.
The silver dragon ignored the friendly greeting and pulled open the door, the two ponies entering as she followed and closed it behind her. Ember seemed to have been waiting for them; she rose up and walked over as soon as they entered.
“Good, you’re here, we have to hurry!” The dragon managed in a single breath.
“Huh?” Spike answered first, scratching his head in confusion.
Twilight was with Spike. “Hurry for what? What’s happening?”
“My father is preparing to attack the griffon’s zone!” Ember said frantically. “I tried talking him down, but he’s not listening to me!”
“He’s gonna what!?” Spike gasped.
“Come on, quick!” Ember replied, running outside as the three others followed her.
Torch had a crowd of dragons gathered around him. The three other big dragons didn’t seem to care for the situation, and were off sleeping elsewhere. With his head brought down low, the former Dragon Lord worked to get the others fired up against the griffons.
“We can crush these pests here and now!” Torch billowed, even though he tried his best to speak softly as to not alert the enemy. “I’ll get my claws on that King Gale and end their invasion of our lands once and for all!”
A lot of the dragons cheered as they were pumped up to begin the fight. Ember, Twilight, Spike, and Starfall arrived just as Torch began winning over most of the crowd.
“Father!” Ember shouted, earning the giant dragon’s gaze. “As Dragon Lord, I once again command you to stop this now!”
Torch didn’t look very amused by his daughter’s defiance. “I told you to stay out of this Ember; the ponies have given us the perfect opportunity to destroy the Griffon Kingdom! If we take down their king, their entire nation will crumble!”
“Please!” Twilight chimed in. “We didn’t organize these negotiations to just have more fighting! We can resolve this together, there doesn’t need to be any more violence!”
Seeing Twilight’s wings and horn stopped Torch from doing anything drastic. He leaned his head down towards the princess and said, “These attacks can’t be fixed by talking little princess. I don’t know how true these claims are of dragons raiding Equestria, but I’ve seen the invading griffons with my own eyes! So I am ending this, now.”
“Torch.” Celestia called out, making the dragon perk up. The white alicorn flew over the crowd and landed beside Twilight, followed by Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor.
“Celestia?” Torch replied in a strange way.
Celestia bowed her head slightly. “It has been a long time, hasn’t it?”
Torch nodded. “Indeed it has.”
Twilight looked up at her mentor in a questioning way. Had they met before? Everything about their interaction shouted out familiarity. Luna, however, didn’t seem the same way, and just stood back as her older sister handled this.
“Surely you know that talking won’t resolve this.” Torch tried repeating as he had to Twilight.
“If it holds the chance to avoid this conflict, than we must try.” Celestia replied.
Torch grimaced. “You expect me to trust the word of those griffons?”
“No….” Celestia said shaking her head. “But I would ask that you trust me.”
The air was still and silent for a few moments afterwards, everyone eager to hear what the massive dragon had to say in reply to the ruler of Equestria. Twilight was still very much in awe of the respect Celestia was receiving from the former Dragon Lord; it was almost as if the two had known each other for years, if not decades, but that couldn’t be right.
“Very well.” Torch answered her. “If you can prove that their king didn’t order the invasion, then I suppose there won’t need to be any more fighting.”
Celestia nodded her head in respect. “Thank you, I appreciate your understanding.”
The crowd of dragons were a little disappointed in not being able to attack the griffons, but they weren’t going to question Torch’s methods. They dispersed as the giant dragon lied down, willing to hear what the ponies had to say.
“So, what’s this plan of yours anyway?” Ember asked them.
“We had hoped this would go easier than expected.” Luna answered her. “Each nation refuses to have orchestrated the attacks, and so it is simple to assume someone else has done this in the hopes of beginning a war between ponies, griffons, and dragons alike.”
“That’s still quite the accusation.” Torch said in reply. “What proof have you to this theory?”
“We don’t.” Celestia continued. “And so we must press for investigations into the attacks; if we have time to look into how and why they happened, we may be able to discover who is truly behind this.”
A dangerous thought had been lingering in Twilight’s mind ever since this conflict had begun. Something that was too much of a coincidence to push aside as impossible. Why would Stormclaw the dragon have disappeared so suddenly and then be followed up with these attacks which all happened at the same time? It didn’t explain how he was able to pull it off, but the thought remained there, plaguing her ability to perceive the situation. She didn’t want to bring it up, not yet. Not until she could possibly figure more of it out.
“And you believe the griffons will agree to that?” Ember asked, skeptical of the idea.
“We must try.” Cadence answered her. “A war between the three of us would be devastating.”
Torch nodded in agreement. “Perhaps that could work. The dragons will support this claim of yours, little ponies. With luck, these air-head griffons will see things our way.”
Seeing as the conversation looked to be over, Twilight walked over to Celestia, wanting to ask her a few questions. Before she could, Celestia said, “You should all retire to the pony zone and get some good rest. Luna and I must speak to Torch and Ember in private.”
The pony cabin set up in their zone wasn’t anything fancy, but it was still impressive to have been built in such a short amount of time. The wooden walls had to have had some kind of insulation, since the winter cold was shut out in the presence of heat from the fireplace. The living area had a counter top and lounge for the break periods in between negotiations. The second floor hosted ten beds, which was the exact amount they needed. Fluttershy had offered Discord to stay with them, but he refused, choosing to room elsewhere during the summit.
Upon Twilight, Spike, and Starfall’s return, they found the ponies had already made themselves at home. Rainbow, Pinkie, and Starlight sat playing a card game as Rarity fussed over what to wear the following day to Fluttershy. Applejack had taken the initiative of preparing their dinner meal as Shadow did what he could to help her.
Tomorrow it would begin, and they were already itching to fight one another. All of this aggression against each other would only prove to make this even more of an uphill battle. No pony knew how this would all end, but as they gathered together at the table, they knew that they had each other to make this right.
The sun rose to its highest point in the sky, the weather patrol having once again cleared it of clouds. Silence conquered the lands, one of promise and anticipation. The time had come for the leaders to meet, and set everything right.
Advancing from the south-east zone came the dragons. Ember and Torch were at its lead, their eyes narrow and jaws shut tight. Garble and Scorch walked behind the Dragon Lord, and the remainder of the dragons followed like a hoard behind them. Although some were armored, many didn’t feel the need to be; if a fight were to break out, the nations all knew who were the strongest of them after all. They had the numbers and the power, so many walked the path leading to the central zone with cocky grins and chuckles on their breath.
From the south-west zone came the changelings. Thorax walked at the lead, followed closely by his elite guards, clad in strong, plated armor. The rest of the changelings advanced as a more organized group, but even so were little more than a crowd of seventy. Even though the changelings had not been involved in the attacks, Thorax was quick to want to help the princesses, and so were his subjects.
Coming down from the north-east zone were the griffons. King Gale was a large griffon; the feathers on his head and neck were black with silver ones here and there. The rest of his body had brown fur, except for a few more silver areas on his back and stomach. The griffons behind him marched forward in lines, much like an army. Nearly all of them were heavily armored, with only a few unarmored ones at the front with the king, including Gilda.
The ponies of Equestria and the Crystal Empire came in from the north and north-west zones. Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, and Twilight were at the lead. Delegates from every major city walked behind them, along with Twilight’s friends. From behind them marched the 250 royal guards from Canterlot and another 100 from the Crystal Empire, in perfect formation.
The five forces stopped at the edge of the central zone, which was little more than the size of Ponyville Square. The leaders and their personal guards all stepped forward and into the zone, only having to walk for a few dozen seconds before they met.
Sharp eyes and expressions bit away at one another, a sour tension in the air. Torch stood back with the other dragons, but was easily able to lean down and over the distance. The elite guards protecting the leaders watched the others’ carefully, ready to act without a moment’s pause. Although it only remained quiet for a second or two, the silence felt like it had lasted an hour.
“King Gale, Dragon Lord Ember, and King Thorax,” Celestia said, bowing her head. “Thank you all for agreeing to meet with us.”
Ember and Thorax bowed their heads in return, but Gale remained still, his yellow eyes cast upon the alicorn princess with distrust. “Before these negotiations are made, know that I saw the unicorn attack with my own eyes, and there is no denying it.”
“And I saw the griffon invasion with my own eyes,” Torch growled. “You will not deny it either.”
Gale would be lying if he didn’t feel intimidated by the massive dragon looking down upon him, but fear didn’t stop him. “If a force of griffons invaded your lands, I had no part in it!”
Garble snorted smoke into the air. “Lie one more time and I’ll rip your wings off!”
King Gale’s guards reacted, moving forward to defend him. The dragons outside of the central zone reacted as well, wanting desperately to rush in. This wasn’t helping the situation in the slightest.
“Enough.” Celestia said, razing the tension while she still could. “We did not call for you to trade insults, we are all here to come to a compromise. The griffons deny their invasion of the Dragon Lands, the dragons deny their raids into Equestria, and we ponies deny sending a unicorn to attack Griffonstone.”
“What are you saying, pony?” King Gale snapped.
Celestia raised her hoof to all of the leaders around her. “None of us ordered the attacks; someone else must have organized these strikes to turn us on each other.”
“Lies!” one of the other lead griffons shouted. Immediately, the griffon and pony delegates erupted in argument with one another, making for a noisy crowd. “What reason could someone else have to turn us on ourselves!?”
“You griffons are guilty!”
“No one trust a pony!”
“This is a waste of time!”
The quarreling delegates went back and forth, arguing while not listening to their opposition. This continued for a minute or so, the leaders shaking their heads or looking away in embarrassment.
Torch’s destructive fire breath into the sky silenced the crowd. “If you refuse to handle this the pony’s way, then we dragons will end it our way! Enough of this childish squabbling and speak to one another like true rulers!”
A new wave of arguing followed the insult and the day only seemed to continue in this way, no progress being made in the discovery of why these attacks occurred. Twilight and her friends were left without a voice in the matter as both the dragons and the griffons immediately butted heads and refused to back down. Threats followed insults and their results looped around, starting all over again.
Politics….
The nations parted ways for the day, needing a chance to simmer down as the sun began to set. This was bad, very bad. If today was anything like what was to come, the future didn’t look bright for Equestria and the lands beyond.
Thorax came to the princesses in their zone, hoping to strategize a way to better the following day. Celestia and Luna spoke with the Changeling King as Shining Armor and Cadence visited Twilight and her friends in their cabin.
“I felt so useless out there today…” Twilight confided in her brother. “How are we supposed to solve this if no one will agree on anything?”
Cadence held her daughter, Flurry Heart, on her back as she spoke with Twilight’s friends on the other side of the lounge. Shining Armor looked away from his wife, trying his best to think of an answer for his little sister. “We’ll just have to try harder to stand out tomorrow. Once they start to listen, everything should fall right in line.”
“But how?” Twilight repeated, her ears flattening as she tried thinking through all of her options. “Focusing on the problem of the attacks only leads the dragons and griffons to threats. Trying to change to topic to a solution for the problem leads to an endless chain of arguments from the delegates. No matter what Celestia and Luna tried, they wouldn’t listen!”
Shadow came from down the steps, but before he said a word, he stopped to notice the little baby alicorn on Cadence’s back.
Fluttershy noticed his hesitation and said, “Hey Shadow, come and meet Flurry Heart.”
Simply looking into the eyes of the young alicorn filled Shadow with a strange feeling. It wasn’t the cold, but it wasn’t the warmth either…..it was something else, something different. As he approached her, the feeling only grew stronger.
Flurry rose up in the air and flew over to him, and he stopped with his hoof halfway up, as if afraid he was going to scare her. The little filly seemed drawn to Shadow and circled around him.
The princess was hesitant to let her daughter approach the shadow pony, but her fears were rested once she saw how much Flurry liked him.
Still feeling the strangeness, Shadow did his best to ignore it, smiling as he saw how adorable the baby alicorn was acting. But when Flurry moved forward and hugged Shadow, his eyes flashed bright red and a shock ran all throughout his body. He flinched through impulse and stepped away from her. Flurry lowered herself to the floor, her head tilted in confusion. Thankfully, no pony else had noticed his eyes before they returned to normal. They did, however, see his reaction and turned to him.
“What’s wrong Shadow?” Rainbow asked, everypony now looking at him.
He shook his head for a moment, saying, “N-nothing….just got a chill all of a sudden. I…I’m gonna go check on Starfall and Spike. Be back in a bit.” Shadow was quick to retreat back out into the cold, leaving everypony else puzzled.
Twilight looked out the window and watched as Shadow galloped off to the south-east.
“Just who does he think he is calling us out like that!?” Ember shouted, absolutely enraged that the entire day was wasted to pointless arguing. She turned and punched the stone wall, which cracked underneath her claw. After she did, she winced and stepped backwards, both of her claws moving down to cover her stomach.
“Be careful Ember!” Spike said cautiously, trying to calm her. “Remember that you still haven’t fully healed yet, you need to take it easy.”
Ember hated feeling so fragile, and it only fed her anger. “I know, I know!” she replied in a sharp voice, her head lowering as she knew the little dragon was just trying to help. “I’m sorry….that King Gale just makes me so angry!”
Starfall stood aside quietly, giving the two some space. Fortunately, the entire time the leaders were arguing, nothing ever got out of hoof. The guards were all stationary throughout the heated talk and turned out to be un-needed, at least for the time being. Ember had plenty of reason to be angry, but Starfall could see how much restraint she had to not lash out while facing the stubborn griffon king.
Looking around for a moment, Ember said, “Garble? Where are you?” The lack of a reply told Ember exactly where he was. “Training again? Typical Garble. Can you two go check on him? After everything that’s happened today, I’d say he needs some calming down too.”
Starfall and Spike looked at one another. Spike turned back to Ember. “Umm….is that the best idea? I still don’t think he likes us very much.”
Ember chuckled to herself. “I think you’d be surprised.” She gestured to a door in the house. “Go on, he’s taken a liking to the cellar.”
Spike was hesitant, but Starfall nudged him from behind, getting him to start walking. Reaching the door, he opened it. Sounds echoed from out the darkened stairwell, a glow at the bottom telling them it was dimly lit.
Starfall lifted Spike up onto his back and began descending down the steps. This stone house must have been here since before the summit, the design and structure was too well-made to have been done in a week’s time. The stones on the walls were smooth and cold, just like the steps themselves, it made for a dark atmosphere that tugged at the little dragon’s fears. The sounds only grew louder as they reached the bottom, they were consistent, yet sporadic and random.
Garble stood facing a solid metal mannequin of a dragon. The torchlight around him made his shadow move about wildly, even though he mostly stood still. The red dragon slammed his claws into the steel figure, the metal bending beneath the weight of each strike. His attacks were savage, but accurate and smooth. Each swing damaged the mannequin to a degree that was simply horrifying to watch. Speeding up his strikes, Garble’s eyes narrowed, the sudden image of Stormclaw appearing in his mind. His jaw tightened as his fangs glinted in the flickering light, the attacks losing any rhythm and becoming almost feral. Reeling back, Garble lunged forward with a full force claw strike that severed the mannequin from the floor and sent it flying into the wall, the stone cracking and the room shaking slightly.
The red dragon breathed heavily, the image still haunting his vision. His claws trembled, wanting another target to channel all of this rage. He just stood there and closed his eyes, his chest still heaving as his arms and claws ached.
Starfall was seldom impressed when it came to training. Had he seen this side of Garble when they fought the first time, he would have been far more careful. Everything about him screamed determination and drive. He knew the feeling.
“Garble?” Spike asked, ending the silence.
His head turned only slightly, returning to its forward position almost immediately afterwards. “Not bad, huh?” he boasted, circling his arm as he turned around completely. “I’ve been at this for months now, finally starting to pay off.”
Spike saw that the red dragon’s claws were trembling. “Doesn’t doing that really hurt?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.” Garble scoffed. “So what do you two want anyway?”
“Ember wanted us to help calm you down after everything that’s happened today.” Starfall replied. “We understand how frustrating it must feel.”
Garble shook his head, a blank expression on his face at hearing the reason. “She’s been hanging with you ponies so long that she’s starting to become soft. I could care less about those dumb griffons and their pitiful whining.”
Spike tilted his head, having just seen what he could only imagine was a lot of stored anger being released on a metal mannequin. “So then….why are you so mad?”
Garble straightened up and looked down at the baby dragon with his usual, beaming with pride expression on his face. “I’m not mad, just psyching myself up for when I get to thrash that black dragon to pieces.”
Knowing that Ember had named Garble her personal guard, Starfall now had a growing respect for him. “Want some pointers?”
The red dragon chuckled, his old bravado still very much present. “What makes you think I even need the help of some pony?”
Starfall smirked in return. “Because that same pony beat you down pretty hard last time you fought him.” The comment earned the pegasus a glare from the dragon. “You’ve got the brute force, but I know you’ve seen Stormclaw fight before, and so you know that using pure power won’t work on him. Why don’t I show you a few moves? And if you still think it’s a waste of your time, we’ll leave.”
Garble’s glare remained, but his toothy frown turned into a grin.
So the first day didn’t go very well, it could have ended up a lot worse. As night draped the bay in darkness, the five nations rested within their zones, preparing for the bombardment of day two. Having dealt with their initial reaction, the princesses hoped that perhaps now the summit would be taken more seriously and not be treated like a standoff.
Shadow had gone and returned with Starfall and Spike, the royal guard wanting to protect the little dragon for his travels to the dragon zone. Now that they were all in their beds, the shadow pony rested peacefully, the looming stress having gone after Cadence and Shining Armor returned to their own zone.
Fluttershy opened her eyes, peering around at everypony as they slept soundly. She sat up and looked over at Shadow, wanting to be sure he was alright after seeing his strange behavior before. Fluttershy was tired, but couldn’t sleep. Reaching down to her saddlebag, she picked up her crystal, given to her by the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The pink hue of the stone helped to calm her nerves somehow, as if simply looking into it soothed her. It was such a strange thing, making her feel so much better without meaning much of anything. She had never really cared for an object like it before, gems were always Rarity’s specialty, and never really appealed to the animal-loving pegasus in such a way.
She tilted her head as she felt the smooth surface of the diamond-shaped crystal. Scooting back to the headboard of her bed, Fluttershy leaned against it, her wings tucked in nice and comfy.
“Psssst!” a voice suddenly rang in Fluttershy’s ear, making her jump in fright for a moment. “Psssst! Fluttershy!” Overcoming the initial jump scare, Fluttershy looked up to see Pinkie peeking down at her from on top of the headboard. “You awake?” she continued, her eyes wide and in question.
Fluttershy looked straight ahead for a moment, pausing to consider the implications behind the question and why it had to be asked. “Pretty sure.” She replied.
“Oh, good!” Pinkie flipped over and down onto the bed, bouncing Fluttershy up a few inches to bring her back down on her back, letting out a small ‘eeeep!’. “I can’t sleep, wanna play a game?”
Sitting herself back up gently, Fluttershy let out a sigh. “No Pinkie, I don’t want to play a game, I’m very tired.”
Pinkie tilted her head. “Then why are you still awake?”
“I’m just….” Fluttershy began, her sentence trailing off as she thought about it, not wanting her friend to worry about her. “I just wanted to look at my crystal that the CMCs gave me.”
With a quiet gasp, Pinkie replied, “Me too!” She reached up into her mane and pulled out the blue crystal. “It just makes me feel sooo happy to look into it!”
“Really?” the pegasus asked. “Mine makes me feel happy too.”
Pinkie let out a small whinny of excitement. “Ooooh! Ooooh! Can I see it!?”
Fluttershy and Pinkie swapped crystals and looked at them. They were nice and all, but didn’t hold a candle up to their own ones. Finally seeing another so close up made them wonder about something though.
“Pinkie? Do you think Twilight got one?” she asked.
The pink mare looked up, scratching her chin as an inquisitive expression dominated her face. “Don’t know, we’ve never brought it up with her before.” Swapping back to their own crystals again, the two sat looking at them in silence for a few moments. “You scared for tomorrow too?”
Fluttershy only nodded, the two of them looking into their crystals and hoping for the conflict to end peacefully.
The early morning felt colder than ever as the central zone became surrounded once again. The leaders stepped forward as the remainder of their forces watched them closely.
“Are we ready to resume negotiations?” Celestia asked, looking to each of them.
Not even giving the others the chance to respond, King Gale said, “Before these talks continue, I have something to say.”
“Surprise, surprise.” Rainbow mumbled under her breath.
Gale looked at the delegates around him, who all nodded, before he faced forward again. “Now that we have had time to carefully examine the nature of these attacks, we believe we may have an answer as to why all of this has happened.”
The negativity towards the griffon dwindled as everyone’s interest returned. Twilight had hoped that, in the time they had to themselves, the rulers would all take a look into the attacks and see something that she missed, perhaps that hope was going to pay off.
Gale glanced over at the pony princesses. “We found no reason or motive as to why the princesses would order an attack on Griffonstone. Being that they have a history for good tactics, their attempt on my life wouldn’t make any sense.” Celestia and Luna both let out a sigh of relief at hearing this. The griffon king then turned to the dragons. “The same goes for these claims of our attacks against the Dragon Lands; if I had wanted to conquer your homeland, I would have sent my entire army south while you were not expecting it, not a small advance force to give you a warning as to my intentions.” Torch thought about his logic for a moment and nodded, feeling like it made sense. Ember stood with her arms crossed, wondering where this was all leading. “And at the same time, why would the Dragon Lord order raids into Equestria when she and the newest princess of Equestria recently became allies? It is all disconnected and makes no sense.”
Many of the pony delegates, even the ones from the attacked areas, saw the reason in the king’s statement. There were still those, however, that were skeptical about why the griffon was pointing this all out right now if he didn’t have another reason.
“So then what is your explanation for these attacks?” Ember asked.
“It is really quite simple when we finally narrow it down. Who stands to gain from the three of our nations attacking one another and could possibly pull it off themselves?” King Gale replied. “Not the ponies, nor the dragons or us griffons…..the changelings are the ones behind it all!”
Thorax was taken aback by the accusation, as were Twilight, the other princesses, and her friends. The changelings behind their king showed varying emotion; some were angry, and some were confused, but most of them just stood in shock it.
Discord had just hovered over the central zone on a cloud, lounging about as he watched the tension in the five nations return.
“W-what…!?” Thorax answered, shaking his head. “We would never do anything like that!”
“So those tales we heard about Princess Cadence’s wedding were lies?” Gale growled. “Or the more recent abduction of all the pony princesses? Your kind has always used misdirection and deception to tear at the world!”
Twilight was the first of the princesses to speak up. “Thorax is our friend, all of the changelings are! They’ve changed, just look at them! Can’t you tell!?”
King Gale ignored the princess’ claim and turned to his forces. “They used their magic to become like us and pit our kingdoms against each other! That way when all the fighting was over, they could sweep in and conquer the whole world!”
There was a very mixed reception of this theory amidst the leaders and in the surrounding zones. As the idea was given time, it began to sway the crowd into alienating the changelings. Torch, when thinking about it in this way, came to miraculously agree with the griffon king, but kept it to himself for the time. Ember, however, saw through this smokescreen; the griffons were only trying to push the focus away from them to place it on the changelings.
Before the Dragon Lord could say a word, Shadow broken through the line of princesses and caught the attention of the leaders. “No! Thorax and the changelings are different now than they were before!” he said, standing up for them. “I haven’t had long to get to know them, but they are kind and gentle, and would never do anything like that!”
Among the ponies shocked by Shadow’s outburst, Celestia stood speechless. Knowing him better now, it amazed her how far he had come since their first meeting. Such a small, afraid little shadow pony became one of the bravest and loyal friends she had ever seen.
King Gale was not deterred at hearing his defense, however. “You are the shadow pony living in Ponyville now? I have heard a lot about you.” The king snapped. “Can any of your so-called ‘friends’ tell me where you came from? Why you came to Equestria in the first place?”
Shadow was paralyzed with fear at hearing the question. What was he saying? Did he know something about the past that the others didn’t? Was this going to be how he discovered who he really is?
“No?” King Gale continued, having expected no response from the ponies. “That’s because you’re a spy from the changelings! Sent to keep us off their trail!”
Shadow was both relieved and belittled at the same time. This griffon thought he was a spy? Sent by Thorax to do….what?
Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack all emerged from the pony line of leaders at the same time, only they were halted when Fluttershy galloped out first, her saddlebag falling to the ground as she tossed it off.
“How dare you accuse Shadow of being a spy!?” she yelled. “Why I outta-!”
Pinkie and AJ reached her before she could advance on the griffon king, stopping her as the king’s elite guards quickly in between the ponies and their ruler.
“You deny it!” Gale yelled back. “You must be a changeling spy as well!”
Ember had now heard enough of this.
“You warmongering whelp!” she shouted, breathing a blast of her fire breath towards him. Three of the elite guards turned and cloaked themselves and Gale under their armored wings, staving off the fiery blast.
The griffons all surged forward in anger as the dragons did the same. Garble pulled Ember back behind him as the griffon elites all faced her and looked like they were about to attack. The border between the dragon and griffon zones immediately erupted into conflict, with hundreds of them shouting and roaring across the zone line.
Discord watched in disbelief from above as he realized the truth. There would be no negotiating so long as the nations were at each other’s throats. The summit was going to fail.
Twilight ran forward, followed immediately by Starfall. She flew up into the sky and used her magic to create a blinding flash of light over the land. Everyone shielded themselves from the magic as the confrontation was nullified.
Celestia took this opportunity to use her Royal Canterlot Voice and speak out as everyone was halted. “Today’s negotiations are over! All of you return to your zones! Now!”
The bright light and sudden cancellation of the heated conflict helped make the dragons and griffons back down and away from one another. Twilight kept up the spell until she knew that the nations were separated, letting it down easy as her chest heaved in exhaustion.
“Quick thinkin’ Twilight!” AJ said, waving up to her as she descended to the ground.
Catching her breath, Twilight asked Celestia, “How long do we need to wait now?”
The white alicorn shook her head. “I do not know, perhaps we should allow them the rest of the day to calm themselves; it did work yesterday.”
Fluttershy had rushed to Shadow and hugged him as soon as she was released by her friends. “Are you alright Shadow!?”
“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” He replied, having felt a tremendous stress lift up and off of him.
“Come on, let’s go back to the cabin.” She said boldly, persuading him to trot along with her.
“Fluttershy, wait!” Twilight said, stopping the pegasus, but not convincing her to turn around. “What happened back there? Are you alright?”
Spinning around on her hooves, Fluttershy’s face contorted in anger. “Of course not! They just accused Shadow of being evil! And no pony did anything to try and stop them!”
“Fluttershy, darling, we were-” Rarity began to say.
“No!” Fluttershy shouted. “I am sick and tired of everyone saying Shadow is bad! He’s a great, honest, and noble friend!”
In having tossed her saddlebag, Fluttershy’s pink crystal had rolled out and onto the ground. As her frustration peaked and voice yelled, the crystal began to glow faintly.
“After everything he’s been through, Shadow deserves better from all of us!” Fluttershy cried, her emotions running wild in her voice.
Pinkie rushed forward, wanting to calm her friend, but her crystal also fell out onto the ground. Reaching the pegasus, she tried soothing her. “Fluttershy, it’s gonna be alright.” She said gently. “We all know that Shadow is good, we’re all his friends.”
Something snapped inside of Fluttershy, and it made everything become about Shadow and her longing to protect him. Suddenly, all she could think about was that one night in the castle. “No you’re not!” she shouted in her friend’s face. “You threw that party and scared him! You didn’t care about his feelings! You don’t care about anything but your dumb, loud parties!”
Pinkie shied away from her angry friend as the words cut deep. Behind her, the blue crystal began to glow. Both hers and Fluttershy’s began to become surrounded by rising grains of earth. Unfortunately, everypony was too caught up in what was happening to notice.
“If you are going to be so insensitive to his feelings….THEN JUST LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!” Fluttershy yelled.
Everypony was left in complete shock as silence dominated the area, drawing the worried eyes of numerous bystanders around them. Twilight lifted her hoof to her mouth in terror, finding all of this to be unbelievable.
Cowering down underneath the darkened glare of the suddenly bold pegasus, Pinkie felt her entire body quiver and tremble. Her eyes became watery as she tried voicing a word, but was unable to do so. A tear rolled down her face and fell down to the ground.
All in a few moments, Fluttershy heard everything she had just said. Blinking once, she saw the tears on Pinkie’s face and felt all the world slow to a halt. She gasped, backing away from her saddened friend as she choked on the air, unable to breathe. Pinkie stayed down on the ground, crying as she covered her head with her hooves. All of the guilt and anguish hit Fluttershy at once and she fled from the site, running as fast as her legs could carry her. Discord watched her go and followed, no longer interested in watching the shadow pony.
The crystals on the ground shimmered in their own colors and simultaneously began maintaining a small, bright flow of light inside them. The colors moved about and pulsed much like a breath of wind.
Just as they did, Shadow felt the darkness take hold of him again. That same, high-pitch sound conquered his hearing as the ground swayed beneath him. Others noticed and ran to him as quickly as they could, but he hit the ground before they could reach him.
…..again?
Shadow was now becoming accustomed to this feeling of having his senses blurred. Like it had happened before, the darkness around him began to brighten and take form, the sound diminishing as his senses began to return.
It was bright, the sun shining down and giving the area a beautiful day. A figure beside him took form and moved forward, his head turning to it as he thought he could hear a muffled voice. It took a few moments, but everything soon came clear as before.
“What’s wrong Erebus?” Sketch the changeling asked.
Shadow felt his head shake as he turned his gaze back to the group in front of him. Gelder, Silver, and a few others stood around Bliss; it looked like they were congratulating her.
They seemed older now, just about full-grown. Bliss was still a bit smaller than everyone else, but she beamed with happiness as the group sang her a birthday song. Shadow couldn’t hear it very well, and could tell that he wasn’t singing. He felt angry for some reason, but he couldn’t figure out why. Seeing the celebration for their friend should have made his past-self happy, right?
Gelder was the first to take out his present. Shadow guessed they didn’t wrap gifts back then, because no one had bothered to do so. The black dragon sat a pair of goggles in front of the little pegasus and she whinnied in excitement.
“Oh thank you Gelder!” she said, hugging him. “It’s just the one I wanted!”
Gelder chuckled and hugged her back. “You’ve only been talking about them nonstop since we saw it in the market last month.”
Sketch seemed to push aside his worry for Erebus and placed his own gift, a rainbow-colored scarf, down on the table for Bliss. Silver patted the birthday girl on the head and sat a tiara down on the table. “Cute gift for the cute pony!” he teased.
“Hey! Don't call me cute!” she barked in retaliation.
They all shared a laugh that Shadow noticed made him shake and look downward, his eyes closing tight. Why was he so angry? What was going on? He didn’t have to wonder for long.
“Erebus, what did you get for Bliss?” Gelder asked.
Head rising back up, Shadow felt his eyes flash open. “Haven’t I already given her enough? A scarf, tiara and pair of goggles, ooooh, how fascinating!” he replied sarcastically. Shadow felt almost as shocked as everyone around him looked. “I gave her my rare stone! I’d say she owes me, not the other way around!” he then mumbled under his breath, “Spoiled brat.”
Bliss may be older now, but hearing something like this from one of her friends immediately made her tear up, her hooves covering her head as she cried.
“Erebus!” Sketch shouted at him.
Silver went to comfort Bliss, but the sad pegasus jumped off her seat and galloped away as quickly as she could. Shadow felt his gaze follow her as she ran, so he didn’t see it coming. He was leveled to the ground by a powerful strike to his head. Vision now more blurry than it already was, he rolled over to see Gelder standing over him.
“You are pathetic.” The dragon growled down at him. He then looked up at his other friends. “Come on guys, let’s go try and cheer her up.”
Shadow could feel the ground vibrate as the crowd chased after their hurt friend, leaving him there alone. How could anyone be that selfish and cruel? How could this possibly be him? He wasn’t anything like that now. The sky darkened, rainclouds passing over and bringing with them their showers of water. Feeling himself rise up onto his hooves, Shadow wished he could be there to push the mean pony back down onto the ground. Served him right, treating his friend that way, on her birthday no less!
There was something different though, he could tell by the way his head followed the direction in which Bliss had run. His body trembled and he fell down again, punching at the ground with his hooves as tears rolled down his face.
“WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!?” he yelled at the top of his lungs. Shadow was now confused, was he angry at himself? “Bliss, I….” he said softly, the thunder in the distance foreshadowing his voice. “I…..” he struggled to speak, his words choking on the damp, storm air.
At first, Shadow had thought he was starting to understand these memories, but now he felt like he knew nothing.
“I have to find her….” Shadow felt himself say. “I have to apologize to her.” He felt his body rise as the rain drenched his fur.
The moment he began galloping in the direction that they had run, a bizarre sensation flooded Shadow’s senses. In a matter of seconds, everything became blurred out again to the point of not sensing a thing. He was returned to the void from which he started, rather than returning to his own body.
This time, his senses came back even slower than before. And this time….it was very dark. Even without his senses there to tell him, he could instantly feel the emotional pressure of something powerful built up inside.
It wasn’t raining, but it was cloudy. The sky was gray and loomed overhead like a bad omen. It was the first he recognized, his eyes cast up upon the clouds. Even though his hearing returned, there was no sound. He felt cold, much like the chills he had felt before, only this time it was deep in his core. Curiosity began to set in as his gaze continued to stay up and watched the sky.
Shadow was lost in the moment, where was he? What was happening? Why was there this lingering sadness in the air?
Feeling something touch his shoulder, Shadow expected his past-self to turn and look, but he didn’t bother; something told Shadow this was going to feel much different.
“I’m so sorry Erebus.” Shadow could tell it was Gelder, having remembered the sound of his voice. “I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now, but just know you don’t have to go through it alone.”
Alright, red flag, red flag, what was going on? The black dragon just went from punching him to feeling sincerely sorry for him, something had to be very wrong. Finally, Shadow’s eyes lowered, seeing the truth before him.
Two gravestones marked the ground, one was marked with a swirling galaxy symbol at the top, and the other with a dim, eight-pointed star. On the gravestones were these two messages:
Lux Aeterna
Loving wife, mother, and friend. May her soul comfort her children in the next life to come.
Magna Umbra
Proud husband, father, and friend. May his spirit protect his children in the next life to come.
Shadow had felt floods of emotion before; they had come in waves of happiness and fear, and in other ways that he had overcome. This moment put them all to shame.
Mother….? Father? No….no, it couldn’t be….it couldn’t! There was no memory of them, and yet there they were; their resting places lying before him, tormenting him. He could feel their love, even in death, but there was nothing to remember them by. All the memories he was set to experience and not one of them could be of his parents!?
Despite the heartbreaking moment, Shadow couldn’t feel a single tear roll down his face; his past-self just stood there, looking at the graves with no emotion in his eyes.
“Erebus?” Gelder asked.
“Leave me alone.” He felt himself say quietly.
The dragon wanted to persist, knowing that the pony would be better by being with a friend. “Come on Erebus, let’s just go. The others are worried-”
“Go.” The voice interrupted him, his eyes still remaining cast upon the grim markers in the ground. Gelder remained for a few moments, making Shadow feel his body tremble. “I SAID LEAVE!!!” Slowly backing away from his grieving friend, Gelder turned and left him to be alone.
He stayed in this moment for what felt like an eternity. After everything he had been through, Shadow had never felt this broken before. They were his parents….and he didn’t even know what they looked like. Why was he seeing these things? Why was he being subjected to this pain? Why did all of this have to happen to him?
In that moment, he had no home….he had no friends….and now, he had no family.
“Erebus.” Spoke an angelic voice. Shadow could feel his body quiver even more than it has been. Feeling the presence of someone behind him, Shadow felt the sadness somewhat lift away. Whoever it was, they leaned forward and hugged him. “I’m here Erebus.”
Who was that? It didn’t sound like anyone from his memories so far, and yet, the voice was all too familiar to him; as if he heard it every day and could never see who it was.
“It’s alright brother….” The voice spoke softly. “Although we can’t see them, they will always be with us.”
Brother…..? Wait! Was that…!? Was that his….!?
Shadow felt the tears start falling down his face. “I miss them….” He said quietly.
“I know.” She replied, still holding onto him tight. “I do too.”
The darkness pulled at Shadow, but this time, he tried resisting it as much as he could. He had to see her, he had to know what she looked like! Say her name! What was her name!? He could feel his senses begin to slip away as his gaze slowly turned. Blurred out, Shadow could see the outline of a pony, only to have his vision end in light.
Shadow jolted up into a sitting position, his heart pounding as he momentarily didn’t know where he was.
“Shadow! Shadow, it’s alright!” Twilight said quickly, pressing her hoof against his chest. Shadow looked at her and then faced forward again, his jaw clenching as frustration clawed at his mind.
“What happened?” he asked.
Not quite knowing how to answer, the princess shook her head. “I don’t know. After Fluttershy ran off, you just collapsed.”
Shadow’s focus went from his memory, to his closest friend. “Fluttershy…? Where is she?”
“She’s with Cadence and Shining Armor,” Twilight said happily. “She just needs some time alone after what happened.”
“You’ve been out for an hour.” Rainbow added. “Kinda looked like you just fainted.”
Shadow sat up a bit to see all of his friends around him, with the exception of Fluttershy. Pinkie stood with her head lowered, a defeated frown on her face. He wanted to get up and try to comfort her, but Twilight’s hoof kept him down on the bed.
“Give yourself some time, Shadow.” She said, wanting him to be careful. “You really scared us, we just don’t want you to accidentally get hurt.”
Leaning his head back onto his pillow, Shadow closed his eyes. He could still see the gravestones….and could still hear her voice. Before today, he had never wanted to see another memory. Now he wished for the next one to come soon.
Crystal Empire tea was nice. It had a taste that was unique, and was usually quite relaxing. This time, however, the tea wasn’t going to be enough.
Fluttershy sat her tea cup down on the table, now in total silence. Cadence had given her a room to herself in order to collect her thoughts, but there was nothing that could dull this sharp pain in her heart. Pinkie Pie, one of her best friends…..cowering away from her and crying. The image was beyond haunting, it was mortifying. Where did all of that anger come from? That wasn’t who she was, why would all of her thoughts cling to dark memories like that? Pinkie was such a free spirit, always so uplifting and optimistic, she deserved so much better.
The draconequus watching her knew that something was terribly wrong. That outburst was far worse than anything he had ever seen from her before. No matter of jokes or reality-twisting magic was going to fix it, so he was going to have to talk to her about her feelings…..ughaaahag….he hated doing that.
“There’s my favorite pony.” He said softly, levitating over in front of her. “I know I’m not much to talk to, but-” He was interrupted when the pegasus lunged forward and hugged him, crying into his shoulder as she let out all of this pain. “Whew…” he whispered, letting out a breath. “That was close.”
As he held onto his weeping friend, Discord felt his priorities shift in an instant. Following Shadow, watching the summit, annoying Celestia, none of that mattered. Keeping Fluttershy safe and being there for her as a friend through all of this turmoil, that’s what he wanted. His friends meant more to him than anything. More than all the power and freedom in the world.
He just couldn’t let them know that. Even though he knew that it was a mistake, especially after what happened the last time he hid his feelings away. Despite this, he was going to set things right. Come tomorrow, enough would be enough.
The third morning of the summit began with a few fears. After experiencing what had happened on the previous day, hopes were not soaring too high. Steps had been made to try and ensure that the hostility was extinguished.
Torch and the other large dragons were asked to return to the Dragon Lands, posing as too much of an intimidation factor for the others. He was reluctant to comply, but trusted in Celestia to know how best to resolve this growing problem. All forces were banned to wear armor for the negotiations, since they portrayed aggressive intent. And finally, the princesses requested that all accusations against the changelings be dropped, having vouched for their innocence.
Despite these new terms, the tension amidst the rulers remained high. King Gale looked upon Ember and Thorax with disgust, having no respect for them. Ember shared this feeling against the griffon, except now her dragon nature had started to get out of control. Much like her red guard, she would pay heaps of treasure to watch the griffon king be forcibly removed from power.
Fluttershy peered over at Pinkie as the groups stood in silence in front of one another. The pink mare’s sad expression had not changed, and her head remained lowered with her mane drooping forward instead of being puffed out like usual.
“Any other rules you want to force before we continue?” Gale asked sarcastically.
The Dragon Lord grinded her jaw back and forth, creating sparks from the friction, her eyes blazing bright with raw anger.
“You were right when you said that someone is trying to use us,” Celestia replied, ignoring his comment. “We just need to discover who they are. Only then will this conflict be settled.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” The griffon mused. “So I would ask that the dragons and changelings return to their caves so that we, the civilized nations, can reach that solution.”
“Go home and sit on your perch you fat pigeon!” one of the dragons shouted, earning a round of laughter from the two previously offended groups.
Gale was not amused. “I will no longer negotiate with these imbecilic creatures.”
“Wow, I’m surprised he even knows what that word means.” One of the changelings called out, causing another wave of laughter from their side.
The borders of the zones suddenly transformed into translucent walls of purple, chaotic magic. The walls blocked out all sound and left the leaders trapped in the central zone. Before any of them could question what was happening, Discord appeared in between them all.
“No more mister nice draconequus.” He scoffed, snapping his claw. A kind of magic lid appeared over the walls of magic, officially trapping everyone within their zones. “Now all of you are going to sit here and talk until you come to a mutual understanding.” He warned them, using his magic to lift King Gale off the ground. “And if you so much as whisper another pointless insult, I’ll pluck out all of your feathers and use them to make me a new comfy bed! Understand?”
The griffon nodded wildly. Discord then looked around at the other rulers and nodded, releasing the griffon and backing up to the edge of the zone, snapping his claw. The walls disappeared and the draconequus crossed his arms, watching the leaders with squinted eyes.
“Thank you Discord.” Celestia said to him. The alicorn and draconequus both lifted their closest arms to one another and hoof-bumped without looking. “Now Twilight, please explain your theory.”
Twilight nodded, stepping forward. “I believe Stormclaw is behind all of this.”
The dragons were the only group that had a serious reaction, with Ember acting most surprised of all of them. The griffons, however, had no idea what she was talking about.
“Who is this Stormclaw you speak of?” King Gale asked her.
Ember crossed her arms, responding for the princess. “Stormclaw is a dragon that was banished from our lands for attempting to organize a rebellion against my father.”
“He is the one responsible for the theft of all our lands’ most powerful artifacts.” Twilight continued. “He disappeared a few months ago, but we have reason to believe that he somehow organized these attacks in an attempt to weaken us.”
Gale looked skeptical of this claim. “How do we know if this Stormclaw even exists?”
“He does.” Gilda answered him, making the king turn to her. “He was the one that stranded me in the Abysmal Abyss and left me to die. I saw him take the Idol of Boreas, they are telling the truth.”
King Gale grimaced at hearing this from one of his own. “Alright then, what reason would he have to weakening us in the first place?”
“That is what we’re unsure of.” Twilight replied. “But if we could just stop fighting each other, perhaps we can work together to find out why he’s doing this.”
As the leaders continued their analysis of the prime suspect, Fluttershy took this time to do something very important. Walking behind the line of her friends, she tapped Pinkie on the shoulder, earning a depressed look from the mare.
“Pinkie, I….” she started, already close to tearing up. “I want to apologize to you….for what I said yesterday….” Taking in a sharp breath, she continued. “It was a cruel….and terrible thing to say, and I wish I could take it back.” Pinkie managed a small smile as her friend began falling apart. “Please know that I will always appreciate who you are and all of the meaning you’ve put in my life….I, I hope that we…..I hope that….”
Pinkie stopped the emotional pegasus by giving her a warm, heart-felt hug. “I forgive you Fluttershy. I know you didn’t mean it; you are the greatest friend a pony could ask for…..and you were proving it to everypony by standing up for Shadow.” Separating momentarily, she asked. “Best friends forever?”
Fluttershy gave a very emotional smile in return. “Best friends forever.” They hugged again and their friends all smiled as they watched the happy reunion.
King Gale nodded. “I suppose we can accept that as the prevailing theory then.”
“Finally!” Rainbow blurted out.
“So how then do we proceed?” the griffon asked.
Celestia could recall many moments of being proud of her star pupil, and this would undoubtedly become another. She smiled down at Twilight as the young alicorn handled the entire back end of the negotiations herself. Celestia then looked over at Discord, who seemed to be loosening up again, already beginning to lose interest in the conversation of peace.
Upon looking at the draconequus more carefully, Celestia, through her alicorn magic, recognized a darkness lingering inside of him. The moment she saw it, a flash of purple and green in her peripheral vision caused her to quickly turn towards it; barely catching glimpse of some kind of magic in the air. Turning back to the draconequus, Celestia made a move towards him.
“Discord-!” she began to shout.
Suddenly feeling an excruciating amount of pain, Discord became frozen in place, his magic being used against himself. Celestia tried to free him, but was rebounded from him by dark magic.
Simultaneously, several of the dragons and griffons’ eyes became glowing green with red pupils. They sprinted out from their lines, the griffons attacking Ember and the dragons attacking Gale. Garble moved quickly to hack aside the first griffon as Scorch pulled Ember back. The griffon elites converged on the dragon attackers, stopping them from reaching the king.
Witnessing the attacks of their leaders, both the dragon and griffon armies charged from their positions straight towards one another, beginning a massive brawl, the entire summit having become destabilized from the sudden attacks.
Twilight tried using her magic to stop the fighting, but it was useless; there were hundreds of combatants. “There are too many of them!”
The ponies hesitated to join the fray, not wanting to come in between a battle of dragons and griffons. The changelings didn’t have the numbers to make a difference, and by the looks of things, the brawl was only getting worse.
Starlight teleported in front of the princesses. “I think I know how we can stop them! Let’s duplicate Discord’s spell! All of us, together!”
All of the alicorns nodded and formed a circle along with Starlight and Shining Armor. Kneeling their heads towards one another, their horns touched at the center and they focused on the spell. A massive discharge of magic sparked through the air as the amount of sheer power they pooled together duplicated the draconequus’ spell.
Specific to each zone, and separating the combatants in entirety, the purple walls of chaotic magic erupted up once again, this time only separating the dragons from the griffons. The wall held fast as the brawlers all backed away from it.
King Gale saw Ember through the wall and pointed at her. “This isn’t over! The dragons are the ones responsible for this conflict, and we griffons will see to it that you are all eliminated!”
Ember snarled and barred her fangs at the griffon king. “You want a fight!? We’ll show you a fight!” She turned to her hoard of followers, shouting, “Dragons! Hear me! We return to the Dragon Lands and prepare for war!” The dragons all roared and cheered, taking off to the south-east.
King Gale turned to his griffons, shouting, “Return to Griffonstone with all haste! We are going to war!” The griffons replied similarly to the dragons and all took flight to the north-east.
Ember looked back at the ponies as she flew away, seeing Spike standing alone and looking up at her. She had a look of shame in her eyes, but her draconic pride changed it into fury once again, facing forward to join her warriors in their return home.
Gilda and Gabby stayed, refusing to fly with Gale after hearing what he had said. They ran over to join the ponies as the sad sight unfolded before their very eyes; the griffons and dragons were going home to prepare for war.
The moment the two forces took flight, Discord was released from the magical hold over his body, flopping to the ground in exhaustion. The powerful ponies that had cast the spell separated and the magical wall disappeared. All of them except Celestia galloped over to Discord to help him up. The changelings and ponies watched helplessly as the aggressors flew out of sight, knowing that there was nothing they could do to stop them.
Celestia, unlike everypony else, turned in the direction in which she saw the dark magic emerge. A small trail of it disappeared as it moved away from the parade grounds. Spreading her wings, she took off after the trail of magic.
Now far away from the others, and away from the coast, Celestia lost the trail when she came across a collection of ruins. It was strange to see a set of ruined buildings so close to the bay, Celestia figured they must have been from the older settlement ponies abandoned centuries ago. Looking up and around, the princess scanned the dreary site, seeing nothing.
She didn’t quite know what it was that she saw, but it had somehow taken a hold of Discord. Not only that, she saw the eyes of the dragons and griffons that attacked, they were being influenced by dark magic….but she only ever knew one pony powerful enough to cast such a spell.
Eyes in the shadows watched the white alicorn as she stood alone in the damp, cold ruins. Watching with a level of intensity, they moved about in the darkness, keeping out of her sight. There was a silence in the air, the princess sighed, believing she had lost the pursuit in its entirety. Curious now more than ever, the dark entity lowered itself to the ground a few yards behind her. Swirling about, it waited for a few moments, reveling in the moment.
“You always were brave, were you not, dear princess?” it spoke, making the alicorn pause. “It is good to see that some things never change.”
Celestia’s gaze fell, her body slowly turning to see the entity behind her. “Sombra.”
The eyes in the shadowy cloud closed, the veil of darkness lifting away ever so slightly. Now revealed, King Sombra stood tall, half-covered in the black haze about him. His physical form looked no different than it once was; the crown, cape, and armor exactly as Celestia remembered them.
“Long have I dreamt of this moment, my dear Celestia.” He said with a calmness in his voice. “To finally breathe in your beauty once again.” Celestia looked upon the unicorn king with an unsteady gaze, being at a loss for words. Sombra raised an eyebrow, puzzled by her reaction. “Has it been so long that you have forgotten about me?”
She shook her head slowly. “I could never forget….” She replied, struggling to keep her voice from breaking under the weight of the king’s eyes.
Sombra smirked. “How touching; to know that you truly do have feelings somewhere in that cold heart of yours.”
“You don’t understand-” she began to say.
“Be silent.” Sombra said sharply, cutting her off. “For so long I dreamed of the chance to meet you again, to feel the adrenaline, the rush of having you beg me for forgiveness.” He approached her, his hoof steps creating ripples in the shadows around him. He came within a breath’s distance of her, his eyes narrowing as they channeled his anger. “To repay you for all the pain that you caused me.”
“Sombra, please…” she responded, stopping herself as his eyes flared up, the ethereal trail of purple magic out their sides growing more intense.
“But soft now, dear princess,” he began, looking down at his raised hoof. “You know just how much I have changed, of my powers I am truly proud.” His eyes returned to her, the anger manifesting through his lyrics. He turned, walking a few steps away from her, the darkness still encompassing most of his body. “Be still now, dear princess, you know exactly why I’ve come,” the aura around him expanded, cloaking the ruins in dim darkness. “Your reign should end beneath my magic’s shroud.”
Celestia didn’t bother looking around her at the unicorn’s shadowy spell. She watched him with pained eyes and a diminished expression.
Sombra raised his hooves, his back still turned to her. “Then tell me, dear princess! Why I see you standing there?” his eyes squinted, as if in confusion. “Why your glowing eyes still scorch my soul?” His eyes closed tightly. “This power, it’s blinding! The light caught in your radiant mane, is burning in me out of all control!”
The ruined chamber suddenly became surrounded by a vortex of dark magic, flickering about like a wall of embers.
“Like fire! Dark fire! This flare within my chest!” Sombra felt the bright image of the princess flashing in his mind. “This blazing desire must truly be my test….”
Celestia shook her head. “No, it isn’t what you thought!”
“It’s all your fault!” Sombra shouted, turning to her with hatred in his eyes. “You are to blame! You are the wicked one, the curse who lit this flame!”
“It’s not a curse, Sombra!” Celestia pleaded to him.
Sombra yelled in anger, turning away from her again. “It’s all your fault! Can you not tell...?”
Celestia felt the vortex around her create a vacuum of air, all converging in on the unicorn, the darkness swirling about him as it flickered pitch black. Flashes of green and purple enveloped his body.
“Your light condemned to the darkest depths of HELL!!!” Sombra roared, the dark magic rising up past him, lifting the shadowy veil covering his body and revealing his entire physical form. The magic rose up and cast the entire chamber into a tempest of shadows. “Curse you, dear princess! My hour of vengeance approaches now! Your vile lies left me a heart of stone!”
Wounded by his words, Celestia couldn’t bear to listen to them for much longer. She felt herself slowly collapse down to the ground.
Facing her again, the unicorn’s mane, tail, and cape flowed in the raging winds around them. “Choose now, dear princess! To a tyrant king your subjects shall bow!” He lowered his head to her, his eyes now completely encased in the dark magic from his spell. “Unless you become mine and mine alone!”
Suddenly the winds ceased, and the magic faded from around them. Celestia stopped quivering long enough to see the expectancy in his eyes.
“Even now, after everything you have done, I am giving you the chance to choose.” He spoke with bitterness in each word. “When the time is right, you shall either watch the enslavement of your precious ponies, or finally agree to become my queen, leaving them forever.”
Celestia felt the ultimatum crushing down upon her. There was no compassion in his gaze, only absolution, the cold reality of the truth bearing down with it.
“Choose wisely, dear Celestia.” He whispered, backing away from her as the shadows returned to him, all of the dark magic building up around him. “Black fire, dark fire! Now princess it’s your turn!” The ruins darkened once more, creating a swirling portal behind him. “Choose me or their pyre! Be mine or they shall burn!”
One final pulse of darkness engulfed the chamber, making Celestia shield herself. The morning sun filled the chamber with light once again. The princess lowered her wings to find the ruins to be empty, the unicorn having vanished along with all of his dark magic.
King Sombra had returned, the summit had failed, and the war between the griffons and the dragons was about to begin.
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